Texas representative introduced a bill seeking to become the second US state to recognize Bitcoin as money. This and more news in this handy daily digest so you're always up to date with the latest developments in the crypto world.
Bitcoin and Blockchain Adoption
📍The Texas state representative to the United States House of Representatives introduced a bill that seeks to recognize and legalize Bitcoin as a form of money. The bill 4474 defines Bitcoin as a “a digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, unit of account, or store of value and is often secured using blockchain technology".
If the proposal is approved, Texas would be the second state in the country to recognize Bitcoin as money, after Wyoming; the legislation would also go into effect in September of this year.
📍Amid the regulations imposed on cryptocurrency advertising, the cryptocurrency is born in Spain National Federation of Digitalization and Blockchain, an organization created to unite and empower associations, companies, businesses and professionals related to innovation and new technologies.
📍The Catholic University of Ávila, Spain, now has a virtual library aimed at the study of cryptocurrencies, and digital assets, which is available to all its students. According to the release of the University, the vision is to spread the word about the reality that cryptocurrencies have become, as a new fundamental technology within the current and future financial field.
📍A Bloomberg Intelligence analyst says Bitcoin's bullish momentum is far from over, with growing demand for the cryptocurrency from institutional investors seeking to protect themselves from inflation and the devaluation of fiat currencies. Bloomberg analyst, Mike McGlone, believes that interest in Bitcoin, coupled with its scarcity of supply and improvements to its protocol, will drive the value of the cryptocurrency to around $400.000 in the not-too-distant future.
📍Meanwhile, Brian brooks, the former US Comptroller of the Currency, stated that the US dollar may not have any backing, while cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are backed by something. Brooks referred to the underlying networks behind Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and their community of users, who flock to deposit value in this asset.
Miners
📍The Argo Blockchain mining company announced Argo Blockchain will launch Terra Pool, a Bitcoin mining pool that will run exclusively on clean, renewable energy. Terra Pool will be launched in the growing cryptocurrency mining market thanks to a partnership between Argo Blockchain and DMG Blockchain Solutions. As indicated in the press release, the intention with the launch of Terra Pool is to mine the first “green bitcoins” and contribute to the care and protection of the planet.
“The initiative aims to accelerate the shift from conventional to clean energy and reduce the impact of Bitcoin mining on the environment.”
CBDC and Central Banks
📍In China, citizens of Shanghai and Beijing can begin to request The digital yuan wallet can be purchased from a total of 6 authorized banks in the country. Through the Commercial Bank, Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank, Bank of China, Postal Savings Bank and Bank of Communications, citizens can apply for the wallet and request to be included in a whitelist. For this, the entity will verify the citizens and approve the application later.
Cybersecurity
📍Chainalysis, the blockchain forensics firm, will improve its crypto investigation and surveillance tools thanks to a funding round of 100 million, led by Paradigm. Companies such as TIME Ventures, Addition and Ribbit also participated in the round. Chainalysis is now valued at over $2 billion.
Regulations
📍As the Indian government plans to ban cryptocurrencies and forces companies to declare their holdings in digital assets, a businessman in the country notes that eliminating Bitcoin would be disastrous for society. Raj Chowdhury, president of HashCash Consultants, a financial consulting firm, says that Bitcoin is a store of value for society, so eliminating it completely would end up devaluing the income of the population, as the value of its local currency falls in global markets.
“By banning cryptocurrencies, India will end up with the lowest reserve of the most important currency the world has ever seen. This would eventually lead to a currency devaluation in the worst possible way.”
📍The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered a judgment against Benjamin Reynolds, a UK citizen who must pay a fine of $429 million and restitute another $143 million to customers affected by his scam. Reynolds is accused of operating a Ponzi scheme and illegally appropriating more than 22.000 BTC from his customers.
At the time of this writing, the value of Bitcoin (BTC) is around $55.700 per unit, with a market capitalization of $1,04 trillion.
Continue reading: ION, Microsoft's decentralized identifier (DID) solution, comes to the Bitcoin blockchain
