- Top Crypto Trader Says Ethereum (ETH) Dip Is an Opportunity, Predicts Explosive Move for This Altcoin
A popular cryptocurrency analyst is bullish on Ethereum (ETH) and singles out one altcoin that might outperform other large-cap crypto assets.
Pseudonymous crypto trader Smart Contracter tells his 204,800 Twitter followers that Ethereum retracing to slightly above $3,000 after surging to a high last reached in mid-January is an “opportunity.”
Smart Contracter says his bullish thesis is built on Ethereum’s price is resting above the major moving averages (MA) including the 50-period MA on the four-hour chart.
“Lot of people freaking out again here but I’m liking ETH.
Already cleared all the major four-hour moving averages and looks like a nice clean test of the 50 MA here.
Viewing the trend as up at the moment and this dip as an opportunity.”
- IMF: Crypto Is No Match for Well-Designed Central Bank Digital Currencies
MF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva gave a speech last week at the Atlantic Council in Washington D.C. regarding the future of money, cryptocurrency, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Noting that central banks have moved beyond conceptual discussions regarding digital currencies and are in the experimentation phase, she noted: “These are still early days for CBDCs and we don’t quite know how far and how fast they will go.”
Nonetheless, the IMF chief said:
If CBDCs are designed prudently, they can potentially offer more resilience, more safety, greater availability, and lower costs than private forms of digital money.
https://news.bitcoin.com/imf-crypto-no-match-for-well-designed-central-bank-digital-currencies/
- Israel’s Securities Regulatory Chief Lays Out Crypto Plans
The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) has big plans to regulate the country’s fintech space. As a first step, it is hosting its first ever fintech hackathon next month.
The ISA is looking to attract blockchain-based solutions that can improve the infrastructure supporting the securities and sovereign debt markets in Israel with the hackathon. The securities regulator has partnered with the Ministry of Finance in Israel as well as tech providers like VMware, Digital Asset and Algorand to host the onsite hackathon, which will be held on March 24, 2022, in Tel Aviv.
The hackathon will be led by privacy tech provider and World Economic Forum (WEF) Technology Pioneer QEDIT, which plans to help teams discover and bridge gaps in privacy compliance and regulation.
According to Anat Guetta, chairwoman of the ISA, the blockchain hackathon is part of a larger initiative for the ISA to not only collaborate with professionals in fintech innovation, but to also start gathering the expertise and influence needed to regulate the fintech and the crypto sector more broadly.
- Crypto groups take top slots at the Super Bowl
Advertisers have forked out up to $7mn for 30 seconds of television airtime during the Super Bowl as cryptocurrency platforms join the usual parade of beer and car companies beaming messages into America’s living rooms.
Media buyers have rushed to book slots for the Los Angeles Rams’ showdown at home against the Cincinnati Bengals — in contrast to a subdued event last year, when fans were warned against holding parties due to coronavirus concerns and viewership fell to the lowest level since 2007.
The marketing blitz during the biggest game in American football will for the first time feature prominent spots from Crypto.com, Coinbase and FTX, giving them a chance to promote crypto trading to the sizeable proportion of the US population that is expected to tune in.
https://www.ft.com/content/281aeae8-b292-4f35-9d8c-b3cf5cdeb6ef
- XRP and One Low-Cap Altcoin Gearing Up for Rallies As Bitcoin (BTC) Pulls Back: Top Crypto Analyst
A popular crypto strategist is predicting rallies for XRP and one decentralized finance (DeFi) altcoin and says that Bitcoin (BTC) will likely take a breather.
Pseudonymous analyst Credible tells his 308,400 Twitter followers that he sees XRP bouncing and reclaiming the $1.00 level.
“We are now right in my area of interest. Might head a few cents lower than where we are now but as per my last tweet, I expect we form a bottom/higher low in this region and continue up. XRP.”
- NH Governor Signs Executive Order to Bring ‘Regulatory Certainty’ to Cryptocurrency Industry
Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire announced last week that he has signed an executive order establishing “the governor’s Commission on cryptocurrencies and digital assets.”
The governor explained: “New Hampshire is a hub of financial innovation, and this executive order will further our commitment to attracting high-quality banking and financial businesses in a safe and responsible manner.” He stressed:
Federal and state governments must work to bring legal and regulatory certainty to the digital asset industry because clear rules of the road foster technology and innovation.
Members of the Commission shall include the Attorney General, the Commissioner of the Bank Department, one state senator, one state representative, and “three public members with recognized experience with cryptocurrencies,” the order details.
https://news.bitcoin.com/nh-governor-executive-order-regulatory-certainty-cryptocurrency-industry/
- DBS Plans to Launch Retail Digital Assets Trading Desk by Year End
Singapore’s DBS Bank, which opened an institutional digital assets trading desk in early 2021, is planning on expanding its digital assets trading offerings to retail investors by the end of the year, its CEO said on an earnings call Monday.
“We are starting the initial work to expand it beyond the current investor base [of accredited investors],” CEO Piyush Gupta said on an earnings call. “Lots of work to do with suitability and anti-fraud… we should have something by the end of the year.”
Gupta also said that the bank will take the first half of the year to focus on making access to the digital assets trading desk more convenient for its existing customers. Currently, users need to call a banker to place an order for crypto over the phone. The plan, Gupta said, is to make it online and self-service.
DBS has yet to announce additional details about the platform, such as if you’d be able to transfer digital assets purchased on it to other providers or wallets.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has a licensing regime in place for retail exchanges. In December, Binance withdrew its licensing application and recently shutdown its local binance.sg exchange.
Recently the bank expanded the trading hours of the desk to be 24/7 to match the tempo of crypto. Prior, trading was done on bankers’ hours within Singapore’s time zone.
- UK taxman siezes first NFTs in £1.4 million fraud probe
The UK’s tax body seized three non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and arrested three people on suspicion of attempting to defraud it of £1.4 million.
This is a first for British authorities in the policing of digital assets. The Telegraph was first to report the news.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said the move was part of a probe into a suspected Value Added Tax (VAT) fraud involving 250 alleged fake companies. VAT is a broadly based consumption tax assessed on the value added to goods and services.
The NFTs were seized alongside £5,000 of other crypto assets. Officials told The Telegraph that the seizure was a “warning to anyone who thinks they can use crypto assets to hide money.”
The tax body added that the suspects had used a raft of measures to cover their tracks, including pre-paid.
https://coinmarketcap.com/headlines/news/uk-taxman-siezes-first-nfts-in-1-4-million-fraud-probe/
- How CBDC designed to tame cryptocurrencies might instead stir the pot
The announcement in the February 1, 2022, budget speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would soon launch digital rupee has set the nation agog both with anticipation and doubts. That Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) the world over has been a kneejerk response to the phenomenal rise of cryptocurrencies is undeniable.
Yet there are a number of imponderables that cannot be glossed over in our obsession with novelty as well as the desire to be seen in the company of Joneses. Let us see how the digital rupee would impact various stakeholders.
- South Korea Jails Seven Masterminds of Country’s ‘Largest Crypto Fraud Scheme’
Seven former masterminds of the now-defunct scam crypto exchange, V Global, were recently given jail sentences for their part in misappropriating nearly $1.9 billion in investors’ funds. Lee Byung-gul, who was the CEO of the entity when the funds went missing, was handed a 22-year jail term while his accomplices were given jail sentences that range between four and 14 years.
According to a report by Forkast, the jailing of Lee Byung-gul and his fellow executives comes a month after prosecutors asked for life sentences. At the time, the prosecutors argued that handing the offenders life sentences would reflect the severity of the offenses.
However, the report reveals that the jail sentences given to the CEO and his co-conspirators are in fact closer to the most severe punishment that is usually meted out to property crimes offenders. The verdict on one of South Korea’s biggest crypto scams potentially sets a benchmark for the legal punishment that is handed to persons that commit crypto related-crimes.
