Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Authorized crypto mining businesses have already taken a third of their coin minting hardware out of Kazakhstan, according to the country’s mining association. The news comes amid electricity shortages and upcoming tax hikes that are turning miners away from the Central Asian nation. Bitcoin Miners Start Pulling Machines Out of Kazakhstan Companies, legally operating mining facilities in Kazakhstan, have already relocated around 30% of their mining equipment elsewhere. The President of the National Association of Blockchain and Data Center Industry of Kazakhstan Alan Dorjiyev told Forklog about the migration. The executive noted that miners have been influenced by the persisting issues with energy supply and an expected tax increase. His organization represents major companies involved in the extraction of digital currencies accounting for 70% of Kazakhstan’s crypto mining sector. The report quotes legislative documents indicating that Kazakhstan’s parliament prepares to impose o

On Wednesday, global markets have been volatile as Ukraine officials declared a state of emergency amid fears of a Russian invasion. Wall Street’s top indexes shuddered during the day’s trading sessions, and cryptocurrency markets slipped more than 4% during the 24 hour period. On the other hand, the price of gold has jumped 1.47% during the last four days, surging to $1,925 per ounce. Global Investors Are Concerned About the relations Between Russia and Ukraine, Wall Street Continues to See Sell-Offs While the globe grows tense over the ongoing issues between Russia and Ukraine, stock markets on Wednesday continued to bleed out more money. According to the U.S. State Department, Russia is not backing down and Ukraine officials have declared a state of emergency. Speaking to the press, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the Russian military is ready to advance. “Russian forces continue to assemble closer to the border and put themselves in an advanced stage of readiness to act

The Stock Exchange of Thailand is getting ready to launch a digital asset exchange. The president of the Thai bourse expects the country’s crypto regulator, the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to approve the launch “very soon.” Stock Exchange of Thailand Prepares to Launch a Digital Asset Exchange The president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), Dr. Pakorn Peetathawatchai, discussed the SET’s upcoming digital asset exchange in an interview with Bloomberg, published Sunday. He explained: We expect that our regulator, the SEC, will give an approval very soon, and we hope that we can start operation in the second or third quarter this year. In Thailand, the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is responsible for licensing entities wanting to offer crypto services, including crypto exchanges. The president of the Thai stock exchange detailed: “For our digital asset exchange, we would concentrate on investment tokens and utility tokens — those are

U.S. Senator Rand Paul says “statutes that allow presidents or heads of state to invoke emergencies are very, very dangerous.” Commenting on Canada’s Emergencies Act invoked by the Trudeau government, the senator warned, “We have the same sort of statutes here.” Senator Rand Paul Warns of Emergency Act in the US U.S. Senator Rand Paul warned of statutes in the U.S. similar to the Emergencies Act invoked by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week during an episode of the Based Politics podcast that aired Sunday. “I think statutes that allow presidents or heads of state to invoke emergencies are very, very dangerous,” Paul stressed, adding: We have the same sort of statutes here, and I have long-time been an opponent of these. We actually have in the United States an Emergency Act that allows the president to shut down the internet. “I tried, when President Trump was in office, to take this power away,” he noted. However, “I could never get it through,” Paul conceded.

A group of EU nations have reportedly been lobbying to entrust oversight of the crypto space to a new anti-money laundering (AML) agency. Behind the move are concerns that companies dealing with digital assets can be engaged in the processing of illicit funds. Germany Leads Push to Place Crypto Firms Under EU Anti-Money Laundering Supervision Several EU member states, led by Germany, have been urging the European Union to grant a planned anti-money laundering ( AML ) watchdog powers to oversee businesses in the crypto sector. Quoting knowledgeable sources, Bloomberg revealed these nations fear cryptocurrency companies can be used to process illegally obtained funds. EU authorities, such as the European Commission ( EC ), are now negotiating over the design of the regulatory body, expected to launch in 2024 and expand its operations in the next two years. Said group is seeking to ensure a more explicit inclusion of crypto firms in the watchdog’s responsibilities, according to an EU

FTX, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has announced it will enter the gaming field. The company revealed it is launching its own gaming unit to focus on lending crypto services to gaming companies, acting as a middleman. This means that the exchange will support other companies launching tokens and offering NFTs via its platform. FTX Gets Into Gaming FTX, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, is branching out into gaming. The company will reportedly launch a gaming unit that will be focused on offering crypto-related services to traditional gaming companies. This would allow gaming companies to focus on development, leaving token launches and NFT commercialization to FTX. The company began hiring positions this month, seeking programmers with experience using Unity, a popular game engine. An FTX spokesperson commented on the issue, stating: We are launching FTX Gaming because we see games as an exciting use case for crypto. There are 2 billion+ gamers in the world who h

Authorities in Kazakhstan have gone after illegal crypto mining operations amid ongoing issues with electricity supply. Working together with law enforcement, the country’s energy ministry announced the closure of over a dozen facilities minting digital currencies. Government Shuts Down Unauthorized Crypto Mining Operations Across Kazakhstan Local departments of the Committee for Atomic and Energy Supervision of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy have carried out a number of inspections to identify illegal coin mining operations in the country, the department said . Members of the country’s law enforcement and other government agencies also took part in the joint checks. “As a result of the inspections over the past 5 days, mobile groups have identified and stopped 13 mining farms with a total consumption of 202 MW,” the ministry stated in a press release. The closed-down facilities are located in different regions of the Central Asian nation. In the Karaganda region, authorities fou

NFTs have emerged as the biggest trend on the blockchain industry due to their massive popularity with mainstream users. This novelty form of digital assets have enabled artists and creators to mint and monetize their creations without going through complex processes associated with traditional platforms. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the NFT trade volume increased nearly three-fold from $2.67 billion in December 2021 to $6.86 billion in January 2022, according to data from The Block Research . Adoption by social media platforms Twitter, Reddit and Meta, have also accelerated the growth of NFTs. As a result, the demand for social media NFT avatars is at its peak, and Novatar, an innovative NFT project, offers a solution for everyone to own their NFTs. Own your digital avatar Novatars is a unique project that enables users to own digital avatars that can be deployed on social media, play-to-earn protocols and Metaverses. Unlike other NFT platforms, the Novatars enables users

El Salvador’s tourism has grown more than 30% after adopting bitcoin as legal tender, according to the country’s ministry of tourism. “Cryptocurrency multiplies the opportunities to do business with more partners anywhere in the world,” the Salvadoran government explained. El Salvador’s Economy Boosted by Bitcoin Law The Salvadoran government has outlined some economic benefits resulting from adopting bitcoin as legal tender. The country’s bitcoin law went into effect in September last year, making BTC a national currency alongside the U.S. dollar. A notice posted on the government website Monday explains that during the first months of bitcoin being legal tender in El Salvador, “it was possible to identify the advantages of having added innovation and financial freedom.” The notice adds that tourism was one of the first sectors where it was possible to verify how bitcoin has helped the country’s economy. The head of the Ministry of Tourism (MITUR), Morena Valdez, commented: “The

The creator of Ruby on Rails says the situation in Canada is “terrifying” and “a real wakeup call.” He admits that he was wrong about bitcoin and cryptocurrency. “A few months ago, I would not have found it credible if you said a three-week peaceful protest in Canada could have led to martial law, frozen bank accounts, and terrorist-financing laws being used to hunt protest donors,” he stressed. ‘I Was Wrong, We Need Crypto’ The creator of Ruby on Rails, David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH), has admitted that he was wrong about bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Ruby on Rails, or Rails, is a server-side web application framework written in Ruby under the MIT License. Hansson, a Danish programmer, is also a partner at the web-based software development firm Basecamp. Hansson outlined why he changed his mind about bitcoin and crypto in an opinion piece titled “I was wrong, we need crypto,” published Monday. “To say I’ve been skeptical about Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto universe would be a

On Tuesday, the Solana-based non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden announced the project is airdropping NFT tickets to existing Magic Eden users and plans to form a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). On February 21, the Magic Eden project airdropped around 4,000 NFTs to active wallets, and the following day the team announced the DAO roadmap. The Magic Ticket Airdrop and DAO According to the developers of the Solana -based Magic Eden NFT marketplace, a DAO is in the making and the fundamentals behind the change. The team detailed that it started distributing thousands of NFTs to active wallets. Magic Eden (ME) developers created three levels of “Magic Tickets,” which includes “OGs – people who first transacted on ME from Sep 17 – Oct 17,” “Degens – people who first transacted on ME between Oct 18 – Dec 18,” and “Normies – people who first transacted on ME Dec 19 onwards.” The Magic DAO has three fundamentals which include: A mission and set of rules to which

Chinese authorities continue to crackdown against bitcoin miners after they seized 49 second-hand Bitmain ASIC Antminers from unnamed individuals that recently attempted to smuggle in the devices using falsified documents. Devices to Be Disposed of in Accordance With Regulations Huangpu Customs of China’s Guangdong Province has said it seized 49 used bitcoin ( BTC ) miners from an unnamed party that was attempting to smuggle the devices into the country. Local reports say the old machines will be disposed of in accordance with local regulations. According to a report published on Monday, the alleged smugglers had used false information in their export documents. However, upon inspection, authorities discovered the consignment was not comprised of shoe materials, as stated in the “export document,” the report said. Instead, the consignment consisted of what some reports say are old ASIC miners. This latest seizure of the mining devices by Chinese authorities comes as the country c

The U.K. police have returned over $5.4 million to victims of an international cryptocurrency scam. The police say that almost $10 million more will be returned to victims. So far, 127 more people have filed a claim to recoup their investments. Police Return Funds to Crypto Scam Victims The U.K.’s Greater Manchester Police (GMP) announced Friday that about $5.4 million of the funds seized from an international cryptocurrency scam rumbled by its police officers in July last year have been returned to rightful owners. The announcement details: Over four million pounds have been returned to 23 verified victims and another 127 reported claims are currently being investigated by officers alongside partners in international law enforcement across the globe. The police noted, “another seven million pounds to be returned to rightful owners.” However, the announcement does not specify whether the victims will receive cryptocurrency or fiat currency from the police. “A sum of $22.25 mil

PRESS RELEASE. DeFi ecosystem Alium Finance , which combines a native multi-chain decentralized exchange and NFT marketplace, announced a massive airdrop in honor of listing on the MEXC cryptocurrency exchange . In order to participate in the free token giveaway, MX token holders must stake coins, and then they will receive the right to vote and can become one of the winners of the Alium Finance airdrop. Recipients of ALM tokens will be selected randomly, depending on the size of the balance of MX coins in the Spot Wallet. “Partnership with such a large cryptocurrency exchange as MEXC, which today serves more than 6 million users from all over the world, is an important event for our company. We plan to expand our interaction in the future and launch new joint initiatives for the community,” commented Denis Denisov, CEO of Alium Finance. Voting with MX tokens will start on Tuesday, February 22, and will last from 02:00 to 10:50 (UTC). Airdrop winners will receive rewards in ALM tok

Indian police have arrested 11 people so far in connection with a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme that has duped about 2,000 investors out of $5.4 million. 11 People Arrested so Far in Cryptocurrency Scam in India Indian police have cracked down on a cryptocurrency investment scheme that has duped over 2,000 investors out of 40 crore rupees ($5.4 million). The number of arrests reached 11, seven of whom were arrested on Sunday in Maharashtra’s Nagpur, according to PTI. The main accused, Nishid Wasnik, and his wife Pragati, along with two other associates, Gajanan Mungune and Sandesh Lanjewar, were arrested one day prior in Pune. They went into hiding in March last year and had been on a run until they were arrested Saturday, the police said. An official described that Wasnik used to flaunt his luxurious lifestyle to lure people to invest in a firm he claimed to be dealing in ether ( ETH ) cryptocurrency. The official was quoted as saying: He manipulated the website of the firm

The co-founder of crypto exchange Huobi has shared his view about the current state of the bitcoin market and when the next bull run will be. “We are now at the early stage of a bear market,” he said, expecting the next bitcoin bull market to be around the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. Huobi’s Executive on the Next Bitcoin Bull Market Du Jun, co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, discussed when the next bitcoin bull market might be in an interview with CNBC, published Sunday. The exchange executive explained that bitcoin bull markets are closely tied to the halving, which occurs every 210,000 blocks or approximately every 4 years. The next one will take place in 2024. He detailed that the last halving took place in May 2020, and bitcoin topped an all-time high above $68,000 in 2021. Similarly, the halving that took place in 2016 saw BTC hitting a record high the following year. The price of bitcoin then tumbled after hitting record highs. Noting that bitcoin has f

PRESS RELEASE. London, England, Feb 21st, 2022 – Earn Guild, a next-gen guild system for play-to-earn gaming, will be conducting its public sale tomorrow, February 22, at 2:00 pm UTC on the PancakeSwap exchange. Shortly after the Initial Decentralized Offering (IDO), the $EARN token will be listed on three major exchanges. The project has successfully closed its early sales rounds, with a total investment of $8.1 million, and is firmly backed by a long list of renowned partners and venture capital (VC) firms. However, the token sale still presents an excellent opportunity for Earn Guild to expand and further its exposure, as PancakeSwap is the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) of the popular Binance Smart Chain (BSC) ecosystem. What is Earn Guild? Designed for the play-to-earn market, Earn Guild offers all the tools needed to transform gaming into more than just a hobby. Through Earn Guild, players will have a fair chance to participate in most play-to-earn games and effi

The American streaming television service Sling TV has announced the company is now accepting cryptocurrency payments from customers paying their monthly subscriptions. Sling TV detailed the company is leveraging the crypto payment provider Bitpay and will accept seven different cryptocurrencies and five stablecoins. Sling TV to Accept Crypto Assets for Monthly subscription Services Sling TV LLC , has revealed that it has partnered with the Atlanta-based cryptocurrency payments provider Bitpay and will accept a variety of crypto assets for monthly subscription payments. Sling is a streaming television service provider that offers a selection of channels competing cable providers do not. The company is a subsidiary of Dish Network, the direct-broadcast satellite provider that also accepts crypto payments for subscription services. Data from cordcuttersnews.com indicates that Sling surpassed 2.55 million subscribers in September 2021. By offering over-the-top (OTT)-originated ser

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a new medium of artistic expression that gives artists the freedom and the ability to reach a diverse audience, Saudi Princess Reem Al Faisal has said. Decentralized Art According to the Saudi Arabian princess, Reem Al Faisal, NFTs are a natural evolution of art that gives artists the freedom to reach different races, cultures and places. Al Faisal also asserts that NFTs have done what decentralized finance (defi) has done to finance — they have “decentralized art.” The Saudi princess’ comments about artists’ adoption or growing use of NFTs follow recent reports that she had launched her first NFT as well as the first virtual exposition of Saudi NFTs. Also, prior to launching the NFTs, Al Faisal, a photographer for more than 30 years, had sold her works on the NFT marketplace, Opensea. Remarking on the reaction to her own NFT launch, the Saudi princess said she is surprised that people still fail to see NFTs as a new way of exhibiting art. She said:

PRESS RELEASE. On February 17th, 2022, Hoo announced the completion of the first-stage token-repurchase plan on HOO Token with a cumulative total of 423,982.18 HOO repurchased from the secondary market. From January 2022, Hoo had imposed the strategic plan on generating 30% of the income revenue from spot trading (Spot Zone + Innovation Zone) of Hoo Exchange for enhancing the liquidity of the AMM pool. 15% of the income revenue would be used to repurchase HOO from the secondary market, and all the repurchased HOO would be placed into AMM liquidity pool. The remaining 15% income revenue would also be transferred to the AMM liquidity pool for optimizing the depth and activation of the secondary market continuously. According to the announcement, Hoo’s accumulated spot transaction income is 3,385,520 USDT in January 2022. Thus, 1,015,656 USDT will be imposed into token-repurchase agreement, and half of which will be used to repurchase HOO from the secondary market and the remaining

Following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charging the crypto lending platform Blockfi with failing to register its retail crypto lending product and fining the firm $100 million, the crypto lender Nexo has announced it will no longer allow U.S. citizens to earn interest on new savings wallet top-ups. However, Nexo customers from the U.S. will continue to earn interest on their current savings wallet balances held prior to the announcement. Nexo ‘Reveals Big Savings News for US Customers’ Last week, the SEC cracked down on the crypto lending platform Blockfi and the company was fined $100 million in penalties. The news followed several regulators from a myriad of states like New Jersey , Kentucky , Texas, Alabama , and Vermont giving warnings to Blockfi about the firm’s interest-bearing accounts. Some states issued cease and desist orders and the company had to stop offering Blockfi Interest Accounts (BIAs) by a certain date. After Blockfi’s penalties were hand

Global Investment bank JPMorgan says, “The metaverse will likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with the market opportunity estimated at over $1 trillion in yearly revenues.” The firm has set up a lounge in Decentraland. JPMorgan on the Metaverse Global Investment bank JPMorgan recently published a report titled “Opportunities in the metaverse.” The report is authored by Christine Moy and Adit Gadgil. Moy is the global head of Liink, Crypto & the Metaverse at Onyx by J.P. Morgan. Gadgil is the head of e-commerce solutions at J.P. Morgan Payments. The JPMorgan report details: The metaverse will likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with the market opportunity estimated at over $1 trillion in yearly revenues. The report cites research by Grayscale Investments which states: “The metaverse is estimated to be a trillion-dollar revenue opportunity across advertising, social commerce, digital events, hardware, and developer/creat

The third-richest billionaire in Mexico, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, advises to buy bitcoin, keep buying while the price is still low, and hold the crypto without thinking of selling. “Trust me, you’re going to thank me later,” he affirmed. Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s Bitcoin Advice Mexico’s third-richest billionaire, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, gave some advice Saturday about investing in bitcoin. Salinas is the founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas, a group of companies with interests in telecommunications, media, financial services, and retail stores. According to Forbes’ list of billionaires, his net worth is currently more than $13 billion. The billionaire tweeted Saturday urging his Twitter followers to buy bitcoin and keep buying while the price of BTC is still low. His tweet reads: You have to buy bitcoin (keep buying when the price is low), then just hold your BTC , forget about selling … Trust me you’re going to thank me later. Bitcoin has fallen more than 40% sinc

U.S. President Joe Biden is reportedly expected to issue an executive order on cryptocurrency this week. It will direct a wide range of government agencies to come up with a government-wide strategy to regulate crypto assets. Executive Order on Crypto Expected This Week U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to issue an executive order on cryptocurrency this week, an administration official familiar with the matter reportedly told Yahoo Finance. The news of the Biden administration preparing an executive order on crypto was first reported in January. The executive order will direct a wide range of government agencies to study cryptocurrency and central bank digital currency (CBDC), and come up with a government-wide strategy to regulate crypto assets, the publication conveyed. Various government agencies will be asked to produce a report on the future of money and payment systems, including the Departments of the Treasury, State, Justice, and Homeland Security. The Financial Stabi

A new report issued by LAVCA, the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America, has found that the venture capital (VC) investment in the region has grown immensely compared to the previous year’s numbers. In general, the region registered investments of more than $15 billion, more than three times the amount registered in 2020. However, crypto and blockchain investments grew almost tenfold. Crypto Outpaces Conventional VC Investments in Latam A new report issued by LAVCA, the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America, details the growth of the venture capital (VC) movement in the region and highlights the interest that these companies took in crypto in 2021. The report found that the region experienced notable growth when it comes to venture capital investments, more than tripling the numbers registered the previous year. In 2020, LAVCA registered $4.14 billion in VC investments, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, this influx reac

Over the last week, there’s been a lot of discussion about Canada ‘freezing’ digital currency accounts that are associated with the Canadian trucker’s Freedom Convoy. Amid the topical conversation, it should be stressed that decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, cannot be frozen directly within the network. However, the Canadian government can flag specific digital currency addresses and take it even further, by asking centralized entities like crypto exchanges and payment processors to freeze the funds. Canadian Officials Can Flag Crypto Addresses and Threaten Exchanges, but They Can’t ‘Freeze Bitcoin’ Last week, the Canadian government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the country’s Emergencies Act and enacted Canada’s terrorist financing policy in order to blanket cryptocurrencies donations. Trudeau and the government did this to quell the protesters occupying the streets of Ottawa. The Canadian government managed to get Gofundme to shut down the Fr