Crypto

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) continues progressing with its central bank digital currency-like initiative known as Bakong, disclosing several project milestones. NBC’s director-general and the Bakong project lead Chea Serey said in a Wednesday interview with The Nikkei that Bakong’s electronic wallet reached 200,000 users in June, doubling from three months earlier. Based on blockchain technology, the Bakong payment and money transfer service was originally launched by NBC in October 2020. The digital money project has amassed nearly 6 million users in the first half of 2021, including those reached indirectly through member bank mobile apps, recording a total of 1.4 million transactions worth nearly $500 million, Serey noted. The official disclosed that the NBC is current...

JPMorgan Chase quietly opened up access to six crypto funds over the past three weeks as it looks to offer crypto exposure to a variety of clients. In the latest move, the bank’s private clients will now have access to a new Bitcoin fund created by crypto investment firm New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG). NYDIG is owned by Stone Ridge Asset Management and the “Stone Ridge Bitcoin Strategy Fund” offers exposure to Bitcoin via futures markets. The NYDIG fund is in addition to five crypto funds that the bank opened access to last month: Grayscale Investments’ Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Trust and Ethereum Classic Trust, as well as the Osprey Bitcoin Trust. While the traditional financial institution has taken a big leap by offering crypto exposure via six dif...

The crypto community is pushing back against amendments to the crypto provisions of the White House’s infrastructure plan — which seeks to raise $28 billion for infrastructure funding through expanded taxation on crypto transactions and impose new reporting requirements for crypto “brokers.” On August 6, Senators Mark Warner and Rob Portman proposed a “last-minute amendment” to the infrastructure deal to exclude proof-of-mining and sellers of hardware and software wallets from the bill. However, the amendment’s wording suggests crypto developers and proof-of-stake validators would still be subject to expanded reporting and taxation that some have described as “unworkable.” Hours later, Washington Post economics reporter Jeff Stein tweeted that the White House is formally suppor...

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has hailed the London hard fork a success adding that it has given him more confidence over the upcoming merge to the Eth 2.0 chain. Speaking to Bloomberg News from Singapore, Buterin said that EIP-1559 is “definitely the most important part of London.” The upgrade, which went live around 15 hours ago, has tweaked the fee generation mechanism resulting in a portion of the fees being burnt. At the time of writing, more than 3,500 ETH worth around $9.8 million had already been burnt since the upgrade launched. Buterin stated that the successful deployment of the London upgrade is “proof that the Ethereum ecosystem is able to make significant changes.” He added that the upgrade: “Definitely makes me more confident about the merge,” According to the official...

Ethereum has achieved another milestone this week apart from the London hard fork, with a 90-year-old New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listed company changing its ticker to avoid confusion with Ethereum. Home decor and furniture chain Ethan Allen — which has more than 300 stores across the US — announced on Aug. 4 that it had changed its NYSE ticker from “ETH” to “ETD”. The firm said that it has incorporated “D” to reflect design and changed its ticker to avoid investor confusion and solidify its online keyword searches: “We also believe this change will better differentiate Ethan Allen news from Ethereum news in search results, as Ethereum is often abbreviated as ETH.” The home furnishing manufacturer and retail chain was founded in 1932. Investors who want to hodl both versions of ETH will...

Crypto exchange Coinbase announced on Thursday that users can now use Apple Pay to purchase crypto assets on its platform, with Google Pay integration to follow. “Today, we’re introducing new and seamless ways to enable crypto buys with linked debit cards to Apple Pay and Google Pay, and instant cashouts up to $100,000 per transaction available 24/7,” said a Coinbase blog post on Thursday. “If you already have a Visa or Mastercard debit card linked in your Apple Wallet, Apple Pay will automatically appear as a payment method when you’re buying crypto with Coinbase on an Apple Pay-supported iOS device or Safari web browser,” the Coinbase blog post mentioned.  Coinbase expects to enable Google Pay functionality “later this fall.” Buying #Bitcoin just got easier! You can sync your AppleP...

Crypto investors are seeing gains in Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) on Aug. 5 after the successful launch of Ethereum’s London hard fork and a series of new Bitcoin exchange-traded fund filings, resulting in a rally that propelled BTC’s price 9% higher and caused Ether to gain 11.75%, which pushed the altcoin closer to the elusive $3,000 level. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after an early morning sell-off that saw BTC fall to $37,280, the bulls stepped in, and the ensuing high volume spike sent BTC price to an intraday high of $40,775. BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Recent comments from United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gesler about the viability of a Bitcoin ETF were followed by several new ETF app...

Ether (ETH) price rallied 50% leading in the London hardfork because many investors expect the upgrade to solve the issue of high transaction fees and make the altcoin a deflationary asset.  Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead has predicted that the upcoming upgrade would likely cause Ether to ‘flip’ Bitcoin (BTC) as the leading cryptocurrency but this is a topic under heavy contention. To understand the impact of the recent price movement, traders should analyze the weekly options expiry. Deribit derivatives currently holds 86% market share in this segment and the aggregate open interest for Aug. 6 currently stands at $357 million. ETH Aug. 6 options aggregate open interest. Source: Bybt The neutral-to-bullish call (buy) option provides upside price protection to buyers and ...