Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The price of bitcoin jumped over 8% during the last 24 hours after a number of documents stemming from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) web portal indicated that the Proshares Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF) could be listed as soon as next week. Proshares filed a post-effective amended prospectus on Friday that shows the firm’s intention to launch on Monday, October 18 on NYSE Arca. Bitcoin’s Price Spikes as Strong Signals Suggest Bitcoin Futures ETF Could Launch Next Week The crypto community watched the price of bitcoin (BTC) jump awfully close to the crypto asset’s all-time high on Friday afternoon. During the late afternoon trading sessions, BTC tapped a daily high of $62,945 per unit at around 5:30 p.m. (EST). The reason for this increase is likely due to a number of documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeming to strongly indicate a bitcoin ETF is launching soon. The first signal was from James Seyffart, an analyst at Bloombe...

A South African regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), says it welcomes Binance’s decision to stop offering some of its services to South Africans. Productive Consultations In a statement , the FSCA suggested that the move by the cryptocurrency exchange came after it held “productive consultations” with the regulator. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Binance announced it was terminating some of its services in South Africa in order to comply with regulations. In its initial warning that prompted Binance to act, the FSCA alleged that the crypto exchange had contravened certain financial sector laws including the Financial Markets Act (FMA) as well as the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS Act). Therefore, as part of the corrective actions that were demanded by the FSCA, Binance informed South African residents on October 8 that they will not be able to open new accounts for trading derivatives. At the same time, the exchange ...

Authorities in Estonia are working on new legislation expected to stiffen the rules for the country’s cryptocurrency sector. The Baltic nation’s regulator for the industry is considering whether to revoke previously issued crypto licenses and restart authorization from scratch. Licensed Crypto Companies Register Millions in Turnover, Estonia Gets Little With only around 1.3 million people, Estonia is one of the least populated member states of the European Union and the Eurozone. However, the small nation has become a magnet for a large number of crypto companies attracted by the friendly regulatory regime it established a few years ago. These firms process transactions for more than 20 billion euros, equal to over 40% of the cross-border transfers in the local banking sector, according to an interview with Matis Mäeker who heads the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit ( FIU ). Only one in 10 companies has a bank account in the country. The Estonia-licensed crypto businesses ...

Accusing the U.S. of undermining the dollar through money printing and sanctions policy, President Vladimir Putin has admitted that cryptocurrency can be utilized for settlements in the future, although it’s too early to do that in oil trade. While noting that it lacks backing, the Russian leader assumed crypto could be used to store value one day, too. U.S. Cutting the Branch It’s Sitting on, Putin Says U.S. dollar-denominated settlements are declining and countries are scaling down their dollar reserves, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with CNBC this week. Speaking after his participation in the 20th annual Russian Energy Forum in Moscow on Wednesday, Putin criticized Washington’s monetary and international policies stating that “the United States is cutting the branch it is sitting on.” The dollar’s status as an international reserve currency is a major competitive advantage, the Russian head of state noted but warned that U.S. authorities are undermining ...

Ertha’s metaverse, built on Binance smart chain, has just concluded a seed funding round. The project has garnered interest from the venture capitals and ended with an oversubscribed seed round which was considered an excellent achievement for the projects’ fundamentals. Ertha has collected funding from 4 venture capitalists. Investors who backed the project seed funding round: Mars4 Terranova X21 Momentum 6 NFTs have been gaining a lot of attention over the current year and have attracted investments from both individuals and institutions. A Little About Ertha Ertha is a game that will encompass a real-world simulation where people will be getting jobs, creating states, building industries, waging wars, and much more. Check Erthas’ whitepaper to learn more about the concept and core mechanics of the game. ERTHA is an economical, social MMO with a world consisting of 350,000 HEX land plots, which are for sale as an NFT. Owning a HEX plot means you will earn fees for eve...

On Friday, October 15, 2021, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it had ordered the company Tether Holdings Limited and Ifinex Inc., the parent company of Bitfinex, to pay fines totaling $42.5 million. The CFTC accuses Tether of “making untrue or misleading statements and omissions of material fact in connection with the U.S. dollar tether token ( USDT ) stablecoin.” CFTC Issues Two Fines to Tether and Bitfinex, CFTC Expects ‘Honesty and Transparency in the Developing Digital Assets Marketplace’ The stablecoin issuer Tether and Ifinex have been charged by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the two firms have been ordered to pay $42.5 million . Tether is accused of “making untrue or misleading statements and omissions” in regards to the stablecoin the firm issues. The U.S. regulator also claims that the crypto exchange Bitfinex “engaged in illegal, off-exchange retail commodity transactions in digital assets with U.S persons on t...

The price of bitcoin has continued to push toward higher prices as the leading crypto asset has tapped a high of $61,749 per unit on Friday. The crypto asset came awfully close (around 5.3% away) from tapping the all-time price high reached six months ago on April 14. Bitcoin’s Bull Market Rampage Continues Bitcoin ( BTC ) has done phenomenally well during the last two weeks as October has been a good month for the leading crypto asset. On October 15, 2021, BTC tapped a high of $61,430 per unit. The crypto asset is very close to reaching its all-time high of $64,804 per unit captured six months ago. BTC ’s market valuation this Friday is coasting along at $1.15 trillion and bitcoin is currently the eighth-most valuable asset worldwide. BTC market dominance has increased to 44.57% while ethereum ( ETH ) dominance stands at 17.6%. Forget USD, #Bitcoin = 31 ounces of Gold .. and rising🚀 pic.twitter.com/wTs9IcpvLb — PlanB (@100trillionUSD) October 15, 2021 Metrics show out ...

On Thursday, the crypto asset aggregation portal Coingecko published the firm’s 2021 third-quarter report which shows a number of different findings. According to the study, for the most part, the crypto economy recovered from the market downturn in May as the top 30 market caps grew by 31% in Q3. The report shows that altcoins continue to decouple (specifically those from alternative chains) and the leading stablecoin tether has been losing its share “as the preferred stablecoin.” 2021 Q3 Cryptocurrency Report Observes the Crypto Landscape and Bitcoin’s Third-Quarter Market Performance This week Coingecko’s analysts and founders’ Bobby Ong and TM Lee published the firm’s 2021 Q3 Cryptocurrency Report which observes the crypto economy’s third quarter. The study delves into a myriad of subjects including decentralized finance (defi), non-fungible token (NFT) assets, and Q3 crypto market performances. In the founder’s note section of the report, Ong and Lee explain that “NFTs are red...

The price of bitcoin had crossed the $60K zone at 1:30 a.m. (EST) early Friday morning. The leading crypto asset’s latest price jump has made it so bitcoin’s overall market valuation of $1.119 trillion has surpassed Facebook’s market capitalization. The digital asset is also nearing the entire net worth of all the silver in the world as bitcoin is 17.3% away from surpassing the precious metal’s overall capitalization. Bitcoin Surpasses Facebook’s Overall Worth, Needs to Gain More Than 17.33% to Exceed Silver Bitcoin is currently the eighth-most valuable asset in the world just above the market valuation of the corporate entity Facebook’s market cap. Today, statistics from the website companiesmarketcap.com indicate that BTC ’s market cap is $1.119 trillion and Facebook’s market valuation is $926.27 billion. It’s not the first time bitcoin ( BTC ) surpassed the social media company’s entire value, as Bitcoin.com News reported that BTC grew larger than Facebook during the first week...

The Nigerian presidency has denied reports that the country’s Vice President (VP), Yemi Osinbajo, was calling for the devaluation of the local currency when he recently questioned the naira’s official exchange rate. The Huge Arbitrage In fact, according to a report that quotes Laolu Akande, the VP’s assistant, Osinbajo is against “a willy-nilly devaluation of the naira.” Akande suggests that the media may have taken Osinbajo’s comments out of context. He explained: For context, the Vice President’s point was that currently, the Naira exchange rate benefits only those who can obtain the dollar at N410, some of whom simply turn round and sell to the parallel market at N570. As regularly reported by Bitcoin.com News, Nigeria’s official exchange rate has remained unchanged since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last devalued the naira in May 2021. On the other hand, the exchange rate on the black market has grown steadily, hence the existing arbitrage. Market-Reflective Exchang...

PRESS RELEASE. SAN FRANCISCO – October 15, 2021 – TRON, one of the largest blockchain-based operating systems in the world, is announcing an upcoming partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment today. Tron will provide the gaming company with its blockchain and expertise to enable in-game purchases, trading of in-game items and facilitate fast, cross-border payments on top of the Tron infrastructure. Sony has been at the forefront of blockchain technology, starting as early as 2016 to experiment with the technology, and initiating further development of a blockchain-based system to manage digital rights in 2018. Blockchain makes it difficult to destroy or falsify data and has been well-adapted to manage data and rights. However, the technology bears huge potential for the gaming industry, as has been illustrated by the rapid growth of blockchain gaming, and play-to-earn business models. The major challenge when building blockchain-based gaming companies are faced with are pro...

ETC Group, an ETF issuer company, released a report last month about the evolution of Bitcoin Cash in the years after the hard fork that created it. While the company acknowledged the asset price is lagging compared to its older sibling, it praised the crypto on other aspects like development and actual usage. Bitcoin Cash has improved regarding these two metrics, likely helped by the inclusion in several important platforms such as Paypal. Bitcoin Cash Examined by ETC Group ETC Group, a financial services company based in London, has issued a report on Bitcoin Cash. The report, which touches on several important aspects of the cryptocurrency, establishes that Bitcoin Cash has experienced positive development when it comes to the actual usage of the currency. The report states: Bitcoin Cash has retained its laser focus on facilitating easy, fast, everyday transactions. And this is starting to pay off. Daily active addresses, a proxy for daily active users, have continued to gr...

Visa, one of the leading credit and payments companies, has announced the creation of a program that will allow artists to understand how they can use new technologies like NFTs. According to Visa, NFTs have the potential of evening out the field for artists, allowing them to close the gap between art and its potential consumers. The company will sponsor a group of artists, giving them counsel about the importance of these cryptographic technologies. Visa Wants Artists To Learn About NFTs Visa has announced it will launch a program to introduce artists to the world of NFTs. The company is partnering with former MLB player Micah Johnson, who is now a digital artist, in order to show the benefits that non-fungible token (NFT) technology can provide. Things like new markets for art creations and at the same time, close the gap between consumers and art providers. Micah, who is the creator of Aku, an NFT based character, leveraged NFTs as a way of giving life to a community around its...

Any digital currency issued by a central bank must support financial and monetary stability, finance leaders from G7 member states have insisted. State-issued coins should also ensure privacy, transparency, and data protection, the officials stated. The forum adopted 13 public policy principles for retail digital currencies and stressed that “CBDCs are not ‘cryptoassets.’” CBDCs Must ‘Do No Harm’ to Stability, G7 Finance Chiefs Say Recognizing the potential benefits of innovation in digital money and payments, finance officials from the Group of Seven ( G7 ) major economies addressed relevant public policy and regulatory issues at their latest meeting which also produced over a dozen guidelines for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). In a released statement , the participants reaffirmed: Any CBDC should be grounded in our long-standing public commitments to transparency, the rule of law and sound economic governance. A sovereign digital currency designed to be used by house...

The chief executive officer of the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, says he is “more on the Jamie Dimon camp” when asked whether he thinks bitcoin is worthless. However, the executive says he is fascinated by people’s interest in crypto and sees “a huge role for a digitized currency.” Blackrock’s CEO Sides With JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon on the Value of Bitcoin Larry Fink, the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager with $9.5 trillion in assets under management, Blackrock, answered some questions about cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin, in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. He was asked whether he was “still in the Jamie Dimon’s category of ‘bitcoin is worthless'” or whether he saw value in the cryptocurrency. Dimon, the CEO of global investment bank JPMorgan, said earlier this week: “I personally think that bitcoin is worthless.” He also questioned the limited supply of the cryptocurrency. The Blackrock executive replied: I am probably more on the Jamie Dimon camp....

Dreamr Labs flagship product, the Dreamr app, continues to gain momentum in new user signups one month after the DMR token launch. Roadmap is being accelerated to meet consumer demand for dreamr technologies. Dreamr (Ticker: DMR ) is the community-driven platform created for users to pursue their personal and entrepreneurial dreams. The platform helps people to build a supportive tribe around their declared dream, features an encrypted messenger, and has decentralized financial tools in its roadmap to help users overcome the inevitable monetary obstacles that get in their way . Users can earn DMR tokens by using the dreamr app to declare their dream and connect with others on the platform pursuing their own ambitions and goals. The DMR token has utility in the form of platform governance, which gives token holders a real say in making changes to the dreamr development roadmap. Dreamr has also disclosed plans in its white paper to turn user’s dream content and stories into NF...

The chief executive officer of global investment bank Morgan Stanley says that cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, is not a fad. Noting that they are not going to go away, he said: “We’re watchful of it, we’re respectful, and we’ll wait and see how the regulators handle it.” Morgan Stanley’s CEO Says Bitcoin and Crypto Aren’t Going Away Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency during the bank’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts Thursday morning. Emphasizing that crypto is not going to go away, he said: I’ve said it publicly before, I’ll say it again. I don’t think crypto’s a fad. I don’t know what the value of bitcoin should or shouldn’t be, but these things aren’t going away. He added: “The blockchain technology supporting it is obviously very real and powerful.” Morgan Stanley was among the first major banks to embrace bitcoin. In March, the bank revealed that it had begun offering bitcoin funds to clients. In April, the bank added bit...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has tweeted about investing in funds that hold bitcoin futures contracts. This has sparked optimism within the crypto community that the regulator may soon approve bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), especially those investing in bitcoin futures. Optimism Grows That SEC Will Approve a Bitcoin Futures ETF Soon The official Twitter account for the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy tweeted Thursday: “Before investing in a fund that holds bitcoin futures contracts, make sure you carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits.” The tweet references an investor bulletin jointly published in June by the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) Office of Customer Education and Outreach. The bulletin urges “investors considering a fund with exposure to the bitcoin futures market to weigh carefully the potential risks and benefits of the investment.” Comments ...

The billionaire CEO of Starwood Capital, an investment firm with over $95 billion under management, has revealed that he owns bitcoin and ether. “The U.S. government, and every government in the Western Hemisphere, is printing money now to the end of time, and this is a finite amount of something and it can be traded globally,” he explained. Billionaire Barry Sternlicht Owns Bitcoin and Ether Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, an investment firm with over $95 billion in assets under management (AUM), talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. According to Forbes’ list of billionaires, Sternlicht’s net worth as of Oct. 14 is $4.4 billion. The Starwood Capital boss revealed that he owns bitcoin and ether, noting that cryptocurrency makes sense as a way to diversify investment portfolios. Commenting on what JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said about bitcoin being worthless , he said, “Gold is kind of worthless too.” Discussing bit...

In mid-July 2017, the largest darknet marketplace (DNM) Alphabay went dark and patrons didn’t know if the administrators were busted by law enforcement or if it was an exit scam. Not too long after the site went dark, law enforcement disclosed that an organized police task force, from various jurisdictions, infiltrated Alphabay alongside the DNM Hansa. Thailand police also arrested Alexandre Cazes, the alleged administrator for the Alphabay marketplace. Now over four years later, Alphabay (AB) has allegedly returned as the original AB admin “Desnake” has ostensibly ‘proven control’ over the AB administrators’ PGP key. The So-Called Return of the Alphabay, New Platform Unstable, Veracity of Desnake’s PGP Key Questionable During the last few weeks, darknet marketplace (DNM) users, researchers, and observers have been discussing the so-called return of the Alphabay (AB) marketplace. The DNM was the largest darknet market in 2017, and before the publication Deepdotweb was seized, it had...

There’s a reason Ajshia Najafian is one of the first faces new employees see when they start at Ripple. Warmth and a willingness to help are essential in her role, but Ajshia takes it a step further by showing up every day as her most authentic self and creating a space for others to do … Continued The post LatinX at Ripple Co-Lead Ajshia Najafian on Authenticity in Identity appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/S9ZyJL

PRESS RELEASE. Playing games has taken another dimension entirely through a new play-to-earn model that makes earning generating crypto revenue easier than ever. Revolve Games is revolutionizing the way DeFi staking is integrated with blockchain gaming by debuting a Metaverse where players can earn rewards according to performance. Current games fall short in unlocking the true value of play-to-earn NFT games. But a token-staking play-to-earn model is what the NFT scene needs so players can fully dive in the immersive gameplay of the metaverse and capitalize on their skills and experience. Revolve Games Metaverse is the first AAA quality inter-planetary sandbox metaverse. Players can explore the galaxy with their NFT tethered spacecraft, buy land on planets, shape the landscape and build their own games. Teleportation portal NFTs allow them to instantly travel between your favourite set destinations in the metaverse. Recent partnerships with other popular NFT games like Netvrk mea...