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Showing posts from December, 2022

Hal Finney's wife has announced a Bitcoin charity event.

She stated that the purpose of the event is to raise money to help ALS victims. Hal Finney's wife Fran has announced a fundraising event for those suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). When discussing the occasion on Twitter, Finney urged users of Bitcoin to participate in a half-marathon and post about their experiences there between January 1 and January 10, 2023, in order to support the cause and raise money. Fran Finney shared the news on Hal Finney's official Twitter account. She had previously reactivated the account to prevent Twitter from deleting old accounts. The "Running Bitcoin" event is being held in collaboration with the ALS Association Golden West Chapter and is named after the first Bitcoin tweet, which was sent by Hal Finney only a few days after it went live in 2009. The group, according to its website, offers educational resources and equipment loans to ALS patients. According to the charity, it hopes to raise money from the event by

Prices for Bitcoin ASIC miners are at historic lows.

As Bitcoin mining equipment keeps flooding the market, the price of ASIC miners per terahash has decreased by more than 80% from its peak in 2021. In what is being seen as another sign of a deepening crypto bear market, Bitcoin ASIC miners, or devices optimized for the sole purpose of mining Bitcoin, are currently selling at bottom-of-the-barrel prices last seen in 2020 and 2021. The most effective ASIC miners, those that produce at least one terahash for every 38 joules of energy, have seen their prices drop 86.82% from a peak of $119.25 per terahash on May 7, 2021 down to $15.71 as of December 25. The Antminer S19 from Bitmain and the Whatsminer M30s from MicroBTC are examples of miners in this category. The same is true for mid-range machines, whose average price has dropped significantly 89.36% from its peak price of $96.24 on May 7, 2021, to now average $10.23. The least effective machines, on the other hand, are now priced at $4.72, a 91% decrease from its peak price of $52.85. T

Wells Fargo and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) agree to a $3.7 billion settlement over consumer abuses.

Some of the misbehavior at Wells Fargo that resulted in the $3.7 billion settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau occurred as recently as this year and involved customers' bank accounts, mortgages, and auto loans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced in a statement that the corporation was ordered to pay a record $1.7 billion civil penalty and more than $2 billion to customers with 16 million accounts. According to a separate statement released by the San Francisco bank, most of the "necessary actions" related to the settlement have been finished. According to the statement issued by the regulatory body, "the bank's illegal behavior resulted in billions of dollars in financial harm to its customers and, for thousands of customers, the loss of vehicle and home." The bank misapplied payments made to auto and mortgage loans, wrongfully repossessed vehicles, and improperly charged fees and interest to customers' accounts. While

Councils in England will get £60 billion to help pay for things.

Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, announced today, December 19, 2022, that councils in England will get almost £60 billion for the next financial year. This is to make sure that councils can continue to provide important frontline services. The settlement gives councils in England an extra £5 billion, which is a 9% increase over what they got last year. This shows that the government continues to support councils and public services in the face of financial pressures. The agreement for next year includes a one-time Funding Guarantee that makes sure every council in England will get at least a 3% increase in core spending power before any local decisions are made about council tax. Along with this, the government is confirming today a new £100 million scheme for councils to protect the most vulnerable households from council tax increases. This is in line with the promise made in the election campaign to protect local taxpayers from too much tax hikes. Social care i

As part of a set of financial sanctions, Russia can't get trust services.

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation is in charge of running the system in the UK (OFSI). The government puts these rules in place to meet certain foreign policy or national security goals. In recent years, there have been a number of changes to the regime, which is based on several pieces of law. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has already put out information to help firms make sure they know what their responsibilities are. The government has now made changes that make it illegal to give trust services to people with ties to Russia or to a person on a list, unless the services were given right before the new rules went into effect. On December 16, 2022, the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 17) Regulations came into effect. Paul Philip, the head of the SRA, said, "Strengthening the financial sanctions regime is an important part of the government's response to war in Europe, and law firms have a key role to play." The sanctions system a

In 2023, China is expected to help the world economy get back on its feet.

Analysts think that China will continue to be a reliable and important driver of global economic growth in 2023. This is because of the strength and potential of its economy. In spite of many problems this year, China has kept its economy stable by coordinating COVID-19 policy with economic and social development and introducing a series of stimulus packages to help businesses, keep prices stable for consumers, and boost the confidence of investors around the world. At the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which took place in Beijing from Thursday to Friday, it was said that China's economy should recover and get better overall in 2023. The Central Economic Work Conference talked about the fiscal and monetary, industrial, science and technology, and social policies for 2023. They put economic stability at the top of the list and said that steady progress must be made while keeping the economy stable for the next year. According to a meeting held by the Political Bureau of th

In 2023, the pace of economic growth in Malaysia is expected to slow.

Economists predicted Thursday that the Malaysian economy would stall in 2023 due to difficult external conditions and weakening domestic demand. According to Xinhua News Agency, Maybank Investment Bank Research predicted in a report that Malaysia's full-year growth would slow to 4% in 2023 from an earlier projection of 8%. This slowdown would be caused by a reduction in domestic demand. The consequences of rising inflation and interest rates on the cost of living and real disposable income are expected to dampen private consumption growth next year, according to the research firm. It also predicts a slowing of the rate of increase in private consumption to match the reduced level of funding for government operations that is included in the Budget 2023. It also noted that reduced expectations for global economic development would lead to falling exports and imports. MIDF Research, on the other hand, predicts that Malaysia's GDP growth would decrease to 4.2% in 2023, mostly due t

As strikes grow, postal and rail workers walk off the job.

Rail workers are going on strike for a second day, and Royal Mail workers and people who test drivers are also on strike. On a day when snow, ice, and fog made it hard to get around by road or air, rail workers went on strike and cut service by about 20%. On Wednesday, about half of the rail lines will be closed again, and most of Scotland and Wales will have no service at all. This week is also likely to be the first time nurses strike across the whole country. And on Friday, people who work on trains, buses, highways, and with bags will walk off the job. Later this week, the government's emergency Cobra committee will meet for the second time this week to talk about how to lessen the effects of the wave of strikes. 115,000 members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are on strike at the same time as Royal Mail's busiest time of year, when people and businesses send Christmas cards and gifts. Some package companies say that the Royal Mail strike is having a domino effect

Al-Falih: The Saudi riyal has remained steady despite recent market volatility

KSA, Riyadh — Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi Arabian Minister of Investment, recently spoke on the country's secure currency and monetary policies. The Saudi riyal has remained stable despite global currency swings, thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's astute economic policies. Speaking at the Saudi Budget Forum 2023 in Riyadh on Sunday, he said, "the debt rate in the entire world economy, even the leading countries, is increasing, while the debt rate in the Kingdom lowers to 25%." In view of global problems, Saudi Arabia's budget is "historic," according to Al-Falih. According to the minister, the Kingdom's economic growth is unprecedented. To refute the claim that the increase in oil prices is responsible for all of Saudi Arabia's economic progress, he highlighted the 6% expansion of the country's non-oil sector. After years of turmoil, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has finally found legislative and policy stability, and Al-Falih has taken the

Indonesia wants to change its financial laws in a big way. This is how it could look

Indonesia is going to make big changes to how it regulates its financial sector as soon as this week. This comes after two years of failed attempts and resistance from the market. The proposed law wants to give the central bank more power and make it official that it has the right to buy government bonds during times of crisis, as it has done in the past three years to help Southeast Asia's largest economy. By the end of 2022, the central bank would have bought debt papers worth 1.144 quadrillion rupiah, or about $73 billion. The bill also wants to make sure that rules keep up with how quickly financial technology and cryptocurrencies change. After the finance commission approved the bill on December 8, parliament is expected to vote on it this week. Here are some things you should know about the changes to the financial sector: Why is Indonesia changing its laws about money? The rules that are already in place are hard to understand and often contradict each other. They are also o

If the Federal Reserve doesn't do this, the U.S. economy and S&P 500 will have a hard landing.

The biggest reason to be hopeful that a recession caused by the Federal Reserve can be avoided next year was just taken away. In September and October, hourly pay went up, and in November, it went up even more. This pushed wage growth far above the range that is in line with the Fed's 2% inflation target. Nearly everyone agrees that the Fed needs to raise its inflation target, at least in practice, if the U.S. economy is to avoid a hard landing and a bigger drop for the S&P 500. The Fed might be willing to do this, but the economy would still need to cool down more before they stop raising interest rates. "The 2% inflation target is a lot more flexible than the Fed lets on," RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas told IBD. "I don't think there's any constituency out there for the bloodletting that would be necessary." Brusuelas thinks that for inflation to return to 2%, the Fed would have to raise unemployment to 6.7%. But most of the way to 3% inflation

Focus of the Fed on the Job Market

In a speech last Wednesday (November 30) at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, Jerome Powell, the president of the Federal Reserve (Fed), hinted that the next FOMC meeting on December 14 will decide to raise the US basic interest rate by a smaller amount.  After four meetings in a row with increases of 75 basis points, people now expect an increase of only 50 basis points this time. In March of that year, the basic rate was almost zero, but by the end of the year, it was between 4.25 and 4.5% per annum. On the other hand, Powell said that there is still a lot of inflation in the US. He said that one estimate said that inflation in personal consumer spending was 6% per year from October of last year to October of the next year.  For inflation to stay at 2% a year, interest rates will have to be high enough to make borrowing more expensive. He said that there is still more work for the Fed to do, which suggests that interest rates will go up even more in 2023. He said that the

European markets have been slow because people are worried about the world economy.

By the middle of the morning, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.2%. Stocks in the telecoms industry were down 1.2%, while oil and gas stocks were up 0.8%. Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates by 50 basis points. Even though that would be a smaller increase than the last few rate hikes, investors are getting more worried about whether the central bank will be able to avoid a recession next year while trying to stop inflation. After the S&P 500 fell for the fifth day in a row, U.S. stock futures were down a little bit on Thursday morning as Wall Street tried to figure out how likely a downturn was. Overnight, the mood in the Asia-Pacific region changed for the better. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index went up by more than 3% on Thursday after a local news outlet said the city is thinking about easing Covid measures even more, such as getting rid of the rule about wearing masks outside and making testing for new arrivals less strict. Most of the othe

Xi visits Saudi Arabia to bolster China's economy.

Xi Jinping is visiting two regional summits in Saudi Arabia this week to boost economic growth slowed by anti-COVID-19 measures. Foreign Ministry: Xi will attend the first China-Arab States Summit and meet with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders in Riyadh. His state visit ends Saturday. Xi's presence at the China-Arab States Summit is the "biggest and highest-level diplomatic event between China and the Arab world since the founding of the People's Republic of China," a Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday. China expects the summit would define a future agenda for relations and "help build more strategic mutual understandings on critical regional and international issues" The last was an apparent reference to China's efforts to disrupt the U.S.-dominated international order by allying with Russia, Iran, and other hostile states. Xi's visit highlights China's importance as the world's second-largest economy and a key source of outward invest

Reports say that Goldman Sachs wants to buy cryptocurrency companies after FTX went down.

Mathew McDermott, an executive at Goldman Sachs, said that the company is already doing its homework on some crypto companies. As a result of the recent FTX scandal, the value of crypto companies has dropped. Goldman Sachs wants to buy or invest in crypto companies while the prices are low and spend millions to do so. In an interview with Reuters, Mathew McDermott, an executive at Goldman Sachs, is said to have said that big banks are seeing opportunities in the space now that the FTX collapse has shown that the industry needs more rules. The executive also said that the company is looking at opportunities that are "priced more sensibly" and is already doing research on some crypto companies. McDermott also said that the market had setbacks in terms of how people felt about the FTX mess. But the traditional finance executive pointed out that even though FTX became a "poster child" for the industry, the technology that makes it work "continues to perform."

Since the Ukraine Crisis, the country has lost over $80 billion in foreign currency reserves.

It has now been six weeks in a row that foreign exchange reserves have hit a new all-time low. The Reserve Bank of India sold dollars to help the rupee cross the 80-to-dollar threshold, resulting in a reduction in India's foreign exchange assets of more than $80 billion since the Ukraine crisis. This includes more than $2 billion in the last week. During the week ending September 9, the RBI reported that foreign exchange reserves fell to $550.871 billion, a fall of $2.234 billion from the previous week's total of $553.105 billion. This marked the lowest level of foreign exchange reserves in almost two years. India's import coverage has dropped for six consecutive weeks and 23 of the last 29 weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. This is a result of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withdrawing reserves to combat a spike in the US currency caused by capital outflows to dollar-denominated assets. Since late October, when they were at their highest, the country'

Bitcoin Exchange Strike Raises $80 Million Series B

Strike, a company that helps people make payments using bitcoin, has successfully completed a Series B financing round, bringing the total funding for the company to $80 million at this point. Ten31, a venture capital firm that specializes in Bitcoin companies, is said to have been the driving force behind the round of funding, which was announced in a statement that was made public on Tuesday. However, the University of Wyoming and Washington University in St. Louis both made contributions to the fund as well. The funds are going to be used for the specific purpose of expanding Stike's existing connections with local businesses and will be put toward that goal. Strike makes use of a technology known as the Lightning Network, which is aimed at accelerating Bitcoin transactions in order to make the cryptocurrency suitable for use in day-to-day transactions such as making purchases. Strike's goal is to make Bitcoin suitable for use in transactions that are used in everyday life.

Short crypto? (2020)

Can you earn money with crypto if prices drop? Can you profit without cryptocurrency? It's not as unlikely as you believe. "Short selling" is explained. "Shorting" describes this. This investment strategy lets you profit from a falling asset price. Many people have had to discover the difference between crypto currency and token. Illuminate! Shorting Let's define "short" before discussing how to short crypto. Traditionally, traders buy cheap and sell high. Buying high and selling cheap is shorting. When prices will fall, do this. How to profit from a depreciating asset. Let's discuss this plan. Short-selling is called "shorting" An investor makes money by betting an asset's price will fall. Short selling? Investors are short, meaning they don't own the asset they want to sell. This strategy is utilized for cryptocurrency and more. This method requires borrowing an asset and selling it at its present price. You buy back borrowe

SEBI's role in Indian forex trading

India allows currency trading. Indians can trade FX online with several firms. Forex trading in India is regulated by legislation. RBI is India's principal forex regulator. The RBI regulates forex trading strictly. Indians can't trade FX on margin. Forex brokers in India cannot offer leveraged trading. Leverage lets traders trade with more money than they have. In India, forex brokers can only offer 1:50 leverage. India's Sebi regulates forex trading. Sebi regulates India's Forex market. Sebi regulates India's financial institutions, including Forex. Sebi's Forex laws safeguard investors and maintain a fair, transparent market. Explaining India's Regulators The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) created the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) of 1999. Regulating India's financial sector. India's Reserve Bank oversees foreign exchange operations (RBI). SEBI regulates India's stock market. India's forex brokers have FEMA licenses. SEBI-regulated br