Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has acknowledged that cryptocurrency appears to have staying power as an asset class in the U.S. economy. In addition, he stated that the central bank views payment stablecoins as a form of money, emphasizing that it would be appropriate to have a robust federal role in what happens in stablecoin regulations going forward. Powell on Crypto’s Staying Power Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell answered some questions about cryptocurrency and stablecoins during his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. Congressman Warren Davidson (R-OH) stated that crypto currently has a market cap of about $1.1 trillion. He then asked Powell: “Do you acknowledge that this asset class has staying power in the U.S. economy?” The Fed chairman replied: It appears to have some staying power. Powell then noted that a year ago the market cap of the crypto market was a lot higher. Rep. Davidson promptly explained that the crypto ma...

Cleanspark, a publicly listed bitcoin miner, has announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire two turnkey bitcoin facilities in Dalton, Georgia. The deal will be an all-cash payment of $9.3 million and is expected to increase Cleanspark’s current operations by just under 1 exahash per second (EH/s). Cleanspark Secures Georgia Bitcoin Facilities Cleanspark (Nasdaq: CLSK ) announced on Wednesday that it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire two turnkey bitcoin mining campuses. The facilities, situated in Dalton, Georgia, are expected to accommodate 6,000 Antminer S19 XPs and S19J Pro+s, according to Cleanspark. Cleanspark revealed that it has expanded its operations this year by acquiring a total of 77,500 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining rigs since February of last year. “This acquisition ensures that we have more than enough infrastructure to reach our year-end target of 16 EH/s,” Zach Bradford, the CEO of Cleanspark state...

Central banks, particularly those in emerging economies, are ramping up their gold reserves in preparation for a new monetary regime, signaling a potential loss of reserve currency status for the U.S. dollar, according to the investment management firm Goehring & Rozencwajg. The company’s managing partner Leigh Goehring explained in a recent interview that gold will play a crucial role as a settlement mechanism. Goehring & Rozencwajg Predicts Gold ‘Will Blow Through’ $2K Thanks to Central Bank Demand On Wednesday, June 21, 2023, digital currency markets have risen by 6.98% over the last 24 hours, but precious metal markets have been lackluster. Gold is hovering just above the $1,930 range, while silver is coasting along under $23. Leigh Goehring, a partner from the investment management firm Goehring & Rozencwajg, believes gold could reach the $2,100 per unit range this year. Goehring shared his forecast with Kitco News, explaining that a new monetary regime is formin...

Bitcoin rallied to a six-week high on Wednesday, as price moved to the cusp of a breakout above the $29,000 level. Today’s surge sees bulls recover almost all of the losses that came after the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance and Coinbase. Ethereum also climbed higher, rising above $1,800. Bitcoin Bitcoin ( BTC ) raced to a six-week high in today’s session, as bulls moved to recover all losses that came as a result of the SEC suing Binance and Coinbase BTC /USD hit an intraday peak of $28,975.62 earlier in the day, which comes less than 24 hours after trading at a low of $26,668.79. Today’s move sent the cryptocurrency to its strongest point since May 6, when price traded at $29,850. Bitcoin chart by TradingView Another catalyst for Wednesday’s surge was a breakout which took place on the relative strength index (RSI). As of writing, price strength has moved beyond a ceiling at 58.00, and is currently tracking at 65.63. In addition, the 10-day (red) movin...

A member of the eurozone is amending its constitution in order to guarantee citizens the right to cash payments. The move comes amid growing fears that a digital version of the common European currency may eventually become the only means of payment in the eurozone, despite currently being touted as merely an alternative. Lawmakers in Slovakia Approve Constitutional Provision Preserving Cash Payments Slovaks will have the right to buy goods and services with cash guaranteed under an amendment to their constitution approved by a sizable majority in the nation’s parliament. According to a report by the Euractiv news portal, 111 out of 150 members of the legislature backed the respective draft law. The legislation aims to protect physical payments in case that the use of the digital euro becomes mandatory in the eurozone, of which Slovakia is a member. The digital version of the euro area’s single currency is still under development led by the European Central Bank (ECB). The amendme...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is working to develop a platform that would serve as an interoperability layer for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), allowing for settlements among different countries. According to statements from IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, this would avoid the underutilization of CBDCs for domestic purposes. IMF Working on CBDC Cross-Border Integration Platform The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is building a solution to integrate and support cross-border payments among central bank digital currencies (CBDC). According to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, this would prevent underutilization of these currencies, expanding their usage to international markets. At a conference in Morocco, Georgieva reinforced the need for interoperability. She stated : CBDCs should not be fragmented national propositions. To have more efficient and fairer transactions we need systems that connect countries: we need interoperability. Geor...

The founder of a German-based political and economic think tank has cautioned that attempts to de-risk from China “will only lead to the self-destruction of the economies of the West.” She stressed that de-risking policies would hurt their originators more than they could hurt China. The Risks of De-Risking From China The founder of the Schiller Institute, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, expressed concerns about the adverse consequences of Western countries’ efforts to de-risk from China in an interview with Global Times reporter Li Xuanmin, published on Monday. The Schiller Institute is a German-based political and economic think tank with stated members in 50 countries. “The politicians pushing for ‘de-risking’ don’t seem to understand what every competent industrialist knows, that it is not possible to instantly replace China’s trade and investment partnership, since China offers very well-built infrastructure and a qualified labor force, which still has to take years to be built up in oth...

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban, a Shark Tank star and owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, has provided some suggestions on how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should regulate the crypto industry, including how the regulator should handle multi-function crypto tokens. His recommendations followed a series of enforcement actions by the securities watchdog, which included charging the Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase. Mark Cuban’s Suggestions for SEC’s Crypto Regulation Shark Tank star and the owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, has engaged in a lengthy discussion on Twitter about how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could regulate the crypto sector. The discussion followed a series of enforcement actions taken by the SEC against a number of prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, including and Coinbase . Citing how the securities watchdog went after the Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase for securities law violations as an...

The cryptocurrency exchange backed by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial has launched and completed a new funding round. The platform offers the trading of four cryptocurrencies. EDX Crypto Exchange Launches EDX Markets announced Tuesday “the successful launch of its digital asset market and the completion of an investment round with new equity partners.” According to the announcement and the new exchange’s website: Products traded on EDX include bitcoin ( BTC ), ethereum ( ETH ), litecoin ( LTC ), and bitcoin cash ( BCH ). EDX offers “a unique, non-custodial model designed to mitigate conflicts of interest,” the announcement adds. In addition, the platform has “introduced a retail-only quote to the crypto markets, allowing participants the benefit of better pricing for retail-originated orders” and plans to launch EDX Clearing later this year “to settle trades matched on EDX Markets.” The company also rec...

Britain’s financial regulator has approved a request by Binance to cancel its regulatory permissions in the United Kingdom. The move comes as the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange takes steps to focus on fewer European markets amid increased scrutiny from regulators and ahead of Europe’s new crypto rules. Binance No Longer Authorized to Provide Regulated Activities and Products in the U.K., FCA Says Binance’s subsidiary in Britain, Binance Markets Limited (BML), has recently filed a cancellation request for its regulatory authorization. On June 7, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced the request was completed on May 30, 2023. According the FCA’s Financial Services Register, the entity, which was previously authorized by the regulator, “can no longer provide regulated activities and products.” In an update on its interactions with the company, the Authority stated: Following the completion of the cancellation of permissions the firm is no longer authorized...

The government of Argentina has noted that 19% of all imports authorized in the national system were settled using the Chinese yuan in April and May. $2.72 billion in Chinese yuan were approved to complete these payments, taking advantage of the Chinese swap line to preserve the dollar reserves of the country, according to Commerce Secretary Matias Tombolini. Argentina Advances in Substituting Dollar-Settled Imports Using Chinese Yuan Argentina is showing advancements in substituting means other than the U.S. dollar to settle import payments. According to data presented by the Commerce Secretariat, imports denominated in Chinese yuan rose to almost 20% in April and May, with operations equivalent to $2.72 billion authorized. This development has been qualified as an advancement by Commerce Secretary Matias Tombolini, who believes this improves the economic outcome for Argentina. Tombolini stated : The alternative of imports in yuan strengthens our reserves and improves the outlo...

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...