Monthly Archives: February 2022

PhillyCoin? GrittyCoin? HoagieCoin? Who knows what it might be called, but Philadelphia is exploring its own crypto.

City officials confirmed they are in very early internal discussions about donation-generating cryptocurrencies that other cities are adopting to boost revenues.

The city is in talks with CityCoins, a decentralized nonprofit that sets tech friendly cities up to receive 30% of earnings on coins mined in their name. Miami became the first big municipality to launch its own coin last year, and similar city-based coins have since surfaced in New York City and Austin, Texas.

Chief information officer Mark Wheeler went public saying Philly is ready to adopt the currencies, as first reported by the online cybersecurity publication State Scoop last week, but officials say there is no hard commitment yet.

The City is curious to understand the implications of fundraising or gift-agreement programs using a cryptocurrency as basis for donation in U.S. dollars, said Labonno Islam, spokesperson for the Office of Innovation and Technology.

Should the city proceed, a Philadelphia-based coin could become tradable in crypto markets worldwide and provide some passive revenue back to the city, but experts raise questions about risks, rewards, and transparency.

Heres what you need to know:

Blockchains, protocols, stacks we know, crypto is a lot to unpack.

At the heart of CityCoins is an open-sourced protocol called Stacks and a process called crypto mining. A complex computational process that requires specific hardware, mining is how crypto enthusiasts create all variety of coins and put them into market circulation. Those who successfully mine a new coin into existence earn coins in reward.

Think of CityCoins like a community where miners generate city-based tokens like a Philly coin. When a user mints a new coin here, 30% of the reward gets sent to a digital wallet belonging to City Hall, according to the nonprofits guidelines.

Think of this dividend as a philanthropic donation to the citys coffers. Municipalities can convert crypto donations into U.S. dollars and put them toward various programs.

A potential Philly coin would not come with significant overhead costs for the city, and if it does well on the market, it could essentially be free money for the city.

After MiamiCoin hit the market in August, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez estimated coin revenues could net $60 million in their first year, and the city has since made its first withdrawals, putting the proceeds toward a city rental assistance program.

Suarez and New York City Mayor Eric Adams have both had paychecks converted into crypto, as evidence of their commitment to the industry.

While the city has been boosting itself as tech friendly for years, Phillys focus seems to be on those potential pots of gold.

The City is looking for ways to sustain long-term initiatives that support equity across Philadelphia beyond philanthropic and traditional means, Islam said. This does not mean that cryptocurrency is the answer, but were taking an opportunity to gather more information and learn more about it.

City-based coins are marketed toward the citys natives, residents, and supporters. Pablo Molina, a cybersecurity policy expert and the chief information security officer at Drexel University, framed the appeal as less about the coin itself and more about branding.

To some extent, its like putting a Philly name on the T-shirt, Molina said. It doesnt make the T-shirt any better, but it makes it a lot more interesting and appetizing to some people.

Whether a Philly-branded coin proves to be a good investment is another question.

For starters, pandemic-battered cities like Philly need reliable revenue streams, and the crypto markets are inherently volatile. Despite big projections, no one is sure yet how stable city-based coins would be as a cash generator which makes them hard to plan around. Others have questioned how the city would financially account for its crypto revenues in general.

Some critics say the idea also raises moral concerns for the city.

Mark Headd, Phillys former chief data officer, called city coins pure nonsense a gimmick that could entice residents into get-rich-quick schemes, with few widespread rewards.

In a Medium post last week, Headd argued engaging with crypto was especially troubling for a city with a staggering poverty rate and a persistent digital divide like Philly. Even if the coin proves to be a good investment for the city and individual residents, he wrote, many Philadelphians wouldnt have the technical savvy to see any financial gains from it. And for those who can invest in Phillys coin, the coin still presents a volatile risk like other cryptocurrencies.

Molina said potential buyers should consider it more of a gamble than an investment. Some people will make a lot of money, but you should not be willing to invest what youre not willing to part with, he said.

Molina said there are also security concerns around the citys potential cut of the pie and whether revenues would be vulnerable to crypto fraudsters. The risk would be for the citizens who think theyre helping the city, Molina said. In the end, not much could go toward the city.

The Kenney administration is thin on specifics, but for now, its safe to say Philly wont be that unbearable guy at the party talking your ear off about crypto not yet at least.

Islam, the city spokesperson, said Kenney asked chief information officer Wheeler to coordinate with city attorneys and vet the legal obstacles presented by crypto-donations.

City Council will likely have questions about the coin before moving forward, but there were no scheduled talks on the horizon as of Tuesday.

Continued here:
Philly is exploring cryptocurrency to boost revenue. Heres what that means. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

A top official of Indias central bank has compared cryptocurrency to a Ponzi scheme and suggested an outright ban in its sharpest criticism just weeks after the government proposed taxation of the virtual digital asset and paved way to recognize it as legal tender in the worlds second-largest internet market.

T. Rabi Sankar, deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), told an audience at a banking conference that cryptocurrencies have been specifically developed to bypass the regulated financial system, and are not backed by any underlying cash flow.

We have also seen that cryptocurrencies are not amenable to definition as a currency, asset or commodity; they have no underlying cash flows, they have no intrinsic value; that they are akin to Ponzi schemes, and may even be worse, he said.

Sankars remarks come at a time the Indian government has sent signals that its moving in the direction of recognizing the digital virtual asset as legal tender. The nations Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed taxing income accrued from transfer of cryptocurrencies and NFTs in the federal budget early this month.

The sale of cryptocurrencies and NFTs have made quick inroads in India in the past year despite regulatory uncertainty. The worlds second-largest internet market has seen the second-highest adoption rate for cryptocurrency investments, according to an analysis by research firm Chainalysis.

The magnitude and frequency of these transactions have made it imperative to provide for a specific tax regime, she said in her budget speech.

Indias central bank has so far been very cautious about cryptocurrencies. In 2018, it banned financial firms from dealing with cryptocurrency. The ban was overturned by Indias Supreme Court two years later, but most banks have continued to follow the RBIs direction.

Sitharaman said on Monday that New Delhi and the RBI were holding discussions to formulate rules and that the two were onboard.

Sankars speech has made it clear that the RBI has not changed its long-held stance. As a store of value, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have given impressive returns so far, but so did tulips in 17th century Netherlands. Cryptocurrencies are very much like a speculative or gambling contract working like a Ponzi scheme. In fact, it has been argued that the original scheme devised by Charles Ponzi in 1920 is better than cryptocurrencies from a social perspective, he said.

Cryptocurrencies can wreck the currency system, the monetary authority, the banking system and in general the governments ability to control the economy, he warned.

They threaten the financial sovereignty of a country and make it susceptible to strategic manipulation by private corporates creating these currencies or governments that control them. All these factors lead to the conclusion that banning cryptocurrency is perhaps the most advisable choice open to India, he said. We have examined the arguments proffered by those advocating that cryptocurrencies should be regulated and found that none of them stand up to basic scrutiny.

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Cryptocurrency is akin to Ponzi scheme and banning it is perhaps the most advisable choice, says Indias Central Bank - TechCrunch

The Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) cryptocurrency carries a total market value of $348 billion today. That's more than 18% of the total cryptocurrency market, which clocked in at $1.89 trillion at 2 p.m. ET on Monday afternoon. Will the second-largest cryptocurrency's market cap reach the $1 trillion benchmark in the next three years? Let's take a look.

You could consider a theoretical move from Ether's all-time high on Nov. 8, 2021, where it was worth $4,627 per token or $569 billion in total. From there, Ether could have reached $1 trillion by rising 76% higher.

But the last three months have been rough, as investors of all stripes have backed away from high-risk options such as cryptocurrencies and growth stocks. After a 40% drop, the Ethereum blockchain network's token needs to gain roughly 187% to reach a full trillion dollars from today's prices.

So we're looking at Ethereum prices nearly tripling over roughly three years. Historically speaking, that's a pretty low bar to clear. The token has gained 2,260% over the last three years, for example -- including that 40% plunge from November's peak. Viewed in a different light, Ether has gained roughly 187% in the last 13 months. Of course, the ride has not been smooth, but the kind of move required for Ether to reach $1 trillion from here has been fairly commonplace so far. And it was more than just a sectorwide rising tide that lifted all cryptocurrency boats. Ethereum achieved this near-tripling gain while larger peer Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) only rose 24%, roughly in line with the stock market.

Ethereum Price data by YCharts

The Ether token has several important price-boosting tailwinds at its back.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the legislative and regulatory processes to grind their wheels, but the other three price drives could catch fire at any moment. In particular, Ethereum's technology upgrades should take full effect no later than 2023. Some of the upside from that event has probably been priced into Ethereum's tokens already, but we have not seen the full effect yet.

So yes, I expect Ether's market cap to exceed $1 trillion by 2025, and quite possibly by a large margin. The Ethereum network has some growing up to do, and investors should be able to take advantage of that constructive process.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Will Ethereum Be a Trillion-Dollar Cryptocurrency by 2025? - Motley Fool

Formula One F1 - Young Driver Test - Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - December 14, 2021 Red Bull's Max Verstappen during testing REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

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Feb 16 (Reuters) - Red Bull have signed a multi-year partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Bybit in what the Formula One team said was the largest annual crypto tie-up in international sport so far.

The Milton Keynes-based team did not reveal a deal value in their statement issued on Wednesday but an informed source said it was worth $150 million over three years with Bybit becoming the squad's "principal team partner", a newly-created tier second only to "title partner."

The Bybit deal comes after Red Bull unveiled software giant Oracle as their title sponsor last week in a deal sources told Reuters was worth $300 million over five years.

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The two together add up to $110 million a year, covering a significant chunk of the team's expenditure, especially with a budget cap written into Formula One rules for the 2022 season at $140 million before tightening to $135 million from 2023 onwards.

The deal with Red Bull means Bybit, which was established in March 2018 and has over six million registered users worldwide, become the team's exclusive cryptocurrency exchange partner.

It will also help Red Bull boost fan engagement via the issuance of 'fan tokens' and distribution of the team's growing collection of digital assets.

The two parties will additionally work together to promote crypto-literacy, diversity, STEM careers, sustainability and green technologies while also supporting women in blockchain and introducing coding to new audiences, they said.

Bybit becomes the latest cryptocurrency player to foray into Formula One with the French Alpine team announcing a tie-up with Binance on Tuesday.

Crypto.com is also a major Formula One sponsor and has been announced as title partner of the first-ever Miami Grand Prix scheduled for May this year.

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Reporting by Abhishek Takle; editing by XXXX

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Red Bull sign partnership deal with cryptocurrency exchange Bybit - Reuters

Kyiv, UkraineMining cryptocurrency is a legal gray area in Ukrainewhere it might be a means of survival, a crime, a lucrative investment opportunity, and a threat to the very future of the planet all at once.

Ukraine has no laws that regulate this aspect of the industry, leading to a chaotic relationship between local cryptominers and authoritiesall trying to build better lives for themselves while being caught in a global economic shift with potentially massive ecological consequences.

The country is one of the fastest adopters of cryptocurrency in the world, according to Chainalysis, a data firm that specializes in researching decentralized finance structures, and has made a concerted effort to attract investment related to the technology.

However, local law enforcement frequently accuse cryptominers of tax evasion, electricity theft or even of running fictitious companies, Technical Director at Ukrainian cybersecurity firm FS Group Sergiy Yevchuk told The Record.

Often these accusations are groundless, according to Michael Chobanian, founder of Ukraines first cryptocurrency exchange Kuna. But police officers, making in Ukraine just about $500 a month according to Ukrainian job search website Work.ua, seize expensive equipment and expect kickbacks to return it.

There are cases when miners do breach local law, most often stealing electricity from power plants or bribing their workers to lower the bill. And cryptocurrency is also used by criminals to extort payments from victims of ransomwaresoftware that locks their systems up so they can only be unlocked with a string of code known to the attackersand launder those funds.

Without a legal framework in Ukraine and elsewhere, the market may continue to be prone to crime and abuse. However, local backers of the technology warn that trying to regulate risks slowing the industrys growth and scaring away investors.

Meanwhile, as cryptocurrency has gone mainstream globally by offering those facing economic instability another investment option, its current energy ecosystem is also destructive to the actual ecosystem all humans live in.

Cryptomining for survival in Ukraine

The theoretical promise of cryptocurrencies was that they would help provide a decentralized financial alternative to current economic systems. This could be especially powerful for those living in areas facing economic uncertainty or where citizens might distrust local governments or banks due to issues like corruptionincluding Ukraine.

However, maintaining the networks the cryptocurrencies rely on, known as blockchains, requires miningwhich involves solving increasingly complex math problems.

In practice, that means cryptominers need powerful hardware, a place for it, and access to a power grid to mine Ethereum or Bitcoin, or any other cryptocurrency.

In Ukraine, some set everything up at home, earning a few dollars per day. Others, seeking bigger profits, grow to such a scale that they fill entire warehouses with rows of rigscomputers and videogame consoles networked together and dedicating their processing power to mining cryptocurrency.

The graphics cards, or GPUs, are the most essential part of the mining rig as their type determines the miners profits. A rig with powerful GPUs can cost up to $18,000 in Ukraine, according to Yevchuk. It can be delivered straight to the house by one of the local postal operators.

The average salary in Ukraine is about $600 a month, according to the Ukrainian State Statistics Service, so mining equipment is an expensive investment for many. However, cryptocurrency mining is most popular among young tech specialists, who earn about $2,300 a month and are often more willing to take risks.

A 25-year-old tech specialist named Volodymyr, for instance, who asked to only be identified by his first name due to privacy concerns, mines Ethereum at his apartment in Kyiv using seven GPUs produced by Nvidia and AMD.

His GPUs cost nearly $5,000, and brings in about $9 a day, or $270 a month. His farm consumes nearly 700 watt-hours of electricity, and costs him $28 a month. For reference: a fridge uses about 300 watt-hours, a microwaveover 800 watt-hours.

For Volodymyr, cryptomining is an extra source of income that provides added stability and doesnt replace his day job. He has at least 15 friends involved in cryptomining, he said.

Some of them mine coins just to return the money they paid for the graphics card, he told The Record.

Volodymyrs farm is also too small to attract the attention of law enforcement.

But Chobanian, one of the leaders in Ukraines crypto industry, is much more publicand six years ago, the police raided his apartment in Kyiv.

They were hunting for a mining farm and trying to get access to his e-wallet. They took everything, only the fridge still stands, he wrote in a Facebook post at the time.

Chobanian says he didnt do anything illegal. According to him, police officers searched his home just because they thought that if the word cryptocurrency isnt in the laws, then having it is a crime. Ultimately, Chobanian did prove in court that his equipment was seized illegally, and managed to return it.

But it was far from the only raid.

For example, in July 2021 law enforcement agencies searched UAE-based company Engineering, looking for a crypto farm at the warehouse adjacent to the power plant in Vinnytsia, in the southwest of Ukraine, Vice reported.

Ukraines Security Service (SBU) accused Engineering of cryptomining and electricity theft and seized over 5,000 PlayStation 4 consoles and graphics cards. It turned out the company used the hardware to train artificial intelligence for computer games.

Because of the raid, the company lost nearly $1 million, according to Maksym Bojko, a lawyer from Juscutum who represents the company.

Its been seven months, and it hasnt got its equipment back yet, Bojko told the Record.

Skirting the lawor lack of it

To avoid problems with the law, big crypto miners opt to register as entrepreneurs and pay taxes, according to Yevchuk. Then, according to Bojko, they should sign a deal with a local power distributor, who should agree to sell miners electricity at current tariffsnearly 6 cents for 1 kWh.

According to Bojko, this is an ideal way to run a cryptomining business, but also an expensive onethey need to pay 19.5% in taxes.

To save money, some miners opt to play dirty. There are two scenarios, according to Chobanian. Some crypto miners partner with state enterprises, like power stations, state railway and even universities; they set up cryptomining farms on the premises of state companies and illegally use their electricity.

State officials typically take a cut.

For example, in 2019, the deputy head of one of the regional departments of the state railway Volodymyr Gavronsky and his partners set up at the railways premises an illegal bitcoin farm.

Gavronsky faced three years in prison for stealing electricity, but asked for mercy and ended up paying only a $15,000 fine.

Another scenario is a Ponzi scheme, according to Chobanian. One example is Mining Express, the Ethereum mining company launched in Ukraine by Brazilian citizen Kaze Fuziyama in 2019.

In the past, Fuziyama was involved in two financial pyramid schemes. Their victimsmostly in Brazillost millions of dollars, leading some in the Ukrainian cryptocurrency market to view the Mining Express project with suspicion, including himself, said Chobanian.

In January, law enforcement searched the premises of Mining Express for four days and seized thousands of mining devices, according to local news reports.

In a post on Facebook, Mining Express lawyer Sergey Smirnov wrote that the company denied the accusations and would appeal the seizure.

However, cryptocurrencies are also tied to crime on an international scale. Chainalysis recently reported that more than $600 million worth of cryptocurrency movement in 2021 was tied to ransomware payments by victims.

The same report traced $8.6 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions that year to money laundering.

Oligarchs, lawmakers, and reform

Despite these concerns, many powerful people in Ukraine are betting on cryptocurrency.

Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskyy set up a giant cryptocurrency mining farm on one of his steel plants. Later he was accused of rigging government tenders to buy energy cheapfor less than 4 cents for 1 kWh.

Kolomoyskyy is the fourth-richest Ukrainian, according to Forbes. He owns assets worth $1.8 billion. With all the equipment working at full capacity, he could earn nearly 80 Bitcoins ($3.3 million) every month, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Ukrainian lawmakers are also invested in the technology.

In 2017, Ukrainian officials declared around $7 million worth of cryptocurrencies, according to Ukrainian investigative organization Bihus.info. And the numbers have been growing rapidly since then.

Ukrainian lawmaker Yegor Chernev, for instance, says he owns 6 Bitcoins ($253,500), claiming he mined half of them; Anatoliy Urbansky, Ukrainian opposition lawmaker, boasts 4,000 Bitcoins ($169 million).

While some state officials are the real cryptocurrency holders, others could have declared it to avoid taxes or hide the real source of their income, according to Chobanian.

To bring at least some order to this industry, the Ukrainian parliament in September 2021 passed a law to regulate cryptocurrencies, defining the legal status of virtual assets and rules regarding their ownership.

But in October, President Volodymyr Zelensky vetoed the bill and sent it back to parliament for changes.

The law wont really affect cryptocurrency miners, but it would allow crypto businesses to work officially in Ukraine and pay taxes here, according to Bojko. Potentially, they will have fewer problems with authorities.

Some miners and crypto enthusiasts, however, oppose these changesarguing they dont align with the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies.

A bet against the planet

Similar debates over the regulation of cryptocurrencies are happening around the world, often with local lawmakers struggling to address the real world financial and energy impacts of the technologys rise.

Usually, miners set up their farms in places where electricity is cheap and rely on fossil fuelsincluding petrostates where authoritarian regimes rely on keeping energy costs low as a method of popular control. In some areas, including Kazakhstan, this has contributed to social unrest when cryptocurrency mining operations strain the local power grid and cause blackouts.

Electricity in Ukraine isnt the cheapest, but the country relies heavily on fossil fuelscontributing to climate change and having substantial harmful health effects on people who live there. Ukraine consistently ranks among the top three air polluters in Europe. Every fifth death in Ukraine can be traced to poor air quality, which kills 54,000 people in Ukraine per year, according to Ukrainian nonprofit Ecoaction.

Ukrainian cryptocurrency advocates argue cryptomining in Ukraine is a win-win: According to Chobanian, cryptomining farms are an effective tool for grid balancingusing excess electricity to keep power plants running around the clock. This, in turn, helps decrease emissions caused by the need to ramp up power plants up and down to match the demand, he told The Record.

However, the rush towards cryptocurrency represented by the mining boom in Ukraine is part of a much bigger shift towards global energy use to support these networks.

For example, the U.S. Super Bowl featured many advertisements for cryptocurrency related services. Many celebrities are also promoting Non-Fungible Token (NFT) projects, which also rely on blockchain technology and have similar energy consumption concerns, even as the market for those projects is rampant with scams.

These and other trends together mean a massive amount of energy is being used to support the cryptocurrency market.

Globally, mining for Bitcoinone of the most popular kinds of cryptocurrencyat current rates will consume 125.13 terawatt-hours a year according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Indexmore than the entire country of Argentina consumes in a year.

And, for now at least, theres no sign of cryptocurrency mining cooling down in Ukraine.

Daryna Antoniuk is a reporter at Forbes Ukraine. Shes a former tech journalist at the Kyiv Post, and studies journalism and communications at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. She covers cybersecurity, investment and the technology industry in Eastern Europe.Andrea Peterson (they/them) is senior policy correspondent at The Record and a longtime cybersecurity journalist who cut their teeth covering technology policy ThinkProgress (RIP), then The Washington Post from 2013 through 2016, before doing deep dive public records investigations at the Project on Government Oversight and American Oversight. Their work has also been published at Slate, Politico, The Daily Beast, Ars Technica, Protocol, and other outlets. Peterson also produces independent creative projects under their Plain Great Productions brand and can generally be found online as kansasalps.

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The heated debate over cryptocurrency mining in Ukraine - The Record by Recorded Future

What happened

Today's been a relatively muted day in the crypto world. However, certain tokens are seeing outsize moves. One such token that's worth taking a look at today is Neo(CRYPTO:NEO). As of 2:40 p.m. ET, this token had surged 11.3% higher to move into 59th place in the cryptocurrency market cap rankings.

Among the key drivers taking this token on a wild ride higher today was news of Neo's first-ever monthly tech report. This report highlighted progress made on several roadmap items the Neo developer team has been working on for some time. These included a range of bug fixes, as well as new resources and support for developers utilizing Neo to incorporate smart contracts into decentralized applications.

Image source: Getty Images.

Additionally, published "gas burn" data directly from the Neo team shows signifiant recent spikes, specifically one at 3 a.m. ET. On the Neo network, Neo tokens are the governance tokens tied to the voting rights for this network, while Gas tokens are the "fuel" that allow for transactions to take place on the network. System fees are burned, with network fees redistributed to census nodes. Higher gas burn rates suggest that transaction volumes spiked over a given period of time.

Neo is a China-based blockchain, often regarded as the first ever from China, launched in 2014. Accordingly, it's not surprising to see large spikes in what are after-hours trading periods in North America, given this time difference. However, the recent gas burn data provided by Neo does suggest that activity could be picking up on the network. Given the geopolitical concerns coming out of China, this is a bullish factor investors seem to like today.

Additionally, the technical update provided by the Neo team has provided some significant detail on what's going on behind the scenes. Those with sophisticated knowledge of the inner workings of this network appear to like what they see. Like any investment, more transparency is usually a good thing. This appears to be the case with Neo today.

Neo is certainly an interesting blockchain network to take a look at. For those bullish on continued global growth in the crypto space, this may be a token to put on the watch list. Indeed, Neo's rise of more than 11% at a time when the overall crypto market was up less than 1% signals investors believe there's some real near-term upside potential with this token.

Like all cryptocurrencies, investors ought to take caution and do their due diligence before diving into any token. That said, Neo is one project I intend to look deeper into following today's news.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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This Cryptocurrency Surged 11% Higher Today, Pole-Vaulting Into the Top 60 - The Motley Fool

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Cryptocurrency was edging higher overnight and into Tuesday morning as Bitcoin broke through the $44,000 plateau despite investor concern over Russia and Ukraine.

Early Tuesday, Bitcoin was trading at nearly $44,220, up 4.87%, while Ether and Dogecoin were trading at $3,110 (+8.55%) and 15 cents (+4.39%), respectively, Coindesk reported.

BlockFi Lending LLC has reached a $100 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and 32 states after being charged with failing to register offers and sales of its retail crypto lending product and violating registration provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940.

THIS IS WHY WE NEED BITCOIN

According to the SEC, the company, which is backed by investor Peter Thiel, began offering and selling BlockFi Interest Accounts (BIAs) to the public in March 2019, in which investors lend crypto assets to the company in exchange for its promise to provide a variable monthly interest payment.

Cryptocurrency was edging higher overnight and into Tuesday morning as Bitcoin broke through the $44,000 plateau despite investor concern over Russia and Ukraine.

In other cryptocurrency news, a federal judge ruled Monday that Heather Morgan will be released pending trial, while her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, will remain behind bars as they both face trial for allegedly laundering billions in stolen bitcoin.

Judge Beryl Howell said the evidence suggests that Morgan was an integral player in the scheme but that Lichtenstein seemed more involved in the planning and execution of the alleged crimes.

Howell also said Morgans health conditions were a factor, as she recently had breast surgery and has follow-up appointments scheduled. She will be on home detention with an ankle bracelet GPS monitor.

The defense pointed out that both defendants had their families in court who were willing to put up their homes in exchange for a guarantee that the defendants would appear for all court dates.

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However, Howell ultimately ruled that there was a significant flight risk, and agreed with government prosecutors who argued that several hundred million in cryptocurrency could buy a new house or "buy each of their parents a private island."

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Cryptocurrency trading higher across the board, Bitcoin above $44,000 - Fox Business

Some therapists are seeing a wave of clients seeking help for addiction to buying and selling cryptocurrency and crypto-related mental health issues, according to Quartz.

Cryptocurrency made its first big appearance in Super Bowl commercials this year, notably trading platform Coinbase's, which drove so much traffic to the site that it crashed. Currencies like Bitcoin, ethereum have minted millionaires and even spurred a series of robberies and kidnappings targeting cryptocurrency and NFT owners.

But the rise of crypto has also driven clients especially men and those who already struggle with mental health to seek help with addiction to the currencies, per the Quartz report.

One therapist, London-based Peter Klein, told Quartz that a client in a difficult marriage used crypto as a form of escape, staying in the basement buying and selling currencies and doing cocaine. Others simply express high levels of anxiety and despair about transactions, especially when the volatile crypto markets crash.

"Addiction is all about those highs and lows," Patty Fiore, therapist and crypto trader, told Quartz. This is likely similar to other forms of addiction to gambling or day trading, except, as Fiore said, crypto trading is available 24 hours a day, unlike traditional stock market swaps.

Klein also told the outlet that since many crypto markets dipped dramatically in December, 30 or 40 people reached out seeking help with crypto addiction. Bitcoin prices, for example, have fallen by more than a third since late November.

The Quartz story follows a June 2021 article in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions on cryptocurrency addiction, which talks about the "the particular structural characteristics of this activity and its potential to give rise to excessive or harmful behaviour including over-spending and compulsive checking," per the study's abstract. It even talks about FOMO [fear of missing out] as a factor in compelling addictive behaviors.

Ashley Loeb Blassingame, cofounder and chief people officer of online Substance Use Disorder (SUD) counseling service Lionrock, said about 10 clients have brought up cryptocurrency addiction in treatment in the last two or three years.

"Crypto addiction functions the same way as almost any other addiction, and it's closest to gambling in terms of, you're getting dopamine hit every time you make a trade, it's that trill seeking part of our brain," she told Insider.

It has always been secondary or tertiary addictionor even something that comes up as a new problem when a client is already sober. (She says the company saw about 2,300 clients in 2021).

"We have people seeking relief, financially, emotionally, spiritually, and politicallythrough cryptocurrency. It's something new they can believe in and be a part of," she added.

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Trading cryptocurrency is driving some to seek therapy for addiction - Business Insider

Cryptocurrency has become one of the most widely discussed topics of 2022. As such, it shouldnt come as a surprise that mentioning crypto in an online dating profile may generate additional attention.

A new study from brokerage firm eToro found that 33% of Americans who were surveyed would be more likely to go on a date with someone who mentioned crypto assets in their online dating profile. Out of the 2,000 adult residents in the United States between the ages of 18 and 99 surveyed, more than 40% of men and 25% of women indicated that their interest in a potential date is stronger when crypto is written on a dating profile.

Callie Cox, U.S. investment analyst at eToro, told Cointelegraph that the findings from eToros inaugural Crypto & Culture survey demonstrate the crossover between money, culture and identity. We talked a lot about identity in the survey and how this has a strong place in the crypto community. The genesis of this campaign was to better understand how people think of big life projects and finding that perfect partner, said Cox.

With this in mind, Cox explained that one of the most notable findings in the report was that 33% of respondents would be open to dating someone who mentioned crypto in their profile. This shows there is a connection between money, love and identity when people look for a partner on a dating app, she remarked. Cox added that it was also interesting to see that nearly 74% of survey respondents noted they would likely go on a second date with a person who paid the first dates bill in Bitcoin (BTC). We also wanted to test the environment to see how people felt about using crypto as a currency. We were surprised to see this percentage so high, which also speaks to identity.

While these findings suggest that publicly open crypto holders and enthusiasts may attract more attention across dating apps, Cox shared that Millennials and Gen Z respondents were the majority of people who participated in the survey. Everyone had to self-identify and most of the respondents were from the younger generation, she said. Regarding using crypto as a currency, Cox further mentioned that eToros findings show that paying a bill in Bitcoin is of greater interest to men than to women.

Although eToros survey suggests that crypto terminology may make daters more desirable, some crypto community members find mentioning the trait to be a double-edged sword.

For instance, Hailey Lennon, law partner at Anderson Kill and founder of Crypto Connect, told Cointelegraph that she didnt initially have Bitcoin anywhere in her online dating profile, but that she eventually added it since the digital asset has been a long-time passion of hers. While Lennon didnt notice an increase in responses to her profile from adding Bitcoin, shes had some matches that have piqued her interest due to commonalities:

However, Lennon also pointed out that including crypto terminology in your online dating profile can backfire. Sometimes I will reframe things and say that Im an attorney in financial technology, without mentioning Bitcoin or cryptocurrency to not make the entire conversation become about Bitcoin and what I do for a living. You also have those people who still associate cryptocurrency with this false narrative of it being used only for criminal activity and money laundering, so it can be interesting to try to explain how you are a lawyer in the digital asset space, said Lennon.

Moreover, while Lennon finds eToros survey results to be interesting, she noted that many people in the crypto community focus so much on digital assets in their day-to-day lives that they may want to have non-crypto-focused conversations in romantic settings. Sometimes a date can only consist of wanting to talk about Bitcoin and how it works when people find out what you do for a living. That can get kind of old and take the romance/fun out of the date.

Echoing this, Ivan Perez, owner at Multiplied a crypto-focused PR firm told Cointelegraph that since adding investing and working in crypto to his online dating profiles, hes connected three times with women who also work in the cryptocurrency space. While Perez mentioned that the commonality can be an added plus, he shared that each date he went on with someone in the crypto sector felt more like work than pleasure. All we did was talk about crypto, expressed Perez.

Perez further explained that having crypto in his online dating profile has also attracted the wrong attention at times:

In turn, Perez explained that working in crypto can make dating frustrating. Now that NFTs are generating more mainstream attention, Ive had women at conferences start to look for crypto-rich individuals. This is frustrating because it puts you in a place of doubt. Are these women interested in me or the industry I work in, questioned Perez.

From a womans perspective, adding crypto to their online dating profile can also result in challenges. Jessica Salama, community lead at GoodDollar Foundation a non-profit initiative focused on financial education in digital assets told Cointelegraph that while she thinks adding crypto to her profile has increased her desirability, it hasnt necessarily been for the right reasons:

According to Salama, mansplainers are patronizing men who assume that women dont understand the basics of the blockchain industry. Unfortunately, the crypto space is still largely male-dominated and can, therefore, be frustrating for some women. On the upside, Salama is aware of the fact that she is part of a transformative industry, which can also be beneficial in terms of finding romance. I met a great guy at a friends dinner who is a crypto day trader and took a genuine interest and respect in my work and passion for Web3. We spent the whole night talking. I cant say it was love since the relationship slowly fizzled out (we forked?) but he gave me that extra push to speak up for and own what I do and love, explained Salama.

Crypto and dating aside, eToros study also found that 8% of respondents would be interested in receiving a nonfungible token (NFT) as a Valentine's Day gift this year. According to Cox, this statistic wasnt much of a surprise given the rise of the NFT market. Yet, Cox noted that this finding was interesting since it demonstrates that Millennials and Gen Zs value identity-themed products. The younger generation wants to own something in real life or in the Metaverse and that shows who they are NFTs represent this.

As a result, a number of identity-themed Valentines Day NFTs are being offered this year. For example, jewelry designer MYKA has created a limited edition NFT collection consisting of digital drawings on three of their best selling jewelry pieces.

Ronnie Elgavish, vice president of global marketing at MYKA, told Cointelegraph that he believes more couples will give NFTs this Valentines Day due to the rise of the Metaverse and desire for a digital identity.

Ivan Sokolov, founder of Mintmade a platform that offers programmable templates for NFTs agrees with Elgavish. He told Cointelegraph that he thinks more couples will give tokenized Valentines Day cards this year.

Sokolov said that Mintmade allows users to mint a pair of custom NFTs with their and their partners names on them. These NFTs are user generated, meaning it is created by the buyer. The buyer simply enters two names on the platform and can mint the NFT with these names on it, explained Sokolov.

In addition to NFT Valentines Day gifts, eToros study found that nearly 20% of singles would be more interested in dating someone if they used an NFT as a profile picture on a social platform or dating site. So, if your gift of an NFT doesnt pan out, you can always use it to find a new date for March, joked Cox.

Although eToros findings suggest that crypto terminology and features may make online dating profiles more attractive, safety is a major factor that must also be considered when publicly mentioning cryptocurrency. Keeping a users crypto safe has become a main concern as the industry goes mainstream.

To put this in perspective, a recent report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis found that the intersection between cryptocurrency and crime grew to become a $14 billion industry in 2021. Justin Maile, manager of investigations at Chainalysis, told Cointelegraph that its best not to flaunt that you own crypto especially investing or any holdings on your dating profile to avoid making yourself a target. Maile added that scams are not confined to dating apps. Meta (Facebook), Instagram, LinkedIn, Quora, Discord, WeChat and others are all platforms scammers use to find their victims, he said.

Maile further noted that while he believes its okay to publicly mention an interest in crypto, additional details shouldnt be revealed. Similar to how you wouldnt publicly share that you have a savings account and how much is in it, its safest to not publicly share that you own crypto to avoid making yourself a target.

Moreover, Cox remarked that eToros findings demonstrate that adding the term crypto to a dating profile helps hone in on a users identity, but that online daters must be wise and prudent about what they reveal. There are good and bad actors everywhere, so individuals must be careful whether or not crypto is mentioned in their profiles.

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Love in the time of crypto: Does owning cryptocurrency make daters more desirable? - Cointelegraph