Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The founder of two cryptocurrency hedge funds has been charged in U.S. federal court for securities fraud. He has pleaded guilty and is facing up to 20 years in prison. His two funds cumulatively had over $100 million in investments. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that Stefan He Qin, a 24-year-old Australian national and founder of two crypto hedge funds, has been charged with securities fraud and has pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court. Qin “owned and controlled two cryptocurrency investment funds” called Virgil Sigma and VQR Multistrategy Fund between 2017 through 2020, the Justice Department described. Both funds were based in New York. According to the DOJ, the two funds had “over $100 million in investments.” HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) Special Agent Peter Fitzhugh commented that “Qin mastered the art of trickery by representing these firms as profitable investment strategies so more victims fell to his tactics and were defrauded

German authorities have been unable to gain access to more than 1,700 bitcoins belonging to a convicted hacker, who kept silent about how to access his crypto stash while serving his prison sentence. German prosecutors in the Bavarian town of Kempten said Friday that they have been unable to gain access to more than 1,700 bitcoins they said were seized from a hacker. The hacker, who was 29 years old at the time, was convicted in April 2014 of computer fraud, among other charges. He covertly installed software on other people’s computers to mine bitcoin, which he kept for himself. He was sentenced to more than two years in jail. The authorities “seized” more than 1,800 BTC belonging to him at the time and were able to sell 86 bitcoins from the stash in 2018, according to local media. The sale brought in about 500,000 euros ($602,452). A spokesperson for the Kempten district court said the rest of the bitcoins were protected by multiple passwords and IT specialists assigned to

PRESS RELEASE. The LUXURIOUS PRO NETWORK TOKEN is now officially listed on PROBIT, a globally reputed professional digital currency exchange. Officials from both the organizations have expressed their opinion in this regard. “In my opinion, LPNT’s solid strategy will benefit users and investors in multiple ways because this financial revolution has everything to top the growth ladder for a long period of time, said Mr. Eesmond Hwee, Associate Director, PROBIT.” “Listing on PROBIT, an internationally reputed digital currency exchange, will boost LPNT’s utilization, circulation, demand & supply by manifolds as users will be able to purchase it for use in all walks of life, said MR. Satish Mostra, CMD, LPNT and Mr. Happy Sheikh, Global Corporate Head, LPNT”. The group plans on adding value to this incredible feat through the utilization of all LPN TOKEN’s attributes like a decentralized cryptocurrency payment gateway, forex trading with LPN TOKEN, a decentralized cryptocurre

The American musician, co-lead singer, and bassist for the rock band Kiss, Gene Simmons, has been very talkative about cryptocurrencies during the last two weeks. Just recently, Simmons sat down with Bitcoin.com’s podcast host, Dustin Plantholt and the two discussed a variety of subjects like the Ripple lawsuit, and why the rockstar thinks cryptocurrencies are worth owning. Gene Simmons Talks Crypto In an Upcoming Bitcoin.com Podcast Exclusive Gene Simmons is well known for his band Kiss , the rock band that was formed in 1973 by Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley. Simmons is also known for being an entrepreneur over the years and just recently, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Simmon’s telling his Twitter followers about which cryptocurrencies he owned. Last week, the bass player told his fans he purchased BTC , ETH , LTC , DOGE, XRP , and other digital assets. Rockstar legend Gene Simmons has been discussing cryptocurrencies regularly on social media and this week

The Indian government is reportedly considering taking “the ordinance route” to quickly pass the cryptocurrency bill. “The government is of the firm view that they want to introduce the law within a month of clearance of the ordinance,” a local news outlet detailed. Indian Government Seeks to Quickly Pass Crypto Bill All eyes are on what the government of India will do with the cryptocurrency bill that is listed to be introduced in the current session of parliament. The bill seeks to ban cryptocurrencies while creating a framework for the official digital currency to be issued by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). On Friday, CNBC-TV18 reported that “The government may take the ordinance route to pass the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill,” citing unnamed sources. The news outlet elaborated: The PMO, Finance Ministry, and Cabinet Secretariat have started preparing the draft details of the ordinance. The government is of the firm view

While the rise in cryptocurrencies over the last year has been the source of excitement among advocates and consternation for its detractors, a look at prices alone hides the real value being unlocked within the ecosystem. Cryptocurrency’s Real Value Lies in its Use, Not Speculation With the pandemic weighing on the global economic outlook and confidence in legacy frameworks ebbing near an all-time low, crypto fills the void among investors, consumers, and merchants alike. While easy to look at the significant rise in crypto valuations as the harbinger of times to come, cryptocurrency’s real value lies in its use, not speculation. The adoption of cryptocurrency is rapidly on the rise across industries and use cases. While the most high-profile moves are taking place on the financial stage as more funds and financial institutions pile into the nascent asset class , cryptocurrency’s primary hurdle has always been spendability. However, the increased financial allocations have oversh

At the end of January, the Matrixport subsidiary and leading derivatives exchange Bit.com announced the introduction of bitcoin cash perpetual swaps and options. Following the launch, the daily 24-hour volume has exceeded expectations doubling every day ever since. During the last few years, there’s been a number of derivatives exchanges leveraging bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) futures. This has been followed by the addition of perpetual swaps and options based on these crypto assets as well. Many assume that the upcoming ETH-based futures launch on the leading derivatives market operated by CME Group has bolstered the price of ether a great deal. Just recently, Bit.com announced that the team would be adding bitcoin cash (BCH) -based perpetual swaps and options. Bit.com noted that the derivatives markets these days are dominated by BTC and ETH , but BCH is a crypto asset recognized by institutions, the exchange announcement detailed. Option is one of the very few product

Over the last twelve years, the cryptocurrency community has always been intrigued by Bitcoin’s inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. For over a decade, armchair sleuths and journalists have tried to uncover the creator’s identity and information on the whereabouts of all the bitcoins the enigma mined when the network was still in its infancy. Now a few individuals believe Satoshi’s coins may be the greatest prize competition ever and the private keys are somehow hidden within the blockchain. Maybe Satoshi Nakamoto Left a Message? Just recently, some members of the forum bitcointalk.org have been discussing a new theory surrounding the infamous Satoshi Nakamoto. For years now, the hunt for Nakamoto has been quite the quest and so far, no one has been able to uncover the creator’s identity or find the inventor’s stash of BTC . Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s anonymous inventor is the biggest mystery and for the last decade, online sleuths and journalists have tried to uncover the inventor’s iden

A French wine trading firm has been favored by the recent crypto bull-run, specifically with the bitcoin prices surging across the board. Despite the pandemic, Lasserre & Papillon is making good numbers after founding BTC Wine. BTC Wine Was Launched During the 2017 Crypto Prices’ Rally Per an article published by Drinks International magazine, the luxury online wine retailer is witnessing a surge in demand nowadays. But the profitable journey first started with the bullish wave seen in 2017 that took bitcoin from $900 to $19,783.21. In that same year, Lasserre & Papillon launched the Bordeaux-based online retailer to the public. Despite the subsequent price reversal, the firm was confident that BTC Wine would keep its profitability in the future, as they believed bitcoin could resume its bullish steam. Their optimistic views became a reality. In fact, according to markets.Bitcoin.com, bitcoin exchanged hands above the $40k handle during Saturday morning’s trading sessi

Grayscale Investments has surpassed the milestone of $30 billion in net crypto assets under management (AUM). The company says the tremendous growth is due to institutional investors, particularly hedge funds. Grayscale revealed Friday that its net total crypto assets under management now stands at $30.4 billion. In the lead is Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which currently has over $24 billion in AUM, followed by the Ethereum trust with more than $5 billion in AUM. Last year, Grayscale started off with just $2 billion in assets under management and ended the year with more than $20 billion, representing a 900% increase. Grayscale attributed the massive growth to investments from institutional investors, particularly hedge funds. CEO Michael Sonnenshein says: “There’s no longer professional risk of investing in the digital currency asset class — there’s probably more career risk in not paying attention to it.” In its Q4 2020 report, the company wrote that “Institutions are here,”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has circulated a letter directing banks and financial institutions to identify and close accounts of cryptocurrency transacting entities. The directive, which took immediate effect, threatens “severe regulatory sanctions” to financial institutions that fail to comply. Banks Taking Immediate Action Immediately following the letter’s publication , some banks and other financial service providers began complying with the directive. The CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, tweeted that his company had received word from its Nigerian partners confirming that “Naira deposits and withdrawals will be affected.” Other crypto startups like Quidax, Buycoins Africa, and Bundle have said they will obey the directive. Meanwhile, the Nigerian crypto community is responding to the directive with anger and many are calling the decision retrogressive. Senator Ihenyen, the president of the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SIBAN), says the C

The price of bitcoin is nearing the crypto asset’s all-time price high on Saturday, as the digital currency has gained over 6% during the last 24 hours. The last time BTC was this high in value was during the first week of January when bitcoin touched a high of $42k that week. Crypto Prices Begin to Rise, Bitcoin Crosses the Psychological $40k Threshold Bitcoin (BTC) is up 6% today and hovering over the $40k price handle during Saturday morning’s trading sessions. For the last seven days, BTC has gained 17.6%, but during the last month, BTC is only up 2.3% today. Three month stats show bitcoin has also gained 160% and 311% against the U.S. dollar for the last 12 months. BTC/USD 5 minute chart on February 6, 2021. Today, BTC has a dominance index of around 62% even during the price high. That’s because coins like ethereum (ETH) and bitcoin cash (BCH) and others have seen some significant gains. At press time, with a 1.16 trillion dollar overall market valuation, BTC ’s en