Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The governor of Ghana’s central bank, Ernest Addison, has said his institution is now “in the advanced stages of introducing a digital currency.” However, before its release into circulation, the digital currency—which is also known as the “e-cedi”— will first have to go “through three phases.” Bank of Ghana’s Embrace of Emerging Fintechs In his comments during a news conference on May 31, Addison also reiterated the Bank of Ghana (BOG)’s desire to maintain its reputation as Africa’s leader when it comes to embracing emerging financial technologies. Ghana’s central bank governor, Ernest Addison. “The Bank of Ghana was one of the first African Central Banks to declare that we were working on a digital currency looking at the concept of an e-cedi,” revealed Addison. Meanwhile, one local media report quotes the BOG chief explaining the key phases which the digital cedi is expected to pass through before its release to the public. As Addison notes, the digital cedi has already go...

PRESS RELEASE. With cryptocurrency adoption increasing in the Philippines, Filipino users are looking for ways to convert their digital assets into cash at an affordable rate. The Central Bank of the Philippines has recorded P76 billion (US$ 1.5B) worth of transactions processed by local virtual currency exchanges (VCEs) in 2020, which is five times higher than the transaction volume in 2019. Moneybees , the pioneer of over-the-counter crypto (OTC) exchange in the Philippines, is changing the face of crypto transactions as it enables both OTC and online transactions to exchange cash and cryptocurrencies on the spot more conveniently. With Moneybees, cryptocurrency holders can convert their digital assets into cash without fees and get the funds within 10 minutes. What is Moneybees? Moneybees allows you to buy and sell major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Altcoins like Ethereum, USDT , Chainlink, Uniswap, among others, at government-licensed Moneybees Partner Outlets without ...

A recent study published by Gambler’s Pick notes that Gen Zers are less likely to invest in traditional investments like equities and more likely to invest in cryptocurrencies, meme investments, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Gen Z More Likely to Invest in Cryptocurrencies and Meme Investments Than Stocks and Common Assets The web portal gamblerspick.com published a study at the end of April that highlights the investment choices of Gen Zers. Generation Z or Gen Z for short is a demographic that succeeds Millennials. The group colloquially known as “zoomers,” were born between the mid-to-late 1990s and up until the early 2010s. The Gambler’s Pick survey notes that Gen Zers are more apt to invest in cryptocurrencies and NFTs over traditional stocks. The survey polled 872 people and 24% of the group represented Gen Z and 27% were Millennials. “25% were Gen Xers, and 24% were baby boomers or older,” the Gambler’s Pick study adds. Some key findings noted that Gen Z likes collectives...

Many companies operating with cryptocurrencies are not meeting anti-money laundering regulations, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority revealed. The government agency has extended its temporary registration scheme after facing a growing number of crypto firms that are withdrawing their applications. FCA Extends Temporary Registrations Regime Till End of March 2022 The Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA ) announced Thursday it’s extending the end date of the Temporary Registrations Regime (TRR) for crypto businesses to March 31, 2022. The regulatory body pointed out that a “significantly high number” of companies are not meeting current anti-money laundering (AML) requirements which have resulted in “an unprecedented number” of entities withdrawing their applications. In a statement published on its website, the FCA noted: The extended date allows cryptoasset firms to continue to carry on business while the FCA continues with its robust assessment. Last year, the financial regul...

According to a recent study, non-fungible token (NFT) sales have dive-bombed 90% since the market’s record sales on May 3. Market data shows over 130,000 NFT sales that day and 30 days later sales are down to a touch over 84,000, dropping more than 35% last month. Protos.com Study Claims ‘NFT Bubble Has Popped’ Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been all the rage in 2021 and sales continue to this day. However, a recent study published by protos.com indicates that NFT sales have been dropping and NFT sale values have plummeted as well. The report shows that last month $102 million in NFTs were sold on May 3 and the latest seven-day data shows only “$19.4 million in NFT sales were processed in the past week.” The protos.com study shows the NFT ecosystem saw a 90% drop from the May 3 high and only a few projects are continuing to sell. Weekly data via nonfungible.com Currently, projects like Cryptopunks and Hashmasks have been able to sustain sales, and market statistics from nonfu...

The digitization of traditional currencies like the euro has the potential to increase their international appeal, the European Central Bank says in a new report. A failure to offer a digital currency would endanger financial stability, ECB warns. The regulator is concerned about the prospect of tech giants dominating payments through their “artificial currencies.” Eurozone’s Central Bank Reviews Role of Euro in Light of CBDC Project The global appeal of fiat currencies depends on economic fundamentals, but some characteristics of digital money could promote their adoption beyond the issuing jurisdiction, the European Central Bank ( ECB ) has noted in a recent review of the international role of the euro. Specific design features can also incentivize non-residents to use a digital euro as a means of payment, unit of account and store of value, the regulator says. Safety is a key feature, the bank points out, as a central bank digital currency (CBDC) would be a claim on the balance...

The cofounder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, recently discussed the highly anticipated full transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus model to proof-of-stake (PoS) as its replacement. Buterin admitted at Hong Kong’s Startmeup HK 2021 Festival that the transition was taking too long and highlighted that it wasn’t technical problems but “related to people.” Buterin: ‘If You Build a Team, It Is Important to Know Who You Are Working With Vitalik Buterin has discussed the anticipated Ethereum 2.0 transition during the Startmeup HK 2021 Festival in Hong Kong this past week. The Ethereum cofounder detailed that he understood the changes were taking a long time and said that it was mostly people deterring the improvements. “One of the biggest problems I’ve found with our project is not the technical problems, it’s problems related with people,” Buterin said during his interview with Forkast news. “Ethereum is now in a better economic position, but it took us five years to get to whe...

Binance Smart Chain (BSC) decentralized applications (dapps) have been hit with a number of flash loan attacks in recent weeks. According to collected data by Rekt, during the last 30 days BSC has lost a total of $167 million from these flash loan exploits. Flash Loan Hackers Prey on Binance Smart Chain Dapps – $167 Million Siphoned in May Flash loan attacks have become an issue for the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) as a myriad of BSC dapps were breached during the month of May. Essentially, these flash loans provide people with the ability to borrow crypto without relinquishing any collateral. The person using the flash loan leverages the method to trigger decentralized finance (defi) apps associated with oracles to sell at the desired spot price. Sometimes the hackers leverage phony ERC20s and other malicious methods during the flash loan execution to siphon defi liquidity pools. Bitcoin.com News has reported on numerous BSC flash loan attacks that have siphoned funds from projects ...

Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has reportedly extended its blockade of Zimbabwean users to include non-resident citizens. As a result of the new measures, all Zimbabwean nationals are now precluded from using the Binance trading platform. Zimbabwean Nationals Blocked Prior to the introduction of this new measure, Binance apparently allowed Zimbabwean nationals with non-Zimbabwean residential addresses to access its trading platform, while those residing in-country were blocked. Still, some Zimbabwe-based crypto users were able to circumvent this blockade by installing virtual private network (VPN) apps on their devices. The new measures appear to have plugged these loopholes. In a letter addressed to one user, Binance, which recently installed former U.S. banks regulator Brian Brooks as CEO of its U.S division, refuses to divulge the reasons why it is now rigorously enforcing the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) measures against Zimbabwe. Instead, the cr...

Former U.S. congressman Ron Paul says that he wants to legalize the dollar’s competition, including bitcoin, and let the people decide which money to use, not the government. “Freedom of choice will sort it out,” he said. Ron Paul Wants to Legalize Bitcoin as Money to Compete With Dollar Former presidential candidate Ron Paul discussed bitcoin as an alternative asset in an interview with Kitco News’ Michelle Makori Wednesday. Paul is an American author, physician, and retired politician. The former congressman from Texas launched The Ron Paul Liberty Report in 2015 to bring “provocative opinion and analysis to the breaking issues affecting our lives and finances,” its website details. When asked about his views on bitcoin, Paul said that he knows a lot more about precious metals being money than cryptocurrency. “I was fascinated with it for a long long time. But I’m also fascinated with what’s coming,” he opined. The former congressman added that “people ought to have as much fre...

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has lost his lawsuit against Youtube over bitcoin giveaway scams using his name and image. The judge reportedly said that “Youtube and its parent, Google LLC, are protected by the federal law that shields internet platforms from responsibility for content posted by users.” Bitcoin Giveaway Scams Continue on Youtube as Steve Wozniak Loses Lawsuit Steve Wozniak has lost his lawsuit against Youtube over bitcoin giveaway scams on the video-sharing platform fraudulently using his name and image. Bloomberg conveyed that Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County said in a tentative ruling Wednesday: Youtube and its parent, Google LLC, are protected by the federal law that shields internet platforms from responsibility for content posted by users. Scammers have been using Youtube to post videos claiming that famous people are giving away bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, such as ether. They promise to double the amount of bitcoin...

On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced it would be winding down its corporate bond purchases and selling part of its portfolio. The central bank plans to start with exchange-traded funds and then move on to bonds as the Fed insists “sales will be gradual and orderly.” Federal Reserve Starts to Unwind QE All eyes have been on the American central bank in recent times as the Federal Reserve has started tapering back quantitative easing (QE) tactics. It’s fascinating to onlookers because an estimated 24%-30% of all the USD ever created was added to the M1 monetary system by the central bank in 2020 and 2021. Moreover, the Fed told the press at the recent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings that it would take some time for tapering discussions to begin. Fed Chair Jerome Powell hasn’t discussed the recent slow down toward QE since he said the Fed wasn’t even ready to have a conversation concerning tapering back QE. The central bank followed up with these stateme...

Decentralized finance (defi) exchanges and tokens are recovering a lot faster than a great number of digital assets that lost more than 40% in value last week. Defi tokens like curve, kyber network, terra, hxro, and more have been seeing double-digit gains. On May 23, the defi economy’s aggregate total-value locked (TVL) dropped to a low of around $50 billion and has since gained $17.4 billion. Defi Economy Lifts Higher Than the Rest Defi fans are seeing the economy improve a bit after many decentralized finance tokens lost a significant amount of value during the recent market rout. However, the defi economy is picking up steam once again as a myriad of metrics show the ecosystem is healing faster than other crypto assets. TVL has jumped 34.8% since May 23, 2021. Seven-day statistics for decentralized exchanges (dex) show $19 billion swapped on dex applications like Uniswap, Sushiswap, Curve, 0x Native, and Tokenlon. Decentralized exchange (dex) volumes according to Dune Anal...

The decentralized properties that make blockchain architecture unique can also be its Achilles heel, demonstrating the importance of bringing network governance on-chain to promote a more inclusive and democratized consensus on network upgrades. Governance Transformation Is the Key To Unlocking Decentralization’s Innovative Potential There are many bitter arguments over blockchains, whether involving how they should be run, the consensus mechanisms, implementing changes, or upgrading the frameworks. These debates have often put network communities at odds, creating schisms that eventually unfolded in hard forks. Despite the success of these consensus systems as evidenced by rising transactions and valuations, Bitcoin and Ethereum’s future could be in doubt. The term consensus has to do with everything enshrined in code for the two largest networks, like transfers of value, how much miners get paid, smart contract operations, and other basic network-coded functionality. Unfortunatel...

The European Union (EU) will launch a digital wallet allowing citizens of any country in the bloc to make payments and access services provided by each state, also allowing for the storage of digital ID information. The wallet, which will reportedly be launched next year, could be tied in with the digital euro project, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) proposal that the ECB is still working on. European Union to Release Digital Wallet for Payments Next Year The European Union has plans to release a digital wallet that would allow its citizens to make payments across all member states with minimal friction. The wallet would be launched next year and integrate private and public services under just one app, according to a report from Reuters. The wallet would work as a sort of payments and ID vault, and would allow users to store digital equivalents of their physical permits, such as passports or driver’s licenses, integrating other state-dependent services too. Due to its char...

Daymak, a Canada-based electric vehicle company, has announced the Daymak Spiritus, an electric car that will be able to mine cryptocurrencies. According to the specs, it will also feature solar charging to lessen the load on the battery while driving. The company, which has only offered the car for 60 days, claims to have managed to get more than 350 million dollars in pre-orders. Daymak to Launch Crypto Mining Electric Car Daymak, a Toronto-based electric car company, has announced the launch of its new product, the Daymak Spiritus, a car that will feature cryptocurrency mining. According to its press release, the Daymak Spiritus will be able to mine “from Dogecoin to Bitcoin while it’s parked.” The Spiritus will include a GPU onboard that will let its users direct their mining power to harvest any cryptocurrency. While it states it will feature bitcoin mining, there is no mention of ASIC hardware anywhere in the statement. Apart from its cryptocurrency mining features, the Day...