Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

In less than two weeks after its previous bitcoin purchase, Microstrategy bought more bitcoins. The company has added 1,434 coins to its treasury, bringing the total holdings to 122,478 coins. At the time of writing, the company’s total bitcoin stash is worth about $6 billion. Microstrategy Purchases 1,434 More Bitcoins The Nasdaq-listed company Microstrategy has purchased more bitcoin. CEO Michael Saylor announced Thursday: Microstrategy has purchased an additional 1,434 bitcoins for ~$82.4 million in cash at an average price of ~$57,477 per bitcoin. As of 12/9/21 we hodl ~122,478 bitcoins acquired for ~$3.66 billion at an average price of ~$29,861 per bitcoin. Before this latest purchase, Microstrategy bought 7,002 bitcoins at the end of November. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin is $48,736.87 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. This means Microstrategy’s bitcoins are now worth almost $6 billion. Saylor believes that bitcoin will become a $100 trillion asset...

Bank of France, the Swiss National Bank (SNB), and the Bank for International Settlements have successfully tested the application of wholesale central bank digital currency in cross-border payments. The project used distributed ledger technology and was realized with help from private firms. France and Switzerland Explore Direct Transfer of Euro, Swiss Franc Wholesale Digital Currencies An experiment carried out by the monetary authorities of France, Switzerland and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has indicated that central bank digital currencies ( CBDCs ) can be used effectively for international settlements between financial institutions, the participants in the trial announced. Project Jura , which has been completed recently, focused on settling foreign exchange transactions in euro and Swiss franc wholesale CBDCs as well as issuing, transferring, and redeeming a tokenized euro-denominated French commercial paper between French and Swiss financial institutions, t...

The carbonated soft drink manufacturer Pepsi has revealed the company is stepping into the world of blockchain with its first collection of non-fungible token (NFT) assets. Pepsi introduced the “Pepsi Mic Drop” genesis NFT collection on Thursday, which features 1,893 generative NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Pepsi aims to create a real-time community of NFT holders with the NFTs that feature designs like the classic blue Pepsi, silver Diet Pepsi, red Pepsi Wild Cherry, black Pepsi Zero Sugar, and Crystal Pepsi. Pepsi Introduces the Company’s First NFT Collection Pepsi-Cola is a well-known soft drink manufacturer that was created and developed back in 1893 by Caleb Bradham. When the soft drink first came out it was called “Brad’s Drink,” but was rebranded to Pepsi-Cola in 1898. These days both Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola are the two most popular cola-flavored drinks on the market. In order to celebrate the birth year of Pepsi-Cola, Pepsi has launched a genesis collection of non-fung...

Binance Labs is a chain-agnostic investor and incubator focused on supporting the global blockchain ecosystem and decentralized web. Their portfolio includes 1inch, Audius, Axie Infinity, Chiliz, Elrond, Injective, Matic / Polygon, Sandbox and Terra. Ken Li is an Investment Director at Binance Labs, with a focus on equity & token investments in Web3 social, gaming & crypto adoption platforms. He recently joined the Bitcoin.com News Podcast to talk about the market: Ken also helps lead the Binance incubation program. Prior to Binance, Ken led blockchain investment & incubation strategy at BCG Digital Ventures and started his career as a management consultant at Bain. The Bitcoin.com News podcast features interviews with the most interesting leaders, founders and investors in the world of Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), NFTs and the Metaverse. Follow us on iTunes , Spotify and Google Play . This is a sponsored podcast. Learn how to reach our audience...

The director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has revealed that the agency is working on a number of cryptocurrency-focused projects. Cryptocurrencies “could have enormous impact on everything from ransomware attacks,” he said. CIA Has Been Working on Various Crypto Projects CIA Director William Burns revealed Monday at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Summit that the agency is working on “a number of different projects focused on cryptocurrency.” Responding to a question from someone in the audience about whether the CIA is on top of cryptocurrencies, Burns said: This is something I inherited. My predecessor had started this, [and] had set in motion a number of different projects focused on cryptocurrency. Burn elaborated that the agency is “trying to look at second- and third-order consequences as well and helping our colleagues in other parts of the U.S. government to provide solid intelligence on what we’re seeing as well.” The CIA director explained that cryptoc...

Cryptocurrency mining is among several energy-intensive industries hurt by a power deficit in Iceland. The country’s main utility is now rejecting requests to connect new coin minting facilities to the grid, after cutting supply to aluminum smelters and fish factories. Iceland Turns Away New Crypto Miners to Deal With Lack of Energy Iceland’s largest utility, Landsvirkjun, has been forced to limit energy supplies to power-hungry industrial customers including aluminum producers and fish processing plants. The restrictions have been applied to consumers with curtailable short-term contracts as well. Data centers mining digital currencies are among the affected enterprises and the company has been turning away new bitcoin miners. Landsvirkjun explained the need for the reduction citing a malfunction at a power station and the low water reservoir levels, Bloomberg reported. The supplier also faced a delay in sourcing electricity from an external producer. The utility announced on Tue...

Some economic experts from Africa have suggested that the continent now needs a common cryptocurrency and an integrated capital market to boost trade and sustain growth. The Importance of a Common Crypto Experts on the African economy have argued that a common cryptocurrency along with an integrated capital market is needed to boost trade and to sustain growth on the continent post the Covid-19 crisis. According to a press statement released by the African Development Bank Group (ADBG), these experts had made their arguments during a discussion on reforming Africa’s financial system. One of the experts quoted in the statement, Anouar Hassoune, a Professor of Finance and CEO of the West Africa Rating Agency, argued that a common cryptocurrency has the potential to reduce the cost of doing business. He explained: We need to come up with a cryptocurrency that is acceptable to each member state. It’s better to do it at the continental level, and we have the expertise to do it. It’s...