Shortly from the Cryptoworld 21/02 | US court extended ban on distribution of Telegram tokens and more

Brazil’s central bank plans to launch a new system of immediate payments later this year

The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) has announced a plan to launch a new near-instant payment system during November. The platform, called the Brazilian Instant Payment Scheme (PIX), will facilitate peer-to-peer and business-to-business transactions in 10 seconds or less via mobile phone, internet banking, or select ATMs. 

 It is mandatory for all financial and payment institutions licenced by the BCB to provide their 500,000 active customer accounts with the functionalities required to facilitate PIX transfers. The release states that transactions will be executed by using a QR Code, or by entering identifying information such as cell phone number, email or taxpayer identification number.

The BCB’s website states that the bank and the National Treasury Secretariat signed an agreement earlier this month that will see Brazilian citizens able to pay federal taxes using PIX from November 2020.

Changpeng Zhao – What will be the price of BTC after halving

Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of major crypto exchange Binance, suggested that Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has not yet adapted to the upcoming block reward halving. Zhao hinted that the price of Bitcoin will see more upward movement in the future. This is mainly because the historically halving has had a positive impact on the price of the coin.

While he admitted that historic events do not necessarily predict future events, he noted that miners will have to spend almost two times as much to mine a single coin. Zhao noted that an asset’s price is determined by demand, not the cost of production, but expects that miners will not be willing to sell below the price of production.

US court extended ban on distribution of Telegram tokens

Following a two-hour hearing, a New York federal judge has extended the restraining order that prohibits Telegram from distributing its Gram tokens. US District Court for the Southern District of New York reserved judgment on the US Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC)’s request for a preliminary injunction regarding Telegram’s 2019 Gram sale.

The SEC believes that the Gram token – which the company described as a utility token for the forthcoming Telegram Open Network (TON) – is a security. The regulator shut down Telegram’s ICO last October and an injunction from the time blocking distribution of Grams was set to expire on February 19. But the court extended the ban this week. This, of course, poses a problem because the provision in the Gram sales contracts specifies that ICO participants may request a refund of their investment should Telegram not start TON by 30 April.