- Banning Crypto ‘Should Not Be Taken Off The Table’: IMF
Banning crypto shouldn’t be completely ruled out if they begin to pose higher risks to financial stability, according to the IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva.
“We are very much in favor of regulating the world of digital money,” said Georgieva in an interview with Bloomberg, adding that this is a top priority for the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the IMF, and the Bank for International Settlements.
However, “if the regulation is slow to come and crypto assets become a higher risk for consumers and potentially for financial stability,” the option of banning cryptocurrencies “should not be taken off the table,” said Georgieva, citing countries like India that explored such a possibility in the past.
https://decrypt.co/122240/banning-crypto-should-not-be-taken-off-table-imf
- Shiba Inu Investor Transfers Tokens to Exchanges, Possibly Foreshadowing Price Drop
A crypto wallet holding a large amount of shiba inu (SHIB) tokens is moving funds to exchanges, with historical data suggesting a decline in prices in the short term if the holder were to sell the tokens.
Wallet 0xd6 moved over 182 billion shiba inu tokens to crypto exchanges Gemini and Crypto.com in Asian morning hours on Monday, data cited by analytics firm Lookonchain shows.
Three months ago, the same wallet moved more than 200 billion SHIB to Crypto.com, selling them for U.S. dollars. The market price fell 7% at the time.
Tracking the movement of tokens from wallets that hold a significant amount of supply can serve as an indicator of price activity. If a large number of are sold, the price might decline as greater supply is available to the market. If, however, the tokens are moved to related decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, prices may not drop immediately.
- Big Changes Ahead: SWIFT ISO 20022 Upgrade Could Shake Up Crypto
SWIFT to upgrade payment system to ISO 20022 in 2023, benefitting banks, crypto, and digital currency markets by standardizing financial data elements.
Improving interoperability will reduce transaction costs, improve regulatory compliance, and advance adoption and growth in the crypto and digital currency markets.
SWIFT’s upgrade to ISO 20022 will benefit banks, crypto, and digital currency markets by standardizing financial transactions, improving cross-border payments, and reducing money laundering risk. It will also boost the adoption and growth of digital assets, as per ExchangeRates.
In 2023, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) will upgrade its payment system to the ISO 20022 standard, a move that will have implications for banks, crypto assets, and digital currencies.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7424563
- Crypto gateway Alchemy Pay scores license in Indonesia
Alchemy Pay has obtained a license from the central bank of Indonesia to operate remittances and fund transfers in cooperation with local fintech firm Berkah Digital Pembayaran.
Announcing the news on Feb. 27, Alchemy Pay noted that Bank Indonesia issued the licenses jointly to Alchemy Pay and Berkah Digital’s platform BDPay, enabling the firms to offer better payout methods and reduce associated operating costs.
Fiat-to-crypto payment provider Alchemy Pay is expanding services in Asia by scoring new regulatory approval in Indonesia.
According to data from the official website of Bank Indonesia, Berkah Digital has been listed as a payment service provider under license category three. The firm is mainly known for its BDPay platform, which offers retail and corporate clients local and cross-border remittance services. The platform also provides client payroll services and transfers via bank application programming interfaces, allowing users to transfer to 136 banks in Indonesia.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-gateway-alchemy-pay-scores-license-in-indonesia
- Janet Yellen Says ‘Critical’ to Establish Strong Crypto Regulation — ‘We Haven’t Suggested Outright Banning’
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen talked about crypto regulation in an interview with Reuters Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 meeting for finance ministers and central bank governors under India’s presidency in Bengaluru.
Yellen emphasized the importance of establishing a robust regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies while clarifying that the U.S. has not proposed an outright ban. The treasury secretary said:
We haven’t suggested outright banning of crypto activities, but it is critical to put in place a strong regulatory framework … We’re working with other governments.
- Global Crypto Rules to Be Based on Coming FSB and IMF Synthesis Paper, India Says After G20 Meetings
The basis of coming global crypto rules will be formed on a new synthesis paper, jointly produced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), announced India as the holder of the Group of 20 (G20) Presidency in Bangalore on Saturday.
The announcement came after three days of meetings in India among the 20 largest economies of the world, collectively known as the G20, in which creating a global regulatory framework for crypto was a priority.
The discussions held between the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors were expected to chart the way forward for globally coordinated crypto rules.
- Alchemy Launches Dapp Builder for the Next Billion Web3 Developers
The goal of mass adoption is a common refrain for the blockchain industry, but there’s a steep learning curve in onboarding the masses to Web3. Alchemy hopes its new Create Web3 Dapp or CW3D platform will help bring more people into decentralized technologies.
“Our overall mission and vision is to bring blockchain or Web3 to a billion people,” Elan Halpern, Product Manager at Alchemy, told Decrypt in an interview. “The way we really see that happening is by empowering developers.”
For Halpern, bringing Web3 to the masses starts with getting developers excited about creating the products that people will use.
“There’s kind of this flywheel lifecycle where, if you want my grandmother to be able to use a Web3 application, there has to be a product that she’s actually excited about using,” Halpern said. “And in order for there to be the product, a developer has to be excited about building that product.”
https://decrypt.co/122228/alchemy-create-web3-apps-cw3d-dapps
- Solana Validators to Make Second Restart Attempt As Transaction Freeze Drags on
The Solana network’s deep freeze continued Saturday as validators were preparing a second restart attempt that they hoped would restore service to users of the blockchain.
By evening New York time, validators running Solana’s infrastructure had long since concluded that the best way to right the chain would be to synchronize a restart and fork the chain. A first attempt was abandoned when validators realized they picked the wrong point at which to restart, further lengthening the delay.
The problems that started as sluggish transaction processing have spiraled into a near complete shutdown of activity on Solana, validators and developers told CoinDesk. The chain’s block production has ceased and transactions aren’t processing or being validated.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7424324
- Crypto lawyers flame Gensler over claims that all crypto are securities
Cryptocurrency lawyers have rebuffed comments made by the head of the United States securities regulator, who claimed in a recent interview that every cryptocurrency except Bitcoin BTC tickers down $23,433 is a security that falls under its jurisdiction.
In a wide-ranging Feb. 23 New York Magazine interview discussing crypto, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler claimed “everything other than Bitcoin” falls under the agency’s remit.
He added other crypto projects “are securities because there’s a group in the middle and the public is anticipating profits based on that group,” which he said is not the case with Bitcoin.
- Rap Star Drake Loses $400,000 Bitcoin Bet on Jake Paul in Split-Decision Loss to Tommy Fury
On Feb. 26, 2023, in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul’s winning streak was stopped by Tommy Fury, the half-brother of Mike Tyson. The fight was a close bout, with Fury winning by split decision (74-75, 76-73, 76-73), despite Paul knocking Fury down in the eighth round. Paul had six straight wins under his belt before losing to Fury on Sunday. Before the fight, the rap star and actor Drake placed a $400,000 bitcoin wager, or roughly 17 BTC, on Paul winning the fight by knockout (KO).
Rap Star Drake Loses $400,000 Bitcoin Bet on Jake Paul in Split-Decision Loss to Tommy Fury
Drake took to Instagram and showed off his bet, which was placed on the crypto betting platform Stake. “Knock knock,” Drake said, with a door emoji. The screenshot Drake shared showed that if Paul had won the fight, he could have cashed in $1.44 million in bitcoin. Drake is well-known for placing various bitcoin bets, as the 36-year-old rapper bet $472,000 in bitcoin that the LA Rams would win against the Bengals in the Super Bowl. The Rams won 23-20 that game, and Drake won $240,000 from the wager.
