Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Jordan Belfort, aka the Wolf of Wall Street, says if you take a three, four, or five-year horizon, he would be shocked if you didn’t make money investing in bitcoin because the underlying fundamentals are really strong. The Wolf of Wall Street Shares Bitcoin Outlook Jordan Belfort, aka the Wolf of Wall Street, recently shared his outlook for bitcoin on Yahoo Finance’s The Crypto Mile show. Belfort is a former stockbroker whose memoir was adapted into a film titled “The Wolf of Wall Street,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese. Belfort founded Stratton Oakmont which functioned as a boiler room that marketed penny stocks and defrauded investors with pump-and-dump stock sales. He pleaded guilty to fraud in 1999 and went to prison for 22 months; he is now a motivational speaker. Belfort was skeptical about crypto and bitcoin back in 2017. He is now marketing himself as a cryptocurrency guru . While insisting that he stands by what he said about crypto back then...

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has warned of an impending “big panic event” in the crypto space. “I don’t believe we’ve seen the bottom yet and I have a different view of it,” he said. Kevin O’Leary Warns of a ‘Big Panic Event’ in Crypto Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary shared his crypto outlook in an interview on Youtube channel Meet Kevin last week. He was asked how far the price of bitcoin could fall and whether BTC could drop to $13K as some people have predicted. “It’s impossible to know where the bottom is,” O’Leary replied, adding: I don’t believe we’ve seen the bottom yet and I have a different view of it. Referencing his past experience, the Shark Tank star said: “I go back again to other asset classes that I have invested in for decades. In every case — traditional bonds, traditional equities, real estate, alternative asset classes — bottoms are reached with an event, a panic event as I call it, and you can find it in every asset class.” O’Leary not...

Peter Schiff says he will sell his bank, Euro Pacific, for bitcoin if the Puerto Rican regulators let him sell it. “My bank was not put into receivership for being insolvent. It was put there for being under-capitalized,” the bitcoin skeptic said. Peter Schiff Says He’s Willing to Sell His Bank for Bitcoin Bitcoin skeptic and gold bug Peter Schiff is still trying to sell his bank, Euro Pacific. However, the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico, also known as Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras (OCIF), has suspended the operations of his bank due to its “crass noncompliance with the minimum capital requirements.” Schiff claims that he already has a buyer for the bank lined up but the regulator will not let him sell it. On Friday, he was asked on Twitter whether he is willing to sell his bank for bitcoin. Schiff, who has been a vocal bitcoin skeptic, replied: “Actually yes, I would sell the bank for anything if regulators let me sell it.” “I am c...

The latest data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) suggest that Kenya has the highest proportion of crypto-owning inhabitants than any other African country. To counter the growing use of cryptocurrencies, UNCTAD said it recommends the imposition of taxes that discourages crypto trading. ‘A Way to Protect Household Savings’ According to the data in the latest (UNCTAD) policy brief, Kenya’s digital currency ownership as a share of the population of 8.5% is the highest in Africa and the fifth-highest globally. Only Ukraine with 12.7%, Russia (11.9%), Venezuela (10.3%), and Singapore (9.4%) have a higher proportion of crypto-owning residents than Kenya. As the data shows, South Africa is the second-ranked country in Africa and eighth globally, with 7.1% of the population that owned or held cryptocurrencies in 2021. In Nigeria, which is one of the biggest cryptocurrency markets globally, about 6.3% of the population own or hold cryptocurrencies. Using...

Profitable bitcoin mining is essentially a result of an efficient and highly skilled team of professionals that can maintain runtime, a founder of a Bitcoin mining company has asserted. Therefore, even when the price is hovering around $20,000, a bitcoin miner with these attributes can still operate profitably. ‘Bitcoin Fundamentals Rarely Change’ The drop in value of bitcoin from just under $30,000 at the start of June to below $20,000 by mid-month is believed to be one of the factors that contributed to the collapse and insolvency of large crypto entities like 3AC and more recently Voyager . These two high profile entities, however, are by no means the only ones seriously affected. Besides having to deal with lower prices, many market participants, including bitcoin miners, have had to contend with the elevated risk of becoming insolvent. As the situation with 3AC has shown, many market participants were, or are still, over-leveraged. Another significant drop in prices could res...

Russian financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring is ready to accept the use of cryptocurrencies in international settlements, the head of the agency, Yuri Chikhanchin, has indicated. The statement adds to growing support for the legalization of international crypto payments in Russia amid financial restrictions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine. Top Financial Regulator in Russia Welcomes International Crypto Payments The Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation, also known as Rosfinmonitoring , fully accepts that cryptocurrencies can be employed for settlements with foreign partners, Yury Chikhanchin, director of the regulatory body has stated. Speaking in the Federation Council, the upper house of Russian parliament, Chikhanchin emphasized that payments with digital assets inside Russia are prohibited by law. The country’s current legislation bans “money surrogates.” However, under certain conditions, such payments may well be used in international trade, Chik...

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard has stressed the importance of establishing sound regulation for the crypto financial system “now before the crypto ecosystem becomes so large or interconnected that it might pose risks to the stability of the broader financial system.” Fed Vice Chair Brainard on Crypto Regulation Lael Brainard, the vice chair of the Board of the Federal Reserve Governors, talked about crypto regulation and decentralized finance (defi) Friday at a Bank of England conference in London. She began by referencing recent volatility in the crypto market, stating that it “has exposed serious vulnerabilities in the crypto financial system.” She added that both traditional and crypto financial systems are susceptible to leverage, settlement, opacity, maturity, and liquidity transformation risks. Noting that “Innovation has the potential to make financial services faster, cheaper, and more inclusive and to do so in ways that are native to the digital ecosystem,” Brai...

Fidelity’s director of Global Macro has shared his bitcoin and ether price outlook. His analysis shows that bitcoin is cheap but ether could be even cheaper. “Ethereum could be close to a bottom,” he added. Fidelity’s Director on Bitcoin and Ether Price Outlook Jurrien Timmer, director of Global Macro in Fidelity Investments’ global asset allocation division, shared his bitcoin and ether price analysis in a series of tweets Friday. Timmer specializes in global macro strategy and active asset allocation. He joined Fidelity 27 years ago as a technical research analyst. He explained why bitcoin is cheap. “I use the price per millions of non-zero addresses as an estimate for bitcoin’s valuation, and the chart below shows that valuation is all the way back to 2013 levels, even though price is only back to 2020 levels,” he detailed, emphasizing: In other words, bitcoin is cheap. “At its recent low of $17,600, bitcoin is now below even my more conservative S-curve model, which is base...

The U.S. Treasury Department has delivered a framework for crypto assets to President Joe Biden, fulfilling its obligation as directed in the executive order on crypto that the president issued in March. U.S. Treasury Secretary Delivers Crypto Framework to Biden The U.S. Department of the Treasury published a fact sheet titled “Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets” Thursday. It states that the Secretary of the Treasury has delivered to President Joe Biden “a framework for interagency engagement with foreign counterparts and in international fora as directed in the President’s executive order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets.” Biden’s executive order on crypto regulation was issued on March 9. The framework calls for the U.S. and its foreign allies to collaborate to create international standards for regulating crypto assets. The Treasury described: Uneven regulation, supervision, and compliance across jurisdictions creates opportunities...

The South African company behind the so-called “crypto water token” is reported to have secured an investment of $150 million from a Bahamas-based digital asset management company, GEM Digital. Initially available on decentralized exchanges only, the H2ON token was recently listed on the crypto exchange platform Bitmart. The Water Network A South Africa-based water infrastructure firm, H2O Securities, is reported to have launched what has been described as the “world-first crypto water token.” According to the firm, the token is expected to provide access to the company’s H2O water network. Already, a Bahamas digital asset investment company, GEM Digital, is said to have invested $150 million in the water infrastructure firm. As per a CNBC TV18 report , the token, which was listed on the crypto exchange platform Bitmart on July 3, would become available on secondary markets by July 7. The token has been available in decentralized exchanges for the past few months, the report said. ...

U.S. diplomats have reportedly called on authorities in Tokyo to increase pressure on Japanese crypto exchanges and miners to sever links to Russia. The request was made to deepen Moscow’s financial isolation amid the ongoing Russian assault on Ukraine. Washington Wants Japan’s Crypto Companies to Cut Ties, Further Isolate Russia The United States has urged Japan to put more pressure on cryptocurrency exchanges and mining companies that continue to work with Russians. The U.S. wants the Japanese entities to end their business relations with Russia, thus adding to its financial isolation from the rest of the world. The request, made by American diplomats, is targeting several of Japan’s more than 30 licensed crypto trading platforms that are still present in the Russian Federation, the Financial Times revealed in an article on Friday, quoting people familiar with the matter. The U.S. representatives told Tokyo to focus on halting crypto mining operations with Japanese participation...

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is probing crypto lender Voyager Digital over claims that it is FDIC-insured. The crypto firm previously explained that through its strategic relationships with Metropolitan Commercial Bank, “all customers’ USD held with Voyager is FDIC insured.” Voyager Probed by FDIC The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is looking into Voyager Digital Ltd. (TSE: VOYG) and its marketing of deposit accounts for cryptocurrency purchases, Reuters reported Thursday, citing confirmation by an FDIC official. The FDIC is an independent agency created by Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system. It regulates and insures the deposits of a number of community banks and other financial institutions. “The standard insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category,” the regulator’s website details. While crypto lender Voyager is not an FDIC-insured bank, it ...

A class-action lawsuit has been filed claiming that cryptocurrency solana (SOL) is an unregistered security under the Howey test. “The specific facts and circumstances relating to SOL securities support the conclusion that SOL is a security under the Howey test,” the plaintiff argued. Solana Is a Security, Lawsuit Claims A lawsuit , filed on July 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims that cryptocurrency solana (SOL) is an unregistered security. Lead plaintiff Mark Young, a California resident and SOL investor, is suing on behalf of himself and all investors who purchased solana tokens from March 24, 2020. The defendants named in the lawsuit are Solana Labs Inc., the Solana Foundation, Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko, Multicoin Capital Management LLC, Kyle Samani, and Falconx LLC. The lawsuit states: Defendants made enormous profits through the sale of SOL securities to retail investors in the United States, in violation of the registration...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has formally informed Twitter that he is terminating his $44 billion bid to buy the social media platform. “Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions” of the agreement, Musk’s lawyer explained. Musk Ending Deal With Twitter Citing ‘Material Breach of Multiple Provisions’ Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk’s lawyer sent a letter to Twitter Inc. Friday regarding Musk’s offer to buy the social media platform. The letter, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), states: Mr. Musk is terminating the merger agreement because Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions of that agreement. The letter claims that Twitter “made false and misleading representations” and Musk relied on them when he signed the merger agreement between Twitter and his companies: X Holdings I Inc. and X Holdings II Inc. The lawyer explained that Twitter has not complied with its contractual obligations to provide necessary data to Musk. For nearly two m...

Ripio, an Argentina-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced the launch of two products, a cryptocurrency educational textbook to help newcomers navigate the crypto market, and a Web3 wallet that the company aims to position as an easy gateway to the metaverse. While other Latam-based exchanges have laid off some staff to survive the current market, Ripio is expanding to Spain. Ripio Launches Educational Crypto Book Ripio, a Latam-based exchange, made some announcements regarding its product offerings earlier this week. The company presented two products directed to improve the knowledge of crypto and the experience of its users in the metaverse. First, Ripio launched a cryptocurrency textbook, created to help newcomers to the industry learn about the basics of blockchain and crypto. The book, which will be available for users to download for free, is part of the philosophy of the exchange of bringing crypto education to as many people as possible. Ignacio Carballo, an economist fr...

Jason Fung, former head of gaming at Tiktok, the video-based social media, is launching a blockchain-based gaming startup. The company, called Metao, will focus on providing “blockchain-agnostic” solutions that will allow Web3 game creators to expand their reach and not be limited to just a chain and an ecosystem tied to a certain token. Metao to Focus on Interoperability Blockchain is becoming a big element in several companies that are trying to mix gaming with cryptocurrency. Jason Fung, who was the gaming boss at Tiktok, one of the biggest video-based social networks, is reportedly launching a blockchain-based gaming company. Metao, as the startup is being called, will focus on offering a framework for other companies to build blockchain-based games, in the same way in which companies like Unity license their tech to others. This would make the lives of developers easier, focusing just on the content while dropping the complexities of integrating these mechanisms by themselves...

The Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of Colombia, Mintic, has issued a guide that describes the steps to implement blockchain in projects directed at the state level. The document defines blockchain and its basic elements, and also describes the guidelines that some projects should follow, depending on the needs of each project. Colombia Issues Guidelines for Blockchain Projects More and more governments are including blockchain in projects that require transparency and decentralization. The Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of Colombia, the main technology institution in the country, has issued a guide that describes how blockchain should be integrated into projects directed to solve problems at a government and state level. The document , titled “Reference Guide for the adoption and implementation of projects with blockchain technology for the Colombian State,” explains the basics of blockchain and the kinds of projects that would bene...

On July 7, 2022, the pseudonymous non-fungible token (NFT) collector known as “0xb1” published a Twitter thread that discusses the collector’s true identity and his relationship with the crypto lending firm Celsius. According to 0xb1, otherwise known as Jason Stone, his team found “major problems in how the company operated,” and Stone told Celsius his team would terminate their relationship in March 2021. When the team started to unwind defi positions, Stone says Celsius suffered impermanent loss and accused him of being a thief. Keyfi Founder, Also Known as ‘0xb1,’ Sues Crypto Lender Celsius Jason Stone, the founder of Keyfi , a decentralized finance (defi) aggregator startup that Celsius had a stake in, has accused Celsius of practicing a number of bad standards including “operating a Ponzi scheme.” Stone addressed the public via Twitter and used an account called “ 0xb1 ,” a well known NFT whale in the crypto industry with 121,200 Twitter followers. Bitcoin.com News reported on...

The U.S. and South Korean governments have reportedly agreed to share data on ongoing crypto cases, including the case surrounding Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon and the collapse of cryptocurrency terra (LUNA) and stablecoin terrausd (UST). U.S. and South Korea to Share Data on Crypto Investigations South Korea’s Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon met with U.S. prosecution officials during a visit to New York this week, Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday. The U.S. officials present at the meeting included Andrea Griswold, chief counsel to the United States Attorney, and Scott Hartman, co-chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The officials from the two countries examined ways to enhance cooperation in the investigation of major securities fraud and financial crimes, including those involving cryptocurrency. Specifically, they discussed information exchange between the Seoul Southern District Prosecut...

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, has warned that the global economic outlook “has darkened significantly,” emphasizing that, regarding a global recession, “we cannot rule it out.” IMF Says Global Economic Outlook ‘Has Darkened Significantly’ Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), discussed the global economic outlook and the prospect of a global recession in an interview with Reuters Wednesday. Commenting on the global economy, the IMF managing director said: The outlook since our last update in April has darkened significantly. She cited several factors, including a more universal spread of inflation, more substantial interest rate hikes, China’s economic growth slowdown, and mounting sanctions related to the Russia-Ukraine war. In April, the IMF slashed its global growth forecast from an estimated 6.1% in 2021 to 3.6% in 2022 and 2023. This was “0.8 and 0.2 percentage points lower for 202...

Book of Aztec unleashes the power of luck, and dishes out a massive 5,000x multiplier! A 3 Bitcoin Jackpot Was Awarded From a Small Bet of 0.0006 Bitcoin When it rains, it pours – but it’s pouring money, or more precisely bitcoin ( BTC ), for this lucky player on our crypto casino! We reported earlier in March ‘21 that a lucky player has bagged not one but two epic wins within minutes of each other. The consecutive wins worth more than $175,000 came on a popular slot game ‘The Dog House Megaways’ by Pragmatic Play at Bitcoin.com Games . Now, the same player has bagged another jackpot win of over 3 BTC on Book of Aztec by Amatic. What’s notable in this instance is that while the first win came after a massive 13,780x multiplier, this second win was secured with a 5,000x multiplier. Nevertheless, in the context of such big multipliers, the initial bet value is of minuscule importance. Bitcoin.com Games, offers various types of casino games including exciting slot and table game...

Starting on July 25, the Zimbabwean public will be able to buy and hold gold coins which weigh one troy ounce each. In addition to their use as an alternative store of value, the central bank says the coins can be traded and used as “security for loans and credit facilities.” Coins to Be Sold at ‘Prevailing International Price of Gold’ Just a few weeks after revealing its plans to roll out gold coins, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) released a statement on July 4 advising “the public of the salient features and characteristics of the gold coin.” According to the statement , the public will be able to purchase the gold coins “at a price based on the prevailing international price of gold and the cost of production.” The sale of the coins is expected to commence on July 25 and buyers will be able to purchase the coins using local currency or USD, the RBZ said. The gold coins, which have been named Mosi-Oa-Tunya (the local language equivalent for the Victoria Falls), weigh one troy...

Russia’s mass media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has restored access to a major Russian crypto news portal. Bits.media was recently blocked as a result of proceedings in a regional court that its representatives were not even summoned to attend. Crypto News Site Bits.media Again Available to Russian Readers as Roskomnadzor Delists It Bits.media, the source for crypto-related news with the second-largest audience in the Russian-speaking space, has managed to win the cancellation of its blacklisting by Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media. Roskomnadzor, as the agency is also known, blocked access to the Bits.media website last week, after adding an unspecified number of pages to a register of internet sources disseminating information considered prohibited in the Russian Federation. The measure was imposed based on a ruling by the Volzhsky District Court of the city of Saratov in a lawsuit initiated by the local prosecutor’s ...

The Bank of England says “extreme volatility” in the crypto market “underscores the need for enhanced regulatory and law enforcement frameworks.” The British central bank has warned that crypto prices could fall further. Bank of England Calls for Enhanced Crypto Regulation The Financial Policy Committee of the British central bank, the Bank of England (BOE), said Tuesday that the “extreme volatility” in crypto prices in recent months underscores vulnerabilities in the crypto market, Bloomberg reported. Citing a $2 trillion reduction in the total market capitalization of crypto assets, the Bank of England stressed the need for tougher law enforcement and regulation for the crypto sector, the publication conveyed. The market cap of all cryptocurrencies currently stands at about $1 trillion. It was nearly $3 trillion at its peak in November last year. Last month, Agustin Carstens, the general manager of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), said all the weaknesses in the cryp...

Bank of America has revealed that the number of its customers who are active crypto users has declined more than 50% from its peak in November last year. In addition, the bank said its data “shows that outflows to crypto platforms have fallen sharply,” indicating that “consumers are pulling back on their net investment into crypto platforms.” Bank of America’s Active Crypto Users Bank of America published a report last week showing a steep decline in the number of active cryptocurrency users from its peak in November last year. The bank explained: Anonymized Bank of America internal customer data shows a sharp, greater than 50%, decline in the number of active crypto users from the peak of over 1 million users in November 2021 to below 500,000 in May. “We also found that ‘first time’ users, customers who made a transaction with a crypto platform having not made one previously, have also fallen very sharply,” the report adds. Bank of America further noted that there were only ar...

Elon Musk’s Boring Company will accept the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin as payment for rides on its Las Vegas transit system Loop. Musk confirmed that he is “supporting Doge whenever possible.” Tesla already accepts the meme crypto for some merchandise and Spacex will soon follow suit. Elon Musk’s Boring Company to Accept Dogecoin Payments The Boring Company, founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, will accept the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin for rides on Loop, its Las Vegas transit system, CNN reported Wednesday. Musk previously said that The Boring Company’s goal “is to solve traffic, which plagues every major city on Earth.” One of the company’s projects is Loop, also known as “Teslas in Tunnels.” Loop is “an express public transportation system that resembles an underground highway more than a subway system,” its website details, adding that the system is all-electric with zero-emissions. The Tesla CEO indicated that the news of The Boring Company’s plan to accept dogecoin payments fo...