crypto blog
Crypto developers should work with the SEC to find common ground
Regulators are tasked with balancing between protecting consumers and creating environments where entrepreneurs and the private sector can thrive. When markets face distortions, perhaps due to an externality or information asymmetry, regulation can play an important role. But regulation can also stifle entrepreneurship and business formation, leaving society and its people worse off. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has been particularly hostile against cryptocurrency companies and entrepreneurs. For example, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has remarked that he views Bitcoin (BTC) as a commodity but that many other “crypto financial assets have the key attributes of a security.” He reiterated the line in an explosive Aug. 19 op-ed penned for The Wall Street Journal, arguing t...
Crypto market turmoil highlights risks of leverage in trading
Leveraged trading of cryptocurrencies — i.e., trading crypto with borrowed funds — comes with significant risks. This is mainly due to the capricious nature of the market. In May, the cryptocurrency market, which had grown significantly over the past couple of years, recoiled violently following a cascade of negative market events, losing over 50% of its market cap. The pullback, which caused a jarring $2 trillion market wipeout, also exposed some of the market’s biggest weaknesses. One of them was the reckless use of leverage in a market that is historically mercurial. This aspect was recently affirmed by billionaire investor Mike Novogratz. Novogratz, a fierce crusader for the industry at large and a once-ardent supporter of the Terra ecosystem before its downfall. He recently acknowledg...
Bitcoin erases latest gains with BTC price back below $20K as dollar spikes
Bitcoin (BTC) fell back below $20,000 after the Aug. 30 Wall Street open as data showed hodlers selling at a loss. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView June lows look increasingly attractive Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView captured the latest dive below the 2017 bull market peak for BTC/USD, with United States equities dropping in step. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.1% and 1.25% in the first hour, respectively, while BTC/USD shed 2.5% during a single hourly candle. The latest moves came as no surprise to traders already wary of a deeper correction for the largest cryptocurrency. Previously, many had called for a retracement toward the macro lows seen in June. For popular trader Crypto Ed, both Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) offered go...
Ethereum scaling network Arbitrum set for major upgrade on Aug. 31
Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Arbitrum is set to undergo one of its most significant upgrades on Wednesday, set to increase transaction throughput, slash transaction fees and simplify cross-chain communication between Arbitrum and Ethereum. Referred to as the “Nitro” upgrade, Arbitrum reconfirmed the date of the upgrade in a Twitter post on Aug. 29, confirming that the upgrade will take effect on Aug. 31 at 10:30 AM Eastern Time, while noting a two to four hours of network downtime period is to be expected. Reminder — Arbitrum One is upgrading to Nitro on Wednesday 8/31. There will be 2-4 hours of planned network downtime, starting 10:30 AM ET / GMT-4. 2️⃣ days until Nitro! — Arbitrum (@arbitrum) August 29, 2022 Abritrum is an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution that utiliz...
Binance Aus ramping up measures to protect vulnerable users, says CEO
Binance Australia is tightening up its onboarding process for new users as part of a push to protect users it’s flagged as most vulnerable to financial crypto crime. The new measures were mentioned in Binance Australia’s June quarter Economic, Social, and Governance (ESG) report on Aug. 29, which noted that the exchange was working on a “stringent and user-focused onboarding experience” aimed at groups with a higher occurrence of financial crime. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Binance Aus CEO Leigh Travers and Zachary Lu from the exchange’s Financial Crime, Risk and Compliance unit, noted the company has been actively working on ways to protect “vulnerable users” — which starts from the onboarding process. “From the whole financial management perspective, we are really looking at it fr...
Frida Kahlo art finds permanent home in the metaverse
The family of the world-renowned painter Frida Kahlo released never before seen art and memorabilia tied to the artist into the metaverse. The content debuted in a permanent exhibition during the third-annual Metaverse Art Week in Decentraland, held on Aug. 24–28. Metaverse users are now able to experience the art, along with personal anecdotes told by close family members in a digital replica of the “Red House.” The house represents the real-life version of the Red House, owned by the family, which stands in Mexico City. The Red House in Decentraland. Source: Ezel However, in the metaverse version of the Red House, each room represents little-known parts of the artist’s life before her infamous relationship with the Mexican painter Diego Rivera. Luke McFarlane, the co-founder ...
Iranian businesses get the green light to use crypto for imports
Iran’s Industry, Mines and Trade ministry has approved the use of cryptocurrency for imports into the country amid ongoing international trade sanctions. According to local news reports, trade minister Reza Fatemi Amin confirmed that detailed regulations have been approved outlining the use of cryptocurrencies for trade and supplying fuel and electricity to Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto miners in the country. Amin outlined the regulatory change at an automotive industry exhibition on Aug. 28, just a week after the country had placed a first-ever import order for vehicles, to the tune of $10 million, using cryptocurrency as a payment method. The Iranian trade ministry had previously indicated that the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts would be widely used in foreign trade by September ...
South Korean central bank eyes MiCA, says future regulations may allow ICOs again
The South Korean central bank has indicated that initial coin offerings (ICOs) will be allowed under the Digital Assets Framework Act, according to a local news report. That comprehensive legislation is expected to be introduced in 2023 and implemented the following year. The Bank of Korea (BOK) discussed ICOs in comments to a Korean translation of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) legislation released Monday. The BOK stated that the MiCA regulatory package protected users and investors without hindering innovation. “A balanced approach is needed to foster a sound market through the introduction of a crypto asset regulatory system to promote blockchain and crypto asset innovation while not hindering the development of related industries due to excessive regulation,...
Australian regulators rattle their saber as adoption takes a major leap: Law Decoded, Aug. 22–29
Australia’s financial regulator, the Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), has pledged to put crypto assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) firmly in its sights over the next four years. The regulator intends to focus on “digitally enabled misconducts” and to protect investors “from harms posed by crypto-assets.” Given the ASIC’s history of anti-crypto sentiments, such an announcement could be perceived as hostile, but at least it contains a promise to implement some regulatory framework that is still absent. And it is hardly a coincidence that the announcement came only days after Australia’s new ruling government announced plans to move forward with regulation of the crypto sector by conducting a “token mapping” exercise by the end of the year. At the same time, Australia’...
Central African Republic court says new $60,000 citizenship-by-crypto-investment program is unconstitutional
According to Reuters, the Constitutional Court of the Central African Republic (CAR) said on Monday that the purchase of citizenship, e-residency and land using its government-backed Sango digital currency is unconstitutional because a nationality has no market value. Earlier in July, the CAR unveiled its Sango crypto hub to attract global crypto talent and enthusiasts, boost Bitcoin (BTC) adoption and implement new crypto regulatory frameworks. The Sango blockchain is built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, similar to a layer-2 solution. Part of the program includes a citizenship-by-investment program, where foreign nationals can effectively purchase citizenship in the CAR for $60,000 in crypto, with an equivalent amount of Sango tokens held as collateral and returned...
Lawyer Roche alleges statements he made about Ava Labs are false, the result of intoxication
Kyle Roche, the lawyer at the center of allegations made by website Cryptoleaks about a secret agreement between his firm and Ava Labs, responded Monday in a post on Medium. Like Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer, Roche denied the existence of any secret agreement between the parties. Roche claimed that the recordings that have been published on Cryptoleaks’ website were made at the behest of ICP Token creator Dominic Williams. Roche’s firm, Roche Freedman, brought a class action suit against Williams and his Dfinity Foundation last October. Roche said the recordings were heavily edited and he denied the truth of the statements he made in them. According to Roche: “Statements in the video […] are false, and were obtained through deceptive means, including a deliberate scheme to intoxicate, and t...
Why DeFi, GameFi and SocialFi are horizontals in the Metaverse
The future of value creation and exchange will know no national boundaries and jurisdictions. They will all be ecosystem specific. Therefore, all use cases need to be ecosystem-specific. The future for DeFi, GameFi and SocialFi may be embedded. But, this embedding can only be implemented in a well-oiled ecosystem. The Metaverse that brings these user functions together will not only have experiential elements but also utilitarian and gamification elements. For instance, a metaverse in which DeFi can be applicable will need to have opportunities for microtransactions. A metaverse in which SocialFi can be embedded will need to have an ecosystem that has creators and consumers contributing, being compensated and acknowledged for these contributions. Let us now look at what we could see as emb...
