Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The Argentinian National Soccer Selection launched its official token last week, with a great reception. The token that would give fans involvement in the decisions regarding the soccer team, sold out quickly. The Argentinian National Soccer Selection is the first national team to launch its own fan token. Nonetheless, other European clubs already have their fan tokens. The Argentinian National Soccer Selection Launched Its Official Token The Argentinian National Soccer Selection, one of the most popular teams worldwide, launched its fan token last week. The token, launched in partnership with the platform Socios.com, will allow fans to have involvement in some decisions involving the team. According to a blog post from the AFA, the Argentinian Soccer Association, fans will: “Have the possibility of taking part in surveys, discounts, exclusive promotions, and unique experiences, which will only be intended for those who own these digital currencies.” The launch was a success, ...

HUMAN Protocol is an infrastructure to reshape how humans work, by supporting distributed job markets in which any job, of any size or type, can be securely tokenized, published, and completed. The Protocol facilitates direct, globally mapped connections that bring workers closer to the rewards of their work, organizations to workforces, and machines to understanding. HUMAN Protocol also provides the tools for better human-to-machine collaboration; within the job markets it supports, AIs can handle repetitive tasks while humans focus on specialized or creatively challenging tasks. HUMAN’s vision is to create a more human world: disintermediated yet connected, with every viewpoint and background accounted for and represented, in which all value produced is rewarded. Distributed Job Markets To improve a digital world, you must address its foundations : the mechanisms and systems through which people connect, interact, and collaborate. HUMAN enables distributed job markets, but it i...

A number of lawmakers in Latin American countries have expressed their interest in bitcoin following El Salvador passing the law making the cryptocurrency legal tender. The countries include Paraguay, Argentina, Panama, Brazil, and Mexico. Tonga and Tanzania have also reportedly expressed interest in bitcoin. More Countries Eye Bitcoin Adoption After El Salvador passed the bill making bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar, a growing number of lawmakers in neighboring countries have either expressed their interest in making a similar move or put laser eyes on their Twitter profile pictures. The laser eyes meme has swept through the bitcoin community since February with the underlying meaning that anyone donning the eyes is laser-focused on bitcoin’s price rising to $100,000. Politicians, celebrities, and investors have partaken and put laser eyes on their profile images. Gabriel Silva, Member of Parliament in Panama, tweeted congratulating El Salvador when the bitcoin law...

Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones says he likes bitcoin. Noting that he can trust math, the famed hedge fund manager said, “bitcoin has appealed to me because it’s a way for me to invest in certainty.” Jones also shared his investment strategies in response to the Fed’s policy. Paul Tudor Jones on Bitcoin, Fed Policy, Inflation Paul Tudor Jones, the founder of asset management firm Tudor Investment Corp., explained to CNBC Monday why he likes bitcoin. He described: I like bitcoin. Bitcoin is math and math has been around for thousands of years. 2+2 is going to equal 4 and it will for the next 2,000 years. So, I like the idea of investing in something that’s reliable, consistent, honest, and 100% certain. So, bitcoin has appealed to me because it’s a way for me to invest in certainty. “I look at the difference between the Fed in 2013 and Fed of 2021 … I look at the difference between Trump and Biden,” Jones noted. “Do I want to have faith and that same reliability a...

Investment bank Goldman Sachs has reportedly unveiled its plans to expand its cryptocurrency desk to offer ether futures and options trading. The bank says “institutional adoption will continue,” noting that “Despite the material price correction, we continue to see a significant amount of interest in this space.” Goldman Sachs Gets Ready to Offer Ether Futures and Options Trading Goldman Sachs’ head of digital assets, Mathew McDermott, has reportedly revealed that the global investment bank plans to offer futures and options trading in ether ( ETH ) in the coming months, Bloomberg reported Monday. McDermott said in a phone interview with the publication Thursday: We’ve actually seen a lot of interest from clients who are eager to trade as they find these levels as a slightly more palatable entry point. We see it as a cleansing exercise to reduce some of the leverage and the excess in the system, especially from a retail perspective. The executive additionally said that Goldman...

Bitcoin remittances to El Salvador jumped more than fourfold in May from the previous year, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Last week, El Salvador passed a bill making bitcoin legal tender in the country alongside the U.S. dollar. The monthly bitcoin transfers of under $1,000 to El Salvador totaled $1.7 million in May, representing more than a 300% increase from $424,000 the previous year, Reuters reported, citing data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. The monthly bitcoin transfers to the country peaked in March at $2.5 million. While remittances using bitcoin have soared, they are still a small portion of total remittances to the country. According to the World Bank, remittances using traditional money totaled nearly $6 billion in 2019, and about 95% of total remittances in the first quarter of this year came from Salvadorans working in the U.S. El Salvador became the first country in the world to make bitcoin legal tender when its congress...

Xiong’an New Area, a state-level new area in Hebei, China, is seeing the use of onchain digital yuan payments, according to a circular issued by the Xiong’an government. The announcement details that Xiong’an subcontractors and builders are being paid using the central bank digital currency (CBDC) via the People’s Bank of China and the new area’s development management committee. Xiong’an New Area Pays Contractors in Digital Yuan It seems workers in the state-level new area in Hebei, China also known as Xiong’an New Area, are being paid with China’s CBDC. Xiong’an government officials published a circular which described the project’s testing goals. According to the announcement , the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) Shijiazhuang office and the new area’s development management committee are involved in the wage pilot system. The statement stemming from the Xiong’an New Area, which explains its paying builders in onchain digital yuan payments, follows the recent statements from the ...

Cyberthreats related to cryptocurrencies have increased with rising demand for the digital assets, a study has concluded. Russia, Thailand and Peru are the most affected countries by malicious attacks designed to exploit the heightened interest in decentralized money, the authors point out. Booming Crypto Markets Bring Out Cybercriminals Despite the ongoing Covid pandemic still leading the headlines around the world, the topic has lost some prominence in the cyberthreat landscape since the beginning of this year. At the same time, threats related to cryptocurrencies have increased alongside rising crypto prices over the past few months, shows a recent report by ESET. Mainstream acceptance, including by celebrities and executives like famous American rapper Snoop Dogg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk , has also contributed to the growing appeal of crypto assets. “Booming cryptocurrencies bring out cybercriminals,” the company emphasized in the study, released earlier this month and quoted ...

Nigerian Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed has denied widespread reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had sanctioned the devaluation of the local currency sometime in May 2021. Instead, she attributes the naira’s fall to the “volatility in the oil price.” Ahmed’s remarks come just a few weeks after the official naira exchange rate dropped from $381 to the dollar to the current rate of 411:USD1. Devaluation vs Depreciation As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, the CBN had initially allowed the naira’s exchange rate to drop to 419.5 per U.S. dollar. However, since May 14, 2021, the naira’s exchange rate against the dollar has remained at or just below 411. It is this apparent adjustment of the exchange rate by the CBN (which meets Investopedia’s definition of devaluation ) that prompted reports that the naira has been devalued. However, in her explanation , Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed still refuses to equate the CBN’s tinkering with the exchange rate to devaluation. Sh...

On Sunday, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk tweeted that when there’s “confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.” However, there’s a big problem with this goal, as nobody knows exactly how to measure 50% clean energy usage let alone precisely where miners are geographically located. Can Elon Musk’s 50% Clean Energy Goal Be Met? Elon Musk and a number of billionaires have a lot to say these days and it seems Musk can move the price of BTC with a single tweet. It surely was the case when Tesla first accepted bitcoin ( BTC ) for electric car purchases at Tesla. After that announcement , BTC ’s price jumped by $10K seeing one of the largest daily candles in its lifetime. Then when Musk tweeted that bitcoin wouldn’t be accepted and Tesla cited environmental concerns, the price dropped significantly. Sunday’s tweet boosted BTC prices by 9% and the price has inched past the psychological $40K regio...

The G7 leaders have called on Russia to urgently “identify, disrupt, and hold to account” ransomware hackers and those abusing cryptocurrency to launder ransoms. “We reiterate our interest in stable and predictable relations with Russia, and will continue to engage where there are areas of mutual interest,” the G7 leaders said. G7 Nations Ask Russia to Identify and Disrupt Ransomware Hackers Abusing Cryptocurrencies The leaders of the G7 countries met in Cornwall, England, on June 11-13. Among a long list of topics they discussed was ransomware attacks involving cryptocurrency. The G7 comprises the U.S., U.K., Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and Canada. “We reiterate our interest in stable and predictable relations with Russia, and will continue to engage where there are areas of mutual interest,” a communique issued Sunday after the conclusion of a leaders’ summit reads, adding: In particular, we call on Russia to urgently … identify, disrupt, and hold to account those within its...

Bitcoin prices have been range-bound and consolidating for quite some time but jumped over 9% in the last 24 hours after Elon Musk’s tweet on Sunday. A number of crypto analysts are still unsure about bitcoin’s future price while a few expect a rebound from last month’s lows. One market report notes that bitcoin will likely climb back up “the stock to flow line in the coming months” leading to a price of around $85K before the year’s end. Financial Analyst: Bitcoin Will Likely Cross the Psychological $40K Threshold Again Elon Musk’s tweet — that said Tesla would accept bitcoin again if the energy used to process transactions was at least 50% renewables — lifted bitcoin’s ( BTC ) price over 9% as the crypto asset neared the $40K range again. Alex Kuptsikevich, Fxpro senior financial analyst explained in a note to Bitcoin.com News that there’s been a lot of newfound excitement in the world of cryptocurrency lately. “The crypto market is experiencing another phase of excitement follo...

Regulatory uncertainty and the slow embrace of cryptocurrencies continue to be key impediments to the growth of Kenya’s digital currency market, experts say. They also assert that without speedy regulation, which they believe will hasten the adoption of digital currencies, Kenya’s sector will remain open to fraud. Kenya’s Embrace of Crypto Slow, Exchange Reps Point to Need for Legislation George Mwakisha, the business development manager at Binance Kenya, says the country can reap the full benefits of digital currencies if it moves to pass the relevant legislation, local media reports . Mwakisha is said to view the lack of clear laws regarding cryptocurrencies as leaving the country open to fraud. Meanwhile, the Binance Kenya representative’s sentiments are shared by Apollo Sande, Luno Crypto Exchange’s country manager for Kenya. According to Sande, one of the benefits of regulating cryptocurrencies is the likely boost to cross-border remittances into the country. Adopting cryptocu...

PRESS RELEASE. The new initiative extends the Ethereum-based TimeWarp staking programme, which currently offers a yield of 224% APY. TimeWarp , a new DeFi farming opportunity backed by multiple real-world revenue streams, has just launched on Binance Smart Chain after a successful earlier launch on Ethereum. The initiative enables holders to stake TIME, the native token of an ecosystem of blockchain-based products and services developed by Australian blockchain company Chrono.tech . The TIME token has now been launched on Binance Smart Chain (BSC), with a growing number of Chrono.tech’s services also integrating the popular blockchain thanks to its low fees and compatibility with Ethereum’s smart contracts. TIME tokens can be swapped between Ethereum and BSC using a purpose-built bridge. How TimeWarp works Chrono.tech generates a constant stream of revenues from its services, which are collectively designed to streamline access to recruitment, work and payments. A proportion of...

When people think about bitcoin’s past they sometimes refer to subjects like Mt Gox, the Silk Road, or the famous pizza transaction. Although, people often forget that the online virtual world Second Life played an important role during the Bitcoin network’s early years. In fact, some large Linden dollar (L$) holders who swapped their virtual tokens for bitcoin may be crypto millionaires today. Trading Virtual Linden Dollars for Bitcoin in the Early Days Today almost everyone knows what bitcoin is, as the crypto asset has gained a lot of attention and notoriety over the last ten years. During the last decade, the network effect has gathered steam and bitcoin can be swapped for nearly every fiat currency in the world. Back in the early days, this wasn’t the case, even when a few popular exchanges like Mt Gox and New Liberty Standard operated. The first known fiat transaction was attributed to Martti Malmi (Sirius) when he sold 5,050 BTC for $5.02 using Paypal. Found the first k...