Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

U.S. President Joe Biden and lawmakers have agreed on the details of a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package with measures to step up tax enforcement around crypto assets. Taxing Crypto Transactions to Fund US Infrastructure Plan The White House announced Wednesday that President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have agreed on the details of “a once-in-a-generation investment” in the U.S. infrastructure. The bill will be taken up in the Senate for consideration, the White House stated, adding that “In total, the deal includes $550 billion in new federal investment in America’s infrastructure.” Measures to step up tax enforcement around crypto assets were added to the infrastructure bill at the last minute to raise funds to finance the infrastructure plan. The $550 billion will be spent over the next eight years on roads, bridges, high-speed internet, public transport, electric vehicles, airports, and shipping ports, among other areas. The measures i

July 30th marks the day, six years ago, Ethereum was launched. The Bitcoin.com Wallet , having just integrated Ethereum, is excited to celebrate the achievements of the world’s premier smart contract platform – and to do so, we’re giving away $6000 in Ether ( ETH ), the native currency and the ‘fuel’ of the Ethereum network. What Is Ethereum? With the ambitious vision of creating a fully decentralized general purpose computing network, Ethereum and the massive community of developers that has sprung up around it, have pioneered smart contracts , NFTs, decentralized finance , and more. From humble beginnings, now billions of dollars are transacted daily through Decentralized Applications (DApps) deployed on Ethereum – and, just like with Bitcoin, it’s all done permissionlessly and pseudonymously. The Ethereum community has striven to maintain ‘ credible neutrality ’ in the evolution of the platform – so far very successfully in our opinion. The result is that the platform supp

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has identified 146 financial pyramid schemes in only six months this year. Fraudsters often lure people with weak financial literacy into investment scams linked to cryptocurrencies or crypto mining operations. Pyramid Schemes Thrive Amid Rising Investment Demand, Bank of Russia Says The number of financial pyramid scams uncovered by the CBR between January and June 2021 is 1.5 times higher compared to the same time period last year, the regulator announced this week. The financial authority attributed the spike to increased activity of “unfair market participants” in the midst of ongoing economic recovery and increasing demand for investments in Russia. Bank of Russia also emphasized that fraudsters take advantage of “people’s insufficient financial and digital literacy” convincing them to invest in projects associated with trending topics. Investors often put money into cryptocurrencies, “pseudo cryptocurrencies” or fake crypto mining operation

Although it’s possible to draw comparisons between almost any two blockchain development platforms, comparing Ethereum with Polkadot is almost an inevitability. Not only on the technical level – they use a comparable architecture and proof-of-stake consensus to achieve scalability – but because Vitalik Buterin and Dr. Gavin Wood also have a shared history in Ethereum. Polkadot and Ethereum are Entering the Final Stretch of the Runway for Chain Supremacy The coming year is set to be a big one for both networks. Ethereum has been rolling out a series of improvements ahead of the “merge” that will occur when the current Ethereum main chain joins the proof-of-stake Beacon chain. At this point, Ethereum will finally abandon its proof-of-work consensus and shift entirely to proof-of-stake. More upgrades are expected to follow as the network implements additional chains, or shards, connected to the Beacon chain, which aim to improve scalability. Although the timelines are somewhat nebulou

The new digital yuan, currently undergoing trials, can help to increase the international usage of China’s national fiat, experts have stated. As the renminbi (RMB, CNY) is becoming one of the world’s most important currencies, the People’s Bank of China is planning to conduct cross-border tests with the yuan’s digitized version, the e-CNY. Digital Yuan to Facilitate ‘Renminbi Internationalization’ The digital yuan will further promote the process of “internationalization” of the renminbi, Chinese experts believe. This can happen when the Chinese yuan becomes the world’s third-largest currency — in terms of pricing, settlement, and international reserves —current and former officials said Wednesday, quoted by the China Internet Information Center portal. The e-CNY, arguably the most advanced central bank digital currency ( CBDC ), is still being tested primarily in domestic retail payment trials. However, cross-border e-commerce could provide the next use case scenario for the “na

The Ghanaian Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, has implored African governments to start exploring digital currencies as such alternatives have the potential to enhance intra-African trade. In addition, such digital currencies allow African countries to carry out all cross-border payments smoothly, the leader explained. Ghana Government Backing for CBDC According to a report, Bawumia made these comments while addressing guests at the opening ceremony of the Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFIC) in Accra. The report also quotes Bawumia commending the Ghanaian central bank’s e-cedi project. He said the Ghanaian government is ready to “give it the needed credibility and legal backing for usage.” As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, the Bank of Ghana (BOG) is one of the first African central banks to announce the start of the pilot phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). However, final approval of this CBDC will depend on the outcome of the pilot

Santiago Nieto Castillo, leader of the UIF, the Mexican financial regulator, has issued an alert that 12 cryptocurrency exchanges are operating illegally in the country. The regulator is now producing the necessary data for Mexican authorities to act against these exchanges. The institution receives information from 23 registered cryptocurrency exchanges reporting users’ transactions. Mexican Regulator on the Hunt for Unregulated Exchanges The Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), the Mexican financial regulator, issued an alert about 12 cryptocurrency exchanges that are operating illegally in the country. The names of these companies were not mentioned, and this means these exchanges are still not registered with the SAT, the country’s tax authority. Santiago Nieto Castillo, leader of the UIF, stated they are collecting data to execute actions against these companies. The Mexican fintech law establishes that virtual asset service providers must report the activities of customers tha

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis is pushing for regulation that would ensure bitcoin remains a good store of value. If the cryptocurrency “is to become what El Salvador has done, legal tender, then we need to make sure that we are using it in ways that comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws,” she said. The pro-bitcoin senator also noted that big government spenders are “doing far more to accelerate the adoption of digital assets” than she is. Senator Lummis on Bitcoin Adoption and Cryptocurrency Regulation U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has shared her view about cryptocurrency regulation and adoption. Following the Senate Banking Committee ’s hearing about cryptocurrencies, she tweeted Wednesday: Big gov’t spenders are (accidentally) doing far more to accelerate the adoption of digital assets than I am. The debasement of our currency is causing a flight to digital assets like bitcoin that are a store of value. However, she added that “spending America deeper int

On June 18, 2020, PayString was launched with a coalition of over 40 companies. After the PayString Developer Conference on June 25, 2020, Ripple kicked off a six-week long $25K+ virtual hackathon on Devpost in order to continue momentum and drive further engagement of the PayString developer community. 360 developers from all over the world … Continued The post Announcing the Winners of the PayString Hackathon appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/S4hfCm

State Street Corp., one of the world’s leading providers of financial services to institutional investors, has announced the expansion of its crypto services in partnership with Lukka, an enterprise crypto asset data and software provider. State Street Launching New Crypto Services State Street Corp. announced new cryptocurrency services Thursday. The financial services firm “will provide digital and cryptocurrency asset fund administration capabilities for the firm’s private funds clients” in partnership with Lukka, the announcement details, adding: State Street will support its private fund clients with collection, standardization, enrichment, reconciliation, processing and reporting related to crypto and other digital assets. The Boston-headquartered financial services and bank holding company offers investment servicing, investment management, investment research, and trading services. State Street operates globally in more than 100 geographic markets. The company had $42.6

A new non-fungible token (NFT) project crafted by the American actress and producer, Mila Kunis, has made millions selling NFTs tied to an animated series called “Stoner Cats.” The project is a show that will only allow token holders the ability to watch the upcoming series produced by Orchard Farm Productions, a studio owned by Kunis. Animated Series Created by Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher Sparks New NFT Hype The cryptocurrency community and mainstream news publications have been discussing a new NFT project bolstered by Mila Kunis and her husband Ashton Kutcher called “ Stoner Cats .” The duo has teamed up with popular celebrities such as Chris Rock, Jane Fonda, and the “Family Guy’s” Seth MacFarlane. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin will be joining the animated series as well playing the character called “Lord Catsington.” Essentially the show is about an older woman called “Ms. Stoner” who lives with a number of mischievous cats. Ms. Stoner has Alzheimer’s Disease and deci

Following the announcement from Greenidge Generation Holdings that detailed the company would be promoting a carbon-neutral stance, and the firm’s recent partnership with Foundry, Greenidge revealed on Thursday it is investing profits into a renewable energy investment program. The company is in the midst of expediting the closure of a coal ash landfill in order to construct a new solar farm. Greenidge Invests in Renewable Energy Investment Program In 2014, the Lockwood Hills landfill in Dresden, New York was purchased by Lockwood Hills LLC, which is a subsidiary of Greenidge. The site has been “safely maintained” over the last seven years, Greenidge claims, and it ended the use of coal-fired power at the adjacent power facility during that time. The announcement on Thursday says the company plans to safely cap and close down the landfill and Greenidge hopes to install “a solar project across the 143-acre site that will produce up to 5MW of power.” The bitcoin mining company says t

In early 2019, Xpring announced its investment in XRPL Labs, led by Wietse Wind, as part of a broader effort to support companies and projects building on the XRP Ledger. Today, we are announcing an additional investment in XRPL Labs to support the continued growth and development of its Xumm Wallet & Platform, which Xpring … Continued The post Doubling Down on XRPL Labs appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/S4gwCl

Robinhood, the fee-free cryptocurrency, stock, and options exchange, raised almost $2 billion in its initial public offering, reaching a valuation of $32 billion. While the company is more valuable than Nasdaq itself, the IPO failed to give the company an expected valuation of $35 billion. Robinhood trading will open today, with its shares trading under the HOOD ticker. Robinhood Misses $35 Billion Valuation Goal Robinhood, the fee-free investing app, has successfully completed its IPO, raising almost $2 billion. However, the company failed to meet the goal of reaching a $35 billion valuation, as its shares sold at $38, in the low end of the proposed $38-$42 range. The company allowed users of the exchange to acquire a third of the shares available before its launch on the market, something unusual in these processes. While Robinhood failed to reach its desired target, its valuation was much higher than what it was at its last funding round, when the company reached $12 billion.

The U.S. Marshals Service, a primary law enforcement agency of the Department of Justice (DOJ), has hired a new custodian for its seized cryptocurrencies. The agency has seized and auctioned off over 185K bitcoins so far. The United States Marshals Service (USMS) has selected Anchorage Digital to provide custody for cryptocurrencies seized in criminal cases, the crypto custody firm announced Wednesday. The USMS is one of the primary law enforcement agencies of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). It was also the first federal law enforcement agency in the country. Anchorage explained: This award means that Anchorage will be responsible for providing a full suite of cryptocurrency services. The services include “custody, liquidation, and such activities as accounting, customer management, audit compliance, managing blockchain forks, wallet creation, transformation of token assets into coin assets, etc., as well as future actions associated with the virtual currency forfeitur

Ripple publishes the quarterly XRP Markets Report for Q2 2021. The post Q2 2021 XRP Markets Report appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/S4gQMq

Members of the U.S. Federal Reserve discussed the possibility of economic measures and actions at the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday. The Fed said that right now the central bank is not considering cutting back large asset purchases just yet, and the central bank also plans to keep interest rates at near-zero. Speaking about the dollar’s dwindling purchasing power, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said that “inflation could turn out to be higher and more persistent than we originally expected.” The Federal Reserve Will Continue Monetary Easing Practices and Keep Interest Rates Low Americans are getting more concerned about inflation as the days pass and the recent outcome of Wednesday’s FOMC meeting was not very reassuring to economists and financial analysts. Prior to the meeting on Wednesday, market observers thought the central bank might start announcing the tapering back of quantitative easing by curbing the multi-billion-dollar bond and mort

On July 28, Zac Prince, the CEO of crypto finance firm Blockfi, explained that the company has been “engaged in a productive discourse” with U.S. regulators. Prince further said the New Jersey Bureau of Securities had extended the state’s previous order to September 2. Meanwhile, the company also has issues with Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), as the state’s DFR commissioner filed an order against the firm’s Blockfi Interest Accounts (BIAs). Garden State Regulators Give Blockfi an Extension, Vermont Issues Regulatory Complaints Four states have taken issue with Blockfi’s BIAs and regulators have issued notices to the company in recent times. Blockfi’s co-founder Zac Prince revealed the company’s issues with New Jersey regulators on July 19. New Jersey’s public notice and complaints about Blockfi’s crypto BIAs cited the “sale of unregistered securities.” Then on July 22, regulators from Texas and Alabama also sent notice to the company concerning the BIAs. Blo

Bit Mining is going to expand its operations in Central Asia with the purchase of 2,500 crypto mining machines slated for deployment in Kazakhstan. The new devices are expected to increase the Chinese company’s total hashrate capacity by an estimated 165 petahashes per second. Bit Mining Buys New Cryptocurrency Miners for Data Centers in Kazakhstan Shenzhen-based Bit Mining Ltd. announced Wednesday it has secured a purchase agreement for the acquisition of 2,500 new bitcoin mining machines. The price tag of the deal is approximately $6.6 million, the crypto mining firm detailed in a press release. Following the delivery, which is scheduled for next week, the company intends to ship the coin minting rigs to Kazakhstan. Once deployed, the mining devices are expected to increase Bit Mining’s “theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity by approximately 165 petahashes per second (PH/s).” Bit Mining said it’s constantly monitoring the market for cryptocurrency mining hardware and will

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted how many bitcoins Tesla owns after revealing that the fair market value of its bitcoin holdings was $1.47 billion as of June 30. Tesla Holding About 42K Bitcoins Tesla’s technoking , Elon Musk, has commented on how many bitcoins his electric car company owns in response to a rough calculation provided on Twitter by Tesla shareholder Dave Lee. In his calculation, Lee used $1.47 billion as the fair market value of Tesla’s entire bitcoin holdings as shown in the company’s Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Tesla wrote: As of June 30, 2021, the carrying value of our digital assets held was $1.31 billion, which reflects cumulative impairments of $50 million. The fair market value of such digital assets held as of June 30, 2021 was $1.47 billion. Lee also used the price of bitcoin at close on June 30, which was about $35,040. On that day, the high of the BTC price was $35,189.75 and the low was 34,155.90 based on da

A Zimbabwean music production company, Mutscon Music, recently announced that its clients can now pay for services using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum. According to the company, this decision has partly been necessitated by ongoing pandemic-related movement restrictions. Music Studio Accepts Crypto Mutscon Music has also chosen to accept cryptocurrencies because this form of payment enables Zimbabweans, including those in the diaspora, to directly pay for services rendered to artists. In addition, this option to pay with BTC or ETH makes Mutscon’s services more affordable, a company executive has said. To understand Mutscon Music ’s decision and what this means, Bitcoin.com News reached out to Tonderai Muteta, the company’s director of music. Below are Muteta’s responses to questions from Bitcoin.com News. Bitcoin.com News (BCN): What gave you the idea of accepting crypto payments? Tonderai Muteta (TM): The flexibility of transfer and the need to open more opport

The bitcoin rewards platform Lolli has announced the company has closed a $10 million Series A funding round on Wednesday. Lolli says the new financing will help the firm expand, hire and develop new partnerships. Lolli Raises $10 Million The New York-based Lolli has raised $10 million from investors, according to the company’s announcement on July 28. The company said that the Series A was led by Acrew Capital, Banana Capital, Up North Management, and Animal Capital. The venture capital company Animal was founded by social media moguls Noah Beck, Josh Richards, and Griffin Johnson. Lolli further detailed that investors like Baron Davis, Kenny Beecham, Logan Paul, and Chantel Jeffries participated as well. The CTO and co-founder of Lolli, Matt Senter, said that Acrew Capital’s investment shows the company understands that bitcoin-based businesses are blossoming. “Acrew’s sizable bet on Lolli says two things: bitcoin business is booming, and as the original bitcoin rewards platfo

Digital asset exchange Bitrue is seeking to engage its user community directly by distributing decision-making power for adding new token projects after the listing team thoroughly vets them. Platform Advancing Further Voting Powers in Future Updates Blockchain’s innate ability to decentralize products and services has long been among its key value propositions, especially when providing more democratized access to these same offerings. Governance is rapidly becoming the newest area for blockchain’s democratization efforts, and the community is joining the cause. Bitrue , a digital assets exchange, has joined the ranks of other service providers embracing a more community-based governance approach with its decision to hand over listing votes to users, which took effect on July 27th. Bitrue’s listings team will collect project suggestions based on feedback from social media channels before analyzing the projects’ legitimacy and prospects. Projects that pass a rigorous due diligence

PRESS RELEASE. Helium Network developed a decentralized peer to peer wireless network, which can connect different compatible devices through a series of hotspots. By being a part of this network, people can earn cryptocurrencies (HNT). The Helium hotspot miner network is growing steadily. Hence, it is worthy to think about mining HNT. To help people with mining HNT, Helium Bar has developed an excellent solution. Helium.Bar is nothing but a helium network, which is made out of hotspot miners. Any person who is interested in HNT mining can take a look at it. Helium.Bar is one of the fastest-growing communities in Helium Hotspot mining. This concept was initiated by a team, who had years of experience in the radio network industry. The previous experience helped them to ensure the overall success of this massive helium network. The concept behind Helium Bar is simple and easy to understand. People who wish to mine HNT with it will need to choose a hotspot plan. That’s the only thing