Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Approximately nine days ago, the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) across various blockchains was around $176 billion. At that time, bitcoin ($49,937) and ethereum ($3,886) fiat values were much higher. Despite the fact that the crypto economy and these coins have dipped in value, the TVL across defi has continued to rise, climbing more than 5% to $185.32 billion. Defi TVL Across All Chains Rises by More Than 5% Over 9 Days Decentralized finance (defi) has attracted billions of dollars and at the time of writing, the total value locked across a myriad of blockchains is around $185.32 billion. That’s approximately 5.113% higher than the TVL was nine days ago. At the time of writing, the TVL held in defi is $185 billion and more than 5% higher than it was nine days ago. Statistics from the defillama.com dashboard indicate that there’s been a 2.10% rise during the last day and the defi platform Aave has the highest dominance level in terms of TVL (7.40%). In

According to reports on social media, crypto forums, onchain metrics, and the Solana Status Twitter account indicate that Solana’s blockchain has stalled. Solana mainnet-beta suffered a four-hour downtime and is still down after a technical glitch. Solana’s Network Stalls In recent times, solana (SOL) joined the top ten crypto assets by market valuation and today, SOL’s market cap position is the seventh-largest. At the time of writing, SOL has been exchanging hands for $159 per unit and is down 2.8% during the last week. @phantom I'm locked out of my Solana. It says "unable to connect to Solana" and no help anywhere on your website that makes sense to someone that doesn't know advanced coding. I shouldn't need to reconfigure my computer to access my Solana — MattyG (@Mattygxrp) September 14, 2021 On September 14, the protocol suffered an error and at the time of writing, the chain stopped for a total of four hours so far, as the outage is still ongoin

The infamous dogecoin was one of the first meme-based digital currencies and it’s safe to say that the coin inspired a myriad of meme-focused or joke tokens meant to be used for fun. However, while dogecoin has had a phenomenal 2021 rising 8,515% in 12 months, during the last month dogecoin prices have stagnated a great deal. At one time, dogecoin held the fourth largest market capitalization but today, the original meme-coin’s overall market valuation has slid to the ninth position. Dogecoin Slips to the Ninth Largest Market Position After Price Highs Subside, 67% Down From ATH At the beginning of the year, many people said that “you can’t keep a good dog down” after dogecoin (DOGE) started its triumphant price surge and continued to rise higher month after month. That’s because dogecoin has been around for years, and for many of those years, DOGE traded for less than a U.S. penny per unit. But thanks to a lot of social media activity, mainstream media headlines, celebrity and bra

Following the fake news of its partnership with Litecoin, Walmart Inc. says it is looking into how the fraudulent press release was issued. The Litecoin Foundation and Charlie Lee are also investigating the matter. In addition, Globenewswire says it will also work with authorities “to request – and facilitate – a full investigation, including into any criminal activity associated with this matter.” Walmart Responds to Fake News of Its Partnership With Litecoin The retail giant issued a press release in response to the fake news of its partnership with Litecoin Monday. “Walmart was the subject of a fake news release issued on Monday, Sept. 13, that falsely stated Walmart announced a partnership with Litecoin ( LTC ),” the company wrote, adding: Walmart had no knowledge of the press release issued by Globenewswire, and it is incorrect. Walmart has no relationship with Litecoin. Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove told CNBC that the retailer has been in touch with the newswire compan

The central bank of Russia has advised commercial banks on how to identify and block cards and wallet accounts used by shady businesses. Along with illegal forex dealers and financial pyramids, the regulator has also listed crypto exchangers as suspicious entities. New AML Recommendations by Bank of Russia Target Cryptocurrency Exchangers Russia’s central bank has issued a set of criteria that banks can use to identify cards and e-wallets used by companies operating in the shadow economy, Forklog reported. According to the monetary authority, these include not only illegal forex dealers and financial pyramids, but also cryptocurrency exchangers. The bank turns particular attention to transactions between private persons as the regulator claims such entities often use accounts registered under false names to make and receive payments. Russian banks are expected to analyze and identify suspicious transactions as part of their anti-money laundering (AML) efforts and terminate servic

PRESS RELEASE. Sharjah, September 2021 – The Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP) issued its third Distributed Ledger Technologies license (DLT) to ZelaaPayAE . Focusing on numerous areas related to the exchange of value, ZelaaPayAE works strongly to advance tokenisation and through its multiple arms and divisions promotes non-fungible tokens (NFTs), payments infrastructures and various other blockchain applications. The CEO, Mr. Sahil Arora said, “We chose to set up at SRTIP because of their acute understanding of the space we operate in. They understood the requirement for an environment to test, experiment and simulate transactions where we can develop our fintech. The fundamental in the vision of ZelaaPayAE is to push and advance the blockchain space forward as a whole and it boasts an all-star strategically positioned list of partners and players including Tron, DigiByte, Klever Wallet and other stalwarts of the blockchain ecosystem from around the world.” Z

Americans are still very concerned about inflation as the latest Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) report from August indicates that U.S. consumers expect inflation to be 5.2% a year from now. The SCE response data hasn’t been this high since 2013, and it’s increased since the month prior, when U.S. residents expected 4.9% at the time. Month After Month, Consumer Inflation Expectations Continue to Climb Higher The cost of services and goods in the United States has risen a great deal and Americans have been worried about rising inflation. Citizens have good reason to worry about inflation as the U.S. central bank has fueled an extreme expansion of the monetary supply since February 2020. While there have been many protests in American history after the Fed bailed out the megabanks on more than one occasion, this time the Fed was excused for at least a year. The U.S. central bank of course leveraged the coronavirus outbreak (covid-19) as the main reason quantitative easing tac

As part of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s digital currency charm offensive, Folashodun Shonubi, the institution’s deputy governor, has claimed that the country’s upcoming central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be a “safer option from privately issued cryptocurrency.” Payment System Stability In addition, the CBN’s digital currency — also known as the e-naira — is expected to complement current areas of payment options. This, according to Shonubi, will ensure “the stability of the payment system in the long run.” Meanwhile, in his other remarks as reported by Nairametrics, Shonubi suggested that the CBDC will carry the same promises and have the same functions as the fiat naira. The deputy governor explained: The central bank digital currency offers all the benefits of cash but in digital form. Every single digital currency is an electronic version of the cash, the legal tender. When you make a cash payment, settlement is done instantly; digital currencies entail the same

Brevan Howard, a European hedge fund management company, has said it will be expanding its crypto business. BH Digital, which is the hedge fund’s recently created unit, is expected to “manage its cryptocurrency and digital assets.” Growing Interest in Crypto From Hedge Funds In addition to creating BH Digital, Brevan Howard, according to a Reuters report , has also said it will be hiring Colleen Sullivan, the current CEO of the digital arm of trading firm CMT, to lead private and venture investments in crypto. The announcement by Brevan Howard, which is reputed “for its bets on macroeconomic trends,” is the latest piece of evidence that suggests that “major hedge funds [are] moving into the world of crypto trading.” To buttress claims that institutional investors are pivoting to crypto, the same report points to recent moves by other high-profile money managers like Paul Tudor and the Man Group which trades bitcoin futures. In addition, the report also makes reference to an annual

A new regulatory overhaul could put 40 out of 60 exchanges out of business in South Korea after the firms are expected to fail to meet the conditions that are being proposed by the Financial Services Commission (FSC). This action might also affect holders of locally used “kimchi” coins, that won’t be able to trade them for fiat in other exchanges. This could bring losses of more than $2.6 billion. South Korea Exchange Options to Reduce Drastically A regulatory overhaul might reduce drastically the number of exchanges operation in South Korea. According to FT , it is expected that 40 of the 60 exchanges that operate in the country will be closed due to the inability to comply with the new regulatory framework issued by the Financial Services Commission. This rule, which has a deadline for next September 24, establishes that all exchanges need to register with the institution to operate in the country. However, many of these exchanges have no way of complying with the requisites to

UwUFUFU.com, a content marketing platform, has successfully raised $1.7 million USD from early investors. Adopting the play-to-earn mechanism in the form of viral quizzes, anyone can create, play, share quizzes and earn NFTs through FUFU’s reward system. NFTs on FUFU function as a collectible and a potential membership to gain access for future events, drops, sales, and more. They also function as “boosts” in drop rate and rarity of items from loot balls, which serve as the delivery mechanism of rewards. This is the backbone of FUFU, which they believe will propel the platform to the forefront of the industry. Through this, they are able to introduce the concept of rewards to active users, generating traffic and revenue. The team is grateful for the support from both the community and early investors. “We’d like to give special thanks to GBV, Faculty Group, and Boxmining for being the first to support our vision at FUFU. The backing of the investors further instilled confidence in o

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, expects a “trillion dollars” more to flow into bitcoin in the next couple of years. He also sees cryptocurrencies becoming an institutional asset class. “We don’t know when but it is definitely going to come. It’s not going away,” he said. Kevin O’Leary Sees Trillion-Dollar Opportunity in Bitcoin Kevin O’Leary talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency in an interview on CNBC’s Capital Connection, published Monday. “I’m bullish on crypto,” O’Leary began, adding that he is also bullish on decentralized finance (defi). Citing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pushing back against Coinbase’s Lend product, he said: “That’s a slowdown in what is really emerging as a very interesting space.” Mr. Wonderful emphasized: We want the regulator to actually make some decisions about crypto, because none of us that are in financial services want to actually be cowboys about this. I don’t want to get involved in crypto if the regul

DBS Group Holdings, the largest bank in Singapore and Southeast Asia, says its crypto business is “growing very rapidly.” The bank’s digital asset trading platform expects to double the number of members by year-end. Singapore’s DBS Expects Substantial Growth in Crypto Business DBS’s senior executives said in an interview, published by Reuters Monday, that the bank is seeing robust demand from corporate investors, accredited individuals, and investment firms that manage assets of wealthy families. The executives added that the bank expects the number of members trading on its cryptocurrency exchange platform to double by the end of December and grow by 20-30% annually for the next three years. Eng-Kwok Seat Moey, head of capital markets at DBS and chairperson of the exchange, commented: We are growing very rapidly. Investors are gradually exploring cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The bank launched its crypto trading platform, DBS Digital Exchange, in December as a member

Cardano, the third cryptocurrency ranked by market cap, has successfully applied the “Alonzo” hard fork, adding smart contract capabilities to its functionality. The update, that had been deployed in testnet days ago, finally was incorporated in mainnet yesterday. Cardano is now looking to deploy defi apps, and there are already several parties working on widening the Cardano ecosystem in that regard. Cardano Enters Smart Contracts Arena Cardano, one of the leading cryptocurrency chains by market cap, has successfully applied the “Alonzo” hard fork. With this update, the chain has added support for smart contracts to its blockchain. The update that happened yesterday, after being deployed in testnet , features the inclusion of Plutus, a Solidity-like language that will allow programmers to put scripts on-chain. With this update, Cardano is now a new challenger in a crowded defi ecosystem, that is dominated by other more established chains in the space, like Ethereum and Solana. How

Hot new games from two of the top providers added to Bitcoin.com’s very own crypto casino! Anticipation has been running high among players at Bitcoin.com Games for their favorite games from the leading software provider, NetEnt . Coming off of the recent addition of a range of live casino games from Evolution Gaming and iSoftBet , the popular casino is now bringing some of the most entertaining titles from this iGaming developer that players have come to cherish over the years. With in-demand slots like Dead or Alive 2 Feature Buy, Ghost Pirates and Narcos , as well as the space arcade styled slot Starburst and beautifully designed Gonzo’s quest , the newly added range of games from NetEnt promise a long and enjoyable gaming session enriched with bountiful of chances to win Bitcoin. Hundreds of paylines and thousands of multipliers await for players to spin the reels and open possibilities to take home a fortune. Bitcoin.com Games is also home to their very own exclusive g

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX is thrilled to announce the listing of the HaloDao token (RNBW) under the pair USDT/RNBW on Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. UTC. HaloDAO intends to unlock potential for non-USD stablecoins to generate permissionless on-demand liquidity. They are building their Protocol in the Balancer ecosystem. This will enable local populations to swap and earn crypto, acting as the base layer for additional innovation for local payments. HaloDAO provides an incentivization system embodied in a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). The stablecoin marketplace protocol connects traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi) by enabling deep liquidity networks for local stablecoins and money market fund products. The project aims to create a foundational layer for the digital economy by building an optimized Automated Market Maker (AMM) that efficiently facilitates swaps and minimizes slippage between differently priced stablecoins. HaloDao plans to bootstrap a lending mar

The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk shared a picture of a Shiba Inu pup and said “Floki has arrived” to his 59.8 million Twitter followers. Of course, the tweet affected the price of a few specific meme-based crypto assets that leverage the “Floki” name. Shiba Floki Token Soars After Elon Tweets an Image of His New Pup Elon Musk has been a fan of dogecoin (DOGE) for a while now and on a few occasions, the CEO of the electric car manufacturer Tesla has tweeted a reference to other meme-based canine coins in the past. Musk referenced “baby doge” in a tweet and in a video shared on Twitter, Musk said “daddy doge,” while being escorted to his car. At that time, there were more than 30 doge-like coins that either shared the name “doge” or the type of dog “Shiba Inu.” On Sunday, September 12, Elon Musk tweeted about a new puppy arrival and happily tweeted “Floki has arrived.” Now of course, just like his baby doge coin sing-along shared on Twitter in July and the daddy doge video mention , th

Grayscale Investments has partnered with Icapital Network to provide more than 6,700 advisors access to its cryptocurrency investment products. “Advisors and their clients have expressed increasing appetite for uncorrelated return potential in their portfolios, and digital currencies are at the center of the conversation right now,” said the CEO of Icapital. Over 6,700 Advisors Now Have Access to Grayscale’s Crypto Investments Grayscale Investments announced Monday a partnership with Icapital Network, a platform connecting advisors and high net worth investors to alternative investment managers. Icapital services more than $80 billion in client assets across more than 780 funds globally as of July 31, according to the company. The New York-headquartered firm has offices in Zurich, London, Lisbon, and Hong Kong. The partnership will “offer Icapital Network’s more than 6,700 network advisors serving high-net-worth clients with access to digital currencies through a Grayscale diversi

Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy has purchased 5,050 more bitcoins for $243 million, raising its total bitcoin holdings to 114,042 coins. Microstrategy Continues to Grow Its Bitcoin Stash The pro-bitcoin software company Microstrategy announced Monday that it has purchased more bitcoins. CEO Michael Saylor tweeted: Microstrategy has purchased an additional 5,050 bitcoins for ~$242.9 million in cash at an average price of ~$48,099 per bitcoin. As of 9/12/21 we hodl ~114,042 bitcoins acquired for ~$3.16 billion at an average price of ~$27,713 per bitcoin. The company also informed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about its bitcoin purchase Monday. The filing states that in the third quarter Microstrategy “purchased approximately 8,957 bitcoins for approximately $419.9 million in cash, at an average price of approximately $46,875 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses.” The 8,957 BTC figure includes the 3,907 BTC purchase that was announced in August.

On Monday, September 13, a press release was published by globenewswire.com and said it was connected to “Walmart Inc,” the American multinational retail corporation. Several mainstream media outlets published stories about it including Reuters, Bloomberg, and CNBC. Not too long after these reports were published, the press release saying Walmart and Litecoin partnered was verified as being “not authentic” by a Walmart spokesperson. Fake Walmart and Litecoin News Exposes Pump and Dump Scheme It appears that a phony Walmart press release has been published on Monday which said that the Walmart retail chain was partnering with the cryptocurrency project Litecoin. The press release featured Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart, and Charlie Lee the creator of Litecoin. Yahoo Finance reported on the news in a video. Furthermore, an official Litecoin Twitter account with a blue checkmark also tweeted about the press release. The release claimed Walmart partnered with Litecoin and would

At the end of August, Ethereum network gas costs skyrocketed and tapped a high of $59 per transaction on September 7, according to the average transaction fee spent on that day. The median fee for an ether transaction on September 7 was around $20 per transaction. Days later, ether transaction fees have subsided to a degree as the median and average ether fees have been slashed in half since then. Ethereum Fees Subside, Transfer Costs Less Expensive One of the biggest complaints people have with digital currencies is how much the transaction fee can cost to send these assets. Critics don’t care for the fact that Layer 1 bitcoin ( BTC ) and ethereum ( ETH ) transactions can be quite costly and unpredictable as well. The common answer for bitcoiners is the Layer 2 protocol the Lightning Network, but there are also Layer 2 schemes for ethereum ( ETH ) transactions. First off, a Layer 1 transaction that is settled onchain will cost an ethereum user between $3.39 to $18.74 per transacti