Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A U.S. publicly-listed Chinese sports lottery firm is extending its arms into the crypto industry by announcing another related maneuver. 500.com Ltd announced it has acquired Btc.com, the well known bitcoin mining pool. Jihan Wu Is the ‘ Biggest Beneficial Owner’ of the Mining Pool Per the announcement , the online lottery service provider bought the company from Blockchain Alliance. 500.com performed the transaction by issuing newly class A shares, representing almost a 10% stake in the listed Chinese company. According to the filings, 500.com Ltd made the share exchange agreement with Blockchain Alliance Technologies Holding Company, a Cayman Islands-based firm. Currently, the Chinese lottery provider giant has a market capitalization of $860 million, and the transaction specifies some conditions. One of them includes the profits generated by Btc.com, which in case that such net figures are no less than $20 million by the end of 2021, the current shareholders will get up to a 5

PRESS RELEASE. xSigma is a decentralized exchange and liquidity mining platform that supports stablecoin swaps. It enables dollar-pegged assets to be traded onchain with minimal slippage and lower fees than existing AMMs. The project is gearing up for its public launch, when early adopters will have the opportunity to earn rewards for providing liquidity and traders can execute swaps in a highly liquid environment. Backed by a NASDAQ-listed company, and developed by an experienced team that includes former Google engineers, xSigma has secured the support of several high profile figures. These include NBA star Dwight Howard, who has committed to participating in the xSigma launch as an early liquidity provider (LP). Expectations are high ahead of xSigma’s debut, with a sizable community forming on Telegram, aided by extensive media coverage that has fueled interest in the decentralized exchange. The launch of xSigma coincides with the total value locked into defi protocols surpassin

A new poll of finance managers by Gartner Finance finds that a majority are not planning to hold bitcoin as a corporate asset. In their responses, most of the 77 finance leaders interviewed cite bitcoin’s volatility as one characteristic of the crypto asset that is “extremely difficult to mitigate.” The Concerns of Finance Executives The survey’s findings appear to contradict the growing sentiment that many more listed companies will follow in the footsteps of Telsa, Microstrategy, and Square Inc. In a statement released alongside the survey’s findings, Alexander Bant, chief of research at Gartner Finance reveals that 84% of the respondents believe that “bitcoin’s volatility posed a financial risk.” In addition to the cryptocurrency’s volatility, the executives also name six other areas of concern. As shown by the survey’s findings, about 39% of the respondents cite their board’s risk aversion as another factor that contributes to the decision not to hold BTC . About 38% cite the

On Wednesday, as the leading crypto asset bitcoin has been riding above the $50k handle, the well known firm Blockchain.com announced the company has raised $120 million in a strategic financing round. Blockchain.com says the financing comes at a momentous occasion, as the firm’s wallets have seen 65 million created to-date in over 200 countries. London Firm Blockchain.com Raises $120 Million from Macro Investors Blockchain.com is a popular cryptocurrency company that has been around since 2012. On February 17, 2021, the company’s cofounder and CEO, Peter Smith, revealed Blockchain.com has raised $120 million from a number of macro investors. Smith also recalled how the company raised money in 2014 and they only had around two million wallets issued at the time. “Six years later, we’ve come a long way,” Smith wrote on Wednesday. “Bitcoin just crossed the monumental price target of $50k. Over 65 million wallets have been created in 200+ countries. And 28% of all bitcoin transaction

According to various reports, the cryptocurrency network Verge has suffered a 51% attack that led to a massive 560,000+ block reorganization. Analysts believe the Verge network attack could be the deepest blockchain reorganization (reorg) in history with roughly 200 days worth of verge transactions wiped. Reports Show Verge Network Experienced a Massive 560,000+ Blocks Reorg The blockchain Verge and its native token XVG once made headlines for being added to the popular adult website Pornhub. This week, the Verge network has been 51% attacked according to multiple analysts and observers on social media. Verge has suffered from a total of three 51% attacks. One back in April 2018, and then another 51% attack a month later, when a malicious XVG attacker rejected a number of blocks. The network data analyst at Coin Metrics, Lucas Nuzzi tweeted about the issues with XVG on February 15. The past 200 days worth of XVG transaction history just vanished,” Nuzzi told his 9,000 Twitter fo

PRESS RELEASE. BitMax.io (BTMX.com), an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of MahaDao under the trading pair of MAHA/USDT and ARTH/USDT on Feb 15 at 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. EST. MahaDAO is a set of DeFi protocols governed by a decentralized autonomous organization. Its smart contract-controlled vaults are used to mint ARTH, a decentralized algorithmic stablecoin that maintains buying power irrespective of which direction the market moves. Different from USDT and Dai, ARTH is pegged against various uncorrelated assets, seeking to provide users a stable intrinsic value that will not be affected by inflation. MAHA is a governance token within the ARTH ecosystem. Community members can use MAHA to vote on saving rates, stability fees, strategies, and future actions to collectively manage the parameters which in turn can help supporting the value stability of ARTH. The MahaDAO team brings together

Gold bug Peter Schiff has revised his bitcoin prediction after the price of the cryptocurrency exceeded his expectations, reaching an all-time high above the $50K level. He now says, “I must admit that a move up to $100,000 can’t be ruled out.” Nonetheless, the long-term bitcoin skeptic warns that the price can also drop to zero and one should buy gold instead. Peter Schiff Now Predicts Bitcoin Can Reach $100K Euro Pacific Capital CEO and host of the Schiff Radio show, Peter Schiff, was mocked by the bitcoin community on Tuesday after the price of bitcoin crossed the $50K mark. The gold bug thought leader had predicted and emphasized repeatedly that bitcoin’s price would never reach that level. After he was proven wrong on Tuesday, Schiff revised his stance, tweeting: Now that bitcoin has hit $50,000 I must admit that a move up to $100,000 can’t be ruled out. Nonetheless, he warned: “A move down to zero can’t be ruled out either. While a temporary move up to $100K is possible,

A government-owned entity in Dubai has started accepting bitcoin, ether and tether as payment for its services, according to local media reports. Kiklabb is a free trade zone that helps companies set up shop in Dubai, a wealthy city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Kiklabb issues trade and other licenses as well as processes visas. The entity also leases office space to its customers on-board the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise liner anchored at Port Rashid in Dubai. Payments for these and other services can now be made in bitcoin ( BTC ), the Gulf News reported on Feb. 16. Tasawar Ulhaq, chief executive officer of Kiklabb, said the decision was made in response to a “growing interest in cryptocurrency with several customers in blockchain and fintech (financial technology) sectors.” He noted that crypto-based payments allowed for more accessibility for global entrepreneurs looking to start a business in the UAE. “It really was just a matter of time before we recognized bi

A crypto “smart city” could become a reality in Nevada’s desert, as a blockchain firm applied to make it possible. The investment company asked the state of Nevada to form a local government in Storey County. Crypto City Aims to Host 33 Million Square Feet of Commercial Space According to a report published by the Associated Press, Blockchains LLC wants to build the crypto city within its 67,000 acres of land located in Reno’s east. But the application is not limited to Blockchains LLC. The firm’s CEO, Jeffrey Berns, wants that local authorities grant other companies the green light to do similar projects in the state. Per the company’s CEO, if they get the approval, the firm will establish its own laws, as they’ll be granted power on building schools and even law enforcement. The crypto city also expects to deploy an economy based on digital currencies, where residents could purchase goods and pay for services via crypto assets. However, they don’t want to limit the project to

Simone Mazzuca is innovative in his style of management. Being the founder of Wallex and creator of the EURST, he is agile and motivated with a strong orientation to bridge traditional finance with the new digital world. He focuses his energies on management and advisory robustness that leads to the creation of borderless opportunities within the financial sector and oversees the success of his clients by the achievement of their objectives. The Founder of Wallex and Creator of EURST The impact of digitization on the world economy has presented the fourth industrial revolution, transforming the economic structure, economic policies, systems impact and governance. The digital era has changed patterns of consumption, production, business models making it an important issue from a financial perspective. Over the next decade an estimated 70% of new value will be based on digitally enabled platform business models. With these technological advancements evolving at an exponential rathe

The government of Spain continues to harden its stance against widely adopting cryptocurrencies. The Spanish Secretary of State for the Economy recently expressed her concerns on risks that she thinks cryptos possess for the national economy. Secretary Doesn’t Like Bitcoin as It Cannot Be ‘Supervised or Sanctioned’ During the Online Fintech Summit 2021 , Ana de la Cueva said that cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin ( BTC ) carry “a risk of default, given that the user does not have the protection offered by traditional payment systems against a default by the counterparty.” In fact, the Secretary blasted off on the lack of a “centralized guarantee system” in bitcoin. Interestingly, at the beginning of her speech, De La Cueva mentioned that the cryptocurrency’s technology is based on blockchain. However, she later pointed out that there is no standard “clarity” on the nature of bitcoin. The Secretary repeated the same rhetoric of Spanish state entities on crypto assets, saying that th

The price of Polkadot’s native token hit an all-time high (ATH) this week, soaring above $30, as the company laid out the next steps of its plans and the systems to finalize the network launch. Polkadot Roadmap Outlines Layer 0 Deployment Initiatives Polkadot released a roadmap highlighting that it is currently in its Rococo phase, the first of three major phases until the network goes live. Here is a breakdown of the roadmap. Rococo Testnet Rollout Polkadot (DOT) plans to continue with its launch of parachains, also referred to as application-specific data structures. These parachains, just like with parathreads, are what will allow Polkadot to pair with other more established networks, such as Ethereum and Bitcoin, through a mechanism called Cross-Chain Message Passing-lite. Polkadot is still in the Rococo phase of testing its parachains. Once the code is evaluated and approved, we can expect to see Polkadot submit its vote via onchain governance to power the parachains and

Bitcoin-buying frenzy among major companies could hit Mexican firms soon, as interest keeps increasing across the country. An expert is expecting that local businesses will follow the same path as mainstream U.S.-based companies such as Tesla. Current Bitcoin Performance Could Make Companies Rethink Their Business Models During an interview with El Economista , Mauricio Hurtado, managing partner of Price Waterhouse Cooper Mexico, says Mexican companies’ current appetite to acquire cryptos like bitcoin ( BTC ) is seeing bullish steam. Despite the uncertainties that cryptos have, current crypto market performances create enough confidence to rethink the current business model, said the expert. Hurtado added on the matter: This occurs because there is a significant number of players who are seeing in these currencies a transaction mechanism that is reliable and therefore, businesses adjust to market realities to prevail and have an advantage over their competitors; then you see an i

Just recently, during Microstrategy’s “Bitcoin for Corporations” event, Stone Ridge Asset Management and New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) founder, Ross Stevens, explained that he sees a “wall of money” entering the bitcoin space. A week later after that statement, NYDIG has revealed that the company has filed for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) and is hoping for regulatory approval. NYDIG Files for a Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund With Hopes to Trade on NYSE Arca Last week, when Ross Stevens told the Microstrategy CEO and bitcoin bull, Michael Saylor that he believes a lot of money was coming into bitcoin he probably had a pretty good inclination. Not too long afterward, Stevens’ firm NYDIG a subsidiary of Stone Ridge Asset Management revealed the company is aiming to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The news follows the recent Purpose Bitcoin ETF approval , which will trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange. NYDIG also falls behind the bitcoin-based ETF filings

Following the Cream Iron Bank flash loan attack, preliminary findings of a probe have shown that contracts and markets still function normally. As a result, markets have now been re-enabled while the asset borrowing function has been paused. The Cream team also reveals that investigations are continuing. The Exploit After the exploit , the value of the Cream protocol token plummeted from just over $280 on February 12 to $186.48 24 hours later. At the time of writing, Messari data shows that the token had recovered although it has remained mostly under $230. Meanwhile, in his analysis of the exploit, researcher Igor Igamberdiev reveals that the attacker(s) had “used Alpha Homora for borrowing Synthetix stablecoin from Ironbank.” He adds that “each time they (would) borrow twice as much as in the previous one.” The attacker(s), did this through two transactions and whenever they lend the funds back into Ironbank they would receive Yearn Synthetix stablecoin. According to Igamberdi

Gradual warming to cryptocurrencies by financial companies combined with both retail investments and institutional interest has carved the way for litecoin’s renewed momentum in 2021. Litecoin is Riding the Bull Market to its Next Resistance Level Litecoin had a challenging start. In late 2017 its founder, Charlie Lee, allegedly sold his entire bag of LTC “to concentrate on the project’s development.” Lee, understandably, received a lot of criticism for his decision. The founder, that goes by the Twitter handle Satoshilite (a reference to bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto) didn’t hold back, replaying a year later: I sold because holding LTC made it a situation where I may do something to pump the value short term. but is bad for the long term success of Litecoin. I didn't want that conflict. I've explained this many times. If all you still don't understand, I can't help you. Be gone. — Charlie Lee [ LTC ⚡] (@SatoshiLite) July 7, 2018 Interestingly though, L