Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. Blockchain-based virtual reality platform Dvision Network is finally releasing the first limited-edition NFT item that will be placed for auction on OpenSea Marketplace. Dvision revealed this in a tweet on March 30, 2021. Dvision Boy First Character from Limited Edition Series According to the tweet, the first item to be auctioned is the “Dvision Boy” character. The NFT character is the first in the highly anticipated Limited Edition series and will usher in a new era for the Dvision ecosystem. The auction on OpenSea marketplace will start at 3 PM KST on March 31 and last for a week. NFT lovers and investors will be able to place bids on the NFT item until the deadline elapses. Dvision Boy is the first and primary NFT character that will be used as an avatar inside the Dvision Metaverse. Dvision further revealed that the person who purchases ‘’Dvision Boy” will be entitled to various incentives when the Dvision Metaverse is fully launched later in the year. It s...

The American global markets company Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group) has announced the launch of a new bitcoin futures product on May 3, 2021, if U.S. regulators approve the product. The new contract is a micro bitcoin futures product that represents 0.1 bitcoin rather than CME’s other contract that equals five bitcoin. The smaller contract aims to make investment in bitcoin futures more accessible “to a broad array of clients.” CME Group to Launch Micro Bitcoin Futures Contract The well known derivatives marketplace CME Group has announced the launch of a new futures product that’s smaller than the contract that represents five bitcoin ( BTC ). The new product, pending regulatory approval, will be a micro-futures contract that offers exposure to 0.1 BTC . Essentially, that’s one-tenth the size of one bitcoin and the company thinks that investors will be interested in the smaller product. Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products...

The shortest air mile distance between Johannesburg and London is 5,635 miles.  Historically, moving money between banks or money service providers in those two cities takes days to cover that distance. That literally means it would still be faster to put money on an airplane and physically fly it between the two cities.  International payments … Continued The post Mercury to Boost Remittance Time and Money Savings to South Africa Using ODL appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/RwjNwK

Toho’s classic Godzilla storyline leaves behind the Tokyo and New York skylines as it wades into the decentralized universe with freshly minted collectibles set for auction on the WAX Blockchain. Appeal To Collectors Complements Forthcoming Premiere Of Godzilla vs. Kong From trading cards to collectibles, the name Topps has been synonymous with collecting for over 70 years. Little did they know that their digital transformation that materialized back in 2012 would set the stage for today’s NFT-mania and their embrace of non-fungible tokens. Since disclosing a collaboration with the Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) in May of 2020, Topps has been at the forefront of digitizing sports and entertainment trading cards, helping faithful collectors buy, sell, and trade unique collectibles through WAX’s blockchain-based platform. The platform claims to have been responsible for handling more than 100 million transfers of digital assets to date. Fast-forward to the present, and Topps is bu...

On Monday, the publicly-listed Canadian company Mogo announced the firm is extending the bitcoin rewards program applied to the firm’s prepaid Visa card to the operation’s Mogomortgage product. Mogo members leveraging the Mogomortgage platform can earn up to $3,100 in bitcoin if they engage in a new mortgage or refinance an existing real estate loan. Mogo CEO Highlights the Beginning Stages of Consumers Adding Bitcoin to Their Financial Portfolios During the last few years, the Vancouver-based Mogo Inc. , (NASDAQ:MOGO) (TSX:MOGO) has gradually been gravitating toward cryptocurrency solutions. Back in 2018, Mogo revealed a partnership with DMG Blockchain Solutions and planned to launch a bitcoin mining facility in British Columbia. At the end of December 2020, Mogo executive Greg Feller explained that Mogo was joining the trend of firms holding BTC on their balance sheets. Mogo disclosed the company invested 1.5% of Mogo’s total assets into bitcoin at the end of the third quarter...

As central banks on the African continent fight to keep cryptocurrencies from going mainstream, many more migrant workers are increasingly turning to money-sending platforms that use cryptocurrencies when moving funds across borders. More Than Just an Investment Thus in addition to becoming a “hot investment for hedge funders and corporate moguls,” crypto-assets like bitcoin are now seen as “a cost-effective way to transfer money throughout the developing world.” Also adding to the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, are lockdown measures imposed in many countries starting in March 2020. In a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19, governments around the world imposed restrictions on human movement and this, in turn, made the normally reliable money transfer channels less accessible. With movement now heavily curtailed, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies naturally emerged as the next secure and cost-effective alternative means of transferring money across borders. As various studi...

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX, formerly BitMax, an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of the Hermez Network Token (HEZ) under the pair USDT/HEZ on Mar 29 at 1:00 p.m. UTC. Hermez is a zk-rollup that allows for scaling payments and token transfers on top of the Ethereum public blockchain. Hermez uses the Ethereum public blockchain for data storage instead of computation. In addition, utilizing zero-knowledge proofs attaches an easily verifiable on-chain proof that the off-chain computations have been carried out correctly. The Hermez Network Token (HEZ) acts as the Hermez network’s economic lifeblood. Their model allows the network to be permissionless and censorship resistant for user transactions. Hermez integrates an auction where everyone intending to become a coordinator, the batch creator in the Hermez ecosystem, bids the number of tokens they are willing to donate to obtain the right to creat...

Decentralized finance (defi) has seen extreme demand and innovative use-cases during the last 12 months. Defi oracles, decentralized exchange (dex) platforms and automated money makers (AMM) have swelled in value, as statistics show over $43 billion is locked into defi protocols today. Meanwhile, a new project has recently stepped out of the gate called XFai, a dex liquidity oracle that aims to capture untapped liquidity from small to medium cap tokens. On April 8, 2021, XFai plans to host a Liquidity Generation Event (LGE), and this week it was announced that Bitcoin.com’s founder and angel investor Roger Ver has invested in XFai. XFai’s Dex Liquidity Oracle Aims to Empower Decentralized Finance and Capture Untapped Liquidity Defi concepts and decentralized exchanges are all the rage these days, and a great number of dex platforms have outperformed their centralized exchange (cex) counterparts. Today, data shows the total value locked (TVL) into defi is over $43 billion, and dex p...

In the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit, the court has rejected the SEC’s attempt to block XRP holders’ Motion to Intervene and has set submission deadlines for the motion to be filed as well as for responses from the SEC and Ripple. Judge Dismissed SEC’s Attempt to Stop XRP Holders From Intervening in Ripple Lawsuit In the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) v. Ripple Labs case, the district court of the Southern District of New York “has reviewed the parties’ and proposed intervenors’ letters dated March 19 and 26, 2021,” according to the court document filed Monday. The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs Inc., CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Christian Larsen in December, charging them with conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered XRP securities offering. On March 19, Deaton Law Firm wrote a letter to District Judge Analisa Torres on behalf of XRP holders, as proposed intervenors. It was signed by over 10,000 XRP holders at the time of filing. The SEC responded on M...

Cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase has announced that it is establishing a business presence in India. The company has also posted several job openings for its Indian operations despite reports that the government may ban cryptocurrencies. Coinbase Sets up Shop in India Coinbase has officially announced its expansion into India. The company said last week: We’re happy to announce that Coinbase is establishing a business presence in India. By housing some IT services, including engineering, software development and customer support operations in India, we will benefit from its huge pool of world-class engineering talent. “India has long been known as a hub for engineering and technology innovation, and we look forward to finding that world-class talent to help the Coinbase group develop new ways for our customers to interact with the cryptoeconomy,” the announcement continues. Coinbase further stated, “We expect to open a physical office, initially in Hyderabad, for Indi...

Payments giant Paypal has launched the “Checkout With Crypto” service to allow consumers to make payments at millions of merchants using cryptocurrencies in their Paypal wallets. “This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your Paypal wallet,” said Paypal’s CEO. Crypto Payments Through Paypal Now Enabled at Millions of Merchants Paypal Holdings Inc. announced on Tuesday the launch of a new service called “Checkout with Crypto.” The announcement details: Available at millions of global online businesses and continuing to expand over the coming months, Paypal customers with cryptocurrency holdings in the U.S. will be able to choose to check out with crypto seamlessly within Paypal at checkout. “Checkout with Crypto will automatically appear in the Paypal wallet at checkout for customers with sufficient cryptocurrency balance to cover an eligible purchase,” the announcement adds. “All transactions are sett...

Aurus is embracing the concept of DeFi to disrupt the precious metals industry. The firm has built a truly decentralised platform which allows companies like refineries, distributors and vaults to autonomously tokenise precious metals. The ingenious part of the Aurus system is their revenue-sharing token, AurusDeFi (AWX), which enables holders to earn a share of the platform’s revenues. Aurus to Disrupt the Precious Metals Industry Trading app Robinhood positions itself as democratising finance for all. However, the centralised nature of the platform- where one party holds the ultimate decision-making power, is in direct conflict with this mission. Just ask the Redditors of the WallStreetBets community. As they discovered in January, traders have zero control over how the exchange is managed. If they have a problem, their only recourse is to withdraw their funds and switch to another broker (where they’ll probably face similar issues, for the time being anyway). This incident helps...

On the heels of the last stimulus package, U.S. President Joe Biden is creating more legislation that may lead to a massive $3 trillion package dedicated to domestic needs and infrastructure. The recent discussions with Biden and Senate Democrats honed in on the political party’s “Build Back Better” campaign. The recent stimulus talks have a few economists feeling optimistic about the future of the American economy, while Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said: “the next stimulus bill will have to be paid for through higher tax rates.” Biden and Senate Democrats Push for Infrastructure Relief Stimulus Estimated to be Around $3 Trillion The U.S. government doesn’t seem to want to stop creating money, as talks of passing more stimulus legislation have increased almost right after the passing of $1.9 trillion just a few weeks ago. Despite the fact that average Americans are concerned about purchasing power and inflation, central bank members and politicians continue to find ways to ...

Venezuelan customers from the biggest satellite TV provider in the country are now able to pay their monthly bills via cryptocurrencies. Simple TV announced it had enabled the feature to its over four million users, whose company was the replacement of Directv. Company Expects to Cut Dependency on Fiat Dollar According to the announcement, the provider arranged a partnership with Panamanian firm Cryptobuyer, and Simple TV’s landing page is now showing the option to pay via cryptos. Customers could send their payments in bitcoin ( BTC ), dash ( DASH ), litecoin ( LTC ), ethereum ( ETH ), binance coin ( BNB ), and binance dollar (BUSD). Also, users can also pay with Cryptobuyer’s native token, XPT. Simple TV, owned by a Chilean investment fund, offers over 300 TV channels from major networks, including ESPN, HBO, and Disney. With such addition, the satellite TV provider expects to “boost the usage of cryptocurrencies across Venezuela.” Jorge Farías, CEO of Cryptobuyer, told Contra...

PRESS RELEASE. The State Grid Corporation of China will be adopting blockchain interoperability platform Wanchain’s technology for their national data management system. 30th March, 2021, Beijing, China – Wanglu Tech Ltd. (“Wanchain”) is pleased to announce that the State Grid Corporation of China (“State Grid”) has approved the results of its contracted feasibility study. The study systematically analyzed the impact of integrating blockchain technology into State Grid’s national data management system and concluded that Wanchain’s blockchain technology is ideal to upgrade the world’s largest utility company’s national data management system. Study Highlights The feasibility study results highlight the unique requirements of State Grid’s national data management system and outlines the specific consensus mechanisms and encryption algorithms best suited to integrate with existing systems. On the basis of these results, State Grid selected Wanchain’s interoperable blockchain ...