Overview

The global rise of digital and cryptocurrencies has the potential to dramatically reshape Palestinian political and economic resistance inside and outside colonized Palestine. How would this be possible, and how viable would it be? Which technological aspects of digital and cryptocurrencies can Palestinians deploy in their struggle for liberation? What are some of the complications they and their allies might face in utilizing these technologies, and how can they overcome them?

Al-Shabaka sat down with policy analysts Tariq Dana and Ibrahim Shikaki to debate the utility and viability of using digital and cryptocurrencies in the Palestinian context. 

Are digital and cryptocurrencies viable as alternatives to a Palestinian national currency?

Tariq Dana:​

Cryptocurrencies were created as an alternative to highly centralized, state-controlled financial systems across the world. Decentralization is a keyword in understanding the utility of cryptocurrencies, because they are not controlled by any authority, including governments or central banks. Transactions are typically secured through algorithms and consensus among complex networks of computers across the globe. Cryptocurrencies also include other significant features, such as anonymity, security, privacy, and fast and unstoppable cross-border transactions. This means that cryptocurrencies are immune to fraud and political control.

I see many benefits to utilizing certain cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, if adopted institutionally as part of a Palestinian strategy. I use the term “strategy” to refer to the long-awaited revival of the Palestinian national movement, which necessarily requires developing new economic and financial means of resistance. This implies two things: first, we should not adopt an incompatible statist perspective to solve our problems. For example, it is not useful to think about national currency in a conventional sense, but rather, as an innovative financial…

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In today’s top stories from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, financial leaders from the G-7 countries call for regulations on cryptocurrency following the stablecoin collapse.

Also, Swedish online betting service Bettson comes to the U.S. with the help of Nuvei, and Israel-based accounts receivable (AR) automation system Gaviti forms a partnership with accounting, financial, HR and payroll firm Sage.

G-7 Calls for ‘Consistent and Comprehensive’ Crypto Regulation

At their meeting in Germany this week, financial leaders from the Group of Seven countries (G-7) said the Financial Stability Board must develop “consistent and comprehensive” regulations for cryptocurrency.

Officials pointed to the recent collapse of the Terra stablecoin and the resulting chaos in the crypto markets.

“In light of the recent turmoil in the crypto-asset market, the G7 urges the FSB (Financial Stability Board) … to advance the swift development and implementation of consistent and comprehensive regulation,” finance ministers and central bankers from the G-7 industrialized countries said in a statement.

Nuvei Helps Swedish Sportsbook Betsson Launch in U.S.

Payments platform Nuvei is working with Swedish gaming company Betsson Group to launch its online sportsbook in the U.S.

According to a news release, Betsson has set up shop in Colorado under the name Betsafe and will use Nuvei’s instant bank transfer tool to let players instantly make deposits to their gaming accounts directly from their bank accounts.

“Players will also benefit from instant withdrawals, which enable them to receive their winnings straight into their bank account in real-time, 24/7,” the release said.

Gaviti, Sage Team on AR Automation

Israel-based accounts receivable (AR) automation system Gaviti is working with accounting, financial, HR and payroll firm Sage to better manage invoices.

The collaboration will see Graviti integrating its account with the Sage Intacct cloud management system to…

Crypto lender Celsius Network has suffered a 50 per cent decline this year in the value of assets deposited on its platform, a sign of the pressure the industry is facing in the wake of falling digital token prices.

Celsius, which borrows cryptocurrencies from its customers and lends them out to earn a return, had just under $12bn of assets as of May 17, according to its website, down from more than $24bn in late December 2021.

The company is one of the biggest players in the crypto lending business and says it has 1.7mn customers. Last year, it raised $750mn from investors including Canada’s second-largest pension fund, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

Crypto lending boomed in recent years in lockstep with the broader crypto market. With prices now in retreat, companies with billions of customer deposits such as Celsius face the challenge of navigating a crypto marketwide slump.

Alex Mashinsky, who founded and runs Celsius, has sought to reassure customers this month after the collapse of a major stablecoin called terraUSD along with its sister token Luna shook confidence and hit prices across crypto markets. He said on Thursday the group had “minimal exposure” to the tokens.

At @CelsiusNetwork we have stated several times publicly that we had minimal exposure to $Luna and $UST

I understand people who are trying to sell you competing services are spreading these rumors but you have to trust our @Twitter posts.

— Alex Mashinsky (@Mashinsky) May 19, 2022

Celsius has sustained significant client outflows in recent months, including $750mn between May 6 and May 14, according to weekly statistics the company releases. Since March, net outflows have amounted to more than $1.1bn.

The decline in assets at Celsius has primarily represented a reflection of falling prices in crypto markets, said a person familiar with the matter. They added that the company has billions of dollars in liquidity and was providing customers with the funds they…

In North Carolina, Nida Allam, the Sanders-backed candidate, lost to Valerie Foushee, a state legislator, in an open congressional race. Ms. Foushee’s campaign was supported by nearly $3.5 million in spending from two pro-Israel groups and a super PAC linked to a cryptocurrency billionaire. Super PAC spending for Ms. Allam was $370,000.

Maya Handa, Ms. Allam’s campaign manager, said Mr. Sanders’s megaphone — he did robocalls, sent a fund-raising email to his giant list and held a virtual event — brought invaluable attention to the outside money flooding in the race.

The message broke through to some voters. In Hillsborough, Elese Stutts, 44, a bookseller, had been planning to vote for Ms. Foushee. However, on Election Day, Ms. Stutts said, she was turned off after learning about the origin of the super PAC money that had helped Ms. Foushee’s campaign.

Ms. Foushee ultimately won the Democratic primary for a district that includes several major universities, including Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and where Mr. Sanders registered 83 percent favorability among Democratic primary voters in the Allam campaign’s polling.

Mr. Sanders has sparred with pro-Israel groups over the years, including during his 2020 presidential run, when a group called the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC spent money to attack him when he emerged as a front-runner early in the primary season.

And when one of Mr. Sanders’s national co-chairs, Nina Turner, ran for Congress in a special election in 2021 and again in 2022, that group and the AIPAC-aligned super PAC both spent heavily to defeat her.

The South African Reserve Bank is mulling the issuance of a digital rand, Reuters reported on May 18, citing the central bank’s Deputy Governor Kuben Naidoo.

Naidoo said a digital rand could significantly cut the cost of cross-border payments for banks. However, he added that the central bank is still years away from introducing the digital rand.

At the moment, cross-border remittances out of South Africa cost 13% of the transaction amount. According to a World Bank report, this price is more than double the average cost of sending money out of the Group of 20 (G20) top global economies. Meanwhile, the cost of sending money into South Africa is 6.2%.

This news comes on the heels of South Africa conducting small-scale experiments with a wholesale central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC) in 2021. SARB also teamed up with the central banks of Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia to run a cross-border pilot.

Before the digital rand’s development can go any further, regulators must test it on a larger scale and create a legal framework for its use. Naidoo added that SARB is still learning and experimenting.

While South Africa is taking its time with creating a digital rand, it is expediting crypto regulation. According to Naidoo, crypto regulation is on the way and might arrive within the next nine to 15 months.

Explaining the rush to regulate the nascent asset class, Naidoo said,

If crypto assets were to become a very ubiquitous currency, you could undermine the authority of the central bank.

Different countries take different approaches to CBDC development

This news comes as multiple countries across the globe continue exploring the option of launching a CBDC. The Israeli central bank got the public go-ahead to launch a digital shekel earlier this month. However, the central bank is yet to decide whether it will pursue the issuance of a CBDC.

Unlike Israel, who seems hesitant about a digital shekel, China has been pushing full steam ahead with its CBDC plans. Earlier…

Our MINA Protocol price prediction is hanging by a thread as the price is battling key support around $1. The ongoing slump in Bitcoin prices has put most of the altcoins, including the MINA coin, in a downward spiral. MINA Protocol dipped to $0.79 last week as Bitcoin price tagged the lows of $24,500. At the time of writing, it is trading at $1.01, which is 84% below its all-time high of $6.56.

MINA Protocol describes itself as the lightest blockchain in the world. According to the official website, the size of the MINA blockchain is only 22 KB. This is nothing compared to other blockchains’ sizes, which are typically in 100s of GigaBytes. The protocol markets itself as a ‘succinct blockchain’ which has been built to curtail computational requirements for decentralized applications.

As per MINA Protocol news today, the team is hosting an in-person meetup in Tel Avis, Israel. The event will take place on 23^rd May 2022, where participants can learn about all the upcoming programs and grants.

MINA Protocol Price Prediction

The technical analysis of the MINA price chart shows that the support at $0.92-$1.03 is being tested again. This is the same region where the price bounced off in July 2021. However, if the price loses this support, then things might turn pretty ugly for the bulls. Such a bearish breakdown could trigger another move in the downwards direction to find new support.

The last hope for the bulls is a weekly close above this key support which might initiate a relief rally to $1.84. However, such a move would only be possible if Bitcoin price stabilizes above $35,000 region. Till then, any bullish MINA protocol price prediction would be off the table.

Due to intense fear in the market, investors are getting rid of riskier cryptocurrencies and moving towards safer bets. Unfortunately, this risk-off approach has aggravated the selling pressure in smaller altcoins like MINA crypto. Therefore, most cryptocurrencies are trading 80-90% below their…

Crypto selloff is “very small” relative to the overall US household wealth, about 0.3 per cent of the households’ net worth, and price decrease will have negligible impact on the economy, US investment bank Goldman Sachs has said.

It said that the US households own about one-third of the global cryptocurrency market, and after the five-month selloff, this would equate to about $300 billion zapped this year. In comparison, stocks accounted for roughly 33 per cent of household wealth at the end of 2021, and recent price decreases have likely lowered household net worth by around $8 trillion.

Goldman Sachs researchers stated that equity price swings are the primary driver of changes in household net worth, with cryptocurrencies contributing very marginally. Due to the reduction in the value of crypto assets, the bank sees “little opportunity” for an increase in labour-force participation.

In other development, Krishna Juvvadi, who previously served as a trial attorney at the US Department of Justice has been roped in as the head, vice-president, of the legal team at Binance. The news comes days after parent company Binance Global job-listed 42 vacancies in its legal team.

Krishna will lead the day-to-day operations of the company’s legal department and will report to Binance US’ General Counsel, Norman Reed. 

Binance CEO Brian Shroder wants to make Binance the most licenced crypto exchange in the world. The company is focusing on strengthening its legal teams across the globe.

Binance US also completed its first-ever external funding on April 6. It has raised over $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,525 crore) from various investors. Binance is looking to onboard legal personnel in Israel, Canada, UK, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other regions.

Crypto Prices

The price of Bitcoin in the cryptocurrency market rose by 4.31 per cent in the last 24 hours, and it was trading at $30,259.18 at 4:30 pm IST….

Celsius Network CRO, Roni Cohen Pavon’s career, accomplishments, and business acumen information

Celsius Network CRO – Roni Cohen-Pavon called Celsius Network Roni, is the man who assists in the development of sales strategies and the identification of a variety of difficulties and obstacles that Celsius Network must address. He collaborates with the leadership team to maximize all aspects of revenue generation for Celsius Network, including sales, marketing, and business alliances.

We’ll go through the CRO Roni Cohen-Pavon’s career, accomplishments, and business acumen in the cryptocurrency space for Celsius Network.

BIO: Full Name: MR. RONI COHEN-PAVON Company & Position: Celsius Network CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) Birthplace: Israel

CAREER: Roni Cohen-Pavon began his career as part of a practice’s core team, where he learned a lot about e-commerce and cryptocurrency. He also studied law in order to learn how to establish a lawful currency corporation. Early in his career, he worked for a number of small businesses, supporting customers with a variety of issues, including currency conversion. As a result, he has an excellent understanding of crypto market research and income generation.

Roni Cohen-Pavon’s Professional History with Celsius Network

Celsius Network is a cryptocurrency loan company. They assist hundreds of thousands of consumers around the world to achieve economic independence with a compounding yield service and instant low-cost loans via an online/mobile app. Celsius Network, a Financial Software firm with approximately 300 staff was launched in 2017. Roni Cohen Pavon is working as CRO at Celsius Network as well as a member of the C-Suite Department’s Sales Executive team.

Office Headquarters: 221 River Street, 9th Floor, Hoboken, New Jersey, 07030, United States Revenue: Approximately 100M per year Industries: Financial Software, Crypto Currency, Software, Business Intelligence (BI)

Roni Cohen-Pavon is the CRO in…