Fraudsters Offer Russians Bogus Chance to Invest in Fake ‘State Cryptocurrency’

Internet users in Russia have been targeted in an email campaign advertising the launch of an alleged cryptocurrency issued by the state. Potential victims are encouraged to follow a link to the website of the fraudulent investment scheme, security experts said. Thousands of Investment Offers Entice Russians to Put Money Into Non-Existent Cryptocurrency Fraudsters have … Read more

Bitcoin Proponents Slam Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman After Venmo Payment Issue

Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman complained on Twitter Wednesday that he was experiencing issues with the centralized payment processor Venmo. His tweet was followed by a barrage of bitcoin supporters who insisted that Krugman was now realizing the importance of censorship-resistant payment systems. Krugman’s Experience Highlights the Growing Interest in Censorship-Resistant Payment Systems Nobel Prize … Read more

China’s Wechat Adds Support for Digital Yuan Payments

Chinese social media platform Wechat has introduced support for the state-backed digital yuan in its popular payment app. Over a billion users will now ostensibly be able to take advantage of fast payments with the digital currency issued by the People’s Bank of China. Wechat Pay Follows Alipay in Integrating Payments With Digital Yuan The … Read more

Alameda Research Sues Grayscale Investments Seeking to Unlock Billions in Value for Shareholders

FTX Debtors and affiliate Alameda Research Ltd. have filed a lawsuit against Grayscale Investments, seeking injunctive relief to unlock $9 billion in value for shareholders of the Grayscale Bitcoin and Ethereum Trusts. The debtors allege that “Grayscale has extracted over $1.3 billion in exorbitant management fees in violation of the trust agreements.” FTX Debtors Accuse … Read more

Bitcoin Miners Brace for Another Projected Difficulty Increase as Hashrate Heats Up Amid Market Uncertainty

Despite a 9.95% increase last week and the all-time high difficulty, bitcoin’s hashrate has averaged around 305 exahash per second (EH/s) over the past 30 days. According to current data, the hashrate has been around 308 EH/s over the past 2,016 blocks. The next difficulty change, set to occur on March 10, is estimated to … Read more

Avalanche Sees Surge in BTC Bridged to Its Network With Over $44 Million in Bitcoin Ported on Thursday

According to statistics, the number of bitcoin bridged to the Avalanche blockchain saw a significant inflow on March 2, as more than 2,000 bitcoin were bridged on that day. Data further shows that as of Friday, March 3, a total of 8,504 bitcoin worth $190.9 million was bridged over to the Avalanche network. Bitcoin Bridged … Read more

Ebb and Flow of Stablecoin Economy Continues With BUSD’s Market Cap Dropping Below $10 Billion Range

The realm of stablecoins is an ever-evolving landscape and the number of coins in circulation for the stablecoin BUSD has fallen below the 10 billion mark to approximately 9.68 billion on March 3, 2023. Over the last 30 days, BUSD’s token supply has dropped 40% lower. In contrast, the number of tethers in circulation has … Read more

Xapo Bank Integrates Lightning Network Payments Through Lightspark Partnership

On March 2, Xapo Bank announced its partnership with Lightspark, a company led by David Marcus, former crypto boss at Facebook. The partnership aims to extend the utility of bitcoin and the Lightning Network. Xapo revealed on Thursday that it is the first fully licensed private bank to offer payments through the Lightning Network. Xapo … Read more

US Treasury and White House to Hold Regular Meetings on CBDCs and Payment Innovations

On March 1, 2023, Nellie Liang, undersecretary for domestic finance at the U.S. Treasury, delivered a speech to the Atlantic Council in Washington concerning the subject of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Liang detailed during her speech that a CBDC is one of several options for “upgrading the legacy capabilities of central bank money,” and … Read more