Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

According to a blog post on the Ethereum Foundation’s website, three Ethereum testnets leveraging the London hard fork will go live during the next few weeks. Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko explained last Friday that the “upgrade will first go live on Ropsten, at block 10499401, which is expected to happen around June 24, 2021.” London Upgrade Begins to Root With Testnet Implementations Slated to Launch Three Ethereum testnets will see the London upgrade applied in the near future which shows progress is being made toward implementing the new features. Essentially, the London hard fork is the upgrade that follows the Berlin hard fork that took place in April 2021. The London hard fork will implement a number of significant Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP) in order to prepare for the Serenity ( ETH 2.0) upgrade slated for 2022. Two EIPs, in particular, aim to enhance the blockchain’s fee model and the ETH mining ecosystem’s difficulty time bomb. EIP-1559 is the improveme

David Marcus, head of Facebook Financial (F2) who is in charge of crypto project Diem, formerly Libra, believes that the Chinese government cracking down on bitcoin mining is “a great development” for the cryptocurrency. Many people in the crypto space agree with him. Facebook’s Executive Believes China’s Bitcoin Mining Crackdown Is a Good Development David Marcus, head of F2 (Facebook Financial), has shared his view on the Chinese government cracking down on bitcoin mining. F2 includes Facebook Pay, Novi, and all payments and financial services efforts by the social media giant. Marcus is also a co-creator and board member of the crypto project Diem, formerly Libra. He tweeted Monday: “How is more bitcoin mining power moving to the United States and the West a bad thing? IMO China cracking down on mining is a great development for BTC .” Many people agree with Marcus, sharing their opinions on Twitter. Several of them agree that the move may seem bearish in the short term but is

Mad Money host Jim Cramer said he has sold almost all of his bitcoin. He cited the Chinese government’s crackdown on bitcoin mining and concerns over bitcoin’s role in ransomware attacks. Jim Cramer Worried About China’s Mining Crackdown and Ransomware, Sold Almost All His Bitcoin The host of CNBC’s Mad Money show, Jim Cramer, revealed Monday that he has sold almost all of his bitcoin. A former hedge fund manager, Cramer co-founded Thestreet.com, a financial news and literacy website. Citing the Chinese government’s bitcoin mining crackdown and the cryptocurrency’s role in ransomware attacks, Cramer said: Sold almost all of my bitcoin. Don’t need it. Cramer got into bitcoin towards the end of last year in fear of massive inflation . In March this year, he said gold let him down and advised people to sell gold and increase their bitcoin holdings. “If they listen to me, they’re going to drop half their gold. I’ve been saying 10% in gold since 1983. And now I say 5% in gold, 5% in

Financial advisor Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines and RIA Digital Assets Council, has recommended having bitcoin in investment portfolios despite the cryptocurrency’s volatility. “This is totally new and different and it’s the first genuinely new asset class in about 150 years,” he said, emphasizing that “It has tremendous investment opportunities.” Ric Edelman Sees Benefits of Having Bitcoin in Portfolios Ric Edelman talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency investments in an interview with Yahoo Finance last week. He founded Edelman Financial Engines and RIA Digital Asset Council. He is also the author of several personal finance books and the host of a weekly personal finance talk radio show called The Ric Edelman Show. Edelman explained that “most financial professionals,” who have been in business a long time and are “very successful, very talented, and experienced,” are missing out on opportunities from the new asset class because they do not have a good under

The island country of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea has been known to be friendly toward cryptocurrency solutions and blockchain technology for years now. According to a regional report, government sources say more than $70 billion moved through the country over past years while regulations were lax. Furthermore, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was critical of Malta at a recent confidential meeting. Members of a Confidential FATF Meeting Critical of Malta “Sources privy to [a] confidential FATF meeting,” said that the financial regulator is concerned about Malta, according to a regional report published by timesofmalta.com. FATF held a confidential meeting and it’s been said that “some €60 billion in cryptocurrency” (over $70 billion) had passed through the island country of Malta’s borders, according to the report. The article’s sources are unknown but the FATF meeting attendees stressed that one of the biggest issues with Malta was that it allegedly “facilitated a large

Authorities seized more than 400 Bitcoin miners in Venezuela this weekend in two major confiscations. Local reports indicate military personnel seized 332 miners from a transport truck. In another procedure, authorities seized 72 miners hidden in a house. These activities resulted in the apprehension of four individuals. Mining in Venezuela is perfectly legal, but it requires permits and licenses from Sunacrip. 400+ Miners Seized Authorities in Venezuela seized more than 400 mining machines last weekend in two separate events. In the first, 332 miners were seized at a control checkpoint in the Portuguesa state: 56 Inosilicon T2s, 136 Antminer S9J-14.5Ts, and 140 Aladdinminers. These miners were being transported from one city to another in a truck. The authorities also apprehended the truck holding the cargo. In another event, authorities seized 72 miners hidden in a home located in Barinas state. Military personnel captured three individuals present at the time. All of the miners

The independent, publicly-traded business intelligence company Microstrategy announced the acquisition of 13,005 bitcoin on Monday, at a purchase price of approximately $489 million in cash. The company’s CEO Michael Saylor revealed the latest purchase on Twitter, and the firm now has more than 100,000 bitcoins on its balance sheet. Microstrategy Now Holds 105,085 Bitcoin Michael Saylor’s firm Microstrategy now has approximately 105,085 bitcoins which it bought for around $2.741 billion. Using the purchasing average, the company says it purchased all the BTC at around “$26,080 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses.” As usual, Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor tweeted about the purchase telling his 1.2 million Twitter followers. “As of 6/21/21 we #hodl ~105,085,” Saylor noted on Monday morning. Not everyone was impressed with Microstrategy’s bitcoin buy announcement and a few people like Peter Schiff made snide comments. “That’s pretty bearish that you already bought all th

The U.S. government is selling bitcoin and litecoin worth $377K via the General Services Administration (GSA). The auction closes at 5 p.m. on Monday, with the possibility of an extended closing time. The government auction house is selling the digital assets in 11 lots and so far, the lots have seen active bidding. The GSA Auction House Has Close to Ten Bitcoin and 150 Litecoin for Sale, Auction Ends Today From June 18 to Monday, June 21, the General Services Administration, otherwise known as the GSA, is auctioning two types of crypto assets. GSA auction bidders can try to buy 11 lots of crypto that hold approximately 8.93 BTC and 150.2 LTC . The U.S. government estimates the value to be in the ballpark of $377,000 for the aggregate BTC and LTC lots. The GSA announcement notes that the entity has sold crypto assets on behalf of the U.S. government since the beginning of 2021. To date, the GSA has auctioned crypto assets three times and sold 16.99 BTC in total. The three pr

China’s central bank has sent notice to the country’s financial institutions instructing them to stop dealing with cryptocurrency transactions. The disclosure notes that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) aims to protect Chinese citizens and “combat the speculation of Bitcoin and other virtual currency transactions.” PBOC Tells Banks to Stop Dealing With Crypto Exchanges and OTC Desks On June 21, 2021, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) issued a notice to a number of financial institutions concerning crypto transactions. The PBOC says it has discussed the issue of cryptocurrencies with financial services firms like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Construction Bank, Postal Savings Bank, Industrial Bank, and the Alipay (China) Network. The PBOC stressed that “virtual currency trading activities disrupt the normal economic and financial order, breed the risks of illegal cross-border transfer of assets, money laundering and other illegal and cr

Nigeria’s use of multiple exchange rates regimes may have contributed to a rise in the country’s inflation rate, the latest World Bank report has said. In addition, the report says ongoing restrictions on the use and movement of foreign exchange are “further pushing up prices of food and agricultural inputs like fertilizer.” Misaligned Exchange Rates In a report that focuses on the country’s inflation trends, the global lender bemoans Nigeria’s reluctance to move the official exchange rates in tandem with the naira’s depreciation. The report explains: Even though the nominal Investors and Exporters Foreign Exchange window [IEFX] exchange rate has been depreciating, which has helped to alleviate inflationary pressures, it has not been doing so fast enough to equilibrate the FX market. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Nigeria recently devalued the naira’s exchange rate to the current N411 for every US dollar. However, this new rate still falls short of the parallel ma

As Signature Bank expands its commercial banking offerings, the trueusd stablecoin has been integrated with its Signet blockchain-based digital payment platform to deliver instant dollar payments. Signet Integration to Deliver 24/7 Dollar Payment and Settlement As more enterprises flirt with the idea of blockchain-based products and services, stablecoins are one of the areas of fascination for banks, especially given their possibilities in terms of speed and reliability. Yet, not all stablecoins are the same, and some have been targeted by enforcement agencies, among them tether ( USDT ). Still, some are breaking the mold and finding ways to improve upon the existing model. With stablecoins increasingly playing a larger role in trading and decentralized finance (defi), banks are slowly coming around to realize their beneficial traits. Signature Bank has become the first U.S. financial services provider to adopt stablecoins specifically for payments. Its Signet digital payments p

TSB, a British bank, is planning to ban cryptocurrency purchases due to fraud concerns. The company reported an alarming number of fraudulent transactions on cryptocurrency purchases. Reportedly, transactions involving Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange behemoth, are involved in two-thirds of these fraud reports. A Binance representative denies these claims and said the exchange deals with complaints like these complaints in a “very serious” manner. TSB to Ban Cryptocurrency Purchases Due to Fraud Numbers TSB, the UK-based banking institution, is planning to issue a ban on cryptocurrency purchases. Its customers are reporting an alarming number of fraudulent transactions associated with cryptocurrency institutions. According to the Telegraph, the bank will introduce this ban in the coming weeks. This action can leave more than five million customers without access to cryptocurrency exchanges. A spokesperson alleged the ban will take the measure to protect its customers from prob