Gensler seeks to establish regulations for crypto assets, which indicates that the SEC wants to control the industry in 2022. Frayer will focus on cryptocurrency policy but could contribute to the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Gary Gensler, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), recently appointed Corey Frayer as his new Senior Cryptocurrency Advisor.  The former aide to the Senate will be responsible for making policies and coordinating inter-agency work related to the oversight of crypto assets.

A cryptocurrency-focused Senior Advisor will help Gensler establish a regulatory framework for those assets. Besides, that is a sign that the SEC could increase its efforts to control the industry in 2022.

Since the US Senate confirmed him in his role, Gensler has urged projects involving cryptocurrencies to register with the SEC. He promised that he would continue as chairman of the SEC as long as regulations are still unclear.

The SEC Appoints Corey Frayer and Three Other Staff Members

The Chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler, has ensured that a prominent Senate staff member focuses on cryptocurrency policy. Twitter user WallStreetPro recently said that people would remember that expert, as he could help with the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The SEC announced that Phil Havenstein, Jennifer Songer, and Jorge Tenreiro would join Frayer. Havenstein advises Gensler about agency administration, operations, and management. Songer counsels him on investment companies and investment advisors, while Tenreiro deals with the Division of Enforcement.

Gensler, who assumed that role in April 2021, will direct the functions of the four new staff members. He said he already relied on their invaluable advice about policies, compliance, and operations.

He added that he is looking forward to their continued joint work to execute the mission of the SEC. Of course, the regulation of cryptocurrencies is one of the primary purposes of that government agency.

Economist Corey Frayer Is the New Senior Cryptocurrency Advisor

Corey Frayer graduated with a degree in International Economics and Finance from the Catholic University of America. He will advise the chairman of the SEC, Gray Gensler, on aspects related to the control of crypto assets.

Besides the above, he was a senior professional on the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for Chairman Sherrod Brown. Frayer led cryptocurrency strategy for him, who has been vocal regarding his interests in the alleged risks of crypto assets.

He was also a Senior Advisor on consumer and investor protection to systemic risks and emerging financial technologies. He worked for US Representatives Maxine Waters on the House Financial Services Committee and Brad Miller of North Carolina.

The interest from people in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has grown significantly, which regulators do not overlook. Many of them look for ways to regulate them and even ban them, as they link those assets will illicit activities. That leads them to hire specialists to help them make policies to control all the projects related to digital currencies.

By Alexander Salazar

The BCU specifies that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are virtual exchange assets, for which they would be out of regulation. The BCU mainly targets virtual asset service providers related to investing and raising capital, such as exchanges.

The Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) recently issued a statement providing definitions and explaining how to regulate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Generally speaking, no legislation restricts their use as a payment or exchange method but as an investment asset.

The document, titled Conceptual Framework for the regulatory treatment of Virtual Assets in Uruguay, shows the results of a study by the internal Working Group. The monetary entity especially formed that team to analyze the regulation of cryptocurrencies.

According to local media, the BCU might work on a bill to legislate on this matter. In October, they analyzed the regulation of crypto assets and worked on a conceptual framework, which they recently released.

Diego Labat is the president of the government agency that regulates the monetary system in Uruguay. He stated that the document seeks to announce their intentions about crypto assets.

How the Central Bank of Uruguay Defines Virtual Assets

Cryptocurrencies are novel assets that differ from the others in the traditional financial system. For that reason, that document aims to establish everything regarding each element or actor in the ecosystem.

Therefore, it defines a virtual asset as a digital representation of value or contractual rights. It says that it is possible to store, transfer and trade them electronically through distributed ledger technology (DLT).

The statement specifies that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) fall into the virtual exchange assets category. The BCU explains that they serve as a medium of exchange or investment.

They also distinguish three other types of virtual assets that exist in the ecosystem. Virtual asset securities can grant rights over property, money reimbursement, or future economic benefits. Virtual utility assets allow access to products or services such as fan tokens. Virtual stable assets reduce volatility, and reserve assets can back them.

The document also provides details on what a developer, miner, escrow service provider and user should be. It also defines exchanges and explains what brokers or advisers, issuers of virtual assets and cryptocurrency service providers should do.

The BCU Establishes a Regulatory Framework for Bitcoin in Uruguay

The BCU defines the activities of the cryptocurrency ecosystem they can regulate based on the above definitions. For example, they include virtual asset service providers related to investing and raising capital, such as exchanges.

They consider that virtual utility and exchange assets are interchangeable or usable for payment in kind. For that reason, they would exclude them from the regulatory framework, except in the case of indirect investments like stock market futures.

The conceptual framework of the BCU establishes that stable virtual assets provide the best opportunities regarding the efficiency of payment systems. Due to their increasing adoption, the monetary entity considers they have a considerable potential to acquire systemic importance. The document states that they reduce costs and improve interoperability, and their regulation can minimize associated risks.

By Alexander Salazar

There is a problem with lost bitcoins from the Chivo wallet, a wallet that got launched in September.

Many Salvadorans reported that their Bitcoin has been mysteriously disappearing from their Chivo wallet, the official government wallet. There are many times that on Twitter, every time the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, writes something about his achievements, among the responses, there are complaints from citizens about the performance of this crypto portfolio.

In this regard, the government has yet to issue an official statement. The president himself does not respond to users who protest the social network.

According to the medium Cryptoslate, there have been many reports about various errors and technical discrepancies in the Chivo wallet, claiming that the wallet may not be secure, which in turn is affecting its widespread adoption.  The medium “by New Scientist” expressed something similar and claims that citizens of El Salvador reported that their Bitcoin has mysteriously disappeared from their Chivo wallets.

The report highlights the complaints of a Twitter user named The Commissioner, who had reported 50 complaints of the disappearance of BTC from the wallet. He has also said that the government does not respond to the complaints.

The government has neither responded nor acknowledged the errors. One of the things that people are demanding is that you respond to their complaints. The Commissioner told New Scientist that many users have already waited various months for a response to get the money back, but nothing happened.

People’s Complaints

Complaints focus on various bugs and other technical issues with Chivo. These issues also showed glitches in the Chivo app interface and some struggles linked to crash flaws that the wallet occasionally experiences. Most recently, the Chivo developers fixed a privacy issue that became inactive and unable to work when sending Lightning payments.

The complaints came from many users almost since the portfolio began operating, as reported by DiarioBitcoin. The problem is that there are more and more.

Many Salvadoran users report through Twitter that they have been scammed (out of credulity and ignorance in many cases) by people who contact them from social networks offering a variety of shady businesses to snatch their capital in Bitcoin.

The government’s utter silence on this particular matter is indicative of its strict and unchanging stance, which allows zero criticism on promoting Bitcoin as legal tender.

In addition to wallet concerns, mining has also received much rejection. Ricardo Navarro, director of the Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology, recently showed concern about El Salvador’s decision to extract BTC using geothermal energy.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The vertiginous price of electricity is mainly responsible for the rise in the rate. The last time Spain experienced such a high inflation rate was in 1992.

Consumer prices increased at least 6.7% in Spain during the last month of the year compared to the same month the previous year, and annual inflation says goodbye to 2021 with the highest level not registered in three decades.

Flash data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) revealed this Thursday, December 30, that high electricity rates contributed to the annual price index skyrocketing to a 29-year high. Food prices also increased significantly in 2021, after an overall decline during the previous year.

The last time Spain had an annual inflation rate of 6.9% was in 1992. It also had that rate in 1989 when the country faced a rapid economic expansion after joining the European Community.

Inflation is Unforgiving

In the United States of America, the consumer price index report for November also presented an increase of 0.8%; it brought the inflation rate to 6.8%, which is its maximum in almost 40 years.

The president of the Central Bank of Europe, Christine Lagarde, expressed that this region differs from North America where inflation appears to keep ongoing.

While the United States Federal Reserve highlights that inflation will continue indefinitely, the Central Bank of Europe sees an opposite scenario for its region. The entity highlighted that the current inflation in Europe is the highest in history, being 4.9%, while in the United States of America, it reached 6.2%.

To achieve the objective of lowering inflation, it would be necessary for the Central Bank of Europe to reduce the printing of euros. The entity expressed that, in effect, the issuance of banknotes has crumbled down since December 2020. This situation differs from the United States of America, where this issuance has not stopped growing since the pandemic started.

Against this background, bitcoin takes center stage because the cryptocurrency is seen by many as a store of value. This perspective takes place considering that one of the features of bitcoin is that the maximum number of coins that can get created will only be 21 million.

On the contrary, a country like the United States of America, Spain, or any other in the world, has the power to increase its money supply. In this way, spending and purchasing government bonds reduces the purchasing power of fiat money and thereby inadvertently generates inflation for the population.

Even investing in bitcoin has been a good alternative to survive inflation in countries facing a hostile economic environment, such as Venezuela, whose year-on-year price increase stood at 769%.

By taking refuge in bitcoin, a Venezuelan or an Argentine was not only able to withstand the blows of inflation but also, in just three years, they would have multiplied their funds by more than ten times.

By: Jenson Nuñez

It is possible to express the productivity of a miner in both satoshis and US dollars. The Bitcoin mining hash price in USD remains well above the value it reached with its low of the year.

Each mining hash has been generating a constantly declining amount of Bitcoin. That has recently led it to hit an all-time low of 501 satoshis per terahash per day (SAT/TH/D). That record occurred on December 26^th, but now Bitcoin miners average a hash price of 542 SAT/TH/D.

The hash price reflects the productivity of a miner, depending on its hash rate per day. It is possible to calculate that value in US dollars (USD) or Bitcoin satoshis (SAT). For that reason, its usual representation is as USD or SAT, per tera hash, per day.

Concerning the hash price in US dollars, that is a value highly influenced by the ups and downs of the cryptocurrency market. The hash price in BTC or satoshis depends mostly on internal aspects of the network like its hash rate, mining difficulty, and halvings.

The steady decline in the hash price expressed in satoshis in Bitcoin mining has logical reasons. Every four years, a Bitcoin halving occurs and reduces the reward per mined block by half. Besides, the mining power rises due to the growing number of people mining and the development of more powerful hardware. The direct effect of the increase in the hash rate on Bitcoin is an increasing difficulty of mining on the network.

The above reasons play a crucial role in the fall of the hash price in Bitcoin, as miners obtain fewer satoshis regarding their mining power. Therefore, it would be logical to think that the hash price expressed in satoshis would be even lower over time.

The rise that the price of Bitcoin experienced during the last quarter of 2021 helped mining continue being profitable. However, accumulating satoshis could be more favorable than obtaining USD, considering how inflation has affected the fiat currency.

The Cost of a Bitcoin Mining Hash Expressed in USD

The Bitcoin mining hash price expressed in USD is currently at 0.26 USD/TH/D. That figure seems low compared to the 0.40 USD/TH/D it showed in October and November. However, it remains above the 0.18 USD/TH/D that it reached in June with its low of the year.

The variations in the hash price in USD closely relate to the cryptocurrency market, but they do not always go together. For example, when the annual low occurred in late June, the market price of Bitcoin was around USD 33,000. Although BTC fell below USD 30,000 in July, the hash price in USD took off and remained above 0.30 USD/TH/D.

The adjustment to Bitcoin mining difficulty occurring in July was the value leading to the rally. While the hash rate recovered after the Chinese ban on mining, that correction allowed miners to obtain higher rewards in BTC and higher performance of their work in USD. It is relevant to remember that Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped by 28% in July.

Bitcoin is currently trading at around USD 47,123 and has accumulated a profit of 1.5% in the last 24 hours. Its daily trading volume is above USD 22.59 billion, and its market capitalization is about USD 889.61 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar