Currency

Bitcoin and ether slide as China intensifies crypto crackdown

Posted by Ryan Browne, cnbc.com

on Friday, 24 September 2021 9:04

Bitcoin and ether tumbled Friday, with traders rattled by tough talk out of China.

The price of bitcoin fell nearly 6% to $42,124.73, according to Coin Metrics data. Ether, the second-largest digital currency, dropped 8% to $2,894.36.

It comes after the People’s Bank of China said in a Q&A that all crypto-related activities are illegal. Services offering trading, order matching or derivatives for virtual currencies are strictly prohibited, the PBOC said, while overseas exchanges are also illegal.

Beijing has cracked down sharply on crypto this year. The Chinese government moved to stamp out digital currency mining, the energy-intensive operation that validates transactions and produces new coins. That led to sharp slump in bitcoin’s processing power as miners took their equipment offline…read more.

 

Federal deficit hit $48.5B over first four months of fiscal year

Posted by The Canadian Press

on Friday, 24 September 2021 8:47

The federal government ran a deficit of more than $48 billion over the first four months of its fiscal year, about $100 billion less than the treasury pumped out during the same period one year earlier.

The Finance Department’s regular fiscal monitor says the budgetary deficit between April and July was just under $48.5 billion, down from the almost $148.6 billion recorded over the same months in 2020 when COVID-19 first struck.

Friday’s fiscal monitor says the deficit to date now reflects current economic challenges caused by COVID-19, including ongoing public health restrictions.

Program spending, excluding net actuarial losses, between April and July was $154billion, a decline of about $58.1 billion, or 27.4 per cent drop, from the $212.1 billion in the same period one year earlier…read more.

Trump rips Bush for backing Cheney as Republican factions butt heads

Posted by Jordan Williams, thehill.com

on Thursday, 23 September 2021 11:28

Former President Trump is criticizing former President George W. Bush for backing Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) effort to keep her seat in what will likely be a hotly contested GOP primary.

In a statement released late Wednesday through his Save America PAC, Trump slammed Bush and his longtime political adviser Karl Rove for endorsing “warmongering and very low polling, Liz Cheney.”

“Bush is the one who got us into the quicksand of the Middle East and, after spending trillions of dollars and killing nearly a million people, the Middle East was left in worse shape after 21 years than it was when he started his stupidity,” Trump said.

He added that the conflict “ended with Biden’s most embarrassing in history withdrawal from Afghanistan.”…read more.

Oil Rises To Two-Month High As Inventories Fall

Posted by Tsvetana Paraskova, oilprice.com

on Thursday, 23 September 2021 10:12

Oil prices rose on Thursday to their highest levels since late July after U.S. crude stocks dropped to their lowest in three years and the broader market received more clarity about the Fed’s next policy moves.

As of 10:52 a.m. EDT on Thursday, WTI Crude traded above $73 a barrel, up by 1.19% at $73.15—its highest price since the end of July. Brent Crude prices were above $76 per barrel, having risen by 0.91% on the day at $76.88.

After the Fed signaled on Wednesday that it could begin tapering asset purchases as soon as November and potentially start raising interest rates as soon as next year, oil market participants turned their focus to global oil inventories, especially those in the United States.

Rising U.S. equity markets, with the S&P 500 opening higher on Thursday, and a weakening U.S. dollar also supported oil prices…read more.

You can now get paid in bitcoin to use Twitter

Posted by Salvador Rodriguez, cnbc.com

on Thursday, 23 September 2021 9:39

Twitter on Thursday announced it will now allow users to tip their favorite creators on the social network using bitcoin.

The company introduced tipping as a test feature back in May as a way to experiment with helping creators earn payments from their followers for the content they post on Twitter. The company announced Thursday that its Tips feature will now roll out globally to all Apple iOS users this week and will become available for Android users in the coming weeks.

Previously, users could tip with fiat currency using more traditional payment services such as Square’s Cash app and PayPal’s Venmo. Twitter will integrate the Strike bitcoin lighting wallet service so creators can receive bitcoin tips. The company will also allow users to add their bitcoin address to send and receive these cryptocurrency tips…read more.