Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

While Americans are still getting their third stimulus payments, discussions of tacking on a fourth round of direct payments to Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal have started trending. Just recently, a coalition led by Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden and over a dozen Democratic leaders wrote a letter to President Biden asking to get “much-needed relief to American families.” A Coalition of American Bureaucrats Want More Stimulus Payments Distributed Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden and 21 Democratic senators want U.S. President Joe Biden to initiate a fourth round of stimulus payments. The last stimulus payments of $1,400 per individual and more funding for Americans with dependents are still being distributed. The U.S. senators have sent a letter to Biden requesting more “recurring, smartly-targeted, auto-stabilized direct payments” for American citizens. The coalition highlights that they want the direct payments “to be included in President Biden’s next economic

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX, formerly BitMax, an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the launch of its staking service for OIN token (OIN) on Apr 16 at 1:00 p.m. UTC. AscendEX’s innovative staking product allows users to participate in staking and earn rewards directly on the platform. OIN joins a growing portfolio of notable tokens including DOT, ATOM , and XTZ . AscendEX will be receiving validator rewards by running an OIN node which will then be passed along to staking users. OIN is the first DeFi platform that provides liquidity mining through their decentralized exchange and a loan platform starting with the Ontology platform and ultimately expanding to other top platforms through cross-chain functionality. OIN will build the bridge technology to seamlessly integrate Ethereum into its ecosystem, opening up to all of the current DeFi space players. OIN’s dedication to DeFi is reflected in its three-pronged m

Former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt says that he expects a “fair amount” of crypto regulation coming from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following the confirmation of the new chairman. Former SEC Chair Expects ‘Fair Amount’ of New Crypto Regulation Harvey Pitt talked about the future of cryptocurrency regulation under the new chairman, Gary Gensler, in an interview with Bloomberg Friday. Pitt is the American lawyer who served as the 26th chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), from 2001 to 2003. With the market debut of Coinbase via a direct listing on Nasdaq, Pitt was asked what he expects to happen with the regulation of cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges. The former SEC chair said: I expect to see a fair amount of regulation of cryptocurrencies. Right now, I think the rules are unclear. “Whether or not certain offerings involve securities or not is unclear. There is a definite likelihood that the SEC will move forward. Gary G

The most recent Bank of America Fund Manager Survey shows that about three out of four professional investors think that bitcoin is a bubble. The fund managers also rated bitcoin second on the list of the most crowded trades. Recently, investment bank JPMorgan also warned that cryptocurrency as a sector is in a bubble. Bank of America Survey Shows Most Fund Managers Think Bitcoin Is a Bubble The Bank of America Fund Manager Survey for April shows that the majority of fund managers see bitcoin as a bubble. The survey asks 200 fund managers with $533 billion in assets under management. Answering the question of whether bitcoin is a bubble, 74% of investors replied “yes.” Just 16% said “no” to the question and 10% said they either did not know or did not want to answer the question. In comparison, only 7% of investors think that the U.S. equity market is in a bubble. Most respondents think that the equity market is in “a late-stage bull market.” Chart showing 74% of investors who re

Congressman Kevin McCarthy has urged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell not to ignore bitcoin like they have been trying to do. He believes it is the future, emphasizing, “I do not want America to fall behind” other countries. Government and the Fed Should Not Ignore Bitcoin GOP leader Kevin McCarthy talked about bitcoin in an interview with CNBC last week. Congressman McCarthy serves California’s 23rd district and is currently the Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was asked specifically if he thinks that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell have a good understanding of digital currencies or bitcoin given their recent comments and what advice he has for them. A longtime proponent of bitcoin, McCarthy said in July 2019, “I like bitcoin” and the security of the blockchain technology behind it. Reiterating his view on bitcoin back in 2019, the congressman replied, “I was right then

Brevan Howard, one of Europe’s largest hedge funds with $13.7 billion in assets under management, is reportedly set to start buying cryptocurrencies. The investment firm previously bought a 25% stake in One River Asset Management, which runs a number of cryptocurrency funds. Major Hedge Fund to Start Investing in Cryptocurrencies Investment management firm Brevan Howard is reportedly preparing to start buying cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The firm’s cryptocurrency investments will be overseen by Distributed Global’s co-founders Johnny Steindorff and Tucker Waterman. Distributed Global is an asset management company that focuses on digital assets. Founded in 2002, Brevan Howard describes itself as “one of the world’s leading global macro absolute return managers.” The firm manages assets for institutional investors around the globe including sovereign wealth funds, corporate and public pension plans, foundations, and endowments. The

Rumors concerning the U.S. Treasury cracking down on several financial institutions over money laundering has been spreading like wildfire on social media and forums. There’s been no formal announcement from the U.S. entity and at this stage, the news is widely considered FUD. However, some are assuming the hearsay stems from the recent Russian sanctions announcement last Thursday. On April 15, the U.S. Treasury published a press release explaining government escalated sanctions against the Russian government and the announcement touches upon the use of cryptocurrency addresses for illicit transactions. U.S. Treasury Rumors Flood Social Media, OFAC Cracks Down on 16 Groups That Allegedly Leveraged Crypto Assets On social media and cryptocurrency forums, rumors have spread about the U.S. government cracking down on the crypto industry. For instance, a Twitter account called “Fxhedge” tweeted about the U.S. Treasury on Sunday, April 17. “U.S. Treasury to charge several financial i

After the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a directive targeting the country’s cryptocurrency industry, bitcoin and altcoin trade volumes on centralized exchanges immediately plunged. Nevertheless, the new regulations seem to have succeeded in boosting crypto trade volumes on informal markets or on peer-to-peer trading platforms. Nigerian Crypto Traders Get Creative Still, the increasing trades on informal platforms have also led to increased reports of users losing money to con artists. Moreover, with the CBN seemingly eager to see volumes of crypto trades plummet, Nigerian users had to find ingenious but legal ways of getting around the central bank’s imposed restrictions. As shown in one local report , one such legal way is through an app created by one local crypto start-up, Patricia. According to the report, this application is already enabling Nigerian users to buy or sell their crypto assets securely and without running afoul of CBN regulations. Therefore, in this report, we r

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX, formerly BitMax, an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of the Julswap Token (JULD) under the pair USDT/JULD on Apr 16 at 1:00 p.m. UTC. JulSwap is a community-centric decentralized exchange that helps crypto projects raise liquidity by conducting IDOs, organizing staking pools, and conducting liquidity mining in a decentralized fashion through the innovative power of JULD tokens. JulSwap offers governance structure to JULD holders who can vote for governance. The purpose of that is to ensure that appropriate structures are in place for managing the protocol in a controlled and orderly way. The major benefit of good governance is that team members can remain focused on their goals instead of wasting time in political debates about what is or is not allowed. JulSwap is often compared with projects like Uniswap, but Julswap has many more unique products available to user

Since April 15, the Bitcoin network hashrate has dropped more than 49% after touching an all-time high at 218 exahash per second. Regional reports noted that in China the Xinjiang grid is having blackouts and “safety inspections.” Reports Claim Blackouts in Xinjiang, China Have Pushed Bitcoin’s Hashrate Down 49% At the time of writing, the Bitcoin ( BTC ) network hashrate has seen a 49% drop off after touching an all-time high (ATH). Data shows on April 15, BTC ’s hashrate climbed to a massive 218 exahash per second (EH/s). Almost immediately after that point, the network hashrate started to spiral downwards. When the hashrate started dropping the regional reporter Colin Wu ( @wublockchain ) tweeted about electrical grid blackouts in China. “The hashrate of bitcoin mining pools plummeted in 24 hours. Antpool fell by 24.5%, Btc.com fell by 18.9%, Poolin fell by 33%, Binance pool fell by 20%,” Wu tweeted . “The reason is that Northwest China is undergoing a complete blackout for s

The world’s largest provider of cryptocurrency payment services, Bitpay has announced the company is joining the Square-founded crypto patent effort the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). Bitpay has been working with blockchain products since 2011 and the firm will share open-source projects and use a shared patent library with the crypto patent organization. Bitpay Joins Crypto Patent Effort COPA The Atlanta-based cryptocurrency payment and blockchain company Bitpay is joining forces with COPA. The Crypto Open Patent Alliance was originally invoked by Square, Inc., and the organization bolsters open access to patents and protection from patent threats. On January 1, 2020, the San Francisco-based company which was just listed on Nasdaq, Coinbase, joined COPA’s mission as well. The founder and CEO of Bitpay, Stephen Pair, believes partnering with COPA is a step forward toward innovation. “Bitpay is partnering with and supporting COPA because we believe that the blockchain space

Bitcoin.com Games brings $110,000 worth of smiles and happiness to this player! Massive Win on ‘Elvis Frog in Vegas’ Earlier in March, a fortunate player cashed out $160,000 in two epic winning rounds on The Dog House Megaways slot at Bitcoin.com Games . Now, another lucky player has bagged over $110,000 from a small bet of 0.0015 BTC on one of the most popular slot games on the casino – Elvis Frog in Vegas . With a 5×3 layout, this entertaining slot sees the titular character taking to the microphone with his female frog side-kick to put players in just the right mood for big wins. 1,195x multiplier applied to player’s bets resulting in a total win amount of $110,000 on Elvis Frog in Vegas slot! . The big win left the player with an experience that is reported to be one of the happiest moments in the player’s life. Astonishing that a bet worth such a small amount of BTC can flip the fortune in anyone’s favor. The game that the player landed a winning round in, is able t

Two executives of Mirror Trading International (MTI) have been summoned by a high court in connection with another cryptocurrency investment scam called BTC Global. The court summons followed a civil lawsuit filed by 18 plaintiffs demanding compensation from them. Two MTI Executives Linked to BTC Global Scam A High Court summons was issued to Clynton Marks, Cheri Marks, and Andrew Caw in connection to a bitcoin investment scam called BTC Global, South African news outlet Mybroadband reported last week, noting that it has seen the court document. The court summons followed a civil lawsuit filed by 18 plaintiffs demanding compensation of R2.5 million (approximately $174,662) plus 7% annual interest for the losses they have suffered from the BTC Global scam. In addition, they asked the court for “further and alternative relief” and the legal costs they have incurred as part of the lawsuit. The court document explains that between September 2017 and March 2018, the defendants “con

Famed Silicon Valley “super angel” investor Ron Conway sees the crypto economy as the next multitrillion-dollar opportunity in innovation. The Silicon Valley legend likens Coinbase to Google after the company’s IPO via a direct listing on Nasdaq. Crypto Is the Next Multitrillion Dollar Opportunity in Innovation Legendary investor Ron Conway, who is often described as a Silicon Valley “super angel,” discussed the state of the crypto market and its future outlook in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. Conway, an early investor of Coinbase, likens the company to Google. An American venture capitalist and philanthropist, who is considered the “Godfather of Silicon Valley,” Conway has placed more bets on Internet startups than anyone else in Silicon Valley. He was an early angel investor in Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Paypal, Airbnb, Square, and Pinterest to name a few. Regarding the crypto market, the famed investor said: “If you start at the very top of the funnel. Look at the m

Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran, the entrepreneur who turned a $1,000 loan into a billion-dollar real estate empire, says she will get rich by investing in real estate, not cryptocurrencies. The American investor takes every extra dime she has and puts it in real estate, emphasizing that she will get rich nice and slow this way. Investing in Real Estate vs. Cryptocurrency Real estate entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran shared her view on cryptocurrency and bitcoin in an interview with TMZ this week while out and about in Union Square in New York City. Corcoran is the American investor famed for building a billion-dollar real estate empire with just a $1,000 loan. She is also a star of the popular ABC television show “Shark Tank” and the author of the best seller book “Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business.” Firstly, she was asked if “Cryptocurrency is all the rage right now.” The shark tank star promptly replied, “of course.” Given that she is an old-school i

Canada has been approving crypto exchange-traded funds (ETF) more quickly than the United States and after three successful bitcoin ETFs, the country has approved three ethereum-based ETFs. The three ether ETFs in Canada will debut on Toronto’s stock exchange (TSX) on April 20, 2021. Three Ethereum ETFs Set to Launch in Canada Next Week Back in February, Bitcoin.com News reported on the launch of the first North American bitcoin exchange-traded fund. A few days later, the fund called the “Purpose Bitcoin ETF” captured massive volume with $165 million traded at the time. The three new ether-based ETFs will be provided by CI Global Asset Management, Purpose Investments, and Evolve ETFs. All three will appear on Toronto’s stock exchange (TSX) this Tuesday. Both Purpose and Evolve already sponsor crypto ETFs, and CI Global Asset Management aims to join the fray. CI Global is working with Bitcoin bull and billionaire investor Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital. Novogratz’s organization