The Securities Exchange Commission announced on Friday it will make cryptocurrency and initial coin offerings a top priority. Earlier this week crypto traders got an unexpected bit of hope
when the chairman of the SEC testified in front of the Senate Banking Committee and said cryptocurrency shouldn't be dismissed. Peter J. Ferrara, policy analyst and Senior Fellow for Legal Affairs at The Heartland Institute joins The Crypto Craze to discuss what this means for crypto traders.
Ferrara explains a new version of bitcoin called AML bitcoin, which takes the anonymity out of each transaction. He says this change in the technology may flourish if the SEC takes a stronger hold on the regulation of crypto.
Plus, Ferrara believes this is a turning point crypto because now each "wallet" will be tied to a biometric identity. Up until now it's been a little like the wild, wild west. There weren't any laws or sanctions and that caused problems with money laundering and even using crypto as a payment for terrorism.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
