Bitcoin News 24/7

Posts

Showing posts from February 25, 2021

Spanish Real Estate Agency Offers an Apartment in Barcelona for Sale in Bitcoin- Taxes Must Be Paid in Fiat

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 Madrid-based company. Although the first transaction made in bitcoin in Spain on real estate happened in 2018, the firm clarified it was done at that time “the traditional way.” In fact, they referred to handling all the processes with papers and diligences offered by a standard real state agency. Anyone interested in the apartment can pay approximately 3.5 BTC ($181,000 using today’s exchange rate) as of press time. Howe...

One of Switzerland’s leading banks now offers crypto trading

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 options and tokenized asset classes. Bordier managing partner Evrard Bordier said: “By partnering with Sygnum Bank, we are providing our clients with a one-stop, integrated solution while empowering them to invest in this new, high growth asset class with complete trust.” Bordier noted the move was driven by increasing demand from clients looking to diversify their portfolios wit...

Hashbon Launches Its HASH Token and Gets Listed on Coinsbit

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 and the company is compliant with the European KYC policies. Hashbon platform is an easy-to-integrate payment solution, which enables businesses and individuals to make crypto operations worldwide, with zero fees, enhanced security, and transparency. The payment gateway has an easy and blazing fast integration with only one line of code that makes it different even from industry giants. Business ow...

Kraken seeks $10B+ valuation in new funding round: Report

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 demand. In 2019, Kraken used the crypto-friendly investment platform Bnk to the Future to raise $13.5 million from more than 2,000 participants at a $4 billion valuation. The news comes amid anticipation for Coinbase’s direct listing IPO , with Coinbase’s market value recently rocketing to nearly $100 billion based on secondary trade in privately-held shares . According to crypto market data ...

More Aussies invest in cryptocurrency than in gold and silver: Survey

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% holding shares directly and 28.8% investing in either exchange-traded funds or managed funds. Property is also a popular investment (25.8%), while 18.8% said they invested in “collectibles”. Australian crypto investors heavily favor Bitcoin and Ethereum, with 83.2% holding Bitcoin and 42% holding Ethereum, followed by Ripple with 28.5%, Litecoin with 18%, and Bitcoin cash with 12%. The research re...

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Defends Decision to Exclude Crypto Players, Says the Order Is ‘in the Best Interests of Nigerians’

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 Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions requested Emefiele to brief the legislative body on the rationale behind the CBN prohibition. In justifying the move, the CBN governor told the Nigerian legislators that “cryptocurrency is not legitimate money” since it is not issued by any central bank. Using this argument, Emefiele then added: Cryptocurrency has no place in our monetary system at ...

Crypto leaders back MIT’s four-year initiative to harden Bitcoin’s security

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 manager, CoinShares. In a blog post unveiling the project, DCI said that Bitcoin’s ascent from an “obscure cryptographic toy” to a robust network that “secures on the order of $1 [trillion] of value” was due to the millions of hours invested into building the project by open-source developers. Coinshares announced a $500,000 donation to the project and chief executive Jean-Marie Mognetti hinted ...

Beeple NFT sells for record $6.6M as bidding for 'Everydays' at Christie's hits $2.2M

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 one. Originally purchased by a user called Pablo for $66,666.60 on Nov 1, the new owner, who chose to remain anonymous, paid almost 100 times more, breaking the price record for a single NFT sale. Previously the record was held by CryptoPunk 6965 which sold last week for 800 ETH, with a sale value of $1.55 million. Beeple’s work has already captivated art collectors around the world with $3.5 million in sa...

JPMorgan note to clients endorses 1% allocation to Bitcoin as a hedge

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 and Amy Ho stated in a note to clients: “In a multi-asset portfolio, investors can likely add up to 1% of their allocation to cryptocurrencies in order to achieve any efficiency gain in the overall risk-adjusted returns of the portfolio,” The endorsement comes on the back of major investments in Bitcoin by Paul Tudor Jones, Stan Druckenmiller, Tesla , and MicroStrategy. The report added that...

6M noobs have bought coins on Robinhood Crypto already in 2021

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 million in 2021 so far. By contrast, the platform revealed the largest number of new users transacting on Robinhood Crypto last year was 401,000 in July — when trade activity surged in the lead-up to Bitcoin’s third block reward halving. The average number of monthly new crypto traders on Robinhood was roughly 200,000 last year. The report also notes an average transaction size of roughly $500 ...

Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger Advises Investors to Never Buy Bitcoin or Gold

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 shareholders of the Daily Journal Corporation in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman and Warren Buffett’s long-standing business partner is also chairman of the Daily Journal. He is often known as Warren Buffett’s right-hand man. The 97-year-old has never been a fan of bitcoin. He previously called bitcoin “ rat poison ” and likened its trading to “trading turds.” Buffett then called bitcoin “ rat...

Grammy-winning producer Illmind auctions rights to new samples as NFT

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 tracks of the compositions. It also comes with a “royalty-free guarantee” and a contract that gives the NFT owner rights to use the audio files for their own purpose. Precisely https://t.co/9Y2p9ozE09 — !llmindPutTheLoopOn (@illmindPRODUCER) February 25, 2021 Ramon Ibanga, better known as Illmind, has a successful career as a music producer which spans three decades. He has produced tracks for...

Simplex and Skrill Broaden Cryptocurrency Convenience by Launching New Onramp Solutions

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 grant Opera users an easy onramp and offramp convert from fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat. Opera, which holds the title of the first web3 and blockchain-ready browser , already has a native wallet that supports bitcoin, ethereum, and tron. Now with the Simplex onboard process, Opera is expanding the range of supported tokens and coins of its wallet while adding functionality for fiat deposits...

Bitcoin will not become a global medium of exchange, says Charlie Munger

Billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman Charlie Munger has once again dismissed the value proposition of Bitcoin. Like Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett, the 97-year-old Munger is a known critic of Bitcoin ( BTC ). Addressing the 2021 Daily Journal annual meeting with shareholders organized by Yahoo Finance on Wednesday, Munger again espoused some negative sentiments about the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Fielding questions from shareholders concerning Bitcoin, Munger stated: “I don’t think Bitcoin is going to end up [being] a medium exchange for the world. It’s too volatile to serve well as a medium of exchange.” Compared to Munger’s previous comments about Bitcoin, his remarks during the meeting appeared watered down. Indeed, Munger once said that Bitcoin investors were celebrating the life and work of Judas Iscariot . During the 2018 edition of the Daily Journal annual meeting, Munger characterized cryptocurrencies as “totally...

Polkadot could introduce ‘common good’ parachains with DOT-based smart contracts

Polkadot is likely to offload many of its core features to special-purpose public parachains. As Polkadot (DOT) gets ready to launch parachain auctions, a combined fundraising and market interest discovery mechanism , the team is realizing that some core features may be ill-suited for the auction mechanism. Polkadot parachains are somewhat analogous to the sharding proposal for Ethereum 2.0. Each parachain is a largely independent blockchain built for a particular purpose. Many projects building on Polkadot, like Moonbeam, Equilibrium or Acala, are developing their own parachains where the project’s tokens would act as a native currency used to pay for transactions. The parachains are able to communicate with each other through the Relay Chain , a central coordinator where Polkadot’s staking-based consensus mechanism is executed. The different parachain projects may sometimes overlap in their purpose and potentially compete with each other. For example, Equilibrium and Acala are se...

Supercar maker Mazzanti Automobili launches security token offering

The STO will take place on the Luxembourg-based STOKR marketplace. Italian luxury car manufacturer Mazzanti Automobili has launched its security token offering on regulated digital marketplace STOKR. As part of the offering, Mazzanti aims to raise 999,999 euros ($1.2 million) on STOKR to develop a special edition of its hypercar model Evantra Millecavalli R. According to a Feb. 25 announcement, Mazzanti’s STO will allow investors to purchase MZZ tokens, priced at 1 euro each. The token is issued by Mazzanti via Blockstream AMP, a platform for the tokenization of securities built on the Liquid sidechain of Bitcoin ( BTC ), which has been directly integrated with STOKR. As part of the STO, MZZ investors will be able to receive a 50% revenue share in the sale of the Evantra special edition. The offering is available for select European countries, with a minimum investment of 50 euros, the announcement notes. Mazzanti’s founder Luca Mazzanti said that the company has been considering...

Finance Redefined: Ethereum exodus continues as Binance ‘helps,’ Feb 17–24.

Binance is flexing its muscles in a bid to promote BSC over Ethereum. The parabolic rise of the Binance Smart Chain has been all over the news this week, aided by a few seemingly unfriendly moves by the exchange itself. It started on Friday, when Binance suddenly froze withdrawals of Ethereum-based assets for about one hour. Many interpreted it as a move against the blockchain and its ecosystem, given that the cited reason was “congestion issues” — something one hardly imagines is a problem for an exchange, unless they shoulder withdrawal costs for the user. The day after, FTX started shaming Binance for excessive promotion of BSC on the exchange. Specifically, FTX was apparently “spending millions” in failed deposits that came over the Smart Chain but were meant for Ethereum. FTX’s accusation toward Binance, one of its investors, is that the exchange put BSC as the default option for withdrawing many ERC-20 assets, which caused a lot of failed deposits to FTX. I can’t say I’ve...

Blockchain soccer gaming startup Sorare raises $50M

Sorare has raised $50 million in a Series A round, bringing its total funding to $60 million. Sorare, a major blockchain-based soccer gaming platform, has raised $50 million from high-profile investors backing major companies like Twitter, Instagram and Discord The fresh Series A round brings Sorare’s total funding to $60 million, the company told Cointelegraph Thursday. The funding round was led by Benchmark, an investment giant famous for funding companies like Twitter, Uber and Snap. Accel Partners was another lead investor, known for backing companies like Facebook and Spotify. The round also included some additional investment from investors like Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk, and Barcelona striker Antoine Griezmann. With the new funding, Sorare is planning to continue growing its ecosystem, including launching a mobile application and onboarding the top global 20 football leagues. “We’re designing an experience where fans can celebrate, s...

Coinbase has held Bitcoin on its balance sheets since 2012

The American exchange is offering services and advice to other private and publicly traded firms who want to hold digital assets in their treasuries. United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has revealed that Bitcoin ( BTC ) and other crypto assets have been a key component of its corporate treasury since the company's founding back in 2012. In a new announcement addressed to other corporate actors, the exchange presented its own experience in managing its treasury position in cryptocurrencies as a solid foundation for advising other private and publicly-traded companies about how to deal with their own prospective investments. In a newly-published, highly detailed Corporate Treasury FAQ , the exchange provides a thorough overview of the kinds of investment, accounting, and tax policies that companies would need to consider and adopt if they wish to diversify their treasuries into crypto. The FAQ is both a general resource that covers all manner of re...

The US SEC Revokes Registration of Long Blockchain Corp’s Securities

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it has revoked the registered securities of Long Blockchain Corp (LBCC) after the company failed to file annual reports since Dec. 31, 2017. In addition, the SEC says LBCC, which made the switch from soft drink production to activities related to blockchain technology in December 2017, is also “delinquent in filing quarterly reports.” Non-Existent Blockchain Business In a document that reveals the proceedings against LBCC, the SEC, which cites the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, says its decision (to revoke securities) is intended to protect investors. The SEC adds that an investigation had found that after the name change from Long Island Iced Tea Corp to LBCC, the listed company’s “blockchain business never became operational.” Meanwhile, concerning the status of LBCC’s common stock, the SEC said the following: The common stock of LBCC was registered under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act and traded on Nasdaq until Nasda...

People who bought Bitcoin in 2017 becoming the strongest HODLers, new data shows

Investors who began their Bitcoin journey three to five years ago have stronger hands than you might think. Bitcoin ( BTC ) may be worth almost three times more than at the height of its 2017 bull run, but a lot of hodlers from that time refuse to sell. The latest data from Bitcoin financial services firm Unchained Capital shows that 2017 buyers control an increasingly large amount of the BTC supply. 2017 hodlers are not "weak hands" According to Unchained’s HODL Waves chart, which ranks the supply according to when coins last moved, those who bought three to five years ago are sitting on their investment. Since the cross-asset crash of March 2020, when BTC/USD fell to lows of $3,600, the percentage of the BTC supply that last moved between February 2016 and February 2018 increased from 5.57% to 13.38%. In other words, the uptrend in price during 2019, much of 2020 and all of 2021 has not made 2017 bull run investors sell after surviving the multi-year bear market. B...

What Bitcoin price levels will invalidate the short-term bearish scenario?

Bitcoin struggling to break above $51,600 could trigger another big drop in BTC price. The price of Bitcoin ( BTC ) is continuing to range between $48,000 and $51,000, unable to break out of the $51,600 resistance level. If Bitcoin struggles to surpass the $51,600 resistance area in the near term, technical analysts say the probability of a correction rises. BTC/USDT 4-hour price chart (Binance). Source: TradingView $51,600 is the key level to watch According to Josh Olszewicz, a cryptocurrency trader and technical analyst, the $51,600 level is currently acting as a strong resistance level. For Bitcoin to retest the all-time high at $58,000 and initiate a potential rally towards $62,000, it needs to cleanly move past $51,600, he explained. Hence, a rally beyond $51,600 is the clear invalidation point for any short-term bearish scenario for Bitcoin. The failure to break out in the near term could result in a bearish test of lower support areas, found at around $42,000. H...