Crypto Market Overview July 14th | Dex-Trade
Former Ripple Advisor To Become Fed Curator
US President Joe Biden appointed former Ripple adviser Michael Barr to the post of vice chairman for oversight of the Federal Reserve back in April. And yesterday, the country's Senate approved his candidacy as chief banking watchdog at the US Federal Reserve after he received bipartisan support on Tuesday. In the Senate, Barr's nomination garnered 66 votes to 28, more than the simple majority of 50 votes required for confirmation. The financier won the position thanks to a career in consumer protection and significant success in creating the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which included mechanisms to deal with the 2008 financial crisis. “Today’s confirmation of Michael Barr as Vice Chair for Supervision of the Federal Reserve is important progress for my plan to tackle inflation and for sound oversight as we transition to steady and stable growth.” — Biden said. In 2015, Barr was hired as an advisor to Ripple Labs, whose XRP token is at the center of a major lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission to this day. The indictment alleges that the company sold $1.3 billion worth of unregistered securities. To date, there is no information about Barr's work at Ripple and it’s not clear when or why he left.
Bitcoin Mining and Development Have Fallen Significantly in Price: Fresh Data from JPMorgan
Analysts at US banking giant JPMorgan have calculated that the cost of producing a single block of Bitcoin has dropped to just $13,000, largely due to lower electricity consumption caused by the global energy and logistics crisis. On the one hand, such a drastic reduction in electricity consumption is a positive thing for the crypto flagship, as miners are now less likely to liquidate their holdings in order to deleverage. But on the other hand, this does not bode well for the BTC price. JPMorgan calculates the intrinsic value of a cryptocurrency based on the cost of its production. In May, the largest bank in the United States, the manager of total assets, estimated, in their opinion, the fair value of Bitcoin at $38,000. As analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou explained, the cost of production is used to measure the lowest possible price level of the crypto during prolonged market downturns. Therefore, the lower an asset falls, the more bearish its price forecast becomes, despite the fact that this reduces the likelihood of another functional miner capitulating. By the way, last week the hash rate in the BTC network fell below 200 EH/s to 178.44 EH/s. Mining difficulty, which measures how difficult it’s for miners to create new coins, is also currently in decline, heading towards a third consecutive low in about a week.
OKX Goes on 'Trial' in UAE
Major cryptocurrency exchange OKX has received pre-approval from the Dubai Digital Assets Regulatory Agency and is now able to offer investment services to clients in the United Arab Emirates as part of its plans to expand its platform services around the world. The Seychellois-based crypto company has received a virtual asset license from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and is able to offer investment services to pre-qualified investors and financial institutions, according to public data released today. Along with the pre-licence, OKX also intends to open a regional center in Dubai to serve as the headquarters for its Middle East division. According to regional CEO Lennix Lai, the platform also plans to support the growing ecosystem of digital assets in the Emirates. According to the country's regulator, OKX is currently the last of the major exchanges to receive permission to operate with crypto. The company is now on the same list with FTX and Kraken, which can also provide trading services in Dubai.
