Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A South African startup, NFTfi, is reported to have recently raised $5 million which the company intends to use for boosting its business of collateralizing non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Cryptocurrency Loan Marketplace According to a Techcrunch report , NFTfi’s $5 million capital raise was led by U.S. actor Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures. The other investors that participated in the funding round include Maven 11, Scalar Capital, and Kleiner Perkins. The company, which was founded by Stephen Young in February 2020, already acts as a marketplace where users can get a cryptocurrency loan on their NFTs and offer loans to borrowers against their NFTs. By collateralizing their tokens, NFT holders will be able to unlock liquidity without selling, the report explained. Since facilitating its first loan in May 2020, NFTfi claims to have seen more than 1,500 such transactions take place on its platform. Pricing Dynamics The report quotes Young explaining how the lending and borrowing proc

Kucoin Labs, the investigative and investment arm of Kucoin, a cryptocurrency exchange, has launched a $100 million fund to incubate early metaverse related projects. These include blockchain gaming initiatives, NFT platforms, and decentralized platforms, among others. The support will also include direct involvement with the projects selected, including counseling about branding and marketing. Kucoin Invests in Metaverse Kucoin, one of the leading exchanges in Asia, has taken the first step to hop on the metaverse train. The investment and investigation arm of the exchange, Kucoin Labs, has launched a $100 million fund to invest in metaverse-based initiatives, including blockchain-based games, decentralized structures, NFT platforms, and other similar projects. The support of Kucoin won’t be limited to just economic incentives. These incubated projects will also get help in the form of counseling about branding, market management, exposure, and other important aspects of startin

Phil Spencer, executive vice president of gaming at Microsoft and the individual responsible for the Xbox program, has addressed the NFT gaming phenomenon trending recently. To Spencer, some of the platforms that leverage the use of NFTs feel more exploitive than entertaining. Some of the biggest developers and publishers in the gaming industry have already signaled their interest in introducing NFT elements to their games. Phil Spencer Not Immediately Supportive of NFTs Phil Spencer, responsible for the Xbox program at Microsoft and one of the most recognized executives in the world of gaming, has issued his opinion about NFTs and the inclusion of these elements in today’s gaming scene. Spencer stated that he thinks these first steps of exploration with these tools are including platforms that are more about speculation than about entertainment. On the subject, Spencer told Axios : What I’d say today on NFT, all up, is I think there’s a lot of speculation and experimentation that

There’s a new website the crypto community has been discussing called The NFT Bay, a web portal that operates in a similar fashion to The Pirate Bay (TPB), because the platform hosts a huge selection of NFTs stemming from various blockchain platforms for free. On Thursday, the web portal’s creator revealed a file called “The Billion Dollar Torrent,” which claims to hold all the NFTs from Ethereum and Solana. ‘The Massive NFT Heist:’ Pirate Bay Clone The NFT Bay Sparks Heated Discussions During the last year, non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles have seen massive popularity and billions of dollars have been spent on these digital items. Meanwhile, a great number of people in the crypto space think NFTs are worthless and people can simply right click the NFT image and own the artwork without paying. It’s been a heated discussion ever since NFTs were introduced. The debate became even more controversial in March when an NFT immutability debate ensued and crypto supporters highlighted

The U.S. city of Williston in North Dakota is installing a cryptocurrency ATM at its international airport. “This marks the first government-hosted cryptocurrency kiosk,” the city said. Williston also accepts cryptocurrencies for payments of utility bills. ‘The First Government-Hosted Cryptocurrency Kiosk’ The city of Williston in the U.S. state of North Dakota announced Wednesday a partnership with crypto ATM operator Coin Cloud to install a cryptocurrency ATM at its Williston Basin International Airport (XWA). The city wrote: This marks the first government-hosted cryptocurrency kiosk and the first Coin Cloud installation in an airport. “This is an ambitious step in introducing and engaging the public towards cryptocurrency while proactively playing a role in building the digital ecosystem,” commented the city’s finance director, Hercules Cummings. “Although we are a smaller rural community, we are making an impact. Taking this small step may pave the way for other government

One of the most successful baseball teams in Australia, the Perth Heat, is adopting the bitcoin standard. The team will pay players and staff in bitcoin, accept the cryptocurrency for payments, and hold bitcoin on its balance sheet. The Perth Heat Will Operate on Bitcoin Standard The Perth Heat, a major baseball team in the Australian Baseball League, announced Wednesday that it will “operate on bitcoin standard.” The team, which is one of the most successful in Australia, has partnered with bitcoin payments company Opennode to accept and send bitcoin payments powered by the Lightning Network. “In partnership with Opennode, the Perth Heat is setting bitcoin as the new standard for payments and payouts,” the team wrote. According to the announcement: Perth Heat will pay players in bitcoin, pay staff in bitcoin, accept bitcoin payments for sponsorships, merchandise, and ballpark concessions, [and] hodl bitcoin on the club’s balance sheet. Perth Heat CEO Steven Nelkovski commented

The government in Norway is considering ways to limit the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining and may support Swedish proposals to that end, including a European ban on proof-of-work mining. The European Commission has revealed it is already working to promote a transition to “more sustainable” protocols. Extensive Use of Renewable Energy for Mining Is Hard to Justify, Norway Minister Says Authorities in Norway are mulling over potential policy measures to deal with the effects of crypto mining on the environment, the country’s minister responsible for local government and regional development has indicated. As part of the review, the Norwegian government intends to look into solutions recently put forward by Swedish regulators and work for common European rules. Speaking to Euronews Next, Minister Bjørn Arild Gram also stated: Although crypto mining and its underlying technology might represent some possible benefits in the long run, it is difficult to justify the exten

Bitcoin.com Games dishes out a massive jackpot win for a lucky player who cashes out the big loot! Player Cashes out 2.25 Bitcoin After a Single Lucky Spin Turning up the heat on Bitcoin.com Games, our very own crypto casino is Wazdan’s smashing new slot game Sizzling Bells . The brand new game was just recently released back in October and features some of the most sought-after features in a game by slot lovers across the world. Sizzling Bells is a modern take on classic slot machines and features stunning bells, juicy fruits, lucky stars, and is capable of producing wins of up to 15000x a player’s initial bet amount. With 5×5 reels and options to set custom volatility levels, the new slot game has now chosen one lucky player to reward with a massive jackpot of $134,000 on a flick of a single spin. Sizzling Bells is capable of dishing out big jackpot wins of up to 15000x a player’s bet amount ! The game features Sticky Bonus symbols that can land the player into the lap of a bi

PRESS RELEASE. WENZHOU, China/PRNewswire/ — ZK International Group Co., Ltd’s (Nasdaq: ZKIN) (“ZKIN”, “ZK International” or the “Company”), and its subsidiary xSigma Collectibles (“xSigma”), is pleased to announce the launch of MaximNFT’s open beta on November 29th. MaximNFT is an upcoming NFT marketplace launched by xSigma in partnership with Maxim magazine. It will include exclusive NFT collections from high-profile individuals such as Brian Tracy, and a host of NFL players. Brian Tracy is a personal development speaker, and author of the worldwide best-seller “The Psychology of Achievement”. The book is just one of Tracy’s hundreds of textual, audio and video learning programs. His other works include “The Art of Closing the Sale”, “Eat that Frog” and “Maximum Achievement”. Tracy’s NFT collection is a charity project. Jon Orlando – CEO of MaximNFT – said he looks forward to hosting the collection, alongside other charity projects on MaximNFT in the future. Meanwhile, MaximNF

On November 17, a report disclosed that the leading non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, Opensea, is “fielding new investment offers” according to two unknown sources familiar with the matter. The investment could propel Opensea’s valuation by six times to a $10 billion market valuation, according to the sources. Report Claims Opensea Offered a $10 Billion Valuation During the first week of November, the popular NFT marketplace Opensea surpassed $10 billion in all-time sales, according to statistics from dappradar.com. At the time of writing, dappradar.com metrics indicate Opensea’s all-time sales equate to $11.11 billion today. Now, according to a report published by theinformation.com’s Kate Clark and Berber Jin, Opensea is fielding new investment offers and a new investment could make the company’s market valuation rise to $10 billion. The two sources told Clark and Jin that the NFT marketplace did not “initiate” the financing as the people familiar with the matter stresse

On Wednesday, the world’s largest collector car auction house by total sales, RM Sotheby’s, announced the company will be accepting cryptocurrency payments via Bitpay. The firm’s upcoming Guikas Collection sale on November 19 will be RM Sotheby’s first auction to accept digital currency payments for collectible automobiles. RM Sotheby’s Announces Crypto Payment Support via Bitpay While cryptocurrencies have increased significantly in value, a great number of businesses have turned toward accepting digital assets for goods and services payments. The company RM Sotheby’s is a classic car auction firm that’s located in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada. Originally called RM Auctions, the company is now partly owned by the leading fine art and luxury goods auction house Sotheby’s, since 2015. On November 17, the company announced its plans to accept digital currency payments at auctions via Bitpay . The company chose to accept crypto assets so it can attract a new customer base in order to

The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, has urged democratic countries to work together to ensure that cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin, does not end up in the wrong hands. Meanwhile, the Modi government is working on a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in India. India’s Prime Minister Modi on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about cryptocurrency, specifically bitcoin, during his virtual keynote address at the Sydney Dialogue Wednesday. He called on countries to work together to ensure that cryptocurrency does not fall into the wrong hands. “Take cryptocurrency or bitcoin for example. It is important that all democratic nations work together on this and ensure it does not end up in wrong hands, which can spoil our youth,” Modi said. In addition, the prime minister urged Australia and India’s partners in the Indo-Pacific region “and beyond” to invest together in future technologies to “deepen intelligence and operational coopera

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has acknowledged that the recently launched Nigerian central bank digital currency (CBDC) is attracting interest from many institutions globally, including central banks. Still, the fund warns that the CBDC carries risks for monetary policy implementation, cyber security, operational resilience, and financial integrity and stability. CBDC Attracting Interest In its latest country focus report authored by economist Jack Ree, the IMF explains why Nigeria’s new CBDC has drawn substantial interest from the outside world and from central banks in particular. In the report, the author notes that the e-naira, unlike cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or ethereum, features stringent access rights controls by the central bank. Also, unlike volatile cryptocurrencies, the CBDC draws its value from the physical naira. According to the IMF, it is by way of such features that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is hoping that its CBDC will bring multiple benefits

SevenX Ventures is a community and research-driven blockchain investment firm built alongside entrepreneurs. They invest in blockchain startups and projects shaping the future of open finance and decentralized networks. Their portfolio covers more than 100 projects, including DeFi (DODO, Zerion), NFT (Whale, AlchemyNFT), Polkadot ecosystem (Acala, Litentry), AR ecosystem (Koii, Everpay), Near ecosystem (Aurora, Octopus), Web3.0 (YGG, Mask Network), etc. Li Rongbin is a Founding Partner of SevenX Ventures . He recently joined the Bitcoin.com News Podcast to talk about the market: “Eraser” Li is known as an independent thinker and he specializes in the token economic design, valuation methodologies, and investment logic. He is not just an investor, but also an NFT collector. He holds a double major in Computer Science and Finance from Nanjing University, Master of Business from the University of Waterloo. You can find him on Twitter or reach out directly on email . SevenX Venture

NBA basketball team the Houston Rockets has partnered with NYDIG, a leading bitcoin solutions provider, to be the team’s official bitcoin services partner. The deal will provide the team with cryptocurrency-related opportunities and give NYDIG exclusive exposure in the team’s social, digital, and arena platforms. The full amount of the sponsorship, which was not disclosed, is being paid in bitcoin. NYDIG Forges Crypto Services Partnership With the Houston Rockets NYDIG, the bitcoin services company, has forged a sponsorship deal with the Houston Rockets, the two-time NBA champion basketball team. The deal will allow NYDIG to be the official bitcoin services partner and bitcoin platform of the team, meaning that the company will have exclusive access to several spaces of the franchise, including social, digital, and in-arena platforms. The Houston Rockets will also work with NYDIG to expand knowledge and awareness about the cryptocurrency world and the uses of these new investment

Creditors of a South African crypto trading firm, Africrypt, have agreed to a proposal recently tabled by an unnamed investor who is seeking to resuscitate the collapsed company. Africrypt’s Intellectual Property In addition to paying $4 million — which will be used to pay off some of the crypto firm’s debts — the investor is also willing to part with $1 million which will go towards the acquisition of 51% of Africrypt’s shares and the company’s intellectual property rights. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, an unnamed investor had proposed injecting a total of $5 million in the now-defunct crypto company. While a few of the creditors had voiced their disapproval of the investor’s proposal to have criminal charges against Africrypt’s two young directors dropped, there was an expectation that creditors would still accept the proposition. ‘Not the Worst Deal’ Indeed, as the Moneyweb report explained , a majority of the creditors voted in favor of the offer because this

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, has claimed that a majority of cryptocurrency transactions are embedded in illegality. He also asserts that there is no room for cryptocurrency in the Nigerian banking space. Pushback Against Endsars Protest Claims In his latest anti-cryptocurrency salvo that was published by the Punch, Emefiele however appeared to push back against the claims the CBN had abruptly decided to exclude cryptocurrency entities from the banking system as punishment for the industry’s perceived support of the Endsars protests. When the CBN froze the bank accounts of individuals that were involved in organizing the Endsars protests in late 2020, the protest leaders began to ask for donations via bitcoin . As reported by Bitcoin.com News, this switch to bitcoin donations ultimately enabled organizers to continue funding protest activities. Therefore, when the CBN suddenly announced the exclusion of cryptocurrency entities from the banking ecos

PRESS RELEASE. In today’s day and age, social networks play an immense part in people’s lives. However, some privacy issues and other concerns have surfaced and become problems that many centralized bodies have yet to address. Somewhat unexpectedly, the need for a decentralized network has emerged, leaving many to try and grab a piece of the pie. With the fierce battle for market dominance that’s about to take place, some projects are trying to get the upper hand by launching certain incentives. Such is the case with Viblos — a social network that aims to become “the place to be” for users striving for democratized free social networks and provides its users with various streams for earning passive income. Viblos’ next-gen tokenized network to arrive next year The team behind the project announced the initial launch of its next generation tokenized social interaction platform earlier this month. Users will be able to employ the beta version as of March 2022, while the full rollo

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia has proposed to define cryptocurrency as property in the country’s Criminal Code. Decentralized digital money has already been qualified as such in the provisions of several other laws although various aspects of cryptocurrencies remain unregulated. Prosecutors in Russia Draft Legislation Granting Cryptocurrency Property Status The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation has prepared a draft law to recognize cryptocurrency and other virtual assets as property . The legal definition will be used in court proceedings within the framework of the Criminal Code, Russia’s Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov explained in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. Krasnov also expressed concerns over the growing use of modern financial technologies to commit crimes which, in his view, is facilitated by existing gaps in the legal regulation of this particular field. Quoted by the Interfax news agency, he further elaborated: The stat

Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor at financial services company Allianz, says that bitcoin is not going to be a global currency and will not replace the U.S. dollar. However, he believes the cryptocurrency will always exist in the ecosystem and will not be regulated out of existence. Bitcoin Won’t Become Global Currency Rivalling US Dollar, Says Economist El-Erian Famed economist Mohamed El-Erian talked about the future outlook for cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin, in an interview with CNBC Monday. El-Erian is the chief economic advisor at Allianz, the corporate parent of PIMCO, one of the largest investment managers, where he was CEO and co-chief investment officer. The Egyptian-American businessman is also president of Queens College, Cambridge University. While El-Erian believes that bitcoin is a “very disruptive force,” he does not think it will ever become a “global currency” that rivals the U.S. dollar. He said: I think it will always exist in the ecosystem bu

While digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum lost roughly 10% in value during the last seven days, the decentralized finance (defi) economy has weathered the storm better than the top two leading crypto assets. A slew of blockchain games coins, defi tokens, and metaverse assets like gala, crypto.com coin, wax, kadena, wonderland, and avalanche have seen double-digit gains during the last 24 hours. TVL in Defi Weathers the Crypto Economy Storm While bitcoin ( BTC ) has hovered just above the $60K zone in consolidation, the defi economy and a number of other crypto assets have seen decent gains. Statistics from defillama.com show that on November 9, the total value locked (TVL) in defi protocols tapped $275 billion and today it’s only 6.54% lower at $257 billion. The defi protocol Curve commands 8% dominance amid the $257 billion with $20.63 billion TVL. Curve’s TVL is followed by Makerdao ($18.16B), Aave ($15.59B), Convex Finance ($15.34B), and WBTC ($14.66B), respectively. Th

Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller says that stablecoins do not need to be regulated with all the same rules as banks. He disagrees with some of the recommendations on stablecoin regulation by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. He explained that while banks should be able to issue stablecoins, not all stablecoin issuers need to be banks. Fed’s Waller Disagrees That Stablecoins Need to Be Regulated With Full Banking Regulation Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller talked about stablecoin regulation Wednesday during a virtual conference organized by the Cleveland Fed. While emphasizing that “The regulatory and supervisory framework for payment stablecoins should address the specific risks that these arrangements pose — directly, fully, and narrowly,” he noted: It does not necessarily mean imposing the full banking rulebook, which is geared in part toward lending activities, not payments. Waller said that he disagrees with some of the re

Financial technology (fintech) has exploded during the last two years and cryptocurrency and blockchain firms have bolstered the billion-dollar industry. A recently published study by Utility Bidder indicates that the industry is predicted to surpass $382 billion by 2027. Moreover, fintech firms that are blockchain-specific are projected to be worth over $67.4 billion by 2027. The recent study also highlights that Kraken is the most influential blockchain company of 2021. Kraken Named 2021’s Most Influential Blockchain Company Numerous research studies have shown the fintech universe continues to grow exponentially and digital currency and blockchain solutions are a big part of this trend. This week, researchers at Utility Bidder analyzed 50 fintech firms that were selected in Forbes’ 2021 Fintech 50 report. Utility Bidder’s study broke the selected firms down into four factors, with a normalized score out of ten for each factor. Factors included total funds raised, the latest kn

PRESS RELEASE. Moledao, a social platform for blockchain enthusiasts, announced today its upcoming Web 3.0 Hackathon. This pioneering global hackathon will be held in the metaverse, and take place from 15th November 2021 to 9th January 2022. Web 3.0 is the vision for the next internet generation that is decentralized, verifiable and secure. Participants are invited to work on real-life solutions related to the main hackathon theme of Web 3.0 with the three recommended tracks: Multi-chain Decentralized Applications (dApps) – create cross-chain interoperability solutions Metaverse – create a purpose-built metaverse or build on top of existing metaverses Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) – build and govern truly community-owned DAO initiatives Participants will have the opportunity to obtain VC institutional investment, industry mentorship and win a total of $100K in grants and prizes. Moledao, a global blockchain ecosystem builder, wants to bring the best develope

Authorities in China are continuing to crack down on activities linked to cryptocurrencies which they consider illegal. The country’s top economic planning body has clearly indicated it intends to go after large-scale cryptocurrency mining taking place at government-operated industrial facilities. State Firms Mining Crypto in China to Face Higher Electricity Bills China’s National Development and Reform Commission ( NDRC ) announced Tuesday it plans to concentrate on the “comprehensive rectification” of state-run industrial enterprises involved in the extraction of digital currencies. The initiative is part of an ongoing crackdown on crypto-related operations that are banned in the People’s Republic. The economic planner cited concerns over energy waste associated with crypto mining as well as financial activities linked to cryptocurrencies, reiterating these are deemed illegal in China. Virtual currency does not have the same status as legal currency, the commission emphasized, q