Ukraine Central Bank Limits Cash Withdrawals Amid Russian Assault

On Thursday, as people waited in line at banks and ATMs to withdraw cash, the National Bank of Ukraine adopted a resolution that limited daily cash withdrawals in local currency up to 100,000 hryvnia. $3,350, except for wages or social payments. The regulator also prohibited cash from foreign currency accounts.

After President Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine in the early hours of February 24, Russia made this decision. Many Ukrainians fled major cities like Kyiv after rockets exploded on targets throughout the country. There were also reports that Russian tanks crossed the border. This was all part of what has become a large-scale Russian invasion.

Ocheredi k bankomatam v Kieve pic.twitter.com/vLlJYmdYpM

– Uchenik Shtirlitsa, @moments_Spring February 24, 2022

The NBU demanded that banks continue to be open despite the imposition of martial law by President Volodymyr Zelesky. The restrictions also prohibit foreign exchange transactions, with the exception of customers selling foreign currency. The official exchange rates for the hryvnia were fixed, according to the authority, at 29.25 hryvnias per $1 and 33.17 euros per EUR1, respectively.

The central bank has placed a moratorium on cross border foreign currency payments. It also prohibited Ukrainian banks to process debit transactions on accounts of Russian Federation residents. This ban includes electronic money distribution and deposit to e-wallets.

This document does not mention other digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies. Ukraine has been trying to regulate them. The parliament of East European nation, which is ranked among the region’s leaders when it comes to crypto adoption, recently approved the law ‘On Virtual Assets,’ which lists NBU as the primary regulator of the market. The legislation has yet to be entered into force.

The National Bank of Ukraine stated that these restrictions do not apply to transactions made to or by the Ukrainian government, enterprises, or institutions involved in mobilization tasks, as well as payments under special permits issued the monetary authority. The NBU stressed that all cashless payments are unlimited. ATMs must always be stocked with cash, and banks should ensure uninterrupted operation of their branches.

 

Former Thai Central Bank Director Predicts Crypto Bubble Emerging in March

Anusorn Thammajai, former director of Bank of Thailand (BOT), reportedly said that the cryptocurrency market would crash within a few months. Nation reported Sunday. The former director of the central bank warned:

When liquidity in the financial markets drops as a result of central bank moves to reduce quantitative easing and increase interest rates, a cryptocurrency bubble will be formed.

He pointed out that the first wave in the crypto bubble had already passed, and that many cryptocurrencies have lost over 40% this year.

Former Bank of Thailand director said that cryptocurrency is a tool to create a digital financial economy. However, it can also pose risks to financial system. Investors who have risky assets should be extra cautious in the second quarter of this year, he added.

Thammajai also stated that he supports Thai government’s plans for taxing crypto transactions and tightening regulation of cryptocurrencies. Thammajai noted that cryptocurrency has been used by illegal businesses for money laundering and illicit financing.

Thailand has recently relaxed crypto taxes rules and scrapped the planned 15% withholding tax. The Bank of Thailand, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission and the country’s finance ministry declared cryptocurrency would be regulated as a payment method.

These Ten Crypto Billionaires Have Lost $27 Billion Since Bitcoin’s Peak In November

With the rise in digital assets, the fortunes of crypto entrepreneurs and investors have collapsed with them. It is possible that the worst is yet to come.

Forbes has tracked ten of the most wealthy cryptocurrency moguls. Their combined losses have been $26.9 Billion since November 10, 2021 when Bitcoin and the entire crypto market reached their peak in value. Three of the ten are now worth half the amount they were in November, a shocking loss for the volatile cryptocurrency sector.

According to CoinMarketCap data provider, Bitcoin, the most valuable digital asset, has fallen 50% since November 10 when it hit an all-time high at $68,622, an unprecedented market value. At midday Monday, the cryptocurrency was trading at $34,326-the price Forbes used for calculating current holdings. Six hours later, Bitcoin jumped to $36,000.

Others cryptocurrencies are following suit. Ether, which is the second-largest digital asset, also saw a halving in value since November. Stocks that are correlated with cryptocurrencies have also fallen. Coinbase Global shares have fallen 42% since Bitcoin’s peak. They fell from $328 per share down to $191 at market close on January 24, 2018. Coinbase’s cofounders, Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase Global and Fred Ehrsam, a billionaire board member have lost more than $7 billion between them.

MicroStrategy is a software company that has invested more than $3 billion of corporate treasury in bitcoin. Its shares have fallen 55% since November 10. MicroStrategy, a software company that invested over $3 billion of its corporate treasury into bitcoin, is down 55% since November 10. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor is a Bitcoin investor. His fortune has plunged 55%.

Few digital assets have done well. On November 10, the total market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies was almost $3 trillion. This number stood at $1.7 trillion on November 10, which represented a 43% plunge in three months.

The market turmoil may not be over for crypto investors. Analysts believe that the crypto sector is heading for a bear market due to central bank tightening, rising bond yields, and a decrease in investor appetite for cryptocurrencies.

This is not all bad news, however, for crypto’s tycoons. In November, Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss raised the valuation of their crypto exchange Gemini to $7 billion. That was before Bitcoin crashed, so it protected their net worths for now.

Other investors remain optimistic: Tim Draper (a billionaire investor who spent $18.7million on almost 30,000 bitcoins last year) told Forbeslast Wednesday that he believes Bitcoin could surge more than 600% to $250,000 this year, despite the bearish market conditions. Draper stated that as interest rate concerns drive down the markets, Draper believes some marginal cryptocurrencies will vanish and that more focus will be put on Bitcoin and other important coins. He has every reason to believe that Bitcoin will have a bright future, as he holds so much.

This is how the net worth has changed for these ten crypto billionaires, between November 10, 2021 and January 24, 2022.

The following calculations were made using close-of market stock prices and crypto asset prices.

A majority of JPMorgan’s clients see bitcoin at around $60,000 by year-end, with just 5% expecting the cryptocurrency to hit $100,000

Bullish exuberance about bitcoin reaching the elusive $100,000 milestone was fever-pitch. JPMorgan released a poll on Monday that showed the coin ending the year at half of the amount. This shifts the sentiment.

As part of its macroeconomic outlook for the year, the investment bank conducted a survey of 47 clients from December 13 to January 7.

This resulted in 41% of clients seeing the world’s most valued cryptocurrency ending the year at $60,000, an increase of 46% over Monday’s price. Only 5% of clients expect bitcoin to reach $100,000 by the end of the year.

Bitcoin has had a rough ride thus far, as all cryptocurrencies have faced selling pressures following a Federal Reserve that was hawkish.

Bitcoin fell below $40,000 on Monday, before rebounding to above $41,000. Bitcoin is now down 11% from its November record high of $69,000 and around 40% below where it was at the beginning of the year.

Nonetheless, many, including El Salvador’s bitcoin-loving president Nayib Bukele are optimistic that bitcoin will surpass $100,000 by 2022.

JPMorgan November 2021 stated that bitcoin could rise to $146,000 over the long-term if it’s volatility abates and institutions begin to prefer it to gold in their portfolios. This is 256% more than the current price of bitcoin. According to the bank, a price of $73,000 seems reasonable for 2022.

According to the bank, Bitcoin’s volatility is four to five times greater than gold. This would need to drop dramatically before institutional investors can plow in.

However, a new member joined the $100,000 bandwagon this Year. Goldman Sachs stated that bitcoin could reach this level, but only if it keeps taking market share from gold.

Former SpaceX Intern Continues to Insist That Elon Musk Created Bitcoin

Sahil Gupta, a former SpaceX intern, continues to believe that Elon Musk the centibillionaire is Satoshi Nakamoto (the pseudonymous founder of Bitcoin).

Gupta stated that he now believes that Musk is behind Bitcoin in a recently published post on the popular blogging site Medium. Gupta’s conviction was strengthened by a call with Sam Teller (the former chief of staff for Musk), which he had in 2017.

Gupta had asked Teller if Musk was actually Satoshi. Teller replied in ambiguity, which made matters more confusing.

For 15 seconds, there was silence. Teller then said, “Well, what can you say?” It was not a paraphrase. Actual words.

Gupta also briefly worked at Tesla in 2018 and made headlines for his original post, which went viral in 2017.

Because of his extensive experience in economics and cryptography, he speculated that Musk could have written the Bitcoin whitepaper. This South African native was one of the co-founders PayPal.

Musk is proficient at the C++ programming language that Satoshi used for the original Bitcoin software.

2014 saw Satoshi make a brief internet return to discredit the Newsweek article that claimed Dorian S. Nakamoto, a Japanese-American man, was the Bitcoin creator. He simply stated that it wasn’t him. Musk tweeted about the incident a week following its reappearance at the P2P Foundation website.

@X4NWO Now that Satoshi Nakamoto is known, it seems like the case is closed.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk). March 14, 2014

It is not necessary to convince the general public. An survey was conducted in May and found that more than half of Australians believe that Musk is Satoshi.

Musk denies creating Bitcoin

Musk claimed that he did not invent Bitcoin, but he did not deny it in a tweet in 2017 to respond to Gupta’s theory. However, this did nothing to end the speculation.

It’s not true. It was a gift from a friend that I received a portion of a BTC several years ago, but I have no idea where it is.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk). November 28, 2017

Musk is a proponent of sustainable energy, so it is unlikely that he will create a cryptocurrency that consumes a lot of electricity but leaves a large CO2 footprint.

Tesla began accepting Bitcoin in March. However, it suspended payments in its largest cryptocurrency due to environmental concerns. This caused a huge price drop.

The centibillionaire, 50, has also repeatedly stated he prefers Dogecoin to Bitcoin for payments.

It is unlikely that Musk created Bitcoin, despite compelling arguments for the theory.