Italy is taking steps to enhance surveillance of crypto assets and address associated risks. According to a draft decree reviewed by a news agency, the plan includes imposing high fines on those who manipulate the market. The fines range from ,400-.4 million (€5,000 to €5 million) for offenses such as insider trading, unlawful disclosure of […]
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Fluidkey Launches to Tackle the Transaction Privacy Issues on EVM Chains
Fluidkey has announced it has opened its Optimism-based alpha to more users, allowing them to test their private solutions. Fluidkey seeks to solve the transaction privacy problem in EVM chains by leveraging ENS and stealth addresses, allowing users to use a new self-custodial asset for each payment, and segregating these movements to avoid linkability. Fluidkey […]
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US Presidential Candidates Tackle Crypto Issues at Groundbreaking Forum
Highlighting the increasing significance of digital assets in American politics, several presidential candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties came together at the Crypto Presidential Forum to discuss their visions for the future of cryptocurrency in the U.S.
Crypto Takes Center Stage in Crypto Presidential Forum
In a historic event at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, presidential candidates from both sides of the political aisle gathered on Dec. 11, 2023, for the first-ever Crypto Presidential Forum, organized by the Stand with Crypto Alliance and Coindesk. With the 2024 U.S. presidential election fast approaching, the event, which can be viewed in its entirety here, offered a unique platform for candidates to express their views on the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry and the current state of digital asset regulation in the United States.
First up was Republican candidate and former governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson with a clear message of support for the crypto industry, saying, “I want the crypto industry to flourish in America and that the United States will lead.” To accomplish this, he outlined four points: clarity of rules, consumer confidence, coding ability, and affordable energy.
Vivek Ramaswamy, another Republican hopeful, presented a comprehensive crypto framework centered on three core principles: the freedom to code, financial self-reliance, and protection from regulatory overreach. Criticizing the influence of unelected bureaucrats in agencies like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ramaswamy argued that:
“The imposition of the regulatory state and its overreach on the crypto sector, isn’t about the crypto sector, it’s about an imposition of an agenda that threatens our constitutional republic itself.”
On the Democratic side, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota pointed out the knowledge gap in Congress regarding blockchain technology and crypto. He stressed the importance of understanding these emerging fields to effectively legislate and regulate them. Phillips’ perspective seemed to echo a common critique leveled against people in Congress, that they are out of touch with modern challenges, especially those brought on by new technologies.
Ben Friedman, the business development manager at Bitcoin.com, attended the event and praised the candidates for addressing pressing concerns from the crypto industry. Friedman said, “Vivek Ramaswamy’s approach to integrating crypto into national strategies was impressive, and his thoughts on a regulatory framework were articulated with remarkable clarity. Dean Phillips’ perspective on embracing blockchain innovation and positioning America as a leader in Web3 highlighted the event’s forward-thinking atmosphere.”
Overall, the event revealed a consensus among the candidates on the need for clear crypto regulations and a broader understanding of blockchain technology. The event represented a positive step in bringing crypto-related topics to the forefront of political considerations, suggesting that the next administration, regardless of its political affiliation, will likely pay closer attention to the growing digital asset landscape.
Which presidential candidate do you think has the best plan for crypto? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
BRICS States Should Tackle AI Risks Together, Xi Jinping Says
BRICS nations should address the risks related to artificial intelligence (AI), Chinese President Xi Jinping said during the group’s summit in South Africa. China’s leader is also convinced that the members of the economic bloc must work to standardize the technology.
BRICS Should Strive for AI Standardization, Chinese President Suggests
BRICS members should resist the risks stemming from the implementation of AI technology and work together on its standardization, China’s head of state, Xi Jinping, said at a plenary session of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg. He was quoted by the Russian Tass news agency as stating:
It is necessary to jointly work on lowering the risks related to employment of AI technology and develop the standards of its employment for making AI more secure, reliable and manageable.
Xi also highlighted the key role of a BRICS working group in the cooperation and exchange of information on various issues connected with the adoption of technologies based on artificial intelligence.
Leaders of the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – met in South Africa for their annual summit on Aug. 22-24, with Russian President Vladimir Putin joining the talks via video link. The forum was also attended by the heads of state of around 40 other nations.
Participants discussed a range of topics relevant to the development of their nations as well as the organization’s role on the world stage. These included the question of BRICS expansion as well as the promotion of wider use of local currencies in trade among member states and their partners.
In a statement at the BRICS Business Forum, delivered by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, Xi remarked that “right now, changes in the world, in our times and in history are unfolding in ways like never before, bringing human society to a critical juncture,” adding that “we all share a huge stake of survival” in a “shared future.”
Met with initial enthusiasm, AI-based products such as Openai’s Chatgpt have also raised concerns that AI technologies could potentially displace human intelligence and supplant an array of jobs. Chinese state media have warned that chatbots may be used to spread misinformation while regulators in Italy, for example, were worried about inappropriate content.
Do you think the BRICS nations will act together to adopt common regulations for AI technologies? Tell us in the comments section below.
SEC Asks for Increased Funding to Tackle Crypto Market Risks and Wrongdoing
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has asked Congress for more funding for his agency to address “risks in the crypto markets.” In a Senate hearing, he stressed: “We’ve seen the Wild West of the crypto markets, rife with noncompliance, where investors have put hard-earned assets at risk in a highly speculative asset class.”
SEC Seeks More Funding to Police Crypto
Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), talked about cryptocurrency during his testimony on Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government regarding the SEC’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget request.
“I am pleased to support the President’s FY 2024 request of .436 billion for SEC operations, to put us on a better track for the future,” Gensler told lawmakers.
After outlining “tremendous growth” and changes in the U.S. capital markets, the SEC chairman stated:
We’ve seen the Wild West of the crypto markets, rife with noncompliance, where investors have put hard-earned assets at risk in a highly speculative asset class.
“Such growth and rapid change also mean more possibility for wrongdoing. As the cop on the beat, we must be able to meet the match of bad actors,” he continued. “With funding to meet the scale of our mission, we can be an even stronger advocate for the American public — investors and issuers alike.”
“Our FY 2024 request would help [the Division of Enforcement] grow to 1,144 FTEs [full-time equivalents], allowing it to keep pace with the market challenges of the last decade. The majority of this increase relates to full-year funding for those staff positions authorized and hired in FY 2023,” he explained, elaborating:
These additional resources would strengthen the Division’s ability to protect American families by addressing risks in the crypto markets, cyber and information security, and the resiliency of critical market infrastructure.
Gensler is often criticized for regulating the crypto sector by enforcement. The SEC chairman has stated that all crypto tokens, except bitcoin, are securities. However, the district court for the Southern District of New York recently ruled that XRP is not a security. Gensler stated that the SEC is “disappointed” by the ruling, especially concerning its potential impact on retail investors.
What do you think about SEC Chairman Gary Gensler requesting more funding to address crypto risks? Let us know in the comments section below.
IMF Working Paper Urges Tax System Overhaul to Tackle Crypto’s Tax Collection Challenges
A research paper published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns that tax collection is significantly more challenging with cryptocurrency assets, and current tax systems are not designed to handle them. The IMF’s working paper emphasizes that certain crypto assets may not persist in the future, while others that endure become “fundamental innovations in decentralized finance.” Consequently, the IMF asserts that tax systems must adapt to cryptocurrencies with “coherence, clarity, and effectiveness.”
Crypto Assets Pose Tax Collection Hurdles, Warns IMF Working Paper
On July 5, 2023, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a working paper on taxation and cryptocurrency assets authored by Katherine Baer, Ruud de Mooij, Shafik Hebous, and Michael Keen. While published by the IMF, working papers are the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IMF, its executive board, or IMF management.
The authors observe that the current taxation framework is inadequate in many regions worldwide due to the dual nature of crypto assets, which can serve both as a currency and an investment. The IMF’s working paper further highlights that “crypto’s quasi-anonymity is an inherent obstacle to third-party reporting” significantly complicating tax collection. The investment and currency aspects introduce additional tax collection challenges in today’s modern world.
“Conceptually, the dual nature of cryptocurrencies as both investment assets and means of payment — the latter, though less prominent than the former, being a primary purpose for their development — creates potential difficulty in capturing capital gains and losses in their asset role without thereby constructing obstacles to their use as currency,” the IMF authors opine.
The IMF researchers caution policymakers to promptly address these concerns and familiarize themselves with the necessary corrective measures. The authors of the IMF paper also mention the concept of implementing a carbon tax on proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency assets to “address the significant climate impact of proof-by-work consensus mechanisms.”
Although the working paper acknowledges tax evasion as a pressing issue, page 18 specifically addresses the “revenue potential” that tax collectors overlook concerning cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the IMF paper references the blockchain surveillance company Chainalysis and its capability to “probabilistically” associate a crypto user with their country of origin.
The issue of crypto anonymity is described as a “fundamental obstacle to tax enforcement,” according to the IMF’s explanation on page 20. “Income can be hard to identify from transactions, and it is not simply that the tax authorities cannot identify individuals — nobody can,” the researchers elaborate. The IMF report emphasizes the need to maintain an ongoing focus on the realm of crypto asset transactions and taxation.
The researchers further argue that although data is limited, “there is strong evidence that crypto wealth is highly concentrated, even more so than ownership of equities.” Ultimately, the paper concludes by highlighting the challenge policymakers face in integrating cryptocurrencies into tax systems that currently lack the necessary tools to accommodate their existence.
What are your thoughts on the IMF’s call for tax system adaptation to tackle cryptocurrency taxation challenges? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Federal Reserve Chair Pushes Stronger Measures to Tackle Inflation, Considers Back-to-Back Rate Hikes
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has reaffirmed the Fed’s hawkish stance. Noting that the latest economic data indicates that the Fed’s policy “may not be restrictive enough” and “has not been restrictive for long enough,” Powell stated that the central bank could raise interest rates “at consecutive meetings.”
Fed Chairman Powell on Rate Hikes
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed the Fed’s hawkish stance on Wednesday during a central banker panel hosted by the European Central Bank in Sintra, Portugal. With the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting slated for July 25-26, Powell emphasized that the Fed is not done curbing inflation and hinted at the possibility of consecutive interest rate hikes. The Federal Reserve paused raising interest rates in June after 10 consecutive rate hikes.
“If you look at the data over the last quarter, what you see is stronger than expected growth, a tighter than expected labor market, and higher than expected inflation,” Powell detailed, adding:
That tells us that although policy is restrictive, it may not be restrictive enough and it has not been restrictive for long enough.
Powell noted that Fed officials have not decided on the timing and magnitude of additional interest rate hikes. Nonetheless, he shared:
I wouldn’t take moving at consecutive meetings off the table at all.
During an event held by Spain’s central bank in Madrid on Thursday, the Fed chair clarified: “We expect the moderate pace of interest rate decisions to continue.”
Last week, Powell said: “Inflation pressures continue to run high, and the process of getting inflation back down to 2 percent has a long way to go.” He further stated that a minimum of two more interest-rate hikes this year are likely necessary to steer inflation towards the Fed’s 2% target. The Fed chairman also rejected the possibility of a rate cut in the near future, stating that while “it will be appropriate to cut rates at a time when inflation is coming down really significantly, we’re talking about a couple of years out.”
What do you think about Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s statements? Let us know in the comments section below.
ADA Surges 12% With Best Performance In Top 10, Will It Tackle $2?
ADA seems unstoppable with a 37% rally in the last week. The seventh crypto by market cap is the best performing asset on that ranking and could continue to reclaim previous highs.
Related Reading | Cardano Completes Network Upgrade, ADA Reacts To The Upside
At the time of writing, ADA’s price trades at .16 with a 12% profit in the last 24-hours.
ADA’s price on a rally on the 4-hour chart. Source: ADAUSDT Tradingview
The current seems to be fueled by leading crypto exchange Coinbase announcement to included Cardano to its staking offering. The platform has enabled users to stake their ADA and benefit from reward.
According to the exchange’s blog, this service aims at removing friction from the process of staking ADA. For some users, Coinbase said, this can be “confusing and complicated”.
Per the exchange’s latest earnings report, the platform records 43 million users with 3 million active users per month. In 2021, Coinbase reported ,6 billion in revenue, most of which proceeded from retail traders.
In that sense, ADA staking has found a major spot to increase its adoption levels and provide millions with access to its rewards. The platform is offering a 3.75% APY for ADA staking, with a reward delivery schedule of 5 to 7 days.
Cardano is quickly approaching the important psychological price point of .20. The cryptocurrency last saw these levels before its move into its all-time high near .
In the short term, Cardano could face hurdles as it attempts to break above .20. Data from Material Indicators (MI) records a cluster of asks or selling orders around those levels.
ADA’s price with important resistance above .18 (asks orders in yellow above price). Source: Material Indicators
As the chart shows, these asks could operate as resistance with million in selling orders. In case of rejection, .16 could act as support as there are ,5 million in bid orders.
As the price of Cardano moves higher, MI also records an increase in selling pressure from investors with asks orders of around 0,000 (purple in the chart below). This selling has been mostly absorbed by smaller investors with bid orders of around ,000 (red in the chart below).
Large investors selling into the current rally. Source: Material Indicators
Cardano Ecosystem Growths
Despite its critics, the Cardano ecosystem shows important growth after introducing smart contract capabilities, as measure by its total value locked (TVL). According to a report from Wu Blockchain:
On March 23, Cardano TVL exceeded 300 million US dollars, most of which were provided by two DEXs, and TVL ranked 24th among all L1s. Currently, ADA worth .8 billion is staking in the Cardano network, with a staking rate of 71.64%.
Related Reading | 7% Rally Pushes Cardano (ADA) Closer To
Still far from the TVL of Ethereum’s DeFi protocols, this growth hints at a potential trend for ADA’s price as more users onboard its ecosystem. The inventor of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, has celebrated the explosive expansion of the projects building on this network.
Remember when I predicted thousands of assets and DApps on Cardano? Well I was wrong, there are now millions of native assets issued and DApps are now in the hundreds. #SlowAndSteady https://t.co/mK4So6NHa1
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) March 23, 2022
Rentible.io: A First-Mover Platform Enabling Crypto-Payments between Tenants and Landlords Introduces Deposit Smart Contract to Tackle “Let-and-Run” Schemes
Rentible.io, a next-generation proptech platform aiming to advance the move towards a decentralized sharing-economy and making blockchain use-cases in its respective sector more mainstream-accessible, has passed yet another milestone with the release of its novel deposit smart contract.
The platform, aimed to be launched in Q4 and which will make it possible for tenants and landlords to conveniently send and receive rent payments in different cryptocurrencies with increased privacy protection while optimizing outdated market verticals via the deployment of DeFi principles and trustless smart contracts, puts additional emphasis on protecting market participants from online “let-and-run” fraud, reducing costs through disintermediation, and serving as a gateway for both blockchain enthusiasts and less-savvy users.
As part of its recent milestone checkmarks, Rentible was recently whitelisted by Bancor with a co-investment of 100K BNT (approx 350.000$) by Bancor DAO, as well as listed on Bittrex Global – a top 20 CoinMarketCap exchange, both quite rare achievements for a young and still under-the-radar project, further demonstrating Rentible’s long-term potential as a nextgen accommodation dapp operating on a global scale.
“In a similar way to how sharing-economies like Uber, Lyft, or Airbnb reshaped industries and consumer behaviour in the previous decade, we are now witnessing a core transformation of IT foundations via the growing mainstream adoption of new economic doctrines and concepts based on decentralized characteristics, laying the groundwork for the next evolutionary step of IT implementations in general and of community-based or decentralized sharing-economies in particular, which will constitute an integral part of the sharing-economy reaching 5B in 2025 projection.
If you’re a landlord renting out a property, had you received your rent payments in Bitcoin rather than in Fiat throughout 2020, your actual yield would have quadrupled if not more in 2021. This sounds obvious to crypto savvy enthusiasts, yet we need to remember that most landlords and homeowners worldwide, many of whom are actually very interested to venture into crypto and receive rent in BTC, ETH or other cryptocurrencies, don’t know even how to open a wallet, and this is something Rentible aims to help them with and be a facilitator of”, – Lupu Dror, CEO at Rentible.io.
Founded by a team of seasoned Proptech entrepreneurs and experienced developers, and built upon the award-winning Lakotarsak platform and its partnering site RoomMatesUK, the vision of an autonomous, transparent, intuitive platform that will inject the industry-disruptive capabilities of blockchain technology into Proptech is the compass guiding Rentible’s trajectory as it sets to assume the position of a first-mover in the highly energetic sector of mid-to-long-term online rentals, paving the way for other nextgen ventures to follow its footsteps into this massive yet untapped multi-trillion space.
Bitcoin Mining Council: We Need To Tackle Negative Media Narratives
The Bitcoin Mining Council has publicized its aim to tackle negative media narratives.
In its inaugural meeting which was hosted on Twitter Spaces, the council discussed bad press that has been surrounding Bitcoin and its mining in the past weeks. The China crackdown has led to the shut down of a number of mining farms. Mining has been restricted in regions like Inner Mongolia and miners are having to look for new places to set up operations in the meantime.
Concerns over energy consumption and pollution from mining activities have been rocking the space for a while. People have called for there to be more options for green and efficient Bitcoin mining. Movement from fossil fuel energy to more sustainable energy like hydropower for mining activities have been strongly encouraged.
Related Reading | MicroStrategy Sells 0 Million Notes To Buy Bitcoin
In light of these issues, Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, formed the council with other prominent members in the space.
Bitcoin Mining Council Mandate
Saylor had created the council in response to ongoing debates about Tesla accepting Bitcoin payments. The debates were mostly about if Tesla had examined the energy expenditures involved with Bitcoin mining before making such a move.
With prominent founders such as Galaxy, Riot, MicroStrategy, and a host of others, a lot of attention was on the first BMC meeting to see what the outcome would be.
The council which was announced about a month ago held its first official meeting on Twitter yesterday. The meeting was open to the public and anyone could join in. With over 7,000 listeners in attendance, the council went on to outline the council’s objectives.
Bitcoin price chart | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) stated that its purpose is not to be a regulating body of any kind. They are not here to tell anybody what to do. It is to be a forum that is open to all miners. There is no fee required to join. The members just have to agree to be transparent about their energy mix and hash rate sizes for research and educational purposes.
Its mandate is to promote transparency, share best practices, and educate the public on the benefits of Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining, according to the website.
Curbing Negative Media Narratives
Talking about the negative press that has been surrounding mining, the members focused on getting ahead of the media.
There were also issues regarding whether public companies involvement would be good or bad for mining. Not wanting smaller operations to get swallowed up by bigger ones and discouraging people from getting into it.
CEO Michael Saylor was less concerned about board members or activists pressures. Highlighting that he was more worried about negative media narratives around Bitcoin mining might influence political decisions. This, he believes, would create real barriers to entry in some jurisdictions
Related Reading | Billionaire Tim Draper: Bitcoin Will Reach 0,000 By The End Of 2022
Saylor is quoted saying, “You could be a maximalist and say I’m against organization as a matter of philosophy, but if you get sued by a multibillionaire that wants to sue an individual Bitcoin developer and you get buried in million in legal fees, you’ll be wishing that there was an organized legal defense fund for you. Basically, we can’t expect to succeed if we’re disorganized.”
This raised major points as to why the council is needed. It could act a form of protection for smaller miners. Having basically a coalition behind them should any issues arise that they are too small to handle or ill-prepared for.
According to Saylor, the BMC is not here to fix Bitcoin. It’s simply here to protect it from the people who misunderstand it. The BMC wants to help keep the negative narratives from influencing political decisions against Bitcoin.
Featured image from Bitcoin Mining Council, chart from TradingView.com