Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Russia is preparing to authorize international crypto payments but people involved in the industry doubt this would allow the country to circumvent sanctions. At the same time, the United States has been tightening the noose, recently targeting the use of cryptocurrencies to dodge the financial restrictions imposed by the West with new legislation in Congress. Russian Crypto Experts Claim Circumventing Sanctions With Cryptocurrency Is a ‘Great Illusion’ This week, Russian authorities announced they had started developing a mechanism for cross-border settlements with crypto assets, with the goal to reduce the sanctions pressure on the Russian economy and trade. The Ministry of Finance said that a bill legalizing such transactions has been agreed upon with the Central Bank of Russia. Moscow is now in a rush to adopt regulations for the issuance, circulation, and various operations with digital currencies, particularly payments for imports and exports restricted by Western sanctions ...

California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill to regulate crypto in his state. He stressed that “a more flexible approach is needed” to “keep up with rapidly evolving technology and use cases” in the crypto sector. Bill to Regulate Crypto in California Vetoed by Governor Newsom The governor of the U.S. state of California, Gavin Newsom, vetoed a number of bills Friday, including Assembly Bill 2269 (AB 2269) which will establish a licensing and regulatory framework for cryptocurrency. Assembly Bill 2269, titled “Digital financial asset businesses: regulation,” was introduced earlier this year by California Assembly Member Timothy Grayson. It passed the California State Senate on Aug. 29 and the California State Assembly the next day. “AB 2269 would establish a licensing and regulatory framework, administered by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, for digital financial asset activity,” the governor detailed, adding: Digital assets are becoming increasingl...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has obtained a “court order authorizing summons for records relating to U.S. taxpayers who failed to report and pay taxes on cryptocurrency transactions.” The IRS commissioner commented: “The government’s ability to obtain third-party information on those failing to report their gains from digital assets remains a critical tool in catching tax cheats.” IRS Seeks Crypto Investors’ Records From Bank The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has obtained a “court order authorizing summons for records relating to U.S. taxpayers who failed to report and pay taxes on cryptocurrency transactions.” U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe entered an order on Sept. 22 “authorizing the IRS to issue a so-called John Doe summons requiring M.Y. Safra Bank to produce information about U.S. taxpayers who may have failed to report to the IRS, and pay taxes on, cryptocurrency transactions,” the DOJ detailed, noting...

Sources have disclosed that the digital currency mining operation, Bitdeer Technologies, has purchased a high-security storage and display facility in Singapore called Le Freeport for $28.4 million. Bitdeer’s chairman, Jihan Wu, confirmed the vault acquisition via a text message following the reports that revealed the mining firm purchased Le Freeport. Bitdeer Purchases Maximum Security Vault Le Freeport From Yves Bouvier, DBS After the co-founder of Bitmain Technologies Jihan Wu left the company, he co-founded a firm called Matrixport and he’s also the chairman of Bitdeer Technologies . According to a report published by Bloomberg, that cites sources familiar with the matter, Bitdeer paid S$40 million ($28.4 million) for the maximum security vault known as Le Freeport. The vault was originally constructed to be similar to the high-security storage vaults located in Luxembourg and Geneva. Freeport has also been dubbed “Singapore’s Fort Knox for fine art and collectibles.” Freepo...

With the Ethereum Merge event now successfully completed, new proof-of-work (PoW) forks have emerged to vie for miner acceptance. This, as the United States government, has warned that the post-quantum world is getting closer, and vulnerable cryptography will need to be protected. Amidst red hot inflation in the U.S., President Joe Biden notes that gas prices have fallen, but doesn’t mention the 190 million barrels that have been tapped from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to address the issue. Though U.S. inflation is high, the greenback is gaining great power against other world currencies, and Chinese state-backed media says this “might be the beginning of another nightmare” for “many countries in the world.” All this and more in this week’s Bitcoin.com News Week in Review. Ethereum’s Merge Gave Birth to 2 Forks — Newly Launched Ethereumfair Gathers USD Value and Hashpower Following Ethereum’s Merge, a number of cryptocurrency community members have been discussing the proo...

The Ethiopian birr currency’s parallel exchange rate against the U.S. dollar recently dropped to a low of 92 birrs per dollar, a report has said. The report added that following this latest plunge, the gap between the birr’s official and parallel market exchange rates has widened to a record high. Resumption of Fighting Between Ethiopian Government Forces and Tigray Rebels Identified as the Cause The gap between the Ethiopian currency’s official and parallel market exchange rate against the greenback widened to a new record higher after the latter rate plunged 92 birrs for every dollar. Officially, one dollar buys 52.5 units of the local currency. According to a Bloomberg report that quotes Fikadu Digafe, the vice governor and chief economist at the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), the resumption of hostilities in the Tigray region is one of the key factors that caused the Ethiopian currency’s latest plunge. As many media reports have suggested, the fighting between the Ethiopian ...

Financial authorities in Russia have begun work on a mechanism to facilitate the employment of cryptocurrencies for settlements with other nations amid sanctions. The country’s central bank and finance ministry have already agreed on a draft law regulating cross-border crypto payments. Regulators in Russia Move Toward Legalizing Use of Cryptocurrency in Foreign Trade Russian authorities intend to regulate the issuance, circulation, and various operations with digital assets, including international crypto payments, by the end of 2022. The Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Russia, and the Rosfinmonitoring agency, have taken on the task, the financial watchdog told the daily Izvestia. “The activities of organizations that will carry out exchange operations with digital currency, its transfer and storage, and providers of virtual asset services should be subject to regulation, including registration or licensing of such persons and their supervision,” Rosfinmonitoring explained...

The Kenyan central bank governor Patrick Njoroge has described as “craziness” the calls to convert Kenya’s reserves into bitcoin. He added that he would have to be out of his mind before agreeing to this. Njoroge argued that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are not only volatile, but are hardly solving any problem. CBK Governor Says Converting Kenya’s Reserves to Bitcoin Deserves a Jail Term The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor, Patrick Njoroge, has described the idea of putting the country’s reserves into bitcoin as “craziness.” Njoroge, who was addressing recently elected members of Kenya’s legislature, added that if it occurred that he agrees to convert Kenya’s reserves to bitcoin, he should be jailed and the keys to his prison cell must be thrown away. Under Njoroge’s stewardship, the CBK has issued statements and advisories warning Kenyan residents against trading or investing in cryptocurrencies. For instance, Bitcoin.com News reported in June 2022 that Njoroge, together wi...

After predicting the biggest crash in world history, Robert Kiyosaki, the famous author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, says the “end is here” for fake money. He reiterated three lessons that will help investors “do well in market crashes.” Robert Kiyosaki on the End of Fake Money The author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, shared some of his views and investment lessons in a couple of tweets this week. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries. Kiyosaki tweeted on Tuesday explaining why he thinks the end of “fake” money has arrived. The famous author wrote: End is here. Called Jerry Williams, my trusted gold and silver dealer. He said: ‘I can’t get gold or silver coins. The mint will not sell me anymore.’ To me, this means the end of fake $ is here. ...

The Moscow Exchange has proposed to legalize the issuance of receipts for digital financial assets. The trading platform says this will allow custodians to offer clients who are not ready for distributed ledgers to essentially work with securities. MOEX also plans to become a licensed crypto exchange operator. Largest Russian Stock Exchange Gears Up to Enter Digital Asset Market The leading exchange for equities and derivatives in Russia has drafted new legislation that would authorize depositories to issue receipts for digital financial assets (DFAs). In current Russian law, the broad term ‘DFAs’ encompasses cryptocurrencies in the absence of a more precise definition, but mainly refers to digital coins and tokens that have an issuer. Under such arrangement, DFA receipts can be traded as securities, explained Sergey Shvetsov, who heads the supervisory board of the Moscow Exchange ( MOEX ). During the latest edition of the International Banking Forum, the official emphasized that t...

Following what has been a turbulent week of trading, bitcoin prices consolidated to start the weekend. The token rose marginally above the $19,000 level on Saturday, hovering near a three-month low in recent days. Ethereum was also consolidating in today’s session, as prices moved back above $1,300. Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) rose marginally above $19,000 on Saturday, as markets continued to digest this week’s heightened level of volatility. Following a low of $18,617.55 on Friday, the world’s largest cryptocurrency rose to an intraday peak of $19,374.55 earlier today. This move saw bitcoin climb back above its key support point of $19,300, following a recent breakout which sent prices to a three-month low. Looking at the chart, the initial price increase in today’s session came as the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) also moved higher, hitting a resistance level in the process. Since hitting a ceiling of 44.10, BTC /USD prices have fallen from earlier highs, and as of writing ...

An Israeli capital markets regulator, the Insurance and Savings Capital Market Authority, recently granted a “crypto financial services provider license” to Bits of Gold, the first such license for an active company in the country. This license allows Bits of Gold to offer crypto custodian services and to enable the safekeeping of funds belonging to retail customers. Amendment of Israeli Laws In what has been described as a first in Israel, the country’s capital markets regulator, the Insurance and Savings Capital Market Authority (ISACA) recently granted Bits of Gold a “crypto financial services provider license.” This license enables the crypto exchange platform to “offer custodian services” as well as to allow “its retail customers to keep their funds safely and insured” via a wallet application that will be launched sometime in October. According to a statement, Bits of Gold was finally granted the license by the regulator after nearly five years of waiting. An amendment to the...

Bitso, a Mexico-based, Latam-focused cryptocurrency exchange, has launched an initiative that aims to allow Argentines to use crypto for their everyday purchases. The exchange is introducing QR payments directly in its app, which will be interoperable with other platforms already using this method of payment in Argentina. Bitso Seeking to Drive Crypto Payments in Argentina Bitso, one of the biggest exchanges in Latam, with more than 5 million customers, is extending its focus on payments in Argentina. The exchange has launched one of the first interoperable QR payment systems of its kind in the country, hoping to attract more Argentines to use crypto as payment. Argentine customers of the exchange will be able to use their balances of Argentine pesos, stablecoins, bitcoin, or ether to pay at any of the merchants that have QR code payments activated. Depending on the currency, Bitso will manage exchange rates to exchange these cryptocurrencies and deliver Argentine pesos to the mer...

The government in South Korea has seized cryptocurrency worth around $184 million in two years due to tax arrears, according to local media. The authorities in Seoul started confiscating virtual assets from people accused of tax evasion in 2021. Almost 260 Billion Won in Crypto Seized for Tax Evasion in South Korea The amount of crypto assets seized from South Koreans accused of dodging taxation has reached almost 260 billion Korean won (close to $184 million at current exchange rates), the online editions Yonhap News and Maekyung unveiled on Thursday. The reports quote official numbers provided by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, the National Tax Service ( NTS ) of South Korea, and the authorities in 17 cities and provinces. Out of the total exceeding 259.7 billion won, more than 176 billion won of assets were seized due to non-payment of national taxes, and over 84 billion won of crypto was seized as a result of local tax a...

The British government has presented the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill to Parliament that will “make it easier and quicker” for law enforcement agencies “to seize, freeze and recover crypto assets.” The government stressed: “We must ensure that law enforcement agencies have the right legislative framework in place to recover criminals’ crypto assets.” UK’s New Bill to Help Authorities Seize, Freeze, and Recover Crypto The British government introduced the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill in the House of Commons Thursday. The bill “aims to strengthen the U.K.’s fight against economic crime,” the government detailed, noting that “It will also support efforts to tackle terrorist financing.” The government explained: The new law will make it easier and quicker for law enforcement agencies such as the National Crime Agency to seize, freeze and recover crypto assets — the digital currency increasingly used by organized criminals to launder profits from f...

The internet hosting and software development subsidiary of Microsoft, Github, has partially unbanned the Tornado Cash repositories following the recent sanctions enforced by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). Github’s decision follows the U.S. Treasury updating the public, noting that U.S. persons can copy, view, and discuss the open-source code. Github’s partial reinstatement lets repository visitors look at the Tornado Cash codebase in read-only mode. Github Reinstates Tornado Cash Repositories in Read-Only Mode The cryptocurrency community has been discussing the internet hosting and software development platform Github after the service decided to partially reinstate the Tornado Cash open source code on the platform. On August 8, 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department’s regulatory watchdog OFAC sanctioned the ethereum mixer Tornado Cash and several ethereum addresses associated with the platform. When OFAC’s sanctions were published, third-party...

In a world where censorship is growing and the right to privacy is being undermined, Web3 — the next iteration of the world wide web — looks to some like the solution users of online platforms are waiting for. As some pioneering Web3 products and solutions have demonstrated, when users are in control, there are fewer incidents of breaches or unsanctioned use or transfer of their data. Decentralized Communication Finance (Dcfi) Building on this success, some Web3 startups are now attempting to create solutions that make it possible to combine decentralized finance and decentralized communications. One of such startup, Pravica Club — an Egypt-based Web3 firm — recently launched such a messaging platform. According to the startup’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Mohamed Abdou, Pravica Club — a Web3 messaging, self-custody, decentralized identity and blockchain-enabled conversations app — gives users an “opportunity to build their communities in a safe place.” Abdou told Bit...

An international group of experts with extensive background in public and corporate governance will advise global cryptocurrency exchange Binance on regulation. The move is an indication of Binance’s focus on compliance and collaboration with regulators, according to its management. Crypto Exchange Binance Secures Qualified Advice on Regulatory Matters Binance, the world’s leading digital asset exchange in terms of trading volume, has established a Global Advisory Board. The body is comprised of “distinguished experts in public policy, government, finance, economics, and corporate governance,” the coin trading platform said in a press release. The board’s main task will be to advise Binance on how to deal with the most complex regulatory, political, and social issues that the whole crypto industry is facing as it expands and evolves, the exchange explained. The Global Advisory Board, chaired by former U.S. Senator and Ambassador to China Max Baucus, has recently convened in Paris,...

The Web3 software solutions company Chain announced the company has partnered with Kraft Sports + Entertainment, the owners and operators of the New England Patriots, New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium, and Patriot Place. Chain details that the multi-year deal will allow the company to serve as the company’s “official blockchain and Web3 sponsor.” Chain Inks a Deal With Kraft Sports + Entertainment, Web3 Company Plans to Work With New England Revolution and the NFL’s New England Patriots On Thursday, the blockchain and Web3 firm Chain said it inked a multi-year deal with Kraft Sports + Entertainment, the company led by Robert and Jonathan Kraft. The firm founded in 1998 provides operational services to the NFL’s New England Patriots, the charter club of MLS’s New England Revolution, and Gillette Stadium. Chain is a blockchain company that is backed by Visa and Citigroup and the company recently worked with Tiffany & Co. and the Nftiff project . By working with Kraft, Ch...

The U.S. dollar value of the recently airdropped coin native to the forked Ethereum proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain will be at par with that of ether, Chandler Guo, the instigator of the latest Ethereum hard fork, has said. Guo added that he expects the value of the token, which is currently “very cheap,” to grow by 100x in ten years’ time. Surging ETHW Trade Volumes According to Chandler Guo, the self-appointed organizer of the recent Ethereum hard fork, Ether ( ETH ) and the recently airdropped, proof-of-work ETHW will have the same USD value in ten years. Guo argued that the new token, which currently trades at just a fraction of its September 15 high, still has the potential to grow by 100x. In an interview with Bitcoin.com News, Guo claimed that the current price of the forked coin is “very cheap,” hence the scope for it to grow by 100x exists. Guo, a former bitcoin and ethereum miner, nonetheless concedes that the forked blockchain has a lot of catching up to do before this hu...