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


To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/27/2022 10:17:42 AM
From: SirWalterRalegh3 Recommendations

Recommended By
maceng2
marcher
pak73

  Respond to of 217615
 
Go easy on the artificial sweeteners.

May be FUD to distract attention from COVID "vaccine".



To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/27/2022 10:21:42 AM
From: Pogeu Mahone  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 217615
 
armageddon

UFB






To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/27/2022 10:39:25 AM
From: marcher1 Recommendation

Recommended By
Cogito Ergo Sum

  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 217615
 
--Totally weird news is the new normal--

believe it or not...
retired cia, ramirez, says close encounters scheduled for 2027...
teotwawki and all:

youtube.com

-?-



To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/28/2022 8:11:30 PM
From: TobagoJack2 Recommendations

Recommended By
maceng2
pak73

  Respond to of 217615
 
some SBF funnies :0)












To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/29/2022 7:30:10 PM
From: TobagoJack2 Recommendations

Recommended By
nicewatch
Pogeu Mahone

  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217615
 
bearish ...

kitco.com

Midas Investments shuts down, taking over 55% of customers' funds

Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here!




( Kitco News) - Midas Investments, the hybrid centralized/decentralized (CeDeFi) cryptocurrency platform, announced Tuesday that they will shut down operations as of Dec. 27 and will deduct 55% from most customer accounts to “balance assets and liabilities.” This morning, Midas’ CEO shut down his own AMA with customers after less than half an hour.

“I am writing to you today with a heavy heart to announce that the Midas platform is closing down,” wrote Iakov Levin, CEO of Midas Investments, who also goes by ‘Trevor,’ in a Dec. 27 blog post.

Levin said that in the spring of 2022, the advent of the crypto winter saw Midas’ DeFi portfolio lose $50 million of its $250 million market value, or 20%. Then, following the bankruptcy of Celsius on Jul. 13 and FTX on Nov. 11, “the platform experienced over 60% of AUM being withdrawn, creating a large asset deficit” of $63.3 million, based on assets of $51.7 million against liabilities of $115 million in BTC, ETH and stablecoins.

“Based on this situation and current CeFi market conditions, we have reached the difficult decision to close the platform,” Levin wrote.

Levin wrote that his team spent the past eight months trying to find ways to balance their assets and liabilities, including “launching CeDeFi strategies, seeking fundraising, and exploring opportunities with DeFi protocols. Despite these efforts, the extensive withdrawals due to the insolvency of Celcius and FTX, coupled with reduced yield opportunities on the market, made it impossible for us to cover daily payouts to users due to the assets deficit.”

Levin said that only Midas’ C-level executives knew about the asset deficit, and the community, marketing, support, IT, and platform teams were not aware. “The asset deficit was caused by the long-term risk of DeFi investment, the instability of our business model after the loss of assets, and the illiquidity of the Midas token,” he said.

Midas also outlined its plan to balance assets and liabilities, saying that as of Dec. 27 at 11:00 AM UTC, deposits and swaps have been disabled on the platform. They then will deduct 55% of the balances of users with over $5000 in their accounts, along with the earned rewards of all users, and leave the balance in users’ accounts. “Withdrawals will be disabled for 2-3 hours while we ensure that calculations and balance adjustments have been made correctly,” Levin wrote. “Once this is done, you will be able to withdraw the remaining assets from the platform, with any rewards earned being deducted from your balance.”

Levin also said that users would be issued MIDAS tokens equivalent to the deductions as compensation, which will later be swapped for the tokens of Midas’ next project, which he then outlined.

“In January, Midas will focus on market research and prototyping for DeFi and CeDeFi business models, as well as creating prototype vaults and strategies and developing new investment processes,” Levin wrote. “In February, the team will continue with market research and begin investment traction, working on the development of a minimum viable product and engaging with DeFi protocols.”

Levin said that private tests of the product will be conducted in March, and in April, Midas plans to swap the current tokens for the new ones.

“The goal of the new project is to create a win-win situation by connecting competing protocols with liquidity and offering a simplified yield to a range of DeFi and CeFi audiences,” he said. “The first product will be a transparent, on-chain treasury that allows users to mint tokens backed by stablecoins, BTC, or ETH by depositing collateral in ETH.”

Levin held an AMA session with Midas customers on YouTube this morning, and he began with a mea culpa.

“I know it was really hard for you guys, and I'm incredibly sorry that it came to this,” he said. “I am taking the responsibility and trying to explain what happened. I understand that it does not give you money back that you lost with Midas, I understand that you want to burn everything related to Midas now, and I obviously accept it.”

Levin said he was responsible for the vision and decision-making and he made “huge mistakes” as the CEO of Midas. “I was incompetent, and my team, we were incompetent in managing funds. We did not understand the impact of having […] $300 million that we got in March.”

Levin then began answering the submitted questions, which included harsh criticism and accusations from Midas customers about his decisions and the losses they caused. After 27 minutes, he claimed he was going to fix his screen sharing and disconnected, but never returned.



To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/29/2022 7:31:16 PM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 217615
 
bullish ...

kitco.com

China to launch national Digital Asset Trading Platform for NFTs on Jan. 1

Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here!




( Kitco News) - China is preparing to launch the first legally-compliant secondary trading platform for digital assets across the country on Jan. 1, according to local news reports.

The ‘China Digital Asset Trading Platform’ was jointly built by state-owned China Technology Exchange and China Cultural Relics Exchange Center in partnership with Huaban Digital Copyright Service Center, a private company.

The China Digital Asset Trading Platform relies on the national-level exchange infrastructure of the China Technology Exchange, a national intellectual property rights trading institution jointly established by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Intellectual Property Office, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The China Technology Exchange manages the trading functions of the exchange and offers a comprehensive and standardized trading system for digital assets, including processing and safe settlement mechanisms across the transaction process.

The China Digital Assets Trading Platform uses the China Cultural Heritage Chain for the trading of digital assets, which provides digital asset registration, confirmation of rights, deposit certificates, rights protection monitoring, and copyright protection services for institutions and individual users. The China Cultural Heritage Chain is designed to promote the deep integration of blockchain technology applications and cultural digital copyright protection.

Yu Jianing, co-chairman of the Special Blockchain Committee of the China Communications Industry Association, said that the launch of the China Digital Assets Exchange represents the acceleration of the digital transformation process of the country's cultural industries, and shows that the pace of growth for data capitalization and asset digitization is increasing. Yu also acknowledged that the development of digital assets in China currently faces several problems such as technical limitations, collection valuation and copyright disputes.

“In terms of industry supervision and compliance, digital collections are a new type of business, and laws, regulations and regulatory policies will be gradually improved, so there are some uncertainties,” Yu said. “Platforms have clear responsibilities for the issuance and trading of digital collections. Compared with intellectual property rights and digital copyrights, digital collections face greater compliance risks.”

Earlier this month, a ruling by the Hangzhou Internet Court established the precedent that nonfungible tokens (NFT) constitute online virtual property and will be recognized under Chinese law.

The court found that NFTs “have the object characteristics of property rights such as value, scarcity, controllability, and tradability” and “belong to network virtual property” meaning that they “should be protected by the laws of our country.” Their definition of NFTs set an important and far-reaching precedent for digital property in China, and further distinguished NFTs from cryptocurrencies and removing digital properties from the gray area they’ve existed in since China moved to make cryptocurrencies illegal in Sept. 2021.



To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/29/2022 8:06:39 PM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 217615
 
bullish / bearish, depending on PoV and stanc-ing

(1) at tactical level, supposedly, depending on who one chooses to believe




(2) at spin levels, ostensibly, depending on personalities and chemistries




(3) at overarching strategic level, depending on PoV and stanc-ing

ft.com

Gold buyers binge on biggest volumes for 55 years

China and Russia have been large accumulators of the precious metal in 2022, analysts say
yesterday


The last time this level of gold buying was seen — 1967 — marked a historical turning point for the global monetary system © Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg

Central banks are scooping up gold at the fastest pace since 1967, with analysts pinning China and Russia as big buyers in an indication that some nations are keen to diversify their reserves away from the dollar.

Data compiled the World Gold Council, an industry-funded group, has shown demand for the precious metal has outstripped any annual amount in the past 55 years. Last month’s estimates are also far larger than central banks’ official reported figures, sparking speculation in the industry over the identity of the buyers and their motivations.

The flight of central banks to gold “would suggest the geopolitical backdrop is one of mistrust, doubt and uncertainty” after the US and its allies froze Russia’s dollar reserves, said Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault, a gold marketplace.

The last time this level of buying was seen marked a historical turning point for the global monetary system. In 1967, European central banks bought massive volumes of gold from the US, leading to a run on the price and the collapse of the London Gold Pool of reserves. That hastened the eventual demise of the Bretton Woods System that tied the value of the US dollar to the precious metal.

Last month the WCG estimated the world’s official financial institutions have bought 673 tonnes. And in the third quarter alone central banks bought almost 400 tonnes of gold, the largest three-month binge since quarterly records began in 2000.

The conservative estimates from the WGC outstrip the reported purchases to the IMF and by individual central banks, which stands at 333 tonnes in the nine months to September.

Officially, the buying in the third quarter was led by Turkey at 31 tonnes, taking gold to about 29 per cent of its total reserves. Uzbekistan followed with 26 tonnes, while in July Qatar made its largest monthly acquisition on record since 1967.

The discrepancy between the WGC’s estimates and officially reported figures tracked by the IMF can be partly explained by government agencies besides the central banks in Russia, China and others that can buy and hold gold without reporting them as reserves.


Acknowledging its intake — but also possibly trying to signal its limited role — the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) reported earlier this month that in November it made its first increase in gold holdings since 2019, with a 32-tonne bump worth about $1.8bn. Yet the gold industry says Chinese buying is almost certainly higher.

Mark Bristow, chief executive of Barrick Gold, the world’s second-largest gold miner, said China had bought tonnes of gold around the high-200s mark, based on his discussions with numerous sources.

Nicky Shiels, metals strategist at MKS PAMP, a precious metals trading company, added gold prices would have peaked around $75 lower in November if the PBoC had only purchased 32 tonnes. Gold prices traded as high as $1,787 a troy ounce in November and have since advanced above $1,800.

For Russia, sanctions have created significant problems for its gold mining industry — the largest in the world after China — in selling overseas. It produces roughly 300 tonnes each year but has a domestic market for only 50 tonnes, according to MKS PAMP.

At the same time, western governments have frozen $300bn of Russia’s foreign currency reserves through sanctions, which Shiels says has prompted nations outside the west to ask: “Should we have exposure to so many dollars when the US and western governments can confiscate that at any time?”

Russia’s gold-buying repeats South Africa’s playbook during Apartheid-era sanctions of supporting domestic mining by buying the yellow metal using local currency, says Ash.

“With limitations on the export side, it would make sense it’s the Russian central bank,” said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS.

The Central Bank of Russia stopped reporting monthly numbers on its reserves soon after the war began. CBR officials have rejected the suggestion it is buying gold.

“Our gold and foreign exchange reserves are sufficient. We don’t have a specific task of accumulating gold and foreign exchange reserves,” said CBR governor Elvira Nabiullina in mid-December.

Yet CBR officials have long placed strategic value on boosting gold reserves; in 2006 it said it would be desirable for gold to make up 20-25 per cent of its holdings — in February 2022, the last time CBR published its statistical data, gold accounted for 20.9 per cent. It has reduced its holdings of US Treasuries to only $2bn from more than $150bn in 2012, while increasing gold reserves by more than 1,350 tonnes worth almost $80bn at current prices, according to Julius Baer, a Swiss private bank.

Carsten Menke, head of next generation research at Julius Baer, reckons the purchases from Russia and China indicate a growing reluctance for countries to rely on the greenback.

“The message these central banks are sending by putting a larger share of their reserves in gold is that they don’t want to be reliant on the US dollar as their main reserve asset,” Menke said.

Some in the industry speculate Middle Eastern governments are using fossil fuel export revenues to buy gold, most likely through sovereign wealth funds.

The coming months will test whether record central bank buying was an opportunistic spurt as gold prices fell, or a more structural shift.





Even with prices having since recovered to about $1,800 per troy ounce, few are willing to bet the trend towards diversification of central bank reserves will change course any time soon.

Bernard Dahdah, senior commodities analyst at Natixis, the French investment bank, said deglobalisation and geopolitical tensions meant the drive by central banks outside of the west to diversify away from the US dollar was “a trend that won’t change for a decade at least”.

Additional reporting by Anastasia Stognei in Riga



To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/29/2022 8:10:35 PM
From: TobagoJack  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217615
 
Important, unless not important, depending on take and give

believe meeting shall take most of not an entire day, and if necessary, part of tomorrow

reuters.com

Putin and Xi to speak by video link on Friday

Reuters

1 minute read

December 29, 20226:28 PM GMT+8Last Updated 15 hours ago



Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping before an extended-format meeting of heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit (SCO) member states in Samarkand, Uzbekistan September 16, 2022. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping via video link on Friday to discuss a host of bilateral and regional issues.

"First of all, they will talk about bilateral Russian-Chinese relations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"And, of course, it will be very important to exchange views on more acute regional problems - those that are closer to us, Russia, and those that are closer to China," Peskov added, without providing specific details.

Moscow has sought to deepen its economic, political and security ties with Beijing since sending its armed forces into Ukraine in February. The two countries signed a "no limits" strategic partnership a few days before Russia launched the campaign.

Beijing has also increased its purchases of Russian oil and gas since European countries cut links with Russia, while Moscow has publicly backed Xi's position on Taiwan and accused the West of trying to provoke a conflict over the status of the self-governing island, which China claims as its own.

But Xi has at times appeared cool on Russia's military campaign in Ukraine; Putin in September publicly acknowledged that his Chinese counterpart had " concerns" over Russia's actions.

Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.



To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/29/2022 8:13:05 PM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 217615
 
... following a call that did not go well, or went perfect, depending on original intent

euroweeklynews.com

Blinken’s recent call with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi reportedly turned into a total fiasco

Chris King

By • 27 December 2022 • 20:01


Image of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Credit: Twitter@SecBlinken

The recent call between the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi turned into a total fiasco according to a former diplomat.A call between the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, December 23, allegedly turned into a fiasco. This was reported by the former diplomat Melkulangara Bhadrakumar, writing in the Asia Times.

According to the observer, Blinken tried to play the role of ‘world policeman’ and believed that he had the right to know about China’s dealings with Russia and Germany.

In particular, Blinken was referring to the recent talks that Chinese President Xi Jinping held with German President Frank -Walter Steinmeier and Dmitry Medvedev, the Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council.

The American secretary of state called the head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry after their completion to find out the details, the author of the column claims. “However, Blinken’s call to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, December 23 turned into a fiasco”, Bhadrakumar wrote.

Bhadrakumar suggested that Blinken probably ‘reasonably assumed that Steinmeier’s phone call to Xi on Tuesday, followed by Medvedev ‘s surprise visit to Beijing, and his subsequent meeting with Xi on Wednesday could not have been accidental’.

Moscow and Beijing have also been working on organising a meeting between Putin and Xi in late December according to some media reports. Medvedev, in turn, was supposed to give Xi a ‘very sensitive message’ from Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit.

The observer also said that Xi put forward a three-point proposal to Steinmeier to develop Sino-German relations and stated that ‘China and Germany have always been partners’. At a meeting with Medvedev, the Chinese President stressed that ‘China is ready to work with Russia’ in order to take Sino-Russian relations to a new level.

Bhadrakumar pointed out that during these latest contacts between Chinese, Russian, and German politicians, the conflict in Ukraine was also discussed.

At the same time, Xi stressed that ‘China remains committed to facilitating peace talks’ (quoted from a conversation with Steinmeier) and ‘actively lobbying for the idea of ??peace talks’ (from a conversation with Medvedev). Blinken, trying to clarify the situation, fulfilled his mission ‘extremely clumsily’, said the observer.

“It is not surprising that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi severely reprimanded Blinken for trying to ‘simultaneously engage in dialogue and engage in containment’ and ‘talking about cooperation, stick a knife in China’s back'”, the expert pointed out.

“This is not reasonable competition, but irrational suppression. Such tactics are not aimed at resolving conflicts, but at their escalation”, the newspaper quoted Wang Yi as saying.

The previous contact between the U.S. Secretary of State and the Chinese Foreign Minister took place on October 30. During the telephone conversation, Blinken stressed the importance of maintaining open lines of communication and responsible building of relations between Washington and Beijing, as reported by gazeta.ru.

___________________________________________________________



To: maceng2 who wrote (194935)12/29/2022 9:45:48 PM
From: TobagoJack1 Recommendation

Recommended By
SirWalterRalegh

  Respond to of 217615
 
important week coming up
sam to possibly plea something, and should such be so, then names names names, and
disgorgement disgorgement disgorgement