Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Reserve, a fintech and cryptocurrency-related exchange and payment processing app, sent an email yesterday to its customers asking for their help in processing payments by leveraging their personal Zelle accounts to do so. This raised certain alarms in the community, that are now wary of a third-party company using their accounts to do its payments on its behalf. Reserve Proposes Customers to Use Their Zelle Accounts for Payment Processing Yesterday, lots of customers were surprised by an email sent by Reserve (a fintech/ cryptocurrency exchange and payment processing company backed by the creator of the Petro, Gabriel Jimenez ) asking to lend their business Zelle accounts to use them for processing payments. The surprising email mentioned giving rewards for this in an informal way, offering ‘thousands’ for helping the company by the use of these business Zelle accounts. Many users were alarmed by this proposal and took it to social media to protest and alert against the risks of l

Mercadolibre Inc., Latin America’s leading e-commerce company with almost 70 million users on its marketplace, has bought bitcoins worth almost $8 million for its treasury. With this move, the company has joined a growing list of corporations with the cryptocurrency on their balance sheets. Mercadolibre Holds Bitcoin on Balance Sheet Mercadolibre Inc. reported its first-quarter financial results Wednesday declaring that the company is holding bitcoin on its balance sheet. An Argentine company incorporated in the U.S. that operates online marketplaces dedicated to e-commerce and auctions, Mercadolibre is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol MELI. As of Wednesday, its market cap was $76.3 billion. The company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) states: As part of our treasury strategy this quarter we purchased $7.8 million in bitcoin, a digital asset that we are disclosing within our indefinite-lived intangible assets. Last week, the Latin America

The newest investment trust tracking polkadot echoes other moves by the fund manager to make cryptos accessible via traditional equity markets and satisfy growing investor demand as interest in ETPs mounts. Low-Fee Offering to be Launched on OTCQX Market Bitcoin may have been the first crypto to make a splash in traditional financial markets via CME futures listing and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, but other coins are quickly following suit as investors increasingly appreciate the utility of blockchain-based tokens. The fanfare that has accompanied the rise of polkadot (DOT) has not been lost on more traditional financial markets as new products arrive to help investors gain exposure to the increasingly prominent altcoin. Polkadot, created by Ethereum co-founder Dr. Gavin Wood , aims to build a much more scalable, secure, and affordable framework of interconnected chains to support dApps by utilizing the Substrate development framework. So far, the idea’s success is abundantly appa

Vietnam is treading waters into the cryptocurrency industry, as the government recently commissioned a research group for the purpose. The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance is conducting an in-depth study of cryptocurrencies for regulation purposes. One Million Vietnamese Are Reportedly Crypto Users According to ASEAN Briefing , the ministry seeks to gather enough data to clearly see how a regulatory process can be made in the country. The research comes in the wake of virtual currencies booming globally in terms of popularity, says the announcement. The government believes there is an estimated one million Vietnamese already using digital assets, and the expectations are bullish with a 30-fold increase by 2030. Vietnam is also witnessing increasing cashless solutions for payments, such as QR codes, e-wallets, and mobile apps. Such technology adoption was boosted after the government’s pushing via the prime minister since 2017, who was expecting to reduce cash transactions by 90% in

Authorities in South Korea have launched a major raid against a domestic crypto exchange allegedly involved in a millionaire multi-level marketing (MLM) fraud. The police accuse V Global platform of running an illicit operation that reportedly stole hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. Masterminds Could Have Defrauded Over 40,000 People According to Yonhap , police obtained a court order to conduct searches into 22 properties connected with the crypto firm, including its headquarters based in the financial district of Gangnam in Seoul. Although local media outlets refused to disclose the identity of the crypto exchange raided by the police in the first instance, social media users started to make their bets on V Global possibly being involved in the saga. In fact, Hanguk Kyungjae confirmed the news on Wednesday. Investigators involved in the case believe that the company’s CEO identified by the media as “Lee” could have been allegedly “selling cryptocurrency using mult

South African crypto entrepreneur and Yearn Finance founder, Andre Cronje, is set to brawl Crypto Messiah in a physical fight at a Dubai crypto conference. The event, which has been dubbed the Cryptocurrency International boxing match, is scheduled to take place on October 15. Pledged Prize Goes to Charity According to organizers of the fight, the pledged $1 million prize money, which will be in the form of Phantom tokens, will be donated to a yet to be advised charity organisation. In a tweet, one of the boxing event organizers, Harry Yeh said both crypto world personalities have no interest in the prize. Yeh explained in a thread : Just an update to this thread. Confirmed – I am pulling the prize money. Both fighters just want to fight so instead I will donate the 1M USD of $FTM to a charity to be announced of my choosing. Cronje and Crypto Messiah Twitter Brawl In the same thread, Yeh also praises the Crypto Twitter community and the UAE Warriors for helping to make the boxi

The world’s largest cryptocurrency asset manager Grayscale Investments has announced the first partnership with a National Football League (NFL) team. Grayscale will be the official digital currency asset management partner for the New York Giants and will sponsor a number of events. Grayscale Investments Partners With the New York Giants Following a number of NBA teams getting in on crypto-asset acceptance and partnering with crypto companies, Grayscale Investments has revealed a partnership with the NFL team the New York Giants. Grayscale, a crypto asset manager with over $46 billion in assets under management (AUM) will join the Giant’s list of corporate sponsors. Additionally, Grayscale will provide the Giants a service by becoming the team’s official digital currency asset management partner. Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein explained during the announcement that the company’s origins are tied to New York. “Our partnership with the Giants is incredibly meaningful because ou

Bitcoin bull Mike Novogratz’s company, Galaxy Digital, has analyzed dogecoin and concluded that “despite its deficiencies, dogecoin has remarkably strong fundamentals and powerful forces supporting its rise.” Novogratz admitted that he had been too bearish on the cryptocurrency. Dogecoin Should Not Be Ignored, Says Galaxy Digital Galaxy Digital Research published a report on Tuesday entitled “Dogecoin: The Most Honest Sh*tcoin.” The report outlines the history and progress of Dogecoin, noting that its appeal “has always been its honesty.” The authors described that “Unlike many other cryptocurrency projects, Dogecoin does not seek, or even pretend, to be anything more than to be the world’s most fun currency.” The report also adds that “with no pre-mine or ICO, Dogecoin’s fair launch positions it more closely to Bitcoin than most other projects in the space, ensuring that no hidden group of insiders stands to benefit disproportionately from its rise.” While acknowledging that doge

UFC, the world’s largest MMA promotion, is preparing to mint its own token. The company, which has played a key role in the rise of the combat sport’s popularity, now wants to provide a growing fan base with access to exclusive content, rights, and rewards using blockchain technology. UFC Fan Token to Have a Maximum Supply of 20 Million The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced this week it’s going to launch the $UFC Fan Token next month. The coin will be minted in partnership with Chiliz , a blockchain company that provides services to the sports and entertainment industries. The move is expected to increase fan engagement among millions of fans around the world. UFC detailed on its website: The $UFC Fan Token is scheduled for launch on Socios.com in June and will have a maximum lifetime supply of 20 million. European soccer giants such as FC Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester City are already working with Chiliz. The company has also held talks

Switzerland-based crypto bank SEBA is adding support for three defi tokens, bringing the number of cryptocurrencies available on its platform to a total of nine. SEBA clients are able to buy, store and trade with fiat any of these cryptos. SEBA Bank Supports the Coins of 3 Defi Protocols With the new tokens, SEBA Bank is not only expanding its offering but entering into the decentralized finance ( defi ) world, the fintech noted in an official announcement published this week. The financial company believes it’s now supporting “the tokens of the most important defi protocols available on the market.” According to the press release, the three newly introduced coins belong to Synthetix (SNX), a decentralized finance protocol providing on-chain exposure to a wide variety of assets, Uniswap (UNI), a popular decentralized trading protocol facilitating the swap of crypto assets, and Yearn.finance (YFI) which is a decentralized financial aggregator optimizing yield farming returns. The i

U.S. bureaucrats, particularly Democrats, are concerned about climate change and have introduced lots of legislation in order to address these concerns. Now a lawmaker from New York wants to establish a moratorium for bitcoin mining facilities located in the state, which means cryptocurrency miners in New York would have to halt operations. Senator Kevin Parker (D) believes bitcoin mining has a negative environmental impact and businesses would have to pass state greenhouse gas emission targets in order to continue. New York Lawmaker Proposes a 3-Year Halt on Crypto Mining Operations Mainstream media and politicians worldwide are concerned about the environmental impact bitcoin ( BTC ) or cryptocurrency mining will produce in the future. Bitcoin mining leverages large amounts of electricity in order for miners to process blocks and secure the network. The United States has increased its population of bitcoin miners in recent years, and there are a number of bitcoin mining facilitie

On May 15, 2021, the Bitcoin Cash network will undergo the process of an upgrade that will bring a handful of improvements. These updates include the removal of the unconfirmed transaction limit, enabling multiple OP_RETURNS, the implementation of double-spend proofs, and the inclusion of a new mining block default limit size of 8 MB, as the inclusion of CHIPs (Cash Improvement Proposals) to introduce new specification changes to the protocol. Bitcoin Cash May 15 Upgrade: What You Need to Know The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network will experience an upgrade on May 15th that will bring a series of simple, yet interesting changes focused on usability and quality of life improvements instead of hard changes to the consensus algorithm. Most of the important changes are destined to improve the experience of users and merchants when using bitcoin cash to make online or in-store payments, reaffirming the commitment the currency has with becoming a peer-to-peer cash-focused tool. Documentation

The creator of the world’s first successful blockchain network has been an enigma ever since the mysterious inventor released the white paper over 12 years ago. Interestingly, Satoshi Nakamoto worked on the Bitcoin project publicly for 25 months and 13 days, all while being able to remain completely anonymous. What the Public Knows About Satoshi Nakamoto Is Different Than What Is Assumed Satoshi Nakamoto is a very interesting mystery and the inventor of the technological revolution that was invoked by the birth of the Bitcoin network. We don’t know much about Satoshi, except for what the creator told the public while he/she or they were around. Satoshi Nakamoto managed to stay anonymous, while releasing the protocol’s white paper , kickstarting the network, and even dealing with development contributors. Satoshi continues to remain anonymous to this day. There are hard facts that we do know about Satoshi, and many things we simply assume. For instance, it is assumed that this past

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says that the U.S. does not have an “adequate framework” to deal with all the different issues posed by cryptocurrencies, such as money laundering and illicit financing. According to her, there is no framework that’s “quite up to the task of putting in place a regulatory framework that we need” for cryptocurrencies. Yellen Sees No Adequate Framework in the US to Deal With Crypto Issues Janet Yellen talked about cryptocurrency regulation at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit Tuesday. The treasury secretary was asked, “Do you anticipate regulations on cryptocurrencies?” Yellen replied: I think cryptocurrencies, we don’t really have an adequate framework to deal with the different issues that they pose from a regulatory perspective. She proceeded to name several issues she sees associated with cryptocurrencies, such as “money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act, use of digital currencies for illicit payments, [and] consumer protection.” Yell

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has reaffirmed his stance on bitcoin while acknowledging that his bank’s clients are interested in the cryptocurrency. “I don’t tell clients what to do,” he said while emphasizing that he does not care about bitcoin. Jamie Dimon Has No Interest in Bitcoin but His Clients Do Jamie Dimon talked about bitcoin during The Wall Street Journal CEO Council summit on Tuesday. Reaffirming his stance on the cryptocurrency, the JPMorgan boss elaborated: I am not a bitcoin supporter. I don’t really care about bitcoin … I have no interest in it. He noted that he expects his bitcoin comments to draw attention. “I know I’m going to get tons of emails after this,” he said. Back in September 2017, Dimon called bitcoin a fraud. While the JPMorgan CEO may not support bitcoin, his bank is starting to provide some products that are related to cryptocurrencies. In March, JPMorgan launched a crypto investment product tracking public company stocks with bitcoin exposure. The b

Hundreds of banks in the U.S. will reportedly start offering access to bitcoin to their customers this year, thanks to a partnership between Fidelity National Information Services and the New York Digital Investment Group. Hundreds of banks have enrolled to participate in the program as they see funds moving from bank accounts to crypto exchanges. Hundreds of Banks to Offer Bitcoin Service Customers of hundreds of banks in the U.S. will soon be able to buy, hold and sell bitcoin through their existing accounts, CNBC reported Wednesday. This will be made possible thanks to a partnership between fintech giant Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) and the New York Digital Investment Group ( NYDIG ), the bitcoin investment arm of $10 billion New York-based Stone Ridge Asset Management. The two firms said that the collaboration is “to enable U.S. banks to offer bitcoin in the coming months,” the publication conveyed. FIS is a vendor to banks with nearly 300 million checking acco