Iranian Official Says US Congress is Working to Block Iran’s Crypto Mining

Saeed Zarandi, Iranian Assistant Minister of Industry, Trade, and Supply, said that US Congress is working to stop Iran’s access to cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin (BTC) mining, as reported by local news service Al-Fars on July 6.

According to Zarandi, Congress considers cryptocurrency a tool for evading sanctions and money laundering, and is therefore trying to legislate against Iran’s access to it, complicating Iran’s legislation.

Commenting that the issue of cryptocurrencies remained unsettled in Iran, Zarandi reportedly said that Iranian ministries are working with the Central Bank of Iran to settle the subject of cryptocurrencies and their usage within Iran.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/iranian-official-says-us-congress-is-working-to-block-irans-crypto-mining

The cryptocurrency community is no stranger to accusations of crypto being a bubble. As far back as 2014, media pundits were referring to the bursting of the Bitcoin (BTC) bubble, with a Financial Times article from September of that year even containing the ill-fated prediction, "We’re going to stick our neck out at this stage and call this the end of Bitcoin."

Well, Bitcoin certainly didn't end in 2014, but this hasn't stopped other experts and commentators from throwing the word “bubble” around with gleeful abandon in the half-decade since the cryptocurrency's prematurely reported demise. However, while certain mainstream observers simply regard the entire cryptocurrency market as one giant balloon, other individuals have been offering more nuanced claims recently, assertions that revolve around a distinction between Bitcoin and the vast majority of altcoins.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-bubbles-why-traders-believe-altcoins-are-overpriced

Electrum Will Support Bitcoin Lightning Network, Wallet’s Creator Reveals

Bitcoin (BTC) wallet Electrum will soon host support for the Lightning Network (LN), Russian cryptocurrency news outlet Forklog reported on Telegram July 5.

In a social media update, the publication said founder Thomas Voegtlin had revealed the upcoming release at the ongoing BIP001 conference in Odessa, Ukraine.

Electrum, one of the oldest bitcoin wallets on the market since 2011, said LN functionality would come as part of an impending major upgrade.

The most recent version of the wallet came earlier this week.

Electrum will be one of the first major wallets to bring LN to the mainstream, the technology itself still remaining in an experimental phase.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/electrum-will-support-bitcoin-lightning-network-wallets-creator-reveals

‘I Guess I’ll Have to Hodl It’ — Peter Schiff Admits to Having Bitcoin

Veteran gold bug and bitcoin (BTC) skeptic Peter Schiff has accepted delivery of $1,350 worth of the cryptocurrency after the industry sent him donations on July 4.

Schiff, who is well known for warning investors not to trust bitcoin as a replacement for gold, triggered the goodwill gestures after becoming the topic of a Twitter debate with Morgan Creek Digital co-founder, Anthony Pompliano.

Pompliano (also known as Pomp), highlighted the fact that Schiff does in fact own some BTC despite his negative comments.

Schiff responded that the BTC was a token amount given as a gift - just $100 - after which Pompliano requested his BTC address in order to double it.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/i-guess-ill-have-to-hodl-it-peter-schiff-admits-having-bitcoin

Написал вам в ЛС, не отвечаете. Какие условия можете мне предложить? Посты выкладываю регулярно, каждый день.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro ordered the country’s leading bank, Banco de Venezuela, to accept the nation’s cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR) at all of its branches, the country’s Finance Ministry tweeted on July 4.

According to the tweet, Maduro gave “the express order to open Petro desks in all the branches of the Bank of Venezuela.” The announcement apparently came during an event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the nationalization of the bank in question.

On June 19, Maduro announced that 924 million bolivars (over $92.5 million) were allocated to the Digital Bank of Youth and Students to open one million Petro wallet accounts for the country’s youth. José Angel Alvarez, president of the country’s National Cryptocurrency Association, commented to cryptocurrency news outlet CCN:

“It is a bold and correct decision to move forward towards a hybrid economy where the fiduciary currency of a country competes face to face with cryptocurrency.”

https://cointelegraph.com/news/president-maduro-orders-the-bank-of-venezuela-to-accept-petro-crypto

A new report from crypto analytics site SFOX suggests bitcoin (BTC) could see a price hike on American Independence Day — July 4th.

In a July 3 blog post, SFOX analyzes the apparent impact that holidays can have during a crypto bull market, arguing that they appear to spark fresh FOMO — or fear of missing out:

“Thanksgiving of 2017 marked the beginning of bitcoin’s run-up from the low $8000’s to its peak of almost $20,000 on December 17th [...] in February of 2019 during the two week Spring Festival celebrated throughout China [...] the price to buy bitcoin climbed 14%, from $3419.17 to $3908.97, peaking at $4027.83 a few days later before deflating back to the $3750 level.”

Holiday-driven price fluctuations appear to be backed by Google Trends data for retail interest in bitcoin, SFOX notes, remarking that during the winter 2017 bull run, United States search volume for ‘bitcoin’ surged in the days immediately following both Christmas and New Year.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-could-see-fomo-fireworks-for-4th-of-july-new-report

French financial regulators have observed an increase in complaints regarding cryptocurrencies this year.

Investors in the country are increasingly filing complaints about digital currencies with France’s Financial Markets Authority (AMF) since January 2019, according to the AMF’s 2019 Risk Map report published on July 2.

The Risk Map analyzes the major factors that have an impact on the country's financial markets along with associated risks.

At the same time, 2019 has reportedly seen a drop in the number of enquiries received by the AMF’s consumer contact center in regard to digital currency. The document further notes that investors continue to express interest in speculative products like binary options, foreign exchange, contracts for difference and crypto, despite the AMF’s efforts to limit the marketing of such products.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/french-regulators-notice-uptick-in-crypto-related-complaints

The United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services requested Facebook and its partners to stop the development of the Libra stablecoin.

In a July 2 letter addressed to Facebook CEOs Mark Zuckerberg and David Marcus, and COO Sheryl Sandberg, the lawmakers request that Facebook and its partners immediately agree to a moratorium on the development of Libra and its dedicated Calibra wallet.

The committee claims that the project may lead ”to an entirely new global financial system that is based out of Switzerland and intended to rival U.S. monetary policy and the dollar.” The committee notes that it believes such an endeavor could have serious implications:

”This raises serious privacy, trading, national security, and monetary policy concerns for not only Facebook's over 2 billion users, but also for investors, consumers, and the broader global economy.”

https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-congress-requests-moratorium-on-facebooks-libra-stablecoin

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex announced that it repaid $100 million of outstanding loan facility to stablecoin operator Tether in a post on its official blog on July 2.

Per the announcement, Bitfinex made the repayment via wire transfer to Tether’s bank account and the amount was not yet due to be paid to the operator under the facility. Still, the exchange reportedly made the decision to complete the prepayment based on its financial position at the end of the second quarter of 2019. The post concludes:

“Also on July 1st, Bitfinex fully prepaid all interest accrued under the loan facility to Tether up to the end of day on June 30, 2019, also in fiat.”

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-exchange-bitfinex-repaid-100-million-to-stablecoin-operator-tether

British Regulator FCA Prepares a Potential Ban of Crypto CFDs for Retail Investors

British financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is preparing a potential ban on the sale of crypto derivatives to retail investors, according to an official document released on July 1.

In the document, titled “Restricting contract for difference products sold to retail clients,” the FCA revealed that the regulator will soon publish a consultation paper (CP) on a potential ban on crypto derivatives such as bitcoin (BTC) futures and other crypto-related trading products.

The FCA wrote:

“We will shortly publish a CP on a potential ban on the sale to retail clients of derivatives and certain transferable securities that reference cryptoassets.”

https://cointelegraph.com/news/british-regulator-fca-prepares-a-potential-ban-of-crypto-cfds-for-retail-investors

From 'Ponzi' to 'We're Working on It’ — BIS Chief Reverses Stance on Crypto

The head of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has appeared to U-turn on issuing digital currencies after a fresh interview with the Financial Times on June 30.

Speaking to the publication, BIS chief Augustin Carstens actively endorsed the creation and issuance of digital versions of national fiat currencies.

“Many central banks are working on it; we are working on it, supporting them,” he said.

“And it might be that it is sooner than we think that there is a market and we need to be able to provide central bank digital currencies.”

The comments struck a curious note with many, coming just months after Carstens emphatically advised against issuing such digital currencies. In a speech in March, he listed various risks for banks considering doing so, arguing innovation should not come too fast.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/from-ponzi-to-were-working-on-it-bis-chief-reverses-stance-on-crypto

Huobi Group is jointly developing a new public blockchain for decentralized financial (DeFi) services, according to a press release on July 1.

Major global digital asset financial service provider Huobi has partnered with Chinese blockchain startup Nervos enabling companies to deploy their own blockchains, tokenized assets, as well as DeFi services, according to the announcement.

The joint initiative, provisionally called “Huobi Finance Chain,” is targeting enterprises, financial institutions, as well as exchanges, and is set to operate as a regulatory-compliant financial blockchain network.

Specifically, Huobi is planning to enable regulators to access the network and contribute to it as validators. The network will also feature major regulatory tools and requirements including decentralized identifier (DID), Know Your Customer (KYC), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).

https://cointelegraph.com/news/huobi-unveils-finance-chain-for-building-enterprise-blockchains

American provider of investment data Weiss Ratings has ranked Litecoin (LTC) as “excellent” in regards to investment rewards and adoption

Digital currency ratings unit Weiss Crypto Ratings has classified the fourth largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization LTC as “excellent” when it comes to investment rewards and adoption. At the same time, the agency ranked the altcoin’s investment risk factor as “fair,” which resulted in the B- rate in the risk to reward ratio.

Litecoin — a cryptocurrency and an open-source project released in 2011 with the idea to make a faster and cheaper to use alternative to bitcoin (BTC)  — started out at the modest $4.30 price mark and had been hovering around that point throughout several subsequent years until the crypto market surge in December 2017.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/weiss-ratings-litecoin-excellent-in-adoption-and-investment-returns

You are so paranoic. It's already working project, they are on CMC and listed on a few exchanges, the price is growing, many news regarding Vexanium are on their TG group.

Your logic: Terrorist use FB, you use FB - so you are a terrorist.

Drug dealers use TG, you too, so you are a drug dealer.

Bitconnect was scam, Vexanium is not.

Crypterium, crypto payment firm led by former Visa exec, has shipped about 4,000 crypto debit cards in a week since the launch of the card, according to a press release on June 27.

Crypterium, an Estonia-headquartered fintech company, launched its Crypterium Card on June 12, offering global community a prepaid card loaded with major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), USD Coin (USDC), as well as Crypterium’s own CRPT token.

As the company wrote in the announcement, the new bitcoin card operates “in the same way as a traditional prepaid card,” enabling online and in-store crypto purchases on a number of services including Amazon, Netflix, as well as tuition fees, or medical bills, among others. With that, users can also cash out from “any of the 2 million” automatic teller machines (ATMs), with funds converted automatically to local currencies.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/former-visa-exec-led-startup-ships-nearly-4-000-crypto-cards-in-a-week

Survey: 27% of UK Residents Want to See Crypto in More Real-World Applications

27% of surveyed United Kingdom citizens hope to see cryptocurrencies in “real-world applications," according to recent research by U.K.-based crypto exchange CEX.io, technology news outlet BTCManager reported on June 27.

CEX.io provided BTCManager the results of its recent survey focused on the level of adoption, application, and expectations of digital currencies in the U.K. The report — which was prepared in collaboration with London-based research firm qriously — highlights answers from 1,013 respondents.

Per the survey, 32% of respondents said that they would like the technology to be better integrated with "everyday technology" like payments apps and mobile storage, while 27% revealed they want to see crypto in “real-world applications such as credit card payments or sending money abroad.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/survey-27-of-uk-residents-want-to-see-crypto-in-more-real-world-applications

В чем проблема использовать MailChimp или похожий сервис?

Walmart China plans to track food through its supply chain with VeChain’s Thor blockchain, reveals a VeChain press release published on June 25.

Per the release, the Walmart China Blockchain Traceability Platform (WCBTP) will be a joint venture by Walmart China, VeChain, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), cattle company Inner Mongolia Kerchin, and the China Chain-Store & Franchise Association. WCBTP has been reportedly announced at the 2019 China Products Safety Publicity Week Traceability System Construction Seminar jointly organized by Walmart China and the CCFA in Beijing.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/walmart-china-will-track-food-in-supply-chain-with-vechains-thor-blockchain

Europol Arrests Six People Allegedly Behind $27 Million Bitcoin Theft

Europol, in conjunction with the United Kingdom’s South West Regional Cyber Crime Unit, the Dutch police, Eurojust, and the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA), has coordinated the arrests of six people suspected of stealing over $27 million in cryptocurrency, according to a press release on June 25.

The attackers reportedly were involved in typosquatting, a fraudulent means to steal credentials by setting up a scam website with a similar name to an established one—hence the “typo” in “typosquatting”—and then recording login data.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/europol-arrests-six-people-allegedly-behind-27-million-bitcoin-theft