Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

If you want a better grasp of what cryptocurrency like bitcoin is, how it works and why its relevant to more people than you may think, this story is for you.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Cryptocurrency. Bitcoin. Ethereum. The Blockchain.

What are these things, anyway?

If you find yourself asking this question even silently, as you nod at a party and pretend to know what people are talking about when they throw around these words then this article is for you. ABC10 talked with experts to put together a primer on the basics of cryptocurrency and why, even if you have no interest in investing its something you should care about.

THE EXPERTS

We spoke with Joseph Taylor, who is chair of the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics in the College of Business at Sacramento State.

ABC10 spoke with Charlene Fadirepo, founder of Guidefi, which helps women and people of color grow and protect wealth. Shes also the author of childrens books explaining cryptocurrency and co-author of a book for policy leaders about the importance of cryptocurrency.

Our third expert is Natalie Brunell, bitcoin educator and host of the podcast Coin Stories.

We asked all three of them to help us explain cryptocurrency in a way that will equip someone with a better basic, working knowledge.

Q: WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY?

CHARLENE FADIREPO: Cryptocurrency is digital money that can be used as a secure form of payment. Nice and easy. In the financial world, we actually think of cryptocurrency as a new financial asset class. You might be familiar with other asset classes, like real estate, stocks, and bonds.

JOSEPH TAYLOR: So cryptocurrency is just a currency, like a dollar or a peso or a euro. The difference between cryptocurrency and the dollar that you have in your wallet is that it only exists digitally. They don't make any paper copies. And it's not issued by a government; it's issued by the currency. So if somebody's willing to accept it to trade and barter for goods, it works just like a dollar or a euro.

NATALIE BRUNELL: You're essentially purchasing something that is completely digital. And, honestly, today, most of us don't transact in cash anymore, right? We do have paper money that exists, but most of us use credit cards or we make transfers with our online bank accounts or something like Venmo.

Q: WHAT ABOUT ALL THE DIFFERENT KINDS, LIKE BITCOIN, ETHEREUM AND XRP?

CHARLENE FADIREPO: Think of crypto as the umbrella. There are lots of pieces under that umbrella. There's bitcoin, there's ethereum, there's monero [and many more]. All of these cryptocurrencies are separate, and it's all technology-based.

JOSEPH TAYLOR: In the same way that there are sedans Toyota makes Camrys, which is an example of a sedan, but sedans are also still motor vehicles. So bitcoin is a specific application, a specific coin type, whereas there are certainly other types of cryptocurrencies.

Q: HOW DO THESE CRYPTOCURRENCIES WORK?

JOSEPH TAYLOR: All of these whether we're talking about bitcoin, ethereum, shiba coin, you might have heard about NFTs or non-fungible tokens they all really use the same technology. We call it a distributed ledger. We're used to, like, a centralized ledger, where I can keep track of things. So if I were to ask you, How much money do you have?, you could probably answer the question. Youd have to call your bank and they would tell you, This is what's in your account. With something like bitcoin, there is not one person who keeps track of what your balance is. There's a whole network of we call them miners, who log transactions so you can keep track of your balance (so there's not one source that tracks it).

That broad family is called a blockchain. Distributed ledgers and blockchains, they're like motor vehicles. And then cryptocurrency is like sedans. And bitcoin is like a Camry, but it's all part of the same family of things that will absolutely change our world in the next 10 years.

Q: SO WHY SHOULD I CARE? HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME?

JOSEPH TAYLOR: Why would somebody care? When we have these type of distributed ledgers, we can keep track of things that we don't currently keep track of. There's an interesting pilot that Alfa Romeo is rolling out with their new SUVs out of the UK to digitally keep track of all the maintenance records. So if you go to buy a used car, you wouldn't just take the other person's word for it that they've done all their maintenance; there would be an independently verified record for all of the upkeep and maintenance that Alfa Romeo had gone through. And so when you bought the used car, you would also buy the history.

There's a lot of other types of things that we don't really have big systems to keep track of the data, and something like a distributed ledger or a blockchain is an interesting technology that will allow us to do that in the future. We can independently verify driving records, house titles, places that you went based off your GPS coordinates. So there are many types of data that could be stored, collected and monetized (by) companies like Google or Facebook that are selling advertising or insurance companies that are offering discounts, or employers that are tracking worker productivity.

Q: WHAT ABOUT THE ETHICS OF ALL THAT?

JOSEPH TAYLOR: There are some ethical questions around that. What we haven't decided yet as a society is how much data are we willing to allow to be collected and what type of decisions are okay to make based off of that data?

A lot of these data ethics-type questions, people will do something that they think is okay because nobody has told them no. We used facial recognition for a long time for many purposes, knowing full well that facial recognition is less accurate with different skin colors. And it was only after several years, people started to say, That's not okay.

What I hope we can do with distributed ledgers, with cryptocurrencies, all these things, in general is that we can make sure we're thinking about the ethical implications before we cause problems.

Q: WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF INVESTING IN CRYPTOCURRENCY?

CHARLENE FADIREPO: Crypto is a speculative investment, which means the price goes up and down in value, which means you could lose some or maybe even all of your investment. It's important for people to kind of really acknowledge that. That's why you're not investing your rent money, you're not investing in mortgage money. You're investing your extra money.

JOSEPH TAYLOR: The key thing to remember is, (It's) not like investing in a stock; there's no dividend, the currency isn't going to grow, it won't be worth more unless more people want to use it. Because the supply doesn't change quickly, the price will go up. The drawback is that you're going to have a lot more volatility. So it's certainly something to consider. It might be part of a portfolio.

NATALIE BRUNELL: What I think is incredible about bitcoin is, it's really (a) powerful savings technology, where if you look at the performance over the last 10, 11 years-- yes, in the short term, it is volatile. And so I want to make that point: it is very, very volatile. But if you zoom out long-term, it is the best-performing asset of our last decade. It's appreciated about 1,000,000% in the last 10 years. [Note: In early July 2010, each bitcoin was selling for a fraction of one cent (less than $0.01). The price for one bitcoin hit its all-time high of $68,789.63 on Nov. 10, 2021. One-millionth of that record price is about two-thirds of one cent ($0.00687).]

Will we transact in it someday as a currency? I don't know. There are other countries that have legalized it as tender, including El Salvador, but right now I just think people should look at it as a store of value, and why would you want to spend something that's going up in value, right? Spend your dollars, which are decreasing in value, and save and hold your bitcoin.

Q: WHATS THE BEST WAY TO GIVE CRYPTOCURRENCY A TRY?

NATALIE BRUNELL: You do not have to buy an entire bitcoin. I think that that's sometimes a myth for people that are new in the space. Like Oh, I have to, you know, have $50,000 to buy one Bitcoin. Absolutely not. You can buy as little as $1. There are apps out there that allow you to transfer your U.S. dollars into Bitcoin.

CHARLENE FADIREPO: I encourage people to start with Cash App. The reason why is, you probably already have Cash App on your phone, maybe even buying stocks on Cash App. You might be even paying your friends on Cash App. Well, Cash App actually has a Bitcoin section.

JOSEPH TAYLOR: If you go to Coinbase or crypto.com, they all offer a wide range of different types of cryptocurrency, and you can buy and sell any number of different kinds to start a wallet.

CHARLENE FADIREPO: I also encourage people to see cryptocurrency as a piece of a broader portfolio. You already might be investing in stocks and bonds. Great! Add crypto as another piece. This whole idea of diversification, it really does apply. It allows you to kind of spread the risk that you have for your entire investment portfolio.

Q: IS CRYPTOCURRENCY TAXED?

NATALIE BRUNELL: When you decide to sell, that will be a reportable taxable event and you'll face capital gains tax just like if you sold a house in real life. So it's not something, again, that you want to buy and then sell and then buy back, because you will face taxes. This is, again, a savings account. This is like a 401k. You kind of set it and forget it and don't worry about it.

CHARLENE FADIREPO: And just like the in the typical investing world: if you don't understand it, never invest in it.

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Experts: The basics of cryptocurrency & why you should care - ABC10.com KXTV

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Crypto-curious investors have changed the face of the cryptocurrency market over the past year.

For many such investors, bitcoin and ethereum have been the starting point. They are the most valuable and they have the longest track records to consider in terms of future potential. But what about investors who want to go further?

The deeper you get into cryptocurrency and less popular altcoins, the riskier you can expect your investments to get. With any cryptocurrency, experts say price and a handful of other key metrics can help investors make smarter decisions about what has high investing potential, and whats more likely to flop. And along with quantitative factors like price, market cap, and trading volume, investors should also consider more qualitative factors like who created a given cryptocurrency, use cases, whats in its white paper (if it has one), and more.

Before you look into the price action, you actually have to look at what we call the fundamental analysis, which is picking the right asset for the right goal, says Kiana Danial, author of Cryptocurrency Investing for Dummies and founder of Invest Diva.

Weve talked to dozens of experts about how to invest in crypto as smartly and safely as possible, and a few ground rules have emerged, whether youre investing in bitcoin or a new token that was created yesterday. They are true of all cryptocurrency investments, and especially so for riskier and newer altcoins:

Whether youre just getting started, or interested in going beyond bitcoin and ethereum, heres a rundown of how you can evaluate any cryptocurrencys long-term potential:

If youre investing in crypto for the long haul, you should have a fundamental understanding of what youre getting into before deeply looking at the technical factors that affect a cryptocurrencys market value.

Focus more on the project itself, on the problem its solving, and on where it is actually deriving its value, says Danial.

When analyzing potential crypto investments, there are several qualitative factors experts recommend looking at when youre doing your own research and deciding whether to invest in a potential coin:

Experts say its important to consider an initial high-level overview of the project. Check the crypto projects website and social media channels to also get a sense of how socially active the project is and gain greater insight into the project, the team, and its community. The project website should be easy-to-navigate, functional, and openly share details about the project, the team behind it, and its white paper and roadmap.

The credibility and experience of the team behind a project can play a significant role in the success or failure of it. If the team is not openly disclosed, thats a red flag (bitcoin is the exception). Youll also want to look at the teams prior experience in the crypto market and other projects theyve worked on. For example, youll want to know if this is their first project or if they have a solid history developing successful crypto projects. Additionally, look at the executives of the project team. Projects with reputable executives or partnerships with established firms are also a positive sign.

As an investor, a critical component of assessing a coin or tokens long-term value is the projects white paper and road map. A solid crypto project will have a strong and well-defined white paper and roadmap. A white paper is a document produced and released by a crypto project that gives you technical information about its concept to help you determine whether it has any merit, whereas a road map helps set expectations on how a crypto project plans to grow and evolve with its hopeful success and adoption.

I read the white paper, so I can understand where the value is coming from, says Danial.

In a road map, you want to see a general timeline providing details of the projects development. If the project doesnt have a clear vision with a white paper and roadmap, you should question the future success and value of it.

Determine whether the project already has investors and if so, who they are. Its a good sign if the project has already been invested in by well-known investment firms or big time investors. It means theyve done their due diligence and believe in the projects long-term viability.

For many crypto projects, the community supporting the project can make or break a given cryptos potential. The enthusiasm and size of the community play a large role in the initial and continued success of the project, though you should be careful with this factor when assessing a coin or token.

Sometimes, hype can exceed and even mask a projects actual utility or value, which is why you shouldnt invest in a coin or token solely based on hype and should take the time to become familiar with all the factors above before putting too much stock in its community.

It can be a very confusing environment to figure out whats what and who is who, especially when you have a lot of people really pumping it or being very zealous about it, Doug Boneparth, a financial advisor and president of Bone Fide Wealth in New York, told NextAdvisor.

Though subjective, your goal is to reach a perspective on whether the asset is overvalued or undervalued. Having these things in mind will guide your selection of potential coins to invest in. Once youve nailed down the fundamentals, you can use more technical indicators and metrics as a supplement to help inform your investment decisions.

Once youve done the initial general vetting of a potential crypto investment, its time to focus on more of the technical aspects of the crypto you want to invest in.

I look at the charts to see if I want to buy more, when would be an optimal price to buy, says Danial. This is after I have selected an asset that matches my risk tolerance and my financial goals.

Experts say technical analysis is a little trickier in crypto compared to the stock market, but there are some key indicators and metrics you can use to help inform your investment decisions:

Start by taking a look at the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly trading history, so you can get a high-level overview of the price and performance of the project. There may be price trends that stick out to you that you can explore more. A steady increase over longer periods of time is typically a positive sign for a cryptos long-term potential.

Experts recommend paying attention to market capitalization as well, which is the total value of a cryptocurrency. Crypto market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the price of the cryptocurrency with the number of coins in circulation.

In general, the higher the value of the market cap the safer the investment, though thats not always the case with crypto, according to Danial. You dont want to go and invest in something that has a really low market cap, because its probably super new and is high risk, she says.

Also, market capitalization gives a clearer picture about the growth potential of a crypto asset. Cryptocurrencies with lower market caps have more tendency to grow than those with larger, more established market caps.

In the crypto universe, market cap is of mixed value, says Avik Roy, managing partner at Roy Capital Advisors and author of Bitcoin and the U.S. Fiscal Reckoning. Market cap by itself, particularly for thinly-traded crypto tokens, is not a very good marker of a tokens value. But in the case of bitcoin and ethereum, which are the most widely traded, most widely accepted, most valuable assets, the market cap is a reasonable indicator and certainly one common benchmark year.

Its also important to remember that because crypto prices fluctuate so dramatically, market capitalization is constantly changing. This fluctuation along with the potential for the market to drop out entirely is also why experts recommend only investing what youre OK with losing.

Youll also want to glance at the trading volume. A low trading volume can be a red flag as it is a measure of how easily a crypto asset can be bought or sold. Usually, the higher the volume of cryptocurrency transactions, the more liquid the market for that particular coin or token will be.

If a project has a low trading volume, especially a medium or large-cap project, it may have been abandoned, lacks real-world use-case, or there are other serious concerns with the project. While trading volume can help a crypto investor in their decision to either buy or sell, experts say it shouldnt play as big of a role in the decision-making process for long-term investors who are betting on value growth over time rather than the ability to trade for a profit in the short-term.

Trading volume is a little bit more difficult to measure in crypto relative to the stock market, says Roy. The Nasdaq records every single trade, so you have very precise measures as to how many shares were traded that day because its regulated. With bitcoin or ether, its not like that. Crypto is the most unregulated market globally.

In fact, you should be wary of spoofing in crypto markets, he says. Thats when people or institutions create fake buy and sell orders in an attempt to create a false sense of supply and demand. Some cryptocurrency exchanges have been accused of faking their volume numbers to raise the visibility of their businesses and bring in more customers. Thats easy to do in the cryptocurrency space because its immature with limited regulations and vulnerable to market manipulations.

It is also important to look at a crypto projects circulating supply and total supply in relation to max supply. Circulating supply is the number of coins or tokens that are circulating the market, while the total supply is the total number of coins or tokens that have been created. Total supply does not account for coins or tokens that have been burned or destroyed. Max supply refers to all the coins that will ever come into existence. Depending on the coin, max supply can be fixed or infinite.

The most important thing to understand about bitcoin, and this is true of crypto in general, is the monetary policy of the token. In other words, what are the rules of current and future supply of the token? says Roy. From an investment standpoint, one thing that investors in the conventional markets care about a lot is predictability of supply.

Bitcoin offers a good reference point for bitcoin, there are only 21 million in total supply while there are about 19 million currently in circulation. When compared to a project like ethereum, which has an infinite total supply and a circulating supply of over 120 million, the scarcity of bitcoin can easily be seen. Experts say investors tend to place a higher value on investments that are scarce than on investments that are abundant, though thats trickier to define in crypto as developers sometimes design the crypto ecosystems in the way that a particular coin or token is actually never truly unlimited. For example, ethereum technically has an unlimited supply, but the issuance is capped at 18 million Ether per year.

Keep in mind that like trading volume, circulating supply and total supply can sometimes be unreliable metrics. Thats because many coins and tokens are considered in circulation, even if theyve been lost or stolen. For example, bitcoin investors have misplaced about 20% of all existing tokens, and unlike fiat currency which can potentially be recovered, its highly unlikely that these tokens will be returned to circulation. Also, in cases where the total supply is larger, a large influx in the circulating supply can quickly lower the price.

While these metrics are all good to keep in the back of your pocket as a crypto investor, its very important to recognize that cryptocurrency is new and highly volatile and the market is still developing. Above all, Its important to note the crypto market is completely different from the stock market, and therefore the rules and metrics that stock markets go by dont always apply to crypto markets.

See more here:
How to Evaluate Any Cryptocurrencys Investment Potential - NextAdvisor

The cryptocurrency industry has been quietly lobbying U.S. lawmakers against legislation designed to prevent Russian oligarchs from using digital currencies to evade sanctions imposed on Russian President Vladimir Putin's allies and their companies following Russia's attack on Ukraine.

The Blockchain Association, a lobbying group that represents more than 70 crypto platforms including Ripple, Crypto.com and Dragonfly Capital, is trying to convince Congress that cryptocurrencies aren't being used by wealthy Russians to to avoid sanctions. It's working with lobbying shop Forbes Tate Partners against legislation that would impose more sanctions on already penalized Russians who are aiming to use crypto as a way to avoid sanctions. The bill would also empower the Treasury secretary to block crypto trading platforms based in the U.S. from doing business with those in Russia.

Two bills have been introduced in U.S. House and Senate that gives the Biden administration the authority toprohibit U.S. crypto exchanges from processing payments from Russia. The bills would also allow U.S. authorities to sanction foreign exchanges that process transactions by sanctioned Russian people or companies.

The legislation poses a grave threat to the industry, which critics say has become popular for clandestine transactions because they cannot be traced. It would essentially subject digital currencies to some of the same rules that require federally insured banks to know their customers, combat money laundering and report suspicious transactions to regulators.

The group says it's helping Congress "separate fact from fiction on the inability of Russia to transfer large sums of money via crypto transactions in order to evade sanctions," according to an email from Curtis Kincaid, the group's spokesman. A Forbes Tate Partners representative declined to comment, referring CNBC to the Blockchain Association for questions.

Jake Chervinsky, the policy head of the Blockchain Association, later said the bills aren't targeting Russian oligarchs, they are taking direct aim at U.S. crypto companies.

"These bills don't target Russian oligarchs, who aren't using (& can't use) crypto to evade sanctions. They target upstanding US crypto companies for no apparent reason except @SenWarren's crusade against a technology she doesn't understand," Chervinsky said in a tweet after publication of this story.

The crypto industry has stepped up its lobbying efforts as the Biden administration takes a hard look at whether and how to regulate digital assets. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in March calling on regulators to examine the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies.

The Blockchain Association spent $460,000 on its own in-house lobbyists during the first quarter, a record amount since it launched in 2018, lobbying disclosure records show. The crypto lobbying shop said last year it received more than $4 million in donations from three crypto giants: Digital Currency Group, Kraken and Filecoin Foundation.

The group is lobbying against the Russian Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Act, according to its first-quarter report. The House bill would target Russians and their affiliated companies who try to use cryptocurrency to get around their own sanctions. Crypto industry leaders say the digital currencies can't be used to evade sanctions.

Some lawmakers, however, say digital currencies should be regulated the same as a bank since the industry pitches itself as an alternative banking system. The U.S. has sanctioned a plethora of Russian-based financial institutions, including the country's central bank. The Treasury Department recently took aim at bitcoin miners operating in Russia.

"The crypto industry fancies itself as an alternative financial system, an alternative bank. Banks have been sanctioned left, right and center, and banks are pulling out of Russia," Democratic Rep. John Garamendi of California, who is a co-sponsor of the House bill, told CNBC in a recent interview. "So if they fancy themselves a financial mechanism, then they're in the same league, the same situation, as Bank of America or a Russian bank."

The group is also lobbying on the accompanying bill sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in the Senate, according to its first-quarter lobbying disclosure report. That bill, titled the Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act of 2022 an almost identical name as the one introduced by Democrats in the House is also designed "to impose sanctions with respect to the use of cryptocurrency to facilitate transactions by Russian persons subject to sanctions," according to a summary of the bill.

Warren, who is a member of the powerful Senate Finance and Banking committees, recently told National Public Radio that the bill is supposed to give the Treasury Department the tools to step up its oversight of crypto platforms.

"Russian oligarchs can continue to use crypto to move their money around. So we're just going to give Treasury the authorization to treat these crypto platforms much like the banks are treated. That is, you've got to know your customer and you can't be dealing with people who are in violation of sanctions," Warren said during the interview last month.

Warren accused the crypto industry of undermining U.S. national security and the sanctions against Russia.

"It's no surprise that the unregulated crypto industry has deep pockets and an army of lobbyists who are fighting against basic rules to keep consumers safe, but it's shocking that they would also work to undermine U.S. national security and our sanctions regime against Russia," Warren said in an emailed statement.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, an advocacy group for the mortgage finance industry, similarly lobbied against the Klepto Act, a bipartisan bill backed by Warren, along with Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Bill Cassidy, R-La.; and Roger Wicker, R- Miss., according to the group's first-quarter report. A representative for the Mortgage Bankers Association did not return a request for comment.

The legislation is designed to expose the real estate holdings "of oligarchs, kleptocrats, and international criminals hidden in the United States, strengthen U.S. anti-money laundering safeguards, and arm law enforcement with the information required to track down kleptocrats' luxury assets in the U.S. financial system," according to a press release.

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Cryptocurrency group lobbies Congress against bills that target Russian oligarchs - CNBC

New Delhi: Major crypto tokens were showing mixed trends on Friday as behemoths rose, whereas other altcoins dropped marginally. The crypto markets are facing high volatility following earnings from tech megacaps, rising inflation, monetary policy tightening and unsettling economic data.

Barring top tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum and BNB, which gained about 1-3 per cent, all other major crypto tokens were trading with minor losses on Friday. Avalanche dropped 5 per cent, followed by a 4 per cent fall in Terra.

The global cryptocurrency market cap was trading at $1.80 trillion, marginally down in the last 24 hours. However, the total cryptocurrency trading volume zoomed about 14 per cent to $95.54 billion.

Even in the boiling summers, Indian crypto exchanges are going through rough and prolonged winters, thanks to a major slump in their trading volumes, since the new regulations around virtual digital assets (VDAs) have been applied.

"A similar trend is likely to persist for coming one or two days. The second-largest crypto, Ethereum, is also trading on similar lines, showing a minor rise. In contrast, most cryptocurrencies have been running in the red over the past day," he added.

Global updates

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Top cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB gain up to 3%; Dogecoin, Shiba Inu fall - Economic Times

Regulators repeatedly raise concerns about whether crypto-assets can create financial stability risks for the economy as they become mainstream. Yesterday, the leaders of major institutional crypto firmsCustodia Bank, brokerB2C2, and custody firmsFireblocksandAnchroagespoke about some of the settlement risks and legal uncertainties and how they might be addressed. They were talking at the Financial Times Crypto and Digital Assets Summit.

Former Morgan Stanley banker Caitlin Long said that Bitcoins going to take a G-SIB (global systemically important bank) down at some point because they dont understand that the settlement risk is so different between Bitcoin and traditional assets. Long is the founder and CEO of Custodia Bank (formerly Avanti).

She was referring to how Bitcoin settles within minutes and transactions are irreversible. In contrast, sometimes cryptocurrency payments are made using fiat currency, and U.S. payments invariably clear the next day.

Unlike traditional finance, theres no central counterparty, which means theres counterparty risk. Hence, if settlement is made using fiat currency you potentially have the timing mismatch that Long referred to.

Max Boonen, founder atSBI-owned crypto brokerage B2C2, didnt entirely agree about the extent of the credit risk. In his view, the average cryptocurrency transaction is quite small, and a $100 million transaction in the crypto sector would be considered absolutely massive. Given the crypto market is more retail focused, he sees the credit risks compared to the firms substantial capital bases as insignificant.

He pointed to the large sums raised byAnchorageandFireblocks, with the latter pulling in more than $1 billion in venture capital. On the flip side, he believes there are bigger risks to retail investors with cryptocurrency exchanges.

The other key point is that in the peer-to-peer (p2p) environment, the majority of transactions are settled withstablecoinsas atomic swaps or delivery versus payment, which removes the risk.

Stablecoins address the counterparty and timing difference risks, but they introduce others, such as liquidity risk. While better quality stablecoins such as USDC and Paxos primarily use Treasuries as backing assets, Long pointed out that if you need to sell the Treasuries, they settle the next day.

However, a stablecoin ideally needs to be redeemable instantly, especially in a run situation, which points to the need for a federal reserve account. Her firm, Custodia, has applied for a banking license to support a digital dollar product that she described as more like a cashiers check than a stablecoin.

As an aside, its notable that BlackRock recently invested in Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, andplans to explore USDC for securitiessettlement.

The potential centralization risks of stablecoins were not mentioned, but what was discussed is that the onramps for the $50 billion USDC stablecoin are currently primarily through just two banks, Silvergate and Signature Bank.

However, Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov commented that BNY Mellon would be added to the list. The bank recently announced a deal with USDC issuer Circle, but ascustodian of the backing assets, rather than onramp. Shaulov should know becauseFireblocks technology is used by BNY Mellon, which is also an investor. We reached out to BNY Mellon for confirmation but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Moving on to other risks, Shaulov noted that many institutions use multiple custodians to address financial and technology risks.

Another risk highlighted by Caitlin Long is that the BIS Basel Committee has not yet finalized the capital that needs to be set aside by banks underBasel III rules if they hold cryptocurrencies. That means big institutions dont want to hold crypto on their balance sheets.

The final risk raised by Long was a legal one. Its not the regulatory uncertainty around crypto that everyone talks about but legal certainty around the cleared title to a crypto-asset. There hasnt been a lot of litigation in this area which means that judges dont have a roadmap set by legal precedent.

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Systemic risks of cryptocurrency adoption by traditional finance according to crypto institutions - Ledger Insights

There's a lot to know about the blockchain. This cryptocurrency trading course training bundle will make sure you have the knowledge.

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These courses provide a basic understanding of what cryptocurrencies are, how to invest in different cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency trading terminology, the best time frames for trading and risk management strategies to protect your capital.

As you progress through the course, students will master profitable technical analysis setups to boost your crypto trading profits through real-world examples. The course teaches how to trade based on support, resistance and Fibonacci levels, as well as on Bollinger bands, trend following indicators and volume. By the end of these courses, students will have the skills needed to mitigate risk and maximize profit in the crypto market.

Cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile. Protect your investment with help from The 2022 Advanced Cryptocurrency Trading Bundle, now on sale for just $34.99 (normally $1,400).

Prices are subject to change.

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This training bundle will develop you into an advanced cryptocurrency trader - TechRepublic

A cryptocurrency platform was recently on the receiving end of one of the biggest distributed denial-of-service attacks ever after threat actors bombarded it with 15.3 million requests, content delivery network Cloudflare said.

DDoS attacks can be measured in several ways, including by the volume of data, the number of packets, or the number of requests sent each second. The current records are 3.4 terabits per second for volumetric DDoSeswhich attempt to consume all bandwidth available to the target809 million packets per second, and 17.2 million requests per second. The latter two records measure the power of application-layer attacks, which attempt to exhaust the computing resources of a targets infrastructure.

Cloudflare's recent DDoS mitigation peaked at 15.3 million requests per second. While still smaller than the record, its power was more considerable because the attack was delivered through HTTPS requests rather than HTTP requests used in the record. Because HTTPS requests are much more compute-intensive than HTTP requests, the latest attack had the potential to put much more strain on the target.

Cloudflare

The resources required to deliver the HTTPS request flood were also greater, indicating that DDoSers are growing increasingly more powerful. Cloudflare said that the botnet responsible, comprising about 6,000 bots, has delivered payloads as high as 10 million requests per second. The attack originated from 112 countries, with about 15 percent of the firepower from Indonesia, followed by Russia, Brazil, India, Colombia, and the United States.

Within those countries, the attack originated from over 1,300 different networks, Cloudflare researchers Omer Yoachimik and Julien Desgats wrote. They said that the flood of traffic mainly came from data centers, as DDoSes move away from residential network ISPs to cloud computing ISPs. Top data center networks included the German provider Hetzner Online GmbH (Autonomous System Number 24940), Azteca Comunicaciones Colombia (ASN 262186), and OVH in France (ASN 16276). Other sources included home and small office routers.

"In this case, the attacker was using compromised servers on cloud hosting providers, some of which appear to be running Java-based applications. This is notable because of the recent discovery of a vulnerability (CVE-2022-21449) that can be used for authentication bypass in a wide range of Java-based applications," Cloudflare VP of Product Patrick Donahue wrote in an email. "We also saw a significant number of MikroTik routers used in the attack, likely exploiting the same vulnerability that the Meris botnet did."

Cloudflare

The attack lasted about 15 seconds. Cloudflare mitigated it using systems in its network of data centers that automatically detect traffic spikes and quickly filter out the sources. Cloudflare didnt identify the target except that it operated a crypto launchpad, a platform used to help fund decentralized finance projects.

The numbers underscore the arms race between attackers and defenders as each attempts to outdo the other. It wont be surprising if a new record is set in the coming months.

Read the original post:
One of the most powerful DDoSes ever targets cryptocurrency platform - Ars Technica

Technology and innovation have a place at the table in Fort Worth, Texas, and to prove it, the City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to make the city the first municipality in the U.S. to mine bitcoin in a pilot program with a nonprofit partner.

This is as big a deal symbolically as it is in practicality, officials say.

The city launched the program in partnership with the Texas Blockchain Council. Officials say the program recognizes the exponential growth of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries while advancing Fort Worths goal of becoming a leading center of tech and innovation.

With blockchain technology and cryptocurrency revolutionizing the financial landscape, we want to transform Fort Worth into a tech-friendly city, Mayor Mattie Parker says in a statement. Today, with the support and partnership of Texas Blockchain Council, were stepping into that world on a small scale while sending a big message Fort Worth is where the future begins.

Three machines donated by the Texas Blockchain Council will run day and night 24/7 for the next six months in the climate-controlled Information Technology Solutions Department Data Center located at City Hall where they will be housed on a private network to minimize security risk, according to a news release distributed by the city.

Texas Blockchain Council is a nonprofit association made up of companies and individuals that work in Bitcoin, Bitcoin mining, crypto, and blockchain industries. The donation was formally accepted by the City Council on Tuesday.

These small but powerful machines mark Fort Worths larger commitment to becoming a leading hub for technology and innovation, Parker says.

Bitcoin mining is the process by which new bitcoins are entered into circulation. Mining is performed using sophisticated hardware that solves an extremely complex computational math problem. The first computer to find the solution to the problem receives the next block of bitcoins and the process begins again.

The Texas Blockchain Council is thrilled to be part of this first-of-its-kind pilot program as the City of Fort Worth begins mining Bitcoin, says Lee Bratcher, president and founder of Texas Blockchain Council. By starting small to learn as they go, Fort Worth is positioning itself to be the bitcoin mining capital of Texas. The state as a whole has already established itself as the bitcoin mining capital of the world.

By limiting the pilot programs focus to three machines, the city achieves the goals of responsibly assessing and executing a municipal Bitcoin mining program at a manageable scale. After six months, the city will evaluate the program.

The program is part of Fort Worths larger plan for growth, building momentum onto recent efforts including partnerships with Texas A&M University Systems planned Research and Innovation Center in Downtown Fort Worth and Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth Accelerator, and the establishment of the citys first Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council Committee to build a next-level entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Based on the number and type of machines being used, the city estimates each will consume the same amount of energy as a household vacuum cleaner. The nominal amount of energy needed for the program is expected to be offset by the value of Bitcoin mined. Keeping the pilot program small enables the city to learn the potential impact and opportunities for Bitcoin.

Texas is increasingly being recognized as the global leader in Bitcoin and blockchain, and Fort Worth will have a seat at that table, says Robert Sturns, the citys director of economic development. The pioneering spirit is alive and well in Fort Worth, and with this program, we will attract dynamic companies that share in this vision for the future.

In the Economic Development Strategic Plan of the City of Fort Worth adopted by the City Council, the city has set a goal of a next-level economic development strategy must encourage innovation and creativity, build an environment that is attractive to talented individuals and dynamic businesses, and maintain a forward-looking organizational structure.

Read more:
City of Fort Worth Pioneering in the 21st Century with Cryptocurrency - Fort Worth Magazine

Rachel Maimininterviews LowensteinpartnerChristopher Gerold, former Chief of the NewJersey Bureau of Securities and former Chair of the North AmericanSecurities Administrators Association, on his career and hisperspective on securities regulation and cryptocurrency matters.Chris discusses his experience leading some of the nation'sfirst crypto-enforcement actions, including the March 2018 actionagainst the Steven Seagal-promoted ICO of Bitcoiin and the risksinvolved in this burgeoning area.

Christopher Gerold, Partner,Securities Litigation, Blockchain Technology & DigitalAssets

Kevin Iredell: Welcome to the LowensteinSandler podcast series. I'm Kevin Iredell, Chief MarketingOfficer at Lowenstein Sandler. Before we begin, please take amoment to subscribe to our podcast series atlowenstein.com/podcasts. Or find us on iTunes,Spotify, Pandora, Google podcast, and SoundCloud. Now let'stake a listen.

Rachel Maimin: Hello and welcome toRegulatory Matters, a podcast devoted to covering the ever-changingregulatory landscape affecting business to today. I'mtoday's host Rachel Maimin here with Chris Gerold. Chris,who's now one of our partners at Lowenstein, just left hisposition as chief of the New Jersey Bureau of Securities, positionwhich he held for about four years. Under his leadership the Bureauof Securities filed some of the earliest crypto enforcementactions, and was at the forefront of crypto and DeFi, filing morethan 23 crypto and DeFi-related enforcement actions, includingcases against BlockFi and Celsius in 2021. Chris rose to nationalprominence in the emerging crypto and DeFi spaces in 2018 when heled the North American Securities Administrators Associations,otherwise known as NASAA, but not to be confused with the otherNASA, Operation Crypto Sweep, as the chair of NASAA'senforcement committee. NASAA members from more than 40jurisdictions throughout North America participated in thisinitiative, which resulted in more than 330 inquiries andinvestigations and at least 85 enforcement actions related to ICOsor cryptocurrency investment products.

As the president, Chris engaged with SEC commissioners and FINRAleadership on various rule-making and policies, including theSEC's Regulation Best Interest. And when the pandemic struck,he led the organization's COVID-19 enforcement task force,consisting of more than 44 state and provincial securitiesregulators, which initiated more than 250 investigations andenforcement actions against fraudulent investment offerings seekingto profit from the pandemic. So, Chris, you were a regulator whoregularly hung out with other regulators, so you have a lot to tellus about today.

Christopher Gerold: Hi, Rachel, thanksfor having me, happy to be here. Yes, I do. And I have been hangingout with a lot of regulators over the last four or five years. Mycolleagues and folks that had my job in states across the country,and in fact, NASAA was an organization which was all of NorthAmerica. So includes the provinces and territories of Canada andMexico as well. So really was able to see what regulators in thesecurities area are doing from all over North America.

Rachel Maimin: So global, not just theUnited States?

Christopher Gerold: Correct.

Rachel Maimin: Well, let's get intoit. I'm curious because I previously had a career in publicservice. What led you to public service, and in particular to thebureau?

Christopher Gerold: So interestinglyenough, I started my career, my legal career, I should say, becauseprior to law school, I was actually a broker Series 7, Series 63. Ihad clients, I was a broker for two years after undergrad. Then Iwent to law school. And when I came out of law school, like so manyothers, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do, but I wantedto stay in finance, having been in that field before. And my firstjob was as a deputy attorney general representing the New JerseyBureau of Securities as an attorney. And so I did that for fiveyears, because of my background, having had licenses and been inthe securities industry, I was able to do that and catch on. And Imean, there was a learning curve in the legal aspect of it, butunderstanding the products and the services and what brokers did, Ihad already experienced that.

And so starting my career, I was representing the Bureau ofSecurities, did that for five years, I prosecuted cases on behalfof the agency. We went after people that were violating thesecurities laws, people committed fraud, Ponzi schemes, otherthings in that area. And then I went to private practice for sevenyears, and had the opportunity to go back as the chief of theagency, and I did that in 2017. Now what actually made me go tothis field is relatively interesting in that my parents werevictims of a Ponzi scheme when [crosstalk 00:04:45] I was in highschool. And I could honestly not say whether that led me to what Idid for a living as a regulator, I never really thought about it,but it would make sense, at least subconsciously, that that led methere, because I could see the devastating impact of securitiesfraud on people, including within my own household.

And fortunately my folks at the time were probably in their late'40s and they lost a portion of their nest egg, but they hadtime to grow it again and didn't impact them long term, but fora lot of people it does. And we see a bunch of that, or I saw abunch of that as the regulator, seniors being victims, losing lifesavings, having to make difficult choices cause they lost all theirmoney to a fraudster. So I had a chance to try to remedy some ofthat doing public service, protecting innocent investors,prosecuting bad actors. And I did that for five years. And it wasvery rewarding work getting to do that and trying to make adifference.

Rachel Maimin: That's incredible. Soyou basically have experience as a victim of a crime, in so far asyour parents were victims of a crime, and also as a broker. So Iguess there's no area of this that you haven't actuallybeen firsthand involved in.

Christopher Gerold: I've seen thefinancial industry from a bunch of different angles.

Rachel Maimin: Yeah.

Christopher Gerold:And so I guess maybeit's time now for me to become an investor myself.

Rachel Maimin:That's true, I forgotabout investor. So was there something about happened with yourparents in particular, I know you said it might be subconscious,but do you think that their case was handled the way youwould've handled it had you been in charge of theprosecution?

Christopher Gerold: So it'sinteresting, they were part of a national Ponzi scheme, at the timeit was probably the largest Ponzi scheme in history as $900 millionemanated at Massachusetts. The SEC brought a action, it ended up ina receivership. And I do recall my folks getting checks from timeto time from that receivership. Interestingly, it was sold throughlegitimate broker dealers, or at least registered broker dealers.And my recollection is that they did not actually prosecute thebroker dealers that sold it, whether it's lack of duediligence. Lack of due diligence is probably what they could havegone after them for. And I think when I was at the state and I hadthat ability, I did look to broker dealers that sold, whether itwas unregistered products or fraudulent products, to make sure thatthey were doing their job of as gatekeepers before they sold it ontheir platform. So I don't want to cast stones, and...

Rachel Maimin: You can cast somestones.

Christopher Gerold: Well, because of myage, and I did at one point go back and look at how it was handledand did some research on it when I was older and had a law degreeand saw what came out of it, I think I would've looked a littleharder at the folks that sold it than they may have.

Rachel Maimin: And having that uniqueperspective, and I guess maybe even a destiny in public service,what was it like being a broker?

Christopher Gerold: It was interesting, Iwas 22 at the time, I just graduated college, I didn't knowanything, I knew what a stock was, and really had this hugeresponsibility thrust upon me to try to advise people how theyshould save for, most times it's retirement, but what theyshould do with their investing. And it's a very challengingjob, and I appreciated that. I mean, there's the sales aspect,but then there's also the analyst aspect. And the industry[has] changed a lot since I was in it, where firms generally havemore say in what the broker puts their clients in. And I actuallythink that's a good thing, because do you really want a22-year-old who just graduated college, who doesn't knowanything, who's never experienced downturn in the economy orloss or what have you, any of the number of things that could comeup, picking and choosing stocks for you? So it is a job that is abig responsibility.

I think the folks that take it seriously do well and have longcareers and clients that probably become friends. Then I thinkthere are others that don't last in business. I did not lastobviously, I did it for two years and then decided I wanted to goto law school. And that's what I did, but it's achallenging job.

Rachel Maimin: Yeah. Well, I'm sureit played a very helpful role when you ended up regulating some ofyour former colleagues.

Christopher Gerold: Well, it has played arole throughout my career, whether as a regulator, but also inprivate practice where I'm advising, whether it's brokerdealers or individuals who are being investigated by regulators, Iknow how difficult that job is. And sometimes my clients had nointent and things just went south. In those cases it's easy tosympathize with them, because that could happen, they have a goodidea, doesn't work out, and all of a sudden the regulator'slooking at them, I could sympathize. So it's played a rolethroughout my career. It was one of the most challenging jobs Ihad, back then everything was on the phone. So I got veryaccustomed to calling 100 or 200 people a day. They used to referto it as dialing for dollars. I got over any shyness I had at thetime, but it wasn't for me long term.

Rachel Maimin: Well, you mentioned intheir regulatory scrutiny and catching the attention of regulators.Something that I think is really fascinating about your backgroundis you seem to be interested in the crypto space before it becamethe hottest topic for every single regulator and prosecutor in thecountry. How did you begin to focus on that?

Christopher Gerold: So crypto was onstate securities regulators going back to as early as 2014 or'15. In fact, even before my time, they identified it as atrend in enforcement, where it was a product, that it was evolvingand could be a problem. But when it really jumped onto my radar,again, I have to blame my parents, I'm always blaming them, butit was November, Thanksgiving 2017, my mother, and you'vealready heard about my parents, how good they are at investing,asked me whether she should be buying crypto, whether she should bebuying Bitcoin or not. And at the time I had just become the chiefof the Bureau of Securities. And I said, "If my mother'sasking me if she should buy this product, there might be a problemhere." And by Christmas she said, "Chris, I really thinkwe should be buying it, people are getting rich."

At the time it just got up to the level of about $20,000 perBitcoin. And very shortly thereafter, we brought our first case,and we started looking around, started talking to my colleagues inother jurisdictions. And we came to realize, like many,historically whenever a product or commodity becomes all the rage,we saw it with the dot-com bubble, we saw it with gold when goldwas up at $2,000 ounce, we saw it with oil when it was tradingaround $150 a barrel, what happens is the product is on the frontpage, and then out come bad actors to try to monetize that. And sowe brought our first case against the Steven Seagal-promoted, itwas called Bitcoiin with two eyes for instead of Bitcoin, Bitcoiin.We brought that in the late winter of 2018, it was one of our firstcases, it made national headlines because of the celebrityassociated with it.

After that it snowballed because the fraudulent ICO, initialcoin offering, market was all the rage at the time. And as aregulator, we saw there were problems, there were fraudsters outthere. And so we took the initiative, I say we, myself, my officein New Jersey, and we brought our first case. And otherjurisdictions reached out to me, and we put a task force together.And we started looking at all of these different websites that werepromoting different cryptocurrencies and ICO offerings and alike.And really it was to stop those that were doing it, but it was alsoto raise awareness. I'm a firm believer, at least in my oldrole, a good enforcement case is better than a lot of investmenteducation. If you could get it in the newspapers, people will readit and hopefully take notice that that's an area they shouldhave heightened due diligence or be suspect of.

Christopher Gerold: And we did exactlythat, we brought a number of cases, New Jersey did. We partneredwith my colleagues in other jurisdictions. I was the head ofNASAA's enforcement committee. So we put a multi-jurisdictionaltask force together. And we went out and enforced and issued 100sof investigations and enforcement actions, became known asOperation Crypto Sweep. And from then on, we were off and running.And so my phone would ring from colleagues in other jurisdictions,federal counterparts would reach out, and start coordinating andbringing more actions in that space.

Rachel Maimin: Anything about cryptoinherently, other than the fact that you can disguise the ultimateowner and it prevents people from really following a paper trail,is there anything about crypto other than that that makes it aparticularly fertile place for fraudsters?

Christopher Gerold: Well, I certainlydon't want to say all crypto is bad, I think crypto does havevery legitimate and a lot of promise. Unfortunately, early on wesaw a lot of fraudsters come out and try to capitalize on that. Butyeah, it does. I mean, the transactions are instantaneous, it haslower fees in a lot of cases, it can be used in a lot of good ways.And, well, oftentimes crypto and blockchain are confused.Cryptocurrency's on a blockchain, blockchain is the technology.And so the technology itself has a lot of potential uses, andwe're seeing more of them now and we're seeing them evolve,and it's really an area that has a lot of promise. The bestcomparison I heard was, folks used to say, "the Internet'sgoing to change the world." They didn't know how, but itwas going to change the world. And we're seeing that same typeof thinking and evolving in the crypto and blockchain space, alongwith DeFi, as you mentioned earlier, decentralized finance.

Rachel Maimin: Well, so obviously promiseand the opportunity for positive transactions to take place in thecrypto space, but if a company is considering getting into it rightnow, can you do it without a massive regulatory risk, given all thefocus on the industry?

Christopher Gerold: So it depends whatarea of they're going into. Obviously you still need a goodidea, you can't just go out and say, "We're a cryptocompany." You have to have an idea, you have to provide someservice, there has to be something tangible behind it. Andcomparing it to the dot-com bubble, if you remember back in'99, if you had a company, you put .com at the end of it andall of a sudden your stock would go way up. And now 20 years later,people realize you have to have a service. And the people orcompanies that were winners early on doesn't mean they'regoing to be winners later on. And we see it with AOL, if youremember AOL-

Rachel Maimin: I seem to remember AOL,yes.

Christopher Gerold: ... or Netscape, orthose early, early companies that were all the rage. Yahoo,it's still around, but it's not what it once was. And nowwe have these other companies, Google and alike. So there are lotof opportunities with blockchain and crypto. We're seeing a lotof money going into that space, a lot of talent, a lot of smartpeople going into that space, and it's evolving. It's stillin its infancy in my opinion. So you talked about regulatory risk.There is a lot of regulatory risk in that space. Keep in mind, Iwas the chief of the Bureau of Securities, if it wasn't asecurity and wasn't investment advice, it was outside of mylane. And so same goes for the SEC. And then there are others, theCFTC is in there, is it a commodity? Is it a currency? You have theFed, you have the White House weighing in. So there's a lot ofregulation to come, and being in it early, even before theregulations, there is regulatory risk.

Rachel Maimin: Well, now that you are onthe other side and you're able to advise companies, having hadthis perspective of focusing on their industry, what do you thinkis the number one most important thing for a company consideringgetting into the crypto space to take into account? What's thebiggest compliance problem that you've seen that you thinkneeds to be dealt with right away?

Christopher Gerold: Right now, it'sthe absence of regulation, that's the problem? We've seen alot of enforcement cases, both at the federal level and at thestate level. There are very few state jurisdictions right now thathave anything specific to blockchain, crypto, crypto exchanges. NewYork has a BitLicense, that's been around for a while. Federalgovernment's talking about coming out with regulations, youhave the Congress talking about it. So the number one risk isregulatory risk. Now, how do you minimize that when you don'thave regulations necessarily to follow? Well, you comply with theones you can comply with, AML for instance, and then you do yourbest to build whatever product you're building, or companyyou're building, to think about what regulators are going to beconcerned with and try to reduce those risks.

And I think for companies in that space, having attorneys advisethem, that have that knowledge and experience to anticipate whatregulators might be looking at is very important, and then buildthat company's, the internal compliance in anticipation ofthat, or what regulators might be looking at or will look at in thefuture. You also want to make sure you're protecting yourclients, and making sure to the best you can, that they don'tbecome victims of fraud or hacks, or any number of things that canarise in this space.

Rachel Maimin: You mentioned AML, andthat's definitely an area where there's been a lot ofdiscussion by regulators, and there's some more understandingof what is expected of companies in that area. In your experience,what's the thing companies make the biggest mistake in AMLcompliance programs, what's their biggest thing thatthey're missing or doing wrong?

Christopher Gerold: Well, we'reseeing a lot of companies starting to do it right, know yourcustomer, I say AML, reporting AML issues when they occur, makingsure you have proper money-transmitter licenses which are issued bythe states. And so we're seeing many companies, startingcompany compliance where they hadn't before. And I think forcompanies to succeed, they're going to have to stay on top ofthat, they're going to have to make sure that they're doingwhat they can now to anticipate what the issues might be on lateron, but certain certainly protecting their own clients is really abig one. When I was on the other side, we used to get, and theyweren't really even in our jurisdiction, but we would getindividuals calling and filing complaints with state government,with the Bureau of Securities about its customer service.

Christopher Gerold: And it'sinteresting, I say that and I mention it because that will put acompany on a regulator's radar. If you get five calls about thesame company and their customer service, and my money's tiedup, or my crypto or my Bitcoin's tied up and I can't get ananswer from them, and it's been three or four weeks,immediately the antennas are going up, "All right, what isthis company doing wrong?" Now, it might just be that theygrew too quickly, they're having growing paints, they don'thave enough customer support, but all of a sudden they haveregulators looking at them. And that's something that'savoidable. It's very interesting what triggers regulators tolook at companies, and something like that can. And so companieshave to be mindful of that.

Rachel Maimin: So in that regard, one ofyour jobs in the private sector is going to be protecting companiesand keeping your eye on what's coming in the future. Do youhave any predictions about what's going to happen in terms ofthe regulation of cryptocurrency? I know regulation is needed, whatdo you think it's going to be, at least in the near term?

Christopher Gerold: So I think we'regoing to see a lot more enforcement actions. We're going to seea very, very active Securities and Exchange Commission. As youknow, I worked with the former director of the SEC enforcement, hewas the attorney general in New Jersey, I worked with him for fouryears, and then he went down to Washington to become the directorof enforcement at the SEC. I anticipate the SEC to be extremelyactive in enforcement of crypto that crosses into their lane, orDeFi. And then I would also expect the CFTC, now that they haveleadership, their chairperson was confirmed just before theholidays, I expect them to really be ramping up enforcement. Andthen I think Chairman Gensler at the SEC is going to be coming outwith rules in that space. The SEC is taking criticism from theindustry that they are regulating by enforcement. And I thinkwe're going to see a lot more coming out on the rule-makingside.

I also do anticipate that Congress is going to act at some pointand change statutes, whether it means giving more authority to theSEC or CFTC, or coming out with something different, but that'scertainly something that the industry has to keep its eye on,what's going on in Washington.

Rachel Maimin:I'll definitely belooking to you when those changes happen, for your viewpoints andhow companies can best implement those changes to stay incompliance with these ever-changing laws.

Christopher Gerold: It's an excitingand evolving space. And I'm excited for that opportunity toadvise companies and make sure that they don't end up in someregulator's crosshairs.

Rachel Maimin: Well, I agree, we sharethe same goal. Thank you so much, Chris, for being here with ustoday and the time to tell us about your fascinating intro intopublic service, and all of your predictions and [inaudible00:23:06] about what's going on in the crypto space right now.We're looking forward to hearing your insights goingforward.

Kevin Iredell: Thank you for listening totoday's episode. Please subscribe to our podcast seriesatlowenstein.com/podcasts, or find us on iTunes,Spotify, Pandora, Google podcasts, and SoundCloud. LowensteinSandler podcast series is presented by Lowenstein Sandler andcannot be copied or rebroadcast without consent. The informationprovided is intended for a general audience. It is not legal adviceor a substitute for the advice of counsel. Prior results do notguarantee a similar outcome. The content reflects the personalviews and opinions of the participants. No attorney clientrelationship is being created by this podcast and all rights arereserved.

Read the original here:
Cryptocurrency: The Regulator's Perspective (Podcast) - Fin Tech - United States - Mondaq

Arman Shirinyan

GMT and APE are acting as altcoin market locomotives with $6.2 billion volume combined

GMT and APE are two of the most volatile assets on the cryptocurrency market, as tokens gained from 100% to 444% in less than a month, making the two positions the most profitable assets from the top 100 ofassets by capitalization.

Stepn is probably one of the most unexpected and surprising assets on the market that brings early investors over 400% of profit, making it the most profitable asset on the cryptocurrency marketin April.

As for the technical side of the question, STEPN is showing a strong and relatively stable performance despite the speculative nature of the rally. Usually, traders expect a full reversal of the asset after a price increase of more than two times. But GMT has not reversed toenterthe consolidation channel that it has successfully broken.

Ads

The most recent price performance of GMT also does not signal a reversal as the asset is down byonly 13% and is yet to face the first support levels, which may act as a foundation for a further rally.

According to the daily chart of the asset, APE is moving in asharp uptrend and not showing any weaknesses despite the most recent 18% reversal, which some traders and industry experts mark as the top.

Since the listing, APE lost 78% of its value in one candle and has not yet recovered to the same value. Currently, APE needs to gain at least 71% to the local high, which will put it back atthe ATH.

APE is strongly tied to performing the BAYC NFT collection, which is gaining more attention from users after the Metaverse release.

More here:
GMT and APE Carrying Cryptocurrency Market as Total Volume Reaches $6.2 Billion - U.Today