Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Brazil’s first crypto ETF debut is postponed, but not because plans have failed whatsoever. The Bank of Brazil (Banco do Brasil) is now joining the bandwagon of ETF issuances, following the same steps as Bank Itaú and BTG Pactual did. New Launch Date Set for April 26 According to a letter sent by Hashdex to its clients, the state-backed banking institution will be able to offer its customers the possibility of buying the crypto ETF of Hashdex, which will have the ticker “HASH11.” That said, the Bank of Brazil’s customers could have exposure by investing in the fund, which will replicate the Nasdaq Crypto Index (NCI). The letter clarifies that the new date of the ETF debut is set to take place on April 26, 2021, as the original date was April 22. With such maneuver, the banking institution becomes the first public bank in the world to offer such kind of exposure. Subscription orders can be made until April 20, according to Hashdex, and the only ones who can be able to do it are a

The well known software developer Luke Dashjr is in the midst of controversy over how to upgrade the Bitcoin network in order to add the Taproot protocol. Bitcoin Core developers want to upgrade with “Speedy trial,” which will allow miners to push the feature through. However, Luke Dashjr wants to upgrade in a different manner, and considers the proposal an “attack on Bitcoin” as it’s “not a good thing” from his perspective. Bitcoin Developers Find Controversy Over Taproot Activation Bitcoin developers have revealed “Speedy trial support for versionbits #21377,” which aims to implement Taproot via BTC miner activation. The activation would “Start soon: shortly after the release of software containing this proposed activation logic, nodes will begin counting blocks towards the 90% threshold required to lock in taproot,” David A. Harding’s description notes. A great number of developers have participated in the “Speedy trial” conversation including programmers like Jeremy Rubin ,

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed that talks with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regarding the regulation of cryptocurrencies are ongoing. The securities regulator also reiterated that due to a CBN directive that was issued on February 7, 2021, the crypto guidelines it issued in September 2020 remain suspended. Crypto Guidelines Set Aside However, the regulator promises that at the conclusion of its engagements with the CBN, stakeholders will be informed of the outcome. Meanwhile, in his comments that were made during a Q1 Capital Market Committee (CMC) virtual conference, Lamido Yuguda, the director-general of SEC, tries to justify the regulator’s decision to suspend its own guidelines . He said: Because of the lack of access to commercial bank accounts, we had to suspend our own guidelines of September 2020, the implementation of that circular is suspended until these operators are able to have access to Nigerian bank accounts. He adds this wa

Back in mid-February, Bitcoin.com News reported on Miami’s Mayor Francis Suarez supporting the idea of the city holding bitcoin in the treasury and allowing tax payments in bitcoin as well. On April 15, 2021, reports show that the city may introduce the tax payments concept soon, as the District 8 county commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins has pushed for the invocation of a Miami-Dade digital currency task force. A Resolution for a Cryptocurrency Task Force Has Been Submitted to an Infrastructure Committee in Miami-Dade A few years ago at The North American Bitcoin Conference (TNABC) in Miami, Mayor Francis Suarez told the audience that he wanted the city to become a cryptocurrency and blockchain hub for innovation. Later, as digital currencies have seen fresh new price highs in 2021, Suarez has pushed for the city to hold bitcoin ( BTC ) in the treasury and wants to allow tax payments in BTC as well. At the time the city commissioners voted in support for the crypto infrastructur

The moderators of the famous Reddit forum Wallstreetbets, known for putting Gamestop (GME) stock prices on the map as a worldwide trending topic, lifted a ban on all discussions related to bitcoin, ethereum, and dogecoin. However, the decision has been reversed after a recently published Bloomberg article. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Were Allowed to Discuss for Just One Day On April 14, 2021, Wallstreetbets moderators issued a statement, commenting about why they’ve been banning crypto-related discussions within their threads, citing that its main focus is the stock market. They continued to elaborate on the matter: After much deliberation, we’ve decided to allow for discussion about only BTC , ETH and DOGE only inside of a daily Crypto discussion thread as to not burden everyone with crypto spam. All rules will still apply outside of the thread but for now please keep it in the daily thread only as we gauge if this is something that is right for our sub. Just to be clear, we ar

PRESS RELEASE. Blockchain eco project SafeEarth has donated over $100,000 to TheOceanCleanUp charity with more donations planned for other global charities. 16th April, 2021, London, UK — SafeEarth , a blockchain eco project, has donated over $100,000 to community selected charity TheOceanCleanUp. The donated funds will help towards the removal of plastic waste from the planet. This generous donation represents the first act of SafeEarth’s continuing initiative to help charities across the globe. The money was raised from SAFEEARTH token transaction fees. From each token transaction a portion of the fees will continue to be used for further donations to charities that focus on green initiatives as SafeEarth looks to effect a lasting and positive change on the planet. The Ocean Cleanup Head of IT Steven Bink offered his thanks to Safe Earth on Twitter, stating: “ Dear SafeEarth community. On behalf of the entire crew at The Ocean Cleanup, I would like to thank you for this very

The popular meme-based crypto-asset dogecoin has seen phenomenal gains during the last few days. On August 16, 2021, the digital currency featuring the likeness of the Shiba Inu dog tapped an all-time high at $0.44 per token. However, the cost to send a transaction in dogecoin has jumped to that price as well on Friday. Who Let the DOGE Out? Dogecoin (DOGE) has spiked massively this week in value shocking everyone watching digital currency markets in action. DOGE jumped to a high of $0.44 per unit on Friday morning at 9:45 a.m. (EST). At 11:16 a.m. (EST), DOGE 24-hour gains have jumped to 187.22% and seven-day gains have spiked over 497.11% against the U.S. dollar. Against bitcoin ( BTC ), dogecoin has gained 465.06% this week. Meanwhile, at the same time frame, stats also show that dogecoin has gained 3,872.55% in a mere three months. 509.30% during the course of the last month, and a whopping 18,299.46% against the U.S. dollar during the last 12 months. DOGE transaction f

The Federal Reserve chairman believes that cryptocurrencies are “really vehicles for speculation” and “No one is using them for payments.” He then compared crypto to gold. His comments about cryptocurrency followed Coinbase’s direct listing on Nasdaq. Fed Chair Powell Thinks Crypto Is for Speculation Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talked about cryptocurrency in an interview with The Economic Club of New York on Wednesday. The event took place amid Coinbase’s IPO via a direct listing on Nasdaq. With the rising popularity of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, he was asked if he was worried about the impact they may have on the economy and the ability for people to use them as payments. Firstly, “We think of them more as crypto assets,” Powell said, adding: What people call cryptocurrencies, they’re really vehicles for speculation. No one is using them for payments, for example, like the dollar. The Fed chair proceeded to compare cryptocurrency to gold in terms of how it is us

The Central bank of the Republic of Turkey has issued a cryptocurrency regulation prohibiting the use of cryptocurrencies for payments of goods and services. From the end of this month, crypto assets cannot be used directly or indirectly as a means of payment in the country and no service can be provided for this purpose. Turkish Central Bank Prohibits Crypto Use for Payments of Goods and Services The Turkish central bank (also known as CBRT or TCMB) has issued “Regulation on the Disuse of Crypto Assets in Payments.” It was published Friday in the official newspaper of the Turkish government. The central bank also announced Friday that “studies on the regulation regarding the disuse of crypto assets in payments have been completed.” The TCMB wrote: Recently, some initiatives have emerged regarding the use of these assets in payments. It is considered that their use in payments may cause non-recoverable losses for the parties to the transactions. The bank described that “Crypto

Digital currency markets have seen some slight losses on Friday morning, as a great number of cryptocurrencies saw significant gains the day prior. Bitcoin dropped to a low of $60,042 during the early morning trading sessions shedding 3% during the last 24 hours. Crypto Markets Shed Some Value After Heating Up the Day Prior Bitcoin ( BTC ) has dropped in value during the most recent trading sessions, as the price per BTC slid from $63,299 to $60,042 losing 5% in value. However, the price rebounded a hair and currently, BTC is exchanging hands between $60,900 to $61,100 per unit. BTC /USD on Friday, April 16, 2021, on Bitstamp. BTC is still up 3.86% today and 2.52% for the month. The second-largest market cap is ethereum ( ETH ) today and each coin is swapping for $2,374 per unit. ETH touched a high during Thursday evening’s trading sessions at $2,532 per ether. ETH /USD on Friday, April 16, 2021, on Deribit. Binance coin ( BNB ) is down over 5% today, as it was trading f

Bitcoin mining could be a proper asset to solve one of the significant issues in the Ukrainian energy sector: spending. A financial expert praised the recent push given by Ukraine’s government to nuclear-powered crypto mining across the nation. Crypto Mining Can ‘Smooth out’ Fluctuations in Consumption, Says Expert During an interview with Inshe , Alexei Mushak, an economic advisor to the former Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, Ukraine needs bitcoin ( BTC ) miners, but most importantly, to take advantage of the nuclear power plants that favor smooth operations while helping to save costs. He explained: Modern equipment (ASIC miners) can turn on or off in the space of a minute. Crypto mining can smooth out fluctuations in consumption and generation [at nuclear power plants]. Moreover, by boosting crypto mining in the country, NAEC Energoatom, the state-run company that operates Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, could have the possibility to expand its sales markets in the near fu

Earle Loxton, the cofounder of EC10 (formerly DCX Capital) the institution behind the South African crypto index fund, says plans are afoot to launch the country’s first exchange-traded fund (ETF). The ETF is expected to offer South African institutional investors an indirect way of getting exposure to bitcoin. According to Loxton, an application for this ETF will soon be lodged with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). However, Loxton also reveals in a podcast that before proceeding with the application, EC10 alongside Easy Equities will initially prioritize finding a suitable custodian for its crypto assets. Loxton explained: To get to the level where we will be compliant with the requirements of a listed instrument, we definitely need the services of a dedicated, regulated and registered custodian. Therefore, as part of an arrangement, Easy Equities, which acquired the controlling stake in DCX Capital in 2020, will help secure the services of a custodian. This custodian wi

The past week has been busier than usual for the NFT ecosystem. Rap stars Jeezy and Riff Raff entered the NFT realm, Hoard introduced its lending platform for NFT-collateralized crypto loans, The Topps Company is dropping its Series 1 Baseball collectibles, super-quarterback Tom Brady is launching his own NFT initiative, Terra Virtua is releasing a Godzilla vs. Kong NFT line, and even Annoying Orange is NFTing. NFT-Collateralized Crypto Loans Arrive Hoard , an Ethereum-based NFT marketplace, launches a new loan platform called Pawn Shop, where you can use your NFTs as collateral to obtain crypto loans. The platform will support users as they trade, buy, sell, loan, and rent NFTs like in-game items, domain names, digital art, and more. If you own extra stablecoins and are looking for a way to generate profit from them, Hoard’s platform offers you high profits as a lender. The platform plans to gradually transition into a DAO with its own governance token, the HRD coin. The First ML

Bitcoin bull and billionaire investor Mike Novogratz has warned about cryptocurrency market volatility in a recent interview stemming from the Barron’s and Marketwatch’s “Investing in Crypto” virtual event series. In general and over the long term, Novogratz is bullish about bitcoin and companies like Coinbase remaining prosperous. Novogratz Warns of a Crypto Market ‘Washout’ Shares in Coinbase Global, Inc. ( Nasdaq: COIN ) are currently down 5% since yesterday’s opening and during the launch billionaire Mike Novogratz spoke about the San Francisco firm and the crypto-economy in general. Novogratz has been a long-time supporter of bitcoin ( BTC ) and other digital assets like ethereum ( ETH ) as well. Just recently, the crypto investment company he founded, Galaxy Digital filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list a bitcoin exchange-traded fund. While speaking positively about the COIN launch on Wednesday, Novogratz said the excitement woul

The CEO of Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, says that he is fascinated by cryptocurrency, believing that it could become a “great asset class.” However, he said that Blackrock has not received many inquiries from its institutional clients about having bitcoin in their portfolios. Blackrock’s CEO ‘Fascinated’ About Crypto Following Coinbase’s IPO via a direct listing on Nasdaq, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink was asked in an interview with CNBC Wednesday whether his view on cryptocurrency has changed. Blackrock is the world’s largest asset manager, with more than $8.7 trillion in assets under management. “I’m still fascinated about it,” he began. “I’m encouraged by how many people are focusing on it. I’m encouraged about the narrative. It may become a great asset class.” He emphasized, “I do believe this could become a great asset class, cryptocurrency.” However, the executive noted: “I don’t believe it’s a substitute for currencies. I think we are going to have cryptocurrenc