Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

According to an announcement from Ripple’s core development team Ripplex, developers have introduced the first step toward Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility with the XRP-based sidechain XRPL. The XRPL is now live on Devnet and developers can “assess available technologies,” alongside deploying “existing Solidity apps on the EVM sidechain.” Ripple Core Developers and Peersyst Reveal First Phase of the EVM Sidechain XRPL On Monday, October 17, Ripplex announced the introduction of the XRP-based and EVM-compatible side chain XRPL. The distributed ledger project XRP is the sixth largest crypto project by market capitalization, and XRP core developers have wanted to make the project compatible with smart contract processes for quite some time. Some accounts say XRP developer, David Schwartz, conceived the idea back in 1988. According to Ripplex, the XRPL chain is the first phase of the EVM sidechain and it’s being introduced by Peersyst Technology . “This first phase o...

After it slipped to a rate of about 12:1, the Ghanaian cedi became the latest African currency to touch a new low versus the U.S. dollar, albeit on the unofficial foreign exchange market. Having started 2022 trading around 6.25 per dollar, the cedi has now lost over 90% against the appreciating greenback. Protest Against the Cedi’s Depreciation The Ghanaian cedi recently became the latest African currency to fall to a new low versus the U.S. dollar in 2022, after its unofficial exchange rate against the greenback reportedly slipped to C12.10:$1. Following this latest depreciation, the cedi, which began the year trading at around 6.25 per dollar, has now lost over 90% of its value in just over ten months. According to one local report , the cedi’s depreciation has resulted in the impairment of some traders’ capital. As per the report, some traders in the country’s Ashanti region have protested against the cedi’s depreciation and Ghana’s rising cost of living by closing their shops....

The city of Curitiba, in Brazil, is now studying the possibility of accepting cryptocurrency payments for taxes. Noemia Rocha, a city councilor for Curitiba, presented this project to the executive to study the method by which the municipality could accept cryptocurrencies for these payments using third-party payment processors. Curitiba Might Accept Crypto for Paying Taxes More and more municipalities are including crypto as part of their development and tax-collecting plans. This time is Curitiba, the capital of the state of Parana in Brazil, which is considering accepting payments in cryptocurrency for municipal taxes. The architect of this project is city councilor Noemia Rocha, who suggested the city should consider how this might be achieved with the help of third-party payment companies. The proposal recognizes the acceptance of crypto in Brazil and pushes Curitiba, which is considered a tech hub in the country, to explore this possibility for its traits. About this view of ...

South Korean prosecutors investigating a $7.22 billion money laundering case are reportedly seeking to acquire virtual currency tracking software to be used in monitoring crypto transactions. South Korean financial authorities also believe there is a tax evasion angle to the case. Real-Time Tracking According to a report, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, which is investigating the unsanctioned remittance of $7.22 billion (10 trillion won), is reportedly seeking to acquire virtual currency software. Prosecutors believe such tracking software will enable them to monitor virtual currency transactions in real-time. As stated in a Kmib report , prosecutors are hoping that the software will allow them to extract the history between wallets under investigation and crypto exchanges. They also hope to uncover the source and destination of the laundered funds using the software. We intend to purchase tools to investigate cases involving cryptocurrencies. The plan by the Seo...

Macau, one of China’s special administrative regions, recently concluded discussing a bill that seeks to make digital currencies legal tender, a report has said. The report also suggested that individuals who reject or refuse to accept legal tender will be fined between $123 and $1,230. Improving Macau’s Legal System An executive council of Macau, an autonomous region on China’s south coast, recently completed discussing the draft bill proposing to include digital forms of currency in its basket of financial instruments that are accepted as legal tender. As explained in the China News Service report , the bill is now set to be forwarded to the legislative council for further deliberations. According to the report, Macau’s draft bill, also known as the Legal System for the Establishment and Issuance of Currency, not only seeks to improve the current legal system but to also ensure digital money and other forms of money have “equal status.” The report explained that once the laws ar...

The Conference Board has found that 98% of chief executives surveyed are preparing for a U.S. recession while 99% of CEOs are preparing for an EU recession. “CEO confidence sunk further to start Q4 and is at its lowest level since the Great Recession,” the organization said. 98% of CEOs Expect Recession in the US The Conference Board published its Measure of CEO Confidence on Thursday. The board is a global, non-profit research group with over 1,000 public and private corporations and organizations as members in 60 countries. The Measure of CEO Confidence is “a barometer of the health of the U.S. economy from the perspective of U.S. chief executives,” The Conference Board described, adding that its Q4 survey was conducted between Sept. 19 and Oct. 3 and a total of 136 CEOs participated. “The recent survey asked CEOs to describe the economic conditions they are preparing to face over the next 12-18 months,” the board described, adding: An overwhelming majority — 98% — said they ...

Spacex CEO Elon Musk says that his company will “keep funding” the government of Ukraine for free even though Starlink is losing money, noting that it has cost Spacex $80 million so far to provide internet terminals and services to Ukraine. “We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks and jamming, which are getting harder,” Musk stressed. We’ll Keep Funding Ukraine for Free, Says Musk Spacex has been sending Starlink internet terminals and providing services to Ukraine since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war. At the request of the government of Ukraine, Musk began supplying the country with Starlink internet terminals in February. However, Spacex’s director of government sales reportedly sent a letter to the Pentagon in September, stating that the company is not “in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.” The Pentagon reportedly confirmed they received correspondence from Spacex about the funding of ...

It’s been five months since the Terra ecosystem collapsed as tens of billions of dollars in value disappeared from the crypto economy in a matter of days after May 7. Terra’s new Phoenix blockchain managed to restart the ecosystem to some degree and since the end of June, Terra’s total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) has increased from $350,174 to today’s $41.55 million. A Look at Terra’s Blockchain Ecosystem Over the Last 5 Months Since the Collapse The Terra ecosystem fallout was a dark day for the crypto community when Terra’s stablecoin terrausd (UST), now known as UST classic (USTC), depegged from the token’s $1 parity. Before the collapse, Terra’s luna, now known as luna classic (LUNC) was a top ten crypto asset by market capitalization and Terra’s stablecoin also held a top ten position. Prior to the fallout, luna held the seventh position in terms of crypto market caps, and on April 28, Terra’s native crypto asset was trading for $88 per coin . Precisely ...

Following the largest difficulty increase the Bitcoin network has seen in 2022, the network’s hashrate has not been affected by the 13.55% increase. In fact, five days ago at block height 758,138, the network’s computational power surpassed the all-time high (ATH) recorded on October 5, as it reached 325.11 exahash per second (EH/s) on October 11. Moreover, block generation intervals have been less than ten minutes per block, which means another notable difficulty increase is expected to happen on October 23. 325 EH/s — Bitcoin’s Hashrate Taps Another ATH Following the Last Difficulty Retarget It’s been six days since Bitcoin’s last difficulty retarget, which saw the largest rise this year when the metric jumped 13.55% higher than the difficulty setting codified 2,016 blocks before block 758,016. Despite the difficulty increase and bitcoin’s ( BTC ) U.S. dollar value sliding to $18,183 on October 13, the network’s computational power has remained red-hot as another all-time high...

In this edition of the Bitcoin.com News week in Review: never-before-seen notations discovered from Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, an update on progress toward the next Bitcoin halving event, Mad Money’s Jim Cramer challenging crypto investors to bet against him, and more. Sleuth Discovers Satoshi’s Long-Lost Bitcoin Version 0.1 Codebase, Raw Code Contains Bitcoin Inventor’s Never-Before-Seen Personal Notations On October 7, 2022, a bitcoin supporter named Jim Blasko claimed that he discovered the oldest upload of Bitcoin’s version 0.1 codebase. The original code was thought to have been lost for more than a decade and with a “little browser hacking” Blasko was able to find the lost version 0.1 raw data and files stored on sourceforge.net. Read More Progress Toward Bitcoin’s Halving Is 60% Complete, Block Times Suggest Reduction Could Happen Next Year According to countdown statistics based on the average block generation time of around ten minutes, progress toward the next ...

According to a Consensys blog post published on October 11, the Ethereum-based wallet Metamask has added instant bank-to-crypto transfers via the automated clearing house (ACH) settlement merchant Sardine. Metamask Users Can Swap Fiat for Over 30 Crypto Tokens On Tuesday, the crypto firm Consensys published an announcement that explains the ETH wallet Metamask has added bank-to-crypto transfers through the ACH company Sardine . “With Sardine’s new instant ACH integration, you can buy crypto instantly with no settlement delays,” Consensys explains in the recently published blog post . The crypto firm added: Instant ACH allows orders to complete in minutes instead of days like a standard ACH order, and works on holidays, unlike regular ACH. The newly added feature via Sardine allows Metamask users to transfer their fiat for cryptocurrencies with a maximum limit of $3K per day. Users can also spend up to $5K per week or $25K per month in order to purchase more than 30 crypto asse...

The Japanese yen’s exchange rate versus the U.S. dollar recently plunged to its lowest rate in 32 years — 147.66 JPY per dollar. The yen’s latest fall comes less than a month after its slip in September prompted authorities to enter foreign exchange markets for the first time since 1998. Gap Between US Treasuries and Japanese Government Bonds Widening The Japanese yen fell to a rate of 147.66 per dollar, its lowest exchange rate versus the U.S. dollar in 32 years, a report has said. The yen’s latest record-breaking fall came after official figures from the United States showed that prices had gone up faster than anticipated. The U.S. Federal Reserve has been using rate hikes to tame inflation but these have in turn caused the dollar to strengthen against other global currencies. However, unlike other central banks that have followed in the footsteps of the U.S. Federal Reserve and raised interest rates, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is said to have maintained an “ultraloose monetary pol...

Complying with the latest EU sanctions targeting Russia, well-known cryptocurrency platforms like Localbitcoins, Blockchain.com, and Crypto.com have started to restrict or terminate services for Russian accounts. The moves follow the adoption of new European penalties in response to Moscow’s military escalation in Ukraine. Major Crypto Platforms Conform to EU Measures, Restrict Services for Russian Users Over Ukraine War About a week after the European Union introduced another set of measures aimed at hurting Russia’s economy and finances, including its access to the crypto market, a number of service providers in the industry have taken steps to comply with the new requirements. In April, the bloc banned only high-value services, those for digital assets exceeding €10,000 in value ($11,000 at the time). Last Thursday, Brussels prohibited the provision of all crypto-related services to Russian residents and entities, regardless of the amount. Localbitcoins, the peer-to-peer excha...

A U.S. senator has called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue crypto regulations now “through a transparent notice-and-comment regulatory process.” He stressed that “some digital assets are securities, others may be commodities, and others may subject to a completely different regulatory regime.” US Senator Calls for ‘Transparent Notice-and-Comment Regulatory Process’ to Regulating Crypto Assets U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO) has sent a letter to the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, regarding crypto regulations. In his letter dated Oct. 13, the senator told Gensler, “Clear rules promote an environment where investors are protected,” adding: I write to urge the SEC to issue regulations for digital asset securities through a transparent notice-and-comment regulatory process. He stressed: “Currently, digital asset markets do not have a coordinated regulatory framework. This creates uneven enforcement, and deprives ...

Experts from an economic institute in China have circulated the idea of creating a blockchain-powered digital currency that could lower Asia’s reliance on the greenback. The initiative comes against the backdrop of an expanding digital yuan pilot, and after recent trials of cross-border payments with state-issued digital currencies in the region. China Suggests Minting Asia-Wide Digital Yuan Underpinned by Distributed Ledger Technology Chinese government researchers have proposed the introduction of a new digital currency in Asia in order to reduce the region’s dependence on the U.S. fiat money. The common coin would also help safeguard financial stability while enhancing regional monetary cooperation, they say, quoted by the South China Morning Post this week. According to Song Shuang, Liu Dongmin, and Zhou Xuezhi from the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the digital token would be pegged to a basket of 13 currencies, includin...

Quant rose to its highest point since the start of the year on Saturday, as prices climbed for a third straight session. In addition to this, tron was also higher, as the token attempted to break out of a key resistance point. Overall, cryptocurrency markets were down 1.95% as of writing. Quant (QNT) Quant (QNT) was one of the notable movers to start the weekend, as the token surged to a ten-month high. Following a low of $162.00 on Friday, QNT/USD surged to an intraday peak of $184.98 earlier in today’s session. This move saw the token climb to its highest point since January 8, and comes following three days of gains. As of writing, the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) is now deep in overbought territory, and is tracking at 80.19. This is marginally above a ceiling of 79.00, and this could mean that bears could be looming, looking for any slips, before reentering. Should bullish momentum remain high, we could see traders target an exit around the $190 level. Tron ( TRX )...

Bearish sentiment returned to cryptocurrency markets on Saturday, as bitcoin was once again in the red. The world’s largest token moved lower to start the weekend, following yesterday’s surge towards $20,000. Ethereum was also down today, falling below $1,300 in the process. Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) was in the red to start the weekend, as bearish sentiment returned to cryptocurrency markets. BTC was higher on Friday, as market uncertainty eased, following the latest U.S. inflation report, however it seems as though this turbulence has returned this weekend. As a result, BTC /USD fell to an intraday low of $19,076.63 earlier in the day, less than a 24 hours after hitting a peak of $19,821.40. Looking at the chart, the drop in price has pushed the 10-day (red) moving average (MA) close to an imminent downward crossover with its 25-day (blue) counterpart. In addition to this, the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) is now back below the 50.00 mark, after failing to move past its c...

This week researchers from the Bank of Canada published the central bank’s Financial System Review which highlights five key statistics tethered to Canadian bitcoin owners. According to the Bank of Canada’s metrics, 13% of Canadians own the leading crypto asset bitcoin, and “most Canadians are aware of bitcoin.” Bank of Canada’s Financial System Review Highlights Bitcoin Ownership Among Canadians On October 12, 2022, the Bank of Canada published the financial institution’s Financial System Review , which highlights some key points tied to the crypto asset ecosystem. A blog post specifically discussing the crypto asset industry and markets, in general, written by Daniela Balutel, Walter Engert, Christopher Henry, Kim Huynh, and Marcel Voia explains that “large price corrections are the most common incident reported by crypto asset owners.” Furthermore, the five researchers added that “bitcoin ownership among Canadians increased sharply in 2021.” “The share of Canadians owning bitc...

Konami, one of the most influential Japanese game development and publishing companies, has announced it will be introducing Web3 and metaverse technologies into its games. The company opened 13 different job openings for three departments that will be responsible for developing the new projects to spearhead Konami’s latest business strategy. Konami to Enter Metaverse and Web3 Arena Konami, one of the biggest AAA game developers and publishers in Japan, is showing interest in jumping on the metaverse and Web3 entertainment bandwagon. The company recently published a series of job openings for the production of experiences that include this type of technology in its next games. The company is recruiting via 13 different job openings in the areas of infrastructure development, production and operations, and support. These new openings will help to “provide new experiences such as Web3 and Metaverse,” according to Konami’s news release. While there have been no statements about the I...

The deadly conflict that started with Russia’s assault on Ukraine has increased crypto-related activity in both countries, according to Chainalysis. Fiat inflation and sanctions pressure led to several spikes in transaction volumes this year, the blockchain forensics firm has found, while Eastern Europe as a whole sustained its role in the global crypto ecosystem. Russians and Ukrainians Turn to Crypto Amid Consequences of Escalating Military Clash The Russian invasion of Ukraine and ensuing military conflict that’s currently escalating have affected all aspects of life in the two nations, and cryptocurrency is no exception, Chainalysis said in an excerpt from its upcoming 2022 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report. Citizens of both countries have felt the war’s economic impact and experienced high inflation. Shortly after the hostilities began in late February, Russian and Ukrainian cryptocurrency transfers saw an increase. In the following weeks and months trends diverged, and while...

Turkey’s gold imports of just over 39,000 kilograms in September 2022 are more than 16 times the quantity that was brought into the country in September 2021. The surge in Turkey’s gold imports is reportedly being spurred by the rise in demand for the precious metal by individuals and entities using it in foreign currency transactions. ‘Gold Instead of Turkish Lira’ According to data from Borsa Istanbul’s Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, the quantity of gold imported into inflation-stricken Turkey in September 2022 was over 1,700% more than the quantity brought into the country during the same period last year. The country’s September haul of 39,000 kilograms (kg) takes the total quantity of the precious metal imported by Turks in 2022 to 140,126 kg. As noted in a report published by the Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey’s January 2010 import figure of 44,210 kg remains the country’s largest. Explaining why Turkey is seeing a surge in the quantity of gold brought into the country,...