Kategorie: Crypto Markets

Daily headlines and news about crypto markets.

Veröffentlicht am

Harvard professor says central banks are ‘behind the curve’ on crypto regulation

Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University professor of economics and public policy, says central banks are “way behind the curve” in the push to regulate cryptocurrencies.

The former International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist said this during an interview with Bloomberg Surveillance on Monday.

Rogoff wondered why the US central bank – the Federal Reserve – was pursuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). He contends that whatever the government may want to achieve with the digital currency can “accomplish” these same things by tweaking the current monetary system.

A crypto skeptic, including of CBDCs, the economist says having a successful retail rollout by the central bank would result in “massive disintermediation” that the government is “probably not ready to handle.”

For him, the motivation for some of the “smaller central banks” in wanting a CBDC is the hope that they can eat into some of the transactions that are currently being seen on crypto platforms.

Crypto ‘doesn’t want to be regulated’

In a comment that reflects the overall misunderstanding of cryptocurrencies, Rogoff notes digital currencies “general idea” revolves around making it difficult for one to be tracked. He added:

“I think central banks are way behind the curve, and governments in general, in regulating cryptocurrencies. They throw out the idea of having CBDCs to distract the conversation.”

Despite there being numerous calls from the crypto industry for regulatory clarity, and government’s recognition of the same, Rogoff thinks the crypto industry is pushing back against regulation.

Comparing the crypto industry today to the financial technology pioneers of the 90s and early 2000s, the Harvard professor says the mantra of “catch me if you can, regulate me if you can” is wrong. He also says crypto is lobbying and pushing back against regulation by throwing around money – the Super Bowl ads is an example.

He also appeared to criticise states like Florida and Colorado for their warm crypto regulatory environment, saying it’s like such states want to be the next El Salvaldor.

The post Harvard professor says central banks are ‘behind the curve’ on crypto regulation appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Coinbase secures approval from financial regulators in Italy

Coinbase can keep serving Italian customers after securing approval from Italian financial regulators, CoinDesk reported. The San Francisco-based exchange wrote on its website that the Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM) had included a new requirement. 

All custodians or crypto exchanges had to fulfill the criteria if they wanted to continue offering services in Italy. Coinbase Vice President of International and Business Development Nana Murugesan commented: 

It’s critical to build a constructive relationship with regulators in every region where we operate. Obtaining this regulatory approval is proof of our cooperation and positive working relationship with the Italian financial regulators.

Growing presence across the Atlantic 

Coinbase has customers throughout Europe through dedicated hubs in Germany, the UK, and Ireland. The biggest US crypto exchange is in the process of augmenting its presence across Europe.

It has license applications or registrations in progress in a number of leading markets in compliance with local regulations. Its goal is to attract more customers in each of these markets by launching the Coinbase suite of the ecosystem, institutional, and retail products. 

Binance also obtained OAM approval 

Binance also obtained regulatory approval in Italy last month. Its CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a statement at the time:

Clear and effective regulation is key to the broad market adoption of crypto. We thank the OAM and the Ministry of Economy and Finance for their efforts in defining the requirements to do business transparently in Italy.

Binance had been banned in Italy

Less than a year ago, financial watchdog CONSOB termed Binance unauthorized. The world’s biggest exchange was also banned from offering Italian citizens derivatives. 

A few weeks ago, Binance obtained licenses in Dubai and Bahrain and secured regulatory approval in France. 

The post Coinbase secures approval from financial regulators in Italy appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Monaco-based luxury yacht company, Yachtzoo, accepts Shiba Inu payments

The list of real-world use cases for Shiba Inu keeps growing with the latest acceptance by Yachtzoo, a Monaco-based luxury brokerage company, as a mode of payment.

The luxury yacht brokerage company in a blog published on its website has said that it has started accepting crypto payments through BitPay, a pioneer of blockchain payments.

BitPay has been one of the leading enablers for Shiba Inu payments and has immensely contributed to the widespread adoption of Shiba Inu and other cryptocurrencies.

Buying luxury boats using Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Yachtzoo partnered with BitPay to enable crypto payments in general and Shiba Inu is one of the prominent cryptocurrencies that BitPay allows for use for transactions. The other prominent cryptocurrencies that boat lovers could use to purchase luxury boats through BitPay include Bitcoin (BTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), and Ethereum (ETH).

In the published blog, Yachtzoo says:

“Our partnership with BitPay offers a host of benefits to our clients, ensuring all payments are secure and efficient. Unlike the high cost of credit cards that charge 3% transaction fee, BitPay charges 1% to approve the transaction and settlement. Additionally, BitPay offers the best bid exchange rates. When our clients buy and charter a yacht with cryptocurrency through BitPay, they can rest assured that their transactions are not just fast but are also safe. As BitPay is built around bitcoin, transactions are secure from identity theft and chargeback fraud.”

Yachtzoo was founded in 2017 in Monaco and is a leading yacht brokerage company. It has developed yachting hubs worldwide andy has offices in London, Monte Carlo, Buenos Aires, Fort Lauderdale, and Yokohama.

The post Monaco-based luxury yacht company, Yachtzoo, accepts Shiba Inu payments appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Tezos co-founder says Celsius going bankrupt was inevitable

Tezos co-founder Kathleen Breitman says the eventual filing for bankruptcy by embattled crypto lender Celsius Network is not surprising at all.

Breitman, commenting on the unfortunate turmoil that’s threatening to suck any pending warmth from an already cold crypto winter, said the lender’s trajectory towards trouble was inevitable.

The die was cast for Celsius

According to the Tezos co-founder, a suspect business model, underpinned by the massive yield offered to investors and the crypto price crash spelled bleakness for the likes of Celsius.

So when crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital collapsed and filed for bankruptcy, followed by crypto brokerage Voyager Digital, the die was cast for Celsius.

The lender, which paused customer withdrawals in early June, indicated in its filing that total liabilities stand at $5.5 billion, with over $4.7 billion owed to users. However, the total assets are about $4.3 billion to leave a $1.2 billion hole in the balance sheet.

Before the bankruptcy filing, Celsius had been hit by a class action lawsuit brought by a former employee. The lawsuit alleged that the crypto lender had, among other things, disregarded risk management practices and even manipulated the market by artificially inflating the price CEL, its native token.

Before hitting the wall, the lawsuit alleges Celsius had operated more like a Ponzi scheme, using new customer deposits to sustain withdrawals.

These are the events that paint a picture of a company doomed to fail.

“For those of us who’ve been in this industry for quite some time, it’s completely unsurprising that something like Celsius would go bankrupt,” she told Bloomberg Technology.

She added that this outcome was likely “because economics does have laws that transcend the word blockchain.” The unfolding, she explained, is a “shakeout” of what wouldn’t just work – especially for businesses that staked their future on “the theory that numbers will always go up.”

The post Tezos co-founder says Celsius going bankrupt was inevitable appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Open DeFi Notification Protocol integration a big relief for Alpaca Finance users

At the start of this year, Alpaca Finance integrated the Notification Protocol and the integration has been of great help to DeFi users especially those that use Alpaca Finance.

Alpaca users are now able to set up “position health” notifications that give an alert when the safety buffer of leveraged positions drops below the specified threshold. This way users can monitor their leveraged positions 24/7 without worrying about missing out on any notification.

Depending on the issued alert, users are able to take immediate action like adding collateral to mitigate liquidation in case of a low safety buffer alert.

What is Open DeFi Notifications Protocol?

Open DeFi Notification Protocol is a community-led initiative that was developed by defi.org. It provides users with free decentralized mobile notifications of any on-chain events that happen. The protocol is powered by the Orbs Network.

The Defi Notification Protocol is fully open meaning anyone can contribute new notifications. One only needs to implement a simple JavaScript web3 class that is responsible for extracting the notification from the data on the chain.

The protocol has an app called Open DeFi Notification Protocol App that is available on both Google Play and Apple AppStore.

What is Alpaca Finance?

Alpaca Finance is the largest lending protocol for leveraged yield farming (LYF) on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). It has a total value locked (TVL) of $ 800 million.

Alpaca borrowers are able to take under collateralized loans for leveraged yield farming positions. The loans enable users to increase their asset base and ultimately their yields.

However, opening a leveraged yield farming position comes with certain risks especially the risk of liquidation. Therefore, borrowers have to find a way of ensuring that they do not cross the liquidation threshold that triggers an automatic liquidation where all positions are closed to repay the debt.

Need for real-time notifications for LYF positions

Alpaca calculates the safety buffer of the entered positions for customers and displays how close the positions are to potential liquidation. However, displaying it does not help much since you may not be available to see the dashboard all the time.

That is where the Open DeFi Notification Protocol integration comes in. Through the integration, Alpaca Finance users can now get real-time notifications not only of real-time on-chain events but also in relation to the calculated safety buffer.

After the integration, Alpaca has also created a notification widget on their Portfolio page user interface to allow users to set alerts seamlessly.

In a nutshell, real-time notifications for DeFi users are a must especially when money is at stake and there is a likelihood of liquidation. With the Open DeFi Notification protocol integration on Alpaca Finance, DeFi users are assured of never missing any crucial alert.

The post Open DeFi Notification Protocol integration a big relief for Alpaca Finance users appeared first on CoinJournal.