🌐 Elvira Nabiullina: "Bitcoin is not a currency"
Elvira Nabiullina, Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, said that bitcoin is a rather volatile and risky asset and cannot be considered a currency.
During a press conference on Friday, Nabiullina noted that recently, interest in the first cryptocurrency among the population has grown significantly, and this was facilitated by a sharp increase in the asset. However, this does not negate the risks of investing in bitcoin. On the contrary, the risks of falling have only become higher, said the chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
“My attitude towards private cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, has not changed. And this price increase only shows the potential for volatility of such private cryptocurrencies. To be honest, the price of bitcoin does not even affect its essence. In our opinion, this is not a currency. There is interest in this asset, but the risks were the same, remain, and maybe even intensify. History has shown that this is a very volatile asset - how it grows rapidly in price, it can also fall, ”said Nabiullina.
Recall that now the Central Bank of the Russian Federation is developing a digital ruble. Testing of the national digital currency should begin this year. Earlier, Nabiullina said that in the future, Russian pensioners will even be able to receive pensions in digital rubles.
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🌐 Fitch Rating: "cryptocurrencies have great potential"
According to analysts at the Fitch Rating agency, in the short term, cryptocurrencies are unlikely to affect credit policy, but in the future they can help to modernize the financial system.
The researchers noted that cryptocurrencies are becoming more popular, especially after PayPal launched digital asset trading on its platform. Also, payment companies Visa and Mastercard announced the launch of cryptocurrency services, but it is still far from full adoption of cryptocurrencies.
PayPal's launch of cryptocurrency buying and selling functions became "one of the first real and large-scale cryptocurrency use cases in the United States." Fitch Rating analysts stressed:
“We do not think that investing in cryptocurrencies will have any significant impact on citizens' credit profiles, given the small investment volumes and long growth times. However, the functions of working with cryptocurrencies provide new opportunities for generating revenue for companies, even if the ROI has not been determined. "
Analysts agree that cryptocurrencies and blockchain can improve the financial system - speed up settlements, reduce fees and remove intermediaries in the movement of funds. But for a full modernization, adequate regulation of cryptocurrencies is necessary.
Earlier, analysts at Gartner expressed confidence that centralized payment companies will have to integrate support for stablecoins for payments and transfers.
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🌐 Investment arm of Morgan Stanley is considering investing in bitcoin
Counterpoint Global, the investment arm of Morgan Stanley, which manages $ 150 billion in assets, is considering buying bitcoin.
The division's analysts are now assessing how investment in bitcoin suits the company's customers. Even if the first cryptocurrency is recognized as suitable for investment, Counterpoint Global will have to get approval from regulators and bank management.
It is likely that analysts will nevertheless decide to stay away from bitcoin due to the high volatility and riskiness of this asset. At the same time, Counterpoint Global's investment policy is to invest in new companies whose capitalization can grow significantly.
Buying bitcoins fits this policy perfectly. However, Morgan Stanley officials declined to comment on the matter. Recall that recently the custodian service BlockFi announced the official launch of the Bitcoin Trust, an analogue of the popular products of Grayscale Investments.
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🌐 Blockchains LLC to Start Building a Smart City in the Nevada Desert in 2022
Blockchains LLC is stepping up its plans to build a blockchain smart city in the Nevada desert east of Reno. The company first came up with this idea in 2018.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Blockchains LLC CEO Jeffrey Berns said he asked the state of Nevada to allow it to form local government on the 67,000 acres the firm owns in Storey County. If his petition is successful, the company will be allowed to operate as an "innovation zone" where it can impose taxes and set up courts.
In a smart city, Blockchains LLC plans to support digital currency payments for goods and services and organize administrative records on the blockchain. The company acquired a land plot in the largest industrial park in the United States in January 2018. Then Burns spoke about plans to build a city in the desert, focused on cryptocurrencies and blockchain. He announced that he invested $300 million to make this dream a reality.
The smart city, whose infrastructure will be based on blockchain, will have a high-tech park for enterprises, combining blockchain with artificial intelligence, 3D printing and nanotechnology. The city will include residential buildings and shops, an arena for e-sports events, and a studio for producing music, films and games.
Although Burns said he hopes to build 15,000 homes in the city within 75 years, housing construction is currently banned on most of the company's land, which is likely to limit the size of the city to 3,500 homes. If Nevada legislators approve of Burns' proposal, the company's management could potentially attract private technology companies to an area of more than 50,000 acres, promising a $1 billion investment.
This decision could potentially affect Tesla's Gigafactory, located in the same county. Amazon also has a distribution center in the area. Burns said he wants to start building a smart city as early as next year.
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🌐 MicroStrategy is looking for specialists to develop an analytical platform for Bitcoin
MicroStrategy is recruiting a team of blockchain specialists to develop an analytical software product related to tracking and analyzing Bitcoin data.
Late last week, MicroStrategy released on LinkedIn jobs data analyst blokcheyna and engineer data blokcheyna . According to the job descriptions, employees will be joining a team "building an analytical platform with advanced metrics and data for Bitcoin."
MicroStrategy hinted at its interest in building blockchain-powered data analytics products last November. Then the CEO of the company Michael Saylor (Michael Saylor) openly stated the lack of data in Bitcoin. He said last October that junk market data was holding back BTC.
“Is there any other attractive asset that has such poor data compared to other assets?” Sailor said.
MicroStrategy is looking for analysts with experience in open, closed and managed blockchains. According to the vacancies, the product under development will also provide access to analytical data that can be shared.
A new MicroStrategy engineer will develop software that can turn datasets into "visualizations" that can be shared with a "wider audience."
Sailor announced late last month that the company plans to continue investing in bitcoin. In 2020, MicroStrategy invested over $475 million in BTC, and issued bonds worth $650 million to buy the first cryptocurrency.
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🌐 Esther Pearce: "we need to accelerate the development of clear regulation of cryptocurrencies"
According to SEC Commissioner Esther Pearce, since large companies like Tesla, BNY Mellon Corp and Mastercard are entering the cryptocurrency industry, it is necessary to start regulating it as soon as possible.
According to a Reuters publication , Hester Pierce, Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has called for the accelerated development of clear regulation of cryptocurrencies amid growing popularity among large traditional companies.
“It's not just that there have been calls for clarity about cryptocurrency regulation for some time now, and that the new administration is providing an opportunity to look at this issue in a new way. Many companies in the market now have a different perspective on cryptocurrencies, ”Pearce said.
Last week, it was reported that Tesla has invested $ 1.5 billion in Bitcoin, which has led to a rapid rise in the price of the cryptocurrency. A few days later it became known that BNY Mellon bank will develop a platform for managing cryptoassets, and Mastercard will launch support for cryptocurrencies this year. According to Pearce, the actions of these companies should affect the speed of the regulators.
“This reinforces the need for greater clarity in cryptocurrency regulation,” Pearce said.
The Commissioner also noted that the SEC is looking into a “spectrum” of issues, including market volatility, the role of retail brokers, and how the post-trading market functions.
“We are glad to see new investors participating in the market. Of course we want them to be educated and skeptical, ”she said, adding that a wide range of market participants can improve pricing.
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🌐 Craig Wright compared Bitcoin to the Ponzi scheme
Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has once again announced that he is the creator of Bitcoin and compared the first cryptocurrency to a pyramid scheme.
In an interview with The Times compared the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin first cryptocurrency with a Ponzi scheme by Bernard Madoff (Bernard Madoff) at $ 65 billion According to Wright, owners of Bitcoin eventually sell cryptocurrency and hurl its price.:
“The price goes up because people pay. But it never lasts forever. Good old Charles Ponzi did it too. And Mr. Madoff ... In the end, people leave. "
Wright believes that bitcoin, whose proponents view it as digital gold, has failed as a form of payment:
“Digital gold is boring. The first section of the Bitcoin White Paper talks about micropayments, which were the Holy Grail. "
Despite the fact that he was unable to provide any conclusive evidence, Wright still continues to claim that he created Bitcoin with the help of several other people.
In January, Wright accused the sites bitcoin.org and bitcoincore.org of copyright infringement in the publication of the White Paper and the use of domain names with the word bitcoin. Bitcoin.org refused to remove the Bitcoin White Paper at the request of Wright's lawyers.
In May 2019, Wright attempted to copyright the Bitcoin White Paper with the US Copyright Office. Many call Wright a "patent troll" - he has filed 155 blockchain and cryptocurrency patent applications since August 2017 .
As a reminder, last year Blockstream CEO Adam Back named Ethereum and several other high-cap altcoins as Ponzi schemes, putting them on a par with well-known pyramid schemes.
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🌐 Binaryx Digital Asset Exchange Launches SVDT Token Giveaway in Honor of Valentine's Day
On February 14, digital asset exchange Binaryx launched a special Saint Valentine's Day Token (SVDT). The promotion will last from 02/14/2021 to 03/14/2021.
You can get tokens for free by registering on the contest page . The token can be used to create a crypto- valentine and raise it in the rating on a special landing page . Additional tokens can be purchased on the Binaryx digital asset platform.
Holders of the first crypto-valentine in the rating at the end of the competition will receive the main prize - a trip for two to Dubai. The second and third place winners will receive Apple Watch and AirPods, respectively. Users who take places from 4 to 7 will receive electronic digital wallets, as well as seven random users will be credited with 1000 SVDT additionally.
The SVDT mechanics are built in such a way that every day the token price will increase by 14%. After the end of the promotion, the tokens will go into free circulation.
“In these difficult times, we want to give everyone the opportunity to declare their love to the whole world. In a time of social distancing and self-isolation, crypto-Valentine is a great way to bring a smile to your loved one’s face. ” - said the representative of Binaryx.
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🌐 Hackers Withdraw $ 37.5 Million From DeFi Protocol Alpha Homora
Alpha Homora's decentralized liquidity protocol was hacked, during which hackers managed to withdraw $ 37.5 million in ETH.
To hack the protocol, the attackers used the Iron Bank service of the CREAM Finance project, which allows issuing unsecured loans to trusted smart contracts. The hackers made the main smart contract Alpha Homora take the smart contract developed by the attackers for its own. Then they used this smart contract to get a loan in the CREAM Finance project for $ 37.5 million in ETH.
One of the conditions for obtaining a loan from CREAM Finance is either the availability of funds in the project vaults, sufficient to cover the loan, or insurance. Alpha Homora holds $ 1.6 billion worth of ALPHA tokens, so the loan was issued without additional checks. It is not yet clear if these tokens will be used to pay off the loan.
The developers of Alpha Homora stated that the vulnerability was discovered and closed, so that hackers would not be able to repeat the hack. The incident is currently being investigated jointly with CREAM Finance and the founder of the Yearn.Finance protocol, Andre Cronje.
Recall that, according to the analytical company CipherTrace, last year hackers were able to steal $ 1.9 billion worth of crypto assets.
