Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The CEO of payments giant Paypal, Dan Schulman, has revealed that the demand for cryptocurrencies has been “multiple-fold” of his company’s initial expectations. Paypal’s Venmo recently began rolling out cryptocurrency features to enable Venmo users to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. Demand for Cryptocurrencies Exceeds Paypal’s Expectations Paypal CEO Dan Schulman talked about cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin, in an interview with Time Magazine, published Sunday. Paypal is present in more than 200 countries and deals in more than 100 currencies. Last year, the company processed 15.4 billion payments, with a value of $936 billion. The company has about 30 million merchants in its network. Schulman began by sharing his story of how he used Paypal’s crypto service to buy boots and paid for them with bitcoin. Noting that it only took a few clicks and a few seconds to buy with the cryptocurrency, he said that “It was pretty cool.” A big initiative of his comp

A leading Venezuelan aviation academy announced its inception into cryptocurrency adoption after enabling bitcoin payments. Caracas Air is now accepting crypto payments for those who want to take any of their courses. Academy Started Its Operations in 2015 According to the announcement made by its CEO, Oliver Laufer, the academy will also offer discounts and financing plans for those who opt to pay with bitcoin ( BTC ). Overall, Caracas Air is known as the most prominent emerging and certified aviation academy in Venezuela. On its customer base, the firm teaches almost 900 students per year, whose study programs are certified by the Venezuelan aeronautical authority (INAC). Laufer founded the academy with his brother in 2015 after acquiring a Cessna 172 Skyhawk plane to run the school. Those who earn certification from Caracas Air can obtain a license authorized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), becoming the first ICAO-certified aviation academy in Venezuel

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 Unmarshal Token (MARSH) under the pair USDT/MARSH on Apr 26 at 1:00 p.m. UTC. Unmarshal is a Chain-Agnostic blockchain protocol consisting of a network of blockchain indexes to curate customizable data for DeFi applications. Synergistically built with the support of Binance Smart Chain, Polkadot Network, and Solana, Unmarshal intends to revitalize data collection, distribution, and interpretation to propel the DeFi economy forward. It is an advanced solution that aims at transforming raw and unstructured blockchain data into a meaningful form to ease the integration of real-time blockchain data into decentralized applications, thus unmarshalling the potential of DApps. Compared to other data providers in the Crypto Market, Unamrshal stands out by providing simplified and structured data in multiple formats l

The comparison website that operates in 83 countries, finder.com, has recently published its quarterly bitcoin price prediction report for 2021 and the panellists are very optimistic about bitcoin’s future value. A number of Finder’s panel of 35 fintech specialists believe that bitcoin is set to crack $100k this year. Finder’s Q1 Predictions Study Shows Panellists Believe Bitcoin Prices Will Hit Six-Digits This Year Bitcoin proponents and crypto enthusiasts believe that the cryptocurrency economy will continue to blossom after 2021’s climactic year wraps up the first quarter. On Monday, the comparison website finder.com published another predictions report that is tied to the value of today’s leading crypto-asset, in terms of market capitalization. BTC has seen a spectacular run-up in 2021 and Finder has asked 35 panellists for their expert opinions on just how high it will go this year and when the bull run might end. Finder spoke with Samantha Yap, Founder and CEO of YAP Global

Bitcoin options markets are set to see a large expiry on Friday as more than 77,000 BTC worth over $4 billion in derivatives contracts are set to expire. The lion’s share of bitcoin options stems from the derivatives trading platform Deribit, as the exchange has more than $11 billion in open interest today. Sizzling Hot Bitcoin Options Markets Continue to Bubble, Traders Brace for Max Pain Crypto derivatives markets, particularly futures, perpetual swaps, and options have continued to see relentless demand in recent weeks. As far as options are concerned, a great number of puts and calls will expire in two days and a touch over 12 hours from now. On April 26, the data analytics company Skew.com tweeted about the 77k BTC worth over $4 billion that will be expiring this week. “77k bitcoin options expiring this week,” Skew tweeted . “$50k and $52k strikes open in good size,” the analytics provider further noted . Image via Skew.com’s Twitter account. “This is a very huge indicat

Mastercard is launching a new cryptocurrency rewards credit card featuring real-time rewards in partnership with crypto exchange Gemini. Cardholders will earn up to 3% back in real-time in bitcoin or a number of supported cryptocurrencies. Payments giant Mastercard is launching a new crypto rewards credit card this summer in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, the two companies announced Tuesday. Mastercard will be the exclusive card network with Webbank as the bank issuing the card. Holders of the new credit card will earn up to 3% back on qualifying purchases in bitcoin or any of the more than 30 cryptocurrencies supported by the exchange. Cryptocurrency rewards will automatically be deposited into the cardholders’ accounts at the exchange. There is also no annual fee for the card. The project was introduced early this year and so far more than 140,000 people are on the waitlist. When launched, those who are on the waitlist will receive first access to apply for

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that he owns bitcoin and has not sold any of his holdings. His company Tesla, however, has sold some of its bitcoins, which Musk says it’s “essentially to prove liquidity of bitcoin.” Tesla’s Master of Coin says the company believes in the value of bitcoin and will keep holding the cryptocurrency long term as well as accumulating from car sales. Tesla Sold 10% of Its Bitcoin Holdings, Made $272 Million Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, announced its first-quarter earnings results on Monday. Prior to the earnings call, bitcoiners were hoping to hear how many more bitcoins Tesla had purchased since its original investment of $1.5 billion early this year. However, Tesla revealed that it actually sold some BTC during the quarter. Zachary Kirkhorn, Tesla’s chief financial officer whose title was changed to Master of Coin , said during the earnings call: We also invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin during the quarter, then trimmed our position by

Ripple's UBRI welcomes the University of Capetown, Reykjavik University, and New York University Abu Dhabi to the leading university blockchain accelerator program. The post UBRI Welcomes First University Partners in Africa, UAE and Iceland, Drives CBDC Research Forward appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/RyXncl

Part-collateralized, part-algorithmically stabilized stablecoin, FRAX is the world’s first fractional-algorithmic stablecoin. The Frax protocol is ideologically pure, extremely stable, and highly scalable on-chain money that consists of a two-token system. The stablecoin Frax (FRAX), and the governance token Frax Shares (FXS). As Cryptocurrencies Rise so Too Stablecoins Amongst economical uncertainty and global financial instability, cryptocurrencies have been evolving rapidly. Cast aside as ‘fake’ online money by the masses for years, the canyon between fiat and crypto was stark until stablecoins began to bridge the gap. Paired directly to fiat currency prices, stablecoins have provided the much-needed stability required for many merchants, global institutions, and countries to participate in the crypto space. As the demand for cryptocurrencies continues to rise, so too does the demand for stablecoins and their development. This is evidenced by the current stablecoin market capita

Digital currency markets have been regaining some of the losses felt last week as the entire crypto-economy has jumped back over the $2 trillion valuation mark. Bitcoin has risen above the $55k zone, while other digital assets have seen more precipitous gains. Out of the top ten leading crypto assets on Tuesday, XRP and UNI have amassed double-digit percentage gains during the morning trading sessions. Crypto Markets Rebound Bitcoin and a number of crypto assets have been doing much better during the first couple of days this week in comparison to last week’s losses. Currently, bitcoin ( BTC ) is swapping for $55,178 per unit and is up 2.9% during the last 24 hours. Seven-day stats show BTC is still down a touch over 1.3%. Top five digital asset markets on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, at 8:00 a.m. EST. Tuesday’s data shows that bitcoin ( BTC ) markets have around $20 billion to $51.70 billion in global trade volume, while messari.io stats show “real volume” could be around $9.16 b

A new survey revealed the different stances of Russians toward cryptocurrencies and fiat currency. Specifically, some of the respondents believe digital assets will replace fiat in ten years. Residents in Moscow Believe Cryptos Will Replace Fiat, While Others Are Skeptical According to Nord News , the research was conducted by Otkritie Bank, a Moscow-based financial institution and one of the top ten banks in the country. It found that 14% of the 1,000 surveyed had an optimistic belief in digital currencies and the future years ahead. The bank collected responses from people aged 18-65 across the largest cities in Russia between April 12 and April 16. Although 8% of the respondents from the Northwest region think crypto assets will oust fiat currency in ten years, 21% of the residents in Moscow believe otherwise. In fact, four out of ten in the Russian capital city foresee banks reinventing themselves into “digital ecosystems,” as the crypto industry keeps developing and extending

A South African High Court recently served Mirror Trading International (MTI)’s Johann and Nerina Steynberg with a provisional sequestration order. The court’s decision follows a successful court application by the five joint provisional liquidators of the now-defunct online bitcoin scam. Sequestration Not Final According to a report , the order was reportedly served on the Steynbergs’ residential address at Eagle Crest in Polokwane. However, the report adds that the Steynbergs still “have until the return date of July 20, 2021, to give reasons why final sequestration should not be granted on that date.” Meanwhile, a copy of this court order was also delivered to the South African Revenue Services. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, MTI collapsed after Johann Steynberg, who reportedly fled to Brazil in late December 2020, blocked fellow co-founders from accessing the firm’s bank accounts. However, before fleeing, the CEO had ceded control of the company’s funds to his wif

The European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is keeping the central bank’s monetary easing policies unchanged according to her statements from a press conference last Thursday. Moreover, the central bank’s Twitter account recently shared a video of Lagarde defending negative interest rates, as the bank’s President stresses that they “support companies and people in the eurozone.” ECB President Christine Lagarde Wants to Preserve Favorable Financing Since well before Covid-19, a great number of central banks started to initiate monetary easing practices and pushing interest rates down to zero or below. On Thursday, Lagarde spoke during a press conference after the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to keep policies the same after keeping rates below zero and issuing lots of fiat. Lagarde says that the financing conditions must be maintained to fend off the economic effects of the global pandemic. “Preserving favorable financing conditions over the pandemic period remains

The Central Bank of Iran has authorized banks and currency exchangers to use cryptocurrencies mined by licensed crypto miners in the country to pay for imports. Meanwhile, a bill is being drafted to provide regulatory clarity regarding crypto-related activities. Using Cryptocurrencies to Pay for Imports The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has announced that banks and licensed currency exchangers can use cryptocurrency mined by licensed crypto miners in Iran to pay for imports, the Financial Tribune reported on Saturday. The publication described: The central bank says that lenders and licensed currency exchange offices have been notified about the regulatory framework for crypto payment. In October last year, the Iranian government amended its cryptocurrency regulation to enable the country’s central bank to fund imports with bitcoin legally mined in the country. Licensed crypto miners are required to sell their coins directly to the central bank. The measure was proposed by the CB