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Should the Bank of Canada Issue a Central Bank Digital Currency?April 9 – John D. Murray, a former deputy governor for the Bank of Canada, said in a C.D. Howe Institute commentary on April 9 that “policymaking circles and central banks around the world are now giving serious consideration to the pros and cons of making central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) available to the general public”. Murray noted that digital tokens that are issued by central banks could potentially serve as legal tender, and could operate similarly to how debit cards work with bank accounts. “While the consensus view remains that such a move would be premature, opinion appears to be shifting. Indeed, developments in a number of advanced and emerging economies indicate that the CBDC model is receiving more serious consideration than it has in the past.” However, Murray believes that central banks should be aware that the demise of cash could be interpreted by the public as a threat to privacy, as “it could give the government access to vast amounts of personal data and increase the likelihood of slipping into a Big Brother world. The risk of political interference might also be much greater.” Read the full press release here. |
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China Plans to Ban Cryptocurrency Mining, and Miners are Moving to CanadaApril 9 – The National Development Reform Commission, China’s most powerful economic planner, has listed crypto mining as one of the industries it plans to eliminate due to its wasted resources and negative environmental impacts. The economic planner is currently gauging public opinion on its guidelines and noted that the ban could begin once its consultation is complete. At one point, China was responsible for upwards of 70% of all Bitcoin mining; however, authorities have since clamped-down through a series of campaigns to shrink its crypto industry, citing issues around fraud and wasteful energy consumption. China had “banned” initial coin offerings (ICOs) back in 2017, and had also made efforts to halt cryptocurrency trading altogether. Interestingly, many market-leading mining companies and pools that operate in China, such as Bitmain or BTC.Top, have now established operations in Canada, potentially due to favorable energy costs and clear regulatory landscape. Read the full press release here. |
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Litecoin Hashrate Hits a New All-Time HighApril 12 – The hashrate of the Litecoin network has now reached a new all-time high. The price of litecoin has increased substantially over the past few months to mark around a 300% gain off its 2018 lows. As with most crypto networks, an increase in hash rate and market capitalization enhance the security and stability of the network, as attempts to attack the network will be more expensive with increasing participation. “The network’s hashrate has historically followed price movements somewhat closely, behaving in a similar fashion to a moving average as it takes time for miners to setup and acquire new machines,” said Franklyn Richards, an early Litecoin team member. “It’s reasonable to assume that there is still greater potential for room to the upside as hashrate has only roughly doubled whilst the Litecoin price has more than quadrupled”. Read the full article here. |
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Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) Could be the New (ICOs)April 10 – While initial coin offerings (ICOs) have been declared “dead” due to regulatory advances and shifting public opinion, new crypto projects are starting to raise money through similar methods, dubbed “initial exchange offerings” (IEOs). This new method of raising money for a crypto project leverage crypto exchange relationships by making them lead underwriters in the projects. The exchanges review the projects and offer the tokens only to select customers, meaning that crypto projects will no longer have to market their coins directly to the public as the exchange itself will find potential investors from their customer base. Some critics argue that this new form of crypto project financing could lead to regulatory intervention. Initial exchange offerings (IEOs) “take everything from an ICO and make it worse,” said Zach Fallon, a securities lawyer experienced in ICO cases with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Exchanges who have been granted a “BitLicense” through the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), such as Bitstamp, expressed caution and noted that they do not offer IEOs. “We need to walk before we can run,” said Nejc Kofric of Bitstamp. “The industry needs to be better regulated before we step into this market. Of course there are exchanges that still enter this space, and I think that’s short-sighted.” Read the full article here. |
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New Bitcoin Core Release Will Connect Hardware Wallets to Full NodesApril 8 – The upcoming release of the new Bitcoin Core code will introduce an important feature that should significantly benefit the interoperability of the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin Core is the free and open-source software that has acted as a “default” wallet and node for Bitcoin users. Its new release will allow users with hardware wallets, such as a Trezor or Ledger wallets, to be able to connect to full nodes. While this may sound technical, it’s a big step forward for the security and interoperability of the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin full nodes around the world verify that transactions actually took place, and hardware wallets (sometimes known as cold wallets) are seen as one of the most secure ways for people to store bitcoin. The new release should also increase privacy for hardware wallet users. “The wallet software that normally comes with hardware wallets reveals your addresses to a third-party server,” said Sjors Provoost, a Bitcoin Core contributor. “The full node would replace this wallet software, giving users privacy again”. Read the full article here. |
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3iQ Global Cryptoasset Fund: Price as at April 12, 20193iQ is the first regulator approved multi-cryptoasset portfolio manager in Canada, providing accredited investors with exposure to bitcoin, ether, and litecoin through its 3iQ Global Cryptoasset Fund. |
