Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is an umbrella term that refers to digital currencies built on the blockchain. Cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity among the general public due to their ability to be traded for potentially lucrative returns.

Furthermore, many cryptocurrencies include powerful utility features such as smart contracts, cross-platform interoperability, and lightning-fast transaction speeds.

However, some aspects of cryptocurrency, such as its relatively high volatility and unpredictability, can elicit a cautious and measured response from existing and potential investors alike.

There are also cryptocurrencies whose value fluctuates infrequently and are known for their stability when compared to others such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. These coins are known as 'StableCoins.'

This list of the most stable cryptocurrencies is sorted by market cap because it is regarded as a true indicator of the value and worth of stablecoins because the majority of them are pegged to the USD with a value of one.

Tether

Tether (USDT) is one of the crypto market's oldest stablecoins. It was first introduced in 2014. Tether is also the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, as well as one of the most stable cryptocurrencies.

USD Coin

USD Coin (USDC) is also pegged one to one to the USD. It was launched in 2018 and is managed by Circle and Coinbase through the Centre Consortium, which they co-founded.

Binance USD

Binance USD (BUSD) is a stablecoin offered by Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. The New York State Department of Financial Services has approved the use of BUSD (NYDFS).

TerraUSD

TerraUSD (UST) is a stablecoin that Terra provides. It is intended to track the value of one US dollar, so it is pegged at one to one. TerraUSD is the 31st most valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization.

Dai

Dai (DAI) is a stablecoin that differs from the others on the list. Dai is backed by ether tokens and is pegged to the USD. Dai was introduced by MakerDAO in 2015 and is the 36th most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap.

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Cryptocurrency: Which is the most stable and why? - Marca English

In 2009, someone known only under the moniker Satoshi Nakamoto released what went on to become the first cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a form of decentralized, digital currency, which exists solely online as ones and zeroes, and is completely untraceable, and unregulated by any central authorities (banks, governments, etc.).

In the years that followed, Bitcoin went from what many considered a passing fad, or worse a waste of money, to one of the most popular investment options in the world. Today, there are very few people who are completely unfamiliar with the crypto market, and not just in Europe and America too. Cryptocurrency has made the rounds around the world, and has become embraced in Asia, Africa and South America. In fact, in 2021, El Salvador became the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender in the country.

In the dozen years since Bitcoins invention, the crypto has become accepted in the mainstream, and this acceptance has led to quite a bit of changes in various industries. In this article, we are going to take a look at a few industries on which crypto has had a major impact.

The iGaming Industry

The gambling industry has changed quite a bit in the 21st century. For one, the vast rise in popularity of online casinos like uudetkasinot.com, has made it so gambling games are a lot more accessible to most folks. This availability makes it much easier for gamblers to play their favorite games much more frequently, as these websites are often times accessible through any electronic device.

Another major change, is the embracing of bitcoin on the part of most casinos, both online, and land-based. Brick-and-mortar casinos the world over have begun accepting crypto trades in exchange for chips, and many have even begun to offer crypto-based withdrawals. The same is true for online casinos, some of which have specialized in nothing but Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals. These so-called Bitcoin Casinos (or Crypto Casinos) are becoming all the rage in the gambling world.

The Shopping Industry

Another major industry, which has experienced a massive change thanks to bitcoin, is the shopping industry. Shopping outlets all over the United States (and the world in general) have decided to accept different cryptocurrencies, though Bitcoin remains the most popular.

One industry that has especially embraced crypto, is the online shopping industry, with online shopping websites like AliExpress embracing payment from many different cryptocurrencies, most notably Bitcoin, Ether, etc.

The Tech Industry

It wont come as much of a shock to some of you, to hear that the tech industry has been hugely changed by Bitcoin. After all, cryptocurrency has its roots in computer programming and economics. Tech giants, like Microsoft, have begun to dabble in the crypto market, and some have decided that cryptocurrency might even be the way of the future, and thus have begun to accept crypto-based payments. On top of that, many tech companies have seen major success in the past decade, as theyve made blockchain design and maintenance their top priority.

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The Impact that Cryptocurrency Has Had On Various Industries - FinSMEs

Bitcenter

London, May 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bitcenteris offering its services with the help of qualified crypto experts and trained professionals who help the users to learn before they invest in the world of forex trading and cryptocurrency. The main aim ofBitcenteris to make crypto trading safe and secure for its users. The increasing buoyancy of people in cryptocurrency is good but the investment grows when it is safe. Without safety, the users not only lose the money but also feel disheartened and never trade again in cryptocurrency.

2020 and 2021 were the most vibrant years in the history of cryptocurrency and forex. Because the trust and interest of people touched the highest possible percentage. Last year a global increment of 100% has been observed in forex trading and cryptocurrency. This sudden rise in crypto adoption certainly needs safe and sound platforms for people through which they can invest their money without being afraid of fraud and also get proper support from experienced professionals in the crypto world.

There are many platforms that you can use for trading your money in cryptocurrency and forex. But only a few platforms offer useful features and make the overall trading experience amazing for both the newbies and the regular users. Among these few platforms,Bitcenter is one of the most accepted and favorite trading platforms that instantly got the attention of users because of its uncanny features and tools for trading.

Bitcenter: the most reliable platform in terms of security

With more than a hundred thousand positive reviews Bitcenter is ruling the hearts of countless customers as the most trusted website for forex and crypto trading. And now it is coming to the top as a leading platform for crypto investors in the United Kingdom. Most of the new investors do not know about the working principles of crypto and forex. They have investment money that they have earned with hard work and now want to increase their investment by trading in forex. Having no prior knowledge, they get scammed and lose their money most of the time. That is why everyone needs a trusted and safe solution with a reasonable amount of knowledge and communication with experts to gain useful knowledge of cryptocurrency trading.

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Bitcenter has appeared intending to ensure that every new user gets the best professional advice from erudite experts and communicates with trained crypto professionals before investing their money. Scams and frauds in crypto trading are common and they discourage the new users from investing their money and trading cryptocurrency in any form. Those who truly want to enter the world of crypto and forex but are afraid of being scammed or fooled by unauthorized platforms should choose Bitcenter. Because according to the business reviews on the website it has been estimated that around 90% of the customers think Bitcenter is the most protected and scam-free trading platform to date.

After providing perfect security for the user investment Bitcenter offers plenty of other features that most trading platforms lack. Among these were the features include 45 different methods for payment and quick withdrawals and trustworthy and active customer care that also offers instant communication with trading experts. The most spoken feature that has also a major role in making Bitcenter a world-famous platform is the sixteen languages communication system. And to your surprise, you can get a real-time experience by creating your free trial account of $10,000 without investing or submitting any penny to the platform. The sole purpose of this trial account is to teach new users and give them a vital understanding of crypto and forex. And after you learn and gain the confidence you can start your trading by putting your money.

The information provided in this release is not investment advice, financial advice or trading advice. It is recommended that you practice due diligence (including consultation with a professional financial advisor before investing or trading securities and cryptocurrency).

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Bitcenter is the safest platform for trading money in Cryptocurrency and Forex - Yahoo Finance

Switzerlands forex bank and broker, Dukascopy, today warned against a fraudulent website that have been falsely claiming affiliation with its authorized brand.

The clone entity, operating through the domain http://www.dukascoin.holds-coins.com, prompted action from the regulated company.

Dukascopy confirmed that it has no association whatsoever with the aforementioned platform and advised everyone to avoid it entirely.

The company added that dukascoin.holds is fraudulently using the name and logo of Diascopys own cryptocurrency (Dukascoin) for attracting clients/investors.

Do not trust any information to be found on the website http://www.dukascoin.holds-coins.com. This website is a clone of http://www.dukascoin.com website and its purpose is to induce individuals to reveal seed phrases to their crypto wallets. Do not provide any personal data on this website, Dukascopy said.

The forex bank stated that its taking actions against this dishonest organization.

The fraudulent brand is indeed attempting to mislead investors into thinking that it is offering a legal product by using the details of an authorized firm operating under a similar name. However, investors should be aware that the original company is not available to help in recovering funds if the unauthorized entity defrauds them.

Dukascopys cryptocurrency business was a major focus for clone firm scams as the pandemic has made people more susceptible due to concerns about personal finances. The company has been taking steps towards strengthening its cryptocurrency offering, including allowing clients to deposit and withdraw funds in digital coins, as well as enabling free internal crypto-transfers between users of mobile banking.

Dukascopy is an established forex bank and broker. Recently, the company has been a target of sophisticated tactics that mirror the genuine brokerage firms website. Last year, it warned clients to be extra vigilant to a fraudulent brand called Unitrade Enterprises Limited. The latter was a shady business that spans different sectors ranging from asset management to cryptocurrency trading.

What made the Geneva-based broker deeply outraged was a statement on Unitrade Enterprisess website saying that all their clients transactions are made through Dukascopy Bank.

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Scammers are becoming ever more sophisticated, targeting potential victims with professional looking websites. The most commonly reported thefts involved investments in forex, stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies.

Earlier this month, Dukascopy unveiled its financial statement for the four months ending April 30, 2022. The Geneva-based firms latest report was characterized by positive metrics in areas ranging from operating income to revenues, underpinning its guidance for the full year.

Specifically, the forex bank witnessed a surge in its revenues, which came in at CHF 10.3 million ($10.5 million). This figure is up by nearly a third from the CHF 7.9 million reported back in the same period a year ago.

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Dukascopy warns of fake website impersonating its cryptocurrency - FinanceFeeds

Cardano and Ethereum are often compared to each other

Those who follow the world of cryptocurrencies must have heard of the Cardano vs Ethereum argument. There's a frequent comparison between Cardano (ADA) and Ethereum (ETH) because both networks provide similar services. Both the Ethereum and Cardano blockchains can be used for similar functions, such as running custom programming logic (smart contracts) and creating programmes (decentralised applications). Any blockchain network's core algorithm is used to create blocks and validate transactions. The key difference is that Ethereum's Proof-of-Work blockchain is less flexible than Cardano's Proof-of-Stake Ouroboros consensus method at the present.

In 2015, Ethereum was introduced as a blockchain platform. Ether (FTH) is the platform's cryptocurrency. Cardano was launched in 2017, and ADA is the platform's cryptocurrency.

Ethereum's Proof-of-Work blockchain has a proven track record. To keep the blockchain functioning, miners perform many complex calculations. One Ether is a unit of measurement for the amount of computational power used.

Similarly, Cardano's Ouroboros has a Proof-of-Stake consensus, where miners are substituted by validators. Traditional mining consumes a lot more energy and resources than Proof-of-Stake mining.

Since its inception, Ether has evolved tremendously and is still regarded as one of the most powerful cryptocurrencies. Cardano, on the other hand, is one of the most secure digital assets due to its meticulous development. ADA had previously been on a downward trend, but it has since become relatively cheap, making it an excellent investment option for existing investors.

Cardano appears to be a decent investment in the short to medium term. It is moderately priced and is likely to appreciate in value as the DApp market increases.

Ethereum, with its high market share and the planned improvements in Ethereum 2.0, is likely to be a good cryptocurrency to own in the long run.

However, despite these factors, it is difficult to tell which cryptocurrency will have a better chance in 2022. Both have had their ups and downs, and it is difficult to anticipate whose value may fall or rise.

As a result, investors should exercise caution before investing.

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Ethereum Vs Cardano: Which Will Drive The Cryptocurrency Market In 2022? - NDTV Profit

Cryptocurrencies and the exchanges they trade on have been a runaway gravy train in sports in the past year, with athletes hawking them in ads, teams entering partnerships, arenas inking naming rights deals and even umpires wearing logos.

But as evidenced by last weeks crypto crash, theres a risk when investing in unregulated assets. So should famous athletes, teams and leagues be encouraging fans to buy in?

Arthur Solomon, a former executive at global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, termed crypto endorsements by teams, leagues and athletes a disservice because its unregulated investment advice. There are professional investment advisers who are regulated by the government to give financial advice, and I believe that the FTC and other government agencies should not permit someone, just because he can hit a home run or throw a touchdown pass, to give financial advice on public airwaves, he said.

As for leagues and teams, Solomon is even more critical, calling them shameless and lumping crypto into the same category as beer and liquor and gambling commercials viewed by kids and vulnerable adults during games.

The concern critics have is not that teams and leagues will see sponsorships collapse but that the sports entities are encouraging fans to invest in a risky, unregulated market. Sports cultural commentator Bomani Jones dedicated a whole section of his HBO show to the space, which he described as a con.

People call it currency, but that is just a word they use to keep the fans off the scent, Jones said.

But not everyone sees an issue with the promotion of crypto in sports. Many athletes and teams got into crypto because its advertised as the future of money. It is viewed as the cool thing, with Tom Brady backing crypto exchange FTX in funny commercials and Steph Curry and Trevor Lawrence also backers, while Joe Burrow hypes Bitcoin.

Its new and exciting, said Doug Shabelman, CEO of Burns Sports & Entertainment, an agency that specializes in celebrity endorsement. So why shouldnt these guys want to go out and do it? You know, its something different than the usual, and theres money.

Crypto enthusiast Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, doesnt see an issue.

Look at the stock market, Cuban wrote in an email. Facebook, Amazon and Apple have lost more in market cap than the entire crypto market. A ton of tech companies have lost 80 percent or more of their value. I dont see anyone questioning sponsorships by those companies.

The difference is those companies advertise to get consumers to buy or use their products, the same way potato chip brands or restaurant chains might. If their stock falls and the sponsorship goes away, it does not affect the fan who bought the underlying product.

Crypto sponsorships and endorsements are different in that they are seeking fans to put their money at risk. Still, Cuban writes, Their values go up and down depending on how they perform and how much risk investors want to take. In fact, the Nasdaq and crypto markets are pretty highly correlated. They tend to go up and down together.

While that may or may not be true, there is a risk to sports entities by closely aligning with volatile assets. Last week, the Washington Nationals, who have a $38 million sponsorship with cryptocurrency Terra, tweeted a hype video for the investment as the coin crashed. The team and Major League Baseball declined to comment.

The crypto crash, which at one point wiped out roughly $1 trillion of value, brought tales of investors losing their life savings. The crypto markets have stabilized somewhat this week, but the threat of wild volatility remains.

Will they be a reputational black eye? connected sports consultant Marc Ganis asked of crypto. This is where the teams need to balance money with risk reputational risk. The reality is that when a team signs a major sponsor or when a league signs a major sponsorship deal, there is an expectation that that is a first-tier company. And so it gets some of the credibility, some of the aura of the credibility that the league or the team has. And that gets conveyed on to the sponsor.

Clearly, there have not been such worries, evidenced by numerous sponsorships, including Crypto.coms 20-year, $700 million naming rights for the former Staples Center and FTXs $135 million deal to name the Miami Heat arena. FTX even has a patch deal for MLB umpire uniforms. There were so many crypto ads during the Super Bowl, which sold on average for over $6 million per 30-second spot, that some dubbed the game the Cryptobowl.

But while crypto is billed as the future of money, the category is more akin to an investment than a currency, though it is used in some transactions and a handful of athletes have famously converted their salaries into crypto. But even FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried said recently that Bitcoin, the most popular crypto payment, has no future as a currency because the technological system could not handle it.

And former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told CNBC this week: Bitcoin and other currencies, cryptocurrencies whose value changes minute to minute, theyve been successful as a speculative asset. And people are seeing the downside of that right now. But they were intended to be a substitute for fiat money. And I think, in that respect, they have not succeeded. Because if bitcoin were a substitute for fiat money, you could use bitcoin to go buy your groceries. Nobody buys groceries with bitcoin because its too expensive and too inconvenient to do that.

So I dont think that bitcoin is going to take over as an alternative form of money. Itll be around as long as people are believers and they want to speculate.

So if its a speculative asset, should sports teams, leagues and players be pumping it up? Other corners of finance, from derivatives to mortgage-backed securities, which sparked the 2008 financial crisis, dont have their own sports cheering section.

The NFL, which only in March allowed team sponsorship of crypto exchanges but not currencies, says it views crypto in the larger perspective of blockchain, the decentralized digital technology that underpins crypto. On blockchain, non-fungible tokens, which are digital pictures and highlights, have traded for millions of dollars, though the market has cooled.

It is a space we want to be thoughtful and careful, said Joe Ruggiero, the NFLs senior vice president of consumer products. But the league has interest in getting into the space because it is a way to engage with fans in an interesting way, he added, citing digital commemorative ticket stubs.

To date, only the Dallas Cowboys have inked a crypto exchange deal, withblockchain.com, but other teams are busy probing the space.

The NBA allows for deals in the cryptocurrency space, including crypto exchanges, but does not allow for the promotion of specific cryptocurrencies. The league advises its teams to vet potential partners before entering into any promotional or other arrangements. These basic rules are for the WNBA as well.

Major League Soccer, which has a younger demographic and is less financially robust than its four legacy peer leagues, has been wading into the crypto space, which also includes blockchain, NFTs and exchanges. In a bid to appeal to its younger, tech-savvy fan base, the league and its teams have struck several deals, including D.C. Uniteds three-year, $18 million jersey sponsorship signed in February with blockchain tech firm XDC Network.

In March, Nashville FC announced its sponsorship deal with digital assets management firm Valkyrie Investments would be paid in bitcoin, the first MLS team to take crypto instead of U.S. dollars for a partnership. Inter Miami and the New England Revolution also have struck crypto-related partnerships.

MLS declined to comment.

Defenders of sports engagement with crypto point to a difference between backing a specific coin versus the exchanges like FTX andcrypto.com that have spent vast sums thus far. Coinbase signed a deal in October to become the official cryptocurrency exchange of the NBA, WNBA and G League.

And Cuban wrote in an email, Unless a team has Terra as a sponsor, its a non-event. Terra is the crypto the Nats promote and which crashed dramatically last week.

Comparisons are also made with the dot-com bubble burst of the early 2000s. In the lead-up to it, internet companies like CMGI and PSINet and retailers such as pets.com spent heavily on sports, only to disappear and in some cases default on sponsorship payments. Many of the crypto exchanges are well financed, so their deals for naming rights to arenas and other deals for the time being look safe.

The concern critics have, however, is not that teams and leagues will see sponsorships collapse but that the sports entities are encouraging fans to invest in a risky, unregulated market.

David Carter, a sports marketing consultant and associate professor at the University of Southern Californias Marshall School of Business, said younger sports fans might view crypto simply as part of their lives now and dont treat it with the same risk-aversion and uncertainty as older people.

A lot of it has to do with the consumer theyre trying to reach, Carter said. A team, league or sports property, you understand that and youre taking a measured risk. One persons sin category is another persons compelling revenue stream.

Jonathan Jensen, a sports marketing expert and assistant professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said crypto wont be the last risky category to use sports to promote itself.

After fledgling tech firms, subprime mortgage companies and cryptocurrency, Im certain there will be another emerging, new industry that will utilize sports sponsorship to prop itself up, Jensen said. Its kind of built to do that. Sometimes it works, and oftentimes it doesnt.

(Top photo of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones presenting Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith with a jersey after announcing a partnership: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)

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Weighing whether cryptocurrency, sports and fans are a good combination - The Athletic

Cryptocurrency Investment Mistakes: Here are the 4 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Making an Investment in Cryptocurrency

For many novice investors, cryptocurrencies and digital assets represent a more appealing and accessible inroad into investing than more conventional investment products such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Crypto traders can buy and sell digital currency through online brokers and centralized or decentralized crypto exchanges. These platforms often give them much more flexibility and have much lower barriers to entry than traditional financial institutions.

Ease of access to crypto trading platforms has many new traders jumping at opportunities to invest, especially among the youth. However, this escalating hype coupled with cryptocurrencies price volatility can lead investors to make costly mistakes if they arent careful. Above all, its important for crypto investors to do their research and start by investing conservatively. This will help them avoid incurring hefty losses from ill-conceived crypto trades.

Losing the Keys to Your Digital Wallet

Crypto assets are most often traded through digital wallets, which are protected by a set of unique cryptographic keys. Transactions with some coins even operate exclusively through these wallets. One example is the privacy coin Monero, which can only be sent and received with a dedicated XMR wallet. Because crypto wallets are such an important part of crypto trading, its essential to always keep your wallet keys safe and secure.

Cryptographic keys are used to create and sign transactions on your chosen cryptocurrencys blockchain. Each set of keys serves as a unique identifying code for its user, preventing unauthorized parties from accessing and using your crypto wallet. Its important to bear in mind, however, that you cant recover or reset your wallet keys in the same way that you might with a password or PIN code. Losing your keys thus means losing access to all digital assets kept in your wallet.

Unfortunately, its quite common for investors to lose or forget their private keys. In fact, a lot of todays cryptocurrency remains inaccessible due to this costly error. A report from Chainalysis reports that over 20 percent of the 18.5 million Bitcoin (BTC) mined to date has been lost due to misplaced keys.

You can avoid this mistake by storing your keys in a safe place, such as on an external hard drive. Some investors even save their keys by printing them out or writing them down on a piece of paper rather than in a digital document. For extra protection, they may keep this paper on them at all times or store it in a locked vault.

Excessive Diversification

Rather than putting all your eggs in one basket, diversifying your portfolio is considered a smart financial move when dealing with traditional investing products. That said, doing so is almost a must for building a strong crypto portfolio given digital assets extreme price volatility. However, its also possible to over-diversify your cryptocurrency portfolio given the sheer number of coins available on the market today.

A crypto investor who puts money down on too many coins may find themselves holding a large number of poorly performing assets, which can lead to significant losses in the long run. Rather than buying up every coin you see, invest in coins with promising growth trajectories. At every turn, it helps to carefully research any tokens youre interested in and how theyre expected to perform under a variety of market conditions.

Mistyping Trade Orders or Addresses

Be very careful when typing out trade orders on crypto investing platforms, as investors are often prone to fat finger errors. Mistyping decimal places, adding additional zeroes, and other similar errors can cause you to lose a lot of your investment money in the blink of an eye. Thus, its in your best interest to double- and even triple-check each transaction thoroughly before confirming it.

Investors should exercise an equal amount of caution when sending crypto to other users, as theres no way to retrieve assets that are mistakenly sent to the wrong address. Unlike traditional bank transfers, transactions on the blockchain are immutable and cant be reversed. These kinds of mistakes can deal painful blows to your investment portfolio, so take your time entering your transaction details to make sure theyre accurately encoded.

Storing Your Coins Online

Most crypto investors, especially those new to trading crypto, access their coins through centralized exchanges. These platforms operate similarly to traditional banks in that they store your coins on their servers for you rather than giving you access to your own digital wallets. Because the exchange will continue to hold any tokens you own, your assets may be vulnerable to hacking operations and other cyberattacks.

Even high-profile crypto exchanges have fallen victim to attacks from cybercriminals multiple times, leading to millions of dollars worth of stolen assets that had been stored on these platforms. To protect your assets, the best option is to store them offline. Set yourself up with either a software or hardware wallet so that you can withdraw and store your coins securely after you buy them.

Investing in crypto can be an exciting and profitable venture. However, as cryptocurrencies are a fairly young asset class and are therefore highly speculative, crypto trading remains quite risky. As with more traditional assets, exercising caution and researching thoroughly before investing can help you minimize losses and make the most of your investments.

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4 Common Cryptocurrency Investment Mistakes and How to Avoid Them - CrowdWisdom360 - http://www.crowdwisdom.live

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., called on New Yorkers to support the cryptocurrency market in a March op-ed in the New York Daily News titled, "A liberal case for cryptocurrency."

"With a multi-billion dollar market capitalization, crypto is here to stay. It's not going anywhere. New York City should and must embrace crypto if it is to remain the financial capital of the world," wrote Torres, who sits on the House Financial Services Committee.

Torres failed to mention two upcoming fundraisers industry backers were throwing for him in April. Crypto investors Ben Horowitz, Anthony Albanese and Chris Dixon leaders at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz hosted the "Ritchie Torres Ethereum Fundraiser" at the swanky private nightclub Zero Bond in New York City on April 13, according to invitations viewed by CNBC. One of the invites promised "cocktails and conversation" with Torres, asking donors to contribute between $500 and $5,800 to attend the event. Another invite suggested donors contribute in ether, a type of cryptocurrency that's trading at around $2,000.

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Horowitz, Albanes and Dixon did not respond to requests for comment. An aide to Torres confirmed details of the fundraiser.

Torres' op-ed and his ongoing support in Congress point to the crypto industry's growing influence in Washington, D.C. Not only has the industry hired more than 200 officials and staff from the White House, Congress, Federal Reserve and political campaigns, according to the Tech Transparency Project, crypto executives have contributed more than $30 million toward federal candidates and campaigns since the start of the 2020 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records. Those investments have begun paying dividends as crypto executives landed hearings on Capitol Hill and helped to secure backing for amendments to President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure bill, congressional aides say.

Crypto investors have established at least two new political action committees just this year, seeded with tens of millions of dollars, aimed at helping industry-friendly lawmakers get elected to Congress. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of crypto exchange FTX, is the primary force behind the political action committee Protect Our Future, which hasraised more than $14 million and could tip the scales in House races in Ohio and Oregon.

The PAC has already endorsed Torres, who told NBC News last month that he's received "minimal" campaign contributions from the industry.

Fred Wilson, a partner at venture capital firm Union Square Ventures, which is also heavily invested in cryptocurrencies, co-hosted another fundraising event for Torres in April, the lawmaker's aide confirmed. The aide, who asked not to be named because the events were private, noted that the Wilson fundraiser had been rescheduled to April after originally being set to take place in December.

Bankman-Fried; SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump's short-lived communications director; and brothers Bart and Bradford Stephens, co-founders of Blockchain Capital, have donated more than $20 million combined in the 2022 election cycle so far, according to FEC records. Bankman-Fried, for instance, contributed $5 million toward pro-Biden super PAC Future Forward during the president's successful 2020 run for the White House.

Members of the group of crypto financiers alsolaunched and financed GMI PACthis cycle, with aims to spend $20 million to boost congressional candidates. Ryan Salame, co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, a subsidiary of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, joined as one the super PAC's early backers, along with CMS Holdings co-founder Dan Matuszewski. SkyBridge Capital was one of the original backers of the committee.

Bankman-Fried donated $2 million to the super PAC in January.

Torres defended his crypto-backed events in a statement to CNBC, reiterating that he's received "minimal" contributions from those in the digital currency industry.

"During the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, I have raised well over $5 million, of which crypto represents a mere 1% hence the term 'minimal,'" Torres said in the statement. "Having said all that, there's nothing shocking about individuals supporting candidates who share their policy views. That is what voters and donors typically do."

Salame has emerged as a major campaign booster, courting lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. He launched the American Dream Federal ActionPAC in April with $4 million in seed money, according to Politico. It supports "forward-looking" Republicans "who want to protect America's long term economic and national security by advancing smart policy decisions now," according to the website and FEC filings.

Bankman-Fried, who declined to comment through FTX's spokesman Peter Padovano, testified Thursday before the House Agriculture Committee at a hearing titled, "Changing Market Roles: The FTX Proposal and Trends in New Clearinghouse Models." Scaramucci and the Stephens brothers did not respond to requests for comment. Padovano did not respond to emails requesting to speak to Salame.

Salame donated $500,000 in April to a super PAC closely aligned with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the powerful Senate Banking Committee, FEC records show.

Tillis privately told allies "I love FTX" after he saw the donation pop up in FEC records earlier this month, according to people who overheard the remarks. They asked not to be identified because the conversation was private.

Daniel Keylin, a senior advisor to Tillis, told CNBC in an email that his boss has "voiced some concerns with the crypto industry and the need for Congress to focus on right-sizing regulations that focus on consumer protections while allowing the industry to continue innovating."

Bankman-Fried told members of the moderate New Democrat Coalition in an April meeting that the industry would back some regulation, but it's concerned about how some proposals will affect the larger crypto business.

"His message has been kind of consistent with what we've heard from a lot of different industry players which is, 'we need some clarity. We're not opposing regulation. We want regulation. We want investor protection regulation. We want some clarity,'" Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., who is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and was at the meeting, told CNBC in an interview.

For all its growing influence, the industry was unsuccessful in getting the Biden administration to drop a provision in its $1 trillion infrastructure law that requires crypto brokers to notify the IRS through a 1099 form of crypto transactions.

"Crypto folks started to freak out," and began flooding lawmakers' offices to get that provision altered after the details became public last year, according to one congressional aide.

Executives, however, seem to have been successful in convincing a bipartisan group of senators to spearhead efforts in Congress that could have impacted the measure.

Senate Finance Committee ChairmanRon Wyden, D-Ore. and Senate Banking Committee ranking Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania originally co-sponsored a crypto-related amendment. Sens. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Mark Warner, D-Va.; and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. also signed on to crypto-tied amendments.The White House backed the Warner, Portman, and Sinema amendment.

Lummis is also a industry investor; she owns between $100,001 and $250,000 in bitcoin holdings, according to her latest annual financial disclosure report.

One provision would have excluded miners and software developers from new tax requirements imposed on crypto brokers. The other would have specifically exempted cryptocurrency miners, who participate in "proof of work" systems such as bitcoin and ether, from within the bill's tax provisions.

The amendments never made it into the final bill that was later signed by Biden.

Still, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who also founded digital payments company Block, thanked the lawmakers for their efforts. Dorsey gave his own suggestions to the lawmakers through a string of tweets that also suggested how the legislation should be written.

"To @RonWyden, @SenLummis, @SenToomey, @MarkWarner, @SenRobPortman, @SenatorSinema, @TedCruz, respective staff & everyone who's worked on the Infrastructure Bill 'Crypto Tax Reporting' provision: thank you for your work to get this right. May we offer a workable simplification?" Dorsey tweeted.

Wyden said in a statement to CNBC that civil liberties groups, tech experts and "folks in Oregon" raised concerns that the provision could inadvertently regulate independent software developers.

"After studying the issue, I came to the judgement that a simple clarification of the language would give the tech community the certainty they needed, while still regulating brokers to ensure nobody can use crypto to avoid paying the taxes they owe," he said.

A representative for Toomey declined to comment. Representatives for Lummis, Warner, Portman and Sinema did not return requests for comment.

"There's a general awareness that the crypto market, unregulated, running wild, doing financial transactions can be a mechanism to scam, as well as to be used by criminal organizations," Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., said in an interview. The industry is lobbying against a bill he co-sponsored that would subject crypto trading platforms to similar regulations as federally insured banks in an effort to clamp down on Russians using digital currencies to evade Western sanctions.

The industry has at least one thing going in its favor: It can take years, even decades, for Congress to debate and adopt new rules regulating complex market issues.

House lawmakers need time to understand the intricacies of the crypto industry, Himes said. So there's little chance Congress will pass legislation that reins in the industry at least not in this congressional session, he said.

"I've told people we're not at a point where I think we're going to start passing legislation just because we're not kind of at a point where there's a critical mass of educated members," Himes said. "I don't think in this Congress we're going to pass legislation," he added, referring to crypto specific bills.

Congress, however, may be the least of the industry's worries.

The Biden administration appears to be taking the lead in the pushback against crypto. The president signed an executive order earlier this year calling on the government to examine the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced earlier this month that it's nearly doubling its staff responsible for protecting investors in cryptocurrency markets. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has called for increased regulation to reduce the risk of fraud or illicit transactions.

Yellen told lawmakers Thursday that last week's cryptocurrency sell-off that erased more than $200 billion from the crypto market illustrated the need for federal regulation.

"This is among the most painful weeks in crypto history & one we'll reckon with for a long time to come," Jake Chervinsky, the head of policy at the crypto lobbying group Blockchain Association, tweeted Friday.

He then encouraged policymakers that the best way to handle stablecoins is to "follow the process called for by the [executive order], develop a bipartisan consensus in Congress, adopt new regulations that are fit for purpose."

A run on the Terra stablecoin, caused it to drop in value from roughly $8 to below 30 cents. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a specific value, usually the dollar, another currency or gold. Its parity with the dollar is what, in theory, makes it stable. However, volatility in the cryptocurrency market last week challenged that premise.

"We've had a real life demonstration of the risks," Yellen said, referring to the meltdown of the TerraUSD beginning last Monday.

"We really need a regulatory framework to guard against the risks," Yellen said. "Really, we need a comprehensive framework so that there are no gaps in the regulation."

Read more from the original source:
Crypto industry wields its influence in Washington after pouring over $30 million into campaigns - CNBC

Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, the creator of Luna.Woohae Cho (Bloomberg)

Until just a few days ago, D.S. thought that investing in cryptocurrencies was one of the best decisions of his life. He had 80,000 ($84,300) worth in Luna double the 40,000 ($42,200) he had invested almost a year ago. Today, when he opens the application to see how much of that he has left, the vision is bleak: 4 ($4.22). It seemed like one of the safest bets. Even when bitcoin was losing value, luna was hitting all-time highs. They were going to launch lots of projects and they were backed by investment funds, says the 32-year-old Spaniard, who has seen most of his savings evaporate in just three days after the collapse of the digital currency.

His story is repeated across the world. Luna was created by Terraform Labs, which is owned by 30-year-old Do Kwon from South Korea. Up until just a few days ago, it was considered one of the sectors biggest success stories. Last week, before the collapse, one young Luna investor described Kwon as a visionary, the Elon Musk of the future. Tens of thousands of small-time investors around the world threw their money into Luna, which was once valued at $18 billion. But opinions about Kwon have changed now as investors come to terms with their losses. On forums such as Reddit, once-enthusiastic backers commiserate over their losses, with some users expressing suicidal thoughts. And now Kwon fears for his safety. After the Luna crash, a stranger broke into the premises of Kwons apartment rang the doorbell, and asked his spouse if her husband was at home before running away from the premises. Kwons wife has reportedly sought police protection.

It is a disturbing end to a period of untrammeled euphoria. When the value of Luna went from $4 in February 2021 to $60 in the same month of 2022 multiplying fifteen-fold in just one year questions were not raised about the sudden spike, instead, it was expected to rise even more. Few suspected that everything was about to fall apart. I invested because it was one of the top cryptocurrencies. It was among the top 10 by market capitalization. I was sold on the project and the profitability of its stablecoin was incredible, explains another young man from Madrid, under the age of 30, who lost 5,000 ($5,300).

The stablecoin he is referring to is TerraUSD or UST. Investors who deposited UST in Anchor Protocol, a lending and borrowing protocol built by Terraform Labs, were offered a stable yield rate of up to 19.%. In a context, in which few banks give more than 0% due to low-interest rates, this anomaly was not questioned by the winning investors, who were blinded by the power of a new technology that was promising to make them rich. But UST lost its peg to the US dollar, and this is what sent Luna, its sister currency, into a health spiral. Luna lost more than 90% of its value in three days, triggering one of the biggest shocks in the crypto sectors short history. But big losses do not always act as a deterrent. I still think that it can turn around and I have not sold anything. On the contrary, I have bought more. When a guy goes out partying and spends 50 [$53] on drinks on something that affects his health, no one asks him if he thinks its wrong to throw that money away. At least this doesnt harm my body, says the 30-year-old from Madrid.

Other Luna investors have completely lost hope in a comeback, which experts have also ruled out. One investor, a 41-year-old doctor, who like the rest of those affected by the crash only speaks on the condition of anonymity, says that from now on he will limit his investment in cryptocurrencies to the two largest ones: bitcoin and Ethereum. Ive lost two months of salary, about 8,000 [$8,500], so it hasnt changed anything for me. My investments are diversified and the percentage I have in cryptocurrencies is very low, but I think it is a blow to the future crypto adoption that is so much talked about. At the moment I am going to stay on the sidelines, and I am only going to reinvest the profits, he says in a message on Telegram, which has several groups of Luna investors.

Yuvraj Sharma from India is one of the few people who agreed to give their full name. There is little risk that his friends and family will read the news, and the $200 he lost in Luna has also not upended his life. But for the 19-year-old business student from Calcutta, it is more money than it might seem. It is a lot for me because it has cost me a lot of effort to get it. Its two months worth of wages. I still hope that something will be done to address this devastating crash and that I will be able to come out with at least what I invested, he says. The chances of that happening are close to nil. The price of Luna today is $0.0002.

Sharmas case highlights a growing trend: more and more young people are investing in cryptocurrencies, without any safety net. The fact that they do not large sums to invest is the only thing that is preventing them from losing bigger amounts of money in a sector that they do not completely understand. The question now is whether these young investors will persevere, and invest more when they start earning more, or if this is just a passing trend that will fade over time.

Edited by M.K.

View original post here:
The dreams broken by Luna, the cryptocurrency that crashed in three days: It seemed like a safe bet - EL PAS in English

Cryptocurrency prices also dropped precipitously. The price of Bitcoin fell as low as $26,000 on Thursday, down 60 percent from its peak in November, before rising somewhat. Since the start of the year, Bitcoins price movement has closely mirrored that of the Nasdaq, a benchmark thats heavily weighted toward technology stocks, suggesting that investors are treating it like any other risk asset.

The price of Ether plunged, too, losing more than 30 percent of its value over the last week. Other cryptocurrencies, like Solana and Cardano, are also down.

Any panic might be overblown, some analysts said. A study by Mizuho showed that the average Bitcoin owner on Coinbase would not lose money until the digital currencys price sank below $21,000. That, according to Mr. Dolev, is where a true death spiral could occur.

Bitcoin was working as long as no one lost money, he said. Once it gets back to those levels, thats sort of the Oh, my God moment.

Professional investors who have weathered past crypto volatility also stayed calm. Hunter Horsley, chief executive of Bitwise Asset Management, which provides crypto investing services to 1,000 financial advisers, met with more than 70 of them this week to discuss the market. Many were not selling, he said, because every other asset was down, too. Some were even trying to capitalize on the drop.

Their standpoint is, This is no fun, but there is nowhere to hide, he said.

Still, the plummeting prices have rattled crypto traders. Just a few months ago, blockchain proponents were predicting that Bitcoins price could rise as high as $100,000 this year.

Originally posted here:
Cryptocurrencies Melt Down in a Perfect Storm of Fear and Panic - The New York Times