Crypto
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Cathie Wood’s Ark and 21Shares refile for spot Bitcoin ETF
ARK Investment Management, an investment firm founded by veteran investor Cathie Wood, is taking another try to launch a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States. ARK Invest submitted on May 13 yet another application for its physical Bitcoin ETF, the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The application includes a proposed rule change from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) BZX Exchange. According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Henry Jim, the latest deadline for approval or disapproval of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF is January 24, 2023. Ark 21Shares decides to try again for a “Spot” Bitcoin ETF and files 19b-4 with SEC. Deadline for approval / disapproval: Jan 24, 2023 (latest). Deadlines:2...
Blockchain tech offers multiple paths to financial inclusion for unbanked
Financial inclusion, accessible services and the unbanked are standard talking points in many conversations about crypto. But, the details may remain somewhat fuzzy — the people who talk about crypto are generally those already inside the financial system. There are people who are actively working to increase financial inclusion and access to services for the vast number of people who are unbanked or underserved. CBDC for the people Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) will serve different purposes in different places. In economies where individuals have moved away from high levels of cash usage, like those of the United States and the United Kingdom, there will be relatively little retail demand for CBDC, but there are places where cash is in short supply and CBDC can serve to inc...
Powers On… When will we learn from recent history to protect our crypto and ourselves?
Stablecoins provide a false sense of security. They give the impression to the uninitiated and/or uncaring that a particular coin is pegged to the U.S. dollar, or an equivalent of the dollar in terms of value and stability, and that if you want to convert your stablecoin to dollars, you can do so easily and instantaneously. Yet, they do no such thing, as demonstrated by the recent collapse of Terra and its TerraUSD stablecoin and LUNA token and also made clear in September 2008 by the collapse of the Reserve Primary Fund money market fund during the height of the global financial crisis. Powers On… is a monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now ...
Tether launches stablecoin pegged to pesos on Ethereum, Tron and Polygon
Amid market issues surrounding stablecoins, Tether (USDT) launched a new digital asset that will be pegged to the Mexican peso on Ethereum, Tron and Polygon networks. In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph on Thursday, Tether mentioned that the token will have the MXNT ticker and will join Tether’s roster of fiat-pegged stablecoins that includes dollar-pegged USDT, Euro-pegged EURT and Chinese Yuan-pegged CNHT. Citing data that reports blockchain and crypto demand among Mexican companies, the stablecoin issuer believes that there’s a unique opportunity to provide a cheaper option for asset transfer within the region. According to Tether’s chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino said that the rise in crypto usage in the Latin America region pushed their decision to...
Ethereum Beacon Chain experiences 7 block reorg: What’s going on?
Ahead of the Merge tentatively penciled in for August, Ethereum’s Beacon Chain experienced a seven-block reorganization (reorg) yesterday. According to data from Beacon Scan, on May 25 seven blocks from number 3,887,075 to 3,887,081 were knocked out of the Beacon Chain between 08:55:23 to 08:56:35 AM UTC. The term reorg refers to an event in which a block that was part of the canonical chain, such as the Beacon Chain, gets knocked off the chain due to a competing block beating it out. It can be the result of a malicious attack from a miner with high resources or a bug. Such incidents see the chain unintentionally fork or duplicate. On this occasion, developers believe that the issue is due to circumstance rather than something serious such as a security issue or fundamental flaw, with a “p...
World Bank won’t support Central African Republic’s Sango crypto hub
The World Bank has signalled its concerns over the Central African Republic (CAR) adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal currency and says it won’t support the newly announced “Sango” crypto hub. At the end of April CAR president Faustin-Archange Touadéra established a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in the country and adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender. On May 24 he announced a plan to launch the country’s first crypto hub called “Sango”. Sango is described as the country’s first “Crypto Initiative” — a legal hub for crypto related businesses encompassing economic policies including no corporate or income tax and thecreation of a virtual and physical “Crypto Island.” An official document outlining the Sango project states that the country “received approval for a $35 million development...
InsurAce says it will pay millions to claimants after Terra’s collapse
DeFi insurance protocol InsurAce says it was well within its rights to reduce the claims period for people affected by the Terra USD (UST) depeg event from 15 days to seven — but added it has already processed nearly all 173 submitted claims and will pay out $11 million. InsurAce (INSUR) is the third largest insurance provider for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, with a market cap of $15 million. On May 13, InsurAce caused a stir when it announced it had shortened the claims window for those with cover related to Anchor (ANC), Mirror (MIR), and stablecoin Terra USD (UST) following the collapse of the Terra (LUNA) layer-1 blockchain. But CMO Dan Thomson told Cointelegraph on Thursday that its move to shorten the claims window for the 234 covers of Terra portfolios was necessary to pr...
Injective partners with Wormhole to bring 10 new blockchains to the platform
Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Injective (INJ) has partnered with Wormhole to integrate “10 new blockchains” to its network. Injective is a Cosmos layer-2 decentralized exchange (DEX) that offers derivatives, token swaps and sports betting prediction markets. It is also focused on interoperability via cross-chain bridging, and currently supports digital assets from Ethereum, Polkadot and IBC-enabled chains such as Cosmos. Injective Labs, the protocol’s developers, noted in a May 25 announcement that the partnership will enable users to transfer and trade assets across any chain that is integrated with Wormhole. “The Wormhole integration will vastly enhance Injective’s capabilities with respect to interoperability. Users will soon find Wormhole integrated into the backend of the Inje...
Ray Dalio acknowledges he holds Bitcoin in his portfolio, albeit a tiny portion
Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio has recently had a change of heart on the flagship cryptocurrency The Bridgewater Associates founder previously showed scepticism on Bitcoin for its volatility, rooting for gold instead. His stance seems to have changed Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio has moved his tent’s posts closer to the Bitcoin camp, with his recent revelation coming months after a change of tune on Bitcoin. The billionaire investor, known for popularising risk parity, currency overlay and global inflation-indexed bond management, previously preached against Bitcoin and other crypto assets. He held that the leading crypto Bitcoin could be banned by governments should it evolve and emerge as a serious competitor to fiat currencies, therefore, preventing capital flow. Bitcoin ...
Brazil’s Federal Revenue now requires citizens to pay taxes on like-kind crypto trades
Brazil’s Federal Reserve (RFB) has declared that Brazilian investors in the crypto-asset market must pay income tax on transactions that involve the like-kind exchange of cryptocurrencies; for example, Bitcoin (BTC) for Ethereum (ETH). The RFB’s declaration was published in the Diário Oficial da União and was the result of a consultation made by a citizen of the country to the regulator. At the end of last year, the group issued an opinion in which it claimed that trading between cryptocurrency pairs is taxable even if there is no conversion to the real (Brazil’s national currency). Although it does not specify what can be understood as “profit,” since in the exchange of one crypto asset for another there is no capital gain in fiat currency, it points out...
Polkadot parachains spike after the launch of a $250M aUSD stablecoin fund
Crypto prices have been exploring new lows for weeks and currently it’s unclear what it will take to reverse the trend. Despite the downtrend, cryptocurrencies within the Polkadot (DOT) ecosystem began to rally on May 24 and have managed to maintain gains ranging from 10% to 25%, a possible sign that certain sub-sectors of the market are on the verge of a breakout. Here’s a look at three Polkadot ecosystem protocols that have seen their token prices trend higher in recent days. Acala launches a $250 million aUSD ecosystem fund Acala (ACA) is the leading decentralized finance (DeF) platform on the Polkadot network, primarily due to the launch of aUSD, the first native stablecoin in the Polkadot ecosystem. Following the collapse of Terra’s LUNA and TerraUSD (UST), traders we...
Bankman-Fried faces down roomful of futures industry insiders at CFTC roundtable
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried did a lot of talking at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) staff roundtable on non-intermediation Wednesday. He fielded questions and issues from 31 industry professionals about the FTX.US application to offer clearing of margined products, including crypto-based products, without a futures commission merchant (FCM) intermediary. Many participants felt the need to mention their devotion to innovation and declared that they do not see the proposed new technology as an “us versus them” situation. Joe Cisewski of Pantera Capital said that just six or eight clearing houses dominate the market at present, so new competition would not be out of place. Like many others present, he saw the need for more regulatory framework for this new tr...
