Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has acquired a regulated derivatives trading platform. Coinbase plans to make the derivatives market more approachable to millions of its retail customers. Coinbase Plans to Offer Crypto Derivatives to All US Customers Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange operator Coinbase announced Wednesday that it has acquired Fairx, a regulated derivatives trading platform. Fairx is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a derivatives exchange or Designated Contract Market (DCM). “Through this acquisition, we plan to bring regulated crypto derivatives to market, initially through Fairx’s existing partner ecosystem,” Coinbase detailed. “Over time, we plan to leverage Fairx’s infrastructure to offer crypto derivatives to all Coinbase customers in the US.” The Nasdaq-listed company added: We want to make the derivatives market more approachable for our millions of retail customers by delivering an easy-to-use user experience that

The main finance industry association of Russia has urged authorities to reconsider a position against crypto investments in the nation’s financial market strategy. The organization insists that the crypto investments of Russians should be brought out of the “gray zone” instead of being banned. Finance Industry Body Urges Government to Regulate Operations With Crypto Assets The Russian National Financial Association (NFA) has issued a call to amend the country’s Strategy for Development of the Financial Market of the Russian Federation Until 2030 in the part concerning investments in cryptocurrencies, RIA Novosti and Prime reported, quoting the proposal. The NFA unites over 200 entities active in Russia’s financial market. The strategy now states that the Russian government and Bank of Russia will continue to oppose the use of “monetary surrogates,” a term often employed to describe decentralized digital currencies such as bitcoin. They carry high risks for citizens, according to

One of the hottest topics in the United States in 2022 is the rising inflation, as the U.S. Labor Department’s data published on Wednesday indicated that the consumer price index (CPI) rose to 7% in December. This represents the largest annual jump since 1982. Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard is set to tell congressional leaders today that the central bank is focused on battling inflation. Moreover, members of the Democratic party are concerned that the rising inflation may cost the Biden administration politically. CPI Rate Jumps to 7%, Wholesale Prices Spike 9.7% On January 11, 2022, the U.S. Labor Department published CPI data for the month of December and the metrics indicate that the U.S. inflation rate jumped 7% year-over-year (YoY) and last month was the third consecutive month over 6%. The rise is the highest jump the CPI has seen since June 1982 as inflation is making the cost of goods and services spike exponentially. Basically, the CPI is a measure of a basket of c

Following Mozilla’s decision to pause crypto donations due to environmental concerns, a number of Wikimedia Foundation community members have submitted a proposal that asks the foundation to stop accepting digital currency donations. The proposal explains that crypto donations “signals [an] endorsement of the cryptocurrency space,” and also says that “Cryptocurrencies may not align with the Wikimedia Foundation’s commitment to environmental sustainability.” Proposal Claims Cryptocurrencies May Not Align With the Wikimedia Foundation Members of the Wikimedia Foundation are voting on a proposal that could stop the foundation from accepting digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum. The U.S. non-profit started accepting crypto assets in 2019 via Bitpay. “We accept donations globally, and we strive to provide a large variety of donation options. It’s very important that we can get international donations processed in ways that are efficient and cost-effective,” Pats Pena, director o

A record high consumption of electricity blamed on illegal crypto farms in northwestern Georgia has caught the attention of authorities in the capital Tbilisi. The central government and the local utility are taking on the issue of dealing with power shortages in the mountainous region of Svaneti. With Tourism Hit by Pandemic, People in Georgia Turn to Crypto Mining on Cheap Energy The government of Georgia, a small nation in the Caucasus, has joined forces with the energy distribution company Energo-pro, to address the growing illegal use of electricity to mine cryptocurrencies in the Svaneti region. The move was announced by the country’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Natia Turnava, at a press conference this week. The extraordinarily high power consumption by mining farms in the area of the historic town of Mestia has been a hot topic for a whole month now, the Novosti-Georgia news agency reported. Svaneti has attracted miners with its low electricity rates i

PRESS RELEASE. Zug, Switzerland, 13 th January 2022: As part of its strategic business objective to become the leading gaming technology company, GAIMIN announces a plug-in and metaverse environment that enables blockchain technology and NFTs to be used within Minecraft. GAIMIN has developed a gaming and technology platform that delivers blockchain and NFT technology to gamers and game studios whilst providing a mechanism for gamers to passively generate rewards based on the processing power of their gaming PC. The GAIMIN platform incorporates a Windows-based software application to allow users/gamers to generate rewards whilst they play. GAIMIN’s “P2E 2.0″, the next evolution in play to earn (where you earn even when you are not playing!) platform utilises the processing power in a gamers high performance PC to access GAIMIN’s distributed data processing network and generate rewards for the gamer in the form of GAIMIN’s GMRX token. These rewards can be used to acquire in-game ass

On January 11, 2022, the Washington-based bitcoin mining operation Luxor announced the launch of a new application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) trading desk. According to the company, Luxor’s new trading desk will give miners and investors access to bitcoin ASIC mining rigs “at a fair market price.” NYDIG-Backed Mining Operation Luxor Reveals ASIC Trading Desk Service The bitcoin mining firm Luxor aims to purchase and sell bitcoin mining machines via the company’s new ASIC trading desk service. The press release published on Luxor’s web portal explains that the company “will purchase and sell specialized Bitcoin mining hardware on behalf of the Luxor team, miners and investors.” Luxor recently raised $5 million in a Series A led by the firm NYDIG in June 2021. Furthermore, the Luxor mining pool is the 12th largest mining pool at the time of writing on Wednesday, with 0.46 % of the global hashrate or 801.30 petahash per second (PH/s). Luxor’s ASIC trading desk announcement d

According to a recent interview, trial lawyer Kyle Roche from the legal firm Roche Freedman LLP has started a tech startup called Ryval that aims to be “the stock market of litigation financing.” The firm plans to launch during the first quarter and allow people to leverage tokens in order to wager on civil lawsuits. Ryval’s Initial Litigation Offering Concept The trial lawyer Kyle Roche was recently interviewed by the Vice author Maxwell Strachan as Roche’s new tech startup Ryval was showcased for its litigation tokenization concept. Ryval co-founder Roche told Strachan that “Ryval’s goal is to make access to justice more affordable.” Essentially, the Vice editorial discusses how Ryval will gamify the court system by decentralizing the barrier to access shares in multi-billion dollar court cases. “What we do is: tell the story, vet the legal claim, and then allow the public to invest and give you the funds to go and litigate your case,” Roche told Strachan. “And what does the pub

Franklin Noll, an academic and monetary historian, has asserted that crypto can be both a security and a currency. Pointing to the history of U.S. money, Noll argues that being both a currency and a security is, in fact, not contradictory. The ‘Infamous’ Continental Dollar Coins Franklin Noll, a U.S.-based monetary historian, has asserted that the history of the U.S. dollar over the years shows that being a currency and a security is not contradictory and that crypto can be both. The assertions by Noll, the president of Noll Historical Consulting, come as the debate over the status of cryptocurrencies continues to be a contentious and unresolved one. For instance, Bitcoin.com News recently reported on current U.S. SEC chair Gary Gensler’s comments on the subject. Yet in a short piece published to his blog recently, Noll starts by using the example of the continental dollar coins to support his assertions. According to the historian, these now “infamous” coins were an attempt “t

N26, a German online neobank, has announced it will get into the cryptocurrency trading business this year. The announcement was made by Max Tayenthal, co-founder and a CEO of the company, who pondered whether focusing on cryptocurrency instead of going global may have been a better idea. The company closed operations in the U.K. and is now exiting the U.S. N26 to Offer Cryptocurrency Services N26, a German online bank, has announced it will roll out cryptocurrency trading services for its customers this year. The co-founder of the bank, and one of its current CEOs, Max Tayenthal, made the recent announcement expressing the need to be a universal platform. Tayenthal also talked about oversights the bank may have made in ignoring cryptocurrencies last year. The executive told Financial Times: Should we have built trading and crypto instead of launching in the US? In hindsight, it might have been a smart idea. N26, a bank with more than 7 million customers as of January 2021, m

As Thailand prepares to impose a levy on crypto profits, parties on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns over the government’s current proposal. A number of political figures have insisted that important aspects need to be clarified in order to avoid double taxation of income related to cryptocurrencies. Thai Politicians Warn About Negative Effects of Crypto Tax Representatives of parties from various corners of the political spectrum in Thailand have shared their disagreements with the government’s plan to tax gains from cryptocurrencies. The reactions come after recent reports revealed that the Finance Ministry in Bangkok intends to introduce a 15% levy on profits from crypto investments and trading. On Monday, the Revenue Department announced it will finalize the details of the tax by the end of January. Cryptocurrency miners, dealers, and investors will be affected if the proposal is passed into law, the Thai Enquirer writes in an article on Wednesday. Traders wil

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PRESS RELEASE. As Panther pushes towards the decentralization of our protocol from Day 1 with LaunchDAO, the first-ever private and decentralized project launch, the team has unveiled a new, exciting partnership. Panther Protocol is partnering with ShapeShift, a household name of the crypto industry. ShapeShift has taken brave steps in the recent past, moving from an exchange aggregator to a complete crypto management platform, as well as announcing its full decentralization. The integration between ShapeShift and Panther will enable the advancement of privacy and data protection for users of DeFi. ShapeShift, through its APIs, digital assets and platforms, is a valuable pillar of the Decentralized Finance ecosystem, and will leverage Panther to achieve the maximum level of consumer protection, efficiency and privacy. Both teams will collaborate on research, deployment of privacy tools, and for ShapeShift users to participate in Panther’s staking program and governance. The techni

Strike, a bitcoin-based wallet and exchange service, has landed in Argentina, bringing USDT integration to users in the country. Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike, explained that his objective for bringing the app to the country has to do with providing a platform for Argentinians to hold a stable value in cash. This value will be held in the form of USDT , with no option for storing bitcoin, at least at launch. Strike Brings Stablecoin Integration to Argentinians Strike, a popular bitcoin-based wallet, has launched in Argentina, bringing a new way for Argentinians to store their savings via stablecoins. The announcement of this development was made by Strike CEO Jack Mallers, who explained that due to the financial woes the citizens of the country are experiencing, there is a migration to foreign currencies such as the dollar. Mallers stated: There is now unprecedented demand for an open monetary system that lives within a distributed network, has a known monetary policy, a fixed sup

A recent letter published to the Bitcoin developers mailing list written by Square founder Jack Dorsey indicates that a legal defense fund has been created for open source developers in order to protect them “from lawsuits regarding their activities in the Bitcoin ecosystem.” Dorsey’s letter is also signed by Alex Morcos of Chaincode Labs and Martin White, the co-founder of Hudson River Trading. Jack Dorsey’s Open Letter to the Bitcoin Developers Mailing List Reveals Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund According to an open letter from Jack Dorsey , Alex Morcos, and Martin White, “the Bitcoin community is currently the subject of multi-front litigation.” While the letter does not specifically detail any of the legal cases developers are dealing with, it mentions that “individual defendants have chosen to capitulate in the absence of legal support.” However, the letter does hint at the Tulip Trading lawsuit, which involves Craig Wright , the Australian who claims he is Satoshi Nakamoto and t

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. are facing a class-action lawsuit over their promotion of Ethereummax and the EMAX cryptocurrency token. The celebrities’ “improper promotional activities generated the trading volume needed for all the defendants to offload their EMAX tokens onto unsuspecting investors,” the lawsuit alleges. Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Sued Over Crypto Promotion Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have been sued over their promotion of a cryptocurrency token. The class action lawsuit, filed by New York resident Ryan Huegerich on Jan. 7, alleges that Kardashian and Mayweather misled investors in their promotion of Ethereummax and the EMAX crypto token. Other defendants include Ethereummax, its co-founders and creators Steve Gentile and Giovanni Perone, the project’s consultant and developer Justin French, and promoter Paul Pierce. Huegerich bought EMAX tokens and lost money. The class action covers anyone who bou

A new non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace called Looksrare has surpassed Opensea in terms of daily volume on Wednesday. Statistics show 3,264 Looksrare traders have executed $385.39 million in sales during the last day, as the marketplace has seen a 1,461% increase in daily volume. Looksrare NFT Market Captures Number 1 Position in Terms of Daily NFT Volume There’s a new Ethereum-based NFT marketplace called Looksrare and during the last day, it has surpassed Opensea in 24-hour volume. Of course, Opensea is the largest NFT marketplace in terms of all-time volume with $14.68 billion in total sales. The NFT marketplace Looksrare is new and hasn’t processed billions of dollars in sales. 24-hour statistics show, however, Looksrare’s daily volume and hourly volume has surpassed Opensea’s sales on January 12, 2022. Looksrare has seen $385.39 million in sales among 3,241 traders, which is lower than Opensea’s 59,500 traders on Wednesday. Opensea’s 24-hour volume was $109.78 million in

The growth of the cryptocurrency industry has raised many concerns. They range from security and scalability, on-boarding newbies, trust-less custody and order matching on exchanges to overall user experience, and to achieve mass adoption of cryptocurrency, there’s a need for third generational exchanges to resolve these issues. Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology keeps evolving and changing to suit users’ needs. Decentralized exchanges are revolutionary and essential parts of this evolution, offering users privacy, security, and sovereignty over their crypto assets. However, any active DeFi user must have experienced the following drawbacks while using a DEX: Slow transaction speed; Insufficient volumes; Expensive gas fees; Low liquidity; Poor user experience; Manually executing your trades. Although these drawbacks are felt both by experienced traders and newbies alike, newbies are mostly affected as they are forced to educate themselves on market conditions and mak

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