Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

JPMorgan’s strategists have explained that even if China overtakes the U.S. as the world’s largest economy around 2030, the U.S. dollar may remain the world’s dominant currency for the rest of the 21st century. The global investment bank cited the historical experience of when the U.S. overtook Great Britain as the world’s largest economy. JPMorgan Discusses Future of U.S. Dollar Amid China’s Projected Economic Dominance Global investment bank JPMorgan’s strategists recently discussed the potential impact on the U.S. dollar in the event that the Chinese economy surpasses the U.S. as the world’s largest economy. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), one of the U.K.’s leading economics consultancies, China is projected to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy by 2030. The JPMorgan strategists explained that even if China surpasses the U.S. economy, the USD is unlikely to lose its status as the world’s reserve currency immediately, cit...

Amidst the buzz and persistent interest surrounding Bitcoin-derived Ordinal inscriptions, the co-founder of the Capsule 21 podcast introduced Ethscriptions, an analogous innovation that harnesses the power of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethscriptions, as described on the online platform ethscriptions.com, is a “new way of creating and sharing digital artifacts on Ethereum using transaction calldata.” From Bitcoin to Ethereum: Ethscriptions Take Center Stage in Crypto Community This weekend crypto enthusiasts have been discussing a new technology that is similar to Bitcoin’s Ordinal inscriptions except this idea leverages the Ethereum blockchain. The new concept is called Ethscriptions and it was created by the co-founder of the Capsule 21 podcast Tom Lehman . The Ethscriptions creator is also the co-founder and former CEO of genius.com. Let's take a moment to appreciate that after 6 years of stagnation on Bitcoin where other chains did all of the innovation, Ethereum is now copy...

On June 18, 2023, the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) protocols has been rangebound and hovering at just above the $42 billion range. Presently, Lido Finance dominates the value locked in defi with $12.69 billion or 29.76% of the aggregate. During the last month, the top ten defi protocols except for Lido have seen losses between 0.31% and 16.88%. Defi TVL Remains at $42 Billion With 58% Linked to Ethereum-based Protocols The total value locked in defi today is still above the $42 billion mark and $24.87 billion of that value is tied to Ethereum-based defi protocols. This means Ethereum’s TVL dominates by more than 58% in comparison to the 195 defi-enabled blockchain networks recorded by defillama.com. Out of all the protocols, Lido’s liquid staking platform holds the most with $12.69 billion and while nine out of the top ten defi protocols saw losses last month, Lido’s is up by 6.75%. The biggest loser of the defi protocol top ten was Makerdao which shed ...

As of June 18, the latest figures reveal over 12.49 million Ordinal inscriptions have been recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain. The inscription trend has yielded substantial gains for bitcoin miners, who have accumulated 1,732 BTC equivalent to $46 million using today’s exchange rates. However, the BRC20 economy, experiencing a significant decline in value, has suffered the consequences of bitcoin’s recent price plunge throughout the past week. BRC20 Market Faces Decline as Bitcoin Blockchain Records More Than 12 Million Inscriptions As of the latest count, there are over 12 million Ordinal inscriptions linked to the Bitcoin blockchain, with the current tally reaching approximately 12,494,695 . This sustained trend has contributed to a backlog of more than 300,000 unconfirmed transactions documented by mempool.space. On Saturday, bitcoin miners confirmed these types of transactions, as well as traditional financial transfers, accumulating a total of 1,737.50 BTC valued at $46.10 ...

Red tape and confusion has been the theme in crypto news as of late, with cryptocurrency firms scrambling to stay compliant with regulators like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with little to no definite regulatory clarity made available to them thus far. In the wake of lawsuits being launched by the SEC against massive exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, a former SEC official has warned of regulatory “siege” against crypto platforms, a judge has blocked efforts by the regulator to freeze Binance US’ assets, and economist Peter Schiff has said the Fed destroyed the U.S. banking system. This and more, just below, in the Bitcoin.com News Week in Review. Founder of SEC Office of Internet Enforcement Warns of Upcoming Regulatory Siege: ‘Get Out of Crypto Platforms Now’ John Reed Stark, founder and former chief of the Office of Internet Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has warned about a new regulatory “siege” against crypto platforms...

Wyre, the San Francisco-based crypto payments firm, has said it is winding down operations “in order to protect the best interests” of its users and stakeholders. The firm urged users with assets on its platform “to continue to withdraw them via Wyre’s dashboard until Friday, July 14th.” A statement released by the firm said parties interested in acquiring Wyre or its subsidiaries should contact 88 Partners via email. No Pressure From Regulatory Agencies United States-based crypto payments firm Wyre said on June 16 that it is winding down operations. According to a statement , Wrye’s decision to shut down was made in order to “protect the best interests” of its stakeholders and customers. The payments firm insisted that the move was not forced on Wyre by some regulatory agency. The firm’s decision to wind down comes more than six months after the CEO Ioannis Giannaros denied reports the payments platform had shut down. At the time, Giannaros instead claimed that Wyre was scaling ba...

The Nigerian currency’s official exchange rate versus the greenback recently plunged to NGN634 per dollar from just under NGN470 per dollar. The central bank’s decision to allow the naira to “float” came a few weeks after Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu pledged to end the CBN’s multiple exchange rate regime. The Naira Devaluation The Nigerian currency’s official exchange rate versus the U.S. dollar plunged to an all-time low of NGN634 per greenback on June 14. The naira’s fall by more than 30% came just days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) denied devaluing the currency’s exchange rate to NGN631 per dollar from just NGN470 per dollar. The central bank’s decision to allow the naira to “float” also came a few weeks after Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu pledged to end the CBN’s multiple exchange rate regime. Understanding the Operational Changes to the Foreign Exchange (FX) Market 1/3 pic.twitter.com/kNIhH7GIsw — Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) June 16, 2023 Be...