United States Representative and crypto-friendly lawmaker Patrick McHenry has been appointed as interim House Speaker after the high-profile ousting of U.S. House speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy’s ousting came after a 216-210 vote by Congress, with eight of the 216 votes coming from McCarthy’s fellow Republicans, marking the first time a House Speaker has been removed…
Read more
Argentinian presidential candidate Sergio Massa has pledged to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) if elected to “solve” Argentina’s long-lasting inflation crisis. “I am clear that inflation is a huge problem in Argentina,” the country’s second-leading candidate said in an Oct. 2 presidential debate, before outlining how he plans to “solve” the country’s ravaging…
Read more
Recent crypto advancements in Hong Kong could provide a “potential tailwind” to lift crypto activity in the East Asian region, which has mainly suffered from a China-wide ban on trading activities since 2019. Cryptocurrency value received in East Asia amounted to just 8.8% of the world between July 2022 and June 2023, according to an…
Read more
Investment manager VanEck has fired up the marketing engine for its “upcoming” Ethereum futures exchange-traded fund (ETF), which some analysts expect could be launched as early as Oct. 2. On Sept. 28, VanEck released the two “Enter the Ether” themed TV commercials, revealing that its Ethereum Strategy ETF — tickered EFUT — is “coming soon.”…
Read more
The United States securities regulator has delayed the decision on several spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposals, including BlackRock, ahead of an anticipated government shutdown. Invesco, Bitwise and Valkyrie are the other three firms that were hit with delays by the Securities Exchange Commission in separate Sept. 28 filings. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart is also expecting…
Read more
Blamed for “kneecapping” the U.S. capital markets and slammed for dodging questions around Bitcoin and Pokemon cards, Gary Gensler appears to have had one hell of a grilling from Congress this week. On Sept. 27, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission chief again found himself in front of lawmakers in a scheduled hearing to…
Read more
Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital has confirmed it mined an invalid Bitcoin (BTC) block during an “experiment” aimed at optimizing the firm’s operations. In a Sept. 27 post, Marathon said it utilizes a small percentage of the firm’s hashrate toward these experiments and stressed they weren’t trying to alter the network in any way: “In no…
Read more
Despite concerns that Bitcoin Ordinals are clogging the network, there is little evidence to suggest inscriptions are taking blockspace away from higher-value Bitcoin (BTC) monetary transfers. “There is minimal evidence that inscriptions are displacing monetary transfers,” on-chain analytics firm Glassnode explained in a Sept. 25 report. The firm explained that this is likely because inscription users tend…
Read more
The co-founder of AirBit Club — a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme that swindled investors of over $100 million — has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in a $100 million “pyramid scheme” that purported to be involved in crypto mining. The sentencing comes nearly seven months after Rodriguez — the co-founder of…
Read more
The customers of bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform BlockFi are one step closer to being paid out after a United States Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey approved its liquidation plan. Bankruptcy Judge Michael A. Kaplan approved BlockFi’s third amended Chapter 11 plan in a Sept. 26 court hearing, a filing on the same day shows. Sept.…
Read more