Weekly News Dec 21, 2022

Dec 21, 2022

The Bank of Japan has announced a policy change to loosen the limits on bond yields.
The Bank of Japan will increase its monthly bond purchases to $67 billion from around $55 billion.
The Bank of Japan will maintain its current inflation target until it can be maintained in a “stable manner”.
The Bank of Japan has argued that the current inflation levels are largely driven by supply constraints, not the heightened demand it aims to create.
The Bank of Japan has said it would stick to the bank’s current rate policy until the bank achieved sustainable, demand-driven inflation of 2 percent.

Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point and signaled plans to keep raising them more in 2023
The Fed is on track to hike rates past 5 percent next year.
Inflation has cooled more than expected over the past two months.
The markets reacted mixed to the news of further rate hikes.
The Fed's plans for further hikes could change significantly.
The full force of the Fed's decisions won't seize the economy for months to come.

Peer-to-peer marketplace Paxful has removed Ethereum from its platform due to a switch from a proof-of-work consensus model to proof-of-stake. CEO Ray Youssef believes this switch has made Ethereum a digital form of fiat, which goes against his preference for Bitcoin. Ethereum's switch has reduced energy consumption, but Youssef is concerned about crypto scams enabled by Ethereum's token creation. He is also concerned about the decentralization of Ethereum, which is governed by a smaller group of software engineers.
Ethereum's switch to a proof-of-stake consensus model has been viewed by many in the industry as a positive step towards reducing energy consumption.
Bitcoin's proof-of-work consensus model is seen by some as the most secure based on its design to add new blocks to an existing chain.
Ethereum's token creation capabilities have been linked to an increase in crypto scams.
Bitcoin Core developers have been relatively stable in number over the past three years and growing.

Women and people of color have made substantial gains in the film industry over the past decade.
Astrolucha is a utility non-fungible token (NFT) collection designed to help fund films, TV series, and other media for marginalized groups.
Blockchain technology can be used to democratize film and create an inclusive decision-making fan and creator community.
Traditional top-down industry structures may prevent some creators from connecting with their viewers but blockchain can disrupt it.
The success of films may not be shared equally among all workers and this will change in the future.
Traditional film makes may also compete with AI creators where everything from script, locations to actors, video etc will be AI generated and more realistic. Disruption is coming!

The Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS) of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has endorsed a new global standard for banks’ exposure to crypto assets.
The standard sets a limit of 2% on crypto reserves among banks and must be implemented on Jan. 1, 2025.
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision will incorporate the standard into the consolidated Basel Framework.
The global banking system's direct exposure to digital assets remains relatively low.
Unbacked cryptoassets and stablecoins with ineffective stabilisation mechanisms will be subject to a conservative prudential treatment.

#Grayscale's products, including $GBTC, are secure and adhere to U.S. financial rules and regulations. There are risk management guard rails in place, third-party audits of financial statements and transparency. DCG and Genesis Global Capital are affiliates and shareholders of GBTC, but do not impact operations. They are limited to selling a limited number of shares into the public markets every three months.
#Grayscale remains committed to their goal of converting $GBTC to an ETF and has received strong support from various industry experts. They are currently in the process of responding to the SEC's reply brief, with oral arguments and a ruling to follow.
#Grayscale is confident that their legal challenge will be successful, but they are considering other options to return a portion of GBTC's capital to shareholders, including a tender offer of up to 20% of the shares. This would require approval from the SEC and shareholders. If these options are unsuccessful, they intend to continue operating $GBTC without an ongoing redemption program until they can convert it to an ETF.

Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, is attempting to restore confidence after customer withdrawals and a drop in the value of its digital token. However, its finances remain largely hidden from public view, and the company is under investigation by the US Justice Department for possible money laundering and sanctions violations. Binance has not disclosed its financials since 2018 and has actively avoided oversight.

In 2022, there were two NFT markets: the early speculation and the subsequent drop in prices and trading activity. 10 projects stood out in terms of trading demand, with the best performer being Otherside which generated $1.1 billion of trading volume over the year. Axie Infinity, Sorare, Doodles, CryptoPunks, CloneX, Moonbirds, and Azuki were also among the top performing collections.

Trump has previously expressed skepticism about the cryptocurrency sector, stating that he didn't like it because it competed against the dollar.
The proceeds from the sales of the NFTs will go to Trump himself under a licensing deal.
Not all of Trump's supporters are on board with the NFT launch. Some of Trump's aides have voiced concern over the licensing deal.

Decentralize Your Life