Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

In a new twist to the Africrypt saga, two different reports have made contradicting claims about the whereabouts of Raees and Ameer Cajee, the two directors of the collapse bitcoin investment firm. However, both reports suggest the Cajees brothers had planned their escape prior to the alleged hacking incident in April. Vanuatu or Tanzania In its report , the UK outlet Daily Mail claims to have seen documents suggesting that Raees had purchased Vanuatu citizenship for about $131,000 (£95,000) back in October 2020. About three months later, Ameer would make a similar purchase. The same report quotes Cajees brothers suggesting that their disappearance had been prompted by fears that a criminal gang wanted to harm them. Interestingly, the claims by the brothers that they fled South Africa to avoid being harmed by an organized criminal syndicate appear to be corroborated by a Moneyweb report. In this report , the Cajees brothers are quoted claiming that they had received death threats f...

The founder of investment management firm Michael Lee Strategy says that “the best days of bitcoin are definitely ahead of it,” expecting the cryptocurrency to “make all-time new highs.” The strategist further says that it will be a long time “before we see any sort of taper or any sort of restrictive policy from the Fed” or other central banks worldwide. Market Strategist Expects Bitcoin to Make All-Time New Highs Michael Lee, founder of Michael Lee Strategy, shared his outlook for bitcoin in an interview with Fox Business Monday. Michael Lee Strategy offers wealth planning and investment management as an investment adviser representative through Compass Financial. Lee is a former vice president in the Institutional Middle Markets group at Morgan Stanley. Commenting on the price of bitcoin hitting $60,000 earlier this year, Lee said that “it is just a side effect of endless money printing that’s going on.” He dismissed the theory that the BTC price increase Monday resulted from ...

Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, is holding bitcoin worth $1.311 billion. The company did not buy or sell any bitcoin during the second quarter but recorded bitcoin-related impairment of $23 million. Tesla’s action reaffirms Musk’s prior statement that neither he nor Tesla had sold their coins. Tesla’s Q2 Bitcoin Holdings Elon Musk’s Tesla released its second-quarter earnings report Monday. The company’s Q2 2021 unaudited balance sheet shows a net digital asset value of $1.311 billion as of June 30. Tesla’s Q2 unaudited balance sheet showing the company’s net digital assets. Source: Tesla Tesla Neither Purchased Nor Sold Bitcoin in Q2 Tesla did not buy or sell any bitcoin in the second quarter. The company’s Q2 unaudited statement of cash flows still shows that the only cryptocurrency purchase made was the $1.5 billion BTC purchase in Q1. The cash flow statement also shows that the only time Tesla sold its bitcoin was in Q1 for $272 million. Tesla CEO Elon Musk previ...

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX , a global cryptocurrency financial platform with a comprehensive product suite, is excited to announce the Ternoa token (CAPS) listing under the pair USDT/CAPS on July 27 at 1 p.m. UTC. AscendEX and the Ternoa team will jointly launch two limited-time promotional events to celebrate the CAPS listing. The activities will consist of airdrop rewards tasks and a trading competition taking place between July 27, 1:00 a.m. UTC to August 3, 12 a.m. UTC, offering users a chance to win a share of pooled rewards worth 80,000 USDT ! Ternoa is an NFT-based decentralized data transfer blockchain protocol. Ternoa provides long-term secure data storage and transfer to third parties. It relies upon the innovative use of NFTs to encrypt, segment, and store data on decentralized storage infrastructures. In addition, oracles allow for automated, programmable data transfers. Ternoa also offers a Software Development Kit (SDK) to facilitate the development of mobile and web a...

Thorchain, a popular defi protocol, has been compromised twice in the last two weeks, resulting in losses of over $10,000,000. The hacker responsible for the latest exploit left behind a message detailing the measures that should be undertaken to protect users. Hacker Returns to the Scene to Lecture on Security In another blow against the Thorchain protocol, the defi network has found itself the victim of another hack after the equivalent of 4,000 ethereum (ETH) was stolen just days earlier. Thorchain, which features an automated market maker (AMM) and decentralized exchange (dex), is known for its liquidity pooling, with total value locked (TVL) currently around $101.75 million. This time, the attack was perpetrated against the ETH Router contract to target the Thorchain Bifrost component, resulting in more than $8 million in losses for the protocol. According to the hacker allegedly behind the move, the vulnerability was known before the latest attack and was entirely preventa...

Reports show a vast majority of the American populace has been worried about rising inflation and as the weeks roll by, the financial situation continues to look grim. US Senator: ‘There’s No Justification for the Fed to Maintain Its Purchases’ A few analysts believe the upcoming two-day meeting held by the U.S. central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will give markets clues on whether or not the Federal Reserve plans to taper quantitative easing and raise interest rates. Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s administration has dismissed inflation and Biden claimed at a recent CNN Town Hall that he doesn’t know anybody “who’s worried about inflation.” On Monday, Reuters reported that the U.S. central bank is divided over the rising inflation and now the country’s monetary managers are dealing with double inflation due to supply chain complications. To further the problems the U.S. 10-year Treasury note yields slipped lower on Monday morning as investors are concerned about this week’...

Amazon is reportedly planning to accept bitcoin by the end of the year, after which the company will roll out support for other major cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the company is exploring launching its own cryptocurrency. “The directive is coming from the very top … Jeff Bezos himself.” Amazon’s Crypto Project ‘Ready to Roll’ Following the news of Amazon seeking to hire a digital currency and blockchain lead , City A.M. publication reported that the company actually has plans to accept bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies. Citing “an insider” at the company, the news outlet reported that Amazon is looking to accept bitcoin payments “by the end of the year” and the company is also investigating its own token for 2022. Amazon “isn’t just going through the motions to set up cryptocurrency payment solutions at some point in the future,” the insider claims, adding that its crypto project “is a full-on, well-discussed, integral part of the future mechanism of how Amazon will wo...

The Binance Smart Chain has launched a $10 million bug bounty fund for projects building on top of the protocol, called “Priority One.” The initiative aims to keep the blockchain network secure by encouraging bug bounty hunters and ethical hackers. Binance Smart Chain Reveals $10 Million Bug Bounty Fund ‘Priority One’ Security experts and bug bounty hunters now have incentive to help the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) developers secure the network. On Monday, the BSC project revealed “Priority One,” a $10 million fund for projects built on top of the BSC protocol. The announcement says the initiative aims at “refining the lifecycle management of BSC users and decreasing project exploits.” Eligible projects will be able to leverage proactive penetration testing and risk management schemes. Julian Tan, the BSC community coordinator, explained that these types of evaluations shrink the possibility of future exploits. “The shortlisted projects for the bug bounty will be open for continuous...

The price of bitcoin jumped over 15% in a matter of three hours on Sunday evening and came awfully close to the $40K handle. Since then, the crypto asset has dropped back a few percentages and currently hovers above the $38K range. The entire cryptocurrency economy has spiked 9.72% rising to $1.53 trillion in overall value. Bitcoin’s Price Skyrockets After Long Period of Consolidation Bitcoin and digital asset values have risen dramatically during the last 12 hours as bitcoin (BTC) jumped more than 15% yesterday evening (EDT). BTC has managed to hold above the $38K zone on Monday after falling from $39,850 per unit at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday. Bitcoin is still up 12% during the last 24 hours and 24% for the week. Out of the crypto economy’s $1.5 trillion, bitcoin commands 47.1% of that value while ethereum (ETH) commands 17.8%. At the time of writing, BTC is exchanging for $38,489 per coin . The second-largest crypto asset, in terms of market valuation, is ethereum (ETH) , which i...

PRESS RELEASE. Santo Blockchain Labs have joined forces with French artist Jerome Peschard to create an XR-NFT art series like nothing the crypto market has seen before. 26th July 2021, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — Santo Blockchain Labs , a creative blockchain software development company has joined forces with renowned French pop artist Jerome Peschard , to bring to life a new series of NFTs called XR-NFTs “eXtended Reality Non-Fungible Tokens”. What Are XR-NFTs? XR-NFTs are the most eclectic form of using 3D scanning telemetry, augmented reality, virtual reality, sound, and digital smell technology intertwined with the creativity of Jerome Peschard’s digital pop art. The NFT creations use blockchain technology to offer their user a one-of-a-kind sensorial digital asset experience. Rush of Mars To honor this new dawn of space travel, where the likes of Sir Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk are disrupting space travel and making it a reality for all humankind to one d...

Attackers are abusing an attack vector present in one of the most popular execution engines (Argo Workflows) to repurpose Kubernetes systems to mine cryptocurrencies. The attack exploits a vulnerability in the system of permissions of Argo Workflows machines connected to the internet, deploying malicious workflows that install Monero-based containers. Attackers Leveraging Argo Workflows for Crypto Mining A group of attackers discovered a new attack vector that uses a vulnerability in the permission system of Argo Workflows, one of the most used execution engines for Kubernetes, to install cryptocurrency mining modules in machines connected to the internet. This vulnerability means that every instance of Kubernetes, one of the most used cloud computing systems, could be used to mine Monero if it is paired with Argo Workflows. A report from Intezer, a cybersecurity firm, informs they have already identified infected nodes and others vulnerable to this attack. The unprotected nodes a...

The upcoming Tesla Q2-2021 earnings call, which will be announced this Monday after market hours, will at last shed some light on what has happened with the company’s bitcoin holdings. The company held more than 1.5 billion dollars in bitcoin on Q1 and has reported only one sale to “test the market’s liquidity” according to its CEO, Elon Musk. The cryptocurrency community has been patiently waiting in anticipation to see the disclosures stemming from Tesla’s forthcoming earnings report. Tesla’s Earnings Call Generates Expectation in the Bitcoin Community The upcoming earnings call of Tesla, the leading electric car manufacturer, has generated expectations in the Bitcoin community due to the large bitcoin (BTC) stash the company holds on its balance sheet. The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk , jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon last quarter when he announced Tesla’s purchase of $1.5 billion earlier this year. The current status of this bitcoin stash is unknown, and it will be revealed on Mond...

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told his Twitter followers on Sunday that his crypto exchange has lowered its margin trading limit from 101x to 20x. Prior to the change, FTX supported 50x, 100x, and 101x leverage but Bankman-Fried said these high leverage positions represent “a tiny fraction of volume.” FTX CEO Announces Cutting Leverage Limits, 2x Leverage the Most Common FTX customers will have to adjust to changes as the crypto-asset exchange has dropped its max leverage rate from 101x to 20x this weekend. Of course, the formerly supported 50x, 100x, and 101x positions are considered high leverage. Bankman-Fried told his 233,000 Twitter followers the news on Sunday when he stressed that “an effective margin system is integral to an efficient economic system” and added that “there are limits to everything, though.” Bankman-Fried added : There’s been a bunch of discussion recently around high leverage (> 20x). Nearly every crypto derivatives exchange allows it, and nearly every on...

CNBC’s stock analyst and crypto investor Jim Cramer says he’s still bullish on his choice to invest in ethereum after removing bitcoin from his portfolio. Three days ago, Cramer tweeted that he’s “sticking with” his ethereum position “but not adding to it.” Jim Cramer: ‘Ether Is a Pied Piper Security’ A number of CNBC broadcast hosts are proponents of cryptocurrencies and Jim Cramer , the host of the “Mad Money” show is one of these individuals. At the end of June, Bitcoin.com News reported on how Cramer moved his bitcoin position into ethereum instead and he opined that ether was “more of a currency.” A few days ago, Cramer tweeted about sticking to his ETH position but also emphasized that he wasn’t adding to it. Cramer also discussed his fondness for ethereum ( ETH ) in a recent interview with the news outlet thestreet.com. Jim Cramer who was once a bitcoin bull has now turned his attention to ethereum. In fact, in late June Cramer said he wanted BTC to get “wrenched out” w...

A portfolio strategist for American financial services firm Morningstar says that cardano could become a mainstream cryptocurrency alongside bitcoin and ether, forming a “big three” of mainstream cryptocurrencies. Strategist Believes Cardano, Ether, Bitcoin Could Become Mainstream Cryptocurrencies Amy Arnott, a cryptocurrency-focused portfolio strategist at Morningstar, shared her views on crypto regulation, ether, and cardano in an interview with the Insider last week. Noting that since many cryptocurrencies are not cash-generating, Arnott said it is difficult to determine a suitable price for them. However, she explained that ether has an in-built price to an extent because it is used to power decentralized finance (defi) transactions and support non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The strategist elaborated: The fact that ether is used as a utility should provide some sort of price floor, but I’m not sure what that should be. A lot of people talk about a network effect where these curr...

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says that bitcoin will be a big part of the company’s future. “If the Internet has a native currency, a global currency, we are able to move so much faster with products such as Super Follows, Commerce, Subscriptions, Tip Jar, and we can reach every single person on the planet,” he said. Bitcoin Set to Be a Big Part of Twitter Twitter announced its quarterly earnings Thursday that beat analysts’ forecasts. During the company’s Q2 earnings call, CEO Jack Dorsey said that bitcoin would be a “big part” of the company’s future. Dorsey said during the call: “There are three trends relevant to Twitter and you, our shareholders: AI, decentralization, and the Internet finally having access to a global native currency in bitcoin. All these will help us do our jobs better, and we intend to lead the way in each.” During the Q&A part of the call, Douglass Anmuth, an analyst with JPMorgan Chase & Co., asked Dorsey about how he sees bitcoin becoming more integrat...

A U.S. senator has launched an investigation into the rise of ransomware attacks as well as how cryptocurrencies facilitate cybercrimes. “The investigation will also look into current oversight efforts and regulations related to virtual currencies,” the senator explained. Investigation Into Crypto’s Use in Cybercrimes U.S. Senator Gary Peters announced last week a bipartisan “investigation into [the] rise of ransomware attacks and how cryptocurrencies facilitate cybercrimes.” Peters is the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He has led several efforts to bolster the U.S. cybersecurity defenses. The announcement states that he “is conducting an investigation into the role cryptocurrencies continue to play in emboldening and incentivizing cybercriminals to commit ransomware attacks that pose an increasing threat to United States national security.” Senator Peters stated: The increased use of cryptocurrencies as the preferred method of payment in ...

The number of cryptocurrency ATMs has surpassed 24,000 globally. Out of 75 countries with crypto ATMs, the U.S. tops the list with the most locations. 24K+ Cryptocurrency ATMs Worldwide The number of cryptocurrency ATMs has exceeded 24,000 globally, according to the crypto ATM tracking website Coinatmradar . At the time of writing, the total number of crypto ATMs worldwide stands at 24,022 locations. The machines are located in 75 countries. The U.S. tops the list with 21,161 locations, followed by Canada with 1,698 locations and the U.K. with 174 locations. There are 42 cryptocurrency ATM manufacturers. Genesis Coin tops the list with 9,813 machines, followed by General Bytes with 5,720, Bitaccess with 2,766, and Coinsource with 1,684 machines. The largest crypto ATM operator out of 617 operators in total is Bitcoin Depot, which has 3,793 machines, followed by Coin Cloud with 2,629, and then Coinflip with 2,498 machines. Last week, a leading convenience and fuel retailer, Circ...