The IMF has reportedly blocked Pakistan’s plan to use cheap electricity for crypto mining, warning it could destabilize the energy market. Pakistan’s plan to use surplus electricity for crypto mining has hit a roadblock after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reportedly rejected a proposal to offer subsidized power to energy-intensive industries, including Bitcoin miners. Pakistan’s Secretary of Power Fakhre Alam Irfan told the Senate committee on energy that the IMF claimed such measures could distort the energy market and worsen existing issues in the country’s fragile power sector, according to a report from Urdu-language news outlet Independent Urdu. Although Pakistan has excess electricity, particularly during winter, the IMF remains concerned that pricing schemes could disrupt the market balance, per the report. Irfan said all significant energy policies must be approved by the IMF. Read more
Bitpanda’s public affairs lead, Benedikt Faupel, told Cointelegraph that while MiCA brings long-awaited regulatory clarity, harmonization is still lacking. Benedikt Faupel, head of public affairs at Austrian crypto exchange Bitpanda, said Europe’s flagship crypto regulation still allows uneven implementation across the bloc. Faupel told Cointelegraph on the sidelines of the German Blockchain Week that, as far as he knows, Bitpanda is the only player with three Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) licenses. The exchange was founded in Austria in 2014 and has since established additional offices in Berlin, Bucharest, London and elsewhere. Faupel said that MiCA provides the European Union with long-awaited regulatory clarity and harmonization. Before MiCA, he said, the European crypto landscape was fragmented into multiple separate licensing regimes, with Bitpanda previously holding 17 licenses. “With MiCA, you just make it way easier,” he said. Read more
A large cluster of potential short liquidations near $111,320 could trigger a squeeze to accelerate Bitcoin’s next leg higher into price discovery. Key takeaways: Bitcoin's funding rate briefly turned negative in late June, historically a signal for upcoming rallies. A large concentration of short liquidations near $111,320 could fuel a short squeeze. Read more