Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Doubleline Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach, also known as the “Bond King,” has warned about “a recession in the later part of this year.” He also advised against buying bitcoin at the current level. “Maybe you should buy it at $25,000,” he said. Billionaire ‘Bond King’ Jeff Gundlach on Recession, Bitcoin, and the Fed Raising Interest Rates Billionaire fund manager Jeff Gundlach warned about a recession happening in the later part of this year in an interview with Yahoo Finance, published Saturday. He also commented on whether investors should buy bitcoin. Gundlach is the CEO of Doubleline Capital, which has over $137 billion in assets under management (AUM). He is sometimes referred to as the “Bond King” after he appeared on the cover of Barron’s in 2011 as “The New Bond King.” Institutional Investor named him “Money Manager of the Year” in 2013 and Bloomberg Markets named him one of “The Fifty Most Influential” in 2012, 2015, and 2016. According to Forbes, his net worth is currently ...

U.S. state securities regulators have revealed that cryptocurrency investments are their top investor threat this year. “Before you jump into the crypto craze, be mindful that cryptocurrencies and related financial products may be nothing more than public facing fronts for Ponzi schemes and other frauds,” one regulator warned. Crypto Is the Top Threat for US Securities Regulators The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) released its “annual list of top investor threats” Monday. The NASAA, formed in 1919, is a nonprofit association of state, provincial, and territorial securities regulators in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The association has 67 members, including the securities regulators in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “The top threats to investors were determined by surveying North American securities regulators to identify the most problematic products, practices, or schemes,” the association exp...

PRESS RELEASE. In the world of cryptocurrencies, it is important for any crypto exchange to offer plenty of different options when it comes to making money. This is precisely why Bitrue , a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has recently announced the launch of a new yield farming hub, available to all of its users from January 10th at 10:00 UTC. The main reason and context behind this new initiative has to do with the fact that staking and yield farming have become immensely popular methods through which investors can earn additional income. Bitrue therefore wants to cater to the real needs of its clientele in a safe manner and also keep up with all of the latest updates and changes regarding this industry, which it shall accomplish through the formation of key partnerships in the future as well as the mitigation of risks such as impermanent loss. What will the new hub do? The new hub enables the users to mine for tokens in a manner comparable to DeFi (decentralized finance) pools...

On January 10, 2022, the Associated Press (AP), the American non-profit news cooperative founded in 1846, has announced the news agency is launching a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. The AP NFT market was built by the distributed ledger technology provider Xooa and on top of the Polygon blockchain network. AP Announces NFT Marketplace Launch The 175-year-old news cooperative the Associated Press revealed that the organization is launching an NFT marketplace using the Polygon blockchain network. According to the AP announcement, the NFT market built by Xooa will allow NFT collectors to collect the news agency’s iconic photojournalism. AP’s newly crafted Polygon-based NFT market will launch on January 31, 2022. Dwayne Desaulniers, AP director of blockchain and data licensing, explained that the non-profit news cooperative is thrilled to showcase the organization’s Pulitzer Prize-winning images from current and former AP photojournalists. “Each NFT will include a rich set of ori...

Authorities in Iran are preparing to allow the employment of cryptocurrencies for international settlements. According to local media, central bank and government officials have given the green light to adopt a mechanism using digital coins in the field of foreign trade. Businesses in Iran to Be Able to Pay Foreign Partners With Crypto Iranian companies will be allowed to use cryptocurrencies in settlements with partners in other countries, local media reported. An agreement to that end has been reached by the Central Bank of Iran ( CBI ) and the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade. Quoted by the Financial Tribune, the head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, Alireza Peyman Pak, announced: We are finalizing a mechanism for operations of the system. This should provide new opportunities for importers and exporters to use cryptos in their international deals. According to the Iranian news agency IBENA, Pak, who is also deputy minister of trade, took to social media t...

As crypto-assets grew immensely in value last year, the growth of the stablecoin economy swelled as well and today, there’s $170.24 billion worth of stablecoins in circulation. Data indicates that over the last 12 months, a slew of stablecoin valuations grew exponentially. 12-Month Stats Show Stablecoin Market Valuations Saw Massive Growth Last year, numerous crypto assets touched all-time high (ATH) prices as current data highlights the crypto economy’s significant growth in 2021. Moreover, fiat-pegged tokens, commonly referred to as stablecoins, have also seen massive growth as centralized custodians and decentralized protocols have issued billions of tokens since last year. For instance, on January 11, 2021, tether’s ( USDT ) market cap was $24.4 billion and it has grown 221.31% since last year. Usd coin (USDC), the second-largest stablecoin asset in terms of market valuation, had a market cap of $4.4 billion on the same day last year. Today, USDC’s market cap is $43.9 billion, ...

Digital currencies had a phenomenal year, and a great deal of the crypto assets in existence reached all-time high (ATH) prices against the world’s fiat currencies. However, the same digital currencies that tapped ATHs last year are currently down a great deal in value, as numerous cryptocurrencies have lost 30% or more since 2021’s price highs. Crypto Values Are Lower Than Last Year’s Price Highs 2021 was a good year for crypto assets as numerous blockchain networks swelled in fiat value as billions upon billions were added to the alternative digital economy. Bitcoin (BTC) broke its previous ATH recorded in December 2017 at the end of 2020, when it surpassed the $20K per unit zone. BTC ’s price continued to rise higher into 2021 and eventually, it tapped a high of $64K per unit. Furthermore, on November 10, 2021, the price of bitcoin jumped to the $69K zone but today the price is 39% lower. A myriad of crypto assets today are in the same boat as BTC , as they reached ATHs at som...

PRESS RELEASE. Tortola, BVI, 10 Jan 2022: Anyone who has been paying attention to the world of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will know that people love investing in cartoon-themed initiatives. Whether it be the immensely popular canine-oriented cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), or perhaps even well-known NFT collections like The Bored Ape Yacht Club (TBAYC), the fact remains that as far as investing is concerned nowadays, toons continue to play an important role. With that being said, ‘ TooNFT ’, a blockchain-oriented webtoon platform, recently made it known that it has debuted on the ecosystem of South Korea’s leading webtoon company, Toomics . To help with the construction of a fully decentralised webtoon platform, the TooNFT team secured a whopping $1.75 million via a private financing round. What is TooNFT? TooNFT is built upon the Toomics ecosystem, which is one of the most sought after webtoon service platforms with about 50 million active web users i...

Fintechs account for nearly two-thirds of the $4.9 billion that was raised by African technology firms during the past year. Fintech groups also dominate in terms of funding that exceeds $50 million, with a 40% share of the total number of tech firms. The Covid-19 Factor Out of the $4.9 billion in funding that was raised by African technology companies in 2021, almost two-thirds of this went to fintech companies, data from a new report has shown. In terms of deals wherein the capital raised exceeded $40 million, fintechs accounted for 40% of such deals. As shown in the latest Africa Investment Report, the fintech dominance in 2021 eventually culminated into a period with “the highest number of single, non-M&A [mergers and acquisitions] deals above $100 million” on record so far. The report also shows that Nigeria has the biggest share of fintech firms that raised more than $100 million. Meanwhile, the report suggested that the Covid-19 pandemic could well be the main explanat...

Yellow Card has announced the resumption of naira deposits and withdrawals in Nigeria via a statement from the cryptocurrency exchange platform. The move by the company comes almost a year after a central bank directive forced Yellow Card to suspend deposits and withdrawals. CBN’s Growing Interest in Digital Currencies Almost a year after suspending services following a central bank directive, crypto exchange platform Yellow Card now says it is resuming local deposits and withdrawals in Nigeria. The company’s resumption of services also comes a few months after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched its own digital currency. In its statement published in the Vanguard, Yellow Card’s director of services Oparinde Babatunde suggested that the CBN’s altered stance on digital currencies may have influenced his company’s decision to resume services. He said: The tide has changed and we are now seeing a growing interest from the CBN in them creating their own digital currency. Arou...

The Arbitrum network, an Ethereum L2 (Layer 2) rollup, experienced some difficulties that caused a complete stop in the production of blocks and the confirmation of transactions. According to reports from the Arbitrum team, this incident had to do with downtime regarding its sequencer, a special node that manages the order of transactions, leaving the network unusable for approximately seven hours. Arbitrum Stalls for 7 Hours The network of Arbitrum, an optimistic scaling rollup for the Ethereum network, stopped completely on January 9, leaving users unable to make transactions for approximately seven hours. The Arbitrum team informed users that the difficulties were caused by issues with their main sequencer node, which experienced a hardware failure that led to the network stall. According to Arbitrum docs , the sequencer is a “specially designated full node, which is given limited power to control the ordering of transactions.” The Twitter account of the rollup reported the iss...

The price of bitcoin has been on a long losing streak since November 10, 2021, when the leading crypto asset tapped an all-time high at $69K per unit. During the last two weeks, bitcoin has shed more than 19% in value, and the network’s hashrate has dropped from over 200 exahash per second (EH/s) to 174 EH/s losing roughly 15% in ten days. Civil Unrest in Kazakhstan Leads to Hashrate Loss Speculation, Kazakhstan’s Bitcoin Miners Say Issues Did Not Affect Them This week the civil unrest in Kazakhstan caused a lot of people to speculate on whether or not it would affect Bitcoin’s global hashrate. The reason for this assumption is because it is estimated that Kazakhstan accounts for at least 18% of the global hashrate, according to the most recent estimates from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF). Looking at the 30-day chart for Bitcoin’s (BTC) hashrate indicates that the protocol’s hashpower lost roughly 15% in ten days. Reports stemming from Kazakhstan indicate ...

A recently discovered patent shows the American multinational entertainment and media conglomerate, Walt Disney Company, was approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a “virtual-world simulator” patent. The simulator is composed of a “three-dimensional (3D) map of the geometry of the real-world venue.” Disney’s Virtual-World Simulator Patent Follows Bob Chapek’s Discussion About the Disney Metaverse Disney’s interest in the metaverse and blockchain technology has been showing recently as a recent patent approved at the end of December reveals the entertainment giant filed for a “virtual-world simulator” concept. The virtual-world simulator patent follows Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s earnings call in November when he explained the firm is ready for “our own” metaverse. Chapek also highlighted that Disney was always at the forefront of the latest technologies. “The Walt Disney Company has a long track record as an early adopter in the use of technology to en...

On January 6, Terra Research announced a proposal to expand the network’s stablecoin asset terrausd (UST) across a number of different protocols on Polygon, Ethereum, and Solana. Terra’s governance blog post discusses how the proposal to leverage $139 million of UST can bolster “awesome use-cases” in the world of decentralized finance (defi). Terra Research Proposes to Expand Terrausd’s Reach Across 5 Protocols At the time of writing, Terra’s terrausd (UST) stablecoin is the fourth-largest U.S. dollar-pegged token among all the stablecoins in existence. It is also the largest decentralized algorithmic dollar-pegged coin with $10.4 million in UST in circulation today. Furthermore, the stablecoin’s market capitalization has increased 21.4% during the last 30 days. Now the team behind the Terra network wants to increase the stablecoin’s exposure to five different defi protocols on three chains. The proposal’s author, Ezaan from Terra Research, explains how cross-chain UST liquidity ha...

PRESS RELEASE. XRPayNet is a cryptocurrency built on the XRP Ledger, with an upcoming global team focused on one goal: a globally adopted interface and ecosystem for payment settlements that is suitable for stores, businesses, peer to peer transactions and those who sell products and services. Whilst aiming to challenge existing technology such as Klarna, ClearPay/AfterPay. This will allow consumers to be able to ‘buy now, pay later’ which is an almost first in the entire crypto industry. The XRPayNet app currently under development promises just that, a world class payment interface for micropayments with transactions processed by the XRP ledger, ensuring very low transaction costs at just a fraction of a penny and ultra-fast speeds. We aim to capture and overcome the current needs of real-life and on-demand crypto payment systems that are increasingly demanded by people and businesses across the globe. About XRPayNet The XRPayNet team does not aim to compete with Ripple or XRP...

The situation across Kazakhstan, hit by anti-government protests in the first week of the year, is normalizing, central authorities claim. The country’s massive crypto mining industry, which faced an internet blackout during civil unrest on top of power shortages, now hopes that the country will nevertheless remain an attractive location for miners. President Tokayev Has Nation Under Control After days of turmoil, the embattled administration of Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev says it now has the country stabilized. Law enforcement agencies have retaken all administrative buildings that were attacked by protesters and communal services are being restored, officials informed the head of state during a meeting on Sunday, according to a released statement. The troubles in Kazakhstan began on Jan. 2 with demonstrations in the western Mangistau province against the increase of prices of natural gas and other fuels which turned into mass political protests engulfing the Cen...

An Indian industry association has written to the country’s finance minister seeking clarity on cryptocurrency taxation in Union Budget 2022-23. “The budget should ideally offer coherent rules on direct taxation and the GST Council should detail the applicability of taxation, else there will be confusion.” Industry Wants Clarity in Crypto Tax Laws in Union Budget 2022-23 Indian industry association Indiatech has written to the country’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, regarding cryptocurrency taxation. The association represents major cryptocurrency exchanges in India, including Coinswitch Kuber, Wazirx, and Coindcx. In its letter, the association asked the finance minister for clarity regarding crypto taxation in Union Budget 2022-23. The industry body also urged the government to amend existing tax laws to include crypto assets. Indiatech’s president and CEO, Rameesh Kailasam, told Ettech: The budget should ideally offer coherent rules on direct taxation and the GST Counc...

Mai Capital Management’s chief equity strategist and regional president, Chris Grisanti, has predicted that this year will be tough for crypto largely due to regulations. However, he expects established cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether, to “do quite well” once regulations come into focus. Equity Strategist’s Crypto Predictions Mai Capital Management’s Chris Grisanti shared his outlook for the cryptocurrency market in an interview with CNBC Thursday. Grisanti, CFA, is chief equity strategist and regional president of Mai Capital Management, a wealth management firm that provides planning and investment advisory services. Noting that crypto is “almost a victim of its own success,” Grisanti detailed: I think it’s going to be a tougher year for crypto … There will be calls for regulation from all over the place — from China, from Europe, and here in the United States. Nonetheless, the equity strategist sees some cryptocurrencies coming out ahead. “I do think there will b...

Just recently the reality star, American Youtuber, and Tiktoker Stephanie Matto made international headlines after raising $200K from selling her farts contained in mason jars online. After Matto had to go to the hospital and after a doctor told her the farting idea was causing her to get hospitalized, she’s decided to sell her fart jars as non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles. Tiktoker Reveals Fart Jars NFT Collection The Youtuber and Tiktoker Stephanie Matto chose an interesting career choice when she decided to sell her farts in mason jars to paying customers online. The wind-breaking entrepreneur managed to acquire $200,000 for her mason jarred farts, but the idea was taking a physical toll on her body. That’s according to a doctor who told her the farting idea was an issue after Matto was recently hospitalized. In order to be more conscious of her body, Matto is now leaning on blockchain technology to continue her fart-selling career. Matto, the former reality star of TLC’s...

Last month, the lead vocalist of System of a Down, Serj Tankian, hosted an art exhibition with the non-fungible token (NFT) platform and marketplace Curio NFT. The physical and virtual-melded art show was called “Not for Touching” and this week Tankian told Bitcoin.com News that he believes NFT technology has opened new doors for his artistic expression. This week Bitcoin.com News chatted with System of a Down’s (SoaD) lead vocalist, Serj Tankian , about non-fungible token (NFT) tech and how it has given him the ability to express his art in a new way. In December, Tankian and Curio NFT hosted an art exhibition featuring the artist’s NFT artwork called “Not for Touching.” Tankian has been an artist for years, but NFTs has given the SoaD singer a new way “to affect multiple senses simultaneously” and he stressed that he’s always interested in having “a stronger impact artistically.” The following is an in-depth discussion with SoaD’s Serj Tankian that Bitcoin.com News recorded on Ja...

Police in Kosovo seized another batch of over 200 mining devices as part of raids that started on Thursday. The offensive against underground crypto farms was launched after authorities in Pristina banned the power-hungry minting of digital currencies amid an energy crisis in the country. Authorities in Kosovo Confiscate Mining Hardware in Serb Majority North Law enforcement officers in Kosovo have confiscated hundreds of mining machines as part of efforts to curb crypto mining activities in the face of electricity shortages. One person has been arrested in the latest police operation in the predominantly Serb northern part of the country. A statement issued by the Kosovo police revealed that the authorities have seized 272 devices used for the production of cryptocurrency in the municipality of Leposavic, AFP reported. “The whole action took place and ended without incidents,” Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla noted in a post on Facebook. Finance Minister Hekuran Murati also took t...

China’s social media giant, Wechat has said it will support the digital yuan in a move that is expected to increase the of Chinese residents that use the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC). Wechat’s support of the digital yuan potentially avails the digital currency to the social media’s 800 million active users. New App Provides Access to CBDC Wechat, one of China’s biggest messaging and payment apps, is reportedly set to support the digital yuan, China’s CBDC. The addition of the CBDC to the social platform is expected to boost the adoption rate of the digital yuan. The messaging giant’s decision to support the CBDC comes shortly after the central bank’s launch of the e-cny app that gives users in certain Chinese regions and cities access to the digital yuan. However, as the report in the Coinrivet notes, Wechat’s announcement, as well as the inclusion of Alibaba’s Alipay in the digital currency’s ecosystem, suggests that the e-cny app alone may not achieve the central bank...

PRESS RELEASE. Chicago, IL – 9th January, 2022 – Denjary Watru , the creator of the Game On NFT has dropped an NFT that is sure to become highly sought after by all those who know and understand Bitcoin, its implications for society going forward, and who have an appreciation for the value of digital art. According to Denjary, the inspiration for the Game On NFT happened during his routine treadmill workout and while talking on the phone to a friend, attempting to explain Bitcoin. Surrounded by sports themed pictures on the walls of the exercise area of his home, he had the thought of using a football metaphor to help his friend (who loves football) to better understand Bitcoin. At the end of the call, when the friend said the metaphor had really helped him to get it, Denjary went to his desk and began sketching some of the ideas expressed during the call. Eleven months later, after assembling a team of creatives, the Game On NFT was born. The artwork is titled Game On because...

The government in Turkey does not intend to impose a 40-percent levy on crypto-related gains as has been alleged, members of the ruling AKP party have indicated to the local press. They have also emphasized that the current regulatory efforts are aimed at creating a sustainable environment for the blockchain industry. Turkey to Establish Regulatory Base for Cryptocurrency Market A legislative proposal tailored to regulate cryptocurrency trade in Turkey is likely to be submitted to the parliament in the upcoming weeks. Sources from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the country’s ruling political force, have “strongly denied” allegations that authorities in Ankara are going to tax cryptocurrency gains at a rate of 40%, the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet reported. One of the AKP representatives, the deputy leader of the party’s parliamentary group Mustafa Elitaş, commented on social media last month that the new law will serve to regulate Turkey’s crypto system, while “preventing ...

Investors from Pakistan have become victims of a massive fraud using cryptocurrency. The country’s main law enforcement agency has issued a notice to crypto exchange Binance in relation to the scam which resulted in the loss of $100 million dollars for Pakistanis, media reports revealed. Fraudsters Lure Pakistanis to Invest in Cryptocurrency Through Binance Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency ( FIA ) has uncovered a crypto investment scam that has allegedly cost Pakistani citizens some 17.7 billion rupees (around $100 million). Providing details on the case, Imran Riaz, director of the FIA cybercrime wing, said on Friday that the organizers used cryptocurrency. Quoted by local media, Riaz announced: We launched a probe after receiving complaints regarding a fraud involving billions of rupees being committed using nine online applications. The fraudsters employed mobile apps offering Pakistanis crypto investment opportunities and people sent between $100 and $80,000, or an av...

Members of the U.S. Federal Reserve are getting criticized this week after the central bank published its minutes report from the policy meeting on December 14-15. Following the update, the outgoing vice chair of the Federal Reserve’s trading activities has reignited ethics conversations. Richard Clarida’s Trades Under Scrutiny The U.S. central bank can shake up markets and this was seen earlier this week when the Federal Reserve published last month’s policy meeting update which indicated the Fed’s plans to raise rates and cut back quantitive easing (QE). Not too long after, the New York Times (NYT) published a new disclosure report concerning the outgoing vice chair of the Federal Reserve, Richard Clarida. NYT author Jeanna Smialek wrote that “corrected disclosures show that Vice Chair Richard H. Clarida sold a stock fund, then swiftly repurchased it before a big Fed announcement.” The reporter further added that “Clarida, the departing vice chair of the Federal Reserve, failed...