TheNorthwest Arkansas Council, a nonprofit organization, is offering remote tech professionals and entrepreneurs $10,000 in bitcoin to move to the region.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, is currently trading at around $42,893, according to Coin Metrics.

Why bitcoin? "Northwest Arkansas is experiencing explosive growth in the tech sector, specifically within blockchain-enabled technologies, and this incentive embraces the growing trend of cryptocurrency as a payment option by employers," its website reads.

The incentive is part of the NWA Council's "Life Works Here" campaign,which is funded by the Walton Family Foundation. When it first launched in 2020, the NWA Council initially offered $10,000 cash as an incentive program.It recently decided to add the option for remote workers to accept the amount in bitcoin instead, although they can still choose cash if they prefer.

"While we've had overwhelming interest in the initial incentive program, we're continuing to seek out unique and in-demand talent in the STEAM and blockchain professions," the website says.

In order to be eligible, applicants must relocate to Northwest Arkansas, which includes Washington and Benton counties, within six months of acceptance to the program and sign a one-year lease or buy a home.

Applicants also must be at least 24 years old, have at least two years of work experience, currently live outside of the state of Arkansas and be a U.S. citizen or have the credentials required to work legally in the U.S., according to the program's website.

In addition to the money, the NWA Council is also offering to gift remote workers a bicycle, highlighting the region's mountain biking trails, or a free membership to local theaters and museums.

So far, over 35,000 people have applied from more than 115 countries and 50 states, the NWA Council says.

Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter

Don't miss: This 22-year-old earns $200,000 per year in Tulsa, Oklahomaand saves around $11,000 a month

Read the rest here:
Arkansas is offering remote tech workers $10,000 in bitcoin to move to there - CNBC

Cryptocurrency has experienced both supports and slams through its progressive move over the years. A review with its performance between 2018 and 2021, the space of three years has increased the volume of setbacks globally.

Though the year 2021 gave a great historic increase for the market performance of the entire crypto ecosystem, it also accounted for more slamming on digital assets. The number of countries or jurisdictions with restrictive laws on cryptocurrency doubles in 2021 compared to 2018.

Related Reading |Think Bitcoin Is Bearish? Check Out These Mining Stocks

According to the Library of Congress (LOC), there are currently nine jurisdictions with an absolute ban on crypto, while 42 employ an implicit ban. The first report in 2018 shows that the statistics are up from 8 and 15 respectively.

As listed by LOC, the nine countries with an absolute ban on crypto include Oman, Qatar, Algeria, Egypt, China, Morocco, Bangladesh, Iraq, and Tunisia. Chinas crypto ban in 2021 attracted the most attention among all the countries on the list. The Library of Congress (LOC) is the US Senates research library. Also, it acts as the countrys national library.

The LOC report specified its contextual definition for both an absolute ban and an implicit ban. According to the report, an absolute ban is defined as holding cryptocurrency or transactions, a criminal act.

On the other hand, an implicit ban prevents crypto exchanges, banks, or financial firms from engaging in crypto transactions or providing services in crypto.

The gradual rise through the past three years in the jurisdictions banning and restrictions in cryptocurrency is quite alarming. Moreover, there is no visible drop as more governments are now reconsidering their crypto stance.

Besides the total of 51 jurisdictions that have a crypto ban, about 103 countries have enforced some strict laws and measures. These include the application of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combatting the Funding of Terrorism (CFT) laws. The number gives a triple increase compared to the 2018 value of 33 jurisdictions having such laws.

A similar move is the November ban on Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining from a Swedish financial regulatory body and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

The ban was because of the power requirement and environmental costs of operating the networks. However, Melanion Capital, a Paris-based firm, criticized the ban. The firm labeled the claims against mining as misinformation.

Related Reading |Small-Time Bitcoin Miner Beats 1 in 1.3 Million Odds To Get 6.25 Block Reward

Furthermore, Estonias neighbor to the Swedish European Union across the Baltic Sea is preparing to enforce AML/CFT rules by February. The application of the rules is expected to alter the meaning of virtual asset service providers. Also, it will introduce an implicit ban on Bitcoin and DeFi.

On its part, the Indian government scared its residents through the move of its lawmakers to ban crypto last year. Though the result was no outright ban, they meted out strict regulations on cryptocurrencies.

View original post here:
Countries With Cryptocurrency Restriction Laws Increased In Three Years | Bitcoinist.com - bitcoinist.com

By Katherine Greifeld and Vildana Hajric

To cryptocurrency true believers, Bitcoin is the ultimate store of value, the most solid hedge against the rampant inflation manufactured by reckless central banks and their money-printing. To skeptics, the crypto world as a whole is a mirage whose massive run-up past $2 trillion was simply the speculative byproduct of the extraordinary amount of easy cash thats been sloshing around in the global economy in effect, a big bubble.

Both of those theories are about to face their biggest test yet.

Crypto exploded after March 2020, when the Federal Reserve and Congress unleashed trillions of dollars worth of stimulus to blunt the pandemics economic blow. A bunch of that cash made its way to digital assets, turbocharging prices. Bitcoin soared 305 per cent in 2020 and notched another 60 per cent the following year, topping out at a record of almost $69,000 in early November. Since then, though, its been on a relentless slide, weighed down in large part by the central banks hawkish pivot. Now, with odds rising that policy makers will commence a series of rate hikes as soon as March just one of several steps theyre set to take in removing liquidity it remains to be seen if the crypto ecosystem can hold up without it.

Its not looking good so far: Bitcoin is already down some 40 per cent from its highs, while No. 2 coin Ether and other altcoins have also suffered steep declines.

If theyre going to hike rates three times in 2022 and keep the program, and the era of low rates is over, were going to really see how much people believed in their Bitcoin-crypto thesis, said Stephane Ouellette, chief executive and co-founder of crypto platform FRNT Financial Inc. I would expect that the Fed getting more and more hawkish is very bad for valuations.

For most of its 13-year history, Bitcoin has enjoyed an environment of easy monetary policy and zero or negative rates. While there is no straight through-line from the Feds coffers to Bitcoin buy-orders on exchanges, there is a connection, according to David Tawil, president of ProChain Capital, a crypto hedge fund. For one, the Fed buying any type of asset can have ripple effects and lift prices of other investments. All the buying power, all the investable power that exists has to go somewhere, he said by phone.

Second, with rates at rock-bottom lows, investors have been forced to scour the market for higher-yielding opportunities and many turned to crypto given its ability to post outsize gains. Think of a junk-bond investor who was accustomed to high-single-digit returns even on bad days, said Tawil. Hes going to be forced to put money into something riskier, but, more importantly, something that yields something hes used to getting.

So what happens when financial conditions become tighter? The initial move is the opposite of what happened when they put the money in everythings going to go and swing the other way, until it settles down, Tawil said. Thats why you have this immediate reaction in the market because everyones anticipating that the money is going to leave the riskier stuff.

The last time the U.S. central bank raised rates was in December 2018, its final increase in a series of hikes. Back then, Bitcoin was trading at about $3,700 and concepts such as decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens were years away from entering the vernacular. It turned out to be a rough year for the original cryptocurrency, particularly toward the end, when Bitcoin lost more than 40 per cent during the last two months a period that also coincided with a walloping in U.S. stocks.

That dynamic is playing out again now, with Bitcoin falling in step with richly-valued equities ahead of an expected new round of Fed tightening, says Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group and editor of The Boock Report.

For now, its proving to be just a risk-on/risk-off asset, he said. I expect it to trade with other risk assets in response to Fed tightening. Boockvar compared the digital coin to Cathie Woods ARK Innovation ETF, which is seen as the ultimate risk asset and which has also proven highly sensitive to Fed tightening as investors start to pay more attention to valuations.

Bitcoin, though, remains a supreme shape-shifter. It has represented many things to many people for more than a decade now and its (often contradictory) narratives will continue to evolve. After all, its been written off time and again as dead, denounced as rats poison, and castigated as a bubble only to come back stronger each time.

And as institutional adoption increases, Bitcoins future may also become clearer, says Max Gokhman, chief investment officer at AlphaTrAI, which is working on an application of its artificial-intelligence algorithms for the digital-asset space.

We shouldnt discount that in the future Bitcoin use cases may evolve to where it reinvents itself and gains importance anew, he said.

See the article here:
Crypto diehards are about to find out if it really was a bubble - Economic Times

As you attempt to strike it rich in the digital gold rush, make sure you know how to recognize various schemes that want to part you from your digital coins

The world seems to have gone crypto-mad. Digital currencies like bitcoin, Monero, Ethereum and Dogecoin are all over the internet. Their soaring value promises big wins for investors (before the coins prices plunge, that is). And the fortunes to be made by mining for virtual money have echoes of gold rushes in the 1800s. Or at least, thats what many, including a long list of scammers, will have you believe.

In reality, if youre interested in cryptocurrency today, youre quite possibly at a major risk for fraud. This is the new Wild West a lawless, unregulated world where bad actors often have the upper hand. But normal rules for fraud prevention apply here too. Everything you read online should be carefully scrutinized and fact-checked. Dont believe the hype and youll stand a great chance of staying safe.

Fraudsters are past masters at using current events and buzzy trends to trick their victims. And they dont come much more zeitgeist-y than cryptocurrency. Media stories and social media posts are partly to blame, creating a feedback loop that only adds to the hysteria over virtual currencies. The result? Between October 2020 and May 2021, Americans lost an estimated $80m (71m) to thousands of cryptocurrency scams, according to the FTC. In the UK, the figure is even higher: police claim that victims lost over 146m (172m) in the first nine months of 2021.

Why are scams on the rise? Because:

If you have virtual money safely stored in a cryptocurrency exchange, it may be at risk from hackers. On numerous occasions threat actors have successfully managed to extract funds from these businesses, sometimes making off with hundreds of millions. However, usually the breached companies will promise to recompense their blameless customers. Unfortunately, there are no such assurances for the victims of cryptocurrency fraud. Fall for a scam and you may be out-of-pocket for a lot of money.

It pays to understand what these scams look like. Here are some of the most common:

This is a type of investment scam where victims are tricked into investing in a non-existent company or a get rich quick scheme, which in fact is doing nothing but lining the pocket of the fraudster. Cryptocurrency is ideal for this as fraudsters are always inventing new, unspecified cutting edge technology to attract investors and generate larger virtual profits. Falsifying the data is easy when the currency is virtual anyway.

Scammers encourage investors to buy shares in little-known cryptocurrency companies, based on false information. The share price subsequently rises and the fraudster sells their own shares, making a tidy profit and leaving the victim with worthless stocks.

Scammers hijack celebrity social media accounts or create fake ones, and encourage followers to invest in fake schemes like the ones above. In one ploy, some $2m was lost to scammers who even name-dropped Elon Musk into a Bitcoin address in order to make the ruse more trustworthy.

Fraudsters send emails or post social media messages promising access to virtual cash stored in cryptocurrency exchanges. The only catch is the user must usually pay a small fee first. The exchange doesnt exist and their money is lost forever.

Cybercriminals spoof legitimate cryptocurrency apps and upload them to app stores. If you install one it could steal your personal and financial details or implant malware on your device. Others may trick users into paying for non-existent services, or try to steal logins for your cryptocurrency wallet.

Sometimes the scammers even manage to fool journalists, who republish fake information. This happened on two occasions when legitimate news sites wrote stories about big-name retailers preparing to accept certain cryptocurrencies. The fake press releases that these stories were based on were part of pump-and-dump schemes designed to make the fraudsters shares in the mentioned currencies more valuable.

Phishing is one of the most popular ways fraudsters operate. Emails, texts and social media messages are spoofed to appear as if sent from a legitimate, trusted source. Sometimes that source for example, a credit card provider, bank or government officialrequests payment for something in cryptocurrency. Theyll try to hurry you into acting without thinking.

The best weapon to fight fraud is incredulity. Unfortunately, we live in an age when not everything we read online is true. And quite a lot of it is explicitly crafted to trick and harm us. With that in mind, try the following to avoid getting scammed:

The world may have gone cryptocurrency-crazy. But you dont need to join in. Keep a cool head and ride out the hype.

The rest is here:
Cryptocurrency scams: What to know and how to protect yourself - We Live Security

The non-fungible token (NFT), a relatively unknown concept until recently, has now become ubiquitous. Spending on the digital asset jumped to nearly $41 billion at the end of 2021--from just $1 billion in 2020--per a report by blockchain specialist Chainalysis. NFTs transform art, music, and even sports, and provide creators the option to monetise their digital artwork.

Last year, the NFT market saw sales at eye-popping levels. A digital photo collage by South Carolina-based graphic designer Mike Winkelmann, known to the art world as Beeple, for example, sold for $69.3 million, making it one of the biggest NFT sales to date.

The value of NFTs depends on various factors--their scarcity, the demand for the artwork or sometimes even the artist, and the prices of the underlying cryptocurrency used. Many online marketplaces that sell NFTs are powered by a blockchain. Currently, the ethereum blockchain powers the most popular ones. So, if you are looking to buy or sell NFTs through one of the popular marketplaces, you will most likely need ethereum's native cryptocurrency, ether, for the transaction.

Also read:

But what is interesting is that while cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile, not all NFTs track the movement of their underlying crypto. For instance, despite the ongoing correction in crypto markets, NFT marketplace OpenSea has recorded $2.3 billion in volume in January so far, on pace to break its monthly volume record if the trend continues.

Discussing last weekends crypto selloff with Yahoo! Finance, Mason Nystrom, senior research analyst at crypto analytics firm Messari explained this anomaly. Despite the volatility of the crypto market, the nature of NFTs may make them independent from the crypto markets, Nystrom said.

"NFTs are a significantly broad category that can include music, art, collectibles, gaming assets, fantasy sports, financial assets, and more. As such, it's possible that NFT commerce in one specific vertical grows while others decline or fluctuate over time," he added. "Going forward it's possible that we'll see a greater decoupling of the crypto markets whereby one asset like art NFTs might perform well amidst the overall crypto market performing poorly or vice versa."

A collector who goes by the pseudonym 'Pranksy' had another theory. "The people who spent many thousands on NFTs aren't going to sell them for 50% off tomorrow, at least not many are. Much like traditional art markets bucking Wall Street trends, I believe many see certain NFTs as a store of value, he told Reuters in May last year after his cryptocurrency portfolio's worth dropped by more than $10 million at some point on one day.

Collectors believe artwork, virtual land and other digital assets represented by NFTs hold value that is distinct from the cryptocurrencies used to buy them.

A study by sciencedirect.com titled 'Is non-fungible token pricing driven by cryptocurrencies?' suggests there is a low spillover between cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

The study used the dataset of the two largest cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin and Ether, with the raw data obtained from coinmarketcap.com and the NFT data taken from secondary markets trades: Decentraland LAND tokens, CryptoPunk images, and Axie Infinity game characters, and Individual trade data sourced from nonfungible.com.

The results from the study show that when it comes to volatility in the cryptocurrency market, the spillover effect to NFT markets is lower, suggesting the NFT and the cryptocurrency market are distinct from each other and do not necessarily affect each other in a meaningful way.

NonFungible.com co-founder Gauthier Zuppinger told Reuters in May that the NFT market was increasingly de-correlated with the crypto market. Crypto-rich investors could even see NFTs as less risky than cryptocurrencies "because they are backed by the use-case," Zuppinger pointed out.

(Edited by : Vijay Anand)

First Published:Jan 14, 2022, 04:06 PM IST

See the article here:
Do cryptocurrency prices affect the value of NFTs? Let us find out - CNBCTV18

Over the past 24 hours, Ethereum Classics (CRYPTO: ETC) price rose 5.94% to $32.28. This continues its positive trend over the past week where it has experienced a 5.0% gain, moving from $30.62 to its current price. As it stands right now, the coins all-time high is $167.09.

The chart below compares the price movement and volatility for Ethereum Classic over the past 24 hours (left) to its price movement over the past week (right). The gray bands are bollinger bands, measuring the volatility for both the daily and weekly price movements. The wider the bands are, or the larger the gray area is at any given moment, the larger the volatility.

Ethereum Classics trading volume has climbed 15.0% over the past week along with the circulating supply of the coin, which has increased 0.16%. This brings the circulating supply to 132.29 million, which makes up an estimated 62.78% of its max supply of 210.70 million. According to our data, the current market cap ranking for ETC is #42 at 4.26 billion.

If you are interested in purchasing Ethereum Classic and want to know the best cryptocurrency exchanges, follow this link to Benzinga Money.

Do you want to learn more about trading and be able to analyze your own portfolio of stocks or cryptocurrencies? Consider signing up for Benzinga Pro. Benzinga Pro gives you up-to-date news and analytics to empower your investing and trading strategy. You can follow the link here to visit.

Powered by CoinGecko API

This post contains affiliate links from which Benzinga may earn a commission.

This article was generated by Benzingas automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

See more here:
Cryptocurrency Ethereum Classic's Price Increased More Than 5% Within 24 hours - Benzinga - Benzinga

N26, a German online neobank, has announced it will get into the cryptocurrency trading business this year. The announcement was made by Max Tayenthal, co-founder and a CEO of the company, who pondered whether focusing on cryptocurrency instead of going global may have been a better idea. The company closed operations in the U.K. and is now exiting the U.S.

N26, a German online bank, has announced it will roll out cryptocurrency trading services for its customers this year. The co-founder of the bank, and one of its current CEOs, Max Tayenthal, made the recent announcement expressing the need to be a universal platform. Tayenthal also talked about oversights the bank may have made in ignoring cryptocurrencies last year.

The executive told Financial Times:

Should we have built trading and crypto instead of launching in the US? In hindsight, it might have been a smart idea.

N26, a bank with more than 7 million customers as of January 2021, made the decision to expand to the U.K. and U.S. before launching these services. However, they have already exited the U.K. last year, and are currently closing operations in the U.S. Tayenthal stated this has to do with a policy shift after he noticed the bank was spreading too thinly, and that there were so many things to do instead of putting flags in new markets.

While the bank has been successful, being valued at 7.8 billion (~$8.8 billion) last year, it has been facing regulatory pressure from Bafin, the German fintech regulator. According to the institution, the company had troubles with AML compliance.

This is why the German regulator put a cap on the number of customers N26 could admit each month. Currently, only 50K customers can sign in to enjoy the capabilities and services that the company offers. Bafin assigned two representatives to track the progress of the company and report. Tayenthal was confident that N26 could work with regulators to lift this cap that is affecting the growth of the company. The company signed-on an average of 170,000 customers per month last year before the cap was enforced. Regarding this, Tayenthal declared:

We have a plan. We have an understanding of what needs to be done and we are able to execute [it].

Bitcoin.com News has further reported recently that other traditional banks could also offer cryptocurrency services for their customers starting this year.

What do you think about N26s move to include cryptocurrency trading in the services it offers? Tell us in the comments section below.

Sergio is a cryptocurrency journalist based in Venezuela. He describes himself as late to the game, entering the cryptosphere when the price rise happened during December 2017. Having a computer engineering background, living in Venezuela, and being impacted by the cryptocurrency boom at a social level, he offers a different point of view about crypto success and how it helps the unbanked and underserved.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Near Foundation Raises $150 Million to Bolster Web3 Adoption

On Thursday, the Near Foundation announced the project has raised $150 million from strategic investors such as Three-Arrows Capital, a16z, Mechanism Capital, Dragonfly Capital, and Circle Ventures. Following the announcement, the Near protocols native crypto asset jumped more than 7% ... read more.

More:
German Online Bank N26 to Launch Cryptocurrency Trading Business This Year Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News