Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Anthony Scaramucci’s Skybridge Capital has filed an S-1 registration form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The prospectus for the “First Trust Skybridge Bitcoin ETF Trust” notes that the ETF aims to list common shares on NYSE Arca. Skybridge Capital Files to List a Bitcoin ETF Skybridge Capital and its founder Anthony Scaramucci have been all about bitcoin (BTC) these days and even more so after the company’s successful launch of the Skybridge Capital Bitcoin Fund. At the end of February, Scaramucci said in an interview that he expects $100k BTC prices this year. On March 19, 2021, Skybridge Capital filed an S-1 registration prospectus for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Skybridge Capital will be among a number of firms such as Vaneck and Valkyrie Digital Assets looking to get their ETFs approved. The S-1 registration filed on Friday notes that the ETF will be dubbed the “First Trust Skybridge Bitcoin ETF Trust” b

Deutsche Bank has published a report stating that bitcoin is too important to ignore, noting that it is now the third-largest currency in terms of the total value in circulation. In addition, the bank says that governments and central banks know that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and are expected to start regulating the industry this year. Bitcoin Is Too Important to Ignore Deutsche Bank Research published a report last week entitled: “Bitcoins: Can the Tinkerbell Effect Become a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?” It is part three of “The Future of Payments: Series 2.” The report author, research analyst Marion Laboure, Ph.D., wrote: Bitcoin’s market cap of $1 trillion makes it too important to ignore. As long as asset managers and companies continue to enter the market, bitcoin prices could continue to rise. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin stands at $57,455 and the cryptocurrency’s market cap is approximately $1.07 trillion based on data from markets.Bitcoin.com. The

The founder and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund firm, has warned that the government could “impose prohibitions against capital movements” into assets such as bitcoin. He added that regulators may also impose changes in taxes that “could be more shocking than expected.” Ray Dalio Warns About Government Prohibitions and Taxes Ray Dalio, founder and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, wrote a post on Linkedin last week entitled: “Why in the World Would You Own Bonds When…” He pointed out that the bond markets currently offer “ridiculously low yields,” which “do not meet these asset holders’ funding needs.” The executive wrote, “There is now over $75 trillion of US debt assets of varying maturities,” adding that their holders will at some point want to sell them to get cash to buy goods and services with. However, Bridgewater’s chief investment officer estimates that “at current valuations, there is way too much money

Six people involved with the Free Keene movement have been arrested and charged for allegedly operating an illegal cryptocurrency exchange business. “They operated their virtual currency exchange business using websites, as well as operating virtual currency ATM machines in New Hampshire,” the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said. FBI Raids Properties and Charges 6 People The DOJ announced this week that it has charged six New Hampshire residents with crimes related to a cryptocurrency exchange business. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided several Keene properties associated with members of the liberty-minded Free Keene movement on Tuesday and arrested the six defendants. The individuals charged are Ian Freeman (formerly Ian Bernard), 40, of Keene; Colleen Fordham, 60, of Alstead; Renee Spinella, 23, of Derry; Andrew Spinella, 35, of Derry; Nobody (formerly Richard Paul), 52, of Keene; and Aria DiMezzo (formerly James Baker), 34, of Keene. DiMezzo is the self-describe

PRESS RELEASE. BitMax.io (BTMX.com), an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of Fire Tokens (FIRE) under the trading pair of FIRE/USDT on March 19th at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Fire Protocol is the first infrastructure project built based on the Huobi Eco Chain (HECO). Fire Protocol seeks to build more comprehensive functionality and use cases than other DeFi projects in the marketplace by combining various components on one platform. In the future, Fire Protocol will also be supporting Cross-chain functionalities to bridge assets between various blockchains such as Polkadot and BSC. The native token of Fire Protocol, FIRE, is a governance token, used to power the economic incentive mechanisms, support community proposals, and voting. Fire Protocol’s key products include Fireswap, a fast and secure trading service and Liquidity Mining feature, Cross Chain Wrapping solutions to bring non-Huobi Chain assets in

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has found its way onto the deep web and during the last few months, researchers have found a great number of individuals turning to darknet markets (DNMs) for employment. The organization Check Point Research has recorded a rising trend of people looking for jobs on hacking forums and DNMs. Additionally, alleged versions of the coronavirus vaccines from the top manufacturers are being sold on DNMs alongside vaccination records. Mass Darknet Market Closures in 2020 Invoked Opioid Product Premiums In 2020, a great number of darknet markets (DNMs) went dark by either voluntarily closing, exit scamming, or getting busted by global law enforcement. Despite the loss of many DNMs, the vast amount of spontaneous underground markets saw record revenues in 2020. However, the numerous amounts of DNMs disappearing have led to an increased demand for opioids. A new report from the Australian National University (ANU) shows that the effects of global law enfo

A senior executive with Nigeria’s central bank, Adamu Lamtek, has reportedly denied that his institution had placed restrictions on the use of cryptocurrencies. Instead, Lamtek, who is the deputy governor responsible for corporates services at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says his organisation’s directive only applies to the banking sector. Prohibition Only Applies to Banks The remarks by Lamtek, who spoke on behalf of the CBN governor Godwin Emefiele, follow the central bank’s February 5, 2021, directive which prohibited banks from facilitating crypto-related transactions. Immediately following the announcement, financial institutions began to comply with the directive. Since then volumes on centralized crypto exchanges have plunged while reports suggest that volumes on peer to peer platforms are on the rise . In the meantime, before the latest communication from the CBN, rumours circulated that authorities would soon clampdown on peer to peer trading like Binance’s P2P pl

PRESS RELEASE. Chicago, Illinois, USA – Hummingbot.io , a premier open-source algorithmic trading project, has chosen to incorporate Beaxy Exchange into its most recent software release, allowing Beaxy users to take advantage of 24/7 automated high-frequency trading on a U.S. based cryptocurrency exchange. Previously, traders could use the open source codebase to run their own versions of Hummingbot. Now, a version exists which was custom tailored by the Hummingbot Development Team to ensure a streamlined integration with beaxy ’s trading interface. Hummingbot differs from other trading bots in several respects. It is an open source program and is free to download and use. The core strategy of the bot enables a trader to function as a market maker on multiple exchanges – put simply, the bot will place both limit buy and limit sell orders for others in the market (termed “takers”) to meet. While there are numerous strategy templates and operating styles, the bottom line is that Hum

The founder of Bytetree Asset Management, Charlie Morris, has suggested the reduction of the GBTC management fee as one way Grayscale Investment can ease the current selling pressure and possibly reduce the discount on the shares. Morris says if no action is taken, “the selling pressure will build” and “could morph into a systemic risk.” Recent GBTC Buyback Insignificant On the other hand, Morris, who is also the chief investments officer (CIO) at Bytetree, thinks Grayscale’s recent $250 million GBTC may be too insignificant to make a difference. However, in his Bytetree Market Health Update , Morris does acknowledge that 2020 was a year of “record inflows” for Grayscale Investment. During this period, the premium on GBTC shares averaged 30% while the value of assets under management (AUM) soared to over $30 billion. However, when the premium began to ease, the inflows into the trust similarly began to slow down. This subsequently led to the premium on the GBTC shares turning into

On the week of March 7 through the 13th, the term “NFT” touched an all-time record high in terms of popular search queries according to Google Trends (GT). The highest score is 100 and this week, GT shows interest has dwindled a hair down to 97. Meanwhile, while the NFT hype affects the cryptocurrency and blockchain community, not everyone is thrilled with this technology. Some critics think NFT tech needs to be more robust in order for collectibles to last more than a decade without them disappearing. The Rift Between NFT Hype and NFT Criticism Over the last few weeks, the NFT craze has jumped to new levels as people have sold artwork for millions of dollars, unique audio recordings of farts have been tokenized , and even blockchain-backed signature dance moves are NFTs. And of course, by now everyone has heard about Beeple, the digital artist who sold an NFT via Christie’s auction house for a whopping $69 million . This sale propelled NFT mania to new heights, and Christie’s auct

Thailand’s central bank has declared a stablecoin pegged to the Thai Baht illegal, citing violation of the country’s currency law. The Bank of Thailand (BOT) is currently working on a regulatory framework for stablecoins. Thailand Bans Baht-Pegged Stablecoin The Bank of Thailand, the country’s central bank, issued a press release Wednesday declaring a stablecoin called the Thai Baht Digital (THT) illegal. “It has come to the BOT’s attention that a new stablecoin, THT, has been created abroad on the Terra platform. One unit of THT is denominated in and valued at one Thai baht,” the announcement describes. The central bank claims that “Although THT is currently not used as a medium of exchange, it could cause fragmentation to the Thai currency system should THT or other similar stablecoins come to replace, substitute or compete with baht issued by the BOT,” asserting: This would ultimately affect the general public’s confidence in the stability of the national currency system, whi

Citibank’s David Bailin believes that bitcoin will do well because of the level of interest from investors. While stating that the cryptocurrency can be part of a portfolio, the executive sees better investment opportunities than bitcoin in “giant unstoppable trends.” Bitcoin ‘Is Going to Do Well,’ Citi Executive Predicts David Bailin is Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Citi Private Bank, a subsidiary of Citigroup dedicated to serving wealthy individuals and families. He is listed on the Citibank website as a “wealth expert.” Bailin talked about bitcoin in an interview with Yahoo Finance Wednesday. He said: I tell people there’s no doubt that I think bitcoin is going to do well because of the level of interest that’s coming from everyone. However, the Citi executive noted that it “scares” him “on a fundamental basis.” Bailin joined Citi in 2009 as the Global Head of Managed Investments and was promoted to Global Head of Investments in October of 2017. Bai

A German man has shared his story about how he fell for the Elon Musk bitcoin giveaway scam. He lost 10 bitcoins to the scam, worth almost $600K at the current price. “I’d just thrown away the game changer for my family, my early retirement fund, and all the upcoming holidays with my kids,” he revealed. Fake Elon Musk Bitcoin Giveaway Scams Continue to Dupe Investors With the price of bitcoin repeatedly hitting record highs, Tesla investing $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency, and Elon Musk’s various crypto tweets, there has been a rise in bitcoin giveaway scams using the Tesla executive’s name. The BBC reported this week that a German man from Cologne, Sebastian, lost 10 bitcoins to an Elon Musk bitcoin giveaway scam. At the current BTC price of $59,115, based on data from markets.Bitcoin.com, his bitcoins are worth about $600K. One night, after his wife went to bed, Sebastian received a Twitter notification that Musk had tweeted “Dojo 4 Doge.” This was on Feb. 21. While wonderin

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has fined cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase $6.5 million “for reckless false, misleading, or inaccurate reporting as well as wash trading.” This enforcement action came as Coinbase is getting ready for its initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. CFTC Takes Action Against Coinbase The CFTC announced Friday that it has issued an order settling charges against cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase Inc. “for reckless false, misleading, or inaccurate reporting as well as wash trading.” The regulator wrote: The order requires Coinbase to pay a civil monetary penalty of $6.5 million and to cease and desist from any further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act or CFTC regulations. The order described that between January 2015 and September 2018, “Coinbase recklessly delivered false, misleading, or inaccurate reports concerning transactions in digital assets, including bitcoin,” on its GDAX platform. The CFTC found that while Coinb

A Shenzhen-listed information and communications technology (ICT) company ZJBC has plans to invest in the bitcoin mining sector according to a recent announcement. ZJBC says that it aims to spend up to $155 million on Microbt manufactured ASIC mining rigs. Chinese ICT Firm ZJBC to Invest $155 Million Into Microbt Hardware A well known firm listed in Shenzhen (SZSE) with $900 million in market capitalization, Zhongjia Bochuang (ZJBC) has partnered with Microbt, according to the company announcement published on March 9th, 2021. ZJBC is an ICT firm and it plans to spend $155 million with Microbt on specialized ASIC mining hardware . Microbt’s Whatsminer bitcoin mining equipment has seen a lot of demand in recent times, and the company’s Whatsminer M30S++ (112TH/s) is the top-performing ASIC on the market today. Regional reporter Priyeshu Garg says that the firm won’t invest the $155 million all at once. A translation of the announcement says: “The scale for the first year will be n

A bitcoin ATM provider has announced a deployment of new machines across several states in the U.S. Bitcoin Depot is set to launch over 100 new bitcoin ATMs in 24 states soon. Bitcoin Depot Expects to Grow by 200% in 2021 According to the company , almost 115 BTC ATMs will be installed, doubling its current count in the last six months. Globally, the ATM network has surpassed 2,000 kiosks, boosted with launching the new ATMs in the United States. Per the distribution, 14 new kiosks will be deployed by the Atlanta-based company across Alabama, 13 in Minnesota, 12 will be installed in Florida, and the last 12 across California. Brandon Mintz, Bitcoin Depot President and CEO, commented on the expansion: Cryptocurrency offers a lot of opportunities for people that don’t have access to traditional financial services, like banks. Our kiosks allow them to essentially self-bank through the digital wallet on their phone by turning their cash into cryptocurrency, which can be used to tran