The Lightning Network has struck Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. During a conference in Ghana, Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced that the Bitcoin (BTC) payments company has partnered with the mobile app Bitnob to facilitate payments into Africa. Mallers made the announcement on stage at AfroBitcoin, a Bitcoin conference in Ghana’s capital city of Accra. He stood alongside
Despite the Conservative Party’s rhetorical embracement of crypto under the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the upcoming regulatory framework will reportedly tighten scrutiny over the industry. The legislation updates will broaden the powers of the financial regulator and probably limit foreign companies’ operations in the United Kingdom. According to a Financial Times report, the FTX
The government of Argentina has signed a data sharing agreement with the U.S. to enhance the cooperation of the countries in the tax arena. The agreement, which was signed by Sergio Massa, minister of economy of Argentina, and U.S. ambassador Marc Stanley, will allow the Argentine national tax authority to receive information from accounts and
Attorney John E. Deaton, who is representing 75,000 XRP investors in the legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has drawn attention to the biggest danger for Ripple. Deaton warned in a series of tweets that Judge Torres’ decision in the District Court will have a huge impact in practical
Welcome to Law Decoded, your weekly digest of all the major developments in the field of regulation. There was some substantial good news for crypto last week, but the prevailing storyline is still the unfolding of FTX. While the extradition of the failed exchange’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried seemed pretty logical from the beginning of the
Following FTX’s collapse, many industry executives, influencers, luminaries, and politicians have shared their opinions about the carnage the event has caused to crypto markets and a great deal of innocent bystanders. On Dec. 2, the CEO and founder of Morgan Creek Capital, Mark Yusko, explained in an interview that it’s quite possible that the FTX
Bitcoin (BTC) spending an “unprecedented” period below a key moving average is a poor guide to the 2022 bear market. That was the opinion of analyst Superswell, who this week championed on-chain metrics as a way of understanding current BTC price action. “Business as usual so far” for Bitcoin bear market In a series of
Silvergate Capital CEO Alan Lane has slammed “short sellers” and “other opportunists” for spreading misinformation over the last few weeks — just to score themselves a quick buck. In a Dec. 5 public letter, Lane said there was “plenty of speculation – and misinformation” being spread by these parties to “capitalize on market uncertainty” caused
Joseph Longo, the chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is calling for a regulatory loophole to be closed that allowed FTX to acquire an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) in the country without the full suite of checks. According to a Dec. 5 report from the Australian Financial Review, Longo made the
On Dec. 5, 2022, at block height 766,080, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty adjustment dropped 7.32% lower, making it the largest difficulty reduction in 2022. The current difficulty is approximately 34.24 trillion and it will remain at this point for the next two weeks or 2,016 blocks. Bitcoin Miners Catch a Break as the Network’s Difficulty Drops
An Indian central bank official claims that if there is anything cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether can do, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should be able to create a product that will do the same job without the associated risks. “This is essentially what we are doing in the CBDC experiments,” he stressed. RBI
Several crypto firms are facing a probe from the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over possible deceptive or misleading advertisements relating to cryptocurrencies. According to a Dec. 6 report from Bloomberg, FTC spokeswoman Juliana Gruenwald said the watchdog is investigating “several firms for possible misconduct concerning digital assets.” Gruenwald did not provide further details
The Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) has reportedly opened a formal investigation into two proposed contracts that would offer discounted electricity prices to new crypto-mining operations. According to a Dec. 5 statement from environmental law group Earthjustice, the government department would be looking to determine whether subsidizing crypto mining operations will raise electricity costs for
Standard Chartered Bank says the price of bitcoin could drop to $5,000 next year. The bank’s analyst explained that cryptocurrencies could fall further and more crypto firms could “succumb to liquidity squeezes and investor withdrawals.” Standard Chartered Bank’s $5K Bitcoin Scenario Standard Chartered Bank published a note titled “The financial-market surprises of 2023” Sunday. The
Bitcoin (BTC) price is showing notable resilience at the $17,000 level, and according to data from Glassnode, a number of metrics that track the pace of selling and the on-chain behavior of investors are beginning to show a reduction in the factors that trigger sharp sell-offs. The FTX bankruptcy fueled a historic sell-off resulting in
On Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, market data shows that non-fungible token (NFT) sales dropped 5.23% lower than last week’s sales despite a 15.16% increase in NFT buyers. Out of the $112.70 million in NFT sales volume over the last week, Ethereum-based NFTs accounted for $86.59 million or 76.8% of the $112 million in sales volume.
Maxine Waters, chair of the United States House Financial Services Committee, has called out former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for announcing on social media he intended to testify after “learning and reviewing what happened” at the exchange. In a Dec. 5 Twitter thread, Waters cited Bankman-Fried’s numerous media interviews in the wake of FTX’s bankruptcy
Bitcoin (BTC) bulls regained some control on Nov. 30 and they were successful in keeping BTC price above $16,800 for the past 5 days. While the level is lower than traders’ desired $19,000 to $20,000 target, the 8.6% gain since the Nov. 21, $15,500 low provides enough cushioning for eventual negative price surprises. One of
It’s the final month of the year and analysts are out with their projections for the next year. In a note to investors, Standard Chartered suggested that “The financial-market surprises of 2023” will include Bitcoin (BTC) price diving to $5,000 at some point in the year. The fall will be triggered by a liquidity crunch, which
In a number of recent interviews, the former co-founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), explained that he “wasn’t running Alameda” and he “didn’t know the size of their position.” In a more recent discussion with The Block’s Frank Chaparro, SBF explained that auditors were looking at FTX’s corporate financials, but the auditors were “not looking
