Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

China’s central bank has released its digital currency wallet app ahead of the Winter Olympics. The wallet app for the digital yuan, also known as e-CNY, can now be downloaded from the iOS and Android app stores in the country. Digital Yuan Wallet App Now Downloadable From iOS and Android App Stores China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), has released a pilot version of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) wallet application. Developed by the PBOC Digital Currency Research Institute, the wallet app for e-CNY, also known as Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), is now available for download in the iOS and Android app stores in China. Previously, the wallet app was only downloadable via private links. The app is free to use. Mu Changchun, head of the PBOC Digital Currency Research Institute, said in November that about 140 million Chinese residents had opened a digital yuan account as of October 2021, with accumulated transactions reaching 62 billion yuan ...

Less than 20 days ago, the German multinational sneaker and sportswear corporation Adidas launched the company’s Adidas Originals non-fungible token (NFT) collection and since then the NFT compilation has surged into the top 50 NFT collections in terms of sales. Adidas NFT Collection Sees Significant Demand in Less Than 20 Days At the end of November 2021, Adidas revealed it was “excited” about the metaverse and said the company had partnered with Coinbase and acquired land in The Sandbox. The following week, Adidas told the press it partnered with the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT project, and the comic series Punks Comic. In mid-December, the company launched the Adidas Originals NFT compilation with Punks Comic, Gmoney, and BAYC. Since then the NFT collection has done well in terms of sales, propelling its way into the top 50 NFT collections. At the time of writing, the Adidas Originals NFT collection is the 49th-largest NFT project in terms of sales. Between 13,801 buyer...

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, multinational computer networking company Netgear, based in San Jose, California, showcased the company’s Meural digital art frames. According to an announcement, Netgear has added non-fungible token (NFT) tech support, and the Metamask Web3 wallet will be able to sync with the product. Netgear Adds NFT Support to Meural’s Digital Art Platform Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are very popular and it doesn’t seem like the trend is going away any time soon. For instance, four NFT collections now have billion-dollar market valuations including projects like Axie Infinity, Cryptopunks, Artblocks, and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). Additionally, single NFTs have sold for multi-millions from artists like Beeple, Pak, and Xcopy. Netgear, the multinational computer networking company founded in 1996, has noticed the NFT trend and the company’s Meural digital art frame will support the technology. Following the announcement at CES, the head of ...

The number of ATMs in Spain has been progressively shrinking to levels the country saw in the year 2002. Reports from local media suggest these actions have been taken to reduce costs and to push payment and operation digitalization in the sector. The highest number of ATMs was registered in 2008 when there were 61,714 active machines in the network. Banks in Spain Reduce ATMs The number of ATMs in Spain has dropped to its lowest level since 2002, when the network had 1,795 more ATMs than it has today. According to a recent report from the Bank of Spain, the network had 48,081 ATMs at the end of the third quarter of 2021. This reduction has to do with attempts to lower costs in the banking sector amidst a push for digitalization in payments and banking processes. The highest number of ATMs in the network was registered in 2008 when there were 61,714 ATMs registered in the country. Since then, banks have progressively removed machines from this network. However, utilization of the ...

PRESS RELEASE. Bitcoin of America , a popular digital currency exchange, has surpassed 1500 plus Bitcoin ATMs. Bitcoin of America is a popular virtual currency exchange, registered as a money services business with the United States Department of Treasury (FinCEN)(RegNum). Apart from ensuring a fast and hassle-free transaction, their customer support makes them the best in the industry. Bitcoin of America is currently headquartered in the city of Chicago. Bitcoin of America has demonstrated rapid growth in 2021. In June of this year, Bitcoin of America’s Chief Financial Officer reported record company growth. In January, the company had a total of 630 Bitcoin ATMs. As of December 31st, Bitcoin of America has 1500 plus locations across the US. They have seen a 153.968% increase in Bitcoin ATM locations. Bitcoin of America has also seen enormous growth in their number of employees. In just one year their team grew over 32 percent. Bitcoin of America has made a ton of updates to the...

In the past year, internet giants like Amazon and Google all experienced outages which were blamed on errors and failed upgrades. The occurrence of such outages and their impact around the world again highlighted the importance of having a decentralized internet. Also, just like how the Covid-19 pandemic showed the world that blockchain-based digital currencies are the future, the outages suffered by the powerful internet companies may have given an impetus to those that champion the Web3.0. However, this Web3.0 can really take off if players in this ecosystem play their part in building the critical infrastructure. That is what Lucky Uwakwe, the co-founder of Stoor, says he is attempting through the startup’s blockchain-based cloud storage service. In a question and answer interview with Bitcoin.com News, Nigeria based Uwakwe explains the concept of decentralized cloud storage and how the blockchain makes this kind of storage possible. He also shares thoughts about the trajectory ...

Defi Kingdoms, a metaverse-based blockchain game, is experiencing a rise in activity due to the push that metaverse projects are now having in the market. According to Dappradar, the activity on the game has risen considerably. This is also accompanied by the rise in the price of its native token, JEWEL, issued on top of the Harmony blockchain, a token that reached all-time high (ATH) levels in a sideways market. Defi Kingdoms Grows Among Its Peers Defi Kingdoms, a play-to-earn (P2E) game inspired by metaverse elements that include non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as part of its structure, has been getting traction amidst the group of blockchain games that are coming out after the recent Web3 hype. According to data from Dappradar, a decentralized finance (defi) activity tracker, the number of users of Defi Kingdoms has grown more than 300% in the last month. Also, the number of transactions in the network has more than doubled in the same time, reaching 7.32 million. The game, which al...

U.S. inflation is red hot and a number of analysts and economists are predicting America will face further economic issues as politicians and the Biden administration blame corporations. This perspective on rising inflation has led finance authors like Isabella Weber to believe that price controls could ease America’s economic burdens. Biden Administration Blames Inflation on Corporate Greed, Monopolistic Behavior America is dealing with the worst inflation in over four decades and the White House thinks that tougher anti-monopoly policy could fix the situation. Furthermore, a few congressional leaders want to stifle online ecommerce giants like Amazon with proposals like Senator Amy Klobuchar’s (D-Minn.) American Innovation and Online Competition Act . Senator Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) Platform Competition and Opportunity Act (PCOA) is also aimed at reforming anti-trust laws. The White House is blaming the loss of purchasing power in America on monopolistic behavior. Last month, the ...

13 years ago today, the anonymous creator of the Bitcoin protocol kickstarted the network by mining the genesis block. Satoshi started the genesis block on Saturday, January 3, 2009, at precisely 1:15 p.m. (EST), and since then more than 700,000 blocks have been mined into existence. Kickstarting the Bitcoin Network Today, bitcoiners and cryptocurrency advocates worldwide are celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Bitcoin network’s launch. On this day, 13 years ago, Bitcoin’s inventor Satoshi Nakamoto launched the genesis block, otherwise known as “block zero.” There are several unique characteristics of the genesis block that make it different than the blocks that followed. For instance, the genesis block has a 50 BTC block reward subsidy that can never be spent. Block zero also has two more leading hex zeroes in the hash which was common for bitcoin blocks mined in the early days. The genesis block also contains a special message stored in the coinbase parameter. The message de...

Ertha’s Listing and TGE will be hosted on Huobi as a Prime List on the 4th of January, 2022. Listing on Huobi ensures that ERTHA Metaverse becomes the leading token in the GameFi & NFT space. Gaining a Primelist brings new levels of visibility and prestige to the project, introducing us to a wider demographic of investors and supporting the value and longevity of the token. It also provides the community a convenient way to access the $ERTHA token. Huobi is the industry’s leading digital asset exchange in both liquidity and real-trading volume. It ensures that ERTHA continues to be the world’s most in-demand and highly anticipated Metaverse. This news comes shortly after the conclusion of three record-breaking IGOs hosted by GameFi, Seedify, and RedKite. Each community pool sold out in under one minute, and to date, the project has raised $5.4 million from a number of world-renowned VC investors including: LD Capital Polygon Syndicate OKEx Blockdream Ventures Shima Capi...

The Argentinian government is starting to inquire about the power consumption of bitcoin mining companies after some provinces in the country faced power cuts during the last days of 2021. Cammesa, the state-owned power wholesaler, has sent a memo to big power consumers to reveal whether they are mining cryptocurrency. If so, the companies should reveal their actual power consumption so a price hike can be coordinated, and they will need to invest in power infrastructure. Argentinian Government Sets Sights on Bitcoin Mining The Argentinian government is trying to pinpoint the exact power usage that bitcoin miners require from the national power grid, in order to take measures to improve the current power crisis the country is facing. Cammesa, the state-owned energy wholesaler, has sent a letter to all registered large-scale consumers, requesting they report the energy consumption of possible mining operations they may host, including the power consumed by what the company calls the ...

Lee Jae-myung, nominated by the ruling party in South Korea for the upcoming presidential elections this spring, is preparing to raise funds in cryptocurrencies and issue non-fungible tokens for supporters. His campaign hopes that the initiative will woo young and tech-savvy Korean voters whose interest in digital assets is growing. Ruling Party of South Korea to Collect Crypto Funds for Presidential Bid The Democratic Party of Korea, the country’s leading political force, is going to raise election funds through cryptocurrency and issue receipts to donors in the form of non-fungible tokens ( NFTs ), Korean media reported on Sunday. The money will be used to finance the campaign of the party’s presidential nominee, Lee Jae-myung. Bitcoin ( BTC ), ethereum ( ETH ), and up to three other cryptocurrencies are now under consideration. The final list of coins to be accepted will be announced in mid-January, the committee managing Lee’s run unveiled, quoted by the Korean Herald and the Y...

Yosuke Matsuda, president of Square Enix, a leading game developing company, has voiced his opinion about the rise of new technologies and trends like NFTs, blockchain gaming, and the metaverse concept in the gaming space. Matsuda explains the business strategy around these, detailing how Square Enix is moving to include them in their upcoming games. Square Enix Reveals New Tech Strategy Yosuke Matsuda, the president of Square Enix, the game company behind million-dollar franchises like Final Fantasy, has detailed the next steps when it comes to including new, blockchain-based technologies in his plans for the new year. In a new year’s letter, Matsuda explains that these new technologies, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the concept of the metaverse, had a rise during the last year, and that these will evolve to a more actionable phase during this year. Matsuda remarked the importance of these to their overall business strategy, stating: As this abstract concept begins t...

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...