Author: Kayla Turner

There are rumors about the implementation of a new rule for Crypto users in Thailand. As bitcoin rallied its way to $40K, then to $50K Thailand has seen massive growth in Crypto investors. Sources say, most of these investors are partially young with limited crypto knowledge. After noticing this unusual surge falling prey to the lucrative crypto profits. The Thai Government is taking strict measures to regulate cryptocurrencies. In order to save such investors and their money from such high-risk assets.

Details about the Proposed Rule

The new rule implicates investors to showcase their income statement. After this, retail investors will have to provide their tax returns to open a trading account. The SEC’s secretary in general Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol presented this opinion. This discussion took place in her interview on Friday. Thailand has licensed only six exchanges to trade in crypto.

The rule suggests, only those with the necessary knowledge should invest in crypto. Regulators can ensure this by screening every investor interested in trading. After this, investors are in deep trouble as there are many not eligible to trade. Now they have to opt for licensed finance managers to invest in cryptocurrencies

She also stated, most of the investors are partially young including teenagers & students. Hence, it’s crucial to regulate domestic exchanges. Ruenvadee also agreed that more and more people have started investing in cryptos. But was against such decisions due to its enormous risk and volatility.

Why is Thailand Planning to regulate Crypto?

After the country tackled the Coronavirus pandemic. It has faced huge losses due to the falling hospitality industry. Not to forget most of the tax revenue generated in the country was from its hospitality industry. Thailand is the 2nd largest economy in Asia growing steadily in the crypto market. During this, Bitcoin drew even more attention. Soon after the coin crossed its $1 Trillion-mark last week.

Ruenvadee also said that the total revenue of trading platforms tripled in January. In December it was around $700 Million that raised to $2 Billion in January alone. Data provided by the SEC suggests that 90% of that trading revenue came from Thai citizens.

After this, many official authorities are planning to regulate the currencies increasing outbursts. Thailand is also among the list of countries that are against crypto. Therefore, they want to bring out the riskier side of the currency.

Other important details from the Interview

These rules will be out in the coming week by Thai regulators. After which a public hearing will happen to inform all the citizens about this amendment. This hearing will occur in the first week of March’21.

SEC’s secretary in general, Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol had some interesting things to share. She said Thailand will also notice its first crypto coin developed by a local company. And revenues generated from property rental services will back the token, she said.

Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published an open letter. It was in support of the one released in 2017. This letter obligates financial institutes to terminate accounts consisting of crypto-related transactions. Otherwise, CBN threatens to impose severe regulatory sanctions on them.  The director of banking supervision Bello Hassan signed and certified the letter. As a result, the regulation created a ruckus in the Nigerian crypto market.

Is it related to the 2017 Bill?

On Jan 12, 2017, CBN released an identical letter to create similar prohibitions. To stop local financial institutes from making payments or dealing in crypto transactions. It states that any cryptocurrency including BTC is not a legal tender of this country.

The letter released on 5th February serves as a reminder to the financial institutes. Therefore, they no longer allow such transactions. On the contrary, in September Nigeria’s SEC had something else to say. It stated that they are going to regulate crypto transactions.  Also, make it easier to understand. SEC said this measure will protect investors and make transactions more transparent.

Official Reason

CBN is yet to publish any official reason for such an abrupt decision in the biggest crypto hub of Africa. But, a strict regulatory decision like this cannot pass due to one reason. This step is a result of multiple complications. Some of the possible causes for this can be:

• A decline in Inflow:

The direct remittance into Nigeria decreased from $2 Billion to $50 Million in 2020. There are speculations that a drastic decline of more than 95% cannot be a fluke. It is due to the increase in crypto transactions. Experts speculate that CBN is using this to Nigerians using crypto-based remittance channels.

• Due to EndSARS Protests:

In October, a major protest broke out in Nigeria. Amidst, opposing police brutality by the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS). These protests were not favored by the government. So, CBN blocked any local payment gateways from accepting donations for the protests. After this, the protesting organizers started asking for anonymous donations via bitcoins. CBN came across this after few days which was in some way a breach of its decision. So, this incident can also be a reason for prohibiting crypto transactions.

How are people reacting to the ban?

• Most of the major banking institutes have begun to comply with CBN’s directive. They are actively working to prohibit crypto-related transactions.
• This news led to a panic in the crypto space of Nigeria. It was a nightmare for new crypto investors. But, most of the trades occurring in the Nigerian market are p2p (Peer-to-peer). The decentralization factor ensured that most traders are not affected, said the chief officer of a Defi platform.
• The letter surfaced on the internet in few hours. After this many crypto users from Nigeria started tweeting #wewantourcryptoback. This tag was re-tweeted more than 25000 times.

In an interesting interview of a Blockchain engineer. He said CBN’s aim is not to ban cryptocurrencies. Instead, its end goal is to make Niara more adoptable. This is possible when financial institutes regulate crypto transactions. Furthermore, dis-allow users from dealing in crypto directly on exchanges like Binance.

Many types of analysis are presently available now for doing good research. Basically, it has two major categories. One is fundamental analysis and another is technical analysis. Both involve different technology and analysis process. However, both got used for predicting the future of crypto markets. So, it is essential to understand the basics of both types of analysis.

Fundamental Analysis Concepts

While doing the research, through fundamental analysis, one considers multiple factors. This analysis gives the intrinsic or inherent properties of the specific crypto. In this analysis, one tries to find the impact on the share’s integral value. One has to do thorough research to understand the factor that affects the price of the crypto. This gives the analyst an idea about the Competency of the correctness of the crypto’s price. It considers the macro and microeconomic factors that have an influence on the cryptos. One uses the qualitative as well as quantitative metrics for this type of research.

Different metrics used for Fundamental Analysis

Some of the qualitative metrics include:

1. Competency of the management
2. The intangible assets the company has
3. Company’s working strategy
4. Global acceptance of the business
5. The industry’s customer base
6. The competitive edge the company has

Some of the quantitative metrics include:

1. The company’s annual revenue
2. The total profit of the company
3. Tangible assets of the company
4. The accounting ratios of the company

What we know after fundamental analysis

Using this analysis, the analyst predicts if the price of the security as compared to the market. He will be able to know if the crypto’s price is more or less as compared to the market. A higher value is an indication that the estimated value is more than the actual and vice-versa. After this analysis, traders decide to buy or sell their shares. If it is undervalued crypto, traders prefer to buy that crypto and vice-versa.

Technical Analysis

The major difference here is the consideration of the past history of the crypto. The analyst considers the crypto’s historical data to predict the future price. So, this analysis includes the past prices, the company’s returns, and the volume of trade. The price prediction is based on the crypto’s historical movement. So, it is basically the trend of the movement of the crypto’s price.

What we know after technical analysis

In this analysis, the analysts refer to the range of price of the cryptos. This helps in generating a profitable trade. This helps them to understand whether to buy or sell the cryptos. If crypto is moving towards the lower range, the trader will buy the cryptos of that company. The reason is once the price hits the bottom of the range, it will move upwards. The exact opposite will happen when the price is moving upwards. So, the traders sell their cryptos to gain profit.

Conclusion

Both analyses are for determining the future price of the cryptos. The technical analysis is for short term trading mostly. The fundamental analysis is for long term trading predominately.

Some interesting news about known universities in the world came to the front. As per Ian Allison, many Ivy League universities are showing interest in cryptocurrencies. They are buying and investing in cryptocurrencies. These universities include the University of Michigan, Yale, Brown, and Harvard. In addition, these prominent schools and colleges are supporting crypto exchanges. Coinbase and many other trading platforms are getting benefited from this. Also, the reporter explained that many colleges and universities are buying digital currencies. They are purchasing the cryptocurrencies from specific exchanges.

The report

The endowment programs of these reputed universities are quietly buying cryptocurrencies. In addition, he found from her sources that quite a few universities are doing this. Some of the colleges are allocating a small number of their funds to cryptocurrency. Sources also confirmed that some colleges have stored funds on the crypto exchanges for a year or so. Also, there are few other notable things that came from the sources. Since mid-2019, universities and colleges are into the crypto business. Most of the colleges are doing this for at least a year. Expectations are that the colleges will open up this year about this investment. Above all, the colleges will have expectations of getting high returns. Due to this investment at this point in time, they will be expecting much higher profits. It is all because of the increasing market price of cryptocurrencies.

Few important incidents

It is evident that many well-known universities and colleges are purchasing bitcoin. They are also investing in other cryptocurrencies. They are into the crypto funds for their endowment programs. The University of Michigan invested in cryptocurrency back in February 2019. The university did this of its requirements for endowment programs. In addition, the investment in cryptocurrency got managed by Andreessen Horowitz. Reports stated that Ivy League school Yale invested in cryptocurrency in May 2019. Yale did the investment in crypto fund Paradigm. Yale has the second-largest endowment program in higher education currently.

Status from all around the world

A lot of colleges around the globe are putting their hands into cryptocurrencies. The recent boom in the crypto world triggered these incidents. More and more universities and colleges are going in this direction. For a long time, colleges are investing a small portion of their funds into cryptocurrencies. Many high net worth individuals made donations to universities and colleges in cryptocurrencies.

Conclusion

A number of universities accepted digital currency donations. Some schools have crypto backers funding them regularly with digital assets. Many other schools also accept bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Some colleges also have elective courses on blockchain technology. Few of the colleges are Standford, MIT, Cornell, Puget Sound, and Princeton. This might prove to be a revolutionary step in the crypto world. In conclusion, the support from big universities and schools would help the growth of cryptocurrencies. It won’t be wrong that many universities will only accept cryptocurrency in the future. These events stand in favor of the crypto market. This shows that the bright future and global acceptance of cryptocurrencies.

According to the latest news, Bitcoin is trending currently in the digital market. Digital currency and assets are in demand. Digital assets are trying to change the financial face of the globe. Recently, Mrs. Janet Yellen also provided her opinions on cryptocurrencies. Yellen is a nominee of Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary. In addition, she will be holding an important post in Biden’s cabinet if selected. Her comments on cryptocurrency changed significantly in the recent few days.

The preliminary thoughts

She was against cryptocurrency. Moreover, she mentioned that digital currency is a real concern. The digital currency has its usage majorly for illicit financing. She focused on the technology that we need to adapt to deal with the crypto world. She said that we need to have new methods to deal with the matters like tech terrorist financing. We should adapt as per the trends. Moreover, we have to be ready to deal with the crime these technologies will bring. She thought of staying away from crypto.

Cryptocurrency is a magnet for cyber thieves. The blockchain is anonymous and nobody gets caught. There is no control over the blockchains. No individual agency can control these financial networks. Above all, there is no law enforcement agency or regulatory body to regulate its activities.

Her recent meeting at the senate

Mrs. Janet Yellen made a follow-up comment after two days on cryptocurrency. Her opinion in her statement seemed quite contrary to the previous one. Now, she showed a lot of confidence in the potential of digital currencies. After that, she presented her views in the senate committee on finance.

Questions imposed on her

She got few questions to answer regarding new technologies in the senate committee. The question is to present her view on the new emerging technologies. She has to answer on the potential benefits and threats of these on the U.S. national security. Also, she got asked to propose ways to safeguard and regulate digital and cryptocurrencies. She mentioned the wide array of benefits cryptocurrencies have brought in today’s world. Digital currency has the potential to improve the efficiency of the financial system.

Yellen’s changed opinion

She gave emphasis on the legitimate use of Bitcoin. Also, she focused on developing a regulatory framework to effectively use digital assets. As per her, we have to find ways to encourage the use of digital currency for legitimate purposes. With that, we have to also prevent its usage for illegal and malign activities. Yellen wants to co-ordinate with the Federal Reserve Board. In addition, she wanted to implement a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and digital assets. Above all, she wants the co-operation of federal banking and securities regulators for this step.

Conclusion

Janet Yellen’s concern regarding cryptocurrencies is actually valid. The reason is the risks involved with cryptocurrencies. Along with the risk factor, multiple thefts and hacking also take place. Moreover, there is no regulatory body overseeing the complete digital world of finance. The wide acceptance of crypto payments has also increased complications. The involvement of cryptocurrency in scams is high in today’s world. This is majorly due to its decentralized nature. Most of the time, the funds lost are never retrieved.