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Blockchain-based move-to-earn app Stepn under DDoS attacks after upgrade

Apart from trying to get rid of cheating and bots, Stepn is also working to limit its platform’s availability for users in mainland China.

Solana-based move-to-earn application Stepn has reported multiple denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in the aftermath of the platform proceeding with a major anti-cheating upgrade.

Stepn took to Twitter on June 5 to report that the platform has suffered a number of DDoS attacks causing recovery maintenance and associated improper performance.

According to the statement, Stepn was expecting to secure and recover the servers in up to 12 hours but has not posted an update for 20 hours by the time of writing.

“Our engineers are working hard to fix the problems. We will announce here once recovery is complete. Thank you so much for everyone’s patience,” Stepn wrote.

The attacks came shortly after Stepn introduced its anti-cheating system referred to as “Stepn’s Model for Anti-Cheating,” or SMAC, on June 3. The system aims to eliminate fake users from the platform as well as to prevent fraudulent motion data on the Stepn app in an attempt to gain unfair profit from the platform.

“SMAC system specifically targets the movement simulation by amending real walking/running data, thanks to our machine learning algorithm,” the anti-cheating system’s description reads.

Stepn reported on major platform issues soon after proceeding with the upgrade, with SMAC mistakenly identifying some genuine users as bots. Other problems included network issues caused by a “25 million DDOS attack” as well as the temporary inability to track any bots on the platform.

“We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused to users. The anti-cheating update may seem small, but it is actually an important cornerstone of Stepn's long-term development,” Stepn said.

Despite the platform's DDoS issues, Stepn’s native token, the Green Satoshi Token (GST), has not seen any critical decline over the past several days. On the contrary, the GST is up around 10% over the past 24 hours, trading at $1.04 at the time of writing. The token’s market capitalization amounts to $624 million, according to data from CoinGecko.

Green Satoshi Token seven-day price chart. Source: CoinGecko

Related: People want to be paid crypto to exercise in the Metaverse: Survey

Launched in December 2021, Stepn is a major move-to-earn mobile nonfungible token (NFT) game allowing users to earn tokens by walking, jogging or running outdoors with an NFT sneaker. The game has a dual token system, including the GST token and the Governance Token (GMT).

The news comes as Stepn prepares to limit its platform’s availability for users in mainland China by mid-July.

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off 

A life after crime: What happens to crypto seized in criminal investigations?

Like with any kind of property, law enforcement has the right to sell your coins and spend the money.

Earlier this year, during during the annual Queen’s Speech in the United Kingdom, Prince Charles informed the Parliament about two bills. One of them — the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill — would expand the government's powers to seize and recover crypto assets.

Meanwhile, the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized more than $3 billion worth of crypto in 2021.

As digital currencies’ monetary stock grows and enforcers’ scrutiny over the maturing industry tightens, the amount of seized funds will inevitably increase.

But where do these funds go, assuming they aren’t returned to the victims of scams and fraud? Are there auctions, like there are for forfeited property? Or are these coins destined to be stored on some kind of special wallet, which might end up as a perfect investment fund for law enforcement agencies? Cointelegraph tried to get some answers.

The dark roots of civil forfeiture

For the newcomers in the room, cryptocurrency is money. In that sense, the destiny of seized crypto shouldn’t differ much from other confiscated money or property. Civil forfeiture, the forceful taking of assets from individuals or companies allegedly involved in illegal activity, is a rather controversial law enforcement practice. In the U.S., it first became common practice in the 1980s as a part of the war on drugs, and it has been the target of vocal critics ever since. 

In the U.S., any seized assets become the permanent property of the government if a prosecutor can prove that the assets are connected with criminal activity or if nobody demands their return. In some cases, the assets are returned to their owner as a part of a plea deal with the prosecution. Some estimate, however, that just 1% of seized assets are ever returned.

How do law enforcement agencies use the money they don’t have to return? They spend it on whatever they want or need, such as exercise equipment, squad cars, jails and military hardware. In 2001, for example, the St. Louis County Police Department used $170,000 to buy a BEAR (Ballistic Engineered Armored Response) tactical vehicle. In 2011, it spent $400,000 on helicopter equipment. The Washington Post analyzed more than 43,000 forfeiture reports and reported that the seized money was spent on things as varying as an armored personnel carrier ($227,000), a Sheriff’s Award Banquet ($4,600) and even hiring a clown ($225) to “improve community relations.”

Some states, like Missouri, legally oblige that seized funds be allocated to schools, but as the Pulitzer Center points out, law enforcement agencies keep almost all of the money using the federal Equitable Sharing Program loophole. In 2015, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued an order prohibiting federal agency forfeiture, but his successor under the administration of President Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions, repealed it, calling it “a key tool that helps law enforcement defund organized crime.”

Seized coins’ destiny in the U.S., U.K. and EU

While none of the experts who spoke to Cointelegraph could speak to the technical aspects of storing seized crypto assets, the rest of the procedure tends to be pretty much the same as with non-crypto assets.

Recent: Pride in the Metaverse: Blockchain tech creates new opportunities for LGBTQ+ people

Don Fort, a former chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division who heads the investigations department at law firm Kostelanetz & Fink, told Cointelegraph that the only principal distinction is the necessity to auction the digital assets off:

“At the federal level, seized cryptocurrency goes to either the Department of Justice or Department of Treasury Forfeiture Fund. Once the crypto funds are auctioned off by one of the forfeiture funds, the funds can be used by the respective federal law enforcement agencies.”

Fort explained that as with non-crypto funds, the agency requesting forfeited funds has to submit a specific plan or initiative to acclaim the money and spend it, and the plan must be approved by the Department of Justice before the funds can be allocated to the agency.

A similar procedure regulates the allocation of seized crypto in the United Kingdom. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 outlines how cryptocurrency proceeds of crime should be dealt with once seized. Tony Dhanjal, head of tax at Koinly, explained to Cointelegraph:

“When it generally comes to confiscated assets — as opposed to cash — the Home Office gets 50%, and the other 50% is split between the Police, Crown Prosecution Services and the Courts. There is also leeway for some of the confiscated assets to be returned to the victims of crypto crime.”

However, Dhanjal believes the legislation needs to be updated to deal specifically with crypto assets, as they are a “unique challenge for crime agencies as anything that has ever come before it.” The aforementioned announcement of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill didn’t include any specifics aside from the intention to “create powers to more quickly and easily seize and recover crypto assets,” but an update on the procedure of seized crypto allocation is surely something to be desired.

As it often goes for regulatory policies, the European Union is more complicated. While there are systems of mutual assistance in criminal matters within the EU, criminal legislation falls within the authority of the member states, and there is no single agency to coordinate enforcement or seizure.

Recent: Terra 2.0: A crypto project built on the ruins of $40 billion in investors' money

Hence, there are various ways seized crypto is handled. Thibault Verbiest, a Paris-based partner at law firm Metalaw, cited several cases to Cointelegraph. In France, for example, the Agency for the Recovery and Management of Seized and Confiscated Assets (AGRASC) is responsible for managing seized property. Verbiest stated:

“When, as a result of a judicial investigation, assets have been seized, they are, by decision of the public prosecutor, transferred to the AGRASC, which will decide, in accordance with Articles 41-5 and 99-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the fate of these assets; they will be sold at public auction or destroyed.”

But it is not always possible to seize crypto assets. In 2021, 611 Bitcoin (BTC) was sold at a public auction by the AGRASC after it seized the cold storage devices used by prosecuted people, who had stored their encryption keys on a USB stick. As Verbiest explained:

“This was made possible by the fact that the aforementioned articles allow seizures on the movable property, so the USB stick (and its content) could be seized. The case would have been different if the crypto funds had been stored on a third-party server via a delegated storage service, as the aforementioned texts do not allow seizures of intangible property.”

With the practice of property forfeiture remaining highly controversial — with some even preferring to call it “highway robbery” — cryptocurrencies provide their owners at least a relative degree of protection. Still, technology aside, it’s in the area of policy where both coiners and no-coiners will have to fight against the long tradition of law enforcement overreach.

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off 

Central African Republic to tokenize the nation’s natural resources

The impoverished country has launched an ambitious crypto project that includes using Bitcoin as legal tender, attracting investment and creating its own metaverse.

The Central African Republic (CAR) has announced plans to proceed with its ambitious Sango Project by tokenizing access to the country’s abundant natural resources. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra posted a photograph of a statement on his official Twitter account Thursday detailing the next steps in the project. 

The statement, signed by Minister of State and cabinet chief of staff Obed Namsio, read, in part: 

“We are giving everyone access to the riches of our land. In other words, we are transforming them into equally valuable and important digital assets through an unprecedented new administrative and economic movement.”

It went on to say that Touadéra has asked the parliament to prepare a new strategy to create investment opportunities in the country’s economy.

The CAR, which in April became the second country in the world to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, introduced Project Sango last month. On the project’s website, it is claimed that the World Bank approved a $35 million development fund for a Sango crypto hub in the country — even though the World Bank has stated that it will not support the initiative.

Creation of a legal framework for resource tokenization is a key element of the Sango Project, along with establishing e-residency for investors, crowdfunding infrastructure and the founding Sango—the so-called Crypto Island metaverse. The CAR has reserves of gold, oil, iron, diamonds, copper, uranium, rhodium, limestone, cobalt, manganese and other minerals.

The benefits of launching Bitcoin as legal tender in the CAR have been called into doubt due to the fragility of the state and the low level of development in the country. Only a small minority of residents have access to the internet or electricity.

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off 

Terra Development Team Reveals Some Users ‘Received Less LUNA From the Airdrop Than Expected’

Terra Development Team Reveals Some Users ‘Received Less LUNA From the Airdrop Than Expected’The new Terra blockchain Phoenix-1 has been operating since Saturday morning May 28, 2022, and on that day, millions of new LUNA tokens were dispersed to luna classic (LUNC) and terrausd classic (USTC) holders. However, on Tuesday the Terra development team revealed that some Terra token owners “received less LUNA from the airdrop than expected,” […]

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off 

Sequel to Iconic RPG Ni No Kuni to Feature NFT Integration and Play-to-Earn Mechanics

Sequel to Iconic RPG Ni No Kuni to Feature NFT Integration and Play-to-Earn MechanicsThe new installment of Ni No Kuni, an RPG franchise brought by independent gaming studio Level 5 and animated by Studio Ghibli, has launched with blockchain elements present. The game, which has been designed for mobile and PC platforms, introduces a token system that lets players use their earnings outside of the game, and will […]

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off 

NFT 2.0: The next generation of NFTs will be streamlined and trustworthy

NFTs are moving into the mainstream, but this requires a streamlined and trustworthy experience for the general public’s mass adoption.

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have been in the headlines for the past few years. While swaths of the population have tried to get their head around why NFTs exist, demand has soared, institutions have been built, and the lingo has entered our collective consciousness.

There is an elephant in the room, though: NFTs are difficult to use and a majority of them are digital snake oil. But these problems create the opportunity to provide answers. The accessibility and legitimacy of NFTs are both ripe for change. As funding pours into the space, the market is starting to mature, and that change is gaining momentum. We’re entering a new era of NFTs — NFT 2.0 — where the technology will be more easily accessible by the mainstream, and the underlying value proposition of the NFTs will be more transparent and reliable.

Reflecting on the rise of NFTs

In their short existence, NFTs have exploded onto the crypto scene, topping $17 billion in trading volume in 2021. This number is expected to balloon to $147 billion by 2026. Even more impressive is the fact that this volume is owned by fewer than 400,000 holders, which totals a whopping $47,000 transaction volume per user.

Alongside the industry’s meteoric rise, NFTs themselves have gone through enormous changes since their inception. For example, CryptoPunks, which minted for free in 2017, rose to blue-chip status, peaking with an $11.8-million sale at Sotheby’s last year. A few years later, Larva Labs, the company responsible for creating the Punks, was acquired by the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s parent company, Yuga Labs, for an undisclosed amount.

The evolution of NFTs

Dismissed as a fad early on, NFTs have shown a tremendous amount of staying power, attracting the attention of major celebrities and brands and even being featured in Super Bowl commercials. Companies such as Budweiser, McDonald’s and Adidas have dropped their own collections, while Nike has entered the space by acquiring RTFKT Studios.

Related: Why are major global brands experimenting with NFTs in the metaverse?

While organizations determine their NFT strategy, the overall space has mirrored the past several decades of technological innovation, just under a significantly accelerated timeline. While the iPhone took about 10 years to reach its current version, NFTs have moved from 8-bit pixelated images and Pong-like blockchain games to high-fidelity 3D animations and complex play-to-earn game mechanics with massive multiplayer experiences in just a couple of years.

While the actual NFTs evolve, the ecosystem of pick-and-shovel solutions is also rapidly advancing. The onslaught of NFT minting platforms and toolings has dramatically reduced the barrier to entry, which has created deep saturation in the market. As of March 2022, there were more NFTs than there were public websites, creating a significant amount of noise that many have found difficult to cut through.

The staying power of the asset class and the gargantuan transaction volumes have shifted the ways that creators approach the space. Many have rushed their Web3 strategy or treated their fans as a source of liquidity, leaving a mess of missteps, rug pulls and abandoned projects. Put simply, most companies and creators aren’t ready to enter Web3, and they require more hand-holding and white-glove services than they do tools.

Just like email

Ultimately, NFTs appear to be heading the same way as email. There was a time in the 1990s when companies needed to hire specialists to code emails for them. Early adopters founded lucrative agencies that were able to service Fortune 500 companies and execute early digital strategies. The information gap gave these agencies tremendous leverage until technological advancement (and education) made it easier for brands to do it themselves.

Related: We haven’t even begun to tap into the potential of NFTs

Similarly, we are currently in the era where brands are looking to experts to educate and prepare them for a Web3 future, and it is only a matter of time before they fully disintermediate and manage their Web3 strategy fully in-house. Onboarding for NFTs, and crypto at large, is a fairly complex process that many simply cannot handle. Some companies, however, are finding ways to abstract the more difficult aspects of crypto and creating avenues for deeper engagement with their fans.

Built for the mainstream: NFT 2.0

The current iteration of NFTs is not designed for mainstream consumption. The onboarding system isn’t smooth for consumers; the volatility is damaging to true fans; and it skews the artist-fan relationship. There is too much dissonance between the sticker price of an NFT and the value it is able to provide consumers, and many collections are seeing rough demand shocks as they fail to execute on their road maps.

The core NFT buyer is becoming savvier to rug pulls and scams, which means they are less likely to mint new collections. And though it’s easy to look at declining volumes and see doom, the reality is that NFTs need a sizable washout in order to knock out those looking to get rich quickly and more properly incentivize true builders in the space. As the vaporware gets wiped out during a bear cycle, the antifragile companies that can weather the storm when shifting from Web2 to Web3 will thrive. Agencies and platforms, if timed incorrectly, will be wiped out, but those prepared for an email-esque shift will maximize high-margin, high-touch projects while capturing long-tail revenue streams.

This has important implications whether you’re building in the space, a potential user or an investor. This space is going to grow up fast and evolve quickly. Don’t blink or you might miss it.

This article was co-authored by Mark Peter Davis and Sterling Campbell.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Mark Peter Davis is a venture capitalist, serial entrepreneur, author and community organizer. He is the managing partner of Interplay, a top-performing venture capital firm based in New York City. He’s also an active podcaster, the author of The Fundraising Rules and the founder of both the Columbia Venture Community and the Duke Venture Community.
Sterling Campbell is the CEO of Minotaur, Web3 company servicing top-tier creators and brands as they develop NFT projects, decentralized autonomous organiations and tokens. He has spent the majority of his career focusing on consumer-focused tech for Blockchain Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Grishin Robotics and William Morris Endeavor, where he also developed talent. Sterling earned his bachelor of science in music industry and business administration from the University of Southern California and his master of business administration from Columbia Business School.

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off 

GPU prices are still on a decline: Is Bitcoin’s sorrow gamers’ joy?

Times are hard for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but gamers are in luck, as GPU prices are now more affordable.

The prices of graphics processing units (GPUs), also known as graphics cards, are undoubtedly still a far cry from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). However, they aren’t what they used to be either, especially considering what GPU prices looked like just a year ago.

For instance, the price of a GPU from Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series is 14% over its MSRP, according to reports from 3D Center. Whereas AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 is up 7% from its MSRP from April 17 and May 8. On the other hand, it is the first time since January that AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 dropped below 10% over MSRP.

Meanwhile, just a month ago, these same prices were 19% and 12% above their MSRPs, respectively.

The Nvidia RTX 3080 currently goes for a price range between $1,000 to $1,300. Despite being at such a long distance away from its $699 MSRP, the price is still down by almost 30% from its peak at $1,800.

Regardless, the question on everyone’s mind remains whether, perhaps, the falling GPU prices are in some way related to the current cryptocurrency market situation.

Presently, there’s almost no digital asset big or small that hasn’t been hit by the crypto market tsunami. While crypto continues to crash, GPUs are becoming increasingly affordable. So, one might wonder what is responsible for the continuous fall of GPU prices in recent times.

The founder and CEO of Aldrin, Hisham Khan, believes that the bull market in the crypto space benefited GPU makers such as Nvidia a lot. If the current market downturn and sell-off continue, together with a prolonged period of low activity in the crypto space, that would “definitely impact GPU makers.” He told Cointelegraph:

“If you're mining Bitcoin and other cryptos with an Nvidia graphics card, the amount of time that you would need to spend mining after committing capital to buy these GPUs would depend on the price of the crypto assets. If the price drops you would need to mine longer to breakeven, which might deter people from jumping into mining.”

Factors that cause GPU price hikes

GPU prices can go frenzy for several reasons, and some of them include high demands for new products, global chip shortage, supply chain issues, and increased demand that stems from the crypto boom.

Firstly, as happens with almost every upcoming product, there’s a promise of better features or performance over the predecessor resulting in an increased demand for the product and an unavoidable price increase.

For instance, while Nvidia and AMD are set to release their next-generation graphics cards, one can expect some sort of overpricing. That should also, in a way, lower the prices of cards that are already out on the shelves.

According to a report by Digital Trends, some believe that once both the Nvidia and AMD launch their new products, any other GPU that currently exists will undoubtedly dip in price or go even below their MSRPs.

Secondly, when chip shortages happen, producing graphics cards becomes even more cumbersome and then there’s a struggle to lay hands on the few GPUs in circulation. Just as expected, demand rises and prices inevitably shoot up as well.

Lastly, there’s a strong link between graphics cards and the cryptocurrency market, as GPUs can be used to solve the cryptographically intensive process of proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains like Bitcoin.

According to a Digital Trends report in 2021, around 25% of all graphics cards sold in the first quarter of the year went to crypto miners. That accounts for nearly 700,000 GPUs; as seen many times in the past when crypto is booming, GPU prices are mostly up and vice versa.

Recent: Enforcement and adoption: What do UK’s recent regulatory aims for crypto mean?

Bitcoin’s sorrow, gamers’ luck

Khan believes that whether gamers are into nonfungible tokens (NFTs) or crypto, “I would say that the branding and so far on what NFTs and the crypto community has done” for the gaming space has not been received very well. He said:

“There’s a common sentiment if you just look at the top streamers that play games that NFTs and crypto are extremely bad, everything is written off as just a scam. So, there is a necessity for good actors in the space to create a fun and sustainable game that would benefit from leveraging crypto and tokenization technology, not the other way around.”

The current fall in GPU prices may be attributed to the current cryptocurrency market situation. Crypto prices took a dive, and, in the same manner, graphics card prices are declining in price as some smaller miners reliant on ad-hoc operations with GPUs exit the market. 

However, some believe that graphics card prices have been falling consistently over some time. In fact, in February 2022, a report by Tech Times already suggests a price slash across the board on the GPU scene.

It should be noted that the crypto market crash did not exactly happen overnight either, as the market has been in a general downturn since the year started.

Although volatility and the crypto market go hand in hand, the past week has been one of the wildest ever in the crypto space. Ever since reaching all-time highs in November 2021, the two leading cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), have been on a downward spiral. And, once it got to the aforementioned top two, the bear market or the so-called crypto winter came for the whole ecosystem.

According to a Reuters report, however, the recent crash saw the cryptocurrency market lose about $800 billion in value within a month. And, though GPU prices and gamers live for this to happen, miners do not.

Recent: El Salvador’s Bitcoin play: What does the current slump mean for adoption?

Miners are usually rewarded 6.25 BTC for completing a block, according to Investopedia. This means that around last November, when Bitcoin’s price was around $55,000, the reward for completing a hash would have been around $344,000. But today, BTC trades at roughly $30,000, and the reward figure is expected to be around $188,000 for completing a hash.

Meanwhile, increasing electricity costs and a higher mining difficulty are cutting into the profit margins of cryptocurrency miners, which may be driving some to exit the market.

In addition to the current market conditions, there’s also the issue of Ethereum’s migration to a proof-of-stake (PoS) model. This form of consensus mechanism will rely not on miners solving cryptographic puzzles to verify transactions but on staked tokens to maintain the health of the network, entirely defeating the aim of mining and thus opening up a massive supply of GPUs to the regular gamer.

Recent research from the popular analyst and pioneer in the graphics industry Jon Peddie, who is also the head of Jon Peddie Research (JPR), has claimed that cryptocurrency miners usually make massive, bulk GPU purchases for their operations. So, now that crypto prices are on a downward trend, the graphics card market is set to be largely affected.

Meanwhile, it is quite important to understand that the crypto may eventually recover, and when the market does recover, chances are that GPU prices could go up again, especially considering the ties between GPU prices and the crypto market that have been established so far. 

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off 

Ideas vs. practice: How are regulators working together on crypto?

While the calls for globally coordinated regulation for cryptocurrencies is a noble effort, the practicality of the situation is far from ideal.

The regulation of cryptocurrencies across the world is a constant battle for investors in a rapidly expanding and constantly changing ecosystem. 

Various regulatory agencies around the world view digital assets in a different light that vary significantly from one another.

Recently, executive board member of the European Central Bank (ECB) Fabio Panetta mentioned in a written statement for a speech to Columbia University that regulators should follow a globally coordinated approach while regulating digital assets. He said that the world should have digital assets regulated by the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) rules of the Financial Action Task Force.

Panetta also spoke about strengthening public disclosure, reporting on regulatory compliance in the industry and setting up certain “transparency requirements” and “standards of conduct.” He stated:

“We need to make coordinated efforts at the global level to bring crypto-assets into the regulatory purview. And, we need to ensure that they are subject to standards in line with those applied to the financial system. We should make faster progress if we want to ensure that crypto-assets do not trigger a lawless frenzy of risk-taking.”

Practicality of global regulation in question

The ECB applying such rules across the European Union is one thing, and having the same rules apply to the all the countries in the world is a whole other due to the fact that ECB can behave as the regulatory entity in the EU. Still, there is no clear understanding of which regulatory body would have the authority to conduct such coordinated regulatory activities.

Even more recently, Ashley Alder, chair of the International Organization of Securities Commissions — an association of market regulators — spoke about this aspect in an online conference organized by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. He elaborated on the need for a joint body that will be tasked with coordinating the regulation of digital assets around the world and could even be a reality within this year.

On May 16, the Basel Institute of Governance and the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators published a paper that also called for further coordinated action against unlawful crypto markets. The paper suggested that investigators that are involved with cryptocurrencies should invest in learning approaches and technologies to keep up pace with the evolving techniques of criminal organizations and entities.

Cointelegraph spoke with Bianca Veleva, head of legal and regulatory compliance at Nexo — a crypto lending platform — about the advantages of a global regulatory approach. She said:

“The adoption of a unified legal framework and/or principles for crypto-related activities may prove beneficial in terms of accelerating the legislative efforts of countries which have not yet recognized the advantages that the crypto industry brings, following from the comprehensive framework that more forward-looking countries have already adopted and implemented.”

As the digital assets landscape expands and regulations begin to get clearer, a new paradigm could be underway wherein international regulatory consensus unifies. The mass adoption and increasing use-cases of digital assets and blockchain technology alike are bound to provide a solid foundation for the eventuality of a consensus among regulating bodies and nations.

However, there are many countries that have outright banned their citizens from indulging in cryptocurrencies and even their services. A prime example of that would be China, which announced an outright ban on digital assets in September last year. There are a total of nine countries that have banned cryptocurrencies, in addition to China: Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Nepal, Qatar and Tunisia have a blanket ban on crypto, according to a Law Library of Congress report from November 2021.

Recent: El Salvador’s Bitcoin play: What does the current slump mean for adoption?

This difference in the way various countries view digital assets could serve as the biggest obstacle to a globally coordinated regulatory framework. Igneus Terrenus, policy advocate at Bybit, told Cointelegraph that while a global regulatory system makes sense for tracking fund flows and reducing regulatory arbitrage, the reality is that there is no universal regulatory body capable of imposing it upon sovereign states. Realistically, it will have broader impacts on citizens and residents of countries that responded positively rather than countries that choose not to partake.

Terrenus added that “A blanket framework that fits the whole world does not seem to be attainable given the disparities between countries in even existing financial regulations. A feasible model would focus on easing the exchange of information between entities and jurisdictions, which tax authorities are already doing via the banking system, deploying zero-knowledge proof technology to prevent fraud and improving regulatory clarity and consistency.”

Another aspect to consider in the hypothetical eventuality of globally accepted regulations for cryptocurrencies is that a consensus between various countries at different stages of adoption could lead to innovation being stifled and a plateau in adoption rates. Veleva said:

“Any joint efforts of unifying the currently pending EU regime for crypto-assets with the United State’s legislative framework may be a double-edged sword. They may, in fact, impede the pace of innovation and crypto adoption at an EU level and lead to greater regulatory difficulties for crypto companies.”

Coordination like never before 

Despite the difficulties and challenges involved, some participants in the digital assets ecosystem remain positive about a move toward globally coordinated crypto regulation. 

Justin Choo, group head of compliance of Cabital — a cryptocurrency trading and passive income platform — told Cointelegraph that the current approach that countries have taken couldn’t be more varied when compared with traditional asset classes like equity, debentures and managed investment schemes that work with a regulated framework.

When compared to crypto-forward countries, Choo stated that “I would imagine that a globally coordinated regulatory system wouldn’t go as far ahead as what El Salvador and Argentina are doing simply because the governments of developed countries whose currencies are reserve currencies wouldn’t be ready to give up the economic prowess — which is often used to influence international diplomacy — that they already have in favor of cryptocurrencies.”

Global coordination on crypto regulation will require collaboration within the industry and from regulators across the world in a manner that is never seen before. Terrenus said:

“Paternalistic protections based on decades-old laws may not be the most helpful approach. Truly sensible, meaningful and impactful regulations should encourage transparency when it comes to the terms, ownership breakdown, vesting schedules and accurate representation of annual percentage yield of crypto projects. This would improve the overall information symmetry and reward investors who do their own research.”

Especially after the recent highly-publicized fiasco with the Terra blockchain and its stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST), regulators have begun to take a closer look at the feasibility and viability of stablecoins as well. The European Commission has also revealed its intentions of placing a blanket ban on large-scale stablecoins, considering the massive economic and investor impact that was triggered by the crash of UST and Terra (LUNA) in the Terra blockchain.

Recent: Enforcement and adoption: What do UK’s recent regulatory aims for crypto mean?

As the adoption of digital assets increases, moving from one adoption and innovation cycle to another, the evolving regulatory landscape will be the most vital part of the transition of digital assets penetrating the masses. A global regulatory framework seems like the ideal solution for the transition, but the obstacles set in the way of implementing such a framework will make the transition a long process and it is highly unlikely that it would happen within a year.

Andreessen Horowitz — a crypto-friendly venture capital firm — recently released its “2022 State of Crypto” report, highlighting that the growth of decentralized markets has gone to a total value locked of more than $100 billion just within two years after the concept was first introduced. The report estimates that decentralized finance (DeFi) would be the 31st largest U.S. bank by assets under management.

It is only natural that such a rapidly expanding industry will require regulators and central banks to innovate and evolve at the same pace. Even if a highly laborious globally-coordinated regulatory framework slightly stifles innovation, the protection of investors is always the prime concern for regulatory bodies across the globe.

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off 

Report: The Metaverse Might Contribute $320 Billion to Latam’s GDP in the Next 10 Years

Report: The Metaverse Might Contribute 0 Billion to Latam’s GDP in the Next 10 YearsA new report indicates that the metaverse might be a significant factor in the growth of economies in Latam and the world in the coming decade. The study, issued by Analysis Group, estimates that Latam might benefit from a surge of $320 billion or an approximate 5% of its GDP, in the next 10 years. […]

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off 

Exchanges show initial support to Terra revival by listing new LUNA token

HitBTC plans to list Terra's brand new token LUNA on May 27 as the suspended Terra Classic blockchain is expected to revive as Terra 2.0.

Crypto trading platforms show initial signs of support for the revival of the collapsed Terra network by listing Terra's brand new token, also named LUNA.

The HitBTC exchange took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce that Terra’s new chain token Luna will be available on its platform on May 27.

The news comes amid Terraform Labs preparing to relaunch its protocol on May 27 and replace the old chain referred to as Terra Classic with the new chain called just Terra, or Terra 2.0. The new chain will not be a fork as it will be created starting from the genesis block that will not share history with Terra Classic, Terraform Labs said on May 23.

The new Terra’s token will be named Luna, replacing the old token referred to as Luna Classic (LUNC).

As previously reported, Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon proposed to create a new Terra chain without Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) in mid-May, suggesting LUNA airdrops across LUNC stakers and holders, UST holders and Terra Classic app developers.

The proposal immediately received support from the community, with 91% of Terra validators voting in favor of the Terra “rebirth” as of May 18. At the time of writing, the community poll is still ongoing, with roughly 67% of voters supporting Terra's revival as Terra 2.0.

Terra network rebirth poll. Source: Terra Station

Terra’s revival comes after Terraform Labs halted the Terra blockchain on May 12, following a massive crash of both LUNA and UST, with the Luna token plummeting as low as 99%.

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $85K as Trump’s Crypto Reserve Order Sparks Sell-Off