If Bitcoin has been riding a wave of optimism linked to Donald Trump's potential political comeback, now that Tycoon has been elected as the 47th president of the United States, we can say Bitcoin has literally hit a record of $75,000. This suggests a significant surge in market sentiment, likely fueled by speculation that a Trump victory could lead to more favorable conditions for cryptocurrencies.
Call it or not a Trump effect, after having recorded its all-time high, breaking through the wall of 75 thousand dollars, Bitcoin is gaining almost 8% in these hours. Ether is also making the same gains, trading around $2,619. "A rally that is not surprising given the position clearly in favor of Trump, who, in addition to having launched a new cryptocurrency platform "The DeFiant Ones" (a name that plays on the concept of decentralized finance) last August, owns, according to The Verge, 1 and $5 million in a virtual ethereum key" says Massimiliano Carrà on Forbes Italy.
Trump has historically been perceived more crypto-friendly, especially when compared to other political figures who have proposed stricter regulations on the industry. In his latest administration he generally took a hands-off approach to cryptocurrencies, which many in the crypto community appreciated as it allowed the space to develop with relatively fewer governmental restrictions.
During his first presidential campaign, the cryptocurrency ecosystem saw significant growth, likely due to the promise of deregulation and more market freedom. So the question is how far the crypto market will go, today on? If traders are anticipating these factors aligning favorably with Trump's policies, it could further boost their enthusiasm for Bitcoin as a store of value or hedge.
Highlighting some points about the relationship between Trump's re-election and cryptocurrencies environment here's a list of the factors involved in this potential diverse outcome of the market, that will maybe lead to a new balance between old and new economy, as we usually say here at The Meta Economist.
Let's unpack a few key themes and examine how they could impact Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market:
In summary, while a Trump administration might boost Bitcoin and create short-term optimism, the crypto market’s long-term prospects will likely depend on broader regulatory trends, global economic factors, and how effectively crypto assets continue to establish themselves as hedges or alternatives to traditional investments. Would you like to delve further into any specific aspect, like historical price patterns in crypto during different administrations, or explore how institutional players might react?
SOURCE: The Guardian, Forbes
READ ALSO ---> "Is Disney back in the metaverse?" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
Bitcoin is ready to open another chapter. For the most popular cryptocurrency, born in 2009 from the idea of a programmer who calls himself Satoshi Nakamoto is coming a new important revolution: the fourth halving. The halving established by the four-year cycle of the asset will inevitably change its acquisition and use methods. In fact, a halving of daily emissions is expected: 6.25 Bitcoins will no longer be created for each block of transactions, but 3.125. With very important consequences.
The halving involves a decrease in the creation of Bitcoin, which from today goes from 900 to 450. The cryptocurrency therefore becomes increasingly scarce, in other words it can be said it will become "a more scarse than gold", said SkyTg 24.
The price of Bitcoin now stands at around $64,500, close to the record recorded in November 2021, before the new peak reached last month, triggered precisely by the wait for the halving appointment . The halving will inevitably define new balances, especially in the medium and long term. As always, we encourage you to weigh every decision, not based solely on short-term forecasts. Looking back, after each Halving we have witnessed an impressive growth in the value of bitcoin.
SOURCE: SKYTG24
IMAGE CREDITS: André François McKenzie
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo recently discussed the use of cryptocurrency and digital assets by terrorist groups. Adeyemo aims at struggling against crypto crime by creating a stable regulatory environment . Before the Senate Banking Committee Adeyemo said:
“As we take steps to cut terrorist groups and other malign actors off from the traditional financial system, we are concerned about the ways these actors are using cryptocurrencies to try and circumvent our sanctions. For example, five years ago, al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups, largely based out of Syria, operated a Bitcoin money laundering network using social media platforms to solicit cryptocurrency donations. After receiving virtual currency, they laundered the proceeds through various online gift card exchanges to be able to purchase what they needed to advance their violent agenda.”
Us Deputy proposals include secondary sanctions aimed at foreign providers of digital assets involved in illicit financing, extraterritorial jurisdiction to pursue companies undermining national security, and the introduction of a new secondary sanctions tool. These measures aim to enhance authorities' ability to combat financial crimes in the cryptocurrency sphere and address the increasing use of digital assets for illegal funding.
The first proposal's goal is to prevent these suppliers from facilitating illegal activities and cut off their access to the international banking system. By increasing the accountability of digital asset platforms and service providers, this policy aims to make it more challenging for individuals to exploit cryptocurrencies for unlawful purposes.
Adeyemo's second proposal calls for extending jurisdiction beyond national borders in cases where companies using digital assets to undermine national security are abusing the financial system. This expansion would enable US law enforcement to pursue and punish foreign criminals utilizing cryptocurrencies for illegal activities, regardless of their location. The intention is to ensure that entities and individuals involved in illicit financing cannot evade accountability by exploiting the global nature of digital assets, thereby reducing jurisdictional gaps.
These proposed reforms reflect a concerted effort by the US Treasury Department to bolster enforcement mechanisms against the misuse of cryptocurrencies for criminal purposes. By targeting both foreign providers and those abusing digital assets to undermine national security, the aim is to create a more robust regulatory framework to combat financial crimes in the cryptocurrency space.
SOURCES: CNBC, Blockchain News
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
1inch Network, a decentralized finance (DeFi) company, has unveiled a new debit card with crypto-fiat bridge functionality. 1inch gave the announce on its official website. This new crypto debit card was made in collaboration with Mastercard and Baanx. Users will be able to carry out cash withdrawals and transactions at enabled points of sale and ATMs.
The collaboration with Mastercard and Baanx created this new payment model. The new debit cards will come with full features, including a physical card with account number, expiration data and the "CVC" security code needed to make some transactions. They will also have a virtual card function, which will allow users to carry out transactions digitally, where supported.
Christian Rau, senior vice president of crypto and fintech enablement at Mastercard, said in a statement that the new card represents a necessary bridge between the Web3 and Web2 world: “We have long supported solutions that not only delight customers but also offer reach, peace of mind and the highest levels of security. Leveraging Mastercard's leading technology and standards, the 1inch card connects the Web2 and Web3 worlds in an innovative way.”
This can slow down transactions, increase security risks, and add additional fees to the process. The advent of purchases through crypto-to-fiat debit cards allows users to maintain custody of their crypto and Web3 funds with a single conversion rate to consider at the time of purchase. For now, the cards are only available in the UK and European economic areas. However, according to 1inch, the company is looking to expand the program as Orest Gavryliak, chief legal officer of 1inch Network, told Cointelegraph.
Segej Kunz, co-founder of 1inch Network, showed the virtual payment method of the new card in a post on the social network X, completing a one-touch transaction with his smartphone. As announced, the 1inch Crypto Card allows users to make cash withdrawals at supported ATMs through crypto to fiat conversion and it also supports Apple Pay or Google Pay. “This is another important step towards bringing a large number of users into DeFi,” said Sergej Kunz, co-founder of 1inch. “With the 1inch Card, the user can enjoy the benefits of both DeFi and traditional finance.”
In these days, during the Paris Blockchain Week, 1inch co-founder was guest on talks about Defi and crypto payments. Kunz also posted on X the immediate results after the launch: "In just the first 24 hours since launch, over 3,000 visionaries have applied to the #1inchCard waiting list - and we're just getting warmed up!"
SOURCES: CryptoNews, CoinTelegraph
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
According to José Maria Macedo, CEO of Delphi Labs and founding partner of cryptocurrency investment firm Delphi Ventures, Ethena Labs will become the highest revenue-generating cryptocurrency project on the market. Ethena Labs is one of the projects with the most potential for Delphi Ventures during this bull cycle, according to an April 2 post on Delphi Labs' Macedo blog, which explains: “sUSDe will offer the highest dollar return in crypto at scale. USDe will become the largest stablecoin outside of USDC/USDT in 2024. Ethena will become the highest revenue-generating project in the entire crypto industry.”
ENA, the governance token of Ethena Labs' much-discussed Ethena protocol, has been among the best of the 24 hours, gaining more than 45 percent at the time of writing. This is a sign that despite the controversies and doubts involving the main project, demand has been strong.
Controversy that has also affected in the last few hours one of the so-called bluechips of the DeFi world, namely AAVE, cascading over DAI's decision to increase the underlying limits precisely related to the project's stablecoin.
On March 8, Ethena Labs became the highest-earning decentralized application (DApp) in crypto, offering a 67% annual percentage yield (APY) on USDe. Ethena launched its USDe synthetic dollar on the public mainnet on February 19. According to its homepage, Ethena's USDe synthetic dollar currently offers a 35.4% APY and over 118,000 users. The CEO's bullish forecast follows the launch of Ethena Labs' airdrop on April 2, which distributed $450 million worth of Ethena (ENA) tokens to eligible wallets.
SOURCE: CoinTelegraph
PHOTO CREDITS: Carlos Muza
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
Bitcoin loses 5% in a few minutes during the Asian Session. The other top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization do even worse. Ethereum just over 7%, BNB less than 6% and Solana the same. Certainly not a situation of great collapse and great panic, although the decline was vertical. Bitcoin fell below $66,500, which very far from the disaster that many are talking about on social media. "Bitcoin (BTC) faced selling pressure during Asian trading hours on Tuesday as upbeat U.S. factory data lifted the dollar index (DXY) to the highest since mid-November" - Coin desk says.
The dollar is stronger, so-so Asian markets and that's probably why Bitcoin pays the bill. But, all things considered, Bitcoin is not performing badly even for risk assets and we have to see this movements as a temporary correction that does not change the fundamentals. The Asian markets, which may be responsible for this moment of difficulty for Bitcoin, are actually ending the day on a positive note. Hong Kong makes +2.35%. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback’s value against major fiat currencies, topped the 105 mark for the first time over four months, taking the four-week gain to 2.58%.
Macro data has provided further support for rate cuts in the USA which will perhaps be postponed even beyond June. Markets now price the chance that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in June at just over 50%. Something that only 1 week ago was priced at over 60%, just to have a perspective of what is happening also in terms of sentiment. Although cryptocurrency enthusiasts are often excessively reactive to movements, it should be remembered that Bitcoin is a mere -10% from historical highs, just as the daily losses of the entire sector should be assessed with a bit of a sense of proportion.
SOURCE: CoinDesk
PHOTO CREDITS: Art Rachen
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
With the word "ICO" we mean a crowdfunding system in the financial sector. Despite a long time history, in these day the web 3 is talking about ICOs linked to a revolutionary Bitcoin Dogs project recently announced. The launch is scheduled for February 14th, 2024 and it will be the world's first ICO on the Bitcoin blockchain. With pre-salt set to debut next week, the new project aims to gain significant traction with its fresh approach.
To support the growth of the platform, Bitcoin Dogs will distribute 900 million 0DOG tokens during a 30-day flash presale. Beyond the obvious investment appeal, these tokens will give holders access to an exclusive collection of NFTs and an engaging social gaming ecosystem. Using the paradigm-shifting Ordinals protocol, players will store their NFTs on the Bitcoin BRC-20 blockchain, offering a new level of security and reliability when stacked up against competitors Solana and Ethereum.
The question is: could the 0DOG token represent an investment opportunity with profits of 50x-100x? Will it enter crypto history as the world's first presale on the Bitcoin blockchain?
From initial public offerings (IPOs) to crowdfunding platforms to initial coin offerings (ICOs), the world of fundraising has undergone enormous transformations.
Let's go back to the history of ICOs, as we told before in this article, 2013 is the year where this story begun. The first ICO was launched in 2013 for the launch of the Mastercoin cryptocurrency. In 2014, an ICO was added to the Ethereum cryptocurrency. The ICO is very popular. Last year 2017 was released about 20 months ago and the ICO for a new web browser called Brave generated about $35 million in 30 seconds. There are at least 18 websites that track ICOs.
Just to clarify, the first ICO was launched to be re-founded by new cryptocurrencies, but the current ICO is used to qualify. Typically these tokens are sold to be stored, with the existence of the token and the defined behavior of the mathematical algorithm. If there is a difference between similar tender offers, the acquisition of the token is not regulated by the government and does not guarantee ownership or other conditions.
SOURCES: BitPanda, Blockchain News
READ ALSO ---> "Google's Gemini enters the AI market with a completely new model" by Ilaria Vanni
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
Bitcoin is the best-known blockchain technology. As a leading cryptocurrency, it is a source of great hope, as well as great fear.
More and more NGO volunteers declare that it can be a tool of freedom in the service of human rights, while on the other side of the spectrum, crypto-anarchists evoke fears of ever-greater control of individuals, by a new totalitarianism.
On a more mundane level, crypto-currencies also serve swindlers of all kinds, who capitalize on investors' credulity and lack of knowledge.
A technology of the future that is already firmly rooted in the present, bitcoin is a digital currency designed to guarantee the availability of assets while offering anonymity to its users.
Quite the opposite of what the current banking system offers. All the more so as governments are planning to abolish cash in favor of fiat currency alone. The digitization of our purchases speaks volumes about the institutions' power to control each and every one of us.
At that point, bitcoin, which is already one of the only tools at the service of political opponents operating in Hong Kong or elsewhere, will be the lifeline for all those who want to freely dispose of their money.
Bitcoin isn't the only blockchain currency providing the means to change the world. In 2018, thanks to miners and Unicef's Game Chaingers fundraising project, Ethereum was entering the human rights arena.
Today, Unicef is inviting all computer owners to mine cryptocurrency and donate it to their e-wallets. A donation revolution that speaks volumes about the role that cryptocurrencies and blockchain will play in the defense of human rights.
Thanks to blockchain technology, all financial transactions can be tracked, while guaranteeing anonymity for the donor. In this way, donors can know exactly how their donation has been used.
Digital currencies thus guarantee a return to the trust in NGOs that has tended to wither over the years. A case in point is the use by the Red Cross, after the December 2004 tsunami in Thailand, of 5 million euros on an obscure account line called "Headquarters costs".
Practices that are open to criticism, to say the least, and which, with the development of cryptocurrency donations, will cease thanks to the control of the donors themselves. So, effective blockchain technology, at the service of NGO action.
Blockchain isn't so much the jewel in the crown of a new form of freedom, as a new tool of control at the service of totalitarian regimes. Three adjectives characterize financial transactions recorded via blockchain:
To protect the identity of citizens, and thus combat the 200,000 identity frauds committed annually in France, the use of blockchain to protect identity is on everyone's lips.
However, the identification of each Internet user paves the way for the identification of the parties to all transactions carried out via the blockchain. This is permanent, public and verifiable by everyone. An attack on freedom that will serve, as never better, the control tendencies of governments, both democratic and manifestly totalitarian.
Crypto-currencies' greatest strength to date lies in their relative lack of national and international regulation. This oversight, which is beginning to materialize through tax reforms aimed at providing a better framework for the capital gains realized from the sale of cryptocurrencies, is set to grow.
Truly anonymous currencies are no longer very numerous. For example, bitcoin, the most famous of all cryptocurrencies, is not. For the simple reason that, to gain access to the exchanges, each currency must comply with KYC (Know Your Consumer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations.
In fact, it was thanks to these regulatory obligations that the founder of The Silk Road, an e-commerce site for illegal products and services, was arrested by the FBI thanks to transactions he had carried out in Bitcoins.
The only cryptocurrencies that are still truly anonymous are private currencies such as :
Monero (XMR),
Komodo (KMD),
Zcash (ZEX).
If governments get involved, these won't last long under a tightening regulatory framework that will quickly render them obsolete as unusable.
Like all fads, crypto-currencies are a natural fit for all kinds of scams:
Ponzi pyramid,
Rug Pull,
breach of trust,
etc.
The limits are set only by the imagination of the swindlers.
.
A Ponzi scheme is a simple system: you get members and their money into a system that promises them a comfortable - and often too-good-to-be-true - return on investment.
Buoyed by a pitch often based on the exceptional results of the bitcoin price, new members' money is used to pay out interest to old members. The scam works until the perpetrator walks away with the cash.
The whole bitcoin/blockchain/crypto-currency thing only serves to attract new victims willing to invest their money.
It's the technique used by the Ukrainian government to obtain funds from generous donors at the start of the Russian invasion.
The Rug Pull consists of making an appeal for funds, with the promise of delivering crypto tokens or NFTs via airdrop to each donor's wallet. Except that, in the end, the organizer of this fundraiser leaves with the money without paying anything in return.
This is what the Ukrainian government did, arguing that some donors had not played the game, making minimal donations in order to benefit from the gift promised by the Ukrainian government.
You all know the Youtube, Instagram, Facebook influencers who create accounts to set up a business in investment advice, coaching or anything else.
With bitcoin and blockchain technology, it's the same story. A charming content creator suggests that you entrust him with your money so that he can invest it for you, on the pretext that he'll do it better than you.
Once he's raised enough funds, which he's been careful to invest on his portfolio rather than on the cryptocurrency markets, he leaves with the till.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and all crypto-currencies have the potential to be instruments of liberation. Tools put at the service of humanity to bypass the controls put in place by governments.
However, the principles on which they are based can offer governmental organizations, through well thought-out regulations, even greater means of control than those they already have in their possession.
Right now, the dangers of cryptocurrencies are being felt by the many victims of scammers, who have entrusted their money to people they don't know, because they understand neither how blockchains work, nor the conditions for investing in cryptocurrency markets
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After National Financial Services and Market Authority (FSMA) told Binance, in June, to stop serving Belgian customers from outside the European bloc, the company found a new way to keep the transactions going.
Belgian customers will now be routed via a Polish entity to escape that effort by regulators to chase the crypto company out of Belgium, the company said. Belgian customers will be put into “withdrawals-only” mode if they don’t agree to the terms of use for Binance Poland, an entity registered within the European Union.
SOURCE: Coin Desk
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Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
