Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. Hong Kong, February 23, 2021 – CoinEx, a global and professional cryptocurrency exchange service provider, announced on last Saturday that it has finished a historic burn of 1.08 billion locked CoinEx Token (CET) allocated to the CoinEx team for team building and market development at one time. This CET token burn is the highest one ever carried out by the exchange. After this burn, the total circulation is 4.34 billion CET, with a market capitalization of approximately 113 million USD. At present, the amount of CET automatically repurchased by CoinEx each day far exceeds the mining output of CoinEx Chain. CET token has officially entered absolute deflation，and became a fully circulating platform token. Through this initiative, CoinEx provides CET holders with greater long-term value. CoinEx Pioneers Daily Repurchase Mechanism CET’s original quarterly repurchase and burn initiative was launched on July 1, 2018, and was adjusted to daily repurchase and quarterly burn

A pro-bitcoin head of digital assets from TD Ameritrade has been appointed as the Federal Reserve System’s chief innovation officer. This is “a new role in which she will lead efforts to identify, research, enable and advocate for new technologies,” the Fed explained. The Fed’s New Chief Innovation Officer Is Pro-Bitcoin The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond serves as the hub of the Federal Reserve’s enterprise IT organization. This nationwide team delivers technology solutions and support across the Federal Reserve System and the Board of Governors. The Richmond Fed announced Monday: Sunayna Tuteja has been appointed as the Federal Reserve System’s chief innovation officer. The announcement explains that this is a new role and Tuteja “will lead efforts to identify, research, enable and advocate for new technologies while fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration and experimentation.” The appointment became effective on Feb. 22. Prior to joining the Fed, Tuteja worked at

More details keep appearing from the police investigation into the 2018 Coincheck hack that stole $530 million from the crypto exchange. Japanese authorities revealed that most of the individuals involved have a “high social status.” One of the Individuals Took Part in a NEM Swap Deal Is Worth $64 Million According to a report published by Bunshun, “the majority” of the men involved in the case are “high income” individuals. In fact, they come from different professional backgrounds, such as being company managers and doctors. Prosecutors said the individuals are aged between 20 and 49, without giving major details on their profiles. However, the latest findings suggest that one of the heist people took part in a bogus transaction with NEM ( XEM ) tokens. Per the Cybercrime Countermeasures Division, the individual allegedly took part in a NEM swap with another token (unnamed) in a transaction worth $64 million at the exchange time. But the investigation is still having significa

Digital asset markets are seeing some turbulence on Tuesday as the entire crypto market capitalization has lost 11% in value during the last 24 hours. Bitcoin has slid to a low of $44,846 during the morning trading sessions (EST) losing more than 18% during the last day. Bitcoin Price Dips Over 18% and Quickly Regains Some of the Losses Cryptocurrency proponents are watching markets closely after the price of bitcoin ( BTC ) started sliding early Sunday morning after coasting along at the $55k range. 12 hours prior the crypto asset had reached an all-time high at $58,354 per unit. Since then BTC touched a low of $44,846 on Tuesday and has been very volatile during the last 24 hours. Bitcoin ( BTC ) is currently swapping between $48,400 to $49,250 and is very volatile on Tuesday morning. Today, BTC ’s market valuation is under the $1 trillion mark it once held at $909 billion at the time of publication. There’s a whopping $47 billion in global BTC trades among the overall $177

Moneygram has announced that it has suspended using Ripple’s platform due to the lawsuit against Ripple Labs and its executives by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Last year, the company earned $50.2 million from Ripple for using the platform. Moneygram Stops Using Ripple’s Platform Moneygram International announced Monday that it has suspended trading on Ripple’s platform. The announcement came as part of the company’s earnings report for the fourth quarter and full year 2020. For the year 2020, Moneygram recorded total revenue of $1,217 million; its money transfer revenue was $1,105 million. As part of its first quarter 2021 outlook detailed in the report, Moneygram wrote that it “is not planning for any benefit from Ripple market development fees in the first quarter,” adding: Due to the uncertainty concerning their ongoing litigation with the SEC, the company has suspended trading on Ripple’s platform. How Much Ripple Is Paying Moneygram Moneygram has had

PRESS RELEASE. February 23, 2021 – OpenSea, the largest marketplace for blockchain-enabled non-fungible tokens (NFTs), is in the process of building support for Flow, a blockchain built for mainstream consumer scale originally created by Dapper Labs, the company behind CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot , which has recently reached over $150 million in sales volume, becoming the highest-selling NFT dapp across the entire crypto ecosystem. The integration will allow for the creation of a massive open economy powering the next generation of apps and games, fueled by OpenSea’s position as industry leader and Flow’s unique ability to bring blockchain technology to mainstream audiences. Flow brings remarkable opportunities to further the growth of the marketplace’s digital economy around NFTs and digital collectibles. With a rich ecosystem including global brands such as NBA, Warner Music Group, and UFC, the potential for mainstream adoption of Flow is represented in the enormous success

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned about the dangers of bitcoin as the price of the cryptocurrency took a nosedive. She sees bitcoin as a highly speculative asset and is worried about potential losses investors can suffer. Yellen also believes that bitcoin is not widely used as a transaction mechanism due to its inefficiency, reiterating her view that the cryptocurrency is often used for “illicit finance.” Janet Yellen’s Warning About Bitcoin Janet Yellen has blasted bitcoin again Monday in an interview with CNBC at the New York Times Dealbook conference. The treasury secretary “issued a warning about the dangers that bitcoin poses both to investors and the public,” the news outlet conveyed. Regarding bitcoin, Yellen was quoted as saying: It is a highly speculative asset and you know I think people should be aware it can be extremely volatile and I do worry about potential losses that investors can suffer. The price of bitcoin started falling sharply Sunday afterno

Thailand seems to be interested in catching Japanese crypto holders’ attention via tourism. The country wants to establish a crypto-friendly touristic hotspot and the first targeted country is the nation of the rising sun. Program Aims to Add New Segments With ‘High Spending’ Per Bangkok Post , the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) seeks to put the nation as the first to welcome crypto holders by targeting Japanese tourists in the early stage. The maneuver is given in the context of the pandemic that hit hard Thai’s tourism. The program looks forward to emphasizing segments with “high spending.” After holding discussions with the Technology Promotion Association (Thailand-Japan), the TAT determined that such target should be Japanese crypto-asset holders. They backed their statements by relying on the performance in crypto prices over the last few years. As such, the bull-run is also encouraging the TAT to study the possibility to implement digital currency at tourism hotspots

A speechwriter for former U.S. President George W. Bush and a bitcoin critic, David Frum has claimed that the low-interest rates are fueling the crypto asset’s rally. Frum suggests that the crypto asset might experience a “fast and deep price crash” if and when interest rates start to rise. Institutional Interest in BTC In comments made via Twitter, Frum, who regurgitates the BTC mining inefficiency claims, also attacks the crypto asset’s store of the value proposition. He states that of “all the pro-bitcoin arguments, surely the worst is the store against inflation.” Still, despite this criticism, the crypto asset continues to gain support from institutional investors and large companies. For instance, electric carmaker Tesla, which recently amended its investment policy, revealed it had bought BTC worth $1.5 billion. Furthermore, according to bitcointreasuries.org , the website that tracks companies or institutions that have exposure to BTC , over 1.3 million coins or 6% of

PRESS RELEASE. While Bitcoin and the greatest part of altcoins are going down, Pteria DAO’s token PTERIA could not be outdone and is currently on Mars, exceeding $40. The moon is now too close, so Mars is the real new all time high to reach. However, the token, listed for the first time on decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap and Balancer just a few months ago, today marks its all time high and is now worth over $40, as you can see on Coinmarketcap or Coingecko . Recently Pteria announced its interesting staking project that offers up to 24% annual reward for those who block its PTERIA tokens and vote for the DAO’s proposals. Currently, in less than a month, over 2 million tokens have been staked on the platform called Aragon . Pteria and Wallem All of this is happening at a time when due to Covid-19 and related worldwide lockdowns and curfews, the Wallem project, the first game to use the PTERIA token, is on a hiatus. Like Pokémon Go, Wallem allows you to capture

One of Cape Cod’s largest hospitals received two bitcoin donations this year totaling $800,000 in value. The Massachusetts-based not-for-profit medical centre (NPO), Cape Cod Healthcare, explained that an anonymous donor donated $400k last Friday and the NPO received a $400k bitcoin donation last month as well. Cape Cod Healthcare Gets $800K in Bitcoin Donations The hospital Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC) is considered one of the leading providers of healthcare services in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This week, the NPO told the Boston Globe staff member Anissa Gardizy that it received two bitcoin ( BTC ) donations worth $800,000. CCHC’s senior vice president and chief development officer, Christopher Lawson, said the donor wished to remain anonymous and sent an email last month asking the hospital to accept BTC donations. Lawson said the donor had helped CCHC before the two crypto donations, and had just recently asked if the hospital would accept his BTC gift. Lawson told Gardizy tha

The rollercoaster-ride in cryptocurrency prices on Monday was accompanied by Binance’s fresh restrictions for ethereum and ERC-20 tokens. Ethereum Network Congestion Fingered as the Culprit for the Temporary Halt Through the official Binance Twitter account , one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume, announced that it had “temporarily suspended withdrawals of $ ETH and ethereum-based tokens” due to network congestion while underscoring that user funds were SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users). #Binance has temporarily suspended withdrawals of $ETH and Ethereum-based tokens due to high network congestion. Rest assured funds are #SAFU and we apologize for any inconvenience caused. Updates to follow. — Binance (@binance) February 22, 2021 Although Binance has since reversed its earlier decision and restored service in an announcement 37 minutes after its first tweet, traders were quick to pile on with the criticism. This latest move came amid a spike in

South Korean financial watchdogs are about to start overseeing crypto-related activities in the nation, and additional barriers for exchanges keep appearing. Moreover, one of the South Korean regulatory bodies codified the measures announced last year on privacy coin listings. No Major Domestic Exchanges Can List a Privacy-Centric Crypto-Asset According to Electronic Times , the Financial Services Commission’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) confirmed that all privacy coins would be delisted from the domestic cryptocurrency exchanges. The watchdog argued that difficulties in determining transaction details carry a high risk of money laundering through such cryptocurrencies. Although the FIU just confirmed it, the local press first reported the measure in November 2020. The FIU pledged to ban privacy coins such as monero ( XMR ) and zcash (ZEC). South Korean platforms such as Okex have since been forced to delist several privacy coins to align with the anti-money laundering (AM

“The most important lesson I learned was the power of showing up.” Safiya Walker reflects on her time running track at Brown University and the sense of responsibility she felt toward her teammates, coaches and the family, friends and fellow students who supported her throughout her athletic journey. “Even if you’ve been up all night … Continued The post Black at Ripple’s Safiya Walker on the Importance of Inclusion and Always Showing Up appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/RtG06y

On February 22, 2021, an author published a post on substack.com about an anonymous Twitter account that may have belonged to the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. The researcher discovered a Twitter account dubbed ‘Goldlover,’ and found some interesting coincidences with the account’s tweets and Bitcoin’s creator. The Curious Goldlover Tweets An author called Varun published an interesting analysis of a specific Twitter account that may or may not belong to Bitcoin’s creator. Varun said in his research analysis that he stumbled upon the Twitter account called ‘Goldlover,’ and noticed that the account was quite “chatty” for a period of time. Running bitcoin — halfin (@halfin) January 11, 2009 The researcher also said that Satoshi Nakamoto was the same way up until the inventor left the community for good. The Goldlover account ( @fafcffacfff ) was created in May 2008 and Varun says that a script was written. The Goldlover tweets mentioned gold quite often, and Varun’s findings s

On February 19, the Canadian podcaster and Freedomain Radio host, Stefan Molyneux, discussed his thoughts about bitcoin following the crypto asset’s tumultuous rise capturing over a trillion-dollar market valuation. Molyneux’s recent speech describes the liberating potential bitcoin could bring to the masses and how the crypto network has the ability to change humanity for the better. ‘Bitcoin Is a Currency That Serves the People at the Expense of the Parasites’ Just recently the crypto evangelist and philosopher, Stefan Molyneux, spoke about the Bitcoin blockchain in great detail. Molyneux opened his speech by answering a question about BTC and ETH having a hard time scaling. The Freedomain radio host said that it is good to critique, but that people in the crypto space wouldn’t give up so easily. Molyneux mentioned that bitcoin’s market capitalization just crossed the trillion-dollar milestone and noted that the people who have added that value won’t throw in the towel. He i