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ASX Ltd chief executive Dominic Stevens says more businesses that deal with cryptocurrencies could list on Australia’s sharemarket as the nascent industry “matures,” and as the tech sector inevitably makes up a bigger part of the bourse. Mr Stevens, who last week announced plans to retire later this year, has focused on expanding the relatively small role of tech companies in Australia’s mining and bank-heavy sharemarket during his five and a half years as CEO. Until recently, ASX appeared wary towards cryptocurrencies, but that caution has been fading, illustrated by last month’s dual-listing of Afterpay’s new owner Block, which was previously…
When the kidnappers told Rocelo Lopes they had taken his wife, he didn’t believe them. The then-46-year-old cryptocurrency entrepreneur received a phone call early one evening in April 2017, while he worked from his office in the Brazilian island city of Florianópolis, telling him to expect a formal ransom demand in bitcoin in the coming hours. “This is just another scammer. This is someone trying to be funny with me,” he thought, and he hung up the phone. He checked in with his family’s maid anyway. His 32-year-old spouse had taken their daughter to school hours earlier, only a stone’s…
The announcement in the February 1, 2022, budget speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would soon launch digital rupee has set the nation agog both with anticipation and doubts. That Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) the world over has been a kneejerk response to the phenomenal rise of cryptocurrencies is undeniable. Yet there are a number of imponderables that cannot be glossed over in our obsession with novelty as well as the desire to be seen in the company of Joneses. Let us see how the digital rupee would impact various stakeholders. RBI…
The Great Resignation triggered a talent war and a very tight labor market, pushing employers to reconsider perks they offer. Now, a new survey suggests that nearly one in four workers would prefer a company that offers a Bitcoin payroll benefit when deciding between equivalent job offers. In turn, NYDIG recently launched a Bitcoin savings plan allowing employees be paid in crypto. The NYDIG workforce survey — “Bitcoin Benefits 2022” — found that offering a Bitcoin savings plan may be an important retention tool. Additionally, as Bitcoin is becoming more and more prevalent, Bitcoin holders are saying they want to increase their stockpile…
Earlier this week, a husband and wife were arrested in New York on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to launder up to $4.5 billion in stolen cryptocurrency. The US Department of Justice announced that its confiscation of 94,000 bitcoins worth $3.6 billion is the agency’s “Largest financial seize ever.” Startup founder ‘Dutch’ Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were named by the department for allegedly attempting to launder 119,754 bitcoins stolen from the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange in August 2016. The exchange was targeted by hackers in who, according to the Department of Justice, “Initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions.” Investigators assert that…
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has once again voiced serious concerns against private cryptocurrencies. “Cryptocurrency is privately created and it is a threat to financial stability,” Mr Das said in a post monetary policy press conference on Thursday. It will undermine RBI’s ability to deal with issues, the Governor added. Mr Das has time and again flagged issues about the functioning of cryptocurrencies. Though, Mr Das stated that RBI’s Digital Rupee will be launched in the year 2022-23 but didn’t give a timeline for its release. “There will be no difference between a Digital Rupee and the…
When the Central Bank of Nigeria’s order barring banks from enabling cryptocurrency transactions was issued on Feb. 5 2021, the Nigerian naira was exchanging at 381 naira against the dollar. A year later, the official rate is N416 and averages N560 on the streets of Lagos. Last October, a report on crypto adoption in 154 countries placed Nigeria in 6th place, part of a wave which saw a 1,200% growth (by value) in crypto traded in Africa. This increase was driven by peer-to-peer trades on platforms like Paxful, and LocalBitcoins, and on WhatsApp, and Telegram. In other words, the naira has become weaker and more Nigerians use crypto…
Digital assets are following an adoption pattern similar to other recent technologies, such as the internet, according to a Monday report by Wells Fargo’s global investment institute. “Adoption typically started slowly, hit an inflection point, and then steeply accelerated,” the report noted. While the rise of the internet can be linked to the growth of personal home computers in the early 1980s, by 1995 only 14% of U.S. adults had internet access, according to Pew Research. The rate rose significantly to 46% in 2000. Like the internet in the 90s, crypto “could soon hit a hyper-infliction point”, Wells Fargo noted in…
In November, I went to the most unpleasant event I’ve ever attended, located in a warehouse-like bar in downtown Manhattan and devoted entirely to the subject of NFTs. It was hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk, better known as Gary Vee, the motivational speaker-slash-entrepreneur-slash-influencer whom my boyfriend was profiling for another publication. The crowd primarily consisted of hordes of men, who were not wholly unpleasant themselves but who spoke a language so impenetrable to outsiders that being around them made me feel as though I’d missed something major. They seemed to work in tech or finance, mostly, and had come to connect…
Russia could collect up to 1 trillion rubles ($13 billion) per year by regulating and taxing cryptocurrency transactions, analysts for the government believe, according to Moscow-based news outlet The Bell. The report follows intense debate in Russia over how to deal with cryptocurrency, with some suggesting it should be completely forbidden. Last month, Russia’s central bank proposed a complete ban on cryptocurrencies in the country. The regulator said that their issuance, circulation, exchange, and trade should be prohibited in order to prevent them from being used for crime, such as fraud and money laundering. This was soon rejected by other…