The digital yuan’s highest profile tests began in Shenzhen in September, when city officials held a lottery, giving away $1.5 million in 50,000 in “digital red envelopes” containing 200 yuan—about $30—usable at 4,000 merchants who signed up to accept the digital yuan. That and subsequent tests have been called wildly successful by People’s Bank of China Governor Yi gang.
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The Human Rights Foundation's Alex Gladstein says bitcoin is vital to privacy (Photo: Human Rights Foundation)Human Rights Foundation: ‘Don’t demonize’ bitcoin
Cracking down on privacy tools like encrypted messaging and bitcoin does more to help the police state than to hurt criminals and terrorists said its chief strategy officer Alex Gladstein
Arguing that “Bitcoin is neutral like cash,” Gladstein said “Most Americans may not yet grasp that financial privacy is just as important as communications privacy for our democracy—that your spending habits say more about you than your words.”
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Will Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen be good for crypto? The jury is still out (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)Janet Yellen confirmed as Treasury Secretary
While her top financial regulators have strong pro-crypto backgrounds, Quantum Economics’ Mati Greenspan fears that Yellen’s collaboration with international regulators could ‘have very harsh consequences for all of crypto’
Last week, Yellen calmed some fears that arose after she said in her Jan. 21 testimony before the Senate Finance Committee that she wanted to “curtail” the “malign activities” that for which digital assets have been used.
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Crypto users are older than believed, survey finds
Well over half the participants in a survey by Wirex and the Stellar Development foundation were older than 45, and more than a quarter were over 55
Three-quarters of the survey participants said they view crypto payments as a viable alternative to traditional money transfer services, according to an announcement.
