News Updates January 27, 2023
1. Elon Musk Says Offer to McDonald's on Accepting Dogecoin (DOGE) Still '100%' Open
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and a Dogecoin supporter, commented that he is still open to the idea of eating a happy meal live on television, provided McDonald's accepts Dogecoin as a form of payment.
— Mr. Tweet (@elonmusk) January 27, 2023
It all started when fast food giant McDonald's asked on Twitter, "What did I miss?" The Tesla CEO replied, "Oh, hi, lol."
"DogeDesigner" of UX/UI and graphic designer at Dogecoin then asked Musk if his initial offer to McDonald's on accepting Dogecoin was still open, to which the multibillionaire replied with a "100" emoji.
Hey @McDonalds , this offer from Mr. Tweet @elonmusk is still open. pic.twitter.com/hsagr8SWaf
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) January 27, 2023
"Hey McDonald's, this offer from Mr. Tweet elonmusk is still open," DogeDesigner later tweeted on his official handle.
The post has garnered several responses on Twitter, with some expressing optimism that the fast food chain would reconsider accepting Dogecoin.
As reported by U.Today, Musk stated in January 2022 that if McDonald's accepted Dogecoin, he would be willing to eat a happy meal on television. A happy meal is a combo for kids that the restaurant chain offers that includes a main dish, a side dish and a drink.
In reaction to Musk's post, McDonald's prodded Tesla to accept a made-up cryptocurrency called "Grimacecoin." Many people believed that Musk's campaign to convince McDonald's to accept Dogecoin was over after the corny joke, but the most recent Twitter conversations might suggest it is not over yet.
Dogecoin price action
Dogecoin soared more than 150% after Elon Musk announced Twitter's acquisition in October last year, causing it to reenter the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
Although its price has eased, Dogecoin remains in the top 10, ranking as the 9th-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market valuation.
At the time of writing, Dogecoin was trading at $0.0856, marginally down in the last 24 hours.
2. Polkadot restates its case that DOT has ‘morphed’ away from security status
The Web3 Foundation has reminded the world that, in its eyes, it has conformed to SEC requirements and DOT should no longer be considered a security.
The Web3 Foundation, which supports the Polkadot protocol, has again presented its argument that its native DOT
DOT $6.50 token is not a security. In a Twitter thread, the foundation emphasized its efforts to comply with U.S. securities laws, as well as Securities and Exchange Commission guidance on digital assets, and declared that DOT had successfully “morphed” and is software, not a security.
The Web3 Foundation reposted an excerpt from a December Twitter Space where Angela Dalton, identified as an adviser to the foundation, described how representatives accepted the SEC’s invitation to “come in and talk to us.” Subsequently, the foundation claimed:
“The Foundation made sure the SEC's full vision of token morphing was addressed, […] as well as taking steps to manage the distribution of the DOT token so that no individual holds a large percentage of the network, turning down purchases from VCs interested solely in investment purposes, and promoting the tech but not the token.”
“The Foundation is confident DOT has morphed and is not a security. It is software,” the foundation concluded. Polkadot is a multichain protocol that had 66 blockchains operating on it and its Kusama parachain network as of October 2022. The Web3 Foundation was founded by Gavin Wood, a co-founder of Ethereum, and released the Polkadot white paper in 2016. Polkadot completed its launch in December 2021 when it rolled out parachains, according to a Medium post.
Web3 Foundation
@Web3foundation
1/ @Polkadot's native token DOT is, and always has been, co-ordinating software. Following W3F's announcement on DOT morphing into a non-security, read the thread below to learn how DOT was able to morph, what Polkadot is, and the primary goals of the network.
“Our experience has been a positive one,” the foundation says in the post. “The SEC has welcomed meetings with the Web3 Foundation, and there has been a spirit of open communication and dialogue.”
The Web3 Foundation first declared DOT a non-security in November. Its position has apparently not received confirmation from the SEC. The foundation’s argument echoes key points in the SEC case against Ripple. “Morphing” is a concept put forward in a speech delivered by former SEC official William Hinman at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in June 2018.
3. Bullish Derivative Trading Sustains Bitcoin Rally Amid Lower Consumer Spending.
Bitcoin held onto gains driven by the recent bullish trading in crypto derivatives, as consumer spending fell 0.2% in December 2022.
The U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), a measure of consumer spending, was down 0.2% month-on-month in Dec. 2022, falling below analysts’ expectations of 0.1%.
At the same time, the so-called core PCE, excluding food and energy prices, fell 0.3% month-on-month in Dec. 2022. Year-on-year, the core PCE rose 4.4% in Dec. 2022, down from 4.7% in Nov. 2022. Personal income, which measures how much people earn, rose 0.2%, while personal savings also increased.
Bitcoin 2023 Rally Mostly Unperturbed by Personal Consumption Expenditure
Crypto markets struggled to interpret the data, with Bitcoin rising to almost $23,000 after the data was released before falling back to around $22,850. At press time, the world’s largest crypto by market capitalization had stabilized around $23,040. Ethereum also saw a brief rally to just under $1,580, before it declined to around $1,568. It eventually stabilized higher at $1,584.
Bitcoin has mostly held onto gains of 40% since the start of 2023, fueled partly by bullish trading in Bitcoin options, according to Pierino Ursone of the crypto derivatives exchange Deribit.
4. UK's FCA Flagged Some Crypto Firms Seeking Regulatory Approval to Law Enforcement
A number of those investigations into financial crime or "direct links to organized crime" are ongoing, an official at the Financial Conduct Authority said.
The U.K.'s financial regulator referred some crypto companies that tried to register with it to law enforcement agencies, an official at the agency said in a letter published on Thursday.
"Overall, in the small number of cases where we have identified likely financial crime or direct links to organized crime we have referred these to law enforcement agencies," Sarah Pritchard, executive director of markets supervision, policy and competition at the Financial Conduct Authority, said in a letter to the Treasury Select Committee dated Jan. 19. "Some of those law enforcement investigations remain ongoing."
On Wednesday, the regulator said it had received 300 applications from crypto companies seeking approval to serve customers in the country under its anti-money laundering regime. Only 41 companies managed to register with the regulator while 195 companies were either refused or withdrew their application, the FCA said. Of the 300 applicants, 29 were rejected for failing to meet the FCA's requirements for approval.
Although the regulator has faced criticism for taking a tough stance on crypto, he deemed it necessary, FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi said in a meeting last November.
"The FCA took a robust position during authorization so that the risk of criminality was significantly reduced, thus the high rejection rate," Pritchard said in the letter.
The U.K. has been increasing its efforts to regulate crypto. The police has stationed crypto tactical advisors across the nation. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill being debated in Parliament will give law enforcement agencies more power to seize and freeze crypto used in criminal activities, while the Financial Services and Markets Bill could expand the FCA's own powers to police the industry.
The FCA declined to reveal how many crypto companies it had referred to law enforcement agencies.
