Month: April 2023

US-Saudi Tensions Escalate as Report Says Crown Prince Is No Longer Interested in Pleasing the United States  – Economics Bitcoin News

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After Saudi Arabia and members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) surprised the world by announcing cuts to oil production, a spokesperson for U.S. president Biden’s National Security Council stated that reducing production is not advisable. According to a recent report, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has told associates that Riyadh is no longer interested in pleasing the United States. The Growing Shift Away from U.S. Dollar Hegemony in Global Trade and Finance There has been a lot of focus on OPEC members and the…

Deposits to zkSync surpass $110M as its DeFi ecosystem explodes

The total amount of funds bridged to zkSync reached $115 million within 10 days of the public mainnet launch as users rush to farm the airdrop of the Ethereum rollup’s expected native token, per L2BEAT data. The zkSync era mainnet was launched one day after the March 24 Arbitrum airdrop. The median airdrop for eligible wallets was 1,250 ARB, earning its owners around $1,500 in free money. As users rushed to farm the next airdrop, zkSync has emerged as one of the most popular airdrop plays for the market. The…

Texas Senate committee moves forward on bill removing incentives for crypto miners

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The Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce has passed legislation that would largely remove incentives for miners operating under the state’s crypto-friendly regulatory environment.  In an April 4 session of the committee, Texas lawmakers agreed to move forward in a 10-0 vote on Senate Bill 1751 first introduced by state Senator Lois Kolkhorst. The proposed legislation would amend sections of Texas’ utilities and tax code to add restrictions for crypto mining facilities. Under the bill, crypto firms participating in a program intended to compensate them for load reductions on…

PayPal and the credit card industry are taking advantage of consumers

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As rising prices have forced consumers all over the world to reduce their spending and find new ways of coping with the increased cost of living, consumers are finding themselves relying on credit cards even more than they already were.  More Americans are unable to pay their credit card bills in full at the end of the month, with 46% of credit cardholders carrying month-to-month debt, up from 39% in 2022. A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York highlighted how the current 15% year-to-year credit card…

Liquidity protocol Sentiment exploited for over $500K

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Sentiment, an undercollateralized lending protocol, appears to have been exploited on April 4 for over $500,000 in crypto. Ethereum blockchain data shows a transaction that transferred 536,738.410031 USD Coin (USDC) from the Synapse Bridge, and this links up with a series of Arbitrum transactions draining coins from the Sentiment protocol.  The wallet performing the attack has been labeled “Sentimentxyz Exploiter” by Arbiscan, and the Sentiment team has announced on Twitter that they are aware of a “potential issue” with the protocol. The Sentiment team has recently been made aware of a…

Fed liquidity injections drive down US Treasury yields, but not Bitcoin price

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Bitcoin (BTC) might have shown strength after successfully defending the $28,000 support amid unfounded rumors regarding Binance, but an interesting development to note is BTC is becoming less correlated to traditional markets after the United States Federal Reserve elected to provide emergency liquidity to banks.  This change in attitude from the central bank has caused a shift in the trajectory of U.S. Treasurys as traders sought refuge from the inflationary upward pressure. Bitcoin appears to be agnostic to the movement and its price has been hovering around $28,000 for the…

Paxful closing, CEO blames staff departures, regulatory challenges

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Peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplace Paxful announced on April 4 that it was suspending operations. Paxful founder and CEO Ray Youssef said in a blog that “key staff departures” and the regulation environment were behind the decision. “We are not sure if it [the marketplace] will come back,” Youssef wrote. He added that all customer funds are accounted for and asked customers to withdraw their funds. The blog post provided links to other platforms that Paxful suggested for non-U.S. users to migrate to. Youssef said in a Twitter Spaces meetup that Paxful is…