Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A growing number of regulators worldwide have come after Binance. Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a criminal complaint against the crypto exchange after the authorities in the Cayman Islands, the U.K., and Japan issued similar warnings on Binance and related companies. Thailand’s Regulator Files Criminal Complaint The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday that it “has filed a criminal complaint against Binance … with the Economic Crime Suppression Division of the Royal Thai Police (ECD).” According to the SEC: Binance has solicited the Thai public and investors to use its services, either via its website or Facebook page: Binance Thai Community. The securities regulator stated that it issued a warning letter to Binance on April 5 but the company failed to submit a response within the specified time. The SEC said that Binance is operating a crypto exchange business without a license. The company is therefore “liable to criminal sancti...

Global investment bank JPMorgan has predicted that the bitcoin price slump will likely be over when the cryptocurrency’s dominance rises back above 50%. “I think that’s another indicator to watch here in terms of whether this bear phase is over or not,” the firm’s analyst explained. JPMorgan’s Bitcoin Market Prediction JPMorgan analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou has shared his view of when he expects the current bitcoin bear market to be over. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, the analyst explained that the bitcoin price slump will likely end when the cryptocurrency’s market share of all cryptocurrencies climbs back above 50%. He explained: A healthy number there, in terms of the share of bitcoin as a percentage of the total cryptocurrency market cap, is 50% or above. I think that’s another indicator to watch here in terms of whether this bear phase is over or not. “It was like 60% back in the beginning of April,” the JPMorgan analyst recalled, adding that bitcoin’s relatively ...

Cardano has been added to Grayscale Investments’ large-cap cryptocurrency fund. It is now the third-largest component of the fund after bitcoin and ether. Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager, announced Friday the addition of cardano to its Digital Large Cap Fund (OTCQX: GDLC). Grayscale described this fund as “a passive, rules-based strategy that seeks to provide exposure to 70% of the digital asset market.” The announcement followed a quarterly review and rebalancing of the fund. The company explained: In accordance with the fund’s construction criteria, Grayscale has adjusted the fund’s portfolio by selling certain amounts of the existing fund components in proportion to their respective weightings and using the cash proceeds to purchase cardano ( ADA ). At the end of the day on July 1, the Digital Large Cap Fund’s components comprised 67.47% bitcoin ( BTC ), 25.39% ethereum ( ETH ), 4.26% cardano ( ADA ), 1.03% bitcoin cash ( BCH ), 0....

In 2021, there’s been a plethora of cryptocurrency-related announcements about professional sports teams, leagues, and famous athletes. On July 1, the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Portland Trail Blazers announced the professional basketball team has partnered with the cashback blockchain firm Stormx. Portland Trail Blazers Uniforms to Feature Crypto Cashback Firm’s Logo The NBA’s Trail Blazers revealed this week that the basketball team has entered a deal with the blockchain company Stormx . Founded in 2015, the Stormx project is basically a crypto cashback provider that also features a native token called STMX. The Trail Blazers and the NBA’s own publication, hosted on nba.com, claim the deal between Stormx and the team is a “never-before-seen partnership.” The Stormx logo will be featured on the team’s uniform. Photo via nba.com. Essentially, Stormx will be the Portland team’s first International Rights Partner that is meant to “engage fans around the globe.” Storm...

Urged by the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, Iranian lawmakers have prepared new legislation to introduce comprehensive rules for the expanding industry. While the bill effectively bans crypto payments in the country, it aims to support cryptocurrency mining and regulate the exchange market. Draft Law Prohibits Crypto Payments in Islamic Republic Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Iranian parliament, now have a plan to put the crypto space in order. The new bill, drafted under the supervision of the parliamentary Economic Commission, allocates responsibilities among regulators and answers some outstanding questions to determine the future of cryptocurrencies in Iran. If adopted in its current version, the draft law would ban the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in the Islamic Republic, Tasnim News Agency reported. Besides crypto payments, other domestic transactions with cryptocurrency would also be prohibited. Iranian lawmakers have provided fo...

A South African judge, Justice Alma de Wet, has ruled in favor of granting a final liquidation order against Mirror Trading International (MTI), the country’s biggest bitcoin scam in the past year. Nevertheless, the judge postponed a ruling on an application by MTI liquidators to have the company declared an unlawful business to September 8, 2021. According to a report , interested parties that are opposed to the liquidators’ intervening application now “have until July 30 to file their answering affidavits.” On the other hand, liquidators “have until August 13 to file responding affidavits and must file their heads of argument before 24 August.” Meanwhile, the latest court ruling, which came almost six months after the provisional liquidation order was granted, represents a victory for liquidators who have faced opposition from MTI shareholders led by Clynton Marks. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Marks, a 50% shareholder in MTI, argued against liquidation claiming thi...

Despite the drop in value during the last three months, the leading crypto asset bitcoin is still the ninth most valuable asset in the world in terms of market capitalization. Moreover, bitcoin could flip some of the world’s most valuable assets in the future, as the crypto asset is 67% away from turning over tech giant Google’s overall valuation and other valuable companies and commodities. Bitcoin: The Ninth Most Valuable Asset in the World in Terms of Market Capitalization Bitcoin is still the ninth most valuable asset in the world according to assetdash.com statistics, the market capitalization web portal for global assets. Three months ago, bitcoin ( BTC ) touched an all-time high (ATH) at $64,895 and the price is still more than 45% below that range. The leading crypto asset also touched a low ten days ago at $28,600 per unit but managed to recover around 14% of the losses since then. Of course, at ATH bitcoin held a much higher position on assetdash.com’s list, outpacing co...

One of the largest South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges, in terms of trade volume, Bithumb, has announced that employees are banned from trading bitcoin on the exchange platform. The company’s chief executive officer revealed the decision in a Bithumb newsletter focused on improving “transaction transparency.” Bithumb Bans Employee Bitcoin Trading – Will Monitor for Individuals Who Don’t Comply The cryptocurrency trading platform Bithumb has revealed that employees are now restricted from leveraging the exchange. This means that Bithumb employees can no longer obtain an internal account on the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange. Bithumb’s chief executive officer wrote in the newsletter that the move is focused on improving “transaction transparency.” Additionally, leaking undisclosed information and participating in unfair trade practices and market price manipulation is also prohibited in order to “ensure transparent operation.” The South Korean cryptocurrency exchange furth...

Law enforcement officials in Ukraine have closed down a cryptocurrency mining farm that was minting digital coins using stolen electricity. The facility had more than 150 mining rigs that have been confiscated during a raid in Chernihiv region . Authorities in Ukraine Seize Over 150 ASICs From Crypto Mining Farm The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has uncovered and shut down a crypto farm that was operating illegally in Chernihiv Oblast, in the north of the country. The unidentified owners had illegally connected the facility to an electrical transformer substation of the region’s power network, Forklog reported . The mining farm had 150 ASICs running on stolen electricity. They were seized by SBU agents during a search along with other auxiliary equipment. The mining hardware was installed in rented warehouses and burned energy for an estimated 3 million Ukrainian hryvnias, or almost $110,000, in just two months. According to the law enforcement agency, the substation to whi...

Binance announced yesterday it deployed Ciphertrace’s Traveler system as part of its compliance efforts. Traveler is the first system designed for exchanges to comply with the Travel Rule proposed by the Financial Action Task Force. The exchange would be among the first wave of exchanges implementing this automatic Travel Rule compliance system. Binance Implements Ciphertrace’s Traveler Protocol in Its Trading Platform Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the market, announced the implementation of Traveler , a system that will help them comply with the Travel Rule established by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Ciphertrace, a blockchain analytics startup, created Traveler as a third-party compliance platform. Ciphertrace claims Traveler automatizes the process of complying with FATFs mandate, automatically making connections and identifying different VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers). Therefore, exchanges simplify their due diligence burden by imp...

Bitcoin, the leading crypto asset in terms of market capitalization, has seen the cryptocurrency’s network hashrate drop considerably during the last two weeks. On Saturday, July 3, the network’s mining difficulty will see the largest epoch drop in history as the difficulty is set to slide by more than 27%. Bitcoin Difficulty Expected to Drop More Than 27% This weekend, Bitcoin (BTC) is set to experience the largest difficulty drop ever recorded during the crypto asset’s lifetime. At the time of writing, BTC ’s mining difficulty is 19.93 trillion and is expected to drop 27.04% by Saturday morning (EDT). In bitcoin mining, the network’s difficulty is the parameter that keeps the average time between BTC blocks consistent. The difficulty parameter is the metric that shows how difficult it is to mine a bitcoin block and the higher the difficulty, the more hashpower is needed to find a block. If the difficulty drops by 27% on Saturday, it is expected to be around 14.54 trillion. ...

The U.S. Department of State’s undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, has explained during a press conference that the U.S. has urged El Salvador to be responsible with the country’s new bitcoin law. Nuland told the press that the U.S. was taking a “tough look at Bitcoin” and that Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele needs to “ensure that it is well regulated.” State Department Official Says US Is Taking a Tough Look at Bitcoin According to statements from a senior U.S. State Department official, the U.S. hopes El Salvador will be responsible with the country’s new bitcoin tender law enacted on June 9, 2021. The undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, explained that she had a meeting with the Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele and they discussed the crypto asset bitcoin ( BTC ). The American diplomat stressed to Bukele that after the Colonial Pipeline ransomware case, the U.S. was taking “another tough look at bitcoin.” “I did suggest ...

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has set out to examine the risks associated with cryptocurrency investments. The regulator is going to conduct a dedicated study with the participation of major banks and payment processors operating in the Russian market. CBR Adds Crypto to Its Survey Program for 2021 Russia’s central bank, known as Bank of Russia, is planning to carry out research regarding the risks that accompany crypto investing. The study titled “Assessment of risks of using cryptocurrencies” has been added to the recently published “Bank of Russia survey program for the second half of 2021.” The survey will be conducted in order to “obtain information on trends to assess systemic risks in connection with investments of Russian individuals and legal entities in cryptocurrency,” CBR explained in a note. The regulator will send out questions to a number of financial market participants, including 15 banks such as VTB, Tinkoff, Alfa-Bank, Raiffeisenbank, and the state-owned ban...

The government of Venezuela is considering a new redenomination of its fiat currency. The proposal that is under study would cut six zeroes from the inflation-affected Bolivar. This would aid companies in processing taxes and provider payments that are absurdly complex with today’s numbers. However, the dollar is the predominant coin in retail payments in Venezuela, according to consulting firms. Venezuela to Redenominate Its Currency The government of Venezuela is studying a mathematical redenomination of its currency, the sovereign bolivar, to simplify payments for big companies. This redenomination would slash six zeros, making it easier to calculate payments now reaching high sums. While there has not been an official announcement yet, Bloomberg reported this subject was commented on by three people with knowledge of the matter. The new measure comes to aid companies who had to make big payments in bolivars. This would also aid consumers paying in bolivars using POS terminals,...

Asset management firm Skybridge Capital has launched an ethereum fund, CEO Anthony Scaramucci has confirmed. He added that the asset manager will be filing for an ether exchange-traded fund (ETF). Skybridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci revealed in the latest episode of The Scoop, published Tuesday, that his asset management firm has launched a private ethereum fund. “July 1st, we’re launching a private ethereum fund,” he said prior to the launch of the ether fund, adding: We’ll then file for an ETF for ethereum. Again, it is anybody’s guess when those things will be going. He also revealed, “As we’re speaking, we’re making an announcement on an ETF for a digital innovation fund that has some great publicly traded assets that we think are geared, related to [ethereum], related to bitcoin, but also the other coins.” The company filed a registration statement for a bitcoin ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May. Scaramucci emphasized: ...

An economist with the Bank of International Settlements has found that cryptocurrencies are not sought as an alternative to fiat currencies or regulated finance, therefore a “technology-neutral regulation to this asset class” is recommended. The economist discussed “embedded supervision,” adding that “The main aim is low-cost supervision of decentralized markets.” BIS Economist Suggests Regulatory Approach for Cryptocurrencies The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) published a working paper Thursday on “The socioeconomic drivers of US cryptocurrency investments.” It is authored by Raphael Auer, a principal economist for innovation and the digital economy at the BIS, and David Tercero-Lucas from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). In the 52-page report, the authors state that based on an in-depth analysis of representative data on crypto owners: We disprove the hypothesis that cryptocurrencies are sought as an alternative to fiat currencies or regulated finance … Investo...

Statistics show that the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract has exceeded 6 million ether this week as more than $12.4 billion worth of ethereum is held in the contract today. Onchain metrics show that Ethereum has seen some significant drawdowns in recent times and decentralized finance (defi) activity has slowed compared to last summer’s statistics. Despite the onchain dips, this year ethereum markets outperformed bitcoin in Q1 and Q2. Ethereum 2.0 Contract Now Holds 6 Million Ether Worth $12.4 Billion, Onchain Ether Stats Slide There’s been a lot of focus on the Ethereum ( ETH ) network recently as the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract now commands more than 6 million ether. Meanwhile, Ethereum participants are getting ready for the highly anticipated EIP1559 upgrade and London hard fork. Statistics from Glassnode and researcher Lars Hoffmann show Ethereum network onchain dips and defi activity slowing in recent times. “Despite volumes declining, the year-over-year growth in monthly [de...