Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Ethereum was back below the $1,300 level on Wednesday, as the U.S. dollar rose following better than expected quarterly earnings. So far this earnings season, Netflix, Bank of America, and others have outperformed expectations, highlighting what some view as the resilience of the U.S. economy, despite the global slowdown. Bitcoin was also back in the red. Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) was trading lower on Wednesday, as prices continued to decline following a failed breakout of a resistance at $19,550. Following a high of $19,655.75 on Tuesday, which saw BTC /USD move past the aforementioned ceiling, prices slipped to a low of $19,144.77 earlier today. Wednesday’s drop sees the token move closer to a breakout below $19,000, with bears likely targeting a floor of $18,900. Bearish sentiment has largely been present during what many are calling “red October,” with BTC trading below $20,000 for the majority of the month thus far. Looking at the chart, the 10-day (red) moving average has e

Eswatini recently became the latest African country to jump on the central bank digital currency (CBDC) bandwagon after its central bank selected Giesecke Devrient, a Germany-based technology firm, as its partner. An agreement signed by both parties aims to enable them to deepen their “understanding of the practicalities of implementing a CBDC in Eswatini.” Retail CBDC Presents Strongest Opportunity for Adoption The Southern African nation of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) recently became the latest African country to signal its intention to issue a digital currency, after it was revealed that the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) has appointed a Germany-based firm called Giesecke Devrient as its technology partner. According to a statement issued by the technology firm, an agreement to this effect was signed at the recent annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group. The country’s selection of the German firm comes some two years after the latter’

Authorities in Brussels are taking steps to reduce power consumption, including in cryptocurrency mining, as the EU faces limited energy supplies from Russia, the reliance on which it has been trying to lower. New energy efficiency labeling is to address the growing electricity usage in the crypto sector. EU to Develop Energy Efficiency Label for Data Centers Amid Increasing Consumption in Mining The European Union plans to introduce a label for energy efficiency in efforts to counter the growing electricity consumption in data centers such as those mining cryptocurrencies. According to Bloomberg, the EU will also urge member states to target crypto miners’ energy usage as it seeks to navigate the winter with far less Russian gas and other energy than before the sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine. Quoting a draft proposal, the report revealed that the EU’s executive arm wants to work with international partners to adopt a grading measure that will encourage more environmenta

The Ethiopian government has instructed banks to reject requests for foreign currency to buy so-called non-priority products. The Ethiopian Minister of Industry Melaku Alebel Addis has defended the move, saying this will allow local manufacturers to grow and become competitive. The restrictions are set to remain in force for an indefinite period. Eliminating Pressure From Foreign Products The Ethiopian government has reportedly instructed banks to reject requests for foreign currency to buy what the Ministry of Finance calls non-priority goods. In a letter to the country’s central bank, the ministry reportedly stated that banks must only approve requests for foreign exchange if the customer’s objective is to import food, medicines, or medical equipment. Foreign exchange should also be availed to importers of raw materials, the ministry reportedly said. Justifying the seemingly protectionist policy, the Ethiopian Minister of Industry, Melaku Alebel Addis, suggested in a tweet that

The European Commission’s commissioner for financial services has reportedly urged U.S. lawmakers to establish new rules to regulate the crypto industry. “We do need to see other players also legislating … We need to look at global regulation of crypto,” said the commissioner. EU Commissioner Calls on U.S. Lawmakers to Establish New Crypto Rules Mairead McGuinness, the European Commission’s commissioner for financial services, talked about cryptocurrency regulation in an interview with the Financial Times, published Tuesday. Referencing the Markets in Crypto-Assets ( MiCA ) bill that will provide a regulatory framework for crypto across countries in the European Union, she stressed that any regulation imposed on the crypto industry would need to be global in order to work. The commissioner elaborated: We do need to see other players also legislating … perhaps differently, but with the same objective . . . We need to look at global regulation of crypto. McGuinness urged U.S. law

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan & Chase CEO Jamie Dimon both agree that the U.S. economy is doing well and consumers are in good shape. “The consumers basically have more money in their accounts by multiples than they did pre-pandemic,” said the Bank of America chief. Bank of America’s CEO: US Economy Is in ‘Pretty Good Shape’ Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) annual membership meeting in Washington, D.C., last week that the U.S. economy is in good shape despite inflation, jittery markets, and international tensions, Bloomberg reported. Emphasizing that the Federal Reserve has to raise rates to slow down inflation and act against the spending forces of U.S. consumers, Moynihan was quoted as saying: The toughest challenge for the Fed is actually one of the best things about the U.S. economy — is that it’s in pretty good shape. “The consumers basically have more money in their accounts by multiples than the

U.S. President Joe Biden has been criticized for stating that the U.S. economy is “strong as hell” as inflation rises to a 40-year high. Meanwhile, the White House claims that Biden understands and “has done the work” to fix the inflation issue. Joe Biden Believes the U.S. Economy Is ‘Strong as Hell’ President Joe Biden was criticized on social media Monday for stating over the weekend that the U.S. economy is “strong as hell.” Responding to a reporter’s question Saturday about whether he had any worry about the strength of the U.S. dollar amid rising inflation, Biden replied while eating ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins in Portland, Oregon: I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world. Our economy is strong as hell. “Inflation is worldwide. It’s worse off than it is in the United States,” he continued. “So the problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries, not so much ours.” Many people took to Twitter

Societe Generale-Forge, a subsidiary of France’s third-largest bank, has obtained registration with the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the French financial markets regulator, as a digital asset service provider. Societe Generale’s Subsidiary Registers as Digital Asset Service Provider The digital asset subsidiary of Societe General Group, Societe Generale-Forge, is now registered with France’s financial regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). Societe Generale is France’s third-largest bank by total assets. According to the AMF’s list of registered Digital Asset Service Providers (DASPs), Societe Generale-Forge obtained registration on Sept. 27. The company is now authorized to offer digital asset custody service, the purchase and sale of digital assets for legal tender, and the trading of digital assets against other digital assets in France. Societe Generale-Forge provides issuers and investors with end-to-end services to issue, invest and manage digital-nat

PRESS RELEASE. Digital currency made splashes in the 2010s with a promise of decentralization and ultimate user privacy. However, most well-known crypto exchange giants, like Binance or Coinbase, are CEXs by essence. It means they are centralized exchange platforms, offering custodial wallets to users and collecting user data. No privacy, no user control, and no genuine decentralization – that’s what the CEX use is. Luckily, by the end of the 2010s, crypto enthusiasts moved further with the idea of introducing the automated market-making (AMM) functionality that would remove the need for a centralized authority out of the exchange process. The idea was proposed by Vitalik Buterin and found its realization first in Bancor (early 2018) and then in Uniswap – a DEX released in late 2018. Today, over 300 decentralized exchanges are online, each offering peer-to-peer exchange opportunities using the smart contract functionality. DEXs quickly rose in popularity, reaching over $1 trillion

A new layer one blockchain network called Aptos announced the launch of its mainnet on Monday, following a slew of capital injections from a number of venture capital (VC) firms. The blockchain protocol, crafted with a Rust-centric programming language dubbed Move, is backed by VC companies such as Parafi, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), FTX, and Multicoin Capital. The Aptos project stems from two developers from Meta’s Diem project, and the network boasts parallel processing, a technology that reportedly allows the chain to process 130,000 transactions per second (TPS). Aptos Labs Debuts Mainnet For some time now, a proposed layer one (L1) blockchain network called Aptos has been a discussion among crypto and distributed ledger supporters, after the capital the project managed to raise this year. In mid-March 2022, the Aptos team disclosed to Techcrunch that it raised $200 million from a funding round led by a16z. Furthermore, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Three Arrows Capita

Ericsson, the Swedish telecom hardware and services company, has linked the use of new technologies, such as 5G, with the use of metaverse platforms. According to a study, users that have 5G data services have been spending more time in the metaverse and extended reality apps, and believe these will migrate to headsets in the next two years. Ericsson Study Reveals 5G Is a Metaverse Enabler A recent study issued by Ericsson, the Swedish telecom giant, deals with the effects powerful data transmission tech — like 5G — have on the adoption of metaverse and extended reality tech. The study, which includes Ericsson’s tracking data since 2019, surveyed 49,000 consumers in 37 countries and is said to be representative of the opinions of 1.7 billion users worldwide. Data from the study revealed that users of 5G are more interested in immersive technologies than their 4G counterparts. 5G users are already spending one more hour per week on metaverse-related platforms and services as compar

A fintech bill, which seeks to regulate fintech and cryptocurrency-related activities in Chile, has been approved by the deputy chamber of the congress, leaving it ready to be sanctioned by the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric. According to individuals in the sector, the bill is directed to stimulate innovation and competition in an unregulated market. Fintech Bill Almost Law in Chile A fintech-related bill , that seeks to bring clarity to institutions providing digital and cryptocurrency-based services, has been approved by the deputy chamber of the congress in Chile. The project, which was approved without any votes against it in the Chilean senate, is now in the hands of President Gabriel Boric, who must sign it for it to be sanctioned. The bill includes in its scope the oversight of cryptocurrency exchanges, and defines cryptocurrency assets as a “digital representation of exchange units of money, goods or services.” It also broadens the regulatory reach of the Financial Mark

According to an announcement from Ripple’s core development team Ripplex, developers have introduced the first step toward Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility with the XRP-based sidechain XRPL. The XRPL is now live on Devnet and developers can “assess available technologies,” alongside deploying “existing Solidity apps on the EVM sidechain.” Ripple Core Developers and Peersyst Reveal First Phase of the EVM Sidechain XRPL On Monday, October 17, Ripplex announced the introduction of the XRP-based and EVM-compatible side chain XRPL. The distributed ledger project XRP is the sixth largest crypto project by market capitalization, and XRP core developers have wanted to make the project compatible with smart contract processes for quite some time. Some accounts say XRP developer, David Schwartz, conceived the idea back in 1988. According to Ripplex, the XRPL chain is the first phase of the EVM sidechain and it’s being introduced by Peersyst Technology . “This first phase o

After it slipped to a rate of about 12:1, the Ghanaian cedi became the latest African currency to touch a new low versus the U.S. dollar, albeit on the unofficial foreign exchange market. Having started 2022 trading around 6.25 per dollar, the cedi has now lost over 90% against the appreciating greenback. Protest Against the Cedi’s Depreciation The Ghanaian cedi recently became the latest African currency to fall to a new low versus the U.S. dollar in 2022, after its unofficial exchange rate against the greenback reportedly slipped to C12.10:$1. Following this latest depreciation, the cedi, which began the year trading at around 6.25 per dollar, has now lost over 90% of its value in just over ten months. According to one local report , the cedi’s depreciation has resulted in the impairment of some traders’ capital. As per the report, some traders in the country’s Ashanti region have protested against the cedi’s depreciation and Ghana’s rising cost of living by closing their shops.

The city of Curitiba, in Brazil, is now studying the possibility of accepting cryptocurrency payments for taxes. Noemia Rocha, a city councilor for Curitiba, presented this project to the executive to study the method by which the municipality could accept cryptocurrencies for these payments using third-party payment processors. Curitiba Might Accept Crypto for Paying Taxes More and more municipalities are including crypto as part of their development and tax-collecting plans. This time is Curitiba, the capital of the state of Parana in Brazil, which is considering accepting payments in cryptocurrency for municipal taxes. The architect of this project is city councilor Noemia Rocha, who suggested the city should consider how this might be achieved with the help of third-party payment companies. The proposal recognizes the acceptance of crypto in Brazil and pushes Curitiba, which is considered a tech hub in the country, to explore this possibility for its traits. About this view of

South Korean prosecutors investigating a $7.22 billion money laundering case are reportedly seeking to acquire virtual currency tracking software to be used in monitoring crypto transactions. South Korean financial authorities also believe there is a tax evasion angle to the case. Real-Time Tracking According to a report, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, which is investigating the unsanctioned remittance of $7.22 billion (10 trillion won), is reportedly seeking to acquire virtual currency software. Prosecutors believe such tracking software will enable them to monitor virtual currency transactions in real-time. As stated in a Kmib report , prosecutors are hoping that the software will allow them to extract the history between wallets under investigation and crypto exchanges. They also hope to uncover the source and destination of the laundered funds using the software. We intend to purchase tools to investigate cases involving cryptocurrencies. The plan by the Seo

Macau, one of China’s special administrative regions, recently concluded discussing a bill that seeks to make digital currencies legal tender, a report has said. The report also suggested that individuals who reject or refuse to accept legal tender will be fined between $123 and $1,230. Improving Macau’s Legal System An executive council of Macau, an autonomous region on China’s south coast, recently completed discussing the draft bill proposing to include digital forms of currency in its basket of financial instruments that are accepted as legal tender. As explained in the China News Service report , the bill is now set to be forwarded to the legislative council for further deliberations. According to the report, Macau’s draft bill, also known as the Legal System for the Establishment and Issuance of Currency, not only seeks to improve the current legal system but to also ensure digital money and other forms of money have “equal status.” The report explained that once the laws ar

The Conference Board has found that 98% of chief executives surveyed are preparing for a U.S. recession while 99% of CEOs are preparing for an EU recession. “CEO confidence sunk further to start Q4 and is at its lowest level since the Great Recession,” the organization said. 98% of CEOs Expect Recession in the US The Conference Board published its Measure of CEO Confidence on Thursday. The board is a global, non-profit research group with over 1,000 public and private corporations and organizations as members in 60 countries. The Measure of CEO Confidence is “a barometer of the health of the U.S. economy from the perspective of U.S. chief executives,” The Conference Board described, adding that its Q4 survey was conducted between Sept. 19 and Oct. 3 and a total of 136 CEOs participated. “The recent survey asked CEOs to describe the economic conditions they are preparing to face over the next 12-18 months,” the board described, adding: An overwhelming majority — 98% — said they

Spacex CEO Elon Musk says that his company will “keep funding” the government of Ukraine for free even though Starlink is losing money, noting that it has cost Spacex $80 million so far to provide internet terminals and services to Ukraine. “We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks and jamming, which are getting harder,” Musk stressed. We’ll Keep Funding Ukraine for Free, Says Musk Spacex has been sending Starlink internet terminals and providing services to Ukraine since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war. At the request of the government of Ukraine, Musk began supplying the country with Starlink internet terminals in February. However, Spacex’s director of government sales reportedly sent a letter to the Pentagon in September, stating that the company is not “in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.” The Pentagon reportedly confirmed they received correspondence from Spacex about the funding of

It’s been five months since the Terra ecosystem collapsed as tens of billions of dollars in value disappeared from the crypto economy in a matter of days after May 7. Terra’s new Phoenix blockchain managed to restart the ecosystem to some degree and since the end of June, Terra’s total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) has increased from $350,174 to today’s $41.55 million. A Look at Terra’s Blockchain Ecosystem Over the Last 5 Months Since the Collapse The Terra ecosystem fallout was a dark day for the crypto community when Terra’s stablecoin terrausd (UST), now known as UST classic (USTC), depegged from the token’s $1 parity. Before the collapse, Terra’s luna, now known as luna classic (LUNC) was a top ten crypto asset by market capitalization and Terra’s stablecoin also held a top ten position. Prior to the fallout, luna held the seventh position in terms of crypto market caps, and on April 28, Terra’s native crypto asset was trading for $88 per coin . Precisely