The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has started ramping up its crackdown on the crypto industry and recent enforcement actions had a negative impact on crypto prices last week and at the start of this week. The SEC is focusing on stablecoin issuers. The most recent SEC stablecoin crackdown was on Feb. 13 through the issuance of a Wells Notice to Paxos Trust Company, the issuer of Binance USD (BUSD). While Paxos denies that BUSD is a security, which would place it outside the SEC’s jurisdiction, some lawyers say the answer is not so simple, which creates fear …

Stablecoins in the cryptocurrency market help provide USD pegged tokens within the volatile industry. In bull markets, the market capitalization of stablecoins tends to decrease as investors flock to more volatile assets and in bear markets, investors seek shelter in low volatility stablecoins thus increasing their market caps. On Jan. 26, the total market capitalization for stablecoins like Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD) and Dai (DAI) is over $131 billion. Stablecoins are so crucial to the future of crypto, that Moody’s, a well-respected analytics agency, is planning to develop a scoring system. The scoring system may help …

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym used by the creator(s) of Bitcoin, whose true identity remains unknown. The name was used to author the original Bitcoin (BTC) white paper in 2008 and to create and deploy the first Bitcoin software in 2009. Nakamoto’s true identity has never been revealed, and they have remained an enigma in the world of cryptocurrency. They are estimated to have mined around 1 million BTC in the early days of the network, which would make them one of the wealthiest people in the world. Some believe that Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym for an individual, while …

Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and the crypto market had a rough 2022 from a price perspective, but traders are hopeful that 2023 will include bullish developments that push crypto prices higher. Despite the market-wide downturn, a handful of altcoins continued to make a positive contribution to the crypto space and thanks to Ethereum, the term altcoin is no longer a derogatory term. Let’s explore the top altcoins that made a difference in 2022. Ethereum fundamentals shone in 2022 Ether’s price hit a yearly high at $3,835 on Jan. 2 and has struggled to regain footing amidst the bear market and …

Nikolai Mushegian, a co-founder of the cryptocurrency lending platform MakerDAO and the decentralized Dai (DAI) stablecoin, was found dead in Puerto Rico last week. Mushegian died due to drowning after being dragged by sea currents on the Condado beach in San Juan, the local newspaper El Nuevo Día reported. Mushegian had no vital signs by the time his body was rescued. The Condado beach is considered one of the world’s most dangerous places for swimmers, reportedly taking the lives of at least eight people in 2021. The unfortunate event was reported to local authorities on the morning on Oct. 28. …

Governance tokens are a type of cryptocurrency that allow tokenholders to vote on the direction of a blockchain project. The primary purpose of governance tokens is to decentralize decision-making and to give holders a say in how the project is run. Governance tokenholders are usually more invested in the project’s success as they stand to gain or lose more, depending on the outcome. Community members can use tokens to influence the direction and features of a blockchain protocol directly. As such, it is possible to implement changes related to the user interface, vote on fees and reward distribution, or even …

MakerDAO, the governing body of the Maker Protocol, has taken the first step of its plan to reallocate $500 million of its stablecoin Dai (DAI) collateral reserves into short-term United States Treasuries and corporate bonds. The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) voted on Oct. 6 to approve a pilot transaction of $1 million following an executive vote from Maker (MKR) token holders, with the rest of the funds soon to be reallocated following confirmation from the community. A majority, 80% of the $500 million, will be invested in short-term U.S. Treasuries, with $160 million allocated to the 0-1y US Treasury iShares …

Just a few days after market analysts predicted a 50% drop in NEXO price due to regulatory pressure and investor concerns, a crypto wallet address labeled as NEXO 0x8fd withdrew 7,758.8 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) — roughly worth $153M — from MakerDAO. On Sept. 26, regulators from eight U.S. states filed a cease-and-desist order against Nexo under the allegations of offering unregistered securities to investors without warning. Moreover, Kentucky regulators accused Nexo of insolvency owing to liabilities exceeding assets when excluding Nexo. Following suit, on Sept. 30, blockchain investigator Peckshield alerted the transfer of 7,758.8 WBTC from MakerDAO. One of the …

MakerDAO founder Rune Chirstensen has urged members of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to “seriously consider” preparing for the depeg of its DAI stablecoin from the United States dollar (USD). The founder’s comments came in light of the recently announced sanctions on crypto mixer Tornado Cash, noting to MakerDAO’s Discord channel on Aug. 11 that the sanctions are “unfortunately more serious than I first thought,” adding that they should prepare to depeg its native stablecoin DAI from the USD to avoid any risk’s relating to Circle’s recent freezing of sanctioned USD Coin (USDC) addresses. “I think we should seriously consider …

Argentina, a country with one of the highest crypto adoption rates in the world, saw the price of United States dollar-pegged stablecoins surge across exchanges on Saturday after the abrupt resignation of its Economy Minister, Martin Guzman. The minister’s shock exit, confirmed on his Twitter account on Sunday via a seven-page letter, threatens to further destabilize a struggling economy battling high inflation and a depreciating national currency. According to data from Criptoya, the cost of buying Tether (USDT) using Argentinian pesos (ARS) is currently 271.4 ARS through the Binance exchange, which is around a 12% premium from before the resignation …

In a major win for decentralization, members of MakerDAO, the lending protocol behind the Dai (DAI) stablecoin, have rejected a series of proposals that would have seen the protocol’s governance structure become more centralized. On Monday, the members of MakerDAO showed up to consider three proposals that would have reorganized the leadership of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) into something that more closely resembles a traditional corporation, complete with a board of directors. The proposals were drafted as potential solutions for making the DAO more efficient and more capable of executing “high-level decisions.” Author of one of the proposals and …

MakerDAO is currently voting on a proposal aimed at helping it weather the bear market and utilize untapped reserves by investing 500 million Dai (DAI) stablecoins into a combination of United States treasuries and bonds. Following a straw poll in a governance Signal Request, the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) members now must decide whether the dormant DAI should go entirely into short-term treasuries or split 80% into treasuries and 20% into corporate bonds. The Maker Governance votes to determine how to allocate 500 million DAI between different investment strategies. This allocation poll is a result of the passage of MIP65: …