The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 93: Digital currency firms feel ‘winter’ nip, investors bet against Tether, blockchain makes more progress

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxQGmlYu2uY

There’s no light at the end of the tunnel just yet in the world of digital currency as troubles continue for firms caught up in the recent volatility of the market.

Loan company Celsius Network may be preparing for the worst. The Wall Street journal reports that the company has hired restructuring consultants to advise on a possible bankruptcy filing.

This comes after Celsius Network froze withdrawals and transfers in June due to “extreme” market conditions.

The firm has lost over half of its value in assets since last year, down from about US$25 billion in October to US$11.8 billion in May.

Meanwhile, shares of digital currency firm Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) fall even further after analysts of Goldman Sachs downgraded the firm to a ‘sell’ rating amid the so-called crypto “winter.”

Coinbase started the final week of June with an 11% slump, bringing its total decline this year to 78% as of June 27. Goldman Sachs analyst William Nance explained the reason for the downgrade in their report.

“We believe Coinbase will need to make substantial reductions in its cost base in order to stem the resulting cash burn as retail trading activity dries up,” commented Nance.

In related news, traditional hedge funds are increasingly shorting stablecoin Tether.

According to a separate report by the Wall Street Journal, short positions against Tether are now worth hundreds of millions of dollars, with some investors having been shorting the stablecoin for at least a year.

Interest by short sellers shot up even more after the dramatic collapse of the Terra stablecoin in May.

Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino spoke out on Twitter after the WSJ report came out. He claims some hedge funds are simply trying to cause further panic in the market, tweeting: “It really seemed from the beginning a coordinated attack, with a new wave of FUD, troll armies, clowns, etc.”

1/
I have been open about the attempts from some hedge funds that were trying to cause further panic on the market after TERRA/LUNA collapse.
It really seemed from the beginning a coordinated attack, with a new wave of FUD, troll armies, clowns etc. https://t.co/hhcsgHV1Ow

— Paolo Ardoino 🤖🍐 (@paoloardoino) June 27, 2022

Still, despite a slowdown in the digital currency space, blockchain technology continues to move forward.

The Philippine central bank is ramping up its research on deploying its own wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), setting a target to launch a pilot case study within the year.

CoinGeek’s Claire Celdran spoke with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Assistant Governor Edna Villa in an online interview. Villa said they’re aiming for 50% digitalization of financial transactions by 2023 and 70% of Filipino adults obtaining financial transaction account

She adds the response from banks to the BSP plan so far has been positive.

“There is great interest to join the BSP in understanding the technology because it all begins from there,” Villa said. “You need to understand the technology first.”

Meanwhile, more countries are now able to top up with a debit or credit card on HandCash! The digital wallet provider announced that the feature is now available in over 30 more countries in Europe.

 These countries are: Andorra, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and Northern Ireland.

HandCash unveiled its new top-up feature earlier this year to allow users to more easily access and use BSV through the app.

And even more good news: the BSV Blockchain Engineer Qualification Programme is online!

Keyi Tech and the Chinese Software Developer Network (CSDN) collaborated on the project, with The Introduction to Bitcoin Theory course having debuted in June.

Those who successfully pass the final exam will be awarded a “Certificate for Preliminary Qualification of Blockchain Engineers” from the CSDN Capabilities Certification Centre in collaboration with the BSV Academy.

This week on More Than Money, join Patrick Thompson as he catches up with BlockQuake co-founder and CEO Antonio Brasse and part-owner and advisor Chad Anderson. You can also listen to Bitcoin creator Dr. Craig S. Wright discuss IPv6 and its symbiotic relationship with the BSV blockchain at the Global IoT summit in Dublin, Ireland. Watch these videos on the CoinGeek YouTube channel. 

Watch the BSV Global Blockchain Convention Dubai 2022 Day 1 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggbZ8YedpBE

Watch the BSV Global Blockchain Convention Dubai 2022 Day 2 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzJsCRb6zt8

Watch the BSV Global Blockchain Convention Dubai 2022 Day 3 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzSCrXf1Ywc