Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. The Special Token Sale of TimeCoin (TMCN) will be launched on February 15th with a 93% discount on the token’s current market value. The token was launched on November 11th, 2020 on BitForex with an IEO, at an initial price of $0.7. However, already after the launch of the IEO it had risen to $11, and has since continued to rise. At the beginning of 2021, it had already risen to $22, while now it is close to $30, with a market capitalization of over $2 billion. The project, TimeCoinProtocol was initially financed by a few investors who invested around $4 million, and only a very limited number of tokens were placed on the market. Now with the Special Token Sale, the tokens will be sold on the OTC market, so as not to increase the selling pressure, after most of the tokens available on the market have been bought back by the project. They will also be made available for trading on other crypto exchanges in the future. So far, no public or private sale of TimeC...

Open-source platform Tezos has just announced Edo, its fifth and most ambitious upgrade to its blockchain to date. This upgrade will add the Sapling protocol, tickets, and a new Adoption Period to support future upgrades that improve network functionality. Sapling, Tickets, and a New Adoption Period will Bolster Future Upgrades Tezos has been ramping up development activity following the growing hype around its native token XTZ , which has risen nearly 120% year-to-date as of writing. Its last update, Delphi , was released three months ago and cut gas costs by 75%. Tezos says its new Sapling protocol will enable developers to power “new types of applications” by incorporating “voting or supporting asset transactions with selective disclosures.” One-use tickets will act as a ‘convenient mechanism’ to unlock contractual functions, according to Tezos. Besides improving developer efficiency, tickets are designed to encourage more ‘secure and composable contracts’ and issue tokens. ...

The New York attorney general and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have filed charges against a cryptocurrency trading platform that allegedly defrauded thousands of investors out of over a million dollars. US Regulators Allege Coinseed Operates Illegal Crypto Trading Platform New York Attorney General Letitia James took legal action Wednesday to shut down the cryptocurrency trading platform owned and operated by Coinseed Inc. The lawsuit, filed in New York County State Supreme Court, alleges that Coinseed runs “an illegally operating cryptocurrency trading platform that defrauded thousands of investors across the nation out of more than $1 million.” The suit names Coinseed Inc., its founder and CEO Delgerdalai Davaasambuu, and its chief financial officer Sukhbat Lkhagvadorj as defendants. According to the announcement by the New York attorney general’s office, “Attorney General James sues to shut down” the crypto trading platform and “to recoup defrauded funds fo...

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed new charges against the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus Group. The hackers are allegedly responsible for stealing over $1.3 billion in cryptocurrencies and fiat during coordinated cyber-heists. North Korean Hackers Also Developed and Deployed Malicious Crypto Apps According to the announcement , law enforcement expanded charges to Park Jin Hyok, a North Korean military hacker, from his involvement in hacking Sony in 2018, deploying Wannacry ransomware attacks, and other financial cyber thefts. Moreover, the new indictment unsealed mentioned Jon Chang Hyo and Kim Il as part of the new measures taken by the DOJ. Authorities also said that three hackers belong to the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), a North Korean military intelligence agency. Lazarus Group is the codename given by the U.S. authorities to the military hacking groups of North Korea. Per the counterintelligence findings, the RGB has participated in several crypto-...

The fifth-largest investment website globally with over 80 million monthly visitors, The Motley Fool’s positive outlook for the future of bitcoin is another data point in the coin’s journey as the influential advisory organization wades into the debate. Investing Advice Provider Believes Bitcoin Will Deliver Ten-Fold Returns in the Next 15 Years The Motley Fool has announced a $5 million investment into bitcoin as part of a long-hold plan to gain a 10x return on its investment over the next 15 years. As the fifth-largest investment website globally, with over 45 million unique visitors in January alone, The Motley Fool’s positive outlook for the future of bitcoin is another data point in the coin’s journey as an influential advisory organization wades into the debate. This move is much more than merely a one-off investment into bitcoin, though. The Motley Fool is a respected voice in the world of investment – essentially a crypto influencer. By adding the coin to its 10x portfoli...

At the time of publication, there’s more than 69,000 transactions waiting in line to get confirmed by a bitcoin miner. Since bitcoin’s price rise, at certain times, transaction fees have climbed to $10 to $20 per transfer, and people who pay less than the median fee may have to wait a while. However, people might not realize that there’s a tool people can leverage called a transaction accelerator, a platform that increases the probability of getting a transaction confirmed. Bitcoin’s Transaction Backlog and Transfer Fees Ramp Up On Wednesday, February 17, 2021, bitcoin ( BTC ) touched a lifetime price high at $52,640 per unit. Since then BTC ’s value has retreated a hair but the crypto asset has continued to keep steady between the $51,000 to $52,000 price range. Meanwhile, BTC fees have also steadily increased as the cost per transfer is currently $16.62 to get a transaction into the next block according to bitcoinfees.cash data. BTC ’s median fee is lower and around $10.76 per ...

PRESS RELEASE. Tallinn-based venture capital fund Yolo Investments has announced a new investment in digital marketing company eCartic. 18th February 2021, Tallinn, Estonia – Venture capital fund Yolo Investments has made a significant investment into digital marketing specialists and venture hub eCartic . The Estonian-based investment is a global B2B partner for disruptive companies within the eCommerce value-chain. It successfully scales across a number of verticals, turning ideas into products by using its expertise in digital marketing and branding. It also builds and markets B2C products and services. One such product, BlufVPN®️ , is fast establishing itself as an innovative leader within the competitive virtual private network (VPN) market and is fast-tracked to become the number one online security product in Europe by 2025. Tim Heath, GP at Yolo Investments , stated: “We were hugely impressed by the level of digital marketing know-how in the eCartic team. This type of...

According to a website that tracks the price of bitcoin across the globe, the crypto asset’s selling price in Nigeria as of February 18 stood at $ 76,000. At this price, the crypto asset is selling for $20,000 more than the approximately $52,000 that most cryptocurrency exchanges are currently quoting. The Impact of the CBN Crypto Order This spike in the premium charged on bitcoin follows the recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive that targets cryptocurrency traders and exchanges. According to the CBN order, which became effective on February 5, banks and other financial institutions were asked to end relationships with entities that are associated with cryptocurrencies. Since then, many crypto exchanges have seen activity drop drastically as institutions complied with the directive. News.Bitcoin.com reached out to Chiagozie Iwu, the CEO at Naijacrypto cryptocurrency exchange for his perspective on the surging premium. Iwu starts by confirming that different exchanges hav...

Global Macro Investor CEO, Raoul Pal, discussed the current economy this week and asked his 394,000 followers if people are using the wrong denominator when it comes to certain economic factors. One thing’s for certain, wages have not increased, no matter the common denominator people use to measure today’s salaries. Pal wholeheartedly believes that bitcoin is the only “life raft” he knows of that has “the optionality to change this [issue] over time.” Macro Strategist Asks: ‘Do We Have the Wrong Denominator?’ Raoul Pal is a bitcoin bull and he’s said many times that the decentralized crypto asset is extremely “hard money.” This week on Twitter, Pal discussed a few denominators people leverage to measure things in economics. He asked his social media followers whether or not they thought we had the wrong denominator. The former Goldman Sachs executive and Global Macro Investor CEO, Raoul Pal. “Many of us believe that Fed money printing is creating an asset bubble. But when we ...

Two bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been approved in Canada. Evolve Bitcoin ETF has become the second bitcoin ETF to get approval by Canada’s securities regulator. The first approved bitcoin ETF starts trading Thursday. Some believe that the approval of bitcoin ETFs in Canada improves the chances of one being approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Two North American Bitcoin ETFs Approved North America now has two approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Evolve Funds Group Inc. announced Tuesday that it has been cleared to launch a bitcoin ETF, becoming the second approved bitcoin ETF in North America. With $1.7 billion in assets under management, Evolve is one of Canada’s fastest-growing ETF providers. The first approved bitcoin ETF in North America was cleared to launch last week by the Ontario Securities Commission. Purpose Bitcoin ETF will begin trading Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Evolve Bitcoin ETF will also trade on the Toronto St...

A report has unveiled figures that confirm the bullish run of non-fungible token markets over the last year. Two analytical firms behind the studies stated that the NFT industry grew by 299% in 2020. Total Number of Active Wallets Rose by 97% According to the NFT Report 2020 , published by L’Atelier BNP Paribas and Nonfungible.com, the NFT market tripled in size overall last year, and its total value rose to more than $250 million. The research document stated that the non-fungible token market could be considered the core asset class for the so-called “virtual economy.” With such figures, both firms forecast mainstream adoption of NFTs in the years ahead. Among the reasons explaining the market boost are global brands’ interests in NFTs. Fashion and luxury brands such as Nike, Louis Vuitton, Breitling, and sports brands like the NBA and Formula 1 have been actively creating NFT-based consumer goods and services. Per the total number of active wallets, the study revealed that it...