Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A cryptocurrency investor has reportedly sued South Korean crypto exchange Upbit after the trading platform delayed processing his luna coin transfer prior to its crash. The Korean crypto exchange is investigating the details of the lawsuit. Upbit Sued by Crypto Investor Dunamu Inc., the company that operates the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, has been sued by a crypto investor, a man in his 50s, Korea Joongang Daily reported Monday. The investor alleged that Upbit delayed processing his coin transfer off the exchange prior to the coin crashing, resulting in a monetary loss of 156 million won ($112,477). Upbit is one of the largest crypto exchanges in South Korea. The lawsuit filed with the Seoul Central District Court last week explains that the investor attempted to transfer 1,310 luna coins (LUNA) on March 24 from his Upbit crypto wallet to a wallet he owns at Binance in order to exchange the coins for Vietnamese dong. On that date, the price of LUNA, now called lu...

A federal judge in California has ruled that Apple Inc. is shielded from the “Toast Plus” class action lawsuit where a fake crypto wallet app was available in the Apple App Store. A customer sued the tech giant after downloading the fraudulent app and lost some crypto. Apple Not Liable for Loss After Customer Downloaded Fake Crypto App Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ruled that Apple Inc. is not liable in a class action lawsuit where a fraudulent cryptocurrency wallet app was available for download on the company’s app store, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Plaintiff Hadona Diep, a crypto investor, accused Apple of hosting a fraudulent mobile application that mimics Toast Plus, a legit XRP wallet app. The fake app had a similar name and logo to its legitimate counterpart. She filed a class action lawsuit against the Tech giant in Maryland federal court in September last year; the case was transferred to the Northern Dis...

Mizuho Securities’ head of global macro strategies has warned that an IMF bailout may be in the U.K.’s future. Moreover, a former chancellor of the exchequer cautioned that Britain is entering a long and severe recession, emphasizing that it’s “the worst since 1990 and it may be the worst since before that.” Strategist Discusses Possibility of IMF Bailout for the UK Peter Chatwell, head of global macro strategies at Mizuho Securities, shared his outlook for the U.K. economy in an interview on Bloomberg Television Monday. He explained that Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss , has promised fiscal policy that the British government cannot afford. He also does not expect the Bank of England to be able to get inflation anywhere near its 2% mandate anytime soon. “I’m thinking of two potential crises that this reminds me of,” the Mizuho strategist said. Noting that one of them is the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, he opined: And then I’m thinking about the possibility ...

The bitcoin mining company Cleanspark revealed on Wednesday that the company has signed a purchase agreement for 10,000 new Bitmain Antminer S19j Pro mining rigs for $28 million. Cleanspark expects the machines to be delivered to the company’s facilities by the end of October or early November 2022. Cleanspark Inks Deal with Cryptech Solutions — Purchases 10,000 New Antminers Bitcoin miner Cleanspark (Nasdaq: CLSK ) has announced it has inked a deal with Cryptech Solutions in order to acquire 10,000 Bitmain Antminer S19j Pro bitcoin mining rigs. The news follows Cleanspark exceeding 3 exahash per second (EH/s) and a record daily production high of 13.25 BTC . At the time, Cleanspark’s executive chairman Matt Schultz remarked that the company was prepared for the crypto winter. In the press release sent to Bitcoin.com News, Cleanspark said the 10,000 new Bitmain-brand bitcoin miners should be delivered to the firm’s mining campuses in roughly two months. The publicly-listed bitcoin...

Wall Street’s major indexes closed the day in red on Tuesday, alongside cryptocurrencies, and precious metals like gold and silver taking some percentage losses. The leading crypto asset bitcoin dropped 5.87% under the $19K region, while the second largest crypto asset ethereum shed 8.7%. Gold’s nominal U.S. dollar value per troy ounce slipped by 0.50%, while silver dropped by 0.74% on September 6. Meanwhile, a recent rise in U.S. Treasury yields has been concerning and one analyst thinks the anomaly could spark an American debt crisis. Stocks Sink Lower, Crypto Economy Craters, Precious Metals Dip, Traders Await Fed’s Next Move Tuesday was a bloody day of trading for Wall Street traders, gold bugs, and crypto proponents as markets shed significant losses. Investors are starting to weigh in on the upcoming Federal Reserve rate hike, and benchmark U.S. Treasury yields leapt to the highest tier in two months. Nasdaq, NYSE, S&P 500, and the Dow Jones ended Tuesday lower than expect...

Bitcoin fell below $19,000 on Wednesday, as the token failed to break out of a key resistance level during yesterday’s session. As a result of today’s sell-off, prices are now at their lowest point since June. Ethereum also declined, as bullish sentiment surrounding The Merge faded. Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) fell to its lowest level since June earlier in today’s session, a day after the token failed to break out of a key resistance point. Following a peak of $20,155.27 on Tuesday, BTC /USD dropped to an intraday low of $18,644.47 on hump day. The move saw bitcoin fall to its lowest point since June 18, and came as prices declined as BTC neared its ceiling of $20,230. Looking at the chart, the drop saw BTC move from that ceiling, to eventually break out of a support level of $19,500. As of writing, the token is now trading close to a lower floor at $18,600, which is an area where bulls have so far attempted to uphold support. The relative strength index (RSI) is currently tracki...

Russia is cooperating with friendly countries on the potential employment of stablecoins in international payments, a top government official unveiled. The news comes after key institutions in Moscow agreed that the Russian Federation needs to legalize cross-border crypto payments in the face of sanctions. Russia Looking to Build Stablecoin Platforms to Facilitate Trade With Partners The Russian government is now working with several “friendly countries” on the establishment of clearing platforms for international settlements in stablecoins, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev revealed, quoted by the Tass news agency. “We are currently working with a number of countries to create bilateral platforms in order not to use dollars and euros,” Moiseev said, explaining that Moscow offers to employ “mutually acceptable tokenized instruments” on these platforms. The high-ranking government official further elaborated that the “stablecoins can be pegged to some generally recognized inst...

The Ethereum Merge is shaping up to be the biggest event in the crypto space in over five years, and that could mean some significant impacts on your crypto portfolio. We know that sometime between September 10th and 20th, the Merge will take place, resulting in the Proof of Stake “Beacon Chain” merging with the current Proof of Work Ethereum chain. While speculation surrounds whether Ethereum will fork and what may happen to DeFi protocols, stablecoins, NFTs and more, essential questions remain around the potential tax implications that Ethereum holders could incur. So what’s happening, and what do you need to know? Crypto tax calculator Koinly is here to explain. What is the Ethereum Merge? The ultimate result of the Ethereum Merge will be the transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) as the consensus mechanism for the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum developers have flagged this move for years, with work initially beginning as far back as 2016. The current es...

A lawyer representing Russian IT specialist Alexander Vinnik has urged the government in Moscow to discuss a potential exchange of prisoners with the United States, where he was recently extradited. The French legal expert is convinced only a return to his homeland could save Vinnik who has deteriorating health after solitary confinement in France and hunger strikes in Greece. Vinnik’s Lawyer Asks Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to Start Negotiations With Washington One of the lawyers of Alexander Vinnik, alleged operator of BTC-e who has been accused of laundering over $4 billion through the now defunct cryptocurrency exchange, has urged Russian authorities to negotiate adding his client to a possible prisoner swap deal with Washington. Frederic Belot, a member of Vinnik’s defense team who represented him in French courts, has issued his call in a letter addressed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Reuters reported on Monday after seeing the correspondence. “Now the only ...

The Brazilian tax authority (RFB) has revealed its numbers corresponding to the month of July regarding cryptocurrency statements. More than one million Brazilians have declared cryptocurrencies in the month, which constitutes a record in statements for the organization. Also, there was a rise in the number of women holding crypto for this period. Tax Authority Reports More Than a Million Brazilians Invest in Crypto The Brazilian tax authority (RBF) has reported that more than one million citizens presented their cryptocurrency statements in July. Specifically, 1,336,715 citizens presented their crypto information, the highest number of people since reporting became a requirement in 2019. Brazilian law dictates that all cryptocurrency holders must report their information to the institution, even if trades are not made using centralized exchanges. This gives the organization the information needed to release such statements regularly. In comparison, in May 2022, only 365,000 citi...

This week, the hardware wallet manufacturer Trezor, and the non-custodial bitcoin wallet with a built-in Coinjoin mixer, Wasabi, revealed the two teams are working together to introduce Coinjoin mixing into hardware wallets. On Sunday, Wasabi tweeted “hardware wallet Coinjoins are coming next year with our friends at [Trezor].” Trezor Says Company Is ‘Working on a Coinjoin Implementation’ According to Trezor and Wasabi , a form of Coinjoin mixing is coming to hardware wallets in the near future. Coinjoin is a privacy-enhancing process that is leveraged to anonymize transfers on a blockchain. Basically, the scheme involves a number of parties transacting together and mixing their unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) in a pool to obfuscate the origin of all the funds. On Sunday, Wasabi’s official Twitter account tweeted about adding the privacy-enhancing scheme to hardware wallets. In the thread, someone asked Wasabi when they would release an “album,” and Trezor replied : “Hi, we’...

The Korean subsidiary of Renault, a historic brand in the automotive industry, is establishing a partnership with The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based metaverse platform, to enter the metaverse space. With this partnership, Renault Korea’s objective is to establish its brand presence in the metaverse and to present Renault-based virtual automotive experiences to customers. Renault to Enter Metaverse Through the Sandbox Renault, one of the biggest automotive companies in the world, has signed a partnership with The Sandbox to be present in its virtual metaverse world. The Korean subsidiary of the organization will be responsible for this, establishing the brand presence in the space through a series of automotive-related activities to introduce virtual customers to the products of the company. These automotive experiences aim to enrich The Sandbox platform and allow Renault to reach a more ample audience, expanding the potential customer base of their products. About the partnership, The...

The Saudi Arabian central bank has reportedly appointed Mohsen Al Zahrani as the lead of the bank’s virtual assets and digital currency project. The emergence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the regional crypto hub is believed to have forced authorities in Saudi Arabia to consider formally regulating cryptocurrencies. Saudi Arabia’s Changing Position on Crypto According to a report , the Saudi Arabian central bank has selected Mohsen Al Zahrani to lead its virtual assets and digital currency program. The appointment of Al Zahrani, according to the report, signals that the country which banned cryptocurrencies just over four years ago has changed its stance. The appointment also comes at a time when Saudi residents, just like their peers in the region, are embracing cryptocurrencies. Further, as reported by Bitcoin.com News in April, a study found that 54% of Saudi residents not only saw cryptocurrency as an investment asset, but believed it should be used as currency. Simila...

Meta recently announced a partnership with mobile chip company Qualcomm to produce chips geared for the metaverse market. The agreement will allow Meta to use Qualcomm’s XR technology, designed for extended and virtual reality tasks, to design and manufacture silicon to be put in the next line of Meta’s VR application, including future headsets for its Meta Quest line of products. Qualcomm and Meta to Bring the Metaverse to Chips While the metaverse company has focused more on the software part of the computing equation thus far, Meta is making moves to bring more efficient and powerful chips to its products. The company has now inked a partnership with Qualcomm, one of the biggest fabless mobile chip companies in the world, to help it produce silicon specially designed to fulfill metaverse tasks. The custom chips will use Qualcomm’s XR technology, which includes virtual reality and extended reality functions. About the importance of this partnership, Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualco...

A Nigerian presidential election candidate, Peter Obi, has said the local currency’s exchange rate against the dollar must not be fixed but must be determined “by the forces of demand and supply.” Pointing to the success of the Nigerian fintech Flutterwave, the candidate said if elected, his government will create an enabling environment for other startups to similarly thrive and succeed. Two-Tier Exchange Rate Regime Attacked A candidate in Nigeria’s upcoming presidential elections, Peter Obi, has said the local currency’s official exchange rate — currently pegged at just under N450 for every dollar — must be determined by market forces. Obi, who is one of three main candidates who are seeking to replace outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, also attacked the two-tier exchange rate regime currently in use. The remarks by the Labour Party candidate come just over a month after the naira plunged to its worst exchange rate ever against the US dollar. As reported by Bitcoin.com News ...

Meta, the metaverse-focused social media company, is helping universities get their own virtual reality campuses online. The company will be opening 10 virtual campuses as part of its Immersive Learning project, which seeks to take education to virtual reality environments. In partnership with Victoryxr, an Iowa-based virtual reality education startup, Meta will invest $150 million in this initiative. Meta Getting Universities Into the Metaverse One of the biggest applications of virtual reality and metaverse technology has to do with education and the possibility of virtual reality classes coming true. Meta, the social media behemoth, is executing this idea, helping 10 universities to launch their metaverse-based campuses. One of these is the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), which is an online university. The more than 45,000 students of the university will now be able to meet in a metaverse online to convene and share their experiences. Daniel Mintz, chairman of the ...

The world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform by trade volume, Binance, issued a notice on Monday explaining that the exchange will be removing the stablecoin USDC from the platform’s spot trading pairs list. Binance further details that users holding three types of stablecoins will see their balances auto-converted into BUSD if the user does not remove the specific crypto asset from the exchange. Binance to Delist Specific Stablecoin Trading Pairs by the End of September It seems Binance will be removing the world’s second-largest stablecoin usd coin (USDC), a U.S. dollar-pegged token issued by the Centre consortium . During an announcement made on Monday, Binance explained that it plans to auto-convert certain stablecoin balances if the funds are not removed by September 29, 2022. “Fellow Binancians, in order to enhance liquidity and capital-efficiency for users, Binance is introducing BUSD Auto-Conversion for users’ existing balances and new deposits of USDC, USDP and TU...

Volatility in crypto markets remained high on Monday, as bitcoin was mostly in the red to start the week. The token has once again moved below $20,000, as prices appear to be consolidating. Ethereum was also trading sideways, with prices falling marginally below a key support level earlier in the day. Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) started this week how it ended the previous, trading not only in the red, but also below $20,000. The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell to an intraday low of $19,673.05 on Monday, as the post-nonfarm-payrolls-report bearish sentiment continued. Today’s low saw BTC /USD briefly move close to its support point of $19,600, however bulls have so far resisted a move below this point. Looking at the chart, it appears as though the decline came as the 24-day relative strength index (RSI) failed to break through its own ceiling. As of writing, the RSI is tracking at 35.84, which is below the aforementioned resistance point of 37.90. In order for bitcoin to climb ...

Police in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan have detained a man accused of defrauding people who wanted to purchase crypto miners. Law enforcement officials say the suspect made millions of rubles through fictitious sales of mining devices to Russian citizens and foreigners. Investigators Claim Russian Made Money Selling Nonexistent Crypto Mining Rigs A resident of Russian Republic of Tatarstan’s capital city, Kazan, has been apprehended in Astrakhan, Southern Russia, for allegedly defrauding 10 local residents and a number of foreigners who tried to buy mining equipment from him. The Russian posted fake ads of crypto mining machines for sale and insisted on receiving the payments in advance. Law enforcement authorities have estimated he was able to collect around 19 million rubles this way (approx. $315,000). “According to the investigation, the young man posted on the internet tempting offers for the sale of cryptocurrency mining devices, which he never actually had. Now he...

Action Point, an Argentine startup, has developed a white-label solution that allows banks to offer cryptocurrency services through their already existent ATM infrastructures. The company provides this service in partnership with Lirium AG, a crypto-as-a-service organization, and has already implemented the solution in over a dozen ATMs in the country. Argentine Startup Action Point Takes Crypto to Fiat ATMs Latam has been a fertile land for crypto adoption, and now banks in Brazil and Argentina are including cryptocurrency services on their platforms. Action Point, an Argentine startup, aims to surf the wave of this trend by providing middleware tech to help banks achieve this goal. The company has developed a white-label solution for banks to include cryptocurrency services in their already available ATM networks. The white label property of the tool allows each banking organization to preserve its own digital app as the only way of accessing its services. The solution works on t...

The Chinese metaverse industry has reportedly raised about $780 million in funding and there are expectations this will grow to be a $5.8 trillion industry by 2030. So far there are 160,000 virtual human enterprises in China while 20 provinces or cities in the country are reportedly supporting the metaverse. Developing the Metaverse According to a local media report , China’s metaverse industry has raised $780 million (5.46 billion yuan) in funding. In addition to 160,000 “Chinese virtual human enterprises,” there are about 20 provinces or cities that are already supporting the metaverse, the report added. Also, as per a report on the Chinese language news site, there are expectations that the market size of China’s metaverse would grow to $5.8 trillion by 2030. Meanwhile, the report said two Chinese companies — the internet giant Tencent and one of the country’s leading video gaming companies Netease Yaotai — are competing and working to find ways to develop the metaverse. While...