Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Tencent, the Chinese software and tech company, has announced its metaverse suite of services designed to target Asian markets. The company revealed that it will revamp its media offering with its new “metaverse-in-a-box” proposal, which aims to facilitate the task of building virtual worlds for third-party companies. Tencent to Focus on Offering Metaverse Tools to Third Parties Tencent, one of the biggest Chinese tech companies, has revealed its hand regarding the future of its metaverse strategy. The company announced that it will focus on offering “metaverse-in-a-box” services to its customers through its cloud division. This move, which comes as a complement to the media services offering that the company launched last year, aims to facilitate the task of developing virtual worlds for Tencent customers. The tools launched by Tencent will reportedly be used to build and design these metaverse spaces by companies in gaming, media, entertainment, and retail, with various purposes ...

Crypto exchange BTC-e’s alleged operator Alexander Vinnik may be a candidate for prisoner swap between the United States and Russia. That’s according to a statement by one of his lawyers for Russian media. The latest court hearing in Vinnik’s case has been postponed. Russian Accused of Laundering Billions Through Crypto May Return Home, According to Lawyer A lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, alleged operator of the infamous cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, believes that his client may be considered for an exchange of prisoners between the United States and the Russian Federation. David Rizk, who represents Vinnik in the U.S., commented on Vinnik’s potential return home in an interview with the RIA Novosti news agency, quoted by other Russian media and crypto news outlets. “I wouldn’t rule out that possibility,” he said. The Russian IT specialist has been in U.S. custody since August, last year, when he was extradited from Greece. American authorities accuse him of laundering at least $4...

The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced the deployment of Base, an Ethereum layer two (L2) scaling network, after developers launched the Base testnet on Thursday. The company said it is incubating Base within Coinbase and that the L2 chain will progressively decentralize over time. Coinbase L2 Scaling Platform Aims to Help Scale the Crypto Economy Coinbase is joining the competition of Ethereum L2 scaling projects, such as Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Loopring, Starknet, and others, by launching an L2 called Base. The company announced the launch of the Base testnet on Thursday and advised the public to stay tuned for the upcoming mainnet launch. On Twitter, Coinbase stated , “Base is an Ethereum L2 that offers a secure, low-cost, developer-friendly way for anyone, anywhere, to build decentralized apps. Our goal with Base is to make onchain the next online and onboard 1B+ users into the crypto economy.” The cryptocurrency exchange explained that Base will be open-sour...

U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer has introduced the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Anti-Surveillance State Act “to halt efforts of unelected bureaucrats” from “stripping Americans of their right to financial privacy.” The bill also prohibits the Federal Reserve “from issuing a CBDC directly to anyone.” CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act Introduced U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) announced Tuesday that he has introduced the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Anti-Surveillance State Act in the House of Representatives. The recently elected House Majority Whip tweeted: Today, I introduced the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act to halt efforts of unelected bureaucrats in Washington, DC from stripping Americans of their right to financial privacy. Emmer elaborated in a follow-up tweet that the bill “does three things” by amending the Federal Reserve Act. Firstly, it “prohibits the Fed from issuing a CBDC directly to anyone,” the lawmaker wrote. Secondly, it “bars the Fed from using a...

Social media groups devoted to cryptocurrencies in Russia have been attacked by bots in what looks like a campaign against bitcoin and the like. Their comments on Russia’s largest social media platform are triggered by certain keywords like crypto and blockchain, members of the community have noticed. Bots Flood Vkontakte Groups With Comments Against Cryptocurrency In the past week or so, crypto-themed groups on Russia’s state-controlled social network Vkontakte ( VK ) have been seeing a growing number of comments seeking to discredit cryptocurrencies and related technologies, the crypto news outlets Bits.media and RBC Crypto reported. The comments appear under posts and linked articles about crypto assets. They are all similar, for example: “It’s more expensive to delve into crypto, it’s always big risks,” “Someone still talks about bitcoins?” or “People who buzz about crypto don’t even understand it.” According to Nikita Zuborev, senior analyst at the exchange aggregator Bestcha...

A British national wanted with a red notice from Interpol for consulting North Korea on cryptocurrencies has been detained in Moscow. U.S. authorities allege that the man helped the regime in Pyongyang to bypass sanctions using digital assets. U.K. Citizen Sought by U.S. for Violating North Korea Sanctions Apprehended in a Moscow Hostel The Russian Bureau of Interpol has arrested a British man wanted by Interpol at the request of the United States, the Russian Telegram channel Baza revealed . Authorities in the U.S. claim he was assisting North Koreans in efforts to circumvent sanctions using crypto. The 31-year-old Christopher Emms, who is accused of committing fraud against the U.S. government, was detained in the hostel where he was staying. The International Criminal Police Organization issued a ‘red notice’ arrest warrant for him in the beginning of February. Its announcement details: Christopher Douglas Emms is wanted for allegedly conspiring to violate the International E...

On Wednesday, the stablecoin project Trueusd announced that it is leveraging Chainlink Proof of Reserve (POR) technology to provide real-time verification for the minting of trueusd tokens. The trueusd crypto asset has a circulating supply of over 968 million tokens and is the sixth-largest stablecoin by market capitalization. Archblock Uses Chainlink to Verify Reserves Before Minting New TUSD Stablecoins Archblock, the issuer of the trueusd (TUSD) stablecoin, has announced that it is using Chainlink to verify reserves before minting new TUSD stablecoins. According to the project, it is the first U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin to use proof-of-reserves (POR) technology for real-time on-chain verification of TUSD’s offchain reserves. The POR data feed is a smart contract that automatically checks “whether the total supply of TUSD would exceed the total amount of U.S. dollars held in reserve before any new stablecoin is minted.” According to a statement by Ryan Christensen, the CEO of ...

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stressed the importance of international cooperation in order to regulate the crypto sector. She also confirmed that Indian regulators’ crypto awareness campaign will continue to alert people about the risks of investing in crypto. Indian Finance Minister on Crypto Regulation, Bill, and Awareness Campaign India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, answered some questions about crypto during a press conference on Monday. She said: In India, crypto is on the agenda of G20. This is because we think technology-driven crypto asset creation and buying and selling of assets in the crypto world will have to have international cooperation. “The reason is they can be anywhere but operated in India or they can be in India but operated somewhere else,” the Indian finance chief added. Sitharaman also addressed the issue of young Indians, particularly students, putting their pocket money into risky crypto assets with the hope of generating bi...

World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee says cryptocurrency is “really dangerous” and “only speculative.” While claiming that crypto is for those who “want to have a kick out of gambling,” he noted that it could be useful for remittances. Sir Tim Berners-Lee on Crypto Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist who is widely credited with the invention of the World Wide Web, shared his thoughts about cryptocurrency on CNBC’s “Beyond the Valley” podcast, published last week. Berners-Lee called cryptocurrency “dangerous” and likened it to gambling. Claiming that “cryptocurrency can be 100% speculative” and “not linked to anything at all,” he opined: It’s only speculative. Obviously, that’s really dangerous. He asserted that crypto is for “if you want to have a kick out of gambling, basically.” He also compared cryptocurrency to the dot-com bubble, noting that people were valuing various internet stocks “because of what they imagined other people will value them in the...

PRESS RELEASE. After over a year of preparation and restructuring, decentralized and privacy-enabled AI organization Federated Learning Consortium (FLC) is set to launch as a for-profit research consortium in Hong Kong, China, shifting from a previously non-profit approach. FLC is set to be led by founding keystone members – blockchain technology platform Phoenix and leading China-based consumer data and AI company APEX Technologies. FLC’s vision is centered on researching, developing, and promoting cutting-edge technologies surrounding federated AI, including federated learning, blockchain-enabled AI, multi-party computation (MPC), and TEE (trusted execution environment). The organization will be particularly interested in combining large-dataset deep learning technologies, such as reinforcement learning, with highly performant infrastructures using GPU computing using a decentralized/federated approach. Organizational membership will be open to AI related technology firms, blockc...

A new player has entered the Bitcoin apparel market and is quickly making a name for themselves. Founded by Bailey Jakob , an Australian-born entrepreneur and Bitcoin enthusiast, Mr. Satoshi has quickly become the go-to brand for high quality and professionally designed Bitcoin clothing. Mr. Satoshi is a new U.S. based premium Bitcoin apparel store that is making waves throughout the Bitcoin community with their high quality & luxuriously designed Bitcoin apparel. Mr. Satoshi launched on January 4th and in their first month, saw more than 20,000 individual visitors to their store, and a surge in social media followers. Bailey explained his motivation behind creating the Bitcoin clothing line was from his growing frustration with the lack of quality Bitcoin apparel, with designs that look good and do not scream “Crypto”. “In October 2022, I was searching online for a Bitcoin-based t-shirt for myself. After an hour scrolling through a dozen online Bitcoin stores, I gave up. Ei...

The Bank of Japan is preparing to launch a pilot test for a digital yen, its central bank digital currency (CBDC), later this year. Shinichi Uchida, executive director of the Bank of Japan, explained that the goals of this new pilot are to test the technical feasibility of the currency and to include private businesses in its design process. Bank of Japan to Continue Digital Yen CBDC Experimentation The Bank of Japan is advancing in its research for the issuance of a hypothetical Japanese central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yen. On Feb. 17, Shinichi Uchida, executive director of the Bank of Japan, announced the bank had decided to launch a new pilot for the digital yen, as a continuation of two phases of proof-of-concept tests. Uchida said that the new pilot will focus its activities in two directions. The first one will be the fine-tuning of the technical aspects of the currency, in order to test new use cases and integrate the system with other structures. He decla...

The Lebanese pound’s fall to its lowest ever versus the U.S. dollar, 80,000 to 1, has piled more misery on residents whose local currency-denominated savings have been decimated by inflation. The ongoing strike by banks demanding the passage of capital control legislation has compounded matters for residents. Lebanese Pound Devaluation According to several local media reports, Lebanon’s currency recently plunged to a new all-time low of 80,000 per U.S. dollar on the unofficial foreign exchange market. The Lebanese pound’s fall on the parallel market came less than a month after it was devalued by more than 90% on the official market. Although the currency’s devaluation from 1,507 to 15,000 per dollar was seen as monetary authorities’ attempt to unify the pound’s multiple exchange rates, some experts have argued that the new official exchange rate is pegged way below the rates where most trade takes place. The currency’s latest plunge meanwhile has piled more misery on Lebanese r...

The CEO of crypto exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell, says U.S. regulators “let the bad guys get big and blow up because it serves their agenda.” The executive explained: “Bad guys operate with huge competitive advantages. They suck up users, revenue, and venture capital that would otherwise have gone to good guys.” Kraken’s CEO Has a Theory on U.S. Crypto Regulation The chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell, took to Twitter Sunday to express his opinion regarding crypto regulation in the United States. The executive began: I have a theory: Regulators let the bad guys get big and blow up because it serves their agenda. Powell proceeded to name three goals he believes regulators are trying to achieve. The first is to “destroy capital/resources in [the] crypto ecosystem,” he wrote. The second is to “burn people, [and] deter adoption,” he continued, adding that the third is to “give air cover to attack good actors.” The Kraken boss asserted that for regulators...

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has warned that U.S. crypto regulation is “getting very, very aggressive.” Noting that regulators are now “regulating by enforcement, penalties, and massive fines,” O’Leary emphasized the importance of staying out of the way of the SEC, Chair Gary Gensler, and other regulators. Kevin O’Leary Shares Outlook for Crypto Regulation Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has shared his outlook for the crypto industry following several enforcement actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Mr. Wonderful tweeted Monday: Venture funding for new crypto projects is virtually dead and aftermarket trading for existing projects is at massive discounts. Reason? The regulator is now regulating by enforcement, penalties, and massive fines. “The venture community has moved on to the next ‘big’ thing, AI,” he added. O’Leary explained in an interview with Trader TV Live, published Sunday, that following the collapse of cryptocurrency exc...

On Tuesday, all four major U.S. benchmark stock indexes fell as real estate data showed home sales dropped by 0.7% last month and Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended the nuclear arms control treaty with the United States. Additionally, the chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley said the stock market is in a “death zone” and could drop another 26%. Investor Fears of a Prolonged Recession Swell, U.S. Tensions With Russia Further Disrupt Global Markets On Tuesday, markets traded lower compared to the previous day as investors have been shaken by the current macroeconomic backdrop. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) published a report on Tuesday showing the U.S. real estate market weakening, with home sales slipping 0.7% in January. The price of gold and silver as well as the crypto economy dropped, with the latter shedding 1.37% over the last 24 hours, down to $1.11 trillion. Stocks followed the same pattern , with all four major stock indexes (DJI, GSPC, IXIC...

Using a solution that is based on blockchain technology, the South African startup Momint has said the recently launched Suncash initiative aims to ease the country’s power generation challenges. For about $9, investors can reportedly buy non-fungible tokens (NFTs) linked to solar cells which are then leased to institutions such as schools and hospitals. Momint Pilots Solution at One Local School A South African startup, Momint, recently said it has launched a blockchain-powered solution that can ease the African country’s energy woes by installing more rooftop solar systems at public institutions like hospitals and schools. According to a News 24 report, the startup’s solution has already been piloted at Delmas High School in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. As explained in the report , investors that wish to participate in this project can do so by acquiring non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which are linked to solar cells and are sold for a minimum price of just under $9. The solar ...

Edogawa Ward in Tokyo plans to use metaverse tech to help social recluses, also known as “hikikomori,” begin to integrate with society again. The ward will organize a series of hybrid (virtual and in-person) meetings this year with the objective of reuniting people with social reclusion problems and helping them in their reintegration process. Edogawa Ward to Leverage the Metaverse in Hikikomori Reintegration Processes Edogawa Ward, located in Tokyo, announced that it will offer a series of metaverse meetings as part of the reintegration process for social recluses in the area. The meetings will be held in hybrid form, with social recluses having the opportunity of attending in person or online, allowing a safe haven for meeting and talking about their common problems. There will be six of these events in 2023, organized by the Kazoku Hikikomori Japan nonprofit, with a capacity for up to 80 participants, 50 in the metaverse platform, and 30 in the designated venue. The meetings wi...

Globant, a Luxembourg-based tech giant with Argentine origins, has referred to the short-term future of the metaverse in its latest Tech Trends report. According to the company, this year the metaverse will “burn bright or burn out,” as it needs to show its potential when compared to other trendsetting tech like artificial intelligence. Metaverse at a Decisive Moment, According to Globant Globant, one of the biggest IT technology companies in the world, has referred to the potential future that metaverse and technology related to this new vision might have in the short term. According to its 2023 Tech Trends report , the company believes that 2023 is the year for the metaverse to “burn bright or burn out,” as the market is still waiting for significant and practical applications to rise in this field. Companies like Meta have already invested billions of dollars in the sector, and while the company has produced VR headsets directed at mainstream audiences, it has failed to penetra...

Revenue from cryptocurrency scams dropped 46% in 2022, according to blockchain data analytics firm Chainalysis. “We attribute most of this decline to market conditions, as scam performance tends to worsen when cryptocurrency prices are in decline,” the firm explained. ‘Crypto Scam Revenue Fell Significantly in 2022’ Blockchain data analytics firm Chainalysis published its 2023 Crypto Crime Report last week with a section on crypto scams. “Crypto scam revenue dropped 46% in 2022,” the 109-page report reads, elaborating: Crypto scam revenue fell significantly in 2022, from $10.9 billion the year prior to just $5.9 billion. Chainalysis tracks several types of crypto scams, including giveaway scams, impersonation scams, investment scams, non-fungible token (NFT) scams, and romance scams. Noting its numbers are “a lower-bound estimate,” the blockchain analytics firm explained that “estimates of the true amount lost to fraudsters will grow as we identify more addresses associated wit...