The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has become the newest member of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), the blockchain announced on its blog. The committee is preparing to meet on Feb. 13 for the first time in over a year. SDF supports the Stellar blockchain, which is used for crypto-fiat transfers. The foundation will be represented on the committee by chief operating officer Jason Chlipala. He wrote in the company blog that “we hope to bring the unique perspective of Layer 1 protocols” to the GMAC and: “As part of the Committee, SDF …

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appealed to the country’s presidency of the G20 group of the world’s largest economies as a pulpit to call for the development of a global regulatory framework for crypto assets. In its latest financial stability report, released Dec. 29, the bank again expressed its concerns about the burgeoning crypto ecosystem and suggested parts of it could be banned. The report was generally upbeat about current conditions in the country, despite “strong global headwinds,” saying, “the Indian economy and domestic financial system remain resilient.” The tone changed drastically in its discussion of crypto, however, …

The global population figure has just reached a huge milestone with 8 billion souls now sharing the planet. Meanwhile, while crypto adoption continues to grow. According to Worldometer, which draws estimates from a 2022 United Nations report, the global population ticked over 8 billion on Nov. 15, doubling from a population count of 4 billion in 1974 — some 48 years ago. Worldometer said that as of 2022, the population's annual growth rate sits at around 0.84%, but will continue to slow. This could mean it could take another 15 years for the world's population to reach 9 billion, while …

The domino effect of a prolonged bear market seeped into the Bitcoin (BTC) ATM ecosystem as September 2022 recorded negative growth in global net installations for the first time in history — primarily driven by a slowdown in the United States. The total number of Bitcoin ATMs installed over time fell to 37,980 in Sept. from an all-time high of 38,776 ATMs in August — resulting in a drop of -2.05%, as evidenced by data from CoinATMRadar. Data on net changes of crypto ATM installations confirm that, in September, 796 crypto ATMs were pulled off from the global network. The …

United States-based insurers are the most interested in cryptocurrency investment according to a Goldman Sachs global survey of 328 chief financial and chief investment officers regarding their firm’s asset allocations and portfolios. The investment banking giant recently released its annual global insurance investment survey, which included responses regarding cryptocurrencies for the first time, finding that 11% of U.S. insurance firms indicated either an interest in investing or a current investment in crypto. Speaking on the company’s Exchanges at Goldman Sachs podcast on Tuesday, Goldman Sachs global head of insurance asset management Mike Siegel said he was surprised to get any …

A survey from digital payment company Block Inc. has found that the higher respondents rated their own level of cryptocurrency knowledge, the more optimistic they are about the future of Bitcoin (BTC). Block surveyed more than 9,500 people from the Americas (2,375), EMEA (4,360) and APAC (2,860) regions in January, ensuring to include 100 Bitcoin owners in each region for its 2022 Bitcoin Knowledge and Perceptions Report. The report, released on Tuesday, shows a correlation between optimism and the likelihood of purchasing, and compared the result with the respondent’s self-identified level of knowledge. Of those who identified as having fair …

FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried is optimistic that clarity provided by regulators around the world will stimulate institutional adoption rates for crypto this and subsequent years. In a Jan. 3 interview with Bloomberg, SBF talked about crypto regulations, institutional adoption, and the Metaverse. Despite the rocky end to 2021 for markets, SBF is “optimistic” about 2022. “The things that make me optimistic basically are more regulatory clarity in the US and globally which I think could help a ton on institutional adoption.” When asked how he thought institutional adoption of crypto could accelerate in the future, he responded, “A …