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Paxful Users’ Data Is Safe, Affirms CEO Youssef

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The users of the prominent cryptocurrency exchange, Paxful was recently subject to extreme angst as rumors pertaining to a data breach on the platform surfaced. However, the CEO of the exchange asserted that the platform was safe and had experienced no such thing.

The emergence of digitalization with regard to the financial sphere is promising, however, quite often platforms associated with this fall prey to hacks and attacks. While the crypto industry has witnessed an array of hacks, an online market, Raid Forums solely for the purpose of selling and buying of stolen data has been established. A user of the Raid Forum reportedly claimed to have personal data of over 4.8 million Paxful users. This included names, email addresses, gender, phone number, birth dates as well as passwords.

Recently, social media giant, Facebook had also experienced a data breach. However, in this case, the seller, who used the name, Mafufi demanded 1 Bitcoin [BTC] which was about $60K, during the time of writing.

The news about the exchange being hacked gave rise to another conversation that emphasized the emergence of these hacks despite Know Your Customer [KYC] and Anti-Money Laundering [AML] procedures. Addressing the same, the CEO of Paxful, Ray Youssef said,

“Neither does Paxful. Any KYC data is never on our servers. We don’t take asking for people’s identities lightly. Good news soon”

Paxful CEO: “Ignore the FUD”

While this caused unrest in the crypto community, the CEO of the platform, Ray Youssef restored hope by affirming that no user data was leaked. His tweet read,

“All funds and Identities are Safe @paxful No user data was leaked, no breach was ever made of our users! Ignore the FUD! long live #bitcoin The data they had was old employee records from a payroll site we no longer use. #badguysdontwin”

Furthermore, the users of the exchange were put at ease post this tweet.

Robinhood Amasses Significant Gains Through Crypto In Q1

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Robinhood had been swimming in troubled waters just as the year began. The trading application decided to leave out its users from garnering profits during the volatile stage of the crypto market. Despite revealing that the platform did so keeping in mind the potential losses its users could endure, it went on to receive a lot of backlashes. Nevertheless, the platform announced it was out and about by launching deposit and withdrawal services for crypto.

The prominent trading platform decided to start supporting crypto services back in February 2021 and the firm seems to have garnered notable gains in the Q1 of 2021. In a recent blog post, the trading application gave its users a peek into the profits it made over the last couple of months.

Robinhood Records A Six-Fold Surge In The First Quarter Of 2021

In a recent blog post titled, “How Crypto Fits Into Robinhood’s Mission” the trading platform revealed that it decided to roll out support for crypto addressing the growing demand for the market. The price of Bitcoin [BTC] and several other coins went on to witness significant growth which further lured in an array of investors across the globe. Robinhood’s plunge into the crypto-verse seemed to be timely as it went on to make it big.

The platform reportedly noted over 9.5 million users employing the crypto services provided by Robinhood. This was a great number for the asset as it recorded about 1.7 million users in Q4 of 2020.

While Robinhood currently supports only seven assets including, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash [BCH], Bitcoin SV [BSV], Dogecoin [DOGE], Ethereum [ETH], Ethereum Classic [ETC], and Litecoin [LTC], the post went on to address the platform’s interest in crypto. Elaborating on the vision of its founder, Vladimir Tenev and Bajju Bhatt, the post read,

“The prospect of an open and decentralized global financial system, one where everyone can have access to financial services, strongly aligned with Robinhood’s mission–so democratizing cryptocurrency trading felt like a natural next step.”

Crypto Is Backed By Underlying Networks, Suggests Former OCC Head

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Just as the crypto industry started gaining traction, officials from across the globe seem to have been looking into these digital assets, particularly Bitcoin [BTC]. The rise in the price of Bitcoin led to an array of speculations of the king coin soon replacing the dollar. However, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States, Jerome Powell, recently addressed this and suggested that Bitcoin could be a substitute for gold as opposed to the dollar as cryptocurrencies aren’t “backed by anything.”

More recently, appearing in a recent Squawk Box interview by CNBC, the United States’ former comptroller of the currency, Brian Brooks suggested otherwise. He stressed how crypto, specifically Bitcoin had backing whereas the US Dollar did not.

Crypto Over The Dollar

Bitcoin has been time and again been touted as digital gold considering the characteristics that both BTC as well as gold hoard. Store of value is a widely familiar aspect. However, Powell in his recent statements delivered a rather dubious assertion. Speaking about the same, the host of Squawk Box, Kernen said, “He just said it’s like gold but not a store of value. Does he not think that gold is a store of value?”

The Bitcoin market witnessed the arrival of several newbies throughout the last couple of months. The rise in its price lured an array of people into the market. Brooks elaborating on the same suggested that the dollar was about 40% less of a good store of value asset than it was over a year ago. This could have been a reason why people flocked into the crypto market, he added.

Additionally, Brooks said,

“The point I really wanna make is the dollar may not actually be backed by anything […] But cryptocurrencies actually are backed by something. They’re backed by underlying networks, and what you’re buying when you buy a crypto token — whatever it is Bitcoin or anything else — you’re buying a piece of a financial network built to transact all kinds of stuff.”

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Russia To Soon Tax Profits Acquired By Trading Crypto

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The surge in the value of cryptocurrencies has alarmed a few countries like India. But countries like Russia seem to be steering towards the industry by regulating digital assets. The country has been portraying itself as a crypto-friendly country for quite a while now. With an array of investors diving into the business, the government intends to tax the benefits acquired from trading crypto.

The Russian State Duma recently revealed that a bill pertaining to the taxation of crypto was approved.

Russia Now Recognizes Crypto As Property

The draft bill issued by the Russian Federation to tax cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], and the others received a thumbs up from the Committee on State Building and Legislation of Duma. The bill which was approved on 15 February 2021 helped crypto assets in being perceived as property in the country. This would mean that all the profits garnered by the citizens of Russia from trading crypto would be taxed.

With the crypto industry currently valued at a high of $1.54 trillion, several have started trading different cryptocurrencies. However, Russians would have to deal with taxes only if their yearly transactions exceed $8,100 or 600,000 rubles.

The announcement further read,

“The authors of the bill point out that cryptocurrency is often used for tax evasion, money laundering and financing illegal activities. And now the tax authorities do not have information about cryptocurrency wallets opened by Russian legal entities and citizens of the Russian Federation and the operations carried out on them.”

Furthermore, pointing out the repercussions of avoiding these taxes or providing false information pertaining to their crypto transactions, the bill announced a 40% fine on the former and a 10% fine on the latter.

While this seems to be taking off, the central bank digital currency [CBDC] aka the digital ruble of the country could be gaining momentum. Prominent wireless service platforms of the country, MegaFon as well as Beeline are reportedly considering including the digital ruble wallets on to the phones of the citizens of the country.

MasterCard To Elevate Its Network By Announcing Support For Crypto

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Over the last decade, Bitcoin emerged as a prominent asset in the financial world. This notable journey of the asset has lured MasterCard and an array of mainstream companies into its industry. Earlier, accounts that were associated with crypto were outrightly banned. But now, however, banking giants were seen incorporating crypto into their system. After PayPal, MasterCard seems to be spearheading the move towards crypto.

MasterCard To Take A Plunge Into Crypto In 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic limited human contact and made the world realize the importance of digitalization. MasterCard seems to be getting on to the digitalization train with its latest venture. In a recent blog post, MasterCard revealed that it intends to aid cryptocurrencies this year. With the growing demand for crypto, the network doesn’t want to deprive its users of the digital asset world.

While the assets that MasterCard would potentially support is still under the wraps, the network wants to lay its focus on stablecoins. If this plan takes off, the network could spruce up crypto adoption as the network hoards a whopping 30 million merchants. The post further read,

“We are here to enable customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value — traditional or crypto — however they want. It should be your choice, it’s your money.”

With its latest move, MasterCard hopes to uphold four things, the privacy as well as security of its users and their information, KYC and other regulatory requirements, stability along with compliance with the local laws.

MasterCard’s association with the crypto-verse goes way back. The network even went on to join hands with prominent crypto platforms like Wirex as well as BitPay, last year to formulate crypto cards. Apart from this, the network is reportedly aiding central banks across the globe in the development of CBDCs.

Furthermore, the network made it clear that it wasn’t recommending its customers to start using cryptocurrencies. However, it promises to help its users, merchants as well as businesses to drive digital value.

While Visa is still discussing the potentials of incorporating crypto into its system, PayPal has even aggravated the bulls in the crypto market.

The overall market cap of the crypto industry had hit a high of $1.40 trillion, MasterCard’s latest move is speculated to help the industry achieve $2 trillion.

CBDCs Entail The Potential Of Becoming A ‘Gigantic Flop’

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Central bank digital currencies aka CBDCs have garnered increased interest from governments across the world. China has been spearheading this evolution in the global financial scene. As the country has already begun distributing the digital yuan among its citizens, other countries have just started their research on these digital assets. Amidst this steer towards digitalization, two economists suggest that CBDCs could fail to meet the expectations it has set.

CBDCs Lack “Obvious Justification” Suggest European Economists

In a recent research paper released by European Economists, Peter Bofinger and Thomas Hass point out a different narrative to the whole CBDC game. While the globe is prepping for an elevated payments method with the launch of CBDCs, the aforementioned economists fail to differentiate the prospects of these national digital currencies from what the private banks are already rendering. Though the European Central Bank [ECB] has been enhancing its effort towards the digital euro, Bofinger and Hass suggest that the ECB should steer in a different direction.

The paper read,

“If CBDCs are designed as new payment objects that are used within existing payment systems, the user perspective implies that CBDCs must compete with existing payment objects (above all cash and traditional bank deposits). If CBDCs constitute new payment systems, their acceptance by private users must be analysed within the context of the existing payments ecosystem. For the reputation and credibility of central banks, it is important that any CBDC solution is attractive enough for potential users to adopt it.”

The economists mostly stressed the objectives that CBDCs pursue. They suggested that these national digital assets would probably succeed if they took a road that private providers do not take. However, they were adamant about central bank currencies being a great store of value as opposed to facilitating payments. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency has been tussling with a similar narrative.

While countries have been putting all their resources to deliver a good central bank currency, the economists pointed out that they should entail multicurrency operability while being open to payment objects that are not specific to a single system. Paypal has time and again rendered unbeatable services to the people, competing with an already established system like that for global payments could be a task. If the central banks fail to address all of this, central bank currencies could be a “gigantic flop” the economists suggested.

Visa Is The Latest Platform To Steer Towards The Crypto Industry

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After Paypal, Visa seems to be jumping onto the crypto bandwagon.

It took a lot for the crypto industry to shun off its association with the dark net. With the value of the overall industry surging to a high of a trillion dollars, several mainstream companies have been getting into the crypto-verse. Paypal recently won the hearts of several crypto lovers by adding support to an array of digital assets. While that further insinuated a crypto rally, Visa’s CEO recently revealed that Visa could be following the trail of Paypal and adding support for certain assets.

The CEO of Visa, Alfred Kelly recently addressed the fiscal Q1 2021 earnings call of Visa. In the same, Kelly spoke about the crypto industry. He went on to reveal that cryptocurrencies were going to make a debut on the payments platform.

While Visa has already been supporting an array of crypto platforms, Kelly suggested that the payments giant hopes to make cryptocurrencies safer to use. He added,

“In this space, we see ways that we can add differentiated value to the ecosystem. And we believe that we are uniquely positioned to help make cryptocurrencies more safe, useful and applicable for payments through our global presence, our partnership approach and our trusted brand.”

Previously, the payments platform had partnered with Facebook for its crypto venture, Libra [now renamed as Diem]. However, Visa backed out as the regulatory pressure around the project prevailed. Kelly further pointed out that digital assets would have a strong presence in global financial scene. “We think of digital currencies running on public blockchains as additional networks just like RTP or ACH networks, so we see them as part of our network of networks strategy,” Kelly suggested.

Furthermore, Kelly affirmed that cryptocurrencies would eventually make it to the Visa network as it already supports over 160 fiat currencies. He said,

“It goes without saying, to the extent a specific digital currency becomes a recognized means of exchange, there’s no reason why we cannot add it to our network, which already supports over 160 currencies today.”

Philippines Is All Set To Tackle Money Laundering By Licensing Crypto Platforms

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The Philippines seems to be steering towards the world of crypto as its value has been skyrocketing. The country revealed that it was going to toughen its laws to hinder potential money laundering violations.

The crypto industry was rolled out as an entity that had nothing to do with the centralized systems or governments. However, the value, popularity, and increase in perpetrators in the industry caused the government to intervene. While governments across the globe have been stepping up their games and making regulations compliant with the crypto industry, the Philippines just jumped onto the bandwagon.

Philippines’ Central Bank To Take Things Into Its Hand

A local news portal revealed that the Southeast Asian country was looking to impose stricter rules with regard to the crypto wing of the region. Just like all the other countries across the globe have been working towards the licensing of crypto firms, the Philippines has now mandated its crypto platforms to register with the central bank of the country.

The central bank of the country, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas [BSP] recently pointed out that any platform that carried out services that include cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in the country had to acquire a license. The Governor of BSP, Benjamin Diokno went on to point out how the country has worked towards stimulating the growth of digitalization. He said,

“We have seen accelerated growth in the use virtual currency exchanges in the past three years, and it is high time that we broaden the scope of existing regulations in recognition of the evolving nature of this financial innovation and set out commensurate risk management expectations.”

Crypto platforms operating in the Philippines would be able to continue transfer as well as “safekeeping” along with the administration of digital assets without any hassles. These platforms would further be mandated to live up to regulatory expectations that tackle money laundering and financing of terrorism.

Janet Yellen Lands The Treasury Secretary Position; Will Bitcoin Stumble?

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Janet Yellen has made women across the globe proud by securing a position as the Treasury Secretary. The USA had its many firsts this year, from Kamala Harris taking over as the first female Asian American vice president to Yellen being appointed as the first female Treasury Secretary. Just as America was celebrating its win, the crypto-verse was reminded of Yellen’s notion towards Bitcoin and other assets. Therefore this didn’t seem to be a favorable choice for the cryptocurrency industry. –

Janet Yellen’s Dynamic Perception On BTC

Nominated by Joe Biden, Janet secured the role of the secretary for the Treasury Department with a vote of 84 to 15. Yellen garnered the support of an array of people including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. While Yellen was overseen by the former President, Donald Trump, she had spearheaded the Federal Reserve for about four years from 2014 to 2018.

Yellen has been giving out contradicting statements on cryptocurrencies. While she started off by suggesting that she wasn’t a big fan of Bitcoin and even proposed that the king coin should be curtailed. However, her thoughts on this seemed to have changed in her written testimony. She wrote,

“I think it important we consider the benefits of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, and the potential they have to improve the efficiency of the financial system.”

While she had previously suggested that cryptocurrencies should be curtailed, she clarified that these assets had to be encouraged “their use for legitimate activities while curtailing their use for malign and illegal activities.”

However, Janet Yellen pointed out that she would join hands with other agencies to roll out innovations pertaining to the fintech industyr. She said,

“[..] to work closely with the Federal Reserve Board and the other federal banking and securities regulators on how to implement an effective regulatory framework for these and other fintech innovations.”

OCC Most Likely To Be Spearheaded By Former Ripple Advisor

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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency aka OCC had been in and out of the headlines following the appointment and resignation of Brian Brooks, the outgoing head of the OCC. While Brooks was elected as the interim head of the OCC, reports suggest that Joe Biden who recently swore in as the President of the USA has another person who has had connections with the crypto-verse in mind.

OCC To Onboard Michael Barr

Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Michael Barr was in Biden’s list to take over as the Comptroller of the Currency. The report suggested that Barr had an array of experience in various fields. While the potential head of OCC currently works at the University of Michigan as the dean of public policy, he had previously served Obama as the assistant treasury secretary for financial institutions. He was best known for aiding the process of crafting the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

Similar to Brooks, Barr also has an affiliation with the crypto industry. Barr was reportedly part of the Advisory Board of Ripple Labs. Barr’s previous association with the crypto industry could aid the adoption and growth of the crypto industry.

Elected by the former President of the USA, Donald Trump, Brian Brooks, had time and again urged the US government to be more accepting of the cryptocurrency industry. Brooks’ association with the crypto-verse dates back to when he was serving as the Chief Legal Officer of the prominent cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase. Brooks even got into trouble with the members of the Congress for being too inclined towards the crypto market.

The value of the cryptocurrency industry is higher than ever. The over all market cap of the crypto industry recently surged past $1 trillion. With the crypto markets prevailing, the adoption of these assets have been on a surge.