Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. Tel Aviv – July 27, 2021 – Kirobo , a blockchain technology company, has launched its ‘P2P Swap Button’, a decentralized tool allowing cryptocurrency users to execute token swaps without having to use an exchange or custodial third party. By taking the swap off-exchange, the tool allows users to decide their own prices for their tokens and transact directly with peers. As a result, slippage is avoided completely. Asaf Naim, co-founder and CEO of Kirobo, said: “Until now, it wasn’t possible to execute a swap without losing money, because exchange algorithms adjust token prices according to the amounts put up for sale. We’re allowing people to trade without an exchange and to set their own prices, with complete security, for the first time ever.” Kirobo’s safe transfer platform secures transactions with an authentication key, the component parts of which are divided between the first party, the smart contract, and the Kirobo server. There’s no single point of failure,

Companies providing trading services for digital assets will be able to open accounts with banks in Kazakhstan, local media reported, quoting the country’s crypto industry association. The service should allow Kazakhs to legally invest in cryptocurrencies and cash out their profits. Crypto Exchanges in Kazakhstan to Be Offered Banking Services Kazakh banks will be permitted to open accounts for cryptocurrency exchanges registered at the Astana International Financial Center ( AIFC ), Kazakhstan’s National Association of Blockchain and Data Center Industry announced, quoted by local news portal Habar 24. The move is part of а pilot project with second-tier banks that’s expected to continue for one year. Astana International Financial Center. Potential crypto investors will be required to have an account with a participating banking institution to trade on any of the exchanges. This would allow them to transfer fiat money, buy digital coins and carry out various other operations o

The Brazilian authorities seized $33 million linked to a money-laundering investigation involving cryptocurrency exchanges. The operation, called “Exchange Transaction” by the Brazilian police, involved six search warrants in different locations of the country. These searches were directed to find shell companies that used cryptocurrency exchanges for alleged money laundering purposes. Brazilian Police Seize $33 Million in Money Laundering Probe Brazilian authorities have seized $33 million belonging to shell companies that, according to reports from the Brazilian police, used cryptocurrency exchanges for money laundering purposes. Brazilian courts issued six search warrants in properties linked to these shell companies located in Diadema and in the Capital. These orders resulted in different account blocks from two individuals and 17 legal entities. The investigations found that several companies transacted large amounts of funds among themselves as a way of fooling authorities, a

Ethereum will have a very bullish year, according to a price prediction poll made by Finder. The average price that the second-ranked crypto asset by market capitalization will reach this year is about $4.5K, according to polled experts in the cryptocurrency industry. The panel is also bullish about ethereum long term, expecting a price of about $18K for the year 2025. Experts Bullish About Ethereum in the Short Term Finder, an investing companion app, released its Ethereum price prediction poll results, which reveal a bullish sentiment for the present and future of Ethereum. 27 of 42 experts that gave their opinions in Finder’s poll expect ethereum to be at $4,596 by December 31, 2021. Experts give different reasons for this opinion, but most of them are related to the bullish outlook of the crypto market and to the different changes the chain has vowed to apply to fix its scaling issues in the near future. Allnodes CEO and founder Konstantin Boyko-Romanovsky, who was consulted i

In a new twist to the Africrypt saga, two different reports have made contradicting claims about the whereabouts of Raees and Ameer Cajee, the two directors of the collapse bitcoin investment firm. However, both reports suggest the Cajees brothers had planned their escape prior to the alleged hacking incident in April. Vanuatu or Tanzania In its report , the UK outlet Daily Mail claims to have seen documents suggesting that Raees had purchased Vanuatu citizenship for about $131,000 (£95,000) back in October 2020. About three months later, Ameer would make a similar purchase. The same report quotes Cajees brothers suggesting that their disappearance had been prompted by fears that a criminal gang wanted to harm them. Interestingly, the claims by the brothers that they fled South Africa to avoid being harmed by an organized criminal syndicate appear to be corroborated by a Moneyweb report. In this report , the Cajees brothers are quoted claiming that they had received death threats f

The founder of investment management firm Michael Lee Strategy says that “the best days of bitcoin are definitely ahead of it,” expecting the cryptocurrency to “make all-time new highs.” The strategist further says that it will be a long time “before we see any sort of taper or any sort of restrictive policy from the Fed” or other central banks worldwide. Market Strategist Expects Bitcoin to Make All-Time New Highs Michael Lee, founder of Michael Lee Strategy, shared his outlook for bitcoin in an interview with Fox Business Monday. Michael Lee Strategy offers wealth planning and investment management as an investment adviser representative through Compass Financial. Lee is a former vice president in the Institutional Middle Markets group at Morgan Stanley. Commenting on the price of bitcoin hitting $60,000 earlier this year, Lee said that “it is just a side effect of endless money printing that’s going on.” He dismissed the theory that the BTC price increase Monday resulted from

Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, is holding bitcoin worth $1.311 billion. The company did not buy or sell any bitcoin during the second quarter but recorded bitcoin-related impairment of $23 million. Tesla’s action reaffirms Musk’s prior statement that neither he nor Tesla had sold their coins. Tesla’s Q2 Bitcoin Holdings Elon Musk’s Tesla released its second-quarter earnings report Monday. The company’s Q2 2021 unaudited balance sheet shows a net digital asset value of $1.311 billion as of June 30. Tesla’s Q2 unaudited balance sheet showing the company’s net digital assets. Source: Tesla Tesla Neither Purchased Nor Sold Bitcoin in Q2 Tesla did not buy or sell any bitcoin in the second quarter. The company’s Q2 unaudited statement of cash flows still shows that the only cryptocurrency purchase made was the $1.5 billion BTC purchase in Q1. The cash flow statement also shows that the only time Tesla sold its bitcoin was in Q1 for $272 million. Tesla CEO Elon Musk previ

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX , a global cryptocurrency financial platform with a comprehensive product suite, is excited to announce the Ternoa token (CAPS) listing under the pair USDT/CAPS on July 27 at 1 p.m. UTC. AscendEX and the Ternoa team will jointly launch two limited-time promotional events to celebrate the CAPS listing. The activities will consist of airdrop rewards tasks and a trading competition taking place between July 27, 1:00 a.m. UTC to August 3, 12 a.m. UTC, offering users a chance to win a share of pooled rewards worth 80,000 USDT ! Ternoa is an NFT-based decentralized data transfer blockchain protocol. Ternoa provides long-term secure data storage and transfer to third parties. It relies upon the innovative use of NFTs to encrypt, segment, and store data on decentralized storage infrastructures. In addition, oracles allow for automated, programmable data transfers. Ternoa also offers a Software Development Kit (SDK) to facilitate the development of mobile and web a

Thorchain, a popular defi protocol, has been compromised twice in the last two weeks, resulting in losses of over $10,000,000. The hacker responsible for the latest exploit left behind a message detailing the measures that should be undertaken to protect users. Hacker Returns to the Scene to Lecture on Security In another blow against the Thorchain protocol, the defi network has found itself the victim of another hack after the equivalent of 4,000 ethereum (ETH) was stolen just days earlier. Thorchain, which features an automated market maker (AMM) and decentralized exchange (dex), is known for its liquidity pooling, with total value locked (TVL) currently around $101.75 million. This time, the attack was perpetrated against the ETH Router contract to target the Thorchain Bifrost component, resulting in more than $8 million in losses for the protocol. According to the hacker allegedly behind the move, the vulnerability was known before the latest attack and was entirely preventa

Reports show a vast majority of the American populace has been worried about rising inflation and as the weeks roll by, the financial situation continues to look grim. US Senator: ‘There’s No Justification for the Fed to Maintain Its Purchases’ A few analysts believe the upcoming two-day meeting held by the U.S. central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will give markets clues on whether or not the Federal Reserve plans to taper quantitative easing and raise interest rates. Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s administration has dismissed inflation and Biden claimed at a recent CNN Town Hall that he doesn’t know anybody “who’s worried about inflation.” On Monday, Reuters reported that the U.S. central bank is divided over the rising inflation and now the country’s monetary managers are dealing with double inflation due to supply chain complications. To further the problems the U.S. 10-year Treasury note yields slipped lower on Monday morning as investors are concerned about this week’

Amazon is reportedly planning to accept bitcoin by the end of the year, after which the company will roll out support for other major cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the company is exploring launching its own cryptocurrency. “The directive is coming from the very top … Jeff Bezos himself.” Amazon’s Crypto Project ‘Ready to Roll’ Following the news of Amazon seeking to hire a digital currency and blockchain lead , City A.M. publication reported that the company actually has plans to accept bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies. Citing “an insider” at the company, the news outlet reported that Amazon is looking to accept bitcoin payments “by the end of the year” and the company is also investigating its own token for 2022. Amazon “isn’t just going through the motions to set up cryptocurrency payment solutions at some point in the future,” the insider claims, adding that its crypto project “is a full-on, well-discussed, integral part of the future mechanism of how Amazon will wo

The Binance Smart Chain has launched a $10 million bug bounty fund for projects building on top of the protocol, called “Priority One.” The initiative aims to keep the blockchain network secure by encouraging bug bounty hunters and ethical hackers. Binance Smart Chain Reveals $10 Million Bug Bounty Fund ‘Priority One’ Security experts and bug bounty hunters now have incentive to help the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) developers secure the network. On Monday, the BSC project revealed “Priority One,” a $10 million fund for projects built on top of the BSC protocol. The announcement says the initiative aims at “refining the lifecycle management of BSC users and decreasing project exploits.” Eligible projects will be able to leverage proactive penetration testing and risk management schemes. Julian Tan, the BSC community coordinator, explained that these types of evaluations shrink the possibility of future exploits. “The shortlisted projects for the bug bounty will be open for continuous

The price of bitcoin jumped over 15% in a matter of three hours on Sunday evening and came awfully close to the $40K handle. Since then, the crypto asset has dropped back a few percentages and currently hovers above the $38K range. The entire cryptocurrency economy has spiked 9.72% rising to $1.53 trillion in overall value. Bitcoin’s Price Skyrockets After Long Period of Consolidation Bitcoin and digital asset values have risen dramatically during the last 12 hours as bitcoin (BTC) jumped more than 15% yesterday evening (EDT). BTC has managed to hold above the $38K zone on Monday after falling from $39,850 per unit at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday. Bitcoin is still up 12% during the last 24 hours and 24% for the week. Out of the crypto economy’s $1.5 trillion, bitcoin commands 47.1% of that value while ethereum (ETH) commands 17.8%. At the time of writing, BTC is exchanging for $38,489 per coin . The second-largest crypto asset, in terms of market valuation, is ethereum (ETH) , which i

PRESS RELEASE. Santo Blockchain Labs have joined forces with French artist Jerome Peschard to create an XR-NFT art series like nothing the crypto market has seen before. 26th July 2021, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — Santo Blockchain Labs , a creative blockchain software development company has joined forces with renowned French pop artist Jerome Peschard , to bring to life a new series of NFTs called XR-NFTs “eXtended Reality Non-Fungible Tokens”. What Are XR-NFTs? XR-NFTs are the most eclectic form of using 3D scanning telemetry, augmented reality, virtual reality, sound, and digital smell technology intertwined with the creativity of Jerome Peschard’s digital pop art. The NFT creations use blockchain technology to offer their user a one-of-a-kind sensorial digital asset experience. Rush of Mars To honor this new dawn of space travel, where the likes of Sir Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk are disrupting space travel and making it a reality for all humankind to one d

Attackers are abusing an attack vector present in one of the most popular execution engines (Argo Workflows) to repurpose Kubernetes systems to mine cryptocurrencies. The attack exploits a vulnerability in the system of permissions of Argo Workflows machines connected to the internet, deploying malicious workflows that install Monero-based containers. Attackers Leveraging Argo Workflows for Crypto Mining A group of attackers discovered a new attack vector that uses a vulnerability in the permission system of Argo Workflows, one of the most used execution engines for Kubernetes, to install cryptocurrency mining modules in machines connected to the internet. This vulnerability means that every instance of Kubernetes, one of the most used cloud computing systems, could be used to mine Monero if it is paired with Argo Workflows. A report from Intezer, a cybersecurity firm, informs they have already identified infected nodes and others vulnerable to this attack. The unprotected nodes a

The upcoming Tesla Q2-2021 earnings call, which will be announced this Monday after market hours, will at last shed some light on what has happened with the company’s bitcoin holdings. The company held more than 1.5 billion dollars in bitcoin on Q1 and has reported only one sale to “test the market’s liquidity” according to its CEO, Elon Musk. The cryptocurrency community has been patiently waiting in anticipation to see the disclosures stemming from Tesla’s forthcoming earnings report. Tesla’s Earnings Call Generates Expectation in the Bitcoin Community The upcoming earnings call of Tesla, the leading electric car manufacturer, has generated expectations in the Bitcoin community due to the large bitcoin (BTC) stash the company holds on its balance sheet. The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk , jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon last quarter when he announced Tesla’s purchase of $1.5 billion earlier this year. The current status of this bitcoin stash is unknown, and it will be revealed on Mond

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told his Twitter followers on Sunday that his crypto exchange has lowered its margin trading limit from 101x to 20x. Prior to the change, FTX supported 50x, 100x, and 101x leverage but Bankman-Fried said these high leverage positions represent “a tiny fraction of volume.” FTX CEO Announces Cutting Leverage Limits, 2x Leverage the Most Common FTX customers will have to adjust to changes as the crypto-asset exchange has dropped its max leverage rate from 101x to 20x this weekend. Of course, the formerly supported 50x, 100x, and 101x positions are considered high leverage. Bankman-Fried told his 233,000 Twitter followers the news on Sunday when he stressed that “an effective margin system is integral to an efficient economic system” and added that “there are limits to everything, though.” Bankman-Fried added : There’s been a bunch of discussion recently around high leverage (> 20x). Nearly every crypto derivatives exchange allows it, and nearly every on

CNBC’s stock analyst and crypto investor Jim Cramer says he’s still bullish on his choice to invest in ethereum after removing bitcoin from his portfolio. Three days ago, Cramer tweeted that he’s “sticking with” his ethereum position “but not adding to it.” Jim Cramer: ‘Ether Is a Pied Piper Security’ A number of CNBC broadcast hosts are proponents of cryptocurrencies and Jim Cramer , the host of the “Mad Money” show is one of these individuals. At the end of June, Bitcoin.com News reported on how Cramer moved his bitcoin position into ethereum instead and he opined that ether was “more of a currency.” A few days ago, Cramer tweeted about sticking to his ETH position but also emphasized that he wasn’t adding to it. Cramer also discussed his fondness for ethereum ( ETH ) in a recent interview with the news outlet thestreet.com. Jim Cramer who was once a bitcoin bull has now turned his attention to ethereum. In fact, in late June Cramer said he wanted BTC to get “wrenched out” w