Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A Kenyan insurance executive, Julius Kipng’etich has compared cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to Ponzi schemes and has urged his countrymen not “touch this.” In addition, Kipng’etich warned those already involved in crypto trading to be prepared for the consequences as this always “ends in tears.” Bitcoin as a Medium of Exchange Interestingly, when addressing attendees of a business seminar, Kipng’etich does acknowledge that bitcoin already meets one of the conditions for it to be treated as currency. He said: Currency represents two primary things; it is a medium of exchange and a store of value. So any currency is medium, I give you so that you give something. Julius Kipng’etich. Kipng’etich’s view of cryptocurrencies appears to be consistent with that of some central banks. For instance, in its 2019 consultation paper on crypto assets, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) similarly acknowledges that “crypto-assets have the ability to be used for payments (exchange of such...

PRESS RELEASE. Binstarter Protocol; the first and only Insurance Policy Protected IDO Launchpad Protocol is proud to announce to the crypto world that their highly anticipated public sales date has been scheduled on Aug 4th. According to former data collected on the seed sales, the upcoming public sales will have the biggest number of participants. During the seed sales, upwards of 14,500 individuals participated in whitelisting and only 1000 successfully whitelisted to buy BSR tokens. With 13,500 people that did not have a chance to purchase BSR tokens, the public sales are projected to draw an even bigger base of buyers. In addition Binstarter’s initial market cap is only 350K with team tokens locked for 3 years. Binstarter already conducted 2 massive token burns, reducing the total supply by 15.2. Binstarter already conducted 2 massive token burns, reducing the total supply by 15.2%. Binstarter Protocol’s vision is to protect all small investor’s from potential financial risk from...

Payments giant Paypal is hiring more than 100 crypto-related positions as demand for cryptocurrencies grows. Paypal’s CEO recently revealed the company’s expansion plans, stating, “We continue to be really pleased with the momentum we’re seeing on crypto and we’re obviously adding incremental functionality into that.” Paypal’s Crypto-Related Job Postings Paypal is hiring more than 100 crypto-related positions as the company prepares to expand its crypto services. According to Job postings on the company’s website, there are at least 102 job openings related to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology at the time of writing. While most of the jobs are located in the U.S., there are five job postings for positions in Tel Aviv, Israel, six in Ireland, one in Singapore, one in Hong Kong, and five in Guatemala City for Paypal’s online money transfer service, Xoom. Within the U.S., 22 jobs are in California; 16 in New York; 13 in Texas; 9 in Arizona; and 8 in Illinois. A few other sta...

Mohamed El-Erian, an adviser to Allianz and Gramercy Funds Management, says that “The time has come for more western governments to stop dismissing the crypto revolution as some mix of illicit payments schemes and reckless financial speculation.” Western Governments Urged to Stop Ignoring Crypto Revolution Mohamed El-Erian, president of Queens College, Cambridge University, has urged the crypto world and western governments to cooperate. The Egyptian-American businessman is also chief economic adviser at Allianz, the corporate parent of PIMCO, one of the largest investment managers, where he was CEO and co-chief investment officer. Last year, he was also appointed chair of Gramercy Funds Management, a dedicated Emerging Markets investment firm. In an opinion piece which he authored in the Financial Times published Thursday, El-Erian wrote: The time has come for more western governments to stop dismissing the crypto revolution as some mix of illicit payments schemes and reckless ...

A promoter of the cryptocurrency scheme previously touted by famous martial artist and actor Steven Seagal has pleaded guilty for his participation. The scheme falsely claimed that it “could generate an 8,000% return for investors within one year.” Crypto Scheme Promoter Pleads Guilty The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that John DeMarr, 55, has pleaded guilty “for his participation in a coordinated cryptocurrency and securities fraud scheme through purported digital currency platforms and foreign-based financial accounts.” DeMarr admitted to conspiring with others “to defraud investor victims by inducing them to invest in their companies, ‘Start Options’ and ‘B2G,’ based on materially false and misleading representations.” He was charged in February. The DOJ stated that both schemes were fraudulent. Start Options purported to be a cryptocurrency mining and trading platform while B2G, also known as Bitcoiin2gen, was purportedly an “ecosystem” for its native B2G ...

As expected, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty increased this week jumping 6.03% higher on July 31. The change marks the first increase out of five difficulty adjustment changes. This was after four downward difficulty drops made it 54% easier to mine bitcoin than it was prior to mid-May. Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Increases 6%, Difficulty Is Expected to Increase Again in 11 Days On July 31, at block height 693,504, the Bitcoin blockchain’s difficulty adjusts itself depending on how much hashpower is dedicated to the network. The more hashrate dedicated to the BTC chain, the higher the difficulty will rise every two weeks. On the other hand, if a great number of miners go offline and dedicated hashrate drops, the difficulty will drop making it easier for mining participants to find BTC blocks. Bitcoin’s difficulty saw a change at block height 693,504 and increased 6.03% after the difficulty tumbled over 54% for eight consecutive weeks. Bitcoin’s system and how it works is mathemati...

As the non-fungible token (NFT) space continues to grow, the blockchain analytics Nansen has published a leaderboards list of the top wallets (NFT collectors) that interact with NFTs on a regular basis. The analytics firm combed through 90 million ethereum wallets and found a number of big market players making moves in the NFT space. The NFT Ecosystem’s Most Prolific Market Collectors Non-fungible token (NFT) technology and the supporting ecosystem have grown quite mature in 2021 and it doesn’t seem like it’s slowing down anytime soon. There’s lots of NFT market data coming out too and recorded in real-time. Well known brands, celebrities, and popular organizations are jumping into the NFT fray and all of this is recorded in headlines as well. Nansen’s NFT overall profit leaderboard. Data stemming from nonfungible.com’s 30-day market history shows there were $380 million in NFT sales last month. Now the blockchain analytics provider Nansen has provided statistics on some of th...

Digital currency markets have been gathering gains again moving past the lows seen a few weeks ago. This week crypto traders have been discussing over-the-counter (OTC) desks bubbling with demand for bitcoin as the co-founder of 21st Paradigm explained, “high net worth individuals [and] institutions want your bitcoin.” Analyst Says Big Market Players ‘Want Your Bitcoin’ Most traders either use decentralized exchange (dex) platforms or centralized exchange (cex) operations to acquire bitcoin ( BTC ) and a myriad of other digital currencies. However, high-net-worth individuals and institutions usually don’t leverage dex or cex applications, as they choose to trade via over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks. OTC trading or off-exchange trading is trading between two parties directly and usually with help from the OTC desk’s representative. In contrast to trades that take place on cex or dex platforms, these trades are not recorded on order books. Although, transfers from crypto OTC desks...

Born four years ago as a result of the disagreement between two groups over scaling issues, Bitcoin Cash has grown to be so much more. Offering a full suite of solutions for cryptocurrency users, having support from thousands of merchants at a worldwide level, and recently introducing Smartbch, a project that aims to tether smart contracts functions to the protocol, Bitcoin Cash is now more mature than ever. However, mishaps have also happened along the way. Welcome to the World, Shuya Yang! On August 1, 2017, in the midst of a big scaling debate that shook the cryptocurrency world to its core, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was the result of a series of disagreements among developers and Bitcoin influencers about how to achieve blockchain scaling in the best way possible. Some supporters opted to scale onchain by increasing the block size, and that idea transformed into what Bitcoin Cash is today. Welcome to the world, Shuya Yang! And Bitcoin cash! https://t.co/ymh4Ciwypb — ViaBTC (@ViaBTC...

Polish police have uncovered a secret crypto mining operation at their headquarters in Warsaw, local media reported. An IT specialist accused of minting digital coins on police computers has been dismissed and the case has been handed over to the Prosecutor’s Office. Polish Police Force Fires IT Specialist for Crypto Mining at Work Officers from the Polish National Police have found what local media described as a crypto mining farm at the Policja headquarters in Warsaw. The mining operation was allegedly organized by an IT technician, a civilian employee of the law enforcement agency, tvn24.pl news portal reported quoting two independent sources. The crypto miner used police computers that he upgraded with video cards and specialized software. Although the mining equipment has probably consumed a serious amount of electricity due to the energy-intensive coin minting process, the biggest worry is that records from the police database might have been leaked, one of the sources no...

The hedge fund Goldentree, a firm with $41 billion in assets under management (AUM) has reportedly added the leading crypto asset bitcoin to its balance sheet. Unnamed sources detail that the American asset management firm leveraged bitcoin to diversify from traditional debt investment strategies. The wealth management firm allegedly has been looking for staff that understands blockchain technology and it’s possible Goldentree is circling distressed businesses within the crypto industry. Goldentree Asset Management Invests in Bitcoin: Report A recent report stemming from the financial publication The Street, says the mega-hedge fund Goldentree has purchased bitcoin (BTC) . The author of the report, Michael Bodly did not reveal the unknown source who explained that Goldentree invested in bitcoin. A source disclosed that executives at Goldentree are looking into employing staff that understands crypto solutions and blockchain tech. Despite looking for help, the undisclosed source t...

Nigeria’s proposed digital currency, the e-naira, is likely to be a welcome boost to ongoing efforts to reduce the number of Nigerians that are financially excluded, a leader of a stakeholders’ body has said. However, according to Senator Ihenyen, the president of Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SIBAN), the success of such a digital currency will depend on its design. A Hybrid CBDC As per reports, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s proposed digital currency, whose piloting phase is set to commence on October 1, will be a hybrid central bank digital currency (CBDC). This means the e-naira will be combining both the retail and wholesale capabilities. This according to the SIBAN boss means the issuing of the e-naira will not disruptive to the operations of intermediaries such as banks and other financial institutions. Meanwhile, Ihenyen told Bitcoin.com News that he does not think the e-naira, which will be a digital version of the fiat currency, “comes ...

It has been more than six months since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed banks to stop serving customers from the cryptocurrency industry. While the measure appears to have succeeded in removing crypto entities from the banking ecosystem, the policy has however led to the growth of peer-to-peer trading. ‘Central Bank of Nigeria’s Actions Led to an Increase in Activity on the Black Market’ As some reports have shown, Nigeria’s position as the biggest cryptocurrency market in Africa remains unchallenged. For its part, the CBN has complemented its regular arguments against cryptocurrencies with the now routine assurances that Nigeria will have its own digital currency. To understand these dynamics and the impact they have had on the Nigerian crypto space, Bitcoin.com News reached out to Chiagozie Iwu, the CEO and Co-founder of Naijacrypto, a Nigeria crypto exchange. Below are Iwu’s responses to written questions. Bitcoin.com News (BCN): Can you briefly explain how the CBN ...