Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Global investment bank JPMorgan has warned of the crypto market facing weeks of deleveraging stemming from the crisis at Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX.com and trading platform Alameda Research. The firm’s analysts also predicted that the price of bitcoin could fall to $13,000. JPMorgan on FTX and Bitcoin’s Price JPMorgan Chase’s analysts, led by global market strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, provided their analysis of the FTX situation and a price prediction for bitcoin in a note Thursday. The analysts explained that fewer players in the crypto space are now able to rescue weaker players, stating: What makes this new phase of crypto deleveraging induced by the apparent collapse of Alameda Research and FTX more problematic is that the number of entities with stronger balance sheets able to rescue those with low capital and high leverage is shrinking. Facing a liquidity crunch, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly asked several major crypto exchanges, including Coinb

PRESS RELEASE. Fiat-crypto payment provider, Alchemy Pay , is bringing its mainstream-friendly services to Europe’s foremost crypto conference – London Token2049. The Singapore-based company has taken its payment network infrastructure and pivoted to direct-to-customer (D2C) services, with its highly versatile and customisable NFT Checkout and On & Off Ramp Solutions . Europe’s Premier Crypto Event TOKEN2049 is known for its industry-leading events held annually. Founders, CEOs, and projects come together to build relationships and share developments. It showcases sectors like DeFI, Gaming, Social Fi, NFTs, Metaverse, and DAOs, and brings together more than 3,000 attendees, 100+ sponsors, and around 150 speakers. Alchemy Pay On & Off Ramp After years providing business-to-business (B2B) fiat-crypto gateway services, Alchemy Pay’s ramp is now serving users on crypto platforms and dApps across multiple sectors. Alchemy Pay now boasts 300+ fiat payment channels worldwide.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are reportedly investigating cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The crypto firm is suspected of mishandling customer funds and breaking securities laws. Regulatory probes are among the key reasons why Binance walked away from the acquisition of FTX. U.S. Regulators and DOJ Investigate Crypto Exchange FTX Several U.S. authorities are reportedly probing FTX, the embattled cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are looking into the turmoil surrounding FTX.com and its liquidity crisis, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The Justice Department prosecutes criminal violations, such as fraud, while the SEC focuses on securities law violations. Moreover, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are investigating whether FTX.com mishandled customer funds, the

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands has outlined multiple benefits central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could bring, particularly in the area of financial inclusion. “Governments could use a digital euro to channel financial support to low-income households. This would deepen longer-term inclusion, and act as a gateway to other financial services,” she said. Queen Maxima Envisions a Better Future With CBDCs Queen Maxima of the Netherlands talked about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) Monday at the “Towards a legislative framework enabling a digital euro for citizens and businesses” conference. She is the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). The conference was jointly organized by the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB). Focusing on financial inclusion and how a digital euro might “benefit underserved groups,” Queen Maxima explained that “Traditional financial services have created roadblocks fo

The European Commission is going to present a legislative proposal for a digital euro in the near future, President of European Central Bank Christine Lagarde has indicated. EU legislators are expected to define the new currency’s legal tender status and determine its privacy features. EU Commission to Propose Legislation for Eurozone’s Digital Currency Authorities in the euro area have already made good progress in exploring the rationale and the potential benefits and risks of a central bank digital currency ( CBDC ), the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) noted during a conference devoted to the digital version of the common currency. In a video message, Christine Lagarde said that the focus of their efforts is now shifting to the concrete design of the digital euro and its embedding into a legal framework. This is an area where EU legislators will play an important role, the top executive stressed and revealed: I’m therefore very much looking forward to the legislative

According to a report published on Nov. 9, 2022, Temasek Holdings, the Singaporean state holding company owned by the government of Singapore is allegedly engaging with FTX amid Binance’s plans to bail out the crypto trading firm. Singapore’s state investor has been known to have invested in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry for quite some time now. Singaporean State Holding Company Temasek Helped Fuel FTX’s Series B and C Funding Rounds, Spokesperson Says Company Is Engaging With FTX On Nov. 9, 2022, The Straits Times (TST) business correspondent Claire Huang reported that a spokesperson from Temasek Holdings has been engaging with FTX. Temasek is Singapore’s state-owned holding company that was established in 1974. Temasek’s assets under management (AUM) as of 2022 are estimated to be worth around S$403 billion . “We are aware of the developments between FTX and Binance, and are engaging FTX in our capacity as a shareholder,” the Temasek spokesperson reportedly told Hua

Following the issues surrounding FTX, the publicly-listed firm Galaxy Digital published its third-quarter earnings report and noted it has an “exposure of approximately $76.8 million of cash and digital assets to FTX.” The news follows a great number of exchange executives announcing that they had zero material exposure to the troubled exchange. Galaxy Digital Has Close to $77 Million in FTX Exposure After Galaxy Digital was dealt with a blow from the Terra blockchain fallout and UST depegging event, the company has revealed exposure to the embattled crypto exchange FTX. It started on Nov. 6, when Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) told the public his exchange would dump FTT, the FTX-built exchange token. Then, after a couple of days of confusion, CZ and FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried revealed Binance would be acquiring FTX, with details to be announced in the near future. However, Binance revealed on Nov. 9 that it has officially backed out of the deal to acquire FTX. The news has rat

Whistleblower and former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, has been very vocal about the crypto economy in recent times. After publishing a copy of Bitcoin’s white paper on Twitter on the document’s 14th birthday, Snowden had some words with Craig Wright, the man who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Following the news tied to the troubled crypto exchange FTX, Snowden added his two cents and said “custodial exchanges were a mistake.” After Feuding With the Self-Proclaimed Satoshi, Edward Snowden Blasts Troubled Crypto Exchange FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried’s Now-Deleted Tweets Edward Snowden has been tweeting often about the crypto sector and on Oct. 31, 2022, the whistleblower published a copy of Bitcoin’s white paper on the document’s 14th anniversary . While the tweet received over 46,000 likes and close to 10,000 retweets, it started an online tiff between Snowden and Craig Wright. Snowden's tweets are why I am on Twitter https://t.co/1pBlEORKFo — Shashank Bhardwaj (@bhardwajsha

PRESS RELEASE. Hong Kong, 9th Nov 2022 – Bitget, the leading global crypto exchange with a core focus on social trading, launches another innovative social trading feature, Strategy Plaza. The new feature provides users with the option to follow a series of automated trading strategies and allows the system to automatically execute the strategies after subscription, facilitating trades with convenience and flexibility. Strategists could create their unique automated trading strategies and share them on Strategy Plaza. At the same time, regular users could review each strategist’s profile and performance contributed by their strategies, and choose to subscribe to their favourite strategists and follow those strategies. After subscribing to strategists, the trading strategies will be automatically executed for the users over the following 30 days, including the actions to start and end strategy taken by the strategists, as an addition to copy trading with manual ordering. Strategy Pl

The Central Bank of Russia is proposing to introduce tax incentives for long-term holders of digital financial assets. The idea has been circulated with a consultation paper published for public discussions on the development of the digital asset market in the Russian Federation. Bank of Russia Talks Regulation in New Report Devoted to Digital Assets Market Russia’s monetary authority has published a report on the future of the Russian digital asset sector. The document explores the development of the market for digital financial assets (DFAs) and utility digital rights (UDRs), and legal terms partially covering cryptocurrencies and tokens — those with an issuing entity, in particular. The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) believes that additional regulations are needed to improve the DFA framework and harmonize it with the rules that govern the traditional financial industry. According to the regulator, this would increase investment, circulation, and liquidity while ensuring better in

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. reportedly won a tentative court ruling in a class-action lawsuit involving the Ethereummax token. Investors have accused the celebrities of hyping Ethereummax and pumping the EMAX crypto token. Judge’s Tentative View U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald gave his “tentative view” Monday in a class-action lawsuit filed in January against Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr. over their promotion of the Ethereummax token, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Former NBA star Paul Pierce is also a defendant in the proposed class-action suit. The lawsuit alleges that the reality television star and ex-boxing champion scammed investors by hyping the Ethereummax token, causing investors to have to buy EMAX at “inflated prices.” The plaintiffs detailed that the token’s price surged 1,370% soon after its launch in May last year but then hit an all-time low in July — “a 98% drop from which it has not been able to recover.” In

PRESS RELEASE. INTERNET CITY, DUBAI, Nov. 7, 2022 – LBank Exchange, a global digital asset trading platform, will list Byepix (EPIX) on November 10, 2022. For all users of LBank Exchange, the EPIX/ USDT trading pair will be officially available for trading at 13:00 UTC on November 10, 2022. As the world’s most exclusive web3-based super-metaverse platform, Byepix (EPIX) is developing its own layer 2 metaverse blockchain, super metaverse protocol, P2E protocol, and metaversification app. Its native token EPIX will be listed on LBank Exchange at 13:00 UTC on November 10, 2022, to further expand its global reach and help it achieve its vision. Introducing Byepix Byepix is the most exclusive web3-based all-in-one super-metaverse platform. It’s also a technological laboratory working on its own layer 2 metaverse blockchain to solve scaling, communication, boundary, and incompatibility problems between all metaverse projects. This layer 2 metaverse blockchain solution is to be merge

Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity analyst, Mike McGlone, recently wrote that “cryptos could regain [an] edge” when he discussed bitcoin and ethereum in a report published on Bloomberg’s terminal on Nov. 3, 2022. McGlone detailed that volatility in bitcoin and ethereum has dropped to low levels in comparison to traditional assets, and this trend could “tilt risks against those not accumulating partial crypto exposure.” Mike McGlone Thinks Bitcoin and Ethereum May Have Bottomed, Says ‘Cryptos Could Regain an Edge’ According to Mike McGlone, Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior commodity strategist, the top leading crypto assets like bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) may have found bottoms in terms of traditional risk investments. McGlone published his perspective of the crypto market on Nov. 3, 2022, and he noted that ethereum will likely stay within the $1K to $2K range but could outpace bitcoin’s market performance. “Migration into the mainstream is our takeaway, and once the dus

Bitcoin.com , a digital ecosystem and secure self-custody platform where users can safely and easily interact with cryptocurrencies and digital assets, has launched support for Ethereum in its decentralized exchange, Verse DEX , with ~$2 million in liquidity initially distributed across six trading pairs. The full-featured decentralized exchange will work seamlessly with the self-custodial multichain Bitcoin.com Wallet , providing millions of people with a simple but secure way to permissionlessly swap cryptocurrencies without having to rely on third-party custodians. “ Bitcoin.com is a gateway for millions of newcomers to decentralized finance. In line with our mission to create economic freedom in the world, we are committed to providing the tools these people to need to trade and invest without counter-party risk,” said Bitcoin.com CEO Dennis Jarvis. “Verse DEX is just such a tool, and we are excited at the prospect of it enabling permissionless trading for people around the wo

Oasys, a gaming-oriented, Japan-based Web3 project, is partnering with YGG, a blockchain gaming guild, to grow blockchain gaming in Japan. The partnership encompasses the use of YGG resources to promote gaming projects built on top of the Oasys ecosystem, giving developers from all over the world an opportunity to get into Japan’s gaming market. Oasys Aims to Open Japan’s Gaming Markets to Developers Worldwide Oasys, a gamefi-oriented blockchain (with “gamefi” meaning basically the intersection of gaming and finance), is aiming to leverage its stance as a Japan-based project to offer resources for foreign developers to access this significant gaming market. On Nov. 2, the company announced a partnership with YGG, a gaming guild, that will allow products built using Oasys’ services to enjoy specific marketing and promotional help to improve the performance of these products in Japan. The goal of Oasys is to grow the blockchain gaming ecosystem in Japan, which is one of the leading

Another bitcoin mining company is dealing with financial issues as Iris Energy’s Form 6-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows the company could face default on two loans. Iris Energy’s Form 6-K filing explains to the SEC that the firm “received a notice from its lender alleging the occurrence of an event of default and acceleration under the respective limited recourse equipment financing facilities.” Bitcoin Mining Company Iris Energy Faces Default on 2 Loans On Nov. 7, 2022, the bitcoin mining firm Iris Energy updated investors concerning October’s operations and the company noted it currently operates a hashrate of around 3.9 exahash per second (EH/s). The bitcoin mining company also said its “Mackenzie expansion” in British Columbia, Canada, from 50 megawatts (MW) to 80MW is “on track for energization by the end Q4 2022.” Also, the firm’s Childress facility in Texas is still in the construction and energization phase and operations continue on th

Bitcoin miners caught a small break late Sunday evening (ET) after the network’s mining difficulty dropped 0.20% lower than the difficulty rating two weeks prior. The drop is the first mining difficulty decrease in four weeks, as the metric changed from 36.84 trillion to 36.76 trillion. Bitcoin Miners Catch a Miniscule Break as the Network’s Difficulty Shrinks by 0.20% Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is still extremely high in comparison to the height it was in mid-August 2022. For instance, on Aug. 17, 2022, just before the year’s third largest difficulty increase, the difficulty was around 28.35 trillion. At 36.76 trillion, data shows the difficulty increased by 29.66% since Aug. 17, which makes it more than 29% more difficult to find a bitcoin ( BTC ) block today than it was in mid-August. While the 0.20% drop is a small decrease, it is still helpful to miners in contrast to the difficulty rising higher. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s total hashrate is around 269.86 exahash per s

PRESS RELEASE. PARIS, FRANCE / NOVEMBER 7th 2022 / Tezro’s decentralized cryptocurrency payment service is expected to revolutionize the shopping experience. Through its innovative financial chat platform, the Tezro app combines crypto and e-commerce, enabling users to make purchases using a wide range of cryptocurrencies. With Tezro , you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies on one of the most secure platforms available. The app’s exchange feature allows users to make purchases by choosing the desired currency and the desired amount. As a further security measure, escrow services allow consumers to verify payments only after the appropriate quantity of bitcoin has been sent by the related dealer. Cryptocurrencies’ success stems mostly from blockchain technology’s unparalleled features. Cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, alternative coins, Decentralized Finance, Decentralized Media, the birth of Web 3.0, and many more have all been made possible by blockchain technology. Unprecede

Last year, Bitcoin’s total network hashrate was around 160 exahash per second (EH/s), and 15 known mining pools dedicated hashrate to Bitcoin on Nov. 6, 2021. At that time, the mining pool Foundry USA was the fifth largest mining pool with 18.44 EH/s dedicated to the Bitcoin chain. During the last 12 months, Foundry has managed to increase the pool’s hashrate by more than 350% climbing to 84.34 EH/s on Nov. 6, 2022. After 12 Months, Foundry USA’s Hashrate Muscles Its Way Into the Top Bitcoin Mining Pool Position The bitcoin mining pool Foundry USA has been a force to be reckoned with during the last 12 months. The mining operation Foundry USA is owned and operated by Foundry , a mining, staking, and consulting firm based in Rochester, New York. The company was created by Digital Currency Group (DCG) and it was founded in 2019, according to a press release announcing the mining arm on Aug. 27, 2020. Statistics from the web portal btc.com show the earliest recorded sighting of Foun

Square Enix, the Japanese AAA game developer and publisher, announced the launch of a new NFT-based gaming franchise, titled Symbiogenesis. The experience, which will be built on top of Ethereum, will leverage the use of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as art that users can set as profile pictures and use in a separate NFT market. Square Enix Announces Symbiogenesis NFT Project Square Enix, one of the leading Japanese gaming companies, has announced Symbiogenesis, one of its first NFT-based interactive experiences. On Nov. 3, as part of the company’s participation in the India Game Developers Conference, Square Enix finally cleared up the mystery that surrounded the game, thought to be related to its Parasite Eve franchise due to its name. However, Square Enix announced the premise of the game to be very different. The upcoming experience will revolve around a series of character “symbiosis,” that would be available to be collected as digital art in the form of NFTs. These art NFTs wil

A proposal to eliminate the physical representation of the Argentine Peso, in order to streamline specific state processes and reduce tax evasion, has been presented by former banker Carlos Maria De Los Santos. The plan, identified as “Argentine Digital Peso,” also predicts that its implementation would lead to lower taxes and bring a surplus to the Argentine economy. Digital Peso Proposal to Stop Tax Evasion On Nov. 4, former Argentine banker and president of the Productive Inclusion Foundation Carlos Maria De Los Santos unveiled a proposal called the “Argentine Digital Peso,” which would encompass the elimination of the physical representation of the currency in Argentina and the digitization of all economic activity. De Los Santos explains that the implementation of this plan, which would supposedly be at no additional cost to the Argentine state, would allow banks to have oversight of all transactions made by citizens. Bank account data would substitute physical bills, with st