Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Blockchain operations are increasingly embracing more traditional financing from big-name venture funds to leverage these strategic stakeholders’ benefits instead of crowdfunding avenues popularized during the last blockchain hype wave. Funding Roundup: Concordium, StakeWise, and Automata Reveal Private Capital from Leading Funds In a significant departure from the last crypto startup wave focused on raised public capital in the form of initial coin offerings (ICO), token sales, and exchange launches, today’s advancing blockchain initiatives are increasingly tapping private capital from venture funds. Though the sums awarded aren’t eclipsing the billions raised by projects in previous years, the latest developments are positive for companies, funds, and users at large. A blockchain VC investment leverages the expertise and due diligence of the fund itself, lending greater credibility to the underlying project. Accordingly, companies turn to these more traditional funding outlets t

An investigation unveiled a growing fever among crypto traders in South Korea, who actively transact cryptocurrencies every day. Local media outlets are returning to adopt the term “crypto fever” as the recent billion-dollar figures confirm such a trend. Figures Are Now Higher Than 2018 According to the report made by Dong-A , a major South Korean newspaper, domestic crypto investors transacted around $7 billion per day in the period ranging from January 1 to February 25, 2021. Kim Byeong-wook, a parliamentary member of the Democratic Party, compiled the numbers by extracting data from Bithumb, Upbit, Korbit, and Coinone, the most prominent local crypto exchanges. Per the study, 42% of the average volume was traded on the KOSPI stock exchange. The newspaper pointed out that this is the first time that investors’ statistics of the four major South Korean crypto exchanges see the light. In the same period, the study showed that users of the four exchanges transacted approximately $

One of China’s top internet app makers, Meitu Inc., is adding up to $100 million worth of cryptocurrencies to its treasury, joining a growing list of companies worldwide to do so. The company has already purchased $40 million worth of bitcoin and ether for its balance sheet. Chinese Public Company Adds Bitcoin and Ethereum to Treasury Reserves Chinese public company Meitu Inc. announced Sunday: The group has purchased 15,000 units of ether and 379.1214267 units of bitcoin ( BTC ), both cryptocurrencies, in open market transactions at an aggregate consideration of approximately US$22.1 million and US$17.9 million respectively, on March 5, 2021. Founded in 2008, Meitu is one of China’s top internet enterprises utilizing AI-driven image-and-video processing technologies for editing user-generated mobile content. According to its website, Meitu’s flagship app has accumulated more than 1 billion users worldwide. As of June 2020, there are 2.08 billion unique devices with Meitu’s pro

On Saturday, politicians in the U.S. approved the massive $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package dubbed President Biden’s “American Rescue Plan.” The stimulus plan will see American citizens earning $75k or less eligible to receive $1,400. Moreover, households will get an additional $1,400 for every dependent child claimed. Despite the direct cash payments, Biden’s American Rescue Plan is also filled with pork-barrel items that have nothing to do with coronavirus relief. The So-Called ‘American Rescue Plan’ Americans are expecting a third stimulus check in the near future, after members of the U.S. Congress approved the $1.9 trillion relief package called the “American Rescue Plan.” The 628 page bill worth nearly two trillion U.S. dollars will see American citizens get the largest cash payments to-date. The bill’s pages outline that individual Americans who earn $75,000 per year or less will get a payment for $1,400. American couples will get a check worth $2,800 if they make $150k

PRESS RELEASE. PokerTON – a Telegram-based platform for playing poker. PokerTON is one of the most successful projects of the Free TON blockchain affiliate program for companies that are implementing a TON Crystal in their business processes as payment methods. Since its release in May 2020, the PokerTON community has grown to 85,000 people worldwide and continues to grow rapidly. In May 2021 PokerTON had 120,000 players on the platform. Free TON blockchain platform successfully launched in May 2020. At the end of the year, the Free TON community included about 10,000 companies and individuals, including developers, validators and representatives of the cryptocurrency industry. Today, the Free TON Network is a community-driven decentralized blockchain platform with a unique partnership model and one of the most advanced technology stacks on the market. One of the most significant elements of the free TON development models has become a large-scale program for partners. In 2020 mor

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has reportedly launched an operation to target cryptocurrency investors. Dubbed “Operation Hidden Treasure,” the team consists of agents trained in the field of cryptocurrency and transaction tracking. Damon Rowe, Executive Director at the IRS Office of Fraud Enforcement, unveiled “Operation Hidden Treasure” last week at a Federal Bar Association presentation on combating fraud, Forbes reported . The long-time veteran of the IRS Criminal Investigation division explained that the office has put together a dedicated team of IRS criminal investigation professionals to work on this operation. A partnership between the civil office of fraud enforcement and the criminal investigation unit, Operation Hidden Treasure aims to “root out tax evasion from cryptocurrency owners,” the publication conveyed. The team working on Operation Hidden Treasure comprised agents who are trained in the area of cryptocurrency and crypto transaction tracking. They

Payments giant Paypal has announced that it is acquiring Tel Aviv-based crypto security infrastructure provider Curv. According to Paypal, this acquisition will help the company “expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets.” The deal is reportedly worth less than $200 million. Paypal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) announced Monday “that it has agreed to acquire Curv to accelerate and expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets.” Founded in 2018 by CEO Itay Malinger and CTO Dan Yadlin, Curv is a leading provider of cloud-based infrastructure for digital asset security based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The crypto custody company said last year that it raised $30 million in funding from investors, including Commerzventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Digital Currency Group. Curv currently supports more than 200 coins and tokens, including all ERC20 tokens and sub tokens on multiple blockchains. Paypal expects to complete the acquisition of C

On March 3, a group of anonymous art enthusiasts decided to burn an original Banksy screenprint worth roughly £70,000 or around $95,000 USD, and then turned it into a non-fungible token (NFT) asset. The art now exists as an NFT and was auctioned for 228.69 ethereum or $394k using today’s ether exchange rates. However, not everyone was impressed by the NFT transformation, as the cofounder of myartbroker.com says the NFT sale raises the idea that “the only morons in this transaction are the buyers and stunt artists themselves. A Burned Banksy Transformed Into an NFT Sells for Close to $400K in Ether Just recently a collective of unknown art enthusiasts and non-fungible token (NFT) asset fans decided to transform a physical Banksy screenprint into an NFT. News.Bitcoin.com reported on the group who burned the original Banksy piece called “Morons” and explained why the collective called @burntbanksy chose this route. “The reason behind this is because if we had the NFT and the physica

The Indian finance minister has finally revealed clues about what is in the cryptocurrency bill that is due to be introduced in parliament. Mentioning no crypto ban, she said that the government will take “a very calibrated” approach to cryptocurrencies. Indian Finance Minister Provides Clues on Upcoming Crypto Regulation Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shed some light on the upcoming crypto regulation in her country during CNBC-TV18’s IBLA townhall Friday. This is the first time she talked about the content of the bill and the Indian government’s plans on regulating cryptocurrencies since the bill was listed to be introduced in parliament. “On the cryptocurrency, yes a lot of negotiations [and] discussions are happening with the Reserve Bank because the supreme court order had very clearly told that the government has to take a call on the matter. We are talking with the Reserve Bank,” she confirmed. “Well, I am not sure, much before the cabinet takes a call on it, I w

PRESS RELEASE. ESTONIA — MARCH 8, 2021 — YIELD App , the DeFi wealth management platform bridging traditional and digital finance, is pleased to announce the launch of its Ethereum fund, allowing users to earn high-interest returns on their Ether ( ETH ). Following a successful public launch and token listing (YLD), YIELD App can now offer its users up to 20% APY on their ETH and stablecoins. Ethereum deposits will be gradually open to YIELD App users over the next several days. The platform now accepts deposits of USDC, USDT , ETH , and YLD. YIELD App has seen notable progress since the public launch of its web application on 12 February 2021. Over 10,000 users have already registered, helping the platform reach more than USD $5 million AUM. Currently, over 33 million YLD tokens are held in YIELD App wallets – accounting for over 30% of the current supply – and more than 500 users have “Tier 5” accounts (20,000+ YLD), granting them a 10% APY boost. Designed for both the retai

Sohrab Sharma, a co-founder with the now-defunct Florida cryptocurrency firm, Centra Tech, has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of duping investors via a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO). Additionally, the court has ordered Sharma to forfeit $36,088,960. Material Misrepresentations Prior to Sharma’s sentencing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) similarly announced the jailing of Robert Joseph Farkas, another mastermind of Centra Tech. Both Sharma and Farkas are accused of using fabricated business relationships with legitimate institutions to dupe investors. In a statement , Ilan T. Graff, the Attorney for the United States, said Sharma had “led a scheme to deceive investors by falsely claiming that the start-up he co-founded had developed fully functioning, cutting-edge cryptocurrency-related financial products.” “In reality, Sharma’s most notable inventions were the fake executives, fake business partnerships, and fake licenses