The National Power Administration of Paraguay (ANDE) has surprised cryptocurrency mining operators by raising power fees by 14%, affecting the profitability of these activities. The rise have already caused the exit of a company that planned to invest over $400 million in the country due to the lack of clarity in the area. Paraguay Raises […] Original
Japan’s top financial regulator proposes protecting users from “unlawful transfers” to cryptocurrency exchanges. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) points out that the number of fraudulent transactions in the country remains high, and most involve crypto assets. The FSA offers several measures to protect users from illegal transfers. In particular, these measures are expected to complicate the peer-to-peer (P2P) transaction market seriously. As such, the FSA and the National Policing Agency (NPA) are calling on banks to “further strengthen the protection of their users.” The FSA and NPA are pursuing several key…
In an emotional video posted to his personal Youtube channel, Armstrong said his daily shows in which he discussed crypto trends were no longer financially viable and were burning $25,000 a week to produce. He said he is spending “about $100,000 a month” on legal bills. Source
ALSO: Shaurya Malwa writes that Waves’ decision to abandon the stablecoin model underlines a decline in this sector stemming from the Terra UST implosion and other debacles. Bitcoin rides past $24.1K at one point. Source
With Bitcoin surging past $20,000, altcoins like DOT (Polkadot) have been riding the broader crypto rally which started since the beginning of 2023. According to CoinGecko, the token is trading at $5.94, and has risen by more than 12% in the past 24 hours and 33% in the weekly. This was caused by market optimism caused by positive Consumer Price Index (CPI) data that was released Thursday. With the main components of the CPI going deflationary, the market may continue the sharp rally that it started the year with. DOTs…
The energy use of the miners have been a topic of debate globally. Most recently, A group of seven Democratic lawmakers in Washington, D.C., led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), said they are looking into the energy usage and carbon emissions of the bitcoin mining industry in Texas, where many miners have setup their operations. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) also expressed concerns that bitcoin mining’s enormous demand for energy in Texas is straining the state’s grid, adversely impacting consumers and U.S. climate goals. Source link
Significantly, the CRI also has committed to “take joint steps to stop ransomware actors from being able to use the cryptocurrency ecosystem to garner payment.” This would include sharing information about crypto wallets used for laundering funds, as well as developing and implementing anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) crypto standards. Among those standards would be “know your customer” (KYC) rules to reduce their misuse by cyber criminals. Source
Nigeria’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) is not getting the warm reception expected from its crypto-savvy population. According to a Bloomberg report, less than 0.5% of Nigeria’s 217 million population are using the government-issued digital currency — the eNaira — a year after its launch. This comes despite Nigeria being identified by Chainalysis as the top country in Africa for crypto adoption and ranking 11th globally, while a KuCoin report found that 35% of the Nigerian population aged 18 to 60 had owned or traded cryptocurrencies this year. Bloomberg noted…
Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings has partly terminated cryptocurrency mining in Russia due to geopolitical uncertainty and the crypto winter. SBI Holdings suspended mining operations in Russia’s crypto mining-rich region of Siberia, citing reasons like the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the ongoing bear market, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The Japanese online brokerage shut down the Siberian mining operations shortly after Russia started a military intervention in Ukraine on Feb. 24, a spokesperson for the firm reportedly said. The termination contributed to SBI’s crypto asset business reporting a pretax loss of 9.7…
“To the extent there are U.S. touch points, or U.S. persons involved in such transactions, crypto companies could face enforcement from FinCEN, OFAC and/or the U.S. Department of Justice, depending on the activity at issue and whether any U.S. laws were violated,” he said. “Even without a violation, an investigation can be incredibly taxing on resources and distracting to leadership. As a result, crypto companies may wish to steer clear of mixers, to the extent possible.” Source