Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A virtual currency cannot be circulated in the market as a currency, therefore a vehicle sale contract wherein parties agreed that the buyer would pay with a privately issued digital currency is invalid, a Chinese court has ruled. The court asserts that a virtual currency does not have the same legal status as national fiat currency. Not Protected by Law A Chinese court has ruled that a vehicle sale contract, in which the parties agreed that the buyer would pay via a virtual currency, violated mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations and is therefore invalid. According to the court, a virtual currency “cannot be circulated in the market as [a] currency.” As stated in one Chinese language report , the Shanghai court’s ruling was made after an aggrieved vehicle buyer sought the court’s intervention. According to the report, a buyer only identified as Huang had signed a sale agreement with Shanghai Automobile Service Co Ltd in May 2019. As part of the agreement, Hu...

Decentralized finance (defi) has been hit hard by the recent crypto market rout as the total value locked (TVL) across 118 different blockchains has slipped below the $100 billion mark to today’s $74.27 billion. The TVL in defi today is down more than 70% from its December 2, 2021, all-time high (ATH) at $253.91 billion. Moreover, since December 2021, the top smart contract platform tokens have lost 70% in value against the U.S. dollar as well, sliding from $823 billion to today’s $245 billion. Defi Continues to Get Slammed by the Market Carnage, Top Smart Contract Platform Tokens Record Significant Losses While a great number of cryptocurrencies including the leading crypto asset in terms of market valuation, bitcoin ( BTC ), slid significantly in value, smart contract platform tokens and decentralized finance (defi), in general, suffered a great deal. While Terra’s LUNA and UST fallout primed the flames, issues with Celsius , Three Arrows Capital (3AC) , and the lack of trust...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and several state regulators are reportedly investigating the decision by crypto lender Celsius Network to freeze withdrawals. U.S. Securities Regulators Investigate Celsius’ Withdrawal Freeze The U.S. SEC and securities regulators in Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington are investigating the decision by crypto lender Celsius Network to freeze withdrawals, Reuters reported Thursday. Texas’ director of enforcement Joseph Rotunda explained that officials representing the five state securities regulators met Monday morning to begin the investigation following Celsius’ withdrawal freeze announcement Sunday night. Noting that the investigation is a “priority,” Rotunda said: I am very concerned that clients – including many retail investors – may need to immediately access their assets yet are unable to withdraw from their accounts. “The inability to access their investment may result in significant financial conseque...

PRESS RELEASE. EverStart , a DAO-controlled multi-chain launchpad built on the Everscale blockchain network and Revoland, a blockchain-based MOBA & Battle Royale video game , are partnering for an initial DEX offering. In the IDO, participants will be able to acquire REVO, a governance token that provides a payment and settlement method to interact with Revoland’s ecosystem. Revoland is the first blockchain-based MOBA game on Huawei Cloud, developed and published by Chain X Game, and backed by a solid set of investors and partners such as Alameda Research, HashKey Capital, Polygon, SEAGM, KhalasPay, and Huawei to name but a few. The Revoland team is completing its busy community development schedule with a series of IDO events on multiple exchanges, platforms and launchpads. EverStart is a decentralized launchpad based on Everscale smart contracts. It has reached an agreement with Chain X Game to run the IDO on its platform. Running an IDO for Revoland is an important mil...

Two Kenyan students accused of hacking credit cards and using the ill-gotten funds to buy bitcoin have been arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, a statement from the law enforcement agency has said. After converting the cryptocurrency to local currency, the two students would use the fraudulently acquired funds to sustain their lavish lifestyle. The Students’ Lavish Lifestyle A Kenyan law enforcement agency, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said it has arrested two university students it accuses of hacking credit cards and using these to “purchase bitcoins and convert them to Kenyan currency.” In a statement, the agency said the so-called notorious gang of two was nabbed in Milimani, an affluent neighborhood in Kenya’s fourth-largest city, Nakuru. In a Twitter thread explaining how the offense was carried out, the DCI revealed that the two — Francis Maina Wambui aka Nick, 26, and Zellic Alusa, 25 — had resorted to a growing criminal practice. The...