PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

Bitcoin Daily: MicroStrategy CEO Says Bitcoin Is ‘Less Risky’ Than Cash; Police Probe Indian Crypto Exchange In $272K Theft

Bitcoin Daily: OCC: US National Banks Can Hold Digital Assets; S. Korea Eyes 20 Pct Tax On Crypto Trading

The CEO of a Virginia-based software firm claimed that the Federal Reserve’s easing of its inflation approach was a factor in his decision to convert the rest of the firm’s money to bitcoin, Bloomberg reported.

“We feel pretty confident that Bitcoin is less risky than holding cash, less risky than holding gold,” MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor told the outlet.

MicroStrategy was reportedly the first public firm to invest most of its treasury in the cryptocurrency in the summer, according to Bloomberg. The firm has roughly half a billion dollars primarily kept in short-term federal government securities prior to the pandemic. Its CEO started to reconsider that strategy as yields fell following COVID-19.

The executive forecasts that asset inflation will jump to in excess of 20 percent annually, which would drastically decline purchasing power. Saylor said per the report, “Once the real yield on our treasury got to more than negative 10 percent, we realized that everything we are doing on P&L is irrelevant.”

In other news, authorities in India are starting to look into the operators of a cryptocurrency exchange following the complaints of more than 40 investors with the Delhi Police’s Economic Offence Wing, Cointelegraph reported.

One of the more than 40 investors contended that he initially met those that run the exchange in Delhi.

They reportedly informed him about a digital currency program that would provide a purported return of 20 percent to 30 percent monthly, according to Cointelegraph. The suspects reportedly offered the complainant a further commission if he introduced more individuals to back the program.

The complainant indicated that he met with the exchange’s founder once he didn’t get any returns on his investment of more than $6,500, the report stated. The founder indicated that the confiscation of a number of the firm’s accounts and the dropping value of bitcoin led them to not provide investors with the payment of returns.

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024