Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Santander Bank in the U.K. has become the latest high street bank in the country to block fund transfers to cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Recently, Barclays and Natwest banks reportedly made a similar move. A number of Santander Bank customers reported on social media that they have received an email from the bank stating, “We’re stopping payments to Binance for your protection,” beginning on July 8. The bank explained: This follows the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s recent warning to consumers and is to help protect you from fraud. For now, we want to be restricting payments from finance to your account(s). The email continues: “We are taking this step as we want to do everything we can to protect you and help keep your money safe. We’ll continue to monitor the situation, and let you know if anything changes.” A Santander customer representative further explained on social media: “In recent months we have seen a large increase in UK customers becoming the vi

Thousands of users were scammed into buying fake Android cryptocurrency mining apps, according to a California-based security firm. These apps are advertised as a way of earning money via mining cryptocurrencies, but in actuality they don’t perform any function. Instead, they charge the user for supposed improvements and enhancements to improve their currency throughput. 93K Users Scammed Scammers tricked more than 93K users by selling them fake cryptocurrency apps through the Google Play Store. These numbers come from the latest report from Lookout, a California-based security firm. According to the report, the apps mimic a frontend for cloud mining platforms. The business model of these apps is to cheat users into thinking they are really mining cryptocurrencies. In fact, the apps do nothing at all. Compared to similar apps which siphon private data from their buyers, these are more subtle. This is what allowed some of them to remain undetected in Google’s Play Store. Of the 175

The highly anticipated Ethereum hard fork is expected to launch on August 4 at block height 12,965,000 according to Ethereum core developers. The London hard fork will add five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that aim to enhance the blockchain. However, the Berlin hard fork was postponed after a vulnerability was identified by the audit company Chainsecurity and the London hard fork could be delayed as well. London Hard Fork Scheduled for August 4, 2021 Ethereum’s London hard fork is one of the most long-awaited changes in quite some time and will follow the recently implemented Berlin hard fork. The London upgrade is meant to complement the Ethereum 2.0 transition which will change the ETH chain from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). Ethereum core devs have proposed block 12,965,000 for London upgrade on Mainnet. It is expected around August 4th. https://t.co/EgHKhrabBz https://t.co/5ec2o7OKiD — banteg (@bantg) July 6, 2021 Just recently, Bitcoin.com News r

With over 1.3 billion inhabitants, Africa accounts for over 16% of the world’s population. However, the continent still falls short when it comes to providing its residents with legitimate or government-issued identification documents. As some studies have revealed, as many as 400 million Africans do not have the appropriate identification documents. Lack of Required Documents Creates Problems Unfortunately, the lack of a national identification document precludes many from accessing financial services, participating in national plebiscites, or even travelling across national borders. To help reduce the number of people that are in this situation, one African tech start-up, Flexfintx, has created a virtual solution to the challenge — digital IDs. To understand how digital IDs can potentially overcome the challenge of lacking identification, Bitcoin.com News interviewed Victor Mapunga, the CEO and co-founder of Flexfintx via email. Bitcoin.com News (BCN): Can you start by briefly t

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated his take on the recent regulatory crackdown Binance is facing. In a blog post, Zhao explains Binance aims to comply with local regulations. However, he also stated cryptocurrency was a nascent industry, and there are a lot of uncertainties in the field. Binance has been getting a slew of warning from governments all over the world for failing to comply with specific regulations. Changpeng Zhao States Compliance Is a ‘Journey’ Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, finally issued a statement on its take about the recent regulatory crackdown the exchange faces. In a letter published yesterday, Zhao describes how Binance is gradually adapting to regulations all over the world. But he recognizes that Binance “haven’t always got everything exactly right.” Zhao further stressed: Compliance is a journey – especially in new sectors like crypto. The industry still has a lot of uncertainty. We also recognize that with the growth comes more complexity. Binance i

Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has become the first national legislature to release a non-fungible token. The special NFT has been created for the country’s new president, Isaac Herzog, who took office this week after his election in early June. Knesset Becomes First Parliament to Issue NFT Isaac Herzog received the token right before his inauguration on Wednesday, the Jerusalem Post reported. The unique NFT represents a copy of the original oath signed by his late father, Israel’s sixth president, Chaim Herzog. President Isaac Herzog With the symbolic gesture, the Knesset becomes arguably the first parliament to create an NFT. “I am excited to present President Herzog with a special memento of his father that includes the oath he signed 38 years ago,” Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy was quoted as saying. Levy also stressed: It is a great honor for the Knesset to implement one of the world’s most innovative technologies in order to preserve such a significant historical docume

A UBS survey finds that central bankers see benefits in investing in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. 28% see benefits from cryptocurrency being an uncorrelated asset and “11% would consider it as an alternative to gold.” Central Bankers See Benefits in Investing in Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin The 27th Annual Reserve Management Seminar Survey by UBS explores the prospects of cryptocurrencies as investments for central banks. This survey, conducted between April and June, questioned central bankers from close to 30 central banks in all regions globally, UBS explained. According to Switzerland’s largest bank, this survey “is among the most authoritative depictions of official reserve management activities available.” Central bankers were asked what the motivation for central banks to invest in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin would be. The most popular answer was “Learning/ building up knowledge about crypto investing process and investment management.” UBS described, “83% of participan

PRESS RELEASE. ESTONIA — JULY 8, 2021 — YIELD App , the decentralized finance (DeFi) wealth management platform bridging traditional and digital finance, is pleased to announce the launch of its Bitcoin Fund, allowing users to earn high-interest returns on the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin ( BTC ). This will consist of a base annual percentage yield (APY) of 6% on BTC with a further 6% available in YLD rewards. * The fund will initially be available to YIELD App Tier 5 users only. These are users of the YIELD App platform that hold 20,000 YLD tokens or more in their on-platform wallets and who are entitled to the maximum APYs available. Tier 5 users will be able to deposit unwrapped Bitcoin into the YIELD App Bitcoin Fund from today, 07:00 UTC Thursday, July 8, until 07:00 UTC Sunday, July 11, or until an initial fund cap of 500 BTC is reached. Unwrapped Bitcoin is BTC on the Bitcoin blockchain, rather than synthetic BTC tokens used to trade the asset’s value on other

Visa Inc. announced Wednesday that the transactions via crypto-linked Visa cards exceeded $1 billion in the first quarter. The company further said that it is partnering with 50 major cryptocurrency platforms “to launch card programs that make it easy to convert and spend digital currency at 70 million merchants worldwide.” Visa Announces $1 Billion in Crypto Card Transactions and Partnerships With 50 Crypto Platforms Visa announced Wednesday that more than $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency was spent by consumers globally through crypto-linked Visa cards in the first six months of the year. The payments giant also said that it is partnering with 50 leading crypto platforms “to launch card programs that make it easy to convert and spend digital currency at 70 million merchants worldwide.” Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu told CNBC: “We see a lot of volume on our [network] of people buying cryptocurrencies at these various regulated exchanges and as far as we can see that trend continues.” H

Bank of America has become the latest major bank to make a foray into the cryptocurrency sector. According to an internal memo, the bank has created a team dedicated to researching cryptocurrencies. Bank of America believes that it is “uniquely positioned to provide thought leadership” on cryptocurrencies and the technology behind them. Bank of America (BOFA) has created a new team dedicated to researching cryptocurrencies, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed the contents of the memo. The new crypto team will be led by Alkesh Shah, a founding member of the Data & Innovation Strategy Group at Bank of America. It will report to Michael Maras, who leads the bank’s global fixed income, currencies, and commodities research. Besides cryptocurrencies, the team will also cover technologies tied to digital currencies. Candace Browning, head of Bank of America’s global research, said in the memo: Cryptocurrencies and digital assets co

Binance.us has hired Manuel Alvarez, a former financial regulator from California, to work as its chief administrative officer. The San Francisco-based crypto exchange, which sources technology from Binance, is aiming to deal with “the big question” — compliance. Binance.us Filling Roles in Compliance, Risk Management, and Legal Binance.us, powered by matching engine and wallet technologies licensed from the world’s leading coin trading platform, announced the appointment of Alvarez in a statement released this week. The exchange’s new chief administrative officer has previously served as the commissioner of the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, Bloomberg reported. Manuel Alvarez will join the company on July 22 and report to its CEO Brian Brooks , himself a former bank regulator. Brooks, who was acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), took his post at Binance.us in May this year. Since then, Brian Brooks has been building h

It was announced today that OVR , a mobile app linked to the world of blockchain and NFTs, is heading towards a new front, that of augmented reality chats. In fact, the new update of the app, available for both iOS and Android, promises AR face-to-face chats, i.e. the ability to talk to friends within the app using avatars and interacting with them. It is the first app to allow such a feature, especially if we think about the crypto sector and the implications of OVR in the blockchain world. OVR is therefore moving towards a new direction of inclusivity and greater customization of avatars thanks to 10 new characters and ethnicities that can be used in the app. With this new update of the app, you will also be able to receive notifications of chats with your friends and avatars that you meet in the OVR metaverse and also the ability to share links to your LANDs. Prior to this update, it was not possible to share a simple LAND URL to invite people into your metaverse. Now each

The Boston-based crypto financial company Circle has announced the firm plans to go public this year in a merger with Concord Acquisition Corp. Circle revealed the news on Thursday and noted that the company expects to close the deal in Q4 with a valuation of $4.5 billion. Circle Announces SPAC Deal With Plans to Go Public The payments technology company Circle founded by Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire in 2013 plans to go public soon. The company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts has operated numerous services during the last eight years and more recently it launched the usd coin (USDC) with Coinbase and the Centre consortium . For a small period of time Circle also owned Poloniex and then sold the exchange, and Circle sold the digital asset trading platform to Voyager Digital in February 2020 as well. Circle was the first company in New York to receive the Bitlicense back in September 2015 and now the company plans to leverage a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) me

The crypto asset shiba inu (SHIB) now has a decentralized exchange (dex) platform called Shibaswap and since the trading protocol’s launch, the dex has $1.55 billion total value locked (TVL). The SHIB-fueled dex has a lot more liquidity than most platforms today as Shibaswap has been catching up to popular dex platforms like Pancakeswap and Sushiswap. Shibaswap Dex Gathers Significant Liquidity in 48 Hours Shiba inu has a leg up over dogecoin and baby doge this week as the meme-based crypto asset has launched a dex platform called Shibaswap. The dex Shibaswap is similar to dex applications like Uniswap, Sushiswap, and Pancakeswap the dex that leverages the Binance Smart Chain. During the first 24 hours, Shibaswap gathered more than $1 billion TVL and on Thursday, the TVL jumped to $1.55 billion. SHIB stats show that on Thursday, SHIB is down 5.9% according to Coingecko and SHIB lost 7.9% during the last seven days. However, two-week stats show SHIB has increased by 18.8% and

The European Union is preparing to set up an anti-money laundering agency to coordinate national supervisory authorities. According to a media report based on EU documents, the bloc also plans to impose new rules to increase transparency for cryptocurrency transfers. Europe Steps Up Anti-Money Laundering Efforts on Union Level In response to calls for enforcement of anti-money laundering (AML) rules throughout Europe, the European Commission is likely to propose the establishment of a new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA). According to documents seen by Reuters, the agency should become the “centrepiece” of an integrated supervisory system consisting also of national authorities. In the absence of a pan-European anti-money laundering body, the executive power in Brussels has so far relied mainly on national regulatory agencies to enforce its AML rules. Cooperation hasn’t always been satisfactory when it comes to stopping dirty money, the report notes. That’s why the authors of

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has warned of the growing risks of cryptocurrency trading. She recently called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “use its full authority to address these risks,” adding that “Congress must also step up to close these regulatory gaps.” US Senator Warren Presses SEC to Step Up Crypto Oversight U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy, warned Thursday of the growing risks posed by the cryptocurrency market. She also blasted the SEC for the lack of crypto regulatory oversight. “While demand for cryptocurrencies and the use of cryptocurrency exchanges have sky-rocketed, the lack of common-sense regulations has left ordinary investors at the mercy of manipulators and fraudsters,” the senator was quoted by Reuters as saying. She elaborated: These regulatory gaps endanger consumers and investors and undermine the safety of our financial markets. The SEC must use its full au

Bitcoin and a number of popular digital assets have been dropping in value over the past 24 hours, as bitcoin has slipped below the $33K handle. The entire market capitalization of all 10,000+ crypto assets in existence has shed billions during the overnight trading sessions, and the crypto economy currently rests at $1.38 trillion, down more than 6% since yesterday. Crypto Market Cap Sheds 6%, Ether Dominance Climbs Higher Traders are focused on what will happen next in the land of crypto markets, as prices have started to dip after a long period of consolidation. At 7:00 a.m. (EDT), the price of bitcoin ( BTC ) slid to a low of $32,100 per unit but has regained some of the losses. 24-hour statistics show BTC has lost 6.4% during the last 24 hours and 2.87% during the last seven days. BTC is 49.64% down from the all-time high it captured three months ago. Meanwhile, bitcoin dominance has dropped to 44.3% and ethereum ( ETH ) dominance has climbed higher in recent times (18.3%).