Category: Crypto News

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Australia Crypto News Payments

Australian Auction House Lloyds Accepts Crypto to Buy Cars

Australian auction house Lloyds is accepting major cryptocurrencies as payment, sparking almost immediate interest from Aussies wishing to trade in crypto for collector or sports cars.

Lloyds now allows bidders to use major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to pay for goods, with sellers paid in cash. The auction house is known for selling some of the most expensive cars in Australia but says it will be accepting crypto for all goods.

In the meantime, Lloyds has seen a surge of interest, and “within hours of offering cryptocurrency as a payment option, an A$100,000 custom-built caravan was paid for entirely by crypto“, according to Lloyds’ chief operations officer Lee Hames.

The longtime patron of Lloyds who bought the caravan said that he had no second thoughts about using crypto for the purchase and that he was amazed at how simple the process was.

Lloyds has joined the ranks of auction houses that accept crypto. On July 9, Sotheby’s will auction a very rare diamond and will allow bidders to bid online with crypto from June 25. Mecum, one of the world’s largest collector car auction companies, also accepts crypto as payment.

In April, CarBuyers.com.au announced a new payment system that allows Aussies to sell their vehicles for Bitcoin.

Crypto For Cars and Earthmoving Machinery

Since Lloyds allowed payment with digital currency, it has noticed more potential buyers looking at everything from classic cars to heavy earthmoving machinery. According to Hames, Lloyds’ dedicated crypto line has seen inquiries “pour in” since making the option available.

We have seen people using this as a way of divesting out of cryptocurrency and back into real-life assets. As prices drop, people are taking some profits off the table and transferring [them] to something like a classic car or bulldozer and putting it to work.

Lee Hames, Lloyds COO

Lloyds Auctions offers some of the rarest and most desirable collectible cars for sale in Australia, and by opening channels for crypto it has allowed people to acquire them as easily as paying with Visa or Mastercard. Sellers can choose to be paid in digital currencies or Australian dollars.

Lloyds Has Dabbled in Blockchain Technology Before

Earlier in June, Lloyds also announced it would be minting non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for a collection of glass plate negatives capturing 140 years of “arguably the most significant photographic collection” in Australian history. The NFTs will serve as proof of ownership, stored on the blockchain for the owners of each piece.

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrencies

“We’re Adopting Bitcoin for the Benefit of the People,” Says President of El Salvador

On 10 June 2021, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. In an interview with Bitcoiner Peter McCormack on the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast, President Nayib Bukele provided additional context to the historic move, outlining how it would be implemented and how it would ultimately benefit Salvadorean citizens.

The Purported Benefits

In the discussion, President Bukele highlighted a number of key benefits to the newly enacted law, including:

  • Receiving remittances at the speed of light with almost no costs, compared to the slower and more costly fee structures of Western Union and the like. Importantly, personal remittances account for almost a quarter of El Salvador’s GDP
  • Providing financial inclusion to the 70% of the population who remain unbanked
  • Becoming less dependent on the output of new US dollars and resultant inflation due to an unprecedented increase in the money supply; in short, El Salvador wants to take back some control of its monetary system as it enjoys no benefit from the increased supply of US dollars, only the downside
  • Increased levels of financial investment and the attraction of global talent, particularly when coupled with forthcoming residency-by-investment laws.

Bukele noted that as the smallest country on the continent whose people had benefited little from the current system, it made sense for El Salvador to be at the forefront of an economic revolution by adopting a system that is open and free, rather than one dependent on another nation (referring to the US) which doesn’t necessarily consider the impact on countries such as El Salvador that use its currency.

The Roll-Out Plan and Government Wallet

The President is working towards having the law fully operational within 90 days, a target that is considered a stretch but achievable with requisite considerable effort.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele

Within this aggressive timeline, government is also looking to roll out its non-mandatory government wallet which the President stressed would compete with free-market alternatives and existed simply to “fill in the gaps”. Specifically, the government wallet would provide transactional services (ie, free internet access) to those without reliable connectivity:

We don’t want a law that is only for the rich, not only for the middle class, we want a system that works for everybody … we want the most vulnerable economically to benefit from that.

Nayib Bukele

Is El Salvador the First of Many?

Since El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender and is potentially paying government employees in BTC, the question on everyone’s lips has been which country would be next. Following Bukele’s announcement, a slew of Latin American legislators adopted the Bitcoin laser-eyes on their Twitter profiles, signalling their intention to follow suit.

Reports suggest that Paraguay is likely to be next, but if we’ve learnt anything over the past 12 months in crypto, a lot and almost anything can happen in a very short space of time.

Categories
Crypto News Crypto Wallets Hackers Scams

Scam Warning: Fake Crypto Hardware Wallets Sent to Ledger Customers

Last year, hardware wallet provider Ledger suffered an internal breach of security resulting in the exposure of 250,000 to 1,000,000 customer email addresses. In some cases, the information leaked included full names and addresses. A class action is under way, but the after-effects linger.

Initial Concern Regarding Bad Actors

Since self-custody and privacy remain crypto’s greatest drawcards, the initial concern was that the information would be used by malicious actors to separate users from their crypto holdings.

Within a short space of time, Reddit users described various phishing attempts (such as links to the “latest software upgrade”) and death threats (so-called “$5 wrench attacks”). At the time, users quite reasonably began asking questions as to whether or not Ledger was a secure hardware wallet.

Unsurprisingly, once leaked private information becomes available in the public domain, the consequences are likely to linger. Ledger’s 2020 data breach is no different as the ramifications persist.

Latest Fraudster Activity

Recently, Ledger customers have revealed a new and sophisticated effort by fraudsters involving fake hardware wallets being sent to exposed Ledger customers’ addresses.

https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1405572965480153095

Overlooking the fact that Ledger is unlikely to ever send a “new” unsolicited hardware device to its users (much less one that is unsealed/damaged), the clear giveaway in this instance was a single use of slang in the letter:

… For this reason, we have changed our device structure. We now guarantee that this kinda [emphasis intentionally added] breach will never happen again.

Extract from fake Ledger letter

In addition to examples such as that outlined above, some users have also described fake hardware being sent with a pre-installed recovery seed:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/o609v2/hardware_wallet_scam/
https://imgur.com/a/WNjlkyc

How to Avoid Getting Scammed

Unfortunately, scammers continue to thrive and innovate within the crypto space. In 2020 alone, Australians lost $26 million in Bitcoin to scams.

The good news, however, is that there are some basic principles within the domain of hardware wallets that dramatically reduce the prospects of being scammed:

  • Only buy hardware directly from the manufacturer or authorised reseller
  • Never buy a used device
  • Make sure the packaging has not been tampered with
  • When starting the device up, make sure there aren’t any error messages that could be evidence of tampering
  • Remember that no hardware wallet comes pre-installed with a 24-word recovery phrase.

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Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin Mining China Crypto News

Chinese Mining Businesses Migrate to Kazakhstan Amid the Crypto Crackdown

Canaan, a major ASIC miner manufacturer, and BTC.com, the fifth-largest Bitcoin miner group, are moving into China’s backyard, with particular focus on the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan.

As the crackdown on cryptocurrencies in China continues, so does the migration of miners looking to other parts of the world where they can set up shop. Today, political stability, regulatory clarity and respect for private property rights are the most important criteria for miners.

Miners Look to New Options

With confirmed bans in multiple regions including Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and Yunnan, miners are looking for new options. One of BIT Mining’s data centres (part of the BTC.com mining pool) received a notice from the Sichuan State Grid informing it that the grid would cut its power supply by June 19. In response, the company expects to have 2600 Bitcoin miners shipped to Kazakhstan by the start of July.

Over the coming quarters, it plans to ship its remaining mining machines to other data centres outside of China. BIT Mining has also invested US$25 million in a new mining centre in Texas.

Following our investments in cryptocurrency mining data centres in Texas and Kazakhstan, we are accelerating our overseas development for alternative high-quality mining resources.

Xianfeng Yang, CEO of BIT Mining

Canaan the Latest Mover

Chinese ASIC manufacturer Canaan has also decided to set up a base in Kazakhstan, where it plans to diversify its mining operations.

One of the main considerations for these businesses moving from China is the high cost of transporting equipment halfway across the world. Miners need a place with existing infrastructure capable of supporting the needs of these types of businesses.

Some Operators Are More Cautious

Besides the country’s relative proximity, this is a contributing factor in moving to Kazakhstan as it is expected to host several other crypto mining firms in the future. Some operators, however, are more cautious.

I think Kazakhstan has already hit a sort of ceiling as to how many miners can move into the country.

Alejandro De La Torre,  Poolin vice-president

The US is a second option for miners who can afford it. States such as Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Florida have already indicated their openness to migratory miners. 

Categories
Binance Bitcoin Crypto News

There’s Now Over 570,000 BTC Held on Binance, Far More Than Any Other Exchange

BTC/USDT price chart on Android mobile app by Binance
BTC/USDT price chart on Android mobile app by Binance [https://unsplash.com/photos/y3FRkhP-UgY]

The largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, currently holds over 570,000 BTC in reserve. This is considered the highest amount of BTC held by the exchange and far exceeds the balance in other major exchanges, according to data from CoinMetrics.

What’s Behind the Spike in Binance BTC Reserve

It’s worth noting that Binance and some other major exchanges have been seeing an increase in BTC inflows over the past few weeks. There are a lot of factors at play behind the increase in Binance BTC balance. One is the current bearish state of the market, which is causing some investors to deposit Bitcoin to exchanges, probably for selling. 

CoinMetrics also opines that the increase in Binance Bitcoin balance is partially caused by Chinese investors moving their BTC holdings off local exchanges. 

Recently, the Chinese authorities stepped up their efforts in cracking down on Bitcoin mining activities in the country. The People’s Bank of China also resounded its warnings to financial institutions on providing their services to cryptocurrency-related activities. Such a development would add an extra layer of difficulty for crypto traders in China.  

Miners’ Outflows Subside After Initial Flurry

Not minding the regulatory unrest in China concerning digital currencies, there hasn’t been any significant increase in BTC miners’ outflows over the recent days. At first, miners’ outflows to exchanges increased following the announcement that Chinese authorities are planning to clamp down on cryptocurrency mining activities. However, the outflows have since subsided, even as some of the affected miners are relocating. 

At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price was up by over 3% at US$33,664 over the previous 24 hours. BTC dropped below US$29,000 on June 22, amid the bear market. It remains to be seen how soon the market will recover. However, Crypto News Australia recently reported that BTC investors are gradually regaining confidence in the market, following a reserve in exchange flow. 

Categories
Crypto News Investing Trading

$1 Billion Valuation for Institutional Crypto Trading Company Amber Group

Amber Group
Amber Group https://twitter.com/ambergroup_io/status/1347683343299563522

Amber Group – a crypto startup focusing on institutional investors and their involvement in cryptocurrencies – has just raised US$1 billion in funding.

$100 Million Added to Amber Group’s Valuation

The investment round was led by Tiger Global – the hedge fund with the biggest Return On Investment (ROI) for its clients in 2020 – and the China Renaissance bank. Arena Holdings and DCM Ventures also took part in the fundraising round and together contributed $100 million to Amber Group’s valuation.

This contribution, worth a 10th of Amber’s total value, is roughly equal to its total capital one year ago, when it was valued at around $100 million. At the time, the group had just finished raising $28 million worth of capital.

The vast majority – between 70% and 80% – of the profit generated by Amber Holdings comes from the net interest margin, which is a measure of lending profitability.

Amber Strategy Seems to be Working Well

To put it briefly, once a customer deposits a sum with Amber Holdings, they are offered an interest rate on their liquidity. Amber then pools the liquidity from multiple customers and lends it out to even more customers at different rates – and, judging by the response from institutional investors, the strategy seems to be working pretty well.

A further 15% of Amber Group’s profits comes from transaction fees. According to CEO Michael Wu, the funding will mostly be put to use hiring new staff and investing in state-of-the-art security measures.

Wu added that although up until now Amber had been focusing mostly on institutional investors, crypto investment solutions for the average Joe were in the works – and the necessary regulatory practices were being looked into.

We don’t advocate heavy speculation or high use of leverage, rather we want our customers to be more long term, focus on risk management and get stable and attractive yield[s] … I think regulation is always a challenge for this industry because it’s a very global industry. It’s always about staying ahead, or at least staying aware of the different regulation. We always take a very conservative approach to that.

Michael Wu, Amber Group CEO

Although Bitcoin has gone through quite a rough patch since May, support from institutional investors hasn’t slowed down – contrasting a similar situation in 2017.

Categories
Crypto News Cryptocurrency Law Europe Investing

Norwegian Government Issues Warning on Cryptocurrencies, Calls For Regulation

Opera building in Oslo
Opera building in Oslo https://unsplash.com/photos/3VCrw7nHH4A

An official statement by Finanstilsynet – the Norwegian entity in charge of financial regulation – has warned consumers to be wary of cryptocurrency investments.

Despite acknowledging the fact that many institutional investors have shown a marked interest in cryptocurrency, Finanstilsynet stated that unlike securities, bonds and other investments, cryptocurrencies are not well regulated within Europe.

Although Norway is not a part of the EU, cooperation between the EU and Norway is very close – and the statement pointed to the EU’s proposed legislation for cryptocurrency that should start providing a general framework for crypto regulation within the EU.

Until such regulations are in place, anyone considering trading in cryptocurrency should think carefully and understand the significant risk that such investments entail. Consumers who want to try this with open eyes should not invest more than they can afford to lose.

Finanstilsynet statement

It’s worth noting that the proposed legislation will not be adopted wholesale, as each EU country controls its own legislative system.

“Certifications” Can Be Misleading

The post also states that many crypto-related businesses in Norway feature a “seal of approval” from Finanstilsynet. However, Finanstilsynet clarified that these businesses are not exactly approved by it.

All businesses functioning in Norway, crypto or not, are required to submit information to Finanstilsynet in order to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. However, this does not mean that the businesses in question are actually endorsed by Finanstilsynet – only that they comply with rules and regulations already set in place.

The statement also notes there are a number of disreputable sites that are nothing but scams – and that although the Norwegian government is doing its best to get these websites shut down, caution is highly advised.

Overall, the view of Norwegian regulatory bodies on cryptocurrencies is not negative – instead, it stresses the need for regulation and consumer protection similar to those drawn up for other forms of investment.

Categories
Crypto News

RIP: John McAfee Found Dead in Spanish Prison, Hours After Extradition to US Approved

John McAfee, the notorious antivirus software billionaire, has been found dead in a Spanish prison near Barcelona, late on Wednesday, June 23.

McAfee was arrested at Barcelona International Airport last October on tax evasion charges. His death comes just hours after the Spanish National Court approved his extradition to the US, where he was wanted for tax-related criminal charges and would have faced up to 30 years in prison.

McAfee speaking at the 2016 Politicon at the Pasadena Convention Center in California. Source: Wikimedia

Suicide or Murder?

According to McAfee’s lawyer, McAfee hanged himself in his prison cell late in the evening of June 23, just hours after the court ruling regarding his extradition to the US. Officials from the Catalan Justice Department said: “Judicial staff have been dispatched to the prison and are investigating the causes of death. Everything points to death by suicide.” For many watching this story unfold, this explanation fits the argument that McAfee would rather take his own life than face 30 years in a US prison cell.

According to his wife of eight years, Janice Dyson, McAfee’s mental health had deteriorated over the course of the eight months he was in prison.

These eight months John has spent in prison in Spain have been especially hard on his overall health both mentally and physically, as well as financially, but he is undeterred from continuing to speak truth to power.

Janice Dyson

Signs of Foul Play

However, there are also signs that point towards foul play. A tweet from McAfee on December 1, 2019 stated that he was wary of US officials and might have even received death threats in some form. The tweet also strongly suggested McAfee would never commit suicide, even if it looked like he had.

Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: “We’re coming for you McAfee! We’re going to kill yourself”. I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn’t. I was whackd. Check my right arm.

John McAfee [Twitter]
John McAfee $WHACKD tattoo
John McAfee $WHACKD tattoo [Twitter]

Another tweet from October 16, not long after he was arrested in Spain, ominously foreshadows his hanging and alludes to the fact that if he wound up dead, it would not be a suicide:

At the time of writing it was still too early to draw any definite conclusions, pending a coroner’s report and the findings of the official investigation.

The ‘Original Elon Musk’

In 2017, during the height of that year’s bull run, McAfee, who had around a million followers at the time, often tweeted about projects he was supposedly interested in. This resulted in the original twitter pump and dumps, which would see random altcoins soar thousands of percent in an hour and then dump to an all-time low as people started to panic sell as the price plummeted.

In March this year, McAfee was charged for cryptocurrency fraud by the US Federal Court in New York City. Many argue that McAfee was the ‘original Elon Musk’.

Crypto Community Mourns Loss

John McAfee, 75, lived a long and eventful life. He built an empire that changed internet security, fathered an estimated 47 children around the world, and had constant run-ins with the law. He was an extremely polarising figure – a lot of people loved him and many despised him. But despite his notoriety, he achieved legend status within the crypto community for his unwavering commitment to crypto and his willingness to speak his truth.

RIP Mr McAfee. Your legacy will live on for generations to come in the cryptoverse. Letting someone die this way w/o due process should show all of us just how anti human & corrupt of a world we live in. I don’t believe he killed himself at all. They didn’t want a US show trial.

Jared Tate (founder of Digibyte)

On behalf of everyone at Crypto News, RIP John McAfee – your legend will live on.

Categories
Bitcoin Mining Crypto News

Iran Seizes 7,000 Crypto Miners After Banning Mining Operations Due to Power Blackouts

A worker inspects hardware devices as illuminated mining rigs operate inside racks at the CryptoUniverse cryptocurrency mining farm in Nadvoitsy, Russia, on Thursday, March 18, 2021. The rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has prompted the greatest push yet among central banks to develop their own digital currencies. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

Iranian officers have seized 7,000 Bitcoin mining machines operating at an illegal cryptocurrency farm located in an abandoned factory in the west of Tehran.

Temporary Halt Called on Crypto Mining

Iran has been a crypto-friendly country in recent years, mostly to outlook US sanctions and to pay for imports using cryptocurrencies. But recent power outages have pushed the government to place a temporary halt on all crypto mining until September.

In January, Iran confiscated over 1500 unlicensed crypto mining farms, seizing 45,000 mining rigs. But this latest is the largest haul in a country where cryptocurrency mining is banned temporarily due to high energy consumption causing power outages. According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, at least 4.5% of all BTC mining takes place in Iran due to its cheap electricity. 

Could China’s Continuous Crackdown Benefit Crypto in the Long Run?

While some countries and states are banning crypto mining, others are incentivising Bitcoin mining companies. This is a consequence of the rolling Chinese crackdown on cryptocurrencies, which has pushed miners overseas. Latin America has so far been the most welcoming continent to miners looking for alternatives.

As China accounts for 65% of the Bitcoin hashrate, miners would set up shop there due to its competitive hardware price and cheap energy. This lasted a couple of years until unclear regulatory weather set in and shook the crypto market in 2021 with China shutting down crypto mining farms in the country.

The benefit of the Chinese government shutting down mining farms is the redistributed hashrate. Bitcoin mining could become more decentralised as miners look to countries and states that can meet their conditions to mine. Mining companies are now looking to North America, Latin America and Central Asia to set up shop and pick up some of the slack.

Ending the ‘China FUD’

Other important and positive aspects of this situation are that it will end the classic “China FUD” – that China controls Bitcoin, or that miners use dirty energy to mine – and it can alleviate the market as it will discourage media channels from promoting fear and uncertainty.

El Salvador, despite international criticism from regulatory and financial models, is proceeding with its plan to develop a huge mining operation centre using the country’s geothermal energy excess.

Categories
Crypto Memes Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Cryptos Events Sports

‘WTF Coin’ Crypto Streaker Hits Euro 2020 Match

Running up on stage or out onto the sports field has become a popular way to hijack mass audience attention, if only for a moment, and perhaps shill your shitcoin at a big event.

What The Actual?

Interrupting a June 22 Euro 2020 match in Saint Petersburg, Russia between Belgium and Finland, a young woman ran onto the football pitch wearing just a smile, a black bodysuit and tiny shorts. Across her chest in big letters read ‘WTF’ and in smaller script a website address, yoursafe.wtf. The woman lasted about half a minute before she was captured by security and escorted off the pitch.

To save yourself the trouble of looking up the WTF coin, here are the highlights:

  1. The artwork is pretty cool. That’s all.

Regular Football Fan Also Invades Pitch

The WTF woman was not the only pitch invader of the day. In the other Group B game between Denmark and Russia, a Russian fan made it onto the field before also being stopped by security. However, this fan was not promoting anything. He was simply wearing a Russia jersey and was there to support his team.

For more wacky behaviour, check out these highlights of the Bitcoin 2021 Miami Conference shenanigans.