Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. PokerTON – a Telegram-based platform for playing poker. PokerTON is one of the most successful projects of the Free TON blockchain affiliate program for companies that are implementing a TON Crystal in their business processes as payment methods. Since its release in May 2020, the PokerTON community has grown to 85,000 people worldwide and continues to grow rapidly. In May 2021 PokerTON had 120,000 players on the platform. Free TON blockchain platform successfully launched in May 2020. At the end of the year, the Free TON community included about 10,000 companies and individuals, including developers, validators and representatives of the cryptocurrency industry. Today, the Free TON Network is a community-driven decentralized blockchain platform with a unique partnership model and one of the most advanced technology stacks on the market. One of the most significant elements of the free TON development models has become a large-scale program for partners. In 2020 mor

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has reportedly launched an operation to target cryptocurrency investors. Dubbed “Operation Hidden Treasure,” the team consists of agents trained in the field of cryptocurrency and transaction tracking. Damon Rowe, Executive Director at the IRS Office of Fraud Enforcement, unveiled “Operation Hidden Treasure” last week at a Federal Bar Association presentation on combating fraud, Forbes reported . The long-time veteran of the IRS Criminal Investigation division explained that the office has put together a dedicated team of IRS criminal investigation professionals to work on this operation. A partnership between the civil office of fraud enforcement and the criminal investigation unit, Operation Hidden Treasure aims to “root out tax evasion from cryptocurrency owners,” the publication conveyed. The team working on Operation Hidden Treasure comprised agents who are trained in the area of cryptocurrency and crypto transaction tracking. They

Payments giant Paypal has announced that it is acquiring Tel Aviv-based crypto security infrastructure provider Curv. According to Paypal, this acquisition will help the company “expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets.” The deal is reportedly worth less than $200 million. Paypal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) announced Monday “that it has agreed to acquire Curv to accelerate and expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets.” Founded in 2018 by CEO Itay Malinger and CTO Dan Yadlin, Curv is a leading provider of cloud-based infrastructure for digital asset security based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The crypto custody company said last year that it raised $30 million in funding from investors, including Commerzventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Digital Currency Group. Curv currently supports more than 200 coins and tokens, including all ERC20 tokens and sub tokens on multiple blockchains. Paypal expects to complete the acquisition of C

On March 3, a group of anonymous art enthusiasts decided to burn an original Banksy screenprint worth roughly £70,000 or around $95,000 USD, and then turned it into a non-fungible token (NFT) asset. The art now exists as an NFT and was auctioned for 228.69 ethereum or $394k using today’s ether exchange rates. However, not everyone was impressed by the NFT transformation, as the cofounder of myartbroker.com says the NFT sale raises the idea that “the only morons in this transaction are the buyers and stunt artists themselves. A Burned Banksy Transformed Into an NFT Sells for Close to $400K in Ether Just recently a collective of unknown art enthusiasts and non-fungible token (NFT) asset fans decided to transform a physical Banksy screenprint into an NFT. News.Bitcoin.com reported on the group who burned the original Banksy piece called “Morons” and explained why the collective called @burntbanksy chose this route. “The reason behind this is because if we had the NFT and the physica

The Indian finance minister has finally revealed clues about what is in the cryptocurrency bill that is due to be introduced in parliament. Mentioning no crypto ban, she said that the government will take “a very calibrated” approach to cryptocurrencies. Indian Finance Minister Provides Clues on Upcoming Crypto Regulation Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shed some light on the upcoming crypto regulation in her country during CNBC-TV18’s IBLA townhall Friday. This is the first time she talked about the content of the bill and the Indian government’s plans on regulating cryptocurrencies since the bill was listed to be introduced in parliament. “On the cryptocurrency, yes a lot of negotiations [and] discussions are happening with the Reserve Bank because the supreme court order had very clearly told that the government has to take a call on the matter. We are talking with the Reserve Bank,” she confirmed. “Well, I am not sure, much before the cabinet takes a call on it, I w

PRESS RELEASE. ESTONIA — MARCH 8, 2021 — YIELD App , the DeFi wealth management platform bridging traditional and digital finance, is pleased to announce the launch of its Ethereum fund, allowing users to earn high-interest returns on their Ether ( ETH ). Following a successful public launch and token listing (YLD), YIELD App can now offer its users up to 20% APY on their ETH and stablecoins. Ethereum deposits will be gradually open to YIELD App users over the next several days. The platform now accepts deposits of USDC, USDT , ETH , and YLD. YIELD App has seen notable progress since the public launch of its web application on 12 February 2021. Over 10,000 users have already registered, helping the platform reach more than USD $5 million AUM. Currently, over 33 million YLD tokens are held in YIELD App wallets – accounting for over 30% of the current supply – and more than 500 users have “Tier 5” accounts (20,000+ YLD), granting them a 10% APY boost. Designed for both the retai

Sohrab Sharma, a co-founder with the now-defunct Florida cryptocurrency firm, Centra Tech, has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of duping investors via a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO). Additionally, the court has ordered Sharma to forfeit $36,088,960. Material Misrepresentations Prior to Sharma’s sentencing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) similarly announced the jailing of Robert Joseph Farkas, another mastermind of Centra Tech. Both Sharma and Farkas are accused of using fabricated business relationships with legitimate institutions to dupe investors. In a statement , Ilan T. Graff, the Attorney for the United States, said Sharma had “led a scheme to deceive investors by falsely claiming that the start-up he co-founded had developed fully functioning, cutting-edge cryptocurrency-related financial products.” “In reality, Sharma’s most notable inventions were the fake executives, fake business partnerships, and fake licenses

Ever since Tesla announced the company held $1.5 billion in bitcoin on its balance sheet during the first week of February, the company’s stocks have dropped over 30%. One analyst says that Tesla’s shareholders would be “very supportive” if the company announced it would sell the bitcoin. Additionally, the shares of Microstrategy’s firm have also dropped considerably during the last 30 days, after multiple bitcoin treasury purchase announcements. Critics Say Tesla Should Sell Bitcoin After Tesla announced to the world that there was $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin ( BTC ) on its balance sheet, the price of BTC shot up considerably that day. However, 30 days after the fact, it seems shareholders of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are not so hip to the idea. Furthermore, on social media and forums, critics and even lawyers, have called out companies like Tesla for making such decisions. Tesla shares have not fared so well since the purchase, even though the firm did profit nicely from BTC val

The chairman of investment firm Sanders Morris Harris, George Ball, says cryptocurrencies are an effective hedge against currency debasement. In addition, he says that cryptocurrencies are attractive as a small part of portfolios. George Ball Advocates for Crypto as Hedge Against Currency Debasement George Ball talked about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in an interview with Yahoo Finance last week. He described two main reasons why cryptocurrencies are now ideal targets for investment by wealthy individuals and institutional investors. Ball is currently the chairman of investment firm Sanders Morris Harris, a dually registered broker dealer and RIA firm established in 1987. Its parent company, Tectonic Financial, has approximately $4 billion in client assets under management. He was a former CEO of Bache & Co. (later Prudential Securities), which had been purchased by Prudential Insurance Company of America where he served as a member of the Executive Office. He argued th

On Sunday, March 7, 2021, the price per bitcoin jumped over the $50k handle once again, as the digital asset’s overall market capitalization is around $925 billion. One thing is for certain, there will never be more than 21 million bitcoin and today there’s roughly 18,647,525 bitcoin in circulation. Interestingly, anyone who owns 21 bitcoin or one-millionth of the entire supply is currently a millionaire today. The ’21 Million Bitcoin Club’ Back in 2017, finance publications reported on a number of crypto proponents “ gunning ” for exclusive membership into the ’21 million club.’ The 21 million club refers to the number of bitcoins that will ever be produced and by the year 2140, that number will be 21 million BTC . During the last few years, many enthusiasts have tried to join the 21 million club by obtaining a single bitcoin, which is exchanging hands for a touch over $50k on Sunday morning. For years now people can find a myriad of forum posts about people who have finally made

After Elizabeth Warren, the U.S. Senator for Massachusetts called bitcoin a speculative asset, Ro Khanna, the U.S. House Representative for California has spoken in favor of the crypto asset. In his Twitter statement, Khanna says “bitcoin just like digital gold cannot be devalued.” Khanna also lauds the crypto asset’s decentralization, an attribute which he says “promotes transnational exchange whilst providing a check against economic mismanagement.” Awareness of the Concerns In her recent comments about the crypto asset, Warren said she agreed with the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen’s contention that BTC is a speculative asset. Further, in a bit of apparent advice to cryptocurrency investors, Warren warns this is “going to end badly.” For her part, Yellen says BTC is extremely inefficient due to the crypto asset’s perceived disproportionate energy use. Meanwhile, in his tweet, Khanna appears to be cognizant of the concerns that are often peddled by opponents o

The premium on Grayscale Investment’s GBTC, which turned negative for the first time on February 23, is continuing its downward slide. As the latest Glassnode data shows, the GBTC was trading at a record low discount of -11.92% on March 4, 2021. According to the same data, this new low is a significant reversal from the December 21 premium of nearly 40%. The Competition This growth in the discount on GBTC comes as Grayscale Investments gradually shifts focus to altcoins. As reported by news.Bitcoin.com, Grayscale added 174,000 litecoins or almost 80% of the newly minted LTC in February of 2021. Similarly, the investment company also added 243,000 ETH to its ethereum holdings during the same period. However, it is the discount on the GBTC that has sparked debate about what it might mean for holders of the investment product. Some have pointed to the launch of Purpose Bitcoin ETF as the primary reason for widening discount on the GBTC. After its launch on February 18, the ETF had

The Technological District of Mar del Plata, Argentina, will host a massive crypto mining operation backed by a domestic startup accelerator. Lothal Mining is the company that will run the operations of the mining firm in the Argentinean city. Firm Will Mine Ethereum During the First Stage Per local newspaper La Capital , Grupo Neutrón invested almost 45 million pesos ($310,000), and there are plans to allocate additional funding of 200 million pesos ($2.21 million). The infrastructure is ready, and in a first stance, the firm will mine ethereum ( ETH ). However, the company plans to expand to other cryptocurrencies. The funding provided by the startup accelerator seeks to acquire hardware, refrigeration equipment, building the mining farm, hiring staff to perform electrical maintenance, among other activities. Also, officials of the Ministry of Industry of the Nation were in the mining farm to check the project’s launching. Maximiliano Gonzáles Kunz, Grupo Neutrón’s CEO, pointed

Ripple chief executive officer Brad Garlinghouse said Friday that the company’s business in the Asia-Pacific region has not suffered from the ongoing regulatory issues in the U.S. Ripple’s Business in Asia and Japan Sees Growth Ripple is facing a $1.3 billion lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In December, the SEC charged Ripple, creators of the eponymous XRP cryptocurrency, and its top executives with selling unregistered securities since 2013. The blockchain payments firm denies the charges, but that has not stopped a number of U.S. crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, from delisting XRP , the world’s seventh most valuable digital asset by market capitalization. Garlinghouse, who is accused of personally gaining up to $600 million from the unregistered sale of XRP in an ICO offering, told Reuters in a Mar. 5 interview that business in areas like Japan was flourishing. It (the lawsuit) has hindered activity in the United States, but it has not