According to billionaire investor Charlie Munger, the US should ban cryptos as China did. Munger, the Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman, claimed that the crypto industry enables a gambling mentality due to its lack of regulation. The 99-year-old billionaire investor shared his views about cryptos in a recently published op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

He said, “Crypto is neither a currency, commodity nor security. Instead, it’s gambling and is allowed only in states with reckless regulation.” Hence, he suggested that the US promulgate a law prohibiting such from happening. It is worth noting that Munger and his friend, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffet, have always criticized digital assets. They often argue that cryptos aren’t productive or tangible assets.

The timing of Munger’s recent comments

Munger’s recent comments come at a time the digital asset industry is facing several issues, especially liquidity crunch and failed projects, with the most recent being the crash of a once-prominent crypto exchange, FTX. The problems affecting the crypto industry caused its market cap to drop by over $2 trillion last year.

The price of the leading digital asset, BTC, was 65 percent down from its all-time high in 2022. But it has made significant gains in the new year to trade at $23,422, according to our data. Hence, it is now 40 percent down from its all-time high, which it attained in November 2021.

Munger argued that there had been no government preapproval of disclosures for nearly all privately owned firms that launched their tokens or have become publicly traded in the last few years. He further said many promoters had bought crypto tokens for almost zero, which they sell with lots of hype to the unsuspecting public.

However, the public doesn’t know that the pre-dilution of such tokens always favors the promoter. The 99-year-old billionaire investor suggested two precedents that can guide us authorities to making a sound decision. The first is China’s outright ban on all crypto-related activities and services.

The second is the English parliament’s ban on all public trading for new common stocks. According to Munger, this law was in place since the 1700s for nearly 100 years. Then, he added that the Chinese Communist leader had laid the example of what the US should do after banning cryptos.

Michael Saylor responds to Munger’s comments

Meanwhile, BTC advocate Michael Saylor has responded to Munger’s criticism of BTC. During an interview in a recent podcast, Saylor says BTC is so powerful that everyone, especially those with influence and power from Presidents to investors like Munger and Buffett, is sharing their opinion about it. He also said that no one could genuinely understand BTC unless they have a vested interest in it.

He argued that many people study less than 100 hours or stop studying altogether once they reach 40 years of age, let alone Munger and Buffet, who are in their 90s. Saylor also said it is obvious neither of them has taken any time to learn about BTC. The BTC advocate added that none of these wealthy investors would have recommended Apple, Facebook, or Amazon stocks for purchase last decade.

However, these stocks have proven to be excellent purchases for those who bought them then. The BTC advocate added that these older men share their opinion because the media men want to use their views to sell their publications. For instance, no one is asking Buffett his opinion about gold or silver because many people are not interested in that information.

Saylor concluded by saying no one should listen to an older man’s advice about a new technology in which he has no interest.

Der Beitrag Billionaire urges US to ban Bitcoin like China – Michael Saylor says don’t listen to grandpa for investment advice erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.

Blockchain-based distributed ledger platform, Stellar Lumens, has announced the launch of the Stellar Asset Sandbox. Stellar announced via its official Twitter handle on Wednesday. Through this Sandbox, users can issue, mint, or burn new assets through the Stellar testnet without coding knowledge.

1/ Introducing the Stellar Asset Sandbox – In a simple-to-use interface, you can issue, mint, and burn new assets on the Stellar testnet, no code required.https://t.co/cYmH5ovqXr pic.twitter.com/XMxArHGuOz

— Stellar (@StellarOrg) February 1, 2023

The Stellar development foundation and cheesecake labs provide the necessary support for the Sandbox. The Sandbox also enables businesses to test asset issuance on the Stellar testnet network. Meanwhile, there are requirements and steps that users must complete before they can try out the Stellar Asset Sandbox.

Easing asset issuance for companies

The Stellar Asset Sandbox makes asset issuance easy for businesses and individuals. Thus, they can create, issue, or manage digital representations of fiat or real-world assets on Stellar. Users can tokenize assets such as CBDCs, stablecoins, and securities using Stellar’s custom and compliance tools.

Through these tools, businesses can expand their offerings, program their assets and enable real-time payments. Offer expansion means businesses can offer new fiat-domiciled crypto assets to their clients globally. By enabling real-time payments, businesses can complete transaction settlements within seconds.

These built-in tools and other features optimize the Stellar network for asset issuance. More importantly, these digital representations enable users’ customers to access their assets anytime and without huge costs. Already, some companies have started using Sandbox to issue assets on Stellar.

The most notable ones include GMO-Z.com trust company (a New York state limited purpose trust company) and Novatti (a payment service platform that eases transaction settlement for businesses and their customers regardless of location or the device they use). Meanwhile, the asset issuance website contains important resources for anyone willing to know more.

Some available resources include an asset issuance guidebook, CBDC whitepaper, developer documentation, and integration partners.

SDF makes giant strides regarding its roadmap

Meanwhile, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) shared its accomplishments during its Q4 2022 call on Wednesday. The SDF revealed that the total accounts on Stellar surged 14.3 percent year-on-year (YoY). In Q4 2022, Stellar surpassed the 7 million mark for the number of accounts.

In contrast, there were 6.5 million accounts on Stellar in Q4 2021. Also, the SDF revealed a 63.8 percent YoY increase in the number of transactions processed by the network. The network processed more than 1 billion transactions in the last quarter of 2022 alone.

In addition, there was an 11.9 percent surge in transaction volume on the network involving relevant assets. Relevant assets are those pegged to real financial instruments. Hence, the increase in their transaction volume indicates that more people are finding real-world utility on the network. Apart from the impressive numbers, many innovations also happened on the network in 2022.

A notable example is the Soroban smart contract platform launched on Futurenet last quarter. Consequently, the SDF launched the $100 million adoption fund to support the Soroban ecosystem growth.

Der Beitrag Stellar Lumens introduces groundbreaking tool to issue, mint, and burn new assets on the XLM blockchain erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.

After recording its best performance in January in a decade, BTC trades around the $23,000 range today, February 1. Tradingview data shows that BTC’s January close of $23,000 is its best since last July. Coinglass statistics show that the leading digital asset gained nearly 40 percent in the first month of the new year.

BTC’s outstanding performance is an excellent boost for bulls who weren’t fazed by the criticisms from conservative market players. Meanwhile, some BTC investors are starting to react to the digital asset’s January performance. Bob Loukas, an entrepreneur, trader, and investor, remarked that BTC’s performance indicates that the bear market ended last month.

Nevertheless, traders differ on what to expect from the leading digital asset in February. One of them predicts bearish conditions saying that’s the next move after five months of gains. However, macroeconomic factors would significantly influence BTC’s price performance for this month.

The first two days of the new month are crucial, with the US Fed announcing its next rate hike interests on February 1, while Europe’s apex bank (the European Central Bank) will do the same on the next day. Even though many industry experts unanimously predict a 25 basis point (BPS) raise, arcane research (a crypto research and analytics firm) argues that nothing is confirmed until the Fed makes the announcement.

The US Fed would likely maintain the same rate increase for the next 2 months – Arcane Research

Arcane explains in a January 31 blog post that the US Fed chief, Jerry Powell, would likely maintain a hawkish interest rate raise based on incoming data and a fairly strong market recovery. The post added that economists predict a 25 BPS increase for February and March. The Fed will announce its next rate increase by March 22.

The research further noted that the Fed might maintain the 25 BPS rate increase till June. At the time of writing, the CME Group Fedwatch Tool revealed that 99.3 percent of analysts expect a 25 BPS rate hike by the Fed. However, if there is any surprise in the Fed’s announcement, notably an aggressive rate hike, it will lead to volatility in the BTC market.

Nonetheless, Arcane remarks that rate hikes in the last few months show that the Fed may no longer raise rates aggressively. The research concluded that these past trends indicate a significant reduction in FOMC-induced BTC volatility. Meanwhile, the on-chain analytics firm, Santiment also shares similar views as arcane in the latest issue of its monthly market recap.

🥳 After the most memorable month in #crypto since $BTC and $ETH hit #AllTimeHighs in November, 2021, what can we make of the markets now? Our monthly recap looks at #Bitcoin whales, #altcoin hype, and whether you should join the other profit takers. https://t.co/5x7UWa4n99 pic.twitter.com/KtkXp1xYPk

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) February 1, 2023

The US Dollar strength and BTC’s performance

The US Dollar strength is another key determinant of the price performance of BTC. In its latest market update, QCP capital cautioned its subscribers about the formation of a huge positive divergence on the US Dollar index (DXY). Often in an inverse correlation with risky assets, the DXY has been recording losses since last June.

However, it has been recording slight gains since the beginning of the new year. QCP noted that the BTC/ETH setup has been trending rangebound since last month. Therefore, QCP predicts its next breakout to the top will be highly violent and sharp.

Der Beitrag Bitcoin closes best January ever with massive rise in price and a growing adoption – Time to take profits? erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.

Per an announcement by Emurgo, Adaverse Accelerator has invested in BoundlessPay, a digital banking platform that eases international transactions for Africans at home and abroad. Adaverse is one of the Cardano ecosystem accelerators in Africa with backing from Emurgo Africa, a Middle East and Africa-focused entity of Cardano blockchain founding entity EMURGO.

.@Adaverse_Acc, a #Cardano ecosystem accelerator in Africa backed by @EmurgoAfrica, has announced an investment in @boundlesspay, a digital banking platform simplifying cross-border transactions for Africans and Diasporan Africans.

Read more, here: https://t.co/iZ1mQkVuMS

— EMURGO (@emurgo_io) January 30, 2023

More funds for the next developmental phase

BoundlessPay is currently running a pre-seed fundraising event as it seeks funds to embark on its developments this year. Thus, Adaverse and Emurgo Africa are among the venture capitalists participating in the fundraiser. Reacting to the development, Shogo Ishida, a top-level executive with Emurgo Middle East & Africa, remarked that the digital banking platform is adopting a unique approach to payments which contrasts what many before it had done and failed.

Ishida added, “Emurgo is delighted to be a contributor to the development of a Web3 platform with a long-term vision for the development of Africa’s fintech space.” Hence, Cardano’s blockchain network is suitable for building such a platform as it offers sustainability and flexibility.

Adaverse founding partner Vincent Li said;

the BoundlessPay team is full of talents with immeasurable capabilities, and we look forward to the solution they plan to create with their digital banking platform.

Li said, “Adaverse’s 90-day accelerator program would benefit BoundlessPay as it can access necessary resources in the Cardano ecosystem.”

Previous platforms failed due to government policies – BoundlessPay CEO

In a recent interview, BoundlessPay CEO, Franklin Peters, shared insights on how the firm will integrate Cardano’s blockchain infrastructure to accomplish its plans. According to Peters, one major challenge BoundlessPay aims to solve is to help Africans access opportunities outside the continent.

Many Africans continue to abandon their local fiat currencies in favor of stronger currencies due to rising inflation and currency depreciation. Hence, it is no surprise that many Africans invest in stablecoins, USD, and GBP assets to preserve their wealth. The BoundlessPay CEO further said BoundlessPay is utilizing blockchain technology and Web3 tools to make it easy for anyone to make payments without third-party intervention.

According to him, similar platforms failed because they were built on Web2 tools, subject to government policies. Peters further claimed that restrictive regulations cause interoperability issues affecting international settlements by Africans. Heavy regulations and strict requirements exist before any African can open accounts to make cross-border transactions or access foreign currencies.

Thus, BoundlessPay intends to solve this issue by offering all Africans instant and trusted foreign exchange services. According to the CEO, the digital banking platform intends to promote the adoption of Cardano-based tokens among its users by intensifying its marketing efforts in Africa and listing Cardano native tokens, especially Cardano stablecoins, on its platform.

Also, BoundlessPay plans to achieve interoperability with the Cardano ecosystem by partnering with dApps on the network. Peters noted that the platform’s partnership with Adaverse and Emurgo Africa was one of its significant accomplishments last year.

Der Beitrag Cardano invests in digital banking platform to scale cross-border payments in billion-$-market erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.

Through a recent tweet, Chainlink has announced it will be launching dynamic NFTs (dNFTs) soon. In the tweet, Chainlink noted how most NFTs are static (once minted, they can never be changed). Chainlink adds that the switch from static to dynamic NFTs is similar to the switch from photography to video.

Today, the vast majority of #NFTs are static—minted once and then never changed.

The transition from static NFTs to dynamic NFTs (dNFTs) will be like the difference between photography and video.

The simplest explanation of dNFTs on the Internet ⬇️https://t.co/Xyqz72Ai9a pic.twitter.com/nEQNoF2OgF

— Chainlink (@chainlink) January 29, 2023

In addition, the network provided a detailed blog post explaining dNFTs. The post defines dNFTs as encoded smart contract logic that automates the change in the NFT based on specified conditions. It added that static NFTs are used mostly by play-t-earn game projects and NFT art projects. They are also useful in digitizing real-world items like patents and real estate deeds.

The uniqueness and applicability of dNFTs

dNFTs are especially important to NFT use cases whose data must be updated regularly. Examples of potential use cases include the tokenization of blockchain-built fantasy leagues, generative NFT art projects, and the tokenization of real-world assets. dNFTs allow NFTs to update some parts of their metadata without losing their unique identifiers.

According to the post, there could be minting of dynamic NFTs based on specific conditions. dNFTs can also contain “hidden traits” displayed through user interactions. In truth, several on-chain or off-chain events can trigger changes to dNFT metadata. Thus, proving the endless possibilities with dNFTs and their relevance to the ever-growing NFT design space.

Also read: Chainlink reaches massive milestone with $7 trillion TVE across 12 blockchains since start of 2022

Meanwhile, some dNFT projects have been launched, with a pioneering one being that of Lamelo Ball, a fast-rising star in the American basketball league. Ball’s dNFTs are redefining player-fan relationships by leveraging Chainlink sports data feeds.

Currently, Ball has eight dNFTs, with each representing a collection of his playing statistics, such as points scored, assists, and rebounds. One of them, the Gold Evolve NFT, changed after Ball won rookie of the year in the 2021 NBA season. That was the unique promise that came with this NFT. Also, there is a constant update of Ball’s player stats within the NFT.

Meanwhile, Chainlink enables the development of automated, engaging, and decentralized dNFTs. Moreover, Chainlink provides support for dNFTs through various tools such as Chainlink data feed, Chainlink Any API, Chainlink automation, and Chainlink verifiable random function (VRF). The Chainlink data feed provides the necessary data to update a dNFT.

More integrations of Chainlink services

In a related development, Chainlink provided an adoption update on Chainlink’s services for the past week. According to the update revealed via Twitter, there were eight integrations of three Chainlink services across four chains this past week. The chains were Polygon, BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Avalanche.

The new integrations were Coinbet Finance, Karto Cars, The Knight Ecosystem, Luder Protocol, OpenSky Finance, Raffllrr, and Zkasino. Coinbet finance, The Knight ecosystem, and ZKasino are the latest DeFi projects in the Chainlink ecosystem. The Chainlink website indicates 2,023 integrations and 1,697 projects in its ecosystem.

⬡ Chainlink Adoption Update ⬡

This week, there were 8 integrations of 3 #Chainlink services across 4 different chains: #Avalanche, #BNBChain, #Ethereum, and #Polygon.

Chainlink helps power #Web3. pic.twitter.com/WhhWPHA0Eu

— Chainlink (@chainlink) January 29, 2023

Der Beitrag Chainlink introduces dynamic NFTs (dNFTs) that will revolutionize the market, adoption updates erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.

According to a popular and respected crypto analyst, Michael van de Poppe, BTC, and ETH are at the start of a new massive cycle. Van de Poppe further told his 646,700 followers on Twitter that the prices of BTC and ETH would be so high in the next few years that their current prices would sound unbelievable.

“The funny thing is that we’ll laugh at the present valuations of BTC and ETH a few years from now. BTC would be trading at over $200,000, while there would be huge adoption of ETH. We are about to embark on a huge bullish cycle.” Van de Poppe predicts that ETH will soon trade around the $1,450 to $1,600 level.

ETH currently trades around its crucial support. So a bounce is likely, and I would target the $1,600 level to make a short entry or $1,450 to make a long entry.

Our data shows ETH currently trades at $1,578, down 1.6 percent in the last 24 hours.

Van de Poppe’s price predictions for BTC and two altcoins

Regarding the leading digital asset (BTC), van de Poppe said he wouldn’t target any long entry at BTC’s current price.

BTC has been unable to overcome the $23,600 level. However, today’s GDP data will determine whether BTC will overcome this resistance or continue to trade below its current price. Hence, I won’t target any long entry at the moment.

At the time of writing, BTC trades at $22,968. Meanwhile, the respected crypto analyst also shared insights about fantom (FTM) and Polygon (MATIC). Van de Poppe says both altcoins are blasting through the roof right now. In truth, our data shows that FTM is up 15.78 percent in the last seven days and trades at $0.461, while MATIC is up 10.37 percent within the same period.

Both altcoins are the best performers among the top digital assets in the market. With particular reference to Aptos (APT), FTM, and MATIC, van de Poppe condemned the hypocrisies in trading psychologies exhibited by traders. According to him, many traders are now seeking entry points in MATIC, APT, and FTM.

However, these same traders were willing to sell their digital assets last month as the crypto winter hit harder. Meanwhile, APT trades at $5.27 and is up 40.64 percent in the last seven days.

Santiment analysts share reasons for the rise in prices of AAVE, MATIC, and DYDX

Meanwhile, analysts at an on-chain analytics firm, Santiment, have revealed reasons for the surge in the prices of three altcoins (AAVE, MATIC, and DYDX). According to the analysts, large volume accumulations by whales have been responsible for the rise in the prices of these three digital assets. The analysts added that the whales’ accumulations have peaked since last month.

AAVE is the governance token of an Ethereum-built platform, while MATIC is the native token of the Polygon, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution. Meanwhile, DYDX is the native token of a decentralized exchange (DEX) where users can lend their digital assets and perform crypto transactions in a trustless environment.

🐳 $AAVE (+56% 30d price), $MATIC (+35%), and $DYDX (+94%) have all seen dramatic rises in the amount of whale transactions on their respective networks over the past month. The increased large address interest in these assets should be watched closely. 👀 https://t.co/Hdi43lqiHa pic.twitter.com/4x2oeXsCi3

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 27, 2023

Der Beitrag AAVE and these 3 altcoins will go ‘through the roof’ – expert opinion erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.

The court filing late Wednesday by FTX financial advisors has revealed the details of the institutional creditors for the defunct crypto exchange. The document, which was more than 100 pages and in alphabetical order, shows that many firms have huge exposure to the bankrupt crypto exchange.

Apple and WeWork were among the tech firms listed in the document, while Wall Street Journal and Coindesk head the list of media publications in the court filing. However, the document didn’t specify the exact dollar FTX owes each of these firms. Also, it didn’t include the personal data of individual customers.

Furthermore, the filing clarified that not all the creditors own an FTX trading account.

A long and complex process

Charting a restructuring path for FTX has proven to be a long and complex process, even though John J. Ray, an ex-Enron liquidator, is in charge of the process. Judge John Dorsey approved the creditor list filing in a Delaware court where the case continues to unfold. During the early stages of the case, the exchange’s lawyers claim that FTX owes at least one million to creditors.

A previous court record hints that the exchange owes its top 50 creditors a combined $3.1 billion. However, the document didn’t assign the amounts for each creditor. Another filing indicates that FTX owed its top ten creditors a combined $400 million in unsecured claims. The Wednesday creditor matrix contains several crypto-related firms, including Yuga Labs, Coinbase, Silvergate, Chainalysis, and Binance Capital Management.

Also, the popular social network Reddit was listed among the creditors. Reddit could be regarded as a crypto firm following the launch of its Polygon-built NFT avatar in 2022. Besides Silvergate bank, other notable financial institutions listed in the document were Wells Fargo and Citigroup. Prominent asset management firms listed in the document include Sequoia Capital and Blackrock.

The creditor matrix continues

Some of the firms listed in the document were likely being owed by FTX for providing goods or services for the defunct crypto exchange. Three examples of firms that can fall into this category include Netflix, Comcast, and Pharmacy CVs. One surprising observation from the document was that there were 12 creditors with DoorDash in their names.

Furthermore, the creditor matrix also included several states’ revenue departments, such as the revenue departments of Alabama and Wyoming. Meanwhile, a surprise inclusion in the creditor matrix is the Bahamas finance ministry. The once-prominent crypto exchange crashed after a bank run on it last November.

Following its liquidity issues, FTX eventually admitted that it didn’t fully back its customers’ assets. After failing to reach a sale agreement with a fellow crypto exchange, Binance, FTX filed for bankruptcy. Following the exchange’s collapse, its ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) faces allegations of financial crimes.

Authorities recently confiscated about $750 million worth of SBF’s assets while he has been under house arrest after fulfilling bail terms.

Der Beitrag FTX cheated on Apple, Netflix, Blackrock, and Coinbase according to new court documents – Report erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.

Even though the cooking oil industry is an essential aspect of the global economy, it continues to suffer from a lack of transparency and inefficiencies. However, the UCO network is making efforts to address these issues and its first step is to create a global platform to collect, process, and trade-off used cooking oil. The platform is built on blockchain technology to enhance efficiency and transparency in this industry.

A side benefit of using blockchain technology is that buyers and sellers would not need intermediaries to complete their transactions successfully. Also, blockchain technology ensures the recording of transactions that can be audited or tracked when necessary.

Leveraging VeChain’s technology

Hence, it is no surprise that the UCO network collaborates with the leading blockchain platform, VeChain. Under this agreement, the UCO network can leverage the VeChain technology and expertise to improve the transparency and security of its marketplace. With this VeChain partnership and introducing other features, the UCO network has proven its readiness to make a massive impact in the biofuel and used cooking oil industries.

VeChain x UCO Network ♻️

"This partnership will allow UCO Network to leverage VeChain’s technology and expertise to further enhance the security and transparency of its platform." ⛓️#VeChain $VET #VeFam #Oil #Sustainability #Tech #Business #Blockchain #Crypto #Technology https://t.co/G6dMtng65K pic.twitter.com/fCzJbPeoeU

— eisenreich (@eisenreich) January 17, 2023

The combination of blockchain technology and IoT sensors makes it easy for the UCO network to establish an efficient platform to collect and trade used cooking oil. One key feature the UCO network introduces is IoT sensors, which provide live data of when cooking oil is collected and processed. Thus, boosting transaction confidence among buyers and sellers.

In addition, the network recently launched its collection app to ensure the efficient collection of used cooking oil without harming the environment. Anyone can collect and sell used cooking oil to the UCO network marketplace quickly and conveniently through this app. Meanwhile, the UCOIL (UCO’s native token) will be the governance token within the UCO network marketplace.

Besides using the token to complete transactions on the platform, UCOIL holders can also access features not available to token holders, such as staking and community voting. Furthermore, holders can earn rewards through community participation. UCOIL holders have the chance to support the vision and technology of a firm making efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the reliance on fossil fuels.

The UCO network’s ESG mission aligns with the current trend among venture capitalists as they continue to focus their investments on sustainable projects.

More VeChain projects and partnerships

Meanwhile, this partnership with the UCO network is one of the many accomplishments the VeChain foundation accomplished last year. Hence, the foundation has outlined the network’s plans for this year. According to its 2023 schedule, the VeChain foundation hopes the network’s developers can complete the carbon footprint explorer for the network before June 2023.

Also, the foundation wants to complete the network’s wallet browser extension and an eth token bridge before the end of Q2 2023. Then, in the last two quarters of this year, VeChain developers hope to release a multichain generic data bridge and an asset lending platform.

Der Beitrag VeChain: UCO Network is revolutionizing the used cooking oil and biofuel industry with VET-Tech and IoT transparency erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.

The European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee has voted on policies for banks holding digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Part of the new policies is that such banks must hold a certain percentage of capital. According to an announcement by the European Parliament on Tuesday, the monetary affairs committee vote favored modifications of the capital requirements directive and the capital requirements regulation as it applies to banks with crypto holdings.

On Tuesday 24/01 @EP_Economics
adopted changes to Capital Requirements Regulation (w/ 41/1/14) & Directive (49/2/7) #CRR & #CRD @jonasfernandez MEPs ready for negotiations w/ #EU2023SEhttps://t.co/bY4Y47can9

— ECON Committee Press (@EP_Economics) January 24, 2023

The bill proposal states that banks with crypto holdings must hold up to 1,250 percent of the amount they hold in crypto assets. The Parliament added that the modifications align with the measures by the organization in charge of international banking standards (BCBS, the Basel Committee On Banking Supervision).

The BCBS’ recommendations

The BCBS recommended categorizing crypto assets based on consultation papers released in the last three years. It also advised banks on how to address possible risks. According to the BCBS report, banks’ crypto exposure as of 2021 was over $9 billion. The legislative body said that banks must provide a detailed description of their risk management measures regarding digital assets.

The commission has until June 2023 to tender a bill proposal of custom regulatory standards for banks with digital assets exposure. However, these proposed modifications won’t become law until all members of the European Parliament (MEP) vote on them. The monetary affairs committee’s approval follows the EU lawmakers’ approval of the mica (markets in crypto assets) regulation three months ago.

The primary objective of the mica regulation is to establish a uniform crypto regulation among EU member nations. One prominent feature of the mica legislation is that it mandates crypto firms to settle all transactions within 24 hours of initialization. Also, it requires these firms to be transparent about their trading volumes and pricing process.

Furthermore, the MEP agreed that a competent authority should address uneven capital distribution among banks and suggest appropriate capital redistribution models. Most MEP members agree that the events in the last few months (especially the collapse of FTX crypto exchange and Celsius, a prominent crypto lender) in the crypto industry have the approval of these new crypto measures mandatory.

AFME’s concerns

In its statement regarding the new development, a spokesperson for the Association For Financial Markets In Europe (AFME), Caroline Liesegang, stated that the Parliament had made significant progress with these new measures and that inter-institutions should discuss this proposal extensively at their next meeting.

However, she further said the Parliament, commission, and council should clearly define what can be considered crypto assets. Liesegang said this explanation is necessary because the new measures could negatively impact tokenized securities if the wording isn’t precise. Tokenized securities are blockchain-built stock market digitization.

Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO, calls these tokenized securities the future of financial markets. Meanwhile, many industry experts have suggested that crypto firms should start getting acquainted with these new measures now because there is a wide gap between current regional regulations and the mica legislation.

Der Beitrag Banks are allowed to hold this exposure in Bitcoin and Ethereum with new law – Report erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.

Top American crypto exchange, Coinbase, might soon become one of the main sponsors of one of Germany’s most decorated soccer teams, Borussia Dortmund (BVB). A report from a local media outlet, Handelsblatt, states that more details of the partnership between both parties will be fine-tuned by the time the German Bundesliga resumes. It is worth noting that Coinbase and BVB have been in partnership since July 2022.

But the exchange’s role has been limited to offering crypto education for the soccer club’s staff members. However, the new deal will enable Coinbase to get cam carpets adverts and perimeter advertising on the club’s home stadium, Signal Iduna park, which is widely regarded as the biggest stadium compared to the stadia of other German soccer clubs.

Another benefit of the partnership is that the club’s other marketing channels, including its social media, will be promoting the crypto exchange. BVB has won several titles within and outside Germany and boasts millions of football fans globally. However, a statement from one of BVB’s top-level executives, Carsten Cramer, revealed that the partnership’s duration would expire by June 2023.

Cramer explained that the duration of the partnership is short because the club wants to explore other alternatives if available. “Even though the industry is new, it is exciting, and that’s why we want to be flexible with our partnership arrangements,” Cramer added.

According to him, the soccer club is happy that Coinbase has a regulatory license to operate in Germany’s crypto space because the club won’t want to associate with a non-compliance platform.

Germany’s financial watchdog (the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin) approved Coinbase’s crypto license in 2021, which allows the exchange to offer trading and crypto custody services to German crypto users. Cramer also commented on the status of Coinbase’s regulatory license saying,

BaFin’s approval license gives us the confidence to partner with this global brand as this industry is still new and many of those outside the industry are still confused on how it works.

Despite these positives for Coinbase, the exchange isn’t without its troubles. The 2022 bear market took its toll on the company as it laid off 18 percent of its staff members in 2022 and another 950 employees earlier this month. Furthermore, the exchange announced a pause on its operations in Japan’s financial market, citing the harsh economic environment.

More crypto exchanges partner with soccer teams

Coinbase’s expanded partnership is the latest in many collaborations between crypto exchanges and soccer teams. For instance, Binance is the primary jersey sponsor of the Italian soccer team Lazio and Argentina’s national male team. Binance also partners with the star football player Cristiano Ronaldo to launch his NFT collection.

Similarly, Bitget (another top crypto exchange) is a sleeve partner with Juventus (arguably, the most successful soccer club in Italy). Bitget is also in partnership with 8-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi. The Bitget-Messi partnership will enable Messi fans to explore the Web3 space and crypto trading on Bitget’s platform.

Der Beitrag Coinbase Bitcoin exchange to become biggest sponsor of Borussia Dortmund football team – Report erschien zuerst auf Crypto News Flash.