Blockchain technology is claimed to be according to blockchain proponents to be one of the most impactfull discoveries in the recent history. It is promised to have a massive potential to change how we handle online transactions. Despite some skeptics, the majority of experts agree that blockchain has the potential to disrupt the banking and financial industry, and many other ones! To put it simply, blockchain enables decentralized transactions across a P2P network. There are applications where those propertied can be very useful, but there are many cases where blockchain migh not be the best solution even though it is hyped to be solution for very many application (remember to ask Do you need a blockchain? often).
This 16 Blockchain Disruptions (Infographic) by bitfortune.net tries to help you understand how the blockchain technology can and will improve 16 different industries, from music to government.
Infographic by bitfortune.net
1,206 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
FTX Confirms $9 Billion in Customer Funds Vanished
According to a presentation to customers, ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried allegedly let Alameda borrow $9.3 billion from customer accounts.
https://gizmodo.com/ftx-sbf-sam-bankman-fried-crypto-1850183784
Tomi Engdahl says:
NFT sai suomenkielisen nimen https://www.is.fi/digitoday/art-2000009426364.html
Sitran mukaan NFT on puhekielessä vääntynyt muotoon ”nöftä”. Juhlarahaston virallisempi suomennos on ”digitaalinen hallintatodistus”.
Todistus oikeudesta digitaaliseen kopioon, jonka nykyinen haltija ja hallinnan siirtohistoria on varmistettu lohkoketjuteknologian avulla. Hallinnan kohteeseen viitataan yleensä verkkolinkillä. Hallinnan kohde voi olla esimerkiksi digitaalinen teos, kiinteistö, taideteos, rakennus, tutkinto tai yrityksen osakkeet.
NFT:iden oikeudellinen asema on vielä epäselvä. Niiden taustalla olevat lohkoketjut (blockchain) ovat jo käsitteenä melko vakiintuneita suomen kielessä. Mutta mitä ne sitten ovat? Sitralla on siihenkin vastaus.
Jatkuvasti kertyvä hajautettu datakokonaisuus, jonka kaikki tapahtumat ovat aikajärjestyksessä, kaikkien osapuolten vahvistamia ja tallennettu niin, ettei mitään voi muuttaa tai väärentää.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Christiana Loureiro / The Block:
Silvergate Capital plans to wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate Silvergate Bank, including “full repayment of all deposits” — – Silvergate Capital Corporation said it will wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate Silvergate Bank in accordance with applicable regulatory processes.
Silvergate will liquidate bank, wind down operations
https://www.theblock.co/post/218223/silvergate-will-liquidate-bank-wind-down-operations
Silvergate Capital Corporation said it will wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate Silvergate Bank in accordance with applicable regulatory processes.
Silvergate Capital Corporation said it will wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate Silvergate Bank, one of crypto’s most prominent banks, raising concerns that crypto firms’ access to the U.S. banking system will be further concentrated and could chill new businesses from entering the sector.
“In light of recent industry and regulatory developments, Silvergate believes that an orderly wind down of bank operations and a voluntary liquidation of the bank is the best path forward,” the firm said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. “The bank’s wind down and liquidation plan includes full repayment of all deposits. The company is also considering how best to resolve claims and preserve the residual value of its assets, including its proprietary technology and tax assets.”
“The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation is monitoring the situation closely to facilitate the safe and expeditious voluntary liquidation of Silvergate Bank,”
The imminent demise of a prominent crypto-friendly bank attracted the Senate Banking Committee chairman’s attention. “As the impact of FTX’s collapse continues to ripple outward, today we are seeing what can happen when a bank is overreliant on a risky, volatile sector like cryptocurrencies,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a statement.
“I’ve been concerned that when banks get involved with crypto, it spreads risk across the financial system and it will be taxpayers and consumers who pay the price,” he added. That’s why I am continuing to work with my colleagues in Congress and financial regulators to establish strong safeguards for our financial system from the risks of crypto.”
his sentiment was echoed by Alex Grieve, a vice president at the Washington, D.C.-based government affairs firm Tiger Hill Partners. “While I can’t speak to Silvergate’s risk management practices or investment decisions, at a high level the continued consolidation of crypto banking services into an increasingly smaller pool of banks does not mean that the banking system is safer — it just increases concentration risk, Grieves said. “Bank regulators should establish clear standards for banking crypto companies, rather than vague suggestions about safety and soundness.”
Silvergate’s liquidation raises serious questions about how the sector will be regulated in the near term and how crypto firms will access the banking system, said Alex More, partner at the law firm of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman and Blumenthal. “On one hand, legitimate questions were raised by lawmakers and litigants about Silvergate’s oversight of its banking relationships with crypto clients. To the extent Silvergate had problems with its internal controls that it could not resolve, maybe it’s for the best that it’s choosing to wind down,” More said. “On the other hand, the crypto community is already hindered by limited access to the U.S. banking system and Silvergate’s demise only makes this problem worse.”
Silvergate’s collapse leaves a vacuum for crypto. “There is nothing really stopping a bank from banking a crypto company but your bank regulator is going to come look at your books more frequently — let’s say every six months instead of every 12, and that makes your life more difficult and drives up compliance costs,” said Meltem Demirors, CoinShares chief strategy officer. “So unless a crypto firm is a really big revenue generator, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze for many banks.”
“The combination of Silvergate’s failure and the general chill on crypto banking services may create challenges for new start ups, unknown entities, and folks experimenting on the frontier of crypto,”
Given all of this, it’s “no surprise” that Silvergate is liquidating, said Anthony Georgiades, co-founder of Pastel Network, an NFT-focused blockchain. “While this voluntary liquidation is very unfortunate for the industry as a whole, it should not be used as an opportunity for regulators and legislators to ‘de-bank’ crypto,” he said. “We will see as it matures that certain controls will put in place to hedge risk and protect consumers, but that does not mean instituting safeguards against crypto because of its inherent risk as an asset.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ian Allison / CoinDesk:
Source: JPMorgan is ending its relationship with Gemini; Gemini and Coinbase, JPMorgan’s customers since 2020, say their relationship with the bank is intact — Coinbase said its banking relationship with JPMorgan remains intact. — Join the most important conversation in crypto and Web3 taking place in Austin, Texas, April 26-28.
JPMorgan Is Cutting Ties With Crypto Exchange Gemini: Source
Coinbase said its banking relationship with JPMorgan remains intact.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/03/08/jpmorgan-is-cutting-ties-with-crypto-exchange-gemini-source/
Tomi Engdahl says:
James Hunt / The Block:
Coinbase unveils a “Wallet-as-a-Service” product, offering APIs to help companies create customizable onchain wallets with simple user onboarding in their apps
Coinbase announces Wallet-as-a-Service product to simplify web3 onboarding
https://www.theblock.co/post/218055/coinbase-announces-wallet-as-a-service-product-to-simplify-web3-onboarding
Quick Take
Coinbase has announced a product called Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS), designed to let companies build web3 experiences that have simple wallet onboarding.
Companies like Floor, Moonray, Thirdweb and Tokenproof have begun using Coinbase’s product to onboard web3 users across gaming, token-gated events and digital marketplaces.
Coinbase introduced a product called Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS), which allows companies to create fully customizable web3 wallets within their own apps with user onboarding as simple as in web2 applications.
Coinbase argued that the complexity of wallets remains a major challenge due to mnemonic requirements (seed phrase backup recovery) and counterintuitive UIs, in a blog post released today that The Block received an early copy of. That’s despite the opportunities available for brands in web3 to create new revenue streams and strengthen user engagement, it said.
Why it matters
Using Coinbase WaaS, companies can build native wallets straight into their own applications to create a more seamless experience without redirecting users to any external app or spending significant time, resources and expertise developing their own solution.
Without having to set up and secure a complicated 24-word recovery phrase, WaaS provides users with access to web3 using Multi-Party Computation (MPC). MPC is a cryptographic technology that can improve existing multi-sig techniques, effectively allowing wallet keys to be “split” between the user and Coinbase.
As a full private key never exists in a single location, theft of the key is extremely difficult, even if a device becomes compromised, said Patrick McGregor, head of product for web3 developer platforms at Coinbase.
The design of WaaS means if a user loses access to their device, the key to the web3 wallet remains safe and can be securely restored. Coinbase is able to lock a wallet if a user notifies it, preventing it from being used to sign transactions. The design of MPC wallets means they are also natively cross-chain, offer cheaper transaction fees, provide more user privacy, avoid smart contract risks and are interoperable with ecosystem standards, McGregor added.
While existing web3 wallets are “functional for sophisticated and experienced users,” incoherent user experiences due to a lack of robust wallet integrations with apps, portability across devices and the secure backup and recovery of wallets were cited by McGregor as the main challenges WaaS can overcome.
“Individuals will no longer have to come with knowledge of how the blockchain works in order to interact with the brands they love. This is a huge step towards making the space more approachable and accessible,” said Tokenproof CEO Alfonso Olvera.
How it works
WaaS is a set of scalable and secure APIs designed to abstract away the complexities of blockchain infrastructure, providing access to web3 wallets with the ease of use of web2, while Coinbase handles everything under the hood.
The newbie-friendly approach enables users to create, access and restore wallets with authentication as simple as a username and password. MPC technology helps keep user assets secure by splitting, encrypting and distributing keys among multiple parties. McGregor explained that the keys used for signing are encrypted, requiring hardware-secured biometrics to decrypt and multi-factor authentication, like Google Authenticator and YubiKey, verification before restoring wallets.
While both multi-sig solutions and MPC enable assets to be secured by multiple parties, instead of using multiple individual signatures validated by a multi-sig smart contract, MPC introduces a “multi-user quorum structure,” meaning “multiple people are required to produce a single signature,” McGregor added.
Compared to most web3 wallets, this means that users don’t have to manage their keys alone. While that could be seen as a trade-off between convenience and full self-custody, users still retain control over their assets and can export their keys to another software platform at any time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Euler Loses Nearly $200 Million to Flash Loan Attack
https://www.securityweek.com/euler-loses-nearly-200-million-to-flash-loan-attack/
London, UK based De-Fi platform company Euler has lost a reported $196 million to a flash loan attack.
London, UK based De-Fi platform company Euler has lost a reported $196 million to a flash loan attack.
A flash loan is an instant unsecured loan controlled by smart contracts. It allows a borrower to obtain collateral, use that collateral for its purposes, and return the collateral to its source provided it all occurs within a single transaction. It consequently relies on a sequence of complex conditions.
A legitimate example could be a trader wishing to take instant advantage of different coin values on different platforms: borrow the money without collateral, buy at the low price and sell at the high price, and return the loan instantly.
The concept was pioneered in 2020 by the Ethereum lending platform Aave, which states in its documentation, “There is no real-world analogy to Flash Loans.” Coindesk adds, “The concept is new and still has a lot of kinks [as] new hacks are making abundantly clear.”
Details of this attack are not yet clear.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adam Morgan McCarthy / The Block:
Meta plans to wind down its work on NFTs “for now” to focus on other ways of supporting creators and will continue working on Meta Pay — – Meta is ditching its NFT efforts, for now, according to executive Stephane Kasriel. — Meta is ditching its pursuit of NFTs as the company looks …
Meta announces plans to stop working on NFTs
https://www.theblock.co/post/219462/meta-announces-plans-to-stop-working-on-nfts
Meta is ditching its NFT efforts, for now, according to executive Stephane Kasriel.
Meta is ditching its pursuit of NFTs as the company looks to prioritize, according to Stephane Kasriel, head of commerce and financial technologies at Meta.
“Some product news: across the company, we’re looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus. We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses,” Kasriel wrote in a Twitter thread.
Meta previously said NFTs could help expand the creator economy. Instagram announced plans for a Polygon-supported NFT marketplace as recently as November.
“It’s still early for the NFT market compared to where we think it’s going,” Kasriel said in a blog post in November. “By making NFTs easier to use natively on Instagram, we’re opening up new ways for the billions of people who use our apps to connect with and support their favorite creators — which, in turn, unlocks more economic opportunity.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the US DOJ is investigating the May 2022 collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin; the SEC filed a suit against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon last month — FBI and New York officials have questioned former Terraform Labs team members — The Justice Department is investigating …
Justice Department Probes Collapse of Do Kwon’s TerraUSD Stablecoin
FBI and New York officials have questioned former Terraform Labs team members
https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-probes-collapse-of-do-kwons-terrausd-stablecoin-10bd5ffb?mod=djemalertNEWS
Tomi Engdahl says:
CNBC:
New York shuts down Signature Bank as US regulators cite a “systemic risk exception” like for SVB, announcing all of Signature’s depositors will be “made whole”
Regulators close crypto-focused Signature Bank, citing systemic risk
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/12/regulators-close-new-yorks-signature-bank-citing-systemic-risk.html
New York state regulators on Sunday shut down Signature Bank, a big lender in the crypto industry.
“All depositors of this institution will be made whole. As with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer,” the regulators said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vishal Chawla / The Block:
Lending protocol Euler Finance lost $197M in a flash-loan attack, including $136M in stETH and $34M in USDC; Euler raised $32M in June 2022; EUL drops 45%+
https://www.theblock.co/post/219196/euler-finance-flash-loan-attacked-for-an-estimated-197-million
Tomi Engdahl says:
William Shaw / Bloomberg:
UK bank NatWest restricts transfers to crypto exchanges to £1,000 per day and £5,000 per month, citing a rise in scams, after similar moves by Lloyds and HSBC
NatWest Stops Customers Moving Over £1,000 a Day Into Crypto
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-14/natwest-stops-customers-moving-over-1-000-a-day-into-crypto
UK bank is among many lenders curbing access to cryptoassets
NatWest warns of rise in scams linked to the asset class
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.immuniweb.com/blog/us-european-law-enforcement-authorities-shut-down-chipmixer-cryptocurrency-mixer.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
A look at Balaji Srinivasan’s proposed $1M bitcoin bet, predicting one BTC will be worth $1M+ in 90 days, which makes little sense besides attracting attention — Credit Suisse — It is sometimes useful to think that the shareholders of a bank are not its owners; they are just renting it from its creditors.
UBS Got Credit Suisse for Almost Nothing
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-03-20/ubs-got-credit-suisse-for-almost-nothing?leadSource=uverify%20wall
Also AT1s working as designed and a weird Bitcoin bet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Crypto giant Binance temporarily suspends withdrawals and spot trading
https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/24/crypto-giant-binance-temporarily-suspends-spot-trading/?tpcc=tcplusfacebook
Binance has temporarily suspended all spot trading, deposits and withdrawals on the world’s largest crypto exchange citing an “issue” that it’s working to resolve.
“Initial analysis indicates matching engine encountered a bug on a trailing stop order (a weird one),” Binance founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao said in a tweet, adding that the firm expects the recovery in within two hours.
Binance commands over 60% of all crypto spot volume. It has also increased its market share of Bitcoin spot volume to over 90% in recent quarters, thanks to zero commission, according to according to Arcane Research.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin-huuma yltyy taas: “luultavasti rikkoo kaikkien aikojen ennätykset”
Antti Kailio23.3.202314:56|päivitetty23.3.202314:56KRYPTOVALUUTATSIJOITTAMINEN
Alkuvuodesta bitcoinin kurssi on ollut selvässä nousussa. Innokkaat asiantuntijat odottavat kurssin rikkovan ennätyksiä tänä vuonna.
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/bitcoin-huuma-yltyy-taas-luultavasti-rikkoo-kaikkien-aikojen-ennatykset/427fa9c3-5b4e-42ef-824b-d4717aa91334
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
Sources: the Hong Kong arms of three Chinese state banks have reached out to offer services to crypto businesses in recent months, despite a mainland crypto ban — Crypto firms rushing into Hong Kong after the city opened its doors to the battered sector are finding a surprising source of potential support: China’s state-owned banks.
Chinese Banks Court Crypto Firms in Hong Kong After Mainland Ban
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-27/chinese-banks-court-crypto-firms-in-hong-kong-after-mainland-ban#xj4y7vzkg
Bocom, Bank of China among lenders looking at crypto firms
Hong Kong sees a rush of firms into city after policy shift
Crypto firms rushing into Hong Kong after the city opened its doors to the battered sector are finding a surprising source of potential support: China’s state-owned banks.
Chinese banks have been directly reaching out to crypto businesses over the past few months, adding to signs that the city’s push to become a major digital asset center has backing from Beijing, even though trading of crypto has been banned on the mainland for well over a year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft reportedly plans to turn Edge into a crypto and NFT wallet
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-reportedly-plans-to-turn-edge-into-a-crypto-and-nft-wallet/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin’s value rests partly in the hands of six little-known developers who are selected by their peers and paid by a loose network of donors. They’re often vague about their whereabouts.
Bitcoin’s Future Depends on a Handful of Mysterious Coders
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-core-maintainers-crypto-7b93804?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR1e6OoM-SX9BQ_vwSvhBtbnJPMqVhUJ0yvkb37r-dMW-D15HwHYB6LMr04_aem_Aaqjios3CRW23v8pY3sswJfxFkg2Yquwaq5ALOwJcjeySIx0QPOspMCqOjWc7bQuBghlR1fhXa5dcMf_imjNNJskqZ601Y4t5EKx2JELKkiYRNn0C70Xg8mgpmRczHvkMPw
Developers with power to change the cryptocurrency’s
software hold an unorthodox role, are elusive—and have been known to head off disaster for the coin
Tomi Engdahl says:
Actually, Bitcoin’s future depends on how many more unsuspecting victims are lured into the world’s biggest and largest decentralized digital ponzi scheme.
That’s the usual comments of those who missed out on the crypto boom back in the day.
(translation: didn’t get in on the speculative bubble early enough to make money from the losses of later, greater fools)
1-Argument of authority: ye si went to college.
2- argument of false equivalence: fiat is the biggest ponzi:
No, fiat is a ponzi, since Brentwood, and American economic leadership. It is a controled ponzi, with debt and inflation, pushing the losses on working people, via taxes, and ratings to borrow.
The biggest ponzi is not the fiat, far from it.
Way upper in the ladder of ponzi, you find, though, the bitcoin.
WSJ starts to publish fake and biasful articles, might this be preparations for another crypto bull-run?
A bull run based on what? Fake and biasful articles from promoters? Since there is no intrinsic asset value behind btc, then any imputed value depends entirely on finding a greater fool to bid higher than you paid.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Paul Alcorn / Tom’s Hardware:
Intel discontinues its Blockscale 1000-series ASICs, designed for mining bitcoin, after announcing the chips in March 2022, and doesn’t announce any successors
Intel Discontinues Bitcoin-Mining Blockscale Chips, No Future Gens Announced
By Paul Alcorn
published about 21 hours ago
Came in late, leaving too early.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-discontinues-bitcoin-mining-blockscale-chips-no-future-gens-announced
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
The EU Parliament approves the Markets in Cryptoassets, or MiCA, regulation for the crypto industry, with rules for stablecoins set to apply from July 2024
First EU-Wide Crypto Regulations Clear Final Parliament Vote
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-20/eu-s-mica-crypto-regulations-clear-final-parliament-vote?leadSource=uverify%20wall
New rules to come into effect over the next two years
Some officials already pushing for second round of regulations
European lawmakers on Thursday gave their final blessing to an ambitious law that will give the European Union its first rules to govern the crypto industry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Coinbase says it received a license to operate in Bermuda; source: the company plans to launch an offshore derivatives exchange in Bermuda as soon as next week — Coinbase has received a license to operate in the off-shore haven of Bermuda, signaling that the company is doubling-down on plans …
Coinbase gets Bermuda license, plans to launch offshore exchange in coming weeks
https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/04/19/coinbase-gets-bermuda-license-plans-to-launch-offshore-exchange-in-coming-weeks/
Coinbase has received a license to operate in the offshore haven of Bermuda, signaling that the company is doubling down on plans to increase its international business at a time when U.S. regulators have become hostile to the crypto industry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Euroopan parlamentti siunasi kryptomaksujen jäljittämistä koskevan sääntelyn
Tarkoituksena on vaikeuttaa virtuaalivaluuttojen hyödyntämistä rikollisiin tarkoituksiin.
https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000009532797.html
RIKOLLINEN pelailu kryptovaluutoilla on vaikeutumassa Euroopan talousalueella, kun uusi kryptosääntely etenee kohti maaliviivaa.
Torstaina Euroopan parlamentti antoi oman hyväksyntänsä kryptomaksujen jäljittämiselle, rahanpesun estämisen parantamiselle sekä valvonnan ja kuluttajansuojan yhdenmukaistamiselle. Tarkoituksena on muun muassa vaikeuttaa virtuaalivaluuttojen hyödyntämistä rikollisiin tarkoituksiin.
Parlamentti äänesti Strasbourgissa kryptovarantojen siirtoa ja jäljittämistä koskevan säädöksen hyväksymisestä selvin äänin. Niin ikään se hyväksyi toisen lakiehdotuksen, joka luo yhteiset säännöt kryptovaluuttojen valvonnalle, kuluttajansuojalle ja ympäristövastuullisuudelle.
Jäsenmailta tarvitaan yhä poliittinen siunaus uudistuksille, mutta siinä pitäisi olla kyse enää muodollisuudesta.
KRYPTOVALUUTOISSA huolena on ollut niiden omistajan heikko asema, sääntelyn pirstoutuminen kansallisiksi pistotoimiksi ylikansallisella markkinalla sekä mahdollisuus käyttää kryptovaluuttaa rikollisten varojen piilotteluun.
”Se tuo sääntelyllään nämä [palveluntarjoajat] nyt paljon lähemmäs sitä, mitä edellytetään muiltakin perinteisiltä finanssisektorin toimijoilta”, hän sanoo.
KRYPTOVALUUTAT ovat tarjonneet rikollisille huomattavaa etua, koska varoja on voinut liikutella anonyymisti paljon perinteistä rahaa helpommin.
Uusi sääntely laajentaa rahojen siirtämistä koskevan “matkasäännön” myös kryptopuolelle. Jatkossa tiedot omaisuuden siirtäjästä ja saajasta täytyy tallentaa ja toimittaa palveluntarjoajalta toiselle.
Palveluntarjoajat ovat velvollisia toimittamaan tiedot viranomaisille, jos tutkinnassa on rahanpesu tai terrorismin rahoitus.
Jos kokonaisuus on jatkoa rahanpesun torjuntasääntelylle, se on iso asia myös kryptosijoittajien suojalle. Heiskanen katsoo, että suurin turva on alan palveluntarjoajille tuleva toimilupavaatimus.
”Se taso, mikä pääsee markkinoille, tulee varmaan nousemaan. Tai ainakin siinä on tiukempi seula”, hän sanoo.
Sijoittajat näkevät julkisista rekistereistä, onko palveluntarjoaja hyväksytty.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Damilare Dosunmu / Rest of World:
A look at the waning crypto hype in Africa, as consumer trust fades, startups shut down, and Web3 workers reconsider their careers after FTX’s fallout
Africa fell in love with crypto. Now, it’s complicated
https://restofworld.org/2023/africa-crypto-startups-downturn/
Trust is fading, startups are shutting down, and Web3 workers are reconsidering their career choices.
The dwindling first crypto wave is causing hundreds of Web3 workers to reconsider their career choices.
Amid waning consumer trust and regulatory pushbacks, African crypto startups are dealing with the lack of venture dollars needed to gain competitive advantage against local and global counterparts.
“I used to be bullish on crypto because I believed it could liberate Africans financially,” Chiamaka, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym as she was concerned about breaching her contract with her current employer, told Rest of World. “Instead, it has managed to do the opposite so far … at least to me and a few of my friends.”
Chiamaka is among the tens of millions of Africans who bought into the cryptocurrency frenzy over the last few years. According to one estimate in mid-2022, around 53 million Africans owned crypto — 16.5% of the total global crypto users. Nigeria led with over 22 million users, ranking fourth globally. Blockchain startups and businesses on the continent raised $474 million in 2022, a 429% increase from the previous year, according to the African Blockchain Report. Young African creatives also became major proponents of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), taking inspiration from pop culture and the continent’s history. Several decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), touted as the next big thing, emerged across Africa.
Now, however, much of this buzz seems to be a thing of the past. “People sparingly talk about NFTs and DAOs,” Olabinjo Adeniran, a marketing manager in the blockchain industry, told Rest of World. “You can’t just draw a monkey and sell it for a thousand dollars anymore … As for DAOs, many had no use case. The obsession with launching tokens makes them fall under the speculative side of crypto, which is dead.”
Several crypto-related startups across the African continent have been struggling to survive.
In 2023 alone, a lack of funds has led to the acquisition of at least one Nigerian crypto exchange company, while another crypto payment company has shut down. I
Several of these startups have run into trouble because of the skepticism triggered by FTX’s collapse, Barakat Olatinwo, a crypto marketing consultant, told Rest of World. “It has reduced the trust level of users in the sector,” she said.
“You could be in Kenya building a healthy product, and your potential user wakes up to the news of an FTX crash. To them, that’s a crypto problem,” Michael Kimani, founder of the Blockchain Association of Kenya, told Rest of World. FTX’s fallout is also causing more regulatory pushback globally, he added.
On January 31, the acting governor of the National Bank of Rwanda sent a letter indicating concerns about the trading of crypto, which is unregulated in the country. It also forbade the country’s financial services providers from engaging in “any crypto-related activities until a regulatory framework has been put in place.” More than a week later, LocalBitcoins, a popular exchange founded in Finland but operating in Rwanda, shut down. “Most crypto traded in Rwanda was from [peer-to-peer] exchanges … so the closures have definitely impacted crypto activities in the country,” Jefferson Rumanyika, founder of Kigali-based market intelligence platform African Crypto Research, told Rest of World. “As a consequence, you will notice the number of people Googling crypto in Rwanda has waned.”
In South Africa, the crypto hype and consumer trust are fading away. Still, the government’s decision to classify digital currency assets as financial products to regulate them has helped curtail a drastic drop in interest, Nzwisisa Chidembo, founder of Riskbloq, a South African blockchain analytics platform, told Rest of World.
Some industry stakeholders believe crypto is too important to just be a bubble in Africa, and that the current troubles aren’t unique to this industry.
“Every sector is currently struggling to raise [funds] because of the drop in venture capital dollars,”
Samuel Akpan, a public relations officer at ConsenSys, one of the world’s largest blockchain software developers, believes the African crypto story has only just begun. “If there’s anything that’s dead in this space, it’s the noise due to the surge of speculative tokens … Now is the time for innovators to build,” he told Rest of World.
Mohamed Taysir, co-founder and CEO of Egypt’s Singularity Finance, believes the trend of crypto startups closing down is driving attention away from the promise of quick money to more “beneficial use cases of blockchain.”
However, convincing more Africans to embrace cryptocurrencies is a different story.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York Times:
A look at the mounting US pressure on Binance: the DOJ’s money laundering division leading its criminal investigation, CZ hiring Latham & Watkins, and more — The scrutiny on Binance, the giant cryptocurrency exchange, has sent new tremors through a market that is still bruised by the implosion of FTX.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/technology/binance-crypto-crackdown.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yueqi Yang / Bloomberg:
Voyager Digital says Binance.US terminated an agreement to acquire the bankrupt crypto broker for $1B, less than a week after the US abandoned stopping the deal — Voyager Digital Ltd said Binance.US had terminated an agreement to purchase the bankrupt crypto broker.
Binance US Ends $1 Billion Deal to Buy Bankrupt Crypto Firm Voyager
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-25/binance-us-terminates-deal-to-buy-bankrupt-crypto-firm-voyager?leadSource=uverify%20wall
FTX had agreed to buy Voyager before its own collapse
Abrupt deal reversal comes after earlier objections from SEC
Tomi Engdahl says:
Euroopan parlamentti siunasi kryptomaksujen jäljittämistä koskevan sääntelyn
Tarkoituksena on vaikeuttaa virtuaalivaluuttojen hyödyntämistä rikollisiin tarkoituksiin.
https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000009532797.html
RIKOLLINEN pelailu kryptovaluutoilla on vaikeutumassa Euroopan talousalueella, kun uusi kryptosääntely etenee kohti maaliviivaa.
Torstaina Euroopan parlamentti antoi oman hyväksyntänsä kryptomaksujen jäljittämiselle, rahanpesun estämisen parantamiselle sekä valvonnan ja kuluttajansuojan yhdenmukaistamiselle. Tarkoituksena on muun muassa vaikeuttaa virtuaalivaluuttojen hyödyntämistä rikollisiin tarkoituksiin.
Parlamentti äänesti Strasbourgissa kryptovarantojen siirtoa ja jäljittämistä koskevan säädöksen hyväksymisestä selvin äänin. Niin ikään se hyväksyi toisen lakiehdotuksen, joka luo yhteiset säännöt kryptovaluuttojen valvonnalle, kuluttajansuojalle ja ympäristövastuullisuudelle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bill Peters / MarketWatch:
Coinbase reports Q1 revenue down 34% YoY to $772.5M, vs. $655M est., net loss down 82% YoY to $78.9M, $145B in trading volume, vs. $147.7B est.; COIN jumps 8%+ — ‘The crypto industry continues to be volatile, as evidenced most recently by the disruptions in the banking sector and ongoing regulatory uncertainty,’ executives say
Coinbase stock rises as Q1 results beat, but company warns bank disruptions are rattling crypto
https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20230504778/coinbase-stock-rises-as-q1-results-beat-but-company-warns-bank-disruptions-are-rattling-crypto
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mengqi Sun / Wall Street Journal:
New York’s AG proposes the Crypto Regulation, Protection, Transparency and Oversight Act, or CRPTO, seeking broader enforcement authority over crypto companies
New York Attorney General Seeks Broader Authority to Police Crypto
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-attorney-general-seeks-broader-authority-to-police-crypto-cdcf08ed?mod=djemalertNEWS
Proposed legislation would require crypto exchanges to have independent public audits of financial statements, among other new requirements
New York Attorney General Letitia James is proposing new legislation that would give her office more authority to regulate the increasingly tumultuous cryptocurrency industry.
The bill would give the attorney general’s office broader enforcement authority over crypto firms that have operations in the state, while codifying the New York State Department of Financial Services’ authority to license participants in the sector and oversee the state’s digital asset licensing regime.
The bill, called the Crypto Regulation, Protection, Transparency and Oversight Act, or CRPTO, will be submitted by Ms. James’s office to the New York State Senate and Assembly for consideration during the 2023 legislative session, which runs through June 8.
The New York attorney general, an elected official, is seeking jurisdiction to enforce crypto firms’ violations of the law, issue subpoenas and impose civil penalties of $10,000 per violation for each individual or $100,000 per violation for each crypto firm, according to a statement from the attorney general’s office. The attorney general is also seeking to shut down businesses that are engaging in alleged fraud and illegality.
The proposed legislation aims to rein in the crypto industry by requiring crypto exchanges to have independent public audits of their financial statements and to reimburse customers that are defrauded. The bill also looks to restrict conflicts of interest in the industry, such as when the same individuals both issue tokens and own the marketplaces where the tokens trade.
The bill also would require crypto firms to have know-your-customer procedures and would ban the use of the term “stablecoin” to market virtual currencies unless their values maintain a one-to-one ratio to the dollar.
Currently, the NYDFS, whose leader is appointed by the New York governor, issues so-called “BitLicenses” to crypto firms that allows them to do business in the state and conducts examinations and enforcement actions on licensed firms.
The NYDFS, which supervises more than 30 crypto companies, in January notched a $100 million settlement with Coinbase over allegations it violated anti-money-laundering laws by allowing customers to open accounts without conducting sufficient background checks. Last August, the department imposed a $30 million fine on the cryptocurrency trading unit of online brokerage Robinhood Markets Inc. for alleged violations of anti-money-laundering and cybersecurity regulations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘How to Buy Gold’ Hits a Google Record as Crypto Investors Chase World’s Oldest Asset
The old-school precious metal has new allure for a generation seeking a respite from the cryptocurrency roller coaster
https://www.wsj.com/articles/weary-bitcoin-investors-chase-shiny-new-objectgold-21f8a6ee?mod=series_cryptobitcoindogecoin
Tomi Engdahl says:
At FTX, Multimillion-Dollar Expenses Were Approved by Emoji
Report outlines control failures at the failed crypto firm
https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-ftx-multimillion-dollar-expenses-were-approved-by-emoji-fb91bb3a?mod=series_cryptobitcoindogecoin
FTX’s failures are rooted in “hubris, incompetence, and greed,” the crypto exchange’s new management team said in a report outlining scathing details about the lack of financial controls and record-keeping under founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Crypto Firms Find a Way to Bank Without Banks
Middlemen companies provide access for digital-asset clients
https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-firms-find-a-way-to-bank-without-banks-df37a22?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_164&cx_artPos=1&mod=WTRN#cxrecs_s
Crypto imploded in 2022 but largely avoided rippling into other markets. WSJ explains how crypto became so interconnected. Illustration: Mallory Brangan
Regulators’ warnings and a series of bank failures have caused some banks to step away from crypto clients. A handful of middlemen companies are helping keep the nascent industry banked.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dave Michaels / Wall Street Journal:
Coinbase plans to try a novel defense against a potential US SEC enforcement action by arguing the regulator bears some responsibility for approving its IPO
Coinbase Tries Novel Defense in SEC Fight
Crypto exchange says regulators’ lawsuit threat is undermined by clearance of IPO
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coinbase-tries-novel-defense-in-sec-fight-43298183?mod=djemalertNEWS
With the Securities and Exchange Commission preparing an enforcement action that threatens much of its business, crypto exchange Coinbase COIN 18.33%increase; green up pointing triangle
is trying a novel defense. It says regulators bear some responsibility for letting the company go public in the first place.
Coinbase went public in April 2021 after clearing a six-month review. SEC staff bored into its financial reporting and disclosures as well as the company’s belief that its menu of cryptocurrencies shouldn’t be treated as securities, which the SEC regulates. Coinbase’s lawyers argue that by clearing the review, regulators signaled that they “did not think Coinbase’s core business was unlawful.”
But the going-public process isn’t designed to judge whether risks to a company’s future should stop it from selling shares to investors, according to securities lawyers. Other companies whose business models were illegal at the federal or local level have been able to go public, including cannabis firms, gaming businesses and ride-sharing companies. The SEC’s review solely examines how companies disclose those risks to investors in their regulated filings, lawyers said.
“The SEC’s view is that issuers are responsible for compliance with the law, and the fact that regulators raised an issue but didn’t take it further at that time proves nothing,” said Sara Hanks, a former SEC lawyer who now runs investor due-diligence company CrowdCheck.
Coinbase says its predicament is different from other companies facing legal hazards because “securities law is the SEC’s core competency,” its lawyers wrote last week in their rebuttal letter to the agency. The SEC sent Coinbase an investigative subpoena in December 2020, according to the company’s regulatory filings, when it was in the thick of the agency’s review process.
“If the commission had believed in April 2021 that Coinbase’s core businesses violated securities law, it would have been required by its own mandate to prevent” the deal, Coinbase’s lawyers wrote. “Instead, it allowed the offering to proceed, and millions of members of the public invested their savings in Coinbase.”
The SEC told Coinbase last month that it is prepared to sue the company over allegations that it operated as a stock exchange and brokerage firm without following investor-protection rules, among other claims. A lawsuit would at least partly turn on the SEC’s ability to show that Coinbase listed cryptocurrencies that are actually securities.
Coinbase listed its shares when the crypto market was flying high and investors were eager for a piece of the first major digital-asset company to go public. It fetched an $85 billion valuation in its stock market debut on April 14, 2021. The company’s shares are now worth about $12 billion.
Coinbase shares rose late Thursday after the company reported a lower-than-expected quarterly net loss. Bitcoin and ether, cryptocurrencies that regulators have said aren’t securities, account for the majority of Coinbase’s trading volume and transaction revenue
Harvey Pitt, a former SEC chairman, said “there are legitimate reasons for questioning the fact that the SEC allowed it to go public in the first place.” But as a strict legal issue, being able to do an IPO isn’t a compelling defense against the SEC taking enforcement action, Mr. Pitt said.
The SEC has a gatekeeper role in screening companies that want to go public. While it reviews their disclosures, it says it doesn’t approve the stock offering—and companies have to make that disclaimer in their IPO filing.
“Disclosure review is merit neutral and doesn’t determine whether a business is compliant with laws other than those governing disclosure and accounting,” an SEC spokesman said.
Goldman Sachs, which helped prepare the company for its Nasdaq listing, was aware of the scrutiny that regulators put on crypto but didn’t foresee how the SEC would soon call out Coinbase as violating many fundamental investor-protection laws, the people said.
Coinbase has added cryptocurrencies to its platform since 2021. At the time, it supported over 90 digital coins for trading or custody and said it used a scoring model to determine which assets it could add without violating securities laws. Today Coinbase lists 240 tokens.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Crypto Crisis: A Timeline of Key Events
The industry’s troubles began months before FTX filed for bankruptcy
https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-crisis-a-timeline-of-key-events-11675519887?mod=series_cryptobitcoindogecoin
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
A look at Art Blocks, an NFT marketplace for generative art that enforces 5% royalty fees and whose sales fell from $587M in August 2021 to $6.5M in April 2023
As NFT sales dwindle, Art Blocks resists pinning hopes on a renewed crypto bull run
https://www.theblock.co/post/229643/art-blocks-erick-calderon-crypto-bull-run
Quick Take
Volumes have fallen steeply for Art Blocks, the generative art platform that boomed in the last crypto bull run.
But founder Erick Calderon remains unwavering on topics such as creator royalties, while dismissing excessive fundraising as “gross.”
“I’m a little bit timid and hesitant… because I think a lot of that ‘invest in your startup’ mentality is just waiting for that next bull run — and there may not be another bull run.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Krisztian Sandor / CoinDesk:
Pepecoin, a meme coin launched in April 2023, has a $1B+ market cap despite concentrated ownership concerns; Arkham: a trader turned $263 into ~$12.8M in profit — A pseudonymous crypto trader bought trillions of the meme coin three weeks ago on UniSwap for $263, and still holds about $9 million …
Pepecoin’s Bewildering Rise Turned a Pittance Into an Almost 5,000,000% Meme Coin Profit
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/05/05/pepecoins-bewildering-rise-turned-a-pittance-into-an-almost-5000000-meme-coin-profit/
A pseudonymous crypto trader bought trillions of the meme coin three weeks ago on UniSwap for $263, and still holds about $9 million of PEPE after selling several million dollars worth, according to data from blockchain platform Arkham.
The bewilderingly fast rise of pepecoin (PEPE), a meme coin introduced mere weeks ago that’s now worth more than $1 billion, is making gigantic fortunes for those undeterred by warnings this is a fad that will end badly.
A perfect example: a pseudonymous trader named dimethyltryptamine.eth spent $263 just three weeks ago to buy trillions of PEPE tokens. That former pittance has turned into $3.8 million in profits from tokens they’ve already sold, and their remaining holdings are worth about $9 million, according to data by blockchain research firm Arkham Intelligence. That’s an almost 5,000,000% profit.
The trader is benefitting from the breakneck rally of a coin based on the “pepe the frog” meme, a popular symbol in crypto circles. Launched in April, the meme coin’s market capitalization astonishingly surpassed $1 billion on Friday and, according to CoinGecko, at one point was worth more than Arbitrum’s ARB, which is also among the hottest newly issued tokens of 2023.
Analysts, however, have raised concerns about the concentrated ownership of pepecoin, pointing to a handful of traders acquiring substantial amounts of PEPE when the token was released last month. Blockchain sleuth Lookonchain unveiled five accounts connected to a wallet belonging to pepecexwallet.eth, which received funds directly from the token’s deployer contract, acquired over 8.87 trillion PEPE after issuance for just $385.
Tomi Engdahl says:
David Pan / Bloomberg:
Some crypto miners, like Hive Blockchain and Hut 8 Mining, are repurposing their GPUs to power high-performance computing services for AI clients
AI Needs Specialized Processors. Crypto Miners Say They Have Them
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-10/ether-crypto-miners-woo-artificial-intelligence-ai-with-gpu-chips-services#xj4y7vzkg
Previous Ethereum miners look to repurpose glut of GPUs for AI
Some miners snapped up high-end chips during boom in crypto
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google announces a competitor to Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, a chat tool for asking questions about coding, and AI-assisted coding in its no-code AppSheet tool
Google launches a GitHub Copilot competitor
https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/google-launches-a-github-copilot-competitor/
At its annual I/O developer conference, Google today announced the launch of a number of AI-centric coding tools, including its competitor to GitHub’s Copilot, a chat tool for asking questions about coding and Google Cloud services, as well as AI-assisted coding in Google’s no-code AppSheet product.
At the core of virtually all of these new code completion and code generation tools is Codey. Based on Google’s PaLM 2 large language model, the company specifically trained Codey to handle coding-related prompts, but it also trained the model to handle queries related to Google Cloud in general (all of this, by the way, falls under Google’s Duet AI branding).
Tether reports $1.5 billion net profit for first quarter in latest attestation report
https://www.theblock.co/post/230241/tether-attestation-report-q1-2023
Tether reported $1.5 billion of net profit for the first quarter — more than double its Q4 2022 net profit.
Tether also reported all time high excess reserves of $2.44 billion.
Stablecoin issuer Tether said it had a net profit of $1.5 billion in the first quarter, more than double what it reported in the previous period, according to its latest attestation report.
“We are thrilled with the tremendous success Tether has achieved in Q1 2023, with our reserves’ surplus reaching an all-time high of $2.44B,” Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, said in a statement shared with The Block exclusively. “Our net profits for the quarter were $1.48B, a testament to the strength and stability of our platform.”
Tether’s consolidated total assets amounted to at least $81.8 billion as of May 9, while its consolidated total liabilities amounted to $79.4 billion, per the statement, reflecting excess reserves of at least $2.44 billion — an all-time high. The excess reserves are much higher than Tether’s Q4 numbers of $960 million.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/13/home-heating-with-bitcoin-miners-is-now-a-real-thing/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
A rise in memecoins and NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain, thanks to the Ordinals protocol, has spurred record transactions and an ensuing fee windfall for miners — An eruption of memecoins and nonfungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain has reshaped the revenue profile of miners …
Memecoin Mania and NFTs Bring a ‘Seismic Shift’ for Bitcoin Mining
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-21/memecoin-mania-and-nfts-bring-a-seismic-shift-for-bitcoin-btc-mining#xj4y7vzkg
Transaction fees make up an increasing share of miner revenue
Industry is assessing whether the change is structural
An eruption of memecoins and nonfungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain has reshaped the revenue profile of miners and stirred questions about how lasting the upheaval will prove to be.
New software known as Ordinals paved the way for the NFTs and meme tokens to come to the network this year. Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. says the Bitcoin NFT ecosystem could be worth $4.5 billion by 2025, while about 25,000 memecoins have been tallied on the blockchain since they first emerged in March.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nikou Asgari / Financial Times:
By creating separate crypto companies, Standard Chartered and other finance groups are betting fund managers will prefer trusted brands to opaque crypto firms
Wall Street prepares to take on established crypto companies
https://www.ft.com/content/870bef48-9bec-4408-8601-d97c5603a76b?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maghan McDowell / Vogue Business:
Louis Vuitton announces “Treasure Trunk” NFTs costing €39K each and granting access to future products and experiences, in a hard pivot from an NFT-based game — The collection of phygital “Treasure Trunks” marks the first time that the luxury brand will sell NFTs …
Louis Vuitton to sell €39,000 NFTs
https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/louis-vuitton-to-sell-euro39000-nfts
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maailman suurin kryptopörssi ja sen miljardööriperustaja haastettiin oikeuteen – bitcoinin kurssi romahti
Antti Kailio6.6.202308:23|päivitetty6.6.202308:23KRYPTOVALUUTATSIJOITTAMINENLAKI JA OIKEUS
Binancea vastaan on nostettu Yhdysvalloissa 13 eri syytettä.
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/maailman-suurin-kryptoporssi-ja-sen-miljardooriperustaja-haastettiin-oikeuteen-bitcoinin-kurssi-romahti/4a74c027-95dc-47c4-bb48-7f93c0da0322
Maailman johtava kryptovaluuttapörssi Binance ja sen perustaja Changpeng Zhao on haastettu oikeuteen. Yhdysvaltain arvopaperi- ja pörssikomissio SEC on nostanut yhtiötä ja Zhaoa vastaan yhteensä 13 syytettä. Asiasta uutisoi Reuters.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Crypto Crackdown: Coinbase and Binance Lawsuits Shake Markets
The S.E.C.’s actions indicate a push to require crypto businesses offering securities to follow the same rules as traditional stock and bond exchanges.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/07/business/sec-lawsuit-crytocurrency-explainer.html
In more blows to the cryptocurrency sector, two of its biggest players were sued this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission: On Monday, the agency filed charges against Binance, the world’s biggest exchange, and the next day it accused Coinbase, the only publicly listed exchange in the United States, of violating securities laws.
The S.E.C.’s chair, Gary Gensler, has long insisted that most crypto tokens are securities, and therefore fall under the agency’s jurisdiction. Many digital asset enthusiasts — including some regulators and lawmakers — say Mr. Gensler is overreaching.
There are notable similarities between this week’s cases. The S.E.C. accuses both Binance and Coinbase of operating securities exchanges and selling digital assets that it says should have been registered. But in its suit against Binance, the S.E.C. also accuses its chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, of civil fraud, while its case against Coinbase does not claim fraud or name the company’s chief executive, Brian Armstrong, as a defendant.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
By capitalizing on crypto lending services’ high interest rate promises, 3AC’s founders played the bubble perfectly, getting rich as 3AC’s lenders went bankrupt — Programming note: Money Stuff was supposed to be off today but I got bored so here you go. — What are the 3AC guys up to?
Three Arrows Had a Fun Bubble
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-06-12/three-arrows-had-a-fun-bubble
Also UBS bought Credit Suisse, are stablecoins securities, crypto funds North Korea’s missile program and Jeff Bezos bought a share of stock.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cryptocurrency Mining Pools and Money Laundering: Two Real World Examples https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/cryptocurrency-mining-pools-money-laundering/
Cryptocurrency mining is a crucial part of our industry, but it also holds special appeal to bad actors, as it provides a means to acquire money with a totally clean on-chain original source.
Below, we’ll look at examples of ransomware actors and crypto scammers who appear to be using mining pools for money laundering, and estimate this activity at scale.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
Venezuela’s temporary ban on crypto mining is killing the industry President Maduro promoted, with ~75K units of mining equipment disconnected since March
Venezuela’s Ban on Crypto Mining Is Ruining the Industry It Once Embraced
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-21/venezuela-once-embraced-crypto-now-it-s-banned-crypto-mining-trading-petro?leadSource=uverify%20wall
Corruption probe ensnares crypto industry with halt on mining
Cash-strapped miners could be forced to close as ban drags on
Venezuela’s temporary ban on mining cryptocurrencies within the country is effectively killing the industry President Nicolás Maduro worked hard to promote.
State regulators first ordered a halt on crypto mining in March, after opening an investigation into a large corruption scheme in which crypto wallets were allegedly used to redirect payments owed to the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hidden surprises in the Bitcoin blockchain and how they are stored: Nelson Mandela, Wikileaks, photos, and Python software
Every Bitcoin transaction is stored in the distributed database known as the Bitcoin blockchain. However, people have found ways to hack the Bitcoin protocol to store more than just transactions. I’ve searched through the blockchain and found many strange and interesting things – from images to source code in JavaScript, Python, and Basic. If you’re running a Bitcoin client, you probably have all this data stored on your system.[1]
https://www.righto.com/2014/02/ascii-bernanke-wikileaks-photographs.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cam Thompson / CoinDesk:
Nansen: NFT royalties hit a two-year low in June, with one week of payouts dropping to ~$3.8M from a ~$76M April 2022 peak, as royalty-optional platforms rise
NFT Creator Royalty Payments Hit Two-Year Low: Nansen
The rise of royalty-optional platforms like Blur and OpenSea have contributed to declining royalty payments for artists across the space.
https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/07/05/nft-creator-royalty-payments-hit-two-year-low-nansen/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
A test by the New York Fed and big banks on a private blockchain finds tokenized deposits can improve wholesale payments without “insuperable legal impediments”
NY Fed Says Months-Long Test on Digital Dollar Shows Speed Advantage
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-06/ny-fed-says-monthslong-digital-dollar-test-shows-speed-advantage#xj4y7vzkg
A division of NY Fed concludes digital-dollar test with banks
Test was ‘conducive’ to further exploring tokenized deposits