Amidst the controversies surrounding the cryptocurrency market, which are largely based on its acceptability, volatility and governments’ attitude toward it, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is for the first time, speaking in the interest of the digital asset industry.

The crypto market is currently experiencing one of its most tumultuous moments, forcing a massive selloff of assets by investors. On May 13, the market saw more than $200 billion wiped off as bitcoin fell below $26,000 for the first time in 16 months.

But in a surprising development, the IMF head, Kristalina Georgieva, during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting on Tuesday, advised investors not to abandon the crypto market despite Terra’s crash.

In the meeting, she also said the collapse of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST should not make people ditch cryptocurrencies as not all digital currencies are the same.

Kristalina Georgieva believes the crypto market is important as it offers faster service at lower costs and is more inclusive. She went on to say, every investment comes with some level of associated risks and so do cryptocurrencies but with proper research.

Therefore, stablecoins backed by cash and other assets are different from algorithmic stablecoins. Stablecoins are supposed to maintain a 1:1 peg with reserve assets like the US dollar.

The collapse of algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD or UST caused massive liquidation across the crypto market. This should serve as a reminder to investors to be aware of the potential risks with assets that are not well-backed. Hence, investors should continue to invest in cryptocurrencies.

“I would beg you not to pull out of the importance of this world. It offers us all faster service, much lower costs, and more inclusion, but only if we separate apples from oranges and bananas. The less there is backing it, the more you should be prepared to take the risk of this thing blowing up in your face,” she said.

She also urges regulators across the world to protect investors through crypto education and regulation. Moreover, she warned against volatile crypto products with currencies. Anything not backed by a sovereign guarantee can be an asset class, but not a currency.

Amid the ongoing discussion, the spokesperson for the IMF, Gerry Rice also came to the rescue of crypto that the IMF supported El Salvador in the compilation of statistics about the use of Bitcoin (BTC) to boost the country’s anti-money laundering efforts.

The IMF had notably warned many countries about developing romantic relationships with bitcoin, and was openly against the move by El Salvador and the Central African Republic to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender. This support for cryptocurrency marks a significant shift from the Fund’s previous position and may likely renew waning interest in the digital asset industry.

The United States’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has imposed a sanction of $150 million on Twitter.

The social media company was allegedly making use of the personal information of its users, which it promised to use to secure their accounts, for target ads.

This is not the first alleged violation of the FTC Act, under which, among other things, the agency is “empowered to prevent unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”

In 2011, Twitter settled with the FTC, having been accused of serious lapses in its data security that allowed hackers to obtain unauthorized administrative control of the platform.

The order prohibited misrepresentations around how Twitter maintains information like email addresses and phone numbers collected from users.

The just-announced $150 million civil penalty stems from a new complaint filed by the US’ Department of Justice (DOJ) on behalf of the FTC, alleging that Twitter had violated the order in the earlier case by collecting customers’ personal information for the stated purpose of security and then exploiting it commercially.

The FTC in a statement announcing the fine, said, “Specifically, while Twitter represented to users that it collected their telephone numbers and email addresses to secure their accounts, Twitter failed to disclose that it also used user contact information to aid advertisers in reaching their preferred audiences. The complaint was filed by the DOJ on behalf of the FTC.”

The complaint said users provided email addresses or telephone numbers based on Twitter’s “deceptive statements” that such information would be used for account security, such as two-step authorizations.

“This practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users, while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue.” the FTC added.

In addition to imposing a $150 million civil penalty for violating the 2011 order, the new order adds more provisions to protect consumers in the future. The orders are as follow:

• Twitter is prohibited from using the phone numbers and email addresses it illegally collected to serve ads.
• Twitter must notify users about its improper use of phone numbers and email addresses, tell them about the FTC law enforcement action, and explain how they can turn off personalized ads and review their multi-factor authentication settings.
• Twitter must provide multi-factor authentication options that do not require people to provide a phone number.
• Twitter must implement an enhanced privacy program and a beefed-up information security program that includes multiple new provisions spelled out in the order,
• Twitter must acquire privacy and security assessments by an independent third-party approved by the FTC, and report privacy or security incidents to the FTC within 30 days.

This is indeed a welcome and commendable measure as was taken by the US’ FTC. This implies that such illegal activity had been taking place across the global community without the knowledge of the apt authorities in various countries where they are operating.

Hence, if well checked or scrutinized, it would be ascertained that other social media networks have equally been carrying out such unauthorized or prohibited acts.

The relevant agencies in other nations are also enjoined to expedite actions in a bid to discover similar prohibited activities, and sanctioning the indicted firm accordingly.