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Welcome to the world of central bank digital currency, or CBDC, where big countries like China and small countries like the Bahamas are trying to mark their presence. It’s a world where 86% of the world’s central banks are trying to create digital currencies. Almost 60% of them are working on the concept and 14% have already introduced a pilot program. Related: Did CBDCs affect the crypto space in 2020, and what’s next in 2021? Experts answer CBDC: A global perspective A CBDC is the digital version of a national currency that can be exchanged throughout the world. Unlike a national currency, you can keep a digital currency on your smartphone to buy whatever you want. Five countries have already introduced their digital currency. The Atlantic Council believes that around 81 countries (contr...

The bullish momentum that had been growing across the cryptocurrency ecosystem over the past few days came to a screeching halt on Sept. 24 as news that China had banned cryptocurrency transactions made the rounds on social media and initiated an abrupt fall in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) from $45,000 to $42,000.  After the initial knee-jerk reaction and a brief period of time for the market to digest the news, traders jumped back in to buy the dips on several altcoins, which helped some of the losses seen earlier in the day. Top 7 coins with the highest 24-hour price change. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that three of the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were Ren (REN), Celer Network (CELR) and Civic (CVC). Ren brings...

A Redditor living in Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a claims to be using cryptocurrencies to buy food packages for families unable to access supplies during an ongoing civil war. According to a Thursday Reddit post from user yemenvoice, the Yemen national has raised roughly $12,000 in crypto donations to be used towards fighting starvation in the Middle Eastern nation. They claim to have provided 15 families with flour, rice, oil and beans and hope to reach 30 more in the near future. “I have tried very hard to help my people by finding any possible way,” said yemenvoice. “I have tried to set up online donation campaigns, but unfortunately, all online donation platforms do not support Yemen. So, I thought of using cryptocurrencies as an alternative method, and indeed it was much easier...

Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance, or DeFi, newsletter. In a week where DeFi’s parabolic growth continued elsewhere, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler threatened to tackle stablecoins. What you’re about to read is the smaller version of this newsletter. For the full breakdown of DeFi’s developments over the last week — released a whole lot quicker than Cardano’s smart contracts — subscribe at the bottom of this page. Layer two’s defining the future This week, analytical data revealed that DeFi continues to be one of the fastest-growing sectors of the crypto economy as evidenced by increases in the total value locked, or TVL, on protocols. Some of the biggest gains have been witnessed across cross-chain compatib...

China bans Bitcoin (BTC), again. No, we’re not traveling back in time. On Sept. 24, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) published a new set of measures to promote inter-departmental coordination on cracking down on crypto activity. The measures intended to “cut off payment channels, dispose of relevant websites and mobile applications in accordance with the law.” Most investors may have missed the $3 billion BTC and $1.5 billion Ether (ETH) monthly options expiry that took place less than one hour before the crypto ban news came out. According to “Molly”, a former Bitcoin Magazine contributor, the remarks from China were originally posted on Sept. 3. However, if some entity were aiming to profit from the negative price swing, releasing the news ahead of the expiry at 8:00 am UTC on Friday wo...

The crypto market’s recovery was rocked on Sept. 24 after news that China’s government is adopting a new set of measures that includes stronger inter-departmental coordination to “cut off payment channels, dispose of relevant websites and mobile applications” to crack down on illegal cryptocurrency transactions efficiently. Although the news has caused a selloff, long-term investors are unlikely to be perturbed because, apart from announcing additional measures to enforce the existing ban effectively, there is nothing else that has changed. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 China first announced a ban on cryptocurrencies back in September 2017 and that news had also resulted in a sharp correction in Bitcoin (BTC) price. However, that dip proved to be a good buy...

Marion Laboure, an analyst at Deutsche Bank’s research division, said she can envision Bitcoin taking the role of digital gold in the future: lasting for centuries and largely not controlled by the government. In an update to Deutsche Bank’s website on “what’s next” for the largest banking institution in Germany, Laboure said she could “potentially see Bitcoin to become the 21st century digital gold,” but warned investors against the crypto asset’s volatility. According to the analyst, most Bitcoin (BTC) purchases are made for investments and speculation rather than keeping the coins for a medium of exchange.  “Just a few additional large purchases or market exits can significantly impact the supply-demand equilibrium,” said Laboure. “[Bitcoin] is too volatile to be a reliable store o...

The growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has been a recurrent headline throughout 2021 and to date, hundreds of billions of dollars in crypto assets are locked on protocols across numerous blockchain networks and earning a yield for their holders.  What started off as a simple Ethereum-based swap interface that allowed ERC-20 tokens to be exchanged in a decentralized manner, called Uniswap, has exploded into a vast ecosystem full of decentralized exchanges, yield farms, lending protocols and staking platforms. As development continues and older protocols become more established, newer projects have emerged to incorporate more pieces from the traditional financial realm into the DeFi arena as digital technology slowly transforms the global financial system. Here’s a look a...

The price of Bitcoin fell 5% today following “breaking” (read: weeks old) news that the People’s Bank of China, or PBoC, had declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal. With that in mind, let’s take a nostalgic look at the last 12 years of FUD out of China, and see if we can spot any patterns. China banned ‘virtual currencies’ for the first time in 2009 1: Chinese regulators have never exactly been crypto advocates. When cryptocurrencies were still in their infancy, i.e. 2009, China’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce barred the use of “virtual currency” for trading real world goods. Though not specifically targeting Bitcoin (BTC), the move did seemingly set the precedent for the last decade of anti-crypto regulations. The first Bitcoin-specif...

The Kusama (KSM) validator is the eighth validator supported by the official Guarda Wallet. Guarda Wallet users can now stake Kusama (KSM) on the official Guarda validator, with lucrative rewards in place for investors looking for a less risky way of investing in crypto. Kusama staking using the non-custodial Guarda wallet is possible after the integration of the public blockchain’s validator with the wallet provider, according to a press release. “We are proud to announce that now Guarda Wallet has its own Kusama staking validator. That brings our users one more way to earn crypto right in the wallet,” the Guarda team said in a statement. With this development, users can stake the native KSM tokens for an annual percentage yield (APY) of 14.3%. The Kusama validator offer...

The price of Ethereum’s native token Ether (ETH) crept lower Friday after China extended its crackdown on cryptocurrencies by deeming their transactions to be “illegal.” “Financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions cannot offer services to activities and operations related to virtual currencies,” the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on its website Friday, adding that online crypto services to Chinese residents offered by offshore exchanges are also “illegal financial activities.” Bids for the ETH/USD pair dropped by up to 13.30% to $2,735 in response. At its week-to-date (WTD) high, traders paid as much as $3,346 for a single Ether token but the price fell to as low as $2,651 after a tumult in China’s heavily inde...