Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has asked its Ontario users to withdraw their funds since they will no longer have access to any services offered by Bitfinex in March. Bitfinex Stops Providing Services to Ontario Customers Crypto exchange Bitfinex announced Friday that it is making changes to the services it provides to Ontario customers. Effective immediately, the firm said that “Ontario customers who do not have balances on the platform will have their accounts closed.” In addition, those who do not have open positions in the platform’s peer-to-peer financing markets will no longer have access to those markets. “Ontario customers who do not have open margin positions or ‘borrowing’ positions in our peer-to-peer financing markets will no longer have access to open margin positions or engage in ‘borrowing,'” the firm further detailed, adding: Starting on March 1, 2022, Ontario customers will no longer have access to any services. “Additionally, Ontario customers should wi

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin set up a pair of polls on Twitter asking his followers if 80% of all transactions and savings in the year 2035 are in one currency and it is not ether, which currency they would prefer it to be. He asked them to choose from a number of cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, cardano, solana, tron, and Binance coin. Vitalik Buterin’s Cryptocurrency Twitter Polls Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin set up a pair of polls on Twitter Thursday for the Ethereum community. “You wake up in 2035 and 80% of all transactions and savings in the world are in one currency that is not ETH . Which would you prefer it to be?” He wrote. In his first tweet, Buterin asked his followers to choose from BTC , USD, SOL, and ADA . The second tweet lets them choose from TRON, BNB , CNY, and NEO . After 24 hours, the first poll ended with 600,697 votes and the second with 358,743 votes. Cardano ( ADA ) tops the results of the first poll, followed by bitcoin ( BTC ) and solana

Bank of America’s analyst says that Solana could take market share away from Ethereum. Noting that Solana is optimized for micropayments, gaming, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the analyst expects “Solana could become the Visa of the digital asset ecosystem.” Bank of America on Crypto, Ethereum, and Solana Bank of America (BOFA) analyst Alkesh Shah published a research note on cryptocurrency this week arguing that Solana could take market share away from Ethereum. The Bank of America analyst described that Solana “produces a blockchain optimized for consumer use cases by prioritizing scalability, low transaction fees and ease of use,” citing Solana Foundation member Lily Liu. Its ease of use and low cost make the crypto optimized for micropayments, gaming, and non-fungible token (NFTs). With more than 50 billion transactions settled since its March 2020 launch, and $10 billion in total value locked, Shah said: Solana could become the Visa of the digital asset ecosystem. Solan

The top meme tokens by market capitalization have increased in value by 4.4% in the last 24 hours according to statistics. Dogecoin had a good week jumping more than 20% during the last seven days. However, 14 meme tokens surpassed dogecoin’s weekly jump as a few tokens have seen triple-digit spikes over the last week. Tesla Acceptance Pushes Dogecoin Up 20% This Week, Shiba Inu Gains Over 7% After the electric car company, Tesla announced the firm would be accepting dogecoin (DOGE) payments, the meme crypto spiked in value almost immediately. At the time of writing, metrics show that DOGE has gained 20.3% over the last week. Data shows DOGE has seen a 24-hour price range of around $0.182 to $0.192 per unit on January 15. DOGE has an overall market valuation of around $24.8 billion and that represents 1.13% of the $2.20 trillion crypto economy. The second-largest meme crypto token shiba inu (SHIB) has not had a great week, compared to DOGE . Despite this, seven-day metrics show

Russians who use cryptocurrency should not be anonymous, the man who chairs Russia’s federal investigating authority has recently stated. The official leading efforts to fight corruption in the government called for additional regulations, including the introduction of mandatory identification for those who transact with digital coins. Anti-Corruption Official Pushes for Rules to Mitigate Risks of Using Cryptocurrency for Illicit Purposes Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, believes that people who use cryptocurrencies should not remain anonymous. The high-ranking official shared his opinion in an interview with the government-issued Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “I have already noted that in connection with the adoption of the federal law ‘On Digital Financial Assets’ in July 2020, additional risks of using digital currency for criminal purposes may arise, in particular for financing terrorism and extremism,” Bastrykin, a former Deputy Prosecu

Global investment bank JPMorgan has asked its clients what they think the price of bitcoin will be by year-end. Among the bank’s clients who responded, 55% expect the price of bitcoin to end the year at $60K or higher. What JPMorgan’s Clients Expect the Price of Bitcoin to Be by Year-End JPMorgan has conducted a survey of its clients about what they expect the price of bitcoin to be by year-end. The global investment bank released the results earlier this week. The survey was conducted between Dec. 13 and Jan. 7 as part of a broader macroeconomic outlook for 2022. Forty-seven of JPMorgan’s clients participated in the survey. About 41% of the bank’s clients who responded expect bitcoin to end the year at around $60,000. 23% expect the price to be $20,000 while 20% expect it to be $40,000. In addition, 9% believe that the price of BTC will reach $80,000, 5% think that it could be $100,000 or more, while 2% expect it to fall to $10,000 or lower. Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, a JPMorgan

Payments giant Visa has conducted a survey of small businesses and found that almost a quarter of those who responded plan to accept cryptocurrency payments this year. “I think more people are feeling more confident with crypto,” said a Visa executive. Small Businesses in 9 Countries Plan to Accept Cryptocurrency This Year Visa published a study on digital payments Wednesday. It was conducted by Wakefield Research in December 2021 and included a survey of 2,250 small business owners with 100 employees or fewer in Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Russia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. Visa described that a path forward for small and micro businesses (SMBs) in 2022 includes “Going long on digital payments – even crypto.” The payments giant detailed: Of those surveyed, 24% said they plan to accept digital currencies such as the cryptocurrency bitcoin. The company elaborated: “An overwhelming 82% of SMBs surveyed said they plan to accept some form of digi

According to British lawmakers, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is likely to raise the cost of borrowing while hurting financial stability. They insist the touted potential advantages of a digital pound are being overstated. Erosion of Privacy British lawmakers have said the use of a central bank digital currency when making regular payments could potentially hurt financial stability and raise the cost of borrowing, a report has said. In addition, they insist the increasing use of the CBDC could also enable the central bank to monitor spending and therefore erode privacy. As per a Reuters report , the lawmakers believe the benefits of CBDC may have been exaggerated and that there are other ways the U.K. can counter the threat posed by cryptocurrencies. One of the lawmakers who is quoted in the report speaking out is Michael Forsyth. He said: We were really concerned by a number of the risks that are posed by the introduction of a CBDC. Forsyth, who is the Economic Affair

The cryptocurrency firm FTX has announced the launch of a $2 billion venture capital fund called FTX Ventures. The fund’s focus will be on advancing blockchain and Web3 technology alongside investments in “social, gaming, fintech, software, and healthcare.” FTX Reveals $2 Billion Venture Capital Fund, Hires Lightspeed Partner Amy Wu FTX Trading Limited has announced the launch of a new venture capital fund aimed at bolstering blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions that are applied to an assortment of different industries. In addition to launching FTX Ventures’ $2 billion venture capital fund, the company has hired former Lightspeed Ventures partner, Amy Wu. According to the announcement, Wu will lead FTX Ventures’ gaming, M&A and commercial initiatives. The venture capital fund announcement sent to Bitcoin.com News explains: FTX Ventures’ core mission is to advance global blockchain and web3 adoption, with a broad investment mandate across social, gaming, fintech, software,

The Kingdom of Tonga may adopt bitcoin as legal tender, according to a former member of Tonga’s parliament, Lord Fusitu’a, who tweeted about a possible timeline for this event to occur. Fusitu’a believes that by next fall a bill will be passed by Tonga’s parliament and bitcoin could be legal tender in the region by November. Former Member of Tonga’s Parliament Lord Fusitu’a Claims Bitcoin Bill Could Be Passed in Order to Make the Crypto Asset Legal Tender Tonga’s chairman of the Commonwealth Pacific Parliamentary Group on Human Rights, Lord Fusitu’a, is a bitcoin advocate and on January 11, he explained on Twitter that the Kingdom of Tonga’s government may adopt bitcoin as legal tender. The news follows El Salvador’s push to make bitcoin ( BTC ) legal tender last year. A few months ago, the law was codified by the Salvadoran congress and BTC was deemed legal tender in El Salvador. Lord Fusitu’a, who was once a member of Tonga’s parliament, claims the same thing will happen in To

Tesla now accepts dogecoin for some merchandise on its website. CEO Elon Musk delivered on the promise he made in December that his electric car company will accept DOGE. Meanwhile, Tesla still has not resumed accepting bitcoin. Dogecoin Now Accepted for Select Tesla Merchandise Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, has begun accepting dogecoin payments for some merchandise. CEO Elon Musk announced early Friday morning on Twitter, “Tesla merch buyable with dogecoin.” He first tweeted in December last year that Tesla will accept DOGE. Following Musk’s tweet, dogecoin immediately surged about 10% but has since lost most of its gain. The price of the meme crypto is $0.1913 at the time of writing based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. Tesla’s shop now has a few items that can only be bought with the meme cryptocurrency. They include a Cybertruck Graffiti Cuffed Beanie that costs 205 DOGE; a Giga Texas Belt Buckle that costs 835 DOGE; a Cyberquad for Kids that costs 12,020 DOGE;

The Swiss National Bank has successfully employed a wholesale CBDC to settle transactions with five commercial banks, the monetary authority announced. The tests are part of an experiment carried out together with the Bank for International Settlements and Switzerland’s financial services provider SIX. Swiss Central Bank Tests Integration of Wholesale CBDC Settlement With Private Banks A wide-range of transactions involving a wholesale central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) have been processed during the second phase of Project Helvetia, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) revealed in a press release issued on Thursday. The trials are conducted as part of a joint initiative between the SNB, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and SIX, the main provider of financial infrastructure services in Switzerland. Five commercial banks also participated – Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, and UBS. The experiment, which took place in the last quarter of 2021, e

A group of U.S.-based banks is launching their own stablecoin, USDF. The stablecoin will be issued by the USDF Consortium, which will allow its members (financial and banking institutions) to issue USDF. The proposed stablecoin will be the first currency of its kind to be minted by FDIC-insured institutions and compliant with the recommendations on the use of stablecoins made by the president’s working group. USDF Consortium to Launch Stablecoin The USDF consortium, a membership-based group of banks, is launching the first bank-minted stablecoin, also called USDF. According to a press release issued on January 12, the objective behind this release is to remove friction by addressing “the consumer protection and regulatory concerns of non-bank issued stablecoins and offer a more secure option for transacting on blockchain.” The USDF consortium is the entity that will authorize these banks to mint the stablecoin, which will be redeemable 1:1 in cash from any of the banks of the afor

Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has acquired a regulated derivatives trading platform. Coinbase plans to make the derivatives market more approachable to millions of its retail customers. Coinbase Plans to Offer Crypto Derivatives to All US Customers Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange operator Coinbase announced Wednesday that it has acquired Fairx, a regulated derivatives trading platform. Fairx is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a derivatives exchange or Designated Contract Market (DCM). “Through this acquisition, we plan to bring regulated crypto derivatives to market, initially through Fairx’s existing partner ecosystem,” Coinbase detailed. “Over time, we plan to leverage Fairx’s infrastructure to offer crypto derivatives to all Coinbase customers in the US.” The Nasdaq-listed company added: We want to make the derivatives market more approachable for our millions of retail customers by delivering an easy-to-use user experience that

The main finance industry association of Russia has urged authorities to reconsider a position against crypto investments in the nation’s financial market strategy. The organization insists that the crypto investments of Russians should be brought out of the “gray zone” instead of being banned. Finance Industry Body Urges Government to Regulate Operations With Crypto Assets The Russian National Financial Association (NFA) has issued a call to amend the country’s Strategy for Development of the Financial Market of the Russian Federation Until 2030 in the part concerning investments in cryptocurrencies, RIA Novosti and Prime reported, quoting the proposal. The NFA unites over 200 entities active in Russia’s financial market. The strategy now states that the Russian government and Bank of Russia will continue to oppose the use of “monetary surrogates,” a term often employed to describe decentralized digital currencies such as bitcoin. They carry high risks for citizens, according to

One of the hottest topics in the United States in 2022 is the rising inflation, as the U.S. Labor Department’s data published on Wednesday indicated that the consumer price index (CPI) rose to 7% in December. This represents the largest annual jump since 1982. Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard is set to tell congressional leaders today that the central bank is focused on battling inflation. Moreover, members of the Democratic party are concerned that the rising inflation may cost the Biden administration politically. CPI Rate Jumps to 7%, Wholesale Prices Spike 9.7% On January 11, 2022, the U.S. Labor Department published CPI data for the month of December and the metrics indicate that the U.S. inflation rate jumped 7% year-over-year (YoY) and last month was the third consecutive month over 6%. The rise is the highest jump the CPI has seen since June 1982 as inflation is making the cost of goods and services spike exponentially. Basically, the CPI is a measure of a basket of c

Following Mozilla’s decision to pause crypto donations due to environmental concerns, a number of Wikimedia Foundation community members have submitted a proposal that asks the foundation to stop accepting digital currency donations. The proposal explains that crypto donations “signals [an] endorsement of the cryptocurrency space,” and also says that “Cryptocurrencies may not align with the Wikimedia Foundation’s commitment to environmental sustainability.” Proposal Claims Cryptocurrencies May Not Align With the Wikimedia Foundation Members of the Wikimedia Foundation are voting on a proposal that could stop the foundation from accepting digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum. The U.S. non-profit started accepting crypto assets in 2019 via Bitpay. “We accept donations globally, and we strive to provide a large variety of donation options. It’s very important that we can get international donations processed in ways that are efficient and cost-effective,” Pats Pena, director o

A record high consumption of electricity blamed on illegal crypto farms in northwestern Georgia has caught the attention of authorities in the capital Tbilisi. The central government and the local utility are taking on the issue of dealing with power shortages in the mountainous region of Svaneti. With Tourism Hit by Pandemic, People in Georgia Turn to Crypto Mining on Cheap Energy The government of Georgia, a small nation in the Caucasus, has joined forces with the energy distribution company Energo-pro, to address the growing illegal use of electricity to mine cryptocurrencies in the Svaneti region. The move was announced by the country’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Natia Turnava, at a press conference this week. The extraordinarily high power consumption by mining farms in the area of the historic town of Mestia has been a hot topic for a whole month now, the Novosti-Georgia news agency reported. Svaneti has attracted miners with its low electricity rates i

PRESS RELEASE. Zug, Switzerland, 13 th January 2022: As part of its strategic business objective to become the leading gaming technology company, GAIMIN announces a plug-in and metaverse environment that enables blockchain technology and NFTs to be used within Minecraft. GAIMIN has developed a gaming and technology platform that delivers blockchain and NFT technology to gamers and game studios whilst providing a mechanism for gamers to passively generate rewards based on the processing power of their gaming PC. The GAIMIN platform incorporates a Windows-based software application to allow users/gamers to generate rewards whilst they play. GAIMIN’s “P2E 2.0″, the next evolution in play to earn (where you earn even when you are not playing!) platform utilises the processing power in a gamers high performance PC to access GAIMIN’s distributed data processing network and generate rewards for the gamer in the form of GAIMIN’s GMRX token. These rewards can be used to acquire in-game ass

On January 11, 2022, the Washington-based bitcoin mining operation Luxor announced the launch of a new application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) trading desk. According to the company, Luxor’s new trading desk will give miners and investors access to bitcoin ASIC mining rigs “at a fair market price.” NYDIG-Backed Mining Operation Luxor Reveals ASIC Trading Desk Service The bitcoin mining firm Luxor aims to purchase and sell bitcoin mining machines via the company’s new ASIC trading desk service. The press release published on Luxor’s web portal explains that the company “will purchase and sell specialized Bitcoin mining hardware on behalf of the Luxor team, miners and investors.” Luxor recently raised $5 million in a Series A led by the firm NYDIG in June 2021. Furthermore, the Luxor mining pool is the 12th largest mining pool at the time of writing on Wednesday, with 0.46 % of the global hashrate or 801.30 petahash per second (PH/s). Luxor’s ASIC trading desk announcement d

According to a recent interview, trial lawyer Kyle Roche from the legal firm Roche Freedman LLP has started a tech startup called Ryval that aims to be “the stock market of litigation financing.” The firm plans to launch during the first quarter and allow people to leverage tokens in order to wager on civil lawsuits. Ryval’s Initial Litigation Offering Concept The trial lawyer Kyle Roche was recently interviewed by the Vice author Maxwell Strachan as Roche’s new tech startup Ryval was showcased for its litigation tokenization concept. Ryval co-founder Roche told Strachan that “Ryval’s goal is to make access to justice more affordable.” Essentially, the Vice editorial discusses how Ryval will gamify the court system by decentralizing the barrier to access shares in multi-billion dollar court cases. “What we do is: tell the story, vet the legal claim, and then allow the public to invest and give you the funds to go and litigate your case,” Roche told Strachan. “And what does the pub

Franklin Noll, an academic and monetary historian, has asserted that crypto can be both a security and a currency. Pointing to the history of U.S. money, Noll argues that being both a currency and a security is, in fact, not contradictory. The ‘Infamous’ Continental Dollar Coins Franklin Noll, a U.S.-based monetary historian, has asserted that the history of the U.S. dollar over the years shows that being a currency and a security is not contradictory and that crypto can be both. The assertions by Noll, the president of Noll Historical Consulting, come as the debate over the status of cryptocurrencies continues to be a contentious and unresolved one. For instance, Bitcoin.com News recently reported on current U.S. SEC chair Gary Gensler’s comments on the subject. Yet in a short piece published to his blog recently, Noll starts by using the example of the continental dollar coins to support his assertions. According to the historian, these now “infamous” coins were an attempt “t

N26, a German online neobank, has announced it will get into the cryptocurrency trading business this year. The announcement was made by Max Tayenthal, co-founder and a CEO of the company, who pondered whether focusing on cryptocurrency instead of going global may have been a better idea. The company closed operations in the U.K. and is now exiting the U.S. N26 to Offer Cryptocurrency Services N26, a German online bank, has announced it will roll out cryptocurrency trading services for its customers this year. The co-founder of the bank, and one of its current CEOs, Max Tayenthal, made the recent announcement expressing the need to be a universal platform. Tayenthal also talked about oversights the bank may have made in ignoring cryptocurrencies last year. The executive told Financial Times: Should we have built trading and crypto instead of launching in the US? In hindsight, it might have been a smart idea. N26, a bank with more than 7 million customers as of January 2021, m

As Thailand prepares to impose a levy on crypto profits, parties on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns over the government’s current proposal. A number of political figures have insisted that important aspects need to be clarified in order to avoid double taxation of income related to cryptocurrencies. Thai Politicians Warn About Negative Effects of Crypto Tax Representatives of parties from various corners of the political spectrum in Thailand have shared their disagreements with the government’s plan to tax gains from cryptocurrencies. The reactions come after recent reports revealed that the Finance Ministry in Bangkok intends to introduce a 15% levy on profits from crypto investments and trading. On Monday, the Revenue Department announced it will finalize the details of the tax by the end of January. Cryptocurrency miners, dealers, and investors will be affected if the proposal is passed into law, the Thai Enquirer writes in an article on Wednesday. Traders wil

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