Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Amber Group, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency trading company, has attained “unicorn” status. The company managed to raise $100 million in its Series B funding round. With the new influx, the company is now valued at one billion dollars, making it a unicorn. Amber Group’s strategy is said to make them market neutral, allowing customers to garner gains in bullish or bearish markets. Amber Group Reaches Unicorn Status Amber Group, an algorithmic trading company, reached unicorn status in its latest funding round. The company, formed by former Morgan Stanley traders almost entirely, raised $100 million in its Series B funding round. The round was led by DCM Ventures and Tiger Global Management, with participation from China Renaissance Group, Tiger Brokers, Gobi Partners, and Coinbase Global. This influx of funds pushed the valuation of the company to one billion dollars. The funds obtained will serve to expand Amber Group’s operations through hiring in development and compliance area...

The STC Terminal will be launched by the end of July 2021 and will be a major milestone in the wide-scale tokenization of the economy. It will make issuing a token accessible to everyone, including individuals, organizations, corporations, startups and decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. What Is the Student Coin Terminal? Student Coin is a platform that allows users to easily design, create, and manage personal, corporate, NFT, and DeFi tokens. The ecosystem is powered by its STC native cryptocurrency and consists of several services including the STC Wallet, the STC Exchange, the STC App and the STC Terminal. The the wallet is a powerful online tool, with more than 270,000 users, which offers STC Staking – so token holders can earn up to 13% APY. The app allows mobile users to store tokens, vote and interact with the ecosystem, and it has been downloaded more than 140,000 from Apple’s App Store and Google Play . A demo for the exchange is already available ( here ) and the o...

On Tuesday, Stronghold Digital Mining, Inc., an ESG-friendly cryptocurrency miner announced it has raised $105 million in two private equity securities funding rounds. Stronghold’s operations convert waste coal into alternative energy in order to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. ESG-Friendly Crypto Miner Turns Coal Waste to Bitcoin, Operation Raises $100M While many have been focused on the environmental concerns stemming from outdated reports and maps, a number of ESG-friendly cryptocurrency mining firms have been making moves in the industry. Stronghold Digital Mining is a Pennsylvania-based operation that leverages waste coal to power digital currency miners. Scrubgrass Generating Plant in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania and many other regions around the world waste coal and acid mine drainage (AMD) is one of the largest sources of pollution. Because precipitation combines with coal waste, the AMD can pollute nearby waterways and threaten aquatic life. Stronghold’s mai...

The National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) has become the latest African central bank to join the digital currency movement after an employee confirmed the institution is studying the possibilities of issuing its own digital currency. CBDC Implications on Financial Stability According to the employee, John Karamuka, this study will be looking at economic, financial, and technical aspects related to central bank digital currencies (CBDC), as well as “the operationalization model.” The study will also analyze the “implication of the CBDC on monetary policy and financial stability.” However, in his remarks to The New Times, Karamuka revealed that the study had exposed the limits or lack of global standards and reliable benchmarks on the subject. On the African continent, a few countries, namely Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania recently either signalled plans to explore or have made progress on developing CBDCs. Still, only a few countries globally, including small nations like the Bahamas and The...

The Bank of France has successfully completed an experiment involving the use of CBDC to settle listed securities. The test has been carried out with the help of an alliance of partners led by SEBA Bank, a digital asset banking provider based in the Swiss crypto valley. Central Bank and Crypto Company Conduct Successful CBDC Test As part of a program launched in March 2020, central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) has been used to simulate the settlement of listed securities, Bank of France announced in a press release published Monday. On June 18, the regulator simulated the issuance of CBDC tokens on a public blockchain while preserving control over the transactions. A dedicated smart contract was developed and deployed, the bank explained, and the Eurosystem’s Target2-Securities (T2S) was used as a delivery platform. All operations were carried out in collaboration with the Swiss-licensed digital asset banking provider SEBA Bank AG , Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, the oldest...

A new Bank of America (BOA) research study has found that both central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and private digital currencies hold “a lot of potential” for increasing financial inclusion in developing countries. In the report, the bank also argues that such “digital currencies could reduce transaction costs and allow more economic activities in emerging market economies.” Digital Currencies and Financial Inclusion Still, the study findings show that while digital currencies are likely to “boost economic growth” in developing countries, their adoption will carry some risk. In addition, the study also finds that the rise of digital currencies “could lead to inflation and dollarization.” Meanwhile, a separate report quotes David Hauner, the BOA’s head of emerging market cross-asset strategy and economics for EMEA, explaining why digital currencies could be pivotal in emerging market countries where more than 50% of adults lack a bank account. “Digital currencies have the pot...

On June 21, the wealth manager Vaneck filed a prospectus to launch what it calls a Bitcoin Strategy Fund. The prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) explains the fund will procure bitcoin exchange-traded products and futures. Vaneck’s Fund Will Invest in Bitcoin Futures and Pooled Investments Tied to the Leading Crypto Asset While the fund manager Vaneck waits to hear a decision about its exchange-traded fund (ETF) registration, the company applied with the SEC to release a mutual fund for investors who want exposure to bitcoin. The registration filed on June 21, also notes that in addition to the Fund’s bitcoin-related investments, “the fund expects to have significant holdings of cash and fixed-income investments.” Vaneck will invest in bitcoin futures contracts, leverage the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR), and also “invest in pooled investment vehicles that invest directly or indirectly in bitcoin.” The crypto mutual fund will be dubbed th...

Jaime Guevara, a Salvadoran representative, presented a lawsuit against the recently approved bitcoin tender law today. Guevara alleges the law is unconstitutional and brings a series of changes that will cause problems for Salvadorans. Some people suspect Bukele’s regime is behind the representative’s demand due to its inability to applying this novel law. Salvadoran Representative Jaime Guevara Introduces Demand Against Bitcoin Law Jaime Guevara, a Salvadoran opposition representant, introduced a demand to deem the recently approved bitcoin tender law as unconstitutional. Óscar Artero, a co-signer of the lawsuit, agrees with this interpretation and expects the court to repeal the law. According to him, the bitcoin law doesn’t have a legal base to stand on. Artero declared to local media that: The bitcoin law is to loot people’s pockets, it is tax-exempt, they want to force us to trade. The representative introduced this lawsuit before the presentation of the regulation that ...

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has issued a call for EU institutions to uphold privacy when designing a digital version of the euro. The agency is ready to provide advice on data protection matters surrounding the project. Meanwhile, an ECB executive has vowed that the digital euro will protect users’ privacy. EDPB Insists Data Protection Should Be a Priority in Eurozone’s CBDC Project The EDPB has shared its views on the privacy and data protection aspects of a possible digital euro in a letter addressed to European Union institutions. The independent body insists that ensuring privacy and data protection will be decisive for the success of a project to digitalize Europe’s common fiat currency. In an announcement published on its website , the board emphasized: A very high standard of privacy and data protection is crucial to reinforce the trust of end users and should be considered a distinctive element in the offering of a digital euro, representing a key factor of s...

While on the surface it seems officials from five provinces in China have been cracking down on bitcoin miners, no one is quite sure how much hashrate is moving, which pools are affected, or where these miners will end up. A number of mining pools have seen hashpower percentages decline and Bitcoin’s overall hashrate has regressed as well. On the other hand, as several known pools have lost hashrate, processing power from “unknown” pools has increased a great deal. Pool Percentages Decline, Overall Hashrate Dips Lower There have been reports stemming from officials in provinces like Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Yunnan, and Sichuan instructing bitcoin miners to close down shop. The crypto community, in general, assumes that a great deal of hashrate comes from China, but exactly how much hashpower actually resides in the country is still a mystery. Reporting is scarce when it comes to bitcoin mining operations and the most recent studies are outdated. Hashrate distribution sho...

Iranian police have reportedly seized 7,000 bitcoin mining machines operating illegally in the country. The machines were found in an abandoned factory west of the capital. 7,000 cryptocurrency mining machines have been seized by Iranian authorities, state news agency IRNA reported Tuesday, noting that this is Iran’s largest seizure of cryptocurrency mining machines to date. Tehran police chief General Hossein Rahimi said that the mining machines were seized at an illegal mining farm — an abandoned factory west of the capital. Cryptocurrency mining is an authorized activity in Iran and miners are required to obtain a license from the country’s Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade. However, many miners are operating in Iran without obtaining a license, the authorities claim. An analysis by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic shows that about 4.5% of all bitcoin mining takes place in Iran and the country is using cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions . Furthermore, Elliptic stated...

The price of bitcoin dropped to a new low in 2021, hitting $28,600 per unit Tuesday morning (EST). BTC has shed more than 10% in value over the last 24 hours and its market capitalization is now less than $600 billion. Bitcoin Price Plunges Below $29K Cryptocurrency markets have seen better days as the entire market capitalization of all 9,000+ crypto assets is down 12% at just above $1.2 trillion. Bitcoin ( BTC ) has shed 26.31% during the last seven days and 42% over the last 90 days. At the time of publication, BTC rests just below the $30K handle in the $29K region. The value had plummeted to $28,600 per unit Tuesday morning. BTC /USD price on Bitstamp on June 22, 2021, via bitcoinwisdom.io. Statistics show that bitcoin’s top trading pair on Tuesday is tether ( USDT ) which captures 48% of all BTC trades. This is followed by the USD (17.28%), BUSD (7.87%), EUR (5.05%), and JPY (4.80%). Bitcoin ( BTC ) dominance among all 9,000+ coins is around 46.9% while ethereum ( ETH...

Shenzhen-based Bit Mining has started shipping bitcoin mining machines to Kazakhstan as the Chinese government cracks down on bitcoin mining operations in the country. Bit Mining Ltd., a mining company based in Shenzhen, announced Monday that “it had successfully delivered its first batch of mining machines to Kazakhstan.” The company explained that bitcoin mining machines will be delivered to Kazakhstan in three batches. The first batch consists of “320 mining machines with a theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of 18.2 PH/s,” Bit Mining claims, noting that they are “expected to be deployed and in operation by June 27.” The mining company added: A second and third batch, totaling 2,600 mining machines with a theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of 102.3 PH/s, are expected to be delivered to Kazakhstan before July 1, 2021. Bit Mining expects to ship its remaining mining machines to overseas data centers over the coming quarters. The move followed the Chinese...

Analysts at Hedgeye Risk Management, an investment research and financial media company based in Stamford, Connecticut, have analyzed the Bitcoin stock-to-flow argument. This framework suggests Bitcoin’s price potentially reaching $1 million by the latter half of 2020s, and as much as $10 million per BTC by the 2030s. “First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, Then you win” -Mahatma Gandhi At its recent peak, Bitcoin’s market cap hit $1.2 trillion. To give you some perspective, that’s bigger than the four largest banks in the United States combined (JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo), as well as the four largest payments platforms combined (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Square). As most long-term holders understand, a confluence of critical factors will continue to aid in the proliferation of crypto adoption across the world. Among them: Corporations accepting payments via cryptocurrencies Institutions holding crypto on their balance...