El Salvador's Volcanic News

GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, and it's exactly new knowledge o'clock.

⭐️Today's selection:

• 🌋El Salvador Passes Landmark Bill
• 💼Amid Mass Layoffs, Binance Is Hiring. Why?
• 🔢New Inflation Data
• 🧩️Puzzle Thursday
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

EL SALVADOR'S LANDMARK BILL

Famous Bitcoin maximalist and the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has a reason to smile.

El Salvador's government have approved a law on the issuance of new digital assets.

The bill, among other things, lays the legal foundation for the issuance of "volcano-bonds" - bonds backed by bitcoins. 62 of the 78 members of the Legislative Assembly voted in favor of it.

So what are these 'volcano bonds'?

The unusual name for the bonds is no accident. In the summer of 2021, El Salvador announced plans to begin mining bitcoin using volcanic energy. 

The environmentally friendly source will help reduce the costs associated with BTC mining. And additionally, it will attract new miners.

El Salvador will issue bitcoin-denominated government bonds to invest in the project. These are the "volcano-bonds". The country plans to raise $1 billion from them.

Nayib Bukele's government originally planned to issue the bonds last spring. But this was thwarted by a bear market and lack of a regulatory framework.

There were no clauses in their legislation to allow the central bank to issue digital assets. Now the problem has been solved, although the bear market is far from having left.

The infrastructure provider for the "volcano-bonds" will be Bitfinex, which is also an exchange. It will issue a token linked to the bonds and service all transactions.

This is a game-changer for the crypto industry as it not only utilises a sustainable energy source but also provides a new way for governments to raise funds.

Plus, keeping in mind that El Salvador legally recognised Bitcoin as a means of payment last November, such updates continue to solidify their commitment to the technology.

TL;DR: El Salvador has passed legislation that will provide the legal framework for a Bitcoin-backed bond which also goes under the name of "Volcano Bond". 

BINANCE IS HIRING WHILE OTHERS ARE FIRING THEIR EMPLOYEES. 

Mass layoffs. All over the place. Everyone's getting pushed over the place. That's the vibe you get nowadays from reading the news. 

But as always... Every generalisation has exceptions. And Binance stands out of the crowd by being one. They're hiring. What's up?

It's been a rough year for the global economy, and the cryptocurrency industry is no exception. The prolonged bear market in 2022 has led to downsizing for many companies.

Investment giant BlackRock, for example, announced plans to cut 500 jobs. This is the first round of layoffs for the company since 2019.

But despite this, the company's CEO Larry Fink stated that the firm's workforce would be rebuilt within three years and it would grow by 22%, with an expectation to increase by 8% as early as 2023.

Blockchain firm ConsenSys (Creators of Metamask wallet) also plans to lay off 100 employees or more. Or Huobi, the crypto exchange, which, as we wrote earlier, also saw massive layoffs.

However, other companies are finding ways to adapt and even thrive in these difficult times.

The largest crypto-exchange, Binance, plans to increase its workforce by 30% in 2023 to improve technology and make the exchange more efficient.

That's a continuation of their ambitious growth that Binance demonstrated in 2022.

As CZ said, Binance increased their employee count from 3,000 to 'almost 8,000' in 2022 alone.

And now they're planning to increase it by 30% more. Those are huge strides that Binance is making. 

Binance's revenues have increased 10-fold in the last 24 months, proving the company's resilience.

During a conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, CZ spoke about the company's actions in the coming year.

He said the company wants to improve technology, and investments in order to make the exchange more efficient.

He hinted that in 10-15 years we will see the decentralized exchange sector outgrowing even the current CEX leader - Binance. 

But knowing CZ, this will not happen without investments from Binance. They will let things outgrow themselves without cashing in on it.

TL;DR: Some crypto companies are cutting jobs, while others like Binance are expanding and showing resilience: CZ communicates stability and potential by making aggressive growth plans. 

NEW US INFLATION DATA

U.S. December's inflation data was just released. Inflation fell to 6.5%. That's a 0.6% decrease from November when it was 7.1%.

This is the biggest drop in inflation in the last year.

This inflation is likely to provoke a short-lived decline in the crypto markets, but with growth in the medium term. Just like last month.

The price of many tokens has reacted to the news, however, no sensation has occurred.

This news follows the fact that the market saw BTC price reach $18k and ETH reach $1.4 last night. 

BTC currently sells for over $18,200 while ETH has dropped a bit to $1,396. We will see how the new inflation data will adjust these numbers. 

TL;DR: US inflation fell from 7.1% to 6.5%.

PUZZLE THURSDAY

Today's the 12th of January. Another day - another historical event to remember. Something special happened on this day back in 2009. The question is... What exactly?

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• FTX Recovers Billions in Cash and Liquid Crypto, According to Report. Maybe it's not all gone?
• FTX Customer Names Remain Sealed During Bankruptcy Proceedings. At least privacy is not a problem for them. Yet.
• Digital Yuan Included In China's Currency Circulation Report. Yuan what army?