BTCNews

New sanctions discussed by EU member states amid the current escalation of the conflict in Ukraine are going to restrict European crypto services for Russians. Reports about the tightening have come after earlier this year the Union banned only “high-value” crypto-asset services to Russian residents and companies. EU Expected to Target Crypto Services for Russians in New Round of Sanctions Over Ukraine The European Union is preparing to punish Russia with more sanctions over its decision to announce partial mobilization as part of its escalating military intervention in Ukraine and moves to annex occupied Ukrainian territories through what are seen as sham referendums. The package will hit trade in the first place, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announcing intentions to impose a new ban on Russian imports as well as the export of technologies that could be employed by the Russian military. A price cap for Russian oil is planned, too. The new measures would...

Binance has officially launched a cryptocurrency exchange in New Zealand after successfully registering with the country’s financial regulator. “We see significant value in having a serious New Zealand presence,” said Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ). Binance Launches Crypto Trading Platform in New Zealand Global crypto exchange Binance announced Friday that it has successfully registered as a financial service provider with the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). The crypto exchange also announced the official launch of Binance New Zealand (Binance NZ). Noting that the registration was actually effective on Sept. 10, the company detailed: This registration allows Binance NZ to offer a range of financial services, including spot trading, staking, NFTs and more. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) commented: “A lot of major tech firms are slow to open a New Zealand office. I guess for some, it’s easy to overlook as it’s a smaller market but we see sign...

Several U.S. lawmakers have introduced the Retirement Savings Modernization Act to provide 401(k) retirement savers access to a wide range of investments, including crypto assets. “With inflation at record highs, a stock market downturn, and a potential recession on the horizon, many Americans are rightfully concerned about their financial future,” said U.S. Senator Pat Toomey. Retirement Savings Modernization Act Introduced The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs announced Thursday that Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Tim Scott (R-SC) and Representative Peter Meijer (R-MI) have introduced a bill called the Retirement Savings Modernization Act. The bill aims “to bolster Americans’ retirement savings by allowing workers to diversify assets included in defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) plans,” the announcement details. “This legislation will amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to clarify that private sector retirement pl...

The Delaware Department of Justice’s Investor Protection Unit has issued a cease and desist order against 23 entities and individuals involved in a popular cryptocurrency scam known as “pig butchering.” The order also freezes the accounts allegedly holding cryptocurrencies belonging to the victims. Delaware Cracks Down on Pig Butchering Crypto Scam The attorney general of the U.S. state of Delaware, Kathy Jennings, announced Wednesday that the Investor Protection Unit of the state’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has “issued a summary order to cease and desist against 23 entities and individuals involved in a cryptocurrency scam known as the ‘pig butchering scam.'” Pig butchering crypto scams have recently become alarmingly popular . Victims of this type of scam “are groomed over time to make investments using cryptocurrency, only to find that what they thought was a safe investment was a scam,” the Delaware DOJ detailed. “The moniker stems from the scammers’ practice of ‘fattenin...

The Paraguayan Senate has decided to reject the total veto that President Mario Abdo exerted over a proposed cryptocurrency bill on September 2. The Senate defended the initiative, stating that passing the bill would benefit the country due to its effect on tracking the energy consumption of crypto miners and the income that mining taxes would bring to the state. Paraguayan Senate Affirms Cryptocurrency Bill Approval The Paraguayan Senate is ready to fight against the president when it comes to the passing of the recently approved cryptocurrency bill. President Mario Abdo exerted a complete veto action on this initiative earlier this month, but the Senate has reaffirmed its support for the sanction of this bill in a new discussion, rejecting the action. Senators argued that there are several decisions in the bill that would bring benefits to the state and the cryptocurrency industry, including crypto miners. Senator Enrique Salyn Buzarquis vowed in support of the sanction of the b...

According to a recent filing, Blackrock, the multi-national investment company based in New York City and the world’s largest asset manager, has plans to create a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on metaverse companies. The fund — dubbed the Ishares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF — will track metaverse firms with exposure to virtual reality, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), augmented reality, and game-centric finance (gamefi) applications. ETF Filing Shows Blackrock Plans to Launch a Metaverse Exchange-Traded Fund The world’s largest asset manager by assets under management (AUM), Blackrock, has been investing more energy into the digital asset and blockchain space in recent times. On Friday, Bloomberg’s Katherine Greifeld and Vildana Hajric first reported on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing for Blackrock’s new ETF called the Ishares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF. The news follows the recent launch of the Ishares Blockchain Tech...

PRESS RELEASE. INTERNET CITY, DUBAI, Sep. 30, 2022 – Global crypto exchange, LBank , released a long-awaited brand-update video on their official youtube channel , giving detailed information about recent updates and plans for the coming years. A diversity video was also released accompanying the brand reveal. This will mark a campaign around the brand upgrade that will continue for the next 2 months. The 22-minute video went throught a variety of questions. LBank’s Co-founder Johnason Chen, COO Shantnoo Saxena, CMO Kaia Wang, and head of marketing MENA Abhinav Mehta appeared in the video, covering topics in their respective areas. LBank has been teasing on their social media platform about the awaited logo update for some weeks before finally officially announcing the video release. The video also revealed that the logo change and all-around style update will be made gradually in the coming months. The biggest notable change to LBank’s new logo is the distinct design in the l...

Xrp was up by nearly 10% on Friday, as the token moved closer to a recent four-month high. The move comes as consumer sentiment data in the United States came in at 58.6, which is higher than August’s reading of 58.2. UNUS SED LEO was also in the green, climbing by as much as 12% in today’s session. XRP XRP was up by over 10% in today’s session, as prices moved closer towards a multi-month high. Following a low of $0.4285 on Thursday, XRP /USD rallied to an intraday peak of $0.503 earlier in the day. The move saw the token formerly known as ripple near last week’s high of $0.558, which was the strongest point since May. As can be seen from the chart, earlier gains have somewhat eased, as the relative strength index (RSI) collided with a ceiling. The index is currently tracking at 63.81, which is marginally lower than the aforementioned resistance point of 65.00. Should XRP bulls attempt to recapture last week’s high, then a breakout of the RSI ceiling will need to take place....

As Celsius’ bankruptcy proceedings continue, the court’s trustee William Harrington appointed an examiner on Thursday in order to review the company’s finances, according to a filing submitted on September 29. On the same day, state securities officials from Vermont and Texas filed objections to the crypto lender accessing the company’s stablecoin cache. 15 days prior to the objections, the crypto lender filed paperwork that said Celsius was looking to access $23 million in stablecoin reserves. State Securities Officials Step Into the Celsius Bankruptcy Battle State securities regulators have been very busy with cryptocurrency cases in recent times. On September 29, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) filed an objection against a recently filed motion by Celsius. The motion was Celsius’ plan to sell $23 million in stablecoins as the company petitioned the court on September 15 to gain access to the stash. “The debtors fail to disclose in the motion how [many stablecoins] will ...

According to a recent Chainalysis report, although Sub-Saharan Africa is believed to account for as little as 2% of global transaction activity, the area “contains some of the most well-developed cryptocurrency markets of any region.” Additionally, Sub-Saharan Africa’s “retail market and outsized usage of P2P platforms make it unique compared to other regions.” Sub-Saharan Africa’s ‘Outsized Usage of P2P Platforms’ According to a new report by blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis, Sub-Saharan Africa’s total crypto transaction volumes of $100.6 billion seen between July 2021 and June 2022 are the least of any region that has been surveyed. While the on-chain volumes during this period are 16% higher than the preceding period, the report nevertheless states that Sub-Saharan Africa only accounts for 2% of the global crypto activity. Still, according to the blockchain analysis firm’s findings, Sub-Saharan Africa likely has some of the most developed cryptocurrency markets global...

The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) has sent a subpoena to Mercado Bitcoin, one of the biggest exchanges in the country, to inquire about the services the company lends regarding cryptocurrency-related fixed return investments. The company will have to disclose the details of these investments and if they plan to maintain them as available to the general public. Mercado Bitcoin Subpoenaed on Fixed Income Token Investments Cryptocurrency exchanges are becoming more than just that, and in regions like Latam, where there are countries with high inflation numbers, some offer bank-like products to entice customers to enter the crypto market. Mercado Bitcoin, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in Brazil, has been subpoenaed by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) on the services that it offers customers via its platform. The subpoena inquires about the services offered via the Tokens section on the web page of Mercado Bitcoin, which, accordi...

On Thursday, at the Converge22 event in San Francisco, Circle announced the acquisition of the payment orchestration company Elements. Circle explained that the acquisition includes plans to “quickly scale payment offerings.” Circle says the new service will make it easier for merchants to integrate their existing points of contact with Circle’s crypto solutions. Circle Reveals New Permissionless Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol at Converge22 This week Circle and a number of other crypto industry heavyweights attended the Converge22 event in San Francisco. During the conference, Circle has made a number of announcements like usd coin (USDC) support being added to Robinhood Markets’ offerings. In addition to partnering with Robinhood, Circle also announced the firm’s new “cross-chain transfer protocol to support USDC interoperability for developers [and] their users.” “Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol is permissionless and enables USDC to be sent natively across ecosystems, improving l...

PRESS RELEASE. The Rugby League World Cup 2021 (RLWC2021) has announced CoinEx as its official cryptocurrency trading platform partner. Founded in 2017, CoinEx is a professional global cryptocurrency exchange. Dedicated to ‘making crypto trading easier’, CoinEx provides a highly secure, stable and efficient service for its three million global users. It’s a first for the World Cup to be in a position to follow other sports in having a cryptocurrency company as a partner, and CoinEx is honoured to have the opportunity to establish a partnership with RLWC2021. CoinEx CEO Haipo Yang said, “We genuinely admire what the RLWC2021 represents. The tournament is set to trail blaze a way to reach new audiences for the sport, and we are excited to be a part of that through our partnership. “This will be the first major sponsorship activity we have undertaken, and we look forward to working together to make it a success for both parties.” Jon Dutton, RLWC2021 ‘s Chief Executive, said: ...

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) says it has frozen more than 77.6 bitcoins that were transferred to Binance from Indian crypto exchange Wazirx. The freeze is part of a money laundering investigation into a mobile gaming application. Indian Authority Freezes Bitcoin Held at Crypto Exchange Binance India’s Directorate of Enforcement (ED) announced Wednesday that it has frozen 77.62710139 bitcoins under the country’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED is the Indian government’s law enforcement and economic intelligence agency. The freeze is part of the ED’s investigation into a mobile gaming application called E-nuggets. According to the announcement, the cryptocurrency was transferred from Wazirx, a popular Indian exchange, to Binance. The ED also tweeted a summary of its action. The law enforcement agency explained that “Aamir Khan, S/o Nesar Ahmed Khan launched a mobile gaming application namely E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding [the...

Renowned billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller says he could see cryptocurrency “having a big role in a Renaissance because people just aren’t going to trust the central banks.” He added that he will be “stunned” if the U.S. isn’t in a recession next year. Stanley Druckenmiller: People Just Aren’t Going to Trust Central Banks Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller discussed the U.S. economy and cryptocurrency in an interview at the CNBC Delivering Alpha conference Wednesday. Druckenmiller is the chairman and CEO of Duquesne Family Office LLC. He was previously a managing director at Soros Fund Management where he had overall responsibility for funds with a peak asset value of $22 billion. According to Forbes’ list of billionaires, his personal net worth is currently $6.4 billion. Referencing the news of the Bank of England buying 65 billion pounds of U.K. bonds, he said “if things get really bad” and other central banks take similar action in the next two or thr...

PRESS RELEASE. Arbswap, the Arbitrum-native automated market maker decentralized exchange, has seen significant progress over the past months. Following the migration of its contracts to the Arbitrum Nova network, Arbswap has recently launched the Nova Accelerator with support from Old Fashion Research, a multi-strategy blockchain investment fund. By establishing the Accelerator, Arbswap has set out to support the growth of Arbitrum Nova’s ecosystem through investments and advisory services for projects building on the platform. According to Arbswap, the Nova Accelerator aims to invest $10 million in the Arbitrum Nova ecosystem. About Arbswap and Arbitrum Nova Arbitrum Nova is an Arbitrum Layer-2 scaling solution that optimizes ultra-low-cost transactions while offering strong security guarantees. Being the first Arbitrum chain built on its AnyTrust technology, Arbitrum Nova is meant to serve applications that handle high volumes of price-sensitive transactions, such as gaming, s...

Following the Bank of England explaining that it would be meddling in U.K. bond markets and the Bank of Japan defending the yen in the foreign exchange market last week, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) revealed it intervened in forex markets on Wednesday. Hong Kong’s central bank detailed that it interfered in forex markets in order to defend the Hong Kong dollar (HKD) as it showed signs of weakness against the greenback on September 28. HKMA Interferes in Forex Markets to Defend the HKD From Capital Flight to USD Assets While the euro and pound sterling lost 12-17% against the U.S. dollar during the last six months, there’s been a significant amount of capital flight to the greenback. The Hong Kong dollar (HKD) , however, has fared better than a myriad of fiat currencies worldwide against the U.S. dollar. On Wednesday, September 28, reports detail that a “flight of capital from the Hong Kong dollar market” pushed the HKMA to step in and defend the HKD in forex markets. Sou...

PRESS RELEASE. Bitcoin.com , a digital ecosystem and secure self-custody platform where users can accessibly and safely interact with cryptocurrencies and digital assets , is launching the Verse Development Fund, an initiative to accelerate growth and innovation in Bitcoin.com ’s Verse ecosystem. In addition, the fund will empower projects that embody Bitcoin.com ’s ethos of economic freedom and democratized finance. “Since 2015, Bitcoin.com has been a leader in introducing newcomers to crypto and guiding them along their digital asset investing journeys,” said Bitcoin.com CEO Dennis Jarvis. “So far, we’ve built an incredible portfolio of products and services used by over 4 million individuals monthly. The Verse Development Fund will be the instrument by which we leverage this diverse and passionate community’s energy into building an even stronger ecosystem with even more popular appeal.” The fund, which will start accepting grant applications from developers and other ecos...

After Robinhood Markets launched the company’s beta Web3 wallet on Tuesday and listed the stablecoin usd coin on the exchange platform Robinhood Crypto last week, the company announced a strategic partnership with Circle Financial. The deal revealed on Wednesday will provide Robinhood Crypto and Robinhood Wallet users with the ability to purchase and sell usd coin, and access “exclusive in-app educational modules to earn USDC rewards.” Robinhood and Circle Partner to Offer USDC Accessibility On Wednesday, Robinhood Markets (Nasdaq: HOOD ) published an “Under the Hood” blog post that explains the California-based financial services company has joined forces with Circle . Robinhood details that the stablecoin usd coin (USDC) is the “first stablecoin available to buy and sell on Robinhood Crypto and on the new Robinhood Wallet (currently in beta).” “USDC will play a crucial role in helping our customers get their dollars into Web3 through a trusted and transparent source,” Johann K...