• US Added Over Half Bitcoin Market Cap in Debt in a Day
On October 4, Bitcoin pioneer Samson Mow compared the epic debt increase to Bitcoin’s market cap. It turned out to be more than half of that figure, around $267 billion. “That’s something like 10 million BTC. And yet there are still people that are unsure if $27k is a good price to buy.”
Furthermore, it is more than the entire market cap of Ethereum, which is just under $200 billion at the moment. It also works out at about a quarter of the entire crypto market cap being added to the debt pile in just a day.
• Biden announces $9 billion more in student debt relief
U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that his administration has approved an additional $9 billion in student debt relief for 125,000 borrowers.
Biden has said he will pursue new measures to provide student loan relief to Americans after the Supreme Court blocked his plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in debt.
The president said the latest announcement brought the total approved debt cancellation by the his administration to $127 billion for nearly 3.6 million Americans.
“This kind of relief is life changing for individuals and their families. But it’s good for our economy as a whole as well,” he told reporters.
• Crypto cards facilitated $3B payment volume since 2021 exchange deals — Visa exec
The integration of conventional payment cards with cryptocurrency exchanges is playing a crucial role in driving the adoption of digital assets, according to a Visa executive.
Speaking to Cointelegraph reporter Ezra Reguerra during a panel at the Blockchain Economy Dubai Summit, Visa’s vice president, head of innovation and design, Akshay Chopra, highlighted the role that Visa cards have played as a bridge between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies in recent years.
According to Chopra, using cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for everyday items like a cup of coffee at a cafe is still not ubiquitous. To tackle this challenge, Visa partnered with 75 of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in 2021 to allow them to issue Visa cards.
• SEC’s Motion to Appeal Loss in Ripple Case Is Denied
A federal judge has rejected the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s bid to appeal its ground-shaking loss against Ripple, the crypto company associated with the XRP token.
District Judge Analisa Torres said in a brief ruling Tuesday that the SEC had failed to meet its burden under the law to show that there were controlling questions of law or that there are substantial grounds for differences of opinion.
The decision isn’t a complete loss for the SEC, though. The judge set an April 2024 trial date for other issues that still need resolution. The agency may still try to appeal the overall case after.
• Chainalysis: Hong Kong and China’s OTC Markets Remain Active Despite Crypto Winter
below China’s $86.4 billion, during the last year despite the territory having a much smaller population, and the global chill through crypto markets.
While data shows that the value of transactions in both China and Hong Kong have dropped over the last year because of Beijing’s continued strict prohibition on crypto assets and a prolonged downturn in the crypto market, Chainalysis argues that the presence of large OTC markets – and their relative stability in the face of both regional and global decline – shows a certain degree of tolerance by Beijing to crypto.
“The increasingly close relationship between China and Hong Kong leads some to speculate that Hong Kong’s growing status as a crypto hub may signal that the Chinese government is reversing course on digital assets, or at least becoming more open to crypto initiatives,” it said in its report.
• Canadian regulatory body clarifies stablecoin rules for exchanges and issuers
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) has provided guidance to exchanges and cryptocurrency issuers on its interim approach to what it calls value-referenced crypto assets, with a particular focus on stablecoins.
On Oct. 5, the umbrella organization of Canada’s provincial and territorial securities regulators published a clarification saying it may allow trading of certain cryptocurrencies that reference the value of a single fiat currency, subject to terms and conditions.
However, if issuers maintain an appropriate reserve of assets with a qualified custodian and crypto exchanges offering stablecoins make “certain information related to governance, operations, and reserve of assets publicly available,” then the CSA could allow those assets to be traded.
Concluding Notes:
- US Added Over Half Bitcoin Market Cap in Debt in a Day
- Biden announces $9 billion more in student debt relief
- Crypto cards facilitated $3B payment volume since 2021
- SEC’s Motion to Appeal Loss in Ripple Case Is Denied
- Hong Kong and China’s OTC Markets Remain Active Despite Crypto Winter
- Canadian regulatory body clarifies stablecoin rules
