Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

On Thursday, South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals announced the company will be minting the first SXSW NFT, and at the 2022 festival in Austin, Texas, participants will be able to tokenize their work using NFT technology. SXSW’s 2022 festival will be held on March 11-20 and will feature a major on-site NFT workshop for artists, filmmakers, and brand participants. SXSW Plans to Drop It’s First NFT at This Year’s 10-Day Festival — Blockchain Creative Labs to Issue NFTs According to an announcement stemming from SXSW , the annual conglomeration of parallel film, music and art festivals, and interactive media, this year’s festival will have a strong focus on non-fungible token (NFT) technology. The creative NFT studio and business backed by Fox Entertainment, Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL), will be the official blockchain sponsor of SXSW. This year’s 10-day event will feature the first SXSW non-fungible token (NFT) and BCL will also be “offering NFT Services” to SXSW part...

The crypto-friendly travel company Travala published its third-quarter 2021 report showing the firm has grown significantly alongside the growth of crypto adoption. In fact, cryptocurrency adoption has “more than offset the negative impact of the pandemic,” the company said as Travala posted a record-setting quarter in Q3 2021. Crypto Adoption Bolstered Travel Company Travala’s Third Quarter According to a third-quarter 2021 report published by Travala, the company has seen “explosive growth” in the firm’s three core services: hotels, flights, and activities. In Q3, Travala introduced its “Community Pool” and “Community Vote” concepts alongside its “proof-of-travel” NFTs. Thanks to services like hotels, flights, activities, concierge, and integration fees, Travala’s Q3 revenue was $9.8 million which represents 651% growth compared to Q3 2020. Travala noted that hotel bookings and flights grew 50% from Q2 2021 and activities increased by 70%. However, the firm’s concierge service sa...

British police have seized bitcoin worth almost $3 million from a teenager who set up a fake website to scam consumers. “At the time they were worth £200,000. They are now worth a little over £2 million.” UK Police Seize $2.8 Million in Bitcoin British police have arrested a 17-year-old boy from South Lincolnshire and seized bitcoin worth almost $3 million from him, BBC News reported Tuesday. The authorities cannot name the boy for legal reasons. Prosecutor Sam Skinner said the teen set up a fake website that was almost identical to the official site of Love2shop, which sells gift vouchers. He then paid to advertise on Google, resulting in his bogus site appearing above the genuine site in search results. The scam site duped Love2shop users into entering their personal details. The prosecutor said: People were duped into clicking on his website thinking they were accessing the official site. The teen took the site down after a week when Love2shop began investigating him follow...

Shiba inu supporters are petitioning on Change.org for the trading platform Robinhood to list the shiba inu token for trading. Robinhood currently lists the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin which made up 62% of the company’s crypto trading volume in Q2. Petition to Get Robinhood to List Shiba Inu A petition on Change.org for the trading platform Robinhood to list the shiba inu crypto has garnered almost 400,000 signatures. At the time of writing, almost 397K people have signed the petition. If the petition gathers 500K signatures, it would become one of the top signed petitions on Change.org. The petition, started by SHIB supporter Tristan Luke, explains that it “is designed to kindly request of Robinhood to please list shiba inu coin to trade,” adding: Dogecoin has been a huge success for Robinhood, and its investors. We have all enjoyed the ride. Shiba Inu is a similar meme coin with genuine potential, up 2,000% in the last weeks. The petition further describes that the cryptoc...

Famous actor Matt Damon is starring in an ad for cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com. The ad, called “Fortune Favours the Brave,” is directed by Oscar-winner Wally Pfister and will be aired in more than 20 countries. The crypto platform “shares my commitment to empowering people around the globe with the tools needed to take control of their futures,” said Damon. Matt Damon Featured in Crypto.com Ad Campaign Cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com announced a global ad campaign Thursday starring Hollywood actor Matt Damon. CEO Kris Marszalek tweeted: Today we unveiled Fortune Favours the Brave. The “Fortune Favours the Brave” ad is directed by Oscar-winner Wally Pfister and produced by David Fincher. It “highlights the company’s own ethos, while inspiring those who want to change the course of history with a timeless phrase first uttered thousands of years ago,” the announcement details. The company said that the ad starring Matt Damon will be aired in more than 20 countries and will...

PRESS RELEASE. Singapore: HeliconNFT, the brand-new, global, gaming-focused NFT ecosystem, which recently unveiled a partnership with Battlefy, has announced that it will launch an NFT mystery box event on Sunday, 24th October. Ahead of the event, users will be given the opportunity to access an exclusive pre-launch sale and have the chance to be among the first to purchase mystery boxes containing rare NFT game items, artworks and collectibles, after completing their whitelist registration. HeliconNFT x Battlefy The announcement comes just weeks after the unveiling of HeliconNFT’s ground-breaking partnership with esports giant Battlefy – a collaboration that is set to change the way gamers see their favourite games forever. With over 70,000 tournaments under its belt, Battlefy has hosted some of the world’s largest and most prestigious tournaments, providing support for about 40,000 games. Through the collaboration, people can expect to see NFT-enabled games join the ranks of ic...

On November 12, the Walt Disney Company will be celebrating the first annual Disney+ Day and will be launching non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles to celebrate the experience. Disney fans will be able to obtain official NFTs from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and more via the digital collectibles app Veve. Entertainment Giant Disney to Drop NFT Series Disney has plans to launch official non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles in celebration of the first annual Disney+ Day. The well known multinational entertainment and media conglomerate headquartered in California has revealed a series of NFTs featuring iconic Disney characters and items. The first series collection is called “Golden Moments,” and fans will be able to obtain the NFTs by utilizing the digital collectibles app Veve. The Veve application has dropped NFTs stemming from Marvel , DC Comics , and special promotions based on beloved superheroes like Spider-Man and Captain America . The “Golden Moments” Disney NFT se...

Nearly every industry under the sun has started to notice non-fungible token (NFT) technology and on Wednesday, the media and entertainment company World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., otherwise known as WWE, announced the launch of an exclusive NFT marketplace. According to the announcement, the market will produce licensed digital WWE tokens and collectibles that showcase WWE superstars and iconic moments. WWE Plans to Lay the Smackdown With NFT Collectibles On October 27, Fox Entertainment and Bento Box Entertainment revealed the companies have inked an exclusive agreement with the publicly-listed media and entertainment company WWE (NYSE: WWE ). The professional wrestling company was founded in 1953 and is currently the largest wrestling promotion on a global scale with more than 450 events held annually. For years the company owned by Vince McMahon was known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) but changed its name in 2002 to WWE. The three entertainment firms plan to laun...

The meme-based digital asset shiba inu has entered the top ten largest crypto assets by market capitalization, knocking dogecoin down a notch. In the last 30 days, the shiba inu token climbed 976% capturing a market cap of over $40 billion. Meanwhile, the concentration of shiba inu whales is still quite large these days alongside the massive circulating supply of 549 trillion tokens. Shiba Inu Taps All-Time Price Highs Knocking Down the Dogefather This week the crypto asset shiba inu (SHIB) reached an all-time high (ATH) on a few occasions, including today, during the early morning trading sessions. SHIB’s ATH was around $0.00008616 and then the value subsequently dipped 11% below the high. SHIB’s market valuation has soared to $40 billion and it has allowed the shiba inu token market to enter the top ten crypto assets. Shiba inu managed to knock dogecoin (DOGE) down a notch as well from the ninth position to the tenth. SHIB is mostly traded with tether ( USDT ) these days as USDT ...

El Salvador, the country that made bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar, has bought the dip again. The Salvadoran government has purchased a total of 1,120 bitcoins, currently worth more than $68 million. El Salvador’s Bitcoin Holdings Grow El Salvador has bought the dip again, taking advantage of the falling price of bitcoin on Wednesday. President Nayib Bukele tweeted: “It was a long wait, but worth it. We just bought the dip.” At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin is $61,129, down from an all-time high of almost $67,000 on Oct. 19 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets . The country made bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar on Sept. 7. At the time, the price of BTC was around $46,000. The day before its Bitcoin law went into effect , El Salvador purchased two sets of 200 bitcoins. On Sept. 7, the price fell slightly, allowing the country to buy the dip (150 BTC ). On Sept. 20, Bukeke said his country bought the dip again (150 more BTC ), adding, “...

A provincial branch of one the largest Islamic organizations in Indonesia has declared cryptocurrency “haram,” or forbidden under religious law. The decision came after a “heated discussion” joined by a crypto expert who was invited to explain in detail the practice of using digital coins. Cryptocurrency Deemed ‘Haram’ in Indonesia The local branch of the Indonesian religious organization Nahdlatul Ulama in East Java has recently issued a fatwa on the status of cryptocurrencies under Islamic law. According to the nonbinding opinion, digital currencies secured by cryptography and used as a transaction instrument are to be considered “haram,” which means forbidden. The decision came as a result of “bahtsul masail,” a discussion held by the organization on Sunday, Oct. 24, the Indonesian news portal Tempo reported. Members involved in the debate, which the article describes as “dynamic” and “heated,” concluded that the use of cryptocurrency could undermine the legality of financial t...

Guild Of Guardians is a multiplayer RPG where players earn epic rewards. The project has top tier partners such as Ubisoft and one of the largest and most well-funded, VC-backed teams building NFT games. The developers have big ambitions for disrupting the $100 billion mobile gaming industry by creating a quality experience that is both fun to play and allows everyone to earn real money. With over 240,000 followers, the project also has one of the largest communities in the space despite still being in the prelaunch stage. Meet the Future of Gaming: Guild of Guardians Guild Of Guardians is an upcoming multiplayer, fantasy, action RPG developed by Stepico Games and published by Immutable. Stepico is a mobile games development studio that released multiple titles with over 5 million downloads, and Immutable are one of the largest VC-funded blockchain start-ups and the team behind Gods Unchained and Immutable X. The development team currently has over 20 full-time employees and there ...

The Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, suggested in a recent speech that the new e-naira central bank digital currency (CBDC) could lead to an increase in the value of his country’s GDP by $29 billion in ten years. Africa’s First CBDC President Buhari made bold remarks in his speech at Monday’s launch of the e-naira CBDC, stating: “Indeed, some estimates indicate that the adoption of CBDC and its underlying technology, called blockchain, can increase Nigeria’s GDP by US$29 billion over the next 10 years.” In addition to boosting Nigeria’s GDP, President Buhari suggested that such a digital currency might help move more people and businesses from the informal sector to the formal sector. Although he acknowledges that many countries are still in the research and experimental stages, the Nigerian leader insists that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) — which he says has been investigating CBDCs since 2017 — is well-positioned to launch the digital currency. In his speech , publishe...

Authorities in Slovenia have prepared new legislation tailored to determine how crypto holdings and transactions are taxed in the country. The proposal, aimed at clarifying the matter, has been submitted for public consultations this week, local media reports revealed. Slovenia to Amend Tax Rules for Cryptocurrencies The Finance Ministry in Ljubljana has opened public consultations on a draft law regulating cryptocurrency taxation, Slovenian media reported. The legislation is based on proposals made by the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia ( FURS ), which were announced in August of this year. The amendments are expected to simplify the tax scheme pertaining to crypto assets. Under current rules, the taxable income from virtual currency operations depends on the circumstances in each case, and the tax office has to check numerous transactions made by taxpayers between purchases, sales, and conversions. Under the upcoming regulations, the state will adopt a 10% ...