Bitcoin Financial News

Besides their seemingly enormous potential for profit by everyday investors, cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks also have a seedier appeal as well. The anonymity provided by decentralized networks has enticed criminals of various sorts; some currencies and exchanges have been plagued by hacks and other nefarious activity. Now, a report by Cointelegraph suggests that a study from Germany's Goethe and Aachen Universities has unearthed eight files that show or link to sexual content, hidden within the blockchain for bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency. There have been allegations that some of these image might link to child pornography, but Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd told Cointelegraph that any links to child porn sites were found to be dead links.

Coinbase, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, brought in a fortune last year thanks to the exploding popularity of digital coins.

If you can’t beat them, join them. Unable to control the growing popularity and adoption of cryptocurrencies, which mostly remain outside of the purview of central banks and other regulatory authorities, it seems that central banks across the globe are gradually opening up to embrace the phenomenon. The latest to explore launching its own cryptocurrency is the Bank of Thailand (BoT). (See also: Can Bitcoin Kill Central Banks?)

Bitcoin's massive sell-off this week hasn't stopped one of its most well-known bulls from reiterating his extremely upbeat take on the future of the digital currency. Thomas J. Lee, the head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, was one of the first from the traditional financial world to go bullish on the cryptocurrency, while others expressed skepticism on its extreme volatility. Now the analyst expects bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, to approximately double its total value to over $1.2 trillion by the end of 2018.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again delayed its ruling on whether to approve Grayscale’s application for a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), citing familiar concerns around manipulation, liquidity and transparency. 

Disclaimer: The findings of the following analysis are the sole opinions of the writer and should not be considered investment advice

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are attempting to build upon their recent recovery as the U.S. equity markets try to resume their relief rally, backed by strong results by Amazon. Bollinger Bands creator John Bollinger recently tweeted that Ether looked to be in a good spot to be added to his existing long positions.

China’s crackdown on mining has led miners to search for other countries to continue their operations. Promises of reduced costs led some to Argentina. However, the country’s government has now applied new rates for crypto miners in the province of Tierra del Fuego.

Bitcoin has been unable to climb past the 39k resistance in the past few days, although it did find some demand at the $36.4k level. In the last 24 hours preceding press time, Bitcoin Dominance has dropped slightly from 41.85% to 41.37% (at the time of writing).

On Friday, bitcoin (BTC) rallied and returned above the USD 40,000 level for the first time in two weeks, while ethereum (ETH) neared the USD 3,000 level.

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Bitcoin (BTC) returned to $40,000 for the first time two weeks during Feb. 4 as Wall Street volatility proved a boon for BTC bulls.

Bitcoin (BTC) kept investors guessing with tech stocks as Wall Street opened on Feb. 4, circling $38,000.

India‘s Budget announcement was a mixed blessing, as some appreciated the clarity regarding taxes on crypto. However, others are strongly against the 30% tax on the transfer of digital assets. Amidst diverse opinions and strong emotions, investment analyst Anthony Pompliano shared his take on India’s update.

Contrary to smaller Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto miners, Canada-based Hut 8 would not be "really affected" by Ethereum (ETH)'s move to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, as the miner is ready "no matter what," Sue Ennis, Vice President (VP) of Corporate Development and Investor Relations off the company, told Cryptonews.com. Also, Hut 8 is ready to go shopping for other mining companies this year.

SegWit has come a long way since its first appearance during the 2015-2017 blocksize war. However, despite its relative success as a Bitcoin upgrade, crypto exchanges including Binance and Gemini are still not committed to using SegWit addresses for sending Bitcoin (BTC). 

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has alerted the crypto community against a 'massive' SMS phishing scam targeting Binance customers.

Investor-focused social media platform Stocktwits, which gained popularity during last year’s ‘retail short squeeze’ frenzy involving GameStop and AMCTheaters, rolled out its own crypto trading services on Thursday.

Disclaimer: The findings of the following analysis are the sole opinions of the writer and should not be considered investment advice

A father and son’s disagreement over crypto trading led to a near-death experience and some jail time. Because of a shift in crypto market prices, a son reportedly drugged his father to gain access to his Bitcoins. 

Kraken exchange has passed a crypto audit by Armanino LLP, allowing customers to verify cryptocurrency balances.