Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

South Africa’s Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) has a released new position paper that calls for the regulation of the country’s cryptocurrency ecosystem. In the document, the IFWG, which is a creation of the South Africa Reserve Bank (SARB), recommends “a staged approach to bring crypto-assets within the regulatory remit through the regulation of crypto asset service providers (CASPs).” Crypto Service Providers to Adhere to AML/CFT Requirements The 49-page document also “sets out 25 recommendations for a revised South African policy, legal and regulatory position on crypto assets and related activities.” According to the IFWG, some of these recommendations “are already underway and in the process of being implemented while some will take much longer to implement.” Meanwhile, in the position paper, the IFWG’s recommendations are grouped into three overarching categories. Concerning the first one, the working group recommends CASP adherence to the legislative requirem

India may be regulating crypto as an asset class under the purview of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In addition, a crypto bill is likely to be introduced during the Monsoon session of parliament, local media reported. Indian Government Reportedly Considers Regulating Crypto as an Asset Class The Indian government has yet to introduce a cryptocurrency bill. An existing bill seeks to ban cryptocurrencies. However, there have been reports of the government re-evaluating the recommendations within the bill. The New Indian Express reported Friday that top sources tracking the crypto industry told it that “the government has moved away from its earlier hostile stance towards virtual currencies and will most likely classify bitcoin as an asset class in India soon.” The publication further conveyed: Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will oversee regulations for the cryptocurrency sector after bitcoin’s classification as an asset class.

JPMorgan struggles to “see any tangible economic benefits associated with adopting bitcoin as a second form of legal tender.” Commenting on El Salvador’s bitcoinization, JPMorgan did not rule out that the country’s move to make the cryptocurrency legal tender may be “the beginning of a broader trend among similarly situated, smaller nations.” JPMorgan’s Opinion on Bitcoinization in El Salvador Investment bank JPMorgan released a report Friday titled “The Bitcoinization of El Salvador.” The country’s congress passed the bill making bitcoin legal tender on Wednesday, becoming the first nation to do so. JPMorgan described: “El Salvador recently passed legislation making bitcoin legal tender, and will attempt to implement a bimonetary system with the U.S. dollar as the primary unit of account but mandating bitcoin be accepted as payment for all economic activity.” The investment bank added that “As with dollarization in the early-2000s, this move does not seem motivated by stability

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have warned investors of the risks of investing in funds with exposure to bitcoin futures. The SEC published an investor alert on funds trading in bitcoin futures Thursday. The alert comes from the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) and the CFTC’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach (OCEO). They pointed out that some funds may engage in the trading of bitcoin futures contracts as a way to gain exposure to bitcoin, emphasizing that the cryptocurrency “is a highly speculative investment.” The document cautions: Investors should consider the volatility of bitcoin and the bitcoin futures market, as well as the lack of regulation and potential for fraud or manipulation in the underlying bitcoin market. They urge investors thinking about investing in a fund that buys or sells bitcoin futures “to weigh carefully the potential risks and benefits of the inves

The popular Twitter account and creator of the bitcoin stock-to-flow (S2F) price model explained that “$288K [is] still in play.” Meanwhile, data from the exchange Deribit shows there’s 425 bitcoin call options with a strike price of $200K set for December 31, 2021. Plan B Says: ‘$288K Still in Play’ On June 12, 2021, while bitcoin ( BTC ) prices have been hovering just above the $35K zone, the popular Twitter account Plan B (@100trillionusd) told his 553,000 followers that six-figure bitcoin prices are still intact. Plan B is a pseudonym and he published the stock-to-flow (S2F) price model in March 2019. He also updated the S2F model to another version called the stock-to-flow cross-asset (S2FX) model. Twelve days ago, Bitcoin.com News reported on how Plan B said his S2FX model was “intact.” Plan B has always shown confidence in his model but when he last tweeted about the S2FX being intact, he invoked a poll on Twitter. The pseudonym asked his followers if they thought the S2F

The ‘Speedy Trial’ lock-in period for the Bitcoin network upgrade Taproot is now complete. Data from taproot.watch details the lock-in has been achieved and it was locked in at block height 687,285 and mined by the mining pool Slushpool. Bitcoin Taproot Lock-in Complete at Block Height 687,285 Taproot is coming this November as the web portal taproot.watch indicates that the lock-in period of signaling has finished. “This period has reached 1815 Taproot signaling blocks, which is required for lock-in.” The Taproot upgrade is considered one of the largest upgrades in four years since the activation of Segregated Witness (Segwit) back in 2017. Poolin executive Alejandro De La Torre tweeted about the milestone after the signaling finished. “Taproot has locked-in,” De La Torre said . “Excellent work miners. Congratulations bitcoiners. Bitcoin protocol upgrade now set to activate in November. When activated in November, Taproot addresses will be able to leverage Schnorr signatur

The Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) is under fire for an alleged unconstitutional seizure of 800 safety deposit boxes in Beverly Hills. According to reports, the FBI confiscated $86 million in cash, jewelry, and thousands of gold and silver bars. Box holders and their lawyers are calling out the federal law enforcement agency for lacking sufficient proof that the boxes held evidence of being tied to specific crimes. Abuse of Power? Lawyers Believe the FBI Seized People’s Life Savings in an Unconstitutional Manner The FBI has seized over 800 safety deposit boxes that were located in Beverly Hills and held at the U.S. Private Vaults store. Reports note that the FBI got an order from a California magistrate to seize the store’s “business equipment” that ostensibly was tied to a money laundering case. The order barred the searches of the safety deposit box contents, explains the LA Times reporter Michael Finnegan. “This warrant does not authorize a criminal search or seizure of the

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has proposed dividing crypto assets into two groups and regulating them based on their market, liquidity, credit, and operational risks to banks. Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, will be subject to “a new conservative prudential treatment.” Crypto Regulation Proposed by Basel Committee on Banking Supervision The Basel Committee has proposed regulating crypto assets based on their risks to banks. The Bank of International Settlement (BIS) published the committee’s public consultation on “preliminary proposals for the prudential treatment of banks’ cryptoasset exposures” Thursday. The BIS explained that banks’ exposures to cryptocurrencies are currently limited. However, it added: Continued growth and innovation in crypto assets and related services, coupled with the heightened interest of some banks, could increase global financial stability concerns and risks to the banking system in the absence of a specified prudential treatment.

The Texas Department of Banking has announced that state-chartered banks can provide cryptocurrency custody services. “The Texas Department of Banking believes that the authority to provide these services with respect to virtual currencies already exists,” the banking authority said. Texas State-Chartered Banks Officially Authorized to Offer Crypto Custody Services The Texas Department of Banking issued a notice to the banking industry Thursday, stating: Texas state-chartered banks may provide customers with virtual currency custody services, so long as the bank has adequate protocols in place to effectively manage the risks and comply with applicable law. “While custody and safekeeping of virtual currencies will necessarily differ from that associated with more traditional assets, the Texas Department of Banking believes that the authority to provide these services with respect to virtual currencies already exists pursuant to Texas Finance Code § 32.001,” the notice clarifies.

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has enacted new rules for cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country. Certain types of cryptocurrencies, including meme coins, fan coins, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), are prohibited to trade on crypto exchanges. Thailand Sets New Rules for Crypto Exchanges, Banning Certain Types of Cryptocurrencies The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Friday that its board of directors has approved new rules governing cryptocurrency exchanges. Secretary-General Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol stated that the board meeting held on June 9 had passed a resolution approving the SEC Notification No. Kor Thor. 18/2564, which sets forth the rules. Digital asset exchanges are prohibited from “providing services related to utility tokens or cryptocurrencies that have any of the following characteristics,” the SEC notice details: (1) Meme token: having no clear objective or substance or underlying, and whose price running on social m

India’s Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has reportedly sent a notice to Wazirx, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, (FEMA). The investigation was initiated “on the basis of the ongoing money-laundering investigation into Chinese owned illegal online betting applications,” the ED detailed. ED’s FEMA Investigation of Wazirx India’s Directorate of Enforcement (ED) reportedly said Friday that it has issued a Show Cause Notice (SCN) to Wazirx, CEO Nischal Shetty, and co-founder Sameer Hanuman Mhatre. Wazirx is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the country. The ED is India’s law enforcement and economic intelligence agency. The notice was issued under the “Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, (FEMA) for transactions involving crypto-currencies worth Rs 2,790.74 crore [$381.93 million],” the ED wrote, adding: ED initiated FEMA investigation on the basis of the ongoing money laundering investigation into Chinese ow

Kraken, the US-based exchange, is weighing in on whether to use an IPO or a direct listing to go public. Kraken’s CEO Jesse Powell stated that after Coinbase’s performance, they were considering other options for going public next year. The company will be the second crypto exchange to go public in the US if things happen as projected. Kraken Considers IPO vs Direct Listing for Going Public Kraken, one of the leading US-based crypto exchanges, is having doubts about how to go public. Its CEO, Jesse Powell, had indicated earlier this year they would use the direct listing approach to launch next year. This stance mimics the direction Coinbase took. But now he is not so sure about that, due to the lackluster performance Coinbase has had up until now. Powell declared in an interview with Fortune: An IPO is looking a little more attractive in light of the direct listing’s performance. I would say we’re looking at it more seriously now having the benefit of seeing how the direct publi

There’s a lot of buzz in China around the Bee mainnet soft launch following the recent hype surrounding Filecoin and Chia. Reports detail that Swarm is set to kickstart the mainnet on June 13, and droves of miners from China are getting prepared to obtain rewards from the distributed storage platform and content distribution service. Swarm Preps to Launch Mainnet and Native Token BZZ This Sunday, the anticipated Bee mainnet launch is supposed to happen according to a blog post published by the Swarm Foundation. The Swarm project details can be found on ethswarm.org which details that Swarm is a distributed storage platform and content distribution service that leverages an ethereum web3 stack. Here is a detailed video showing our friends in #China how to install a Bee node. Install your Bee node, become a part of the network and take part in the 1 million BZZ token airdrop at the same time. https://t.co/HjzU3uX5rL #ethswarm #Ethereum — Ethereum Swarm (@ethswarm) February 21,

On Friday, June 11, 2021, data shows that Taproot could get locked-in this coming weekend, as the signal ratio is 98.3% and a touch more than 100 additional signaling blocks are needed to lock in the upcoming soft fork. Bitcoin Upgrade Taproot Inches Toward Lock-in, Success Means Activation in November Participants involved with the Bitcoin ( BTC ) network are preparing to see a softfork in November if the signaling status of “Speedy trial support for versionbits #21377” gets locked in this weekend. According to the Github “Taproot-Activation” documentation , the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade involves an “upgrade that can be deployed as a forward-compatible soft fork.” The upgrade also combines the “Schnorr signature scheme with MAST ( Merklized Alternative Script Tree ) and a new scripting language called Tapscript, Taproot will expand Bitcoin’s smart contract flexibility, while offering more privacy by letting users mask complex smart contracts as a regular bitcoin transaction.” Bit

Nigeria is likely to have its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) by the end of the year, an official with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said. In his remarks following the bankers’ committee meeting, Rakiya Mohammed, who is the director of information technology at CBN, also revealed that this “digital currency would be accessible to all Nigerians.” Stakeholder Involvement However, according to a report which quotes the IT director, the CBN’s digital currency will be unlike privately issued cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, which a Nigerian senator has previously blamed for making the naira currency “almost useless.” Emphasizing the importance of this digital currency initiative, Mohammed said: We have spent over two years studying this concept of the central bank digital currency and we have identified the risks. And it is one of the reasons why I said we are setting up a central governance structure that would involve all industry stakeholders to access all the ris

The Bank of Namibia (BON) has warned individuals investing in cryptocurrencies that it will not entertain their complaints should they get scammed. The institution argues that since its mandate does not currently cover digital currencies, it lacks the “legal power” to follow up on such complaints. Growing Namibian Interest in Crypto This latest BON warning about risks associated with cryptocurrency trading comes as Namibia is seeing increased reports of crypto investors losing money to scammers. As noted in one report, the scammers are using the promise of high returns as well as training opportunities to lure their victims. In the meantime, in his response to an inquiry from a local media outlet, the central bank’s spokesperson, Kazembire Zemburuka, asserts that as Namibia’s sole issuer of legal tender, the BON “does not recognise, support and recommend the possession, utilisation and trading of cryptocurrencies by members of the public.” While Namibia, like many other African s

A Cryptopunk NFT was recently sold for $11.8 million during an auction organized by Sotheby’s. The sale, which also featured works of other artists, was organized virtually. Sotheby’s anticipates strong demand for this kind of digital good in the future, even as NFT fever has somewhat subsided in recent weeks. Cryptopunk NFT Sold for Almost $12 Million Sotheby’s, a leading art and luxury auction house, announced yesterday the sale of a Cryptopunk NFT for almost $12 million. The auction, titled “ Natively Digital ,” presented a group of curated works in the form of NFTs. While the feature of the auction was the Cryptopunk NFT, it also featured 27 other digital artworks. The Cryptopunk NFTs are the very first series of NFTs minted on the Ethereum network by Larva Labs back in 2017. While they were created and distributed for free at that time, they are now highly valued for their origin. There are 10,000 Cryptopunks in total, but the one auctioned was especially strange. Dubbed by