Hong Kong Monetary Authority: Non-compliant Stablecoins will not be accepted
In one of the main tenets of the forthcoming regulatory framework, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority may not support algorithmic stablecoins and will instead require all stablecoin issuers to always support their value with underlying reserve assets. The importance of full stablecoin support and redemption at par is highlighted in key regulatory principles, which states: “Stablecoin based on arbitrage or algorithm-based value will not be accepted and stablecoin holders should be able to convert Stablecoin to reference fiat currency at par within a reasonable period of time.”
In future, key Stablecoin-related activities in Hong Kong will require a licence from the HKMA
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has indicated that it intends to bring Stablecoins into the regulatory domain on the basis of the views received and the latest international advice. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority considers that, Entities involved in regulated activities in Hong Kong, active marketing of regulated selling to the public in Hong Kong, regulated activities involving Stablecoins claiming to reference the value of the Hong Kong dollar, uniswap careers and matters of significant public interest are all required to obtain a licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
London named ‘best city for cryptocurrency’ : Report
London has been named the “best city for cryptocurrency”, according to a research report by cryptocurrency tax firm Recap, which highlights the world’s top cryptocurrency hubs. Review the criteria used from the eight elements, including the number of cryptocurrency businesses and employees, R&D spending compared to each city’s GDP, the number of cryptocurrency ATMs, cryptocurrency ownership and capital gains tax rates. Recap’s report details that London has the highest number of people employed in the cryptocurrency industry compared to the rest of the world. The city is home to more than 800 cryptocurrency-based companies and hosted the second most cryptocurrency-related events and conferences in 2022. According to the report, London’s lead is in line with Prime Minister Risch Sunak’s goal of establishing the UK as a global hub for cryptocurrency technology and investment. Dubai, the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, became the second largest cryptocurrency hub, with Dubai’s appeal as a place to live for cryptocurrency investors due to its 0% tax rate. New York is the third largest hub, with 843 companies specializing in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
V God takes RAI system as an example to discuss three solutions of using prophecy machine to realize joint pledge
Ethereum founder V God recently published a proposal titled “Whether the Prophecy machine can realize joint pledge, How to RaI-like systems safely support pledged ETH”. Vgod said its strong preference is to try to find ways to use pledged ETH as collateral to avoid network effects around a single dominant liquidity pledged derivative, and that RAI could be part of the solution. To this end, V God put forward three schemes: 1. Prophecy machine as the pledge; 2. Prophecy machine as the pledge of 2-of-2; 3. Semi-credible predictions of tiered security. These three schemes have their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of implementation difficulty, prevention of bad predictor, protection of bad CDP holders, and willingness to operate the predictor. However, Mr Vgod said Plan 1 seemed easier to implement in the short term and would complement the scope to “earn other collateral proceeds at the same time”. However, scheme 2 and scheme 3 seem to be less trustworthy and more durable, with lower trust in the prophet and better maintenance of decentralized pledge. Therefore, in the long run, V God is more inclined to choose the latter two schemes.
Ethereum core developers discuss the Shanghai Upgrade Open Beta website release schedule and the Cancun upgrade
Ethereum core developers discussed the schedule for the release of the Shanghai Upgrade Open Beta Website and the progress of the Cancun upgrade focused on EIP-4844 (following the Shanghai upgrade) during the conference call #154 on February 2. The Ethereum Public Withdrawal Test Network Zhejiang was launched on February 1st. Anyone can request the Test network ETH from a faucet and launch their own validator on the network. Zhejiang Test Network is currently supported by 61,000 active validators, most of which are operated by the Ethereum Foundation.
Cathie Wood: Very bullish on the crypto sector, still maintaining expectations for bitcoin to reach $500,000
Cathie Wood, head of Ark Invest, told CNBC to highlight her super-bullish call on the cryptocurrency industry, while saying ARK is sticking with its previous prediction that bitcoin will hit $500,000. In addition, referring to a series of thunderstorms last year, Cathie Wood stated that only opaque and centralized crypto companies like Celsius and FTX went bankrupt in 2022. Despite this turbulence, Bitcoin and Ethereum have performed well.
In January, bitcoin and ethereum options, futures trading indicators rose, BTC options holdings rose 116.5%
According to The Block’s data analysis, in January, bitcoin and ethereum options, futures trading indicators rose, bitcoin options up by 116.5%, ethereum options up by 71.7%; Bitcoin options trading volume rose 107.8% in January to $16 billion; Ethereum options volume rose 54.5 to $8.5 billion in January. In terms of bitcoin and ethereum futures, bitcoin futures holdings rose 21.3%, while ethereum futures holdings rose 15.9%; In terms of futures volume, bitcoin and ethereum futures volume also rose, with bitcoin futures volume up 73% in January to $656 billion.
CZ: Ann will release several products around proof of reserve and proof of solvency
CZ revealed that Bance’s next big product is designed to address the above trust and transparency issues, and will launch multiple products around Binance’s proof of reserves and solvency to provide a roadmap for greater transparency and public release. On the topic of DeFi, Bann will continue to invest in making DeFi easier to access and use. Finally, the product team aims to reach 1 billion proven B Security users by further simplifying the KYC process.
CZ: It’s good to see that the UK is trying to move forward with encryption regulation
CZ, founder of Bann, wrote that it is good to see that the UK, as a global leader in fintech, is making efforts to advance encryption regulation. We hope their plans will reflect the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board that regulation should be co-ordinated, consistent, comprehensive and commensurate with the nature, size and complexity of risks. Earlier news, the UK Treasury today published a consultation paper on the crypto market. Binance publicly supports effective and appropriate regulation to help mainstream adoption of digital assets and welcomes the next steps taken by the UK government, the company’s official account said.
Optimism is expected to carry out the Bedrock Mainnet upgrade on March 16
If voted yes, the upgrade will be performed at 1:00 GMT on March 16th. Deposits and transactions will be suspended during the upgrade, but most customers will not be affected by the Optimism with which Bedrock is upgraded. The upgrade is expected to last 4 hours. History link data can still be accessed after the upgrade.
Data: Tokens such as GAL, 1INCH, EUL, GMT will be unlocked this week
According to Token Unlocks, GAL, 1INCH, EUL, GMT, ACA, NYM, X2Y2 tokens will be unlocked this week. Of these, about 590,000 GAL tokens ($1.27 million) will be unlocked at 20:00:00 on January 30, accounting for 0.293% of the total supply; 1INCH tokens will unlock 15,000 INCH tokens (about $7,880) at 08:00:00 on January 31, representing 0.001% of the total supply; EUL Tokens will unlock approximately 90,000 EULs (about $490,000), or 0.33% of the total supply, at 07:18:39 on February 1; GMT tokens will unlock 900,000 GMT (US $540,000) a day, 0.02% of the total supply, starting at 08:00:00 on February 1; ACA tokens will unlock about 32 million ACA ($4.37 million), or 3.205% of the total supply, at 15:00:00 on February 1; NYM Tokens will unlock 78.75 million NYMs (about $19.38 million) at 08:00:00 on February 3, accounting for 7.875% of the total supply; X2Y2 tokens will unlock 37.5 million X2Y2 tokens ($4.93 million) at 13:23:36 on February 4, making up 3.75% of the total supply.
Charlie Munger has written an article calling for a US ban on cryptocurrencies
In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) Vice Chairman Charlie Munger renewed his call for the U.S. to follow China’s lead and ban cryptocurrencies. Charlie Munger attributes the rise of cryptocurrencies to a regulatory gap, arguing that cryptoassets are not currencies, commodities or securities. Charlie Munger writes that this is a gambling contract where the casino advantage is close to 100%. The United States should now enact a new federal law to prevent this. Munger even said he wished cryptocurrencies had never been invented.
cryptocurrency
J.p. Morgan: Over 70% of Wall Street traders don’t plan to touch cryptocurrencies this year
Despite cryptocurrency’s recent strength, 72% of traders say they don’t have any plans to trade cryptocurrencies or digital assets in 2023, according to a survey by jpmorgan. In 2022, only 25 per cent of traders said so. The survey was conducted in January after a dismal 2022 for cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin plunging nearly 70% last year. Only 8 percent of traders said they were currently trading cryptocurrencies and 14 percent said they planned to do so within five years, according to the survey. Meanwhile, 6% of respondents said they do not currently plan to trade cryptocurrencies, but plan to do so within 12 months. Heading into 2023, Bitcoin’s 39% surge doesn’t seem to be attracting more bets from Wall Street investors, especially given that the Fed’s rate hike process isn’t over yet.
India may keep its restrictive cryptocurrency tax rules in place until 2023
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Economic Survey 2022-2023 in Parliament on Tuesday, covering cryptocurrencies for the first time and stressing “the need for a common approach to regulating the crypto ecosystem. The document discusses the current approach to cryptocurrency regulation worldwide and notes that monitoring and regulating cryptocurrencies has been tricky, with global regulators finding it challenging to track emerging issues in fast-moving uncharted territory, and few global standards applicable to unsecured cryptoassets that currently do not mitigate all risks and vulnerabilities. It is learnt that the country’s economic survey is the annual flagship document of the Finance Ministry, which Outlines the performance of the Indian economy in the previous financial year and presents the economic outlook for the current financial year.
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has ordered the country’s five largest crypto exchanges to remove virtual assets that are securities
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission ordered officials of the country’s five largest crypto exchanges to classify token securities and cancel their listing. According to the report, the country’s financial commission may have made the directive because virtual assets with the nature of securities, no matter what form they are issued, are “token securities” rather than “security tokens”. If this policy is implemented, it is highly likely that a significant number of tokens listed on existing virtual asset exchanges will be removed from the status of listed crypto exchanges, or may be transferred to securities firms. In the future, DAXA plans to gather input from companies through the Transaction Support subcommittee. The first comments and queries are expected to be collected by Feb. 9 and sent to the Financial Services Committee.
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission has submitted a new draft covering the regulation of digital products and cryptocurrencies
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines (SEC) drafted the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 11765 (IRR) and the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act (FCPA), which covers digital products and cryptocurrencies, expands the definition of securities, and has begun soliciting public comments. Digital financial products and services including tokenized securities products or other financial products using blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT), products accessed and delivered simultaneously through digital channels, and their providers will also fall under the SEC’s purview.