News Updates June 27, 2022
1. Bitcoin’s market cap drops $10 billion after SEC chair’s CNBC interview.
As the cryptocurrency market tries to reel from the carnage it suffered over the past weeks, the value of its flagship digital asset has taken another hit after the statements from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief Gary Gensler.
Indeed, not long after several crypto social media sources started sharing Gensler’s statements from the CNBC interview on June 27, the market capitalization of Bitcoin (BTC) has lost around $10 billion, while the price of BTC dropped below $21,000.
What did Gensler say?
According to sources, Gensler told CNBC that Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency that he was willing to say was a commodity. Bloomberg’s senior exchange-traded fund (ETF) analyst Eric Balchunas quoted Gensler on Twitter as saying:
“There’s a lot of risk in crypto but there’s also risk in classic securities markets. Difference is there’s no rules or disclosures in the former to protect from fraud and manipulation.”
As Balchunas added, Gensler reaffirmed that there will be no spot Bitcoin ETF for now.
2. Bitcoin price dips under $21K while exchanges see record outflow trend
Someone is buying the dip with conviction as the start of Wall Street trading drags the market lower. Bitcoin (BTC) sold off into the June 27 Wall Street open as United States equities fell.
$25,000 eyed as bulls' line in the sand
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD following stock markets downhill as the last week of June began.
At the time of writing, the pair traded below $21,000, having hit its lowest in three days after a broadly stable weekend.
Amid a general lack of bullish conviction among traders, expectations for a further drop stayed present, with Bitcoin still below the crucial 200-week moving average (WMA) at $22,430.
"Bitcoin says NO against $21K support. That's all fine. We have got levels structured," Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe wrote in a Twitter debate on the day.
A further post argued that further lows would come to entice traders to open long positions. Support lay at $20,325 and around $20,100, and should neither hold, a dip toward $19,000 could result.
3. European Union Plans to Ban Interest Payments on Deposits in Stablecoins.
The European Union is preparing to ban cryptocurrency platforms from charging interest on stablecoin deposits, according to Patrick Hansen, head of strategy at DeFi at Unstoppable Finance. According to his tweets, lawmakers will set high regulatory requirements for issuers of all types of stablecoins, with no exceptions being made for algorithmic ones. The decision will be announced at a meeting of representatives from the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union on June 30.
4. Swiss National Bank exec: Regulators may favor centralized stablecoins after Terra crisis
Thomas Moser hinted that regulations might take time as the current regulations would wipe out the decentralized ecosystem like DeFi.
Swiss National Bank (SNB) deputy head Thomas Muser talked to Cointelegraph editor Aaron Wood and discussed the ongoing trends in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), stablecoins, and regulations, during the recently concluded European Blockchain Convention (EBC) 2022.
Talking about the innovation and adoption of private stablecoins and plans of central banks regarding the CBDC launch, Moser said both could co-exist. He said that CBDC's function would be very basic and private stablecoin issuers can add services on top of them to meet retail customers' needs.
When asked about the recent collapse of the Terra’s UST and its subsequent impact on regulations, Moser said that the recent spiral crash of the Terra and its decentralized algorithmic stablecoin UST could have a lasting impact on the regulators.
He added that regulators may be forced to favor centralized stablecoins over decentralized ones although not every decentralized stablecoin is like UST. He said:
When asked about the developments on the regulations front, Moser hinted that it could take time. He cited the example of internet regulations from the 1990s where regulators took time to come up with new rules instead of implementing the existing telephone regulations.
*CBDC may threaten stablecoins, not Bitcoin: ARK36 exec*
Moser said, if current financial regulations are implemented in the crypto industry, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem would cease to exist. He explained:
Switzerland's central bank is among the selected few that have begun the pilot for their national CBDCs, apart from China. The central bank carried out wholesale CBDC testing in January this year. Later in the same month, SNB published a report based on its trials and suggested that the risks outweigh the benefits.
5. China’s BSN chair calls Bitcoin Ponzi, stablecoins ‘fine if regulated’
Stablecoins like USDT and USDC would be doing just fine if properly regulated, while Bitcoin is a “Ponzi scheme” in any case, China’s BSN chair told Cointelegraph.
Amid the Chinese government continuing to celebrate the massive decline of cryptocurrency markets this year, one key local blockchain expert has referred to crypto as a Ponzi scheme.
Yifan He, CEO of Red Date Technology — a major tech firm involved in the development of China’s major blockchain project called the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) — has penned a new article devoted to various kinds of cryptocurrencies and their supposed Ponzi-like nature.
Published in the local newspaper The People’s Daily on Sunday, the piece refers to private cryptocurrencies as the “biggest Ponzi scheme in human history.”
The author mentioned the Terra network’s collapse, with the native token Terra (LUNA) — now known as Luna Classic (LUNC) — crashing 99% and the algorithmic TerraUSD Classic (USTC) stablecoin losing its 1:1 peg value to the United States dollar in May 2022. He also criticized the increasingly popular virtual currency concept known as X-to-earn, referring to move-to-earn or play-to-earn projects, calling the model a “phishing strategy.”
The BSN chair also mentioned some well-known criticism of Bitcoin (BTC) by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and legendary investor Warren Buffett.
He is not a fan of Bitcoin or any similar cryptocurrencies himself as well. “Currently, all unregulated cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin are Ponzi schemes based on my understanding, just different risk levels based on the market caps and number of users,” He said in a statement to Cointelegraph on Monday.
The BSN chair added that he had not had any cryptocurrency wallet or related assets ever: “I don’t touch them and won’t touch them in the future even if they become regulated because I don't consider that they have any value whatsoever.”
According to He, governments like El Salvador — which opted to adopt BTC as legal tender — “seriously need basic financing training.” “Otherwise, they put entire countries at risk unless their original intentions were to build state-owned crypto trading platforms and scam off on their citizens,” the exec told Cointelegraph.
While criticizing Bitcoin and many other crypto projects, He still believes that some part of the crypto market could be doing just fine if it’s properly regulated. Cash-backed stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) should not be viewed as Ponzi-like schemes, the BSN chair said, stating:
He previously talked in favor of stablecoins in 2020. The executive once planned to integrate stablecoin payments into BSN as of 2021. The plan was eventually scrapped due to China’s hostility to crypto.
*China warns Bitcoin is heading to zero but BoE looks on the bright side*
The news comes amid the Chinese government capitalizing on the ongoing crypto market crash to justify its multiple bans on the industry. The latest coordinated ban was enacted in September 2021, with multiple Chinese authorities taking action to prohibit all kinds of crypto transactions in the country.
Despite all efforts, China continued to be a dominant Bitcoin mining supplier worldwide. According to data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, China was the second largest BTC mining hash rate producer after the United States as of January 2022.
6. Cincinnati University Would Now Offer Course on Cryptocurrencies
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The demand for courses focusing on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has skyrocketed lately. Thanks to the advancements in technology, awareness of the concept and knowledge of it to some extent are seen in the masses. However, a proper course entailing blockchain technology was not available in most of the colleges.
This isn’t the same anymore, since the University of Cincinnati has announced its plan to add courses to its curriculum that teach about the said technology.
*University’s Decision About Introducing Blockchain Course Appreciated*
This move is being applauded by the community since it shows efforts to evolve the college syllabus according to the advancements being seen in the world currently. Cryptocurrency and NFTs have already created a major impact on the citizenry, by showing everyone its potential to revolutionize several sectors in the future.
It has already been making strides in certain industries like commerce and economics. Thus, the importance of including such categories in the curriculum may help the students going forward massively.
This news comes following that of the BNB chain and its active efforts to introduce cryptocurrency as a formal means of education. The smart contract platform, owned by Binance had announced a partnership with the University of Zurich to make this possible. It will consist of a three-day program that will give the students an exact idea of several blockchain industry familiar topics.
*About the Cryptocurrency Course by Uni of Cincinnati*
The sudden change in curriculum is due to generous help from two major supporters of the university, called Woodrow Uible and Dan Kautz. The benefactors have been an integral part of the growth of the university for a long time.
Woodrow Uible said that blockchain and the underlying application of cryptocurrency being cutting edge of management and business innovation should be considered important. He states that it was important for the students to be aware of the technological changes around them.
The University is planning on introducing two courses with cryptocurrency as their core. Both courses will be available for students in the Carl H, Lindner Business College.
The complete faculty and resources required for the same shall be arranged and made available eventually. The donations from Dan and Woodrow will go towards the establishment of the complete course as well as a fully equipped lab area for students to learn more about the concepts. The “public-private” lab is set to be named after the two donors itself and will be called the Kautz-Uible Cryptoeconomics Lab. It will also feature a functional mining rig as well.
7. Uganda’s Gold Discovery Worth $12.8 trillion- How it Would Affect Cryptos
In recent news, by the Ugandan government, the country is sitting on 31 million metric tons of gold. And if this is true, it can increase the world’s supply of gold quite significantly, almost by an unhealthy amount. Consequently, that’ll make gold a less reliable asset in terms of a store of value, as the prices will soon plummet upon this sudden influx of gold in the system.
If that happens, Bitcoin clearly takes precedence and comes out to be the better, more reliable asset in comparison.
This would make awful news for the advocates of gold, however, at the same time, it can be celebratory news for the ones supporting crypto.
8. Mark Zuckerberg Expects Billions of People to Use the Metaverse Generating Massive Revenue for Meta
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, formerly Facebook, has shared how the metaverse will be a key part of his business and bring hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. “Our playbook over time has been build services, try to serve as many people as possible,” said Zuckerberg.
9. Robinhood Faced Deeper Liquidity Woes Following GameStop's Rally
New report reveals how Robinhood miscalculated its collateral obligations.
Robinhood was rescued 19 minutes before the opening of the market on 28 January, 2021.
Robinhood trading platform faced severe issues when GameStop longs were fueled by social media. 'Meme Stock' trading is when a stock is heavily bought via a coordinated action using social media forums.
A similar event recently occurred with Revlon that filed for bankruptcy.
Take Advantage of the Biggest Financial Event in London. This year we have expanded to new verticals in Online Trading, Fintech, Digital Assets, Blockchain, and Payments.
Robinhood Could Have Defaulted over Its Collateral Obligations
Robinhood became aware on the 28 January that it lacks $3 billion (approx.) to meet its collateral obligations. The result could have been by being cut off from the clearinghouse.
