Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The Nigerian presidency has denied reports that the country’s Vice President (VP), Yemi Osinbajo, was calling for the devaluation of the local currency when he recently questioned the naira’s official exchange rate. The Huge Arbitrage In fact, according to a report that quotes Laolu Akande, the VP’s assistant, Osinbajo is against “a willy-nilly devaluation of the naira.” Akande suggests that the media may have taken Osinbajo’s comments out of context. He explained: For context, the Vice President’s point was that currently, the Naira exchange rate benefits only those who can obtain the dollar at N410, some of whom simply turn round and sell to the parallel market at N570. As regularly reported by Bitcoin.com News, Nigeria’s official exchange rate has remained unchanged since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last devalued the naira in May 2021. On the other hand, the exchange rate on the black market has grown steadily, hence the existing arbitrage. Market-Reflective Exchang

PRESS RELEASE. SAN FRANCISCO – October 15, 2021 – TRON, one of the largest blockchain-based operating systems in the world, is announcing an upcoming partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment today. Tron will provide the gaming company with its blockchain and expertise to enable in-game purchases, trading of in-game items and facilitate fast, cross-border payments on top of the Tron infrastructure. Sony has been at the forefront of blockchain technology, starting as early as 2016 to experiment with the technology, and initiating further development of a blockchain-based system to manage digital rights in 2018. Blockchain makes it difficult to destroy or falsify data and has been well-adapted to manage data and rights. However, the technology bears huge potential for the gaming industry, as has been illustrated by the rapid growth of blockchain gaming, and play-to-earn business models. The major challenge when building blockchain-based gaming companies are faced with are pro

ETC Group, an ETF issuer company, released a report last month about the evolution of Bitcoin Cash in the years after the hard fork that created it. While the company acknowledged the asset price is lagging compared to its older sibling, it praised the crypto on other aspects like development and actual usage. Bitcoin Cash has improved regarding these two metrics, likely helped by the inclusion in several important platforms such as Paypal. Bitcoin Cash Examined by ETC Group ETC Group, a financial services company based in London, has issued a report on Bitcoin Cash. The report, which touches on several important aspects of the cryptocurrency, establishes that Bitcoin Cash has experienced positive development when it comes to the actual usage of the currency. The report states: Bitcoin Cash has retained its laser focus on facilitating easy, fast, everyday transactions. And this is starting to pay off. Daily active addresses, a proxy for daily active users, have continued to gr

Visa, one of the leading credit and payments companies, has announced the creation of a program that will allow artists to understand how they can use new technologies like NFTs. According to Visa, NFTs have the potential of evening out the field for artists, allowing them to close the gap between art and its potential consumers. The company will sponsor a group of artists, giving them counsel about the importance of these cryptographic technologies. Visa Wants Artists To Learn About NFTs Visa has announced it will launch a program to introduce artists to the world of NFTs. The company is partnering with former MLB player Micah Johnson, who is now a digital artist, in order to show the benefits that non-fungible token (NFT) technology can provide. Things like new markets for art creations and at the same time, close the gap between consumers and art providers. Micah, who is the creator of Aku, an NFT based character, leveraged NFTs as a way of giving life to a community around its

Any digital currency issued by a central bank must support financial and monetary stability, finance leaders from G7 member states have insisted. State-issued coins should also ensure privacy, transparency, and data protection, the officials stated. The forum adopted 13 public policy principles for retail digital currencies and stressed that “CBDCs are not ‘cryptoassets.’” CBDCs Must ‘Do No Harm’ to Stability, G7 Finance Chiefs Say Recognizing the potential benefits of innovation in digital money and payments, finance officials from the Group of Seven ( G7 ) major economies addressed relevant public policy and regulatory issues at their latest meeting which also produced over a dozen guidelines for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). In a released statement , the participants reaffirmed: Any CBDC should be grounded in our long-standing public commitments to transparency, the rule of law and sound economic governance. A sovereign digital currency designed to be used by house

The chief executive officer of the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, says he is “more on the Jamie Dimon camp” when asked whether he thinks bitcoin is worthless. However, the executive says he is fascinated by people’s interest in crypto and sees “a huge role for a digitized currency.” Blackrock’s CEO Sides With JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon on the Value of Bitcoin Larry Fink, the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager with $9.5 trillion in assets under management, Blackrock, answered some questions about cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin, in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. He was asked whether he was “still in the Jamie Dimon’s category of ‘bitcoin is worthless'” or whether he saw value in the cryptocurrency. Dimon, the CEO of global investment bank JPMorgan, said earlier this week: “I personally think that bitcoin is worthless.” He also questioned the limited supply of the cryptocurrency. The Blackrock executive replied: I am probably more on the Jamie Dimon camp.

Dreamr Labs flagship product, the Dreamr app, continues to gain momentum in new user signups one month after the DMR token launch. Roadmap is being accelerated to meet consumer demand for dreamr technologies. Dreamr (Ticker: DMR ) is the community-driven platform created for users to pursue their personal and entrepreneurial dreams. The platform helps people to build a supportive tribe around their declared dream, features an encrypted messenger, and has decentralized financial tools in its roadmap to help users overcome the inevitable monetary obstacles that get in their way . Users can earn DMR tokens by using the dreamr app to declare their dream and connect with others on the platform pursuing their own ambitions and goals. The DMR token has utility in the form of platform governance, which gives token holders a real say in making changes to the dreamr development roadmap. Dreamr has also disclosed plans in its white paper to turn user’s dream content and stories into NF

The chief executive officer of global investment bank Morgan Stanley says that cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, is not a fad. Noting that they are not going to go away, he said: “We’re watchful of it, we’re respectful, and we’ll wait and see how the regulators handle it.” Morgan Stanley’s CEO Says Bitcoin and Crypto Aren’t Going Away Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency during the bank’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts Thursday morning. Emphasizing that crypto is not going to go away, he said: I’ve said it publicly before, I’ll say it again. I don’t think crypto’s a fad. I don’t know what the value of bitcoin should or shouldn’t be, but these things aren’t going away. He added: “The blockchain technology supporting it is obviously very real and powerful.” Morgan Stanley was among the first major banks to embrace bitcoin. In March, the bank revealed that it had begun offering bitcoin funds to clients. In April, the bank added bit

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has tweeted about investing in funds that hold bitcoin futures contracts. This has sparked optimism within the crypto community that the regulator may soon approve bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), especially those investing in bitcoin futures. Optimism Grows That SEC Will Approve a Bitcoin Futures ETF Soon The official Twitter account for the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy tweeted Thursday: “Before investing in a fund that holds bitcoin futures contracts, make sure you carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits.” The tweet references an investor bulletin jointly published in June by the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) Office of Customer Education and Outreach. The bulletin urges “investors considering a fund with exposure to the bitcoin futures market to weigh carefully the potential risks and benefits of the investment.” Comments

The billionaire CEO of Starwood Capital, an investment firm with over $95 billion under management, has revealed that he owns bitcoin and ether. “The U.S. government, and every government in the Western Hemisphere, is printing money now to the end of time, and this is a finite amount of something and it can be traded globally,” he explained. Billionaire Barry Sternlicht Owns Bitcoin and Ether Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, an investment firm with over $95 billion in assets under management (AUM), talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. According to Forbes’ list of billionaires, Sternlicht’s net worth as of Oct. 14 is $4.4 billion. The Starwood Capital boss revealed that he owns bitcoin and ether, noting that cryptocurrency makes sense as a way to diversify investment portfolios. Commenting on what JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said about bitcoin being worthless , he said, “Gold is kind of worthless too.” Discussing bit

In mid-July 2017, the largest darknet marketplace (DNM) Alphabay went dark and patrons didn’t know if the administrators were busted by law enforcement or if it was an exit scam. Not too long after the site went dark, law enforcement disclosed that an organized police task force, from various jurisdictions, infiltrated Alphabay alongside the DNM Hansa. Thailand police also arrested Alexandre Cazes, the alleged administrator for the Alphabay marketplace. Now over four years later, Alphabay (AB) has allegedly returned as the original AB admin “Desnake” has ostensibly ‘proven control’ over the AB administrators’ PGP key. The So-Called Return of the Alphabay, New Platform Unstable, Veracity of Desnake’s PGP Key Questionable During the last few weeks, darknet marketplace (DNM) users, researchers, and observers have been discussing the so-called return of the Alphabay (AB) marketplace. The DNM was the largest darknet market in 2017, and before the publication Deepdotweb was seized, it had

There’s a reason Ajshia Najafian is one of the first faces new employees see when they start at Ripple. Warmth and a willingness to help are essential in her role, but Ajshia takes it a step further by showing up every day as her most authentic self and creating a space for others to do … Continued The post LatinX at Ripple Co-Lead Ajshia Najafian on Authenticity in Identity appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/S9ZyJL

PRESS RELEASE. Playing games has taken another dimension entirely through a new play-to-earn model that makes earning generating crypto revenue easier than ever. Revolve Games is revolutionizing the way DeFi staking is integrated with blockchain gaming by debuting a Metaverse where players can earn rewards according to performance. Current games fall short in unlocking the true value of play-to-earn NFT games. But a token-staking play-to-earn model is what the NFT scene needs so players can fully dive in the immersive gameplay of the metaverse and capitalize on their skills and experience. Revolve Games Metaverse is the first AAA quality inter-planetary sandbox metaverse. Players can explore the galaxy with their NFT tethered spacecraft, buy land on planets, shape the landscape and build their own games. Teleportation portal NFTs allow them to instantly travel between your favourite set destinations in the metaverse. Recent partnerships with other popular NFT games like Netvrk mea

Richard Buckminster Fuller was a well known American architect, systems theorist, author, and inventor. Similar to the visions expressed by the industrialist Henry Ford, the Nobel laureate Friedrich Hayek, and Austrian economist Milton Friedman, Buckminster Fuller also predicted a concept that resembled Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin invention 54 years ago in 1967. Buckminster Fuller: ‘Build a New Model That Makes the Existing Model Obsolete’ In a recent editorial, Bitcoin.com News discussed how the famed industrialist Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, envisaged an idea that’s similar to Bitcoin roughly 100 years ago. It was further said that before cypherpunks like Timothy May and Eric Hughes wrote about digital cash, Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman also predicted a technology that would operate similarly to Satoshi’s Bitcoin project. Buckminster Fuller was another intelligent individual who predicted the invention of cryptocurrencies and new wealth. Fuller was n

Superrare Labs has revealed the first-ever non-fungible token (NFT) drop crafted by the renowned photographer Bill Bernstein and the legendary Studio 54. The NFT drop features the nightlife photographs taken by Bernstein from the iconic Studio 54 and Paradise Garage. Additionally, Superrare has also unveiled NFT collectibles that showcase 8-bit animations of Studio 54 and music from Jitwam, Teymori, and Studio 54 Music. Studio 54 Lights Up the Nightlife With NFT Photos From the Iconic Disco Club and Paradise Garage 44 years ago, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager opened a nightclub called Studio 54, launched during the peak of America’s disco trend. In a matter of no time, the club became world-famous and stars like Woody Allen, Betty Ford, Calvin Klein, Timothy Leary, Farrah Fawcett, Liza Minnelli, David Bowie, Cher, Rick James, and Mick Jagger regularly attended. The club itself has closed and in 2020, the company expanded into a record label called Studio 54 Music and has a radio sta

A Zimbabwean business lobby group, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), has warned that the country’s currency could collapse if authorities fail to “implement policy measures that are needed to support it.” Central Bank Approach Unsettling the Market In a letter seen by Bitcoin.com News, the lobby group’s president Kurai Matsheza explained that the heavy-handed approach towards the foreign exchange challenge would be unsettling to markets. To ensure that this challenge is fully tackled, the CZI boss insists that measures, which were agreed upon by parties that attended a consultative meeting, must be given time to take effect. Following the Zimdollar’s collapse in 2008, Zimbabwe switched to a multi-currency system in which the U.S. dollar dominated. However, in 2019 the Zimbabwean dollar or ZWL, which was then at par with the USD, was reintroduced. Yet nearly two years later, the ZWL/USD exchange rate is now 88:1 on the official market and over 170:1 on the parallel ma

Fox Entertainment and Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL) has announced the launch of maskverse.com, a non-fungible token marketplace and community dedicated to the entertainment series and hit singing competition “The Masked Singer.” According to Fox and BCL, the NFT marketplace and a game will be powered by the Eluvio blockchain. Fox, Blockchain Creative Labs, Eluvio Introduce The Masked Singer NFT Marketplace In mid-May, Fox Broadcasting Company, the American commercial broadcast television network, announced it was launching a non-fungible token (NFT) business called Blockchain Creative Labs. In June, Fox detailed that it had teamed up with Bento Box Entertainment (BBE) and initiated a $100 million fund aimed at empowering NFT content creators. Now the broadcasting and entertainment company is unveiling an NFT ecosystem dedicated to the popular singing competition show “The Masked Singer.” Fox and BCL launched maskverse.com, which allows fans of “The Masked Singer” (TMS) to “buil

Today, Ripple is excited to announce it is joining the Digital Pound Foundation, a non-profit focused on the development and implementation of a digital Pound in the United Kingdom. Ripple, as a Foundation member, will be represented on the board by Susan Friedman, Head of Policy. Ripple’s participation in the Foundation continues our ongoing work … Continued The post Ripple Joins the Digital Pound Foundation: Designing a Path for a CBDC-Forward Future appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/S9XWjb

YIELD App, a FinTech company and digital asset wealth management platform, has published its Q3 report, showing the firm continuing on a strong growth trajectory over the third quarter of 2021, which saw it double its managed assets and strike a high profile partnership with Premier League football club, West Ham United. The quarter saw YIELD App’s managed assets increase by 107% from $163.6 million at the end of June 2021 to $339.4 million by the end of September, marking a bold first nine months for YIELD App following its beta launch in December 2020 and public launch in February of this year. YIELD App said the increase had been driven in large part by the launch of its Bitcoin Fund in July, which reached its cap of 500 BTC in just a few days of its first fundraising round. The re-opening of the fund in August also saw one of the firm’s biggest days for new user sign-ups, with close to 1,500 new users joining on August 20th. Asset growth was further boosted by a growing numbe

A deficit in crypto talent is pushing salaries up in Indian companies engaged with the domestic and global blockchain industry, local media reported quoting data from recent studies. Demand for professionals in the field has been growing rapidly in the past year. Crypto Experience Can Bring up to $100,000 in Annual Salary Indian IT companies providing services to global clients, fintech startups, and consulting firms have been competing for specialists with experience in crypto technologies, resulting in what the Economic Times describes as a war of wages. A report by the business daily indicates that demand for this type of talent has increased significantly over the last months. The number of active job openings this month, the newspaper wrote on Wednesday, stands at over 12,000 which represents a 50% increase since last year. The quoted numbers come from the latest report by staffing services company Xpheno . The relatively young age of cryptocurrency technology, just over a

St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard told the press on Tuesday that he thinks the U.S. central bank needs to wind down the buying of $80 billion worth of monthly bond purchases. Bullard says he would support tapering starting as early as November, in order to “react to possible upside risks to inflation next year.” St. Louis Fed President Has Been ‘Advocating Trying to Get Finished With the Taper Process’ On Tuesday, Bitcoin.com News reported on the rising concerns over inflation as the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) report explained U.S. households believe inflation will be higher a year from now. It’s been more than 20 months since the U.S. central bank started its massive quantitative easing (QE) programs to combat the disastrous economic consequences of government-ordered lockdowns and supply chain shutdowns. *BULLARD: CONCERNED THAT INFLATION RISKS ARE TO THE UPSIDE Oh rly? — zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 4, 2021 The govern

The owners of a cryptocurrency firm that raised approximately $24 million from more than 13,000 investors have pleaded guilty to tax evasion. “These crypto-savvy defendants exploited an emerging technology, lying to their investors, pocketing the proceeds, and concealing the income from the IRS,” said acting U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham. Crypto Firm’s Founders Face up to 5 Years in Jail The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that the owners of a cryptocurrency company have pleaded guilty to tax evasion. Bitqyck founders Bruce Bise and Samuel Mendez were charged with tax evasion in August. Bise pleaded guilty on Sept. 9 and Mendez pleaded guilty Tuesday morning. Citing plea papers, the DOJ detailed: Mr. Bise and Mr. Mendez admitted that Bitqyck raised approximately $24 million from more than 13,000 investors. Instead of fulfilling their promises to these investors, the defendants used Bitqyck funds on personal expenses, including casino trips, cars, luxury home furni

Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe says that a collapse in the cryptocurrency market is certainly “plausible,” stating that regulators worldwide need to pursue crypto rules “as a matter of urgency.” While cryptocurrencies do not currently pose a threat to the country’s financial stability, the deputy governor says there are some “very good reasons” to think that this might not be the case for very much longer. Crypto Collapse Plausible, Crypto Rules Are ‘a Matter of Urgency’ Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe talked about cryptocurrency and its regulation on Wednesday at the SIBOS conference. He emphasized that regulators worldwide need to work quickly and establish rules to regulate cryptocurrencies, given the rapid growth of the industry and how long it takes to put new rules in place. He said: Regulators internationally and in many jurisdictions have begun the work. It needs to be pursued as a matter of urgency. As an example of how long it takes to estab