Blockchain

Former Canadian PM says Bitcoin can be one of the world’s reserve currencies

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2021

Republished by Plato

Stephen Harper sees Bitcoin alongside gold and the US dollar as a viable global reserve asset.

Bitcoin to the moon

Bitcoin proponents must be so excited after a blockbuster year. The asset saw widespread adoption by investment funds, traditional finance participants, family offices, and tech funds, and set new all-time highs in December, a figure that was over 100% higher than its previous value.

Now, there’s a new evangelist on the block, and it’s the former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper. In an interview with Jay Martin, president of investment service Cambridge House, at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference on Sunday, Harper said that Bitcoin was fit to be counted along with other hard assets like gold.

FMR PM of Canada Stephen Harper:

“We’ve seen the US dollar trend down in recent months…unless the US becomes a catastrophe, it’s hard to see what the alternative is to the USD as the world’s major reserve currency. Other than gold, #bitcoin, a whole basket of things… pic.twitter.com/E5atb4qRDf

— Neil Jacobs (@NeilJacobs) January 18, 2021

However, this didn’t mean that the US dollar was losing its prominence anytime soon. “Other than gold, [and] Bitcoin…I think you’ll see the number of things that people use as reserves will expand, but the U.S. dollar will still be the bulk of it,” Harper stated, when asked about the current state of the global financial market and which assets could make it to “reserve” status.

“It’s hard to see what the alternative is to the U.S. dollar as the world’s major reserve currency,” he noted.

Not a CBDC bull

Harper has likely seen all of Bitcoin, at least information wise. He was the Canadian prime minister from 2006 to 2015, witnessing the asset’s inception, growth, first bubble, and eventual recovery in his term.

His comments for Bitcoin as a reserve asset came in favor of the Chinese yuan or the European unified currency Euro, stating that the former was subject to high levels of administrative restrictions while the latter faced long-term uncertainty.

Meanwhile, Harper added that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) were an experiment that was “inevitable” but faced a difficult challenge in terms of governance, enforcement, and long-term viability.

He said:

“If you have a digital currency and the purpose of the central bank is to control inflation and create a stable currency and priceability, then digital currency is just kind of an evolution of the marketplace.”

Harper, however, added that if CBDCs were released as part of a series of “wild experiments to the role of central banking” it would worry him “a lot.”

Are central bank digital currencies really money? #poll

— IMF (@IMFNews) January 17, 2021

Politicians waking up to crypto

Just last week, Miami mayor Francis Suarez announced that he was considering buying Bitcoin for the city’s treasure, becoming one of the first US politicians to speak positively about cryptocurrencies and the formal use of Bitcoin in a hard asset setting.

He said such a purchase could make the city of Miami one of the most crypto-forward and technologically advanced cities, adding that the hypothetical reserves could have already been “200 percent higher” had he taken the decision to invest earlier last year.

Suarez further stated that he was even looking into allowing citizens to pay taxes and fees to the city in Bitcoin, a move that would make it “the easiest place in the United States to do business if you’re doing it in cryptocurrencies.”

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Source: https://cryptoslate.com/former-canadian-pm-says-bitcoin-can-be-one-of-the-worlds-reserve-currencies/

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Blockchain

Ripple’s Garlinghouse to File Dismissal Motion Against the SEC Lawsuit Over XRP Sales

Published

31 mins ago

March 4, 2021

Republished by Plato

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The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse is filing for a motion to dismiss the SEC lawsuit against himself and Ripple. This is according to a copy of a letter written by Garlinghouse’s lawyer stating that he intends to file a dismissal motion for the case.

The letter claims that the case was nothing but a regulatory overreach as the company’s sale of XRP did not involve any contract and the proceeds were not pooled with other buyers in a common enterprise. Its price also fluctuates in line with other digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

“But Mr. Garlinghouse’s XRP sales involved no contract of any kind with the buyers, as his sales were done anonymously over an exchange. Nor were the proceeds of Mr. Garlinghouse’s sales pooled with other buyers in a common enterprise. And XRP’s value historically has not been correlated with Ripple’s actions, results, or public announcements, but instead with changes in the value of other digital assets, such as bitcoin and ether, that the SEC has publicly declared are not securities”, the letter read.

Ripple and its top executives have been in court since the SEC filed a lawsuit against them alleging that they illegally sold a security (XRP) and made profits of over $1 billion. Garlinghouse has however maintained his position that XRP is not a security.

This could be because other countries such as the UK hold XRP in high regard. Garlinghouse had last year indicated his intention to move Ripple headquarters over to the UK before the SEC lawsuit. In early February of this year, the company filed a defense for the suit which has led to a few more lawsuits.

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In 2015 and 2020, both the Department of Justice and the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) declared XRP to be a “virtual currency”. The two departments even asked Ripple to implement anti-laundering in place, a requirement that Ripple claims securities are not expected to meet.

The outcome of Ripple’s case with the SEC could be a big determinant of future regulations in the cryptocurrency industry and the entire space awaits the outcome.

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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.

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Source: https://zycrypto.com/ripples-garlinghouse-to-file-dismissal-motion-against-the-sec-lawsuit-over-xrp-sales/

Blockchain

Crypto fund KR1 makes investment in blockchain data protocol LazyLedger

Published

37 mins ago

March 4, 2021

Republished by Plato

KR1, a crypto & blockchain asset investment company, had announced that it has invested a total of USD $75,000 into Strange Loop Labs AG, doing business as LazyLedger Labs.

The investment company took part in LazyLedger’s seed funding round alongside Cosmos’ Interchain Foundation, Binance, Dokia Capital, Maven 11, and other investors.

LazyLedger is a pluggable consensus and data availability layer to enable anyone to quickly deploy a decentralized blockchain; without the overhead of bootstrapping a new consensus network.

“LazyLedger is a great project and an opportunity to bring better data availability to blockchains; which reduces bloat and increases performance. We believe that LazyLedger is going to play a big role in the next generation of scalable blockchain architectures.”
– Keld van Schreven, Managing Director and Co-Founder of KR1

LazyLedger’s founding team are highly respected decentralized systems engineers and researchers; who were part of the founding team of Chainspace, a blockchain project acquired by Facebook, as well as contributors to Ethereum 2.0 and Cosmos’ Tendermint.

“I’m excited about KR1 supporting LazyLedger as they have been around from day one and the experience they bring is invaluable as one of the oldest funds in the crypto space.”
– Mustafa Al-Bassam, Co-Founder of LazyLedger

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Source: https://www.cryptoninjas.net/2021/03/04/crypto-fund-kr1-makes-investment-in-blockchain-data-protocol-lazyledger/

Blockchain

DeFi yield optimization protocol ETHA Lend closes $1.6M funding round

Published

56 mins ago

March 4, 2021

Republished by Plato

ETHA Lend, a yield optimizer protocol for DeFi, today announced it has closed a $1.6 million initial funding round from lead investors Digital Finance Group (DFG), AU21 Capital, and Privcode Capital.

Other investors include: Vector Capital, Chain Capital, PNYX Venture, Lancer Capital, Oasis Capital, TRG Capital, Candaq Capital, Dealean Capital, Inclusion Capital, Origin Capital, ZB Capital, YBB Foundation, AC Capital, Hotbit.

Designed to provide automated yield allocation across Ethereum and Polkadot DeFi ecosystems; ETHA Lend will be governed by ETHA token holders. The protocol’s algorithm is constructed to understand the precise circumstances of a liquidity provider and supply events; protecting users from high transaction costs, market limitations, and asset volatility.

“We are excited to have some of the most reputable names in the crypto investment and DeFi funding market on board. Our protocol hosts unique integrations of the DeFi space that shall let users dabble with yield farming with unseen simplicity, cross-chain independence, and progressive yield optimization opportunities. You can look forward to a time when the sector shall be free of the haunting tribalism and intimidations both for new and expert users.”
– Chester Bella, Founder of ETHA LEND

The close of this funding round will enable ETHA Lend to accelerate development towards its mainnet launch, currently scheduled for Q2 2021. ETHA Lend’s smart contracts are being inspected by Certik; one of the most highly reputed blockchain security auditors.

Source: ethalend.org

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Source: https://www.cryptoninjas.net/2021/03/04/defi-yield-optimization-protocol-etha-lend-closes-1-6m-funding-round/