Read in the Digest;
- Wall Street Experiences Worst Loss Since 2020, Biden Preparing Executive Order, Indonesia Bans Firms from Facilitating Crypto Trades
- Bithumb to Suspend Crypto Withdrawals to Unverified Private Wallets
- Meta Unveils New Giant AI Supercomputer to Power the Metaverse
Wall Street Experiences Worst Loss Since 2020, Biden Preparing Executive Order, Indonesia Bans Firms from Facilitating Crypto Trades
As worries of rising inflation prevailed, stocks fell again on Wall Street, closing with the worst weekly drop for the S&P 500 since March 2020. In the week ending January 22, the S&P 500 fell 5.7%, Nasdaq fell by 2.7% (down 14.3% from November 13), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.3%.
Amidst the pressure, there are reports that the President Biden administration is preparing to release an executive order on crypto as early as February. The order would outline the Fed’s strategy and ask regulators to determine the risks and opportunities inherent in cryptocurrencies.
The pressure on cryptocurrencies continues as Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority bans financial firms from offering, marketing, and facilitating crypto. Despite the trade boom in the country, the regulator has warned investors to stay clear of crypto assets.
Flipsider:
- After dropping to $33.5k, Bitcoin has rebounded, gaining 8% in 24 hours to jump to $36,500 amidst renewed interest in the digital asset
The 24 hours price chart of Bitcoin (BTC). Source: Tradingview
Why You Should Care
The massive drop of the crypto market aligned with the performance of stocks, proving the interconnectedness between digital assets and financial markets.
Research-Driven Approach Gives Cardano Edge Over Ethereum – Kraken
Cardano and Ethereum are two blockchain projects that have long been compared as competitors. In a side-by-side comparison, Kraken Exchange has put Cardano, the largest proof-of-stake blockchain, against Ethereum, the largest smart contracts platform.
According to the exchange, Cardano has the edge because of its research-driven approach. In its note, Kraken explains that Cardano emphasizes a research-driven approach to design, which it believes will propel the adoption of its technology.
Kraken points out that Cardano was designed to promote its native token (ADA) and enables developers to securely build DApps on its blockchain. In comparison, Ethereum was built like an operating system for any number of custom assets and programs.
Another factor that sets Cardano apart from other blockchain projects is that it is being released in phases. Kraken adds that each of Cardano’s upgrades offers appealing optimizations based on scientific research and formal verification.
Flipsider:
- According to Kraken, Cardano’s approach may not promise new ground-breaking features to users and developers.
Why You Should Care
In the past, Cardano’s founder has explained that the project focuses on systematically building rather than promising magical changes with network upgrades.
Bithumb to Suspend Crypto Withdrawals to Unverified Private Wallets
South Korea’s second-biggest crypto exchange, Bithumb, has announced that it will suspend crypto withdrawals to unverified private wallets from January 27. This makes Bithumb the second of four major exchanges to ban withdrawals to unverified wallets.
Ahead of its new Travel Rules, implemented on March 25, the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit has asked all virtual asset service providers (including crypto exchanges) to register with the monetary unit.
Users can only register their own private wallets as per the new rules. As a result, all Bithumb users must perform another round of KYC to whitelist their personal wallets. Users who fail to verify their personal wallets before January 27 will not make withdrawals on Bithumb.
Bithumb made the announcement after the NH Agricultural bank strongly demanded customer verification certification (KYC) for all the personal crypto wallets.
Flipsider:
- The Bank of Korea on January 24 announced that it had successfully completed the first phase of its CBDC (central bank digital currency) trial.
Why You Should Care
The move from exchanges aligns with South Korea’s decision to stamp out crime from the cryptocurrency industry.
Meta Unveils New Giant AI Supercomputer to Power the Metaverse
Pushing to stake its claim on the metaverse, Meta (formerly Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)) has announced the development of the AI Research SuperCluster (RSC), which it claims to be among the fastest AI supercomputers running today.
According to Meta, when fully built, the RSC will have 16,000 GPUs and be the fastest operating supercomputer for AI tasks on the planet. Although the supercomputer is currently operational, Meta expects the RSC to be fully complete by the middle of 2022.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, explained that the experiences his company is building for the metaverse require an enormous computing power — reaching into quintillions of operations per second.
Zuckerberg adds that the RSC will enable new AI models to learn from trillions of examples, understand hundreds of languages, and more.
Flipsider:
- Meta has faced serious challenges, especially from regulators, who called for the discontinuation of its stablecoin project, Diem.
Why You Should Care
Meta’s RSC could prove to be significant to the metaverse, which is now described as the next iteration of the internet.
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