Central Bank of Cuba Legalized Bitcoin Services and Virtual assets

Jenson Nunez
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Central Bank of Cuba Legalized Bitcoin Services and Virtual assets

The policy will become active on May 16, 2022. The Central Bank of Cuba is the primary entity authorized to give these licenses.

Today, April 26, 2022, Cuba authorizes bitcoin and other digital assets services and platforms through a new policy that regulates granting license permissions to entities that want to execute exchange activities as a business.

According to Official Gazette No. 43, which adds a policy issued by the Cuban Central Bank, this entity makes sure that those natural or legal citizens who desire to carry out services with bitcoin and other digital currencies must acquire a license before the entity.

Those entities that do not work under this permission must do so, or they will face punishments according to the banking and financial regulations already active in the nation.

Thus, the Gazette explains that this resolution becomes active 20 days after its launch, from the following Monday, May 16. this resolution also shows that these permissions will be extendable for two years.

The report also highlighted that operators could not suspend their services without getting authorized by the central entity. The document reads that virtual asset service providers cannot control their activities without receiving a Central Bank of Cuba license.

Cuba and its Path to Accepting Bitcoin

By September 15, 2021, digital assets got received as a payment method. The central bank got assigned as the only entity able to handle permissions, even though the institution showed concerns about the possible risks of using digital assets.

In this way, Cuba advances toward adopting bitcoin and its industry, despite its policies aiming at economic restrictions.

With this new legislation, local entities could begin to raise and carry out activities with digital assets and foreign companies that wish to bring their services to the Caribbean nation.

Cuba’s Primary Concern: Risks

The BCC resolution warned those who opted for using digital assets that these items represent risks that might harm financial stability due to their high volatility. This resolution also alerts that these assets work without the support of traditional financial entities and the extreme anonymity of their users.

These issues seem to be the most prominent factors leading to this regulation. Media outlets from that nation highlight a warning statement made last May by Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel. On that occasion, he referred to activities with digital assets that intend to increase profits under archetypes that might be fraudulent procedures.

Díaz-Canel expressed that the country has been studying the convenience of using digital assets to make crucial decisions. Now, what the entity pretends so is to prevent citizens from getting deceived in the face of various criminal activities worldwide.

By Jenson Rivas

Why does Elon Musk want to own Twitter?

Audy Castañeda
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Why does Elon Musk want to own Twitter?

Victory for some. Tragedy for others. The public is divided between Elon Musk and the purchase of Twitter.

Today’s topic is the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk. At first, there were those who did not take the matter very seriously. Given Musk’s sense of humor, some thought the Twitter purchase was a joke.

However, the purchase eventually took place. Why this acquisition? Money? Power? We could assume that in this capitalist system an entrepreneur buys a company for profit. According to Musk, the richest man in the world, money does not matter. Apparently, he does everything for the good of humanity. The central issue here is freedom of expression. Is it really?

Musk appears to be abusing his social media influence, especially Twitter. One day he says something about Bitcoin, and the price goes up. A week later, he backs down, and the price drops. He makes jokes about Dogecoin, and the price skyrockets. Then he makes another joke, and the price plummets. Everything is a joke; nothing is serious.

His influence on Twitter is not only irritating to some cryptocurrency investors but has also been annoying to the authorities.

It is worth remembering that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused him of securities fraud. In fact, the SEC placed him with a “Twitter sitter” (Twitter nanny) to be able to monitor his tweets about Tesla.

Market manipulator or victim of government harassment? Free Speech Hero or Narcissistic Billionaire?

Everything in today’s world is politics. The case of the purchase of Twitter is no different. The right is happy because this purchase means that Donald Trump could return to the platform. The purchase seems to be a victory against the cancel culture pushed by social justice warriors.

The left, therefore, regrets the purchase, because Musk may give free rein to the radicals’ hate messages. This purchase is, of course, not just any corporate purchase. It has become one more battle between conservatives and liberals.

The purchase implies a change of management. A group of billionaires owned the company. Now it will pass into the hands of another group of billionaires. What happens is that each political group has its favorite billionaire. According to one sector, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook are liberal companies. Twitter was a liberal platform.

Musk’s Effect on Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin, repeatedly backed by Elon Musk, to the point of making Tesla the second listed company that holds the most Bitcoins (42,902 units, now valued at US$1,737 million), is at times close to 5% profit less than 24 hours after confirmation of the agreement to sell Twitter. Its capitalization thus increases by nearly US$37,000 million, about 34,500 million euros.

Dogecoin far leads the ranking of increases in the last 24 hours among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies in the world. Outside this classification, there is a newly created token, which emerged a week ago expressly as a result of Twitter’s purchase offer. Although the cryptocurrency is still in development, in beta mode, it is possible to see how the price of Elon Buys Twitter (EBT) has shot up to 400% in the last day, once there was confirmation of the agreement in the takeover bid.

By Audy Castaneda

What is the Current Reality of Cardano?

Audy Castañeda
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What is the Current Reality of Cardano?

According to Edickson Aguilera, owner of a Cardano stakepool and Cardano ambassador in Venezuela, smart money is very interested in the project.

Due to a recent note about Cardano, Cointelegraph has spoken to Edickson Aguilera, ambassador of the Cardano Foundation in Venezuela and owner of a Hispanic stake pool in Cardano called Bless, so that he can tell us from his perspective how he observes or evaluates the current development of the network.

According to Edickson, the Cardano Blockchain has a rapidly growing development of projects; in fact, he mentioned to us that the network already has almost a thousand projects in development, of which several have already been launched, with the Catalyst support.

On the other hand, Edickson described Cardano as “a rocket about to take off” since he confirmed the growth in the number of new active wallets, which according to his criteria is due to the great interest in Cardano, especially – he said – from the smart money, which he hopes people wait patiently.

The Reality of the Price

Edickson talked about the price of ADA, which he considers is causing a lot of controversy and disappointment for many. “This current price is a consequence of not meeting the expectations of many. There are many people who believed that an ecosystem like the one being developed in Cardano would be ready overnight and that the price was going to grow a lot but not this is how it takes time to do things right, that’s why Cardano is a long-term project,” Edickson mentioned.

“Although it is true that the price is also very affected by external factors such as war, the global economic crisis among other things. If we see well Cardano has many good fundamentals to have a higher price but it is not like that now. I think that The Vasil hard fork will mark a before and after in the Cardano ecosystem and its price will most likely rise, although considering all external factors and depending on how they behave, it could rise a lot or a little, so be patient,” he added.

Decentralization or Centralization?

Edickson also referred to decentralization, highlighting that Cardano remains one of the most decentralized networks in the world. However, he explained that decentralization has slowed down a bit due to pool and factor farms.

“Although it is an issue that currently seems to be neglected, the truth is that there are proposals from the community to support decentralization. On the other hand, IOG has plans to improve certain aspects that centralize the network, the truth is that for now, it is not the priority, as they need to scale the network first,” he explained.

Regarding pool farms, Edickson shared a proposal to encourage delegators to choose smaller pools to help with decentralization even if they give up profits. “I think the best thing that could be done is to create a mechanism so that delegators have the opportunity to get much more rewards by delegating to a single pool than exchanges or farms, and that future project ISOs only support small pools that are not farms,” ​​he said.

Decentralized Finance on Cardano

Regarding Defi on Cardano, Edickson stressed that it has had drawbacks such as network congestion, but ultimately it has been seen -he says- that people are embracing Defi on Cardano in a better way and that is evident in the growth so rapid growth of Total Value Locked (TVL) on the network despite few Dapps. “Ultimately we are the fastest growing network in total value locked, and the best thing is that there are many users who are eagerly awaiting future launches, so I think that Defi on Cardano will be more and more secure fluid, and innovative,” he said.

A Project with Many Critics

Lastly, Edickson talked about Cardano’s detractors and said that they were all those who wanted to get rich overnight, and the competition. “The number of naysayers and people who trash Cardano are those who thought of getting rich overnight with Cardano but it turned out it wasn’t, and today they are at a loss or worse they sold at a loss,” he said.

“Another group of detractors would be those who are paid by the competition to damage Cardano’s image since its potential scares them a lot, so without further ado, patience to all holders and support small pools, especially Hispanics”, he claimed.

By Audy Castaneda

Two Metrics Indicate that Bitcoin Will Start a Bullish Rally

Alexander Salazar
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Two Metrics Indicate that Bitcoin Will Start a Bullish Rally

The value of Bitcoin entered a zone that has usually preceded a bullish price rally. The lows continue to move with an increasing trend, indicating a consolidation phase will occur.

Analyst TechDev stated that traders are currently accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) and that the profit-taking phase has ceased despite the dominant bearish sentiment. According to the expert, two metrics support the assessment that they hold their coins in their wallets.

Two indicators, called accumulation trend score (ATS) and entity-adjusted dormancy flow (EADF), allowed him to obtain those results. According to Glassnode, an ATS closer to one indicates that a large part of the traders is accumulating. On the other hand, a value closer to zero reveals that they are making a profit.

The analyst contrasted two successive price surges in three different regions of the Bitcoin price. They occur after a significant drop in the value and correspond to early January 2019, late June 2020, and January 2022.

A correction period where the price dropped and then leveled off precedes the 2019 and 2020 rectangles. The demarcated areas on the price curve coincide with a low on the second curve (the EADF). That curve refers to the days a currency remains unmoved/dormant, as buyers expect the price to rise or consider it a valuable asset.

The lows of the lower curve have historically marked the bottoms of the Bitcoin price range in a correction phase. It has also indicated the restart of an accumulation phase that allows triggering a bullish rally.

TechDev highlighted the third rectangle, which coincides with a low price in the period, suggesting the correction is ending now. In that way, he forecasts that the value of Bitcoin would bottom out before an imminent bullish rally. However, the EADF curve is still in the green zone with an upward trend, indicating that the bullish rally has not yet started.

The Price of Bitcoin Is at a Turning Point

The weekly chart highlights that the support line shows that the lows have a growing trend. The lowest price has gone from USD 35,000 to USD 37,000 and stands above USD 39,000.

A short-term historical trend does not guarantee that the upward momentum will remain. The lower curve of the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which indicates oversold and overbought conditions, is now forming a descending pennant pattern.

The above would indicate that a consolidation phase would occur before the price rebounds toward a new bullish stage. TechDev concludes that it is only a matter of time before the RSI curve reaches the lower support of the pennant again.

Renowned analyst Willy Woo thinks that spot demand would influence the price of Bitcoin. He explained that it has experienced a moderate rebound (only 10%) and is trading around USD 38,974.

Futures traders oscillate between the concepts of risk-on and risk-off in the selection of high-risk or low-risk assets. Data from Glassnode indicate that they influence 90% of price changes, depending on the market configuration. In that sense, it is still necessary to wait to see how that market behaves.

Bitcoin is trading at around USD 38,974 and has accumulated a 0.2% loss over the last 24 hours. Its trading value is above USD 32.46 billion, and its market capitalization is about USD 741.52 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar

President of Argentina Announced Changes in the Mint to be closer to Bitcoin

Jenson Nunez
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President of Argentina Announced Changes in the Mint to be closer to Bitcoin

A presidential decree highlighted the need to improve the features of the Mint. The entity will lead the administration and research of technologies linked to Bitcoin.

The Government of Argentina highlighted that it would add Bitcoin technology to the current goals of the Mint. To achieve this goal, the administration revealed a policy in the organic statute of the entity commanded by the president and active since April 27, 2022.

According to decree 207/2022, released in the Official Gazette, this modification happened due to the need to improve and expand the Casa de la Moneda corporate goals.

The fundamentals of the change arrive from the advancement of digital spaces regarding transactions, payments, and the emergence and proliferation of technologies linked to the blockchain.

On the other hand, the change made is the implementation of subsection C in article No. 1 of the announcement that sets up the powers of the Mint. Thus, this power allows the development and execution of software to handle activities linked to digital certifications, digital governance, and centralized/decentralized databases.

In addition, this entity got assigned the mission of closely following the technological evolution of these spaces that use databases of all kinds and the development of the digital products created within that framework.

La Casa de la Moneda is an entity closely linked to the government whose original mission is to generate circulating currencies, valued species, control and collection instruments, and exceptional documentation required by The State. In addition, it makes all types of forms for official or private entities, both national and foreign.

Another of Casa de la Moneda’s functions is to carry out all kinds of activities linked to the graphic arts and the evolution of these technologies. It covers every action regarding digital data processing, software, and digital security.

Argentina and Regulation Procedures

The increasing interest of the Argentine administration in Bitcoin and its space can get viewed from various corners. Still, First of all, the nation is one of the regions with the highest adoption rate regarding digital assets in Latin America.

On the other hand, the recent agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to refinance the national debt led to applicable regulations on the use of Bitcoin and even discouraged it by collecting more taxes.

In this way, Argentina might become a regulatory testing region. Bitcoin will not go under the table, both in the Mint and the other official entities leading activities on the subject.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The Argentine Government Says the Agreement with the IMF Does Not Focus on Discouraging the Use of Bitcoin

Alexander Salazar
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The Argentine Government Says the Agreement with the IMF Does Not Focus on Discouraging the Use of Bitcoin

The Central Bank of Argentina considers it necessary to monitor the cryptocurrency sector. The discourse of international organizations on the use of Bitcoin in illicit activities like money laundering recurs.

Two months ago, the NGO Bitcoin Argentina requested public information on the agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the Central Bank (BCRA) is the entity that provided it instead of the Ministry of Economy.

As the Ministry of Economy assigned that responsibility to the BCRA, the latter had to respond to the request. They did that following a formal injunction made by the NGO Bitcoin Argentina for administrative silence.

On April 25th, the BCRA stated that the agreement signed with the IMF does not focus on discouraging the use of cryptocurrencies.

The government agency said the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies is part of the Strengthening of financial resilience policies contained in the agreement. They also explained that the reference to crypto assets is not the axis/focus of the program they will implement.

The technical document supporting the agreement with the IMF contains a section that aims to discourage the use of cryptocurrencies. It states that its objective is to prevent money laundering, informality, and disintermediation.

That set off the alarms among Argentine bitcoiners and led the NGO to request the government for official information.

One of the questions they asked the government was why they discourage the use of cryptocurrencies. At that time, the fact that Argentina became the first country to commit to applying anti-Bitcoin measures drew attention.

They Discourage the Use of Cryptocurrencies Due to their Alleged Risks

The Central Bank reviews its position on cryptocurrencies to state its reasons for discouraging the use of crypto assets in Argentine. They view the sector as a source of risk and potential vulnerabilities of the local financial system.

The government entity believes that it is necessary to monitor cryptocurrencies constantly. In addition, they argue that there is a lack of safeguards and that crypto assets are prone to operational disruptions and cyberattacks.

The BCRA highlights the alleged risks of using cryptocurrencies for money laundering and terrorist financing. They are against their cross-border nature, the volatility in their prices, and the variable support in fiat currency.

The Central Bank refers to reports from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), and the IMF. Those studies support the opinion matrix that portrays cryptocurrencies as assets risky to the stability of the international financial system.

Based on those materials, the BCRA wrote that they had adopted an approach of prudence. They said they published a document to provide information and warn about alleged possible risks that crypto assets may carry. They also recommended being careful to reduce any likely source of vulnerability for users and investors.

The proposals of the BCRA contradict the results of studies that indicate that the use of cryptocurrencies in illicit activities is insignificant. In 2021, only 0.15% of the transactions conducted with cryptocurrencies involved fraud or money laundering. Those percentages are much lower than those related to operations with fiat money.

The Argentine Central Bank seeks to diminish the sector saying that cryptocurrencies do not show significant acceptance and use in Argentina. However, it does recognize the speed of developments and the growing interest they arouse.

By Alexander Salazar

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