Cryptocurrency & Mining News - Page 14

Microsoft founder Bill Gates warned people during an interview late last month against investing in the biggest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.

Gates sat down with Bloomberg Technology for an interview on February 22, where he was asked his thoughts on Tesla's investment in Bitcoin, and the price volatility of the digital asset. Gates cautioned against investing in Bitcoin, saying his general thought would be "if you have less money than Elon, probably watch out". Gates was then asked why he isn't bullish on Bitcoin, which he then followed up by saying that Bitcoin uses "a lot of energy", promotes "anonymous transactions" that aren't reversible.

Gates then said that the Gates Foundation does do "a lot in terms of digital currency" but does it differently where transactions aren't anonymous and deals with other problems with Bitcoin, such as money laundering and nefarious activities. The Microsoft co-founder agrees that the push towards digital money is overall a "super positive thing" that will eventually be able to reach some of the poorest countries in the world.

Despite the price of Bitcoin declining since November 2021, the digital asset is still on track to reach $100,000 per coin, according to the CEO of Bitbull Capital.

Joe DiPasquale, the CEO of Bitbull Capital, which manages cryptocurrency hedge funds, has sat down with Cointelegraph for an interview where he discussed the impacts on the market from Russia's war with Ukraine, should Bitcoin be defined as digital gold, and what could happen throughout the market in 2022 leading into 2023.

According to DiPasquale, Bitcoin is still being observed as a hedge against global uncertainty and inflation, which directly correlates to both Russians and Ukrainians pulling their money out of traditional banking systems to store their value in Bitcoin instead. DiPasquale honed in on the last few months of Bitcoin's price movement, saying, "We are reaching higher lows and even higher highs". Adding, "This volatility is also still, this low is still higher than its low point during the summer. Yes, it's volatile, but yes, it's also up over the year."

The cryptocurrency market saw a short spike in value after details surfaced on President Joe Biden's new executive order aimed at adding a regulatory framework for digital assets.

The spike in value came after a statement from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was posted to The Treasury Department's website on Tuesday night. The statement from the Treasury Secretary revealed that the new executive order will strike the right balance between encouraging innovation in the space while also protecting investors. The statement from the website has since been removed, but not without publications such as Bloomberg picking it up and running the story, leading to the spike in Bitcoin's value.

It should be noted that Biden announced that the executive order doesn't lay out any specific positions the administration has taken on digital asset regulation but instead hands the task over to various agencies that will focus on creating a policy framework for six key areas: consumer protection, financial stability, illicit activity, US competitiveness, financial inclusion, and responsible innovation. Additionally, the Biden administration wants to explore "the technological infrastructure and capacity needs for a potential" digital version of the US dollar.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has described the technology that he considers to be a "mathematical miracle".

The Apple co-founder sat down with Yahoo Finance to discuss various topics, and closer to the end of the interview, Wozniak was asked his thoughts of cryptocurrency as a whole and if Bitcoin (BTC) will be a big part of the future. The Apple co-founder said he is in the camp of cryptocurrencies such as BTC will change the way humans live in the future, which echos his statements from a tech conference last summer where Wozniak described the currency as "the most amazing mathematical miracle."

During the interview with Yahoo Finance, Wozniak said that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency "that's pure-gold mathematics", and also touched on the reliability of blockchain technology against the reliability of US dollars. The Apple co-founder says that Bitcoin has a fixed amount and that its underpinning technology is "mathematically pure." If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

A crowd-funded project by Russian art collective Pussy Riot created the one-of-one non-fungible token (NFT) of the Ukrainian flag.

The auction for the unique NFT was organized and orchestrated by UkraineDAO, which is led by Pussy Riot and the NFT studio Trippy Labs. The idea behind the creation of the NFT was to raise funds for the struggling people in Ukraine that are currently fleeing in droves from invading Russian forces. The winning bid for the Ukraine flag NFT was a pool of 3,271 donors that placed the bid through a service called PartyBid.

Read more: Student who tracked Elon Musk's jet is now tracking Russian VIPs

Ukraine has asked for global support to fend off the invasion from Russian military forces that began last week.

Ukraine has asked for funding from any that are willing to give, and those that are willing to donate are able to do so in a variety of ways. One of those ways is donating cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, and so far, Ukraine has received tens of millions of donations in various coins. Recently, the founder of Polkadot, Gavin Wood, announced that if Ukraine were to post a Polkadot address, he would donate $5 million.

The official Ukraine Twitter account followed up with a post of a Polkadot wallet address, which then later received 298,367 DOT, with each priced at $19.33 it makes Woods' donation $5.8 million. So far, the Polkadot address has received more than $6 million in DOT donations and is continuing to grow. Recently the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, donated $10 million to Ukraine while also opening up a donation pool.

Russia began its invasion into Ukraine on February 24, and since then, residents of both countries have been moving their wealth into cryptocurrency.

According to a new report released by Arcane Research, Ukrainians are purchasing Bitcoin and Tether like they never have before via the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. According to the report, Ukrainians are purchasing Bitcoin and Tether with the hryvnia, Ukraine's native currency, currently worth about $0.033 USD. Right before the Russian invasion on February 24 the trading pair Tether/Hryvnia saw its 24-hour trading volume increase from $6 million to $8.5 million, when usually it doesn't exceed $3 million.

Additionally, Ukrainians are purchasing swaths of Bitcoin as data from the report indicates that the Bitcoin/hryvnia 24-hour trading volume increased from $1 million to $3 million. Ukrainians are purchasing cryptocurrency out of fear the traditional banking system will collapse under the pressure of the Russian invasion. Likewise, Russians are purchasing large amounts of cryptocurrency as a way to store their wealth that is safe from government seizure and the collapsing value of the Russian ruble. Cryptocurrency is a haven for both sides.

The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange has pledged $10 million towards assisting the affected residents of Ukraine.

Russia began a full-scale military invasion into Ukraine last week, and since then, there have been thousands of injuries, numerous deaths, and tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes. Neighboring countries are beginning to receive refugees fleeing Ukraine. Assisting these people is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Binance. The cryptocurrency exchange has announced it will give $10 million USD to major Intergovernmental Organizations and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Along with its donation, Binance has set up a public donations page to gather more funds for the cause. The page is called "Humanity First - Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund", and so far has accumulated 156.05 BTC worth around $6.8 million. The announcement of the donation page and the pledged comes after Binance said it won't be freezing the accounts of Russian users as it would undermine the fundamental ethos of cryptocurrency, moving away from centralized control.

Since its invasion into Ukraine, Russia has been hit with sanctions that are crippling its economy, and as a result, the value of the country's native currency is plummeting.

Over the weekend, Western nations implemented sanctions on Russia after it began its invasion into Ukraine. These sanctions caused investors to bail out of Russian assets, causing financial turmoil for the country, which is precisely what the sanctions were designed to do. Additionally, Russia has been removed from the SWIFT interbank messaging service, while also having its central bank assets seized. In order to keep things afloat, Russia more than doubled its interest rate, but that hasn't seemed to slow the crashing value of the ruble.

Since the sanctions and other economic impacts, the ruble has crashed by almost 30%, which makes Bitcoin's total value more than the ruble for the first time ever. Furthermore, Bitcoin has seen a spike in value by 20% compared to its trading price of around $35,000 USD last week. The spike in value for the digital asset can be attributed to the demand cryptocurrency is seeing in Ukraine and in Russia, as residents in both countries are deciding to store their wealth in digital assets that either government can't seize.

A study on Bitcoin's impact titled "Revisiting Bitcoin's carbon footprint" has been published in the journal Joule.

A research team from the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany has found that as Bitcoin miners have been forced out of China, the move to the United States and other countries has increased the amount of fossil-fuel-based electricity used for mining the cryptocurrency. Consequently, as the carbon emissions associated with Bitcoin mining increase, so too has its carbon footprint.

When they first began, China was initially receptive to Bitcoin mining operations, which took advantage of China's extensive hydroelectric facilities during warm months and somewhat reduced its climate impact. China has since restricted Chinese banks from using Bitcoin and shutting down mining operations. The researchers could see where the mining operations had relocated to by using IP addresses.