Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

81 years ago on August 31, 1939, the company Marvel Comics was introduced to the world for the first time and people were presented with a whole universe of superheroes. In celebration of Marvel’s birthday and the firm’s collaboration with Veve Digital Collectibles, “Marvel Month” will conclude with special edition Captain America non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles. A Lineup of Captain America Statue NFTs At the end of June, the wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Entertainment, announced the company was dipping its toes into the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). During the first week of August, Marvel revealed “Marvel Month” and launched Spider-Man NFTs. The collectible sets included the “Common – Spider-Man,” “Uncommon – Spider-Man,” “Rare – Spider-Man,” “Ultra-Rare – Spider-Man,” and the “Secret-Rare – Spider-Man.” Marvel’s comic book competitor DC Comics has also dropped a lineup of NFTs via the Veve Digital Collectibles application. The conc...

Venture capitalist Bill Gurley has taken a personal position in ether because he “was swayed by the arguments of the ethereum crowd.” He explained that it is “the smarter way to play if you’re going to have crypto exposure.” Bill Gurley Prefers Ethereum to Bitcoin Bill Gurley, a general partner at Benchmark, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm in San Francisco, California, shared his view on cryptocurrency in an interview with Bloomberg last week. He began by admitting that he is late getting into crypto because he was focusing on direct listings and did not spend much time on the subject until April this year when he dedicated quite a bit of time to reading about cryptocurrencies. Gurley shared: I have to say I was swayed by the arguments of the ethereum crowd. And so, I’ve taken a personal position. Without specifying how much he invested in ETH , the venture capitalist emphasized that the investment was personal and not for his firm. “I’m swayed by the ethereum cro...

Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, famed for making a fortune betting against the U.S. housing market, says that cryptocurrencies are a bubble that will prove to be “worthless.” While he sees unlimited downside to crypto, he will not short bitcoin, however. “Even though I could be right over the long term, in the short term, I’d be wiped out,” he explained. Famous Investor John Paulson Predicts Crypto Will Be Worthless John Paulson, the president and portfolio manager of U.S. investment firm Paulson & Co., is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who became world-famous in 2007 by shorting the U.S. housing market. He foresaw the subprime mortgage crisis and bet against mortgage-backed securities by investing in credit default swaps. Paulson shared his views on cryptocurrency and bitcoin on Bloomberg TV Monday in an interview with Carlyle Group founder David Rubenstein. Responding to the question of whether he is a believer in cryptocurrency, Paulson affirmed: “N...

This week Blockchain.com CFO Macrina Kgil discussed how the company has surpassed $1 trillion in cryptocurrency transactions and the company may go public with an initial public offering (IPO) in 2023. The cryptocurrency firm is one of the oldest in the industry and Kgil explained that 76 million Blockchain.com wallets have been created since the company’s inception. $1 Trillion in Crypto Transactions Processed, 76 Million Wallets Created In March 2021, Bitcoin.com News reported on Blockchain.com raising $300 million and receiving a post-money valuation of around $5.2 billion. The company has been around for quite some time and when it was called “Blockchain.info” it was established by Ben Reeves way back in 2011. In 2013 it was led by Nicolas Cary and was considered the most popular bitcoin wallet at the time. In 2014, Blockchain.com was led by Peter Smith and he’s remained the company’s CEO ever since. Macrina Kgil, Blockchain.com’s chief financial officer, detailed this week ...

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX , a global digital asset trading platform with a comprehensive product suite , is thrilled to announce the listing of the Kava Swap token (SWP) under the pair USDT/SWP on Aug 31 at 1 p.m. UTC. In celebration of the SWP listing, AscendEX will work with the team at Kava Swap to launch two limited-time promotional events, taking place from Aug. 31, 1:00 a.m. UTC to Sept. 7, 12:00 a.m. UTC. By completing tasks and executing trades, users will be given the chance to share pooled rewards worth up to 90,000 USDT ! Kava is focused on democratizing financial services and making them openly accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Kava Chain is a decentralized, permissionless, censorship-resistant blockchain built with the Cosmos SDK. This means it operates much like other Cosmos ecosystem blockchains, and is designed to be interoperable with other chains. Kava.io is the first cross-chain Decentralized Finance (DeFi) hub providing applications and services to t...

The Binance NFT Marketplace announced today that the non-fungible token (NFT) platform will launch a premium NFT collection backed by the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The NFT auction will begin on August 31 and run until September 7, 2021. The NFT auction will feature NFT artwork by the world-renowned artists’ Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Leonardo da Vinci. State Hermitage Museum and Binance Collaborate to Sell World-Renowned Art in NFT Form It seems that 2021 is the year of non-fungible token (NFT) collections, as NFT collectibles and artworks have sold for millions of dollars. So far, Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” NFT is the most expensive as the NFT ever sold, as it was purchased for $69.3 million. Another high-profile NFT sale is Cryptopunk #7523, which was acquired for $11.8 million in ethereum (ETH) . Bitcoin.com News has been covering a myriad of NFT projects making millions like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and the Weird Whales NFT ...

Approximately 25 days ago, the Ethereum blockchain implemented the London hard fork and a number of features were added to the ruleset. One of the most anticipated changes was EIP-1559 which makes the crypto asset ether deflationary by burning a fraction of coins. Since August 5, over $432 million worth of ether has been burned, and at the time of writing, 136,606 ether has been burned. Over $432 Million in Ethereum Burned The Ethereum ( ETH ) blockchain is the second most valuable crypto market in terms of market valuation. Out of the $2.14 trillion market capitalization of all the coins in the crypto economy, ethereum’s overall market valuation is $374 billion or 17.5% of the entire crypto economy. 25 days ago, ETH saw a successful London upgrade and ether has gained 29.7% this month. However, the Ethereum chain had a hiccup this past week when the chain split and ether gas fees doubled in value week-over-week. The EIP-1559 feature makes it so the network follows a differe...

The price of bitcoin has dipped a hair in value this past week, but the crypto asset is still up 14.4% over the course of the last month. Statistics show that Bitcoin’s hashrate has seen a resurgence and because bitcoin’s price has increased, mining profitability and hashrate has followed suit. Today’s top bitcoin mining rig is Microbt’s Whatsminer M30S++ (112 TH/s) but with higher bitcoin profits, older machines like Bitmain’s Antminer S9 have seen a revival as every S9 model is profitable today. New Generation Models Rake in $20 to $29 per Day The end of August is approaching and over the last month, bitcoin ( BTC ) prices have increased a great deal. Currently, BTC is over 14% higher in value than it was 30 days ago and this has elevated mining rig profitability. At the time of writing, there’s 124 exahash per second (EH/s) of SHA256 hashrate dedicated to the BTC chain. BTC ’s hashrate has risen dramatically after sliding to a low of 69 EH/s on June 28, 2021. Today’s BTC pric...

The governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), Lesetja Kganyago, has reiterated the central bank’s longstanding belief that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are not currencies. According to Kganyago, crypto-assets, as he prefers to call them, are not currencies because they fail to meet the standard of what constitutes a currency. Crypto and the Currency Test In recent remarks to Mills Soko, a professor at a South African university, Kganyago asserts cryptocurrencies like bitcoin only partially meet one of the three key characteristics of a currency. Kganyago explained: One, it must be a generally accepted medium of exchange. Secondly, it must be accepted as a store of value. And thirdly, it must be a unit of account. A cryptocurrency is a store of value. It is a medium of exchange but is not generally accepted. It’s only accepted by those who are participating in it. However, despite adopting this stance toward cryptocurrencies, the SARB governor insists the central bank ...

PRESS RELEASE. August 2021, leading Crypto service comparison site – Cryptowisser, compares the two cornerstones of cryptocurrency, Bitcoin and Ethereum. The latest analysis of the market focused on the pioneering cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum. But, differing from the usual Bitcoin vs Ethereum analysis, the focus is on the benefits of both and how they work in synergy to give the industry the strong foundations it needs to grow. Bitcoin and Ethereum The article takes us on a brief journey back in time, highlighting the key stages of Bitcoins’ progression up until the release of Ethereum in 2015 and how that changed the landscape of the industry. The introduction of crypto-based businesses and ICOs was a turning point, which has led us to the rapidly-evolving market we see today. As well as exploring the history of the coins, the focus is on how Bitcoin and Ethereum work to support one another and act independently. From the Proof of Work and Proof of Stake consensus mec...

On August 28, the Bitcoin Cash-based decentralized finance (defi) platform Detoken announced the project is closing its doors on September 4, 2021. The project’s founder, Semyon Germanovich, explained that the main reason for shutting the defi project down is because of the “changing regulatory outlook on cryptocurrency derivatives.” Defi Project Detoken to Shut Down Operations on September 4 In December 2020, Bitcoin.com News reported on the defi platform called Detoken, a project that allowed users to hedge or long their bitcoin cash ( BCH ) in a noncustodial fashion. At the same time, the firm at General Protocols launched the Anyhedge technology and the protocol was leveraged by the Detoken platform. Semyon Germanovich explained on Saturday that the Detoken platform was sunsetting the project over regulatory concerns. “I’m saddened to announce that Detoken will be closing its doors on the 4th September 2021,” Germanovich said. “There are several factors that influenced our dec...

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reportedly confirmed that its e-naira digital currency will have a legal tender and non-interest-bearing asset status. In addition, a limit on customer transactions and value-based transactions will be imposed. Five-Stage Launch According to a Nairametrics report , the new revelations concerning the e-naira’s design as well as the operational module are contained in a document that was recently sent to banks by the CBN. The same document also shares details about the duties assigned to each of the parties participating in the e-naira program. As explained in the report, the CBN itself will be responsible for the first part of the e-naira rollout. This will involve the issuing, distribution, redemption, as well destruction of the currency. In the second stage, which is called the Financial Institution Suite, “licensed financial institutions will be able to request currency or issue stablecoins.” They will also “manage digital currency across bra...

European Central Bank (ECB) Vice President Luis De Guindos has stated he wants cryptocurrencies to be subject to the same rules that other assets are. The statements were offered in a presentation given as part of the summer courses offered by the European Parliament, where De Guindos declared his opinion about cryptocurrency regulation. ECB Vice President: Crypto Should Follow Same Laws as Other Assets Luis De Guindos, current Vice President of the ECB, stated he thinks crypto-assets should be regulated as any other asset in the market. De Guindos expressed his opinion during a series of summer courses sponsored by the European Parliament and the European Union. Specifically, on cryptocurrencies, he stated: I would not prohibit them, but issuers must be required to follow the same conditions as those of other financial assets and avoid everything that has to do with money laundering or terrorist financing. To De Guindos, cryptocurrencies can be easily used for unlawful purpose...

The Australian Department of Home Affairs stated that the country lacked the technical capabilities to implement a system that complies with the travel rule proposed for cryptocurrencies. The Department concluded this in an appearance before the Senate in Australia last Friday. However, the Australian Department also stated that, if implemented, the system would be a game-changer for preventing crypto-related crimes. Australian Department Thinks Tech to Implement a Crypto Travel Rule Is Still Not Present Last Friday, the Australian Department of Home Affairs acknowledged that it lacked the technical capabilities to implement a travel rule system for crypto transactions. The remarks were made by Daniel Mossop, assistant secretary of Australia’s Department of Home Affairs during a session with the Australian Senate. Mossop stated: “I think it depends on the way that [the travel rule] is implemented so a technological solution that takes a lot of the legwork out of that would be a g...

Russian authorities have investigated a number of cases involving the theft of crypto mining equipment in the past months. A resident of Yaroslavl has just been found guilty of stealing mining hardware worth over $20,000 and sentenced to three years in prison. Russian Convicted of Stealing Mining Rigs Receives Prison Sentence A 34-year-old man from the city of Yaroslavl, some 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow, has been found responsible for the theft of equipment for cryptocurrency mining. The hardware’s value has been estimated at 1.6 million rubles (almost $22,000), Forklog reported quoting an announcement by the regional prosecutor’s office. Investigators were able to establish that in February of this year the defendant managed to enter a friend’s garage where the devices were deployed. He later tried to mint digital coins on his own but failed to set up the equipment properly. As the perpetrator admitted his guilt, the Zavolzhsky District Court gave him a suspended sentenc...

With the trading volume and number of NFT projects always on the increase, it’s getting harder and harder to compete for users and bring innovative products to the market. One project is about to shake the NFT gaming and collectibles industry, setting the bar high for all market players. SIDUS, The City of NFT Heroes takes NFT to the next level by combining an NFT avatar collection, a gaming metaverse and NFT yield farming into one product and backing it with the philosophy that’s close to every crypto enthusiast’s heart. A single NFT avatar costing 0.055 ETH will open the user up to a world of 7,500 characters from 12 blockchain planets. The characters have all inherited the strongest traits associated with the top 100 crypto projects and companies – welcome to a world of unique features and unlimited opportunities. NFT Heroes appeals to the market’s desire to invest in NFT projects that won’t turn to dust in a couple of months, projects that are backed by real value and liquid...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that crypto assets, like bitcoin, are privately issued with substantial risks, and “Making them equivalent to a national currency is an inadvisable shortcut.” The crypto community disagrees. IMF Claims Bitcoin Is Privately Issued Crypto With Substantial Risks, Inadvisable for Use as Legal Tender The International Monetary Fund tweeted about crypto assets on Saturday, asserting that they are privately issued, come with substantial risks, and are inadvisable for use as legal tender. The IMF wrote: “Privately issued cryptoassets like bitcoin come with substantial risks. Making them equivalent to a national currency is an inadvisable shortcut.” The IMF’s tweet references a blog post written on July 26 by two of its legal counsels, as Bitcoin.com News previously reported . In the blog post , titled “Cryptoassets as National Currency? A Step Too Far,” the authors warned of the risks of making bitcoin legal tender as El Salvador did. One of the c...