Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Ron Wyden on FISA Reform and Crypto

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has been a long-standing member of the U.S. Senate, and was a sponsor or co-sponsor of several key pieces of legislation enabling broad adoption of the internet. More recently, he voted in favor of a House Resolution overturning the Securities and Exchange Commission's Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, and questioned threats to personal and financial privacy online. Last month, he spoke at CoinDesk's Consensus 2024 conference. As with previous versions of this newsletter, my questions have been shortened but the Senator's responses. have only been edited lightly.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/26/ron-wyden-on-fisa-reform-and-crypto/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Mt. Gox Effect? Bitcoin Dominance Drops Most in 5 Months

BTC's dominance tanked Monday as news of Mt. Gox repayments bolstered concerns of supply overhang entering the market.

source https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/25/mt-gox-effect-bitcoin-dominance-drops-most-in-5-months/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

ZKsync Developer's New 'Elastic Chain' Could Compete With Polygon's AggLayer

This Elastic Chain is composed of multiple chains in the ZKsync ecosystem, but users will feel like they are using a single chain.

source https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/06/25/zksync-developers-new-elastic-chain-could-compete-with-polygons-agglayer/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Binance Fined $2.2 Million by India’s Financial Intelligence Unit

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has been fined approximately $2.2 million (18.82 crore INR) for providing services to Indian clients without adhering to the nation's anti-money laundering rules, India's anti-money laundering unit announced Thursday.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/20/binance-fined-22-million-by-indias-financial-intelligence-unit/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

IMF Says CBDCs Could Boost Middle East's Financial Inclusion, Payment Efficiency

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may not be essential to achieving intended policy goals, instead addressing underlying constraints and improving other digital payment systems may be a more practical alternative, a survey of 19 central banks in the Middle East and Central Asia (ME&CA) region by the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) has said.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/19/imf-says-cbdcs-could-boost-middle-easts-financial-inclusion-payment-efficiency/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Patrick McHenry Explains FIT21's Passage

Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) chairs the powerful House Financial Services Committee, and has been the leading Republican on the panel for years. Last year, he spent a few weeks as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives, after lawmakers voted to oust then-speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). McHenry announced his retirement in December and will leave office when his term expires this coming January. He spoke virtually at Consensus 2024 in Austin at the end of May.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/19/patrick-mchenry-explains-fit21s-passage/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Original TRUMP Token Struggles With Exchange Listings as DJT Rockets

Exchanges will list TREMP but not TRUMP, claiming the latter is "too political."

source https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/18/original-trump-token-struggles-with-exchange-listings-as-djt-rockets/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Monday, June 17, 2024

First Mover Americas: Crypto Majors Subdued After Fed's Hawkish Stance

The latest price moves in bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets in context for June 17, 2024. First Mover is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter that contextualizes the latest actions in the crypto markets.

source https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/17/first-mover-americas-crypto-majors-subdued-after-feds-hawkish-stance/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Bitcoin Investment Products Saw Over $600M in Outflows Last Week: CoinShares

Crypto markets have been laid low by a hawkish stance on interest rate cuts by the FOMC.

source https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/17/bitcoin-investment-products-saw-over-600m-in-outflows-last-week-coinshares/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

U.S.-Listed Bitcoin Miners Reached Record Total Market Cap of $22.8B in June: JPMorgan

Mining stocks outperformed bitcoin in the first half of the month as investors reacted positively to news of Core Scientific’s AI deal with CoreWeave, the report said.

source https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/17/us-listed-bitcoin-miners-reached-record-total-market-cap-of-228b-in-june-jpmorgan/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Financial Stability Board to Extend Its Work on Stablecoin Risks in Emerging and Developing Economies

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) said it will undertake further work to consider the challenges associated with risks of global stablecoin arrangements in emerging and developing economies.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/17/financial-stability-board-to-extend-its-work-on-stablecoin-risks-in-emerging-and-developing-economies/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Friday, June 14, 2024

South Africa Re-Elects Cyril Ramaphosa of the ANC as President

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa of the African National Congress (ANC) party was re-elected on Friday, and will lead the country's first multi-party coalition government.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/14/south-africa-re-elects-cyril-ramaphosa-of-the-anc-as-president/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Two Men Charged With Running Darknet Marketplace Empire Market

Federal prosecutors in Illinois have charged two men with owning and operating Empire Market, a darknet marketplace, according to court documents filed Friday.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/14/two-men-charged-with-running-darknet-marketplace-empire-market/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Mass Adoption Would Ruin Crypto. Keep It a Niche

There is an unavoidable tension between the aims of decentralization and onboarding everyday users.

source https://www.coindesk.com/opinion/2024/06/14/mass-adoption-would-ruin-crypto-keep-it-a-niche/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Bitcoin ETFs See $226M Outflows Led by Fidelity’s FBTC

BlackRock’s IBIT was the only ETF posting a net inflow on Thursday, while most of the funds recorded outflows.

source https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/14/bitcoin-etfs-see-226m-outflows-led-by-fidelitys-fbtc/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Trump's Appeal to Bitcoin Miners Is a Wakeup Call for Crypto to Stay Apolitical

It may seem like the industry is finally getting the political support it needs. But proceed with caution.

source https://www.coindesk.com/opinion/2024/06/12/trumps-appeal-to-bitcoin-miners-is-a-wakeup-call-for-crypto-to-stay-apolitical/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

The Protocol: How Optimism Filled in Its Missing Tooth

In this week's newsletter, we delve into the Ethereum layer-2 network Optimism's delivery of "fault proofs," a piece of functionality that was glaringly missing even though it was at the heart of the project's security setup.

source https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/06/12/the-protocol-how-optimism-filled-in-its-missing-tooth/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Bitcoin ETFs See $200M Net Outflows in Fed, CPI Jitters

The eleven ETFs recorded $200 million in net outflows on Tuesday, the highest since May 1 figures of $580 million.

source https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/12/bitcoin-etfs-see-200m-net-outflows-in-fed-cpi-jitters/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Donald Trump Says He Wants All Remaining Bitcoin to Be 'Made in USA'

Early Tuesday Trump met executives from Nasdaq-listed bitcoin mining firm CleanSpark Inc. and Riot Platforms.

source https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/06/12/trump-we-want-all-remaining-bitcoin-to-be-made-in-usa/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

In Conversation With Brian Nelson

Last October, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) – the U.S. Treasury Department's money laundering watchdog – announced a proposal to label crypto mixers as a "primary money laundering" concern, a move that alarmed a broad swath of the crypto industry. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson addressed this move and more at CoinDesk's Consensus 2024 last month in Austin, Texas on stage. The following transcript has been lightly edited (and the bulk of my questions have been slimmed down to their gist).

source https://www.coindesk.com/opinion/2024/06/12/in-conversation-with-brian-nelson/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Funding Open-Source Generative AI With Crypto

Crypto infrastructure could help address one of the biggest challenges in open source generative AI, says Jesus Rodriguez.

source https://www.coindesk.com/opinion/2024/06/11/funding-open-source-generative-ai-with-crypto/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Bitcoin Falls Back After Attempt at $72K, but Fed, U.S. Data and Global Rate Cuts May Bring New All-Time Highs

Upcoming consumer price index and labor market data releases in the next few days could be key for what's next for bitcoin's price.

source https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/06/bitcoin-falls-back-after-attempt-at-72k-but-fed-us-data-and-global-rate-cuts-may-bring-new-all-time-highs/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

NYAG Sues 2 Crypto Pyramid Schemes, Promoters Targeting Haitian-Americans in $1B Scam

New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed suit against two purported crypto companies and their top promoters, a married couple, for allegedly operating two consecutive pyramid schemes that predominantly targeted Haitian immigrants to the U.S.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/06/nyag-sues-2-crypto-pyramid-schemes-promoters-targeting-haitian-americans-in-1b-scam/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Bitcoin Mining Stocks Soar Amid Takeover Frenzy

The stocks are undervalued, so miners with attractive power contracts could become M&A targets, according to Wall Street analysts.

source https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/06/06/bitcoin-mining-stocks-soar-amid-takeover-frenzy/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Monday, June 3, 2024

GameStop Stock, Meme Tokens Surge as User ‘DeepFu*kingValue’ Returns to Reddit

Keith Gill posted his GameStop options positions on the r/superstonks subreddit.

source https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/03/gamestop-stock-meme-tokens-surge-as-user-deepfukingvalue-returns-to-reddit/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Australia's First Spot Bitcoin ETF With Direct BTC Holdings to Go Live on Tuesday

Australia-based Monochrome Asset Management's Monochrome Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) (IBTC) will begin trading on the Cboe Australia exchange on Tuesday, the company told CoinDesk.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/03/australiass-first-spot-bitcoin-etf-with-direct-btc-holdings-to-go-live-on-tuesday/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Flood of Cash from Coinbase Gives Crypto One of the Biggest Campaign War Chests

The crypto industry has – with the addition of another $25 million from Coinbase Inc. on Monday – amassed one of the largest stockpiles of campaign cash in U.S. politics.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/03/flood-of-cash-from-coinbase-gives-crypto-one-of-the-biggest-campaign-war-chests/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Mexico's Crypto Stance Unlikely to Change as Ruling Morena Party's Claudia Sheinbaum Elected President

Mexico City’s former mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, fielded by the ruling Morena party, has been elected Mexico's first female president.

source https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/03/mexicos-crypto-stance-unlikely-to-change-as-ruling-morena-partys-claudia-sheinbaum-elected-president/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines

Morocco Drafts Regulations for Crypto, Central Bank Governor Says

The North African country of Morocco has drafted regulations for the crypto sector, its central bank's head said Tuesday. Abdellatif Jo...