- Bank of America Says Cryptocurrencies Continue to Act as Risk Assets
Digital assets continue to act as risk assets, falling as global interest rates rise, Bank of America (BAC) said in a research report Friday.
Still, positive signs of an eventual recovery include stablecoin inflows. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to another asset, such as the U.S. dollar or gold.
Last week these inflows jumped to $490 million, 58% higher than the previous week, the report said, as “real world use cases like payments/remittances are adopted and real-world data providers like decentralized oracle networks increase functionality.”
The four largest stablecoins witnessed exchange net inflows for the third week in a row, the report said, noting that large Binance USD (BUSD) inflows/USD Coin (USDC) outflows could be the result of investors “preemptively rotating” into BUSD from USDC to avoid disruptions following Binance’s decision to auto convert some stablecoins into its own stablecoin.
- WEF Launches Crypto Sustainability Coalition to Leverage Web3 Technologies in Climate Change Battle
Web3, a term that groups cryptocurrency and blockchain-based technologies, is currently in the spotlight of energy groups that seek to determine if the use of these technologies is pernicious for the environment. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has decided to take these technologies into account, launching an initiative to investigate if they can be useful to the current fight against climate change.
The initiative, which was announced on September 21, is called the Crypto Sustainability Coalition, and it is composed of 30 different companies, educative organizations, and other institutions interested in this issue. Among these are known cryptocurrency-linked projects, like Solana, Avalanche, Circle, NEAR Foundation, Ripple, and the Stellar Development Foundation, among others.
- SEC Is ‘Out to Damage or Destroy’ Crypto Industry in America: LBRY CEO
LBRY CEO Jeremy Kauffman called out the Securities and Exchange Commission at Messari’s Mainnet conference in New York this week, as the decentralized file-sharing network continues to navigate legal action from the regulator.
The SEC charged LBRY with selling unregistered securities in March of last year. The Commission took issue with the $11 million in funding raised through the sale of LBRY Credits, tokens that are now used to upload files and make payments on the blockchain-based platform but were offered for sale before the network was built.
The SEC viewed LBRY Credits as investment contracts, based on the notion that buyers believed they would reap profit from purchasing the tokens.
https://decrypt.co/110468/sec-out-to-damage-or-destroy-crypto-industry-lbry-ceo
- Ethereum’s Buterin Seeks Dogecoin’s Switch to PoS as DOGE Becomes 2nd Largest PoW Coin
Vitalik Buterin revealed the inclination while speaking at the Messari Mainnet Summit 2022 on September 23. Ryan Selkis, founder and CEO of Messari, sought more insight on how the CEO of the Electric Coin Company – the firm behind Zcash – Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, and Vitalik Buterin feel about the PoS system.
Selkis asked Buterin if he thinks all crypto-assets should switch to a PoS consensus mechanism. In response, while Buterin highlighted that the transition would be ideal, he pointed out two assets in particular: Dogecoin and Zcash.
According to the Canadian programmer, Dogecoin and Zcash are two assets he hopes would switch to Proof-of-Stake soon. “I hope Zcash moves over, and I am hopeful Dogecoin moves to PoS soon,” he said.
Additionally, Buterin noted that he sees a future where PoS becomes more acceptable within the broader crypto community as further development is put into the system.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7211669
- 1M Aussies will enter crypto over the next 12 months — Swyftx survey
Approximately one million Australians will purchase cryptocurrency for the first time over the next 12 months — bringing total crypto ownership in the country to over five million — according to a newly released survey.
The findings came from the second Annual Australian Crypto Survey by Australian crypto exchange Swyftx, which was conducted by research firm YouGov.
The survey questioned 2,609 Australians over 18 years of age in early July, with 548 of the survey sample identified as current holders of cryptocurrency.
The report stated that despite the current “Crypto Winter” which has seen approximately $2 trillion in assets wiped from the digital assets market over the course of the last year, Australian crypto ownership has grown 4% year-on-year, reaching 21% in 2022.
According to the report, this figure is set to increase by another one million new crypto owners in 2023, while at least one-quarter of Australians are planning to buy crypto over the next 12 months, with Millenials, Gen Zers, Aussie parents, and those in full-time work most likely to buy.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/1m-aussies-will-enter-crypto-over-the-next-12-months-swyftx-survey
- Filesharing Crypto Project Filecoin Reports Strong Fundamental Growth Ahead of FVM Launch
Decentralized filesharing protocol Filecoin saw a nearly sevenfold growth of data suppliers since the start of 2022, ahead of plans for a major upgrade in early 2023.
At the FIL Singapore event on Monday, attended by CoinDesk, Colin Evran, co-lead at Filecoin development lab Protocol Labs, said the network’s storage providers were increasing at a rate of 20% each month, with most activity in North America, Korea and Hong Kong. Evran said that some 7,000 new developers were currently building applications on the Filecoin blockchain.
Filecoin (FIL) is a cryptocurrency that enables users to buy and sell computer storage on a system for decentralized storage of data and files. The latter is said to help support a truly decentralized ecosystem, where blockchain data itself is stored on networks such as Filecoin, instead of centralized providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS).
- California Governor Newsom Vetoes Bill to Regulate Crypto — Calls for ‘More Flexible Approach’
The governor of the U.S. state of California, Gavin Newsom, vetoed a number of bills Friday, including Assembly Bill 2269 (AB 2269) which will establish a licensing and regulatory framework for cryptocurrency.
Assembly Bill 2269, titled “Digital financial asset businesses: regulation,” was introduced earlier this year by California Assembly Member Timothy Grayson. It passed the California State Senate on Aug. 29 and the California State Assembly the next day.
“AB 2269 would establish a licensing and regulatory framework, administered by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, for digital financial asset activity,” the governor detailed, adding:
Digital assets are becoming increasingly popular in our financial ecosystem, with more consumers buying and selling cryptocurrencies each year.
- Crypto Exchange Binance Eyes Return to Japan, 4 Years After Exit: Report
Four years after pulling out of Japan, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, will seek a license to operate in the country.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the country’s friendlier approach to crypto and the substantial opportunities to onboard new users attracted the exchange back to Japan.
The move comes as Japan looks to adopt more Web3-friendly policies under its new prime minister, Fumio Kishida.
His hunt for a “New Capitalism” solution to Japan’s sluggish growth and growing inequality has led the country’s politicians to start working on wide-ranging policies, from reforming crypto and NFT taxation to attracting crypto talent.
https://decrypt.co/110496/crypto-exchange-binance-eyes-return-japan-4-years-exit-report
- GPU Prices in China Drop To Their Lowest Levels in History After The Ethereum Merge
The Merge changed Ethereum’s protocol consensus from PoW to a more eco-friendly PoS. However, it caused some collateral damage along the way. For example, it is hurting GPU companies that were making a lot of profits thanks to the demand from ETH miners.
Asia-focused media outlet South China Morning Post(SCMP) reported that the Ethereum meltdown triggered a plunge in GPU prices in China, which caused sales to reach the “lowest level in history.”
Due to low demand from miners who used to buy expensive cards like Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, or RTX 3090, vendors have had to unexpectedly drop GPU prices three times the value suggested by the GPU factories.
The Most Expensive GPUs Have Dropped More Than 37% in Price.
Due to low demand from miners, high-end GPUs such as the RTX 3080 dropped over the past three months by more than 37%, from 8,000 yuan ($1,140) to less than 5,000 yuan ($712), Peng, a trader at a Shanghai market, told SCMP.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7211788
- LUNC investors react to CZ’s 1.2% trading tax recommendation on Binance
The infamous collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which erased market prices of TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA tokens, continues to trouble anxious investors as co-founder Do Kwon, crypto exchanges and the community together try to identify the best route for a sustainable price recovery.
Most recently, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the CEO of crypto exchange Binance, recommended a flat 1.2% trading tax on LUNC trades that could be burned to reduce the token’s total supply and improve its price performance. Addressing the community, CZ stated:
“We will implement an opt-in button [on the Binance exchange], for people to opt-in to pay a 1.2% tax for their LUNC trading.”
However, the exchange would begin the taxation for opt-in traders following the consensus of 25% of the LUNC investors, making sure that early adopters “are not the only few paying an extra 1.2%.”
A blanket trading tax of 1.2% will be implemented for all LUNC trading only after opt-in traders reach 50% of the total LUNC trading volume on the exchange.
