Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Over the last eight years, U.S. law enforcement has seized a great number of bitcoins and at one time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) held one of the largest bitcoin wallets after the Silk Road takedown. A recently published report shows the FBI has started using cryptocurrency mixing applications in recent times in order to obfuscate transactions from seized bitcoins that stem from a forfeiture. Do as I Say, Not as I Do The U.S. government is far from transparent and a newly published report shows just how shady the feds can be these days. The author Joshua Davis explains with great detail that the FBI has been evading “transparency and accountability” specifically when law enforcement has been handling funds from a seizure. For years now, the FBI, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ), and FinCEN have said that the use of bitcoin mixers should be criminalized. The Feds have prosecuted operators of large centralized bitcoin mixers as well charging the operators

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According to new data, peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin trade volumes in Kenya and Ghana surged in Q1 of 2021, with the two countries now ranked second and third respectively. On the other hand, volumes in South Africa, which occupied second place in 2020, dropped marginally. Consequently, South Africa has now been relegated to the fourth position the data shows. Contrasting Regulatory Regimes Meanwhile, one report has attributed the surge in Kenya and Ghana’s P2P volumes to the two countries’ tacit endorsement of cryptocurrencies. For instance, the report points to the Central Bank of Ghana’s launch of “a regulatory sandbox that prioritized blockchain-based companies including cryptocurrency startups” as one factor that may have boosted the country’s volumes. This is in contrast to the situation in South Africa where regulator warnings about cryptocurrency use and investment increased following the collapse of Mirror Trading International, the biggest scam bitcoin in 2020, according

Signal, the cross-platform encrypted messaging service is facing criticism this week, after the company Signal Messenger told the public it was integrating the cryptocurrency mobilecoin. Moreover, controversy surrounds the company’s founder and CEO Matthew Rosenfeld, known as ‘Moxie Marlinspike’ over his previous ties with the Mobilecoin project. The Relationship Between Mobilecoin and Signal During the last week, Signal Messenger has been under fire for integrating the privacy-centric cryptocurrency mobilecoin (MOB ). The subject has been trending on social media and forums as a number of crypto advocates are not pleased with the choice. According to the MOB project’s website, the entire distributed ledger is “opaque” as “individual transactions are cryptographically protected, and the network uses forward-secrecy.” Since Signal’s announcement MOB has gained over 450% since then and today it’s up 20% during the last 24 hours. MOB is currently trading for $58 per unit and the tr

On April 9, 2021, the Delaware-based company and sponsor of the “Kryptoin Bitcoin ETF Trust” filed an S1 amendment for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The asset manager re-filed its 2019 ETF application and instead of leveraging NYSE, the company plans to use Cboe BZX. Kryptoin Joins the List of Bitcoin ETFs Hoping for Approval in 2021 The race for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States has grown thick with competition in recent days. The asset manager Kryptoin has recently revealed it has re-filed with the SEC in order to get an ETF approved. With Kryptoin joining the competition, there are now seven bitcoin-based ETFs hoping to get approved by the U.S. regulator. The list includes Valkyrie, Vaneck, Fidelity, NYDIG, Wisdomtree, First Trust & Skybridge, and Kryptoin. Kryptoin’s prospectus is not much different than its 2019 filing, except at that time it had chosen to list on NYSE Arca. However,

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon foresees “big evolution” coming to cryptocurrency regulation as demand for bitcoin from clients continues to rise. He says that Goldman will “continue to find ways to serve our clients as we move forward.” Crypto Regulation Will Experience ‘Big Evolution,’ Says Goldman Sachs’ Chief David Solomon, the CEO of global investment bank Goldman Sachs, shared his view on cryptocurrency regulation in an interview with CNBC this week. Regarding the regulation for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the Goldman Sachs executive said he thinks that cryptocurrency “is a space that’s evolving,” predicting: I think there’ll be a big evolution as to how this evolves in the coming years. Emphasizing that his company operates within the rules set by regulators, the Goldman Sachs CEO noted: “I’m not going to speculate on where the rules will go for regulated financial institutions, but we’re going to continue to find ways to serve our clients as we move forward.” S

In the SEC v. Ripple case, the court has denied the request by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for personal financial records of Ripple’s executives that are not connected to XRP . The court says that it “is not convinced” that personal banking records would show the violations as claimed by the SEC. Another Win for XRP in SEC v Ripple Case In the lawsuit brought by the U.S. SEC against Ripple Labs, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Christian Larsen over the sale of XRP tokens, the court has denied the SEC’s request to obtain personal financial records of the defendants that are unrelated to XRP . The order was signed by Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn on Friday. “The SEC has served the individual defendants with Requests for Production seeking their personal financial records over an eight-year period,” the order explains. It adds that the commission has “also issued third-party subpoenas to several financial institutions at which the individual defendants

HSBC has reportedly changed its policy regarding cryptocurrency. The bank now prohibits customers from buying the stock of public companies that hold bitcoin, like Microstrategy. All of the companies with bitcoin treasuries could be on the chopping block at HSBC. HSBC Now Bars Clients From Buying Crypto and Crypto-Related Stocks Like Microstrategy British bank HSBC has reportedly become more strict with its crypto policy. The bank now prohibits its customers from buying the stock of public companies that are holding bitcoin in its treasury. An HSBC customer has shared a message he said he received from the bank, informing him of a policy change regarding cryptocurrencies, naming bitcoin and ethereum as examples. The bank’s new policy applies to “products related or referencing the performance of virtual currencies.” The notice reads: HIDC [HSBC Invest Direct] will not participate in facilitating (buy and/or exchange) product related to virtual currencies, or products related or

Cryptocurrency markets have gathered fresh gains this weekend, as bitcoin’s value spiked above the $60k handle touching $61,222 per unit during the early morning trading sessions on Saturday (EST). Moreover, a number of digital assets saw price jumps as well, as the entire market capitalization of all 9,190 crypto-assets in existence is over $2 trillion today. A touch after 1 a.m. (Eastern Standard) on Saturday, the market valuation of the entire crypto-economy jumped 3% higher. Bitcoin ( BTC ) touched a high of $61,222 per unit coming awfully close to the all-time high (ATH) the crypto asset captured last month. Currently, BTC is trading just above the $60k handle after losing some of the gains from the hours prior. BTC is still up over 2% today and has a market cap of around $1.1 trillion. The second-largest market held by ethereum ( ETH ) is up 3% on Saturday and each ETH is swapping for $2,144 per unit. While BTC ’s market dominance among the 9,190 crypto-assets in existence

Isabel Schnabel, a board member with the European Central Bank (ECB), has attacked bitcoin claiming the crypto asset “does not fulfill the basic properties of money.” She also describes bitcoin as a “speculative asset without any recognizable fundamental value and is subject to massive price swings.” Schnabel also surmises that trust in “cryptocurrencies might rapidly evaporate,” and this, in turn, causes “disruptions in financial markets.” The Digital Euro In remarks made during a recent interview , Schnabel also reveals how she and her colleagues at ECB think “it is wrong to describe bitcoin as a currency.” Still, when Schnabel is reminded of billionaire Elon Musk’s views on bitcoin, the ECB board member answered: “He is at liberty to do so.” Meanwhile, Schnabel uses the interview opportunity to reiterate the ECB’s resolve to create its own digital currency. However, she says a “great deal of preparatory work needs to be done to enable the project to be properly set up.” Schnabel

The latest declarations from Ukrainian public officials revealed a billion-dollar amount of money they allegedly own in bitcoin. An online incentive gathered data from 791,872 state employees and 652 respondents disclosed their crypto holdings. The Biggest Crypto Holder in the Report Has 18,000 BTC According to the Opendatabot site, officials currently hold a total of 46,351 BTC , which is worth over 75 billion hryvnias ($2.66 billion) as of press time. The declaration’s campaign ended on March 31, 2021. But bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency found among the collective filings of Ukraine state employees. Per the report, ethereum ( ETH ), litecoin ( LTC ), cardano ( ADA ), stellar ( XLM ), IOTA, bitcoin cash ( BCH ), and bitcoin gold (BTG) are the other cryptos in which the officials have invested. Most Ukrainian crypto-holding state employees work in city councils, the Ministry of Defense, and for the National Police, said Opendatabot. However, there are also crypto holders w

Next month in New York, the popular auction house Christie’s plans to auction a rare lot of Cryptopunk non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles. The sample of work sold will be approximately nine rare Punks, courtesy of the project’s creators Larva Labs. Nine Rare Cryptopunks Going to Auction On May 13, 2021, the British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie plans to auction nine one-of-a-kind NFTs from the Cryptopunk project. Christie’s said it will be the first of a kind occasion of “groundbreaking work offered at a traditional auction house.” The single lot of nine Punks stems from the NFTs creators Larva Labs. “The Cryptopunks are the alpha and omega of the [cypto art] movement,” Noah Davis, a specialist in Post-War & Contemporary Art at Christie’s, New York said during the announcement . “This is a historic sale,” Davis added. Several Worlds Into a Single Project- Cryptopunks Inspired the NFT Space The Cryptopunks project came from the minds of Matt Hall and John

Adding to the South Korean cryptocurrency industry’s stricter regulations, the central government is focusing on the “crackdown” of illegal crypto transactions. A meeting over the week held with high-ranked politicians resulted in a campaign that will soon be deployed. Government Seeks International Help to Monitor International Crypto Exchanges According to Chosun , the South Korean Government met with politicians, law enforcement, and financial watchdog authorities to take down illicit transactions from what they named an “overheated market.” The meeting was led by the Second Deputy Secretary of State Moon Seung-wook, who called authorities from the Financial Services Commission, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Police Agency. The purpose of the reunion was to address the “current situation of the virtual asset markets” in South Korea. They concluded that it’s a must to launch a campaign against market manipulation, money laundering

The Shanghai-based online game operator, The9 Limited, has revealed the company is planning to acquire 2,000 Canaan Avalonminers for over $6 million in a stock deal. The9’s binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) explains that the new units will give the company 0.1 exahash of bitcoin hashpower. On April 9, the publicly-listed gaming and internet company The9 Limited (Nasdaq: NCTY) revealed the firm’s intentions to acquire 2,000 bitcoin ( BTC ) miners. The new miners will give the company a total hashrate of approximately 100 PH/s or 0.1 exahash (EH/s) of processing power. According to the announcement, The9 entered into a legally binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with an “unrelated bitcoin mining machine owner.” The machines will be exchanged for Class A ordinary shares. The9 said that the firm will issue approximately 8,127,390 shares based on the share price of around $24.81. But during the next six months, the number of shares could be reassessed. But the new

The Lone Star State of Texas is solidifying its role as a bitcoin mining and blockchain hub. This week two major bitcoin mining companies established operations in Texas. The company Riot Blockchain purchased a mining site in Rockdale and the bitcoin mining firm Blockcap announced establishing headquarters in Austin. Blockcap Sets Up Headquarters in Austin, Former Texas Governor Rick Perry Welcomes the Mining Company On April 9, 2021, the firm Blockcap announced that it was establishing headquarters in Austin Texas, and the company will join a number of companies that reside in the Lone Star State. Just recently, Blockcap announced that the company raised over $75 million and revealed a number of large-scale acquisitions of BTC mining rigs. During the announcement, the former governor of Texas, Rick Perry welcomed Blockcap for bringing innovation to Texas. “The State of Texas welcomes Blockcap and its decision to establish its headquarters in our capital, which is yet more evidenc

Southampton Football Club, a soccer team currently ranked 13th in England’s Premier League, recently signed a new sponsorship deal that includes an option for the club to be paid certain performance-based bonuses in bitcoin. The deal also extends the club’s partnership with the Coingaming Group as Main Club Partner for a further three years. Also, as part of the new agreement, Coingaming Group’s brand, Sportsbet.io will continue as the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor. In a statement issued on April 8, the club explains the rationale behind the decision to include bitcoin bonuses. It said: (The BTC bonus) allows the club the opportunity to take advantage of the new, high-growth currency if it feels it will bring significant future benefits. According to the club’s statement, Southampton can elect to get paid in bitcoin at the end of the football season. Meanwhile, Southampton Football Club’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), David Thomas also commented on the new sponsorship packag