OTC’s Weekly Retrospect 07/02–12/02/2022

Every week we take a look back over the week’s biggest Bitcoin and Digital Asset stories making waves in the cryptosphere.

Major news stories this week;

1. US married couple arrested for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5bn in bitcoin.
2. Russia Moves to Recognize Crypto as a Form of Currency
3. RBI: Cryptocurrency Is a Big Threat to Macroeconomic and Financial Stability in India
4. Kazakhstan President Orders Government to Find All Miners and Raise Tax by April
5. Jordan exploring CBDC, legalizing digital currency trading in the future: report
6. Global Crypto and Blockchain Investments Soared in 2021, Rising 5.5X to $30 Billion

Story Summaries;

1. The US justice department has announced the unraveling of its biggest-ever cryptocurrency theft case, seizing a record-shattering $3.6bn in bitcoin in a saga that has captivated the internet. US officials said that the recovered sum was linked to the hack of Bitfinex, a virtual currency exchange whose systems were breached by hackers nearly six years ago.
2. The Russian government and the country’s central bank have reached an agreement to draft legislation or amend existing laws recognizing crypto as a form of currency. The agreement is a significant reversal after the Bank of Russia last month proposed banning miners and several other crypto operations over concerns that they could endanger the country’s financial system.
3. The governor of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has reiterated his concerns that cryptocurrency is a “big threat” to the country’s financial and macroeconomic stability. He also warned investors of the risks of investing in crypto, stating this type of investment has no underlying value.
4. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has instructed authorities to identify all crypto mining enterprises and increase the electricity surcharge they are required to pay. The state is not against legal mining activities, but crypto farms should be licensed and taxed, Tokayev insisted.
5. Jordan has become the latest country to declare interest in developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The country’s central bank has reportedly been exploring the feasibility of a digital dinar, even as the governor said that the government might legalize digital currency trading if proper regulations and guidelines are put in place.
6. A new report by one of the Big Four accounting firms, KPMG, reveals that investment in the crypto and blockchain space grew 5.5 times the previous year to more than a record $30 billion in 2021. KPMG called 2021 a “Blockbuster year for crypto and blockchain.”

Wishing you a happy and relaxed weekend ahead from all of us here at OTC Supply… Happy Friday!