Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Faced with cash shortages caused by the central bank’s currency policies, traders in the Nigerian state of Benue have reportedly resorted to barter trading. Traders from the state have implored the Nigerian government to consider rescinding the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy. The Nigerian Supreme Court has said it will pass its judgment on a suit challenging the naira redesign policy on March 3. Barter Trade Helping Businesses Stay Afloat The cash shortages sparked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s so-called naira redesign policy have seen traders in the Nigerian state of Benue resort to barter, a local report has said. The report added that some traders, especially those without bank accounts, began accepting payment in the form of goods or produce shortly after the passage of the old naira demonetization deadline. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, the CBN’s botched attempt to replace old naira banknotes with newly designed ones has sparked unrest...

A national survey commissioned by Coinbase suggests that about 20% of U.S. adults currently own crypto. In addition, 29% of U.S. adults plan to buy or trade crypto in the next 12 months. “The vast majority of Americans want to see the financial system updated and they believe crypto can be a powerful part of the solution,” Coinbase said. Crypto Survey Commissioned by Coinbase A nationwide survey of 2,202 participants from the general population was conducted by Morning Consult from Feb. 10-14. “The data were weighted to be representative of U.S. adults based on age, race/ethnicity, gender, educational attainment, and region,” the market research firm described. “The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of the global financial system and how U.S. adults and cryptocurrency investors view the future of the crypto market and exchanges.” Citing the survey results, the Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which commissioned the study, commented: The vast majority...

Economist Peter Schiff has predicted that the U.S. Federal Reserve will ultimately throw in the towel on its inflation fight to confront “something it fears even more, which is a complete economic collapse, another financial crisis, or a sovereign debt crisis.” He stressed, “The months of declining inflation are in the review mirror,” emphasizing that now “we’re going to see accelerating inflation.” Peter Schiff on Potential Economic Collapse Economist and gold bug Peter Schiff shared some dire warnings about where the U.S. economy is headed and the consequences of the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation in an interview with Greg Hunter on the USAWatchdog show, published Saturday. Citing recent economic data, including the personal consumption expenditures price index which rose 0.6% in January, Schiff said: “The months of declining inflation are in the review mirror. And now we’re going to see accelerating inflation as measured by these government indexes.” Asserting that t...

Israel’s public stock exchange is suggesting regulatory amendments that would permit some clients to trade crypto assets. The proposals, which have been put forward for public consultation, come at the backdrop of a growing number of regulated institutions getting involved in the digital asset market, the exchange noted. TASE Exchange Moves to Regulate Cryptocurrency Trading for Brokers The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange ( TASE ) has published a draft proposing to allow clients of non-banking institutions (NBMs) among its members to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. It intends to expand the list of authorized activities for such entities in order to add crypto trading. NBMs provide brokerage, investment and advisory services, and operate as intermediaries. While they can process various transactions such as the transfer of funds, they are not permitted by law to accept direct deposits from customers or act as custodians. Israel’s only public exchange is now seeking feedback on its regulator...

Web3 gaming platform Iskra breaks into the Top 10 Games ranking list on DappRadar , the world’s leading directory for decentralized apps or dApps, in a promising start for the project in 2023. Iskra also reached another milestone as the #1 app on the Klaytn blockchain after seeing an impressive increase in their user activity that reached a new high of 19.49K UAW (unique active wallets) per day. The successful launch of several highly anticipated platform features earlier this year contributed to Iskra’s rise through the ranks and placed it on the map as one of the most promising projects in the Web3 gaming space. “We are very excited to see the engagement from our community with the launch of our most recent platform features,” Iskra’s Chief Operating Officer Spike Ryu explained. “We hope that this momentum continues as we launch our games and offer early access to them in the second quarter. This is a promising start to 2023.” Iskra started 2023 by unveiling its multi-year Plat...

Several Japanese tech and finance giants have signed a document to create the Japan Metaverse Economic Zone, a multipurpose virtual universe that will have its base in a platform called Ryugukoku. The virtual world will allow these companies to share their technology with users as it lets them roam this role-playing-game-like world as online avatars. Japan Goes Big on Metaverse With Japan Metaverse Economic Zone Several Japanese tech and finance companies have kickstarted the launch of one of the biggest metaverse initiatives in Japan. On Feb. 16, JCB, Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Resona Holdings, Sompo Japan Insurance, Toppan, Fujitsu, and TBT Lab signed an agreement to create what they called the Japan Metaverse Economic Zone, an open multipurpose metaverse platform in a virtual world called Ryugukoku, which will be operated by JP Games, the company that will be in charge of the design of the experience. The idea behin...

Neal Stephenson, ostensibly the first to coin the term “metaverse,” issued his opinion about the future of the adoption of virtual worlds. The sci-fi writer and co-founder of Lamina1, a blockchain metaverse company, believes that building experiences that millions of people consider worth having in virtual worlds is quite difficult, hampering the adoption process of the tech. Neal Stephenson on the Future of Metaverse Adoption Neal Stephenson, believed to be the creator of the general concept and term “metaverse” — popularized recently by Meta — believes that mainstream adoption of this tech might be very far away. The writer, who coined the term as part of his novel Snow Crash, published in 1992, stated that the growth of the metaverse will depend on the quality of the experiences offered in the virtual world. As part of an interview offered to the Financial Times , Stephenson stated: There won’t be a metaverse that is used by millions of people until it contains experiences th...