Friend.tech, the decentralized social media application on the Base network, recently launched its native token through an airdrop. Since trading commenced, the token has plummeted, dropping anywhere from 50% to 90% of its initial value across various decentralized exchange (dex) platforms, as reported by several different price aggregation websites. FRIEND Starts Strong but Value Plummets […]
Bitcoin News
UK Bans ‘Refer a Friend’ Bonuses With Tougher Crypto Marketing Rules
Businesses marketing crypto assets to U.K. consumers will have to abide by stricter advertising rules presented by the country’s financial watchdog. These include prohibiting ‘refer a friend’ bonuses for the industry as well as introducing a cooling-off period for first time investors.
Regulator Clamps Down on Crypto Ads, Wants to Make Risks Clearer to British Buyers in Marketing
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced on Thursday new regulations for the advertising of crypto assets to the public. Under the tougher rules, crypto firms must ensure that British investors have “appropriate knowledge and experience to invest in crypto” and are duly warned by promoters about associated risks.
The measures include banning ‘refer a friend’ bonuses, a marketing policy quite popular in the crypto space. The FCA also requires companies advertising crypto assets to U.K. consumers to introduce a cooling-off period for first time investors from Oct. 8, 2023.
The latter begins when a potential investor responds to crypto advertising materials by requesting additional information, the FCA explained, quoted by Bloomberg. The entity marketing the investment must then wait 24 hours before responding to the customer’s request.
The updated rules follow government legislation to bring crypto promotions into the regulator’s remit, the watchdog noted, adding that its approach regarding crypto promotion is consistent with the rules that the FCA imposed last year to tackle misleading financial adverts.
Quoted in the press release, FCA Executive Director Consumers and Competition, Sheldon Mills, stated that Brits should be aware that crypto assets remain largely unregulated and risky. “Those who invest should be prepared to lose all their money,” he pointed out and insisted:
It is up to people to decide whether they buy crypto. But research shows many regret making a hasty decision. Our rules give people the time and the right risk warnings to make an informed choice.
The FCA further remarked that the new regulations enter into force after its own research showed that the estimated crypto ownership in the U.K. has more than doubled in 2022, compared to the previous year. It said that 10% of 2,000 people polled revealed they owned cryptocurrencies.
Do you think other regulators in the region will introduce similar advertising rules for the crypto sector? Tell us in the comments section below.
Polygon: Ethereum’s Friend Is Looking To Make Big Strides
In a time of many new crypto coins, platforms, and contracts, Polygon is starting to pave a way and rise to the throne of Ethereum layer 2s. Polygon, formerly known as the Matic Network, is a scaling solution that aims to provide multiple tools to improve the speed and reduce the cost and complexities of transactions on blockchain networks.
With recent headlines surrounding both Polygon and correlating Ethereum, it’s wise to get an in-depth perspective on Polygon’s market positioning for those interested in Ethereum alternatives.
Related Reading | Why Cardano Is On A Hot Streak With 10% Gains In 1 Day
Friend Or Foe, Polygon’s Start & How It Works With ETH…
Here is a dive in to look at the coin once known to the world as MATIC. Polygon was created in India in 2017, and was originally called the Matic Network. It was the brainchild of experienced Ethereum developers—Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic.
The Matic Network went live in 2020, and has since attracted some of the top names in the world of decentralized finance, also known as DeFi, including Decentraland and MakerDAO. The Matic Network rebranded to Polygon in February 2021, and in April 2019 during it’s initial offering, the Polygon team raised the equivalent of .6 million in ETH with the sale of 1.9 billion MATIC tokens over a brisk 20-day period. While some coins in the same field are aiming at top dog coin Ethereum, Polygon is aiming with them to help bring a new speed and software to the world.
MATIC/POLYGON Is currently trading around .83 | MATIC-USD on TradingView.com
In recent times, many coins have been deemed “the Ethereum killer,” while Polygon is arguably helping with the blockchain champ. At the core of the network is the Polygon software development kit (SDK), used to build Ethereum-compatible decentralized applications as side-chains and connect them to its main blockchain. While Ethereum recently reached an all time high, finally breaking the K mark and showing skeptics that it’s here to stay, many are left asking: could this be a future effect for Polygon as DeFi grows? Polygon has added some excellent partners to its list, and given the chains supplementary nature to Ethereum, many have sought investing in both.
Once the the rebranding was done, Polygon retained its MATIC cryptocurrency ticker – the digital coin underpinning the network. MATIC is used as the unit of payment and settlement between participants who interact within the network. Polygon’s main chain is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) sidechain, in which network participants can stake MATIC tokens to validate transactions and vote on network upgrades. This coin is showing it has strong potential, particularly for projects around DeFi that are looking for friendlier attributes relative to Ethereum (gas fees being the most notable attribute).
Related Reading | GreedSwap: Super Producers Cool And Dre Help Launch New Coin & Crypto Label
Economist Peter Schiff Calls Bitcoin An ‘Imaginary Friend’ In Response To Jack Dorsey’s Hyperinflation Tweet
Peter Schiff is an economist, gold advocate, and one of Bitcoin’s biggest critics. He has never liked the digital currency.
He believes that real value is derived from an asset’s ability to create commercial demand in markets; and always refers to gold as a perfect example of this. In contrast, he says that Bitcoin is nothing but an asymmetric store of value with no other use except attracting an endless supply of buyers for the limited supply of assets. In short, it is a Ponzi scheme. However, he has been proven wrong over and over again.
In his most recent critique of Bitcoin, Schiff said it is not a real asset. This was in response to a tweet by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about the possible arrival of hyperinflation in the U.S. soon.
Schiff Responds To Dorsey
On Saturday, October 23, Jack Dorsey shared his opinion on the current economic situation in the U.S on Twitter. He tweeted about the imminent hyperinflation as a result of the constant money printing in the U.S., and how the rest of the world would suffer from it.
Related Reading | Is Hyperinflation Inevitable? Jack Dorsey Says It’ll “Change Everything”
In response, Schiff tweeted that people should not look to Bitcoin to save them because it is not a real asset. Instead, they should own real assets like gold.
Just don't expect to find any refuge from it in #Bitcoin. To protect yourself from #hyperinflation you'll need to own real assets. #Gold qualifies, but Bitcoin does not.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) October 24, 2021
Another Twitter user commented that Bitcoin is, in fact, real. And that it has just surpassed the Swiss Franc in Market cap. At this point, Schiff replied, calling the cryptocurrency a “make-believe asset” and that it is the adult version of an imaginary friend.
#Bitcoin is a make believe asset. Sometimes kids have imaginary friends. It's the same concept, except with adults.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) October 24, 2021
Peter Schiff’s Grudge with Bitcoin
According to this Wikipedia profile, Peter Schiff is an American stockbroker, financial commentator, and radio personality. He is also CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc., a broker-dealer based in Westport, Connecticut. Additionally, he is involved in various roles in other financial services companies, including Euro Pacific Asset Management, an independent investment advisor, Schiff Gold (formerly Euro Pacific Precious Metals), a precious metals dealer, and Euro Pacific Bank, a full-reserve bank.
In addition to all these, Schiff is known for something else – his grudge with Bitcoin. He has always claimed its value will one day drop to nothing.
Earlier this year, Mark Cuban told Schiff to “move on” because “gold is dead.” In Response, Schiff said, “Mark, a lot of your athletes wear gold jewelry. Ask them why. Gold has many uses outside of jewelry that contributes to its value as a metal. It’s not hyped at all. Gold is money. Bitcoin is 100% hype. It’s nothing.”
Related Reading | Mark Cuban Slams Peter Schiff: Gold is Dead, Bitcoin and Ethereum Are Today
Cuban himself used to be a bitcoin skeptic, preferring bananas to bitcoin because he claimed he could at least eat a banana.
In an interview on Good Evening San Diego a few days ago, Schiff referred to Bitcoin as a fool’s gold and a digital pyramid scheme. He also said that the SEC should not be encouraging people to participate.
BTC trading at over K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
When asked about the SEC’s recent approval of Bitcoin ETFs, he responded that “we should get rid of the SEC”.
He continued by saying, “I have no problem with the ETF itself, but if the SEC is pretending that it is some kind of watchdog and trying to make sure that investors don’t get hurt, then it makes no sense that they would approve this ETF because ultimately, the ETF is going to collapse to zero and the people who are left holding the bag are going to get wiped out.”
Schiff is also not impressed with futures ETFs. He says, “instead of owning nothing, you own a futures contract to gamble on nothing.”
Featured image by Bloomberg, Chart from TradingView.com
NewsBTC
Libra Is Like Sending a Friend Request to Terrorists, Politician Says
n A day after warning that Libra could endanger America more than 9/11, a Democratic congressman has attacked Mark Zuckerberg on Twittern
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
QuadrigaCX CEO Lost $190 Million in Crypto, Former Friend Says He Was Fearful
The untimely death of QuadrigaCX CEO Gerald Cotten has left 0 million worth of customers’ crypto funds inaccessible. Many theorized that Cotten faked his demise to disappear with the money. But according to his former friend and colleague, the late entrepreneur was not capable of taking such drastic measures.
Adam O’Brien told Global News that before his death, Cotten had mused him about being kidnapped for having access to a multimillion-dollar fortune. The Edmonton-based bitcoin entrepreneur claimed that Cotten was expecting troubles from every corner – that he was assuming that “something might happen.”
“Gerry was holding, we know, over 0 million, almost 0 million in funds,” O’Brien asserted. “That makes people do some pretty crazy things. And I think Gerry was aware of that.”
Dead Man’s Switch
Cotten’s widow Jennifer Roberston wrote in her affidavit that Cotten died of Crohn disease while taking a humanitarian trip to India’s Jaipur town. The local police issued a no objection certificate, confirming the circumstances surrounding Cotten’s demise, before sending his remains to Nova Scotia. The conspiracy theories about Cotten faking his death ended right there.
But the fact that Cotten did not pass down the passwords of wallets that held 0 million of customers’ funds with a trustworthy party raised doubts.
“I think here we do have one leg up in a dead man’s switch,” O’Brien said. “A dead man’s switch would be something that Gerry would have had to set up before he passed away.”
Crypto exchange #QuadrigaCX is facing accusations of lying about their CEO Gerald Cotton’s death to orchestrate what people believe is an exit scam from Day One. https://t.co/jEPiguUxBJ
— NEWSBTC (@newsbtc) February 6, 2019
A dead man’s switch is a computer program which transfers a human operator’s security credentials to a priorly designated receiver over non-activity for a specified period. So, for instance, the operator dies unexpectedly or fails to interact with his machine for a long time, a dead man’s switch automatically passes down the information to the next person in line, ensuring that data remains accessible to a human.
So far, investigators have unable to find out whether or not Cotten had a dead man’s switch system in place. If yes, it was necessary to find the person who might have gained access to QuadrigaCX missing millions following Cotten’s death. It was particularly stressing since one of the co-founders associated with the Canadian exchange had a criminal record in the US. Legal documents proved that the accused Omar Dhanani had changed his name to Michael Patryn to conceal his past.
Globe and Mail has found booking photos that clearly show Quadriga cofounder Michael Patryn is in fact convicted felon Omar Dhanani. https://t.co/XWLZfwcY3a
— Amy Castor (@ahcastor) March 1, 2019
No Crypto Recovery
O’Brien believed the affected 115,000 QuadrigaCX customers would not be able to recover their funds, solely because the way crypto technology worked.
“I don’t think people are going to see that money again. And the reason I don’t is [that] the way bitcoin is designed is that once the private key is gone, there’s no recovery,” O’Brien said.
The post QuadrigaCX CEO Lost 0 Million in Crypto, Former Friend Says He Was Fearful appeared first on NewsBTC.
Diamonds Are Blockchains Best Friend How DLT Helps Tracking Gems and Prevents Fraud
n The worlds largest diamond companies are actively seeking blockchain solutions to establish better logistics, and to keep blood diamonds out of the marketsn
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
Hodlers Digest, Nov. 26Dec. 2 Satoshi Makes a New Friend, Buterin Gets Negative Over Centralized Blockchains
n Ohio businesses will be able to pay taxes in BTC, while Vitalik Buterin gets snarky over an overuse of blockchain applicationsn
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
Bitcoins are a boy’s best friend
Two interesting things happened at once over the weekend: the price of bitcoins hit a record high and the leaders of America’s biggest bank and the …
BitNewz.net
Bitcoins Are a Girls Best Friend Diamonds for BTC in New York
n Samer Halimeh NY can help you buy diamonds with your Bitcoinn
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7