Author: Steven Sahiounie

A tweet suggesting the city will make crypto fully legal for all citizens is a misreading of the legislation. Hong Kong is warming up to crypto, and a licensing regime for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) – the local term for crypto exchanges – kicks in on June 1. Does this mean crypto is going “fully legal” in the city for everyone, as a tweet suggests? Not at all. While the situation may change later, for the time being the VASP framework for licensing exchanges, which just finished a multiyear consultation, allows them to provide access only to accredited professional investors. Retail investors…

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has failed to maintain its upward momentum and has fallen below $24,000 in the last 24 hours, dropping from its peak of $25,100 due to a significant reversal in the cryptocurrency market. Following Bitcoin’s lead, Ethereum has also seen a gradual decline in the past 24 hours. As the cryptocurrency market continues to experience volatility, all eyes are on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes scheduled to be released today. The outcome of this event is expected to have a significant impact on the market, particularly on Bitcoin and Ethereum prices. Cryptocurrency Market Analysis: A…

Jump Crypto, the Chicago-based crypto arm of Jump Trading that helped develop DeFi project Wormhole, has managed to counter-exploit the Wormhole protocol hacker and retrieve $140 million worth of tokens. According to a recent blog post, a coordinated effort between Jump Crypto and Oasis, which develops multi-signature wallet software, led to the recovery of certain assets involved with the wallet address associated with the Wormhole exploiter. While Oasis said a Whitehat group helped the project in the endeavor, blockchain data suggests Jump Crypto might be the other party as the ownership of the wallets involved in the counter-exploit has been traced back…

A number of major exchanges reportedly still transact with cards issued by sanctioned Russian lenders Seychelles-based crypto exchanges Huobi and KuCoin have so far failed to take steps to block Russian banks from their platforms despite sanctions, Politico reported on Saturday, citing blockchain analytics firm Inca. According to the report, both still allow traders to transact with cards issued by sanctioned Russian banks on their peer-to-peer platforms, including the country’s largest lender Sber Bank. According to Inca CEO Adam Zarazinski, allowing crypto buyers trade with each other using accounts at sanctioned banks is a “direct violation of US and European…

Iraq’s central bank announced this week that the country’s trade with China may soon be settled directly in yuan, according to Reuters. The report says the move is an attempt to improve access to foreign currency. The regulator has been taking urgent steps to compensate for a dollar shortage in local markets, which prompted the cabinet to approve a currency revaluation earlier this month, the news agency said. “It is for the first time that imports would be financed from China in yuan, as Iraqi imports from China have been financed in (US) dollars only,” the government’s economic adviser, Mudhir Salih, told…

Berlin reportedly bought nearly 30% of its coal imports from the sanctioned country last year Russia retained its position as Germany’s largest coal supplier last year despite sanctions that banned imports of the fossil fuel from the country in mid-2022, Bild newspaper reported on Saturday, citing data from the German Coal Importers Association (VDKi). According to the report, Germany bought a total of 44.4 million tons of coal in 2022 – an 8% increase from the year before. While imports of the fossil fuel from Russia plunged by 37% compared to the 2021 figures, the country still delivered roughly 13…

Tokyo is planning to impose new sanctions on Russia, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced during a virtual G7 summit on Friday. The new package of restrictions will focus on trade, expanding the list of Russian organizations to which exports will be prohibited, according to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It will also increase the range of products banned for export to Russia and is expected to include drone parts. Tokyo also plans to freeze the assets of more Russian individuals, organizations and financial institutions. No further details on the new measures or the date on which they will…

Consumer prices in the US rose by 0.6% month-on-month in January following a 0.2% increase in December, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Friday. On an annual basis, prices increased by 5.4%, up from a 5.3% increase in December. Meanwhile, the personal consumption expenditures price index – the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure – rose by 5.4% compared to a year earlier. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 4.7% year-on-year. January’s price readings exceeded forecasters’ expectations, slashing hopes that the Fed may choose to stop its rate-hike campaign. Since last March,…

Nvidia stock rose more than 8% in extended trading on Wednesday after the company reported slightly higher revenue and net income than Wall Street expected, despite a year-over-year decrease in both categories. Here’s how the chipmaker did versus Refinitiv consensus expectations for the quarter ending January: Nvidia reported $0.57 in GAAP net income per share. Nvidia forecast $6.5 billion in sales in its first quarter, higher than the $6.33 billion expected by Wall Street. Although both revenue and earnings were down from last year’s $1.32 per share and $7.64 billion in sales, Nvidia has increasingly been seen by investors as one of the…

Reaching maximum employment will help close the racial wealth gap, according to AFL-CIO chief economist and Howard University economics professor William Spriggs. In an interview with CNBC, Spriggs said the impact of discrimination against Black employees is less acute when the labor market operates at full employment. “When we have a really poor labor market, white high school dropouts do better than Black people with associate degrees,” Spriggs explained. “When the labor market tightens,” on the other hand, “Blacks with associate degrees do better than white high school dropouts.” While Black Americans do withdraw from the labor market when the…