Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

On the heels of the SpaceX announcement that the company accepted dogecoin as payment, an apparel store on Brooklyn’s colorful Flatbush Avenue took the jump as well into the deep, cold Doge waters. Brick-and-Mortar Is Another Brick in the Crypto Adoption Wall Crypto adoption has been widely and thoroughly discussed in the media and on social networks, as both an investment vehicle and a payment method. Companies large and small have declared their willingness to accept this or that cryptocurrency in return for their services or products; some companies have even reversed such decisions . While bitcoin has attracted most of the attention in the adoption debate, not far behind it is turned-serious dogecoin. In Cryptwerk’s Dogecoin Directory there are “1300+ places, stores and services accepting dogecoin” though only a handful are physical stores. Bitcoin cash has quite a few locations around the world where it is accepted as well, including many brick-and-mortar locations. Still,

After years of development, Concordium has unveiled its permissionless blockchain and MVP that is designed to meet the needs of enterprises by delivering transparency and governance, all with an orientation towards protecting user privacy. Identity-Centric Network to Promote Broader Business Adoption Although blockchain’s novel characteristics are not in dispute, corporate adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) has remained sluggish due to bad actors diminishing trust via the anonymity promised by many existing chains. Besides these relevant concerns, some enterprises are wary of embracing the technology due to regulatory requirements. Since 2018, Concordium has endeavored to overcome these obstacles and now has revealed its answer to these challenges. With its Concordium mainnet now live alongside its corresponding GTU cryptocurrency, the organization is pioneering a new decentralized, public blockchain model. Instead of providing the anonymity features that define othe

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) plans to guide local banks towards full adoption of fintech technologies, a new strategy reveals. The region’s central banking institution also stressed that it’s going to “walk the talk” by digitalizing its own supervision of financial institutions. Hong Kong Central Bank to Support Fintech Development Hong Kong’s monetary policy regulator has presented its new strategy to stimulate the fintech development of China’s special administrative region. With the strategy, HKMA aims for a comprehensive adoption of new financial technologies in the next four years. The central bank also wants to “promote the provision of fair and efficient financial services for the benefit of Hong Kong citizens and the economy.” Speaking at a seminar organized by the Hong Kong Association of Banks, HKMA’s chief executive Eddie Yue outlined five focus areas of “Fintech 2025.” The regulator wants to encourage all banks to go fintech, future-proof Hong Kong for CBDCs

Following the report that indicates specific Chinese miners in the Xinjiang region were told by officials to shut down, another agency in Qinghai has informed miners to cease operations in a recently published government mandate. Similarly, the Qinghai Industry and Information Technology Department’s document explains bitcoin mining operations cannot operate in the area. Qinghai Province Gives Bitcoin Miners Notice to Cease Operations Beijing’s crackdown on bitcoin mining seems to be spreading. It started two weeks ago after a few accounts stemming from Inner Mongolia noted the region’s top economic planner revealed new rules against operating bitcoin mining facilities in the region. The problems with bitcoin mining in Inner Mongolia turned out to be the first enforcement measure against crypto mining. Reports explaining the government’s plans to shut down mining operations in Inner Mongolia started surfacing during the first week of March 2021. At the end of May 2021, the Sich

New submissions by a South African regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and liquidators have exposed the web of lies and deceptive tactics that were used by Mirror Trading International (MTI) CEO Johann Steynberg and others to perpetuate the Ponzi scheme. Undeclared Losses In its report filed with the South African court, the regulator also exposes the true extent of losses that were incurred by the bitcoin investment company. For instance, in what the FSCA calls the “first period,” MTI had a “total of nearly 51 bitcoin (that) were deposited with Belize-based forex broker FXChoice, but 22 — or 43% — of these coins were lost by the traders.” However, at this point there was “no multi-level marketing involved.” Nevertheless, this would change in the second period “when Steynberg purportedly introduced a computerized trading bot” that falsely guaranteed returns of 10% each day. The report explained: FX Choice reported to the FSCA that 1,846 bitcoin were deposite

The Danish tax ministry is reportedly mulling over revising the country’s tax law to deal with the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies. Denmark’s tax authority is concerned about the rising risk of fraud and widespread filing errors involving cryptocurrencies. Denmark to Revamp Tax Law to Deal With Cryptocurrency Denmark is considering revamping its tax code in order to deal with cryptocurrency after discovering that two-thirds of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions were not properly taxed, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. The country’s existing tax code is not sufficient to deal with the challenges posed by crypto assets, the Danish tax ministry explained. The authority said in a statement Tuesday that the current tax code “dates back to 1922 and therefore doesn’t take financial cryptocurrencies into account.” The ministry cited a heightened risk of fraud as well as widespread tax filing errors involving crypto transactions. Denmark will identify specific challenges to tax

Berkshire Hathaway, the company led by CEO Warren Buffett, has invested $500 million in a pro-bitcoin digital bank. Nubank says it will offer bitcoin investment following its acquisition of brokerage firm Easynvest which offers the trading of Brazil’s first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Berkshire Hathaway Invests in Pro-Bitcoin Digital Bank Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has invested $500 million in the parent company of Nubank, a Brazil-based bitcoin-friendly digital bank, the South American company announced Tuesday. This is part of the bank’s Series G funding round which began in January. The bank said it also raised $250 from other investors. Founded in 2013, Nubank says it has 40 million customers, making it the largest digital bank in the world in terms of the number of clients. With the new investments, Nubank has become “the most valuable digital bank in the world and one of the largest financial institutions in Latin America,” the announcement details. Reut

An asset management firm with nearly $160 billion in assets under management, Victory Capital, has announced that it is entering the cryptocurrency market. The firm has established exclusive agreements with Nasdaq and asset manager Hashdex. Asset Management Firm Entering Crypto Market Victory Capital Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: VCTR) unveiled its plans to enter the cryptocurrency market Wednesday. Victory Capital is a diversified global asset management firm with $157.1 billion in assets under management as of April 30. The firm provides specialized investment strategies to institutions, intermediaries, retirement platforms, and individual investors. The company said that its wholly owned investment adviser, Victory Capital Management Inc., “has established exclusive agreements” with Nasdaq and asset manager Hashdex Ltd. in advance of plans to enter the cryptocurrency market, adding: Victory Capital will be the exclusive sponsor of private placement funds and other vehicles for U.S. i

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani discussed cryptocurrencies at the most recent meeting of the government’s Economic Coordination Board and told participants that regulatory policy is needed to protect consumers. Rouhani believes the Iranian government should “communicate the necessary laws and instructions” as soon as possible so dishonorable crypto businesses are avoided. Regulation Necessary to Keep ‘Unprofessional’ Entries Out of Crypto Sector, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Says On Tuesday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani made comments toward the cryptocurrency industry gaining ground in Iran and also warned retail investors about the possibility of “unprofessional” entries into this space. Overall, Iran has been friendlier toward crypto-assets and businesses like bitcoin mining than most countries. There have been some issues with electrical consumption, but one study indicates that Iran is leveraging bitcoin mining to lessen the effect of economic sanctions against the oi

PRESS RELEASE. Torum prepares to launch an NFT launchpad from its unique DeFi & NFT-infused social media platform, following successive fundraising achievements. 9th June, 2021, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Torum , the first DeFi, and NFT-infused crypto social media platform is now going to launch an NFT launchpad that is designed with cross-chain interoperability. The integration of the NFT feature will enable projects to raise funds from a community of over 56,000 cryptocurrency users and investors . Introducing Torum NFT Launchpad Torum NFT Launchpad is developed on Torum’s DeFi staking platform, Torum Finance that offers any issuing projects to launch NFTs with different rarity and total supply and also the burning period of the NFTs. There are two types of public launches with different criteria and gamification options available to choose from on the launchpad. The first option is a dual token launch which gives NFT holders the vested right to burn the NFTs and receive

Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone believes bitcoin is “more likely” headed for $40K instead of $20K after discussing the possibility of capitulation in a recent tweet. McGlone’s opinion follows a number of predictions that say bitcoin could drop to the $20K zone if there’s more pullback in the cards. Bloomberg Commodity Strategist Suggests Bitcoin ‘More Likely’ to Hit $40K Than $20K Bitcoin markets have improved on Wednesday, after the announcement stemming from El Salvador which recognized bitcoin ( BTC ) as legal tender in the country. Even though the news has been positive, some people are still not sure if the “bottom is in.” There have been predictions of BTC dropping below the $30K region and even down to the $20K zone. Stephen Kelso, head of markets at ITI Capital explained in a note to Bitcoin.com News that there have been reports that suggest BTC could drop to this low point. “Speculative reports suggest that bitcoin could soon drop to $20,

Interactive Brokers will add cryptocurrency trading to its platform by the end of the summer, CEO Thomas Peterffy has revealed. The platform has about 1.33 million customer accounts and $330.6 billion in customer equity as of the first quarter. Interactive Brokers to Offer Cryptocurrency Trading The chairman and CEO of Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), Thomas Peterffy, said at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & Fintech Conference Wednesday that his company will start offering direct cryptocurrency trading. Peterffy was quoted by the media as saying: Customers certainly are asking for [crypto trading] and we expect to be ready to offer it to them by the end of the summer. The platform has about 1.33 million customer accounts and $330.6 billion in customer equity as of the first quarter. Clients from over 200 countries and territories invest globally in stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds and funds from a single integrated Interactive Brokers account. The CEO furth

An official notice stemming from the Changji prefecture government in Xinjiang details that officials from the Zhundong Economic-Technological Development Park must instruct bitcoin miners to shut down. China’s province of Xinjiang is a highly concentrated region of bitcoin miners and bitcoin activities at the park must cease by June 9, according to the document. Nevertheless, the Bitcoin network’s hashrate has been considerably higher today than last week’s average rate. Development Park Bitcoin Miners in Xinjiang Told to Cease Operations Following Sichuan Energy Official’s Meeting There’s been a number of reports from China that indicate Chinese government officials haven’t been too keen on the crypto mining sector in recent times. Bitcoin.com News has covered a number of reports tied to the country showing a possible crackdown on bitcoin mining taking place in mainland China. For instance, Huobi and Okex revealed the companies would restrict certain services to Chinese residen

Two months after the mystery mining whale from 2010 transferred a string of 20 block rewards with 1,000 bitcoin on March 23, it seemed as though the entity was finished, after spending 10,000 bitcoin total. However, it took 78 days for the whale’s next move, as another 20 blocks from 2010 were transferred on Wednesday after the bitcoin sat idle for more than a decade. Despite the fact that bitcoin’s value is much lower today than a month ago, the mystery whale spent 1,000 bitcoin worth $35 million on Wednesday morning (EST) from 2010 at block height 686,865. The 2010 Mystery Whale Is Back, 1,000 Ten-Year-Old Bitcoins Move Last year and into 2021, Bitcoin.com News has been investigating a mystery whale that spends strings of 2010 block rewards in the same pattern every time the entity transfers coins. The strings are precisely 20 decade-old block rewards that contain 50 bitcoin ( BTC ) each and are also spent in one block. The last time the old-school whale from Satoshi’s era moved

Financial authorities in Hong Kong have announced a second phase of trials for mainland China’s digital currency. As part of the upcoming tests, the city will link the Chinese digital yuan to its domestic payments system to evaluate the CBDC’s usability in cross-border scenarios. Hong Kong Residents to Load E-CNY Wallets via Mobile Phones China has gained a lot of ground in its push to develop and implement a central bank digital currency ( CBDC ). And while officials in Beijing have indicated that the e-CNY is a domestic project at this stage, cross-border trials have been launched in the special administrative region of Hong Kong. After initial small-scale experiments with digital yuan wallets, the latest testing round will check how Hong Kong residents can load the e-CNY wallets using the city’s faster payment network, Reuters reported. The system is currently processing domestic payments ordered through mobile devices. The new trials were announced during a press conference o

One of Africa’s oldest museums, the Uganda National Museum (UNM), is set to create digital representations of the unique artifacts that are on display at this facility. Working in concert with software development firm Murcom, Uganda’s biggest museum is expected to display and auction the digitally represented items on Binance’s non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. Uganda National Museum Artifacts to Be Made NFTs According to Murcom’s post on Medium, the “blockchain-based digital representations of the various items under the Museum’s custody” will be created using the software firm’s MUDA NFT platform. On June 24, Binance NFT will launch and both UNM and MUDA will be participants in the crypto exchange’s “100 Creators’ Campaign.” In the meantime, discussing the reasons prompting the Ugandan museum to join the NFT movement, Murcom Director Suleiman Murunga starts by explaining the token creation and authentication process. Next, he summarizes Murcom’s working relationship with th