An investigation into digital asset exchanges in the Russian capital has established that some of them are ready to buy digital coins and deliver paper money in the U.K. The transfer of funds does not usually involve the identification of the clients, Transparency International Russia reveals in a report. Russia-based Cryptocurrency Exchanges Swap Stablecoins for
In 2023, Bitcoin (BTC) and Cathie Wood’s Coinbase (COIN) investment are finally outperforming Warren Buffett’s popular “crypto bet” in Brazil’s fintech giant Nubank (NU). Bitcoin vs. crypto-exposure stocks NU, COIN As of March 17, Bitcoin’s price is up nearly 55% year-to-date (YTD). In comparison, Nubank has risen by only 26%. Meanwhile, another crypto-exposure asset, namely Coinbase stock (COIN), has
Ten separate audits conducted over two years on the Ethereum-based lending protocol Euler Finance deemed it “nothing higher than low risk” and had “no outstanding issues” before it suffered from a $196 million attack. In a series of tweets on March 17, Euler Labs CEO Michael Bentley described the “hardest days” of his life after
At the start of this week, I thought nothing could be more darkly funny than a libertarian-tinged entity called Silicon Valley Bank requiring a rescue by regulators. But I was wrong. Something could be funnier — namely, an attempt to blame the bank’s collapse on the diverse make-up of its board. Silicon Valley Bank, critics
The Ethereum layer two (L2) scaling solution Arbitrum has launched a native governance token named ARB and a self-executing decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance model. The ARB token will have an initial supply of 10 billion, and coins will be airdropped to the Arbitrum DAO treasury, Offchain Labs (the company behind Arbitrum), Offchain Labs investors,
Housing shortages, affordability crises and Nimbyism are growing problems in many countries, but it’s remarkable how much worse things have become in the English-speaking world. Forty years ago, the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland had roughly 400 homes per 1,000 residents, level with developed continental European countries. Since then the two groups
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s sweeping boost to UK pension tax breaks looks set to benefit many higher earners, including doctors, lawyers and bankers. But this week’s announcements raise as many questions as they give answers. Pensioners and pension savers alike are trying to work out what it means for them. Tax planners have been flooded with
Activist investor Carl Icahn has urged the Federal Reserve to stay the course in the fight against the “disease of inflation” despite the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and two other banks last week. “I think you have to stamp out the disease of inflation,” Icahn told the Financial Times. “[Jay] Powell is completely right,”
Top Republicans are urging the White House to crack down on nuclear co-operation between Russia and China following reports that Moscow’s state-owned nuclear energy company is providing highly enriched uranium to Beijing. In a letter sent to US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday, the chairs of the House armed services, foreign affairs and
Nonfungible token trading volumes took a massive beating following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week as traders fled the markets, fearing the repercussions of a major United States bank going under. According to a March 16 report from data aggregation platform DappRadar, NFT trading volumes were hovering between $68 million to $74 million in
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has abandoned plans to make sovereign wealth funds pay corporation tax on property and commercial enterprises after cabinet warnings that the move would hit inward investment and depress growth. Kemi Badenoch, business and trade secretary, led pressure on the Treasury to drop the proposals after warnings that SWFs, which include some of
The National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina released February’s numbers for the consumer price index (CPI), registering an increase of 6.6%, a consequence of the rises in prices of food and beverages principally. The number is among the highest in the history of Argentina, reaching more than 100% growth year-on-year (YoY), something that
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren alleges that Signature Bank failed because it “bought into its get-rich-quick narrative” and “embraced crypto customers with insufficient safeguards.” Emphasizing that the bank took “excessive risk,” the senator demanded answers from the CEO of Signature Bank regarding “the economically disastrous outcomes you created.” Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Letter to Signature Bank’s CEO
The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)-operated golf startup, LinksDAO is primed to become the new owner of the Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland after successfully winning a bid to buy the course initially listed for just over $900,000. After winning the bid, the DAO has entered into an exclusivity agreement with the vendor and will
Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse has had a “limited impact” on the European Union but authorities must still “stay alert” to events as they unfold, European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has said. Despite McGuinness’ reassuring remarks, stocks of Europe’s largest banks still plunged by as much as 10% on March 15. Silicon Valley Bank’s ‘Limited’ EU
Total usage of the Federal Reserve’s lending facilities swelled by $160bn in the week ended March 15, underscoring the pressure facing financial institutions following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Banks flocked to the Fed’s discount window, which offers a standing facility for banks to access support, tapping it for $148.3bn. That sent it to
Investors have funnelled cash to US money market funds over the past week amid concerns over the safety of some bank deposits after the collapse of two large lenders. The funds had more than $120bn of net inflows in the week to Wednesday, according data from the Investment Company Institute, the largest net weekly inflow
When a package of emergency measures following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank failed to stop the plunge in US regional banking stocks this week, Washington’s officials turned to Jamie Dimon, the last remaining veteran of the 2008 banking crisis still heading a large lender. Over multiple phone calls on Tuesday, US Treasury secretary Janet
Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Chinese billionaire arrested in U.S. for $1B financial fraud According to an announcement published by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Mar. 15, Chinese billonaire Ho Wan Kwok (aka Miles Guo and more commonly as Guo Wengui), has been arrested
On Wednesday, Tom Emmer, the U.S. Republican congressman from Minnesota, revealed he sent a letter to Martin Gruenberg, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), regarding reports that the FDIC is “weaponizing recent instability” in the U.S. banking industry to “purge legal crypto activity” from the United States. Specifically, Emmer asked Gruenberg if
The rejection that followed Bitcoin’s (BTC) rally to $26,500 may appear to be a victory for bears, but $24,750 on March 14 was the highest daily close in nine months. Furthermore, Bitcoin has gained 26.5% since March 10, when the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The recent