Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A recent report by CR2 on Africa’s fintech transformation suggests traditional financial institutions can still be a part of the fintech financial revolution if they leverage one of their most significant assets: client trust. Partnerships Between Banks and Fintechs The report urges financial institutions that wish to accelerate their advance to success in the fintech space to forge partnerships with fintech startups and technology companies. Having such partnerships, as well as their longstanding client networks and more defined regulatory environment, means financial institutions can still grow their share of Africa’s digital market. To illustrate the importance of the collaboration between banks and fintech, the CR2 report makes reference to the story of how one Nigerian bank, GTB, lost clients after its mobile banking platform went offline. The report then contrasts GTB’s misfortunes with the rise of the VC-backed fintech startup Kudabank, which saw its customer base rise fro

A group of South African cryptocurrency investors have voiced concerns about the fate of their investment in the Fight to Fame (F2F token) after they reportedly were unable to withdraw their funds as promised. Token Sale Attracts Over 2,000 Applicants According to an IOL report , the investors had invested in a token that was promoted by Marius Fransman, a former regional leader of South Africa’s governing party, the ANC. Some media reports suggest Fransman’s company may have received over 2,000 applications from investors that include actors, writers, musicians, and directors that wanted to be a part of the project. Fransman had planned to use the funds that were raised to promote an international TV reality boxing show called “Fight to Fame.” The report adds that Fransman’s company, F2F SA, would host large entertainment events at venues such as big casinos, where the tokens would be the means to access the venue and also to be exchanged for gambling chips. Yet as one anonymous

While the price of bitcoin has been volatile during the last seven days, a number of smart contract platforms have been performing far better this week. Statistics indicate that the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) is $267 billion and the TVL held on Ethereum commands the lion’s share of this value. Ethereum is the largest smart contract platform today, in terms of market valuation, but a number of competitors have increased significantly in value over the last 12 months. 3 Smart Contract Tokens Surpassed Ethereum’s 12 Month Gains by a Long Shot The largest smart contract platform Ethereum (ETH) has a market valuation of around $555 billion and it commands 18.7% of the entire crypto economy’s net value. Metrics also show that there’s $267 billion TVL in defi today, and the Ethereum protocol captures $179 billion or 49.16% of the overall TVL in defi. In terms of trade volume, ether has $15.5 billion in global swaps today, which is much larger than its compet

Following the passing of the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill, the U.S. president appears to be nearing his decision on whether or not he will reappoint Jerome Powell, the current Federal Reserve Board chairperson. According to a few reports Powell may be chosen, but other reports say the Fed’s Board of Governors member, Lael Brainard, could also be a frontrunner for the position. President Biden to Choose Fed Chair ‘Fairly Quickly’ Amid the rising inflation and supply chain woes, U.S. president Joe Biden is thinking about who will run the Federal Reserve when Jerome Powell’s term ends next February. Media pundits say the timing “ is crucial ,” as the U.S. central bank has been discussing tapering back quantitative easing (QE) and adjusting rates upwards. Of course, these have all been just conversations so far and the members of the Fed have yet to decide on tapering back large asset purchases and hiking the benchmark rate. Meanwhile, rising inflation has reared its u

U.S. law enforcement agents have “kidnapped” crypto entrepreneur Denis Dubnikov in Mexico, before transferring him to the Netherlands where he was arrested, his lawyer told Russian media. Dubnikov is suspected of money laundering and faces up to 20 years in prison if extradited to the United States. FBI Accused of Kidnapping Russian Citizen With Cryptocurrency Business The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) has “practically kidnapped” Russian national Denis Dubnikov in Mexico, later arrested in Amsterdam on Nov. 1, his lawyer Arkady Bukh alleged, speaking to Sputnik. The co-founder of crypto trading platforms Coyote Crypto and Eggchange was first held at the airport in Mexico City while on vacation and then boarded a flight to the Netherlands where he was detained by Dutch authorities. The defense attorney explained: Mexico has not let him enter the country. The US intelligence services have put him on a plane to the Netherlands and sent him there having paid for his ti

On November 6, 2021, Alchemy Pay’s Chief of Staff, Karmen Tang, delivered her keynote address at the Epicenter Crypto Conference in Lisbon. Tang took the audience through a brief history of Alchemy Pay and the broad ecosystem they have now built within blockchain infrastructure. The founders of Alchemy Pay come from giants of traditional payments such as Mastercard, QFPay, PayPal, and Tencent. “Experience, expertise and networking have all been key to what Alchemy Pay does. That gives us that edge over others in the crypto payment space,” said Tang. Significant Network Growth In the past year, Alchemy Pay has achieved significant growth and secured new partnerships including access to PayPal payment channels in Q4 of 2020, and to Visa and MasterCard payment channels earlier this year. Today, Alchemy Pay is in over 60 countries, and provides over 200 payment channels for fiat and crypto acceptance. The industry still faces a lack of real-world use cases and in order to solve this A

Lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia are gearing up to introduce a draft law designed to regulate crypto mining. The nationalists say the legislation will benefit both Russian citizens and the state, as well as those who want to get involved in the business legally. Nationalists Propose Regulations for Russian Crypto Miners The popularity of cryptocurrencies, rising with their market value, has drawn the attention of the nationalist faction in the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament. “Unsecured” bitcoin is now trading at $68,000 per coin, one of its members, Andrey Lugovoy, noted in comments to local media this week, adding: If three years ago someone invested 1 million rubles, they would now have 5 billion. The deputy revealed that his Liberal Democratic Party of Russia ( LDPR ) is going to file a draft law on the regulation of cryptocurrency mining. Digital coin minting has also expanded in the vast and energy-rich country where it still develops

Onedegree, a virtual insurer based in Hong Kong, will provide insurance services for digital assets as part of a partnership with a local cryptocurrency exchange. By working together, the two firms hope to alleviate concerns discouraging potential investors from entering the crypto market. Onedegree to Underwrite Insurance Policies for Crypto Assets Hong Kong has several licensed providers of virtual insurance services and one of them, Onedegree, will now offer up to $100 million in coverage to Hkbitex, a crypto trading platform operating in the global financial hub. The two companies have teamed up to protect clients’ cryptocurrencies entrusted to the exchange against risks such as theft and hacking. According to a report by the South China Morning Post on Thursday, Onedegree becomes the first insurer to underwrite insurance policies for crypto assets in Asia while few companies around the world offer this kind of service. The available coverage, the publication revealed quoting i

Terra, an algorithmic stablecoin project, will burn $4.5 billion worth of terra (LUNA), its native token, from its community pool. The decision was taken using the on-chain governance system, and according to proposals 133 and 134, the LUNA will be burned and swapped for the native stablecoin of the chain, UST. This burn is expected to raise the price of LUNA, at least in the long term. Terra Starts Burning LUNA Terra, a smart contract-enabled algorithmic stablecoin project, passed a pair of proposals to burn $4.5 billion worth of terra (LUNA), its native token, from community pools. The burn will occur every 800 blocks produced, and its purpose is to adapt the structure of the currency for the new Columbus 5 upgrade, which changed the way UST is produced. The UST obtained from the burn will be reallocated to the community pool, with governance responsible for deciding what to do with these funds. The first swap transaction already took place earlier this week. After the whole sta

Investment bank Morgan Stanley has stated the metaverse is now the next big investment theme, in a note directed to investors Thursday. Strategists from the bank believe this alternate conception of reality is amassing important interest from companies like Meta (formerly Facebook) and Microsoft, which are already trying to grasp the concept. Some of these companies are already capitalizing on it. ‘Metaverse’ the New Buzz Concept Morgan Stanley, one of the biggest investment banks in the world, announced it considers the metaverse the next big investment scheme, according to a note directed to investors Thursday. The metaverse is a concept that includes the construction of an alternate universe where individuals can model their image to whatever they want to be, and perform real-life tasks such as buying things, gaming with friends, and other activities. The concept has already been grasped by companies that are trying to build their respective takes on it. Facebook was renamed t

While bitcoin has been hovering above the $60K handle for a great majority of the last 28 days, the network’s hashrate has jumped considerably during that time as well. Since August 13, Bitcoin’s hashrate has climbed 42% from 110 exahash per second (EH/s) to today’s 157 EH/s. Moreover, after nine consecutive difficulty changes, going forward, it will be 50% more difficult to mine bitcoin than it was three months ago for the next two weeks. Bitcoin’s Hashrate Follows the Price Rise At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s hashrate is coasting along at 157 EH/s and approximately 14 known mining pools are dedicating hashpower to the network. 16.39 exahash or 10.24% of the network is being mined by stealth miners and the hashrate is classified as “unknown.” The unknown hashrate represents the fifth-largest mining ‘pool’ dedicating hash toward the network. Meanwhile, during the last three months, Bitcoin’s hashrate has followed the price moving northbound. The overall hashrate is 42% higher

A large amount of cryptocurrency has reportedly been withdrawn from a wallet previously controlled by the Finiko Ponzi scheme in Russia. The wallet’s unknown operators have transferred coins worth $48 million this month. The digital currency was split into smaller amounts and deposited to different addresses. 750 BTC Removed From Crypto Pyramid Finiko Wallet A total of 750 BTC , worth around $48 million at the time of writing, has been withdrawn from one of the wallets used by crypto Ponzi scheme Finiko, Forklog reported . Youtube blogger Andrey Alistarov broke the news about the transfer, revealing that it was made in three separate transactions of 250 BTC each since the beginning of November. The money was initially moved to a single address and subsequently sent to another wallet at the cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, quoted data from blockchain analysis platform Crystal Blockchain shows. The crypto funds were then divided into smaller amounts and transferred to other addresse

In mid-June, the ‘Speedy Trial’ lock-in period for the Bitcoin network upgrade Taproot locked in at block height 687,285 and was mined by the bitcoin mining pool Slushpool. Taproot is expected to activate on the network on Saturday, November 13, 2021, and the upgrade is considered one of the largest changes the protocol has seen since Segregated Witness (Segwit) went live in 2017. Bitcoin Upgrade Taproot Expected to Activate on Saturday Taproot is expected to activate and go live on the main network on Saturday, November 13, 2021, following the lock-in period this past summer. When activated, Taproot is expected to enhance the digital currency network’s scripting capacity and the ability to leverage Schnorr signatures (BIP340) will be made available. Taproot is also expected to amplify bitcoin transactions by allowing certain types of complex, ‘smart’ transactions. People say this often but this is actually the first time I do… this may literally be the last dip before a HUGE ral

ADALend , currently in the process of developing a decentralized financing (DeFi) project has just announced its plans to start the development of its cross-platform integrations very soon. The cross-platform integrations will simplify and allow access to decentralized financial services by a larger segment of users around the globe. ADALend’s GM, Javed Khattak, has earlier announced that ADALend will work on its UI and the platform’s user experience and simplicity to provide less barriers of entry for traditional users to get involved with decentralized financing. About ADALend ADALend is a decentralized lending protocol governed by the Cardano system. Within this Cardano system, ADALend will influence the flexibility of digital finance markets by providing a basis for immediate access to loans and collaterals, resulting in sustained liquidity of the blockchain assets of the lender. Permissionless Lending On Any Pairing Guarantees the users will always be granted the best o

On Friday, November 12, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Vaneck’s bitcoin spot market exchange-traded fund (ETF). The U.S. regulator noted that the denial was due to the lack of prevention toward “fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.” SEC Turns Down Spot Market ETF – US Regulator Believes There Should be More Manipulation Protection for Investors Following the approval of a few bitcoin ETFs that leverage future markets, the SEC has rejected Vaneck’s bitcoin spot market ETF on Friday. So far, the U.S. regulator has not approved any bitcoin ETFs that are tethered to spot market prices. In its ruling , the SEC explains spot market ETF offerings have not “met its burden” when it comes to “[protecting] investors and the public interest.” The Vaneck ETF was turned down over “the requirement that the rules of a national securities exchange be “designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.” For one, standards need to include “sur

Two days ago on November 10, a mystery whale transferred 20 block rewards from 2010, which saw the movement of 1,000 decade-old bitcoins worth $68 million at the time of transfer. Two days later on November 12, the miner from 2010 returned once again, in order to transfer another string of 20 block rewards from 2010 worth roughly $64 million at the time it was sent. After Transferring 1,000 Bitcoins 2 Days Ago, the Mega-Whale From 2010 Has Returned Again Last year, Bitcoin.com News, the members of the Telegram research group GFIS , and the creator of Btcparser.com discovered an extraordinary bitcoin ( BTC ) whale that spent decade-old block rewards from 2010 in strings of 20 blocks at a time. To date, the whale has transferred a total of 13,000 bitcoins that derived from mined blocks in 2010. Using today’s exchange rates that’s close to a billion dollars ($829M) but this whale transferred the 13,000 during various BTC price ranges. The day bitcoin (BTC) reached an all-time price

At the World Digital Mining Summit in Dubai, the leading application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bitcoin mining rig manufacturer, Bitmain, revealed the company’s most powerful bitcoin mining device to date. The new Antminer S19 XP will boast up to 140 terahash per second (TH/s) and uses 27% less electricity per terahash than the most efficient and profitable bitcoin miner today. The New Antminer S19 XP Boasts 140 TH/s and 27% Less Electricity Consumption per Terahash This week the bitcoin mining industry has been buzzing about a new ASIC SHA256 mining rig manufactured by the company Bitmain. News about the new miner was first leaked by the Chinese journalist and former Bitmain employee Colin Wu. The journalist wrote that compared to the current generation of Antminer S19s, the latest in the series of models has “been greatly improved.” Following Wu’s tweet on November 6, Bitmain hosted the World Digital Mining Summit (WDMS) in Dubai and revealed the firm’s next-generation

PRESS RELEASE. Sydney, Australia – Cardingo is an NFT series and Cardano NFT marketplace that has secretly been in the works for months. While the world waited for Cardano smart contracts, the Cardingo team busily went to work on a series of NFTs and a unique marketplace to satisfy the tastes of Cardano fans worldwide. CNFTs started selling long before smart contracts. Platforms like cnft.io and easycnft.io have offered CNFTs for months. They have been so successful in fact the platforms are inundated with an overwhelming and constant flow. Cardingo aims to stand out by providing a curated marketplace, which mints NFTs only by selected artists. This brings a unique and exclusive touch and Cardingo will always be searching for additional high-quality art and high profile artists to join the platform. Extra effort is being applied into seeking Aboriginal art and artists to expand their income potential and help share their culture and history with the world. A CARDANO MASCOT – OUTBAC

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), still has “serious concerns” about cryptocurrency from a macroeconomic and financial stability standpoint. Furthermore, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das says he doubts the veracity of the number of Indian crypto investors reported by the media. RBI Has Serious Concerns About Crypto, Governor Doubts Veracity of Media Reports on Crypto Sector The governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das, reiterated that the central bank still has “serious concerns” about cryptocurrencies at Business Standard’s BFSI Summit this week. He was quoted by local media as saying: Cryptocurrencies are a serious concern to RBI from a macroeconomic and financial stability standpoint. He added that the central bank has “given our detailed suggestions” regarding cryptocurrency to the government, which is now “actively looking at the issue and will decide on it.” However, the central bank governor noted, “But as the central banker, we have s

Most game developers in U.S. and U.K. are now using blockchain elements in their games, according to a study released this week. The study, commissioned by a company named Stratis, reveals that the popularity of blockchain, NFTs, and the new play-to-earn model in the crypto market is making game developers change the traditional ways in which games are produced, with the intention of enticing new players and accessing new markets. Blockchain and NFTs Becoming Mainstream in Video Game Development The trend of including blockchain elements and NFTs in video games is here to stay. According to a study released this week commissioned by blockchain platform Stratis, and by a research firm called Opinium, 58% of the 197 surveyed developers in the U.S. and U.K. are beginning to use blockchain elements in their games. Furthermore, according to the same study, 48% of these developers are incorporating NFTs in their games. This is a testament to how the use of these elements, which increase

While Nigerians have seemingly embraced the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s digital currency, skeptical analysts believe a lack of trust in the government will ultimately limit the e-naira’s prospects for success. Threat From Fintech Startups In addition, some analysts insist the digital currency’s already tenuous position is made worse by the fact that it has to compete with fintech startups. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Nigeria is home to some of the biggest fintech startups and is a country that receives a relatively large chunk of the continent’s fintech investment. According to a Financial Times report , it is this threat from well-funded fintech startups that raises questions about the e-naira’s chances of fulfilling some of the CBN’s goals like bringing more people into the financial system or allowing for more targeted social and welfare spending. One of the analysts who is quoted in the report casting doubts about the e-naira’s prospects of succeeding is A