Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The director of licensing and head of the fintech unit of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has confirmed that the regulator is considering allowing retail investors to invest directly in crypto assets. “We’ve had four years of experience in regulating this industry … We think that this may be actually a good time to really think carefully about whether we will continue with this professional investor-only requirement.” SFC Director on Crypto Regulation in Hong Kong Elizabeth Wong, director of licensing and head of the fintech unit of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), talked about cryptocurrency regulation during a panel discussion held by Invest HK on Monday, South China Morning Post reported. She explained that the regulatory environment for crypto in Hong Kong is different from in mainland China. Emphasizing that Hong Kong can introduce its own bill to regulate cryptocurrencies, she stressed that it “shows just how separate Hong Kong is from

Three people are facing trial in Germany for their roles in one of the crypto world’s most infamous scams, Onecoin. The defendants are accused of fraud, among other crimes, allegedly committed as they assisted the pyramid scheme’s mastermind, ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova, who is still on the run. Lawyer and Couple Face Criminal Allegations in Germany Over Roles in Onecoin Scam A husband and wife as well as an attorney from Munich are now among the first people in Europe to face criminal charges over their participation in the Onecoin crypto scam. On Tuesday, they appeared in a German court, Bloomberg reported. The three have been accused of money laundering, fraud, and banking crimes linked to the multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. The pyramid was founded and managed by Bulgarian-born German national Ruja Ignatova, dubbed the ‘Cryptoqueen.’ The lawyer allegedly transferred €20 million ($19.7 million) to the Cayman Islands on behalf of Ignatova for the purchase of two London apartmen

Tesla’s third-quarter balance sheet shows that the electric car company is still holding $218 million in bitcoin. CEO Elon Musk claims that Tesla could be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined. The executive is also “excited” about acquiring Twitter. Tesla Still Holds $218 Million in Bitcoin Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) released its third-quarter earnings results Wednesday. The company’s Q3 financial statements show that Tesla did not sell any bitcoin during the quarter. Its balance sheet still shows $218 million in digital assets, unchanged from the second quarter. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin is $19,188 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency in early 2021 and has not purchased any more since. The company sold about 75% of its BTC holdings in the second quarter of this year. In the third quarter, Tesla’s revenue rose to $21.5 billion, compared with analysts’ projections of $22.1 billion. Profit exclu

Bitcoin snapped a two-day losing streak on Thursday, as prices of the cryptocurrency rebounded at a key point of support. The current price uncertainty in markets comes as global inflation continues to hover close to historical highs. Ethereum was also back in the green in today’s session. Bitcoin Following two days of consecutive declines, bitcoin ( BTC ) rose higher in today’s session, moving away from its recent floor below $19,000. On Wednesday, the world’s largest cryptocurrency fell to an intraday low of $18,971.46, however the token rebounded earlier today. So far in Thursday’s session, BTC /USD has hit a peak of $19,280.68 as the bulls rejected a breakout below a key floor of $18,900. Looking at the chart, the relative strength index (RSI) of 14-days also moved closer to its own floor of 43.70, however the index has since moved away from this point. As of writing, the index is tracking at 45.68, with the next visible point of support being the 48.00 mark. Should this le

Digital asset platform Nuri has told customers to withdraw their funds in the next two months, after taking a hit from the crypto winter. Formerly known as Bitwala, the Berlin-headquartered cryptocurrency bank filed for insolvency earlier this year and failed to find a buyer. Nuri to Maintain Trading Until Last Day of November, Prepares to Close Down Crypto bank and exchange Nuri has instructed users to withdraw their funds by Dec. 18, 2022 at the latest. The Germany-based company will then terminate and liquidate its digital asset business, according to a letter from its CEO Kristina Walcker-Mayer, who assured: Customers have access and will be able to withdraw all funds until the aforementioned date. All assets in your Nuri account are safe and unaffected by Nuri’s insolvency. The chief executive pointed out that the platform will continue to support trading until Nov. 30, 2022. The announcement comes after Nuri filed for temporary insolvency in August. Reports at the time no

According to a general notice published in a government gazette, crypto assets are now treated as financial products under South Africa’s Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act. Declaration of the crypto assets as financial products means crypto asset service providers (CASP), such as exchanges, must apply for a license. Declaration Applicable to Any Digital Representation of Value Not Issued by Central Bank According to a recently published South African government gazette, crypto assets have been declared as financial products under the country’s Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act. Signed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) commissioner, Unathi Kamlana, the declaration became effective on October 19. This is an historic moment for South Africa: Today the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) declared a crypto asset as a financial product under the FAIS Act. This Declaration was published in the Government Gazette as well a

Walmart’s global chief technology officer has revealed crypto’s role in the retail giant’s future. “Crypto will become an important part of how customers transact,” the executive said. “We want to make sure that we make it as friction free for customers to be able to transact.” Executive Discusses Crypto in Walmart’s Future Walmart Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer Suresh Kumar discussed cryptocurrency at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit Tuesday. Replying to a question about the role of crypto in Walmart’s future, Kumar said: “I think that there are three major areas of disruption. Crypto falls in sort of the middle of it. I have talked before about the way in which customers are getting inspired and discovering products. That is changing.” He continued: “Part of that is going to happen in the metaverse. Part of that is going to happen on live streams, inside your social media app. So whether it is physical goods or virtual goods, they [crypto] play a

The CEO of global investment bank Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, sees a good chance of a U.S. recession. He stressed that the “environment heading into 2023 is one that you’ve got to be cautious and prepared for.” Goldman Sachs CEO Warns About U.S. Recession, Advises Investors to Be Cautious Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon warned about where the U.S. economy is headed in an interview with CNBC Tuesday. He said: I think it’s a time to be cautious, and I think that if you’re running a risk-based business, it’s a time to think more cautiously about your risk box, your risk appetite. “I think you have to expect that there’s more volatility on the horizon now,” the Goldman CEO continued. “That doesn’t mean for sure that we have a really difficult economic scenario. But on the distribution of outcomes, there’s a good chance that we have a recession in the United States.” However, the executive noted: “The fundamentals really don’t change. The leadership does move to different places,

PRESS RELEASE. “Creating a neobanking super-app for crypto and digital assets has been blockbank’s ultimate vision since its inception. Throughout this past year, we have listened to our growing user base, acquired global licenses, and built one of the most technologically advanced pieces of software in this space,” said Anastasija Plotnikova, the CEO of blockbank. Blockbank is available on the Apple and Google Play stores for download and provides the end user with a portal into all things banking, digital finance, and cryptocurrency. Having multiple back-ends with one front-end establishes a multi-faceted user-centric experience allowing each user to pick and choose how they want to participate not only in the application but with their own personal finances. The app aims to give its users an unparalleled set of options. First, where they are fully KYC’d, and the assets are custodied within the application, users can stake, earn, and trade. Second, where users can be fully de

Following the recent xrp and ether prediction forecasts by crypto and fintech experts chosen by the product comparison web portal, finder.com, Finder’s latest handful of specialists have produced a predictions report for bitcoin. The group of 55 Finder’s experts think bitcoin will increase in value by more than 10% by the year’s end, and by 2025, the participants expect bitcoin to be around $79K. Finder’s Panelists Share Bitcoin Forecasts Finder’s experts have convened again and this time the group tallied up the predictions for the leading crypto asset by market capitalization bitcoin ( BTC ). Currently, 77% of the panelists still think BTC is a store of value (SoV) despite the 70% decline from the all-time high. 56% of Finder’s panelists think BTC is currently underpriced and most expect BTC to climb to $21,344 by December 2022. “Bitcoin is suffering due to external macro conditions,” Coinsmart Financial CEO Justin Hartzman told the finder.com researchers. Hartzman assumes BT

On Tuesday, October 18, researchers from the crypto analysis platform Cryptoquant identified an outflow of 48,000 bitcoin coming from the trading platform Coinbase Pro. According to the researcher’s summary of the situation, a large portion of the funds were old coins. Whale Transfers 48,000 Bitcoin Amid Coiled Market While bitcoin (BTC) has been trading under the $20K region and trading sideways, observers have witnessed a number of old coins move onchain. The onchain movement comes at a time when market volatility is expected. For instance, the latest Glassnode Insights report called “A Coiled Spring,” expects some bitcoin price fluctuations to occur in the near future. “The bitcoin market is primed for volatility, with both realized and options implied volatility falling to historical lows,” Glassnode wrote on October 17. “Futures open interest has hit new all-time-highs, despite liquidations being at all-time-lows. Volatility is likely on the horizon, and Bitcoin prices rare

Ethereum was back below the $1,300 level on Wednesday, as the U.S. dollar rose following better than expected quarterly earnings. So far this earnings season, Netflix, Bank of America, and others have outperformed expectations, highlighting what some view as the resilience of the U.S. economy, despite the global slowdown. Bitcoin was also back in the red. Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) was trading lower on Wednesday, as prices continued to decline following a failed breakout of a resistance at $19,550. Following a high of $19,655.75 on Tuesday, which saw BTC /USD move past the aforementioned ceiling, prices slipped to a low of $19,144.77 earlier today. Wednesday’s drop sees the token move closer to a breakout below $19,000, with bears likely targeting a floor of $18,900. Bearish sentiment has largely been present during what many are calling “red October,” with BTC trading below $20,000 for the majority of the month thus far. Looking at the chart, the 10-day (red) moving average has e

Eswatini recently became the latest African country to jump on the central bank digital currency (CBDC) bandwagon after its central bank selected Giesecke Devrient, a Germany-based technology firm, as its partner. An agreement signed by both parties aims to enable them to deepen their “understanding of the practicalities of implementing a CBDC in Eswatini.” Retail CBDC Presents Strongest Opportunity for Adoption The Southern African nation of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) recently became the latest African country to signal its intention to issue a digital currency, after it was revealed that the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) has appointed a Germany-based firm called Giesecke Devrient as its technology partner. According to a statement issued by the technology firm, an agreement to this effect was signed at the recent annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group. The country’s selection of the German firm comes some two years after the latter’

Authorities in Brussels are taking steps to reduce power consumption, including in cryptocurrency mining, as the EU faces limited energy supplies from Russia, the reliance on which it has been trying to lower. New energy efficiency labeling is to address the growing electricity usage in the crypto sector. EU to Develop Energy Efficiency Label for Data Centers Amid Increasing Consumption in Mining The European Union plans to introduce a label for energy efficiency in efforts to counter the growing electricity consumption in data centers such as those mining cryptocurrencies. According to Bloomberg, the EU will also urge member states to target crypto miners’ energy usage as it seeks to navigate the winter with far less Russian gas and other energy than before the sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine. Quoting a draft proposal, the report revealed that the EU’s executive arm wants to work with international partners to adopt a grading measure that will encourage more environmenta

The Ethiopian government has instructed banks to reject requests for foreign currency to buy so-called non-priority products. The Ethiopian Minister of Industry Melaku Alebel Addis has defended the move, saying this will allow local manufacturers to grow and become competitive. The restrictions are set to remain in force for an indefinite period. Eliminating Pressure From Foreign Products The Ethiopian government has reportedly instructed banks to reject requests for foreign currency to buy what the Ministry of Finance calls non-priority goods. In a letter to the country’s central bank, the ministry reportedly stated that banks must only approve requests for foreign exchange if the customer’s objective is to import food, medicines, or medical equipment. Foreign exchange should also be availed to importers of raw materials, the ministry reportedly said. Justifying the seemingly protectionist policy, the Ethiopian Minister of Industry, Melaku Alebel Addis, suggested in a tweet that

The European Commission’s commissioner for financial services has reportedly urged U.S. lawmakers to establish new rules to regulate the crypto industry. “We do need to see other players also legislating … We need to look at global regulation of crypto,” said the commissioner. EU Commissioner Calls on U.S. Lawmakers to Establish New Crypto Rules Mairead McGuinness, the European Commission’s commissioner for financial services, talked about cryptocurrency regulation in an interview with the Financial Times, published Tuesday. Referencing the Markets in Crypto-Assets ( MiCA ) bill that will provide a regulatory framework for crypto across countries in the European Union, she stressed that any regulation imposed on the crypto industry would need to be global in order to work. The commissioner elaborated: We do need to see other players also legislating … perhaps differently, but with the same objective . . . We need to look at global regulation of crypto. McGuinness urged U.S. law

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan & Chase CEO Jamie Dimon both agree that the U.S. economy is doing well and consumers are in good shape. “The consumers basically have more money in their accounts by multiples than they did pre-pandemic,” said the Bank of America chief. Bank of America’s CEO: US Economy Is in ‘Pretty Good Shape’ Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) annual membership meeting in Washington, D.C., last week that the U.S. economy is in good shape despite inflation, jittery markets, and international tensions, Bloomberg reported. Emphasizing that the Federal Reserve has to raise rates to slow down inflation and act against the spending forces of U.S. consumers, Moynihan was quoted as saying: The toughest challenge for the Fed is actually one of the best things about the U.S. economy — is that it’s in pretty good shape. “The consumers basically have more money in their accounts by multiples than the

U.S. President Joe Biden has been criticized for stating that the U.S. economy is “strong as hell” as inflation rises to a 40-year high. Meanwhile, the White House claims that Biden understands and “has done the work” to fix the inflation issue. Joe Biden Believes the U.S. Economy Is ‘Strong as Hell’ President Joe Biden was criticized on social media Monday for stating over the weekend that the U.S. economy is “strong as hell.” Responding to a reporter’s question Saturday about whether he had any worry about the strength of the U.S. dollar amid rising inflation, Biden replied while eating ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins in Portland, Oregon: I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world. Our economy is strong as hell. “Inflation is worldwide. It’s worse off than it is in the United States,” he continued. “So the problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries, not so much ours.” Many people took to Twitter

Societe Generale-Forge, a subsidiary of France’s third-largest bank, has obtained registration with the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the French financial markets regulator, as a digital asset service provider. Societe Generale’s Subsidiary Registers as Digital Asset Service Provider The digital asset subsidiary of Societe General Group, Societe Generale-Forge, is now registered with France’s financial regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). Societe Generale is France’s third-largest bank by total assets. According to the AMF’s list of registered Digital Asset Service Providers (DASPs), Societe Generale-Forge obtained registration on Sept. 27. The company is now authorized to offer digital asset custody service, the purchase and sale of digital assets for legal tender, and the trading of digital assets against other digital assets in France. Societe Generale-Forge provides issuers and investors with end-to-end services to issue, invest and manage digital-nat

PRESS RELEASE. Digital currency made splashes in the 2010s with a promise of decentralization and ultimate user privacy. However, most well-known crypto exchange giants, like Binance or Coinbase, are CEXs by essence. It means they are centralized exchange platforms, offering custodial wallets to users and collecting user data. No privacy, no user control, and no genuine decentralization – that’s what the CEX use is. Luckily, by the end of the 2010s, crypto enthusiasts moved further with the idea of introducing the automated market-making (AMM) functionality that would remove the need for a centralized authority out of the exchange process. The idea was proposed by Vitalik Buterin and found its realization first in Bancor (early 2018) and then in Uniswap – a DEX released in late 2018. Today, over 300 decentralized exchanges are online, each offering peer-to-peer exchange opportunities using the smart contract functionality. DEXs quickly rose in popularity, reaching over $1 trillion