2024-10-28 17:27

But the leading stablecoin issuer is comfortable holding its T-bills at a U.S. institution because it respects international sanctions, CEO Ardoino said in an interview. Tether is doing "the best we can" to crack down on illicit crypto use, CEO Paolo Ardoino told CoinDesk. USDT's role in illicit finance is a "drop in the ocean" compared to the U.S. dollar's, he added. The company "doesn't expect any political favors by anyone," he said of Howard Lutnick's role in Donald Trump's campaign. A WSJ report Friday said Tether is under U.S. criminal investigation, which the company denied. LUGANO, SWITZERLAND – As crypto colossus Tether comes under renewed scrutiny, CEO Paolo Ardoino told CoinDesk that the company respects international sanctions and works closely with law enforcement, but acknowledged it is ultimately at the mercy of U.S. authorities. "If the U.S. wanted to kill us, they can press a button and kill us anywhere," Ardoino said. "We are not going to fight the U.S." "We may not be the best in presenting ourselves, but what matters is that we onboarded the FBI" to Tether's compliance systems, he added. "We onboarded the U.S. Secret Service. We have thank-you letters from the DOJ … We think we are doing, you know, the best we can." CoinDesk interviewed Ardoino at the Plan B conference on Friday hours before The Wall Street Journal published an article alleging that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is conducting a criminal investigation of Tether for possible violations of sanctions and anti-money-laundering laws. Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptos dipped on the report. Ardoino later posted on X he had seen "no indication that Tether is under investigation," and Tether called the Journal story "wildly irresponsible." Also last week, Politico reported on potential conflicting interests of key Tether ally Howard Lutnick, CEO of Wall Street bond-trading powerhouse Cantor Fitzgerald, which custodies most of Tether's $80 billion U.S. Treasury bill holdings. Lutnick also serves as the head of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's transition team. Tether coming into the crosshairs of U.S. authorities could reverberate across the $2 trillion global digital asset market. The company is a crucial player in the crypto ecosystem; its $120 billion market cap (USDT) by far the industry's largest stablecoin, serves as the main form of liquidity on trading venues, and is increasingly used as a payment vehicle in emerging countries. Cantor and Tether When asked about the possibility of U.S. authorities holding leverage over Tether through its reserve assets held with the U.S.-based Cantor, Ardoino said that the company "cannot hide." "Wherever you hold T-bills, the T-bills are actually ultimately in the Fed account." he said, referring to the Federal Reserve system. "The reason why I'm comfortable to be with Cantor is that we respect OFAC." The Office of Foreign Assets Control is an office in the U.S. Treasury Department tasked with enforcing sanctions against countries and individuals, including terrorists and narcotics traffickers. Asked about USDT's role in illicit finance, Ardoino replied that it's "a drop in the ocean" compared to what the U.S. dollar used for. "No one is perfect, but look at the fines that the banks paid for helping drug lords," he said. For example, TD Bank this month agreed to pay over $3 billion in fines for failing to properly monitor money laundering by drug cartels. Ardoino said that Tether has been proactive in freezing and blacklisting crypto wallets and the company works with 180 government agencies around the world. "The message that we're giving is very loud and clear: You have to be a very, very, very stupid criminal if you want to use USDT or crypto in general," he said. U.S. Elections Speaking about the upcoming U.S. election's potential ramifications for digital asset regulations and for Tether, Ardoino said that he's hopeful that whoever wins will understand the potential of crypto and stablecoins. "When it comes to stablecoins, I think it's easier for them to see it," he said. "The Chinese are selling T-bills and we are buying them now. I think the U.S. government and regulators came to the conclusion that, 'oh yeah, that's a great thing.'" Tether's U.S Treasury holdings rank the company among top 20 countries, topping even those of Germany. Asked about Cantor Fitzgerald and Howard Lutnick's political role, Ardoino said working with him was part of Tether's four-year journey from a $10 billion issuer using small banks to a large operation that needs an "Ivy League custodian" for its T-bill holdings. "What made the difference was Howard [Lutnick] publicly affirming that his firm had done due diligence on Tether and telling everyone 'we have their money,'" he said. "We don't expect any political favors by anyone," Ardoino said. He said that Tether has made significant efforts to advance financial inclusion, and "Democrats should understand the need for financial inclusion better than anyone else." Meanwhile, the company is a big buyer of U.S. debt, which should be compelling to Republicans interested in preserving the U.S. dollar's hegemony. "What we're building makes sense for both parties," he concluded. "I think that either way, [U.S. regulations] will turn out to be a positive thing." https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/10/28/tethers-paolo-ardoino-if-the-us-government-wanted-to-kill-us-they-can-press-a-button/

2024-10-28 15:59

The endowment also reported a modest holding in crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN). Emory University has disclosed holdings of Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust and Coinbase. The university has seemingly become the first endowment to invest in the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Add Atlanta-based Emory University to the list of institutional investors taking a shine to bitcoin (BTC). The university disclosed ownership of more than $15 million worth of shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. According to a top ETF analyst, the announcement marks the first endowment to publicly report exposure to bitcoin. Emory also reported holding 4,312 shares of Coinbase, valued at $922,639 as of press time. The university's total assets stood at $21 billion as of August 2023, according to its most recent annual report. Endowments are created to fund non-profit institutions like hospitals, churches or universities. Up until now, it appears no other endowment has previously publicly reported a bitcoin ETF position, according to Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. Similar to pension funds, endowment funds prefer a risk-averse approach to their investments, making Emory’s allocation into a bitcoin ETF notable. Pension funds, such as the State of Wisconsin, have previously reported holdings of the bitcoin ETFs. Additionally, the municipal pension plan of Jersey City, New Jersey, announced that it would allocate 2% of its assets into the ETFs. Grayscale’s mini BTC fund launched much later than its counterparts, after the asset manager’s flagship bitcoin trust (GBTC), bled large amounts of assets largely due to its relatively high fee of 1.5%. Despite its late start, the newer product has quickly become one of the more successful bitcoin funds, currently standing in sixth place by assets under management with roughly $2.3 billion worth of bitcoin, according to Bloomberg data. CoinDesk previously has reported on universities in investing in bitcoin, with Harvard, Yale and Brown all buying the cryptocurrency directly from Coinbase. Some of them have had accounts with the crypto exchange since 2019. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/10/28/emory-university-joins-bitcoin-etf-rush-reporting-16m-holding-in-grayscale-vehicle/

2024-10-28 15:55

Retail-focused Sazmining is starting a modest-sized bitcoin mining operation, using hydropower, in a small Norwegian fishing town. Sazmining is setting up a bitcoin (BTC) mining site in northern Norway that will heat a large building in a fishing village. The firm's CEO, Kent Halliburton, told CoinDesk that other local businesses might spin up similar facilities. The miner doesn't foresee regulatory scrutiny, despite the country's previous restrictions on bitcoin mining. A bitcoin (BTC) mine is coming to the Arctic Circle. The 350-square-meter facility, conceived by retail-oriented bitcoin mining firm Sazmining, will be located in a small fishing village on the coast of Norway. Once it goes live on Dec. 1, it may well become the northernmost mining operation in the world. The big idea? To remove the old oil boiler used by one of the town's largest buildings, replace it with an in-house bitcoin-centric data center and warm the edifice using the tremendous heat produced by the mining rigs. "Heat is a really critical resource in this region of the world," Kent Halliburton, the CEO of Sazmining, told CoinDesk in an interview. "It's minus 20 degrees Celsius for large portions of the year. … A portion of the heat [from the machines] is actually going to be shunted off to dry fish, which is part of the economy there." While Halliburton did not wish to publicize the facility's exact location before it went live, he said the project aimed to showcase the possibilities offered by bitcoin mining to other Arctic residents. "For the locals, it's kind of like, you need to see it to believe it," Halliburton said. "This will be helpful for them to understand that it's not bleeding edge technology, but it's pretty tested and it can be deployed now." "There are multiple business owners in the community already considering this approach," he added. How the Arctic bitcoin mine works Mining rigs are designed to perform intense computational processes, and they get quite hot. There are a few ways to cool them down, such as with fans or by immersing them in big tubs of dielectric fluid. Sazmining's operation – which will have 2.6 megawatts (MW) of total energy capacity – will use a different method: running coolant into the machines themselves through small channels that absorb the heat, then extract it and push it out to the rest of the building. The set-up comes with unique infrastructural challenges. For example, the firm needs to make sure not to generate too much heat and make people in the building uncomfortable, Halliburton said, which is why the miner, quite paradoxically, had to also install a dry cooler on top of the building to help regulate the temperature. But it does come with perks, too. Liquid cooling means the machines will be very quiet and won't bother anyone in the building. Visitors will be able to see the mining rigs through a plexiglass wall, Halliburton said. It's not the first operation looking to recycle the heat produced by its own mining machines. There's a spa in Manhattan that uses a similar process for its swimming pools, and it's not unheard of for solo miners to warm up their apartments or greenhouses this way, either. Win-win? Sazmining has two other mining locations: one in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and another in Paraguay. The firm's business model involves allowing retail investors to buy their own mining rigs and let Sazmining operate them in a carbon-neutral fashion for a 15% share of one's block rewards, according to the company's website. The Norwegian project wasn't really conceived as an experiment, Halliburton said. Mining has become incredibly competitive in the wake of the fourth Bitcoin halving (which cut mining profitability by 50%), and the deal simply made economic sense for both parties involved. "The building is paying us for the heat instead of having to pay for oil for the boiler," he said. Norway's abundance of hydropower means that electricity is very cheap, and that the mining operation will be running almost completely on green energy. In fact, with a service fee of $0.046 per kilowatt hour, Sazmining clients should be able to acquire bitcoin for less than $54,000, Halliburton said. For comparison, B Riley Securities recently said that the estimated average power costs for the sector is around $0.045 per kilowatt-hour. (Bitcoin's price is currently just below $70,000.) "There's just this excess thing that we can turn into money," he said. "Basically, we're using an electron to hash [mine bitcoin], but we can use that same electron to heat the place. You get two uses for the same electron." However, it remains to be seen if everyone else in the nation feels as positive about it. Norwegian lawmakers moved earlier this year to put restrictions on bitcoin mining as part of an effort to provide a proper regulatory framework for data centers of all kinds. Bitcoin mining "is associated with large greenhouse-gas emissions and is an example of a type of business we do not want in Norway," Terje Aasland, the country's minister of energy, reportedly said. But Halliburton says the Norwegian government is simply undergoing an education process, and Sazmining's facility is meant to help showcase the benefits of bitcoin mining. "Because our data center is heating the building, it would be very hard for legislators to justify turning it off since it would jeopardize life in such a cold client during the winter months, so no, we do not see legislation being a problem in the future," Halliburton said. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/10/28/a-bitcoin-miner-is-setting-up-in-the-arctic-circle-to-heat-up-building-in-fishing-village/

2024-10-28 11:18

Elections in Georgia were more focused on whether or not the country should align further with the European Union or Russia. Politicians in Austria and Georgia did not put a particular focus on crypto to sway voters in their elections, unlike the emphasis seen in Japan. Georgia saw its ruling party the Georgian Dream Party get the most votes, and Austria's far right Freedom party won in that nation's parliamentary election. In many other countries around the world, political parties chose to make their approach to crypto clear before elections commenced. Political leaders in Austria, like other European Union nations, did not tap into the global crypto policy debate to sway voters during its recent election. In the run up to its election over the weekend Georgia, which has candidate status in the EU, was likewise quiet on the issue. Nations such as the U.K. and others in Europe had already established how they wanted to regulate the sector before their elections, so little needed to be said about crypto before their polls opened. The U.S., where exchanges have been calling for bespoke rules, stands in stark contrast. Crypto has come up often prior to the Nov. 5 general election, and in Japan, politicians leaned on the need to reform crypto tax ahead of the general election which saw Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party's coalition lose its majority. "Crypto and digital assets policy in the EU [European Union] isn't really a partisan issue," Mark Foster, EU policy lead at the Crypto Council for Innovation said. This was evident in the EU Parliament election, where no single party focused more on crypto issues. Austria's recent national election marked the far-right Freedom Party's win in the Austrian parliament. The party won 29.2% of the vote and beat the ruling center-right People’s Party that came in second place with 26.5% of the vote. The winning party's policies centered around immigration and the cost of living, but other Austrian parties have said they won't work with it, leading to the nation's President Alexander Van der Bellen asking the incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer to form a new government. Politicians there did not lean into crypto discussions on the way to the Freedom Party's parliamentary win. Austria is part of the European Union, a block of 27 nations that are already on their way to enforcing the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation, tailored rules for the sector. MiCA passed into law last year and will fully come into force in December. Georgia, which cooperates politically and economically as an EU candidate, implemented regulations that required crypto companies to get registration in 2023. In the election over the weekend, voters chose to side with the ruling Georgian Dream Party, which secured around 54% of the vote. The elections were portrayed by parties as a choice between aligning further with Europe or Russia so, choosing the Georgian Dream Party signified a move towards the latter. The pro-European opposition parties are disputing the results. However, the United National Movement (UNM) – a political opposition party in Georgia – recently joined up with Rarilabs to release a new blockchain solution for public administration leading up to the election. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/10/28/crypto-policy-didnt-occupy-the-spotlight-in-elections-in-austria-georgia/

2024-10-28 11:06

The investment bank initiated coverage of the bitcoin miner with a buy rating and a $19 price target. Jefferies initiated coverage of bitcoin miner Core Scientific with a buy rating and a $19 price target. The company is uniquely positioned to capture the recent trend of surging demand from AI companies, the report said. The company's mining operations are profitable and becoming more efficient, the report said. Core Scientific (CORZ) is uniquely well positioned to capture surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand given the company's large available power supply and strong data center development team, Jefferies said in a Monday research report initiating coverage of the bitcoin miner. The bank assumed coverage of the stock with a buy rating and a $19 price target. The shares were 1.7% higher at $13.60 in early trading. "We expect that many big tech companies will be closely watching the CoreWeave developments and successful execution will convince decision makers to sign future development leases with CORZ," analysts Jonathan Petersen and Jan Aygul wrote. Core signed a 12-year AI contract with hyperscaler CoreWeave in June, in a landmark deal for the industry. The bitcoin miner is expected to diversify its tenant base to other hyperscalers, Jefferies said, noting that management has said it expects to make further announcements by year-end. While the economics of any future AI deals may not be as favorable as the CoreWeave lease, they are still expected to be very accretive, Jefferies said. The company's bitcoin mining operations remain profitable and are getting more efficient, the note said. A material expansion of Core's bitcoin mining business is not expected. Still, over time, it is assumed that the company will reach a stable number of ASIC miners and will continue to refresh that fleet, the report added. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/10/28/btc-miner-core-scientific-uniquely-positioned-to-capture-ai-demand-initiate-at-buy-jefferies/

2024-10-28 09:53

The index will go live on Nov. 15. HKEX said the index will provide investors with transparent and reliable benchmarks for Bitcoin and Ether pricing in the Asian time zone. The company's CEO said it would "reinforce Hong Kong's role as an international financial center". Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) will launch a virtual asset index series on Nov. 15, the company announced on Monday. "By offering transparent and reliable real-time benchmarks, we seek to enable investors to make informed investment decisions, which will in turn support the development of the virtual asset ecosystem and reinforce Hong Kong's role as an international financial center,” said HKEX CEO, Bonnie Y Chan. The index will be administered and calculated by CCData, a UK-registered benchmark administrator and virtual asset data and index provider. CCData is owned by CoinDesk. The index series will include a reference index for bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), as well as a reference rate for bitcoin and ether. The reference index is a 24-hour volume weighted reference spot price of bitcoin or ether, using prices aggregated from top-rated virtual asset exchanges. It will be calculated in real-time and denominated in U.S. dollars. The reference rate is designed for the settlement of financial products, calculated daily at 4:00 pm Hong Kong time. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/10/28/hong-kong-exchanges-and-clearing-to-launch-crypto-index-in-november/