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Biden declares major disaster in Puerto Rico to energize Fiona recovery
Biden approved an emergency declaration on Sunday. But the major disaster declaration allows FEMA to directly help individuals pay for temporary housing and home repairs, provide low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and pay for other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the storm. Federal funds are also now available to Puerto Rico on a cost-sharing basis for debris removal and emergency protective measures as well as hazard mitigation measures. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday asked the FEMA administrator to prepare for the federal government to cover all costs for emergency protective services conducted in Puerto Rico rather than asking the territory to bear any of the costs. Puerto Rico’s “government doesn’t have the money to lay it o...
Halsey’s Cosmetics Brands Partner With Live Nation, Receive Equity Investment From Promoter
Live Nation has partnered with Halsey-backed cosmetic companies about–face and af94 to create branding experiences at its venues and festivals promoting the brands. The promoter has also made an equity investment in about-face and af94 to support the growing brands. “The Live Nation partnership will usher in a new way to experience the intersection of live entertainment and makeup,” says Halsey, who serves as the brands’ co-founder and chief creative officer. “Live Nation has given me a platform to express my vision to my audience on stages across the world. Our future together will mean seeing the audiences’ visions come to life from the crowds.” About-face and af94 activations at Live Nation properties will include product sampling, self-guided application and a range of virtual and...
Fiona swipes Turks and Caicos; Puerto Rico faces big cleanup
Premier Washington Misick urged people to evacuate. “Storms are unpredictable,” he said in a statement from London, where he had attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. “You must therefore take every precaution to ensure your safety.” Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving north-northwest at 9 mph (15 kph), according to the Hurricane Center, which said the storm was likely to strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Bermuda on Friday. Rain was still lashing parts of Puerto Rico on Tuesday, where the sounds of people scraping, sweeping and spraying their homes and streets echoed across rural areas as historic floodwaters began to recede. In the central mountain town of Cayey, where the Plato River burst its banks and the brown torrent of wat...
Schumer blasts Puerto Rico’s utility, grid manager for power failures
Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi on Tuesday asked the Biden administration for a major disaster declaration, which would enhance the kind of federal assistance residents can receive. Members of the U.S. House and Senate also expect to consider a supplemental aid package for the island, although the timing is uncertain. A feud over whether and how to shift Puerto Rico toward wind, solar and other renewable power is one factor in the years of wrangling over the direction of the territory’s energy policies. Under the 2019 Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act (17-2019), PREPA — the utility — is required to obtain 40 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025, 60 percent by 2040 and 100 percent by 2050. Those resources now make up 3 percent of the island’s generated power, acco...
Senate approves first climate treaty in decades
“The transition away from HFCs is expected to stimulate literally billions of dollars in economic investment in this country … create tens of thousands of jobs and significantly increase U.S. exports while using technology developed in this country,” Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) said on Wednesday. Originally approved in the 1980s, the landmark Montreal Protocol successfully brought down emissions of chemicals that harmed the ozone layer, but in turn prompted manufacturers to switch to a new family of chemicals — hydrofluorocarbons — that do not harm the ozone layer but are potent greenhouse gases. Today, HFCs are used in refrigerators and air conditioners, as well as foam and aerosol products. Depending on its makeup, a pound of HFCs can have as much war...
Price analysis 9/21: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, SOL, DOGE, DOT, MATIC, SHIB
The Federal Reserve hiked rates by 75 basis points on Sept. 21 and Fed Chair Jerome Powell projected another 125 basis points increase before the end of the year. If that happens, it will take the benchmark rate to 4.4% by the end of the year, which is sharply higher than the June estimates of 3.8%. The Fed also intimated that it only expects rate cuts to be considered in 2024. The expectation of higher rates pushed the 2-year Treasury to 4.1%, its highest level since 2007. This could attract several investors who are looking for safety in this uncertain macro environment. Higher rates are also likely to reduce the appeal of risky assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies and may delay the start of a new uptrend. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Even though Bitcoin...
Hong Kong Monetary Authority provides update on retail CBDC that may become DeFi onramp
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published a paper outlining the state of research on its proposed retail central bank digital currency (rCBDC) and plans for its further development. This is the third paper the HKMA has published on the e-HKD, as the proposed CBDC is called. The proposed rCBDC would have a two-tier structure consisting of a wholesale interbank system and the retail user wallet system. No wholesale Hong Kong CBDC has been introduced yet, but research on it began in 2017, four years before rCBDC planning started. The rCBDC would be disintermediated. The paper notes: “While it appears that e-HKD might not have an imminent role to play in the current retail payment market, we believe prospective use cases for e-HKD can emerge quickly out of the rapid evolution, or...
Japanese banking giant Nomura launches digital ecosystem VC arm
Nomura, one of the largest investment banks in Japan, has established a venture capital arm aimed at investing in companies focusing on crypto and blockchain. In a Wednesday announcement, Nomura said the business, named Laser Digital, will “provide new value in the area of digital assets” for clients under the Switzerland-based holding company Laser Digital Holdings AG. The investment bank said it chose Switzerland based on its “robust regulatory regime for digital assets and blockchain projects” in addition to potentially recruiting talent. “Staying at the forefront of digital innovation is a key priority for Nomura,” said president and group CEO of Nomura Holdings Kentaro Okuda. Laser Digital’s venture capital product, Laser Venture Capital, will focus on investments including centralize...
Jerome Powell is prolonging our economic agony
Can we all agree that the Federal Reserve has a plan to combat runaway inflation? They do. Chair Jerome Powell has all but admitted it. After tempering his comments before previous rate hikes, allowing wiggle room which gave way to market rebounds, Powell has left no bones about this one. It is necessary to wreak some havoc on the economy and put downward pressure on the labor markets and wage increases to stop the creep of inflation. Whether you buy into that logic or if you believe — like Elon Musk — that such movements could result in deflation — doesn’t matter. All that matters is what those voting on the rate hikes believe, and there’s plenty of evidence that they won’t stop until the rate is over 4%. Wednesday’s rate increase of 75 basis points only moves us in that direction. This i...
Coinbase Cloud debuts Web3 developer platform
Blockchain infrastructure platform Coinbase Cloud has officially rolled out its Web3 developer platform, allowing users to build new decentralized applications free of charge. The new developer platform, dubbed Node, allows users to create and monitor Web3 applications while accessing the Ethereum blockchain and indexers, the company disclosed Wednesday. While Node offers a tiered subscription model, the free plan includes access to advanced APIs that allow for the creation of decentralized applications and nonfungible token (NFT) applications. Coinbase Cloud claims that Node enables faster creation of Web3 applications while reducing both complexity and cost. This feeds into the platform’s broader service offerings, which include all-in-one access to payments, identity, trading and ...
Blurring the line between crypto and TradFi could redefine global finance
Despite the current struggle in the global economy, the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and crypto seems to be closing with each passing day. For example, earlier this month, Vienna-based fintech unicorn Bitpanda announced that it was adding commodities to its list of investment options, thus allowing investors to rake in profits from short-term price fluctuations related to traditional instruments such as oil, natural gas and wheat. In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, the company’s CEO, Eric Demuth, noted that the bear market had had no major impact on investor demand. He claims that more people are now looking for solutions that can bring the world of TradFi and decentralized finance (DeFi) together. Not only that, there are lessons to be learned about what works out...
From skies to blocks: How an aerospace student became a Web3 entrepreneur
A popular adage says that the path to success is not a straight line. Sometimes, it leads to various detours along the way, like learning about developing aircraft, being a writer, keeping an eye on Bitcoin (BTC) and exploring the blockchain space. In a Cointelegraph interview, Ahmet Usta shared his journey from being fascinated by technology since he was a child to becoming the founder of several successful Web3 projects focusing on blockchain gaming and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Usta studied aerospace engineering at Istanbul Technical University in Turkey mainly because of his passion for technology. After that, he pursued a career in information technology and worked for various businesses. Ten years later, Usta found himself in a weird situation. He said: “By some strange coinci...
