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Nigeria’s crypto restrictions and Twitter ban have ‘crippled foreign direct investment in the fintech industry,’ according to the country’s finance ministry.

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According to a new report, Nigerian authorities’ ban on Twitter and restrictions on cryptocurrency trading have “crippled foreign direct investment in the fintech industry.”

A new report has found that restrictions imposed by Nigerian authorities on crypto trading may have contributed to the reduced foreign direct investment that goes to the fintech industry. The same restrictions, as well as the banning of Twitter, have also adversely affected young Nigerians who were earning money via crypto trading.

The report, which is titled Africa’s Urbanisation Dynamics 2022: The Economic Power of Africa’s Cities, was jointly published by the secretaries-general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations (UN).

“The restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions and the outright ban of Twitter in Nigeria have crippled foreign direct investment in the fin‑tech industry and negatively impacted millions of young Nigerians who earn a living from the sector,” the report concluded.

However, an excerpt from the report published by Business Insider Africa suggested some Nigerian youths may have found ways to “lawfully bypass these restrictions and continue the business.” This fact is also backed by a Bitcoin.com News report which stated that peer-to-peer crypto trading in Nigeria had surged shortly after the central bank asked financial institutions to stop facilitating crypto-related transactions.

By switching to alternative yet legal ways of transacting, the report opined that traders were “effectively denying Nigeria the taxes and transaction fees that would otherwise come into the system.”

The SEC has put a stop to a $62 million cryptocurrency mining and trading scheme, and the DOJ has charged the founder.

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shut down a $62 million global cryptocurrency trading and mining scheme, and the DOJ has indicted the scheme’s CEO and founder. According to the Justice Department, if convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum total sentence of 45 years in prison.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Friday that it has halted a fraudulent crypto mining and trading scheme.

The SEC charged MCC International (aka Mining Capital Coin), its founders (Luiz Carlos Capuci Jr. and Emerson Souza Pires), and two entities controlled by them. The charges are “in connection with the unregistered offerings and fraudulent sales of investment plans called mining packages to thousands of investors,” the agency noted.

The securities watchdog detailed that since at least January 2018:

MCC, Capuci, and Pires sold mining packages to 65,535 investors worldwide and promised daily returns of 1 percent, paid weekly, for a period of up to 52 weeks.

The complaint also alleges that MCC investors were initially promised returns in bitcoin (BTC). However, the defendants later “required investors to withdraw their investments in tokens called capital coin (CPTL), which was MCC’s own token.”

DOJ Charges MCC’s Founder and CEO

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) also independently announced Friday that Capuci, the founder and CEO of MCC, a purported cryptocurrency mining and investment platform, has been indicted in a $62 million global cryptocurrency fraud scheme.

Capuci of Port St. Lucie, Florida, misled investors about his platform’s cryptocurrency mining and investment program, luring them to invest in MCC’s “mining packages,” the DOJ described. He and his co-conspirators claimed that MCC had an international network of cryptocurrency mining machines that could generate “substantial profits and guaranteed returns” for investors.

They also touted MCC’s own cryptocurrency as a purported decentralized autonomous organization that was “stabilized by revenue from the biggest cryptocurrency mining operation in the world,” the DOJ added, noting:

However, Capuci operated a fraudulent investment scheme and did not use investors’ funds to mine new cryptocurrency, as promised, but instead diverted the funds to cryptocurrency wallets under his control.

The indictment further alleges that Capuci touted and fraudulently marketed MCC’s purported “trading bots” as an additional investment mechanism to help investors profit in the cryptocurrency market.

The MCC founder also allegedly recruited promoters and affiliates to promote MCC in a pyramid scheme, the DOJ said, adding that he further concealed the location and control of the fraud proceeds by laundering the funds through various foreign-based cryptocurrency exchanges. The Justice Department added:

Capuci is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit international money laundering. If convicted of all counts, he faces a maximum total penalty of 45 years in prison.

Bitcoin drops to a three-month low of around $34,000.

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Photo Credit: Westend61 GmbH

Bitcoin (BTC) hit a three-month low on Sunday, just days after cryptoanalysts warned that price charts were indicating bearishness.

  • The bitcoin price was around $34,500 as of press time, down 3.8% over the past 24 hours.
  • BTC’s price has fallen for four straight days.
  • Early Sunday the largest cryptocurrency slid to $33,710, the lowest since Jan. 24.
  • If price falls below $32,951, it would hit a new low – since July 2021.
  • Bitcoin had stayed mostly between $35,000 and $46,000 for the past couple months, so the latest price decline might mark the beginning of a new market trend.
  • Popular price-chart indicators were leaning bearish late last week, as bitcoin’s price broke below a three-month rising trend line.
  • A U.S. Labor Department report on Friday showed that employment growth stayed robust last month, at a level that should continue to worry the Federal Reserve about a too-tight jobs market. As more employers compete for workers, wages might start to escalate, adding to inflationary pressures and forcing the Fed to tighten monetary conditions faster. Recently, bitcoin has reacted negatively (along with stocks) to more aggressive actions by the U.S. central bank.
  • Some traders may have been rattled by data showing that the Terra blockchain’s stablecoin, UST, briefly lost its peg on Saturday. The Luna Foundation Guard, which maintains a standby reserve that kicks in if the “algorithmic stablecoin” falls below $1, held about $3 billion of bitcoin as of last week.
  • All-time high reached in late 2021 was $69,000, so a price drop below $34,500 represents a correction of more than 50%.

Bitcoin miners are halfway through the next block reward halving cycle.

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Image Credit: Vecteezy

The bitcoin mining pool Poolin mined the 105,000th block reward since the last halving on May 5, 2022, at block height 735,000. The mined block also marks the halfway point between now and the next halving, which is expected on or around April 27, 2024. Block 735,000 comes three days after the network issued over 19 million bitcoins and the hashrate hit an all-time high on May 2.

Block 735,000: Halfway to the Next Halving

The Bitcoin network is getting closer to the next halving which is estimated to happen on or around April 27, 2024, or 723 days from now. At block height 735,000, the 105,000th block was mined and there’s now 105,000 left to go until the next halving. At the time of writing, data shows that there’s 104,928 block subsidy rewards left to mine.

Presently, bitcoin miners get 6.25 BTC for a block reward and the fees associated with the confirmed transactions. Poolin earned the 6.25 BTC and 0.16215354 BTC worth of network fees associated with the block reward’s 1,487 transactions. The halfway point to the halving follows Bitcoin’s hashrate all-time high (ATH) recorded on May 2, 2022, at block height 734,577.

Bitcoin Miners Reach the Halfway Point to the Next Block Reward Halving

On that day, BTC’s hashrate reached an ATH at 275.01 exahash per second (EH/s). At the time of writing, the network has 767 blocks left until the next difficulty retarget which is expected to happen on or around May 10, 2022. A difficulty increase of around 5.29% is estimated to happen after the last difficulty change of around 5.56%.

When the next halving occurs, bitcoin miners will see their revenues shaved in half as the block subsidy reward will change from the current 6.25 BTC reward to 3.125 BTC. The current Bitcoin network issuance has an inflation rate of around 1.74% per annum. So far, throughout Bitcoin’s entire lifetime, only three halvings have occurred.

Next Bitcoin Halving to Occur at Block Height 840,000 in 2024

The first Bitcoin block reward halving took place on November 28, 2012, at block height 210,000. The second halving occurred on July 9, 2016, at block height 420,000, and the third halving event took place on May 11, 2020, at block height 630,000. The next halving that’s expected to happen on or around April 27, 2024, will occur at block height 840,000.

The U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks worldwide like to target a 2% inflation rate per annum, but that has changed a great deal since the Covid-19 pandemic and the monetary supply expansions that took place globally. Bitcoin’s current inflation rate of 1.74% per annum is much better than the central bank’s long lost target rate.

When the next halving occurs 105,000 blocks from now, Bitcoin’s inflation rate will be an estimated 1.1% per annum. Because Bitcoin has a predictable monetary supply, we can also estimate that by the 2028 block subsidy halving, Bitcoin’s inflation rate will be an estimated 0.5% per annum.

The Central African Republic’s adoption of bitcoin, according to the IMF, poses risks.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has joined the chorus of critics of the Central African Republic’s (CAR) decision to adopt bitcoin. According to the IMF, the adoption poses legal and economic challenges not only to the country, but also to the region.

The IMF has reportedly said the CAR’s recent decision to adopt bitcoin poses a number of challenges for the country and the region. The comments by the global lender mark the first time it has publicly reacted to CAR’s decision to make bitcoin legal tender.

As has been reported by Bitcoin.com News, the IMF was and is still critical of a similar decision that was made by El Salvador in 2021. Following the initial announcement, the global lender warned the adoption of bitcoin would pose several macroeconomic, financial, and legal issues. In January 2022, the IMF urged El Salvador to drop the bitcoin law, but this was rejected by the latter.

Reacting to the CAR’s decision, the IMF again warned the African country’s adoption of bitcoin posed legal and economic challenges.

“The adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in C.A.R. raises major legal, transparency, and economic policy challenges. IMF staff are assisting regional and Central African Republic’s authorities in addressing the concerns posed by the new law,” the IMF reportedly said in emailed responses to Bloomberg.

CAR’s Low Internet Penetration Rate

While authorities in the African country have insisted the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender will help drive economic growth, opponents have argued otherwise. They point to the CAR’s low internet penetration rates as well as the state of its economy.

Meanwhile, the Bloomberg report suggests the CAR’s decision to adopt bitcoin was hastily made, and without consulting stakeholders. The move to adopt bitcoin has reportedly been slammed by the regional central bank, the Bank of Central African States.

Ethereum is expected to reach $5,783 this year and $23,372 by 2030, according to Finder’s experts.

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The price of ether is expected to reach $5,783 this year, before rising to $11,764 by 2025 and $23,372 by 2030, according to a panel of crypto industry experts. The majority of the experts on the panel are bullish on ether, with 61 percent recommending buying now and 32 percent advising hodling.

Industry Experts Share Ether Forecasts

Price comparison portal Finder updated its price predictions for ether (ETH) with its latest quarterly survey last week. The company measures expert predictions for the future price of ether using weekly and quarterly surveys. The latest quarterly survey, conducted in April, “asks a panel of 36 industry experts for their thoughts on how ethereum will perform over the next decade,” Finder described.

The expert panel expects ETH to be worth $5,783 by the end of 2022. At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $2,816, down 3.6% over the last seven days and almost 18.3% over the past 30 days.

Citing the expert panel’s predictions, Finder detailed:

Ethereum will jump from its current price of US$2,810 to US$5,783 by the end of 2022 … the price is expected to continue to rise going forward, hitting $11,764 by 2025 and $23,372 by 2030.

“Compared to the results of the previous survey conducted in late 2021, our panel is now far more bearish on Ethereum long-term future, which may have a lot to do with its dip in value between now and the previous survey,” the company noted. “In January 2022 the panel had given an average prediction of $6,500 for the end of this year, 12% higher than their new prediction of $5,783.”

Keegan Francis, Finder’s global cryptocurrency editor, commented:

Ethereum is at a very uncertain place in its journey at the moment. It is currently losing Defi [decentralized finance] market share to its competitors.

“Until Ethereum upgrades its systems and fulfills its promises to scale, I do not have long-term confidence in the network. That being said, I still think people will buy the token out of hype/promise/potential,” he added.

Joseph Raczynski, technologist and futurist at Thomson Reuters, opined: “The Merge, an upgrade to Ethereum, should happen this summer. This could have an explosive effect on the token. People have been waiting for this for years. It should be far more secure, 99% more energy-efficient, and deflationary. If that isn’t the trifecta of potential, as a leading blockchain, I don’t know what would be.”

Moreover, when asked about whether now is time to buy, hold, or sell ether, 61% said it is the time to buy and a further 32% said you should hodl. Just 6% said now is the time to sell.

The experts on the panel include the COO of Okcoin, the co-founder of Coinmama, the CEO of Btblock, head economist of Consensys, the CEO of Delta Investment Tracker, the head of funds of Digitalx Asset Management, the founder of Origin Protocol, the CEO of Coinjar, a senior lecturer at the University of Canberra, an associate professor at Nottingham Trent University, and a director at the University of East London.

The crypto industry is lobbying against bills that would target Russian oligarchs who use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions.

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The cryptocurrency industry is lobbying lawmakers in the United States to oppose two bills that would prevent Russian oligarchs from using cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US and many other countries imposed sanctions on them.

The Blockchain Association has been lobbying U.S. lawmakers against two bills designed to prevent Russian oligarchs from using cryptocurrency to evade sanctions imposed on them after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, CNBC reported last week.

The first is a House bill titled “Russian Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Act of 2022.” The other is a Senate bill sponsored by crypto skeptic Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) titled “Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act of 2022.”

The bills give the Biden administration the authority to prohibit U.S. crypto exchanges from processing payments from Russia. They would also allow U.S. authorities to sanction foreign exchanges process transactions by sanctioned Russian people or companies.

The organization represents more than 70 crypto platforms, including AAVE, Anchorage Digital, Ava Labs, Bitdeer, Blockchain Capital, Blockfi, Brevan Howard, Chainalysis, Circle, Crypto.com, Digital Currency Group, Dragonfly Capital, Etoro, Grayscale, Kraken, Ripple, Silvergate, Solana, Terra, Voyager, and Wicklow Capital.

The group is trying to convince lawmakers that cryptocurrency is not being used by wealthy Russians to avoid sanctions.

Curtis Kincaid, a spokesperson for Blockchain Association, explained that the organization is trying to convince lawmakers to “separate fact from fiction on the inability of Russia to transfer large sums of money via crypto transactions in order to evade sanctions,” the publication conveyed.

Lawyer Jake Chervinsky, policy head at the association, commented:

These bills don’t target Russian oligarchs, who aren’t using (& can’t use) crypto to evade sanctions. They target upstanding US crypto companies for no apparent reason except Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s crusade against a technology she doesn’t understand.

While some lawmakers are worried about the use of crypto to circumvent sanctions, many experts have said that crypto is not an effective tool for sanctions evasion. A U.S. Treasury official said in March: “We don’t see that crypto could be used in a large-scale way to evade sanctions.”

To stay relevant, Solana Co-Founder believes Bitcoin should switch to Proof-of-Stake consensus.

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Anatoly Yakovenko, one of the co-founders of Solana, a proof-of-stake blockchain with smart contracts, has made a number of statements criticizing bitcoin’s consensus algorithm. In an interview with CNBC, Yakovenko stated that if bitcoin does not switch to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, it will lose popularity. Other organizations have also attacked bitcoin, implying that this change could be a solution to what some consider to be its flaws.

Anatoly Yakovenko, one of the co-founders of Solana, the PoS consensus-based blockchain, issued his take when it comes to bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) and how it might affect the leading cryptocurrency in the future. In an interview on CNBC, Yakovenko stated that one of the main differences when comparing Solana to Bitcoin is the energy efficiency of the former.

On this, Yakovenko explained:

If you look at Solana’s energy report, a single Solana transaction is about two Google searches worth of energy. I think that even among proof-of-stake networks is one of the most efficient ones.

Yakovenko further mentioned that, according to his views, most of the networks that people will use in the future will be based on PoS consensus. When asked about the future of Bitcoin in this context, Yakovenko stated:

If [Bitcoin] eventually doesn’t switch to proof-of-stake nobody is going to use it.

Others Look to Change Bitcoin’s Code

Yakovenko is not the first that has made direct criticism on the energy usage and the future of Bitcoin as a proof-of-stake network. Since proof-of-stake consensus was used to develop several rival networks to the two main blockchains (Bitcoin and Ethereum), proof-of-work consensus algorithms have been deemed as being too energy inefficient.

Since last year this thought has gained more traction, when Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Spacex, commented about the “insane” energy consumption of the Bitcoin network while suspending bitcoin as a payment method for acquiring Tesla vehicles at the same time.

More recently, other parties have also criticized Bitcoin, suggesting that a change in its consensus algorithm might be key to its sustainability. This is the case of the World Economic Forum, which on April 26, published a video where it states that a “change in the way Bitcoin is coded could virtually eliminate its environmental impact.”

The New York State Assembly has passed a bill prohibiting the construction of new crypto mines that rely on non-renewable energy sources.

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New crypto mining companies that use a carbon-based energy source will face a two-year moratorium under the bill. Existing facilities, as well as those that use renewable energy sources, are unaffected.

The New York Assembly passed a bill to block new crypto mining facilities using non-renewable energy sources from setting up shop in the Empire state.

Assembly bill A7389C, sponsored by Democrat Anna Kelles, will impose a two-year moratorium on new crypto mining firms that use a carbon-based energy source. A corresponding bill is working its way through the state Senate.

An assembly committee had voted on Monday to advance the bill to a full vote of the legislative body.

The crypto industry mounted a fierce opposition to the bill, warning it might lead to miners relocating, impacting jobs or the U.S.’s “geopolitical interests.”

However, advocates of the bill noted that existing facilities would remain unaffected by the bill, as well as any facilities that tap renewable resources. The bill itself specifies that the New York Department of Energy “shall not approve a new application for or issue a new permit … for an electric generating facility that uses a carbon-based fuel and that provides, in whole or in part, behind-the-meter electric energy consumed or utilized by cryptocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions.”

Another provision would ban renewals for existing permits for similar facilities if the renewal applicant seeks to grow their facility.

The bill also calls for the state to create a “generic environmental impact statement” that evaluates PoW mining and mining facilities in the state.

Kraken is the first global cryptocurrency exchange to receive full regulatory approval from Abu Dhabi Global Market.

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Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange, has been granted a full financial license by Abu Dhabi Global Market. The regulator explained that “Kraken will be the first global virtual assets exchange group in the UAE to offer investors the ability to invest, trade, withdraw, and deposit virtual assets (bitcoin and ether) directly in local AED currency.”

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) announced Monday that cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has become “the first global virtual assets exchange group in the UAE to receive a full financial license from ADGM.”

Abu Dhabi Global Market is an international financial center and free zone in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the largest regulated jurisdiction of virtual asset activities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The regulator explained:

Kraken is the first global cryptocurrency exchange to receive a Financial Services Permission (FSP) license to operate a regulated virtual asset exchange platform in the ADGM to service the needs of the Middle East and North Africa region.

“Kraken has met all approval conditions from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM to operate as a Virtual Asset Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) and Custodian in Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE,” the announcement details.

Noting that Kraken has established its Middle East headquarters in ADGM, the regulator said:

Kraken will be the first global virtual assets exchange group in the UAE to offer investors the ability to invest, trade, withdraw and deposit virtual assets (bitcoin and ether) directly in local AED currency.

Earlier this month, the FSRA issued a discussion paper on decentralized finance (defi). In March, the regulator published a consultation paper proposing significant amendments to its capital markets framework, including in crypto assets.

The FSRA also awarded cryptocurrency exchange Binance in-principle approval this month “to operate as a broker-dealer in virtual assets.”

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