Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Cryptocurrency regulation is still an ongoing topic for the Spanish government and regulators, with some not too friendly measures against crypto ads or enhancing tax rules. However, adoption is on the rise in different industries, and the healthcare sector is joining the frenzy. Patients Could Pay With Digital Assets Starting June 1 According to Forbes Negocios , the Spanish healthcare group Biziondo, specializing in spine treatments, will accept bitcoin ( BTC ) and other crypto asset payments within its clinical facilities across Spain. After seeing a rising adoption of what they called a “bitcoin revolution” globally, the management became interested in blockchain technology and not depending wholly on the traditional banks or intermediaries for payments. David Izquierdo, general manager of Biziondo, commented on the announcement: It is clear that the bitcoin revolution has already started. In an economic context in which, in 2020, 60% of the world’s money was printed by Euro...

South Korean political parties are now battling to catch younger votes amid the tough stance among higher government spheres toward digital currencies. As voters are disappointed by how parties are handling the issue, one of them has taken a step forward by talking about the forthcoming crypto tax. The Democratic Party’s Expectations on Cryptocurrencies According to Dailian , South Korea’s Democratic Party members suggested that delaying the crypto taxation policy set to go live in 2022 should not be entirely discarded. The party, which is the ruling one in the country, believes a crypto tax is “premature.” Moreover, Koh Yong Jin, the Secretary of the ruling party of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee, stated they’re contemplating ways to postpone the timing of the new financial rules on cryptocurrencies. “I’ll hear if it’s right to delay,” he said. On the other hand, Jang Kyung-tae, the head of the National Youth Committee of the Democratic Party, pointed out ...

Leading yield farming platform DeFi Yield Protocol has launched its highly anticipated DYP Earn Vault. The Vault is an automated yield farming contract fully integrated with Compound Protocol and supports five markets, including ETH , WBTC, USDC, USDT , and DAI. Earn Rewards on DYP Earn Vaults Users can provide an asset to the DYP Earn Vault and begin earning impressive yields on their assets. One of the unique features of the Vault is the integration with Compound protocol. When users deposit funds into the Vault, the funds are forwarded to Compound protocol in exchange for respective cTokens held within the smart contract. Interests generated from Compound is then distributed to investors. DYP Earn Vault offers investors different lockup durations for each of the supported markets. Users can lock their tokens for 3,30,60 and 90 days, with the average interest increasing with the length of the lock period. Apart from interest generated from Compound Protocol, the DYP Earn Vault a...

Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently warned residents of the West African country to avoid cryptocurrency transactions of any form. In the warning, the regulator reiterated that “cryptocurrencies are illegal in the country and are not regulated by the commission hence Ghanaians should stay away from them.” Risks Associated With Crypto In remarks made during an interview , Paul Ababio, the Deputy Director-General of the (SEC) asserts that “there are risks associated with cryptocurrencies and people have lost funds to such transactions.” However, despite issuing the warning, Ababio does hint that his organisation might eventually decide to regulate the crypto space. (The) Bank of Ghana does not treat it as a form of payment, it is not a legal tender but we will be engaging further to come out with frameworks. However, until that happens, the regulator urges Ghanaians to “desist from participating (in cryptocurrency transactions.)” Paul Ababio, Ghana’s Deputy...

The Thai government has reportedly imposed a new cryptocurrency requirement. Crypto exchanges will be required to verify users’ identities using a machine that requires the customers to be physically present. Thailand’s New Crypto Rules The Thai Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) has announced that starting in July “local digital exchanges must verify their customers’ identities through a ‘dip-chip’ machine that requires clients to be physically present,” the Bangkok Post reported. Currently, the account opening process at crypto exchanges is done entirely online. To approve a new account, exchanges must ensure that the documents submitted by customers comply with the regulations set by the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the know-your-customer (KYC) process and suitability test. Furthermore, the documents must also be verified by relevant government agencies. The application will be rejected if the customer submitted fake documents or resides in a country wher...

The Federal Reserve’s top supervisory official has called on bank regulators to pay more attention to cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. His comments followed a number of major banks announcing that they will be offering products based on cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin, to their clients. Bank Regulators Should Focus More on Cryptocurrency, Says Fed Supervisor The Federal Reserve’s vice chairman for supervision, Randal Quarles, talked about cryptocurrency last week at a conference hosted by the Options Clearing Corporation. He urged bank regulators to pay more attention to stablecoins and cryptocurrencies. Quarles took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 2017 and was sworn in as Vice Chair for Supervision on Oct. 13 that year. He is also chair of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). His comments followed several banks in the U.S., such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs , announcing that they will offer their wealthy clients acces...

Investment management firm, Marlton, has applauded the recent decision to authorize the purchase by Digital Currency Group (DCG) of up to a total of $750 million worth of shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). This latest action follows Marlton’s recent call for DCG and the Grayscale board to do more to narrow the discount on GBTC shares. Support for Purchase Authorization In a statement , Marlton’s Managing Member, James C. Elbaor says this DCG action is “a more constructive approach to alleviating the dramatic discount between the market price of GBTC shares and net asset value.” He added: We continue to believe GBTC maintains a competitive advantage as the world’s largest Bitcoin fund, and appreciate that GBTC has recognized the need to take meaningful steps that are aligned with stockholder value creation and ensuring the best path forward. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Martlon’s Elbaor argued in an open letter that a modified Dutch auction tender offer for...

PRESS RELEASE. Bitcoin.com Exchange is thrilled to announce the listing of ILV, being available to trade on the 3rd May 2021 at 15:00 UTC. ILV was created by the Illuvium team, as the token to reward players in their open-world RPG adventure game built on the Ethereum Blockchain. ILV will start trading with USDT and BTC pairs. What is Illuvium? Illuvium is an open-world fantasy battle game built entirely on top of the Ethereum blockchain. It’s often referred to as the first actual AAA game on Ethereum. The world of Illuvium is a world full of beauty and wonder inhabited by creatures known as Illuvials. From a visual perspective, Illuvials go way beyond crypto kitties, one of the earliest and most famous examples of non-fungible tokens. These illuvials are designed as high-quality 3D art made by some of the leading artists in the space. While venturing through the vast landscape of Illuvium, players can capture Illuvials by beating them in battle and then nursing them back to h...

The American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts, Fidelity Investments has announced the introduction of a new comprehensive data and deep analytics solution for digital assets. The new product is called Sherlock and it’s meant for institutional clients so they can streamline “fundamental and technical data” tied to cryptocurrencies. Fidelity Investments Introduces Crypto Analytics and Tools Platform Called Sherlock The data and analytics space tethered to the cryptocurrency world is exceptionally hot right now, as firms like Skew, Glassnode, Messari, Dune Analytics, Cryptoquant, and others have been turning heads. This past weekend, Bitcoin.com News reported on the Skew acquisition, as the analytics firm joined the Coinbase family of businesses. Skew’s data will be leveraged for Coinbase Prime customers, the San Francisco exchange’s institutional clients. Sherlock benefits according to Fidelity Investments. On Monday, Fidelity Investment...

On April 26, 2021, the Danish multinational banking and financial services corporation Danske Bank published a press release explaining that the institution has changed the threshold for personal customers and standard interest rates for business customers in Denmark. The Bank plans to lower the threshold for charging negative interest on deposits from DKK 100,000 to DKK 250,000 ($16k to $40k USD). Denmark Savers Will Feel the Brunt of Negative Rates This Summer A number of large financial institutions in Europe have been embracing negative interest rates. Bitcoin.com News recently reported on ECB President Christine Lagarde’s opinion of the situation and how she defended negative interest rates. Lagarde noted that it might bother savers, but people need to put the global economy ahead of savers. Moreover, the Bank of England (BoE) wants British banks and building societies in the region to have negative bank rate solutions ready by August 2021. At the end of April, following fin...

Ebay is looking at cryptocurrency as a payment option for its 187 million buyers on the platform, the company’s CEO has revealed. The e-commerce giant is also exploring opportunities in the non-fungible token (NFT) business. Ebay Looking Into Adding Cryptocurrency as Payment Option Ebay CEO Jamie Iannone said in a CNBC interview on Monday that the company is looking at accepting cryptocurrency as a payment option. He was asked about how Ebay is responding to the rise in popularity and adoption of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The CEO replied: We are expanding the types of payments that we take. We now take Apple Pay and Google Pay. More choice for buyers … We will continue to look at other options, like cryptocurrency. He added: “One of the great things about Ebay is that when there is a new trend, it just shows up on Ebay. That’s what we are seeing in areas like NFTs [non-fungible tokens], which we are looking at how we can explore that better.” He also noted that Ebay h...

Hip hop legend and recording artist Nasir Jones, known by his stage name “Nas,” recently released a new video with record producer DJ Khaled and rapper Jay-Z. The songwriter mentioned being a “cryptocurrency Scarface” and also mentioned the San Francisco company Coinbase in his rhyme. Nas was an early Coinbase investor back in 2013 and it is estimated that Nas raked in over $100 million from his investment with the company. Nas Dubs Himself the ‘Cryptocurrency Scarface’ Nas is a very well known hip-hop recording artist and since 1994 he’s released twelve studio albums that have been certified platinum and multi-platinum in the U.S. Nas has also been considered one of the greatest rappers of all-time, up there with Eminem, Jay-Z, Andre 3000, Lil Wayne, the Notorious B.I.G., and Tupac. In addition to being a songwriter, Nas is also an entrepreneur and he’s invested in numerous projects over the years. One lucrative investment Nas has made was with the San Francisco company Coinbase...

Sunacrip, the Venezuelan cryptocurrency watchdog, has recently published a new set of AML/KYC requirements for VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers) that establishes new and updated rules about the kind of information these providers must require and share with the Venezuelan government, raising alarms in the cryptocurrency community about what the government could do with this data. Venezuelan Crypto Watchdog Sunacrip Strengthens KYC/AML Requirements for VASPs Last week, the Superintendence of Crypto Assets and Linked Activities of Venezuela (Sunacrip), quietly published a new set of rules that aim to tighten the KYC/AML requirements this institution requires from Virtual Asset Service Providers that offer these services on Venezuelan soil. The new norm, published in the National Gazette under the title: Rules relating to the administration and inspection of the risks related to the legitimation of equity, terrorism financing, and the financing of proliferation of weapons of...

In early April 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a circular warning Nigerian institutions to stop the practice of rejecting old or lower denomination USD notes. The CBN issued the warning after it became “inundated with complaints from members of the public on the rejection of such notes by banks and other authorized forex dealers.” Rejection of Defaced or Stamped USD Notes In the circular issued by Ahmed Umar, a director in the CBN’s Currency Operations Department, the central bank says it will sanction institutions that “refuse to accept old series/lower denominations U.S. dollar bills from their customers.” Furthermore, the CBN warned against the same institutions to cease the practice of defacing/stamping USD notes as these “always fail authentication tests during processing or sorting.” In the meantime, Nigeria is not the only inflation hit African country to face this predicament. In Zimbabwe, which has similarly seen the value of its currency plunge in the pas...

For years now the well known economist and gold bug Peter Schiff has continuously spoken out against bitcoin, as he claims precious metals are far superior. A great number of people have rebutted Schiff’s statements about bitcoin but during the last year, the gold bug has had a different thorn on his side. In recent days, Schiff’s nemesis on Twitter is his own son Spencer Schiff, a young entrepreneur who is “interested in finance, Austrian economics, libertarianism, [and] anarcho-capitalism.” Gold Bug vs. Bitcoin Bug During the last year, Bitcoin.com News has reported on Peter Schiff on numerous occasions and one time our newsdesk did a report on his father Irwin Schiff. His now-deceased father Irwin was a very popular libertarian and tax resistance advocate who published a number of books. In other instances this year, our newsdesk also covered Peter’s son as well. Peter’s son, Spencer Schiff , is an advocate for bitcoin ( BTC ) and he always has something to say when his fathe...

PRESS RELEASE. Phuture, a decentralised protocol built for the creation and investment of passive index strategies in a Web3 environment, today announced that it has completed its private seed round fundraise. The round, led by Ascensive Assets, raised a total of $1.5 million. Once live, Phuture will introduce an open design philosophy for creating passive investment strategies. Designed from the ground up to be intuitive to both crypto and non-crypto native users, Phuture provides the tools to create new indices or invest into existing ones created by the community. The Phuture protocol introduces its unique, scalable, aggregated index architecture that allows it to rebalance across multiple indices simultaneously. Its smart rebalancing engine dynamically ascertains the optimal rebalancing triggers, minimising value lost through swaps and improving index performance. The round included several prominent blockchain investors, including: NGC Ventures, SevenX, Moonrock Capital, Origin...