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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Follies who wrote (177981)	9/10/2021 9:26:16 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 218882

… ‘they’ are trying to scare us bloomberg.com Can't the Crypto Crowd See the Scars From 2017? Bitcoin evangelists and other cryptocurrency advocates are doing themselves no favors by lashing out at regulators. Lionel Laurent September 10, 2021, 5:26 PM GMT+8 Coinbase Global Inc. boss Brian Armstrong has long believed that the adoption of digital currencies like Bitcoin would resemble a straight arrow towards progress — much like the internet’s development from a web of interlinked computers to a whole economy of applications and businesses. Yet his angry tweet storm against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 8, after its behind-the-scenes threat to sue Coinbase if it launched an interest-earning product called Lend, makes clear that crypto’s trajectory isn’t going to be so straightforward. The journey looks more circular than linear, with regulators determined not to let lessons from the last boom-and-bust in 2017 go forgotten, even as crypto advocates downplay the risks. Given this back-and-forth is here to stay, the industry does itself no favors by accusing watchdogs of stifling innovation and over-coddling consumers; if anything, SEC chair Gary Gensler’s team will only crack the whip more enthusiastically. Cooling OffBitcoin's price has fallen from a record in April, partly driven by Coinbase's IPO Source: Bloomberg We’ve been here before. Armstrong’s anger at the SEC’s “sketchy” judgment call that Lend would need to comply with securities rules — likely making it less profitable for Coinbase — has echoes of the last crypto boom, which saw hundreds of token sales raise $20 billion in two years. Back then, many crypto entrepreneurs were convinced their tokens didn’t meet the definition of a security, and warned that regulating them as such would stifle innovation even as scams were happening under their noses. The taming of this “Wild West” happened relatively late. By the time the SEC’s boss said almost every Initial Coin Offering out there looked like an unregistered security, the price bust had already begun. While the market implosion of 2017-2018 left little impact on the broader financial system, regulators are still mopping up the mess today: On Wednesday, the SEC filed a complaint against an $18 million ICO from 2017 that it said was in fact an unregistered securities offering. The lesson haunting regulators is that falling asleep at the wheel before the next crypto-market slump could leave far bigger scars than in 2017. Booming crypto prices have propelled the market’s size to $2 trillion and fueled all sorts of speculative investments, such as automated “ DeFi” markets offering double-digit returns on locked-up token pools or cartoon blockchain collectibles vulnerable to manipulation. There’s more oversight than there used to be, but there are also more risks: Counterparty risk and financial crime are among those listed in a Wharton School-WEF report on DeFi, which according to Ciphertrace saw $361 million of hacks this year. Elizabeth Warren has called crypto a shadow banking system. The lesson for the industry should be humility. Coinbase’s plan may have nothing to do with ICOs, but for Armstrong to publicly howl over a planned crypto lending application, which experts say looks very much like a coupon-paying bond or dividend-paying stock (i.e., a security), is pretty tone-deaf. (My colleague Matt Levine suggests Lend looks more like a bank account, which raises even bigger questions.) Coinbase is a publicly-listed, U.S.-headquartered exchange; it’s not sketchy for it to be in the crosshairs over products linked to volatile asset prices. And volatile it is: This week Bitcoin fell as much as 17% in one day, after a troubled rollout as legal tender in El Salvador. The challenge going forward is whether regulators can avoid playing catch-up in an industry where technology tends to outpace oversight. Opinion. Data. More Data.Get the most important Bloomberg Opinion pieces in one email. Sign up to this newsletter The European Union, fresh from having brought crypto exchanges into the scope of anti-money-laundering rules, is building a comprehensive set of regulations that would supervise stablecoins (tokens whose price is typically pegged to a currency or algorithmically stabilized) and require trading platforms to become subject to capital requirements. But Hubert de Vauplane, a partner at the law firm Kramer Levin, worries the EU’s rules will prove behind the curve when they’re finally launched. More promising is the recent global clampdown on crypto exchange Binance, hit with regulatory warnings from Canada to Japan, which shows a worldwide willingness to take on business models that appear to skirt the law. Carol Van Cleef, a lawyer well-versed in digital assets, likes to say that the SEC operates not in days or weeks, but months and even years. With the regulator calling for yet more resources to rein in crypto’s bad actors, the vision of a crypto economy with Coinbase at its center looks a little further away. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. To contact the author of this story: Lionel Laurent at llaurent2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nicole Torres at ntorres51@bloomberg.net Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. LEARN MORE Sent from my iPad

To: Follies who wrote (177981)	9/16/2021 10:20:02 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218882

<<Bitcoin>>, unlike Casper, can be sabotaged in at least the way per below ... let us follow the situation I wonder who did it, the FED or CIA or someone else. theguardian.com Child abuse imagery found within bitcoin's blockchain Samuel Gibbs German researchers have discovered unknown persons are using bitcoin’s blockchain to store and link to child abuse imagery, potentially putting the cryptocurrency in jeopardy. The blockchain is the open-source, distributed ledger that records every bitcoin transaction, but can also store small bits of non-financial data. This data is typically notes about the trade of bitcoin, recording what it was for or other metadata. But it can also be used to store links and files. Researchers from the RWTH Aachen University, Germany found that around 1,600 files were currently stored in bitcoin’s blockchain. Of the files least eight were of sexual content, including one thought to be an image of child abuse and two that contain 274 links to child abuse content, 142 of which link to dark web services. “Our analysis shows that certain content, eg, illegal pornography, can render the mere possession of a blockchain illegal,” the researchers wrote. “Although court rulings do not yet exist, legislative texts from countries such as Germany, the UK, or the USA suggest that illegal content such as [child abuse imagery] can make the blockchain illegal to possess for all users.” “This especially endangers the multi-billion dollar markets powering cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.” While the spending of bitcoin does not necessarily require a copy of the blockchain to facilitate, some processes, such as some mining techniques, require the downloading of the full blockchain or chunks of it. “Since all blockchain data is downloaded and persistently stored by users, they are liable for any objectionable content added to the blockchain by others. Consequently, it would be illegal to participate in a blockchain-based systems as soon as it contains illegal content,” the researchers wrote. Since mining is essential for the function of bitcoin, as the process records the transactions into the blockchain to verify trades and generates new bitcoin in the process, having illegal content such as child abuse imagery within the blockchain could cause significant issues for the currency. “We anticipate a high potential for illegal blockchain content to jeopardise blockchain-based systems such as bitcoin in the future,” the researchers wrote. This is not the first time warnings over the ability to store non-financial data within the blockchain have been issued. Interpol sent out an alert in 2015 saying that “the design of the blockchain means there is the possibility of malware being injected and permanently hosted with no methods currently available to wipe this data”. The agency warned that the technology could be used in the “sharing of child sexual abuse images where the blockchain could become a safe haven for hosting such data”. But this is the first time such content has been shown to actually exist, creating a moral and legal quandary around possession and the blockchain. Blockchain is this year’s buzzword – but can it outlive the hype? … as you're joining us from Hong Kong, we have a small favour to ask. Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian’s high-impact journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. More than 1.5 million readers, from 180 countries, have recently taken the step to support us financially – keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent. With no shareholders or billionaire owner, we can set our own agenda and provide trustworthy journalism that’s free from commercial and political influence, offering a counterweight to the spread of misinformation. When it’s never mattered more, we can investigate and challenge without fear or favour. Unlike many others, Guardian journalism is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of global events, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action. We aim to offer readers a comprehensive, international perspective on critical events shaping our world – from the Black Lives Matter movement, to the new American administration, Brexit, and the world's slow emergence from a global pandemic. We are committed to upholding our reputation for urgent, powerful reporting on the climate emergency, and made the decision to reject advertising from fossil fuel companies, divest from the oil and gas industries, and set a course to achieve net zero emissions by 2030. If there were ever a time to join us, it is now. Every contribution, however big or small, powers our journalism and sustains our future. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.