It’s as reliable as the changing of the seasons: Another year, another Earth Day and another misguided missive about the outrageous energy consumption of the cryptocurrency space. Last week, the New York Times published a piece that sought to remind readers of the “astonishing environmental costs” of cryptocurrency mining. It was a prime example of what’s quickly becoming an editorial subgenre, including references to dubious research — claiming that Bitcoin (BTC) mining alone will push global warming above Paris Agreement levels — and a baffling misspelling of Ethereum. For those who believe in the transformative power and potential of blockchain, …

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) was struggling to stay above $56,000 on April 20, which whale clusters pinpointed as a crucial short-term price level. Yet, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) has continued to fall in recent weeks, dropping to its lowest point in seven weeks to 90.85. Why is this a concerning trend? Alternative stores of value in the likes of Bitcoin and gold are priced against the U.S. dollar. Hence, when the dollar drops, the value of Bitcoin should theoretically increase, as BTC trades against the dollar. In recent days, however, Bitcoin has performed poorly following the highly anticipated …

Bitcoin (BTC) transaction fees measured in United States dollars are near 2017 levels amid a massive hash rate drop on the Bitcoin network. According to data from several Bitcoin monitoring resources, the average BTC transaction fee in U.S. dollars is near the all-time high recorded back in 2017. According to data from blockchain explorer Blockchair, the average cost of a Bitcoin transaction surged Tuesday to $58, approaching its all-time high of above $62 recorded in December 2017. Popular Bitcoin monitoring source BitInfoCharts suggests that current BTC fees have already broken the record of $54 in 2017 at $58 on Tuesday. …

Facebook-backed digital currency project Diem could launch its first stablecoin in 2021 as a small-scale pilot, according to an anonymous source. Cited in a CNBC report published on Tuesday, the source claimed that the Switzerland-based nonprofit The Diem Association is still intending to launch its pilot for a United States dollar-backed stablecoin later this year. Back in November 2020, the association had already announced its plans for a limited launch of a U.S.-dollar stablecoin in January, yet as the months have since passed, the currency is yet to see the light of day. Diem’s stablecoin is a significantly scaled-back and …

China’s central bank is looking to enable foreign athletes and visitors to use the country’s digital currency during the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, according to a top central bank official. Li Bo, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said that the upcoming Winter Olympics could potentially become the first test of China’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC, by foreign users. “For the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, we were trying to make e-CNY available not only to domestic users, but also to international athletes and like visitors,” Li said Sunday at a CNBC panel at the Boao …

Banking giant Citigroup has successfully completed a proof-of-concept for blockchain-based cross-border payments in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank, or IADB. According to a Thursday announcement, Citigroup’s Citi Innovation Labs and the IADB enabled several disbursements from the United States to a recipient in the Dominican Republic, using the LACChain blockchain network — a proprietary effort by IADB’s regional program LACChain. As part of the project, the IADB deposited tokenized funds denominated in U.S. dollars in a Citi account and transferred the funds using digital wallets, IADB’s blockchain specialist and LACChain technical leader Marcos Allende explained. “After tokenized, these funds …

PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist, Peter Thiel, has warned that the Chinese central government may be supporting Bitcoin as a means to undermine the foreign and monetary policy of the United States. But, he added, it has tried to use the Euro the same way. Speaking at a virtual event hosted by conservative non-profit, the Richard Nixon Foundation, Thiel was commenting on whether China’s central bank-issued digital currency, or CBDC, could threaten the U.S. dollar’s status as a global reserve currency. While Thiel, who is known to be pro-Bitcoin, suggested an “internal stablecoin in China” will amount to little more …

The U.S. dollar is starting to weaken once again as sellers are pushing the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) downward, which could strengthen the momentum of Bitcoin (BTC) in the near term. Alternative assets like Bitcoin and gold are priced against the dollar. Hence, when the DXY starts to drop, it often causes BTC to rally against the dollar. Dollar's share of global reserves is dropping fast According to Holger Zschaepitz, a market analyst at Welt, the U.S. dollar's share of global reserves is rapidly declining as countries like Russia are pursuing a de-dollarization strategy and opting for gold. When the …

Tether Holdings Limited, a company behind the world’s largest stablecoin Tether (USDT), has released an assurance opinion to confirm that Tether tokens are fully backed by its reserves. In a statement shared on Twitter Tuesday, Tether provided the company’s Consolidated Reserves Report, or CRR, accompanied by an assurance report from accounting network Moore Cayman. Signed on March 26, the accountant’s report intends to prove the accuracy of Tether’s CRR compiled on Feb. 28. “In our opinion, the CRR as prepared by the management of Tether Holdings Limited Group as of February 2021 at 11:59 PM UTC is presented in accordance …

Brian Brooks, former acting comptroller of the currency of the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has claimed that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) have some backing, while the U.S. dollar may not have any. Brooks gave his remarks in a CNBC Squawk Box interview with Joseph Kernen to unpack recent Bitcoin-related remarks by the U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Earlier this week, Powell argued that cryptos like Bitcoin are “essentially a substitute for gold” but at the same time they are “not backed by anything.” CNBC host Kernen pointed out that gold has historically been seen …

Throughout the middle of March, many Americans received stimulus checks from the government, and while the payments — $1,400 for every U.S. citizen earning less than $80,000 annually — will be a blessing for millions in desperate economic straits as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, it has raised again the specter of inflation. And as with many other things, this too has a Bitcoin (BTC) angle. On March 15, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz proposed on NBC’s Squawk Box a new role for Bitcoin in light of recent stimulus measures — as “a report card for how citizens think …

Bitcoin (BTC) challenged levels within 10% of all-time highs on March 10 as strength in the U.S. dollar failed to dent the bullish trend. $56,000 resistance is next BTC price hurdle Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView tracked a comeback from an overnight correction for BTC/USD on March 10, with the pair targeting $55,000. After hitting two-week highs of $54,500 the previous day, Bitcoin improved on its performance to hit $55,700 before encountering a strong band of resistance and heading lower. The latest resurgence underscores new-found strength in the largest cryptocurrency this month, something that continues to take it to …