Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

On April 6, one of the largest cryptocurrency payment platforms in the world, Bitpay, announced the Atlanta-based company has integrated bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network. According to the announcement on Wednesday, the youth-focused American retail clothing brand Pacific Sunwear (Pacsun) will be the first merchant to leverage Bitpay to accept Lightning Network payments. Payment Platform Bitpay Adds Lightning Network Support, Pacsun Accepts Lightning Payments Bitpay is now allowing bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network (LN) in order to allow bitcoin users to pay using the crypto asset’s second layer network. Before adding LN payments, Bitpay accepted bitcoin ( BTC ) via onchain, alongside bitcoin cash, ethereum, wrapped bitcoin, shiba inu, xrp, and a slew of stablecoins. Bitpay says users and merchants can now utilize the LN payment rail with wallets like Cashapp and Strike. “Consumers now have a low-cost alternative when paying with Bitcoin at a Bitpay-enabled mercha...

PRESS RELEASE. Venture capitalists, founders, and eminent crypto investors graced the event to meet and connect. While the event was insightful, it was also a moment of unwinding for the attendees after weeks of back-to-back cryptocurrency and blockchain summits in Dubai. The host, Patrick Aljord, opened the floor for the speaker Ryan Coordinator, the Head of Operations at Developer DAO, to speak on “Onboarding New People to Web3 and Building Public Goods.” Ryan says that Developer DAO’s mission is to onboard more web3 builders by educating and supporting them. He also stated that it aims to foster and build Web3 tools and public goods, bringing transparency, diversity, and inclusion through its open-source and self-governed mechanism. The second speaker, Anton Permenev, Co-Founder of ChainSecurity, touched on “Network Bridge Security.” He mentioned that he and his team are building trust within the blockchain ecosystem to allow the emerging technology to reach its potential among...

An Indian parliament member says crypto is like gambling and must be taxed at a very high rate, such as 50%. “We need to discourage and disincentivize” trading and investing in the asset class, he stressed. Indian Parliament Member Wants to Tax Crypto at 50% Indian parliament member Sushil Kumar Modi shared his view on cryptocurrency in an interview with Forkast, published Tuesday. Modi is a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament. He recently made headlines when he urged the Indian government to impose more than 30% tax on crypto income prior to Rajya Sabha passing Finance Bill 2022. He told the publication that the Indian government should tax crypto income as much as 50%. Modi explained: The government has not said in so many words … that crypto is like gambling. It is like lottery, it is like a casino, it is like horse racing … and in all these things the tax rates are very high. Besides wanting to tax crypto income at 50%, Modi also suggested levying...

The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has warned that crypto creates an “opportunity for the downright criminal.” The central bank chief described: “You only have to ask the question ‘What do people committing ransom attacks usually demand payment in?’ The answer is crypto.” Bank of England’s Governor Warns About Cryptocurrency Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey talked about cryptocurrency Monday at a “Stop Scams” conference organized by the central bank. Bailey said cryptocurrencies are the new “front line” in criminal scams, stressing that crypto created an “opportunity for the downright criminal.” He described: You only have to ask the question ‘What do people committing ransom attacks usually demand payment in?’ The answer is crypto. Bailey urged banks, tech companies, and government institutions to work with the Bank of England to tackle scams targeting consumers, which he acknowledged is a job that “will never be done.” The central bank governor ...

PRESS RELEASE. Heroes of Arcan aims to create a play-to-earn game that offers players engaging, challenging peer-to-peer strategic gameplay backed by ethical, carbon-neutral blockchain technology. The play-to-earn revolution has catalyzed global change in blockchain and cryptocurrency markets, with over 750,000 individual blockchain wallets now participating in play-to-earn and NFT-based games on a daily basis . With over $4 billion USD invested in play-to-earn games by Venture Capital over the course of 2021, blockchain-based games that allow players to earn real-world currency by playing to earn NFT-based in games items are becoming the new standard of gaming. Play-to-earn games are empowering gamers with the ability to capitalize on the time and effort they spend in virtual worlds. The vast majority of play-to-earn games, however, are limited in scope and largely PvE, or player versus environment, rather than placing players in direct competition with one another. Heroes of Ar...

Sberbank, the largest bank in the Russian Federation, has denied connection to a new cryptocurrency called “sbercoin.” The project is offering high returns to buyers of the token, which was launched shortly after Bank of Russia allowed Sberbank to issue digital currencies. Sbercoin Traded on Pancakeswap Exchange, Not Issued by Sberbank A crypto project called Sbercoin.Finance has been promising investors up to 383,025.80% fixed annual percentage yield (APY) on the money they put into a token allegedly linked to Sberbank, Russia’s majority state-owned and largest banking institution. “Sbercoin,” advertised as the “world’s first auto staking & USDT rewards token,” was listed on the decentralized exchange Pancakeswap last month and has since lost most of its value. According to Coinmarketcap, it’s currently trading at $0.00006674 per coin. The SBER token was launched on March 17, the day the Central Bank of Russia ( CBR ) authorized Sberbank to issue digital financial assets, a...

The German multinational corporation that crafts athletic shoes, sportswear, and accessories, Adidas announced on Tuesday the company is collaborating with Ready Player Me, a cross-game avatar platform for the metaverse. Adidas and Ready Player Me will launch a personality based AI generated avatar creation platform featuring the Adidas Originals’ Ozworld shoe collection. Adidas Collaborates With Ready Player Me Adidas is continuing its path into the metaverse and non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles as the firm announced it has partnered with Ready Player Me on Tuesday. Basically, Ready Player Me is a cross-application avatar platform designed specifically for the metaverse. Ready Player Me’s technology allows people to explore different virtual metaverse worlds with a single identity. The platform Adidas Originals is launching is linked to the company’s latest Ozworld shoe release. The futuristic sneakers bearing the name Ozworld were originally launched in the nineties and fe...

EverLend.app is a secured lending protocol powered by Everscale . The platform was successfully launched on the 18th of March, 2022 together with its own utility token. The platform facilitates DeFi lending by hosting funding pools with interest rates based on Everscale’s asset supply and demand algorithm. EverLend.app is a protocol where users can play the role of provider, borrower, or both, and interact with each other within the protocol to earn or pay flexible interest rates. At its core, it is a secured lending platform that charges interest on the use of funds. The platform has been in development for more than 6 months by the SVOI.dev team. Conceptually, EverLend was modeled on the market-leading Compound protocol . One of the goals in creating the project was providing end users with a simple and clear lending platform that would be comfortable to use. At the same time, the development team, together with the advisory team, revised some parameters of the original mo...

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has asked SEC staff to collaborate with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to develop a new plan to regulate cryptocurrency trading platforms. SEC Wants to Work With CFTC on Regulating Crypto Exchanges The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, talked about the regulation of cryptocurrency Monday at an event hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. “The SEC’s remit is overseeing the capital markets,” the SEC chief began, adding that the agency has a “three-part mission: protecting investors, facilitating capital formation, and maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets.” Noting that the SEC is concerned about regulating crypto “platforms, stablecoins, and crypto tokens,” Gensler stressed: There’s no reason to treat the crypto market differently just because different technology is used. We should be technology-neutral. The ...

The Ecuadorian Police and the prosecution of Ecuador have raided several locations linked to Fortunario Digital Assets, a company that was allegedly making illegal collections of money related to forex and cryptocurrency business. The operation also encompassed the seizure of more than $7 million from the accounts of the Ecuadorian company. Ecuadorian Police Raid Fortunario Digital Assets The Ecuadorian police and the prosecution were the main actors in an operation against a company that was allegedly making illegal collections of money. On April 2, these two organizations carried out a joint operation leading to the raid of five locations linked to the aforementioned company in Quito, the capital of the country. According to a preliminary investigation, the company scammed investors through a network of companies that offered investment services on financial platforms. The company supposedly offered operations in forex and cryptocurrency markets and offered a minimum monthly ret...

EverRise , the blockchain technology company that brought the buyback to crypto, has upgraded to a new smart contract that supports VeNomics (vote escrowed token model) and on-chain utility NFTs. The upgraded EverRise protocol introduces increased security features and an innovative staking platform built with on-chain utility NFTs. The RISE token is available on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Fantom, and Avalanche with one shared supply, made possible with EverRise’s bridging solution, EverBridge. With use of on-chain NFTs, staking contracts are now fully secured on the blockchain. Most NFTs today are stored off-chain on a centralized server, with just a serial number and redirect link on the blockchain. These on-server NFTs can be changed in the future by the contract deployer. EverRise makes full use of the public ledger and the immutability of smart contracts by securing all information needed to generate NFT Stakes via The EverRise NFT Staking Lab . Both the metadata and the i...

The bitcoin mining startup Primeblock has announced plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal. Primeblock will merge with a blank-check firm 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. II, and the company’s shares will be listed on Nasdaq. Primeblock Reveals SPAC Merger With Plans to Be Listed on Nasdaq in the Second Half of 2022 — SEC Targets SPACs, Shell Companies, and Projections Another bitcoin mining firm is going public and will be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Primeblock revealed a SPAC merger with 10X Capital and the merger should be complete by the end of Q2 2022. Primeblock will join a number of mining operations that have already gone public. Companies such as Riot Blockchain and Marathon Digital Holdings are listed on Nasdaq. The deal with 10X Capital, will bring Primeblock’s overall valuation including debt up to $1.25 billion. The company further explained during the SPAC merger announcement that it had secured $300 million in equit...

The UIAF, which is the Colombian money laundering watchdog, has postponed the date on which exchanges and individuals must start reporting their transactions to the organization. The institution will now open a consulting period in which companies and individuals can present their thoughts regarding the proposed regulation, which might be modified before its application on June 1st. Colombian Watchdog Delays Report Resolution for Transactions The UIAF, the organization that controls and detects money-laundering and terrorism-financing activities in Colombia, has delayed a resolution that established the obligation for exchanges and individuals to report some cryptocurrency transactions. The Colombian unit will start receiving these reports on June 1, instead of when it was established before, on April 1. The exact reasons behind the delay were not specified in the document, but the new resolution that establishes the postponement states: In order to ensure that the submission of...

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has added more cities to test its digital currency. According to the latest official data, the digital yuan has more than 261 million users. PBOC Adds More Cities to Test Its CBDC The Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said Saturday that it is adding more pilot cities to test its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan (e-CNY). The new pilot cities are Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and six cities in the Zhejiang province that will host the 2022 Asian Games in September. The six cities are Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, and Huzhou. The digital yuan is already being tested in 10 major cities: Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou, Xiong’an, Chengdu, Hainan, Changsha, Xi’an, Qingdao, and Dalian. It was also tested at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Commenting on its digital currency, the Chinese central bank stated: Policies must be designed to stimulate creativity and enthus...

PRESS RELEASE. The leading virtual currency exchange, Bitcoin of America, is announcing its return to BTC 2022 in Miami. Bitcoin of America made headlines last year at Bitcoin 2021 for promoting females in the cryptocurrency space. This year the company is back and bringing even more of its female team, including its top women executives. The company has been vocal about making cryptocurrency inclusive to women and getting more females into the industry. Mayor Francis Suarez has become a staple in the cryptocurrency space with his immense support of Bitcoin and its importance in the emerging tech hub, Miami. Suarez spoke last year at the Bitcoin 2021 conference. This year, he is welcoming the all-women team from Bitcoin of America. “I am excited that Miami is hosting the largest Bitcoin conference for the second year. We don’t see very often promoting women in the cryptocurrency industry, and it’s refreshing to see a top operator like Bitcoin of America sending its all-female exec...

Coinbase is focusing on growing the crypto and Web3 ecosystem in India. “Combined with India’s world-class software talent, we believe that crypto and web3 technology can help accelerate India’s economic and financial inclusion goals,” said CEO Brian Armstrong. Coinbase Expanding in India With Web3 and Crypto Push The Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase revealed its plan for India Monday. “India has built a robust identity and digital payments infrastructure and implemented it at rapid scale and speed,” CEO Brian Armstrong described, adding: Combined with India’s world-class software talent, we believe that crypto and web3 technology can help accelerate India’s economic and financial inclusion goals. The CEO continued: “Coinbase Ventures has already invested $150 million in home-grown Indian technology companies in the crypto and web3 space, and is constantly identifying new opportunities to help Indian founders scale.” He added that Coinbase’s Indian tech hub, launc...

The U.K. government has unveiled a detailed plan to make the country a global crypto hub and “a hospitable place for crypto.” The plan includes establishing a dynamic regulatory framework for crypto, regulating stablecoins, and working with the Royal Mint to create a non-fungible token (NFT) to be issued by the Summer. U.K. Wants to Be ‘the Very Best Place’ to Start and Scale Crypto Companies The British government unveiled several initiatives Monday as part of its plan to make the U.K. “a global cryptoasset technology hub.” They include regulating stablecoins, legislating for a “financial market infrastructure sandbox” to help firms innovate, holding a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)-led Cryptosprint, working with the Royal Mint on a non-fungible token (NFT), and establishing an engagement group to work more closely with the crypto industry. The British chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, commented: It’s my ambition to make the U.K. a global hub for cryptoasset technol...

Since September 18, 2021, close to 250 Casascius physical bitcoins were redeemed over the last 198 days. On that day six months ago, there were 19,920 Casascius physical bitcoins left active and today, there are approximately 19,676 left to peel. 19,676 Casascius Physical Bitcoins Left to Peel During the last six months, approximately 244 Casascius physical bitcoins were redeemed for their digital value. The Casascius physical bitcoin collection created by Mike Caldwell is one of the most popular physical BTC collections. The rare coins are often sold for more than the digital face value and today, there are 19,676 physical coins left unredeemed or active, according to casasciustracker.com stats. Each physical bitcoin has a different fraction of digital BTC , as some coins carry .5 in BTC value while some hold a single BTC . Caldwell also made gold bars with bitcoins loaded onto them like the popular 100 BTC gold bar . There are Casascius physical bitcoins that hold 25 BTC and...

Wechat, the Chinese messaging app, has reportedly suspended accounts that are linked to non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The objective of the crackdown is to stop the use of the affected accounts in promoting NFTs. The Widening Crackdown on Digital Assets The Chinese messaging app Wechat recently acknowledged it had suspended some accounts which are said to be linked to non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The suspension of the accounts, according to a BBC report, is aimed at stopping such blacklisted accounts from engaging in NFT market promotional activities that help to drive up prices. The targeting of NFT-promoting accounts by Wechat appears to suggest that China, which currently does not have specific regulations against NFTs, is widening its crackdown on digital assets that began in 2021. As explained by multiple reports published by Bitcoin.com News, Chinese authorities have been clamping down on bitcoin miners and cryptocurrency exchange platforms since mid-2021. The crackdown is beli...

The Indonesian government has decided to tax capital gains income from crypto investments at 0.1% starting in May. In addition, value-added tax (VAT) of the same rate will be levied on crypto purchases. Indonesia to Start Taxing Crypto Income at 0.1% The Indonesian Directorate General of Taxes, the Ministry of Finance, has set income tax (PPh) on capital gains from crypto investments and value-added tax (VAT) on crypto purchases at 0.1%. Hestu Yoga Saksama, director of tax regulations for the Ministry of Finance, told CNN Indonesia Friday: That’s right, 0.1% PPh and 0.1% VAT (for crypto), all of which are final. He added that both the income tax and VAT on crypto purchases will be imposed starting May 1. According to the director, the Indonesian government has levied income tax and VAT on crypto purchases because the central bank, Bank Indonesia, and the Ministry of Trade consider crypto a commodity, not a means of payment. He clarified: Crypto assets will be subject to VAT...

PRESS RELEASE. To help traders earn more cryptocurrency, leading crypto derivatives exchange Bexplus has launched a 100% deposit bonus promotion to all traders. If you deposit 1 BTC , 2 BTC will be credited to your account. Every user can get up to 10 BTC for each deposit. Bitcoin’s high volatility has made a comeback and currently presents more opportunities for traders to make profits. Taking advantage of the price swings and leverage offered by brokers, trading can easily generate 100% or even 1,000% ROI. It’s important to point out only traders who know what they are doing can get to these returns consistently.Because leveraged trading is both high-yield and high-risk. How Does Leveraged Trading Work? Assume we use 1 BTC to open a long contract when Bitcoin is trading at $40,000. Please note that with 100x leverage, 1 BTC can open a contract worth 100 BTC . One day later, the price of Bitcoin increase to $45,000.The profit will be ($45,000 – $40,000) * 100 BTC /$45,000...

A lawsuit against Binance accusing the cryptocurrency exchange of selling unregistered crypto securities has been dismissed. The plaintiffs listed nine cryptocurrencies in the lawsuit. Binance’s Lawsuit Dismissed U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter dismissed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Binance Thursday. The motion to dismiss was filed by Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ). The lawsuit (case no. 20-02803) was originally filed in April 2020 in the U.S. district court in the Southern District of New York. Binance is accused of violating U.S. securities laws by selling cryptocurrencies that are allegedly unregistered securities. The exchange is also accused of failing to register as a securities exchange or broker-dealer with U.S. regulators. The case involves nine cryptocurrencies — EOS , QSP, KNC, TRX , FUN, ICX, OMG, LEND, and ELF — which the plaintiffs bought through Binance’s online exchange starting in 2017. However, the coins soon lost significant value. The pl...

It’s been another bustling week full of colorful stories in the crypto world, with Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki talking about the U.S. dollar imploding, and advocating people buy bitcoin, ethereum, and solana — not to mention talk of Spacex founder and CEO Elon Musk potentially starting his own free speech-focused social media network. On top of all this, the Ukrainian government has launched a “Museum of War” NFT collection, and massive amounts of sleeping bitcoin are on the move. So, without further ado, here’s your bite-sized digest of the week’s hottest crypto news. Robert Kiyosaki Warns US Dollar ‘About to Implode’ — Advises Buying Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana The famous author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has warned that the U.S. dollar is “about to implode.” Among the investments he suggested are cryptocurrencies bitcoin, ethereum, and solana. Read More Elon Musk Giving ‘Serious Thought’ to Creating Social Media Platform With Free ...