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Showing posts from March 4, 2021

Crypto Tax Compliance Startup Taxbit Raises $100 Million, Targets International Expansion

U.S. crypto tax compliance startup Taxbit has raised $100 million in a Series A funding round led by investment firms Paradigm and Tiger Global. Paypal Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and others including Bill Ackman, Ryan Smith, and Anthony Pompliano also joined the round. Taxbit chief executive officer Austin Woodward said the funds will be invested in the company’s enterprise tools as well as used to expand into Europe this year, with the U.K. as the first port of call. “One of the greatest financial innovations and disruptions of the last century, cryptocurrency, should not be weighed down by the complexities of tax and accounting,” Woodward said in a March 3 blog post . “Our products are removing some of the largest roadblocks of this emerging asset class. With the support of Paradigm, Tiger Global … we are excited to continue to scale world-class tax and accounting products so that cryptocurrency can continue to thrive among enterprises, consumers, and governments,” he added. F...

Blockchain Association meeting with key Biden staff about regulations

The crypto advocacy group is going on a charm offensive and meeting with top representatives of the Biden administration. U.S.-based crypto advocacy group, the Blockchain Association, is lobbying key figures in the Biden administration to advocate for more favorable regulations. The Association’s executive director, Kristin Smith, told Fox Business the group has already met with or is in the process of scheduling meetings with high-ranking Whitehouse officials including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Deputy Secretary nominee and former BlackRock executive Wally Adeyemo, along with representatives of the Treasury Department. Citing reported comments from Yellen about how the primary utility of cryptocurrency is “illicit financing,” Smith said the association’s key aim was to assist the Treasury chief to “understand the value of crypto networks:” Our number one priority is helping Yellen understand crypto goes beyond the financing of criminal enterprises.” Yellen has been critic...

The Many Facts Pointing to Cypherpunk Len Sassaman Being Satoshi Nakamoto

Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, has always been a mysterious character and a great number of sleuths have made it their mission to discover the inventor’s identity. One particular theory was published this month which attempts to tether the well known and now deceased, Len Sassaman to the creation of the first cryptocurrency. Moreover, coincidently two months before Sassaman passed away, Satoshi Nakamoto left the community saying; “I’ve moved on to other things and probably won’t be around in the future.” Len Sassaman, Anonymous Remailers, and Bitcoin’s Creator During the last decade, many detectives and journalists have tried to uncover the secret behind Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity. News.Bitcoin.com has published a total of 11 articles tied to our “Many Facts” Satoshi series . The last three “Many Facts” Satoshi series suspects were Chainlink’s Sergey Nazarov , the famed American economist and mathematician John Nash , and the 48-year old former programmer and criminal c...

Huobi Global welcomes Vincent Lau as new managing director

Vincent Lau, formerly of Bitfinex and OKEx, has joined Huobi Global as its new managing director. Huobi Global, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trade volume, has announced the appointment of blockchain industry veteran, Vincent Lau, as the company’s new managing director. Lau previously worked as an executive at major crypto exchanges Bitfinex and OKEx, and has worked for global corporations outside of the blockchain sector including e-commerce marketplace Groupon and marketing firm Iclick Interactive. With Huobi Global, Lau will be tasked with overseeing the firm’s international expansion, strategic development, and localized operations. Huobi hopes to expand in key markets across Southeast Asia , the Middle East, Africa, and the European Union, according to an announcement. The new managing director will also oversee Huobi’s push into DeFi and will head up overseas development for the firm’s smart contract platform, Huobi ECO Chain, as well as working to promote t...

Bison Trails launches staking and node services for Cosmos

Blockchain infrastructure service platform Bison Trails has launched support for running full nodes and staking on Cosmos. Blockchain infrastructure firm BisonTrails has launched support for the Cosmos ecosystem, allowing its clients to stake and run nodes for blockchain ecosystem Cosmos. BIson Trails offers services to simplify the process of participating in blockchains, such as staking and running full nodes. The firm’s customers include custodians, exchanges, and funds, with Bison also helping Web 3.0 applications connect to blockchain data. The firm partnered with Coinbase in January to offer services under the U.S. exchange's umbrella. Bison’s customers can now use the firm’s infrastructure to stake and delegate their tokens using “participation clusters,” earning transaction fees and rewards while securing the Cosmos network. Bison’s participation clusters feature two components to enhance security — validator nodes that are hosted in a private network, and “sentry node...

Jim Rogers Regrets Not Buying Bitcoin but Warns Governments May Outlaw Cryptocurrencies

Renowned investor Jim Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with billionaire investor George Soros, now regrets not buying bitcoin. However, he is still worried that governments can outlaw bitcoin if it becomes a viable currency. Jim Rogers’ Bitcoin Regret Jim Rogers said in an interview with Real Vision this week that he wished he had bought bitcoin years ago. Rogers is George Soros’ former business partner and the co-founder of the Quantum Fund and Soros Fund Management. He believes that bonds are in a bubble and expects the prices of gold and silver to skyrocket. As for bitcoin, he said: I wish I had bought bitcoin. I will point out that many cryptocurrencies have already disappeared and gone to zero. We all hear about bitcoin. We don’t hear about the dozens that don’t exist anymore. The price of bitcoin has surged about 54% this year, 612% since the beginning of last year, and 1,152% since the start of 2019. Surpassing previous all-time highs multiple times this year, the...

Analyst tells Tesla to dump Bitcoin for buybacks as shares plunge alongside MSTR's

Goldman Sachs' Gary Black closed his TSLA position after the company purchased $1.5B in BTC, dodging a 28% crash. Now he’s calling for the company to dump Bitcoin for share buybacks. A former equities CIO of Goldman Sachs drew an strong response on Twitter after suggesting Tesla should sell its Bitcoin and buy back company shares. The price of TSLA shares have fallen 28% from $863.42 to $621.44, since news broke on Feb. 8 that Tesla had made a $1.5 billion BTC acquisition. MicroStrategy’s shares have fared even worse in the short term. The company, which is headed by Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor and just completed its latest acquisition of $15 million in BTC on Mar. 3, is now down 50% from its all-time high of $1,315 from Feb. 9. Tesla’s share market woes are likely due to a number of factors. In early February, it was reported that Tesla had been reprimanded by the Chinese government over quality control issues after receiving consumer complaints. The broader stock market ...

Experts divided on BTC predictions: Bullish or super bullish?

From crypto advocates to former skeptics, pundits are outdoing themselves to predict ever higher prices for Bitcoin. Despite the current battle between Bitcoin bulls and bears around the $50,000 price mark — and an 8.7% pullback over the past 24 hours — a raft of analysts and commentators have got out their crystal balls to tip a glittering future for Bitcoin prices. On Mar. 4, Senior Commodity Strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence Mike McGlone pointed to historical data to suggest that Bitcoin is on the way to $100,000. McGlone’s logic revolves around the growing discount for shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust which is at the same level as last year’s Black Thursday collapse. The discount refers to when shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust trade for less than the value of the underlying Bitcoin (normally they trade at a premium). Looking at historical data, said that Grayscale #Bitcoin Trust Discount May Signal March to $100,000 - Bitcoin's end of February price dispa...

Ethereum gas fees drop as daily DEX and DeFi volumes decline

Ethereum fees have pulled back from their recent highs alongside a decline in DeFi transaction volumes but the rise of NFTs could push transaction costs back to new highs. The rising popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) has brought fresh attention and optimism to the cryptocurrency sector with the total value locked on all protocols increasing from $1 billion to $59 billion in less than a year and the top 5 platforms accounting for $24.33 billion of the total value. Rising gas fees have been one of the most noticeable results of the increasing interaction with DeFi protocols and currently, the Ethereum ( ETH ) network hosts the majority of the top DeFi projects. Gas fees have been steadily rising since November 2020 and reached a peak on Feb. 23 when the average transaction cost reached 373 Gwei which is approximately $11.72 at the current Ether price. Average Ethereum gas price. Source: Etherscan Since Feb. 23, fees have declined by 65% with the average cost d...

Co-founder of Floyd Mayweather-promoted ICO sentenced to 8 years

A co-founder of the fraudulent 2017 ICO Centra Tech has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in the scheme. Sohrab Sharma, the co-founder of the notorious celebrity-spruiked initial coin offering of 2017, Centra Tech, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his leading role in the fraudulent scheme that duped investors out of more than $25 million. Shama had previously pled guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and mail fraud for material misrepresentations made by him and his co-conspirators to solicit investors to participate in the scheme. United States attorney, Ilan Graff, described Sharma as having “led a scheme to deceive investors by falsely claiming that the start-up he co-founded had developed fully functioning, cutting-edge cryptocurrency-related financial products.” “In reality, Sharma’s most notable inventions were the fake executives, fake business partnerships, and fake licenses that he and his co-conspirators touted t...

Spike in digital land and NFT sales push Axie Infinity (AXS) price to new highs

Axie Infinity price rallied 125% to a new all-time high as investor interest in blockchain gaming, digital land and NFT collectibles increases. The popularity and sale of NFTs have exploded over the past few months as many artists and collectors have been consistently selling entire NFT collections for millions of dollars . One platform that has emerged as a fan favorite is Axie Infinity (AXS), a blockchain-based trading and battling game inspired by games like Pokémon and Tamagotchi. In the game, players collect, breed, raise, battle and trade token-based creatures known as Axies. In the past two months, the market cap for AXS has increased 600% from $19.25 million to its current value of $115 million as users rush to the platform for a chance to win a rare and valuable Axie. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that the price of AXS has surged 74% over the past 24-hours, going from $1.78 on March 3 to a new all-time high of $3.10 on March 4 on the b...

Former Bitcoin opponent says crypto is an effective hedge against currency debasement

George Ball, who serves as Chairman of Sanders Morris Harris, believes cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are an “attractive” part of a well-balanced portfolio. Financial industry veteran George Ball believes investors would be prudent to allocate a “small part” of their portfolio to cryptocurrencies — marking a major departure from his previous stance towards digital assets. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Ball described cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin ( BTC ) as an “attractive” option for investors looking to hedge against currency debasement. His comments came as Congressional lawmakers mulled a $1.9 trillion relief bill that would put provide up to $1,400 in direct stimulus payments to Americans impacted by Covid-19. “I've never said this before, and I've always been a blockchain, cryptocurrency and Bitcoin opponent. But if you look now, the government cannot stimulate markets forever, the liquidity flood will end," Ball said. He continued: "With the cryptoc...

Bitcoin price charts hint at another drop after failing to break $52K

Bitcoin has failed to break above $52,000, which suggests more downside is possible in the short term. Bitcoin ( BTC ) has halted its bull run in the past few weeks as the price has corrected from an all-time high of $58,000 to around $43,000. Several arguments were found for the pullback, including a sell-off from miners and whales . The other primary reason for the correction is the sudden surge of yields across the world. Downtrend remains intact since $58,000 BTC/USD 2-hour chart. Source: TradingView The 2-hour chart for Bitcoin shows a clear downtrend since the peak high in February at $58,000. Since then, bearish support/resistance flips have been happening suggesting further weakness in the near term. This bearish support/resistance flip has happened at the $55,000 and $52,000 levels, with the latter serving as the current major area of resistance. In recent days, Bitcoin’s price tried to break through this resistance zone but failed to do so. After such a failed bre...

How wallet platforms are taking on exchanges

With major exchanges suffering outages and hacks, and some abruptly suspending withdrawals, are wallet platforms a more compelling alternative? One of the biggest trends in recent months has seen Bitcoin flow out of exchanges into wallets. Generally, this is interpreted as a bullish sign — indicating that investors are optimistic about further growth in cryptocurrency prices. But delve deeper, and there’s more to this than meets the eye. The crypto industry has grown immeasurably over recent years — making stars out of a number of exchanges. Platforms such as Binance and Coinbase now handle billions of dollars in trading volumes every day. With this come concerns that centralization is creeping in — and fears that major exchanges are becoming the titans of the industry, just like big banks dominate the world of traditional finance. Exchanges do have downsides. Binance and Coinbase have both suffered outages when Bitcoin surges — and in some cases, this has left traders...

Bitcoin price is going to 'infinity' — Kraken CEO

A $1 million price tag for BTC within the next ten years is "pretty reasonable," Jesse Powell tells Bloomberg. Bitcoin ( BTC ) will be worth "infinity" and humanity will soon give up pricing it in U.S. dollars, says the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. Speaking to Bloomberg on March 4, Jesse Powell was characteristically bullish on Bitcoin as BTC/USD broke above $50,000. Powell: $1 million Bitcoin in ten years "reasonable" "Of course, you know, we can only speculate, but when we measure it in terms of dollars, you have to think it's going to infinity," he told Bloomberg TV about future price trajectory. "This national currency's only fifty years old, it's already showing extreme signs of weakness, and pretty soon I think people are going to start measuring the price of things in Bitcoin." Powell was commenting as the USD weakened alongside a macro market sell-off on Wednesday, an event which had next to no impa...

Coinbase CEO tops China’s Hurun list of blockchain billionaires

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s estimated wealth surged 10-fold over the past year to hit $11.5 billion, according to China’s Hurun Research Institute. The CEO of the United States’ largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, has topped the list of global industry billionaires by China’s Hurun Research Institute. Issued on March 2, the latest Hurun report provides a brief overview of the world’s richest, stating that the number of global billionaires has surged nearly 50% to hit over 3,000 people over the past five years. The report includes 17 “blockchain billionaires,” or industry entrepreneurs who made their fortune “mainly from cryptocurrency” as of January 2021. According to the report, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is the world’s biggest crypto billionaire, with his net worth surging ten-fold from $1 billion last year . According to Hurun’s data, Armstrong now has an estimated wealth of $11.5 billion ahead of Coinbase’s imminent initial public offering . The company offic...

Bitcoin and Ethereum slow down as transaction values and fees plunge 70%

On-chain metrics for both cryptocurrencies show a marked decrease in the dollar value of transactions and the subsequent transaction fees. Bitcoin ( BTC ) and Ether ( ETH ) appear to be experiencing something of a slowdown, as on-chain data shows a dramatic decrease in the U.S dollar value of coins being sent across both blockchains in the past week. At the same time, transaction fees for both chains have receded from recent highs, or in Ethereum’s case, an all-time high. Data from Bitinfocharts shows $46.68 billion worth of BTC was sent across the Bitcoin blockchain on Feb. 25. For some context, that’s around 5% of the total Bitcoin market cap, which stands at $925 billion at time of writing. Bitcoin sent in U.S. dollars. Source: Bitinfocharts.com By three days later, on Feb. 28, the U.S. dollar value of Bitcoin being sent had fallen to $15.38 billion — a 66% drop off. At the same time, the average transaction fee for Bitcoin users fell by 53% — from $31.47 to $14.63. For conte...