Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The Animoca Brands subsidiary and blockchain-based virtual world, The Sandbox, has announced the firm has made multiple partnerships in Hong Kong, and has plans to create a “Mega City” in the metaverse. Partners who acquired land in The Sandbox to build Mega City include Hong Kong tycoon Adrian Cheng, professional services firm PWC Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong actress and model Shu Qi. The Sandbox Announces Mega City Launch Blockchain projects like Decentraland and The Sandbox have been seeing significant demand as Web3, NFTs, and metaverse hype has grown exponentially in recent times. On Wednesday, The Sandbox — an Animoca Brands subsidiary and blockchain metaverse that leverages non-fungible token (NFT) technology — announced the launch of a “Mega City.” The firm has made various partnerships in Hong Kong and the metaverse region will become “a new cultural hub,” according to the announcement. The Sandbox details that it partnered with the renowned Hong Kong businessman Adrian

Leading non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Opensea announced the firm has raised $300 million in a Series C funding round led by Paradigm and Coatue. Opensea’s latest capital raise has propelled the company to a $13.3 billion post-money valuation. Opensea Raises $300 Million, Commands Post-Money Valuation of $13.3 Billion In mid-November, a report authored by theinformation.com’s Kate Clark and Berber Jin explained that Opensea was fielding new investments after investors were allegedly chomping at the bit to fund the project. At the time, Opensea’s estimated valuation was $10 billion and two sources said: “investors are clamoring for a piece of the startup.” 48 days later, Opensea has revealed it raised $300 million in a Series C finance round. The team says that the new funding will go toward “accelerating product development,” “significantly improve customer support,” “investing in the wider NFT and Web3 community,” and expanding the Opensea team. The funding round was led b

PRESS RELEASE. Blockchain history was made earlier this week. Thanks to more than 2,560 DAO votes in a Snapshot proposal , the Panther Protocol was voted to be launched in a private, decentralized manner. This constitutes the very first event of its kind, a feature that sets Panther a step towards its mission to infuse the DeFi ecosystem with native privacy. It is also the very first Private Governance System ever deployed in the crypto industry. Panther’s decentralized, private launch To achieve a fully decentralized, private launch, Panther Protocol’s strong community of enthusiasts used a unique, state-of-the-art tech stack. Panther deployed LaunchDAO , a system allowing every user that had completed Know-Your-Customer identity verification for its Public and Private token sales to issue a zero-knowledge proof anonymously verifying their participation. Using this proof, individually-verified users could privately vote on whether or not to launch the protocol on the Ethereum and

The government of Kosovo has decided to suspend crypto mining activities in the country as part of measures to deal with power shortages this winter. The move has been proposed by a special parliamentary committee tasked with bridging the gap between electricity demand and supply. Kosovo Authorities Ban Crypto Mining to Save Needed Energy The executive power in Pristina has moved to stop the energy-intensive minting of digital coins in Kosovo , a partially recognized republic in Southeast Europe. The country is facing electricity shortages during the cold winter months, local media reported. The halting of crypto mining operations was announced on Tuesday by Artane Rizvanolli, Kosovo’s minister of economy. According to her statement quoted by Gazeta Express, the decision was taken at the recommendation of the Technical Committee on “Emergency Measures for Energy Supply” set up by the nation’s legislature. The restrictions were agreed upon in the parliament of Kosovo last week, DTT

A draft of a new cryptocurrency asset law was introduced in Peru in December, seeking to regulate the cryptocurrency interactions that are already happening in the country. The draft law, besides defining what a crypto asset is and establishing the duties of virtual asset service providers (VASPs), also seeks to legalize the use of assets to incorporate and be held by companies. Peru Launches First Cryptocurrency Regulation Attempt A new piece of draft legislation called “Cryptoasset Marketing Framework” has been introduced in the Peruvian Congress under the number N° 1042/2021-CR , in the first attempt of the country to regulate cryptocurrency interactions. The project, which was presented December 10 by Jose Luis Elias Avalos, a member of the “Podemos Peru” parliamentary group, defines several key concepts in the cryptocurrency world, including crypto assets, virtual asset service providers (VASPs), blockchain, and cryptography. The law also proposes the creation of a public regi

The total quantity of gold held in reserves by central banks topped 36,000 tons for the first time since 1990, data from World Gold Council has shown. This increase follows growth in the banks’ reported holdings of the asset by 4,500 tons over the past decade. Dollar’s Decline a Boon for Gold The amount of gold held in reserves by central banks as of September 2021 grew to a new high of 36,000 tons for the first time since 1990. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), this increase in central banks’ gold holdings to a 31-year-high came after the institutions successfully added 4,500 tons of the precious metal over the past decade. In a report published by Nikkei Asia, the WGC attributes central banks’ growing preference for gold to the U.S. dollar’s decline. The report explains how the U.S. Federal Reserve’s significant monetary relaxation has resulted in an increased supply of U.S. dollars. This increase in the supply of dollars has, in turn, caused the value of the dollar aga

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