Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Just as April ushers in feelings of renewal and energy with the start of Spring, this month also signals one of Ripple’s favorite programs: Development Month. To support employees, we have built a Learning and Development program to ensure all Ripplers have the tools, guidance and programs needed to succeed at Ripple and beyond.  It … Continued The post Designing a Career Path appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/RxLnMW

PRESS RELEASE. 9th April 2021, Delaware, United States – Social media has reshaped the digital landscape, yet people worldwide feel more disconnected than ever. The big giants have all innovated successfully, but constant monetisation efforts for the sake of corporate profit have done away with interpersonal connections, and have therefore transformed the user into the product. Omni are taking this concept and making it a thing of the past by creating a true alternative to today’s social media platforms. Omni will introduce a holistic, user-focused ecosystem that rewards engagement and forges new connections between users. Omni combines the best features available today in the social media world into a singular app suitable for messaging, streaming, sharing, and interacting with content and its creators. This is all packaged nicely with market-leading gamification that yield the user profit linked to the performance of the company in the form of OMNI coins. Announcing the Omni Whit

The American independent investment bank and financial services company, Piper Sandler has published its latest “Taking Stock With Teens” survey which notes that 9% of U.S. teenagers have traded cryptocurrencies. 7,000 teenagers were polled and roughly 81% of those who have traded digital currencies were male. 9% of American Teens Claim to Have Traded Crypto Assets, But Cash Is Still King Among US Teenagers Piper Sandler Companies has published a new study that surveyed 7,000 American teenagers. According to the findings as far as payments are concerned “cash is (still) king for teens” and this is followed by Apple Pay and Venmo. Food, video games, and clothes purchases are very important to American teens and 9% of the crowd has traded digital currencies. Piper Sandler’s survey shows that only 19% of the respondents who have traded crypto were female. A great majority or 81% of the teen participants who have traded crypto assets were male. Piper Sandler’s survey is part of a sem

The China-based smartphone and internet app maker Meitu has announced the acquisition of $10 million worth of bitcoin for its treasury after the firm purchased digital assets two times prior last month. The company’s cryptocurrency holdings now stack up to $100 million worth of ethereum and bitcoin. Meitu Stacks Another 175 Bitcoin, $100 Million in Crypto Recorded on its Balance Sheet Meitu has revealed another cryptocurrency purchase after it announced two purchases last month. According to the announcement , on April 8, 2021, Meitu HK which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, purchased a touch over 175 BTC . The company detailed it paid $10 million for the acquisition and to date, Meitu now holds $100 million worth of ethereum ( ETH ) and bitcoin ( BTC ) on its balance sheet. “The board is pleased to announce that on April 8, 2021, Meitu HK had, pursuant to the Cryptocurrency Investment Plan, further acquired in open market transactions, an additional 175.67798279 units of

New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), the bitcoin investment arm of Stone Ridge Asset Management, is creating bitcoin-powered products and services for the $6 trillion global insurance industry. The company has formed strategic partnerships with major insurers, including Starr, Liberty Mutual, New York Life, and Mass Mutual. Tapping Into $9 Trillion Insurance Industry NYDIG, a leading provider of technology and investment solutions for bitcoin, is bringing BTC to the global insurance industry. The company revealed on Thursday a plan to create “bitcoin-powered products and services for the $6 trillion/year global insurance industry.” Having previously raised funds from New York Life and Mass Mutual , two major insurers focusing on life insurance and annuities, NYDIG has now “raised $100 million of additional growth capital” from property and casualty (P&C)-focused insurers. They include Starr Insurance and Liberty Mutual. “The global property & casualty (P&C) ind

Total Processing, a merchant services company has published a study this week about the most-watched cryptocurrency videos on Youtube during the last year. Even though bitcoin has climbed 700% since last April, ethereum has climbed 1,100% and videos pertaining to ethereum have accumulated the most views since April 2020. Ethereum Videos Are the Most Viewed Crypto Asset Videos on Youtube Digital currencies have exploded in popularity during the last 12 months, and it’s hard to believe how much some coins have gained. There’s a lot of statistics that show the enormous growth of cryptocurrencies like onchain data, the community’s representation on social media, and crypto trading statistics. A firm called Total Processing decided to analyze the data on Youtube during the last year in order to calculate the most viewed crypto-centric videos. Data shows that the smart contract blockchain Ethereum has captured the most views in the last 12 months. Stats from Total Processing’s data show

The Free TON DeFi Alliance creates the necessary infrastructure to attract and maintain strong teams and projects, attracts liquidity from other projects to Free TON and creates partnerships with major companies with large amounts of liquidity and/or a large number of transactions. Free TON DeFi Alliance Forms Free TON DeFi Alliance is a new organization of like-minded people and businesses who share a common goal – to create an environment for substantial and sustainable Free TON DeFi ecosystem growth. The Alliance’s declared goals and focus are centered around economical aspects of the Free TON DeFi ecosystem: liquidity accumulation, new partner businesses engagement, bringing new projects and products to be built in Free TON blockchain, marketing and promotion, and new development teams support. The Alliance, also, sets a goal to become a security and auditing center of expertise, which is very important in the DeFi field. The Alliance set up a partnership with the Free TON

The Swedish central bank keeps making steps towards modeling its e-krona pilot project by issuing a detailed report of the results of phase one for the path ahead. Riksbank is still optimistic about launching its central bank digital currency (CBDC), but there are hurdles to clear out on the road. Riksbank to Spend Another Year Exploring Solutions for the Pilot According to the report named “E-krona pilot phase 1,” the central bank highlighted that cash usage in Sweden is “declining.” That said, Riksbank sees potential problems arising from the decline in cash and is therefore running a project to investigate the possibility of producing a digital complement to cash.” However, the central bank wants to take another year to make in-depth explorations to assess how current technical solutions could suit the e-krona project. Currently, the Swedish central bank is using the R3’s Corda blockchain platform. Over the required additional year, the Riksbank wants “market actors” to be inv

According to Paypal cofounder Peter Thiel, the Chinese government, which detests the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status, could be using bitcoin as a financial weapon against the U.S. While he concedes that China has no intentions of making the yuan renminbi a reserve currency, Thiel still thinks the Asian country may have longed bitcoin because it weakens the dollar’s influence. Reserve Currencies Speaking at the recent Richard Nixon Foundation seminar , Thiel also suggested that China ideally prefers to have two reserve currencies that counter the dollar. He says the Asian country already uses the euro currency as a weapon against the dollar although he claims the “last decade hasn’t quite worked out that way.” According to Thiel, a self-professed bitcoin maximalist, bitcoin has now become the second reserve currency that China uses to fight the dollar’s influence. Consequently, Thiel thinks the U.S. government should start asking tough questions about “how this works.”

A privately-held investment firm from Chicago, Marlton Partners, has urged Grayscale Investments to embrace the modified Dutch auction tender offer for GBTC shares. According to Marlton, such a tender offer “would materially narrow — if not eliminate — the discount to net asset value (NAV).” This, in turn, offers stockholders confidence “in the sponsor’s ability to manage the fund’s discount.” Billions in Lost Value Despite GBTC’s competitive advantage as the world’s largest bitcoin fund, GBTC shares continue to trade “at a significant discount to NAV.” According to Marlton Partners, this discount on NAV “currently represents over $3.1 billion in lost value to trust stockholders.” Meanwhile, in an open letter addressed to the Grayscale Investments management, Marlton Partners’ managing member, James C. Elbaor, insists that current efforts to eliminate the discount have been proven to be inadequate. To bolster this argument, Elbaor points to Digital Currency Group (DCG)’s recent an

DeFi Yield Protocol (DYP) continues to attain popularity within the decentralized finance sector. Since the launch of the staking dAPP three months ago, DYP Protocol has experienced massive growth in its community. DeFi Yield Protocol The yield farming platform has over $39 million locked in its ETH staking contract and has paid 7,064 ETH worth over $14 million to liquidity providers. DYP has also experienced a 20x increase in liquidity on popular decentralized exchange Uniswap. At the moment, more than $21,000,000 in liquidity on Uniswap on the DYP/ ETH . DYP has also expanded its ecosystem with the integration of Binance Smart Chain (BSC) in February. DeFi Yield Protocol (DYP) allows users that provide liquidity to earn decent returns. It also utilizes an anti-manipulation feature that prevents whales from manipulating the price of its native token, DYP. This is by converting all DYP rewards into ETH daily and sending distributing it directly to holders wallets. This ensures

Spanish travelers will soon be available to fill out claims for incidents related to airline delays, baggage losses, overbooking, among others, and be compensated with cryptocurrencies. The possibility is now a reality thanks to a partnership between a domestic crypto exchange and an airline platform. Platform Allocated Euros in an Account on the Crypto Exchange to Arrange Payments According to El Mundo Financiero , Criptan, based in Valencia, Spain, signed an agreement with Wings to Claim– a Spanish legal association that owns a platform specialized in handling travel-related incidents and now could compensate travelers cryptos instead of euros. The platform allocated euros within an account using the crypto exchange Criptan. If any customer entitled to compensation wants to receive money in cryptos, the exchange will reimburse the money in coins such as bitcoin ( BTC ). Among the reasons behind incorporating cryptos into Wings to Claim, the platform argued that they didn’t want

Another exciting week in the NFT universe has unfolded as Kiwie digitizes graffiti in new collectibles, the original meme makes its way to market, and a new integration between Videocoin and Filecoin supports video-based NFTs. The Fat Monster Meets the Mint Latvian-based art collective Kiwie is bringing its iconic Fat Monster character to the blockchain as it becomes the first group to create and auction NFTs from physical graffiti installations. The new initiative designed to connect the online and offline art worlds will involve building virtual 3D models of spray-painted figures. Each will be accompanied by a geotag to connect ownership of art to the NFT. Auction winners will also receive a metal card denoting a claim to each Fat Monster NFT. From there, the NFTs can be traded, and if the physical art installation is ever removed or erased, the NFTs become unique “Ghost Monsters.” On April 13th, the first batch of five existing Fat Monsters will be minted and auctioned on Rarib

Fidelity’s head of digital assets says that bitcoin adoption will continue “at an accelerated pace,” noting that “we’ve reached a tipping point.” He explained that investors are increasingly drawn to bitcoin “Particularly, in an environment where we’ve seen unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus from central banks and governments in response to the pandemic.” The Tipping Point of Bitcoin Adoption Tom Jessop, president of Fidelity Digital Assets at Fidelity Investments, talked about bitcoin adoption Wednesday during an interview at Marketwatch and Barron’s “Investing in Crypto” event. Jessop is also head of Corporate Business Development for Fidelity Investments. The Fidelity executive says that the maturation and adoption of bitcoin as an investment class “will continue at a rapid pace in the coming years,” Marketwatch detailed, adding that this suggests that cryptocurrency may have turned a corner in traditional finance circles. He was quoted as saying: I think we continue

Bitcoin Games adds live casino games and shows from the most sought-after gaming software provider. Play Live Casino Games with Real Dealers Bitcoin Games is a one-stop gaming portal for players to enjoy a variety of casino games playable with cryptocurrency. There is something for everyone – from slot lovers to jackpot chasers, the online casino offers all kinds of exciting video games that members can play and win cryptocurrencies. The premium crypto gaming portal is now expanding its arsenal with the addition of live casino games and shows from the leaders of video-streamed live experiences – Evolution Gaming . The newly added live casino games include a variety of classics such as Baccarat , Blackjack, and Roulette , along with many other exciting games that promise players an unmatched gaming experience. Play live game shows like ‘Crazy Time’ and ‘Deal or No Deal’ to win Bitcoin with up to 20,000x multiplier! Building upon the existing library of games, Bitcoin Games

Millennium, the U.S.-based alternative investment management firm, has become the latest hedge fund to get exposed to cryptocurrencies via Grayscale Investments’ bitcoin trust. However, the extent of Millennium’s exposure to the crypto asset has not been disclosed as both Millennium and Grayscale executives have refused to comment. Nevertheless, a report by The Street says two sources claiming to have knowledge of the deal have confirmed Millenium’s acquisition of the shares. The report also quotes one of the two unnamed sources suggesting that Millennium, which has $48 billion worth of assets under management (AUM), could have been drawn to the crypto asset by the lingering discount on GBTC shares. At the time of writing, the discount on GBTC shares had dropped further to 11.45%. In the meantime, the sources in the report assert that Millennium’s indirect investment into BTC represents yet another big endorsement for the crypto asset. The report said: The fact that Mille

The idea of the Argentinean central bank asking local banks for information on customers who deal with cryptocurrencies is generating controversy in the local industry. A new chapter in this story has been written, as a local lawyer has filed a class-action complaint before a national court to overturn such a ruling. Argentinean Central Bank Measure ‘Violates’ Privacy Rights, Says Lawyer According to Victor Castillejo , an Argentinean lawyer, the “habeas data” complaint filed argues that the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) decision to ask such data is illegal. In fact, he claims that the ruling violates the “privacy, human rights, constitutionally protected” of every individual who wants to trade with cryptos, such as bitcoin ( BTC ). Castillejo provides the following comment about the alleged BCRA’s legal wrongdoing: The BCRA does not have the power to compile a list of these characteristics, and if it does, that power does not allow it to avoid the obligations re

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a complaint against the blockchain-based file-sharing and payment network called Lbry last week, as the U.S. regulator has accused the company Lbry Inc. of selling unregistered securities. However, the CEO of Lbry denies the project’s native tokens are securities and says the SEC’s logic will put a number of public blockchain projects at risk. US Regulator Accuses Lbry of Selling Unregistered Securities U.S. financial regulators have filed a complaint against another blockchain project as the SEC claims the company Lbry Inc. sold unregistered securities. The SEC has used the Securities Act of 1933 to go after a number of blockchain projects and now it says that LBC tokens are unregistered securities. The SEC says that LBC tokens “were offered and sold as investment contracts, and therefore, securities.” Regulators say that the company “pooled the money” and also claims that Lbry Inc. is LBC’s biggest holder as well. Prosecutor