Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The Senate in Kazakhstan has approved amendments aimed at preventing the legalization of illicit funds which will affect companies dealing with digital assets, among others. The new legislation subjects crypto service providers to the country’s financial monitoring regime. Senators Back Law Concerning Crypto Services in Kazakhstan Members of the upper house in Kazakhstan’s parliament, the Senate, have recently adopted new legislation tailored to improve the prevention of the laundering of proceeds of crime and the financing of terrorism. Key provisions adopted with a new law pertain to the establishment of the legal institute of ‘public officials’ and their financial auditing. The amendments have been designed to improve the nation’s anti-money laundering framework as a whole and some of them concern cryptocurrency platforms. A report by Sputnik Kazakhstan reveals that the authors have proposed “to regulate the operation of virtual asset providers.” During a plenary session, Sena...

PRESS RELEASE. Since blockchain technology and crypto have become the power of the next industrial revolution in recent years, Africa has been making concerted efforts to ensure inclusion in the conversation. As a multipurpose African bank with over 200,000 customers around the world, DafriBank brings the Digital Bank of Africa (DBA) project into existence, and aims for making it Africa’s number 1 cryptocurrency. Taking a step forward, DBA is listed on trading platforms like LBank Exchange, to further expand its global influence and reach. Introducing DafriBank DafriBank is a multipurpose African bank that explores an easy and better way to save, make payments, manage customer’s money and business anytime, anywhere. The traditional banks are finding it difficult to cope with the demands of digitally-focused modern businesses, which has limited their growth. DafriBank solves this problem by providing exceptional digital banking services that are fast, secure, and cost-effective. Its ...

This weekend, the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Opensea surpassed $10 billion in all-time sales. Statistics show that 629,867 traders contributed to the $10 billion in sales and the average sale price since the NFT market’s launch is $872 per NFT. Opensea Cracks $10 Billion in All-Time Sales NFTs have become very popular in 2021 and the trend continues toward the end of the year. Just recently, Bitcoin.com News covered the NFT industry and market action data compiled by nonfungible.com. The report had shown 2021’s third quarter broke records surpassing the NFT metrics recorded in Q1 and Q2. Now the leading NFT marketplace Opensea has reached a record milestone surpassing $10 billion in all-time NFT sales. Opensea is the largest NFT market in terms of all-time settlement and the second largest NFT project is Axie Infinity. Axie Infinity has seen $2.99 billion in all-time sales and recently launched an NFT marketplace. Axie Infinity sales is 29.90% of Opensea’s all-time sale...

Global investment bank JPMorgan has doubled down on its bitcoin price prediction of $146K. The bank’s analyst explained that the price of the cryptocurrency could reach that level if its volatility subsides and institutional investors start investing in bitcoin more than gold in their portfolios. JPMorgan Renews $146K Bitcoin Price Prediction JPMorgan released an inaugural report of its new publication last week focusing on the outlook for alternative investments, including digital assets. A new report is expected to be released every two to three months. The firm’s analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou has predicted that the price of bitcoin could reach $146K in the long term, with a short-term price target of $73,000 for 2022. “Digital assets are on a multi-year structural ascent, but the current entry point looks unattractive in our opinion for an investment horizon of 12 months as bitcoin appears to have returned to overbought territory,” he explained. The JPMorgan analyst added: “...

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk has asked his Twitter followers whether he should sell his Tesla stock. He has also promised to abide by the results of the poll. Many people urge Musk to sell his Tesla shares and put money into cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin. Elon Musk Asks Twitter Followers to Decide Whether to Sell His Tesla Shares; Most Said Yes Tesla CEO Elon Musk set up a poll on Twitter Saturday asking his 62.7 million followers to decide whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock. “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?” Musk tweeted. In a follow-up tweet, he noted that he does “not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere,” emphasizing, “I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock.” The Tesla boss also promised: I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes. Musk’s poll has drawn much media attention. It r...

Billionaire investor Stan Druckenmiller has warned that everything is in a bubble, mentioning cryptocurrency, meme stocks, equities, and bonds in particular. “This bubble is in everything, every asset on the planet,” Druckenmiller stressed. Druckenmiller’s Warning: Every Asset Is in a Bubble Stan Druckenmiller discussed bubbles and value investing last week in a conversation with American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager Seth Klarman at the Boston Investment Conference. Druckenmiller is chairman and CEO of Duquesne Family Office LLC. He was previously a managing director at Soros Fund Management where he had overall responsibility for funds with a peak asset value of $22 billion. According to Forbes’ list of billionaires, his personal net worth is currently $6.8 billion. Klarman, who is the CEO of hedge fund Baupost Group, reportedly asked him: “If the bond market is what everybody’s keying off of and the bond market is in a bubble, then everything’s a bubble, is that ...

The Onecoin Ponzi scheme is still making headlines as reports from a trial in Germany revealed the missing ‘Cryptoqueen,’ Ruja Ignatova, purchased a London penthouse worth $18.2 million with proceeds from the Onecoin operation. The Münster court’s findings stem from the trial against Martin Breidenbach, Ignatova’s German attorney, who is being accused of money laundering. ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova’s $18.2 Million London Penthouse – Apartment Stuffed With Fine Art, Rare Andy Warhol Piece Ruja Ignatova, Onecoin’s ‘Cryptoqueen,’ purchased a luxury penthouse apartment in London via a shell company, according to recent reports from the BBC. The report notes that Martin Breidenbach is on trial in Münster, Germany with two other individuals over alleged money laundering charges that are connected to the Onecoin pyramid scheme and Ruja Ignatova. Reports published years ago show that Breidenbach started working with Onecoin in 2014. The lawyer worked with the law firm Breidenbach Recht...

Decentralized finance (defi) protocols continue to shine as the total value locked in defi is over $260 billion. While Ethereum started the defi trend and holds the lion’s share of TVL in defi, a great number of decentralized applications (dapps) are supporting a slew of alternative blockchains. Today’s Most Popular Dapps Support More Than One Network On November 7, the total value locked in defi is $260 billion according to defillama statistics on Sunday. When defi first started making waves, most of the dapps that people interacted with leveraged the Ethereum ( ETH ) blockchain. Toward the end of 2021, all that has changed as cross-chain technology is hotter than ever and dapps are now supporting a myriad of networks. For instance, Curve, the automated market maker (AMM) protocol, holds the largest percentage of TVL with its $20.08 billion commanding 7.71%. Curve also connects with seven different blockchain networks with Ethereum included. Chains include Avalanche, Harmony, Pol...

Restaurant chain Jack in the Box has sued cryptocurrency exchange FTX alleging that the crypto company “brazenly and illegally copied or derived its ‘Moon Man’ mascot” from its own mascot. The lawsuit details that FTX’s refusal to stop using Moon Man has caused Jack in the Box “considerable economic damage and irreparable harm, including by devaluing the goodwill associated with Jack.” Jack in the Box Says FTX’s Moon Man Is an ‘Inferior Version of Jack’ One of America’s largest hamburger chains, Jack in the Box (JITB), has sued cryptocurrency exchange FTX, co-founded by CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, over its mascot. Jack in the Box operates and franchises more than 2,200 restaurants in 21 U.S. states and Guam. According to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. district court of Southern District of California on Nov. 3, FTX US is accused of copyright infringement, trademark dilution, trademark infringement, false designation of origin, and unfair competition. FTX recently launched a series of adve...

Congress has passed the Biden administration’s bill aimed at improving infrastructure, fighting climate change, and bolstering social services. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which also expands the definition of a broker, awaits U.S. president Joe Biden’s signature after passing with a vote of 228–206 on Friday. Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Passes to the Tune of $1.2 Trillion The bipartisan infrastructure bill has been a hot topic in recent times and on Friday the bill passed in Congress and now awaits president Biden’s approval. The passing followed weeks of delays and debates as 13 Republicans joined a large majority of Democrats in order to help forward the proposal. BREAKING: The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was just passed by the House and will now go to President Biden's desk. They can't stop spending and asset prices can't stop going up. — Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) November 6, 2021 Bitcoin.com News reported on the bill three days ago when it w...

The digital euro should be an attractive means of payment but its design should prevent it from becoming so successful as a store of value that it threatens banks and private money, according to Fabio Panetta, a high-ranking executive at the European Central Bank. Panetta stressed that both this paradox as well as the need to issue a successful CBDC need attention. Europe’s Digital Currency to Complement Cash and Be Monterey Anchor While cash currently provides people with access to central bank digital money, its importance in payments is declining as consumers increasingly prefer to pay digitally and shop online. Internet sales in the euro area have doubled since 2015 and only around 20% of the cash stock is now used for payments, compared to 35% a decade and half ago, Fabio Panetta, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank noted in a speech at the Elcano Royal Institute in Madrid. “As people start to use cash more as a store of value rather than a means of paym...

China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan, has been used in transactions worth nearly $10 billion, according to an official with the Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). In addition, the government digital wallet has been downloaded by about 140 million people. Digital Yuan’s Adoption Rises, Nearly $10 Billion Transacted Mu Changchun, the director-general of the digital currency institute of China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), shared the adoption progress of the digital yuan at Hong Kong’s Fintech Week conference Wednesday. He revealed that some 140 million people had downloaded the wallet for China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eCNY, as of October. Furthermore, the digital yuan has been used in transactions totaling about 62 billion yuan ($9.7 billion), Reuters reported. While China has been actively testing its digital yuan, the PBOC official said that there is no official launch date for the digital cur...

Crypto proponents and market observers can now gain insight into Solana’s and Serum’s liquidity infrastructure ecosystem via the analytics and decentralized indexing provider Aleph.im. The cross-blockchain computing project says the induction of Serum Markets will “help surface valuable trading data on Project Serum.” Aleph.im Adds Project Serum Support During the last quarter of the year, the Solana (SOL) protocol and its native asset saw significant growth. In the last three months, SOL has gained a massive 542% and the market cap has entered the top ten crypto markets by capitalization. Today, SOL holds the fourth largest market position with an overall market valuation of $72 billion. On November 4, the cross-blockchain computing and decentralized indexing provider, Aleph.im , announced it is now offering analytical insights into Project Serum . Serum is a Solana protocol that bolsters liquidity infrastructure and provides decentralized applications (dapps) with the ability to ...