Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

This is the first US Federal Chartered Bank to Offer Bitcoin

Vast Bank, the first-ever federally chartered bank in the U.S. to offer Bitcoin. It will be providing the services to buy, sell, and custody cryptocurrencies, directly from the users checking account. Furthermore, experts have speculated on an upcoming wave of integration of digital assets into government institutions in the U.S.　　“This is great news for the cryptocurrency community. It has historically been difficult for digital asset companies to even get banking services, much less to have a bank that provides digital asset services. I view this as a step in the right direction, and I suspect that we will see more banking/digital asset ventures in the future,” Attorney Judith Rinearson, Partner at K&L Gates, who helps navigate many cryptocurrency clients, told Forbes.　　For more blockchain news, please download WikiBit- the Global Blockchain Regulatory Inquiry APP.　　US national bank prioritizes crypto Regulations　　Regardless of facilitating decentralized assets, Vast Bank is determined to follow all regulations in its offerings of cryptocurrencies. The CEO, Brad Scrivner agrees that while the shift to crypto is inevitable, he also asserts that the regulatory surveillance holds utmost importance to provide an innovative yet secure mode of transactions to its users.　　“We‘re familiar with regulation, we’re going to do the right things,

2021-09-03Deep Dive

Stablecoins are assets — not currencies, says ECB president

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said all cryptocurrencies, in which she included stablecoins and speculative assets, “are not currencies at all.”　　In a Sept. 1 interview with World Economic Forum founder and executive chair Klaus Schwab, Lagarde said cryptocurrencies “present themselves as currencies,” but she still considered them as assets to be regulated and “supervised by asset regulators.” Under this definition, the ECB president claimed fiat-pegged digital currencies were also considered assets.　　“Stablecoins are pretending to be a coin, but in fact its completely associated with an actual currency,” said Lagarde. “For instance, some of them are saying that they can be used for transactions, but the value will be exactly aligned to the dollar.”　　She added that projects behind issuing any stablecoins should be required to fully back their assets with fiat:　　“That needs to be checked, supervised, regulated so that consumers and users of those devices can actually be guaranteed against eventual misrepresentation. I think very recent history has shown that those reserve currencies were not always available and as liquid as they were intended to be.”　　Lagarde may have been referring to Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer by market capitalization. The company recently agreed to pay $18.5 million in

2021-09-03Deep Dive

Singapore Regulatory Watchdog Puts Binance.com on Investor Alert List

Binance‘s legal woes took a new turn today just when things have started looking to improve for the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapores Central Bank as well as the top financial regulator put Binance.com on its Investor Alert List. This list comprises names of companies or organizations that are unregulated and might be perceived as licensed by MAS.　　The official website didn‘t offer any further detail on the reason behind Binance’s inclusion on the list and just the websites link was posted. The news also comes just within a week of the appointment of Richard Teng, the former chief regulatory officer of the Singapore Stock Exchange as the CEO of Binance Singapore. There were rumors of positive collaboration between the crypto exchange and state entities.　　For more blockchain news, please download WikiBit- the Global Blockchain Regulatory Inquiry APP.　　Interestingly, the local website of the crypto exchange Binance.sg is not on the investor alert list. A Binance spokesperson said that both websites are different and Binance.sg is solely focused on Singapore operations with an independent team. The spokesperson also clarified that Binance Singapore offers no services via Binance.com and explained,　　“Binance Singapore has applied for a license with the

2021-09-03Deep Dive

70 Percent of Salvadorans Want Bitcoin Law Repealed

El Salvador is set to make history by becoming the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as its official currency. However, the vast majority of the population is not happy about the initiative.　　According to a recent poll conducted by IudopUCA, 7 in 10 Salvadorans want President Nayib Bukeles Bitcoin law repealed.　　Forty-five percent of people argue that poverty and unemployment are the two biggest problems that the country is facing right now.　　The past week has been tumultuous for El Salvador, with trade unionists and members of various organizations taking to the streets to protest the Bitcoin bill. Naysayers claim that such sectors as health and education should have been prioritized by Bukele instead of crypto.　　Stanley Quinteros, secretary of the Union of Judicial Employees, says that the law will not benefit Salvadorans:　　“We believe that the implementation of this law, which involves more than $203 million, could have strengthened other entities such as security, health and education. This law, instead of benefiting the Salvadoran people, will bring economic damage.”　　Bukele revealed his plan to adopt Bitcoin back in June, instantly becoming a celebrity within the cryptocurrency community despite his autocratic leanings. Since his party holds a supermajority in the government, lawmakers easily

2021-09-03Deep Dive

BTC price returns to $50K as Bitcoin bears lose $450M in daily liquidations

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD suddenly breaking through the $50,000 mark to hit its highest since Aug. 23.　　After a night of bullish action, the pair left its lower trading range of recent weeks behind, with volatility still significant at the time of writing. Local highs topped $50,300 on Bitstamp.　　As Cointelegraph reported, $51,000 remains the level to beat in order to cement a continuation of the 2021 Bitcoin bull run.　　Heavy resistance remained at that level Thursday, with analysts waiting to see if the latest uptick had the momentum required to change the longer-term paradigm.　　BTC/USD buy and sell positions (Binance) as of Sep. 2. Source: Material Indicators/ Twitter　　“Bitcoin facing final hurdle before $57K,” Cointelegraph contributing analyst Michaël van de Poppe tweeted in his latest update.　　“Welcome back to $50,000 BTC,” fellow analyst Rekt Capital added.　　Short traders lost out heavily from the upside, liquidations hitting almost half a billion dollars in the past 24 hours.

2021-09-02Deep Dive

BUYERS MOMENTUM HALT AT $50K RESISTANCE

Bitcoin buyers momentum gets halt at the $50k resistance level. The price of Bitcoin has seen a lot of upward movement in recent weeks. Bitcoin price moved from $30k support level to $50k resistance in 6 weeks, which made Bitcoins total market cap reach above $900B. The last few weeks have been a wonderful time in the crypto market as almost all cryptocurrencies soar. But it seems the rally is coming to a halt as August comes to an end.　　Bitcoin price hits the $50K resistance on Monday, and it has been falling ever since. Bitcoin price came back to test the $47K support as the price crashed from $50K. Price rallied as it reached the $47K demand area, but failed to go back to the $50K recent high. As seen on the chart below, a mini resistance was created at $49K as indicated by the blue horizontal line.　　The price of Bitcoin is trading at $48K as of publishing time. The $49K resistance has sent the price back down for the second time and the price is waiting for buyers reaction before extending its losses to $47K and then $44K.　　Price is trading around the 50MA on the 4hour chart and the

2021-09-02Deep Dive

BITCOIN What to expect if Twitter does go through with enabling Bitcoin tipping feature

“You drive the conversation on Twitter and we want to make it easier for you to support each other beyond Follows, Retweets, and Likes. Today, were introducing Tip Jar – a new way for people to send and receive tips.”　　This was what Twitter said back in May. Whats the latest development in the same now？　　Twitter is reportedly laying the foundation to enable Bitcoin (BTC) tipping for content creators. According to MacRumors, the platform is currently testing it for the operating system iOS Beta. The official release read, Now, Bitcoin isnt yet available for selection as a tip option for beta users. However, code in the beta seems to suggest that “Twitter is in the process of rolling it out.”　　Previously, Twitter allowed users to add Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal, and Venmo links to their Twitter profiles. As per the Twitter Beta update, the tipping function will use Lightning Network to make smaller Bitcoin payments. It will support custodial and non-custodial wallets too.

2021-09-02Deep Dive

US Consumer Crypto Survey: Almost 50% Invested in Cryptocurrencies This Year

A crypto survey of U.S. consumers, commissioned by regulated crypto platform Bakkt, shows that nearly half of all respondents said they invested in cryptocurrencies during the first half of the year.　　Nearly Half of US Consumers Invested in Crypto During the Past 6 Months, Study Shows　　A survey commissioned by regulated digital asset platform Bakkt shows that nearly half of surveyed consumers in the U.S. invested in cryptocurrencies in the past six months this year. Bakkt was launched in 2018 by Intercontinental Exchange, which operates over a dozen of the worlds most prominent exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).　　“Commissioned by Bakkt and conducted over an online survey tool, we polled more than 2,000 consumers across the U.S. and was fielded in July 2021 … Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography using the Census Bureaus American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States,” the survey report explains. According to the results released Wednesday:　　Nearly half (48%) of U.S. consumers reported investing money in cryptocurrency during the first half of the year.　　“Of those who havent invested in cryptocurrency, 32% of respondents are interested in buying cryptocurrency in the next six months,” the report notes.　　Amount

2021-09-02Deep Dive

MetaMask surpasses 10 million MAUs, is now the world’s leading non-custodial crypto wallet

ConsenSys, the market-leading blockchain technology company founded by Ethereum co-creator Joseph Lubin, announced today that MetaMask now has more than 10 million monthly active users, as per a release shared with CryptoSlate.　　This represents a 19x growth compared to July 2020 and positions MetaMask as the leading non-custodial wallet by users globally. MetaMask is both a mobile app and browser extension that functions as a cryptocurrency wallet for interacting with the Ethereum blockchain and any Ethereum-compatible network like Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism.　　The Drivers Behind MetaMasks Growth　　MetaMasks exponential growth has tracked closely with that of the Ethereum ecosystem. In 2019, $2 billion in crypto assets was committed to Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Today, Ethereum supports a flourishing Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem with over $80 billion in assets under management.　　MetaMask is the primary way a global user base interacts with DeFi applications, along with the vast universe of approximately 17,000 unique Web3 domains, which include rare digital goods marketplace OpenSea and NFT-based online games.　　For more blockchain news, please download WikiBit- the Global Blockchain Regulatory Inquiry APP.　　MetaMask was first created in September 2016 and has been a central catalyst in the adoption of decentralized applications on Ethereum. The launch of the mobile version in September

2021-09-02Deep Dive

Most Europeans Want Local Governments to Regulate Crypto, Not The EU: Survey

When it comes to cryptocurrency regulations, 60% of the Europeans would prefer their own countries to come up with it rather than the EU itself.　　According to recent research, around 60% of Europeans prefer their own countries to regulate digital assets rather than the European Union. Interestingly, a growing number of people believe the creation of national digital currencies would grant their nations some financial independence from the EU.　　 Crypto Regulations Coming from The EU Is Not Preferable　　A survey conducted among 31,000 participants from 12 different countries – all part of the European Union – revealed that the vast majority, around 60%, would want their own authorities to regulate cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, roughly 25% believe that the EU would serve as a better watchdog.　　Taking a closer look, the residents of the Netherlands and those of Estonia are the biggest supporters of their own governments, with respectively 76% and 70%. On the contrary, Spain, Poland, and Latvia registered the lowest figure in that statistics – 50%. The Iberian county is also the biggest proponent of the European Union, with 36% of the local participants answering they would like to see crypto regulations coming from it.　　It is worth noting that a

2021-09-02Deep Dive

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