Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Signal, the cross-platform encrypted messaging service is facing criticism this week, after the company Signal Messenger told the public it was integrating the cryptocurrency mobilecoin. Moreover, controversy surrounds the company’s founder and CEO Matthew Rosenfeld, known as ‘Moxie Marlinspike’ over his previous ties with the Mobilecoin project. The Relationship Between Mobilecoin and Signal During the last week, Signal Messenger has been under fire for integrating the privacy-centric cryptocurrency mobilecoin (MOB ). The subject has been trending on social media and forums as a number of crypto advocates are not pleased with the choice. According to the MOB project’s website, the entire distributed ledger is “opaque” as “individual transactions are cryptographically protected, and the network uses forward-secrecy.” Since Signal’s announcement MOB has gained over 450% since then and today it’s up 20% during the last 24 hours. MOB is currently trading for $58 per unit and the tr...

On April 9, 2021, the Delaware-based company and sponsor of the “Kryptoin Bitcoin ETF Trust” filed an S1 amendment for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The asset manager re-filed its 2019 ETF application and instead of leveraging NYSE, the company plans to use Cboe BZX. Kryptoin Joins the List of Bitcoin ETFs Hoping for Approval in 2021 The race for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States has grown thick with competition in recent days. The asset manager Kryptoin has recently revealed it has re-filed with the SEC in order to get an ETF approved. With Kryptoin joining the competition, there are now seven bitcoin-based ETFs hoping to get approved by the U.S. regulator. The list includes Valkyrie, Vaneck, Fidelity, NYDIG, Wisdomtree, First Trust & Skybridge, and Kryptoin. Kryptoin’s prospectus is not much different than its 2019 filing, except at that time it had chosen to list on NYSE Arca. However, ...

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon foresees “big evolution” coming to cryptocurrency regulation as demand for bitcoin from clients continues to rise. He says that Goldman will “continue to find ways to serve our clients as we move forward.” Crypto Regulation Will Experience ‘Big Evolution,’ Says Goldman Sachs’ Chief David Solomon, the CEO of global investment bank Goldman Sachs, shared his view on cryptocurrency regulation in an interview with CNBC this week. Regarding the regulation for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the Goldman Sachs executive said he thinks that cryptocurrency “is a space that’s evolving,” predicting: I think there’ll be a big evolution as to how this evolves in the coming years. Emphasizing that his company operates within the rules set by regulators, the Goldman Sachs CEO noted: “I’m not going to speculate on where the rules will go for regulated financial institutions, but we’re going to continue to find ways to serve our clients as we move forward.” S...

In the SEC v. Ripple case, the court has denied the request by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for personal financial records of Ripple’s executives that are not connected to XRP . The court says that it “is not convinced” that personal banking records would show the violations as claimed by the SEC. Another Win for XRP in SEC v Ripple Case In the lawsuit brought by the U.S. SEC against Ripple Labs, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Christian Larsen over the sale of XRP tokens, the court has denied the SEC’s request to obtain personal financial records of the defendants that are unrelated to XRP . The order was signed by Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn on Friday. “The SEC has served the individual defendants with Requests for Production seeking their personal financial records over an eight-year period,” the order explains. It adds that the commission has “also issued third-party subpoenas to several financial institutions at which the individual defendants ...

HSBC has reportedly changed its policy regarding cryptocurrency. The bank now prohibits customers from buying the stock of public companies that hold bitcoin, like Microstrategy. All of the companies with bitcoin treasuries could be on the chopping block at HSBC. HSBC Now Bars Clients From Buying Crypto and Crypto-Related Stocks Like Microstrategy British bank HSBC has reportedly become more strict with its crypto policy. The bank now prohibits its customers from buying the stock of public companies that are holding bitcoin in its treasury. An HSBC customer has shared a message he said he received from the bank, informing him of a policy change regarding cryptocurrencies, naming bitcoin and ethereum as examples. The bank’s new policy applies to “products related or referencing the performance of virtual currencies.” The notice reads: HIDC [HSBC Invest Direct] will not participate in facilitating (buy and/or exchange) product related to virtual currencies, or products related or ...

Cryptocurrency markets have gathered fresh gains this weekend, as bitcoin’s value spiked above the $60k handle touching $61,222 per unit during the early morning trading sessions on Saturday (EST). Moreover, a number of digital assets saw price jumps as well, as the entire market capitalization of all 9,190 crypto-assets in existence is over $2 trillion today. A touch after 1 a.m. (Eastern Standard) on Saturday, the market valuation of the entire crypto-economy jumped 3% higher. Bitcoin ( BTC ) touched a high of $61,222 per unit coming awfully close to the all-time high (ATH) the crypto asset captured last month. Currently, BTC is trading just above the $60k handle after losing some of the gains from the hours prior. BTC is still up over 2% today and has a market cap of around $1.1 trillion. The second-largest market held by ethereum ( ETH ) is up 3% on Saturday and each ETH is swapping for $2,144 per unit. While BTC ’s market dominance among the 9,190 crypto-assets in existence...

Isabel Schnabel, a board member with the European Central Bank (ECB), has attacked bitcoin claiming the crypto asset “does not fulfill the basic properties of money.” She also describes bitcoin as a “speculative asset without any recognizable fundamental value and is subject to massive price swings.” Schnabel also surmises that trust in “cryptocurrencies might rapidly evaporate,” and this, in turn, causes “disruptions in financial markets.” The Digital Euro In remarks made during a recent interview , Schnabel also reveals how she and her colleagues at ECB think “it is wrong to describe bitcoin as a currency.” Still, when Schnabel is reminded of billionaire Elon Musk’s views on bitcoin, the ECB board member answered: “He is at liberty to do so.” Meanwhile, Schnabel uses the interview opportunity to reiterate the ECB’s resolve to create its own digital currency. However, she says a “great deal of preparatory work needs to be done to enable the project to be properly set up.” Schnabel...

The latest declarations from Ukrainian public officials revealed a billion-dollar amount of money they allegedly own in bitcoin. An online incentive gathered data from 791,872 state employees and 652 respondents disclosed their crypto holdings. The Biggest Crypto Holder in the Report Has 18,000 BTC According to the Opendatabot site, officials currently hold a total of 46,351 BTC , which is worth over 75 billion hryvnias ($2.66 billion) as of press time. The declaration’s campaign ended on March 31, 2021. But bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency found among the collective filings of Ukraine state employees. Per the report, ethereum ( ETH ), litecoin ( LTC ), cardano ( ADA ), stellar ( XLM ), IOTA, bitcoin cash ( BCH ), and bitcoin gold (BTG) are the other cryptos in which the officials have invested. Most Ukrainian crypto-holding state employees work in city councils, the Ministry of Defense, and for the National Police, said Opendatabot. However, there are also crypto holders w...