government
Brazilian mayor to reportedly invest 1% of city reserves in Bitcoin
Eduardo Paes, mayor of Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro, wants to allocate 1% of the city’s treasury into Bitcoin (BTC), Cointelegraph Brazil reported. Paes reportedly announced plans for “Crypto Rio,” or turning the city into a cryptocurrency hub during Rio Innovation Week on Thursday, according to a report by local news agency O Globo. The mayor spoke about Rio’s cryptocurrency-related ambitions in a panel with Miami mayor and Bitcoin bull Francis Suarez, who started accepting his paychecks in BTC in November 2021. “We are going to launch Crypto Rio and invest 1% of the treasury in cryptocurrency. The government has a role to play,” Paes reportedly said, adding that the state is also planning to introduce tax exemptions for the industry. The panel also included major Brazilian officials lik...
Indian INX exchange reportedly plans to list Bitcoin futures ETF
Despite the ongoing uncertainty about cryptocurrency regulation in India, local financial firms are backing new ventures aiming to launch Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETF). Torus Kling Blockchain, a joint venture between Cosmea Financial Holding, a financial firm backed by former Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh, and Kling Trading India, is preparing to launch Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) futures ETFs in India, The Economic Times reported Thursday. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with India’s major stock exchange, the India International Exchange (INX), to launch crypto ETFs alongside investment products tracking major metaverse-related companies listed in the United States. According to the report, Torus Kling Blockchain is planning to set up the ETFs in the Gujarat ...
2021: A year of mass adoption for cryptocurrencies in Brazil
Throughout 2021, the Brazilian cryptocurrency market managed to distance itself from the police pages and finally win acceptance with the general public, whether in the financial market or even in the greatest national passion: soccer. Last year, Bitcoin (BTC) acted as a strong alternative to the Brazilian real that ended 2021 by breaking negative records and reaching a devaluation of 6.5% by December, making it the 38th worst currency in the world. In a year of ups and downs for Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency hit a bottom of 167,000 real in January and soared along with global markets to 355,000 real in May. Faced with Bitcoin’s dip, the BRL/BTC pair was stuck below 200,000 reals until August, when it began to rise to a new historic high of 367,000 real on Nov. 8. Faced with the need...
President Biden taps economists for Fed governors’ seats, Sarah Bloom Raskin as vice chair for supervision
The White House has officially tapped former Fed governor Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as the vice chair for supervision for the Federal Reserve, as well as economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to fill two empty seats on its board of governors. In a Friday announcement, U.S. President Joe Biden said he had nominated Cook, an Obama-era economic adviser and Michigan State University faculty member, as well as Jefferson, a former research economist for the Fed, to the board of governors in addition to Raskin. Jefferson and Cook will take two of the vacant seats in the group of seven governors, with Jerome Powell and Lael Brainard nominated to serve as chair and vice-chair, respectively. According to the president, the three nominees have the “experience, judgment and integrity to lead the...
Pakistan’s central bank reportedly wants to ban crypto
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is reportedly seeking to ban all cryptocurrency transactions in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Sindh High Court reportedly held a hearing related to the legal status of cryptocurrencies in the country, in which several Pakistani authorities, including the SBP, submitted a document to the court, arguing that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) are illegal and cannot be used for trade. According to local news channel Samaa TV, the document cited at least 11 countries, including China and Saudi Arabia, that have opted to ban cryptocurrencies. The Pakistani central bank reportedly urged the court not only to ban cryptocurrency activity but also to impose penalties against crypto exchanges. The SBP also referred to several investigations against ...
Russian protest group Pussy Riot seeks to tackle gender inequality in the NFT space
Russian punk rock collective Pussy Riot is planning to launch a DAO for LBTQ+ and women artists. As the group’s co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova told Cointelegraph, the DAO will be working on reducing the gender inequality that still marks the nonfungible token (NFT) space and, more broadly, the crypto industry. Despite the large gender gap in crypto — around 60% of US crypto investors are white men, according to a survey from August 2021 — Nadya is convinced that it is still early enough for Pussy Riot to make an impact. “The NFT space is still so small, I feel that with a good enough effort you can actually change it,” she said. Nadya is already using her follower base to promote the work of women and LGBTQ+ artists and connect them with potential collectors. The DAO will continue doi...
Binance taps former central bank exec to push compliance in CIS and Russia
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is putting more effort into increasing compliance in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russia and Ukraine. Binance is planning to extend its operations in the region and boost local cryptocurrency compliance and education, Gleb Kostarev, head of operations for Russia and the CIS at Binance, told Cointelegraph on Tuesday. The company additionally expects to focus on the local Binance Smart Chain development and community, he noted. As part of the effort, Binance announced several local hires, including Olga Goncharova, Binance’s new director of government relations in Russia and the CIS. Goncharova previously served at the Bank of Russia as director of the bank’s report processing department from 2014. She was responsible for...
UK lawmakers form crypto advocacy group for parliament: Report
Lisa Cameron, a member of parliament for the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, is reportedly chairing a lobbying group aimed at promoting crypto-related legislation in government. According to a Friday report from the Financial Times, members of parliament, as well as members of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, launched the Crypto and Digital Assets Group to ensure rules for the crypto industry in the U.K. “support innovation” as of last week. The cross-party group aims to protect investors from financial crimes, including token scams or offerings from regulated companies. “We are at a crucial time for the sector as global policymakers are also now reviewing their approach to crypto and how it should be regulated,” said Cameron. Palace of Westminster at night. Source: Pexels...
Government Releases Photos Of Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ Album
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Department of Justice / buzzfeed The Hip-Hop community has just gotten a better understanding of one of the most unique Rap releases of all time. The government has released photos of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. Source: Department of Justice / buzzfeed This week BuzzFeed News has acquired some additional visuals from the one of one project that only few people have had the chance to hear. On July 26, 2021 United States Marshals Service auctioned off the release and found it a new home with digital art collective PleasrDAO. With this legally binding transaction a bill of sale had to be prepared detailing the purchase. Along with the paperwork the federal agency visually documented everything related to the release including the je...
President Biden sends CFTC nominations to Senate
The White House has officially submitted President Joe Biden’s nominations to fill two seats at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with the upcoming departure of another commissioner. In a Friday announcement, the White House said it had sent Citi managing director Caroline Pham’s and Summer Mersinger’s names to the Senate for confirmation. Mersinger previously served as chief of staff to commissioner Dawn Stump — who is expected to leave the agency this year — as well as the director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs. She and Pham will be taking the places of recently departed commissioner Dan Berkovitz, whose term expires in April 2023, and that of Stump, with a term ending in April 2027, respectively. The CFTC nominations came the same week the White House...
President Bukele predicts Bitcoin $100k rally, further legal adoption and more
On Jan 2, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele shared five bullish predictions on Bitcoin’s (BTC) performance for the year 2022. Last year, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender under Bukele’s presidency as a countermeasure to the growing inflation in the country. Since legalization, the president acquired 1,370 BTC for the country’s reserve and reinvested its unrealized gains into new infrastructure projects including a hospital and a school. President Bukele predicted that two more countries will join El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender in 2022. In the same year, he expects a bull run that will take BTC price to a new all-time high of $100,000. 2022 predictions on #Bitcoin: •Will reach $100k•2 more countries will adopt it as legal tender•Wil...
How the Democratic Party didn’t stop worrying and fearing crypto in 2021
As 2022 is kicking off, America nears the first anniversary of Joe Biden’s presidency. Following the tenure’s ambitious start, the last few months witnessed some serious tumult around the overall health of the United States economy, the administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the tense debate around Biden’s opus magnum — the $1.7 trillion Build Back Better infrastructure legislation plan. But even as the Democrats’ ability to maintain undivided power after the 2022 midterm elections can raise doubts, the party’s prevailing view of crypto has become more consolidated than ever. The incumbent president’s party will be setting the tone of the regulatory discussion for at least three more years, so a thorough look at the fundamental premises and potential directions of its emer...
