Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A United Nations trade body has recommended a set of policy actions to “curb the expansion of cryptocurrencies in developing countries.” The intergovernmental group stressed that if cryptocurrencies become a widespread means of payment, it could jeopardize the monetary sovereignty of countries. UN Trade Body’s Crypto Policy Recommendations The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) urged authorities in developing countries worldwide to take action to prevent the widespread use of cryptocurrencies last week. UNCTAD is a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964. It is part of the U.N. Secretariat. The group reports to the U.N. General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. UNCTAD has 195 member states and 204 projects in 70 countries, its website shows. “Global use of cryptocurrencies has increased exponentially during the Covid-19 pandemic, including in developing countries,” the group noted. “While thes

Have you lost the passphrase for an hardware wallet and looking how to recover your coins? Here is how the KeychainX recovery experts have done just that for a client. This is a trusted service provider that specializes in recovering lost crypto wallets and they can even recover funds from broken hardware drives, phones or Trezor/Ledger wallets. Recovering a Trezor Wallet Passphrase A TREZOR hardware wallet is a security device that protects the user from key loggers and phishing e-mail, keeping the user’s Bitcoin and crypto safe. Various hacking groups could open the device by mitigating side-channel attacks; however, the method was only possible because ‘a passphrase was not used’. When making a transaction, the user only enters a PIN and therefore protects the private key of the Bitcoin. The only backup is a 12/24-word mnemonic that determines which addresses are stored on the device. Recently, a client asked the KeyChainX team to brute force their TREZOR wallet as the client

Ghana’s ongoing economic woes appeared to worsen in July after data from the country’s statistical agency, Ghana Statistical Service, suggested that the inflation rate is now nearly 31.7%. The nearly 2% increase in the country’s inflation rate comes at a time when the local currency is reported to have depreciated by as much as 30% since the start of the year. Economist Recommends Installation of Currency Board According to the latest data from Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the West African nation’s year-on-year inflation rate for July rose to 31.7%. The latest inflation rate is nearly 2% higher than the 29.8% rate which was recorded in June, the data showed. Confirmation of Ghana’s latest official inflation, which is said to be the highest in 19 years, coincided with a report suggesting the country’s currency, the cedi, has now depreciated by more than 30% since the beginning of the year. The currency’s depreciation has since prompted Steve Hanke — the Johns Hopkins economics

“Durmientes,” a new movie that will be directed by Gibran Bazan, a Mexican filmmaker, aims to be funded fully by the sale of a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The NFTs, which will be sold on Metaown, a Mexico-based NFT marketplace, and designed by artist Gabriel Colin, will feature 3D models that will be connected to the story of the film and will bring benefits to owners. Durmientes Will Try to Succeed Using an NFT-Based Financing Model Cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are migrating to other industries that can also take advantage of their properties and technology. “Durmientes,” a new Mexican film project which will be directed by filmmaker Gibran Bazan, will produce a set of NFTs that will be sold in order to raise funding for the film. The financing team of the film will issue 1,500 NFTs that will feature some important object present in the film’s script. These will be done in 3D art, and will also bring important benefits for their owners, allowing them t

Galaxy Digital Holdings and the company’s CEO and founder Mike Novogratz announced the company has “exercised its right to terminate” a previously announced acquisition of Bitgo. According to Galaxy the termination of the deal was due to Bitgo’s “failure to deliver” audited financial statements for 2021. Galaxy Ends Deal With the Crypto Custodian Bitgo On Monday, Galaxy Digital Holdings (TSX: GLXY ) explained that the company has terminated a proposed $1.2 billion stock and cash deal that would allow the crypto firm to acquire the digital asset custody business and financial services provider Bitgo . Galaxy’s announcement details that the abandoned deal was due to Bitgo’s “failure to deliver” specific financial documents. “[Galaxy] exercised its right to terminate its previously announced acquisition agreement with Bitgo following Bitgo’s failure to deliver, by July 31, 2022, audited financial statements for 2021 that comply with the requirements of our agreement,” the crypto com

India’s finance minister has cautioned investors about cryptocurrency as the country’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigates a number of crypto exchanges and freezes the assets of some trading platforms. Indian Finance Minister Cautions About Crypto Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reportedly warned about cryptocurrency Saturday at an event organized by the BJP Economic Cell. She cautioned the public and entrepreneurs that cryptocurrency is not currency, stating : The government has already warned. I think all of us will have to share our thoughts and move with a bit of caution on this. On Thursday, News18 reported that the finance minister asked investors to exercise caution on crypto, emphasizing that a new law on cryptocurrency is coming soon. Her statements came as India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) probes cryptocurrency exchanges in relation to its money-laundering investigations. The law enforcement agency has frozen the assets of at least two cryptocurre

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has shared his predictions for the U.S. economy, including a chance of “something worse” than a recession. “There are storm clouds,” the executive said, citing interest rates, QT, oil, Ukraine, war, and China. JPMorgan Chief Jamie Dimon’s Economic Forecasts JPMorgan’s chairman and chief executive officer, Jamie Dimon, reportedly shared his predictions about where the U.S. economy is headed during a client call last week, Yahoo Finance reported Saturday. While noting that the U.S. economy is strong, with consumers’ balance sheets and businesses in good shape, the executive emphasized that “you have to think differently” when forecasting. The JPMorgan chief described: “What is out there? There are storm clouds. Rates, QT, oil, Ukraine, war, China.” Dimon shared: “If I had to put odds: soft landing 10%. Harder landing, mild recession, 20%, 30%.” He added: Harder recession, 20%, 30%. And maybe something worse at 20% to 30%. “It is a bad mistake to say ‘her

After three years of dormancy, a massive ethereum whale that participated in the project’s first token sale, also known as the Genesis initial coin offering (ICO), spent 145,000 ether worth just over $276 million using today’s ethereum exchange rates. Mega Ethereum Whale Distributes 145,000 Ether to 9 Different Addresses On August 14, 2022, onchain data indicates that a whale who participated in the Ethereum Genesis ICO has moved 145,000 ETH to various addresses. The funds were worth $276 million using current ETH exchange rates. It was the first time the Genesis ICO participant spent coins since 2019, back when 5,000 ETH exited the whale’s wallet. At the time of writing, the address currently holds 0.‍1177 ETH worth $22,4 after it emptied the 145,000 ether. The transfers on Sunday were sent in multiple batches of 5,000 ETH , 10,000 ETH , and 20,000 ETH increments. The whale ended the transfers with a final 10,000 ETH transfer sent at 12:18 a.m. (UTC). The wallet owner also

Do you have a talent for picking winners? Do you follow athletes’ careers and know who is gonna be successful? So why not benefit from that?! Upcoming NFT Platform OWNIC empowers sports fans to earn from the real world performance of the stars they pick using dynamic NFTs. It introduces a number of revolutionary concepts to the space of collectible sports cards that will create new ways for fans to earn from fantasy sports leagues and metaverse gaming. OWNIC has also already proven its credibility with exclusive partnerships with top global athletes in the fields of soccer and MMA. The NFT platform will launch on August 22, 2022 with the Pre-Sale for the collection of the captain of the Italian national football team and Juventus F.C., Leonardo Bonucci. Own a Piece of Your Favorite Player’s Success in an Officially Licensed Dynamic NFT Sports Platform OWNIC is an upcoming platform for NFT (non-fungible token) sports collectibles where an athlete’s performance is reflected on a card

The city of Buenos Aires will deploy a number of Ethereum validator nodes in 2023. The statements were made by Diego Fernandez, secretary of Innovation and Digital Transformation of the city, who clarified this deployment will pursue exploratory and regulatory purposes and will help the city to develop regulations for cryptocurrencies. Buenos Aires to Deploy Ethereum Validator Nodes More and more cities are including cryptocurrency and blockchain projects as part of their development and growth plans. Buenos Aires will reportedly deploy validator nodes for the Ethereum chain in 2023. Diego Fernandez, secretary of Innovation and Digital Transformation of the city reported this at ETH Latam, an Ethereum-centric convention that is taking place in the city. Fernandez clarified the interest of the city in running these nodes had an exploratory purpose, and that they expected that running these nodes will allow them to have a deeper understanding of the Ethereum chain in order to regul

Vaculug, a British company that brands itself as Europe’s largest independent tire retreader, will now accept cryptocurrencies for its products and services. Its management says the business must move with the times and offer customers more options than pounds and pence. Vaculug to Take Major Coins, Offer Contracts in Cryptocurrency U.K.-based tire retreading firm Vaculug has announced it will accept two leading cryptocurrencies, bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) as a means of payment for tires and related services. The company claims it’s the first in the industry to do that. In a press release , Vaculug also revealed it intends to sign fixed price contracts in ‘crypto per kilometer’ and ‘crypto per vehicle’ formats, if customers would like to fix or link them to the prices of the two supported cryptocurrencies. Blockchain is not the future but the now, says Vaculug’s IT manager Jason Humphries. “We believe that all companies will have to accept cryptocurrencies in the near futu

“Freedom in a wallet” is how Member of European Parliament Stefan Berger describes the non-fungible token (NFT) he is now selling on Opensea. The NFT represents a pair of ‘Bergoletten’ slides. Shoes symbolize the first step in every development, says Berger who invested efforts in making sure Europe’s upcoming crypto legislation gets the backing of his colleagues. European Lawmaker Auctions NFT Slides on Opensea Stefan Berger, the German member of the European Parliament (MEP) who was tasked to facilitate the progress of EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets ( MiCA ) regulatory package, has come up with a summer initiative to promote tokenization, something “as groundbreaking for the world as the introduction of the stock market was in the 17th century.” In late July, the member of the group of the conservative European People’s Party urged his followers on Twitter to join an auction on the NFT marketplace Opensea. “My NFT is out now,” Berger announced in a post about the sale which ends

Skybridge Capital is “pretty optimistic” about bitcoin and ethereum over the next 12 to 24 months. The global asset management firm’s founder explained that the world’s largest cryptocurrency could reach $300K in six years, urging investors to “just relax” and “stay long-term.” Skybridge Optimistic About Bitcoin and Ethereum Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner at global asset management firm Skybridge Capital, shared his firm’s outlook for bitcoin and ethereum in an interview with CNBC Friday. Replying to a question about whether the crypto winter is over, he said: “I want to caution people to see through the current environment,” citing better-than-expected economic data such as inflation and unemployment numbers released last week. “The crypto market, it’s our belief that most of the leverage is completely out of that system. So you are seeing a very strong recovery,” the Skybridge founder described, elaborating: It is a reminder to investors not to pull out, fig

In just over a month’s time, The Merge is likely to be implemented on the Ethereum blockchain and the network’s proof-of-work (PoW) miners will be forced to mine another coin. So far, it seems ethereum miners are sticking with the PoW Ethereum chain until the very end as profits have increased. While Ethereum will change the consensus ruleset, a great number of crypto community members are attempting to guess where the hashrate will go after The Merge transition. The Crypto Community Wants to Know Where Ethereum Miners Will Go After the Merge — There’s a Myriad of Different Theories On August 11, 2022, Ethereum developers let the community know during a Consensus Layer Call livestream that The Merge will most likely happen on or around September 15th to the 16th. The following day, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin confirmed that The Merge would likely happen on September 15. “The terminal total difficulty has been set to 58750000000000000000000. This means the ethereum PoW netw

The governor of the Zimbabwean central bank, John Mangudya, recently said his organization “has developed a roadmap for adoption of CBDC [central bank digital currency] in Zimbabwe.” Mangudya also revealed that two fintech startups had been admitted into the central bank’s fintech regulatory sandbox. Stakeholders’ Views Wanted Nearly six months after announcing the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s intention to explore the feasibility of launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the bank’s governor John Mangudya recently revealed that the central bank now has a roadmap for the envisaged digital currency. He said the bank’s development of the roadmap is in line with the government’s decision on the CBDC which was made in November 2021. Nevertheless, Mangudya suggested in his second monetary policy statement of the year that the RBZ is now eager to get the views of stakeholders. He said: The role of stakeholders in the CBDC journey is paramount and in that regard, the Bank

The Central Bank of Russia plans to begin the comprehensive implementation of the digital ruble two years from now, according to a paper detailing its monetary policy priorities for the 2023 – 2025 period. As the development of the state-issued digital currency continues, the monetary authority intends to gradually connect various financial institutions to the platform. Russia’s Central Bank to Introduce Digital Ruble Currency in 2 Years The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) has recently published a draft document that sets out the main directions for its monetary policy in the next three years. The paper reveals that one of the key goals for the regulator will be the introduction of a digital version of the national fiat currency, the ruble, and reads: In 2024, the Bank of Russia will begin to gradually connect all credit institutions to the digital ruble platform and increase the number of available payment options and transactions using smart contracts. While the

The United States-based venture capital (VC) firm, QED Investors, recently led an investment round that raised more than $50 million for the Nigerian fintech Teamapt. The investment, as well as the VC firm’s hiring of personnel tasked with spearheading its investments in Africa, seem to point to QED Investors’ newfound commitment towards the continent. Teamapt’s Pre-Series C The fintech-focused venture capital firm, QED Investors, recently became an investor in a Nigerian company, Teamapt, a startup that specializes in providing payments and banking platforms. According to a Techcrunch report , QED led an investment round that reportedly raised more than $50 million for Teamapt. Besides QED Investors, the other participants in the investment round — which the Techcrunch report has called pre-Series C — were Novastar Ventures, Lightrock, and BII. The three all became investors in the fintech firm after they participated in Teamapt’s Series B round. Meanwhile, in his response to as

Alexander Vinnik, the alleged owner and operator of the infamous cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, has been found not eligible for release on bail in the United States, where he was recently transferred from Greece. The Russian, accused of large-scale money laundering through the now-defunct trading platform, and other crimes, rejects U.S. charges. Alexander Vinnik Remains in California Prison, Russian Embassy Offers Help Authorities in the United States have effectively denied release on bail for the IT specialist Alexander Vinnik, Russian media reported, quoting his record on the website of the Santa Rita Jail in California where he is incarcerated. Vinnik has been in the U.S. since his hasty extradition from Greece a little more than a week ago, which angered his international defense team. The crypto entrepreneur was arrested on a U.S. warrant in the summer of 2017, in the Greek city of Thessaloniki where he arrived on a family vacation. Greece first sent him to France in late 2

Gold bug Peter Schiff has settled with Puerto Rico’s financial regulator and agreed to liquidate his Euro Pacific Bank. Schiff stressed that he is not admitting to any legal wrongdoing. Peter Schiff Liquidating Euro Pacific Bank Gold bug and notorious bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff has settled with the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico, also known as Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras (OCIF), and agreed to liquidate his Euro Pacific Bank. He tweeted Wednesday: I have agreed to a settlement with Puerto Rican banking regulators that tasks me with leading an orderly liquidation of Euro Pacific Bank. He noted that the liquidation of Euro Pacific Bank is based on its having insufficient regulatory capital. The bank was not in compliance with the Puerto Rican minimum capital requirements. Schiff previously explained : “My team didn’t understand the rules. We were new to Puerto Rico. We were required to keep more capital than we though