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Weekly Recap September 13th- September 20th, 2020 Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for September. Overview  Crypto News Macroeconomic Trends Boost Bitcoin and Gold, US Dollar Index Shows Bearish Double-Top As members of the U.S. Federal Reserve plan to convene this week, both gold and bitcoin (BTC) markets have started to climb in value ahead of the meeting. Bitcoin prices rose over 4% during the afternoon’s trading sessions and gold jumped 0.76% as well. The price of one ounce of fine gold is $1,956.24 at the time of publication. Meanwhile, after a brief upswing in value, the U.S. dollar has started to show signs of weakness again after losing massive amounts of value this year. US Consumers Flock To the First Mastercard Branded BitPay Card BitPay, the Atlanta-based cryptocurrency services provider, has recently released blockchain payment statistics that show how the market performed in 2020. Among other interesting points, the data signals strong support from U.S. consumers for the company that announced its first Mastercard branded card just a fewContinue reading »

Weekly Recap September 6th- September 13th, 2020 Welcome to our 3rd weekly recap for September. Overview  Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Now Accepted for 15,000 Restaurants in France on Just Eat Online food ordering platform Just Eat has begun accepting cryptocurrencies for over 15,000 restaurants in France. The Just Eat group operates in 13 countries. Its website for France has recently undergone a significant makeover following the acquisition of Just Eat Plc by Takeaway.com. The latter has been accepting bitcoin for quite some time. Mastercard Launches Digital Currency Testing Platform for Central Banks Global payments company Mastercard announced Wednesday the launch of its “proprietary virtual testing environment” for central banks to evaluate use cases of their central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). European Union Seeks Strict Regulation of Crypto and Stablecoins in New Draft Law According to the report, the regulation will seek to tackle bitcoin’s high volatility as well as “risks posed by systemic ones, like libra” by creating a “new college of supervisors” involving existing national and continental regulatory agencies –Continue reading »

Weekly Recap August 30th- September 6th, 2020 Welcome to our 1st weekly recap for September. Overview  Crypto News Venezuela’s Bitcoin Use Soars Amid Hyperinflation: 3rd on Global Crypto Adoption Index “Venezuela is suffering through one of the worst economic crises in modern history, with its national currency, the bolivar, becoming practically worthless,” the firm wrote. “Under these circumstances, cryptocurrency has taken on an important role in Venezuela’s economy … As the Venezuelan bolivar has lost value in the midst of hyperinflation, Venezuela has become one of the most active cryptocurrency trading countries on earth.” Leading Stock Exchanges in Switzerland, Germany, Austria Now List Bitcoin ETP Zug-based 21Shares announced Tuesday that its bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) has been admitted to Wiener Börse, the Vienna Stock Exchange. Major Swiss Insurer Adds Bitcoin and Ether Payments Atupri, a Swiss health insurance provider, said Monday that its 200,000 customers will now be able to make payments using bitcoin and ethereum. The 110-year old firm claims it is the “first” insurer in Switzerland to acceptContinue reading »

Weekly Recap August 23rd- August 30th, 2020 Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for August. Overview  Crypto News IMF calls crypto “special currency” and educates the public The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had recently published a video explaining what cryptocurrency is. Besides suggesting that cryptocurrency could “completely change the way we sell, buy, save, invest, and pay our bills,” IMF went on by saying that it “could be the next step in the evolution of money.” Korean Police Seize Crypto Exchange Coinbit Over Allegations of $84 Million in Wash Trades Police in South Korea on Wednesday raided and seized the offices of Coinbit, the country’s third-largest crypto exchange, over allegations it faked 99% of its trading volume. New SEC Filing Shows Fidelity Preparing to Launch Bitcoin Fund The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has published a new filing for a bitcoin fund, submitted by Fidelity Investments’ head of strategy and planning. Visa Exec Says ‘Opt Out With Bitcoin’ Slamming Fed’s Policy Change Toward Inflation On Thursday, 17 top FederalContinue reading »

Weekly Recap August 16th- August 23rd, 2020 Welcome to our 3rd weekly recap for August. Overview  Crypto News Bitcoin’s Hashrate Hits Record High 130 EH/s, as BTC Price Faces Resistance at $12,000 Bitcoin’s seven-day average hash rate has reached a new all-time high of 130 exahash per second (EH/s) – a feat that might positively influence the asset’s price, while adding to the fundamental strength of the Bitcoin network.   Excessive Flooding in Sichuan Causes 20% Hashrate Losses for Chinese Bitcoin Miners Torrential downpours of nonstop rain have been wreaking havoc in China’s Sichuan province, which has caused some operations to shut down ASIC mining devices. Reports from the region show that certain areas have seen electrical shortages and the aftermath is causing quite a bit of stress for Chinese bitcoin miners.   Report: Bitcoin Untied from the Economic Cycle, ‘Largely Uncorrelated to Other Asset Classes’ On Tuesday, Coinshares Investment strategist James Butterfill published a report which shows that bitcoin is a unique asset, but is “largely uncorrelated to otherContinue reading »

Weekly Recap August 10th- August 16th, 2020 Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for August. Overview  Crypto News Tor Network Compromised by Single Hacker Stealing Users’ Bitcoin A single malicious entity controls nearly a quarter of all nodes used on the anonymous internet provider Tor Network and is using its position to steal bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Venezuela May Soon Be Collecting Taxes in Crypto The Bolivarian Council of Mayors in Venezuela signed the so-called “National Tax Harmonization Agreement” for 305 municipalities in the country, including the Petro (PTR) as a means to collect payments of taxes and sanctions. The cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly widely used as the result of a new campaign. Bitcoin and Gold Correlation Reaches Record High 70% Both bitcoin and gold have risen sharply throughout 2020, driven by relentless fiat money printing by governments and central banks, keen to keep their economies afloat in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. BTC hit a yearly high of $12,000 just as gold soared to a record high of $2,000Continue reading »

Weekly Recap August 1st – August 7th, 2020 Welcome to our weekly recap for August. Overview  Crypto News Crypto Derivatives Set New Records, ETH Futures Set All-Time Highs, CME Open Interest Spikes Digital currency derivatives have been on fire during the last two weeks as Ethereum futures volumes touched an all-time high on Sunday. The popular derivatives trading platform Deribit saw 1.9 million ETH contracts traded and CME Group is now the third-largest exchange in terms of bitcoin futures open interest. US Congressmen Want IRS to Balance Taxation and Innovation in the Cryptocurrency Space The four congressmen are Bill Foster (D) of Illinois, Darren Soto (D) of Florida, Tom Emmer (R) of Minnesota, and David Schweikert (R) of Arizona. In their letter addressed to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, the quartet expressed concern that the “taxation of staking rewards as income may overstate taxpayers’ actual gains from participating in this new technology.” Ethereum Classic Suffers Second 51% Attack in a Week Ethereum Classic has suffered its second 51% attack in aContinue reading »