Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

You know what they say, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” But when it comes to protecting your crypto funds on centralized exchanges (CEXes), the old adage should be “when life gives you regulations, make a self-custody wallet.” Self-custody is undoubtedly a better solution for protecting the interests of customers in crypto. Regulation alone is not enough. The following opinion editorial was written by Joseph Collement, General Counsel at Bitcoin.com. Don’t get us wrong, regulation is important. It’s like a flimsy umbrella on a sunny day – better than nothing, but not something you want to rely on during a monsoon. Just ask the folks at Gemini, who despite being the “most regulated” CEX out there, still managed to lose all of their “Earn” customer money. Talk about “earn-ing” a bad reputation! Ouch. But let’s be real here, the crypto world is like the Wild West. And let’s be honest, the U.S. Government is like the sheriff who just got to town, trying to make sense of t...

The host of Mad Money, Jim Cramer, has advised investors to avoid crypto and stick with gold if they “seriously want a real hedge against inflation or economic chaos.” He added that bitcoin is too volatile to use as a currency. “Imagine business owners trying to conduct transactions with shares of Facebook or Google … it’s ridiculous,” he stressed. Jim Cramer Prefers Gold to Crypto The host of CNBC’s Mad Money show, Jim Cramer, gave some investment advice regarding gold and cryptocurrencies on Monday. Cramer is a former hedge fund manager who co-founded Thestreet.com, a financial news and literacy website. He believes that investors should stay away from cryptocurrencies despite bitcoin’s recent gains. Referencing charts interpreted by Decarley Trading’s senior commodity strategist and options broker, Carley Garner, Cramer emphasized that investors “need to ignore the crypto cheerleaders now that bitcoin’s bouncing.” He proceeded to advise: If you seriously want a real hedge agai...

Economist and gold bug Peter Schiff has explained why bitcoin and gold are going up this year. “They’re rising for opposite reasons,” he said, claiming that the price of gold is climbing as investors view the metal as a hedge against inflation and a weaker dollar. Peter Schiff Explains Why Bitcoin and Gold Are Rising Gold bug and economist Peter Schiff has shared his view on why bitcoin and gold are going up this year. Schiff is the founder and current chairman of Schiffgold, a precious metals dealer specializing in gold and silver bullion. He has long been a bitcoin skeptic, regularly bashing the crypto while promoting gold. He tweeted Monday: Both gold and bitcoin are up in 2023, but they’re rising for opposite reasons. “Gold is rising as a hedge against inflation and a weaker dollar, while bitcoin is rising with other high-risk assets as speculators bet that a Fed pivot will cause a rally in 2022’s biggest losers,” the economist detailed. A number of people on Twitter disagr...

Seven major banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, have reportedly teamed up to launch a digital wallet that will compete with other third-party wallet providers such as Paypal and Apple Pay. Big Banks to Launch a Digital Wallet Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and four other financial institutions behind the payment network Zelle are collaborating to launch a digital wallet for consumers to use at online checkout, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The wallet will be managed by fintech firm Early Warning Services (EWS), which owns and operates Zelle. EWS provides risk management solutions to financial institutions, government entities, and payment companies. It is co-owned by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Truist, Capital One, PNC Bank, and U.S. Bank. The new digital wallet, which will be linked to shoppers’ debit and credit cards for online payments, will operate separately from Zelle. The banks aim to compete with o...

Brazil and Argentina are looking to begin work on the issuance of a common currency. Sergio Massa, minister of the economy of Argentina, also stated that the two countries will be inviting other nations in the area to join this economic integration project in the future. Brazil and Argentina to Spearhead Common Currency Issuance Project Ministries of Brazil and Argentina will be discussing the first steps to issue a common bilateral currency. According to statements given by the minister of the economy of Argentina, Sergio Massa, representatives of both countries will be discussing this subject at the CELAC summit in Buenos Aires on Jan. 24. Massa told Financial Times that the discussion would revolve around initial considerations for the issuance of the coin that would be called “sur,” Spanish for south. Massa stated: There will be … a decision to start studying the parameters needed for a common currency, which includes everything from fiscal issues to the size of the economy ...

Members of the crypto community have been discussing the number of bitcoins that have been bridged over to the Avalanche network, which is now larger than the total value locked on the Lightning Network. At the time of writing, there are 5,493 bitcoins circulating on the Avalanche blockchain, while the Lightning Network holds 5,248 bitcoins. Number of Bitcoin Bridged to Avalanche Climbs Past Lightning Network Capacity This past week digital currency advocates have been discussing the rising number of bitcoin ( BTC ) bridged over to the Avalanche (AVAX) network. Seven days ago, the crypto asset known as BTCb saw its supply surpass the number of bitcoins locked on the Lightning Network (LN). The reason for the celebration is that it took much less time to beat the LN’s total value locked (TVL) or capacity . At the time of writing, the LN has around 5,248 bitcoin TVL , which is worth around $120 million using today’s BTC prices. A week ago on Jan. 16, an Avalanche (AVAX) supporter...