Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

First for SEC: Crypto Lending Platform Charged — Blockfi Agrees to Pay $100 Million in Penalties

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged cryptocurrency lending platform Blockfi in a first-of-its-kind action. The crypto lender has agreed to pay $100 million to settle the charges and pursue necessary registrations.　　SEC Charges Crypto Lending Platform Blockfi　　The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Monday that crypto lending platform Blockfi has agreed to pay $100 million in penalties.　　The SEC explained that “In this first-of-its-kind action,” it “charged Blockfi Lending LLC with failing to register the offers and sales of its retail crypto lending product, Blockfi Interest Accounts (BIAs).”　　SEC Chairman Gary Gensler commented:　　“This is the first case of its kind with respect to crypto lending platforms.”　　To settle the SECs charges, Blockfi agreed to pay a $50 million penalty and cease its unregistered offers and sales of the lending product. The company also agreed to pay an additional $50 million in fines to 32 states to settle similar charges.　　Blockfi offered and sold BIAs to the public from March 4, 2019, until today, the SEC detailed. Investors lent their crypto assets to the company in exchange for monthly interest payments.　　According to the SEC, BIAs are securities and must be registered with the Commission. Furthermore, the securities regulator said that Blockfi operated

2022-02-15Deep Dive

Coinbase’s Super Bowl QR code, site crash, scammy codes

Last night‘s Super Bowl game in Los Angeles, where the LA Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23–20, might go down in history as a watershed moment in the crypto industry. The TV commercial, in and by themselves major happenings, featured commercials for both the derivatives exchange FTX, and the crypto exchange Coinbase. In this match in between the commercials, Coinbase’s ad will probably be the most remembered.　　Coinbases ad was pretty creative, featuring a color-changing QR code bouncing around on the screen, and not much else. The reports on Twitter are numerous of viewers chasing the QR code with their mobile phones, hoping to win the $1 million raffled by the exchange. The commercial was so successful it forced Coinbase to throttle their web site to stop it from crashing.Throttled site and crashing app　　Some reports are suggesting that besides the throttling of the website, Coinbase‘s mobile app crashed during the Super Bowl, however, CryptoSlate has not been able to confirm these reports. The mobile app did, however, reach second place over most downloaded apps on Apple’s App Store.　　According to ad industry news outlet Adweek, Coinbase‘s commercial hit the number one spot of all of this year’s Super Bowl commercials.　　In a piece

2022-02-15Deep Dive

Will Uber start accepting crypto payments?

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi revealed In a recent interview that the worlds largest ride-hailing company will eventually accept crypto as payment.　　According to Khosrowshahi, Uber will “absolutely” accept cryptocurrencies in the future–just not yet. Heres why. “We‘re having conversations all the time”　　The ride-hailing App is actively exploring adding the crypto payment option, but still hasn’t decided to take the leap.　　“Someday,” Khosrowshahi told Bloomberg in a recent interview, adding the company is having conversations on the matter “all the time.”　　“I think right now what we see with Bitcoin and some of the other cryptos is that–they are quite valuable as a store of value,”　　Noted the CEO, who continued to address some of the major reasons why Uber is not just there yet to incorporate the technology.　　And while customers patiently await for the ride which they will be able to pay in Bitcoin, it remains to be seen whether the company intends to make a public pledge in the form of investment–by purchasing Bitcoin for its reserve. 　　According to Khosrowshahi, who stated environmental concerns surrounding digital mining as a key factor for still not making the move, the exchange mechanism carrying high transaction fees is also an issue holding Uber back. 　　“As the

2022-02-15Deep Dive

Singapore’s DBS Bank to Launch Retail-Focused Crypto Trading Desk in 2022

The major Singapore-based bank DBS confirmed that it is planning to launch a retail-focused crypto trading desk in 2022, after last year doing the same for accredited investors and corporate customers.　　The plans include an online portal that allows clients to place orders for various digital assets, similar to how other crypto exchanges work, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said during a presentation of the banks financial results for the 4th quarter of 2021 today.　　For now, the bank will focus on making the use of its existing corporate-focused digital asset trading desk more convenient for users, with an aim to “expand it beyond the current investor base” later in the year.　　“[…] we should have something by the end of the year,” Gupta said noting that there is “lots of work to do with suitability and anti-fraud […].”　　Under the current procedures, clients of the DBS crypto trading desk – which includes certain companies and accredited investors – need to call the bank to place their crypto trades by phone. According to Gupta, however, the plan for this year is to make everything work online, and have clients place orders themselves.　　The announcement of a retail trading desk for digital assets today follows reports from

2022-02-15Deep Dive

Bitcoin Hashrate Hits New All-Time High Amid Bearish Macro Signals

Bitcoins (BTC) hashrate recorded its biggest increase of the year on Saturday, jumping from 188.40 exahashes per second (EH/s) to a new all-time high of 248.11 EH/s in just one day, according to data from Blockchain.com.　　Despite the value dropping to 209.63 EH/s on Sunday, the worlds leading blockchain network is now as secure as ever.　　In blockchains that use the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm, hashrate refers to the total combined computational power allocated by a network of computers, called “miners,” to process transactions and add blocks onto the blockchain.　　The higher the hashrate, the more secure the network is as more computing power is required to perform a successful attack, like process fraudulent transactions or report that the same Bitcoin has been used twice (called a “double-spend”).　　1 million TH/s is the equivalent of 1 EH/s. Source: Blockchain.com.　　Coupled with the record-high Bitcoin mining difficulty—the measure of how difficult it is to find new blocks—a rising hashrate is a rather bullish signal indicating that miners are increasingly willing to deploy long-term capital into Bitcoins infrastructure.　　As data from BTC.com shows, Bitcoin mining difficulty is expected to increase by a further 3.24% later this week, when the values next readjustment happens.Macro signals and Bitcoin　　Bitcoin‘s network has

2022-02-15Deep Dive

Pre-orders of Samsung’s New Galaxy S22 Smartphone to Come With NFTs

Heres one way to max leverage publicity around the launch of your keystone product: Throw in an NFT. 　　And thats just what Samsung has done, at least for consumers in South Korea. In partnership with crypto project Theta Labs, the electronics company will dole out commemorative non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to people who have pre-ordered either the Galaxy S22 smartphone or the new Tablet S8. 　　The NFTs reportedly come equipped with “ongoing membership benefits and privileges,” according to CEO and co-founder of Theta Labs, Mitch Liu. A Theta spokesperson could not share further details with Decrypt as to what these benefits would be, however.　　Theta Labs is the team behind the blockchain project Theta Network as well as a crypto-native video streaming service called THETA.tv. Theta Labs is pushing its network within the esports and video streaming niche and incentivizes activity on its platforms through the native THETA token. 　　The token is currently trading at $3.56, down more than 5% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. 　　The latest NFT drop with Samsung is also expected to attract users to Thetas NFT marketplace, ThetaDrop. 　　Thats because customers who have pre-ordered Samsungs Galaxy S22 or Tablet S8 can claim their NFTs by

2022-02-14Deep Dive

NFTs This CryptoPunks NFT was sold for 8,000 ETH ($23 million)

A CryptoPunks NFT has been sold at a world record value that supersedes the ETH or USD figures splashed on any other CryptoPunks before — $24 million in Ethereum.CryptoPunk #5822 sold for 8000ETH　　CryptoPunks is one of the oldest NFT collections in the space. The collection was developed in 2017 when there was little to no interest in the space, but today, they are considered to be one of the most expensive works in the non-fungible token area.　　They are a collection of 10,000 algorithmically generated tokenized and pixelated art images of humans, aliens, apes, zombies, etc.　　This latest CryptoPunks was purchased by the Chief Executive Officer of Chain, Deepak Thapliyal. The CEO announced the acquisition of the NFT on Twitter. Available information shows that he paid 8,000 ETH for the CryptoPunks.　　Providing further details regarding the transaction, the CEO revealed that he leveraged his Compound Finance account to purchase the digital art.　　It should be added that Thapliyals CryptoPunk #5822 is regarded as an “alien,” and there are only nine of such NFTs out of the 10,000 NFT pieces in the collection.　　Interestingly, this is not the first time that a CryptoPunks NFT will be attracting top dollar. Last year, DraftKings Shalom Meckenzie paid $11.8

2022-02-14Deep Dive

8 Benefits of Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has become extremely popular over the past few years, but many consumers and investors may be wondering what all the commotion is about. Why would anyone choose cryptocurrency when their local currency works just fine for most things？ Why would someone invest in a cryptocurrency？　　In fact, there are a lot of advantages to using and investing in cryptocurrency. Here are the top eight benefits to consider.8 benefits of cryptocurrency　　Transaction speed　　Transaction costs　　Accessibility　　Security　　Privacy　　Transparency　　Diversification　　Inflation protection1. Transaction speed　　If you want to send someone money in the United States, there are few ways to move money or assets from one account to another faster than you can with cryptocurrency. Most transactions at U.S. financial institutions settle in three to five days. A wire transfer usually takes at least 24 hours. Stock trades settle in three days.　　But one of the advantages of cryptocurrency transactions is that they can be completed in a matter of minutes. Once the block with your transaction in it is confirmed by the network, its fully settled and the funds are available to use.2. Transaction costs　　The cost of transacting in cryptocurrency is relatively low compared to other financial services. For example, its not uncommon for a domestic wire transfer to cost

2022-02-14Deep Dive

Bahrain Central Bank Completes Cross-Border Transfer Test Using JPMorgan Blockchain

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), working in partnership with Bank ABC, recently announced it had successfully tested the transfer of funds across borders using JPMorgan‘s JPM Coin. The test fulfills the central bank’s goal of creating safe and efficient settlement solutions for customers.　　 Eliminating Inefficiencies in the Cross-Border Payment Arena With CBDCs　　Bahrains central bank recently said it had piloted its first cross border funds transfer using the JPMorgan blockchain. The transfer, which was carried out in partnership with Bank ABC, is the latest step taken by the CBB as it prepares to launch its digital currency.　　In his comments following the latest test, CBB governor, Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, is quoted by Unlock Media lauding the central banks ongoing tests. He said:　　We at the Central Bank of Bahrain are extremely pleased to announce the success of this test which aligns with our vision and strategy to continually develop and enrich the capabilities extended to the stakeholders within our financial services sector in the Kingdom using advanced and leading emerging technologies.　　Al Maraj added that through the institutions partners, the CBB will attempt to “address and eliminate the inefficiencies and pain points which exist today in the traditional cross-border payments arena.”　　Just like

2022-02-14Deep Dive

Switzerland's Largest Bank UBS Expects US Crypto Legislation to Take Time

Switzerlands largest bank, UBS, expects the United States Congress to take a long time to pass cryptocurrency legislation despite mounting interest in crypto investments and regulators calling for Congress to weigh in on crypto legislation.　　Congress Could Take a Long Time on Crypto Legislation　　The largest bank in Switzerland, UBS, published its view on U.S. crypto legislation Friday after the House of Financial Services Committee held a lengthy hearing on the regulation of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins last week.　　The Swiss banks U.S. Office of Public Policy explained that at the hearing, a senior Treasury official discussed recommendations made in a stablecoin report issued by the Department of the Treasury and other regulators.　　“To fill in regulatory gaps and address financial stability concerns, the regulators would like Congress to develop legislation that regulates stablecoin issuers as banks,” the UBS team detailed, noting that this proposal has received pushback from some lawmakers.　　The Federal Reserve also made it clear in its recent central bank digital currency (CBDC) report that it would like direction from Congress before proceeding with a digital dollar.　　However, Switzerlands largest bank believes: It will take time for lawmakers to digest the complexities of these issues and reconcile potentially divergent approaches on how digital assets

2022-02-14Deep Dive

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