Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

On Thursday, South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals announced the company will be minting the first SXSW NFT, and at the 2022 festival in Austin, Texas, participants will be able to tokenize their work using NFT technology. SXSW’s 2022 festival will be held on March 11-20 and will feature a major on-site NFT workshop for artists, filmmakers, and brand participants. SXSW Plans to Drop It’s First NFT at This Year’s 10-Day Festival — Blockchain Creative Labs to Issue NFTs According to an announcement stemming from SXSW , the annual conglomeration of parallel film, music and art festivals, and interactive media, this year’s festival will have a strong focus on non-fungible token (NFT) technology. The creative NFT studio and business backed by Fox Entertainment, Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL), will be the official blockchain sponsor of SXSW. This year’s 10-day event will feature the first SXSW non-fungible token (NFT) and BCL will also be “offering NFT Services” to SXSW part

The crypto-friendly travel company Travala published its third-quarter 2021 report showing the firm has grown significantly alongside the growth of crypto adoption. In fact, cryptocurrency adoption has “more than offset the negative impact of the pandemic,” the company said as Travala posted a record-setting quarter in Q3 2021. Crypto Adoption Bolstered Travel Company Travala’s Third Quarter According to a third-quarter 2021 report published by Travala, the company has seen “explosive growth” in the firm’s three core services: hotels, flights, and activities. In Q3, Travala introduced its “Community Pool” and “Community Vote” concepts alongside its “proof-of-travel” NFTs. Thanks to services like hotels, flights, activities, concierge, and integration fees, Travala’s Q3 revenue was $9.8 million which represents 651% growth compared to Q3 2020. Travala noted that hotel bookings and flights grew 50% from Q2 2021 and activities increased by 70%. However, the firm’s concierge service sa

British police have seized bitcoin worth almost $3 million from a teenager who set up a fake website to scam consumers. “At the time they were worth £200,000. They are now worth a little over £2 million.” UK Police Seize $2.8 Million in Bitcoin British police have arrested a 17-year-old boy from South Lincolnshire and seized bitcoin worth almost $3 million from him, BBC News reported Tuesday. The authorities cannot name the boy for legal reasons. Prosecutor Sam Skinner said the teen set up a fake website that was almost identical to the official site of Love2shop, which sells gift vouchers. He then paid to advertise on Google, resulting in his bogus site appearing above the genuine site in search results. The scam site duped Love2shop users into entering their personal details. The prosecutor said: People were duped into clicking on his website thinking they were accessing the official site. The teen took the site down after a week when Love2shop began investigating him follow

Shiba inu supporters are petitioning on Change.org for the trading platform Robinhood to list the shiba inu token for trading. Robinhood currently lists the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin which made up 62% of the company’s crypto trading volume in Q2. Petition to Get Robinhood to List Shiba Inu A petition on Change.org for the trading platform Robinhood to list the shiba inu crypto has garnered almost 400,000 signatures. At the time of writing, almost 397K people have signed the petition. If the petition gathers 500K signatures, it would become one of the top signed petitions on Change.org. The petition, started by SHIB supporter Tristan Luke, explains that it “is designed to kindly request of Robinhood to please list shiba inu coin to trade,” adding: Dogecoin has been a huge success for Robinhood, and its investors. We have all enjoyed the ride. Shiba Inu is a similar meme coin with genuine potential, up 2,000% in the last weeks. The petition further describes that the cryptoc

Famous actor Matt Damon is starring in an ad for cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com. The ad, called “Fortune Favours the Brave,” is directed by Oscar-winner Wally Pfister and will be aired in more than 20 countries. The crypto platform “shares my commitment to empowering people around the globe with the tools needed to take control of their futures,” said Damon. Matt Damon Featured in Crypto.com Ad Campaign Cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com announced a global ad campaign Thursday starring Hollywood actor Matt Damon. CEO Kris Marszalek tweeted: Today we unveiled Fortune Favours the Brave. The “Fortune Favours the Brave” ad is directed by Oscar-winner Wally Pfister and produced by David Fincher. It “highlights the company’s own ethos, while inspiring those who want to change the course of history with a timeless phrase first uttered thousands of years ago,” the announcement details. The company said that the ad starring Matt Damon will be aired in more than 20 countries and will

PRESS RELEASE. Singapore: HeliconNFT, the brand-new, global, gaming-focused NFT ecosystem, which recently unveiled a partnership with Battlefy, has announced that it will launch an NFT mystery box event on Sunday, 24th October. Ahead of the event, users will be given the opportunity to access an exclusive pre-launch sale and have the chance to be among the first to purchase mystery boxes containing rare NFT game items, artworks and collectibles, after completing their whitelist registration. HeliconNFT x Battlefy The announcement comes just weeks after the unveiling of HeliconNFT’s ground-breaking partnership with esports giant Battlefy – a collaboration that is set to change the way gamers see their favourite games forever. With over 70,000 tournaments under its belt, Battlefy has hosted some of the world’s largest and most prestigious tournaments, providing support for about 40,000 games. Through the collaboration, people can expect to see NFT-enabled games join the ranks of ic

On November 12, the Walt Disney Company will be celebrating the first annual Disney+ Day and will be launching non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles to celebrate the experience. Disney fans will be able to obtain official NFTs from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and more via the digital collectibles app Veve. Entertainment Giant Disney to Drop NFT Series Disney has plans to launch official non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles in celebration of the first annual Disney+ Day. The well known multinational entertainment and media conglomerate headquartered in California has revealed a series of NFTs featuring iconic Disney characters and items. The first series collection is called “Golden Moments,” and fans will be able to obtain the NFTs by utilizing the digital collectibles app Veve. The Veve application has dropped NFTs stemming from Marvel , DC Comics , and special promotions based on beloved superheroes like Spider-Man and Captain America . The “Golden Moments” Disney NFT se

Nearly every industry under the sun has started to notice non-fungible token (NFT) technology and on Wednesday, the media and entertainment company World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., otherwise known as WWE, announced the launch of an exclusive NFT marketplace. According to the announcement, the market will produce licensed digital WWE tokens and collectibles that showcase WWE superstars and iconic moments. WWE Plans to Lay the Smackdown With NFT Collectibles On October 27, Fox Entertainment and Bento Box Entertainment revealed the companies have inked an exclusive agreement with the publicly-listed media and entertainment company WWE (NYSE: WWE ). The professional wrestling company was founded in 1953 and is currently the largest wrestling promotion on a global scale with more than 450 events held annually. For years the company owned by Vince McMahon was known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) but changed its name in 2002 to WWE. The three entertainment firms plan to laun

The meme-based digital asset shiba inu has entered the top ten largest crypto assets by market capitalization, knocking dogecoin down a notch. In the last 30 days, the shiba inu token climbed 976% capturing a market cap of over $40 billion. Meanwhile, the concentration of shiba inu whales is still quite large these days alongside the massive circulating supply of 549 trillion tokens. Shiba Inu Taps All-Time Price Highs Knocking Down the Dogefather This week the crypto asset shiba inu (SHIB) reached an all-time high (ATH) on a few occasions, including today, during the early morning trading sessions. SHIB’s ATH was around $0.00008616 and then the value subsequently dipped 11% below the high. SHIB’s market valuation has soared to $40 billion and it has allowed the shiba inu token market to enter the top ten crypto assets. Shiba inu managed to knock dogecoin (DOGE) down a notch as well from the ninth position to the tenth. SHIB is mostly traded with tether ( USDT ) these days as USDT

El Salvador, the country that made bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar, has bought the dip again. The Salvadoran government has purchased a total of 1,120 bitcoins, currently worth more than $68 million. El Salvador’s Bitcoin Holdings Grow El Salvador has bought the dip again, taking advantage of the falling price of bitcoin on Wednesday. President Nayib Bukele tweeted: “It was a long wait, but worth it. We just bought the dip.” At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin is $61,129, down from an all-time high of almost $67,000 on Oct. 19 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets . The country made bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar on Sept. 7. At the time, the price of BTC was around $46,000. The day before its Bitcoin law went into effect , El Salvador purchased two sets of 200 bitcoins. On Sept. 7, the price fell slightly, allowing the country to buy the dip (150 BTC ). On Sept. 20, Bukeke said his country bought the dip again (150 more BTC ), adding, “

A provincial branch of one the largest Islamic organizations in Indonesia has declared cryptocurrency “haram,” or forbidden under religious law. The decision came after a “heated discussion” joined by a crypto expert who was invited to explain in detail the practice of using digital coins. Cryptocurrency Deemed ‘Haram’ in Indonesia The local branch of the Indonesian religious organization Nahdlatul Ulama in East Java has recently issued a fatwa on the status of cryptocurrencies under Islamic law. According to the nonbinding opinion, digital currencies secured by cryptography and used as a transaction instrument are to be considered “haram,” which means forbidden. The decision came as a result of “bahtsul masail,” a discussion held by the organization on Sunday, Oct. 24, the Indonesian news portal Tempo reported. Members involved in the debate, which the article describes as “dynamic” and “heated,” concluded that the use of cryptocurrency could undermine the legality of financial t

Guild Of Guardians is a multiplayer RPG where players earn epic rewards. The project has top tier partners such as Ubisoft and one of the largest and most well-funded, VC-backed teams building NFT games. The developers have big ambitions for disrupting the $100 billion mobile gaming industry by creating a quality experience that is both fun to play and allows everyone to earn real money. With over 240,000 followers, the project also has one of the largest communities in the space despite still being in the prelaunch stage. Meet the Future of Gaming: Guild of Guardians Guild Of Guardians is an upcoming multiplayer, fantasy, action RPG developed by Stepico Games and published by Immutable. Stepico is a mobile games development studio that released multiple titles with over 5 million downloads, and Immutable are one of the largest VC-funded blockchain start-ups and the team behind Gods Unchained and Immutable X. The development team currently has over 20 full-time employees and there

The Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, suggested in a recent speech that the new e-naira central bank digital currency (CBDC) could lead to an increase in the value of his country’s GDP by $29 billion in ten years. Africa’s First CBDC President Buhari made bold remarks in his speech at Monday’s launch of the e-naira CBDC, stating: “Indeed, some estimates indicate that the adoption of CBDC and its underlying technology, called blockchain, can increase Nigeria’s GDP by US$29 billion over the next 10 years.” In addition to boosting Nigeria’s GDP, President Buhari suggested that such a digital currency might help move more people and businesses from the informal sector to the formal sector. Although he acknowledges that many countries are still in the research and experimental stages, the Nigerian leader insists that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) — which he says has been investigating CBDCs since 2017 — is well-positioned to launch the digital currency. In his speech , publishe

Authorities in Slovenia have prepared new legislation tailored to determine how crypto holdings and transactions are taxed in the country. The proposal, aimed at clarifying the matter, has been submitted for public consultations this week, local media reports revealed. Slovenia to Amend Tax Rules for Cryptocurrencies The Finance Ministry in Ljubljana has opened public consultations on a draft law regulating cryptocurrency taxation, Slovenian media reported. The legislation is based on proposals made by the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia ( FURS ), which were announced in August of this year. The amendments are expected to simplify the tax scheme pertaining to crypto assets. Under current rules, the taxable income from virtual currency operations depends on the circumstances in each case, and the tax office has to check numerous transactions made by taxpayers between purchases, sales, and conversions. Under the upcoming regulations, the state will adopt a 10%

The Indian government is reportedly planning to introduce cryptocurrency regulation by the time of the next general Budget, which is in February next year. Instead of banning cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, the government is likely to regulate crypto assets as commodities, according to reports. Indian Crypto Law Could Comes as Early as February The Indian government is planning to introduce cryptocurrency regulation in February next year, local news outlet Business Today reported, elaborating: Finance Ministry officials have told Business Today Television that a law for cryptocurrencies would most likely come around by the time of the next general Budget. The Budget 2022-23 is expected to be presented on Feb. 1 during the first half of the parliament’s Budget session, which usually begins in the last week of January. Furthermore, the government is likely to regulate cryptocurrencies as an asset class, similar to how commodities are regulated, with appropriate taxation on trans

Operation Dark Huntor, a coordinated international effort on three continents to disrupt opioid trafficking on the darknet, has led to the arrests of 150 people. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the operation has also resulted in the seizure of over $31.6 million in cash and cryptocurrencies. Operation Dark Huntor: 150 Arrests, Crypto and Cash Seized The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that “Operation Dark Huntor” has resulted in 150 arrests worldwide. In addition, over $31.6 million in cash and cryptocurrencies were seized. The DOJ described Operation Dark Huntor as “a coordinated international effort on three continents to disrupt opioid trafficking on the darknet.” It was conducted across the U.S., Australia, and Europe in partnership between the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) and foreign law enforcement “against the illegal sale of drugs and other illicit goods and services.” Coordination efforts were led by Euro

A group of U.S. banking regulators is working on how banks can be allowed to offer crypto services and hold cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets. The chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said, “If we don’t bring this activity inside the banks, it is going to develop outside of the banks … The federal regulators won’t be able to regulate it.” US Regulators to Set Clear Rules for Banks to Deal With Crypto Jelena McWilliams, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), told Reuters in an interview at a fintech conference Monday that a team of U.S. bank regulators is working on providing a roadmap for banks to engage with crypto assets. The team comprises the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Federal Reserve Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles revealed the collaboration between the three U.S. regulators in May. McWilliams said on a conference panel: My goal in this interagency gr

Adobe Inc., the American multinational computer software company that’s well known for its platforms like Photoshop and Illustrator, has jumped into the non-fungible token (NFT) universe. According to Adobe chief product officer Scott Belsky in a recent interview with The Verge, “NFTs will change creativity.” New Adobe Photoshop Tool Will Assist NFT Creators in ‘Packaging and Preparing, Along With the Attribution Capabilities’ The software company Adobe has launched a Photoshop tool that allows creators to pre-construct the images for non-fungible token (NFT) applications. On October 26, Scott Belsky, Adobe’s chief product officer, spoke in an interview with The Verge’s Nilay Patel about the firm’s deep dive into the world of NFTs. The new Adobe Photoshop tool will allow users to add specific credentials so popular markets such as Opensea can read the metadata. During the interview with Patel, Belsky said he was bullish about the NFT industry. Belsky disclosed that the ‘prepare a

PRESS RELEASE. PlanetWatch, a French start-up which decentralizes and incentivizes environmental monitoring, announced that its utility token, PLANETS, will be listed on Oct. 22 on Bitmart. Claudio Parrinello, PlanetWatch’s CEO said: “PlanetWatch is experiencing explosive growth. With over 6,000 sensors already deployed worldwide, we are happy to see PLANETS becoming available worldwide via multiple exchanges.” PlanetWatch is revolutionizing the way people measure air quality and other environmental parameters by leveraging the Algorand Blockchain, IoT-enabled sensors and AI-based data analysis. Dense sensor networks can be activated in any city quickly and cost-effectively by incentivizing local residents to deploy and operate approved sensors and earn token rewards for data streams. PlanetWatch is gaining traction amongst consumers as well as in the corporate world. Following the successful completion of a seed funding round of about 1 million euros back in July, the company is

The American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, Gamestop, is seeking a non-fungible token (NFT)-focused senior software engineer, according to a new job listing. Similar to the recent job listing stemming from the social media services company Reddit, the retail giant Gamestop seems to be building an NFT marketplace. Gamestop Looks to Hire Engineer to Join Company’s NFT/Blockchain Team On October 25, the corporate entity Gamestop, a retail chain of video game merchandise and consumer electronics, published a job listing seeking a senior software engineer for a possible NFT platform. The candidate, if hired, will join Gamestop’s “NFT/Blockchain team.” “Gamestop is looking for a Sr. Software Engineer to join our NFT/Blockchain team,” the company’s job listing notes. “This role will be remote and will collaborate with a team of engineers, product managers, designers, and business partners distributed across the U.S. In this role, you will help design,

After fighting in court since 2015, the former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison for conspiring to commit securities fraud and he was forced to pay $7.4 million in fines. One of Shkreli’s prized possessions, an unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album, was seized by the U.S. Marshals and sold for $4 million. Just recently, the public was told that the unreleased record called “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” was sold to the non-fungible token (NFT) collectors syndicate called “Pleasrdao.” The New Owners of ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’ Long ago, the hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli used to live stream and brag about his unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album he purchased at an auction for $2 million in 2015. However, a few years later, Shkreli was sentenced by the U.S. court system for conspiring to commit securities fraud and he was sentenced to seven years. While spending his prison sentence at the low-security Federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, Shkreli w

On January 3, 2022, the Bitcoin network will be celebrating its 13th year of life after its creator Satoshi Nakamoto kick-started the protocol. The creator of Bitcoin has always been the community’s most famous and mysterious character. Roughly ten years ago, Satoshi logged off, never to return and it’s very likely the inventor won’t ever come back. Communication Breakdown Satoshi Nakamoto invented the Bitcoin network and released the technology’s white paper on Halloween (October 31) 2008. The paper was authored by “Satoshi Nakamoto” using the email “satoshin@gmx.com” and the creator also attached the web domain name “bitcoin.org” to the paper. The name “Satoshi Nakamoto” is of Japanese descent and it’s widely considered a pseudonym or a falsified name. It is assumed that Nakamoto’s birthday is April 5, 1975, as the date is displayed on the inventor’s P2P Foundation profile. If the birth date is correct, Nakamoto would be 46 years old today. Over the years a great number of sle

Locations providing crypto ATM services have increased exponentially this year, according to data compiled by a major tracking site. Bitcoin ATMs have doubled in number since January and close to 80 countries now host teller machines exchanging cryptocurrencies with fiat money. Over 30,000 Bitcoin ATMs Operate Around the World In a year when cryptocurrency markets broke all-time highs , the availability of digital coins has increased and bitcoin ATMs have contributed greatly. Their number has recently exceeded 30,000 — more than double the count at the beginning of 2021. Data collected by Coin ATM Radar shows that on Jan. 1, there were 14,016 registered locations supporting automated teller services for leading cryptocurrencies. And, as of Oct. 27, their number has reached a staggering 30,011. These Bitcoin ATMs and other crypto teller services are spread across 76 countries and run by 628 operators, according to the tracking website. The United States is the pronounced leader w

The Legends of Bezogia , the land where everything always goes up, is a massive open-world sandbox-style game where players can summon their own Bezogi characters from a large selection of different breeds by minting in-game NFTs, which randomly generate Bezogi. Each unique to their own playstyles and lore, Bezogi fight, craft and explore the epic lands of Bezogia. Crypto integrations in the gaming space are becoming ever more sophisticated and Bezoge Earth is taking this to the next level by making The Legends of Bezogia the most comprehensive gaming world where players can interact with the game in numerous ways without actually being obliged to have any cryptocurrencies. The Legends of Bezogia gives the player the power to fully control their character’s destiny in a game that is actually fun to play. The current issue with the crypto gaming space is that the games are just too basic. With a total market cap sitting at $20B, expected to grow exponentially, the NFT gaming indust

A Nigerian Federal Court judge recently ruled that the two frozen bank accounts belonging to Rise Vest Technologies, which is accused of trading cryptocurrencies, must be reopened. CBN’s Bank Account Freeze Order Dismissed In a ruling that overturns the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s August 17 decision to freeze the bank accounts, Judge Taiwo Taiwo is quoted by The Nation insisting that the central bank could not simply rely on a mere circular when deciding to close an account. In addition, the news outlet quotes the judge explaining in his ruling that the CBN’s February 6 directive to banks is, in fact, not the law. Judge Taiwo notes in his ruling that the CBN had failed to furnish the court with the relevant sections of the law which prove that cryptocurrency trading is indeed illegal. “I have perused the counter affidavit of the Respondent and I see that the reason for freezing the account of the applicant is based on the alleged infraction of the circular of the CBN. The law

Law enforcement authorities in Ukraine have exposed a crime ring specializing in cryptocurrency theft and laundering of illicit funds for hackers. The gang, which provided services to clients on the darknet, has been dismantled as a result of a joint operation carried out with the United States. Cybercriminals From Ukraine Launder Millions, Offer Flash Drives With Crypto Malware The Cybersecurity Department at the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has recently identified a group of individuals who allegedly laundered tens of millions of dollars from darknet sources, the agency announced. The Ukrainians were legalizing illicit funds on behalf of international hackers, the SBU revealed in a press release published Monday. To launder the money, the suspects organized a large-scale scheme involving fake online identities and fictitious persons. Investigators were able to establish that the funds had been transferred through various financial services. Customers were mostly hackers eng