Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

EY, the multinational professional services network commonly known as Ernst & Young, has announced the company has contributed a set of tools for privately managing transactions on the Ethereum network. EY’s global media relations executive Joanna Hardy explained on Thursday how the company’s protocol helps ethereum transaction fees become more affordable and it enables the private transfer of ether. Professional Services Giant and Big Four Member EY Releases Ethereum Protocol Nightfall 3 EY is a well known professional and financial services brand and the company headquartered in London has been working with blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions for quite some time. While EY is one of the largest professional services networks on a global scale it is also a member of the “Big Four” accounting firms. On July 1, Hardy detailed in an EY blog post that the company has released a set of tools that make ether transactions cheaper and more private. The protocol is called “Nightfall...

The U.S. has sold about 500 bitcoins seized back in 2018 for about $19.2 million. This was reportedly the largest net forfeiture in the Northern District of Ohio’s history. Federal authorities in the U.S. state of Ohio have sold bitcoins seized back in 2018 in a fraud case. The seized bitcoins were sold for nearly $19.23 million, Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget M. Brennan announced Thursday. The coins seized during the investigation were initially valued at approximately $2.88 million. This was reportedly the largest net forfeiture in the Northern District of Ohio’s history. The authorities did not say how and where the coins were sold. The case involved a 37-year-old Toledo-area man, Mark Alex Simon, who made false identification documents for residents of Ohio, Michigan and Utah. The documents included driver’s licenses and personal identification cards. He was paid in bitcoin. Simon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and the transfer of false identification documents i...

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce says that the regulator should have approved a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. a long time ago. She emphasized that it is not the SEC’s job to approve or reject applications based on the merits of the underlying investment itself. “People should make their own decisions” whether to buy bitcoin, said the commissioner. SEC Commissioner Wants Bitcoin ETF Approved A commissioner with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Hester Peirce, talked about the prospects of the SEC approving a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in an interview with CNBC on Thursday. Peirce is also known in the crypto circle as “crypto mom.” The SEC has yet to approve a bitcoin ETF. However, the industry is hopeful that things will change this year since the SEC has a new chairman , Gary Gensler, who taught crypto and blockchain courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Commissioner Peirce described: I thought that if we had applied o...

The Angolan central bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) recently hiked the country’s benchmark interest rate from 15.5% to a record of 20%. The largely unexpected hike, which is one of the National Bank of Angola (NBA)’s attempts to curb inflation, marks the first time the benchmark rate has been increased since November 2017. Rising Inflation a Threat to Angola’s Growth According to a Bloomberg report , the MPC was compelled to bring forward the meeting that ultimately sanctioned the rate hike due to an “evolution of the main indicators.” These indicators, according to the NBA governor, Jose de Lima Massano posed a threat to Angola’s growth trajectory. He explained: The spread between inflation and the interest rate has been growing wider since the beginning of the year. Current data indicates additional inflationary pressures, which may put at risk the central bank’s inflation target of 19.5% for the end of the year. As the data from Angola’s Instituto Nacional de Estatisti...

During the last three months, there’s been a significant focus on the effects bitcoin mining has on the global environment. While many have claimed bitcoin mining is bad for the environment and many others have stressed that it affects the environment in a positive way, either way, most are relying on unreliable and old data from a few years ago. On July 1, 2021, the recently formed Bitcoin Mining Council published a report that claims 56% of the hashrate uses sustainable energy resources. Will Elon Musk Bend? Report Claims Bitcoin Miner Energy Consumption Mix 56% Sustainable Bitcoiners are hoping Elon Musk has noticed a new report published by the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) that shows more than half of the hashrate leverages sustainable energy to mine bitcoin. BMC published the report on July 1, 2021, and as soon as it was online posts about Elon Musk changing his mind started to appear. “Tesla said they wouldn’t again accept BTC until energy consumption reached 50% from renew...

Analysts are predicting a rise in Bitcoin mining profitability of about 35% during the short term. This would be the effect of the bitcoin mining crackdown in China. Since the crackdown happened, a significant portion of hashrate stemming from the Bitcoin network disappeared. Ousted miners are struggling to relocate, and some might not even make it due to the complicated logistics of these operations. All of these reasons combined can create a great time for new companies to enter the mining space. Bitcoin Mining Profitability Will Rise In The Short Term Bitcoin’s mining profitability is expected to rise in the short term due to the complex situation miners are facing in mainland China. According to Whit Gibbs, CEO, and founder of Compass, this will continue in the short to medium term. Gibbs told CNBC: We are expecting a period of much higher mining profitability for Compass Mining clients. We expect miners to be approximately 35% more profitable. Compass is a bitcoin mining c...

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has named “cybercrime, including relevant cybersecurity and virtual currency considerations” a national priority. In particular, the Treasury is concerned about the “misuse of virtual assets that exploits and undermines their innovative potential, including through laundering of illicit proceeds.” FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, published its “Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism National Priorities” last week. One of the priorities listed is “cybercrime, including relevant cybersecurity and virtual currency considerations.” The document details: Treasury is particularly concerned about cyber-enabled financial crime, ransomware attacks, and the misuse of virtual assets that exploits and undermines their innovative potential, including through laundering of illicit proceeds. The document adds that “Countering ransomware has been identified as a top priority for the United States...

According to Jerome Powell’s conference calendar, the CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, met with the Federal Reserve chairman and former House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan to speak about the implications of digital currencies. The meeting’s details are unclear but most of the discussions seemingly revolved around the construction of an American central bank digital currency (CBDC) and countries that are already ahead of the game. Coinbase CEO: ‘China’s Digital Yuan represents a Threat to US Reserve Currency Status’ The Federal Reserve wants to build a digital dollar and moves to make it a reality have been happening more frequently. Almost every member of the Fed has something to say about an American CBDC and in May the Fed chairman held a number of meetings with members of the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. Participants who discussed the CBDC idea with Powell include individuals like the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, members of the Bank for International S...

U.S. lawmaker and bitcoin advocate Cynthia Lummis has indicated that cryptocurrency miners are welcome in Wyoming. In a recent interview, the senator defended bitcoin’s carbon footprint and later invited miners to her home state on social media. Crypto Mining Adapted to Non-Carbon Emitting Energy With the ongoing crackdown on cryptocurrency mining in China, companies in the business of coin minting have been actively looking for friendlier jurisdictions to relocate their operations. Some perspective destinations have emerged in the U.S., with Texas and Florida now being among the prominent examples. Both states can offer crypto miners access to affordable energy. Wyoming, which has maintained a positive attitude towards cryptocurrencies for some time, can easily become the next bitcoin mining hotspot. Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a well-known supporter of Bitcoin, recently took to Twitter to welcome crypto miners to the state urging them to reach out. PS – If you are in the #Bi...

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX (formerly BitMax), a global cryptocurrency financial platform with a comprehensive product suite, is thrilled to announce the listing of the Radix tokens (EXRD and XRD) under the pairs USDT/XRD and USDT /EXRD on June 29 at 1 p.m. UTC. Radix intends to remove the technology barriers limiting the expansion of DeFi by building a layer-1 protocol that directly addresses the technology needs of DeFi, both for today’s applications and the future of general financial services worldwide. The platform leverages a full-stack approach, re-engineering consensus, distributed virtual machines, executable on-ledger code, DeFi component building, DeFi application building, and developer incentives. Radix is the first layer 1 protocol specifically built to serve the DeFi ecosystem. Radix aims to significantly improve the developer experience by reducing DeFi hacks, bugs, and exploits by restricting output states using an FSM runtime environment instead of Turing complete....

The national stock exchange of the Philippines, the PSE, says cryptocurrency is “an asset class that we cannot ignore anymore.” The stock exchange further says cryptocurrency trading “should be done at the PSE,” given its infrastructure and investor protection safeguards. The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the national stock exchange of the Philippines, is reportedly eyeing cryptocurrency trading. President and CEO Ramon Monzon said Friday that the PSE should be the exchange platform for crypto assets, CNN Philippines reported Friday. Noting that the matter was discussed during a top management meeting two weeks ago, Monzon said, “It’s an asset class that we cannot ignore anymore.” He was quoted as saying: If there should be any exchange for cryptos, it should be done at the PSE. Why? Number one, it’s because we have the trading infrastructure. But more important, we’ll be able to have investor protection safeguards especially with a product like crypto. He explained that m...

The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg is considering issuing NFTs for works of art from its rich collection and is holding talks with Binance on the matter. The museum’s management expects the tokens to bring extra funding, provided Russian authorities exempt NFTs from current digital assets regulations. Hermitage Museum in Talks With Binance for Artwork NFTs The world-renowned State Hermitage Museum in Russia is negotiating with leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, on the issuance and sale of non-fungible tokens ( NFTs ) of artwork. On June 24, Binance launched its NFT marketplace which features various forms of digital artwork and collectibles. The coin trading platform also announced its “100 Creators” program presenting NFT content from local talent around the world. For the Hermitage to issue its tokens, Russia’s legislation governing the sector may require some clarification. Marina Tsyguleva, head of the museum’s legal department, said that this type of token may ...

On Friday, the bitcoin mining operation Greenidge Generation Holdings announced the company is expanding to South Carolina in order to develop the firm’s next bitcoin mining facility. Greenidge details that the carbon-neutral Spartanburg facility will be ready in 2021 or early 2022. Bitcoin Miner Greenidge Generation Plans to Expand to South Carolina Spartanburg, South Carolina, the 12th most populous city in the state will be home to bitcoin miners by Q4 2021 or Q1 2022, according to Greenidge Generation Holdings . The Dresden, N.Y.-based firm signed a letter of intent with LSC Communications that says Greenidge aims to expand its bitcoin mining operations to a property owned by the Atlas Holdings’ portfolio company LSC. The terms of the deal will begin with a ten-year lease of a retired printing plant. Greenidge details that the printing plant at one time drew approximately 80 megawatts (MW) of energy but it believes the Spartanburg facility has “potential beyond that capacity.”...