The top banking regulator in the U.S. has announced that national banks and savings associations in the country can use public blockchains and stablecoins for payment activities. Experts say this is good for bitcoin and its importance should not be understated. Banks Can Use Public Blockchains and Stablecoins The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published an interpretive letter on Monday “clarifying national banks’ and federal savings associations’ authority to participate in independent node verification networks (INVN) and use stablecoins to conduct payment activities and other bank-permissible functions.” The OCC supervises nearly 1,200 national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches of foreign banks that conduct approximately 70% of all banking business in the U.S. “While governments in other countries have built real-time payments systems, the United States has relied on our innovation sector to deliver real-time payments technologies,” explained Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks. “Some of those technologies are built and managed by bank consortia and some are based on independent node verification networks such as blockchains.” He continued, “The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets recently articulated a strong framework for ushering in an era of stablecoin-based financial infrastructure,” elaborating: Our letter removes any legal uncertainty about the authority of banks to connect to blockchains as validator nodes and thereby transact stablecoin payments on behalf of customers who are increasingly demanding the speed, efficiency, interoperability, and low cost associated with these products. The OCC letter concludes that “a national bank or federal savings association may validate, store, and record payments transactions by serving as a node on an INVN.” In addition, “a bank may use INVNs and related stablecoins to carry out other permissible payment activities. In deploying these technologies, a bank must comply with applicable law and safe, sound, and fair banking practices.” The crypto community widely welcomes this OCC clarification. Dan Held, growth lead at cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, commented: “The OCC will allow US banks to use public blockchains and stablecoins as a settlement infrastructure in the US financial system … This is huge for Bitcoin. As an immutable SoV it already settled over a trillion dollars worth of value annually.” Emphasizing that “This is a huge win for crypto and stablecoins,” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire explained: The new interpretive letter establishes that banks can treat public chains as infrastructure similar to SWIFT, ACH and Fedwire, and stablecoins like USDC as electronic stored value. The significance of this can’t be understated. “Decentralized, permissionless, open-source and internet-mediated software is literally becoming the foundation for not just the US financial system but for the global economy,” he opined. “It also sets the stage for more regulated financial institutions to run blockchain nodes, and even become validators.”

The continuing bitcoin price rally has seen the value of Microstrategy’s total holdings of the digital asset go up by 100%. Specifically, the company has seen the value of its initial haul of 38,250 coins grow to over $1.3 billion from the $425 million spent. Market Capitalization By Almost 200% The growth in value of Microstrategy’s digital asset holdings comes on the back of another record-breaking start of the year for bitcoin. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at just above $34,000 with nearly 75% dominance of the crypto market. Meanwhile, following the recent BTC performances, the value of this Nasdaq listed company’s stock has surged from just under $135 recorded on August 11 to $388.55 by close of trading on December 31. This has seen Microstrategy’s market capitalization rising from $1.3 billion to $3.6 billion, representing a growth of approximately 187% in less than 6 months. Microstrategy initially bought 21,454 BTC on August 11 before adding another 16,796 on September 14 to complete this first round of buying. Since then, the listed firm subsequently increased its BTC holdings to 70,470 coins. At the time of writing, the listed company’s BTC holdings were valued at nearly $2.4 billion. In December 2020, News.bitcoin.com reported that Microstrategy had used a total of $1.125 billion to buy the 70,470 coins meaning the firm’s digital asset holdings have now more than doubled in value. BTC acquisition Bolsters Square Inc Similarly, another Nasqad listed firm Square Inc, which announced its BTC acquisition in early October, has seen the value of its holdings more than triple in value. The firm used $50 million to acquire a total of 4,709 coins which are now valued at $160 million. Furthermore, the value of Square’s stock has gone up by 18.5% from its October 8 value of $183 to finish the year at $217. Meanwhile, following Microstrategy and Square’s BTC acquisitions, many more public companies now hold bitcoin. For instance, according to the website that tracks companies that have publicly disclosed their BTC holdings, about 29 of such organisations now hold about 1,151,618 coins between them.

12 years ago, Bitcoin’s inventor Satoshi Nakamoto launched the network after revealing the cryptocurrency concept via the white paper a few months prior. At approximately 18:15:05 UTC, the network launched its first block and since then, over 664,000 bitcoin blocks have been mined. Moreover, on the 12th anniversary of the network coming to life, a large string of 2010 block rewards started moving after more than ten years of sitting idle. The 12th Anniversary of the Bitcoin Blockchain Cryptocurrency proponents are celebrating the invocation of the first computational network to solve the Byzantine Fault dilemma created by the pseudonymous inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. The birth of the Bitcoin (BTC) network is quite special and over the last 12 years, the crypto asset has become extremely valuable reaching a high today on January 3, at $34,800 per unit. After Satoshi shared his cryptocurrency concept to a few interested individuals online on Halloween 2008, a little more than three months later he launched the hardcoded block reward, otherwise known as ‘block zero’ or the ‘genesis block.’ Block zero or the genesis block has the usual 50 bitcoin reward, but these particular bitcoins can never be spent. The genesis block has two leading hex zeroes as well, which was a common characteristic for early blocks back then. Furthermore, the infamous block zero also contained a message that can be found in the block’s coinbase parameter. This first blockchain message etched into Satoshi’s hardcoded bitcoin block says: The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks. The genesis block today not only has the 50 bitcoin block reward that cannot be spent, but also people have sent small fractions of bitcoin to the address ever since it was launched. The genesis block address has seen approximately 2,722 transactions and there’s now a cumulative total of 68.35 BTC sitting idle. These days, bitcoin blocks are quite predictable and are processed every 10 minutes or so by miners. But the block (1) that followed the hardcoded genesis block did not occur until seven days later. The first transaction with the software programmer, Hal Finney, took place in block 9 or three whole days after block 1 was mined. Satoshi Nakamoto’s Well Deserved Bitcoin Stash Now Satoshi Nakamoto also spent time with the community, all the way until December 2010. It is well known that the inventor also mined the crypto asset during those months he spent curating the network with the community. Interestingly, it is assumed by various academic papers that Nakamoto had mined anywhere between 700,000 to 1.1 million BTC during his tenure kickstarting the network. The inventor did this allegedly with a single Windows-based personal computer. It is also assumed that Nakamoto has not spent any coins since they were initially mined, and his stash of a million bitcoin has sat idle since they were issued. Quite a lot of old coins that stem from coinbase rewards have not been spent and they have sat dormant for well over ten years. For example, the onchain researchers from Glassnode tweeted on December 18, 2020, that “1.78 million bitcoins have never left their miner address.” Interestingly, last year in 2020, news.Bitcoin.com discovered an old-school miner or miners who spent a consecutive number of 2010 block rewards in strings. Every string spent last year, has been around 20 to 21 block rewards from 2010 and these coins never moved once since the day they were issued. 20 Decade-Old Block Rewards from 2010 Move on January 3, 2021, in Block 664,263 Surprisingly, the mystery miner or miners have spent another large string of ‘sleeping bitcoins’ from the Satoshi-era today on the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin network launch. On January 3, 2021, precisely 20 block rewards from 2010 were spent at block height 664,263. The old school miner from 2010 sent the 1,000 bitcoins worth over $33.9 million to a BTC address that started with “35grPirp.” After the initial consolidation, the 1,000 BTC was split up into fractions following the exact same patterns news.Bitcoin.com discovered with all the other 2010 block strings. Today’s 20 block spend was caught by Btcparser.com, and a visual perspective of the string of 2010 blocks spent on theholyroger.com’s “Satoshi Bags Tracker.” This morning (EST) on the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin blockchain, Btcparser.com caught 20 old school block rewards from the 2010 ‘Satoshi-era’ transfer. Usually, this miner, if it is one single entity will spend one more 2010 block a little later on in the day to make the tally 21 block rewards spent. Decade-old block reward spends from the ‘Satoshi era’ are quite rare, but they have been picking up steam since 2020. It is also worth noting that the old school miner always spends the corresponding bitcoin cash (BCH) block rewards too, but not the bitcoinsv (BSV) rewards. The only time the miner spent block rewards on all three chains was the 21 block rewards from 2010 spent on March 11, 2020, the day before the infamous ‘Black Thursday.’ Today’s block spends from 2010 are quite special, seeing how they were transferred on Bitcoin’s birthday, while the crypto asset also touched another all-time price high as well. We really don’t know if these coins were sold or plan to be sold on the open market. The technical term “spent” simply means the coins left the original address they stemmed from, and it doesn’t necessarily mean the coins are being sold on exchanges. Moreover, the term “Satoshi-era,” also doesn’t mean the coins derived from Nakamoto either, as the term simply means the inventor was around during this time period.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is exploring putting a percentage of his city’s treasury reserves in bitcoin. Miami is currently working on accepting the cryptocurrency as a means of payment for city services and taxes. The mayor believes that “Bitcoin has been a stable investment during an incredibly unstable year.” Miami Could Invest Some of City’s Treasury Reserves in Bitcoin Francis Suarez, the mayor of the U.S. city of Miami, Florida, has been discussing with the crypto community about putting a small percentage of the city’s treasury reserves in bitcoin. The first Miami-born mayor, Suarez previously served as Miami Commissioner for District 4 for eight years. One soon-to-be Miami resident is Morgan Creek Digital partner Anthony Pompliano, who has been discussing what bitcoin can do for Miami and why Suarez should put 1% of the city’s treasury reserves in the cryptocurrency. Pompliano tweeted on Tuesday, “Retweet this if you would move to Miami if Mayor Francis Suarez put 1% of the city’s treasury reserves in bitcoin.” Suarez replied: Definitely open to exploring it. Twitter handle Danny the Hodler chimed in, claiming that “It’s not unprecedented.” He asserted that the pro-bitcoin Senator-elect from Wyoming, Cynthia Lummis, “has done that with Wyoming’s treasury way before anyone else even thought of the idea.” Suarez replied, “Will look into what they did.” Lummis is a bitcoin hodler who said “Bitcoin to me has shown great promise and may rise as a viable alternative store of value to the U.S. dollar both on the institutional level and the personal level.” She has promised to ensure that Congress understands that bitcoin is a great store of value. Suarez recently tweeted: Bitcoin has been a stable investment during an incredibly unstable year. The mayor of Miami has also been discussing “being able to use bitcoin and other cryptos to pay property taxes and city fees,” he revealed on Dec. 22. Replying to a tweet on Tuesday about Miami accepting BTC as a means of payment for the city’s services, he confirmed:

Despite the bitcoin price high, there continues to be a massive exodus of bitcoin leaving exchanges. Onchain data shows exchanges are being drained like a sieve and during the last 30 days, 87,954 bitcoin was withdrawn from the top crypto trading platforms. Back in December 2019, it was reported that the San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase held close to 1 million BTC for its users. In fact, in January 2020, Coinbase had around 969,000 BTC and the next month, it was up to its highest point of 973,000 BTC on February 10, 2020. But all year long, not only from Coinbase, but also a slew of other popular exchanges have seen massive amounts of bitcoin withdrawn. After holding close to a million BTC on February 10, 2020, today the exchange only holds 805,000 BTC. The top five exchanges, in terms of bitcoin reserves held, have lost a substantial amount of BTC from customer withdrawals. This includes exchanges like Huobi, Binance, Kraken, Okex, Bitfinex, and Bitflyer. During the last 30 days, Coinbase has seen a whopping 84,558 BTC withdrawn, Okex has seen 5,715 BTC withdrawn and Huobi has seen 2,599 BTC leave the exchange. The largest exchanges, in terms of BTC held on January 3, 2021, includes Coinbase with more than $37 billion worth of BTC, Huobi ($10.8B), Binance ($10.2B), Bitfinex ($8.86B), and Kraken ($6.65B) respectively. 87,954 BTC worth over $2.8 billion using today’s BTC exchange rates has left centralized exchanges during the last 30 days, according to viewbase.com stats. 72,727 BTC left exchanges during the last seven days alone and on Sunday, there’s been an inflow of around 5,885 BTC. 3,457 BTC of that daily inflow was sent to the crypto trading platform Binance on Sunday. Alongside this, approximately 1,070 BTC of the 5,885 BTC was sent to the trading exchange Bitfinex on Sunday as well. The data suggests that a lot more people are removing funds off of centralized exchanges in order to hold bitcoin in a noncustodial fashion. From this perspective, more people holding coins noncustodially is beneficial for the entire community by leaving fewer funds on exchanges that are susceptible to large bitcoin thefts. Another theory is that bitcoin whales have adopted a new strategy rather than dumping coins on the market and purchasing bitcoin off weak hands that panic sell. Bitcoin whales may be removing liquidity from exchanges and decimating any type of upper barrier.

price of bitcoin slid to the lowest point of the year dropping from Sunday’s high of $33,800 per unit to $27,734 a few minutes after 5 a.m. (EST). In fact, the price dip filled CME Group’s large futures gap after the regulated exchange has seen six consecutive gaps since the run-up. Meanwhile, a number of other cryptocurrencies have seen significant gains and they did not drop as much as the leading crypto asset. Bitcoin (BTC) prices took a hit on Monday morning losing a total of -17.94% from 1:30 a.m. to 5:15 a.m. (EST). On Sunday, BTC’s daily high was around $33,800 per unit and by 5:15 in the morning the next day, the price dropped to a 2021 low at $27,734 per coin. Since then, the price has rebounded (15.38%) and jumped back above the $32k region. Coincidentally, the drop had filled one of CME Group’s large bitcoin futures gaps as well. On Monday, January 4, 2020, bitcoin (BTC) slid to $27,734 before rebounding. For instance, yesterday the bitcoin trader since 2013 dubbed “Lowstrife” told his 21,000 Twitter followers that CME’s 6th consecutive gap had formed. “This is the 6th consecutive gap up for the CME bitcoin futures,” Lowstrife tweeted. “4 of these have been large(>6%) gaps, 2 of these have been small (added. Trading gaps form because CME Group is a regulated market that only operates Monday through Friday, and if the price of bitcoin spikes or drops significantly, after the last price call on Friday throughout the weekend, traders may see a gap where the futures market had stopped. News.Bitcoin.com reported on a very large CME bitcoin futures gap that formed between $23,790 to $26,525. It was one of the largest CME bitcoin futures gaps ever recorded. The misaligned trading discrepancies between spot prices and futures market prices made CME temporarily stop trading. Futures gaps happen often and there are quite a few on the BTC/USD chart between spot prices and futures market prices. The gaps may remain for long periods of time and never get filled. However, traders do think gaps are meaningful in the sense that they show some bottom indicators, prior to the actual spot market price bottom. The large gap that news.Bitcoin.com reported on last week remains unfilled. Michael Hall, cofounder, and CIO of Nickel Digital is not stressed by the recent dip, and he stressed this morning that the long-term perspective is still quite solid. “Due to the inelastic supply of bitcoin, it can suffer from upside volatility in thin markets, giving rise to spikes which resolve quickly but usually at higher levels, as has happened several times in recent months, most notably around Thanksgiving,” Hall explained. The Nickel Digital executive added: We see no reason to change our constructive long-term view on bitcoin, and the recent wave of institutional engagement supports this. We have also always been clear that bitcoin exposures should be carefully managed to low single-digit percentages in multi-asset portfolios. Moreover, while BTC shed some dollars during the early morning trading sessions, a number of other coins saw losses but not nearly as deep as BTC. Ethereum (ETH) is back up above 14% today trading for $1,044 per unit. Bitcoin cash (BCH) jumped over 5% and is currently swapping over the $410 price handle. Cardano (ADA) is up over 9% as each ADA is trading for $0.21 per unit at the time of publication. The entire market capitalization of all 7,500+ crypto assets in existence still hovers at around $841 billion on Monday

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced that it will soon propose new regulation affecting cryptocurrency holdings at foreign exchanges. This proposal is separate from the one FinCEN recently proposed on cryptocurrency wallets. FinCEN’s New Crypto Rules FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, issued a notice on Thursday regarding a new filing requirement for cryptocurrencies. FinCEN detailed: Currently, the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) regulations do not define a foreign account holding virtual currency as a type of reportable account. The notice adds that the bureaus “intends to propose to amend the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regarding reports of foreign financial accounts (FBAR) to include virtual currency as a type of reportable account.” Shehan Chandrasekera, Head of Tax Strategy at Cointracker, explained that “FBAR is a form you file with your tax return if you have any foreign financial assets over 10K at any time of the year.” He clarified, “There are no taxes to be paid with this form, just additional disclosure.” Marc Boiron, attorney at Manatt, commented: “Goodbye non-US exchanges … FBARs will need to be filed for non-US virtual currency accounts.” He emphasized: Accidentally failing to file an FBAR can result in a civil penalty of $10,000 for each violation. “Another example of US regulatory overreach,” Adam Cochran, Duckduckgo’s strategist, opined. “Utterly insane – but this rule will be something FinCEN would use to go after international exchanges more broadly.” Lawyer Jake Chervinsky described that this proposal “seems targeted at users of non-US exchanges” and he believes that it “shouldn’t apply to assets in self-custody.” He suggested that the reason for the proposal might be either tax evasion or “bringing non-US crypto companies into compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act.” FinCEN is also currently trying to implement rules concerning crypto wallets before the end of the Trump term. What do you think about this new rule FinCEN will propose? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Biden administration is reportedly looking to increase oversight of the crypto market with the aim to protect investors and prevent illicit transactions. White House officials, lawmakers, and central bankers have had several meetings on cryptocurrency regulation amid recent price swings of crypto assets. Biden Administration Discussing Crypto Regulation The Biden administration, lawmakers, and central bankers have held numerous meetings amid recent volatility in the crypto market, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. White House officials were briefed by the Treasury Department about the risks posed by cryptocurrencies earlier this month, the publication cited two people familiar with the matter. Federal regulators, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), were also involved. Officials of the Biden administration are studying potential “gaps” in oversight related to the cryptocurrency market, such as whether cryptocurrencies can be used to finance illicit or terrorism activities, the people said, adding: They have also discussed whether some protections are needed for average retail investors purchasing cryptocurrency. The Treasury Department recently unveiled Biden’s tax proposal, including requiring businesses to report crypto transactions of more than $10K to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as part of a broader effort to crack down on tax evasion. Federal regulators currently do not see the volatility in the crypto market as a threat to the broader financial market stability but believe that the risks are worth monitoring. Administration officials are discussing whether crypto oversight can be heightened while still allowing investors to “dogecoin to their heart’s content,” one person briefed on the matter described, elaborating: They’re aware of the fact that there are all kinds of risks in the abstract and things to look out for, but they are still largely in a wait-and-see posture. Meanwhile, central bank officials and congressional lawmakers have talked more frequently about policies that could significantly change the crypto market. The House has passed bipartisan legislation, which has been sent to the Senate, instructing federal regulators to study and clarify rules for cryptocurrency. Bitcoin News reported Wednesday that federal regulators are working together to achieve this goal. According to Federal Reserve Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles, this matter is of “high priority.” The recent market instability has compounded existing concerns about cryptocurrency, including the environmental effect of bitcoin mining. Government officials also think cryptocurrency makes it easier for criminals to transfer money without detection. Jason Furman, a senior economist in the Obama administration, was quoted by the news outlet as saying: I wish we had smothered this a decade ago before it grew into a $2 trillion monster. Digital currencies are all cons and no pros — environment, crime, volatility, taking advantage of unaware investors. If they had any use at all, we could debate it. But they don’t have any use at all. Meanwhile, the new chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that more investor protection is needed and crypto exchanges need more regulation. He revealed last week that he has asked Congress to weigh in on this issue. However, Congressman Jim Himes said that Congress is not ready to take action on cryptocurrency and in his opinion, no crypto registration will be passed by Congress anytime soon. John Fagan, a former director of the U.S. Treasury’s Markets Room and now principal of Markets Policy Partners, said the Biden administration is likely to look at cryptocurrency issues with a focus on problems caused by money laundering, tax evasion, and investor protection. He expects the Treasury to concentrate on the first two issues while the SEC on the latter.

Chinese traders still exert a major influence in the cryptocurrency market, even with all the distinct issues they must now face to operate. This is the opinion of several experts in the field that have weighed in on how the recent prohibitions and ban proposals from China are really affecting how Chinese bagholders that conduct their business in Asian and worldwide exchanges. Chinese Traders Still Big in the Market Chinese traders still have a big influence on how crypto markets move even with all of the difficulties they have to operate, according to different experts with knowledge about how Asian markets work. Even sidestepping all of the government regulations, these traders are still managing to do business, taking advantage of gray markets and other services that let them exchange the local currency for crypto. News of China invoking strict warnings toward cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings (ICOs) are not new: China has warned against these activities since 2017 when it outlawed domestic cryptocurrency exchanges. This has now seemingly extended to the field of cryptocurrency mining, with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He stating the country should “crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading behavior,” a statement that created some of the conditions for a big dump in the market last week. However, according to Matthew Graham, CEO of Sino Global Capital, a local blockchain firm, Chinese traders are still really powerful in the market even now. Graham stated: The waning influence of Chinese bitcoin traders is an exaggerated story. The fact is that Chinese traders still wield enormous influence. Bobby Lee, the founder of BTCC, one of the first Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges, also agreed with this opinion. Lee stressed: I think there is more Chinese traders now. Bitcoin has gained an order of magnitude in price How Is This Happening? After initiating harsh regulations toward most cryptocurrency-related services, an offshore gray market appeared to satisfy the demand for these assets. There are now services that allow for Chinese citizens to change their local currency, the yuan, to stablecoins such as USDT. Having USDT, traders now have the possibility of moving their business to offshore exchanges that allow for crypto to crypto trading. In this way, the renminbi is almost unused in cryptocurrency purchases, at least officially. Bobby Lee agrees with this, stating: “They no longer have to deal with RMB transfers, it is moving to a USDT payments society and moving into and out of bitcoin. It’s becoming an underground currency.” Lee makes emphasis in regard to the importance that USDT has for Chinese traders as a means for achieving trading in international exchanges.

TechX Technologies is a publicly traded company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. TechX is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (TECX), Frankfurt Exchange (C0B1), and the OTC (TECXF). TechX Acquires Mobilum for $16 Million TechX Technologies Inc. (CSE: TECX) (OTCMKTS: TECFX) (FRA: C0B1) is a public company making waves with its mergers and acquisitions initiatives. The company acquired 100% of the assets of Cryptobuddy and has rebranded it to Alt Signals, a crypto trading signals platform through its subsidiary at an all-stock deal valued at C$5 million. Shortly after this acquisition, TechX Technologies signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 100% interest in XPort Digital Ltd, a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp platform for users to purchase cryptocurrency without setting up an account. The company acquired XPort through a stock deal valued at C$5 million. On May 26th, the company announced its acquisition of Mobilum OU, a fintech company that provides fiat infrastructure to the crypto industry. The agreement gives TechX 100% interest in Mobilum. Mobilum has a daily processing volume of between C$100,000 and C$250,000 in transactions for exchanges including the world’s sixth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, KuCoin. “With very few exchanges offering credit card processing, we’ve seen an exponential increase in demand from exchanges and cryptocurrency businesses to utilize our on-ramp solution. By merging with TechX, Mobilum will be able to increase its liquidity to give us the ability to process millions of dollars in transactions per month,” said Mobilum CEO, Wojtek Kaszycki. “TechX is very excited about acquiring Mobilum’s innovative technology, which is creating a bridge between fiat and crypto space to speed up cryptocurrency mass adoption worldwide,” said TechX CEO Peter Green. “The rise in decentralized finance applications are growing rapidly and the assets under management within interest-bearing cryptocurrency wallets have exponentially grown in the last year into the multi-billions of dollars. People around the globe are just not satisfied with banks paying out interest under 0.50% anymore. Unbanking is going to become the new norm and we expect to become a key player in this ever-growing market very quickly.” The move by financial institutions to support cryptocurrency payments provides an easier and safer way for customers to invest and transact using secure digital currencies. You can expect to see more activity in the M&A space in the coming months as more institutions, wallets, exchanges, and DeFi services embrace on and off ramp payment processing technologies

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard, says that most cryptocurrencies are “worthless.” He noted that if “cryptocurrency can facilitate transactions that are difficult to make in conventional currencies, then they will have a purpose and might circulate alongside the nation-backed currencies.” Fed’s Bullard Says Most Cryptocurrencies Are Worthless Jim Bullard, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, talked about inflation risks and what lies ahead for Fed policy in an interview with Yahoo Finance on Monday. He also talked about cryptocurrency, given the high volatility in crypto prices observed over the past weeks. He was asked, “What are your views on cryptocurrency, its use case right now, and … how closely have you been watching a lot of the volatility in crypto markets?” Bullard replied: “I have a slide deck on this that’s called ‘non-uniform currency and exchange rate chaos’ and a couple of things that are in there. One is that currency competition is nothing new. Private currency issuance has been addressed historically in monetary theory.” He continued, “Milton Friedman said if you allow private currency issuance, you’ll get all kinds of private currencies being issued. And that’s exactly what has happened,” adding: We have a couple of thousand of these around, most of them are worthless. “I think if the cryptocurrency can facilitate transactions that are difficult to make in conventional currencies, then they will have a purpose and might circulate alongside of the nation-backed currencies,” he noted. Bullard proceeded to discuss the volatility in the crypto market. He said cryptocurrencies are “also quite volatile, as it’s been very apparent here in recent days.” However, he emphasized: “But the fact that different currencies have volatile exchange rates, that’s a fundamental problem in the international monetary order and it’s just that much bigger of a problem for privately issued currencies.” He added that “it’s even a problem for nation-state type currencies where they trade in a volatile way against each other that seems to be distant from actual movements and fundamentals,” elaborating: So lots of interesting things going on in this space and of course the Fed is also looking at a Fed coin. So we’ve got a lot going on, watching this very carefully. And I guess … in a nutshell that’s where I’m at on this. Following his comment that most cryptocurrencies out there are worthless, Bullard was asked whether it presents a financial stability risk. He replied: “We hope that those that are involved know the risks. Of course, any investment that you do can go up but it can go down as well. And so anybody that’s putting a portfolio together has to balance the risk and reward as always in finance.” The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis concluded: “I think, for the most part, people like going into this with eyes wide open, they’re certainly not blind to the idea that this is a volatile area.” Bullard recently said that he is confident that bitcoin is not a threat to the U.S. dollar. Last week, he said that the recent cryptocurrency sell-off was not a systematic concern for the Fed and did not affect the central bank’s policies.

Beijing’s recent crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry has found its way into Inner Mongolia according to a recent report. Inner Mongolian officials plan to introduce harsh penalties to bitcoin mining operations using the region’s grid without permission from authorities. New Rules Aim to ‘Punish Bitcoin Miners’ A regional report published by South China Morning Post’s contributor Coco Feng explains that Inner Mongolia’s top economic planner has revealed new rules against operating bitcoin mining facilities in the region. The new draft rules are available for public review until June 1 and it recently follows Inner Mongolian authorities asking residents to report illegal bitcoin data centers to the government. Beijing wants mainland China and even the Mongolic autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China to be carbon neutral by 2060. Feng details that the authorities in Inner Mongolia plan to target “industrial parks, data centres, telecoms companies, internet firms, and even cybercafes.” Bitcoin.com News recently reported on how cybercafes in China have been mining cryptocurrencies for extra income. The news rules aim to “punish bitcoin miners or those providing resources to miners” by leveraging a number of enforcements. Transgressors could be added to China’s “social credit blacklist” which would stop them from obtaining finance loans in the country and other benefits. Other punishments include: Revoking business licenses, and even shutting their businesses down completely. Following the Path to ‘De-China-isation’ Wang Juan, an associate professor on blockchain at Xi’an Jiaotong University detailed that the crypto market is slowly moving away from mainland China. “We are seeing the cryptocurrency market follow a path to ‘de-China-isation’ – first on trading and now on computing power, based on a series of stronger steps taken against cryptocurrencies and bitcoin mining last week by Beijing,” Juan explained on Tuesday. Moreover, cryptocurrency firms have been abandoning China during the last few days. Huobi and Okex stopped offering specific services to mainland customers and Btc.top and Hashcow followed suit the next day. Some have even implied that Chinese miners will be selling “cheap” mining rigs in the near future.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, says digital currency “will come to life even in Nigeria” just a few months after the central bank ordered banks to stop serving the crypto industry. While acknowledging his country’s position as one of the leading crypto markets in the world, Emefiele however insists his organization is still conducting its investigation and will “make our data available.” Governor Says Many Nigerians Have Embraced Cryptos Meanwhile, a report quotes the governor expressing his displeasure at the fact that many Nigerians have embraced cryptocurrencies. He said: We have carried out our investigation and we found out that a substantial percentage of our people are getting involved in cryptocurrency which is not the best. Don’t get me wrong, some may be legitimate but most are illegitimate. As several reports have shown, the CBN’s February 6 directive to banks appears to have failed in its objective. Nigerian interest in cryptocurrencies and other emerging fintech continues to grow. For instance, Bitcoin.com News recently reported that peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trade volumes in the country had surged while interest in bitcoin (BTC) remains one of the highest in Africa. Crypto Market Volatility In the meantime, Emefiele, who seems to follow events in the global crypto industry, attempts to use Elon Musk’s changing views on BTC to highlight the crypto market’s vulnerabilities. In the past few weeks, Musk has made a series of comments about BTC as well the crypto market in general and this has caused crypto prices to fall. Emefiele explained: We saw the market collapse. Initially, when Elon Musk tweeted around the time when we said our banking and payment facilities are no longer available for cryptocurrency transactions and he tweeted that he will invest $1.5 billion and the price (bitcoin) went up. He now tweeted and raised a few concerns and the thing (cryptocurrency) plunge. Meanwhile, despite revealing the CBN’s commitment to creating a digital currency, Emefiele, however, fails to offer a time framework within which this is expected to come to life.

Globant, one of the big four tech firms in Argentina, has quietly made its first foray into the world of cryptocurrency investing, according to its latest filing to the SEC. The firm bought bitcoin during the first three months of this year, and is now part of a select number of LATAM unicorns that have taken the approach of putting some of its value in crypto assets. Globant Invests in Cryptocurrency Globant, a software tech giant unicorn based in Argentina, has joined a select group of companies that are currently invested in cryptocurrencies, according to its latest filing to the SEC. The company, founded in 2003, reported the purchase of $500,000 in bitcoin (BTC) during the first quarter of 2021 (Q1). A small sum for a company with a valuation of more than $6.5 billion and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Globant listed the bitcoin company as part of its intangible assets, saying bitcoin is: A cryptocurrency that is considered to be an indefinite-lived intangible asset because bitcoin lacks physical form and there is no limit to its useful life, bitcoin is not subject to amortization but it is tested for impairment. The filing states Globant purchased the aforementioned worth of bitcoin, but doesn’t specify the number of bitcoins that were purchased or the price the company paid for them. However, the filing does clarify that Globant will recognize impairment losses if the price of the assets falls behind the price of acquisition, and gains will not be recorded until the sale of the asset. While some USA-based companies like Microstrategy and Tesla, and asset managers like Grayscale have been quick to jump into the cryptocurrency bandwagon, its LATAM-based counterparts have had a more tepid approach to this new asset class. This might be related to how quickly these companies embrace innovation and how they manage the risk vs opportunity balance due to their own business models. Argentinian Companies Have Started to Embrace Crypto However, Globant is not the first Argentinian company that has made inroads with cryptocurrency. Mercadolibre, an e-tailer company that has a big footprint in LATAM, bought $7.8 million in bitcoin this month, declaring it as part of their treasury strategy, potentially hinting at more bitcoin purchases down the road. Mercadolibre also launched a real estate platform that only accepts bitcoin as payment. More LATAM-based companies, and specifically Argentinian ones, are expected to embrace crypto as part of their business strategy soon, due to the devaluation of the national currency and the difficulties that they face in acquiring dollars.

A new survey has established that one in four Australians would like to receive at least part of their salary in cryptocurrency. While the motives vary between the members of this diverse group, the results indicate that the Australian nation’s overall interest in decentralized digital money remains strong. 4.7 Million Australians Would Accept Bitcoin Remuneration The poll has been conducted among 1,000 Australian residents by the comparison website Finder. The company is actually among the first in the country to offer employees the option to take a portion of their remuneration in cryptocurrency. The platform has now found that 24% of Australians, or around 4.7 million, are ready to accept bitcoin (BTC) as part of their salaries. Of those who would be willing to be paid in BTC, Finder pointed out, 14% have said so because they are convinced it is going up in value, while another 10% admitted a bitcoin payment would help them to invest in digital currency before tax. Taylor Blackburn, personal finance specialist at Finder, notes that the cryptocurrency has seen impressive growth in the past year, “despite its recent drop and sometimes volatile nature.” Commenting on the outcome of the study, Blackburn further emphasized: With more Australians looking for inflation hedges, yield-bearing assets and alternative investment opportunities, it’s not surprising that this many people are willing to be paid part of their salary in Bitcoin. Australian Generation X and Millennials View Crypto Salary as Investment According to the survey, Generation X Australians are more likely than others to view a crypto salary as a wise investment. 22% of the respondents in this age group think BTC is going to appreciate even more over time, along with 19% of millennials. For comparison, only 1% of baby boomers and 13% of Generation Z share their optimism. The researchers also discovered that men with higher incomes ($100,000 and above) are more interested in Bitcoin in general. Furthermore, male respondents (21%) are far more likely to accept BTC payments than women (8%) because of their belief the cryptocurrency’s value will increase. 13% of men and 8% of female participants respectively think crypto wages will allow them to invest before taxation. Despite the positive trends registered in the study, over half of Australians (55%) are still not interested in crypto remuneration. Another 13% fear bitcoin’s volatility which lowers their trust in the cryptocurrency. Finder also notes that 8% of the polled Aussies have stated they need to access all the money they make each payday.

The biggest Spanish asset managers are still not convinced of cryptocurrencies as an asset class, and therefore have no plans to invest in the space yet. The declarations of several spokespeople linked to these companies state that, while there is a significant opportunity in the nascent cryptocurrency sector, it is still too young and volatile to put significant investments behind it. Spanish Asset Managers Still Skeptical About Crypto Spain’s largest asset managers are still not convinced crypto is a good investment vehicle, at least for now, according to statements from several key finance officials. While it is permitted for asset managers in Spain to invest in cryptocurrencies, their incipient nature, volatility, and the gray areas of regulation are keeping these big funds away from them. Caixabank AM’s investment strategy director, Santiago Rubio, has declared they won’t touch cryptocurrencies. Caixabank AM is one of the largest asset managers in Spain, having more than 70 million euros under its custody. Their stance is shared by BBVA AM, another Spanish giant company. Its global asset allocation manager, Jaime Martinez, stated there is a possibility of investing in cryptocurrencies in the future, but they don’t have plans for doing it soon. Martinez stressed: In 10 years it will be much more normal, today we are just starting, to call it that, in a different way of having exposure to assets and, like everything in life, you have to go step by step. We are not going to complicate our clients with things that we do not control well. Cristina Rodriguez, of Santander AM, also explained cryptocurrencies weren’t assets promoted in their offer, stressing they didn’t have plans of investing in these vehicles. Finance managers who want to invest in crypto must update their documents to advise investors about the dangers and the volatility of these newly integrated tools. Crypto Still Not Big in Spain These statements paint a stark picture for the future of crypto investments by Spanish asset managers, that are still not sold on the validity of them as potentially interesting for their customers. This is clearly very different from what is happening in the U.S., where asset giants like Blackrock, which manages more than 7 trillion dollars, already has indirect exposure to bitcoin through its 16.3% stake ownership in Microstrategy. And more recently, Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, stated: The firm has monitored the evolution of crypto assets. We are studying what it means, the infrastructure, the regulatory landscape However, these institutions seem to be inclined to lean towards more traditional investments in Spain, and will take a little more time for them to be confident in crypto.

Venezuela has been listed as the third country with the most cryptocurrency adoption in the world by Chainalysis in its 2020 report. With its citizens coping with crippling inflation and losing purchasing power, the country has taken a turn for these assets to survive. But what are the real numbers behind this crisis that made Venezuelans change their whole way of living? How Venezuela Adopted Crypto: The Numbers It is a popularly known fact that Venezuela is one of the countries that have adopted cryptocurrency with the most force in LATAM. This was corroborated by Chainalysis in its latest 2020 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, where it states that Venezuela is in fact the third country with the most cryptocurrency adoption in all the world. There is no doubt in what caused this: the economic disaster that was the result of years of wrong monetary policies, exchange controls, and corruption. But how deep is the hole that Venezuelans are living in today? How Venezuela went from one of the richest countries in the region to become an inflationary mess in just a few years? It is difficult to pinpoint the numbers behind this disaster because official institutions have been withholding them for years. But several non-official sources can help us understand the magnitude of this crisis. Inflation in Venezuela: One of the Highest of the World While the Venezuelan economy always had a tendency to have important inflationary numbers, it reached a point of no return in 2014, with an annual increase of 69%. From that year, inflation figures worsen with each year, but the Central Bank of Venezuela stopped giving official numbers in 2015, which made it difficult to follow what was really going on in the country. For 2018, the International Monetary Fund estimated that the annual inflation would be 1,000,000%, a number that put Venezuela in one of the worst hyperinflationary escalates at that time. This made Venezuelans who saved in their local currency reach poverty status in less than a decade and destroyed the national currency as a store of value. Monetary Policy, Devaluation and Exchange Control The country had established an exchange control since 2003, with the creation of CADIVI, an institution that dealt with the distribution of dollars to the population and entrepreneurs according to limits dictated by the government. An official price was set by this organization for the U.S. dollar. This created a black market, that offered dollars freely but at a higher exchange rate than the official dollar price. This approach would be proven not viable anymore and the system evolved into a moving band system in 2016. However, the exchange control and the government’s policy of devaluing its own currency by increasing the price of the dollar/bolivar pair led to a de facto dollarization in the country, relegating the bolivar to a purely transactional currency. The value of the bolivar plunged even more as a consequence, making cash almost useless. To face this whole ordeal, the government took three zeroes out of its currency in 2008 and three zeroes of it again ten years later, in 2018, in a process called currency reconversion. However, this has not resulted in a more solid currency. In fact, only 1 of every 1000 emitted bolivares is in cash, leaving unbanked Venezuelans with almost no choice but to use dollars. Cryptocurrency Usage Soaring All of these factors have created a turbulent situation in the country, perfect for the adoption of new assets like cryptocurrencies, that are not linked to the emission policy of local governments and are not affected by other local problems. Numbers from Localbitcoins and Binance have confirmed this tendency, being these two the most used platforms in Venezuela to exchange bolivares or dollars. While the dollar is now the most used currency in the country for retail purchases, with 67% of the sales being paid with dollars according to a study made by Ecoanalitica, a local firm, cryptocurrency is being more and more popular among a significant part of Venezuelans, that see it as an opportunity to preserve (and even gain) part of their purchasing power.

Apple Inc. has posted a job notice for a business development manager with cryptocurrency experience. “This position will be responsible for the end-to-end business development, including screening partners, negotiating and closing commercial agreements, and launching new programs,” the job posting describes. Apple to Hire Manager With Crypto Experience to Lead Its Alternative Payments Efforts Apple Inc. posted a job notice on Tuesday for a “business development manager – alternative payments.” The job posting states that “The Apple Wallets, Payments, and Commerce (WPC) team is seeking an experienced Business Development Manager to lead Alternative Payments Partnerships. We are looking for a proven professional in global alternative and emerging payment solutions.” It further details: This position will be responsible for the end to end business development, including screening partners, negotiating and closing commercial agreements and launching new programs. Among the key qualifications the candidate should possess is “5+ years experience working in or with alternative payment providers, such as digital wallets, BNPL, Fast Payments, cryptocurrency, etc.” The candidate should also have a “Deep knowledge of the alternative payments ecosystem, understanding the complexities of funds flow, roles/responsibilities for settlement, relevant regulations and industry standards and the wide spectrum of fintech products.” This position is a full-time in-house role at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, once the company returns to an in-office work arrangement post-Covid, the notice clarifies. The successful candidate will “Lead the partnership program with key players in the Alternative Payments ecosystem,” in addition to providing “industry insights and market opportunities to Apple cross-functional teams, including alliance, product, engineering, and marketing to influence business strategy and product roadmaps for the growth of Apple Pay and Wallet Services,” the job posting further describes. Apple has been keeping an eye on cryptocurrency for several years. In 2019, ‌Apple Pay‌ Vice President Jennifer Bailey said that Apple is “watching cryptocurrency.” At the time, she said: “We think it has interesting long-term potential, but we’re primarily focused on what consumers are using today … Most people are pretty happy with their debit card as an example. And so helping people do that in a more secure way on our platform and in a more real-time way is what we’re focused on.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has urged Congress to pass cryptocurrency legislation to protect investors, the new SEC chairman has revealed. The securities regulator is also working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the U.S. Treasury Department to combat criminal activity facilitated by cryptocurrencies, the chairman noted. SEC Working With CFTC, Treasury on Crypto Regulation, Urges Congress to Pass Legislation The new chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has asked Congress to take action regarding cryptocurrency legislation, he told the House Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday. Gensler explained to the subcommittee that there were “gaps” in the regulation of cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin and ether. Noting that there are “thousands” of cryptocurrencies in existence right now and many of them are operating as unregistered securities, he emphasized: We’ve only been able to bring 75 actions and there are others currently that are not compliant. Gensler stated that the most pressing issue in the regulation of the crypto space is the lack of regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency exchanges. He said that he would like to work with Congress “to bring investor protection to the platforms, where these sometimes-commodities, sometimes-securities are trading on the platform.” The chairman proceeded to give an example of front running, where a crypto exchange could share order information, allowing an investor to trade ahead of a crypto transaction, which makes purchases more expensive for other investors. He affirmed: “Without a cop with a beat and some rules of the road, then market participants can front run your orders.” In contrast, the chairman said that the SEC is working to protect against fraud and manipulation in traditional stock exchanges but the same protection is not in place for crypto exchanges. He emphasized that the SEC is “trying to bring the similar protections to the exchanges where you trade crypto assets, as you might expect on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.” His statement regarding increased oversight of crypto exchanges echoes a similar statement he made at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) conference last week when he said that crypto exchanges need more regulation. Gensler further confirmed that the SEC is cooperating with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the U.S. Treasury Department to combat criminal activity facilitated by cryptocurrencies. He revealed: They’re keenly focused on anti-money laundering and guarding against illicit activity. Last week, the Treasury unveiled Biden’s tax proposal including requiring businesses to report crypto transactions of more than $10K to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as part of a broader crackdown on tax evasion. This week, Bitcoin News reported that the Biden administration is looking to increase cryptocurrency oversight to protect investors and prevent illicit transactions via cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, federal regulators are working to come up with a single regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies as directed by the Biden administration. While Gensler has urged Congress to take action on crypto legislation, Congressman Jim Himes recently said that his colleagues do not have a deep understanding of cryptocurrencies. Consequently, he does not expect Congress to pass crypto legislation anytime soon.

The American chain of convenience stores and coffee shops, Sheetz, announced on Thursday that the firm would be accepting digital currencies like bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin for payments. The major Mid-Atlantic chain’s executive payments manager says accepting crypto-asset acceptance bolsters Sheetz’s mission to provide customers with the “ultimate one-stop-shop.” Convenience Store Chain Sheetz Adds Digital Currency Payments, Fuel Pump Crypto Payments to Roll out This Summer On May 27, Sheetz revealed the company will be accepting crypto payments via the digital payments network Flexa. The company, headquartered in Altoona, Pennsylvania, operates 622 convenience stores and coffee shops in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland. Sheetz has locations in a number of states in the U.S. and was founded by G. Robert “Bob” Sheetz in 1952. Bob and and his brother Steve Sheetz had opened 100 stores by 1983 and today the chain has 622 stores. Sheetz noted in its announcement that the firm aims to “provide customers with the ability to pay for items inside the store or fill up their cars, trucks, and RVs at the pump using digital currencies like bitcoin, ether, litecoin, dogecoin, and more.” “Above all else, our mission at Sheetz is to continue providing our customers with the ultimate one-stop-shop where they can refuel their car and refresh their body,” Linda Smith, the payments manager for Sheetz said. The Sheetz executive further added: As a result, we are constantly innovating and exploring new offerings to truly give our customers what they want, when they want it, 24/7/365 — that includes accepting many forms of payment. We’re very excited to be working with Flexa to roll out support for cryptocurrencies and other types of digital assets at our stores. Sheetz Leverages NCR payment gateway for Crypto Point-of-Sale According to the announcement, Sheetz will leverage Flexa’s “climate-neutral payments technology” at a number of select cafes and stores at first. Later this summer, the company will roll out crypto payments for the firm’s fuel pumps. Sheetz customers can also tether their “Sheetz Rewardz” loyalty points to Flexa-enabled applications. Further, Sheetz is also leveraging Flexa’s point-of-sale (POS) partner NCR. “Connecting through the existing POS solution to the NCR payment gateway enables retailers to quickly integrate new solutions making it easy to introduce new innovations enabled by digital currencies,” Tim Vanderham, the chief technology officer of NCR noted during the Sheetz crypto acceptance announcement. “Retailers benefit through increased loyalty, lower transaction fees, and reduced fraud while improving convenience and choice for shoppers,” Vanderham added. Trevor Filter, the cofounder of the payments firm Flexa, detailed that his company looks forward to helping Sheetz roll out digital asset payments at the fuel pumps. “Sheetz is one of the most forward-thinking brands in the business and understands their customer base better than anyone else. We’re absolutely elated that Flexa can help them become the first convenience and retail chain to accept digital currencies directly at the pump,” Filter remarked

The infamous whistleblower and privacy activist Edward Snowden commented on bitcoin on Friday, after the Biden administration said this week it was shooting for 6 trillion dollars in stimulus proposals. Following the $6 trillion in stimulus headlines, Snowden commented on the situation and said it was “good for bitcoin.” Edward Snowden Jabs Biden’s 6 Trillion-Dollar Covid Relief Proposal, Says It’s ‘Good for Bitcoin’ The 37-year old former computer intelligence consultant for the National Security Agency (NSA) and contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Edward Snowden, has once again commented on the leading digital asset bitcoin. Snowden’s statement on Twitter follows the last few days of reports discussing the Biden administration’s $6 trillion stimulus proposals to “build back a better” America. “Six trillion dollars? This is good for Bitcoin,” the whistleblower Edward Snowden said on Friday. The tweet already has 36,000 likes and has been retweeted more than 6,000 times. Of course, it’s not the first time Snowden has spoken about bitcoin, as the whistleblower and privacy activist has been very vocal about the subject in recent years. For instance, after the March 12, 2020 market carnage, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday,’ Snowden said: “This is the first time in a while I’ve felt like buying bitcoin. That drop was too much panic and too little reason.” Back when Snowden’s book sales were confiscated by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), after the DoJ announced a lawsuit against the whistleblower, Snowden also tweeted: “In conclusion, this is good for bitcoin.” Snowden, however, hasn’t been looked at too kindly by the bitcoin maximalist crowd because he’s criticized the crypto asset on a few occasions. Snowden recently took to Twitter and knocked the Human Rights Foundation’s (HRF) Alex Gladstein’s recent statements. Gladstein wasn’t a fan of Snowden’s recent interview. “The worst part of cryptocurrency transforming into dragon-level wealth is witnessing good people emotionally devolve into dragons themselves: so intellectually paralyzed by the fear that everyone they see threatens their hoard that they lose sight of the world beyond their cave,” Snowden scathed in response to Gladstein’s Twitter statements. The whistleblower does criticize bitcoin on occasion, but also explains that he uses it regularly and once called the technology the “first free money” system in the world. He’s discussed privacy coins on various occasions like monero (XMR) and zcash (ZEC). There is no doubt that Snowden is a believer in decentralized technologies and he’s mentioned many times that cryptos are a threat to the nation state’s monopoly over money. In 2016, Snowden once said that “new technologies raise the possibility of unstoppable tax protests.” Snowden has since deleted that tweet, but still talks positively about bitcoin and the crypto economy regularly to this day. What do you think about Edward Snowden’s comment about Biden’s $6 trillion stimulus proposals being good for bitcoin? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The CEO of Ark Investment Management (Ark Invest), Cathie Wood, says regulators cannot shut down bitcoin. She added that they will become more friendly towards cryptocurrencies over time. Wood is not the only one who thinks that governments cannot shut down bitcoin. Regulators Cannot Shut Down Bitcoin, Says Ark’s CEO Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood shared her view on bitcoin, its regulation, and environmental impact at the Consensus 2021 conference Thursday. The CEO said that bitcoin is “already on its way and it’ll be impossible to shut it down.” She added that regulators “will be a little more friendly over time” towards cryptocurrencies due to a fear of missing out (FOMO) on the innovation coming from the crypto sector. Wood also commented on bitcoin’s environmental impact, stating that “Half of the solution is understanding the problem.” She described: “This auditing of what miners, certainly in North America, are willing to do around how much of their electricity usage is generated by renewables is going to bring that topic into stark relief, and will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place.” Early this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that he met with North American bitcoin miners in a close-door meeting hosted by Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor. The miners have agreed to form a Bitcoin Mining Council to promote renewable energy usage in bitcoin mining. Wood is not the only one who believes that governments cannot shut down bitcoin. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said banning bitcoin is like shutting down the internet. “I don’t see how you could ban it … I think that it would be a foolish thing for the government to try to do that,” she opined, noting, “I think it’s very difficult to ban something that’s essentially a peer-to-peer technology.” Congressman Patrick McHenry said back in 2019 that bitcoin was “unstoppable,” adding: “We should not attempt to deter this innovation, and governments cannot stop this innovation and those that have tried have already failed.” Last week, the CEO of Ark Invest reaffirmed her bitcoin price prediction, stating that her firm still sees the price of BTC reaching $500K. She further emphasized that that “All of our indicators are saying this is capitulation right now.”

A decision by a prominent religious body in Ingushetia to prohibit dealings with cryptocurrency has sparked controversy in the predominantly Muslim Russian republic. Critics have taken to social media to express their disagreements with the ban, pointing out that the treatment of bitcoin in Islamic jurisdictions is not one-sided. Islamic Cleric Explains Reasoning Behind Crypto Prohibition At a meeting in mid-April, the Ingush Council of Alims adopted a ban on the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies by Muslims in the country. The Islamic clergymen said at the time that they took the decision after studying Islamic sources and reaching a conclusion that the religion prohibits the trading of electronic money. Deputy Chief Mufti Magomed Hashtyrov has since been compelled to explain the council’s position. This week, he told the local newspaper Ingushetia that cryptocurrencies, as a means of payment, have no physical representation and their exchange differs from the trading of goods in a physical marketplace. The latter is not prohibited for Muslims. The theologian revealed that the council had already intervened to resolve disputes over cryptocurrency, even between clerics in one case, and stated: Only honest labor brings people together, and virtual easy money quarrels them. Hashtyrov then insisted that “cryptocurrency, for now, is neither money, nor it is a commodity. When it becomes publicly available, legally accepted means of payment, with a state guarantee, then we can talk about money, but not today,” Ingushetia quoted him saying. Instagram Users React to Unfounded Ban on Crypto Trading in Ingushetia The newspaper shared the article with Hashtyrov’s comments on Instagram and judging by the reactions, not everyone agrees with his interpretations. As reported by the Caucasian Knot portal, Ingushetians have commented that their country has more pressing issues to deal with than banning crypto transactions. “There are a lot of problems in the republic. But the clergy and authorities are ‘fixated’ on cryptocurrency,” wrote a user with the handle ‘tumgoev_111_06.’ “Ban the sale of alcohol, condemn corrupt officials,” suggested someone named ‘kaddafi.’ “They just found something to talk about and sort out,” added a user called ‘eva_mango.’ Others have challenged the validity of the imposed ban: “I have been trading cryptocurrency for two years! Before I started, I read a couple of articles on Islamic forums, where it was clearly stated that there is nothing forbidden in this, if you don’t trade futures,” noted ‘tsoro.1.’ Then ‘dzurdzuk666’ wrote: Not money, not commodity, in what sense??? If at any time you can exchange it for money and commodity… Paper money is trash too. But we use it. “I wouldn’t say that’s exactly ‘easy’ money. Knowledge and ability are needed to use it. It seems to me that this issue has not been fully studied by theologians,” suggests a female commenter with the Instagram handle ‘angry_hare_4,’ quoted by Caucasian Knot. The portal has also published another, better qualified opinion on the matter, that of Gapur Oziev, associate professor of economics at the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur. Oziev, who has been teaching Islamic banking and finance since 2008, was surprised by the Ingush clergy’s decision on the matter. “They have announced a very old version of the fatwa. At the moment, there are a lot of scholars who do not directly prohibit it, although they condemn everything related to cryptocurrency,” he told the online edition. “There are more questions than answers. There are many dubious things, and the hadiths say to avoid the dubious. However, since there is no explicit text in the Sharia under which it would be possible to prohibit cryptocurrency, it’s not worth saying that it is haram,” Oziev emphasized.

Bitcoin price slumped on Friday to its lowest this week, taking losses sparked by a growing crackdown in China and environmental concerns to almost 40 per cent so far this month. The biggest cryptocurrency extended earlier losses, falling as much as 8.2 per cent to $35,339 as it stayed pinned in this week's relatively tight trading range. It was last down 6.2 per cent. "Bitcoin is currently in a bit of 'slumber mode' trading in t .. The biggest cryptocurrency extended earlier losses, falling as much as 8.2 per cent to $35,339 as it stayed pinned in this week's relatively tight trading range. It was last down 6.2 per cent. "Bitcoin is currently in a bit of 'slumber mode' trading in the range of $34,000 and $40,000," said Ulrik Lykke, executive director at crypto hedge fund ARK36. "Many traders are acknowledging that price seems to be range-bound for the moment, why they may be hesitant to take a position with high ..

Elon Musk has become a name known to any person remotely aware of cryptocurrency. With over 55 Million followers, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company seems to be shaking the crypto world with his witty tweets. His relationship with cryptocurrencies has been a complex one. First, he loved them, and then he endorsed them, now he thinks it's terrible for the environment. Every time he tweets about cryptocurrencies, the market seems to react to them. As an aftermath of these tweets, CoinSwitch Kuber stated that there is usually a surge in their trade volumes. Does that indicate that Elon Musk’s tweets are solely responsible for the crypto market movements? Let us discuss it in more detail. Twitter, Elon and cryptocurrency Elon Musk's tweets are known for his pronouncements on cryptocurrency. He has amassed a considerable fanbase in the crypto market using Twitter. In 2014, Elon first mentioned bitcoin to be 'probably a good thing'. Soon rumours were stating that he could be Satoshi Nakamoto (pseudonym of the Bitcoin founder). As a response, the entrepreneur tweeted. "Not true. A friend sent me part of a BTC a few years ago, but I don't know where it is." By 2019, the scepticism around cryptocurrency took a better turn for Elon as he ventured into a more committed crypto journey. He started considering its technology and utility as a potential component of his business models. Amidst many institutions such as Microstrategy, Square etc., coming forward to invest in Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, Tesla announced that they had invested in $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. Eventually, Elon also tweeted that Tesla will be accepting payments for their cars in Bitcoin too. The announcement came as a big cheer for the crypto community, and many new investors entered the market. An institutional giant such as Tesla backing the game only added to its credibility. Soon after he announced this, Bitcoin reached its then all-time high price of $58,000. Elon Musk changes his mind In April, Tesla sold 10% of its Bitcoin holdings, causing panic among investors. Elon responded to this with a tweet stating that Tesla sold Bitcoin only to test its liquidity and that he still holds his Bitcoin investment. Soon after this, Elon Musk broke the hearts of many investors with tweets that seemed to question the environmental impact of the asset. He sent out a tweet that said Tesla would no longer be accepting payments in Bitcoin owing to the high energy consumption of Bitcoin in the mining process. This decision sent cryptocurrencies into a downward spiral, and Bitcoin fell to nearly $30,000. When confronted about his stance on crypto, his tweet read, "The true battle is between fiat & crypto. On balance, I support the latter". Earlier this week, he continued to toy with crypto. He took to Twitter to indicate his support to help miners make their processes greener. Following the tweets, Bitcoin jumped 19% to trade at $39,944, which had earlier slumped to nearly $30,000. Are Elon's tweets solely responsible for the crypto volatility? The above account seems to paint a picture that Elon has the power to move the crypto markets with his tweets. However, a deeper look into the working of crypto as an investment suggests otherwise. We could distinguish the price cycle of any asset into four phases - Accumulation, Markup, Distribution and Markdown. This natural cycle that any investment goes through is vital for its growth and sustenance in the long run. When the crypto market picked up towards the end of 2020, it went through the accumulation phase, where many investors entered the market. Towards mid-February 2021, the currency marked up and settled at an all-time high of $60,000. The distribution phase began when the RSI indicator showed that the asset was overbought, slowly triggering a markdown. The meltdown in the case of cryptocurrencies has indeed taken a toll on investor sentiments. However, the fall was not sudden because Elon is tweeting a bunch about it. If you take a look at the historical prices of BTC, you will notice that there was a steep fall in its value even before Tesla made any announcements.