Over the past decade, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has contended with “significant non-compliance” and “creative attempts” by cryptocurrency market participants to avoid its jurisdiction. According to the SEC’s enforcement director, the commission has regularly prevailed in its numerous court cases against these participants. A ‘Decade’s Worth of Arguments’ In the past decade, […]
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Bitcoin ETF Mania and Nigeria’s New Stance on Crypto to Drive the Industry’s Revival in Africa — Experts
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s expected approval of bitcoin exchange-traded funds and Nigeria’s lifting of a directive which excluded the crypto industry from the banking ecosystem are expected to help revive African users’ interest in crypto. The Bitcoin halving event, which is expected to occur sometime in April 2024, will again prove to be pivotal in setting the top crypto asset’s trajectory in 2024.
Nigeria’s New Stance on Crypto Bodes Well for Africa
After experiencing a rocky first half of the year punctuated with startup failures and increased regulator scrutiny, the African crypto and blockchain industry looks poised to start 2024 with renewed hopes and expectations. And nowhere else on the African continent is this renewed optimism more profound than in Nigeria.
Since the removal of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, sometime in June, the central bank’s new boss, Olayemi Cardoso, has taken on a more conciliatory approach and dropped some of his predecessor’s most controversial policies. From the devaluation of the local currency to the removal of restrictions on the use of foreign currency, the CBN has steadily moved away from the Emefiele-era regulations.
However, the most significant decision yet made by the CBN under Cardoso’s stewardship has to be the recent lifting of the February 2021 crypto asset-related restrictions. Many Nigerian crypto and blockchain influencers, including Ophi Rume, the executive secretary of the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SIBAN), agree that the central bank’s Dec. 22 move already counts as one of the year’s best moments, not just for the West African nation but the whole continent.
“My best moment is the removal of the ban on cryptocurrency transactions from the bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The ban has discouraged innovators from other parts of Africa from seeing Nigeria as an opportunity despite its huge young population and interest in the crypto space. It’s a win for Africa because many African countries look to Nigeria as the big brother in terms of emerging technologies like cryptocurrency and blockchain,” Rume said.
Southern African Countries Seize the Initiative in 2023
In Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy and one of the continent’s top five crypto markets, the crackdown on Worldcoin is seen as the crypto industry’s lowest point in this region. As widely reported by Bitcoin.com News, national security concerns were some of the reasons used by Kenyan authorities to justify the freezing of Worldcoin’s activities in the country.
However, by mid-December, the government’s tune had seemingly changed after a report suggested that Worldcoin would be allowed to resume its activities in early 2024. On the regulation front, the Kenyan parliament finally took steps which would enable the country’s revenue collection agency to tax the country’s reported 4.5 million crypto holders.
In South Africa, one of Africa’s biggest crypto markets, authorities have taken steps to establish a regulatory framework for virtual asset service providers (VASPs). By the end of November, over 90 entities had submitted their applications for licenses to operate a VASP, culminating in this effort.
Angola’s passage of crypto law towards the end of the year is another important milestone seen going a long way in revitalizing the optimism of both users and prospective service providers. In May, Zimbabwe’s central bank launched Africa’s first and only gold-backed digital currency, marking another key moment in the region.
Bitcoin Halving and the ETF Mania
Despite these being key moments for the industry in Africa, many players in the space see the now seemingly inevitable approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the key moment that is likely to kickstart another bull run and the subsequent wave of capital inflows.
Shaheer Karrim, the co-founder of Mzansi Web3 ICP Hub, however, believes that while the approval of the ETFs is likely to be seen as an achievement, any benefits of this are likely to be short-lived. Karrim also added that he foresees high-level institutions like Blackrock seeking to control the narrative or the top crypto asset itself.
Concerning spot bitcoin ETFs’ likely impact on Africa, Karrim said:
“For African users, there will be a trickle-down effect as we usually see with African countries taking the lead from the West. With more countries adopting the crypto, it will create more interest in the underlying technology.”
Meanwhile, another influencer, Ivaibi Festo, the founder of Mitroplus Labs, said he also agrees with the assertion that spot bitcoin ETFs will most likely set the tone for the new year. Nevertheless, Festo is confident that the Bitcoin halving event, which is expected to occur sometime in April 2024, will again prove to be pivotal in setting the top crypto asset’s trajectory in 2024.
“My self I think this coming bull run is going to be by far bigger and better than any other we have had in the past across all aspects. It’s going to affect a lot of incomes and value distributions across the world. If anyone should be conscious about what is about to happen in the international monetary system, this is the time,” Festo said.
Nathaniel Luz, an author and the founder of Flincap, believes the approval of bitcoin ETFs is not only going to bring legitimacy to the crypto industry but will also help it restore users’ trust. According to Luz, the collapse of FTX and Luna were some of the confidence-sapping events which plagued the industry for much of the year.
The Flipcap founder, however, rejected the assertion that ordinary African crypto users are particularly interested in the SEC’s approval of the ETFs.
“The average guy is not interested in the technicalities of the SEC’s approval of spot bitcoin ETFs. What they are more interested in is the ambience created by the approval. Everybody wants to be in a positively booming and blooming market. Another aspect of the approval that interests African crypto users is the fact that regulations in most first-world countries, especially the US, usually impact the regulations made in other countries,” Luz insisted.
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13 Crypto Exchanges Hold Over 14% of Industry’s Wealth; Binance Dominates with 42% Share of $151B in Reserves
On September 27, 2023, statistics indicate that 13 cryptocurrency exchanges possess assets under management (AUM) exceeding billion, collectively constituting 14.39% of the crypto economy’s total value of .05 trillion. Among these 13 digital currency trading platforms, Binance stands out by maintaining a 42.81% share of the 1.08 billion in cryptocurrency reserves.
A Handful of Billion-Dollar Cryptocurrency Exchanges Command 1B in Net Value
Data indicates that 13 distinct cryptocurrency exchanges collectively manage a total value of 1.08 billion, with Binance, the leading cryptocurrency trading platform in terms of global volume, maintaining .68 billion in reserves, as reported by Arkham Intelligence’s blockchain explorer.
Binance’s holdings include 21.02 billion tether (USDT) and 671,981 BTC, with a combined value of .7 billion. Additionally, Binance held assets valued at .55 billion in ETH and .21 billion in BNB on September 27.
Binance’s holdings represent 42.81% of the collective 1 billion in value held by these 13 exchanges. According to Arkham’s data, Coinbase controlled approximately .91 billion as of September 27, 2023.
The exchange holds a significant 946,618 bitcoin (BTC) worth .88 billion. Another .69 billion in value is attributed to Coinbase’s ETH holdings, and there is 0 million worth of LINK held by the San Francisco-based trading platform.
The digital currency exchange Okx manages a total of .37 billion, with billion of that consisting of tether (USDT). Okx also holds .52 billion in BTC, .16 billion in OKB, and .64 billion worth of ETH.
On September 27, Bitfinex held .70 billion AUM with 225,231 BTC worth .92 billion. The exchange also holds another .22 billion in ether. Robinhood holds .27 billion total and .19 billion of that value is in bitcoin (BTC).
Around .74 billion of Robinhood’s cache consists of ETH holdings. Robinhood also commands 1.55 million in SHIB and .70 million in LINK. Among the five aforementioned exchanges, the trading platforms collectively hold 5.93 billion of the 1 billion aggregate.
The total reserves among the top five out of 13 equate to 83.39%. There’s also Kraken, with its treasure chest of .96 billion; Bybit, boasting a hefty .51 billion; Crypto.com, guarding a cool .61 billion; Gemini, with coffers holding .11 billion; HTX, formerly known as Huobi, possessing .89 billion; Kucoin, with a substantial .89 billion; Deribit, holding .79 billion; and Upbit, with a stash of .32 billion.
The latter eight exchanges command a slice of 16.61% of the 1 billion pie held by this select cadre of exchanges.
What do you think about the 13 crypto exchanges that hold more than 14% of the crypto economy’s net worth? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Bitcoin Mining Council Reveals Sustainable Growth: New Survey Sheds Light on Industry’s Power and Efficiency
In a recent report, the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) unveiled the results of its first half of 2023 survey, highlighting the industry’s strides in electricity consumption, technological efficiency, and sustainable power. Furthermore, the survey details that the BMC accounts for 43.4% of the global mining network.
Insights From the Bitcoin Mining Council’s Latest Survey
The Bitcoin Mining Council, a collaborative global forum of bitcoin (BTC) mining companies and associated businesses, announced the findings of its recent survey on August 9, 2023. Focused on electricity consumption, technological efficiency, and sustainable power mix, the survey reveals that BMC’s membership hashrate has increased from 24 exahash per second (EH/s) in Q1 2022 to 158 EH/s in Q2 2023.
The survey’s results highlight a significant shift toward sustainable energy within the bitcoin mining industry. Members of the BMC are utilizing electricity with a 63.1% sustainable power mix, reflecting a positive trend in environmental consciousness.
“Based on this data, the global bitcoin mining industry’s sustainable electricity mix has improved marginally to 59.9% and remains one of the most sustainable industries globally,” the report stated.
Additionally, a year-on-year comparison reveals that the technological efficiency of the global Bitcoin network rose by 24%, growing from 21.1 EH/s per gigawatt (GW) in the first half of 2022 to 26.1 EH/s per GW in the corresponding period of 2023.
“Entering 2023, the Bitcoin network has never been stronger or more secure,” Ben Gagnon, chief mining officer of Bitfarms stated. “Despite the macro headwinds in the second half of 2022, the industry has continued to deploy new miners, increasing hash rate and improving energy efficiency and network security.”
Gagnon added:
In H1 2023, we also saw a significant increase in curtailment, with BMC members reporting 2.5 GW worth of Bitcoin mining operations participating in curtailment programs and 815 GWh of energy released back to local grids during times of peak demand.
Gagnon added that most of this curtailment is identified in the United States and Canada, where the available interruptible load equals roughly 25% of all installed utility battery storage across these two nations. Through such initiatives, Bitcoin mining manifests itself in various regions as an essential tool for grid stabilization and as the “buyer of last resort,” Gagnon said.
What do you think about the Bitcoin Mining Council’s latest survey? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Crypto Industry’s Reputation Takes a Hit: FTX and Bitcoin Rank at the Bottom of 2023 Axios Harris Poll 100
A recent survey conducted by Axios and Harris Poll, which polled 16,310 Americans, has revealed some interesting findings about the reputation of two select entities in the crypto industry. FTX, a crypto exchange that has since gone out of business, has been ranked at the very bottom of the list, coming in at 99 out of 100. Meanwhile, bitcoin has made its debut on the list, ranking a low of 93 among the top companies and organizations.
FTX and Bitcoin’s Reputation Woes Highlighted in Visible Brands Poll
The 2023 Axios Harris Poll 100 has revealed that FTX has a less-than-stellar reputation among the top 100 companies ranked from best to worst in terms of reputation. The survey’s is to “gauge the reputation of the most visible brands in America,” as stated by Axios. Interestingly, the poll has added two crypto-themed elements this year: the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX and the leading crypto asset by market capitalization, bitcoin (BTC).
The poll revealed that FTX and bitcoin are at the bottom of the list, indicating that they have lackluster reputations among a list of other visible brands. FTX, in particular, has landed in the second-to-last position, just above the Trump organization, which is considered the worst visible brand in the country. Meanwhile, Fox (98), Twitter (97), Meta (96), and Spirit Airlines (95) are just above the bankrupt crypto company.
Bitcoin and Tiktok are also on the list, with bitcoin ranking 93 and Tiktok ranking 94. Interestingly, there are firms that stand above bitcoin, including BP (92), Balenciaga (91), Family Dollar (90), Dollar Tree (89), Wells Fargo (88), and Comcast (87). To determine the reputation of the 100 most prominent companies, survey participants were asked to rate them on nine different dimensions. This allowed for the calculation of each company’s Reputational Quotient, or RQ score.
From March 13 through 28, 2023, Axios and Harris conducted the latest survey using the same framework that has been in place since 1999. The top ten on the poll’s list of most visible brands with better reputations than most included Patagonia, Costco, John Deere, Trader Joe’s, Chick-fil-A, Toyota, Samsung, Amazon, USAA, and Apple, respectively.
What do you think the crypto industry can do to improve its reputation and gain the trust of the public? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
ChainSwap to Launch Industry’s First Cross-Chain Aggregator
ChainSwap, a cross-chain asset bridge & application hub for smart chains, launched its cross-chain bridge aggregator today. The initial version of ChainSwap Cross-chain Bridge Aggregator integrates three leading bridge solutions, namely Poly Bridge, Multichain, and AnySwap. More bridges are expected to be supported by the aggregator. ChainSwap’s final goal is to integrate all cross-chain bridges available on the market and become the go-to platform for cross-chain solution seekers.
Why a Bridge Aggregator: Current Challenges
Imagine that you want to transfer a token from ETH to BSC with a decentralized cross-chain bridge. Currently, there are a few challenges. First, you need to research which bridge supports the token on both chains. Second, you need to choose which bridge provides the best deal with the lowest slippage and transaction fee, on top of other information such as estimated bridge duration time. In order to do that, you have to spend time comparing all the currently offered bridge solutions. This is difficult and time-consuming as the currently offered bridge solutions do not have a common interface, this is where the Chainswap bridge aggregator comes in.
Market Analysis
According to Dune Analytics, the current combined TVL of Ethereum bridges is .65 billion as of Dec. 1, 2021, up by +100% from only 2 months ago. This data tracks the 17 leading Ethereum bridges and is demonstrating an ever-growing trend.
Ethereum Bridges TVL
There are a number of main cross-chain solutions currently available on the market, including Cambridge, Hop, Binance Bridge, Terra Bridge, Anyswap, Allbridge, Renbridge, Xpollinate, Polynetwork, etc. More cross-chain projects are expected to emerge in the future.
Different projects adopt different approaches
We have centralized ones V.S. decentralized ones; cryptographic algorithms V.S. trusted devices; multiple steps V.S. simple one-click. Each cross-chain solution has its pros and cons. But in terms of the overall structure, all of them are based on these five elements: source chain, source token, destination chain, destination token, and sender. When it comes to EVM-based cross-chain solutions, we also have a Source Mapping contract and a Destination Mapping contract.
ChainSwap’s Cross-Chain Aggregator Solution
ChainSwap’s ultimate goal is to create an aggregator platform that integrates all cross-chain solutions and allows users to enjoy the margin of these projects combined through the unified interface that we provide, thus making the cross-chain experience more convenient and effective.
This ultimate goal will be rolled out in steps and the first step has just been completed through the integration of Poly Bridge and Multichain. Support for other bridges such as AnySwap and Wormhole, is already under development and is expected to go live shortly.
The entire aggregator solution is presented in the form of one interface. Users first select the Source token they wish to transfer cross-chain, then the source chain, destination chain and enter the amount they wish to transfer. The platform then presents the user with a list of all cross-chain projects that can provide this service. Once selected, the cross-chain transfer can be done with one click.
Solving DeFi Industry’s Liquidity Fragmentation and Clunky Protocol Interoperability
At the recent ETH Berlin upgrade on April 15, the gas limit size increased, necessitating a fall in transaction fees and heightened activities in Ethereum we see today. DeFi, which stands for decentralised finance, is the critical driver of activities on the network. However, with protocols seeking to take advantage of low fees on other chains like Binance Smart Chain, Layer 2 solutions or the incredibly fast and traction-gaining Polygon’s commit chain, the main problem surfaces – liquidity fragmentation across these different chains.
Ethereum is expecting to solve its scaling issues by the time the Merge upgrade, which sees Eth1 and Eth2 chains merge resulting in the complete transition to Proof-of-Stake. As good as this is for decentralisation and entities seeking to leverage the growing adoption of Web3, if Moore’s law is obeyed as will be the case for Etheeum, which has attained critical mass, then gas costs (synonymous to computing costs but in this case, gas is the cost incurred when developers deploy smart contracts on the Ethereum chain) are expected to increase also.
To buttress even further, for DeFi growth to continue unabated, the ease with which users transfer their assets (stablecoins, Ether and other assets) is determined by how liquid the medium of transfer is. In this case, centralised exchanges held sway for so long, not until Uniswap ushered in the DEX revolution that has continued to birth more solutions within the DeFi industry we see today. Still, due to high transaction cost, risk of impermanent loss and a few other concerns, numerous AMM options keep proliferating, seeking to either ride on the success of their predecessors or extinguish their earlier competitors, a case which the industry has come to describe as Vampire mining attack.
The resultant effect is fragmented liquidity across DEX, many of which are no longer native to the Ethereum chain. There is a need to solve this liquidity fragmentation. To date, blockchain interoperability which is still being experimented upon, has had many tout it as the endgame of the growing number of chains in the space. Hence, in the industry’s interest, the solution to the liquidity fragmentation problem is not another liquidity-hungry protocol but a cross-chain liquidity aggregator. Solving the problem of continuous liquidity fragmentation and trustless interoperability across protocols is what the team behind Pontoon Finance is out to do.
Pontoon offers users One-click liquidity mirroring across ETH, BSC, HECO Chain, xDAI, POLYGON, OPTIMISM with incentivised Relayer Network and Liquidity Mining for Liquidity Providers across the chains. Adopting a decentralised relayer network, Pontoon enables users to effect gas-less cross-chain transfers, whether on sidechains, Layer 1, Layer 2 chains, or commit chains such as Polygon trustlessly. And it passes on the events across chains for each transfer to the bridge.
For instance, a project or DeFi user seeing the recent traction of Polygon, which has now surpassed the Ethereum network’s transaction count, can simply take advantage of Pontoon Finance relayer network feature to enjoy the best of both Ethereum and Polygon’s world all from one position. Moreso, Pontoon team designed the protocol to be composable and seamlessly interact with any DeFi application.
Pontoon affords Liquidity Providers the option of adding liquidity to its cross-chain liquidity pool. For this, LPs earn TOON, Pontoon native token that can be used for governance proposals and staking to earn more yields and sharing in the network fees. Pontoon users also farm new tokens with Pontoon’s day-one multichain liquidity readiness through a single liquidity pool for multiple DEX.
Image by Miloslav Hamřík from Pixabay
Industry’s Most Powerful Man: Only 1 in 1000 Own Crypto
Although Bitcoin is now over ten years old, the rest of the crypto market is still a relatively young asset class and unproven technology that’s valuations are based on pure speculation.
According to the crypto industry’s most powerful man and influential figure, only 1 in 1000 people own cryptocurrencies, and that the current state of the market is just the “tip of the iceberg” of what’s to come over the next 30 years.
Binance CEO: Current Bitcoin Adoption Just The Tip of The Iceberg
Cryptocurrencies are an emerging technology and asset class with the potential to disrupt the finance industry and even redefine what the world currently knows as money itself.
The hype of the potential caused asset valuations to skyrocket way ahead of being ready for public consumption, and that realization caused crypto prices to tumble from all-time highs.
Related Reading | 50% of Population To Use Bitcoin By 2043 If Crypto Follows Internet Adoption
After two years, though, that hype has cooled off, and valuations are currently a lot more grounded in reality.
But the hype of the crypto bubble did put Bitcoin and the rest of the asset class on the map. Bitcoin is now a household name, a possible solution in Scrabble, and has a place in the dictionary alongside blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and more.
More and more people know what cryptocurrency is, although even more don’t yet understand why it is important, nor do they own any.
According to Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform Binance, only 1 out of 1000 or so people own crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, or other altcoins lower down the list by market cap.
While speaking in live Periscope, Zhao said that this is just the “tip of the iceberg” for the future of crypto adoption that will take place across the next 30 years.
https://t.co/34rN2m5wIZ
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) February 7, 2020
1 in 1000 Own Crypto, But Could Reach 50% of Population Within 30 Years
His words are significant and come at a time when crypto investors need reminding about the potential of the asset class.
After two full years of a bear market, falling prices have made investors forget about how these cryptocurrencies my thrive in the future.
Just like the internet before it, and many other technologies like the TV, refrigerator, and others before that, it takes decades for new technologies to be adopted.
Past data suggests that if the rate of Bitcoin adoption stays at pace with internet adoption, over 50% of the world will be using cryptocurrency by 2043. This would bring the number to 1 out of every 2 individuals.
Related Reading | Daily Activities Like Grocery Shopping May Hold the Key to Bitcoin Adoption
With half the world using crypto, prices could reach unimaginable levels.
Zhao is also the CEO of one of the most important cryptocurrency exchanges in the crypto market, and was listed at the top of the Forbes crypto rich list, making his words especially powerful in the space. The post appeared first on NewsBTC.
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Crypto Seems Ready to Solve Gaming Industrys Microtransaction Dilemma
n Are cryptocurrencies the solution to the microtransaction-related problems the gaming community is facingn
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Fake Exchange Volumes, The Crypto Industry’s New Scourge
The world of cryptocurrencies has many secrets, despite its young age. However, as this technology promotes transparency, many of those secrets are slowly being discovered. One such secret includes the sudden rise of crypto exchanges, many of which were next to unknown only a few, short months ago.
Crypto Exchanges Reporting Fake Volumes
Today, exchanges like BitForex, which is a perfect example of this sudden growth, are among the largest platforms around. Their daily volume can be counted in billions of dollars, which makes them almost a match for traditional stock exchanges, some of which are around for over two centuries.
In an attempt to uncover how this happened so suddenly, Bloomberg did thorough research and reported its findings here. As for the market participants, most stated they suspect that the exchanges are either not doing enough to stop abuse on the platform, or that they might even be offering incentives to those who would artificially inflate the trading volumes. Whatever the case may be, BitForex is a red flag, since its reported volume is the largest one among all the platforms tracked by CoinMarketCap.
The problem with fake volume reports is that they provide a false image of the exchange and the market. Individual investors, especially new ones, can be tricked into making wrong business moves. At the same time, a situation like that discourages institutional investors from entering the crypto market.
While these practices are not specifically illegal, they are still considered manipulative and dishonest. But, as the former crypto exchange executive, Neil Woodfine, stated, “Some exchanges will say ‘everyone’s doing it, so I’m doing it.”
Trust in Crypto Exchanges Drops
As mentioned previously, a lot of exchanges are quick to offer rewards to their users who would exploit some methods to make a profit. At the same time, they are making the exchange’s trading volume bigger. This includes methods such as trade mining, or transaction mining, which is one of the practices on BitForex.
The report also claims that BitForex is not the only one and that FCoin, CoinBene, DOBI Trade, and CoinSuper are also known for using such methods. Most of the exchanges are not properly regulated by the monetary authorities, which is why methods like this can still be exploited, seemingly with no consequences.
However, crypto experts from all around the world are aware of these methods, as well as which exchanges are using them. Needless to say, most of them are not supportive of such practices at all, since performing them damages the reputation of the entire industry.
Image from Shutterstock
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