Bitcoin News 24/7

Posts

Showing posts from October 12, 2021

U2's manager signs deal to expand Bored Ape Yacht Club to movies, TV and music

Guy Oseary has signed on to represent Yuga Labs in the entertainment sector, with the bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project slated to expand into music, gaming, tv and film. Guy Oseary, the manager of musical heavyweights U2 and Madonna has signed a representation deal with Yuga Labs to expand the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT project into movies, TV, music and gaming. The move from Yuga Labs comes a month after CryptoPunks creators’ Larva Labs penned a representation deal in Hollywood with the United Talent Agency. Oseary adds BAYC to a list of all star clients which includes, alongside U2 and Madonna, comedian Amy Schumer and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Welcome to the club, @guyoseary ! ☠️⛵️ https://t.co/PcUtD67zIF — Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) October 12, 2021 The announcement was shared via Variety on Oct. 12, with Oseary highlighting that despite the success of the BAYC project, Yuga Labs is still a relatively unknown brand, suggesting that there is plenty of growth...

For the 1st Time, All ERC20 Tokens Can Be Lent and Borrowed With UniLend’s Upcoming Version 2

PRESS RELEASE. UniLend Finance published their protocol update blog introducing UniLend v2. The Binance Innovation Zone project has earlier this year enabled Lending for every token along with Flash Loans. The team published an initial blog explaining various innovative features in their upcoming version, which will equip UniLend to handle Lending and Borrowing of more than 9000 assets. The protocol went live with the Permissionless listing of any token this august. As a result, it already has more than 25 cryptocurrencies live for Lending and uncollateralised borrowing through Flash Loans. This Major protocol update will equip UniLend to tap into the untapped $1 trillion+ crypto market cap without significant competition. First, let’s take a look at the Key Features of the UniLend V2: Dual Asset Pools – UniLend v2 introduces pools for dual assets similar to the UniSwap liquidity model. Dual asset pools prevent the tokens in a specific pool to be immune to price and liquidity ...

Bank of Spain Criticizes El Salvador’s Foray Into Bitcoin

The Bank of Spain, the central bank of the country, criticized the adoption process El Salvador chose when declaring Bitcoin legal tender last month. In a report titled “The role of crypto assets as legal tender: the example of El Salvador,” the bank examines several pain points the country encountered while applying its bitcoin strategy, and raises concerns about how some actions have been taken with little transparency. Bank of Spain Scrutinizes El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bet The Bank of Spain issued a report scrutinizing and reflecting upon the entrance of El Salvador into the Bitcoin world. The report, titled “The role of crypto assets as legal tender: the example of El Salvador,” written by Sergio Gorjón, of the General Directorate of Operations, Markets and Payment Systems, states that as every first-mover, El Salvador committed many mistakes in the implementation of Bitcoin as legal tender. One of the principal worries of the Bank of Spain has to do with the relative lack of tr...

Bitcoin futures ETF will likely be delayed until 2022 says research firm CFRA

Regulatory uncertainty could be the cause for yet more delays in the approval of long-awaited Bitcoin exchange-traded products. Crypto asset investors may have a longer wait for a Bitcoin futures exchange-traded product according to Todd Rosenbluth, the senior director of ETF and mutual fund research at research firm CFRA. Speaking on CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on Oct. 12, Rosenbluth stated that while a Bitcoin futures product is likely to be the first crypto ETF to gain approval, he cautioned that the current clouded regulatory situation could cause further delays. There are more than 20 crypto asset-based exchange-traded products waiting for Securities and Exchange Commission approval, and the regulator is yet to pass any, instead kicking the can down the road on multiple occasions. The researcher suggested that regulators could be waiting for all of these products to meet their goals so that they can be approved at the same time to avoid a “first-mover advantage,” before adding: “It’...

Binance Launches $1 Billion Fund to Boost Adoption of Its Smart Chain and Entire Blockchain Industry

Crypto exchange Binance has launched a $1 billion fund which it calls “the biggest funding program of its kind in the whole cryptocurrency industry.” The company aims for the fund to “push the adoption” of the Binance Smart Chain and “the whole blockchain industry.” Binance Launches ‘the World’s Largest Crypto Accelerator’ Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced Tuesday the launch of a $1 billion Binance Smart Chain (BSC) Fund. The announcement states: Binance announces the biggest funding program of its kind in the whole cryptocurrency industry — the $1 billion fund to push the adoption of not only BSC but the whole blockchain industry. The Binance Smart Chain mainnet launched in September last year. At the time, the company announced a $100 million BSC Accelerator Fund to support Dapps building on BSC. It seed-funded over 40 projects with up to $1 million. In addition, over 60 projects have been incubated under the company’s Most Valuable Builder (MVB) Accelerator Program ....

Stripe builds new crypto team for payments three years after dropping Bitcoin

After pulling back from Bitcoin three years ago, Stripe is looking to re-enter the crypto sector. U.S. fintech giant Stripe is hiring a new blockchain team to enable crypto payments for its users. The $100 billion company is returning to the crypto sector three years after it pulled back from offering Bitcoin support due its slow transaction times and rising fees. According to a job listing page on Stripe’s website, the firm is looking for four “Staff Engineers'' with experience in the crypto sector. Guillaume Poncin, the head of engineering stated on Twitter earlier today that he’s looking for engineers and designers to “build the future of Web3 payments.” The listing outlines that the future engineers and designers will be tasked with working “across everything from web/mobile UIs to backend, payments and identity systems.” “We hear a growing need from developers and users in that space for better building blocks to accept payments, move funds, exchange between fiat a...

Coinbase Launching NFT Marketplace With Social Features to Grow Creator Community ‘Exponentially’

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is launching a peer-to-peer marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The Nasdaq-listed company says that “Coinbase NFT” will make “minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs easier than ever.” In addition, Coinbase says, “We’re going to grow the creator community exponentially, a win for artists and for fans.” Coinbase NFT to Help Grow Creator Community ‘Exponentially’ The Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced Tuesday that it is launching a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Sanchan Saxena, VP of Products at Coinbase, wrote: Today, we’re announcing Coinbase NFT, a peer-to-peer marketplace that will make minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs easier than ever. “Just as Coinbase helped millions of people access bitcoin for the first time in an easy and trusted way — we want to do the same for the NFTs,” he added. Coinbase further explained: “All NFTs are on-chain. The initial launch will sup...

Airdrops, DAOs, token issuance and public domains are the next frontier for NFTs

Innovation in the NFT space moves about as fast as the prices. Here’s a rundown of the most recent developments. Volatility continues to be the name of the game for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) amid the rollercoaster valuations and volume surges, but a new trend appears to be emerging in the sector. Aesthetic appeal aside, for many investors, buying an NFT is akin to casting a bait-laden hook into an opaque body of water and hoping that a fish bites. Sure, when the Bored Ape Yacht Club listed, some buyers thought “They look cool” and “The community is really strong and dedicated,” but these aren’t really hard valuation metrics that can be backtested and applied across most assets in the NFT market. Community activism and holder stats are important features to look for when purchasing an NFT, but aside from that, the initial purchase and hope that one will eventually turn a profit is nothing more than speculation. In the last month or so, a handful of projects have realized tha...

US Inflation Expectations Highest Since 2013, Gas Prices Skyrocket, Supply Chains Buckle

Americans are still concerned about dealing with inflation, as the cost of goods and services has continued to rise significantly in a short period of time. The Federal Reserve has published the latest Survey of Consumer Expectations report and U.S. households believe inflation will be up 5.3% one year from now. In addition to the dreary economic outlook, gas prices across the U.S. have skyrocketed up more than $1 from a year ago. New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations Continues to Look Gloomy After 2020’s massive monetary expansion, in order to help the economy combat the coronavirus outbreak and help facilitate the lockdown orders that subsequently followed, inflation has crept into the wallets of every American. Month after month, the Federal Reserve has published the central bank’s Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) reports, and every month, inflation expectations jump higher. Once again, the latest Fed SCE report published on Tuesday indicates that Americans are st...

Russia doesn't plan to follow in China's footsteps by banning crypto outright, says deputy finance minister

Crypto payments in the country are currently banned, but Russians have been allowed to purchase and trade digital assets like Bitcoin. While Russia continues to enforce a ban on cryptocurrency payments as part of a law which took effect in January, the country has no plans at this time to completely prohibit trading by its citizens. According to an Oct. 12 report from local news agency Interfax, Alexey Moiseev, the deputy finance minister of the Russian Federation, said he believes Russian citizens will continue to be allowed to buy and use cryptocurrencies outside the country on foreign exchanges without the threat of legal action at home. Crypto payments in the country are currently banned, but Russians have been allowed to purchase and trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin ( BTC ). "Russian citizens can have a wallet open outside the Russian Federation, but if they operate within the Russian Federation then they will be subject to bans, I think, for the entire foreseeable fu...

NASDAQ-Listed HIVE Blockchain to Expand Data Center in New Brunswick, Canada With 40 Megawatts Capacity

HIVE Blockchain is set to expand its data center campus in New Brunswick, Canada with 40 megawatts capacity. It is the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency miner, listing in Toronto on the Venture Exchange back in 2017 and added to NASDAQ in 2021. It mines both Bitcoin and Ethereum using 100% green energy in facilities across Canada, Sweden, and Iceland. HIVE Blockchain to Expand Data Center in New Brunswick, Canada HIVE Blockchain Technologies (NASDAQ: HIVE, TSX.V: HIVE) will soon begin testing a new high-performance computing cloud hosting operation. At the company’s largest data center campus in New Brunswick, Canada, where it owns the land, the team is currently building expansions from the ground-up (“greenfield expansions”), which will provide it with 40 megawatts of data center capacity. HIVE currently operates 5 data center campuses, where they are mining both Bitcoin and Ethereum. HIVE’s data centers already have access to approximately 50 megawatts of power, placing it a...

Millions of Wix Merchants Can Now Accept 12 Different Cryptocurrencies

On Tuesday, the Atlanta-based cryptocurrency payments company Bitpay announced the Israeli software company Wix has enabled its Software as a service (SaaS) e-commerce product to accept crypto-asset payments. The integration will allow Wix merchants to accept 12 different cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, dogecoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, litecoin, and stablecoins as well. SaaS Platform Wix Implements Bitpay Infrastructure So Merchants Can Accept Crypto Founded in 2006, by the Israeli software engineers Nadav Abrahami, Avishai Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan, the global SaaS platform Wix provides users with the ability to develop both mobile and HTML5 websites without coding experience. On October 12, Wix announced that it would be implementing Bitpay’s cryptocurrency payment processing infrastructure so users can choose it as an option for the Wix e-commerce platform. Alongside five different stablecoins such as BUSD, DAI, GUSD, USDP, and USDC, Wix Merchant users can also accept bitcoi...

Traders pin Ethereum’s route to new ATH to eventual Bitcoin ETF approval

ETH price is lagging behind BTC's recent gains, but data signals that traders are confident in the altcoin breaking through $4,000 in the short-term. Ether ( ETH ) price is lagging Bitcoin's ( BTC ) price action by 13% in October, but is this relevant? To date, the altcoin has still outperformed BTC by 274% in 2021. However, traders tend to be short-sighted and some will question whether the Ethereum network can successfully migrate to proof of stake (PoS) validation and finally solve the high gas fees issue. Bitcoin and Ether prices at Bitstamp. Source: TradingView Moreover, the increasing competition from smart contract networks like Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX) have been worrying investors: One big problem with the “ETH is ultra sound money” meme is that EIP-1559 only limits the supply of ETH if Ethereum continues to have lots of transactions. It’s just as possible that people will tire of $80 gas fees and opt for one of numerous alternatives (SOL, AVAX, etc). ...

Coinbase follows FTX and Binance in launching NFT marketplace

With 68 million verified users and 8.8 million monthly active users as of Q2 2021, Coinbase’s entry to the NFT industry could provide competition for established marketplaces like OpenSea. Major crypto exchange Coinbase has announced it will be opening a waitlist for a nonfungible marketplace it plans to launch later this year. In an Oct. 12 blog post, Coinbase vice president of product and ecosystem Sanchan Saxena said the nonfungible token, or NFT, marketplace would allow its users to mint, purchase, discover, and showcase Ethereum-based tokens. According to Saxena, the offering will allow creators to maintain control of their artwork “through decentralized contracts and metadata transparency,” with all NFTs on-chain. The Coinbase announcement comes following crypto exchange FTX and its U.S.-based subsidiary introducing a marketplace with users able to trade NFTs cross-chain through the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, entered the N...

Nigerian Vice President Says Current Naira Exchange Rate ‘Artificially Low’

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently warned that the country’s official naira exchange rate of N411 for every dollar is artificially low. This exchange rate, according to Osinbajo, discourages foreign exchange entrance into the country. Naira Exchange Rate Must Reflect Realities of Market Consequently, Vice President Osinbajo says he wants the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allow the naira to “reflect the realities of the market.” As a report by The Cable details, Osinbajo also wants the CBN to rethink its foreign exchange management strategy. He explained: We can’t get new dollars into the system, where the exchange rate is artificially low. And everyone knows by how much our reserves can grow. I’m convinced that the demand management strategy currently being adopted by the CBN needs a rethink, and that is just my view. Still, Osinbajo suggested that any such reassessment should only be done when the CBN governor has time to address this issue. Naira Depreciation...

Venezuelan international airport to accept Bitcoin payments: Report

“We must advance in these new economic and technological systems to be accessible,” Maiquetia airport director said. A major international airport in Venezuela is reportedly preparing to start accepting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin ( BTC ) as payment for tickets and other services. Simon Bolivar International Airport is working to enable cryptocurrency payments to comply with local industry standards, regional news agency El Siglo reported on Oct. 10. Also known as Maiquetia, the airport is located in downtown Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. According to Maiquetia airport director Freddy Borges, the airport plans to accept many cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Dash ( DASH ) and Venezuela’s oil-pegged digital currency , the Petro. He said that the airport’s administration would introduce new payment options in coordination with Venezuela’s National Superintendence of Crypto Assets and Related Activities. The introduction of crypto payments at the Maiquetia airpor...

Crypto fintech Moonpay reportedly aims for $3.4B valuation in first VC funding

Co-led by Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management, the VC funding will inject funds worth $400 million into the bootstrapped company. Moonpay, a fintech startup dedicated to building crypto payments infrastructure, is reportedly expected to reach a valuation of $3.4 billion after conducting its first round of venture capital funding. The VC funding for the crypto payments startup is being co-led by Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management and will inject funds worth $400 million into the bootstrapped company. MoonPay platform allows the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies and digital assets using mainstream payment methods such as debit and credit card and local bank transfers. While the funding information is not officially announced, a report from The Information suggests that “two people familiar with the matter” have confirmed the development. Once confirmed, Moonpay will represent a small demographic of crypto-related startups to reach unicorn-level valuatio...

Bitfarms Starts Construction of Mega Bitcoin Mining Farm in Argentina

Bitfarms, a bitcoin mining company, announced last week that construction is underway for a mega bitcoin mining farm in Argentina. The facility, which is designed to accommodate 55,000 miners, will be finished by next year. This is yet another signal that mining companies are looking for new areas with favorable conditions and cheap energy to migrate to, including places like Texas and El Salvador. Bitfarms Expands to Argentina Bitfarms, a Nasdaq -listed bitcoin mining company, announced it started building what will be a mega bitcoin mining farm in Argentina last week. The company says this facility will be able to power thousands of miners with power secured through a contract with a private power company. The farm will provide more than 210 megawatts of infrastructure capacity for the company, which reported having a mining power of 1.4 exahash per second in September. About the construction, Emiliano Grodzki, CEO of Bitfarms, stated: Our new high-production facility in Argen...

Need some Bitcoin 'hopium'? This chart calls for new BTC price all-time high by November

The latest bullish Bitcoin price forecast further cements the case for a breakout, but a retracement could conversely end up with a visit to $45,000. Bitcoin ( BTC ) is on track to see new all-time highs this month and at least $72,000 in November if the latest price data is accurate. In a tweet on Oct. 12, Filbfilb, an analyst at trading platform Decentrader, described what he said was an achievable price target for this month and next. BTC price to $72,000? "Stranger things have happened," says trader With “Uptober” delivering solid bullish results so far, analysts are keen to chart where the Bitcoin bull run might lead in Q4. As Cointelegraph reported , some predictions have used historical price comparisons and even simple calculations to deliver near-term BTC/USD targets of up to $300,000. For Filbfilb, a move back to previous all-time highs of $64,500 and beyond in the coming weeks remains “hopium,” but the overall bullish Bitcoin market might not need much insp...

THORSwap relaunches cross-chain trading on four of five networks

THORSwap users can now transact across Bitcoin, Litecoin, Binance Smart Chain and Bitcoin Cash networks. Cross-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) THORSwap appears to be on the path to recovery after the THORChain network was taken offline following major exploits just three months after entering its guarded launch. The Cosmos-powered network aims to support decentralized trades executed across different blockchain networks such as Bitcoin ( BTC ) and Ethereum ( ETH ). According to an Oct. 12 progress report, the team behind the project’s decentralized exchange THORSwap has so far restored functionality for four of the five networks it supported prior to going down in July. The update states that THORSwap has resumed swap functionality across the Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash ( BCH ), Litecoin ( LTC ), and Binance Smart Chain networks, adding that the team is currently in the process of reinstating support for Ethereum. 15 summaries about @THORChain 1. $BTC , $ETH , $BNB , $LTC , $BCH ...

Institutional crypto products eye record AUM as investors pile into Bitcoin

Institutional investors piled $225 million into Bitcoin products while Ether products saw outflows of $13.6 million this past week. Institutional investors are continuing to pile into Bitcoin despite prices pushing up to a five-month high. According to CoinShares’ Oct. 12 Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly report , more than $226 million in capital flowed to institutional Bitcoin (BTC) products this past week. Bitcoin products dominated inflows for the third consecutive week , posting a week-over-week increase of 227%. The heavy inflows coincided with the price of BTC gaining 12.5% for the week, with BTC sitting at around $54,000 on Oct. 8. CoinShares attributes the positive shift in sentiment towards Bitcoin to recent statements from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler’s suggesting the long-awaited approval of the United States’ first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) may be just around the corner. The surging activity surrounding Bitcoin has seen...