The HRF distributed around USD 167 thousand worth of BTC at the rate of the day. Depending on the project, each developer received between 0.25 or 0.50 BTC.

The non-profit organization Human Rights Foundation (HRF) fights against censorship from governments around the world. They recently announced that they used 3.5 BTC to fund ten developers working in different areas of the Bitcoin field.

The HRF provided this information through a press release that it posted on its website. They revealed in that statement the names of the developers that benefited from this Bitcoin contribution.

Vasil Dimov, a Bitcoin Core programmer, is among the developers that the HRF funded. He has contributed to making Bitcoin more private, implementing privacy networks like TOR v3 and I2P. In recent days, the latter finally became part of the final Bitcoin client. Dimov received a total of 0.5 BTC from HRF for doing this work.

HRF Allocates Part of the Donations that It Receives to Support the Bitcoin Community

The Human Rights Foundation also used 0.5 BTC to fund the open-source protocol BTC-Pay. Its goal is to develop a Bitcoin design guide with which it aims to help future programmers of the pioneering cryptocurrency. The HRF receives donations in Bitcoin on its website precisely through BTC-Pay.

Other donations by the HRF went to Lili and Richard Myers for Bitcoin research, Chaincase for a Bitcoin wallet for iOS, SeedSigner for the development of their hardware wallet, LNBits for a Lightning Bitcoin wallet, Fodé Diop for the creation of a Bitcoin programming course, Michael Ford developer of Bitcoin Core, Umbrell for the development of its platform, and the Qala organization for the development of Bitcoin courses in Africa.

According to the website, the HRF completes more than USD 750,000 to support the Bitcoin community with this contribution. However, they announced that they would make another donation to help the community in the last quarter of 2021.

The Human Rights Foundation Believes that Bitcoin is a Right for Humanity

The Human Rights Foundation has said that it is against any censorship and authoritarian government violating human rights. In that sense, that association considers that Bitcoin is a decentralized, private, and resilient human right thanks to its protocol.

For that reason, the HRF is working alongside the Bitcoin community to allow the first cryptocurrency on the market to reach the entire planet. The organization has funded projects that support the network, such as Bernard Parah and Carla Kirk-Cohen. They received a total of 0.5 BTC to found Qala, with the aim of training and assisting developers in various parts of Africa.

The benefits of the pioneering cryptocurrency are becoming increasingly apparent, which does not go unnoticed by organizations like the HRF. This is the reason why that non-profit association is striving to improve the conditions in the Bitcoin arena. Like many analysts, they believe that this digital asset allows people to control their monetary transactions more efficiently.

By Alexander Salazar

Some top companies in the S&P 500 index reached a high peak in their cash holdings due to the pandemic crisis. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy has been investing in Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin treasury of MicroStrategy is worth far more than the cash holdings of most S&P 500 companies.

MicroStrategy, the publicly traded software company and one of the most relevant institutional Bitcoin whales worldwide, recently purchased 5,050 bitcoins for a sum of $ 242.9 million.

The investment increased the bitcoin treasury of the company to a total of 114,042 BTC, currently valued at a record high of more than $ 5 billion.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, this number is more than the amount of cash currently held by 80% of non-financial companies in the S&P 500, including big-name companies like Starbucks Corp, Verizon Communications Inc., and Home. Depot Inc.

Another aspect to consider is that the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, better known as the S&P 500, is one of the most relevant stock indices in the United States of America.

This index has the 500 most representative and liquid stocks of the most relevant industries in the North American market. The index currently accounts for 400 industrial stocks, 40 financial stocks, 40 public service stocks, and 20 transportation stocks.

More Bitcoins than Cash Reserves

The latest bitcoin purchase of MicroStrategy is part of a company investment strategy led by CEO Michael Saylor. Since last year, the business software firm has been actively acquiring Bitcoin with its cash reserve as a strategy to protect itself from a possible devaluation of the US dollar.

Other prominent companies, such as Square and Tesla, have also copied this investment strategy to add bitcoins to their treasuries by changing their cash balance. But not all have opted for such a risky strategy.

Instead, most US companies have chosen to increase their cash stock in the face of the uncertainty generated by the Covid-19 pandemic last year.

Jeff Windau, the senior analyst at Edward Jones, said in an interview with Bloomberg that a year ago, during the tormenting moments of the pandemic, everyone was trying to strengthen their balance sheets.

During the second quarter, non-financial companies in the S&P 500 reached a high peak in their treasuries by 12%. Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, and American Airlines Group were among the group of companies that revealed the dollar gains.

This trend among large companies has begun to change in recent months due to the recovery of the health and economic situation worldwide.

According to Bloomberg, in July, non-financial companies on the S&P 500 cut their dollar reserves by $ 30 billion, or 2%, from a year earlier.

MicroStrategy and Bitcoin Stocks

Companies like Amazon and Alphabet continue to accumulate cash. Bloomberg data highlights that total cash reserves held by US corporations fell to $ 1.52 trillion from $ 1.55 trillion as they acquired new businesses, bought back shares, and increased dividends.

Meanwhile, the Bitcoin investment strategy that MicroStrategy applied has brought many benefits to the stock. The current shares of MicroStrategy have reached a high peak of more than 350% in the last year, reflecting the gains in Bitcoin.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Since 2017, CACEIS has shown interest in cryptocurrencies and the industry around them. The company of French origin has assets in the custody of almost USD 5 trillion.

French bank CACEIS, a specialized entity regarding custody for institutional clients, has current plans to incorporate bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies into the stock of services.

With this goal in mind, the European banking giant would be setting new strategies with the Swiss firm Metaco. The latter company defines itself, on its website, as a leading platform that brings companies the opportunity to protect, market, issue, and manage digital assets.

The new CACEIS plans got reported by the specialized newspaper CoinDesk, which relies on two sources familiar with the bank and its intentions, and that decided to hide their identity.

The sources clarified that neither of the two companies participating in the commercial alliance wanted to comment on anything.

According to the sources consulted, the implementation by CACEIS will not be just a simple custody service but something that is comprehensive and addresses various needs.

Alliances, Promoting, and the Vital impact of Bitcoin

The French bank and its interest in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are not new. Back in 2017, CACEIS signed an alliance with the Bitstamp exchange, a situation that appeared on various media outlets at that time.

The agreement allowed mutual fund promoters working with the financial institution to receive new investments in BTC, both from retail and corporate clients.

 Back then, when institutional investments in cryptocurrencies were not yet something quite common, the then CEO of CACEIS, Joe Saliba, had highlighted that, as a digital currency, bitcoin was already generating a considerable impact on the financial world.

The executive added that the entity believed in this cryptocurrency and its capacity to increase as more fund promoters accept bitcoin investments.

A bank with 16 years of experience and at least USD 5 billion in custody

Among the services that CACEIS offers to its clients are the custody of cash and other assets, accounting, management, administration, investment portfolio insurance, investment management, and data analytics.

The bank, which met its foundation back in 2005 and has its headquarters in Paris, currently has assets in custody amounting to € 4.2 trillion (USD 4.96 trillion).

The entity works as a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole, a company that offers financial services to institutional investors and also has a capital investment from the Spanish bank Santander, which is part of the company that manages CACEIS.

In other places around the world, various banks offer bitcoin custody services for individual or corporate clients. The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) is one of these banks. The bank of New York Mellon is the oldest bank and one of the pillars in the United States of America’s economy.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Dwyer’s lawyers negotiated his extradition to the United States, and he must appear in court in March 2022 to present his defense for the crimes associated with BitMEX.

Gregory Dwyer, one of the four BitMEX executives pointed out by US authorities for violations, and disruption of local laws will get officially extradited to the US to face his legal process within the American nation.

The extradition recently appeared in a report published by The Royal Gazette, where they reported that Dwyer had already accepted the extradition and will get transferred from Bermuda to the United States of America to face the charges brought by the US authorities.

Another consideration to have in mind is that both Dwyer and three other executives were accused of violating the Banking Secrecy Act (BSA) in October of last year, signalling them for conspiration to avoid anti-money laundering laws.

At the time, the US Department of Justice presented these charges to the CEO of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes; CTO Samuel Reed; co-founder Benjamin Delo; and Dwyer who was listed as head of business operations

While Reed, Delo, and Hayes got released on fairly substantial bail, Dwyer managed to flee to the Bahamas and is currently having conversations with the authorities about the possibilities to properly face the legal charges against him.

More Details About the Extradition

As such, the extradition came to effect after a conversation between Dwyer’s attorneys and legal officials. Both teams made contact to talk about the defendant’s whereabouts and agree on the terms so that he could assume the legal procedures in the United States of America.

A US court decided that the platform for the exchange of derivatives of bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies, BitMEX, will have to pay a fine of at least 100 million dollars.

The Court for the Southern District of New York managed an order against the exchange on multiple charges including conducting illegal, unlicensed operations and a failure to set “Know Your Customer” (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) protocols.

With the court’s decision and the payment of the funds, BitMEX resolved the legal case as a company. However, the agreement excluded the co-founders and former directors. Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed will keep being under investigation. All three have pleaded not guilty.

BitMEX got banned from doing business in the United States of America or with Americans as it does not have the corresponding permits. According to the CFTC, the bitcoin derivatives platform brought illicit leveraged trading in the months of November 2014 and October last year.

In 2020 and 2021, and after the retirement of its CEO Arthur Hayes, BitMEX started to apply new measures to comply with international regulators.

Some of the changes in their business models with bitcoin include the application of KYC protocols, user verification, and recruiting of personnel to establish compliance with the policies and new services to operators.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Billionaire Ray Dalio told CNBC that Bitcoin would become a success, and global regulators and governments will try to kill its progress.

If the adoption of Bitcoin keeps spreading its tentacles and the first cryptocurrency succeeds, then regulators and governments will stop its progress at any cost. This statement comes from the billionaire investor Ray Dalio, which recently highlighted his thoughts to CNBC.

Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box show, the Bridgewater founder again admitted that he had allocated a certain amount of his portfolio in Bitcoin.

This highlight comes after the leader being a furious critic and had spending years fighting against cryptocurrency in the past. Dalio even resembles another billionaire, Kevin O’Leary.

Kevin also said, during a recent report he intends to double his investment in Bitcoin when two years ago he thought it was just financial trash.

However, despite acknowledging that he is an investor in BTC, the 72-year-old billionaire still said he doubts his future success due to regulators and governments.

On the other hand, Dalio also added the problem of the Bitcoin adoption as legal tender by El Salvador. The billionaire highlighted that this historical moment is not enough to confirm the status of the first cryptocurrency. This event won’t bring too many changes given that it is not a big country.

Countries Like China are Getting rid of Bitcoin

According to Dalio, it is curious how other countries, with much larger populations, size, and GDP, such as China and India, are getting rid of it.

Another fact to consider is that China has continuously banned the cryptocurrency industry with different measures. India, on the other hand, remains quite indecisive in its approach.

At the same time, the US is thinking of new ways to apply new and stricter regulations around Bitcoin and increase its control over the entire environment.

The president of the Securities and Exchange Commission spoke before the Senate about various projects to regulate shortly.

Consequently, Dalio believes that once these regulations come to effect, they will harm the entire crypto ecosystem.

Diversity in the Portfolio, a New Era for the Financial World

Dalio concluded that the most vital challenge investors must face is: How they would have sufficient diversification for their portfolios in times of economic instability.

Investors need to feel safe; these investors would look for protection in hard money. This protection might come from gold because it is a safe asset, or it may come from any other currency. This alternative asset might be Bitcoin, which could be more speculative.

Dalio is undoubtedly one of the best gold investors as well. In August, when asked to compare gold and Bitcoin, he clarified that he got an insignificant sum of bitcoins. He highlighted that users would want to diversify their portfolio, with certain assets, and Bitcoin will help because it is like digital gold.

By: Jenson Nuñez