Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Crypto tax evasion is becoming a hot potato for the authorities in some Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea. A South Korean city is now actively fighting against tax evaders who are suspiciously reporting meager earnings in their filings. 511 Individuals in the Authorities’ Eyes According to Gugkje News , the authorities of Gyeongju, in North Gyeongsang Province, are aware of several possible cases of crypto tax evasion where individuals are reportedly hiding money into cryptocurrencies without reporting them before the tax authorities. As the new “Specific Financial Information Act” rules enforced the monitoring of the crypto exchanges to combat money laundering and tax evasion, Gyeongju City and the North Gyeongsang Province are cooperating with four domestic exchanges to identify the alleged tax evaders. In fact, Bithumb and Upbit are reportedly providing the data asked by the authorities to analyze possible irregularities. As of press time, 511 individuals are unde

The whistleblower and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee and subcontractor Edward Snowden has revealed he is stepping into the world of non-fungible token (NFT) assets. Moreover, 100% of the NFT sale proceeds will be donated to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. American Whistleblower Edward Snowden Mints an NFT Edward Snowden is a well known whistleblower who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) back in 2013. Snowden is a privacy advocate and has explained that he is positive about digital currencies like bitcoin ( BTC ) in the past. The whistleblower has also been critical of BTC ’s development in regard to the blockchain’s ability to scale to the masses. Edward Snowden’s “Stay Free” non-fungible token (NFT) collectible is pictured on the left and will be auctioned on April 16, 2021, via the NFT marketplace Foundation. Now Snowden has released an NFT called “ Stay Free ” and it claims to be the “only known NFT produced b

During the first week of April, Bitcoin.com News reported on the sidechain project Smart Bitcoin Cash Project (Smartbch), as the community has been very excited about this new venture. Smartbch aims to connect Ethereum’s EVM and Web3 APIs to a smart sidechain built using the Bitcoin Cash network. On April 7, 2021, Smartbch’s lead developer Wang Kui was interviewed by Satoshi’s Angels’ cofounder Cindy Wang and he explained the many benefits Smartbch will bring to the crypto ecosystem. Smartbch: Maximizing TPS With Bitcoin Cash There are many reasons why people are bullish about bitcoin cash ( BCH ), as the digital asset has been processing more transactions per day than BTC since February. Moreover, proponents like internet entrepreneur, Kim Dotcom has been telling the world about the many benefits BCH has to offer. Dotcom plans to leverage BCH for his content monetization application K.im . Furthermore, BCH supporters have been excited about the decentralized finance (defi) pr

The French multinational insurance firm AXA is now allowing clients in Switzerland to pay for services in bitcoin. The newly added support is part of the company’s “digital future” and stems from customer demand for crypto payments. AXA Supports Bitcoin Payments In Switzerland AXA has announced it is the first all-lines insurer in the country of Switzerland to accept bitcoin ( BTC ) for bill payments. At the end of 2019, AXA conducted a study and asked people 18 to 55 about what they thought about cryptocurrencies. The study had shown that many respondents already held digital currencies and others were also very interested. Covid-19 has accelerated this demand and interest, AXA notes in its announcement and therefore it is now “allowing its customers to pay their bills with bitcoin.” Soon, AXA customers will see a new payment option on bills sent by email and via invoice.inapay.ch/axa as well. Payments in bitcoin ( BTC ) can then be completed on a desktop computer or smartphone.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now has a new chairman, Gary Gensler. President Joe Biden’s pick, the MIT professor, whose classes included blockchain technology, digital currencies, and financial technology, has been confirmed by the Senate to lead the SEC. SEC Has a New Chairman President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has been confirmed by the Senate as the new chairman of the top financial regulator. The Senate voted 53-45 on Wednesday to confirm his nomination. The four commissioners at the SEC released a statement welcoming the agency’s new chairman, stating: A warm congratulations to Gary Gensler on his Senate confirmation to become Chair of the SEC … We welcome him back to public service and look forward to working together to execute our vital mission. Gensler is a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is also a co-director of Fintech@CSAIL and a senior advisor to the MIT M

PRESS RELEASE. SimpleFX, one of the world’s leading trading apps with both crypto and fiat accounts is going to invite traders to try out their beta staking module. The trading app is already recognized as a great alternative to mainstream Robinhood or eToro platforms. They win new users by being Independent of Wall Street, banks, and hedge funds. If you want to profit from growing stock or cryptocurrency markets all you can sign up with your e-mail, buy and sell Tesla, Alphabet, Toyota, or any other global stocks, silver, gold, Bitcoin, altcoins, and more with cryptocurrency accounts. Use any leverage up to 1:500. SimpleFX is a renowned trading app that has been in business since 2014. Was one of the first brokers offering cryptocurrency accounts. You can sign up for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin accounts with just an email. The broker’s agile team is improving its tools constantly. Recently they have created a native HarmonyOS app for Huawei users. SimpleFX’s purpose is to p

Nearly every day now a new company is announcing the acceptance of cryptocurrencies in some form or another. Now one of the world’s largest fine wine auction houses and America’s oldest wine shop Acker has revealed digital currency acceptance to pay for auction payments and retail wine purchases. Wine Shop Acker Jumps Into the Crypto Space This week the wine shop and auction house Acker revealed that it is now accepting cryptocurrencies for goods and services. Effective immediately Acker will accept BTC , BCH , ETH , DOGE, and three stablecoins via the payment processor Bitpay. Moreover, the wine company that started in 1820 has also added BTC and ETH to the company’s markets web portal . During the announcement, Acker Chairman John Kapon said he believes that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. “Cryptocurrencies are no longer a passing fad, and, as one of the oldest licensed businesses in America, Acker is proud to accept this novel form of payment as we continue to evolve in o

With a population of over 200 million, Nigeria is widely regarded as one the biggest crypto markets in the world. Some in the crypto world believe Nigeria is one of the few countries better placed to see a greater acceptance of digital currencies. However, despite this optimism, the Nigerian crypto industry continues to be plagued by constant hurdles that then complicate mass adoption efforts. Some of the problems faced include an uncertain regulatory environment as well as the proliferation of bitcoin-related scams which often taint the image of cryptocurrencies. However, according to Tony Emeka, the founder and CEO of Cryptotvplus a Nigerian crypto-focused media organization, some of these challenges can be overcome through education. Nigeria is very active when it comes to digital currencies and is one of the top countries in Africa in terms of cryptocurrency trade volumes. However, Nigeria’s blockchain and cryptocurrency industry has been dealing with regulatory uncertainty.

PRESS RELEASE. April 15, 2021, Singapore : EQUOS, the institutional cryptocurrency exchange owned by Diginex (Nasdaq: EQOS), will host an exclusive webinar between Roger Ver, the famous Founder of Bitcoin.com, and Richard Byworth, CEO of Diginex, the first Nasdaq-listed company with a cryptocurrency exchange. They will debate the ‘Future of Digital Money’ and examine the trigger points that could lead to the ubiquitous use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, store of value and settlement. Following recent news from Paypal, Tesla and Square that they are now accepting crypto as a means of payment, the future of digital money is being debated widely from Central Bankers to crypto investing enthusiasts. The increasing adoption by institutional investors, and the widening acceptance of crypto as a settlement currency, has seen the market value of the asset surpass $2 trillion for the first time in its history. During a live event on April 21 st , Ver and Byworth will look at th

This week a number of digital assets saw significant gains, but the meme-themed digital asset dogecoin has seen a significant rise during the last 48 hours. Dogecoin tapped a high of $0.143 per unit on Wednesday and has spiked more than 104% during the last week. Meanwhile, the billionaire investor and television personality, Mark Cuban, says the Dallas Mavericks have been seeing increased dogecoin sales. Dogecoin Skyrockets to New Heights, Food Network Star Guy Fieri Gives a Shoutout to Shiba Inu Crypto Dogecoin (DOGE) , the meme token that was launched on December 6, 2013, has skyrocketed to new heights on Wednesday. 2021 has been quite the year for DOGE traders, as the crypto asset touched an all-time high (ATH) at $0.143 per unit on April 14th. The digital currency has jumped more than 104% against the USD in seven days and during the last week gained 82% against BTC . The cryptocurrency featuring the likeness of the Shiba Inu dog has also seen a massive +1,181% gain in three

The current global payments infrastructure does not meet today’s business or consumer demands. Cross-border payments require businesses to hold pre-funded accounts in destination currencies — a costly and slow endeavor that ties up resources — leaving remitters with limited options.  RippleNet and its network of global financial institutions are changing the status quo. RippleNet enables … Continued The post Novatti Taps ODL To Improve Australian Remittance Payments To Southeast Asia appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/RxhxK3

A former South Korean social media giant is still keeping alive its promise to relaunch its business with the help of the cryptocurrency industry. A local media outlet reported that Cyworld is in talks with “major gaming companies” that involve crypto-related ventures. Company Also Plans to Launch Its Mainnet to Compete With Kakao According to Yonhap , Cyworld is looking to arrange deals with software makers in the gaming industry to adopt in games its Ethereum-based token Dotori (SNS). A representative from the firm said: We are discussing ways to exchange Cyworld tokens, which were previously called ‘Acorns,’ with goods of large game companies. We are expanding the ecosystem where Cyworld tokens can be used. However, Cyworld didn’t disclose the names of the companies involved in the talks, although it specified “large” ones in the gaming sphere are in the loop. Per the report, if the plans go ahead as expected, users could use Dotori to pay for services and eventually purchas

A group of Spaniards filed the first crypto-related class-action lawsuit before the National Court of Spain on an alleged million-dollar scam. The lawsuit targets an individual accused of allegedly scammed over 300 small crypto investors across Spain. Money Stolen Could Amount Up to $3.58 Billion Per El País , the class-action lawsuit claims that an individual named Javier Biosca Rodríguez allegedly scammed over 250 million euros ($298 million) in cryptocurrencies from the investors. The profile of the victims is mixed, starting from domestic employees, retirees, unemployed, even notaries, a judge, lawyers, tax inspectors, and owners of small businesses who tried to recover from the coronavirus-driven economic crisis. Although it’s not the first class-action suit filed before the National Court of Spain, it’s the first-of-its-kind that involves a crypto-related case, said the local media outlet. The lawyer representing the victims is Emilia Zaballos, who clarified that despite th

U.S. politicians are talking about stimulus again in order to bolster American jobs and President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan. At the end of last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained that Biden would meet with bipartisan members of Congress on Monday in order to push his proposal. According to reports, Biden’s proposed plan could be a touch smaller than the estimated $2.25 trillion. Biden Suggests Scaling Back the $2.25 Trillion ‘Build Back a Better America’ Infrastructure Proposal The U.S. government is talking about creating more stimulus in order to provide jobs and “build back a better” America. Last Friday, the press was told that Joe Biden would be meeting with bipartisan members of Congress in order to sell his infrastructure proposal. It was noted that Congress would be heading back to D.C. and Biden would tell them all about his plan to fix roads, public housing, transportation, and communications. During the meeting with bipartisan colleagues, Biden

PRESS RELEASE. BENQI, a liquidity market operating on the Avalanche network, has completed a private funding round. A total of $6 million was raised in a round led by Ascensive Assets. A number of leading investors on blockchain and the emerging Avalanche ecosystem also participated. These include Mechanism Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Arrington XRP Capital and The Spartan Group. Other backers were Morningstar Ventures, Vendetta Capital, TRGC, Genesis Block, Woodstock and Rarestone alongside Ava Labs and leading liquidity provider Skynet Trading. Built on Avalanche’s highly scalable network, BENQI combines elements of defi and tradfi to create a liquidity protocol in which idle assets can be utilized. By locking these assets into the BENQI protocol, Avalanche users will be able to earn interest on their assets and obtain credit through over-collateralized loans. The decision to build on Avalanche was influenced by its high degree of decentralization, scalability, and low fee enviro

On Wednesday, after bitcoin prices touched a new all-time high, thousands of bitcoins from the August 2, 2016, Bitfinex hack were transferred to unknown wallets. The exact count of BTC moved from the hack is not entirely clear, but one blockchain parser shows that over 12,208 BTC from the 2016 Bitfinex breach worth $754 million today was moved to various addresses. On August 2, 2016, the exchange Bitfinex was hacked for approximately 119,756 BTC , which is worth $7.5 billion using today’s exchange rates. That day, the price per bitcoin ( BTC ) slid 22% but the exchange managed to pay customers back using another token. During the last year, a number of stolen bitcoins from the Bitfinex hack have been moved. As BTC ’s price grew higher, Bitfinex hacker coins have moved more regularly . Leveraging a blockchain parser, Btcparser.com , Bitcoin.com News discovered 11,799 BTC from the 2016 Bitfinex hack transferred at block height 679,212. The number of BTC moved from the hackers’