Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has slammed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler for claiming that he has the authority to determine which crypto tokens are securities, rather than relying on the legislation that governs his agency’s power. “It’s time for elected officials in the U.S. to take notice,” the Ripple executive stressed. Ripple’s CEO Slams SEC Chair Gensler Over What’s a Security The CEO of Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse, has criticized the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, for dictating which crypto tokens are securities. Garlinghouse tweeted Thursday: For the Chair of the SEC to assert that he dictates what is a security — and not the legislation from which his agency derives its power — is beyond comprehension. It’s time for elected officials in the U.S. to take notice. “When you behave like an autocrat running a $2.2B bloated agency, why would you ever want to provide clarity about what’s ‘in or out

This week, 2,600 tech industry moguls and entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk, Gary Marcus, and Steve Wozniak, signed an open letter requesting artificial intelligence (AI) labs to pause research and development for six months. The signatories believe that safety programs and regulations need to be strengthened, as they assert that AI labs are currently in an “out-of-control race to develop and deploy” this technology. On Thursday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong disagreed with this approach, stating that people should not “let fear stop progress.” The Debate on AI Safety: Tech Industry Leaders Call for a Pause in Development, Many Oppose the Idea An open letter signed by 2,600 leaders and researchers in the tech industry recommends that AI labs pause their work for six months, and if they refuse, governments should impose a moratorium on development. The group believes that AI is “now becoming human-competitive at general tasks,” and asserts that powerful AI systems should be develope

On Thursday, digital asset custody provider, Bitgo, announced the launch of its storage and tracking solution for Bitcoin-based Ordinal inscriptions. Moreover, users can use Bitgo’s Ordinal inscription storage system to inscribe their own inscriptions onto the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitgo’s New Solution Allows for Safe Sending of Ordinal Inscriptions Bitgo has announced a new storage solution for Bitcoin-based Ordinal inscriptions that allows users to store and track inscriptions. Bitgo has detailed that in the “coming days,” users who leverage Bitgo’s new solution will be able to send “inscribed satoshis to an address of their choice safely.” The company says that starting today, “you can add inscription tracking to any bitcoin hot wallet on Bitgo.” Transactions received into the Bitgo wallet are now checked for inscriptions and frozen to prevent the loss of inscriptions. Bitgo’s dashboard will have a new “Unspents” view that displays inscriptions and links to the public Ordinals ex

After several failed attempts in the past, the South Korean National Assembly is now expected to pass its digital asset market regulation in April, a report has said. Kim Hee-gon, a member of the Political Affairs Committee’s first subcommittee, said the prospects of this happening were bolstered after members agreed to narrow their differences . Politicians Narrow Their Differences According to a Korean media report, the country’s National Assembly is now expected to pass the digital asset market regulation bill. As stated in the report, the passage of the bill by the legislative body’s Political Affairs Committee has raised hopes that the South Korean legislators will finally pass the law after several failed attempts. South Korea’s prospects for finally passing a law that governs digital assets were raised after Rep. Kim Hee-gon, a member of the Political Affairs Committee’s first subcommittee, revealed that opposition and ruling party members had narrowed their differences. “O

China has been advancing its goal of positioning the yuan as an alternative to the U.S. dollar for settling international payments. The Chinese government recently struck a bilateral deal with Brazil to settle trades using their national currencies and completed a purchase of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) with a French company using yuan as payment. China Advances De-Dollarization Efforts With Brazil and France China is positioning its fiat currency, the yuan, as a U.S. dollar alternative for international settlements. The Chinese government recently achieved two milestones in this sense, inking a bilateral deal with Brazil that will allow the two countries to settle payments with their national currencies, and completing the first LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) import trade settled in yuan. The Brazil-China deal allows the two countries to exchange goods using the Chinese yuan and the Brazilian real. The expectation is that this deal will ease the transactions between the two countri

Galaxy Digital Holdings chief executive Mike Novogratz has said he finds it shocking that U.S. authorities are interested in talking about the regulation of crypto, but have said nothing about artificial intelligence (AI) regulation. Novogratz added that by choosing mainly to focus on crypto regulation, the U.S. government has it “completely upside-down.” ‘A Real Technology That People Care About’ Crypto billionaire and Galaxy Digital Holdings CEO, Mike Novogratz, recently said he finds it shocking that regulators only seem to be interested in “talking so much about crypto regulation and nothing about AI [artificial intelligence] regulation.” Novogratz also suggested that it would “be dumb” for the government to “cache this industry because of Sam Bankman-Fried in his Bermuda shorts.” Speaking at Galaxy Digital’s Fourth Quarter (Q4) 2022 Shareholder Update Conference Call, Novogratz, who has previously slammed Sam Bankman-Fried, insisted that he is not against any move that weeds

Economist Peter Schiff has warned of “the biggest economic disaster” in U.S. history. He stressed that we are on the cusp of a financial crisis and “it’s going to be much bigger than the last.” In addition, he said the U.S. dollar is being debased in order to fund the bank bailouts. Peter Schiff Foresees ‘Biggest Economic Disaster’ in US History Economist and gold bug Peter Schiff shared his warnings about the U.S. economy, the banking crisis, and where inflation is headed on NTD News Monday. Commenting on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell claiming that the U.S. banking system is sound and resilient, Schiff exclaimed: “It’s not sound at all. It’s a house of cards that’s starting to collapse.” Schiff explained: “Thanks to the mistakes the Fed has made since the 2008 crisis, we have a much bigger bubble now. The Fed caused the bubble that led to the financial crisis of 2008, and then they inflated a bigger bubble to try to paper over those mistakes and kick the can down the road

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler said in a congressional hearing that the securities regulator “requires new tools, expertise, and resources” to combat misconduct in the crypto space. “We’ve seen the Wild West of the crypto markets, rife with noncompliance, where investors have put hard-earned assets at risk in a highly speculative asset class,” he stressed. SEC Chair Gary Gensler on Budget Request and Crypto Regulation The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, testified on his agency’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget request before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Service and General Government Wednesday. “I am pleased to support the President’s FY 2024 request of $2.436 billion for the SEC, to put us on a better track for the future,” Gensler began. “The FY 2024 request seeks funding for an additional 170 positions, as well as full-year funding for those staff hired in FY 2023.” Commenting o

Millions of U.S. dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency has been sent to centralized exchanges (CEXs), most notably Binance, from wallets providing funds in support of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, transaction data suggests. According to Ukrainian analysts, the money was transferred to the crypto trading platforms in order to be laundered. Over 90% of Pro-Russian Crypto Transfers Identified in a Study Sent to Largest Exchange More than $40 million was sent last year from wallets that were used to sponsor the Russian invasion of Ukraine to cryptocurrency exchanges, according to an analysis of such transactions conducted by Hapi Labs. The main purpose of these transfers was to launder the money, the Ukrainian startup claims in a post on Twitter published Tuesday. While various amounts went to a number of crypto platforms, nearly 96% of the digital cash reached Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Researchers at the company, which provides blockchain tracking tools and d

The recent banking failures involving the fall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank, have high-profile government individuals trying to find a culprit. U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have publicly blamed each other’s policies for the outcome, but according to some analysts, the problem might be ignorance in the banking system. Biden and Trump Scuffle on Bank Failures’ Causes The recent banking crisis that the U.S. is currently facing after the fall of three medium-size banks ( Silicon Valley Bank , Signature Bank , and Silvergate Bank ), has spurred a political discussion between U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in order to find the responsible of the biggest bank failures since the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. Biden and Trump have been very vocal assigning the blame to each the other’s policies. On March 13, in the wake of the fall of Silicon Valley Bank, Biden reassured people about the isolated

Unlike AI applications such as Chatgpt, cryptocurrencies do not bring “anything useful,” a top executive of U.S. chip maker Nvidia is convinced. The comment comes despite his company making significant sales in the space where its powerful processors are widely used to mint digital coins. Developing Chatbots More Worthwhile Than Crypto Mining, Nvidia Exec Claims Cryptocurrencies do not “bring anything useful for society,” according to a high-ranking representative of Nvidia, the leading manufacturer of graphics processing units ( GPUs ). The executive expressed this opinion despite his company selling quantities of video cards to the industry. Other uses of their processing power, such as those associated with artificial intelligence (AI) applications like the Chatgpt chatbot, are more worthwhile than mining crypto, Nvidia’s Chief Technology Officer Michael Kagan told the Guardian. The U.S. tech firm, which is also a major supplier of AI hardware and software, hasn’t been too kee

Crypto exchange Binance has announced the opening of a blockchain hub in Georgia which will promote cryptocurrency adoption in the region. The move comes on the backdrop of a number of partnerships, initiatives, and events the company is involved in in the country. Digital Asset Exchange Binance Establishes ‘Web3 Outpost’ in Georgia Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume, has launched a new blockchain hub in Georgia, the small crypto-friendly nation in the South Caucasus. In an announcement on its website, the trading platform explained the motives behind the project: By establishing this Web3 outpost, we hope to attract top talent to the blockchain sector, facilitate educational initiatives related to digital finance, and further the development of Georgia’s crypto industry. The leading global exchange noted that it already employs 25 people on its Georgia team but hopes to add dozens more jobs in the coming months. Besides expanding its workforce

Bitcoin surged higher on Wednesday, as markets reacted strongly to better-than-expected consumer confidence figures in the United States. Data from the Conference Board showed that its monthly survey rose to a reading 104.2, better than the 101 sum expected. Ethereum also climbed, moving above $1,800. Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) once again moved above the $28,000 level on Wednesday, as markets reacted to the latest consumer confidence report in the United States. The increase in confidence is seen by some as validating the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to marginally hike rates. Following a low of $26,677.82 on Tuesday, BTC /USD raced to an intraday peak of $28,619.54 earlier in today’s session. Bitcoin chart by TradingView This latest surge in price occurred as the relative strength index (RSI) continued to move away from a recent floor at the 60.00 mark. As of writing, the index is tracking at the 64.27 level, which is marginally below its upcoming ceiling at 65.00. Ea

According to a report, the recently arrested Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon was able to register a company in Serbia just a few weeks after Interpol issued a Red Notice for him. Lawyers that helped Kwon form a company in Serbia reportedly said they were not aware of Interpol’s Red Notice against their client. Do Kwon Uses Korean Passport to Register Company Just a few weeks after an Interpol Red Notice for arrest was issued, the former Terraform Labs CEO Kwon was still able to form and register a company in Serbia, a local publication has said. Known as Codokoj22 d.o.o. Beograd, the company which was registered on Oct. 12, 2022, lists Kwon as the owner. The former CEO along with his countryman Han Chang-Joon from Chai Corporation are also named as directors of the company. According to a report in DL News, the duo’s Serbian company was established with capital equivalent to just under $1 (100 din). The report added that Kwon and Chang-Joon used their Korean passports to registe

Bitcoin.com , a global leader in accessible cryptocurrency products and education, has taken another step forward in enhancing user experience by integrating HAPI’s service into the self-custodial Bitcoin.com Wallet and onboarding the HAPI token on its Verse DEX with a USDC/HAPI trading pair. Bitcoin.com and HAPI are now offering highly attractive yield on the USDC/HAPI Farm. Users can stake their liquidity pool tokens to earn these attractive rewards. This exciting partnership with HAPI Protocol, an innovative cybersecurity and anti-money laundering solution, aims to improve the security of the multichain Bitcoin.com Wallet and Verse DEX . The launch of a high-yield HAPI Farm on Verse DEX also supports the growth of the decentralized trading platform. HAPI Protocol enables users of the Bitcoin.com Wallet , where over 38 million self-custody crypto wallets have been created, to be warned if an address they interact with has been associated with any suspicious activity.

The central bank in the United Arab Emirates said it has started implementing its digital currency strategy with partners G42 Cloud and R3. According to the central bank, the digital currency initiative is expected to “further position and solidify the UAE as a leading global financial hub.” CBDC Strategy to Focus on Three Pillars The United Arab Emirates (UAE) central bank recently said it would start implementing its digital currency strategy with its two partners G42 Cloud and R3. According to a report, the UAE’s apex bank’s two partners are expected to play a key role in helping the central bank achieve CBDC implementation. As explained in a recent Arabian Business report , the first phase of the central bank’s strategy, which is expected to take place in the next 12 to 15 months, will focus on three key pillars. The proof-of-concept work for bilateral central bank digital currency (CBDC) bridges with India, as well as the soft launch of the M-bridge, are two of the key pillars

According to the token protocol startup Noble, the second-largest stablecoin, USDC, will be integrated into the Cosmos blockchain, as the company has partnered with Circle Financial for the rollout. Noble details that the integration will give access to Circle’s USDC stablecoin to more than 50 Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) networks. USDC Native Support Is Coming to the Cosmos Blockchain Noble , a token issuance protocol startup, has revealed the Cosmos network of IBC protocols will support USDC. The team introduced Noble last week in a blog post that describes the protocol as an “app-chain purpose-built for native asset issuance in Cosmos and the boundless Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) ecosystem.” On Tuesday, Noble announced its partnership with Circle Financial to bring USDC to the Cosmos ecosystem. “This is a huge moment for our ecosystem,” Noble said on Tuesday. “Cosmos has never had a native, fiat-backed stablecoin that is highly liquid [and] fully collateralize

Former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Treasury Monica Crowley has warned of “catastrophic” consequences if the U.S. dollar loses its status as the world’s reserve currency. “That would mean the end of the U.S. dollar,” she said, predicting that “there would be a complete implosion of the global economic system.” Crowley Warns of ‘Catastrophic’ Consequences if the U.S. Dollar Loses Global Reserve Currency Status Monica Crowley, former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, explained on Fox News Saturday what would happen if emerging economies move away from the U.S. dollar towards the Chinese yuan and the USD is no longer the world’s dominant currency. She stressed: It’s really hard to overstate exactly how catastrophic the abandonment of the U.S. dollar would be as the world’s global reserve currency. Crowley explained that since the end of World War II, the dollar has been considered a safe haven. I

According to a recent white paper published by four members of the law firm Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, U.S. bank regulators are attempting to “drive crypto businesses out of the financial system.” The paper, titled “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” claims that after laying the groundwork by labeling lawful businesses as “reputationally risky,” federal bank regulators, with the help of state officials, “turned to the task of purging their accounts from each of the banks subject to their supervision.” Constitutional Issues Raised by Operation Chokepoint 2.0: Depriving Businesses of Due Process and Key Structural Constitutional Protections Five days ago, Bitcoin.com News published an article that examines recent discussions in the crypto community regarding “Operation Chokepoint” and why crypto proponents believe the U.S. government aims to eliminate access to cryptocurrencies. On Monday, the Washington D.C. law firm Cooper & Kirk published a white paper on the subject, noting that U.S.

Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, has criticized bitcoin, stating it is not a currency. The economist, known for his vocal opinions about crypto and for the promotion of dollarization initiatives in Latam, blasted bitcoin, saying it has a “fundamental value of zero,” and that it is a “highly speculative asset.” Steve Hanke Criticizes Bitcoin’s Function and Value Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins, has criticized bitcoin and its value in one of his latest tweets. The economist, known to be very vocal about the negative effect that crypto can have on world economies, contested bitcoin’s utility, stating : Bitcoin is not a currency. It’s just a highly speculative asset with a fundamental value of zero. Hanke illustrated his opinion with a cartoon drawn by Robert Rich, as part of his work for Hedgeye Risk Management, where he compares other main fiat currencies including the dollar, the yen, and the euro, with bitcoin

President Nayib Bukele is promoting El Salvador as the “new land of the free,” as part of an invitation for foreigners to move to the Latam country. Bukele tweeted a poster in vintage American style that included several advantages that the country brings its citizen, including the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender. EL Salvador’s ‘New Land of the Free’ Campaign Invites People to Move in With Bitcoin as Legal Tender President Nayib Bukele is inviting people to move to El Salvador. Bukele posted a poster in vintage American style where he depicts a classic American family in a living room, calling his country “the new land of the free,” a motto usually applicable to the U.S. The poster serves to exhibit the achievements that, according to him, his government has reached, principally in the security and monetary policy areas. The poster calls for people to move to El Salvador, explaining that there are “no fentanyl crisis,” “no shootings” and “no lootings,” as a product of the tigh