News Updates October 27, 2022
1. VISA Files Trademark Applications For Crypto Transactions, Wallets, NFTs And More.
Visa aims to delve fully into the cryptocurrency and NFT space, as it files two trademark applications with plans to establish a platform for crypto and NFT services.
The NFT scene and the broader cryptocurrency industry have witnessed massive growth in recent years. This growth has been complemented by several top guns developing an interest in penetrating the industry.
Shortly after Western Union’s crypto-focused trademark applications, California-based multinational financial services corporation Visa has filed two trademark applications with intentions to offer crypto-related and NFT services, as disclosed by USPTO-licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis.
“VISA has filed two trademark applications claiming plans for:
Managing Digital, Virtual, and Cryptocurrency transactions
Digital currency + Cryptocurrency wallets
NFTs + Virtual goods
Providing virtual environments
…and more,” Kondoudis revealed in a tweet Thursday.
The accomplished trademark attorney and astrophysicist further shared an image disclosing details on the applications filed by Visa. Per information from the shot, the two trademark applications with serial numbers 97643605 and 97643607 were filed on October 22.
The trademarks reveal Visa’s intentions to offer services relating to the cryptocurrency, NFT, and Metaverse scenes. Visa provided five points of service offerings related to the trademarks. These five points concern the financial services provider’s plans to manage cryptocurrency transactions and provide virtual environments and digital wallets.
The five points include the following:
Providing temporary use of non-downloadable software for users to view, access, store, monitor, manage, trade, send, receive, transmit, and exchange digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Non-downloadable virtual goods; non-downloadable virtual goods, namely, a collectible series of non-fungible tokens.
Software for: management of digital transactions; use as a digital currency wallet and storage services software; use as a cryptocurrency wallet, and managing and verifying cryptocurrency transactions using blockchain technology.
Software used in auditing digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitized assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens, and utility tokens.
Providing virtual environments in which users can interact for recreational, leisure, or entertainment purposes is accessible in the virtual world.
2. Elon Musk Acquires Twitter, Dogecoin Slips.
According to a CNBC report, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now in charge of the microblogging platform Twitter in a $44 billion deal. CNBC reporter David Faber also shared in a tweet that Twitter’s CEO Parag Agarwal and chief financial officer Ned Segal have left the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. Faber added that the executives “will not be returning.”
On the other hand, Faber believes that Musk will lay off some of the company’s employees, possibly up to “three-quarters of the staff.” As the 51-year-old billionaire changed his Twitter account’s description to “Chief Twit,” Faber believes that Musk might be the interim CEO of the microblogging platform. Dogecoin slips again Although Dogecoin’s (DOGE) adoption is expected, according to a U.Today report, the memecoin still tripped minutes after the CNBC report. DOGE was being traded at roughly $0.077 when Musk tweeted about the acquisition. The largest memecoin is currently trading at around $0.074, per CoinMarketCap data.
3. Research: A deep-dive into Bitcoin hash rate, reasons behind increase, and whether it will rise again
Bitcoin hash rate and mining difficulty has been increasing exponentially since the beginning of the year, and there is no way to tell when it'll stop.
The Right Place to Buy, Earn, Exchange and Borrow against Your Crypto.
A deep-dive into Bitcoin hash rate, reasons behind increase, and whether it will rise again
Bitcoin hash rate and mining difficulty has been increasing exponentially since the beginning of the year, and there is no way to tell when it'll stop.
This has been the year of mining difficulty and hash rate, as they kept increasing to record new all-time highs (ATH) despite the declining trend in Bitcoin (BTC) price, according to data analyzed by CryptoSlate.
Mining difficulty refers to miners’ chance of finding the required hash code to mine one block. Hash rate, on the other hand, measures the computational power required to find one hash code. Therefore, increasing the mining difficulty pushes the hash rate up and vice versa.
Hash rate and difficulty have increased exponentially since the year’s beginning. The chart above shows the hash rate with the pink line and the mining difficulty with the turquoise one.
This year’s first ATH in mining difficulty was recorded on Jan. 21, when it increased by 9.32 % and reached 26.64 trillion. Almost two weeks later, on Feb. 18, another spike in difficulty recorded a new ATH at 27.97 trillion. Despite falling Bitcoin prices and the tumbling market, the hash rate and mining difficulty continued its increase at the same pace, recording a new ATH almost every few weeks until May 2022.
For a short period between May and September, both the hash rate and difficulty fell. However, they remained above the year’s first ATH level at 26.64 trillion. In September, an upwards surge in both indicators started again when the mining hash rate increased by 60% in 24 hours. It continued to increase and recorded new ATH levels on Oct. 3 ct. 5. This increase was followed by a 13.5% surge in mining difficulty on Oct. 10.
The final increase of the year was recorded on Oct. 24, when Bitcoin mining difficulty increased another 3.4% and recorded a new ATH at 36.84 trillion. The hash rate is holding at 260 EH/s at the time of writing and is yet to respond to the soaring mining difficulty.
4. US currency comptroller to up its game with new Office of Financial Technology in 2023
The OCC said it will incorporate its six-year-old Office of Innovation into a new agency that will help it deepen its understanding of fintech and promote responsible innovation.
The United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced on Oct. 27 that it will create an Office of Financial Technology early next year. The new office will incorporate the Office of Innovation, which was set up in 2016. It will be led by a chief financial technology officer, who will report to the senior deputy comptroller for bank supervision policy.
The OCC describes itself as the U.S.’s “preeminent prudential supervisor.” It is an independent bureau of the Treasury Department and also charters financial institutions. Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said in a statement:
“To ensure that the federal banking system is safe, sound, and fair today and well into the future, we need to have a deep understanding of financial technology and the financial technology landscape. The establishment of this office will enable us to be more agile and to promote responsible innovation, consistent with our mission.”
5. Costa Rican Lawmakers Propose Nixing Almost All Taxes on Bitcoin
The move would attract foreign investors, fintech companies, and create jobs for Costa Ricans, says Costa Rican Congresswoman Johana Obando.
Lawmakers in Costa Rica are working to make the Central American country a Bitcoin-friendly nation, with significantly lower taxes on crypto.
This week, Costa Rican lawmaker Johana Obando presented a bill to Congress for regulating the crypto market in the Central American country.
Costa Rican Lawmakers Propose Nixing Almost All Taxes on Bitcoin
The move would attract foreign investors, fintech companies, and create jobs for Costa Ricans, says Costa Rican Congresswoman Johana Obando.
Lawmakers in Costa Rica are working to make the Central American country a Bitcoin-friendly nation, with significantly lower taxes on crypto.
This week, Costa Rican lawmaker Johana Obando presented a bill to Congress for regulating the crypto market in the Central American country.
Obando, who now has a laser eyes meme on her Twitter page, said that the Cryptoassets Market Law (MECA) would “give protection to individual virtual private property, to the self-custody of crypto-assets and to decentralization” without interference from the country’s central bank—but in “perfect harmony” with it.
6. UK police say even £100M not enough to properly police crypto.
UK police may have invested a massive £100 million into a so-called “crypto task force” but a lack of funding, overstretched resources, and difficulty in persuading top talent to resist the financial might of the private sector continue to hamper efforts to properly police digital currencies.
In a Parliamentary debate this week, detective chief Alan Gould claimed that police in the UK are capable of tackling crypto crime thanks to a now-nationwide crypto task force. However, he admits police capacity, overstretched resources, and a lack of funding are holding back their efforts.
Crypto crime in the UK is growing. The National Crime Agency (NCA) notes a ”significant growth” in ransomware campaigns, UK police are seeing an increase in crypto seizures, and a freedom of information (FOI) request found that Binance was used for 20% of UK fraud.
This increase is creating a demand for persons with crypto know-how and now Gould is worried that police staff with the required expertise are being poached. He said, “One of my sergeants has just been offered 200 grand to go to the private sector. We cannot compete with that. That is probably the biggest risk that we face within this area at the moment.”
Gould is also concerned that the tools police in the UK use to track down crypto can be costly, “One of the providers is currently quoting $60,000 to $80,000 per license. That is unachievable, or unsustainable, for policing,” he said. The UK currently uses digital asset custodian Komainu to store any seized crypto.
He pointed out that the UK police have been able to seize hundreds of millions of pounds worth of crypto over the past few years.