Author: Reuters
Twitter Inc on Thursday announced the launch of a tool through which users can showcase non-fungible tokens (NFTs)as their profile pictures, tapping into a digital collectibles craze that has exploded over the past year. The feature, available on iOS to users of the company’s Twitter Blue subscription service, connects their Twitter accounts to crypto wallets where the users store NFT holdings. Twitter displays the NFT profile pictures as hexagons, differentiating them from the standard circles available to other users. Tapping on the pictures prompts details about the art and its ownership to appear. Like other tech companies, Twitter is rushing…
Britain is to crack down on “misleading” advertisements for cryptoassets, which often target retail consumers with poor knowledge of the risks, the finance ministry said on Monday. Rising prices of of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether have been accompanied by a surge in advertising for such assets, particularly in London, prompting repeated warnings from Bank of England that investors they could lose all their money. The finance ministry said that about 2.3 million people in Britain now own a crypto asset, but research suggests that understanding of the sector is declining, suggesting that some users may not fully understand what they…
As bitcoin heads into 2022, a growing cohort of long-term investors is doubling down on its stashes of the cryptocurrency, hoping a December dip was merely a festive blip. Some industry watchers point to the underlying stability of such long-term investments as potentially promising indicators for the capricious cryptocurrency. Since last July, for example, the amount of bitcoin held in digital wallets with no outflows for more than five months has been steadily increasing, according to digital currency brokerage Genesis Trading. In addition, the amount of the bitcoin held in “illiquid” wallets – which spend less than quarter of their…
Enthusiasm around “meme stocks” has eased for young investors a year on from the GameStop Corp (GME.N) trading frenzy, with Gen Z’s attention shifting to companies in areas like electric vehicles and the “metaverse,” according to a report released on Friday. The top stock holding among the Gen Z cohort – people born after 1996 – in the fourth quarter was Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), according to the quarterly investor outlook from Apex Fintech Solutions, which provides custody and clearing services for brokers like SoFi (SOFI.O), Stash, WeBull, and Goldman Sachs Group’s (GS.N) Marcus. AMC Entertainment (AMC.N) slipped from the No. 1 spot in the top 100 ranking of stocks for…
Kazakhstan may no longer be the bitcoin sanctuary it once was, according to some big miners who are looking to leave the global crypto hub following internet shutdowns last week that compounded fears about tightening regulation. The government web shutdowns during an explosion of unrest in the country, the world’s second-largest center for mining, caused bitcoin’s global computing power to drop around 13 percent as data centers used to produce the cryptocurrency were knocked offline. Alan Dorjiyev of the National Association of Blockchain and Data Center Industry in Kazakhstan, which represents 80 percent of legal mining companies in the country,…
Global cryptocurrency funds racked up steep gains last year after most digital currencies soared in price, led by bitcoin and ether amid strong institutional interest and greater acceptance from regulators worldwide, according to BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions The BarclayHedge cryptocurrency traders index was up 138.1% for 2021, according to data the firm posted on Friday, showing results for about 39 funds, or less than 50% of the digital asset management firms it tracks. That followed record gains of 173% in 2020, as crypto funds benefited from extreme volatility that the coronavirus pandemic stoked across financial markets. Bitcoin gained…
North Korea launched at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms that extracted nearly $400 million worth of digital assets last year, one of its most successful years on record, blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis said in a new report. “From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%,” said the report, which was released on Thursday. “Once North Korea gained custody of the funds, they began a careful laundering process to cover up and cash out,” the report added. A United Nations panel of experts…
Almost a quarter of small businesses in nine countries around the world plan to accept digital currencies as a form of payment in 2022, while 13% of consumers in those countries expect retail stores to begin offering crypto payments this year and beyond, according to a survey by Visa Inc. The survey of 2,250 small business owners across nine countries including the United States, Brazil, Singapore and Canada suggests cryptocurrencies may be starting to go mainstream as a means of payment. Visa also surveyed 1,000 adults in the United States, along with 500 adults from each of the nine countries.…
With U.S. cities such as Miami and Austin trying to court digital asset companies, John Wu was unsure whether to make New York City the permanent home of his cryptocurrency and blockchain start-up Ava Labs – until Eric Adams was elected mayor in November. Wu said the election of Adams, a bitcoin-enthusiast who has pledged to turn the Big Apple into a crypto hub, played “a big part” in his decision to set-up a permanent office in New York City in November. “Knowing that we have an administration that’s friendly, especially in the New York City area, is going to…
Russian lender TCS Group Holding (TCSq.L) on Wednesday said it planned to develop Swiss crypto exchange Aximetria as part of its international expansion and would later disclose details of the transaction to buy the bourse. On its website, Aximetria described itself as a part of TCS Group Holding’s international infrastructure. Read full story on Reuters