Blockchain
Fed Chairman Believes There Are Unresolved Questions around CBDCs
Jerome Powell said that the central bank will take years before the launch of a digital currency.


Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell mentioned that there are several unresolved issues around the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and the bank is taking its time before the launch. Powell added that the Federal Reserve has no urgency regarding the launch of a CBDC.
During a virtual event, the Fed chairman said that the central bank is determined to launch a CBDC efficiently rather than quickly. “We don’t feel an urge or need to be the first. The launch will take years rather than months,” he added.
Powell also mentioned the potential benefits of a central bank digital currency and also outlined the heavy investments that the Fed has already made in the research of blockchain technology and policy issues around CBDCs.
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“We know that in the past when private-sector money is created, the public sometimes just thinks of it as money. At some point, they find out that it’s not money and that’s a really bad thing we need to avoid. Fed will be focused on better regulatory answers for global stablecoins. We believe there are potential costs and unresolved questions around CBDCs,” Powell said during an online event.
Global CBDCs
The recent comments from the Fed chairman came after central banks around the world accelerated efforts to launch CBDCs. European Central Bank (ECB) recently launched guidelines regarding the plan around a digital euro. China has already made significant progress regarding a digital yuan. Russia and Japan also released the progress around CDBCs. Global central banks are drafting regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies but most of them are in full support of CBDC’s. Powell also accepted that CBDCs have potential benefits but the potential risks need to be addressed first.
“This topic will continue to be a high-level focus because they (CBDCs) could become systemically important overnight and we don’t begin to have, you know, our arms around the potential risks and how to manage those risks and the public will expect we do and has every right to expect that,” Powell said.
Blockchain
Cardano Multi-Asset ‘Mary’ Update Launches to Mainnet


Late on Monday, March 1, Cardano announced the successful upgrade of the network stating that it is a key milestone in its ongoing rollout.
It added that the update introduces core Goguen features of native token functionality and multi-asset support. Goguen is a major upgrade stage on the Cardano roadmap which introduces smart contracts and the ability to build dApps.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!: We can confirm that the #Cardano ‘Mary’ protocol update was successfully applied to the #Cardano mainnet tonight at 21:44:51 UTC via a managed hard fork combinator event.
Welcome to the beginning of an exciting new multi-asset era on #Cardano $ADA 1/4 pic.twitter.com/vk3qDrIIds
— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) March 1, 2021
Multi-Asset Mary For Native Tokens
According to an IOHK blog post, native tokens will bring multi-asset support to Cardano, allowing users to create uniquely defined custom tokens and carry out transactions with them directly on the blockchain.
The ‘Mary’ upgrade enables the ledger’s accounting infrastructure to process not only ADA transactions but those that simultaneously carry several asset types. It added that native support grants distinct advantages for developers as there is no need to create smart contracts to handle custom token creation or transactions.
Developers and now create tokens on Cardano for everything from NFTs to tokenized stocks or commodities, and according to Token Tool, there are already over 1,400 of them. It appears that they are just being created for experimental purposes at the moment as most of them do not have a purpose.
The blog post explained that, unlike Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, tracking and accounting of custom tokens on Cardano is supported by the ledger natively:
“Because native tokens do not require smart contracts to transfer their value, users will be able to send, receive, and burn their tokens without paying the transaction fees required for a smart contract or adding event-handling logic to track transactions.”
ADA Price Update
ADA has surged in price in the run-up to the upgrade, so much so that it has usurped Binance Coin and taken the third spot on the market cap charts according to CoinGecko.
At the time of press, ADA was still correcting with a 2.4% decline on the day to $1.22. Its all-time high came on Feb. 27 when the token topped $1.45 briefly. Over the past 30 days, Cardano has made a whopping 240% and since the same time last year when it was priced at a lowly $0.05, it has surged over 2,500%.
There are 32 billion tokens circulating out of a maximum supply of 45 billion giving the asset a market cap of $38.8 billion at current prices.
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Source: https://cryptopotato.com/cardano-multi-asset-mary-update-launches-to-mainnet/
Blockchain
Miami Mayor dismisses Treasury Secretary Yellen’s criticism of Bitcoin


Over the past few weeks and months, Miami and Mayor Francis Suarez have been working towards positioning the city as the country’s premier crypto-hub. “We want to be one of the most crypto-forward and technological cities in the country,” Suarez had said in a recent interview, with the comments coming on the back of reports which claimed that Miami was considering putting 1% of its treasury reserves into Bitcoin.
In fact, a few weeks ago, the city official had also claimed that Miami was looking at crypto-regulations in the state of Wyoming and Wisconsin, among others, to take a step towards enabling crypto-payments.
Mayor Suarez is in the news again today after he responded to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s comments on Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Speaking to the media at the recent NYT DealBook Conference, Yellen claimed that Bitcoin is an “extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions.” Further, the Treasury Secretary also raised serious questions about Bitcoin’s use for illicit finance and its energy consumption.
Yellen’s remarks, however, didn’t come as a surprise to Miami’s Mayor.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all that a Treasury secretary would find a decentralized potential currency to be hostile to a currency that they control.”
According to Suarez,
“For people who invest in Bitcoin, the allure is precisely that: It’s not backed by a central government. So it’s not manipulatable by the central government.”
During the said interview, Suarez also shot down questions about the risk associated with the world’s largest cryptocurrency. When asked about investing in an asset class that has long been known for its volatility, the Mayor remarked that Bitcoin is an asset class that is still being studied, and not something Miami is jumping right into. “Bitcoin is worth studying and worth looking at,” he concluded.
While Mayor Suarez’s bullish comments on Bitcoin aren’t a surprise, it is worth highlighting that his latest comments were a direct response to statements made by the United States’ Treasury Secretary, a development that highlights the gulf that is appearing between local officials and the country’s biggest financial decision-makers.
Source: https://ambcrypto.com/miami-mayor-dismisses-treasury-secretary-yellens-criticism-of-bitcoin
Blockchain
Nigeria’s Vice President makes a surprising case for Cryptocurrencies

A contradictory statement has recently been made by Nigeria’s Vice president Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, concerning the recently imposed Cryptocurrency ban by the country’s Central bank. The Vice President explained at the CBN bankers committee economic summit, that digital currencies are an inevitable part of the country’s economy.
Prof. Osibanjo makes a fair case for digital currencies
He reckoned that as opposed to banning Cryptocurrencies entirely, employing care and prudence could favor the technological developments that are byproducts of the emergence of digital currencies.
“We must act with knowledge and not with fear, we must ensure that we are in a position to benefit and in a position to prevent any of the adverse side effects or any of the criminal acts that may arise as a consequence of adopting or taking any of these options.” He explained.
Taking to Twitter to share the aforementioned keynote speech at the summit, he went on to emphasize the impending innovative shift that the country would make when digital currencies dominate the financial market.
As he puts it :
“Cryptocurrencies in the coming years will challenge traditional banking, including reserve banking, in ways that we cannot yet imagine, so we need to be prepared for that seismic shift.”
Nigerians respond to the government’s “theatrics”
The Crypto-community in Nigeria has responded to the Vice President’s speech in sarcastic unison, as they await a turnaround of events to carry out the job of clearing their doubts. Similar theories have sprung up, following the country’s Cryptocurrency ban, in which banks were prohibited from partnering with Cryptocurrency firms to process payments.
Many have suggested that the government’s decision to ban Cryptocurrency is birthed out of the fear of the decentralized nature of digital currencies, which were efficient for the ‘EndSars’ protesters to bypass bank restrictions and continue with their march against police brutality.
Nigerians cling to P2p trading to help combat government policies
It remains to be seen what the future holds for the country, whose younger citizens have helped to boost and profit from the booming industry of Cryptocurrency investment and trading, among other Crypto-related activities from their end.
In the meantime, for Cryptocurrency trading platforms like Buycoins, the show must go on. Users of the platform have since returned to their roots as the platform employs a third-party app to facilitate peer-to-peer trading.
Even though this could potentially affect the speed at which transaction is processed, Nigerians have reaffirmed that sticking to the available option is still less risky than storing their money in a traditional bank.
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The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/nigerias-vice-president-makes-a-surprising-case-for-cryptocurrencies/
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