PRESS RELEASE. In a significant move demonstrating the power of Presale support and blockchain transparency, SLERF, in collaboration with LBank, has successfully issued a refund totaling 3,800 SOL to its early, small-scale fundraisers. This achievement was made possible through the swift action of the community, which raised nearly 4,000 SOL in just 24 hours to […]
Bitcoin News
Goldman Sachs, CBOE, Standard Chartered, and Others Complete Blockchain Interoperability Pilot on Canton Network
Goldman Sachs, the CBOE, Standard Chartered, and other financial institutions participated in the pilot of the Canton Network, a protocol aiming to achieve interoperability in apps using resources from various blockchains. Digital Asset, the company behind the pilot, stated that this test showed the opportunity to reduce costs, risk, and inefficiencies by using this kind […]
Bitcoin News
Central Bank of the Philippines to Complete Wholesale CBDC Pilot This Year, Hints at Securities Focused Use Case
The Central Bank of the Philippines revealed that it aims to conclude the ongoing wholesale CBDC pilot, Project Agila, later this year. The pilot, which currently includes the participation of six local financial institutions, might be the gate for democratizing access to securities according to Deputy Governor for Payments and Currency Management Sector Mamerto Tangonan. […]
Bitcoin News
Digital Yuan Now Used to Complete Car Prepurchase Payments
The digital yuan, China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), is being used as a security element in car prepurchase payment settlements. According to local media reports, a pilot test that allows customers to pay for their cars with digital yuan was established in early February in Shenzhen, and several customers are already purchasing their vehicles […]
Bitcoin News
Maker Market Heats Up: Over 600 Addresses Complete MKR Trades In Single Day
The starting point of 2024 has a positive outlook for the Maker (MKR) coin, suggesting that the year may be productive. Activity has increased, according to on-chain data, indicating a potential positive trend.
Since the start of the year, the number of active addresses on a daily basis—a crucial indicator of user engagement—has increased significantly.
Presently, there are more than 600 addresses trading MKR, which is a 4% rise from the original 590. This increase in involvement suggests that there is increasing momentum and interest in the token.
Moreover, since the beginning of the year, there has been an over 5% increase in the establishment of new addresses only for MKR trading. This inflow of new players gives the ecosystem more room to flourish and more liquidity.
2024 is off to a good start for MakerDAO, the driving force behind the DAI stablecoin in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
Analysts are upbeat, projecting steady returns and even calling it a safe pick given the volatile state of the cryptocurrency market. Still, let’s examine this more closely before jumping on the MKR bandwagon.
One of MakerDAO’s strongest points is its mature ecosystem. A key component of DeFi lending and borrowing is the MKR token, which controls the DAI stablecoin.
This mutually advantageous association has bestowed MakerDAO with considerable sway and a foothold in the market. However, to attribute its future exclusively to the Bitcoin ETF decision, as some contend, offers an inadequate perspective.
Although the crypto markets could benefit from an authorized Bitcoin ETF, it’s important to understand how complex and interwoven the sector is.
Regulations, the general use of DeFi, and even rivals’ actions impact MakerDAO’s trajectory. Ignoring these things could result in unrealistic expectations.
According to Coinglass data, there has been a notable spike in liquidations as a result of Maker’s hike from a minimum of ,826 to a maximum of ,928.
The sudden surge in MKR’s value has forced the liquidation of more than 0,000 worth of short bets, defying the sellers’ gloomy projections.
There could be both good and negative effects on Maker’s pricing if the number of profitable addresses rises. Some 74% of addresses, or 69,400 addresses, are in profit, which is a two-year high, according to IntoTheBlock data.
This increase could lift buying pressure for the cryptocurrency as hopeful Maker holders may want to stockpile more tokens in expectation of future price improvements.
As the Maker market witnesses a surge with over 600 addresses completing MKR trades in a single day, the momentum appears robust and promising. This heightened activity signifies growing interest and participation in the MKR ecosystem.
Featured image from Freepik
Sei V2 Code Is “Functionally” Complete, Audit Ongoing: New All-Time High Incoming?
Taking to X on January 2, Jay Jog, the co-founder of Sei, Sei V2, is functionally “code complete” with Zellic and OtterSec, two blockchain security firms, auditing the code base. This development comes as the platform’s native coin, SEI, continues to surge, reaching all-time highs just four months after the launch of the high-performance blockchain in August.
What’s The Big Deal About Sei V2?
Once it launches in Q1 2024, Sei V2 will introduce a parallelized Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). According to developers, this model combines the best features of Solana and Ethereum, possibly driving Sei adoption and propping up SEI prices.
Of note, the Sei V2 code base will introduce three major upgrades. One is that Sei Network will now be compatible with Ethereum following the planned support for the EVM. Herein, Sei aims to leverage Ethereum’s popularity, especially among developers, tooling, and wallets.
The goal, Jog explained in a post on X, is to ensure the integration is smooth without compatibility issues. With V2, Sei users will connect with the mainnet using popular Ethereum and EVM-compatible wallets like MetaMask.
However, a big addition in Sei V2 will be the actualization of Optimistic Parallelization. This feature will give developers more flexibility and leeway, preventing them from defining dependencies between transactions. Instead, Sei developers say this option allows the blockchain to automatically handle parallelization for transactions to be processed efficiently and cheaply.
To enhance full node efficiency and mitigate state bloat, Sei V2 introduces SeiDB as a new storage method. Implementing this update is expected to maintain Sei Network’s resilience while improving its performance.
Sei To Outperform Ethereum Layer-2s, Will Prices Follow Suit?
How SEI prices will react once this update is integrated remains to be seen. For now, developers are upbeat, claiming that Sei V2 will drastically enhance the mainnet capability, allowing it to process transactions faster than Ethereum layer-2 solutions like Base and Arbitrum. In November, Jog claimed that Sei V2 had a theoretical throughput of 12,500 TPS.
Ahead of this, SEI bulls are resilient, and prices continue to trend higher. SEI is already up 11X after launching in August 2023, trading around all-time highs.
Looking at the candlestick arrangement in the daily chart, buyers are pushing higher, with the bull bar of January 1 thrusting the coin to new levels. For traders, key support levels to watch in the days ahead are .55, marking January 1 lows, and .40, if there is a cool-off.
Economist Peter Schiff: Complete Separation of US-China Economies Would Be ‘a Disaster for America’
Economist Peter Schiff has warned that a complete separation of the Chinese and U.S. economies would be “a disaster for America, but a boon for China.” He explained: “Americans would be stuck with fewer goods and higher prices, while the Chinese would be rewarded with more goods and lower prices.”
Peter Schiff on U.S.-China Decoupling
Economist and gold bug Peter Schiff shared his thoughts on the U.S. economy and the dire consequences of the U.S. decoupling from China in several posts on social media platform X Friday.
Commenting on the remarks by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stating that a “full separation” of the U.S. and China economies “would be economically disastrous” for both countries as well as for the world, Schiff argued:
Janet Yellen is only half right. A complete separation of the Chinese and American economies would be a disaster for America, but a boon for China.
“Americans would be stuck with fewer goods and higher prices, while the Chinese would be rewarded with more goods and lower prices,” Schiff explained. “We can’t make stuff, that’s the problem. All China has to do is consume what they make. That’s easy.”
Yellen’s statements were made on Thursday during a bilateral meeting with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng. Emphasizing that “the United States has no desire to decouple from China,” the Treasury Secretary stated: “We seek a healthy economic relationship with China that benefits both countries over time. When we have concerns about specific economic practices, such as those that prevent American firms and workers from competing on a level playing field, we will communicate them directly.”
This was not the first time Schiff sounded the alarm about the harmful effects of the U.S. decoupling from China. “We can’t afford to decouple because you have to recognize that China is both our biggest supplier and our biggest banker. The Chinese loan us the money to buy the stuff that they produce that we can’t, and our entire standard of living rests on the support of China,” the gold bug said in September.
Schiff also regularly warns about the collapse of the U.S. economy and the dollar. “We are getting very close to a crash in Treasuries,” he cautioned last month. “The dollar will tank, taking the U.S. economy and the American standard of living down with it.” He also predicted a deep recession, an inflationary depression, and the collapse of the USD demand. In September, he warned of the biggest bond market crash and an “unprecedented” financial crisis.
Do you agree with Peter Schiff that the U.S. decoupling from China would be a disaster for America but a boon for China? Let us know in the comments section below.
By The Numbers: Bitcoin Hashrate Poised To Complete 100% Growth In 2023
As analysts continue to debate the future of the flagship cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, the network’s hashrate has seen exponential growth, with this key indicator poised to experience an 100% increase (from the beginning of the year) before the year runs out.
How Bitcoin’s Hashrate Has Grown
The hashrate, which is used to measure the computational power used to mine and process transactions on the network, currently (at the time of writing) stands at 445 exahashes per second (EH/s). This figure represents a significant increase, considering that the network hashrate stood at 255 EH/s on January 1, 2023.
These figures mean that the network hashrate has grown by 190 EH/s since the year began, and at this rate, it could well hit 510 EH/s by the end of the year, signaling a 100% increase from when the year began. These figures also suggest that more miners have jumped on the Bitcoin blockchain, with it being faster and more secure as a result of this.
At this rate, the hashrate could also well be on the way to fulfilling some of the predictions made by analysts. In March, A research analyst at River Financial, Sam Wouters, noted the impressive growth rate and predicted that Bitcoin’s hashrate could reach a “Zettahash by the end of 2025.” A Zettahash is equivalent to 1,000 EH/s.
Going by this current rate, some have noted that Wouters’ prediction could become a reality by December 23, 2025, or the beginning of 2026.
Despite this significant growth rate, it is worth mentioning that Bitcoin’s hash price has remained rather tepid during this same period. Hash Price refers to the revenue generated by miners on a per tera-hash basis.
The hash price currently stands at close to , almost the same figure as at the beginning of the beginning of the year. Notably, Miners’ biggest payday came on May 8, 2023, when the hash price was 5.
Where The Bitcoin Hashrate Is Coming From
In his tweet back in March, Wouters also tried to analyze where the growth in Bitcoin’s hashrate could be coming from. He shared his belief that it was unlikely that the added hashrate was coming from nation-states, as some people may suggest. According to him, the odds of nation-states providing computing power to the network and remaining a secret is low as “there are far too many people involved in running massive operations.”
He concluded by stating that the source of the added hashrate was “nuanced” as it could simply be a result of factors like new models being put on the market, unused inventory going online, more facilities going live, and also entrepreneurs who are finding cheap sources before regulators step in.
Latam Insights — Argentina to Complete IMF Payment With Chinese Yuan, Bolivia Also Using China’s Currency for International Settlements
Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue, Argentina is likely to settle part of a payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) using the Chinese yuan, Bolivia is already making payments using the Chinese yuan, and Sazmining announced the launch of mining operations in Paraguay.
Argentina to Complete IMF Payments With Chinese Yuan
The government of Argentina will complete part of a disbursement to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) using the Chinese yuan. According to sources linked to Economy Minister Sergio Massa, the .4 billion that must be settled this July will be made using “CAF funds, with yuan, and other sources of financing.”
The Argentine government recently obtained a “bridge loan” from the CAF (the Latam Development Bank) of billion, effectively getting indebted to pay for its outstanding debt with the IMF.
If completed, this would not be the first time that Argentina relies on the resources made available by the Chinese government to settle part of its duties with the IMF. In June, the Argentine Central Bank disbursed .7 billion to the international institution using billion in Chinese yuan, and the remaining number was paid using Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
In August, Argentina will receive a loan of .5 billion from the IMF to intervene “in the case of turbulence situations in the national market,” per Massa’s statements.
Central Bank of Bolivia Announces Operations With Chinese Yuan
The Central Bank of Bolivia recently announced that it was already conducting international settlements using the Chinese yuan, even without having a Chinese bank branch in its territory. The announcement came from Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro, who acknowledged that the bank was already paying for international transactions with the Chinese currency without giving further details.
Montenegro stated:
It is clear that sometimes it is not necessary to have a bank to carry out operations, but obviously having a Chinese bank or one close to the region can also facilitate operations much more smoothly.
In May, Bolivian President Luis Arce directed the central bank to research if the uses that Brazil and Argentina were giving to the Chinese currency could apply to Bolivia, as the country has been facing a dollar crunch.
Sazmining Announces Launch of Mining Operations in Paraguay
Sazmining, a U.S.-based renewable Bitcoin mining hosting company, announced the construction of a new facility in Paraguay near the Itaipu Dam. The facility, which will host user-owned ASICs, is projected to start operations in September.
Sazmining’s interest in Paraguay is due to its cheap energy costs and the renewable source of its energy, coming from hydro-electrical origins.
Kent Halliburton, President and COO of Sazmining, stated:
Sazmining’s larger goals are focused on fostering a more sustainable and forward-looking future by investing in electrical infrastructure that will continue to serve Paraguay for generations.
To follow all the latest developments in crypto and the economy in Latin America, sign up for our Latam newsletter below.
What do you think about this week’s Latam Insights report? Tell us in the comment section below.
New York Federal Reserve and US Banks Complete Programmable Dollar CBDC Test
The New York Federal Reserve and a group of financial institutions announced the successful conclusion of a proof-of-concept of the Regulated Liability Network (RLN), which contemplates the introduction of a dollar-based interbank central bank digital currency (CBDC). The test concluded that, using the RLN, the proposed CBDC might allow for near real-time dollar payments and cross-border settlements.
New York Federal Reserve and Bank Working Group Finish Programmable Dollar-Based Wholesale CBDC Test
The New York Federal Reserve and other banks and payment firms have announced the conclusion of a 12-week proof-of-concept test of the Regulated Liability Network (RLN), a system using shared ledger technology to provide programmability to regulated money.
The working group, comprising BNY Mellon, Citi, HSBC, Mastercard, PNC Bank, TD Bank, Truist, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo, examined the performance of a dollar-based wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) in different use cases.
The role of the Federal Reserve New York Innovation Center was “limited to the simulated operation of tokenized central bank deposits as a settlement asset,” according to the released report. Furthermore, the document clarifies that this participation is “not intended to advance any specific policy outcome, nor to signal that the Federal Reserve will make any imminent decisions about the appropriateness or design of tokenized central bank deposits or wholesale CBDC.”
Examined Use Cases
One of the use cases for the system had to do with examining the performance of the dollar-based CBDC as a tool to complete domestic interbank payments (such as Fednow), concluding that it “could operate successfully as a payment system on a new technology platform.”
The second use case examined in the proof-of-concept pilot test had to do with using the designed dollar CBDC as an instrument for offshore settlements, finding that its usage could “improve cross-border payments through the orchestration of customer payments and settlements across the payment chain, and the introduction of parallel processing of payment proposals.”
One of the supposed benefits of adopting the proposed system would be the high availability and interoperability of the liquidity stored in the form of CBDC, allowing for 24/7 movements across baking entities of different countries. On this, Isabel Schmidt, co-head of payments products at BNY Mellon, stated:
It is incumbent upon our industry to expand the availability and efficiency of dollars for all our clients across the globe, particularly given the U.S. dollar’s vital role in global payments, trade, and financial markets.
What do you think about the dollar-based wholesale CBDC proof-of-concept test? Tell us in the comments section below.