The notion of China racing to launch a CBDC that will end U.S. monetary supremacy doesn't hold up if you look at the facts on the ground. For the past several years, the trade war between China and the U.S. has been at the center of international relations, with technology playing an outsized role.Within crypto, advancing interest in central bank digital currencies has become part of that narrative of geopolitical competition. Many have framed the development of CBDCs in China and the U.S. as a race — in which case, China is clearly closer to launch and, hence, the “winner.” But a race to....

A 108-page report details how the United Kingdom can retain its status as one of the global centers for fintech innovation and business. Upon the announcement of the United Kingdom budget for 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak commissioned Ron Kalifa to conduct an independent review of the U.K. fintech sector. On Friday, eight months later, the FCA published the 108-page report, and it contains multiple clear guidelines aimed at cementing the U.K.’s position as a fintech powerhouse. Over $95 billion was spent by U.K. fintech firms in 2019, and with 10% of the global market share, the U.K. is....

PRESS RELEASE. On January 26, 2021, Fungram LTD, as a comprehensive blockchain enterprise serving the world, has applied for an Exempt Offering of Securities from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Based on the three major ecological sectors, DeFi lending system, encrypted index platform, and decentralized wallet, Fungram will provide a smart and open financial application ecosystem with a low access threshold for everyone and will provide a fast channel for the commercialization of cryptocurrency. In the future, by using Fungram’s mobile applications, users will be....

Traders are accustomed to slight price differences between exchanges, but is a 70% gap sustainable? Since the start of 2021, Bitcoin (BTC) price has been chasing new highs on a weekly and daily basis. On Feb. 21, BTC reached a new all-time high at $58,300. However, an interesting phenomenon is that even with many global cryptocurrency exchanges in existence, BTC's price can still vary greatly depending on geography.This raises an intriguing question. How can Bitcoin price simultaneously trade at $53,047 in Malaysia, $49,727 in Singapore, $51,133 in India, and over $86,000 in Nigeria? Is....

A new report unveiled a growing trend of efforts from cybercriminals hiding their stolen cryptocurrencies through different transaction flows. Crystal Blockchain pointed out that since 2019, the volume of stolen bitcoin grew significantly. Only 8% of the Funds Were Transferred to Exchanges With Verification Procedures in 2020 Per the findings, in 2020, the firm said that cybercriminals attempted to withdraw stolen and scam-sourced digital assets at a rate of 13x faster than five years ago. Interestingly, in 53% of the cases, exchanges with verification requirements were the major....

The Tesla CEO avowedly loves "dogs and memes" and is greeting the alleged possibility of federal scrutiny of his Dogecoin tweets with a consistently droll attitude. Rumors of a possible investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission into Tesla CEO Elon Musk's alleged impact on Dogecoin's price moves have been circulating on social media over the past day — a phenomenon that one Twitterer has quipped is "peak 2021." I hope they do! It would be awesome — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 25, 2021 Musk's previous show-downs with the SEC notwithstanding, the CEO....

The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Belarus has launched an investigation into the potential pros and cons of crypto mining. The Belarus state is studying the cryptocurrency industry for a potential move into mining digital coins like Bitcoin (BTC).The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Belarus officially announced Friday that it is actively exploring the pros and cons of cryptocurrency mining. Minister Viktor Karankevich said that the crypto mining industry is rapidly growing all over the world in countries like China, the United States, Canada and Russia.The minister went on to....

If this bull cycle is like 2017 or even 2019, then the majority of investor "FOMO" and associated price gains lie ahead. Bitcoin (BTC) bears thinking that $58,000 was this cycle's top will be sorely disappointed, fresh investment data from past bull markets shows.Compiled by on-chain analytics resource Whalemap, statistics covering BTC buys of between $5 million and $7 million conclude that even at recent all-time highs, Bitcoin was far from a "macro top.""No FOMO in sight" for BTCDuring the 2017 and shorter 2019 bull market, Bitcoin saw mass buy-ins of a similar size — $5-7 million. When....

The new BTSE Earn feature is undoubtedly the right step in the right direction for both users and exchange owners. With the new BTSE Earn, crypto-asset holders can earn interest on their assets. There is a range of Earn products the preferred assets of users. The new Earn feature on the BTSE cryptocurrency exchange will allow users to earn yield from their crypto assets. The implication is that you can earn interest on your idle […]

Bitcoin will become more stable and liquid when regulatory certainty is in place, Bridgewater’s director of investment research argued. A senior analyst at asset management firm Bridgewater believes that regulation could potentially make Bitcoin (BTC) a good asset for institutional investors.Bridgewater director of investment research Rebecca Patterson claimed that regulatory certainty around Bitcoin would solve some of the cryptocurrency’s biggest problems associated with high volatility and low liquidity.In a Feb. 24 interview with Bloomberg, Patterson said that issues like volatility....

The Financial Action Task Force is looking to adapt its guidance standards for stablecoins and crypto peer-to-peer transactions. The Financial Action Task Force says it is set to publish an update to its guidelines on cryptocurrencies and virtual asset service providers; a catch-all term including exchanges, wallet providers, and custody platforms, among others.This updated document will also be made available for public consultation from key stakeholders.According to a circular issued by the FATF on Thursday, the decision to update its guidance on VASPs was the result of the....

Multinational retail giant Carrefour will use IBM's blockchain tech to track two major food categories as part of a growing reorganization of global supply lines. IBM’s food-tracking blockchain technology will be used by the Carrefour multinational retail firm to track food supply lines from the farm to the store. An agreement between Majid Al Futtaim — the firm that operates Carrefour in the Middle East — and IBM will see the retail giant use the IBM Food Trust initially to track two food categories: chicken and microgreens.The IBM Food Trust is a blockchain-specific platform designed for....

It seems weak hands are not done selling, and data hints that institutions, as ever, are reaping the benefits. Bitcoin (BTC) hit fresh local lows on Feb. 26 despite what appear to be ongoing largescal institutional buy-ins.New lows despite bullish signsData from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView showed BTC/USD $44,150 during Friday trading — last seen two weeks ago — after a rebound to $50,000 fizzled overnight.Bitcoin had seen good news in the form of asset manager Stone Ridge planning to become the first Bitcoin mutual fund, along with major corporate purchases from MicroStrategy and....

Philippine crypto exchange Pdax recently suffered a costly technical failure – one that led to bitcoin trading at 300,000 Philippine pesos (around $6,000) – a discount of 88% to its current price. In the melee, some users managed to buy at these ridiculously low prices and quickly moved the bitcoin (BTC) away from their exchange wallets before the error was detected, local news outlet Bitpinas reported. The actual amount of BTC hoarded at the $6,000 give-away price is not clear. However, the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange, or Pdax, is now demanding that users return the....

A relief bounce in the Bitcoin market Thursday did little in offsetting its prevailing correction bias as its price slipped inside a critical support area.

Bitcoin prices dropped Friday, tracking declines in the US indexes after new data indicated a stronger economic recovery and an auction of seven-year bonds met with lukewarm demand from investors.

Bordier & Cie partners with digital asset bank Sygnum to offer crypto trading to clients. Bordier & Cie, a Swiss financial institution operating for more than 170 years, has announced a partnership with digital asset bank Sygnum to allow its customers to purchase crypto assets. The integration with Sygnum’s business-to-business banking platform allows Bordier’s clients to purchase Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Tezos (XTZ). The announcement describes the move as “lay[ing] the foundation for a broader offering of regulated digital asset products and services,” including....

A Spanish real estate platform has listed its first-ever property for sale for cryptocurrency. The offer is entirely online, and whoever wants to buy the apartment in Barcelona must pay in bitcoin. Anyone Interested Can Pay 3.5 BTC for the Property Per an official announcement, Idealista is seeking to sell its first property via BTC in the wake of a “second revolution” seen in the crypto industry. The apartment is located in the center of Barcelona — close to the Rambla Catalonia — and the interested person should make all the arrangements online, said the....

PRESS RELEASE. Established in 2016, Hashbon aims to provide payment services for both business and individual clients. One of the key differences between Hashbon and other crypto payment providers is that Hashbon charges 0% commission for crypto payments processing. Buyers pay and sellers receive exactly the same amount of cryptocurrencies that they are transacting to one another. The platform supports over 30 cryptocurrencies, including industry leaders like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Tether, Dash, and many others. Hashbon is expanding the list of supported cryptocurrencies regularly....

Kraken is reportedly in talks with top investment firms including Fidelity and Tribe Capital for a fundraising round that could value the company at $10 billion or more. Major U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken is reportedly in talks for a new funding round that could double the company’s valuation to $10 billion, or more.The raise was reported by Bloomberg, who cited anonymous sources claiming Kraken is in discussions with top investors including, Fidelity, Tribe Capital, and General Atlantic.One of the sources estimated Kraken’s valuation could soar as high as $20B billion depending on....

A new poll has found that more Australians invest in cryptocurrencies than in gold and silver .... but only by a tiny margin. A survey of more than 2000 Australian investors has found that cryptocurrency is a more popular investment than gold and silver — but it still has a long way to go to catch up to shares. The poll, conducted on behalf of BTC Markets over the month of February, found that 12.6% of Aussie investors hold Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, compared to 12.1% who hold precious metals.However, the stock market is by far the preferred in option for investors, with 63.6%....

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has defended the apex bank’s decision to exclude cryptocurrency transactions from the banking ecosystem. In his testimony before the Nigerian Senate, Emefiele claimed that the February 5 directive is “in the best interests of Nigerians.” Crypto Not Money Immediately following the announcement of the CBN prohibition, Nigeria’s regulated financial institutions began to sever ties with crypto traders and exchanges. However, following an outcry over the move, some supportive members of the Nigerian....

Crypto industry captains are throwing their support behind a long-term project from MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative to enhance Bitcoin’s security. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Digital Currency Initiative has revealed a new “Bitcoin Software and Security Effort” intended to foster research into bolstering the Bitcoin network’s defenses.The open-source initiative has received support from a diverse group of crypto industry leaders, including Gemini’s Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor, Square CEO Jack Dorsey, and major European digital asset....

Beeple’s Crossroads NFT has been resold for $6.6 million, more than 100 times its original price, and smashing the previous record of $1.5 million for an individual NFT. Buzzy digital artist Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, made NFT history yesterday with his piece, “Crossroads”, netting $6.6 million on the secondary market via Nifty Gateway.Like many Beeple artworks, Crossroads was inspired by the 2020 U.S. presidential elections. It was designed to feature one of two animations, depending on the outcome of the election — one a triumphant Trump, the other a forgotten, despondent....

Bitcoin would serve as a hedge against fluctuations in traditional assets. Strategists at Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan have suggested that a one percent portfolio allocation to Bitcoin would serve as a hedge against fluctuations in traditional asset classes such as stocks, bonds, and commodities.A small percentage allocation was advised to mitigate the risk of any large downturns in the digital asset’s value. Bitcoin has declined 20% since its all-time high of over $58,000 on Feb. 21 but it is up 60% since the beginning of this year.According to Bloomberg, JPM strategists Joyce Chang....

Retail users have flocked to cryptocurrencies in 2021, with Robinhood reporting an increase in new monthly crypto traders of 15 times last year's average. Retail-focused trading app Robinhood has revealed the number of new monthly customers buying from its crypto platform this year is 15 times the 2020 average.According to the company’s new report, “Crypto Goes Mainstream,”more than three million new users purchased from Robinhood Crypto in January, with more than 2.9 million new users having bought crypto during February so far. As such, Robinhood Crypto’s user base has expanded by 6....

Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman and Warren Buffett’s long-time business partner, Charlie Munger, has advised investors not to buy bitcoin or gold. He believes the cryptocurrency is too volatile to serve well as a medium of exchange. Munger also says he doesn’t know which is worse between Elon Musk’s Tesla reaching $1 trillion in market cap or bitcoin hitting $50,000. Billionaire Investor Charlie Munger Thinks Bitcoin Is Too Volatile to Be a Good Medium of Exchange Legendary investor Charlie Munger answered some questions about bitcoin at the annual meeting of....

The innovative NFT includes a special link that is accessible only by its owner, conferring rights to use audio files for their own purposes. NFTs are being used to explore a new business model that puts music makers back in control of sales and copyright issues. Grammy winning producer Illmind released what he calls the “first ever NFT-backed sample loop/melody pack” on Feb. 25, putting a collection of 10 “melody compositions” up for auction on the Mintable NFT market app.Based on Ethereum, the NFT is titled “ALORIUM” and contains an exclusive link to a file containing individual audio....

As enthusiasm for cryptocurrency mounts amid strong demand from retail and institutional investors, financial service providers Simplex and Skrill are building more inroads into the ecosystem, focusing on improving transactability and convenience. The digital payment services continue to expand the accessibility of the cryptocurrency landscape by backing direct token withdrawals and support for in-browser wallets. Expanded In-Browser Wallet Capabilities Simplex is partnering with privacy-oriented web browser Opera to provide cryptocurrency support for its in-browser wallet. The wallet will....

Building real-world solutions that address scalability, data privacy and high Ethereum fees are adding value to Holochain, Orion Protocol and Dodo. Bitcoin’s (BTC) strong bull run and the immense popularity of the decentralized finance space have attracted several new investors to cryptocurrencies. A report from Crypto.com shows a massive increase in crypto users as the figure rose from 66 million in May 2020 to 106 million by January this year. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360Contrary to the popular notion that new crypto users are mostly speculating on the price, data from....

A number of forum posts and tweets say that the website bitcoinpaperwallet.com is compromised and people have said they have lost bitcoin using the paper wallet generator. Three years ago the website domain changed ownership and ever since then losses have been reported on Reddit forums, bitcointalk.org, Twitter, and other public venues. The owner of the paper wallet generating web portal denies the platform’s codebase is compromised and claims it has been audited by a security expert. Bitcoinpaperwallet.com Wallet Generator Site Accused of Being Compromised and Unsafe Years ago, a....

In recent days and weeks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been raising the alarm about what she perceives to be a rising “misuse” of cryptocurrencies, which she argues are used mainly “for illicit financing” by unsavory groups. During her confirmation hearing, Yellen provided some ominous foreshadowing, saying, “I think we really need to examine ways in which we can curtail their use and make sure that money laundering doesn’t occur through those channels.” Back in December 2020, former Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian P. Brooks warned consumers to expect more crypto....

PRESS RELEASE. BitMax.io (BTMX.com), an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the joint primary listing of the Oxygen token (OXY) with auction facilitation for its platform users. The auction will begin on Bitmax on March 11 at 9:00 a.m. EST and the listing will go live on March 16 at 9:00 a.m. EST. Oxygen Protocol is an on-chain, decentralized, non-custodial prime brokerage built on the Serum DEX and ecosystem, running on fast Solana public blockchain, and seeded by the Maps.me 2.0’s massive userbase. Oxygen will....

The growing popularity of NFTs and recent exchange listings helped lift Enjin Coin to a new all-time high. Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are rapidly becoming a focal point of the cryptocurrency market as evidenced by stories of millions of dollars being raised in minutes for one-of-a-kind tokenized art pieces and rare collectibles that traders rush to get their hands on. One project that has been benefiting greatly from the resurgence of NFTs is Enjin Coin (ENJ), which broke out to a new all-time high of $0.67 on Feb. 25 following its listing on the Crypto.com exchange as well as the launch of....

Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase filed an S-1 registration today, disclosing pertinent company information to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ahead of its planned direct listing public offering. Per the filing, Coinbase’s class A common stock will be listed under the symbol “COIN.” SEC Form S-1 is the initial registration form for new securities required by the SEC for public companies that are based in the U.S. Any security that meets the criteria must have an S-1 filing before shares can be listed on a national exchange (for Coinbase, this would be the NASDAQ).....

Gemini has made digital asset giving more convenient for its users. United States crypto exchange Gemini has added a way for customers to donate crypto to over 100 nonprofits worldwide via The Giving Block.Gemini now gives customers the option to “Give Back With Crypto,” The Giving Block unveiled in a blog post on Thursday. Available charities range from human rights efforts, to those seeking to provide clean water and beyond. Some of the charitable groups available, as listed on The Giving Block’s website, include Water Wells for Africa, the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, Kids in Need of....

Today, 100x Group, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, announced its third grant to Bitcoin Core maintainer Michael Ford, aka Fanquake. This latest donation is for $100,000, bringing 100x Group’s total support of Ford to $250,000 over three years. The grant was made in conjunction with an additional $18,500 being given to Ford by Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve. “100x Group is pleased to provide long-term financial support for open-source developers like Michael, who build the infrastructure on which our business and many others depend,” said Alexander....

The open interest for ADA futures rose to $580 million, flipping Litecoin to become the third-largest derivatives market. On Feb. 3, Cardano conducted a hard fork and successfully integrated the Mary upgrade to the testnet, transforming the blockchain into a multiasset network similar to Ethereum.This event seems to be one of the reasons for the impressive 475% year-to-date rally of ADA, and the altcoin is now causing unexpected ripples in the derivatives markets. Since the end of December 2020, ADA's $81-million aggregate futures open interest hiked to the current $580 million, becoming....

According to a new study conducted by Crypto.com, the total number of global cryptocurrency users has surpassed 100 million for the first time ever. The study, which measured the cryptocurrency marketplace’s size using onchain metrics, survey analysis, and internal data, recorded 106 million cryptocurrency users in January 2021. January’s Bitcoin Rally Accumulated a 15.7% Jump in Global Users Compared to December 2020, the 106 million users represent a 15.7% increase in just one month. What’s fueling the growth of the crypto market? According to Crypto.com’s....

However, the exchange also claimed the identification of the Bitcoin creator could cause the crypto market to deteriorate. United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase named Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto in its recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a direct listing on the stock market.According to the SEC filing, Coinbase sent copies of its S-1 registration statement — which, if approved, would bring the company closer to having its shares traded on U.S. stock exchanges — to legal team members at Coinbase Global and California law firm Fenwick & West. In....

The artist is accepting payments in currencies that will last longer than a shark in formaldehyde. Yet another fine art institution is jumping on the crypto bandwagon. British artist Damien Hirst and printmaker HENI Leviathan announced Thursday the release of a print run of eight Hirst paintings, which will be available for purchase with the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). According to the announcement, “For the first time, both HENI Leviathan and the artist Damien Hirst will be accepting Cryptocurrency for payment of editions, payments can be made by either Bitcoin or....

The mining equipment manufacturer announced its intention to expand into mining when it went public last year. According to an announcement from Chinese mining equipment supplier Ebang, the mining firm’s board passed a resolution on Thursday to establish a Litecoin (LTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE) mining business. Ebang said it will use some of its own rigs in addition to purchasing some from other crypto mining manufacturers. By “leasing computing powers from other mining farms,” Ebang claimed it will be able to mine the two tokens simultaneously. CEO Dong Hu said the move was part of the....

James O'Beirne joined the "Bitcoin Magazine Podcast" to discuss Bitcoin Core development, bitcoin vs. gold and more. The post Interview: James O’Beirne On Bitnomial And Bitcoin Dependencies appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin struggles to hold the $50,000 level, while positive announcements help several altcoins break out to new all-time highs. The cryptocurrency market recovered some of the losses from the past couple of days on Feb. 25 as Bitcoin (BTC) briefly pushed back above the $50,000 level and multiple altcoins have seen double-digit price gains. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that Bitcoin bounced off a low of $45,200 late on Feb. 24 before rallying 15% to $52,000 in the morning trading session.BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingViewWhile the rebound in the....

With additional millions in funding, Anchorage looks toward scaling. Last month, digital asset entity Anchorage received a bank charter from the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC. This month, the outfit has added $80 million in funds. "Today, we are pleased to announce that Anchorage has raised an $80 million Series C, led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, with participation from a16z, Blockchain Capital, Lux, and Indico," a Thursday blog post announcement from Anchorage says, adding:  "This new capital will allow us to rapidly scale to meet the....

In honor of Black History Month, Cointelegraph is recognizing Black Americans who are innovating in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. Despite there still being work to be done to further diversify the crypto space, many believe the blockchain sector is generally more diverse than other tech industries. This could be because cryptocurrency boasts financial inclusion and the democratization of global economics, attracting a wide variety of people from various nationalities, ethnicities, genders, etc., from around the world.Among this diverse group of participants, Black American....

Craig Wright, the individual that claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, seems to be planning to initiate legal action against a number of open-source blockchain developers. Wright’s legal team, Ontier LLP, has allegedly sent letters to programmers who work on blockchains like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoinsv as well. The self-styled Bitcoin inventor’s legal action letters claim 111,000 bitcoin was stolen from his “computer network” back in February 2020. Editor’s Note: This article was updated at 5:00 p.m. (EST) in order to reflect the legal action Craig Wright....

The Mad Money host proposed that the company's brick-and-mortar shops could become "crypto-information palaces" in which gamers could buy and sell cryptocurrencies. With GameStop's stock more than doubling in price over the last two days, CNBC’s Jim Cramer is proposing the brick-and-mortar company change its business model to be more inclusive of cryptocurrencies. Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box today, the Mad Money host suggested that he had a plan to "justify the stock price" of GameStop. At the time of publication, the price of GME is $131.17 — an increase of more than 175% in the last 24....

As demand has spiked all across the cryptocurrency board, especially stablecoins, leading spot and derivatives trading platform OKEx has announced support for two of the most market’s most popular stablecoins on the Algorand protocol. The move is in response to users searching for more options related to stablecoins and alternative protocols to avoid rising transaction fees. OKEx Introduces USDTa and USDCa, Coming In Days The Bitcoin market has been booming over the last twelve months, […]

Right now, America is heating up. Our mass is collectively shifting and vibrating at a higher and higher rate, as we endure abrasive alterations in our lives. Catalysts in society serve as flames that heat up the environments of people and make changes occur. A lot of this heat is being applied by money right now. There is a large group of people who are unemployed, who were not so before the pandemic. Certain industries crumble while others prosper. A lot of this is merely the acceleration of changes that would have happened anyway, but now occurring at a much faster rate. Monetary....