Use of Tether has increased in Venezuela after the U.S. reimposed sanctions on oil exports.
Venezuela Looks to Tether to Bypass Sanctions: Reuters
Venezuela’s state-run oil company started experimenting with Tether in 2023.
Venezuela Ends Controversial Petro Cryptocurrency: Reports
Venezuela is ending its Petro cryptocurrency on Monday, more than five years after it was first launched, according to multiple reports.
Venezuela extends reorganization shutdown of crypto agency to March 2024
The government will spend six additional months to ‘reorganize” the entity, which de-facto stopped its work in March 2023.
Binance excludes Banco de Venezuela from P2P payments
Banco de Venezuela, one of the largest financial institutions in the country, was acquired by the sanctioned government in 2009.
Stablecoin Wallet Rpay Secures License from OFAC to Continue Operating in Venezuela
The approval does not absolve Rpay of its compliance duties, but does eliminate the growing compliance risk, the company said.
Bitfinex launches P2P trading platform in Venezuela, Argentina and Colombia
The launch announcement followed expansion moves by Bitfinex into El Salvador and Chile through licensing and partnerships, respectively.
Bitcoin sees new all-time highs in 3 countries as BTC price pokes $31K
Bitcoin price strength across the board continues into a weekly close that analysis says should stay above $30,000.
Not funny: Comedy club NFT debacle teaches lesson in transparency
What started with a comedy club would later become a notorious case of legal loopholes and frustration for the nonfungible token community.
Venezuela shuts down crypto mining facilities, exchanges amid corruption probe
According to Venezuela’s attorney general office, government officials were running parallel oil operations with the assistance of the national crypto department.
Venezuela overhauls national crypto department
A new board will lead the reorganization, headed by Anabel Pereira Fernández. The new team excludes Joselit Ramirez, who led the department since its inception in 2018.
Web3 projects focus on education to bring Latin American women to the sector
Women in Latin America are showing an increased interest in Web3 as organizations aim to drive participation through educational content and scholarships.
Bitcoin is for billions: Fedimint on scaling BTC in the global south
A community custody protocol, Fedimint wants to scale the Bitcoin network to a billion users located in the global south.
Brazil beams Bitcoin from space: A case for BTC satellite nodes
Bitcoin’s blast off to becoming “space money” takes one giant leap with a satellite full node in Brazil.
Uphold withdraws with Venezuela, citing US sanctions
The platform advised users to withdraw funds quickly, noting it would halt trading for Venezuela-based clients on July 31, with all accounts “fully restricted” beginning Sept. 30.
P2P payments spurred crypto adoption across Venezuela in 2021
Venezuelans tried to fight inflation this year by using cryptocurrencies on an unprecedented scale in the country.
Venezuelans reportedly hit by new Bitcoin tax of up to 20%
Bitcoin adoption has been on the rise in Venezuela in recent years amid hyperinflation and the national currency crisis.
Colombia clamps down on crypto tax evasion as adoption thrives
Colombia’s tax authority is tightening the screw on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related tax evasion against a backdrop of burgeoning cryptocurrency adoption.
Digital Denarius: How a crypto revolution could have saved the Roman Empire
As Venezuela and Iran find themselves caught up in the cryptocurrency revolution, could this have saved the Roman Empire from crumbling into infighting and crippling inflation?
Fidelity Says What We’ve Been Thinking: Countries & Central Banks Will Buy BTC
Surprising the world, Fidelity predicts what Bitcoin’s game theory implies. It’s as Satoshi Nakamoto said, “It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on.” That’s the exact same conclusion that Fidelity reaches in its “Research Round-Up: 2021 Trends And Their Potential Future Impact” report. Take into account that Fidelity is a multinational financial services corporation, it doesn’t get more mainstream than this.
I agree with @Fidelity, of course, but still astonishing to read this on Bitcoin adoption game theory in such a mainstream financial report: pic.twitter.com/7zRO9rEele
— Alex Gladstein (@gladstein) January 13, 2022
What did Fidelity say about Bitcoin adoption at the nation-states and central bank level?
They put it very clearly:
“We also think there is very high stakes game theory at play here, whereby if bitcoin adoption increases, the countries that secure some bitcoin today will be better off competitively than their peers. Therefore, even if other countries do not believe in the investment thesis or adoption of bitcoin, they will be forced to acquire some as a form of insurance. In other words, a small cost can be paid today as a hedge compared to a potentially much larger cost years in the future.”
In other words, It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on. And, as Stacy Herbert said, “First mover advantage goes to El Salvador”. At least if we’re talking out in the open, because other countries might be accumulating Bitcoin on the down-low. For example, Venezuela seized a lot of ASICs from private miners. Chances are those are active in a warehouse somewhere. And, of course, there are rumors that the USA is already mining.
Fidelity is one of the biggest asset managers in the world
They see what ID-10ts fail to understand
First mover advantage goes to
Game over for fiat, game on for #bitcoin
pic.twitter.com/I0Jlp8baVY
— Stacy Herbert (@stacyherbert) January 13, 2022
In any case, what does Fidelity conclude?
“We therefore wouldn’t be surprised to see other sovereign nation states acquire bitcoin in 2022 and perhaps even see a central bank make an acquisition.”
If those players do it in the open, it will probably trigger a race like no other. A race in which it will be too risky not to participate.
Speaking About Bitcoin Mining…
Fidelity’s report summarized 2021, it goes through most of the major stories that NewsBTC has covered ad nauseam. The company doesn’t try to figure out why did China ban Bitcoin mining, but it highlights how fast the hashrate recovered.
“The recovery in hash rate this year was truly astounding and one that we think demonstrates several issues that will be important to keep in mind for 2022 and beyond.”
The Fidelity report also highlighted how well the network responded. “This has now been tested and bitcoin’s network performed perfectly.”
BTC price chart for 01/17/2022 on Eightcap | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
What Does Fidelity Say About The Ecosystem In General?
The report wasn’t exclusively about Bitcoin, they also identified the biggest trends in the wide crypto sphere.
“The biggest non-Bitcoin themes put on display this past year included the massive issuance of stablecoins, the maturation of decentralized finance, and the early days of non-fungible tokens.”
And about those trends, Fidelity predicted:
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“The growth in interconnectivity between siloed blockchains”
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“Traditional fintech companies partnering or building capabilities to interact with DeFi protocols”
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“The dawn of decentralized algorithmic stablecoins has officially begun.” Responding to the “growth in demand for more regulated, centralized stablecoins.”
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“While the long-term value of these NFTs is not known, the impact of increased digital property rights for art, music, and content is likely to be meaningful in some form.”
In general, Fidelity thinks that investment in digital assets will keep growing:
“Allocating to digital assets has become far more normalized over the past two years for all investors. The Fidelity Digital Assets 2021 Institutional Investor Survey found that 71% of U.S. and European institutional investors surveyed intend to allocate to digital assets in the future. This number has grown across each individual region of the survey for the past three years, and we expect 2022 to show another year of higher current and future asset allocations to digital assets amongst institutions.”
However, something has to happen to catalyze widespread institutional adoption. “The key to allowing traditional allocators to continue to pour capital into the digital asset ecosystem revolves around regulatory clarity and accessibility.”
Is 2022 the year of regulatory clarity? What will happen first, institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies or nation-states adoption of Bitcoin? What central bank will earn first-mover advantage? Burning questions for the year ahead.
Featured Image by Damir Spanic on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView