Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. To bring the crypto area one step forward, a dedicated team developed one of the most intriguing utility tokens that will forever change the way you see crypto – the STC token, available on its dedicated ICO since February 1st. What is an STC token? STC is the core utility token of the Student Coin blockchain project – that makes possible the creation of personalized tokens without strong technical knowledge. Having an account on the platform allows you to create: Personal tokens – unique assets tied to a single account; Startup tokens – assets that help you take a step forward to your dreams; Corporate tokens – unique assets dedicated to a single company; DeFi tokens – assets that allow you to perform various bank activities without the intervention of third parties; NFT Tokens – transferable tokens that make possible the switch between platforms. All these tokens are valued based on the STC Token, and they can be used for exchanges, trades, even crowdfunds...

Following the $69 million non-fungible token (NFT) digital art auction at the world-famous auction house Christie’s, the British-founded American multinational corporation Sotheby’s is joining the NFT hype. Sotheby’s is partnering with a popular digital artist dubbed “Pak” for the NFT sale as the brokerage house believes it is important to work with established NFT artists. Sotheby’s Partners With Digital Artist Pak to Introduce the Company’s First NFT Auction Sotheby’s is one of the world’s largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewelry, and collectibles since 1744. It is also the world’s fourth oldest auction house and now the company says it is entering the non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystem. The company is likely eying the money being made after Beeple sold an NFT at the auction house Christie’s last week raking in $69 million. The Beeple sale was the fourth-largest art sale in 2021, and Sotheby’s plans to get in on the action with an anonymous NFT artist called Pak . (...

The Texas securities commissioner has entered emergency cease and desist orders to stop three cryptocurrency investment platforms from duping investors in the state. One scheme operates under the name “Binance Assets.” The regulator has found that all three platforms are fraudulent. Texas Seeks to Stop 3 Crypto Platforms Operating in the State Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles entered a pair of emergency cease and desist orders Monday targeting three unregistered online cryptocurrency investment platforms. They are Delta Crypt Ltd. (also known as Binance Assets), Fxsmart Robots, and Digitaly Invest. The latter is not the same company as Digital Invest or Digitally Invest. The commissioner’s order emphasizes that none of the platforms is registered to sell securities in Texas and their investment plans are not registered or permitted for sale in the state. The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission previously issued a public advisory order against Delta Crypt, whi...

Visa CEO Al Kelly anticipates that cryptocurrency could become “extremely mainstream” within five years. He is working to position Visa in the middle of it should cryptocurrency take off. He further confirmed that Visa is working to allow bitcoin purchases, in addition to enabling the cryptocurrency to be used at 70 million stores where Visa is accepted. Visa Anticipates Crypto Going ‘Extremely Mainstream’ In the Leadership Next podcast with Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt published Tuesday, Visa CEO Al Kelly talked about bitcoin and his company’s cryptocurrency strategy. Given the recent rise in the price of bitcoin, he was asked what it means for his credit card business. “I would like to divide crypto into two buckets,” Kelly began. “One is the more speculative asset” or “digital gold,” he explained, adding that he put bitcoin in this category. The CEO elaborated: In that category, we are trying to do two things. One is enable the purchase of bitcoin on Visa credentials. Second...

Grayscale Investments has launched five new cryptocurrency investment products, which are now available for subscription by eligible individual and institutional accredited investors. The company now offers a total of 14 crypto investment products. The new products are the Basic Attention Token (BAT) Trust, the Chainlink (LINK) Trust, the Decentraland (MANA) Trust, the Filecoin (FIL) Trust, and the Livepeer (LPT) Trust. They function the same as Grayscale’s other single-asset investment trusts, the company announced Wednesday. Grayscale’s other single-asset investment products provide exposure to bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, ethereum classic, horizen, litecoin, stellar lumens, and zcash. The company also offers the Digital Large Cap Fund, which provides exposure to the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. As of March 16, Grayscale Investments has $42.9 billion in net assets under management (AUM) across all of its products. Some Grayscale products are p...

PRESS RELEASE. BitMax.io (BTMX.com), an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of DAFI Tokens (DAFI) under the trading pair of DAFI/USDT on March 17th at 9:00 a.m. EST. Dafi rewards users based on network adoption. Dafi is the first protocol to create staking, liquidity, and bounties proportional to each network’s demand. It enables any protocol or platform to create a synthetic flavor from the native token for pegging against network demand. DAFI, the native-token of the protocol, is used for both staking and governance. When DAFI tokens are staked as collateral, they generate synthetic dDAFI units, which are pegged to the demand on the DAFI network. By supporting the network, users are rewarded for their staking collateral by accumulating synthetics that grow in quantity as demand rises. Dafi introduces the first alternative token to use network rewards for building a decentralized economy. Instea...

When compared to the rest of the world, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) appears to have a higher rate of intervention in blockchain related cases. In just the last 18 months, the U.S. regulator ordered Telegram to stop selling its cryptocurrency, fined Kik Interactive $5 million over issues with its Kin token and is … Continued The post UBRI On Campus: Rutgers Law School Looks to Reform Fintech Regulation appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/RvrFmD

Non-fungible token (NFT) assets have taken the world by storm, as popular NFT artists are making millions from their blockchain-backed designs, music, and collectibles. As the trend continues to become more popular by the day, swarms of people are wondering how they can create their own non-fungible token and sell it after minting the NFT. The following article is a comprehensive list of tools that can help anyone get started minting NFTs and then selling them on an open marketplace. NFT Hype Swells to New Levels You’ve probably heard the term “non-fungible token” or “NFT” by now, because it’s the hottest trend in the blockchain space at the moment. Artists, celebrities, musicians, and professional athletes are making millions selling these blockchain assets on the internet. Basically, an NFT is a non-fungible token that cannot be divided like crypto-assets such as bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) , which are fractional by a number of decimals. An NFT is a single asset, that is ve...

Legal issues with crypto exchange Bitmex’s cofounders still make the headlines. Benjamin Delo surrendered to the U.S. authorities, and Arthur Hayes agreed to make the same maneuver in April. Delo Released on a $20M Bail Bond According to Bloomberg , Bitmex’s cofounder Benjamin Delo traveled from the U.K. to the United States and pleaded not guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave. However, he was later released after posting a $20 million bail bond. Per the release terms, Delo was allowed by the judge to return to the United Kingdom. Still, he is set to face a court status conference scheduled for May. Along with Arthur Hayes and Samuel Reed, Delo co-founded the crypto-derivatives exchange, but they were accused in October 2020 of violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The accusation was filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice. The BSA requires financial institutions to provide documentations with transactions above the...

A U.S. judge has denied the request to add XRP token holders as intervenors in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s ongoing case against Ripple. In a ruling made one day after the motion was filed, the judge, Analisa Torres denied the token holders’ request “without prejudice to renewal.” Protecting Interests of XRP holders In their motion filed on March 14, 2021, XRP holders said their desire to be included in the SEC’s proceedings against Ripple was on the grounds that this would enable them to protect their interests. They added that “disposing of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede their ability to protect its interests.” Also, the motion suggests that “existing parties do not adequately represent the interests of XRP holders.” Nevertheless, in their motion, XRP holders claim that if accepted as intervenors, they will not “unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the original parties’ rights.” Furthermore, the holders said: If granted le...

The crypto economy is on the cutting edge of both finance and technology, which means that you need to be ever vigilant in protecting your digital assets. A critical component of doing so is using a hardware wallet from a company you can trust, like Ledger , to securely store your private keys. Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins Anyone who has been following the cryptocurrency industry even a little bit has heard way too many stories about exchanges getting hacked, or simply disappearing overnight, leaving investors without any of the assets they thought they owned. This can happen because when you have a balance at an exchange you don’t really control the coins you think you do. Only by keeping the private keys yourself you can truly own a digital asset. Storing your private keys yourself might sound daunting to a newcomer to crypto, but luckily there are powerful yet user-friendly solutions. A hardware wallet is a physical device that stores your private keys in a secure chip. With a...

The nonprofit foundation behind the privacy-driven messaging app Signal is officially joining the cryptocurrency venture. In this case, the Signal Foundation announced it has started accepting crypto donations. Signal Foundation Also Takes Donations in Privacy Coins According to an announcement via Twitter, the organization encouraged people to arrange donations via cryptocurrencies, but it’s not limited to bitcoin ( BTC ) or ethereum ( ETH ). Per their landing page , the foundation also supports litecoin ( LTC ), chainlink (LINK), zcash (ZEC), amp (AMP), Basic Attention Token (BAT), dai (DAI), gemini dollar (GUSD), storj (STORJ), and 0x (ZRX). The addition of privacy coins comes in response to a number of social media users asking Signal to add such cryptos to “comply” with their privacy-driven philosophy. A tweet from Signal reads: As a nonprofit organization, we depend on your support. If you’ve been patiently waiting for Signal to accept cryptocurrency donations, you no l...

Social Alpha Foundation is set to auction works from top NFT artists on the Nifty Gateway to support Open Earth Foundation’s efforts to bring open digital solutions designed to address climate-related issues. Auction Sponsor Render Network To Donate Carbon Credits To Offset NFT Impact Excitement over NFTs has hit a fever pitch as auctions break new sales records almost weekly. The latest collection sold by artist Beeple, titled “Everydays: The First 5000 Days”, saw 5000 original works compiled in a single JPEG image fetch an astounding $69 million during an auction hosted by Christie’s . Beeple, who addresses climate issues by framing the environment as fighting against mankind in its work, now ranks as one of the most valuable living artists alive after becoming the most commercially successful NFT artist. As interest in these works expands, the NFT space’s champions are harnessing this growing public interest to back environmental causes through a charity auction. Social Alpha F...

South Korean authorities seem to be focusing on strengthening measures to combat tax evasion across the nation. The country’s tax watchdog profiled thousands of evaders that relied on cryptocurrencies to hide assets worth billions of Korean won. Evaders Hid a Total of $32.24 Million in Assets Per the Korea Herald , the National Tax Service of South Korea (NTS) identified 2,416 individuals who reportedly hid their assets in cryptos to bypass taxation. The agency stated that evaders used bitcoin ( BTC ), ethereum ( ETH ), ripple ( XRP ), among other cryptos, to avoid being scrutinized by the tax authorities. According to the officials, assets involved in the tax evasion account for a total of 36.6 billion won ($32.24 million). Also, the NTS clarified they mainly targeted people owing over 10 million won ($8,800) in taxes. Still, the tax authorities managed to recover hidden assets in cash and bonds. At the same time, they launched an investigation against 222 of those who allegedly ...

PRESS RELEASE. TNC Group, the global blockchain entity responsible for massive projects in the blockchain and crypto space, recently launched the Aladdin Exchange — a UAE-based cryptocurrency exchange. The TNC team moves closer to realizing their vision of pushing forward more blockchain technology adoption in the world as the exchange garnered much support even before its launch. Before the launch of the Aladdin Exchange, the team conducted a pre-registration event . In this event, the platform amassed 1.5 million users, which is already a massive success according to the group. “We are expecting more users as they have many rewards in store for those who register,” the team announced. By the end of March, qualified users can participate in Aladdin Exchange’s 1 million USD event. In this event, users have a chance to win various prizes that the team prepared to celebrate the launch. TNC also integrated the Aladdin Exchange with their existing project, the Aladdin Pro wallet. As...