Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

On Thursday, Apifiny, a global digital asset trading and mining network, announced the company’s subsidiary Apifiny Prime has been granted a broker-dealer license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The firm now joins the ranks of brokerage and exchange businesses like Coinbase, Etoro, and Circle. FINRA Grants Apifiny Prime a Broker-Dealer License The leading regulator that oversees American broker-dealers, FINRA has granted a broker-dealer license to Apifiny Prime. The license allows Apifiny to make private investor placements and vend securities, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and other types of financial products. Apifiny was founded by Haohan Xu in 2018 after he saw inefficiencies across global bitcoin exchanges, and said that he “took advantage of this by buying and selling bitcoin across different exchanges.” Haohan Xu detailed in the company announcement concerning the FINRA approval, that his firm has grown significantly and saw a “4x increase in monthly

PRESS RELEASE. The first ever community-minted NFT launched at OpenSea this week, attracting a bid of 7 ETH for this historic event and giving 256 lucky users the opportunity to share the proceeds of the NFT auction with the artist. That large bid is the latest stage of a highly popular campaign, one that saw the opening rounds of NFT minting happen in a matter of minutes, instead of the expected span of five days. More than 12,000 clients enrolled wallets to the MetisDAO.org website as part of the NFT contest. The NFT is named “Rebuilding the Tower of Babel”, connecting the idea of the old Biblical Babylonian tower and its mission of uniting people around the world who speak different languages with the city of the future and the huge potential of blockchain technology. Bidders can bid on the NFT from now until the auction’s end Monday, May 3 at 1:53 pm UTC. Elena Sinelnikova, CEO and co-founder of Metis, said the venture shows the spirit of collaboration that a community-m

On Thursday, the Smart Bitcoin Cash team announced the launch of the Smartbch testnet explaining that developers and decentralized app makers can now experiment and develop with the high-performance, EVM-compatible Bitcoin Cash sidechain. Further, Bitcoin.com News spoke with Wang Kui the lead developer of the Smartbch project. The Smartbch tech lead told our newsdesk about the inner workings of the sidechain that can connect with the Ethereum network. Testnet for Smart Bitcoin Cash, a Bitcoin Cash Layer-2 Project Is Live During the last few weeks, the Smartbch project has been a topical conversation within the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community. The reason for these conversations is because the Smartbch team has revealed a project that is EVM and Web3 compatible, but far cheaper in terms of transaction fees. This is because the Smartbch project is a sidechain built on Bitcoin Cash and it leverages the BCH chain’s lower transaction fees. Bitcoin.com has reported on the project on a few

Investment bank JPMorgan has published a report explaining why ether is outperforming bitcoin. Citing several key reasons, the firm concluded that “there is evidence of more resilient liquidity, less reliance on derivatives markets to transfer and warehouse risk, and more durable underlying demand base – for now at least.” JPMorgan Says Ether Outperforms Bitcoin JPMorgan published a report on Tuesday entitled “Why is ETH outperforming?” The analysts with the firm’s Fixed Income Strategy for the U.S. wrote: In recent days, one of the more interesting developments in cryptocurrency markets has been the outperformance of ether ( ETH ) relative to other tokens. Noting that bitcoin is “more of a crypto commodity than currency,” JPMorgan said that “ ETH is the backbone of the crypto-native economy and therefore functions more as a medium of exchange.” The analysts then asserted that “To the extent owning a share of this potential activity is more valuable … ETH should outperform BT

A public-private task force has submitted a report to the Biden administration that includes recommendations to tighten the regulation of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, with the aim to combat ransomware. “The cryptocurrency sector that enables ransomware crime should be more closely regulated,” the task force wrote. White House Urged to Tighten Crypto Regulation A task force, organized by the Institute for Security and Technology, submitted a report entitled “Combating Ransomware” to the Biden administration Thursday with 48 recommendations, some of which aim at tightening crypto regulation. The recommendations were developed by the Ransomware Task Force (RTF), which the report describes as “a broad coalition of volunteer experts from industry, government, law enforcement, civil society, cybersecurity insurers, and international organizations.” Its goal is to “provide a strategic framework for a systemic, global approach to mitigating the ransomware problem.” The report clai

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase now allows its U.S. customers to buy cryptocurrencies with Paypal. Millions of customers can now purchase up to $25,000 a day of cryptocurrencies with their Paypal accounts. Coinbase Adds Paypal as Funding Source for Users Coinbase announced Thursday that Paypal has been added as a funding source for buying cryptocurrencies at the exchange. The Nasdaq-listed company wrote: We are now offering millions of customers in the US a simple and speedy way to buy crypto on Coinbase using your debit cards and bank accounts linked to Paypal. Coinbase explained, “If you have an existing Paypal account, you’ll be able to start making transactions on Coinbase right away,” adding that “there’s no need to add bank accounts or card numbers directly to Coinbase.” However, the company noted that “echecks and Paypal-linked credit cards cannot be used to purchase crypto with Coinbase.” To use Paypal on Coinbase, users will select Paypal as a payment method when b

Famous Spain-based project Jobchain has developed an intuitive blockchain solution that allows employers to search for talents and pay employees with cryptocurrency, thus saving valuable time. And some of the major enterprises have already experienced the practice’s benefits in real-world scenarios. The Goal of Jobchain There is nothing more appealing to crypto proponents than accessing more crypto income-generating products. Hence, the emergence of Jobchain has found a strong following amidst surging demand for digital assets. The ecosystem proposes radical solutions to the global unemployment and underemployment crises and enables a blockchain platform where employers and potential employees can network. For Jobchain, the goal is simple: Get as many people to participate in a decentralized job economy powered by blockchain. The platform looks to remove all forms of barriers and offer job seekers added protection against a rigged and centralized system. But the most notable detai

The ASIC bitcoin mining rig manufacturer and chipmaker, Canaan has announced the company has signed a $93.63 million purchase order with the mining firm Genesis Digital Assets. Genesis will be acquiring Canaan’s A1246 Avalonminer rigs that produce 90 terahash per second (TH/s) and deliveries will be shipping during the second half of 2021. Canaan and Genesis Digital Assets Announce a Strategic Partnership According to an announcement from the Beijing, China-based company Canaan (Nasdaq: CAN) a new strategic partnership has been unveiled between the firm and Genesis Digital Assets . The two companies have signed a purchase agreement worth $93.63 million as Canaan plans to deliver the firm’s next-generation A1246 Avalonminer devices to Genesis. The machines will be shipped to Genesis during the second half of 2021 the company’s announcement details. Canaan’s application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) A1246 Avalonminer is a device that processes the SHA256 consensus algorithm. Th

The biggest e-commerce store in Latin America is the latest major company in the region to join the crypto adoption movement. Mercado Libre is now allowing its customers to buy a selected number of properties from real estate agencies with bitcoin. Properties Listed Don’t Offer Alternative Payment Methods Aside From Bitcoin According to the announcement , the firm created 20 years ago offers 75 properties on sale from seven agencies that accept bitcoin ( BTC ) as the only payment method. The houses, apartments, lands, among others, are located in several Argentinean cities, such as Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Cordoba. Mercado Libre believes that cryptocurrencies are an “innovative value haven,” as their traceability, speediness, and security make it a proper way to arrange payments. In fact, the e-commerce store offered a webinar where it provided further information on cryptos targeting over 300 real estate agencies. Juan Manuel Carretero, commercial manager of Vehicles, Real Es

In its foray into Africa, Input Output, a research and development product engineering company, says it will partner with World Mobile Group in a new initiative aimed at bringing sustainable internet connectivity to users in Zanzibar and Tanzania. According to the partnership agreement, the Cardano blockchain infrastructure will be used to provide affordable network nodes to local business owners. Partnership to Open New World According to a statement that shares some details about this working arrangement, subscribers to these networks will be able to access Input Output’s digital identity solution, Atala PRISM. The identity solution “will allow them to use services such as digital banking, healthcare, and education.” Meanwhile, in his remarks following the announcement of the partnership agreement, the CEO of World Mobile Chain, Micky Watkins laments on how years of neglect left some parts of the world behind technologically. Nevertheless, Watkins still expresses his belief that

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the investment bank owned by the EU Member States, has announced the issuance of the organization’s first-ever digital bond built on a public blockchain. The bond was issued using Ethereum and the issuance invoked $121 million two-year bonds placed with key market investors. EIB Issues Digital Bonds Built With Ethereum Technology The EIB, a not-for-profit organization and lending arm of the European Union announced on Wednesday that the bank has issued a new type of digital bond built using blockchain technology. On April 28, 2021, the EIB explained that the bank had also worked on the digital bond project with the financial institutions Goldman Sachs, Santander, and Societe Generale. The EIB also disclosed that the Banque de France participated and said “the payment of the issue monies from the underwriters to the EIB has been represented on the blockchain in the form of CBDC.” “Innovation at the EIB goes beyond the projects we are supporting.

PRESS RELEASE. UnoRe , the first decentralized reinsurance platform, is now allowing retail users to invest in risk. This opportunity is a part of the project’s vision to revolutionize the reinsurance industry, one that has been traditionally gatekept, preventing any significant innovation in hundreds of years. UnoRe aims to take steps towards alleviating the extreme global wealth gap – a typical millennial now holds 41% less wealth than a similarly aged adult in 1989. In contrast, the world’s richest 1% currently have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people combined. That’s over 90% of everyone else! The inaccessibility to wealth-generating tools such as reinsurance is a contributing factor to this enormous inequality – reinsurance as an industry has always been one exclusive to the wealthiest factions of society and out of reach for regular investors. Those with significant capital have leveraged this reliable asset class in order to balloon their already-inflated ne

In a policy meeting on Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve told the public that monetary easing will continue and the benchmark interest rate will be kept near zero. Just like previous statements from Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members, the committee within the central bank is not concerned about inflation and says that it should only have “transitory effects” on the American economy. Inflation to Have ‘Transitory Effects,’ While ‘Recovery Is Uneven and Far From Complete’ The most recent FOMC meeting held on Wednesday was no different than the past number of committee gatherings which explained that the central bank is still dealing with pressure from the pandemic. A press release that followed the meeting highlighted that the “pandemic is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world.” The Federal Reserve, however, has seen indicators that “economic activity and employment have strengthened,” but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell

Venezuela’s government-backed cryptocurrency is not having the acceptance its cabinet expected, as the latest reports suggest. The petro’s creator, who now lives in exile, wants to build another crypto that gets the adoption its original creation did not in the nation. Jiménez Believed the Petro Could Have Given Venezuelans a ‘Measure of Freedom’ Per a report published by Deutsche Welle, Gabriel Jimenez, a 31-year-old-programmer, is looking to pursue a “cryptocurrency revolution” in Venezuela with Reserve, a brand-new token he created. Jimenez – now residing in the United States – is not a stranger to the crypto community, nor Nicolás Maduro’s government, as he was once commissioned to create the state-backed petro (PTR). Interestingly, he wasn’t a fan of the government, as he actively participated in the street protests against Maduro. However, Jiménez thought that creating the petro token was an excellent idea to give Venezuelans “a measure of freedom” by bypassing U.S. financi

As part of its ongoing efforts to make the decentralized finance ecosystem more accessible through infrastructure development, this layer2 scaling solution has introduced a $100 million fund designed to lower the barriers to entry for yield farming and lending. #Defiforall to Support Development Over Next 2-3 Years Decentralized finance (defi) has emerged as one of the most explosive blockchain developments over the past year as new products and services offer a new means for token holders to monetize their crypto holdings. The push has been so extreme that the total value locked (TVL) in defi protocols has crossed back above $60 billion , trending just shy of the record amount reached mere weeks ago. Yet, defi remains one of the most complex areas of the blockchain universe for newcomers as the steep learning curve and high capital requirements push more minor participants to the fringes. Enter Polygon, an Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development solution. Formerly known a

South African property developer, New Age Properties, says it has partnered with Sun Exchange, an online leasing platform, as part of an effort to bring cheap and clean energy to low-income earners. Bitcoin for Solar Cells According to the two companies’ working arrangement, Sun Exchange, which also accepts payment in BTC form, will enable buyers of solar cells to lease electricity to Watergate Estate, one of South Africa’s first low-cost gated community housing project. Meanwhile, a local news report explains how the consummation of this partnership will represent a key milestone for the South African property developer, Anver Essop. In addition to fulfilling his desire to bring to “green, safe and cheap homes across South Africa”, the arrangement with Sun Exchange also helps Essop realize his objective of bringing the perks or benefits associated with South Africa’s affluent gated communities to low-income earners. “We thought, why don’t we give people the same product we buil