Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Crypto firm Blockchain.com has announced the launch of a new crypto-centric pre-paid Visa card and so far, 50,000 users have registered for the waitlist signup. In addition to launching its crypto Visa card powered by the card issuing platform Marqeta, Blockchain.com Visa users will earn 1% back in crypto whenever they spend funds using the card. Blockchain.com Introduces Crypto Visa Card Blockchain.com is joining the likes of Crypto.com, Ripio, Bitso, Coinbase, Bitpay, Blockfi, and FTX by announcing the launch of a new crypto-loadable pre-paid Visa card. According to the announcement on Wednesday, Blockchain.com Visa users can “spend from a crypto balance fee-free and offer the opportunity to earn crypto rewards.” Moreover, 50,000 registered users have already signed up for the company’s new crypto payments card. “As one of the crypto industry’s oldest and most trusted platforms, we’re excited to roll out the natural next step to make crypto easy to use in the real world and acces...

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller says he is not a big fan of the Fed issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). “It’s just a checking account at the Fed,” said the governor. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently said that the central bank has not decided whether to issue a digital dollar. Fed Governor Skeptical of CBDCs Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller shared his view on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) Tuesday during the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas. Commenting on the Federal Reserve issuing a digital dollar, he was quoted by Bloomberg as saying: It’s just a checking account at the Fed. I’m not a big fan of it, but I’m open to having someone convince me that this is something that’s really valuable. Some people have argued that a Fed-backed digital currency would help ensure the U.S. dollar’s dominance, noting that many countries, including China, are already working on launching their own CBDCs. The People’s Bank of China (PB...

Bitcoin rose to its highest level in six weeks on Wednesday, as the U.S. Dollar continued to weaken versus several G7 currencies. The latest decline in USD comes as consumer confidence in the United States fell by more than expected in October. Ethereum was also trading at a multi-week high in today’s session Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) was back above $20,000 during today’s session, as crypto bulls pushed prices to a multi-week high while the U.S. dollar lost strength. Following a low of $19,278.74 yesterday, BTC /USD raced to an intraday high of $20,702.72 on Wednesday. Today’s move sees the world’s largest cryptocurrency hit its strongest point since September 13, when prices were close to $23,000. Looking at the chart, Wednesday’s surge comes as bullish pressure was finally able to intensify, moving beyond the resistance of $19,600 in the process. The 14-day relative strength index (RSI) also moved higher, breaking out of a ceiling of 53.00, on its way to a current reading of 63....

A recent poll completed by the Public Opinion University Institute, part of the Simeon Canas Centroamerican University, has found that El Salvador is still not attracted by the idea of bitcoin as legal tender. The poll results indicate that almost two-thirds of the population has a negative impression of bitcoin, with only a quarter of Salvadorans having used the cryptocurrency. El Salvador Still Cold on Bitcoin Adoption While El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender last year, being the first country in the world to do so, Salvadorans are still not completely sold on the idea of introducing bitcoin as part of their economies. A recent poll presented by the Public Opinion University Institute, part of the Jose Simeon Canas Centroamerican University, has found that most of the citizens of the country reject bitcoin as part of the politics of the government of El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele. The poll interviewed more than 1,260 individuals personally, having direct contact with ...

Microsoft, the software and computing behemoth, is seeking to adapt part of its software service stack to the metaverse. Ihsan Anabtawi, CMO of Microsoft UAE, declared that the company was working to make its cloud division compatible with metaverse experiences, and to allow companies to use the data obtained as resources for their specific applications. Microsoft Preparing for the Metaverse Era Microsoft, one of the biggest software companies in the world, is one of the companies that considers the metaverse part of a digital future for consumers as well as for institutions. As part of this focus, Microsoft UAE CMO Ihsan Anabtawi commented on the plans of the company and its considerations regarding the metaverse. To Anabtawi, the rise of the metaverse is unavoidable. This new tool must be treated as a natural occurrence that comes to complement the internet as it is known today. On this, he stated : We should view the metaverse as the next step in the evolution of the internet,...

According to Apple’s latest guidelines for developers seeking to have their apps included in the App Store, crypto exchange applications should only facilitate the transfer of crypto funds to approved exchanges. Where payments are needed to unlock features or functionality, Apple says apps may only “use in-app purchase currencies.” Only In-App Purchase Currencies May Be Used In its updated guidelines for apps in the Apple App Store unveiled on October 24, Apple Inc. said crypto exchange apps “may facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange.” In addition, such transactions can only be offered “in countries or regions where the app has appropriate licensing and permissions to provide a cryptocurrency exchange.” The technology company also clarified that crypto wallet apps “may facilitate virtual currency storage, provided they are offered by developers enrolled as an organization.” However, according to the new guidelines, apps are prohibited f...

Financial services companies Paypal and Western Union have each filed three new trademark applications covering a wide range of crypto services. Paypal’s applications are also for the payments giant’s logo. Paypal’s New Trademark Filings for Crypto Services Paypal Inc. has filed three new trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Mike Kondoudis, a USPTO-licensed trademark attorney, tweeted Monday: Paypal has filed trademark applications for Paypal and its ‘overlapping Ps’ logo. The apps claim plans for exchanging, trading, and processing transfers of blockchain + digital assets, crypto + digital + virtual currencies … and more. Filed on Oct. 18, the applications’ serial numbers are 97636933, 97636892, and 97636857. An excerpt from one of the trademark applications explains that the trademark covers “downloadable software for sending, receiving, accepting, buying, selling, storing, transmitting, trading and exchanging digital currency, v...

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that financial stability risks could materialize in the U.S. Noting that “Inflation remains too high, and we are contending with serious global headwinds,” she stressed that the Treasury is “closely monitoring the financial sector, as global developments have led to increased market volatility.” Janet Yellen Warns of Financial Stability Risks in U.S. The Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen warned about financial stability risks to the U.S. economy while responding to questions following her speech at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) annual meeting Monday. Citing a “dangerous and volatile environment” for the global economy, including the surge in energy prices and increased volatility in financial markets, Yellen warned that in the United States: Financial stability risks could materialize. “We are closely monitoring the financial sector, as global developments have led to increased market volatility...

The U.S. has charged two Chinese intelligence officers in a scheme to bribe a U.S. government employee to steal “secret” documents relating to the prosecution of a company in China. The defendants paid the government employee, who is actually a double agent, approximately $61,000 in bitcoin for stealing the information, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Alleged Chinese Spies Charged in Scheme to Steal Secret Documents The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the unsealing of a criminal complaint Monday charging two Chinese intelligence officers in a scheme to bribe a U.S. government employee and steal “secret” documents. The defendants remain at large. Guochun He (aka Dong He and Jacky He) and Zheng Wang (aka Zen Wang) allegedly orchestrated a scheme to steal internal files and other non-public information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The information relates to the ongoing investigation and prosecution of a global tele...

Yellow Card, an Africa-focused cryptocurrency exchange platform, recently said it has received a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license to operate in Botswana. Granted by the country’s Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority, Yellow Card’s license allows the crypto exchange to bolster its operations on the continent. Working With Regulators The Africa-focused cryptocurrency exchange platform, Yellow Card, recently revealed it had received a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license to operate in Botswana. The licence, which was issued by Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA), makes Yellow Card the first crypto exchange to be granted permission to operate in the Southern African country. Remarking on his company’s latest milestone, Chris Maurice, the CEO and founder of Yellow Card, spoke of how the license opens the door for more opportunities. He said: This opens up greater channels of expansion with regards to payment partners, ba...

British billionaire investor Guy Hands has reckoned that Britain will become “the sick man of Europe” and may be forced to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if it does not renegotiate its Brexit deal. The billionaire insisted the United Kingdom’s current economic woes are the result of a poorly negotiated Brexit deal and not the Liz Truss government’s controversial tax cut proposals. Billionaire Says Poor Brexit Deal Is Source of UK’s Economic Woes The British billionaire investor Guy Hands has warned that Britain needs to renegotiate Brexit if it is to avoid seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a report has said. According to Hands, Britain’s poorly negotiated exit from the European Union is the primary cause of the United Kingdom’s ongoing economic woes. As per a report by The Telegraph, Hands believes Britain’s period of economic pain — which seemingly reached its crescendo when the pound fell to its lowest exchange rate versus t...

The United States Department of Justice recently filed a lawsuit to recover $60 million that was imposed on Larry Harmon, the operator of a bitcoin mixing service targeted by U.S. law enforcement in 2020. According to U.S. authorities, Harmon had operated an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Violation of the Bank Secrecy Act The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly suing Larry Harmon, the founder of the crypto mixer Helix, to recover the $60 million fine imposed on him by regulators. According to a Reuters report , the fine, which was imposed in 2020 , stems from Harmon’s alleged violation of the United States federal Bank Secrecy Act. According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Harmon operated an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The business, according to U.S. regulators, enabled users to send virtual currencies anonymously. In 2021, Harmon reportedly pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charge and said he would cooper...

PRESS RELEASE. 25 October 2022: Today, the formation of a new entertainment PLC EMERGENT ENTERTAINMENT is announced. Emergent Entertainment officially merges London-based video game studio Maze Theory with blockchain veterans and developers Pluto Digital PLC, following a successful joint venture between the two companies (Emergent Games) earlier this year. Emergent Entertainment is a next generation entertainment company focused on bringing audiences and storytellers together by harnessing emerging technologies. The proposed valuation of the new business exceeds $65 million, and the company intends to prepare for a future IPO event. Former Executive Vice President of Sony Interactive Entertainment/PlayStation, Simon Rutter , joins the business as Chairman, alongside CEO Ian Hambleton (former CEO of Maze Theory). Simon spent 25 years at PlayStation, with the last 10 years in senior international leadership roles. Ian is a successful entrepreneur of 20 years, having founded an...

Reddit’s non-fungible token (NFT) avatars have produced significant market action in the NFT industry, as the collectible’s secondary market sales reached more than $5 million on October 24 across more than 20,000 sales. The demand for Reddit’s collectible NFT avatars minted on Polygon has also spurred over three million Redditors to leverage Reddit’s Vault blockchain wallet. Demand for Reddit’s Collectible NFT Avatars Skyrockets — $5 Million in Secondary Sales Sold Across 20,000 Sales During the first week of July, Reddit revealed the company had plans to release blockchain-backed avatars that leverage the proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain Polygon (MATIC). At the time, Reddit said that Polygon was chosen for its “low-cost transactions and sustainability commitments.” On October 18, 2022, Reddit’s chief product officer Pali Bhat explained, while speaking on a Techcrunch Disrupt panel, that three million Vault blockchain wallets crafted by Reddit were created to date. Bhat further ...

JPMorgan Chase’s president that crypto “is kind of irrelevant in the scheme of things.” Commenting on the U.S. economy, he defended the Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance, emphasizing that if the Fed’s action “causes a slightly deeper recession for a period of time” then “that is the price we have to pay.” JPMorgan Chase President on U.S. Economy and Recession JPMorgan Chase President Daniel Pinto commented on the U.S. economy and cryptocurrency in an interview with CNBC, published Monday. Pinto is also the global investment bank’s chief operating officer and CEO of its Corporate & Investment Bank. The 59-year-old executive grew up in Argentina as a child where inflation was often very high, he shared, noting that living with pervasive inflation was “very, very stressful.” Price increases in Argentina averaged more than 300% a year from 1975 to 1991. Pinto opined: That’s why when people say, ‘the Fed is too hawkish,’ I disagree. I think putting inflation back in a box is very ...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has updated the crypto section in the 2022 draft instructions for tax form 1040. “For example, digital assets include non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and virtual currencies, such as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins,” the tax agency detailed. New IRS Instructions for Tax Form 1040 The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released its 2022 draft instructions for tax form 1040 last week. Form 1040 is the tax form used for filing individual income tax returns in the U.S. The new instructions contain several changes relating to cryptocurrency. The section titled “Virtual Currency” has been replaced with one titled “Digital Assets.” The IRS detailed: Digital assets are any digital representations of value that are recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or any similar technology. For example, digital assets include non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and virtual currencies, such as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. In contrast, NFTs and stablecoins ...

Nokia, one of the first companies to manufacture a consumer-grade mobile phone system, now believes the metaverse will cause phones to become deprecated. These metaverse experiences will be powered by the use of virtual reality (VR) headsets and augmented reality glasses, and will allow users to interact in several activities. Industrial usage will also be significant. Nokia Predicts the Fall of the Mobile Phone in Favor of the Metaverse Nokia, one of the first manufacturers to create a mobile phone system, is predicting the fall of the mobile phone trend known today at the hands of the metaverse. While phones will still be around, metaverse experiences will be the primary form of communication in the second half of the decade. While augmented reality devices have still ways to go, Nokia believes that there will be a rise in the interest of the audience in such devices, that will power this metaverse push. Nokia’s chief strategy and technology officer Nishant Batra is confident ab...

The lower house of Russian parliament, the State Duma, has voted against a piece of legislation designed to regulate cryptocurrency mining. While lawmakers turned down that proposal, which also aimed to legalize crypto payments in the country, another draft law on mining, which permits cross-border transactions with digital assets, is expected in the legislature in the near future. Alternative Proposals to Regulate Crypto Mining Clash in Russian Parliament This week, the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly voted to reject a draft law on cryptocurrency mining. The bill “On Mining in the Russian Federation,” was submitted earlier by members of the liberal New People faction. Lawmakers criticized the sponsors for failing to properly formulate regulatory principles for the activity as well as requirements for data centers and mining operators and suggest a procedure for the taxation of mining companies. Representatives of the parliamentary committees that reviewed the legislati...

As Ghana waits for a financial bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country’s currency continued its slide versus the dollar after the respective currencies’ exchange rate slipped to just under C15:$1. Following this latest plunge, the cedi has now depreciated by more than 55% in 2022 and this makes it the world’s worst-performing currency. World’s Worst Performing Currency The depreciating Ghanaian currency — the cedi — recently touched a new low versus the U.S. dollar on the forex parallel market after it reportedly slipped by 12% in just four days. Reports of the Ghanaian currency slumping to a new low versus the greenback came shortly after the cedi’s 3.3% slip on October 17 confirmed its new status as the world’s worst-performing currency. According to the Myjoyonline report , the acute shortage of U.S. dollars among banks and bureaux de change is the primary reason why the cedi has now fallen by more than 50% since the start of 2022. To support this asser...

Financial authorities in Hong Kong have unveiled a prototype of the Chinese autonomous territory’s own central bank digital currency called Project Aurum. The two-tier platform features a wholesale interbank and a retail e-wallet system, participants revealed. Hong Kong to Issue Retail Tokens and Stablecoins as Part of Project Aurum A collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ( HKMA ), and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute has produced a prototype of Hong Kong’s upcoming digital currency, the Bank for International Settlements ( BIS ) announced. Project Aurum is a full-stack, front-end and back-end, central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) system comprising a wholesale interbank system and a retail e-wallet system, the international financial institution explained in a press release this week. Participants in Aurum want to launch two different types of digital tokens. The first kind will be an interm...

PRESS RELEASE. INTERNET CITY, DUBAI, Oct. 24, 2022 – LBank Exchange, a global digital asset trading platform, will list VNX Gold (VNXAU) on October 25, 2022. For all users of LBank Exchange, the VNXAU/ USDT trading pair will be officially available for trading at 10:00 UTC on October 25, 2022. Utilizing the blockchain technology to tokenize the physical gold, VNX Gold (VNXAU) provides the reliability of gold with the flexibility of a crypto asset and enables users to buy and sell the purest gold from anywhere in the world. Its token VNXAU will be listed on LBank Exchange at 10:00 UTC on October 25, 2022, to further expand its global reach and help it achieve its vision. Introducing VNX Gold VNX Gold is a project under VNX that enables users to easily manage all of their gold transactions with digital tokens. Its tokenization of gold allows users to skip the hassle of visiting a vault or bank, and confidently invest from anywhere in the world. As the first registered EEA investm...

Bitcoin recorded another mining difficulty rise on Sunday, October 23, 2022, at block height 760,032 rising 3.44% higher. This means that not only is it 3.44% harder to find a bitcoin block subsidy, the network’s mining difficulty has also reached another all-time high (ATH) by tapping 36.84 trillion. Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Adjusts Upwards by 3.44%, Now at 36.84 Trillion This weekend, Bitcoin’s ( BTC ) mining difficulty jumped 3.44% higher than the height miners dealt with during the past two weeks or the last 2,016 blocks. The network’s difficulty has reached a lifetime high at 36.84 trillion, following the 3.44% shift on Sunday evening (ET). The rise on Sunday follows the 13.55% increase Bitcoin’s difficulty recorded on October 10, 2022, at block height 758,016. The 13.55% increase was 2022’s largest Bitcoin difficulty rise, and it took place as BTC ’s total hashrate reached an ATH on October 11, 2022, at block height 758,138. On October 11, the network’s hashrate reached...