Crypto

El Salvador’s Bitcoin (BTC) adoption drive met its first roadblock after citizens reported problems downloading and operating the state-run Chivo wallet.  While the wallet was taken down soon after it went live, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele later announced that all the issues related to the BTC wallet have been fixed. He tweeted: “We have finished today’s maintenance of Chivo wallet. Report any malfunction here, in the comments.” Soon after El Salvador’s implementation of the Bitcoin Law, Chivo wallet was reportedly launched on major app stores, including Google Play, Huawei AppGallery and Apple App Store. After numerous user reports of system downtime and download issues, Bukele announced a maintenance period to improve the user experience and fix reported problems: “We will dis...

Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by $9,000 in hours on Tuesday thanks to a mass unwinding of leveraged traders and borrowers, one analyst believes. In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Willy Woo sought to get to the bottom of what made BTC/USD dive to lows of $42,800 on Tuesday. Woo: Bitcoin margin borrowers and open interest may be to blame With rumors flying over who was behind Bitcoin’s major price dip, analysts have been crunching data in order to understand where the rout began. Analogies to the March 2020 crash, sparked by coronavirus measures, abound, but Tuesday’s event showed major differences, Woo said. “Leverage markets sold off but investor buying just got stronger,” he summarized. “BTC flash crashes are caused by deleveraging, the COVID crash was similar in that derivatives overreacted, b...

Ethereum transaction protocol Eden Network has raised $17.4 million in seed funding from some of blockchain’s biggest venture funds, underscoring the need to address ongoing challenges facing the block production economy.  The funds will be used to support the adoption of Eden Network among developers, miners and users, the company announced Wednesday. The network claims all users will benefit from its ordering rules thanks to an improved block production system. The investment round was led by Multicoin Capital with participation from Alameda Research, Jump Capital, Wintermute, GSR and DeFiance Capital. Genesis Capital executive Joshua Lim and Andre Cronje of Yearn.finance also participated as angel investors. Eden officially launched along with Ethereum’s London hard fork on Sunday,...

To read Part 1 of “How to prepare for the end of the bull run,” click here. So, you’ve made a million bucks this cycle and you’re trying to work out how to transform those life-changing gains into money in the real world before the inevitable crash. But at the same time, you don’t want to sell now and miss out on potential upside. So, what should you do? For Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan, the answer is simple: Be optimistic. He’s not an advocate of trying to time the market. “As somebody who has been trading my entire life — I mean, way before cryptocurrencies — you’ll find that it always pays to be optimistic, and pulling out your money from the market has almost never been a good long-term strategy. Not for any market over almost any time frame.“ Greenspan points out that...

The new STO platform will operate under the AIFC FinTech Lab in Kazakhstan In an announcement yesterday, Bitfinex revealed that it will be launching a new security token offering (STO) platform, marking the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange’s entry into the STO industry. The platform, launched under Bitfinex’s blockchain investment product provider, Bitfinex Securities, will be regulated in Kazakhstan’s financial hub – the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), the announcement said. The move will “widen access to a variety of innovative financial products, including notably blockchain-based equities and bonds, along with investment funds,” Bitfinex said in the announcement.  Paolo Ardoino, the Chief Technology Officer at Bitfinex Securities, confirmed that the platform w...

The former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has spoken out about the nation’s financial and crypto ecosystem and stated that digital assets need to be accepted. Speaking at the inaugural HODL ’21 virtual conference organized by the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Sept. 7, Rama Subramaniam Gandhi said that crypto could be used for payments for economic activities but he sees them more as an asset class. The regulatory situation in India remains unclear with bills and legislation still being mulled by politicians. Earlier this month, the government announced that it was working on a draft bill to define cryptocurrencies as commodities where they could be taxed. If passed, it would not allow them to be us...

In an interview with local media, Javier Argueta, the legal counsel to the Presidential House of El Salvador, clarified the obligations of businesses the day before the country’s controversial Bitcoin Law recognizing BTC as legal tender took effect. The legal counsel to the President of El Salvador has stated that businesses are mandated to accept Bitcoin from customers — but they are able to choose whether or not they will receive BTC or U.S. dollars once the transaction is settled. According to a rough translation, Agueta emphasized that it is mandatory for businesses “to have the electronic wallet” to receive Bitcoin, however “In the transaction […] you have the will to receive Bitcoin or dollars, that is why it is voluntary.” “If I buy you 1,000 shirts that cost $200 and I’...

One of South Korea’s leading blockchain evangelists is embarking on another huge blockchain fundraise following the success of his first. Simon Seojoon Kim is planning to raise $173 million for a second blockchain fund following the success of the initial one which netted $120 million from investors in December 2020. Specifics regarding the new fund and its potential investors are thin on the ground however. Kim, dubbed “the Jedi Master of cryptocurrency” by Sean Park, a senior partner at Hong Kong-based Boston Consulting Group, co-founded the blockchain and crypto venture capital firm Hashed in 2018. The firm invests in crypto startups to enable them to grow through staff expansion, partnerships and marketing. It has attracted big-name financiers such as Naver, South Korea’s third-largest...

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly threatened to sue Coinbase over a crypto yield program it deems as a security. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted on Sept. 8 that has been some “really sketchy behavior coming out of the SEC recently” before launching into a 21 post thread detailing the SEC’s dealings with the firm. Armstrong explained that the crypto exchange approached the SEC earlier this year to brief the enforcement body over the up-and-coming Coinbase Lend program that intends to offer 4% annual yield returns on deposits of the USDC stablecoin. According to the Coinbase CEO, the SEC responded by telling the firm that the lending program is a security without any explanation, and threatened to sue if the service was launched: “They refuse to t...

Following a lucrative $206,000 purchase of a popular Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible token, or NFT, last week, NBA all-star Steph Curry has reached out to his 15.5 million Twitter fanbase for advice on progressing in the crypto game on Tuesday. The Golden State Warriors guard tweeted: “Just getting started in the crypto game…y’all got any advice??” According to the basketball athlete’s Open Sea profile, he currently owns 16 NFTs in total, including the blue-furred Bored Ape showcased in his Twitter profile. Legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady, currently sporting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey, humorously offered his perspective: Whatever you do…don’t laser eyes! https://t.co/VVqUx6E6Oe — Tom Brady (@TomBrady) September 7, 2021 Brady’s picture depicted the infamous Laser...