Crypto
Coinbase, KuCoin, others join in Turkey crypto license application
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The Turkish cryptocurrency landscape is experiencing a major transformation as prominent firms like Coinbase and KuCoin compete to obtain business licenses in the country.
This surge in applications follows regulatory updates by the Turkish Capital Markets Board (CMB), marking a critical juncture for the nation’s burgeoning crypto sector.
A growing list of applicants
On Aug. 9, the CMB announced that 47 cryptocurrency companies had initially applied for licenses under new regulatory frameworks. This list, however, has now expanded to 76, with notable additions such as Coinbase, KuCoin, and Gate.io.
Previously recognized entities like Binance, Bitfinex, and OKX were already part of the application process. The inclusion of these major players underscores Turkey’s rising status as a central hub for cryptocurrency activities.
Despite this progress, the CMB has clarified that being included in the “List of Those in Operation” does not equate to official authorization. Each company must still obtain formal approval from the board, which is contingent upon the enactment of secondary legislation.
The list will be updated as companies address regulatory deficiencies or as the CMB concludes its investigations.
Regulatory landscape in Turkey
Turkey’s regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies is still in a state of flux. While comprehensive crypto legislation is not yet in place, existing regulations govern market activities.
Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek indicated in January that local crypto legislation was nearing completion, yet the anticipated draft has not been introduced to parliament.
This regulatory uncertainty has not deterred firms from seeking licenses, reflecting the sector’s optimism and the country’s strategic importance in the global crypto market.
The wave of applications follows the implementation of the “Law on Amendments to the Capital Markets Law,” which came into effect on July 2. This law aims to provide a regulatory framework for crypto asset service providers in Turkey.
According to Chainalysis, Turkey ranks as the fourth-largest crypto market worldwide, with an estimated trading volume of $170 billion. This volume places Turkey ahead of significant markets like Russia, Canada, Vietnam, Thailand, and Germany.
The surge in license applications signals Turkey’s growing prominence in the cryptocurrency sector and its commitment to establishing a regulated and secure crypto market.
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Crypto
Bibles, cryptocurrency, Truth Social and gold bars: A look at Trump's reported sources of income
Former President Trump owns more than $1 million worth of cryptocurrency and up to $250,000 in gold bars along with his portfolio of golf courses and real estate properties, according to newly released financial disclosures.
The details come from recently released documents filed by Trump’s presidential campaign. The more than 200 pages of paperwork give a limited picture of the former president’s money and investments. In accordance with federal law, most assets’ values are listed in a range, though Trump reports the precise figure for some of his income.
The document does not detail his business losses, making it impossible to determine how much of a profit any of his myriad holdings provides.
But it provides a glimpse at Trump’s wealth and some new details about the unusual ways he makes money.
Unusual investments and sources of income
Trump reported earning $300,000 from sales of an edition of the Bible that he and country singer Lee Greenwood endorsed. He also earned $4.4 million in royalties from a book called “Letters to Trump” and $500,000 from one called “A MAGA Journey.” Trump still receives royalties on a number of other books, including “The Art of the Deal,” which came out in 1987 and netted him $50,000 to $100,000 in the last year.
As a onetime member of the Screen Actors Guild, Trump receives an annual pension of $90,776.
Trump’s fame comes from real estate, but his current biggest asset is probably his media company that operates the social media network Truth Social. The company went public in March, and Trump reports owning more than 114 million shares in the firm. He is currently unable to sell the shares as part of a “lockup” agreement preventing major shareholders from selling stock for six months after it goes public, but with company stock at about $23 per share Friday, his holdings are worth more than $2 billion.
Some of Trump’s other investments are also unusual. He reports having $1 million to $5 million worth of the cryptocurrency ethereum, a noteworthy holding because he’s vowed to lift regulations on the cryptocurrency industry should he return to the White House.
Trump also reported earning $7.15 million in licensing fees from NFT INT, which appears to be a firm selling digital tokens. His wife, Melania, earned $330,000 from selling NFTs, according to the report.
The former president also reported owning $100,000 to $250,000 in gold bars.
Those assets are dwarfed by investments in traditional stocks and municipal and school bonds, as well as his real estate holdings.
Broad business empire
Trump reports a wide range of companies and investments that span the globe. Many appear to simply be trademark claims in countries including Argentina, Belarus, Cuba and India. Others generate money for him, including more than $3 million in income that he reported from licenses in Dubai and more than $2 million in Oman.
Trump’s golf courses also make money for him, including $37 million from his club in Bedminster, N.J., where he adddressed the media on Thursday; $31 million from his golf club in Jupiter, Fla.; and 26 million British pounds (the equivalent of $33.5 million) worth of revenue from his Turnberry course in Scotland.
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida generated more than $56 million in income, according to the report.
Melania Trump received a $237,000 payment for speaking to the gay conservative group Log Cabin Republicans in April.
Noteworthy debts
Trump lists several debts, including one stemming from litigation against him by the New York attorney general’s office alleging business fraud and two more from a magazine writer.
A jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll in 1996, and a second jury this year found he slandered her when he continued to deny it.
Trump lists his debts to Carroll as between $1 million and $5 million and more than $50 million, the highest category available. The lawsuit judgments against him were for $5 million and $88 million, respectively. Trump is appealing the verdicts.
Likewise, Trump lists his debt to the New York attorney general’s office as more than $50 million. He owes nearly $500 million in the civil fraud judgment and is appealing that verdict as well.
Riccardi writes for the Associated Press.
Crypto
1 Top Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Soars 1,600%, According to Chamath Palihapitiya | The Motley Fool
![1 Top Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Soars 1,600%, According to Chamath Palihapitiya | The Motley Fool 1 Top Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Soars 1,600%, According to Chamath Palihapitiya | The Motley Fool](https://g.foolcdn.com/editorial/images/787290/bitcoin-tokens.jpg)
The billionaire venture capitalist is still bullish on Bitcoin.
Chamath Palihapitiya, the billionaire co-founder of the venture capital firm Social Capital, believes Bitcoin‘s (BTC -0.49%) price will hit $500,000 by late 2025. That’s a lofty price target, but it isn’t too surprising considering that Palihapitiya previously predicted Bitcoin’s price could eventually hit $1 million in the future.
Bitcoin trades at about $58,000, so it would need to rally about 760% to hit $500,000 and more than 1,600% to reach $1 million. At $1 million, Bitcoin’s market cap would exceed $21 trillion, eclipsing physical gold’s current market cap of $17 trillion. It would also make Bitcoin more valuable than all of the Magnificent Seven companies combined.
Image source: Getty Images.
Does that bullish prediction make any sense? Let’s review Palihapitiya’s thesis and the other catalysts to see if Bitcoin can become the world’s most valuable asset.
How much Bitcoin does Chamath Palihapitiya own?
In 2011, Palihapitiya said he previously bought 100,000 Bitcoins at an average price of less than $100. In 2013, he said he still held $5 million in Bitcoin and would be willing to invest another $10 milion to $15 million in the cryptocurrency.
But in a 2021 interview, Palihapitiya said he had spent 2,739 of those Bitcoins ($1.6 million at the time) on an empty plot of land near Lake Tahoe in 2014. That was a pretty bad deal, since those coins would be worth a whopping $159 milion today.
In a conference call in 2020, Palihapitiya said Social Capital had bought Bitcoin throughout 2013, while it was still trading between $13 and $1,200. However, he has never disclosed exactly how much Bitcoin he or his firm actually own.
Palihapitiya’s case for Bitcoin
Palihapitiya has stayed bullish on Bitcoin over the past few years. In early 2021, he declared that its price would reach $200,000 over the next five to 10 years. Later that year, he claimed Bitcoinhad “effectively replaced gold.”
Earlier this year, Palihapitiya raised his near-term outlook to $500,000 by 2025 and reiterated his belief that it could eventually reach $1 million per coin. He believes two main catalysts will drive that rally: Bitcoin’s halving this April, which reduced the rewards for mining by half, and the increased adoption of Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
Bitcoin’s halving occurs every four years, and it’s already happened four times. Palihapitiya points out that after each halving, Bitcoin’s price rallies to new highs as its supply tightens up and it attracts more attention from institutional investors.
He says that if Bitcoin merely replicates its gains from after its third halving in 2020, it could reach $500,000 and $1 million. The approvals of the first 11 spot price Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this January could support that growth by making it even easier for retail and institutional investors to invest in Bitcoin. Meanwhile, the strength of the U.S. dollar, the devaluation of other currencies, and rampant inflation could drive more countries to adopt Bitcoin as a reserve asset. That’s how Bitcoin’s market cap might eventually match or surpass gold’s valuation.
Other catalysts on the horizon
Another major catalyst for Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market would be lower interest rates. Higher rates drove many investors away from cryptocurrencies and other speculative investments over the past two years, but interest rate cuts would likely draw them back to “blue chip” cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Bitcoin, which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now defines as a commodity, should also face fewer regulatory headwinds. Former President Donald Trump wants the U.S. to create a “strategic Bitcoin stockpile” and become the “Bitcoin superpower of the world” if he wins the presidential election this November. Vice President Kamala Harris also recently hired three pro-crypto advisors to her campaign, which hints at a departure from President Biden’s rigid crypto policies.
Should you follow Chamath Palihapitiya’s lead?
Chamath Palihapitiya’s outlook for Bitcoin is actually conservative compared to other bullish investors. Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood claims its price will reach $3.8 million by 2030, while MicroStrategy‘s (MSTR 0.84%) executive chairman Michael Saylor expects the cryptocurrency’s price to balloon to $13 million by 2045.
We should take Palihapitiya’s estimates with a grain of salt, since he would certainly profit from a big spike in Bitcoin prices. That said, I personally believe Bitcoin’s price will stabilize and gradually rise as the recent halving, spot price ETFs, and expectations for lower rates limit its downside potential. I’m not sure if it will soar to $500,000 or $1 million, but I have some exposure to Bitcoin through ETFs and wouldn’t be too surprised if its price doubled or tripled in the near future.
Crypto
Law enforcement warns about the dangers of crypto scammers
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – An increasing number of people in the metro have been cheated out of their money through cryptocurrency scams. Scammers can get you even if you don’t use it.
Cryptocurrency scams have stolen billions worldwide and can snatch up your savings, too. Now, law enforcement has stepped up their game to help you stop it.
With a Bitcoin ATM at his gas station, Alfredo Antolin has seen many times firsthand, how people come to make transactions after they have received a phone call but don’t realize they have been scammed.
“I try to tell all the employees in there if they’re older and they’re on the phone, please check in with them,” Antolin said. “And make sure that they’re doing it on their own. That they know what they’re doing and they have their own account and they’re not pushing it to someone else’s.”
In 2023, the Federal Reserve Estimated 18 million adults in America used cryptocurrency, a 3% drop compared to the year before. Now in Clay County, Prosecutor Zach Thompson has seen a rise in scam cases.
“Scammers will direct investors to an online investing platform with the promise of a giant return when in fact they’re actually just stealing that person’s money,” Thompson explained. “The second type of scam, someone will call up their victim and pressure them to pay their bill with cryptocurrency.”
Lately, law enforcement has also seen thieves and drug dealers use digital assets to hide their dark money from the law. Now, investigators have gotten new training to track it down.
“It’s going to go over the basics of cryptocurrency so investigators can recognize potential evidence when they’re out in the field,” Thompson said.
Brian Karman led the course. And wants the public to know they can help you. So, never be afraid to report it.
“We have to take that report, we have to get that into the hands of the detective,” Karman said. “So, we can track those stolen funds and recoup those losses.”
Investigators notice more young people fall for scams like this than the elderly. If you do get involved, they advise you to use U.S.-based crypto companies which have more oversight.
Copyright 2024 KCTV. All rights reserved.
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