US Treasury Seeks Comment on Crypto’s Illicit Finance Risks

The US Treasury Department is seeking public comment on the possible illicit finance and national security risks posed by the use of digital assets, as part of the agency’s mandate under President Biden’s March executive order to study the development of cryptocurrency.

The request for comment, issued Monday, also asks the public for suggestions to mitigate these risks by the deadline of Nov. 3.

The Treasury, in a version of the request-for-comment document on the Federal Register website, said crypto has been used in sophisticated cybercrime-related financial networks and activity, including through ransomware. The growing use of digital assets has increased the risk of crimes such as money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, thefts and corruption, according to the document.

Brian Nelson, the Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial

What Is Yearn Finance? – The Defiant

Yearn Finance played a leading role in the decentralized finance (DeFi) boom in the summer of 2020. Running on Ethereum blockchain, Yearn Finance deployed smart contracts to maximize yields on deposits and generate high interest rates.

This process is called yield farming and Yearn Finance was a pioneer of the business. Let’s start with the protocol’s origin.

Yearn Finance Origin and Purpose

Yearn Finance owes its existence to Andre Cronje, a South African coder who created and contributed to more than 25 DeFi projects. Many in the community call him the “Godfather of DeFi.”

In early 2020, Cronje pioneered two DeFi projects — yEarn Finance and iEarn. The latter was the first decentralized application (dApp) to harness smart contracts for yield aggregation. The concept was simple:

  • Users deposit crypto funds into a smart contract vault.
  • The smart contract algorithm automatically allocates those funds into other smart contracts (DeFi platforms) with

Russian finance ministry seeks to hike oil and gas taxes

  • This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine

MOSCOW, Sept 22 (Reuters) – A new Russian draft budget will aim to draw in more funds from oil and gas producers while commodity prices are high, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday, as part of efforts by the government to tackle its budget deficit.

The Kommersant daily said on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the discussions, that Russia was considering increasing taxes on the oil and gas sector by 3 trillion rubles ($50 billion) in 2023-2025. read more

The government said on Thursday it had approved a bill covering budgets for 2023 and for the period 2024-2025, without citing any parameters. The bill goes to parliament for debate and then needs to be signed off by the president.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Siluanov told a televised

Lawmakers point to financial returns of mental health care investment

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (DN.J.) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) expressed support on Wednesday for more mental health care investments, pointing to the tens of thousands of lives potentially saved and the billions of dollars invested in a more comprehensive federal program that would benefit the US

Both lawmakers spoke at the “Cost of Mental Health Inequities” event moderated by The Hill contributing editor Steve Scully.

Coleman said federal and state governments along with local partners need to put more resources into underserved communities and pay better attention to their needs, calling the lack of mental health support in the US a “whole-of-society issue.”

“We need to be setting up networks where we catch issues, we catch the problem and address the problem head on when we see it,” she said. “Not when it blows up to become a collective problem but when it’s that individual problem.”

Watson, who helped

Consistent and replicable estimation of bilateral climate finance

  • Burke, M., Hsiang, SM & Miguel, E. Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production. nature 527235–239 ​​(2015).

    CAS
    Article

    Google Scholar

  • Carleton, TA & Hsiang, SM Social and economic impacts of climate. Science 353aad9837 (2016).

    Article

    Google Scholar

  • Climate Finance Provided and Mobilized by Developed Countries: Aggregate Trends Updated with 2019 Data (OECD, 2021); https://doi.org/10.1787/5F1F4182-EN

  • Rio Markers for Climate Handbook (OECD, 2016).

  • Yeo, S. Where climate cash is flowing and why it’s not enough. nature 573328–331 (2019).

    CAS
    Article

    Google Scholar

  • Climate Finance Shadow Report 2020 (Oxfam International, 2020).

  • Halimanjaya, A. Climate mitigation finance across developing countries: what are the major determinants? Clim. Policy 15223–252 (2015).

    Article

    Google Scholar

  • Weikmans, R. & Roberts, JT The international climate finance accounting muddle: is there hope on the horizon? Clim. Dev. 1197–111 (2017).

    Article

    Google Scholar

  • Michaelowa, A. & Michaelowa, K. Coding error or statistical embellishment? The

  • Puerto Rico to Finance Bros: ‘Gringo Go Home’

    Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; @bowleshayden/TikTok

    Hayden Bowles, a 22-year-old e-commerce influencer and landlord from Minnesota, was driving on the highway in Puerto Rico on Saturday when he recorded a video about the storm heading toward the island. “Two years ago I moved two of my companies down to Puerto Rico for tax purposes,” he told his 125,000 TikTok followers, referring to a law that allows newcomers to pay no taxes on capital gains if they live there for more than half the year . “Many people hate me for it. But check this out: We got some light rain.”

    The “light rain” was the outer bands of Hurricane Fiona, which dumped as much as 32 inches of rain and knocked out power throughout the territory still recovering from 2017’s Maria, the worst storm in its modern history. Bowles was undeterred. “This is a

    Swiss bank UBP returns to Chinese markets

    The Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) sign is seen at one of its branch offices in Zurich, Switzerland November 20, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

    Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

    HONG KONG, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Swiss private bank Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) is back in Chinese markets, its chief investment officer said, making its way back to the world’s second-largest economy after withdrawing last year.

    UBP has more than $150 billion of assets. It returned to China in August after having exited all positions in Chinese equities and credit by the third quarter of 2021, Norman Villamin, CIO of wealth management, told Reuters.

    “We went from zero to neutral,” Villamin said.

    Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

    While many institutional investors have reduced exposure to China since 2019 amid a regulatory crackdown on tech giants, a deterioration in Sino-US relations and strict zero-COVID policies, UBP

    New York still top, Moscow sinks in finance center ranking

    Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

    LONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) – New York remains far and away the world’s most favorite financial centre, with London still second and Singapore overtaking Hong Kong to come in third, latest rankings from the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) showed on Thursday.

    Paris returned to the top 10 to replace Tokyo, but Moscow sank 22 places to 73rd as Western countries severed ties with the capital after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, GFCI said.

    GFCI, compiled by Z/Yen, a City of London think tank, and the China Development Institute, rated 119 centers using 66,121 assessments from 11,038 financial professionals, and quantitative data.

    Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

    GFCI Main Rankings September 2022

    New York has held the top position among global financial centers ranked by GFCI for four years, overtaking London.

    “London’s second position looks secure

    Stamford German beer hall, food truck plan OK’d by finance board

    The board approved a $2.53 million grant for the project on Thursday night during a virtual meeting. Though the money is technically coming from the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, the developers of the project still needed the blessing of the finance board, since the city won the grant and has the authority to dole out the money.

    Five of the six members of the board — with chairman Richard Freedman absent for the vote — supported the measure.

    The plan calls for retrofitting “underutilized” properties on Pacific Street, and will include a year-round beer garden, food truck lot, German beer hall, coffee shop, social co-working space, pilot brewery and tasting room and event space.

    The proposal also mentions creating “affordable retail opportunities by building baseline infrastructure required for future prospective retail tenants.”

    Stamford was awarded the money through a partnership between the city and Scrap Works LLC,

    NBA star James Harden throws his support behind financial literacy

    James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers looks to pass against the Toronto Raptors during game five of the Eastern Conference First Round on April 25, 2022.

    Nwachukwu Team | Getty Images

    For NBA player James Harden, boosting financial know-how among young adults is personal.

    Harden, a point guard and shooting guard who recently signed a reported $68.6 million two-year contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, remembers being a 20-year-old rookie in 2009 with a suddenly sizable salary. As a first-round draft pick — third overall — he had just signed a two-year contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder worth $4.76 million, according to Spotrac.com.

    “You want to buy everything,” Harden told CNBC in a phone interview. “And you deserve it, so you buy your first car, your first house or whatnot.”

    More from Personal Finance:
    Inflation fears spur early start to holiday shopping
    These steps can help you tackle stressful