Bitcoin Daily: Bitcoin Rises Above $44,000; Bank Of Korea Gives CBDCs And Cash Same Legal Status

Bitcoin shot above $44,000 on Monday (Feb. 8), after Tesla revealed in a filing that it had purchased $1.5 billion of bitcoin, CNBC reported.

Tesla is also considering allowing bitcoin as a method of payment for its products. Tesla CEO Elon Musk caused a similar surge in bitcoin in January after tweeting about bitcoin and adding #bitcoin to his Twitter profile.

Bitcoin sat at $46,154.66 as of 6:47 p.m. Eastern time.

Tesla move into bitcoin “will have a ripple effect across corporations around the [globe],” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said, according to CNBC. It is a “potential game changing move for the use of bitcoin from a transactional perspective.”

In other news, the Bank of Korea (BOK) has finished research on legal issues around central bank digital currencies (CDBCs), concluding the coins could meet currency requirements and be freely exchanged with cash, CoinDesk reported.

Because of that, BOK should have the legal requirements to apply positive or negative interest rates on a future CDBC, the report stated.

As to how a CDBC would fit into the country’s economy, the research suggested it would not be subject to the Financial Transactions Act, as CDBCs would be based on monetary issuance rather than profit, although laws would need to be made to account for crimes like embezzlement or theft, CoinDesk reported.

Meanwhile, digital asset savings and loans platform Ledn raised $2.7 million to accelerate growth and expand transparency practices in the global market, according to a press release.

The platform, which services clients in over 100 countries, plans to improve its transparency standards by undergoing a proof-of-reserves attestation through an independent accounting firm, the release stated.

“We believe that proof-of-reserves reviews that cover all assets and lending activities should be an industry standard across lending platforms,” said Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, co-founder and CSO, in the release. “Over time, clients have become painfully aware of why it’s important, and their preferences are evolving to demand transparency.”

The funding round was led by White Star Capital’s Digital Asset Fund, and it included investments from Coinbase Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Kingsway, CMT Digital and Darrow Holdings.

Lastly, crypto hardware wallet provider Ledger is integrating open-source protocol WalletConnect to let its users connect to decentralized finance apps (dapps) later this week, CoinDesk reported. The integration will allow users to manage transactions on dapps without leaving the Ledger app.

“With the new update, you can interact with any DeFi dapp with WalletConnect support directly from your mobile device, by simply scanning the QR code offered by the dapp using your device camera,” the firm said, per CoinDesk.