There has been no progress regarding the enforcement of cryptocurrency exchanges and other services for a year. The FATF calls for a focus on regulation rather than the mass adoption of crypto assets.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently discussed standardized rules on cryptocurrencies and service providers related to those assets. The intergovernmental organization determined that only 45% of the 128 countries under its supervision are applying them.

Its annual report indicates that the lack of an effective regulation makes it difficult to keep track of transactions with cryptocurrencies. That seems to be clearing the way for criminals to move the pieces in their favor, said the FATF.

The policy-making body states that only 52 countries supervise all the cryptocurrency providers operating in their territories. However, the number rises to 58 when including the six that have banned the use of crypto assets.

A year ago, 54 of the FATF member countries applied regulations on cryptocurrencies, which shows practically no progress. The report states that the agency has been unable to increase enforcement of its rules against money laundering and terrorist financing.

The FATF has focused on auditing cryptocurrency-related services for the past two years. However, they have failed to demonstrate whether their regulations are adequate for an ecosystem characterized by user privacy.

This intergovernmental group aims to fight the laundering of money and the financing of terrorism worldwide. They say that they expect most of their member countries to implement the regulations to track cryptocurrency transactions.

The FATF recommends applying the so-called travel rule, which requires exchanges to share information about users whose transactions exceed USD 1,000. The agency seeks that service providers in the cryptocurrency sector know the origin and destination of those transactions.

Although Users Want Privacy, the FATF Recommends Watching Bitcoin

The agency also asks to ensure that cryptocurrency service providers will obtain and keep all the information about their users.

They also note that they have observed an increasing use of anonymity tactics within the cryptocurrency industry. They add that the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has skyrocketed since the lockdown to protect against COVID-19 began. For that reason, the FATF researchers believe that it is more convenient to understand the situation better than focus on mass adoption.

The FATF expects all its members to apply the regulatory guidance on cryptocurrency service providers to sanction those who do not comply with it.

The group recently decided to postpone its new regulation on Bitcoin, DeFi, and other related services.

Peter Van Valkenburgh, Research Director at the Coin Center, defends user rights over open blockchain networks. He stated that the FATF has been considering changes problematic for the innovation as they violate the privacy of Bitcoin users.

The growing relevance of cryptocurrencies in the world economy has led many governments and regulators to have them in their sights. As they believe that crypto assets are directly related to illicit activities, they have created regulations to control or ban them.

By Alexander Salazar

Campbell Harvey considers that using the US dollar as a world reserve currency is very risky, which leads people to seek alternatives. Stanley Druckenmiller said that he values the privileged position that Bitcoin holds and the technology around it.

Dan Held, the head of growth at Kraken, recently said that Bitcoin could become a world reserve currency within about ten years.

Some Bitcoin proponents consider replacing the US dollar as a world reserve currency an ambitious but achievable goal.

Held stated that the pioneering cryptocurrency mainly contributes to avoiding censorship in developing countries. Meanwhile, Western people seek it as a hedge against the excessive printing of money by central banks.

He explained that the transition to hyperbitcoinization begins with retail users, who precede institutional investors and governments.

The permissionless nature of Bitcoin is one of the characteristics that is leading this transition. Held stated that the cryptocurrency is free money that only its holders can control.

The US dollar has been a world reserve currency since World War II ended. Data from the International Monetary Fund show that more than 59% of the current reserves of foreign banks are in US dollars.

Despite this, the position of the US fiat currency as a world reserve has weakened.

Like Dan Held, Other Experts Believe that Bitcoin Will Be the Next World Reserve

Campbell Harvey, a professor of international business at Duke University, said using the US dollar as a world reserve currency is increasingly risky. That situation led people to look for alternatives, as has happened with other world reserve currencies in the past.

In August 2020, the MicroStrategy company announced that it adopted Bitcoin as its main treasury reserve asset. Meanwhile, in early 2021, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper upped the ante on the pioneering cryptocurrency.

Harper suggested that governments, in addition to businesses, could use the cryptocurrency as a store of value. However, he spoke of it as part of a basket of assets that contains gold and the US fiat currency.

The Conviction that the Future is in Cryptocurrencies

American billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller, the founder of Duquesne Capital, recently said that he is betting on cryptocurrencies.

He not only values the privileged position that Bitcoin holds but also the technology around cryptocurrencies. He believes these assets will make it easier to find an alternative to the US dollar as a world reserve.

Five years ago, the investor commented that cryptocurrencies were a solution in search of a problem. However, he said that he now realized that continued monetary stimulus and hedging against inflation encouraged cryptocurrencies.

Many Bitcoin followers believe that the power of the cryptocurrency will allow it to end the hegemony of the US dollar. They predict that it will transform the monetary system from its roots, assuming that this is the end of a historical cycle.

The position of the US dollar as a world reserve currency is at risk due to expansionary policies, high debts, and deficits. That particular situation would allow Bitcoin to regain and take advantage of the ground lost by the fiat currency.

By Alexander Salazar

The defense of the support zone near USD 30,000 may indicate that the price has reached the retracement bottom. Support above USD 30,420 would allow Bitcoin to break the immediate resistance at USD 34,663.

Although Bitcoin has not shown much bullish strength in recent weeks, it continues struggling to avoid a further collapse. The following fundamental and technical review of the current situation of Bitcoin can help predict what will happen to the cryptocurrency this week.

Bitcoin is trading at USD 32,400 and has accumulated a 5.1% profit in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko.

Twitter user Dilution-proof analyzed a graph indicating that the whales bought large amounts of Bitcoin during the recent crash.

Even though many focus on Bitcoin sellers when the price suffers losses, hoarders are the ones who take advantage of that situation. The latter traders manage to defend the cost of the cryptocurrency before the losses become too great.

The Top of the Bullish Run Was USD 65,000

Most analysts consider that the bullish cycle of the pioneering cryptocurrency is not over yet. A growing number of people are trying to protect themselves from the effects of excessive money printing on the global economy.

Also, the deposit transaction counts on exchanges indicate that the highest point of the bullish run has arrived.

There were 64,470 deposit transactions on exchanges when the price of Bitcoin reached its all-time high of USD 65,000. That number was far from the 216,738 trades at the top of the 2017 bullish market.

Although a bearish direction may cause problems in the short term, the situation is getting increasingly difficult for the bears. Meanwhile, they defend the price above USD 30,000, saying that the 60% drop was enough.

The sales volume is decreasing, so it is convenient not to struggle against the bullish strength that Bitcoin has been showing.

Technical Analysis of the Price of the Pioneering Cryptocurrency

The weekly Bitcoin price chart indicates the repeated defense of the support zone near USD 30,000. That shows the exhaustion of sellers and may be a sign of the arrival at the retracement bottom.

For that reason, it is necessary to break the resistance at USD 39,380 to announce a possible resumption of the higher trend.

Concerning a possible bearish scenario, it is necessary to lose the support at USD 30,420, which would leave the path clear to USD 19,359.

Bitcoin Levels to Take into Account This Week

The daily candlestick chart shows other levels that could influence price action, regardless of how the current accumulation ends.

As Bitcoin is building support above USD 30,420, at least a recovery may be starting. That would allow the cryptocurrency to break the immediate resistance at USD 34,663. As long as the price does not surpass the USD 40,500 resistance, there could be further bearish lashes or a sharper drop.

In case of breaking it, the path would be free to USD 49,671. Since that may mean the resumption of the higher trend, it is not unreasonable to expect new all-time highs.

If the price loses the support at USD 30,420, there will be no further support up to around USD 26,281. Below that level, the next support zone is near USD 24,000.

By Alexander Salazar

The Treasury Secretariat posted a guide to make the presentation of projects easier. The selected projects will be known by November or December.

Spain’s Fintech sandbox has already set the date for its second call. The General Secretariat of the Treasury and International Financing recently posted a resolution in which it highlights that it will start to receive nominations on September 1.

According to the document published by the agency, the process will be completely open until October 23 of this year. The initiatives that register will need to have the degree of maturity necessary to start operating immediately, exactly as it happened in the premiere opening.

To ensure that these and other requirements are in line, there is also a release of a guide to facilitate project submission. The new guide indicates that, in addition to explaining the potential advantages for users, the participants in the sandbox will need to explain in detail their goals, their test systems, and the technology that will take place in such procedures, including the entities that will take part on it as well as risks of the project might imply.

There is also a request about the regulations on data protection and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, currently active in Europe. The goal of this guide is to avoid the deficiencies that were observed in some candidates who registered for the first call.

 Mónica Rodríguez, head of the Regulatory Sandbox at Blue Innovation, a consulting firm specializing in the financial sector, told the media that almost a third of the projects presented lacked the necessary level of detail. She recalled that even some projects that were very well prepared received a series of rejections from the regulators in the first call.

Rejected Projects can be Re-enrolled

During the first round of the sandbox -which was open from January 13 to February 23, 2021- the Treasury Secretariat only accepted 18 projects, out of a total of 67 proposals that were submitted.

The proposals went through analysis by the Bank of Spain, the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds, and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). Some projects received were immature, some were poorly presented, and others were deemed too ambitious, Rodríguez said.

In this sense, the evaluating entities offered reasoned arguments to the rejected projects. The entities argued that they have served to correct errors, and will allow some of them to be submitted to the second call with the option of being approved if this time they meet all the requirements.

Nine of the supported startups are related to cryptocurrencies and blockchains. Selected initiatives also include platforms for payment with crypto assets, digital identity, and solutions based on distributed ledgers.

At the present, supported initiatives are developing contribution protocols with supervisors in their field. The Law of Digital Transformation of the Financial System sets a maximum period of three months to set these mechanisms to action.

The greatest workload is in the Bank of Spain, which has ten of the approved projects under actual supervision, while the CNMV and the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds supervise the other 8.

By: Jenson Nuñez