Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned El Salvador against using bitcoin as legal tender due to various risks associated with cryptocurrency. The warning came one day after Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced his plan to build a “bitcoin city” powered by a volcano and financed by bitcoin bonds. IMF Says El Salvador Shouldn’t Use Bitcoin as Legal Tender The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned El Salvador on Monday that the country should not use bitcoin as legal tender, citing various risks associated with the cryptocurrency. El Salvador is the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar which it has used for two decades. The country’s bitcoin law went into effect in September. Furthermore, El Salvador has purchased 1,120 BTC , according to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. The IMF regularly undertakes Article IV missions to member countries to consult with government officials before they request to use its resour

The monetary authority of the euro area, the Eurosystem, has introduced a new framework for overseeing electronic payments, including services related to crypto assets. The new set of rules will complement upcoming EU regulations for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. ECB Aims for Secure and Efficient Digital Payments Through Improved Oversight Following public consultations on the matter, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has approved a new oversight framework for electronic payments. The document has been published by the Eurosystem, which consists of the ECB and the national central banks of the EU member states that have adopted the common European currency, the euro. According to an announcement by the ECB, the single framework replaces other regulations within the Eurosystem’s existing oversight regime for payment instruments and complements its oversight mechanisms for payment systems. The bank noted that the framework has been designed to “make the cur

PRESS RELEASE. Dvision has recently announced that it will be conducting the LAND sale for its digital estate that will be used in the Dvision Metaverse through tripartite cooperation with Binance NFT and NFTb, allowing its users to participate in the sale on three platforms with different sale structures. Dvision has revealed, that it will be offering 1,452 NFT Mystery Boxes through Binance NFT exclusively for Binance.com users. As the name suggests itself, the mystery box contains a random LAND NFT from the total LAND collection offered by Dvision. The users will be able to purchase the Mystery Box under a specified price with a probability to drop a common 1×1 LAND Lot or even a legendary 3×3 LAND Lot NFT. Furthermore, 1,495 LAND Boxes shall also be offered through an Initial NFT Offering (INO) on NFTb, where users can participate in highly sought after NFT drops by Metaverse projects such as Dvision and other NFT drops from celebrities and creators and games. It should be note

The Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria (BICCON), has said it is not lawful for Nigerian financial institutions to arbitrarily freeze or close bank accounts belonging to individuals or entities accused of trading cryptocurrency. Affected Crypto Entities Told to Seek Legal Advice In a public statement issued on November 22, BICCON — a coalition of Nigeria’s foremost cryptocurrency and blockchain advocacy groups — advises affected individuals and companies to seek legal advice and redress in courts where appropriate. The body also insists that no Nigerian organization, public or private, should be above the law. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Nigerian financial institutions have been closing or freezing bank accounts of entities suspected of trading cryptocurrency since November 3. The institutions have claimed they are doing this in order to comply with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive that was initially issued on February 5. However, des

Moonpay, a cryptocurrency payments service provider, has raised $555 million during its first funding round. Led by Tiger Global Management, this series A funding round propelled the valuation of the company to $3.4 billion, which will be used for expansion endeavors. The fiat-to-crypto ramp that Moonpay provides is key to several hundred wallets and services for onboarding users with fiat currency. Moonpay Snags $3.4 Billion Valuation Moonpay, a startup that specializes in processing payments to purchase cryptocurrencies, has raised $555 million in its first financing round. The series A financing round was led by Tiger Global Management and Coatue with participation from Blossom Capital, Thrive Capital, Paradigm, and NEA. With this round, the valuation of the company reached $3.4 billion. John Curtius, a partner at Tiger Global, stated: We spoke to many of the company’s customers during diligence who highlighted Moonpay’s compelling user experience and expressed conviction in

On Monday, the mining firm Griid Infrastructure announced the company has secured a $525 million credit facility from the crypto firm Blockchain.com. According to the announcement, the credit facility will be a four-year term in order to increase the company’s mining capacity. Bitcoin Mining Infrastructure Firm to Increase Capacity With Help From Blockchain.com Cryptocurrency mining, and more specifically bitcoin ( BTC ) mining, has seen millions of dollars invested during the course of the year. Enterprise operations have inked massive deals with bitcoin mining rig manufacturers like Canaan, Bitmain, and Microbt for thousands of ASIC devices. A few large bitcoin mining operators have also begun constructing new facilities in order to increase capacity. On November 22, Griid Infrastructure announced the company has secured a $525 million credit facility from the company Blockchain.com . The financing will be used to increase mining capacity as well as “capitalizing on over 1,300 m

PRESS RELEASE. Chimeras is announcing a brand new collection of NFT-based characters for sale on INO platforms and its marketplace . November 23rd, 2021, Kyiv, Ukraine – Play-to-Earn gaming metaverse Chimeras is launching a brand new collection of NFTs based on in-game characters. There are two types of characters in Chimeras’ in-game world – Chimeras and the Chosen ones. The new NFTs feature 20 of The Chosen characters, with a further 268 variations and different levels of stardom, resulting in 5360 new NFT characters in total who will be used and can be upgraded in the game. The Chosen are unique creatures that a Player can use for battles. A Player can get a Chosen by performing a ritual with a Magical Stone. There is no limit on the looks and skills of the Chosen: they look like people, demons, dragons. Every Chosen can be turned into NFT and sold so that a Player can earn with it too. A Player can upgrade the level of the Chosen by experience and unique sources earned in the

The Nigerian startup behind the social payment app for cryptocurrency and fiat, Kurepay, says the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s current crackdown on crypto entities has forced it to suspend operations in Nigeria. ‘Horrible’ Year for Crypto Adoption According to a report by the Cryptoassetbuyer, this suspension of operations is set to commence at the start of the first quarter of 2022. At that time, Kurepay, whose app harnesses blockchain technology, will begin to restrict its business to over-the-counter (OTC) and crypto consulting services. Commenting on the startup’s plan to quit the West African country, Kurepay CEO Abikure Tega is quoted lamenting what he calls a horrible year for cryptocurrency adoption and expansion in Nigeria. He said: This year has been quite horrible for cryptocurrency adoption and expansion in Nigeria as CBN continues to take drastic measures to slow down and frustrate Nigeria’s growing ability to participate in what has been the fastest-growing emer

Australian Senator Jane Hume says we need to acknowledge that cryptocurrency is not a fad, adding that there are huge opportunities in decentralized finance (defi). “We should tread cautiously, but not fearfully,” she said, emphasizing that “Australia mustn’t be left behind by fear of the unknown.” Australian Senator Says Crypto Is Not Going Away, Sees ‘Incredible’ Opportunities in Defi Australian Senator Jane Hume talked about cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (defi) Monday during her speech at the Australian Financial Review Super & Wealth Summit in Sydney. Hume is Australia’s minister for superannuation, financial services, and the digital economy. She is also the country’s minister for women’s economic security. Referencing a recent Australian Senate Committee report that claims 17% of Australians are investing in cryptocurrency, Hume stressed: “This is an asset class that has captured hearts and minds, but beyond that — whatever you might personally think — it’s a

Citigroup is reportedly looking to hire 100 people for its new crypto team. “We believe in the potential of blockchain and digital assets including the benefits of efficiency, instant processing, fractionalization, programmability, and transparency.” Citigroup Growing Its Crypto Team Citigroup is reportedly looking to hire 100 people to grow its digital asset team within its institutional business, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Puneet Singhvi will be the firm’s new head of digital assets within Citi’s institutional client group, according to a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg News. Singhvi was previously head of blockchain and digital assets within Citi’s trading business. In his new role, he will report to Emily Turner, who oversees business development for the broader group. Turner explained in the memo to staff: We believe in the potential of blockchain and digital assets including the benefits of efficiency, instant processing, fracti

The Ethereum scaling wars are raging on social media due to the problems that this chain is facing, with fees on layer one (L1) at very high levels. Zhu Su, CEO of Three Arrows Capital, a notable crypto VC company, announced he withdrew his support from the project, criticizing the state in which the chain is now. Emin Gun Sirer, Founder and CEO of Ava Labs, the company behind Avalanche, stated that Avalanche will be able to scale regardless of its growth. Ethereum Facing Heat in Social Media The high fees that users have to pay to transact on Ethereum L1 are prompting supporters of the chain to be very vocal in social media about the problems these cause. Zhu Su, CEO of Three Arrows Capital, voiced his discomfort with the state of the Ethereum chain right now, and how its proponents have failed to scale its operation. On Twitter, Su stated : Yes I have abandoned Ethereum despite supporting it in the past. Yes Ethereum has abandoned its users despite supporting them in the past. E

U.S. president Joe Biden revealed his intent on Monday to re-nominate Jerome Powell as the Federal Reserve chairperson. Major indices and stocks gained on the news that Powell will get a second term as the head of the central bank. Biden Chooses to Renominate Fed Chair Jerome Powell On Monday, president Joe Biden revealed that he has chosen Jerome Powell to lead the U.S. Federal Reserve for another term. Powell will serve as the chairperson during his second term, while Lael Brainard will serve as the Fed’s vice chair. Powell’s renomination follows the uncertainty surrounding who would take his seat. At the end of August, three Democrat representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley had urged Biden to choose a chairperson that would address social change and the so-called climate crisis. However, two weeks later sources with ties to Washington told the press that Biden would renominate Powell. Jerome Powell selected for a second term! Stonks

While crypto-asset markets have shed billions during the last week, the top meme tokens coins by market capitalization have seen deeper losses than most coins. The top two meme digital assets dogecoin and shiba inu have seen double-digit losses during the last seven days. The top meme tokens coins by market capitalization today are worth $60.7 billion losing 3.5% in value over the last 24 hours. Dogecoin and Shiba Inu Lose Double-Digits Last Week During the course of the year, meme-based crypto assets were all the rage and many of them have gained significant value in 2021. The top two meme-based cryptocurrencies dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) were once top ten contenders in terms of market capitalization. However, today, after suffering some losses both dogecoin and shiba inu have dropped out of the top ten standings. Dogecoin (DOGE) is the largest meme-based crypto asset in terms of overall valuation. DOGE is also the 11th largest market cap out of 10,975 coins in existenc

The U.S. and U.K. governments have “committed and agreed to heighten the focus on illicit use of cryptocurrency and ransomware,” the U.S. Department of Justice announced. According to the FBI, high crypto prices have partially made ransomware “incredibly lucrative for the criminals.” Governments Collaborate to Focus on Illicit Use of Crypto The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and officials from its National Security Division and Criminal Division met with U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. “In their meeting, both governments discussed their close cooperation against numerous threats to their countries’ collective security, including with respect to combating terrorism, cybercrime, and illicit finance,” the DOJ detailed, adding: Both the deputy attorney general and the home secretary committed and agreed to heighten the focus on illicit use of cryptocurrency and ransomware, as well as to cont

The crypto asset economy has been down in value over the last week as a great number of digital currencies shed significant amounts. The entire crypto-economy is down under the $3 trillion mark, hovering around $2.7 trillion across 10,970 cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin dominance is just above the 40% region while ethereum’s market commands 18.4% of the crypto economy on Monday. Analyst Notes a Few Possible Factors May Have Contributed to the Market’s Slide Digital currency markets have seen better days and on Monday, November 22, 2021, bitcoin ( BTC ) is down 9.7% during the last seven days. At press time, a single bitcoin is exchanging hands for just above the $58K per unit zone and the asset has a market valuation of around $1.11 trillion. Ethereum ( ETH ) has lost 7.4% this past week and is currently swapping for under $4,300 per ether. The biggest loser out of the top ten market caps this week was polkadot (DOT) with a 12.3% loss. Solana (SOL) lost the least amount of value dropping

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor, Patrick Njoroge, has said his institution is currently exploring the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) to settle cross-border payments. Njoroge however insists the bank’s priority is getting it right rather than being the first. CBK’s Approach According to a report by the Kenyan Wallstreet, Njoroge — who made these remarks while attending a virtual Afro-Asia Fintech festival — argued that such a CBDC would enhance the efficiency of cross-border payments. The report nonetheless quotes Njoroge reiterating the CBK’s approach which is different from that of other central banks. He said: We see the benefits would be more cross border. The issue is not to be first, the issue is to do it right. These remarks by the CBK governor come a few weeks after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) became the first country in Africa to launch a CBDC. Some three weeks after launch, the CBN reported that nearly 500,000 wallets had been downloaded

IDO Will Follow On November 26th Anomus has been a well-anticipated project that has gained much attention over the last few months. Today Anomus is announcing the closure of its private sale round with a very successful and promising oversubscription. The oversubscription was well anticipated by the team; which is due to the project’s hype which, backed by well-known names in the blockchain space and a team of crypto professionals, has been building up a lot lately. Anomus plans to launch its ‘Initial Dex Offering’ (IDO) on the 26th of November 2021; the team, investors, and partners are excited in anticipation of the alpha launch of the platform, which is expected to roll out during December 2021. Anomus Is The Future of News & Journalism Anomus is a decentralized protocol that aims to restore fairness, objectivity, and balance to news reporting. Its goal is to create a platform for publishers to save their work in blockchains, where it will be permanently recorded and acce

With the ETH 2.0 upgrade still months, if not years, from a full launch, third-generation blockchain protocols are quickly racing up to dethrone Ethereum as the “go-to” hub for dapps and defi. Blockchain Metamorphosis to Catalyze Future Defi Growth Although many people may only be discovering it recently, blockchain technology has been around long enough to have moved on from first to second, and now third-generation protocols. The first-gen blockchain started with Bitcoin, a proposed alternative to the hegemony of centralized financial services. It laid the foundation for a decentralized financial ecosystem, but the Bitcoin network offered limited functionalities, required immense computational power to operate, and suffered from a severe lack of interoperability. This led to the emergence of Ethereum in 2015, marking the dawn of the second generation of blockchain protocols. As Vitalik Buterin introduced the smart contract functionality on the blockchain, it sparked a paradigm

The Central Reserve Bank of Peru, the Peruvian central bank, is planning to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC) like other economies of the world. The announcement was made by its president, Julio Velarde, who stated that the currency would be designed for use primarily in payments. However, Velarde also acknowledged this was not the best time to present the currency due to the current uncertainty in markets. Peru to Hop on CBDC Bandwagon Julio Velarde, president of the Reserve Bank of Peru, announced the institution was already working on the creation of a national central bank digital currency (CBDC). The announcement was made last week during the 59th virtual edition of the annual executive summit. He stated that the creation of such a currency is a must in a digitally based future. Velarde stressed: We have been working on a digital currency. We are in a lot of projects with several central banks: with India, Singapore, Hong Kong and with a lot of central banks, th

On Friday, Electric Coin Company (ECC), the developers behind the privacy-centric crypto-asset zcash, revealed the network plans to transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. ECC also revealed the team plans to launch an official ECC wallet, as well as bolster the network’s cross-chain interoperability. Zcash to Change From PoW to PoS The Zcash network currently leverages a proof-of-work mining algorithm called Equihash, which allows miners to compete in order to find new blocks on the Zcash chain. In a blog post published on November 19, ECC announced the network will transition toward a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm over the next three years. Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn discussed the network moving from PoW to PoS in a blog post published on August 3, 2021. Furthermore, ECC’s CTO Nate Wilcox also published a blog post about the PoS subject a week after Zooko’s post. In the roadmap post published on Friday, ECC explains that transitioning to PoS will “increase the utilit

Kirill Doronin, mastermind of the Russian crypto Ponzi scheme Finiko, has proposed to testify against dozens of his former associates he claims violated his order to accept only cryptocurrency from investors. The founder of Russia’s largest financial pyramid in modern times has already provided detailed testimonies against a long list of accomplices, a media report revealed. Kirill Doronin Ready to Expose His Closest Finiko Associates The man behind the cryptocurrency pyramid Finiko has offered to cooperate with Russian authorities in a likely attempt to limit the repercussions for himself. Kirill Doronin, an Instagram influencer associated with other scams in the past, now wants to testify against 44 of his subordinates who, as he claims, “went against the precepts” of Finiko by taking fiat cash from victims, which he insists he never authorized. Doronin was detained as the Ponzi scheme crumbled this summer, and has since been moved from the Russian Republic of Tatarstan to the ca

A growing number of fund managers and institutional investors now prefer bitcoin over gold. They see the cryptocurrency as a better store of value and a better inflation hedge. “I think it’s probably going to be ten times better than gold over a long period of time,” said the founder of one asset management firm. Bitcoin vs Gold: Bitcoin Is a Better Store of Value Fund managers and institutional investors are increasingly opting to invest in bitcoin rather than gold, seeing the cryptocurrency as a better store of value and a preferred hedge against inflation. During his company’s Q3 earnings call last week, Galaxy Digital Holdings CEO Mike Novogratz talked about bitcoin being a better store of value than gold. While stating, “I still think gold was probably an okay asset to own in this environment,” he emphasized that “It’s just gotten crushed by bitcoin.” Novogratz added: Bitcoin is just a better version of a store value and it’s being accepted at an accelerating pace … There ar

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revealed that $3.5 billion in crypto was seized during the fiscal year 2021. This represents 93% of all funds seized by its criminal investigation unit during the same time period. The agency expects to seize billions of dollars more in cryptocurrency next year. IRS Says It Could Seize Even More Than $3.5 Billion in Cryptocurrency Next Year The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation (CI) unit, the tas authority’s law enforcement branch, released the 2021 Criminal Investigation Annual Report Thursday. IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig explained that “CI agents are the only federal law enforcement officers with the authority to investigate criminal violations of the U.S. tax code.” The report details statistics, partnerships, and significant criminal enforcement actions from IRS-CI for the past fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 2020, and ended Sept. 30, 2021. Among several major crypto cases highlighted in the report is “the longest-runnin