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Indonesia Bank Indonesia, the country's central bank, issued new regulations banning the use of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, as a means of payment from 1 January Ghana Cryptos are illegal in Ghana but its central bank has expressed an interest in blockchain technology and its potential uses and is accessing how it could b integrated into the country's financial system. Bitcoin: Which countries could follow El Salvador in making cryptocurrency legal tender?

Iran Bitcoin has a complex relationship with the Iranian regime. In order to evade the worst impact of crippling economic sanctions, Iran has instead turned to the lucrative practice of Bitcoin mining in order to finance imports. While the Central Bank prohibits the trading of cryptocurrencies mined overseas, it has encouraged Bitcoin mining in the country with incentives.

Around 4. In order for the crypto industry to flourish, Iran has offered licenced miners cheap energy but requires all mined cryptos to be sold to the Central Bank. However, unlicensed mining drains more than 2GW from the national grid every day, causing power shortages. To this end, Iranian authorities issued a four-month ban on Bitcoin mining until September Boxes of machinery used in Bitcoin mining operations that were confiscated by police in Nazarabad, Iran.

On November 23, the government announced its intention to introduce a new bill to the Indian parliament which would establish a new central bank-backed digital currency as well as ban almost all cryptocurrencies. Earlier in , it had considered criminalising the possession, issuance, mining, trading, and transference of crypto assets.

Prime minister Narendra Modi said he wanted to ensure crypto "does not end up in wrong hands, which can spoil our youth". India is planning to introduce a ban on almost all private cryptocurrencies in a new clampdown Iraq Despite sustained efforts by authorities to block their use, cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular in Iraq.

The Iraqi Central Bank has been particularly hostile, issuing a statement in prohibiting their use which is still in force to the present day. In early , the Ministry of Interior of the Kurdistan regional government issued similar guidance to stop money brokerages and exchanges handling cryptos.

Kosovo While the holding or trading of cryptocurrency assets isn't yet prohibited in Kosovo, the government announced a ban on crypto mining in early January, blaming a growing energy crisis. The country, which unilaterally declared its independence in , is facing historic power shortages with scheduled power cuts now being put into place to conserve energy. In a further bid to curb energy wastage, Economy Minister Atrane Rizvanolli announced a long-term ban on crypto mining in the country.

Police have been tasked with enforcing the ban as well as pinpointing mining locations throughout the country. EU agrees on landmark crypto regulation in wake of Terra meltdown and Bitcoin plunge Mexico Cryptos are prohibited in Mexico, stating in June that virtual assets were not legal tender and not considered currencies under existing laws. Despite the restrictions, there are some in Mexico who have embraced the virtual currencies, with the country's largest crypto exchange Bitsos boasting 1 million registered users.

North Macedonia North Macedonia is the only European country so far to have an official ban on cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others, in place. Majority of Europeans want their countries to regulate crypto, not the EU - exclusive Euronews poll Russia Russia has a chequered association with cryptocurrency, made all the more complicated by its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Now, it is being seen as some as a saviour to help the country evade heavy financial sanctions imposed by the West. Russia passed its first laws to regulate cryptos in July , which for the first time designated cryptocurrency as property liable to taxation.

The law, which came into force in January this year, also bans Russian civil servants from owning any crypto assets. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly linked cryptocurrency with criminal activity, calling for closer attention to cross-border crypto transactions in particular.

In July, the prosecutor general announced new proposed legislation which would allow police to confiscate cryptos deemed to be illegally obtained citing its use in bribery. Ally also offers no-fee investing on stocks, bonds, and ETFs, free interest-bearing checking accounts, money market accounts, CDs, loans, retirement accounts, and other investment vehicles.

American Express National Bank: Good for Amex Cardholders American Express may be best known as a credit card network and issuer, but it has a suite of online deposit accounts with competitive interest rates and fees. It has fewer account types than some other banks on our list, with just high-yield savings account and CD options. Barclays Online Savings Account Barclays currently offers 2. Now, Bread Savings offers a high yield savings option and various CDs, all with competitive interest rates.

With Bread Financial, you can also get access to a cash back credit card as well as personal loans and installment plans. Capital One: Good for Hybrid Banking Capital One strikes an interesting balance between a traditional brick-and-mortar bank and a more agile startup.

Capital One is beneficial for the consumer who wants all the rewards of a high-yield savings account while maintaining the ability to speak to a bank representative face-to-face. Discover Bank: Good for Different Accounts in One Place Discover is well-known for its credit cards — especially for those new to credit — but it also has an online bank with several account options and competitive rates.

Products offered by Discover Bank include checking, savings, money market accounts, and CDs. You can access your account information via mobile app or online, and see all your different account types within a single Discover online account.

It offers both high yield savings accounts and CDs. There are no fees and no minimums required to open or maintain your account. FNBO Direct offers account access online or via its mobile app. There are no monthly maintenance fees. It offers mobile banking and a mobile app to access and review your account and transfer funds.

Unlike many other savings account options, you can also get ATM access through an ATM card with your high yield savings account. Live Oak Bank: Good for Personal and Business Savings Live Oak Bank is an online bank targeted to small business owners, but it also offers competitive yields on personal high-yield savings and CD accounts.

It offers fewer personal banking products than other options on our list, but consistently has high yields. You can access your account online, and Marcus has a mobile app with the ability to check you balance, transfer money, and more. There are no fees and no minimum deposit to open your account.

You can access your Prime Alliance Bank account online or via mobile. Its deposit account types include a high yield savings account, CD, and checking account. The online products offered by the bank have more competitive rates than the brick-and-mortar financial institution, and you can access your account through a web browser, mobile app, or even by voice command using an Amazon Alexa device.

Your Synchrony account information is accessible via mobile app or online. Recently, the bank opened a waitlist for its TAB Flow debit card, which offers fractional stock rewards on your spending. You can access your account online or mobile. Unlike some others on our list, UFB Direct is limited to a high yield savings account and money market account, with the main difference between the two being the option to write checks with a money market account. UFB Direct has a mobile app for account management, and you can use to make mobile deposits of paper checks.

Varo Bank: Good for Ability to Increase APY Varo is an online bank that offers a high yield savings account and checking account , as well as cash advance services and a secured credit card.

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Well, you're going to need a wallet. So the definition of a cryptocurrency wallet is really quite simple and it's pretty predictable, it's a digital wallet which allows its owner to store, receive and send cryptocurrency.

Now how can a wallet be digital? Well, in fact, it is software which performs functions of the wallet, making it possible to view the balance and make online transactions. A crypto wallet is a necessity if you want to own or use cryptocurrency because it is the only platform where you can keep it. Unlike fiat money, you cannot take crypto into your hands. Some wallets have been designed to store and use only one crypto coin, while others are suitable for many different coins. The number of cryptocurrencies supported by the wallet means that the platform has access to those specific public addresses for the blockchain.

And as we talked about earlier, these addresses are numbers which characterize every account and are used to receive a certain type of crypto. And if you want someone to transfer crypto to your account, you give him or her that public address and those coins are delivered to your account.

The wallet has access to your address and shows its balance. Now, this is very similar to a bank app showing you your bank account balance, but the wallet doesn't hold your crypto. It is simply giving you information that is found on the blockchain. Now you'll recall, every wallet owner has that private key, and that allows them to manage and operate it. Some of the more common types of wallets are desktop wallets. There's mobile device wallets, online wallets, hardware wallets.

So hardware wallet is one where you take something like a USB device, and it's specifically created for keeping cryptocurrency and making transactions, but only when it's plugged in and has access to an internet connection.

So when it is disconnected, the hardware can be transported and stored offline. Alright, so how does one start? Although this may sound complicated, it really is easy to get started. Coinbase, for example, is well known. It's based in the United States and actually it has become a publicly traded company last April.

And so to start, you would download the app or you'd visit the website, you'd provide some information and then you would link your digital wallet to your bank account so that you can then fund your account with fiat currency. And once you have that funding completed, you are now ready to trade into crypto and hold or HODL it in your wallet. As you explore, you're going to realize that there's some companies designed as wallets and others are trading platforms, and some are actually both.

Now, depending on which cryptocurrency you want to buy or trade, that often will depend which wallet or trading platform, you'll need to use. KuCoin is an example of an exchange or trading platform and based in Hong Kong. It supports clients for more than countries, but it doesn't trade in fiat so to fund an account, you must move crypto to it.

It is designed to allow people to exchange cryptocurrencies efficiently and effectively. The platform allows you to see trade information, you can see real time market bids and asks and more. And in addition, many of the exchanges and trading platforms allow for very complicated trading and hedging strategies.

The traditional wallets do not. Now, to be clear, they are usually very low costs to transfer from wallet to wallet, and companies which help facilitate this often do not add any additional costs. However, when you trade, when you buy or sell, there are costs, and they are very similar to what you'd expect when you buy and sell stocks or bonds. KuCoin makes money from matching buyers with sellers and charging trading fees. Coinbase, which we mentioned earlier, brings in billions of dollars in revenue annually, mostly through trading fees, but also they generate revenue through other means, such as subscriptions, expedited cash transfers and premium services, to name a few.

So now I'd like to turn our attention to some of the risks within cryptocurrency. As governments around the world, regulatory agencies, central banks and other financial institutions are working to understand the nature and meaning of digital currencies. Investors assume certain legal risks when they buy and sell cryptocurrencies. And the first of those is thinking about cryptocurrency as property. So one of the most critical legal considerations for any cryptocurrency Investor has to do with the way the central authorities view cryptocurrency holdings.

So this means that individual investors are beholden to capital gains tax laws when it comes to reporting their cryptocurrency expenses, and profits, on their annual tax returns. And it is regardless of where they purchase their digital coins. This aspect of the cryptocurrency space adds layers of confusion and complexity for US taxpayers, but the difficulty does not end there.

Indeed, it remains unclear whether digital currency investors who have purchased their holdings on foreign exchanges must face additional reporting come tax time. All of this suggests that digital currency investors should take special precautions to follow the advice of tax professionals when it comes to reporting profits and losses in cryptocurrency.

You should seek professional tax advice for all crypto related topics. The next is its decentralized status. So one of the great draws of many digital and cryptocurrencies is also a potential risk factor for the individual investor because decentralized means that there is no physical presence and it is not backed by a central authority. And so while governments around the world have stepped in to assert their regulatory power in various ways, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies like it, remain unattached to any jurisdiction or institution.

The value of cryptocurrencies is dependent entirely upon the value that other owners and investors ascribe. This is true across all currencies, digital, crypto or fiat. But without a central authority backing the value of a cryptocurrency, investors may be left without help should complications with transactions or ownership arise. There is no number to call when your Bitcoin transaction does not go well. Third is business registrations and licensing. So a growing number of businesses are taking advantage of digital and cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.

As in other financial areas, businesses may be required to register and obtain licenses for particular jurisdictions and activities. The onus of responsibility falls on business owners and managers to ensure that they are following proper legal procedures for their operations at both the local and state levels. And at the federal level, for example, financial institutions must maintain certain activities related to protections against money laundering and fraud, transmissions of fund and more.

Considerations like these also apply to businesses dealing with digital and cryptocurrencies. And speaking of fraud and money laundering, while there is widespread belief that cryptocurrencies provide criminal organizations with a new means of committing fraud, money laundering and a host of other financial crimes, this does not directly impact most cryptocurrency investors because we don't intend on using this new technology to commit such crimes.

But, investors who find themselves in the unfortunate position of being a victim of financial crime, do not likely have the same legal options as traditional victims of fraud. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, it isn't easy, but cryptocurrency, blockchain, wallets: it can be very complicated.

And for those of you who own it, you must assure that family can gain access to your account should something happen to you. It isn't easy to explain. They need to know which wallets or exchanges you have accounts with, how to gain access so think passwords , how the dual authentication system works. Most use an authenticator app. Many wallets have an additional trading password, and there are other considerations.

Then what would they do with it? How would they trade it? Would they trade it back into fiat? So these are things you must think about, and if you have it and you own it, please make sure that someone else can gain access to it and most importantly, let them know it exists.

Alright, that was a lot. Let's move on to a few more topics and some more recently occurring and being talked about within the space. And let's start with NFT s. So a non-fungible token, or NFT , is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger. We now know this as a blockchain, and it certifies that a digital asset is unique and therefore it is not interchangeable.

NFT s can be used to represent items such as photos, videos, audios, and other types of digital files. Access to any copy of the original file, however, is not restricted to the buyer of the NFT. So while copies of these digital items are available for anyone to obtain, NFT s are tracked on blockchains and provide the owner with a proof of their ownership that is separate from copyright.

And here, of course, is the picture of my favorite NFT. And mostly, it's because I own it. And who doesn't love my labradoodle, Bailey, chilling in her lounge chair? So, yes, I did this one weekend because I wanted to create and own an NFT , and it was relatively easy. But let me tell you, we are not just talking about pet pictures here. Oh no, this is exploding.

And this is one of the reasons Ethereum has been in the news so much recently. Ethereum is the blockchain most used for NFT s, currently. And if you don't think this is happening, just listen to this. Major art houses are auctioning NFT s now. The sports NFT s are hot right now. Draftkings has an NFT marketplace, and all major sports now have, or all develop or are developing currently, NFT s and corresponding marketplaces. I want you to think of it as the baseball card of today, and there's more.

Nike is working on using NFT s to demonstrate ownership of a pair of Nike shoes and to be able to show that they are authentic, and not counterfeit, you would be able to produce the NFT. So in the future, when you buy a pair of shoes or say, a name brand purse, you're going to also get an NFT , an electronic copy, a proof that you own the actual item and that it is authentic.

And then, in the future, if you ever want to sell it, you'd sell the new buyer, not only the shoes or the purse, but you would also have the NFT s sold to them, and it would all be documented via a blockchain transaction. The possibilities are just beginning.

Imagine the fun having a one-of-a-kind item that you don't have to lock in your safe or keep in a private room, but instead, you can show it on anything digital. No one can steal it or damage it, and everyone knows it is rightfully yours. You could put it on social media pages. You can put it on a company website, and it's obviously easy to move.

And when you stop and think about it, we've actually been doing this for years, especially if you're a gamer. You play video games, buying and selling virtual items such as land or clothing, homes, animals. It's been going on for many, many years. So NFT s are a natural outcome of the blockchain and one of the benefits an open ledger can bring.

So let's move from NFT s to smart contracts. And let me start with a description. A smart contract is a self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement between a buyer and a seller being directly written into lines of code and the code and the agreements contain or, across a distributed, decentralized blockchain network.

So the code controls the execution and transactions are trackable and irreversible. Smart contracts permit trusted transactions and agreements to be carried out among different, anonymous parties, without the need of a central authority, a legal system or external enforcement mechanisms. Now that's a lot. But let me give you a real example. You're buying or selling a home.

Traditionally, contracts would require a third party to verify the transactions and the process. It slows down the time it takes to accomplish it. And it also has multiple fee levels. But a smart contract, as diagrammed here, would be a computerized program on the blockchain with no third party required. Clearing and settlement is automated. All aspects of the process are open and available for review by interested parties and regulators. Imagine, no more waiting for a human to click a button to make a process like this continue.

So today, many documents are already available for public view from, for example, your county courthouse. It's really only a matter of time until these documents are, not only on the blockchain, but maintained on the blockchain. Alright, let that sink in for a second, and we're going to move on to DeFi.

So DeFi is a movement that uses open source and distributed networks to transform traditional financial products into a reliable and transparent protocol without intermediaries. So said another way, decentralized finance is a blockchain-based form of finance that does not rely on central financial intermediaries, such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks to offer those traditional financial instruments that we're used to getting and instead, they use smart contracts on the blockchain.

So you've got to think of it like peer-to-peer financial services. Now today, DeFi platforms already allow people to lend or borrow funds from others to speculate on price movements on a range of assets using derivatives. You can trade cryptocurrencies, you can insure against risk, and you can earn interest in savings-like accounts. That's all happening now. That represented a tenfold growth during the course of So it is a quickly growing part of this space.

There is so much happening at such an amazing speed. And the first on the broad topic of crypto. He says, "We are proactively researching and studying cryptocurrencies, digital currencies, and other digital related mediums, and we are working with various partners and organizations to bring you updated information as research increases, the regulatory landscape develops, and markets mature and broaden.

For example, digital US dollar. And he mentions digital mediums, and an example for that would be like the NFT s we just spoke about. So now I want to share with you Brent's thoughts specific to our investment process. As we learn more from this research and valuation methodologies, risk modeling becomes more defined, we will be better positioned to evaluate if, and how, these assets may play a role in our future models to assure proper allocation in our clients diversified portfolios.

At First Citizens, we are working to understand several actions related to crypto, including custody requirements, trading, and transfer protocols, as well as reporting requirements and tax ramifications. We are already beginning to assist with the impact cryptoassets and NFT s are having within estate plans, how to gift crypto to both charity and family, how to properly plan the wealth transfer of crypto assets and much, much more.

We have written general papers on taxation of cryptocurrency and the future of the blockchain and NFTs , and both are available from your First Citizens Relationship Manager. And we are just getting started. As we come to the end of my prepared remarks, I'd like to summarize a few points with you before we answer some questions.

I want to talk about the value proposition for crypto, and I believe it to be straightforward: digital payments are here to stay. A decentralized approach provides what many to believe a value. Crypto provides broader access to many, not currently within what we think of as the traditional banking system because they either don't have access, because they don't have the technology or infrastructure for access, or they live in a country where their governments don't allow them access.

Some view crypto as an alternative store of value, and for that, they believe there's a strong value proposition. And finally, it is believed that it is impossible to counterfeit, and so many see that as a strong value proposition of crypto. Currently, central banks and governments around the world are studying cryptocurrencies, blockchain technologies, and they're issuing their own digital currencies. Global banks are involved in the creation, investing, trading, and building investment vehicles with crypto.

Some trading desks are using blockchain technologies within their processes today. This is a relatively new space. It is evolving rapidly, and as I mentioned, regulations are going to impact the future. Some countries tax mining revenue, so that Bitcoin mining we were talking about, while others have actually made it illegal.

Some are concerned about the inefficient power usage, while others are concerned about the lack of control that they have over it. El Salvador recently made Bitcoin legal currency. The story on cryptocurrencies is still in its early chapters. But regardless of what you think about crypto, blockchains are going to be a part of our future. Just think about the impact of smart contracts that we talked about and the NFT explosion that's occurring and record keeping. We looked at the example of the buying, the home, the faster trade settlements and the faster settlements of documents.

There are literally thousands of applications within both the government and private sectors for blockchain technology. And one last point to please take away not all cryptocurrencies are made equal. Some coins have a supply limit like Bitcoin, for example. We know there will only be 21 million Bitcoin ever. Some don't have a supply limit, however, like Dogecoin. Some are actively maintained by programmers and some are not.

Some are means that have legitimately nothing, no real use at all. There literally means while others are designed to actually help a process or a group of people. And there are literally thousands of options. So I hope this has been helpful as we've explored a number of topics within the crypto world.

At First Citizens, we remain committed to education and as we continue to study, learn and evaluate the opportunities this emerging asset class offers, we are going to continue to provide you updates. And now, let's take some questions. Amy: And thank you so, so very much for that information. You know, I've had several conversations over the last few months about cryptocurrency, and I always come away from them with a little bit better understanding of what's happening.

But as you know, with understanding comes questions, and we have received a lot of questions. So many of them were covered during our main content today. Just a reminder, this is being recorded and we're going to send out a replay. If you need to hear anything again or missed anything, you'll have that opportunity.

Also, I want to mention that we received a number of questions regarding the taxation of cryptocurrency, and as Penn mentioned, that's something that you'll need to speak with your tax professional about. That's not our lane, so to speak.

However, we do have some general information available on the subject of crypto taxation that our Wealth Planning Director Nerre Shuriah put together. That's available on firstcitizens. So Penn, going to our first question for you, can you talk a little bit about federal governments and their move towards developing digital currencies, specifically in the United States? Penn: Sure, we mentioned that a little bit there at the end.

Some recent reports suggest that they are building prototypes as we sit here today. So it is certainly possible that we would see a, what I would think of as, a prototype digital dollar by the end of this calendar year. So by the end of 22, it is absolutely going to happen.

It is just a matter of how soon. Amy: So, Penn, we talked a lot about the transferring from one person to another using digital wallets. Penn: Sure I mean, actually, I think the reality is it's here today, if the question is, is it as easy as sending it account to account, you know, transfer within your online bank or whatnot? It is. If you're comfortable doing it in crypto, then you simply go to your wallet and you send it.

As I showed in the example to anyone literally in the world who has a wallet via blockchain transaction. And it will happen in almost all cases much faster, usually in less than 10 minutes, with no third-party intermediary. So I think the world is here. The biggest choice or issue really for most would be, you've got to do it in a cryptocurrency versus being able to do it like within your bank and do it with the US dollars, for example.

But the speed is here, the ease is here. It's really just a matter of more and more adoption. Amy: And Penn, in that same vein, we've got a couple of folks asking, I think there might be some confusion between what Venmo, and apps like that, what the difference is with those digital wallets versus a crypto wallet.

Could you talk about that for a second Penn: Sure I mean, the simple thing when you use Venmo, Venmo basically is going into your bank account and moving money on its behalf. You may think you have a Venmo account and it will hold some money for you. But the reality is it's part of the traditional system and there is a third party there. You know, Venmo has a financial backing in terms of the company itself.

It's like a financial company, whereas a crypto wallet has nothing once you funded it. So the connection to your bank is simply for the funding. Once you've done that, then the bank is completely out of the system and you're dealing with assets held within the crypto space. So digital and crypto only. It is easy to see how they all work. Very similarly, they do. But in most cases you cannot compare sending Venmo to your friend that is in, you know, name of place China, Singapore or wherever, versus doing it with your wallet with a blockchain key.

It would be much easier doing it via the blockchain, and you would have no third party intermediary or additional costs. So definitely encourage those people that are asking that question to go online and study some of this. And in fact, all of this. I mean, certainly, you know, you need to take some time and learn about it, but there are significant differences to the way those different applications work.

Amy: Thank you, Penn. And you and I know that there are things, there are many tools, we can use out on the world to see to measure the value of stocks and bonds on the open market. However, how are the valuations for measuring crypto being used? Penn: Well, valuations for crypto is very difficult, and it's unfortunate, but we're still so early in this, there really isn't a clear answer, as I believe one of Brent's quotes mentioned, we really have to continue to do research, get better defined methodologies, and he talked about risk modeling, right?

What to Know Before Investing in Cryptocurrency The risks and rewards of investing in cryptocurrency Cryptocurrency can seem like an exciting investment opportunity. There are over 6, different types of cryptocurrency, and some, like Bitcoin, have become mainstream. But what is it? How safe of an investment could it be? Before you dive into the world of cryptocurrency, here are few things you should know.

What is cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency or crypto is a form of digital currency that can be used to buy goods and services online. Many companies have issued their own cryptocurrency that can be traded specifically for the goods and services they provide. Crypto can be understood as something like casino chips or arcade tokens that are exchanged for real money.

It can be volatile With cryptocurrency, timing is everything. It can be volatile and unpredictable. Over the last few years, the value of crypto has fluctuated wildly with extreme ups and downs. For many professional investors, trading crypto is equivalent to gambling as there is no pattern to its value. Unlike traditional stocks, mutual funds, or other investments, you cannot reliably predict changes or calculate returns. If you want to dive into the world of cryptocurrency, do some research to figure out when is the right time to invest.

Cryptocurrency is a favorite for criminals The IRS does not recognize cryptos as currency. Thus, it is not regulated, taxed, or realistically traceable. This anonymity and lack of regulation of crypto allows individuals to easily pay for small purchases online and makes it easy to be used to fund illegal transactions.

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