Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

On November 30, the crypto firm Blockchain.com announced it acquired the Argentina-based investment platform Sesocio. According to the firm, the acquisition will give the company’s global workforce an aggregate headcount of 400 Blockchain.com employees worldwide. Blockchain.com’s Global Headcount Grows to 400 After Acquiring the Crypto Investment Platform Sesocio At the end of March, Blockchain.com raised $300 million and the firm’s post valuation swelled to $5.2 billion. In August, Blockchain.com’s CFO Macrina Kgil discussed how the company has surpassed $1 trillion in cryptocurrency transactions. Kgil further revealed the firm may go public in 18 months while disclosing that Blockchain.com held BTC and ETH on its balance sheet. The crypto firm, founded in 2011 by Benjamin Reeves, Nicolas Cary, and Peter Smith, detailed on Tuesday that the company has acquired the Latin American crypto investment platform Sesocio . Blockchain.com explained that it has already made a mark in c...

Everscale (ex FreeTON) network developers Broxus have announced the opening of their Everscale Grants program. The grants program will provide crucial financial and professional support to promising IT startups that qualify. November has been a busy month for the Everscale network. Early on the project, which previously was called FreeTON, announced it would be rebranding into Everscale. The reasons behind the change were tied to the significant advances that had been made on the network and its correlated ecosystem, relative to where it had started out as FreeTON. FreeTON was started as a continuation of the now-halted Telegram Open Network. Once development of that network ceased on the Telegram side, the project was made open source and a group of enthusiasts, which eventually became FreeTON, came together to try to realize the potential that the network had. A bit further down the road, however, community members and developers cognizant of the strides made in network developme...

The founder and manager of several cryptocurrency funds has pleaded guilty to luring investors to his crypto investment scam. His funds consistently lost money and his scam left investors with a $5 million loss, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Investors Scammed Into Investing in Coin Signals’ Funds The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that Jeremy Spence (aka Coin Signals) has pleaded guilty in a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme. Spence “solicited over $5 million from more than 170 individual investors for various cryptocurrency funds that he operated, after making false representations in connection with these funds,” the DOJ explained. Spence was charged in June. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams detailed: Jeremy Spence, a/k/a, ‘Coin Signals,’ admitted today to luring investors to his cryptocurrency investment scam by touting fictitious historical returns of up to 148%. “In reality, Spence’s investments consistently lost money, an...

Bank of America’s strategist says that the metaverse is a massive opportunity where cryptocurrencies will be widely used as currencies. “I definitely believe this is a massive, massive opportunity,” he said. Bank of America’s Metaverse Prediction Bank of America’s strategist, Haim Israel, told the Insider Tuesday that the metaverse is a massive opportunity for blockchain technology. In addition, he expects it to take cryptocurrency mainstream. Israel is Bank of America’s managing director of research and a global strategist. He is also head of the global thematic research team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He detailed: I definitely believe this is a massive, massive opportunity … You need the right platforms … that is definitely going to be a big opportunity for this entire ecosystem. The Bank of America strategist predicted that the metaverse is where “we’re going to start using cryptocurrencies as currencies,” emphasizing that it will be where people finally start using c...

Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, is reportedly considering issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to fight the use of cryptocurrency. “A CBDC would be one of the tools to fight crypto. We assume that people would find CBDC more credible than crypto,” said an assistant governor of the central bank. Central Bank Sees CBDC as Tool to ‘Fight Crypto’ Juda Agung, an assistant governor of Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, talked about cryptocurrency and central bank digital currency (CBDC) during his parliamentary “fit and proper test” to become the deputy governor of the central bank. He said that Bank Indonesia wants to issue a digital rupiah to be used as legal tender to fight cryptocurrency, Bloomberg reported, noting that the central bank has been looking into this issue since the beginning of the year. In Indonesia, crypto assets are traded alongside commodity futures and are regulated by the trade ministry, the assistant governor explained. However, he...

While non-fungible token (NFT) assets have been extremely popular in 2021, there’s been a slew of issues tied to the ecosystem as well. A recent report indicates that roughly a dozen artists are considering taking legal action against an NFT collection called “Art Wars” because their original artwork was sold as NFTs without their consent. NFT Collection Targeted Over Using Artwork Without Permission From the Original Artists Non-fungible token (NFT) assets have seen billions of dollars in sales this year, and the term “NFT” was just recently awarded the Collins English Dictionary Word of the Year. During the last seven days, NFT markets such as Opensea have seen $587 million in sales, Atomicwax has seen over $20 million, and Rarible has seen over $3 million in weekly NFT sales. However, certain issues in the NFT industry have been introduced in recent times such as problems with permanence , censorship , insider trading , and now artists are upset about NFTs being issued without...

1inch Network, the decentralized exchange (dex) aggregation project, has announced the company has raised $175 million in a Series B financing round. According to the announcement, the fresh new capital will be leveraged to scale the team, foster additional 1inch token utilities, and build new protocols. 1inch Raises $175 Million From Strategic Investors Over the last year, decentralized finance (defi) has propelled itself into the spotlight as a great number of dex platforms now provide users with the ability to trade and provide liquidity in a decentralized fashion. 1inch Network provides users with the ability to get a better exchange rate as the aggregation platform combines multiple dex exchange rates to find the cheapest alternative. Furthermore, 1inch spread out even more by supporting five different blockchains which include Ethereum ( ETH ), Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Polygon (MATIC), and the two rollup solutions offered by Optimism and Arbitrum. The announcement sent to ...

India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has revealed that the previous version of the cryptocurrency bill the government is pushing needed to be reworked. “This bill, once the Cabinet clears, will come into the House,” the finance minister told Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament. Indian Government Pushing New Crypto Bill Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman answered some questions in Rajya Sabha Tuesday regarding the government’s cryptocurrency plans and the crypto bill that has been listed to be taken up in the current session of parliament. “The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021” seeks “to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses,” according to the legislative agenda for the winter session of Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament. Responding to questions regarding the crypto bill, Finance Minister...

The second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, ethereum, has come awfully close to reaching the digital asset’s all-time high ($4,878) it reached 21 days ago on November 10. While bitcoin dominance has slid below the 40% zone, ethereum’s market dominance, or $557 billion market valuation, represents close to 20% of the crypto economy. Ethereum’s Price Trajectory Nears All-Time High — Ether Market Dominance Increases During the last two weeks, ethereum (ETH) has increased 10.8% in fiat value and year-to-date (YTD), ETH is up 668%. The YTD ether gains are much larger than bitcoin’s ( BTC ) 190% 12-month increase. At the time of writing, there is $31 billion in global ETH trade volume and ethereum has a market capitalization of around $557 billion. While BTC commands a 38.7% dominance rating, 19.9% belongs to ethereum, and the remainder is held by the 11,289 crypto assets in existence today. The top trading pair with ethereum is the stablecoin tether ( USDT )...

PRESS RELEASE. Miami, Florida – The reality of the recent past has changed many aspects of life, from the way live events get hosted to the frequency with which we use up bottles of hand sanitizer. While not all of the changes have been improvements, the rise of digital art and NFTs have been decidedly positive. The landscape of the art world has changed forever, creating new opportunities for artists, not just monetarily but also creatively. Miami may be known for its art and party-filled festivals, but this is Miami like never seen before, thanks to the NFT presence. As such a big part of the most recent art history, the city is sure to be brimming with digital art and NFT-related events, but none like the collection of work that LGND will be presenting. Almost two years after our lives were changed, LGND debuts N ot F or T ourists, an exclusive NFT art show at Miami Art Week. Celebrating recent advancements in art and technology, pioneering an artist-centric model that speaks to...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has again spoken about cryptocurrencies, noting the “high risks” associated with the virtual assets. However, the Russian leader has also acknowledged that digital currencies may have a future and it’s necessary to follow their development. Russia’s Putin Still Cautious About Crypto Russian President Vladimir Putin has made another comment regarding cryptocurrencies. Speaking at the VTB Capital Investment Forum “Russia Calling!” 2021, the head of state noted that crypto assets still carry a lot of serious risks. Quoted by the news portal Life.ru, Putin elaborated: As for cryptocurrency, it is prohibited in some countries. It is not backed by anything, the volatility is high, the risks are high. I also believe that we need to listen to those who talk about the high risks. At the same time, Russia’s strongman did not rule out that there may be a future for cryptocurrencies. He further emphasized that right now it is necessary to carefully monitor t...

Bitcoin.com is integrating technology from CoinFLEX that enables users to earn interest on a wide range of cryptoassets, including a US-dollar stablecoin (flexUSD), through both passive and active strategies. The passive yield strategy is built on flexUSD, a US-dollar pegged cryptocurrency that automatically provides all holders with compounding interest payments, regardless of where they hold it. “We’re incredibly excited to be offering an interest-earning product that’s easy to use and carries minimal risk,” said Bitcoin.com CEO Dennis Jarvis. “Now our users can not only shield themselves from the downside market volatility by trading into a US dollar equivalent, they can also earn yield on those dollars that far exceeds anything available in legacy banking.” To start earning interest now, Bitcoin.com users can either swap into or “mint” flexUSD in a few clicks. Behind the scenes, yield for flexUSD is generated by fees and interest paid on short-term lend/borrow markets. ...

A recently established crypto industry association in Iran has commenced activities under the country’s chamber of commerce. Its management hopes to help remove obstacles challenging its members while facilitating the implementation of blockchain technology in the sanctioned nation’s economy. Industry Association to Address Blockchain-Related Challenges in Iran The newly-established Iran Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Association (IBCA) has started operating under the supervision of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mining and Agriculture (ICCIMA), the English-language business daily Financial Tribune reported. According to the publication, the IBCA is the first organization affiliated with the chamber that is dealing with challenges facing Iran’s growing blockchain ecosystem. The launch was announced by Mohammad Reza Sharafi, member of the association’s board, who expressed hope that the IBCA would be able to remove hurdles faced by businesses in the crypto space and use blockc...

2TM, a Brazilian fintech unicorn that is the holding company of Mercado Bitcoin, one of the leading crypto exchanges on the continent, has closed its Series B funding round again, raising an additional $50 million. The funding round was led by U.S.-based 10T and Tribe Capital, with the participation of other new investors. 2TM Gets $50 Million More, Prepares for Expansion 2TM, one of the biggest fintech conglomerates in Latin America, has raised $50 million in an expansion of its Series B funding round. The second closing of the round was led by 10T and Tribe Capital and had participation from other parties, including Traders Club, Pipo Capital, and Endeavor. The first closure of the funding round was in July when it received $200 million from Softbank. 2TM is the holding company of Mercado Bitcoin, one of the leading crypto markets in Brazil, and it’s now seeking to expand its services to other countries on the continent. The entrance of companies like 10T, which is making its fi...

BCH House Venezuela, an adoption organization, has published its first documentary on social media, where it shows the way in which Venezuelans are using cryptocurrency as a means of exchange. Roberto García, the founder of this initiative, shows us the level of adoption the BCH House initiative has reached in Barquisimeto — a city in the west of the country — and how merchants are embracing cryptocurrencies. BCH House Venezuela Showcases On-Site Adoption BCH House Venezuela, a BCH adoption organization, has released its first documentary , where it shows the advances of the organization in promoting the use of bitcoin cash as a means of exchange and also as a store of value. BCH House centers its action in Barquisimeto, a city with a population of one million inhabitants, and it shows how merchants are accepting bitcoin cash for everyday purchases. Roberto García, the founder of BCH House Venezuela, interviews some of these merchants to see what they think about cryptocurre...