roadrunner

Gold bug and economist Peter Schiff says there are two possible outcomes of the Federal Reserve’s action on the U.S. economy. One outcome leads to “a massive financial crisis and severe recession” as stocks, bonds, and real estate crash. In the second outcome, “the world will run away from the dollar,” the economist stressed. Peter Schiff on U.S. Economy: Two Possible Outcomes Gold bug and economist Peter Schiff continued to share his view on the U.S. economy and the Federal Reserve’s efforts to bring down inflation this week. Regarding where the U.S. economy is headed, he tweeted Saturday that “There are two possible outcomes.” Describing one of the outcomes, he detailed: The Fed succeeds in returning inflation to 2%. Stocks, bonds, and real estate all crash, ushering in a massive financial crisis and severe recession that includes government defaults & spending cuts. Moving on to discuss the second outcome, he wrote: “Or the Fed pivots before inflation returns to 2%. If the Fed pivots, either to avert a financial crisis, or in reaction to one, inflation will soar, the opposite of what was experienced after the 2008 financial crisis. This time instead of running toward the dollar, the world will run away from the dollar.” Schiff also tweeted Friday: “Everyone knows about the high inflation of the 1970s that didn’t end until Volcker got serious in the early 1980s. But during the ten years from 1982-1992, the average annual CPI rise was 4.43%. The Fed didn’t get inflation back down to 2% until after the 2008 financial crisis.” The gold bug regularly comments on the state of the U.S. economy on social media. In September, he cautioned: “Inflation is here to stay, and will get much worse despite rate hikes, due to over a decade of inflationary monetary and fiscal policy. This is very bearish for the dollar and bullish for gold.” Schiff noted: “The days of sub-2% inflation are gone.” Moreover, he emphasized in August that the U.S. is facing a “massive financial crisis” that “is going to be a much bigger crisis when the defaults start.” In May, he warned about an economic downturn in the U.S. that “will be much worse than the Great Recession.” Schiff recently settled with Puerto Rico’s financial regulator and agreed to liquidate his Euro Pacific Bank without admitting to any legal wrongdoing. Do you agree with Peter Schiff about the U.S. economy? Which outcome do you think is more likely? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Spacex CEO Elon Musk says that his company will “keep funding” the government of Ukraine for free even though Starlink is losing money, noting that it has cost Spacex $80 million so far to provide internet terminals and services to Ukraine. “We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks and jamming, which are getting harder,” Musk stressed. We’ll Keep Funding Ukraine for Free, Says Musk Spacex has been sending Starlink internet terminals and providing services to Ukraine since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war. At the request of the government of Ukraine, Musk began supplying the country with Starlink internet terminals in February. However, Spacex’s director of government sales reportedly sent a letter to the Pentagon in September, stating that the company is not “in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.” The Pentagon reportedly confirmed they received correspondence from Spacex about the funding of the Starlink satellite communications product in Ukraine. Musk tweeted on Oct. 7 explaining that “only a small percentage” of the Starlink terminals and services in Ukraine were paid for. The Spacex chief revealed: This operation has cost Spacex $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year. Replying to a question on Twitter about how much Spacex is spending “for maintaining Starlink in Ukraine,” Musk detailed: “In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to [the] internet via gateways. We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks and jamming, which are getting harder. Burn is approaching ~$20M/month.” Musk also shared in a tweet on Oct. 9: “There are ~25k terminals in Ukraine, but each terminal can be used to provide an internet uplink to a cell phone tower, so potentially several thousand people can be served by a single terminal.” Commenting on Spacex being unable to keep providing free products and services to Ukraine, Twitter user and Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt opined: “Spacex’s request is reasonable. Shouldn’t expect a private sector company to continue to fund this for free forever. Do Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop, etc do their work for free? Spacex was generous in donating what they did and they’ll happily continue to manufacture terminals with government money.” However, some people slammed Musk over his company’s letter to the Pentagon. Musk then tweeted Saturday: “The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.” It was not immediately clear whether the Tesla CEO was being sarcastic or whether Spacex intends to continue providing free products and services to Ukraine. Responding to a tweet about the move, Musk clarified: “we should still do good deeds.” Musk explained on Oct. 14 that there is a “big difference” between peace communications and warfront communications. “Starlink is [the] only comms system still working at warfront — others [are] all dead. Russia is actively trying to kill Starlink. To safeguard, Spacex has diverted massive resources toward defense. Even so, Starlink may still die,” he cautioned. The Spacex boss described in a follow-up tweet: “Internet fiber, phone lines, cell towers & other space-based comms in war areas have been destroyed. Starlink is all that’s left. For now.” Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and the minister of digital transformation, tweeted on Oct. 14: “Definitely, Elon Musk is among the world’s top private donors supporting Ukraine. Starlink is an essential element of our critical infrastructure.” He also shared on Oct. 12: Over 100 cruise missiles attacked energy and communications infrastructure. But with Starlink we quickly restored the connection in critical areas. Starlink continues to be an essential part of critical infrastructure. Do you think Spacex and Elon Musk should continue to pay for the Starlink terminals and services in Ukraine even though they are losing money? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

It’s been five months since the Terra ecosystem collapsed as tens of billions of dollars in value disappeared from the crypto economy in a matter of days after May 7. Terra’s new Phoenix blockchain managed to restart the ecosystem to some degree and since the end of June, Terra’s total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) has increased from $350,174 to today’s $41.55 million. A Look at Terra’s Blockchain Ecosystem Over the Last 5 Months Since the Collapse The Terra ecosystem fallout was a dark day for the crypto community when Terra’s stablecoin terrausd (UST), now known as UST classic (USTC), depegged from the token’s $1 parity. Before the collapse, Terra’s luna, now known as luna classic (LUNC) was a top ten crypto asset by market capitalization and Terra’s stablecoin also held a top ten position. Prior to the fallout, luna held the seventh position in terms of crypto market caps, and on April 28, Terra’s native crypto asset was trading for $88 per coin. Precisely one day before Terra’s stablecoin depegged, USTC made it into the top ten crypto asset positions by market capitalization. Furthermore, in terms of TVL in defi, Terra had the second largest TVL under Ethereum (ETH) with approximately $29.29 billion held on April 29, 2022. Today is a totally different story and the Terra ecosystem is a shell of what it used to be five months ago. For instance, LUNC is trading for less than a U.S. penny at $0.00025948 per unit which is a lot lower than the $88 per coin recorded on April 28, and much lower than the coin’s all-time high at $119 per unit recorded two week’s prior. In terms of the new Terra Phoenix blockchain’s native asset which now leverages the name luna (LUNA), it’s down 86.2% lower than the $18.87 all-time high recorded five months ago. The Terra Phoenix chain’s defi TVL, however, has seen growth during the last five months as it has swelled by 12,151% since the end of June. At that time, the TVL was $350,174 and since then it has grown to $41.55 million. While the Terra classic chain held $29.29 billion last April, it’s now just under $10 million today at approximately $9,493,635. While Astroport and Terraswap have roughly $3.5 million, the defi lending protocol Anchor has around $1.6 million. On the Phoenix chain, in terms of TVL held in defi, the decentralized exchange (dex) app Astroport holds around $27.55 million, followed by Risk Harbor’s $14.76 million. Stader, Spectrum Protocol, and Eris Protocol follow Astroport and Risk Harbor respectively in terms of TVL statistics. Furthermore, while the Terra Bridge once held $1.4 billion during the first week of April, today the Terra Bridge holds around $132 million in value. In terms of non-fungible token sales, the new Terra chain’s sales data is not documented as well as the classic chain’s NFT sales before the collapse. Despite the extremely low number of sales, Terra Phoenix chain is supported by more than a half dozen NFT marketplaces. In terms of the total value between the two native coins LUNC and LUNA, Terra’s blockchain assets between the classic and Phoenix chain is roughly $2.18 billion on October 16, 2022, at 3:00 p.m. (ET). Terraclassicusd (USTC) is trading for more than a U.S. penny today, at $0.03 per unit on October 16, 2022, with a market valuation of around $378.49 million. The statistics show that at least for today, the crypto market values USTC, LUNA, and LUNC at roughly $2.558 billion, and all three of these crypto assets are incorporated into the TVL held on both chains. While $2.558 billion is a lot for a blockchain ecosystem that collapsed, it’s still a shell of the $49.26 billion in value LUNC and USTC used to be worth prior to the blockchain’s fallout on May 7, 2022. In fact, the USD value of LUNA, LUNC, and USTC today is 94.82% less than LUNC’s and USTC’s U.S. dollar value before Terra’s market crash. What do you think about the current state of Terra blockchain ecosystem five months after the stablecoin depegging incident and the classic ecosystem’s collapse? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has set out to support crypto miners through a lending program established by its mining pool. Presenting the initiative this week, the coin trading platform also unveiled that Binance Pool intends to launch cloud mining products. Leading Exchange Binance Looking to Help Bitcoin Miners in Difficult Times for Crypto Business Binance, the world’s leading crypto exchange by daily trading volume, has announced a plan to extend financial support to companies involved in the extraction of cryptocurrencies. The lending project was recently unveiled by the platform’s mining pool. The program will help bitcoin mining and infrastructure providers as part of efforts to bolster the mining industry. “As one of the world’s leading crypto mining pools, Binance Pool has a responsibility to help maintain a healthy digital asset ecosystem,” the exchange said, elaborating: In light of current market conditions, Binance Pool is launching a $500-million lending project to support crypto miners and digital infrastructure providers. This is Binance Pool’s first such initiative. With the project, the global crypto company aims to offer secure debt financing services to both public and private blue-chip bitcoin (BTC) mining and digital asset infrastructure companies around the world. To gain access to the loans, borrowers would have to accept a set of terms and conditions like an 18 to 24-month term and interest rates ranging between 5% and 10%. Miners will also be required to provide security satisfactory to Binance, either physical or in the form of digital assets. In the announcement, the exchange further revealed that Binance Pool intends to launch cloud mining products. As the cloud mining hash power will be directly purchased from bitcoin mining and digital infrastructure providers, Binance Pool is looking for cloud mining vendors to work with it, the trading platform explained. Binance Pool is among the leading entities in the mining sector by share of hashrate, along with Foundry USA, Antpool, F2pool, and Viabtc. After a drop on Sept. 27, the first in two consecutive months, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty spiked to an all-time high on Oct. 10, as Bitcoin.com News reported, making it harder than ever to mint BTC, the crypto with the largest market cap. Do you think cryptocurrency miners will benefit from Binance Pool’s lending project? Share you expectations in the comments section below. View the full article

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, is still struggling for its metaverse app Horizon Worlds to find its intended audience. The company, that presented a video of full new avatars, including feet this week, was criticized due to the prepared nature of the presentation. In the same way, the company lowered the goal of monthly active users from 500K to 280K by the end of this year. No Real Feet Show, Meta States Meta, the social media behemoth, is battling problems left and right when it comes to its metaverse app Horizon Worlds. As part of its Connect keynote offered last week, the company presented a demo that supposedly showed an early look at the new graphical presentation of avatars that the platform will feature next year. One of the big improvements in this regard was the presence of legs that connected these to the floor making the metaverse more immersive. After the presentation, which left some confused, the company clarified this animation segment was created with auxiliary tech, including motion capture, to show what is coming to the app in the future. This statement enraged some of the fans that criticized the bulk of the money the company is spending on this without solving the leg problem. User Enticement and Retention Legs are not the biggest problem that Meta is facing with Horizon worlds. According to a recent article from The Verge, the platform is also struggling to acquire new users and has lowered its goal of reaching a number of 500K monthly active users to 280K. While the company stated in February the app had more than 10,000 worlds as part of its structure, only 9% of these worlds are being visited by more than 50 users. In the same way, most users don’t return after one month of visiting the platform, a metric that shows users are growing bored with what Horizon Worlds has to offer. But not only regular users are leaving the platforms; Meta’s employees are also on this boat. Two memos issued by Meta’s VP of metaverse Vishal Shah in September enticing employees to be active and to “fall in love” with the platform, and hinting at the establishment of time quotas that employees should spend on Horizon Worlds for employees, show Meta’s issues. Spokespersons from the company stated Meta’s metaverse plans are a “multiyear effort,” and that it is continually making improvements to the platform. What do you think about the problems that Meta is fighting on its metaverse push? Tell us in the comment section below. View the full article

While the euro has found support between 0.96 to 0.97 nominal U.S. dollars per unit, foreign exchange (FX) strategists from Citi believe the euro could tap a low of around $0.86 against the greenback. While the dollar slumped on October 13, the fiat currency is rising again and market strategists from Citi argue that the U.S. dollar “has likely not peaked yet.” Citi Market Analysts Suggest Euro Could Tap $0.93 — Financial Institution’s FX Strategists Say EU’s Currency May Slip to $0.86 if Economy Continues to Sour In recent times, the official fiat currency of 19 out of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU), the euro (EUR), has been in a slump against the U.S. dollar (USD). Year-to-date, the euro has lost 14.53% against the greenback and six-month stats indicate the EUR is down 10.09%. While the 10% shave hurts, the percentage loss is less severe than fiat currencies like the Japanese yen (down 14.99% in six months), the U.K.’s pound sterling (down 14.46% in six months), and the Australian dollar (down 16.19% in six months). The euro has seen some relief during the last five days, gaining roughly 0.11% against the USD. The fiat currency has found support between $0.9676 to $0.9721 per unit as FX market charts show the euro faces resistance in the $0.9818 or $0.9844 range. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) is hovering above the 113.000 range, after the index saw a brief slide on Thursday, October 13. According to a report from Reuters, market strategists from the financial institution Citi expect the U.S. dollar to climb higher. Reuters’ contributor Senad Karaahmetovic’s report details that Citi’s strategists insist that the greenback “has likely not peaked yet,” and the analysts envision EUR/USD dropping to 0.93 nominal U.S. dollars. However, Karaahmetovic’s report says the bank’s “FX strategists argue that the major could eventually hit 0.86 if macro headwinds increase.” Europe has been dealing with an energy crisis and the economic and monetary union has suffered from structural dysfunctions tethered to the Ukraine-Russia war. Europe has been dealing with torrid inflation and significant high quantities of public debt. It has been said that the European Union and many other governments “should default on their debt.” On Thursday, Reuters’ contributor Balazs Koranyi wrote that “four sources close to the discussion said” that the European Central Bank (ECB) estimates that fewer rate hikes are needed to curb Europe’s inflation. The ECB is scheduled to meet on October 27, and markets are forecasting the central bank to increase the benchmark rate by 75 basis points (bps). On Friday, the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that two senior ECB officials say “uncertainty about Russian energy imports is pushing the eurozone closer towards a contraction in 2023.” What do you think about the Citi FX strategists that say the euro could drop to $0.86 against the greenback? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Girles Token is a decentralized NFT GameFi token created on the Ethereum platform that also has a Proof-of-Staking protocol. The Girles Token is the main product in the Girles Metaverse, which has applications in over 15 different products. Girles Token was tested before being released on the main Ethereum network, and also after it was audited by Cyberscope. Girles Token takes security seriously and has added all modern security features such as Non-Mintable, Anti-Whale, Blacklist Function, Fees Limit, Without Transfer of Ownership Function, Auto-Liquidity, Auto-Burning, Non-Stoppable. NFT Metaverse NFT is a non-fungible cryptographic token, each instance of which is unique. Many users are skeptical about NFTs, calling them “just pictures”. The Girles Metaverse community has proven otherwise, here NFT is a separate product that has dozens of features for users that can also be used in the games we are used to, now NFT can be separate game items/lands. Girles Metaverse offers users to mint NFTs, collect their collections, and buy and sell NFTs on the NFT Market. Users are also given the option to stake their NFTs, meaning that by staking their NFTs, users will receive Girles Tokens, which can later be exchanged for fiat. NFTs sent for staking, as well as tokens can be withdrawn if necessary. The NFT Metaverse does not end there, users also have access to NFT Burning products, where investors can burn NFTs on the Ethereum platform, increasing their value, and receive special rewards and the NFT Box. At the moment, Girles Metaverse is actively developing NFT Tokenomics, which will give users more opportunities to earn NFT minting. What to expect from Girles Token? The developers of Girles Token told us what to expect from Girles Token shortly. Currently, exchanges are being considered for listing the token, among which there are Binance, OKex, LBank, and others. Do not pay too much attention to the listing, because at the moment the Girles Metaverse community is actively developing a P2E Minecraft server, completing quests on which investors will receive real money on a play-to-earn basis. According to the expert, this innovation will have a positive impact on the development of the community and will bring a huge number of new investors. Minecraft is one of the best-selling games in the world and the introduction of cryptocurrency will greatly increase the crypto community! Also very soon, the Girles Metaverse community will start developing new products for the NFT Metaverse! About Tokenomics The Girles Metaverse community is responsible for the development of their products, so it took a whole day to develop tokenomics. Tokenomics is the most basic aspect when developing a token, it is important to provide for all possible cases. To do this, Girles Metaverse has used a lot of strength to create a strong product. 30.1% of the total number of tokens is used in the presale, and liquidity will be 21.07%, which also includes liquidity allocated to centralized exchanges (for example, Binance). For token and NFT staking pools, 19.2% and 10.3% respectively will be used. 6.33% of tokens will be used to create the infrastructure of games with the principle of play-to-earn. The remaining 13% will be used in the Vesting contract, where 5% will be used for future pools and 8% will be allocated to developers. Girles Token Roadmap The Girles Metaverse community has planned 5 phases of development, which will be supplemented in the future. The developers plan to update the website in the next stages of the roadmap, develop a P2E game or free-to-play server, launch several new products, list the token on a large number of exchanges, and launch collaborations with other Metaverse projects. In addition, shortly, NFT Minting will be available for investors, the Tokenomics for which is currently being actively developed! Team Girles Metaverse The Girles Metaverse team consists of 4 professionals, but 8 different people participated in the development of the site before the presale. The Girles Metaverse team has passed KYC, which guarantees the legality of the project. The main members of the team have published their pages on LinkedIn, which investors can also see on the official website. Each team member has his own role, the founder of the project is responsible for the main communication with the community and introduces new developments into the project. The project developer, in turn, develops a website and contracts that are pre-tested and audited. How much profit can Presale Girles Token bring? The Girles Token presale appeared at the end of September of this year and is already delighting new investors. The Girles Token presale will consist of a total of 5 stages, at each of which the price of the token will increase. When choosing a presale, it is important to choose strong projects with great potential, one of which is Girles Token. For investing in the early stages of the presale, investors can receive up to 207.05% profit. Do not forget that over 15 products will be developed, which means that the token has a great future in the long term. According to experts, even after listing on the exchanges, the price of the token will grow, since this token is not an ordinary meme coin. How to buy Girles Token? Investing in Girles Token is a good idea, as there is a strong team behind the presale with a potential return of up to 207.05%, which surprised even the experts. To buy Girles Tokens, just go to the official website and connect your crypto wallet using the “Connect Wallet” button. After successfully connecting the wallet, use the “Buy GIRLES Now” button on the presale page and select the desired token, ETH or USDT. Make sure you have enough tokens on your balance and make a transaction! Done! Girles Metaverse Main Links: Presale: https://girles.org/presale About Girles: https://girles.org/aboutgirles Docs: https://docs.girles.org/ Whitepaper: https://girles.org/whitepaper.pdf This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Following the largest difficulty increase the Bitcoin network has seen in 2022, the network’s hashrate has not been affected by the 13.55% increase. In fact, five days ago at block height 758,138, the network’s computational power surpassed the all-time high (ATH) recorded on October 5, as it reached 325.11 exahash per second (EH/s) on October 11. Moreover, block generation intervals have been less than ten minutes per block, which means another notable difficulty increase is expected to happen on October 23. 325 EH/s — Bitcoin’s Hashrate Taps Another ATH Following the Last Difficulty Retarget It’s been six days since Bitcoin’s last difficulty retarget, which saw the largest rise this year when the metric jumped 13.55% higher than the difficulty setting codified 2,016 blocks before block 758,016. Despite the difficulty increase and bitcoin’s (BTC) U.S. dollar value sliding to $18,183 on October 13, the network’s computational power has remained red-hot as another all-time high record (ATH) was recorded on October 11. On that day, Bitcoin’s hashrate reached 325.11 EH/s at block height 758,138, which is a 1.23% increase since the hashrate ATH recorded on October 5, at block height 757,214. At the time of writing, according to statistics from coinwarz.com, BTC’s total hashrate is just above the 289 EH/s zone. The up-tempo hashrate has made it so block times are considerably faster than the ten-minute average. Data shows that the current BTC block generation time is around 8.22 minutes and if the speedy block generation time continues, another pronounced difficulty rise in the cards. Top 3 Bitcoin Mining Pools Command 50 EH/s Each Even after the 13.55% difficulty rise, estimates indicate that on October 23, the difficulty is expected to increase by 3.59% to 5.5%. Over the last three days, 470 blocks were mined and the mining pool Foundry USA captured 101 blocks out of the total mined in 72 hours. Foundry commands 21.49% of the global hashrate or 57.08 EH/s. In fact, the top three mining pools have more than 50 EH/s of hashrate per pool, which means three-quarters of the chain’s computational power is backed by Foundry, Antpool, and F2pool. There’s currently 12 known BTC mining pools today dedicating SHA256 hashpower toward the Bitcoin blockchain, and 2.13% or 5.65 EH/s is controlled by unknown hashrate otherwise known as stealth miners. Profits are still super tight for miners, and bitcoin mining profits are at all-time lows at under $70 per petahash per second (PH/s). With electrical costs at 0.05 nominal U.S. dollars per kilowatt hour (kWh), a Bitmain Antminer S19 XP with 140 terahash per second (TH/s), gets a much smaller profit today at $1.43 per day in BTC profits. What do you think about Bitcoin’s hashrate remaining red-hot and recording new all-time highs despite the lower price and high difficulty rating? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

In this edition of the Bitcoin.com News week in Review: never-before-seen notations discovered from Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, an update on progress toward the next Bitcoin halving event, Mad Money’s Jim Cramer challenging crypto investors to bet against him, and more. Sleuth Discovers Satoshi’s Long-Lost Bitcoin Version 0.1 Codebase, Raw Code Contains Bitcoin Inventor’s Never-Before-Seen Personal Notations On October 7, 2022, a bitcoin supporter named Jim Blasko claimed that he discovered the oldest upload of Bitcoin’s version 0.1 codebase. The original code was thought to have been lost for more than a decade and with a “little browser hacking” Blasko was able to find the lost version 0.1 raw data and files stored on sourceforge.net. Read More Progress Toward Bitcoin’s Halving Is 60% Complete, Block Times Suggest Reduction Could Happen Next Year According to countdown statistics based on the average block generation time of around ten minutes, progress toward the next Bitcoin block reward halving has surpassed 60%. However, while most halving countdown clocks leverage the ten-minute average, the countdown leveraging the most current block intervals of around 7:65 minutes shows the halving could occur in 2023. Read More Mad Money’s Jim Cramer Wants Crypto Investors to Bet Against Him — ‘I Have Done This for 42 Years’ The host of Mad Money, Jim Cramer, has challenged crypto investors to bet against him. “You do not do this for 42 years and lose money every year,” he said. His statement followed a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for “Inverse Cramer ETF.” Read More Visa Partners With FTX to Roll Out Crypto Debit Cards in 40 Countries Payments giant Visa is launching crypto debit cards in more than 40 countries in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange FTX. “At Visa, we believe that digital currencies will have a lasting impact on the future of financial services and money movement,” said a Visa executive. Read More What’s your take on this week’s hottest stories from Bitcoin.com News? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Uniswap Labs, the firm behind the Uniswap decentralized exchange protocol, announced on Thursday that it raised $165 million in a Series B funding round. According to one report, the capital raise, which sees Uniswap Labs’ valuation rise to $1.66 billion, is the largest by any crypto firm in 2022. Uniswap Completes $165M Capital Raise, Decentralized Exchange Reveals NFT Launch Uniswap Labs, the creator of the decentralized exchange (dex) Uniswap protocol, recently said it had raised $165 million via a Series B funding round. The funding round was led by Polychain Capital with the participation of the firm’s long-time investors like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant. In a recent blog post authored by Hayden Adams, the developer and founder at Uniswap Labs, said that the new funding will be used to support the firm’s expansion plans. In addition to “bringing the powerful simplicity and security,” Uniswap Labs plans to launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and to move into mobile, the blog post said. Also, in the blog post, Adams highlights his firm’s unique approach and how this makes Uniswap good at what it does. He said: As Uniswap Labs focuses on products, a much broader ecosystem continues to grow and thrive beyond what any one company can do on their own. As an example, the governance community recently voted to create the Uniswap Foundation, which will contribute to the Protocol’s decentralized development and give at least $60 million in grants to community projects over the next few years. According to a Techcrunch report, the capital raise saw Uniswap’s valuation rise to $1.66 billion, thus making it the most significant Series B capital raise by any crypto firm so far in 2022. Statistics from coingecko.com’s decentralized exchange (dex) data show that Uniswap is the largest dex platform today, in terms of total trade volume worldwide. At the time of writing, Uniswap supports 609 crypto tokens, and dex saw $880.67 million in 24-hour global trade volume on Thursday. What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Spending with China’s state-issued digital currency has surpassed 100 billion yuan, close to $14 billion, by the end of August, the country’s monetary authority revealed. More than 5 million merchants now accept the digital yuan in 15 Chinese regions as Beijing continues to expand the pilot areas. People’s Bank of China Reports 360 Million Digital Currency Payments Transactions with China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) exceeded 100 billion yuan in value ($13.9 billion) as of Aug. 31, 2022, rising from almost 88 billion yuan by the end of 2021, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced on Wednesday. The spending involved 360 million transactions, according to a Reuters report quoting the monetary policy regulator. The data has been released as financial authorities in the world’s most populous nation proceed with the digital yuan (e-CNY) roll-out and constantly increase the coverage of its trials. The CBDC has been introduced in 15 provinces and municipalities, with 5.6 million merchants now accepting the digital version of the Chinese yuan. Pilot areas have seen almost 30 rounds of e-CNY subsidies this year, often distributed in red envelope campaigns such as one in Shanghai this past spring when $4.5 million in digital yuan was dispersed. These initiatives aim to stimulate consumption, fight the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and promote low-carbon transport, the PBOC pointed out. Although the digital yuan has so far been mostly used for domestic and retail payments, Beijing intends to introduce it to the corporate and financial sectors, taxation and government affairs as well, the central bank indicated. It also wants to connect its platform to traditional digital payment systems such as Alipay and Wechat Pay, and recently urged for widening of the array of use-case scenarios. Expanding cross-border payments with the e-CNY is also in the plans. The People’s Bank of China recently participated in the testing of international settlements with several CBDCs, along with the monetary authorities of Hong Kong, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates, a project coordinated by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Steps have been taken to connect the digital yuan infrastructure to the local digital payment system of Hong Kong. China’s special administrative region is preparing to trial its own CBDC. The pilot phase of the digital Hong Kong dollar, called e-HKD, is expected to begin by the end of the year and it comes after public consultations on the matter. Do you think China will further accelerate the introduction of the digital yuan? Share your expectations in the comments section below. View the full article

According to Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, his country is well-positioned to become a global leader in the digital economy. However, for that to happen, Nigeria must choose the right approach and spend more time developing digital skills. Nigeria Better Equipped Than 3 Decades Ago The Nigerian vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, recently claimed that his country has enough human capital to see it become a world leader in the digital economy. The vice president, however, said for this to become a reality, Nigeria must choose the right approach and policies. According to a News Ghana report, Osinbajo made the remarks while addressing delegates that attended the Nigeria Digital Economy Summit (NDES) which was held in Abuja. In the same speech, the Nigerian leader also explained why his country is better now than it was more than three decades ago, when the first iteration of the internet came into existence. “A whole new world is unfolding before our very eyes, unlike Web 1 and 2 where we were relatively disadvantaged. In 1989, we didn’t have mobile phones, so we could not take advantage of the reach and depth that mobile telecoms gave digital innovation and financial inclusion. We are now better positioned to be significant players in Web 3.” The vice president added that Nigeria has “already shown” it is capable of achieving this goal and this can be evidenced by the “6 unicorns [we have] and many more on the way.” Osinbajo however insists that Nigeria still needs to “spend time on the development of digital skills.” Register your email here to get a weekly update on African news sent to your inbox: What are your thoughts about this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

According to the crypto mining operation Pow.re Holdings Limited, the firm announced that it has begun construction of two new mining facilities in Asunción, Paraguay. The new data centers will manage 12 megawatts (MW) of hydroelectric power, and the firm has also acquired 3,600 Microbt Whatsminer mining rigs that produce roughly 396 petahash per second (PH/s) of hashrate. Pow.re Holdings Limited Commences Mining Facility Construction in Paraguay On October 13, Pow.re revealed that the company has commenced the construction of two new bitcoin mining facilities in Paraguay. The first site is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2022’s fourth quarter and the second should be readied by Q1 2023. The company says that the expansion will add a lot more hashpower to the firm’s operations and it hopes to achieve 0.5 exahash per second (EH/s) by Q2 2023. Just recently, Pow.re was in the news after it was revealed that Quebec’s Mohawk Council of Kahnawake was seeking power for crypto mining opportunities. The report noted that Pow.re was working with members of the Kahnawake council. As far as the latest expansion in Paraguay is concerned, Pow.re’s co-founder and COO SJ Oh explained that the project stems from “two years of due diligence” coming to fruition. “Proof-of-work protocols have the capacity to serve as synthetic batteries for stranded renewable energy sources, and we look forward to contributing to the proliferation of renewable energy generation,” Pow.re’s co-founder added during the announcement. Firm Obtains 396 PH/s Worth of Microbt’s Whatsminer Mining Rigs In addition to starting the construction of the two mining centers in Paraguay’s Asunción region, the company has acquired 3,600 Microbt Whatsminer mining rigs. Delivery of the Microbt devices is scheduled to arrive in Asunción by the end of October. The machine will produce roughly 396 PH/s for Pow.re and the company’s co-founder Ian Descôteaux says Whatsminer models are known for reliability. “Microbt units have been the workhorse of our operations in the last two years and have proven their outstanding performance and reliability,” Descôteaux remarked on Thursday. “These new units, purchased in line with our counter-cyclical asset acquisition strategy, keeps our acquisition cost below market averages and should enable us to provide industry-leading ROIC to our investors.” What do you think about Pow.re starting the construction of two mining centers in Paraguay? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Formula One has filed eight trademark applications covering a wide range of cryptocurrency, non-fungible token (NFT), and metaverse products and services with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Formula One Getting Deep Into Crypto, NFTs, Metaverse Formula One filed eight trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Oct. 5 indicating its plans involving a wide range of cryptocurrency, non-fungible token (NFT), and metaverse products and services. A USPTO-licensed trademark attorney, Mike Kondoudis, detailed in a tweet Monday: Formula One has filed 8 trademarks for ‘F1’ covering: Cryptocurrency + NFTs, NFT + Crypto marketplaces, Retail stores for virtual goods, Blockchain financial transactions, Cryptocurrency trading + mining … and more. The trademark serial numbers are 97620234, 97620226, 97620223, 97620220, 97620218, 97620213, 97620210, and 97620208. The applications were filed by Formula One Licensing B.V., a Netherland-based company of the Formula One Group which claims ownership of the trademarks related to Formula One and the F1 logo. Formula 1 is the world’s largest annual global sporting event, racing in 22 countries across five continents. “We have over half a billion passionate fans supporting the world’s best drivers and constructors,” its website claims. In February, South Florida Motorsports (SFM), a Formula 1 affiliate organization, announced Crypto.com as the official title partner of the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix. However, Ad Age reported last week that Crypto.com has been “downsizing its marketing deals and headcount in the wake of crypto winter,” which could affect the crypto firm’s plans with Formula One. Crypto.com became the inaugural global partner of Formula One’s Sprint series for 2021 in June last year. Stefano Domenicali, president and CEO of Formula 1, said at the time: “We are pleased to welcome Crypto.com to the Formula 1 family, as we continue to attract progressive global brands anchored in performance and innovation.” What do you think about Formula One filing eight trademark applications covering a wide range of cryptocurrency, non-fungible token (NFT), and metaverse products and services? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Mastercard has outlined five key crypto areas it is working on in order to “turn cryptocurrencies into an everyday way to pay.” A Mastercard executive opined: “Someday soon, the ability to own and spend a digital currency could be as seamless as making a contactless card payment.” Mastercard Focusing on 5 Major Areas Covering Crypto, Metaverse, and NFTs Mastercard highlighted on Wednesday five different areas it is working on in order to “turn cryptocurrencies into an everyday way to pay.” Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of Digital Asset and Blockchain Products & Digital Partnerships at Mastercard, explained: “Digital assets like cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies [CBDCs] have the potential to transform the financial system’s infrastructure.” He added that non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain gaming, and metaverse experiences “could change how consumers shop and communicate.” The executive opined: Someday soon, the ability to own and spend a digital currency could be as seamless as making a contactless card payment. Dhamodharan proceeded to outline five key areas that Mastercard is working on to make this happen. The first area is crypto cards. He detailed that Mastercard already announced dozens of new crypto card programs globally this year. For example, in the U.S., the payments giant worked with Gemini on a credit card that pays rewards in cryptocurrencies. In Argentina, the company launched a prepaid card with Binance. In Europe, Mastercard recently announced the world’s first physical debit card that can be customized to include a customer’s NFT avatar. The second area is services for crypto. Noting that “Mastercard is a provider of cybersecurity, digital ID, advisory and open banking services to tens of thousands of financial institutions,” Dhamodharan said the company is going to use the same tools “to provide more support to crypto players and issuers.” Mastercard has expanded its consulting work to include a dedicated crypto practice and it completed the purchase of Ciphertrace last year. The company will soon launch a new crypto monitoring product called Crypto Secure. The third area is payments. “We’ve partnered with a handful of top-tier crypto-focused companies — including Paxos, Circle, Evolve and Uphold — to develop ways for people to quickly convert their crypto to fiat to make payments. This work will support current and future crypto card partnerships,” the executive detailed. Noting that the fourth area focuses on crypto on the Mastercard networks, Dhamodharan emphasized: An important way to expand choice for people is to bring certain Mastercard-approved digital assets onto our networks, a plan we announced last year that continues to move forward. The fifth area concerns the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Mastercard is working to grow its partnerships to support NFTs and the metaverse, Dhamodharan explained. For example, Coinbase users can now pay for NFTs with Mastercard. In conclusion, the Mastercard executive noted that the payments giant already operates “a trusted global network that enables payments with a single tap or click.” He added, “That’s what the crypto economy needs to support the next million users — or the next billion,” elaborating: We’re excited to prioritize these core areas to give people more access to the crypto ecosystem and help it keep innovating and growing. What do you think about the five key areas Mastercard is engaged in to “turn cryptocurrencies into an everyday way to pay”? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The famous author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has warned about World War Three. “Are you ready for World War III?” he asked, adding that “History shows wars are about energy: oil and coal.” Robert Kiyosaki on World War III and the Energy Crisis The author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has warned about World War III. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries. Kiyosaki tweeted earlier this week to his 2.1 million followers: Are you ready for World War III? History shows wars are about energy: oil & coal. “Hitler invaded countries like Romania for their oil & coal. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor when U.S. cut Japan from oil,” he further wrote. “Was the sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline [the] start of WWIII?” More people are increasingly worried about the possibility of a third world war. On Thursday, Russia threatened that if Ukraine is admitted to the NATO military alliance, then the conflict in Ukraine would be guaranteed to escalate into World War Three. In a follow-up tweet, the famous author opined: “Any idiot knows civilization runs on energy. His 1st act in 2020 Biden cut the Keystone XL Pipeline. Oil prices jumped from $30 a barrel to $130. Inflation up … poor and middle class crushed by inflation.” On Sunday, Kiyosaki reiterated his recommendation for investors to buy gold, silver, and bitcoin, tweeting: Why millions to be wiped out: People can see micro economics: food & fuel prices rising. Cannot see macro economics. Macro econ invisible. Protect yourself from macro. Buy gold, silver, bitcoin. However, the famed author cautioned Thursday: “Gold, silver, bitcoin may protect your wealth … but not your income. As economy crashes, stock markets go bust, pensions crash and unemployment rises a side hustle may provide you income. Who knows? Your side hustle may grow into the next Amazon or bitcoin. Take care. Be aware.” Kiyosaki has been predicting doom and gloom for quite some time. Earlier this month, he said the U.S. dollar will crash by January next year, advising people to buy gold, silver, and bitcoin. Last month, he warned that the end of fake money is here, urging people to “invest in real money,” naming the same aforementioned three investments. He also cautioned that the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates will destroy the U.S. economy. The renowned author previously predicted that all markets are crashing, including real estate, stocks, bonds, gold, silver, and bitcoin. However, he later urged investors to get into crypto now, before the biggest economic crash in world history happens. What do you think about the comments by Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

On October 13, 2022, Tether Holdings Limited announced that the stablecoin issuer has reduced the company’s commercial paper holdings down to zero. The company has said it would reach this goal for a while now, and Tether says that shrinking commercial paper holdings down to zero “demonstrates Tether’s commitment to backing its tokens with the most secure reserves in the market.” Tether Axes $30 Billion Worth of Commercial Paper Holdings, Firm Leverages US T-Bills Instead The company behind the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, Tether, has revealed that USDT’s reserves are exposed to U.S. Treasury Bills (T-Bills), in contrast to commercial paper holdings. The announcement follows the statement Tether’s chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino made on October 3. At the time, Ardoino explained that U.S. Treasury bills represented more than 58% of the company’s reserves, and he further said “ [Commercial paper] exposure is [less than] 50M now.” The company that manages USDT, a stablecoin with a market valuation of around $68.53 billion, believes the decision to erase commercial paper holdings is positive for the crypto industry as a whole. “Reducing commercial papers to zero demonstrates Tether’s commitment to backing its tokens with the most secure reserves in the market,” the company stated on Thursday. “This is a step towards even greater transparency and trust, not only for Tether but for the entire stablecoin industry.” Tether’s Move Follows the Terra Stablecoin Collapse 5 Months Ago, Both Tether and Usd Coin Have Shed Billions Since Then Tether’s move follows the issues associated with the Terra blockchain and the UST de-pegging event last May. Furthermore, a handful of stablecoins have de-pegged from the $1 parity following UST’s collapse. The news also follows the stablecoin USDC’s market cap deflating during the last few months down to today’s valuation of around $45.82 billion. USDT’s market cap dropped as well, following the Terra collapse, as Bitcoin.com News reported in mid-June that the number of USDT in circulation dropped by over 12 billion coins in two months. Despite the drops of USDT and USDC in circulation, the stablecoins are still the top two stablecoin assets by market cap, and the third (USDT) and fourth (USDC) largest crypto assets by valuation. What do you think about Tether fulfilling the company’s promise to reduce commercial paper holdings down to zero? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

On October 12, the conservative influencer and political commentator, Candace Owens shared a letter on Twitter that shows JPMorgan allegedly closed Kanye West’s (also known as Ye) bank accounts. The hip-hop star and rapper has been accused of making antisemitic statements in recent times, and some of his tweets have been removed from Twitter. Political Commentator Candace Owens Shares an Alleged Letter From JPMorgan to Kanye West, Letter Terminates the Bank’s Relationship With Rapper The American rapper, songwriter, and record producer Ye (Kanye West) has been dealing with a lot of flak lately. While one of West’s tweets says; “Who you think created cancel culture?” on October 9, more recent tweets have been removed from the celebrity’s Twitter profile. Furthermore, Ye has been controversial for recently wearing a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt. In a tweet shared on October 7, Ye shared an image of a hat that says “2024,” possibly hinting at another attempt to run for president of the United States. Following all the controversy surrounding the Atlanta-born musician, the political commentator Candace Owens published a tweet that shares an alleged letter Ye received from the financial giant JPMorgan. “Earlier today I learned that [Kanye West] was officially kicked out of JP Morgan Chase bank,” Owens tweeted on Wednesday. “I was told there was no official reason given, but they sent this letter as well to confirm that he has until late November to find another place for the Yeezy empire to bank.” Owens added: We have reached extremely frightening times in this country. Who are what has landed us into these times is an ongoing discussion which I would like to open up. Ye Responds, Says He’s Happy to Bring Bank Canceling to the Forefront of Conversations Following the tweet from Owens, the New York Times’ Dealbook confirmed JPMorgan “has closed the account of the rapper.” Ye also shared comments about the situation with Page Six and he noted that he was happy that he crossed the line. “Hey, if you call somebody out for bad business, that means you’re being antisemitic,” the rapper noted. “I feel happy to have crossed the line of that idea so we can speak openly about things like getting canceled by a bank.” Ye’s story follows the recent report about Paypal’s terms of service, when the company sent out a terms of service (ToS) change in error. A copy of Paypal’s ToS had shown the company would fine users $2,500 for the spreading of what the firm called “misinformation.” However, Paypal retracted the user policy information after the social media backlash and said it was published in error. The payments company said: “An AUP notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information.” “Delete Paypal” searches on the internet jumped 1,400% following the Paypal ToS mixup. Meanwhile, crypto supporters on the Reddit forum r/bitcoin said that Ye should move toward censorship-resistant money like bitcoin (BTC). One Redditor wrote: I’m not into pop culture or celebrities but this situation represents a colossal opportunity. It will bring so much attention to Bitcoin if this guy came out in response to JPMorgan on social media and simply said: ‘F*** the banks then, I’ll move over to Bitcoin.’ What do you think about the reports that allege JPMorgan has terminated its relationship with Kanye West? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

This week, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Masters of the Universe (MOTU) franchise, the toy manufacturing company Mattel announced the launch of the official MOTU digital toy collection. The new collection, dropping on November 9, will feature classic MOTU characters like He-Man, Battle Cat, Tri-Klops, and Evil-Lyn. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Enter the Blockchain-Powered Metaverse On Wednesday, Mattel, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAT) and the new non-fungible token (NFT) platform Cryptoys revealed plans to launch a digital collectible collection based on the Masters of the Universe (MOTU) sword and planet-themed media franchise. According to the announcement, the limited edition collection was unveiled this week in unison with MOTU’s 40th anniversary. MOTU is well known for the characters He-Man and She-Ra, as the popular 5.5-inch action-figure toy line was released in 1981. The MOTU or He-Man cartoon film series followed two years later in 1983. Mattel’s MOTU franchise is still a pop culture classic after 40 years, with He-Man and Skeletor featured in memes and newly created toy lines. For the new MOTU NFT collection, Mattel teamed up with Cryptoys, an NFT company that combines toys, gaming, and entertainment. Cryptoys leverages the Flow network, a blockchain project utilized by the Dapper Labs- crafted NFT collections NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day. The MOTU NFT collection will release in three waves and the first release will feature He-Man/Prince Adam, Tri-Klops, Battle Cat/Cringer, and Evil-Lyn. The waves will run from November 2022 to January 2023 and other characters like Orko, Man-At-Arms, Skeletor, and Beast-Man will be released. “With a unique ability to remain at the forefront of pop culture for 40 years, Mattel’s Masters of the Universe IP has an extremely high consumer awareness level and strong collectability value,” Mattel’s global head of digital gaming, Mike DeLaet, said in a statement. DeLaet added that the toy manufacturing company looked forward to “providing fans of all ages a new way to experience He-Man and Masters of the Universe.” According to Cryptoys, each MOTU drop will contain 10,000 toys per character and each one will have different skins across seven unique rarity levels. Cryptoys says that the scarcity of each skin will make the collectible even more “powerful.” The new MOTU NFT collection is not Mattel’s first time dealing with blockchain technology as the company issued the Mattel Hot Wheels NFT Garage line with the Wax blockchain team last year. In more recent times, Mattel has worked with the Veefriends NFT project and the two companies released a limited edition UNO deck featuring the Veefriends characters. The NFT firm Cryptoys raised $23 million at the end of June and Mattel was an investor in the round. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Sound Ventures, Dapper Labs, Animoca Brands, Acrew Capital, and Draper & Associates also participated. In addition to Mattel, other toy and collectible competitors like Funko and Hasbro have also issued blockchain-backed NFTs. What do you think about the Masters of the Universe NFT collection by Mattel and Cryptoys? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Samsung, the consumer electronics giant, has announced the introduction of a blockchain-like security system for its smart devices. Named Knox Matrix, the objective of the system is to increase the security of a multi-device environment, with each smart device monitoring others and sharing access data to simplify login tasks. Samsung Blockchain-Powered Security System Blockchain technology is being harnessed for more and more uses each passing day, including security and trust-based applications. This time Samsung, the Korean consumer electronics and software company, has announced the implementation of a “private blockchain” system as a way of increasing the security of its smart devices. At the recent Samsung Developer Conference, the system, named Knox Matrix, was presented as a revamp of Samsung’s current security approach. While the company was thin on details and did not specify about the inner workings of the system, it did explain that it will interconnect the different smart devices available on a network, to enhance security through “multi-layered mutual monitoring.” For example, Samsung claims that using a phone connected to another smart device like a TV or a smart AC will make these devices safer from being compromised by any threat. Connectivity and Hardware According to Samsung, its Knox Matrix solution will also streamline login tasks all around the home, because the login state is distributed automatically to devices that need it to join the network. However, at the same time, it will ostensibly protect sensitive information from other devices in the network. The announcement also notes that “Whether your Samsung devices are based on Android, Tizen, or other OS, Samsung Knox Matrix will be able to provide a unified security SDK [software development kit].” The launch date and the specifications of this system were not provided by Samsung. Samsung has been active when it comes to including hardware security specially created for blockchain and cryptocurrency-based environments. As early as 2019, the company included a wallet in its flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S10, that featured hardware-based protection of private keys. The security system included at that time, called Knox, is the precursor to the system Samsung recently presented. The company has also been very present in the non-fungible token (NFT) area, collaborating with six different companies in August to establish its own Galaxy-branded NFT ecosystem. What do you think about the announcement of Knox Matrix, Samsung’s blockchain-based security system? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

According to a report, some Egyptian banks recently informed clients who plan to travel abroad that they can now only withdraw $2,000 or less. The banks have also lowered the amount of foreign exchange that clients can withdraw when abroad. Egypt’s ongoing shortage of foreign exchange has forced some merchants to start demanding payment in dollars. Pound Depreciation As pressure against the Egyptian pound mounts, banks in the country are reportedly imposing limits on the amount of foreign currency travelers can withdraw before departing, or when they are abroad, a report has said. While there has been no formal announcement about the new limits, banks are said to have sent notices advising clients of the changes. According to a Reuters report, one of these banks, HSBC, has informed its clients that the maximum amount of foreign currency they can withdraw for travel purposes is now $1,500. Before the changes, the bank’s clients could withdraw a maximum of $5,000. The report, which cites two unnamed sources, added that once abroad, clients will only be allowed to withdraw a maximum of $5,000 — down from $10,000. At Commercial International Bank, clients intending to travel were reportedly told they could only withdraw forex which is equivalent to between $1,000 and $2,000. Another financial institution, First Abu Dhabi Bank, has reportedly lowered the withdrawal limit to the U.S. dollar equivalent of $518, or 10,000 pounds. Egypt’s biting foreign currency shortages and the depreciating currency have prompted merchants, including real estate companies and car dealers, to start demanding payment in foreign currency. While this practice is said to be illegal, according to Ahmed Shiha, Egyptian companies doing this “are taking advantage of the circumstances and the customers’ needs for specific products.” Interest on Savings Deposit Instead of charging or demanding U.S. dollars, Shiha suggested indexing or linking prices to the greenback. Shiha said: It would have been better for these companies to announce their new prices equivalent to the value of the product in dollars at the price adopted on the day of purchase or contract, rather than demanding customers pay in dollars since the banks will not accept that a customer deposits an unknown source foreign currency. Meanwhile, another report has revealed that two of Egypt’s largest state-owned banks have now doubled the interest rate on US dollar saving certificates. While the National Bank of Egypt has said it will pay interest of about 5.5% on savings, Banque Misr announced it had increased interest paid on deposits from 2.25% to 5.3%. The report, which relies on the testimony of two unnamed sources, suggested the increases were in response to the central bank’s call on financial institutions to introduce products that shield against currency depreciation. Register your email here to get a weekly update on African news sent to your inbox: What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

A list of crypto exchanges, including global platforms, have not introduced new restrictions on Russian users after the EU’s most recent sanctions round, Russian crypto media reported. The latest European penalties target an array of crypto-related services to increase pressure on Russia amid an escalating conflict in Ukraine. Major Exchanges Continue to Work in Russia Following EU’s Ban on Crypto Services The European Union adopted a wide range of sanctions last week, aiming to hit Russia’s government, economy, and trade harder. Along with other measures, the eighth package of EU restrictions banned the provision of all crypto wallet, account, or custody services to Russian residents and entities. While some companies from the industry have quickly reacted and already suspended operations with Russian accounts, a number of crypto exchanges have not conformed to the European requirements yet, the crypto page of leading Russian business news portal RBC revealed in a report. Among them is Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange by daily trading volume, which has not made an official statement regarding the new sanctions and continues to operate as usual, according to its support service. In early April, Binance limited services for account balances exceeding €10,000 ($11,000 at the time), as required by the EU’s fifth round of restrictions, which affected only “high-value” crypto services. Another exchange that complies with the previous European crypto sanctions is Coinbase, the leading American crypto trading platform, while U.S.-based Kraken did not impose restrictions on Russians in the spring and has not announced any changes with regard to the new set of EU measures. Crypto exchange FTX, which is registered in the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, has not imposed restrictions on users from the Russian Federation. The same applies to another platform that’s popular in Russia, Garantex, which continues to work with Russian traders. Seychelles-registered Huobi Global, Okx, Kucoin, and Mexc Global have refrained from restricting Russian accounts in response to EU penalties, and Singapore-registered Bybit has told the publication it would not impose sanctions against Russians. The U.K.-based crypto exchange Exmo, a regional leader in Eastern Europe and the countries in the former Soviet space, sold its Russian business to a local vendor in late April, along with the rights to the Exmo.me domain and branding. Exmo.me continues to facilitate crypto trading in Russia and its close partners, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Cryptocurrency has been viewed as a tool allowing Russians to export wealth and circumvent financial sanctions. The idea to legalize cross-border crypto payments has been gaining traction in Moscow and authorities there have been working to adopt regulations. According to a recent statement by the head of the parliamentary Financial Market Committee, Anatoly Aksakov, the EU’s decision to tighten the crypto restrictions could potentially stimulate the development of Russia’s own market for digital assets. Do you think the cryptocurrency exchanges mentioned in the report will impose restrictions on Russian users in the future? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says he thinks “we’ll have an answer in the first half of next year” in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit over xrp. Maintaining that xrp is not a security, the executive stressed that the case “is about the whole industry” and “Everyone acknowledges how important this is.” Ripple’s CEO Expects Answer in First Half of Next Year Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse talked about the timeframe of the lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the sale of XRP during an event for DC Fintech Week, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. While acknowledging that it is difficult to predict the pace of court proceedings, Garlinghouse said: I think we’ll have an answer in the first half of next year. Whether that’s the first quarter or second quarter, we shall see. Garlinghouse further said Tuesday that Ripple would consider a settlement with the SEC if the regulator states that XRP is not a security. The executive stressed that the XRP case “is about the whole industry,” adding: Everyone acknowledges how important this is. Garlinghouse noted that Ripple’s business in the U.S. is limited, noting that “For all intents and purposes, XRP does not have liquidity in the United States.” The SEC sued Ripple, Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen in December 2020, alleging that they raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering of XRP. Ripple subsequently filed a motion seeking to dismiss the suit, claiming the XRP token is not a security. Meanwhile, the SEC has also asked the court for a ruling in its favor without a trial. In July, Garlinghouse said: “I think the SEC has massively overstepped … I think they saw this gray area they’re like ‘hey we are going to go in.'” The Ripple boss reiterated: “It’s frustrating it’s taking this long. There’s a lot of companies, I think, that realize how important this case is to the whole industry.” What do you think about the comments by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The CEO of Devere Group, a financial advisory and asset management firm, anticipates further volatility in the crypto market before year-end. However, he stressed that “for serious investors, this will not necessarily be seen as a bad thing,” noting that “Savvy, long-term crypto investors will be looking to benefit from panic sellers by buying their digital currencies ‘on the cheap.'” Devere CEO’s Crypto Outlook The CEO of financial advisory and asset management firm Devere Group, Nigel Green, shared his view on the future outlook for bitcoin and ether Monday. “Markets are now predicting that policymakers at major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of England, are likely to remain resolute in pumping up interest rates in their battle to beat down unexpectedly stubborn inflation,” he began. The executive added that the Fed has “maintained a hawkish theme that inflation remains far too high and they won’t put off raising rates.” As higher interest rates typically lead to stock market declines, the Devere CEO noted: Given bitcoin and ether’s current correlation with stock markets, we anticipate further, perhaps heightened, volatility in the crypto market before the end of 2022. “However, for serious investors, this will not necessarily be seen as a bad thing,” he continued. “The major investors, including institutional ones, will treat it in the same way as turbulence in any other market.” He explained that “Some of the world’s best investors consistently use market volatility as major buying opportunities in traditional financial markets — and the cryptocurrency market is now no different.” The Devere boss stressed, “When used effectively and efficiently, volatility can be an extremely powerful investment strategy.” The Devere executive further pointed out that “Bitcoin remains the best-performing asset class in the world, and has consistently ranked amongst the best for both traditional and crypto investment sectors over the last few years.” Noting that “Serious investors will not be spooked by further volatility,” Green concluded: Savvy, long-term crypto investors will be looking to benefit from panic sellers by buying their digital currencies ‘on the cheap’ to enhance their investment portfolios. What do you think about the comments by Devere CEO Nigel Green? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The Denver-based gas-to-bitcoin infrastructure company Crusoe Energy announced on Wednesday that it acquired the operating assets of Great American Mining (GAM). The acquisition gives Crusoe over 10 megawatts (MW) of mining capacity and 4,000 ASIC mining rigs. Digital Flare Mitigation Firm Crusoe Energy Acquires Great American Mining’s Assets, Acquisition Adds Approximately 9% to Company’s Capacity On October 12, 2022, the digital flare mitigation (DFM) company Crusoe Energy announced that it has acquired the assets of Great American Mining (GAM). Through the deal, not only does Crusoe get 10 MW of capacity and 4,000 ASIC mining devices, it also will benefit from “commercial relationships with several large-scale energy producers in the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana.” Furthermore, it also has acquired a new facility in Ponchatoula, LA which will be used for Crusoe’s new research and development (R&D) center. The news follows Crusoe’s issues with the rival firm Alkane Midstream LLC in August, and the company raising $505 million in April 2022. The recent acquisition announced on Wednesday details that GAM’s assets add “approximately 9% to Crusoe’s capacity.” The company will have 125 flare gas-powered modular data centers on the site and it will help “reduce flaring by approximately 20 million cubic feet per day.” “We value the relationships established by Great American Mining with oil and gas producers in the Bakken oil fields, and look forward to developing these relationships to enhance and expand DFM operations wherever flaring may be a challenge,” Crusoe’s co-founder and CEO Chase Lochmiller said during the announcement. Crusoe says the deployed capacity allows the company to reduce an estimated 800,000 metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions per annum. The deployed capacity is equivalent to removing 170,000 cars from the road, Crusoe highlights. “Our belief at Great American Mining is that bitcoin mining is an important solution to stranded gas and flaring problems – problems that have frustrated the oil & gas industry’s efforts to improve environmental performance and efficient use of Earth’s natural resources for decades,” Todd Garland the CEO and founder of GAM noted. What do you think about Crusoe Energy acquiring GAM’s assets? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article