Robert Kiyosaki Buying More Bitcoin — Warns SEC Regulations Will Crush Most Cryptocurrencies

The famous author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has revealed why he is buying more bitcoin. He warned that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations will “crush” most other cryptocurrencies.

Robert Kiyosaki Buys More Bitcoin, Warns About SEC Regulations Crushing Crypto Tokens

The author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has revealed the key reason why he is investing in bitcoin. The famous author warned that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will “crush” most other crypto tokens with its regulations.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries.

Kiyosaki tweeted Friday that he is investing in bitcoin. He explained that he is “very excited” about BTC because the cryptocurrency “is classified as a commodity much like gold, silver, and oil.” The Rich Dad Poor Dad author added that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has classified bitcoin as a commodity while most other crypto tokens are securities, cautioning that “SEC regulations will crush most of them.” He ended his tweet by stating that he is buying more bitcoin.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has said repeatedly that bitcoin is a commodity while most other crypto tokens are securities. The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, has also confirmed that bitcoin is a commodity.

The securities regulator said in November that its Enforcement Division remains focused on crypto. The SEC has been heavily criticized for taking an enforcement-centric approach to regulating the crypto sector. Gensler said in May following the terra/luna collapse that a lot of crypto tokens will fail.

The Rich Dad Poor Dad author has been recommending investors buy gold, silver, and bitcoin for quite some time. Kiyosaki previously said he is a bitcoin investor, not a trader, so he gets excited when BTC hits a new bottom.

Earlier this month, he predicted that bitcoin investors will get richer when the Federal Reserve pivots and prints trillions of “fake” dollars. Following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, Kiyosaki said he is still bullish on bitcoin, emphasizing that crypto cannot be blamed for the FTX meltdown. In September, the renowned author urged investors to get into crypto now, before the biggest market crash strikes.

Kiyosaki also made other dire predictions, including the U.S. dollar crashing, the Fed destroying the U.S. economy with its rate hikes, hyperinflation, a Greater Depression, and World War III.

What do you think about Robert Kiyosaki buying more bitcoin and his warning that SEC regulations will crush most cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section below.

via Kevin Helms

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Bankrupt Crypto Exchange FTX to Start Letting Customers in Japan Withdraw Funds

FTX customers in Japan will soon be able to withdraw their funds that are currently frozen due to the bankruptcy process. Two FTX-owned crypto exchanges, FTX Japan and Liquid, are developing a system to allow withdrawals by mid-February.

FTX’s Japanese Customers Can Withdraw Funds Soon

Two FTX-owned cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan — FTX Japan and Liquid — jointly announced Thursday that their users will be able to withdraw funds by mid-February. The two crypto exchanges announced:

For the assets entrusted to us by our customers at FTX Japan and Liquid Japan, we are proceeding with system development so that withdrawals will be possible from the Liquid Japan website.

To withdraw funds, FTX Japan’s customers will need to open an account with Liquid and transfer their assets to the Liquid platform. The exchanges plan to allow withdrawals by mid-February, according to the joint announcement.

Japanese exchange Liquid was acquired by FTX earlier this year. The deal included Quoine Corp., one of the first crypto exchanges to successfully register in 2017 with Japan’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA).

The acquisition followed a major hack where about $90 million worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen from the Liquid platform. FTX then provided Liquid with $120 million of debt financing at that time.

FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11. However, FTX Japan said on Dec. 1 that it had confirmed with lawyers for the FTX group that “Japanese customer cash and cryptocurrency should not be part of FTX Japan’s estate given how these assets are held and property interests under Japanese law.”

In November, the FSA issued three orders against FTX Japan: a business suspension order, an order to hold assets domestically, and a business improvement order. The orders followed the exchange abruptly halting customer withdrawals. The following day, FTX filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. The exchange and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) have been charged by the U.S. government and regulators with multiple counts of fraud.

What do you think about FTX Japan allowing customers to withdraw funds? Let us know in the comments section below.

via Kevin Helms

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NFT Sales Continue to Decline, With ETH-Based NFTs Seeing a 20% Drop in the Past Week

Non-fungible token (NFT) sales over the last seven days are ending the year 13.97% lower than the week prior. During the last week, statistics show that $147,054,554 in NFT sales were recorded across 334,668 NFT buyers.

NFT Sales Continue to Slip: 13.97% Decrease in Last Seven Days

NFT sales are down this week, 13.97% lower than last week according to cryptoslam.io metrics. 2022 hasn’t been a good year for NFTs as sales and NFT values have slid dramatically over the last 12 months. Out of the $147.05 million in NFT sales this past week, NFTs that derived from Ethereum (ETH) represented $113.86 million of the aggregate sold in seven days. However, ETH-based NFT sales slipped by 20.4% during the past week.

Solana NFT sales jumped 91.36% higher this week as the chain saw $23.64 million in seven-day sales. While Solana’s increase was large, Waves-based NFT sales increased by 302.59% but only sold $7,609 worth of NFTs. Theta’s NFT sales jumped by 132.29% over the last week but only sold $358 worth of digital collectibles.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) was this week’s top collection in terms of seven-day sales as it raked in $12.59 million. However, the $12.59 million over 144 sales is 47.05% lower than BAYC’s sales last week. BAYC is followed by Otherdeeds, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), Azuki, and Cryptopunks, respectively. Cryptopunks managed to jump 94.71% higher in terms of sales this week compared to last week’s sales.

The Solana NFT project Degods, which plans to transition the NFTs to the Ethereum chain, saw sales climb 253.80% higher than Degods’ sales last week. Data shows the most expensive digital collectible sold over the past seven days was Azuki #4,690 which sold three days ago for $216K. Azuki #4,690 was followed by Azuki #2,311, Azuki #9,446, and Bored Ape Yacht Club #193.

The top three most expensive floor value prices for NFTs today include BAYC, Cryptopunks, and Mutant Ape Yacht Club. BAYC has a floor value of 69.49 ETH according to nftpricefloor.com, while the Cryptopunks floor value is currently 65.47 ETH.

What’s your opinion on the NFT sales this week? Do you predict that 2023 will be a better year for NFTs? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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Challenging Year for Bitcoin Miners as Fewer BTC Mining Rigs Are Profitable at Current Prices

Bitcoin miners have had a challenging year as the network’s mining difficulty reached an all-time high and the spot market price of bitcoin dropped below the cost of production. Currently, with electricity costs at $0.07 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), only 18 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bitcoin mining rigs are able to turn a profit at current prices.

Current SHA256 ASIC Models Unprofitable at $0.12 per kWh, Only Two Devices Profitable at $0.10 per kWh

On December 31, 2022, statistics show that bitcoin’s hash rate is hovering above the 300 exahash per second (EH/s) range after reaching a low on December 30 at 235 EH/s. Additionally, data from macromicro.me indicates that the current cost of production ($16,577) is nearly equal to bitcoin’s current spot market value ($16,572).

Macromicro.me calculates the cost of production by “observing consumption of electricity and daily issuance of bitcoin, as provided by Cambridge University.” The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) shows BTC’s annualized consumption on Dec. 31, 2022, is 84.74 terawatts per hour (TWh). With the current mining difficulty at 35.36 trillion and current BTC prices at $16,572 per unit, a large number of ASIC mining machines are not profitable.

For instance, at $0.12 per kWh, none of the current SHA256 ASIC models are profitable with electricity costs at that rate. At $0.10 per kWh, two ASIC devices are profitable and can make $1.14-$2.51 per day in profits. The top two machines that can still profit at $0.10 per kWh include Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP Hyd. with 255 terahash per second (TH/s) and Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP with 140 TH/s.

18 ASIC Mining Rigs Profitable at $0.07 per kWh, Alternative Consensus Algorithms See Better Profits

At $0.08 per kWh, 13 different ASIC bitcoin mining machines can capture profits between $0.13-$5.08 per day. The machine with the lowest profits at $0.08 per kWh is Bitmain’s Antminer S19j Pro with 100 TH/s. At $0.07 per kWh, another five machines are added to the profitable machine list with a total of 18 ASIC mining rigs in profit.

At the $0.07 per kWh value, a bitcoin miner can make between $0.23 per day to $6.35 per day, depending on the machine used. Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP Hyd. with 255 TH/s and $0.07 per kWh in electrical costs will produce an estimated profit of around $6.35 every 24 hours.

While SHA256 bitcoin mining machines are seeing fewer profits than they were six months ago, machines that mine alternative consensus algorithms see better profits. The top three consensus algorithms today, in terms of profit, include Kadena, Eaglesong, Scrypt, and Handshake.

What are your thoughts on the difficulties that bitcoin miners faced this year? Do you anticipate that conditions will improve in 2023? Share your perspective in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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Mark Moss Predicts Regulatory Shakeup and End of Crypto Bull Runs, but Believes Bitcoin Will Endure

According to Mark Moss, the CEO of Market Disruptor, significant regulation is coming to the cryptocurrency industry following the aftermath of FTX’s collapse. He believes that future cryptocurrency bull runs probably won’t happen. However, Moss says that bitcoin will continue to see demand as it is “solving a problem that has plagued humanity from Day One.”

Market Disruptor CEO Predicts Regulatory Shift in Wake of FTX Collapse, Sees Most Cryptocurrency Assets Regulated as Securities in Future

On Dec. 29, 2022, Mark Moss, the CEO of Market Disruptor, spoke with Michelle Makori, the lead anchor of Kitco News and the company’s editor-in-chief, about the cryptocurrency industry and bitcoin (BTC). Moss believes that the recent FTX collapse has accelerated regulation, and he thinks that most cryptocurrency assets will be regulated as securities in the future. As an example, the recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) charges against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried define FTX’s exchange token, FTT, as an unregulated security.

To furnish another specific example, a New Hampshire court also sided with the SEC in the lawsuit against LBRY, and LBRY said the language used to sway the court’s decision “sets an extraordinarily dangerous precedent.” Moss told Makori that deeming most crypto tokens as securities will likely force projects to create full disclosures for investors. “Imagine Ethereum going through full disclosure,” Moss said during the interview. “Who created the token? How many [coins] are controlled by insiders?”

The Market Disruptor executive and author of the ​​”The Un-Communist Manifesto” added:

What’s the connection between the Ethereum Foundation, Joseph Lubin, and Vitalik Buterin? Who controls the tokens in The Merge lockup?… I can’t imagine they’d want to [go through full disclosure].

Moss said that it’s likely some crypto projects move offshore, but he stressed that he believes the money from U.S. investors won’t follow these projects. “Sure, the SEC clamps down and [cryptocurrencies] goes offshore … to some small jurisdiction,” Moss said to Makori. “But the American venture capital companies can’t skate past U.S. regulations to try to invest in these little obscure markets. So sure, it’ll move to another country… but the money won’t go with it, which drives the entire market cap.”

While Moss doesn’t expect another altcoin season or crypto bull run, he does believe the leading crypto asset bitcoin (BTC) will continue to prosper. Moss insists BTC is a “technological revolution that changes the course of humanity and drives financial markets.” Moss further said that he doesn’t want the regulatory hammer to come crashing down, and further insisted that he was just explaining the case as he sees it unfolding. Moss stressed:

Now is the time [regulators] are going to be forced to react. The SEC looks horrible … the [SEC’s] number one job is to protect consumers, and they have failed. They should shut down in disgrace and close up shop … Of course that’s not going to happen, but they need to regain confidence somehow, and I believe [the FTX collapse] is going to force [regulators] to act.

Moss Forecasts Bitcoin Price to Reach $33K-$38K Next Year, Debate Over Securities Classification in Crypto Industry Looms

In 2023, Moss expects BTC to hit $33K per unit and possibly even $38K. “Bitcoin is solving a problem that has plagued humanity from Day One, which is, how do I secure my property so it can’t be manipulated, seized, or stolen?’” Moss remarked. “I can have custody of [Bitcoin] and if I want to send it to you, nobody could stop it, block it, or prevent it.”

There’s a lot of debate over whether specific crypto assets should be considered securities, and in the U.S., regulators have not reached a full consensus. For example, SEC chairman Gary Gensler has said that most crypto tokens are securities and he once said the “law is clear on this.” “I believe based on the facts and circumstances, most of these tokens are securities,” Gensler said during an interview.

Gensler also once declared that he could confirm that bitcoin (BTC) is a commodity, but it’s the only crypto token he would talk about in that fashion. In May, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman Rostin Behnam said he could surely say bitcoin is a commodity. “Well, I can say for sure bitcoin … is a commodity. Ether as well,” Behnam elaborated during his interview with CNBC.

What are your thoughts on Mark Moss’s recent conversation with Michelle Makori about the cryptocurrency industry? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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China’s Digital Yuan Little Used, Former Central Bank Official Says

Trials of the digital yuan have produced disappointing results, according to a report quoting the former head of research at the Chinese central bank. The new form of national fiat has brought no benefits to the banks and should expand beyond being employed only as a substitute for cash, the banker believes.

Common People Used to Cash and Cards, Ex-PBOC Executive Notes

Usage of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been “low, highly inactive,” according to Xie Ping, former director-general of research at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Ping made this observation at a conference devoted to digital finance.

“The cumulative circulation of the digital yuan in the two years of the trial has been only 100 billion yuan” ($14 billion), he detailed, quoted by the financial news outlet Caixin and Reuters. In his view, the application of the digital yuan needed to be widened.

“The results are not ideal,” Xie concluded during the forum which was organized by the Tsinghua University. He emphasized that “what needs to change is the digital yuan acting only as a substitute for cash and only for consumption.”

The payment market structure formed by cash, bank cards, and third-party payment platforms are currently satisfying the needs for daily consumption in China. “The common people are used to it, and changing it is difficult,” he remarked.

China has been at the forefront of the race to develop CBDCs with efforts to promote the digital yuan through a number of red envelope campaigns, giving away e-CNY to stimulate its use, and by expanding the geographical scope of the pilot project to new cities and regions.

Authorities have also been trying to increase the use cases for the digital version of the renminbi, with the latest examples including the introduction of digital yuan payments in the public transportation systems of Ningbo and Guangzhou. In September, the PBOC called for more of these use-case scenarios and urged for deeper integration of its new currency with e-payment providers.

According to Xie Ping, digital yuan business had no synergistic effect and no commercial benefits for banks’ business while third-party payment systems such as Alipay offered a range of more attractive functions such as investment, insurance, and consumer lending.

That’s why the ex-central bank official believes digital yuan usage can be expanded by allowing individuals to buy financial products with the state-backed coin, for example, and by connecting it to more traditional payment platforms in order to create new opportunities to spend it for consumption.

Do you think use of the digital yuan will grow with an increase in the use-cases offered by the Chinese government? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

via Lubomir Tassev

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Insurance Giant Tokio Marine to Offer Its Services in the Metaverse

Tokio Marine, the biggest property/casualty insurance group in Japan, is taking its services and operations into the metaverse. The group, which has more than 39,000 employees all over the world, will allow its users to review and purchase insurance products on a metaverse platform, using real employees as clerks in the virtual world.

Tokio Marine to Offer Insurance in Metaverse

While gaming, social, and tech companies have been the first in embracing the metaverse as a concept, other companies are now also entering available metaverse platforms. Tokio Marine, the biggest property and casualty insurance group in Japan, has announced that it will start offering insurance services in the metaverse. The company will offer insurance and other kinds of policies in the digital world in January, employing real clerks that will be represented as avatars.

Interested users will be able to interact with the clerks and inquire about the details of each one of the products offered, as well as send and complete forms and even conclude contracts in the metaverse, according to reports from Yomiuri Shimbun.

The company will host these services on Virtual Akiba World, a metaverse platform that has been built as a digital representation of the famous station and town of Akihabara in Japan. About the reason for the extension of these services to the virtual world, the company stated:

By using the metaverse, we will provide a new customer experience that reduces the psychological burden of insurance consultations and enables casual insurance consultations and considerations.

Furthermore, the company will allow users to run a course with a flying car in the metaverse to help it determine the style of driving the consumer prefers, as well as to familiarize it with the advantages that insurance could bring to specific drivers.

Other Japanese Companies in the Metaverse

Asian and Japanese companies have been pioneers in the metaverse field, with several investing in the development of virtual tech directed to target this new field. One of these companies is MUFG, one of the largest banks in the country, which has already announced it will start offering banking services in the metaverse by 2023.

In October, NTT Docomo, a leading Japanese telecom carrier, announced the launch of its own metaverse division with an investment of $412 million, having more than 200 employees focusing on these tasks in November.

What do you think about Tokio Marine taking its business to the metaverse? Tell us in the comments section below.

via Sergio Goschenko

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Financial Giant Fidelity Files Trademarks for Crypto, NFT, and Metaverse Products

Fidelity Investments, a major financial services firm with $10 trillion in assets under administration, has filed several trademark applications for a wide range of cryptocurrency, non-fungible token (NFT), and metaverse products and services.

Fidelity’s Crypto and Metaverse Trademark Applications

Fidelity Investments filed three trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last week for a wide range of cryptocurrency, non-fungible token (NFT), and metaverse products and services. Fidelity has $9.6 trillion in assets under administration as of Sept. 30; the financial services firm serves about 40 million individual investors.

Mike Kondoudis, a USPTO-licensed trademark attorney, tweeted Monday:

Fidelity has plans for the metaverse! The company has filed 3 trademark applications covering NFTs + NFT marketplaces, metaverse investment services, virtual real estate investing, cryptocurrency trading, and more.

The financial services giant’s trademark applications were filed on Dec. 21. Their serial numbers are 97727473, 97727439, and 97727409.

The applications specifically detail a vast number of products and services “in the metaverse and other virtual worlds,” including mutual fund investment services, retirement fund investment services, investment management services, financial planning, securities brokerage services, money management, financial analysis, and investment management.

Fidelity is no stranger to the metaverse. In April, the financial services firm opened a multi-level learning center called “The Fidelity Stack” in Decentraland. The firm also launched a metaverse exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the same month.

In November, Fidelity Investments began offering commission-free retail bitcoin and ether trading. However, its subsidiary Fidelity Digital Assets has been offering bitcoin services to institutional investors for several years and recently began offering ether trading. The firm published a report earlier this year, stating: “Bitcoin’s first technological breakthrough was not as a superior payment technology but as a superior form of money. As a monetary good, bitcoin is unique.”

A growing number of big corporations are filing cryptocurrency and metaverse-related trademark applications with the USPTO. This month, banking giant HSBC filed trademark applications for a range of digital currency and metaverse products. In October, Visa, Paypal, and Western Union similarly filed crypto-related trademark applications. Last month, JPMorgan Chase was granted a wallet trademark covering various virtual currency and payment services.

What do you think about Fidelity filing trademark applications for a wide range of crypto, NFT, and metaverse products and services? Let us know in the comments section below.

via Kevin Helms

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Bahamas Seizes Digital Assets Worth Over $3.5 Billion From Collapsed Crypto Exchange FTX

The Securities Commission of the Bahamas has revealed that it seized digital assets worth more than $3.5 billion from the collapsed crypto exchange FTX. The regulator explained that the cryptocurrencies were transferred to its wallets “for safekeeping” and “are being held by the Commission on a temporary basis.”

Bahamas Regulator Seizes FTX’s Cryptocurrencies

The Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) said Thursday that it has obtained a court order to transfer the digital assets owned by, or under the custody or control of, FTX Digital Markets Ltd. (FTXDM) to its secure wallets. FTX Digital Markets is the Bahamian subsidiary of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Trading Ltd., which owned and operated the crypto trading platform FTX.com.

The regulator wrote that on Nov. 12:

The Commission … took the action of directing the transfer of all digital assets under the custody or control of FTXDM or its principals, valued at more than US$3.5 billion, based on market pricing at the time of transfer, to digital wallets controlled by the Commission, for safekeeping.

The Commission added that it is exercising “its powers as regulator acting under the authority of an order made by the Supreme Court of the Bahamas.” The regulator stressed that the process did not “involve the creation of any additional tokens.”

The seized cryptocurrencies “are being held by the Commission on a temporary basis, until such time as the Bahamas Supreme Court directs the Commission to deliver them to the customers and creditors who own them, or to the JPLs [Joint Provisional Liquidators] to be administered under rules governing the insolvency estate for the benefit of the customers and creditors of FTXDM,” the regulator clarified.

The Securities Commission noted that the seizure was conducted “under a sealing order requested by the Commission and granted by the Supreme Court of the Bahamas” on Nov. 16. The regulator reiterated that contrary to some media reports:

The Commission did not in any way direct, authorize, or suggest to FTXDM the prioritization of withdrawals for Bahamian clients.

FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11 and an estimated one million customers and investors lost billions of dollars. The U.S. government and regulators have filed multiple fraud charges against the crypto firm and Bankman-Fried. The former FTX CEO was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the U.S. last week. He is currently at his parents’ house in Palo Alto, California, on a $250 million bond.

What do you think about the Bahamian regulator seizing FTX’s crypto assets for safekeeping? Let us know in the comments section below.

via Kevin Helms

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Media Draws Attention to Sam Bankman-Fried’s 2 Visits While on House Arrest

After FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was released on bail and traveled to his parent’s home in California, it has been reported that SBF was visited by the crypto advocate Tiffany Fong, and also the “Big Short” author Michael Lewis while he’s been on house arrest. Fong detailed she managed to interview SBF, while Lewis visited to presumably get information on the downfall of the FTX empire for the writer’s upcoming book.

SBF Gets 2 Visitors While on House Arrest and Before His Jan. 3 Arraignment in New York

Since SBF was released on bail, reports note that two people have been granted access to visit the disgraced former FTX CEO while he’s on house arrest. Tiffany Fong disclosed that she met with SBF and noted that she had not written anything yet when she tweeted about her discussion with SBF on Dec. 28.

The following day, The New York Post published an article about Fong’s visit, and the article’s authors Selim Algar, Andy Tillett, and Patrick Reilly decided to call Fong a “sexy crypto influencer.” The Post also used a picture of Fong wearing a bikini and when the article was published, Fong was not pleased with the depiction. “Jesus fkn christ,” Fong said, sharing the article.

Fong also detailed that she “obviously was not wearing a bikini” when she interviewed SBF, and she said The Post “decided to creep [through her] old pics.” In addition to The Post, the Daily Mail also published an article about her visit, and Fong said the Daily Mail reporters noted that she was not pleased with the use of an irrelevant old bikini photo in The Post’s article.

“As soon as I offered a sliver of commentary in response to their questions, [Daily Mail] immediately switched their photo of me to a bikini photo,” Fong said, sharing a screenshot of the original article and then the changed version. In addition to Fong’s statements, Taylor Lorenz from the Washington Post tweeted about the treatment Fong received from The Post and Daily Mail.

“[Tiffany Fong] has gotten big scoops while tirelessly covering FTX,” Lorenz tweeted. “She’s respected by mainstream tech/finance journalists at Wapo, NYT, etc. What she does is journalism, but because she’s a young woman (& using the internet to reach her audience) this is how the media treats her.”

Fong also tweeted about how The Post wrote an article about the “Big Short” author Michael Lewis’s visit with SBF when she said:

Michael Lewis actually ‘spent several hours’ with Sam Bankman-Fried before I did. Is Michael Lewis being sexualized [and] bombarded with questions about whether or not they ‘banged?’

The article featuring Lewis and published by The New York Post is a whole lot different than Fong’s article, and it does not show Lewis in his swim trunks or speedos. The Post editorial about Lewis is quite similar to a great deal of the write-ups concerning the “Big Short,” “Moneyball,” and “Flash Boys” author getting to spend six months with SBF before FTX collapsed.

The Post’s article highlights how Lewis’s “publishing agency [is] pitching the book to potential movie rights buyers” and reports of the pitch sale were disclosed well before SBF was arrested. The news of SBF having two visitors, after being released on house arrest, also follows accusations that allege the former FTX CEO moved $684K in crypto assets associated with Alameda addresses. In The Post’s article, the authors detailed that Fong had further noted that SBF was on his computer during the duo’s discussion.

What do you think about the reports concerning SBF’s visitors after he was released on house arrest? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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‘Ethereum Killers’ Managed to ‘Kill’ Themselves in 2022 Rather Than Beat the Smart Contract Economy’s Heavyweight Champ

At the end of 2021, a myriad of people thought a handful of smart contract platform tokens, often referred to as ‘Ethereum killers,’ would flip the second-largest crypto asset in terms of market capitalization in 2022. As 2022 comes to an end, statistics show that none of the so-called ‘Ethereum killers’ have surpassed the leading smart contract platform token, and a number of these tokens have lost considerable amounts of value during the crypto winter.

Ethereum Outperformed Its Competitors in terms of Market Cap, Decentralized Finance Action, and Non-Fungible Token Sales

On Dec. 23, 2021, the top smart contract platform coins held an overall valuation of around $823 billion and at that time, ethereum’s (ETH) market capitalization represented 59.42% of the aggregate. Today, on Dec. 30, 2022, the crypto economy’s top smart contract platform coins are valued at $239 billion, and ETH’s market cap is roughly $144 billion. Data indicates that ETH’s market cap equates to 60.25% of the aggregate value of all the top smart contract platform tokens listed today.

Last year, when the smart contract platform coin economy was a lot more valuable, many people thought ETH could get ‘flipped’ by a bunch of ‘Ethereum killers.’ Roughly a year ago, the publication Forkast published an editorial called “The Top Five Ethereum Killers,” and it included tokens like BNB, solana (SOL), cardano (ADA), avalanche (AVAX), and polkadot (DOT). While some of these coins were top ten contenders in Dec. 2021, only BNB and ADA remain, and Polygon (MATIC) recently entered the top ten standings.

On Dec. 24, 2021, BNB was exchanging hands for $547.12 per unit, and it was the second largest smart contract platform coin at the time. Today, it still is the second-largest smart contract platform token, but the digital currency’s value has dropped 55.19% from the $547 price point recorded in Dec. 2021. Last year, solana (SOL) was the third largest smart contract platform token and over a year ago, it was trading for $189.43 per unit at the end of Dec. 2021. Today, SOL holds the seventh-largest smart contract coin market cap and SOL holds the 19th-largest capitalization in the entire crypto economy.

Metrics show the smart contract coin SOL has lost 94.81% of its U.S. dollar value since Dec. 23, 2021. Cardano (ADA) was the fourth-largest smart contract asset and on Dec. 23, 2021, and ADA was trading for $1.48 per unit. ADA also was the seventh-largest market cap in the entire crypto economy. Today, on Dec. 30, 2022, cardano is trading for $0.24 per coin, and it’s moved down to the ninth largest market valuation. On Dec. 23, 2021, Terra’s LUNA was the fifth largest smart contract coin at the time, and LUNA (now called LUNC) was trading for $93.24 per coin. LUNA was also the ninth-largest market cap in the entire crypto-economy during the last month of 2021.

LUNA’s price has been completely obliterated, and it is now down to $0.000140 per unit on Dec. 30, 2022. Polkadot (DOT) was the sixth largest smart contract token; today, it’s moved up to the fifth position. However, last year DOT was the tenth largest crypto market cap, but DOT is now in the 13th largest position. At the time, DOT was trading for $29.39 per unit on Dec. 23, 2021, but today, DOT is down 85.30% and trading for $4.32 per coin. Avalanche (AVAX) was the seventh largest smart contract coin but today, AVAX now resides in the eighth position. On Dec. 23, 2021, AVAX exchanged hands for $121.88 per coin and on Dec. 30, 2022, it’s down to $10.83 per unit.

Lastly, polygon was the seventh largest smart contract coin last year but today, its now in the fourth largest top smart contract token position. Furthermore, polygon (MATIC) was in the 14th largest position overall in Dec. 2021 and today it has managed to enter the tenth position. MATIC was trading for $2.67 per coin last year and today, it’s down to $0.75 per unit, which is a loss of around 71.91%. While none of the so-called ‘Ethereum killers’ managed to knock ETH down a notch, ETH has lost a bit of dominance since Dec. 23, 2021. At that time, ETH dominance was around 19.5% and today, the second-leading crypto asset’s dominance is down to 17.4%.

What do you think about the so-called ‘Ethereum killers’ and their market performances in 2022? Let us know your thoughts about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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Disgraced FTX Co-Founder Accused of Moving $684K in Crypto Assets While Under House Arrest

According to an analyst on Dec. 29, 2022, the disgraced co-founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), may have cashed out $684,000 in crypto assets while under house arrest. If the funds were spent by SBF, it goes against the court’s release conditions that note the former FTX executive is not allowed to spend more than $1,000 without permission from the court.

Analyst Discovers Funds Tied to SBF’s and Alameda’s Wallets Moved While the FTX Co-Founder Is on House Arrest

On Thursday, an analyst called “Bowtiediguana” published a Twitter thread that shows Sam Bankman-Fried may have spent $684K while he is on house arrest. According to Bowtiediguana, in August 2020, SBF agreed to temporarily take over the decentralized exchange (dex) Sushiswap, after the anonymous founder Chef Nomi decided to leave. When the deal was made, SBF shared a public Ethereum address and Chef Nomi transferred ownership of Sushiswap to SBF’s address.

“After SBF was released, his wallet sent all its remaining crypto tokens to a new Ethereum address created an hour earlier,” Bowtiediguana tweeted. “In 3 hours, over 100 new deposits were made to this wallet from various addresses, most having links to SBFs defunct hedge fund Alameda Research.” The analyst continued:

In less than [four] hours, 570 [ethereum] worth approximately $684,000 was transferred out of this new wallet, to various destinations. Funds were sent to a no-KYC exchange based in Seychelles and to the Bitcoin network via the [Ren Protocol], a bridge funded by Alameda. Perhaps the SEC attorneys would like notice of this?

The address in question is this ethereum address “which received a further $1M from 11 wallets labeled as Alameda Research,” Bowtiediguana said. “[Five] separate transactions of 51 ETH were used to move funds to newly created wallets [and] then onwards to a Seychelles-based exchange. [Three] tranches of 200K USDT were also sent from the SBF linked wallet to the Fixedfloat exchange,” the analyst added.

Bowtiediguana’s thread shows that an individual decided to email the information to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about the latest onchain movements. Others tagged the U.S. regulator in the Twitter thread and said: “@secgov u gave [SBF] 2 long of a leash sires. plz address this criminal.” It is unconfirmed at the moment as to who actually moved the funds, but many are speculating that it was SBF.

Since SBF’s arrest and his later release, FTX and Alameda-related funds have been moving, and transfers have been caught by onchain sleuths. Funds linked to Alameda were transferred two days ago and reportedly they were sent to Fixedfloat and Changenow and further converted into BTC. In another instance, an Alameda-labeled wallet sent 11.37 wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) to a wallet after removing it from Aave on Dec. 29.

The same day, another Alameda-labeled wallet sent 22,500 USDC on Dec. 29. Both of these transactions took place the day after a large swathe of ERC20 tokens linked to Alameda were moved on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

What do you think about the onchain movements caught by the analyst Bowtiediguana? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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Central Bank Gold Demand Rose at the Fastest Pace in 55 Years, Analyst Says Silver Could Outperform Gold in 2023

According to a myriad of reports, the People’s Republic of China has been buying hoards of gold during the last year. Consequently, World Gold Council (WGC) statistics show the demand for gold by central banks has risen at the fastest pace in 55 years. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo’s head of real asset strategy, John LaForge, contends that when silver starts outperforming gold, it usually signals it is “closer to a bull market in precious metals versus the other way.”

The World’s Central Banks Are Hoarding Large Sums of Gold, China Recently Purchased 32 Tons of the Precious Metal

Precious metals like gold and silver are ending the year a lot higher in value than they were 56 days ago on Nov. 3, 2022. Close to two months ago, on that day, a troy ounce of .999 fine gold was trading for $1,629 per unit and today, prices are 11.48% higher at $1,816 per ounce. A troy ounce of .999 fine silver was trading for $19.45 per unit on Nov. 3, and it’s increased 23.29% higher against the U.S. dollar at $23.98 per ounce.

World Gold Council (WGC) data shows that while there’s been a rise in retail demand, central banks are hoarding gold at an extremely fast pace. A number of reports citing WGC data show that the central banks’ current demand for gold has risen at the fastest pace since 1967. China recently disclosed that the country purchased 1.03 million ounces of fine gold or the equivalent of 32 tons of the precious metal. China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange detailed the purchase cost the country around $1.8 billion.

China has a reported 63.67 million ounces of gold, which is worth roughly $112 billion. Adrian Ash, the head of research at Bullionvault told Financial Times (FT) reporter Harry Dempsey that the central banks’ flight to gold may suggest “the geopolitical backdrop is one of mistrust, doubt, and uncertainty.” While China is among gold reserve giants like Germany, the U.S., Russia, Italy, and France, a number of smaller central banks have also been buying large quantities of gold. To single out a few specific examples, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Qatar have accrued substantial sums of the precious metal in 2022.

Wells Fargo Real Asset Strategy Analyst Says Silver Is Signaling a Possible Precious Metals Bull Market Breakout

Wells Fargo’s head of real asset strategy, John LaForge, is looking at silver ahead of gold according to his recent commentary with Kitco News on Dec. 29. “I am a little more positive on silver now that we are back to $23. It is the high-beta play. Silver is showing signs that whatever weakness we see in gold, it is probably short-lived,” LaForge told Kitco’s Anna Golubova.

“When silver starts beating gold, it is closer to a bull market in precious metals versus the other way,” the Wells Fargo executive added. LaForge believes gold prices will be anywhere between $1,900 to $2,000 in 2023, and he insists it’s quite possible silver could outperform the yellow precious metal.

“Over a supercycle, which is 10+ years, percentage-wise, silver does better than gold,” LaForge remarked. “That’s what happened during the last cycle between 1999 and 2011. That is typical … You can sense gold wants to go higher next year. Gold had a rough two and a half years,” the Wells Fargo executive further elaborated.

“In the last couple of months, with all the talk about the Fed pivoting, gold started to perk up. Next year, both gold and silver will do well. Silver might do even better,” LaForge concluded. So far, with a 23.29% increase compared to gold’s 11.48% jump since Nov. 3, silver is doing a lot better than gold against the greenback. Platinum, too, has jumped a great deal, rising from $915 per ounce 56 days ago to today’s $1,051 per ounce.

What do you think about the central banks’ demand for gold in 2022? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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While His Digital Trading Cards Tumble in Value, Trump Says His ‘Cute’ NFTs Were About the Art

After climbing to a high of 0.79 ether on Dec. 17, 2022, Donald Trump’s non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have dropped considerably in value over the last 12 days. On Dec. 29, 2022, Trump’s NFT collection has a floor value of 0.15 ether, which is around 81% lower than the floor value highs recorded last week.

Trump Digital Collectibles Slide Significantly in Value Since the Launch, After Looking at the Art Trump Was Pleased With His 30-Inch Waistline

The 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump, recently released 45,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and during the first day of the sale, each NFT was sold for $99 per unit. Trump’s NFTs started trading on secondary NFT markets on Dec. 15, 2022 and had a floor value of around 0.1 ether or around $125 for the most inexpensive Trump NFTs. Two days later, Bitcoin.com News reported on how Trump’s NFTs skyrocketed in value after being mocked by a large number of left-leaning political commentators.

The same day, on Dec. 17, 2022, Trump’s NFT floor price jumped to an all-time high of around 0.79 ether or around $940 per unit, according to stats from the leading NFT marketplace Opensea. Since then, however, Trump’s NFT collection has seen its floor price slip all the way down to 0.15 ether ($180), which is 8.54% lower than the floor values recorded 24 hours ago. Metrics indicate that on Dec. 29, 2022, 9% or 3,864 Trump NFTs are listed on Opensea, and in total, there are roughly 15,083 unique Trump NFT card owners.

9,801 of those unique owners hold only one Trump NFT in their wallet while 2,556 own at least two Trump NFTs. 79 owners hold around 45 Trump NFTs, which means they will get an invite to the Trump gala dinner in South Florida, at least according to the terms of service agreement on the collecttrumpcards.com website. Four owners hold 60 NFTs from the Trump collection and seven wallets hold 100 Trump NFTs. There’s also one owner with approximately 1,000 Trump NFTs in their wallet.

Trump told the press last week that his NFT collection was not about making money and it was more about the art and a trim waistline. “Well, I knew nothing about [the NFTs] and then a group came, and I loved the art,” Trump told OAN. “You know, it’s sort of comic book art when you think of it, but they showed me the art and I said, gee, I always wanted to have a 30-inch waist.” The former U.S. president added:

I heard somebody [once say] it was the investment of the year. I didn’t view it as an investment. I thought they were cute. These visions are very beautiful [and] interesting.

Since the Trump digital trading cards entered secondary sales markets, Opensea details that 7,720 ether or $9.2 million in sales volume has been recorded to date. Additionally, onchain tracking data via the Telegram group “Onchain Intrigue” shows the “Trump NFT admin” wallet moved 128 wrapped ether (WETH) worth more than $153K to six different Polygon wallets on Dec. 28, 2022. Trump said that the digital cards were expected to sell out in roughly six months, but the sale proved to be much faster.

“Wow, that’s sorta cute,” Trump said of his own NFT collection before the sale. “That might sell, that might sell. They thought it would sell in six months, it sold in six hours,” the former U.S. president added.

What do you think about Trump’s ‘sorta cute’ NFT cards and their market performance since the collection of 45,000 NFTs launched? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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BTC, ETH, ADA, BNB Ranked the Most Watched Crypto Assets in 2022

Today’s top ten crypto assets make up a large portion of the crypto economy’s current $797.95 billion value on Dec. 29, 2022, and many of them are some of the most popular digital currencies today. While coin market capitalization aggregation sites allow patrons to add their favorite coins to a watchlist, between coingecko.com and coinmarketcap.com, bitcoin is the most watched top ten crypto coin in 2022 as it’s on approximately 4,848,865 watchlists today.

The Top Ten Crypto Market Cap Coins in Terms of Watchlist Numbers

As 2022 comes to an end, crypto market and price aggregation websites like coinmarketcap.com (CMC) and coingecko.com (CG) offer watchlists so visitors can hone in on their favorite coins or maybe the coins held in their portfolio. In basic terms, a watchlist is a specific set of crypto assets that a person selects in order to monitor and it can be viewed without monitoring all the other crypto assets the individual doesn’t care about.

In traditional finance, investors have watchlists for stocks and commodities as well so they can keep an eye on an asset’s market value. While looking at the top ten crypto assets on Dec. 29, 2022, each crypto coin has a number of how many users selected a specific coin to add to their watchlist. Between the CG and CMC coin market cap aggregation sites, bitcoin (BTC) is the top coin in terms of watchlists.

At the time of writing on CG, bitcoin (BTC) is on 1,192,111 watchlists, and on CMC, bitcoin is on 3,656,754 watchlists, which equates to more than 4.84 million watchlists in total on Dec. 29, 2022. Ethereum is the second runner-up with a total of 4,109,238 watchlists with 1,104,484 stemming from CG, and 3,004,754 from CMC. Below BTC and ETH, watchlist heavyweights include ADA with 2.94 million, BNB with 2.45 million, and XRP with roughly 2.21 million watchlists.

ADA, BNB, and XRP are followed by crypto coins like DOGE with 2.14 million, polygon’s (MATIC) 1.84 million, and the stablecoin tether’s (USDT) total of 1.52 million on Dec. 29. While there’s three stablecoins in the top ten coin market caps, the dollar-pegged assets are the least watched bunch out of the top cryptos today. While USDT leads with 1.52 million, BUSD’s watchlist count is much lower with 351,265 watchlists.

Just above BUSD is USDC’s watchlist count as it currently commands 358,911 total across CG and CMC. At the time of writing at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on Dec. 29, 2022, the top ten crypto assets represent $676.08 billion or 84.72% of the crypto economy’s current $797.95 billion value. Outside the top ten crypto assets, shiba inu (SHIB) is an outlier with 2,382,306 watchlists but the coin is in the 15th largest market cap position.

What do you think about the top ten crypto assets in terms of overall CG and CMC watchlists? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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‘Ultra Sound’ Money — Simulation Shows Ethereum’s Inflation Rate Is Significantly Lower Using Proof-of-Stake

Its been 105 days since Ethereum transitioned from a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain to a proof-of-stake (PoS) network and the number of Ethereum validators is set to surpass 500,000 in 2023. According to metrics, Ethereum’s issuance rate of new coins has dropped considerably and only 4,790.45 ether has been minted since The Merge took place on Sept. 15, 2022.

Ethereum’s Issuance Rate Is 0.014% per Annum in Contrast to the Simulated PoW Inflation Rate of 3.58% per Year

The Ethereum (ETH) network has been operating under its proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm for more than three months and since then, 4,790.45 ethereum or $5.7 million in value has been added to the supply. Statistics from ultrasound.money show that Ethereum’s current issuance rate of new coins per annum is 0.014%.

That’s a whole lot different than what it would be if Ethereum was still a PoW chain, according to ultrasound.money’s simulation metrics. If ETH remained a PoW chain during the last 105 days, then the issuance rating or inflation rate per annum would be 3.58%. That would be approximately 1,247,674.60 ether added to the supply by 10:15 a.m. (ET) on Dec. 29, 2022. Instead of $5.7 million in value added, a PoW ETH chain would have added more than $1.5 billion in value.

In addition to the lower issuance rate, Ethereum also has a burn mechanism, and records show roughly 658,000 ether is burned each year. To date, 2,795,773 ether or $8.78 billion in U.S. dollar value has been burned by destroying ETH since the Aug. 5, 2021 London Hard Fork. Data from Dune Analytics indicates the biggest leader in terms of the number of ETH burned is tied to traditional ethereum (ETH) transfers, which account for 247,008 ETH burned since the London Hard Fork.

The non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Opensea and its users are responsible for burning 229,928.53 ether and the decentralized exchange (dex) Uniswap V2 has burned 143,394.07 ether since Aug. 5, 2021. Transferring the stablecoin USDT has equated to 123,014.14 ether burned to date, and Swaprouter 02 accounts for the fifth largest burner with 110,868.70 ether destroyed.

Furthermore, the number of validators validating consensus within the Ethereum network is nearing 500,000, according to current beaconcha.in statistics. On Dec. 28, 2022, 492,863 validators were recorded, which is a marked increase from last year’s number of validators 12 months ago, which was roughly 275,054. Data from mevwatch.info also shows that 69% of the blocks mined on the ETH network are enforced with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) compliance.

What do you think about Ethereum’s network issuance rate since it transitioned from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS)? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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2 Bitcoin Mining Pools Command More Than 53% of BTC’s Total Hashrate

Bitcoin’s hashrate has jumped from the low 170 exahash per second (EH/s) recorded this week, to above the 300 exahash range after a number of bitcoin mining operations from Texas temporarily went offline on Dec. 25, 2022. Furthermore, three-day hashrate distribution statistics recorded on Dec. 29, 2022 indicate that two mining pools command more than 50% of the global hashrate.

2 Mining Entities Currently Produce More Than 50% of the Global Hashrate, Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Expected to Decline Significantly in 5 Days

The computational processing power behind the Bitcoin (BTC) network ramped up to the 300 EH/s range on the evening of Dec. 28, 2022. Three days before the rise, BTC’s hashrate slid to a low of 170 EH/s on Dec. 28, 2022, when bitcoin miners from Texas curtailed their hashpower to relieve the grid from any excess load.

Most of the SHA256 hashpower returned the same day, as Bitcoin.com News reported on it climbing back to 240 EH/s by 12:00 p.m. (ET). Following Wednesday’s jump above 300 EH/s, statistics on Thursday show the total network hashrate is coasting along at 250.57 EH/s. Moreover, during the past three days, two mining pools have captured more than 50% of the network’s total hashrate.

Of course, this has caused criticism toward the network, and accusations of centralization this week. On Dec. 29, the mining pool Foundry USA controls 31.45% of the total hashrate, and Antpool commands 21.87% of the current 250.57 EH/s on Thursday morning (ET). Between both mining pools, Antpool and Foundry command 53.32% of BTC’s total hashrate.

F2pool has around 14.25% of the hashrate, and Viabtc has around 9.34% of the total on Dec. 29. Between all three top pools, Foundry, Antpool, and F2pool have around 67.57% of the total, and all four mining pools with Viabtc command around 76.91% of the total hashrate during the past three days. Only 12 known mining pools are dedicating SHA256 hashrate toward the BTC chain, and 5.64 EH/s or 2.46% of the global network is associated with unknown miners.

After the Bitcoin network’s mining difficulty retarget on Dec. 19, 2022, at block height 768,096, increased by 3.27%, the network’s difficulty change is expected to see a notable decline on Jan. 3, 2023. Current estimates show that the difficulty reduction could be between 7.39% to 8.1% lower than today’s difficulty metric.

Block generation times have been faster than the 10-minute average on a few occasions at 9:33 minutes, but a great majority of recent block intervals have been above the 10-minute average at around 10:54 minutes. At the time of writing, the most profitable SHA256 bitcoin mining machine is the Bitmain Antminer S19 XP Hyd. with 255 terahash per second (TH/s) of hashpower.

What do you think about the two bitcoin mining pools with more than 53% of Bitcoin’s total hashrate this week? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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China to Launch ‘Digital Asset Trading Platform,’ Media Report Unveils

A marketplace for digital assets is soon going to open in China under a public-private partnership, local media revealed. According to the report, the goal is to establish a regulated trading platform for digital collectibles as part of government efforts to curb market speculation with such assets.

National Marketplace to Support Trading of Digital Collectibles and Copyrights in China

Chinese authorities are preparing to launch a state-controlled platform allowing the trading of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other digital assets, local media announced. The initiative is a joint project between government organizations and a private company.

The “China Digital Asset Trading Platform,” built in partnership by the China Technology Exchange, China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, and Huaban Digital Copyright Service Center Co. Limited, will launch on Jan. 1, 2023, the report by Sina Finance detailed on Wednesday.

The marketplace will operate under the license of the China Digital Exchange, set up by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Intellectual Property Office, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Beijing municipal government.

The exchange facilitates purchase and sale of intellectual, scientific, and technological property rights in the People’s Republic. It will provide the underlying infrastructure for the new trading platform, taking responsibility for processing transactions and implementing settlement mechanisms.

The new marketplace will be compliant with applicable regulations and provide trading services for digital collectibles and digital copyrights, Huaban President Yin Tao explained. As China has been cracking down on crypto-related activities, the term “digital collectibles” is often preferred by media outlets and companies over “NFTs” to avoid association with cryptocurrencies.

In terms of supervision and compliance, this market faces some uncertainties and greater compliance risks, but laws and regulatory policies will be gradually improved, commented Yu Jianing, co-chair of the Blockchain Committee of the China Communications Industry Association.

A ban on the resale of digital collectibles imposed by Chinese regulators to limit market speculation with these assets was reportedly the reason behind Tencent’s decision to close down its NFT platform, Huanhe. The news of the move came out in July, only a year after its launch.

In June, the popular social media app Wechat, also operated by the Chinese tech giant, announced its intentions to prohibit public accounts facilitating secondary trading of non-fungible tokens. Soon after, the Tencent News app stopped selling NFTs.

Do you think China will eventually expand the opportunities for regulated digital asset trading beyond NFTs? Tell us in the comments section below.

via Lubomir Tassev

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Argentine Peso Breaks Historic Low Mark as Argentines Hedge Savings in Dollars

The U.S dollar-Argentine peso exchange rate escalated during December, with the Argentine fiat currency reaching new historic lows as citizens ran to exchange their holiday payments for dollars. The U.S. dollar reached a value of 356 pesos on December 28, losing almost 10% during just one week, and threatening to spur a more significant inflationary jump.

Argentine Peso Sinks to Lowest Level in History

Argentina, one of the countries in Latam with active exchange control for foreign currencies, is facing difficulties maintaining the value of its fiat currency. The exchange between U.S. dollars and Argentine pesos reached historic levels, with the peso sinking to its lowest level ever on Dec. 28. The dollar reached a price of 356 pesos in its parallel cash denomination, also called “blue,” having closed November with a value of 314 pesos per U.S. dollar.

The Argentine peso plummet accelerated last week when it lost more than 10% of its value. Since the start of 2022, the Argentine currency has lost more than 70% of its value, having started the year with a value of 207 pesos per U.S. dollar. This decline has caused Argentines to drop their peso-based savings, migrating to dollars and stablecoins as a hedge.

Explanations and Repercussions

Analysts who seek to explain the historic drop in the currency’s value mention that there are two main elements making the exchange rate soar. The first one has to do with the abundance of pesos in the market due to payments companies have made, increasing the demand for dollars in an ecosystem with exchange controls.

The other has to do with the political and legal uncertainty created by the attempt of Argentine president Alberto Fernandez to disobey the mandate of the maximum tribunal in Argentina, a situation that is still under development. Whichever may be the cause, this abrupt rise is threatening to bring even higher levels of inflation to the nation, which was expecting to close the year with an inflationary level of 100%.

Juan Pablo Albornoz, an Argentine economist, expects this to affect the pricing structure in the country. He stated:

This rise could affect prices as usual in months after a nominally abrupt jump in the value of this rate.

Despite the Argentine government signing price control agreements, the fluctuation could create disruptions affecting the inflationary goals for next year. Fundacion Libertad economist Eugenio Mari explained:

In economies with high inflation the price system is destroyed. As a consequence, the exchange rate becomes the fundamental variable that companies and workers follow in order to adjust their prices.

What do you think about the historic drop in the Argentine fiat currency’s value? Tell us in the comments section below.

via Sergio Goschenko

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