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| Hey Insider! Welcome back to the Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter! An anti-digital dollar bill passed by the U.S. congressional committee has come to the fore today as the week nears its close. Today’s issue covers the details of this legislation as well as several other prominent stories in the crypto market, including Mt. Gox’s delay for repayments by another 12 months, the South Korean city of Busan’s plans to launch a digital asset exchange, Binance’s decision to delist all stablecoins in Europe, and more. Enjoy your reading, and if you find this newsletter useful, please do not forget to share it with your friends and colleagues! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has recently passed a new bill dubbed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act to prevent a federal issuance of a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the country. The approval has advanced the legislation to a congressional vote in the House of Representatives. More: - The proposed bill bans the Federal Reserve (Fed), the central banking system of the U.S., from issuing a CBDC directly to individuals.
- The legislation also has provisions that block the Fed from issuing a digital dollar through an intermediary agency and using any CBDC to implement monetary policy.
- The act was proposed by Rep. Tom Emmer with 49 co-sponsors last week, nearly seven months after it was first introduced to Congress in February.
- Emmer defined the CBDCs as state-controlled programmable money that could give the federal government the ability to surveil and restrict U.S. citizens' financial transactions, saying such an instrument is incompatible with American values.
- U.S. representative also added that the bill has already gained the support of 60 members of Congress.
- If the bill manages to pass the congressional vote, it will be advanced to the U.S. Senate to become a law.
- The House Financial Services Committee also recently advanced two other crypto-related bills to establish a legal framework for the digital asset industry and stablecoins.
Zoom Out: - The CBDCs have become a controversial issue for U.S. lawmakers since President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2022 for the federal government to explore the potential use cases and risks of a digital dollar.
- Several other politicians, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz, and Rep. Warren Davidson, have also previously argued that the CBDCs could be used as a direct surveillance tool by the government and violate the privacy rights of American citizens.
- In July, the Fed stated that it has yet to decide whether to issue a CBDC, and the issuance could be only possible with an authorizing law.
Q: Do you think a digital dollar will be used as a surveillance tool by the government in the U.S.? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: The number of monthly active addresses on the Solana blockchain network declined significantly since last year. The figure retreated to as much as 7.99 billion addresses in August from a whopping 22.18 billion seen in September 2022. The decrease represents an over 63% drop within 11 months. The incomplete data of this September also revealed that the network would probably not see a major jump in the number of active addresses this month, too, and would stay behind last year's figures. Relevance: Solana's head of strategy, Austin Federa, has attributed the drop in the active addresses to the decreased number of bots running on the network, contrary to the negative perception in public opinion. Federa said they care about the real humans using the network, which they can gauge with the transaction fees. The network's head of strategy also added that they have managed to decline the number of bots by removing economic incentives allowing bots to work on the blockchain with network upgrades mostly in Q1. Federa's statement pointed out that since the decrease in the active addresses stemmed from the reduced bots, there could still be the same number of people using the network. Brands that should care: On the other hand, Solana hit the headlines with its partnerships with major brands several times this year after it improved its network with essential upgrades. Most recently, payment processing giant Visa expanded its stablecoin settlement options to include Solana, adding support for USD Coin (USDC) payments settled on the network. E-commerce giant Shopify also integrated Solana Pay, a decentralized payment protocol built by the developers behind Solana, allowing millions of businesses on Shopify to use the protocol to accept payments through crypto. | | | |
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| 3 | | Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has announced that it plans to delist stablecoins in the European market as of June 30, 2024. The announcement was made by Marina Parthuisot, head of legal at Binance France, during a public hearing with the European Banking Authority (EBA), the banking watchdog of the European Union (EU). More: - Parthuisot said the move aims to help the platform fully comply with the EU's region-wide crypto regulations, the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), while the legislation comes into force.
- The French arm's legal head also underlined that they would have to delist all stablecoins since no projects have yet to be approved under the new regulations.
- The decision came five months after the long-awaited MiCA was approved by the lawmakers at the European Parliament (EP), the legislative body of the EU, with a final vote in April.
- The region's crypto regulation was put into final form after three years of development and signed into law in June.
- The law's provisions related to stablecoins will come into effect as of July 2024, while other aspects regarding the crypto asset service providers will enter into force as of January 2025.
Zoom Out: - On the other hand, Binance had to intensify its legal compliance efforts over the last months since it faced increased scrutiny by regulators in various countries, including the U.S., Australia, France, and Belgium.
- The platform also recently withdrew from several markets in the West, including Canada, Austria, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the U.K., and Germany, mainly due to compliance issues.
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| 4 | | Japanese bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox's trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, has announced that the firm postponed the deadline for repayments to creditors by another 12 months. The decision pushed the determined date from Oct. 31, 2023, to Oct. 31, 2024. More: - The defunct platform had already delayed the deadline for refunding several times.
- The adjournment will apply to the base repayment, the early lump-sum repayment, and the intermediate repayment.
- Kobayashi said the rehabilitation creditors who have provided the necessary information could be refunded as early as the end of 2023.
- Mt. Gox trustee also underlined that the schedule could see another change depending on the circumstances.
Zoom Out: - Mt. Gox was one of the first crypto exchanges and facilitated more than 70% of all trades within the blockchain ecosystem before going bankrupt.
- However, a cybersecurity incident caused the exchange to lose 850,000 Bitcoin (BTC) in 2014, impacting 24,000 creditors.
- Following the hack, the platform did not manage to avoid becoming insolvent, though it recovered around 20% of the stolen funds.
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| 5 | | The U.S.-based digital payments company PayPal has made its stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar (USD), PayPal USD (PYUSD), available on its subsidiary app, Venmo. The move will allow Venmo users to buy and send PYUSD. More: - Users will also be able to transfer the stablecoin between PayPal, Venmo, and third-party wallets.
- The transfers between PayPal and Venmo apps will be faster and free.
- However, sending PYUSD from a PayPal-owned app to external wallets and merchants will incur transaction fees.
- The PYUSD option will be initially available for select Venmo users, though PayPal plans to offer the stablecoin to all customers in the upcoming weeks.
- The company's head of crypto, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, said the move marked the first time users have interoperability between the PayPal and Venmo apps.
- Besides, the PYUSD's availability on Venmo increased the number of cryptocurrencies users can purchase through the app to five.
- PYUSD is currently supported by 12 platforms in total, including Coinbase, Bitstamp, Crypto.com, and Kraken.
Zoom Out: - PayPal launched PYUSD in early August, becoming the first major financial services company to introduce its own stablecoin.
- A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to another reference asset, mostly a fiat currency.
- Customers generally use these assets to trade with different cryptocurrencies without converting their funds back into fiat currencies.
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| 6 | | South Korea's second-largest city, Busan, has announced its plans to launch a digital asset exchange offering trading services for tokenized commodities. The city's municipal government said it aims to officially launch the platform within H1 2024. More: - The new exchange's public offering process will start in October.
- The city government will select a business operator for the platform in November, registering the exchange as a company.
- The upcoming exchange will allow users to trade tokenized commodities on a blockchain without listing any cryptocurrency.
- Besides, the exchange will be completely founded with private capital, getting administrative and financial support from the city.
- Busan will also establish a $75M fund to support the development of blockchain technologies.
- The municipal government further plans to develop a blockchain network compatible with major blockchains, such as Ethereum and Cosmos, in line with its aim to become a blockchain city.
Zoom Out: - Last year, Busan also partnered with Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, to help it develop its blockchain infrastructure and support its efforts to boost crypto adoption.
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INSIDE CRYPTOCURRENCY LEADERBOARD (ALL-TIME) |
 | Staff Writer | | Doga is a tech and science editor who has been writing news for nearly 10 years. She worked for leading tech platforms and mainstrem media channels as an editor and presenter throughout his career. Then, she carried her know-how to more than one platform. She is a part-time cat lover and binge-watcher, and also fond of science, space, and emerging tech. She always has a story to tell. She is a bit addict to the laughter and -unfortunately- the '90s culture. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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