Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The payment processing giant Paypal has revealed it has partnered with the nonprofit organization the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). According to the announcement, Paypal is researching transactions settled on the payment network that allegedly fund hate groups and extremism. Paypal to Study Transactions With the Anti-Defamation League A report from Reuters notes that Paypal is studying transactions that involve “extremists” and that fund “hate movements.” The company will investigate and disrupt the financial flows that support specific hate groups and alleged “anti-government organizations.” The announcement notes that the initiative will be completed via ADL’s Center on Extremism. According to Paypal’s chief risk officer and executive vice president of risk and platforms, Aaron Karczmer said the company has been working on “sophisticated systems” that help curb illegal activities. When the ADL announced its partnership with Paypal on Twitter, the thread got a massive number of

The South Korean government has proposed an amendment to the tax code to allow the country’s tax authority to seize and sell cryptocurrencies belonging to delinquent taxpayers. “The revision will allow direct seizing without court-approved change in ownership records. Assets held by tax dodgers in the form of digital coins will no longer evade seizure and forfeiture,” said a government official. Korean Government Wants Ability to Seize and Sell Cryptocurrencies of Delinquent Taxpayers South Korea’s finance ministry announced the 2021 Tax Law Amendment Bill Monday, which is part of the government’s annual review of its tax system. The bill includes a proposal to empower the country’s tax authority, the National Tax Service (NTS), to seize and sell cryptocurrencies belonging to tax delinquents starting Jan. 1, 2022, the Korea Times reported. The government explained that the number of cases where tax delinquents use cryptocurrencies to hide their assets is increasing. The bill aims

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown says cryptocurrencies are not real dollars and they “put Americans’ hard-earned money at risk.” Referring to decentralized finance (defi) as “a shady, diffuse network of online funny money,” he said, “if we want a solution to Americans’ legitimate fears about our banking system, shady start-ups are not the answer.” Senator Brown’s Warning About Cryptocurrencies U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, raised concerns about cryptocurrency in his opening statement at Tuesday’s hearing titled “Cryptocurrencies: What are they good for?” Stating that thousands of digital assets, namely cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and investment tokens, have poured into the markets since bitcoin came online, the senator from Ohio said: All of these currencies have one thing in common – they’re not real dollars, they’re not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. And that means they all put A

In mid-May, the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, donated $1 billion worth of shiba inu (SHIB) tokens to India’s Crypto Covid Relief Fund (CCRF). Close to three months later, the CCRF organizers say they have been having issues cashing out the SHIB tokens and so far, only $20 million has been paid out. It’s Not Easy Cashing Out SHIB Tokens Roughly two months ago, Vitalik Buterin decided to donate $1 billion worth of shiba inu (SHIB) tokens to India’s Crypto Covid Relief Fund (CCRF). Following the donation, CCRF thanked Buterin for his donation of 50,693,552,078,053 SHIB. “We plan to do a thoughtful liquidation to ensure we meet our COVID relief goals,” CCRF said on Twitter at the time. The nonprofit organization added: We have decided to convert the donation slowly over a period of time. A recent report published by Bloomberg shows that the organizers behind CCRF are having a hard time cashing the SHIB tokens out. CCRF’s founder, Sandeep Nailwal , who is also the co-f

Dvision Network has emerged as one of the fastest-growing NFT and blockchain gaming protocols in recent months. The blockchain protocol has made significant progress since its inception and continues to create new milestones. The latest is a partnership with the leading NFT ecosystem provider and creator of the ERC-1155 token standard Enjin. Enjin is a significant stakeholder in the NFT sector and has played a crucial role in developing blockchain-based gaming, metaverses, and NFT projects. Dvision migrates to Enjin blockchain Dvision has migrated to the Enjin blockchain and will now leverage the potentials of launching its NFT metaverse across five different blockchain protocols. It should be recalled that Dvision Network was initially launched on Ethereum and also supports the Binance Smart Chain network. Since Enjin is committed to online games and NFTs, Dvision has the opportunity to showcase its products to a well-established blockchain community. Furthermore, according to th

A blockchain-based digital euro would be highly scalable allowing it to process an almost unlimited number of payments, the central bank of Estonia has concluded following a recent experiment. Central banks from several euro area countries and the ECB participated in the test, which also professed to show the digital currency’s carbon footprint would be smaller than that of card payments. 300,000 Payments a Second Processed During Digital Euro Trial An experiment carried out as part of the recently launched ‘Investigation Phase’ of the digital euro project has established that a blockchain-based solution for the electronic version of Europe’s common currency could in theory support an “almost unlimited” number of simultaneous payments. The test also indicated that the technology would strike a “good balance” between maintaining privacy and meeting anti-money laundering requirements. In an announcement published on its website, the central bank of Estonia praised the test results.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently announced the abrupt end to sales and outsourcing of foreign exchange to Bureau de Change (BDC) operators after accusing them of failing to stick to their core mandate. Instead of providing forex to retail users, BDCs are believed to be supplying the scarce resource to so-called “illegal” dealers. BDC Operators Accused of Fueling Parallel Market Activity The illegal dealers, in turn, avail the foreign exchange to clients at parallel market exchange rates. For instance, while the CBN insists that the naira’s exchange rate against the USD is currently pegged at around N411 for every dollar, parallel market dealers use an exchange rate of N500 for every dollar. Explaining the rationale behind CBN’s decision to end forex sales to BDCs, governor Godwin Emefiele suggested that operators had been profiteering at the expense of suffering Nigerians. Therefore, the CBN’s intervention is aimed at putting an end to this practice. Emefiele explained:

Ripple's On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) launches in Japan in collaboration with SBI Remit and Coins.ph. The post First Live On-Demand Liquidity Offering in Japan Expands RippleNet’s Momentum in APAC appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/S4Z7RM

With the government in Beijing cracking down on their operations, Chinese miners have been on the lookout for other jurisdictions. Providing low-cost energy, Iran has emerged as a prospective destination. However, the country’s state-owned power utility has expressed concerns over a possible influx of miners and illegal imports of mining hardware from China. Tavanir Warns About Flood of Chinese Miners and Equipment Into Iran The Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company, Tavanir, has issued a warning regarding the entry of Chinese cryptocurrency miners into Iran amid China’s ongoing crackdown on the industry. The state-run utility shared its concerns in correspondence with the Central Taskforce to Combat Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Currency. In a letter published by the economic news website Eghtesadnews, Tavanir CEO Mohammad Hussein Motevallizadeh referred to media reports on the shutting down of mining facilities in China. The government offensive against t

The number of users or unique addresses leveraging decentralized finance (defi) protocols via Ethereum has risen past 3 million according to recent statistics. A vast majority of these unique addresses use the defi protocol Uniswap, as 2.4 million users have been recorded since December 2018. Ethereum Defi Applications See Unique Addresses Surpass 3 Million According to statistics from Dune Analytics , the number of users or unique ethereum addresses utilizing defi has jumped past the 3 million threshold this week. At the time of writing, data shows there are 3,092,000 unique addresses recorded on July 27. The lion’s share of these addresses stems from the decentralized exchange (dex) platform Uniswap. Uniswap’s dex currently has approximately 2,438,374 unique addresses that leverage the Uniswap trading protocol. It’s worth noting, however, that since a user can have more than one unique address, records could be considered overestimates. Further, the data from Dune Analytics’ “De

The growth and popularity of community inclusion cryptocurrencies in Kenya continues to soar with the country’s rural farmers being the latest group to embrace the financial technology. As one report reveals, some farmers in Kenya’s countryside are now accepting cryptocurrency as payment while others are using the same to buy important supplies. Use of Sarafu Cryptocurrency Helps Farmers Save Money According to a report from media outlet VOA, one of the reasons this alternative monetary system has become popular is because it allows users to preserve their fiat currency savings. For instance, the report quotes Emmanuel Kahindi, a 26-year-old farmer from Kenya’s Kilifi, explaining how using this novel currency system helps him. Kahindi said: “Sarafu [the community inclusion cryptocurrency] helped me a lot especially because it makes me save my money, my Kenyan currency.” According to the report, Kahindi is using the sarafu to purchase items for the garden like seeds and fertilizer.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned against adopting cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, as legal tender. Noting numerous risks and costs involved, the IMF does not see crypto assets catching on as a national currency. IMF Warns of Risks in Adopting Cryptocurrencies as National Currency The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a blog post on Monday discussing the topic of cryptocurrencies as legal tender. The post titled “Cryptoassets as National Currency? A Step Too Far” was authored by Tobias Adrian, the financial counselor and director of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department, and Rhoda Weeks-Brown, general counsel and director of the IMF’s Legal Department. The post does not mention El Salvador, the Central American country which recently adopted bitcoin as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar. The authors wrote: As national currency, cryptoassets — including bitcoin — come with substantial risks to macro-financial stability, financial integrity

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to “act with urgency” and adopt an appropriate policy to address the risks posed by cryptocurrencies. “The longer that the United States waits to adapt the proper regulatory regime for these assets, the more likely they will become so intertwined in our financial system that there could be potentially serious consequences if this market comes under stress.” Senator Warren Wants Quick Regulatory Response to Crypto Risks U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Monday outlining numerous concerns regarding the risks posed by cryptocurrency. “I am writing to you in your capacity as Chair of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) regarding the need for a coordinated and cohesive regulatory strategy to mitigate the growing risks that cryptocurrencies pose to the financial system,” Warren wrote. She explained that the FSOC “is responsible for identifying and responding

Payments giant Mastercard has launched a new, global program for cryptocurrency startups. Seven crypto companies have already joined the program. Together with Mastercard, they will work to “expand and accelerate innovation around digital asset technology and make it safer and easier for people and institutions to buy, spend and hold cryptocurrencies and digital assets.” Mastercard’s New Crypto Program Mastercard announced Tuesday “a new Start Path global startup engagement program dedicated to supporting fast-growing digital assets, blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.” Seven startups have already joined the program. They will work with Mastercard “to expand and accelerate innovation around digital asset technology and make it safer and easier for people and institutions to buy, spend and hold cryptocurrencies and digital assets,” the announcement details. The startups include GK8, Mintable, Stacs, and Supraoracles. GK8 (Israel) is a self-managed end-to-end institutional cry

Fireblocks, a blockchain infrastructure firm, raised $310 million in its most recent funding round, reaching a valuation of $2 billion. The company, which specializes in the custody of digital assets, is interested in bringing traditional assets to the blockchain realm. Fireblocks expects this trend of digitalization to keep growing in the recent future. Fireblocks Raises $310 Million in Series D Funding Round Fireblocks, a custody and blockchain infrastructure company, raised $310 million in its Series D funding round. The new investment took the valuation of the company to $2.2 billion, tripling its value since the Series C funding round last February. The round had the confirmed participation of six investments firms: Sequoia Capital, Stripes, Spark Capital, Coatue, DRW Venture capital, and SCB 10X, the venture arm of Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank. The company aims to use these funds to bring traditional assets and products to the blockchain. Fireblocks’ CEO Michael Shaulov

Following the announcement from the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers has officially partnered with the blockchain firm Socios.com. The partnership is aimed at increasing the Socios brand and awareness via the Cavaliers’ global asset platform. Socios Partners With the Cavs On July 26, Socios.com and the NBA team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, revealed a new partnership. The Socios company is a blockchain project that allows fans to become “superfans” by letting them influence “club-specific decisions, trade digital items, and access VIP experiences.” Socios says that currently the “team-based fan engagement elements and activations” tethered to the Cavaliers is still under review. However, Socios will leverage the Cavaliers global asset platform to boost brand awareness. For instance, in the upcoming 2021-22 NBA season, the Socios.com logo will be featured on the Cavs’ practice jersey just below the player’s number. Socios will also have a

According to a recent report, the first trust-less swap between the Bitcoin blockchain and Stacks protocol has been executed. The co-founder of the Stacks protocol, Muneeb Ali tweeted about the native bitcoin swap and said the progress is a big deal. Trust-less Native Bitcoin Swap Executed With an NFT Called ‘Boombox’ On July 23, a trust-less swap using the Stacks protocol and the Bitcoin ( BTC ) blockchain was settled onchain. The swap dubbed the “Catamaran Swap between BTC and STX” was discussed on the Reddit forum r/stacks. “The first trustless swap between [the] Bitcoin [blockchain] and Stacks chain is happening,” a user wrote on the forum. “It is similar to a submarine swap. However, I would call it catamaran swap because we have two chains on top of the water,” the individual added. Further into the Reddit thread, the individual notes that the swap was “successfully completed.” Native Bitcoin swaps are now live! Why is this a big deal? Tweet thread👇 — muneeb.btc (@mun

Goldman Sachs, one of the biggest banking institutions in the world, has filed an application to offer an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) linked to the performance of decentralized finance (defi) companies. The instrument, if approved, would help institutions and retail investors gain exposure to defi assets with the help of a regulated bank like Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs Proposes Defi ETF Goldman Sachs, one of leading commercial banks in the world, has introduced an application to the SEC to offer a defi-linked ETF. The defined ETF is called “Goldman Sachs Innovate Defi and Blockchain Equity ETF,” and it would seek to provide exposure to these technologies for regulated institutions. The performance of the fund would be linked to the Solactive Blockchain Technology Performance-Index. This index follows a portfolio of tech industries that are invested in blockchain technologies. The index includes companies like Nokia, Alphabet, IBM, Microsoft, and Overstock. This would be the firs

According to regional reports, the Burger King franchise in Brazil has introduced a new type of food specifically made for canines called the “Dogeppr.” The new product is a dog biscuit that canine owners can purchase for their pets and the company is accepting dogecoin crypto payments for Dogeppr purchases. Burger King Brazil Introduces the Dogeppr — Company Accepts Dogecoin for Meat-Flavored Biscuits At a number of select locations, the Burger King franchise in Brazil has announced that the firm is accepting dogecoin (DOGE) payments for a new dog biscuit the company recently introduced. “Now you can buy Dogepper with dogecoin, take advantage of it,” the Burger King Brazil advertisement reads. “What is the best way to pay for a product aimed at dogs? Obviously, Dogecoins,” the restaurant chain’s advertisement adds. Customers can get a Dogepper added to their value meals as well. In order to purchase a Dogepper, a customer needs to check the availability and then choose the s

Bitcoin’s hashrate has slowly crept back up between 85 exahash per second (EH/s) to 125 EH/s on July 14. The increase in hashpower has made it so the next mining difficulty change will increase for the first time in eight weeks. The four consecutive difficulty drops turned out to be the largest slide in Bitcoin’s lifetime, and that’s seemingly coming to an end in four days. Bitcoin’s Hashrate Moves Northbound The price of bitcoin (BTC) dropped for a few consecutive weeks, and during the same time frame, China’s crackdown on bitcoin miners was also happening. On May 15, bitcoin’s price began sliding from just above the $50K handle to end up just above the $30K zone on May 19. A price drop essentially removes revenue from bitcoin miners and when BTC started sliding on May 15, the mining difficulty had jumped two days earlier, up 21.53% higher than the adjustment before. Because it was over 21% more difficult for miners to find a block, the next two weeks were grueling. Bitcoin h