Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. Even though Bitcoin and Ethereum are called ‘cryptocurrencies’ people still treat them like assets instead of currencies. People are not spending cryptocurrencies on a large scale, nor are merchants accepting them on a similar scale. Generally speaking, you still cannot pay for a cup of coffee at your local café with your bitcoin. Jax.Network , a project based in Kyiv, Ukraine has endeavored to solve this issue. Its goal is to bring cryptocurrency to mainstream day-to-day use by first replacing the stablecoin market, with its decentralized, scalable, Proof of Work based coin ‘Jax Coin’ and then aiming for the greater global payments market after. A gargantuan goal to say the least, however, it was not born out of a whim. Much thought, time, and research have gone into the project since its inception in 2018. As the project was beginning, members of the newly formed Jax.Network team had one goal: to research and develop a decentralized, scalable, and stable coin that w

Paypal’s cryptocurrency services are coming to the United Kingdom, as the digital payments giant is now targeting non-U.S. countries. Buy, sell and hold digital asset products could be available for Paypal’s U.K. customers in “a number of months.” Results With the Paypal Crypto Services Have ‘Exceeded’ Expectations in the US During Paypal’s Investor Day 2021 event, Jonathan Auerbach, executive chief strategy and growth officer at the digital payments firm, unveiled plans of deploying the crypto services in the region. According to the executive, the crypto product has surpassed Paypal’s expectations in the United States. In October 2020, the firm announced customers could buy, sell and hold bitcoin and other virtual coins with the company’s online wallets. One month later, during an earnings call, Paypal said that “all eligible Paypal account holders in the U.S.” could access the service. The crypto service supports bitcoin ( BTC ), ethereum ( ETH ), bitcoin cash ( BCH ), and l

Allianz’s chief economic advisor, Mohamed El-Erian, says that the argument for investing in bitcoin has reached a pivot point. He sees more companies following Tesla’s example and embracing bitcoin as an investment vehicle as well as a form of payment. Allianz’s Economic Advisor Says the Argument for Bitcoin Is Now Positive Economist Mohamed El-Erian has highlighted key reasons for investing in bitcoin in an interview with CNBC last week. El-Erian, an Egyptian-American businessman, is President of Queens’ College, Cambridge University. He is also chief economic adviser at Allianz, the corporate parent of PIMCO, one of the largest investment managers, where he was CEO and co-chief investment officer. “The argument for bitcoin is evolving. It used to be a negative argument,” the chief economic advisor described. He elaborated that the reasons for investing in bitcoin used to be “You don’t trust the system, invest in bitcoin. You are afraid about inflation, about debasement, invest i

Morgan Stanley’s chief global strategist says that “regardless of where the price of bitcoin goes next, cryptocurrencies are here to stay as a serious asset class.” He added that bitcoin is making progress towards replacing the dollar as a medium of exchange. Morgan Stanley Bullish on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Morgan Stanley’s head of emerging markets and chief global strategist, Ruchir Sharma, published a report entitled “Why Crypto Is Coming Out of the Shadows” on the Morgan Stanley website last week. “Despite the jitters natural in a global pandemic, cryptocurrencies are rapidly gaining popular support as alternatives to gold (a store of value) and the dollar (as a means of payment),” he began. The strategist elaborated: We see fundamental reasons to believe that — regardless of where the price of bitcoin goes next — cryptocurrencies are here to stay as a serious asset class. Sharma explained that one reason “is growing distrust in fiat currencies, thanks to massive money

Digital currency prices are on the move again, after tumbling a hair downwards during Sunday evening’s trading sessions. On Sunday the price of bitcoin dropped -7.64% after touching a lifetime price high at $49,715 and then slid to $45,915. As trading sessions entered into Monday, BTC has regained some of the losses as it jumped northbound 4.62%. Crypto Markets Shrug Off the Recent Dip Bitcoin ( BTC ) and a slew of digital assets saw some significant losses yesterday, after a few crypto assets touched new all-time highs (ATH). BTC has been awfully close to the psychological $50k region, but hasn’t managed to cross the price zone yet. On Sunday, the price came really close at $49,715 per unit but tumbled downward after reaching that point. BTC /USD chart on Bitstamp on February 15, 2021. After sliding below the $46k zone, BTC is back up to the $47,800 to $48,150 region once again, but prices are still down 1.8%. The second-largest crypto asset, in terms of market valuation, is

Bitcoin Games releases its first exclusive slot game The Angry Banker with a $12,000 tournament! First Exclusive Slot Game Since Launch Our very own premium gaming portal Bitcoin Games has been bringing some of the most popular online casino games to crypto savvy gamers all around the world ever since its inception a few years ago. Now, the popular crypto casino has released it’s biggest exclusive game till date: The Angry Banker . The Angry Banker slot acts as a parody on how Bitcoin is changing the way that people transact with each other, in turn making the bankers angry as they can not control transactions happening on Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. The game features its own Jackpot that grows with each bet any player makes on the game. This pot amasses high amounts of Bitcoin and often gets very big, very fast – currently worth 25 BTC ! The Angry Banker also includes big multipliers and 20 pay-lines, where each pay-line increases the chances of each bet result

Dan Nathan, the founder of Risk Reversal Advisors, says that the U.S. government will not keep allowing corporations like Elon Musk’s Tesla to replace dollars with bitcoin. They won’t “let the dollar fall away from being the reserve currency for the world,” which could happen if corporations keep replacing dollars in their balance sheets with bitcoin. US Government Will Not Let Bitcoin Replace Dollars, Says Risk Reversal Advisors’ Chief Dan Nathan offered his view on the future of bitcoin in an interview with CNBC last week. His comments followed the news of Elon Musk’s Tesla investing $1.5 billion in bitcoin and planning to allow the cryptocurrency as a form of payment for its products in the near future. Nathan is the principal of Risk Reversal Advisors, which offers consulting services to investment banks, investment advisors, and private companies. He spent the late 1990s and the 2000s as an equity and options trader at hedge fund firms SAC, Exis, Cheyne Capital, and within the

During the last few weeks, the former Ripple executive Jed McCaleb has reportedly been selling millions of XRP tokens and every sale has been monitored by the public. On Sunday, McCaleb dumped another 38 million XRP worth $22 million after selling 95 million XRP last week worth $56 million today. Ripple Cofounder Sells 38 million Coins on Valentine’s Day The cofounder and former Ripple executive, Jed McCaleb has been a topical conversation in recent days since the founder has been selling a lot of XRP . News.Bitcoin.com has been covering a number of McCaleb’s XRP sales in December 2020 and into January 2021 . During the month of February, it has been no different, as reports have been showing McCaleb’s alleged wallet called ‘Tacostand’ making regular sales. In our last report, news.Bitcoin.com explained that the analyst Leonidas Hadjiloizou has been monitoring McCaleb’s XRP sales and tweeting about the dumps regularly. On Sunday, February 14, otherwise known as Valentine’s D

In recent days, bitcoin cash has seen significant gains, and supporters of the digital currency have been positive about specific developments, like the internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom’s current support. On February 11, the Chinese New Year, the prominent bitcoin mining executives, Jiang Zhuoer and Jihan Wu joined a Satoshi’s Angels discussion channel and spoke favorably about the peer-to-peer crypto-asset bitcoin cash. The well known mining executives, Bitmain cofounder Jihan Wu and Btc.top founder Jiang Zhuoer seem very bullish about bitcoin cash (BCH) , according to a couple of members from the marketing agency and umbrella organization Satoshi’s Angels . The organization Satoshi’s Angels (SA) was founded by Akane Yokoo , an organizer of the Tokyo Bitcoin Cash Meetup, and the educator and author Cindy Wang . Both of the SA founders are bitcoin cash (BCH) proponents and have educated the masses on the many benefits of the decentralized crypto asset. During the Chinese New Year

On February 12, the well known Lebanese-American essayist and risk analyst, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, declared that the leading digital currency bitcoin is a failure, at least for now. Cryptocurrency fans have been upset by Taleb’s recent statements, after it seems the renowned author has done a complete 180 after supporting the crypto asset for years. Nassim Taleb Is Not Impressed With Bitcoin These Days Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a very popular author, mathematical statistician, and scholar. Over the years, Taleb has been very critical of today’s monetary system, the current finance industry, and the most recent financial crises. The philosopher is best known for his books “The Black Swan” (2010) and “Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder” (2012). After Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin network, Taleb was initially very optimistic about this emerging technology and over the years he wrote positive things about the digital asset. Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s recent critique of

The Spanish financial markets watchdog and the country’s central bank criticized — again — cryptocurrencies as an investment asset. The entities issued a joint statement warning about the high risks the cryptocurrency market poses. Document: Crypto Adoption as a Payment Means ‘Is Still Limited’ Per the paper , the Bank of Spain and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) reaffirmed their stance against considering bitcoin ( BTC ) as a means of payment. After dismissing cryptos as secure investment assets, they also pointed out the lack of regulation in the European Union. However, they recognized that the European bloc is holding talks on establishing a legal framework to regulate the crypto environment. The document elaborates on the “liquidity” factor; Many of these cryptocurrencies can find themselves lacking the necessary liquidity to be able to undo an investment without suffering significant losses, especially since their circulation among investors, both retail a

As the Indian government gets closer to moving forward with the cryptocurrency bill, an official from the Ministry of Finance reportedly explained what discussions the government has been having regarding the crypto bill and the impending legislation. Indian Crypto Bill’s Progress Update The Indian government is getting closer to introducing the cryptocurrency bill in Parliament. On Friday, CNBC TV18 and Bloombergquint provided some updates on the status of the bill and what discussions the government has been having regarding cryptocurrency. However, both news outlets cited anonymous sources. According to Bloombergquint, “India will go ahead with a complete ban on investment in cryptocurrencies, while providing existing investors a transition period to exit the holdings … this would include a ban on transacting directly via foreign exchanges.” The publication cited “a senior finance ministry official on condition of anonymity.” The official also clarified that the ban will not be

One of the largest darknet marketplaces for selling identity data and stolen credit card information, Joker’s Stash retired last month after making off with a cool $1 billion in cryptocurrencies. Weeks ago, U.S. and European officials seized some of the web portal’s servers tied to Joker’s Stash site, but were unable to completely shut operations down. Darknet Market Joker’s Stash Closes Shop A number of reports indicate that the world’s largest darknet market (DNM), in terms of stolen credit card and identity sales, has called it quits after operating since 2014. Joker’s Stash explained in mid-January that the business would be closing shop in mid-February and it has followed through with the plan. The blockchain analysis firm Elliptic detailed that the Joker’s Stash raked in more than $1 billion in cryptocurrencies during its tenure. Elliptic also revealed that the estimate was a conservative calculation based on the revenue Joker’s Stash took in during the years and all the fe

Blockchain analysis firm, Chainalysis’ latest crime report has named Mirror Trading International (MTI) as the biggest cryptocurrency scam of 2020. Chainalysis arrived at this conclusion after an investigation found that MTI had taken in $589 million from more than 471,000 deposits. According to the report, MTI’s haul is significantly higher than that of Forsage and J-enco, the next biggest scams. Both scams raked in less than $350 million each. More South African Victims Meanwhile, in the report’s brief focus on MTI, Chainalysis reveals that more than half of MTI’s web traffic had originated from South Africa. On the other hand, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the U.S together account for nearly a quarter of the remaining web traffic. Using this web traffic data, the blockchain analysis firm concludes that “most MTI victims hail from these countries in similar proportions as well.” Separately, the blockchain analysis firm’s report also found that the BTC that was sent to