Crypto

The African arm of the company behind the Ignis, Nxt and Ardor blockchains will be launching a multi-country tour to provide blockchain education in the public and private sectors. According to information provided to Cointelegraph, Jelurida Africa said it would begin a blockchain expedition starting with Tanzania’s self-governing state of Zanzibar on Oct. 23 before continuing on to Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. The group aims to promote blockchain education with meetups in universities, financial institutions and public offices. The team of distributed ledger technology and smart contract experts said it plans to reach out to local lawmakers and private firms as well as developers and blockchain enthusiasts in the respective countries as part o...

Bitcoin (BTC) has been sustaining above $54,000 for the past few days but that has not resulted in euphoria among investors. Google Trends data shows that Bitcoin search interest has not picked up in recent days and is nearing one-year lows. Some analysts believe that this is a sign that only stronger hands are accumulating. A recent report from CoinShares also showed that institutional investors pumped more than $226 million into Bitcoin products in the week ending Oct. 8. The analysis firm estimates that the total assets under management of institutional crypto products have ballooned to $66.7 billion, just 5% below the record hit in May. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Data from Glassnode also shows that the Bitcoin wallets of long-term holders contain 13.3 mill...

Bitcoin (BTC) saw a widely anticipated pullback on Oct. 13 as bulls struggled with February’s old all-time highs. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Analysts unfazed by BTC’s price pullback Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reversing from five-month highs to briefly wick below $54,000 on Bitstamp. After recovering to around $55,000, the pair looked choppy on Wednesday with no clear direction apparent in the short term. For analysts, however, there was little surprise in the moves. $58,000 had been tipped as tricky resistance, which was unlikely to break all at once, while a “buy the dip” opportunity at $53,000 or below was also on the radar for many. “This BTC pullback doesn’t worry me at all,” trader and analyst Rekt Capital s...

The founder of Volt Equity believes that United States regulators have a fair reason to be slow in approving a pure Bitcoin (BTC)-related exchange-traded fund (ETF). Volt Equity CEO and founder Tad Park voiced support for the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission regarding the regulator’s unwillingness to approve an ETF that would track Bitcoin directly. In a Tuesday Fox Business interview, Park argued that SEC Chair Gary Gensler “actually is pro-Bitcoin” but is also “a little bit misunderstood” regarding his perspective on crypto regulation in the United States. Park specifically referred to the SEC’s investor protection concerns, namely that crypto custody providers have yet to assure the commission that they can actually ensure proper asset protection:  “I can say ‘I have a gold...

Binance crypto exchange officially announced on Wednesday that the company will delist the Chinese yuan (CNY) from its peer-to-peer trading platform on Dec. 31. Alongside terminating yuan trading pairs, Binance will continue further restricting access to its platform for users from mainland China, introducing new measures for accounts found to be linked to the region. Binance will specifically limit such accounts to “withdrawal only” mode, limiting transactions to withdrawals, redeeming and closing positions. Binance emphasized that the company “withdrew from the Chinese mainland market in 2017” and has not been engaged in exchange business in the region since. The exchange said that China-based users have not been able to access Binance since the exit. Despite exiting the Chinese market b...

Following sweeping crackdowns by China against Bitcoin mining activity, the United States has now emerged as the leading nation in terms of hash rate. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), Bitcoin (BTC) miners in America account for 35.4% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution. CBECI data also shows Kazakhstan (18%) and Russia (11%) as the next major Bitcoin mining centers outside the United States. These three nations have gained significant market share in the wake of China’s crypto mining ban. Back in June, Cointelegraph reported that BTC.com, one of the largest Chinese Bitcoin miners, was relocating to Kazakhstan. Source: CBECI Perhaps of particular interest is the fact that CBECI data shows a 0% hash rate from China. However, it is po...

Cryptocurrency firms are raising more funds at the moment than at any point in history, with billions of dollars invested in the sector Cryptocurrency lending firm Celsius Network has raised $400 million in a recent funding round despite the company’s ongoing challenges with state regulators across the United States. The company will use the funds to expand its crypto lending offerings. Announcing this latest development yesterday, Celsius Network said the latest equity funding round was led by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), the second-largest pension fund in Canada, and Laurence Tosi’s equity firm, WestCap. According to the Celsius Network, the funds will be used to expand its offering and products in a bid to connect the traditional financial markets with thos...

Volatility continues to be the name of the game for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) amid the rollercoaster valuations and volume surges, but a new trend appears to be emerging in the sector.  Aesthetic appeal aside, for many investors, buying an NFT is akin to casting a bait-laden hook into an opaque body of water and hoping that a fish bites. Sure, when the Bored Ape Yacht Club listed, some buyers thought “They look cool” and “The community is really strong and dedicated,” but these aren’t really hard valuation metrics that can be backtested and applied across most assets in the NFT market. Community activism and holder stats are important features to look for when purchasing an NFT, but aside from that, the initial purchase and hope that one will eventually turn a profit is nothing more t...

U.S. fintech giant Stripe is hiring a new blockchain team to enable crypto payments for its users. The $100 billion company is returning to the crypto sector three years after it pulled back from offering Bitcoin support due its slow transaction times and rising fees. According to a job listing page on Stripe’s website, the firm is looking for four “Staff Engineers” with experience in the crypto sector. Guillaume Poncin, the head of engineering stated on Twitter earlier today that he’s looking for engineers and designers to “build the future of Web3 payments.” The listing outlines that the future engineers and designers will be tasked with working “across everything from web/mobile UIs to backend, payments and identity systems.” “We hear a growing need from developers and users in th...

Crypto asset investors may have a longer wait for a Bitcoin futures exchange-traded product according to Todd Rosenbluth, the senior director of ETF and mutual fund research at research firm CFRA. Speaking on CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on Oct. 12, Rosenbluth stated that while a Bitcoin futures product is likely to be the first crypto ETF to gain approval, he cautioned that the current clouded regulatory situation could cause further delays. There are more than 20 crypto asset-based exchange-traded products waiting for Securities and Exchange Commission approval, and the regulator is yet to pass any, instead kicking the can down the road on multiple occasions. The researcher suggested that regulators could be waiting for all of these products to meet their goals so that they can be approved at the s...