Bitcoin continued to garner attention globally as a national legal tender with Central African Republic becoming the latest suitor. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra signed the bill into law on Wednesday and his chief of staff Obed Namsio hailed the move as one that could forever change the economic fabric of a country that has been embroiled in rebel violence for many years now.

Namsio said the bill was supported by the president because it would improve the citizens’ status. He added it would open up new economic opportunities for the landlocked country. The new bill provides a framework for use of cryptocurrencies in smart contracts, payments systems, online trade, and all electronic transactions alongside the CFA franc currency. 

“This move places the Central African Republic on the map of the world’s boldest and most visionary countries,” he said. 

Traders will also be capable of paying taxes with crypto and the finance minister Gourna Zacko who introduced the bill, believes it will ease cross-border transfers that have become increasingly difficult to do. These transfers will now become very cheap. Citizens will also be capable of undertaking legal financial transactions in the mainstream financial realms using crypto, and without necessarily going through middlemen banks. Cryptocurrency exchanges will not be taxed.   

The bill has clauses that prescribe up to 20 years of imprisonment and a fine of between 100 million to 1 billion CFA francs for anyone who breaks the crypto law. 

With a per capita income of only 750 USD per year, the country is one of the poorest in the region and world as a result of years of conflicts and war. This is despite having a vast amount of gold and diamond reserves. 

The country would, however, have to pursue an aggressive Internet coverage agenda to make this plan effective. It currently has an Internet penetration rate of just 7.1 percent and 355,000 Internet users out of a total population of 4.97 million people.   

It is not clear if and how the new move would help alleviate the country’s ailing inflation or GDP. Inflation has increased from 2.7 percent in 2019 to 3.3 in 2021. The country’s GDP also flipped to the negative last year at -0.6 from a 3.1 in 2019. Despite relying heavily on agriculture and mining, illegal gold and diamond exports undermine government revenue. The country is also embroiled in bad political and economic decisions, conflicts, and insecurity.  

The bill that governs use of cryptocurrency as legal tender in the country was unanimously adopted by the parliament last week. However, the move was not approved by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) which governs the Central African CFA franc regional currency used by the country and about 14 others. The franc is tied to the Euro and largely controlled by the West. Two ministers said the move to adopt Bitcoin as a national currency was a serious offense. 

The move was also criticized by former Prime Minister Martin Ziguele who said it was not a priority for the country, and that it was undermining the CFA franc. The decision could also be challenged in court by some legislators.      

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The Founder of Cardano (ADA) has invited Tesla owner and billionaire, Elon Musk, to work with him in developing the first decentralized social media platform. Charles Hoskinson, who also doubles up as the CEO of Input-Output Global is offering to help Elon Musk achieve his goal of free speech on social media.

The news follows Elon Musk’s acquisition of a stake in Twitter last week. The Billionaire bought 9.2% of Twitter, estimated at $2.89 Billion, and was even offered a seat on the micro-blogging site’s board. However, after deliberations, Elon passed on the offer since it would bar him from owning beyond a certain threshold of Twitter’s shares.

Free speech advocate

Elon Musk is on record for being a passionate supporter of free speech and open internet policies. He has in the past openly accused Twitter of muzzling free speech and open internet use. He recently held a poll that indicated that most users would prefer an edit button on Twitter and said that if he is not allowed to acquire the platform, he would have to reconsider his position as a major shareholder of Twitter.

To actualize this cause, he has offered to acquire the platform for a reported fee of $43 Billion in cash. This intended acquisition has left his critics and supporters talking and would go a long way in helping him bring much-needed changes to Twitter. His intention has however come under fire with his critics, including Dogecoin co-founder, Jackson Palmer saying that Elon Musk is planning a hostile takeover of Twitter. 

Hoskinson’s offer to Elon Musk

Upon seeing the opposition against Elon Musk’s plan, Hoskinson wooed Elon to join him in creating a decentralized social media platform. He tweeted:

“@Elon if Twitter rejects your offer, then hit me up. Happy to build a decentralized one.”

This offer follows Elon Musk’s Twitter poll where he sought the opinion of his 80 million followers about a decentralized social media platform. He posited that were he to be barred from acquiring Twitter, he would establish his decentralized platform that would be founded on free speech and open internet.

Elon Musk’s campaign for free speech and open internet has not been welcomed by all. Some of his critics have argued that coating his move with good intentions, his true intention is to get revenge against the SEC for muzzling his Twitter activities.

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In a surprising turn of events, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has declined the offer to join Twitter’s board. After a week of anticipation and memes, the CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, has shared a post letting people know that the billionaire will not be joining Twitter’s board of directors after all. This came as a surprise to so many especially because Elon Musk seemed to be somewhat excited to attend the first board meeting in the past week.

Elon Musk is Twitter’s Largest Shareholder

Barely a week ago, Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder when he bought nearly 10% stake of the social media giant. Parag Agrawal took to Twitter to welcome Musk to the company and shared that they’re officially appointing him to the board. Former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, also welcomed the Tesla CEO and expressed his joy over him joining the company and teaming up with Agrawal adding that he believes the duo is exactly what Twitter needs right now.

Since then, memes and jokes have been flying on Twitter over Elon Musk’s first board meeting, one in particular shared by the billionaire himself. Most of these memes show enthusiasm for the appointment. Musk has been actively showing interest in the things he wants to change about Twitter. Like the fact that most of the platform’s biggest accounts rarely tweet and that he wants to include an ‘edit’ button and make a few changes to the ‘Twitter Blue’ feature by integrating Dogecoin as a payment method for it.

He shared an idea that suggests Dogecoin be used as a payment method for people to purchase Twitter Blue, a feature that makes an ‘edit’ button available to a tweet for a few seconds after its sent. The tweet came as a response to a Twitter user who asked Musk to make Twitter Blue cheaper than $3 for Argentinians as the amount is really expensive in their currency. Musk replied “Yes, should be proportionate to affordability & in local currency” and then added, a couple minutes later, “Maybe even an option to pay in Doge?” 

Elon Musk Declines to Join Twitter’s Board

After all these, you can see why a lot of people are shocked that Elon Musk declined to join the platform’s board. As shared in a post by Agarawal, Musk’s appointment was to be effective starting Saturday morning, April 9th, but the billionaire has shared, on the very same morning, that he will no longer be joining the board. Agrawal added that whether or not he’s on the board, Musk’s opinions and inputs will still hold value as with all their other shareholders.

This news comes two days after Musk, Jack Dorsey and Adam Back collaborated to launch a solar-powered Bitcoin mining facility in Texas. CNBC shared that the facility is to be finished later in the year. Adam Back’s Blockstream will be in charge of supplying the mining equipment as well as the facility’s engineers, and providing reports on the project’s progress.

Elon Musk has shared several posts about the facility. Although he is yet to post anything about his rejection to join Twitter’s board. It has been 48 hours since he last tweeted anything and I am sure a lot of people are eagerly waiting to hear from him. 

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Billionaire Elon Musk has yet again made headlines as the Tesla and SpaceX CEO recently bought a 9.2% stake in social media company Twitter.

According to the new SEC Filing, Musk holds 73,486,938 shares in Twitter, representing nearly a 9.2% worth of passive stake in the company, which makes him one of the biggest shareholders of the platform.

Musk Buys 9.2% Stake In Social Media Company Twitter

According to the Securities and Exchange 13G Filing shared on Monday, Musk has acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter which is worth $2.89 billion. The particular investment has made Musk one of the biggest shareholders of the platform.

Previously, Musk had organized a survey poll on Twitter, asking his followers to provide insight on whether the social media company adheres to the principles of free speech.

Since the majority of people responded no, the Tesla CEO had stated that he was giving some “serious thought” to launching a platform of his own.

Musk acquiring a stake in Twitter has significantly impacted the prices of its shares, which have surged a striking 27% after the SEC 13G filing was revealed on Monday. The filing also shows that the purchased Twitter shares are held by Musk’s Revocable Trust, of which he is the sole trustee. Moreover, the surge in shares added $8.38 billion to Twitter’s market cap, which currently sits at $40.8 billion.

Musk is known as an ardent Twitter user and has always utilized the social media platform to openly voice his opinions on critical matters. Moreover, the Tesla chief boasts a following of 80 million followers, making him one of the biggest tech personalities on Twitter.

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• The SEC in Thailand has banned crypto payments in the country.
• Its new decision is expected to become enforceable in April.
• The SEC reiterated that the government still maintained support for the blockchain industry, clarifying that the decision does not affect crypto investments.

The Securities Exchange Commission today has placed restrictions on crypto as a means of payment. They believe that it poses risks to the nation’s financial stability.

Crypto Payments Outlawed

Thailand’s SEC today has outlawed the use of crypto as a medium of exchange in the country. The regulators came up with this decision after discussing the benefits and inherent risks from crypto and blockchain technology with the country’s central bank, the Bank of Thailand (BOT).

They concluded that the use of cryptocurrencies for payment was potentially harmful to the country’s financial stability and economy. Price volatility, risks of theft, and potential use cases in money laundering were amongst the reasons cited by the SEC that led them to this decision.

The SEC report read, “the use of digital assets as a medium for payment of goods and services Because it may affect the stability of the financial system and the overall economy. including risks to people and businesses such as the risk of loss of value caused by price volatility Risk of Cyber ​​Theft Risk of personal data leakage or being used as a tool of money laundering.”

As per the SEC’s new decision, crypto service providers and vendors or merchants in the country are encouraged to stop providing or facilitating such services. Suppose a crypto service provider discovers that a customer has used its services to make payments. In that case, the service providers are to inform the SEC and restrict activities on the said account.

The SEC’s new ruling is to take effect from the 1st of April. However, businesses that already offer such services would be given till the end of April to cease such operations. The crypto market in Thailand has grown massively over the last couple of years. As per a Bloomberg report, government data estimates that Thai citizens hold about $3.4 billion in crypto assets.

Crypto Investments Not Affected As The Thai Government Still Supports Blockchain Technology Innovation

The SEC in their release, clarified that the restriction was only on using cryptocurrency as a means of payment and in no way affected citizens investing in crypto. It was stated that “digital asset traders/investors can carry out normal investment/trading related transactions.”

The SEC also maintained that the government still supported blockchain technology and was working to provide a regulatory environment where innovation can be encouraged in the industry. Recall that earlier this month, the country had offered tax incentives to investors and businesses in the crypto industry.

“… the BOT and the SEC, as well as other government agencies, see the benefits of various technologies behind digital assets such as  blockchain and emphasize and support the use of technology to further innovation.”

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• Russia’s imminent invasion of Ukraine has had dire consequences on the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
• At the close of the week, Bitcoin, Ethereum and other altcoins took a steep dive.
• Ethereum’s founder, Vitalik Buterin has voiced his concern against an invasion.

As the world watches with bated breaths, investors are dumping their digital assets in anticipation of chaos. In the midst of it all, the Russian-Canadian founder of Ethereum tries to be the voice of reason.

Russia and Ukraine’s Dance Is Hurting Crypto

On Friday, the cryptocurrency market experienced a blip in prices that led to the loss of billions of dollars in value. The cause of this was adjudged to be the mounting tensions between Ukraine and Russia with the Kremlin ordering the movement of troops to the borders. According to information from the White House, the US government believes that Russia could invade Ukraine in the coming days.

The result of this was a devastating loss for cryptocurrencies as investors panicked. Bitcoin slipped by 3.27% to trade at $39,965 while Ethereum lost 6.98% in less than a day. Perhaps, the grim nature of the decline in values was felt by the altcoin markets as Solana, Cardano and Avalanche lost 11.66%, 9.97%, and 11.24% respectively. Shiba Inu and Dogecoin were not left out of the route as they also recorded double-digit losses.

On the larger scale, trading volumes are down by over 17.10% while the global cryptocurrency market cap sits at under $2 trillion after a cumulative loss of 5.15%. While the sell-off is thought to be because of the incoming invasion, there is the worrying threat of inflation that has continued to be a thorn in the flesh of investors. The recent report on inflation for January puts US figures at 7.5%, the highest in almost 40 years. Given the increasing correlation between cryptocurrencies and the stock market, investors are also dumping their digital assets.

On the flip side, there is the use of cryptocurrencies to fund NGOs according to a report by Elliptic. The report noted that there has been a steep rise in BTC donations to NGOs in Ukraine that are being used to equip the Ukrainian army against the planned invasion by Russia.

Vitalik Buterin Kicks

Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin has voiced his displeasure over Russia’s proposed plan to invade Ukraine. The Russian-Canadian took to Twitter to air his views in the Russian language which was a break from his typical mode of English.

“An attack on Ukraine can only harm Russia, Ukraine, and humanity. Whether the situation will return to a peaceful path or there will be war can now be decided not by Zelensky, not by NATO, but by @KremlinRussia. I hope they choose wisely,” he wrote.

Vitalik Buterin is no stranger to interactions with the Kremlin after he had a conversation with Putin in 2017 in an attempt to foster increased usage of cryptocurrency in the country. Buterin’s father has openly called out Putin’s government as being murderous. Russia is one of the largest contributors of hash rates to the Bitcoin network after it took in a significant number of fleeing miners in the wake of the Chinese crackdown.

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The top right-hand man of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company, Charlie Munger, recently dropped a provocative bombshell on the crypto world, after likening the frenzy around bitcoin and altcoins adoptions to “venereal disease”. A disgusted Charlie, during a Q&A session at the LA-based Daily Journal Corp, openly blurted:

“I’m proud of the fact that I avoided it. It’s like some venereal disease. I just regard it as beneath contempt. Some people think it’s modernity, and they welcome a currency that’s so useful n extortions and kidnappings [and] tax evasion.”

Charlie, a 98-year-old billionaire who has remained an unflinching critic of the developments around cryptocurrencies, spared no horses in expressing, once again, his disgust for the hype and growth around cryptocurrencies. In the footsteps of his boss, Warren Buffett, who once referred to cryptos as rat poison, Charlie once again riled up the crypto Twitter community, provoking an avalanche of reactions that relegate his opinions on crypto to the realm of obsolescence.

Of all comments posted, Elon musk’s was widely received as the Tesla techno King walked Charlie Munger down memory lane to a one-on-one conversation in 2009, on how his verbal pessimism over the concept of Tesla almost drained Elon of the enthusiasm needed to kick-start Tesla.

By Elon’s tweet, observers have deduced the tendency for the veteran investor to be on the wrong side of history with crypto. Mungo’s reiteration of much ill news that has beclouded the use of cryptocurrencies—which is not uncommon to the case for fiat currencies—goes to show the demography that has backed bitcoin over the past few years are well above Munger’s peers.

But a cursory look at the books of Berkshire Hathaway where Munger had served for 44 years, shows how, contrary to voiced opinions, it may rethink its perceptions about crypto investment. The latest $1 billion investment in Brazil-based mainstream bank Nubank has shown that Warren Buffett is ultimately interested in reaping reasonable gains from companies that are attuned to modern innovations not excluding cryptocurrencies.

Nubank in May last year gained the Bitcoin ETF issuing company, Eazynvest, to capture crypto investors across Latin America. By proxy, Buffett can be called a crypto-investor, having financed the growth of Latin America’s biggest bank towards Fintech and crypto services. 

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly opened a probe into Binance.US, the American branch of the world’s biggest crypto exchange Binance, and its trading affiliates.

Probe Into Binance.US Ongoing

Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the SEC is investigating the relationship between Binance.US and trading firms Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak Ltd.

Former executives, as well as corporate documents from 2019, confirm that the founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, helmed both firms as of late 2021. Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak Ltd are believed to act as market makers on Binance.US, meaning they use their assets to facilitate trades.

The securities watchdog wants to know whether the exchange disclosed these relationships to its clients. Though Binance.US argues that market makers can trade crypto assets on its exchange, it doesn’t specifically name the two trading firms in question.

A probe doesn’t necessarily mean the exchange is being accused of any wrongdoing. Representatives of Binance told the Journal that the exchange is not required to reveal its organization setup to members of the public, but it’s open to providing this information to regulators when prompted.

Binance’s Regulatory Difficulties

Binance has been inadvertently caught in the crosshairs of regulators for years.

In September last year, Binance was investigated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for allegations of insider trading and market manipulation. Prior to that, the exchange had been probed by the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service for information related to money laundering and tax evasion.

Binance launched its U.S. entity in 2019 after regulatory barriers prevented American customers from using its global platform. Binance.US was subpoenaed by the SEC in 2020 for information on whether the US-based arm operated independently from the main exchange.

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Barely six weeks into 2022 and the crypto market may have just witnessed its biggest DeFi attack of the year. A few hours ago, an unidentified hacker quickly crept under the Ethereum-Solana bridge (typically used to facilitate seamless transactions between ETH and SOL holders) stealing close to $320 million as at last valuation.

Wormhole Crypto, the official Twitter account behind the SOL-ETH interoperability protocol, has come out to confirm the attack, adding that it would replace all 120k wrapped Ethereum tied to several Ethereum users and bear the losses thereof. It has also offered the hacker a $10 million white hat bounty to return all the stolen digital assets. Here’s a scoop about what may have made the attack a successful one.

An unfixed glitch in the bridge protocol likely cause

Since the news of the hack, many top analysts have tried to reverse engineer the attacker’s process in stealing close to 120kwETH. wETH is an ERC-20 1:1 version of ETH that helps holders complete transactions with other tokens linked to or domiciled in the Ethereum blockchain. Like fiat currency backed by gold reserves, each wETH is backed by a corresponding ETH and is equal in value. To facilitate transactions on blockchain networks like Solana, a user would typically have to deposit ETH and proceed with the equivalent number of wETH. 

According to pro-Wormhole analysts on Twitter, the bug which was exploited by the hacker had been published on Solana’s GitHub open source repository since mid-January, and its remedy was given days after, but the team of developers had delayed its implementation until the attack.

Allegedly taking cognizance of this unresolved flaw, the attacker had successfully minted close to 120k fake ETHs, taking advantage of the unpatched bug to trick the Solana security verification system into acceptance. With the fake deposit now certified as real, all the hacker had left to do was to withdraw the equivalent amount of real ETH from the bridge protocol and transfer it to untracked recipients.

Speed vs. Security

All the news about Solana being better than Ethereum is hinged on its speed and not on its security. The latest attack has shown how much the network holds its ~55,000 transactions-per-second record in high esteem, neglecting the catastrophic losses that could come with poor user safety.

Back in September and more recently in December, it had suffered repeated DDOS attacks, causing close to 17 hours of network shutdown. Yesterday, the network was in the news for the launch of its Solana Pay protocol, spurring a brief gain past the $100 mark. Today, all such gains totaling close to 12% have been eroded as it sits sullenly at $96.76.

Crypto competence gets dragged

It is too early to tell if the attacker will choose to sacrifice $220 million of his bounty, but the entirety of the current circumstance casts a shadow on the cryptocurrency market. Especially for investors who find little attractiveness in such outrageous risk. Cases like these win points for the argument against open source reliability and decentralization especially considering the volume of transactions involved. The Geneva-based token will have to do more than just outrun Ethereum transaction speed to keep and attract new users.

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• Microsoft has signaled strong interest in the metaverse with the latest acquisition of Activision.
• The deal is worth a staggering $69 billion and will be finalized over the next few months.
• This is not the first time that tech giants will be dabbling into the metaverse.

It is easy to argue that gaming might be the best application for NFTs and the metaverse and Microsoft certainly agrees. The company’s latest acquisition signals intent to be a major player in the growing metaverse industry.

The Deal

According to an announcement by the Microsoft News Centre, the tech company will acquire Activision Blizzard in an all-cash transaction that is worth nearly $69 billion. Upon completion of the deal, Microsoft will ascend the ranks to become the third biggest gaming company behind Tencent and market leader, Sony.

“Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, inclusive of Activision Blizzard’s net cash,”  read the report. To close the deal, Microsoft had Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC as its financial advisor while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP were legal counsel.

Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella hinted that the reason for the splurge was as a result of the growing interest in the metaverse and the tech company is “investing deeply” in introducing an era that puts players at the forefront for a more inclusive approach. “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” noted the CEO.

The acquisition adds to Microsoft’s growing Game Pass portfolio that has over 25 million subscribers. Activision Blizzard is behind popular gaming titles like Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush with over 400 million monthly active players around the world and will certainly make Game Pass a force to reckon with in gaming.

The current CEO of Activision Blizzard will continue to serve in his current role until the close of the 2023 fiscal year, and then the management team will report to Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

Previous Metaverse Forays

The race for a nice chunk of the metaverse between Facebook and Microsoft has been heated in recent weeks after the report that 100 Microsoft employees left to join Facebook’s Meta. 

Before the close of the year, Microsoft’s CEO disclosed the company’s plan for the metaverse through the introduction of “Mesh”. Through Mesh, company staff can create custom avatars that will allow them to hold meetings and interact with each other in the metaverse. The CEO also hinted that the company could integrate attributes of the metaverse in its Xbox consoles.

Microsoft has also been knee-deep in the development of virtual reality hardware with the release of its wide range of devices like the HoloLens 2 amongst others. The company also boasts of VR-ready PCs and ultra-modern Windows Mixed Reality. As part of its drive to a metaverse future.

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