Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. The State Grid Corporation of China will be adopting blockchain interoperability platform Wanchain’s technology for their national data management system. 30th March, 2021, Beijing, China – Wanglu Tech Ltd. (“Wanchain”) is pleased to announce that the State Grid Corporation of China (“State Grid”) has approved the results of its contracted feasibility study. The study systematically analyzed the impact of integrating blockchain technology into State Grid’s national data management system and concluded that Wanchain’s blockchain technology is ideal to upgrade the world’s largest utility company’s national data management system. Study Highlights The feasibility study results highlight the unique requirements of State Grid’s national data management system and outlines the specific consensus mechanisms and encryption algorithms best suited to integrate with existing systems. On the basis of these results, State Grid selected Wanchain’s interoperable blockchain ...

Bitcoin is not liked by everyone from the Island Council of Tenerife, Spain. At least that’s what was suggested by its president, Pedro Martín, who ordered the sale of the local government’s investment in cryptocurrency. Bitcoin Is an ‘Opaque’ Currency, Martín Says Martín, from the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE), issued the order of dismantling the investment made through the Technological Institute of Renewable Energies (ITER) in a previous administration, citing “ethical” reasons. In detail, according to El Economista , the Island Council of Tenerife’s president considers it an “opaque” currency that cannot be declared in the tax filings. Although the president did not disclose the exact number of bitcoins ( BTC ) acquired by the council, it was reported that the liquidation could yield almost one million euros ($1.17 million), which could be around 20 BTC . During an interview with a local radio of the Canarias Islands, Martin said the council realized an audit of t...

Ripple has agreed to acquire 40% of Asia’s leading cross-border payments specialist Tranglo. This partnership enables Ripple to meet growing customer demand in the region and expand the reach of RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service — which uses the digital asset XRP to instantly send money and reduce working capital needs.  As a pioneer for … Continued The post Ripple Acquires 40% Stake in Asia’s Leading Cross-Border Payments Specialist, Tranglo appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/Rwdfjh

Hot on the heels of a recent winning auction bid for Beeple’s “Ocean Front” NFT, Justin Sun is making another splash in the NFT market following his decision to seed an investment fund that collects high-profile works of art. Fund Just One Leg of Sun’s Ambitions in The NFT Ecosystem Ongoing efforts to digitize art and collectibles have put the spotlight on the blockchain industry once more as dizzying NFT auction results draw high-profile artists and entertainers along with industry insiders competing for market share in the ever-expanding space. In keeping with his boisterous style and ambition to reach every corner of the crypto sphere, Tron’s Justin Sun has revealed his intensified focus on the NFT space following recent auction participation and listing Lindsay Lohan’s digital collectibles on Tron’s blockchain. Sun’s newly launched JUST NFT Fund vies to be the leading fund investing in the NFT space, with a mandate to strictly acquire works from high-profile names with a min...

New reports emerging from South Africa suggest privately held firms are converting a portion of their cash holdings into bitcoin as they seek to hedge against currency devaluation. According to one report, an open-source software specialist firm, LSD Open, could well be the first South African company to make the bold step after it reportedly acquired $134,000 worth of bitcoin. Bitcoin Philosophy As a local report explains, LSD Open completed the purchase in two separate transactions and an average price of just over $34,200 per BTC was paid. At the time of writing, the value of LSD Open’s BTC holdings had grown by almost 70% in just “a matter of weeks.” Meanwhile, the report also discloses that LSD Open’s BTC acquisition had been facilitated by Bitfund, a local cryptocurrency exchange. LSD Open CEO Stefan Lesicnik is quoted explaining how bitcoin’s attributes are aligned with the philosophy of his company. Lesicnik said: Our vision is to make the world more open, and bitcoin...

Bitcoin Cash proponents have recently been introduced to a new noncustodial payment processor called Prompt.cash. The platform provides merchants with a simple way to accept peer-to-peer electronic cash payments and can also generate a new address per invoice. Prompt.cash: A Hosted Noncustodial Payment Processor for Accepting P2P Electronic Cash A number of innovative applications that leverage the crypto asset bitcoin cash (BCH) are on the horizon. In recent times, BCH fans have been introduced to a newly created payment processor called prompt.cash , a platform that allows people to accept BCH in a noncustodial fashion. The main developer behind the project is a well known programmer who goes by the name Ekliptor . The dev has 16+ years coding experience and has been working with bitcoin cash payment systems for years now. The engineer also developed cashtippr.com , a WordPress plugin that allows website owners to receive instant tips. Speaking with Bitcoin.com’s newsdesk...

PRESS RELEASE. MPH Club announced that they will allow their clients to pay in bitcoin to rent cars. MPH Club is a Miami-based exotic and luxury car rental that allows their customers to vacation in style. Their fleet includes the newest models from Lamborghini, Ferrari, McLaren, Rolls Royce, and others. They offer a few services, which include: Rentals Membership Chauffeurs Corporate events Vehicle delivery Hotel and airport pickup Partnership program Their service is incredibly popular and has been used by the likes of Steve Aoki, Floyd Mayweather, and Shaquille O’Neal. Part of the reason for their popularity is that they are able to offer such a wide selection is due to their partnership program. The MPH Club Partnership Program – This service allows local exotic car owners to “lend” their cars to MPH Club. MPH Club will then add it to their fleet and offer it to their customers to rent out, usually at an average price of $1,000 per day. If the car rents then MPH Clu...

Soros Fund Management’s chief investment officer (CIO) says that central bank digital currencies are a potential threat to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies but it will only be temporary. She also says that bitcoin is taking some of gold’s buyer base away. Crypto’s ‘Inflection Point’ Soros Fund Management Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Dawn Fitzpatrick talked about bitcoin and the impact central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could have on the crypto industry in an interview on Bloomberg’s Front Row last week. She said: We think the whole infrastructure around crypto is really interesting … We’ve been making some investments into that infrastructure and we think that is at an inflection point. She named some examples of what her firm has been investing in, including exchanges, asset managers, custodians, and tax reporting companies. Earlier this month, Soros Fund Management invested in the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), a provider of technology and investment solu...

The president of the American pro baseball team the Oakland Athletics (A’s) recently discussed the ballclub accepting bitcoin for full season suites on Bloomberg TV. A’s president Dave Kaval explained that the team will be holding the crypto asset it obtains from sales, rather than selling because they are “believers in it.” The Oakland Athletics Plans to Hold Bitcoin Revenue In mid-March, Bitcoin.com reported on the A’s accepting bitcoin payments for the 2021 full season suites that seat up to six people. The team’s administration also decided to accept a single bitcoin for the full season suites no matter how much BTC fluctuated in value. Using Monday’s BTC exchange rate, the cost is still a discount if the person decided to buy a full suite for the season with bitcoin. Following the announcement, the American pro baseball team’s president Dave Kaval explained the A’s will be holding the bitcoin. “We’re going to hold it,” Kaval said during his interview . “We’re believers in i...

On Saturday, a popular Youtuber named Stacksmashing published a video that shows him hacking a 1989 Nintendo Game Boy in order to mine bitcoin. Despite the creativity and the fact that the miner only leverages four double-A batteries, Stacksmashing noted that the 8-bit handheld game console was not nearly as powerful as today’s modern mining rig. Mining Bitcoin With a Game Boy Four years ago, a few people created some interesting methods to mine and connect with the Bitcoin network. For instance, the bitcoiner Ken Shirriff who is known for getting the bitcoin symbol added to Unicode had shown the world how he could mine bitcoin with an old Xerox Alto. The computer is a classic and the first machine to add a graphical user interface (GUI) back in 1973. Additionally, in 2015, Shirriff also mined bitcoin with a 55-year-old IBM 1401 . In addition to Shirriff’s retro mining experiments, another person in 2013 developed a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) miner. Stacksmashing’s la...

Australia-based superbrand Webjet recognizes the value potential of the blockchain startup LockTrip and joins its mission by securing the rights for up to a 51% stake in what is a unique deal for the blockchain space. Summary of Article Travel Industry Leader Webjet Limited to invest up to $8.3M into LockTrip Managing Director of Webjet group himself, John Guscic and Director of Corporate Development, Lynne Oldfield to join LockTrip’s Board Webjet to Integrate the LockTrip.com Marketplace and the LOC economy into their OTA (Online Travel Agency) Websites in Australia and New Zealand Webjet and LockTrip to Explore the Opportunity to Migrate Booking Verification System “Rezchain” onto Hydra Chain Webjet ( WEB:ASX ), headquartered in Melbourne (Australia), has announced that it will be entering the crypto space through a strategic marriage with the blockchain-based travel marketplace LockTrip.com. In addition to its product offering up to 60% savings compared to traditional bo...

On Monday, the American multinational financial services corporation Visa announced that digital currency payments have arrived on Visa’s settlement platform. The payment giant revealed that the company will leverage USD coin (USDC), the regulated token built on top of the Ethereum network. A lot Has Changed Since Dee Hock founded Visa Visa has announced cryptocurrency integration with its settlement platform on March 29. The company said a lot has changed since Dee Hock founded Visa, and nowadays Visa must “accommodate new form factors for money.” BREAKING: Visa has become the first major payment network to incorporate a digital dollar (USDC) into their network and settle transactions in the new system, rather than the old banking system. Eventually every payment network will do this. — Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) March 29, 2021 Visa is piloting the new USD coin (USDC) capabilities with the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com and then will offer USDC settlement capabilities to ...

South African regulator the Financial Sector Conduct Authority recently issued its second crypto “health warning” after it noticed increased reports of crypto-related losses suffered “in the past three months.” In the warning, the regulator reminds investors that since cryptocurrencies are “not regulated by the authority or any other body,” there will be no legal recourse “if something goes wrong.” Unregulated Firms and Promises of High Rewards The FSCA’s second warning comes in the wake of the collapse of the Mirror Trading International (MTI), a bitcoin Ponzi scheme. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, MTI was subsequently identified as the biggest crypto scam in 2020 by a blockchain analysis firm, Chainalysis, in its annual crypto crime report. However, in its latest warning, the South African regulator also zeroes in on scams and promises of very high rewards often made by unregulated entities. The health warning says: The high risk already inherent in crypto assets is furthe...

A New Zealand hedge fund, NZ Funds Management, which had $350 million worth of assets under management at the end of December 2020, says five percent of its money is invested in bitcoin. According to the firm’s CIO James Grigor, ​bitcoin is also set to be featured in more of its Kiwisaver investment schemes within the next five years. ‘You Cannot Discount Bitcoin’ As explained in a local report , the firm’s bitcoin acquisition only became possible in October 2020 when an amendment was made to its offer documents. Meanwhile, in justifying the acquisition, Grigor said: Bitcoin had become a commodity, with many of the attractive hallmarks of gold, which investors often bought as a store of value in times of economic crisis. In the past few years, BTC has cemented its reputation as an alternative store of value. Many supporters and opponents (including U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell) see bitcoin as a digital form of gold . This is possibly one attribute of the crypto asse...