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Even if you’re not familiar with cryptocurrency, you’ll notice one thing about its market trends — it has been trending higher and higher in the past decade. Then suddenly, in mid-April this year, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plunged significantly in value. That’s because the U.S. government has started the conversation it’s been putting off for some time: Should cryptocurrencies be regulated and, if so, how? Here are some reasons the discussion needs to move forward. CRIMINAL USAGE OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES Is cryptocurrency still popular with criminals? A blockchain data firm Chainalysis reports that illicit activity made up 0.34% of all cryptocurrency transaction volume. That’s roughly 2% lower than in 2019. While the percentage has dropped for overall activity, Kim Grauer, head of research at Chainalysis, told NBC, “Still, ransomware was by far the biggest category in terms of activity growth (311% year over year), and we’re seeing an all-time high for dark-net market activity.” Ransomware is malicious software that hackers use to infect a computer, then demand a fee to unlock it. The bounty is typically paid in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, which are difficult to trace.
with ransomware? One rule proposed by the U.S. government would require anyone holding crypto in a private digital wallet to undergo identity checks if they make a transaction of $3,000 or more. Many believe, however, that this isn’t a long-term solution. Jesse Powell, the CEO of Kraken, the world’s fourth-largest digital currency exchange, told CNBC that the U.S. is more “shortsighted” than other nations and “susceptible” to the pressures of incumbent legacy businesses, like banks, that “stand to lose from crypto becoming a big deal.” Technically, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates most crypto, but even Hester Pierce, a commissioner of the SEC, says, “We’ve seen other countries take a more productive approach to regulating crypto. Our approach has been to say no and tell people [to] wait … we need to build a framework that is appropriate for this industry.” In some ways, crypto is profitable like the stock market is, except you can also use it to purchase goods and services. While this regulatory framework isn’t clear just yet, the longer it takes to establish, the more the American public, like you, might lose out on these multibillion-dollar markets.
REGULATORY UNCERTAINTY IN THE U.S. Although criminal usage of cryptocurrency is rather miniscule today, how do you resolve issues
NG PROPERT Y
BLOOD BOILI MANAGEMEN
T ISSUES
So, this 100-plus unit common area was not nearly as good as it needed to be.
On a Sunday this past May, I was working. Yeah, I realize that Sunday is supposed to be a day off and all, but I was working that day. I was doing my follow-up work on some site inspections that I wanted to make before the upcoming Memorial Day holiday. I find that Sundays are a good time to do inspections of the properties, since you get a real look at how things really go when all of the residents are around. Plus, it keeps my property managers on their toes. Well, on this particular day, I inspected one of our 100-plus unit properties and found the conditions of the common areas to be sub-par. The common areas being in great shape is key to having a good first impression on a potential tenant and, of course, helps with the current tenant mix, keeping the tenants in their apartments as long as possible. The bottom line is that clean common areas help reduce turnover.
Not even close.
When my money and investment is in this property (and the money and investment of my investment partners, too), it gets me in a very foul mood. Yeah, the property does fine for cash flow under the existing conditions, but it could do so much better if what I told the management folks to do actually got done — when I said it needed to be done!
So, the very next day, I gave our management folks direction on what needed to be done and that it needed to be done right away.
Almost a week later, I went back to the property to see how the clean-up of the common areas went.
What did I find?
Blood boiling!
Nothing had been done!
I found that the common areas were in the same shape as they were almost a week ago. Actually, they were worse. Saying that my blood started to boil is a huge understatement. Heck, I get mad just thinking about it now!
–Darin Garman
2 DARINGARMAN.COM
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