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Former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Joins Cryptocurrency Firm Coinbase as Advisor

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Antonio Villaraigosa, who was mayor of Los Angeles for eight years, is joining cryptocurrency company Coinbase as a political consultant, the company said Tuesday. (Max Whittaker/For The Times)

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa doesn’t own any cryptocurrencies – at least not yet. But he’s about to become a player in the industry’s push for friendlier rules for cryptocurrencies.

Trading platform Coinbase announced Tuesday that Villaraigosa, a Democrat who was mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013, is taking a paid role on its global advisory board.

In an interview with The Times, Villaraigosa said he will not lobby on behalf of Coinbase, but that he is advising the company to ensure a “robust and fair regulatory framework” for American customers.

Villaraigosa will focus on how to make financial systems more equitable for Black and Latinx customers, Coinbase said. The firm estimated that about 41% of American crypto investors are Black or Latino.

“Crypto users participate in our democracy just like anyone else,” Villaraigosa said. “They need regulatory protection.”

Villaraigosa’s hiring is part of a broader publicity and lobbying effort by Coinbase following years of conflict between the industry and federal regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Criminal investigations recently took down two of the crypto industry’s best-known figures: former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March, and former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty last year to a money laundering charge.

Coinbase and other companies have said the U.S. should be friendlier to the industry and that clearer rules are needed to help American crypto companies compete with exchanges in countries with less stringent rules.

regulations.

The industry has been spending heavily in the 2024 election cycle, signaling its willingness to boost candidates who support crypto priorities in Washington and oust those who do not.

See more information: How Cryptocurrency Executives Helped Decide the California Senate Primary

The political advisory board that Villaraigosa is joining includes former Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, a Democrat, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, as well as political veterans like John Anzalone, the Hillary campaign pollster. Clinton in 2016 and President Biden’s Campaign in 2020.

Villaraigosa brings a “body politic feel” to the group, said Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer at Coinbase.

He “understands the broader public attitude, public opinion, public sentiment, in a way that has been really helpful,” Shirzad added.

The story continues

Villaraigosa said he would help Coinbase’s efforts to promote a “level playing field,” including for the stablecoin, a form of cryptocurrency that is apparently pegged 1-to-1 to the value of the U.S. dollar.

See more information: Meet some of the biggest donors shaping California’s U.S. Senate race

Villaraigosa said crypto is a promising alternative for Black and Latino investors who have faced racial discrimination at traditional banks. He added that crypto platforms can also serve as an alternative for people sending money to family members in other countries, known as remittances.

People in the United States sent more than US$81 billion abroad in 2022, according to the World Bank. The average rate for a $200 remittance payment worldwide was 6.18% on third quarter of last yearsaid the organization.

The cost of sending money to family members through crypto platforms like Coinbase is “de minimis,” or lower, in comparison, Villaraigosa said.

Since leaving Los Angeles City Hall in 2013, Villaraigosa has taught at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and worked as a partner at the consultancy Actum. He mounted a gubernatorial campaign in 2018, finishing third in the primary behind Gov. Gavin Newsom and Republican John Cox.

In 2022, Newsom took advantage of Villaraigosa to be a top consultant on infrastructure issues, tasked with helping identify projects that could get federal funding from Biden’s infrastructure law.

Villaraigosa too worked as a counselor to Banc of California, multi-level marketing company Herbalife and health clinic chain AltaMed.

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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.

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Bitcoin

RIOT, MARA and CLSK shares at risk

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Bitcoin price nears key support: RIOT, MARA, and CLSK stocks at risk

Bitcoin (BTC) Mining stocks like Riot Platforms (RIOT), Marathon Digital (MARA) and CleanSpark (CLSK) retreated in pre-market trading as BTC retreated.

RIOT, MARA and CLSK all fell more than 2%, while other crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN) fell 1.5%.

Bitcoin sell-off continues

Crypto-linked stocks retreated as Bitcoin resumed its downtrend on Wednesday. After rising to $63,750 on Monday, BTC is hovering at $60,0000 and it is unclear whether it will recover.

More importantly, Bitcoin is dangerously close to the crucial support at $58,273, which is the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA). The next support level for Bitcoin is $56,426, representing its lowest level in May.

Bitcoin Price Chart

If Bitcoin drops below this price, it will be a sign that the bears have prevailed, which could take it to the $50,000 level, if not below.

This decline happened after a whale deposited nearly 2,000 Bitcoins to Binance in two separate transactions. While this isn’t always the case, deposits to exchanges often happen when holders are exiting their positions.

The whales’ action coincided with a period in which the German government continues to sell off its Bitcoin holdings. It transferred $52 million worth of coins to exchanges on Tuesday.

As a result, data from CoinGlass shows that the volume of Bitcoin balances on exchanges has started to increase. The volume rose to 2.49 million on Tuesday, from last month’s low of 2.47 million.

Bitcoin Balances

Bitcoin balances on exchanges

Bitcoin Mining Companies at Risk

If the Bitcoin sell-off continues, it will put Bitcoin mining companies like Marathon, CleanSpark, and Riot Platforms at risk. These companies have tended to have a close correlation with Bitcoin in the past.

This drop is happening a few months after the halving event, reducing the amount of Bitcoins that miners receive.

To compensate for this drop, most of these companies have added their mining equipment. CleanSpark has reached a hash rate of 20 EH/swhich helped her mine 445 coins in June after mining 417 coins the previous month. She did this after purchasing 5 mining sites in Georgia.

Digital Marathon mined 590 coins in June, down 40% from the same month in 2023 and flat from May.

Riot Platforms, on the other hand, focused on acquiring Bitfarms, a company that mined 189 coins in June.

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Michael Saylor Issues Statement on Bitcoin Amid Crypto Market Sell-Off by U.Today

TokenTrends Staff

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Michael Saylor issues statement on Bitcoin amid crypto market sell-off

U.Today – Amid an ongoing sell-off in the cryptocurrency market, Michael Saylor, a prominent advocate and president of MicroStrategy, made a statement on X (Twitter) that reverberated across the crypto space: “Just Bitcoin.”

This two-word tweet comes as the cryptocurrency market faces significant sell-offs as the price of Bitcoin plummets.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, began its decline in Tuesday’s trading session, hitting $63,223 at one point before falling further.

Losses deepened on Wednesday as investors considered remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, with Bitcoin hitting intraday lows of $59,509. At the time of writing, BTC is down 2.85% over the past 24 hours to $60,274.

According to data from CoinGlass, the sell-off has resulted in a significant amount of cryptocurrencies being liquidated in the past 24 hours, totaling over $166 million. However, this has not deterred Saylor’s confidence in Bitcoin, as he reiterates his longing for the crypto asset in his tweet.

Cryptocurrency market crashes

Cryptocurrencies fell on Tuesday after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank needs to see more progress on inflation before cutting interest rates, which are now at 5.25%-5.50%. Powell revealed at a monetary symposium in Sintra, Portugal, that the United States is moving closer to a disinflationary path.

“We want to be more confident that inflation is moving sustainably downward toward 2% before we begin the process of tapering or easing policy,” Powell said.

Market losses deepened after Wednesday’s economic releases that indicated the labor market is cooling. Recent data showed weaker-than-expected private payroll growth in June, but weekly jobless claims were higher than economists had forecast. The latest figures come ahead of the highly anticipated June nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.

As the cryptocurrency market goes through a period of uncertainty, the coming days and weeks will be crucial in determining the direction of BTC’s price.

This article was originally published on U.Today



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Bitcoin and Ethereum in GTA 6? Still rumors — for now

TokenTrends Staff

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Bitcoin and Ethereum in GTA 6? Still rumors — for now

Rumors that the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6 will use cryptocurrency that has been circulating for more than a year now—and they’re spinning again.

On Wednesday, a pseudonymous Crypto Twitter influencer named Gordon — apparently named after Gordon Gekko from the iconic 1987 film “Wall Street” —shared to his nearly 500,000 followers that “GTA 6 will allow cryptocurrency payments” and that “so far only Bitcoin, EthereumIt is USDT [are] confirmed.”

But in reality, no cryptocurrency has been confirmed for Grand Theft Auto 6, despite ongoing chatter about the rumors. Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two have made no such announcements this week on the subject, nor have they made any prior announcements, and official trailers and announcements have made no mention of cryptocurrency being included.

However, the tweet — which also included a fake trailer for the game — quickly went viral, with over 500,000 views as of this writing in a matter of hours. When Twitter users asked Gordon for his sources, he would jokingly respond that his “uncle works there” or say that previous reports on the matter were “old” at this point.

But really, nothing has changed since then. DecipherGG’s reported in previous rumors in May 2023, not even since the first official trailer — which initially leaked with “BUY BTC” stamped on itApparently by the leaker in question—premiered last December.

DecipherGG reached out to Rockstar Games for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Could Grand Theft Auto 6 implement a crypto element when it releases in 2025? It’s certainly possible, and if so, it would be a transformative moment for cryptocurrency adoption by the traditional gaming industry.

Take-Two Interactive has explored the space before, acquiring casual gaming giant Zynga in early 2022, when Take-Two founder and CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested there were “Web3 opportunities” that they could explore better as a team. Zynga has launched its first blockchain game on Ethereum, called Sugartownbut Take-Two has yet to get involved with other brands.

Rockstar Games, on the other hand, prohibited the use of cryptocurrency or NFTs on player-run Grand Theft Auto 5 servers in late 2022, following a rise in the use of NFTs to represent unique player-owned assets on modded game servers.

And given Grand Theft Auto’s satirical tone, the game may be more likely to criticize cryptocurrency and poke fun at caricatures of crypto fans and NFTs, for example, rather than trying to launch its own on-chain currency. But that’s all speculation at this point, as there are relatively few official details about GTA 6.

For now, at least, don’t believe the hype. While Rockstar Games hasn’t officially closed the door on cryptocurrency usage in Grand Theft Auto 6, it hasn’t confirmed anything about it either. However, it’s sure to remain a hot topic in the long run leading up to release, which is currently scheduled for fall 2025.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.

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Crypto President Trump’s ‘Lesser’ Regulation Will Bless Coinbase’s Bitcoin Leverage, Expert Says – Coinbase Glb (NASDAQ:COIN)

TokenTrends Staff

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Crypto President Trump's 'Lesser' Regulation Will Bless Coinbase's Bitcoin Leverage, Expert Says - Coinbase Glb (NASDAQ:COIN)

Chris SenyekChief Investment Strategist at Wolfe Researchrecently expressed his opinion on the potential impact of a Donald Trump win the 2024 elections in the cryptocurrency market.

What happened: Senyek suggested that a Trump presidency could ease cryptocurrency regulations, benefiting companies like Coinbase Global Inc. COIN due to its importance Bitcoin BTC/USD Leverage.

“Trump would be less harsh on crypto regulation, and Coinbase would be a big beneficiary of that given its influence on bitcoin,” Senyek said during CNBC’s “Last Call” on Tuesday.

See too: Enhance Your Retirement Portfolio: The Benefits of Adding Cryptocurrency

Why does this matter?:Senyek’s comments come in the context of the former president Donald Trump‘s reported plans to participate at the Bitcoin 2024 convention, which could reinforce his image as a “Crypto President”.

Trump’s potential participation in the Bitcoin 2024 convention, a major event on the cryptocurrency calendar, could have significant implications for the industry.

Pratik KalaHead of Research in DigitalX Limitedhe has predicted a Trump victory in the upcoming elections, but warns that immediate cryptocurrency-friendly regulations may not be a priority.

A recent report by 10x Search explore the recent rise in Bitcoin price and its potential connection to Trump’s strong position in the 2024 election race. The report, titled “Is the Bitcoin Trump Pump Sustainable?”, highlights a 4% spike in Bitcoin’s price following the news that the president Joe Biden will remain in the race despite a poor performance in the presidential debate.

Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading 2.10% lower at $60,860.66, according to Benzinga Pro.

Read next:

Image created using photos from Shutterstock

This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari

News and market data brought to you by Benzinga’s APIs

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