Republican Kevin McCarthy says Fed chair needs more education on crypto

April 14, 2021 Coin Telegraph

The House minority leader said the United States should not take a backseat to China when it comes to digital currencies.

Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader in the United States House of Representatives, hinted that both the current secretary of the treasury and the chair of the Federal Reserve may need to reevaluate their positions on crypto.

Speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning, host Joe Kernen asked the Republican lawmaker whether either Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen or Fed Chair Jerome Powell had a “good understand of digital currencies or Bitcoin.” In regards to Bitcoin (BTC), McCarthy claimed that both the officials had “tried to ignore it to make it go away,” while urging those in government to see the potential of crypto.

"This is moving towards the future,” said McCarthy. “They should not ignore it. They should not only learn more about it, but the basis is going to continue to grow. This is something that those who regulate, those who are in government that make policy, better start understanding what it means for the future because other countries are moving forward, especially China.”

"They tried to ignore it to make it go away. Jamie Dimon will tell you that," says @GOPLeader on #bitcoin. "This is something that those who regulate, those who are in government that make policy better start understanding what it means for the future." #btc pic.twitter.com/pO2eVbxLff
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) April 13, 2021

Confirmed in January, Yellen has referred to cryptocurrencies as a “growing concern” in the United States and said that the government should examine ways to "curtail" their use as part of Anti-Money Laundering efforts. Powell, who has served as Fed chair for three years, seemingly echoed some of Yellen's sentiments on crypto last month, saying Bitcoin is "backed by nothing" and too volatile to be useful as a store of value.

The House minority leader has previously given his views on crypto, saying in 2019 that he likes the security aspects of blockchain technology and encouraged the U.S. government to start using it for more efficiency and transparency. However, he also criticized the Facebook-backed Libra project, now Diem, for being too centralized.

Romanian university plans to accept crypto payments for admission fees

April 11, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Business

The academic institution with a student body of roughly 11,000 said the addition of crypto payments was part of a plan to support local businesses like Elrond.

A public university in the Romanian city of Sibiu in Transylvania has said it will allow students to pay for their admission fees in crypto.

According to an announcement from Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, or LBUS, on Wednesday, the institution plans to implement crypto payment methods for its more than 11,000 students starting in July. Students will reportedly be able to pay for admission fees — tuition is roughly $1,000 per year for undergraduates — using Elrond (EGLD), which the university will then convert to Romanian leu.

"Our university has been and will continue to be a supporter of the community and local business, and the decision to develop this partnership with Elrond is part of this strategy," said university Rector Sorin Radu.

Starting as an initial exchange offering from the Binance Launchpad in 2019, Elrond has offices in the Transylvanian town of more than 400,000 people and its team contains many graduates of the local university. The project said it plans to carry out other collaborations with LBUS in the future, including research.

According to legislation implemented in July, exchange providers that monitor the purchase of crypto with fiat currency and vice versa must now be authorized if they operate in Romania. Many crypto users handling digital assets in the country are required to use exchanges that incorporate Know Your Customer requirements and comply with both domestic and foreign Anti-Money Laundering provisions.

Elrond has recently seen some significant changes, including its mainnet swap last year as the ERD token became EGLD. At the time of publication, the price of EGLD is $231, having risen more than 13% in the last 24 hours.

Coinbase, Fidelity Form Crypto Advocacy Group to Lobby Regulators

April 6, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

China’s Digital Currency Project Head Says, “Anonymity Is Not Feasible”

March 22, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

The head of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) research said in a business convention that complete anonymity is impossible.

China Firm on “Controllable” Privacy of CBDC

Mu Changchun, the Chinese head of the Digital Currency Institute, said that they would follow the policy of “controllable anonymity” for the digital renminbi, drawing parallels with the present KYC- and AML-based banking system at the 2021 China Development Forum.

The digital currency wallets’ KYC requirements would begin with only mobile number verification for small balances and transactions.

At the same time, higher volumes would require personal identification information and other income details. Changchun confirmed that mobile companies and banks cannot share personal user information unless required by a legal statute.

According to the Changchun, controlled anonymity avoids giving leeway in security concerns related to tax evasion, money laundering, and other criminal activities. He said:

“The anonymity of the central bank’s digital currency is limited anonymity on the premise that risks are controllable. A completely anonymous central bank’s digital currency is not feasible.”

The state agency’s head cited Bitcoin’s use in illegal activities made feasible due to its anonymity. Moreover, he also raised concerns about telecommunications fraud rampant around the world. According to a report, in 2019, the global volume of fraud through telephone calls was around $32.5 billion.

American Digital Currency Team Defers on Policy Talks

The U.S. Fed plans to reveal their preliminary digital currency design by the third quarter this year, the head of America’s digital currency project at Boston Fed, James Cunha, told Bloomberg.

Boston’s Federal Reserve and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working on the initial research and design. They’re in the process of drawing a basic blueprint and would delve into specifics later.

The U.S. Fed’s work under Cunha will avoid taking “a stand on major issues” like anonymity, protection, and recovery in case of cyber-theft and mistakes.

“We think it’s important that we do not wait for the policy debate because then we’ll be a year or so behind,” Cunha said. “This will take significant outreach to the industry and serious debate.”

The research team will leave it to the lawmakers, the Treasury, and the Fed’s senior decision-makers to choose the features presented by them.

Although, the Fed’s Chairman Jerome Powell—even ECB’s President—has said in the past that the CBDC would complement the current cash-based currency system, not unlike the current progress in China.

Disclosure: The author held Bitcoin at the time of press.

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