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There are reports that the Indian government may impose restrictions on self-custodial cryptocurrency wallets and only allow Indian crypto exchanges. The CEO of a major cryptocurrency exchange in India has shared his thoughts on the possible restrictions. The Indian government has listed a cryptocurrency bill to be taken up in the current session of parliament. Possible Restrictions in Indian Crypto Regulation A cryptocurrency bill is waiting to be heard in the current session of parliament in India. The country’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has confirmed that the bill needed to be reworked from its original version that seeks to ban cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin in ether. However, she still has not revealed what’s actually in the bill, leading to much speculation. The CEO of local cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx discussed some of the speculations in a series of tweets Friday. “There have been unconfirmed reports” that “‘Self custodial wallets’ may not be allowed as part of India’s crypto bill,” Wazirx CEO Nischal Shetty detailed. There have also been reports that “Only Indian exchanges can be used,” the CEO added, elaborating: I don’t believe you can prohibit the use of software. Self custodial wallets are just software. Without self custodial wallets, you cannot interact with many of the decentralized services. He stressed that “As an industry, we would never recommend this.” The CEO continued: “If we want regulation then services that are regulated need to be in India. These services need to follow the rules & regulations of our country.” He noted, “Every nation that’s regulating crypto is following a similar approach,” emphasizing that “All exchanges can register [their] company in India as well.” Shetty then shared his opinion on whether he expects crypto regulations to be applied to only Indian exchanges, stating: Government will expect centralised crypto service providers to follow the law of India. It’s the least to expect from any company that services Indians. He further opined: “We strongly support competition. If a product or service is not up to the mark then competition will boot it out. But competition should be fair. When regulations come in, every exchange will have to follow it & compete. Let’s build the best crypto ecosystem in India.” The Wazirx executive concluded: Positive regulation will help the Indian crypto ecosystem grow rapidly. We’re seeing good progress with crypto regulations. The Indian government has listed a cryptocurrency bill to be taken up in the winter session of parliament. This week, the country’s finance minister answered some questions about cryptocurrency legislation that’s been proposed by the government. Reports then emerged that a cabinet note reportedly suggests that the government is not planning to ban crypto but to regulate crypto assets instead. Do you think India will allow self-custodial crypto wallets? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Phemex is celebrating its 2nd anniversary this November. It’s been an eventful couple of years for the derivatives platform, and with its Choose Your Reality event, this anniversary is going to be a memorable one. Phemex’s dedication to its users has created a thriving community, and to celebrate their impressive growth the exchange is inviting participants to wish them a happy birthday by talking about their own dreams and aspirations. They’re also giving away grand prizes to those participants who come up with the most creative wishes. Thus, a few special winners will see their dreams come to life. The firm’s dedication to its users is deep-routed. Phemex’s CEO and founder, Jack Tao, was a Wall Street veteran from Morgan Stanley. After over a decade of observing the inner workings of the traditional financial system, he realized just how underserved retail investors were compared to the more wealthy players. Jack and his team of ex-Morgan Stanley execs launched the platform in 2019 to bring power back to the people. A platform that didn’t play favorites because it didn’t discriminate. From around three contract pairs, the exchange has grown into one of the world’s most popular derivatives exchanges. It’s now host to over 40 spot pairs, 39 contract pairs, and consistently ranks among the top 10 derivatives exchanges by volume. Committed to Community Phemex takes a healthy approach to community feedback, and encourages its users to speak up about issues they face on the platform. The exchange believes a happy community is one that’s constantly engaged with the platform, and over the last two years, they’ve conducted a number of events and competitions to keep the community engaged. After its launch in 2019, Phemex’s brand blew up all over social media after it launched a viral puzzle attached to a 2.1 BTC giveaway to anyone who could find the private key hidden within the image. The goal was to help spread awareness about private-key self custody, which they successfully did. Last year in May, Phemex’s premium members were introduced to “The Era of Zero,” which announced that all fees would be negated for spot trades on the exchange. Phemex also launched its Earn Crypto platform near the start of this year, enabling its community to earn up to 8.5% APY on deposits limited to no less than 1.5 million USDT. Community engagement isn’t just about giveaways and implementing feature requests — it’s about fostering a sense of belonging, and Phemex did so masterfully this year. Over a thousand traders participated in the launch of Phemex’s first ever NFT, minted and sold for 44 ETH on OpenSea. The piece of art contains the ETH addresses of all the collaborative event’s participants, with the proceeds from the sale being split between them equally. Businesses across the globe are adopting blockchain technology to improve their capital efficiency, but mainstream adoption is still a few years away. Current generation applications are still a chore to use, but as the industry continues to propagate and promote education surrounding the technology, adoption should only be a matter of time. To incentivize users to learn more about digital assets and the technology behind them, Phemex launched its Learn and Earn program, offering rewards like trading bonuses and cryptocurrencies in return for completing educational courses. The exchange even developed its own academy portal, with over 400 in-depth articles on various blockchain and cryptocurrency related topics. A Portal to the Future 2021 may have been the year the entire world started talking about the metaverse, but the concept has existed for decades. The metaverse is where social media technology is headed, and as the lines between physical and digital continue to blur, Phemex believes the power of digital ownership will become increasingly important. Phemex’s stance on this vision of the future is strong, and their goal is to help transition towards the future of society — a world where people can redefine themselves and achieve anything imaginable. At the World Blockchain Summit recently conducted in Dubai, Jack Tao spoke about the nuances of the metaverse narratives, and how NFTs could help shape the future of socio-digital economies. At the event, which was attended by over 1500 renowned experts from across the globe, he said, “NFTs are here to stay, not because some have been sold for millions of dollars, but because millions have been sold for some dollars. Digital collectables are not only the playground of crypto-whales; they are spreading in the direction of mass distribution.” He also added that while no one knows exactly what the metaverse will look like, that’s kind of the point. “The metaverse won’t be constructed by a handful of centralized conglomerates — it’ll be assembled by billions of people.” As NFTs continue to pleasantly surprise the blockchain community in different ways, whether through its direct utility or by platforms using them in unique ways, the idea of digital ownership is slowly making its way into the minds of the public. With the rapid growth of niche industries like GameFi, we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to NFTs. Last year, Phemex launched their own GameFi product to celebrate their first anniversary, enabling its users to win rewards for playing games on the platform. The Singapore-based exchange has always been open to experimenting even with very early technology, giving its users a taste of the future, and hope for what’s to come. This November, Phemex’s 2nd birthday celebrates its dedication to quality, ethos of distributed control, and commitment to its community, encouraging them to break through noise of traditional finance, and break free into the new world of digital ownership. To learn more about the project visit the website, and follow the team on social media. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has revealed that his country holds 44,106 oz. of gold in its reserves that has lost some value over the past year. He told gold bug Peter Schiff that if El Salvador had sold its gold and bought bitcoin last year, it would now be worth $125 million more. Bitcoin vs. Gold: El Salvador Could’ve Made Millions More Switching Reserves From Gold to Bitcoin El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele has revealed some details of his country’s gold reserves in a conversation on Twitter with gold bug Peter Schiff. Schiff commented on El Salvador buying the dip Saturday morning after Bukele announced that his country bought 100 more BTC as the price of bitcoin fell from above $52K Friday night to below $44K. “There’s a lot more dips coming. How much taxpayer money do you intend to waste?” Schiff asked Bukele. The Salvadoran president replied, “None.” He emphasized, “We’re already in the green from our last purchase, in less than 24 hours.” Bukele continued: You know boomer, we have 44,106 oz of gold in our reserves. Worth $79 million, down 0.37% from a year ago. If we had sold it a year ago and bought bitcoin, it would now be valued at $204 million. In September, Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor made a similar comment. He revealed: “If I had chosen gold instead of bitcoin last year, it would have been a multi-billion dollar mistake.” His company bought 7,002 more BTC at the end of November, growing its bitcoin holdings to 121,044 coins. El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar in September. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned of using BTC as legal tender. The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, also voiced concerns about El Salvador making bitcoin a national currency. What do you think about Bukele’s comment to Peter Schiff about bitcoin vs. gold? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has called for more investor protection in crypto markets. “This asset class is rife with fraud, scams, and abuse in certain applications,” he said. “In many cases, investors aren’t able to get rigorous, balanced, and complete information on tokens or trading and lending platforms.” Gary Gensler Wants More Investor Protection in Crypto Markets SEC Chairman Gary Gensler raised concerns about the cryptocurrency markets at an Investor Advisory Committee meeting last week. The Investor Advisory Committee, established by Section 911 of the Dodd-Frank Act, advises the SEC on regulatory priorities, including “initiatives to protect investor interests and to promote investor confidence and the integrity of the securities marketplace.” During his speech, Gensler shared some concerns regarding the crypto markets. He began by acknowledging that “Satoshi Nakamoto’s ‘Bitcoin Whitepaper’ and the crypto markets that followed have been catalysts for change.” In August, Gensler said Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator’s “innovation is real” and “it has been and could continue to be a catalyst for change in the fields of finance and money.” Citing the market cap of all cryptocurrencies, Gensler told the Investor Advisory Committee: “This is an asset class that belongs inside public policy frameworks of looking after investors, guarding against illicit activity, and protecting our financial stability.” He opined: Unfortunately, this asset class is rife with fraud, scams, and abuse in certain applications … In many cases, investors aren’t able to get rigorous, balanced, and complete information on tokens or trading and lending platforms. “Right now, we just don’t have enough investor protection in crypto,” the SEC boss described. “The American public is buying, selling, and lending crypto on trading, lending, and decentralized finance (defi) platforms, where there are significant gaps in investor protection.” He stressed: This leaves markets open to manipulation. This leaves investors vulnerable. If we don’t address these issues, I worry a lot of people will be hurt. Gensler proceeded to explain that many crypto “tokens are offered and sold as securities.” Commenting on whether a token is considered as a security, he said: “There’s actually a lot of clarity on that front. In the 1930s, Congress established the definition of a security, which included about 20 items, like stock, bonds, and notes.” The SEC chairman continued: “One of the items is an investment contract,” noting that many tokens in the crypto markets “may be unregistered securities, without required disclosures or market oversight.” Gensler opined: It’s best not to wait for a big spill on aisle three — the crypto aisle, with all its tokens, trading and lending going on — to clean up the investor protection issues. The SEC chair concluded his speech by stating that crypto platform operators and token issuers should “come in and talk to the staff at the SEC.” He added: “Financial innovations throughout history don’t long thrive outside of our public policy frameworks. If this field is going to continue, or reach any of its potential to be a catalyst for change, we’d better bring it into public policy frameworks.” What do you think about SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s comments on investor protection and crypto market manipulation? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Since mid-November the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) has slid from $257 billion to $250.55 billion and during the last 24 hours it lost a touch more than 5%. Over the last seven days, defi tokens like uniswap, pancakeswap, curve dao token, 1inch and sushi have lost anywhere between 15% to 23.9% in value. Defi TVL Drops — Curve, Makerdao and Convex Finance Dominate At the time of writing, the TVL in defi protocols across a myriad of blockchains is $250.55 billion, according to metrics from defillama.com. The aggregate defi value locked has lost 5.08% during the last day, and the protocol Curve dominates most of the TVLs listed with 8.07% dominance. The automated market maker (AMM) Curve commands $20.23 billion TVL which is up 1.13% this past week. Makerdao is the second-largest defi protocol TVL with $18.56 billion at the time of writing. The third-largest defi protocol TVL belongs to Convex Finance with $15.14 billion today. Ethereum Defi TVL Dominance 65%, Binance Smart Chain 6%, Terra 5% TVL per blockchain shows that Ethereum commands $164.36 billion of the $250.55 billion in defi on Sunday. Binance Smart Chain (BSC) captures $16.61 billion and the chain is the second-largest chain in terms of defi protocol TVLs. Following BSC is Terra ($13.29B), Avalanche ($12.03B), Solana ($12.46B), and Tron ($5.48B). At the time of writing, Ethereum commands 65.58% of the $250.55 billion of value locked in defi. While BSC commands 6.62% dominance, the TVL in Terra captures 5.30%. Rebase and AMM Defi Tokens Slide —Crosschain Bridge TVL Slips 26% in 30 Days Statistics from coingecko.com indicate that the total market capitalization of the top automated market maker (AMM) defi tokens has dropped 13.6% to $17.2 billion. Additionally, metrics show that rebase tokens have lost 5.1% to a low of $6.09 billion on Sunday. The top AMM crypto asset uniswap (UNI) has shed 15% during the last seven days. Uniswap is followed by pancakeswap (16.7%), curve dao token (27.2), 1inch (26.3%), sushi (23.9%), and bancor token (10.1%). Rebase tokens such as olympus (OHM) shed 17.1% this past week while wonderland (TIME) has lost 18.5%. Klima dao (KLIMA) is down 50.6% during the last seven days and ampleforth (AMPL) lost 17.7%. Monthly stats show cross-chain bridge TVLs have slipped 26.9% and today there’s $24.40 billion TVL in bridges to Ethereum, according to Dune Analytics. The leader is the Ronin bridge with $6.9 billion and Avalanche has $6.6 billion and Polygon has $5.6 billion. What do you think about the state of decentralized finance (defi) today? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

A report says over 80% of African users on the Mineplex marketplace have shown an interest in the platform’s commodity staking program since launch. Zero Fee Alternative According to a recent study, over 80% of African users have taken part in the commodity staking program since its launch as a new product on the Mineplex marketplace. This figure by far dwarfs that of Asian users (23%), Europe (14%) and the U.S. (9%) users who find commodity staking interesting. As noted in a study report that was shared exclusively with Bitcoin.com News, Mineplex Banking said this commodity staking option serves as a zero-fee alternative to traditional loans and gives users the ability to buy products they cannot afford straight away. Explaining African users’ clear preference for staked crypto, the report suggested that this could be based on changing tastes and preferences. “The high level of interest by African users in the new financial instrument can be based on the need to change the system of access to consumer goods and their purchases for cryptocurrency for residents of African countries,” notes the report. To illustrate this point, the report uses South Africa — which according to a report by the Economist suggested 86% of the adult population had borrowed a loan — as an example of a country that typifies this interest in staked crypto. Flexible Terms It says in addition to getting loans from traditional financial institutions — that have rigid debt repayment regimes — South Africans also borrow from microfinance organizations that operate as online stores and marketplaces. However, unlike banks, these online stores and marketplaces offer consumers flexible payment terms hence their popularity with South Africans. Similarly, with commodity staking, African users, whom the report says are quicker and more willing to resort to new tools, can buy electronics and gadgets for as little as 10% of their price. According to the report, the remaining amount of funds for the purchase is obtained by staking available capital. The goods are delivered at the end of the staking period. What are your thoughts about this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Tau, in development, is the world’s first fully user-controlled blockchain, capable of understanding and implementing users’ consensus in real-time. It allows you to understand and be understood by billions of people, on a platform so advanced that it changes and updates itself based on how you as its users collaboratively decide what its next version should be like. Ohad Asor and Prof. Enrico Franconi recently joined the Bitcoin.com News Podcast to explain the advanced technology behind Tau: By writing in languages that the Tau platform and its users can understand, it unlocks truly revolutionary features such as the ability to make your knowledge machine accessible, creating the world’s first knowledge economy to trade specific pieces of knowledge for cash (using the Agoras cryptocurrency (Ticker AGRS)) as well as the ability to host efficient discussions and collaboration of ideas of up to billions of people. As users are able to make themselves understood to Tau, the network then can process everyone’s opinions, generate the opinion map from it and automatically upgrade itself seamlessly according to the overall users’ consensus, all without the need to ever hardfork again. Ohad has been a Software Developer and Mathematician at top tech companies in Israel since 1995. He was the youngest university student in Israel, studying Mathematics and Computer Science at the age of 13. Over the years he has accumulated extensive knowledge and experience in programming and various areas of math, with recent focus on logic, machine learning, complexity theory, philosophy of science, economics, social choice, and decentralized networks. He designed and implements Tau and Agoras. As the founder, he is currently leading the development of the project. Being a professor in knowledge representation databases, Prof. Franconi’s research focus lies in the application of database, artificial intelligence, and semantic technologies to concrete problems in information systems design and maintenance, in data integration, intelligent access, analysis and restructuring of big data. Prof. Franconi is the creator of various theories and tools for ontology modelling, reasoning and querying. He is the founder and director of the KRDB Research Centre for Knowledge and Data and provides research advise to Tau’s technical developments. To learn more about the project visit the website www.idni.org. The Bitcoin.com News podcast features interviews with the most interesting leaders, founders and investors in the world of Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), NFTs and the Metaverse. Follow us on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. This is a sponsored podcast. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The global cryptocurrency market valuation has rebounded a great deal since the initial downturn after 12:00 a.m. EST on December 4, and on Sunday, the crypto economy is down 1.4% during the last 24 hours. Meanwhile the meme token market capitalization today is $47.2 billion down 12.6% during the last day. Dogecoin has suffered pretty badly losing 19.2% during the last seven days, while its rival shiba inu has shed 9.7% last week. Meme Token Economy Takes the Brunt of the Crypto Market Carnage — Dogecoin Drops 19% in a Week’s Time At the time of writing, the crypto meme token market economy is valued at $47.2 billion and has taken a deep hit from yesterday’s market carnage. Dogecoin (DOGE) is the largest meme token market cap with $21.5 billion as each DOGE is trading for $0.164 or 0.00000342 BTC per unit. DOGE is down 37.7% over the course of the last month, but dogecoin is still up 4,863% year-to-date. On Sunday, December 5, there’s $1.4 billion in global DOGE trades with Binance being the most active dogecoin exchange. Today, the stablecoin tether (USDT) commands most of dogecoin’s trades as USDT captures 75.79% of Sunday’s DOGE pairs. This is followed by USD (10.69%), BUSD (5.03%), BTC (3.96%), and EUR (2.05%). The Turkish lira (TRY) commands 1.2% of all dogecoin (DOGE) pairs this weekend. Besides Binance, other active dogecoin exchanges on Sunday include Huobi Pro, Huobi Korea, Okex, Bittrex, and Kraken. Into the Block stats show that only 55% of DOGE holders are making money at the current price. The concentration of large holders today is 60% and during the last seven days there was $20.33 billion in transactions over $100K in dogecoin. Shiba Inu Sheds 9% This Week, 59% Down From the Crypto Asset’s All-Time High The second-largest crypto meme asset is shiba inu (SHIB) which has lost far less than DOGE this week. SHIB is down 9.7% this week and 27.6% during the last 30 days. But year-to-date gains are a whole different story as SHIB has climbed a whopping 56,175,642%. SHIB is still down, however, 59.5% from the crypto asset’s all-time high of $0.00008616 on October 28. SHIB is the 13th largest crypto asset by market cap with $19.6 billion today. At the time of writing, there is $2.3 billion in global SHIB trade volume globally. Similar to DOGE, the trading platform Binance is SHIB’s most active exchange on Sunday. Binance’s SHIB markets are followed by volumes stemming from Huobi Pro, Okex, and Coinbase. Tether (USDT) is SHIB’s top trading pair with 41.9% of the SHIB trading pairs. This is followed by USD (23.51%), BUSD (19.63%), TRY (9.88%), and WETH (2.41%). 58% of SHIB holders are still in profit and the concentration of large holders today is 78%. Into the Block stats indicate that transactions greater than $100K during the last seven days amounted to around $4.93 billion worth of SHIB. Donkey, Meta Doge, and Kitty Coin See Double-Digit 7-Day Gains, Catbonk and Fantom Doge Shed Significant Losses As DOGE and SHIB lost some value this past week, a number of other meme tokens have shed prior gains as well. During the last week, dogelon mars (ELON) has lost 19.3% and baby doge coin (BABYDOGE) dropped by 21.3% this past week. However, donkey (DONK), meta doge (METADOGE), and kitty coin (KITTY) have seen double digit gains during the last seven days. The biggest meme token loser this past week was catbonk (CABO) losing 67% and fantom doge (RIP) shedding 59%. What do you think about the meme token economy losing more than 12% during the last 24 hours and dogecoin and shiba inu’s weekly losses? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Bitcoin’s hashrate has increased a great deal, even after the leading crypto asset’s price slipped below the $50K price zone. Eight days ago the network hashrate was coasting along at 168 exahash per second (EH/s), and this past week it increased 7.73% to today’s 181 EH/s. Bitcoin’s Hashrate Climbs Higher Following Difficulty Decrease Following the price drop under the $50K zone, Bitcoin’s (BTC) hashrate remains strong and has increased more than 7% higher during the last week. At the time of writing, BTC’s hashrate on Sunday is 181.59 EH/s as the network’s processing power has been reaching daily highs. Three month statistics indicate BTC’s hashpower tapped 190 EH/s on Friday, December 3. Metrics show that the network’s hashrate reached an all-time high on May 9, 2021 at 191.42 EH/s. One reason the hashrate remains high despite the recent price drop is because the network’s mining difficulty has dropped during the last difficulty change on November 28. The change that day saw BTC’s first mining difficulty decrease since July 17. The difficulty dropped seven days ago making it 1.49% less difficult to mine BTC. The current difficulty is 22.34 trillion and at the current rate of processing power, the next difficulty is estimated to increase 1.17% to a possible 22.6 trillion. Close to 20 Exahash of Stealth Miners Consume a Great Number of Blocks for 50 Days Straight There are only 13 known pools dedicating SHA256 hashpower to the Bitcoin blockchain and unknown hashrate otherwise known as stealth miners command 11.75% (19.84 EH/s) of the network’s hashpower. Bitmain’s Antpool is the largest miner in terms of network hashpower today with 17.94% (30.28 EH/s) of the hashrate. The second-largest mining pool on December 5 is Foundry USA with 16.49% or 27.84 EH/s of hashpower. Just above Foundry USA is F2pool, which commands 13.20% of hashrate or 22.27 EH/s. Between mid-October up until now, a sum of unknown hashrate or stealth miners have been very prominent on the network. For 50 days straight the unknown hashrate has consumed a great number of BTC blocks. Since 2009 stealth miners have found 226,000 BTC block rewards and during the last six months 1,957 blocks were discovered by unknown hashrate. Hashpower that stems from numerous regions worldwide, derives mostly from countries such as the United States, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, Germany, and Iran. What do you think about Bitcoin’s hashpower increasing after the difficulty decrease and despite the recent price drop? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. The next crypto conference lighting up the season is DeFiCon 2021, hosted on December 18-19 in Brooklyn, NYC. As a nonprofit conference, DeFiCon steers away from the typical corporate and for-profit conference model. All of DeFiCon’s net proceeds will be donated to charity. The event is also engages civic leaders and activists. Featured keynote speakers are Stani Kulechov, the Founder and CEO of AAVE, Jaz Gulati, the Co-Founder founder of Ren Labs, and Kieran Mesquita, Chief Scientist at RAILGUN. As a crypto native event, DeFiCon tickets are NFTs designed by the original artist of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Seneca (www.allseeingseneca.com). Mint now to own the Unbearable Bear, a collection of 1,218 Bears living on the Ethereum blockchain. Then join frens in Brooklyn at DeFiCon next month on December 18-19. To mint General Admission and VIP NFT tickets, visit: www.deficon.nyc – ALL net proceeds from the event will go directly to nonprofit. Mint now FIND DEFICON ON: www.DeFiCon.nyc Twitter Telegram This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

The province of Hainan in South China has taken steps aimed at curbing crypto mining activities. Besides blacklisting the industry, local authorities are also introducing higher electricity rates for the mining enterprises that continue to operate in the region. Hainan to Ensure Crypto Miners Pay More for Power The ongoing crackdown on cryptocurrency mining in China has reached the country’s smallest and southernmost province, Hainan. The coin minting business has been recently listed as an “eliminated industry” and the remaining miners in the region will soon face higher electricity bills. According to a document published this week by the provincial Development and Reform Commission, the differentiated tariffs for electrical energy will be imposed as part of a pricing mechanism designed to reduce carbon emissions. While China banned crypto-related activities such as trading back in 2017, authorities did not interfere with mining until this year. In May, the State Council in Beijing decided to clamp down on the sector following President Xi Jinping’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality in the next four decades. Provinces such as Sichuan, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, Anhui, and Hebei have already joined the central government’s offensive. Enterprises that are still mining cryptocurrency in Hainan will have to pay 0.8 yuan ($0.12) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity in the future, the English-language Global Times reported, quoting the official document issued by the regional administration. At the same time, the China Southern Power Grid operator maintains a lower price for households in the region, 0.6 yuan ($0.09) per kWh. The commission further bans crypto mining companies from participating in the province’s electricity exchange program. Miners have been ordered to withdraw from the scheme before a designated deadline, which the report doesn’t specify. The regulator has also vowed to enhance government supervision over their activities. The news from Hainan comes after China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced in mid-November its intentions to go after state-run industrial enterprises involved in the extraction of digital currencies. The push followed the NDRC’s proposal from October to add crypto mining to the country’s latest “Negative List for Market Access” which would make the industry off-limits to investors. Do you expect more restrictive measures against crypto industries in China such as mining? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Two days ago on December 2, the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection auction of non-fungible token (NFT) assets kicked off at Art Basel Miami via the Superrare platform. The Ulbricht NFT collection auction ends on December 8, and so far the auction has seen a bid of 666 ether or roughly $2.6 million. Additionally the project Pleasrdao aims to up the ante as the “Free Ross DAO” bidding on the collection has raised 1,042 ether or $4.2 million to date. Ross Ulbricht NFT Auction Eyes Millions in Ether During the third week of November, Bitcoin.com News reported on the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection auction taking place at the start of Art Basel in Miami. The auction was initiated on the Superrare NFT marketplace platform and the collection is an assortment of ten artworks by Ross Ulbricht. “Curated by Entoptic, this is the first and only NFT to include Ross Ulbricht’s personal work,” the announcement detailed. So far, the Ulbricht NFT collection has seen significant demand and to date, Superrare stats show a bidder dubbed “@toxicbitcoinmaxi outbid @starrynight” with a bid of 666 ether on December 3. At current ether exchange rates, that’s more than $2.6 million in USD value. After the bid of 666 ETH, the Twitter account that belongs to the creative director at Swan Studios, Brekkie, told his 40,000 Twitter followers that Ulbricht’s NFT art was beyond inspiring. “Ross’s artwork is beautiful and his perspective on life, despite everything, is beyond inspiring,” Brekkie tweeted. “I hope that one day he will gain his freedom, freedom that so many of us take for granted every single day. Yes, I oppose ethereum et al, but we are all humans, Ross even more so.” On Saturday December 4, 2021, Ulbricht’s clemency petition hosted on change.org is 42,833 signatures away from reaching a half million signatures. The ‘Free Ross DAO’ Contender In addition to the bid by “@toxicbitcoinmaxi” on Superrare, Ulbricht’s NFT collection could be purchased by the Pleasrdao project that plans to fractionalize the artwork. “Ross Ulbricht founded Silk Road, introduced hundreds of thousands to crypto, and received a disproportionate prison sentence of two lifetimes plus 40 years,” the Pleasrdao’s “Free Ross DAO” initiative explains. “Today we unite in solidarity for Ross, gathering funds to buy his Genesis Collection, and protesting the injustices of the American prison system.” At the time of writing, the “Free Ross DAO” has collectively raised 1,042 ETH or $4.2 million in USD value. The decentralized autonomous organization’s manifesto stresses: “We will Free Ross. We will advance prison reform. We will share Ross’s work with the world and give everyone a unique opportunity to own a piece of it.” Ulbricht too has said that he hoped to lend a hand to his fellow prisoners, and his “art is one way” he can help. What do you think about the Ross Ulbricht Genesis NFT Collection auction? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

OVR launched its new Token Burning Program on 1 November to make its own tokens more rare and valuable. The results of this first month of November saw a total of 246 thousand OVR burned. OVR and the Numbers From the Token Burning Program’s First Month OVR’s updated token economics started on November 1, 2021, after the OVR team burned nearly 1 million of its tokens last May. By the end of last month, the platform had collected a total of 615,365 OVR from its sales of OVRLand NFTs, excluding GAS costs. As anticipated, the Token Burning Program foresees that 40% of the collected OVR are burned, while 10% is used to incentivize OVRLand sales with monthly draws among new OVRLand buyers using Chainlink VRF. And indeed, for this month of November 2021, the total tokens burned amount to 246,146 OVR, while exactly 61,536 OVR have been dedicated to the OVRLand draw on Chainlink. In general, the more OVRLands purchased on Chainlink, the higher the probability of winning the jackpot. OVR and Its Updated Token Economics In order to update its token economics, OVR has resorted to smart contract burning to make its own OVR token scarcer and more valuable. To better understand the concept, it would be useful to lower the estimates for a moment, by deciding that out of the 1.6 trillion OVRLands available, only the 100 million OVRLands that correspond to the points of interest recorded on the Open Street Map are taken into account, each of which is assumed to be no larger than 1 OVRLand. That being the case, if the cost of 1 OVRLand were $10 and the price of OVR were $1, the total sales of the 100 million OVRLands would generate 1 billion OVR. Of this: 400 million OVR would be burned; 100 million OVR as a lottery prize for those who buy OVRLand on Chainlink. The Next-Level AR Metaverse and the Map2Earn Recently, OVR also announced the development of OVR Land Mapping. In essence, thanks to AI capability, OVR is generating a detailed 3D map of the physical world in a metaverse on another level, based on simple images taken from the smartphones of its users who have decided to participate in the Map-to-Earn. In fact, OVR users who join the initiative become real OVRLand Scanners and can earn OVR tokens simply by scanning physical locations with the smartphone in their pocket. This is a new way of monetizing, similar to the play-to-earn that Decentralized Finance or DeFi games are offering their users. OVR Map2Earn is a revolutionary mapping system technology that overcomes the accuracy limits of GPS, resulting in newly scanned OVRLands having a location accuracy of up to 10cm. To learn more about the project visit the website, and follow the team on social media. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Authorities in Russia and Ukraine have closed down a number of illegal crypto mining facilities allegedly powered by stolen electricity. The underground farms have been discovered around the capital cities, Kyiv and Moscow, as well as in the Russian republic of Dagestan. Russia Busts Illegal Mining Farms in Moscow Region and Dagestan Russian law enforcement and customs agents have recently uncovered the theft of a large amount of electricity from the network operated by Rosseti in Moscow Oblast, the region adjacent to Russia’s capital. Tass broke the news about the operation this week, quoting Ekaterina Korotkova from the Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office. The official explained: An audit revealed an unauthorized connection to the power grid, theft of electricity and illegal seizure of land for the operation of equipment designed to perform cryptographic calculations related to the mining of digital currencies. The cost of the illegally consumed electricity used to power the mining hardware exceeds 500,000 rubles a day (almost $7,000), Korotkova detailed. Authorities have launched a criminal case and intend to prosecute the owners of the coin minting facility. Two cryptocurrency farms were also busted in Dagestan, a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus. In late November, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported that a large mining operation had been found in a mountainous region. Preliminary data from the investigation suggests that its unknown operators have caused damages of an estimated 1 million rubles (over $13,000). Local police have also uncovered a mining enterprise in Botlikh district where miners were connected to the grid without permission. According to a report by Forklog quoting Dagestan’s interior ministry, the crypto farm had been set up since November and run by a 35-year-old resident of Dakhadayevsky district who stole power worth 257,000 rubles (around $3,500). The law “On Digital Financial Assets,” which went into force in January, regulated some crypto-related activities in the Russian Federation but cryptocurrency mining, among others, isn’t one of them. Calls have been mounting among officials in Moscow this year to recognize the business as an entrepreneurial activity and tax it accordingly. Underground Crypto Farm Found in Kyiv Region, Ukraine Meanwhile, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced Friday it had discovered an illegal mining facility in Kyiv Oblast. According to the main Ukrainian law enforcement agency, three local residents have installed a number of ASICs in a hangar they rented in the Buchansky district of the region bordering the capital. They have allegedly used electrical energy worth 3.5 million hryvnia (more than $128,000). The rising popularity of cryptocurrencies has turned Ukraine into a leader in adoption in recent years and the government has been taking steps to legalize “virtual assets.” While bitcoin mining is not banned, it isn’t yet regulated. This year, the SBU has been going after miners taking advantage of the country’s electricity supply network, shutting down a number of crypto farms in various regions, including a large data center in central Ukraine last month. Do you expect Russia and Ukraine to regulate cryptocurrency mining in the near future? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, says China did the right thing to “ban” cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. He wishes that cryptocurrencies had never been invented, emphasizing that he will not participate in the crypto boom. He considers “this era even crazier than the dot-com era.” Warren Buffett’s Right Hand Man, Charlie Munger, Wishes Crypto Had Never Been Invented Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, often known as Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, talked about cryptocurrency Friday at the Sohn Hearts and Minds, Australia’s premier investor event. The 97-year-old previously called bitcoin “rat poison” and likened cryptocurrency trading to “trading turds.” Commenting on the current investing environment, he said: I think the dot-com boom was crazier in terms of valuations than even what we have now. But overall, I consider this era even crazier than the dot-com era. Discussing cryptocurrency, Munger said: “I just can’t stand participating in these insane booms, one way or the other. It seems to be working. Everybody wants to pile in.” However, the Berkshire executive emphasized that he has “a different attitude,” elaborating, “I want to make my money by selling people things that are good for them, not things that are bad for them.” He added: “Believe me, the people who are creating cryptocurrencies are not thinking about the customer, they are thinking about themselves.” Munger stressed: “I’m never going to buy a cryptocurrency. I wish they’d never been invented.” He further opined: I think the Chinese made the correct decision, which is to simply ban them. My country — English-speaking civilization — has made the wrong decision. Munger was positive about China, where Berkshire has major investments including car manufacturer BYD. He believes that the U.S. and China could reach an “acceptable relationship.” Noting that “Australia, with its deep involvement in China, can be in a constructive position,” he suggested, “Australia can encourage both the United States and China to be more reasonable.” The Berkshire chairman made a few other comments regarding bitcoin and cryptocurrency this year. He opined in May: “I should say modestly that the whole damn development [crypto] is disgusting and contrary to the interest of civilization.” In February, he advised investors to never buy bitcoin. “It’s really kind of an artificial substitute for gold. And since I never buy any gold, I never buy any bitcoin, and I recommend other people follow my practice,” he said. What do you think about the comments by Charlie Munger? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a citizen of Latvia with defrauding investors in two crypto offerings. The fraudster “used fake names, fictitious entities, and fraudulent profiles to perpetrate his schemes, and misappropriated nearly all of the investor funds that were raised.” Two Fraudulent Crypto Schemes The SEC announced Thursday that it has “charged a Latvian citizen with defrauding hundreds of retail investors out of at least $7 million through two separate fraudulent digital asset securities offerings.” Noting that Ivars Auzins defrauded U.S. and foreign investors, the securities watchdog explained: Auzins allegedly used fake names, fictitious entities, and fraudulent profiles to perpetrate his schemes, and misappropriated nearly all of the investor funds that were raised. His first scheme ran from January through March 2018. “Auzins fraudulently offered and sold unregistered digital tokens as part of an ICO [initial coin offering] of Denaro, a purported multi-currency debit card platform,” the SEC detailed. The complaint alleges that “all of the claimed products or services being offered were fictitious, including the relationship with the credit card issuer,” noting that “Auzins misappropriated all of the ICO’s proceeds.” His second scheme ran from April through July 2019. “Auzins fraudulently offered the unregistered securities of Innovamine, which purportedly offered a cloud mining program,” the SEC described, adding that he “misappropriated nearly all of the funds raised in the offering.” The securities regulator detailed: As we allege, Auzins was engaged in a brazen scheme to defraud retail investors under the guise of profitable digital asset opportunities. The Latvian citizen is charged with “violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws.” The SEC “seeks permanent injunctions, including conduct-based injunctions, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and an officer-and-director bar against him.” What do you think about this case? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The popular American rapper Snoop Dogg revealed at the end of September that he acquired land in the blockchain-based virtual metaverse The Sandbox and had plans to recreate his mansion. On December 2, The Sandbox held a “Snoopverse Land Sale,” which allowed participants to purchase land adjacent to the famous hip hop star’s virtual estate. Plot of Land Next to Snoop’s Virtual Mansion in The Sandbox Metaverse Sells for Six-Digits Two days ago, The Sandbox disclosed it was selling virtual plots of land that are located next to Snoop Dogg’s virtual property. Snoop has been a cryptocurrency advocate for quite some time and in recent days, he revealed he was a non-fungible token (NFT) whale called “Cozomo de’ Medici.” Then at the end of September, Snoop partnered with The Sandbox, a gaming ecosystem where people can create, share and monetize NFTs and gaming experiences on the Ethereum (ETH) network. The Sandbox blog post published on Thursday, explains that plots of land in the “Snoopverse” would go on sale on December 2 at 1 p.m. (UTC). 122 lands are for sale and 67 premium plots will be sold with a bundle of three exclusive NFTs. A total of three small estates are to be auctioned on Opensea, The Sandbox announcement further detailed on Thursday. So far, the plot of land called “Wave 1 – 3×3 Estate S [12,-75]” sold for 71,000 SAND or roughly $450K at the time of settlement. P-Ape Purchases the Adjacent Plot, Nonfungible.com Stats Show Virtual Land Sales Capture This Week’s Top NFT Purchases At press time the 71,000 SAND is worth less than $400K after the crypto market carnage that took place on Saturday morning. The owner of the land next to Snoop’s estate is called “P-Ape,” and the collector has a number of popular NFTs. The NFT collector has a slew of Crypto Bull Society NFTs and a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT as well. P-Ape owns BAYC #6,445 and Mutant Ape Yacht Club #11,089 and a myriad of individual Lazy Bunny NFTs. The Sandbox team notes that in order to redeem the estate next to Snoop’s, the winner of the auction should first write to The Sandbox and get instructions on how to transfer this token to the team. “The Sandbox team … will in return transfer the estate ownership to him/her,” the company explains in the sale description. In terms of market sales, The Sandbox held the largest seven-day sales stats last week with 4,433 sales worth $70 million. Top land sales last week sold for 14-15 ether, or 8,000 SAND to close to 10,000 SAND per plot. What do you think about The Sandbox land that sold next to Snoop Dogg’s estate for 71,000 SAND? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

As the crypto market shed billions of dollars, El Salvador bought the dip, taking advantage of the falling price of bitcoin early Saturday morning. With the latest buy, El Salvador has purchased a total of 1,370 bitcoins altogether. According to Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele, the coins were bought seven minutes before the price of the cryptocurrency bottomed out. El Salvador Buys the Dip: 150 Bitcoins Added to Treasury The price of many cryptocurrencies began plummeting late Friday night, with bitcoin sliding almost 14% from slightly above $52K at 11:42 p.m. EDT to below $45K at 12:28 a.m. based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. At the time of writing, the price of BTC is hovering around $48,040. Taking advantage of the falling price of bitcoin, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, tweeted at 12:19 a.m. about his country’s latest BTC purchase. “El Salvador just bought the dip! 150 coins at an average USD price of ~$48,670.” He followed up with another tweet a few minutes later: “Missed the f***ing bottom by 7 minutes.” El Salvador has taken advantage of bitcoin’s price dips several times. On Nov. 26, Bukele revealed that his country bought 100 more BTC as the price of the cryptocurrency dropped following reports of a new Covid-19 variant, now known as omicron. Bitcoin was made legal tender in El Salvador alongside the U.S. dollar in September. Since then, El Salvador has purchased 1,370 BTC altogether. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned the country against using bitcoin as legal tender. The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, similarly cautioned that he is worried about El Salvador making bitcoin a national currency. Bukele responded to the boss of the British central bank by stating, “I’m really concerned about Bank of England printing money out of thin air.” What do you think about El Salvador buying the dip again? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

A great number of cryptocurrencies dropped considerably in value during the early morning hours (after 12:00 a.m. EST) on December 4. At the time of writing, the crypto economy is down more than 16% and the price of bitcoin slid below the $50K zone to a low of $43,972 per unit. Since then, bitcoin has managed to climb back to just above the $47K per unit position. Crypto Economy Value Dives Digital currency markets have lost significant value during the last 24 hours as billions have left the crypto economy in a matter of hours. Currently, the crypto economy and its 11,388 coins in existence have lost more than 16% in USD value. Bitcoin (BTC) slipped from the $53K per unit region to $43.9K during the first hour of Saturday morning. The downward slide took BTC down 17.16% but the crypto asset has since regained 7.28% following the market carnage. BTC has managed to rise above the $47K region and has an overall market valuation of around $895 billion. Seven-day statistics indicate bitcoin (BTC) has lost 11.5% but 30 day stats show the price is down 25.2%. The second-largest market valuation, held by ethereum (ETH), lost 13.9% during the last 24 hours but seven-day metrics indicate ether is only down by 2.2% after reaching its all-time high (ATH) last week. The biggest loser in the top ten was dogecoin (DOGE) as it shed 21.9% in 24 hours. Polkadot (DOT) lost 21.7%. While solana (SOL) is up 0.6% for the week, SOL lost 18.2% during the crash. XRP took a 19.8% dive and cardano (ADA) slipped 17.5% during the last 24 hours. Binance coin (BNB) was the only top ten contender to manage to stave off the losses as it only shed around 12.7% during the drop. BTC’s market dominance today is 38.4% of the crypto economy while ethereum (ETH) commands 20.2%. Ether has a market capitalization of around $470 billion at the time of writing. Today there is $243.8 billion in global trade volume and stablecoin volume captures $147 billion worth of those trades. The stablecoin economy’s overall valuation today is $156 billion or 6.67% of the $2.32 trillion crypto economy. While a great majority of coins lost considerable value, except for stablecoins, ecash (XEC) is still up 7.2%. Today’s biggest losers include fantom (FTM) down 27.7%, and theta network (THETA), which dropped 27% during the crypto market slide. What do you think about the recent crypto market downturn? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. MetaGods, the world’s first play-to-earn 8-bit action role-playing game built on the blockchain, has raised $3 million USD in funding from supporting investors. Numerous investors and partners have partnered with the initiative to combine blockchain technology and the fast growing gaming sector to revolutionize the world of non-fungible tokens. MetaGods is the world’s first blockchain-based 8-bit action RPG. Players will be able to build their own avatars based on mythologies and acquire unique characters and skills. In addition to fighting dangerous monsters, the MetaGods blockchain will enable players to trade virtual goods for cryptocurrency – giving them a chance to earn something real from their adventures in a digital world. The project is grateful for its incredible investors: Hashed, Mr Beast, ABV, Cinchblock, BoxMining, Faculty Capital, Raptor Capital, CoinUnited, Magnus Capital, Banter Capital & Icetea Labs for their support. This remarkable group of investors has provided MetaGods the lift and industry recognition they require to move forward with their journey ahead. MetaGods will utilize the funds in perfecting their game and developing a well-rounded platform for their community. Visit MetaGods’ social media channels below to receive daily updates regarding their future updates and developments. About MetaGods MetaGods is an 8-bit, play-to-earn action RPG where players fight against the gods on the path to ascension. Each character NFT is created by the union of mortals, demigods, and titans. They will team up with each other and fight epic bosses, while slowly becoming true gods themselves. The game works with a dual token system. The $MGOD and $RELIC are the two tokens of the platform. $MGOD is used as the governance token of the project and can be used to enter special events. $RELIC is an earnable in-game currency that supports the play-to-earn structure of MetaGods. Website | Twitter | Discord | Telegram | Announcements | Reddit This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

The recent movements in the treasury of Terra, a decentralized financial payment network, which is now burning more than $4 billion worth of LUNA due to a governance proposal, have seemingly made the price of the asset rise to all-time high (ATH) levels. This rise has been also accompanied by new proposals to further cement the stability of its stablecoin, UST. Do Kwon, head of Terraform Labs, hinted at the inclusion of a bitcoin reserve to safeguard UST’s dollar peg. LUNA Booming The recent changes in the issuance model of Terra, which were brought by the recent Columbus 5 update, seem to have been successful in fostering the growth of the currency of the network, LUNA. The price of its native asset, LUNA, has grown significantly, reaching ATH levels at $69.59 yesterday, recording an increase in the price of more than 50% during the last week. One of the most interesting choices taken by the cryptocurrency project was the burn of more than $4 billion worth of LUNA that was held in the community pool of the project. These LUNA tokens have been exchanged constantly for UST, the sibling stablecoin of the project, and are now waiting to be used for other purposes. This was part of a change in the issuance model of UST. New Hybrid Model Hinted Until now, there are no other tokens used as collateral to back the value of the UST stablecoin. This might, at some times, cause that the peg with the underlying currency (the U.S. dollar) to be lost due to different reasons. Due to the limitations of the model and the incentives to maintain the token peg in some situations, Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon has hinted at the introduction of other solutions to address this issue. Do Kwon stated in a recent Twitter thread: I’ve grown quite tired of arguing with idiots on Twitter on whether UST can remain stable in bear. So soon I will propose creating multi billion dollar reserves in decentralized assets (BTC and others) in an attempt to save myself time. If this really comes to happen, Terra would become a hybrid project, featuring a reserve that would back the value of the UST stablecoin in bear markets. Also, Kwon hinted at the use of the UST locked in the community pool as insurance for the currency and to also serve as backing to protect the UST from a possible de-peg. Editor’s Note: Since the time of writing, markets have taken a significant downturn on December 4, with terra (LUNA) now down over 17% in the last 24 hours. What do you think about the recent rise of Terra in the market? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

A paper published by the European Central Bank (ECB) discusses various conditions for successful implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) such as the eurozone’s own digital euro. The authors also point to different risks that such projects entail, like the danger of crowding out the private sector. ECB: Digital Euro Should Be Widely Used for Payments, Not Investment In order to create a successful CBDC, a monetary authority needs to establish the digital currency as a widespread means of payment and exchange that also has a sufficient store of value function, according to the paper released by the European Central Bank. At the same time, central banks need to ensure that currencies like the digital euro do not turn into a significant means of investment, crowd out private payment solutions, or undermine the banking sector’s intermediation role. The document, which was published this week, is authored by three high-ranking ECB officials — Fabio Panetta, Ulrich Bindseil, and Ignacio Terol. They list key success factors for CBDCs and offer their expert opinions on how to avoid risks associated with the digital versions of fiat currencies that dozens of countries around the world, including major economies, are currently exploring or developing. The paper identifies three conditions for the successful implementation of a CBDC. The first one is ‘merchant acceptance’ which has to be wide, meaning users should be able to pay digitally anywhere. Unlike paper cash, a digital currency is likely to come with fees for each transaction and require dedicated devices to process the payments. There are other differences as well, despite both forms of money having legal tender status. The ECB elaborates: Cash is impractical in e-commerce, while making CBDC legal tender may require exceptions for merchants who do not have the device needed to accept non-cash payments. The second success factor has been defined as ‘efficient distribution.’ The ECB officials quote a Eurosystem report, according to which a digital euro should be distributed by supervised intermediaries such as banks and regulated payment providers. To encourage the distribution of the central bank digital currency, incentives may be paid to supervised intermediaries. The document divides intermediary services into two categories: onboarding and funding services — which would include operations required to open, manage, and close a CBDC account — and payment services. ‘Demand from consumers’ is the third condition for success which refers to the ability to use the CBDC to “pay anywhere, pay safely, pay privately,” the paper emphasizes. Member of the Executive Board of the ECB Fabio Panetta and his colleagues believe that residents of the euro area can be motivated by the option to use the digital euro in peer-to-peer (P2P) payments beyond the reach of existing private solutions. Privacy can be another motivating factor, they say, pointing out that central banks could use privacy-enhancing techniques while still complying with anti-money laundering regulations. Despite protests against the digital euro particularly in that regard, the three experts insist: As public and independent institutions, central banks have no interest in monetising users’ payment data. They would only process such data to the extent necessary for performing their functions and in full compliance with public interest objectives and legislation. Paper Proposes Measures to Prevent CBDC Risks The ECB paper discusses some of the risks associated with central bank digital currencies as well, such as excessive CBDC holdings. It suggests a number of measures to prevent a permanent or temporary excessive flow of funds into a central bank digital currency, including the introduction of limited convertibility that could terminate the potential outflow of bank deposits into a CBDC. Setting per capita limits with a ceiling on the amount of CBDC each individual would be allowed to hold could serve as another barrier. The document devotes attention to concerns that the issuing of a CBDC could trigger a process of bank disintermediation and crowd out payments solutions currently provided by the private sector. To avoid this negative effect, finding an adequate functional scope is crucial. It should neither be too broad, crowding out private sector solutions, nor too narrow, limiting the use of the central bank digital currency. This could be а challenge for the financial sector, the ECB representatives warn. The authors of the paper conclude that while CBDCs have clear merits and central banks need to follow trends in payments and technology in order to continue to fulfill their task to serve both citizens and businesses, they still have to address many questions regarding the design of a currency like the digital euro. Besides the functional scope, appropriate business model and controls are required to meet demands and ensure robust use of the CBDC, they stress. Do you think the European Central Bank will issue a successful digital euro? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. View the full article

A recent paper authored by members of several universities, including Sydney and Macquarie, argues that recent changes in Ethereum monetary policy are making it a better store of value than bitcoin. The deflationary effect that the EIP-1559 proposal has caused in the issuance of the currency is said to be the main cause of this. Ethereum in the Spotlight A new paper released by members of Australian universities last month is putting the spotlight on Ethereum and its possible future as a store of value. The paper, titled “Better than Bitcoin? Can cryptocurrencies beat inflation?,” is authored by Ester Félez-Viñas of the University of Technology in Sydney and other academics, and compares the issuance of Bitcoin with the new issuance model of Ethereum, that is making the currency deflationary. The paper states: We show that following the recent change in its transactions protocol, the digital currency Ethereum displays a significantly lower net issuance rate of tokens than Bitcoin, achieved by destroying the fees associated with each transaction. This has to do with the activation of EIP-1559, a proposal that burns Ethereum in a proportional way to the usage of the network. While this proposal had some opposition when it was presented — mainly from miners and mining pools — it is now contributing to this new appreciation of Ethereum as a possibly deflationary currency in the future. Burning Fees The implementation of EIP-1559 has caused the network to burn a significant amount of Ethereum in fees. This change has led to more than one million ETH being put out of circulation after just three months of its implementation on mainnet. Regarding this, the study remarks: In many cases the amount of Ethereum burned outpaces the network’s creation of new tokens, resulting in Ethereum potentially becoming the world’s first deflationary currency. We argue that this provides better inflationary hedging properties than Bitcoin, and Ether may therefore offer a superior long-term value storage than Bitcoin. Other cryptocurrency projects are adopting similar burning schemes hoping to recreate the same effect. Binance coin recently activated an update to its network that also implemented fee burning. However, Binance coin and Ethereum are fundamentally different: The latter has no cap on its issuance, while Binance coin does have a hard issuance cap. What do you think about the “Better than Bitcoin? Can cryptocurrencies beat inflation?” paper and its conclusions? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

Binance has named three former housemates from the popular Nigerian reality television show “Big Brother Naija” as the cryptocurrency exchange’s brand ambassadors for the African continent. Bringing Crypto to the Mainstream Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has said as part of its plan to increase its foothold on the African continent, it has partnered with three former Big Brother Naija housemates. The exchange said the three former housemates, Hazel Oyeze Onou, Ikechukwu Sunday Okonkwo, and Pere Egbi will help it bring crypto to the mainstream. In a statement published by Techpoint Africa, Binance director for Africa Emmanuel Babalola explained the rationale for choosing the three individuals, and how their efforts are going to help the exchange achieve some of its goals. Babalola stated: “Our goal is to make people understand crypto and ease the process of bringing it into their daily lives. One of the things we have seen is how these influencers and their stories embody the spirit of entrepreneurship, hard work and lifestyle of the everyday Nigerian. We have a shared goal of empowering more Africans with the knowledge and resources they need to achieve financial freedom, so it’s a perfect fit and teaming up with them is a big win.” Crypto: ‘The New Currency’ The same Techpoint Africa report meanwhile quotes one of the ex-housemates, Onou — also known as “Whitemoney” — expressing his reasons for partnering with the exchange. “Crypto is the new currency and I am excited to take the Binance message to the streets as one doesn’t have to be rich or that educated to trade crypto,” said the former housemate. Another housemate, Okonkwo (Cross) said he had been using the Binance trading app and is keen on educating the youth about the benefits of crypto trading. What are your thoughts about this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seized bitcoin worth more than $2.2 million tied to ransomware payments. The cryptocurrency allegedly belongs to an affiliate of Gandcrab and Revil/Sodinokibi ransomware. US Seizes Bitcoin Worth Over $2 Million The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seized almost 40 bitcoins from a Russian resident tied to Revil and Gandcrab ransomware, according to a court document unsealed Tuesday. The forfeiture complaint reads: The United States of America files this verified complaint in rem against 39.89138522 bitcoin seized from Exodus wallet … that is now located and in the custody and management of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Dallas Division. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin is around $56,318.06 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. The amount seized totals almost $2.247 million. The seizure took place on Aug. 3. While the FBI did not reveal how it gained access to the wallet, the court document explains that the wallet contained Revil ransom payments belonging to an affiliate identified as Aleksandr Sikerin (aka Alexander Sikerin and Oleksandr Sikerin), whose email address is engfog1337@gmail.com. According to Bleeping Computer, the name “engfog” in the email address is tied to a well-known Gandcrab and Revil/Sodinokibi affiliate known as “Lalartu.” Gandcrab and Revil organizations operated as Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), where core operators partner with third-party hackers, known as affiliates, the news outlet noted, adding that ransom payments are split between the affiliate and core operators. The operators usually earn between 20% and 30% of the ransom. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had seized $6.1 million from Yevgeniy Polyanin, a Russian “charged with deploying Sodinokibi/Revil ransomware to attack businesses and government entities in the United States.” Meanwhile, the U.S. government has been increasing its efforts to fight ransomware attacks. The Treasury Department has already sanctioned two cryptocurrency exchanges tied to ransom payments. What do you think about the FBI seizing bitcoin tied to ransomware attacks? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article