Mexico, Madeira, and Honduras city looking to adopt bitcoin.

Bitcoin is starting to enjoy nation-state adoption. This has been seen in El Salvador accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender, but more is coming. 

Today, Mexico has moved to make the top cryptocurrency a legal tender. A Mexican senator, Indira Kempis has called on the government to immediately adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender in the country.

Similarly, Madeira, an autonomous Portuguese region, is ready to adopt Bitcoin and is making the option more attractive by charging zero personal income tax for buying and selling Bitcoin. An official said that madeira offers “fantastic conditions” for corporations as it charges the lowest taxes in Europe. 

Another significant Bitcoin announcement is from the city of Prospera in Honduras. Like Madeira, the city is moving to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender with no capital gains tax. These are significant milestones achieved in the push for mass Bitcoin adoption.

Working for nation-state Bitcoin

Samson Mow who summed up the Mexico BTC announcement is a former CTO of Blockstream, a Bitcoin technology company. He recently resigned his position at the company to work on the Mexico-state adoption of Bitcoin. The strong Bitcoin proponent said Bitcoin is the only way to avoid the “dark times” that are coming and these adoptions have happened because of his efforts in the last month.

“This is what I’ve managed to get done in about a month, and I’m just one guy. We’re going into dark times — inflation, CBDCs, surveillance, you name it. Bitcoin is the way to fix all of this, but it takes all of us to use Bitcoin to reach that goal,” he said 

According to Mow, El Salvador has started the legal adoption of Bitcoin but more nations and cities need to adopt the digital currency even faster. Speaking of Lugano, a Swiss city that has made Bitcoin the  “de facto legal tender” legal tender, he said nation-state adoption will start from the grassroots rather than from the top.

Jan 3’s hyperbitcoinization mission

In order to drive even greater bitcoin adoption, Mow has launched his company, on Jan. 3.  The company’s main goal is to accelerate “hyperbitcoinization” and will be taking over some of Blockstream’s projects. The company has also “signed an MoU with the government of El Salvador to build infrastructure for Bitcoin City.”

UFC fighters will delve deeper into the world of cryptocurrencies with the new initiative. 

.@UFC And @Cryptocom Team Up To Create Bitcoin Fight Night Bonuses For New “Fan Bonus Of The Night”

Read More ⤵️https://t.co/SD2TjXxqtp

— UFC News (@UFCNews) April 7, 2022

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has announced that it has partnered with popular cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com to launch a new initiative dubbed Fan Night Bonuses. 

The world’s premier mixed martial arts organization noted in an announcement today that the move will enable UFC athletes to receive Bitcoin (BTC) rewards. 

Per the announcement, the newly-introduced bonus UFC fans will select the top three fighters appearing in each of the competition’s Pay-Per-View matches. 

Details of the New Bonus

Following the announcement, fans can vote for their favorite athlete for the Fan Bonus of the Night during each UFC Pay-Per-View on the Crypto.com platform under the Fan Bonus menu. 

The vote will be available to all fans globally, with each user given a maximum of three votes for every Pay-Per-View, which they can use to back two different UFC fighters. 

UFC noted that voting will commence at the start of the Pay-Per-View preliminaries and will end an hour after the conclusion of the event. 

The new bonus will be flagged-off at UFC 273: VOLKANOVSKI vs THE KOREAN ZOMBIE, scheduled to take place on April 9, 2022. 

The rewards that will be distributed to the players will see the overall winner given  BTC worth $30,000, $20,000 in Bitcoin for the second fighter on the list, and $10,000 worth of BTC will be awarded to the third top fighter, UFC noted in the announcement. 

Notably, the Fan Bonus of the Night initiative will run alongside other existing UFC bonuses such as Fight of the Night and Performance rewards. 

UFC & Crypto.com Expands Partnership

This is not the first time UFC and Crypto.com will be entering into a crypto-related partnership. 

Last year, Crypto.com became the official cryptocurrency trading platform partner of the UFC, as part of efforts by digital currency trading platforms to increase its footprint across diverse industries. 

Commenting about the organization’s partnership with Crpto.com, Dana White, UFC president, said after working with the popular digital currency platform for more than a year, he can state that the exchange is one of the best partners the UFC has had so far. 

“They’re constantly coming up with new ideas about how we can work together to connect with the fans.  This new Fan Bonus of the Night is an awesome way to get fans more engaged in our events while rewarding the fighters for bad-ass performances,” White added. 

Regulatory Framework Should Encourage Innovation in Crypto – Yellen

U.S treasury secretary Janet Yellen has emphasized the need for a crypto regulatory framework to support regulation within the space. This is in line with the recent executive order released by the white house which seeks to bring oversight over the crypto space.

The crypto community received the executive order well as it seeks to support innovative projects especially those with the potential to revolutionize the financial industry. An excerpt of Yellen’s speech which is to be delivered at American University in Washington on Thursday reads:

“Our regulatory frameworks should be designed to support responsible innovation while managing risks – especially those that could disrupt the financial system and economy. As banks and other traditional financial firms become more involved in digital asset markets, regulatory frameworks will need to appropriately reflect the risks of these new activities.”

Caution as mainstream financial systems enter the crypto

Banks and other financial institutions have developed more interest in cryptocurrency recently. According to reports, some banks are starting to incorporate digital assets into their employees’ savings plans, exposing them to crypto and the risks involved in crypto investments.

Yellen says that it is necessary for the regulatory framework to stress these risks so that mainstream financial institutions entering the space will be aware and make informed decisions. 

Until now, there hasn’t been a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in the United States, but regulators are now looking for ways to provide oversight on crypto exchanges and banks that provided crypto services such as crypto custody.

Biden’s executive order has already made provision for the Treasury and Commerce departments to explore the role that cryptocurrencies play in the future of money. This suggests the government’s openness towards the emerging crypto space.

Consumer protection is paramount

Although cryptocurrencies are new and come with new possibilities, Yellen says they are to be treated the same way as similar services as what matters is the service they render, not the technology underlying them. The treasury secretary emphasized the protection of consumers, investors, and businesses while custodial platforms should ensure customers’ funds are not lost. 

Yellen’s emphasis on supporting good, innovative crypto projects rather than cracking down on them has helped the crypto community and regulators to agree on crypto regulations that will help to boost the growth of the space in the United States.

Yellen also expressed that wherever possible crypto laws should be “tech neutral”:

“For example, consumers, investors, and businesses should be protected from fraud and misleading statements regardless of whether assets are stored on a balance sheet or distributed ledger, Similarly, firms that hold customer assets should be required to ensure those assets are not lost, stolen, or used without the customer’s permission.”

Bitcoin Addresses Holding 100 BTC Activated for the First Time in 12.4 Years.

? A dormant address containing 50 #BTC (2,158,390 USD) has just been activated after 12.4 years!https://t.co/SWsq8ubLVm

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) April 7, 2022

? A dormant address containing 50 #BTC (2,165,186 USD) has just been activated after 12.4 years!https://t.co/l4nWRMAz66

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) April 7, 2022

Bitcoin whales are becoming active recently as they are buying up more of the digital asset in preparation for a leg up. As a result, static addresses are becoming active again. 

Notably, two addresses holding 50 BTC have become active after 12.4 years. These must be wallets belonging to pioneer Bitcoin holders, as the entire industry has been around for only about 13 years. The two wallets may belong to the same investor as they become active simultaneously, less than an hour between them.

It is not clear if the address owner(s) lost their wallet keys until now or were just ardent “hodlers,” but they may be planning to either buy more Bitcoin or sell the ones they have to take profits after all these years.

A 50 million percent gain

It’s been roughly 12 years since the wallets were last active. At the time around 2010, Bitcoin was worth approximately $0.08 apiece. Having held it for this long, the wallets have appreciated by roughly 53,750,000 (53.7M) percent to the current price of over $43,000.

In U.S Dollars, each of the wallets is worth roughly 2,177,069, making the owners millionaires who only invested $4 each to acquire the Bitcoins at the time. If the two wallets belong to the same investor, he has made roughly 4,354,138 from investing just $8.

Twitter Users’ Reaction

Several users of the popular microblogging platform Twitter gave different reasons. Many suggested that it could be possible the owner misplaced the wallets, while others noted that the idle funds resulted from the unavailability of the owner. 

“Dude found that hard drive in his old stuff at mom’s house and experienced the most euphoria he’s ever had,” @Mitchelloffgrid said in a comment. 

Many investors holding on

There are many other early investors that are holding their Bitcoin for the long term. Whale Alerts has reported many such investors who have become whales, moving their Bitcoin after several years of dormancy. This is good for the asset as the more they hold, the more likely the asset is to appreciate in value.

Not New but Unique

Although this is not the first time an idle Bitcoin wallet address will be reactivated, the development is currently one of the longest periods a wallet containing BTC has been left inactive. 

As reported in Crypto Basic, 11,325 Bitcoin that were left idle in two addresses were activated after seven years. Per the report, the funds linked to the Cryptsy exchange hack were sent to 666 addresses upon reactivation.

Crypto Market Takes Hit on News of Looming Fed Rate Hike.

The Fed has been discussing the possibility of a rate hike lately and is considering raising the rate by 50 basis points. As a result of the development, the crypto market and Nasdaq have seen significant corrections.

Nasdaq has so far fallen the hardest in the stock market, losing 4.5% in two days. Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency, has also dropped by 5% in the last 24 hours. Many other leading cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, which has been rallying, have dropped.

Recently, Fed officials have widely discussed the inflation situation and the possibility of the Fed raising interest rates by 50 basis points. The Nasdaq fell the most, down nearly 4.5% in two days. Bitcoin has also lost 5% in the past 24 hours.

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 7, 2022

Why crypto crashed

Bitcoin has been range-bound for days, trading between $46,000 and $47,000 before the crash, bringing the price down to $43,000. This indicated almost equal strength between the bulls and bears. The rumors of the rate hike only led to the bearish bias that crashed the price.

This is no surprise because the crypto market has been correlated with the stock market for a long time. Though there have been times of decoupling, this usually does not last, so trends in major stocks have historically affected the crypto market.

The S&P500 is also showing signs of weakness since the announcement of the Fed’s decision to implement multiple rate hikes in 2022. This led to the recent fall in Ethereum as the cryptocurrency was tightly correlated with the American stock index.

Crash provides buying opportunities.

Following the planned rate hike, the selling pressure on the crypto market has opened a door of opportunity for smart investors to buy the dip. This is usually the case whenever such corrections occur.

It is not clear when the market will bounce back, but its correlation with the stock market means it will recover if the stocks start to do better or when there is a new development in the space that turns the sentiment into a bullish one. For now, most cryptocurrencies are in the red as many of them depend on Bitcoin’s price behavior.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz Says Bitcoin Price Will Surge If Fed Stops rate Hike.

Popular billionaire investor and CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings, Mike Novogratz, has made yet another optimistic prediction for top asset class Bitcoin (BTC).

According to the Galaxy Digital boss, the price of Bitcoin will surge tremendously once the United States apex bank, Federal Reserve, “takes a pause.”

Novogratz said he believes the Fed will raise interest rates by up to 50 points to reduce inflation rates.

Novogratz said the U.S. economy would slow down if this happened, prompting the apex bank to step back a little.

“I go to bed, and I pray that the stewards of the U.S. economy don’t screw it up […] I pray that the dollar is going to be strong and it doesn’t go to infinity because Bitcoin going to infinity means the rest of the Western world has fallen apart,” Novogratz as reported by TheCryptoBasic.