Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) claimed that the growing restrictions on crypto advertisement won’t impact the demand. During his interview with CNBC, CZ stressed that physical crypto advertisements and crypto ads, in general, have not had much impact on user growth and it has only become common over the past few years. He said that the majority of crypto adoption comes from “word of mouth” marketing. Clampdown on crypto advertising is unlikely to have much of an effect on demand, says @binance CEO Changpeng Zhao pic.twitter.com/K5EtuWyxGz — CNBC International (@CNBCi) January 20, 2022 He also added that primary advertising services …

It’s full steam ahead for El Salvador’s Bitcoinization. The next point on the orange agenda is in providing low-interest loans backed by Bitcoin (BTC) to small and micro-businesses. While the details of the BTC loans are currently not disclosed, Mónica Taher, an advisor for the government of El Salvador, was straight-talking in a Facebook Live Audio held yesterday. The discussion was called “Bitcoin loans with lower interest rates.” Paul Steiner the President of CONAMYPE (the national institute for small and micro-businesses) shared that the implementation of loans would work with the government-created El Chivo wallet. El Salvador's business landscape is …

In a speech entitled “Digital currencies and the soul of money,” Agustín Carstens, the general manager of the Bank of International Settlements,’ criticized private stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi), touting central bank-led financial innovation as the best possible path to the future of money. Carstens, who served as governor of the Bank of Mexico between 2010 and 2017, delivered his remarks at the conference on "Data, Digitalization, the New Finance and Central Bank Digital Currencies: The Future of Banking and Money" at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. The economist’s argument revolved around the institutional foundations of money and how, even …

Erik Thedéen, the vice-chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority has raised concerns over the growing use of renewable energy for Bitcoin mining. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Thedéen said that Bitcoin (BTC) mining has become a “national issue” and warned cryptocurrencies could pose a risk to climate change goals. He called upon European regulators to take special exception to proof-of-work mining which is primarily used by Bitcoin and a few other forked altcoins. He also advocated for proof-of-stake as a better, energy-efficient alternative: “We need to have a discussion about shifting the industry to a …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has reportedly decided to shut down cryptocurrency automatic teller machines in the city-state. According to Bloomberg, to comply with new regulations issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore's central bank, cryptocurrency ATM operators in the country were forced to shut down their operations on Tuesday. The new clampdown on cryptocurrency ATMs sparked several reactions from the city's cryptocurrency operators, with Daenerys & Co saying it was "surprised" and canceled its ATM service on Tuesday evening. Their main competitor, Deodi, switched off its ATM network and sent staff to remove its crypto ATMs. The …

As U.S. Congress is preparing to take a thorough look at the energy use of crypto mining, the list of witnesses for the Thursday hearing contains more proponents of blockchain technology than its outright critics. The House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee announced a hearing on “Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency: The Energy Impacts of Blockchains” last week, with the event itself scheduled for Jan. 20. The focus of the hearing will be on the energy and environmental effects of crypto mining, specifically as it relates to networks that use proof-of-work, or PoW, consensus mechanism. A Committee on Energy and Commerce staff …

Last week saw an unlikely first move in the opening narrative battle around a prospective U.S. central bank digital currency: Congressperson Tom Emmer came forward with an initiative to legally restrict the Federal Reserve’s capacity to issue a retail CBDC and take on the role of a retail bank. This could be massively consequential as we are yet to see a similarly sharp-cut expression of an opposing stance. As a matter of fact, it is not even clear whether other U.S. lawmakers have strong opinions on the matter other than, perhaps, condemning privately issued stablecoins as a digital alternative to …

Arif Alvi, currently serving as the president of Pakistan, called for additional training in emerging technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity while meeting with a delegation of blockchain technology experts. In a Monday announcement, Alvi said Pakistan’s talent pool should be ready to meet the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which included utilizing blockchain technology in the public and private sectors. According to the Pakistan president, the technology could be used as a government tool to track transactions, reduce corruption, and increase transparency. Among the panel of experts was Bitcoin SV advocate Jimmy Nguyen, founding president of the …

British crypto enthusiasts were busy consolidating and rebalancing during the last gasp of 2021. Finder.com surveyed 2,013 Internet users in the United Kingdom in December 2021 with varying results. Since the last survey conducted in October 2021, U.K. crypto ownership crept up by 1 percentage point from 5.2% to 6.1%, while Ethere (ETH) dominance continues to manifest. Coming in at third place, just behind Singapore and Australia, the U.K.’s Ether ownership among crypto holders consolidated at 32.9%, with XRP the third most widely held crypto, at 17.4%. Curiously, interest across the 27 countries that Finder.com surveyed shows that the global …

Throughout 2021, the Brazilian cryptocurrency market managed to distance itself from the police pages and finally win acceptance with the general public, whether in the financial market or even in the greatest national passion: soccer. Last year, Bitcoin (BTC) acted as a strong alternative to the Brazilian real that ended 2021 by breaking negative records and reaching a devaluation of 6.5% by December, making it the 38th worst currency in the world. In a year of ups and downs for Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency hit a bottom of 167,000 real in January and soared along with global markets to 355,000 …

A former member of the Tongan Parliament is behind a proposal to make Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender in the tiny Pacific nation of Tonga, following in the footsteps of El Salvador. It’s due for a vote in Parliament in May and the early signs are encouraging. Mataʻiʻulua ʻi Fonuamotu, Lord Fusitu’a told Cointelegraph that plans are in motion to use state-run volcano mining facilities to create wealth in Tonga. Tonga has 21 volcanoes. “That means one volcano for every 5,000 people.” He owns one volcano himself through his family’s hereditary land rights. The proposed Bitcoin mining operations would use the …

Ether (ETH) price has bounced 13% from its Jan. 9 low at $2,950, but it seems premature to call the move a cycle bottom. Instead, the larger bearish movement has prevailed and although it looks primarily correlated to Bitcoin (BTC) price, regulatory concerns and a tighter United States Federal Reserve policy have also been blamed for the movement. BTC and Ether have been under pressure since regulators focused their attention on stablecoins. On Nov. 1, the U.S. Treasury Department urged Congress to ensure that stablecoin issuers are regulated similarly to U.S. banks. Currently, the descending channel formation initiated in mid-November …