Crypto

Regulators must step up protections for consumers who invest in crypto tokens but also keep in mind that overreach could backfire, the chair of the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has cautioned. In a new speech written for the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, Charles Randell, chair of the FCA and Payments Systems Regulator, said that there is currently a real problem with consumers who delve into the crypto sphere without due awareness of the risks.  He singled out the role of influencers and paid-for advertising, in particular, noting that Kim Kardashian’s recent Instagram promotion of EthereumMax (EMAX), a brand-new token issued by “unknown developers,” “may have been the financial promotion with the single biggest audience reach in history.”&n...

The banking capabilities of fintech have met cryptocurrencies in a new partnership between Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets and the local neobank Volt. With a license to operate in Australia as an authorized deposit-taking institution since 2019, Volt will provide corporate cash management accounts for BTC Markets users to manage their Australian dollar funds. Those accounts allow real-time payments on the New Payments Platform, Australia’s national infrastructure for fast payments. “This means near-instant trading opportunities for our crypto clients, as they can rapidly fund AUD into their BTC Markets account,” BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler told Cointelegraph, adding that in the future, the partnership would also allow BTC Markets users to open Volt bank accounts without leaving ...

While originally spruiked as a futuristic city inspired by the Marvel movie Black Panther that would emerge as a “beacon of innovation and human development” and bolster the West African and Senegalese economies by Akon in 2018, there are few signs of the city’s development beyond a ceremonial stone that was laid in a field near Mbodiene 12 months ago. According to a report from Agence France-Press, the project has not progressed beyond the stone’s erection, with a small placard promoting Akon City having since fallen from its perch on top of the block. Akon had predicted that the city would boast a police station, waste center, solar power plant, shopping center, hospital and school by 2024, anticipating the project would be completed in its entirety by 2030. Senegalese locals appear to b...

Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced Sunday that it will roll back product offerings in Singapore amid warnings from financial regulators that the company may have violated payments laws.  Beginning Sept. 9, Singaporeans will no longer be able to trade cryptocurrencies or receive payments denominated in the Singapore dollar, better known as SGD, according to a Sunday blog post. The Binance mobile app will also be removed from Singapore’s Apple and Google Play stores. The exchange said all SGD trading pairs will be removed at 04:00 UTC on Sept. 9, with users advised to complete all peer-to-peer trades 24 hours in advance of the deadline. Changes to #Binance Offerings in Singaporehttps://t.co/oKsgb8VFta — Binance (@binance) September 5, 2021 The decision by Binance to halt c...

Bitcoin (BTC) should cost at least $55,000 per coin according to one metric measuring its so-called “supply shock.” In a tweet on Sep. 5, analyst Willy Woo highlighted what he added is a “conservative” price estimate for BTC/USD. Bitcoin price plays catch-up with metrics While Bitcoin has still not established $50,000 as firm support, on-chain metrics have been much more firmly bullish for some time. Now, the so-called “supply shock valuation model” has joined them, giving a conservative price estimate of $55,000. Supply shock is simply the unavailable BTC supply divided by the available BTC supply. This goes deeper than at first glance, as Woo uses it to effectively “wave a magic wand and gauge the intent of investors before the bids and offers are even placed.” “In this view of demand an...

Bitcoin (BTC) is struggling to sustain above $50,500 but that has not stopped the altcoins from following in Ether’s (ETH) footsteps after the top-ranked altcoin hit $4,000 on Sept. 3. This has pushed Ether’s market dominance above 20% while Bitcoin’s dominance has shrunk to 41.1%. However, Bitcoin’s hesitation in the past few days has not altered the outlook of Bloomberg senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone who has retained a $100,000 target on Bitcoin and $5,000 on Ether. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 Apart from the top two cryptocurrencies, the nonfungible token (NFT) sector had been attracting investor’s attention since July. Cointelegraph contributor Jordan Finneseth recently suggested that the recent drop in transaction volumes and a few other reasons ...

In 2021, financial institutions operating in Nigeria have been the subject of a government crackdown on cryptocurrencies, beginning with February’s notorious ban on lenders that provide services to crypto exchanges by its central bank. With much of the Nigerian crypto market peer-to-peer by necessity, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now aims to introduce regulations that could regularize the industry and offer investors better protection. According to a Sept. 2 report, the SEC has established a dedicated fintech division tasked with studying crypto and blockchain investments and products — knowledge it could then marshal into a future crypto regulatory framework. Director-General Lamido Yuguda told Reuters this week that the agency is “looking at this market cl...

Gathering together the most recent data on the cryptocurrency and blockchain job market, a new report suggests that higher levels of institutional adoption have spurred greater demand for expertise in the sector. According to the employment website Indeed — cited Thursday in Korea IT Times — as of mid-July 2021, the overall share of crypto and blockchain job postings on the platform has grown 118% compared with early September 2020.  This solid growth has also come with a shift in the roles being sought after, with the share of management posts in crypto and blockchain increasing 29.87% year-on-year as of July 16. Human resource accounts have risen 200% over the same time frame, whereas software development jobs have dropped down to 29.7% of all crypto and blockchain posts c...

Between Bitcoin (BTC) breaking the $50,000 hurdle and the upswell in the altcoin markets, crypto has never been more appealing to speculators. But, stacking profits through trading is worthless unless that money is spent. Luckily, charitable organizations are waking up to the possibility of crypto donations as the world embraces crypto. For blockchain entrepreneur Wendy O, when a local gym was in jeopardy, she knew to tap into crypto Twitter for help. Using social media, her YouTube channel and Tik-Tok, the influencer sent out the call to save a business dear to her heart. The Self Care Lab is a boxing gym located in Pomona, CA which caters to underprivileged and at-risk youth. Owner Nita Watson recently discovered that the ownership of the gym’s building had changed hands and she had a me...