Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The central bank of the Philippines, the primary regulator of the country’s crypto sector, has warned investors about engaging with unregistered and foreign crypto service providers. They “may present additional challenges on enforcing legal recourse and consumer protection and redress mechanisms for local customers, among others,” the regulator said. The Philippine Central Bank’s Crypto Warnings The central bank of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), issued a public warning Tuesday regarding unregistered and foreign crypto service providers. In the Philippines, the central bank is the primary regulator of the crypto sector. The announcement states: The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Bangko Sentral) strongly urges the public not to deal with virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that are either unregistered or domiciled abroad. The central bank’s website shows that 19 VASPs have been registered as of June. Besides the risk from price volatility associated with

The European Central Bank (ECB) is working to harmonize the regulatory framework governing crypto activities and services in the EU. The regulator noted that several regulatory initiatives at the European and international levels are being finalized. ECB’s Regulatory Plan for Crypto Assets The European Central Bank (ECB) outlined its plan to harmonize the regulatory framework governing crypto activities and services in the EU Wednesday. The regulator explained that banks are increasingly considering whether to offer crypto products and services, and it is the ECB’s role to “ensure they do so safely and soundly.” The ECB described that it works closely with national regulators “to ensure a consistent approach and high standards across countries,” elaborating: There is currently no harmonized regulatory framework governing crypto-asset activities and services in the EU. “This will change with the finalization of several regulatory initiatives at [the] European and international l

Three days before Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), the world’s largest derivatives marketplace in terms of volume, CME Group, announced plans to list ethereum options. While CME’s ether options product prepares for regulatory review, the company detailed that the options contract will be measured at 50 ether per contract, using the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. CME Group Reveals Ethereum Options Launch The Chicago Mercantile Exchange otherwise known as CME Group revealed the company’s intentions to list ethereum options contracts three days before The Merge on September 12, 2022. CME detailed that the new ether options join the firm’s bitcoin ( BTC ) options and micro-sized bitcoin and ether options contracts . “These new contracts deliver one ether futures, sized at 50 ether per contract, and based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate , which serves as a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of ether,” the derivatives

A Russian national suspected of laundering ransomware payments in cryptocurrency on behalf of cybercriminals targeting hospitals has been extradited to the U.S. by the Netherlands. The man was allegedly involved in the criminal activity for a period of three years before his arrest in Amsterdam last November. Alleged Russian Money Launderer Handed Over to U.S. Custody by Dutch Authorities Denis Dubnikov, a 29-year-old Russian citizen, has been extradited this week from the Netherlands to the United States, where he is to face charges of money laundering in the District of Oregon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced . Dubnikov made his initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday and a five-day jury trial has been scheduled to begin on Oct. 4. In August, a federal grand jury in Portland charged him for his role in an international crypto money laundering conspiracy. According to the indictment, the Russian and his accomplice

Power needs of cryptocurrency miners in Russia have grown significantly since 2017, with consumption of electrical energy seeing a 20-fold increase over the five-year period. In 2021, the minting of the coin with the largest market cap, bitcoin, required 1.25 gigawatts in the country. Experts say, however, that Russia has the spare capacities to satisfy much larger demand. Crypto Miners Spend as Much Power as Russian Farmers Electricity consumption in Russia’s crypto mining industry has been constantly rising since 2017, a new study has established. The positive trend led to an annual increase of at least 150%, according to specialists working for mining hardware importer Intelion Data Systems. The extraction of bitcoin ( BTC ) alone needed 1.25 gigawatts of energy in 2021, their calculations show. The volume of electricity used for the production of other major cryptocurrencies, such as ether ( ETH ) and litecoin ( LTC ), can be an additional 40-50% of BTC ’s consumption, the rese

Meta, the social network company, has expanded the services of its flagship metaverse app, Horizon Worlds, to Spain and France. This move is part of the expansion plan of Meta to offer these services to more countries in Europe this year. While the app was available as an invite-only service in 2020, it just opened its services to the general public in December 2021 for the U.S. and Canadian markets. Meta Expands App Horizon Worlds to Spain and France Meta, the social media conglomerate, is expanding its metaverse offerings to Europe. The company recently announced the launch of one of its main metaverse apps, Horizon Worlds, in Spain and France. In a post, the company announced that all citizens over 18 years old in these countries will have the opportunity to enjoy this service using one of the VR headsets sold by the company. Horizon Worlds lets users experience a VR world in which they are represented by a configurable avatar, and can roam worlds created by other players and e

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board has said it has released the final guidelines which are set to be used by Reserve Banks when “reviewing requests to access Federal Reserve accounts and payment services.” According to the board, the final guidelines will become effective as soon as they are published in the Federal Register. New Guidelines Aimed at Establishing a Transparent and Consistent Set of Factors for Reserve Banks The board of the U.S. Federal Reserve recently announced what it called the “final guidelines which establish a transparent, risk-based, and consistent set of factors for Reserve Banks to use in reviewing requests to access Federal Reserve accounts.” As per the bank’s statement, the latest guidelines are almost identical to the ones proposed in May 2021 and the supplemental ones which were proposed in March this year. These new guidelines will become effective once they are published in the Federal Register. The move could pave the way for fintech and crypto banks