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The latest cryptocurrency privacy battle
At the end of May the US Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) latest mass surveillance tool, the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), was launched “fully operational.” SEC-registered broker-dealers, exchanges and alternative trading systems now must collect and report trading information relating to every U.S. trade, as well as personal information from every U.S. retail brokerage client.
While this obviously impacts customers of traditional financial institutions, the personal privacy of participants in the digital asset economy could also be seriously compromised.
Marisa Coppel is the legal director of the Blockchain Association. Amanda Tuminelli serves as Chief Legal Officer of the DeFi Education Fund, where she leads the organization’s impact litigation and policy efforts.
Note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.
Designed to collect and store detailed data on customers in U.S. financial markets, the CAT will be the largest securities transaction database ever built. Although built under the guise of “allowing regulators to efficiently and accurately monitor all activity in US markets,” the CAT threatens to make massive, unchecked government surveillance a reality.
Under the SEC’s CAT requirements, regulated entities will be forced to collect a multitude of data on operations, merchants and retail customers, including customer names, addresses and account details. As for digital asset market participants, this information could end up including transaction identifiers and wallet addresses, giving those with access to the database insights into users’ future and retrospective transactions at any point in time.
The implications for the digital asset sector are worrying, especially in light of the recent finalization of Dealer regulation, which the Blockchain Association and others are pushing forward. challenge in federal courtand even more so if the SEC finalizes the proposed rule that would significantly expand the definition of what constitutes an “exchange.”
If these new rules are maintained, the new “dealers” and “exchanges” will be required to report digital asset user information to the CAT.
This means that unprecedented amounts of cryptocurrency trading data and customer personal information will remain caught in the SEC’s surveillance net. To make matters worse, CAT data is not available only to the SEC and its thousands of employees. Individually identifiable data in CAT is accessible to a network of related government agencies and self-regulating private organizations, without a warrant or reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. This greatly expands the universe of who could potentially gain access to Americans’ personal financial lives and business activities, all in the name of making the SEC’s job a little easier.
Recently former Attorney General William Barr expressed concerns on potential violations of constitutional rights that could occur due to CAT: “The Constitution prohibits mass surveillance of private businesses based merely on the possibility of someone committing a crime… Even when the government seeks information about a citizen… it must normally demonstrate that it is investigating specific alleged wrongdoings.”
However, one searches in vain for a statement from the SEC on how it will respect individual constitutional rights.
In fact, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce raised the alarm on the state implications of unchecked CAT surveillance for years, explaining that the cost “to freedom and privacy is not worth the purported benefit. After all, monitoring our trading behavior will not prevent bad events from occurring in the markets, it will only make it a a little easier to understand what happened after the fact.”
In addition to privacy concerns, this database represents the ultimate “honeypot” of information, making it particularly attractive to hackers. Although the SEC has recognized this dramatic security risk in a Proposal 2020 to improve database security, it has yet to implement changes to the CAT that would increase cybersecurity, despite organizations such as the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) sounding the alarm.
It is therefore not surprising that the SEC has already been sued twice over its implementation of the CAT database. THE American Securities Association and Citadel filed a joint petition with the 11th Circuit in October 2023 and the New Alliance for Civil Liberties filed a complaint in the Western District of Texas in April 2024 to challenge the release of CAT. While these two lawsuits are perfect examples of why the judiciary is so important in curbing gross government interference, the cryptocurrency world must recognize how antithetical the CAT is to its core ethics and the assumed privacy expectations of all Americans .
Remember, privacy is normal. We should not regress to a social norm in which privacy equals wrongdoing, especially in personal financial matters, lest we move closer to Washington DC, described in the Minority Report. One should not feel as if the government is looking over their shoulder as they complete every personal financial transaction, especially when those transactions may include the disclosure of sensitive information, such as through donations to political causes or payment for medical procedures.
As well as take the opportunity to help educate the court how friends in the ongoing lawsuits mentioned above, the crypto community should make our opposition to this latest regulatory overreach known by expressing concerns to elected representatives regarding the CAT. Overly broad financial surveillance regimes like the CAT pose a significant threat to Americans’ constitutional rights and cannot be allowed to pass into law quietly.
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Cryptocurrency Price August 1: Bitcoin Dips Below $65K; Solana, XRP Down Up To 8%
Major cryptocurrencies fell in Thursday trading following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its key interest rate unchanged. Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate at 5.25-5.5% for the eighth consecutive time, as expected, while also signaling the possibility of a rate cut at its next meeting in September. The unanimous decision by the Federal Open Market Committee reflects a continued wait-and-see approach as it monitors inflation trends.
CoinSwitch Markets Desk said: “Bitcoin has fallen below $65,000 after the US Federal Reserve announced it would keep interest rates unchanged. However, with markets now anticipating rate cuts at the next Federal Reserve meeting in September, the outlook for a Bitcoin rally by the end of the year has strengthened.”
Meanwhile, CoinDCX research team said: “The crypto market has plunged after the Fed decision. Tomorrow’s US unemployment rate announcement is expected to induce more volatility, with the ‘actual’ figure coming in higher than the ‘expected’ one, which is positive for cryptocurrencies.”
At 12:21 pm IST, Bitcoin (BTC) was down 3.2% at $64,285, while Ethereum was down nearly 4.5% at $3,313. Meanwhile, the global market cryptocurrency The market capitalization fell 3.6% to around $2.3 trillion in the last 24 hours.
“Bitcoin needs to clear its 200-day EMA at $64,510 to consolidate further. Otherwise, a retest of $62,000 could be in the cards,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.
Altcoins and meme coins, such as BNB (3%), Solana (8%), XRP (5.7%), Dogecoin (5%), Cardano (4.6%), Avalanche (4.3%), Shiba Inu (3.8%), Polkadot (3.4%), and Chainlink (4%) also saw declines.
The volume of all stablecoins is now $71.64 billion, which is 92.19% of the total cryptocurrency market volume in 24 hours, according to data available on CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 54.99%. BTC volume in the last 24 hours increased by 23.3% to $35.7 billion.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, opinions and views provided by experts are personal. They do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
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Altcoins WIF, BONK, RUNE, JUP Down 10% While Bitcoin Drops 4%
Altcoins dogwifhat, Bonk, THORChain, and Jupiter have suffered losses of more than 10%, while Bitcoin is down 4% in the last 24 hours.
After a period of relative calm yesterday, July 31, Bitcoin (BTC) price action has seen a drastic change as the cryptocurrency dropped by more than $3,500, bringing its value to $63,300. At the same time, altcoins mirrored this trend, with the total value of liquidated positions rising to nearly $225 million over the course of the day.
Initially, the week started on a positive note for Bitcoin, which reached its highest point since early June, hitting $70,000. However, this peak was short-lived, as it was quickly rejected, leading to a substantial decline, with Bitcoin falling below $65,500.
The cryptocurrency managed to regain some stability, trading comfortably at around $66,800. However, following a Press conference According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the value of Bitcoin has fallen again to $64,300, down more than 3% in 24 hours.
BTC Price Chart 24 Hours | Source: crypto.news
The recession coincided with a relationship from the New York Times stating that Iran had called for retaliatory measures against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, increasing the risk of further conflict in the region.
Meanwhile, on the economic front, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rates in place, offering little information on a planned September rate cut. Powell also hinted that while no concrete decisions have been made on the September adjustment, there is growing consensus that a rate cut is likely.
Amid Bitcoin’s decline, altcoins have suffered even more significant losses. For example, dogwifhat (Wife) saw a 12.4% drop and (DISGUST) has suffered a 10% drop. Other altcoins such as THORChain (RUNE) also fell by 10%, while Jupiter (JUPITER) and the Ethereum naming service (ENS) decreased by 8% and 9% respectively.
Among the largest-cap cryptocurrencies, the biggest losers are Solana (SOL) with a decrease of 8%, (Exchange rate risk) down 6%, Cardano (ADA) down 4%, and both Ethereum (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE) recording a decrease of 4.4%.
Data from CoinGlass indicates that approximately 67,000 traders have been negatively impacted by this increased volatility. BTC positions have seen $61.85 million in liquidations, while ETH positions have faced $61 million. In total, the value of liquidated positions stands at $225.4 million at the time of writing.
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Riot Platforms Sees 52% Drop in Bitcoin Production in Q2
Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms has released its second-quarter financial results, highlighting a decline in cryptocurrency mined due to the recent halving.
Colorado-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot platforms revealed its second quarter financial results, highlighting a significant reduction in mined cryptocurrencies attributed to the recent halving event that took place in early April.
The company reported total revenue of $70 million for the quarter ended July 31, a decline of 8.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Riot Platforms attributed the revenue decline primarily to a $9.7 million decrease in engineering revenue, which was partially mitigated by a $6 million increase in Bitcoin extraction income.
During the quarter, the company mined 844 BTC, representing a decline of over 50% from Q2 2023, citing the halving event and increasing network difficulty as major factors behind the decline. Riot Platforms reported a net loss of $84.4 million, or $0.32 per share, missing Zacks Research forecast a loss of $0.16 per share.
Halving increases competitive pressure
The Colorado-based firm said the average cost of mining one BTC in the second quarter, including energy credits, rose to $25,327, a remarkable 341% increase from $5,734 per BTC in the same quarter of 2023. Despite this significant increase in production costs, the firm remains optimistic about maintaining competitiveness through recent deals.
For example, following the Recent acquisition Cryptocurrency firm Block Mining, Riot has increased its distributed hash rate forecast from 31 EH/s to 36 EH/s by the end of 2024, while also increasing its 2025 forecast from 40 EH/s to 56 EH/s.
Riot Platforms Hashrate Growth Projections by 2027 | Source: Riot Platforms
Commenting on the company’s financials, Riot CEO Jason Les said that despite the halving, the mining company still managed to achieve “significant operational growth and execution of our long-term strategy.”
“Despite this reduction in production available to all Bitcoin miners, Riot reported $70 million in revenue for the quarter and maintained strong gross margins in our core Bitcoin mining business.”
Jason Les
Following its Q2 financial report, Riot Platforms shares fell 1.74% to $10.19, according to Google Finance data. Meanwhile, the American miner continues to chase Canadian rival Bitfarms, recently acquiring an additional 10.2 million BITF shares, increasing its stake in Bitfarms to 15.9%.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Riot was the first announced a $950 million takeover bid for Bitfarms in late May, arguing that Bitfarms’ founders were not acting in the best interests of all shareholders. They said their proposal was rejected by Bitfarms’ board without substantive engagement.
In response, Bitfarms She said that Riot’s offer “significantly understates” its growth prospects. Bitfarms subsequently implemented a shareholder rights plan, also known as a “poison pill,” to protect its strategic review process from hostile takeover attempts.
News
Aave Price Increases Following Whales Accumulation and V3.1 Launch
Decentralized finance protocol Aave is seeing a significant spike in whale activity as the market looks to recover from the recent crash that pushed most altcoins into key support areas earlier this week.
July 31, Lookonchain shared details indicating that the whales had aggressively accumulated Aave (AAVE) over the past two days. According to the data, whales have withdrawn over 58,848 AAVE worth $6.47 million from exchanges during this period.
In one instance, whale address 0x9af4 withdrew 11,185 AAVE worth $1.23 million from Binance. Meanwhile, another address moved 21,619 AAVE worth over $2.38 million from the exchange and deposited the tokens into Aave.
These withdrawals follow a previous transfer of 26,044 AAVE from whale address 0xd7c5, amounting to over $2.83 million withdrawn from Binance.
AAVE price has surged over 7% in the past 24 hours amid buy-side pressure from these whales. The DeFi token is currently trading around $111 after jumping over 18% in the past week.
Recently, the price of AAVE increased by over 8% after Aave founder Marc Zeller announced a proposed fee change aimed at adopting a buyback program for AAVE tokens.
Aave v3.1 is available
The total value locked in the Aave protocol currently stands at around $22 billion. According to DeFiLlamaApproximately $19.9 billion is on Aave V3, while the V2 chain still holds approximately $1.9 billion in TVL and V1 approximately $14.6 million.
Aave Labs announced Previously, Aave V3.1 was made available on all networks with active Aave V3 instances.
V3.1 features improvements that are intended to improve the overall security of the DeFi protocol. The Aave DAO governance has approved the v3.1 improvements, which also include operational efficiency and usability for the network.
Meanwhile, Aave Labs recently outlined a ambitious roadmap for the projectwith a 2030 vision for Aave V4, among other developments.
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