Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Global investment bank Goldman Sachs is questioning whether bitcoin can be a long-term store of value and digital gold. The firm’s analysts cited various issues with the cryptocurrency, such as environmental problems, “lack of real use,” and competition from other cryptocurrencies. Goldman Sachs Sees Problems With Bitcoin as Long-Term Store of Value Goldman Sachs published a note outlining some problems with bitcoin as digital gold on Wednesday. The firm’s analysts, led by its top commodities strategist Jeffrey Currie, have voiced concerns about whether the cryptocurrency could become a long-term store of value. The analysts explained: “While bitcoin benefits from greater liquidity, it suffers from lack of real use and weak environmental, social, governance ESG scoring, due to its high energy consumption.” They also cited competition from other cryptocurrencies as a factor stopping bitcoin from becoming digital gold, elaborating: Traditional long-term stores of value such as gold

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 Smoothy Token (SMTY) under the pair USDT/SMTY on Mar 29 at 1:00 p.m. UTC. Smoothy is a novel single pool liquidity protocol specializing in same-backed assets with low-cost zero-slippage swapping and maximum interest earning capabilities. Smoothy’s unique design allows the swap ratio of the same backed asset to be fixed at 1:1. Smoothie is designed to make the gas fee 80% lower than existing projects, and brings maximum interest to the liquidity providers. Smoothy has been developed from scratch to address the issues of existing protocols. Smoothy’s goal is to offer one pool to swap all tokens with, smooth and straightforward swaps, low gas fees, flexibility to add or remove any stablecoins, better liquidity, lower slippage, and better LP token incentives. The Smoothy token is used for the governance of the

U.S. law enforcement arrested the alleged operator of Bitcoin Fog, Roman Sterlingov in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Documents show Sterlingov is accused of laundering over 1.2 million bitcoin via the Bitcoin Fog mixer, a tool that allows users to mix transactions together. According to federal investigators, Sterlingov ran the operation for ten years and processed $336 million in BTC transactions. US Government Charges Alleged Bitcoin Fog Kingpin With Money Laundering The U.S. government has charged and arrested a Russian and Swedish citizen Roman Sterlingov with money laundering using a bitcoin mixer. Ostensibly, Sterlingov was the lead administrator in the Bitcoin Fog operation which used a Coinjoin-based mixing tool to blend BTC UTXOs. Bitcoin Fog could be found on Tor via an onion address, it required mandatory registration, and a minimum deposit of 0.01 BTC to use the platform. However, the registration process was not tied to an email and simply required a username and passwor

Japanese gaming firm Nexon has purchased 1,717 bitcoins for approximately $100 million. The company believes “bitcoin offers long-term stability and liquidity while maintaining the value of our cash for future investments.” Japan’s Nexon Buys Bitcoin Major gaming company Nexon Co. Ltd. announced Wednesday that it has purchased 1,717 bitcoins for approximately $100 million (¥11.1 billion) at an average price of approximately $58,226 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. The Tokyo stock exchange-listed company noted: This purchase represents less than 2% of Nexon’s total cash and cash equivalents on hand. Founded in 1994, Nexon describes itself as “a global leader in multiplayer online games.” With more than 10 franchises, the Tokyo-headquartered company currently has more than 60 live games, operated in more than 190 countries. Nexon’s iconic games include Maplestory and Dungeon Fighter. Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney explained, “Our purchase of bitcoin reflects a discipli

The second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market valuation, ethereum, has seen significant gains this week in comparison to the rest of the crypto economy. On Wednesday, ethereum tapped an all-time high at $2,736 per unit as the crypto asset has gained 11.48% during the last seven days. Ethereum Cracks a New ATH While a great number of digital assets dropped in value last week, ethereum (ETH) prices rebounded much quicker than most. On April 27, after climbing more than 11% during the course of the week, ETH tapped an all-time high (ATH) at $2,706 per ether on Tuesday. Then again, on Wednesday, ether prices touched an ATH of around $2,736 per coin. During the last seven days, ether prices have jumped 10% higher against bitcoin (BTC) as well. Bitcoin’s current dominance index is being drained too as it’s dropped to 49.2% while ethereum now captures 14.9%. The ETH /USD chart on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. 1-Hour, Bitstamp. Against the U.S. dollar during the last month, ethe

Tesla’s quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that the company’s bitcoins are now worth $2.48 billion, a substantial increase from the initial investment of $1.5 billion. This is also after the electric car company sold some bitcoins to “prove liquidity.” SEC Filing Shows Tesla Sitting on Bitcoins Worth $2.48 Billion Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla Inc. (TSLA.O), revealed the value of its bitcoin holdings in its quarterly report filed with SEC on Tuesday. Tesla explained in the filing that it purchased “an aggregate of $1.5 billion in digital assets, comprised solely of bitcoin” during the three months ended March 31. The company also began “accepting bitcoin as a payment for sales of certain of our products in specified regions, subject to applicable laws.” The company then sold some of its bitcoins in March. After accounting for the sale of some bitcoins which netted $272 million, Tesla wrote: As of March 31, 2021, the carrying

pNetwork , a cross-chain composability system that allows assets and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to move freely between blockchains, has officially partnered up with Algorand, the pure proof-of-stake blockchain focused on the convergence between decentralized and traditional finance, to launch cross-chain bridges for the Algorand ecosystem. pNetwork has received a grant from the Algorand Foundation for creating a pNetwork-powered bridge for Algorand to be connected with external assets and ecosystems. As the cryptocurrencies industry continues to evolve, the development of alternative financial platforms is on the rise. A critical component for these to succeed is assets’ liquidity, which in the decentralized scene is currently spread across multiple independent blockchain protocols. Similar to all blockchain-based networks, Algorand sits within its own ecosystem, natively difficult to interoperate with other protocols and assets such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. pNetwork’s PNT-powered p

On April 27, the American bank holding company U.S. Bank revealed in a blog post that the financial institution plans to offer cryptocurrency custody services. The bank’s chief strategy officer for U.S. Bank Global Fund Services, Christine Waldron, says she is proud of her company’s steps toward blockchain and cryptocurrency practices. US Bank to Offer Cryptocurrency Services Pending Compliance Approval During the first week of January 2021, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) revealed that national banks and savings associations in the U.S. could deal with stablecoins and public blockchains. Following that announcement, The oldest bank in America, Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) disclosed in mid-February that it created a digital currency unit. On Tuesday, the fifth-largest banking institution in the country, U.S. Bank published a blog post that details new cryptocurrency offerings. Although, the blog post does not reveal when the bank will deploy these pro

As the South Korean government keeps strengthening the harsh rhetoric against cryptocurrencies, citizens have become increasingly angry due to the recent words from regulatory authorities. Over the weekend, petitions started to appear on the web, seeking the removal of the head of the country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC). Over 141,000 Signatures Collected in One Petition The presidential website is now being filed with thousands of petitions from furious people aged 20-39, seeking that Eun Sun-soo, the FSC’s chief, resign. The drop that broke the glass were the statements from Eun over the weekend, who stated that crypto has no “intrinsic” value whatsoever. But that’s not something new within the South Korean government’s bodies nor banking institutions. In fact, that’s the same rhetoric replicated by Seoul’s government and the Bank of Korea regarding cryptos. However, Eun has been quite active in his warnings on the new regulations that came into force. If domestic cry

Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has become the latest body to warn of risks associated with cryptocurrency investments. In a public warning, the law enforcement agency argues that investing in cryptos “is a high-risk activity as the terrain is largely unregulated and prone to fraud.” Proliferation of Scams According to a report that quotes Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesperson, the law enforcement agency is alarmed by “the rate at which Nigerians sent them petitions on fraudulent investments.” Meanwhile, the spokesperson also bemoans the fact crypto scams continue to proliferate “despite enforcement and public enlightenment interventions by the commission and other stakeholders.” However, Uwujaren still urges the Nigerian investing public to be more careful when making investment decisions. He said: While EFCC will continue to investigate and prosecute persons complicit in fraudulent investment schemes, it is incumbent on the investing public to be cir

PRESS RELEASE. The propelling demand for NFTs doesn’t look like slowing anytime soon and India’s Antier Solutions is all prepared to ride the tide. As one of the earliest entrants into the business, the blockchain development company has marked an impressive feat in a short time. With a comprehensive portfolio of NFT development solutions, the company is backing start-ups and corporates to launch their tokens, wallets and exchanges all over the world. “Non-fungible tokens – popularly known as NFTs – have sparked a new wave of innovation. They represent a new age of provenance and wealth creation. Our comprehensive NFT development solutions aim to empower businesses and individuals to ride this wave and capitalize on the NFT opportunity.”, said Vikram R. Singh – CEO of Antier Solutions. For Antier, non fungible token development is an opportunity to serve the highly underrated industry of collectibles and digital arts mostly led by artists. Apart from that, the company excels

Reports from Ethiopia say the government has enlisted the services of software company IOHK in its bid to launch the country’s biggest blockchain deployment to date. As part of the agreement, the Cardano protocol creator will be tasked with the job of creating a blockchain-based national student and teacher identification system. High Praise for the Initiative According to the government, this project is initially expected to involve more than five million Ethiopian students. Meanwhile, this link-up between these two parties has been hailed by both the Ethiopian government and IOHK. For instance, in his comments on the deal, Education Minister Getahun Mekuria, praised the project saying this would “make the nation’s education provision more dynamic.” The Minister added: We believe blockchain offers a key opportunity to end digital exclusion and widen access to higher education and employment. For his part, IOHK African Operations Director, John O’Connor, argued that this deploym

After vowing to never buy bitcoin again, stock trader Dave Portnoy has sold all of his dogecoins, which he bought when the price was at a record high, to buy one bitcoin. Having been called “paper hands,” Portnoy now says will never sell his one bitcoin. Dave Portnoy Now a Proud Bitcoin Owner American day trader and founder of Barstool Sports blog, Dave Portnoy, has finally bought bitcoin. He posted a video on Twitter Monday revealing: “I did buy one bitcoin when it was at $48,000. That’s all I can afford.” He tweeted: I am the proud owner of 1 bitcoin. After learning that Elon Musk’s Tesla sold some of its bitcoins, Portnoy said he will not sell his BTC . “I am holding 100% of my bitcoin,” he emphasized. He then said on Tuesday that his bitcoin is up from the price he bought it at, stating, “I’m way up on it since I bought it.” He also started calling himself “the barron of bitcoin.” Regarding his mini dialogue with Elon Musk about Tesla selling some of its bitcoins, Portnoy

The CEO of payments giant Paypal, Dan Schulman, has revealed that the demand for cryptocurrencies has been “multiple-fold” of his company’s initial expectations. Paypal’s Venmo recently began rolling out cryptocurrency features to enable Venmo users to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. Demand for Cryptocurrencies Exceeds Paypal’s Expectations Paypal CEO Dan Schulman talked about cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin, in an interview with Time Magazine, published Sunday. Paypal is present in more than 200 countries and deals in more than 100 currencies. Last year, the company processed 15.4 billion payments, with a value of $936 billion. The company has about 30 million merchants in its network. Schulman began by sharing his story of how he used Paypal’s crypto service to buy boots and paid for them with bitcoin. Noting that it only took a few clicks and a few seconds to buy with the cryptocurrency, he said that “It was pretty cool.” A big initiative of his comp

A leading Venezuelan aviation academy announced its inception into cryptocurrency adoption after enabling bitcoin payments. Caracas Air is now accepting crypto payments for those who want to take any of their courses. Academy Started Its Operations in 2015 According to the announcement made by its CEO, Oliver Laufer, the academy will also offer discounts and financing plans for those who opt to pay with bitcoin ( BTC ). Overall, Caracas Air is known as the most prominent emerging and certified aviation academy in Venezuela. On its customer base, the firm teaches almost 900 students per year, whose study programs are certified by the Venezuelan aeronautical authority (INAC). Laufer founded the academy with his brother in 2015 after acquiring a Cessna 172 Skyhawk plane to run the school. Those who earn certification from Caracas Air can obtain a license authorized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), becoming the first ICAO-certified aviation academy in Venezuel

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 Unmarshal Token (MARSH) under the pair USDT/MARSH on Apr 26 at 1:00 p.m. UTC. Unmarshal is a Chain-Agnostic blockchain protocol consisting of a network of blockchain indexes to curate customizable data for DeFi applications. Synergistically built with the support of Binance Smart Chain, Polkadot Network, and Solana, Unmarshal intends to revitalize data collection, distribution, and interpretation to propel the DeFi economy forward. It is an advanced solution that aims at transforming raw and unstructured blockchain data into a meaningful form to ease the integration of real-time blockchain data into decentralized applications, thus unmarshalling the potential of DApps. Compared to other data providers in the Crypto Market, Unamrshal stands out by providing simplified and structured data in multiple formats l

The comparison website that operates in 83 countries, finder.com, has recently published its quarterly bitcoin price prediction report for 2021 and the panellists are very optimistic about bitcoin’s future value. A number of Finder’s panel of 35 fintech specialists believe that bitcoin is set to crack $100k this year. Finder’s Q1 Predictions Study Shows Panellists Believe Bitcoin Prices Will Hit Six-Digits This Year Bitcoin proponents and crypto enthusiasts believe that the cryptocurrency economy will continue to blossom after 2021’s climactic year wraps up the first quarter. On Monday, the comparison website finder.com published another predictions report that is tied to the value of today’s leading crypto-asset, in terms of market capitalization. BTC has seen a spectacular run-up in 2021 and Finder has asked 35 panellists for their expert opinions on just how high it will go this year and when the bull run might end. Finder spoke with Samantha Yap, Founder and CEO of YAP Global