- Next Financial Crisis Will Be From Crypto if It’s Not Banned: Indian Central Bank Governor
India’s central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das has predicted that the next financial crisis will come from “private cryptocurrencies” if they are allowed to be regulated and not banned outright. Das was speaking at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit on Wednesday.
“Our view is that it should be prohibited because if you try to regulate it and allow it to grow, please mark my words the next financial crisis will come from private cryptocurrencies,” Das said. “They have no underlying value. They have huge inherent risks for our macro economic and financial stability. I am yet to hear any credible argument about what public good or what public purpose it serves.”
The term “private cryptocurrencies” is being used to make the distinction between a public cryptocurrency like India’s CBDC and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, which are issued by private players, people familiar with the central bank’s functioning told CoinDesk.
- Bank of Russia to Test International Crypto Payments With Companies
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) intends to trial international trade settlements with cryptocurrencies, the monetary authority’s First Deputy Chairman Olga Skorobogatova announced on Monday.
“We are now planning, within the framework of the experimental legal regime that we are preparing, to try the use of cryptocurrency for international settlements, that is, for foreign economic activity,” she said, quoted by the Tass news agency.
Speaking at the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, Skorobogatova detailed that the pilot project will be carried out with interested companies. However, she did not specifically name the market participants that will join in.
https://news.bitcoin.com/bank-of-russia-to-test-international-crypto-payments-with-companies/
- EY ‘Did Not Initiate’ Transfers of $1.7M in Bitcoin Linked to Defunct QuadrigaCX
Accountancy firm Ernst & Young has denied moving funds mistakenly transferred three years ago to inaccessible cold wallets associated with QuadrigaCX, the infamous Canadian crypto exchange that lost $190 million in user funds before its CEO died under mysterious circumstances.
On December 19, researcher ZachXBT flagged the movement of 104 Bitcoin ($1.7 million) split across five cold wallets, much of it to the privacy wallet Wasabi.
This Bitcoin had been dormant for over three years since employees at the collapsed exchange had “inadvertently” sent the Bitcoin to these wallets under the auspices of EY.
https://decrypt.co/117716/ey-did-not-initiate-transfers-1-7m-bitcoin-linked-defunct-quadrigacx
- Elon Musk Resigns At Twitter, Dogecoin Price Drops Over 10%
The results of the vote generated by Elon Musk himself made it possible for him to step down as CEO of Twitter. Immediately after Dogecoin supporters confirmed the information, the price of this coin meme suddenly dropped by nearly 10%.
Earlier on December 19, Billionaire Elon Musk and the owner of Twitter posted a public vote for users to vote on whether he should give up the top position of Twitter and said to follow the results of the vote.
Notably, the vote ended on the evening of December 19 with more than 17.5 million votes, 57.5% of which said “Yes” to Mr. Elon Musk’s proposal to resign.
This result also seems to reflect users’ outrage at Twitter’s new policy of not allowing users to link to other social networks in their profiles. According to users, it is a clear violation of each person’s right to freedom of speech, which Elon Musk has vowed to put first after taking over Twitter.
hhttps://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7333316
- Uniswap to allow users to buy cryptocurrency using debit and credit cards
Decentralized exchange Uniswap has partnered with fintech company Moonpay to allow users to buy cryptocurrency on its web app using debit cards, credit cards, and bank transfers. The bank transfer option is being rolled out for users within most U.S. states, Brazil, the United Kingdom and the Single Euro Payments Area, also known as SEPA.
In the announcement made on Dec. 20, Uniswap shared that its users will now be able to convert fiat to cryptocurrency on the Ethereum mainnet, Polygon, Optimism, and Artibrum in a matter of minutes.
According to Uniswap, decentralized exchanges (DEX) are a much safer option than centralized exchanges (CEX) because of their built-in user protection, self-custodial wallets, permissionless, immutable protocols and transparent public ledger.
- Australian Crypto Exchange Swyftx, Share Trading Platform Superhero Abandon Merger Plan
Australian crypto exchange Swyftx and share trading and superannuation platform Superhero canceled their planned merger, saying the decision was reached after the government turned up the regulatory heat on the crypto industry.
The plan was announced in June, and was touted as a “historic merger” that would create a A$1.5 billion “digital and traditional finance powerhouse” and bring over 800,000 customers under one roof.
The cancelation comes after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) sued three crypto-related entities – BlockEarner, BPS Financial, the company behind the qoin digital token, and financial product comparison website Finder.com. The government, meantime, is taking steps toward tightening crypto rules next year by inviting comments and feedback for a consultation paper.
- Payments Giant Visa Proposes Using Ethereum L2 Starknet to Bolster Auto Payments for Self-Custodial Wallets
On Dec. 19, 2022, Visa’s Crypto Thought Leadership blog published a post written by Andrew Beams, Catherine Gu, Srini Raghuraman, Mohsen Minaei, and Ranjit Kumaresan. Visa’s subject brief is about “auto payments for self-custodial wallets,” and Visa shows that it is possible to leverage Ethereum to execute auto-payments from a self-custodial wallet solution. However, the concept utilizes account abstraction, a feature that Ethereum core developers are currently debating.
“Account abstraction (AA) is a proposal that attempts to combine user accounts and smart contracts into just one Ethereum account type by making user accounts function like smart contracts,” the Visa blog post details.
- Portion of Bitcoin Supply Held by Retail Investors Reaches All-Time High: Glassnode
About 17% of Bitcoin’s total circulating supply is now held by retail investors, according to recent public blockchain data curated by analytics firm, Glassnode.
“Not perfect yet, but solid for a 12-year-old asset and definitely trending in the right direction,” tweeted Will Clemente, an analyst at Reflexivity Research, in response to the data. “Bitcoin’s supply disperses over time, while fiat’s holder base concentrates to whales over time.”
A Glassnode chart shared by Clemente shows the percentage of Bitcoin supply held by retail investors on a steady climb dating back to 2011. Glassnode defines “retail” as holding less than 10 BTC in a wallet, currently worth nearly $169,000.
https://decrypt.co/117685/portion-bitcoin-supply-held-retail-reaches-all-time-high-glassnode
- South Korea Freezes $93M Allegedly Belonging to Company Involved in Terra’s Crash (Report)
The South Korean court has reportedly frozen 120 billion won (over $93 million) in assets belonging to executives of blockchain consultancy firm Kernel Labs.
The entity is speculated to have had a hand in Terra’s collapse earlier this year while its CEO – Kim Hyun-Joong – served as Vice President of Engineering at Terraform Labs.
The Latest Efforts
According to a local report, the Korean Authorities froze around $93 million owned by bosses of Terraform Labs’ affiliate company – Kernel Labs.
Some sources revealed that employees of the organization previously worked at the Terraform Labs Korea office, while CEO Kim Hyun-Joong was the Vice President of Engineering of the notorious crypto fintech firm.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7332754
- Consumers are crypto-curious — One in five own digital currency: Accenture
Over the last year, the crypto space has endured lasting market volatility and scandals, which have negatively affected consumer trust in the industry. However, an end-of-the-year report from Accenture revealed that consumers are still holding crypto — and for the long term.
According to Accenture’s 2022 Global Consumer Payments report, while many consumers still prefer traditional payment methods such as cash or credit card, one in five surveyed consumers now own a cryptocurrency.
For those that hold crypto, 28% say the choice to enter the crypto space is due to long-term investment. This is followed by 22% of consumers saying their choice to step into crypto was out of “curiosity” about the space.
