Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

While non-fungibe token (NFT) collectibles have been very popular, NFTs have brought a slew of unique debates to the table and one of them has been censorship. The artist behind Stonetoss Comics, a series of political cartoons, has been censored by two very prominent NFT marketplaces — Opensea and Rarible. Stonetoss has told the public on social media that the artist fears these NFT platforms are being used as a “tool for political censorship.” 2 Large NFT Marketplaces Are Accused of Political Censorship Censorship of any kind was loathed in the early days of crypto but these days, acts of censorship have been slipping through the cracks. The very nature of Bitcoin and blockchain technology is touted as “censorship-resistant” tools and non-fungible token (NFT) assets are meant to provide censorship-resistance to things like artwork, online creations, collectibles, virtual items, and more. However, while NFT marketplaces allow users to connect their wallets and buy and sell NFT asse...

About 8.3% of polled South African internet users own NFTs while a further 9.4% said they plan to acquire such tokens in the future, a study has found. Twelfth-Highest NFT Adoption Rate According to the findings of the latest Finder online survey, about 8.3% of the 1,205 South African internet users surveyed own a non-fungible token (NFT). These findings are enough to see South Africa ranked as the country with the 12th highest NFT adoption in the world. In terms of internet users that plan to acquire NFTs in the future, the survey found that 9.4% of polled South Africans are planning to do so. When this is combined with the number of internet users that already own NFTs, South Africa’s NFT adoption could soon rise to 17.8%. This figure is higher than that of Vietnam (17%) which is currently ranked fifth globally. According to the findings, The Philippines (32%) currently has the most NFT owners globally, followed by Thailand with 27%, Malaysia with 24%, and the United Arab Emira...

The governor of the Bank of England, the country’s central bank, has voiced concerns about El Salvador choosing bitcoin as a national currency. Citing a recent warning by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) against bitcoin’s use as legal tender, the governor said: “What would worry me most of all is, do the citizens of El Salvador understand the nature and volatility of the currency they have.” Bank of England’s Governor Is Concerned About Bitcoin Being Legal Tender in El Salvador Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey raised concerns about bitcoin being used as legal tender in El Salvador while speaking at the Cambridge University student union Thursday. Bailey explained: It concerns me that a country would choose it as its national currency … What would worry me most of all is, do the citizens of El Salvador understand the nature and volatility of the currency they have. El Salvador passed a bitcoin law making the cryptocurrency legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar i...

The author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has revealed that he is buying more bitcoin and ether amid rising inflation concerns. “Inflation is a tax on the poor and middle class. Inflation makes the rich richer,” he stressed. Robert Kiyosaki Warns About Inflation, Reveals He’s Buying More Bitcoin and Ether Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, has revealed that he is buying more bitcoin and ether in response to the alarming rise he sees in inflation. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries. Kiyosaki tweeted last week: Dollar Tree becomes $1.25 Tree. Inflation is a tax on the poor and middle class. Inflation makes the rich richer. Get smart. Get richer. I am buying more gold, silver, bitcoin, ethereum, rental real estate, and oi...

Thailand is laying the groundwork to become a “crypto-positive society” with the aim to attract crypto holders and boost its tourism industry. The country hopes to gain back some of the $80 billion in lost tourism revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdown. Thailand Plans to Attract Crypto Holders The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is working with the country’s regulators to make it easier and more convenient for visitors to spend cryptocurrencies in the country, Bloomberg reported Saturday citing TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn. The governor detailed, “There are people who have become wealthy from holding digital currencies and they may want to use the wealth they have accrued,” elaborating: If they can use their currencies here without having to exchange it, or be faced with government taxes, then it would create convenience for them. He explained that the Thai tourism authority is laying the groundwork for the wider acceptance of cryptocurrencies, which...

Boba Network, a recently released L2 layer for Ethereum, has quickly jumped to second place in TVL (total value locked) among all expansion layers. Boba, which is a fork of Optimism, another L2 layer based on rollups, reached more than $1 billion in TVL, surpassing Optimism. This is likely due to the profitable percentages offered by its first decentralized exchange, Oolongswap, which offers yields of over 1,000%. Boba Network L2 Gains Popularity The Boba Network, a recently released L2 layer for Ethereum, has reached second place regarding total value locked (TVL) among L2 solutions, gaining more than 50% in value during the last week. The platform, which is a fork of Optimism, another Optimistic rollup, surpassed its sibling to fall just behind Arbitrum , the leading L2 solution for Ethereum scaling currently. The problems Ethereum is facing regarding scaling have resulted in the rise of this kind of solution, which offers users the possibility of paying less in gas fees but enj...

The second leading crypto asset ethereum has been dealing with high fees since the end of June and today the average ethereum transaction fee is between $5 and $34 per transfer. While there’s been a lot of complaints about ether gas costs this year, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has recommended an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) that aims to decrease transaction costs by five times. Ethereum developer Tim Beiko discussed the idea as well, and talked about possible “challenges” both long and short term. Moving Ether, Transferring an ERC20, and Swapping Tokens on Ethereum Is Costly — Tim Beiko Shares EIP-4488 Insights Following the London upgrade during the first week of August, it was assumed that EIP-1559 would relieve at least some of the pressure. However, the average transaction network fee continued to rise after the London upgrade reaching, $62 per transfer on November 9. Today, ether gas cost is lower as bitinfocharts.com indicates the average ether fee is 0.0083 ETH ...

Cryptocompare, the firm that provides institutional and retail investors with real-time and historical cryptocurrency data, has published the firm’s November 2021 Digital Asset Management Review. The report covers crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), and recent findings show alternative crypto asset investment products are outperforming Bitcoin ETPs. Ethereum-Based Investment Product Trade Volumes Increase Every month Cryptocompare publishes a research report that covers the cryptocurrency investment product landscape. The investment products are ETPs tethered to today’s top crypto assets globally such as Grayscale’s GBTC and ETHE funds. Cryptocompare’s Digital Asset Management Review November report explains that ETPs tied to ethereum ( ETH ), litecoin ( LTC ), and solana (SOL) saw better returns during a 30-day time frame ending on November 19. “The majority of AUM for trust products continues to reside in Grayscale’s Bitcoin (GBTC – $38.1bn – down 10.1% since October) and Et...

Unexpectedly high demand for Switzerland’s first crypto stamp has created headaches for the national postal service. Swiss Post announced it had to deal with technical issues when numerous orders hit its online shop all at once on the day the innovative offering was made available. Demand for First Crypto Stamp Overwhelms Swiss Post’s Online Store Swiss Post announced the “crypto stamp” initiative in September when it was presented as an attempt to “bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds in philately.” The state-owned company joined forces with blockchain services provider Inacta to produce the stamp, a first of a kind for the Alpine nation. When the crypto stamp was launched on Thursday morning, Nov. 25, demand was so high that it “temporarily led to technical problems on postshop.ch,” the Swiss Post told the AWP news agency. That’s after the postal service had been contacted by many interested in acquiring the stamp in recent weeks, according to a spokesperson quo...

The Ghanaian government’s proposal to introduce a 1.75% levy on digital transactions was recently rejected by a minority of lawmakers who insist the new tax derails efforts to help increase the number of adults that are financially included. The Digital Transactions Tax A minority of lawmakers in the Ghana legislature recently rejected a government proposal to introduce a 1.75% levy on digital transactions including mobile-money payments. The lawmakers argued such a levy would slow down the country’s plan to increase the proportion of financially included adults from 58% to 75% by 2023. According to a report , the proposed levy, which was tabled in parliament by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, was (or is) expected to become effective from February 2022. The Ghanaian government argues that the proposed levy would help reduce the country’s deficit from an estimated 12.1% of gross domestic product this year to 7.4% in 2022. However, the minority lawmakers in Ghana’s hung parliament ...

Authorities need to expand the regulatory framework for cryptocurrency miners, a member of the parliament in Kazakhstan has suggested. The additional rules should streamline their activities and help correct the forming public opinion that they are responsible for the country’s electricity deficit. Crypto Mining in Kazakhstan Needs Additional Regulations, Lawmaker Says New regulatory requirements and criteria for the crypto mining industry must be adopted to streamline its operations while developing a comprehensive ecosystem for digital assets. That’s according to a recent statement by Dyusenbay Turganov, member of the Mazhilis, the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament. Quoted by the local business news portal Inbusiness.kz, the deputy noted that mining has been a legal industrial activity since the adoption of legislative amendments in 2020. He also reiterated that starting from January 2022, miners operating in accordance with the law will pay a new type of tax to the budget...

With the growing capitalization of the crypto economy, Russians have been making crypto transactions worth billions of dollars a year, data gathered by the Central Bank of Russia shows. Russian residents are some of the most active participants in the crypto market, the regulator has acknowledged. Russians Among Most Active Crypto Users, Central Bank Admits True to its hardline stance on decentralized digital money, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has recently stated that cryptocurrency operations “carry significant risks for financial stability and investors as well as climatic risks.” The warning has been issued with its Financial Stability Overview for the second and third quarter of 2021. The monetary authority has recognized the rapid growth in the capitalization of the digital currency market this year. According to its analysis , quoted by Forklog, increased investor interest in technologies such as blockchain, smart contracts, decentralized finance, and stablecoins has pl...