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    Russian rouble climbs as central bank raises rates to 13%

    (Reuters) -The rouble strengthened on Friday as the Russian central bank raised interest rates to 13%, a move anticipated by the market as the country battles inflationary pressures exacerbated by its weak currency. The central bank had hiked rates by 350 basis points to 12% at an emergency meeting last month, responding to the rouble’s tumble past 100 to the dollar, and most analysts polled by Reuters had expected Friday’s increase.But as the currency hit six-week highs early this week, some economists, including the CEOs of Russia’s two largest banks, had been leaning in favour of a hold. By 1100 GMT, the rouble was 0.8% stronger against the dollar at 96.57, showing limited reaction to the decision.It had gained 0.9% to trade at 102.92 versus the euro and had firmed 0.7% against the yuan to 13.25.Central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina will shed more light on monetary policy and other issues at a press conference at 1200 GMT.”For the rouble it is a delayed positive and the exchange rate may start to recover,” said BCS World of Investments analyst Mikhail Zeltser. “In the medium term, expectations are more for 90 to the dollar than staying near the psychological 100 bar.” The central bank sharply increased its foreign currency sales for a week starting on Thursday, seeking to compensate for the planned redemption of $3 billion worth of Russian Eurobonds on Sept. 16, but the rouble was unable to capitalise significantly. Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was up 0.3% at $93.97 a barrel, hitting its strongest since November 2022. [O/R] Russian stocks were mixed. The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.6% at 1,024.6 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was unchanged at 3,140.3 points. More

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    Bitcoin’s long-term outlook promising, short-term challenges persist

    According to the analysis, Bitcoin has managed to stay above level 1 of the MVRV Ratio, a key indicator that suggests robust potential for price growth in the long term. Additionally, the Holders’ Cost basis is found to be lower than the Market Cap, which further indicates a positive trend for Bitcoin’s future value.However, Bitcoin’s short-term outlook is less certain. The report identifies that short-term holders, who play a crucial role in providing liquidity for significant price movements, are currently grappling with price levels between $27.5K and $29K – identified as their break-even point. As Bitcoin’s price continues to hover around these levels, it prompts these short-term holders to reassess their investment positions.The longer Bitcoin’s price stays below these critical levels, the greater the motivation for these short-term holders to exit the market. Such an exit could result in decreased liquidity and affect overall market dynamics. The CryptoQuant report underscores that Bitcoin’s return to an upward trend depends on its price moving beyond these short-term realized prices.While the long-term prospects of Bitcoin seem favorable due to factors such as the MVRV Ratio and Holders’ Cost basis indicating growth potential, there are still concerns in the short term. The actions of short-term holders in response to break-even price ranges could significantly sway Bitcoin’s near-term trajectory.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

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    Bitcoin sees uptick but traders wary due to ‘death cross’ indicator

    The death cross event occurs when the 50-day moving average for prices falls below the 200-day moving average. According to Dow Jones Market Data, Bitcoin’s value tends to decline by an average of 2.3% in the week following such an event. The most recent death cross occurrence was earlier this week, marking the first instance since January 2022. During that period, Bitcoin prices began at over $47,000 before plummeting more than 65% by November.The recovery in Bitcoin’s price this week mirrors a broader market trend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its best day since early August on Thursday, while the S&P 500 seemed to be on a three-day winning streak.Despite the uptick in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the macroeconomic climate continues to pose challenges. With high interest rates expected to persist as a measure to control inflation, demand for riskier assets like cryptocurrencies may decrease.Beyond Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies also saw increases on Friday. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, rose by 1% to $1,630. Smaller tokens such as Cardano and Polygon each increased by 1%, while “memecoins” like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu saw gains of 1% and 2%, respectively.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

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    Paxos recovers $510,000 overpaid in Bitcoin transaction fee due to software bug

    The error occurred on September 10, 2023, when Paxos attempted to transfer a mere 0.074 BTC, valued at less than $2,000. However, due to a software bug, the resulting transaction fee was an astounding 19 BTC, equivalent to about $510,000. This discrepancy resulted in the highest transaction fee ever recorded on the Bitcoin network.Jameson Lopp, co-founder of CasaHODL, speculated that the error might have originated from an exchange or payment processor address software issue. Lopp noted that the address in question had handled more than 60,000 transactions and likely miscalculated the change output leading to the inflated transaction fee.Paxos took responsibility for the error and confirmed that only the company’s corporate operations were affected. The firm reassured its customers that their funds were safe and stated it was working on recovering the fee through a Bitcoin miner.Chun Wang, co-founder of F2Pool, stated that users could claim overpaid fees within a three-day window. If unclaimed, these funds would be redistributed among miners – a decision aiming to address potential unclaimed fees equitably.Despite early speculations suggesting PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s involvement due to similar digital wallet transaction behaviors, a Paxos spokesperson declined to confirm or deny any relation to PayPal.On September 13, Paxos announced that it was their server that made the transfer and admitted that the error was its own. A day later, the Bitcoin miner who received the funds expressed frustrations after agreeing to refund Paxos. However, blockchain data shared by Bitcoin explorer Mempool confirmed that the funds were indeed returned on Friday.In 2019, an Ethereum user lost almost $400,000 in Ether (ETH) after making the mistake of pasting values in the wrong fields. The Ethereum mining pool Sparkpool helped the user recover half of the funds lost.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

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    FASB’s new accounting rules for Bitcoin could spur corporate adoption

    Previously, under existing accounting rules, Bitcoin was typically classified as an intangible asset. Companies had to recognize losses in the form of impairment charges on their financial statements if Bitcoin’s market value plummeted after purchase. This practice negatively affected reported income and threatened the overall health of a company’s balance sheet. Furthermore, companies could only benefit from Bitcoin’s price appreciation if they sold their holdings, thus losing potential long-term profits.The new FASB rules will allow companies to disclose Bitcoin’s true fair value on their balance sheets during quarterly financial reporting in the form of an unrealized loss. This approach is more advantageous as it eliminates the need to report unrealized crypto losses as impairment charges on profit-and-loss statements. The guidelines also enable companies to recognize unrealized gains as assets, a practice previously discouraged.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

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    Binance.US not cooperating with investigation, US SEC says in filing

    The SEC in its court filing noted that Binance.US’s holding company called BAM has produced only 220 documents during the discovery process. Many of the submitted documents under the Consent Order “consist of unintelligible screenshots and documents without dates or signatures.” Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More