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Writer's pictureAnthony Holman

Stories of the week

Updated: Aug 14, 2022

According to the Tasnim news agency, Iran made its first official import order using

cryptocurrency earlier this week–a move that may allow the Islamic Republic a workaround the crippling US sanctions.


This $10 million dollar order is just the first step towards allowing the country to trade through

entirely digital assets, shrugging off the USD dominated system will give them a chance to trade for goods with countries who are also seeing sanctions from the US, like Russia.


"By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widely used in foreign trade with target countries,"

an official from the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade said on Twitter.


According to Reuters a study found that 4 and a half percent of all bitcoin mining is taking place in Iran as a result of the country’s cheap electricity. Mining this cryptocurrency could earn Iran hundreds of millions of dollars that may aid in the purchase of imports and lessen the impact of sanctions.






This news comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that Inflation has peaked, but still guesses

that we will have a slight recession for at least 18 months.


During Tesla’s 2022 annual stockholders meeting, musk replied to a question about inflation

saying quote


“We do get a fair bit of insight into where prices of things are going over time

because when you’re making millions of cars, you have to purchase commodities many months in advance of when they’re needed … Because it’s a long supply chain with a tremendous amount of inertia, so we sort of have some insight into where prices are headed over time.”


This mirrors several statements on Twitter he has made over the past month, and went on to

say that a recession is “actually a good thing” for the U.S. economy, adding:


“It has been raining

money on fools for too long. Some bankruptcies need to happen.”



Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, in it’s second quarter earnings report, showed a 63% drop in revenue, equating to a loss in more than 1.1 billion dollars


In an earnings call on Tuesday, Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s chief executive stated that the

company had survived previous downturns.


“It seems scary,” he said. “But it’s never as bad as it seems.”


Coinbase’s stock price has fallen about 75% since November, and it laid off 18 percent of it’s

staff in June, or about 1,100 employees.



An unknown investor supposedly spent or transferred over 3 billion dollars, or nearly 133k

bitcoin on Wednesday, making the wallet one of the top 3 bitcoin holders–


Although this may be an old-time buyer simply consolidating or moving their bitcoin into a

different wallet in several transactions.


According to Nexo data from June, Satoshi Nakamoto is the largest bitcoin holder with over 1.1

million bitcoin, followed by grayscale with over 683 thousand bitcoin.



US senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are asking key bank regulators to rescind

previous guidance on cryptocurrency.


In an open letter, Warren and Sanders asked the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to

rescind previous letters that allowed banks to engage in crypto activities and provide further

information on how involved banks are in the crypto space currently.


The lawmakers say they are concerned that several letters published in 2020 and 2021 by the

former acting comptroller Brian Brooks, now CEO of crypto company Bitfury, allowed banks to

provide crypto custody services, issue payments in stablecoins, and various other crypto-related activities.


The letter goes on to say


“Given the risks posed by cryptocurrencies to banks and their customers, we request that you withdraw OCC interpretive letters and coordinate with the federal reserve and the federal deposit insurance corporation to develop a comprehensive approach that adequately protects consumers and the safety and soundness of the banking

system.”


The senators argue that the crypto space does not have a strong protection for retail investors, pointing to the collapse of Terra and Three Arrows Capital as well as the bankruptcy of Voyager and Celsius.







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