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04/11/2022

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States, has stopped payment services via United Payments Interface (UPI) for Indian users on its platform. This comes just three days after its launch in the South Asian subcontinent.

The governing body of UPI, the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), had said in a statement released on April 7 that it did not recognize the legal standing of any cryptocurrency exchanges using the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) United Payments Interface.

The hasty clamp down on Coinbase by the NPCI could relate to the following comment: “With reference to some media reports around the purchase of Cryptocurrencies using UPI, National Payments Corporation of India would like to clarify that we are not aware of any crypto exchange using UPI.”

The financial news outlet, Business Standard, reported on April 11 that Coinbase stated it would work towards remedying the situation with appropriate regulators in India, and said that it was “committed to working with NPCI and other relevant authorities to ensure that we are aligned with local expectations and industry norms.”

Coinbase users in India do not seem fazed by the sudden suspension of service. The co-founder of the YouTube channel, Crypto India, Aditya Singh, tweeted on April 11 that this suspension of an exchange’s payment service in India is nothing new, and mentioned in the tweet that “Indian exchanges have also been facing payment service problems since 2018.”

Due to the Indian government’s struggles to adopt a suitable cryptocurrency regulatory framework, cryptocurrency traders are likely accustomed to instability in trading service accessibility.

04/04/2022

Today, crypto platform Gemini released its 2022 Global State of Crypto report, finding that 2021 was a transformative year for crypto, with nearly half of all current crypto owners in the United States (44%), Latin America (46%), and Asia Pacific (45%) first buying crypto in 2021. The report also surfaced that concerns around inflation were a primary driver of adoption, the crypto gender gap may be narrowing in the coming year, and that globally education remains the greatest barrier to investing in crypto.

Additionally, developing countries Brazil and Indonesia led the way in crypto adoption with more than two in five (41%) respondents in each country reporting owning crypto, compared to just 17% across developed countries and regions including the U.S. (20%), Europe (17%), and Australia (18%). Venture capital (VC) investment also appeared to drive adoption, with high rates of adoption in Singapore (30%) and Israel (28%), which also saw the highest per capita venture capital funding globally in 2021.

Other key findings include:

2021 Was Crypto’s Breakout Year: Forty-one percent of crypto owners surveyed globally purchased crypto for the first time in 2021. More than half of crypto owners in Brazil (51%), Hong Kong (51%), and India (54%) got started in 2021. Globally, 41% of respondents said they are crypto-curious. The crypto-curious are defined as consumers who do not currently own crypto, but are either interested in learning more or say they are likely to acquire cryptocurrency in the next year.
The Crypto Gender Gap May Be Narrowing: Among the crypto curious who plan to purchase crypto for the first time in the next year, 47% were women globally. Among crypto owners, women in developing nations led the way with women representing at least half of crypto owners in Israel (51%), Indonesia (51%), and Nigeria (50%). Conversely, in developed countries and regions only a third (33%) of current crypto owners are women, including in the United States (32%), Europe (33%), and Australia (27%).
Inflation a Primary Driver for Crypto Adoption: Respondents in countries that have experienced 50% or more devaluation of their currency against the USD over the last 10 years were more than 5 times as likely to say they plan to purchase crypto in the coming year**, including South Africa (32%), Mexico (32%), India (40%), and Brazil (45%). In Brazil, where the local currency has been devalued by more than 200% against the USD, 41% of respondents own crypto. In the U.S., two in five (40%) crypto owners see crypto as a hedge against inflation.
Crypto Regulation A Top Concern Globally: Regulation is a concern globally. Among non-owners, 39% in Asia Pacific, 37% in Latin America, and 36% in Europe say there is legal uncertainty around cryptocurrency. In addition, for 30% of respondents in the Middle East, 24% in Asia Pacific, and 23% in Latin America, the tax complexities of owning cryptocurrency have kept them from investing in crypto.
Education is the Greatest Barrier to Ownership: Globally, respondents were nearly twice as likely to say that more educational resources on cryptocurrency would help them get started with crypto (40%), compared to recommendations from friends (22%). More than half of respondents in Latin America (51%) and Africa (56%) said that educational resources would make them more comfortable purchasing cryptocurrency. Forty-four percent in Asia Pacific and 42% of those in the United States said the same.

03/28/2022

For more than a year now, cryptocurrencies that rely on a proof of work (PoW) consensus model to validate transactions have been blasted by media outlets for their negative impact on the environment. That’s because crypto mining operations use a lot of electricity to run the heavy-duty servers and cooling units necessary to solve the complex codes fast and first to confirm blockchain transactions, thereby earning crypto as reward for their efforts and investment.

Many climate change watchers assert that all that energy production and use from cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Ethererum creates a carbon foot that’s stepping on the environment and crypto’s reputation.

However, a Bloomberg article on Thursday reported that U.S.-based energy company ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) has been running a pilot project since January 2021 using excess natural gas it produces — and can’t ship — as a source to generate electricity for Bitcoin miners. The article further states that ExxonMobil has signed a deal with Crusoe Energy to use the extra natural gas from oil wells in North Dakota to power crypto PoW ops. This beta test crypto project uses 18 million cubic feet of natural gas per month. That amounts to less than half a percent of Exxon’s daily production volume in that state.

From ExxonMobil’s perspective, transporting natural gas requires enough pipelines to safely accommodate the total amount of the supply they capture. The problem is, there aren’t enough transport pipelines and this shortage forces energy producers to burn off — or “flare” — the excess gas or vent it directly into the air. That waste hurts both the environment and the producer’s profits.

From the perspective of the crypto miners, the electricity generated from natural gas produces about half the greenhouse gas emissions that it takes to produce the same amount of electric power using coal.

Gas and oil companies are increasingly under pressure from investors, regulators, and eco-friendly advocates to shrink their carbon footprint to lower negative climate effects. Reducing flared gas waste is a step in that direction. While the fuel is still burned as part of this crypto project, it replaces the usual fuel that the crypto-mining operation would have used otherwise.

According to the report, this project could be expanded to Alaska, as well as outside the U.S. in Germany, Guyana, Argentina, and Nigeria.

03/28/2022

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(BTC) begins the last week of March with a bang after returning to its yearly opening price above $46,000.

In a surprisingly strong upward move for a weekend, BTC/USD began surging upwards Saturday, continuing overnight to challenge its highs from the start of 2022.

BTC/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp) with RSI data. Source: TradingView
Bitcoin futures open interest chart. Source: Coinglass
Bitcoin long- and short-term holder realized cap chart. Source: Glassnode/ Twitter (NYSE:TWTR)
Bitcoin difficulty 7-day average chart. Source: Blockchain
Crypto Fear & Greed Index (screenshot). Source: Alternative.me

03/28/2022

Per the request of the United States Congress, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), laid out four policy options to help policymakers implement blockchain technologies while enhancing benefits and mitigating challenges.

The technology assessment shared by the GAO acknowledged the potential of blockchain technology in improving a variety of financial and non-financial applications despite raising concerns about introducing new challenges while trying to resolve issues related to traditional systems:

Flowchart for determining whether blockchain may be useful. Source: GAO
Examples of potential blockchain technology use cases. Source: GAO

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