Tag: Digital

Russian parliament passes a “digital rouble” bill

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The central bank digital currency (CBDC) project in Russia made one large step closer to reality. On July 11, Gosduma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, passed a “digital rouble” bill in the third reading. Now the document faces confirmation in the higher chamber and, afterward, the President’s signature.  The bill, the draft for which was last amended at the end of June, sets the legal definitions of “platform, ” participants” and “users”, as well as the general guidelines for the CBDC ecosystem. In the current framework, the Central…

US Senate Finance Committee asks digital asset community how to tax it in open letter

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United States Senate Financial Services Committee Chair Ron Wyden and ranking member Mike Crapo released an open letter to the digital asset community on July 11 asking for input on the taxation of digital assets. The senators are looking for solutions to highly complex taxation issues, so much so that they offered background reading from the Joint Committee on Taxation to prepare respondents. The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 provides “no straightforward classification for digital assets,” the senators said. They asked a large number of questions grouped into nine subject areas,…

BOE governor trashes crypto, stablecoins in favor of ‘enhanced digital money’

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Andrew Bailey, a Bank of England (BOE) governor, delivered a speech July 10 in which he moved smoothly from the central bank’s efforts to control inflation and maintain public trust in financial institutions to why cryptocurrencies are not money. Instead of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, he would prefer “enhanced digital money.” The spate of bank failures in the United States and Switzerland earlier this year revealed issues of the singleness of money and settlement finality, Bailey said. Both cryptocurrencies and stablecoins fail basic tests of singleness and settlement finality, he said, without elaborating.…

Marathon Digital attributes 21% decline in Bitcoin mined to adverse weather conditions

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Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital has linked its recent slump in the total amount of Bitcoin’s (BTC) mined in June to the weather conditions in Texas and a drop in transaction fees. According to a July 5 statement, Marathon Digital experienced a “21%” decline in June for the total amount of Bitcoin mined compared to the previous month of May. It was reported that Marathon produced “979 Bitcoin in June,” which, although lower than May, it also reflects a 599% increase compared to June 2022.  The primary reason cited for the…

3AC Liquidator May Try to Claw Back About $1.2B From Digital Currency Group, BlockFi

A confidential July 7 report from Teneo, the liquidator, that CoinDesk reviewed referred to more than $1 billion of “prospective claims” against DCG and its Genesis lending subsidiary consisting of “both preference claims and claims which have resulted from issues around the perfection of loan and security documentation.” It also noted more than $220 million of “preferential payments” to BlockFi. Source

Gemini files lawsuit against Digital Currency Group and Barry Silbert over Genesis and Earn program

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has announced legal action against the conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its CEO Barry Silbert, claiming “fraud against creditors”. In a July 7 filing in a New York court, Gemini alleged DCG and Silbert engaged in a scheme involving lending “huge amounts of cryptocurrency and U.S. dollars” to Genesis. According to the filing, Gemini seeks to recover funds incurred as a result of “DCG’s and Silbert’s false, misleading, and incomplete representations and omissions to Gemini, and Defendants’ role in encouraging and facilitating Genesis’s fraud…

Gemini Sues Digital Currency Group and Founder Barry Silbert Alleging ‘Fraud’

The lawsuit is intended to recover Gemini’s funds from DCG, a filing made to the New York County Supreme Court said. Gemini entered into a partnership with Genesis which allowed its customers to earn up to 7.4% in annual percentage yield. Gemini sent its customers’ funds to Genesis, which in turn loaned them out to companies like the now-defunct Three Arrows Capital. Like Genesis, CoinDesk is a subsidiary of DCG. Source

Citi, HSBC, NY Fed’s Innovation Group See Merit in Digital Ledgers for Global Payments

Fitting somewhere in the middle of the debate between central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and private stablecoins, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s New York Innovation Center (NYIC), which has collaborated on the project since last year, concluded that “the network has the potential to deliver improvements in the processing of  wholesale payments due to its ability to synchronize U.S. dollar-denominated payments and facilitate settlement on a near-real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis.” Source

Namibia passes bill to regulate crypto and digital assets

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Namibia has joined other African nations in embracing cryptocurrencies and digital assets by approving a bill in the National Assembly. The bill, which passed Namibia’s lower house of parliament on June 22, aims to regulate digital assets, cryptocurrencies and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in the country. The legislation aims to establish a framework for licensing and regulating VASPs. It also seeks to appoint a regulatory authority responsible for supervising these providers and their activities. The main objectives include ensuring consumer protection, preventing market abuse, and mitigating the risks of money…