Day: August 15, 2020

Why Cryptocurrency Is More Than a Hedge Against US Dollar Inflation

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During times of international economic crisis, governments print money. This leads to inflation and investors subsequently stashing their investment capital in long-term, stable investments. Historically, that has meant gold, but in the current economic crisis, gold has been joined by another long-term store of value: Bitcoin (BTC). There are several good reasons for this. The United States Federal Reserve is handling the crisis terribly, and has responded to soaring unemployment numbers in the same way they always do: by printing money. Already, the dollar has lost 5% of its value,…

Novogratz Says Biden and Harris Good for Country, Bad for Markets

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Galaxy Digital CEO and known Bitcoin (BTC) proponent, Mike Novogratz, said he sees upcoming financial market difficulties if Democrats take the U.S. presidential bid in November.  “Electing Biden and Harris, as much as it’s going to be great for the country, it’s not going to be great for the market,” Novogratz told Bloomberg in an Aug. 14 interview.  Following his comments on Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, being “fair” to Wall Street if elected, Novogratz mentioned heightened taxes from a Democratic presidential win. “The Democrats are going to be tougher…

California Moves Forward With Digital Asset Bill

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California’s Senate Banking and Financial Institutions committee has passed a bill seeking to define digital assets and measure its impact on the state and consumer protections.  Assembly Bill 2150, which can potentially influence how federal regulators approach digital assets, unanimously passed the Senate’s Banking and Financial Institutions committee. It will be discussed in the Committee on Appropriations as early as August 17.  The bill had previously passed the California Assembly before moving to the Senate.  The bill, first proposed by California Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon, initially sought to presume…

Bitcoin and Tesla: America’s Most Loved Assets on Tradingview

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Tradingview said Friday that bitcoin and Tesla, the electric car maker and clean energy firm, are America’s most viewed assets on the charting platform. Bitcoin (BTC) has climbed over 60% year-to-date, with the price reaching $11,900 at Press time. The rise has drawn in thousands of new investors – both retail and institutional – to the cryptocurrency. Likewise, Tesla’s share price more than tripled this year, soaring from $402 on January 1 to $1,650, driven by a positive future outlook on the electric vehicles industry. “While publicly traded companies like…

Decentralized Exchanges Maturing, but High Demand Reveals Limitations

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Decentralized exchanges, also known as DEXs, have risen significantly in popularity since the start of 2020, with both their user bases and volumes growing at an accelerating pace. The sector is currently being driven by so-called “automated market makers,” or AMMs.  In a nutshell, these exchanges do away with the traditional order book and custom price orders. Instead, an asset’s price is determined by a mathematical formula that depends on the relative share of the assets in liquidity pools. When a user transacts, this changes the balance of assets in…

Good Stablecoin Rules in the EU Pave the Way for CBDCs and a Digital Euro

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While Facebook’s Libra project might have shaken the United States government the most, the aftershocks were felt all over the world. The European Union was no exception: The publication of the first Libra white paper in 2019 led to the acknowledgment that the EU was not prepared for what appeared to be the first global stablecoin that would have a direct effect on the European financial market, retail payments and its overall economy. In the words of both the European Council and the European Commission (the EU’s supreme political body…

Can Belarus Use Crypto to Bypass Sanctions? Experts are Skeptical

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As the massive protests in Belarus continue after a controversial election that saw President Alexander Lukashenko extend his mandate, questions arose about how Belarus could deal with potential U.S. and European Union sanctions and how cryptos such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) could help bypass them. An article published by Russian outlet, RBC, suggested that using cryptocurrencies could not be an effective option for the Belarussian government to beat financial sanctions that may be imposed by the EU and Washington on Minsk. According to The Guardian, the EU is…

Indian Crypto Exchange WazirX to Enter DeFi Amid Uncertain Regulations

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One of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in India, WazirX, today said they are gearing up to develop and launch their first decentralized finance product in partnership with the Matic network. In an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the company said they will launch an automated market maker (AMM) protocol. Nischal Shetty, the CEO of WazirX, shared that the product was currently under development, and they plan to launch a testnet version by the end of September this year. An automated market maker protocol is a form of smart contract meant to…

The Blockchain Paradox: Decentralization Through Centralized Institutions

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The power of blockchain technology to decentralize control of our financial economy is well documented. It is one of the cornerstones of the origins of the technology, with the genesis block of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin (BTC) containing a reference to the 2008–2009 financial crisis: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” The message, although never explicitly outlined by Bitcoin’s creator, is from the headline of a London Times article dated Jan. 3, 2009 that details banks being bailed out by the British government. Bitcoin, according to…

Educating Congress on Tech Is The Next Frontier for This Blockchain Caucus Co-Chair

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“I remember watching the hearings before the Energy and Commerce Committee with Mark Zuckerberg, and it was clear that a lot of my colleagues didn’t really know a lot about technology,” recalls U.S. Representative Darren Soto. When Soto (D-FL) speaks about technology, it sounds personal. He references space launches at Cape Canaveral, which lies adjacent to his district, Florida’s 9th. It is, he mentions, also home to Disney World and Universal, which have made it a major hub for virtual reality as well as vacationers.  A co-chairman of the Blockchain…