Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

This week the number of cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs) operating worldwide has surpassed the 39,000 mark. Since January 2017 when the count was approaching 1K machines, the number of crypto ATMs has grown by 3,925% since then. Crypto ATM numbers saw exponential growth during the last 23 months since September 1, 2020, when there were less than 10K machines worldwide. There’s Now 39,011 Crypto ATMs Installed Across 77 Countries During the first week of August 2022, the number of digital currency dispersing automated teller machines (ATMs) operating globally crossed the 39K mark. In fact, across 77 countries, 614 crypto ATM operators have installed 39,011 cryptocurrency ATMs, according to metrics recorded by coinatmradar.com . On January 1, 2017, there were approximately 969 crypto ATMs across the globe and since that point, installations have grown by 3,925% . Geographical distribution statistics show that North America dominates with 95.1% of all the crypto ATMs w

Three different bills have been introduced in the U.S. this year to empower the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to be the primary regulator of the crypto spot markets. Lawmakers Want CFTC to Be Primary Regulator of Crypto Spot Markets Three bills have been introduced in Congress so far this year to make the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the primary regulator for crypto spot markets. Noting that there has been a longtime debate as to whether the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the CFTC should be the primary regulator of the crypto spot markets, Kristin Smith, executive director of the Blockchain Association, told CNBC Thursday: We now have three different bills — the one this week, the Lummis Gillibrand bill, and also the House bill, the Digital Commodity Exchange Act — that all say the CFTC is the place to go. The “ Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act of 2022 ” was introduced by U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), John Boozman (R-

Tesla CEO Elon Musk believes inflation has peaked and the U.S. economy will be in a recession for about 18 months. “We do get a fair bit of insight into where prices of things are going over time,” the billionaire explained, noting that “inflation is going to drop rapidly.” Elon Musk Explains Why He Thinks Inflation Has Peaked and Recession Will Last 18 Months Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk shared his view on the U.S. economy, inflation, and recession during Tesla’s 2022 annual meeting of stockholders Thursday. Replying to a question about inflation, he explained: “We do get a fair bit of insight into where prices of things are going over time because when you’re making millions of cars, you have to purchase commodities many months in advance of when they’re needed … Because it’s a long supply chain with a tremendous amount of inertia, so we sort of have some insight into where prices are headed over time.” Musk detailed: “The interesting thing that we’re seeing now is that most o

Veteran investor Jim Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with billionaire investor George Soros, has warned about cryptocurrency, stating that “if and when all our money is on our computer, it’s going to be government money.” Nonetheless, he noted that his wife invests in crypto. Jim Rogers’ Crypto Warning Famed investor Jim Rogers shared his view about cryptocurrency in an interview with Bloomberg, published last week. Rogers is George Soros’ former business partner who co-founded the Quantum Fund and Soros Fund Management. “A lot of people I know are investing in crypto and having fun and making money. Many have already disappeared and have gone to zero,” he began, elaborating: My wife invests in crypto of all things, but I don’t invest in them because the bulls say they’re going to be money, and my answer to that is, if and when all our money is on our computer, it’s going to be government money. Rogers proceeded to explain that governments will not allow other currencie

Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, declared that the speedy recovery of tourism in the country had to do with three elements, including surfing, bitcoin, and overall crime reduction. El Salvador was one of the 15 countries that managed to take their tourism incomes to pre-pandemic numbers according to data from the World Tourism Organization. Nayib Bukele States International Tourism Growth Is Powered by Bitcoin in El Salvador Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador and promoter of the adoption of bitcoin ( BTC ) as legal tender in the country, shared his thoughts about the growth of the tourism income in the Salvadoran country. Bukele stated that this growth was the consequence of three key factors: bitcoin, the promotion of surf, and the reduction of crime. In a tweet, the president stated : Only a handful of countries have been able to recover its tourism to pre-pandemic levels. And that’s international tourism, so the reasons behind it are mostly bitcoin and surf

Law enforcement in Kazakhstan detained members of a crime group suspected of forcing IT experts into operating underground facilities for cryptocurrency mining with threats and blackmail. The racketeers allegedly made up to half a million U.S. dollars a month from their business. Kazakhstan Busts Illegal Crypto Mining Organization, Detains Dozens Authorities in Kazakhstan have arrested a group of “criminally oriented individuals” and former convicts who pressured people savvy in information and crypto technology to run illegal installations for cryptocurrency production. Many of the apprehended 23 people had a background in debt-collecting and extortion, the country’s Interior Ministry said in a statement this week. The gang was making estimated profits in the range of $300,000 to 500,000 each month as a result of their unauthorized crypto mining activities, the department further revealed. During searches, police found a number of weapons, including pistols, ammunition and a Kala

On August 4, Arbitrum One, the layer two (L2) Ethereum scaling solution, announced the protocol will implement a significant upgrade called Nitro in 25 days. The highly anticipated Nitro migration will take place on August 31, exactly one year after Offchain Labs, the Arbitrum project maintainers, launched the Arbitrum One mainnet. The Arbitrum team says that developers need to prepare contracts and users should get prepared for faster transactions and lower fees. Offchain Labs Reveals Migration Date for Arbitrum One’s Nitro Upgrade Two days ago, the official Arbitrum One Twitter page told its 275,200 social media followers that Arbitrum will be “migrating to Nitro on August 31st.” Arbitrum launched last year on August 31, as the L2 Ethereum scaling solution leverages optimistic transaction rollups that are transmitted via the Arbitrum One sidechain and Ethereum mainnet. The scaling makes ethereum ( ETH ) transactions faster and cheaper than transacting onchain via ETH ’s layer on

While cryptocurrency markets have seen poor performances during the first two quarters of 2022, a recently published fundraising report authored by Messari researchers notes that $30.3 billion was raised by crypto projects and startups during the first half of 2022. The $30.3 billion raised across 1,199 fundraising rounds surpasses all the funding blockchain startups and projects obtained last year. H1 Crypto Ecosystem Funding Report Shows Capital Continues to Flow Despite Crypto Winter A significant sum of money has been injected into specific blockchain projects and startups within the crypto industry, according to the “H1 2022 Fundraising Report” published by Messari and Dove Metrics, a subsidiary of Messari Holding Inc. According to the report , centralized finance (cefi) outpaced decentralized finance (defi), as cefi captured more than $10.2 billion in H1. Defi managed to gather $1.8 billion, while Web3 and non-fungible token (NFT) projects and related companies raised $8.6 b

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has warned that his company could “disable Wazirx wallets on a tech level,” advising anyone with funds on the Indian crypto exchange to transfer them to Binance. The warning followed numerous tweets by CZ and Wazirx’s founder regarding whether Binance acquired Wazirx. Binance’s Warning: Transfer Your Funds The conflict between global crypto exchange Binance and Indian crypto exchange Wazirx has deepened. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) tweeted Friday, advising anyone with funds on Wazirx to transfer them to Binance. He warned: “We could disable Wazirx wallets on a tech level.” The dispute between Binance and Wazirx began when India’s Directorate of Enforcement (ED) froze the bank assets of Wazirx as part of its money laundering investigation. Following the ED’s announcement, Binance’s CEO quickly denied that his company had acquired Wazirx — almost three years after the two exchanges announced the acquisition. While Zhao claimed that the acquisit

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, says he has bought the dip during the recent cryptocurrency market sell-off. He added: “Now crypto itself desperately needs policy. It needs regulation.” Kevin O’Leary Buys the Dip, Comments on Bitcoin Price Kevin O’Leary shared his crypto market outlook and investment strategy during this bear market in an interview with Stansberry Research, published Thursday. “I see bitcoin sort of testing $20,000 all the time, getting a lot of resistance,” he said when asked about the state of the cryptocurrency, adding that BTC seems to be holding between $20K and $23K. “Still very profitable for bitcoin miners that are currently mining at about $7,000 per coin at scale,” he opined. “There has been a knee-jerk reaction against bitcoin miners lately because of ESG [environmental, social, and corporate governance] concerns but they’re also self-correcting by getting into nuclear and hydropower, which you know is plentiful in some countries like

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused Twitter of fraud in his countersuit against the social media company. Twitter filed a lawsuit against the billionaire to force him to go through with the $44 billion deal to buy the platform. “The Musk parties bring their counterclaims for breach of contract and rescission on the basis of Twitter’s fraud.” Elon Musk’s Legal Battle With Twitter Intensifies Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk has filed a counter-lawsuit against Twitter after the social media giant sued him for terminating the $44 billion deal to buy the platform. Musk’s countersuit, filed Thursday and published Friday, states: This action arises out of Twitter’s misrepresentations to the Musk parties regarding the condition of the company and the ‘key metrics’ Twitter uses to evaluate the number of users on its platform. “Twitter was miscounting the number of false and spam accounts on its platform, as part of its scheme to mislead investors about the company’s prospects by focusing on

Russian IT specialist Alexander Vinnik, accused of owning and running the infamous crypto exchange BTC-e, has been handed over to the U.S. This week, Greek authorities proceeded with the extradition, after his return from France, despite Vinnik’s defense protesting the move and calling the case a “judicial, diplomatic and humanitarian scandal.” Vinnik Appears in San Francisco Federal Court to Face Money Laundering Charges The presumed co-founder and operator of the notorious crypto exchange BTC-e , Alexander Vinnik, was extradited from Greece to the United States on Thursday. The Russian national is facing charges in the Northern District of California and has already appeared in federal court in San Francisco, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the department’s Criminal Division, was quoted as stating: After more than five years of litigation, Russian national Alexander Vinnik was extradited to the United States y

Fabio Araujo, Director of the Central Bank of Brazil, has praised the properties of Bitcoin, saying it is a financial innovation using new technologies. To Araujo, Bitcoin was the catalyst for what is today known as Web3. At an event, Araujo also commented about the status of the development of the digital real, stating that his organization hopes to add smart functions to the currency. Central Bank of Brazil Praises Bitcoin as Pioneer of Web3 Tech More and more central banks around the world are dealing with the issue of cryptocurrencies and how to innovate to keep up with these technologies. Fabio Araujo, director of the Central Bank of Brazil, praised Bitcoin as a financial innovation that gave rise to the Web3 movement and talked about how the digital real, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) that is still under research, might have programmable features. In an event promoted by the Sao Paolo Business School, Araujo stated : We started to accelerate this in 2009, with th

According to the latest data from the Turkish Statistical Institute, the country’s annual inflation rate for the month of July was 79.6%, the highest in 24 years. Rising transportation costs, food and non-alcoholic beverages were some of the product categories that contributed to the overall rate increase. Transportation Costs Rose the Most Turkey’s consumer inflation rate in July surged to 79.60% — the highest in 24 years — while the monthly rate stood at 2.37%, the latest data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TSI) has shown. According to the data, transportation costs, which rose by 119.1%, were one of the four main product groups whose prices rose faster than the consumer price index (CPI). The three other product groups whose inflation rate rose faster than 79.6% are food and non-alcoholic beverages which went up by 94.65%, furnishings and household equipment (88.35%), and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (82.66%). However, according to the TSI, while the transportation

A parliamentary group in the United Kingdom, the Crypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), recently said it had launched an inquiry that will examine the country’s present approach to crypto and digital asset regulation. In addition to gathering information via evidence sessions, the APPG said it is also open to views from players in the sector. Making the UK the ‘Global Home of Crypto Investment’ A United Kingdom (U.K.) parliamentary committee known as the Crypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), recently said it had launched an inquiry into the country’s crypto and digital assets sector. The inquiry will focus on the country’s current approach to the regulation of crypto and digital assets. It will also examine the U.K. government’s plans to make the country a “global home of crypto investment.” In a statement, the parliamentary group said it will hold several evidence sessions over the coming months. Besides gathering evidence via pu

A major Indian cryptocurrency exchange, Wazirx, has had its bank assets of more than $8 million frozen by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED). The exchange was supposedly acquired by Binance in 2019. However, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) now claims that the acquisition was “never completed.” Wazirx, however, maintains that it was acquired by Binance. ED’s Action Against Wazirx India’s Directorate of Enforcement (ED) issued a press release Friday concerning Wazirx, a major crypto exchange in India. ED is a law enforcement and economic intelligence agency of the government of India. The announcement details: Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has conducted searches on one of the directors of M/s Zanmai Lab Pvt Ltd, which owns the popular cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx and has issued a freezing order to freeze their bank balances to the tune of INR 64.67 crore. ED stated that this action is part of its money laundering investigation against non-bank financial companies (NBFC) and

After touching a new all-time low of N710 per dollar in late July, a new report says the Nigerian currency has rebounded by as much as 10%. After initially blaming speculators, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said importers who fail to remit forex earnings may be contributing to the naira’s depreciation. Naira Depreciation Less than two weeks after it tumbled to a new all-time low, the Nigerian currency recovered against the U.S. dollar on the parallel market and went to close trading at N640 per dollar on August 3. This rebound represents a recovery of approximately 10% from the currency’s late July low of over N710 for every dollar. According to a Businessday report, the increased supply of dollars, as well as the cooling demand for the greenback, had contributed to the naira’s rebound. However, before the currency’s recovery, the naira’s rapid depreciation had prompted the country’s lawmakers to seek answers from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele. During h

Exactly one month ago today, bitcoin was trading below $20,000 per unit as crypto markets continued to react to growing levels of inflation and central bank policy. However, a month later, the world’s leading crypto token has moved above $23,000, despite consumer prices rising to multi-decade highs. So with this in mind, where could bitcoin potentially be heading in the next few weeks? Current Market Status July saw bitcoin (BTC) mostly consolidate between a floor of $18,900, and a ceiling of $23,600, as volatility in crypto markets was higher in anticipation of the Fed’s potential 75 basis point (bps) hike. Since then, the Federal Reserve has hiked in back-to-back sessions, increasing interest rates by 0.75% in July and August. This came as inflation in the United States moved to its highest level in over four decades, and with growing concerns over a pending global recession. Despite this, bitcoin has quietly moved higher, as the uncertainty which is and was plaguing the mar

Major Portuguese banks have started closing or refusing to open accounts for cryptocurrency platforms such as exchanges, according to media reports. The move threatens to tarnish the country’s image as one of Europe’s most crypto-friendly destinations, a haven for bitcoin enthusiasts. Portuguese Crypto Firms Hit by Bank Account Closures Portugal, a leading European crypto hub, is risking the loss of its attractiveness for crypto businesses and talent working in the industry as some of its largest banks are now closing accounts of companies operating with digital currencies. Last week, the nation’s biggest listed bank, Banco Comercial Portugues, and another major institution, Banco Santander, shut down all the accounts of Lisbon-based Criptoloja, Bloomberg reported, quoting the exchange’s co-founder and CEO Pedro Borges. The development follows the decision of two smaller banks to close the platform’s accounts. No official explanation was provided in either of these cases, the cryp

Top cryptocurrency exchange , LBank, gave its various communities across the world a July to remember. With a lineup of activities, the trading platform kept it interesting, interactional and most importantly, educational for its users. In addition, the exchange supported several philanthropic projects that helped the less fortunate in different regions. While the month was jam-packed with activities, LBank Labs, LBank’s investment division, was hard at work, identifying new businesses to incubate. It also hosted an end-of-the-month “Fintech Meetup,” bringing all budding experts to discuss crypto regulation and the next-generation innovative financial solutions. Without exception, this month’s globalisation and inclusion campaigns of the top exchange were felt in India, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya, Tunisia, and many other regions. A Four-city India Event Presented by LBank: The LBank Show                 The LBank Show, a critically lauded educational cryp