Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

In a report published on Saturday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that an ongoing war in Europe and associated sanctions will have a “severe impact on the global economy.” The IMF’s report says there is “extraordinary uncertainty” in the air, and the international financial institution believes “economic consequences are already very serious.” IMF’s Economic Outlook Amid Ongoing War in Europe Predicts Inflationary Pressures, Supply Chain Disruptions, and Price Shocks With a crisis happening in the world, many analysts and economists are concerned about the global economy and the aftermath of the warfare taking place in Ukraine. Additionally, Russian sanctions are being discussed or implemented daily by a large quantity of countries across the globe. On Saturday, the IMF issued a staff statement concerning the economic impact of the war in Ukraine after the executive board met on March 4. The report notes that the meeting was chaired by the IMF’s managing directo...

The chief executives of two major cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and Coinbase, do not believe that cryptocurrency is an effective tool to help Russia evade Western sanctions. CEOs of Binance and Coinbase Say Crypto Not Useful at Evading Sanctions Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, governments worldwide have raised concerns that cryptocurrency could be used to circumvent sanctions placed by Western nations. The CEOs of two leading cryptocurrency exchanges have shared their thoughts on whether crypto can be an effective tool to circumvent sanctions. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) was quoted by the Guardian as saying: Currently, the media and politicians are spending a lot of effort and focus on crypto and sanctions. The truth is, crypto is too small for Russia. “If we look at the crypto adoption today, there is probably about 3% of the global population with some kind of crypto exposure (ie, owning some crypto),” Zhao continued. “Of those, most only have a small perc...

A finance professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has warned of “bitcoin taking over.” He added that the Fed “has been terribly wrong over the last year” about inflation and must now act to defend the U.S. dollar. Finance Professor Urges the Fed to Take Action to Defend the U.S. Dollar Wharton’s finance professor Jeremy Siegel shared his view on inflation, “bitcoin taking over,” and the need for the Federal Reserve to defend the U.S. dollar in an interview with CNBC Friday. Siegel is Russell E. Palmer Professor Emeritus of Finance at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on demographics, financial markets, long-run asset returns, and macroeconomics. Commenting on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicating last week that the first rate hike will be in March and will likely be 25 basis points, Siegel criticized that the Fed is already behind and should be making a more aggressive move. “They’re going to have to do much mor...

The founder of Skybridge Capital has doubled down on his $100K bitcoin price prediction. He also believes that bitcoin could reach $500K a coin in the long run. “But we’ve got some work to do here from a regulatory perspective,” he stressed. The executive also advised how an average investor should get into bitcoin. Skybridge Capital’s Founder on Bitcoin Price The founder of investment management firm Skybridge Capital, Anthony Scaramucci, talked about the future outlook for bitcoin Friday in an interview with Melissa Francis on Magnifi by TIFIN. Scaramucci expected the price of BTC to reach $100,000 by the end of last year . However, he admitted that he “did not assess the regulatory environment appropriately” after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs). “I thought once you had the bitcoin futures [ETFs], you’d end up with the cash pretty immediately. Too much political headwind for that,” he explained. Instead,...

The Ukrainian government announces that $50 million in cryptocurrency was raised within a week since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. The government has so far spent $15 million in donated cryptocurrency to buy military supplies. Ukraine Government Spends $15 Million in Crypto on Military Supplies Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s deputy minister of digital transformation, revealed Friday that his government has spent $15 million in donated cryptocurrency on military supplies, including bulletproof vests, Bloomberg reported. In a Zoom interview from an undisclosed location in Ukraine, he confirmed that the purchased military gear was delivered Friday. Many people have donated cryptocurrency to the Ukrainian government since the war with Russia began. Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice prime minister of Ukraine and the minister of digital transformation, tweeted Friday that the Ukrainian government raised $50 million in cryptocurrency within one week. Most of the donations were in bitcoin ( B...

Crypto payment processor Coingate and International Business Settlement (IBS) have started an arrangement with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) that enables well-wishers to send donations to Ukraine via more than 70 different crypto assets. Calls for Widening List of Accepted Crypto Donations Lithuania-based crypto payment processor Coingate recently said it has begun an arrangement with the Ukrainian central bank that has seen the number of crypto assets well-wishers can donate to the country’s armed forces rise from just four to more than 70. This widening of the list of accepted crypto assets comes just a few days after the Ukrainian government acceded to Polkadot creator Gavin Wood’s pleas to have DOT added to the list of cryptos accepted for donations. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, shortly after the Ukrainian government said it would accept polkadot donations, Wood immediately honored his pledge and donated DOT coins worth over $5 million. Consequently, the Ukrainian g...

As financial authorities around the world continue to target sanctioned Russian entities, regulators in Japan along with the country’s crypto association are attempting to find and close gaps that may be used to circumvent sanctions. The two bodies, however, have said they are not discussing the plan to block all Russians. Calls to Block Russian Users Rejected Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association have reportedly said they are trying to find ways of stopping blacklisted Russian entities from evading sanctions via the use of cryptocurrencies. Japan’s move to target Russian cryptocurrency users has come shortly after Tokyo imposed sanctions on Russian officials including the country’s President, Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, a report suggested that the two parties are, however, not discussing or deliberating on a plan to block all Russian users. Instead, the report said the regulator is focused on finding ways to st...