Does Bitcoin meet the definition of a Ponzi scheme? This is the subject of the latest Cointelegraph Crypto Duel, where Bitcoin strategist at Kraken meets professor of computer science at the University of Campinas, Jorge Stolfi. Similar to other Bitcoin skeptics, Stolfi repeatedly defined Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme. The core of his argument is that Bitcoin doesn’t produce any cash flows and the money with which Bitcoin investors are paid comes exclusively from new investors buying Bitcoin. “Every time you invest in Bitcoin, the money that you invest goes to the previous investors or to the miners and disappears”, …

A senior analyst at asset management firm Bridgewater believes that regulation could potentially make Bitcoin (BTC) a good asset for institutional investors. Bridgewater director of investment research Rebecca Patterson claimed that regulatory certainty around Bitcoin would solve some of the cryptocurrency’s biggest problems associated with high volatility and low liquidity. In a Feb. 24 interview with Bloomberg, Patterson said that issues like volatility and liquidity remain the main hurdles for Bridgewater’s potential move into Bitcoin. “Right now Bitcoin can move 10% on a tweet, that’s not exactly a store of wealth for most institutional investors. So the volatility of Bitcoin …

New Ethereum-backed stablecoin RAI hopes to be the savior of the DeFi sector by providing a truly decentralized stablecoin alternative. Developed by blockchain startup Reflexer Labs, RAI is not pegged to any fiat currency and its monetary policy is managed by an on-chain, autonomous controller. It's a fork of Maker's DAI. RAI co-founder Ameen Soleimani explained: “RAI is an asset backed only by ETH, governance-minimized, and programmed to maintain its own price stability without needing to peg to an external price reference like the USD.” Soleimani believes that RAI, which he dubbed “A Money God,” has far greate potential than …

Major Russian mobile network operators like MegaFon and Beeline are considering how the digital ruble will function on their mobile devices. According to a Feb. 16 report by local news agency Izvestia, Beeline and MegaFon proposed to set up smartphone wallets for Russia’s central bank digital currency. The carriers also suggested additional services like linking a digital wallet to a customer’s phone number. This would allow users to store digital rubles directly on their smartphones as well as transfer and pay with the digital currency using smart devices, a spokesperson for MegaFon said. According to Izvestia, both MegaFon and Beeline …

Circle, the company behind the second most popular stablecoin USD Coin, has rolled out a new API that will allow for the seamless transfer of USDC to USD via automated clearinghouse (ACH) systems. The first exchange to adopt the new API will be derivatives and futures specialist FTX, looking to speed up USD settlement processes on behalf of their customers. In a blog entry, project manager Gee Chuang described how Circle’s ACH API improves connections between the fiat world and the digital world by introducing interoperability among payment rails, such as card, wire and blockchain transfers. Using the API, USD …

Major global cryptocurrency exchange Huobi is introducing Russia’s national fiat currency on its trading platform. According to a Jan. 12 announcement, Huobi Global now supports deposits and withdrawals in the Russian ruble. The new feature enables users to purchase and sell major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT), and Litecoin (LTC) for rubles. Other supported coins include EOS, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin SV (BSV), DASH, as well as two Huobi-backed tokens like Huobi Token (HT) and Huobi Pool Token (HPT). To add ruble support, Huobi partnered with AdvCash, a fiat and crypto payment processor. The …

Central bank digital currencies have been an integral part of progressive discussions within the cryptocurrency community. CBDCs are virtual representations of the fiat currency of a particular country. They are often based on blockchain technology and are issued and regulated by the official monetary organization of the country. The feature that makes them different from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) is that CBDCs are backed by the central bank’s deposits of the country’s currency and are regulated by the central bank, while cryptocurrencies are not. Cointelegraph discussed with Thomas Trépanier, director of business development for Roxe at Apifiny …

Bitcoin (BTC) poses a significant threat to the world’s reserve currency, the United States dollar, according to a strategist at major American investment bank Morgan Stanley. Ruchir Sharma, chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, believes that the dollar’s reign is likely to end due to global distrust in traditional finance, while Bitcoin is likely to capitalize on that lack of confidence. In a Dec. 9 article in The Financial Times, Sharma provided a brief outline on the history of the world’s reserve currencies, noting that the dollar’s run had lasted 100 years at the start of 2020. According …

The Bank for International Settlements and the Swiss National Bank and are exploring the benefits of implementing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, using blockchain technology. According to a Dec. 3 announcement, the BIS Innovation Hub Swiss Centre, or BISIH, has successfully completed two proofs-of-concept linking existing payment systems to a distributed ledger and settling tokenized assets with a wholesale CBDC. Known as “Project Helvetia,” the new initiative is a joint venture from the BISIH, the SNB and Switzerland’s top stock exchange, Six Group. The exchange stated that Project Helvetia explored the technological and legal feasibility of transferring digital …

Bitcoin (BTC) is just a few thousand dollars away from its all-time high near $20,000 U.S. dollars. However, while much of the crypto industry watch Bitcoin’s price action in U.S. dollar terms, BTC has already achieved all-time high prices relative to numerous other world currencies. In an Oct. 22 tweet, Alistair Milne mentioned seven countries in which Bitcoin had already reached its all-time high relative to those countries' native fiat currencies. In the same tweet, he said Colombia and Russia would soon join the list. Bitcoin recently surpassed its all-time high against the Russian ruble earlier this month. The asset …

Hiromi Yamaoka, former head of the payment and settlement systems department at the Bank of Japan, said that the country will likely need several years before it can issue a central bank digital currency. In a Nov. 17 Reuters interview, Yamaoka explained that the BoJ is concerned about a CBDC potentially triggering massive outflows from private bank deposits. Yamaoka, who now chairs a group of banks looking at building a common settlement infrastructure for digital payments, argued that there is “no point issuing a CBDC if it isn’t used widely,” stating: “The fundamental question, and a very tricky one, is …

Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, said that decentralized finance is here to stay despite many DeFi projects showing signs of being in a bubble. In a Nov. 17 interview with Russia’s news agency RBC, Zhao argued that “a lot of DeFi projects are already in a bubble, and I also believe that there are some signs of a bubble in the DeFi industry, but this does not mean that DeFi will eventually disappear entirely.” Zhao went on to say that the DeFi industry has a lot of potential for growth, noting that DeFi still …