Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Brave Group Inc., a Japanese virtual IP firm, recently said it had raised $10 million in new capital and that the company expects to use part of these funds to boost its “solution services for clients in the metaverse marketing business.” Taking part in Brave Group’s latest funding round were two local companies, foreign investment funds, as well as individual investors. Metaverse Market Growth A Japan-based virtual IP business, Brave Group Inc., recently said it had raised $10 million in new funding, thus bringing the total raised so far to $18 million. The company is set to use the new capital to strengthen its existing business operations and to “expand its solution services for clients in the metaverse marketing business.” In a recent statement , Brave Group revealed that Japanese companies like Dawn Capital and Osaka Gas Co. Ltd. had participated in the round that also featured “foreign investment funds and individual investors.” In remarks following the announcement of the ca...

DeFi is a sub-sector in the crypto industry that has witnessed significant innovation since its inception. However, the narrative has struggled to stay consistent, affecting the domain overall. The current bear market has wiped out more than half of DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL), hampering innovations. Furthermore, several projects have simply forked (copied) existing protocols and brought zero ideas to the market. Amidst all of this, one project is making strides with the best innovations DeFiers have seen in a long time. Saddle Finance is the protocol that enables efficient DeFi trading for stablecoins and pegged-value crypto assets like wETH and wBTC. It redefines DeFi trading by offering cheap, efficient, swift, and low-slippage swaps for traders and high-yield pools for Liquidity Providers. The protocol has facilitated over $2B in transaction volume to date. Enabling an Efficient and Secure DeFi Trading Experience Saddle Finance is an AMM-based decentralized exchange (DEX) ...

A Chinese state-run newspaper has published an article warning about bitcoin’s price falling to zero amid the crypto market sell-off. Meanwhile, financial regulators in Shenzhen have issued a new warning about cryptocurrency. State-Run Newspaper Warns About Bitcoin Becoming Worthless China’s state-run newspaper Economic Daily published an article warning about bitcoin Wednesday, according to SCMP. The nationwide newspaper is directly under the control of the Central Committee of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The article warned that investors should beware of the risk of bitcoin prices “heading to zero” amid the recent crypto market sell-off. “Bitcoin is nothing more than a string of digital codes, and its returns mainly come from buying low and selling high,” the newspaper details, adding: In the future, once investors’ confidence collapses or when sovereign countries declare bitcoin illegal, it will return to its original value, which is utterly worthless. The newspaper...

Bybit, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, has announced it will be expanding its operations to Argentina. The exchange wants to offer Argentinian citizens another platform on which to transact, given the popularity that the cryptocurrency industry is enjoying in the country. The exchange will also have a dedicated team to support Argentinian operations. Bybit Lands in Argentina The growth of the cryptocurrency industry in Argentina has not gone unnoticed by international companies. Bybit, a Singapore-based, top-ten crypto exchange by volume traded, has announced that it will expand its trading operations to support Argentinian customers directly. To better achieve this goal, the company will dedicate a team to attend to applicable requirements and support its upcoming Argentinian customers, allowing them to transact, purchase, and sell cryptocurrencies on Bybit’s platform. Also, the platform will be available in Spanish, the native language of the country. Regarding this d...

Uphold, a New York-based cryptocurrency exchange, has announced it is closing its operations in Venezuelan markets. The company, which has already had problems with users in the country in the past — shutting down accounts and requiring KYC controls that some users deemed excessive — declares that the exit from Venezuela has to do with the “complexity of complying with U.S. sanctions.” Uphold Abandons Venezuelan Markets Uphold, a New York-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange and stock trading platform, has announced that it will no longer serve customers registered in Venezuela. The company, which serves more than 184 countries according to its own data, argues that the current situation between Venezuela and the U.S is the cause of this decision. In an email sent to Venezuelan customers of the exchange, Uphold declared : We´re very sorry to tell you that Uphold has decided to withdraw from Venezuela owing to the increasing complexity of complying with U.S. sanctions. Venezuela ...

PRESS RELEASE. NoVa Battles has taken another step forward by completing another major milestone, being listed on Bitrue. The centralized exchange, Bitrue, has announced that NVA passed the BTR Vote on the 21 st of June, 2022. The launched listing pair is NVA/USDT. Deposits for this coin (ERC20 Network Supported) have already been enabled. NVA Token holders can now trade on Bitrue here: https://www.bitrue.com/trade/nva_usdt Withdrawals for this coin will be enabled approximately 24 hours after trading begins. The NoVa Battles team is excited to bring you another chance to get in on the action. We are going to be announcing most listings soon. Successful Nova Battles ICO Nova battles; a play, invest, and earn crypto game has successfully achieved its target a day ahead of schedule. 850 million NVA Token were sold to its worldwide community through the MaskEx platform. This has paved the way for this game to be here for a long time, growing in popularity and complexity. The compan...

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, says crypto assets and decentralized finance (defi) have the potential to pose “real risks” to financial stability. She has some regulatory suggestions to supplement Europe’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) bill. Lagarde on Crypto Regulation ECB President Christine Lagarde talked about cryptocurrency regulation at the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs hearing Monday. She said: We believe, as we are embarking on this work concerning crypto assets and the risk that they pose, that crypto assets and decentralized finance (defi) have the potential to pose real risks to financial stability. “This would be particularly the case if the rapid growth of crypto-asset markets and services continue … and the interconnectedness with both the traditional financial sector and the broader economy is intensified,” the ECB chief added. However, she noted: “For the moment, the links betw...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the central bank is “not really seeing significant macroeconomic implications” from crypto’s volatility. The Fed chair stressed that there is a need for a better crypto regulatory framework. Fed Chair Powell Says Crypto Needs Better Regulation Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on “the semiannual monetary policy report to congress” Wednesday. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) asked him whether the Fed has been tracking crypto activities given the recent market volatility, and what implications crypto has on the broader economic outlook and monetary policy. “We are tracking those events very carefully, of course,” Powell replied, elaborating: [We are] not really seeing significant macroeconomic implications, so far. “The principal implication is really what we’ve been saying, and others have been saying for some time, which is that in this very innovative new...

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has taken action against two cryptocurrency trading platforms. Kucoin is permanently banned from participating in Ontario’s capital markets. Bybit has promised to take steps to comply with regulations and register with the OSC. OSC Sanctions 2 Crypto Trading Platforms The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced Wednesday the outcome of enforcement actions against two foreign cryptocurrency trading platforms operating in its jurisdiction. The first is Bybit, a crypto trading platform operated by Bybit Fintech Ltd., incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The other is Kucoin, operated by Mek Global Ltd., incorporated in the Republic of Seychelles, and Phoenixfin Pte. Ltd., incorporated in Singapore. “Bybit and Kucoin both operate unregistered crypto asset trading platforms and allowed Ontario investors to trade securities without a prospectus or any exemption from the prospectus requirements,” the Canadian regulator explained. Regar...

PRESS RELEASE. “Play & Earn” is no longer a strange term for most GameFi believers. Recently, Remitano Network, Remitano’s blockchain network, has launched a novel airdrop in the format of “Play to Earn”, allowing users to own the network’s RENEC token in the form of “group mining”. Starting from the free daily RENEC solo mining at Remitano.com, users can now mine together in groups to receive a larger amount of RENEC token airdrop as a reward. Each mining pool is called a mining room, and after 24 hours, the team members will split a larger amount of RENEC than the solo mining effort. This is a fairly new form of airdrop in the market, making the traditional airdrop less boring. Participation is quite simple. You just need to sign up for a free Remitano account and start mining solo or in groups. Try RENEC mining for free here ! Refer to the official RENEC Whitepaper . The RENEC mining program is limited to a maximum of the end of Q3 of 2022, so the sooner you join the bet...

During a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Terraform Labs (TFL) founder Do Kwon said he was “devastated” by the LUNA and UST implosion that took place in mid-May. He told the WSJ that he was probably a billionaire when LUNA tapped an all-time high before the collapse, but lost a great portion of his net worth following the aftermath. Do Kwon Speaks About the Terra LUNA Collapse Do Kwon has recently discussed the LUNA and UST fallout during an interview with the WSJ contributors Alexander Osipovich and Jiyoung Sohn. The interview was published on June 22, and its the first interview Kwon has done since the Terra collapse. Kwon told the reporters that he lost most of his wealth after the crash but that doesn’t bother him that much. “This doesn’t bother me,” Kwon told the reporters. “I live a fairly frugal life,” the Terra co-founder said. Kwon, however, said he was sorry about the losses investors took from the fallout. “I’ve been devastated by recent events and ho...

The Central Bank of Russia and participating commercial banks want to test various types of payments with the digital ruble, the Russian press reported. The plan is to experiment with smart contracts and transactions related to real estate and crypto asset purchases. Bank of Russia to Launch Smart Contracts on Digital Ruble Platform Russia’s central bank intends to start implementing smart contracts with the digital ruble next April, the daily Izvestia unveiled this week, quoting the regulator. Until then, the new incarnation of the national fiat will be put to the test in various scenarios, including automated payments and other transactions between individual users and businesses, like real estate acquisitions. Bank of Russia finalized the prototype platform of its central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) in December, 2021. In January of this year, a dozen Russian banks joined the pilot project. At its first stage, participants are issuing digital rubles, setting up wallets for ban...

A The Input-Output Global (IOG) team has said it will postpone sending the Vasil hard fork update proposal because it still needs to solve seven outstanding bugs that are currently ranked as non-severe. While acknowledging that the news will likely be disappointing for some, the IOG team insisted it was “taking an abundance of caution to ensure that we do this deployment correctly.” More Time Needed The core Input-Output Global (IOG) team working to facilitate a Cardano Testnet upgrade announced recently that it had “agreed” to delay sending the Vasil hard fork update proposal as previously stated. The team hinted that some seven outstanding bugs, none of which have been ranked as severe, necessitated the delay. According to a June 20 blog post , the decision to postpone the hard fork followed the core team’s end-of-the-week evaluation call. While noting that the team had managed to get through 95% of the Plutus V2 test scripts, the post said the core team still needed to run a few...

PRESS RELEASE. Cryptocurrency exchange LBank has continued to hire more crypto and blockchain talents as well as interns for its global offices. Against the backdrop of extreme volatility in the crypto market and investors dumping risky assets, as well as certain crypto firms laying off employees and freezing withdrawals, LBank makes a move in the right lines. At the moment, the exchange is hiring from all parts of the world including Indonesia, Philippines, Morocco, Turkey, Nigeria, India, etc., to add to its team members located in over 14 countries. The crypto exchange, which has been in the space since 2015 has a slew of advantages that has earned it the spot as one of the top 20 exchanges with deep liquidity. To add to that, in the era of hacks and security breaches among crypto platforms, LBank has managed to remain ‘unhacked’ and secured. In other words, the user-friendly platform provides users with secure, professional and convenient products and services, including s...

Billionaire investor Seth Klarman says he cannot see the point of crypto. “I don’t think anybody needs to own it. It just seems to me that it could end up very much in tears,” he added. Seth Klarman on Crypto Investing, Gold, and U.S. Dollar American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager Seth Klarman shared his views on a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, gold, and the U.S. dollar, in an interview with Harvard Business School, released this week. Klarman is the chief executive and portfolio manager of the Baupost Group, a Boston-based hedge fund he co-founded in 1982. The investment firm currently has about $30 billion under management. According to Forbes, his estimated net worth is $1.5 billion. On the topic of cryptocurrency, Klarman said: I can’t see the point of crypto. It has this feel to me of being like catnip for techies. “The idea that we’re using more energy than the country of Iceland, to mine extra crypto, to solve math problems that don’t need t...

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the global body for central banks, claims the weaknesses in crypto that were pointed out before “have pretty much materialized.” BIS General Manager Agustin Carstens opined: “You just cannot defy gravity … At some point, you really have to face the music.” BIS on Crypto Weaknesses The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has warned that a perceived danger of decentralized digital money is materializing. The BIS explained in its Annual Economic Report, published Tuesday, that the crypto market sell-off and the collapse of cryptocurrency terra (LUNA) and algorithmic stablecoin terrausd (UST) are indicators of a structural problem in crypto. “Structural flaws make the crypto universe unsuitable as the basis for a monetary system: it lacks a stable nominal anchor, while limits to its scalability result in fragmentation. Contrary to the decentralisation narrative, crypto often relies on unregulated intermediaries that pose financial risks...

During the past week, Bitcoin’s hashrate has dropped a few percentages after reaching 288 exahash per second (EH/s) on June 8, 2022. Bitcoin miners, however, got a break on Wednesday, June 22, as the mining difficulty dropped by 2.35% making it easier for miners to find blocks. The 2.35% drop brings the difficulty down to the 29.50 trillion range for the next two weeks. Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Drops 2.35% On Wednesday, June 22, at block height 741,888, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty decreased 2.35% lower than two weeks ago. At that time, the difficulty rating was 30.28 trillion and today it is 29.50 trillion. Furthermore, bitcoin’s fiat value dropped to a low of $17,593 on June 18. Essentially, Bitcoin’s difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA) shifts every 2016 blocks and the changes are based on the amount of time it took to find the previous 2016 block subsidies. The difficulty is meant to keep block times consistent at roughly 10 minutes in between each BTC block found. The la...

In an apparent message to critics of the Central African Republic’s bitcoin decision, the country’s president, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, recently argued that understanding the crypto’s disruptive power is crucial and that “mathematics don’t account for human emotions.” According to Touadéra, the country’s future generations are likely to applaud his government for “choosing the right path during hard times.” Bitcoin Adoption Beneficial for Future Generations In remarks that appear to be directed at critics of the Central African Republic (CAR)’s decision to adopt bitcoin as its currency of reference, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, recently reiterated his country’s unwavering belief in the top cryptocurrency. He suggested to his followers that the CAR’s adoption of bitcoin is set to benefit the country’s future generations. These latest remarks by Touadéra came as the crypto market continued with its downward momentum, initially sparked by the Terra Luna crash but later exac...

Popular messaging platform Telegram has announced it is launching a new premium tier of its services as it seeks to monetize a part of its userbase. Reaching more than 700 million active users monthly, the new tier answers to the need of these users for more bandwidth and storage capacity, according to Pavel Durov, CEO of the company. Telegram’s New Premium Tier to Expand User Functionality Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in cryptocurrency circles, has announced it will introduce a paid premium tier of its services that will allow its users to access new features and expand upon some that are already available. The move comes as the company seeks to monetize a good part of its userbase, which recently reached a milestone of 700 million monthly active users. The premium tier is an answer to the requirements of a set of users that wanted to upgrade their bandwidth and storage from within the app, according to CEO Pavel Durov. He stated: After giving it some though...

For a few years now, the pseudonymous creator of the popular stock-to-flow (S2F) bitcoin price model, Plan B, has become a very well known bitcoin influencer gathering 1.8 million Twitter followers. However, after the S2F price model didn’t come to fruition and dropped well below the price targets in 2022, Plan B and his price model have been criticized a great deal. On Tuesday, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin denounced the S2F price model and said “financial models that give people a false sense of certainty” can be “harmful,” and they deserve to be mocked. Plan B’s Stock-to-Flow Bitcoin Price Model Is Not as Popular as It Once Was A few specific price models have been mocked this week as people have noticed that bitcoin’s price has not followed the “Rainbow” price indicator and Plan B’s famous stock-to-flow price model . The pseudonymous creator of the S2F model caught the attention of the crypto community years ago on March 22, 2019, when he published an editorial called ...

Goldman Sachs’ economists now see an increased risk of a U.S. recession. “We are increasingly concerned that the Fed will feel compelled to respond forcefully to high headline inflation and consumer inflation expectations if energy prices rise further, even if activity slows sharply,” they explained. Goldman Sachs on Increased Risk of Recession Goldman Sachs’ economists, led by chief economist Jan Hatzius, explained in a note Monday that the global investment bank has cut its growth forecasts for the U.S. economy, warning that the risk of a recession is rising, Bloomberg reported. The Goldman Sachs economists wrote: We now see recession risk as higher and more front-load. “The main reasons are that our baseline growth path is now lower,” they added. “We are increasingly concerned that the Fed will feel compelled to respond forcefully to high headline inflation and consumer inflation expectations if energy prices rise further, even if activity slows sharply.” Last week, the Fede...

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk has shared his views on a variety of topics, including crypto investing, why he supports the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin, “unresolved matters” in his Twitter takeover bid, and the likelihood of a near-term U.S. recession. Elon Musk on Crypto Investing Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared his thoughts on a wide range of topics in an interview with Bloomberg News’ John Micklethwait at the Qatar Economic Forum Tuesday. Crypto investing was among the topics discussed. Musk was asked whether he thinks people should still invest in cryptocurrency given the market downtown. The Tesla CEO clarified that he has never recommended that people buy cryptocurrency, stating: I have never said that people should invest in crypto. In the case of Tesla, Spacex, myself, we all did buy some bitcoin, but it’s a small percentage of our total cash assets. The Spacex chief previously revealed that he also owns ether ( ETH ) and dogecoin (DOGE) while Tesla and Spacex only own bit...

The Bank of Spain has already included 17 virtual asset service providers in its own registry, in which cryptocurrency exchanges and custody providers must be listed to operate, according to Spanish law. Three new companies were included last week, but big names in the crypto ecosystem are still not registered. Bank of Spain Crypto Registry Reaches 17 Companies The registry of virtual asset service providers (VASPs) of the Bank of Spain reached a number of 17 companies last week, with the inclusion of three more crypto businesses. The registry added several exchanges and custody companies June, including Jobchain España, Jobchain Austria, Criptan Trade, Eurocoin Broker, Lemacoin Crypto Solutions, Bitpanda, and Vottun. The registry of these companies has accelerated in June, with most of the cryptocurrency exchanges registering being local companies that want to be sure they are compliant with Spanish laws. Since the bank opened its registry last year, it has added several crypto c...

A study released earlier this month has found that working in the metaverse with the tools available today might decrease the productivity of employees, and also increase their frustration and anxiety related to remote work. 11% of the participants in the study felt so much discomfort that they could not complete even a day in the study, leaving their tasks incomplete. Metaverse Needs Upgrades to Support Remote Work Companies and individuals are betting that the metaverse, an alternate digital representation of our world, will have an important role in the future of work, allowing people to complete tasks remotely. However, a recent study made by researchers of Coburg University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Primorska, and Microsoft Research, paints a different picture of the issue. The report , titled “Quantifying the Effects of Working in VR for One Week,” compared the performance of 16 different workers developing their tasks in a normal environment and in a co...

Since June 12, 2022, the Tron-based stablecoin USDD has remained below a U.S. dollar in value. On Monday, USDD had a 24-hour trading range of around $0.943 to $0.966 per unit and the day prior on June 19, USDD saw an all-time low at $0.928 per unit. Despite being below the U.S. dollar parity, the Tron DAO Reserve says the stablecoin has not depegged in a Twitter thread that discusses a combination of an “on-chain mechanism [and] collateralized assets.” USDD Trades Below $1 for an Entire Week USDD has been trading for lower than a U.S. dollar for over a week and on Sunday, USDD tapped an all-time low at $0.928 per unit. The following day on Monday, the stablecoin has been exchanging hands for $0.966 at the time of writing, and it saw a 24-hour low at $0.943. USDD is the ninth-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, with approximately $696.28 million on Monday evening at 7:00 p.m. (ET). The stablecoin has seen roughly $83 million in global trade volume and the top USDD exchanges...