- BGC Partners Expects to Launch Crypto Exchange by 2023 Q1
Global brokerage company BGC Partners (BGCP) plans to build a cryptocurrency exchange and launch it by the end of this year or the first quarter of 2023, CEO Howard Lutnick said Wednesday during Piper Sandler’s Global Exchange & Brokerage Conference in New York.
The initiative is among the latest moves by a traditional Wall Street firm in the crypto space.
Lutnick said he’s bullish on BGC adding a crypto offering, and the company can compete with global crypto exchanges given its technology and speed of BGC’s platforms.
In addition, Lutnick said he’s used to regulation. “So what,” Lutnick said regarding SEC Chairman Gary Gensler wanting to regulate the crypto sector.
- American Economists Are Baffled by an ‘Unusual Situation’ as Russia’s Ruble Is the World’s Best Performing Fiat Currency
On February 28, 2022, Bitcoin.com News reported on the Russian ruble sinking to record lows, and citizens started to withdraw lots of cash causing what many reports called a “bank run.” At the time, Russia was hit with strict financial sanctions from countries opposed to the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, the United States, the European Commission, and Western allies imposed restrictions on the Bank of Russia’s international reserves.
However, during the second week of April 2022, Bitcoin.com News reported on the country’s central bank slashing rates and pegging the ruble to gold. At the time, Russia’s central bank pegged the price of RUB to 5,000 rubles for a gram of gold. Russia also made it so “unfriendly” countries are forced to pay for gas with the ruble. Numerous international buyers are complying with the rule and paying for petro products in rubles. The country’s central bank also slashed Russia’s benchmark bank rate as well.
- Ethereum Layer-2 Solution Optimism Loses 20 Million Tokens in Interlayer Snafu
Optimism may have a good reason to be pessimistic.
The company behind the Ethereum scaling protocol announced today that in preparing to launch a native OP token for the Optimism Collective DAO, it accidentally sent 20 million tokens to the wrong blockchain address. The error resulted in the theft of all 20 million OP tokens by a hacker.
DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations, are blockchain-based collectives that vote on decisions, often via a native token. Optimism created OP as the governance token for its DAO, and hired market maker Wintermute to more efficiently distribute the 20 million OP tokens in an airdrop to Optimism Collective stakeholders to continue its launch.
- Despite the Bear Market, Michael Saylor Explains Why Bitcoin Is Going to $1M
One of bitcoin’s biggest proponents – Michael Saylor – reiterated his viewpoint that the digital asset is a better financial instrument than gold. Contrary to the ongoing crypto winter and the numerous critics that envision BTC’s price plunging to zero, he expects the asset to soar to $1,000,000.
‘Bitcoin is, Like it or Not, Unique’
It is no secret that the Co-Founder and CEO of MicroStrategy – Michael Saylor – stands among the keenest advocates of the primary cryptocurrency. In recent years, he has outlined its merits, including its ability to act as a hedge against inflation. Even though BTC currently trades far away from its all-time high levels from last year, Saylor remains bullish on it.
In an interview for CNBC, he claimed that its near-term volatility is not a concern as it will prevail in the long run. In his view, the crypto space is divided into “deniers,” “skeptics,” and bitcoin supporters. The first two groups insist that the asset is either not real or that the government will sooner or later ban it.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/top/7127577
- 75% of retailers eyeing crypto payments within 24 months: Deloitte
Three-quarters of United States retailers plan to accept crypto or stablecoin payments within the next two years, according to a new survey published by Deloitte.
It also found that more than half of large retailers with revenues over $500 million are currently spending $1 million or more building the required infrastructure to make it happen.
The information was revealed in Deloitte’s “Merchants Getting Ready For Crypto” report released in collaboration with PayPal on Wednesday.
A large majority, around 85%, of the surveyed merchants said they anticipate that cryptocurrency payments will be ubiquitous in their respective industries in five years.
The survey polled 2,000 senior executives at U.S. retail organizations between December 3 and December 16, 2021, when crypto prices were still riding high, but the results have only just been revealed. The executives were distributed equally among the cosmetics, digital goods, electronics, fashion, food and beverages, home and garden, hospitality and leisure, personal and household goods, services and transportation sectors.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/75-of-retailers-eyeing-crypto-payments-within-24-months-deloitte
- Anchorage Spearheads Crypto Custody Exchange Network to Enhance Trading, Liquidity
Institutional crypto custody firm Anchorage along with other global crypto companies have formed a custody-exchange network in a bid to improve the crypto marketplaces for investors.
The custody-exchange network seeks to promote a more fair market structure, no pre-funding needed, and safe participation via maintain custody with Anchorage.
When talking to exchanges, liquidity providers and custodians, the goal was to build a safer and segregated institutional custody vault, according to Diogo Monica, cofounder and president of Anchorage. There’s no conflict of interest between the institution that holds custody over one’s assets and the institution that executing the exchange, Monica told CoinDesk.
“We actually genuinely believe it’s a better market structure going forward and answers a lot of the questions that regulators have had,” Monica said.
- Paypal Upgrades Crypto Service — Now Lets Users Transfer Cryptocurrencies to Other Wallets, Exchanges
Payments giant Paypal finally allows users to transfer cryptocurrencies in and out of its platform. The company announced Tuesday:
We are thrilled to announce that starting today, Paypal supports the native transfer of cryptocurrencies between Paypal and other wallets and exchanges.
“This feature has been consistently ranked by users as one of the most requested enhancements since we began offering the purchase of crypto on our platform,” the announcement adds.
The new feature is now available to select U.S. users, Paypal said, adding that it will be rolled out to all eligible U.S. users in the coming weeks.
Users can transfer supported cryptocurrencies to Paypal and move crypto away from the platform “to external crypto addresses including exchanges and hardware wallets.” They can also send their coins to their family and friends on Paypal “with no fees or network charges to send or receive,” the company detailed.
- Madison Cawthorn Failed to Properly Disclose up to $950K in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana Trades
A new financial disclosure from Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) shows he was late in reporting up to $950,000 in cryptocurrency transactions that included Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
The North Carolina congressman’s crypto trades included the anti-Joe Biden token “Let’s Go Brandon” (LGB), the native token of the Request Network (REQ), and the token for automated trading platform Kryll (KRL).
He also reported that he realized a capital gain of at least $200 on a partial sale of his KRL holdings on March 24.
As it stands, the STOCK Act does not require members of Congress to be precise when reporting what they buy or sell, so the actual value of Cawthorn’s crypto transactions ranges from $290,000 to $950,000.
- Neal Stephenson Coined ‘Metaverse’ in 1992. Now He’s Building One
In 1992, science-fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” in his hit novel “Snow Crash.” Now, 30 years later, he’s teaming up with another crypto OG, Peter Vessenes, to bring his vision to life.
The duo announced on Wednesday that they’re creating their own metaverse-focused blockchain called Lamina1. Vessenes will be the project’s CEO while Stephenson will serve as chairman.
Like the visions of the metaverse popularized in the summer of 2021, before much of the corporate world began co-opting the term, Lamina1 will be centered on open metaverses with a focus on virtual- and augmented-reality integrations.
“The Facebook name change was a big milestone for the metaverse, although the idea had been building for some time before that,” Stephenson told CoinDesk in an interview, adding:
“While big companies like Microsoft became interested, what also happened was lots of smaller players became interested too. There are a lot of people who want to get in on the metaverse and build their dreams, build their ideas, realize their creative notions or their commercial ambitions.”
https://www.binance.com/en/news/top/7127636
- New York state releases guidance for issuing dollar-backed stablecoins
The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) on Wednesday released regulatory guidance for U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins issued by DFS-regulated entities. According to a DFS statement, it is the first regulator in the United States to impose such expectations on a stablecoin issuer.
The requirements in the guidance concern redeemability, reserves and attestation. They state that a stablecoin must be fully backed by reserves as of the end of every business day and the issuer must have a redemption policy approved in advance in writing by the DFS that gives the holder the right to redeem the stablecoin for U.S. dollars.
Furthermore, the issuer’s reserves must be segregated from its proprietary assets and consist of U.S. Treasury instruments or deposits at state or federally chartered institutions. The reserve must be subjected to monthly examination by a certified public accountant.
