Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A British jeweler has sued its insurance company for refusing to cover a bitcoin ransom payment of $7.5 million. The jeweler paid the hackers to prevent sensitive customer data from being published. Insurance Company Faces Lawsuit for Refusing to Cover Bitcoin Ransom Payment A luxury British Jeweler, Graff, has sued its insurer, The Travelers Companies, for refusing to cover a ransom bitcoin payment, Bloomberg reported last week. The jeweler paid a bitcoin ransom of $7.5 million to the Russian hacking gang Conti after the group threatened to leak data of the company’s big clients, including Middle East royalty. Graff negotiated the ransom payment amount with the hackers and managed to reduce it from $15 million. Conti attacked Graff in September last year and leaked data about the royal families from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar. The hackers apologized to the families but said that they may need to leak more of Graff’s data. “Our goal is to publish as m...

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) says it is working on a “robust” regulatory framework for crypto assets and will report its recommendations to the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in October. FSB to Present Robust Crypto Regulatory Framework to G20 in October The Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, released a statement Monday on the “international regulation and supervision of crypto asset activities.” The G20 watchdog stated that it is committed to promoting “international consistency of regulatory and supervisory approaches amongst national authorities and international standard-setters as they work towards developing risk-based, technology-neutral policy for the wide spectrum of crypto-assets, grounded in the principle of ‘same, activity, same risk, same regulation.'” Noting that crypto assets, including stablecoins, are fast evolving, the FSB explained that th...

NFT domains enable users to establish a presence on the decentralized web and the metaverse, with Quik.com providing top-level domains such as .metaverse, .vr, .web3, and many other powerful options for users to claim. Check out metaverse domains . The metaverse ideology and the emerging concept of brands establishing themselves in the decentralized web-based virtual universe have created a race for top-tier domains for businesses, individuals, and many developers to acquire the best at the early stages of this virtual universe. While traditional domains optimize a centralized dispute resolution process and are managed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), decentralized domains give rightful owners control over their websites and prevent third-party interference, reducing reliance on ICANN. The growing popularity of NFTs and decentralized technology giving sole autonomy to the owner have raised the bar to eliminate the high barriers controlling the ...

A new survey shows that the majority of nearly 1,000 investors who responded expect bitcoin’s price to drop to $10K. In addition, 28% of respondents expressed strong confidence that cryptocurrencies are the future of finance while 20% said they are worthless. Investors Believe Bitcoin Could Fall to $10K The latest Bloomberg MLIV Pulse survey, conducted from July 5-8, asked 950 investors who responded where they see bitcoin’s price heading. Respondents were asked, “Which level will bitcoin trade at first? $10K or $30K.” According to the results published Monday, 60% of them said BTC will drop to the $10K level first. Furthermore, 28% of respondents expressed strong confidence that cryptocurrencies are the future of finance while 20% said they are worthless, Bloomberg conveyed, adding that most respondents were at least slightly skeptical about cryptocurrencies. When asked about non-fungible tokens (NFTs), only 9% of respondents said they were an investment opportunity. The majori...

Venezuela, one of the first countries in Latam to be considered “crypto-friendly” by some standards, has ranked third in adoption rates, according to a report issued by the United Nations. The report, issued last month, states that the cryptocurrency ecosystem has grown by 2,300% between September 2019 and June 2021, and that the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the main catalysts for this growth. Venezuela Among Countries With Most Crypto Adoption A report issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has found that Venezuela ranks third among the countries with the most cryptocurrency adoption, only behind Russia and Bulgaria. The report, which also deals with the causes of this growth and crypto regulation, found that 10.3% of citizens in Venezuela held cryptocurrencies. Russians were second on the list, with 11.9% of the population holding crypto, while Ukraine ranked first, with 10.7% of its citizens holding some kind of crypto. This can be explained by the eco...

Bitso, a Mexican-based, Latam operating cryptocurrency exchange, announced it is launching a remittance service in Colombia. The company will now allow its customers in Colombia to send and receive remittances using dollar-pegged stablecoins on the platform. The exchange launched a similar service in Mexico last year in partnership with Circle. Bitso Expand Remittances Program to Colombia Exchanges are embracing crypto as a useful tool to transfer value across borders. Bitso, a Mexican-based exchange with operations in several countries in Latam, has announced the launch of a remittance service in Colombia this week. With these new services, Colombian users will be able to send and receive remittances using digital dollars on the platform of the exchange. The service will be focused on remittances sent from and to the U.S., and according to the exchange, it’s one of the destinations where remittances sent experienced significant growth during the last year. While the company did n...

Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges worldwide, has secured a license from the Bank of Spain that will let the exchange operate in compliance with the local laws. This certification means that the exchange is currently complying with its AML/KYC processes required by the government of the country. More than 17 companies have received this certification by now. Binance Gets Operating License From the Bank of Spain Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange, has received the certification of the Bank of Spain to operate as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in the country. This means that the authorities have found that Binance, through its Spanish subsidiary Moon Tech Spain, S.L., complies with all of the AML/KYC processes established by the Bank of Spain. This is a major milestone for the exchange in the country, that had applied to receive this certification since January. The company is now allowed to offer its cryptocurrency trading and custody services in the country wi...

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...