Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The premium on crypto assets listed on South African exchanges briefly surged to 3.5% after Kraken’s abruptly started blocking deposits from users based in the African country. Some South African crypto experts have linked Kraken’s decision to the Financial Action Task Force’s recent addition of the African country to its greylist. Impact of the FATF’s Greylisting According to a report, the U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken’s recent decision to stop accepting deposits from South African nationals briefly saw the premium on crypto assets like bitcoin surge to 3.5%. Before Kraken’s announcement, the premium or arbitrage, which is the gap between prices of crypto assets on global exchanges and South African exchanges, had reportedly ranged between 0.7% and 1.5%. As explained in a report published by Moneyweb, Kraken made the sudden decision to block South African deposits after its banking partner placed the African country on its anti-laundering blacklist. Some South African comment...

Switzerland-based crypto-friendly SEBA Bank announced it has received an approval-in-principle to operate in Hong Kong. The regulatory nod brings the Swiss bank’s local entity closer to becoming a licensed provider of various services for crypto assets in the Chinese region. SEBA Bank Takes a Step Towards Full Crypto License in Hong Kong SEBA Hong Kong, a subsidiary of the Zug-headquartered crypto bank SEBA Bank, has been issued an in-principle approval by the Securities and Futures Commission ( SFC ) of the Chinese Special Administrative region, the bank said on Wednesday. The approval has been granted for the entity’s application for a license to conduct regulated activities in Hong Kong which will allow it to deal in securities, including crypto-related products such as over-the-counter derivatives and structured products. Backed by the Swiss banking giant Julius Baer, SEBA Bank provides wealth management, investment, and trading solutions for the digital age. A Hong Kong licen...

An Africa-focused remittances platform, Lemfi, recently said it has raised $33 million in a Series A round led by Left Lane Capital. Lemfi said it will use the capital raise to “expand its product offering to the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.” Making Remittances Less Complicated Lemfi, an Africa-focused remittances platform, recently raised a $33 million in a Series A round which was led by Left Lane Capital. In a press statement , Lemfi, which has a presence in Canada and the U.K., said it will use the capital raise to “expand its product offering to the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.” In comments accompanying the capital raise announcement, Ridwan Olalere, a co-founder and CEO of Lemfi, seemingly characterized the successful round as an endorsement of the company’s objective of making financial services more accessible to immigrants. Olalere, who claims to have seen first-hand the challenges faced by migrants, also spoke of how Lemfi’s produ...

In early August 2023, Bloomberg ETF specialists Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart estimated a 65% probability for the approval of a spot bitcoin ETF. However, as August draws to its conclusion, and in light of a U.S. court siding with Grayscale over a legal tussle against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the pair have revised their prediction, now pegging the likelihood at 75%. SEC Decision Looms for Seven Spot Bitcoin ETFs Barring any delays, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is poised to either greenlight or turn down seven distinct proposals for a spot bitcoin ETF. These applications hail from notable names like Blackrock, Wisdomtree, Valkyrie, Fidelity, Vaneck, Bitwise, and Invesco. Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst, Balchunas, conveyed that he and Seyffart have adjusted the odds from their earlier forecast . “James Seyffart [and] I are upping our odds to 75% of spot bitcoin ETFs launching this yr (95% by end of ’24),” Balchunas posted to the soc...

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Utah-based Nodal Power, which specializes in turning landfill gas into energy for powering bitcoin ( BTC ) mining hubs, recently announced a successful $13 million seed round backed by strategic investors. Bryan Black, Nodal’s CEO, stressed the technology’s “potential to make a significant impact on local energy markets.” Nodal Power Raises $13M to Convert Landfill Gas to Bitcoin Mining Energy; Eyes Local Market Impact Nodal Power , a company that converts landfill gas into energy for Bitcoin mining centers, has secured $13 million in seed funding. This technology reduces methane gas emissions from landfills and uses that energy for mining. Nodal combusts the methane, typically flared or vented, with a generator. The resulting electricity is then provided to local utilities and BTC mining operations. Nodal says a significant portion of the funding has been invested in building and operating two power plants in the United States. The first, in the Southeast, uses landfill gas to pr...

Jamie Coutts, an analyst from Bloomberg Intelligence, has predicted that stablecoin adoption will grow significantly once the issue of hostile regulations in the U.S. is put aside, noting “adoption under the hood is exploding.” Coutts believes that stablecoin usage may overtake bitcoin usage as more companies like Paypal integrate such assets in their payment structures. Analyst Says Stablecoin Adoption Set to Grow While the stablecoin market has been hammered recently due to the lack of clear regulations in the U.S., the adoption of these tools is set to boom enormously in the future. At least, this is the opinion of Jaime Coutts, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, who believes that even in the face of “U.S. boomer” regulations, these payment methods are likely to be adopted by companies like Paypal and credit giants like Visa and Mastercard. In his analysis, Coutts acknowledges that the growth of the stablecoin market was significant during 2022, with total payments of stablecoi...

In a lawsuit filed by a Nigerian human rights activist, the country’s central bank is accused of failing to stop the dollarization of the economy. According to the activist, the central bank’s unwillingness to stop economic agents from demanding U.S. dollars for domestic transactions has “resulted in the constant devaluation, depreciation and unending plunge of the naira.” Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange Woes A Nigerian lawyer and human activist, Femi Falana, is suing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for allegedly dollarizing the economy. In his suit filed with a Lagos High Court, Falana also alleged that the CBN’s failure to perform its statutory obligations had “resulted in the constant devaluation, depreciation and unending plunge of the naira.” As has been reported by Bitcoin.com News in the past few months, the Nigerian currency has been losing ground against major currencies. Many Nigerian economic commentators attribute the naira’s constant depreciation to the ongoing U.S. doll...

Crypto exchange Binance considers exiting Russia amid increased scrutiny over its services for users in the sanctioned nation. The news of the potential move comes after the exchange delisted several sanctioned Russian banks from its peer-to-peer (P2P) platform and restricted fiat payment options for Russian traders. Full Russia Exit Is on the Table, Binance Representative Says The world’s leading exchange for digital assets, , is currently reevaluating its Russian business, the Wall Street Journal reported . The process includes the possibility of a full withdrawal from what was an important market for the crypto giant. A spokesperson for the company told the publication: All options are on the table, including a full exit. The statement comes after a WSJ article suggested last week that Binance is facing legal risks over allegedly helping Russians move money abroad despite the platform claiming it has been abiding by Westerns sanctions rules since last year. Following the pu...

The Shiba Inu development team has announced that Shibarium is now fully functional after recent challenges where funds became inaccessible in the bridge. Shiba Inu’s Shytoshi Kusama thanked Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of Polygon Labs, who stepped in with crucial resources to address the issue. Shibarium Back Online After Resolving Bridge Glitch, Team Thanks Polygon Co-Founder Two weeks prior, Shibarium had faced difficulties with over $2 million in cryptocurrency deposits trapped in its bridge. However, on August 28, an update was shared via a blog post confirming that Shibarium’s layer two (L2) was back in action. It highlighted that Sandeep Nailwal and the Polygon team were instrumental in resolving the situation. “Quickly after the incident began, I called Sandeep from Polygon directly and without a second thought, he helped provide additional resources to ensure a perfect outcome to the situation,” remarked Shiba Inu’s Shytoshi Kusama. The blog further specified that tr...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s former head of Internet enforcement suspects that the SEC’s “secret” filing in the Binance case is a “rare” tactic that could relate to the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation against the crypto exchange. He stressed that the securities regulator’s “seal-seeking filing is unusual, odd, and uncommon,” emphasizing that the move “cannot be overstated.” SEC Takes ‘Rare’ Move in Binance Case Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official John Reed Stark shared his perspective Tuesday regarding what he called a “secret” SEC filing in its litigation against cryptocurrency exchange Binance in a lengthy post on social media platform X. Stark is currently president of cybersecurity firm John Reed Stark Consulting. He founded and served as chief of the SEC Office of Internet Enforcement for 11 years. He was also an SEC enforcement attorney for 15 years. The former SEC official explained that the securities watchdog filed ...

Members of the U.S. Congress have expressed concerns about the possible problems that implementing the newly proposed crypto tax reporting requirements could create in the entire industry. Patrick McHenry, Cynthia Lummis, and others reacted differently to the potential effects of these proposals on decentralized finance platforms and stablecoins. U.S. Congress Members Concerned Over New Tax Obligations for Defi Exchanges and Stablecoins Several U.S. Congress members have expressed concerns over the newly proposed crypto-related tax reporting rule revealed recently by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and its possible effect on several elements of the cryptocurrency industry. In a recent post on social media, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis stated that while she was encouraged by the exclusion of significant parts of the crypto machinery, including miners, stakers, validators, and wallet providers, others were still included in the proposal. Lummis,...

Amid swirling speculations about the third biggest bitcoin wallet, chatter has now emerged linking the fifth largest BTC wallet to the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, former owner of the Wagner private military company (PMC). However, a straightforward blockchain explorer search clearly indicates the wallet bears a label identifying it as property of the U.S. government. Nevertheless, this hasn’t deterred the media and netizens from propagating unfounded theories. Misguided Claims Connect FBI-Owned Bitcoin Wallet to Russian Magnate Prigozhin Recently, there was buzz about the third biggest bitcoin ( BTC ) wallet. Now, attention has shifted to the fifth-largest BTC wallet, with many making audacious claims regarding its ownership. Cryptocurrency news outlets , along with a flurry of social media posts on platforms like X and Facebook, are asserting that this wallet was owned by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin. Rumors swirled about Prigozhin, the former PMC head, and his links to crypto, espec...

Bitcoin returned to the red on Tuesday, as markets began to anticipate the upcoming consumer confidence report in the United States. The Conference Board index is expected to fall to a reading of 116 in August, from 117 the month prior. Ethereum was also marginally lower. Bitcoin Bitcoin slipped slightly during Tuesday’s session, as markets began to anticipate the upcoming consumer confidence report from the United States. BTC /USD dropped to an intraday low of $25,914.93 earlier in today’s session, following a peak of $26,406.15 on Monday. The decline sees bitcoin remain in consolidation, however some traders are optimistic about this ending as the week progresses. Looking at the chart, one of the reasons for this long stretch of price uncertainty is the relative strength index (RSI) failing to surge past resistance. In this case, the aforementioned ceiling is at the 33.00 mark, which has remained intact for nearly two weeks. As of writing, the index is tracking at 30.72. Eth...

According to Louis Tsu, the CEO of Venom Foundation, governments that are seeking to introduce central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are not being driven by the fear that privately issued digital currencies may soon become the preferred method for cross-border and micropayments. Instead, some countries view CBDCs as a technology that could make their countries “more economically and financially efficient” and this ultimately improves their competitiveness. Regulated Digital Assets ‘a Requirement for Mass Adoption’ While stablecoins issued by private entities such as Tether are increasingly seen as the go-to digital currencies when moving funds across borders, Tsu told Bitcoin.com News that CBDCs may turn out to be a better option because they are underpinned by regulation. According to the CEO of Venom Foundation — a platform that aims to create a bridge between traditional finance and the Web3 world — such an attribute can be a key “requirement for mass adoption and harmonizatio...

Vietnam, the Philippines, and Brunei will join a QR payment system to settle cross-border payments using local currencies within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc. The network, already being used between Indonesia and Malaysia, aims to interconnect all ASEAN nations to reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar. Vietnam, the Philippines, and Brunei to Join ASEAN Payments System Vietnam, the Philippines, and Brunei will join a payments initiative that aims to connect all countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, according to Perry Warjiyo, governor of the Central Bank of Indonesia. The payment system, which uses QR codes to simplify the settlement of cross-border payments, uses national currencies to reduce the bloc’s dependence on the U.S. dollar. Warjiyo detailed that Vietnam is currently in talks with the local industry to agree on a national QR system and is expected to join the system later this year, while the Philippines is or...

According to Ivaibi Festo, the founder of Mitroplus Labs, a crypto and blockchain education organization, cybercriminals continue to find success in Africa because not enough is being done to educate residents on the basics of digital assets or the technology that underpins such assets. To make matters worse, the few African individuals who have made it either as traders or entrepreneurs often lack the desire to help their fellow residents become acquainted with the basics. Using Education to Strike Back Against Scammers However, Festo, who claims to have bought his first bitcoins in 2009, said African governments’ negative disposition as well as the stigma surrounding cryptos and the blockchain industry have helped convince some successful traders and entrepreneurs to reconsider. Meanwhile, the Mitroplus founder told Bitcoin.com News that in addition to educating residents and prospective users, his organization is also working to include regulators and legislators in its classes....

Several U.S. lawmakers have objected to the Federal Reserve’s stablecoin regulatory guidelines, which they believe “will undoubtedly deter financial institutions from participating in the digital asset ecosystem.” According to the lawmakers, “ The Fed has chosen to effectively prevent banks from issuing payments stablecoins — or engaging in the payment stablecoin ecosystem.” Fed’s Efforts ‘Subvert Progress Made by Congress’ Three U.S. representatives sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell regarding stablecoin regulation last week. The letter, dated Aug. 23, was signed by Patrick McHenry (R-NC), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee; French Hill (R-AR), chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion; and Bill Huizenga (R-MI), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Congressman Hill stated Monday on the social media platform X: I sent a letter alongside Rep. Patrick McHenry and Rep. Bill Huizeng...

Sam Bankman-Fried’s high-powered legal team is pushing for the FTX founder’s temporary release from jail ahead of his October trial on fraud charges. In a motion filed Thursday, lawyers Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell claim Bankman-Fried’s Sixth Amendment rights are being violated by inadequate access to discovery documents needed to help prepare his defense against allegations he misled investors and misused FTX client funds. Letter Claims FTX Founder’s Rights Breached: Lawyers Demand Expanded Trial Prep Access The lawyers argue Bankman-Fried needs “constant access” to an internet-connected laptop so he can review millions of pages of documents, conduct online research for context, draft analysis of evidence, and share information with his legal team. Under the current plan allowing Bankman-Fried just 12 hours per week at a courthouse computer with no internet, the lawyers say he is deprived of the 80-100 hours he spent prepping pre-jail. They also object to the government dum...

From the genesis of Bitcoin’s inception to the contemporary landscape, the mystery surrounding the true identity of its architect, Satoshi Nakamoto, persists as an unrivaled enigma within the cryptocurrency realm. Despite the global reverberations stemming from bitcoin ( BTC ) and the revolutionary blockchain technology underpinning it, Nakamoto’s identity, modus operandi, and motivations for upholding an unwavering cloak of secrecy continue to be shrouded in the shadows. The Cryptic Enigma of Satoshi Nakamoto: A Virtuoso of Concealment in the World of Crypto Behind the moniker Satoshi Nakamoto, presumed to be a pseudonymous entity, lies the individual or collective entity credited with unleashing the Bitcoin network upon the world stage. Their hands penned the seminal Bitcoin white paper , forged the initial blueprint for its practical implementation, and orchestrated the debut of the inaugural blockchain ledger in January 2009. In the chronicles of Bitcoin’s evolution, Nakamoto p...

Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations (U.N.), has noted changes that need to happen with today’s financial institutions to fit into the current multilateral world. During the recent BRICS leaders summit, Guterres said that the current “outdated, dysfunctional, and unfair” financial system needs to be reformed, including Bretton Woods institutions. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres: We Must Urgently Reinvigorate Multilateralism Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations (U.N.), has called to embrace cooperation and multilateralism, explaining that there was “no choice” as the world becomes more multipolar. At the recent BRICS leaders summit in Johannesburg, Guterres stated that multipolarity was not guaranteed to achieve peace and that more should be done to grow a “global community.” Guterres blasted the global establishment, stating: As the global community moves towards multipolarity, we desperately need a strengthened and reformed multil...