Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A Serbian national has been extradited to the United States to face charges of defrauding investors out of more than $70 million through a cryptocurrency mining and binary options scam. Antonije Stojilkovic, 32, and six accomplices, who were all arrested between July and October 2020, faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted. Bogus Profiles According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Stojilkovic was nabbed in his home country after the country submitted a “provisional arrest request on July 24, 2020. The statement adds that his removal “from Serbia to the Northern District of Texas” was completed on On Feb. 4, 2021. Alongside his six coconspirators, Stojilkovic is accused of targeting “investors around the globe – including several in north Texas – soliciting ‘investments’ in binary options and cryptocurrency mining.” The DOJ says the defendants, who used their home bases in China and Serbia, orchestrated the scam through “more than 20 fraudulent...

An incentive of 100G$ will be given to registered users for new referrals, and 50G$ to new users as a ‘welcome bonus.’ Etoro, one of the world’s leading social trading platforms, has announced that it’s funding rewards for the next one million users of its Gooddollar project, following the launch of a brand new referral program. Stablecoin G$ Aims to Become Digital Universal Basic Income Gooddollar is a digital coin and wallet founded in September 2020 by Yoni Assia, the cofounder, and CEO of Etoro. It provides a digital form of universal basic income (UBI) to citizens worldwide by issuing a stablecoin named G$. To date, Gooddollar has supported over 50,000 users with its digital UBI, with this new referral program set to grow that further. Under the terms of the referral program, Gooddollar users will receive a bonus of 100 G$ for each new invitee that signs up. New users are set to benefit too and receive a welcome bonus of 50 G$ once registration is completed. Etoro has yet to ...

The new administration in Estonia is still planning to pursue an agenda to tighten rules for companies dealing with cryptocurrencies. The Ministry of Finance is looking to strengthen anti-laundering measures within the context of a major money-laundering scandal that involved Danske Bank. Estonia Revoked Over 1,000 Crypto Firms’ Licenses in 2020 Per a report by ERR News , the Ministry of Finance is not aiming to ride-off from the past administration’s agenda regarding the regulation of crypto assets, such as bitcoin ( BTC ). The current draft legislation is inherited from Jüri Ratas, the former country’s prime minister and head of the Centre Party. Although Estonia was considered several years ago as a crypto-friendly hotspot in the region, especially during Taavi Rõivas’ mandate, the situation has changed recently. Before the ministry drafted legislation to make regulations stricter, Estonia issued over 1,300 licenses. With the Ratas’ legislation, over 1,000 licenses of crypto fi...

In Argentina, a provincial legislature has voted in favor of a bill to impose new taxes on gross incomes from crypto transactions. Cordoba’s central province is now the first one to impose crypto taxes in the country, which involves crypto exchange platforms and retail traders. Approved Tax Bill Grants a Definition of Cryptocurrencies According to CBA4N , the “Tax Law 2021” approved by the legislature seeks to tax people 4% to 6.5% on gross incomes from crypto-related transactions. Also, individuals or businesses who receive payments in cryptocurrencies “in exchange for goods or services” will be subject to a rate of 0.25%. Citing Cordoba Bitcoin, a local crypto community, the local media outlet believes other provinces and even the national government could replicate the measure. Cordoba Bitcoin also clarified CBA4N that previously, there was only a 15% tax corresponding to earnings, and that covered cryptos as a result of the difference in price in the year. The Central Bank of ...

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF)’s Alex Gladstein has heaped praise on bitcoin saying it’s an escape hatch from tyranny and that there is more to it than its price. In comments made via a short video, Gladstein, who is the chief strategy officer (CSO) at HRF, asserts that “people who buy bitcoin are strengthening a tool for protecting human rights.” Bitcoin Preserves Freedom Meanwhile, Gladstein uses the video to push back again bitcoin critics like Paul Krugman whom he describes as living in a “sheltered environment in a liberal democracy with constitutional protections.” The CSO adds that since Krugman’s “native currency (USD) is globally dominant and relatively stable,” it is easy for him to open a bank account. Similarly, the HRF executive says it easy for Krugman to use a mobile app to “pay bills or to grow his wealth by investing in real estate or stocks.” In contrast, these privileges are not extended to 4.2 billion people that are living under “authoritarian regimes that ...

The number of unbanked and underbanked United States consumers is staggeringly high and will continue to rise as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without full and fair access to basic financial services many of us take for granted, as much as 25% of the adult, bankable population in the United States spends a disproportionate … Continued The post Fostering Financial Inclusion via Real-Time Digital Payments appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/RsHhtM

Musician Mike Shinoda, guitarist and founding member of the American rock band Linkin Park, has auctioned his first non-fungible token (NFT) for a charitable cause. The NFT, a piece of digital media titled ‘One Hundredth Stream,’’ raised over $30,000 Musician Mike Shinoda, guitarist and founding member of the American rock band Linkin Park, has auctioned his first non-fungible token (NFT). I made a thing: https://t.co/nxirMUsCvb #NFTs #Cryptoart @ourZORA — Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) February 6, 2021 According to a tweet from Shinoda’s Twitter profile , $30,000 of the money raised will go to the Michael K Shinoda Endowed Scholarship at the Arts Center College of Design to ‘benefit students based on artistic merit and financial need.’ $30k US will be going to the “Michael K Shinoda Endowed Scholarship” at @artcenteredu to benefit students based on artistic merit and financial need. https://t.co/sMy9tPrWV1 — Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) February 8, 2021 The NFT was a...

The price of bitcoin touched a new all-time high on Monday after the community discovered that Elon Musk’s firm Tesla added $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin to the company’s balance sheet. At press time, bitcoin is meandering over the $43k handle and has an overall market capitalization of around $814 billion today. Crypto Markets Rise in Value Bitcoin (BTC) shot up by thousands of dollars on Monday after the news about Tesla’s bitcoin made headlines and went viral on social media. The price per BTC hit a whopping $44,899 per unit and the price has retreated some since the top. Currently, bitcoin (BTC) is exchanging hands for $43,107 per unit with $27.9 billion in global trade volume. During the last seven days, BTC has risen over 30% and over 9% during the last month. 90-day stats show bitcoin is up 186% and 332% against the U.S. dollar for the last 12 months. Ethereum (ETH) is up 13% today and trading for $1,713 per unit on Monday. In the fourth position stands cardano (ADA)...

The Cardano network token has toppled Dot to become the crypto-asset with the fourth-highest market capitalization. This new Cardano position comes after its price surged by more than 85% from $0.35 on February 1 to $0.68 on February 7. With the new price, the token’s market capitalization has now moved from $11 billion to the $21.8 billion mark. Four Ranked Tokens As a result, the open-source blockchain’s ADA token has now become the third crypto to be ranked at number four within the first few weeks of 2021. Before ADA , it had been the XRP and Dot tokens that have been swapping this position. As markets.Bitcoin.com charts show, the ADA token also briefly peaked at $0.69 for the first time since January 2018. However, the new 52 week high is still half of the all-time high of $1.30. Dogecoin’s Continuing Rise In the meantime, Elon Musk’s favored crypto, dogecoin has surged to a new all-time high (ATH) of $0.0814. The new ATH follows continuing celebrity endorsement of ...

The publicly listed firm Tesla has announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 10-k filing that the company has purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. When the news broke, the price of the leading crypto asset jumped well over 15%, touching a new all-time price high at $44,899 per coin. Tesla, the American electric vehicle and clean energy company based in Palo Alto, California has revealed the company has invested in bitcoin (BTC) . This is following the great number of dogecoin (DOGE) tweets stemming from the Tesla founder Elon Musk during the last two weeks. The 10-k SEC filing submitted by Tesla for the fiscal year 2020 shows the company owns $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. The announcement was found in a SEC Form 10-k filing which says the firm may “hold and may acquire digital assets that may be subject to volatile market prices, impairment and unique risks of loss.” “In January 2021, we updated our investment policy to provide us with more flexibility ...

Paxful, one of the largest peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplaces in the world, is celebrating the real reasons people use bitcoin everyday with a special $15,000 giveaway . The platform helps millions to have access to payments, e-commerce, remittances, wealth preservation and philanthropy with bitcoin. What Real People Use Bitcoin For With bitcoin’s incredible recent rally it is no surprise that most of the news you hear about the cryptocurrency focus on the price gains. However, it is important to remember that for many people it is so much more than just a speculative asset. Paxful is active all over the world, including in markets with hundreds of millions of unbanked people such as in Africa and Asia, and it therefore can see the real uses people have for bitcoin. In order to celebrate these real world uses cases and the fact that bitcoin is a valuable tool for all people, Paxful is launching a special $15,000 giveaway where 1,500 traders can win up to $100 in BTC . To lear...

Back in January, the notorious Craig Wright who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto had his lawyers send letters to a number of websites like bitcoin.org telling them to remove the Bitcoin white paper hosted on their web portals. On January 31, bitcoin.org’s owner Cobra claimed he was threatened by a Bitcoinsv supporter after the person discovered the anonymous owner’s phone number. Moreover, the organization Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) has sent a letter to Wright’s legal team seeking more information regarding the claims of copyright ownership. Cobra Refuses to Stop Hosting the Bitcoin White Paper, Allegedly Receives a Threat from a Bitcoinsv Supporter Not too long ago, Craig Wright’s lawyers stemming from the law firm Ontier LLP, have sent letters to various websites telling them to remove the Bitcoin white paper from the web portal. The claim was of course met with controversy and the owner of the website bitcoin.org refused to take down the paper. On February 3, 2021, the own...

The founder of Stone Ridge Asset Management and the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) sees a “wall of money” coming into bitcoin based on his firm’s order book. The executive believes that institutions are just getting started and we will see an explosion of bitcoin-focused traditional financial products within a year. NYDIG Bullish on Bitcoin Stone Ridge Asset Management and NYDIG founder Ross Stevens shared his insight on institutional adoption of bitcoin last week in an interview with Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor. Stevens founded Stone Ridge in 2012 and NYDIG in 2017, where he now serves as its executive chairman. Today, “NYDIG is a full service vertically integrated bitcoin-only financial services firm,” he described. “A year ago, we had 25 institutional clients,” he told Saylor. “Today, we have 280 institutional clients. We’ve got a pipeline in the onboarding process of 96.” Stevens added that at the current capacity, his company can onboard 75 institutions a month...

Pro-bitcoin U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has been appointed to the Senate banking committee. She has been talking to Janet Yellen and has outlined her plans to help the new Treasury Secretary and other U.S. lawmakers understand that bitcoin is a great store of value. Lummis says that Yellen has an open mind on this topic even though she currently thinks that cryptocurrencies are mainly used for illicit financing. Senator Lummis Plans to Convince Congress and Janet Yellen About the Benefits of Bitcoin U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis was appointed to the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee last week. The committee has jurisdiction over a range of matters, including banks, banking, federal monetary policy, currency, and financial aid to commerce and industry. Lummis was sworn in to the U.S. Senate on Jan. 3, becoming the first woman to serve as U.S. Senator from the state of Wyoming. She previously served as Wyoming state treasurer. In an interview with Morgan Creek Digital part...

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Miller’s flagship fund will soon be able to add bitcoin exposure by investing in Grayscale’s bitcoin trust (GBTC), according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund currently has about $2.25 billion in assets under management. Bill Miller’s $2.25M Hedge Fund to Invest in GBTC The Miller Opportunity Trust, a hedge fund in the Miller Value Funds family, has filed an amendment to its registration statement with the U.S. SEC to be able to gain exposure to bitcoin. Billionaire investor Bill Miller founded Miller Value Partners LLC in 1999 and serves as the investment manager for the Miller Value Funds family. The company’s flagship fund, the Miller Opportunity Trust, had $2.25 billion in assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2020. Miller and Samantha McLemore manage the fund. According to the Feb. 5 filing with the SEC: The fund may seek investment exposure to bitcoin indirectly by investing in the Grayscale ...