Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Investment banking and asset management firm JMP Securities says that “The crypto economy is entering the mainstream,” emphasizing that crypto “adoption and early use cases have established ‘escape velocity.” However, the firm’s analysts noted that “the industry is still in its formative stage.” ‘The Crypto Economy Is Entering the Mainstream’ JMP Securities recently published a research note that discusses cryptocurrency adoption. Noting that “The crypto economy is entering the mainstream,” the analysts wrote: The crypto market has come a long way in its short existence, and we believe both adoption and early use cases have established ‘escape velocity,’ whereby binary arguments about its fate are all but off the table at this point. The analysts further explained that “The industry is far from perfect today, scams do exist, regulation is undeveloped, and the industry needs more education given technical aspects of the space that make adoption and usage not always intuitive.” N...

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis said, “Thank God for bitcoin,” during her speech to the Senate about raising the U.S. debt limit. “Bitcoin is not issued by a government, so it is not beholding to the debts that are run up by governments,” she explained. US Senator to Congress: ‘Thank God for Bitcoin’ Senator Cynthia Lummis praised bitcoin during her speech on the Senate floor last week about raising the U.S. debt limit. The senator has been a bitcoin hodler since 2013 and has repeatedly stated that bitcoin is a great store of value . Lummis pointed out that while lawmakers were intensely discussing raising the debt limit, “almost no one is talking about the debt” itself. “We are getting closer to $30 trillion. Certainly, if the spending that is being entertained by the majority party and the Biden administration passes, it will be over $30 trillion,” she warned. The senator from Wyoming explained: Countries have historically tended to decline once the debt surpassed their gross dom...

The owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, has said “no” to investing in bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), one of which could start trading next week in the U.S. The Shark Tank star does not see a reason for him to invest in a bitcoin ETF, emphasizing that he can buy the cryptocurrency directly. Mark Cuban Says No to Bitcoin ETF The Shark Tank star and owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, has shared his thoughts on the heavily hyped bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to approve a bitcoin ETF, the first bitcoin futures ETF could begin trading in the country as early as next week. However, Cuban is not planning to invest in a bitcoin ETF or a bitcoin futures ETF when one starts trading on an American exchange. Responding to a question in an interview with CNBC, published Friday, whether he plans to invest in any bitcoin-based ETF, the shark tank star bluntly replied: No. I can ...

Cornell University’s professor of economics and former head of the IMF’s China division, Eswar Prasad, has warned that “Cryptocurrencies may contribute to monetary and financial instability.” He added that the risk is amplified if the industry is unregulated and lacks investor protection. Economist Sees Crypto Posing Risks to Financial Stability Eswar Prasad, the Nandlal P. Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy and professor of economics at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, shared his view on cryptocurrency in an interview with CNBC, published Wednesday. Prasad is also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he holds the New Century Chair in International Economics, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He was previously chief of the Financial Studies Division in the research department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and head of the IMF’s China division. He said: Cryptocu...

Following the latest report from Cambridge University that shows a large percentage of the Bitcoin network’s hashrate resides in the United States, the CEO of Twitter and Square, Jack Dorsey, has announced that Square is considering building a “bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon.” Square Considers Building a Mining System On the same day the CFTC fined Tether Limited and Bitfinex, and the filings that give the impression that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the Proshares Trust bitcoin futures ETF, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Square is possibly jumping into the bitcoin mining industry. Dorsey has been a bitcoin proponent for years and he recently explained that Square is in the midst of building a bitcoin hardware wallet in order to “make bitcoin custody more mainstream.” In recent times Dorsey has also said that bitcoin will be a big part of Twitter’s future. He shared a URL link to a book called “Anatomy of the State” by the economist Mu...

As the end of 2021 nears, Ross Ulbricht remains in prison as he continues to serve his draconian double-life prison sentence for creating a website called the Silk Road. Ever since he was arrested, there’s been an ongoing effort to free Ulbricht, as a great majority of individuals and a large swathe of eminent organizations believe his sentence was unjust and the Silk Road court case was a complete miscarriage of justice. Ross Ulbricht’s Change.org Clemency Petition Nears 500K Signatures, Georgetown Law Professor: ‘Sentence Was Grossly Excessive’ Over the last 12 months Ulbricht has been updating the public regularly about his well-being, and this past summer he spoke publicly for the first time since 2013. Today, Ulbricht’s clemency petition is closing in on half of a million signatures and the effort is only 51,014 signatures away from reaching the 500K signature goal. Ross Ulbricht is still serving his double-life prison sentence for creating the Silk Road website and his famil...

Zimbabwe’s increasingly pro-crypto finance minister, Mthuli Ncube, recently told his colleagues in government that it is now impossible to run away from cryptocurrencies. Ncube said this after revealing that some 30% of the country’s youth are now invested in cryptocurrencies. Zimbabwe Ready to Make Concessions on Cryptos According to a report by the Herald, Ncube also hinted that his ministry is now willing to make certain concessions on cryptocurrencies. However, unlike his recent comments in which he simply extolled cryptocurrencies, Ncube insists that these must not be treated as currencies. He explained: But our view is that we do not want it to be a currency. Want this to be an investment class. So through the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange platform, we will try to create crypto-based products there, which are ring-fenced within the offshore zone. By referencing the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFSE) as the ideal platform for cryptocurrency transactions, Ncube is echoin...

During the last few years, prepaid cards that offer cryptocurrency rewards have grown popular and a number of digital asset payment cards offer these types of rewards. This means instead of accruing frequent flyer miles or points, consumers get rewarded in crypto assets every time they make a purchase with the card. A recent study with 1,011 Americans shows that 14% of U.S.-based credit card users want cryptocurrency rewards from their credit cards. Percentage of U.S. Residents Prefer Crypto Asset Card Rewards It’s been a number of years since the introduction of the first prepaid digital currency payment cards that can be loaded with crypto assets in order to make purchases. There’s now a slew of different crypto-infused cards, as some of them leverage the Mastercard payment network and others utilize Visa’s payment infrastructure. After the intro of a few different kinds of crypto cards, companies started to add cryptocurrency rewards to card users for every purchase. For instanc...

A bitcoin mining operation in Tennessee is being sued by neighbors due to the high level of noise the facility produces. The lawsuit, which was filed in August, asks mining operator Red Dog to shut down operations and pay personal damages fees, as well as compensate owners for decreased property values. The lawsuit could set a precedent for other cases now that Bitcoin mining companies are seeking to migrate to new zones previously ignored. Bitcoin Mining Operation Faces Noise Complaint Red Dog Technologies, the owner of a Bitcoin mining operation located in the U.S. state of Tennessee, is being sued by a member of a neighboring community due to the amount of noise the operation produces. According to reports from local media, the complaint states that the noise coming from the mine creates a situation that “unreasonably interferes” with the “use and enjoyment” of the plaintiff’s property. Worries about the mine disturbing citizens and the legality of the operation have already be...