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‘All bad options’ as Biden administration faces Western water crisis
The solutions could include politically incendiary steps that previous administrations have only threatened: making steep cuts to water deliveries that would hit tribes and cities first, telling farmers how they can use water that they legally own, or cutting water deliveries across the board, which could get tied up in court. But inaction could lead to worse consequences: hydropower turbines crucial to the stability of the Western electrical grid grinding to a halt, cities from Phoenix to Los Angeles losing a major source of water, large swaths of highly productive farmland drying up and a Grand Canyon with no water flowing through it. “It’s all risks,” said John Fleck, a water policy professor at the University of New Mexico. “I don’t see anything that’s not a risk. It’s all bad options ...
Some Republicans see climate danger. They voted ‘no’ anyway.
The lack of Republican support for the landmark bill has some champions of centrist policymaking questioning whether it’s possible to pass major bipartisan climate legislation. Other centrists argue Republicans are only protesting the process used to advance the “Inflation Reduction Act,” which includes $369 billion in climate and energy spending. But advocates of bipartisanship all hope Republicans will remain open to future climate bills. “This problem is so serious — climate change — that if you’re at a point where you can’t get 60 votes, then you have to think what’s the right thing to do,” said former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who is now the national co-chair of the bipartisan policy advocacy group No Labels. “I think the right thing to do is to try to get enough votes in one part...
Fallout from crypto contagion subsides but no market reversal just yet
The blockchain industry showed some surprising resilience in July, which may point to a period of greater fundamental support for the crypto space overall in the short term. In looking at a wide variety of indicators, including Bitcoin’s (BTC) price action, open interest on Ether (ETH) and activity in GameFi, there are some strong signals to suggest that a bullish sentiment is returning to this space. Smooth sailing from now on is not a given, though. Cointelegraph Research’s latest Investor Insights analyzes key indicators from different sectors of the blockchain industry to navigate those potentially treacherous crypto waters. In the latest edition, Cointelegraph Research’s bearish-to-bullish index was a level C indicating a short-term cautionary time. While there are still mixed signals...
Mailchimp bans crypto content creators without prior notice
The email marketing platform Mailchimp appears to have suspended its services to crypto content creators. Platforms associated with crypto news, content or related services started to have issues logging into accounts, followed by notices of service interruptions that began surfacing this week. Crypto-associated accounts such as the Edge wallet, a provider of self-custody crypto holding services, and Messari, a crypto research company, were among some of the affected. Early this morning, Sam Richards, at the Ethereum Foundation Tweeted that the Ethereum Foundation Ecosystem Support Program is likewise facing suspension. Add @Ethereum Foundation’s @EF_ESP to the list of customers @Mailchimp has rugged. Anyone have good recommendations for email subscription services with solid A...
Crypto markets bounced and sentiment improved, but retail has yet to FOMO
An ascending triangle formation has driven the total crypto market capitalization toward the $1.2 trillion level. The issue with this seven-week-long setup is the diminishing volatility, which could last until late August. From there, the pattern can break either way, but Tether and futures markets data show bulls lacking enough conviction to catalyze an upside break. Total crypto market cap, USD billion. Source: TradingView Investors cautiously await further macroeconomic data on the state of the economy as the United States Federal Reserve (FED) raises interest rates and places its asset purchase program on hold. On Aug. 12, the United Kingdom posted a gross domestic product (GDP) contraction of 0.1% year-over-year. Meanwhile, inflation in the U.K. reached 9.4% in July, the highest figur...
Tornado Cash DAO goes down without explanation following vote on treasury funds
The Tornado Cash DAO went offline after many social media users reported the community discussing ways to challenge sanctions recently imposed by the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control. At the time of publication, the Tornado Cash DAO was offline reportedly following a discussion in which community members voted unanimously to add its governance layer as a signatory to its treasury’s multisig wallet, which manages a reported $21.6 million. It’s unclear what was responsible for the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) going dark, but it followed a series of actions taken by different authorities and private entities in the wake of U.S. sanctions announced against the controversial mixer on Monday. In the last four days, Circle froze more than 75,000 U...
Binance recovers the majority of funds stolen from Curve Finance
Crypto exchange Binance has recovered a big part of the funds from the recent hack that targeted the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Curve Finance. In a tweet, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced that the exchange has frozen and recovered $450,000 of the stolen assets, which is more than 80 percent of the stolen funds. According to Zhao, the hacker tried to send the funds to the exchange in various ways but was detected by Binance. The exchange is currently working to return the funds to their rightful owners. The Curve Finance team detected the hack on Tuesday and alerted their users to refrain from using their website. An hour after the warning, the team announced that it was able to find and resolve the issue. However, the attackers were still able to hijack around $537,000...
Three-quarters of institutions to use crypto in the three years: Ripple
A whopping 76% of surveyed financial institutions plan on using crypto within the next three years, according to the report. Ripple’s new report highlights trends in the adoption and utilization of emerging technologies like crypto and blockchain in enterprise and financial institutions. Both financial institutions and enterprises are understanding the benefits of internal crypto usage. The most common reason is that crypto gives more people access to more financial services, says 42% of financial institutions and 41% of enterprises. According to the survey, portfolio management and payments come forward as the most valuable additions to the enterprise world. Portfolio management is detailed as hedging against inflation, hedging against other asset types and asset appreciat...
Brazilian payment app PicPay launches crypto exchange with Paxos
Major Brazilian payment application PicPay is moving into cryptocurrencies by integrating a crypto exchange service allowing users to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The firm officially announced on Wednesday that PicPay clients can now buy, sell and store two major cryptocurrencies, BTC or ETH, directly on its app. PicPay pointed out that its choice was due to the real use cases provided by these digital assets, including security and many other benefits. The firm stated: “Blockchain technology, which is behind coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, is already used in the real estate sector, the insurance industry and even the art market, through non-fungible tokens.” The new crypto feature is enabled through a partnership with the major crypto company Paxos and allows customers to use Paxos...
Dutch authorities arrest suspected Tornado Cash developer
Authorities in the Netherlands have arrested a developer that is suspected to be involved in money laundering through the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash. The Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), an agency in the Netherlands responsible for investigating financial crimes, officially announced on Friday an arrest of a 29-year-old man in Amsterdam. The man has allegedly been involved in facilitating criminal financial flows and money laundering through the decentralized Ethereum mixer Tornado Cash, the authority said. The FIOD pointed out that it doesn’t rule out multiple arrests in the case, noting that its Financial Advanced Cyber Team (FACT) launched a criminal investigation against Tornado Cash in June 2022. According to the FACT, Tornado Cash has allegedly been used t...
GOP’s risky proposition: Rebuffing a fossil fuel-friendly climate bill
“From a messaging perspective this is a problem for Republicans,” said Quill Robinson, vice president of government affairs at American Conservation Coalition, a youth conservative environmental group. “If they are criticizing this as the Green New Deal, that puts them in a pretty difficult position because process issues and qualms about some substance won’t get through to young people. A lot of them will see this as Republicans opposing climate legislation.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders have also criticized the partisan process used to pass the bill in the Senate and questioned whether it will effectively reduce global emissions. “The Republican Party shoots itself in the foot and threatens a lot of progress and growth they’ve made on this issue in ...
UNCTAD takes aim at crypto in developing world in a series of critical policy briefs
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a policy brief Wednesday on cryptocurrency. It is the third brief in a row the agency has dedicated to crypto, and together they represent a detailed assessment of the risks crypto presents for developing economies and options for resolving those risks. UNCTAD Policy Brief No. 102, dated July but newly released, argues that although cryptocurrency can facilitate remittances and encourage financial inclusion, it can also undermine domestic resource mobilization in developing economies by enabling tax evasion by hiding the ownership of financial flows and directing them out of the country. The authors of the brief state, “Cryptocurrencies share all the characteristics of traditional tax havens – the pseudonymity of acco...
