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A New Zealand hedge fund, NZ Funds Management, which had $350 million worth of assets under management at the end of December 2020, says five percent of its money is invested in bitcoin. According to the firm’s CIO James Grigor, ​bitcoin is also set to be featured in more of its Kiwisaver investment schemes within the next five years. ‘You Cannot Discount Bitcoin’ As explained in a local report, the firm’s bitcoin acquisition only became possible in October 2020 when an amendment was made to its offer documents. Meanwhile, in justifying the acquisition, Grigor said: Bitcoin had become a commodity, with many of the attractive hallmarks of gold, which investors often bought as a store of value in times of economic crisis. In the past few years, BTC has cemented its reputation as an alternative store of value. Many supporters and opponents (including U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell) see bitcoin as a digital form of gold. This is possibly one attribute of the crypto asset that prompted Grigor’s firm to allocate funds towards it as he explains: If you are happy to invest in gold, you can’t really discount bitcoin. Bitcoin Speculative Asset However, some of NZ Funds Management’s rivals have attacked this decision calling it “more like gambling than investing.” Others say bitcoin has no place in their portfolios because the crypto is “too speculative at this stage.” In his response to this criticism, Grigor argues that the Kiwisaver fund “is majority built up through traditional assets classes” such as bonds and shares. However, Grigor explains that “there is going to be times when it’s not always going to be plain sailing.” To prepare for this possibility, the CIO suggests that it would then be prudent to invest in other opportunities as they present themselves. Meanwhile, Grigor also reveals that after acquiring the crypto asset at $10,000 in October 2020, BTC spiked to over $61,000. Although the crypto asset has since retreated from the price high, NZ Funds Management is of the view that bitcoin’s price will “continue on its upward trajectory.” However, Grigor adds that “if we think the momentum has gone, we will move onto the next asset class”. What do you think of NZ Funds Management’s move to acquire bitcoin? You can tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

The Indian government has introduced new cryptocurrency disclosure rules. Companies dealing in cryptocurrencies will have to disclose their crypto holdings, among other disclosures, as part of their financial statements beginning April 1. New Crypto Disclosure Requirements The Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) issued a notification last week mandating companies to disclose crypto trading and investments during the financial year. These disclosures will be required starting on April 1, which is when India’s financial year 2021-22 begins. Every company which “has traded or invested in cryptocurrency or virtual currency during the financial year” must disclose “profit or loss on transactions involving cryptocurrency or virtual currency,” “amount of currency held as at the reporting date,” and “deposits or advances from any person for the purpose of trading or investing in cryptocurrency or virtual currency.” Crypto companies in India welcome the new requirements by the government, believing that it legitimizes cryptocurrency transactions. Monark Modi, founder and CEO of Indian cryptocurrency exchange Bitex, was quoted by local media as saying: In light of the recent speculation around ban, allowing cryptocurrencies to be a part of accounting practices will definitely put investors at ease as they no longer have to be worried regarding taxation. He added: “This is a definite endorsement, and it is good to see that India is not falling behind the global cryptocurrency race. Bringing regulation that provides safety to investors, factors taxation and fosters cryptocurrency as an alternate investment class will be the right step ahead.” The Indian government is currently finalizing a cryptocurrency bill that was supposed to be introduced during the Budget session of parliament. However, the session has ended and no crypto bill was introduced. The finance minister has given some clues about what might be in the crypto bill. She said that the government will not shut off all options and will take a calibrated position regarding crypto legislation. Meanwhile, the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), says that it has voiced some major concerns regarding cryptocurrencies to the government. Nonetheless, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das believes that the government and the central bank are in agreement on cryptocurrency. Do you think the new crypto disclosure rules are good for the industry? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has predicted that as much as a trillion dollars could flow into bitcoin over the next year as wealthy baby boomers get into cryptocurrency. With the example of Morgan Stanley, he says that more banks will start offering bitcoin exposure to their customers. $1 Trillion Could Flow Into Bitcoin Michael Novogratz, a longtime bitcoin bull and founder of Galaxy Digital, talked about the future outlook for bitcoin last week in an interview at Reuters Digital Assets Week. He explained that as cryptocurrencies become more mainstream, wealthy baby boomers will be the next generation to get into cryptocurrencies, elaborating: It could be as much as a trillion dollars comes over the next year from that giant group of wealth. Following the announcement by Morgan Stanley to offer access to bitcoin funds to its wealthy clients, Novogratz predicted that other major banks and trading platforms will follow suit. This will likely spark the rush from wealthy baby boomers, he opined. With the new offering, Morgan Stanley will become the first big U.S. bank to offer bitcoin investments to wealth management clients. Two of the three bitcoin funds that will be offered initially are by Galaxy Digital: the Galaxy Bitcoin Fund LP and the Galaxy Institutional Bitcoin Fund LP. Commenting on the move by the major investment bank, Novogratz said: The money will start coming in early next month. The Galaxy Digital executive is not the only one expecting a flood of investments from baby boomers. Recently, JMP Securities predicted that about $1.5 trillion could flow into bitcoin from wealthy clients of investment banks. The firm based its projection on a modest portfolio allocation, citing that “Around $30 trillion of assets in the U.S. retail wealth management industry currently do not have direct access to bitcoin.” As for whether bitcoin is becoming mainstream, Visa CEO Al Kelly recently said that he anticipates the cryptocurrency becoming “extremely mainstream” and his firm is already working to allow bitcoin payments at 70 million stores. Other companies, such as Goldman Sachs, are also seeing huge institutional demand for BTC while Deutsche Bank says the cryptocurrency is too important to ignore. Baby boomers are those born roughly from the end of the second world war to the mid-1960s. They have been the main beneficiaries of massive stimulus packages that have pumped up asset values since the 2008-9 global financial crisis. A number of them see bitcoin as an asset that can significantly increase in value as well as one that can protect their savings from inflation spurred by massive money printing. Noting that bitcoin works best as a store of value rather than a currency or a means of payment, Novogratz opined: If you’re worried that the U.S. is printing too many dollars … you’re going to shift some of your savings into bitcoin. Do you agree with Mike Novogratz about bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The Federal Reserve is actively working on a central bank digital currency and some prototypes are near completion. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) plan to unveil two prototypes of a digital dollar as early as July. Digital Dollar Prototypes Coming Soon Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week as part of an event held by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on central bank digital innovation that the U.S. central bank is actively exploring the launch of a digital dollar. The U.S. Federal Reserve has been actively working on a central bank digital currency (CBDC). At least two prototypes of a digital dollar are near completion, developed by officials at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They plan to unveil their research as soon as July, said James Cunha, who leads the project for the Boston Fed. He told Bloomberg: The Boston Fed and MIT hope to unveil some of their work in the third quarter, including at least two prototype software platforms that could move, store and settle transactions made with digital dollars. Once the prototypes are released, others will be able to see and build on the code, Cunha explained. There are major issues that the central bank, the Treasury, and Congress must address regarding the digital dollar, Cunha explained. These include whether the Fed should host customer accounts itself, whether to allow anonymity and what protections consumers would have in case of a cyberattack or erroneous transaction. He added that the Fed’s work is meant to show what’s possible without taking a stand on these major issues. “We think it’s important that we not wait for the policy debate because then we’ll be a year or so behind,” Cunha was quoted as saying. “This will take significant outreach to the industry and serious debate.” Fed chair Powell said the central bank would fully adopt a digital dollar only with the support of the nation’s elected leaders. In February, he said that the digital dollar is a “very high priority project” for the Fed. “We would need buy-in from Congress, from the Administration, from broad elements of the public,” Powell emphasized last week, adding: We would not proceed with this without support from Congress, and I think that would ideally come in the form of an authorizing law, rather than us trying to interpret our law to enable this. Do you think the Fed should issue a digital dollar? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Over the last seven days the project filecoin, a cryptocurrency, and blockchain-based cooperative digital storage network climbed 61% in value and 493% during the last three months. Regional reports from China also show that the computer hardware giant based in Shenzhen, Xinyuan Technology Co., has invested $89 million into the filecoin mining ecosystem. Filecoin Market Cap Swells, Computer Hardware Giant Xinyuan Technology Invests in FIL Miners Filecoin, the decentralized storage project designed by Protocol Labs and built on top of the Interplanetary File System (IPFS), has seen quite the demand during the last 90 days. During the last week, the crypto asset has spiked 61%, while a number of other cryptocurrencies have been down. At the time of publication, Filecoin is trading for $127 per unit and has a $7.54 billion market valuation. 30-day price statistics show filecoin (FIL) is also up over 270% as well. The Filecoin project aims to make it so people can control their own data, and decentralize major cloud services like Amazon and Cloudflare. The project launched in 2017 with lots of hype and it raised over $200 million in thirty minutes. As the hype gradually grew, on March 27, the Filecoin team announced that FIL miners and Livepeer miners could co-mine together. Filecoin mining has seen demand and just recently, the computer hardware giant based in Shenzhen, Xinyuan Technology Co. invested in filecoin miners. Rephrasing Certain Crypto Terms to Keep the Chinese Government Happy The regional reporter Priyeshu Garg detailed that Xinyuan Technology invested “580 million yuan, or just over $89 million.” Another report from AI Express details that the Shenzhen-based firm signed a sales contract on March 15, 2021. And according to the local reporter Colin Wu, otherwise known as ‘Wu Blockchain,’ Xinyuan Technology deliberately chose to not say certain cryptocurrency terms in its announcement. When Wu mentioned the acquisition an individual said: “Weird, there’s no specific mention of ‘Filecoin.’ The article mentions ‘Distributed Storage Center Project.’ The reporter from China responded by saying: Yeah, because the Chinese government [doesn’t] like words like coin or crypto. Xinyuan Technology’s investment in filecoin miners stems from a partnership with a Jiangxi-based electronic company called Sesumg. According to Priyeshu Garg’s report “Sesumg [will] ship 500 units of computing and 100 units of storage equipment to the company.” Filecoin’s recent demand also derives from the recent announcement from Grayscale Investments when the firm announced the launch of five new trusts with filecoin (FIL) included. Since the Grayscale announcement, FIL market prices have increased a great deal. What do you think about the recent interest in filecoin and Xinyuan Technology investing over $89 million into filecoin miners? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Since well before the Covid-19 outbreak was found in America, the U.S. Federal Reserve invoked a number of monetary easing policies. Then throughout 2020, the central bank created a quarter of all the USD ever issued in less than 12 months to help the economy during the outbreak. Despite Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other central bankers showing little concern for inflation, a recent survey shows that 77% of Americans are worried about surging inflation in the months to come. Survey Shows Younger Generations Are Worried About Inflation Hurting Their Purchasing Power During the first week of March, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell did an interview at the Wall Street Journal Jobs Summit and he explained he wasn’t worried about inflation. Further, other members of the central bank have shown little worry about rising inflation as well, even though the Fed created massive amounts of USD last year and into 2021. Atlanta Fed President, Raphael Bostic, recently said that determining when interest rates will be raised will depend on a few factors. Bostic stressed that he would not be concerned if inflation rises above 2% or even 2.4% if prices are firm and not volatile. Additionally, the Cleveland Fed President, Charles Evans, told the public that increased inflation is welcomed and “too low inflation is no good.” Meanwhile, mainstream media (MSM) publications have been telling U.S. residents not to worry too much about inflation and have called the theories ‘meme economics.’ But Americans seem to be very concerned about soaring inflation, as a recently published survey by Civicscience indicates that 77% of U.S. residents are worried about rising inflation. The Civicscience poll surveyed roughly 2,600 respondents that reside in the U.S. The survey shows that inflation concerns are higher for the younger generations of Americans. Americans 18-24 were “very concerned” about inflation, around 50% of the participants 25-34 were also “very concerned” and 48% of the crowd aged 35-54 were “very concerned” as well. The survey shows that the ‘baby boomer’ generation (born between 1946 and 1964) are the least worried bunch, as only 37% of respondents in this age group were “very concerned.” The researchers at Civicscience also noted in the survey that Americans are more sensitive to the idea of inflation. “Naturally, people who have had their hours or pay reduced as a result of the pandemic are the most sensitive to the idea of inflation and what it means for the general cost of living. If it’s difficult to make ends meet now, imagine how difficult it could be once inflation sinks in,” the Civicscience authors explain. Economists Agree With the Fears, Prices of Goods Show Soaring Inflation Levels Have Begun, Online Queries Show the Term Inflation Is Trending in the US The financial news outlet Zerohedge recently reported on one gauge that shows that inflation fears are the highest ever in 100 years. Zerohedge also notes that the term “inflation” is being “panic searched” online as Google Trends (GT) data shows a massive rise in inflation queries. During the last week in February, inflation searches according to GT data show a score of “100,” the highest score GT data gives for queried terms. Average Americans are not the only ones concerned about soaring inflation levels. While members of the Fed believe inflation will cool next year, Manoj Pradhan, formerly a Morgan Stanley managing director believes inflation is really going to start to boil. Pradhan determined this opinion from data stemming from the Phillips curve, a data set that measures rising inflation and unemployment stats. Inflation is already rising in 2021, in terms of products and items like food and lumber, but Pradhan thinks the real burn will begin next year. “The real challenge will come in 2022, when a lot of spending will have been deployed into goods or into housing, monetary aggregates will still be high with velocity rising,” the former Morgan Stanley economist stressed. Another report, from the New York Times (NYT) tries to say that there is “little evidence for a big jump in prices,” but the author also notes that “fear of inflation finds a foothold in the bond market.” Additionally, “some economists and bond investors fear President Biden’s policies could lead to inflation,” the NYT author continues to highlight. MSM News Outlets Call Fears an ‘Inflation Bogeyman,’ But Others Say ‘Financial Markets Are Obsessed’ With the Topic Other MSM writers, like the ones at the Financial Times (FT), have called the concerns an “inflation bogeyman.” But despite what the mainstream media, status quo economists, and members of the Fed say, Americans are definitely troubled by the fear of rising prices on goods and services. Consumerism has changed a great deal already and a few other studies show that inflation is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. “Financial markets are obsessed with where inflation is headed,” the Seattle Times columnist Alex Tanzi wrote two days ago. Meanwhile, building contractors across the U.S. are struggling to manage inflation in the lumber market. Our local lumberyard: “Prices have risen so fast lately that we can’t quote accurately. So we have now moved to WEEKLY price quotes. If you are a builder and need an estimate for your customer, that lumber estimate is now only good for a week. Sorry.” Fed: “Inflation is 2.2%” — Bruce Fenton (@brucefenton) March 18, 2021 Lumber prices have been so volatile that contractors have put a hold on doing certain projects. A recent Yahoo Finance study further shows that 17 major food companies are warning about inflation. Prices for goods and services have been rising and officials cannot hide the inflation for much longer. Nevertheless, bureaucrats, mainstream media pundits, and central bankers continue to say that inflation won’t be an issue. But Americans and global citizens in other countries where massive fiat printing is happening are worried about these rising prices in the here and now. This fear has spurred a boom for safe-haven assets like precious metals and cryptocurrencies as well. Similar to gold bugs, a great number of cryptocurrency proponents wholeheartedly believe that “holding dollars feels riskier than holding cryptocurrency.” What do you think about the fears of inflation rising across the United States? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

During the last few months, the non-fungible token (NFT) scene has exploded with lots of celebrities jumping on the bandwagon, high grossing auctions, and even some controversy on the side. A lot of people don’t realize how old NFT collectibles are, as years ago developers and artists created NFTs like Nilicoins (artcoins), Rare Pepe trading cards, and Curio cards as well. Since the NFT boom has straddled new heights, these old NFTs are in demand again and being sold at auctions. Color Coins and Nilicoins The NFT ecosystem has grown exponentially and it seems everybody is getting in on the trend. Digital artists selling NFTs have made millions at auction and a great deal of celebrities and socialites are minting NFTs now as well. The NFT space is very popular, but the concept is nothing new, as color coin technology has existed on the Bitcoin (BTC) network and other chains for years. Color coin tech was first mentioned by Yoni Assia in a post called “bitcoin 2.X (aka Colored Bitcoin) — initial specs” published back in 2012. Nili Lerner introduced Nilicoins back in 2014 in order to establish her “artcoins.” Additionally, Lerner issued brand name assets like Apple coin, Coca-Cola coin, and eBay coin over the years. Back in 2014, however, people didn’t understand what Lerner’s Nilicoins were meant for and why she created them. That year developers began to really look into the concept of asset­-pegged cryptocurrencies as the topic was also written about in 2012 in J.R. Willet’s Mastercoin white paper. The concept of asset­-pegged cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and non-fungible tokens really started gaining steam with projects like Counterparty, the Omni Layer Protocol, and then later with Ethereum. For instance, on September 14, 2014, the artist Nili Lerner announced her Nilicoins (artcoins) that used brand names like eBay coin, Coca Cola coin, and Apple coin. The creator recently tweeted about the old project and mentioned how people didn’t understand it at the time. The Nilicoins Twitter account said: The first Crypto Art tokens legacy: Created 2014 and marked with a scam warning for lack of understanding. Spells of Genesis and Rare Pepe Trading Cards Then in April 2015, the Spells of Genesis project built on Counterparty (XCP) made waves when it introduced the blockchain-backed trading card game. Spells of Genesis (SoG) issued trading cards that were some of the first NFTs and a token called Bitcrystals which is used for SoG’s native currency. Spells of Genesis (SoG) issued non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards. SoG considers itself the first blockchain-based mobile game ever made. Following the SoG hype, in October 2016, Bitcoin.com’s newsdesk caught wind of NFT collectibles called Rare Pepe trading cards. The Rare Pepe trading card community grew popular and developers launched a foundation, a wallet, and a trading card directory. Moreover, the rarest Pepe card of them all, ‘Lord Kek’ (only 10 made) traded for $22,720 or 1600 XCP back in 2017. The first series ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ Rare Pepe trading card (300 in circulation) traded for $2,000 at that time as well. The Rare Pepe trading card community still gathers together in the official Telegram channel regularly. Rare Pepe trading cards are not the first blockchain-backed NFTs built, but they may be considered the dankest. The most coveted Rare Pepe trading card is the infamous ‘Lord Kek’ card, because only ten cards were made. Moreover, the creators made it so a single ‘Lord Kek’ NFT out of the ten-pack would be fractional, and the dust of this card is scattered across the blockchain. The community still hosts auctions now and then as well and one of the project’s original members of the Rare Pepe Foundation, Theo Goodman, auctioned some rares this week. According to the Rare Pepe community members, on April 3rd, the crew will have a Punk Vs Pepe bid battle with Crypto Punk from Pranksy versus the exclusive Rare Pepe Nakamoto card. Rare Pepe community members detailed that people can join the auction via the auction house Telegram channel and at Futureart.io. Furthermore, rumor has it, a ‘Lord Kek’ original NFT will be at the Futureart.io art show in Sydney as well. Mad Bitcoins’ Curio Cards See Fresh Demand Another project that followed the success of Rare Pepe cards was another trading card collectible series called Curio Cards. In the summer of 2017, Bitcoin.com’s newsdesk interviewed Thomas Hunt, otherwise known as ‘Mad Bitcoins,’ about a new blockchain-based collectibles project he started called Curio Cards. The NFTs still exist today and a few of the Curio Cards’ artists like Luis Buenaventura have been creating crypto-themed art for years. Buenaventura is the creator of Cryptopop and the coauthor of the littlebitcoinbook.com. Other artists who participated in the Curio Cards creation process include well known content creators like Phneep, Cryptograffiti, and Marisol Vengas. In 2017, Thomas Hunt, otherwise known as Mad Bitcoins, released NFT cards called Curio Cards which were designed by well known crypto artists. Buenaventura recently detailed that Curio Cards have been selling on Opensea.io for ethereum (ETH) and there’s been some demand for the cards. “They’re selling a set of my four my Curio Cards from 2017 at 25 ETH,” the artist tweeted. “I am feeling genuine FOMO over not owning any of my own work,” he added. Additionally, Buenaventura got an unexpected surprise from the Curio Cards experience. “One of the Curio Cards collectors actually found me on Discord and just paid me a not-insignificant royalty fee for a secondary sale. And he/she declined to be thanked publicly for it. Wow, my faith in humanity is restored,” he added. So there’s already some proof that over the years, a few NFTs age like fine wine and grow more valuable. Many of these old-school, first-ever-created NFTs are also valuable for their history, because they pioneered the game before the likes of multi-million dollar Beeple auctions and every celebrity under the sun minting tokens. What do you think about the history of non-fungible token (NFT) assets? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Bitcoin prices surpassing the $60,000 milestone undoubtedly woke up a massive wave of joy across the crypto community. However, such an accomplishment didn’t bring happiness to a married couple, who split up after a dispute on whether to sell bitcoins at that price level or not. Wife Left the House to Stay With Her Sisters According to a post on Reddit, a user named “Parking_Meater” gave his particular testimony on how the bitcoin (BTC) bull-run ended up hurting his marriage. His wife left the house as he didn’t agree to sell the BTC when prices posted the new all-time high at that time. In fact, Parking_Meater was caught by his wife adding more money to his bitcoin position. He detailed how the marital situation worsened in a matter of minutes: She just left to go stay at her sisters. She is super mad that I didn’t sell at 60k and looks at the price often scolding me. I keep telling her we don’t need the money and have the cash. We live nice. However today she caught me buying the dip and was so pissed she almost hit me! Now she packed bags and went to her sisters to stay. She said not to talk to her. So far, the Redditor hasn’t disclosed the total amount of cryptos traded during the infamous “buy the dip” transaction that provoked his wife’s anger. Story Attracted More Jokes Than Words of Support When BTC crossed the $60K threshold on March 13, the quote managed to exchange hands circa $61,318. Afterward, bitcoin plummeted over 15% since then. As usual, in most Reddit threads, Parking_Meater’s particular story wasn’t exempt from comments joking about the situation. One user suggested he should “save a few sats for the divorce lawyer.” Another one even told him that “bitcoin mooning can be a wife changing event.” Although Parking_Meater ended up his brief testimony by asking help to the community in finding “a good place to pick up girls” in his Lambo, it seems like nobody read that sentence, as one user suggested. What are your thoughts on this particular story? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Herman Neglyad, the deputy of the Russian anti-money laundering body, Rosfinmonitoring, has said his organization will monitor cryptocurrency transactions that involve the conversion from crypto to fiat. Neglyad made this revelation during a recent meeting of the State Duma Committee on financial markets. Banks Already Cooperating According to a Russian news site, Regnum, the anti-money laundering body is already getting cooperation from banks. “Banks have already begun to pay attention to exchange operations, that is, when they see that an operation has come after the exchange of virtual assets for hard currency, they have already begun to evaluate them and actually inform us about these operations,” said Neglyad. Also, the Rosfinmonitoring official adds that his organization, alongside the country’s central bank will introduce “a separate code, distinguishing a separate group of such suspicious transactions, that is, to further orient traditional financial institutions to this problem.” Meanwhile, Neglyad’s remarks about Russia’s intention to monitor crypto to ruble transactions follow recent comments by the country’s President, Vladimir Putin. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, President Putin has voiced his concern over what he termed “illegal cross-border transfers of cryptocurrencies.” The Russian leader adds that criminal elements were “increasingly using these digital financial assets, and this justified increased monitoring.” Russia’s Push to Regulate Cryptocurrencies Over the past few years, the Russian nation-state has grappled with the question of how to regulate cryptocurrency use in the country. In September 2020, the country proposed harsh penalties for individuals that fail to disclose cryptocurrency holdings in excess of a certain threshold. In February 2021, Bitcoin.com News reported that a bill recognizing cryptocurrencies as the property had advanced in the Russian parliament. In the meantime, it is not clear if Neglyad’s remarks are linked to President Putin’s earlier comments. However, the Regnum report says the State Duma Committee meeting at which Neglyad spoke had been held “in preparation for the report of the Russian government.” What are your views on Rosfinmonitoring’s proposal to monitor cryptocurrencies? You can share your thoughts in the comments section below. View the full article

Oaktree Capital’s Howard Marks has warmed up to bitcoin. He admitted that he had a knee-jerk reaction to the cryptocurrency and dismissed it too soon. Since then, the price of bitcoin has risen tenfold as demand for the cryptocurrency soars among retail and institutional investors. Howard Marks Changes Stance on Bitcoin Howard Marks, co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, talked about bitcoin during an interview with CNBC last week. As institutional investors become increasingly interested in bitcoin and major companies have announced their investments in the cryptocurrency, Marks said: “I’m opening my mind on bitcoin. I was ‘knee-jerk’ skeptical.” He clarified: While bitcoin doesn’t have an intrinsic value, the same can be said of the dollar and many, many other things that have value like paintings and diamonds. I’ve been more sensitized to the supply-demand case. The Oaktree Capital founder similarly told The Korea Economic Daily on March 15 that back in 2017, when bitcoin rose in popularity, he was “very dismissive of it because it doesn’t have intrinsic value.” He added that he has been studying and found that “people make the case for bitcoin … on the basis of supply and demand.” He noted that the supply of bitcoin is fixed, “unlike the dollar, which can be printed in infinite amounts,” adding that “the demand [for bitcoin] is growing because more people are interested in it.” However, he pointed out that “it’s a little circular because people want it because it’s going up in price and it’s going up in price because people want it. That’s circular.” Exploring “independent reasons why people want it,” Marks named some benefits of bitcoin. “The argument is that it’s very useful to be able to trade instantaneously, you can trade 24 hours … seven days a week.” He compared it to banks, stating that with banks you can’t send a wire any time. In addition, he said: “It’s confidential. Nobody knows about your holding but you, the government can’t know, etc. Nobody can steal it from you. It’s better than an emerging market currency.” He concluded: So there’re all these arguments about why people want it. And the demand grows and the supply doesn’t grow, then the economics tell us [that] the price goes up. He then pondered if those reasons are enough to justify the price of bitcoin. He noted that the price of BTC was about $5,000 when he dismissed it in 2017, and now it’s above $50,000. “So the people who bought it at $5,000, so far they look right,” he said. Chart showing the price of bitcoin from 2017 to the present. Source: markets.Bitcoin.com Currently, the price of bitcoin stands at $56,106 according to markets.Bitcoin.com. This represents a 1,022% increase from its price when Marks dismissed it. Meanwhile, a growing number of institutions are getting into bitcoin. Elon Musk’s Tesla, for example, has invested $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency and recently began accepting BTC as a means of payment for its cars. Goldman Sachs has relaunched its BTC trading desk after seeing huge demand for bitcoin from institutions. Morgan Stanley recently said it will offer wealthy clients access to bitcoin funds. There are now three bitcoin ETFs trading in Canada and major firms, including Fidelity and JPMorgan, have applied with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch bitcoin-based products. Commenting on his initial, dismissive reaction to bitcoin, Marks admitted, “now I’ve learned how much I don’t know, so you shouldn’t talk about things you don’t know about.” He reiterated: My initial response was a knee-jerk reaction without information and that’s not a good way to behave. What do you think about Howard Marks’ new bitcoin stance? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The Bridgewater Associates co-founder and chief investment officer, Ray Dalio, says that there is a good probability that the government will outlaw bitcoin in the same way gold was outlawed in the U.S. in the 1930s. Ray Dalio Thinks Governments Can Outlaw Bitcoin Ray Dalio shared his view on whether the government could outlaw bitcoin in an interview with Yahoo Finance Wednesday. He is the co-founder and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund firm. His clients include endowments, governments, foundations, pensions, and sovereign wealth funds. Dalio believes that bitcoin may suffer a similar fate as gold did in the U.S. during the 1930s. “Like back in the ’30s in the war years … cash and bonds were such bad investments relative to other things, there was the movement to those other things still, and then the government outlawed them … They outlawed gold,” he recalled, elaborating: That’s why also outlawing bitcoin is a good probability. Besides outlawing gold, Dalio added that “they also established foreign exchange controls, because they don’t want the money to go elsewhere.” Emphasizing that “every country treasures its monopoly on controlling the supply and demand. They don’t want other monies to be operating or competing, because things can get out of control,” the Bridgewater founder opined: So I think that it would be very likely that you will have it, under a certain set of circumstances, outlawed the way gold was outlawed. “You’re watching that question arise in India today. India today is making a move to outlaw it– outlaw possession of it,” he pointed out. The Indian government is currently working on a cryptocurrency bill and there have been reports that it may ban cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. However, no official announcement has been made and the crypto industry is hopeful that there will be not an outright ban on cryptocurrencies. Dalio was also specifically asked if he thinks it is possible for the government to ban bitcoin. He replied: “My understanding from people who are sort of in government surveillance and so on, is, yes, they can understand, they can track it, they can know who’s dealing with it. I don’t know– like, I’m not an expert on that.” The billionaire hedge fund manager has been learning about bitcoin over the recent months. He admitted in November that he may be wrong about bitcoin but was worried about governments outlawing cryptocurrency. He then said bitcoin “is one hell of an invention” that could “serve as a diversifier to gold and other such storehold of wealth assets.” Responding to Dalio’s misinformed perspectives, bitcoiners took to social media to argue about the government’s ability to ban bitcoin. Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss wrote: “Bitcoin may have similar properties to gold but outlawing decentralized software is a much different problem. It requires you to essentially outlaw the Internet.” Some people accuse the Bridgewater executive of attempting to manipulate the market to buy cheap coins, noting that a growing number of major corporations are investing in BTC. Recently, Goldman Sachs said it sees huge institutional demand for the cryptocurrency and Visa anticipates bitcoin becoming “extremely mainstream.” Deutsche Bank says bitcoin is now the third-largest currency, after the dollar and the euro. Furthermore, Morgan Stanley is getting ready to offer bitcoin exposure to wealthy clients and other banks are expected to follow suit. Do you think about Ray Dalio’s bitcoin warning? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. 27th March 2021, Al Murar, Dubai – Diamondcon is one of the fastest rising Call of Duty league players in the world, and part of the Subliners eSports team. He is the first ever professional eSports player to introduce an NFT into the ever-growing community of FPS gaming. Having established a considerable following on Twitch and Twitter, his followers will soon be able to purchase an NFT of Diamondcon and claim bragging rights to that 200 IQ game clip. Coming soon 👀 pic.twitter.com/FpGXtQ24rw — NYSL Diamondcon (@Diamondcon_) March 19, 2021 NFTs: Hot off the Press Gamers spend loads of cash on skins, game passes and in-game purchases, yet they never owned any of them. NFTs will be the change that revolutionizes the gaming industry. Money spent in gaming will no longer be a bad investment. No one knew about NFTs a year ago, and now it’s the new craze. Remember when they said that streaming will never be a career? Look where the industry is now. The Diamondcon NFT will be the first in the COD universe, and owning it will be an investment that is not to be missed. Imagine how much an NFT of your favorite COD player will be worth in a few years. For anyone who’s hyped about the release, The DiamondCon NFT is set to drop in the coming days, so keep your eyes peeled on Diamondcon’s Twitter to get this hot NFT before it sells out! About WeAreGrowthHackers WeAreGrowthHackers are one of the world’s premier Growth Hacking and NFT marketing agencies. They’ve made millions for their clients using little-known, (“out of the box”) growth hacking techniques and they’re now applying it to the hyper trend of the NFT world. Create your NFT and growth hack it today. Media Contact Details Contact Name: Bob Wazneh Contact Email: bob@wearegrowthhackers.com WeAreGrowthHackers is the source of this content. This Press Release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

A popular Instagram personality has been charged in the U.S., accused of stealing bitcoins worth millions of dollars from his followers. He allegedly convinced the “victims to sell him their bitcoin at attractive, but inflated, values” but he never wired them the money for the coins sent to him. Instagram Influencer’s Bitcoin Scam The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that a popular Instagram personality known as “Jay Mazini” has been charged with wire fraud related to a bitcoin scam. The Justice Department wrote: A complaint was filed in federal court in Brooklyn yesterday charging Jegara Igbara, also known as ‘Jay Mazini,’ with wire fraud related to a scheme in which the defendant allegedly induced victims to send him bitcoin by falsely claiming to have sent wire transfers of cash in exchange for the bitcoin. The DOJ explained that “In reality, Igbara never sent the money, and stole at least $2.5 million worth of bitcoin from victims.” Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko described that Igbara “used his immense social media popularity to dupe his followers into selling him bitcoin … at attractive, but inflated, values.” IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge Jonathan Larsen similarly noted that “This defendant allegedly used his online popularity to defraud those seeking to exchange bitcoin for cash above the market value.” According to the complaint, up until March this year, “Igbara, under the name ‘Jay Mazini,’ maintained a popular Instagram account with nearly one million followers where he would post videos depicting himself handing out large amounts of cash to individuals as gifts.” The DOJ detailed: Beginning in or around January 2021, Igbara began posting videos to his Instagram account offering to buy bitcoin from other Instagram users at prices 3.5% to 5% over market value. “Igbara claimed that he was willing to pay above-market prices because the traditional bitcoin exchanges were limiting how much bitcoin he could purchase,” the Justice Department added. When the victims agreed to the sale, Igbara “sent them documents that included images of purported wire transfer confirmation pages that falsely confirmed Igbara had sent a wire transfer for the promised amounts,” the complaint details. The victims then transferred their bitcoin to Igbara but “the promised wire transfers never arrived.” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney pointed out that “There was nothing philanthropic about the bitcoin transactions Igbara engaged in with his victims,” emphasizing that a quick online search “will reveal an entirely different image of this multimillion-dollar scammer.” This investigation is still ongoing, and the authorities urge anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of this scheme to file a complaint with the FBI. If convicted, Igbara faces up to 20 years in prison. What do you think about this bitcoin scam case? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

On Friday, the publicly listed firm Hut 8 announced the purchase of $30 million worth of Nvidia’s dedicated crypto mining GPUs called the Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP). Nvidia CMPs mine the crypto asset ethereum and Hut 8 expects its aggregate operational power will be 1,600 gigahash. Hut 8 Purchases $30 Million Worth of Nvidia’s Dedicated GPU Miners On the heels of joining Foundry’s U.S. bitcoin mining pool, the firm Hut 8 Mining (TSX: HUT) revealed it has purchased $30 million worth of Nvidia CMPs. The Nvidia CMP HX product is described as a “dedicated GPU for professional mining.” Nvidia’s web portal also details that the miner supports mining on the Ethereum (ETH) network and claims to be optimized for high performance. Nvidia CMPs offer four different versions which include the 30HX, 40HX, 50HX, and 90HX. The top Nvidia CMP claims to obtain 86 MH/s while the low-end version does around 26 MH/s. Hut 8 details that with the purchase of the new Nvidia CMPs, the company will get “approximately 1,600 gigahash” and miner alternative blockchains. The firm aims to expand its mining business while “maintaining the benefit of payouts in bitcoin.” Hut 8’s Bold Moves The CEO of Hut 8, Jaime Leverton, said that the company looks forward to adding the new CMPs to the fleet. The Hut 8 executive hopes the purchase will allow the mining operation to continue “long- and short-term plans for increased and diversified revenue streams.” “The adoption and the development of applications interacting with various blockchain networks have never been stronger, opening many possibilities across a variety of industries,” Leverton said. Hut 8 refers to the purchase as a “bold move” as the company has invested in a great number of bitcoin miners in recent times. In June 2020 the company announced the acquisition of 275PH/s of mining capacity. The following month it was revealed that the fund manager Fidelity International holds a stake in Hut 8. However, before the crypto bull run took off, in August the Canadian miner reported that second-quarter revenue dropped in comparison to the year prior. What do you think about Hut 8 purchasing $30 million worth of Nvidia CMPs? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The price of bitcoin dropped around 8% during the last seven days, but prices started to improve during Friday’s mid-afternoon trading sessions. Today, bitcoin is swapping for prices between $54,400 to $54,800 per unit and commands a $1.02 trillion market valuation. The overall market capitalization of all 8,500+ coins in existence is around $1.59 trillion on Saturday morning. Bitcoin (BTC) prices have seen some improvements after the price slid from $57,207 to a low of $50,360 on Thursday. BTC is up today over 3%, but down 5% for the week on March 27, 2021. Bitcoin dominance among all the other coin valuations combined is around 59.3% while ethereum (ETH) captures 11%. Bitcoin is still up over 16% for the month, 109% during the last three months, and 763% against the USD for the year. The top trading pair with bitcoin (BTC) today is tether (USDT) which commands 55% of the crypto asset’s trades. This is followed by USD (16.85%), BUSD (5.92%), JPY (4.19%), EUR (3.84%), and the KRW (2.38%). This week the cryptocurrency community was pleased to hear that Elon Musk revealed that the electric car company Tesla will now accept BTC for purchases. The CEO of Zumo, a digital wallet and payments platform, Nick Jones believes more brands will join Tesla’s lead. “We’re delighted to see that Tesla is now accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for their products,” Jones explained. “The increased institutional investment and market support of cryptocurrency from such brands is a key indicator of not only its long-term value but its contemporary relevance. Knowing that over half of UK crypto owners have purchased this currency in the last six months, I’d imagine that more brands will follow suit,” the Zumo CEO added. At the time of publication, the second largest crypto asset by market cap, ethereum (ETH) is trading for $1,686 per unit and is up over 3% today. Behind ETH is tether and in the fourth market position binance coin (BNB) is trading for $254, up 2.5% over the last 24 hours. Bitcoin cash (BCH) is in the 11th market position today and exchanging hands for $495 per BCH. The crypto asset is up 0.64% today, down 6% for the week, up 0.21% for the last 30 days, and over 48% for the last three months. The top two gainers today include chatcoin (CHAT) and stakenet (XSN). The top two losers on Saturday morning include selfkey (KEY) and cortex (CTXC). Want to keep up with all the crypto market action in real-time? Check out markets.Bitcoin.com today! What do you think about all the market action this week as crypto traders head into the weekend trading sessions? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The blockchain and crypto firm DMG Blockchain Solutions has revealed a partnership with the crypto asset mining business Argo Blockchain. The two firms have decided to launch a bitcoin mining pool that’s focused on leveraging clean energy resources. DMG Blockchain Solutions (TSX-V: DMGI) and Argo Blockchain Plc (LSE: ARB) have recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to establish Terra Pool. The new bitcoin mining pool aims to utilize clean energy resources and will combine both DMG’s and Argo’s hashrate that uses hydroelectric-power. In recent months, bitcoin (BTC) mining and all proof-of-work (PoW) mining, in general, has been criticized for how energy-intensive these networks can be. DMG’s and Argo’s Terra Pool plans to keep bitcoin mining climate-friendly by focusing on clean energy solutions. “DMG’s increased innovative strength and continued focus on eco-friendly bitcoin mining has the opportunity to drive transformations in how the bitcoin mining community acts towards a climate-conscious future,” DMG CEO Dan Reitzik said in a statement. The two companies also said the new eco-friendly bitcoin mining pool will work with other members of the crypto asset mining industry if the operations “expedite the shift from conventional power to clean energy.” During the last decade, bitcoin miners leveraging renewable energy to mine BTC have utilized both renewable and surplus energy sources such as geothermal, wind, solar, natural gas, and hydropower. In more recent years, cogeneration concepts have been developed by leveraging the excess heat mining rigs release during use. Bitcoin’s hashrate captured 185 exahash per second (EH/s) this month and the network difficulty is the highest it has ever been in BTC’s lifetime. At the time of publication, 17 publicly-known bitcoin mining pools direct hashrate at the BTC chain. Argo Blockchain CEO Peter Wall believes that addressing clean energy efficiency in mining is a good idea for the planet. “Addressing climate change is a priority for Argo,” Wall stressed. “We are hopeful other companies within the bitcoin mining industry follow in our footsteps to demonstrate broader climate consciousness,” the Argo executive added. What do you think about DMG’s and Argo’s clean energy Terra Pool project? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The non-fungible token fever witnessed over the last few months is catching the copyright management agencies’ attention. One of them, located in Italy, has chosen a blockchain company to create its own NFTs. SIAE Expects to Guarantee Copyright Protection With NFTs for the Next 139 Years According to the announcement, Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori (SIAE), founded in 1883, picked Algorand to manage the rights of over 95,000 authors in the form of non-fungible tokens. Both parties had been working on the project since 2019, said Algorand. In a first instance, 4 million NFTs were created to represent selected SIAE authors’ rights. Per SIAE, by digitizing these rights on blockchain technology, authors could ensure that their copyrights are globally protected on a transparent, open infrastructure. Gaetano Blandini, the general manager of SIAE, pointed out that the move seeks to guarantee protection for the next 139 years. He added: We are not interested in building technological infrastructures to generate profit. Instead, our goal has been and always will be to create value addition for our members. This is why we can afford to talk about open infrastructures and make all our know-how available to the community. Blockchain technology is definitely an interesting strand to continue exploring because of its transparency and efficiency – by design – features, which are fundamental for those who, like us, manage the salary of other people’s hard work. Could the NFTs Become a ‘Game-Changing’ in the Copyright Management Business? Moreover, Italy’s largest collective management organization forecasts that such a move will open the doors to transition onto new blockchain-based platforms that “will rapidly and profoundly change the business models” in the rights management industry. Silvio Micali, MIT Professor and founder of Algorand, is optimistic about the use of NFTs to handle copyrights, and SIAE’s maneuver can also be “a game-changing” in the business: SIAE has brought an ambitious project to life, where transparency and simplicity in data management are becoming a new reality for their industry. SIAE is a forward-thinking organization that will open up new opportunities as they build the foundations for new economic models. What are your thoughts on using NFTs to manage copyrights? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Recently, Bitcoin Cash proponents have been introduced to a new application that competes with the content subscription service Onlyfans. The web portal Onlycoins is a service that is similar to Onlyfans but instead, creators can earn bitcoin cash by posting quality content and gathering subscribers. Youtuber David Bond Features Bitcoin Cash-Fueled Onlyfans Clone The popular Youtuber and BCH supporter David Bond recently published a video for his 501,000 subscribers about a new app that competes with the popular content subscription service Onlyfans. Bitcoin Cash fan and popular Youtuber David Bond discusses the Onlycoins app in his latest video. The London-based Onlyfans basically allows creators to earn money from their fans and individuals get paid from pay-per-view (PPV) features and one-time tips. Bond told his subscribers about a new app called Onlycoins, a platform that offers similar services but pays in BCH and doesn’t take a 20% cut. Because Onlyfans provides the platform that hosts the paywalled content, the company takes a significant cut from its users’ transactions. Onlycoins is a digital content marketplace, and creators can receive funds directly from fans just like the app’s competitor. The platform does take a cut, as Onlycoins’ commission is 10% in comparison to Onlyfans. The Onlycoins’ commission rate outperforms all the popular fee models on well known sites like Manyvids (30%), Pornhub (32%), and Clips4sale (40%). Moreover, Onlycoins members get paid directly with bitcoin cash (BCH), as the platform offers each individual a BCH wallet. Onlycoins does detail that the project is still in its alpha phase, and stresses to only deposit small amounts of BCH on the platform for now. Onlycoins Starts to Fill With Members and Pay-per-View Content Registering for Onlycoins simply takes an email, and then the user can create their profile. Thanks to David Bond’s recent video and mentions on social media platforms like noise.cash, the website onlycoins.app is already filling up with members. Of course, similarly to Onlyfans, the BCH-fueled Onlycoins has a bunch of adult-themed entertainment. Right now, scanning through the website’s feed, PPV features for pictures from a number of Onlycoins members can cost between $0.10 to upwards of $1 to unlock the content. The Onlycoins developers also note that as development continues, the site may progress to a more “polished form,” at which time the commission rate may change. However, Onlycoins emphasizes that It is “absolutely our intention to remain cheaper than any relevant competition.” By leveraging a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency like BCH, the platform could easily continue offering competitive commission rates. What do you think about the Onlycoins app? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

By embedding Coinbase-powered solutions in its platform, Skrill adds 11 more American states to its service list, enabling more users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies easily. Integration Opens Doors for Paysafe’s Skrill Users to Instantly Buy and Sell Cryptocurrencies In another strategic move designed to grow its presence in the American cryptocurrency ecosystem, Paysafe’s digital wallet, Skrill, has finalized a deal with Coinbase, a leading digital currency platform provider. With the deal signed off, Skrill will receive a new cryptocurrency white-label solution provided by Coinbase, enabling the wallet to expand its services across 11 new US territories. This new white-label solution allows Skrill to serve its digital wallet customers in Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, and Wyoming. This first step of Skrill’s US crypto extension, with other states scheduled to be included imminently, further enhances the digital wallet’s capabilities for American users. 2020 has been a busy year for Skrill. Its accomplishments for 2020 in the U.S. included introducing the Skrill Visa Prepaid Card and launching both the Skrill Money Transfer and Skrill Knect loyalty and rewards service. ‘Interest in Crypto Stronger Than Ever,’ Says Skrill CEO Coinbase, an established Skrill liquidity exchange partner in Europe, integrates with the digital wallet to enable customers in these 11 states to immediately buy and sell cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Skrill CEO Lorenzo Pellegrini adds, US consumer interest in cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency trading is stronger than ever, so we’re delighted to better serve our customers’ needs by launching our Skrill crypto offering in the country in partnership with Coinbase. Powered by Coinbase’s sophisticated platform, our crypto offering is just Skrill’s latest U.S. move to provide consumers with a best-in-class digital wallet. The launch of Skrill’s crypto offering in the US is a phased roll-out, with the online/web version of the product available immediately. The mobile app version will be launched in early April 2021. Aside from fiat, Skrill users may also use BTC to buy up other cryptocurrencies enabled on the platform, resulting in fewer overall transactions and lower related fees. With the inclusion of 11 new states, customers from 37 American states and territories can now use the Skrill crypto solution. Meanwhile, Coinbase has also filed for direct listing instead of an initial public offering. It is currently the largest US-based crypto exchange by volume, with about $1.5 billion in daily trade volumes on average. Brett Tejpaul, Head of Institutional Trading at Coinbase, commented, As we focus on building the crypto-economy, we look to partner with leaders like Skrill who can white-label our turnkey solution to provide and support digital assets to their clients without having to learn the nuances of building a crypto exchange. How often do you use your crypto digital wallet? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX, formerly BitMax, an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of Persistence tokens (XPRT) under the pair USDT/XPRT on Apr 1 at 9:00 a.m. EDT. There will be an auction on Mar 31 at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Persistence is an interoperable protocol built to facilitate the creation of next-gen financial products. It is an ecosystem of financial products serving both institutional and crypto-native users. Persistence One has a growing suite of core product features, including pStake, Comdex, pLend, Audit.one and Asset Mantle. Through these features, Persistence is leveraging blockchain technology to facilitate seamless asset exchange. The XPRT token secures the network through staking, is used to pay for fees, and defines the weightage of the vote for governance proposals to make critical decisions regarding the Persistence main chain’s evolution. The need for a solution like Persistence has never been more evident. A sizable and increasing amount of institutional capital and emerging stablecoins are looking to generate yield. There is an ever-increasing need for traders and businesses to access financing. Persistence matches the two. Persistence provides a platform to power debt marketplaces that match entities with surplus capital (lenders) to entities that require capital (borrowers). Persistence aims to tap into both institutional and crypto-native liquidity at the dApp layer in a two-step approach. They aim first to bring public blockchain technology benefits to institutional use-cases, tapping into institutional liquidity, and second to bring institutional products to crypto-native stakeholders, tapping into retail liquidity. About AscendEX Originally founded in 2018 as BitMax.io, AscendEx is a leading crypto and digital asset financial platform catering to both professional and retail traders. Our venue offers spot, futures, margin trading and staking products and incorporates key elements from the DeFi space to foster a unique market structure for users. AscendEx is led by a team of Wall Street veterans who have applied traditional markets’ rigor to create a robust, secure, and reliable experience for all participants; and a consistent source of liquidity for primary offerings. For more information and updates, please visit: Website: https://ascendex.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/AscendEX_Global Telegram: https://t.me/BitMaxioEnglishOfficial Medium: https://medium.com/AscendEx About Persistence Persistence is an interoperable protocol built to facilitate the creation of next-gen financial products. It is an ecosystem of financial products serving both institutional and crypto-native users. Persistence is leveraging blockchain technology to facilitate seamless asset exchange. For more information and updates, please visit: Website: https://persistence.one/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/persistenceone Telegram: https://t.me/PersistenceOneChat Medium: https://persistenceone.medium.com/ This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

In a fresh twist to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s fight against Ripple Labs, US judge Sarah Netburn has directed both parties to hold “a telephonic discovery conference on Tuesday, April 6, 2021.” The judge’s order directs the parties to discuss a motion to compel filed by Ripple’s lawyers. Motion to Compel On March 15, lawyers representing current Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen had asked Judge Netburn to compel the SEC to produce documents relating to the regulator’s lawsuit against the fintech firm. In their motion, Ripple’s lawyers argued that seeking this court order had been necessitated by the regulator’s refusal to produce the requested documents. Specifically, the lawyers allege that the SEC had failed to provide “a single document concerning bitcoin or ether–two virtual currencies that are closely analogous to XRP.” Furthermore, in their motion, the lawyers also allege that the SEC is failing to produce internal documentation that relates to XRP’s legal status. The lawyers are also seeking “any documents from ten of the nineteen custodians the defendants proposed.” XRP Army Reacts Meanwhile, following the judge’s order, some supporters of Ripple on Twitter praised the judge’s decision which they believe will help the fintech firm’s case. For instance, a Twitter user known as Kingslayer wrote: This would be a huge step, as finally the internal comms of the SEC News will be revealed. April 6 will be a day to look forward to. A lot of clarity might come out. Another user, CNF asks: “Am I the only one getting the feeling that both Ripple and the SEC have a pretty good idea of how damning those documents will be? 8+ years of infinite numbers of positions, guidance, and advice spread by multiple parties with no coherent regulatory policy.” In the meantime, the order also asks members of the public interested in listening to the discovery conference to dial-in to a number that “will be circulated to the parties before the conference.” What are your thoughts on this court order? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

In an industry first, a physical exhibition for digital art in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFT) is set to launch in China, showcasing notable works from leading artists in the NFT space and the winning entries from a global digital artwork competition. Initiative Designed to Forge Greater Connections Between the Physical and Digital Art Realms As greater mainstream attention turns to the NFT collectible and art mania that delivers new auction records every passing month, one group of industry leaders is bringing digital art to the physical realm. With its inaugural event titled, “Virtual Niche – Have you ever seen memes in the mirror?” a group of leading NFT evangelists and platforms are attempting to bring the Bitcoin and Polkadot communities together alongside the more traditional art world. On March 26th, the 14-day event will begin in the UCCA Lab in Beijing before transitioning to Shanghai’s JinArt Center. The exhibition, which features hosts and sponsorship from both the art world and digital ecosystem, is designed to highlight the expanding potential for digital art while fostering greater connections between the two communities. Besides hosting works from high-profile NFT artists, including 20 works from Beeple and Robert Alice’s “Portraits of a mind,” the exhibition will showcase the six winners of a digital art competition run by BlockCreateArt (BCA). The competition, which received 200 entries, asked participants to use Kusama’s canary logo as the inspiration for their submissions. Christie’s, which recently auctioned Beeple’s “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” for a record-breaking $69.3 million, will be serving as an education support partner for the event. Their session, “Valuing Art in the Digital Age,” will be run by Christie’s Sara Mao. Additionally, Kusama will also be holding NFT workshops over the weekends for aspiring Chinese artists. Growing Competition in the NFT Ecosystem Beyond the big-name organizations orchestrating and hosting the event, the initiative is also supported by the Kusama Treasury. Kusama has come into greater focus in the NFT space as it vies to provide an alternative to Ethereum-based applications that currently dominate the space. Kusama, which behaves as Polkadot’s “canary” network, effectively allows developers to build projects in an ecosystem expressly designed for experimentation. The idea behind this parallel network is to give developers a proving ground for their applications before moving into a Polkadot parachain if the proof of concept manages to attract adoption and awareness. The canary network is already home to many organic NFT projects. Among them is BCA, which oversaw the aforementioned digital art competition. Other prominent projects also working off the network include Moonbeam and Unique Network. These initiatives aim to list on a Polkadot parachain and form the go-to ecosystem for NFTs through a range of connected services like the open-source components needed to mint digital collectibles. Ultimately, these projects aim to bring together the communities, all while facilitating ease of use for artists and other creators seeking to join this transformative trend. When NFTs are shown in the physical world, doesn’t it simply misses the whole point? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Following the interview with Ma Changchun, the head of the People’s Bank of China-run Digital Currency Research Institute, a recent report indicates that residents from Beijing and Shanghai can now apply for a digital yuan wallet. According to the report, six different Chinese banks will participate in the process. Beijing and Shanghai Residents Can Apply to Test the Digital Yuan Wallet A recent report published by China’s Securities Times, explains that residents from China are now able to apply for the digital yuan wallet. The wallet is compatible with the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency project. The report indicates that residents who live in Shanghai and Beijing can now apply for the wallet through six state-owned financial institutions. The regional report also says that the banks involved with the digital wallet application procedure include the Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, and the Postal Savings Bank of China. 6 State-Owned Banks to Start Whitelisting Clients at Certain Branches The central bank digital currency (CBDC) also known as “DCEP” has already started to see acceptance from various merchants in China. Individuals can spend the digital yuan at vending machines in the Shanghai subway and the Xujiahui shopping center as well. Huijin department stores are also accepting the People’s Bank of China’s CBDC. Internet platforms have also been experimenting with the digital yuan with platforms such as Meituan. After various tests throughout the past year, China’s central bank approved the six banks to start whitelisting clients at certain branches. The Securities Times’ report also details that interested users can simply scan a QR code to access the application link to apply for the CBDC wallet. The guidelines also say that customers can bundle their bank card funds into the wallet too. The digital yuan wallet has a maximum payment limit of 1,000 yuan per day and customers can upgrade for higher payment tiers. What do you think about the Chinese residents from Beijing and Shanghai being able to apply for the digital yuan wallet? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

A number of options traders are betting that bitcoin prices will tap $80,000 by May 2021. Meanwhile, over 100,000 bitcoin options worth more than $6 billion are set to expire on Friday, smashing the previous record expiry seen in January. $6 Billion in Bitcoin Options Set to Drop, April Bets Target $80,000 per Bitcoin Today on March 26, 2021, the crypto ecosystem is about to witness one of the largest options expiries to-date as more than 100k bitcoin options will expire. Today’s $6 billion worth of expiries exceeds the last record back in January when $4 billion worth of bitcoin options expired. Data from skew.com shows there’s close to $15 billion in open interest across exchanges offering bitcoin options. The exchange Deribit captures more than $12 billion of the aggregated open interest. Deribit leads in both open interest and options volumes and is followed by Bit.com and Okex. Huobi has the least open interest in terms of bitcoin options while Binance has the least volume of all the exchanges as well. Meanwhile, the cofounders of the data analytics team Glassnode detailed that there are a number of traders betting BTC will be $80,000 on the April 30, 2021 expiry. The Glassnode executives also mentioned the massive expiry set to end at the end of the day. “This Friday $6 billion in options contracts are set to expire,” the Glassnode founders shared Twitter account noted. Bitcoin price expectations for April are high with lots of investors placing their new bets on $80k,” the researchers added. “April is going to be one hell of a month,” a person said responding to the tweet. Skew: ‘Could It Be the Beginning of the End for Contango?’ If the price is below the $80k handle after the expiry, then the options contracts betting on that price will lose out. Moreover, bitcoin fans on Reddit say after Friday’s expiry happens, people should “strap on for some serious action next week and beyond.” Just recently, Bitcoin.com touched upon the contango effect on bitcoin, which is the difference between spot prices and derivatives market prices. Skew.com says the end of contango for bitcoin could be coming in the near future. “As yield-hungry investors embrace crypto, could it be the beginning of the end for contango of the bitcoin futures curve? CME seems to be leading the way,” Skew tweeted. Today’s expiry should help people see where BTC prices will lead in the coming weeks. $80,000 bitcoin prices are much higher than they are today, but historically BTC prices do well during the month of April. What do you think about the $80k options strikes and the $6 billion in bitcoin options set to expire today? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform Stratis’ support to private and public blockchain solutions, Ethereum and Hyperledger, opens the ecosystem to mainstream adoption by businesses. London, United Kingdom – Stratis is developed to help make blockchain services accessible for businesses worldwide. In pursuit of that aim, it now supports interoperability with Ethereum, allowing firms to tap into the ease of use provided by Stratis Technologies while reaching out to millions of Ethereum users. The launch of its wrapped token (wSTRAX) also brings in a boom for the DeFi sector. Locked in a 1:1 ratio with the Stratis’ native STRAX Token, platforms built on Ethereum can utilize wSTRAX in their DeFi products. Stratis provides an Enterprise-Grade Blockchain Solution developed in C# on the Microsoft .NET Core Framework focusing on Modular Blockchain Solutions for Public and Private Blockchain Solutions. Stratis offers Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) to remove the complexities associated with launching a decentralized chain. Industry-leading Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers are supported to enable rapid deployment of services. Stratis BaaS allows organizations to embark on Blockchain solution development without the expense of administering and hosting an environment. Introducing InterFlux Stratis is very aware of developments that have taken place within the public-blockchain space. This has become prevalent with the exponential growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) offerings such as UniSwap, Maker and Curve. This focus has led to the further development of Stratis’ interoperability solution. Stratis InterFlux will provide interoperability between the Stratis (STRAX) Blockchain and the Ethereum blockchain, bringing xETH to Stratis Blockchain Technologies and, importantly, wSTRAX to the Ethereum Blockchain. In a nutshell, Stratis InterFlux enables a seamless exchange of the STRAX Token to an equivalent Token on the Ethereum Blockchain, a token known as wSTRAX. The wSTRAX token will fully leverage recent developments within the DeFi domain, taking advantage of rich liquidity pools and decentralized lending protocols available through the Ethereum ecosystem. Achieving Trustlessness Stratis’ solution has been designed to remove any levels of centralization. The Stratis InterFlux Hub provides a mature set of locked-in Masternodes that autonomously process requests between two blockchains, resulting in a genuinely trustless exchange of STRAX Tokens to wSTRAX on the Ethereum Blockchain. Stratis Continues Building on Success The Stratis team has been immensely active in the last year, launching service after service. Most recently, the platform’s potential caught the eye of investment fund Alphabit, which committed an 8 figure sum towards the platform’s development over the next two years. Stratis provides the only Blockchain platform that offers end-to-end Microsoft solutions, utilizing the .NET Core Framework. Organizations that solely develop their product offerings or internal line-of-business applications with Microsoft technologies can integrate and support with ease using the same development tooling. The platform has been designed with developers in mind, enabling existing .NET Developers to pick-up and become proficient within reduced periods. C# is a popular programming language used in the industry. Thus, Stratis’ support saves both time and money for companies worldwide that no longer need to reformat software for another programming language. The STRAX token is already available on cryptocurrency exchange Binance. With its advanced features such as the InterFlux, Sidechains, SegWit support, a complete library of dApps and tools, Stratis gives companies worldwide a chance to leverage the power of blockchain for their operations without having to learn immensely complex blockchain programming languages and architectures. About Stratis Stratis offers unprecedented levels of security, reliability and performance through leveraging blockchain. The platform’s native C# ecosystem enables businesses worldwide to utilize their existing IT infrastructure and tools to adopt blockchain technology by providing access to the Stratis blockchain’s features in a familiar language to the everyday developer. Microsoft Focus: Stratis provides the only Blockchain platform that offers end-to-end Microsoft solutions, utilizing the .NET Core Framework Stratis Identity: A decentralized KYC and AML check to make it easier for businesses to verify client identities and comply with regulations. Supply Trust: A turnkey solution for supply chain management, providing complete visibility in a trustless and decentralized environment. STO Platform: Regulation-compliant digital securities for businesses launching STO’s Stratis Smart Contracts: Secure and auditable digital contracts that are developed in the industry-standard Microsoft C# language, fit for the DeFi age. Now with InterFlux support, companies will be able to use the powerful and industry-friendly Stratis blockchain whilst still being able to tap into the largest DeFi markets on Ethereum. Follow Stratis on Twitter – https://twitter.com/stratisplatform Join the Stratis Developer Academy – https://academy.stratisplatform.com/ Check out Stratis on GitHub – https://github.com/stratisproject Read the latest Stratis news – https://www.stratisplatform.com/news/ Media Contact Details Contact Name: Bitcoin PR Buzz Press Team Contact Email: press@bitcoinprbuzz.com Stratis is the source of this content. This Press Release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article