Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. UniLend Finance published their protocol update blog introducing UniLend v2. The Binance Innovation Zone project has earlier this year enabled Lending for every token along with Flash Loans. The team published an initial blog explaining various innovative features in their upcoming version, which will equip UniLend to handle Lending and Borrowing of more than 9000 assets. The protocol went live with the Permissionless listing of any token this august. As a result, it already has more than 25 cryptocurrencies live for Lending and uncollateralised borrowing through Flash Loans. This Major protocol update will equip UniLend to tap into the untapped $1 trillion+ crypto market cap without significant competition. First, let’s take a look at the Key Features of the UniLend V2: Dual Asset Pools – UniLend v2 introduces pools for dual assets similar to the UniSwap liquidity model. Dual asset pools prevent the tokens in a specific pool to be immune to price and liquidity ...

The Bank of Spain, the central bank of the country, criticized the adoption process El Salvador chose when declaring Bitcoin legal tender last month. In a report titled “The role of crypto assets as legal tender: the example of El Salvador,” the bank examines several pain points the country encountered while applying its bitcoin strategy, and raises concerns about how some actions have been taken with little transparency. Bank of Spain Scrutinizes El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bet The Bank of Spain issued a report scrutinizing and reflecting upon the entrance of El Salvador into the Bitcoin world. The report, titled “The role of crypto assets as legal tender: the example of El Salvador,” written by Sergio Gorjón, of the General Directorate of Operations, Markets and Payment Systems, states that as every first-mover, El Salvador committed many mistakes in the implementation of Bitcoin as legal tender. One of the principal worries of the Bank of Spain has to do with the relative lack of tr...

Crypto exchange Binance has launched a $1 billion fund which it calls “the biggest funding program of its kind in the whole cryptocurrency industry.” The company aims for the fund to “push the adoption” of the Binance Smart Chain and “the whole blockchain industry.” Binance Launches ‘the World’s Largest Crypto Accelerator’ Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced Tuesday the launch of a $1 billion Binance Smart Chain (BSC) Fund. The announcement states: Binance announces the biggest funding program of its kind in the whole cryptocurrency industry — the $1 billion fund to push the adoption of not only BSC but the whole blockchain industry. The Binance Smart Chain mainnet launched in September last year. At the time, the company announced a $100 million BSC Accelerator Fund to support Dapps building on BSC. It seed-funded over 40 projects with up to $1 million. In addition, over 60 projects have been incubated under the company’s Most Valuable Builder (MVB) Accelerator Program ....

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is launching a peer-to-peer marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The Nasdaq-listed company says that “Coinbase NFT” will make “minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs easier than ever.” In addition, Coinbase says, “We’re going to grow the creator community exponentially, a win for artists and for fans.” Coinbase NFT to Help Grow Creator Community ‘Exponentially’ The Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced Tuesday that it is launching a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Sanchan Saxena, VP of Products at Coinbase, wrote: Today, we’re announcing Coinbase NFT, a peer-to-peer marketplace that will make minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs easier than ever. “Just as Coinbase helped millions of people access bitcoin for the first time in an easy and trusted way — we want to do the same for the NFTs,” he added. Coinbase further explained: “All NFTs are on-chain. The initial launch will sup...

Americans are still concerned about dealing with inflation, as the cost of goods and services has continued to rise significantly in a short period of time. The Federal Reserve has published the latest Survey of Consumer Expectations report and U.S. households believe inflation will be up 5.3% one year from now. In addition to the dreary economic outlook, gas prices across the U.S. have skyrocketed up more than $1 from a year ago. New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations Continues to Look Gloomy After 2020’s massive monetary expansion, in order to help the economy combat the coronavirus outbreak and help facilitate the lockdown orders that subsequently followed, inflation has crept into the wallets of every American. Month after month, the Federal Reserve has published the central bank’s Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) reports, and every month, inflation expectations jump higher. Once again, the latest Fed SCE report published on Tuesday indicates that Americans are st...

HIVE Blockchain is set to expand its data center campus in New Brunswick, Canada with 40 megawatts capacity. It is the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency miner, listing in Toronto on the Venture Exchange back in 2017 and added to NASDAQ in 2021. It mines both Bitcoin and Ethereum using 100% green energy in facilities across Canada, Sweden, and Iceland. HIVE Blockchain to Expand Data Center in New Brunswick, Canada HIVE Blockchain Technologies (NASDAQ: HIVE, TSX.V: HIVE) will soon begin testing a new high-performance computing cloud hosting operation. At the company’s largest data center campus in New Brunswick, Canada, where it owns the land, the team is currently building expansions from the ground-up (“greenfield expansions”), which will provide it with 40 megawatts of data center capacity. HIVE currently operates 5 data center campuses, where they are mining both Bitcoin and Ethereum. HIVE’s data centers already have access to approximately 50 megawatts of power, placing it a...

On Tuesday, the Atlanta-based cryptocurrency payments company Bitpay announced the Israeli software company Wix has enabled its Software as a service (SaaS) e-commerce product to accept crypto-asset payments. The integration will allow Wix merchants to accept 12 different cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, dogecoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, litecoin, and stablecoins as well. SaaS Platform Wix Implements Bitpay Infrastructure So Merchants Can Accept Crypto Founded in 2006, by the Israeli software engineers Nadav Abrahami, Avishai Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan, the global SaaS platform Wix provides users with the ability to develop both mobile and HTML5 websites without coding experience. On October 12, Wix announced that it would be implementing Bitpay’s cryptocurrency payment processing infrastructure so users can choose it as an option for the Wix e-commerce platform. Alongside five different stablecoins such as BUSD, DAI, GUSD, USDP, and USDC, Wix Merchant users can also accept bitcoi...

Cleanspark, a Nevada-based energy technology and clean bitcoin mining firm, has announced the purchase of 4,500 Bitmain-brand Antminer S19 bitcoin mining rigs. The company says the mining devices were purchased by leveraging a portion of the company’s bitcoin holdings. Cleanspark Purchases 4,500 ASIC Mining Rigs From Chinese Manufacturer Bitmain The publicly-listed bitcoin mining firm Cleanspark (Nasdaq: CLSK ) announced on Tuesday that the company has purchased 4,500 S19 bitcoin mining rigs from Bitmain. The rigs are expected to start the delivery process by next month and the units were “partially funded through a portion of the company’s BTC holdings.” The company estimates that the machines will increase hashrate by 450 PH/s or 0.45 exahash (EH/s), which is equivalent to Cleanspark’s current capacity. Cleanspark’s acquisition of 4,500 bitcoin miners follows other major purchases of bitcoin mining machines by large-scale operations this year. For instance, at the end of August...

Decentralized finance (defi) has swelled quite a bit this year and on October 5, the total value locked (TVL) in defi protocols crossed the $200 billion mark. Since January 1, the defi TVL across various blockchains has risen almost 855% from $21.4 billion to today’s $204 billion . Total Value Locked in Defi Jumps Over the $200 Billion Handle, Ethereum TVL Commands 69% Dominance The total value locked (TVL) in defi today has jumped nearly ten times higher than the value at the beginning of 2021. On October 5, 2021, the TVL in defi surpassed the $200 billion handle for the first time and the value has remained above $200 billion during the last seven days. Statistics from defillama.com indicate that the defi protocol Curve has the largest dominance with $15.94 billion, up more than 7% over the last week. Curve’s dominance is 7.80% on Tuesday and it interacts with six different crypto networks including Avalanche, Ethereum, and Polygon. Metrics show that Aave, Makerdao, and Wrapped...

Coinzo, one of Turkey’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is terminating its digital asset trading services. The platform said its website will remain online in the next six months to allow users to withdraw their holdings in cryptocurrency and Turkish fiat money. Another of Turkey’s Crypto Exchanges Closes Amid Ankara’s ‘War’ on Cryptocurrency Leading Turkish crypto exchange Coinzo announced on Monday it’s ending trading operations. The platform called on customers to withdraw their assets in Turkish lira and cryptocurrency without providing any particular reason for its decision to exit the market. In a notice published on its website, the company stated: 　We have decided to terminate our digital asset service provider (cryptocurrency platform) service. The exchange emphasized that its website, Coinzo.com, will continue to be accessible for another six months, during which traders will be able to log in to their accounts and withdraw Turkish lira and cryptocurrencies. All f...

PRESS RELEASE. Using the iExec Oracle Factory, developers are able to create their own decentralized oracles with just the API’s URL and key. October 12 th , Lyon, France, 2021 – iExec , a decentralized marketplace for computing assets, has announced the launch of the iExec Oracle Factory , a developer interface allowing anyone to create their own oracles, from scratch, in minutes, without any blockchain knowledge and directly from their browser. In order for decentralized applications to solve real world problems, they need to make use of real word data. Decentralized oracles play a major role in blockchain-based architectures, acting as bridges between blockchains and the real world. However, developers who want to create their own oracles need existing blockchain knowledge, and coding them from scratch can take hours. iExec is releasing the iExec Oracle Factory, making oracles accessible to everyone. The iExec Oracle Factory is an interface allowing anyone to create their...

Reports from South Africa say the country’s police have now issued a warrant for the arrest of Sandile Shezi, a 29-year-old cryptocurrency trader. The warrant was issued after one Allan Ledwaba, an investor with Shezi’s Global Forex Institute, accused the cryptocurrency trader of swindling him out of more than $33,000 (R500,000). Using Supercars to Woo Victims According to a report by City Press, Ledwaba’s interactions with Shezi began soon after he attended one of the latter’s seminars where attendees were taught forex trading. Ledwaba alleges that he was shown a “trading account” belonging to Shezi which had over $5.9 million. The report adds that Shezi’s Ferraris and Lamborghinis were also used to entice Ledwaba. Having been convinced by Shezi’s pitch, Ledwaba went on to procure a $33,000 loan from his father, which he invested in the crypto trader’s company. However, soon after investing, Ledwaba says he became suspicious. The report quotes Ledwaba explaining: The agreement ...

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently warned that the country’s official naira exchange rate of N411 for every dollar is artificially low. This exchange rate, according to Osinbajo, discourages foreign exchange entrance into the country. Naira Exchange Rate Must Reflect Realities of Market Consequently, Vice President Osinbajo says he wants the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allow the naira to “reflect the realities of the market.” As a report by The Cable details, Osinbajo also wants the CBN to rethink its foreign exchange management strategy. He explained: We can’t get new dollars into the system, where the exchange rate is artificially low. And everyone knows by how much our reserves can grow. I’m convinced that the demand management strategy currently being adopted by the CBN needs a rethink, and that is just my view. Still, Osinbajo suggested that any such reassessment should only be done when the CBN governor has time to address this issue. Naira Depreciation...

Bitfarms, a bitcoin mining company, announced last week that construction is underway for a mega bitcoin mining farm in Argentina. The facility, which is designed to accommodate 55,000 miners, will be finished by next year. This is yet another signal that mining companies are looking for new areas with favorable conditions and cheap energy to migrate to, including places like Texas and El Salvador. Bitfarms Expands to Argentina Bitfarms, a Nasdaq -listed bitcoin mining company, announced it started building what will be a mega bitcoin mining farm in Argentina last week. The company says this facility will be able to power thousands of miners with power secured through a contract with a private power company. The farm will provide more than 210 megawatts of infrastructure capacity for the company, which reported having a mining power of 1.4 exahash per second in September. About the construction, Emiliano Grodzki, CEO of Bitfarms, stated: Our new high-production facility in Argen...

On Monday, the blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic announced the company has raised $60 million in a Series C financing round. Elliptic plans to leverage the capital to expand the team and “accelerate” blockchain research and development (R&D). Elliptic Raises $60 Million to Bolster Expansion There’s been a number of capital investments and finance injections directed at companies within the crypto ecosystem. On October 11, the blockchain surveillance company Elliptic revealed the firm has raised $60 million from strategic investors. Elliptic highlights that Evolution Equity Partners, led the funding alongside a “new investment from Softbank Vision Fund 2.” Softbank Vision Fund 2 is basically owned by Softbank Group Corp., the Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Elliptic also notes that Albion VC, Digital Currency Group, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, SBI Group, Octopus Ventures, Signalfire, and Paladin Capital Group added to th...

During the first week of September, the Wormhole Network’s ethereum solana bridge was introduced to the Solana community and the following week, developers released a bi-directional connection for blockchain non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles. On Monday, the Wormhole dev team revealed it has added Binance Smart Chain support to the token and NFT bridge platform. Wormhole Now Connects Solana to Binance Smart Chain The crypto asset solana (SOL) has propelled its way to the top seventh position, in terms of market valuation, among 10,000+ digital assets in existence. Now, year-to-date, SOL has gained 5,987% but during the last 30 days, SOL is down close to 18% on October 11. Much like Ethereum, Solana’s protocol is used for decentralized finance (defi) and there’s a myriad of defi platforms built specifically for the Solana network. 1/ We're excited to announce support for @BinanceChain on the Wormhole network! Starting today, users will be able to seamlessly bridge both to...

The CEO of global investment bank JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon, says bitcoin is “worthless,” questioning whether the supply of bitcoin is actually limited. He also noted that blockchain and stablecoins can be real, emphasizing that governments are going to regulate the industry. Bitcoin Is Worthless and Supply May Not Be Capped, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Suggested JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon reiterated his anti-bitcoin stance Monday at the 2021 Institute of International Finance (IIF) Annual Membership Meeting, which was held virtually. “Blockchain can be real, stablecoins can be real,” Dimon said . “No matter what anyone in the room thinks, nor what any libertarian thinks, nor what anyone thinks about it, government’s going to regulate it.” He opined: I personally think that bitcoin is worthless. But, “I don’t want to be a spokesperson. I don’t care. It makes no difference to me,” he added. Nonetheless, the JPMorgan boss emphasized: “Our clients are adults. They disagree. That’s what ma...

The Bank of England says that crypto assets pose “limited” direct risks to the stability of the country’s financial system. “Cryptoasset and associated markets and services continue to grow and to develop rapidly. Such assets are becoming increasingly integrated into the financial system,” the U.K.’s central bank described. Crypto Poses Limited Risks to UK’s Financial Stability The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) published the October edition of the “Financial Stability in Focus” report Friday. The Financial Policy Committee has 13 members, six of whom are Bank of England staff, including the governor and four deputy governors. The FPC “identifies, monitors and takes action to remove or reduce systemic risks with a view to protecting and enhancing the resilience of the U.K. financial system,” the central bank described. The committee wrote: Cryptoasset and associated markets and services continue to grow and to develop rapidly. Such assets are becoming increas...

On Monday, FTX US announced the launch of its marketplace for non-fungible token (NFT) assets. FTX explained that the marketplace will feature Solana-based NFTs but support for Ethereum-based NFTs is coming in the near future. FTX US Reveals New Solana NFT Market, Plans to Support Ethereum in the Near Future West Realm Shires Services Inc., the parent company of FTX US , revealed on Monday that the U.S.-based regulated cryptocurrency exchange has launched the FTX NFTs Marketplace . The market will give FTX US users the ability to mint NFTs, as well as transfer the digital collectibles. The announcement published on October 11, indicates that the market will initially host Solana (SOL) minted non-fungible token (NFT) assets. “In the near future,” FTX NFTs plans to implement Ethereum support as well. Brett Harrison, the president of FTX US explained during the announcement that the company has already become “immersed in the NFT ecosystem.” “In learning about so many of these project...

Flurry Finance is announcing an exciting development in the world of DeFi, as the successful launch of the rhoToken marks a next level evolution in yield aggregation! Users are now able to freely earn, trade, and spend deposit tokens while farming without restrictions or lockup periods. The future of yield farming has arrived! The Debut of the rhoToken rhoTokens are pegged to stablecoins on a 1:1 basis and support 3 kinds of stablecoin deposits. Users can now use the Flurry Finance DApp to convert USDT , USDC , and BUSD stablecoins into the corresponding rhoTokens of rhoUSDT , rhoUSDC , and rhoBUSD in order to earn passive income through the Flurry Protocol’s yield aggregator without the usual hassle, complications, and high gas fees associated with lending tokens to different DeFi lending protocols and exchanges directly. To fully explain this momentous occasion, it’s important to know how the rhoToken differs from other yield farming deposit tokens. At its most basic for...

Bitfury, the leading non-Chinese bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer, is reportedly planning to go public in the next 12 months. This would constitute one of the largest listings of a European-based cryptocurrency mining hardware company to date. The company had a valuation of $1 billion dollars after its latest funding round, and is backed by companies like Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital. Bitfury Going Public in European Markets Bitfury, one of the most important cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturers in Europe, is reportedly planning to go public in European markets. The company, which specializes in providing hardware for mining bitcoin and services associated with this hardware, supposedly contacted Deloitte, one of the big four accounting firms, to assess its readiness for the process of issuing stock in a regulated market, according to an article published by the Telegraph. The company wants to capitalize on the cryptocurrency bull market to see better performance wi...

A U.S. government employee has been arrested on espionage-related charges after he attempted to sell restricted data on the design of nuclear-powered warships to a foreign government. The federal employee asked to be paid in monero cryptocurrency. “I am very aware of the risks of blockchain analysis of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and believe monero gives both of us excellent deniability,” he told an undercover FBI agent. Nuclear Engineer Sells Restricted Data for Monero The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Sunday that an employee of the Department of the Navy, who sold restrictive data for cryptocurrency, has been arrested on espionage-related charges. Jonathan Toebbe, who served as a nuclear engineer, was assigned to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, also known as Naval Reactors. He held an active national security clearance through the U.S. Department of Defense, giving him access to restricted information. He and his spouse, Diana Toebbe, “sold information...

The price of bitcoin continues to climb higher as the crypto asset has captured over 19% in gains during the last seven days. Bitcoin tapped a daily high on Monday reaching $57,678 per unit, jumping 4.4% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin Outperforms the Pack as Speculators Assume ETF Approval Is Coming It seems crypto investors are more attracted to bitcoin ( BTC ) in recent times as the crypto asset has been outperforming most of the top digital currencies in the last few days. On Monday, BTC has jumped 4.4% in value and BTC is the 14th-biggest seven-day gainer out of 10,000+ crypto-assets in existence. Much of the price increase has been attributed to the possibility that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve a bitcoin exchange-traded fund by the month’s end. While many investors see a bitcoin ETF approval as being positive, others have shared contrasting opinions about the subject in recent times. Bitcoin ( BTC ) has gained 19.3% during the last week an...

On October 6, Pantera Capital published an investor’s note written by Dan Morehead, the company’s CEO. Unlike the myriad of crypto investors who believe that a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) will send the crypto asset’s value to the moon, Morehead explains it could be a negative event and when it officially launches he said he “might want to take some chips off the table.” Bitcoin Price Bolstered by ETF Speculation, Dan Morehead Discusses a Bitcoin ETF Approval and Possible Negative Effects The price of bitcoin (BTC) is riding much higher than last month as the crypto asset tapped a high on Monday morning (EST) reaching $57,093 per unit. Four days ago, Bitcoin.com News reported on the possibility of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) getting approved by the end of the month. It has been said that the probability of an ETF being approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be high by the end of October and the beginning of November. Because of this highe...