Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

On September 15, the top non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, Opensea, revealed that an Opensea executive profited from insider trading. “Yesterday we learned that one of our employees purchased items that they knew were set to display on our front page before they appeared there publicly,” Opensea informed the public on Wednesday. Opensea did not name the employee, but social media posts accused an Opensea executive of using “secret wallets” on Tuesday. Opensea Team Says NFT Market Operators Are ‘Incredibly Disappointed’ Opensea is the leading NFT market in terms of trade volume and during the last seven days, Opensea saw $519.51 million in volume, according to dappradar.com stats . While the volume is decent, it is down 48.20% during the last week in terms of sales. Meanwhile the number of Opensea traders did increase last week by 6.10% to 164,878 traders. On Wednesday, the Opensea management team announced that an employee has been accused of leveraging and profiting from insi...

This week, ABEY has announced that it has been adding an average of 20,000 active ABEY 2.0 addresses each week since the beginning of August 2021, making it one of the fastest-growing blockchains in the world and finishing an exceptional week that included the ABEY token being listed on Liquid Global, a premier international cryptocurrency exchange. ABEY developers say there are more than 120,000 active ABEY 2.0 addresses today, quadrupling from 30,000 addresses at the beginning of August. Developers say this growth began around the first airdrop of XT, the native token of XSWAP on August 17th. This news follows the confirmation that ABEY token, the native token of third-generation blockchain platform ABEYCHAIN, is now listed on popular cryptocurrency exchange Liquid Global. Major milestone for ABEY This development indicates the rapid growth of the ABEY ecosystem and will expose the token to more users globally. Liquid Global is a Japan-based exchange that ranks among the top ...

Maxime Bernier, a former cabinet minister nicknamed “Mad Max” and the leader of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), says he supports bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. “I hate how central banks are destroying our money and economy … cryptos are another new and innovative way to counter this that should be encouraged,” he said. ‘Mad Max’ Supports Bitcoin and Crypto Maxime Bernier, the leader and founder of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), has revealed his support for bitcoin and cryptocurrency. He is a former Canadian foreign minister whose supporters have nicknamed “Mad Max.” According to an EKOS poll, the PPC has 9% support nationally, which is higher than the Green Party but well below Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party and Erin O’Toole’s Conservative Party, each with around 30%. Bernier tweeted Tuesday: Many people are asking if I support bitcoin and cryptos. Of course I do! I hate how central banks are destroying our money and economy. He continued: “I’m more of an old-fashioned...

At the U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren called on the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, to increase oversight of cryptocurrency. She brought up several problems she associates with cryptocurrency that could hurt small investors. Senator Elizabeth Warren Says ‘There’s a Whole List of Problems With Crypto’ U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler about several issues regarding cryptocurrency at the Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday. The senator from Massachusetts began by noting that last Tuesday, “In a matter of hours, $400 billion in market value disappeared.” She then pointed out that as the prices of cryptocurrencies tumbled, “several of the biggest crypto exchanges had outages, which kept customers from making withdrawals or trades.” Questioning how this affects small retail investors, “who don’t have a lot of money to lose,” Wa...

Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, believes that if bitcoin is “really successful,” the regulators will “kill it,” reiterating his previous concerns of governments banning cryptocurrencies. Nonetheless, he sees bitcoin as a good alternative to cash and owns some. Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Ray Dalio Warns of Regulators Killing Bitcoin Ray Dalio warns about regulators coming after bitcoin if the cryptocurrency gains mainstream success at the SALT conference in New York Wednesday. Dalio currently serves as Bridgewater Associates’ chairman and co-chief investment officer. His firm’s clients include endowments, governments, foundations, pensions, and sovereign wealth funds. Referring to bitcoin, the Bridgewater boss said: I think at the end of the day if it’s really successful, they will kill it, and they will try to kill it. I think they will kill it because they have ways of killing it. This was not the first time Dalio warned ab...

The blockchain network Solana had issues processing blocks on September 14 and according to a status report on September 15 at 2:01 a.m. (EST), the Solana validator community “successfully completed a restart of Mainnet Beta.” Solana Validators Restart Mainnet Beta Solana is now a member of the club of blockchains that have stalled for several hours stopping people from sending SOL transactions, using decentralized apps (dapps), and troubling block explorers and wallets with significant issues. During the early morning hours on Wednesday, following Solana’s block production stall on Tuesday, the “Solana Status” Twitter account gave the community an update. The official Solana Twitter page also retweeted the Solana Status tweet. “The Solana validator community successfully completed a restart of Mainnet Beta after an upgrade to 1.6.25,” Solana Status explained . “Dapps, block explorers, and supporting systems will recover over the next several hours, at which point full functionali...

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX is thrilled to announce the listing of the Sovryn token (SOV) under the trading pair USDT/SOV on Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. UTC. Sovryn is a Bitcoin-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol launched in early 2020. The Sovryn platform provides the tools to trade, lend, and leverage Bitcoin and other assets permissionlessly, secured by the Bitcoin Blockchain with minimal gas fees. Their platform features a trading interface uniquely designed for Bitcoin-native DeFi users with no transaction limits and support for multiple assets to trade. Sovryn aims to connect Bitcoin with the entire crypto ecosystem, while maintaining high-level security and the flexibility of smart contracts. Sovryn set a vision to “create an open, fair, and transparent financial operating system for the world,’ Building upon that vision, the platform provides an opportunity for their users to have a say in their financial decisions, with little or no external control or oversight while keepi...

On Tuesday, Bitcoin.com News spoke with Marc Falzon, an individual who has been documenting the bitcoin rollout in El Salvador since the law was implemented on September 7. Falzon says that there are a number of issues that no one is talking about in regard to the bitcoin law and the Chivo wallet, a government-crafted bitcoin wallet. One specific issue is the fact that Chivo wallet users cannot spend less than $5 when using the app. Marc Falzon: Reporting on the Bitcoin Situation in El Salvador from the Ground On September 7, 2021, El Salvador implemented the bitcoin tender law and now both bitcoin ( BTC ) and the U.S. dollar are legal currencies in the country. There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding the rollout and one survey shows that a majority of Salvadorans were not content with the new law. There was even a street protest and Salvadoran citizens took to the streets to object against the new law. Marc Falzon recorded a protest on his drone and when he uploaded the re...

Unnamed sources familiar with the matter indicate the Biden administration may allow Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell to continue as the central bank’s lead. The news follows three U.S. representatives asking Biden to replace Powell with a central bank leader that addresses equality and climate change. Jerome Powell to Stay for Second Term, Sources Say A report written by Market Watch contributor Greg Robb shows that U.S. president Joe Biden and his administration will likely keep Jerome Powell at the helm of the central bank. Robb says the sources stem from “analysts who keep tabs on Washington for Wall Street” and they are “now fairly certain about his renomination.” Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve’s chairman, has been leading the central bank throughout a period of time when the Fed has expanded the monetary supply like never before in history. Many complaints have been directed at Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve’s schemes . Speaking with Market Watch, Stephen ...

New York Attorney General Letitia James has secured a court order to shut down cryptocurrency exchange Coinseed. The order also “permanently appoints the court receiver to obtain, safeguard, and return all assets invested and traded through” the exchange. New York Attorney General Letitia James Shuts Down Crypto Exchange The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Monday that the attorney general has shut down cryptocurrency trading platform Coinseed. James has secured a judgment against Coinseed and its founder and CEO, Delgerdalai Davaasambuu, “that permanently halts their illegal and fraudulent operations,” the announcement describes, adding: The judgment secured by Attorney General James today permanently appoints the court receiver to obtain, safeguard, and return all assets invested and traded through Coinseed and orders a money judgment against the defendants in the amount of $3,061,511, both together and separately. Attorney General James filed a law...

State Bank of India (SBI) has reportedly blocked payments to cryptocurrency exchanges using its Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Payment processors have been told to disable the bank’s UPI for crypto merchants. Payment Processors Instructed to Disable SBI UPI for Crypto Firms State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank, has reportedly “blocked the receipt of funds by crypto bourses on its UPI platform,” the Economic Times reported Wednesday, citing sources in the payments industry. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to facilitate interbank transactions through mobile phones. The UPI payment system is regulated and supervised by India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to the publication: The bank has told payment processors to disable SBI UPI for crypto merchants. This means SBI bank customers cannot transfer funds via UPI to crypto exchanges to buy c...

The Original DeFi Meme Token – HOGE has joined forces with the DeFi Angels to give their project a voice on Capitol Hill as the regulation conversation heats up. It’s no secret that American based blockchain crypto companies are fighting the infrastructure bill in D.C. This bill could create big change in the world of DeFi over the next several years. HOGE is an ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockchain that has a 2% tax on every transfer. Part of that tax is reflected to current holders, and part is burned forever making HOGE a deflationary cryptocurrency asset. Hoge was a fair launch project; everybody can buy in on day one. Even the developers. This project is entirely comprised of a decentralized community and one of the few token projects out there that has no developer wallet meaning they are a project that is responsible for creating their own self-sustaining ecosystems that provide revenue channels to continue to fund and grow their project. Hoge has achieved ear...

Cryptocurrency cannot be adopted as a means of payment in Uzbekistan, a high-ranking official from the country’s central bank has recently stated. Speaking to local media, the regulator’s representative also noted that unlike cryptocurrencies, the national fiat is backed by the bank’s assets. The statement comes in spite of Tashkent’s crypto-friendly moves in the past. Cryptocurrency Cannot Be Accepted for Payments in Uzbekistan, Monetary Authority Says Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin cannot be recognized as legal tender in Uzbekistan and that’s unlikely to ever change, a central bank official told Spot this week. Speaking to the local news outlet, the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan ( CBU ) Behzod Hamraev said: As an economist, I can assume that it [cryptocurrency] will never be equal to world currencies such as the dollar, euro, yen, ruble. The representative of the monetary authority pointed out that 28 trillion Uzbekistani sum (the nation’...

According to the findings of a study by KLA, a market research and data specialist firm, some 47% of South African adults are holders of cryptocurrency, with the majority of this number holding low-value investments. In addition, the study shows that 36% plan to invest in crypto in the future. South Africans Still Experimenting With Cryptocurrency Though the KLA findings report that 47% of South Africans are holders, the Businesstech report quoting KLA’s Tessa Nowosenetz explains the value of crypto assets held is still very low. This low average value suggests that many are still trying to understand crypto. To emphasize this point, Nowosenetz said: While this percentage is high, the amount invested is low. This indicates that the bulk of South African crypto investors are experimenting and dabbling without making a significant financial commitment. According to the study’s findings, 25% of respondents that hold cryptocurrency have between $7 and $70 (or between 100 and 1,000 ...

Interactive Brokers, one of the largest online brokerage firms, has announced today it is offering cryptocurrency trading services in alliance with Paxos. Users of the platform now have a complete suite of cryptocurrency trading options, along with traditional trading offerings like stocks and bonds. The company recognized the importance of digital assets for traders to help them achieve their financial objectives. Interactive Brokers Debuts Crypto Trading Interactive Brokers, an online brokerage with more than one million customers, has introduced cryptocurrency to its suite of trading options, plans for which its CEO announced back in June. Now, users of the Interactive Brokers platform will be able to trade for different crypto assets: bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. With this inclusion, Interactive Brokers acknowledges the rising importance of the cryptocurrency asset class for diversification in today’s financial market. About this, Milan Galik, CEO of the compan...

Zabu Finance, a decentralized yield farming protocol on Avalanche, suffered the first big hack related to the chain. The protocol was the victim of an exploit that allowed an attacker to steal $3.2 million in tokens, according to reports. The core of the exploit happened due to a vulnerability in the design of the Spore token, which allowed the minting of 4.5 billion zabu that were successfully withdrawn from the platform, taking the value of the currency to 0. Zabu Finance Suffers First Big Avalanche Hack Zabu Finance, a yield farm decentralized protocol built on top of the Avax blockchain, faced the big first hack related to the Avalanche chain last week. An attacker took advantage of a vulnerability and withdrew $3.2 million worth of several cryptocurrencies. The attack had its root in a pool of a token called Spore, which allowed the attacker to mint over 4.5 billion of the native token of the protocol (Zabu). The tokens were then dumped in other defi trading protocols levera...