Strike App Won’t Support Bitcoin in Argentina

One Argentinian user, Nicolás, told CoinDesk that the app can receive bitcoin payments but immediately converts the cryptocurrency to USDT. He said that the Strike wallet only holds USDT. Another Strike user in Argentina, Adam, tweeted that the app was “a disappointment,” describing the app as a custodial wallet that works only with tether under the ERC-20 standard. Source

British Lawmakers Say a CBDC Is Likely to Hurt Financial Stability — Digital Pound Benefits Overstated – Fintech Bitcoin News

According to British lawmakers, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is likely to raise the cost of borrowing while hurting financial stability. They insist the touted potential advantages of a digital pound are being overstated. Erosion of Privacy British lawmakers have said the use of a central bank digital currency when making regular payments could potentially hurt financial stability and raise the cost of borrowing, a report has said. In addition, they insist the increasing use of the CBDC could also enable the central bank to monitor spending and therefore…

Crypto Job Postings Jumped 395% in 2021: LinkedIn

Postings with titles containing terms such as “bitcoin,” “ethereum,” “blockchain” and “cryptocurrency” grew 395% in the U.S. from 2020 to 2021, according to the study. That was significantly higher than the 95% increase in job listings in the broader tech industry over the same time period. Source

Bitfinex advises Ontario-based users to close accounts before March 1

In a Friday announcement, Bitfinex said it would be immediately closing the accounts for Ontario-based customers who have no balances on the platform. In addition, it planned to restrict access to those who do not have open positions in the exchange’s peer-to-peer financing market or open margin positions. Users who have balances or open positions on Bitfinex and are one of the roughly 15 million residents of Ontario — which includes Toronto and the nation’s capital city of Ottawa — “will no longer have access to any services” starting on…

IOTA Chosen By European Union To Develop Blockchain Solutions

IOTA was selected as one of the projects that will take part in the European Union Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement. The platform will be competing with four projects in a second round for this EU program for a chance at improving the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). Related Reading | IOTA Smart Contracts Enter Beta Phase To Circumvent Network Flaws Announced by the IOTA Foundation (IF), the network has reached stage two out of three after it was selected from around 35 applicants. This second phase will last around six months,…

Stacks ecosystem becomes #1 Web3 project on Bitcoin

On the first anniversary of the launch of Stacks blockchain (STX), which seeks to make Bitcoin (BTC) programmable, the network achieved over 350 million monthly API requests, 40,000 Hiro (development tool for Stacks to build applications on Bitcoin) wallet downloads, and 2,500 Clarity smart contracts. According to a report by Electric Capital, a venture capital firm focused on cryptocurrencies and fintech, these statistics make Stacks the largest project on Bitcoin. More than 11,000 users earned more than 100 BTC rewards per month on Stacks due to its unique proof-of-transfer, or…

Dogecoin leaps 25% after Musk announces DOGE payments for Tesla merch

Dogecoin (DOGE) prices rose substantially on Jan. 14 as Elon Musk announced that Tesla would start accepting it as payment for merchandise.  Tesla merch buyable with Dogecoin — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 14, 2022 After the announcement, DOGE price jumped nearly 13%, hitting a 30-day high of $0.2150. Its upside move came as a part of a larger intraday rally that already was taking place before Musk’s Dogecoin tweet went viral. The DOGE price went up by over 25% on Jan. 14 before correcting lower to $0.1986 on profit-taking. DOGE/USD hourly price…

Polymarket’s New Airdrop Futures Market Has Answers

“‘Wen token?’ is one of the most asked questions in crypto,” Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan told CoinDesk. “What’s great about the Airdrop Futures is that it can combat asymmetric information. You can see the probabilities according to an actual free market. It’s a really powerful idea.” Source

Disney, Second Life and K-pop

Following the announcement that Facebook’s parent company would be rebranding in a shift towards the Metaverse, many projects have started similar initiatives entering the virtual space, from buying property to testing the limits of what this universe has to offer.  Visit Disneyland… in the Metaverse? The entertainment company behind some of the most popular theme parks in the world recently had a patent approved for a “virtual-world simulator in a real-world venue.” Though the Los Angeles Times reported that Disney had “no current plans” to use the simulator in the…

Coinbase Acquires Futures Exchange Amid Plans To Offer Crypto Derivatives to US Customers

Crypto exchange giant Coinbase is announcing a new acquisition that will allow it to expand its product range into crypto derivatives. Coinbase says it has acquired FairX, a futures exchange that is regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The cryptocurrency exchange says it will initially offer crypto derivatives to US customers through the new acquisition before offering them on its main Coinbase platform. “Through this acquisition, we plan to bring regulated crypto derivatives to market, initially through FairX’s existing partner ecosystem. Over time, we plan to leverage FairX’s…