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Showing posts from April 16, 2021

MLB Team Washington Nationals Partners With Terra Blockchain Community, Ballpark Plans to Accept UST

On February 9, the American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals, announced the team has partnered with Terra, the open-source blockchain platform and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The Washington Nationals detail that the team is a “leading innovator” and is “consistently introducing new technologies to enhance the fan experience.” Washington Nationals Ink Long-Term Deal With Terra Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Washington Nationals has partnered with the blockchain platform and DAO Terra, according to an announcement published by the team on Wednesday. The deal with Terra follows a slew of sports-related deals with crypto firms, but the MLB team will be the first to partner with an open-source blockchain project. In addition to the partnership, the algorithmic stablecoin UST that’s issued on the Terra blockchain will be “accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season.” “The Nationals continue t...
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Bank of Brazil Becomes the First State-Backed Bank to Allow Customers Exposure to a Crypto ETF

Brazil’s first crypto ETF debut is postponed, but not because plans have failed whatsoever. The Bank of Brazil (Banco do Brasil) is now joining the bandwagon of ETF issuances, following the same steps as Bank Itaú and BTG Pactual did. New Launch Date Set for April 26 According to a letter sent by Hashdex to its clients, the state-backed banking institution will be able to offer its customers the possibility of buying the crypto ETF of Hashdex, which will have the ticker “HASH11.” That said, the Bank of Brazil’s customers could have exposure by investing in the fund, which will replicate the Nasdaq Crypto Index (NCI). The letter clarifies that the new date of the ETF debut is set to take place on April 26, 2021, as the original date was April 22. With such maneuver, the banking institution becomes the first public bank in the world to offer such kind of exposure. Subscription orders can be made until April 20, according to Hashdex, and the only ones who can be able to do it are a...
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‘Ossification Is Stupid:’ Bitcoin Development Controversy Strikes ‘Speedy Trial’ Taproot Activation

The well known software developer Luke Dashjr is in the midst of controversy over how to upgrade the Bitcoin network in order to add the Taproot protocol. Bitcoin Core developers want to upgrade with “Speedy trial,” which will allow miners to push the feature through. However, Luke Dashjr wants to upgrade in a different manner, and considers the proposal an “attack on Bitcoin” as it’s “not a good thing” from his perspective. Bitcoin Developers Find Controversy Over Taproot Activation Bitcoin developers have revealed “Speedy trial support for versionbits #21377,” which aims to implement Taproot via BTC miner activation. The activation would “Start soon: shortly after the release of software containing this proposed activation logic, nodes will begin counting blocks towards the 90% threshold required to lock in taproot,” David A. Harding’s description notes. A great number of developers have participated in the “Speedy trial” conversation including programmers like Jeremy Rubin , ...
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Nigeria’s SEC in Talks With Central Bank of Nigeria Over Crypto Regulation— 2020 Crypto Guidelines Still Suspended

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed that talks with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regarding the regulation of cryptocurrencies are ongoing. The securities regulator also reiterated that due to a CBN directive that was issued on February 7, 2021, the crypto guidelines it issued in September 2020 remain suspended. Crypto Guidelines Set Aside However, the regulator promises that at the conclusion of its engagements with the CBN, stakeholders will be informed of the outcome. Meanwhile, in his comments that were made during a Q1 Capital Market Committee (CMC) virtual conference, Lamido Yuguda, the director-general of SEC, tries to justify the regulator’s decision to suspend its own guidelines . He said: Because of the lack of access to commercial bank accounts, we had to suspend our own guidelines of September 2020, the implementation of that circular is suspended until these operators are able to have access to Nigerian bank accounts. He adds this wa...
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Miami-Dade Officials Hope to Launch a Crypto Task Force, Residents Could Pay Taxes in Bitcoin Soon

Back in mid-February, Bitcoin.com News reported on Miami’s Mayor Francis Suarez supporting the idea of the city holding bitcoin in the treasury and allowing tax payments in bitcoin as well. On April 15, 2021, reports show that the city may introduce the tax payments concept soon, as the District 8 county commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins has pushed for the invocation of a Miami-Dade digital currency task force. A Resolution for a Cryptocurrency Task Force Has Been Submitted to an Infrastructure Committee in Miami-Dade A few years ago at The North American Bitcoin Conference (TNABC) in Miami, Mayor Francis Suarez told the audience that he wanted the city to become a cryptocurrency and blockchain hub for innovation. Later, as digital currencies have seen fresh new price highs in 2021, Suarez has pushed for the city to hold bitcoin ( BTC ) in the treasury and wants to allow tax payments in BTC as well. At the time the city commissioners voted in support for the crypto infrastructur...
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ETH bonanza as three North American Ethereum ETFs approved in one day

Canadian stock market investors will soon have a wide range of options to choose from when it comes to Ethereum ETFs. While gaining exposure might still be difficult south of the US-Canada border, Canadian investors will shortly have a host of options to choose from to gain exposure to Ethereum (ETH) via an ETF as regulators have approved three different Ethereum ETFs in a single day.  Purpose Investments, Evolve ETFs, and CI Global Asset Management were all approved by Canadian regulators to launch Ethereum-backed ETFs today. The ETFs will be the first ETH ETFs in North America, and among the first in the world.  Some observers noted that all three being approved at once may have been part an effort not to give Purpose an “unfair advantage”. Purpose appeared to gain an edge after the launch of the wildly popular Purpose Investments ETF , the first North American Bitcoin ETF which quickly swelled to $1.3 billion in AUM while competitors waited for approval. Rival Evolve F...
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Expert Believes Nuclear-Powered Crypto Mining Could Help Ukraine to Solve Energy Spending Problems

Bitcoin mining could be a proper asset to solve one of the significant issues in the Ukrainian energy sector: spending. A financial expert praised the recent push given by Ukraine’s government to nuclear-powered crypto mining across the nation. Crypto Mining Can ‘Smooth out’ Fluctuations in Consumption, Says Expert During an interview with Inshe , Alexei Mushak, an economic advisor to the former Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, Ukraine needs bitcoin ( BTC ) miners, but most importantly, to take advantage of the nuclear power plants that favor smooth operations while helping to save costs. He explained: Modern equipment (ASIC miners) can turn on or off in the space of a minute. Crypto mining can smooth out fluctuations in consumption and generation [at nuclear power plants]. Moreover, by boosting crypto mining in the country, NAEC Energoatom, the state-run company that operates Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, could have the possibility to expand its sales markets in the near fu...
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Cathie Woods' Ark buys a further $110M worth of Coinbase shares

Three exchange-traded funds offered by Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest added a total of 341,186 shares in Coinbase (COIN) worth a combined $110 million on April 15. Three exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, offered by Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, including the flagship Ark Innovation ETF, all added further shares in Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) to their positions on Thursday, April 15. According to a report from Reuters, the Ark Innovation ETF, Ark Next Generation Internet ETF, and Ark Fintech Innovation ETF purchased a combined total of 341,186 shares, valued at $110 million at the close of trading on April 15, with each share valued at $322.75 . The previous day, the three ARK funds had together accumulated 749,205 COIN shares , worth approximately $246 million combined. Yesterday's bolstering of ARK's Coinbase position brings the three funds' total stock of Coinbase shares — just days after the cryptocurrency's exchange's Nasdaq debut  — to over a million shares: 1,090,391...
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r/Wallstreetbets re-bans crypto discussions following Bloomberg article

Apparently r/Wallstreetbets doesn’t “bow to cryptocurrencies.” r/Wallstreetbets, or WSB, a subreddit famous for  organizing a pump for Dogecoin ( DOGE ) and the GameStop short squeeze , is enacting a crypto discussion ban after officially allowing the topic for a single day. Subreddit moderator u/bawse1 announced Thursday that WSB has now banned crypto discussions forever, following a Bloomberg article titled , “WallStreetBets Bows to Crypto.” Just a day before, the same moderator officially announced that the subreddit will finally allow crypto discussion strictly limited to Bitcoin ( BTC ), Ether ( ETH ), and DOGE. The new post reads: “Due to the article that was written by Bloomberg who somehow felt that ‘WallStreetBets Bows to Crypto. Crypto discussion is banned indefinitely. I’ve read a lot of dumb articles written about wsb. This one takes the cake. P.S. Like always. Please be respectful.” A Thursday update to WSB rules reads that the subreddit will automatically...
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Nigeria's SEC says central bank's crypto ban disrupted the market

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria says it is working with the central bank to create a legal framework for cryptos and digital assets. Lamido Yuguda, the director-general of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission has said the central bank’s crypto ban has caused significant disruptions to the market. According to a report by The Guardian, the SEC director-general made this assertion known during a press conference organized after the meeting of the Capital Market Committee on Thursday. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the Central Bank of Nigeria barred commercial banks from servicing crypto exchanges back in February. According to Yuguda, the Commission has been forced to pause its planned cryptocurrency regulatory framework announced in September 2020. The SEC director-general also maintained that the suspension of the Commission’s crypto regulatory plans will remain in place until exchanges can operate bank accounts in the country. As part of hi...
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Bitmain's new Ether ASIC mining rig may not fix GPU shortage after all

A new Ether ASIC mining rig is on the way, but will it help ease Nvidia's GPU problems? Cryptocurrency mining rig manufacturer Bitmain announced the pending release of a new Ether ( ETH ) miner on April 16. The Antminer E9 model is an application-specific integrated circuit chip, which will run on the Ethereum blockchain’s Ethash algorithm. No official release date has yet been announced for the E9, however, the machine’s arrival may not be as impactful as first suspected. The rig faces competition in the form of Nvidia’s CMP (Cryptocurrency Mining Processor) range of GPUs, designed specifically for crypto mining. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s scheduled move away from proof-of-work towards a proof-of-stake  consensus mechanism could mean the E9’s utility is short-lived. Nvidia recently announced that its CMP range was expected to rake in $150 million in profits in the first quarter of the year — three times more than the firm had originally anticipated. Despite the apparent booming...
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Massachusetts regulator seeks to revoke Robinhood's broker-dealer license

State regulators claim that Robinhood has targeted inexperienced investors. Massachusetts' securities regulator is seeking to revoke the broker-dealer license of cryptocurrency-friendly stock trading app Robinhood in the state. William Galvin, the head of the state’s securities division, said in a new administrative complaint that Robinhood has “continued a pattern of aggressively inducing and enticing trading among its customers — including Massachusetts customers with little or no investment experience,” Bloomberg reports Thursday. The new filing is a follow-up to a complaint filed by Galvin’s office in December 2020, alleging that Robinhood’s marketing illegally targeted inexperienced investors . The state pointed to Robinhood's recent activity, including a promotion that provides customers with cash rewards based on new deposits, as proof of a “firm culture which has not changed.”  Robinhood  responded to the new complaint, arguing that the action could prevent “m...
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Did Elon Musk’s ‘jet fuel’ set GameStop (and Bitcoin) ablaze?

How many gallons of jet fuel does it take to send GameStop, Bitcoin and Dogecoin to the moon? Depending on where you stand on the GameStop saga, which saw organized retail traders extract $6 billion from Wall Street overnight, you may think someone should either take the matches away from Elon Musk, or give him more. The CEO and “ Technoking ” of Tesla was accused of pouring “jet fuel” on the GameStop short-squeeze at a critical moment by hedge fund manager David Einhorn, founder of Greenlight Capital, in a letter to investors published Thursday. Einhorn said Elon Musk and venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya were the real instigators behind the short-squeeze, claiming both had supplied “the real jet fuel” for the pump with their tweets and TV appearances. “We note that the real jet fuel on the GME squeeze came from Chamath Palihapitiya and Elon Musk, whose appearances on TV and Twitter, respectively, at a critical moment further destabilized the situation,” wrote Einhorn, acco...
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Turkey to ban cryptocurrency payments

Turkey's central bank is also banning payment providers from offering fiat-to-crypto onramps for cryptocurrency exchanges. A new ban in Turkey will prohibit crypto holders from using their digital assets for payments, in addition to preventing payment providers from adding funds to their digital wallets at crypto exchanges. According to a Friday announcement by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, the ban will come into effect on April 30, rendering any crypto payments solutions and partnerships illegal. The bank stated, “any direct or indirect usage of crypto assets in payment services and electronic money issuance” will be forbidden. While banks are excluded from the regulation, which means users can still deposit Turkish lira on crypto exchanges using wire transfers from their bank accounts, payment providers will be unable to provide deposit or withdrawal services for crypto exchanges. Payment providers and digital wallets are widely used in Turkey to transfer fia...
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Dogecoin doubles in a day as YTD gains hit 5,000% while Bitcoin price dips

Everyone's favorite meme cryptocurrency has delivered 12,600% gains in a year and likely created a string of millionaires. Dogecoin ( DOGE ), the meme-based altcoin which has become a favorite talking point of Elon Musk, has doubled in 24 hours to hit all-time highs of $0.29. DOGE/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bittrex). Source: Tradingview DOGE leaves others in the dust Cointelegraph Markets Pro  and  TradingView  showed DOGE/USD outperforming other major cryptocurrencies by an order of magnitude on April 16. In what appears an almost unbelievable move, Dogecoin has also become the eighth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, surpassing Litecoin ( LTC ), Chainlink ( LINK ) and Uniswap ( UNI ) among others. At the time of writing, a single DOGE traded at around $0.25. Gains on any timeframe remained beyond impressive — 80% on the day, 300% over the past week and year-to-date returns in excess of 5,000%.  Versus the same date one year ago, shortly after the pit o...
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Co-Founder of South Africa’s Crypto Index Fund Reveals the Plan to Launch Country’s First Bitcoin ETF

Earle Loxton, the cofounder of EC10 (formerly DCX Capital) the institution behind the South African crypto index fund, says plans are afoot to launch the country’s first exchange-traded fund (ETF). The ETF is expected to offer South African institutional investors an indirect way of getting exposure to bitcoin. According to Loxton, an application for this ETF will soon be lodged with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). However, Loxton also reveals in a podcast that before proceeding with the application, EC10 alongside Easy Equities will initially prioritize finding a suitable custodian for its crypto assets. Loxton explained: To get to the level where we will be compliant with the requirements of a listed instrument, we definitely need the services of a dedicated, regulated and registered custodian. Therefore, as part of an arrangement, Easy Equities, which acquired the controlling stake in DCX Capital in 2020, will help secure the services of a custodian. This custodian wi...
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