Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Russians mining cryptocurrency in their homes have been blamed for the problems with the electricity supply in Irkutsk. Power outages have become a frequent occurrence in the region which maintains the lowest electricity rates in Russia. Subsidized household energy has turned mining into a source of income for many locals. Electricity Consumption Spikes Amid Spread of Home Crypto Mining in Irkutsk Power grid operators in Irkutsk have been dealing with a growing number of outages. The region and the city are experiencing a tangible increase in electricity consumption that overloads the distribution network. Local officials claim this has been caused by cryptocurrency miners who mint digital currencies in their apartments, basements, and garages. As a way out of the exacerbating situation, they are now proposing a set of measures to address the challenges. Authorities want to upgrade the capacity of the distribution network in Irkutsk Oblast, introduce higher tariffs for crypto miner

Bitcoin’s hashrate tapped a lifetime high on the first day of 2022 reaching 209.39 exahash per second (EH/s). During the last 12 months, Bitcoin’s hashrate has increased by 47.92% from the 141.55 EH/s recorded on January 3, 2021. Bitcoin’s Hashpower Reaches a New Milestone The processing power and security dedicated to the Bitcoin ( BTC ) network has never been higher, and the network tapped a milestone in 2022. According to the one-year hashrate chart hosted on coinwarz.com, BTC ’s hashrate tapped a high of 209.39 EH/s on January 1, 2022. At the time of writing, the hashrate is still coasting along the two hundred three quintillion hashes per second (H/s) zone, and 30-day statistics indicate the network briefly tapped 224.32 EH/s on Saturday. Bitcoin.com News recently reported on the BTC network reaching 194.95 EH/s not too long ago on December 8, 2021. It’s also worth noting that the Ethereum ( ETH ) network also reached an all-time high tapping 1 petahash per second (PH/s).

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has warned about multiple risks cryptocurrency poses to the country’s financial stability. “They are also prone to frauds and to extreme price volatility,” the apex bank claims, stressing that “cryptocurrencies pose immediate risks to customer protection and anti-money laundering (AML) / combating the financing of terrorism (CFT).” RBI’s Assessment of Cryptocurrency India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), published its biannual Financial Stability Report (FSR) last week. The 144-page document includes a section on “private cryptocurrency risks.” The term “private” refers to all cryptocurrencies that are not issued by the RBI, including bitcoin and ether. The central bank wrote: The proliferation of private cryptocurrencies across the globe has sensitized regulators and governments to the associated risks. “Private cryptocurrencies pose immediate risks to customer protection and anti-money laundering (AML) / c

As 2022 begins, 13 different cryptocurrency exchange platforms have more than a billion dollars each in digital currencies held in reserves. Between all 13 trading platforms, the group of exchange platforms hold a whopping $165.25 billion worth of bitcoin, ethereum, and tether. 13 Crypto Exchanges Hold a Billion or More in Crypto Equalling Over $165 Billion in Assets Under Management At the time of writing, the crypto economy is worth $2.3 trillion and 7.10% of the aggregate or $168 billion is made up of stablecoins. Furthermore, statistics on January 2, 2022, indicate that 13 crypto-asset trading platforms hold a billion dollars or more in cryptocurrencies. The 13 exchanges include Coinbase, Binance, Huobi Global, Kraken, Okex, Gemini, Bitfinex, Bittrex, Bitflyer, Coincheck, Bitstamp, and Bybit respectively. Coinbase is the leader, in terms of crypto reserves held on Sunday, with $56.2 billion in crypto assets under management (AUM). $40.27 billion of Coinbase’s reserves is made

Marshall Mathers, known professionally as Eminem has joined the community of bored apes by purchasing a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible token (NFT) collectible for 123.45 ethereum or $452K at the time of settlement. Slim Shady Purchases Bored Ape Yacht Club #9055 for $452K The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs have been very popular this year and the project saw more than $1 billion in volume worldwide, according to defillama.com metrics . Now Eminem has joined the BAYC bandwagon by purchasing BAYC #9055 for 123.45 ether on Thursday. The Detroit hip hop star shared the image on Twitter by using it as his social media bio picture. Furthermore, the BAYC #9055 purchase indicates that the new owner is called “ Shady_Holdings ” on the Opensea platform and the portfolio also owns a number of Lil Baby Doodles X NFTs, Ditaggdogg#1 featuring a stencil image of the rapper, and Superlative Apes #3880. I’m living in a simulation. Thank you @Eminem for buying my ape and joining th

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey recently revealed it made the decision to provide incentives to gold deposit and participation fund holders that request to convert these into lira time deposits, a statement from the central bank has said. Incentives Intended to Boost Financial Stability The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has announced the launch of an incentive scheme that encourages Turkish residents to convert their gold deposits and participation funds into lira time deposit accounts. In a brief statement released in late December 2021, the central bank explained that this incentive scheme is intended “to support financial stability.” As has been widely reported, Turkey is in the midst of a deep economic crisis that has led to the sharp depreciation of the lira and the rising of prices. In turn, this combination of a falling currency and a rising rate of inflation has seen more Turkish residents seek sanctuary in alternative stores of value like gold

During the last half of 2021, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) have been popping out of the woodwork in mass numbers, airdropping tokens and creating governance systems for specific projects. Just before the end of the year on December 31, the developers behind the Shiba Inu crypto protocol have announced the launch of a “Doggy DAO” in order to give more power to shiba inu users. Shiba Inu Project Announces Doggy DAO The second-largest crypto meme token in terms of market capitalization, shiba inu (SHIB) , has announced the launch of a “Doggy DAO” in order to reward SHIB users. The SHIB development team says the project has always focused on “working towards decentralization.” The meme token has propelled itself into the limelight this year, gathering 43,685,107% against the U.S. dollar in 12 months, and getting listed on numerous crypto platforms, as well as gathering merchant acceptance . On January 1, 2022, SHIB has been swapping for prices between $0.00003

The privacy-centric crypto asset monero has seen significant gains during the last two weeks, jumping 36% in value against the U.S. dollar. Despite the negative press from the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” torrents with monero mining malware, seven-day statistics indicate the crypto asset has gained more than 21%. Monero Sees Double-Digit Gains Amid Mining Malware Headlines The privacy-focused digital currency monero (XMR) has seen double-digit gains this week, while most of the crypto economy has suffered losses and seen a period of consolidation. Just recently, XMR made headlines after a cybersecurity firm warned that torrent files containing the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” film may contain malicious monero mining malware. Mining malware reports have plagued the Monero community for years as some applications exist which hijack a victim’s CPU, and then mine monero without the victim knowing. The act is sometimes referred to as “ cryptojacking .” Year-to-date, monero (XMR) has gain

India’s Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) reportedly raided major cryptocurrency exchanges Saturday. Their offices were searched and “massive goods and services tax (GST) evasion has been detected by DGGI.” Tax Authorities Say Cryptocurrency Exchanges Have Been Evading GST Tax India’s Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) reportedly raided major cryptocurrency exchanges across the country Saturday. Citing official sources, ANI news agency detailed: Around half dozen offices of cryptocurrency service providers have been searched and massive goods and services tax (GST) evasion has been detected by DGGI. According to the sources, the authorities are investigating Coinswitch Kuber (Bitcipher Labs), Coindcx (Neblio Technologies), Buyucoin (Iblock Technologies), and Unocoin (Unocoin Technologies). The crackdown has uncovered tax evasion worth about Rs 70 crore ($9.4 million), the publication conveyed. The raid followed the discovery of a major GST tax evasion o

Former chief executive of the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Wex, Dmitry Vasiliev, has been released from arrest in Warsaw earlier this month. The ex-head of the now-defunct coin trading platform has since returned to Russia while court proceedings against him in Poland are still ongoing. Polish Court Rejects Extradition of Wex Executive to Kazakhstan Authorities in Poland have released Dmitry Vasiliev, the man who was at the helm of Wex, once Russia’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The 34-year-old native of Belarus was detained at the Warsaw airport on Aug. 11, initially for a period of 40 days but he remained in custody for almost four months. Vasiliev told the Russian business news portal RBC that he was allowed to leave on Dec. 7 and has since returned to Russia where he resides. His Polish lawyer further explained that the court has dismissed his extradition to Kazakhstan but is yet to make a final decision on his case. The former Wex executive was arrested after the dis

Gold bug Peter Schiff has claimed that though bitcoin went up by 60% during the past twelve months, most of these gains were achieved during the first five weeks of the year in 2021. He insists that the majority of those that bought the asset in 2021 have not gained. Bitcoin Gains Higher Than Those of Gold With the calendar year ending and bitcoin up more than 60% since last January, one of the crypto asset’s chief critics, Peter Schiff, has claimed in a tweet that this gain was only achieved in the first five weeks of 2021. Schiff argues that the majority of people who bought the digital asset in 2021 have not gained. Indeed, after starting 2021 trading at just above $29,300, the price of bitcoin — as shown by Bitcoin.com data — more than doubled and was trading just above $63,500 by mid-April. This is in contrast to Schiff’s gold which started the year trading at around $1,900 per ounce but had dropped to $1,730 at around the same time. While prices of both assets continued to

The government of Mexico announced that the country’s central bank will issue its own digital currency. The statement of the official account of the presidency of Mexico informed that the development should be ready towards 2024, and remarked about the importance the technology has for the future of the financial structure of the country. Banxico to Issue Digital Peso A statement issued by the official account of the presidency of Mexico on Twitter reported that the institution was planning to issue its own digital currency. The announcement also informed that this development was likely to happen towards 2024, putting the country on the list of the nations that are studying, or plan to release, their own central bank digital currency (CBDC). The issued statement declared : The Banxico reports that by 2024 it will have its own digital currency in circulation, considering these new technologies and the next-generation payment infrastructure are extremely important as options of gr

The co-founder of Twitch, Justin Kan launched a gaming-centric non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace called Fractal on December 30. Fractal’s focus is on NFTs with video game utility and the project launched an NFT collection called “Fractals,” a 100,000 unique snowflakes that give users benefits while using the primary and secondary NFT marketplace. Twitch Co-Founder Launches Fractal NFT Market On December 30, the co-founder of Twitch, Justin Kan , told his 245,600 Twitter followers that he launched an NFT marketplace called Fractal . Kan also tweeted about the Fractals NFT collection that leverages the Solana (SOL) blockchain network. “Today, we are excited to launch our gaming NFT marketplace: Fractal,” Kan said . “We are also dropping our Fractal NFTs, the largest NFT airdrop in Solana history,” the entrepreneur added. In addition to Kan, Fractal was also founded by Robin Chan, David Wurtz and Mike Angell. Fractal hosts a number of digital goods from The Sandbox, Solchicks, Nyan

There’s a New Year’s Eve fiesta in the metaverse called the Metafest 2022 Global Party hosted by the real estate firm Jamestown and the crypto investment firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) in Decentraland. According to the announcement, the owner of One Times Square, Jamestown will recreate the iconic site in Decentraland for the 2022 ball drop. NYE Meets the Metaverse There’s New Year’s Eve ball drop celebration taking place in the Decentraland metaverse and it’s hosted by the real estate firm Jamestown and Digital Currency Group (DCG). According to the announcement, DCG is one of the largest land owner in Decentraland, while Jamestown owns the well known One Times Square. DCG’s head of real estate, Simon Koster, explains how the digital world can meld with the real one. “The metaverse is quickly evolving to bring together the most interesting and alluring parts of our favorite physical places around the world,” Koster remarked during the announcement. “From destinations, to gamin

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has added a number of advisers to Chairman Gary Gensler’s executive staff. Among them is Corey Frayer, who advises Gensler on “SEC policymaking and interagency work relating to the oversight of crypto assets.” SEC Has New Adviser for the Oversight of Crypto Assets The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Thursday the appointments of Corey Frayer, Phil Havenstein, Jennifer Songer, and Jorge Tenreiro to Chairman Gary Gensler’s executive staff. The announcement details: Corey Frayer advises Chair Gensler on SEC policymaking and interagency work relating to the oversight of crypto assets. Before joining the SEC, Frayer served as senior professional staff on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for Chairman Sherrod Brown. He also spent a decade as a senior adviser for Rep. Maxine Waters on the House Financial Services Committee and Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina. Havenstein serves as

According to reports, roughly $2.2 million worth of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were stolen from a collector. The owner of the NFTs Todd Kramer said the incident was “arguably the worst night” of his life. Furthermore, there’s claims that the NFT marketplace Opensea froze the collectibles, and crypto advocates are complaining about the lack of decentralization. 15 BAYC and MAYC NFTs Stolen — Victim Begs Opensea for Help, Reports Claim NFTs Were ‘Frozen’ On December 30, 2021, a BAYC collector told the public that 15 Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs were stolen. “NFTX these apes and mutants have been stolen and flagged on Opensea . Please remove from your liquidity pool,” he added. Todd Kramer also listed all the apes that were stolen. Kramer also stressed in another tweet that it was “arguably the worst night” of his life. The 15 ape theft is one of the first NFT collection crimes since NFT collections l

Non-fungible token (NFT) assets were extremely popular this year and to date, there’s been more than $20 billion in volume recorded in terms of NFT sales among 100 collections. While many single NFTs sold for millions of dollars a number of NFT projects and collections saw hundreds of millions and even billions in all-time volume. According to defillama.com metrics, the popular NFT collection Cryptopunks captured $2.98 billion in all-time volume. 100 NFT Collections, 6 Chains, $20 Billion in Volume Numerous NFT collections have been very prominent in 2021 and have been the topic of various discussions. While Bitcoin.com News published the top ten most expensive non-fungible token sales this year, a large quantity of NFT collections saw significant trade volume and demand. Data from defillama.com tracks 100 NFT collections and so far there’s been $20.13 billion in all-time sales from these specific NFT series. The NFTs stem from blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana, Immutablex, Bin

Starting in the year 2022, donated or inherited virtual assets will be assessed and taxed accordingly, South Korea’s National Tax Service has said. Dunamu, Bithumb Korea, Korbit, and Coinone are the new virtual asset service providers (VASPs) tasked with evaluating digital assets for such tax purposes. Virtual Asset Service Providers Tasked With Evaluating Crypto Gifts South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) recently announced that starting in 2022, digital assets that are inherited or donated will be taxed, a report has said. It added that such digital assets will be taxed at the average amount for each month before and after the date of commencement of inheritance or the date of donation. In a KBS report explaining the upcoming changes, the tax body also revealed the virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that are tasked with evaluating the property that is being inherited or donated. According to the report, these VASPs include Dunamu, Bithumb Korea, Korbit, and Coinone. Ob

The government in Kazakhstan is considering building a nuclear power plant to overcome an electricity deficit allegedly caused by the booming crypto mining industry. Problems with power supply are driving away miners that saw the Central Asian country as a new home when China recently cracked down on the industry. NPP Project Revived Amid Short Supply of Energy for Crypto Mining Sector in Kazakhstan Authorities in Kazakhstan are now thinking of implementing a decade-old plan to construct a nuclear power plant ( NPP ) in order to solve the country’s pressing issues with a growing electricity deficit. With capped tariffs and a crypto-friendly attitude, the former Soviet republic attracted a throng of Chinese miners chased away by Beijing’s offensive against the crypto industry launched in May of this year. However, some of them are now leaving the country as their hardware is idling. Two locations are currently under consideration as potential sites for a nuclear station, Kazakhst

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk says dogecoin is “fundamentally better than anything else” he has seen while he criticizes bitcoin. He also discussed the identity of Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, and the official currency of Mars. Elon Musk Discusses Crypto, Dogecoin, Bitcoin, Mars’ Currency, and Who Satoshi Nakamoto Is Elon Musk shared his thoughts on cryptocurrency, dogecoin, bitcoin, and the identity of Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, in an interview with Lex Fridman, published Tuesday. Musk, who has long been a supporter of the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin (DOGE), revealed: Part of the reason why I think there is some merit to dogecoin, even though it was obviously created as a joke, is that it actually does have a much higher transaction volume capability than bitcoin. “The cost of doing a transaction, the dogecoin fees are very low,” the Tesla executive added. In contrast, he said: “Right now, if you want to do a Bitcoin transaction

Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy has bought more bitcoin for its corporate treasury. The latest purchase for 1,914 coins has raised the company’s total cryptocurrency holdings to 124,391 bitcoins. CEO Michael Saylor recently said that he expects the price of the cryptocurrency to eventually reach $6 million. Microstrategy Has Purchased More Bitcoin The pro-bitcoin Nasdaq-listed company Microstrategy has purchased 1,914 more BTC . With the latest purchase, the company now holds 124,391 bitcoins. Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor announced Thursday via Twitter: Microstrategy has purchased an additional 1,914 bitcoins for ~$94.2 million in cash at an average price of ~$49,229 per bitcoin. “As of 12/29/21 we hodl ~124,391 bitcoins acquired for ~$3.75 billion at an average price of ~$30,159 per bitcoin,” he detailed. The price of BTC fell slightly Thursday. At the time of writing, it is hovering at about $47,398 after losing 1.4% over the last 24 hours. At the current price, Microstrateg

This week the stablecoin giant tether reached a market capitalization of roughly $78.2 billion according to data. Over the last 30 days, tether’s market valuation grew by 5.6% and the stablecoin now represents 46% of the $168.3 billion stablecoin economy. Tether Market Cap is Less Than $2 Billion Away From Reaching $80 Billion On December 30, 2021, there’s roughly 78.2 billion tether ( USDT ) in circulation, according to coingecko.com’s top stablecoin by market capitalization statistics . According to Tether Limited’s transparency report published to the tether.to web portal, there’s $78.5 billion assets under management. Metrics indicate that tether represents 3.35% of the $2.33 trillion crypto economy today and 46% of the $168.3 billion stablecoin economy. Tether has seen massive growth during its lifetime. For instance, on September 13, 2015, tether’s market capitalization was $451,600 and the jump to $78.2 billion is a whopping 17,327,227% increase in just over six years. The

Authorities in Pakistan have reportedly moved to seize hundreds of bank accounts and cards belonging to cryptocurrency traders. According to local media, they have been allegedly used to make transactions worth close to $300,000 through digital asset exchanges, including major platforms. Pakistan Government Blocks Cards Used to Buy Cryptocurrency, Media Reveals Bank accounts in the names of 1,064 individuals have been frozen by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency ( FIA ). The law enforcement authority acted on request from the Cyber Crime Reporting Center (CCRC) in Islamabad, the Pakistan Observer informed readers on Wednesday. Officials claim the accounts have been utilized to process transactions worth a total of 51 million Pakistani rupees (around $288,000) made by persons to and from a number of crypto exchanges, among which are well-known platforms such as Binance, Coinbase, and Coinmama. The agency has also blocked their credit cards used to buy and sell digital coins, t

2021 has been a bullish year for crypto assets. While prices have risen a great deal, the top ten and top twenty rankings in terms of market capitalization have also changed significantly. A great number of coins have either been pushed down or have entered the crypto economy’s top positions in terms of overall market valuation. 2021’s Top Crypto Asset Positions Change Drastically On December 27, 2020, a historical snapshot of the crypto prices that day shows that bitcoin ( BTC ) and ethereum ( ETH ) both led the pack as far as the top two crypto asset market valuations are concerned. This is still true today as both BTC and ETH are the top two market leaders. However, on December 27, 2020, bitcoin’s value was $26,272 per unit and BTC had a market cap of $488 billion. Additionally, ethereum was changing hands for $682 per unit on that same day, and had a market cap of around $77.8 billion. Fast forward to December 26, 2021 statistics, and BTC was trading for $50,809 per unit an

On December 29, two addresses from 2011 containing 500 bitcoin each transferred 1,000 coins for the first time in 10.5 years. Furthermore, another wallet from 2011 woke up on Wednesday, moving 40 bitcoin for the first time in over a decade. 1,040 Bitcoin from 2011 Move for the First Time in 10.5 Years On Wednesday, an address created on July 10, 2011, at 11:22 p.m. (UTC) with 500 bitcoin ( BTC ) transferred the BTC for the first time in 10.5 years. Another wallet, created on the same day in 2011, dispersed another 500 BTC worth more than $23 million at the time of transfer. Furthermore, a wallet from August 12, 2011, containing 40 BTC worth $1.8 million transferred coins for the first time in over a decade. At the time of transfer, BTC was trading for $47,500 per unit, and the aggregate 1,040 BTC from 2011 spent on Wednesday was worth over $49 million. One can assume the 1,000 BTC stemmed from the same owner as the bitcoin wallets were both created on July 10, 2011. It’s p