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2023-05-28 16:38:18 ​Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC, ETH 2% Lower, Ahead of FOMC Minutes

Bitcoin was once again trading below a key resistance level of $27,000 on Wednesday, ahead of today’s U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes report. Markets are expecting that the minutes will show the Federal Reserve’s timeline towards a policy pivot. Ethereum was 2% lower today.

Bitcoin (BTC) moved below $27,000 on Wednesday, as markets begin to prepare for the release of the upcoming FOMC minutes report.

Following a high of $27,386.99 on Tuesday, BTC/USD dropped to a low of $26,671.98 earlier in today’s session. Open / Comment

2023-05-26 09:07:57 ​Latam Insights — Venezuela’s Maduro States De-Dollarization Is ‘Inevitable,’ Argentina Raises Interest Rates to Close to 100%

Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of the most relevant crypto and economic development news from Latin America during the last week.

In this issue, Venezuela makes a push for de-dollarization, the Central Bank of Argentina raises interest rates to close to 100%, and Brazil breaks the U.S. dollar parity import price peg for fuel.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stated that the country would strive to shift away from the U.S. dollar.

Many alternative initiatives to the dollar are emerging in the world. We could say that we are beginning to experience a sustained accelerated process of de-dollarization of the commercial world — of world trade.

Maduro also condemned the political use of the U.S. dollar, explaining that it has been leveraged as a tool to sanction countries like China, Russia, India, Iran, Turkey, Venezuela, and Cuba. Later, the Venezuelan president added to his earlier statements by declaring:

The de-dollarization of world trade is inevitable, we are living it. Open / Comment

2023-05-23 09:07:59 ​Cardano-Powered DeFi Platform Empowa Takes on Africa’s Housing Crisis

In the face of exorbitant mortgage rates crippling the housing market in Africa, Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has spotlighted the potential of blockchain technology to radically transform the situation.

The exchange has specifically highlighted the innovative efforts of Empowa, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform powered by Cardano (ADA), that aims to tackle the housing affordability crisis in Africa.

Empowa has set an ambitious mission: to enable 1 million African families to become owners of climate-smart homes by 2030. The company is determined to disrupt the current real estate market, which is ridden with high mortgage rates. In Zimbabwe, for instance, the rate stands at an almost prohibitive 45%, according to Empowa. Such high finance costs have perpetuated a vicious cycle of unaffordable housing across the continent.

The Empowa team, in their white paper, have underlined the severity of the issue, stating that low levels of investment, high interest rates, and short finance terms (if finance is even available) have resulted in an extremely high cost of capital. The 2020 Centre for Affordable Housing (CAHF) Annual report states that the mortgage rate in Zambia is 32%, while it’s at least 25% in Guinea, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Open / Comment

2023-05-19 10:38:38 ​Bitcoin Startup River Raises $35 Million in Series B Funding Round

Due to the recent failures and flaws of the traditional banking system, Bitcoin’s potential to foster a more secure global economy may have come to light in a new way.

River, a Bitcoin technology and financial services startup, has completed a $35 million Series B funding round. This follows after its $12 million Series A round in 2021.

The new round was led by Kingsway Capital and also saw participation from contributors such as Alarko Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Goldcrest, Cygni, and M13 among others.

Billionaire investor Peter Thiel also backed the investment round as River continues to aim at creating a robust financial system with Bitcoin. Open / Comment

2023-05-15 11:20:19 ​Safaricom M-Pesa receives Ethiopian mobile money license, ending state monopoly

The Kenya-based company already has 3 million mobile phone users in Ethiopia and plans to make it the 10th country where the payment service will be available.

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has issued a mobile money-service license to Safaricom M-Pesa Mobile Financial Service, it announced May 11. Previously, only Telebirr, part of the state-owned Ethio Telecom network, operated in that market.

Kenya-based Safaricom was also the first company to break Ethio Telecom’s monopoly on Ethiopian mobile phone service in October, through its Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia subsidiary. The NBE introduced legislation into the Parliamentary Assembly earlier in 2022 to make the private service possible.

Safaricom Ethiopia currently has almost 3 million users, the company said. That compares to Ethio Telecom’s 54 million users, in a country of 118 million. The government is now reportedly looking to sell a 45% share in Ethio Telecom. Open / Comment

2023-05-12 08:08:57 ​South African Minister Tells BRICS Nations Not to Rush Decision on Common Currency

The South African minister of international relations, Naledi Pandor, has urged Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) countries to be wary of making a hurried decision when they meet in August to discuss launching a common currency.

Pandor said her country will “not shy away from discussions” that relate to her country’s national interests.

The minister also revealed that South Africa’s debt is primarily denominated in dollars, therefore the country cannot easily ditch the greenback. Open / Comment

2023-05-10 09:37:14 ​Kazakhstan collected $7M in crypto mining taxes in 2022

The government of Kazakhstan received 3.07 billion tenges (approximately $7 million) in tax payments from crypto mining entities in 2022 following the implementation of an amended law regulating the fiscal burden of mining cryptocurrencies, according to local media reports.

Preliminary data from the government for 2023 shows that mining fees collected by April 27 totaled 240 million tenges, over $541,000 at the time of writing. The figures are much lower than the 652 million tenge (~$1.5 million) in fees paid in the first quarter of 2022.

Kazakhstan ranks among the world’s top Bitcoin mining hubs. As of January 2022, the Central Asian country contributed 13.22% of the total Bitcoin hash rate, just behind the United States (37.84%) and China (21.11%), according to data from Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Open / Comment

2023-05-07 11:50:34 ​Binance Addresses Compliance Concerns, Claims Robust Measures in Place to Prevent Terrorism Financing

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has responded to a Reuters report that raised questions about its compliance policies for preventing and tackling cryptocurrency-based financing of terrorism.

The exchange said it takes the issue very seriously and is not aware of any exchange, or other financial institution, that does more today to keep bad actors off their platform than Binance, the platform said in a Friday blog post.

Binance claimed that its policies and processes comply with AMLD5/6 anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing requirements and it has a robust compliance program that incorporates sophisticated anti-money laundering.

The exchange also said it has tools to detect and address suspicious activity and even has specialists on its team who have focused their entire careers on counter-terrorism. Open / Comment

2023-05-05 09:01:05 ​SEC has 10 days to respond to Coinbase complaint: Legal exec

Coinbase’s legal battle for regulatory clarity over the trading of digital crypto assets saw a development as a U.S. court responded to its complaint against the SEC.

According to a May 4 announcement from Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit responded to the complaint against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the need for clear rules for trading digital assets. This marks a development in the legal battle for regulatory clarity.

According to Grewal, the court’s response to their complaint against the SEC was a text-only order. The court has instructed the SEC to respond to Coinbase’s writ of mandamus within ten days. A writ of mandamus is a court order addressed to an inferior government official, ordering them to fulfill their official duties properly. Open / Comment

2023-05-03 08:39:03 ​Analysts Consider US National Security Policy a Pretext to Establish Trade Sanctions Against Other Countries

International analysts have called out the supposed use of the national security policy of the U.S. as a tool to justify the establishment of blockades and economic sanctions against countries like China and Russia.

While U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has recognized that a decoupling of the economies of the U.S. and China would be “disastrous,” the U.S. government is said to be putting its security policies over this concern.

Several analysts have referred to the usage of the U.S. national security policy as a pretext to establish economic sanctions and take unjustified measures against other countries. Open / Comment