Chain News by Thebittimes.Com

Hong Kong warns crypto firms against using the word “bank” The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) says only licensed banks can take “deposits.” Using terms such as digital bank, crypto bank and crypto asset bank contravenes the Banking Ordinance. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has warned crypto firms that it’s against the law for any unauthorised company or platform to refer themselves as a “bank”, or deposit-taking businesses.  Hong Kong regulation prohibits this, HKMA noted. Only licenced banks can take deposits HKMA’s warning noted that firms taking such an approach to their marketing to the public are contravening the Banking Ordinance. The regulator notified the public to be aware of this fact, while crypto firms were reminded that only HKMA-licensed providers can use the term bank or take deposits from the public. “ Under the Banking Ordinance, only licensed banks , restricted licen...

The Swedish krona-based Climate Awareness Bond will be issued on a blockchain that incentivizes node operators to improve environmental footprint of infrastructure. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has issued a blockchain -based digitial bond powered by environmentally-incentivized node infrastructure. An announcement from the financial institution outlined the key points of a ‘digital native green bond’ denominated in Swedish krona. The 1 billion kr bond is set to offer a 3.638% fixed rate over two years to institutional investors. The Climate Awareness Bond is also being touted as the first blockchain -based bond to be registered on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange Securities Official List and displayed on the Luxembourg Green Exchange. The bond will operate on the recently launched sustainable blockchain digital bond platform So|bond. As Cointelegraph previously reported, the platform allows issuing, trading and settlement of digital bonds using pro-environmental incentives for it...

On this week’s episode of The Market Report, Cointelegraph’s resident expert discusses whether Bitcoin’s $28,000 support has a chance amid the recent banking crisis. In today’s Market Report episode, analyst and writer Marcel Pechman discusses whether Bitcoin’s (BTC) $28,000 support has a chance. Next, Pechman analyzes the First Republic Bank’s failure and its subsequent acquisition by JPMorgan. The show airs every Tuesday on the Cointelegraph Markets & Research YouTube channel. The first news article explains why Bitcoin margin and futures indicators are essential to decide whether whales and market makers have flipped bearish as BTC failed to break the $30,000 resistance. For starters, Pechman explains why the $340-million liquidation in leveraged futures was important and how it affects the market during surprise price moves. Using data from the OKX exchange on borrowing and lending markets, Pechamn shows how leverage was used to push Bitcoin’s price close to $30,000 on April 2...

The platform makes the first use case of a so-called “Proof of Climate” blockchain protocol. Two banks from Sweden and France announced the launch of a new digital bond platform built on blockchain technology. The platform will enable institutional clients to issue, trade and settle bonds digitally, providing a more efficient and secure process than traditional methods. The platform is a joint project of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) and Credit Agricole Bank, called “so|bond.“ According to the announcement from April 3, the blockchain network will be using a validation protocol, “Proof of Climate awaReness,” and minimizing its environmental footprint. The Proof of Climate awaReness protocol is said to enable an energy consumption comparable to non-blockchain systems, and incentivize participating nodes to improve the environmental footprint of their infrastructures. Each node will be remunerated according to a formula linked to its climate impact: the lower the environmental...

US regulators want to know from the industry on what they think about the financial crimes associated with DeFi. Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. The United States regulators want to take a closer look at money laundering and terror financing laws by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as it asked banking sector players for feedback on DeFi’s crime risks. Ethereum developers are targeting the last week of March for Ethereum’s Shanghai hard fork and some additional improvement upgrades by June of next year. Ankr protocol has deployed $15 million to buy back the bad debt resulting from its recent exploit and the resultant circulation of HAY (HAY). Chainlink deploys staking to increase the security of oracle services. Stakers will earn Chainlink (LINK) tokens as they participate in a decentralized alerting system that flags the n...

Bitcoin price is down, trading below $17,000 and raising investors’ worries that the bottom is still not in. Bitcoin (BTC) price has seen a gradual decline in its bullish momentum to hit a new monthly low at $16,736 on Dec. 3.  The move follows a market-wide decline that has already set BTC capitulation records in the aftermath of the FTX-induced contagion. Stocks started the day slightly up after losing nearly 1,000 points since the start of the week. To date, Bitcoin price remains closely correlated to equities and stock market investors have concerns about the policy discussions that will occur at the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Dec. 13. BTC correlation to equities. Arcane Research While some analysts believe Bitcoin’s bottom is near, others believe more downside is on the way due to BTC’s close correlation to DXY and equities. Let’s investigate the main reasons why the Bitcoin price is down today . On-chain data cites historic “peak realized losses” Bitco...