Tag: crypto

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Could Circle Create a U.S.-backed digital Currency

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Ridgewood NJ, Circle has announced its intention to become a fully regulated bank. Its aim is to become a narrow bank that places all deposits on reserve at the central bank. If this were achieved, USDC would become a cryptocurrency fully backed by the Federal Reserve. Circle would profit off the interest that the Fed pays on bank reserves. Previous attempts by other companies to do narrow banking in the US have failed as the Fed doesn’t like the idea. Circle has yet to initiate the process of applying to be a bank.

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Coinbase removes ‘backed by US dollars’ claim for USDC stablecoin

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Ridgewod NJ, Coinbase has made an important update on the USD Coin page following an audit. The page previously stated that all of the coin’s reserves were held in cash, but the audit found that USDC’s reserves were not fully backed by US dollars held in a bank account. Coinbase’s USDC page now states that each USDC is backed by one dollar or asset with equivalent fair value. Users can always redeem one USDC for one US dollar. Circle, the company that oversees USDC, recently announced plans to become a full-reserve national digital currency bank in the US.

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The hacker behind a giant cryptocurrency heist is returning stolen funds

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the hacker who recently stole $611 million in cryptocurrencies from the decentralized Poly Network finance platform is ready to surrender and has started to return the funds. It is likely that the hacker has been caught and that they are trying to avoid criminal charges. While this was one of the largest thefts in DeFi history, the damage may be limited. It can be difficult to launder or cash out cryptocurrency without leaving a trail of clues, so the incident may discourage future attacks.

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Ethereum : When You See A Fork in the Road Take It

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the staff of te Ridgewood blog

Ridgewoood NJ, Ethereum’s London hard fork has been activated. The network will now algorithmically decide the transaction fee based on the overall demand on the network. Users will still be able to jump the queue by tipping. Another change in the code will double the block size to smooth out spikes in demand and to help gas fees stay stable. While there will be twice the number of blocks, the upgrade has been designed so that the protocol only wants the blocks to be half full. The London fork also paves the way for Ethereum 2.0, which will see the network switch from the proof-of-work mining system to proof-of-stake.

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The Pi Network Reached 21M Users

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, in a major milestone the Pi Network reached 21M users on 7/20/2021 (859 days after launch on Pi Day 3/14/2019). If growth continues at this rate we will reach 100M in 341 more days on 6/26/2022). Of course, this rate can change, for example, any positive news could accelerate things. Also, according to the graphic posted by the developers the mainnet launch should happen well before reaching 100M – it can happen whenever it is ready.

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New Jersey Bureau of Securities Orders Cryptocurrency Company ‘BlockFi’ to Stop Offering Interest-Bearing Accounts

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck today announced that the Bureau of Securities has issued a Summary Cease and Desist Order to stop a financial services company based in Jersey City from selling unregistered securities in the form of interest-earning cryptocurrency accounts that have raised at least $14.7 billion worldwide.

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Bitcoin Pizza Day

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, May 22, 2021, marked the eleven-year anniversary of the first Bitcoin transaction, in which a Florida man paid for two pizzas with the cryptocurrency. The day has become part of folklore, not because of the transaction, but more the price: the man in question paid 10,000 Bitcoins, which today is worth over $80 million, for the two pizzas.

On May 22, 2010, now known as Bitcoin Pizza Day, Laszlo Hanyecz agreed to pay 10,000 Bitcoins for two delivered Papa John’s pizzas. Organized on bitcointalk forum, the Florida man reached out for help. “I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas… like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day,” Hanyecz wrote.

The man who took up Hanyecz’s offer and bought the two pizzas for him in exchange for the 10,000 Bitcoins. Even then the recipient of the Bitcoins got himself a bargain, paying $25 for the pizzas, while 10,000 Bitcoins were worth around $41 at the time.

We know the 22nd was Saturday but we are trying to make this a “Monday Holiday” .

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Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell outlines the Federal Reserve’s response to technological advances in the global payment systems

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, Technological advances are driving rapid change in the global payments landscape. The Federal Reserve is studying these developments and exploring ways that it might refine its role as a core payment services provider and as the issuing authority for U.S. currency.

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The IRS is looking for Help Hacking Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallets

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Cryptocurrency can be stored on small physical drives securely, unconnected to the internet. The IRS is looking for help to break into cryptocurrency hardware wallets, according to a document posted on the agency website in March of this year. The tax collection agency is now looking for contractors to come up with solutions to hack into wallets that would be of interest to investigations. While the agency may be in possession of a hardware wallet as part of a case, they may not be able to access it without the suspect’s cooperation. The IRS is looking for tools it can reliably use in multiple cases.

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Japan to Launch Blockchain-Based Stock Exchange in 2022, Turkish cryptocurrency exchange CEO Thodex Flees

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Tokyo Japan,  SBI Holdings and the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) have partnered together to build the Osaka Digital Exchange (ODE), a blockchain-based stock exchange to compete against the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The exchange will allow investors to trade digital securities using blockchain technology. SBI and SMFG will set up the ODE in March. The exchange will start trading digital securities in 2023.

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Novel Proof Of Concept for the Pi Network

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, proving a project can work is what’s called Proof Of Concept (POC). If you can’t prove a project can work then there isn’t one to begin with.  May 22, will mark the anniversary of the first Bitcoin transaction, in which a Florida man paid for two pizzas with the cryptocurrency. The day has become part of folklore, not because of the transaction, but more the price: the man in question paid 10,000 Bitcoins, which today is worth over $80 million, for the two pizzas.

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Signal in the UK is testing a payment feature that lets you send cryptocurrency to friends

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Signal is testing a new peer-to-peer payment system in the UK called Signal Payments. The system uses MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency with a close relationship with Signal co-founder and CEO Moxie Marlinspike. Signal will not have access to users’ balances, full transaction histories, or funds. Users will have full control over their funds. A link to the Signal beta sign-up page is available for those who are interested in testing the feature.

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FDIC Appoints First Chief Innovation Officer to help ,”reimagine the nation’s banking system”

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Washington DC, the FDIC named Sultan Meghji as its first Chief Innovation Officer, charged with leading the agency’s drive to promote the adoption of innovative technologies across the financial services sector.

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Congressman Josh Gottheimer Wants Feds to Probe Bitcoin Transfers to “Alt-Right Extremists” Prior to Capitol Breach

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Washington DC, Today, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) called on the Department of Justice and federal agencies to redouble investigation efforts into the reported single $520,000+ bitcoin transfer to multiple alt-right groups and extremist personalities leading into the deadly failed insurrectionist attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

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New Jersey Society of CPAs Reminds Taxpayers of New IRS Guidance on Cryptocurrency

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Provides Clarity but Questions Remain

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

ROSELAND NJ, The New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJCPA) reminds taxpayers that the Internal Revenue Service’s newly released two-part guidance on the tax treatment of virtual currency — such as Bitcoin, Litecoin and Libra — helps to clarify many issues relating to accounting, financial reporting and distribution. However, questions still remain over addressing noncompliance as well as whether or not the IRS will differentiate hard forks (blockchain nodes that no longer accept the newest version of the blockchain and diverge from the existing distributed ledger) from airdrops (means of distributing units of a cryptocurrency to the distributed ledger addresses of multiple taxpayers). Soft forks do not generate a taxable event due to the lack of new cryptocurrency creation.

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