FreeCryptoCurrency.Me

Traditional 60/40 portfolio allocations to equities and bonds is doing a disservice to savers. It’s time for a new type of hedge.

In October, the lender published a cryptic letter saying that it has experienced “irregularities” in the handling of “specific” corporate funds by a “perpetrator of fraudulent activity.”

A 51% attack occurs when a miner (or miners) acquires more than 50% of the network’s mining hash power and takes control of the network,

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation — a U.S. government agency that provides insurance to banks — is looking to hire a legal counsel with expertise in the area of financial technology and blockchain, per a job ad.

The “FinTech Counsel” role, as outlined in the post, would provide the agency with “support in the areas of providing advice and assistance in connection with legal issues arising from new digital and other forms of technology.” The position exists within the FDIC Legal Division’s Financial Technology and Innovation Group, Fin Tech Innovation Team.

Among the expertise areas highlighted are “blockchain, blockchain settlement systems, and distributed ledger development; smart contracts, utility settlement coins, and, in general, payments systems, and clearing and settlement.” The Utility Settlement Coin mention is an interesting one, given that the term has, in the past, been used to refer to a specific project focused on bank-to-bank payments now known as Fnality. It’s possible that the job ad’s reference is to blockchain-related interbank payments applications generally rather than one specific project.

In 2018, the FDIC created a fintech-focused innovation group within the agency, and in a statement to Congress last year said that this in-house group “will promote the adoption of innovative and transformative technologies in the financial services sector, help the FDIC better understand how innovation can contribute to the expansion of banking services to the unbanked, underbanked, and individuals in underserved communities as well as promote the adoption of technology that can help community banks compete in the modern financial market place.”

“The agency is also monitoring developments in the wholesale financial markets, such as changes to payment systems, distributed ledger technology (e.g., blockchain), smart contracts, and digital assets. Over the last several years, this work has been overseen by the FDIC’s Emerging Technology Steering Committee, which is comprised of senior leadership across the FDIC,” the agency said at the time.

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

While MMT may be the de facto policy of rich Western governments, applying it to developing economies could be disastrous.

Sia co-founder David Vorick’s short story takes the perspective of the decentralized web recounting its own, inevitable rise.

The blockchain company’s new Middle East and North Africa headquarters will be within the DIFC financial hub.

Cryptocurrency trading volumes decreased by 25.8% in October, according to The Block’s volume index for spot exchanges.

October’s legitimate volume figure came in at $125.8 billion compared to $169.5 billion for the month of September.

As previously reported, volume on decentralized exchanges fell during October as well. Those volumes declined to $18.46 billion from September’s $24 billion.

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

After several days of nail-bitingly incremental vote-counting, national news networks in the U.S. have begun projecting a victory for former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

The tipping point was a projected win in the state of Pennsylvania, which provided Biden with enough votes in the Electoral College — the largely ceremonial body through which U.S. presidents are chosen in the U.S., rather than by direct popular vote — to clinch victory. The victory projections come roughly an hour after current U.S. president Donald Trump declared again that he, rather than Biden, had won the election. 

It should be noted that votes are still being counted in several U.S. states, and that the final election results have yet to be certified. What’s more, the full arc of Trump’s likely legal challenges of the voting results have yet to fully play out, including a pledged push for the U.S. Supreme Court to become involved.

Prediction market Polymarket shows that bettors currently believe Trump has a 4% chance of winning the election. 

In the cryptocurrency context, a Biden win’s impact on the industry is less clear than a Trump reelection. Trump’s stated stance on bitcoin is a negative one, but members of his administration and agency appointees have struck accommodative notes, and several Republican members of Congress are advocates of the technology. Biden himself has not gone public with any committed plans for a specific policy on cryptocurrency or digital assets.

As noted by CoinDesk’s Nik De, several rumored appointees in a possible Biden administration have been open about their perspectives on crypto. 

A more likely outcome is that work on cryptocurrency initiatives in Congress will continue at a slow pace and largely through the budgetary process. A major focus for the Congressional Blockchain Caucus are pieces of legislation that seek to define digital assets within the context of U.S. law, but it remains to be seen whether that dynamic will shift when the next session of Congress begins.

Photo Credit: Matt Smith Photographer / Shutterstock.com

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Joe Biden’s picks to head key regulatory agencies could redefine cryptocurrency policy in the coming years. Exactly how remains an open question.