Crypto

Acting head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Michael Hsu has warned that the exotic financial products developed in some quarters of crypto and DeFi were reminiscent of those that precipitated the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Speaking before the Blockchain Association on Sept. 21, Hsu warned that “innovation for innovation’s sake […] risks creating a mountain of fool’s good,” drawing analogies between the rapid proliferation of digital asset derivatives and the explosion in mortgage and debt derivatives such a Credit Default Swaps (CDS) that preceded the 2008 global financial crisis: “I have seen one fool’s gold rush from up close in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis. It feels like we may be on the cusp of another with cryptocurrencies (crypto...

The Golem Network has launched an app that allows users to mine Ethereum on their laptops, but it could be a long time before riches can be reaped. The decentralized computing resources sharing platform released the Thorg app that allows users to mine Ethereum on Windows-based PCs and laptops. The app runs in the background and harnesses unused computing power to process the calculations required for proof-of-working mining. Users are rewarded in Golem’s native GLM token however, and not Ethereum. The system runs on layer-two aggregator Polygon which alleviates any heavy transaction fees associated with the ERC-20 GLM token. It creates “shares” which are batched computing tasks that are collected and used to mine Ethereum. Golem CEO, Piotr Janiuk, said that Thorg was designed to increase a...

Arca Labs, the innovation arm of digital asset investment firm Arca has partnered with blockchain tech firm Securitize to launch regulated, tokenized financial products. According to a Sept. 23 announcement, Securitize has signed on to provide a smart contract and issuance platform for the firm, starting firstly with Arca’s tokenized fund dubbed “Arca U.S. Treasury Fund” that was launched in July 2020. Arca touts it as the first treasury fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to issue shares as digital assets via the blockchain. The fund meets the same regulatory requirements as a mutual fund, but differs by offering exposure via Ethereum-based digital asset security tokens called “ArCoin.” Arca states that the fund will typically “invest a minimum of 80% of assets in U.S...

The rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) poses a major challenge for the traditional financial system, an executive at the Chinese central bank has warned. Wen Xinxiang, director of the payment and settlement department at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), has expressed concerns over the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and fiat-pegged stablecoins. Pointing to Bitcoin’s market value now surpassing $800 billion and the total stablecoin market cap exceeding $120 billion, Wen outlined major risks associated with the crypto market at a payment and settlement forum on Sept. 24, The Shanghai Securities Journal reported. According to the official, one of the main challenges of crypto is that the industry is capable of operating separately from the traditional payment syste...

This weekly roundup of news from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong attempts to curate the industry’s most important news, including influential projects, changes in the regulatory landscape, and enterprise blockchain integrations.   This week, the word “Evergrande” found its way into the vocabulary of every western investor. After years of watching the corporation’s football team on TV and drinking its bottled water, Crypto Twitter was the last place the Man in Shanghai expected to find it. After facing debts of over $300 billion, all types of rumors swirled, leading its Hong Kong-listed shares to drop 80% and a massive crypto sell-off early in the week.   Misreading their tea-leaves The western experts had split opinions on the issue, with CNBC’s Jim Cramer urging ...

While Ethereum 2.0 staking allows validators to be compensated for securing the network, ‘Ethereum 2.0 Staking Earn’ is its own product, providing users rewards from several DeFi products. On Ethereum 2.0, the PoS-powered blockchain will bundle 32 blocks of transactions during each validation round. Each block bundle is known as an epoch, which are finalized transactions. During the validation process, also known as “attesting,” the Beacon Chain assigns groups of stakers into “committees” of 128, who are then given a shard block. A base reward will determine the issuing rate of Ethereum 2.0. As the number of validators connected to Ethereum 2.0 increases, the lower the base reward will be per validator. This is true since the base reward is inver...

Online streaming platform and production company Netflix will be producing a film on deceased crypto exchange QuadrigaCX founder Gerald Cotten. In a Sept. 23 tweet from Netflix, the platform announced Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King documentary will premiere in 2022. The story, which follows “a group of investors turned sleuths,” will focus on the events around the death of Cotten, who reportedly died while doing volunteer work at an orphanage in India and leaving QuadrigaCX users out of pocket for roughly $190 million in crypto. Details are sparse regarding the casting or direction the documentary takes, but the trailer hints at plastic surgery and avoiding authorities on a yacht. Netflix has become well known around the world for producing documentaries revealing disturbing ac...

Non-custodial cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift has completed its second airdrop of FOX tokens — dubbed “fairdrop” — as part of a broad decentralization pledge that was first announced in July.  The airdrop of 6,613,000 FOX tokens was distributed to over 33,000 DAO community members, ShapeShift announced Tuesday. These holders were previously ineligible for the airdrop reward because their tokens were locked in staking or liquidity operations. A proposal to amend the token distribution process to include DAO community members was submitted on Sept. 16, receiving overwhelming support.  As Cointelegraph reported, ShapeShift airdropped 340 million FOX tokens to over one million users in July after the company announced it was dissolving its corporate structure — an industry first —...

This week’s combination of bearish factors was enough to bring Bitcoin (BTC) price down to its lowest levels in 46 days, and this nearly obliterated 86% of the $2 billion September call (buy) options that expire on Sept.24. There’s still room for some surprises, especially considering the deadline is 8:00 UTC on Sept. 24. However, the incentives for the bears seem small because the sub-$40,000 test on Sept. 21 caused less than $250 million in futures contracts liquidations. On Sept. 22, Evergrande Group eased some default fears after it confirmed that it would make an interest payment on an onshore bond. Despite this, investors still expect the company to miss the dollar-denominated bonds held mainly by international investors. Bitcoin price at Coinbase in USD. Source: TradingV...