Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

El Salvador has begun exploring bitcoin mining using energy from its volcanoes, President Nayib Bukele has revealed. “Our engineers just informed me that they dug a new well that will provide approximately 95MW of 100% clean, 0 emissions geothermal energy from our volcanos,” he detailed. Bitcoin Mining Using Volcanoes’ Energy El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced on Twitter Wednesday: “I’ve just instructed the president of La Geo (our state-owned geothermal electric company) to put up a plan to offer facilities for bitcoin mining with very cheap, 100% clean, 100% renewable, 0 emissions energy from our volcanos. This is going to evolve fast.” The president soon followed up with another tweet that says: Our engineers just informed me that they dug a new well that will provide approximately 95MW of 100% clean, 0 emissions geothermal energy from our volcanos. Starting to design a full bitcoin mining hub around it. What you see coming out of the well is pure water vapor. Ma...

Several major global cryptocurrency exchanges are reportedly exploring ways to enter the Indian crypto market. “The Indian market is huge and it is only starting to grow, if there was more policy certainty by now Indian consumers would have been spoilt for choice in terms of exchanges because everyone wants to be here,” said an executive of a crypto firm. Major Crypto Exchanges Want to Enter India Global crypto exchanges are exploring ways to enter the Indian cryptocurrency market, Reuters reported. Four sources told the publication that U.S.-based Kraken, Hong Kong-based Bitfinex, and rival Kucoin are actively scouting the Indian crypto market. One source claimed to be directly involved with an exchange that is considering acquiring an Indian crypto firm and had begun due diligence for it. The source described: These companies have already begun talks to understand the Indian market and the entry points better. The other two exchanges are in the initial stages of deciding wheth...

Amidst the stratospheric rise of defi and heightened demand for unique and innovative solutions, the global community of angel investors and VC firms is continuously engaging in private funding rounds and token sales. The resulting flood of capital demonstrates that entrepreneurs and startups play their part in developing a new generation of blockchain technology. Balancer Labs Raises $24.25 Million to Accelerate Protocol Development Balancer Labs, the company behind Balancer , an automated portfolio manager, liquidity provider, and price sensor, has raised $24.25 million from leading investors in its recent token sale, which will be utilized to accelerate the development of the Balancer protocol. The recent round witnessed an influx of new investors, including Alameda Capital, Pantera Capital, Fenbushi Capital, Blockchain Capital, Longhash Ventures, Fintech Collective, and Continue Capital. One of the Balancer Protocol highlights is that it uses multidimensional values to build a ...

On the heels of the SpaceX announcement that the company accepted dogecoin as payment, an apparel store on Brooklyn’s colorful Flatbush Avenue took the jump as well into the deep, cold Doge waters. Brick-and-Mortar Is Another Brick in the Crypto Adoption Wall Crypto adoption has been widely and thoroughly discussed in the media and on social networks, as both an investment vehicle and a payment method. Companies large and small have declared their willingness to accept this or that cryptocurrency in return for their services or products; some companies have even reversed such decisions . While bitcoin has attracted most of the attention in the adoption debate, not far behind it is turned-serious dogecoin. In Cryptwerk’s Dogecoin Directory there are “1300+ places, stores and services accepting dogecoin” though only a handful are physical stores. Bitcoin cash has quite a few locations around the world where it is accepted as well, including many brick-and-mortar locations. Still, ...

After years of development, Concordium has unveiled its permissionless blockchain and MVP that is designed to meet the needs of enterprises by delivering transparency and governance, all with an orientation towards protecting user privacy. Identity-Centric Network to Promote Broader Business Adoption Although blockchain’s novel characteristics are not in dispute, corporate adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) has remained sluggish due to bad actors diminishing trust via the anonymity promised by many existing chains. Besides these relevant concerns, some enterprises are wary of embracing the technology due to regulatory requirements. Since 2018, Concordium has endeavored to overcome these obstacles and now has revealed its answer to these challenges. With its Concordium mainnet now live alongside its corresponding GTU cryptocurrency, the organization is pioneering a new decentralized, public blockchain model. Instead of providing the anonymity features that define othe...

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) plans to guide local banks towards full adoption of fintech technologies, a new strategy reveals. The region’s central banking institution also stressed that it’s going to “walk the talk” by digitalizing its own supervision of financial institutions. Hong Kong Central Bank to Support Fintech Development Hong Kong’s monetary policy regulator has presented its new strategy to stimulate the fintech development of China’s special administrative region. With the strategy, HKMA aims for a comprehensive adoption of new financial technologies in the next four years. The central bank also wants to “promote the provision of fair and efficient financial services for the benefit of Hong Kong citizens and the economy.” Speaking at a seminar organized by the Hong Kong Association of Banks, HKMA’s chief executive Eddie Yue outlined five focus areas of “Fintech 2025.” The regulator wants to encourage all banks to go fintech, future-proof Hong Kong for CBDCs...

Following the report that indicates specific Chinese miners in the Xinjiang region were told by officials to shut down, another agency in Qinghai has informed miners to cease operations in a recently published government mandate. Similarly, the Qinghai Industry and Information Technology Department’s document explains bitcoin mining operations cannot operate in the area. Qinghai Province Gives Bitcoin Miners Notice to Cease Operations Beijing’s crackdown on bitcoin mining seems to be spreading. It started two weeks ago after a few accounts stemming from Inner Mongolia noted the region’s top economic planner revealed new rules against operating bitcoin mining facilities in the region. The problems with bitcoin mining in Inner Mongolia turned out to be the first enforcement measure against crypto mining. Reports explaining the government’s plans to shut down mining operations in Inner Mongolia started surfacing during the first week of March 2021. At the end of May 2021, the Sich...

New submissions by a South African regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and liquidators have exposed the web of lies and deceptive tactics that were used by Mirror Trading International (MTI) CEO Johann Steynberg and others to perpetuate the Ponzi scheme. Undeclared Losses In its report filed with the South African court, the regulator also exposes the true extent of losses that were incurred by the bitcoin investment company. For instance, in what the FSCA calls the “first period,” MTI had a “total of nearly 51 bitcoin (that) were deposited with Belize-based forex broker FXChoice, but 22 — or 43% — of these coins were lost by the traders.” However, at this point there was “no multi-level marketing involved.” Nevertheless, this would change in the second period “when Steynberg purportedly introduced a computerized trading bot” that falsely guaranteed returns of 10% each day. The report explained: FX Choice reported to the FSCA that 1,846 bitcoin were deposite...

The Danish tax ministry is reportedly mulling over revising the country’s tax law to deal with the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies. Denmark’s tax authority is concerned about the rising risk of fraud and widespread filing errors involving cryptocurrencies. Denmark to Revamp Tax Law to Deal With Cryptocurrency Denmark is considering revamping its tax code in order to deal with cryptocurrency after discovering that two-thirds of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions were not properly taxed, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. The country’s existing tax code is not sufficient to deal with the challenges posed by crypto assets, the Danish tax ministry explained. The authority said in a statement Tuesday that the current tax code “dates back to 1922 and therefore doesn’t take financial cryptocurrencies into account.” The ministry cited a heightened risk of fraud as well as widespread tax filing errors involving crypto transactions. Denmark will identify specific challenges to tax...

Berkshire Hathaway, the company led by CEO Warren Buffett, has invested $500 million in a pro-bitcoin digital bank. Nubank says it will offer bitcoin investment following its acquisition of brokerage firm Easynvest which offers the trading of Brazil’s first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Berkshire Hathaway Invests in Pro-Bitcoin Digital Bank Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has invested $500 million in the parent company of Nubank, a Brazil-based bitcoin-friendly digital bank, the South American company announced Tuesday. This is part of the bank’s Series G funding round which began in January. The bank said it also raised $250 from other investors. Founded in 2013, Nubank says it has 40 million customers, making it the largest digital bank in the world in terms of the number of clients. With the new investments, Nubank has become “the most valuable digital bank in the world and one of the largest financial institutions in Latin America,” the announcement details. Reut...

An asset management firm with nearly $160 billion in assets under management, Victory Capital, has announced that it is entering the cryptocurrency market. The firm has established exclusive agreements with Nasdaq and asset manager Hashdex. Asset Management Firm Entering Crypto Market Victory Capital Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: VCTR) unveiled its plans to enter the cryptocurrency market Wednesday. Victory Capital is a diversified global asset management firm with $157.1 billion in assets under management as of April 30. The firm provides specialized investment strategies to institutions, intermediaries, retirement platforms, and individual investors. The company said that its wholly owned investment adviser, Victory Capital Management Inc., “has established exclusive agreements” with Nasdaq and asset manager Hashdex Ltd. in advance of plans to enter the cryptocurrency market, adding: Victory Capital will be the exclusive sponsor of private placement funds and other vehicles for U.S. i...

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani discussed cryptocurrencies at the most recent meeting of the government’s Economic Coordination Board and told participants that regulatory policy is needed to protect consumers. Rouhani believes the Iranian government should “communicate the necessary laws and instructions” as soon as possible so dishonorable crypto businesses are avoided. Regulation Necessary to Keep ‘Unprofessional’ Entries Out of Crypto Sector, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Says On Tuesday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani made comments toward the cryptocurrency industry gaining ground in Iran and also warned retail investors about the possibility of “unprofessional” entries into this space. Overall, Iran has been friendlier toward crypto-assets and businesses like bitcoin mining than most countries. There have been some issues with electrical consumption, but one study indicates that Iran is leveraging bitcoin mining to lessen the effect of economic sanctions against the oi...

PRESS RELEASE. Torum prepares to launch an NFT launchpad from its unique DeFi & NFT-infused social media platform, following successive fundraising achievements. 9th June, 2021, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Torum , the first DeFi, and NFT-infused crypto social media platform is now going to launch an NFT launchpad that is designed with cross-chain interoperability. The integration of the NFT feature will enable projects to raise funds from a community of over 56,000 cryptocurrency users and investors . Introducing Torum NFT Launchpad Torum NFT Launchpad is developed on Torum’s DeFi staking platform, Torum Finance that offers any issuing projects to launch NFTs with different rarity and total supply and also the burning period of the NFTs. There are two types of public launches with different criteria and gamification options available to choose from on the launchpad. The first option is a dual token launch which gives NFT holders the vested right to burn the NFTs and receive ...

Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone believes bitcoin is “more likely” headed for $40K instead of $20K after discussing the possibility of capitulation in a recent tweet. McGlone’s opinion follows a number of predictions that say bitcoin could drop to the $20K zone if there’s more pullback in the cards. Bloomberg Commodity Strategist Suggests Bitcoin ‘More Likely’ to Hit $40K Than $20K Bitcoin markets have improved on Wednesday, after the announcement stemming from El Salvador which recognized bitcoin ( BTC ) as legal tender in the country. Even though the news has been positive, some people are still not sure if the “bottom is in.” There have been predictions of BTC dropping below the $30K region and even down to the $20K zone. Stephen Kelso, head of markets at ITI Capital explained in a note to Bitcoin.com News that there have been reports that suggest BTC could drop to this low point. “Speculative reports suggest that bitcoin could soon drop to $20,...

Interactive Brokers will add cryptocurrency trading to its platform by the end of the summer, CEO Thomas Peterffy has revealed. The platform has about 1.33 million customer accounts and $330.6 billion in customer equity as of the first quarter. Interactive Brokers to Offer Cryptocurrency Trading The chairman and CEO of Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), Thomas Peterffy, said at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & Fintech Conference Wednesday that his company will start offering direct cryptocurrency trading. Peterffy was quoted by the media as saying: Customers certainly are asking for [crypto trading] and we expect to be ready to offer it to them by the end of the summer. The platform has about 1.33 million customer accounts and $330.6 billion in customer equity as of the first quarter. Clients from over 200 countries and territories invest globally in stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds and funds from a single integrated Interactive Brokers account. The CEO furth...

An official notice stemming from the Changji prefecture government in Xinjiang details that officials from the Zhundong Economic-Technological Development Park must instruct bitcoin miners to shut down. China’s province of Xinjiang is a highly concentrated region of bitcoin miners and bitcoin activities at the park must cease by June 9, according to the document. Nevertheless, the Bitcoin network’s hashrate has been considerably higher today than last week’s average rate. Development Park Bitcoin Miners in Xinjiang Told to Cease Operations Following Sichuan Energy Official’s Meeting There’s been a number of reports from China that indicate Chinese government officials haven’t been too keen on the crypto mining sector in recent times. Bitcoin.com News has covered a number of reports tied to the country showing a possible crackdown on bitcoin mining taking place in mainland China. For instance, Huobi and Okex revealed the companies would restrict certain services to Chinese residen...