Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Inter Milan, Italy’s reigning soccer champion, has signed a partnership agreement with blockchain company Zytara Labs. The collaboration aims to provide users of the club’s mobile app with access to crypto products and allow Inter to create digital collectibles for fans around the world. Italy’s Inter Finds Sleeve Sponsor in the Crypto Industry The €85 million ($100 million) multi-year product partnership agreement has been sealed with support from the Digitalbits Foundation, FC Internazionale Milano and Zytara Labs announced Thursday. The collaboration will facilitate Inter’s plan to open up to an audience that is increasingly digital, global, and that represents different age groups, the entities explained in a press release. As part of the deal, Zytara will become the “official global digital banking partner” of Inter while digitalbits (XDB) will be the club’s “official global cryptocurrency.” The fintech firm will work to develop the Inter mobile app and integrate its digital...

The list of regulators warning that Binance is illegally operating in their jurisdictions continues to grow. The authorities in Singapore and South Africa have become the latest to warn that the global cryptocurrency exchange may be in breach of their local laws. South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority Warns Against Binance The South African financial regulator issued a notice Friday about Binance, stating: The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) warns the public to be cautious and vigilant when dealing with Binance Group as they are not authorised to give any financial advice or render any intermediary services in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS Act) in South Africa. The notice describes Binance Group as “an international company situated in the Seychelles which has a telegram group that members of the South African public can join to gain access to their cryptocurrency exchange platform.” Furthermore, the regulator not...

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings is reportedly launching a crypto fund that will invest in several cryptocurrencies. “I want people to hold it together with other assets and experience firsthand how useful it can be for diversifying portfolios,” said an executive of the company. SBI Holdings Launching Crypto Fund SBI Holdings Inc. has revealed its plan to launch a cryptocurrency fund by the end of November, Bloomberg reported Thursday, calling it the country’s first crypto fund. Tomoya Asakura, director of SBI Asset Management and president of SBI affiliate Morningstar Japan, explained that the fund will invest in a number of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum, XRP , bitcoin cash, and litecoin. He added that the fund is aimed at customers who understand the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, including their high volatility. In addition, there may be a minimum investment of about one million yen ($9,122) to three million yen. Asakura noted in a recent i...

Data shows that non-fungible token (NFT) assets continue to break record sales week after week as statistics show over $1 billion in NFT sales took place during the last week of August. Meanwhile, this week’s data shows $821 million in NFT sales have been settled so far, dropping a hair since the week prior. Weekly Stats Show NFT Sales Are Still on Fire Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have become extremely popular and a great number of NFTs are selling for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in crypto. Statistics from nonfungible.com ’s market history indicates that on August 29, 2021, seven-day sales broke an all-time high (ATH) at $1 billion in overall sales across all markets and NFT collections. Data from September 1, 2021, indicates sales are down from the ATH at $821 million this week. Statistics via nonfungible.com’s weekly data on September 3, 2021. Cryptopunks is the top collection selling during the last seven days according to dappradar.com weekly NFT sale statist...

Reports from Zimbabwe suggest that an individual by the name of Martin Mhlanga, who is the mastermind behind the Cryptoshares bitcoin pyramid scheme, has disappeared along with over $6 million in investor funds. In addition to Mhlanga’s disappearance, the individuals thought to be managing Cryptoshares’ social media channels have similarly vanished. Unrealistic Cryptoshares Promises As one local report explains, Mhlanga had successfully used a series of unrealistic promises to lure many unsuspecting people into investing. For instance, the report explains that many of the victims had been lured into investing by claims that initial Cryptoshares investors were receiving a monthly membership payment of $2,000. Investors were also promised a payout that is double the amount of the initial investment. Believing that they too would be in line to receive the same monthly payment, some of Mhlanga’s victims are thought to have sold their properties just so they could raise the required mon...

Bitcoin prices have improved a great deal in recent times and the network’s hashrate remains higher than it was 67 days ago when it tapped a low of 69 exahash on June 28. Today, statistics show Bitcoin’s hashrate has increased more than 92% since then and the network is due for another increased difficulty change in four days. Bitcoin’s Hashrate Improves a Great Deal in 2 Months Bitcoin has risen more than 7% in fiat value during the last seven days and has a market capitalization of over $950 billion on Friday. At press time, three month hashrate stats from coinwarz.com shows BTC ’s hashpower has increased a great deal since the end of June. At that time, bitcoin miners from China were facing a crackdown from the government and were forced to relocate to other countries. BTC ’s mining difficulty, however, started dropping well before the low drop to 69 exahash per second (EH/s). At the end of May, the difficulty slid by 15.97% and two weeks later another 5.3% decrease took place...

While the crypto economy is worth more than $2.35 trillion, there’s a variety of new cryptocurrencies that have claimed top ten positions, in terms of market capitalization, in recent times. Two years ago, the top ten crypto assets by market cap looked a lot different than today, and things have also changed a great deal in the past 12 months. The Top Ten Crypto Assets in August 2019 Since the crypto asset’s inception, bitcoin ( BTC ) has held the largest market valuation out of all the coins in existence and no other digital currency has ever taken the top position. We know the crypto economy is valued at more than $2.3 trillion, and out of the 10,000+ cryptocurrencies, dominance levels are changing. Top ten shifts are happening, and the top ten crypto-asset positions in terms of valuation have changed a great deal last year and the year before. At the end of August 2019, bitcoin ( BTC ) held the top position but only had a market valuation of around $181 billion. Today, BTC has ...

Crypto assets have seen significant gains over the last month and one such digital currency, solana (SOL) has propelled itself into the top ten rankings and recently flipped the crypto asset dogecoin’s market cap position. As of Friday, solana currently holds the seventh-largest market valuation out of all the coins in existence with a market cap of around $41 billion. Solana Skyrockets More Than 300% in 30 Days In mid-August, Bitcoin.com News reported on solana (SOL) capturing fresh all-time highs and since then the crypto asset has gained a lot more value. At that time, solana had just made it into the top ten crypto market capitalizations and today it has risen to the seventh-largest crypto market worldwide. Our report noted that SOL was trading for $74 per unit and today SOL is swapping for $141 per coin, up 90.54% since the market report published on August 17. SOL has gathered double-digit gains in 24 hours, jumping over 20%. In the last week SOL has gained a whopping 85.3%....

According to a recent report, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has allegedly started probing the startup that operates the decentralized exchange (dex) Uniswap. The dex platform Uniswap is the largest dex in terms of trade volume with over $10 billion in crypto tokens swapped in the last seven days. Sources from the report also said SEC enforcement is investigating crypto lending applications as well. Unnamed Sources Familiar With Matter Say SEC Is Investigating Defi Exchange Uniswap A recently published report from the Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) Dave Michaels and Alexander Osipovich claims unnamed sources told the outlet that SEC enforcement attorneys are probing the dex Uniswap Labs. The report shows that the SEC has not commented on the matter but a Uniswap Labs spokesperson said: [Uniswap is] committed to complying with the laws and regulations governing our industry and to providing information to regulators that will assist them with any inquiry. The unk...

Evan Luthra is a prolific angel investor having been in crypto since 2014 and early discoverer in Eaze.com (Fastest growing on-demand Tech company in 2016) and Wheelys Cafe (over 1000+ coffee shops in 40 countries), more recently investing in the seed round of Hashgraph.com (The billion dollar Crypto Currency), Admix.in (Biggest Gaming AD Publisher), JoshTalks, FTcash and more. The leading entrepreneur inspired many when he exited his first company and simultaneously took over the TedX stage at the age of 17. Evan is a successful keynote speaker with hundreds of speeches around the world for organizations like United Nations, Nielsen, Google, Blockchain Life, and many more. Evan also has over 2 Million followers on Instagram (Instagram.com/evanluthra ) where he shares daily tips about investing in crypto markets. There will be powerful synergies between Evan’s portfolio companies, industry network and the Soldex.ai ecosystem .   About Soldex.ai Soldex.ai is one of th...

The central banks of Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Republic of South Africa have set out to test the use of state-issued digital currencies in cross-border payments. The trial, led by the Bank for International Settlements, aims to establish whether they can simplify transactions and make them cheaper. Reserve Bank of Australia Teams Up With Counterparts in Asia-Pacific, Africa on CBDC Project While a number of nations are still testing their central bank digital currencies ( CBDCs ) in domestic applications, some are preparing to conduct international experiments. The Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the South African Reserve Bank have joined forces to carry out cross-border trials. The cooperation aims to develop shared platforms for cross-border transactions using different CBDCs, the institutions said in a statement quoted by Reuters. The scheme is led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation ...

The very low power rates in Venezuela have created a powerful incentive to mine Bitcoin for a lucky few that have the capital (and dare) to purchase miners and infrastructure in the country. The rise of digital currencies has created a new industry that uses cheap energy and turns it into precious Bitcoin. In other regional news, Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn game, has created opportunities for the less fortunate ones. The country is going digital because of the possibilities these new tools offer. Cheap Power Creates Mining Opportunities in Venezuela The cheap cost of electricity is creating opportunities to leverage this resource and turn it into bitcoin, a more scarce and valuable resource. This is what many investors have been doing in the country. Theodoro Toukoumidis, CEO of Doctorminer, a services-oriented Bitcoin mining company, has more than 80 ASICS working non-stop. According to him, all those machines put together cost less than $10 in power monthly. However, each of t...

Fabio Araujo, a representative of the Central Bank of Brazil, talked about the possible development of a Digital Real at a public hearing before the Committee on Science, Technology, Innovation, Communication and Information Technology of the Brazilian Senate. Araujo clarified that the Digital Real is still at the debate stage, and they are determining the demand for such an instrument. Central Bank of Brazil Still Debating Digital Real The Central Bank of Brazil is still studying the creation of a Digital Real, according to statements given by Fabio Araujo, a representative of the institution. Araujo stated at a recent public hearing with the Senate Committee on Science, Technology, Innovation, Communication, and Information Technology that the bank is still debating the need society might have for a central bank digital currency ( CBDC ). Araujo declared: Our goal is to clarify what demands society presents to Real Digital. After that, we will soon move on to the testing phase ...

The professional basketball team owned by the billionaire Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks, announced “Mavs Cryptomania,” which gives Dallasmavs.shop customers a $25 e-gift card if they pay with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash, and dogecoin. The Mav’s owner has been a big proponent of crypto assets and the Mav’s was the first NBA team to accept dogecoin for tickets and merchandise. Dallasmavs.shop Customers Paying With Crypto Will Get a Gift Card Reward Mark Cuban , Shark Tank star and the owner of the NBA basketball team the Dallas Mavericks is a big believer in crypto assets. More specifically, Cuban and Tesla’s Elon Musk think dogecoin (DOGE) is the ”strongest” cryptocurrency for payments . Cuban told his Twitter followers that the Mav’s were hodling DOGE after sales, and he even told the popular Talk show host Ellen Degeneres to get into dogecoin. When speaking about hodling dogecoin, Cuban said: FYI, the Mavs sales in dogecoin have increased 550pct ove...

BlockBank will be enabling its users to earn interest on the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), with rates up to 60x the US national average of a traditional savings account. Best of all, your USDC is guaranteed by BlockBank, giving you complete certainty whilst you earn interest. With the BlockBank application V2 update arriving in Q3 this year, you will be able to view your live portfolio and receive monthly payouts, all with no deposit and withdrawal fees or limits. Generating a passive income by obtaining the best interest rate is on everyone’s mind nowadays. In fact over the years, interest rates in traditional banking have decreased close to zero, making it hard for you to earn a passive income on your assets. The US national average for a traditional savings account hovers around 0.07% per year, with high-yield savings accounts at around 1%, still nothing to rave about. BlockBank’s high-yield alternative to traditional savings accounts offers competitive APY on your USDC, a stable...

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s U.S. arm could be going public in three years, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has revealed. He said that his exchange “is just going to do what Coinbase did.” Coinbase Global went public on Nasdaq via direct listing. Binance Plans to IPO in the US Within 3 Years Binance’s founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, said in an interview with The Information Wednesday that his company’s U.S. arm could have an initial public offering (IPO) in the next three years. He described: Binance.us is just going to do what Coinbase did. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase went public on Nasdaq in April via a direct listing. The exchange recently said that it wants to be the “ Amazon ” of crypto and list all legal cryptocurrencies. Binance.us is also set to close on a large private fundraising round in the next two months, Zhao told the publication, adding that his company generated $800 million to $1 billion in profit last year. Binance has recently been heavily sc...

Curtis Sliwa, a candidate for New York City (NYC) mayor, said that he will make his city “the most cryptocurrency-friendly city” in the U.S. if he is elected. He joins a growing list of mayors and mayoral candidates in growing cryptocurrency adoption. Mayoral Candidate Plans to Turn NYC Into the Most Crypto-Friendly City NYC mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa has shared his vision to make New York City the most cryptocurrency-friendly place in the U.S. Sliwa, a radio talk show host, is the founder and chief executive officer of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit organization of unarmed crime prevention. He tweeted Wednesday: “As NYC Mayor, I will make NYC the most cryptocurrency-friendly city in the nation. Property taxes, fines & fees will be payable in crypto. We will open more crypto ATMs & incentivize businesses to accept crypto. We must modernize our economy & make it accessible for all!” Sliwa is not the only mayoral candidate for NYC who wants to see the city becomin...

The founder of Cardano and co-founder of Ethereum, Charles Hoskinson, says that he expects cryptocurrencies to “play a larger role” in Afghanistan amid war with the Taliban forces. Charles Hoskinson Sees Cryptocurrencies Playing Larger Role in Afghanistan Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and co-founder of Ethereum, explained in an interview with CNBC Tuesday that cryptocurrencies are likely to play a larger role in Afghanistan, citing a rising need for more privacy. The Cardano founder believes that there will be ongoing civil war in the country and “already the remnants of the northern alliance have been formed, and they’re going to need resources.” He noted that “Unlike the last time, in the 90’s when this happened, now cryptocurrencies are there,” elaborating: It is my belief that cryptocurrencies are going to play a larger role in Afghanistan this time around, in the war for and against the Taliban forces. The Pentagon said Monday that the U.S. finished its withdra...

The $2 billion crypto fraud scheme Bitconnect and its founder have been charged in the U.S. In a parallel enforcement action, a Bitconnect director and top promoter has pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the U.S. “The Bitconnect scheme is believed to be the largest cryptocurrency fraud ever charged criminally,” said the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). US Authorities Take Action Against Bitconnect and Its Founder U.S. authorities continue to take action against the fraudulent crypto trading scheme Bitconnect and its executives this week. “The Bitconnect scheme is believed to be the largest cryptocurrency fraud ever charged criminally,” the DOJ described. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Wednesday that it has filed an action against Bitconnect, its founder Satish Kumbhani, its top U.S. promoter Glenn Arcaro, and his affiliated company Future Money Ltd. The SEC noted that Kumbhani, age 35, is an Indian citizen who resided in Surat, India, but whose curr...

Of all funds sent to illicit cryptocurrency addresses from Eastern Europe, scams attract the greatest amount, according to a new report. In the past year alone, crypto addresses based in the region have sent the fraudulent schemes a staggering $815 million in crypto. Eastern Europe Leads by Volume of Illicit Crypto Transactions Among the world’s regions with a total crypto transaction volume of at least $400 million, Eastern Europe is the only one where illicit activity exceeds 0.5% of the total value sent and received, Chainalysis notes in a preview of its 2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency report. In a blog post published Wednesday, the blockchain forensics company revealed: Between June 2020 and July 2021, Eastern Europe-based addresses sent $815 million to scams, second only to Western Europe. Crypto addresses in East European countries have the second-highest rate of exposure to illicit addresses, with Africa topping the chart and Latin America ranking third, the excerpt det...