roadrunner

Digital currency markets have seen some volatile action this week and during the last 24 hours following the XRP charges, a number of coins shed a great deal of value. At the time of publication, the entire crypto-economy is valued at $629 billion and because XRP lost so much value, bitcoin’s dominance index has risen above the 68% mark. Just recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executives. According to the U.S. regulator’s complaint, Ripple Labs “raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.” Since then, the price of XRP fell like a rock, losing nearly 40% during the last 24 hours of trading sessions since the SEC announcement. The XRP plunge has also tugged a number of other crypto-assets down as well during the trading sessions on December 23. Bitcoin (BTC) on the other hand, has been doing well despite the regulatory action against Ripple Labs. BTC is currently swapping for $23,796 per coin and is up 1.5% during the last day. Seven-day stats show BTC has gained more than 11%, over 29% for the 30-day span, and 120% over the last three months of trading. BTC’s market dominance in comparison to the 7,500+ coins in existence is 68% today, which is higher than it has been in quite some time. Currently, out of the $629 billion crypto-economy market cap, BTC captures $442 billion. Ethereum (ETH) is trading for $612 per ether and the token is down after taking some losses during the early morning trading sessions on Wednesday. ETH’s market cap is hovering at around $69 billion at the time of publication. Market statistics show that XRP is swapping for $0.33 per unit and is still down 30% since its initial fall. The market capitalization of XRP has plunged to $15.4 billion and the market is now below tether’s (USDT) overall valuation of over $20 billion. Litecoin (LTC) has been hit far less than most of the other crypto assets in the economy today after the XRP announcement. LTC is swapping for $109 per coin and has a market cap of around $7.25 billion. The crypto asset LTC is still up over 20% during the last seven days of trading. Bitcoin cash (BCH) is down over 6% today and trading for $296 per unit at the time of publication. BCH has an overall market valuation of around $5.52 billion and the crypto asset is up 38% during the last 90 days. While many analysts have been watching crypto markets very closely and waiting for a big correction or a higher rally. The trader Crediblecrypto told his 87,000 followers that he expects bitcoin (BTC) to climb higher before the next big correction. “I’m bullish on BTC here,” he tweeted. “I don’t think this is THE correction everyone is waiting for. That will come a bit later IMO.” BTC/USD chart from the popular trader Crediblecrypto published on December 22, 2020. During the last 24 hours, onchain stats from Cryptoquant and Glassnode show a number of aggregated inflows to exchanges like Binance, Bithumb, and Gemini. Since the XRP announcement happened, Cryptoquant’s beta alerts on Telegram has been flashing the inflow signals. However, Glassnode’s statistics from the weekly onchain report indicates that BTC’s “Reserve Risk” has been “extremely low despite the price passing its previous all-time high.” Glassnode’s report also discussed the crypto asset’s Entity-Adjusted SOPR downward correction. “BTC’s recent downward correction in Entity-Adjusted SOPR was indeed a signal of an approaching upwards trend,” the report notes. “The downward trend has now reversed, suggesting that BTC’s sideways movement below $20k may be well and truly behind us, with new support levels staying above $23k for the time being.” Meanwhile, XRP took the brunt of the losses during the last day and the digital currency faces delisting as well. For instance, the Hong Kong trading platform OSL had suspended XRP trading and the U.S. crypto exchange Beaxy is doing so as well. The sale of unregistered securities renders Ripple and the XRP cryptocurrency legally dubious and therefore puts Beaxy’s users at risk,” the exchange said on Wednesday morning. “In a constantly evolving regulatory landscape, Beaxy Exchange strives to adjust to developments as rapidly as possible.” Beaxy’s Head of Operations, Naeem Master further stated: The SEC and Ripple Labs have been debating XRP’s legal status for years. So the news of SEC charges against Ripple are not unexpected. That being said, Beaxy Exchange has an obligation to operate with regulatory compliance as a priority. In this case, that means halting all trading of XRP on Beaxy. While some crypto assets have felt the brunt of the XRP storm, a number of digital currencies have done well. Peerplays (PPY) has gained 198%, zilliqa (ZIL) jumped 16%, and populous (PPT) is up over 14% today. XRP suffered the most losses, but coins like golem (GNT -19%), time new bank (TNB -17%), mossland (MOC -17%), and iot chain (ITC -16%) saw decent percentage losses as well. What do you think about the recent crypto market action after XRP took some deep losses following the SEC charges? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post XRP Crash Burns Other Crypto Asset Values, BTC Price Remains Unscathed appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A major North American blockchain hosting provider announced its expansion by ordering over 58,000 additional S19 Series Antminers, as part of an agreement arranged with the Chinese mining hardware manufacturer. US Contract Miner Core Scientific Arranges Purchase of Over 58,000 Bitmain S19 Antminers According to the announcement, Bitmain’s deal expects to facilitate Core Scientific customers’ purchases through September 2021. The purchase agreement will bring total purchases to 76,024 next-generation bitcoin (BTC) miners, the S19 and S19 Pro Antminers for the past 16 months, and Core Scientific claims that it makes them the largest provider of hosting services in North America. By bringing the latest Bitmain’s digital mining machines, Core Scientific also aims to expand its operational fleet of 19 Series computational power hosted with Core Scientific to 7.26 exahash. Kevin Turner, CEO and president of Core Scientific, commented on the deal with Bitmain: I am very pleased to note that over 17,000 of Bitmain’s new-gen digital mining machines have been stable and operating efficiently within Core Scientific’s facilities. This is instrumental as we compete head-on for global hash rate and solidify our position as the largest hosting provider in North America. Recently, Core Scientific was named Bitmain’s only in-warranty repair center in North America, as users won’t need anymore to ship their hardware to Asia. Bitmain’s Recent News Back on December 14, 2020, the Chinese mining manufacturer launched the international version of AntSentry, which is their cloud-operation and maintenance management system. But the latest news has not been so positive at all for Bitmain at the end of the year. According to the firm’s attorney during a live broadcast of a People’s Court in Beijing, it was revealed that Bitmain had a loss of around $60 million in 2019. The court hearing happened in the midst of a dispute between four former employees with Beijing Bitmain Technology. They allege that the firm didn’t pay them compensation and bonus packages when laid off. What do you think about Core Scientific’s most-recent deal with Bitmain? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Core Scientific Buys Over 58,000 Bitmain S19 Antminers to Expand Its Hosting Fleet in North America appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

DeFi Yield Protocol (DYP) has launched its staking and governance DAPP that looks to improve earning opportunities for users. A unique feature of the launch is that liquidity providers will be rewarded in Ethereum and all the liquidity pools are deployed with anti manipulation features as well as 2.5% slippage. DYP Holders Able to Vote on Governance By holding DYP, you will be able to use DYP governance and vote to add additional liquidity mining pools, burn tokens or allocate DYP towards grants, strategic partnerships, governance initiatives and other programs. All that is required to join governance is to link your metamask wallet to the DYP smart contract and you become eligible to vote and earn rewards. Unique Staking Platform With Anti Manipulation Features DYP has also launched its staking pool platform that allows anyone to provide liquidity and get rewarded in Ethereum and DYP tokens. The staking platform is designed in a way that maintains token price stability while offering a secured and simplified platform by integrating an anti-manipulation feature. To lower the risk of DYP price volatility, all pool rewards are automatically converted from DYP to Ether (ETH) by the smart contract at 00:00 UTC daily and ETH is distributed as a reward to the liquidity providers. DYP developed a process of maintaining token price stability. Every day the smart contract automatically tries to convert the DYP rewards to ETH. however if the DYP price is affected by more than -2.5% the maximum DYP amount that does not affect the price will be swapped to ETH, with the remaining amount distributed in the next day’s rewards. After seven days, if it still has undistributed DYP rewards, the DeFi yield protocol will vote on whether to distribute the remaining tokens to holders or burn the tokens from circulation. Thus the protocol is able to mitigate against inflation and maintain the price of DYP token. To start providing liquidity and earning ETH rewards, you must deposit your liquidity provider tokens (Uniswap LP tokens) into the corresponding initial list of pools: DYP-ETH, DYP-WBTC, DYP-USDC and DYP-USDT. Each pool has four different staking options, with rewards starting from 30,000 DYP up to 100,000 DYP each month which depends on the lock time that ranges from a minimum of three days up to 90 days. About DeFi Yield Protocol DeFi Yield Protocol is a decentralized finance protocol that aims to offer impressive yields for users while reducing the risk associated with risk farming. This is achieved using an anti-manipulation that ensures that all pools are safe from whale manipulation. Pool regards are automatically converted from DYP to ETH at 00:00 UTC, and the system automatically distributes the rewards to the liquidity providers. This feature is excellent because the network’s liquidity will be fair to all participants; no whale will be able to manipulate the price of DYP to their advantage. DYP Finance offers a utility token that enables users to interact with the features on the DYP smart contract. Ethereum miners can join the DYP mining pool and get rewarded monthly with a 10% bonus from the ETH monthly income earned by the pool. To learn more about DeFi Yield Protocol follow the links below. www.dyp.finance | Twitter | Discord | Telegram | Github | Medium This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post DYP Launches Staking and Governance DAPP appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In mid-November, a filing registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had shown that the investment firm Skybridge Capital may invest in crypto assets like bitcoin. Over a month later, Skybridge Capital filed another registration form with the U.S. SEC (Form D) as it plans to launch a bitcoin fund. The wealth management firm run by Anthony Scaramucci, Skybridge Capital, is launching a bitcoin fund called the Skybridge Bitcoin Fund L.P. The news of the Skybridge’s fund stems from a Form D Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The New York-based company manages over $9.2 billion assets under management (AUM) and the filing shows it wants to manage a bitcoin (BTC) fund for accredited investors. According to the filing submitted on December 21, 2020, it will be for accredited investors who can purchase $50k or more. It’s a pooled investment and hedge fund, and as for the issuance-size Skybridge has declined to disclose. Further, the Skybridge Bitcoin Fund will follow Rule 506(c) that allows the solicitation and general advertisement of the offering to accredited investors. Skybridge Capital was founded in 2005 by Anthony Scaramucci, Brett S. Messing, Raymond Nolte, and Troy Gaveski. The news of the Skybridge Bitcoin Fund filing on Monday follows the company explaining that the firm’s G II Fund “may hold long and short positions in digital assets.” Of course, after the Form D filing was revealed for the Skybridge Bitcoin Fund, bitcoin proponents discussed the entry on social media and forums. “Boom! Skybridge Capital is doubling down on Bitcoin,” tweeted Kevin Rooke. “They just registered the Skybridge Bitcoin Fund with the SEC, one month after allowing two of their other funds to invest in bitcoin.” The founder of Skybridge Anthony Scaramucci was also a former White House director of communications. Scaramucci has said in an interview that “a fan” of cryptocurrencies and believes that “digital assets have a future.” The Skybridge founder also did an interview with Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano and discussed bitcoin and the current structural issues in America. “There’s something here,” Scaramucci told Pompliano. “There’s value to the notion that I can exchange value with you, confidentially — and I can exchange it through a mechanism that looks very secure.” “Blockchain is going to get tighter, and more reformed, and more secure,” Scaramucci added. “People are going to have more confidence in it, and I don’t think it can be stopped.” What do you think about Skybridge Capital registering to launch a bitcoin fund? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Billion-Dollar Wealth Manager Skybridge Capital Plans to Launch a Bitcoin Fund appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The president of the National Association of Cryptocurrencies of Venezuela (Asonacrip) praised the recent bull run seen in bitcoin’s prices across the board, which “favors the usability of a very novel crypto asset,” such as the petro (PTR). Petro Is Gathering Strength Due to Its Surging Prices in the Secondary Market, Says Venezuela’s Asonacrip During an interview with the Venezuelan TV channel Globovisión, Jose Ángel Álvarez pointed out that the country’s state-backed cryptocurrency is starting “to gather strength” because they’re witnessing a surge in the secondary market quotes. This is given in the context of the adoption of gas stations’ owners who are implementing petro payments, allowing their customers to pay for services with PTR, said Álvarez. He added that PDVA — Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company — is accepting payments in PTR as well. However, the president of Asonacrip believes that U.S. sanctions on the petro are still representing a hurdle because it cannot spread globally. In consequence, the crypto asset can be traded only in Venezuela. On June 11, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro claimed that almost 15% of all fuel payments at petrol stations were made using the state-backed cryptocurrency. Although the figures revealed over the year by the government show that Venezuelans are still struggling to find usability for the petro. Stressing the need to strengthen education on cryptocurrencies across the nation, Álvarez commented: The power is in the information, if ordinary Venezuelans, professionals, businessmen begin to understand how bitcoin can change the world, how the petro can change the national economy and we make a great national agreement in favor of that. to get real benefits. The Real Quote of Petro There is no clarity on the current price of the petro because the crypto asset is not quoted against foreign fiat currencies. Still, Asonacrip’s Álvarez shed some light on the quote of the cryptocurrency that was supposed to equal 1 barrel of Venezuelan oil. He explained: At this moment, the value of the petro in the primary market is above 60 million bolivars. What happens is that there are two markets: the primary market, which is the market of the issuing entity, and there is the case of the secondary market made up of people, companies, and institutions that interact directly and define how much you pay or how much we pay for the price of a digital asset. According to the current market prices, 1,061,053 bolívars is equal to $1 dollar. On Nov. 30, news.Bitcoin.com reported that the Venezuelan Army inaugurated a crypto mining center with bitcoin (BTC) mining equipment to generate “unblockable income,” managed by the 61st Agustín Codazzi Engineer Conditioning Brigade. Do you think that in 2021 the petro will be trading on foreign crypto exchanges? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Venezuela’s Asonacrip: Bitcoin Bull Run Could Help Boost Usability of Cryptos Such as Petro appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Christopher Wood, the global head of equity at Jefferies, a global financial services company, says the firm will reduce exposure to gold in favor of bitcoin. He adds that there are plans to increase the crypto component of Jefferies’ long-only global portfolio for U.S. dollar-denominated pension fund if and when the bitcoin price drops from current levels. As a result of this decision, 5% of the fund will now consist of bitcoin. The Case for Bitcoin Before making the decision, Jefferies allocated funds as follows: 50% towards (now 45%) physical gold bullion, 30% to Asia ex-Japan equities, and 20% to unhedged gold mining stocks. Writing in his weekly “Greed and Fear” note to investors, the global head of equity explains the multinational investment bank’s rationale for choosing bitcoin over gold at this stage. Wood says: The 50 percent weight in physical gold bullion in the portfolio will be reduced for the first time in several years by five percentage points with the money invested in bitcoin. If there is a big drawdown in bitcoin from the current level, after the historic breakout above the $20,000 level, the intention will be to add to this position. Bitcoin, which recently surged past the $24,000 mark, has been rising since its infamous crash in March. Since Jan. 1, BTC has grown by more than 200% buoyed by rising institutional investors’ interest in the most dominant crypto. Gold Losing and Bitcoin Gaining Despite Jefferies’ decision to opt for bitcoin at the expense of gold, Wood remains bullish on the precious metal. He says: The yellow metal should rally again if the Fed stays dovish in the face of the dramatic cyclical recovery that is coming on the other side of the pandemic, in line with greed & fear’s base case. Meanwhile, the move by Jefferies to trim the gold component of its long-only pension fund appears to undercut Peter Schiff’s denial that institutional investors are replacing gold with BTC. In his recent remarks, the gold bug and bitcoin opponent argued that large companies were not buying bitcoin using proceeds from gold sales. Schiff’s latest comments follow predictions by strategists at JP Morgan that institutional investors will sell some of their gold holdings and use the proceeds to finance bitcoin purchases. What are your thoughts on Jefferies’ bitcoin strategy? Share your views in the comments section below. The post Global Equity Head at Jefferies Says the Investment Bank Will Buy Bitcoin and Reduce Exposure to Gold appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Just recently, reports of the Ledger customer database breach being dumped on Raidforums for free has become a viral story among cryptocurrency proponents. Now customers are threatening to take legal action against the hardware wallet manufacturer, and one customer has complained of getting an email threatening him with a home invasion. The Ledger wallet customer database leak has caused a lot of anger toward the hardware wallet manufacturer from France. On December 20, 2020, the hackers dumped Ledger’s e-commerce customer database on a well known hacker forum. The dump contained the emails of a million Ledger customers, but the files also held other customer identity information, like the person’s phone number and residential address. Following the dump, a great number of cryptocurrency proponents discussed the situation on social media and crypto-related forums. “Ledger, how in the hell does that happen with a business whose primary focus should be nothing but security?” one individual asked on Twitter. “This is unacceptable and inexcusable. There’s absolutely nothing that can be said at this point. This is bad on so many levels,” he added. Additionally, the well known law firm Roche Cyrulnik Freedman LLP (RCFLLP) partner Kyle Roche tweeted that the firm has launched an investigation into the data leak. “RCFLLP has launched an investigation into the Ledger data breach incident,” Roche said. “If you own a Ledger device and lost any of your crypto holdings due to a phishing attack on your device, please reach out to me.” Another alleged phishing attempt wants the user to submit KYC info using a Google document. Another upset Ledger customer wrote to the company on Twitter after Ledger disclosed they were aware of the recent dump on Raidforums. “I’m going to take legal action against you very soon,” the individual responded to Ledger’s tweet. In another instance, one Ledger customer said his home address was targeted and he was asked to pay a ransom. “If not, I’m not afraid to show up when you least expect it and see how my wrench works against your face, or maybe even wait for you to leave your home and take your belongings whilst you’re not there to call the police,” the threatening email details. The email asks for $500 and says that due to the recent crypto price pump, paying the blackmail shouldn’t be a problem. “Strap in for scareware,” software engineer Jameson Lopp tweeted after sharing the email screenshot. A Ledger customer responded to Lopp’s tweet and the message he received said he had to sign up for know-your-customer (KYC) and was given a Google document to fill out. “LMAO, I got this [message],” the customer wrote. “They should’ve found out I gave wrong info to Ledger [to] try to hack me this way. Too cheap,” he added. Furthermore, Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier told decrypt.co’s Tim Copeland today that the firm won’t reimburse customers. “When you have a data breach of this magnitude for such a small company, we won’t reimburse for a million users, all the devices, that’s just not possible,” Gauthier said to Copeland. What do you think about the Ledger e-commerce database being leaked online? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Ledger Leak Invokes Legal Action, One Customer Allegedly Threatened With Home Invasion appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. ZK International Group Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: ZKIN) (“ZKIN”, “ZK International” or the “Company”), a designer, engineer, manufacturer, and supplier of patented high-performance stainless steel and carbon steel pipe products primarily used for water and gas supplies, today announced that xSigma Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, has appointed Jesse Brauner as Senior Engineer. Mr. Brauner joins xSigma with nearly a decade of experience in various technical capacities in the fields of finance, trading, digital payments and cryptocurrencies. Prior to joining xSigma, Mr. Brauner was Senior Software Engineer to Ripple Labs, the parent company behind XRP, where he played an important role in scaling the On-Demand Liquidity product from a proof of concept to a platform supporting multiple fiat currencies and processing $500 million in XRP payments per month. Mr. Brauner’s career includes experiences with top financial companies as SoFi, Abel Noser Solutions and JPMorgan Chase. He holds a BSE Degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan. xSigma has recruited some of the brightest people in blockchain to spearhead the development of its DeFi protocol, which is set for launch in early 2021. The xSigma team currently includes Alex Lebed, an engineer who previously served at Facebook, Amazon and 1inch. Kamal Obadd, a Harvard graduate and former Google engineer, is also on the team alongside former Ripple and Google engineer Daniel Garay. Together, these professionals are launching one of the first DeFi protocol backed by a publicly traded company. ZK International trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange (Nasdaq: ZKIN) and is a reporting company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These associations bring a new level of legitimacy and transparency to the DeFi sector. It is anticipated that 2021 is going to be an exciting year for the DeFi sector as indicated by Dr. Iwa Salami, senior lecturer in financial law and regulation at the University of East London, has stated in the forkast that “DeFi is likely to continue to grow over the next 12 months for the following reasons: DeFi has the potential to facilitate financial inclusion by opening access to financial products to the world’s 1.7 billion unbanked people as it allows just about anyone to get a loan”. xSigma is building a world-class team to deliver an innovative, user-friendly ecosystem for traders and liquidity providers. “We are very excited to have Jesse join the xSigma family and we believe that his background in financial software development, combined with his hands-on experience at one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency companies, will assist xSigma in building the most trusted decentralized products on the market today,” said Mr. Jiancong Huang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ZK International. About ZK International Group Co., Ltd. ZK International Group Co., Ltd. is a China-based designer, engineer, manufacturer and supplier of patented high-performance stainless steel and carbon steel pipe products that require sophisticated water or gas pipeline systems. The Company owns 28 patents, 21 trademarks, 2 Technical Achievement Awards, and 10 National and Industry Standard Awards. ZK International is preparing to capitalize on the $850 Billion commitment made by the Chinese Government to improve the quality of water, which in its current supply state is 70% unfit for human contact. ZK International is Quality Management System Certified (ISO9001), Environmental Management System Certified (ISO1401), and a National Industrial Stainless Steel Production Licensee that is focused on supplying steel piping for the multi-billion dollar industries of Gas and Water sectors. ZK has supplied stainless steel pipelines for over 2,000 projects, which include the Beijing National Airport, the “Water Cube” and “Bird’s Nest”, which were venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Emphasizing superior properties and durability of its steel piping, ZK International is providing a solution for the delivery of high quality, highly sustainable, environmentally sound drinkable water to not only to the China market but to international markets such as Europe, East Asia and Southeast Asia. For more information please visit www.ZKInternationalGroup.com. Additionally, please follow the Company on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Weibo. For further information on the Company’s SEC filings please visit www.sec.gov. About XSigma Corporation XSigma Corporation, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZK International Group Co., Ltd. Together with ZK International, has launched xSigma as a research and development lab back in 2018 to solve real-world infrastructure challenges. Its mandate was to explore new opportunities in smart contracts, supply chain management and other blockchain-based solutions. XSigma has since pivoted to decentralized finance, focusing on decentralized exchanges, stablecoins and lending protocols. The research lab is now actively working on its ecosystem of products beginning with its DeFi protocol. The ultimate objective is to build a range of financial tools and products for the flourishing decentralized finance industry. The xSigma team that are being assembled are on the leading edge of blockchain research and development that intersects decentralized finance, supply chain management, IoT, and infrastructure. The DeFi protocol is one of many decentralized finance projects xSigma plans to launch over the next 12 months. It will feed into a growing network of DeFi products for enterprise and consumer markets. Any blockchain protocol is subject to a degree of risk; xSigma’s DeFi protocol has implemented tamper-resistant programming, but is still subject to potential hacks.For further information about xSigma, please visit its website at www.xsigma.” www.xsigma.com and www.xsigma.fi Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “estimate” or “continue” or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of ZK International. Actual results may differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties, as well as other risk factors that are included in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although ZK International believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the results contemplated in forward-looking statements will be realized. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking information included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by ZK International or any other person that their objectives or plans will be achieved. ZK International does not undertake any obligation to revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investor Contact: Sherry Zheng Weitian Group LLC Email: shunyu.zheng@weitian-ir.com Phone: +1 718-213-7386 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. The post xSigma Recruits Former Ripple Engineer to Join xSigma DeFi appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy has purchased 29,646 more bitcoins for $650 million. The latest purchase brings the company’s bitcoin holdings to 70,470 — worth more than $1.6 billion. Microstrategy Now Has Over $1.6 Billion in Bitcoin Billion-dollar public company Microstrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) announced its latest bitcoin purchase on Monday. CEO Michael Saylor tweeted: Microstrategy has purchased an additional 29,646 bitcoins for $650 million at an average price of $21,925 per bitcoin and now hodl an aggregate of 70,470 bitcoins purchased for $1.125 billion at an average price of $15,964 per bitcoin. Microstrategy started buying large amounts of bitcoin in August via Coinbase’s institutional service, making the cryptocurrency its primary reserve asset. After exhausting its own excess cash, the company raised funds by selling $650 million worth of convertible senior notes to buy more bitcoin, causing Citigroup to downgrade its stock. At the current price, Microstrategy’s 70,470 bitcoins are worth more than $1.6 billion. Saylor, who is now an avid bitcoin proponent, tried to convince Elon Musk over the weekend to move billions of dollars of Tesla’s funds into bitcoin. “If you want to do your shareholders a $100 billion favor, convert the $TSLA balance sheet from USD to BTC. Other firms on the S&P 500 would follow your lead & in time it would grow to become a $1 trillion favor,” he told Musk on Sunday. Saylor then offered to share his playbook with Musk offline. “The acquisition of additional bitcoins announced today reaffirms our belief that bitcoin, as the world’s most widely-adopted cryptocurrency, is a dependable store of value,” Saylor opined. Commenting on his company’s latest bitcoin purchase, Microstrategy CFO Phong Le said: The company continues to believe bitcoin will provide the opportunity for better returns and preserve the value of our capital over time compared to holding cash. What do you think about Microstrategy’s mega bitcoin purchases? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Microstrategy Buys 29,646 More Bitcoins — Now Holds Over $1.6 Billion in BTC appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk made a series of tweets about bitcoin on Sunday. One of them concerns whether it is possible to buy bitcoin in “large transactions,” particularly for Tesla to convert its U.S. dollar reserves into bitcoin. Microstrategy’s CEO told Musk that this move would be “a $100 billion favor” to Tesla’s shareholders that would grow into a “$1 trillion favor.” Elon Musk’s Bitcoin Tweets Elon Musk tweeted about bitcoin several times on Sunday, starting with “Bitcoin is my safe word,” making the same joke he previously made on several occasions. This time he followed up with “Just kidding, who needs a safe word anyway?” His initial tweet garnered over 6.1k comments at the time of writing. It had been retweeted more than 21.1k times and liked 210.1k times. A few hours later, Musk tweeted about bitcoin and dogecoin. One tweet reads: “Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money,” which many commenters have taken as a welcome insult to government money, particularly the U.S. dollar. Another tweet says: “One word: Doge.” Musk also replied to a bitcoin price prediction made by Twitter user Mark Calloway. “I predict a crash, I also predict it will reach $50k in [the] next five years,” he wrote. The Tesla CEO replied, “Sounds about right.” Musk then tweeted a bitcoin meme that attracted Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor to comment a few hours later. Saylor has become an avid bitcoin proponent after making the cryptocurrency his billion-dollar company’s primary Treasury reserve asset. The Microstrategy CEO told Musk: “If you want to do your shareholders a $100 billion favor, convert the $TSLA balance sheet from USD to BTC. Other firms on the S&P 500 would follow your lead & in time it would grow to become a $1 trillion favor.” Musk responded to Saylor: Are such large transactions even possible? Saylor answered: “Yes. I have purchased over $1.3 billion in BTC in past months & would be happy to share my playbook with you offline – from one rocket scientist to another.” A number of others chimed in to answer Musk’s question, including Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who recommended his own exchange to Musk. “Probably not a good idea to do it in one transaction, but can definitely be done,” he noted. Musk’s bitcoin question has sparked much speculation on social media that the Spacex CEO might soon buy a large amount of bitcoin, possibly through his company Tesla. However, some people believe that Musk was not serious about buying bitcoin with Tesla’s money. Gold bug Peter Schiff, for example, opined: “It seems like Elon Musk was only joking about exposing Tesla shareholders to bitcoin. So I don’t need to convince the board not to turn Tesla into a double bubble.” Tesla will officially become an S&P 500 constituent at Monday’s open with a 1.69% weighting in the index, which is the fifth-largest. Prior to Sunday, Musk has tweeted about bitcoin on a number of occasions. The Tesla CEO confirmed in May, “I still only own 0.25 bitcoins,” after replying to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling about how “massive currency issuance by govt central banks is making bitcoin internet money look solid by comparison.” The small amount of BTC Musk owns was given to him several years ago by a friend, he explained in February last year, noting that he did not have any other crypto holdings. In February, he addressed the rising number of scams leveraging bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Many of them used his name to promote their bitcoin giveaway schemes, raking in millions of dollars. The concerned Musk tweeted: “The crypto scam level on Twitter is reaching new levels. This is not cool.” In November, he responded to Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams asking on Twitter if she should buy bitcoin with “Toss a bitcoin to ur Witcher.” Musk also tweeted about cryptocurrency several times last year last, such as “Whoever owns the early BTC deserves a Nobel prize in delayed gratification.” Besides bitcoin, the Tesla CEO has also tweeted about dogecoin a number of times over the years. To this day, his Twitter profile still displays: “Former CEO of Dogecoin.” Do you think Elon Musk’s Tesla will soon invest substantially in bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Elon Musk Ponders Tesla Putting Billions Into Bitcoin, Asking if Such Large Transactions Are Possible appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This article explains the characteristics of the network marketing community based on Mining City and answers one not so simple question – why do most people fail in network marketing? What Google Won’t Tell You About Mining City Network marketing is the fastest growing business model for several reasons. But the one thing that stands out in this sales technique is the people behind it, in other words, the precious  Community  that the entire business model depends on. It is no secret that a united and goal-oriented community is key to a successful network marketing business. These individuals not only sell the company’s product or services but are also the ones who expand the network and help it grow. Sadly, a quick Google search for details about a networking community talks more about scams and fraudulent schemes than about positive aspects of being a part of a network. “There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” – Margret J Wheatley Understanding Community Dynamics The Mining City community share a common goal – to unite their strength and take an advantage of mining cryptocurrencies’.  Network marketing communities are structured in a way that they allow for the network to grow without it being saturated. So, companies basically encourage their existing distributors to recruit new distributors who are paid a percentage of their recruits’ sales. The recruits are the distributor’s “downline.” These distributors also make money through direct sales of products to customers. All network marketing communities have an upline, a down line and a compensation plan. To understand this better, let us take a closer look at what the Mining City Community looks like. So, how is this done? Each customer receives a referral scheme that gets them rewards for each of the plans they sell. Therefore, the business benefits the networkers in two ways. They continuously receive their crypto mining revenue and rewards, as well as certain subsidies and benefits for growing their network. All Mining City customers receive mining rewards directly from the blockchain. Mining City CEO, Greg Rogowski 5 Reasons Why Most People Will Never Succeed in Network Marketing Community Network marketing is not for the fainthearted or for anyone not willing to put in the work. It really cannot be considered a form of revenue. There are several reasons why not everyone is successful in network marketing. Here are the top five reasons why marketers have failed: #1 Only Money Counts Although there is nothing wrong with using money as a motivational factor, it shouldn’t be the only reason you are doing it. Most people fail from day one, as many join the business because they think it’s easy money. This is why most network marketers fail to breakthrough. So if you want to succeed as a network marketer, you must bear in mind that network marketing is a business. It has an accounting, sales and management process – you can’t ignore any of these. Let’s not forget that this is business and therefore like in any other enterprise or business your main goal should be to provide your customers with value. #2 Failure to Network Network marketing is after all about networking. Therefore, failing to do so will obviously directly impact the business. Failure to build a strong support system leads to failure in business. Network marketing is mainly about building relationships and using the network to drive business. Hence, you should be able to show new recruits and your customers how they can benefit from joining the network. The failure to network, mainly happens because the marketer is just not prepared to be a network marketer and has no plans about how he or she wants to grow with the network. So many marketers tend to fail because they aren’t prepared to give their business time. Always remember, network marketing is a business that requires your time more than your money. #3 No Sales Skills A lot of one-on-one sales is required, which unlike marketing is done at a personal level. Many new members of network marketing businesses do not realize that they would have to do a lot of selling on a one-on-one level. The difference between marketing and sales in network marketing companies is that marketing is done through a system while sales is done on a personal level. #4 Not a Leader at Heart The lack of leadership skills is a primary reason why network marketers do not always succeed. Network marketing is an industry where average people are recruited and turned into great leaders and entrepreneurs. It’s a business where you maintain a personal relationship with your down-line distributors, and this involves teaching and helping others replicate your success strategies. It boils down to leadership and, unfortunately, for those who do not possess natural leadership skills, network marketing can be a nightmare. #5 Giving up too Soon Many marketers just do not spend enough time on their network-marketing business and tend to easily give up when they fail. If you find yourself in a rut, the best thing to do is sharpen your skills and invest more time. Benefits of Being Part of a Networking Community There are several benefits of being a part of a network marketing community, especially in the crypto world if you choose the right company. So, instead of looking for “get rich quick scheme”, which are mostly scams, look for a company with a steady reputation, which has been through ups and downs but has delivered what it has promised. If you choose the right company, the risk of failure is low compared to traditional businesses. For instance, all Mining City members really need to do is relax as their mining revenue grows. They do not need to worry about the mining itself, nor the maintenance of the mining equipment and farms. Mining City takes care of it all. Also, to support its global clientele, Mining City has established customer support in 20 different languages. These representatives work round the clock seven days a week to serve all Mining City customers in the language they are most comfortable in. In many cases, network marketing communities are like families, willing to help each other out. They stand together through the good days and the bad. So, if you are having a hard day, speak to others in your community. They will be able to help you out. And always remember, persevere, keep your eyes on the finish line, and keep on working. Good things always come to those who work hard. Do you want to know more about Mining City community? Follow Mining City social media channels: https://twitter.com/MiningCity https://www.instagram.com/miningcity https://www.youtube.com/miningcity https://www.facebook.com/MiningCity Notice: this article was revised on Dec 22. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post The Advantages of Joining the Mining City Community appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Christmas, New Year’s Eve, or any other occasion when it is a time for giving and showing that you care, most of us try to be thoughtful and give the gift that stands out. Gifting is not only an act of kindness; it is also an art that takes into consideration not only everything we know about the people who matter to us but also the current circumstances that might affect them. With the increased interest in Bitcoin, the Crypto Voucher gift card is the gift that you should think of. Bitcoin Gift Card, the Gift of the Year 2020 was not an easy year for most people due to the health crisis that led to an economic recession across the world. On the positive side, if there is any, the lockdown accelerated scientific research, online shopping, and positioned cryptocurrencies as an alternative investment choice not only among the mainstream but also among institutional investors. Giving the financial difficulties most people are experiencing this year and the growing trend of gift cards being the new fashion of gifting while keeping it within the gifting etiquette (not making it look that you’re giving money), Crypto Voucher’s gift card qualifies to be the gift of the year. Bitcoin’s price and acceptance on online shops have significantly increased to new highs this year. It will definitely make your loved ones happy to use it buying the stuff they want online or just bragging about holding Bitcoins among friends. This gift combines positive things that happened in 2020 and will be for sure a gift to be remembered. Moreover, it will make it easier for you to explain Bitcoin as the future of money. How to Buy Crypto Voucher’s Bitcoin Gift Card Crypto Voucher focuses mainly on simplifying the process of buying Bitcoin and Ethereum, the platform offers different ways of buying their voucher. You can buy it directly using one of their 200+ online payment methods including credit/debit cards at zero fees. Or, you can buy the voucher from their official online distributors listed on their website. Additionally, if you are a US citizen you can exchange more than 700 gift cards to a Crypto Voucher prepaid card that you can redeem easily and instantly for Bitcoin or Ethereum. Crypto Voucher’s Fees Taking into consideration that you redeem the voucher directly to your own wallet. Crypto Voucher offers one of the most secure and cheap ways to buy cryptocurrencies. While redeeming the voucher you will be showing the real-time rates that are updated every 15 seconds. As for the fees, you will be charged a 4% service fee from the face value of the voucher, plus a crypto withdrawal fee to execute the transaction on the blockchain. The crypto withdrawal fee depends on how busy the network is but the good news is that it is capped at $3 no matter how expensive will be the cost of the transaction. How to Wrap Your Bitcoin Gift Card If you already made up your mind and you want to buy a bitcoin voucher as a gift. The most elegant and personalized way will be to put in a handwritten card with warm wishes and instructions on how to redeem the voucher. For those who don’t have much time to create a very personalized card, Crypto Voucher has prepared for you a card that you can download, print and use for the voucher. The joy of living is giving, no matter what gift you will be giving this year, make sure it will make you and your loved ones happy. Happy New year! This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post Crypto Voucher, a Thoughtful Crypto Gift for Your Loved Ones appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Following the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange’s initial public offering (IPO) Form S-1 draft registration, reports note that Goldman Sachs will likely lead the IPO. Moreover, the digital currency trading platform FTX is rumored to be launching a Coinbase futures market before the public listing. Two days ago, on December 17, 2020, Coinbase announced filing registration papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “The Form S-1 is expected to become effective after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions,” the San Francisco exchange detailed. Recent analysis from messari.io analyst Mira Christanto details that the company recently changed members of the board and included former Cisco CFO Kelly Kramer, Google veteran Gokul Rajaram, and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. Christanto says that the final preparations of the IPO “could see the company valued at $28 billion.” Business Insider’s financial columnist Meghan Morris has revealed that Coinbase will leverage the financial institution Goldman Sachs to lead the IPO. The Goldman Sachs deal was allegedly confirmed by two industry sources, but the San Francisco exchange has yet to confirm the choice. Digital Currency Group’s founder Barry Silbert was pleased with the Coinbase filing announcement and tweeted about the registration on Thursday. “Thanks to the Coinbase IPO, the acquisition price of a bunch of crypto companies is about to go way way higher,” Silbert tweeted to his 242,000 social media followers. According to a report published by Coindesk, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told the reporter that the team is planning to launch Coinbase IPO futures if the Form S-1 is greenlighted by U.S. regulators. FTX has already launched a pre-IPO futures market for Airbnb and has also created Trump and Biden presidential election futures as well. Bankman-Fried told the reporter Zack Voell that the pre-IPO Coinbase futures launch could be “very soon” or “could also never happen.” The exchange Coinbase launched in 2012 and is one of the most popular digital asset providers worldwide. In 2017, Coinbase achieved unicorn status and in 2018 the company was valued at $8 billion. What do you think about the Coinbase initial public offering (IPO) and Goldman Sachs leading the IPO? What do you think about the FTX pre-IPO futures? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Coinbase Allegedly Taps Goldman Sachs to Lead IPO, FTX Exchange May Launch Pre-IPO Futures appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Shark Tank star and the Dallas Mavericks’ owner, billionaire Mark Cuban has shared his updated view on bitcoin after the price of the cryptocurrency hit all-time highs. He compared bitcoin to gold but believes that bitcoin is not a solution to any problem as countries will take steps to protect their currencies. Mark Cuban Says Bitcoin Is More Like Religion While the price of bitcoin repeatedly hit all-time highs last week, American billionaire, Shark Tank star, and the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is still skeptical about the cryptocurrency. He was quoted by Forbes in an article published on Thursday as saying, “My thoughts haven’t changed” about bitcoin, elaborating: It’s a store of value like gold that is more religion than solution to any problem. Bitcoin has often been compared to gold and touted as an inflation hedge. Making the same comparison, Cuban noted that “unlike gold, because of the finite number of BTC that will be available and the nature of HODLing, when demand outstrips supply, the price will go up and vice versa.” Several renowned hedge fund managers and financial analysts have even said that bitcoin will likely outperform gold, including billionaire hedge fund manager Stan Druckenmiller. Deutsche Bank’s analysts recently said that investors are increasingly choosing bitcoin over gold to hedge against the dollar risk and inflation. More companies and institutional investors are also moving their funds from gold to bitcoin, including British investment firm Ruffer. “I think the whole conversation about BTC or any crypto replacing fiat currency is counterproductive,” Cuban asserted. “No matter how much BTC fans want to pretend that it’s a hedge against doomsday scenarios, it is not,” he claimed, emphasizing: Countries will take steps to protect their currencies and their ability to tax, so the more people believe this is anything more than a store of value, the more risk of government intervention they face. Cuban also believes that central banks will come up with some alternatives if necessary, including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). “As we see in China and elsewhere, countries are more than capable of creating their own alternatives,” he opined. The owner of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Dallas Mavericks concluded that “BTC is what it is, something that enough people have agreed upon is an investable asset.” Nonetheless, he insisted that “A banana has more utility, potassium is a valuable nutrient to every person on the planet, but as long as people accept BTC as a digital version of gold, its investable.” In September last year, he told Wired that he would “rather have bananas than bitcoin,” emphasizing that he could at least eat a banana. Meanwhile, Cuban’s Shark Tank co-star Kevin O’Leary said early this month that he is ready to put 5% of his portfolio into a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Do you agree with Mark Cuban about bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban Says Bitcoin Is a Store of Value but ‘More Religion Than Solution to Any Problem’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, first appeared on the web when the software programmer (or programmers) published the Bitcoin white paper on Halloween 2008. After the paper published and the crypto network launched, the inventor spent a little time with the community curating the project. People who are inspired by Nakamoto or like to research the engineer’s work can obtain a physical copy of Satoshi’s writings in its entirety from a book called “Kicking the Hornet’s Nest.” Crypto proponents can now leverage a book called “Kicking the Hornet’s Nest: The Complete Writings, Emails, and Forum Posts of Satoshi Nakamoto, the Founder of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency.” The compendium of the Bitcoin creator’s writings was assembled by Mill Hill Books and is available in print form for $29. All of the writings were collected and assembled chronologically “with almost no editorial commentary.” Many of the resources from the book stemmed from sites like nakamotoinstitute.org, bitcointalk.org, The Cryptography Mailing List at metzdowd.com, personal emails to and from Dustin Trammel (aka Druid), and personal emails from Mike Hearn and Hal Finney as well. There is a bit of commentary in the “Notes from the Editor” section, which explains why the compendium of Nakamoto’s writings were assembled. “Satoshi fired a shot across the bow of the financial powers-that-be,” the author writes. “Bankers, politicians, and the manipulators of the money supply have not been happy about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.” The editor explains that after a decade the powers-that-be have been warming up to the idea of cryptocurrency and essentially “the inevitability” of this technology. Of course, financial incumbents are slow and cautious, the author insists. The editor’s notes also suggest that the financial bigwigs are threatened by the fact that bitcoin gives “power, freedom, and responsibility to the individual.” “As a boy, my brother and I would occasionally come upon a hornet’s nest while playing in the woods,” the editor said. He added: When we did, being boys, there was really nothing else to do but to throw a rock or stick at it, or kick it. Kicking a hornet’s nest isn’t rational, but just too tempting and just too much fun not to. And when you do it, you do it fast and then you run like hell. The book’s editor writes a number of attributes Bitcoin’s creator had shown when he wrote, like the fact that he liked to double-space after a sentence is complete. Other insights taken from the chronological work of Nakamoto, was that Satoshi was polite, a good teacher, a clear communicator, a fantastic thinker, a heads-down programmer, and a person or group that “values privacy” the editor said. Additionally, the author writes that it is noteworthy to acknowledge that “since Satoshi Nakamoto is unknown, Satoshi’s sex is unknown.” The editor adds: Satoshi may be a man, woman, or group. However, since サトシ is generally a male’s name in Japan, Satoshi is referred to here [in this book] using singular, male pronouns. The book assembled by Mill Hill Books has a lot to digest, as Nakamoto wrote on bitcointalk.org 539 times and there are approximately 34 publicly known emails. The compendium of Nakamoto’s writings is 340-pages long and ends with the last message from Satoshi back in March 2014 when the programmer (or programmers) allegedly wrote: I am not Dorian Nakamoto. The editor does note that the authenticity of this particular message is not fully verified and the post has been debated for its legitimacy. “Despite his focused, logical, business-minded tendencies, there seems to me to be a bit of boyishness about him,” the editor’s note concludes. “This is seldom shown, but it is there, revealed in his writings in rare glints. This leads to a final conclusion… Satoshi is human.” What do you think about the book called “Kicking the Hornet’s Nest?” Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin’s Inception: A 340-Page Book Compiles All of Satoshi’s Writings in Chronological Order appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Slovenian cryptocurrency mining pool and trading platform announced that they’ve managed to fully compensate their users affected by a hacking attack that took place in December 2017, which took over 4,600 bitcoins. Nicehash ‘Fully’ Reimburses Users Affected in 2017 Hack According to the letter published by Martin Škorjanc, CEO of Nicehash, the company “fully” reimbursed all its user affected in what they called the “largest theft in Slovenian history,” and said that still unknown criminals stole 4,640 bitcoins from our users, worth 55 million at the time and over 100 million US dollars today, during a security breach. Nicehash was hacked on December 6, 2017, when its website went down and it was forced to interrupt all its operations. At the time, the company said in a Reddit post that “our payment system was compromised, and the contents of the Nicehash bitcoin wallet have been stolen.” The platform was back online just two weeks after the security breach. Škorjanc added more comments on the letter addressing the reimbursement process: At the time, many tried to convince us that there was no solution for us. A flock of various consultants and experts began circulating us, persistently telling us that our story was over. Everybody started offering us different ways to shut down the company most elegantly and make the most of the collapse. No Indications on Who Are the Authors of the Cyberattack Slovenian police officials took the case as a criminal investigation right after the cybersecurity attack happened against Nicehash, who said they’re still working on the matter with international support, as hackers are usually based abroad. However, there are no fresh updates on who the alleged culprits are behind the attack, nor indicate whether they’re state-sponsored hackers or not. The Ljubljana-headquartered Nicehash claims to be the “largest crypto-mining marketplace.” The service connects sellers and buyers of hashing power. Do you think that one day the authorities will be able to identify the authors of the theft of Nicehash’s bitcoins? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Nicehash Crypto Mining Pool ‘Fully’ Reimburses All Users Affected by 2017 Hack appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department, has unveiled its proposed rules on transactions involving cryptocurrency wallets. Experts in the crypto community have weighed in on what the new proposed regulation means, what crypto owners should do, and which wallets are affected. FinCEN’s New Rules for Crypto Wallets The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Friday that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has proposed new rules “aimed at closing anti-money laundering regulatory gaps for certain convertible virtual currency [CVC] and digital asset transactions.” The announcement came several weeks after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was rumored to be rushing out regulations for self-hosted crypto wallets before Trump’s term expires. Mnuchin tweeted Friday: FinCEN is proposing a rule on certain digital currencies that will protect national security, assist law enforcement and increase transparency while minimizing the impact on responsible innovation. In its proposal, FinCEN explained that it “assesses that there are significant national security imperatives that necessitate an efficient process for proposal and implementation of this rule.” The bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department added that “U.S. authorities have found that malign actors are increasingly using CVC to facilitate international terrorist financing, weapons proliferation, sanctions evasion, and transnational money laundering,” among other things, including ransomware attacks. Crypto Experts Break Down the Proposed Wallet Rules A slew of people in the crypto community have been commenting on the proposed rules on social media. Anderson Kill partner Preston Byrne noted that “FinCEN calls wallets managed by a service like Coinbase’s ‘hosted.’ It does not use the term ‘self-hosted’ but rather the term ‘unhosted’ to refer to bitcoiners’ DIY wallets and your nodes at home.” Lawyer Jake Chervinsky explained in some detail that “The rule would impose new obligations on virtual asset service providers (VASPs) like exchanges & custodians,” elaborating: For deposits & withdrawals > $3k involving a non-custodial wallet, VASPs would have to record the name & physical address of the wallet owner … VASPs would also have to report any deposit or withdrawal > $10k to FinCEN in the form of a currency transaction report (CTR). In contrast, he described that “Before now, the Travel Rule only imposed these record-keeping & reporting requirements on transactions from VASP-to-VASP.” However, “Today’s proposal follows a global trend of extending AML regulation to transactions from VASP-to-wallet, as we’ve seen from Switzerland, France, & others.” While emphasizing the challenges VASPs would face to comply with FinCEN’s proposal, Chervinsky also pointed out that the new rule “is vague & ambiguous.” He said it raises questions such as “How exactly can a VASP obtain the name & physical address of the owner of a non-custodial wallet? How does someone prove that they ‘own’ a private key? What about non-custodial smart contracts — who owns them?” The Treasury Department provided a list of what information must be collected here. Lawyer Justin Winston Ono Wales shared his initial thoughts, recommending: TL:DR: Get your coins off exchanges. Square Crypto’s Matt Corallo believes that “this kind of thing ends up going horribly wrong left and right. So much KYC/AML stuff only effects people who accidentally get screwed and not actually criminals.” He further opined: “the text is already vague and it all depends on how it’s enforced and how brokerages/exchanges respond. If it’s left vague and exchanges are concerned, there’s little reason they wouldn’t just turn off withdraws to non-exchanges – few customers would care.” FinCEN Pulling ‘Midnight Rulemaking’ FinCEN is asking for public comments which must be submitted before Jan. 4. However, Chervinsky explained that “Regular order calls for an agency to accept public comment for at least 60 days for ‘significant’ rules.” He pointed out that “FinCEN is giving us 15. At the end of December. With one month left before a new president is sworn in. There’s a name for this: ‘midnight rulemaking.'” The lawyer continued: Midnight rulemaking implies that an agency isn’t giving the public a genuine opportunity to participate in the rulemaking process, but rather trying to force through a predetermined result. In his opinion, “Courts don’t take kindly to this. Midnight rules are often struck down.” A Boost for Self-Hosted Wallets: New Rules Hurt Exchanges and Hosted Wallets Famous speaker and author Andrea Antonopoulos responded to FinCEN’s proposal with a series of tweets. Firstly, he pointed out that “The big bait and switch that FinCEN pulled was to unveil new policy on ‘regulated institutions’ but tell everyone that they regulated ‘unhosted wallets,’ which… they didn’t.” In fact, he said, “FinCEN just announced their DEX and privacy coin stimulus plan. Bullish.” He added, “Tightening the regulations on cryptocurrency exchanges will push more people into self-custody.” The bottom line on the rule proposed, he explained, is “If you try to make payments from a regulated exchange they will require additional verification and will report your transactions to the government,” asserting: If you use your own wallet … they can’t and won’t control or report on you … This will encourage users to withdraw immediately upon exchanging and often, as any money they let accumulate in a hosted wallet because less liquid and more bureaucratically bound. He emphasized that the new rule “hurts exchanges and hosted wallets because they have to do more compliance work and make users jump through more hoops. It makes their ‘product’ look less functional than a wallet you control … because it is less functional.” He reiterated that “By regulating the main thing they can regulate, which is regulated institutions – they are inadvertently making those less appealing to use and pushing more and more people to decentralized alternatives and self-custody.” Moreover, he warned: “This year it will be $3k. Next year they will lower it even as it’s eroded by inflation. Eventually, all transactions will need reporting and control.” Antonopoulos proceeded to remind everyone: Not your keys, not your coins, your barriers to use. Your keys, your coins, not your red tape. Pro-Bitcoin US Senator and Other Lawmakers Fight for Better Crypto Regulation Several lawmakers have expressed concerns over new crypto wallet regulations when it was rumored that the Treasury Department was planning to restrict the use of self-hosted wallets. Hours before FinCEN unveiled its proposal, pro-bitcoin U.S. Senator-elect from Wyoming Cynthia Lummis expressed her concerns in a series of tweets. While mostly addressing rules “governing self-hosted digital asset wallets and the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA),” she urged the Treasury Department to “immediately begin a transparent process to engage with Congress and industry, building a consensus to drive America forward.” The Senator-elect noted that “America is in a battle for competitiveness with China and Russia for the future of finance,” adding: I spoke with Secretary Mnuchin last week and strongly pressed him for a better path forward. Congress is best placed to weigh the competing policy issues at stake. A rule adopted now could also potentially extend the BSA to new types of transactions beyond Congress’ intent. Lummis explained that “A hallmark feature” of bitcoin is the ability to conduct transactions without an intermediary. She concluded: “This promotes financial inclusion and freedom. A rule adopted at this juncture would be a solution in search of a problem. More pressing BSA-related issues exist.” What do you think about the US’ new proposed crypto wallet rules? Let us know in the comments section below. The post US Treasury Unveils Stifling Crypto Wallet Regulation — Experts Break Down the Rules appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A survey about non-fungible token (NFT) trends on crypto users revealed that 47% of correspondents had heard of NFT, and among these, 63% of them had only a basic understanding about it, while 57% of them had never used them. Survey Reveals Common User Has Just a Basic Understanding of NFT Market According to a research conducted by crypto exchange Crypto.com, surveying 29,574 of its users, collectibles (47%) and gaming (33%) are the most commonly used NFT types. Nearly half of the respondents, corresponding to 49%, sought financial gain by investing in NFT, said the study. In contrast, the most popular marketplace among the respondents is OpenSea, as 54% of the surveyed people revealed it. But the interest in respondents is not limited to NFTs, as the survey showed that a majority of them (74) admitted to having used decentralized finance (defi) products. Moreover, the study pointed out that most of the respondents agreed that NFTs “are the next trending topic after DeFi,” and that NFTs “are a useful innovation.” Speaking with news.Bitcoin.com, Eric Anziani, COO of Crypto.com, commented on the motivations behind the research: While the crypto world has been focused on decentralized finance and Bitcoin all-time-highs, non-fungible tokens have quietly gained serious traction in 2020; nearly $8M was traded in the NFT market in the past month following steady growth over the past year. However, there is limited research into NFTs’ awareness, how people are using them, and roadblocks to adoption. There Is ‘Significant Room’ for the NFT Market to Grow Anziani said that their research involving nearly 30,000 users reveals that though almost half hadn’t heard of NFTs, and also indicates “significant room for the market to grow in 2021 as people begin to see NFTs’ potential value and utility.” On other figures revealed by the survey, 48% of respondents indicated that real-world non-fungible assets tokenization would be the “most beneficial aspect for NFT.” Also, 61% of respondents raised concerns on the “newness of the technology” who had heard of NFT, said the research. In the latest NFT landscape developments, an artist who calls himself ‘Beeple’ raised $3.5 million during his latest non-fungible token art collection auction. What are your thoughts on the survey’s findings? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Survey: There Is ‘Significant Room’ for the NFT Market to Grow Despite Widespread Lack of Knowledge Among People appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

American Express says its venture arm, Amex Ventures has invested in Falconx the cryptocurrency trading platform that focuses on serving institutional trading clients. Amex’s investment, which was announced during a record-breaking week for bitcoin, underscores the credit card issuer’s desire to cash in on the growing institutional interest in cryptocurrencies. Amex Venture’s Long Term Interest in Cryptos According to a report, Amex Ventures’ acquisition of a stake in Falconx is the culmination of an investigation into cryptocurrencies that took an unknown number of years. In comments made following the announcement, Harshul Sanghi, the global head of Amex briefly explains the rationale behind the financial services giant’s interest in crypto startups. He says: Amex Ventures invests in startups as a way to better understand emerging areas of the payments ecosystem. Meanwhile, before the investment by Amex for an undisclosed amount, the crypto start-up had reportedly raised $17 million in May “from the likes of Accel, Coinbase Ventures and a fund affiliated with Fidelity Investments’ parent company.” Since then, Falconx is reporting that its revenues have grown substantially and the platform now handles “around $3 billion in transaction volume monthly and has 250 institutional clients.” Meanwhile, the same report quotes Raghu Yarlagadda, Falconx’s chief executive and co-founder who claims that the start-up is seeing an “increasing number of traditional service providers and hedge funds have become interested in cryptocurrencies.” The reported interest by the latter is believed to be the key driver of the current crypto market bull run. Institutional Growth As reported by News.bitcoin.com, BTC touched a new all-time high of $23,777 on December 17 less than 24 hours after breaching the $20,000 mark. With many bitcoiners now expecting the BTC price to continue surging having passed its previous resistance level, more institutional investors are expected to join in the crypto buying and holding frenzy. In the meantime, as this is happening, Yarlagadda remarks that Falconx will be “at the front and center of seeing this institutional growth.” What do you think of Amex Ventures’ acquisition of stake in Falconx? Tell us what you think in the comments section. The post American Express’ Venture Arm Invests in a Cryptocurrency Trading Platform appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

New infected Rubygems packages have been spotted in its open-source software repository and which contained malicious code mainly used to steal cryptocurrencies from users via supply chain attack. Two Cryptocurrency-Stealers Rubygems Detected by Researchers at Sonatype According to Ax Sharma, a security researcher at Sonatype, the two gems detected — pretty_color and ruby-bitcoin — had malware that deployed the attack on Windows machines and replaced any bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), or monero (XMR) wallet addresses found on the victim’s clipboard by the attackers’ ones. Rubygems is a package manager for the Ruby programming language that allows developers to integrate code developed by other people. Anyone can upload a “gem” to the repository, open in some way the doors for threat actors to upload their malicious packages. The researcher explained further about how the attack operates: This means if a user who had mistakenly installed either of these gems was to copy-paste a bitcoin recipient wallet address somewhere on their system, the address would be replaced with that of the attacker, who’d now receive the bitcoins. During an analysis conducted by the Sonatype Security Research team, it was detected that unless the victim double-checks the wallet address after they paste it, the clipboard hijacker deployed during the supply chain attack will quietly change the address by creating separate malicious scripts contained in VBS files. Supply Chain Attacks: A Growing Concern Sharma also warned on the growing trend that supply chain attacks have so far in 2020, considering it a “bigger concern.” According to Sonatype’s 2020 State of the Software Supply Chain report, there was a 430% increase in upstream software supply chain attacks over the past year, making it “virtually impossible” to chase and keep track of such components manually. Sonatype’s Sharma adds: Of all activities a ransomware group may conduct on a compromised system, replacing bitcoin wallet address on the clipboard feels more akin to a trivial mischief by an amateur threat actor than to a sophisticated ransomware operation. However, this coincidence does raise a bigger concern, considering how rampant software supply chain attacks have been in 2020. Will we see a leading role in crypto-related supply chain attacks in 2021? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Two Rubygems Infected With Crypto-Stealing Feature Malware Spotted by Researchers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released an alert that warns private industry in the country about incidents of harassment of victims made by ransomware gangs, such as the well-known Doppelpaymer group. FBI Is Aware of Cold-Calling Tactics by Ransomware Gangs According to a PIN (private industry notification) alert regularly sent to U.S. companies to inform them about the latest updates in the cybersecurity sphere, shared by Zdnet, the FBI has been aware of incidents since February 2020, where Doppelpaymer has cold-called companies to intimidate victims by demanding them to pay a crypto ransom. The intimidation, which had escalated to rude language, includes threats to send individuals to the victims’ homes if they don’t pay for the demanded money in the ransomware attack deployed by the gang. The FBI describes Doppelpaymer as a group of threat actors that often demand between six and seven-figure ransoms in bitcoin during their attacks. If victims don’t pay, then they start to exfiltrate part of the stolen data and make “follow-on telephone calls to victims to further pressure them to make ransom payments.” Zdnet said that a similar tactic was used by other now-defunct ransomware groups, such as Sekhmet and Maze. Usually, the group of hackers targets healthcare sectors, emergency, and education across the globe, but they’ve been heavily active since June 2019, said the Bureau. In the alert, there is a recall of an incident related to Doppelpaymer and its cold-calling tactics to harass victims: In one case, an actor, using a spoofed US-based telephone number while claiming to be located in North Korea, threatened to leak or sell data from an identified business if the business did not pay the ransom. During subsequent telephone calls to the same business, the actor threatened to send an individual to the home of an employee and provided the employee’s home address. The actor also called several of the employee’s relatives. On Dec. 7, Foxconn, a publicly traded Taiwanese company and one of the largest electronics manufacturing firms, suffered a cyberattack deployed by Doppelpaymer, which asked for a 1,804 BTC ransom. Ransomware Attacks Are Becoming ‘Increasingly Problematic’ Brett Callow, threat analyst at malware lab Emsisoft, told news.Bitcoin.com that ransomware “continues to become increasingly problematic.” The malware lab commented the following on its latest findings in the Q3 report about ransomware attacks in 2020: Ransomware remained a persistent threat in Q3 2020. Threat actors continued to favor post-compromise deployment, often spending significant time preparing the target environment and exfiltrating data before delivering the ransomware payload. We also saw more ransomware groups seek to weaponize stolen data, with threat actors such as Avaddon, Conti, Darkside, Suncrypt and Lockbit, among others, launching new data leak sites this quarter. Are the authorities starting to take ransomware attacks more seriously? Let us know in the comments section below. The post FBI Warns Ransomware Gangs Are Harassing Victims via Telephone Calls to Pay Crypto Ransoms appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Lead Wallet, a new crypto wallet application, has officially been launched on Google Play Store, and it will also launch its iOS and web version soon. This crypto wallet application is different from other existing wallet apps because it aims to be a super simple crypto app that most people would find easy to use; even your grandma would be able to use it. Even though Lead Wallet is still a very new project, it already has several unique features inside the app. First of all, you can send and receive various cryptocurrencies, from Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Tezos, BNB (Binance Smart chain), Near, Stellar, and many others. You can even send and receive all ERC-20 tokens, which covers the majority of the existing crypto tokens inside the Ethereum ecosystem. On top of that, Lead Wallet also allows you to do non-custodial, instant swaps across different chains, for example, from BTC to TRX, and so on. Using advanced API, LEAD Swap also integrates Uniswap transactions for its ERC-20 to ERC-20 token swaps. You can do all kinds of transactions via the Lead Wallet Swap interface, both cross-chain and on-chain, without the need to go to centralized exchanges. Everything is offered on one page. And when LEAD adds more support for other altcoins, you will be able to enjoy even more cross-chain support in Lead-Swap. The core team behind Lead Wallet is also adding more big features to the wallet app, which would include fiat on/off ramp, multi-signature integration, multisender, a goods and services marketplace, staking service, more native integration with DeFi protocols, and others. Lead Token: the Heart of the LEAD Ecosystem Inside the Lead Wallet application, there’s a native crypto token of this ecosystem called the LEAD token. The token acts as the heart of the entire ecosystem. 30% of Lead Wallet’s quarterly profit will be used to buyback and burn LEAD tokens until only 30% of the total supply is left. Just like most crypto exchange tokens that you already know, the idea is to create a natural price floor and demand for the token as long as the app itself makes consistent revenue (which will come from the Lead-Swap and other revenue-generating features of Lead Wallet). On top of that, Lead token also offers a staking program with a return of up to 180% APY to give huge benefits to LEAD long-term hodl-ers. LEAD will also be used for discounts and other benefits when you make service purchases and payments inside the wallet application. It’s believed that the demand for Lead tokens will easily grow as the app itself grows. This is actually something that is lacking from many other altcoin projects, where their token has no direct correlation to the popularity of the project itself, and their demands often come from just the speculators. And here’s where LEAD differs. It has a natural demand for the token from the application itself, which guarantees you long-term price appreciation as long as more users use the wallet application. LEAD token is currently an ERC-20 token; you can easily trade it on Uniswap and Lbank. In the future, Lead token may become blockchain agnostic, where you will be able to swap it cross-chain to other popular blockchain platforms, just like how some stablecoins work with multiple platforms. A Transparent Decentralized Team with a Decentralized Project And here’s another thing to learn about Lead Wallet. It has a decentralized team with different backgrounds and mindsets. The LEAD project is decentralized and non-custodial, which adheres to the blockchain ideology, and last but not least, the LEAD project worships the concept of transparency. The core team behind LEAD always updates the community with the present situation of the project and will continue to maintain full transparency at all times. The LEAD team wants to contribute as much as possible to the ever-growing ecosystem of the cryptocurrency space. LEAD has been mentioned by YouTube’s famous crypto influencer, BitBoy, and has also cooperated with decent names in the industry, such as LBank, LID Protocol, ChangeNow, and is looking to add more names for future partnerships. In conclusion, Lead wallet is worth trying out if you are into new and cool crypto applications. The team plans to make this application the easiest wallet application for storing crypto assets, while still maintaining feature-rich functionalities and optimum security. You can download the Lead Wallet application on its Google Play Store page, and you might also want to check its official website if you want to learn more about it. For more inquiries and investment interest, kindly send an email to the team via: contact@leadwallet.io 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. The post LEAD Wallet Launches Its Super Simple Application; Even Your Grandma Would Be Able to Use It appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The crypto economy has gained a massive amount of value during the last few days, as the aggregate market cap of all 7,500+ digital assets is a whopping $640 billion on Thursday. Meanwhile, the largest blockchain in terms of valuation, bitcoin has touched an all-time high of $23,777 rising more than 22% in 24 hours. Digital currency markets are doing extremely well this week, as a great number of coins have seen significant gains during the last three days. At $640 billion, the aggregate market cap of all the crypto assets in existence is up over 15% on Thursday. Bitcoin (BTC) recently touched a lifetime price high at $23,777 recorded on Bitstamp on December 17. The price has dropped some since the all-time high (ATH) and BTC is currently trading at $23,107 per unit, up over 11% during the last 24 hours. BTC has a market valuation of around $429 billion today, which is 65% of the entire $640 billion crypto economy. During the last day, ethereum (ETH) is up 7% and is trading for $663 per unit at the time of publication. That price gives ETH’s overall market capitalization a value of around $75 billion on Thursday. The third-largest market, held by XRP has gained more than 19% in the last 24 hours and each XRP is swapping for $0.60. Similar to XRP, litecoin (LTC) has also seen double-digit gains jumping over 19% in the last day. LTC is trading for $104 per token and has a market cap of around $6.8 billion. In the sixth position, behind LTC is bitcoin cash (BCH) which is trading for $323 per unit. BCH has an overall market valuation of around $6 billion at press time. Overall, many crypto supporters are extremely bullish and exuberant about the crypto price rises. However, not everyone is so enthused and the acclaimed Canadian economist, David Rosenberg, recently said bitcoin (BTC) is massively overvalued. “Bitcoin is a massive bubble,” Rosenberg stated during an interview with Tom Keene. “The one thing we know about gold, we know the supply curve of gold with certainty. We don’t know the future supply curve of BTC, people think they know but they don’t really know.” Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex disagrees and noted that critics should take heed of what is being built today. “Bitcoin’s ascent above US$20,000 is yet another milestone in what has been an epic year for crypto,” Ardoino told news.Bitcoin.com. “But the main story is not about speculation or trading. Bitcoin represents a monumental technological shift, the consequences of which are only just beginning to be seen. Critics should take heed of the quiet dedication of those building layers upon this technology that will change the very nature of money by the end of this decade,” Ardoino added. Bitcoin (BTC) touched a lifetime price high at around $23,777 on December 17, 2020. Many other bitcoin believers believe the price is really just warming up. Onchain analyst Willy Woo told his 176,000 Twitter followers that BTC prices at $100k is a “ridiculously low” target. “We are not at the all-time-high juncture where the BTC Top Cap Model starts curving upwards,” Woo tweeted. “Let’s see how high she runs in 2021. $100k is a ridiculously low target at the current trajectory. $55k is the next landmark -> Bitcoin becomes a $1T macro asset bucket,” the analyst added. The founder and CEO of Zumo, a UK-based crypto wallet and exchange platform, Nick Jones, said that the crypto economy is a safe bet for investors. “The boom in cryptocurrencies goes beyond institutional investors and financial houses,” Jones explained on Thursday. “As governments look to shore up their economies with cash injections, everyday investors are looking to assets like bitcoin which is influenced by their trading activity and not a government’s. If the pound is devaluing, cryptocurrency looks like a safer bet and investors can see the reward.” Of course, Peter Schiff, the infamous gold bug who loves to trash bitcoin and the crypto economy had something negative to say when BTC reached an ATH on December 16. “Most likely Microstrategy will not buy $650 million worth of bitcoin in the market,” Schiff said. It can easily find whales willing to unload large blocks of Bitcoin above $20K in private transactions. That means all the minnows may be front running a trade that never actually takes place,” he added. Meanwhile, after Schiff tweeted the dig at Microstrategy, claiming the firm would sell at $20k, the price jumped over $3,000 higher to the gold bug’s dismay. What do you think about the crypto economy’s recent gains and bitcoin touching a 2020 ATH? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin’s Value Surpasses $23,700, Critics Claim Its a ‘Bubble,’ Onchain Analyst Says $100K Prices ‘Ridiculously Low’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A massive bitcoin ad scam campaign — which features celebrities and mainly targeted Australians — has been traced. The investigation’s findings point to a “highly organized” global business that relies on five addresses in Moscow’s center. Massive Bitcoin Ad Scam Campaign Traced to Russia According to The Guardian, the scam campaign’s magnitude has made it difficult for Google, Facebook, or Australia’s financial watchdogs to take down the thousands of ads deployed across the web. The ads often feature Australian celebrities like Dick Smith, Andrew Forrest, Chris Hemsworth, among others. The sites have been operating on news media-style websites since at least 2018. The coronavirus pandemic has also been boosting victims’ flow due to the lockdowns in many countries worldwide, says the report. Such fraudulent sites offer bitcoin investment opportunities via a fake news story that acts as a bait, offering a link to a crypto investment scheme endorsed by a celebrity. Once people submit their personal details to join the scheme, they’ll receive a call, asking them to deposit initially $250 and later to increase it, with fake promises of high yield returns. The same is done in other countries around the world, featuring local TV celebrities – for example in Sweden the well-known TV host Filip Hammar is commonly featured in these ads. One of the testimonies featured in The Guardian’s investigation revealed that a 77-year-old grandmother from Queensland, Australia, was attracted by a bitcoin “investment opportunity” via a Facebook ad that featured Waleed Aly, a popular Australian TV host. She initially received a call from a man with an English accent, and she initially deposited $5,000 worth in BTC through a crypto exchange. However, the scam escalated to the point that she managed to transfer up to $80,000 to the scammers. Although all the investigated websites were registered through third-party companies that hide real owners’ identities, The Guardian found five names who had registered “hundreds” of bogus sites belonging to addresses based in Moscow. Also, similar celebrity-based investment scams were traced to Kyiv, Ukraine. It’s Not an Easy Task to Deal With Bitcoin Scam Ads, Say Social Media Platforms The report details that both Google and Facebook have been struggling taking down all the scam ads ran through their platforms, and a spokeswoman from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission confirmed such difficulties: In some cases, we’ve been able to trace these ads, the majority of which seem to be based overseas, despite creating the impression that they’re operating from Australia by using local addresses and phone numbers on their websites. Any data we have gathered we don’t make this public. In an alert published on August 14, 2020, the UK National Cyber Security Centre say they’ve taken down over 300,000 sites linked to fake celebrity-endorsed investment schemes — including bitcoin schemes — also featuring British celebrities such as Richard Branson and Martin Lewis. Do you think fake celebrity-endorsed bitcoin investment schemes will continue to increase in 2021? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Massive Fake Celebrity-Endorsed Bitcoin Investment Campaign Duping Google, Facebook Traced to Moscow appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

CI Global Asset Management has begun to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada. The fund’s initial public offering managed to raise $72 million and units commenced trading in both U.S. dollars and Canadian dollars. CI Global Fund Begins Trading CI Global Asset Management has made it known that it has completed the initial public offering of the CI Galaxy Bitcoin Fund. According to the press release, $72 million was raised from the listing. Initially, the fund had different classes such as class A, class C, and class F. However, regardless of their class, each share unit was sold for $10. But, when the offerings were closed, classes C and F had collapsed into a class A share. With trading set to begin today, all the shares have been put for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Investors can trade the shares against both United States Dollars and the Canadian dollar. BTCG.U and BTCG.UN are the tickets for the trade. The announcement further went on to reveal that the fund would be an investment option that would give holders an opportunity to invest in bitcoin via an institutionally backed fund platform. The fund’s bitcoin would be stored in a cold storage system which is the preferred method of protection offered by some of the leading protocols in the crypto space. Galaxy Digital to Act as Fund Sub-Adviser A leading crypto firm that has made its name as an intermediary between the crypto industry and corporate institutions, Galaxy Digital, would act as the sub-adviser of CI’s new bitcoin fund. As the sub-adviser, Galaxy Digital would have the right to carry out trades on behalf of the Fund in the market. The press release further stated that the fund was going to be investing in bitcoin directly. While the bitcoin holdings of the fund are going to be priced using the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin index tool. CEO, Kurt MacAlpine who is the CEO of CI Galaxy Bitcoin Fund parent’s company CI Financial Corp., said that the fund would give investors the benefit of having to choose from an array of quality investment options. In his words the fund would be: “Providing investors with the benefits of a broad choice of high-quality alternative investment options.” Bitwise Starts Strong in the United States A recently launched crypto fund in the United States, Bitwise, has had one of the strongest starts in the history of crypto-based funds in the country. According to reports, the crypto fund was able to record $67 million of its shares being traded within the first 72 hours of its emergence. The Bitwise fund, however, currently operates as a trust because it is yet to get the express approval of the US financial authorities, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). What do you think about the bitcoin fund trading on TSX? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Fund Debuts on Canada’s Biggest Stock Exchange appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article