cryptocurrencies
FCA green lights Revolut, making no UK crypto firms operating under temporary status
The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, has added cryptocurrency-friendly payments app Revolut to its list of companies authorized to offer crypto products and services in the country. In a Monday update to its list of registered crypto asset firms in the U.K., the FCA showed Revolut was in compliance with amended regulations from 2017 on “Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds.” The fintech firm joined 37 other companies with the green light to offer crypto services in the country after being granted an extension to operate as a crypto asset firm with temporary registration in March. Firms offering crypto-related products and services in the U.K. are permitted to operate following registration with the FCA, a rule in force since 2020. How...
Nuclear and gas fastest growing energy sources for Bitcoin mining: Data
The electricity mix of Bitcoin (BTC) has drastically changed over the past few years, with nuclear energy and natural gas becoming the fastest growing energy sources powering Bitcoin mining, according to new data. The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) on Tuesday released a major update to its Bitcoin mining-dedicated data source, the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI). According to the data from Cambridge, fossil fuels like coal and natural gas made up almost two-thirds of Bitcoin’s total electricity mix as of January 2022, accounting for more than 62%. As such, the share of sustainable energy sources in the BTC energy mix amounted to 38%. The new study suggests that coal alone accounted for nearly 37% of Bitcoin’s total electricity consumption as of earl...
Russia aims to use CBDC for international settlements with China: Report
Russia is in the pilot phase of its central bank digital currency development (CBDC), and new reports indicate that the country could use its national digital currency to settle international trade. According to a report published in Reuters, Russia is reportedly planning to use the digital rouble for mutual settlements with China by next year. The digital rouble is currently being tested for settling with the banks and is expected to be completed by early next year. The United States Treasury Department added 22 individuals and two Russia-based entities to the sanction list in the third week of September. With the growing sanctions against Russia from the West in the wake of the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, the country has been actively looking for alternate financial routes and trade s...
Singapore strives to remain relevant amid regulatory tightening for retail investors
Singapore’s largest bank, DBS, has announced another move to expand its crypto services while remaining cautious in complying with the financial authorities’ view that crypto assets are not suitable for retail investors in the country. On Friday, the bank disclosed its decision to expand crypto trading services on its digital exchange (DDEx) to approximately 100,000 “wealth clients who are accredited investors.” Investors who are considered accredited must meet certain criteria regarding their income, net worth, qualifications and understanding of financial markets. Caroline Malcolm, head of international public policy and research at Chainalysis, noted: “Singapore has long indicated that it views most crypto assets as volatile and as a result, not well-s...
Reddit Avatar NFTs are witnessing volatile price tags
According to a new analysis posted by Reddit user u/Warfared, Reddit Avatar nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, have seen erratic price performance in the past months. The analysis tracked the exchange of NFTs on popular NFT trading platform OpenSea.io. Among the top performers were the Fishy Foustling #1 and Mio Armor #1 NFT pieces, boasting a last sale price of 6 Ether (ETH) and 5 ETH, respectively. The NFTs were airdropped to qualified users three months prior who had high amounts of karma points on the namesake social platform. Taken together, items in the aforementioned two collections have surpassed 100 ETH in cumulative trading volume. However, not all individual collectibles or collections are witnessing similar levels of price craze. Four exhibits, Meme Team, Drip Squad, Aww Friend...
Charles Hoskinson and ETH dev get into a war of words post-Vasil upgrade
Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and co-founder of Ethereum blockchain, got into a war of words with Ethereum developers on the implementation of proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus via Merge. On Sunday, Web3 investor Evan Van Ness shared an unpopular opinion claiming that the Ethereum Merge could have been shipped earlier. Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, agreed to Van Ness’s comments and said they should have implemented NXT-like chain-based PoS. Hoskinson joined in the conversation claiming the Ethereum developers should have implemented snow white protocol instead to ensure a faster migration to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. You should have just implemented snow white with Elaine’s help. It would have saved you a heck of a lot of pain and effort. — Charles Hoski...
How crypto is playing a role in increasing healthy human lifespans
It’s a question that’s infatuated scientists for decades: how can we prolong life expectancy — giving humans everywhere more years of good health? This field is known as longevity science, and within this industry, experts argue care which regards ageing as a normal but treatable ailment are rare — and of the approaches available, they can only be accessed by those who are highly educated and privileged. Just some of the key tenets that govern this approach to medicine involve therapeutics, personalized medicine, predictive diagnostics and artificial intelligence. The goal is to eliminate a “one size fits all” attitude toward treatment, and ensure that therapies are customized to an individual’s unique medical profile. This can matter in many different ways — ...
Tornado Cash saga left a void, says Chainalysis chief scientist: Finance Redefined
Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. Chainalysis chief scientist shared his views on the Tornado Cash saga and said that the incident has left a void for illicit fund mixing services, but the real impact of the sanctions could be determined in the long run. The staking ecosystem of Ethereum post Merge could have a significant impact on the crypto economy, according to a new report. Institutional lending platform Mapple Finance launched a $300 million lending pool for Bitcoin mining farms. The Tribe DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, voted in favor of repaying affected users of the $80 million exploit on DeFi platform Rari Capital’s liquidi...
Framework to ban members of Congress and SCOTUS from trading stocks includes crypto provision
Members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate as well as Supreme Court justices currently trading cryptocurrencies may have to stop HODLing while in office should a bill get enough votes. According to a framework released on Thursday, chair Zoe Lofgren of the Committee on House Administration — responsible for the day-to-day operations of the House — said she had a “meaningful and effective plan to combat financial conflicts of interest” in the U.S. Congress by restricting the financial activities of lawmakers and SCOTUS justices, as well as those of their spouses and children. The bill, if passed according to the framework, would suggest a change in policy following the 2012 passage of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, allowing members of Co...
GitHub unbans Tornado Cash repositories following OFAC guidance
Crypto mixer Tornado Cash has returned to the software development platform GitHub after several weeks of being banned on the website. Ethereum developer Preston Van Loon took to Twitter on Thursday to report that GitHub has partly unbanned the Tornado Cash organization and contributors on their platform. The developer suggested that Tornado Cash’s code repositories are now in read-only mode, which means that GitHub is yet to restore full functionality. “But that is progress from an outright ban. I still encourage GitHub to reverse all actions and return the repositories to their former status,” Van Loon stated. According to GitHub data, the latest Tornado Cash repositories updates were made on Aug. 22, or shortly after Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Semenov reported that his account w...
Helium migrates its blockchain to Solana following T-Mobile partnership
On Thursday, the Helium Foundation announced that it would be moving its mainnet to the Solana blockchain following a community vote. According to the proposal, proof-of-coverage and Data transfer mechanisms will be moved to Helium Oracles. It’s official! The HIP 70 vote has ended. #Helium will be moving to the @Solana blockchain! pic.twitter.com/V2WIajou7R — Helium (@helium) September 22, 2022 Meanwhile, Helium’s tokens and governance will relocate to that of the Solana blockchain. As told by developers, the benefits of the move would include more of its native token HNT available to subDAO reward pools, more consistent mining, more reliable data transfer, more utility for HNT and subDAO tokens, and more ecosystem support. Helium is a blockchain wireless communications protocol...
Are there too many cryptocurrencies?
The cryptocurrency industry has grown at a staggering pace. There are now almost 21,000 different coins in existence, across a variety of subsectors. From metaverses to decentralized finance, investors are spoiled for choice. But a burning question, especially among crypto skeptics, is this: Are there too many cryptocurrencies? We’ve repeatedly seen how new altcoins can be created in the blink of an eye. Tokens popped up hours after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars — pumping and dumping on low liquidity. And following the death of Queen Elizabeth, the markets were flooded by a flurry of “memecoins” bearing her name. Some critics felt this was in poor taste and argued it was “a bad look for crypto.” Despite the proliferation of thousands of cry...
