Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A new draft law introduced to the Senate in Uruguay could regulate cryptocurrency transactions, and also legalize cryptocurrency as an accepted payment method in the country. If approved, the draft proposed by Senator Juan Sartori would also introduce licenses for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) that would be issued by the government, classifying them into three different groups. Draft Law in Uruguay Seeks to Legalize Crypto Payments A new draft law introduced to the senate of Uruguay on August 3 proposes the legalization of cryptocurrencies as a valid means of payment for goods and services in the country. Proposed by Uruguayan senator Juan Sartori, the draft law establishes permits and licenses for institutions and Virtual Asset Service Providers, and puts cryptocurrency business under the oversight of Senaclaft, the national money-laundering watchdog. In its fifth article, the “Cryptoasset Law” (as it has been called) announces the legality of cryptocurrency for paymen...

PRESS RELEASE. The fast-paced nature of the blockchain industry means that new crypto projects face the problems of a highly competitive market. This makes marketing a major aspect for projects to have a chance to gain traction within the crypto community. However, existing marketing services are highly centralized, expensive, and skewed towards large projects with substantial marketing budgets. Smart Marketing Token is seeking to resolve these problems with its innovative platform. What is Smart Marketing Token Smart Marketing Token (SMT) is the first tokenized marketing agency that wants to decentralize the entire blockchain marketing process. Furthermore, it intends to support new projects that enter the cryptocurrency world with a professional and flexible marketing approach. Smart Marketing Token achieves this with its utility token SMT that decentralized marketing and advertising services. SMT serves as a bridge between the agency’s services and clients, leading to an effec...

Crypto compliance firm Ciphertrace has announced enhanced tools for tracing Monero transactions. “Ciphertrace takes Monero tracing capabilities to the next level with the ability to follow the flow of funds backwards from the transaction of interest to its source,” the company claims. Ciphertrace Claims to Have ‘Enhanced’ Tools to Trace Monero Transactions Blockchain analytics and crypto compliance firm Ciphertrace announced Thursday “enhanced Monero tracing capabilities for government agencies and financial institutions.” The announcement details: Based on research funded partially by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Ciphertrace offers next-generation visualization tools for Monero tracing. “Ciphertrace takes Monero tracing capabilities to the next level with the ability to follow the flow of funds backwards from the transaction of interest to its source,” it adds. “The new enhancements offer customers the ability to prepare detailed visual reports to better trace susp...

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone sees “a refreshed bull market” for bitcoin. Comparing the performance of the cryptocurrency to the start of 2019, he explained, “we see performance parallels that could get the benchmark crypto back on track toward $100,000.” Bitcoin Back on Track Toward $100,000 Bloomberg Intelligence published analyst Mike McGlone’s August cryptocurrency outlook with a price prediction for bitcoin Wednesday. McGlone described that bitcoin is set to turn $40,000 into support, stating that “This year is prime for bitcoin to take the next step in its price-discovery stage and we see a refreshed bull market.” He further explained: Bitcoin appears to have built a base around $30,000 that’s akin to $4,000 at the start of 2019, and we see performance parallels that could get the benchmark crypto back on track toward $100,000. “The longest period below its 20-week moving average since 2018-19 indicates weak longs have been cleansed within an enduring bull m...

The Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has enabled crypto buys with Apple Pay, and instant cashouts of up to $100,000 per transaction. The company will also soon enable crypto buys with Google Pay. Buy Cryptocurrencies on Coinbase With Apple Pay Crypto exchange Coinbase announced Thursday that users can now buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on its platform with Apple Pay. Prakash Hariramani, senior director of Coinbase’s Payments & Financial Hub, explained: We’re introducing new and seamless ways to enable crypto buys with linked debit cards to Apple Pay and Google Pay, and instant cashouts up to $100,000 per transaction available 24/7. Coinbase detailed: “If you already have a Visa or Mastercard debit card linked in your Apple Wallet, Apple Pay will automatically appear as a payment method when you’re buying crypto with Coinbase on an Apple Pay-supported iOS device or Safari web browser.” The announcement adds that U.S. customers can also buy cryptocurrenc...

In this summer 2021 edition of the Ripple Drop, we examine how the XRP Ledger supports NFT innovation, Ripple’s efforts to create a more inclusive work environment and the APAC region as a growth powerhouse.  XRP Ledger Unleashes the Full Potential of NFTs David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO, shares the latest on the white-hot NFT trend … Continued The post The Ripple Drop: NFTs on XRP Ledger, Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives and Growth in APAC appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/S56tgT

On August 5, Orbis Blockchain Technologies Limited and Marvel Entertainment kicked off the Veve Digital Collectibles’ “Marvel Month” celebration. The two companies plan to issue the first non-fungible token (NFT) assets featuring the Marvel Super Hero, Spider-Man. The Orbis Veve App and Marvel to Launch the First Spider-Man Statue NFTs This week, Spider-Man and non-fungible token (NFT) fans will be able to purchase and interact with a set of five unique digital statues of Marvel’s Spider-Man on August 7 at 8 a.m. (PT). Bitcoin.com News reported on Marvel Entertainment ’s partnership with Orbis at the end of June. “The Spider-Man series drop is the first of many digital statues, digital comic books, and other digital collectibles in Veve’s Marvel Month initiative,” the announcement details. According to the press release Veve’s Marvel Spider-Man statue initiative will include: Common – Spider-Man – The Amazing Spider-Man Price: $40.00 – Quantity: 32,000 Uncommon – Spider-Man – ...

On Thursday, the non-fungible token (NFT) platform and digital art gallery backed by Mark Cuban announced the project has integrated with Polygon. The platform allows anyone to showcase NFTs by leveraging a unique lazy URL to social media profiles, and the integration announcement highlights the protocol is now live on Polygon mainnet. Lazy.com Joins Polygon The non-fungible token digital art gallery Lazy.com has announced on Thursday that the protocol is now integrated with the Polygon platform , formally called Matic. The Lazy.com web portal says that the gallery is the “lazy way to show off your NFTs.” The Lazy project is also backed by the Shark Tank co-host and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban . The integration with Polygon coincides with the launch of Polygon Studios . The newly crafted Polygon Studios is basically an NFT-focused gaming realm and metaverse designed to be a “hotbed of digital culture.” Mark Cuban who is also a believer in Polygon, explained during the inte...

PRESS RELEASE. Torum announces strategic investment by Huobi Ventures, the $100 million venture arm of Huobi Group to foster blockchain adoption and ecosystem expansion. 5th August 2021, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — On the eve of the project’s 1 st year launch anniversary, social media platform Torum has released its H2 strategic ecosystem expansion plan, prioritizing the construction of a one-stop crypto ecosystem. The plan includes core features that aim to solve the industry’s information asymmetry problems and improve the connection between projects and communities through a social-based ecosystem. Torum H2 Strategic Ecosystem Expansion Plan The Torum H2 Strategic Ecosystem Extension plan will include numerous core features, including: Torum NFT Launchpad: The INO platform for projects to issue a set of limited-edition NFTs to the community Torum NFT Marketplace: The first social-infused NFT marketplace with the ability to market NFTs to the users of Torum. Torum Airdrop:...

On August 4, the precious metals firm Kitco Gold announced the launch of a gold-backed stablecoin which will leverage an audit process via Cohen & Company with monthly attestation reports. Kitco has partnered with Tradewind Markets, First Digital Trust, and Stably, an asset tokenization provider. The gold-backed ERC20 tokens called “kitco gold (KGLD)” “represent one true, troy ounce of fine gold,” according to Kitco. Kitco Launches KGLD Token Backed by a Troy Ounce of .999 Gold In the seventies, Bart Kitner started trading gold with funds he got from a loan and managed to expand his business into a massive precious metals company from a mere $700 investment. The global precious metals (PMs) market, Kitco, is considered an authority when it comes to PMs like gold, platinum, palladium, and silver. The Montreal-based PM company also runs a popular PM-focused website that offers financial news and PM market data. Now the company is getting into cryptocurrency solutions as Kitco rev...

The Federal Financial Monitoring Service of Russia is going to start tracking cryptocurrency transactions. The agency has already selected a contractor to develop the platform. The entity is affiliated with one of Russia’s largest financial institutions, Sberbank. Rosfinmonitoring to Keep Record of Cryptocurrency Wallets Used for Illicit Purposes Russia’s financial watchdog, Rosfinmonitoring , has selected a contractor for the building of a platform that will be used to track cryptocurrency transactions in the country. The company that won the tender, RCO, is managed by Rambler Internet Holding which is affiliated with the banking giant Sberbank , Russian crypto media reported. The Unified Information System in the Field of Procurement portal shows that the project has a price tag of an estimated 14.7 million rubles (over $200,000). The money will be spent to enable the regulator to closely monitor illegal transactions involving cryptocurrencies. According to Rosfinmonitoring, th...

Book of Aztec dishes out a massive round win worth a little under 2 BTC , leaving the player ecstatic! A small bet results in one of the biggest wins for the player One lucky player has just bagged a massive win worth $75,000 in a popular slot game from Amatic called ‘Book of Aztec’ at Bitcoin.com Games . The big win comes promptly after the player decided to deposit some bitcoin in his casino wallet and started playing his favorite slot. What’s more interesting to note is that the player had only made a small bet of $31 or 0.008 BTC that throttled his luck into a massive victory. Math wizards would quickly point out that a 2,418x multiplier was applied to the player’s bet, sending his fortunes into an enormous spiral, resulting in a win of 1.93 BTC . At Bitcoin.com Games, you can choose from numerous exciting slot games that are designed to reward each bet placed with insane multipliers, some even going up to x100,000 – based on a random chance of winning. Many slots also carr...

Marathon Digital Holdings has published the company’s bitcoin production and mining operation updates for the month of July and bitcoin production increased 66% month-over-month. Furthermore, the financial services giant Fidelity Investments purchased a 7.4% stake in Marathon in July, spending around $20 million for the shares. Fidelity Investments Scoops Up Shares of Marathon for $20 Million Boston-based Fidelity Investments is one of the largest asset managers in the world, handling $4.9 trillion in assets under management (AUM). Fidelity has been involved with cryptocurrencies and blockchain for years now and on July 22, Fidelity invested $20 million to purchase a 7.4% stake in Marathon Digital Holdings (Nasdaq:MARA). Fidelity added the shares to four index-based funds including the Fidelity Series Total Market Index Fund (FCFMX), Fidelity Extended Market Index Fund (FSMAX), Fidelity Total Market Index Fund (FSKAX), and the Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index Fund (FNCFX). Fidelity’...

The U.S. government has seized cryptocurrencies worth $1.2 billion so far this year, according to an Internal Revenue Service director. This is a significant increase from $137 million in crypto seized the previous year. $1.2 Billion in Cryptocurrencies Seized Jarod Koopman, director of cybercrime at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), shared some information on cryptocurrencies seized by the government with CNBC Wednesday. His division typically handles crypto tracing and open source intelligence, which includes investigating tax evasion, filing false returns, and money laundering. He noted that the seizure of cryptocurrencies is usually a group effort involving agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Securities Investigations, the Secret Service, and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). “We all come together when it’s time to execute any type of enforcement action, whether that’s an arrest, a seizure, or a search warrant. And that could be nationally o...

OVR is collaborating with BlackPool to add augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to its ERC-721 NFTs at OVRLands. According to reports , the popular digital world of Non-Fungible Token OVRLands, would now have the ability to offer new experiences that give room for every kind of imagination. Thanks to the entry of BlackPool, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) built exclusively for NFT gaming and trading, now augmented and virtual reality will add experiences to the NFT world. OVRLands are ERC-721 NFTs representing one of the 1.6 trillion unique hexagons in this digital world played by OVR. Owners can create their own virtual worlds on these virtual lands, adding content like on web pages, which can be viewed on the OVR app (available on both Android and iOS). With BlackPool entering the OVR metaverse, it is also revealed that the DAO would have also acquired OVRLands’ NFT Eiffel Tower . On May 3, the 60-OVRLands package defined as NFT Eiffel Tower fr...

Current regulations do not prohibit the swapping of digital currencies, according to the Iranian Vice Presidency for Legal Affairs. The department has stated its position in correspondence with an ICT industry association which wanted to know what rules apply to cryptocurrency exchange, local media reported. Converting a Cryptocurrency Into Another Is Not Against Iranian Law Regulations approved by the Tehran government in 2019 do not ban the swapping of cryptocurrencies, the Vice Presidency for Legal Affairs said in response to an inquiry by the Iranian Information and Communication Technology Guild. According to a report by the English-language business daily Financial Tribune, the association has asked for clarification on the applicable crypto rules. In a letter to the ICT Guild, the legal department under the office of the Iranian president noted that the law states that cryptocurrency cannot be used for payments inside the country. It pointed out that the current rules are in...

In what is seen as a boost for Mirror Trading International (MTI) investors, United States investigators are said to have joined the probe into the collapsed bitcoin scheme. According to a report, the U.S. investigators’ goal for joining this probe is to help “recover the assets of out-of-pocket investors.” FBI Interest Confirmation of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s involvement in the MTI case comes just a few days after reports emerged that the scheme’s masterminds had filed an application seeking to stall the liquidation process. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, the application also opposes attempts to declare MTI — which has been labeled the biggest bitcoin scam — an illegal business. Despite this attempt and other attempts to halt proceedings against MTI, the Bloomberg report suggests the U.S. law enforcement agency is already engaging MTI liquidators. The report explains: [Liquidators] had meetings with international law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bu...

While opponents of cryptocurrencies continue to peddle the environmental damage or the terrorism funding narrative, users from countries where the majority is financially excluded see these as a breakthrough innovation. Crypto Utility Inspires Volatility Solutions For instance, to undocumented migrants, cryptocurrencies offer a faster and cheaper way of sending money to their loved ones. For users that reside in countries with unstable currencies, cryptos act as an alternative store of value. Cryptocurrencies also act as a shield in times of hyperinflation. In some places, small businesses are now using cryptocurrencies to make cross-border payments. Despite this growing use of cryptocurrencies, however, many businesses and merchants are still reluctant to accept crypto payments. One of the challenges that merchants in Africa often cite concerns crypto price volatility. This unpredictability can make these alternatives to fiat currencies less alluring from the point of view of a me...

Attendees of the upcoming NBA Summer League games in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center will be able to purchase NBA Top Shot non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles in person. For the first time ever, NBA Top Shot fans will be able to buy an NFT moment from a game they saw in person. NBA Top Shot Kiosk Will Offer NFTs at the Summer League Games A non-fungible token you can buy online is one thing, but an NFT that can be purchased in person is something entirely different. On August 3, the firm behind the NFT collectibles called NBA Top Shot announced that exclusive NFTs will be available for purchase at the Summer League games on August 8, 9, and 10. Fans will be able to buy a “Moment in-arena” NFT, which will feature a single “great play per day from Summer League games.” According to the announcement , NBA Top Shot fans can patronize the Top Shot vendor kiosk situated at the arena in Vegas. After the purchase, the unique NFTs will be sent to the customer and fans can also...

On Wednesday, the non-fungible token (NFT) market platform Makersplace secured $30 million in a Series A financing round. The team behind the NFT marketplace says it plans to leverage the funds to “acquire additional talent and scale the business.” While the Series A was co-led by Pantera Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners, the world-famous hip hop star Eminem also invested in Makersplace. Makersplace Raises $30 Million to Scale the NFT Business The company that developed the non-fungible token (NFT) market platform Makersplace has revealed the firm has raised $30 million from a number of investors. Bessemer Venture Partners and Pantera Capital co-led the financing round with participation from Sony Music Entertainment, Coinbase Ventures, 9Yards Capital, Uncork Capital, and Draper Dragon Digital Assets. Moreover, Makersplace revealed the investment round saw notable angel investors like Paul Rosenberg and 3LAU in music, Eminem, Acquavella Galleries, Sabrina Hahn and Bill Ruprec...