Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Mpex founder and Bitcoin evangelist Mircea Popescu reportedly drowned off the coast of Costa Rica, adding to the mystery surrounding the man, his purported bitcoin fortune, and what it might mean for the future of the network. Father of “Bitcoin Toxicity” Faced No Shortage of Controversy Just like the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamato sparked a thrilling hunt for the true identity of the person or persons behind Bitcoin, the network has reportedly lost one of its most enigmatic and polarizing figures of the last decade. Mircea Popescu, a Romanian national and noted Bitcoin maximalist who promised to dump over one million bitcoins if block sizes were adjusted, supposedly drowned off the coast of Costa Rica on June 23rd. Confirmation of his passing has been scant, with outlets originally reporting that a Polish national had drowned. A relatively mysterious figure within the community, little is known about Popescu apart from his blogging on Trilema, support for security-focused open-sou...

Fresh reports from South Africa suggest that the transfer of locally acquired cryptocurrencies to overseas crypto exchanges will now be subject to the country’s exchange control regulations. Consequently, transactions where an individual purchases crypto assets in South Africa and uses them to externalize “any right to capital” will be deemed a criminal offense. Risk of Imprisonment According to a Mybroadband report , this new interpretation of the country’s exchange control regulations is contained in the FAQ document recently published by the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG), a body that is comprised of South Africa’s financial regulators. In the document, regulators explained: Exchange Control Regulation 10(1)(c) prohibits transactions where capital or the right to capital is, without permission from the National Treasury, directly or indirectly exported from South Africa. The IFWG document adds that individuals in contravention of these regulations face a finan...

JPMorgan Chase has released an investor note stating that the cryptocurrency market appears “to be beginning the process of healing.” In the short term, however, the JPMorgan analysts expect further sell-offs before capitulation. JPMorgan’s Crypto Market Outlook JPMorgan Chase’s analysts, including Josh Younger and Veronica Mejia Bustamante, wrote about the outlook of the cryptocurrency market in a note published Friday. They explained that the near-term outlook for the crypto market is “challenging,” noting that blockchain data suggests recent cryptocurrency sell-offs were made to cover losses. “There is likely still an overhang of underwater positions which need to be cleared through the market,” they detailed. The analysts also warned of the possibility of increased production costs of BTC as China’s crackdown pushes bitcoin mining abroad. Nonetheless, the JPMorgan analysts see stability in the bitcoin futures market as a positive factor. They concluded: Cryptocurrency marke...

A fee change proposal for Dogecoin has been submitted and Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that it is “important to support” it. “This document proposes a new fee structure and policy for Dogecoin Core, to be gradually deployed to the network over multiple software releases,” said the Dogecoin developer who submitted the proposal. Elon Musk Signals Support for Dogecoin Fee Change Proposal Tesla CEO Elon Musk has signaled his support for the Dogecoin fee policy change proposal submitted Sunday. Software engineer and Dogecoin developer Ross Nicoll posted on Twitter that “The Dogecoin fee change proposal is up.” Musk replied to his tweet: “Important to support.” The Dogecoin fee policy change proposal was submitted by Dogecoin developer Patrick Lodder. “This document proposes a new fee structure and policy for Dogecoin Core, to be gradually deployed to the network over multiple software releases,” his proposal reads. He explained on Reddit: TLDR; This proposal to all dogecoin stakeholder...

The host of the “Mad Money” show, Jim Cramer, has bought ether after dumping almost all of his bitcoin. “I like ethereum because people actually use it much more to be able to buy things,” he said, emphasizing that “It’s more of a currency.” Jim Cramer Prefers Ethereum to Bitcoin Jim Cramer was asked about his updated view on bitcoin Monday on CNBC after he sold almost all of his BTC last week. A former hedge fund manager, Cramer co-founded Thestreet.com, a financial news and literacy website. The Mad Money host said last week that he would buy bitcoin again if its price falls to the $10K level. However, the cryptocurrency did not fall much further than the $30K level Cramer appeared to have sold at before bouncing back. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin stands at $34,370 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets . “I went back into ethereum” because bitcoin held at the $30,000 level, Cramer said, elaborating: I like ethereum because people actually use it much more to...

The head of global equity strategy at Jefferies, an investment bank and asset management firm, says that cryptocurrency regulation in the U.S. would “ultimately be very positive” for bitcoin or other crypto assets. It will also be more accommodating than China’s authoritarian approach to crypto regulation. US Regulation Would ‘Ultimately Be Very Positive’ for Mass Adoption of Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies Christopher Wood, Head of Global Equity Strategy at Jefferies, discussed cryptocurrency regulation in his most recent weekly research note, Greed & Fear. Jefferies is a diversified financial services company engaged in investment banking and capital markets, asset management, and direct investing. The company claims to be “the largest independent, global, full-service investment banking firm headquartered in the U.S.,” according to its website. Wood reportedly said that the regulatory response to cryptocurrency in the U.S. will likely be more accommodating than “China’s authorit...

DeFi Yield Protocol has emerged as one of the fastest-growing crypto projects with an expanding ecosystem. DYP allows DeFi users to leverage advanced trading tools to earn yield on their assets while taking advantage of the unique DYP Tools decentralized application. DYP has attracted the attention of many within the crypto space due to its features that include its unique Anti-manipulation system. The anti-manipulation feature ensures the stability of DYP tokens by automatically converting DYP rewards to Ether ( ETH ) or BNB by 00:00 UTC daily and distributing rewards to liquidity providers. Key Developments in DYP Ecosystem The DYP team continues to develop the ecosystem with major partnerships and integrations into its infrastructure. Some of the high profile developments include: Chainlink Integration DYP recently revealed that it has integrated Chainlink Price Feeds on its Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain mainnet. The integration will provide DYP with access to high-quality...

Following the death of the former antivirus tycoon John McAfee, an ERC20 token called whackd (WHACKD) has seen its valuation rise significantly. Three days ago, the Ethereum-based coin was swapping for less than a U.S. penny, but then the token skyrocketed by 733% reaching over $0.07 per unit. Moreover, four days ago, a mysterious website showcasing the whackd token popped up on the internet alluding to McAfee’s alleged “contingency plan” with a countdown timer. Mysterious McAfee Contingency Plan Website Appears on the Web Leading People to the Whackd Token Contract John McAfee’s reported suicide has sparked a lot of interesting theories and stories during the last few days. McAfee was found dead on June 23, 2021, and the Catalan justice department in Spain told the press that “everything pointed to suicide.” However, McAfee’s widow Janice and John’s close associates have stressed to the media that the 75-year old McAfee was not suicidal. Furthermore, interesting theories and stor...

Bitcoin’s hashrate experienced a large drop of almost 35% in a single day. The hashrate plummeted from 108 exahash per second (EH/s) yesterday to today’s 69 EH/s, seeing one of the sharpest declines in the network. This might be a consequence of the situation going on with miners in China. Numbers further estimate a mining difficulty drop of around 23.7% next week. Bitcoin Hashrate Plummets The Bitcoin hashrate, the amount of work that secures the Bitcoin network, has experienced a sharp decline in the last week. In just a day, the hashrate dropped from 108 EH/s to 69EH/s, a decline of almost 35%. It’s worth noting that intraday hashrate records are not always reliable and the 35% drop may be a lower figure a few days from now. It is one of the biggest hashrate drops that the Bitcoin network has seen in the last few years and it is affecting the operation of Bitcoin’s transaction confirmation times. Bitcoin ( BTC ) hashrate one-year chart on June 28, 2021. The BTC network onl...

The Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange originally founded in China, Huobi, has officially banned Chinese residents from swapping cryptocurrency derivatives, according to the company’s revised user agreement. China is now listed as prohibited and residents from the country are forbidden to use Huobi’s service. Chinese Citizens Are Now Banned From Huobi’s Crypto Derivatives Products The digital currency exchange Huobi has updated its terms of service (ToS) and user agreement and notes that Chinese residents are banned from using Huobi’s crypto derivatives products. “Use of the service by persons located in the United States of America, Canada, Hong Kong China, Japan, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Crimea is prohibited,” Huobi’s user agreement states. “In addition, anyone in mainland China, Taiwan China, Israel, Iraq, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, Sevastopol, and the UK (retail users only) is prohibited from using the derivatives trading ser...

PRESS RELEASE. Geneva, Switzerland, June 28, 2021 — Olyseum , a blockchain-powered social ecosystem that rewards fan engagement, is excited to announce that it has launched the world’s first star-led experiential NFT (xNFT) platform. The platform aims to fundamentally change the landscape of fan engagement by taking NFTs to the next level. Olyseum enables gamified, authentic, and meaningful interactions between celebrities and fans. More than 30 stars with hundreds of millions of combined social media followers had joined the platform even before its official launch, including Olyseum co-founders Carles Puyol and Andrés Iniesta as well as MotoGP star Jorge Martín, motorcycling icon Toni Bou, and 5-star Michelin chef Eneko Atxa. Olyseum incentivizes the stars through advertising revenue, sponsorships, and the sale of experiential NFTs (xNFTs). Stars use the platform to engage with their fans through content creation activities, skills challenges and experiences. Each star will hav...

BTCC, ostensibly the first cryptocurrency exchange established in China, exited the bitcoin trading business last week. According to statements, this was the result of the continued regulatory pressure Beijing is exerting on cryptocurrency businesses. The company will now transition to blockchain-related endeavors. BTCC Closes Its Exchange Business BTCC, the company that once ran the most prolific exchange in Asia, announced it has exited the cryptocurrency business. The company said it had sold its shares in the Singapore exchange ZG.com in May 2020. Most of the cryptocurrency exchanges based in China ran overseas years ago, during the first cryptocurrency crackdown back in 2017. But now, the government is tightening its grip on crypto to avoid capital losses. The People’s Bank of China is now targeting OTC businesses and cryptocurrency-related accounts. These P2P and OTC businesses targeted will have their accounts frozen, according to local reports. This will affect cryptocurre...

The algorithmic decentralized finance (defi) stablecoin safedollar (SDO) has been attacked, according to statements published on its Telegram channel. The safedollar token did not remain stable following the attack, as the defi stablecoin’s price collapsed to zero. Safedollar Stablecoin Price Collapses A Polygon (MATIC) blockchain-based stablecoin called safedollar (SDO) has lost all of its value, according to crypto market aggregation sites and even the official website safedollar.fi . The website shows the price per SDO is zero and members of the algorithmic defi stablecoin community got wind of an attack via the project’s official Telegram channel. “Safedollar has been under attack,” the Safedollar administrator’s pinned statement to the Telegram channel notes. “We have paused activities on safedollar and [are] investigating the matter. Important: Please stop all trading related to $SDO. We will announce the post-mortem after the investigation is done with [a] compensation plan ...

The U.S. economy is looking stagnant according to data stemming from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, as core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) jumped 3.4% in May from a year prior. The recent PCE spike is the highest year-over-year basis change since 1992 and the statistic is fueling inflation concerns. Amid ‘Never Ending’ Market Rallies, Core Inflation Indicator Jumps Highest in Close to Three Decades After more than a year of lockdowns and business shutdowns alongside the massive monetary expansion introduced by the Federal Reserve, economists are worried about rising inflation. Last week the Fed revealed its possible future interest-rate decisions and global markets shuddered for a couple of days and then recovered. Northmantrader.com founder, technical analyst, and macroeconomic commentator, Sven Henrich, jokingly wrote about the manipulated markets in a blog post called “The Never Ending Rally.” Henrich remarked on how the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Min...

PRESS RELEASE. With an ever-increasing demand for computing power, PORT Network launches the first dApp to merge both Cloud and Volunteer computing on the blockchain. 28th June 2021, Düsseldorf , Germany – The demand for increased computing power is growing at an exponential rate. Industries such as IoT, Pharmaceutical, AI, 3D Image Processing and Deep Learning all require huge bandwidth in a non-restrictive and cost-efficient approach. This is where PORT Network seeks to break new ground. PORT Network is the first decentralized P2P application which unites both Cloud and Volunteer computing on the blockchain. Unused computational power from individuals and businesses can be sold for the native token, PORT. Private and Corporate companies can then purchase this unused resource to increase their bandwidth and computing power. In short, PORT not only incentivizes sustainable resource sharing but allows enterprises to focus their energies on building. This allows corporations, of...