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2022-02-08 10:57:57 ​Eric Voorhees: "Central Bank digital currencies will create an Orwellian world of total surveillance"

On the Decrypt podcast, Erik Voorhees stated that he does not support the concept of government stablecoins. He believes that there is no point in government-controlled cryptocurrencies because they would be no different from regular fiat currencies used in the traditional financial world.

The US dollar, euro and any other government currencies can be considered digital in themselves, as they are used to make online payments. Therefore, Voorhees believes that the transition to central bank digital currencies looks funny, because people are already using them now.

The ShapeShift founder added that digital currencies issued by central banks are even worse than the current banking system, as these tools will increase the ability of regulators to monitor users. Earlier, the US Congress expressed a similar position that the digital dollar should not violate the privacy of citizens and their right to privacy.

“No person who works in the field of cryptocurrencies and understands their value will support the digital currencies of central banks. They personify the Orwellian super-centralized world, as they become a means for universal surveillance of the population. Who is interested in introducing government stablecoins? Only those who seek to observe people,” Voorhees said.

He believes that the US government should not follow the example of China, which actively implements the digital yuan, and calls on the US to "keep the freedom" in this regard. The head of ShapeShift is convinced that it is much better to use the stablecoins created by Circle and Tether, calling them the best version of digital currencies.

“USDC and USDT are digital assets that are pegged to the US dollar and operate on open networks. Even if they cannot be managed, they are much better compared to the banking system,” said ShapeShift CEO. Öffnen / Wie

2022-02-07 12:44:19 ​AssangeDAO raises over $36 million to help WikiLeaks founder

The investments raised will be used to purchase a non-fungible token from the digital artist Pak as part of a collaboration with WikiLeaks

Decentralized organization AssangeDAO has raised over 12,000 ETH (~$37 million) to buy a non-fungible token (NFT) from digital artist Pak as part of a collaboration with WikiLeaks. According to the details of the crowdfunding platform Juicebox, at the time of writing, the organization has raised 12,028.55 ETH.

The description of the initiative claims that AssangeDAO was created by a group of cypherpunks fighting for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The DAO collects investments in the ether (ETH) cryptocurrency in exchange for the DAO governance token, JUSTICE. With the help of JUSTICE tokens, DAO members will be able to vote on the proposals of the organization.

The DAO's first initiative will be the purchase of the Censored NFT collection from digital artist Pak. It is reported that the proceeds from the sale of the token will go to the Julian Assange defense fund to pay for legal costs, as well as campaigns to raise awareness of the extradition case of the head of WikiLeaks.

The AssangeDAO organization itself appeared long before the NFT initiative. According to the project description in Substack, DAO merged on December 10, 2021. At the same time, the US government won an appeal against a British court decision banning Assange's extradition to the US. Recall that the founder of WikiLeaks could face up to 175 years in prison in the United States if he is convicted of all charges. Öffnen / Wie

2022-02-07 10:25:35 ​Reuters: North Korea finances development of nuclear missiles thanks to attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges

Reuters journalists managed to get access to a confidential annual report, presented on Friday during a meeting of the UN Security Council Committee on sanctions against North Korea.

“Although there were no reports of nuclear tests or launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the DPRK continued to develop its ability to produce nuclear materials. The development of nuclear and ballistic missiles continued and the DPRK was looking for materials, technologies and knowledge for these programs abroad, using cyber means and joint scientific research, ”the experts say.

According to the report, there is evidence of North Korean hackers stealing at least $50 million from three cryptocurrency exchanges between 2020 and mid-2021. The drafters of the document also recalled a study by Chainalysis, which reported that North Korean hackers were able to steal $400 million worth of cryptocurrencies in 2021.

The researchers also noted that the sanctions that North Korea is subjected to "worse the humanitarian situation" in the country. However, since the government of the country does not provide information, it is rather difficult to say how much the sanctions harm ordinary citizens.

At the end of last year, the South Korean publications Newsis and Chosun said that hackers from North Korea had hacked many cryptocurrency exchanges in five years and stole assets worth $1.7 billion. Öffnen / Wie

2022-02-06 12:33:20 ​Lido and Idle DAO announce staking products

Cross-chain platform Lido, in collaboration with fintech company Idle DAO, announced the launch of new products. They are made for staking on the ETH 2.0 network. Their mission is to empower decentralized finance (DeFi) by minimizing risk for clients.

The Perpetual Yield Tranches (PYTs) service offers users an annual percentage rate (APR) ranging from 1.8% to 8%. Lido has partnered with Idle DAO to enable secure staking. Together, the companies will provide the opportunity to place bets with perpetual returns using the stETH token.

Representatives of organizations issued a statement where they said that their products are unique in their own way for the DeFi market. The key feature is that they use built-in mechanisms to protect investors. Thanks to this, it is possible to ensure minimal risks, as well as a reliable and stable level of profit.

The so-called Perpetual Yield Tranches (perpetual tranches of profitability) allow providers of liquidity of cryptocurrency assets to have a good passive income.

Special algorithms developed by company programmers significantly reduce the likelihood of losing user funds due to traditional problems of the crypto market, such as volatility and others. Lido executives noticed that risk hedging has become very important in today's crypto world.

Perpetual tranches were divided into several types. Junior Tranches allow you to get a higher share of income, but at the same time carry greater economic risks. Senior Tranches are the most reliable, but can only pay 1.8% per annum.

Lido representatives said they have developed and implemented a user incentive program that will allow them to offer a higher interest rate without increasing the level of risk. Ultimately, this figure will rise to 5%. Öffnen / Wie

2022-02-05 11:18:12 ​Infrastructure startup Qredo raises $80 million

According to the announcement, the round consists of $60 million in core capital and $20 million from secondary investors. The money will be used to drive growth through acquisitions, product development and geographic expansion.

10T Holdings, hedge fund veteran Dan Tapiero, led the fundraiser alongside strategic investors Coinbase Ventures, Avalanche and Terra. Kingsway Capital, HOF Capital, Raptor Group and GoldenTree Asset Management also took part.

Qredo creates decentralized tools that help DeFi operators move assets between blockchains, as well as perform settlement and storage.

The company's chief operating officer, Josh Goodbody, said there is currently a "huge appetite" among VCs for crypto infrastructure companies. Tapiero, founder and CEO of 10T Holdings, said in a statement that “infrastructure is a key battlefield for scaling crypto adoption.”

Earlier this week, cryptocurrency data startup Dune Analytics confirmed it had raised $69 million at a $1 billion valuation. Storage firm Fireblocks just raised $550 million at an $8 billion valuation, while Ethereum software developer ConsenSys is about to close a deal that will more than double its price to $7 billion.

“The infrastructure is very hot right now,” Goodbody continued. "What you've also seen in the background is actually the race for Multilateral Computing (MPC) technology." Öffnen / Wie

2022-02-04 12:26:20 ​UK authorities are going to impose a tax on income from lending and staking in DeFi projects

According to the published recommendations of the department, the income received from the corresponding transactions on the DeFi sites should be treated as taxable property. Such income cannot be considered “simply interest on digital assets,” HMRC insists, since cryptocurrencies and tokens are not considered a means of payment or securities in the UK.

This approach should create problems for DeFi users, since liquidity is provided by a third-party site and the income received should be subject to regular income tax. This is how the kingdom taxed income from trading in shares of companies and other financial assets.

Users believe that, according to the recommendations of HMRC, their income will eventually be taxed twice - when receiving tokens from the DeFi project and when converted to fiat currency.

“This approach is not in line with the approach taken by the government and other UK regulators, including the central bank and the Financial Conduct Authority,” CryptoUK chief executive Ian Taylor said. Öffnen / Wie

2022-02-04 10:25:25 ​David Marcus: "Bitcoin will not lose relevance even after 20 years"

David Marcus spoke about the future prospects of bitcoin, considering them optimistic. He is confident that over time, the bitcoin rate will grow, since this crypto asset functions independently of the state or organization.

Bitcoin has proved its resistance to censorship by becoming a unique alternative to centralized digital systems controlled by the state or corporations. According to Marcus, the Bitcoin ecosystem will grow stronger with each user attracted, and no other cryptocurrency will be able to dislodge Bitcoin from its leading position both in the near future and in the long term.

“It became clear to me that bitcoin will be the only asset in the cryptocurrency space that will last at least another 20 years, and its capitalization will only increase,” Markus said.

He found it difficult to name an altcoin that could hold second place after bitcoin after a specified period of time, although he is sure that each of them has its own advantages. Right now, Ethereum looks like the strongest of the bunch, aside from scalability issues, Markus said.

However, even the transition to Ethereum 2.0 does not guarantee the dominance of ether among altcoins in the future. According to Markus, the Solana blockchain is “on the heels of Ethereum”, strengthening its position with faster and cheaper transactions.

Marcus's statements came after the Diem Association announced that it was refusing to launch the Diem stablecoin due to disagreements with regulators. Later, Block Inc founder and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey criticized Meta for wasting years of development when those efforts could have been directed towards the development of the Bitcoin network. Öffnen / Wie

2022-02-03 12:24:59 ​Australian billionaire sues Facebook for fraudulent cryptocurrency ads

Andrew Forrest has filed a lawsuit against Facebook for a fraudulent cryptocurrency ad that used his name to deceive users. The victim of scams was an Australian citizen who lost 952,000 Australian dollars (about $680,000) due to fraudulent advertising. The lawsuit alleges that the scammers deceived users of the social network out of millions of dollars.

“Fraud scenarios that used the name, appearance and reputation of Dr. Forrest were played out to find victims. The victims, believing that Dr. Forrest was in fact endorsing the investment scheme, informed him that they had been duped,” the statement said.

Lawyers for Forrest noted that they do not know the exact number and names of the victims deceived in this scam, but "the scale of the harm is enormous." At the same time, the main factor contributing to the spread of illegal advertising, fake news and other unwanted Internet materials was Facebook's access to user data. Forrest added that the company's refusal to remove the fraudulent ad was "criminally reckless."

A spokeswoman for Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms said the company is taking a "multi-faceted approach to combating such ads" by identifying fraudulent content, blocking advertisers, and in some cases even going to court. Despite Facebook's assurances, Forrest believes the company should have done more to prevent the spread of fraudulent ads on the social network.

Forrest agrees that scammers are not easy to trace because they are overseas. However, he believes that the best way to protect Australian users of Facebook is to force the company to introduce measures to stop criminal activity through prosecution. An initial court hearing in Western Australia Magistrates' Court is scheduled for March 28, with a final hearing expected in late 2022. Öffnen / Wie

2022-02-03 10:16:19 ​ARK Invest: Bitcoin represents a monetary revolution

Innovation investment firm Kathy Wood ARK Invest published a report last week titled "Big Ideas 2022". The company expressed confidence that there are five "innovative platforms" that will bring significant profits to the stock market in the long term: artificial intelligence, robotics, battery technology, gene sequencing and blockchain.

As part of the blockchain section, ARK analyst Yassin Elmandraj looked at bitcoin, which he called the “money revolution.” In his opinion, despite the fact that in 2021 it reached a capitalization of $ 1 trillion, “Bitcoin’s market share still represents a small part of global assets. It is likely to increase as nation-states accept it as legal tender. This will raise the value of each [bitcoin] to $1 million.”

In addition, the document notes that in 2021, the total volume of bitcoin transfers increased by 473% in dollar terms, from $2.3 trillion to $13.1 trillion (or from 212 million to 275.4 million BTC). The average daily volume of transfers increased by 460% in dollar terms, from $6.4 billion in 2020 to $35.9 billion in 2021.

Elmandraj described 2021 as a year of important technological breakthroughs and active institutional adoption. It points to a significant increase in the number of channels (+119%) and BTC capacity (+210%) on the Lightning network and the successful activation of Taproot, the largest network base layer protocol update since SegWit in 2017. “Exchange-traded products (ETPs), countries and corporations held 8% of the Bitcoin supply as of November 2021.”

With ongoing BTC purchases by public companies like Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy and the launch of financial products from big corporations like Fidelity with $4.2 trillion in assets under management, institutional adoption is likely to continue through 2022.

In addition to expanding corporate adoption, El Salvador became the first nation-state to recognize bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021. As of December 31, 2021, El Salvador has purchased 1,391 bitcoins and 3.8 million people have started using El Salvador’s Chivo bitcoin wallet, according to an ARK report. This means 84% ​​coverage of citizens, 1.9 million of whom have traditional bank accounts.

Evaluating the common arguments against bitcoin, ARK concluded that “concerns about the lack of stability of bitcoin are associated with poor information”. It is argued that “Bitcoin has the potential to change the history of money by providing financial freedom and empowerment in a fair, global and distributed manner.”

The report notes that bitcoin mining encourages efficient forms of energy production, such as capturing natural gas that would otherwise be flared. In addition, BTC mining can increase the share of renewable energy in the existing energy system. The bitcoin mining industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry and breeding ground for innovation. Öffnen / Wie

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