• US: Visa is under scrutiny by the DOJ given its methods of charging merchants for technology it uses to protect cardholder information. Specifically, Visa, as it currently stands, charges cardholders more if they fail to use Visa’s exclusive technology; this, in turn, raises serious regulatory concerns as the DOJ seeks to address. 

• ARGENTINA: Pro Bitcoin presidential candidate Javier Milei comes first in Argentina’s primary election. Javier Milei even pledged insofar as closing the nation’s central bank!

• EL SALVADOR: On August 8th, Binance became the second fully licensed crypto exchange in the country following Bitfinex. Binance received two licenses to operate in El Salvador as it seeks to build its legitimacy worldwide; The Central Bank of El Salvador (Banco Central de Reserva) granted Binance a Bitcoin Services Provider (BSP) license, while the Salvadoran National Commission of Digital Assets issued a non-provisional Digital Assets Services Provider license (DASP). Formerly, El Salvador granted Bitfinex the country’s first license for digital asset service providers on April 11th. See El Salvador Grants First Digital Asset License to BitfinexCoinDeskhttps://www.coindesk.com › policy › 2023/04/11 › el-sal…; Binance Receives License to Offer Bitcoin, Digital Asset …https://www.coindesk.com › business › 2023/08/08 › bin.

• UK: On October 1st, and under the reasoning that it needs time to adapt to new regulations, PayPal will temporarily pause the ability for UK customers to buy crypto on its platform. In the US, however, verified PayPal users will be able to buy crypto in this manner.
  • More on PayPal: PayPal has unleashed its own stablecoin—PayPal USD—fully backed by US dollar deposits, US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents. It is issued by Paxos Trust Company and designed for payments. PYUSD is an ERC-20 tokenized digital dollar, which can move instantaneously, anywhere in the world, at any time, and it’s programmable yet stable.

• SEC:
  • In typical SEC fashion, it appears that the SEC is currently trying to delay the set of deadlines for Bitcoin ETF approval into early 2024 . . . According to CNBC, Clayton said he “needs to see key upgrades in cryptocurrency markets before approving a bitcoin ETF.” Specifically, the SEC chair “wants to see better market surveillance and custody for cryptocurrencies before being ‘comfortable’ with a bitcoin ETF,” the news outlet added. A week before, CEO and CIO of ARK Invest Cathie Wood stated the SEC may approve multiple spot ETFs at the same time supposedly in the next 4-6 months. The distinction between a spot ETF and a futures ETF is that spot ETFs actually purchase and hold the underlying assets. See https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/17/bitcoin-spot-etf-crypto-demand/. For more on bitcoin ETFs see https://www.investopedia.com/investing/bitcoin-etfs-explained/.

• PLATFORMS: 
  • RIPPLE: See https://oncourtwithsteph.com/2023/08/10/reflecting-on-the-ripple-wave-of-litigation/.
  • COINBASE: 
    • Launches the Base network built in Layer 2 (L2) on top of the Ethereum layer, committed to processing transactions off of the Ethereum mainnet (Layer 1), which results in a number of benefits to developers and customers, including: Improved scalability and efficiency; Increased transaction speeds; Reduced gas fees; and Consistent security measures and decentralization as the mainnet (Layer 1). 
    • Secures NFA approval to offer crypto futures; making it the first in the U.S. to do so.

• COINS:
  • BITCOIN: Hits its low over the last 2: < $26K. 
  • WORLDCOIN: Worldcoin is an iris biometric cryptocurrency project founded by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman–who is also the founder of ChatGPT. As per its website, supposedly, “Worldcoin aims to establish universal access to the global economy regardless of country or background. It is designed to become the world’s largest human identity and financial network, giving ownership to everyone. All with the intention of welcoming every person on the planet and establishing a place for all of us to benefit in the age of AI.” Generally speaking, however, when something is free there are usually catches . . . including that we are the guinea pigs (which is the case here). Importantly, the process behind Worldcoin starts with a device called the Orb, which scans the iris of an individual. Worldcoin will have a maximum supply of 10 billion tokens, which is designed to correspond to the estimated global population; 2 billion tokens will go to creators and 8 billion tokens will go to Orb operators and users, which will decrease overtime. Serious ethical issues and privacy concerns are inherent in Worldcoin given that it relies on personal iris scans, which, if breached, can cause life-long tracking of one’s entire being. In fact, the Orb was originally going to be backed by Bitcoin, until they realized that Bitcoin cannot be controlled. Thus, the Orb is now backed by Worldcoin.

Please Note: The above information is not financial advice nor is it investment advice.