Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A Kenyan communications strategist, Mwotia Ciugu, has told African investors to be wary of investing in bitcoin which he claims is worth zero. Bitcoin Structurally Incapable of Delivering on Its Promise In an op-ed published by The Elephant, Ciugu insists bitcoin (BTC) is structurally incapable of delivering on its promise of becoming an alternative store of value or a hedge against inflation. In addition, the strategist also claims bitcoin fails both as a currency and an investment. Although he concedes that Africa has one of the highest cryptocurrency adoption rates , Ciugu cautions, however, that the top cryptocurrency’s volatility and scalability issues mean it cannot act as a currency. Ciugu is quoted explaining: Bitcoin fails as a currency because of two things: volatility and scalability concerns. In its 12 years of existence, bitcoin has maintained extremely high levels of volatility i.e. 60 per cent to 100 per cent annualized. To further support this point, Ciugu mak...

Global investment bank Goldman Sachs is reportedly predicting that the price of ether could rise to $8,000 by year-end. The bank’s analysts explained that cryptocurrencies have traded in line with inflation breakevens since 2019. Ether Could Reach $8K by Year-End, According to Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs has reportedly explained in a research note circulated by the bank’s managing director of Global Markets, Bernhard Rzymelka, that the price of ether ( ETH ) could hit $8,000 by year-end. The note details that cryptocurrencies have traded in line with inflation breakevens since 2019, according to Zerohedge. Referencing a chart showing the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index (red) on a log axis and the USD 2-year forward 2-year inflation swap (blue), Goldman’s analysts noted that “the local backdrop looks supportive for ethereum.” The analysts added: “It has tracked inflation markets particularly closely, likely reflecting the pro-cyclical nature as ‘network based’ asset. And the lastes...

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has indicated that the shiba inu (SHIB) cryptocurrency will be listed on its platform on Tuesday. The dogecoin rival has gained much popularity recently, rising 97% in the past seven days and 825.5% in the last 30 days. Kraken Indicates Shiba Inu Will Be Listed on Its Platform Tuesday Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken tweeted Monday about listing the shiba inu cryptocurrency (SHIB) on its platform. According to the San Francisco-based exchange, the company’s product lead, Brian Hoffman, said if the tweet gets 2K likes, Kraken will list shiba inu Tuesday. At the time of writing, the tweet has been liked 45.1K times and retweeted 11.6K times. Founded in 2011, Kraken says it is the world’s largest global digital asset exchange based on euro volume and liquidity. Globally, its client base trades more than 60 digital assets and seven different fiat currencies, including EUR, USD, CAD, GBP, JPY, CHF, and AUD, its website details. Kraken was the first U.S. cry...

This past summer the American multinational technology company, Amazon, published two job listings for a blockchain lead and a digital currency expert. Now Amazon Web Services (AWS) is looking for a principal digital assets specialist that can “help drive adoption across the global digital asset community.” AWS Is Looking for a Principal Digital Assets Specialist One of the ‘Big Five’ tech companies, Amazon, has shown signs of interest in cryptocurrency solutions and blockchain technology for quite some time now. For instance, on May 26, 2020, the company patented a “distributed ledger certification” protocol. In February 2021, the e-commerce giant posted a job listing for a software development manager to lead a blockchain pilot project located in Mexico, alongside Amazon’s “Digital and Emerging Payments” division. This past June, the company’s employment portal said Amazon was seeking a blockchain expert in order to create “business use cases across decentralized finance (defi...

Following a number of ASIC mining rig acquisitions from the manufacturer Canaan, the bitcoin mining operation Genesis Digital Assets announced on Monday that the firm is developing an industrial-scale bitcoin mining data center in West Texas. According to the announcement, Genesis says that the new facility will have 300 megawatts of capacity with a “low carbon footprint.” Genesis Announces New Bitcoin Mining Facility With 300 Megawatts of Capacity The mining firm Genesis Digital Assets has announced the launch of a new bitcoin mining facility that will be located in West Texas. The Genesis data center will get energy from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The entity ERCOT is a large power supplier in Texas and statistics say the firm supplies 90 percent of the state’s electric load. Genesis stresses that the new data center with 300 megawatts will showcase “sustainable infrastructure, high efficiency, and a low carbon footprint.” The Texas facility announcement f...

Inflation continues to remain hot in the United States as supply constraints and higher oil prices continue, seeing barrels of crude surge above $80 per unit. Meanwhile, data released on Friday indicates that consumer expenditures have risen to 4.4%, the highest run-up of inflation the country has seen in 30 years. Inflation Continues to Rise in US Americans are dealing with higher inflation levels these days as new data indicates that personal consumption expenditures have spiked in September to 4.4%. Reuters reports that the inflation run-up is “continuing a run of inflation at levels not seen in 30 years.” Americans losing purchasing power has been attributed to supply chain shortages, sky-high oil prices , and the ongoing Covid-19 procedures mandated by the Biden administration. Reuters reporter Howard Schneider explains that the rising inflation levels in the U.S. could undermine Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s claims that inflation will be “transitory.” However, Co...

Burger King is giving away 20 bitcoin, 200 ether, and two million dogecoin this month in partnership with trading platform Robinhood. “Each entrant may receive up to 21 Prize Codes” that can be redeemed for cryptocurrencies on Robinhood. ‘Burger King With a Side of Crypto’ Fast food restaurant chain Burger King has announced “Burger King with a side of crypto,” its newest offer for Royal Perks members. To be eligible to participate, customers must “make a minimum $5.00 pre-tax Burger King (‘BK’) food and/or beverage purchase” either online at BK.com, using the BK app, or at participating BK restaurants, the company explained, adding: The prize pool includes two million dogecoin, 200 ethereum and 20 bitcoin, so only 220 guests could receive a bitcoin or ethereum cryptocurrency prize. “There will be 2,000,220 Prize Codes available as of the start of the promotion,” Burger King further detailed. Participants must be Royal Perks members, for which sign-up is free. According to the...

In mid-October, Bitcoin.com News reported on how decentralized finance (defi) or algorithmic stablecoins have seen significant demand in 2021. One particular stablecoin called OHM is quite different from the traditional reserve currency defi protocols today, as OHM is a free-floating currency backed only by what’s held in the Olympus DAO treasury. OHM may not be backed by a U.S. dollar in the usual fashion, but the stablecoin’s $3.6 billion market valuation makes it the fifth-largest crypto reserve currency by market capitalization. Meet Olympus DAO: An Algorithmic Currency Protocol When stablecoins were first introduced, a centralized model appeared where a blockchain network is used to distribute tokens that have fiat backing held by an audited third-party custodian. The centralized model still exists today, and the top two stablecoins in terms of market valuation, USDT and USDC are both perfect examples of that type of model. In recent times, decentralized finance (defi) or alg...

Have you lost the password for a Dogechain.info wallet or have it locked behind 2FA and fear you will never get to hold your precious coins ever again? Good news, KeychainX wrote a handy guide on how to recover such wallets. This is a trusted service provider that specializes in recovering lost Bitcoin wallets from wallet.dat files, Dogecoin wallet passwords, Android wallet or spending PIN, Ethereum JSON files, presale wallets and can even decrypt blockchain.info 15,17,19 or 21 word mnemonic seed that is no longer officially supported. Dogechain.info Wallets Can Be Recovered According to a recent KeychainX article , the team has been able to recover a number of dogechain.info wallets that both had their password lost and their 2FA blocked over the course of the previous month. Dogechain.info is a self custodian doge wallet that uses the same parameters like blockchain.info used back in 2015. It has the wallet ID, 2FA security and the encrypted wallet and keys stored on a server in t...

As defi continues to expand, it risks embracing the very ideology it initially sought to reject as the primary beneficiaries of this new financing paradigm are those who already own digital assets. Replacing Intermediaries Doesn’t Directly Improve Finance When it comes to financial products and solutions, almost everything comes with a catch, be it exceptional returns on investments or low financing rates. Decentralized finance (defi) is no exception. Defi has gained immense popularity because it sought to remove traditional finance’s (tradfi) inherent problems and downsides. While there is no denying that the emergence of defi has indeed lowered access barriers to financial solutions, we can’t overlook the uncomfortable reality that defi is becoming, at least to an extent, the same as tradfi, with a ‘decentralized’ tag. The Blurring Line Between Defi and Tradfi Lending In the traditional system, anyone who wants to borrow funds from banks or private lenders must furnish their cr...

South African finance minister Enoch Godongwana has put forward proposals that bar pension funds from investing in cryptocurrencies, and has also set November 12 as the public comment deadline. Cryptocurrencies a Grey Area According to a report by Business Insider SA, Godongwana’s timeframe for the public to comment on the draft proposals suggests he wants the changes to come into effect before the end of the year. Prior to Godongwana’s proposals, South African pension funds considered cryptocurrencies a grey area where an investment of up to 2.5% of assets held was permissible. However, as the Business Insider explains, this ambiguous part of regulations used by pension funds to legally invest in cryptocurrencies will be removed once the minister’s proposed changes get approval. “A [pension] fund may not invest in crypto-assets directly or indirectly,” the report explained, quoting new rules published in a government document . Meanwhile, the finance ministry’s draft proposals ...

Venezuelan authorities seized over a hundred mining machines in a residential area of a central state. According to reports, the mining farm was operating illegally without permits that the national cryptocurrency watchdog, Sunacrip, requires for these operations. The seizure was led by the national police, officers from the national power company, and personnel from Sunacrip. Venezuelan Mining Farm Seized by Authorities Authorities seized over a hundred miners that were operating illegally in a clandestine farm located in a residential zone in Miranda, a central state in Venezuela. According to reports from local media, authorities located the farm due to the strain it was imposing on the power distribution system in the area. This prompted an inspection by the police and authorities from both the national power company (Corpoelec) and the national cryptocurrency watchdog (Sunacrip) to check for unreported mining activity. The farm was dismantled and the mining equipment was seiz...