This past week, the DeFi ecosystem saw several new developments related to the DeFi lending crisis as Celsius filed for bankruptcy. At a time when bears are more dominant in the current market, DeFi protocols with a revenue system can thrive.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More
As the crypto market heads deeper into crypto winter, with prices in the gutter and developers focused on creating the next popular protocol or breakout token, some crypto fans have begun to explore new ways of increasing their stack in preparation for the next bull market.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More
California was one of nine states that had banned political contributions in crypto due to perceived transparency and Know Your Customer (KYC) issues. The question of contributions in crypto was revived in March when the commission issued an opinion on the sale of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) for campaign fundraising.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More
Tesla was not the only institution that sold its Bitcoin. Arcane Research analyst Vetle Lunde highlighted in a Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) thread that large institutions have sold 236,237 BTC since May 10. Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More
Steep stock and bond losses are set to leave state and local pensions this year with enough to cover 77.9% of all the benefits that have been promised, down from 84.8% in 2021, according to the New York-based nonprofit Equable Institute. That reflects almost a half trillion dollar increase in the gap between assets and what’s owed to retirees. The biggest US fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, said this week it lost 6.1%, its worst performance since 2009. Public funds lost about 10.4% on average in 2022, according to Equable Institute, as surging inflation and growing fears of a recession hammered the bond market and drove stocks to their steepest quarterly decline since the first wave of Covid-19 in early 2020. The losses pared about half of the outsized 25% gain funds saw on average last year as monetary stimulus helped markets rally during the pandemic.“The threat to states is not the investment losses,” said Equable executive director Anthony Randazzo. “The threat is the contribution rates that are going to have to go up because of the investment losses.”When pensions miss their assumed annual return targets — about 7% on average — states and local governments have to increase funding or cut costs by raising employee contributions or freezing cost-of-living increases. To dampen the impact of market gyrations, most government pensions phase in additional contributions when returns fall short of targets.Randazzo estimates that payroll contributions, currently around 30%, will climb to 35% in the next five to eight years.The unfunded liability of public pensions had fallen to $933 billion in 2021 from $1.7 trillion a year earlier, according to Equable Institute. It’s projected to climb back to $1.4 trillion in 2022. Wilshire Associates, a consultant to pension funds, earlier this month said losses in the second quarter left state retirement systems with assets sufficient to cover 70.1% of promised benefits, down from 81.4% the quarter prior.Public pensions, which count on annual gains to cover benefits promised to retirees, have increased their allocations to riskier investments in stocks, private equity and high-yield bonds to meet long-term targets. A land war in Europe, inflation, tightening monetary policy and fear of recession of have led to widespread losses in some of those markets. Private equity now makes up more than 10% of state pension portfolios, according to Equable Institute.The Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho lost 9.5% for the fiscal year ending June 30, the fourth-worst return in its history. The San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System — which was 112% funded in 2021 — fared comparatively well, losing a more modest 2.8%.There is a silver lining, says Jean-Pierre Aubry, the associate director of state and local research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. State and local governments have slowed liability growth by about half since 2000 by boosting contribution payments and narrowing benefits.“This type of market of volatility results in higher contribution rates,” Aubry said. “But it doesn’t put the pension funds’ overall finances at real risk or the benefits being paid at any real risk.” Related: Pension Funding Woes Are Back as 2021 Returns Vanish: Joe Mysak©2022 Bloomberg L.P. More
The UK’s financial regulator has warned insurers that the cost of living crisis could force struggling customers to cancel or cut back on personal insurance such as for homes and cars, as he called on firms to provide more support to those most at risk.The Financial Conduct Authority’s executive director for consumers and competition, Sheldon Mills, held an industry roundtable this month where he shared the regulator’s concerns about cost-of-living pressures with a range of finance groups, according to several people familiar with the meeting. On the insurance side, representatives from the Association of British Insurers and the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) were present.At the meeting, the FCA warned that people might be struggling to keep up on their monthly payments and that customers might be forced to cancel or lower their insurance coverage, leaving them without an adequate safety net, according to two of the people. The FCA thinks this could be a risk across a range of insurance lines such as car and home insurance, but also life insurance and pet cover, according to a person familiar with its thinking. In a statement, the FCA said it was “reminding firms of their responsibility to treat affected customers fairly and consider what further support they can offer” as the cost of living spirals — including for those customers who are “struggling to meet the cost of their insurance premiums”.The regulator expected that “as people seek to make savings on insurance, the extent of their cover is well explained, including any exclusions or additional excesses” and that insurers also needed to make sure their products continued to meet customers’ needs.Insurance, alongside energy, is already one of the biggest contributors to the so-called poverty premium, the extra money that lower-income households have to pay for services deemed essential. Campaign groups have called for changes to ensure that low-income households are not in effect “priced out” of the insurance market. Insurers already offer various support schemes for vulnerable customers, which were bolstered during the pandemic. BIBA’s executive director Graeme Trudgill said customers that cut back on their insurance cover as a result of cost of living pressures “may be missing out on vital insurance cover when they need it most”.This can create other problems, too, given that motor insurance is a legal requirement and buildings insurance is often a condition of homeowners’ mortgage contracts.Customers that move to a cut-price insurance contract might be left short if the worst happens. Underinsurance, where customers do not have the financial cover they need to repair all the damage from an accident, is already evident in 40-45 per cent of claims, according to BIBA’s figures.Trudgill reiterated BIBA’s call for a reduction in insurance premium tax from 12 per cent to 10 per cent, which he argued could be passed on to customers, and for it to be waived in some cases, such as for leaseholders in cladded buildings.“We know that people are having to make extraordinarily difficult decisions as part of the cost of living crisis and people shouldn’t have to go without to make ends meet,” said Matthew Upton, director of policy at Citizens Advice. He called for the “same focus” from the FCA and insurers on this issue that was brought to bear on the problem of so-called loyalty penalties, where renewing customers faced steep price rises, a practice that was banned from January. More
Crypto.com has received regulatory approval from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the firm announced to Cointelegraph on Friday.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More
Tokkea, a company founded in 2021, has introduced a wide range of innovative products and ideas that are designed to regain investors’ trust and launch the platform into the stratosphere. Tokkea is developing an entire ecosystem of thoughtfully created products and services that appeal to new and seasoned investors while providing some of the industry’s highest levels of security. Could Tokkea be the right platform for you, or even your business?What’s inside Tokkea’s Accelerator?Tokkea’s Accelerator comprises a bespoke range of products and fintech services that all revolve around a central digital hub and one ecosystem token. The digital HUB can be accessed through a mobile application, which offers indexes, allocations and multiple incentives. On the other hand it is the place where users will be able to access Tokkea’s NFT marketplace, launchpad, farming and staking programs. Staking your tokens opens up a large range of services and benefits, which include a MasterCard crypto debit card, cashback bonuses and access to Tokkea’s referral program. The ecosystem token called STKA, is being used for actions like paying fees for products, rewarding liquidity providers and multiple staking and farming opportunities. The company aims to provide an intuitive, diverse and easy-to-use ecosystem that keeps users safe and helps them earn crypto. The STKA token takes care of all the general day-to-day transactions within the ecosystem. Tokkea has already launched its own crypto exchange with multiple layers of security. Having an in-house crypto exchange helps to speed up transaction times, allows companies to offer tokens as rewards and generally builds trust with users. The company also plans to launch a decentralized exchange, as well as an in-house private wallet, towards the end of 2022. A DEX is of peer-to-peer nature, so users can trade cryptocurrencies and interact with smart contracts without needing an intermediary to transfer funds or data. The DEX wallet will provide you with security for your digital assets, nevertheless you may use your existing private wallet such as MetaMask to connect to the DEX.However, that’s not all! Tokkea has more farming and venture products planned. It’s not just individuals that can benefit from Tokkea, also business owners can. Any startup may join a venture and digitalize their product or company with Tokkea’s tokenization technology. These companies will also have access to a launchpad, giving these startups the best chance to succeed. Copying is great! However, what attracts most users to the platform is the copy trading platform that allows traders to either learn the ropes or hone their skills. The platform is free of performance fees and already live in Beta mode, giving Tokkea a huge advantage over the competitors. Copy trading is perfect for newbies and veterans. Newcomers can earn as they learn, and experienced traders can test out new strategies before risking their cash in live trades. Copy trading allows users to learn from experts by copying another trader’s position while it’s opened or closed and can be done manually or automatically. Users can create a variety of portfolios inheriting different strategies and varying levels of risk. The aim is to educate traders and help them make as much money as possible at lowest risk possible. Wine and tokens – a sensible match?Another service within the platform is the company’s IT section, which has the technology to tokenize assets and develop legal services for blockchain and crypto projects. This is a robust set of tools to have at your disposal. It reinforces the company’s ability to secure its own and its user’s assets legally and technologically. Tokkea is already tokenizing rare collectible bottles of wine by creating NFTs as a digital certificate. This is an interesting project that demonstrates the immense potential of tokenization in the future. And users can get access to a whitelist by staking their STKA. Nearly anything may be tokenized, that’s why Tokkea plans to be a top player in this sector. What is Big Vision?Tokkea’s partnership with Big Vision fertilizes the Accelerator strategy by offering a game changing range of social, educational and networking systems. A decentralized metaverse will allow users to profit from social connections within the world of crypto. The personalized NFT access pass displays the real capitalization of a profile by showing skills and experiences in the blockchain industry. By activating the NFT pass, users can begin their journey and expand their network. They can create communities and share their thoughts using secure streams, which are blockchain based. Big Vision provides a platform where people from the industry should come together. Individuals and entrepreneurs are incentivized to join forces, in order to harness the biggest advantages of strategies, technologies and services within the crypto space.All this will function around the BVC token, which users can receive as bonus rewards when purchasing a Tokkea package.Big Vision Academy is the perfect place for beginners to learn about crypto and blockchain, while experienced users can expand their knowledge. It helps users to understand the most important topics and terms of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The designated aim is to supply knowledge and unravel the myths in order to advance the sector’s adoption.Big Vision Club gives members the opportunity to feel special among the same ambitious and successful people. It is achieved by forming an exclusive lifestyle and business community.This partnership is essential for users to be able to learn, share their thoughts, find partners and teams, create projects and ultimately join the Tokkea Accelerator program to receive capital for their undertakings and reach more clients at the same time. With Tokkea, anyone can realize their ideas and plans to match their ambitions. Continue reading on DailyCoin More
