Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. Silver Spring, MD – (Globe Newswire – April 5, 2021) – BTCS Inc. (OTCQB: BTCS) (“BTCS” or the “Company”), a digital asset and blockchain technology focused company, today announced the appointment of Litecoin creator Charlie Lee to its Board of Directors as its newest independent member. “We are honored to welcome Charlie Lee to our board,” stated Charles Allen, Chief Executive Officer of BTCS. “A true innovator and visionary in the blockchain space, his decision to join our board is a strong vote of confidence in our multi-faceted strategy. We look forward to working closely together to execute on our vision for long-term success.” Mr. Lee, a computer scientist best known as the creator of Litecoin, the ninth-ranked cryptocurrency globally with a market capitalization in excess of $13 billion, currently serves as managing director of the Litecoin Foundation. Previously, Mr. Lee served as the director of engineering at Coinbase from 2013 to 2017 after working at Googl

As cryptocurrencies keep gaining adoption in Argentina, there are discussions on how the national regulatory bodies should regulate the industry. The Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) seems to have taken a step forward in making the picture clearer. Banks Should Provide Data Such as National Identification Numbers and Home Addresses According to Infobae , the BCRA asked domestic banks to forward them information about its customers who deal with bitcoin ( BTC ) and perform any other kind of crypto transactions. The measure aims to evaluate whether the crypto market “should be required for an even bigger regulation or not.” Citing sources inside the central bank, Infobae details that the BCRA has sent an internal mail to the associated banks, requesting them the following data: Information that allows identifying customers who have accounts for holding crypto assets or who have declared or are known to carry out purchase and/or sale cooperation and/or management of payments through

Digital currency markets have seen some significant gains on Monday as the entire market capitalization of all 8,500+ cryptocurrencies in existence has jumped a few percentages. Bitcoin’s price has spiked a touch over 1.5%, but a number of other coins have seen much larger gains during Monday’s trading sessions. Market aggregators show the crypto economy’s overall valuation is steadily approaching the $2 trillion handle . Crypto-Economy Jumps 3% and Nears $2 Trillion in Valuation Crypto assets have seen their values jump northbound on Monday as the entire crypto-economy has spiked 3% during the morning trading sessions (EST). Bitcoin ( BTC ) has risen by 1.9% and during the last seven days, BTC has gained 2.3%. The leading cryptocurrency, in terms of market valuation, BTC is currently exchanging hands for over $59k per unit. Ethereum ( ETH ) has done much better as the crypto asset has jumped over 16% this week and ether is swapping for $2,117 per coin. Binance coin ( BNB ) pric

The publicly listed firm Microstrategy purchased more bitcoin according to a tweet from the company’s chief executive officer Michael Saylor and a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. The firm spent $15 million in cash and now holds 91,579 bitcoin in the company’s reserves. Business Intelligence Firm Microstrategy Continues to Stack Bitcoin Month after month, the company Microstrategy has continued to purchase bitcoin ( BTC ) and add it to the firm’s balance sheet. On Monday, the company revealed yet another BTC purchase when it disclosed to the SEC in a Form 8-K that it purchased 253 bitcoins for $15 million in cash. The SEC filing notes: On April 5, 2021, MicroStrategy Incorporated announced that it had purchased approximately 253 bitcoins for $15 million in cash, at an average price of approximately $59,339 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. As of April 5, 2021, the Company holds approximately 91,579 bitcoins that were acquired at an aggregate p

On Monday, the digital currency asset manager Grayscale Investments announced intentions to file for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) when permissible. The subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG) says in regard to its crypto trust products that it always been the company’s intention “to convert these products into an ETF.” Transforming Grayscale’s $34 Billion Bitcoin Trust Into an Exchange-Traded Fund It looks like Grayscale Investments is planning to join the race of firms looking to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States. Grayscale announced intentions for a bitcoin ETF on April 5, 2021, by leveraging the company’s blog. Established in 2013, Grayscale Investments launched the firm’s bitcoin trust (GBTC) and today GBTC has $34 billion in assets under management (AUM). Grayscale also offers a number of other publicly traded crypto products and the business is the world’s largest asset manager for digital currencies. “In recent months there’s been a growing

Starbucks customers can now pay for items with bitcoin by leveraging the Bakkt digital wallet application. Bakkt’s CEO, Gavin Michael explained that 500,000 users participated in testing before the launch, as the company says it looks forward to expanding crypto assets to everyone. You Can Now Pay for Goods at Starbucks With Bitcoin You can now pay with bitcoin by leveraging the Bakkt wallet at the popular chain of coffeehouses called Starbucks. With over 30,000 locations worldwide, Starbucks is the world’s largest coffeehouse chain and pulls in around $26.50 billion in revenue yearly. According to Bakkt executives, 500,000 customers participated in Bakkt’s invitation-only early access program, and now anyone can download the application via the App Store and Google Play Store and use it to make purchases. “The average consumer holds a wealth of digital assets – from gift cards to loyalty points to bitcoin – but lacks the tools to adequately track and utilize their value,” Bakkt’s

PRESS RELEASE. Pioneering clinical trials platform ClinTex is giving away $1 million USD worth CTi tokens through a unique staking program, which is running from April 1st to September 30th, 2021. London, United Kingdom – Following a successful launch in 2020 ClinTex has been developing CTi-OEM, a blockchain app focused on using data analytics to enhance operational efficiency in clinical trials. Due to the success of the CTi presale (in which the soft-cap target was achieved) and the swift development of the platform, ClinTex chose not to go ahead with the final stage of its IEO. Instead the company chose to continue with a secure CTi token listing on top cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin and sustain the impressive momentum that the project had started to gather. CTi Growth Since its listing on KuCoin both the project has seen significant growth. Humbled by the level of support that the project has gathered in a relatively short period, ClinTex have decided to reappropriate the

Following the boom of non-fungible tokens (NFT) tied to NFT marketplaces and tools, oracle-based tokens are now seeing their valuations rise. During the last seven days, a number of oracle tokens have seen steep gains between 7% to even 45%. Oracles Token Projects See Seven Day Gains Jump Not too long ago, tokens associated with NFT markets and tools saw prices soar amid the non-fungible token hype. Just recently, Bitcoin.com’s newsdesk reported on the decline in NFT sales and NFT interest has dropped in recent times as well. Following the NFT-related pump, a great number of oracle protocol tokens are seeing significant gains over the last seven days. Basically, a decentralized oracle network is a group of independent responders that offer autonomous data to a blockchain. Over the last seven days, the project API3 has spiked 46.6% in value. Oracles are dominant on the Ethereum network and leveraged for decentralized finance (defi) applications in order to create intermediarie

Members of the U.S. Federal Reserve and fellow bureaucrats have said that they are not worried about inflation levels and some officials have even encouraged a general increase in prices for goods and services. Despite the alleged statistics that say U.S. inflation is only 2% to 2.24%, reports show that Fed’s liquidity expansion has accelerated inflation, and prices on goods and services in the U.S. have swelled a great deal. The Federal Reserve Claims the US Inflation Rate Is ‘Well-Anchored at 2 Percent’ There’s a reason why precious metals like gold, silver , and cryptocurrency assets like bitcoin (BTC) are considered an escape from monetary inflation. All three of these forms of money and their monetary bases cannot be expanded as fiat currencies can, and statistics show that the U.S. money supply is now 24% higher than it was before the pandemic-related stimulus packages. Now the Federal Reserve’s own books , numerous status quo economists, and mainstream media publications c

Former congressman Ron Paul has warned of a government crackdown on bitcoin and safe-haven assets may not be safe from government intervention. “The government is the threat,” he said, noting that “they will crack down because they have the ability to do it.” Ron Paul Warns of Government Threat to Bitcoin Former presidential candidate Ron Paul shared his view on the government’s intervention on bitcoin in an interview last week with Kitco News’ Michelle Makori. Paul is an American author, physician, and retired politician. The former congressman from Texas launched The Ron Paul Liberty Report in 2015 to bring “provocative opinion and analysis to the breaking issues affecting our lives and finances,” its website describes. Paul was asked about the “threat of potential gold confiscation or one form or other of government intervention because that concern is rising.” Several well-known hedge fund managers, like Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio and “The Big Short” investor Mic

Personal finance expert Dave Ramsey has given some advice on what to do with bitcoin investments. While acknowledging that the cryptocurrency has had a “fabulous” run, Ramsey still prefers putting his money in more “proven” investments. Dave Ramsey Still Not a Fan of Bitcoin Famous radio show host and best-selling author Dave Ramsey gave some advice about bitcoin on The Dave Ramsey Show last week. The self-proclaimed personal money management expert, Ramsey calls himself “America’s trusted voice on money.” He is the author of seven best-selling books: Financial Peace, More Than Enough, The Total Money Makeover, EntreLeadership, Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money, The Legacy Journey, and Smart Money Smart Kids. Altogether, they have sold more than 11 million copies. Ray from Louisville, Kentucky, called into The Dave Ramsey Show to ask for advice about his bitcoin investment. “In late 2019, my income roughly tripled,” he began telling his story. “And in 2020, I got real aggressi

Paris Hilton says she is “very, very excited” about bitcoin, stating that “It’s definitely the future.” Besides confirming that she is a long-term bitcoin investor, the Hilton heiress put laser eyes on her social media profile picture and talked about her upcoming non-fungible token (NFT) projects. Paris Hilton Says Bitcoin Is ‘Definitely the Future’ Hilton heiress Paris Hilton talked about bitcoin and her upcoming NFT projects in an interview with CNBC last week. A great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels, Paris is often dubbed the “original influencer.” While she is a media personality, socialite, businesswoman, model, singer, actress, and DJ, many people say that she is “famous for being famous.” “I’ve always loved to be an innovator and I did my first NFT in March of 2020 and it won the NFT Charity Award, the best one of the year, so that was exciting and now to see it just blow up in the past couple months has been so exciting,” she began. Hilton was

PRESS RELEASE. Launched on the 1st of July 2020, Torum is a social media platform specially designed for cryptocurrency users. Symbolizing the nature of the platform, the name Torum was born from the combination of “Tokenized” and “Forum”. The platform strives to connect worldwide cryptocurrency users to form a one-stop crypto ecosystem of the industry. Torum operates on a remote team organization. The 18-member team is formed from founders and core developers from Malaysia, India and Turkey with a diversified background of UI/UX, mobile app, cybersecurity, etc. With a $300,000 initial development fund, the team behind Torum built the community organically with a top-down humble approach. Starting with just 1,000 seed users on its beta launch, the number has now risen exponentially to over 25,000 registered users. Placed in the top 50,000 Alexa rank, Torum is now a favourite hangout spot visited by cryptocurrency communities from every corner of the world, including the US, Canada

Norwegian billionaire Øystein Stray Spetalen, who once called bitcoin “nonsense,” has reportedly capitulated and invested in the cryptocurrency after seeing another billionaire in Norway embracing bitcoin. He has also invested in a local crypto exchange. “When the facts change, I change,” he said. Norwegian Billionaire Gets Into Bitcoin After Seeing Another Making Money With the Cryptocurrency Øystein Stray Spetalen, a Norwegian billionaire, has made a complete reversal in his view of bitcoin, local publication Finansavisen recently reported. Once a bitcoin skeptic who called the cryptocurrency “nonsense,” he has now changed his mind and invested in bitcoin as well as a local crypto exchange. Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv calls Spetalen a “multi-billionaire” and “Norway’s most famous investor.” The publication also describes him as “one of the country’s most prominent and experienced investors, [who] has made a lot of money on the stock exchange in recent months an

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has obtained authorization from a federal court to seek information on cryptocurrency users from Circle and Poloniex exchange platforms. The tax authority wants records identifying crypto users who conducted $20,000 or more in crypto transactions during the years 2016 to 2020 as well as other documents relating to their crypto transactions. IRS Got Court Approval to Summon Data on Crypto Users From Circle and Poloniex The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that a federal court has authorized the IRS “to serve a John Doe summons” on “Circle Internet Financial Inc., or its predecessors, subsidiaries, divisions, and affiliates, including Poloniex.” The notice reads: The IRS is seeking the records of Americans who engaged in business with or through Circle, a digital currency exchanger headquartered in Boston. Poloniex is named in the order since Circle bought the crypto exchange platform in 2018 but spun out the following year int