Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, have faced unfair pushback from U.S. regulators, according to VanEck director and digital asset specialist Gabor Gurbacs. "There's a persistent double standard against Bitcoin and digital assets, which I think is wrong," Gurbacs told host Max Keiser on a recent episode of the Keiser Report. Bitcoin ETF denials by the bushel In its simplest form, a Bitcoin ETF is a financial product traded officially on mainstream stock markets, with shares representing exposure to Bitcoin's price. A Bitcoin ETF might be cash-backed or BTC-backed, depending on the product. This avenue essentially allows folks Bitcoin investment …

Even in light of recent riots, protests, and uncertainties, mainstream U.S. financial markets show upward prices due to overarching forces, according to Morgan Creek Digital co-founder, Anthony Pompliano. "Yes there are protests, there are all these things, but the bigger force is the fact that now all these businesses are opening up," Pompliano said in a June 2 episode of "Lunch Money" on his YouTube channel. "There's going to be more economic activity and there should be a recovery in that data." Economy returning to function After weeks of shelter-in-place orders and COVID-19 protection measures, many U.S. states are currently …

What needs to happen for Bitcoin (BTC) to cement its role in the public eye as a valid investment option? "Time," Aleks Svetski, CEO and co-founder of Bitcoin investment platform Amber, told Cointelegraph in an email. "This is NOT a technological revolution," he clarified, adding: "It’s a monetary revolution - which takes (traditionally) centuries to manifest, whilst in the digital age, Bitcoin is likely to do it in decades." Bitcoin rising despite instability Since Bitcoin's 50% March price dive, in the midst of coronavirus fear and uncertainty, the mainstream public has become increasingly interested in crypto's pioneer asset. The coin …

Scottish Coldplay bass artist, Guy Berryman, has joined the crypto space, funding a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange application called Zumo. “Covid-19 has fast forwarded the move to a cashless society and for safe and easy ways to invest in new forms of currency that are more resilient to crises such as this one," Zumo CEO and founder Nick Jones told the Edinburgh News. The app is a basic avenue into Bitcoin Zumo touts basic Bitcoin functionalities, allowing users to buy, sell, transact and store BTC, the May 21 Edinburgh News article detailed. In addition to Berryman, the app boasts funding from …

Chicago Mercantile Exchange's, or CME, global head of equity index and alternative investment products, Tim McCourt, said traders prefer cash-settled Bitcoin trading over products backed by physical Bitcoin (BTC). "So far, clients have expressed a clear preference and priority for a cash-settled product," McCourt told Cointelegraph in an email when asked why the CME chose to go the cash-settled route for its Bitcoin futures trading product back in 2017. The CME launched its BTC futures after its price metrics The CME opened Bitcoin futures trading in 2017, based on the exchange's own CF Bitcoin Reference Rate, or BRR, and Bitcoin …

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and owner of crypto pricing website CoinMarketCap, is getting closer to one of the most crypto-sceptical jurisdictions in the world, China. After leaving the country amid a nation-wide crypto ban in 2017, Binance has now officially registered a Chinese domain. Binance.cn, Binance’s new Chinese domain, has been registered with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). According to public data by the MIIT, the new domain was approved by the state authority in early April 2020. Binance.cn domain details on the MIIT. Source: MIIT “Let's focus on education and technology first” Specializing in …

The world of cryptocurrencies figured prominently in the newest episode of the Showtime series Billions, which was broadcast on Sunday. The story revolved around a crypto mining scheme in a preparatory school. Notably, the episode was written by Ben Mezrich, the author of Bitcoin Billionaires. The book tells the story of the Winklevoss twins. Mezrich teased his participation via Twitter: “Billions this Sunday night ... I’m not sayin’ there’s definitely gonna be some Bitcoin… I’m just saying I did happen to write the episode ... I mean, just sayin’...” Mining farm inside the dorm of a school The plot told …

Amid its ongoing war with crypto, video giant YouTube has signed a new deal with one of the world’s biggest popular YouTubers. PewDiePie, the top-subscribed independent video maker on YouTube, now has to leave blockchain video platform Dlive to stream exclusively on YouTube. YouTube officially announced the news on May 4, with PewDiePie claiming that the agreement was a “natural fit.” In April 2019, PewDiePie had signed a partnership with blockchain-based content sharing platform Dlive. PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, said that he decided to stream via DLive because he was treated “like a real partner,” noting that …

Showtime released the first episode of the fifth season of financial drama series “Billions,” which opened with a Bitcoin mining bust. The new season, based on the life of the former New York District attorney Preet Bharara, began on May 3 with a plot revolving around a group of cryptocurrency miners operating an illegal Bitcoin (BTC) farm. Previous seasons talked about the world of the stock markets and legal disputes with hedge fund managers on Wall Street. Crypto enthusiasts may find the new episode more familiar Bitcoin’s intrinsic value discussion Chuck Rhoades, the attorney general of New York in the …

There are more than 5,000 diverse cryptocurrencies being traded with a total market cap of nearly $250 billion. As much as 95% of those cryptos are nothing but scams, according to the creator of the world’s first proof-of-work, or PoW, crypto. Emin Gun Sirer, the creator of the first PoW-based crypto, the Karma System, is confident that the vast majority of cryptos do not represent any tech advancement and only exist to grab people’s money. Bitcoin did it first In an April 29 AMA session with Equilibrium EOSDT, Sirer slammed crypto projects like Facebook’s Libra for wanting to compete with …

Europeans are getting more confident about the future of the cryptocurrency industry amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report. People in Europe are becoming more optimistic about the Blockchain space. In 2020, more Europeans believe that crypto will exist in 10 years than ever before, bitFLyer exchange reported on April 29. Amount of crypto believers in Europe edges up 3% in 2020 According to a new survey by bitFLyer, the number of Europeans who believe that crypto will still exist in 10 years has edged up from 63% in 2019 to 66% in 2020. The survey is part …

LG Corporation’s IT services subsidiary is now testing artificial intelligence-based facial recognition technology which allows users to conduct payments using digital currency. LG CNS used its employees to test the new facial recognition service, IT Times reported on April 23. The platform includes AI, blockchain, and cloud technologies. After identifying an employee, the system enables them to automatically pay for services and products at the corporate restaurant with a pre-registered blockchain-based community currency. Lee Joon-won, solution business development manager at LG CNS, said: "It is expected that blockchain-based community currency will be used by a lot more people as it …