Headlines
▌Irish regulator fines Meta 390 million euros
The Irish data privacy regulator imposed a fine of 390 million euros on Meta on Wednesday (January 4). The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said that the services provided by Meta's social media Facebook and Instagram had violations, requiring the two platforms to reassess the legal basis for operating advertisements based on personal data in the EU. The DPC gave Meta companies three months to bring their data processing procedures into compliance. The DPC is currently investigating 11 other Meta services.
Cryptocurrency
▌Data: By the end of last year, Binance had controlled 92% of Bitcoin spot transactions
According to data from Arcane Research, by the end of 2022, Binance's share of the Bitcoin spot trading market will rise to 92%. At the beginning of last year, Binance had a market share of only 45%, but the removal of transaction fees last June and the collapse of rival FTX both prompted users to switch to Binance. Meanwhile, a report from CryptoCompare showed that Binance had a 66.7% share of the overall crypto market at the end of last year, well ahead of second-ranked Coinbase (8.2%). Rumors of Binance’s solvency increased significantly after the FTX crash, and the exchange experienced some outflows for a short period of time, but the situation has since stabilized. Such a high market share could cause serious problems for the industry if Binance runs into any problems.
▌Asset Management Giant BlackRock Adds Bitcoin to Its Global Allocation Fund Portfolio
Asset management giant BlackRock has added Bitcoin to the portfolio of its Global Allocation Fund (Blackrock Global Allocation Fund). BlackRock said in a filing that the fund may invest in cash-settled bitcoin futures traded on commodity exchanges registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. According to the report, this is one of the first general funds to add Bitcoin to its portfolio, showing that Bitcoin has become a sufficiently mature diversified asset that it is a valuable investment even in very conservative portfolios. It is reported that BlackRock Global Allocation Fund invests in stocks, bonds and short-term securities of corporate and government issuers on a global scale, without prescribed restrictions. "Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 70% of its total assets in securities of corporate and government issuers," BlackRock said. In addition, the fund may invest in equity securities of small and emerging growth companies.
▌The author of "Black Swan": Bitcoin has failed to achieve its goal of becoming a decentralized currency and value store
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the famous author of "Black Swan", recently shared his views on Bitcoin in an interview, describing it as a "detector for the imbecile." According to Taleb, Bitcoin has failed to achieve its goal of being a decentralized currency and store of value. Also according to Taleb, it is vulnerable to inflation and cannot protect against black swan events.
▌Bitcoin Miners Give Mixed Opinions on Bear Market Bottom in 2023
The current Bitcoin bear market will likely end this year, according to mining data company Hashrate Index. Other industry insiders, however, aren’t so sure. The company’s optimistic outlook is welcome news, given the sluggish cryptocurrency market, which has subdued mining profits. However, Hashrate Index emphasized that a full-fledged bull market will likely not kick into gear anytime soon. The mining data company also notes that Bitcoin’s hashrate growth could slow in 2023. Because of severe winter storms in the U.S. last week, numerous miners had to shut down their equipment, causing the Bitcoin hashrate to drop by 35% in a single day. After a substantial recovery, the hashrate has recovered to 271.32 EH/s based on data by BTC.com.