Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

PRESS RELEASE. Minati, a trailblazer in the digital finance industry, is thrilled to announce the launch of its game-changing decentralized finance (DeFi) token, Minati (MNTC). Positioned to redefine the digital finance landscape, Minati’s mission is to bridge the gap between decentralization, scalability, and user empowerment, thereby setting a new standard in the industry. What sets Minati apart is its commitment to community governance, privacy-oriented transactions, and the melding of DeFi with Artificial Intelligence (AI). As the first token of its kind to integrate FraAI’s capabilities, Minati is set to disrupt the financial ecosystem with AI-based fraud detection, automated trading, and risk assessment. Minati takes pride in being the first AI token set to launch on the top 5 centralized exchanges globally. In anticipation of its global launch, Minati is offering an exclusive pre-launch opportunity for early investors to acquire MNTC tokens at a significantly discounted pri...

Despite the decline in stablecoins due to substantial redemptions, particularly from projects like USDC, DAI, and BUSD, the project TUSD has experienced a notable surge in its supply. TUSD has added more than a billion dollars’ worth of tokens to its existing supply. As of the present moment, the market capitalization of TUSD stands at approximately $3.13 billion. TUSD’s Supply Spiked 52% on June 16, Rising by a Billion Tokens In a recent stablecoin update, Bitcoin.com News shed light on the challenging times faced by the dollar-pegged token economy, with significant redemptions causing its market valuation to plummet to its lowest point in 20 months. As of June 19, 2023, the collective market capitalization of the leading stablecoins amounts to $129.99 billion , while these tokens have witnessed global trade volume of $20.84 billion in the past 24 hours. Notably, three of the top five stablecoins in terms of market capitalization, namely USDC, DAI , and BUSD, have experienced sup...

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has said it is getting close to launching a peer-to-peer platform which will facilitate digital gold token transactions. The central bank said the launch of the platform is expected to help reduce local demand for the greenback. Governor John Mangudya said the tokens have a value which is “linked to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).” ‘Gold Token’ Bank Accounts The Zimbabwean central bank has said it is “finalizing” the establishment of a peer-to-peer (P2P) platform which is expected to facilitate digital gold token transactions. According to a June 17 Sunday Mail report, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) hopes to launch the platform towards the end of the month. The P2P platform is part of the central bank’s measures which seek to diminish local demand for the U.S. dollar and to stabilize the Zimbabwean dollar. The latest digital gold token announcement by the RBZ came just a few weeks after it launched a gold-backed digital currency. As re...

PRESS RELEASE. Paris, June 19 th 2023 – Over 1,500+ attendees, VCs, founders, start-ups, industry leaders, students, developers coming from Asia, Europe and the US gathered in Paris for the Proof of Talk Summit. In a rapidly evolving and challenging crypto landscape, they discussed the pressing issues and opportunities to shape a better future for the Web3 space. As a result of these two days of intensive talks, the Proof of Talk constitution was presented, 10 commitments to truly revolutionize the Web3 industry: transparency, community engagement, education, ethical conduct, best practices, collaboration, inclusivity, long-term vision, accountability, and advocating for positive change. “ These two days of talks have shown us that the Web3 industry, which is based on a strong sense of community, shared leadership and transparency, is ready to move to the next stage.”, said Zohair Dehnadi, Co-Founder & Partner, X Ventures who organized the Summit. Learning from the past to ...

Ethereum’s core developers are engaged in discussions about raising the validator threshold from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH . This proposal, put forward by Michael Neuder, a researcher from the Ethereum Foundation, aims to address concerns related to decentralization, inflation, and the size of the validator set. Neuder acknowledges that the existing threshold promotes decentralization, but he also highlights the drawbacks of inflation and the substantial number of validators that it entails. Ethereum Developers Want to Raise the Validator Threshold During the latest Ethereum core developer consensus meeting , a gathering of ETH software engineers and researchers, an intriguing notion emerged for elevating the validator threshold from 32 ether to 2,048 ether. As it stands, aspiring validators must possess roughly 32 ETH to commence the validation process, but this proposed adjustment would amplify the threshold by 64-fold. The individual behind this idea is Michael Neuder, a researcher...

Storing your digital assets on a cryptocurrency hardware wallet such as Trezor is considered to be one of the safest ways to secure your funds. If you have lost your PIN number to access it however, you might be afraid your money is completely gone as there is no-one else that can remember it for you. This is not too rare, as the wallet recovery experts from KeychainX estimate there are several thousands Trezor wallets with a lost PIN. The company itself is currently recovering over $10M locked in Trezor wallets. The experts also explain how you can recover your lost PIN. How to Hack a Trezor Hardware Wallet The first step to recover your lost Trezor PIN is to understand all the risks involved, as it requires using side channel attacks, and messing with the physical hardware. The process can result in destroying the wallet or losing access to the assets forever so don’t do anything until you are sure you know what you are doing. You can only try 16 times to enter a PIN to a Trezor a...

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) expressed his satisfaction over the agreement with the U.S. securities regulator preventing the freezing of the exchange’s assets in the United States. The crypto company’s American subsidiary also stated it’s pleased that the SEC’s request for a temporary restraining order has not been granted by the court. Agreement With the SEC Allows Binance US to Continue Business, Exchange Says The founder and CEO of the world’s largest digital asset exchange, Changpeng Zhao, took to Twitter on Saturday to mark the positive outcome of the latest episode in the clash with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). CZ also sought to reassure customers that their funds are safe and secure on any of the platforms affiliated with . Although we maintain that the SEC’s request for emergency relief was entirely unwarranted, we are pleased that the disagreement over this request was resolved on mutually acceptable terms. User funds have been and always wil...

JPMorgan’s strategists have explained that even if China overtakes the U.S. as the world’s largest economy around 2030, the U.S. dollar may remain the world’s dominant currency for the rest of the 21st century. The global investment bank cited the historical experience of when the U.S. overtook Great Britain as the world’s largest economy. JPMorgan Discusses Future of U.S. Dollar Amid China’s Projected Economic Dominance Global investment bank JPMorgan’s strategists recently discussed the potential impact on the U.S. dollar in the event that the Chinese economy surpasses the U.S. as the world’s largest economy. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), one of the U.K.’s leading economics consultancies, China is projected to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy by 2030. The JPMorgan strategists explained that even if China surpasses the U.S. economy, the USD is unlikely to lose its status as the world’s reserve currency immediately, cit...

Amidst the buzz and persistent interest surrounding Bitcoin-derived Ordinal inscriptions, the co-founder of the Capsule 21 podcast introduced Ethscriptions, an analogous innovation that harnesses the power of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethscriptions, as described on the online platform ethscriptions.com, is a “new way of creating and sharing digital artifacts on Ethereum using transaction calldata.” From Bitcoin to Ethereum: Ethscriptions Take Center Stage in Crypto Community This weekend crypto enthusiasts have been discussing a new technology that is similar to Bitcoin’s Ordinal inscriptions except this idea leverages the Ethereum blockchain. The new concept is called Ethscriptions and it was created by the co-founder of the Capsule 21 podcast Tom Lehman . The Ethscriptions creator is also the co-founder and former CEO of genius.com. Let's take a moment to appreciate that after 6 years of stagnation on Bitcoin where other chains did all of the innovation, Ethereum is now copy...

On June 18, 2023, the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) protocols has been rangebound and hovering at just above the $42 billion range. Presently, Lido Finance dominates the value locked in defi with $12.69 billion or 29.76% of the aggregate. During the last month, the top ten defi protocols except for Lido have seen losses between 0.31% and 16.88%. Defi TVL Remains at $42 Billion With 58% Linked to Ethereum-based Protocols The total value locked in defi today is still above the $42 billion mark and $24.87 billion of that value is tied to Ethereum-based defi protocols. This means Ethereum’s TVL dominates by more than 58% in comparison to the 195 defi-enabled blockchain networks recorded by defillama.com. Out of all the protocols, Lido’s liquid staking platform holds the most with $12.69 billion and while nine out of the top ten defi protocols saw losses last month, Lido’s is up by 6.75%. The biggest loser of the defi protocol top ten was Makerdao which shed ...

As of June 18, the latest figures reveal over 12.49 million Ordinal inscriptions have been recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain. The inscription trend has yielded substantial gains for bitcoin miners, who have accumulated 1,732 BTC equivalent to $46 million using today’s exchange rates. However, the BRC20 economy, experiencing a significant decline in value, has suffered the consequences of bitcoin’s recent price plunge throughout the past week. BRC20 Market Faces Decline as Bitcoin Blockchain Records More Than 12 Million Inscriptions As of the latest count, there are over 12 million Ordinal inscriptions linked to the Bitcoin blockchain, with the current tally reaching approximately 12,494,695 . This sustained trend has contributed to a backlog of more than 300,000 unconfirmed transactions documented by mempool.space. On Saturday, bitcoin miners confirmed these types of transactions, as well as traditional financial transfers, accumulating a total of 1,737.50 BTC valued at $46.10 ...

Red tape and confusion has been the theme in crypto news as of late, with cryptocurrency firms scrambling to stay compliant with regulators like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with little to no definite regulatory clarity made available to them thus far. In the wake of lawsuits being launched by the SEC against massive exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, a former SEC official has warned of regulatory “siege” against crypto platforms, a judge has blocked efforts by the regulator to freeze Binance US’ assets, and economist Peter Schiff has said the Fed destroyed the U.S. banking system. This and more, just below, in the Bitcoin.com News Week in Review. Founder of SEC Office of Internet Enforcement Warns of Upcoming Regulatory Siege: ‘Get Out of Crypto Platforms Now’ John Reed Stark, founder and former chief of the Office of Internet Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has warned about a new regulatory “siege” against crypto platforms...

Wyre, the San Francisco-based crypto payments firm, has said it is winding down operations “in order to protect the best interests” of its users and stakeholders. The firm urged users with assets on its platform “to continue to withdraw them via Wyre’s dashboard until Friday, July 14th.” A statement released by the firm said parties interested in acquiring Wyre or its subsidiaries should contact 88 Partners via email. No Pressure From Regulatory Agencies United States-based crypto payments firm Wyre said on June 16 that it is winding down operations. According to a statement , Wrye’s decision to shut down was made in order to “protect the best interests” of its stakeholders and customers. The payments firm insisted that the move was not forced on Wyre by some regulatory agency. The firm’s decision to wind down comes more than six months after the CEO Ioannis Giannaros denied reports the payments platform had shut down. At the time, Giannaros instead claimed that Wyre was scaling ba...

The Nigerian currency’s official exchange rate versus the greenback recently plunged to NGN634 per dollar from just under NGN470 per dollar. The central bank’s decision to allow the naira to “float” came a few weeks after Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu pledged to end the CBN’s multiple exchange rate regime. The Naira Devaluation The Nigerian currency’s official exchange rate versus the U.S. dollar plunged to an all-time low of NGN634 per greenback on June 14. The naira’s fall by more than 30% came just days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) denied devaluing the currency’s exchange rate to NGN631 per dollar from just NGN470 per dollar. The central bank’s decision to allow the naira to “float” also came a few weeks after Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu pledged to end the CBN’s multiple exchange rate regime. Understanding the Operational Changes to the Foreign Exchange (FX) Market 1/3 pic.twitter.com/kNIhH7GIsw — Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) June 16, 2023 Be...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the end of the U.S. dollar dominance, claiming that Russia has nothing to do with the USD’s downfall. “We have never had and do not have the goal of de-dollarization,” Putin also stressed, highlighting global trends that could lead to the end of the U.S. dollar. Putin Discusses the ‘End of the Dollar’ Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to some questions Friday regarding de-dollarization and the U.S. dollar potentially losing its dominance during a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). Putin was asked whether the allegations that he is using Russia’s conflict with the U.S. to speed up the process of de-dollarization were true, and if so, what the outcomes would be for him if the U.S. dollar loses its hegemony in the international financial system. The Russian president replied (translated by Google): First of all, I want to say … we have never had and do not have the goal of de-dollarizati...

Economist Peter Schiff says the U.S. dollar decline will be “far greater” than what Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned. “This portends a significant decline in our standard of living,” he cautioned. Furthermore, the economist stressed that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “is clearly worried about the evolving financial crisis, but doesn’t want to spook markets.” Peter Schiff Predicts Larger U.S. Dollar Decline Than Yellen Expects Economist and gold bug Peter Schiff issued more warnings about the U.S. economy, the banking system, and the U.S. dollar in several tweets this week. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned during her testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday that there would be a “slow decline” in the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency. Emphasizing concerns that sanctions imposed by the U.S. have motivated a number of countries to look for USD alternatives, she cautioned that the decline in USD dominance is “something we ha...

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, has warned that more banks are about to fail. “Regional banks and mortgage companies are falling,” he cautioned, urging investors to think for themselves and not rely on the guidance of President Joe Biden, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, or Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. More Banks Are on the Verge of Failing, Says Kiyosaki Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has issued more warnings about the U.S. economy and the banking system. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries. The renowned author warned of impending bank failures in a tweet Thursday. He wrote: More banks about to fail. Rumor is mortgage giant Loan Depot is on the ropes. Regional banks and mortgage companies are falling. He t...

Steve Hanke, an economist and professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University, as well as a former member of Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisors, recently expressed his belief that the U.S. Federal Reserve is lacking direction and “doesn’t know what it is doing.” Hanke further predicts a bleak economic downturn in 2024, referring to it as an “ugly recession.” Steve Hanke: ‘I Think the Fed Doesn’t Know What It’s Doing’ During a recent interview with Kitco News’ lead anchor Michelle Makori, economist Steve Hanke delved into the future of the U.S. economy and the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to halt the federal funds rate at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting held on Wednesday. Hanke emphasized that while the interest rate garners significant attention, it is the monetary supply that warrants closer scrutiny. He pointed out that Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged the continuation of quantitative tightening despite the pause i...

Kenyan President William Ruto has repeated his call on African countries to consider ditching the U.S. dollar when settling cross-border trades. The Kenyan leader claimed that the African continent already has a mechanism that enables the seamless settling of transactions between traders. Further, freedom advocate and entrepreneur Kimdotcom said as more countries reject the greenback the “U.S. Govt will pay a higher price for printing money.” Ruto: African Traders Do Not Need to Settle Using the Greenback Kenyan President William Ruto has again urged African countries to consider settling cross-border transactions with their respective currencies instead of the U.S. dollar. In his remarks made while addressing the Djibouti parliament, Ruto argued that the African continent’s Afreximbank already has the mechanism in place to enable seamless settling of transactions between traders. Just In: President of Kenya, @WilliamsRuto , Urges African Nations to Dump the US Dollar for Intracon...

According to Chris Watkins, the co-founder and CEO of the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Digital Arms, many of the Web3 games developed in the last bull cycle were not only seemingly rushed but “lacked the essential element of fun,” hence they ultimately failed. Watkins also argued that the few games which did gain traction “relied on the allure of making money” which is not a sustainable model. Web3 Gaming Not a Passing Fad However, in his written answers sent to Bitcoin.com News, the Digital Arms CEO insisted that the industry’s focus has shifted back to making games with experiences and benefits which cannot be matched by traditional gaming. This shift in turn means Web3 gaming “is really just getting started” and may not be a passing fad as claimed by some critics, Watkins added. Concerning his platform’s reported collaboration with the firearms industry, the CEO disclosed that this was made possible by the fact that some of Digital Arms’ founding members, including himse...

Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, has filed to register a bitcoin trust that some believe is actually a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in disguise. Blackrock is seeking to launch a bitcoin product despite the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) efforts to crack down on unregistered crypto platforms and securities tokens. The asset management firm has also chosen Coinbase, the Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange that was recently charged by the SEC for securities law violations, to serve as custodian for its bitcoin trust. Blackrock Files to Launch a Bitcoin Trust The world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, filed for the registration of Ishares Bitcoin Trust (the Trust) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday despite the regulator’s ongoing regulatory crackdown on the cryptocurrency sector. According to Blackrock’s filing: The assets of the Trust consist primarily of bitcoin held by a custodian on behalf of the Trust. The Tru...