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Federal Regulators Race To Address Cryptocurrency Risks

Sep 24, 2021
Glen Oaks Escrow, a Los Angeles-based independent escrow company serving the Southern California region, has announced that it is now accepting cryptocurrency
Staff Writer

Cryptocurrency is quickly morphing into a volatile but widely embraced innovation, and federal regulators are racing to address the potential risks to consumers and the market. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • Due to how popular digital currencies have become, government agencies have recently been pushing for more regulation.
  • This past August, United Wholesale Mortgage announced plans to accept cryptocurrency for home loans — a first for the national mortgage industry.

The cryptocurrency market has caught the attention of many tech-savvy entrepreneurs. But, for those who aren’t aware, cryptocurrency (crypto) is a form of digital currency to buy goods and services, using a strong online ledger with cryptography to secure online transactions. As an unregulated currency, crypto is used to trade for profits, with spectators sometimes driving prices skyward. 

Due to how popular digital currencies have become, government agencies have recently been pushing for more regulation. According to an article from the New York Times, cryptocurrency is quickly morphing into a volatile but widely embraced innovation, and federal regulators are racing to address the potential risks to consumers and the market. 

“Their concerns have only grown as both new and established firms have rushed to find ways to profit from bringing the massive wealth held in cryptocurrency into the traditional financial system through quasi-banking services like interest-bearing accounts and lending," the Times article indicated.

Earlier this year, several companies have expressed a more open-mind approach to Bitcoin, accepting it as a payment for their products or services. This past August, United Wholesale Mortgage announced plans to accept cryptocurrency for home loans — a first for the national mortgage industry. “We've evaluated the feasibility, and we're looking forward to being the first mortgage company in America to accept cryptocurrency to satisfy mortgage payments,” CEO Mat Ishbia said in the company's second quarter earnings call.

ISW Holdings Inc. will be changing their name to ‘BlockQuarry’ reported an update earlier this week for current and prospective shareholders on “core performance metrics, timeframe for hosting deployment, and corporate identity.”

In Pennsylvania, the mining of cryptocurrency is fully underway and nearing full capacity on hashrate. The hashrate is the speed at which the crypto miner operates, or rather, the speed of the computing device they are using to develop the unit of cryptocurrency. It is no longer possible to mine cryptocurrency using a regular desktop or computer laptop.

Currently, updates and adjustments are being implemented to push performance to peak potential, so the Company's PA mining operations will be producing mining revenues that contribute to a monthly revenue run rate of $1.5 million at cryptocurrency pricing. 

ISW Holdings also anticipates a breakout quarter for the three months ending on September 30, 2021. Given that it will be the first three months that crypto is mining at peak capacity and the start of revenues from hosting operations, the fourth quarter is expected to bring a significant breakout in financial terms. 

“We will unquestionably log our best quarter in Company history – by a wide margin – when the books close at the end of the month," noted Alonzo Pierce, ISWH CEO. "But that will likely be dwarfed by what rolls in over coming quarters. We have made a few final adjustments and updates that are being implemented right now that will take us to full capacity in terms of achievable hashrate in Pennsylvania. That will bring us to a topline run-rate of approximately $1.5 million per month, which may double again beginning midway through the fourth quarter as we begin to ramp up hosting revenues.”

 

About the author
Staff Writer
Katie Jensen is a staff writer at NMP.
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