Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Former SEC head and treasury undersecretary defend US crypto regulations

The regulatory pressure is mounting in the U.S., with more politicians questioning whether the current framework is adequate.　　An opinion piece penned for Wall Street Journal by former SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton, and former Undersecretary of the Treasury, Brent McIntosh, have defended the United States existing regulatory apparatus regarding crypto and warned that excessive rulemaking could stifle innovation.　　The discussions come as cryptocurrencies have been thrown into the regulatory spotlight once again in the wake of two crippling ransomware attacks in the U.S. Over the weekend, two senators deliberated on the prospect of banning cryptocurrencies as a solution to the ransomware attacks.　　Clayton served as SEC head from May 2017 until December 2020 and stated that the agency did not take up Bitcoin regulation because the asset was declared not to be a security before he took up his position as its head. Clayton has remained in the industry following his departure from the SEC and currently advises One River Asset Management on cryptocurrencies.　　McIntosh was the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from September 2019 until January 2021, previously serving as General Counsel to the Department of the Treasury between 2017 and 2019.　　The pair emphasized the challenge of finding a pragmatic

2021-06-08Deep Dive

India Could Benefit if Crypto is Treated Like Gold, Says Infosys Co-Founder

Despite calling them volatile and energy-intensive to use as a means of payment, the Indian tech executive Nandan Nilekani advised the local government to accept cryptocurrencies as an asset class. He opined that the move would boost the countrys economy.　　Crypto Like a Commodity　　In a recent interview for the Financial Times, the Indian billionaire Nandan Nilekani – co-founder and chair of Infosys – appealed to the local authorities to embrace cryptocurrencies as an asset class.　　He argued that there is huge potential in the market, and the second-most populated country could gain advantages from it. Furthermore, the government should not restrict “crypto guys to put their wealth into Indias economy.”　　Nonetheless, the Indian entrepreneur agreed with many critiques that cryptocurrencies are not suitable to be used as a payment method as their fiat currency value is quite volatile and they consume too much energy. He rather opined that investors should consider them as a precious metal substitute, for example:　　“Just like you have some of your assets in gold or real estate, you can have some of your assets in crypto. I think theres a role for crypto as a stored value but certainly not in a transactional sense.”　　This is not the first time

2021-06-08Deep Dive

How Nigeria’s Twitter Ban Could Hinder Bitcoin’s Adoption Rate In Africa

The Government of Nigeria on June 5th announced a ban on the social media platform, Twitter, restricting it from operating in Nigeria through the office of the Minister for Information and Culture. This action reportedly comes after Twitter deleted tweets by the President threatening a repeat of the Nigeria-Biafra 1967 Civil War.　　The ban has the potential of affecting the large community of crypto traders in the country, as a lot of Bitcoin trading is facilitated by peer-to-peer (P2P) trading on social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook after the CBN cryptocurrency ban in the country.　　Twitter is currently being accessed only via the use of VPN in the country as telecommunications companies have implemented the ban. In the long run, seeing as Nigeria contributes the most in Bitcoin trading volume, more than any other African country, a decline in trading could affect Bitcoins global price performance.　　Per our previous reports, Nigeria recently emerged as the country with the highest number of Bitcoin searches globally, with a search score that is double that of its nearest rival South Africa.　　The country was ranked to be the world‘s second-largest peer-to-peer bitcoin market and the largest in Africa in 2020. Recent data also revealed

2021-06-08Deep Dive

Chainalysis Report: U.S. Investors’ Realized Bitcoin Gains for 2020 Stood At $4 Billion

The last year of 2020 was the year that changed the tide for crypto investors. Right from hitting rock bottom in March 2020 to surging to new highs by December, investors saw the best of the bust and boom cycles. The latest report released by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis shows that U.S. investors seemingly dominated the crypto market in 2020.　　The U.S. investors collectively made over $4 billion in realized gains in 2020 which was 3x than China that stood second. While the estimated Bitcoin gains for 2020 for U.S. investors stand at $4.1 billion, that of China stood at just $1.1 billion. As the Chainalysis report explains:　　“This may seem surprising considering that China historically has by far the highest raw cryptocurrency transaction volume, but as we‘ve covered previously, U.S.-focused exchanges saw huge inflows in 2020 that appear to have been realized toward the end of the year, which likely accounts for the country’s large gains”.　　Courtesy: Chainalysis　　High Bitcoin Adoption in Low GDP Countries　　Another interesting fact shared by Chainalysis is that there have been many countries wherein the BTC adoption has been significantly high when measured against their GDP. Vietnam, the country that ranks 53rd with a GDP of $262 billion stands

2021-06-08Deep Dive

Forked DEX On Binance Chain Tests Uniswap & Legal Limits

Major decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI) has been put to another test, as the crypto industry is waiting how the platform will react to its copy that has appeared on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC).　　“Holaswap is 100% fork of Uniswap V3 on BSC thats 100% community owned and governed,” the new player said.　　According to the project, it has USD 10,990 total value locked (TVL) as of 7:43 UTC on Monday, with a 24h volume of USD 1,400.　　Uniswap v3, or the third version, has been deployed to the Ethereum mainnet on May 5. The team behind the project stressed that “Uniswap v3 Core will launch under the Business Source License 1.1—effectively a time-delayed GPL-2.0-or-later license. The license limits use of the v3 source code in a commercial or production setting for up to two years, at which point it will convert to a GPL [General Public License] license into perpetuity.”　　Therefore, the Cryptoverse is now waiting to see how Uniswap responds to this, given that that response “is going to set a precedent for years to come,” as Nansen analyst Ling Young Loon said.　　How would Uniswap stop an anonymous project from copying it, and what are the legal implications for both those who

2021-06-08Deep Dive

The when and why behind Ethereum breaking above $3000

It is difficult to navigate through a choppy cryptocurrency market. With a lack of direction on either side of the trend, Ethereum is finding a bit of a bullish push yet again. For Ethereum Classic, there is a considerable lack of volatility, which is keeping the price at bay. Theta, on the other hand, enjoyed plenty of positive volatility over the past week, which has momentarily allowed the asset to recovered above 40%.　　While a clear trend is yet to appear in the longer time frame, we analyzed these assets to understand whether a sharp movement is brewing on the side or not.　　Is a break above $3000 on for Ethereum now？　　ETH/USDT on Trading View　　On 3rd June, the rejection was met at $2900 and on 5th June, $2800 followed. With exhausted bullish momentum, Ether seemed destined to re-test $2250, but support at $2550 has held. Now, within 48 hours, the price is back above $2800 which is a strong indication that $3000 can still be attained.　　At the moment, strong indicators are backing ETHs price action as well.　　Source: Santiment　　As observed in the above chart, Ethereum‘s NVT ratio is currently on a rise over the past few days, but its average has remained low.

2021-06-08Deep Dive

There’s A Massive Bitcoin Adoption Trend About To Thump The Philippines

As the Bitcoin adoption rate surges across the globe, many parts of the Asian continent remain committed to grabbing a piece of the Bitcoin pie before the industry gets saturated. While the Chinese and Japanese governments have been adopting strict cryptocurrency policies that have forced leading firms to migrate, the Philippines is opening its arms to the leading cryptocurrency.　　Millions of Philippines residents may finally gain access to Bitcoin for the first time　　In the heat of the weeks chaotic events, it may have been easy to overlook the reports made by insiders on the leading Philippines mobile wallet Gcash. The firm which is currently the biggest in the Philippines is reportedly considering adopting Bitcoin by integrating the asset into its booming platform. A lot of the Bitcoin payments recorded in the country can be traced back to Gcash users, who use the platform for transactions on a daily basis.　　GCash, which is the short form of Global Cash, is a payment platform that was created by the Philippines‘ top telecommunications conglomerate. The app allows users to have access to a wide range of services. Users can make payments for utility bills, malls, bank transfers, and restaurants. Should Gcash step into the Bitcoin

2021-06-08Deep Dive

Will The Miami Bitcoin Conference Herald A Cryptocurrency Tsunami?

The most eagerly anticipated Bitcoin conference since the advent of the number one cryptocurrency ended yesterday. Some earth-shattering statements, such as that of the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, promising to introduce legislation to make Bitcoin a legal form of payment in his country, made this a landmark conference for the advancement of cryptocurrency.　　A year in the making, the Bitcoin 2021 Conference, held in Miami, could be said to be a resounding success. The conference began during a period of fairly extreme negativity for the number one cryptocurrency. A two month slide in the Bitcoin price, from its high in April, led to a halving in its value by mid-May.　　China, Elon Musk and other factors, had led to the major price plummet. However, some commentators had speculated that the bull trend which began in March of 2020, had risen too much, and far too quickly.　　Francis Suarez, the Mayor of Miami, kicked off the conference by declaring that he wanted his city to embrace crypto and become a city that focuses on technological advances.　　Ron Paul, congressman, ex-presidential candidate, and renowned libertarian, spoke on the principles of liberty and monetary freedom. He explained the difference between freedom and “free money”, alluding

2021-06-08Deep Dive

The First NHL Team To Accept Crypto Is Here

The NHL‘s San Jose Sharks have announced that they’ll be accepting crypto for payments as early as June 15th – the first NHL team to do so. Cryptocurrency will be accepted for season tickets, luxury boxes and sponsorships.　　The Future Of Crypto In Hockey　　“We‘re accepting PayPal, so then by definition, we’re accepting cryptocurrency,” Sharks president Jonathan Becher said regarding the news. “Why not embrace it and make it more visible as opposed to just doing it through a third party？”　　The team partnered with BitPay to accept a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and more. Becher elaborated on Twitter with further comment, adding that “Initially well accept cryptocurrency for season tickets, suite leases, and partnerships. Other use cases – including single-game tickets, F the NHLs New Jersey Devils signed a deal with Socios.com and Chiliz around marketing efforts to integrate blockchain technology in audience monetization and engagement. Other major teams and leagues have partnered with the blockchain company to launch their own fan tokens as well.　　Chiliz and Socios.com are becoming a focal point in fan tokens - a popular way for major league teams to utilize blockchain technology to engage with fans. | Source: CHZ-USD on TradingView.com　　Beyond The NHL: Crypto

2021-06-08Deep Dive

Proposed New Law Would Allow Russians to Inherit Bitcoin and Co.

Senior Russian lawmakers are set to push ahead with the creation of a new law that would allow citizens to inherit bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptoassets, include it in their wills and divorce settlements – and allow creditors to access tokens in successful bankruptcy claims.　　Crypto currently has a decidedly grey legal status in Russia. Although the nation‘s first-ever crypto-related bill promulgated this year, in essence, all it effectively did in terms of the nation’s law was outlaw the use of tokens in payments.　　And while the government seems keen to press forward with crypto tax legislation in time to launch next year, critics have claimed that this will be problematic due to the fact that crypto has no legal status in Russia, where it is covered neither by asset laws nor property rules.　　This means that courts have often been powerless to rule in cases of token inheritance, while lawyers have been powerless when dealing with requests to include crypto holdings on wills.　　But per RBC, the head of the State Duma‘s Committee on State Construction and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov stated that he was hopeful changes could be made to the nation’s inheritance law and civil code before the end of the current

2021-06-08Deep Dive

...

586588

...

742