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Ripple is helping Bhutan pilot a CBDC
The Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan is partnering with Ripple to pilot a central bank digital currency in the mountainous kingdom. In a Wednesday announcement, Ripple Labs said Bhutan’s central bank would be taking advantage of the company’s private ledger to issue and manage a digital ngultrum. According to Ripple, the move was motivated by the Royal Monetary Authority’s, or RMA’s, effort to improve cross-border payments, expand financial inclusion for its residents, and “extend its commitment to sustainability as the only carbon-negative country in the world.” With a population of roughly 800,000, Bhutan’s gross domestic product amounted to $2.5 billion in 2020. Although many news outlets report on the country’s “gross national happiness” as an alternative to traditional finance...
Here’s why Avalanche, OriginTrail and Coti hardly budged as Bitcoin fell to $40K
Admittedly, the last few days have not been not the most pleasant time for crypto traders as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) price fell short of breaking the $50,000 threshold, then slid to the low-$40,000 range and pulled the majority of altcoins down with it. Despite this sharp downturn, a handful of tokens seemed to do much better than the rest of the market by posting weekly gains in their BTC and U.S. dollar-denominated pairs. Some traders looking to rack up their Bitcoin holdings cannot be bothered to follow an altcoins’ price dynamics against the dollar. For them, BTC slumps like the recent one can be seen as a profit opportunity, but how does one tell what coins are likely to perform well when BTC is on its way down? AVAX: Powered by the news Avalanche (AVAX) has added 28.19% in its dol...
Crypto asset manager Cobo raises $40M to launch DeFi-as-a-service
Digital asset manager Cobo has raised $40 million to advance institutional pathways to decentralized finance products, offering compelling evidence that more Asia-Pacific investors are seeking secure access to the DeFi market. The Series B financing will be used by Cobo to develop the first DeFi-as-a-service, or DaaS, infrastructure, which allows institutions and their customers to access decentralized finance products in a compliant manner, the company announced Wednesday. Specifically, the capital will be deployed to acquire regulatory licenses and ensure that anti-money laundering guidelines are followed on all products. Cobo further explained that DaaS gives institutions more secure exposure to DeFi smart contracts without the need to understand market complexities. T...
Biden to nominate anti-crypto and anti-big bank law professor to run the OCC
The Biden administration reportedly intends to nominate Kazakhstani-American attorney, academic and former policy advisor Saule Omarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) — the institution that oversees the U.S. banking sector. Omarova has levied criticisms at both crypto assets and the legacy banking sector in the past, having once pledged to “end banking as we know it”. She has characterized cryptocurrency as “benefiting mainly the dysfunctional financial system we already have.” According to a Sept. 22 report from Bloomberg citing three anonymous sources “familiar with the nomination process,” Omarova could be nominated as soon as this week. Currently working as a law professor at Cornell University Law School, Omarova is expected to seek tighter regulations for...
Sony US Latin President Alex Gallardo Is Leaning Into Data and Diversifying Deals
Gallardo has been doing that by trying new things, both musically and commercially. Encouraging artists like Rauw Alejandro (“Todo de Ti”), Farruko (“Pepas”) and Camilo (“Kesi”) to venture outside of reggaetón has paid off with the biggest hits of their respective careers. And building out Sony Latin’s business intelligence department — which parses data to help inform A&R, marketing and sales strategies — helped identify Rochy RD’s “Ella No Es Tuya” as it was gaining momentum on Dominican independent label Vulcano Music. The Sony Latin remix hit No. 30 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, and was an even bigger sensation in Spain and South America. With each step, Gallardo is keeping an eye on the future. “As a label, we need to reinvent,” he says. “Nowadays, artists can ...
Lean Latin, Go Global
As Latin music continues to grow, Deep Dive looks at what’s happening now and what’s next, from the current explosion of regional Mexican acts like Grupo Firme to the new wave of stars. Plus: a data-driven look at the top Latin acts globally, and a directory of key labels, bookers, digital marketers and other businesses. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
Crypto Twitter cries foul after noticing NBA star John Wall’s NFT has a Fortnite background
The team behind the design of NBA Houston Rockets player John Wall’s nonfungible token may have ripped off one of the backgrounds directly from the popular online game Fortnite. Wall first announced he planned to release a line of “Baby Baller” nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, on Tuesday to raise $100,000 for charity and the “Ballers community.” However, once he posted a preview of the tokenized artwork on Twitter, social media users were quick to notice that the background appeared to be lifted from Fortnite. The image, available on eason 5 of Fortnite from Epic Games, shows a basketball court adjacent to a building near coconut trees. Though Wall’s preview included one of the Baby Ballers on the court spinning a basketball on his finger, many commented that the artwork was a seemingly lazy a...
Additional compensation available for Cryptsy victims, court notice says
Last week, some former users of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Cryptsy received a notice informing them of a new turn in the ongoing class settlement process. Authorized by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the document states that those who were defrauded in the 2016 collapse of the digital finance platform may be entitled to receive money from additional recovery. Cryptsy was a crypto exchange that went bust in January 2016 following months of user-reported issues with withdrawing funds from the platform. The court later found that Cryptsy founder Paul Vernon had stolen millions of dollars worth of customers’ digital assets before fleeing to China. Later that year, a group of the exchange’s users initiated a class action against the company a...
Altcoins see a 35% bounce after Bitcoin reclaims $43,000
The sharp correction that threatened to pull Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin prices back toward their swing lows appears to have dissipated now that Evergrande has informed investors that it intends to make an on-time payment on its debt. With global markets feeling reassured, major equities, Bitcoin and altcoins prices all saw a rebound at the market open. After a swift drop below $40,000 on Sept. 21, Bitcoin (BTC) now trades above $43,300 and Ether (ETH) has reclaimed the $3,000 level. Altcoins have also seen a strong recovery, with many posting up to 15% gains at the time of writing. Top 7 coins with the highest 24-hour price change. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24 hours were Livepeer (L...
Robinhood confirms crypto wallet feature on app starting in October
Trading app Robinhood has opened up a waitlist to test a crypto wallet for users to hold their tokens. According to a Wednesday blog post, in October Robinhood plans to start testing a digital wallet feature on its app that enables users to send and receive cryptocurrencies. The move may encourage more Robinhood users to use the app for crypto trading, as it currently only allows them to buy crypto with U.S. dollars and trade on the platform — users can’t deposit or withdraw in crypto. Robinhood did not specify which tokens the digital wallet would support, but the app currently provides commission-free trading for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Ethereum Classic (ETC). The company said it planned for the wallets to hav...
Fed signals plan to pull back economic support even as virus looms
The central bank said it’s making progress toward its goals of averaging 2 percent inflation over time and reaching maximum employment. That means the policymakers could start to slow their monthly purchases of U.S. government debt and mortgage-backed securities in November or December. Those bond purchases — totaling a staggering $120 billion a month — are intended to supercharge the central bank’s efforts to keep borrowing costs low while the economy recovers. “The economy has made progress toward these goals,” the Fed statement said. “If progress continues broadly as expected, the Committee judges that a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted.” The Fed’s meeting came amid jitters in the stock market over the past couple of weeks as investors nervously eye ...
Paypal introduces a new all-in-one app that includes crypto
The super app is set to be a one-stop solution for investors with both crypto and non-crypto use cases One of the largest payment processing platforms in the world, PayPal, announced the launch of its new personalised finance app that is aimed at acting as a single destination for users to securely manage and do more with their money. The app, marketed as an introduction to the next era of digital payments, specifically caters to consumers looking to invest and transact in crypto with its high-yield savings services. The inclusion of crypto-based financial services in an app that also caters to traditional financial users can be understood as a motivating sign for the future of mainstream crypto adoption. In a press release yesterday, PayPal revealed that the app would be equipped with new...
