ISOC BSIG https://isoc-bsig.org ISOC Blockchain Fri, 28 Mar 2025 16:50:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://isoc-bsig.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ISOC-BLOCKCHAIN-logo-100x100.png ISOC BSIG https://isoc-bsig.org 32 32 As PI Network Loses Its Spark, Coldware Ignites a Mobile Blockchain Shift—Here’s How to Join https://isoc-bsig.org/as-pi-network-loses-its-spark-coldware-ignites-a-mobile-blockchain-shift-heres-how-to-join/ https://isoc-bsig.org/as-pi-network-loses-its-spark-coldware-ignites-a-mobile-blockchain-shift-heres-how-to-join/#respond Fri, 28 Mar 2025 18:41:00 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4863 The mainnet launch of Pi Network in February 2025 didn’t go as planned as the token crashed 70% in less than 30 days prompting its major investors to shift their focus elsewhere. Coldware (COLD) represents a unique mobile-oriented blockchain protocol to gain institutional and retail users through its cutting-edge features. 

Many users now consider Coldware the superior choice since Pi Network has failed to meet its promised outcomes. The following article reveals the reasons along with steps to participate in the Coldware (COLD) ecosystem.

Coldware: Redefining Mobile Blockchain Technology

The Coldware (COLD) is more than a simple crypto project because it functions as a comprehensive mobile-oriented ecosystem built through original development. The proof-of-stake (PoS) Layer-1 blockchain design behind Coldware enables its systems to handle high volumes of transactions cost-effectively as well as efficiently manage power consumption. Its standout features include:

  • Litenodes:  They serve as portable hardware applications that grant smartphone users the power to maintain decentralization.
  • Decentralized dApp Store: A marketplace for innovative, mobile-native applications.
  • PayFi Capabilities: Built-in financial tools for seamless, low-fee payments.

The $COLD token provides the foundation for this ecosystem to run all operations which include staking functions and access to dApps and enables users to interact with IoT devices such as Larna 2400® smartphones and ColdBook laptops. 

The $COLD token was built to solve existing problems across DeFi environments as well as gaming systems and the Internet of Things. The platform’s new mobile application attracts early adopters, particularly those using the outdated mobile platform Pi Network who are seeking better services.

Why PI Whales Are Shifting to Coldware

The primary launch of Pi Network’s mainnet was expected to be transformational yet the experience has proven extremely challenging. The PI token presents at a price range between $0.84 and $0.85 on March 27 2025 yet it has undergone a price decline of more than 70% from its peak in February. 

In the past day, whale investors have shown minor interest with a 3% increase in their PI holdings although their larger stakes show signs of impatience. Consumer interest in Coldware (COLD) continues to rise because they find attractive features which include:

  • Lightweight Mobile Nodes: Offering decentralization without the heavy resource demands of traditional blockchains.
  • DePin Utility uses decentralized physical infrastructure to create practical applications for users.
  • Mobile devices now enable users to avail themselves of staking and earn rewards within their devices.

The growth of Coldware demonstrates its ability to create a practical mobile blockchain solution that Pi Network has not successfully implemented. The Web3 sectors including gaming, DeFi and IoT drive PI whales to choose Coldware (COLD) as their resource while they pursue long-term success and enhanced performance metrics.

PI Network’s Post-Launch Struggles

The beginning of Pi Network in 2019 brought about drastic shifts throughout its existence. The promised accessible mobile mining aspect which made Pi Network famous failed to deliver when the mainnet launched on February 2025. Key challenges include:

  • The validator system faces backlash criticism because genuine decentralization is absent leading the crypto community to lose its core members.
  • The rejection of PI by Binance exchange might have resulted from their mainnet being closed and their governance being centralized which created exchange listing doubts.
  • The steep decline beyond 70% on the market reflects how holding PI tokens no longer receives widespread support from investors.

The domain auctions under the .pi domain generated brief market attention yet these sales did not manage to build enduring community trust. The community faces confusion because of the lack of official updates and enduring debates about utility which led whales to seek opportunities elsewhere.

How to Join the Coldware Ecosystem

The beginning phase of the Coldware presale presents easy ways to join specifically through its official website at coldware. network. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

  • Go to the Coldware website here
  • Choose a wallet for your account including MetaMask or Trust Wallet.
  • Select payment method from available crypto options.
  • Purchase $COLD tokens. The user dashboard allows you to monitor your purchasing progress of $COLD Tokens which becomes available for claim before their official launch.

The fast-growing Coldware ecosystem demonstrates speed through its present presale stage which has earned almost $760,000 from its 21 billion $COLD total supply. Beyond its monetary value, the platform stands out through its mission to develop complete decentralization in user-driven software that provides practical solutions beyond what Pi Network currently provides.

Conclusion: The Future Belongs to Utility and Decentralization

The diminished interest in Pi Network creates an opportunity for Coldware (COLD) to establish its position in the market. The PI whales who are diversifying their investments while accelerating the presale have demonstrated that blockchain success relies on utility-driven decentralized mobile-first platforms. The token functions as a symbol which represents a major push toward developing an accessible and working Web3 ecosystem.

For more information on the Coldware (COLD) Presale: 

Visit Coldware (COLD)

Join and become a community member: 

https://t.me/coldwarenetwork
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EVAA and Tonstakers Announce Major Upgrade to Earn Section: Higher Rewards, Full Liquidity, and Seamless Access  https://isoc-bsig.org/evaa-and-tonstakers-announce-major-upgrade-to-earn-section-higher-rewards-full-liquidity-and-seamless-access/ https://isoc-bsig.org/evaa-and-tonstakers-announce-major-upgrade-to-earn-section-higher-rewards-full-liquidity-and-seamless-access/#respond Thu, 20 Mar 2025 17:01:37 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4858 EVAA, in partnership with Tonstakers, announces the release of the Earn section, introducing leveraged liquid staking to make it more accessible and capital-efficient for DeFi users.

With 61.5M TON in TVL and nearly 100,000 stakers, Tonstakers is TON’s leading liquid staking protocol. Its tsTON liquid staking token is integrated with all major TON DeFi protocols, enabling users to get more rewards in addition to staking rewards.

A New Standard for Liquid Staking

Key benefits of leveraged liquid staking on Tonstakers with EVAA include:

  • Low-cost borrowing: TON at 0.37% APR with USDT & TSTON as collateral.
  • High-yield staking looping: Up to 7.89% APY with automatic compounding.
  • Instant withdrawals: No waiting period, full liquidity.

Dynamic Looping & Total Yield Calculation

The EVAA Earn update enables Tonstakers users to leverage their staking position to increase staking rewards. As shown in the new EVAA Earn interface, a dynamic “Loops Amount” selector has been introduced, allowing users to define the number of staking and reinvestment cycles within EVAA + Tonstakers. 

The process follows a looping strategy:

  1. Stake TON with Tonstakers.
  2. Supply tsTON to EVAA.
  3. Borrow TON and repeat the cycle.

Total Yield is automatically calculated, streamlining the process for both retail users and large-scale investors.

This upgrade enhances usability, making the platform more intuitive for all users and everyday users alike, and reinforcing our mission to build a truly user-friendly DeFi ecosystem.

Maximizing EVAA XP Rewards

EVAA Protocol offers EVAA XP for borrowing TON. The more cycles of supplying stTON and borrowing TON you complete, the more EVAA XP you earn.

EVAA XP (Experience Points) is a key component of the Earn section, designed to enhance user incentives. It rewards users for borrowing TON and plays a crucial role in determining the future allocation of $EVAA tokens after the Token Generation Event (TGE).

Each iteration of borrowing TON generates additional XP. This means that users actively engaging in looping strategies will accumulate more XP, further increasing their potential rewards.

Seamless Access Across Major Wallets

The upgraded Earn section is now available across:

  • Tonkeeper
  • TON Space (@ Wallet)
  • MyTonWallet
  • Binance Wallet
  • Bitget Wallet
  • Bybit Wallet
  • Gateio Wallet
  • OKX Wallet

“This upgrade represents a major step forward in making liquid staking more efficient and accessible,” said Vladislav Blizniuk, CTO at EVAA. “By integrating deeper with the TON DeFi ecosystem, we’re unlocking new ways for users to earn while maintaining liquidity.”

“This EVAA Earn update unlocks new ways to maximize Tonstakers staking rewards, adding more value for our users and strengthening the entire DeFi ecosystem,” said Roman D., CEO of Tonstakers.

About EVAA & Tonstakers

EVAA—the leading DeFi protocol built on TON, offering innovative liquidity market solutions and leveraged staking strategies. With a focus on efficiency and accessibility, EVAA enables users to borrow, stake, and reinvest seamlessly, maximizing capital utilization without compromising liquidity. The platform is integrated with Telegram, top-tier TON applications, and wallets, ensuring a frictionless experience for both institutional and retail users.

Tonstakers—the leading liquid staking protocol on TON, providing secure, non-custodial staking while maximizing rewards. It enhances staking mechanics with tsTON, a liquid staking token that maintains staked TON liquidity and allows users to earn additional rewards in external DeFi protocols alongside regular staking rewards. Beyond securing the TON network, Tonstakers continues to expand the ecosystem’s global reach through strategic partnerships and integrations, including its recent native integration with Crypto.com.

Together, EVAA and Tonstakers provide a next-generation staking experience, merging capital efficiency with DeFi innovation to unlock new earning opportunities in the TON ecosystem.

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Trezor Safe 3 and Safe 5 models have security weaknesses discovered by Ledger https://isoc-bsig.org/trezor-safe-3-and-safe-5-models-have-security-weaknesses-discovered-by-ledger/ https://isoc-bsig.org/trezor-safe-3-and-safe-5-models-have-security-weaknesses-discovered-by-ledger/#respond Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:24:28 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4851 In this post:
  • Trezor Safe 3 and Safe 5 wallets had security holes discovered by Ledger that could allow for remote fund theft.
  • Because of the microcontroller’s susceptibility to voltage glitching assaults, hackers can alter firmware and take private keys.
  • Firmware assaults are undetectable since Trezor’s authentication algorithm only checks the Secure Element and not the microcontroller.

According to a March 12 Ledger study, Trezor’s most recent hardware wallets, the Safe 3 and Safe 5, contain some significant security flaws.

According to the article, Ledger Donjon, the security research team, discovered many flaws in these devices’ microcontrollers that might provide hackers direct access to customer funds.

Even though Trezor upgraded to a two-chip design with an EAL6+ certified Secure Element, the defects still exist. According to Ledger’s analysis, all cryptographic operations are still carried out on the microcontroller, which is susceptible to voltage glitching attacks, even though the Secure Element safeguards private keys and PINs.

If abused, an attacker might acquire cryptographic keys, modify firmware, and circumvent security checks, leaving user funds at risk.

Crucial operations are not protected by Trezor’s enhanced security design

In an attempt to abandon the single-chip architecture used in previous Trezor models, Trezor released the Safe 3 in late 2023 and the Safe 5 in mid-2024. Both wallets featured an improved two-chip design.

Infineon’s Optiga Trust M Secure Element, a specialized security chip designed to store PINs and cryptographic secrets, was also included in the upgrade.

Ledger’s research indicates that this Secure Element blocks access to private information unless the right PIN is input. Additionally, it prevents resistance to hardware assaults like as voltage glitching, which were previously employed to recover seed phrases from Trezor One and Trezor T variants.

PCBs of two Trezor Safe 3, one running genuine software and the other running modified firmware | Source: Ledger

However, despite these advancements, Ledger Donjon’s research demonstrates that the microcontroller still handles the majority of cryptographic operations, including transaction signing, which is still a serious security flaw.

The TRZ32F429 microcontroller, which is actually a specially packaged STM32F429 chip, is the one utilized in the Safe 3 and Safe 5.

There are known flaws in this chip, including voltage glitching exploits that give hackers complete read/write access to the flash memory.

An attacker could control entropy creation, which is crucial to cryptographic security, once they have altered the firmware. This might result in the remote theft of private keys, which would provide hackers full access to user money.

The integrity of the microcontroller is not verified by the authentication method

Ledger Donjon discovered that although Trezor use cryptographic authentication to authenticate its devices, the firmware of the microcontroller is not checked by this method.

Trezor signs the public key, which is then embedded into a certificate when the Optiga Trust M Secure Element creates a public-private key pair during production. Trezor Suite delivers a random challenge that the device must sign with its private key when the user connects their wallet. The device is regarded as authentic if the signature is legitimate.

How the Optiga Trust M Secure Element works | Source: Ledger

However, as demonstrated by Ledger’s study, this procedure only validates the Secure Element—not the microcontroller or its firmware.

Using a pre-shared secret that is encoded into both chips during production, Trezor tried to connect the Secure Element and microcontroller. Only after the microcontroller demonstrates that it knows this secret will the Secure Element react to requests for signatures.

The issue? The flash memory of the microcontroller, where this pre-shared secret is kept, is susceptible to voltage glitching attacks.

By extracting the secret and reprogramming the chip, Ledger’s team managed to completely circumvent the authentication process. This implies that a hacker might alter the firmware and still get past Trezor’s security measures.

According to Ledger’s research, they were able to break out the pads of the TRZ32F429 onto normal headers by building a special attack board.

With this configuration, they are able to put the microcontroller onto their attack system, get the previously shared secret, and reprogramme the device covertly.

Since the cryptographic attestation scheme is unaltered, the device would still look authentic when linked to Trezor Suite after being reprogrammed.

This puts compromised Trezor Safe 3 and Safe 5 wallets in danger of being sold as authentic devices while covertly running malicious firmware that embezzles user money.

Bypassing firmware validation exposes users to

Ledger Donjon managed to go beyond Trezor’s firmware integrity check, which is a feature of Trezor Suite.

In order for the firmware check to function, a random challenge is sent to the device, which uses both the challenge and its firmware to calculate a cryptographic hash. This hash is checked against a database of authentic firmware versions by Trezor Suite.

This approach appears to be quite successful at first appearance because the device must compute the hash in real time to demonstrate that it is running authentic firmware, making it impossible for an attacker to simply hardcode a fake hash as they would not be aware of the random challenge beforehand.

Ledger Donjon, however, found a method to completely get around this defense. An attacker can alter the microcontroller’s firmware to simulate a legitimate response because it manages this computation.

Source: Ledger

The attacker can make any firmware version look genuine by altering the way the device computes the hash. Because it enables attackers to run altered software and yet pass Trezor Suite’s verification procedures, this is a significant problem.

A compromised Trezor Safe 3 or Safe 5 could therefore continue to look authentic while surreptitiously leaking private keys or changing transaction data.

According to Ledger’s study, replacing the microprocessor with a more secure one is the only method to completely safeguard the Safe 3 and Safe 5. The STM32U5, a more recent microcontroller included in the Trezor Safe 5, does not currently have any known fault injection vulnerabilities.

However, because it’s still a regular microcontroller rather than a Secure Element, there’s still a chance that new attack techniques will be found.

The vulnerabilities have already been fixed by Trezor, but the fundamental security issues still exist. Users will have to rely on Trezor’s software security measures until the microcontroller itself is completely protected, which Ledger Donjon’s research has already shown can be circumvented.

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Officials in Singapore caution against cryptocurrency https://isoc-bsig.org/officials-in-singapore-caution-against-cryptocurrency/ https://isoc-bsig.org/officials-in-singapore-caution-against-cryptocurrency/#respond Thu, 06 Mar 2025 06:24:06 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4847 In this post:
  • Although no new regulations have been announced, officials are stepping up their scrutiny of fraud.
  • Singapore’s Minister of Home Affairs cautioned citizens about the high risks of cryptocurrency scams and advised them to avoid them.
  • A member of parliament called for harsher punishments for crypto fraudsters, including caning for serious offenses.

The Singapore Minister of State for Home Affairs, Sun Xueling, has encouraged the populace not to invest in cryptocurrencies since the number of linked frauds has increased.

She stated during her March 4th speech in parliament that the anonymity of cryptocurrencies makes them difficult to regulate and gives criminals an advantage.

“We advise the general people to avoid cryptocurrency. The risk of getting burnt is enormous, and if you become a victim of a scam, the chances of getting any of your money back are slim,” said Sun Xueling.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore regulates local crypto operations under the Payment Services Act, but most exchanges and wallets are outside its jurisdiction. With the increased use of cryptocurrencies, criminals are now using them to force victims to withdraw their money into digital money so that it can hardly be traced. The Monetary Authority of Singapore suffered 1.1 billion yuan losses from scams last year, 70% more than in the same period last year. These scams included those involving cryptocurrencies and accounted for a quarter of the losses incurred.

Demands for harsher sanctions for fraud

There was also discussion about whether fraud penalties ought to be harsher. According to Jurong GRC MP Dr. Tan Yew Meng, Singapore’s current legal system is unduly lax. Fraudsters who steal considerably greater sums of money can get away with it, but moneylenders who handle $10,000 worth of illegal funds risk being caned.

He even supported mandatory caning in situations where the fraud offense is deemed serious. His remarks reveal the growing alarm regulators have expressed in recent years regarding the surge in cryptocurrency scams.

According to Sun, the government is now reviewing anti-fraud legislation and expanding the list of offenses that carry the death penalty. According to her, over 80% of the scam victims voluntarily gave the money to the con artist by impersonating them, posing as authorities, or making false claims of financial advantage.

The Anti-Fraud Protection Bill was recently passed by the Singaporean government in an effort to lessen this menace. However, if the victims disregard the threats, the law permits police to block their assets. This is expected to be put into effect this year.

However, a policy change addressing some of these issues has not yet been made. However, it should be mentioned that new laws may soon be enacted, based on rumors from the local media. The use of cryptocurrencies is growing in Singapore, meanwhile, in spite of the fraud instances. To increase stability, Singapore’s central bank increased the market’s licenses in 2024.

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As supply increases, TRON-based USDT speeds up inflows to centralized exchanges https://isoc-bsig.org/as-supply-increases-tron-based-usdt-speeds-up-inflows-to-centralized-exchanges/ https://isoc-bsig.org/as-supply-increases-tron-based-usdt-speeds-up-inflows-to-centralized-exchanges/#respond Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:27:55 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4843 In this post:
  • Binance is the largest holder of TRON-based USDT, which accounts for over 6% of exchange inflows.
  • The token is awaiting the introduction of its fee-free functionality.
  • USDD, an algorithmic token for TRON-based DeFi, will be relaunched using TRON-based USDT.

Recent inflows to centralized exchanges have caused the USDT, which is based on TRON, to shift its characteristics. This version of USDT was mostly utilized for P2P payments and within the TRON ecosystem, despite its abundance.

As its trading profile develops, the TRC-20 form of TRON is entering exchanges. With more inflows during the last week, the token’s supply has returned to 63.73 billion. Following Tether’s issuance of additional 1B tokens for the TRON network, the inflows also surged. The arrival of the new mint on March 1 had little impact on the cryptocurrency market as a whole.

TRX stayed largely stable following the most recent USDT mint and increased activity. Nevertheless, TRX only dropped one cent to trade at $0.23 following the most recent market decline.

During the most recent bull cycle, the USDT, which is based on TRON, increased its flow into exchanges. The TRON network currently accounts for 6.1% of USDT deposited on exchanges. The TRON version makes up for activity and volumes, even though Ethereum-based coins are the most valuable overall.

Out of all the exchanges, Binance holds the most USDT on TRON. The top 10 holders include Bybit, OKX, and Kraken, among other significant market operators.

Stablecoins based on Ethereum had a 75.9 billion supply at the same time, with some withdrawals during the previous week. With 5.2 billion additional tokens added in the last month, both iterations of the token contribute to the expansion and impact of USDT liquidity.

As a vehicle for transfers, DEX activity, and payments, USDT is working to regain its turnover. USDT saw a 6.57% increase in turnover over the previous month, reaching $25 billion. Volumes of the controlled USDC coin exceeded $48 billion, although the monthly result is 85% lower. The primary factor influencing USDT’s overall success is TRON activity, which is ten times more than Ethereum’s.

USDT, based on TRON, provides fee-free transactions

The USDT transfers are getting ready for the anticipated shift to no-fee transfers. The move was scheduled to take place within a week after Justin Sun made the announcement on February 25. Depending on the sending and receiving wallet’s condition, sending USDT on TRON is still cost between $3 and $6.29, according to the most recent fee report.

There are no extra costs to onboard the coin, and transactions on the TRON chain are free. In both centralized and decentralized marketplaces, USDT continues to be the stablecoin with the largest usage and turnover.

Although USDT increases TRON’s available liquidity, the project’s creator wants to bring back Decentralized USD (USDD). Because the stablecoin is issued algorithmically, it is riskier.

Supporting USDD’s liquidity is one of USDT’s roles on TRON. The use of USDD for DeFi, passive income, and other purposes may increase as a result of increased printing and activity.

Nonetheless, USDD has been seen as a potentially hazardous asset with suspicion. During the bad market, the prior iteration of USDD experienced de-pegs and was phased out. Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, went back to the USDD concept after the 2024 bull market and resumed expanding the token’s supply.

According to Sun, USDD is now becoming more and more popular and will provide a 1:1 swap with USDT.

At the moment, USDD is positioned as USDT’s wrapped counterpart. At the moment, the relationship between WETH (Wrapped ETH) and ETH is rather comparable to that between USDD and USDT. Why is it necessary to wrap ETH in WETH? In a recent post on X, Sun noted that WETH is easier to interface with DeFi protocols because their specifications differ.

Sun has also made an effort to increase the TRON ecosystem’s adoption, despite some detractors viewing it as risky because of the opaque token creation process. The cooperation and consulting role with Trump’s investment fund, World Liberty Fi, is one of the most recent attempts to increase the value of TRON. While Sun has purchased $30 million worth of WLFI tokens, the fund still holds 41.718 million TRX.

Whether the TRON ecosystem will integrate with the US-centered crypto activity is still up in the air.

Cryptopolitan Academy: In 2025, do you want to see your money grow? Attend our next webclass to find out how to use DeFi for this. Keep Your Place

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According to rumors, Kanye West sold access to his X account prior to the debut of the meme coin https://isoc-bsig.org/according-to-rumors-kanye-west-sold-access-to-his-x-account-prior-to-the-debut-of-the-meme-coin/ https://isoc-bsig.org/according-to-rumors-kanye-west-sold-access-to-his-x-account-prior-to-the-debut-of-the-meme-coin/#respond Mon, 24 Feb 2025 08:57:18 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4840 According to recent X reports, before his meme coin was released, Kanye West sold a member of the Doginals team access to his X account.

It has been speculated by X traders that Kanye West may have sold some administrator access to his X account. Users are being alerted by a number of cryptocurrency influencers about the potential for Dognials member and prolific memecoin launcher “Barkmeta” to take control of Ye’s X account.

Kanye’s latest tweets appear to be “out of place,” or rather inconsistent with his typical social media behavior and patterns, which is the basis for their conjecture. According to reports, Community Notes on one of Ye’s deleted posts stated that accounts “Tall” and “Barkmeta” were responsible for Ye’s most recent tweets.

According to the note, “Kanye sold @barkmeta access to his account; @tall_data, the account he follows, is Bark’s alt account.” Multiple users may have access to his account, as evidenced by the dark/light mode and time format variations between screenshots. This will be a significant event involving the extraction of liquidity.

Barkmeta, however, disputes these assertions. “Imagine the entire space telling us we’re scammers when it would have been so easy to rinse like $20M doing a fake Kanye coin today,” he wrote in a recent tweet.

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Trump-related economic uncertainty causes Wall Street to shelve its intentions to invest in China https://isoc-bsig.org/trump-related-economic-uncertainty-causes-wall-street-to-shelve-its-intentions-to-invest-in-china/ https://isoc-bsig.org/trump-related-economic-uncertainty-causes-wall-street-to-shelve-its-intentions-to-invest-in-china/#respond Mon, 17 Feb 2025 08:05:44 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4834 In this post:
  • As transactions become riskier due to Trump’s economic policies and U.S. limitations, Wall Street banks are reducing their investments in China.
  • Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs have closed offices, cut employees, and are even getting ready to completely leave China.
  • Major banks are barely making millions while making billions abroad as a result of the drop of profits from China.

Because investing in China is riskier than ever due to President Donald Trump’s unclear economic intentions, Wall Street is pulling out of the nation. As US regulations tighten, banks that had invested billions in China are now reducing employees, closing branches, and getting ready for a potential complete withdrawal, according to a Bloomberg article.

Top executives from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and other large corporations met with US Treasury officials in mid-December to discuss the most recent investment regulations that target Chinese firms that have been identified as national security threats. They left with more questions than answers.

China might see another financial shutdown similar to that of Russia if Trump keeps his repeated pledges to impose tariffs and sanctions since taking office.

Wall Street finds it difficult to travel to China because of the US.
Banks are rushing to determine what is still legal in the wake of the US government’s crackdown on investments tied to China. It was formerly estimated that Wall Street’s overall exposure to China will reach $45 billion by 2030, yielding about $9 billion in earnings annually. However, it is now evident that this prediction is failing.

According to the Bloomberg research, the four biggest international corporations (Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon) made just $33.7 million in China in 2024, while Wall Street’s total revenues from China-related activities, such as loans, trading, and investing, have decreased by 20%.

In contrast to JPMorgan’s $57 billion global earnings in 2024, the brokerage division in China generated only $26 million during a five-year period. A little better, Goldman Sachs made 490 million yuan ($67 million) in China from 2018 to 2023. But that’s a tiny 0.50% of its global $13 billion net income last year. It’s also barely above CEO David Solomon’s $39 million annual salary. And so in response, Wall Street companies are making drastic cuts their workforces.

In 2023, JPMorgan underwent significant leadership changes, appointing new co-country heads and removing important executives in its China division. Even worse, the bank is getting ready for a total US ban on doing business with China. Similar to how businesses reacted when sanctions were imposed on Russia, executives have secretly developed plans to move corporate data out of China.

Morgan Stanley reduced their expansion plans, resulting in the largest number of job cutbacks in China in recent memory. Instead of launching a full-fledged China brokerage, executives decided to operate out of Hong Kong for the majority of their business.

China’s headcount at Goldman Sachs has decreased by 15% since 2022, falling well short of the bank’s initial target of 600 workers. The mainland investment banking team at UBS China has been cut in half since 2019, leaving just 50 people.

Citigroup shut down its onshore consumer wealth division, while its attempt to launch a China securities unit has stalled. US regulators ordered the bank to fix its risk and data compliance issues before expanding in China.

Bank of America, meanwhile, is the only Wall Street giant without an onshore presence in China—and according to the report, it’s staying that way.

Wall Street is not buying China’s return, despite the surge in AI stocks

Chinese stocks are soaring as Wall Street pulls back. In anticipation of China’s remarkable AI breakthrough, DeepSeek, analysts at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and UBS have increased their targets for Chinese stocks.

The CSI 300 is now anticipated to reach 4,700, while the MSCI China Index is expected to increase by an additional 16%. According to Kinger Lau, chief China strategist at Goldman, the adoption of AI may boost China’s earnings-per-share by 2.5 percent annually over the next ten years.

In a note on Saturday, he stated, “DeepSeek and other AI models have changed the narrative of China technology, re-rated investors’ optimism about the growth of and economic benefits from AI.”

In the meantime, Man Group and Morgan Stanley are referring to Chinese stocks as one of the highest conviction trades of the year. Wall Street is optimistic on paper—but behind the scenes, banking executives are preparing for a scenario where China becomes completely off-limits due to Trump’s policies.

Some banks are actually reallocating resources to Japan and India, trying to fill the hole China leaves behind, according to the Bloomberg report, which also claims that Wall Street executives have admitted privately that no other country can replace China’s market size.

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SEC to conclude Biden-era crypto cases, requests Coinbase fight extension https://isoc-bsig.org/sec-to-conclude-biden-era-crypto-cases-requests-coinbase-fight-extension/ https://isoc-bsig.org/sec-to-conclude-biden-era-crypto-cases-requests-coinbase-fight-extension/#respond Sat, 15 Feb 2025 14:22:26 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4830 In this post:
  • In its action against Coinbase, the SEC is requesting further time to react, implying a potential settlement as it concludes its Biden-era crypto crackdown.
  • As Congress promotes three new legislation, Tether is collaborating with U.S. lawmakers to create stablecoin regulations with the goal of having one signed by April.
  • With new leadership taking over the CFTC and an emphasis on more crypto-friendly monitoring, Trump’s administration is changing its approach to crypto policy.

The SEC’s anti-crypto enforcement campaign from the Biden administration is coming to an end. The agency informed an appeals court in Manhattan on Friday that a settlement in its well-known case against Coinbase might be imminent.

However, the government needs an additional 30 days to address the legal challenge to the transaction before that can occur.

The 2023 lawsuit sought to compel Coinbase to abide by the same regulations as Wall Street brokerages and stock exchanges. Crypto companies retaliated, arguing that digital assets are not covered by traditional financial regulations. The agency is now moving in a different direction under President Trump.

He directed the SEC and all other federal agencies to create a new regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies last month. This direction, according to the agency’s submission, “may assist the potential resolution” of the Coinbase lawsuit.

On Thursday, Coinbase reported a surge in revenue and profits in its Q4 earnings report. Investors are betting on a Trump-fueled crypto boom, and the numbers reflect that.

Congress is drafting stablecoin legislation with Tether’s assistance.
Tether is aggressively working with US lawmakers to influence stablecoin rules while the SEC takes its time. Due to its lack of thorough audits, the business, which holds 60% of the $230 billion stablecoin market, has generated controversy in Washington. Only quarterly reports from the international accounting firm BDO have ever been made available by Tether.

Hard assets, such as US dollars and Treasury bills, serve as the backing for stablecoins like USDT. With $114 billion in short-term Treasuries in its reserves, Tether is also among the biggest holders of U.S. government debt. The business wants a place at the table as new stablecoin laws approach.

Judges at the federal level are also contributing. Coinbase was granted permission by Judge Katherine Polk Failla to submit an interlocutory appeal last month. Whether current securities regulations even apply to cryptocurrency assets traded on the platform will now be determined by the Second Circuit.

Meanwhile, Congress is working quickly. Last Monday, Representative Bryan Steil, Senator Bill Hagerty, and Representative Maxine Waters introduced three additional stablecoin proposals. The objective? By April, get a bill to Trump’s desk.

Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, affirmed that the company is collaborating directly with legislators. “We will endeavor to provide guidance on each and every one of these field recommendations while adhering to the regulatory framework to ensure that our voice is heard,” he said.

If passed, the new laws would force Tether to undergo full monthly audits from a U.S.-approved accounting firm and maintain 1:1 reserves with assets pre-approved by regulators. But Ardoino made one thing clear: Tether isn’t backing down.

“We are not going to just throw in the towel and let Tether die just for the sake of not adapting to U.S. legislation,” he said. “But there is still a lot of uncertainty over what’s actually going to happen, and we want our voice to be heard in the legislative process.”

Trump is reshaping financial regulators, and the CFTC is changing its leadership.
The SEC isn’t the only agency changing crypto regulations. As the next enforcement head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Brian Young will take over. Acting Chair Caroline Pham, who assumed the role following Trump’s election, made the news on Friday.

In a statement, Pham added, “He is a fearless leader who will create an even more remarkable enforcement program that will remain true to the CFTC’s mission to protect the American public from fraudsters and scammers.”

Prior to assuming the top enforcement position, Young, a former DOJ veteran, oversaw the CFTC’s whistleblower unit. Trump’s larger ambition to change financial oversight in support of pro-business, pro-crypto policies includes his appointment.

Meanwhile,rian Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner and current head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto arm, is set to lead the agency.

Quintenz served on the CFTC from 2017 to 2021 and has been one of the biggest advocates for clearer crypto regulations. His return signals a policy shift at the CFTC, where crypto-friendly policies are now back in play.

In her first major decision, Pham reorganized the CFTC’s enforcement division into two parts: complex frauds and retail fraud, wanting to streamline investigations while focusing on major financial crimes.

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WazirX will distribute recovered funds using RT tokens, which it may list for trading https://isoc-bsig.org/wazirx-will-distribute-recovered-funds-using-rt-tokens-which-it-may-list-for-trading/ https://isoc-bsig.org/wazirx-will-distribute-recovered-funds-using-rt-tokens-which-it-may-list-for-trading/#respond Tue, 11 Feb 2025 10:31:16 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4826 In this post:
  • To distribute seized funds, WazirX is generating fresh RT tokens, which it may list for trading if user demand is strong.
  • The delivery of tokens, rather than cash, is contingent upon the approval of creditors for a planned scheme.
  • On WazirX’s First Distribution page, users may monitor their recovery status and rebalanced token allocations.

According to statements made by the company’s founder, Nischal Shetty, WazirX is issuing new Recovery Tokens (RT) to distribute stolen and recovered assets to its users. If users are interested, the tokens could soon be listed on the trading floor, providing an opportunity for liquidity and additional market exposure.

Naturally, the token distribution follows WazirX’s successful completion of the Net Liquid Platform Assets (NLPA) rebalancing procedure, which realigns platform assets with its liabilities.

WazirX’s recovery strategy consists of three primary strategies: the establishment of a decentralized exchange (DEX), profit-sharing, and the restitution of stolen assets. Speaking directly to WazirX users, Shetty declared, “We will do everything we can to help create value for our tribe.”

How WazirX plans to carry out its first significant token distribution

In order to decide whether to move forward with the Scheme of Arrangement, which involves the immediate distribution of rebalanced assets, creditors will meet with WazirX’s parent company, Zettai Pte Ltd, on January 23. This decision was approved by the Singapore High Court.

If accepted, creditors will be compensated with tokens rather than cash, exposing them to the market and potentially increasing their value.

Users may now view their allocation on the platform’s First Distribution page, which displays their calculated token breakdown, current market value, and effective USD recovery percentage, per WazirX’s official blog post on the subject.

A user expressed worry about the varying token values and disparities in displayed balances under Shetty’s article. The current value in USD differs from the NLPA value. The user said, “Please explain.” “You get to keep any market upside or downside from here on,” Shetty explained.

According to WazirX’s blog, the planned token distribution will take place within ten days of the scheme’s acceptance. However, several tokens with limited market liquidity, such as ANT, LOVELY, PUSH, GFT, OOKI, MDX, BOB, and WRX, will only be partially issued in their original amounts. The exchange stated that USDT or another stablecoin would be used to settle any outstanding amount.

WazirX’s strategies for upcoming recovery

“Where’s the 15% USD value if you currently display the 85% USD value for July 18, 1 PM?” asked Shetty immediately in response to a creditor. How will you demonstrate it? According to Shetty, the missing piece is directly related to the recently released RT tokens.

WazirX claims that if the creditors reject the scheme, they will have to wait for ownership conflicts over the platform to be settled, which the exchange expects to be a convoluted and drawn-out procedure.

Additionally, WazirX stated that token values are susceptible to fluctuation and are based on real-time market data from Coinmarketcap. Users can see their recovery amounts in real time by switching between INR and USD.

However, WazirX did caution that the high volume of token transactions during rebalancing and the volatility of cryptocurrency prices could result in small variations of up to 0.5% in recovery amounts.

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Trudeau changes Canada’s trade policy by lowering US dependence in order to target international markets https://isoc-bsig.org/trudeau-changes-canadas-trade-policy-by-lowering-us-dependence-in-order-to-target-international-markets/ https://isoc-bsig.org/trudeau-changes-canadas-trade-policy-by-lowering-us-dependence-in-order-to-target-international-markets/#respond Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:49:30 +0000 https://isoc-bsig.org/?p=4823 In this post:
  • After obtaining a 30-day postponement of Trump’s tariffs, Trudeau refocuses Canada’s trade strategy with the goal of lowering its dependency on the US and enhancing its attention to international markets.
  • By boycotting American products in protest and calling for improved domestic economic policies, Canadians are spearheading the “Buy Canadian” movement.
  • As they advocate for additional pipelines to increase oil and gas exports outside of the US market, industry leaders have rekindled discussions about energy infrastructure.

According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada should “walk away” from its long-standing economic dependence on the United States and open up to other international markets. Following a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Trudeau was able to gain a temporary exemption from US tariffs on Canadian exports.

The prime minister will hold an economic summit in Toronto this Friday, according to a story in the Financial Times. Business executives, policy specialists, and labor unions will gather at the summit to talk about growing Canada’s international trade presence.

Trudeau told reporters Wednesday, “The objective is to diversify export markets and make it easier to build and trade within our borders.” His Council on Canada-US Relations, which includes former province premiers and top auto industry executives, is part of the summit.

Trudeau is lobbying industry leaders to act on growing concerns that Canadian businesses can no longer depend on unrestricted access to the US market.

US tariffs cause massive panic in neighboring countries 

Earlier this week, Trudeau negotiated a 30-day delay on 25% US tariffs on Canadian imports, except for energy, which would be taxed at 10%. These tariffs were initially part of former US President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies targeting Canada, Mexico, and China, which he linked to illegal immigration and drug trafficking concerns.

For over ten years, Canada’s economy has been heavily dependent on its positive ties with the United States. 75% of Canada’s total exports in 2022 went to the US, according to a recent Reuters study. In contrast to the paltry 1.5% of US total exports to Canada, the percentage has since decreased to roughly 25%, although it is still a significant quantity.

According to former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, “Canada’s strategy for the past 30 years has relied on trade agreements that Trump has disrupted and can no longer be relied upon as a business case for Canada.”

“Buy Canadian” becomes more popular
The Canadian government’s initiatives to lessen its dependency on the US are in line with the opinions of its people. According to a recent Angus Reid poll, 91% of Canadians favor moving away from trade dependence on the US preferring diversification over mending relations.

Public frustration with US tariffs has bridged political divides, with citizens rallying around Canadian businesses. A growing “Buy Canadian” movement has emerged, where consumers are deliberately avoiding American products to support local industries.

Carole Chandler, a retired schoolteacher from Halifax, said she had canceled an upcoming trip to Florida in response to the US tariffs. “I love America and Americans,” she told the BBC. “But I don’t want to be one.”

Discussions on Canada’s domestic economic policies, especially those pertaining to energy infrastructure, have been sparked by the economic hardship. Trudeau’s administration has been under fire from patriots for not building enough gas and oil pipelines to increase exports outside of the US.

Canada still lacks significant infrastructure to sell electricity abroad, even after funding the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline, which finally opened in May of last year after years of delays and cost overruns.

According to Adam Waterous, CEO of Strathcona Resources, Canada’s fifth-largest oil producer, “if we cut the red tape, we could have a pipeline built in two years.”

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