According to the National Bank of Rwanda, the country’s regulated financial services providers are now prohibited from facilitating crypto-related transactions. In her Jan. 31 letter justifying the decision, the acting governor Soraya Hakuziyaremye cites the unregulated status of most crypto assets and how this leaves users without the “guarantees and safeguards associated with regulated financial
Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) saw ongoing rejection below $22,000 into Feb. 14 as markets braced for macroeconomic data impact. Bitcoin vs. CPI: “Expect volatility” Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD failing to expand beyond $21,800 ahead of the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) print for January. Already called the “most important” CPI release,
Bitcoin (BTC) miners have earned nearly $600,000 in two months from a new controversial NFT protocol called Ordinals that has triggered a surge in user activity. What are Bitcoin Ordinals? Ordinals allow users to inscribe data in the form of images and other media types in newly mined blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain that’s otherwise largely
On Feb. 12, 2023, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) announced the launch of a new initiative called the “Financial Infrastructure Transformation Program,” which has nine key objectives. One of these objectives is the research and development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) designed to address both cross-border payments and domestic
Meta, the company that owns Whatsapp, Instagram, and Facebook, is reportedly preparing to announce a new round of layoffs in the coming days. According to reports, the company is delaying the finalization of the budget for each one of its teams, causing operational delays and affecting the output of employees of the company. Meta to
India is having “detailed discussions” with other G20 members about forming a collective standard operating procedure (SOP) to regulate crypto assets, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has revealed. She also called for “a globally coordinated approach on the regulation of crypto assets” during her recent meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
The launch of Bitcoin nonfungible tokens (NFTs) — known as Ordinals — has tipped the number of non-zero Bitcoin addresses to a new all-time high of 44 million, according to crypto analytics platform Glassnode. In a Feb. 13 report from Glassnode, the firm explained that for the first time in Bitcoin’s 14-year history, a portion
Authorities in the Russian region of Irkutsk have so far filed 1,000 lawsuits against what they call “gray” miners, or people minting coins in their homes. In over half of these cases, courts have ordered the defendants to compensate the operators of the distribution networks. Hundreds of Crypto Miners Sued in Irkutsk for Extracting Digital
Australia-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Iris Energy has revealed it will nearly triple its mining capacity with the addition of thousands of mining rigs. On Feb. 13 the firm said it purchased an additional 4.4 exahashes per second (EH/s) worth of Bitmain Antminer S19j Pro ASIC miners, bringing its self-mining capacity to 5.5 EH/s from
Bitcoin miner, Iris Energy, announced plans to increase the company’s self-mining capacity, from 2 exahash per second (EH/s) to approximately 5.5 EH/s, after it receives 4.4 EH/s of new Antminer S19j Pro miners from Bitmain. Iris Energy Leverages $67 Million in Bitmain Prepayments for Latest Mining Expansion Bitcoin mining company, Iris Energy, announced plans to
Before Paxos published a press release at 6 a.m. Eastern time Monday, the stablecoin BUSD had approximately 16.16 billion tokens in circulation. In the past eight hours, nearly $290 million has been redeemed, bringing the number of BUSD in circulation to 15.87 billion. Stablecoin BUSD Sees Increased Redemption Activity During Regulatory Scrutiny The stablecoin BUSD
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has warned of “profound impacts” on the crypto industry if stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD) is ruled as a security. His warning followed an alleged lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Paxos, the issuer of Binance USD. Binance’s CEO on SEC Action Against Paxos and BUSD Following
press release PRESS RELEASE. Abu Dhabi, 13 February 2023 — Venom Foundation, the first Layer-1 blockchain licensed by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), has announced a partnership with DAO Maker, a leading blockchain growth solutions provider known for their Launchpad, to incubate promising Web3 startups focused on delivering real-world use cases. DAO Maker will
Bakkt Holdings Inc. announced Monday that it will solely focus on business-to-business technology solutions and discontinue its consumer application. The company stated that the app will officially be discontinued on March 16, 2023, and app users will continue to have access to all of their assets. Bakkt Consumer App to Sunset, Loyalty Points Still Accessible
2023 is off to a great start, with Bitcoin (BTC) rocketing up 40% in January. The good news is not relegated to just Bitcoin, however, as this price increase has sent ripple effects across the cryptoverse. Mining revenue jumped $22.66 million in January, and crypto-related stocks doubled on average. Despite this good news, venture capital
Polygon fell by over 10% on Feb. 13, as a red wave swept through cryptocurrency markets during Monday’s session. Volatility was high ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. consumer price index release, and with the depegging of BUSD. Cosmos also traded lower to start the week, hitting a 14-day low. Polygon (MATIC) Polygon (MATIC) dropped by as
Bitcoin (BTC) drifted toward major liquidity around the Feb. 13 Wall Street open as the dust settled on United States regulatory news. BTC traders spread bids lower Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD $21,476 on Bitstamp, almost matching the weekend’s three-week lows. As analysts expected a “choppy” day prior to key U.S.
Brazilians will now be able to pay part of their state taxes using cryptocurrencies. Banco do Brazil, a mixed ownership bank, is launching the option of paying a set of taxes with crypto, using Bitfy, a Brazilian cryptocurrency startup, as a payment processor, exchanging the cryptocurrencies paid for Brazilian reals on the fly. Brazilians Will
Bitcoin (BTC) is known for its robustness, security and predictability. Every 10 minutes–on average–the blockchain produces a new block and the successful miner earns a block reward of 6.25 BTC, circa $130,000. However, every once in a while, the Bitcoin blockchain surprises observers and participants. At block height 776,339, nodes across the network verified a
On Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, the domain registrar Namecheap’s email account was compromised by hackers. Subsequently, a large number of individuals received phishing emails claiming to be from Metamask and DHL. These emails originated from the email platform Sendgrid, a service used by Namecheap for marketing correspondence. Namecheap Confirms Email Account Compromise and Disables Sendgrid
Ethereum started the week trading below $1,500, as it was reported that Paxos will no longer mint BUSD. This has led to a depegging of the stablecoin, and comes ahead of the upcoming U.S. inflation report, which is also adding to today’s volatility. Bitcoin edged lower on Feb. 13, as prices remain near a three-and-a-half-week