Cryptocurrency & Mining - Page 10

YouTuber Coffeezilla has performed an investigation into several NFT projects and found that the owners are working together to pump their project's value artificially.

Before the launch of the NFT project "Squiggles," a 60-page dossier was published that accused the owner of the project of being a "puppet owner" for a group of three individuals Gavin, Gabe, and Ali. The dossier not only accuses the three individuals of being behind Squiggles but also being behind past NFT scam projects such as League of Divine Beings, Vault of Gems, Sinful Souls, Dirty Dogs, and more.

Screenshots also revealed the owners communicating about conducting a fake giveaway by sending money to a friend's account. This fake giveaway was for marketing purposes to generate hype for one of the projects, in an effort to raise awareness and artificially increase the project's value. After being exposed for being behind several NFT scam projects, the team of scammers hired individuals to appear as the owners of new projects, and one of these projects was Squiggles.

Ukraine has officially passed a piece of legislation that deems Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies legal in a move to usher in attractive, transparent investments.

The bill was originally passed by the government back in September 2021 but was sent back by parliament by Ukraine President Volodymyr, who requested that some changes be made. Four months later, the bill has been formally signed into law and now represents a massive step towards creating protection for digital asset owners, exchanges, and individuals through regulation.

The Ukrainian government now expects that nefarious acts that riddle the cryptocurrency industry, such as scam projects, money laundering, fraud, and other illegal acts, will reduce dramatically with the legalization of Bitcoin and other crypto coins. Additionally, it's expected that the legalization will usher in innovation throughout the space and instill confidence in those who are interested in exploring the emerging technologies. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

After being on a slow climb since its massive leg-up on February 4, Bitcoin has taken a hit when it comes to its price as prominent investors and other global factors cause fear, uncertainty, and doubt to flood the market.

Bitcoin broke its down-trend in late January and then experienced a massive increase in value on February 4, taking the digital asset from $37,000 to nearly $42,000 in a day, a jump by nearly 12%. The following days after the sharp increase in price, Bitcoin continued to rise, eventually failing to break the resistance at $45,000, which would have been a vital price point to re-take. From February 16-17, the price of BTC tumbled by nearly 10%, sending the price down from around $44,000 to where it is at the time of writing this article, $40,500.

So, why have we seen a sharp drop in the value of Bitcoin? There are several factors, and the first would be the stark words spoken by prominent legacy investor Charlie Munger, who said that he is proud of the fact that he hasn't invested in cryptocurrency and that it should have been banned immediately. Munger describes cryptocurrency as a "venereal disease". On top of comments from large investors spreading doubt throughout the cryptocurrency market, there are also the events between Russia and Ukraine that are injecting fear, uncertainty, and doubt into not only through the cryptocurrency markets but the stock markets as well.

There's a new crypto miner on the loose, with the introduction of the Jasminer X4 Etchash Brick crypto miner that's on Amazon for $2099.

The Jasminer X4 Etchash Brick crypto miner features a fanless design, so that it can sit in your living room, garage, or even your office and mine cryptocurrency without making much noise, if any at all. Sunlune Technology has made the Jasminer X4 chip inside, which uses 3D chip tracking technology with through-silicon vias (TSVs).

What this allowed Sunlune to do was put all of the computing and data storage units into a single chip, which reduces overall power consumption to 30W. You're going to mine around 65MH/s of Ethereum for that 30W, which isn't too bad at all... you'll be making around $2.85 per day at the price of Ethereum today.

The governor of a US state has announced that during the middle of this year residents will be able to pay their state taxes with cryptocurrency.

The announcement comes from Colorado governor Jared Polis who revealed a rough timeline of the roll out in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday where he said that he expects "by this summer to accept crypto for all of our state tax-related purposes". Polis added that the acceptance of crypto-payments could also be used for other government-related expenses such as a driver's license or a hunting license.

Pew Research reports that Colorado joins another 20 states that are looking into accepting some form of cryptocurrency legislation. Polis is no stranger to cryptocurrency as he was one of the first politicians to accept Bitcoin donations for his political campaign when he was elected into Congress in Colorado back in 2014. Additionally, Polis is also heading the effort of making Colorado the United States' blockchain innovation hub.

A new filing with the US Patent and Trading office reveals that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Group is moving towards developing a virtual/augmented reality marketplace.

The new patent describes an online marketplace where users can interact using virtual or augmented reality. This new marketplace would allow for users to trade virtual goods with each other such as cryptocurrencies, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), digital media, and much more. If the NYSE launches a new online marketplace that supports transactions of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, it would directly compete with the current largest NFT trading platform, OpenSea.

While the trademark filing is certainly very promising as it proves something is in the works over at the NYSE Group, a spokesperson for the NYSE said to Reuters that there aren't any immediate plans to launch cryptocurrency and trading. It also seems like the NYSE is looking to get into the Metaverse and what the future of trading will be as the filing states that this marketplace could be accessed via a virtual or augmented reality device or PC.

Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway has sold a portion of its shares in both Visa and Mastercard in a move away from traditional credit systems.

Berkshire Hathaway has sold $1.3 billion worth of Mastercard and $1.8 billion worth of Visa stock. Through a securities filing it was discovered the conglomerate purchased $1 billion worth of Nubank Class A stock throughout the fourth quarter of 2021. In the past Buffet has been critical over investing in fintech, emerging technologies aimed at competing with traditional financial systems, and has even honed in on Bitcoin saying it "does not create anything."

However, these recent actions from Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway seem to indicate that the billionaire has at least changed his opinion to some degree about these emerging technologies, as Nubank is the largest fintech bank in Brazil and furthermore has been offering its users Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) since June 2021 through the trading platform it purchased in 2020 called Easynvest.

Reports indicate that the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange is under investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC has launched a probe into Binance for its relationship between trading firms Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak. The report states that the SEC has requested information to be provided on Binance's relationship with the aforementioned parties that are constantly trading on Binance's platform and how that relationship was disclosed to users of the exchange.

The WSJ report cited documents from 2019 that revealed ties between Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and the two trading firms Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak. This isn't the first time Binance has reportedly been under investigation by a government body, as in May 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), launched a probe into the cryptocurrency exchange regarding crypto coins being used to perform illegal acts.

Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, purchased an advertising slot during the Super Bowl, and while the ad was certainly a hit, it didn't go exactly as planned.

The advertising slots at the Super Bowl are some of the most expensive advertising slots in the world, and that is because around 200 million people are watching. Coinbase reportedly spent $14 million on its ad, which was just a black screen with a QR code bouncing from corner to corner. It seems the ad was based on the classic DVD screensaver that featured the DVD logo bouncing around the screen.

Viewers of Coinbase's ad that scanned the code were redirected to Coinbase's website, where they could claim $15 in free Bitcoin. Although, it didn't all go to plan as millions of people scanned the QR code to find that Coinbase's website wasn't displaying due to the immense load of traffic that was rushing to Coinbase's servers. Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee said the website was getting "more traffic than we've ever encountered".

The publisher behind one of the biggest game franchises of all-time Grand Theft Auto has recognized the massive potential in Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive has acknowledged the growing NFT space, and according to Take-Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick, who to spoke to Nintendo Life, the company is "highly convinced there's an opportunity for NFTs to fit with Take-Two's offerings in the future". The publisher's CEO continued to explain that Take-Two believes in collectibles, but the current NFT space is plagued with "speculation" which is causing the publisher to "stay away" for now.

Take-Two Interactive has now joined other companies such as Ubisoft into slowly moving into the NFT space, with Ubisoft pioneering the move by being the first major gaming company to launch in-game NFTs, even despite the public disapproval from many gamers. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

A billion-year-old black rock that was expected to be purchased for millions was bought at an online auction on Wednesday.

The black rock is a 555.5-carat black diamond called "The Enigma," and it was recently sold at an online auction held by Sotheby's on Wednesday for $4,292,322. Sotheby's decided to keep the buyer anonymous, but disclosed that the purchase of the extremely expensive black diamond was made in cryptocurrency. After the auction, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Richard Heart claimed on Twitter that he was the individual who purchased the ancient black diamond, saying that it would be renamed to the "HEX.com diamond".

The Guinness World Records declared The Enigma the world's largest cut diamond, and it's even larger than the Golden Jubilee that's 545.67 carats. So, what makes it so expensive? The Enigma is a carbonate, the toughest type of diamond when it comes to hardness, and extremely rare as they are believed to have originated from space due to them containing a mineral called osbornite that is only found in meteors.

The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange when it comes to trading volume has made a very large investment into media.

According to a report from CNBC, Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has invested $200 million dollars into becoming one of the two biggest owners of Forbes. The strategic investment has gained Binance two new directors out of nine total board seats, and according to Forbes CEO Mike Ferdele, "With Binance's investment in Forbes, we now have the experience, network, and resources of the world's leading crypto exchange and one of the world's most successful blockchain innovators."

The move is just one of many cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance are making towards bringing more awareness to the cryptocurrency space. Crypto.com is a better example of spending large quantities of money on marketing to raise awareness as the crypto exchange has already spent millions on sports sponsorship's, acquisitions, and even re-branding the Staples center to the Crypto.com center.

According to a trademark attorney, the fast-food chain, McDonald's has added Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to its menu.

RT reports that trademark attorney and founder of Gerben Intellectual Property, Josh Gerben, has tweeted that McDonald's has filed to register ten trademarks within virtual reality, some of those trademarks are for operating a virtual restaurant that features home delivery, and "providing on-line actual and virtual concerts and other virtual events." Gerben also writes that the applications request approval to provide "downloadable multimedia files" that include artwork, audio, video as well as NFTs.

It seems that McDonald's is joining other companies and big brands such as Nike, Walmart, Adidas, and others in taking the steps to prepare for the explosion that will be the virtual world or metaverse. McDonald's, as well as Panera Bread, are moving towards trademarking their products for virtual use. It's possible that as the metaverse becomes adopted and more people are within the virtual space, we could see virtual avatars going to a virtual McDonald's restaurant and getting food as an in-game activity.

The World Wildlife Fund UK (WWF-UK) has back-pedaled its recent NFT project launch.

The WWF-UK launched an NFT collection dubbed "Tokens for Nature" last week in an effort to support conservation work, and following immediate controversy and backlash, the group has since decided to "bring [the NFT] trial to a close." The NFT project used the Polygon blockchain, based on Ethereum, but supposedly more environmentally friendly.

AAA-game publishers and developers are looking towards the emerging NFT and cryptocurrency space as a place of expansion and it seems that Ubisoft has taken the big leap of faith.

Ubisoft has announced a new partnership with Ethereum-based metaverse game The Sandbox, and the partnership features Ubisoft having its own plot of virtual land within The Sandbox metaverse. The publisher is free to monetize its plot of land however it wants, and will be launching an interactive space for gamers to enjoy, while also allowing for users to play around with Rabbids in the VoxEdit and Game Maker tools.

Decrypt reports that Ubisoft isn't going to stop at Rabbids invading The Sandbox, as it plans on introducing many more characters from its numerous franchises into the up-and-coming metaverse. It's possible that gamers could see characters from the Assassin's Creed franchise, Far Cry, or Rainbox Six Siege, enter The Sandbox metaverse throughout 2022.

The great-grandson of the famous painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso has created a collection of NFTs inspired by his grandfather's work.

Florian Picasso, a DJ and music producer, and his mother Marina Picasso announced that they were producing an NFT collection that included 1,011 purchasable NFTs based on a never-before-seen ceramic bowl crafted by Picasso in 1958. This announcement from Florian and Marina sparked a family debate between Florian, Marina, and The Picasso Administration, which is in control of the branding of the Picasso name and its affiliations.

It was concluded that the NFTs wouldn't be deemed as official Pablo Picasso works and instead would be a created of Florian's, as they would be "his own creation, independent of any claim vis-a-vis Pablo Picasso and his works." The rebranding of the Picasso NFTs to Florian's didn't stop them from being sold as one NFT that included an original piece of Pablo Picasso's pottery sold for $41,500, with an additional 10 NFTs (that didn't include any pottery) sold for anywhere between $4,000 to $5,655.

Billions of dollars in stolen Bitcoin (BTC) have been seized by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), according to a recent statement issued on Tuesday.

In 2016 the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex announced that it was hacked, and $4.5 billion worth of Bitcoin had been stolen from its wallets. Now, authorities have announced that $3.6 billion has been seized by the DOJ, and a couple living in Manhattan has been arrested for an alleged conspiracy of laundering the stolen Bitcoin. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said, "Today's arrests, and the department's largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals."

The DOJ states that it was able to seize the Bitcoin through court-approved searches into the individual's online accounts, which later revealed the couple's private keys to the wallets containing the stolen BTC. Law enforcement was able to claim 94,000 Bitcoin, worth about $60 million at the time of the hack and representing about one-sixth of the total trading volume in 2016.

FTX, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced an addition to its planned Super Bowl advertisement.

The cryptocurrency exchange took to Twitter to announce that it will be giving away free Bitcoin to four lucky winners who retweet the pinned post on the FTX Twitter account. FTX details that the four randomly selected winners will split a total number of Bitcoins when the ad airs at the Super Bowl in the Eastern Time (ET) zone. The exchange notes that it doesn't actually know how much Bitcoin it will be giving away as the price, at the time of writing this, is increasing quickly.

According to the official guidelines by FTX, "Each winner will receive Bitcoin deposited into their FTX account. The amount of Bitcoin to be deposited will be equal to the ET time (hour and minute) that Sponsor's February 13, 2022 television commercial begins to be aired on NBC." For example, FTX's Super Bowl advertisement is scheduled to play during the second, and if it plays at 9:15, it will give away 9.15 Bitcoins to the winners, where they split the total four ways.

India's finance minister has announced a plan to tax all income from cryptocurrency and NFT transactions as the cryptocurrency space grows exponentially throughout the nation.

According to India's finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman who made announced this past Tuesday that the country will be introducing a tax on all income from cryptocurrency and NFT. Sitharaman proposed that regulatory agencies will be introducing a flat 30% on all cryptocurrency income and a 1% tax deduction on all purchases of virtual assets.

The proposal from the nation's finance minister follows an exponentially growing cryptocurrency and NFT space, as Binance-owned WazirX announced last month that the yearly trading volume throughout its platform on 2021 has grown "1,735%" to $43 billion, compared to 2020. Additionally, India's central bank will be proposing a federally backed digital currency throughout the next financial year. India seems to be taking steps towards legalizing cryptocurrency as a whole.

The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) space has been plagued with projects that are purely created to scam investors, and now Mark Cuban's "NFT company" has been caught up in promoting these illegitimate projects.

The claims come from Twitter user Space Cowboy, who publicly claimed that the verified Instagram account @NFT, which Cuban officially backs, promoted shady projects that have resulted in investors losing their money. Cowboy claims in the Twitter thread that the Instagram account was charging developers $100,000+ for promotional posts that were not disclosed as advertising to the Instagram accounts followers.

The NFT Instagram account managed to obtain 1.7 million followers, and after noticing the immense growth, Space Cowboy decided to look into its authenticity. According to YouTube investigator Coffeezilla, who recently exposed a YouTuber and Streamer for scamming his audience out of $500,000, states that he impersonated a "pretend NFT project promoter" to talk to the team behind the @NFT Instagram account where he learned that the team was charging creators $25,000 a post, with five posts minimum.