Altcoin News by Thebittimes.Com

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, are embroiled in a lawsuit filed by victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.  The suit, lodged in the New York Southern District Court on Jan. 31, alleges that Binance processed transactions for Hamas in breach of the U.S. anti-terrorism act. Plaintiffs are seeking damages, accusing the defendants of providing substantial support to terrorist organizations. The complaint points to Binance’s facilitation of clandestine financial transactions for Hamas, effectively bypassing U.S. regulatory scrutiny. This follows Binance’s settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in November for anti-money laundering violations, including a hefty $4.3 billion fine and agreeing to comprehensive monitoring by U.S. authorities. In response to the attack, Binance swiftly froze Hamas-linked accounts at the request of Israeli law enforcement. The lawsuit also implicates the governments of Iran and Syria. Iran, labeled...

Just days after BlackRock filed for the iShares Ethereum Trust, asset management firm Fidelity has submitted an application for its own Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF). Fidelity, an asset management firm overseeing $4.5 trillion in assets, has become the latest firm to seek approval for a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF). In a filing submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 17, Fidelity proposes to list and trade shares of the Fidelity Ethereum Fund on the Cboe BZX Exchange.   "According to the Registration Statement, each Share will represent a fractional undivided beneficial interest in the Trust’s net assets. The Trust’s assets will consist of ETH held by the Custodian on behalf of the Trust." Update: @Fidelity joins the spot #ethereum ETF race by filing a 19b-4 with @CBOE https://t.co/rxNEzpzh3g pic.twitter.com/o96XspPDEP — James Seyffart (@JSeyff) November 17, 2023 This comes after recent news that BlackRock off...

The Simpsons poked fun at NFTs in their annual halloween special but degens still managed to take advantage of the publicity to hoist an NFT collection to near top of the charts. The Simpsons roasts NFTs in new Halloween episode Animated television series The Simpsons spent an entire segment mocking nonfungible tokens (NFTs) during the latest 34th annual Treehouse of Horror Halloween special, in a segment called “Wild Barts Can’t Be Token.” In the special, Homer accidentally mints Bart on the blockchain, and in the ensuing scenes, the creators poke fun at NFTs, all while referencing collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Doodles, as well as the viral digital artist Beeple. Get ready for a non-fungible night in tomorrow's #TreehouseOfHorror XXXIV on @FOXTV, next day on @hulu. pic.twitter.com/Y4cSiyp4kD — The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) November 4, 2023 The special revolved around poking fun at the speculative nature of NFTs and how the market is largely fueled by FOMO (fe...

The next generation of crypto mining will focus on alternative energy sources for efficiency. During the 2021 bull market, many large mining companies took on massive loans to buy equipment and the proper infrastructure required to mine cryptocurrency. Yet the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and Celsius left many of these companies filing for bankruptcy.  The current bear market, coupled with high Bitcoin network hash rates and low profits, has yet again left the crypto industry wondering if miners will be able to recover from losses. While this remains questionable, it’s become evident that mining companies today are focusing more on alternative energy resources to cut costs, ensure profits and, in some cases, reduce their environmental impact. Alternative energy sources used by miners Steven Lubka, managing director for Bitcoin-focused financial services company Swan Bitcoin, told Cointelegraph that while the average rate to mine a single Bitcoin (BTC) is around $26,000, mining com...

The global crypto market cap is rising despite the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) coming higher than expected and FTX’s liquidation approval. According to a report by CNN, data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the CPI, used to measure inflation in the country, registered a 0.6% hike in August 2023, up by 3.7% from a year earlier. The report notes that a 3.6% incline was expected, but the US Federal Reserve (FED) is unlikely to go for another aggressive rate hike. Another event expected to take the crypto market down was the approval of FTX’s liquidation . The US Delaware District Judge John Dorsey authorized the bankrupt exchange’s plan to liquidate roughly $3.4 billion in digital assets.  You might also like: Hong Kong’s SFC cautions against unregulated crypto trading by JPEX However, to prevent a market-wide bloodbath, the sales limit is set to $100 million per week for FTX’s top crypto holdings. It’s important to note that DWF Labs and Justin Sun are report...

Also Read: Bitcoin Can Quickly Rally To $70000 After Fed Decision, Says BitMEX Arthur Hayes advertisement Gary Gensler Maintains Crypto Tokens As Securities Stance In his testimony, the SEC official maintained that a majority of crypto tokens likely meet the investment contract test, which means they should be treated as securities. Surprisingly, Gensler is continuing to continue the securities law superimposition despite the SEC’s recent loss in the XRP lawsuit, in which the judge denied the agency’s argument that retail sale of tokens are securities transactions. “Given that most crypto tokens are subject to the securities laws, it follows that most crypto intermediaries have to comply with securities laws as well. Given this industry’s wide-ranging non-compliance with the securities laws, it’s not surprising that we’ve seen many problems in these markets.” The US Senate Committee’s full committee hearing on th...

Factors considered to calculate a country’s readiness were the number of crypto ATMs proportional to the population and geographical size and the number of blockchain startups per 100,00 people. While public acceptance remains key to crypto’s existence, the road to mainstream crypto adoption requires governments to set up a supporting infrastructure that complements the requirements of the technology and the people.  Factors such as crypto ATM installations, pro-crypto regulations, startup culture and a fair tax regime signal a country’s readiness to adopt cryptocurrencies. Considering these factors, a Forex Suggest study revealed Hong Kong’s position as the best-prepared country for widespread cryptocurrency adoption, with a crypto-readiness score of 8.6. Despite having a bigger crypto infrastructure than the island nation, the United States and Switzerland made it to the top three with lower crypto-readiness scores of 7.7 and 7.5, respectively, as shown below. The biggest factors co...

Binance Lists Floki (FLOKI) On Monday, April 24, the California-based Binance exchange notified its millions of users about the upcoming Floki listing which would initially be paired with both USD and USDT support. The trading for the token is said to go live tomorrow, April 25, 2023 at 5 a.m. PDT / 8 a.m. EDT. However, according to the announcement, the deposit function for FLOKI tokens are currently enabled for users to fund their crypto accounts. advertisement Read More: Ripple Moving Out Of U.S. After Coinbase CEO Drops Hint? In the wake of this Binance news, the upcoming meme cryptocurrency — which is currently valued at $345 million — rose by nearly 6.1% in the past one hour while registering gains of roughly 25% in the past one hour. At the time of writing, the price of FLOKI is presently exchanging hands at $0.000035. Is A Meme Season Coming? The World’s first licensed Crypto C...

Also Read: PEPE Coin Mimicks Shiba Inu Pattern; Which Memecoin Will Gain Upper Hand? advertisement Speaking about the recent craze around memecoins like the Pepe Coin, Nailwal said the constant demand for memecoins is not a good sign for the industry. This is not a good sign for the Crypto Market in the eyes of investors and regulators. Sandeep Nailwal Disappointed With PEPE Coin Rise Speaking about the recent rise in demand for memecoins, the Polygon cofounder said memecoins don’t help the bigger cause, when asked about PEPE during a Twitter space. He, however, acknowledged that there was no doubt that Bitcoin and Ethereum are the bellwethers of the crypto industry. “Not a good sign for crypto that institutions and investors see the rise of memecoins. Sad that memecoins keep coming and is not a good sign for the market in the eyes of investors and regulators.” Trending Stories Market Corre...

Also Read: Visa Deepens Crypto Payments Presence With Ethereum Account Abstraction advertisement Meanwhile, the crypto community is awaiting the all important Summary Judgement in the Ripple lawsuit, as it could be key to how regulators in the United States look at the Crypto Market . Whether the Hinman documents order would have any bearing on the Summary Judgement remains to be seen. XRP Lawsuit Summary Judgement Close To Completion US attorney Fred Rispoli said sealing motion order on blocking the Bill Hinman documents could have preponed the Summary Judgement date for XRP lawsuit. He said the Judgement is surely and almost ready to go if not fully ready to go, going by the ruling. “It is very much any day right now. The main takeaway from the ruling with the motion to seal is that the Summary Judgement ruling is (already) written. Is it 100% written or 98% written is the question.” Recommended Articles ...