Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A South African cryptocurrency exchange, Ice3x, announced on April 6, that it will permanently stop operations, less than a month after suspending bitcoin and litecoin withdrawals. Ice3x, which one of the oldest crypto exchange in that country, says it came to this decision after lawyers advised the firm to start liquidation proceedings. ‘Extreme Pressure’ In a statement sent to clients on April 6, the exchange claims it “processed the withdrawals which have already been submitted” and therefore, “all withdrawals from the platform have been disabled.” However, in the same statement, Ice3x urges frustrated clients to remain calm and “respectful.” The statement continues: Please be conscious of the fact that staff are operating under extreme pressure at the moment, and can only provide assistance as directed. We understand your frustration but please be respectful when communicating with the service desk staff. According to the statement, Ice3x was scheduled to “provide further

This latest move to broaden cooperation between Cardano and Coti builds upon previous collaborations as the former seeks to upgrade its payment solution on top of the former’s expanding financial infrastructure. Strategic Investment Marks First Allocation for New Ecosystem Venture Fund One of the earliest proposed use cases for blockchain was the democratization of financial services, namely by reaching unbanked and underbanked communities worldwide. From remittance payments, access to credit facilities, or even just digital wallet solutions, advancements across the blockchain landscape have finally made this vision a reality. Among them, Coti is developing the enterprise-grade base layer for the rest to build atop of. Coti, which is short for “currency of the internet,” operates a fintech platform that supports stakeholder-driven payment solutions and empowers these stakeholders to digitize any currency. This aim aligns with Cardano’s ambitions of affordably and instantaneously

The value of Ripple’s XRP token soared to $1.09 on April 6, 2021, making it the first time the crypto has surged past the $1 mark in nearly three years. The token’s new 52 week high has coincided with an altcoin price rally which has seen the value of some tokens surging to new all-time highs. However, at the time of writing, XRP had retreated to just under $1 as the altcoin rally appeared to tapper off. Token Defying SEC Lawsuit Meanwhile, XRP ’s rally, which has seen the value of token more double in the past seven days, comes as the token issuer, Ripple continues to battle the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In its latest piece on the SEC vs Ripple legal battle, Bitcoin.com News reported that a U.S. Court had stopped an attempt by the SEC to block XRP holders from joining the case. In late December 2020, the SEC sued Ripple after accusing the fintech firm of issuing securities ( XRP tokens) in violation of the U.S. Securities Act. Immediately following the a

Coinbase has announced its earnings estimates for the first quarter of 2021. The company says its estimated revenue for the period is nine times more than the amount generated in the same period last year. In addition, the crypto platform says it has 56 million verified users and a total trading volume of $335 billion. Coinbase’s Q1 Revenue Increases 9-Fold Cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase Global announced its first quarter estimated results and full year 2021 outlook on Tuesday, ahead of the company’s initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq next week . For the first quarter ended March 31, Coinbase expects total revenue of approximately $1.8 billion, which is more than nine times the $190.6 million revenue generated in the same quarter last year. In addition, the company expects its net income to be approximately $730 million to $800 million, up from $31.9 million a year ago. Coinbase also expects a total trading volume of $335 billion during the same period with total

PRESS RELEASE. Bitcoin.com Exchange is thrilled to announce the listing of IQQ which occurred on the 31st of March 2021 at 10:00AM UTC. IQQ was created by IQONIQ FanEcosystem, as the utility token to reward entertainment and sports fans for their engagement. IQQ started trading with ETH , USDT and BTC pairs. What is IQONIQ? IQONIQ is a new fan engagement platform that exclusively targets the sports and entertainment world. Existing social networking sites are not tailor made for sports and entertainment, with fans of idols and organisations in sports and entertainment often having to scour multiple platforms to get the content they desire. And when they get it, the content is often only one-way and detached, leaving many fans unfulfilled and wanting more. By combining all the modern-day features of fandom into a single platform, IQONIQ provides fans with a unique fan club, which offers an all-in-one, game changing solution. IQO offers fans a more personal fan experience, with

Ripple Labs has reportedly won discovery from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The court has ordered the commission to produce internal records relating to discussions of whether XRP tokens are similar to bitcoin and ether, which are currently not classified as securities. Ripple Wins Discovery From SEC, Gaining Access to the Commission’s Internal Crypto Records A telephonic discovery conference was held Tuesday for the case against Ripple Labs brought by the U.S. SEC. Ripple Labs reportedly “won discovery” from the SEC. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn said, “I’m going to grant in large part the defendants’ motion,” noting that it was a “high-stakes” discovery win. she then proceeded to order the SEC to produce internal discussions relating to whether XRP tokens are similar to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin ( BTC ) and ether ( ETH ), which are currently not regulated as securities. The judge clarified that email communications between staff members are not

Github services is under investigation after a series of reports on attacks against one of its infrastructures by running unauthorized crypto mining apps. Cybercriminals allegedly exploited some security flaws that could have been exploited to mine cryptos illicitly. Attacks Exploit ‘Github Actions’ According to The Record , a Dutch security engineer, Justin Perdok, detected a cyberattacker targeting repositories belonging to Github. Attacks have been taking place since November 2020, said the report. Perdok pointed out that the series of attacks “abused a Github feature called Github Actions,” which allows users to automatically execute workflows and tasks only when a specific event happens and then pull the trigger on the repositories. That said, threat actors are taking advantage of the repositories where Github Actions are already enabled. The Record provided details on how the attack takes place: The attack involves forking a legitimate repository, adding malicious GitHub A

At Barter Smartplace, collectors can use barter exchange as the best way to build a collection. Trade coins for paintings, sculptures for digital art, a 1960s car for a collection of several gold coins, and many more exchange options are now available through barter. What Is Barter Smartplace? Barter Smartplace is a decentralized exchange for the barter trade of goods, currencies, and digital assets. The project has been developed with its own and private investment funds since December 2018, and this week the long-awaited launch of the NFT Marketplace took place with a security audit from Certik.io – the leaders of the blockchain security market for smart contracts. Barter is attracting a new round of funding to scale the capabilities of the Smartplace platform. The main goal is to create a legally significant basis for the transfer of ownership of goods through smart contracts and NFTs. Barter Smartplace Features Barter creates a blockchain platform for barter transactions, t

A new report commissioned by the U.S. secret services unveiled what happened behind the attack launched by North Korean hackers against a South Korean crypto exchange. The case is about a breach on June 29, 2017, which exposed data tied to over 30,000 customers stemming from Bithumb. Hackers Threatened to ‘Destroy’ Data and Cryptos Stolen According to Maeil Kyungjae , the U.S. authorities found that North Korean hackers got access to personal data and funds from customers then demanded a ransom payment afterward. The blackmailers targeted the crypto exchange Bithumb by asking them for 20 billion won ($16 million). Moreover, threat actors are also accused of sending malicious code through fake job applications to Bithumb employees. It was done reportedly during a hiring season that the company had over that year. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) collaborated with the South Korean authorities in making the correspondent inquiries on the case. On the ransom note, hackers thr

Over the last twelve months wrapped or synthetic bitcoin projects have swelled a great deal. The digital token called wrapped bitcoin, for example, has 141,503 WBTC in circulation today, but the token called the Bitcoin BEP 2 (BTCB) has gathered some steam. Currently, there are 39,719 BTCB out in the wild today as the bitcoin-pegged token now has a larger market valuation than HBTC (27,906). Binance-Backed BTCB Token Jumps to 39.7K in Circulation On April 6, Ki Young Ju the CEO of the onchain data web portal Cryptoquant tweeted about an interesting transaction he had caught onchain. “Binance just sent 26k BTC to [the] BTCB reserve address. BTCB is a Bitcoin-pegged token on the Binance chain. The current circulating supply of BTCB is 39,719 BTC , and it seems this [will] increase soon. It might be a bullish signal for BNB ,” the Cryptoquant executive said. The token Bitcoin BEP 2 otherwise known as BTCB is a bitcoin-pegged token that is similar to competitors like WBTC, HBTC, REN

The Sacramento Kings, an American professional basketball team, will offer everyone in its organization the option of getting their salary paid in bitcoin. This includes all players, according to the NBA team’s chairman, Vivek Ranadivé. The Sacramento Kings to Offer Salaries in Bitcoin The Sacramento Kings team chairman Vivek Ranadivé reportedly said on Clubhouse on Monday that everyone in his organization could receive their salary in as much bitcoin as they want. A bitcoin enthusiast, Neil Jacobs, who was present at the Clubhouse meeting quoted Ranadivé as saying: I’m going to announce in the next few days that I’m going to offer everyone in the Kings organization, they can get paid as much of their salary in bitcoin as they want, including the players. The Sacramento Kings became the first NBA team to accept bitcoin as a payment option in the arena in January 2014 through Bitpay. In 2018, the team announced that it became the first professional sports team in the world to mi

Crypto lending firm Nexo is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by an XRP investor for “unlawfully” suspending the use of the cryptocurrency as collateral without giving notice to clients and subsequently liquidating the tokens. This happened following the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Ripple and its executives. Nexo Sued for Suspension and Liquidation of XRP An XRP investor, Junhan Jeong, has filed a class-action lawsuit against Nexo Financial LLC, Nexo Financial Services Ltd., Nexo Services Ou, Nexo AG, and Nexo Capital Inc. (collectively referred to as Nexo). In the lawsuit filed on April 1, he alleges that Nexo unlawfully suspended the use of XRP as collateral without giving notice to clients and liquidating the tokens. Nexo lets customers use their cryptocurrencies as collateral to borrow cash. XRP was among the accepted cryptocurrencies until the U.S. SEC sued Ripple Labs and its two executives alleging that they raised over $1

Student Coin is a platform that allows users to easily design, create, and manage personal, corporate, NFT, and DeFi tokens. The launchpad for the project already raised over $28 million and the sale is going to end on 30th of April, 2021. What Is Student Coin The Student Coin project is an example of how blockchain technology, non-fungible tokens and decentralized finance could revolutionize the world in so many ways. It offers a crypto platform that allows users to easily design, create, and manage personal, start-up, NFT, and DeFi tokens. In addition to the token creation terminal the developers also created a supporting wallet and are working on an exchange where users can swap coins and tokens. The most groundbreaking idea behind Student Coin is to empower students to issue their own individual tokens that people can buy to invest in their education and thus finance the rising cost of tuition. In this case the investors will, in turn, gain a percentage of the future earnings

Playboy the American men’s lifestyle and entertainment magazine created by Hugh Hefner is joining the non-fungible token (NFT) craze. While the company used to mint Playboy collectible keys for fans to gain access to the mansion, Playboy now plans to offer collectibles in the cryptographic form. Playboy’s Chief Brand Officer: NFTs Present ‘an Enormous Business Opportunity’ Around 66 years ago Hugh Hefner’s magazine Playboy set the world ablaze with a new kind of entertainment that catered to men and open sexuality. The magazine was in print for decades, but these days most of Playboy’s content is produced online or for film. The magazine Playboy has a long history of publishing men’s lifestyle and entertainment. It seems that Playboy has noticed the hype associated with non-fungible token (NFT) assets and wants to join in on the fun. According to sources, the company is partnering with the NFT auction house Nifty Gateway, and plans to showcase new NFTs alongside original works p

The digital currency manager Grayscale Investments announced that the firm has updated its Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) in order to add the crypto asset chainlink to the fund. Chainlink is the popular blockchain oracle network and the token will replace XRP after Grayscale removed the digital currency from the GDLC. Chainlink Added to Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund Following Grayscale’s recent announcement telling the public that it intends to transform the GBTC bitcoin trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF), the organization revealed that chainlink (LINK) will be joining the Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) (OTCQX: GDLC). Last year, the GDLC contained the digital currency XRP , but Grayscale dropped the token off the roster after the recent Securities and Exchange Commission’s issues with Ripple Labs. In addition to chainlink (LINK), the GDLC fund contains bitcoin ( BTC ), ethereum ( ETH ), bitcoin cash ( BCH ), and litecoin ( LTC ). Each crypto asset has a different amount