Digital assets

SIX Swiss Exchange Receives Regulatory Approval to Launch Digital Asset Bourse

11/09/2021 by Idelto Editor

Switzerland’s stock exchange SIX has won regulatory approval to launch its long-awaited bourse for digital assets. This authorization enables the exchange “to go live with a fully regulated, integrated trading, settlement, and custody infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology for digital securities.”

SIX Digital Exchange Greenlighted to Launch

SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) announced Friday that it has formally obtained two licenses from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) “to operate a stock exchange and a central securities depository for digital assets in Switzerland.” The announcement states:

This authorization enables SDX to go live with a fully regulated, integrated trading, settlement, and custody infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology for digital securities. With these licenses, SDX can now offer the highest Swiss standards of oversight and regulation.

“The digitalization of financial markets continues apace, and while the final shape of the market is still evolving, this is an important milestone in providing institutional investors with a safe and robust infrastructure,” said Thomas Zeeb, SIX’s global head of exchanges.

The company explained that it expects the platform to create a global exchange network for digital assets with an international customer base expanding to include banks, issuers, insurance firms, and institutional investors.

SIX officials said that the platform will initially begin trading in bonds, noting that stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could follow.

What do you think about SIX Digital Exchange getting regulatory approval? Let us know in the comments section below.

Russia Not Ready for Bitcoin as Legal Tender, Putin’s Spokesman Peskov Says

08/09/2021 by Idelto Editor

Russia has no reason to recognize bitcoin, President Putin’s press secretary has noted after El Salvador became the first country to adopt the digital coin as legal tender. In a statement to the press, Dmitry Peskov revealed he is convinced that such a move would not bring any benefits to the Russian Federation.

Kremlin Not Open to Bitcoin Adoption in Russia

The government in Moscow sees no reason to recognize bitcoin at this point, according to Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Describing it as a quasi-currency, the Kremlin representative insisted that equating bitcoin to official monetary instruments wouldn’t do anything but harm Russia’s financial and economic system. Speaking to reporters, Peskov emphasized:

Clearly, Russia is not ready for such steps.

The statement, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday, came as the Republic of El Salvador became the world’s first country to recognize bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender for payments in its jurisdiction. On Sept. 7, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law came into effect, making the leading crypto by market cap a national currency alongside the U.S. dollar, as Bitcoin.com News reported.

Residents of the small Central American nation can now pay for goods and services using the cryptocurrency as all prices can be denominated in BTC. Furthermore, taxpayers can use bitcoin to cover their obligations to the state. On Monday, President Nayib Bukele revealed his government had also started purchasing BTC, later announcing that the country had acquired 200 coins, bringing the total it holds to 400, and then “buying the dip” with another 150 coins when the price fell to below $43,000.

Russia, on the other hand, is a long way from accepting any cryptocurrency as legal tender. Moscow partially regulated coins and tokens with the new law “On Digital Financial Assets” which entered into force at the beginning of this year. Its provisions recognize cryptocurrencies as property but prohibit their use for payments.

According to the country’s current legislation, the national fiat ruble remains the only legal tender, and “money surrogates” are banned in the Russian Federation. Bank of Russia, the country’s central bank which has categorically opposed the adoption of decentralized digital money, is preparing to launch a digital ruble prototype by the end of 2021.

Russian media reported in May, however, that members of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, had started working on amendments to the Civil Code that would permit the use of crypto assets as contractual means of payment. If approved, the changes will allow parties to a contract to pay each other with cryptocurrency, only under the terms of their agreement.

Do you think Russia will change its position on cryptocurrencies in the future? Share your expectations in the comments section below.

Crypto Market Is ‘Development Vector’ of Nation’s Digital Economy, Ukraine President Says

08/09/2021 by Idelto Editor

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has highlighted the importance of launching a legal digital assets market in his country during a working visit to the U.S. The Ukrainian head of state met with top investors including from the cryptocurrency industry.

President Zelensky Highlights Importance of Ukraine’s Virtual Assets Market

Speaking to venture capital funds and Silicon Valley accelerators, Volodymyr Zelensky praised the opportunity to discuss the prospects for the development of the IT sector and innovations in Ukraine. In his opening remarks at the event, quoted in a press release, the Ukrainian leader emphasized his country has made a “real breakthrough in the digital sphere” and a “huge leap towards creating a digital state” over the past year.

At a meeting with representatives of the Stellar Development Foundation, the president expressed hope that in the near future the institution will find more opportunities to expand its activities and team as well as to eventually establish an R&D center in the East European nation. “After all, Ukraine is now the best magnet with blockchain and crypto specialists in Europe,” Zelensky remarked, further emphasizing:

And one of the vectors of development of Ukraine’s digital economy is the launch and development of a legal innovative market for virtual assets.

Earlier this year, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation signed a memorandum of understanding with the foundation aimed at supporting the ongoing efforts of the Ukrainian government to develop a legal framework for the country’s expanding crypto space. The agreement also covers Stellar’s participation in building the infrastructure for the Ukrainian national digital currency.

Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, who was part of the delegation, noted that Ukraine has one of the world’s largest blockchain developer communities and is working to become an attractive jurisdiction for both local and foreign crypto companies. He added that the country is also modernizing its payments market which will allow the National Bank of Ukraine to issue the digital hryvnia.

The current administration in Kyiv has maintained a generally positive attitude towards the crypto and blockchain industry but is yet to adopt comprehensive regulations for its activities. A draft law “On Virtual Assets,” which was recently revised, is expected to be adopted by the end of this year.

In July, government officials and business representatives produced a roadmap to transform Ukraine into a leader in cryptocurrency integration. A central part of the new strategy is the plan to develop the country’s virtual assets market within the next three years.

Do you expect Ukraine to become a leading crypto friendly destination in Europe? Let us know in the comments section below.

ETH 2.0 Contract Exceeds 7.4 Million Ether, Close to $30 Billion Locked, Liquid Staking Pools Grow

06/09/2021 by Idelto Editor

The Ethereum 2.0 contract now has more than 7.4 million ether worth over $29.3 billion using today’s ether exchange rates. According to statistics, the smart contract address is the largest holder of ethereum out of all the wallets in existence.

Ethereum 2.0 Contract Nears $30 Billion

In the early days, the Ethereum (ETH) protocol was a 100% proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain but in more recent times, Ethereum is now a mix of proof-of-stake (PoS) and PoW. In time, the digital currency and smart contract network will be 100% PoS and this will be the main consensus algorithm that keeps Ethereum chugging along.

On November 6, 2020, Bitcoin.com News reported on the co-creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, adding $1.4 million worth of ether into the Phase 0 smart contract. Since then, the ETH 2.0 contract has swelled significantly. In July 2021, Bitcoin.com News reported on the Ethereum 2.0 contract exceeding six million ether. At the time on July 2, the six million ether was worth $12.4 billion using exchange rates from that day.

Today, according to Etherscan statistics, the Eth2 Deposit Contract holds 7,489,474 ether worth $29,366,901,606. The smart contract address is the largest wallet among the Ethereum rich list of wallets. The Wrapped Ether smart contract address is fairly close, however, with 6.9 million ether.

Ever since Buterin deposited the massive amount of ether he held into the ETH 2.0 contract address, deposits of 32 ETH are continuously deposited to this very day. In order to be a validator, 32 ether is required to join the ETH 2.0 staking community.

Behind the ETH 2.0 contract and Wrapped Ether wallet, includes wallets owned by Binance, Kraken, Gemini, Huobi, FTX exchange, and a few unknown ether billionaires. The ETH 2.0 smart contract has seen 150,980 transactions to date and the 7.4 million ether equals 6.37% of the entire circulating supply of ether.

1.3 Million Ether Is Locked in Liquid Staking Pools

A lot of the ETH 2.0 money locked in to the contract is being staked in prominent staking pools like Lido, Stkr, SharedStake, Stafi, Stakewise, Cream and Stakehound. These pool services have approximately 1,361,463 ether locked and Lido has the lion’s share of ether.

The Lido liquid staking pool has around 1,167,007 ether staking today, according to Dune Analytics stats. $5.35 billion of the overall $29.3 billion locked is being staked by large pools and that’s about 18.09% of the 7.4 million ether today.

In addition to the 7.4 million ether locked, to date, 216,229 ether has been burned after EIP-1559 was implemented. Using today’s exchange rates, that’s $729 million worth of the second-leading crypto asset by market capitalization.

What do you think about the 7.4 million in ether worth more than $29 billion locked into the Ethereum 2.0 contract? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

NFL Bars Teams From Participating in Certain Cryptocurrency and NFT Ventures: Report

04/09/2021 by Idelto Editor

According to a recent report, the National Football League (NFL) advised teams that they could not, at least for now, sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and sponsorships to digital currency companies. Advertisements for specific crypto assets were mentioned alongside initial coin offerings (ICOs), according to various club sources who remained anonymous.

Anonymous Club Sources Disclose the NFL’s New Policy

On Friday, The Athletic reported that sources familiar with the matter detail that the NFL is barring teams from participating in certain crypto ventures. The NFL’s alleged ban follows a great number of blockchain, NFT, and cryptocurrency endorsements from a number of star athletes and teams.

For instance, Tom Brady has shown his support for bitcoin with laser eyes, but he’s also started his own NFT company called Autograph. Brady and his Brazilian supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen also signed a long-term partnership with FTX.

But the seven-time Super Bowl champion is not the only one dipping into the crypto economy. The world’s largest cryptocurrency asset manager, Grayscale Investments, has partnered with the New York Giants. Trevor Lawrence, the NFL’s No. 1 Draft Pick, put his signing bonus into crypto in May. NFL player and offensive lineman Russell Okung gets half of his salary in bitcoin (BTC).

Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes released a collection of NFTs on Makersplace on March 17th. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers player, Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski, sold an NFT collection as well. Moreover, MLB and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have both gotten involved in the crypto asset and non-fungible token space.

“Multiple club sources” from the NFL told The Athletic contributor Daniel Kaplan teams cannot contribute to this space at the moment. An anonymous NFL team official read the following:

Clubs are prohibited from selling, or otherwise allowing within club controlled media, advertisements for specific cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, other cryptocurrency sales or any other media category as it relates to blockchain, digital asset or as blockchain company, except as outlined in this policy.

NFL’s New Policy Does Allow Specific Crypto Partnerships

The report does not disclose if any negative repercussions have been felt by those who have already participated with crypto firms or if they have been granted immunity for now. If the report holds weight, the NFL’s action may just stop players and teams from following the lead of other clubs and players.

The NFL’s purported new policy does allow sponsorships with firms “whose primary business is providing investment advisory and or fund management services in connection with cryptocurrency, provided that such advertising sponsorship rights are limited to promoting the company’s corporate brands,” the anonymous source concluded.

What do you think about the sources that say the NFL is barring teams from participating in certain cryptocurrency affairs and deals? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.