Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The blockchain and crypto firm DMG Blockchain Solutions has revealed a partnership with the crypto asset mining business Argo Blockchain. The two firms have decided to launch a bitcoin mining pool that’s focused on leveraging clean energy resources. DMG Blockchain Solutions (TSX-V: DMGI) and Argo Blockchain Plc (LSE: ARB) have recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to establish Terra Pool. The new bitcoin mining pool aims to utilize clean energy resources and will combine both DMG’s and Argo’s hashrate that uses hydroelectric-power. In recent months, bitcoin ( BTC ) mining and all proof-of-work (PoW) mining, in general, has been criticized for how energy-intensive these networks can be. DMG’s and Argo’s Terra Pool plans to keep bitcoin mining climate-friendly by focusing on clean energy solutions. “DMG’s increased innovative strength and continued focus on eco-friendly bitcoin mining has the opportunity to drive transformations in how the bitcoin mining community ac...

The non-fungible token fever witnessed over the last few months is catching the copyright management agencies’ attention. One of them, located in Italy, has chosen a blockchain company to create its own NFTs. SIAE Expects to Guarantee Copyright Protection With NFTs for the Next 139 Years According to the announcement , Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori (SIAE), founded in 1883, picked Algorand to manage the rights of over 95,000 authors in the form of non-fungible tokens. Both parties had been working on the project since 2019, said Algorand. In a first instance, 4 million NFTs were created to represent selected SIAE authors’ rights. Per SIAE, by digitizing these rights on blockchain technology, authors could ensure that their copyrights are globally protected on a transparent, open infrastructure. Gaetano Blandini, the general manager of SIAE, pointed out that the move seeks to guarantee protection for the next 139 years. He added: We are not interested in building techno...

Recently, Bitcoin Cash proponents have been introduced to a new application that competes with the content subscription service Onlyfans. The web portal Onlycoins is a service that is similar to Onlyfans but instead, creators can earn bitcoin cash by posting quality content and gathering subscribers. Youtuber David Bond Features Bitcoin Cash-Fueled Onlyfans Clone The popular Youtuber and BCH supporter David Bond recently published a video for his 501,000 subscribers about a new app that competes with the popular content subscription service Onlyfans. Bitcoin Cash fan and popular Youtuber David Bond discusses the Onlycoins app in his latest video . The London-based Onlyfans basically allows creators to earn money from their fans and individuals get paid from pay-per-view (PPV) features and one-time tips. Bond told his subscribers about a new app called Onlycoins , a platform that offers similar services but pays in BCH and doesn’t take a 20% cut. Because Onlyfans provides the...

By embedding Coinbase-powered solutions in its platform, Skrill adds 11 more American states to its service list, enabling more users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies easily. Integration Opens Doors for Paysafe’s Skrill Users to Instantly Buy and Sell Cryptocurrencies In another strategic move designed to grow its presence in the American cryptocurrency ecosystem, Paysafe’s digital wallet, Skrill, has finalized a deal with Coinbase, a leading digital currency platform provider. With the deal signed off , Skrill will receive a new cryptocurrency white-label solution provided by Coinbase, enabling the wallet to expand its services across 11 new US territories. This new white-label solution allows Skrill to serve its digital wallet customers in Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, and Wyoming. This first step of Skrill’s US crypto extension, with other states scheduled to be included imminently, further enhances the ...

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX , formerly BitMax, an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of Persistence tokens (XPRT) under the pair USDT/XPRT on Apr 1 at 9:00 a.m. EDT. There will be an auction on Mar 31 at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Persistence is an interoperable protocol built to facilitate the creation of next-gen financial products. It is an ecosystem of financial products serving both institutional and crypto-native users. Persistence One has a growing suite of core product features, including pStake, Comdex, pLend, Audit.one and Asset Mantle. Through these features, Persistence is leveraging blockchain technology to facilitate seamless asset exchange. The XPRT token secures the network through staking, is used to pay for fees, and defines the weightage of the vote for governance proposals to make critical decisions regarding the Persistence main chain’s evolution. The need for a solution like Persistence ha...

In a fresh twist to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s fight against Ripple Labs, US judge Sarah Netburn has directed both parties to hold “a telephonic discovery conference on Tuesday, April 6, 2021.” The judge’s order directs the parties to discuss a motion to compel filed by Ripple’s lawyers. Motion to Compel On March 15, lawyers representing current Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen had asked Judge Netburn to compel the SEC to produce documents relating to the regulator’s lawsuit against the fintech firm. In their motion, Ripple’s lawyers argued that seeking this court order had been necessitated by the regulator’s refusal to produce the requested documents. Specifically, the lawyers allege that the SEC had failed to provide “a single document concerning bitcoin or ether–two virtual currencies that are closely analogous to XRP .” Furthermore, in their motion, the lawyers also allege that the SEC is failing to produce internal documentation th...

In an industry first, a physical exhibition for digital art in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFT) is set to launch in China, showcasing notable works from leading artists in the NFT space and the winning entries from a global digital artwork competition. Initiative Designed to Forge Greater Connections Between the Physical and Digital Art Realms As greater mainstream attention turns to the NFT collectible and art mania that delivers new auction records every passing month, one group of industry leaders is bringing digital art to the physical realm. With its inaugural event titled, “Virtual Niche – Have you ever seen memes in the mirror?” a group of leading NFT evangelists and platforms are attempting to bring the Bitcoin and Polkadot communities together alongside the more traditional art world. On March 26th, the 14-day event will begin in the UCCA Lab in Beijing before transitioning to Shanghai’s JinArt Center. The exhibition, which features hosts and sponsorship from both th...

Following the interview with Ma Changchun, the head of the People’s Bank of China-run Digital Currency Research Institute, a recent report indicates that residents from Beijing and Shanghai can now apply for a digital yuan wallet. According to the report, six different Chinese banks will participate in the process. Beijing and Shanghai Residents Can Apply to Test the Digital Yuan Wallet A recent report published by China’s Securities Times, explains that residents from China are now able to apply for the digital yuan wallet. The wallet is compatible with the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency project. The report indicates that residents who live in Shanghai and Beijing can now apply for the wallet through six state-owned financial institutions. The regional report also says that the banks involved with the digital wallet application procedure include the Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, and ...

A number of options traders are betting that bitcoin prices will tap $80,000 by May 2021. Meanwhile, over 100,000 bitcoin options worth more than $6 billion are set to expire on Friday, smashing the previous record expiry seen in January. $6 Billion in Bitcoin Options Set to Drop, April Bets Target $80,000 per Bitcoin Today on March 26, 2021, the crypto ecosystem is about to witness one of the largest options expiries to-date as more than 100k bitcoin options will expire. Today’s $6 billion worth of expiries exceeds the last record back in January when $4 billion worth of bitcoin options expired. Data from skew.com shows there’s close to $15 billion in open interest across exchanges offering bitcoin options. The exchange Deribit captures more than $12 billion of the aggregated open interest. Deribit leads in both open interest and options volumes and is followed by Bit.com and Okex. Huobi has the least open interest in terms of bitcoin options while Binance has the least volume o...

PRESS RELEASE. Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform Stratis’ support to private and public blockchain solutions, Ethereum and Hyperledger , opens the ecosystem to mainstream adoption by businesses. London, United Kingdom – Stratis is developed to help make blockchain services accessible for businesses worldwide. In pursuit of that aim, it now supports interoperability with Ethereum, allowing firms to tap into the ease of use provided by Stratis Technologies while reaching out to millions of Ethereum users. The launch of its wrapped token (wSTRAX) also brings in a boom for the DeFi sector. Locked in a 1:1 ratio with the Stratis’ native STRAX Token, platforms built on Ethereum can utilize wSTRAX in their DeFi products. Stratis provides an Enterprise-Grade Blockchain Solution developed in C# on the Microsoft .NET Core Framework focusing on Modular Blockchain Solutions for Public and Private Blockchain Solutions. Stratis offers Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) to remove the complex...

Agustin Carstens, the general manager at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), has claimed that cryptocurrencies are “used to evade laws and should therefore face more regulation.” Carstens, who has attacked bitcoin in the past, suggests that many crypto assets are “used to do some arbitrage, or to circumvent some regulations.” Carstens Repeats the Same Arguments Speaking during an interview , the BIS general manager also claims that “laws against money laundering and the financing of terrorism were absent in many applications of some cyber currencies.” Still, despite this ongoing opposition by global regulators and central banks, the use of crypto assets like BTC as a means of payment or as a store of value continues to grow . Also as Bitcoin.com News previously reported, cryptocurrency use surged in 2020 with more mainstream organisations now holders of mainly BTC . However, despite mounting evidence that suggests otherwise, Carstens, who is a prominent BTC opponent , c...

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das says that there is no difference of opinion between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the finance ministry on cryptocurrencies. While the finance minister said that the government will not shut off all options and will take a calibrated position regarding crypto legislation, the central bank has voiced some “major concerns.” No Difference of Opinion on Crypto Between RBI and Finance Ministry RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das answered some questions regarding cryptocurrency, the digital rupee, and upcoming digital currency legislation Thursday at the India Economic Conclave organized by The Times Network. There have been questions about whether the finance ministry and the central bank share the same view on cryptocurrency in India. While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the government will not shut off all options regarding cryptocurrencies and will take a calibrated approach , the central bank has voiced “ major concerns ” about cryptocu...

A new study revealed that cryptocurrency-related scams almost doubled over the last year. However, forecasts are not optimistic going forward, as the report forecasts another significant increase in the number of cases in 2021. Research Scanned Over 300 Million Websites According to the “Cryptocurrency Scam Report” published by fraud prevention company Bolster and shared with Bitcoin.com News, the correlation with the surge of cryptos’ popularity and the coronavirus pandemic boosted the figures of crypto scams in 2020. Bolster analyzed over 300 million websites and found out that more than 400,000 crypto scams were created over the last year. In fact, it represents a 40% increase in comparison with the numbers seen in 2019, said the study. With such a number in place, and considering the bitcoin ( BTC ) becoming increasingly mainstream, crypto scams could witness an increase of 75% in 2021, stated Bolster. Shashi Prakash, co-founder and CTO of Bolster, told Bitcoin.com News: Th...

PRESS RELEASE. Tidal Finance, a high-yield insurance platform, offers the ability to hedge against the failure of a DeFi protocol or asset. While reinventing the way decentralized insurance works, Tidal Finance plans to attract participation from the community through a Balancer liquidity bootstrapping pool on 25th March . The Tidal IDO on Polkastarter was oversubscribed by 500 times garnering massive support from the community. Backed by KR1, Hypersphere Ventures, Spartan Capital, Kenetic Capital, QCP Capital and AU21 Capital, Tidal Finance integrates its decentralized smart cover solutions in various protocols to protect the nascent DeFi industry from malicious threats to fuel DeFi adoption. The Tidal platform allows users to cover multiple protocols at the same time with increased capital efficiency. It also offers competitive insurance premiums to its buyers, thus attracting increased participation from DeFi users. On a Mission to Reinvent the Way Decentralized Insurance Works ...

While a number of countries are working on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), on Tuesday, the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) announced it will soon be piloting a CBDC project. The BoJ is working with a firm called Ecurrency Mint Incorporated and plans to pilot the cryptocurrency in May. Jamaican CBDC to Pilot this May Jamaica, the island country situated in the Caribbean Sea has plans to pilot a CBDC this May as it has been working with an “extensive procurement process.” The country’s central bank, the BoJ, has chosen a technology provider to help with the CBDC solution. The startup the bank found dubbed Ecurrency Mint Incorporated stems from the BoJ’s Fintech Regulatory Sandbox. “Ecurrency Mint will also be the provider when the national CBDC roll-out begins in early 2022,” the central bank’s announcement notes. The CBDC pilot will be tested thoroughly in May and all the way until the end of December 2021. According to the central bank’s notice, the CBDC will work alongside paper ...

The South Korean crypto frenzy among the banking industry remains on fire, as another major bank is treading waters to offer banking services for crypto exchanges. The BNK Busan Bank launched a program that consists of visiting competitors’ banks that already offer it. BNK Busan Is Visting Its Competitors to Conduct the Research According to the Busan.com news outlet , the bank researches how these financial institutions deal with the crypto exchanges amid the forthcoming regulation. As the banks provide fiat services to the crypto businesses, the legislation set to promulgate on Friday will force them to use the Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification. That’s the reason why the Digital Strategy Department and the Money Laundering Prevention Department of BNK Busan Bank are making an in-depth investigation on how such a system works and then offering it in the future. Domestic crypto exchanges will be required to gather real names and social security numbers f...

National and foreign buyers acquired a “tokenized” apartment in Spain with ethereum, which involved a domestic crypto exchange and a real estate investment firm. The city of Sevilla was the scenario for the crypto deal between the parties. Transaction Was Worth Over $64,000 According to El Correo Web , the Spanish crypto exchange Criptan and the investment firm Rental IT arranged the transaction of the property, tokenized by the real estate company. The media outlet specified the tokenization — split into several tokens and digitalized through a blockchain — was done to target 32 investors from Spain, Argentina, and Mexico. With the acquisition, the buyers that disbursed their funds paying with ethereum ( ETH ) participated in the investment starting from 100 euros ($117). Afterward, Rental IT exchanged the cryptos into fiat (euros) and then purchased the property from the owner. The transaction was reportedly worth 54,773 euros ($64,430), said El Correo Web. Jorge Soriano, the co...