NFT Steez chats with Celo ecosystem lead Mashiat Mutmainnah about the promise of ReFi and its capacity to promote environmental and social good.
On Sept. 30, NFT Steez, a bi-weekly Twitter Spaces hosted by Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond, met with Mashiat Mutmainnah to discuss how regenerative finance (ReFi) can provide more accessibility and inclusivity to blockchain technology.
As a "mission-driven movement," Mutmainnah explains that ReFi enables users to redefine their relationship with the current financial system and their relationship with finance and wealth.
Currently, in many countries, millions of people lack basic, equitable access to the financial services that would allow them to meet their daily needs.
What if there were newer models that could sustainably alleviate this? According to Mutmainnah, ReFi can redefine what money means and how it's used.
What is the impact of ReFi?
Mutmainnah emphasized that ReFi brings awareness to how the present financial systems operate in an "extractive" and "exploitative" manner. She also drew a comparison to fast fashion by explaining that what enables a user to purchase a shirt for $5 comes at the expense of a child laborer.
These "extractive" systems are no longer working for people since a core tenet of ReFi is equitable accessibility and distribution.
Mutmainnah explained that often ReFi is seen as synonymous to climate, and while that is a pillar, ReFi has enabled "tangible and accessible use-cases." Users can "plugin" and participate in models and systems that can increase their overall prosperity and that of the ecosystem.
Therefore, ReFi can be considered a way of triangulating elements of sustainability via "stabilizing" the climate and "biodiversity," while also keeping equitable access within global communities. This has the potential to create new financial models and systems that can increase prosperity.
As Mutmainnah puts it:
"ReFi is helping folks change the way they relate to money."
Can Web3 and NFTs be used for social and public good?
When asked whether NFTs could be used for social and public good, Mutmainnah referenced a pilot program that involved a "loyalty NFT rewards program." Akin to Starbucks' latest NFT loyalty program, Mutmainnah explained how a similar scheme could yield positive and sustainable benefits.
For example, imagine purchasing an NFT that can grant the holder one free coffee for 10 days. In these models, NFTs can yield more economically feasible benefits than buying the item while also bringing more awareness to the good or service.
Contrary to the hype and speculation circulating NFTs in 2021, more creators and platforms are expanding and exploring practical use cases from peer-to-peer and peer-to-business initiatives.
However, that does not mean adoption comes with ease. According to Mutmainnah, beyond NFTs, there are many "infrastructure pieces" to explore, including building out more dynamic products that enable this.
Mutmainnah explained that it's a dance of sorts between "making a product frictionless" for seamless adoption and empowering the user to be an "advanced" user that takes full "ownership of their assets."
To hear more from the conversation, tune in and listen to the full episode of NFT Steez and make sure to mark your calendar for the next episode on Oct. 7 at 12 pm EST.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
"Voters are less likely to support candidates perceived as standing in the way of a decentralized internet,” said Haun Ventures.
A poll of 800 likely midterm voters in four U.S. swing states suggested that the overwhelming majority favored ideas around decentralization, and many were HODLers.
According to a Sept. 29 report from venture capital firm Haun Ventures on a survey conducted by business intelligence company Morning Consult, roughly one in five voters polled in New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania said they owned cryptocurrency or nonfungible tokens. In addition, 91% of respondents supported a “community owned, community governed” internet that “gives people greater control over their information.”
Poll of 800 swing state voters who own digital assets. Source: Haun Ventures
“Significantly, and reflective of how the values that voters associate with Web3 will drive electoral behavior, voters are less likely to support candidates perceived as standing in the way of a decentralized internet,” said Haun Ventures. “In other words, as both parties consider how good Web3 policy will translate into good politics, the values of Web3 are what voters want to see elected officials supporting, not standing in the way of.”
Today, we're sharing a poll commissioned by Haun Ventures and conducted by Morning Consult of likely 2022 midterm voters in four key swing states (OH, PA, NH and NV) that surveyed voters’ views on web3 and how they might impact their vote in November. https://t.co/NhMSviztDJ
The survey noted that the voters polled leaned slightly Democratic, but promoting a decentralized and democratized internet seemed to be a bipartisan issue, with both sides having “limited faith in the government’s ability” to regulate Web3. Haun Ventures reported that 55% of voters surveyed would be less likely to vote for political candidates who opposed internet decentralization policies, while 72% of HODLers in the poll said they owned digital assets “because they want an economic system that is more democratized, fair, and works for more people.”
“This poll makes it clear that in these swing states, Web3 Voters now represent a significant cohort of the middle class electorate, and are younger and more diverse than the population as a whole.”
The poll targeted people planning to vote in the 2022 midterm elections in the United States, to be held in November with candidates taking office in January. Morning Consult conducted the survey from Sept. 15–20. Katie Haun, a Coinbase board member and former board member for OpenSea, raised $1.5 billion to form Haun Ventures in March for investments in Web3.
A PDF version of this article is available for download in Spanish and English.
On September 7, 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the history of the world to adopt bitcoin, the world’s new currency.
Remember those words, as they will be engraved in the history of money.
But as of today, in these early times, opinions are stuck in the buckets of it being a bold move, a smart move, a dumb move, or simply a gamble.
Of course, it was none of the above. It was the only obvious move, the only logical one. For those who understand, the real question is not if other countries are going to adopt bitcoin, but when.
We are so early in this paradigm shift, that a logical, common sense move is controversial; it has many people cheering it on, and many, many detractors.
On this occasion, I will not analyze the supporters, but the detractors. They can be separated into three groups:
The ones who genuinely think it was the wrong decision.
The ones who think it’s a good decision, but for the wrong reasons.
The ones who are afraid of our decision.
Now, the interesting part is that the first and second groups exist mostly because of the third.
Why?
Because the most vocal detractors, the ones who are afraid and pressuring us to reverse our decision, are the world’s powerful elites and the people who work for or benefit from them.
They used to own everything, and in a way they still do; the media, the banks, the NGOs, the international organizations, and almost all the governments and corporations in the world.
And with that, of course, they also own the armies, the loans, the money supply, the credit ratings, the narrative, the propaganda, the factories, the food supply; they control international trade and international law. But their most powerful weapon is the control of the “truth”.
And they are willing to fight, lie, smear, destroy, censor, confiscate, print, and do whatever it takes to maintain and increase their control over the “truth”, and everything, and everyone.
Just think about the hundreds, if not thousands, of articles about how El Salvador’s economy was supposedly destroyed because of its “bitcoin gamble”, about how we are inevitably heading to default, that our economy has collapsed, and that our government is bankrupt.
Most of you have surely seen this, right? They’re all over. Every financial publication, every major news organization, every newspaper in the world, all the credit rating agencies, and all the international financial organizations are saying the same thing, as if they were in a choir.
But is any of this true?
Well, you just need to read their articles and listen to their “experts” saying that all of this happened after El Salvador lost around $50 million because of bitcoin’s plummeting price on exchanges. Since we are not selling any bitcoin, this statement is obviously false. But for the sake of making a more profound analysis, let’s say it was entirely true, which of course it’s not, but bear with me.
Really? A whole country’s economy was destroyed by a $50 million loss?
Yes, El Salvador is a relatively poor country, but in 2021 alone, we produced $28 billion in products and services. Pushing the idea that a $50 million loss — less than 0.2% of our GDP — would destroy or even put our country’s economy in trouble is far more than stupid; it is revealing.
You would think the economic geniuses at Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, Deutsche Welle, BBC, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc., would have enough analysts and editors well versed in these topics to tell them not to publish that nonsense. You would think these absurd articles wouldn’t pass those editorial boards, but they do. And sometimes they even get a very large space, like a full-page spread in The New York Times.
So the argument that we have lost $50 million worth of bitcoin is false, because we simply have not sold any bitcoin. And even if we were to accept that argument as true, then it would be ridiculous to conclude that an economy of $28 billion per year will go bankrupt or into default because of a 0.2% “loss” in one year, when in 2021 our economy grew 10.3%, or by $4 billion. This is using the IMF’s own numbers!
And even if you want to accept that absurd argument as true, which would mean you ignore math or basic logic, still, you will have yet to ask yourself why these worldwide media corporations would give so much time and space to such a small country like El Salvador.
Were they talking about El Salvador before? Did they care about what happened in our country? Did they report the $37 billion (with a b) that the previous governments stole from our country’s treasury?
Ask yourself these questions; a few years ago, did you know where El Salvador was located on a map? Did you know the name of the previous president of El Salvador? Did you know about their failed economic policies?
The answer to those questions added to the incredible absurdity of portraying, in hundreds of serious financial publications, that an economy that produces $28 billion a year will go bankrupt for a debatable $50 million loss. That is all the proof one should need to see that they are trying to fool you.
In fact, these are the real numbers, which are public information and can be found and double-checked quite easily:
In 2021, our GDP rose 10.3%, income from tourism rose 52%, employment went up 7%, new businesses up 12%, exports up 17%, energy generation up 19%, energy exports went up 3,291%, and internal revenue went up 37%, all without raising any taxes. And this year, the crime and murder rate have gone down 95%.
These are real numbers, facts that cannot be distorted by narrative. The only number that can be changed with their rhetoric is our bond prices, since they depend mostly on the official narrative and the credit ratings of their agencies; more “truth” than the truth.
They have said over and over again, in more than a hundred self-accredited publications, that we are not able to pay our debts and are heading for default. We were even ranked as the country with the highest risk of default in the world. El Salvador with more risk than Ukraine. Yeah, exactly.
So to counter that narrative, we did exactly the opposite of not paying our debts; we offered to pay in advance. And that is why this month we will be buying all of our 2023 and 2025 bonds, that the holders want to sell of course, at market price.
They have also told you that there are huge anti-Bitcoin protests in El Salvador; they have been anything but huge. Furthermore, why would my government have a 85-90% approval rating according to every poll conducted in the last year, including several polls conducted by the opposition and several by independent international polling firms, if we were handling things so badly?
By the way, what’s your president’s approval rating?
So if you are in group one or two of the detractors, my message to you is this; stop drinking the elites’ Kool-Aid and take a look at the facts. Even better, come ask the people, see the transformations for yourself, walk in the streets, go to the beach or to our volcanoes, breath the fresh air, feel what it really means to be free, see how one of the poorest nations in the continent and the previous murder capital of the world is changing to rapidly become the best place it can be.
And then, ask yourself; why are the world’s most powerful forces against those exact transformations. And why should they even care?
You see it now, right? The reason for all of this is because we’re not simply fighting a local opposition, or the usual roadblocks any small country may face, but the system itself, for the future of mankind.
El Salvador is the epicenter of Bitcoin adoption, and thus, economic freedom, financial sovereignty, censorship resistance, unconfiscatable wealth, and the end of the kingmakers, their printing, devaluating, and reassigning the wealth of the majorities to interests groups, the elites, the oligarchs, and the ones in the shadows behind them, pulling their strings.
If El Salvador succeeds, many countries will follow. If El Salvador somehow fails, which we refuse to, no countries will follow.
They know this very well and that’s why they are fighting us so hard.
Equities markets have extended their decline, but Bitcoin and select altcoins have not given up much ground, leading some traders to believe that the bottom is in.
The United States equities markets have been under a firm bear grip for a large part of the year. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite have declined for three quarters in a row, a first since 2009. There was no respite in selling in September and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is on track to record its worst September since 2002. These figures outline the kind of carnage that exists in the equities market.
Compared to these disappointing figures, Bitcoin (BTC) and select altcoins have not given up much ground in September. This is the first sign that selling could be drying up at lower levels and long-term investors may have started bottom fishing.
In the final quarter of the year, investors will continue to focus on the inflation data. Any indication of inflation topping could bring about a sharp recovery in risk assets, but if inflation remains stubbornly high, then a round of sell-offs could follow.
Let’s study the charts of the S&P 500 index, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) and the major cryptocurrencies to determine if a recovery is on the cards.
SPX
The S&P 500 index (SPX) has been under intense selling pressure for the past few days but the bulls have held their ground. This indicates that bulls are buying the dips near 3,636.
SPX daily chart. Source: TradingView
The first resistance on the upside is 3,737. If bulls thrust the price above this level, the index could rise to the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) (3,818). In a downtrend, this is the important level to keep an eye on because a break and close above it will suggest that the bears may be losing their grip.
Sharp declines are usually followed by strong rallies. That could carry the index to the downtrend line and then to the 50-day simple moving average (4,012).
The bears are likely to have other plans. They will try to extend the downtrend by sinking and sustaining the price below 3,636. If they manage to do that, the index could plummet to 3,500 and later to 3,325.
DXY
The U.S. dollar index surged to 114.77 on Sept. 28, which pushed the relative strength index (RSI) into deeply overbought territory. This may have attracted profit-booking by the short-term traders which pulled the price near the 20-day EMA (111).
DXY daily chart. Source: TradingView
The bears will have to yank the price below the 20-day EMA to suggest that the bullish momentum could be weakening. That could clear the path for a possible drop to the 50-day SMA (108).
The zone between the 50-day SMA and the uptrend line is likely to witness aggressive buying by the bulls because if they fail to defend the zone, it will indicate that the index may have topped out.
On the other hand, if the price turns up from the current level or rebounds off the 20-day EMA, it will indicate that the bulls continue to buy on dips. Buyers will then again attempt to thrust the price above 114.77 and resume the uptrend. The next target objective on the upside is 118.
BTC/USDT
Bitcoin bounced off the strong support at $18,626 on Sept. 28, indicating that the bulls continue to fiercely defend this level. The long tail on the candlestick of the past two days shows that bulls are buying the intraday dips.
BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The bulls pushed the price above the 20-day EMA ($19,602) on Sept. 30 but are struggling to sustain the higher levels. This shows that bears are selling near the 50-day SMA ($20,621).
If bulls do not allow the price to drop below the 20-day EMA, the likelihood of a rally to the downtrend line increases. The bears are expected to mount a strong resistance at this level but if bulls clear this hurdle, the BTC/USDT pair could signal a short-term trend change. The pair could then rise to $22,799.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the current level or the 50-day SMA ($20,625), the pair could again drop to the $18,626 to $17,622 support zone.
ETH/USDT
Ether (ETH) has been declining in a descending channel pattern for the past several days. In the short term, the price has been stuck between $1,250 and $1,410, indicating demand at lower levels but selling near the resistance.
ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The price action inside the range is usually random and volatile. Hence, it is difficult to predict the direction of the breakout with certainty.
If the price breaks above $1,410, it will suggest that the bulls have absorbed the supply. That could propel the price to the resistance line of the channel. The bulls will have to overcome this barrier to suggest a potential trend change.
On the other hand, if the price turns down and breaks below $1,250, the bears will attempt to cement their advantage by pulling the ETH/USDT pair below the channel. If they succeed, the pair could drop to $1,000.
BNB/USDT
Binance Coin (BNB) turned up sharply from $266 and broke above the 20-day EMA ($278) on Sept. 28. This indicates that lower levels are attracting strong buying by the bulls.
BNB/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The bulls pushed the price above the resistance line of the descending channel on Sept. 29 but are facing resistance at the 50-day SMA ($288). If bulls do not allow the price to plummet back below the 20-day EMA, it will improve the prospects of a break above the 50-day SMA. The BNB/USDT pair could then rally to $300 and later to $338.
On the contrary, if the price turns down and breaks below the 20-day EMA, it will suggest that bears continue to sell at higher levels. The pair could then decline to the strong support at $258.
XRP/USDT
XRP rebounded off the 20-day EMA ($0.43) on Sept. 28, indicating a change in sentiment from selling on rallies to buying on dips. However, the bears are unlikely to give up as they will try to stall the recovery in the $0.52 to $0.56 zone.
XRP/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
If buyers do not give up much ground from the current level, the possibility of a break above the overhead zone increases. A break above $0.56 will signal the resumption of the uptrend. The XRP/USDT pair could then rise to $0.66.
Conversely, if the price continues lower, the pair could drop to the breakout level of $0.41. The bulls are likely to defend this level vigorously. If the price rebounds off this level, the pair may enter a range-bound action for a few days.
ADA/USDT
The long tail on Cardano’s (ADA) Sept. 28 and 29 candlestick shows that the bulls bought at lower levels in an attempt to defend the uptrend line. Although the price rose above the uptrend line on Sept. 29, buyers could not sustain the recovery.
ADA/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The price has again tumbled below the uptrend line on Sept. 30. The downsloping moving averages and the RSI in the negative territory suggest that the path of least resistance is to the downside. If the price breaks below $0.42, the ADA/USDT pair could decline to the crucial support at $0.40. The bulls are expected to defend this level with vigor.
Contrarily, if the price turns up from the current level and closes above the uptrend line, it will suggest strong buying at lower levels. The bulls will then again try to push the price above the 20-day EMA ($0.45) and challenge the resistance at the 50-day SMA ($0.47).
Buyers are attempting to form a higher low in Solana (SOL). The price rebounded off $31.65 on Sept. 28 and reached the 50-day SMA ($34.70) on Sept. 30.
SOL/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The 20-day EMA ($33.30) is trying to turn up and the RSI is just above the midpoint, suggesting that the bulls are attempting a comeback. If the price breaks and sustains above the 50-day SMA, the bullish momentum could pick up and the SOL/USDT pair could rally to $39. The bears are expected to mount a strong resistance at this level.
Alternatively, if the price turns down from the 50-day SMA, the pair could drop to $31.65. A break below this support could sink the pair to $30.
DOGE/USDT
Dogecoin (DOGE) dipped below the 20-day EMA ($0.06) on Sept. 25 and the bears thwarted attempts by the bulls to resume the recovery on Sept. 27.
DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The 20-day EMA is flattish and the RSI is just below the midpoint, indicating a balance between supply and demand. This balance could tilt in favor of the bears if they sink the price below the support near $0.06. The price could then plunge to $0.05.
The bulls will gain the upper hand if they drive and sustain the price above the 50-day SMA ($0.06). The DOGE/USDT pair could then attempt a rally to $0.07 where the bears may again mount a stiff resistance.
DOT/USDT
Polkadot (DOT) has been trading in a tight range between $6 and $6.64 for the past few days. This indicates a tough battle between the bulls and the bears.
DOT/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The gradually downsloping moving averages and the RSI in the negative territory suggest that bears have a slight edge. If the price drops below $6, the DOT/USDT pair could start the next leg of the downtrend. The pair could then slide to $4.
To invalidate this negative bias, bulls will have to push and sustain the price above the 20-day EMA ($6.64). If they do that, it will suggest that the consolidation near the support may have been an accumulation phase. The pair could then rise to the 50-day SMA ($7.26) and later to $8.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.
The world’s largest holder of Bitcoin is looking for a software engineer to create cybersecurity solutions and enable e-commerce use cases on the Lightning Network.
MicroStrategy, the business intelligence and tech company that holds the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) reserve, is hiring a Bitcoin Lightning software engineer to create a Lightning Network-based software-as-a-service platform.
The new engineer will be responsible for building a Lightning Network-based platform to address enterprise cybersecurity challenges and enable new e-commerce use cases, according to a job posting linked to the MicroStrategy website. Besides “an adversarial mindset,” the applicant should have certificates, knowledge of tools and programming languages, and experience with decentralized finance technologies.
MicroStrategy is looking to hire a Bitcoin Lightning Software Engineer to build a Lightning Network-based SaaS platform. #bitcoinpic.twitter.com/XFYrkIaFA9
MicroStrategy, founded in 1989, began a Bitcoin buying spree in August 2020 that has culminated in a reserve of 130,000 BTC, worth $2.57 billion at the time of writing. The purchase of the final 301 BTC of its holdings was announced on Sept. 20, paying around $3.98 billion for the entire reserve. Bitcoin profitability for long-term holders recently hit a four-year low. MicroStrategy now holds 0.62% of all the BTC that will ever exist.
The Lightning Network is a Bitcoin layer-2 protocol designed to raise payment throughput and lower transaction fees. It has been making slow progress in facilitating peer-to-peer transactions since it debuted in 2018.
FTX US was the successful bidder in the Voyager auction. But, one industry insider tells Cointelegraph that the deal didn't have depositors' best interest in mind.
Voyager Digital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July after its exposure to the toxic Three Arrows Capital led to its ultimate downfall. This week, rumblings of a Voyager Digital auction surfaced, with Cointelegraph breaking the story on the afternoon of Sept. 26 after a reputable source confirmed the parties involved. A few hours later, a winner was announced — crypto exchange FTX US. But, not everyone is convinced that Voyager’s depositors will be taken care of.
This week’s Crypto Biz chronicles the bidders involved in the Voyager Digital auction. We also document the resignation of a disgruntled crypto boss and major funding plans from a blockchain-focused hedge fund.
FTX US wins auction for Voyager Digital’s assets
Cointelegraph reported this week that crypto exchanges FTX, Binance and CrossTower were competing to acquire the assets of beleaguered crypto lender Voyager Digital. A few hours later, it was confirmed that FTX US had secured the winning bid for around $1.3 billion. The acquisition means that existing Voyager users can access funds through FTX US once the crypto lender’s Chapter 11 case concludes. Voyager is just one of several distressed crypto firms to implode during this year’s bear market. Its fate was tied to the catastrophic downfall of Three Arrows Capital, which failed to repay $650 million to the lender.
Today, after a competitive auction aimed at returning maximum value to customers, @FTX_Official US was selected as the highest and best bidder. Press release linked below. More information about what this agreement means for customers to follow.https://t.co/OmOd7pvSza
Voyage’s auction did not serve depositors’ best interests, alleges Wave Financial rep
FTX US may have won the auction for Voyager’s assets, but the outcome didn’t serve depositors’ best interest, according to a Wave Financial representative. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, the representative for the Los Angeles-based asset management firm confirmed that Wave was also in the mix to acquire Voyager’s assets. They claimed that their proposal was better because it sought to “restore value in the VGX token via new and improved utility, saving $200 million worth of funds and redistributing assets back to existing Voyager customers.” What’s done is done, but Wave certainly made a compelling offer.
Pantera plans to raise $1.25B for second blockchain fund: Report
Crypto-focused hedge fund Pantera Capital remains uber bullish on digital assets. According to CEO Dan Morehead, the company is “very bullish for the next 10 or 20 years” and is prepared to put its money where its mouth is. The company disclosed this week that it plans to raise a whopping $1.25 billion for its second blockchain fund. If all goes according to plan, the fund will achieve its target by May 2023. If you’re committed to Bitcoin (BTC) and digital assets like Morehead, the next six to 12 months will surely test your resolve.
Pantera Capital is seeking $1.25 billion for its second blockchain fund, founder Dan Morehead says https://t.co/H5AXy55hqa
The faster they rise, the harder they fall. Celsius Network, once the darling of the CeFi industry with over $20 billion in assets at its peak, filed for bankruptcy in July. Its CEO, Alex Mashinsky, officially relinquished his role on Tuesday. While Mashinsky has attempted to revive the company through restructuring, he claims that his presence has served as a “distraction” more than anything. “I regret that my continued role as CEO has become an increasing distraction, and I am very sorry about the difficult financial circumstances members of our community are facing,” he said in a press release.
Before you go: What impact will the collapsing British pound have on crypto?
The British pound plunged this week to its lowest-ever level against the U.S. dollar. Investors in the crypto space are perplexed as to why the Great British pound sold off so sharply. They’re even more curious about what this could mean for Bitcoin and digital assets as a whole. In this week’s Market Report, Cointelegraph analysts dissect the pound’s apparent fall from grace and how this could influence investor sentiment moving forward. You can watch the full replay below.
Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse of the business behind blockchain and crypto delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.
Axelar's co-founder shared his views on blockchain infrastructure and adoption at Converge22 in San Francisco.
Cross-chain communication between blockchains is more than just moving data from point A to B, but how it can connect applications and users for enhanced experiences and fewer gas fees in Web3, outlined Sergey Gorbunov, Axelar Network co-founder and CEO, speaking to Cointelegraph's business editor Sam Bourgi on Sept. 28 at Converge22 in San Francisco.
As the crypto industry has developed over the past few years, blockchain interoperability has seen a surge in demand, attracting venture capital and welcoming players, such as Axelar, which reached unicorn status in February. According to Gorbunov, the company, founded in 2020, started with a premise that cross-chain and multichain capabilities would come to define the crypto space. "The idea is not just to talk about how to connect A to B, but how to connect many to many, right? How to connect everybody with everyone else. And that includes applications and includes users," he explained.
Interoperability is a buzzword in the crypto industry that refers to the ability of many blockchains to communicate, share digital assets and data, and work together, thereby sharing economic activity. As an infrastructure, interoperability is crucial for broader adoption of the technology, as Gorbunov explained:
"We need an ability for the user to execute one call on one chain, and that transaction actually taking place on other chains without them having to go and get a native token of that chain, pay gas, execute themselves and move it back and forth."
Axelar's CEO highlighted that, beyond better experiences for users, interoperability also means higher economic outcomes, as interoperable chains can have unified liquidity and thus spend less on gas fees for transactions. "Our Web2 experience is a lot simpler, and we have to get to the same level in Web3 with simpler experiences, and that is what cross-chain enables us to do, to help build those simple experiences."
At Converge22, Axelar was announced as one of the networks set to integrate with Circle, the financial technology company behind the USD Coin (USDC) and Euro Coin (EUROC). Circle is launching a new cross-chain transfer protocol to help developers build frictionless experiences for sending and transacting USDC natively across blockchains.
Earlier this week, Axelar disclosed a partnership with Mysten Labs, the infrastructure company behind the Sui blockchain, to deliver cross-chain communication for developers through General Message Passing and advance the prospect of a so-called "super DApp."
Writer and editor Sam Bourgi contributed to this story.
U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres overruled the SEC’s second attempt to withhold the documents relating to former Division Director William Hinman, who said Bitcoin and Ether are not securities.
Ripple Labs scored a victory in its continuing legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Sept. 29 as U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres ruled to release the documents written by former SEC Corporation Finance Division Director William Hinman. The documents predominantly relate to a speech Hinman delivered at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in June 2018.
Hinman stated in his speech that Ether (ETH) was not a security. Ripple Labs considers the speech a key piece of evidence the case the SEC has brought against it alleging that sales of Ripple’s XRP violated U.S. securities laws — though time has yet to tell whether the language used in the speech will be as meaningful as the company suggests. The circumstances surrounding the speech and Hinman’s actions leading up to it are a source of considerable confusion.
Judge Torres’ decision overruled SEC objections to releasing the documents following District Court Judge Sarah Netburn's order declaring that the emails and drafts of the speech were not protected by deliberative process privilege, as the SEC has claimed. The SEC then claimed attorney-client privilege over the documents, which was overruled by Netburn in July. Judge Torres’ ruling overruled the SEC’s objections to that decision.
This is why the crypto market should be thankful @Ripple is fighting this case. If you add up the legal fees Ripple has paid to finally get a ruling from Judge Torres it is likely $2-3 million and they still don’t have the documents. Next step: SEC asks to certify or Mandamus. https://t.co/yXiUAoGNJA
— John E Deaton (216K Followers Beware Imposters) (@JohnEDeaton1) September 29, 2022
The SEC filed suit against Ripple Labs and its current CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, and previous CEO Chris Larsen in December 2020, saying the company’s cryptocurrency, XRP, is a security because the company used it to raise funds in 2013. The case is a relatively rare example of an SEC action that goes to trial, thus potentially leading to a precedent-setting decision rather than ending in a settlement.
Judge Torres agreed with Judge Netburn on EVERY single issue related to the HINMAN EMAILS.
The self-regulatory organization backed by Solidus Labs is known for its integrity pledge; BitGo, Bittrex and Merkle Science are among the new members.
The Crypto Market Integrity Coalition (CMIC) announced the induction of eight new members, the organization announced on Sept. 29. The organization now has 38 members.
CMIC members take a pledge to uphold market integrity and efficiency that the organization says:
“gives a unified voice to the crypto industry’s commitment to continually improving market integrity and collaboration with regulators.”
According to its statement, the CMIC is also developing market integrity training for digital asset markets to help compliance professionals counter manipulation.
The new CMIC members are digital asset trust and security company BitGo, crypto exchange Bittrex, blockchain analytics platform Crystal Blockchain, fintechs FinClusive and Oasis Pro Markets, Web3 risk mitigation platform Merkle Science, digital assets platform Tokenomy and forensic services provider VAF Compliance.
.@FinClusiveCap is proud to join the Crypto Market Integrity Coalition (CMIC). Looking forward to working together to elevate standards and enable safe and regulated crypto growth. Go to https://t.co/2suE9kovi1 to join the effort #CryptoMarketIntegrity
The CMIC is the brainchild of market surveillance firm Solidus Labs. Solidus cofounder and CEO Asaf Meir said, “Now more than ever before, it is clear that crypto’s potential depends on the ability to mitigate its new risks and provide demonstrable market integrity.”
It was founded in February with 17 members that included such names as Coinbase, Circle, Huobi Tech and CryptoUK. A second cohort of 13 members joined the CMIC in April.
“We support and seek to participate in digital asset markets that demonstrate Market Integrity. […] Digital assets and digital asset market structure may present novel forms of market activity and market manipulation. We agree to continually educate ourselves as to these unique challenges and how to address them.
Gibraltar is becoming well known for its pioneering crypto regulations, support for blockchain development and bitcoin adoption.
Cointelegraph reporter Joe Hall visited the country of Gibraltar to explore Bitcoin adoption on The Rock, as the peninsula is known locally, and how the adoption of bitcoin for shopping in the territory is impacting business.
The visit was also an opportunity to visit Xapo Bank, the world's first private financial institution to combine traditional banking with Bitcoin. Coinbase acquired its custody business in 2019, making the American exchange the largest crypto custodian in the world.
The British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar is known for its pioneering crypto regulations, support for blockchain development and bitcoin adoption, with many retail businesses using the Lightning Network — a layer two network that enables off-chain transactions — to accept bitcoin as payment around the peninsula.
"When you talk about adoption of the use of Bitcoin, is it going to come? Yes, it is as more and more jurisdictions begin to regulate. And what is for me, the ideal is when there are enough countries doing it."
The bill amends ERISA of 1974 to include digital assets under “covered investments,” thereby shielding investment managers from liability.
Republican lawmakers drafted a bill enabling investment managers to offer bitcoin in 401(k) plans.
The bill seeks to remove liability for a breach of fiduciary duty for offering access to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
The bill is likely to be presented following the midterm elections in November 2022.
Three republican members of Congress presented a bill, named the Retirement Savings Modernization Act, designed to enable investment managers to offer bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in their 401(k) plans, per a Congressional filing.
The proposed bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to add classifications to the types of assets fiduciaries are permitted to offer.
“A fiduciary shall not be liable for a breach of fiduciary duties under this section solely for — recommending, selecting, or monitoring any covered investment as an investment option for a plan,” reads the bill.
The document continues to define a “covered investment” and lists “digital assets” along with the other standard assets which can be managed within a standard 401(k) savings plan.
Congressional sponsors of the bill include: Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) of the Senate Banking Committee, senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and House of Representatives member Peter Meijer (R-Mich.)
“Our legislation will provide the millions of American savers invested in defined contribution plans with the option to enhance their retirement savings through access to the same wide range of alternative assets currently available to savers with defined benefit pension plans," said Toomey, per a report.
As the midterm elections approach in November we are heading into a “lame duck session,” which typically sees lawmakers stall on voter-moving issues as political incumbents being removed from office are considering legislation before their successors take the reigns.
Additionally, another report suggests that Tommey plans to introduce the bill as an end-of-year tax package deal meant to boost overall retirement savings, as the bill is not only applicable to digital assets.
Fidelity Investments launched the first bitcoin 401(k) earlier this year with bitcoin bull MicroStrategy being the first company to pledge to utilize the product.
Bears have controlled BTC price by forcing 111 daily closes below $25,000 and derivatives data shows a reversal of this trend is highly unlikely.
One hundred and eleven days have passed since Bitcoin (BTC) posted a close above $25,000 and this led some investors to feel less sure that the asset had found a confirmed bottom. At the moment, global financial markets remain uneasy due to the tension in Ukraine increasing after this week’s Nord Stream gas pipeline incident.
The Bank of England's emergency intervention in government bond markets on Sept. 28 also shed some light on how extremely fragile fund managers and financial institutions are right now. The movement marked a stark shift from the previous intention to tighten economies as inflationary pressures mounted.
Currently, the S&P 500 is on pace for a consecutive third negative quarter, a first since 2009. Additionally, Bank of America analysts downgraded Apple to neutral, due to the tech giant’s decision to scale back iPhone production due to "weaker consumer demand." Lastly, according to Fortune, the real estate market has shown its first signs of reversion after housing prices decreased in 77% of United States metropolitan areas.
Let's have a look at Bitcoin derivatives data to understand if the worsening global economy is having any impact on crypto investors.
Pro traders were not excited by the rally to $20,000
Retail traders usually avoid quarterly futures due to their price difference from spot markets but they are professional traders' preferred instruments because they prevent the fluctuation of funding rates that often occurs in a perpetual futures contract.
The indicator should trade at a 4% to 8% annualized premium in healthy markets to cover costs and associated risks. The chart above shows that derivatives traders have been neutral to bearish for the past 30 days while the Bitcoin futures premium remained below 2% the entire time.
More importantly, the metric did not improve after BTC rallied 21% between Sept. 7 and 13, similar to the failed $20,000 resistance test on Sept. 27. The data basically reflects professional traders' unwillingness to add leveraged long (bull) positions.
One must also analyze the Bitcoin options markets to exclude externalities specific to the futures instrument. For example, the 25% delta skew is a telling sign when market makers and arbitrage desks are overcharging for upside or downside protection.
In bear markets, options investors give higher odds for a price dump, causing the skew indicator to rise above 12%. On the other hand, bullish markets tend to drive the skew indicator below negative 12%, meaning the bearish put options are discounted.
The 30-day delta skew has been above the 12% threshold since Sept. 21 and it's signaling that options traders were less inclined to offer downside protection. As a comparison, between Sept. 10 and 13, the associated risk was somewhat balanced, according to call (buy) and put (sell) options, indicating a neutral sentiment.
The small number of futures liquidations confirm traders’ lack of surprise
The futures and options metrics suggest that the Bitcoin price crash on Sept. 27 was more expected than not. This explains the low impact on liquidations. Despite the 9.2% correction from $20,300 to $18,500, a mere $22 million of futures contracts were forcefully liquidated. A similar price crash on Sept. 19 caused a total of $97 million in leverage futures liquidations.
From one side, there's a positive attitude since the 111-day long bear market was not enough to instill bearishness in Bitcoin investors according to the derivatives metrics. However, bears still have unused firepower, considering the futures premium stands near zero. Had traders been confident with a price decline, the indicator would have been in backwardation.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
President Tokayev said Kazakhstan will give full legal recognition to digital assets if demand persists while they continue testing security concerns.
The first purchase of cryptocurrency with Kazakhstan’s local currency has been finalized.
The President of Kazakhstan says further demand could likely result in full legal recognition of digital assets.
The country will continue running a pilot program through this year to test demand and security.
Kazakhstan’s first cryptocurrency purchase with its local currency, the tenge, took place today as the country considers “full legal recognition” of the asset class, per a report from Inform Buro.
"At the site of the Astana International Financial Center, cryptocurrency conversion is already underway on a special pilot project,” said Kazakhstan’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaking at the international forum Digital Bridge 2022.
Furthermore, the country intends to become a leader in the digital asset ecosystem “if its pilot launch is successful.” The pilot is expected to be in a test phase until the end of 2022 as the nation-state continues to study its demand and security.
“To this end, sufficiently innovative changes have been made to national legislation and the regulatory environment,” said President Tokayev. “And we are ready to go further.”
This past summer, the pilot project between Kazakhstan’s banks and cryptocurrency exchanges began in Astana. The project was meant to test the opening of exchange accounts and the exchange’s interactions with local banks. Demand for the asset class seems to be rising as the testing phase continues.
“If this financial instrument shows its continued demand and security, it will certainly receive full legal recognition," President Tokayev concluded.
Bitcoin mining in the region is already prevalent, thus further demand for Kazakhstan could result in legislation designed to attract mining businesses, as well as other exchanges. However, mining for Kazakhstan has not been a straightforward path as it has experienced resistance to the industry.
The ECB’s two-year investigative phase is halfway completed, with key use and policy issues clarified; more stakeholder engagement is planned before the decision is made to proceed.
The European Central Bank (ECB) Eurosystem digital euro project’s two-year investigative phase has reached its halfway point. The ECB published a progress report Sept. 29 that looked at design and policy issues that are under consideration or have been decided.
The report said commerce in physical stores and online is the biggest use case for a euro central bank digital currency (CBDC). Currently, most digital payment solutions are limited in reach and not of European origin. Thus, a digital euro could harmonize payment solutions and strengthen European strategic autonomy in line with policy goals. The report said:
“A digital euro would preserve the role of public money as the anchor of the payments system in the digital age. It would ensure the smooth coexistence, convertibility and complementarity of the various forms that money takes.”
The ECB Governing Council has approved exploration of online payments validated by a third party as part of a first digital euro release, as well as an offline peer-to-peer validated solution with no timeline. Online peer-to-peer solutions will not be pursued further in this phase.
Anti-Money Laundering requirements and the desire to limit the CBDC’s use in investments prevent the full anonymity of a digital euro, but the report suggested a digital euro would have privacy provisions similar to current digital payment options, with potentially greater privacy for low value and low-risk transactions.
The digital euro will restrict large holdings and be designed to limit its use as an investment tool, due to financial stability considerations. The Governing Council has approved a waterfall mechanism that could transfer digital euro holdings above the limit to a commercial bank account. An offline holding limits may also be imposed. A “wide set of tools” will be incorporated into the design to respond to future financial conditions.
The European Commission will propose a regulation to establish the digital euro in the first quarter of 2023. The Governing Council will decide in October 2023 whether to move on to development and testing. That phase may last around three years.
In a statement in front of the EU Parliament, ECB board Panetta confirmed that the ECB’s Governing Council has now endorsed a first set of foundational design choices for the digital euro.
The progress report looked exclusively at a retail CBDC. ECB executive board member Fabio Panetta recently discussed the possibility of creating a wholesale digital euro for use by banks and financial institutions. Panetta summed up progress on the digital euro in his quarterly presentation to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament also on Sept. 29.
UNICEF Giga used NFTs to help raise funds to give schools in developing countries the ability to connect to the internet.
In this week’s newsletter, read about how UNICEF is using nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to help connect schools to the internet and how post offices are able to revive the philately sector through NFTs. Check out how an NFT gaming project lets many aspects of its game be customizable and sold as NFT packs. In other news, Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu spoke with Cointelegraph and shared his thoughts about Asia’s perception of NFTs. And, don’t forget this week’s Nifty News featuring Walmart’s entry to the Metaverse.
UNICEF Giga NFTs to connect schools in developing countries to internet
Humanitarian aid organization UNICEF has utilized NFTs as a means of raising funds to help with its mission of providing internet access to schools located in developing regions all over the world. Through its Giga initiative, it aims to help 1.1 million schools across 49 countries.
In a Cointelegraph interview at the Blockchain Expo in Amsterdam, Giga blockchain product manager Gerben Kijne mentioned that their NFT fundraising initiative attracted both UNICEF supporters who had bought NFTs for the first time and NFT collectors who wanted to get the NFTs because it was made by UNICEF.
Post offices adopting NFTs leads to a philately renaissance
European post offices utilized NFT popularity to jumpstart the philately sector, an area focusing on the study of postage stamps. PostAG philately head Patricia Liebermann and PostNL product manager Sacha Van Hoorn are leading the charge.
Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Blockchain Expo in Amsterdam, Liebermann said that they combined NFTs with physical stamps and got overwhelming feedback. According to Liebermann, they started exploring NFT postage stamps in 2019 and determined that there is a market out there who are interested in this new way of collecting.
NFTs bring in-game ownership to a new level, says Blokhaus founder
Gaming is a very popular use case for NFTs. There have been many NFT gaming projects flooding the Web3 space. Despite this, one project wants to surpass the competition by making every component of its game NFTs customizable.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Blokhaus Inc. founder Mark Soares gave a description of how their project aims to reach gamers. According to the executive, they allow the creation of their own characters within their own scenes, and these can be sold as NFT packs to other gamers.
Yat Siu: Asia GameFi opportunity huge as gamers don’t hate NFTs
Yat Siu, the co-founder of Animoca Brands, spoke with Cointelegraph at the Asia Crypto Week and argued that the Asian region presents a lot of opportunities for GameFi projects. The executive highlighted that Asia is very welcoming to NFTs compared to other regions and has the potential to lead the blockchain gaming space.
Siu mentioned that western gaming companies usually deal with consumer resistance when it comes to NFTs. However, in Asia, the executive noted that this did not happen and cited the differences in Asians’ perception of capitalism.
Nifty News: Walmart steps into the Metaverse, @NFT founder hacked and more
Retail giant Walmart has dived into the Metaverse by launching its Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play on the online game Roblox. Meanwhile, the owner of the banned handle @NFT has claimed to have lost $1 million in Ether (ETH) and NFTs after an exploit.
Thanks for reading this digest of the week’s most notable developments in the NFT space. Come again next Wednesday for more reports and insights into this actively evolving space.
Now is a great time to press the advantage that Bitcoin brings: not being a fiat currency that can be printed on demand. It’s time to denominate in bitcoin terms.
What’s Going On In The World Of Fiat Currency Markets?
As you may be aware, many fiat currencies are crashing against the USD. This doesn’t necessarily mean the USD is “going up” either, it is also losing purchasing power, just at a reduced pace.
Year to Date (YTD) for large fiat currencies vs USD:
The Bank of England is now starting a new wave of bond purchases, or in other words, the debasement continues. GBP holders and savers will continue to have their savings destroyed by the money printer over time. They are being sacrificed on the altar of “financial stability.”
With fiat currencies devaluing this rapidly, it’s not such a crazy idea that we should value things directly in sats or BTC terms. While nocoiners love to hate Bitcoin for not being at all-time high prices, the reality is that long-term Bitcoin users have dramatically profited, both in purchasing power and in freedom terms.
The loss of confidence in fiat currencies is driving a fundamental shift in thinking. If our precoiner friends were scared of bitcoin because of volatility before, the difference in volatility between bitcoin and fiat coins is reduced, so it makes sense to start using bitcoin denominations.
What Does It Mean To Denominate In Bitcoin Terms?
It means to evaluate financial costs and benefits in Bitcoin or satoshi terms. This includes financially valuing our net worth in bitcoin/sat terms. This is really what matters over the longer term for Bitcoin Maximalists after all. If you believe everything is going to be priced in sats someday, why not start now?
I have personally denominated my net worth in bitcoin terms for a while now, but I’ve struggled with the next part: day-to-day expenses. For me, this is mainly because of mental arithmetic. So my next step is to focus more on evaluating the bitcoin cost of revenue and expenditure of day-to-day items. If we are serious about bitcoin as better money, we should show it.
Practical Tips On Bitcoin Denomination
Start by keeping your finger on the pulse in terms of what the “sats per dollar” price is. You can do this using Coinkite’s BLOCKCLOCK (aka, Moscow Time) or perhaps on sites like Bitbo.io that list it. You can also use converter tools like bitkoin.io or preev.com. Also, pricedinbitcoin21.com is a useful site showing all kinds of bitcoin denominated prices.
Source: pricedinbitcoin21.com, as of August 28, 2022
On mental arithmetic, one tip is to start with sats per dollar. So, for example, if 1 BTC = $19,067, then the sats per dollar is about 5,200, so $10 is about 52,000 sats, $100 is about 520,000 sats and $1,000 is about 5.2 million sats.
One other hurdle is just having to continually reset prices if we’re actually quoting real world products/services in bitcoin terms. But so be it, this is our proverbial cross to bear, and it benefits the user in the longer term to operate this way.
Of course there may come a point where the bitcoin price for something set a few years/cycles ago is no longer appropriate, but this just requires readjustment. And being fair, this is something that all fiat merchants are having to do anyway.
This Isn’t New, We’re Just Bringing It Back
In the earlier days of Bitcoin, it was more common to speak in terms of the BTC values for things. Perhaps it became more difficult due to the price rise and dealing with small fractions of a bitcoin in our heads.
Remember though, that early services and games ranging from SealsWithClubs, to MPOE, to SatoshiDice were bitcoin denominated! Some early exchanges on Bitcoin Talk forums were bitcoin denominated. So really, this is just bringing back what Bitcoiners used to do.
Of course, there are some in the Bitcoin space who are already bitcoin-denominated even in terms of the service/product they sell. Notably, the CoinJoin services are bitcoin-denominated (e.g., see the Whirlpool fee calculator here), and various individuals in the space are operating without fiat bank accounts, so they’re obviously doing better at being bitcoin denominated.
We should also note that the Lightning Network is helping here also. Various Lightning services, tipping and wallets are sat denominated. For example, Alby and the Podcasting 2.0 apps are sat denominated. People running routing nodes on the Lightning Network are setting their base fees and variable fees (ppm, or parts per million) in satoshi terms, which we can see by browsing Lightning nodes on explorers such as mempool.space.
On The Question Of Amounts: Bitcoin Or Sats?
A long-time topic in Bitcoiner circles is the point of unit bias, which is believed to be behind some shitcoins pumping. The nocoiner coming in sees a very low price per unit and buys the shitcoin thinking, “Hey, it’s coming off a low base so there’s more upside.” So the rationale goes that if we all spoke in terms of sats only (and not in BTC terms), that bitcoin could leverage this effect also.
But this doesn’t come for free, there is a trade off. There may well be high-net-worth investors (HNWI) who get into bitcoin, and because they want to buy “a whole coin,” they buy more than they otherwise would have. We could even argue that the amount HNWIs buy is higher, thus the impact HNWIs have is higher. And by now, most know the oft-quoted statistic about how “even if every millionaire on earth wanted a whole bitcoin, they couldn’t get it.”
Remember that if you divided the number of sats by the number of people on earth, that number comes out to around 226,000 sats (see satsperperson).
Source: satoshisperperson.com, as of September 28, 2022
But perhaps this unt bias question is neither here nor there. As long as there is an easy option or toggle to flip between BTC terms and sat terms in our apps and services, it probably doesn’t matter that much. In practice, I think people will just refer to smaller value things in sat terms, and larger value items in BTC terms.
You Can’t Fully Escape Doing Fiat Conversions
I understand one critique here might be that lots of our day-to-day life expenditures are still fiat denominated, and that we can’t fully escape it (yet). Nocoiners may critique us also for still valuing bitcoin in USD terms, but the process has to start somewhere.
Starting somewhere means we should try to think in bitcoin or sat terms first. So if we’re talking about the price of things, list the bitcoin-terms price first. Or perhaps more provocatively, list the bitcoin price only and let the other person do a calculation. Let's disrupt the network effect of fiat currency, and not let our lives be ruled by the fiat currencies.
This is a guest post by Stephan Livera. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
The Project Icebreaker initiative aimed to improve cross-border payments by reducing costs and increasing speed and transparency, with a final report expected in Q1 2023.
The Bank for International Settlements, or BIS, has reported it will be partnering with the central banks of Israel, Norway and Sweden to explore international retail and remittance payments use cases for central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.
In a Sept. 28 announcement, the BIS said the collaboration — named Project Icebreaker — will involve the bank’s Innovation Hub Nordic Centre testing key functions and the technological feasibility of interlinking domestic CBDC systems. The central banks will develop a new hub in which the Central Bank of Norway, the Bank of Israel, and Sveriges Riksbank can connect their proof-of-concept CBDC systems.
Beju Shah, the head of the Innovation Hub Nordic Centre, said the experiment will explore CBDC designs and architecture, as well as related policy concerns. The project aimed to improve cross-border payments using CBDCs by reducing costs and increasing speed and transparency, with a final report expected in the first quarter of 2023.
“Efficient and accessible cross-border payments are of extreme importance for a small and open economy like Israel and this was identified as one of the main motivations for a potential issuance of a digital shekel,” said Bank of Israel deputy governor Andrew Abir. “The results of the project will be very important in guiding our future work on the digital shekel.”
The BIS reported on Sept. 27 that a CBDC pilot involving the central banks of Hong Kong, Thailand, China and the United Arab Emirates was “successful” after a month-long test facilitating $22 million worth of cross-border transactions. Other countries’ central banks have launched similar initiatives related to improving cross-border settlements, as institutions in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa announced in September 2021.
The Central Bank of Norway, the Bank of Israel and Sveriges Riksbank have all been considering the benefits of rolling out their respective CBDCs, while China reportedly expanded the trials of its digital yuan to larger swaths of the country in September. In the United States, lawmakers and regulators have taken different approaches to explore the digital dollar, while a March executive order from President Joe Biden had government departments and agencies research the benefits and risks of a CBDC.
