Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are sure long bets for 2022, prominent investor and commenter Zhu Su says. In a tweet on Feb. 10, Zhu, co-founder of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), argued that BTC and ETH were the best options for investment this year, along with oil, while the S&P 500 is a no-go. Zhu: 2022 macro trades "pretty clear" Despite concerns that deflationary pressures could take Bitcoin and altcoins down with equities, not everyone believes that 2022 will be a red year for hodlers. The picture is complex — some are eyeing a "melt-up" for stocks and …

Russian oil firm Gazprom Neft's aviation subsidiary, Gazpromneft-Aero, announced Monday that it has completed a successful pilot of its blockchain-based refueling project, Smart Fuel. The new platform was implemented for more than 100 scheduled flights of Russian budget airline Smartavia, operating at Murmansk's international airport. Alongside Smartavia, the pilot involved major banks VTB and Raiffeisenbank. Dmitry Makarov, head of the Smart Fuel project, told Cointelegraph that the blockchain-based trial in Murmansk ran from September 2020 to December 2020. Following the successful pilot, Gazpromneft-Aero will continue providing its refueling payment solution to Smartavia, Makarov said. Based on the major blockchain framework …

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, says that the country's government is now looking at diverse cryptocurrencies as a potential way of avoiding sanctions. On Sept. 29, Maduro presented a new bill that intends to help the country overcome the impact of United States sanctions. As part of the bill, Venezuela will study the possibility of using various cryptocurrencies in both domestic and foreign trade. Maduro claimed that the new anti-sanctions bill involves both private and state-backed crypto initiatives like Venezuela’s oil-pegged cryptocurrency, the Petro: "The anti-sanctions bill is the first response [...] to give new strength to the use …

WisdomTree Investments, a New York-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider, has filed for an ETF that would invest up to 5% of its portfolio in cash-settled Bitcoin (BTC) futures contracts offered by Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The application, which was filed on June 16, asserts that the proposed fund will invest in the futures markets of four commodity sectors spanning agriculture, industrial metals, precious metals and energy. No direct investments will be made in the underlying physical assets. Crypto ETFs have little luck among regulators Despite regulators having thus far rejected applications for Bitcoin ETFs, WisdomTree hopes that its "WisdomTree Enhanced …

The Venezuelan government announced on June 11 that almost 15% of all fuel payments at petrol stations across the country were made using the Petro (PTR). This rise comes during the first week of the new state-backed plan to promote widespread use of the token. According to a report from Ultimas Noticias, 40% of the PTR transactions passed through the foreign stations. Balancing Venezuela’s crypto environment? The blog Geopolítica Coyuntural says that Petro adoption will strengthen the balance and the homologation of value between the primary and secondary market, "allowing to build an economical and stable structure for the crypto …

The OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium has completed a blockchain pilot test to automate payments for oilfield water-handling. The process of oilfield water-handling requires the management of the huge amount of water extracted and injected during the process of oil and gas extraction. A Reuters report claimed that the blockchain solutions implemented during the test cut short the workflow process by nine steps, eventually reducing the completion time from 120 days to just one week. Additionally, the group specified that during the test, the blockchain solution automatically validated 85% of all volume measurements. The OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain …

Venezuela has announced that petrol stations across the nation will sell gasoline at a reduced price in exchange for the country’s state-issued, oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro. However, the announcement comes alongside the removal of local petrol subsidies that will see the price of gasoline spiking from close to nothing to $0.02 per liter. Venezuela introduces new petrol regime Amid acute petrol shortages, June 1 saw Venezuela remove subsidies on the price of gasoline. The new petrol regime will see Venezuelan car-owners allotted 120 liters per month at roughly $0.02 — essentially allowing motorists two full tanks worth of petrol for …

CoinShares’ chief strategy officer Meltem Demirors shared her view on how the latest crisis in the oil market will impact the ever-changing narratives around Bitcoin. Changing narratives According to Demirors, the recent crash in oil prices is a watershed moment which will change forever the narratives in the investment world. As she points out, the COVID-19-induced crisis “has defied all our expectations on what normal is” which is why expecting to go back to the status quo is “preposterous.” “We’re not just seeing a repricing of oil. We are seeing a thinking of the entire energy value chain.” Following this …

Over the last decade, cryptocurrency mining has been given a bad rap for the sheer amount of electricity required to power the industry. Back in 2017, it was pointed out that the collective power consumption of the Bitcoin (BTC) mining network in particular eclipsed the power consumption of some countries around the world. This was echoed in another 2019 study that suggested Bitcoin mining produces more carbon pollution than some countries. Toward the latter end of 2019, a couple of studies showed that the Bitcoin network was using less energy, despite increasing hash rates. This also included data that estimated …

The Binance-owned crypto derivatives exchange, FTX, has introduced oil futures following the recent record crash in U.S. oil prices — which fell as low as minus-$40 on April 20. FTX’s contracts will expire at the spot price of West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, plus $100 to protect against negative settlement prices. The exchange notes that should the spot price of oil fall below minus-$100, “FTX OIL contracts “can theoretically expire negative.” FTX launches crypto-based oil contract trading FTX comprises a top-10 ranked Bitcoin (BTC) futures exchange by both volume and open interest. The Binance-owned exchange is the largest to offer …

The shockwaves from yesterday’s explosion in the oil markets continued to damage oil prices and shrapnel from the blast caused damage to equities today as U.S. markets closed in the red after a nearly 3-week rebound. West Texas Intermediate crude closed down 9.49% at $9.06, and June 2020 futures dropped from $22.58 to $13.12. What is clear is that investors remain fearful about the future of the entire industry as the coronavirus pandemic continues to dampen demand for oil. Is it over for stocks? Before the start of this week the S&P 500 and Dow had recovered approximately 30% of …

Bitcoin (BTC) was testing support at $6,800 on April 21 as resistance and low volume combined to drive prices lower. Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360 BTC price: analyst eyes $6,300 for low entry Data from Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets showed BTC/USD testing $6,800 three times in 24 hours, each time failing to spark a wider rout and returning above that level. The pair had lost $7,000 earlier on Monday, amid resistance from two key moving averages and historic mayhem on oil markets. As WTI continues to trade in negative figures, Bitcoin analysts were keen to determine the extent of …