Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

On Wednesday, the global developer utilizing popular brands, gamification, A.I., blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and mobile technology, Animoca Brands announced the company has closed a capital raise for $65 million. Animoca Brands now has an overall valuation of $2.2 billion after raising funds from firms like Liberty City Ventures, Ubisoft Entertainment, Sequoia China, and Dragonfly Capital. Animoca Brands Raises $65 Million In July, Animoca Brands announced the company raised $138.88 million in order to deliver digital property rights via non-fungible token (NFT) technology. The company Animoca Brands was co-founded by Yat Siu in January 2014 and in recent times the company has been focused on blockchain gaming and NFTs. Animoca Brands has backed Sky Mavis the creators of Axie Infinity and the leading NFT marketplace in terms of trade volume Opensea . “Animoca Brands is bringing digital property rights to online users, primarily for consumer video game players and the...

There was a time when space travels showed only on screens and dreams about Mars seemed out of this planet. Welcome to the present, then it has become real. Now You can own a piece of the Red Planet by participating in the Mars Land NFT sale running on Ethereum. Touch the red earth, take the first step, discover the water, or grow the first plant on Mars. MARS4 – How is it unique? Mars4 – centered ecosystem where you can explore a virtual Mars Metaverse, own and customize your land property with MARS4 Tokens and even reap the rewards of the world’s first revenue-generating NFT! Attractive tokenomics of Mars4 leverages NFT Mars Land, Gamification, and Token Redistribution. The Mars4 project’s development team has modeled a detailed 3D map of Mars’ terrain after NASA’s Mars data. Think of it as Mars’ equivalent of the 2001 Google Earth 3D map. The total area of the Red Planet is divided into 99.888 unique land plots, each represented by a unique NFT. Mars4 is a platform that allows...

On October 20, the day bitcoin smashed a new all-time price high, the real estate platform Pacaso announced it will be accepting cryptocurrencies via Bitpay. The CEO of the real estate firm that helps people buy and co-own a second home, Austin Allison, says the firm has seen increased crypto adoption “across the real estate industry.” Real Estate Platform Pacaso Now Supports Crypto Payments The firm Pacaso is a real estate platform co-founded by Spencer Rascoff and Austin Allison. Rascoff is well known for co-founding Zillow Group and co-founding Hotwire.com as well. In October 2020, Rascoff co-founded Pacaso with Allison, and the company is considered a real estate platform that makes owning a second home easier by leveraging shared ownership. Pacaso’s business model is similar to the timeshare model but it’s also a touch different. “Forget timeshares, with Pacaso, you own a home, not just a block of time,” the company’s website details. “You can book stays throughout the year,...

Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones says that bitcoin is currently “winning the race against gold.” He added that the cryptocurrency is his preferred inflation hedge over gold. Paul Tudor Jones Chooses Bitcoin Over Gold Paul Tudor Jones, the founder of asset management firm Tudor Investment Corp., talked about bitcoin being his preferred hedge against inflation in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. He said: Clearly, there’s a place for crypto. Clearly, it’s winning the race against gold at the moment … It would be my preferred one over gold at the moment. “I’ve got crypto in single digits in my portfolio,” he continued. “I do think we are moving into an increasingly digitized world.” Jones said he is worried about rising inflation, noting that it’s posing a major threat to the U.S. financial markets and the recovering Covid-hit economy. The price of bitcoin surpassed all-time highs Wednesday after the first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. star...

A group of U.S. senators has asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to discontinue his company’s crypto wallet pilot and commit to not bringing the cryptocurrency Diem to market. “Facebook cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or digital currency when its existing ability to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven wholly insufficient,” the lawmakers said. US Senators Urge Facebook to Stop Crypto Wallet Pilot U.S. Senators Brian Schatz, Sherrod Brown, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, and Tina Smith wrote a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg regarding the company’s cryptocurrency project Tuesday after the social media giant launched a pilot for its crypto wallet Novi. Facebook has chosen the Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase as its custody partner for the pilot . “Novi users who can participate in the pilot can acquire pax dollar (USDP) through their Novi account, which Novi will hold on deposit with Coinbase Custody. Novi users will then be able to transfer ...

Cboe is acquiring Erisx to enter the crypto spot and derivatives markets. “With Erisx, in a single step, Cboe is able to enter the digital asset spot, data, derivatives, and clearing ecosystem. Now is the right time to fully embrace and help define this emerging asset class,” said Cboe’s chief operating officer. Cboe Entering Crypto Spot and Derivatives Markets Cboe Global Markets Inc. (Cboe: CBOE) announced Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Eris Digital Holdings LLC (Erisx). Erisx’s futures exchange and clearing house are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In addition, its clearing house is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and licensed in many U.S. states and territories. Noting that “Erisx operates a U.S. based digital asset spot market, a regulated futures exchange, and a regulated clearing house,” the announcement details: Ownership of Erisx provides Cboe with entry to digital asset spot and derivatives market...

Soldex is thrilled to announce that it has officially partnered with Speqto Technologies to accelerate the development of it’s decentralized exchange (DEX) solution, and to build and program the A.I.-powered bots, that form part of the services offered by Soldex to the public. Speqto Technologies were selected as the vendor due to their extensive expertise in building Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) and A.I. trading bots. Soldex has confirmed that the partnership has already been finalized and that the two companies are well underway in the development process of the following features: Token Smart Contract Wallet APIs and Integrations DEX Development Staking Smart Contracts and Integrations Web Applications AI Bots implementation About Speqto Technologies Speqto Technologies Pvt Ltd. is a world-class service provider in Software technology and innovations. With over 6+ years of expertise in building safely operated and word-class Web, Mobile, CMS, CRM, ERP, Blockchain, AI...

The wealth manager Vaneck will be launching its bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States following the Proshares ETF listing that launched on Tuesday. According to the post-effective filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Vaneck bitcoin futures ETF launch is approved to be listed after October 23. Vaneck’s Bitcoin Futures ETF Is the Second US Fund to Get Approval From Regulators This week, the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy exchange-traded fund ( BITO ) launched with a lot of fanfare and the ETFs volume broke records on Tuesday. The following day, bitcoin ( BTC ) spot markets smashed an all-time price (ATH) at $67,017 per unit. Additionally, the wealth manager Vaneck published its bitcoin futures ETF post-effective filing on Wednesday which indicates that the SEC has green-lighted the listing on NYSE Arca. The Vaneck Bitcoin Strategy ETF’s ticker will be “XBTF” and the fund leverages cash-settled bitcoin futures contracts. The Vaneck ...

The U.S. Department of the Treasury says that the growing use of crypto assets challenges the efficacy of American sanctions. “We are mindful of the risk that, if left unchecked, these digital assets and payments systems could harm the efficacy of our sanctions,” the Treasury Department explained. Treasury Says Crypto Threatens Efficacy of U.S. Sanctions The U.S. Department of the Treasury released its 2021 Sanctions Review Monday. “Technological innovations such as digital currencies, alternative payment platforms, and new ways of hiding cross-border transactions all potentially reduce the efficacy of American sanctions,” the report details, elaborating: While sanctions remain an essential and effective policy tool, they also face new challenges including rising risks from new payments systems, the growing use of digital assets, and cybercriminals. “We are mindful of the risk that, if left unchecked, these digital assets and payments systems could harm the efficacy of our sanc...

On Wednesday, just before bitcoin surpassed the digital asset’s all-time high (ATH), the crypto analyst known as “Techdev” says the “2-week chart looks strong and ready for much higher highs.” Just 26 days ago, Techdev said that “$200-300K bitcoin looks almost too programmed” and this week, the analyst noted that we are “nowhere near a top.” Bullish Forecasters Rejoice Over Correct Predictions — ‘$200-300K Bitcoin Looks Almost Too Programmed’ The leading digital currency bitcoin ( BTC ) has been on a tear during the last few weeks as it has continuously gained value week over week. It’s safe to say that September wasn’t the greatest month for BTC , and October was a complete reversal. Throughout bitcoin’s lifetime, traditionally the last three months of the year are notable times when BTC sees significant gains. 23 hours ago, on October 19, the notorious bitcoin analyst Plan B tweeted a checkmark after BTC tapped $63K on Tuesday, because of the prediction he made on June 20. A...

Today, we’re thrilled to announce that UAE-based foreign exchange and worldwide money transfer company, Al Ansari Exchange has joined RippleNet. Through RippleNet Cloud, Ripple’s global cloud-based financial network technology, Al Ansari Exchange will connect with leading money transfer technology company MoneyMatch to provide same-day remittances to Malaysia.  This service will initially support transactions in Malaysian … Continued The post Al Ansari Exchange Taps RippleNet Cloud to Enable Cross-Border Remittances to Malaysia with MoneyMatch appeared first on Ripple. http://dlvr.it/S9yQKb

The spot price of bitcoin smashed through the leading crypto asset’s all-time high (ATH) surpassing $66,000 per unit after the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) was launched in the United States. The last time bitcoin touched an ATH six months ago on April 14, 2021, the price tapped $64,804 per unit. Bitcoin Records New All-Time Price High The fiat value of bitcoin (BTC) , measured in U.S. dollars, has reached an all-time high. The price has touched $66,299 per unit on Bitstamp , surpassing the digital asset’s ATH captured six months ago. At press time, there’s $39.6 billion in trade volume dedicated to bitcoin ( BTC ) trading. Bitcoin’s market cap is $1.223 trillion and it is the sixth most valuable asset on the planet today. Bitcoin’s ATH follows the launch of the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) that was listed on October 19, 2021. The bitcoin exchange-traded fund is the first ETF ever to be approved in the United States and it’s based on bitcoin futures markets ...

Amid ongoing sanctions, the government of Russia has been working to limit the country’s dependence on the U.S. dollar. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs now says it’s possible to partially replace the greenback in currency reserves and trade settlements with other currencies and even digital assets in the future. Foreign Ministry Official Sees Russia Acquiring Digital Assets to Reduce US Dollar Dependence In its efforts to counter the negative effects of expanding U.S. sanctions, the Russian Federation is putting an emphasis on “dedollarization,” Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin remarked in a recent interview with the Interfax news agency. The “purposeful work” aimed at limiting the influence of the U.S. dollar on the domestic economy and foreign trade operations is decreasing the “sanctions risks,” the high-ranking diplomat added. However, challenges associated with these sanctions still remain, and Pankin stated that Russia’s “settlements with major trading partners need ...

Binance USD (BUSD) has become one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrencies in the world, with a variety of use cases and growing demand amid the continued growth of the crypto markets. A key component to BUSD’s success is its unwavering compliance to the world’s most stringent regulatory standards, ensuring safety and security for all of the stablecoin’s users. Stablecoins have emerged as major players in the crypto market this year, driven by user demand for flexible liquidity in fiat currency terms. These cryptocurrencies, whose market values are pegged to the worth of certain assets like the U.S. dollar, have also been important assets in the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi). There is $120 billion worth of stablecoins in circulation as of September 1, according to CoinMarketCap . Amid the rise in demand for stablecoins, various segments of the crypto industry have brought up questions about the veracity of the 1:1 peg of major stablecoins to their backing assets, like the U...

Both Ethereum 2.0 and Polkadot are promising sharding-based protocols overcoming the scalability challenges facing legacy blockchains. Although slightly different, together, the Relay Chain and Beacon Chain represent another significant leap forward, especially for interoperability. Partitioning the Problem: Sharing the Load via Sharding Scalability has been a hotly debated topic after networks bumped up against the limits over the last year. Yet, long before it entered the mainstream conversation, developers postulated several angles of attack. Despite the triumphant launch of layer 2 approaches in 2021, layer 1 sharding solutions have long been in the pipeline. When it comes to partitioned blockchain protocols, Polkadot and Ethereum 2.0 represent the most prominent names pursuing this scalability avenue. These partitions, or shards, are a means of executing transactions in separate shards along with a protocol to send messages between shards. Through sharding, both networks del...

The Ghanaian central bank is seeking to make its digital currency, the e-cedi, available to offline users, an official with the bank has said. Overcoming the Challenge of Limited Power According to Kwame Oppong, who heads fintech and innovation at the Bank of Ghana (BOG), the e-cedi is also expected to facilitate transactions without the need for power or connectivity. “Financial inclusion is limited by the availability of connectivity and power. What we hope to be able to do – and we’re one of the people pioneering this – is that the e-cedi would also be capable of being used in an offline environment through some smart cards,” Oppong is quoted explaining. Although a majority of Ghanaians — 84% of the population — is thought to have had access to electricity in 2019, according to World Bank Data only half of the country’s population had access to the internet back then. It is this lack of internet access that has compelled the Bank of Ghana to seek a solution that overcomes this ...

Novi, Facebook’s digital wallet, will launch a pilot program to test the functionality of the service in two countries: Guatemala and the U.S. The test will allow Novi to test all of its main functions and to evaluate what things need to be improved before launch. Novi will use pax dollars as the main currency during the test, but David Marcus, head Of Facebook Financial, stated they still plan to launch with Diem once it gets greenlighted by regulators. Novi Launches Test Pilot Sans Diem Novi, Facebook’s digital wallet, is now running a test pilot program of its wallet in two countries: Guatemala and the U.S. David Marcus, head of Facebook Financial, stated this “test pilot would test core feature functions” and their operational capabilities in customer care and compliance. Marcus also stated that the remittance corridor between these two countries was very important because most Guatemalans lack access to financial services, but have access to a smartphone. However, the pilot i...

Circle announced today the launch of its trademark stablecoin USDC on top of the Hedera network. This action is part of the multichain commitment that Circle announced earlier this year, with the objective of further expanding the reach of the currency in the cryptocurrency market. With the addition of USDC as the first stablecoin in its ecosystem, Hedera aims to start developing its own decentralized finance (defi) environment, and it is now offering more than $2.5 billion in ecosystem grants. Circle to Support Hedera-Based USDC Circle, one of the leading crypto payment companies, has announced the launch of usd coin (USDC) on top of Hedera, a high-throughput blockchain network. With this move, Circle customers with a Circle Account will have the opportunity of leveraging the stablecoin on top of Hedera network to make payments and settlements like with any other supported network. The launch of the stablecoin on top of Hedera is part of an expansion strategy established by Circ...

PRESS RELEASE. Fast-rising Blockchain gaming platform PlayDapp has revealed the addition of a Play-to-Earn feature on its flagship game ‘’Along with the Gods: Knights of the Dawn’’. This development is expected to build on the existing features offered by PlayDapp. Play-to-Earn gaming is a rising phenomenon that has gathered steam in recent months. This is due to the positive benefits, as gamers have more freedom to build the gaming economy and receive rewards for transacting in-game assets. PlayDapp’s flagship game, Along with the Gods’’ Knights of the Dawn already has massive traction with thousands of gamers competing for rewards in NFTs. Players can earn on the flagship game by collecting Hero and Rune NFTs and selling them to other players for PLA tokens and other cryptocurrencies. Adding the Play-to-Earn feature will expand the potential for earning, and gamers can now stake PlayDapp Town NFTs for daily and weekly rewards in PLA tokens. To be eligible for daily rewards (5 PLA...

Blockchain data platform Chainalysis has announced that it is adding bitcoin to its corporate investment portfolio. This is the company’s first acquisition of cryptocurrency, the CEO revealed. Chainalysis is valued at $4.2 billion. Chainalysis’ First Acquisition of Cryptocurrency Blockchain data analytics firm Chainalysis announced Tuesday the addition of bitcoin to its balance sheet. Chainalysis will acquire bitcoin using the brokerage services of the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), the bitcoin investment arm of Stone Ridge Asset Management. NYDIG will also provide custody of the coins purchased. Chainalysis has been NYDIG’s compliance technology partner since 2018. “Digital assets have emerged as an alternative asset class for consumers, enterprises, governments, banks, and financial institutions,” Chainalysis noted, adding that it “is laser-focused on its commitment to building trust in cryptocurrency as a digital asset.” Michael Gronager, co-founder and CEO at Chai...

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has shared why the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to approve a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) to trade on the NYSE. Meanwhile, the Commission has not approved a spot bitcoin ETF. Why SEC Approves Bitcoin Futures ETF As the first futures-based bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. debuted on the NYSE, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) explained why the regulator greenlighted a bitcoin futures ETF but not a spot bitcoin ETF. In an interview with CNBC Tuesday, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler reiterated that his agency “should be technology neutral, but not policy neutral.” He elaborated: What we’re trying to do is ensure to the best we can within our authorities to bring projects into the investor protection perimeter. “Bitcoin futures have been overseen by our sibling agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], which I was once honored and proud to serve there and that’s b...

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Nasdaq-listed crypto company is now the exclusive cryptocurrency platform partner of the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), NBA G League, NBA 2K League, and USA Basketball. NBA’s First Cryptocurrency Platform Partnership The Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced “a multiyear partnership” Tuesday. The partnership “makes Coinbase the exclusive cryptocurrency platform partner of the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), NBA G League, NBA 2K League and USA Basketball,” the announcement details, adding: The deal, which marks the first cryptocurrency platform partnership for each league, will consist of unique content, innovations, activations and experiences from Coinbase to educate fans on the increasing advancements happening across the cryptoeconomy. The NBA G League, or the G League, i...

The first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) launched in the United States and smashed records on Tuesday, capturing close to $1 billion in total volume. Eric Balchunas, the senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg said that the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) definitely “defied expectations.” Proshares Bitcoin ETF Commands Serious Volume Proshares Bitcoin Strategy exchange-traded fund ( BITO ) did well on its first day, as it closed the day at 4:00 p.m. (EDT) at $41.94 per unit. Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin ( BTC ) soared on Tuesday, tapping a high of $64,367 on the crypto exchange Bitstamp fifteen minutes after the closing bell on Wall Street. As the ETF shares swapped hands on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), BITO reached a daily high of over $42. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart tweeted at the end of the day: “Looks like the final tally is gonna be right around ~$990 million in trading for BITO on its first day trading.” Eric Balchunas, the senior ETF analyst...