Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The chairman of the Swiss National Bank has expressed reservations about incorporating bitcoin into the central bank’s currency reserves. He stated that no decision has been made yet to invest in bitcoin, underscoring the necessity for currency reserves to be liquid, sustainable, and easily tradable, given their use in international payments. Swiss National Bank on […]

The Bank of Russia and Rosfinmonitoring revealed the existence of a ‘know your crypto customer’ system pilot, that aims to link the fiat operations of crypto users with their blockchain actions. The pilot, which has been ongoing since 2023, involves five banks in Russia and is expected to run until April, but can be extended. […]

On Friday, April 26, Acinq announced that its Lightning Network bitcoin wallet, Phoenix, will cease services for U.S. residents from May 3, 2024. This announcement followed closely on the heels of the Samourai Wallet indictment and what is perceived as a targeted U.S. government effort against financial privacy and non-custodial solutions. Lightning Network Platform Phoenix […]

BNB Chain, one of the largest smart contracts-enabled ecosystems in the crypto environment, has announced the inclusion of native liquid staking in its BSC blockchain. The new feature aims to allow validators to secure the network and maintain the liquidity of its assets while the ecosystem abandons the Beacon chain. BNB Chain Evolves Into a […]

Standard Chartered, which was previously optimistic about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving spot ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications in May, has now revised its prediction. The bank still sees a positive long-term future for spot ethereum ETFs. Standard Chartered on Spot Ether ETFs Standard Chartered, previously optimistic about a May approval for […]

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Morgan Stanley, a leading global investment bank, is reportedly considering expanding access to bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The firm may soon authorize its approximately 15,000 brokers to actively solicit customer purchases. Morgan Stanley to Widen Access to Spot Bitcoin ETFs Global investment bank Morgan Stanley is contemplating broadening access to spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds […]

OP_CAT, a proposal aimed at introducing Ethereum-like smart contract functionality to Bitcoin, has been assigned the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) number 347, marking the first step towards potentially implementing this long-discussed software upgrade. Co-authors Ethan Heilman and Armin Sabouri have emphasized that receiving a BIP number mainly facilitates discussion around the proposal by providing a […]

Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, has maintained its bitcoin holdings. The company’s Q1 balance sheet shows net digital assets of $184 million. According to crypto analytics firm Arkham, Tesla continues to hold onto its 11,509 bitcoins, which have a market value of over $745 million. Tesla Holding Onto Its Bitcoin Elon Musk’s electric car […]

Stacks has initiated the rollout of its Nakamoto upgrade introducing improvements to its Bitcoin layer two (L2) solution. The upgrade aims to bolster transaction speed and security, potentially revitalizing interest in Bitcoin’s extended capabilities. Stacks Initiates Nakamoto Upgrade, Targets Enhanced Bitcoin Scalability Stacks, an L2 protocol addressing Bitcoin’s scalability challenges and expanding its blockchain functionalities, […]

Yves Bennaïm, founder and chair of 2B4CH, a Swiss pro-Bitcoin think tank, is launching a popular initiative to amend the country’s constitution to allow its central bank to purchase and hold bitcoin. The initiative is also supported by Bitcoin Suisse President Luzius Meisser, who believes the bank should add bitcoin to its reserves. A Reform […]

Ripple Labs has filed its opposition to the request by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the company to pay $2 billion in fines in the XRP case. “The SEC’s draconian remedial requests are ungrounded in law or principle. This court should reject them in their entirety,” Ripple stated. Ripple Files Opposition to […]

On Tuesday, Jack Dorsey, the founder of Block, took to X to announce that the company is “building a mining rig.” Dorsey also shared a blog post authored by Block’s lead for mining hardware products, Naoise Irwin. The post revealed enhancements in the chip design, upgrading from the initially planned 5-nanometer (nm) process to an […]

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov revealed that the BRICS bloc has been considering the use of stablecoins for its common rail payment systems. In an interview with TV BRICS, Ryabkov stated that the use of stablecoins and a connection linking the CBDCs of the participants were studied as part of the integration processes of […]

Following a sequence of five days of net outflows, U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced modest inflows on Friday, capturing nearly 900 bitcoins from the market, totaling $59.7 million. Concurrently, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) teeters on the brink of falling below the 300,000 mark, as it recorded a holding of 304,970.43 bitcoins as of […]

U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) has unveiled his plan to put the entire U.S. budget on a blockchain. “Every American can look at every budget item in the entire budget, anytime they want, 24 hours a day,” he explained, adding that if somebody is spending $16,000 for a toilet seat, everybody […]

Bitwise Asset Management expects bitcoin to have a great next 12 months. A Bitwise researcher has explained that the cryptocurrency will likely continue to test its “higher highs” this year and next. He considers regulatory risk to be the primary concern for bitcoin. ‘I Think We’re Just Getting Started’ Bitwise Asset Management has reaffirmed its […]

Tether, the stablecoin company, has launched native USDT, the largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, on The Open Network (TON). With this addition, over 900 million Telegram users can seamlessly transfer digital dollars, without having to type crypto addresses. 11 million TON will be distributed among USDT users on TON to incentivize its adoption in the ecosystem. Tether […]

The first bitcoin futures contracts listed on B3, the stock exchange in Brazil, experienced significant interest from investors on debut day. According to a note delivered by the stock operator, 7,400 bitcoin futures contracts were traded, with the instrument reaching a peak of 111,000 orders on screen. While B3 has also bitcoin ETF contracts, futures […]

Based on the latest data, the yield curve of the U.S. Treasury, which charts the yields for two-year and ten-year bonds, has remained inverted for a total of 656 days. This latest inversion joins previous records set in 1929, 1974, and 2008, all of which preceded substantial declines in the stock market. Recently, market observers […]

Amid ongoing global tensions, the price of gold remains robust at $2,391 per troy ounce, while bitcoin continues to trade at a 12% deficit from its peak value. Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a series of funding bills for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Following the bill’s passage, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova […]

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has doubled down on his anti-bitcoin stance, emphasizing that the crypto is a fraud with no future as a currency. “It’s a Ponzi scheme,” the executive stressed. However, despite his strong opinion about bitcoin, JPMorgan is an authorized participant for Blackrock’s spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Dimon, while advising investors […]

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released a draft tax Form 1099-DA for reporting digital asset proceeds from broker transactions. Brokers, including unhosted wallet providers, are required to report proceeds from digital asset dispositions to the IRS. A crypto tax expert has highlighted that the collection of certain data points, such as wallet addresses, […]

JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank have weighed in on potential price movements for bitcoin following the halving. “We continue to expect prices to stay high,” Deutsche Bank analysts said. JPMorgan analysts, however, stated that they “see downside for the bitcoin price post halving for several reasons.” JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank on Bitcoin Post-Halving JPMorgan Chase […]

A new bill co-sponsored by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand, aimed at regulating stablecoins, has drawn criticism for potentially stifling innovation and breaching First Amendment rights. The bill includes a provision that bans all “algorithmic payment stablecoins,” which could have significant implications for software developers and the broader tech community. Lummis-Gillibrand Stablecoin Bill Criticized […]

Upon reaching block height 840,000, when the mining pool Viabtc collected 37.626 bitcoin in fees worth $2.39 million, the expense for onchain transfers climbed, surpassing $240 per transaction. Block 840,003 recorded 16.06 bitcoins in fee payments, and block 840,004 accumulated 24 bitcoins in fees valued at over $1.5 million. Bitcoin Transaction Fees Skyrocket Above $240 […]

At 8:12 p.m. ET on Friday, April 19, 2024, the Bitcoin network marked its fourth block reward halving at block height 840,000. Block 840,000 was mined by Viabtc, securing the notable ‘epic satoshi’ for the fortunate mining pool and a 3.125 BTC reward. The Halving Is Now Complete Bitcoin’s latest halving event occurred at block […]

Tether, one of the largest companies in the cryptocurrency industry, has announced a reorganization of its business operations, seeking to restructure to support its expansion. Tether will now have four business divisions: Tether Data, focused on tech developments; Tether Finance, dedicated to the digital assets business; Tether Power, dealing with mining operations; and Tether Edu, […]

At block height 839,856, the Bitcoin blockchain stands a mere 144 blocks short of the forthcoming reward halving at block height 840,000. Historically, bitcoin’s price has seen substantial increases following prior halving events. However, there are speculations that this occurrence might not follow the previous pattern. This week, the creator of the stock-to-flow (S2F) price […]

Goldman Sachs analysts believe that whether the upcoming Bitcoin halving will turn out to be a “buy the rumor, sell the news” event may have less impact on bitcoin’s medium-term outlook. They explained that the bitcoin price performance will likely continue to be driven by the supply-demand dynamic and continued demand for spot bitcoin exchange-traded […]