The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Union’s markets regulator, released a consultative paper on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) mandates on July 12. It was the first of three consultative packages the agency expects to publish and concerns technical specifications for crypto asset service providers (CASPs). Entities that are already licensed are presumed under
Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty reached an all-time high of 53.91 trillion units after the latest difficulty adjustment on July 12. It is a measure of how difficult it is to mine Bitcoin blocks. The blockchain adjusts its difficulty every two weeks to maintain its processing time of 10 minutes. When the network’s processing power increases,
The United States-based crypto advocacy group Blockchain Association has submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Inspector General calling for an investigation into crypto firm Prometheum. In a July 12 letter, the Blockchain Association requested SEC inspector general Deborah Jeffrey look into the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s approval of Prometheum’s
Cryptocurrency scams have fallen a massive 77% from $3.3 billion to $1.1 billion over the first six months of 2023, according to a recent report by blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis. The catch, though, is that ransom attacks are back in trend, with perpetrators pocketing 62.4% more revenue than the first six months of 2022. On
Coinbase Wallet users can now send instant messages to each other using their Ethereum identities, according to a July 12 blog post from Coinbase. The new feature relies on the Extensible Message Transport Protocol (XMTP), an instant messaging system that allows users to communicate using blockchain addresses. XMTP is also used by decentralized social media
In the latest episode of The Market Report, Cointelegraph analyst and writer Marcel Pechman discusses Standard Chartered bank’s $120,000 Bitcoin price expectation based on the halving impact. According to the report, increased miner profitability due to a pre-halving rally would “reduce the net BTC supply.” Pechman, on the other hand, doesn’t acknowledge the thesis, given
The South Korean government is continuing to develop tighter regulations targeting the cryptocurrency industry with the introduction of new asset disclosure rules. On July 11, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced a new bill that will require all firms that issue or hold cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) to disclose their holdings. According to the
The much-anticipated Quantum Leap upgrade by layer-2 scaling protocol Starknet was recently deployed on the Ethereum mainnet, allowing for as much as 90 transactions per second (TPS), boosting the network’s speed. MOARRR TPS DADDY STARKNET MAINNET QUANTUM LEAP 0.12.0 LIVE ON MAINNET pic.twitter.com/RaI1XKcgy7 — Starknet (@Starknet) July 12, 2023 According to Uri Kolodny, the co-founder
In advance of required regulations that are expected in a year, the banking watchdog for the European Union asked stablecoin issuers to voluntarily follow certain “guiding principles” on risk management and consumer protection. The European Banking Authority (EBA) released its first set of measures on Wednesday, July 12, for public comment in an effort to
Bitcoin (BTC) eased higher into July 12 with the key macroeconomic event of the week just hours away. BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView CPI set to hit lowest since March 2021 Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC price momentum as it slowly inched closer to $31,000. The largest cryptocurrency showed little volatility
Google is now facing a lawsuit in the follow-up to its recent privacy policy update that accuses the tech giant of misusing large amounts of data, including copyrighted material in artificial intelligence (AI) training. The lawsuit was filed on July 11 by eight individuals who claim to represent “millions of class members” – internet users
Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network has filed a lawsuit against liquid staking platform StakeHound after the company allegedly failed to return $150 million worth of tokens owned by Celsius. According to a court document filed by Celsius, the company placed 40 million Polygon (MATIC), 66,000 Polkadot (DOT), 25,000 staked native Ether and 35,000 Ether (ETH).
Pro-Bitcoin (BTC) Investment veteran Cathie Wood is taking some profits from ARK Invest’s large Coinbase holdings by selling a small portion of its stash. On July 11, Wood’s investment firm ARK offloaded 135,152 Coinbase shares ($12 million) from one of its major exchange-traded funds (ETF), the ARK Innovation ETF. According to the trade notification seen
The recent tsunami of spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) filings should be seen as a “moment of validation” for Bitcoin, says Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein. During a July 12 interview on CNBC’s Last Call, Sonnenshein rejected the notion that BlackRock’s entrance to the Bitcoin ETF race made it “uncool.” “To see, literally, the
Ripple may be holding its breath a bit longer after a United States District Judge refused to rule on if the secondary sale of LBRY Credits (LBC) constitutes a security. On July 11, New Hampshire District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro made the ruling in the case the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought
The European Commission has tipped “extended reality” — technology that enables people to interact with virtual worlds — will create as many as 860,000 jobs in Europe by 2025. Extended reality or XR is an umbrella term for immersive technologies including virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality, and is a “major technology enabler” for
At the time of writing, ETH was priced at $1,870. The daily chart indicated a potential breakout as the price approached the upper boundary of a rectangle pattern. The crucial overhead resistance for Ethereum was identified at $1,880. If the price managed to surpass this level, it could potentially exceed $1,900 and ultimately reach the
Exchange operator Cboe Global Markets has amended five spot Bitcoin (BTC) Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) applications to include a surveillance-sharing agreement (SSA) with Coinbase. On July 11, Cboe amended filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the ETFs from Invesco, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity and the joint fund by ARK Invest and 21Shares.
United States Senate Financial Services Committee Chair Ron Wyden and ranking member Mike Crapo released an open letter to the digital asset community on July 11 asking for input on the taxation of digital assets. The senators are looking for solutions to highly complex taxation issues, so much so that they offered background reading from the
Grayscale Investments has reached an agreement with New York-based investment firm Fir Tree Capital Management over its Bitcoin Trust. According to a July 11 announcement from Fir Tree, Grayscale agreed to provide additional documentation related to its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) after Fir Tree filed a lawsuit in December 2022. The complaint against Grayscale aimed at