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WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator on Wednesday approved the first U.S.-listed exchange traded funds (ETFs) to track bitcoin, its Chair Gary Gensler said, in a watershed for the world's largest cryptocurrency and the broader crypto industry. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 applications, including from BlackRock (BLK.N), Ark Investments/21Shares (ABTC.S), Fidelity, Invesco (IVZ.N) and VanEck, among others, according to a notice on its website. Some products are expected to begin trading as early as Thursday, kicking off a fierce competition for market share.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a crypto licensing bill on Friday, set to take effect in July 2025. Considered California's answer to New York's "BitLicense," the Digital Financial Assets Law faced heavy industry criticism but was passed by the U.S. state's Assembly in September 2022. The law requires California's Department of Financial Protection (DFPI) and Innovation to create a regulatory framework for crypto. The framework includes a licensing regime and gives the department enforcement and rulemaking authority over the sector. The DFPI also gets an 18-month implementation period to ensure "the adopted regulatory framework can be thoughtfully tailored to address...

French Emperor Napoleon III would use a unique set of aluminum cutlery only for his most honored dinner guests.Normal guests had to contend with gold utensils.In the middle of the 19th century, aluminum was more scarce and desirable than even gold.As a result, aluminum bullion bars found a place among the national treasures of France, and aluminum jewelry became a symbol of the French aristocracy.Aluminum, known by its atomic number 13 on the periodic table, is a ubiquitous element, yet it mainly exists intertwined in complex chemical compounds and not in its metallic state.The complex procedure of transforming aluminum compounds...

MEXICO CITY — In Peru, there is talk of building a monument in his honor. In Honduras and Ecuador, leaders have copied his draconian security policies, his tough-on-crime rhetoric — and even his fashion choices. In Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia and Guatemala, citizens have taken to the streets calling on their own governments to embrace his extreme strategies for combating violence. The brash young autocrat has won legions of fans throughout the region for a sweeping crackdown on gangs that has dramatically lowered violent crime. That his “mano dura” policies draw scorn from human rights and democracy advocates seems to...

The original idea of the “independent” administrative agencies was to place the details of governing a complex economy in the hands of wise experts. These experts would be removed from tawdry and corrupting political influences, and would straightforwardly apply neutral principles to achieve fairness and justice in our society. In the real world, every federal administrative agency, with especial emphasis on the supposedly “independent” ones, becomes larger, more power-hungry, and more corrupt with every passing year. Somehow, it’s in the nature of the job as federal bureaucrat to believe that you can perfect the world by seizing ever more power...

“We encourage it, we advance it. But I would say we provide the platform … for those involved in Bitcoin to make sure they have a place to come to.” The above words spoken by Texas Governor Greg Abbott are a clear reminder of the sheer power hidden within the varying components of Bitcoin that allow the system to organically steer a state or nation into a realm of independence and ethical, fiduciary responsibilities for its citizenry. Combining the American spirit of the "shot heard round the world" in 1775 and "Remember The Alamo" in 1836, Texas has an opportunity...

I am posting the current chart - $26,118 as I write this. Every time I think Bitcoin is almost dead, something crazy like this happens. Full Disclosure - I have never owned Bitcoin, and I have never encouraged anyone to buy it.

Bitcoin's conceptual design and technological shortcomings make it questionable as a means of payment: real Bitcoin transactions are cumbersome, slow and expensive. Bitcoin has never been used to any significant extent for legal real-world transactions. Bitcoin is also not suitable as an investment. It does not generate cash flow (like real estate) or dividends (like equities), cannot be used productively (like commodities) or provide social benefits (like gold). The market valuation of Bitcoin is therefore based purely on speculation. Speculative bubbles rely on new money flowing in. Bitcoin has also repeatedly benefited from waves of new investors. The manipulations by...

More than 80,000 Bitcoin (BTC) investors have had their millionaire status revoked due to the crypto market downturn. Back on Nov. 12, just days after Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of around $69,000, a total of 108,886 BTC addresses reported a balance greater than $1 million, according to data from BitInfoCharts. Fast forward to the present day, with the price of Bitcoin struggling to hold above $20,000, a mere 26,284 addresses are reported to contain holdings valued at upward of $1 million, meaning that the number of paper millionaires has declined by more than 75% throughout the last nine...

The price of bitcoin fell 9% in 24 hours to $19,217 according to Coin Metrics data...Crypto investors are grappling with aggressive interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve and a worsening liquidity crunch. [Half an hour ago, BTC was at $19,040]

Bitcoin price continued its selloff as part of broader declines in cryptocurrencies after a sharp rise in US inflation triggered risk-off sentiment. The world’s largest digital token tumbled as much as 7% to $25,366, at 18-month low. The most popular crypto is down more than 43% so far this year (YTD), and is trading far below its record high of $69,000 it had hit in November last year.

Fort Worth, Texas, is now the first city government in the United States to mine bitcoin — and in an almost poetic devotion to the initiative, Mayor Mattie Parker oversaw the construction of a small mining farm in City Hall. Three Bitmain Antminer S9 mining rigs will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the climate-controlled information technology wing of Fort Worth City Hall. The city says the miners will be hosted on a private network to minimize the security risk. Bitcoin operates on a proof-of-work mining model, meaning that miners around the world run high-powered computers...

Some countries declare Bitcoin to be official legal tender while others announce outright bans on cryptocurrency. The world map below, created by Statista's Katharina Buchholz - based on data collected by the Law Library of the U.S. Congress - shows where countries have been trying to stop the cryptocurrency hype and where crypto has been given more or less free reign.You will find more infographics at StatistaOne example of a country embracing cryptocurrency is El Salvador, where Bitcoin was declared an official currency in September of 2021 by populist president Nayib Bukele. The country also taxes and otherwise regulates cryptocurrency....

Blog/Cryptocurrency Posted Mar 8, 2022 by Martin Armstrong Spread the love more I warned ion the private blog that cryptocurrencies may end up being suspended. The excuse will be Russia and the news is out now that Biden will sign an Executive Order to regulate cryptos because Russia can use it to circumvent sanctions. Not only is Biden authorizing the regulation of digital currencies, but he is also instructing to move forward with a central bank cryptocurrency. Once that is done, all other cryptocurrencies will be seized and folded into the government’s crypto. There will be no competition. Money historically...

Credit card companies Visa and Mastercard announced today that they will be suspending operations in Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. This will have a strong impact on the Russian economy, though mostly affecting private citizens and businesses rather than the government. Here’s the press release from Visa: SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mar. 5, 2022– Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) today announced it is suspending its Russia operations. Effective immediately, Visa will work with its clients and partners within Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days. Once complete, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work...

Financial services companies Visa and Mastercard announced Saturday they are suspending business in Russia in response to the country’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. "Effective immediately, Visa will work with its clients and partners within Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days," Visa said in a press release. "Once complete, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and any Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation." Al Kelly, chairman and chief executive officer of Visa Inc., said in the...

To say I've been skeptical about Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto universe would be an understatement of epic proportions. I could see the fundamental promise of a digital currency free of banks if you were living in a failing state like Venezuela or an overtly authoritarian one like China or Iran, but how was this relevant to the vast number of Bitcoin boosters living in stable Western democracies governed by the rule of law? Enter the trucker protests in Canada. In just three weeks of honking, blocked streets and bridges, bouncy castles and flag waving, this peaceful protest...

*** The banking giant said Bitcoin is nearing a “hyper-adoption phase” similar to the internet in the mid-to-late 1990 *** It is not too late to invest in bitcoin, said multinational financial services giant Wells Fargo in a Monday report, drawing parallels between the adoption rates of the internet in the 1990s and that of cryptocurrencies today. Wells Fargo’s global investment strategy team explained in the report that Bitcoin’s over 200% annualized gains since its first transaction in 2010 often lead some investors to think that it may be too late to join the party. However, the big bank disagrees....

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, is reportedly planning to offer a bitcoin trading service to its investor clients, three people familiar with the matter told CoinDesk. BlackRock entering the Bitcoin space by offering investment products to its clients could represent a watershed moment to the digital currency given that the New York-based firm manages over $10 trillion in assets for institutional investors. One of the people reportedly said the asset manager would let its clients get access to loans by putting up cryptocurrency as collateral with “client support trading and then with their own credit facility.” BlackRock’s over 1,500...

The Biden administration is preparing to release an executive action that will task federal agencies with regulating digital assets such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a matter of national security, a person familiar with the White House’s plan tells Barron’s.The national security memorandum, expected to come in the next few weeks, would task parts of the government with analyzing digital assets and assembling a regulatory framework that covers cryptos, stablecoins, and NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, this person...