Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Just recently, Shapeshift founder and CEO Erik Voorhees published a blog post about a new project called Thorchain, a protocol that allows for decentralized exchanges without wrapping or bridging technology commonly used today. Thorchain launched on April 13, 2021, and the Shapeshift founder recently revealed his company is first to leverage the multi-chain protocol in order to provide decentralized swaps in a noncustodial fashion. Shapeshift Leverages Thorchain for Multi-Chain Unwrapped Swaps Back in September 2018, the popular trading application Shapeshift changed its business model to a mandatory membership program and users had to submit specific identity criteria in order to swap coins. Then years later in January 2021, Shapeshift’s CEO Erik Voorhees announced the exchange would be dropping KYC rules. “Because of this fundamental change to our business model, ShapeShift’s users no longer need to provide personally identifying information to us,” Voorhees said at the time. No

The Biden administration is reportedly developing a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency markets. The new chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, is waiting for direction from the Treasury to establish cryptocurrency regulation. New Crypto Regulation Being Developed by Biden Administration Fox Business’ Charlie Gasparino reported Monday that the Biden administration is in what’s been described to him by people close to them as “the early stages of developing a regulatory approach to the crypto markets.” He noted that the number one priority is infrastructure, followed by taxes. Another area, which he said is being debated within the Biden administration, concerns crypto regulations by the SEC. Last week, MIT crypto professor Gary Gensler was confirmed to lead the commission. He previously served as the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Gasparino explained: SEC Chair Gensler is waiting for some direction from

Venmo has announced the rollout of its “crypto on Venmo” service, allowing over 70 million users to buy, sell, and hold four types of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, using the popular Venmo app. Venmo’s new crypto service further shows Paypal’s commitment to the crypto space, the company detailed. Venmo Launches Crypto Service Venmo, a service by Paypal, announced Tuesday the launch of “ crypto on Venmo ,” which it described as “a new way for Venmo’s more than 70 million customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly within the Venmo app.” The rollout begins today. The announcement continues: Customers using crypto on Venmo can choose from four types of cryptocurrency: bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin cash. When they make transactions, customers can also choose to share their crypto journey with their friends through the Venmo feed. Users can start investing in cryptocurrencies with just $1 using the Venmo app. Customers can use funds from their Venmo balanc

Cryptocurrencies have been on an incredible trajectory over the past 12 months, with the total market capitalization growing from $198 billion in April 2020 to more than $2 trillion today. This meteoric rise is coupled with increasing adoption from consumers driven by major announcements from household names, such as Square, Visa, and PayPal, which now accept digital assets as means of payments or settlements. Electric car maker Tesla announced in February that it would accept bitcoin as payment for its cars, as well as also demonstrating its commitment to crypto by making a $1.5 billion bitcoin purchase for its balance sheet. Simultaneously, the industry has experienced a resurgence of institutional adoption like never before. Hedge funds have rushed into the market, stock investors have flocked to publicly-listed crypto companies, and commercial banks are adding more crypto services. All while central banks worldwide eagerly watch on, with many mulling their own digital currencie

The South African cryptocurrency investment platform, Revix, has reportedly raised about $4.1 million from its latest capital raise round. According to the firm, part of the raised capital will be used “to launch Revix’s mobile application, a variety of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) investment opportunities.” Furthermore, Revix says it also plans to use part of these funds to finance the firm’s expansion into the European Union. According to a report that shares details of the crypto platform’s future plans, Revix also intends to “offer a behavioural loyalty and rewards programme, where customers can earn points that can be redeemed for bitcoin.” In expanding on this, Revix founder and CEO, Sean Sanders said: We’re building a behavioural loyalty model that incentivises investors to undertake smart investment decisions, such as diversifying their investment portfolios, growing the investment community, improving their financial knowledge and making smart long-term investment d

The Ukrainian parliament is enforcing its tough stance against people who don’t disclose their cryptocurrency holdings on the tax fillings. The measure comes in the wake of a recent publication that showed alleged mistakes in declarations from public servants. Offenders Could Spend up to Two Years in Jail According to an official document released by the country’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, the bill that seeks to criminalize such wrongdoing passed with 283 votes. The proposal aimed at imposing jail times and fines on offenders. The bill details show that the authorities will prosecute those who possess over $4,050 worth of non-declared crypto holdings. In fact, offenders could spend up to two years in jail, and even pay fines ranged between $162,100 and $202,950. Also, the bill clarifies that erroneous data are not exempt from being targeted by the authorities. Still, those who admit before a court any wrongdoings are also being covered by the criminalization of the proposal

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX, formerly BitMax, an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of the Oddz Protocol Token (ODDZ) under the pair USDT/ODDZ on Apr 19 at 1:00 p.m. UTC. Oddz Finance is the world’s first on-chain option trading platform built on the Binance Smart Chain, Polkadot, and Ethereum Blockchains with a built-in oracle solution. Its distinguishing features include instant trades, interoperable options trades, transparent premium discovery methods, and custom option trading techniques. The Oddz Protocol’s native token is ODDZ, which is designed to incentivize and promote the community’s active participation. The ODDZ tokens represent power for users and are central to the incentive structure and governance of the Oddz Protocol. The ODDZ token holders represent an integral part of the Oddz ecosystem. They vote on various proposals for the protocol’s growth. Moreover, the primary motive of

On Monday, the oracle provider API3 announced a ten-year partnership with the Open Bank Project in order to connect more than 400 banking APIs to blockchain smart contracts using API3’s Airnode. The collaboration between API3 and the Open Bank Project aims to bridge conventional banking with blockchains and Web 3.0 applications. API3 DAO Partners With the Open Banking Project Connecting Over 400 Banking APIs to Blockchain During the last few months, there’s been greater interest in oracle providers like Chainlink, Band Protocol, API3, and DIA. Recently, Bitcoin.com’s news reported on a number of oracle-based tokens gathering two-digit gains. Further, our newsdesk covered how Chainlink’s modular oracle for the Substrate framework aims to empower developers and decentralized finance (defi) applications with trusted off-chain information. On April 19, API3, the project that claims to provide “decentrally governed and quantifiably secure data feeds,” revealed a partnership with the

Major investment bank Morgan Stanley believes that central bank digital currencies are not a threat to the existence of cryptocurrencies. The bank believes that both types of digital currencies can coexist because they serve different purposes and have different appeals. Cryptocurrencies and CBDCs Can Coexist Morgan Stanley’s analysts, including chief economist Chetan Ahya, discussed the impact of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in a report published last week. They wrote: Cryptocurrencies will still exist, as they continue to serve other use cases … For instance, some cryptocurrencies can function as a store of value … as some segments of the public do not place their full faith in fiat currencies. The analysts explained that the uses and appeals of central bank digital currencies and cryptocurrencies are different. They added that cryptocurrencies can be both a store of value, similar to gold, and a speculative asset. A growing nu

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas president says bitcoin is clearly “a store of value.” Emphasizing the differences between cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, and central bank digital currencies, he said the latter “won’t necessarily be a store of value.” Fed Bank Chief Calls Bitcoin a Store of Value The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Robert Kaplan, talked about bitcoin and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) Friday at the Texas A&M Bitcoin Conference 2021 hosted by Mays Business School. Firstly, Kaplan explained that he would distinguish between bitcoin and central bank digital currencies. “I would differentiate between a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin, and the discussions that are being had about digital currency,” such as the digital yuan experiment in China, he described. He proceeded to explain that the challenge on bitcoin is “how widely it will be adopted.” The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas chief elaborated: Right now, it’s clear it’s a store of val

After the well-known crypto crackdown launched by the Chinese government four years ago, it seems there is now a change in the tone from the country’s central bank. At least that’s what has been suggested recently by the deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). Central Bank Clarifies Its Regulatory Framework on Cryptos Will Remain Unchanged During a panel hosted by CNBC at the Boao Forum for Asia, Li Bo is now naming bitcoin ( BTC ) with the “investment alternative” term for the first time since the crackdown. However, he made some clarifications on the meaning of his stance towards cryptocurrencies: We regard Bitcoin and stablecoin as crypto-assets. These are investment alternatives. They are not a currency per se. And so, the main role we see for crypto assets going forward, the main role is investment alternative. Such a statement implies an unprecedented change in Beijing’s tone on cryptos, even with experts quoted by CNBC considering these comments as “progres

In April, Smartlands will launch an alternative investment platform for buying and selling tokenized shares of real-world assets. The platform, built on the Stellar open-source network, will first focus on issuing security tokens that represent a suite of high-yield real estate listings based in Ukraine. Smartlands’ New Platform Is Revolutionizing the Real Economy in Eastern Europe How could blockchain technology revolutionize the real economy? One of the most exciting answers lies in unlocking liquidity. Consider this: The estimated value of tokenizable real estate worldwide is more than $270 trillion , while other real-world assets — like businesses, debt and agricultural holdings — put the total much higher. But the legacy financial system poses problems. Due to regulatory and technological barriers, it’s been difficult for owners of real assets to take advantage of their free equity for other opportunities. Meanwhile, the majority of investors have missed out on the benefits

As the launch date for parachains nears, a new initiative is constructing a decentralized finance (defi) index token that tracks Polkadot projects aimed at helping investors diversify their holdings through a single instrument. Six Projects Provide Soft Commitments to Join Polkadot Index Network Token The growing interest in Polkadot and its novel parachains has seen the blockchain’s native token become the source of frenzied speculation over the last few months, joining the list of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization . Now, with approaching parachain launches for several projects, two organizations are taking steps to help improve access to the ecosystem’s opportunities through the Polkadot Index Network Token (PINT). Chainsafe , a protocol and infrastructure development firm, is collaborating with Stateless Money , a staking service provider, to bring this new index fund and accompanying token to fruition. The PINT token will be governed by a seven-member exp

Her Majesty’s Treasury and the Bank of England have revealed the establishment of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) taskforce. According to the announcement, the group’s purpose aims to explore a potential UK CBDC. UK Entities Invoke a CBDC Taskforce to Explore a Central Bank-Issued Digital Currency Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have been popping up throughout a number of countries and most are still in the exploration phase. A few countries like Venezuela, Sweden, and China are ahead of the game by a longshot in comparison to countries like the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom. On Monday, the HM Treasury and the Bank of England (BoE) published an announcement indicating that it plans to join the CBDC race. The two UK entities have established a CBDC taskforce as the Exchequer says the group will be dedicated to “the exploration of a potential UK CBDC.” The press release wants the public to know that bureaucrats and the BoE have “not yet made a decision on wheth

After bitcoin and a myriad of other crypto-assets tumbled in value on Sunday a number of significant whale movements took place. During the morning trading sessions on Sunday (EST), an old school miner transferred three decade-old coinbase rewards with 150 bitcoin worth more than $8.5 million. Later on in the evening, just before the transition into Sunday, two major whale transactions stemming from Binance resulted in three new massive wallets. One wallet contains 58k in bitcoin worth more than $3.3 billion using today’s exchange rates. Over $4 Billion in Bitcoin Moved Yesterday Yesterday on April 18, 2021, Bitcoin.com News alongside the help of Btcparser.com and team members from the Telegram channel Goldfoundinsh*t caught a number of interesting onchain transactions pop up on our radar. This was five days after Goldfoundinsh*t and Bitcoin.com News researchers discovered more than 12k in BTC from the 2016 Bitfinex hack that got transferred to a number of unknown wallets. That d

Luno, one of Africa’s pioneering crypto exchanges, has revealed that South Africa’s cryptocurrency trading is largely dominated by young people with those under the age of 29 accounting for 40% of transactions. The exchange, which claims to have added nearly a million new South African customers in 2020, also reveals that “around 65% of Luno’s users are male and about 35% female.” These figures compare favourably with the industry average of 70% male to 30% female. Rising Retail Demand In addition to achieving a 300% year-on-year growth, Luno reports seeing the number of active users surging by 167% during the same period while “the number of app installs increased 119%.” Meanwhile, a report quotes Marcus Swanepoel, CEO and cofounder of Luno attributing the increase in transactions volumes to rising retail demand for cryptos. Swanepoel explained: While a lot of the attention has been around institutional adoption, retail adoption has been growing at an arguably even more frantic

Over the past 13 years, the world has seen innovation at its finest. The creation of Bitcoin, the development of cryptocurrencies, the launch of blockchain projects, Decentralized Applications (Dapps), and far more. To gauge the financial evolution of blockchain one need only consider the price of Bitcoin in 2013 and compare it to today. In 2013, a single Bitcoin was worth $22. Today, Bitcoin is comfortably over $60,000, with analysts suggesting $100,000 is in sight. With the steady expansion of blockchain technology, the Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) revolution has begun. PARSIQ strives to pioneer the use cases of this BaaS revolution. PARSIQ: An Overview PARSIQ promotes BaaS through its next-gen monitoring and intelligence platform. Users can observe and utilize blockchain data for a number of use cases. These include: Tracking digital assets in real-time Notifications of Blockchain network activity Gathering and processing on-chain data Combining on-chain with off-chain da