Payment Expert’s Blockchain Bulletin analyses how the world of blockchain is constantly evolving and heavily impacting the payments industry, with cryptocurrencies, NFTs and the metaverse revolutionising the space.
This week, Bitcoin halving happened last Friday for the first time since 2020. Whilst market analysts forecast how this may or may not halt its record-high price, one industry leader offers a more sustainable question regarding Bitcoin’s large energy consumption.
Why Bitcoin’s energy consumption ‘can’t be ignored’
Following Bitcoin halving last Friday (19 April), the world’s largest cryptocurrency is expected to experience a short-term fall as miners half the amount of blocks mined.
The price of Bitcoin fell slightly over the last week preparing for halving, but previous halving’s have shown an adverse effect to its price, surging in valuation in 2020, 2016 and 2014.
However, moving away from the cryptocurrency’s price, Nick Jones, CEO of Scotland-based exchange Zumo, raised some pertinent questions surrounding Bitcoin’s enormous energy consumption as the digital currency continues to push the mainstream boundary. How soon will outside investors raise those same questions?
He told Payment Expert: “As crypto moves mainstream, everyone involved in the growing ecosystem, whether miners or the financial institutions offering new digital asset propositions – should start thinking more carefully about how they can harness the latest technology to embed sustainability at the heart of their propositions.”
Binance Founder Zhao potentially facing three-year prison stint
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking a 36 month prison sentence for former Binance CEO and Founder Changpeng Zhao.
A sentencing memo was filed by the DOJ to the US States District Court of Washington in Seattle, with the agency stating that the “sentence in this case will not just send a message to Zhao but also to the world”.
Zhao flew to Seattle to turn himself in for the role he played in Binance’s AML/KYC and other US regulatory failures last November, which resulted in the exchange settling for a record $4.3bn fee.
Philippines takes action over Binance
Elsewhere, Binance is facing troubles in Southeast Asia after the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Apple and Google to remove the Binance app from their respective app stores.
This comes after the SEC deems Binance to be a ‘threat to the security of Filipinos funds’ as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange is currently listed as an unregistered broker offering unregistered securities in the Southeast Asian country.
OKX & MCFC mint limited-edition shirt as NFTs
OKX has minted NFTs for a limited edition Manchester City shirt in a campaign that ends today (25 April).
The ‘Rose and the Bee’s’ limited edition shirt that can be found on the OKX marketplace and hand out fans prizes depending on the varying degree of rarity of the shirt.
Avraham Eisenburg guilty of $110m crypto fraud case
A federal jury in New York convicted Avraham Eisenberg, a cryptocurrency trader, of fraud in connection with a $110m market manipulation case.
Eisenberg used two accounts to execute simultaneous buy and sell orders for futures contracts, leveraging the relative values of Mango’s token MNGO and the USD Coin stablecoin.
