Mortgage applications dipped 0.7% in the last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage is 6.93%.
Source link
Frozen funds in crypto, explained
Frozen funds typically mean access to such funds has been restricted or temporarily halted.
Several factors, such as technological errors, security precautions, disagreements, investigations and regulatory compliance, can lead to such circumstances. So, can a crypto exchange freeze your account?
If exchanges or financial institutions suspect fraudulent activity or money laundering related to the account, they may freeze funds. Furthermore, freezing may occur as a preventive measure in reaction to possible security lapses or unwanted access attempts.
Funds may also be frozen during disagreements or ongoing investigations until the issue is resolved, guaranteeing a just outcome for all parties concerned. Temporary freezes resulting from technical problems with the blockchain or exchange infrastructure can also affect the availability of funds. For instance, in 2022, Binance temporarily suspended withdrawals of Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens due to the Merge.
When users experience frozen funds, they should contact the relevant platform or service provider immediately to identify the issue and find a solution. To address and possibly unfreeze the funds, they must adhere to the particular guidelines and instructions provided by the platform under consideration.
Does the principle of immutability apply to frozen crypto assets?
From the standpoint of frozen assets, immutability in blockchain functions as an unyielding vault, protecting and preserving value without the possibility of alteration.
This concept is fundamental for financial applications involving tokenized assets or cryptocurrencies. It levels the playing field by ensuring an asset’s value and ownership stay transparent and unchangeable once it is frozen or stored on the blockchain.
Comparable to being locked in ice, it is an unalterable condition that ensures the durability and integrity of assets kept on the blockchain. This principle provides protection against unauthorized modifications or tampering with frozen assets. Furthermore, immutability protects the transaction history by maintaining its accuracy and thwarting dishonest manipulations.
Circumstances leading to cryptocurrency freezing
Cryptocurrency freezing can occur under various circumstances driven by legal and regulatory frameworks, ensuring compliance and addressing specific scenarios where freezing becomes necessary.
Legal and compliance investigations
Assets related to cryptocurrencies may be frozen by regulatory bodies looking into cases of fraud, money laundering or financing of terrorism. This action complies with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, enabling law enforcement to halt transactions and investigate suspicious activity.
For instance, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) provides guidelines to regulate cryptocurrencies and prevent illicit activities, including freezing assets to aid investigations.
Court orders and judicial proceedings
Orders to freeze cryptocurrency assets may be issued by courts in disagreements, litigation or criminal cases. This freeze stops assets from being transferred or sold until court cases are concluded or decisions are made.
Regulatory enforcement actions
Assets may be frozen by regulatory bodies, such as tax authorities or financial regulators, as part of enforcement actions against companies or people breaking financial regulations. This ensures adherence and permits appropriate inquiries.
Security measures by crypto exchanges or wallet providers
Cryptocurrency exchanges or wallet providers may freeze assets as a precaution against unauthorized access attempts, suspicious activity or security breaches. In addition to safeguarding user funds, this also prevents possible losses due to security flaws.
Stablecoin depegging
Platforms may freeze transactions involving a stablecoin if it loses its peg to its underlying asset (such as the United States dollar) to stop further destabilization or to evaluate the situation.
How can cryptocurrencies be frozen on a blockchain?
There are several mechanisms employed to freeze cryptocurrencies, including centralized exchanges and wallets, legal and regulatory interventions, and smart contracts.
Centralized exchanges and wallets
Centralized platforms possess the authority to freeze assets under their control. Accounts or transactions may be suspended due to security concerns, legal requirements or compliance issues. This method gives the platform centralized control over user funds, making it possible to quickly freeze them, but it also raises questions about central authority and trust.
Legal and regulatory interventions
Lawmakers can impose restrictions or legal orders that force financial institutions or exchanges to freeze a specific type of cryptocurrency. This approach ensures jurisdictional law compliance by providing asset freezes with legal backing and conforming to established legal frameworks.
For example, China has repeatedly cracked down on cryptocurrency trading and mining, leading to significant disruptions in these activities within its jurisdiction.
Smart contracts
Smart contracts on blockchain networks can facilitate freezing mechanisms through code. A smart contract’s programmed conditions may include provisions that freeze assets in response to predetermined scenarios, like non-compliance or dispute resolution. With this decentralized method, freezing is automated according to preset criteria, negating the need for intervention from a central authority.
For example, some protocols in decentralized finance (DeFi) may include smart contracts that permit asset freezing if certain conditions are satisfied, like loan default or contract violation. When implementing freezes, smart contracts ensure decentralization, automation and transparency.
Ethical concerns regarding freezing assets in a decentralized system
Freezing assets in decentralized systems raises ethical questions because of the conflict between autonomy and control.
Balancing the necessity of safeguarding against illicit activities with preserving decentralization and individual autonomy remains a critical ethical challenge in managing asset freezes within decentralized systems.
Assets may need to be frozen to stop illegal activity or breaches, but doing so in a decentralized system raises concerns about justice and governance. One ethical issue is that a small group or entity might abuse the ability to freeze, undermining decentralization’s tenets and consolidating power in several hands.
Furthermore, using smart contracts to freeze assets may not provide the flexibility required for making thoughtful decisions under challenging circumstances, which could result in unfair or irreversible actions. Additionally, the irreversibility of some blockchain transactions creates moral problems because it is difficult to correct errors or deal with unforeseen consequences once assets are frozen.
Technical difficulties in implementing freezes without compromising decentralization
Maintaining the decentralized nature of a blockchain system, which emphasizes autonomy and peer-to-peer control, poses challenges when attempting to enforce freezes without compromising these principles.
One issue is that blockchain data is immutable; once a transaction is recorded, it becomes difficult to change or freeze without jeopardizing the system’s integrity. Although smart contracts are frequently essential for freezes, they cannot constantly adjust to changing conditions or legal mandates without possibly creating new central control points.
Furthermore, it is challenging to coordinate consensus within a decentralized network to freeze assets in a way that is transparent, timely and widely accepted. To overcome technical obstacles, a careful balance must be struck between upholding decentralized ideals and creating systems that can effectively and compliantly implement freezes.
Technological innovations in smart contract adaptability, blockchain governance and consensus mechanisms are critical to overcoming these obstacles and maintaining decentralization.
Roger Ver took legal action after the company’s derivatives-based arm, bit.com failed to release his $8 million withdrawal request to him in June 2022.
Popular crypto businessman Roger Ver has sued Smart Vega Holding Limited, a subsidiary of Matrixport. Although the case has been on since 2022, the report just came to light after Ver recently spoke about what transpired.
Roger Ver Believes Wu Has Personal Vendetta against Him
According to Ver, he took legal action against Matrixport in August 2022. This was after the company’s derivatives-based arm, bit.com failed to release his $8 million withdrawal request to him in June. Ver claims that his request at the time was specifically blocked by Jihan Wu – co-founder at Matrixport.
Wu may have linked Ver to his losses at CoinFLEX and had personal issues to grind with him, the crypto businessman suggests. He noted:
“The reason my funds were unavailable for withdrawal was because Wu had instructed Respondent not to release them to me.”
Ver explained further that Wu was acting based on the belief that he was owing sums to a third party that also owed sums to him. However, Ver refutes those claims, insisting that Wu could not have been more wrong.
In an affidavit filed to the Supreme Court of the Seychelles in September 2022, Ver wrote that Wu’s claims are both false and irrelevant. He also added that Wu was allowing personal sentiments to come in the way of business.
Matrixport Counters
Meanwhile, Matrixport, via a spokesperson has also shared a counter-claim to Ver’s account of the events. According to the company’s head of public relations and brand Ross Gan, Ver was not exactly honest with what went on.
Gan admits that Ver is a bit.com customer but an investigation revealed that he had engaged in margin trading irregularities. This “breach of his contractual obligations” meant that he was subject to a penalty fee. So, Ver was always free to withdraw his funds after the penalties payable must have been deducted.
However, Gan noted that Ver had an issue with the penalty payable, and that was where conversations broke down.
Gan says that Matrixport will await the court’s verdict on the case and agree to whatever outcome it is. But in the process leading up to the ruling, the company has decided to withhold the funds. In a show of willingness, however, the company has also offered to put the disputed amount in a third-party custody account, Gan revealed.
next
Mayowa is a crypto enthusiast/writer whose conversational character is quite evident in his style of writing. He strongly believes in the potential of digital assets and takes every opportunity to reiterate this.
He’s a reader, a researcher, an astute speaker, and also a budding entrepreneur.
Away from crypto however, Mayowa’s fancied distractions include soccer or discussing world politics.
PayPal and Paxos dominated the news cycle on Monday with the announcement of the launch of the PayPal (PYUSD) stablecoin, but concerns have been raised about the possibility of user assets being frozen in their wallets, as is the case with USDT.
Crypto Community Adverse to Paxos Wallet Freeze Feature
The PYUSD stablecoin issued by Paxos has a condition that is not too welcomed by the crypto community, which has dulled the initial excitement for the launch of the PayPal stablecoin. According to reports, Paxos, a blockchain infrastructure firm that issued the PYUSD has several centralization issues which give them a certain amount of control over user’s wallets.
Information published on its GitHub account reveals that Paxos can freeze or suspend users’ wallets and transfer functions on PYUSD authorization in the case of a security threat. The Paxos freeze feature is quite similar to Tether’s USDT which is able to freeze/blacklist users’ addresses involved in fraudulent activities. Additionally, Paxos can withhold users’ funds and assets, as well as wipe the account clean if the law requires it.
The reactions from the crypto community were instant and not too favorable as investors’ anxiety spiked at the thought of possibly losing their substantial digital assets or having their wallets on lock.
Centralization has always been a touchy subject for the crypto community as decentralized networks are often believed to be more secure and distribute control among network participants rather than a central body.
Paxos has stated that freezing accounts is unlikely to happen often, and the company itself would not execute the process.
Stock price holds above $62 following stablecoin launch | Source: PayPal Holdings, Inc. on Tradingview.com
PayPal Launches PYUSD Stablecoin
Global payment giant PayPal recently unveiled its latest innovation, the PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin, on August 7, in collaboration with Paxos, a New-York based blockchain infrastructure company. The news comes as a significant development for the Paxos ecosystem, as the integration of cryptocurrencies into the financial industry continues to grow.
The crypto community has largely welcomed this new development, as investors and traders are gearing up to take advantage of the token and its conveniences. Analysts also predict that popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum prices will also benefit significantly from the new stablecoin.
The PYUSD is an ERC-20 token developed on the Ethereum blockchain backed by the US dollar. Launching PayPal’s stablecoin is expected to help make crypto trading and offerings easily accessible on the payment platform.
With PayPal’s user base reaching 400 million in 2022, the PYUSD stablecoin launch will also help facilitate crypto adoption and awareness, exposing a significant portion of the global population to digital currencies.
President and CEO of PayPal, Dan Schulman, commented, “The shift toward digital currencies requires a stable instrument that is both digitally native and easily connected to fiat currency like the U.S. dollar. Our commitment to responsible innovation and compliance, and our track record delivering new experiences to our customers, provides the foundation necessary to contribute to the growth of digital payments through PayPal USD.”
Featured image from HowStuffWorks, chart from Tradingview.com
Americans love frozen food.
Virtually all American households purchase frozen food at least once a year, but without resilient cold storage supply chain infrastructure, the growth and safety of the massive $265 billion global frozen food market may be put at risk.
“Consumers are buying more frozen products. It’s going to require more storage capability and a more efficient supply chain,” Brian Choi, CEO and managing partner of The Food Institute, told CNBC.
In 2022, frozen food sales in the U.S. reached more than $72 billion, according to the American Frozen Food Institute.
“We’re seeing that growth continue,” Alison Bodor, CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute, told CNBC.
During the coronavirus lockdowns in 2020, frozen food sales reached more than $65 billion, according to the institute.
“The pandemic taught consumers to invest in bulk buying,” Sonia Punwani, chief marketing officer of Cargill Protein North America, told CNBC. “Frozen foods were some of the bestselling items during the pandemic since they can be really stored for long periods of time.”
There’s a sophisticated supply chain keeping perishables frozen. Products have to maintain proper temperature throughout a complex network of refrigerated trucks and cold storage facilities.
Approximately 13% of all food produced globally is lost due to poor cold storage supply chains every year, according to a study from Columbia University’s Climate School.
“In the world of cooling refrigeration, we’re still depending upon a more than century-old mechanical incumbent,” Tony Atti, CEO of Phononic, a solid-state cooling company, told CNBC.
Phononic aims to minimize food waste. One of its products is a temp-sensitive refrigerator tote that allows shippers to spend less getting food to e-grocers and grocery stores. Phononic is one of CNBC’s 2023 Disruptor 50 companies, marking its fourth time on the annual list.
Also on CNBC’s 2023 Disruptor 50 list is Lineage Logistics, a company on a mission to make the food supply chain more efficient.
“We’re helping to move food through the entire cold chain and ensuring that it keeps a safe temperature the entire way,” said Jeff Rivera, COO of Lineage Logistics.
The Michigan-based company has grown to more than 430 locations across 20 countries, offering a global network of temperature-controlled cold storage facilities for food products and several facilities “blast freeze” millions of pounds of product a day with warehouse racks specifically designed for efficiency.
Watch the video above to learn more about the influence of frozen food, the global cold storage supply chain infrastructure, what it takes to freeze food products and what’s next for this growing section of the grocery store.