Right now the BRICS+ nations are considering an alternative digital currency for trade, between nations that is. A lot of people are concerned about the CBDC but as far as I am aware, countries like Russia have suggested they have no plans for a CBDC to be used by the public, rather for State to State transaction. I honestly believe that would be a good idea, and it would solve the concerns of potential abuse by the government on the consumer end. Currencies would remain the same for consumers while governments could avoid sanctions and other types of economic inconvenience.

Not that this will be good for the US Dollar but it was bound to happen because of the types of interventionist political leadership we have today. You can thank the neo-cons for that.

>>post2605
Your points are valid indeed. Though in the absence of better alternatives, it remains the only peer-to-peer money transfer system. Any alternatives requires painfull collaboration with third party vendors. All of which are totally controlled and regulated. Any non crypto monetary transfer is tracked and can be blocked at the whims of the current power structure. So I think crypto, with all its deficits, is here to stay. 

I agree crypto is too technical for most normies to use in a safe way. However, as people become more and more technically adept, the set of potential users will grow. Right now many internet projects are dependent on crypto and many value adding monetary interactions between web-citizens would not have been possible without crypto. Crypto will probably never be seen as a dominant every day currency, but my guess is that in the future people will have both native currency and some crypto for their internet activities.

I sure hope crypto will flourish in the vast outskirts of the internet.

There are a few small problems with cryptocurrency that seriously need to be addressed. I am not condemning or shaming crypto in any way but these issues have yet to be resolved...

#1: Cryptocurrency is not easy to use for most normies and if it were would it really be secure enough to use? #2: Governments could always simply rule crypto illegal to own or use, and once those prohibitions are enforced most people would be too intimidated to use crypto anymore and #3: cryptocurrency still relies on a civilized first world society, but as soon as there are power outages and/or internet outages during a serious crisis it would become useless.

That said. Crypto is a brilliant idea, but the infrastructure lacks some self-sufficiency and remains vulnerable to several plausible scenarios. While I support the use and legalization of cryptocurrency, we also should not be naive and completely rely on it either. At the end of the day you still survive having food, water, weapons, medications, sanitation and shelter.

interesting

Just a little update on bitcoin:

Total BTC in Existence - 19,684,306.25
Bitcoins Left to Be Mined - 1,315,693.8
% of Bitcoins Issued - 93.735%

And note, the top 1% of Bitcoin addresses hold over 90% of the total Bitcoin supply, according to Bitinfocharts.

Yeah 100%. The math behind it is a little tricky compared to bitcoin though.

support Monero

Bitcoin Supply Inactive for a Year Slides to 18-Month Low of 65.8%

- The percentage of bitcoin's circulating supply last active at least a year ago has declined from 70% to 65.8% in three months.
- The decline probably indicates profit-taking by some investors in a rising market.

Binance exits Netherlands and faces France probe

 The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance is being investigated by French authorities, according to media reports in France.

The investigation is focused on its anti-money laundering procedures.

It follows the announcement of the company's departure from the Netherlands after it failed to obtain a licence from the Dutch central bank.

In a statement Binance confirmed French authorities visited its offices last week and will comply accordingly.

"We had an on-site visit last week by the relevant authorities. Binance, as always, was fully collaborative and we met our obligations accordingly. We continue to work closely with regulators and law enforcement agencies on all ongoing compliance requirements to uphold high standards," a company spokesperson said.

Cryptocurrencies have become a popular trading asset-class in recent years for both retail and institutional investors.

However questions have been raised about the risks associated with crypto because of their prices can experience huge swings in value.

Regulators around the world have looked to ramp up pressure on crypto exchanges in a bid to make them more transparent.

Binance is facing challenges in the United States as well as Europe.

In the US, the exchange is being sued by two financial regulators - the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission - which say it has been operating in the US illegally and ignoring laws intended to protect investors.

The SEC has also accused the firm and founder Changpeng Zhao of mishandling customer funds.

Binance has defended its practices. The company's US operations are currently in talks with the SEC to avoid a total asset freeze.

Binance has warned that its operations will "grind to a halt" if a US judge grants the regulator's request for an asset freezing order.

Binance's unit in the UK, Binance Markets Limited, was removed from the register of the Financial Conduct Authority on 30 May, at the company request, leaving it with no authorised entities in the UK

Bitcoin Formed falling wedge pattern in 4H TF which is Bullish sign for BTC & reached to trendline . BTC have important support between 25,200$ - 24,200$ . We are expecting jump from this support but if BTC break this support next target will be 23,000$ .

Good or bad thing?

JUST IN: $9 trillion asset manager BlackRock to file for Bitcoin ETF, CoinDesk reports.

BlackRock files an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF. 

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has filed an application for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to a document filed with the SEC on Thursday.

CoinDesk was first to report on the development, with sources indicating that the asset manager plans to utilize Coinbase Custody for the ETF, while the exchange’s spot market data will be used for pricing.

The filing by BlackRock confirms this structure. “The iShares Bitcoin Trust (the “Trust”) is a Delaware statutory trust that issues shares (“Shares”) representing fractional undivided beneficial interests in its net assets,” the filing said. “The assets of the Trust consist primarily of bitcoin held by a custodian on behalf of the Trust. The Trust seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of bitcoin.”

The filing further states that “iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC is the sponsor of the Trust; BlackRock Fund Advisors is the trustee of the Trust; Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC is the custodian for the Trust’s bitcoin holdings; and Bank of New York Mellon is the custodian for the Trust’s cash holdings and the administrator of the Trust.”

Kitco Crypto reached out to both BlackRock and Coinbase for more information, but both parties declined to comment on the matter.

It remains to be seen if the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent lawsuit against Coinbase will have any material effect on this potential ETF project.

BlackRock previously partnered with Coinbase in August to launch a private trust offering US-based institutional clients exposure to spot Bitcoin (BTC) through Coinbase Prime Services.

Later in August, the firm launched another private trust that offers institutional clients in the U.S. direct exposure to Bitcoin. BlackRock was able to launch this trust without first obtaining approval from regulators since private investment trusts that do not solicit investments from retail investors are not required to register with authorities.

The asset manager also has previous experience in launching blockchain-related ETFs in the U.S. In April 2022, they launched the iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF, which tracks the investment results of an index composed of U.S. and non-U.S. companies that are involved in the development, innovation, and utilization of blockchain and crypto technologies.

On the international stage, the firm announced the launch of the iShares Blockchain Technology UCITS ETF in September, which is designed to track the NYSE FactSet Global Blockchain Technologies Capped index and offers exposure to blockchain and crypto companies for users in Europe.

Whether or not the company can get a Bitcoin-related ETF approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a different matter, as the regulator has been stingy with approvals for such ETFs.

To date, the SEC has rejected more than a dozen spot Bitcoin ETFs, including those filed by SkyBridge, Grayscale, WisdomTree and ARK 21Shares. Bitcoin Futures ETFs have seen more success, with seven such ETFs currently approved by the SEC and available to trade in the U.S. market.

In May, Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager, took a different approach to a spot Bitcoin ETF by forming Grayscale Funds Trust. According to the registration statement, the fund will not invest in digital assets directly but may offer “indirect exposure to digital assets by virtue of its investments in companies and exchange-traded vehicles that use one or more digital assets as part of their business activities or that hold digital assets as investments.”

The fund will strive to invest at least 80% of its net assets “in the securities that comprise the Index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of the Index,” Grayscale said.

To go along with the creation of Grayscale Funds Trust, the firm also filed a registration statement on Form N-1A with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for Grayscale Ethereum Futures ETF, Grayscale Global Bitcoin Composite ETF, and Grayscale Privacy ETF, each a series of Grayscale Funds Trust. The approval status of these funds is still pending.