cryptocurrencies
Fossils vs. Renewables, PoW vs. PoS: Key policy issues around crypto mining in the U.S.
On Jan. 27, a group of eight U.S. lawmakers, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, sent letters to the world’s six largest Bitcoin mining companies, demanding to reveal the detailed data on their electricity consumption. This isn’t the first time Senator Warren requested this information from a mining operation — last month a similar letter was sent to Greenidge Generation, which uses a natural gas plant to power its facility. These moves highlight the increasing regulatory pressure on crypto mining businesses in the United States. But, as last week’s Congress hearing showed, the growing scrutiny might turn out to be an opportunity to align the mining sector’s development with the broader political push for clean energy. Here are some of the key themes around crypto mining that have captured th...
Cyber vigilante hunts down DeFi scammers running away with $25M rug pull
In the world of digital finance, where the weapon of choice for a heist is a computer rather than a semi-automatic firearm, tracking down scams and frauds from across the world becomes a near-impossible feat for centralized police forces. However, in an interview with Cointelegraph, an anonymous cyber vigilante shares insights into how he went about tracking down a group of decentralized finance (DeFi) scammers responsible for the $25 million StableMagnet rug pull, coordinating with police authorities and eventually having the stolen money returned back to the investors. [embedded content] The StableMagnet platform lured unwary investors under the pretext of high returns against stablecoin deposits. In a typical rug pull event, StableMagnet managed to run away with the $25 million th...
Meta goes Brazil to trademark Bitcoin and crypto services
Meta, the world’s biggest social media platform, has filed a trademark registration with the Brazilian authorities to design, develop and provision hardware and software for various Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto-related services. Meta recently rebranded from Facebook as a move to better align with the Metaverse developments despite regulatory hurdles faced during its numerous previous attempts to enter the crypto space. Accelerating this effort, Meta filed a trademark registration with the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) for crypto products and services related to trading, wallets and exchanges platforms. Meta’s trademark filing with the Brazilian INMI. Source: INPI Further investigations from Cointelegraph reveal a translated version of the specifications...
Kyber Network (KNC) bucks the market-wide downtrend with a 57% gain in January
In the crypto market volatility continues to reign supreme, and fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) run rampant. This makes it challenging for any project to rise above the noise and post positive price gains but there are a few projects that are showing strength during the current downturn. Kyber Network (KNC) is a multi-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) and aggregation platform designed to provide decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and their users with access to liquidity pools that provide the best rates. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a bottom of $1.18 on Jan. 6, the price of KNC has rallied 57% to a daily high at $1.87 on Jan. 27 despite the wider weakness in the crypto market. KNC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Three re...
The biggest crypto heists of all time
The biggest crypto heists to date are MT Gox, Bitgrail, Coincheck, KuCoin, PancakeBunny, Poly Network, Cream Finance, BadgerDAO, Vulcan Forged and Bitmart. MT Gox MT Gox was the first large-scale exchange hack, and it remains the most significant Bitcoin (BTC) heist from an exchange. The MT Gox robbery, on the other hand, was not a one-off occurrence. Rather, the site leaked cash from 2011 to February 2014. Hackers stole 100,000 BTC from the exchange and 750,000 BTC from its consumers over a few years. These Bitcoin burglaries were valued at $470 million at the time, but they’re now worth approximately ten times this amount. Shortly after the theft, MT Gox went into liquidation, with liquidators recovering roughly 200,000 of the stolen BTC. Bitgrail Bitgrail was a small Italian excha...
Clampdown on crypto ads: A one-off or a new phase of global regulation?
Over the last week, regulators in three major jurisdictions across two continents introduced new rules governing cryptocurrency-related promotions and advertisements. Citing consumer risks associated with digital asset investments, authorities in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Spain tightened the requirements around crypto firms’ marketing messaging and customer recruitment practices. While some experts view this emerging trend as a sign of a new global phase of cryptocurrency regulation, questions about the efficiency and universal applicability of this approach persist. New measures In the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Treasury issued a report summarizing the results of a public consultation on crypto-asset promotions, published in July 2020, as well as the government’s further steps ...
Staying cool: Is crypto snowballing to 1 billion users this year?
Crypto.com raised a few eyebrows this past week when it announced cryptocurrency users worldwide could reach 1 billion by the end of 2022. The timing was curious, given that Bitcoin (BTC) and many other cryptos are entwined in one of the largest drawdowns in their (albeit short) history and with the prospect of United States Federal Reserve interest-rate tightening edging ever nearer. But the cryptocurrency exchange, which in November gave its name to the arena where the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team plays in a 20-year deal, was obviously taking the long view. Also, its prediction was contingent on two things happening: one in the “developed” world, the other in less-mature national economies. It also involved some statistical extrapolation. To wit, the main arguments for ...
House members urge US Treasury Secretary to clarify definition of broker in infrastructure law
A bipartisan group of members from the U.S. House of Representatives called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to clarify the language in the infrastructure bill signed into law in November around the definition of “broker.” In a Wednesday letter, House Financial Services Committee ranking member Patrick McHenry and ten other representatives urged Yellen to reference the Keep Innovation in America Act to “ensure that any future guidance” in the November infrastructure bill would provide “the necessary clarity to the digital asset ecosystem.” In addition to the reporting requirements, the lawmakers said that the Treasury Department should narrow the scope of the information a broker can capture, as it would risk “the creation of an unlevel playing fie...
Ethereum bulls aim to flip $2.8K to support before calling a trend reversal
The dire predictions calling for the onset of an extended bear market may have been premature as prices appear to be in recovery mode on Jan. 26 following a signal from the U.S. Federal Reserve that interest rates will remain near 0% for the time being. After the Fed announcement from, prices across the cryptocurrency market began to rise with Bitcoin (BTC) up 4.11% and making a strong push for $39,000. This sparked a wave of momentum that helped to lift a majority of tokens in the market, but at the time of writing BTC price has pulled back to the $37,000 zone. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the top smart contract platform Ethereum (ETH) also responded positively to the rise in bullish sentiment as its price climbed 8.11% on the 24-hour chart to hit a...
Crypto policy advocacy group warns of ‘disastrous’ provision in a new US bill
Jerry Brito, the executive director of non-profit crypto policy advocate group Coin Center, suggested U.S. residents call their elected officials over possible privacy and due process concerns in a new bill proposed by House leaders. According to a Wednesday Twitter thread from Brito, the America COMPETES Act recently released by House members contains a provision that he said would be “disastrous” for crypto users from both a privacy and due process standpoint. According to the Coin Center director, a section of the bill on the “prohibitions or conditions on certain transmittals of funds” proposed by Representative Jim Himes would give the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury “unchecked and unilateral power to ban exchanges and other financial institutions from engaging in cryptocurrency transa...
Kanye West wants royalties from Paparazzi photos, with the help of NFTs
Kanye West expressed his frustration at the paparazzi after being filmed arriving at Miami International Airport on Monday, as seen in a video posted by ET Canada. Kanye can be heard saying to the cameraman: “It’s just really one-sided. You guys can follow us, you guys to stand from the hotel at any given time. You don’t give us any percentage of what you make off us, off our kids. And I’m going to change that.” Kanye in Miami | Source: ET Canada The cameraman argued that, “without candid photography, there wouldn’t be a [documented] history of celebrities.” However, it was clear that Kanye’s main interest involved the right to royalties from paparazzi photos, rather than issues with the perceived invasion of privacy. “You know, N...
U.S. Congressman calls for ‘Broad, bipartisan consensus’ on important issues of digital asset policy
In a letter to the leadership of the United States House Financial Services Committee, ranking member Patrick McHenry took a jab at “inconsistent treatment and jurisdictional uncertainty” inherent in U.S. crypto regulation and called for the Committee to take on its critical issues. McHenry, a Republican representing North Carolina, opened by mentioning that the Committee’s Democrat Chairwoman Maxine Waters is looking to schedule additional hearings addressing matters pertinent to the digital asset industry. He further stressed the need for identifying and prioritizing the key issues and achieving a “broad, bipartisan consensus” on the matters affecting the industry that holds immense promise for the financial system and broader economy. Citing the confusion that the industry faces due to ...
