Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. Global cryptocurrency financial platform, AscendEX is proud to announce the listing of the Vulcan Forged token (PYR) under the trading pair USDT/PYR on Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. UTC. To celebrate the listing, AscendEX and the PYR team will launch several limited-time promotional events, offering users a chance to share pooled rewards up to 60,000 USDT ! Vulcan Forged is a game studio that has migrated to a blockchain network with more than 12 games and thousands of users. VulcanVerse is a live metaverse, combining high-quality graphics with World of Warcraft-style gameplay featuring the building capabilities of Minecraft. Their market differentiation focuses on developing successful games first and then implementing blockchain integrations second, leading to a much more engaging user experience. Vulcan Forged has grown from a small digital art NFT platform and game studio to a multi-DApp platform, launchpad, and a top-five volume NFT marketplace. They are the second busie...

While the crypto economy has seen a decent uptick in performance during the first week of October, a number of decentralized finance (defi) tokens have seen tremendous gains. Furthermore, the total value locked in defi has risen to $195 billion, jumping more than 14% over the last two weeks from $171 billion. Defi Tokens Skyrocket, Total Value Locked in Dapps Grows to $195 Billion, Axie Infinity, Shiba Inu See Top Gains Digital currency markets of all sorts are seeing some gains this week and defi coins and smart contract tokens have all seen significant rises during the last seven days. Weekly metrics show that crypto-assets like QTUM spiked 42%, terra (LUNA) jumped 37%, binance coin ( BNB ) gained 23%, and solana (SOL) rose by 22%. Other notable double-digit seven-day gainers include tokens like arweave (AR), DYDX, hedera (HBAR), and vechain (VET). The two mega gainers this week include axie infinity (AXS) up 119.8% and shiba inu (SHIB) up 92.3% during the last seven days. Meanw...

The CEO of global investment bank JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon, says that bitcoin has no intrinsic value and “regulators are going to regulate the hell out of it.” He emphasized: “If people are using it for tax avoidance and sex trafficking and ransomware, it’s going to be regulated, whether you like it or not.” JPMorgan’s Boss on Bitcoin and Crypto Regulation JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon continued to express his anti- bitcoin and crypto stance in an interview with Axios on HBO, published Monday. Dimon was asked whether bitcoin is “the fool’s gold of the future?” The JPMorgan boss replied: It’s got no intrinsic value, and regulators are going to regulate the hell out of it. While admitting that the cryptocurrency will be around long term, Dimon said: “I’ve always believed it’ll be made illegal someplace, like China made it illegal , so I think it’s a little bit of fool’s gold.” Several regulators have similarly said that bitcoin has no intrinsic value, including Europe...

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has revealed that he has more crypto exposure than gold for the first time. He hopes to increase his crypto allocation to 7% in the next few months, emphasizing: “I don’t see a situation where crypto’s ever going away.” Kevin O’Leary Now Has More Crypto Than Gold Kevin O’Leary has revealed that his portfolio now has greater exposure to cryptocurrency than gold for the first time. He tweeted Saturday: For the first time ever, my crypto exposure is greater than gold. His comment followed his interview with Stansberry Research’s Daniela Cambone, published Friday. Emphasizing, he is “a believer” and an investor in crypto, Mr. Wonderful shared: “At the end of the year, I’m hoping to be at 7% of our operating company’s portfolio in cryptocurrencies.” Moreover, he said, “I’m investing in a wide range of different crypto products as a strategy.” The Shark Tank star noted: I am happy to listen to anybody but, I’m sorry, I don’t agree i...

Grayscale Investments has added solana and uniswap to its large-cap investment fund. This is the first time solana has been added to a Grayscale fund. The company now offers 15 funds, two of which are diversified portfolios. Solana and Uniswap Added to Grayscale Fund Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager, announced Friday the quarterly rebalancing of its two diversified portfolios: the large-cap fund and the defi (decentralized finance) fund. For the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (OTCQX: GDLC), the company sold some of the existing components and used the cash proceeds to purchase solana (SOL) and uniswap (UNI). Grayscale said: [This is] the first time solana (SOL) will be included in a Grayscale investment vehicle. This was also the first time uniswap was added to the large-cap fund. However, the token has been in the Grayscale Defi Fund since the portfolio launched in July. At the end of the day on Oct. 1, the large-cap fund’s componen...

GNO City features an already playable trading card game on the WAX blockchain. In GNO City you can collect NFTs, win experience points, level up and earn tokens by just playing the game and having fun. Players can explore the story mode or go head to head in matches against other players. Welcome to GNO City GNO City is developing an open world metaverse where players can own land and roam the city to capture characters. The project already features a playable trading card game developed on the WAX blockchain, and the NFTs can be accessed on AtomicHub . If you are not familiar with the genre, digital collectible card games are a huge business these days. Some brands, such as Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone, report reaching more than 100 million players and have a thriving eSport scene. The industry brings in total revenue of $2 billion a year from selling cards to players, but the latter can not earn much from it unless they get to the level of a famous eSport star. The intr...

Compound, one of the main cryptocurrency lending protocols on Ethereum, is facing serious problems again. According to banteg, a Yearn developer, someone called a function that moved more funds to be available for users to claim. Now, users can claim up to $140 million of the protocol’s native currency, comp. Compound is hoping users won’t claim these tokens and is rallying to patch the bug that caused this problem in the first place. Compound Remains Vulnerable to Exploit Compound, a decentralized finance protocol, aggravated its current situation when someone called on a function that put more funds at risk of being claimed. The function, called drip, sent more than 200,000 comp (Compound’s native token) to the Comptroller contract, the component that was affected by a bug last week, allowing users to claim unusually high amounts of comp. According to banteg, developer of another leading defi protocol, Yearn, this was the “best-kept secret in DeFi.” The drip function moves fund...

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has commented on the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and the crypto crackdown by the Chinese government. He reiterated his anti-crypto stance: “I don’t want to have other currencies coming out and hurting or demeaning the dollar in any way.” Donald Trump Comments on Crypto and China’s Crackdown Former U.S. President Donald Trump commented on the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and the Chinese government’s crypto crackdown in an interview with Yahoo Finance’s Adam Shapiro , published Monday. Trump was asked: “You have a relationship with the Chinese President Xi Jinping. What do you think Xi Jinping is up to? And is this crackdown on crypto good for the U.S.?” He replied: Well, I think he wants to do his own currency, whether it’s crypto or otherwise. Several people, including famous “Rich Dad Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki , have similarly expressed that China has been cracking down on crypto to pave the way for its central ban...

Bitcoin’s hashrate has been climbing steadily over the last three months and rose more than 40% after the network’s hashpower was below 90 exahash per second (EH/s) on July 5. The trend has led to a consecutive run of five bitcoin mining difficulty accruals with another increase expected during the next transition. Hashrate Steadily Increases, Antpool Commands Top Position, Unknown Hashrate Returns The overall Bitcoin ( BTC ) hashrate has been slowly but steadily rising higher during the last 90 days. The network’s current processing power is coasting along at 130 EH/s, and three months ago the hashpower was 40% lower than today. In the last 24 hours, Antpool has been the top mining pool dedicating hashrate to the BTC network with 29.7 EH/s or 20.47% of the global hashrate. Antpool is followed by F2pool with 23.58 EH/s or 16.2% of BTC ’s overall hashrate, and Pooling captures 13.2% of the network or 19.2 EH/s. Other top pools dedicating vast amounts of hashrate to the BTC networ...

While the price of bitcoin has surged during the first few days of October, the price of the precious metal gold has also increased percentage-wise as the U.S. dollar and the country’s 10-year Treasury yields slid in value this past week. An ounce of fine gold exchanged hands this weekend for $1,760 per unit, up 1.32% since September 29. Gold Spikes More Than 1% This Past Week, Metal’s Rise Attributed to a Soft Dollar, US Default Fears, the Fed’s Upcoming QE and Benchmark Rate Decisions After the end of September, like clockwork, bitcoin ( BTC ) and the crypto-economy saw billions funnel back into crypto markets. Today, the entire crypto-economy is worth around $2.23 trillion and BTC commands $909 billion or 41% of that aggregate total. Meanwhile gold, on the other hand, has been lackluster as far as percentage gains are concerned but the asset has jumped 1.3% in the last six days. Gold bugs, speculators, and precious metal (PM) market analysts have pointed to the soft dollar la...

PRESS RELEASE. October 2021 , leading Crypto service comparison site – Cryptowisser, take an in-depth look at the recent crypto ban in China as well as several other countries who legally restrict crypto currency in some way and why. As the Cryptowisser report states , there are over 15 countries where Crypto currency is restricted or outright banned, however some are stricter than others and make it entirely illegal to own any crypto assets. For instance, the report lists Bangladesh as a country that forbids owning any form of cryptocurrency, despite this, it is also reported that 2.27% of the population of Bangladesh own some cryptocurrency. Decentralized exchanges lead the way The report also clarifies why Decentralized exchanges like Pancakeswap still make it possible to own crypto despite your citizenship. With the ability to keep your finances away from any centralized authority, citizens of reportedly banned crypto states can still hold currency. Countries with Partial ...

A South African university, the University of Cape Town (UCT) has revealed it will commence blockchain and digital currency classes starting in November. According to the institution, students that enroll and complete the $693 six-week course will be issued a legal certificate. Better Understanding of Blockchain As explained on UCT’s website , students that successfully complete the short course will walk away with “an understanding of how blockchain technology fits into the existing financial systems.” They will also gain an understanding of “how applications such as bitcoin, ethereum, and other crypto-assets can be used.” Further, students enrolling in this course are expected to “investigate the ethical implications of investing in the crypto-asset industry.” They will also discover how ethics and governance can shape new financial infrastructure for the benefit of society. Importance of the Short Course In the course’s overview, the UCT explains why the university has now ad...

Link Global, a bitcoin mine operator in Canada, is facing a fine of up to $7 million for installing power plants to run its miners without government permission. The company installed several power plants without following legal procedures and alleges that, if the penalty is enforced, it will constitute a fatal blow to its finances. Link Global Facing Hefty Fine A bitcoin mine operator in Canada could be fined up to $7 million after setting up a mining operation with power plants without having permission from the government in Alberta. Link Global started operations in Alberta by setting up four gas generators at a site in Sturgeon County, near Edmonton, and also another mine in Kirkwall. According to reports, none of these sites complied with the rule of the Alberta Utilities Commission. The case was put in motion when neighboring communities complained about the noise the sites created. The authorities notified the company it did not comply with their requirements earlier this...

The Central Bank Of Venezuela applied the announced redenomination plan for the national fiat currency, the bolivar on October 1. This redenomination implied slashing six zeroes from the currency, to make payments and currency handling easier, according to earlier statements. However, just hours after applying this measure, the bolivar lost more than 20% of its value against the U.S. dollar. Venezuela Slashes Six Zeroes From Its Currency The Central Bank of Venezuela, the institution that dictates the monetary policy of the country, has applied a redenomination of its fiat currency, the bolivar, to simplify the action of paying and handling big amounts of money. This redenomination implied slashing six zeroes of the current value of the currency, effectively making 1,000,000 Bolivares just 1 Bolivar now. The measure was announced in August, where the Central Bank announced it was changing the name of the currency to the “Digital Bolivar,” which sparked speculation about a possible...

PRESS RELEASE. Right after the Marnotaur DeFi leverage platform announced the extremely quickly completed of its Marnotaur NFT collection presale, the team announced that the collection would go public. The date for the sale has been set for October 4th on the official website https://nft.marnotaur.com/ and there are expectations in the community that it will not last long. In this article, you get a look at the design, utility and sustainability of the collection’s tokenomics model. Created by NFT256, inspired by Bullish DeFi Cycle (which will bring BTC to $100,000) The first release of the Marnotaur NFT collection contains 2,775 uniquely designed creatures – Marnotaurs . The collection is issued in squadrons of 555 NFTs. Every NFT is designed and created by members of the renowned artistic community – NFT256. This group unites talented people from all over the world, artists who are interested in modern technology but are still in love with art. NFT256 artists collaborate with...

Jean-Pierre Verster, the founder of a South African hedge fund Protea Capital Management, has said he does not believe there is “intrinsic value” in cryptocurrencies. He insists that cryptocurrencies have “elements of a Ponzi scheme” and for that reason, he has not invested in them. A ‘Wonderful Technology’ In remarks made during an interview , Verster however appears to adopt a stance on blockchain technology that is similar to that of cryptocurrency opponents. He explained: I think the technology of blockchain is a wonderful technology. And will find applications when it comes to having open ledgers – when it comes to transactions that you need to make sure are captured somewhere or recorded somewhere in a way that people can’t after the facts – fiddle with those recordings. For that blockchain is great. Although he points to foreign exchange restrictions and hyperinflation as some of the legitimate factors that contribute to the popularity of cryptocurrencies, Verster still a...

Threats related to cryptocurrency have followed prices, decreasing significantly after the market slump in May, suggests a recent report released by a leading internet security firm. Detections fell by almost a quarter but Russia remains the most affected country, with the U.S. ranking in the top three as well. ESET: 1 in 10 Crypto-Focused Threats Detected in Russia Software threats in the crypto space, mining malware in particular, are quite dependent on developments in the cryptocurrency market, cybersecurity company ESET has concluded in its Threat Report T2 2021. However, the drop in cybercriminal activity surrounding cryptocurrencies “does not mean that all was quiet,” note the authors of the study, covering the second third of the year, and add: Cryptocurrency investments scams, in which con artists lure their unsuspecting victims to fake investment websites or impersonate government authorities and even celebrities, are more popular than ever. Victims lost at least $80 mi...

Virgin Galactic’s chairman and CEO of Social Capital, Chamath Palihapitiya, says bitcoin has effectively replaced gold. Having predicted that the price of the cryptocurrency would hit $200,000, the executive said bitcoin’s “market cap is just going to grow.” Palihapitiya: ‘I Can Pretty Confidently Say That Bitcoin Has Effectively Replaced Gold’ Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya talked about bitcoin in an interview with CNBC at the Delivering Alpha Conference last week. The billionaire executive is also the founder and CEO of Social Capital. Earlier this year, Palihapitiya predicted that the price of BTC would hit $200K in about five years. Commenting on his price prediction, he said Wednesday: It’s very hard for me sitting here to give you a price prediction, but I can pretty confidently say that bitcoin, I think, has effectively replaced gold. And it will continue to do so. And so that market cap is just going to grow. The price of bitcoin is $48,093 and its marke...

The Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase has been meeting with members of Congress to discuss the cryptocurrency regulation it plans to propose, according to CEO Brian Armstrong. In addition, the company has met with more than 30 crypto firms, four major law firms, and three trade groups about its crypto proposal. Coinbase Meeting Congress Members and Crypto Firms on Regulatory Framework for Crypto Coinbase is on a mission to influence crypto regulation in the U.S. CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted Thursday: We’ve now met with 30+ crypto firms, 25+ members of congress and/or staff, 4 major law firms, and 3 trade groups about our regulatory proposal for crypto. Our policy team is doing great work and we’re trying to be part of the solution. Armstrong first revealed that his company was preparing a draft regulatory framework to submit to lawmakers in an interview at Techcrunch Disrupt 2021 on Sept. 22. He said that he expected to begin distributing the crypto regulatory proposal this ...

The central bank of Laos intends to explore issuing its own digital currency, according to a media report that provided details on the plan. A study on the matter will commence soon and will be conducted with the support of a fintech startup based in Japan. Central Bank of Laos Joins Race to Develop Digital Fiat The Bank of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is going to launch the study focused on the development of a central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) as early as this month, Nikkei Asia unveiled on Sunday. The monetary authority has employed the Japanese fintech firm Soramitsu which was involved in a similar project in neighboring Cambodia. The report of the collaboration comes out after Laos recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Soramitsu, a company specializing in blockchain finance, took part in the establishment of the Bakong digital payment system in Cambodia designed to reduce the country’s dependence on the U.S....

The Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele revealed on Friday that Chivo wallet users will be able to get a discount on petroleum fill-ups at the largest gas stations in the country. Chivo wallet users paying for fuel will save $0.20 per gallon using the government’s crypto wallet. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s Government Subisidizes Country’s Gasoline Market Following the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele revealing the volcano-powered bitcoin mining facility last week, this Friday, Bukele told his Twitter followers about two positive implementations the government has enacted. To start, Bukele explained that he signed a decree that authorizes a fund to stabilize the price of gas in El Salvador. He noted that gas prices were expected to increase but his decree has stopped the increase. In fact, gas prices will see a “slight reduction,” Bukele stressed. “The Government will absorb the increases that are taking place in the international market for one year,” the Salvadoran pres...

Several U.S. lawmakers have called on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to support cryptocurrency innovation. “The Federal Reserve must work to support domestic innovation … Our government should never be in the business of thwarting innovation.” Members of Congress Urge Fed Chair Powell to Support Crypto Innovation Several U.S. Congress members have sent a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell asking him several questions regarding the Fed’s effort on cryptocurrency regulation. The bipartisan letter is signed by Reps. Tom Emmer, Darren Soto, Frank Lucas, Ted Budd, Ro Khanna, Glenn “GT” Thompson, and Eric Swalwell. Rep. Emmer described: Empowering individual Americans to become everyday investors should be our highest priority – decentralized digital assets provide that opportunity. The Federal Reserve must work to support domestic innovation … Our government should never be in the business of thwarting innovation. The congressman explained that his letter “highlights concern...

President Joe Biden says that the U.S. will bring together 30 countries to stop “the illicit use of cryptocurrency.” The United States is “partnering closely with nations around the world” to respond to the cybersecurity threats, Biden further said. US Will Bring 30 Countries Together to Combat Illicit Use of Crypto, Says Biden The White House released a statement by President Joe Biden Friday on the government’s cybersecurity efforts as October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. President Biden explained that the U.S. is “partnering closely with nations around the world” to respond to the cybersecurity threats, “including our NATO allies and G7 partners.” He added that this month: The United States will bring together 30 countries to accelerate our cooperation in combating cybercrime, improving law enforcement collaboration, stemming the illicit use of cryptocurrency, and engaging on these issues diplomatically. “The Federal government needs the partnership of every American an...