Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand has issued new regulations on custodied cryptocurrencies. Companies offering crypto custody services are now required to “establish a digital wallet management system to accommodate efficient custody of digital assets and keys and ensure safety of clients’ assets,” the regulator described. Thai SEC’s New Crypto Rules Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday that it has issued new rules on the “management of digital wallets for custody of digital assets and keys.” The new regulations went into effect on Jan. 16. The Thai SEC explained that businesses that provide custody services for clients’ digital assets must: Establish a digital wallet management system to accommodate efficient custody of digital assets and keys and ensure safety of clients’ assets. They must also have a “policy and guidelines” in place for the management of “digital wallets and keys as well as communication to clarify such

South Korea’s financial regulator is developing new tools to regularly monitor crypto risks. The regulator warned that while the impact of the crypto market on the traditional financial system is still low, the risks posed by crypto to the country’s financial stability could increase sharply in the future. Korean Regulator Developing Crypto Monitoring Tools South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is planning to develop crypto monitoring tools and regularly inspect the risks associated with crypto assets, FSS Governor Lee Bok-hyun reportedly revealed Monday at a conference on the interconnectedness between the crypto market and the traditional financial market. He was quoted by local media as saying: The Financial Supervisory Service is planning various initiatives for the risk management of the virtual asset market this year. Regarding the crypto monitoring tools, Lee explained that the supervisory authority currently lacks data to identify potential risks from crypto

Japan has reportedly urged other countries, including the U.S., to regulate crypto exchanges like they do banks. A top official at the Financial Services Agency explained that the recent FTX implosion wasn’t brought on by crypto technology but by “loose governance, lax internal controls, and the absence of regulation and supervision.” Bank-Level Cryptocurrency Regulations Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA), the country’s top financial regulator, has urged regulators globally to subject cryptocurrency exchanges to bank-level regulations, Bloomberg reported Monday. Mamoru Yanase, deputy director-general of the FSA’s Strategy Development and Management Bureau, was quoted as saying: If you like to implement effective regulation, you have to do the same as you regulate and supervise traditional institutions. The FSA has called for stronger crypto regulation following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and subsequent fraud charges filed against its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (

While the second-largest crypto asset by market capitalization, ethereum, has risen 27% against the U.S. dollar in the last two weeks, the network’s average and median-sized gas fees have increased by more than 50%. On the first day of 2023, the average fee to spend ether was around $2.93 per transfer, but today the average cost is 54% higher at $4.52 per transfer. Rise in Ethereum Value Leads to Increased Onchain Transaction Costs Sending ethereum (ETH) is becoming more costly as the crypto asset’s value has risen greatly over the last 14 days. At the time of writing, ether is trading at $1,542 per unit, after reaching a high of $1,606 per unit during the same 24-hour period on Jan. 18, 2023. As ethereum’s value in U.S. dollars has increased, the cost to move ether and the myriad of ERC20 tokens has also risen. Data from bitinfocharts.com indicates that on Jan. 1, 2023, the average ether gas fee was $2.93 per transfer. 18 days later, the average fee to send ethereum is 54% highe

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, better known to the Russian-speaking segment of the market, has been taken down as part of an “international cryptocurrency enforcement action,” the U.S. Justice Department announced. The Russian owner of the platform has been arrested for his role in the alleged transmission of illicit money. Bitzlato claimed it was hacked. US, France Hit Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitzlato, Russian Co-founder Detained in Miami U.S. authorities have apprehended Anatoly Legkodymov, a resident of China, on charges that his Hong Kong-registered crypto trading platform, Bitzlato, processed illicit funds worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Russian, a co-founder and majority owner of the exchange, was arrested by three e FBI in Miami on Tuesday, a high-ranking official from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed. Speaking during a press conference, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said that Justice Department agents and prosecutors, working with t

PRESS RELEASE. LONDON, ENGLAND – January 18th, 2023 – Neon Link , a new blockchain and ecosystem, is about to launch on mainnet in Q1 2023. Coming out of stealth after over a year of development, many important features are launching throughout this year: the NEON multi-chain Wallet, Decentralised Exchange, Marketplace, Bridge, Block Explorer, NEON Gaming ID (Naming Service), and the $NEON token that powers the entire ecosystem. Alongside the ecosystem, Neon Link has numerous projects in the late stages of development. One of these is a triple-A game, Ascend The End. This game is a 3rd person shooter that delivers a unique experience from its integration with Neon Link’s fast and fee-free network. This includes a variety of game modes and an in-game economy where you can gather resources to craft weapons, ammo, and armour! Ascend the End will offer the opportunity to earn exclusive in-game assets and crypto asset rewards for consistently ranking well in competitive gameplay. Neon

The city of Shanghai is bringing metaverse activities to 20 urban locations, that will allow citizens to use digital tools in different ways according to the area. The initiative is part of a pilot program of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization to push more metaverse applications to the population. Shanghai Takes the Metaverse to 20 Urban Spots Shanghai, China is quickly moving to integrate the metaverse as part of the lives of its citizens. The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization recently announced a pilot program to turn 20 different urban locations into “major metaverse application scenarios,” that will feature digital tech in several ways. The implementation of this tech will cover various social fields, including business operations, education, branding, and entertainment. The city hopes this will allow citizens to receive smarter services from city facilities in these areas. For example, in the area of healthcare, Ruijin H

Tehran and Moscow are discussing the possible launch of a stablecoin for international settlements, the Russian press revealed. In order to mint the gold-backed currency, however, authorities would need to first regulate crypto assets, a lawmaker noted. Russian, Iranian Representatives Talk Using Gold-Backed Stablecoin in Foreign Trade Iran’s central bank is considering the possibility of creating, with Russia’s participation, a digital token to facilitate trade in the Persian region, according to a report quoting the head of the crypto industry organization in the Russian Federation. The coin could be accepted as a means of payment in international settlements, the Executive Director of the Russian Association of Cryptoeconomics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain (Racib), Alexander Brazhnikov, told the business daily Vedomosti and detailed: It is assumed that the token will be backed by gold, it would be a stablecoin. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies, the value of which i

On Tuesday, global asset manager Hashkey, which focuses on crypto and blockchain investments, announced that it has closed its third fund at $500 million. The company’s “HashKey Fintech Investment III” is dedicated to developing crypto solutions, blockchain technology, and Web3 concepts. Hashkey Capital’s Fund III to Focus on Web3, Emerging Markets and Crypto Solutions Amid the crypto market downturn, global asset manager Hashkey Capital announced the closing of a new fund, “Hashkey Fintech Investment III,” after raising $500 million. According to Hashkey, the fund “received strong support from institutional investors namely sovereign wealth funds, renowned family offices, and corporations.” Hashkey Capital is one of the largest crypto funds in Asia as it manages more than $1 billion in customer assets. “Hashkey Capital weathered at least three cycles in the industry,” Deng Chao, the head of Hashkey Group Singapore and CEO of Hashkey Capital said in a statement on Tuesday. “From

Economists at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) have recommended three policies regulators worldwide could adopt in order to deal with the risks posed by cryptocurrencies. “Authorities can now consider a variety of policy approaches and at the same time work to improve the existing monetary system in the public interest,” they advised. BIS Economists Discuss Crypto Policies The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) published a bulletin last week titled “Addressing the risks in crypto: laying out the options.” Authored by BIS economists Matteo Aquilina, Jon Frost, and Andreas Schrimpf, the report discusses the risks associated with cryptocurrencies and the various options available to regulators and central banks for addressing these risks. The authors outlined “three potential lines of action.” The first is to “ban specific crypto activities.” Another option is to “isolate crypto from tradfi [traditional finance] and the real economy.” The third is to “regulate the sec

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s former head of internet enforcement has warned the crypto industry that a “regulatory onslaught is just beginning.” His warning followed several recent enforcement actions the securities regulator took against major crypto firms. ‘SEC Regulatory Onslaught Is Just Beginning’ Former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official John Reed Stark has warned the crypto industry of an escalating “regulatory onslaught.” Stark founded and served as chief of the SEC Office of Internet Enforcement for 11 years. He was also an SEC enforcement attorney for 15 years where he led cyber-related projects, investigations, and enforcement actions. Stark explained in a tweet Thursday that the SEC “hit Blockfi for failing to register its crypto-lending program, stopped Coinbase from launching its crypto-lending program, and Just hit Gemini/Genesis for its Earn crypto-lending grift.” He warned: Buckle up: An SEC regulatory onslaught is just beginning

PRESS RELEASE. (Victoria, Seychelles, 17 Jan 2023) – Leading crypto derivatives exchange Bitget announces to be the first exchange to launch copy trading in the spot market . As the first exchange for offering copy trading for derivatives in 2020, Bitget has honed its highly liquid, highly innovative flagship product, One-Click Copy Trade, to deliver a similarly intuitive experience for spot traders in 2023. Copy trading provides a good starting point for beginners to shadow their trading portfolio with a more experienced trader and increase their chance of profitability. Also, users are entitled to more transparency and flexibility as the feature discloses detailed information on the traders’ ROI, buy and sell time and price, portfolio, and P&L records, together with personalized Maximum Investment, Stop Loss and Take Profit options. One-Click Copy Trade is Bitget’s flagship product, simplifying trading for beginners by allowing them to copy sophisticated futures trading st

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has published an article predicting how metaverse tech will evolve and how it will be introduced in different sectors. For the organization, the biggest impact of the implementation of this tech will be observed in industrial environments, where it will contribute to carrying out more tasks and reducing expenses. WEF Believes Metaverse Tech Will Impact Industry First The World Economic Forum (WEF) believes that the metaverse will be first applied in industrial environments, instead of being adopted first by consumers. In an article published on Jan. 13, the organization predicts that the implementation of the metaverse will be done at an industrial level first, helping different companies to complete designing and monitoring tasks in a more efficient way. Two of the metaverse technologies that will become integral for the industry in this new phase are digital twins and extended reality. Implementing digital twins, the digitalization of a group of el

After months of research, the Tanzanian central bank announced recently that it had chosen a more cautious and risk-based approach towards the adoption of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). During the research phase, the central bank said it paid particular attention “to risks and controls associated with issuance, distribution, counterfeit and usage of currencies.” Finding the Right CBDC Technology The Bank of Tanzania (BOT) announced on Jan. 14 that it had “adopted a phased, cautious and risk-based approach to adoption of CBDC [central bank digital currency].” The bank also said it will continue with its efforts aimed at finding “a suitable and appropriate use and technology for issuance of Tanzanian shillings in digital form.” According to a statement on the bank’s website, the BOT said it chose a more cautious approach after spending months researching and exploring the pros and cons of issuing the digital currency. During this period, the BOT said it found that other c

The central bank of Georgia intends to publish a document detailing the concept of a national digital currency in the coming months. Other participating parties will use it to finalize their proposals for the pilot which the monetary authority plans to initiate in the first half of the year. Financial Authorities in Georgia Gear Up for Digital Currency Trials The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) is going to release a ‘digital lari’ whitepaper, allowing potential partners to fine-tune their proposals for the test phase of the project. A pilot version of the central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) was initially expected in 2022 but the NBG postponed the trials for this year. “In the first half of 2023, we will publish the document and soon after that, together with the winning partner, we will discuss how long it would take to implement the project,” Deputy Governor Papuna Lezhava explained in an interview with the Rustavi 2 TV channel. Several alternative approaches to testing the di

Authorities in Germany, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Cyprus have taken down a cryptocurrency scam network in collaboration with Europol. “The suspects used advertisements on social networks to lure victims to websites covertly operated by the criminals, which offered seemingly exceptional investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies,” Europol detailed. Authorities Cracking Down on Cryptocurrency Scams Europol announced Thursday that authorities from Bulgaria, Serbia, Cyprus, and Germany, in collaboration with Europol and Eurojust, have taken down “call centers selling fake crypto.” The criminal network, operating through call centers, “lured victims into investing large amounts of money into fake cryptocurrency schemes,” Europol explained, elaborating: The suspects used advertisements on social networks to lure victims to websites covertly operated by the criminals, which offered seemingly exceptional investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies. Fifteen people have been arrested in t

According to statistics, the number of Ethereum network validators on the Beacon chain exceeded 500,000 as of Jan. 12, 2023. The validator milestone comes as Ethereum core developers prepare for the Shanghai hard fork. Five days ago, Ethereum core developers launched a developer network environment called “devnet 2” for the upcoming upgrade. Ethereum Developers Launch ‘Devnet 2’ Testing Network for Upcoming Shanghai Upgrade; Network Exceeds 500,000 Validators On Jan. 11, 2023, Ethereum developers launched a new testing network for the Shanghai upgrade, a hard fork that’s anticipated to happen in March 2023. The developer’s new testing environment is called “devnet 2” as it follows “devnet 1” released in Nov. 2022. The new testnet was discussed briefly during the All Core Devs (ACD) meeting held on Jan. 5, 2023. At that time, Ethereum core developers stressed that the focus remains vigilant on staked withdrawals. It has been 123 days since The Merge , the point in time when the Et

A professor from Cornell University has warned about the potential effects a collapse of a major stablecoin could have on the U.S. bond market. Eswar Prasad said that if large stablecoins face a collapse, the number of Treasury bonds they would need to sell could disrupt the U.S. Treasuries market, affecting prices. Cornell Profesor Alerts About Stablecoin Collapse Danger Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University, has warned about the potential damage a bank run on a possible collapse of a major stablecoin could bring to the traditional finance system in the U.S. Although the most recent collapse in the crypto economy did not reach legacy finance structures, Prasad believes stablecoins and their operations present risks in this regard. In an interview with CNBC, Prasad argued that stablecoins use U.S. treasuries as a backup to maintain the value of the peg. In the case that one of the big stablecoins in the market faces a collapse or a bank run, these organization

South Korea’s supreme court has upheld the ruling for Bithumb, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to pay damages to more than a hundred customers who filed a lawsuit claiming they suffered financial losses resulting from the exchange’s service outage. Bithumb Ordered to Pay Customers Over Service Outage The South Korean supreme court has issued a final ruling in a case involving a service outage at Bithumb, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Yonhap reported. The court has ordered Bithumb to pay damages totaling 251.4 million won ($203,120) to 132 investors who filed a lawsuit against the crypto exchange operator following the service outage, officials said Friday. The plaintiffs claimed that they suffered financial losses due to steep price drops in a number of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin cash ( BCH ) and ethereum classic ( ETC ), on Nov. 12, 2017, when the service outage occurred. According to the lawsuit, during the service interruption, the average

The exchange rate of the Egyptian pound versus the U.S. dollar fell to a new low on Jan. 11 after it tapped 32.14 per greenback. The currency’s latest significant depreciation came just a few months after it adopted a flexible exchange rate regime. According to the International Monetary Fund, the monetary authorities in Egypt have pledged not to intervene in currency markets. Flexible Exchange Rate Regime Just a few months after plunging by more than 15% versus the U.S. dollar, the Egyptian pound tapped a new low of more than 32 units per greenback on Jan. 11. According to a Reuters report, the pound’s latest depreciation has prompted some analysts to question the extent to which the central bank wants the pound to fall. As reported by Bitcoin.com News in October 2022, the pound’s official exchange rate versus the dollar fell from just under 20 units per dollar to 23.09 per dollar after Egyptian monetary authorities agreed to abandon the fixed exchange rate regime. In return, Ca

India’s central bank has reiterated its stance on banning cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether. The governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) likened cryptocurrency trading to gambling. He warned that crypto “will undermine the authority of the RBI and lead to the dollarization of the economy.” RBI’s Governor Wants Crypto Banned The governor of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das, emphasized the bank’s stance on crypto at the Business Today Banking and Economy Summit Friday. Das stressed that the central bank’s view is to completely ban cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether, India Today reported, quoting him as saying: “RBI’s position on crypto is very clear — it should be banned.” Emphasizing that cryptocurrencies have no underlying value, the Indian central bank governor described: Some people call cryptocurrency an asset, some call it a financial product, but every asset or financial product needs to have an underlying value. But cryp

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty printed a record increase on Jan. 15, 2023, rising 10.26% to 37.73 trillion at block height 772,128. The network’s difficulty is now at an all-time high. This means, on average, it takes 37.73 trillion hashes, or attempts, to find a valid bitcoin block reward and add it to the blockchain. 2023’s First Difficulty Increase Outpaces All but One of the Difficulty Increases in 2022 As of 8:15 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, approximately 286.36 exahash per second (EH/s) of hashrate is dedicated to the Bitcoin ( BTC ) blockchain. The Bitcoin network experienced a difficulty retarget at 4:11 p.m. Eastern time, at block height 772,128 , resulting in an increase of 10.26% . The difficulty was approximately 34.09 trillion last week, and it reached an all-time high (ATH) of 37.73 trillion on Sunday, making it exceptionally difficult to find a BTC block. Prior to the Jan. 15, 2023, difficulty increase, the highest difficulty rating on the Bitcoin block

The author of “The Price of Tomorrow,” Jeff Booth, has warned about debt deflation, calling it a “great depression on steroids,” if the Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates. He believes that eventually the Fed “will be forced to pivot.” Jeff Booth Warns About Danger of Continued Fed Rate Hikes The author of “The Price of Tomorrow,” Jeff Booth, shared his thoughts in an Ask-Me-Anything session on Stacker News last week. Among numerous questions asked was whether he believes the recent Federal Reserve interest rate increases will actually cause widespread deflation. Booth replied: If they keep hiking, it will ‘eventually’ turn into debt deflation — or credit wipeout. (ala great depression on steroids). Eventually, they will be forced to pivot. “One important consideration for people is to think in terms of lag effect…ie 18 months from when actions are set in motion,” he continued. “Remember when no inflation, transitory inflation, high inflation,” Booth added, cautioni