Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Kristin Johnson has urged Congress to adopt legislation that “closes the current gap in the oversight of crypto spot markets.” During a speech at a digital assets conference at Duke University on Jan. 21, Johnson proposed a number of amendments that would enable the CFTC to conduct “effective due diligence”
A senator in the U.S. state of Arizona has introduced a set of cryptocurrency bills, one of which seeks to make bitcoin legal tender. “Centralized digital money controlled by the central bankers is slavery. Decentralized bitcoin is freedom,” the lawmaker said. Arizona Lawmaker Wants to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers has
Despite the plans to turn the region into a bustling crypto hub, the United Kingdom’s financial watchdog says it has given the all-clear to only 41 out of 300 crypto firm applications seeking regulatory approval to date. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) implemented the new cryptocurrency-focused regulations on Jan. 10, 2020, to supervise businesses
Bitcoin rallied back above $23,000 on Thursday, following the release of Tesla’s quarterly earnings report. The report showed that Tesla was holding 9,720 bitcoin, worth $223 million. Ethereum was also higher, as prices were back above $1,600, rebounding from recent losses in the process. Bitcoin Bitcoin (BTC) moved to a fresh five-month high earlier in
Two United States senators have taken their questions about the performance of accounting firms active in the crypto space to a higher power: the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Failure to uncover alleged criminality and poor recordkeeping at FTX has sullied the image of the PCAOB and the accounting profession, the senators said. In
Russia may issue a stablecoin backed by gold to use in international settlements, a high-ranking member of the Russian parliament has admitted. The matter has been discussed during a recent visit to Iran where officials have also signaled interest in such an initiative. Iran and Russia Talk Stablecoin Payments for Bilateral Trade Settlements The Russian
Crypto proponents would be wise to keep their eyes on nonfungible token (NFT) and metaverse trademark applications this year, which are “reliable signals” of future-use plans. Speaking to Cointelegraph, intellectual property lawyer Michael Kondoudis said while many people may think big corporations are just jumping onto the NFT trend as a novelty, “it is not
XRP bulls are trying to ride the wave along with Bitcoin to reclaim previously lost territory. The bulls are targeting new annual highs. XRP has been trading in the green zone since the beginning of the year with a strong recovery and bullish sentiment from its investors. At press time, XRP is trading at $04.96,
Blur, the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, has seen a significant increase in volume since its launch in October. According to statistics from Dune Analytics, Blur has captured about 30% of the market share in terms of sales volume. The NFT marketplace leader, Opensea, commands 48% of the market share. Blur NFT Marketplace Captures 30% of
The SEC has once again rejected a proposal to list the ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF on equities exchange Cboe BZX, according to Jan. 26 statement from the SEC. The SEC rejected a similar proposal in April, 2022. The SEC has just now once again rejected ARK’s and 21Shares spot bitcoin, $BTC ETF listing. —
Bitcoin (BTC) price had a mixed reaction on Jan. 25 after the United States reported a 2.9% gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter, slightly better than expected. Still, the sum of all goods and services commercialized between October and December grew less than 3.2% from the previous quarter. Another data set limiting investors’
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) is working on two papers to address fundamental legal risks in the crypto markets, such as the insolvency of crypto exchange firms, according to a statement released on Jan. 26. The initiative was motivated by the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and previous bankruptcy cases that “prompted a
The NBA has extended its current partnership with Meta to broadcast its games to the metaverse. The company announced that 52 games of the league will be available to be enjoyed using VR (virtual reality) tech, using Xtadium, a co-viewing platform. Five of these games will be presented in a more immersive way for Horizon
Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Bithumb in turmoil On Jan. 25, Yonhap Infomax reported that South Korean authorities had requested an arrest warrant for Kang Jong-Hyun, chairman and owner of cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, over embezzlement allegations. That same day, the Financial Investigation Second Division of the
Stablecoins in the cryptocurrency market help provide U.S. dollar-pegged tokens within the volatile industry. In bull markets, the market capitalization of stablecoins tends to decrease as investors flock to more volatile assets; and in bear markets, investors seek shelter in low-volatility stablecoins, thus increasing their market caps. On Jan. 26, the total market capitalization for
On a few occasions last year, crypto advocates discussed how a number of price models, leveraged to help predict the future value of bitcoin, ended up failing. However, since bitcoin’s value has increased by 36% over the last month, the price has entered the darkest band of the rainbow chart after breaking below the rainbow
For much of 2022, the crypto market focused on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s actions. The central bank created a bearish environment for risk-on assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies by increasing the interest rates on borrowing. Toward the end of 2022, positive economic data, healthy employment numbers and a decreasing inflation rate provided hope that a much-awaited
The now-defunct crypto exchange FTX has published its list of creditors, with the names unredacted. The comprehensive list, which is over 100 pages long, shows that FTX owes a lot of money to well-known institutions, including Binance, Airbnb, Apple, Amazon, Linkedin, Coindesk, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and more. U.S. government entities, such as the
Lawyers representing FTX in bankruptcy court have reportedly argued that former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s immediate family should face questioning regarding their personal wealth. According to a Jan. 26 report from Bloomberg, FTX’s lawyers requested Judge John Dorsey in the District of Delaware allow them to question Joseph Bankman, Barbara Fried and Gabriel Bankman-Fried — the
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