Author: Bloomberg

Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. is fixing an issue that prevented the company from processing transactions with US bank accounts. “We are currently unable to take payments or make withdrawals involving US bank accounts. Our team is aware of this issue and is working on getting everything back to normal as soon as possible,” it said in a statement. More than an hour later, the company said the issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented. Account holders can still use a debit card or PayPal account to make direct purchases, it added. Read full story on Bloomberg

Binance Holdings Ltd. founder and CEO Zhao “CZ” Changpeng said the world’s biggest digital-asset exchange may spend more than $1 billion on acquisitions and investments this year despite what is shaping up to be a prolonged crypto winter.  Binance has committed $325 million to 67 projects so far this year, compared with $140 million for 73 projects in 2021. That doesn’t take into account a possible more than $200 million investment in the Forbes media company and $500 million in financing for Elon Musk’s on-again acquisition of Twitter Inc., which could carry into next year if it gets done at all. While fellow crypto billionaire Sam…

Bored Ape Yacht Club is a wildly popular collection of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, a status symbol coveted by celebrities, athletes and venture capitalists alike. Bored Apes are already the third-most valuable collection of NFTs, with $1.5 billion in all-time sales, according to blockchain data tracker CryptoSlam. They also unlocked early access to a new digital currency — ApeCoin. ApeCoin launched Thursday in a type of release known as an “airdrop,” in which certain groups of crypto holders automatically receive tokens as a reward. In this case, 1 billion ApeCoins dropped, with owners of Bored Ape NFTs in line to receive some of…

A survey by El Salvador’s Chamber of Commerce found that the vast majority of companies in a country known for its Bitcoin-boosting president haven’t used crypto for business. Only 14% of respondents to the Chamber of Commerce Survey said they had transacted in Bitcoin since September, when the country became the first in the world to recognize the digital token as legal tender. More than 90% of the 337 companies polled between January 15 and February 9 said Bitcoin adoption in the country had little to no impact on their sales. Of the businesses polled, 71% were classified as micro or small businesses,…

Cryptocurrency leaders are spending money to wield influence in Washington as focus on their industry skyrockets, but they don’t seem to be using their own product to do it. Industry insiders gave $7.3 million to political campaigns and committees in 2021 through the end of January, but almost all of that money came in old-fashioned dollars. The disparity highlights the challenges cryptocurrencies face as they move into more mainstream parts of the economy. Only $580,000 worth of cryptocurrency was donated to political committees in the current election cycle, according to a Bloomberg analysis of Federal Election Commission records, with a…

Bitcoin is unlikely to break above $46,000 anytime soon, barring a macroeconoic “vibe shift” like a change in risk-on sentiment, according to Wilfred Daye, head of Securitize Capital. The cryptocurrency’s trading range narrowed this week as the war in Ukraine continued and the U.S. Federal Reserve raised rates in line with expectations. The notoriously volatile coin is on track to end the week 5% higher at $40,700, paring back its decline from a November high to 40%. “Tactical longs in Bitcoin don’t have enough steam to get prices over that level,” Daye said, adding that price momentum was weak over…

The crypto firm behind the popular Wasabi digital wallet — which offers a service that lets users mix their Bitcoin holdings in such a way as to keep their identities private — said it will start refusing certain transactions. In a Twitter post earlier this week, a developer of the Wasabi wallet, said the company, zkSNACKs, made the move to keep “hackers and scammers” from using the service and avoid unspecified “trouble.”   While there was no indication of any specific incident that prompted the decision, nor was it required, regulators and law enforcement are increasingly concerned that these type of “mixing”…

Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. is being sued by Australia’s competition watchdog, which alleges the social-media giant misled users by publishing scam advertisements featuring unwitting local celebrities. The ads promoted cryptocurrency investments and linked to fake media articles that endorsed the schemes, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission said Friday. Facebook users probably believed the promotions were associated with the famous people in the ads, who included businessman Dick Smith and television presenter David Koch, even though they had never approved them, the watchdog said. Meta, which also owns Instagram, “engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct,” the ACCC said. The firm’s technology enabled…

MaiCoin Group, which operates Taiwan’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is considering going public on the Nasdaq stock market within two years, people with knowledge of the matter said. The company is completing a Series C funding round that could value it at about $400 million, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. MaiCoin will use the proceeds to finance expansion into Southeast Asia, according to one of the people. No final decision has been made on pursuing a Nasdaq listing. Pulling off a first-time share sale in the U.S. would be a rare feat for a Taiwanese…

Before it handed over the dubious mantle of the world’s worst-performing currency to the Russian ruble, the Turkish lira had lost 44% of its value against the dollar in one year. Its purchasing power at home also waned: Depending on whether you believe official statistics or private estimates, inflation in Turkey is anywhere between 54% to 124%. So how did the locals react? For one, the tech-savvy classes went the crypto way.  Globally, among all the currencies swapped for stablecoins — blockchain tokens that promise 1:1 convertibility into hard assets (mostly U.S. dollars) — the lira’s share jumped to 26% at the end of last year, from 0.3% in January 2020, according to researchers at the Bank for…