Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The central bank of Georgia intends to publish a document detailing the concept of a national digital currency in the coming months. Other participating parties will use it to finalize their proposals for the pilot which the monetary authority plans to initiate in the first half of the year. Financial Authorities in Georgia Gear Up for Digital Currency Trials The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) is going to release a ‘digital lari’ whitepaper, allowing potential partners to fine-tune their proposals for the test phase of the project. A pilot version of the central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) was initially expected in 2022 but the NBG postponed the trials for this year. “In the first half of 2023, we will publish the document and soon after that, together with the winning partner, we will discuss how long it would take to implement the project,” Deputy Governor Papuna Lezhava explained in an interview with the Rustavi 2 TV channel. Several alternative approaches to testing the di...

Authorities in Germany, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Cyprus have taken down a cryptocurrency scam network in collaboration with Europol. “The suspects used advertisements on social networks to lure victims to websites covertly operated by the criminals, which offered seemingly exceptional investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies,” Europol detailed. Authorities Cracking Down on Cryptocurrency Scams Europol announced Thursday that authorities from Bulgaria, Serbia, Cyprus, and Germany, in collaboration with Europol and Eurojust, have taken down “call centers selling fake crypto.” The criminal network, operating through call centers, “lured victims into investing large amounts of money into fake cryptocurrency schemes,” Europol explained, elaborating: The suspects used advertisements on social networks to lure victims to websites covertly operated by the criminals, which offered seemingly exceptional investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies. Fifteen people have been arrested in t...

According to statistics, the number of Ethereum network validators on the Beacon chain exceeded 500,000 as of Jan. 12, 2023. The validator milestone comes as Ethereum core developers prepare for the Shanghai hard fork. Five days ago, Ethereum core developers launched a developer network environment called “devnet 2” for the upcoming upgrade. Ethereum Developers Launch ‘Devnet 2’ Testing Network for Upcoming Shanghai Upgrade; Network Exceeds 500,000 Validators On Jan. 11, 2023, Ethereum developers launched a new testing network for the Shanghai upgrade, a hard fork that’s anticipated to happen in March 2023. The developer’s new testing environment is called “devnet 2” as it follows “devnet 1” released in Nov. 2022. The new testnet was discussed briefly during the All Core Devs (ACD) meeting held on Jan. 5, 2023. At that time, Ethereum core developers stressed that the focus remains vigilant on staked withdrawals. It has been 123 days since The Merge , the point in time when the Et...

A professor from Cornell University has warned about the potential effects a collapse of a major stablecoin could have on the U.S. bond market. Eswar Prasad said that if large stablecoins face a collapse, the number of Treasury bonds they would need to sell could disrupt the U.S. Treasuries market, affecting prices. Cornell Profesor Alerts About Stablecoin Collapse Danger Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University, has warned about the potential damage a bank run on a possible collapse of a major stablecoin could bring to the traditional finance system in the U.S. Although the most recent collapse in the crypto economy did not reach legacy finance structures, Prasad believes stablecoins and their operations present risks in this regard. In an interview with CNBC, Prasad argued that stablecoins use U.S. treasuries as a backup to maintain the value of the peg. In the case that one of the big stablecoins in the market faces a collapse or a bank run, these organization...

South Korea’s supreme court has upheld the ruling for Bithumb, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to pay damages to more than a hundred customers who filed a lawsuit claiming they suffered financial losses resulting from the exchange’s service outage. Bithumb Ordered to Pay Customers Over Service Outage The South Korean supreme court has issued a final ruling in a case involving a service outage at Bithumb, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Yonhap reported. The court has ordered Bithumb to pay damages totaling 251.4 million won ($203,120) to 132 investors who filed a lawsuit against the crypto exchange operator following the service outage, officials said Friday. The plaintiffs claimed that they suffered financial losses due to steep price drops in a number of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin cash ( BCH ) and ethereum classic ( ETC ), on Nov. 12, 2017, when the service outage occurred. According to the lawsuit, during the service interruption, the average...