Kategorie: Crypto Business

• Bitcoin makes up 60% of Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s liquid portfolio
• Mexico’s third-richest person calls bonds ‚a terrible investment‘. 
• The TV Azteca CEO says he has 40% of his investment in oil and gold.

Billionaire Ricard Salinas Pliego, the third wealthiest individual in Mexico per Forbes‘ latest rich list, has revealed Bitcoin makes up the largest portion of his liquid portfolio.

Salinas, who has previously urged investors to have at least part of their portfolios in the benchmark cryptocurrency, was speaking at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami on Thursday.

„I have a liquid portfolio. I have 60% in Bitcoin and Bitcoin equities, and then 40% in hard asset stocks like oil and gas and gold miners. And that’s where I am,“ the Grupo Elektra chairman noted.

Going by the remarks, Salinas Pliego’s total Bitcoin and related products‘ holdings have increased significantly over the past two years. In 2020, the Mexican billionaire said he had about 10% of his portfolio in BTC.

Like then, his latest comments suggest Bitcoin is a better investment than holding government bonds.

„I definitely don’t have any bonds,“ he said on a panel at the conference. He went on to call bonds „a terrible investment,“ that he wouldn’t touch even with a „10-foot pole.“

With bonds headed for their worst returns in over seven decades amid central bank monetary tightening and interest rate hikes, Salinas says Bitcoin presents a better asset. On bonds‘ performance, he said:

„It’s just the worst thing. I mean, the best thing that can happen to you is you get back your $100. That’s the best thing that can happen.“

I want to thank @TheBitcoinConf for giving me the opportunity to speak about “what’s next”, it was a pleasure to meet you all 😌.

“Please… don’t put your future in government’s hands, you and I know how does that always ends, stay away from #FIAT money, invest in #btc” pic.twitter.com/sjVvbbZKcY

— Ricardo Salinas Pliego (@RicardoBSalinas) April 7, 2022

Salinas is also the owner of one of Mexico’s leading broadcasters in TV Azteca. His net worth is around $12.9 billion.

The post Mexican billionaire Salinas Pliego says Bitcoin accounts for 60% of his liquid portfolio appeared first on Coin Journal.

The funds will be used to refund Axie Infinity users who lost their assets after a hacker exploited Sky Mavis’ Ronin validator nodes and Axie DAO in March.

Sky Mavis, the developer firm behind the Axie Infinity game, has announced a $150 million funding round led by leading crypto exchange Binance.

The funding round also attracted other major investors from across the crypto space, including venture capitals a16z and Dialectic, crypto-focused investment firm Paradigm, and game software firm Animoca Brands.

According to Sky Mavis, the funds will be combined with those on the company’s balance sheet and be put into the reimbursement plan for Axie Infinity players affected by the recent $625 million hack.

Following the attack, the company has undertaken to bolster network security, including via internal audits. Reimbursing players was also one of the first commitments the developer pledged.

„Sky Mavis is committed to reimbursing all of our users‘ lost funds and implementing rigorous internal security measures to prevent future attacks,“ the firm’s CEO Trung Nguyen said.

He also touched on Sky Mavis‘ plans.

“As a team, we have made an intentional decision to focus on what lies ahead, starting with tomorrow’s launch of Axie Infinity: Origin. We are also thrilled to collaborate with Binance NFT on future projects.”

The company hopes to reopen the Ronin Network bridge, which the hacker exploited to steal 173,600 Ethereum (ETH) and $25.5 million in USDC, once the security audits are over.

As a way toward making the network even more robust going forward, Ronin’s validator group will increase from five to 21. The process will be complete in the next three months and with validators set to be split between the firm’s partners and community members.

Despite the historic hack, the Axie Infinity game remains the most popular and most-played NFT game. More than 2.6 million people own Axie NFTs, while monthly active users currently stand around 2.2 million.

The post Axie Infinity creator secures $150 million in a funding round led by Binance appeared first on Coin Journal.

The UK is taking this and other steps as it looks to position itself as a global hub for crypto-asset technology innovation, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said at the UK Fintech Week 2022.

The UK is set to bring stablecoins within its regulatory framework on electronic payments, opening the assets to further adoption across the country.

The plans came to light on Monday, highlighted by a government official during the InnFin Global Finance Summit event in London.

According to Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen, the government is seeking appropriate and actionable steps that should put the UK at the forefront of crypto innovation. 

The government wants to see the country become a “global hub” for crypto technology and investment, Glen said.

And one of the steps involves the gradual fine-tuning of the country’s regulatory guidelines so that stablecoins become a legal payment option for consumers. These steps will also be tailored toward supporting stablecoin issuers and service providers.

Economic Secretary @JohnGlenUK announced today that stablecoins will be brought into UK payments regulation.

This places the UK financial services sector at the forefront of technology, creating conditions for stablecoin issuers and service providers to operate and invest. pic.twitter.com/14SsIGW5bf

— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) April 4, 2022

A Royal Mint NFT by summer

The Finance Ministry’s recommendations also include the realization that growth within the digital asset space could provide a major boost to consumer choice. As such, UK’s government is eyeing a new regulatory approach that can support not just the stablecoin sector, but other sectors within the broader digital assets markets.

“If crypto technologies are going to be a big part of the future, then we, the UK, want to be in,” Glen said at the UK Fintech Week 2022.

Plans to have stablecoins brought within the UK’s regulatory environment have been coming since last year. However, there’s a new pace to the whole idea.

On Monday, HM Treasury (UK’s Economic and Finance Ministry) announced that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak had asked the Royal Mint to create an NFT and issue it by summer.

Chancellor @RishiSunak has asked @RoyalMintUK to create an NFT to be issued by the summer.

This decision shows the the forward-looking approach we are determined to take towards cryptoassets in the UK. pic.twitter.com/cd0tiailBK

— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) April 4, 2022

Other major plans around crypto from the British government include wider consultations around decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) and decentralised finance (DeFi). For the latter, the key considerations are around DeFi loans and staking.

According to the finance ministry, the new legislation forms part of the broader goal to have a Financial Market Infrastructure Sandbox in place by 2023.

The post UK government wants to make stablecoins a legal payment method appeared first on Coin Journal.

The ADA Yield Fund starts off with $100 million and will benefit Cardano’s growing decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem via liquidity and other resources.

Wave Financial has announced the launch of Wave ADA Yield Fund, a $100 million fund aimed at supporting the Cardano (ADA) blockchain ecosystem.

According to Wave Financial CEO David Siemer, the fund is purely meant for the provision of liquidity and targets decentralised exchanges (DEXs), lending protocols and stablecoin issuers. The fund will also support stake pools in the Cardano DeFi ecosystem.

“Each of these decentralized applications adds to the strong foundation of the Cardano blockchain as it realizes a fully functional and diverse ecosystem,” Siemer said in a press release shared with CoinJournal on Wednesday.

Wave is a Los Angeles-based digital asset investment manager regulated by the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC). The company says the fund is a reflection of its goals in the crypto ecosystem, including support for promising entrepreneurs.  

Cardano’s growing ecosystem is attracting institutional investors

Cardano launched smart contracts capability in 2021 and has over the past several months, seen an explosion of developer activity.  Hundreds have launched via community funding initiatives, according to Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Input Output (IOHK)

But more are at various stages of development, with the ADA fund likely to prove a timely launch. Hoskinson agrees with the sentiment, noting in a statement that the Cardano ecosystem will succeed if projects built on the blockchain thrive.

“So we are pleased that the ADA Yield Fund is committing substantial financial resources to facilitate continued growth and market acceptance,” he added.

Cardano continues to see huge interest from institutional investors, with demand driving on-chain large transaction volumes even higher. Data shows that year-to-date, transactions involving $100k or more in ADA have spiked nearly 50x.

Demand has also seen the launch of ADA-backed exchange-traded products to cater to institutional investors. Just this week, WisdomTree launched a Cardano ETP for the European market.

The post Wave Financial unveils ADA Yield Fund to support Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem appeared first on Coin Journal.

Tahinis Restaurants owner Aly Hamam shared his ‘secret’ with Canadian politicians during a Standing Committee on Finance’s Pre-Budget Consultations session.

Canadian politician and Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre just bought lunch at Tahinis Restaurants using Bitcoin (BTC).

The news follows an earlier tweet from the politician about his plan to buy a shawarma with BTC even as he met the owner of a business that outsmarted the government to beat inflation.

Poilievre, who wants to become the next Canadian Prime Minister, could help Canadian businesses do just that. And he said as much in a tweet posted on Monday, which also aligns with his other big plan – to give people back their ‘freedom’ and make Canada the world’s “blockchain capital.”

Conservative leadership candidate @PierrePoilievre buys chicken shawarma from @TheRealTahinis using bitcoin Lightning Network. Transaction cost was one satoshi, which the consumer covers. This was the first bitcoin purchase at Tahini’s. pic.twitter.com/T5hVlY4fy0

— Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) March 28, 2022

Bitcoin to the ‘world’

“You’ll never believe how this London shawarma shop owner outsmarted government to beat inflation. Today, I’m buying lunch from him—and bringing my Bitcoin wallet.”

So, how did a small business manage to beat inflation, outsmarting government experts and officials in the process? In a video, also shared on Monday, Poilievre specifically says even the Finance Minister got it (inflation) wrong.

Asked how, Aly Hamam, the owner of Tahinis Restaurants, gave an apt response:

He and his company noticed how there was a lot of money “chasing the same goods” in the months before the pandemic. And more money, exacerbated by the quantitative easing that followed the pandemic led to the rising inflation seen over the past year.

Luckily, Tahinis had stumbled upon Bitcoin (BTC).

According to Hamam, Bitcoin’s fixed money supply meant they went “in knowing the rules” and more importantly, these rules “don’t change on you.” Simply, no one controls the money as do banks and politicians.

He said Tahinis bought Bitcoin when the coin’s value was around $10k-$12k in 2020. At BTC’s market price of around $37k last week, the company had a +66% deflationary advantage over its fiat holdings at the start of the pandemic.

Here’s the rest of Hamam’s Bitcoin experience.

The post Canada PM candidate Pierre Poilievre buys lunch with Bitcoin appeared first on Coin Journal.