DAR ES SALAAM, June 25 (Reuters) - Tanzania's central bank has said it is working on President Samia Suluhu Hassan's directive to prepare for cryptocurrencies, pointing to a possible reversal of a ban it put in place in 2019.

The new president, who came to power after the death of her predecessor in March, said this month the arrival of digital currencies in the East Africa nation was inevitable.

"In the financial sector, we have witnessed the emergence of blockchain technology or cryptocurrency," Hassan said during the opening a new central bank branch in the northern town of Mwanza this month.

"Many countries in the world have not accepted or started using these currencies. However, I would like to advise the central bank to start working on those issues. Just be prepared."

Her comments made shortly after El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender, prompted fresh debate over the role of cryptocurrencies in economies and remittance transfers. read more

Tanzania's central bank banned cryptocurrencies in November 2019, saying they were not recognised by local law, but it now says it is adapting following the president's comments.

"The bank is working on the directives given," a Bank of Tanzania spokesperson told Reuters this week, declining to give further detail.

GRADUAL PREPARATIONS

The spokesperson did not respond to questions on whether the bank plans to adopt existing cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, or was looking to issue its own digital currency as China has done.

Hassan's comments reflect her much more open attitude to foreign investment, a shift from the stance of her predecessor John Magufuli, who tussled with foreign gold miners and even locked horns with neighbouring Kenya over access to the market.

Tanzania Bankers' Association chairman Abdulmajid Nsekela welcomed Hassan's push, for the $63 billion economy still relies heavily on cash transactions.

"The most challenging element for regulators is to be caught by surprise by innovations," he said. Gradual preparations would help the central bank assess the risks and come up with ways of addressing them in advance, he added.

Analysts warned that progress might be slow.

"The change in tone from Tanzania's president is clear, but wait to see whether the central bank will take concrete steps towards embracing cryptocurrencies," said Faith Mwangi, an analyst at Tellimer.

Mwangi pointed to Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni made similar comments back in 2017, but the central bank has yet to rescind its ban on cryptocurrencies.

Reporting by Nuzulack Dausen in Dar es Salaam and Duncan Miriri in Nairobi; Additional reporting by Omar Mohammed; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Karin Strohecker and Andrew Heavens

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Tanzania cbank says it is working on president's cryptocurrency push - Reuters

Booming cryptocurrency firms say theyre struggling to find the right candidates to fill hundreds of positions as a frenzy of interest in digital currencies and other assets pits them against some of the worlds biggest financial institutions.

Despite a rout in May, cryptocurrencies total market value is up 400% over the past year to about $1.4 trillion, and traditional financial firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and DBS Group Holdings Ltd. are starting to offer services and trading. Meanwhile, the likes of CME Group Inc. are expanding crypto derivatives offerings -- all of which is helping the asset class to mature.

Thats leaving fewer candidates for crypto firms who need dozens or hundreds of new workers to expand their business.

Binance, the worlds largest crypto exchange, is advertising for some 370 positions globally, according to its LinkedIn recruitment portal. New York-based Gemini plans to boost its Singapore headcount to 50 from 30 by December. Hong Kong-based Crypto.com, currently lists more than 200 openings, with over half of them based in Asia.

Zhao Changpeng, chief executive officer of Binance. (Photo: Bloomberg)

We are hiring aggressively, Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng CZ Zhao said by email. We see the industry growing exponentially on a year-to-year basis, and we need to scale our team to cope with it. He added, We are a geo-equal-opportunity employer. We dont mind where people are, as long as they produce results.

ALSO READ: Blockchain, cryptocurrency can help democratise financial services: PayPal

Hundreds of Applicants

For potential candidates, interest in crypto jobs has risen by about five to 10 times in the past nine months, according to Neil Dundon, the founder of recruitment agency Crypto Recruit. A single job posting can attract hundreds of applicants, he said.

Despite the boom, finding candidates with relevant experience can be difficult, meaning that some companies are lowering their expectations or changing job criteria.

In terms of length of experience, one or two years is good enough these days, said Dundon. The skills shortage is so bad at the moment that companies are casting a wider net.

Both Geminis Asia-Pacific head Jeremy Ng and Crypto.coms director of talent acquisition, Tom Lau, agree that experience is a major challenge.

If you want to find someone with strong crypto knowledge, that wouldnt be easy to come by, said Ng, an alumnus of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG.

Gemini is considering expanding into markets such as Hong Kong and Australia over the next 12 months and is offering benefits including unlimited vacation and a profit-sharing program to attract talent globally, Ng said.

Ng and Binances Zhao like candidates with expertise in banking and fintech because such skills can be transfered to a new position.

Developers and customer support are the two larger teams in our organization, and typically have the highest demand from a recruiting perspective, Zhao said. Luckily, these are the same skill sets used by large internet companies. We see a lot of interest from people in internet companies and other crypto projects.

Remote Roles

Bobby Ong, the co-founder and chief operating officer of crypto-data firm CoinGecko.com, said recently on Twitter that its getting increasingly hard to find the right people in Malaysia. The firm made internal adjustments and is now offering some roles that can be fully remote anywhere around the globe, he said.

Despite the rush, some job offers may fall through if the prospective employee decides the leap to crypto isnt worth it. Some compensation packages include a token component -- and deals may have to be renegotiated particularly if the token price plunges during the hiring process, Dundon said.

Still, Crypto.coms Lau, who claims that its pay packages are better than those at banks, doesnt expect the crypto hiring boon to die down anytime soon.

We are competing with companies like investment banks or major technology companies, so we have to pay on par or a premium, he said. This is going to make the market even hotter.

Continued here:
Cryptocurrency companies fight for top talent, hundreds of jobs on offer - Business Standard

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Bitcoin had a rocky weekend. Blame hash rates and death crosses.

Since Friday, Bitcoin has dropped about $3,000, or almost 9%, to about $32,500. Bitcoin traded below that level on June 9, but it hasnt closed below $33,000 since January.

China is problem number one. The hash rate, which is essentially the amount of computing power being used to mine Bitcoin, is falling as China cracks down on miners. China wants the electricity for other stuff. China accounts for a majority of the worlds Bitcoin hashing.

Less mining, of course, means fewer coins, and fewer coins could be a good thing for pricing in the long run. But for now, the specter of government interference outweighs supply/demand considerations.

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A morning briefing on what you need to knowin the day ahead, including exclusive commentary fromBarron's and MarketWatch writers.

Bitcoins tumble created a trading pattern on Saturday that market technicians call a death cross. That means Bitcoins 50-day moving average dropped below the 200-day moving average. A death cross can signal that buying momentum is coming out of a stock, a market, or a cryptocurrency.

With Mondays declines, Bitcoin is down about 50% from its April 52-week high of almost $65,000.

What comes next is, frankly, anyones guess. Bitcoin is volatile and the lack of fundamentals makes it difficult to predict what comes next.

We wont even try, except to say buckle up.

Al Root

*** Join Barrons at noon on Tuesday as corporate and philanthropic leaders examine initiatives to narrow the wealth gap. Viewers will hear from executives of the Ford Foundation, BofA Securities, and Exelon. Register here.

Amazon.coms Prime Day runs today through Tuesday, with 2 million deals for Amazon Prime shoppers in 20 countries, but postponed in Canada and India. Its the first time the event is held in June. Last years Prime Day in October jump-started holiday shopping.

Whats Next: The success of Prime Days has led Amazons rivals to offer membership-free promotions such as Walmarts Deals for Days (through Wednesday), Targets Deal Days (through Tuesday), and Best Buys Bigger Deals (through Tuesday).

Eric J. Savitz and Janet H. Cho

On Sunday, Virginia became the 16th state, plus the District of Columbia and Guam, to reach President Joe Bidens goal of vaccinating 70% of adults with at least one shot. Overall, 65.4% of American adults are partially vaccinated, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Whats Next: Israels Health Ministry on Sunday ordered that all attendees of a performance last week must quarantine for 14 days, even people who are vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19, after recent outbreaks of the Delta variant there. Israel lifted all its coronavirus restrictions on June 1.

Janet H. Cho

FTSE Russell will rebalance its U.S. stock indexes after the market closes this Friday, an annual exercise that affects benchmarks tied to $10.6 trillion of investor assets, according to Bloomberg, and a potential boost to the stocks that caught the attention of retail traders this year.

Whats Next: Three times as much money is invested in passive funds tracking the Russell 1000 indexes, which include giant companies like Apple and Microsoft, as those tracking the Russell 2000 indexes. Historically, stocks that moved from the smaller cap 2000 to the large-cap 1000 lag behind their old index over the next year.

Liz Moyer

Goldman Sachs said Monday it would launch transaction banking activity in Britain, offering cash management and treasury services to business clients, in a bid to grow its presence and diversify its activities in the country.

Whats Next: Brexit notwithstanding, U.S. investment banking giants seem to think that the U.K. market still offers serious growth opportunities, if only as a base for further European expansion.

Pierre Brianon

Shares of British retail group Morrisons shot up more than 30% Monday after the group said it had rejected a bid by U.S. private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice that would value the companys equity at 5.52 billion.

Whats Next: Morrisons management team does not seem hostile in principle to a sale. Under U.K. takeover rules, Clayton, Dubilier Rice now has until July 17 to put forward a firm offer.

Pierre Brianon

Child tax credit payments are startingwhen does it make financial sense to opt out of getting this money?

A MarketWatch correspondent will answer this question soon. In the meantime, send any questions you would like answered to thebarronsdaily@barrons.com.

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Bitcoin Price Drop: The Death Cross Comes for the Cryptocurrency. - Barron's

Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm over the past few months, and it could soon be coming to your 401(k).

ForUsAll, a 401(k) plan provider, has teamed up with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) to allow investors to allocate up to 5% of their 401(k) contributions toward cryptocurrency, as reported recently by The Wall Street Journal.

Four hundred employers offer 401(k) plans through ForUsAll, and if yours is one of them, you could have the opportunity to start investing in cryptocurrencies simply by contributing to your 401(k).

Image source: Getty Images.

This partnership will make it much easier to invest in cryptocurrencies. Typically, that involves buying your currency of choice through a crypto exchange -- not a normal stock exchange. You would also need to keep your cryptocurrency tokens stored in a digital wallet rather than a typical brokerage account like you would when investing in stocks.

If you're able to invest in cryptocurrency through your 401(k), however, it's much more accessible. But is it a smart investment? Here's what you need to know.

Cryptocurrency may be the hottest new trend in the investing world, but that doesn't mean it's safe. It has proved that it can be incredibly volatile and subject to steep falls at the drop of a hat.

Case in point: Since its peak in mid-April, the price of Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) has plummeted by nearly 40%. That's not the worst Bitcoin has seen, though; it's fallen by more than 80% on several occasions over the years.

And Bitcoin isn't the only cryptocurrency subject to volatility. Ether (CRYPTO:ETH), the second most popular cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin, lost nearly 94% of its value back in 2018. And Dogecoin (CRYPTO:DOGE) saw its price drop by more than 40% in the span of just two weeks last month.

All investments can be volatile at times, but cryptocurrency is far more turbulent than the average stock. If you're preparing for retirement, that type of volatility can be unsettling.

Also, cryptocurrency is still highly speculative. Unlike stocks, which have provided consistent growth over the long run, nobody knows what the future has in store for crypto. It could end up transforming the world's currency systems, or it could crash and burn. And if it fails, you could lose all the money you've invested.

This isn't to say that cryptocurrency is a bad investment. But whether or not you choose to invest depends on your timeline and your tolerance for risk.

If you have money to spare and plenty of time before you retire, investing in crypto might not necessarily be a bad move. Just make sure the rest of your savings are behind strong investments so you don't lose everything if cryptocurrency doesn't work out.

In addition, if you choose to invest in cryptocurrency, only invest money you would be comfortable losing. Because it's such a high-risk investment, you don't want to bank your retirement on it and potentially jeopardize your financial future.

On the other hand, if you're close to retirement and can't afford to take a chance with your savings, it's probably best to avoid cryptocurrency for now. Similarly, if you're a risk-averse investor and you know that you'd lose sleep if crypto prices crash again (which they very likely will at some point), then it may not be right for you.

Regardless of whether you contribute a portion of your 401(k) savings toward cryptocurrency or not, make sure you're taking the decision seriously. Crypto isn't right for everyone, and for some people, there are much better investments out there.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Should You Invest Your 401(k) in Cryptocurrency? - The Motley Fool