According to Beijing Business Today, Shandong’s capital city Jinan recently facilitated a digital yuan entrepreneurial guarantee loan in the province and launched the online system “Ji Dan – Entrepreneurial Loan” to streamline access to capital for small businesses.

Shandong Pioneered in Digital Yuan Loans

The loan, capped at 200,000 yuan (~$28,000), was the first to benefit startup companies in Shandong. Previously, China Construction Bank’s Shanghai branch partnered with the Shanghai Data Exchange and issued the first data asset pledge loan.

As China proceeded with implementing central bank digital currency (CBDC) applications, digital yuan has demonstrated its advantages regarding business operation and lending services. The transactions would process especially fast and showcase the unique feature of traceability.

National Committee Members Advocate for CBDC

During the ongoing 2024 National People’s Congress and the Chinese Political Consultative Conference, the digital currency was a hot topic among delegates and members, leading to various suggestions for its further application and integration into China’s economy.

Delegates proposed the phased implementation of the CBDC, emphasizing its legal tender status and voluntary use. Clarification of the relationship between digital yuan, cash, and bank deposits was suggested to ensure a smooth exchange mechanism.

For instance, Yuan Xiaobin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the management committee of Zhonghao Law Firm, emphasized the importance of delineating the relationships among digital yuan, cash, and bank deposits and ensuring a seamless conversion process.

Further, the conference saw recommendations for expanding the e-CNY‘s application in international trade and cross-border capital flows.

Zhou Chunling, the chairman of Heilongjiang Yong’an Group, pointed out the potential role of the digital yuan as a significant currency for international transactions and reserves.

Zhou suggested allowing digital yuan accounts to interconnect with foreign banks for easy conversions and usage through mobile and computer applications, aiming to encourage the adoption of the yuan in international dealings.

The post China’s Shandong Province Introduces Digital Yuan Loan for Entrepreneurs appeared first on Cryptonews.

In an effort to address the immediate challenges posed by the current market conditions, BA Labs, a key member of the MakerDAO Stability Advisory Council, submitted a comprehensive proposal on March 9 to increase various fees related to the DAI stablecoin.

The latest Executive Vote has just been approved.

→ https://t.co/oIY1JBtLuq

As a result, the following changes will be implemented within the Maker Protocol on March 10, 2024, at 19:55 UTC.

• Stability Fees for various collateral assets, including ETH and WBTC vaults, will… pic.twitter.com/UNUejjv8iI

— Maker (@MakerDAO) March 8, 2024

Proposed MakerDAO Rate System Adjustment

“Given the current market conditions, BA-Labs is proposing protocol parameter changes as part of a predefined accelerated governance process in the language of the Atlas,” said BA Labs.

The proposal by BA Labs included a significant increase in the DAI Savings Rate (DSR) from 5% to 15%, along with targeted stability fee raises for key vault types such as ETH-A, from 6.41% to 15.25%, and WBTC-A, from 6.68% to 16.75%.

“The DSR is an additional lever MakerDAO can utilize the DSR to make holding DAI more attractive, which in turn increases DAI demand, and ultimately alleviates the downward pressure of the DAI price,” said BA Labs.

Additionally, the post suggested reducing the Governance Security Module (GSM) Delay from 48 to 16 hours and adjusting the Peg Stability Module (PSM)-USDC-A DC-IAM ttl from 24 to 12 hours, streamlining governance and enhancing DAI’s stability framework.

“The fundamentals backing DAI remain solid, and this accelerated governance proposal is crafted in order to avoid potential short-term liquidity crunches,” stated BA Labs.

In the past week, the total supply of DAI has decreased from about 5 billion to 4.38 billion. This reduction was primarily attributed to volatile crypto market conditions, with increasing rates, and users creating and then selling DAI in exchange for different assets.

Community Shares Positive Responses

Community members have demonstrated agreement responding to the forum post, supporting listed changes.

As the Reserve Governance Facilitator, JanSky recognized the legitimacy of the proposal and said that the team were “working on implementing these recommendations and will provide updates as soon as they are available.”

The Stability Facilitator Ecosystem Team also approved the Accelerated Proposal for an executive vote.

Some other community contributors, including GFX Labs, seconded the purpose and direction of the proposal but rebutted the DSR increase, urging more gradual changes.

The post MakerDAO Approves Emergency Fee Hikes in Response to DAI Stability Concerns appeared first on Cryptonews.

Unnamed financial sector officials said on March 10 that K Bank’s board of directors has signed off on the move.

The goal bank now reportedly has the “goal of listing on the South Korean KOSPI stock market within the year.”

K Bank – A South Korean Crypto Success Story?

Per the news outlet Viva100, the firm is banking on “expected benefits” from a “recent increase in interest in Bitcoin” among crypto-keen South Korean retail investors.

K Bank provides “real-name” banking services (fiat on/off ramps) to Upbit, the nation’s biggest crypto exchange.

During the coronavirus pandemic, this partnership proved a huge success, as K Bank was the only platform that allowed new users to register for accounts online.

Crypto accounts have proved popular ever since, with Upbit-linked accounts still making up a large part of the bank’s revenues.

K Bank has seen a rapid rise in customer registrations during previous BTC bull markets. The bank appears confident of a further increase as Bitcoin continues to break all-time price records.

The media outlet noted that a new CEO, the digital finance expert Choi Woo-hyung, has recently taken over at K Bank, fostering a “positive internal and external environment for IPO preparation.”

More South Korean Crypto Firms to Launch IPOs?

The media outlet claimed the neobank reached out to “major securities companies” earlier this year.

In February the bank reportedly “selected NH Investment & Securities, KB Securities, and the Bank of America (BofA) as preferred negotiation partners.”

The outlet also claimed that the bank has begun an “internal recruitment process” as it forms a dedicated “IPO team.”

A previous bid to take the bank public in South Korea ended in disappointment. K Bank passed a preliminary KOSPI listing screening test while pursuing an IPO bid in 2022.

However, the bank was derailed by a 2022 stock market slump. The sluggish market forced it to effectively shelve its plans in February 2023.

South Korean stocks are undervalued compared to many of their peers. Now the government is trying to fix the "Korea Discount" by making company boards more accountable to shareholders https://t.co/HQphLNY7lh

— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) March 6, 2024

But K Bank surpassed the 10 million customers mark at the end of February 2024, as the BTC price began to rise. The media outlet wrote:

“The average number daily of new customers this year increased more than three times as fast as last year. The recent upward trend in Bitcoin is also acting as a positive factor for the K Bank [IPO bid].”

In 2021, during the last BTC bull market, K Bank posted revenues of $22.2 million in commission income from Upbit-linked accounts.

The Bank of Korea’s policy board is about to lose all of its early inflation fighters, adding uncertainties to forthcoming efforts to tamp down price pressure, a former policy director said https://t.co/cWrDp7ngMg

— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) March 5, 2024

Late last year, Upbit’s closest rival Bithumb unveiled plans to launch its own IPO bid. With retail investors returning to the market in force, the trading platform and its bid will likely be buoyed as BTC prices continue to climb.

At the hight of the 2021 BTC bull market boom, South Korean market analysts claimed that the Upbit operator Dunamu was planning to follow Coonbase onto the New York Stock Exchange.

The post South Korea’s Crypto-keen K Bank Aims for IPO Amid BTC Boom appeared first on Cryptonews.

Goldman Sachs responded to this price rally by increasing the price target for COIN stock from $170 to $282.

Has the Crypto Boom Lifted All Boats?

This adjustment reflects the firm’s acknowledgment of the market-neutral strategy amid the current cryptocurrency boom, where portfolio managers seek to profit from market movements regardless of direction.

The investment bank credited the crypto market uptrend for the recent skyrocketing performance of stocks.

“While we still see limited use cases of crypto at present, the ‘beta’ to the price action has significantly outweighed any alpha from not seeing an acceleration in retail adoption over time,” said Will Nance of Goldman Sachs.

While Coinbase’s positive performance is evident, a closer look into similar stocks of companies heavily invested in Bitcoin reveals a related trend.

Bitcoin-related companies like Marathon and Microstrategy, listed on NASDAQ, have also experienced a surge in their stock prices since Bitcoin began to gain momentum.

Of the companies that have benefited from Bitcoin’s price surge, Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy is currently the most prominent.

Saylor’s bet on holding a sizable amount of Bitcoin was a “great” financial decision, with MicroStrategy currently being the 347th most valuable company in the U.S.

MicroStrategy is now the 347th largest public company in the US. #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/SpKe6N9p8s

— Bold Bitcoin (@BoldBitcoin) March 5, 2024

Notably, MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) stock price has grown by 132.70% in the last month, while COIN has witnessed a 94.06% increase within the same period. Marathon(MARA), which currently trades at $23.45, saw the least growth in the past month, realizing a relatively meager 8.67% uptick.

The price charts for these stocks affirm the correlation between the stock trends and the Bitcoin boom.

Coinbase Price Reaction Muted Despite Upgrade

Despite Goldman Sachs’s shift to a bullish stance and the positive indicators outlined in their report, Coinbase’s share price stayed relatively unchanged in premarket trading.

COIN’s stock has been experiencing a muted reaction, suggesting that the market might still be neutral to the company’s positive developments.

Some developments expected to have more than a neutral effect on COIN stock include the Bitcoin price surge.

Other effects, such as the increase in daily trading volumes driven by retail participation and Coinbase’s focus on profitability through increased revenue, market share maintenance, expense control, and the benefit of higher interest rates, can not be overlooked either.

Coinbase has been experiencing never-before-seen trading traffic on its platform since the start of the Bitcoin rally.

JUST IN: Coinbase says "some users may experience increased latency" and see intermittent balances of $0. pic.twitter.com/opVGB03Dox

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) March 4, 2024

The Coinbase app has crashed twice within a week, an occurrence last witnessed in the 2021 bull run. A new case of crashing was also reported today after Bitcoin set a new all-time high of $70,000

The post Goldman Sachs Upgrades Coinbase to Neutral as Bitcoin Prices Rally appeared first on Cryptonews.

In a March 8 statement to Bloomberg, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed it still expects to receive Kwon within U.S. borders, despite a high court decision overturning those plans.

The Do Kwon Extradition Battle

“The United States continues to seek Kwon’s extradition in accordance with relevant international and bilateral agreements and Montenegrin law,” the Justice Department wrote. “The United States appreciates the cooperation of the Montenegrin authorities in ensuring that all individuals are subject to the rule of law.”

On the other hand, South Korea is also ramping up efforts to get Kwon extradited. On Thursday, the National Police Agency of South Korea sent a letter to the Secretariat of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) requesting aid in extraditing Kwon from a Montenegro jail.

This followed a High Court ruling earlier this week that revoked a prior ruling to extradite the crypto mogul to the United States, given misinformation about the order in which South Korea and the U.S. filed their petitions. Before this, the U.S. extradition had been approved twice by a lower court.

Both nations are seeking out Kwon on charges related to his now-defunct Terra blockchain, an algorithmic stablecoin network whose spectacular blowup wiped out $44 billion of investor value in May 2022. Contagion around the blowup triggered more high-profile collapses at firms like Three Arrows Capital, Celsius, and FTX.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has since slapped Kwon with a litany of charges for deliberately defrauding investors, including by selling the platform’s native LUNA token as an unregistered security.

A Preference For South Korea

An extradition to South Korea would be a win for Kwon, the country being a preference among Kwon’s lawyers, and more likely to offer him a lighter punishment.

According to Terrence Yang, Managing Director at Swan Bitcoin, extradition to South Korea would be a “travesty” for victims seeking proper justice.

“The US probably has the largest number of victims by both number and dollar amount,” Yang said. “It seems a bit ridiculous for the Montenegro court to extradite Do Kwon to South Korea, where he might get acquitted or a comically light sentence as opposed to the United States.”

A U.S. court has already convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried of multiple counts of fraud, for which he will potentially face decades behind bars.

A group of South Korean Terra investors have also called for Kwon to be extradited to the U.S. where they say he will face “proper punishment.”

The post Do Kwon Extradition To South Korea Challenged Again By U.S. Prosecutors appeared first on Cryptonews.

As Axios reported, the bill is supported by positive feedback from stakeholders, including the Treasury and the New York Department of Financial Services, who have offered technical assistance to the Senate bill.

Addressing Risks and Scepticism

Lummis is widely regarded as a pro-Bitcoin lawmaker. The Senator has called for a deeper integration of the digital asset into the government’s daily workings. She’s also a HODLer who racked up a considerable amount of BTC in 2021.

Despite her Bitcoin support, however, the Senator has harbored reservations about stablecoins like Tether. She has led the call for the Department of Justice to consider filing criminal charges against Tether and Binance for their alleged connections to illicit financing.

This was made in the wake of the terrorist group Hamas’ attack on Israel. The Senator also does not support central bank digital currencies or CBDCs.

She’s taken a hard-core position on the state-controlled digital assets, tagging them as “anti-democratic” and “a means of financial censorship.”

1) The Fed cannot introduce a CBDC without congressional approval

2) A CBDC is anti-democratic and a means of financial censorship

3) Now onward to outlawing a CBDC in America https://t.co/K7Z7wJQGC5

— Cynthia Lummis (@CynthiaMLummis) March 7, 2024

The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, has kept silent on whether or not the US will adopt a CBDC, but he has explained that the country is nowhere near creating one. At the hearing, he commented before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Stablecoins, with a market value of around $150 billion, have often been viewed as potential threats to American anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism regulations.

Senators Lummis and Gillibrand’s proposed legislation is considered one of the pieces that will be more likely to pass Congress.

For months, they have been working on legislation that will provide regulatory clarity around stablecoins while safeguarding consumers against bad actors.

Discussions continue with the House Financial Services Committee as proposed legislation seeks to balance federal and state authorities. The introduction and referral are submitted directly to a Senate Committee for approval.

Stablecoin and CBDC Discussions Ongoing outside the US

Stablecoins have become an indispensable link between traditional finance and crypto assets.

The cryptocurrencies are designed to maintain a stable value that pegs to fiat currencies such as USD or EUR. The coins act as a bridge to mitigate volatility while keeping traders’ and investors’ money readily available to deploy into other crypto assets.

Asset backing is one of the key mechanisms enabling stablecoins, as many stablecoins are backed by fiat currencies at a 1:1 ratio.

This theoretically guarantees a stablecoin’s price stays constant while offering redemption of those underlying assets.

Due to this stability, stablecoins have become an attractive option for many applications.

As the US delays its decision on stablecoin regulation and CBDC launch, other countries have surged ahead.

In the UK, there’s a coordinated effort among the regulators to allow CBDCs and stablecoins to coexist.

The regulators are the HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Bank of England (BoE).

Despite these coordinations, the BoE is still in an exploratory phase and has yet to decide when it plans to implement the CBDC.

Today, we respond to the digital pound consultation. We are grateful to those who contributed. With @HMTreasury work continues to explore a digital pound in the design phase, but no decision has been made to issue one.

You can read our response here: https://t.co/h4GsMkuOpd pic.twitter.com/IwN58h7rNf

— Bank of England (@bankofengland) January 25, 2024

Should they move forward with the digital pound, also known as Britcoin, the regulators expect to launch the CBDC no earlier than 2025.

Across the world, many countries are running a pilot CBDC program to study digital currency, including China’s e-yuan.

There’s a new push for wholesale CBDCs in Hong Kong as well, while the Philippines central bank expects the country’s wholesale CBDC pilot program to be completed by the end of the year.

The post Pro-Bitcoin Senator Cynthia Lummis Leads Push for Stablecoin Regulation: A Look at the Bill and Its Impact appeared first on Cryptonews.

Chatting with Cryptonews Podcast host Matt Zahab, the CEO talked about finding Ethereum, mining on its genesis block, selling ETH, and getting into Radix.

Ridyard told us about the project’s key principles, and how it goes above and beyond to keep users’ funds safe.

In this interview, Ridyard discussed:

• the founding story of Radix DLT;
• Y Combinator’s secret sauce: setting the tone and levelling up in business;
• Radix having a much simpler coding language than other blockchains;
• Radix as a game engine for DeFi: it is significantly quicker to build applications on;
• how Radix Wallet improves crypto user experience.

Piers Ridyard gave a wide-ranging exclusive interview, which you can watch above – or you can read a part of it below.

Wild Ride Through Smart Contracts and Y Combinator

Ridyard started the interview with his background. Notably, he described his experience with Y Combinator as “a wild ride.”

First, he entered the Ethereum community very early and got very interested in smart contracts.

At the time, smart contracts were a new thing in the space, and everybody wondered what they could create. Ridyard finds that most of these ideas will come true, it’s just a matter of timing.

But he had something specific in mind:

“One of the things that I thought – it was an obvious use case for smart contracts – was insurance.”

Ridyard started “playing around” with this idea of automatic insurance. Having no knowledge about insurance, he first reached out to “a bunch of” insurance companies to understand their problem set.

He talked to them about blockchain, and they told him about insurance. “So I ended up speaking with a bunch of the senior people in some of the biggest insurance companies in London.”

However, the crypto sector was very different at the time and was ultimately not equipped to facilitate automatic insurance. Specifically, there were no stablecoins.

They could only use ETH as collateral, and that wouldn’t work, he said.

Meanwhile, Ridyard learned from the insurance companies that their sector was a slow, manual, disorganized “mess.”

Soon, he began the process of product discovery and came up with the idea of Surematics: a way of creating smart contract-based deals around large syndicated insurance deals.

It would enable the control of the programmatic flow of money, creating criteria for insurance, and more.

He went on to apply for Y Combinator. And Surematics got in.

Y Combinator taught him that,

“There can be a million excuses, but if you want to be successful, this is what you have to achieve. Either you’re going to move heaven and earth to achieve that, or you’re not going to be as successful as you could be, and that’s your choice. We’re not going to give you shit for not doing it, we’re just going to be like, this is the bar and this is what you need to get to. And that changed my perspective from that point forward.”

And at the same time, Ridyard “started playing around” with other blockchain technologies because he had realized that Ethereum had a number of issues.

He soon discovered this new platform called Radix and became friends with its founder Dan Hughes. He then decided to build Surematics on top of Radix.

Why should you apply to YC?https://t.co/jMbniHoJK4 pic.twitter.com/NBDxvlqkwf

— Y Combinator (@ycombinator) April 4, 2023

Mining On the Genesis Block

In July 2015, Ethereum created its “genesis block,” i.e. the first block in a blockchain.

Ridyard was one of those mining on the Genesis Block. More precisely, he had already set up the mining equipment before the Ethereum mainnet launch.

He stated that,

“I think we probably mined maybe in the top 50 blocks, something like that. And so it was a really weird entrance into crypto for me because it started from a point of complete skepticism.”

When he first learned about Ethereum from a friend, he wondered if either of them should invest. Ultimately he told his friend it was a scam and not to buy it.

However, Ethereum started testnet mining a few months later, and “I was like, oh shit, I’ve taken a completely wrong view on this.”

Following some intensive research, he realized that they “just need a bunch of GPUs.”

Notably, before he got into crypto, Ridyard had manufactured consumer electronics for the Apple market. So mining was “right in my wheelhouse.”

They bought “a bunch of hardware” and started mining on the testnet. And then they simply continued mining on the mainnet.

“And we were mining sequential blocks at many points where we would win a block, and then we’d win the next block. And that’s how low the computing power was at the time.”

Ridyard was there for many of Ethereum’s firsts.

Following his mining entry, he got into smart contracts, invested in the first decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), known for The DAO hack, and was there during the debates about whether or not Ethereum should fork.

Meanwhile, he sold most of the mined ETH.

“I think we mined 10,000 ETH in about three months. But the irony of it was if we’d taken the money that we’d spent on hardware and just bought Ethereum, we would have done about 5X better than we did through mining.”

That said, Ridyard wanted to buy his first house, and he had enough money from mining to make a deposit.

There appeared another irony. This one hurt. It took six months to close on the house. By that time, he could have bought the house in cash.

On the other hand, he had put his ETH in various wallets. When he opened one of them previously holding about $300-500 in ETH, he found it reached $20,000.

“I think the thing that I learned from that is never sell your moon bag,” Ridyard said. “Always make sure that you’re always holding something. But yeah, Ethereum has definitely treated me well.”

Today marks the 8th anniversary since the Ethereum genesis block.

One of the most significant moments in crypto so far.

Happy birthday to Ethereum! pic.twitter.com/rKezCxTZWl

— Binance (@binance) July 30, 2023

The Core of Radix

Ridyard noted that the technology of Radix excited him “way more” than the application of insurance.

The three things that make the core of Radix, and that the team delivered, are scalability, developer experience and tools, and user experience.

The company took a thorough approach, thinking:

“Let’s take a bit more time, and let’s actually work with developers to get to the point where you have a programming language that feels really intuitive for doing the things in Web3 that make sense”.

Therefore, they spent about two years talking to about a thousand developers.

They knew that the syntax had to be “super easy” as well.

The team kept iterating until they got it to the point where “developers are just getting it immediately” once they went through the documentation.

“They spend an hour going through it. And they’re like, I understand how to build Uniswap, I understand how to build Aave.”

That’s when they released the programming language at the end of 2019. It has grown “incredibly well” since.

They also worked thoroughly on what the user experience (UX) paradigm needed to look like.

The team wanted to shift the way people think about wallets. It’s not just a place where they keep their money – it’s their portal to Web3. It’s how they interact with Web3.

“And without it, without that making sense, you are in a situation where consumers can’t use it,” Ridyard argued.

Step One: Download the Radix Wallet

You can download the wallet from here, following the steps highlighted on the page https://t.co/YQVhNz1q73

— Radix – Radically Different DeFi (@radixdlt) March 7, 2024

No Nonsense on Radix

Radix is seen as a no-rug-pull, no-nonsense place.

But Ridyard stressed that it’s always possible to rug pull someone.

The point is to assume that everyone at every level of the stack is malicious – to make sure that everything acts on the minimum trust possible and the maximum user information possible.

This leads to two key actions:

• put as many guards up;
• make sure that every interaction is human-readable so that users know what they’re signing.

What Radix offers is transparency that ensures more security. Users can see in their wallets the information about the token type issued to them.

People behind tokens are not able to hide the rules associated with the token, Ridyard said, and added:

“You can’t stop people from scamming, but you can make it a lot harder to scam a user into doing something that they don’t consent to because all of the information is available to the user.”

Furthermore, Radix doesn’t allow project makers to “present an action as one thing” and get the users to approve something else.

What you see in your wallet is the action that you signed to happen on the ledger, said Ridyard, adding:

“And once you signed it, no one can play with it.”

Therefore, somebody can’t commit a rug pull via something that looks like Uniswap, for example. Radix shows users if they are not actually interacting with the genuine Uniswap application.

Also, there is always a guarantee. For example, when a user clicks to confirm a transaction and it fails, the smart contract built by the app enforces the swap guarantees.

But “if you’re with a naughty one, then they’re just going to take your tokens.” Radix doesn’t allow that. The guarantees are then enforced at the ledger level.

“So even if I signed it, they couldn’t steal my money, because for the transaction to succeed, they would have to return to me the minimum guarantee that the transaction was enforcing in the first place. And if it can’t, then the transaction fails,” Ridyard concluded.

This is not just another year for Radix; it's the year everything changes.

The question of "wen" for too long was answered with "soon."

The days of "soon" are over. The answer is "now."

Get ready for #Breakout2024 https://t.co/OkPWD8j93I pic.twitter.com/JV5vkgjQmo

— Radix – Radically Different DeFi (@radixdlt) March 7, 2024

__________

About Piers Ridyard

Piers Ridyard is the CEO of Radix DLT – a decentralized network that will enable developers to build quickly without the constant threat of exploits and hacks.

Radix will reward improvements and will ensure that scale is never a bottleneck.

Ridyard also founded and exited Surematics, a Y Combinator company, and was mining on the genesis block of Ethereum in July 2015.

He graduated from the University of Manchester and the University of Law and has a CFA level 1.

The post Piers Ridyard, CEO of Radix DLT, on The Future of Web3, Wallets, Account Abstraction, and Creating the Game Engine for DeFi | Ep. 315 appeared first on Cryptonews.

Central bank Deputy Governor for Payments and Currency Management Mamerto Tangonan told a press briefing Wednesday: “For CBDC… our timeline for that is to complete the pilot this year, towards the end of this year.”

He called the pilot a “learning exercise […] to assess whether this technology is what, itself, claims to be.” He added: “So we are piloting it, testing it with the six other domestic financial institutions.”

The six financial institutions involved are BDO Unibank Inc., China Banking Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, Union Bank of the Philippines, and Maya Philippines Inc.

“We are using it to transfer funds among these financial institutions,” he explained. “But we also like to see if this wholesale CBDC can be used for higher value-adding services like securities settlement.”

He then gave a compelling vision of a Philippines with more democratized access to securities and similar investment instruments, “meaning they could be purchased for smaller issue sizes and much much lower fees so that any Juan or Maria cannot only dream but actually own securities.”

The Philippines in Recent Crypto News

In February, the BSP Governor Eli Remolona in an interview disclosed details about the Philippino CBDC project. He said it would not be on a blockchain but on a private payment and settlement system owned by the bank.

Remelona also revealed that it would be a wholesale CBDC (wCBDC), meaning that it would not be available to retail anywhere else than through banks, the licensed intermediaries, for use in wholesale transactions. He added that the idea is to build a system where the CBDC complements cash.

Remolona listed potential issues with retail CBDCs as disintermediation, bank runs during financial stress, and magnifying the central bank’s footprint.

Just yesterday, the Philippine National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) began blocking unlicensed crypto platforms in the country in line with a directive issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For now, Binance remains accessible, although SEC Chairman Emilio Aquino said the Commission will eventually block Binance after the regulator has managed an internal “transition”. An official statement from the Commission itself said it needed more time to analyze the ramifications of blocking Binance and prepare accordingly. 

Broadly speaking, the Philippines is grappling with crypto cautiously. As with other countries, the technological convenience of crypto is what’s really winning regulators and lawmakers over.

Last year, the country’s Bureau of the Treasury announced plans to issue at least 10 billion pesos (approximately $180 million) worth of one-year tokenized Treasury bonds on a blockchain system.

The post Philippine Central Banker Unveils Project Agila: A Leap into wCBDC Pilot appeared first on Cryptonews.

__________

Why is crypto up today?

The crypto market is seeing another green day.

Total crypto market capitalization is up 2.6% in 24 hours to $2.69 trillion.

The large majority of the top 100 coins are up today, according to CoinGecko.

As for the top 10 coins, only two are down, and barely so.

Cardano (ADA) and XRP both dropped 0.3% in the past day. At the time of writing, the former traded at $0.7335 and the latter at $0.6235.

BNB and Dogecoin (DOGE) went back to being the top gainers. BNB’s price appreciated 9% to $471. DOGE went up 6.6% to $0.1636.

Bitcoin (BTC) increased 0.6%, trading at $67,194. At the same time, Ethereum (ETH) was up 3.7% to $3,940.

Lastly, Solana (SOL) and Lido Staked Ether (STETH) saw increases of 3.2% to $145 and 3.7% to $3,936, respectively.

Meanwhile, as reported, the current wave of enthusiasm hints at an optimistic “Bitcoin price prediction.” There is a potential for substantial market impact and wider cryptocurrency adoption.

Travala.com unveiled a Bitcoin cashback program, offering a 10% incentive for its Smart Diamond tier users.

Furthermore, recent wallet data revealed Tesla’s ownership of 11,509 Bitcoin, more than initially disclosed. This has sparked speculation about the electric vehicle giant possibly ramping up its Bitcoin investment.

At the same time, the memecoin sector has surged over 80%, outperforming AI tokens.

400% Surge in Interest for AI Tokens

A recent report from crypto exchange Bitget showed a “significant growth” in February in investors’ interest in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.

Per the research, the growth was largely driven by OpenAI’s launch of its Sora model, which saw “considerable” market interest. Sora is paving the way for growth in the AI sector in 2024.

Moreover, Bitget’s AI zone witnessed a “remarkable” 400% surge in trading volume.

The average daily number of traders went up by 80% in February.

Furthermore, the average market capitalization in the AI zone increased by 77% since January.

Additionally, there was a “more significant” increase between February 15 and February 29.

The number of daily trading users in the AI zone went up 179%. The trading volume was up by 480%.

AI concept coins like Worldcoin (WLD), Livepeer (LPT), and Arkham (ARKM) lead the way, with the AI market projected to exceed a valuation of $1.8 trillion by 2030, said the report.

Per the report,

“The shift in investor behavior and market trends reflect the constant search for affordable assets with low entry barriers, high-value potential, and significant gains.”

As of March, WLD token trades for about 350% more than when it was listed in 2023. LPT and ARKM have grown by nearly 140% and over 100%, respectively, since they launched.

Also, Bitget data shows that the top AI and Big Data related coins had a market cap of over $30 billion on March 5.

Moreover, Nvidia’s Q4 financial report showed its earnings exceeded expectations, reaching $22.10 billion.

“The company’s success can be attributed to the AI boom, driving a further rise in the demand for AI concept coins,” said the report.

Meanwhile, Bitget announced that its user base exceeded 25 million. Its platform token BGB surpassed the $1 mark in February 2024.

Turkey, Thailand, and Argentina’s Crypto Ownership Rate in 2023 Was Double That of the US and Europe

Turkey, Thailand, and Argentina had the highest crypto ownership rate in 2023. It was almost twice as high as the rates in the US or European countries, according to data presented by AltIndex.com.

The Global 2024 Digital Overview Report found that Turkey has been at the top of the global crypto ownership chart for years.

Last year, 21.7% of the country’s internet users aged 16 to 64 owned some form of crypto, a survey showed. This is nearly 10% more than in the US or India. It’s also 14% more than the global average.

Thailand ranked second with 19.5% of internet users who owned a digital currency last year. This is only 2% more than Argentina.

Moreover, Brazil and South Africa rank in the top five countries, with 17.1% and 16.8%, respectively.

Meanwhile, India, though the largest and fastest-growing crypto nation, ranked 16^th on the global crypto ownership rate chart.

Some 13% of Indian internet users aged 16 to 64 owned a cryptocurrency last year.

At the same time, the US is the world’s second-largest crypto nation, yet it ranked 18^th.

In 2023, 12.8% of American survey respondents owned cryptos. This is above the global average of 9.7%.

Per the report,

“Crypto adoption remains mostly a non-Western trend.”

Internet users from countries in Africa, Asia, and South America were most likely to own or use cryptos in 2023, statistics said. They have “a much higher ownership rate than Western countries.”

The UK, as one of the top crypto markets in terms of revenue, recorded 8.3% of respondents having crypto last year. This is nearly three times less than Turkey.

Germany and Spain were also below the global average, with some 8% of respondents saying they used and owned cryptos in 2023. Canada saw 9.3% of crypto owners last year.

Meanwhile, China, Russia, Ghana, and Morocco stood low on the global crypto ownership list.

3.6% of Chinese internet users owned cryptocurrency, 1% more than in Russia.

Ghana and Morocco saw 2.1% and 1.3%, respectively.

Crypto ownership rate in 2023: percentage of internet users aged 16-64 who owned crypto last year.

Mining Stocks About to Pump?

While Bitcoin set an all-time high this week after more than 840 days, mining stocks “remained on the sidelines,” according to the recent Miner Weekly report by BlocksBridge Consulting.

Bitcoin started this year at some $42,000 and gained 50% year-to-date as of March 6.

Compared to BTC, mining stocks “largely underperformed,” except for CleanSpark. It matched up with the coin’s rally.

However, it is noticeable that “none of the mining stocks is even close to the highs” they set around November 8, 2021 when BTC touched $69,000.

Nearly every mining stock is down more than 60% compared to their November 2021 highs, the report found.

This may be the result of investors rotating to spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The difference is that they can now get a direct exposure to BTC and not use mining stocks as a proxy.

That said, per the report,

“They could rotate back into mining stocks seeking higher volatility once the bull market signal becomes too obvious to stay on the sidelines.”

Meanwhile, historical trading data shows that mining stocks have lagged behind BTC’s push to all-time high before.

For example, in December 2017, the coin hit $19,500 for the first time. It didn’t return to that level until December 2020.

There were only five public mining stocks in North America between those two highs: Marathon, Riot, Hut 8, HIVE, and Bitfarms.

“They all underperformed compared to bitcoin at the time. What’s interesting, though, is what happened in the year afterward.”

The coin surged again in December 2020, hitting the ATH in November 2021.

Yet, “during those 11 months, the five mining stocks that existed before December 2020 all managed to outrun bitcoin by notable margins.”

Therefore, if there is another bull run, history may repeat itself, said the report.

However, additional factors this time include the existence of spot ETFs and BTC touching its ATH even before the halving.

The post What’s Happening In Crypto Today? Daily Crypto News Digest appeared first on Cryptonews.

During the hearing, Powell elaborated on the Fed’s current stance on CBDCs, emphasizing that while the concept is under study, the implementation of a digital dollar is not on the horizon.

“The last thing we would want — we, the Federal Reserve, would want — would be to have individual accounts for all Americans, or any Americans for that matter,” stated Powell.

“Only banks have accounts at the Fed and that’s the way we’re going to keep it,” said Powell. “People don’t need to worry about a central bank digital currency. Nothing like that is remotely close to happening anytime soon.”

Powell informed the committee that if the Fed were to explore a digital dollar, it would work with banks to manage accounts, strictly avoiding any form of direct government monitoring of individual transactions.

“We would never entertain the idea of having government accounts that allow us to see all your transactions. That’s simply not something we would support, do, or even propose in the United States,” claimed Powell.

GOP Senators Oppose CBDCs

The privacy of the U.S. citizens has been the primary concern of the lawmakers who have attempted to prevent the issuance of the digital dollar.

In February, Republican Senators introduced a bill intended to ban Fed-backed CBDCs. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) shared his concerns over the “programmable money.”

Cruz, GOP senators double down on anti-central bank digital currency legislation.https://t.co/IPUgLoIXHz

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 27, 2024

“Programmable money that, if not designed to emulate cash, could give the federal government … significant transaction-level data down to the individual user,” stated Cruz.

Fed Hints Cautious Approach Towards Rate Cuts

Regarding the most anticipated rate cuts, Powell indicated that the central bank is nearing the assurance required to begin reducing interest rates.

“We’re waiting to become more confident that inflation is moving sustainably at 2%,” said Powell. “When we do get that confidence — and we’re not far from it — it’ll be appropriate to begin to dial back the level of restriction.”

The post Fed Chair Jerome Powell Addresses Concerns Over CBDCs, Prioritizes Privacy appeared first on Cryptonews.

Rachel Conlan, Chief Marketing Officer at Binance, calls the campaign as “bold, distinctive, and deliberately disruptive.” She added that “it’s a message to women that they have a significant role to play in the crypto revolution.”

There’s still not enough women in crypto.

We've launched our new fragrance ‘CRYPTO’ as a new way to open up conversations with the public on what needs to be done to bridge the gender gap.

Find out more https://t.co/z2ICGrhSnC pic.twitter.com/LDTtLWME4o

— Binance (@binance) March 6, 2024

Binance’s marketing department noted that the core reason for the release of a crypto scent is “to encourage more women to learn and explore the world of cryptocurrency.”

With the release, Binance plans to reward incentives to initial 5000 women that complete beginner course on Binance Academy. Each successful grads will get $25 in USDT token vouchers, it added.

The new perfume is combining “finance with fragrance” with a label stating “Eau de Binance.” In addition to the release of a perfume, Binance is also holding local meetups and social media initiatives to discuss on the importance of womens’ role in the crypto space.

The troubled exchange underwent a lot of challenges in the recent past. The company’s CEO and co-founder Changpeng Zhao pled guilty over violating criminal U.S. anti-money laundering requirements in November 2023. Following the charges, he stepped down from the executive position at the crypto exchange.

Furthermore, the exchange faced numerous regulatory issues, including lawsuit from the US SEC, accusing Binance of violating federal securities law.

Crypto Perfume Receives Massive Backlash From Community

Soon after the release of a Binance ‘Crypto’ perfume, crypto critics lambasted the initiative, calling it ‘clumsy and sexist.’

Barbara Mahe, co-founder of Paris’ NFT Factory slammed Binance calling it a shame for pretending to care about gender equality.

“A fragrance will never convince any woman I know to start investing in crypto,” she wrote on X (Twitter).

Would men start investing in crypto if given a hammer to play with?
No.

Well, guess what, it’s the same for women.
A fragrance will never convinced any woman I know to start investing in crypto.

Shame on you @binance
For pretending to care about gender equality by… https://t.co/Xn5qUpWsgt

— Barbara Mahe (@mahebarbara) March 6, 2024

Users across the community blasted Binance for misunderstanding women’s interests. Mario Nawfal, a businessman and CEO of International Blockchain Consulting Group, compared Binance’s perfume with McDonald’s french fries perfume. He added, “Is it April 1st, and I missed it?”

Various users raised voice to give women more recognition and leading roles in the crypto sector instead of ‘crypto’ perfume.

Give women more recognition & leading roles… I promise you the last thing we want is a perfume called “crypto”

— vee (@lovennft) March 6, 2024

Women want a seat at the crypto table. They want access to generational wealth. Not a damn perfume bottle. pic.twitter.com/uyHhefMPVQ

— GIRL in the VERSE | Content Creator (@girl_intheverse) March 6, 2024

Arianna Simpson, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) where she invests in crypto, called the campaign “the dumbest thing.”

Ah yes! Nothing like perfume to solve the gender gap! As an actual woman in crypto, this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen https://t.co/2VzhIQ9Te3

— AriannaSimpson.eth (@AriannaSimpson) March 6, 2024

Brushing off the criticisms, Rachel Conlan noted that the initiative is to make sure that no women is left behind in the financial revolution.

“Our commitment to inclusion extends beyond mere rhetoric; we’re not just talking the talk, but backing it up with solid action by providing women with the educational resources they need to shape their financial futures and become active participants in this digital economy.”

The post Binance’s ‘Crypto Perfume’ for Women Receives Industry-Wide Criticisms appeared first on Cryptonews.

ATHEX Plans To Release EBB On Sui

In a blog post on March 6, Sui said the partnership marks the first time a stock exchange is developing such a solution on a public blockchain. 

The EBB will likely shape how businesses list transferable securities on the exchange. It will be a digital platform for companies to present their securities to interested investors.

Athens Exchange Group, the team behind ATHEX, is collaborating with Mysten Labs to develop this tool.

EBB is currently in the evaluation phase. Sui notes in the press release that its deployment will depend on ATHEX’s willingness to release it on the blockchain.

Even so, should EBB go live, enterprises will easily attract investors and boost the liquidity of their proposals. The tool will operate as a “meta-layer” on top of the exchange’s trading system. 

Security, Reliability, And Transparency

On its part, the network would host ATHEX securities minted as digital certificates on its ledger. Since they exist as tokens, compliant with Sui standards, they will be in a secure environment, safeguarded by the Sui web of validators. Beyond security, there is an element of transparency. Accordingly, it will be easier for investors to instantaneously verify ownership.

Beyond security, Sui offers scalability and parallel transaction processing. These characteristics mean the network can handle higher transaction volumes as expected from ATHEX. 

Unlike Ethereum, the legacy chain, it employs a modular design, translating to higher scalability and relatively low trading fees. 

As a result, EBB can operate efficiently on the blockchain without hitches or reliability concerns. With decentralized nodes securing the blockchain, ATHEX users relying on the tool will get uninterrupted service.

On March 5, Sui introduced the Request for Proposals program to enhance its grant allocation process. In a post, Sui said the program will better support developers by offering a ” structured framework for development, strategic alignment, and collaboration.”

The post Sui To Host New Tool From Greek Stock Exchange, ATHEX appeared first on Cryptonews.

The new offering aims to accelerate the bridging of crypto to real-world utilities. Users can create individually owned, fully compliant bank accounts and use USDC stablecoin as the default deposit currency.

SafePal and Fiat24 Introduce Crypto-Focused Visa Cards and In-App Banking Services

Unlock crypto-friendly living via @arbitrum with the #SafePal banking gateway & #Visa card powered by @Fiat24Account!

Enjoy banking with affordable gas fees & fast network speeds!

Get started: https://t.co/1ETXNKHqb0
Learn more: https://t.co/3tWkFLQJfz pic.twitter.com/ymbDBEUS5w

— SafePal – Crypto Wallet (@iSafePal) March 7, 2024

According to the announcement revealed on March 7, SafePal and Fiat24 have collaborated to introduce a crypto-focused Visa card and in-app banking services. The default deposit currency for these services is the dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), which users can acquire by swapping their coin holdings via Arbitrum. The stored USDC can then be converted into USD, EUR, and CHF for transactions and expenses.

Users can establish individually owned, fully compliant bank accounts within the SafePal mobile wallet app after completing the KYC and onboarding process conducted by Fiat24 without incurring any account creation or management fees.

Additionally, users can swap crypto across more than 40 blockchains into their bank accounts and use fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, euro, or Swiss Franc for transactions and expenses. The feature will be available on SafePal mobile wallet version 4.5.0, pending approval from Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

Veronica Wong, CEO and co-founder of SafePal, emphasized the importance of addressing the accessibility issues faced by crypto users to enhance onboarding and adoption. Wong stated that this initiative would offer the first genuinely crypto-friendly banking experience for retail users, eliminating the excessive scrutiny and restrictions imposed by traditional banks.

Wong said,

“This will be the first truly crypto-friendly banking experience for retail users that eliminates the excessive scrutiny and restriction of traditional banks, as the accounts created via the mobile wallet will support transfers to accounts in other banks under their name in a seamless and compliant manner.”

SafePal’s SFP Token Rises 1.3% as Decentralized Wallets Gain Popularity

Upon creation, the bank account credentials in the SafePal mobile wallet are minted as NFTs on Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer 2 rollup, ensuring transparent and secure recording of all related transactions on-chain.

Additionally, the crypto Visa cards issued through this partnership are compatible with third-party payment platforms such as Paypal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay, enhancing users’ convenience. The Visa card will initially be available in selected European regions before expanding to the rest of the continent. At the same time, the in-app banking gateway will be accessible outside the United States and to all non-U.S.-sanctioned countries.

CoinGecko data shows that SafePal’s SFP tokens are up 1.3% in the past 24 hours. SafePal currently serves as a self-custody wallet and claims to have approximately 10 million users worldwide.

Following the crypto winter of 2021-2022, SafePal’s CEO, Veronica Wong, highlighted the importance of decentralized solutions, stating that “the malpractice of centralized platforms has indeed catalyzed the adoption of self-custody solutions. This should not just be a temporary surge of interest but a key impetus to strengthen the adoption of self-management for assets.”

The rise in popularity of self-custody wallets has been evident since the collapse of centralized finance entities such as FTX and Celsius. Major players like Jack Dorsey’s Block and cross-chain wallet BitKeep have made significant strides in this space, reflecting the growing demand for decentralized asset management solutions.

The post Crypto Wallet Provider SafePal Invests in Swiss Bank to Enable Banking Services for Crypto Users appeared first on Cryptonews.

The collaboration, announced by Gluwa on March 7, highlights the ongoing efforts by Nigeria’s Central Bank to overcome challenges in both financial inclusion and CBDC adoption.

Nigerian Central Bank Seeks eNaira Growth

Gluwa intends to provide credit profiles for unbanked individuals through integration with the eNaira. This will create a system where ratings and credit scores can be assigned digitally, enabling more Nigerians to access credit in an efficient, CBDC-compliant manner. Gluwa’s solution will also support credit management, settlement, and assessment for local fintech lenders.

In addition to loan origination, Gluwa’s Credal solution will incorporate credit management, settlement, and assessment for local fintech lenders.

Since its launch in October 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria has been looking for ways to increase the adoption of the eNaira. Data from the IMF shows that only about 1% of Nigerians with bank accounts possess eNaira wallets, and over 98.5% of them are unused.

The issue of credit systems has been a longstanding barrier in Africa, and blockchain-based solutions like Gluwa seek to change that.

These solutions use tokenization to bridge the data gap that exists in traditional credit scoring, drawing from peer-to-peer transactions. Gluwa’s presence in Nigeria extends back to 2022 when they worked with Lagos State to tokenize agricultural assets using their real-world assets (RWAs) technology.

Cryptocurrency Regulations in Nigeria

The Nigerian government has a complex relationship with cryptocurrency, despite the introduction of the eNaira in 2021. Initial bans on commercial banks working with the crypto sector were reversed, but inconsistent regulations still pose challenges.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently blocked access to several cryptocurrency firms’ platforms, including Binance, citing Naira market manipulations within its peer-to-peer (P2P) market framework. According to Chainalysis 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Nigeria ranked first for P2P trades.

The situation intensified when major government agencies reportedly detained two senior Binance executives and imposed a $10 billion fine. A senior government official later refuted these claims, however.

Tae Oh, Gluwa’s founder and CEO, emphasized that his company’s solution seeks to boost eNaira adoption while leading blockchain-driven financial services innovation in Nigeria and across the continent.

Tae also heads the Creditcoin Network, a layer-1 blockchain similar to Gluwa, further underlining his commitment to advancing financial solutions.

The post Nigeria’s Central Bank Partners with Gluwa to Boost eNaira Amid Global Regulation Changes appeared first on Cryptonews.

The post detailed Senator Bob Menendez’s indictment, adding a touch of irony to the situation. Senator Menendez, a vocal critic of El Salvador’s Bitcoin policy, is facing bribery and obstruction of justice charges in the US.

Menendez Indictment Unveiled Amid Bribery Charges

Senator Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were charged in a new 18-count indictment. The charges allege that the senator and his spouse conspired to obstruct justice and conceal bribe payments that the senator was previously accused of making.

https://t.co/ciA5IO1k5m

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 7, 2024

According to prosecutors, the pair allegedly instructed their attorneys to tell investigators that certain payments made on behalf of Nadine were in loans, knowingly disguising the bribes.

These payments are linked to Nadine’s house mortgage and another payment for her Mercedes-Benz. The obstruction accusations stemmed from the recent guilty plea of co-defendant Jose Uribe, a New Jersey businessman who confessed to providing Nadine with bribes in exchange for the Senator’s favor.

Prosecutors are accusing Menendez of receiving multiple gift items, including luxury watches and gold bars, in exchange for helping Uribe and the governments of Egypt and Qatar. The New Jersey Senator has pleaded not guilty to either of the charges, and the trial is scheduled for May.

Additionally, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee disclosed that Menendez had lent his support to legislation to mitigate the risks of El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption.

El Salvador, the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in June 2021, has affirmed that it will continue to hold its Bitcoin portfolio regardless of price fluctuations.

On Tuesday, when Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $69,170.63, El Salvador reported a 53% increase in profit in the country’s Bitcoin holding.

Nayib Bukele has also taken a swing at the mainstream media, which he claimed published negative articles about his country’s unrealized losses during the 2022 Bitcoin bear market.

If Barclays had put some bitcoin on their balance sheet instead of wasting everyone's time with their nonsensical 'market analysis,' then perhaps their stock price would not be stuck in 1994? https://t.co/JZi3ciCzSm pic.twitter.com/ndmHntP8ec

— Stacy Herbert (@stacyherbert) March 6, 2024

President Bukele continues to advocate for Bitcoin recognition as a globally acceptable currency. He reacted to the recent decline in the New York community Bancorp holding, which saw an 85% decline in five years.

What Does Nayib Bukele’s Second Term Mean for Bitcoin?

Nayib Bukele secured a second five-year term in February after winning his re-election. The President, known for his pro-Bitcoin stance and policies to reduce gang violence, first took office in 2019. He is admired locally for making Bitcoin a legal tender in Latin America.

The President plans to use his next term to further integrate Bitcoin into the country’s financial market. To this end, he plans to launch “Volcano bonds,” a financial instrument that the President plans to use for Bitcoin mining, and to build a tax-free enclave for Bitcoin lovers to be dubbed “Bitcoin City.”

BREAKING NEWS

The Volcano Bond has just received regulatory approval from the Digital Assets Commission (CNAD).

We anticipate the bond will be issued during the first quarter of 2024.

This is just the beginning for new capital markets on #Bitcoin in El Salvador.

— The Bitcoin Office (@bitcoinofficesv) December 12, 2023

The country’s Digital Assets Commission (CNAD) gave its regulatory approval for the bonds, which are expected to be issued in 2024.

Bukele’s ambitious plan to integrate Bitcoin into the capital markets has not gone unnoticed on the world stage. The IMF has repeatedly called on the President to reverse its Bitcoin policy due to the macro and financial issues it could create.

The post Nayib Bukele Reacts to Bitcoin Critic’s Indictment with Laughter appeared first on Cryptonews.

“Our trading volumes and business more generally have imploded,” said Blodgett after the SEC froze Binance.US’ operations via a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO).

“In the immediate aftermath of the TRO, we saw somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion of assets flee the platform, crypto, and fiat” said Blodgett, explaining that these losses led to a 75% decline in revenue and 200 layoffs, roughly two-thirds of the workforce of the US-servicing arm of the global Binance.

The post Binance.US Revenue Plummets 75% Amid Fallout from SEC Lawsuit appeared first on Cryptonews.

According to a Coin Telegraph report, several MEXC users have recently complained on social media of random “clawbacks” or centralized withdrawal freezes and liquidations of funds.

User “Al Gore Rhythms” had $33,658 deducted from his spot account. When he pressed customer service about the deduction, a representative told him that MEXC had “taken measures to recover the losses incurred” due to “abnormal trading activities.”

Al Gore Rhythms shared some supporting evidence with the publication to back his claim that the exchange had deleted transactions from his transaction history, but it was not able to entirely verify his claims from them.

There have been reports of MEXC freezing customer accounts and seizing funds at least since early May when crypto fan @cryptonator1337 tweeted that several people he knew were affected. 

The number of people getting problems with @MEXC_Official in the last few weeks is huge.

They also froze the account from a friend of mine.

He deposited BTC worth low six-figures in USD, bought XMR, and tried to withdrawal. The first withdrawal went out, however, after the…

— CR1337 (@cryptonator1337) December 23, 2023

More allegations of arbitrary MEXC customer clawbacks came at the end of February, with a tweet that the exchange promptly replied to. The tweet included a screenshot provided by trader CoackKCrypto who claimed the exchange pilfered him for $330,000 “due to abnormal profit”.

Dear Valued User,

Please be assured that users engaging in normal trading activities will not be affected. Should there be any concerns regarding our risk control measures, you are welcome to apply for an appeal. Our customer service team is available 24/7 to provide you with…

— MEXC (@MEXC_Official) February 28, 2024

Coin Telegraph also reported two alleged incidents of MEXC freezing customer accounts and liquidating their trades.

One of which was Hashmoney’s case, which gained traction on X.

I was not able to hedge my positions, reduce the margin or do anything at all. I requested the customer support that they may keep withdrawals restricted but shall at least allow me to trade so I can prevent my balance from liquidating. pic.twitter.com/n80AIhAGFW

— Hashmoney (@culturexbt) January 4, 2024

The exchange again replied promptly and promised Hashmoney “further investigation,” although there has been no update in the last two months.

MEXC and Other Offshore Exchanges

MEXC is an offshore exchange, like Binance, which means that it doesn’t get the same regulatory scrutiny as a publicly listed US company like Coinbase.

Many regulators and lawmakers are keeping a closer eye on the exchanges servicing US customers after the FTX collapse wiped out what was left of the crypto market following Terra’s collapse in 2022.

Multiple enforcement entities are investigating Binance for various alleged offenses relating to money laundering and fraud, including the Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Stories of withdrawal freeze in the industry immediately call to mind the thick of crypto winter, when lenders and companies like Celsius, Voyager, and Vauld all froze customer funds to stop bank runs before filing for bankruptcy.

Still, many within crypto believe that these are hard lessons for the industry, but they serve as a reminder of the need for crypto to get back to its founding ethos of decentralization.

The post MEXC Addresses Missing Funds Concerns Amidst Allegations of ‘Clawbacks’ appeared first on Cryptonews.

After Terra co-founder Do Kwon won an extradition appeal in a Montenegro court denying his extradition to the United States, South Korea has started preparing for his extradition. 

South Korea Seeks Extradition of Terraform Labs Co-Founder Mr. Kwon

On March 7, South Korea’s National Police Agency announced that it had reached out to the Interpol Secretariat to request the extradition of Mr. Kwon to Korea. The agency said it had requested the Interpol Secretariat in the name of the Interpol National Central Secretariat of the Republic of Korea, hoping to get support at the Secretariat level.

However, the agency has yet to receive a response from Interpol. Additionally, South Korea’s Ministry of Justice is also reportedly seeking assistance from Interpol, as per local news agency Newsis. Lee Yong-sang, an international cooperation officer, mentioned that the Ministry of Justice’s International Criminal Division and the National Police Agency are actively engaged in the process of repatriating Mr. Kwon through international channels, including Interpol.

Officer Lee Yong-sang said,

“The Ministry of Justice’s International Criminal Division and the National Police Agency are working together to repatriate Mr. Kwon through the International Criminal Cooperation Channel and Interpol’s International Cooperation Line, respectively.”

Understandably, Terra’s token LUNA is not a security in South Korea, as the Southern District Court in Seoul ruled that these tokens are not securities under the Capital Markets Act. However, a judge in the U.S. SEC vs. Terraform Labs and Do Kwon lawsuit ruled that LUNA is a security. This ruling has implications for the severity of punishment and imprisonment terms as the U.S. seeks his extradition for fraud charges.

Earlier this month, a Montenegro court overturned Kwon’s extradition order to the U.S., which the Podgorica High Court initially granted following an appeal by his defense attorneys. They argued that the initial decision was based on misinformation regarding the timing of extradition requests from the U.S. and South Korea.

The appeals court’s decision stated that Korea’s extradition request, dated March 29 last year, preceded the U.S. request on April 3, affirming Korea’s priority in seeking extradition.

Terraform Labs Co-Founder Faces Fraud Charges

The police spokesperson mentioned that the reconsideration of Kwon’s extradition provided an opportunity for South Korea to request assistance once again. Given Interpol’s cooperative relationship with its entity in Montenegro, the Korean authorities reiterated that South Korea’s extradition request preceded that of the U.S.

“Since Interpol, as an international law enforcement agency, maintains a cooperative relationship with its entity in Montenegro, we wanted to reiterate the fact that South Korea requested [Kwon’s] extradition first, ahead of the U.S.”

With the possibility of Mr. Kwon returning to Korea emerging following the retrial by the High Court, the Korean government is determined to pursue all available avenues to secure his repatriation. The Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and National Police Agency are coordinating efforts to facilitate Mr. Kwon’s return.

Kwon, the former leader of Terraform Labs, faces fraud charges from both U.S. and South Korean authorities in connection with the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022, resulting in significant losses for investors.

The ‘Terra Luna Incident’ refers to the sharp decline in the prices of Terra and Luna cryptocurrencies caused by the collapse of their peg with the U.S. dollar. The incident resulted in significant losses for investors worldwide, estimated at over 50 trillion won, with 200,000 victims in South Korea alone.

Mr. Kwon fled to Singapore in April 2022 before the cryptocurrency crash and was subsequently arrested in Montenegro in March last year for using a fake passport while abroad. He has been detained locally for a year since then. He was sentenced to four months in November.

Throughout the legal proceedings, Kwon has consistently denied the allegations of deliberate fraud against him and Terraform Labs.

The post South Korea Seeks Interpol’s Aid to Extradite Terraform Labs Co-Founder appeared first on Cryptonews.

While some lawsuits cater to individuals who suffer losses, others claim that all shareholders who purchased stocks during the timeframe are entitled to compensation.

Hut 8 Faces Share Price Decline Amidst JCapital Allegations of Pump and Dump Scheme

A class action securities lawsuit was filed against Hut 8 Corp., seeking to recover the losses of shareholders who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud between November 9, 2023, and January 18, 2024.

The decline in Hut 8’s share prices occurred on January 19, with a drop from $7.12 to $2.16 after the release of an unverified report by JCapital. The report, titled “The Coming HUT Pump and Dump, alleges that insiders were preparing to dump Hut 8 stock.

JCapital claimed that the firm’s November 30, 2023, $725 million merger deal with fellow Bitcoin miner US Bitcoin (USBTC) could put Hut 8 investors at risk. Additionally, the company highlighted in the report that the majority of the merged Bitcoin miner’s shares are held by an “undisclosed related party.” Hut shares fell by 23% after the report was published.

However, Hut 8 refuted these allegations on January 24, dismissing them as deliberate misinformation. Hut 8 responded to the allegations and issued a blanket denial, describing the report as misleading. The company said that it was a “deliberate attempt to spread misinformation” and was filled with inaccurate information and misrepresented data. The company also alleged that the report was “designed for the sole purpose of negatively impacting Hut 8’s share price for the short seller’s own benefit.”

Hut 8 Faces Class Action Securities Lawsuit Amid Allegations of Securities Fraud

As a result, investors who purchased Hut 8 stocks between November 9, 2023, and January 18, 2024, are being encouraged by various law firms to join efforts to seek compensation for their losses. These law firms are urging affected shareholders to reach out and serve as lead plaintiffs in pursuing legal action against Hut 8.

Some of the notable law firms include Kuznicki Law, The Gross Law Firm, Levi & Korsinsky LLP, Kirby McInerney LLP, Berger Montague, and many others. One of the law firms, Kuznicki Law, argues that Hut 8 and its executives violated federal securities laws by allegedly misstating financial information, which had a detrimental impact on the company’s share price.

The Levi & Korsinsky LLP lawsuit also stated that US Bitcoin Corp. (USBTC), a company that merged to form Hut 8, was an undisclosed related party. This relationship was allegedly not adequately disclosed to shareholders. The complaint further alleges that one of USBTC’s core assets has historically failed to provide energy and high-speed internet as promised. This failure was purportedly not adequately disclosed to investors.

While some lawsuits focus on individual losses, others propose collective action on behalf of all shareholders who purchased stocks during the specified timeframe. Furthermore, participating shareholders are assured that they will not be responsible for court fees due to contingency fee arrangements.

Following the allegation from JCapital Research, on February 7, the Miami-based Bitcoin mining company published a press release saying that its former CEO, Jaime Leverton, would depart from his position. Asher Genoot, the president and a member of the company’s board of directors, will replace the now-former executive.

In addition to the legal challenges, Hut 8 announced the closure of its mining site in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, on March 6. The decision was attributed to various factors, including disruptions in power supply and escalating energy costs.

The post Hut 8 Faces Multiple Lawsuits From Shareholders Following Stock Crash appeared first on Cryptonews.

In a detailed statement published on March 5, Peirce and Uyeda highlighted the ShapeShift case as emblematic of broader issues within the SEC’s handling of digital assets.

“The Commission’s enforcement action against ShapeShift is the latest installment in the serial drama of the Commission’s poorly conceived crypto policy,” said the commissioners.

ShapeShift’s $275,000 Settlement with SEC

The SEC recently concluded its proceedings against the crypto platform ShapeShift by accepting a $275,000 settlement. This agreement followed charges that ShapeShift had offered unregistered securities to its customers.

Operating from Denver, Colorado, ShapeShift listed at least 79 crypto assets. Some were deemed unregistered securities by the SEC, using the Howey Test as the benchmark for determination.

Under the terms of the settlement, ShapeShift must pay the civil penalty within two weeks from the order’s issuance. Additionally, the company agreed to a cease-and-desist order, halting any future violations.

“The Standards Are So Opaque and Arbitrary”

“The Securities Exchange Act defines a dealer as ‘any person engaged in the business of buying and selling securities . . . for such person’s own account through a broker or otherwise,’” the statement reads.

“ShapeShift meets this definition, according to the Commission, because ‘[t]he crypto assets offered by ShapeShift included those that were offered and sold as investment contracts and, therefore, securities,’” the statement explained.

However, the commissioners claimed the SEC did not specify which of the 79 crypto assets traded by ShapeShift were considered investment contracts, nor did it offer any rationale for its determination.

Peirce and Uyeda argued that ShapeShift faces repercussions despite the significant time elapsed since its inception and business model shift, with the SEC alleging violations involving an unspecified subset of these assets as investment contracts, without providing clarity on its reasoning.

According to the statement, the SEC did not even allege any harm caused by ShapeShift, as both the platform and customers voluntarily transacted.

“The standards are so opaque and arbitrary that the Commission itself is unwilling to stand by its own analysis,” said the commissioners. “The environment we have created for the crypto asset markets, especially as it relates to secondary trading, is untenable.”

“Cases like this do not protect investors; they intimidate innovators and entrepreneurs. We respectfully dissent,” Peirce and Uyeda concluded.

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