Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The booming blockchain sector in Vietnam is having to deal with a serious deficit in specialists, local media revealed. Despite the large number of software engineers in the country, those with blockchain expertise meet less than a fifth of the current demand, with businesses already looking for talent abroad. Fierce Competition for Blockchain Experts Among Vietnamese Companies Vietnam is facing a lack of human resources hampering the advance of projects in its rapidly developing blockchain industry , the English-language portal Bizhub reported. The Southeast Asian country has plenty of capable software developers but few of them have the needed qualifications for distributed ledger technologies. The shortages makes recruitment difficult and Vietnam doesn’t have many training programs to alleviate the problem, noted Trinh Ngoc Duc, chief executive of the company that developed the Fight of the Ages game. Quoted by the news outlet, he elaborated: The scarcity of experienced blockc...

Sri Lanka’s central bank issued a warning regarding the use of cryptocurrencies amid a devastating economic and political crisis. The central bank stressed that it “has not given any license or authorization to any entity or company to operate schemes” involving cryptocurrencies. Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Issues Notice About Cryptocurrency The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) published a notice about cryptocurrency Tuesday titled “Public Awareness in Relation to the Use of Virtual Currencies in Sri Lanka.” The notice cites “recent development in relation to virtual currency usage in the international and domestic markets as well as the inquiries related to virtual currency.” Noting that “Virtual currencies (VCs) are largely unregulated digital representations of value that are issued by private entities and can be electronically traded,” the Sri Lankan central bank emphasized: CBSL has not given any license or authorization to any entity or company to operate schemes involving VCs...

India’s finance minister has called on the G20 countries to bring crypto within the “Automatic Exchange of Information” framework. More than 100 countries have adopted the Common Reporting Standard under the framework. G20 Urged to Bring Crypto Under Automatic Exchange of Information India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, talked about cryptocurrency Friday during the G20 Ministerial Symposium on Tax and Development in Bali, Indonesia. Noting that “tax transparency” is an area where “considerable progress has been made with the Automatic Exchange of Information in respect of financial accounts,” she described: “Our investigations have shown that numerous layers of entities are often set up by tax evaders to conceal their unaccounted assets.” Sitharaman added that although “the Automatic Exchange of Information framework provides for financial account information to various jurisdictions, tax evaders, being smart, explore other avenues to shift their unaccounted wealth throug...

Billionaire Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers, says he plans to buy more bitcoin if the price of the cryptocurrency hits $12K. However, he remains concerned that bitcoin could “become worthless or outlawed.” Thomas Peterffy on the U.S. Economy and Bitcoin Billionaire Thomas Peterffy shared his outlook for bitcoin and the U.S. economy in an interview with Forbes last week. Peterffy is the founder and chairman of the board of directors of Interactive Brokers, an online trading platform. His net worth is currently $18.4 billion, according to Forbes’ list of billionaires. Interactive Brokers offers cryptocurrency trading . The billionaire said in January that it is prudent for investors to have 2% to 3% of their personal wealth in cryptocurrencies, just in case fiat currency goes to “hell.” In July last year, he revealed that he is holding some BTC , stating that “there’s a small chance that this will be a dominant currency, so you have to play the odds.” He told Forbe...

Bank of England’s deputy governor for financial stability, Sir Jon Cunliffe, has warned that cryptocurrencies are “very vulnerable to sentiment and prone to collapse.” He urged regulators to “get on with the job” and regulate crypto under the principle of “same risk, same regulatory outcome.” Bank of England’s Cunliffe on Crypto Regulation Sir Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank of England (BOE), discussed cryptocurrency risks and regulations this week at the British High Commissioner’s residence in Singapore. The Bank of England executive cautioned: Financial assets with no intrinsic value … are only worth what the next buyer will pay. They are therefore inherently volatile, very vulnerable to sentiment and prone to collapse. He explained that some crypto assets are purely speculative, with no backing, stating that bitcoin, for example, has nothing behind it. He also reiterated his previous warning that if you invest in crypto assets, you must “be...

Unbacked cryptocurrencies are not an efficient means of payment and stablecoins are vulnerable to runs, top officials at the European Central Bank have pointed out in a new article making the case for a digital euro. The executives have marked key objectives for the project which should provide Europeans with “easy access to central bank money” in the digital era. Trend Toward Digital Money Creates Risks, Senior ECB Officials Warn Maintaining access to central bank money is crucial for financial stability when payments are becoming increasingly digital. The digital euro can achieve that, according to the President of the European Central Bank ( ECB ) Christine Lagarde and Fabio Panetta, member of its executive board. The high-ranking representatives of the eurozone’s monetary authority have thrown their support behind Europe’s central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) in a piece published this week in the bank’s blog, in which they note that the “successful model for payments” that l...

XMR was a notable mover in crypto markets to start the weekend, as prices rose to their highest level in over four weeks. Despite a large section of the market consolidating on Saturday, ALGO was also higher, as it too hit a multi-week high during the weekend. Monero ( XMR ) Monero was a notable mover on Saturday, as the token rallied to its highest point in over four weeks in today’s session. Following a low of $133.16 on Friday, XMR /USD raced to an intraday peak of $141.17 to start the weekend. This move saw the token race hit its highest point since June 13, and this came as prices broke beyond a key resistance level at $136. Since this breakout, volatility in XMR has increased, with some bears trying to halt the current streak of upward momentum. As of writing, prices have slightly slipped from earlier highs, with monero now trading around the $138 region. Should earlier bullish sentiment continue to fall, then we may soon see XMR trading below its long-term ceiling of ...

BTC was marginally lower to start the weekend, as crypto prices consolidated following recent gains. After surges in price on Friday, both ETH and bitcoin were slightly lower, as bulls appeared to have liquidated positions in order to secure profits. Bitcoin Bitcoin was trading lower to start the weekend, as markets consolidated following Friday’s surge in price. Following a peak of $21,138.24 in yesterday’s session, BTC /USD slipped to an intraday low of $20,518.90 earlier today. This drop comes as yesterday’s momentum slightly eased, and bears reentered the market close to a key point of uncertainty. Looking at the chart, this resistance level was around the $21,100 level, which has often been a zone where bears like to circulate. On this occasion, they opted to attack, forcing some previous bulls to retreat from their positions, with some likely waiting for an opportune time to reenter. This also coincides with the 14-day RSI hitting a ceiling of its own at 48, however sho...

Itaú Unibanco, one of the largest holding companies in Brazil, has announced it is considering offering cryptocurrency trading services to its customers. The company informed that it will also offer tokenization services through a digital assets unit, that will allow customers to issue tokens backed by real-world assets, acting as a platform to facilitate their trading. Itaú Unibanco Adds Tokenization to Its Services Financial companies are starting to diversify their offerings by including blockchain and crypto-related services. Itaú Unibanco, a large holdings and financial services company in Brazil, has announced it will start offering tokenization services to its customers. To this end, the company will create a brand new unit in its structure, called Itaú Digital Assets, that will provide tokenization capabilities and act as a middleman between companies wanting to take their assets to the blockchain and the market. The company will use a platform called Hyperledger Besu for to...

Between 2011 and 2021, the share of the world’s adult population that had bank accounts rose from 51% to 76%, the findings of the latest World Bank Global Financial Index survey have shown. About 1.4 billion adults are, however, still unbanked, not having the money or the identification required for opening a bank account. Mobile Money Narrows Financial Exclusion Gap in Sub-Saharan Africa According to the findings of the 2021 Global Financial Index (Findex) survey , the percentage of the world’s adult population with a bank account is now 76%, a fifty percent increase from the 51% that was recorded in 2011. In developing economies, the average rate of account ownership rose by 8 percentage points from 63% to 71% in the period between 2017 and 2021. While in the past it was China and India that accounted for most of the growth, the latest survey report notes that the “recent growth in account ownership has been widespread across dozens of developing economies.” Concerning Sub-Saha...