roadrunner

While non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles have been all the rage, a few projects have been developing the concept of fractionalized NFTs so investors without deep pockets can purchase shares of an expensive collectible. On Thursday, the firm Otis revealed that people can invest in an NFT created by the world-famous Canadian musician and record producer Grimes. The platform allows anyone to purchase a small fraction of the recording artist’s artwork called “Newborn 1 & 3.” Grimes’ Artwork ‘Newborn 1 & 3″ Gets Fractionalized During the last 30 days, statistics from nonfungible.com’s market history show that there was $219 million in NFT sales. Over 48,000 active wallets recorded 214,654 sales which is a steady increase in sales from the start of the month’s 120,150 sales. The website also shows that a Meebits NFT recently sold for 1,000 ETH or $2.1 million and a Cryptopunks NFT character sold for 450 ETH or a touch over $1 million. Unicly offers a dex that allows people to trade fractionalized NFTs. The well known NFT artist Beeple made history when he sold his “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” NFT for $69 million via the luxury auction house Christie’s. Prices like these, however, strengthens the barrier to entry and only the wealthy can participate. This issue has pushed developers and NFT projects to develop fractionalized NFTs that allow people to buy shares of the collectible. On Thursday, Otis dropped the Grimes’ NFT art called “Newborn 1 & 3” which can be purchased in shares at $10 per share. Bitcoin.com News has reported on the fractionalization of NFTs in the past as the protocol Unicly fractionalizes NFT collectibles via the use of a native token called utoken. The tokens can be traded on the automated market maker (AMM) platform the Unicly team has constructed. “[Unicly is a] protocol to combine, fractionalize, and trade NFTs,” the project’s website notes. “Transform your NFT collection into a tradable asset with guaranteed liquidity,” the protocol description adds. Otis also offers other types of fractional shares on items from Banksy to Michael Jordan’s ‘Shattered Backboard’ sneakers. Another project that fractionalizes non-fungible token collectibles is a platform called Otis. On Thursday, Otis introduced a limited edition Grimes’ NFT on the platform and revealed that “anyone can invest in Grimes’ “Newborn 1 & 3” for just $10.” The announcement details: “Newborn 1 & 3 are part of the pop musician Grimes’ first-ever NFT drop and signifies an important cultural milestone in the NFT landscape,” the project’s announcement notes. “Otis believes Grimes is an icon whose art is poised to hold continued value as a milestone in her artistic career––and the overall legacy of NFT artists.” Claire Boucher, known professionally as Grimes, is Elon Musk’s wife and the mother of his child “X Æ A-12.” Otis highlights that the Grimes’ NFT “Newborn 1 & 3” is valued at $6,400 and the collection is entitled “Warnymph Collection Vol. 1.” The project’s creators believe the NFT art will “hold continued relevance as a milestone in Grimes’s artistic career and the overall legacy of NFT artists.” The Otis platform is available via iOS and Android operating systems and the app allows anyone to buy shares of “cultural assets.” The Otis platform has roughly 100 assets available from Banksy originals to Michael Jordan’s ‘Shattered Backboard’ sneakers. Projects Like Fractional and Daofi Hope to Bolster the Fractionalized NFT Concept Otis and Unicly are not the only protocols delving into the world of fractionalized NFTs, as a number of projects are developing this concept. A project called Fractional believes that fractionalization can help with price discovery. Fractional is another project aiming to bolster the idea of fractionalized non-fungible tokens. “[If] the asset is extremely valuable and they want help finding price discovery, fractionalizing the item and selling 20% on the market can be a valuable tool to help understand how the market values the NFT,” the Fractional creators detail in a blog post about the subject. The Daofi project also fractionalizes non-fungible tokens. Another project that is also fractionalizing non-fungible tokens is a protocol called Daofi which breaks NFTs down into fungible ERC20 tokens. Daofi’s blog post in mid-March also gives people an understanding of how the fractionalization process works. Daofi’s post says that the NFT ecosystem needs to address a “lack of liquidity in NFT secondary markets,” “centralized exchanges taking extremely high drop fees,” “[the] lack of utility outside of owning the collectible,” and “content curation,” the Daofi representative Andrew Lee stresses in the post. What do you think about fractionalizing NFTs and the projects attempting to push this idea further? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Last February the crypto community was obsessed with a specific dogecoin address that happens to be the largest dogecoin holder today with over 36 billion DOGE. One armchair sleuth studied a number of onchain transactions and suspected the company Robinhood owned the wallet. Now the individual has researched the topic again and claims the latest findings help confirm the dogecoin wallet does belong to Robinhood. Alongside this, the person suspects Robinhood controls the third-largest bitcoin wallet as well. Onchain Research Suggests Robinhood Not Only Owns the Mysterious Doge Whale Wallet, but Also the Third-Largest BTC Wallet Two days ago, the Reddit account u/Andreifromalberta published research that claims the company Robinhood (Nasdaq: HOOD) holds more bitcoin (BTC) than the firm Microstrategy. The Redditor Andrei is the same sleuth that published research four months ago on the notorious dogecoin (DOGE) wallet dubbed “DH5,” which happens to be the largest DOGE wallet today. The Reddit post the Redditor u/Andreifromalberta posted back in February 2021. Back in February, Andrei posted about the subject as the “DH5” address became an extremely topical subject that month. Andrei said in the r/dogecoin Reddit post that findings suggest the company Robinhood is the owner of the “DH5” dogecoin address and explained how onchain research led to this conclusion. The Reddit post on r/bitcoin from the Redditor u/Andreifromalberta posted two days ago shows a score of new findings. This past week, the online brokerage firm Robinhood had an initial public offering (IPO) and the company’s CEO Vlad Tenev talked about the firm’s crypto positions in an interview on May 6. Tenev’s statements at the Robinhood fireside chat back in May explained that the exchange allegedly provided customers with access to their specific holdings only. “We don’t have significant positions in any of the coins that we keep on a proprietary basis or anything like that,” Tenev stressed at the fireside chat. Despite Tenev’s statements, Andrei believes the company does have significant positions in a number of crypto assets. Andrei’s research once again ties the “DH5” dogecoin address to Robinhood, but it also details how the exchange probably owns a number of large wallets from coins like BTC, ETH, and BCH. According to Andrei’s findings, rich-list wallets from six major crypto assets are allegedly controlled by the company Robinhood. Report Notes Robinhood Likely Owns Some of the Richest Addresses from 5 Different Blockchains On Reddit, Andrei gives a step-by-step analysis of why Robinhood is suspected of being the owner of not only the “DH5” dogecoin address, but the third-largest BTC address “1P5” as well. The Redditor, Andrei, believes the third-largest bitcoin (BTC) address belongs to Robinhood. The wallet was established around the same time period the “DH5” dogecoin address was created. Not only that, but Andrei’s asks if Robinhood follows the exact same pattern of cold storage for BTC and DOGE, “wouldn’t it also make sense for them to follow the same pattern for the other 5 Cryptos that they offer for trading (ETH, LTC, BCH, ETC, BSV)?.” The armchair sleuth believes this is the case for all of the aforementioned coins and “the top rich addresses belonging to Robinhood on those blockchains.” The bitcoin (BTC) address starting with “1P5” holds 113,842 BTC and it started accumulating in February 2019. Coincidentally, the DH5 dogecoin address started accumulating at the same time as the “1P5” bitcoin address. Andrei’s report suspects that Robinhood owns the second-largest litecoin (LTC) address “LQT” and the second-largest bitcoin cash (BCH) address “16N.” The fourth-biggest ethereum (ETH) address “0x7” is also suspected of being Robinhood’s exchange wallet. “Holding over 2 million ETH, it was seeded in exactly the same manner,” Andrei’s report adds. The Redditor also shared an article explaining why the richest crypto addresses are still very important. “Robinhood (RH) indeed owns more BTC (116K) than Microstrategy (105K), as a custodian for RH crypto clients,” the Redditor concludes. “In aggregate, 10+ million crypto Robinhooders are actually smart money, heavily buying the bitcoin and crypto dip since the crash in May. Wallets are urgently needed to give the freedom of self-custody to millions of RH investors,” the investigator added. What do you think about the Redditor’s findings that suggest Robinhood owns all these wallet addresses? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Finland’s customs authority is looking for brokers to sell 1,981 bitcoins seized in drug cases. The coins are currently worth nearly $80 million. Finland’s customs authority announced Thursday that it is seeking brokers to sell 1,981 bitcoins seized in drug busts, Bloomberg reported, noting that the coins were forfeited to the state by court order. At the time of writing, the bitcoin stash is worth $78.75 million. Most of the seized coins were accumulated in raids before 2018. The Finnish State Treasury set out guidelines for handling crypto assets that year. It prohibited authorities from storing cryptocurrencies at exchanges, requiring them to keep the coins offline. Pekka Pylkkanen, Finnish Customs’ director of financial management, explained that the authorities want a permanent solution to “safely and reliably” sell cryptocurrencies forfeited to the state coffers in the future. The customs agency described in a statement: The main aim of Finnish Customs is to make sure the cryptocurrencies are sold in a secure way, preventing further money laundering and criminal activities. Finnish Customs said that it could sign an agreement with as many as three brokers for the sale of seized BTC, the publication conveyed, adding that the agency anticipates “more cryptocurrency seizures.” What do you think about Finland looking for brokers to help sell seized bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The securities regulator of Malaysia has taken enforcement actions against the global cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Noting that the exchange is operating illegally in the country, the regulator has advised those who currently have accounts with Binance “to immediately cease trading through its platforms and to withdraw all their investments immediately.” Malaysia Issues Public Reprimand Against Binance The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) announced Friday “enforcement actions against Binance for illegally operating a digital asset exchange (DAX).” Under Malaysia’s regulation, digital asset exchange operators must be registered with the Securities Commission as Recognized Market Operators (RMO). Since the global crypto exchange is operating in Malaysia without being registered, the Malaysian securities watchdog “has issued a public reprimand” against four Binance entities and the company’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), for continuing to operate illegally in Malaysia. According to the SC, Binance continued to operate in the country despite being included in the regulator’s Investor Alert List in July 2020. The four entities are Binance Holdings Ltd. (registered in the Cayman Islands), Binance Digital Ltd. (registered in the U.K.), Binance UAB (registered in Lithuania) and Binance Asia Services Pte Ltd. (registered in Singapore). All four Binance entities have been ordered by the securities regulator to “disable the Binance website (www.binance.com) and mobile applications in Malaysia within 14 business days from 26 July 2021.” They must also “immediately cease all media and marketing activities, including circulating, publishing or sending any advertisements and/or other marketing material, whether via emails or otherwise, to Malaysian investors.” Furthermore, they must “immediately restrict Malaysian investors from accessing Binance’s Telegram group.” The regulator also specifically ordered Zhao “to ensure that the above directives are carried out.” Emphasizing that investors should stop dealing with and investing through illegal digital asset exchanges, the Securities Commission advised those who currently have accounts with Binance “to immediately cease trading through its platforms and to withdraw all their investments immediately.” A growing number of regulators worldwide have warned Binance about operating in their jurisdictions without being authorized. They include regulators in Japan, the U.K., Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Thailand, Germany, and Lithuania. Commenting on the mounting regulatory scrutiny against his exchange, Zhao said, “We want to be licensed everywhere … From now on, we’re going to be a financial institution.” He also revealed that the company is looking for “a strong compliance background CEO to show our commitment to compliance as this is the top priority of the organization.” Earlier this week, Binance announced that “Binance Margin will delist AUD, EUR and GBP cross and isolated margin pairs.” The exchange also announced that it will stop offering futures and derivatives products in Europe. What do you think about Binance’s troubles with regulators worldwide? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Payments giant Paypal has outlined its plans to expand cryptocurrency services, including via a new wallet “super app,” open banking integration, U.K. expansion, and third-party wallet transfers. “We continue to be really pleased with the momentum we’re seeing on crypto and we’re obviously adding incremental functionality into that,” said Paypal’s CEO. Paypal Reveals Crypto Plans, Details of ‘Super App’ Paypal CEO Dan Schulman talked about his company’s crypto plans and the progress of the upcoming “super app” during the payments giant’s second-quarter earnings conference call Wednesday. “I’m pleased to report that the initial version of our new consumer wallet super app is code complete and we are now beginning to slowly ramp,” Schulman began, elaborating: New features will include high yield savings, early access to direct deposit funds, new and improved bill pay functionality, messaging capabilities outside of P2P to enable family and friend communications, as well as additional crypto capabilities and customized deals and offers. “Each wallet will be uniquely driven by our advanced AI and machine learning capabilities in order to enhance each customer’s experiences and opportunities,” he added. “In the next several months, we plan to be fully ramped in the U.S. with a host of products and services across payments, basic consumer financial services and commerce and shopping tools launching every quarter,” the CEO continued. During the Q&A part of the call, Ramsey El-Assal, an analyst with Barclays Investment Bank, asked about the CEO’s updated view on crypto and blockchain and how Paypal planned to engage with the ecosystem from a consumer product perspective. Schulman replied: “We continue to be really pleased with the momentum we’re seeing on crypto and we’re obviously adding incremental functionality into that.” The executive also mentioned that Paypal recently increased the weekly crypto purchase limit to $100,000 and removed the annual limit altogether. Furthermore, the CEO noted: We’re right in the middle of some open banking integration, which will increase the ability to fully integrate into ACH and do faster payments. We’re going to launch hopefully, maybe even next month in the UK, open up trading there. We’re working right now on transfers to third party wallets and we really want to make sure that we create a very seamless process for taxes and tax reporting. “And so, we’re really looking at how do we integrate that into both the trading and the buy with crypto on our platform,” the CEO detailed, adding, “We’re also seeing strong adoption and trading of crypto on Venmo.” What do you think about Paypal’s crypto plans? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

U.S. President Joe Biden and lawmakers have agreed on the details of a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package with measures to step up tax enforcement around crypto assets. Taxing Crypto Transactions to Fund US Infrastructure Plan The White House announced Wednesday that President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have agreed on the details of “a once-in-a-generation investment” in the U.S. infrastructure. The bill will be taken up in the Senate for consideration, the White House stated, adding that “In total, the deal includes $550 billion in new federal investment in America’s infrastructure.” Measures to step up tax enforcement around crypto assets were added to the infrastructure bill at the last minute to raise funds to finance the infrastructure plan. The $550 billion will be spent over the next eight years on roads, bridges, high-speed internet, public transport, electric vehicles, airports, and shipping ports, among other areas. The measures impose heightened reporting requirements on crypto brokerages and exchanges. They will be required to provide details on cryptocurrency transactions of $10,000 or more to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The provisions are expected to raise an additional $28 billion from cryptocurrency transactions. A fact sheet published Wednesday by the White House explains, “In the years ahead, the deal will generate significant economic benefits,” adding: It is financed through a combination of redirecting unspent emergency relief funds, targeted corporate user fees, strengthening tax enforcement when it comes to crypto currencies, and other bipartisan measures, in addition to the revenue generated from higher economic growth as a result of the investments. What do you think about using crypto tax to fund the U.S. infrastructure plan? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

July 30th marks the day, six years ago, Ethereum was launched. The Bitcoin.com Wallet, having just integrated Ethereum, is excited to celebrate the achievements of the world’s premier smart contract platform – and to do so, we’re giving away $6000 in Ether (ETH), the native currency and the ‘fuel’ of the Ethereum network. What Is Ethereum? With the ambitious vision of creating a fully decentralized general purpose computing network, Ethereum and the massive community of developers that has sprung up around it, have pioneered smart contracts, NFTs, decentralized finance, and more. From humble beginnings, now billions of dollars are transacted daily through Decentralized Applications (DApps) deployed on Ethereum – and, just like with Bitcoin, it’s all done permissionlessly and pseudonymously. The Ethereum community has striven to maintain ‘credible neutrality’ in the evolution of the platform – so far very successfully in our opinion. The result is that the platform supports the fundamental human right to economic freedom – and that’s something we at Bitcoin.com can get behind! The Giveaway To be eligible to win, all you have to do is buy any amount of ETH through the Bitcoin.com Wallet or via our website between July 30th and August 6th – and that’s it! You’ll automatically be entered to win one of the following prizes: Grand Prize $1000 (1 person) Second Prize $500 (4 people) Third Prize $100 (30 people) Good luck! Full terms and conditions here. View the full article

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has identified 146 financial pyramid schemes in only six months this year. Fraudsters often lure people with weak financial literacy into investment scams linked to cryptocurrencies or crypto mining operations. Pyramid Schemes Thrive Amid Rising Investment Demand, Bank of Russia Says The number of financial pyramid scams uncovered by the CBR between January and June 2021 is 1.5 times higher compared to the same time period last year, the regulator announced this week. The financial authority attributed the spike to increased activity of “unfair market participants” in the midst of ongoing economic recovery and increasing demand for investments in Russia. Bank of Russia also emphasized that fraudsters take advantage of “people’s insufficient financial and digital literacy” convincing them to invest in projects associated with trending topics. Investors often put money into cryptocurrencies, “pseudo cryptocurrencies” or fake crypto mining operations, CBR noted in a press release published Thursday. The bank further detailed: Criminals communicate with potential clients in social networks and messengers and carry out aggressive targeted advertising campaigns. The regulator also revealed that the number of illegal securities market participants, mostly forex dealers, has soared by 70% in comparison with H1, 2020. The Bank of Russia has found 239 such companies this year. The total number of entities bearing characteristics of financial pyramids or suspected of other illicit activities in the financial market has reached 729, or 16.6% more than the first half of last year. Since June, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation maintains and updates a list of suspicious financial firms to warn potential investors, revealed Valery Lyakh, director of the Department for Countering Misconduct. The CBR official asked Russian citizens to support the bank’s efforts: If you have faced a financial fraud, please report this to the Bank of Russia and law enforcement agencies. This information will help combat illegal operations more efficiently. Lyakh also expressed hope that the recently adopted Russian legislation allowing the pre-trial blocking of fraudulent websites will help to swiftly restrict the activities of such platforms. He believes this would limit the number of victims who get involved in illicit investment schemes in Russia. What are your thoughts on the findings in the Bank of Russia’s report? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Although it’s possible to draw comparisons between almost any two blockchain development platforms, comparing Ethereum with Polkadot is almost an inevitability. Not only on the technical level – they use a comparable architecture and proof-of-stake consensus to achieve scalability – but because Vitalik Buterin and Dr. Gavin Wood also have a shared history in Ethereum. Polkadot and Ethereum are Entering the Final Stretch of the Runway for Chain Supremacy The coming year is set to be a big one for both networks. Ethereum has been rolling out a series of improvements ahead of the “merge” that will occur when the current Ethereum main chain joins the proof-of-stake Beacon chain. At this point, Ethereum will finally abandon its proof-of-work consensus and shift entirely to proof-of-stake. More upgrades are expected to follow as the network implements additional chains, or shards, connected to the Beacon chain, which aim to improve scalability. Although the timelines are somewhat nebulous, it seems likely that Polkadot is set to reach its own next big milestone before Ethereum’s merge takes place. ‘Parachain auctions‘ are the process of awarding the first shard slots on Polkadot, a step that Kusama, Polkadot’s experimental “canary network,” recently achieved. Assuming it will only be a matter of months before Polkadot follows suit, then we could expect to see the network fully operational and supporting an array of use cases before the end of this year. A Potted History For their part, the two founders have always been at pains to point out that they aren’t in competition with one another. But there’s a lot of water under the bridge between Buterin and Wood. The pair are both core members of the team that co-founded Ethereum, with Dr. Gavin Wood having invented the Solidity programming language and founded Parity Technologies, which has always been a significant technology engine for Ethereum. Wood also founded the Web3 Foundation, which supports Polkadot’s development. He left his position as Ethereum’s Chief Technology Officer in 2015, having already proposed a new kind of infrastructure that would level up the newly launched smart contract platform into a more robust and scalable platform. Tellingly, Wood didn’t mention Buterin in his final Ethereum blog post, despite name-checking several others. While Wood and Buterin have been tight-lipped about the competition between the two projects, others have been more willing to speak out. Peter Mauric, Head of Public Affairs at Parity Technologies, recently addressed the comparison, commenting on Ethereum’s shortcomings and referring to the smart contract platform as a “proof of concept” which had provided the education necessary to build Polkadot. Clash of Titans After over three years in development, Polkadot launched on mainnet last year. Although it’s been running without any applications until the parachains are operational, the project has attracted a significant amount of interest, and not just because of the founder’s history. Polkadot offers the promise of true interoperability between applications running on different chains. Over the time that Polkadot has been in development, the Ethereum team has been working on a solution for Ethereum 2.0. It’s undeniable that the two platforms share many technological similarities. Both run on a variant of proof-of-stake. In Ethereum’s case, it’s an open validator network where anyone can join with the requisite minimum 32 ETH stake. In Polkadot’s Nominated Proof-of-Stake, DOT holders can stake DOT to nominate a validator. There’s also the fact that both platforms use sharding to enable scalability, connecting sharded chains to a central chain responsible for network security. Ethereum 2.0 is also doing away with Solidity and the Ethereum Virtual Machine in favor of a web assembly language called eWASM. Despite Solidity being Gavin Wood’s brainchild, Polkadot is also built for standard web assembly languages. The critical advantage is that this opens up smart contract development to a far larger global pool of developers familiar with more general languages like Go, Rust, and C/C++. Of course, all these similarities could just be a sheer coincidence. However, for Gavin Wood, the fact that Ethereum 2.0 is shaping up to be very similar to his own creation has got to feel like something of a vindication. On-chain vs. Off-chain Governance There is perhaps one critical difference between the two platforms. While consensus takes place on-chain, governance has always been an off-chain matter for Ethereum. Seemingly in light of Ethereum’s experience with contentious hard forks, Polkadot has shunned this model in favor of a forkless model of on-chain governance. It’s important to note that both on-chain and off-chain governance have their own pros and cons, so it will be interesting to see how these different approaches play out against one another. So two visionary founders, two ambitious roadmaps, two comparable platforms. However, there’s one critical difference. Polkadot has had five years in development from scratch, with the opportunity to meticulously build and test everything twice — once on the testnet, and again in a live, experimental environment on Kusama. When Polkadot goes live with its parachains, it will be a clean start from the outset. While this is no mean feat, the Ethereum team arguably has a more difficult task ahead. To coin an analogy, they need to change the engine in a moving vehicle. It’s this simple fact that explains why it could be seven years or more between the first Ethereum genesis and the eventual transition to proof-of-stake. It will be even longer before the network achieves a level of scalability for which its supporters have so patiently waited. By that time, who knows how much adoption on other networks will have gained pace? Ultimately, nobody can say what goes on in Vitalik Buterin’s head. But, to use the vehicle analogy again, the idea of jumping into a box-fresh sports car has to be more enticing than attempting to pimp an old jalopy while cruising down the freeway at full speed. And watching Polkadot’s development, it would be hard to imagine Vitalik Buterin wouldn’t agree. Which blockchain do you think will come on top — Ethereum or Polkadot? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The new digital yuan, currently undergoing trials, can help to increase the international usage of China’s national fiat, experts have stated. As the renminbi (RMB, CNY) is becoming one of the world’s most important currencies, the People’s Bank of China is planning to conduct cross-border tests with the yuan’s digitized version, the e-CNY. Digital Yuan to Facilitate ‘Renminbi Internationalization’ The digital yuan will further promote the process of “internationalization” of the renminbi, Chinese experts believe. This can happen when the Chinese yuan becomes the world’s third-largest currency — in terms of pricing, settlement, and international reserves —current and former officials said Wednesday, quoted by the China Internet Information Center portal. The e-CNY, arguably the most advanced central bank digital currency (CBDC), is still being tested primarily in domestic retail payment trials. However, cross-border e-commerce could provide the next use case scenario for the “natural and particularly easy to accept” digital yuan, thinks Tu Yonghong, deputy director of the International Monetary Institute (IMI) at the Renmin University of China. According to Wei Benhua, former deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the future implementation of the e-CNY in international payments will not only promote the RMB but can also influence the reform of the global monetary system. At the same time, he stressed that a consensus would be needed on new rules and standards for the sovereign digital currency. The digital yuan is “technically ready” to facilitate cross-border transactions, the Chinese publication notes. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has recently confirmed its intentions to explore options to launch pilot programs for cross-border payments with the e-CNY. The improvement of cross-border payments is one of the goals set by the PBOC in the e-CNY whitepaper, the report remarks. The Chinese central bank will work with counterparts and monetary authorities around the world to establish regulatory mechanisms and exchange arrangements for its digital currency. In early June, financial authorities in Hong Kong announced they are going to connect the region’s domestic payments network to the Chinese digital yuan system in order to evaluate the currency’s usability in cross-border transactions. The test is part of a second round of trials following initial small-scale experiments with digital yuan wallets. The RMB International Index, an indicator reflecting the level of internationalization of the Chinese currency published by the International Monetary Institute, rose to 5.02 points at the end of last year, from just 0.02 a decade ago. The IMI claims the RMB’s international usage has surpassed that of the Japanese yen and the British pound during the first half of 2020. Do you expect the e-CNY to increase the importance of the Chinese yuan as an international currency? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. View the full article

The Ghanaian Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, has implored African governments to start exploring digital currencies as such alternatives have the potential to enhance intra-African trade. In addition, such digital currencies allow African countries to carry out all cross-border payments smoothly, the leader explained. Ghana Government Backing for CBDC According to a report, Bawumia made these comments while addressing guests at the opening ceremony of the Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFIC) in Accra. The report also quotes Bawumia commending the Ghanaian central bank’s e-cedi project. He said the Ghanaian government is ready to “give it the needed credibility and legal backing for usage.” As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, the Bank of Ghana (BOG) is one of the first African central banks to announce the start of the pilot phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). However, final approval of this CBDC will depend on the outcome of the pilot phase. Concerning the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), the African continent’s central payment and collection infrastructure, Bawumia explained that this will “allow businesses on the continent to clear and settle transactions in their local currencies without depending on third-party currencies.” He added that this system can also act as an “alternative to the current high-cost and long correspondent banking relationships by facilitating trade and other economic activities across the continent through a single, low-cost, and risk-controlled payment clearing and settlement system.” Ghana’s Digitization Policies Meanwhile, the Ghanaian Vice President also used his speech to extol the Akufo-Addo administration’s banking sector and digitization policies. He said: Concurrently, digitisation has also become one of the most consequential policies of the Nana Akufo-Addo government. When the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic hit and forced many economies into partial and total lockdowns, it reinforced the need to pursue digitization. Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, mobile money and digital platforms have emerged as important financial inclusion tools for Ghana. Using Ghana’s success as a reference, Bawumia urged other African countries to follow his government. He said this needs to be done in order “to ensure the growth of the AFCFTA [African Continental Free Trade Agreement] vision.” What are your thoughts on the Ghanaian Vice President’s remarks about digital currencies? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Santiago Nieto Castillo, leader of the UIF, the Mexican financial regulator, has issued an alert that 12 cryptocurrency exchanges are operating illegally in the country. The regulator is now producing the necessary data for Mexican authorities to act against these exchanges. The institution receives information from 23 registered cryptocurrency exchanges reporting users’ transactions. Mexican Regulator on the Hunt for Unregulated Exchanges The Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), the Mexican financial regulator, issued an alert about 12 cryptocurrency exchanges that are operating illegally in the country. The names of these companies were not mentioned, and this means these exchanges are still not registered with the SAT, the country’s tax authority. Santiago Nieto Castillo, leader of the UIF, stated they are collecting data to execute actions against these companies. The Mexican fintech law establishes that virtual asset service providers must report the activities of customers that transact more than 57,804 pesos, currently equivalent to $2,911. This policy began in April 2021. Nieto Castillo stated the UIF has received 3,400 alerts from the 23 cryptocurrency exchanges already registered with the regulator. In the country, cryptocurrency exchanges are qualified as a high-risk activity owing to money laundering and terrorism financing concerns. Nieto Castillo hinted there could be a relation between these exchanges and criminal groups. He declared: A fundamental issue will be to analyze cryptocurrencies and their relationship with criminal groups. It draws my attention that many of the cryptocurrency platforms are installed in various municipalities in the state of Jalisco (area dominated by the Jalisco Cartel). Exchange Platforms Could Be Sanctioned With the help of the registered exchanges, the UIF has already detected three probable money-laundering attempts using cryptocurrency. On the subject, Nieto Castillo stated that thanks to this oversight they have identified cases where the amounts transacted by some users don’t correspond to their transactional profiles. These unregistered exchanges could be subject to sanctions applied by the Mexican government. These sanctions can include criminal charges as well as fines. According to national laws, the unregistered exchanges could pay between 29,000 pesos (almost $2K) to 295,400 pesos (almost $15K) for not being registered with the SAT. To conclude, Nieto Castillo states it would be desirable if Mexican regulation established the CNBV — the national banking regulator — as the money laundering comptroller institution for these exchanges, because the institution has more experience managing this kind of risk. Mexico has so far taken a tough stance on crypto, with its Finance Minister, Arturo Herrera, stating that cryptocurrencies were not allowed to be used in Mexico’s financial system on June 29. What do you think about Mexican crypto-related anti-money laundering regulations? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis is pushing for regulation that would ensure bitcoin remains a good store of value. If the cryptocurrency “is to become what El Salvador has done, legal tender, then we need to make sure that we are using it in ways that comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws,” she said. The pro-bitcoin senator also noted that big government spenders are “doing far more to accelerate the adoption of digital assets” than she is. Senator Lummis on Bitcoin Adoption and Cryptocurrency Regulation U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has shared her view about cryptocurrency regulation and adoption. Following the Senate Banking Committee’s hearing about cryptocurrencies, she tweeted Wednesday: Big gov’t spenders are (accidentally) doing far more to accelerate the adoption of digital assets than I am. The debasement of our currency is causing a flight to digital assets like bitcoin that are a store of value. However, she added that “spending America deeper into a hole is a stupid, inflationary and altogether undesirable way to drive people to digital assets.” The senator emphasized: “I want USD to continue as the world’s reserve currency. We need to reign in spending and support financial innovation on U.S. soil to protect the status of the United States.” In an interview with Fox Business Wednesday, Senator Lummis was asked what form of cryptocurrency regulation she would like to see in the U.S. going forward. “I want to start with good solid definitions … I want the end result to be a regulatory sandbox where everyone understands the rules but innovation can still occur unrestricted,” she replied. She was then specifically asked how the crypto regulation she is pushing for would affect bitcoin. She explained: We want to make sure that bitcoin can continue to serve as a good store of value. And, if it is to become what El Salvador has done, legal tender, then we need to make sure that we are using it in ways that comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws. We want to make sure that it’s used legitimately. The senator from Wyoming was also asked if she owned bitcoin herself. “I do own bitcoin myself. It’s the only cryptocurrency I own. I own it because it’s a great store value. I’m going to save it so when I retire I know it’s there,” she described. “The only digital asset that I understand is bitcoin because it’s such a great store of value. Only 21 million will ever be mined.” Lummis further opined: I encourage other people, who want to make sure that they have a diversified asset allocation for their retirement, at least one asset that they know is going to hold its value much like gold, that they consider bitcoin. What do you think about Senator Lummis’ comments on bitcoin and regulation? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

State Street Corp., one of the world’s leading providers of financial services to institutional investors, has announced the expansion of its crypto services in partnership with Lukka, an enterprise crypto asset data and software provider. State Street Launching New Crypto Services State Street Corp. announced new cryptocurrency services Thursday. The financial services firm “will provide digital and cryptocurrency asset fund administration capabilities for the firm’s private funds clients” in partnership with Lukka, the announcement details, adding: State Street will support its private fund clients with collection, standardization, enrichment, reconciliation, processing and reporting related to crypto and other digital assets. The Boston-headquartered financial services and bank holding company offers investment servicing, investment management, investment research, and trading services. State Street operates globally in more than 100 geographic markets. The company had $42.6 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $3.9 trillion in assets under management (AUM) as of June 30. The financial services firm recently launched State Street Digital, a division focused on addressing the industry’s evolving shift to digital finance. It also led Lukka’s Series C funding round in December of 2020. Nadine Chakar, head of State Street Digital, commented: The growth in popularity of digital assets is showing no signs of a slowdown … Our work with Lukka will leverage their software and data in order to help expand our digital and crypto asset fund administration capabilities to alternative managers. Specifically, State Street will leverage Lukka’s product suite, which includes a proprietary middle and back-office data management solution, Reference Data, and Prime Pricing Data. Jen Tribush, alternatives lead for State Street Digital, opined: “As our clients continue to adopt digital assets, such as crypto, we’ve seen increasing interest among investors for institutional quality middle and back-office offerings that support diversified portfolios.” Lukka CEO Robert Materazzi described: “Large, traditional funds are rapidly looking to add crypto to their offerings, which leads them to ask their existing, trusted service providers such as State Street for fund administration.” He added: “State Street was quick to recognize the importance of building capabilities to support crypto assets and we are proud to partner with them as funds quickly look to diversify their portfolios.” What do you think about State Street expanding its crypto services? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

A new non-fungible token (NFT) project crafted by the American actress and producer, Mila Kunis, has made millions selling NFTs tied to an animated series called “Stoner Cats.” The project is a show that will only allow token holders the ability to watch the upcoming series produced by Orchard Farm Productions, a studio owned by Kunis. Animated Series Created by Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher Sparks New NFT Hype The cryptocurrency community and mainstream news publications have been discussing a new NFT project bolstered by Mila Kunis and her husband Ashton Kutcher called “Stoner Cats.” The duo has teamed up with popular celebrities such as Chris Rock, Jane Fonda, and the “Family Guy’s” Seth MacFarlane. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin will be joining the animated series as well playing the character called “Lord Catsington.” Essentially the show is about an older woman called “Ms. Stoner” who lives with a number of mischievous cats. Ms. Stoner has Alzheimer’s Disease and decides to partake in using medical marijuana for her ailments. However, as soon as the elderly woman fish bowls the house, her cats get high and they start talking to each other. The “Stoner Cats” animated series cast. The “Stoner Cats” website shows a small clip of Ms. Stoner and her cats, which gives viewers some perspective of the upcoming show. But not just anyone can watch the new show, as the series will only be available to NFT holders, which sold out on Tuesday. The sale of over 10,000 NFTs sold out in less than 35 minutes as each card sold at 0.35 ETH a pop (over $800). The sale raised a total of $8.4 million and NFTs can also be sold on secondary markets. The animated series web portal explains in great detail what the show will entail. “Stoner Cats is an adult animated short series centered on five house cats who mysteriously become sentient,” the site details. “With their *higher* consciousness, they realize that their beloved owner, Ms. Stoner, needs rescue from a myriad of dangerous situations. With great *flower* comes great responsibility.” Ms. Stoner NFT Owner Wants $81 Million for the Blockchain-Based Card With token cards on secondary markets like Opensea, the NFTs command a significant premium compared to the initial $800 investment. The “Ms. Stoner” NFT recently sold for 30 ETH ($69.7K) and the current owner wants 35,000 ETH or $81 million for the single NFT. The Ms. Stoner card that sold for $69,700 worth of ethereum (ETH). From the looks of secondary price tags, crypto fans believe the Mila Kunis’ NFT collectibles will be more valuable in the future. Moreover, Stoner Cat NFT creators will get 2.5% on every sale that follows the original. “Stoner Cats NFTs will act as lifetime passes that unlock all future content released,” the web page emphasizes. While the Stoner Cats project saw a lot of action during the sales, research provided by Dune Analytics indicates that close to $800K in ethereum (ETH) was spent on the 35 minutes worth of Stoner Cat NFT purchasing madness. What do you think about the show Stoner Cats and the NFT sales? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Following the announcement from Greenidge Generation Holdings that detailed the company would be promoting a carbon-neutral stance, and the firm’s recent partnership with Foundry, Greenidge revealed on Thursday it is investing profits into a renewable energy investment program. The company is in the midst of expediting the closure of a coal ash landfill in order to construct a new solar farm. Greenidge Invests in Renewable Energy Investment Program In 2014, the Lockwood Hills landfill in Dresden, New York was purchased by Lockwood Hills LLC, which is a subsidiary of Greenidge. The site has been “safely maintained” over the last seven years, Greenidge claims, and it ended the use of coal-fired power at the adjacent power facility during that time. The announcement on Thursday says the company plans to safely cap and close down the landfill and Greenidge hopes to install “a solar project across the 143-acre site that will produce up to 5MW of power.” The bitcoin mining company says that the move is aligned with the firm’s efforts to improve the environment in New York. While it is working on projects like the Lockwood Hills landfill, Greenidge details it is purchasing voluntary carbon offsets from U.S. greenhouse gas reduction projects. Jeff Kirt, CEO of Greenidge, believes bitcoin mining models can advance operations in a way that keeps the environment safe. “Bitcoin mining at Greenidge is already a model for the industry in that we are advancing this emerging financial platform for people across the world in a manner that fully protects our environment and drives economic growth across Upstate New York,” Kirt said in a statement. The move makes renewable energy a reality by leveraging bitcoin mining profits to fund the creation of a new solar farm at a landfill site, Kirt added. Greenidge President Says Bitcoin Mining Adds Jobs, Supports Local Community and Can Help the Environment Greenidge is just one of many crypto mining projects attempting to rejuvenate the environment by transforming business models and removing waste through the process. For instance, Stronghold Digital Mining converts waste coal into alternative energy in order to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. At the end of May, EZ Blockchain partnered with a Texas-based oil provider to monetize wasted natural gas with bitcoin. Before Greenidge’s acquisition in 2014, the Lockwood Landfill was permitted to hold coal combustion residuals (CCR) and other wastes. Greenidge details that it will ensure “the site will no longer accept waste of any kind,” add a water filtration system, and a permanent engineered membrane to stop erosion. “For those of us who grew up and still live right here in the Finger Lakes, the Lockwood Hills landfill has been a constant presence, overlooking Seneca Lake and the Village of Dresden, and something we always hoped would eventually not be needed,” Greenidge president Dale Irwin said in a statement. Irwin added that he was pleased that bitcoin mining facilities can not only create jobs and support local businesses, but crypto mining operations can also “facilitate the development of renewable energy at this old landfill site.” What do you think about Greenidge converting the Lockwood Hills landfill in New York? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Robinhood, the fee-free cryptocurrency, stock, and options exchange, raised almost $2 billion in its initial public offering, reaching a valuation of $32 billion. While the company is more valuable than Nasdaq itself, the IPO failed to give the company an expected valuation of $35 billion. Robinhood trading will open today, with its shares trading under the HOOD ticker. Robinhood Misses $35 Billion Valuation Goal Robinhood, the fee-free investing app, has successfully completed its IPO, raising almost $2 billion. However, the company failed to meet the goal of reaching a $35 billion valuation, as its shares sold at $38, in the low end of the proposed $38-$42 range. The company allowed users of the exchange to acquire a third of the shares available before its launch on the market, something unusual in these processes. While Robinhood failed to reach its desired target, its valuation was much higher than what it was at its last funding round, when the company reached $12 billion. The company is now in the mid-tier of its rivals, having a better valuation than Interactive Brokers ($26 billion), but falling short of Charles Schwab ($130 billion). Robinhood capitalized on the interest and growth that the stock and cryptocurrency market saw in the first two quarters of the year, riding its popularity as one of the first exchanges that allowed for zero-fee trading, prompting a change in the industry. But some experts claim this valuation is unsustainable in the long term. Kathleen Smith, of Reinassance Capital, stated: It seems rich — unless the company can keep up this high growth. Robinhood’s Crypto Business While Robinhood’s main revenue comes from options trading (38%), the company has an important part of its earnings coming from cryptocurrency-related trading (17%) as well. In this regard, the growth of Robinhood has been exponential. In its preliminary prospectus filed with the SEC for its IPO, the company stated customers traded $88 billion during the first quarter of the year. This caused Robinhood to custody almost $12 billion in crypto for its users. Robinhood’s big cryptocurrency trading business has raised concern amongst regulators. According to people said to be familiar with the matter, the SEC delayed Robinhood’s IPO over concerns about how the company conducted this line of business. Robinhood is currently also under the gaze of regulators because its CEO, Vlad Tenev, is not licensed by FINRA, Wall Street’s watchdog. However, Robinhood has declared that Tenev does not need to be registered because he is CEO of Robinhood Markets, not of its trading subsidiary, Robinhood Financial. The probe is ongoing. What do you think of Robinhood’s IPO performance? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

The U.S. Marshals Service, a primary law enforcement agency of the Department of Justice (DOJ), has hired a new custodian for its seized cryptocurrencies. The agency has seized and auctioned off over 185K bitcoins so far. The United States Marshals Service (USMS) has selected Anchorage Digital to provide custody for cryptocurrencies seized in criminal cases, the crypto custody firm announced Wednesday. The USMS is one of the primary law enforcement agencies of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). It was also the first federal law enforcement agency in the country. Anchorage explained: This award means that Anchorage will be responsible for providing a full suite of cryptocurrency services. The services include “custody, liquidation, and such activities as accounting, customer management, audit compliance, managing blockchain forks, wallet creation, transformation of token assets into coin assets, etc., as well as future actions associated with the virtual currency forfeiture process,” the company detailed. Prior to hiring Anchorage, the USMS awarded the crypto custody contract to Bitgo in April, after spending more than a year seeking a custodian and financial services provider for its stockpile of seized crypto assets. Bitgo was acquired by Galaxy Digital in May. It is not clear why the DOJ decided to use Anchorage instead of Bitgo to custody seized cryptocurrencies. According to CNBC, the Marshals Service has confiscated and sold more than 185,000 bitcoins worth more than $7.2 billion since about 2014. Venture capitalist Tim Draper won the USMS auction of 30,000 confiscated bitcoins from the now-defunct Silk Road in 2014. The Marshals Service’s most recent bitcoin auction was in February last year when more than 4,041 BTC were auctioned. What do you think about the U.S. Marshals Service hiring Anchorage to custody seized cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Members of the U.S. Federal Reserve discussed the possibility of economic measures and actions at the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday. The Fed said that right now the central bank is not considering cutting back large asset purchases just yet, and the central bank also plans to keep interest rates at near-zero. Speaking about the dollar’s dwindling purchasing power, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said that “inflation could turn out to be higher and more persistent than we originally expected.” The Federal Reserve Will Continue Monetary Easing Practices and Keep Interest Rates Low Americans are getting more concerned about inflation as the days pass and the recent outcome of Wednesday’s FOMC meeting was not very reassuring to economists and financial analysts. Prior to the meeting on Wednesday, market observers thought the central bank might start announcing the tapering back of quantitative easing by curbing the multi-billion-dollar bond and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) purchases that take place every month. Moreover, people are expecting the Fed to raise interest rates again as the central bank has kept them suppressed near zero. BREAKING: Fed Chair Jerome Powell now says "Inflation could turn out to be higher and more persistent than we originally expected."#crypto #btc — Giorgi Kvesitadze (@GiorgiKvesitad1) July 28, 2021 The outcome of Wednesday’s meeting shows that members of the Fed such as Jerome Powell, John Williams, Thomas Barkin, Raphael Bostic, Michelle Bowman, Lael Brainard, Richard Clarida, Mary Daly, Charles Evans, Randal Quarles, and Christopher Waller are not ready to act. The Fed will not raise rates it said, but noted that economic recovery was getting closer. The U.S. central bank also said it wasn’t going to taper large asset purchases, as Chairman Jerome Powell says the Fed is not quite ready. Moreover, when the bank does start tapering, the Fed plans to taper bond purchases first, before it starts easing up on MBS purchases. “There is little support for [the] idea of tapering [mortgage-backed securities] earlier than Treasurys,” Powell said on Wednesday. The FOMC statements noted that since December, the economy has “made progress toward these goals, and the committee will continue to assess progress in coming meetings.” The FOMC’s post-meeting statement said: The sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic have shown improvement but have not fully recovered. Inflation has risen, largely reflecting transitory factors. Overall financial conditions remain accommodative, in part reflecting policy measures to support the economy and the flow of credit to U.S. households and businesses. Criticism Toward the Fed’s Lack of Decision Making Grows Louder, Fed Won’t Stop Easy-Money Practices Until ‘Substantial Further Progress’ Is Made Of course, a great number of American journalists pressed the members of the Federal Reserve for answers about rising inflation. Economist and gold bug, Peter Schiff, said that Fed chair Jerome Powell “dodged” these questions. “Powell conveniently dodged answering the question about his willingness to raise interest rates to fight inflation even if the labor market hadn’t fully recovered,” Schiff tweeted after the meeting. “That’s because stagflation has arrived, and the Fed can’t acknowledge that predicament without making it worse,” he added. Schiff continued his scathing review of Powell’s statements by saying: Powell said the Fed won’t even consider if higher inflation isn’t transitory until after the economy reaches full employment, whatever that means. Since we’ve entered stagflation, full employment will never exist. Inflation will keep rising until a dollar crash makes it worse. The macroeconomist and analyst from northmantrader.com, Sven Henrich criticized the Fed’s lack of action as well. When Henrich was asked why the Fed didn’t plan to taper MBS purchases, he said: “Because they are scared of the market reaction. There is zero economic justification to keep piling $40B a month into MBS in a housing market that’s been rising over 20% YoY to record prices. None.” Henrich further said that he suspects there will be a time when the Fed regrets not tapering. However, the economist added: They will never admit it of course for the Fed does not admit errors. For now, market observers will have to wait, as Schiff noted the meeting on Wednesday ended with “a whole lot of talk, and no action.” The easy-money policy has been steady since March 2020, as the U.S. central bank has purchased $40 billion in MBS and $80 billion in Treasury securities ever since then. Powell and the rest of the FOMC members wholeheartedly believe until “substantial further progress” is made, the monetary easing will continue, despite criticism from the press and market observers. What do you think about the Fed’s decision to do nothing and continue the massive quantitative easing and suppressing interest rates at near-zero? Do you think the Fed will regret these decisions or do you think the central bank’s moves are necessary? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

On July 28, Zac Prince, the CEO of crypto finance firm Blockfi, explained that the company has been “engaged in a productive discourse” with U.S. regulators. Prince further said the New Jersey Bureau of Securities had extended the state’s previous order to September 2. Meanwhile, the company also has issues with Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), as the state’s DFR commissioner filed an order against the firm’s Blockfi Interest Accounts (BIAs). Garden State Regulators Give Blockfi an Extension, Vermont Issues Regulatory Complaints Four states have taken issue with Blockfi’s BIAs and regulators have issued notices to the company in recent times. Blockfi’s co-founder Zac Prince revealed the company’s issues with New Jersey regulators on July 19. New Jersey’s public notice and complaints about Blockfi’s crypto BIAs cited the “sale of unregistered securities.” Then on July 22, regulators from Texas and Alabama also sent notice to the company concerning the BIAs. Blockfi now has problems with a fourth state, as Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) has issued a notice to Blockfi as well. Documents discovered by financial reporter Danny Nelson on July 27, show that Michael S. Pieciak, the commissioner of Vermont’s DFR, has issued a 30-day show cause order. The notice details that Blockfi has to convince the state’s regulator its BIAs are not securities. “BIAs are not registered or permitted for sale in Vermont, nor do they qualify for any exemption from registration pursuant to the Securities Act,” the notice says. The company is “not registered with the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation to offer or sell securities in Vermont,” Pieciak’s order adds. Blockfi CEO: Company Is Engaged in Productive Discourse With Regulators The day after Pieciak’s notice to Blockfi, Prince addressed the public via a company blog post. “We have been engaged in a productive discourse with regulators to protect your interests and expand accessibility to innovative financial solutions for all,” Prince wrote. “This is our commitment to you — to fight for your rights to earn interest on your crypto assets,” the Blockfi executive added. Prince gave an update regarding the case in New Jersey as well and said the New Jersey Bureau of Securities extended their deadline. Prince said: One update I want to share with you following these discussions is that the New Jersey Bureau of Securities (NJ BOS) has further postponed the effective date of its previous order to Thursday, September 2, 2021. Blockfi’s founder said that while the order prevents the creation of new BIAs in New Jersey it does not impact other products and current customers. “Rest assured, your access to Blockfi is completely unimpaired,” Prince stressed. Blockfi co-founder Flori Marquez also shared Prince’s post on Twitter and said the company is working with financial regulators. “At Blockfi, we are focused on protecting consumers’ rights to earn interest on their crypto,” Marquez said. “Over the last week, we’ve had constructive talks with regulators about why the BIA is appropriate for crypto market participants.” What do you think about Blockfi’s recent update and the company’s issues in the state of Vermont? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Bit Mining is going to expand its operations in Central Asia with the purchase of 2,500 crypto mining machines slated for deployment in Kazakhstan. The new devices are expected to increase the Chinese company’s total hashrate capacity by an estimated 165 petahashes per second. Bit Mining Buys New Cryptocurrency Miners for Data Centers in Kazakhstan Shenzhen-based Bit Mining Ltd. announced Wednesday it has secured a purchase agreement for the acquisition of 2,500 new bitcoin mining machines. The price tag of the deal is approximately $6.6 million, the crypto mining firm detailed in a press release. Following the delivery, which is scheduled for next week, the company intends to ship the coin minting rigs to Kazakhstan. Once deployed, the mining devices are expected to increase Bit Mining’s “theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity by approximately 165 petahashes per second (PH/s).” Bit Mining said it’s constantly monitoring the market for cryptocurrency mining hardware and will consider “cost-efficient” acquisitions “on an opportunistic basis.” It emphasized: Looking forward, the company is prepared to further expand the scale of its business and increase its theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity, in order to strengthen its position as a leading cryptocurrency mining enterprise. Chinese Mining Company Continues Migration to Central Asia The crypto firm further noted that the expansion of its bitcoin mining machine fleet goes on in parallel with the implementation of its overseas development strategy which is largely focused on Central Asia. Bit Mining has already installed 3,819 rigs with a total hashrate capacity of 172 PH/s in data centers in Kazakhstan. Another 4,033 bitcoin miners with a hashrate capacity of 121 PH/s have been shipped to the country and are currently awaiting deployment. According to the announcement published by Prnewswire, the company has also launched ethereum (ETH) mining operations outside of mainland China that have a hashrate capacity of 86.4 gigahashes per second (GH/s). “An additional hash rate capacity of 4,713.6 GH/s is expected to be deployed by the end of October 2021,” Bit Mining added. In May, the Chinese company revealed plans to build and operate a 100 MW crypto-mining data center in Kazakhstan, a project that will be implemented in partnership with two local companies. In June, Bit Mining began moving 3,000 bitcoin mining machines to Kazakhstan amid an ongoing government crackdown on crypto mining in the People’s Republic of China. Do you expect more crypto mining companies from China to follow Bit Mining’s lead and relocate to Central Asia? View the full article

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted how many bitcoins Tesla owns after revealing that the fair market value of its bitcoin holdings was $1.47 billion as of June 30. Tesla Holding About 42K Bitcoins Tesla’s technoking, Elon Musk, has commented on how many bitcoins his electric car company owns in response to a rough calculation provided on Twitter by Tesla shareholder Dave Lee. In his calculation, Lee used $1.47 billion as the fair market value of Tesla’s entire bitcoin holdings as shown in the company’s Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Tesla wrote: As of June 30, 2021, the carrying value of our digital assets held was $1.31 billion, which reflects cumulative impairments of $50 million. The fair market value of such digital assets held as of June 30, 2021 was $1.47 billion. Lee also used the price of bitcoin at close on June 30, which was about $35,040. On that day, the high of the BTC price was $35,189.75 and the low was 34,155.90 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. His estimate suggests that Tesla is holding 42,069 BTC. Musk subsequently replied: “We don’t have that many bitcoin, but it’s close.” Tesla bought bitcoin worth $1.5 billion in the first quarter. The company also began accepting the cryptocurrency as a means of payment in March but stopped in May citing environmental concerns. However, Musk said at a recent bitcoin event, “The B Word,” that Tesla will likely resume accepting bitcoin. At the end of the second quarter, the company reported its bitcoin holdings worth $1.311 billion after impairments. In April, the electric car company’s bitcoin stash was worth $2.5 billion. Not only does Tesla own bitcoin, but Musk also revealed during the B Word event that he personally owns BTC, as does his other company, Spacex. Musk also owns ether and dogecoin. According to a list of bitcoin treasuries, the only public company that owns more bitcoin than Tesla is Microstrategy. Led by the pro-bitcoin Michael Saylor, Microstrategy has made accumulating BTC one of its primary objectives. The company currently hodls approximately 105,085 bitcoins. How many bitcoins do you think Elon Musk, Tesla, and Spacex own? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

A Zimbabwean music production company, Mutscon Music, recently announced that its clients can now pay for services using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum. According to the company, this decision has partly been necessitated by ongoing pandemic-related movement restrictions. Music Studio Accepts Crypto Mutscon Music has also chosen to accept cryptocurrencies because this form of payment enables Zimbabweans, including those in the diaspora, to directly pay for services rendered to artists. In addition, this option to pay with BTC or ETH makes Mutscon’s services more affordable, a company executive has said. To understand Mutscon Music’s decision and what this means, Bitcoin.com News reached out to Tonderai Muteta, the company’s director of music. Below are Muteta’s responses to questions from Bitcoin.com News. Bitcoin.com News (BCN): What gave you the idea of accepting crypto payments? Tonderai Muteta (TM): The flexibility of transfer and the need to open more opportunities for music students, musicians and others, since we are now doing more work online. We had already been using other forms of electronic money, so including cryptocurrencies in the basket seemed like the logical thing to do. BCN: How long have you been in the music education business? TM: Have been teaching since 2007 and Mutscon Resources has been operating since 2017. BCN: When did you start accepting cryptos and how has the response been? TM: We started in June 2021, however, the response has been modest. BCN: Are you not a little concerned with the volatility of cryptocurrencies? TM: We use the [exchange] rate at the time of transfer. In the short term, we are good, and in the medium to long term, we have been exposed to the volatile currency in Zimbabwe so we can handle the [price] changes. BCN: Do you have plans to add other cryptocurrencies in the future? TM: Yes, sure, we will consider adding other cryptocurrencies if and when clients request this. BCN: Does this mean you have stopped accepting fiat payments? TM: Fiat payments are still being accepted. BCN: What are the advantages of being paid in crypto? TM: This allows for opportunities to participate in the global market. BCN: We know that Zimbabwe does not currently have crypto on and off-ramps. So how then do you plan to liquidate or convert your crypto assets into cash? TM: Cryptocurrencies have fair use and are now accepted by certain service providers and some wallets allow for buying tokens that can be used to pay subscriptions on international platforms. BCN: What are your thoughts on the prospect of Zimbabwe becoming another crypto-embracing country? TM: It is highly likely that Zimbabweans would find it easy to adopt cryptocurrencies since these operate similar to other e-wallets in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, the Ponzi schemes are fueling paranoia and stigmatization [of cryptocurrenices]. However, the community of cryptocurrencies users is gradually growing and we believe this will provide opportunities for our clients to advance their education and careers in music. What are your thoughts on Mutscon Music’s decision to accept cryptocurrencies? You can share your views in the comments section below. View the full article

The bitcoin rewards platform Lolli has announced the company has closed a $10 million Series A funding round on Wednesday. Lolli says the new financing will help the firm expand, hire and develop new partnerships. Lolli Raises $10 Million The New York-based Lolli has raised $10 million from investors, according to the company’s announcement on July 28. The company said that the Series A was led by Acrew Capital, Banana Capital, Up North Management, and Animal Capital. The venture capital company Animal was founded by social media moguls Noah Beck, Josh Richards, and Griffin Johnson. Lolli further detailed that investors like Baron Davis, Kenny Beecham, Logan Paul, and Chantel Jeffries participated as well. The CTO and co-founder of Lolli, Matt Senter, said that Acrew Capital’s investment shows the company understands that bitcoin-based businesses are blossoming. “Acrew’s sizable bet on Lolli says two things: bitcoin business is booming, and as the original bitcoin rewards platform, Lolli has the best team to increase adoption in the long run,” Senter said in a statement. The Series A funding will be used to expand the firm, recruit new employees, and “further development of the recently launched mobile app.” Tiktok star and social media giant Josh Richards and the Youtuber and entrepreneur, Logan Paul, also discussed the Lolli investment. “I’m thrilled to be investing and helping to fuel the growth of a company that allows users to earn and learn about this new asset class,” Youtube star Logan Paul said on Wednesday. Josh Richards said that his firm Animal Capital believes in companies that are embracing the modern age. Richards remarked during the announcement: At Animal Capital, we believe in companies that are meeting modern users where they are – by bringing opportunities to invest in bitcoin to shoppers of all ages, Lolli is poised to transform the way that people, especially young shoppers, think about investing. Lolli’s Competition, Review Score, and Drawbacks Lolli isn’t the only service that offers crypto rewards these days for shopping, and the app competes with pre-paid crypto cards like Blockfi’s and Crypto.com’s Visa cards. The company was recently reviewed on July 13 by bitcompare.net’s Dean Fankhauser and achieved a score of 4.5 out of 5. Fankhauser’s review is fairly comprehensive but mentions some drawbacks tied to Lolli’s application. “You’ll need to wait between 30 and 90 days before seeing any actual earnings from the app,” Fankhauser writes. “Considering how small these earnings are, that’s a long time to wait for an online shopping reward.” The review also says that “returning items on which you’ve already earned bitcoin rewards can also muddy the waters of the system.” In contrast, Crypto.com’s wait time for crypto rewards on pre-paid crypto debit purchases is negligible because the crypto rewards are instant. What do you think about Lolli raising $10 million from investors in a Series A funding round? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Digital asset exchange Bitrue is seeking to engage its user community directly by distributing decision-making power for adding new token projects after the listing team thoroughly vets them. Platform Advancing Further Voting Powers in Future Updates Blockchain’s innate ability to decentralize products and services has long been among its key value propositions, especially when providing more democratized access to these same offerings. Governance is rapidly becoming the newest area for blockchain’s democratization efforts, and the community is joining the cause. Bitrue, a digital assets exchange, has joined the ranks of other service providers embracing a more community-based governance approach with its decision to hand over listing votes to users, which took effect on July 27th. Bitrue’s listings team will collect project suggestions based on feedback from social media channels before analyzing the projects’ legitimacy and prospects. Projects that pass a rigorous due diligence process will be presented to the community for a vote. Voters on these listing initiatives will stake the exchange’s native token, Bitrue Coin (BTR), to participate. Once a coin that is up for a vote reaches a certain threshold, it will be listed on the exchange and opened for trading. Users who staked coins in successful listing initiatives will be eligible for airdrops of those newly listed coins. Eventually, Bitrue plans to open up other management and governance decision-making powers to users in areas like developing new platform features, including fresh trading pairs, and additions to the Power Piggy product — an investment tool that lets users pick and choose the coins they want to invest and generates daily interest into users’ accounts. Many of the forthcoming projects set for votes will be focused on emerging blockchain ecosystems that the platform already supports, including Cardano, Hedera Hashgraph, and Solana. Breaking the Centralized Governance Grip While blockchains like Polkadot and Cardano already have a community-governance angle engrained by design, these types of transparent governance mechanisms are far from the norm. The centralization of certain services has prevented true democratization and transparency from materializing as envisioned. Exchanges are one of the leading perpetrators because of their opaque decision-making mechanisms governing platform use. In the past, these practices have caused consternation amongst the community, a case in point being Coinbase’s historical listing practices. Any rumors that the exchange would be listing a new token lifted purchases in other venues ahead of the proposed unveiling. With the expectation that these newly listed tokens would open themselves up to material purchase momentum from Coinbase’s vast ranks of clients, it could have been viewed as a form of frontrunning given the high stakes. Nevertheless, other platforms are moving in the same direction as Bitrue, and among them is Shapeshift. The digital assets exchange recently announced an initiative to dissolve its corporate structure and move to a community-operated framework. Its native FOX coin will serve as ownership and governance tokens in this new, entirely decentralized structure. Given the importance of the community in blockchain projects, other platforms may quickly follow suit to democratize governance over their products and services, and by extension, deliver improved transparency and involvement that ultimately benefit all an ecosystem’s stakeholders. What do you think of Bitrue’s latest move of engaging its users in decision-making? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article