BITCOIN

Cryptocurrency may be bad for investors but it can be useful in international settlements, according to a top government official in Moscow. Russian authorities intend to set up a special committee that would issue permits to operators employing crypto in foreign trade transactions, he indicated. Russia Plans to ‘Experiment’ With Cross-Border Crypto Payments Amid Sanctions Crypto assets can be used in certain scenarios, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev commented during an economic forum in Moscow. Speaking at the “Banks. Transformation. Economy. 2.0” conference, he was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying: Of course, crypto is generally evil. I believe that people who invest their savings there take a very big risk … But there may be individual situations in which crypto can be used. Moiseev made it clear he was referring to Russian foreign trade activities, which are currently restricted by Western sanctions. He also reminded that a draft law designed

BRICS nations can lead efforts to abandon the U.S. dollar in international settlements, according to President Bashar Assad of Syria. At a meeting with China’s top diplomat for the region, the leader of the war-torn Middle Eastern country called for using the Chinese yuan for cross-border trade. Economic Clash With West Requires Discarding Dollar, BRICS Leadership, Syrian President Says Confrontation with the United States and the West in general has been taking place mainly in the economic field and that makes it increasingly necessary to ditch the U.S. dollar as a currency for global transactions, President Bashar Assad of Syria was quoted as saying by Sana, the Syrian state-controlled news agency. Assad emphasized that the BRICS bloc, through the adoption of the Chinese yuan for trade transactions between nations, can play a leading role in that regard. He made the comments during a meeting with the Chinese government’s Special Envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, whom he recei

After the most recent increase in the federal funds rate, the U.S. Federal Reserve is set to raise the lending rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 5.25% in three days, according to expectations. A recent poll of 105 economists revealed that 94 of them predict a 25bps rate hike will occur during the May 2-3 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. While economists are anticipating a rate hike in May, they anticipate that it will be the final one in 2023. The majority of polled economists believe that the Fed will maintain the rate at 5.25% for the remainder of the year. Report Says Next Phase of the Tightening Cycle Is Holding Benchmark Rate at Current Levels Several reports and surveys indicate that market observers believe the U.S. central bank will increase the benchmark interest rate by 25bps at the FOMC meeting this week. The FOMC meeting is scheduled to take place on May 2-3 and according to the CME Group Fedwatch tool, 83.9% suspect a 25bps rate hike will come to fruition.

At 11:06 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) on April 29, 2023, at block height 787,500, the number of blocks left to discover until the next Bitcoin blockchain halving is now fewer than 52,500 blocks. This means the network has progressed 75% through the 210,000-block halving cycle, which will ultimately result in a reduction of the block reward from 6.25 bitcoins per block to 3.125 bitcoins per block. Bitcoin Halving Countdown: Fewer Than 52,500 Blocks Left to Discover On Saturday morning (ET), the Bitcoin network progressed 75% of the way toward the next block reward halving, with fewer than 52,500 blocks left to discover until the event occurs. This milestone marks another step in the ongoing evolution of the Bitcoin network as it progresses toward its eventual maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins. The Bitcoin blockchain halves its block reward every 210,000 blocks, which occurs roughly every four years. ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░ 75% 365 days and 52503 blocks left $29385 per #bitcoin — Progress

U.S. Senator Rand Paul has warned that the U.S. dollar could lose its status as a global reserve currency. “For a variety of reasons, both foreign policy as well as fiscal irresponsibility, yes, the dollar is in a precarious position,” said the lawmaker. Senator Rand Paul on U.S. Dollar Losing Reserve Currency Status U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) shared his concerns about the growing de-dollarization trend and the USD losing its global reserve currency status in an interview with Fox Business Thursday. He was asked: “Is king dollar going to be tossed off of its throne because of bad fiscal and monetary policies? Is it going to lose its world reserve status in your judgment?” The senator from Kentucky replied: I am concerned about it. “I think our foreign policy has something to do with that … We’ve pushed all of our adversaries farther and farther away from us and closer and closer together. It’s not just Russia and China being pushed together by foreign policy and obviously, s

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio has warned that the U.S. and China are “on the brink of war” and “are beyond the ability to talk.” The billionaire added that their relations “are getting so bad” that U.S.-China trade could collapse. He cautioned that the next 18 months “will be a very risky period.” U.S. and China on the Brink of War, Says Dalio Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s largest asset manager, Bridgewater Associates, warned in a Linkedin post, published Wednesday, that the U.S. and China are on the brink of war. The billionaire, who has visited China for almost 40 years and has built close friendships there, shared his perspectives from his recent 13-day trips to China, as well as from meetings with Chinese citizens, experts on China residing outside the country, and policymakers in other countries, including the U.S. Regarding U.S.-China relations, Dalio stressed: The United States and China are on the brink of war and are beyond the ability to talk. He no

Scottish-Salvadoran driver Sebastian Melrose has made his debut in the Porsche Carrera Cup racing championship. The 25-year-old, who took part in a popular Netflix TV series last year, drives a Bitcoin-branded 911 that features the flag of crypto-friendly El Salvador on its rooftop. Bitcoin Racing Team Joins Porsche Carrera Cup With Netflix Celebrity in the Car British racing team Bitcoin Racing has joined the Porsche Carrera Cup together with Richardson Racing, not only to win prizes in one of the U.K.’s biggest racing championships but also to promote crypto. The tandem hired a newcomer to the series, Scottish-Salvadoran driver Sebastian Melrose, who debuted last weekend at the Donington Park circuit. Melrose, who owes a great deal of his fame to his participation in the “Too Hot to Handle” dating game show on Netflix, sat behind the wheel of a “Bitcoin Porsche,” a 500-horsepower 911 GT3 that is sporting the bitcoin logo on its door panels, and on its roof, the flag of El Salvado

The economy minister of Argentina, Sergio Massa, announced that starting this month, payments for imports coming from China will be settled using the Chinese yuan. The agreement, which will allow the country to safeguard its dwindling dollar reserves, involves the disbursement of more than $1 billion in April. Argentina to Settle Bilateral Transactions With China in Chinese Yuan Argentina, one of the big three economies in Latin America, will use the Chinese yuan to pay for certain imports. According to statements from Argentine Economy Minister Sergio Massa, the country will begin settling payments for Chinese imports using the Chinese yuan, in the context of saving the scarce dollars that the country still has left. The agreement is perceived by analysts as a positive pact for the nations, as China deepens the penetration and usage of the Chinese yuan in Latam, and Argentina manages to leverage $5 billion of the “swap” reserve that was approved between Argentine President Alfred

A federal judge in Brazil has ordered the temporary suspension of Telegram in the country and established hefty fines due to the supposed lack of collaboration of the company in a national crusade against school violence. Telegram failed to deliver information regarding the actions it is taking against neo-Nazi groups, and now it has been blocked by most internet providers in Brazil. Brazil Blocks Access to Telegram Apps A federal judge ordered a nationwide ban on Telegram, the popular messaging app, on April 26, due to its perceived lack of collaboration in a push against school violence. The company behind the app failed to turn over documents regarding the existence of neo-Nazi groups and the measures it is taking against them on Telegram, according to reports from the local journal O’Globo. In addition, the Brazilian justice system is also fining Telegram for this lack of collaboration to the tune of 1 million Brazilian reals (approx $200,000) for each day that passes without

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has slammed the actions of the elites in the U.S. and Europe, stating that they do not always act in the best interest of their own people. “It will backfire on them,” he said. Putin also called for a cohesive response to the West’s economic aggression, emphasizing that Russia will strengthen its partnerships with friendly nations and collaborate with foreign partners. Putin Plans to Expand Partnerships With Friendly Countries Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed policies in the U.S. and Europe while calling for a cohesive response to the West’s economic aggression at a meeting with the Council of Legislators on Friday, Russian news outlet Tass reported. “We are not going to isolate ourselves. On the contrary, we will expand pragmatic, equitable, mutually beneficial relations that are nothing less than partnerships with friendly countries in Eurasia, Africa, Latin America,” Putin said, adding: In the United States, by the way, we have a lot

Micheal Saylor, the founder of Microstrategy, has told people living in inflation-stricken Argentina that they now “need bitcoin.” While many bitcoiners have welcomed Saylor’s suggestion, a few critics have said the top crypto asset’s volatility makes it an unsuitable alternative for the faltering local currency. The Dollarization Option As the Argentinian currency — the peso — continued with the slide that has seen it depreciate by more than 40% over the past twelve months, Micheal Saylor, the founder of Microstrategy, has chimed in by tweeting that people living in the South American country now “need bitcoin.” In a subsequent tweet , Saylor, a bitcoin critic turned advocate, also shared news about the South American country’s inflation rate after it topped 7.58% per day. If you live in Argentina🇦🇷 right now, you need #bitcoin . — Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) April 22, 2023 The tweets by Saylor, whose firm is one of the largest corporate holders of BTC , came as reports sug

Donald Trump has warned that the U.S. dollar is crashing and soon will “no longer be the world standard.” The former president of the United States further warned that “we are very close” to a third world war happening. “Joe Biden has led us to the very brink of World War III,” he stressed. Trump on Inflation, Dollar Crashing, World War III Donald Trump released a video Tuesday following Joe Biden’s announcement that he is running for the president of the United States in 2024. The former U.S. president began by outlining the damage to the U.S. economy caused by Biden in a few short years, including his “spending calamity.” Trump described: American families are being decimated by the worst inflation in half a century. Banks are failing, our currency is crashing, and the dollar will soon no longer be the world standard, which will be our greatest defeat in over 200 years. “Joe Biden has led us to the very brink of World War III,” Trump continued. However, he clarified: “I’m not

PRESS RELEASE. Web3 game company Iskra unveils the release of its own launchpad for games, the Iskra Launchpad , with World of Win set to be the first project to conduct its initial game offering (IGO) on the platform. The release of the Iskra Launchpad comes right after Iskra dominated the number one spot on DappRadar’s blockchain games dapp rankings for all periods – 24 hours, 7 days, and 30 days – with 669.27k UAW as of writing and cited as one of the best-performing games dapp for March 2023. The Iskra Launchpad is a platform that allows game companies working with Iskra to promote their tokens to the Iskra community via IGO before its official listing on an exchange. Through the Iskra Launchpad, the Iskra community will have the opportunity to discover visionary games at an early stage and purchase tokens at its offering price. While tokens purchased on the Iskra Launchpad during an IGO are locked and subject to a vesting and distribution schedule, every IGO token has a

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has expressed support for the creation of a BRICS currency. His statement of support comes as the BRICS bloc is gaining global influence, with 19 countries seeking to join the group. Brazilian President Lula Supports BRICS Currency Creation Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reiterated Wednesday that he supported creating a currency for trading between BRICS countries, Reuters reported. The BRICS nations comprise Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. In a speech during a trip to Spain, he said without providing further details: I am in favor of creating, within the BRICS, a trading currency between our countries, just like the Europeans created the euro. Lula’s support for the creation of a BRICS currency followed his statement urging developing countries to stop using the U.S. dollar and adopt local currencies instead. The Brazilian president said on April 13 during his visit to the New Development Bank in Sh

A top Russian official has urged all countries to make efforts to ensure that the “threat of global confrontation, of a hot, full-scale World War III” does not materialize. “World tensions are white-hot indeed,” he warned. Russian Official: Full-Scale World War III Should Not Materialize The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, urged all countries to make efforts to avoid the outbreak of a new, full-scale global conflict Tuesday while addressing participants in the Znanie (Knowledge) educational marathon. “I cannot say what the last straw, what the trigger may be. But it may happen at some point,” he was quoted by Russian news outlet Tass as saying. The official emphasized: We all need to work to ensure that this threat of global confrontation, of a hot, full-scale World War III should not materialize. Commenting on the current conflict between Russia and Western countries, he stressed that Russia has no desire to see a war break out. However, he said

PRESS RELEASE. Victoria, Seychelles, April 26th, 2023 — Bitget , top crypto derivatives and copy trading platform, has announced the addition of Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs) as a margin option for Bitget Coin-margined Futures, making it the first centralized exchange to provide such products on the market. This new feature will allow traders to continue earning staking rewards while also utilizing their staked assets for trading purposes. Bitget Coin-margined Futures is a unique product designed for crypto-enthusiasts, supporting multiple currencies as a margin for various futures trading pairs. With the introduction of LSDs as collateral, traders can now access the liquidity of staked assets without having to unstake them. Currently, Bitget supports stETH as collateral for the first rollout, and plans to expand support for more assets for LSDs collateral in the future. Using LSDs as a margin offers a range of benefits for cryptocurrency traders. It provides increased flexib

Fabio Panetta, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank (ECB), announced the digital euro project was entering its final phase. Before the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament, Panetta stated that the digital euro, if approved, would be focused on making payments easier for Europeans. ECB’s Panetta Explains Digital Euro Payment Focus Fabio Panetta, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, announced that the digital euro project, an initiative that seeks to digitize Europe’s fiat currency, was reaching its final stages of research, and stated that one of the first goals of the project is to establish it as a universal payment method. In an introductory statement given on April 24 before the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament, Panetta explained that there was no single digital means of payment across the European Union. Panetta stated : We have been investigating the technic

Javier Milei, a presidential candidate for the next election in Argentina, has presented a dollarization plan to fix the economy of the country if elected. The proposal, which has supporters and detractors, would aim to solve the historic devaluation of the Argentine peso and the 100%+ interannual inflation that Argentina registered in March. Dollarization Surges as Option to ‘Fix’ Argentine Economy Argentine economists and the population are debating dollarization as a possible solution to the devaluation and inflation problems the country is currently facing. The proposal, presented by Javier Milei, one of the strongest contenders in the next October presidential election according to several polls, includes the abandonment of the Argentine peso as a fiat currency, and the conversion of all deposits and reserves of the central and private banks to U.S. dollars. According to Milei, this would be one of the more feasible solutions to the myriad problems the national economy is fac

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde has warned that the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status “should no longer be taken for granted.” Acknowledging de-dollarization efforts by various countries, she stressed: “New trade patterns may have ramifications for payments and international currency reserves.” ECB’s Christine Lagarde on De-Dollarization and Alternative Currencies The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, shared her thoughts on the de-dollarization trend happening across the globe in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations last week. Noting that the U.S. dollar has become “the international, the global reserve, and the transaction currency” with the euro in second place, she warned that “new trade patterns may have ramifications for payments and international currency reserves.” The ECB president continued: “In recent decades, China has already increased over 130-fold its bilateral trade in goods with emerging market

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that the U.S. defaulting on its debt obligations could lead to a global financial meltdown. “If Congress keeps flirting with default, calls for dethroning the dollar as the world’s reserve currency will grow much louder,” she stressed. Hillary Clinton on U.S. Debt Default and Dollar Losing World’s Reserve Currency Status Hillary Clinton, a former first lady and the U.S. Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, warned in an opinion piece, published by the New York Times Monday, about the disastrous outcomes that could result from the U.S. defaulting on its debt obligations, including the risk of the dollar losing its status as the world’s reserve currency. “The debt ceiling debate is not about authorizing new spending. It’s about Congress paying debts it has already incurred. Refusing to pay would be like skipping out on your mortgage, except with global consequences,” Clinton described, warning: Because of the central role of

Indonesia is following the BRICS’ lead in de-dollarization and shifting away from the U.S. dollar in trade settlements and financial transactions, according to the country’s central bank governor. The BRICS nations are working on creating a common currency to reduce their USD reliance. Indonesia’s De-Dollarization Efforts Bank of Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said Friday that Jakarta is following the lead of the BRICS bloc to shift away from using the U.S. dollar in trade and financial transactions, Sindonews reported Friday. The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have been ramping up de-dollarization efforts to use local currencies in international trade and reduce their dependence on the USD. They are also working on establishing a new currency . Speaking at a press conference following this month’s board of governors meeting, the central bank chief confirmed that Indonesia has implemented the local currency trade (LCT) system. He was quoted as sayi