Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex is shutting down its U.S. operations due to “continued regulatory uncertainty” as U.S. regulators increase their enforcement efforts against cryptocurrency trading platforms. Regulatory requirements currently “are often unclear and enforced without appropriate discussion or input, resulting in an uneven competitive landscape,” Bittrex described. Bittrex Exiting U.S. Crypto Market Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex announced the shutdown of its U.S. operations on Friday. The exchange tweeted: Due to continued regulatory uncertainty, we have made the difficult decision to wind down our U.S. operations, effective April 30, 2023. “All funds are safe and can be fully withdrawn immediately,” the announcement adds, emphasizing that the closure does not affect non-U.S. customers using the Bittrex global platform. Richie Lai, CEO and co-founder of Bittrex, explained: “It’s just not economically viable for us to continue to operate in the current U.S. regulat...

Profits from the sale of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are taxable, according to two rulings by the Supreme Court of Denmark. The verdicts in the cases, which involve crypto purchases and payments as well as income received from bitcoin mining, uphold decisions of lower courts. Denmark’s High Court Considers Crypto Gains Taxable Under Current Law Profits made from the sale of bitcoin are taxable in Denmark, the country’s Supreme Court has decided in two separate rulings announced on Thursday. Both decisions are in lawsuits filed against the Danish Ministry of Taxation and confirm verdicts issued by lower-instance courts. In one of the cases, the plaintiff acquired a certain amount of digital coins in 2011 – 2015, through purchases and donations from third parties for the development of crypto-related software. The private individual sold them in 2017 and 2018 at higher prices. According to the court in Copenhagen, the bitcoins were obtained for the purpose of speculation and ther...

Dogecoin rose to its highest point in over a week, as Elon Musk requested that a lawsuit filed against him by investors in the meme coin be dropped. The suit claims that Musk operated a pyramid scheme, following his endorsements of dogecoin. Litecoin was another token to climb on Saturday. Dogecoin (DOGE) Dogecoin (DOGE) climbed higher on Saturday after lawyers for Elon Musk requested that a lawsuit filed against him by investors in the meme coin be dropped. In a statement, Musk’s lawyers said, “There is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion.” Following a low of $0.07456 on Friday, DOGE/USD rose to a peak of $0.07841 to start the weekend. As a result of the move, the meme coin marginally breakout of a long-term ceiling of $0.0780. This came as the relative strength index (RSI) also briefly moved beyond a resistance of its own at 52.00 At the time of wri...

Bitcoin was back in the green on Saturday, as prices moved close to the $29,000 level to start the weekend. Following a volatile session on Friday, cryptocurrency markets were mostly higher entering April. Ethereum moved back above the $1,800 level. Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) rose towards $29,000 on Saturday, as markets continued to react to yesterday’s personal consumption expenditure (PCE) figures in the United States. PCE climbed to 0.3% in March, less than the 0.4% markets were expecting, showing that inflation was slowing. BTC /USD rose to an intraday high of $28,802.46 earlier in today’s session, which comes a day after trading at a low of $27,854.63. Looking at the chart, the move saw BTC briefly breakout of a long-term resistance level of $28,500. Earlier gains have since declined, which comes as the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) failed to move beyond a ceiling at 65.00. As of writing this, the index is now tracking at 63.65, with a floor at 62.00 a possible target...

Tax exemptions for companies and individuals legally working with cryptocurrencies in Belarus will remain in place until Jan. 1, 2025. A new presidential decree extends the tax cuts introduced in 2018 when the executive power in Minsk legalized crypto activities such as mining and trading. Belarus to Maintain Its Crypto-Friendly Tax Regime for Another 2 Years President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has approved the extension of the tax preferences provided to crypto companies registered in the country and people involved in the industry. On Tuesday, the Belarusian leader signed Decree No. 80 “On Certain Issues of Taxation.” The document prolongs the tax breaks that were introduced with Lukashenko’s Decree No. 8 “On the Development of the Digital Economy” of Dec. 21, 2017. The latter legalized a number of crypto-related activities in the country when it went into force on March 28, 2018. The regulations, including the tax benefits, apply only to residents of the Belarus High-Tec...

According to Dirk Lueth, co-founder of the Upland Metaverse, the colonization of the metaverse by tech giants and the building of so-called “walled garden systems” is not sustainable. Lueth argues that instead of “locking users in,” the metaverse should usher in “a future where they are free to move between platforms and can easily take their assets and identity with them.” ‘Walled Garden Systems’ Not Sustainable While interest in the metaverse has seemingly dissipated as evidenced by Meta’s decision to focus on artificial intelligence (AI), Dirk Lueth argues that AI tools can still “provide very interesting enhancements for the metaverse in general.” The Upland co-founder also told Bitcoin.com News what he thinks about “infinite land” metaverses and scarcity. In an interview with Bitcoin.com News, Lueth also shared his thoughts about the multichain metaverse as well as his organization’s plans to create a metaverse super app. Below are the rest of the Upland Metaverse co-founder...

A court in South Korea has again denied the arrest warrant for Daniel Shin, a co-founder of Terraform Labs who is being investigated for fraud. Shin has been accused of illegally profiting from the sale of over $100 million worth of the luna cryptocurrency before it collapsed. Seoul Court Leaves Terraform Co-Founder at Large Citing Low Flight Risk The Seoul Southern District Court has rejected a request by the Prosecutor’s Office for the pre-trial detention of Shin Hyun-seung, a co-founder of the failed blockchain firm Terraform Labs also known as Daniel Shin . He is believed to have played a key role in the collapse of the company’s cryptocurrencies, luna and the stablecoin terrausd. On Thursday, the arrest warrant for Shin was denied for a second time, with the court stating that he is unlikely to be a flight risk or destroy evidence, the Yonhap news agency reported. The crypto entrepreneur is under investigation for illegal profits made before the coins crashed last year. Prose...

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...