Bitcoin News 24/7

Posts

Showing posts from August 26, 2021

Charles Hoskinson responds to criticism over Cardano’s Confirm partnership

Weiss Crypto, the subsidiary of financial ratings firm Weiss Ratings slammed Cardano’s partnership with Confirm, describing it as a “bad move all around.” Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has responded to criticism over The Cardano Foundation’s partnership with Confirm, saying it was necessary for adoption of ADA. The Cardano Foundation announced its partnership with the blockchain analytics provider on Aug. 24, which will see Confirm’s analytics being utilized to ensure compliance with frameworks such as the 6th Anti Money Laundering Directive and Financial Action Task Force’s guidelines. “The tools and services provided by Coinfirm enables every exchange, custodian, and all other third-parties to clearly track the history of ADA held in their wallet,” the announcement read. Not everyone welcomed the move however. Yesterday Weiss Crypto, the subsidiary of financial ratings firm Weiss Ratings, criticized it vociferously via a thread on Twitter, describing it as a “bad move all-a...

Peter Schiff wins debate over whether gold is a better store of value than BTC

During the debate, Schiff said that “in reality, Bitcoin and gold have absolutely nothing in common” as gold has value due to its metallic properties while Bitcoin is just a “giant pump and dump. ” Gold proponent and crypto skeptic Peter Schiff has been crowned the winner of a debate on whether gold is a superior store of value to Bitcoin. Schiff was facing off against Skybridge founder and former politician Anthony Scaramucci in a debate hosted by Intelligence Squared on Aug 25. Before the gold vs Bitcoin debate began, a poll scored 38% of the online audience in favor of the precious metal, 26% for BTC and 35% as undecided. Schiff was able to swing a significant number to the precious metal by the end, with final results tallying in at 51% for gold, 32% for BTC and 17% undecided. Scaramucci kicked things off by asserting that BTC’s value is derived from its network which enables peer-to-peer transactions without a third party. He also suggested that BTC has an edge over gold be...

Turkish prosecutors investigate alleged $119M Dogecoin mining scam

Unwitting DOGE investors were promised attractive returns of 100% in just 40 days in exchange for depositing their money. Turkish media reports that authorities there are investigating an alleged Dogecoin mining scam that pulled the rug on investors after amassing $119 million worth of deposits. An Aug. 23rd report from local channel TV100 broke the news, with police identifying pseudonymous online avatar “Turgut V.” as the scheme’s suspected operator. Authorities believe that Turgut and 11 associates managed to gather close to 350 million Dogecoin valued at $119 million before disappearing. Turgut reportedly solicited investments from 1,500 Turkish citizens, drumming up excitement for the Dogecoin “mining” operation at in-person networking events held at ritzy locations, and by using a Telegram group online. Investors were promised returns of 100% in 40 days and reportedly paid returns for around 3 months. Investors were told that the Dogecoin they sent would procure new e...

'Surveillance state': Australian police given sweeping new hacking powers

Legislation dramatically expanding the hacking capabilities of Australian authorities investigating suspected cybercriminals has been passed through the country’s Senate. Sweeping legislation allowing officials from the Australian Federal Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to target suspected criminals online has passed through the country’s parliament with bipartisan support. On August 25, the Identify and Disrupt bill passed through Australia’s Senate, introducing three new warrants allowing authorities to take unprecedented action against suspected cybercriminals . The new warrants include authorizing police to hack the personal computers and networks of suspected criminals, seize control of their online accounts and identities, and disrupt their data. Home Affairs Minister, Karen Andrews, praised the broad expansion of powers available to Australian authorities targeting cyber actors. “Under our changes, the AFP will have more tools to pursue organised cri...

Record $900 million month for NFT sales as CryptoPunks go stratospheric

Almost $400 million has been spent on CryptoPunks over the past 30 days. August is shaping up to be a record month for nonfungible token sales with almost $900 million spent on them over the past 30 days. According to data from the tracking portal Nonfungible, $896 million has been spent on NFTs over the past 30 days. The number is very likely to exceed $900 million by the end of the month marking a new record for the burgeoning industry. The number is more than triple the previous best month for NFT sales in May when $255 million were sold. August has seen sales skyrocket and it has been largely down to CryptoPunks and Axie Infinity. NFT sales in USD, past 30 days - nonfungible.com According to Cryptoslam , a record $397 million in CryptoPunk sales have occurred so far this month. The average sale price for the pixelated punks is a whopping $214,000. One of the most expensive ones ever sold was number 7523, a rare alien punk wearing a face mask that went for a whopping $11.5...

Jim Cramer: Coinbase stock is cheap, put 5% of your portfolio in crypto

Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s Mad Money thinks Coinbase is the “natural repository of crypto” and has recommended buying the stock. Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” has recommended buying Coinbase stock, and suggested that 5% of investment portfolios should be allocated to cryptocurrency. Cramer made the comments in the Lightning Round on Aug. 25 in response to a caller who asked whether buying Coinbase stock was a good way to get crypto exposure. The 66-year-old finance personality stated that while Coinbase’s listing went “very poorly” he views it as a big player in crypto: “I think Coinbase is inexpensive. I don’t really care for management because I think they let out a lot of stock when they started. I was against that. They should’ve been buyers, not sellers. I think the listing went very, very poorly. I think the company is the ... natural repository of crypto.” Coinbase Stock (COIN) stock has seen a lackluster performance since its listing on the Nasdaq exchang...

Shanghai Man: Ready Player Cats DAO, surging NFT interest, court rules crypto is not property

This weekly roundup of news from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong attempts to curate the industrys most important news, including influential projects, changes in the regulatory landscape, and enterprise blockchain integrations. After enforcing global KYC requirements for all users, Binance’s dominance in CeFi has slipped from about two-thirds to just over one half, according to the FTX volume monitor . The big three of Huobi, Binance and OKEx now look like a big five, with Hong-Kong based FTX and Singapore based Bybit closing the gap. The global NFT fever seems to be intensifying in a week that saw Visa make headlines with its $150,000 purchase of CryptoPunk 7610. Chinese netizens on Weibo were unsurprisingly baffled, with comments asking what can be done with it after purchase, while others made jokes about whether or not a Punk had any artistic value. Since late June, daily searches for ‘NFT’ are now measuring between 2.5 million and 4 million, showing a growing interes...

Analysts say Bitcoin price pullback and profit-taking at $50K ‘was expected’

Traders say a correction to lower support levels and standard profit-taking was expected after Bitcoin’s swift ascension to $50,000. The euphoria seen across the cryptocurrency ecosystem over the past couple of weeks was tampered down on Aug. 26 as an early morning attempt by bulls to push the price of Bitcoin to $50,000 was soundly rejected . Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that following its rejection, the price of Bitcoin slid to a low of $46,457 before bulls managed to regroup and put a halt to the downturn. BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView Here’s what analysts are saying about Thursday’s price action for Bitcoin and a few things they are watching for as the digital asset is caught between a tug-o-war between bulls and bears. BTC price could trend south for a while The $50,000 price level was identified as a critical area for Bitcoin by market analyst and Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, who posted the following twe...

Altcoins sell off while exchange listings boost COTI and Conflux Network

Crypto markets sold off on Thursday, but data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro shows COTI and CFX rallied after new exchange listings. Bears pressed harder on the market on Aug. 26 after Bitcoin ( BTC ) continued its pullback to an intra-day low at $46,250 and altcoins nursed near double-digit losses. While most of the market is seeing red, a few altcoins managed to notch notable gains due to exchange listings and new staking opportunities. Top seven coins with the highest 24-hour price change. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24 hours were COTI, XYO Network (XYO) and Conflux Network (CFX). COTI rallies after listing on Coinbase The top-performing coin over the past 24 hours was COTI, an enterprise-grade fintech platform focused on decentralized payments. VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for COTI on Aug. 22, prior to the recent pric...

Coinbase hires former Facebook exec as chief marketing officer

The new executive said she hopes to "introduce millions more people to the benefits of crypto." Kate Rouch will be joining major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase after more than 11 years in various positions at Facebook. In a Thursday blog post, Coinbase chief operating officer Emilie Choi said the company had hired Rouch as its new chief marketing officer, responsible for overseeing the exchange’s global brand, as well as product and performance marketing. Until recently, she was the global head of brand and product marketing at social media giant Facebook, but now aims “to bring millions more people into the cryptoeconomy.” “I am so inspired by what I’ve learned about crypto, and the vast ecosystem it is helping to usher forth,” said Rouch. “I can’t wait to get started helping to introduce millions more people to the benefits of crypto.” The addition of Rouch comes as Coinbase continues to make staffing changes in 2021. Earlier this year, the exchange announced that ...

Forget Lambos, NFTs are the new crypto status symbol

NFTs continue to dominate the crypto conversation, with PNGs on social media profile pictures becoming the new hype. Not so many years ago, Lamborghinis were the main “flex” for crypto “moon-boys” as token prices reached astronomic valuations. Several high-profile cryptocurrency proponents made it a habit of arriving at conferences behind the wheels of exotic supercars and “when Lambo” was a popular refrain in the industry. These days, nonfungible tokens (NFT) are arguably the main topic of conversation in the crypto space, and ownership of expensive PNGs to be displayed on social media profile pictures is the new status symbol for the “cryptorati.” Tweeting on Thursday, Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu reported that internet bigwigs in the country are among some of the latest to join the NFT hype. Cai Wensheng, founder of smartphone maker and photo touch-up app Meitu, has reportedly purchased CryptoPunk #8236 for 125 Ether ( ETH ) — about $387,000. Indeed, CryptoPunks, perhap...

Billionaire Simon Nixon's venture capital to increase crypto allocation

A new report suggests that 4% of the total Bitcoin supply, — 816,379 BTC — is owned by 14 Bitcoin fund issuers and asset managers. English billionaire and Moneysupermarket.com founder Simon Nixon has plans to increase his crypto investments through his London-based venture capital firm. According to a Bloomberg report on Aug. 26, Adam Proctor, the managing director for Nixon’s investment firm Seek Ventures, said that the company intends to increase the “allocation to crypto as we feel it is an important area for the future.” Furthermore, Proctor said that Seek Ventures is currently on the lookout for an analyst who can lead this crypto-focused effort. Digital currencies are drawing the interest of family offices, according to Goldman Sachs, which stated that half the family offices it does business with are interested in added crypto they portfolio. The Bitcoin ( BTC ) ecosystem has seen the steady involvement of billionaires including Carl Icahn, who recently said he may inves...

Will Polkadot save decentralized finance from Ethereum’s scaling problems?

Polkadot may beat Ethereum 2.0 in the transaction fee race. Web3, interoperability, and layer 0 are all terms tossed around when describing Polkadot. But what do they mean, and how will they impact the internet and cryptocurrency market? Cointelegraph Research’s new report explores how Polkadot is tackling distributed ledger scalability and centralization of the web simultaneously. For starters, imagine a world where Facebook is replaced by a decentralized social media application built on Polkadot. This is what projects like Subsocial are building in their platforms which lets users determine what data to keep private and to share. Users can profit from selling their data stored in the blockchain to 3rd party companies by minting Ocean Protocol tokens, OCEAN, and selling them on a decentralized exchange like Polkadex. Not happy about the bank charging overdraft fees when your account balance reaches below $0.00? Well, one Polkadot-based project called Acala has built an oncha...

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust FUD is now over as the last GBTC unlock totals just 58 BTC

What was once a major bearish narrative exits via the tradesman’s entrance after failing to have any impact on Bitcoin markets. Bitcoin ( BTC ) investment vehicle the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) completed its share unlockings this week, ending a major talking point both inside and outside crypto. Data from monitoring resource Bybt confirms that as of Thursday, no more unlockings are scheduled. Bitcoin shrugs off another FUD narrative Unlocking events at GBTC have continued throughout 2021 and, at one point, formed the focal point for bearish BTC price predictions. With the equivalent of tens of thousands of BTC released at a time, some feared that selling pressure would explode, sending sentiment tumbling. This never occurred, and as Cointelegraph reported , there was little logic in the fear from the outset, as Grayscale itself does not allow clients to cash in shares for Bitcoin. Wednesday, the final unlocking date, involved the equivalent of just 58 BTC. The largest sing...

Bitcoin ATM operators set up association to counter money laundering

“Many BTM operators feel that merely asking for a cell phone number is enough due diligence to absolve them of their mandated KYC requirements,” a Coinsource exec said. Major Bitcoin ( BTC ) ATM operators in the United States are joining forces to fight illicit activity related to Bitcoin ATMs. Bitcoin ATM operators DigitalMint and Coinsource have launched the Cryptocurrency Compliance Cooperative (CCC), a new association that aims to establish compliance standards for the Bitcoin ATM industry. The new compliance effort has launched with support from major blockchain analytics firms like Chainalysis and Elliptic among its 15 initial members. The CCC is now encouraging participation from cash-based crypto money services businesses, regulators, financial institutions, as well as non-state and law enforcement agencies. The association specifically targets Bitcoin ATMs to ensure know your customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance as this type of ATMs is often ass...

Bitcoin futures open interest at 3-month highs — But will it be enough to overcome $50K?

The indicators, coupled with a strong bid momentum versus the offers, suggest that Bitcoin’s price could push above $50,000 in the coming sessions. Bitcoin ( BTC ) futures open interest has recovered to May levels, raising optimism about a potent bullish breakout move above $50,000. The total number of outstanding futures contracts on the Deribit exchange reached $1.37 billion on Monday, its highest level since May 27. Meanwhile, the difference between the Bitcoin spot rate and its futures contract price widened, edging up its three-month basis (annualized) back to June levels, data provided by Stack Funds shows. Bitcoin futures OI and 3-month basis. Source: Stack Funds The investment management firm saw the recovery as a sign of investors reentering the Bitcoin market while adopting a “more risk-on approach.” According to its head of research, Lennard Neo, the “contango trading” of the Bitcoin futures reflected that “investors’ sentiments remain skewed towards bullishness.” He ...

VeChain launches blockchain platform to encourage carbon data reporting

VeChain has announced a new blockchain initiative designed to help businesses openly track and report their carbon emissions data. Supply chain management platform VeChain announced a new service for combining businesses to overhaul their carbon footprint data management practices. The new service, detailed in a Medium post on Aug. 26, combines decentralized ledger technology with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model. The Digital Carbon Footprint SaaS Service “allows enterprise users to log key data and integrate it with world-leading third party assurance providers within VeChain’s partnership network. This data can then be later transformed into new kinds of value and improve sustainability performance across the entirety of an organization.” In the announcement, VeChain cited obstacles with trust and transparency in traditional supply chains when collating companies' carbon emissions data. A public blockchain solves this problem, providing transparent accountabili...

Microsoft wins US patent for ‘ledger-independent token service’

Microsoft’s new device is designed to allow developers to write code for managing tokens in a manner that is blockchain agnostic. American tech giant Microsoft has won a blockchain-related patent for techniques for implementing a cross-chain token management system. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the agency granted the patent to Microsoft’s subsidiary Microsoft Technology Licensing on Aug. 24. Filed in February 2019, the patent describes a “ledger-independent token service,” or a software service enabling individuals and organizations to create and manage tokens across multiple distributed ledger networks and platforms. Examples of such platforms in the patent filing included major blockchain platform Ethereum, IBM-backed Hyperledger Fabric, JPMorgan’s enterprise blockchain platform Quorum, R3 Corda and Chain Core. The described computer system aims to provide the user with one or more “token templates,” with each of those corresponding to a type of ...

Binance incapable of effective supervision, British regulator states

The world's largest exchange has played regulatory hopscotch, moving from different jurisdictions without central offices. Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a supervisory notice on Wednesday, stating that prominent crypto exchange Binance is not capable of being effectively supervised and exposes users to financial risk. The FCA notice — originally dated June 25 — was in relation to Binance’s “complex and high-risk financial products” that pose a significant risk to the investors. It read: “Based upon the firm's engagement to date, the FCA considers that the firm is not capable of being effectively supervised.” In the notice addressed to Binance Markets Limited, FCA required the crypto business to halt activities that were authorized back in April 2018 such as advising, safeguarding and dealing in crypto investments. Additionally, the financial watchdog has asked Binance to display the FCA’s decision that reads “Binance Markets Limited is not perm...