Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone has affirmed his bitcoin price prediction of $100K, seeing $5K for ethereum as the path of least resistance. He expects the crypto market to thrive in a “refreshed bull market.” Cryptocurrencies Poised to Thrive, Bull Market Revived Commodity strategist Mike McGlone discussed his price predictions for bitcoin and ethereum in the September edition of Bloomberg Crypto Outlook, published Friday. “Crypto-assets appear in a revived and refreshed bull market with the 2H benefit of a steep discount from previous highs at the start,” he began, adding: We see ethereum on course toward $5,000 and $100,000 for bitcoin. Portfolios of some combination of gold and bonds appear increasingly naked without some bitcoin and ethereum joining the mix. The analyst explained that “diminishing supply” is boosting the price of ETH amid “increasing demand and adoption,” emphasizing that ethereum is the primary denominator for non-fungible...

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced that it will cease offering trading pairs and payment options in Singapore dollars to remain compliant with the country’s regulators. The announcement followed a notice issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) stating that Binance “may be in breach of the Payment Services Act.” Binance Complying With Singapore’s Regulations Crypto exchange Binance announced Sunday changes to its services in Singapore. The company wrote that “to remain compliant with local regulators,” it will cease offering “SGD trading pairs” and “SGD payment options” on Friday, Sept. 10. Binance will also remove its app from Singapore iOS and Google Play stores. SGD trading pairs will also be removed from Binance P2P Friday. The exchange further advised users to complete all related P2P trades and remove all related advertisements by Sept. 9 “to avoid potential trading disputes.” Moreover, Binance clarified that it is not operating any official Telegram or...

The price of bitcoin has risen above the $51K zone on Sunday and traders and speculators are curious as to where the price is headed next. Historically, in September, bitcoin prices don’t fare so well and usually get better in October. For this reason, skeptics are not sure if bitcoin’s price will continue to be bullish during the ninth month of the year. So far, however, the end of the first week of September 2021 has been much better in terms of gains. Historical Bitcoin Prices in September Are Often Low and Lackluster, 2021 Has Been Different Bitcoin is doing well on Sunday, up 5.4% during the last seven days and 26.3% during the last month. So far it has jumped above the $51K region on Sunday evening (EST), hitting a high of $51,863 per unit . The first week of September is almost over, and so far, BTC is looking real good price-wise but traditionally, the leading crypto asset doesn’t do so well this month. In 2013, BTC was in the red that September after reaching a $240 all...

At the time of writing, the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) is around $176 billion across various blockchains like Ethereum, Binance, Terra, Polygon, Solana, and Avalanche. While Ethereum commands $130 billion of the aggregate total locked, a myriad of other defi-fueled blockchains continue to see TVLs steadily rise. Total Value Locked Across All Defi Compatible Blockchains The total value locked (TVL) in defi today has risen to $176.9 billion with a change of 1.07% during the last 24 hours, according to defillama.com statistics. The TVL has been steadily nearing the $200 billion zone and today Uniswap commands 3% dominance among the variety of defi applications. The defi application Aave commands $16.04 billion and Curve captures $13.92 billion today as most of the TVL is locked into application bolstered by the Ethereum chain. Total value locked on all chains, according to defillama.com statistics on Sunday. A number of other chains, however, have bee...

During the last few weeks, non-fungible token (NFT) collections like Cryptopunks, Axie Infinity, Art Blocks, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), and Meebits have been seeing massive volumes. However, a number of new NFT collections are making headway in sales and the Ethereum-based roleplaying game called “Loot (for Adventurers)” now commands the top spot. Loot, MAYC, Inertial Moment NFTs are seemingly becoming a mainstay in the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchains. Non-fungible token concepts have invaded the art scene, music, gaming industry, and many more sectors. For instance, Michael Winkelmann, known professionally as Beeple, sold his “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” NFT for over $69 million making it the fourth-most expensive artwork by a living artist. Since then it’s been all about NFT collections stemming from projects like Cryptopunks , Meebits, Weird Whales , BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), Art Blocks, Axie Infinity , and more. Loot (for Adventurers) is the top-selli...

Russian communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has restricted another six VPN providers. The agency says the platforms have facilitated access to information that is banned in the Russian Federation. Roskomnadzor is also whitelisting certain VPN services that operate in accordance with the law and are used by Russian companies. Roskomnadzor Bans More VPN Platforms in Russia Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, Roskomnadzor, has restricted access to another batch of VPN service providers. In accordance with a government decree issued in February 2020, “a decision was made to block 6 more VPN services that violate Russian law,” the watchdog explained in a notice published Friday. The affected platforms are Hola! VPN, Express VPN, Keepsolid VPN Unlimited, Nord VPN, Speedify VPN, and IPvanish VPN. The regulator insisted their services allow users to maintain “access to prohibited information and resources,” creating condi...

While bitcoin prices have risen in value during the last two weeks, bitcoin dominance levels have slipped to lows not seen since the June 6 low of 41%, and the dip to 39.97% on May 16, 2021. Depending on the crypto market price aggregator leveraged, bitcoin’s dominance has been between 39.99% to 41.52%. Meanwhile, as bitcoin’s dominance has dropped significantly, crypto-asset markets like ethereum, cardano, binance coin, and tether have seen market dominance, in terms of overall valuation, steadily increase among the 10,000+ coins in existence today. As Bitcoin Slides to the 40% Range, Ethereum Climbs to 20% of the Crypto Economy It is well known that between the first time bitcoin ( BTC ) prices were calculated by market capitalization, and all the way up until February 2017, BTC had more than an 80% market dominance among all the other coins, for a majority of the time. There was an instance in 2014, where BTC dropped to 77.9% in December and again in March 2016 to 76.42%. Afte...

Unknown scammers have organized a fake bitcoin giveaway through a Russian government website they hacked. The news of the attack comes after a recent report revealed that damages from crypto-related fraud in Russia have reached $30 million in value in the first half of this year. Regional Government Website in Russia Hacked by Scammers The main website of the local administration in the Russian city of Ryazan, around 200 km southeast of Moscow, has been targeted by hackers twice in a single day, Rzn.info reported quoted by the crypto news outlet Forklog. The unidentified attackers published an ad offering cryptocurrency to those who download a special application. The scammers initially promised to send 0.025 ВТС to every visitor who installed the app. They later changed the offer to a prize of $1,000 in bitcoin for each of five randomly chosen participants in what was advertised as the “Ryazani online lottery.” Both ads have already disappeared from the mayoral site but the local...

Beleaguered crypto exchange, Binance, has released a statement in which it denies accusations that provides financial advice or renders any intermediary services. In a statement released on Twitter less than 24 hours after the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)’s warning, the crypto exchange also denies having any ties or links to the organization “Binance Group.” Binance Not Associated With Binance Group Instead, Binance suggests in its September 3 Twitter thread that the FSCA might have erred when it issued the warning. The thread explained: Binance Group’ is not a Binance.com entity, please be mindful of scammers pretending to be associated with Binance.com. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, the FSCA did ask South Africans to be “cautious and vigilant when dealing with Binance Group” because the crypto platform is not authorized per South African laws. The FSCA also alleges that Binance — which it says is situated in Seychelles — maintains a Telegram chat group that “...

On September 3, the decentralized exchange (dex) aggregation platform 1inch announced the project has partnered with the animated series “Take My Muffin.” The multimedia animated series aims to be co-created by the crypto community and created by a professional animation studio. 1inch Network Sponsors ‘Take My Muffin’ Animated NFT Series A new animated non-fungible token (NFT) series called “ Take My Muffin “ has announced a general partnership with the dex aggregator 1inch. Anton Bukov, the 1inch Network co-founder, says that the two teams are pleased to collaborate and stressed: “a partnership of this kind comes as no surprise.” The firm behind the 1inch Network will be sponsoring the NFT animated series. “’Take My Muffin’ was financed by the crypto-community from the very beginning, it’s actually the very first crypto-funded animated series, while the 1inch Network is one of the most promising and successful projects in the crypto space,” Bukov said in a statement. An explan...

Bitcoin is becoming legal tender in El Salvador in three days. However, a nationwide survey conducted by the University Institute of Public Opinion (Iudop) shows that seven out of 10 Salvadorans want the government to repeal the Bitcoin Law. El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law Goes Into Effect in 3 Days The University Institute of Public Opinion (Iudop) in El Salvador conducted a study between Aug. 13 and Aug. 20 of how the public views the country’s upcoming Bitcoin Law. The institute is a research center of the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA). El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law is set to go into effect on Sept. 7 , when BTC will be legal tender in the country alongside the U.S. dollar. A total of 1,281 respondents ages 18 and over participated in this national survey that “represents the entire adult population residing in the country,” according to the institute. Out of all the respondents, 62.4% said they were aware of the approval of the Bitcoin Law by the deputies of the ...

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has some suggestions of what he personally would like to see happening with Dogecoin and the meme cryptocurrency’s cooperation with Ethereum. Vitalik Buterin on Dogecoin’s Development and Its Ethereum Collaboration Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared his thoughts on the potential cooperation between Dogecoin and Ethereum Wednesday as part of a Twitter experiment he is conducting where only the 268 people he followed can ask him questions. Three Arrows Capital CEO Zhu Su asked: “What are some promising ideas for Ethereum / Doge cooperation? What was it about Doge that got you interested in the project?” Su recently said that he is “ very bullish ” on dogecoin and that the meme cryptocurrency has “no risk of it having any regulatory issues ever.” Referencing Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and Proof-of-Work (PoW), Buterin replied to Su: Personally, I hope that doge can switch to PoS soon, perhaps using Ethereum code. I also hope they don’t cancel th...

Nigeria’s securities regulator, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set up a fintech division “to study crypto investments.” This was revealed by Lamido Yuguda, the director-general of the SEC during an interview. Protecting Crypto Investors In the interview , Yuguda explains that the study’s findings will help inform the SEC of the best ways to regulate cryptocurrency should the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s February 6 directive be lifted. However, the director-general did not provide a time frame for issuing regulations or state when he expects the CBN directive to be lifted. Meanwhile, in the same interview, Yuguda explains why his organization is eager to come up with crypto regulations. He explained: We are looking at this market closely to see how we can bring out regulations that will help investors protect their investment in blockchain. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Nigeria continues to be an ideal hunting ground for crypto scamm...

According to a recent report, the National Football League (NFL) advised teams that they could not, at least for now, sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and sponsorships to digital currency companies. Advertisements for specific crypto assets were mentioned alongside initial coin offerings (ICOs), according to various club sources who remained anonymous. Anonymous Club Sources Disclose the NFL’s New Policy On Friday, The Athletic reported that sources familiar with the matter detail that the NFL is barring teams from participating in certain crypto ventures. The NFL’s alleged ban follows a great number of blockchain, NFT, and cryptocurrency endorsements from a number of star athletes and teams. For instance, Tom Brady has shown his support for bitcoin with laser eyes , but he’s also started his own NFT company called Autograph . Brady and his Brazilian supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen also signed a long-term partnership with FTX. But the seven-time Super Bowl champion is not the on...

At the beginning of 2021, a trend ignited by the creators of the Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets caused the whole world to focus on retail traders in the stock market purchasing so-called dead stocks like AMC, GME, and others. The hype behind the Wallstreetbets group has fizzled in the last few months, but a group that claims to represent the Wallstreetbets community has started a decentralized finance (defi) project called wsbdapp.com. The Wallstreetbets application provides traders with the ability to swap synthetic stocks backed by blockchain tech. Wallstreetbets and Defi: ‘Synthetic Stonks’ A small team that claims to be associated with the creator of Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets has started a defi platform, or decentralized application (dapp). The platform is called wsbdapp.com and the protocol allows users to swap tokens similar to popular decentralized exchange (dex) apps today. The tokens are blockchain-based tokens that represent stocks listed on the stock market and they ...

Global investment bank JPMorgan says cryptocurrency markets are “looking frothy” as retail investors spill over from the stock market into cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Crypto Markets Look Frothy, According to JPMorgan JPMorgan published a note Wednesday on the stock market and cryptocurrencies. It explains that retail investors bought stocks at a record pace over the summer with an estimated net flow into the U.S. stock market of $13 billion in August after reaching a record high of almost $16 billion in July. The JPMorgan analysts asserted that the stock-buying frenzy spilled over into altcoins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in August, and the surge in NFTs and decentralized finance (defi) activity has boosted the price of certain cryptocurrencies, such as ethereum, solana, and cardano. They wrote: Cryptocurrency markets [are] looking frothy again. As Bitcoin.com News reported , the crypto market gained approximately 83% in value over the last three months...

India is reportedly working on a new way to regulate cryptocurrencies. “The government is planning to define cryptocurrencies in the new draft bill that also proposes to compartmentalise virtual currencies on the basis of their use cases,” according to a report. How India Will Regulate Cryptocurrencies India is reportedly planning to regulate cryptocurrencies as commodities based on use cases. “The government is planning to define cryptocurrencies in the new draft bill that also proposes to compartmentalise virtual currencies on the basis of their use cases,” The Economic Times reported Friday, citing three people aware of the development. The publication detailed: Cryptocurrencies will be treated as an asset/commodity for all purposes, including taxation and as per use case — payments, investment or utility. “Crypto assets can be either categorized on the basis of the technology they use or they can be defined on their end-use. So, before talking about how the regulations shoul...

Clients of BBVA Switzerland will be able to buy, store, and trade crypto assets with a digital account that comes with a cryptocurrency wallet. The new banking product will be available across the European Union as well as in a number of markets in South America. BBVA Switzerland Account Facilitates Cryptocurrency Investments The Swiss subsidiary of Spain’s banking giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has announced the launch of a “100% digital investment account.” With the offering, the bank is trying to meet the needs of a new type of tech-savvy clients who want to invest “in more innovative, sustainable sectors and even in crypto-assets.” The ‘New Gen’ account, BBVA Switzerland explained, offers access to a catalog of companies and funds. They are organized into 11 themes including climate change, and by disruptive technologies like robotics, 3D printing, and autonomous vehicles. “The catalog also seeks to emulate the portfolios of major investors such as Cathie Wood or...

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb said it will deny access to foreigners unable to verify their identities via mobile phone. The decision comes as the trading platform moves to comply with the country’s updated regulations coming into force later this month. Korean Exchange Bithumb Prepares to Register Under New Rules Foreign nationals who do not pass mobile phone identity verification will not be able to use services provided by Bithumb, one of South Korea’s four largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The platform made the announcement this week as it prepares to follow new, stricter rules for the Korean crypto sector by Sept. 24. The country’s revised Special Funds Act took effect on March 25 and will be enforced after a six-month grace period. It requires domestic crypto exchanges to register with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission (FSC). They also have to cooperate with local banks on the implementation of the real-name accounts system....