Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A report says over 80% of African users on the Mineplex marketplace have shown an interest in the platform’s commodity staking program since launch. Zero Fee Alternative According to a recent study, over 80% of African users have taken part in the commodity staking program since its launch as a new product on the Mineplex marketplace. This figure by far dwarfs that of Asian users (23%), Europe (14%) and the U.S. (9%) users who find commodity staking interesting. As noted in a study report that was shared exclusively with Bitcoin.com News, Mineplex Banking said this commodity staking option serves as a zero-fee alternative to traditional loans and gives users the ability to buy products they cannot afford straight away. Explaining African users’ clear preference for staked crypto, the report suggested that this could be based on changing tastes and preferences. “The high level of interest by African users in the new financial instrument can be based on the need to change the syste

Tau, in development, is the world’s first fully user-controlled blockchain, capable of understanding and implementing users’ consensus in real-time. It allows you to understand and be understood by billions of people, on a platform so advanced that it changes and updates itself based on how you as its users collaboratively decide what its next version should be like. Ohad Asor and Prof. Enrico Franconi recently joined the Bitcoin.com News Podcast to explain the advanced technology behind Tau : By writing in languages that the Tau platform and its users can understand, it unlocks truly revolutionary features such as the ability to make your knowledge machine accessible, creating the world’s first knowledge economy to trade specific pieces of knowledge for cash (using the Agoras cryptocurrency (Ticker AGRS)) as well as the ability to host efficient discussions and collaboration of ideas of up to billions of people. As users are able to make themselves understood to Tau, the network

The global cryptocurrency market valuation has rebounded a great deal since the initial downturn after 12:00 a.m. EST on December 4, and on Sunday, the crypto economy is down 1.4% during the last 24 hours. Meanwhile the meme token market capitalization today is $47.2 billion down 12.6% during the last day. Dogecoin has suffered pretty badly losing 19.2% during the last seven days, while its rival shiba inu has shed 9.7% last week. Meme Token Economy Takes the Brunt of the Crypto Market Carnage — Dogecoin Drops 19% in a Week’s Time At the time of writing, the crypto meme token market economy is valued at $47.2 billion and has taken a deep hit from yesterday’s market carnage. Dogecoin (DOGE) is the largest meme token market cap with $21.5 billion as each DOGE is trading for $0.164 or 0.00000342 BTC per unit. DOGE is down 37.7% over the course of the last month, but dogecoin is still up 4,863% year-to-date. On Sunday, December 5, there’s $1.4 billion in global DOGE trades with Binan

Bitcoin’s hashrate has increased a great deal, even after the leading crypto asset’s price slipped below the $50K price zone. Eight days ago the network hashrate was coasting along at 168 exahash per second (EH/s), and this past week it increased 7.73% to today’s 181 EH/s. Bitcoin’s Hashrate Climbs Higher Following Difficulty Decrease Following the price drop under the $50K zone, Bitcoin’s ( BTC ) hashrate remains strong and has increased more than 7% higher during the last week. At the time of writing, BTC ’s hashrate on Sunday is 181.59 EH/s as the network’s processing power has been reaching daily highs. Three month statistics indicate BTC ’s hashpower tapped 190 EH/s on Friday, December 3. Metrics show that the network’s hashrate reached an all-time high on May 9, 2021 at 191.42 EH/s. One reason the hashrate remains high despite the recent price drop is because the network’s mining difficulty has dropped during the last difficulty change on November 28. The change that day sa

PRESS RELEASE. The next crypto conference lighting up the season is DeFiCon 2021, hosted on December 18-19 in Brooklyn, NYC. As a nonprofit conference, DeFiCon steers away from the typical corporate and for-profit conference model. All of DeFiCon’s net proceeds will be donated to charity. The event is also engages civic leaders and activists. Featured keynote speakers are Stani Kulechov, the Founder and CEO of AAVE, Jaz Gulati, the Co-Founder founder of Ren Labs, and Kieran Mesquita, Chief Scientist at RAILGUN. As a crypto native event, DeFiCon tickets are NFTs designed by the original artist of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Seneca ( www.allseeingseneca.com ). Mint now to own the Unbearable Bear, a collection of 1,218 Bears living on the Ethereum blockchain. Then join frens in Brooklyn at DeFiCon next month on December 18-19. To mint General Admission and VIP NFT tickets, visit: www.deficon.nyc – ALL net proceeds from the event will go directly to nonprofit. Mint now   FIND DEFICON

The province of Hainan in South China has taken steps aimed at curbing crypto mining activities. Besides blacklisting the industry, local authorities are also introducing higher electricity rates for the mining enterprises that continue to operate in the region. Hainan to Ensure Crypto Miners Pay More for Power The ongoing crackdown on cryptocurrency mining in China has reached the country’s smallest and southernmost province, Hainan. The coin minting business has been recently listed as an “eliminated industry” and the remaining miners in the region will soon face higher electricity bills. According to a document published this week by the provincial Development and Reform Commission, the differentiated tariffs for electrical energy will be imposed as part of a pricing mechanism designed to reduce carbon emissions. While China banned crypto-related activities such as trading back in 2017, authorities did not interfere with mining until this year. In May, the State Council in Be

Two days ago on December 2, the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection auction of non-fungible token (NFT) assets kicked off at Art Basel Miami via the Superrare platform. The Ulbricht NFT collection auction ends on December 8, and so far the auction has seen a bid of 666 ether or roughly $2.6 million. Additionally the project Pleasrdao aims to up the ante as the “Free Ross DAO” bidding on the collection has raised 1,042 ether or $4.2 million to date. Ross Ulbricht NFT Auction Eyes Millions in Ether During the third week of November, Bitcoin.com News reported on the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection auction taking place at the start of Art Basel in Miami . The auction was initiated on the Superrare NFT marketplace platform and the collection is an assortment of ten artworks by Ross Ulbricht. “Curated by Entoptic , this is the first and only NFT to include Ross Ulbricht’s personal work,” the announcement detailed. So far, the Ulbricht NFT collection has seen significant demand and to da

OVR launched its new Token Burning Program on 1 November to make its own tokens more rare and valuable. The results of this first month of November saw a total of 246 thousand OVR burned. OVR and the Numbers From the Token Burning Program’s First Month OVR’s updated token economics started on November 1, 2021, after the OVR team burned nearly 1 million of its tokens last May. By the end of last month, the platform had collected a total of 615,365 OVR from its sales of OVRLand NFTs, excluding GAS costs. As anticipated, the Token Burning Program foresees that 40% of the collected OVR are burned, while 10% is used to incentivize OVRLand sales with monthly draws among new OVRLand buyers using Chainlink VRF . And indeed, for this month of November 2021, the total tokens burned amount to 246,146 OVR , while exactly 61,536 OVR have been dedicated to the OVRLand draw on Chainlink . In general, the more OVRLands purchased on Chainlink, the higher the probability of winning the jackp

Authorities in Russia and Ukraine have closed down a number of illegal crypto mining facilities allegedly powered by stolen electricity. The underground farms have been discovered around the capital cities, Kyiv and Moscow, as well as in the Russian republic of Dagestan. Russia Busts Illegal Mining Farms in Moscow Region and Dagestan Russian law enforcement and customs agents have recently uncovered the theft of a large amount of electricity from the network operated by Rosseti in Moscow Oblast, the region adjacent to Russia’s capital. Tass broke the news about the operation this week, quoting Ekaterina Korotkova from the Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office. The official explained: An audit revealed an unauthorized connection to the power grid, theft of electricity and illegal seizure of land for the operation of equipment designed to perform cryptographic calculations related to the mining of digital currencies. The cost of the illegally consumed electricity use

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, says China did the right thing to “ban” cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. He wishes that cryptocurrencies had never been invented, emphasizing that he will not participate in the crypto boom. He considers “this era even crazier than the dot-com era.” Warren Buffett’s Right Hand Man, Charlie Munger, Wishes Crypto Had Never Been Invented Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, often known as Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, talked about cryptocurrency Friday at the Sohn Hearts and Minds, Australia’s premier investor event. The 97-year-old previously called bitcoin “rat poison” and likened cryptocurrency trading to “trading turds.” Commenting on the current investing environment, he said: I think the dot-com boom was crazier in terms of valuations than even what we have now. But overall, I consider this era even crazier than the dot-com era. Discussing cryptocurrency, Munger said: “I just

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a citizen of Latvia with defrauding investors in two crypto offerings. The fraudster “used fake names, fictitious entities, and fraudulent profiles to perpetrate his schemes, and misappropriated nearly all of the investor funds that were raised.” Two Fraudulent Crypto Schemes The SEC announced Thursday that it has “charged a Latvian citizen with defrauding hundreds of retail investors out of at least $7 million through two separate fraudulent digital asset securities offerings.” Noting that Ivars Auzins defrauded U.S. and foreign investors, the securities watchdog explained: Auzins allegedly used fake names, fictitious entities, and fraudulent profiles to perpetrate his schemes, and misappropriated nearly all of the investor funds that were raised. His first scheme ran from January through March 2018. “Auzins fraudulently offered and sold unregistered digital tokens as part of an ICO [initial coin offering] of Denaro

The popular American rapper Snoop Dogg revealed at the end of September that he acquired land in the blockchain-based virtual metaverse The Sandbox and had plans to recreate his mansion. On December 2, The Sandbox held a “Snoopverse Land Sale,” which allowed participants to purchase land adjacent to the famous hip hop star’s virtual estate. Plot of Land Next to Snoop’s Virtual Mansion in The Sandbox Metaverse Sells for Six-Digits Two days ago, The Sandbox disclosed it was selling virtual plots of land that are located next to Snoop Dogg’s virtual property. Snoop has been a cryptocurrency advocate for quite some time and in recent days, he revealed he was a non-fungible token (NFT) whale called “Cozomo de’ Medici.” Then at the end of September, Snoop partnered with The Sandbox, a gaming ecosystem where people can create, share and monetize NFTs and gaming experiences on the Ethereum ( ETH ) network. The Sandbox blog post published on Thursday, explains that plots of land in the

As the crypto market shed billions of dollars, El Salvador bought the dip, taking advantage of the falling price of bitcoin early Saturday morning. With the latest buy, El Salvador has purchased a total of 1,370 bitcoins altogether. According to Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele, the coins were bought seven minutes before the price of the cryptocurrency bottomed out. El Salvador Buys the Dip: 150 Bitcoins Added to Treasury The price of many cryptocurrencies began plummeting late Friday night, with bitcoin sliding almost 14% from slightly above $52K at 11:42 p.m. EDT to below $45K at 12:28 a.m. based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. At the time of writing, the price of BTC is hovering around $48,040. Taking advantage of the falling price of bitcoin, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, tweeted at 12:19 a.m. about his country’s latest BTC purchase. “El Salvador just bought the dip! 150 coins at an average USD price of ~$48,670.” He followed up with another tweet a few minutes la

A great number of cryptocurrencies dropped considerably in value during the early morning hours (after 12:00 a.m. EST) on December 4. At the time of writing, the crypto economy is down more than 16% and the price of bitcoin slid below the $50K zone to a low of $43,972 per unit. Since then, bitcoin has managed to climb back to just above the $47K per unit position. Crypto Economy Value Dives Digital currency markets have lost significant value during the last 24 hours as billions have left the crypto economy in a matter of hours. Currently, the crypto economy and its 11,388 coins in existence have lost more than 16% in USD value. Bitcoin ( BTC ) slipped from the $53K per unit region to $43.9K during the first hour of Saturday morning. The downward slide took BTC down 17.16% but the crypto asset has since regained 7.28% following the market carnage. BTC has managed to rise above the $47K region and has an overall market valuation of around $895 billion. Seven-day statistics indicat

PRESS RELEASE. MetaGods, the world’s first play-to-earn 8-bit action role-playing game built on the blockchain, has raised $3 million USD in funding from supporting investors. Numerous investors and partners have partnered with the initiative to combine blockchain technology and the fast growing gaming sector to revolutionize the world of non-fungible tokens. MetaGods is the world’s first blockchain-based 8-bit action RPG. Players will be able to build their own avatars based on mythologies and acquire unique characters and skills. In addition to fighting dangerous monsters, the MetaGods blockchain will enable players to trade virtual goods for cryptocurrency – giving them a chance to earn something real from their adventures in a digital world. The project is grateful for its incredible investors: Hashed, Mr Beast, ABV, Cinchblock, BoxMining, Faculty Capital, Raptor Capital, CoinUnited, Magnus Capital, Banter Capital & Icetea Labs for their support. This remarkable group of i

The recent movements in the treasury of Terra, a decentralized financial payment network, which is now burning more than $4 billion worth of LUNA due to a governance proposal, have seemingly made the price of the asset rise to all-time high (ATH) levels. This rise has been also accompanied by new proposals to further cement the stability of its stablecoin, UST. Do Kwon, head of Terraform Labs, hinted at the inclusion of a bitcoin reserve to safeguard UST’s dollar peg. LUNA Booming The recent changes in the issuance model of Terra, which were brought by the recent Columbus 5 update, seem to have been successful in fostering the growth of the currency of the network, LUNA. The price of its native asset, LUNA, has grown significantly, reaching ATH levels at $69.59 yesterday, recording an increase in the price of more than 50% during the last week. One of the most interesting choices taken by the cryptocurrency project was the burn of more than $4 billion worth of LUNA that was held

A paper published by the European Central Bank (ECB) discusses various conditions for successful implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) such as the eurozone’s own digital euro. The authors also point to different risks that such projects entail, like the danger of crowding out the private sector. ECB: Digital Euro Should Be Widely Used for Payments, Not Investment In order to create a successful CBDC , a monetary authority needs to establish the digital currency as a widespread means of payment and exchange that also has a sufficient store of value function, according to the paper released by the European Central Bank. At the same time, central banks need to ensure that currencies like the digital euro do not turn into a significant means of investment, crowd out private payment solutions, or undermine the banking sector’s intermediation role. The document, which was published this week, is authored by three high-ranking ECB officials — Fabio Panetta, Ulrich Bin

A recent paper authored by members of several universities, including Sydney and Macquarie, argues that recent changes in Ethereum monetary policy are making it a better store of value than bitcoin. The deflationary effect that the EIP-1559 proposal has caused in the issuance of the currency is said to be the main cause of this. Ethereum in the Spotlight A new paper released by members of Australian universities last month is putting the spotlight on Ethereum and its possible future as a store of value. The paper , titled “Better than Bitcoin? Can cryptocurrencies beat inflation?,” is authored by Ester Félez-Viñas of the University of Technology in Sydney and other academics, and compares the issuance of Bitcoin with the new issuance model of Ethereum, that is making the currency deflationary. The paper states: We show that following the recent change in its transactions protocol, the digital currency Ethereum displays a significantly lower net issuance rate of tokens than Bitcoi

Binance has named three former housemates from the popular Nigerian reality television show “Big Brother Naija” as the cryptocurrency exchange’s brand ambassadors for the African continent. Bringing Crypto to the Mainstream Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has said as part of its plan to increase its foothold on the African continent, it has partnered with three former Big Brother Naija housemates. The exchange said the three former housemates, Hazel Oyeze Onou, Ikechukwu Sunday Okonkwo, and Pere Egbi will help it bring crypto to the mainstream. In a statement published by Techpoint Africa, Binance director for Africa Emmanuel Babalola explained the rationale for choosing the three individuals, and how their efforts are going to help the exchange achieve some of its goals. Babalola stated: “Our goal is to make people understand crypto and ease the process of bringing it into their daily lives. One of the things we have seen is how these influencers and their stories embody

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seized bitcoin worth more than $2.2 million tied to ransomware payments. The cryptocurrency allegedly belongs to an affiliate of Gandcrab and Revil/Sodinokibi ransomware. US Seizes Bitcoin Worth Over $2 Million The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seized almost 40 bitcoins from a Russian resident tied to Revil and Gandcrab ransomware, according to a court document unsealed Tuesday. The forfeiture complaint reads: The United States of America files this verified complaint in rem against 39.89138522 bitcoin seized from Exodus wallet … that is now located and in the custody and management of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Dallas Division. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin is around $56,318.06 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. The amount seized totals almost $2.247 million. The seizure took place on Aug. 3. While the FBI did not reveal how it gained access to the wallet, the court document explains

The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the British defense and security think tank, questions whether or not non-fungible token (NFT) assets can be used for money laundering purposes. The report determines that in order to mitigate the money laundering risks a ‘know your customer’ monitoring system “needs to be implemented.” RUSI: ‘NFT Technology Can Raise Alarm Bells From a Money Laundering and Financial Crime Perspective’ The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies otherwise known as RUSI , was founded in 1831 and it is the oldest defense and security think tank worldwide. On December 2, RUSI published a report that covers the subject of non-fungible token (NFT) assets and the RUSI researchers ask whether or not NFTs can contribute to money laundering schemes. “This technology can raise alarm bells from a money laundering and financial crime perspective,” RUSI warns. “To start with, NFTs are most often purchased with cryptocurrencies on online marke

Senator Elizabeth Warren has written a letter to the CEO of the New York bitcoin mining firm Greenidge Generation, Jeff Kirt, asking for details on the company’s emissions. Warren’s letter insists “Greenidge and other [bitcoin mining] plants raise concerns about their impacts on the global environment.” Elizabeth Warren Takes Aim at Bitcoin Mining Operations The former law professor and the United States Democratic Party senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren , has taken aim at cryptocurrency mining operations after she criticized digital currency markets in recent times. In mid-September, Warren pressed the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate increasing digital currency oversight. Warren has also denounced cryptocurrency mining in the past and she has cited bitcoin mining’s environmental impact on many occasions. On December 2, Warren shared a letter she sent to the CEO of the New York bitcoin mining firm Greenidge Generation Holdings ,

Originally launched on June 15 th , 2021, EverRise is a blockchain technology company that offers bridging and security solutions across multiple chains through an ecosystem of decentralized applications. With their RISE token, they were the first to bring the buyback to crypto. Since then, the buyback mechanic has become standard in space with countless forks. EverRise v2.0 EverRise is working on bringing their ecosystem of dApps to as many blockchains as possible to increase adoption of safety protocols across all DeFi. Keeping that in mind, EverRise, have recently gone live with version 2 of their contract on Monday, November 29 th at 11:00pm UTC. The upgraded contract features several noteworthy innovations and changes. A representative from Certik.io noted in an update to the EverRise community, “The upgraded EverRise contract is a technological tour de force. The Certik team is impressed with the level of innovation and engineering.” The new RISE token will be available o

During the last few months, the Smartbch project has swelled with numerous projects, custom tokens, and the total-value locked (TVL) in five Smartbch decentralized exchange (dex) platforms has jumped more than 180% since November 3. Smartbch Defi TVL Climbs 180% in a Month — Bitcoin Cash Universe Now Has 5 Dex Platforms Eight months ago, bitcoin cash ( BCH ) proponents were introduced to a new website ( smartbch.org ) that featured a project called Smart Bitcoin Cash or Smartbch for short. Smartbch is a Bitcoin Cash sidechain that is compatible with Ethereum’s EVM and Web3 API, but further allows people to interact with smart contracts and custom tokens for extremely low data transfer fees. Chain statistics in terms of total-value locked in decentralized finance (defi) indicates that Smartbch has $36 million in value today. That’s more than 180% higher than the Smartbch TVL of $12.9 million recorded on November 3. At that time, the metrics that derived from defillama.com, indica

The crypto firm Blockchain.com is joining the slew of digital currency exchanges that have launched non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces in recent times. On December 2, the company announced it is launching the Blockchain.com NFT marketplace, and select users can sign up for beta access today. Blockchain.com NFT Marketplace Launches Beta Access Non-fungible token (NFT) assets have become a billion-dollar industry and it seems like this technology will be a mainstay for years to come. As the NFT hype grows exponentially in 2021, a number of crypto-asset exchanges have launched NFT markets this year. Well-known exchanges like Crypto.com, Coinbase, and FTX have revealed NFT markets in the midst of giant standalone NFT markets like Opensea and Rarible . Now Blockchain.com , the cryptocurrency-dedicated financial services company, has announced its NFT marketplace. “We want to make accessing the NFT market as easy as accessing the crypto market,” Blockchain.com’s announcement details.