Month: May 2023

How Bitcoin’s Civil War About Scaling Resonates Today

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The two sides, then, were known as Big Blockers and Small Blockers, and they were split over a rather small technical decision: how many megabytes of data a BTC block should handle. Big Blockers wanted to increase the block size to accompany more transactions, lowering fees and making everyday payments more viable. Small Blockers were more conservative, both in the way their name suggests, as well as in not wanting to make irreversible changes to Bitcoin’s source code. Big blocks would enable more people to use bitcoin, increasing throughput, but…

Regulators Should Not ‘Front-Run’ Congress on Stablecoins

Some have speculated that stablecoins may pose risks to the broader financial system, citing the fact that Circle, which issues and manages USDC, held large deposits at the recently-shuttered Silicon Valley Bank. Chair Gensler himself attempted to make a connection between Silvergate and Signature Bank’s activities in crypto and their ultimate demise. However, at last month’s hearing, Adrienne Harris, Superintendent of New York state’s financial regulator, which regulated Signature Bank, definitively stated that its failure was not crypto related and called the claim a “misnomer.” Source

Bitcoin reclaims $27k as accumulation turns to distribution

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Share Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Telegram Copy Link Link copied Bitcoin is back at $27,000 after recording a rally of close to 2% within a 24-hour run. Trading at $27.400, BTC recorded a 1.7% gain within 24 hours as of press time, with trading volume rising by 12%. Bitcoin’s volatility levels are rather low now as the Bollinger bands converge to show lower volatility. The relative strength indicator also moves above its average line, signaling a possible bullish trend. The MACD indicator is also moving in…

Filecoin Price Drops After SEC Asks Grayscale to Withdraw FIL Trust Application

“The SEC staff requested that Grayscale seek withdrawal of the registration statement promptly,” Grayscale said. “Grayscale does not believe that FIL is a security under the federal securities laws and intends to respond promptly to the SEC staff with an explanation of the legal basis for Grayscale’s position. Grayscale cannot predict whether the SEC staff will be persuaded that Grayscale’s position is correct, and if not, whether it may become necessary for Grayscale to seek accommodations that would enable the Trust to register under the Investment Company Act of 1940…

Miami blockchain folk hero secures $5M for community tokenization

On May 17, the Captain Haiti Foundation, a 4947(a)(1) charitable trust, announced a $5 million raise sponsored by private equity firm Dargent Group.  The Captain Haiti Foundation says the partnership aims to leverage blockchain technologies to “combat Miami’s housing crisis and the ongoing gentrification of the Haitian community [in Miami].” Nandy Martin, who is also known as Captain Haiti and serves as the foundation’s chairman, explained that the fund will be dedicated to helping residents acquire land, family homes and commercial real estate in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami.…

Pakistani finance minister says crypto will never be legal because of FATF

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Pakistan will ban cryptocurrency services operating in the country and never legalize crypto trading, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha said at a session of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on May 16, according to multiple local media reports. Other officials, including State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Director Sohail Jawad, spoke in favor of the decision.  Pasha said banning crypto was one of the requirements set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which removed Pakistan from its gray list in October. The…

USDC Stablecoin Issuer Circle Moves $8.7B to Repo Agreements Amid Risk of U.S. Default

Overnight repo transactions are effectively short-term collateralized loans. The borrower is selling a security – in this case, U.S. Treasurys – for cash, and agrees to buy back the collateral the next day for a slightly higher price. What’s really happening, though, is that big institutional investors with cash to spare are parking that with Wall Street dealers that need funding. Source

The Risks and Rewards of High-Frequency Crypto Trading

Often this involves arbitrage, where one asset has two different prices on separate exchanges. If, for instance, you can buy an asset for $10 on one exchange and nearly instantly sell it for $10.25 on another, you will have essentially secured a riskless profit. Doing so over and over can be highly profitable. Some of the more well-known names in HFT are Jump Trading, Citadel Securities, Virtu and Hudson River Trading. Source BitcoinCryptocryptoexchangeExchangesHighFrequencyRewardsRisksTrading CryptoX Portal

Ethereum Staking Needs Its (Honest) LIBOR

To fully achieve the promise of this innovation, a standardized benchmark can be produced by capturing and publishing the daily, annualized mean of on-chain rewards across all validators. It would be difficult to manipulate because of the inherent transparency, replicability and immutability of the blockchain –  in contrast, say, to the infamously manipulated LIBOR benchmark that powered traditional finance (TradFi) credit markets for years. Source