Day: February 26, 2020

‘Crypto Mom’ Accuses SEC of ‘Shifting Standards’ Following Bitcoin ETF Rejection

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The US Securities and Exchange Commision has rejected New York based firm Wilshire Phoenix’s Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) application, citing ongoing concerns over market manipulation and a lack of surveillance-sharing agreements. Commissioner Hester ‘Crypto Mom’ Peirce has publicly disagreed with the rejection. NYSE Arca had submitted a proposed rule change to allow the listing and trade of Wilshire Phoenix’s United States Bitcoin and Treasury Investment Trust. The proposal included both US Treasury Bonds and Bitcoin and hoped to address the SEC’s concerns over market manipulation by automatically rebalancing into…

Prince Harry & Meghan Markle are Pretentious Frauds

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Prince Harry asked conference attendees to “just call him Harry.” If he and Meghan Markle really wanted to be a “man and woman of the people,” they should give up their titles. Harry and Meghan’s stepping down is just their attempt to have their cake and eat it too. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are self-indulgent frauds. The royal couple are famously stepping down from their official duties so they can become “financially independent.” If this weren’t already ridiculous enough, Prince Harry has today asked attendees at a conference to…

Animal Crossing Finally Adds Gender-Free Character Customization

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons packs more customization options than any previous game in the series. For the first time, your hair and facial features are not tied to your gender. This is an important move towards diversity and inclusivity. Animal Crossing: New Horizons just keeps getting better. It’s the only game in the series to give you so much control over your environment. And it seems like Nintendo is gearing up for another series first. For the first time in an Animal Crossing game, you can now customize your character…

Finnish Customs Sitting on $14 Million Bitcoin (BTC) Stash

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Finland’s Customs, locally known as Tulli, is considering auctioning some 1,666 bitcoins (BTC) worth approximately $14 million seized during a successful drug bust back in 2016.  Authorities Concerned About Selling Bitcoin To Criminals According to local news outlet Yle, Finland’s Customs agency is considering auctioning some 1,666 BTC seized from criminals and illegal drug operations. The crypto funds currently held by the agency is reportedly worth an estimated $14 million at today’s price. After confiscating the BTC back in 2016 during a string of successful arrests and drug busts, authorities…

Ripple Class-Action Lawsuit Can Proceed, Judge Rules

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A lawsuit claiming Ripple violated securities laws will be allowed to move forward – though with a caveat favorable to the San Francisco-based payments firm. In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton, of the Northern District of California, allowed a putative class-action lawsuit by retail XRP (XRP) buyers to proceed. Hamilton said the suit can include claims filed under federal law but dismissed some claims filed under California state law. Plaintiffs can refile some of the claims under California law in an amended complaint within 28 days, she…

Financial Watchdogs See Crypto as Illicit by Default

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Recently, financial regulators around the world have been growing concerned about the role of cryptocurrency in money laundering and financing of various illicit activities. The first two months of 2020 saw many governments acting on these concerns and introducing a variety of legal measures designed to bolster their defenses against financial cybercrime allegedly facilitated by the use of digital money. Russia has become the latest of the major jurisdictions to make a move in this direction, as the Central Bank of Russia unveiled last week a revised set of indicators…

This PS5 Concept Art Has One Genius Feature Sony Should Steal

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A new mock PlayStation 5 design concept has surfaced online. The mock console stands out by the quality of the presentation with promotional shots and videos worthy of the real thing. The design includes an LCD display incorporated into the front of the console that shows customizable game-related information. As we approach the end of February, there’s still no news from Sony about the PlayStation 5 or the fabled PS5 reveal event. To tide us over in anticipation, enterprising designers continue to pump out concept designs for the upcoming next-gen…

Brave Browser Smacks Down Chrome, Firefox & Safari

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A privacy expert who compared some of the most popular browsers on the market reached an unambiguous conclusion: Brave trumps competition. Trinity College Dublin’s chair of computer systems, Dr. Douglas Leigth, authored a study comparing Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge and Yandex in terms of how much personal data they share with backend servers. Brave’s default configuration was by far the best of the bunch. The study reads: “Used ‘out of the box’ with its default settings Brave is by far the most private of the browsers studied. We did not…

Tokenized US T-Bond Fund Seeks Foothold in $17T Market

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The crypto industry is taking aim at one of Wall Street’s oldest redoubts: investing in the $17 trillion market for U.S. Treasury bonds.  Arca Funds, a Los Angeles-based money manager specializing in cryptocurrencies, wants to create a fund to buy U.S. Treasury bonds and then use them to back a digital token created atop the ethereum blockchain network. Those tokens will then be distributed to investors. The plan, refiled earlier this month after more than a year of back-and-forth with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, still awaits the regulator’s…

SEC Rejects Latest Bitcoin ETF Bid

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Wilshire Phoenix’s bid for a bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund (ETF). In a filing posted Wednesday, the securities regulator wrote that the New York-based Wilshire Phoenix had not proven the bitcoin market is sufficiently resistant to market manipulation. Wilshire, a newcomer to the financial services industry, first applied for the ETF last summer with NYSE Arca. “The Commission concludes that NYSE Arca has not met its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent…