Weekend Recap: Bitcoin breaks $10,000

We’re back with all the latest crypto news hot off the press over the weekend. Which countries are taking small steps (and giant leaps) into crypto regulation? How did Justin Sun’s lunch with Warren Buffet go? And how can you trade election-based futures contracts for the upcoming US presidential elections?

Keep reading, we’ve got the answers.

Bitcoin breaks $10,000

For the first time since October 2019, Bitcoin broke through the significant level of $10,000 over the weekend, following a ‘green candle’ month in January. With the halving on the horizon, can we expect more movement in the coming months?

Justin Sun’s buffet with Buffet

Against all odds, Tron founder Justin Sun finally had his dinner date with billionaire investor Warren Buffet. They were joined by four other guests – Charlie Lee, Litecoin’s founder, Chris Lee, Huobi’s CFO, Helen Hai, head of the Binance Charity Foundation and Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro, the bunch dined in Omaha, Nebraska.

According to a Tron Foundation spokesperson, “the dinner conversation was about business and life in general, as well as crypto and blockchain.”

They added, “crypto and blockchain are still in their infant stage, and Mr Buffet said blockchain has its value. There are a lot of incredible companies in the payment realm, and it has huge demands. He believes blockchain technology will have a disruptive effect on the future of payment.”

It’s no secret Warren Buffet has a bearish crypto stance, but we’re not sure we’d have paid $4,57 million as Justin Sun did for the lunch, to be a fly on that wall. The funds will reportedly go to a San Francisco-based charity, the Glide Foundation.

Was the lunch worth all the hype? Let us know what you think on Twitter.

Australian government’s national blockchain roadmap

Is Australia on a path to greatness here? Their government has released a 52-page national blockchain roadmap to help drive the technology’s adoption in the country. The roadmap, issued by the Department of Industry, has highlighted blockchain’s potential for job creation, to save companies money, and to improve the country’s economy.

The five-year roadmap details plans to implement regulatory frameworks, develop people’s blockchain skills and increase global investment opportunities. Their 12-step approach seeks to help Australia progress towards a “blockchain empowered future.”

Karen Andrews, Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology says, “Together, we can drive the long-term development and adoption of blockchain technology, and capitalise on the tremendous economic and social opportunities it offers. In addition to this, Simon Birmingham, Senator and Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment explained: “It is vital Australia and our tech companies stay ahead of the game in one of the world’s fastest growing technology sectors.”

Good on ya, Aussies.

UK’s FCA seeks crypto and blockchain expert

Fancy working for one of the UK’s most prominent financial industry regulators? The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), an independent agency that oversees and regulates financial product offerings, is looking to hire a cryptocurrency expert. The criteria? A vast amount of traditional and more contemporary financial industry knowledge.

The detailed job post specifies that the FCA is looking for someone with experience working with crypto-assets, distributed ledger technology, blockchain, and fintech products. In addition, the right candidate would have a good working knowledge of specific legislation like the General Data Protection Regulations and the Financial Services and Markets Act, among others.

It’s encouraging to see the regulatory body take an active approach to understanding and correctly regulating the financial space in line with the emergence of an array of complex, newer technologies like cryptocurrency and blockchain. The job listing serves as some indication the FCA believes crypto is not just a passing fad, but something that’s here to stay and has the potential to positively impact people’s lives, if embraced and treated responsibly.

We’re waiting with bated breath to see who snaps up the savvy position.

Ukraine: a global leader for crypto mining?

Ukraine is blazing a trail in the crypto regulation space, following the release of a new policy for Public Blockchains and Proof of Work (PoW) mining. The best part? They didn’t have to do much but assess that these technologies were built to truly regulate themselves using their inherently transparent design.

Ukraine’s Manifesto of the Virtual Assets Ministry, along with the Ministry and Committee of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, released the policy. They concluded that Bitcoin’s protocol and enforced consensus rules are sufficient to regulate the onchain activities. This means they believe no government oversight or intervention is necessary.

It’s clear Ukranian officials have a fundamental understanding of how blockchain technology works in terms of its highly capable self-regulatory structure. Its use of open-source protocols, open network access and its secure decentralised network, along with a host of other security protocols, makes it the unique solution to so many issues governments aren’t able to manage.

Unnecessary, confusing and expensive regulatory hurdles only stifle growth in the industry, leaving startups and entrepreneurs unable to innovate, or seeking greener pastures elsewhere. More often than not, cumbersome regulations are implemented by groups of people who don’t fully understand the way these technologies work, and who ignore their potential. It’s important for countries to implement only practical and necessary measures that aid growth and diminish barriers to entry, or they’ll risk being left behind.

Following this positive move, we’re sure to see huge amounts of innovation happening in Ukraine.

FTX adds US presidential election futures contact

Crypto derivatives exchange FTX has added a new futures contract enabling users to monetise their predictions for the US 2020 presidential election results. The contracts include Bernie Sanders, Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

According to the FTX’s announcement, the TRUMP future will expire to $1 in the case that he’s reelected in the upcoming election, and expire to $0 if he doesn’t. Any candidate to receive 270 or more electoral votes will be considered elected. The contract will work like all other futures contracts on the exchange–users can go long or short given their own estimation of Trump’s chance for re-election.

The announcement states: “The price of one contract of TRUMP should be equal to the probability that Trump wins reelection. If you think there’s a 52% chance of Trump winning, then TRUMP should trade at $0.52; buying below there would be good, as would selling above $0.52.”

Trading on FTX is not available in the US and can’t be traded by residents of the US, EU, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and other prohibited jurisdictions.

Keep reading…

Top crypto trends to watch out for in 2020

Bitcoin futures are growing in popularity, but what are they?

Bitcoin Halving (Halvening): Everything you need to know