roadrunner

On September 28, reports stemming from social media and crypto-focused forums detailed that China has been blocking a number of cryptocurrency websites. The Twitter handle for 8btc News tweeted that the web portals coinmarketcap.com and coingecko.com have been blocked from mainland China. The ‘Great Firewall,’ as it is often called, has also blocked a number of other sites like tradingview.com as well. Specific Crypto Web Portals Are Currently Inaccessible in China One thing the world knows is that China likes to censor the internet and via the combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by Beijing, the Great Firewall (GFW) exists in full force today. Through the forces deployed by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), alongside the help of SIIO and the Golden Shield Project, many international web domains are inaccessible to Chinese residents. Mainland Chinese internet users cannot access websites like Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and a large quantity of other foreign information sources. The latest crackdown against cryptocurrencies by Chinese authorities started at the end of September as the People’s Bank of China reiterated that mainland China users accessing offshore crypto exchanges is an illegal transgression. The announcement caused a bloodbath in crypto markets; the PBOC’s actions sparked major onchain transactions and over-the-counter (OTC) trades. Offshore crypto exchanges further told customers from China that they would not offer services to Chinese residents. Then on September 28, 2021, the Twitter handle for 8btc News shared a screenshot on the social media platform showing two crypto-related websites are not accessible in China. Seems like both [coinmarketcap.com] and [coingecko.com] blocked IPs from China,” the tweet detailed. Tiger Securities and Futu Ban New Crypto Positions, Greatfire.org and BLOCKY Analysis Shows Websites Are 100% Blocked The Chinese journalist Colin ‘Wu’ Blockchain also disclosed this past week that the “Chinese [version of] Robinhood” Futu has banned specific Grayscale positions. “According to Futu (Chinese robinhood), at the request of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, GBTC/EHTE/ETCG/GDLC/OBTC/LTCN/BCHG will ban new positions from October 1, 2021,” Wu Blockchain noted. “Tiger Securities, another Chinese online stock trading platform, also issued a similar notice,” the journalist added four days later on September 28. With the stock applications banning Chinese residents from specific funds tethered to crypto and the website bans, Beijing has been getting far more serious than ever before. The web portal checking site greatfire.org indicates that both coinmarketcap.com and coingecko.com are 100% inaccessible to citizens residing in China. Tradingview.com is also blocked, huobi.com is blocked, and okex.com is blocked. Bitstamp is 100% blocked in China, and uniswap.org is inaccessible. Coinbase was blocked on September 27, 2021, according to the website analyzer greatfire.org. Of course, mainland China residents and visitors can attempt to access these websites via a virtual private network (VPN) or from a different proxy. The website analyzer greatfire.org also has an alternate website analyzer called BLOCKY which can check for GFW-blocked websites as well. What do you think about China’s Great Firewall blocking certain cryptocurrency-related websites? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Two U.S. senators have introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at improving the oversight of cryptocurrency. The bill requires the Treasury Secretary to submit a report to Congress on cryptocurrencies and their competitiveness globally, including how other countries are using and mining them as well as their impacts on supply chains. New Bill Introduced to Improve Oversight of Cryptocurrencies and Their Uses Globally Senator Maggie Hassan, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Senator Joni Ernst introduced legislation on cryptocurrency Monday. The bill states that its purpose is “To require the Secretary of the Treasury to submit to Congress a report on virtual currencies and global competitiveness.” The senators described that this bipartisan bill aims “to improve oversight of cryptocurrency,” including “mining operations in foreign countries.” Senator Hassan explained: The bill would require the Treasury Department to report to Congress on virtual currencies and their use globally – including how other countries are using and mining cryptocurrencies, and how cryptocurrency mining operations are impacting supply chains, including for critical technologies like semiconductors. The Treasury Secretary’s report will be in consultation with the Attorney General, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and other relevant government agencies. It shall be submitted no later than two years after the date of the enactment of the bill. Earlier this month, Senator Hassan called on multiple federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, to address the criminal usage of cryptocurrency, such as cyberattacks. During the confirmation hearing for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the senator also pressed for action against illegal uses of cryptocurrency. Senator Hassan commented: In order to strengthen U.S. competitiveness, our government must get a better handle on the role that cryptocurrency is playing in the global economy and how it is being leveraged by other countries. “I’m glad to partner across the aisle with Senator Ernst to help ensure that the Treasury Department stays on top of the use of cryptocurrency, including how it can impact our supply chains,” she opined. The bill can be found here. What do you think about this bill requiring a crypto report from the Treasury Secretary? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, says that cryptocurrency “is not going to end well if it stays outside the regulatory space.” The SEC has been criticized for taking an enforcement-centric approach to regulating the crypto industry. SEC Chair Says Crypto Will Not End Well Staying Outside Regulations SEC Chairman Gary Gensler talked about cryptocurrency regulation Monday during an interview with former federal prosecutor Preet Bharara at Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California. He explained that the crypto sector in the U.S. has many “trading venues and lending venues” with “not just dozens but hundreds and sometimes thousands of tokens on them.” Noting that “people will be hurt” if cryptocurrency markets are allowed to operate outside the purview of regulators, the SEC chairman warned: This is not going to end well if it stays outside the regulatory space. “To think that a field that’s grown 10-fold in the last 18 months — not just in terms of asset value, but in the underlying lending and much more — that it’s going to stay outside of these public policy frameworks and succeed,” he continued. “We’ll end up with a problem and a lot of people will be hurt.” In August, Gensler said that the cryptocurrency field is not going to reach any of its potential if it tries to stay outside of the SEC’s laws. Last week, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers also said that cryptocurrency will do better regulated rather than being treated like a libertarian paradise. The SEC chairman said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week that a number of cryptocurrency platforms, including the Nasdaq-listed Coinbase, have many tokens listed, insisting that some of them must be securities. He added that the SEC needs more manpower and funding to better regulate the crypto sector. He said, “Currently, we just don’t have enough investor protection in crypto finance, issuance, trading, or lending,” asserting that the crypto industry is “more like the Wild West or the old world of ‘buyer beware’ that existed before the securities laws were enacted.” However, some people criticize the SEC for taking an enforcement-centric approach to crypto regulation, including SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce. Last week, Senator Pat Toomey wrote a letter to Gensler asking for clarity on crypto regulation. What do you think about SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s comments on crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Verifone, a global payment system provider with 35 million devices in 150 countries, is rolling out crypto payment support in the U.S. in partnership with Bitpay. Verifone’s platform processes more than $440 billion annually. The company says, “the appetite for crypto payments has exploded this year.” Major Retailers Will Soon Be Able to Accept Cryptocurrency Payments via Verifone Major payment solution provider Verifone announced Tuesday its partnership with Bitpay “to enable consumer cryptocurrency payments on Verifone’s in-store and Ecommerce Cloud Services platforms in the United States.” Verifone provides “end-to-end payment and commerce solutions to the world’s best-known retail brands, major financial institutions, and directly to more than 600,000 merchants alike,” its website describes. The company’s global platform handles more than 10.4 billion online and in-store transactions annually, totaling more than $440 billion. About 35 million Verifone devices are in operation in more than 150 countries. The announcement details: Merchants will begin rolling out the solution later this year. The cryptocurrency payment solution requires one of Verifone’s Engage or new Android line of devices connected to the Verifone Cloud. “Merchants will be able to accept crypto payments directly from Verifone without the need for an account with Bitpay,” the payment solution provider added. “Funds will be settled promptly into the merchant’s bank account in traditional currency (e.g. USD) via Verifone.” In addition, the partnership allows Verifone the right to make a strategic investment in Bitpay. Merchants will be able to accept Bitpay’s supported cryptocurrencies: bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), dogecoin (DOGE), bitcoin cash (BCH), wrapped bitcoin (WBTC), litecoin (LTC), and 5 USD-pegged stablecoins (GUSD, USDC, PAX, DAI, and BUSD). Jeremy Belostock, head of Verifone’s APMs, commented: Our merchant base is busy enabling several new advanced payment methods (APMs), and the appetite for crypto payments has exploded this year. He believes that this crypto payment solution solves “all the potential challenges for merchants,” emphasizing, “there’s no translation risk, low implementation costs, and consumers will find the payment experience very seamless.” What do you think about Verifone enabling retailers to accept crypto payments in partnership with Bitpay? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

While celebrities and athletes have been jumping into the non-fungible token (NFT) scene headfirst, a large quantity of music acts have also entered the NFT industry. On Tuesday, a lineup of world-famous DJs are being represented in a newly launched NFT collection called Djenerates. The NFT collection is supported by prominent DJs like Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold, Paul Val Dyk, Benny Benassi, Sven Väth, and Blond:ish. Prominent DJs Featured in NFT Collection In 2021, non-fungible token (NFT) assets have become a billion-dollar industry and it seems everyone is trying to get in on the action. Bitcoin.com News has reported on the swarm of celebrities flocking to NFTs quite a bit this year. Popular hip-hop superstars like Snoop Dogg, Lil Pump, Eminem, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, and Ja Rule have also been participating in the blockchain and crypto revolution. Now a slew of popular DJs are being featured in a collection of NFTs called the Djenerates. The collection launched on September 28, and features 10,000 unique characters from the electronic music world. “From clubbers, DJs & bar staff to VIPs, bouncers and dancers, this is your exclusive pass into a new creative clubbing paradigm, known as the Djenerates,” the website details. Pioneering DJ Paul Oakenfold to Launch NFT Album on Cardano The Djenerates launch announcement details that the project has partnered with the Cardano network’s Starship Universe. The pioneering DJ Paul Oakenfold revealed at the recent Cardano summit in Laramie, Wyoming that he would be launching an NFT album (dubbed “Zombie Lobster”) on the ADA network. “We live in a technological age,” Oakenfold said. “Platforms used to be for trains, clouds were in the sky and socials were places you danced. Things change quickly. It’s all about ‘when?’ and ‘where?’ but few people ask ‘why?’. When you do, it becomes clear what the right path to take is,” the legendary DJ added. Soon pic.twitter.com/pmxxPCjPnG — Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) September 27, 2021 The Djenerates collection of NFTs will be a cross-chain NFT brand and the NFTs feature the likes of famous DJs such as Sven Väth, Blond:ish, Anfisa Letyago, Dubfire, Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold, Paul Val Dyk, Benny Benassi, Marco Faraone, and the Stafford Brothers. It also features random clubbers, ravers, bar staff, door staff, and dancers. “Working alongside [Starship] Universe to bring the 1st generative NFT drop to Cardano is an exciting opportunity for Djenerates,” Hipworth, the founder of Djenerates said. What do you think about the Djenerates collection of NFTs and the upcoming Paul Oakenfold album NFT? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

On Tuesday, the crypto firm FTX Trading Ltd, announced that the Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones has joined the company as an FTX Ambassador in a long-term partnership. The collaboration with the NFL player follows the firm’s partnership with seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady and his wife Gisele Bündchen. FTX Inks Long-Term Partnership With NFL Running Back Aaron Jones Crypto asset company FTX continues to make deals in the world of professional sports as just last week, FTX partnered with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team. FTX has also partnered with Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, the Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen, and became the MLB’s official crypto exchange brand in a long-term deal. FTX also purchased the U.S. professional esports giant TSM for $210 million and it won the naming rights to the Miami Heat arena. Following the deal with Mercedes F1, FTX announced that Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones is now a company ambassador. According to the deal, Jones also acquired a stake in FTX and the NFL player’s “compensation will be paid in cryptocurrency.” Jones was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft after leaving the University of Texas, El Paso. Statistics show Jones captured back-to-back 1000+ rushing yard seasons in 2019 and 2020. The following year, Jones was selected to play in the Pro Bowl at Allegiant Stadium. “I plan to invest a portion of my future marketing earnings in cryptocurrency and other blockchain-related assets through the FTX US exchange,” Jones said on Tuesday. The Green Bay Packers running back added: Additionally, my brother and I are excited to become shareholders in FTX through Showtyme Ventures, LLC – my family’s investing vehicle dedicated to investing in legendary entrepreneurs who are unapologetically changing the world, putting as equal an emphasis on making an impact as they do shareholder returns. My brother and I are excited to have FTX represent our first venture investment. A Slew of NFL Teams and Players Have Joined the Crypto Revolution, NFL Allegedly Warns Against Participation The deal with Aaron Jones, however, follows the NFL allegedly barring teams and players from participating in certain blockchain and crypto-related ventures. On September 3, a report from the sports publication The Athletic quoted “multiple club sources” who were familiar with the matter. A large number of NFL players and teams have been getting into blockchain and crypto over the last two years including players Trevor Lawrence, Russell Okung, Patrick Mahomes, and Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski. The company Grayscale Investments partnered with NFL team the New York Giants in the first week of May. In mid-June, the New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley said he planned to convert his endorsement revenue into bitcoin. Green Bay’s Aaron Jones says he plans to have his charity A&A All the Way (www.aaalltheway.org) integrate FTX Pay so donations can be made with crypto assets. The charity is aimed at “making an impact in the lives of our nation’s youth through charitable giving and action.” Brett Harrison, president of FTX US, said that the Green Bay Packers running back shares the same ideals as the company. “When we first met with Aaron, it was clear that he shared the same values FTX has been founded on – to leave a lasting positive impact on the world. FTX is thrilled to have Aaron join our team to assist us in bringing the world of crypto further into mainstream acceptance and adoption.” What do you think about the Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones joining FTX? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Singapore-based cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bitget announced a partnership with Juventus to become its sponsor. According to the agreement, Bitget will act as Juventus official partner and official cryptocurrency exchange partner, and also its first-ever sleeve partner. Established in 1897, Juventus is one of most time-honored and award-winning football clubs worldwide. It was the first club in the history of football to win all the major international trophies with 38 Serie A titles, 2 Champions League titles, and 3 UEFA Cups. Juventus is one of the top ten football clubs in the world, with elite players such as Chiellini, Morata, Dybala and Bonucci. In addition, legendary players like Nedved, Buffon, Zidane, Del Piero, Montero, Baggio and Cristiano Ronaldo have all played for the club, making it one of the most important and successful clubs in Europe and the world. “Bitget has been looking for outstanding partners from the sports world and game community. Juventus has been fighting hard in the past century, demonstrating the fair, competitive spirit that is expected in sports. Sharing the same spirit and upholding the mission of Better Trading Better Life, Bitget is committed to provide liberal, ultimate and fair trading for cryptocurrency services to users worldwide. The partnership will help Bitget better enhance our international reputation,” said James Lee, the Global Strategy Officer of Bitget. “It is a pleasure to welcome Bitget as the first Juventus Sleeve Partner and help them increase their awareness across our fanbase worldwide. We will work together globally and support the Partner’s international growth path by leveraging the mutual desire to address an increasingly broad audience.” said Giorgio Ricci, Chief Revenue Officer of Juventus. It is reported that Bitget, established in July 2018, is now one of the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges that support futures trading, spot trading and digital asset purchasing. It has 1.6 million registered users in 48 countries and regions including UK, France, Italy, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. As a platform in pursuit of ultimate service and innovation, Bitget pioneered to launch three leading products of USDT-Margined Futures, One-Click Copy Trade, and Quanto Swap Futures. With this unique performance, it has become the most popular platform among users. With an average daily trading volume of $5.6 billion, Bitget is the world’s sixth largest derivatives exchange and the largest crypto copy trading platform, according to CMC data. It is an undeniable trend that sports are getting increasingly connected with cryptocurrencies. Mainstream cryptos such as Bitcoin have been accepted as a payment method by many sports platforms. As global pandemic gives rise to the demand for digital solutions, the use cases of digital currencies have evolved rapidly, replacing part of the traditional functions. “Cross-border collaboration is fascinating. I am very excited to see the collision of thoughts between the crypto industry and the sports world. We are currently exploring more possibilities with Juventus. In addition, our King’s Cup Global Invitational will open for registration on 20, October. The contest will offer a prize pool of up to 100 BTC. Please stay tuned for further information.” Bitget’s Global Strategy Officer added. For details about Bitget, please visit bitget.com. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

On Bitcoin’s 12th anniversary, a mystery miner from the early days spent 1,000 decade-old bitcoins that were mined in 2010. The strange miner was not the only entity that spent 2010 BTC block rewards during the last nine months, but this miner returned on a few occasions to spend strings of ten-year-old block rewards. As the end of 2021 nears, 152 blocks with 7,600 bitcoin worth $319 million today and minted in 2010 have been spent this year after sitting idle for over a decade. **Editor’s note: This article was updated at 12:40 p.m. (EST) on Sept. 28, 2021, to include commentary from the creator of the blockchain parser, in order to explain the parser’s definition so-called ‘sleeping bitcoins.’ Old School Whale Transfers From 2010 Outpace 2011 and 2012 Spends, $977 Million Worth of Sleeping Bitcoins Moved This Year During the last 12 years bitcoins have been lost by a great number of people under different circumstances, and it’s likely these coins will never return to circulation. Then there’s another group of bitcoins the community calls ‘sleeping bitcoins’ or ‘zombie bitcoins’ because they have been sitting idle since the day they were created. At some point, if the owner decides to spend the bitcoin, the ‘sleeping bitcoins’ wake from slumber after a number of years. Last year and this year, Bitcoin.com News has been monitoring old school block rewards that get spent years later, after discovering an extraordinary 2010 whale. Following the spend on the 12th anniversary of Bitcoin (January 3, 2021), the mystery miner appeared a few times during the year to spend strings of 20 block rewards from 2010. Block spends from 2010 are not common, and each block reward contains 50 BTC as the first block reward halving did not happen until November 28, 2012. The last time this specific miner from 2010 appeared was on June 9, 2021. This year they spent 20 block reward strings on January 3, 2021 (Bitcoin’s 12th anniversary), January 10, 2021, January 25, 2021, February 28, 2021, March 23, 2021, and June 9, 2021. That’s a total of 120 blocks, or 6,000 bitcoin, worth $252 million spent by what we assume is a single mining entity from 2010. In fact, we can say that the entity spent 78.94% of all the 2010 blocks spent this year (152 total). Because of this whale’s spends, the 2010 block reward spends in 2021 outpaced 2011 and 2012 block reward spends. In 2021, there were approximately 85 block rewards from 2011 transferred from the original address. That’s 4,250 bitcoins total worth $178 million using today’s exchange rates. January and February 2021 saw the most 2011 blocks transferred this year. Statistics from btcparser.com show that there were more 2011 blocks spent this year than the quantity of 2012 blocks. The aggregate total of 2012 block rewards moved in 2021 is currently 63 block rewards. Of the block rewards in the list of 2012 blocks, all of them were pre-halving minted which means they were issued before November 28, 2012. 63 block rewards with 50 BTC each is approximately 3,150 BTC or $132 million dollars’ worth at the time of writing. The number of 2013 blocks transferred in 2021 exceeded all of the 2010, 2011, and 2012 block reward spends this year. 2013 Block Spends Surpass Previous Three Years but the Transfers Moved Fewer Bitcoin So far there have been 330 block rewards from 2013 spent during the course of 2021. That’s 30 more blocks than the 2010, 2011, and 2012 spends combined. However, because the 2013 blocks were spent after the first halving in November 2012, the transfers only moved 8,250 BTC this year ($347M). That’s because miners in 2013 got 25 BTC instead of the 50 BTC reward that was given prior to the halving. All of the 2010, 2011, and 2012 spends combined (300 blocks) adds up to 15,000 BTC ($630M). Between block rewards moved from 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013, an aggregate total of 630 block rewards was spent with 23,259 BTC worth $977 million today. Crypto proponents have no idea who these miners are but they certainly mined a great quantity of bitcoin in the early days. It’s worth noting that the terms “spent” or “spend” in this article, do not necessarily mean that the bitcoins were “sold” to a third party for fiat or another crypto asset. For this article, using Btcparser.com we parsed 21,519 addresses from 2009, 12,396 addresses from 2010, 3,598 addresses from 2011, 2,193 addresses from 2012, and 5,214 addresses from 2013. From a visual perspective, in this report we leveraged “The (Not) ‘Satoshi’s Bags’ Tracker” located on theholyroger.com. No block rewards from 2009 were spent in 2021 and the last time a 2009 block was moved was on May 20, 2020, when an entity spent a coinbase reward that was minted on February 9, 2009. Speaking with the creator of Btcparser.com, he said that it was worth mentioning that sleeping wallets are not all alike. “For instance,” he said. “Whalealert thinks that every wallet that hasn’t made any outgoing transaction for the last few years is a sleeping one. In my opinion, those are not truly sleeping ones. Btcparser monitors only wallets that have never made any outgoing transfer. Thus we don’t know whenever someone has access to those bitcoins (knows the private key), so we call them virgins.” The blockchain parser’s creator added: Every time the wallet loses its virginity, Btcparser removes it from the monitoring lists. So it might be that some wallets had 50 BTC, but moved only one. Our parser sends messages about that, it shows how much has been transferred, how much remained on balance and that’s it, this wallet won’t be monitored in the future. What do you think about the $977 million in bitcoin moved from 2010-2013 block rewards in 2021? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The investigation into the Russia-based crypto pyramid Finiko is growing with law enforcement officials in Samara region announcing they have launched eight criminal cases against Finiko associates. Authorities are also working to identify more victims of the Ponzi scheme, Russia’s largest in recent years. Finiko Members Under Investigation in Samara, Russia The Russian Ministry of Interior’s Main Department in Samara Oblast, a region bordering Tatarstan, is investigating eight cases of fraud against Finiko associates. The members of the Ponzi scheme are accused of misappropriating 6 million rubles from investors who were promised high returns on their money between July 2020 and July 2021, the department announced. The crypto scam’s victims in these cases are all residents of Samara, law enforcement officials detailed in a press release quoted by Forklog. They were convinced by the Finiko representatives to deposit their funds worth almost $83,000, according to current exchange rates, into the scheme’s so-called “automated profit generation system,” police officials explained. The department further noted its investigative efforts are now aimed at documenting all facts of illegal activities carried out by the employees of the investment company, a phantom entity. Authorities are also trying to identify all individuals defrauded by Finiko, which collapsed this summer. At least 3,300 people from Russia, other countries in the former-Soviet space like Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Kirgizstan, as well as EU member states and the U.S., have so far officially complained about investing in the financial pyramid. Their registered losses have reached 1 billion rubles (close to $14 million) but some estimates suggest the total is likely to exceed $4 billion. According to a report by Chainalysis, the Ponzi scheme has received over $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin since December 2018. In a blog post published on Sept. 1, the blockchain forensics company revealed that over half of the total crypto value sent to scam addresses from the region of Eastern Europe during the studied period had gone to the Russia-based Finiko. Authorities in Samara’s neighboring province, the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, have so far detained a number of high-ranking Finiko executives, including the pyramid’s founder, Kirill Doronin, two of its vice presidents, Ilgiz Shakirov and Dina Gabdullina, as well as Lilia Nurieva who rose to the rank of a so-called “10th Star.” International arrest warrants have been issued for three of Doronin’s close associates, Zygmunt Zygmuntovich, and Marat and Edward Sabirov, who managed to leave Russia before the investigation started in July. This month, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan confirmed the warrants for their detention in absentia. The Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow has taken over the investigation citing the magnitude of the fraud. Do you expect Russian authorities to detain more Finiko members? Share your thoughts on the case in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Triall launches its main utility token TRL on Uniswap following a successful token pre-sale that raised more than 2 million USD. AMSTERDAM, Sept 28, 2021 – Blockchain startup Triall launched its main utility token TRL in an initial DEX offering (IDO) on Uniswap at 13:00 UTC today, after raising more than 2 million USD in its token pre-sale campaign. The company introduces a tokenized ecosystem that helps secure and streamline the development of new vaccines and medicines during clinical trials. As part of its launch, Triall also introduces a staking program powered by DeFi company Ferrum Network, enabling APRs of up to 250% to reward early adopters of TRL. Modern-day clinical trials are increasingly complex, lengthy, and resource-inefficient. As a result, it typically takes 10 years of clinical trials before a new medicine can enter the market. Last year’s exceptionally fast COVID-19 vaccine trials demonstrated that, when stakeholders and efforts align, there are clear opportunities to improve the speed and rigor of clinical trial operations. Triall is seizing this opportunity by leveraging blockchain and related technologies to secure and streamline clinical operations. Over the past 3 years, Triall developed and commercialized its first product Verial eTMF, which allows researchers to anchor research data on the blockchain to secure the integrity of clinical trial data. The product is already being used and on-boarded by six clinical trials, including an IBS, autoimmune, and COVID-19 vaccine project. Verial eTMF is the first of many blockchain-enabled applications that will be integrated into a single digital platform: the Triall ecosystem. Triall is a project with global ambitions. The company builds on a fast network within the clinical trial space, spanning the EU and US regions, and is supported by a global network of partners and advisors, including industry experts and key opinion leaders that support Triall in the further buildout of its ecosystem. Speaking about Triall’s global ambitions, Hadil Es-Sbai, CEO of Triall said: “This is the right time for disruptive innovations to demonstrate their added value in clinical operations and make their way to industry-wide adoption. Our first product is currently being onboarded in a growing number of clinical trials. We can’t wait for the day when Triall will be recognized as the go-to ecosystem for a range of essential products that enable faster, smarter, and more-efficient clinical trials.” To fuel the micro-economy of its ecosystem, Triall is introducing its main utility token TRL. This token primarily serves as a means of payment for the software solutions offered within the Triall ecosystem but also enables P2P compensation, community engagement, governance, and loyalty programs (such as memberships and staking programs). Over the past months Triall has partnered with several prominent companies in the crypto space including, among others, LTO Network, Zokyo, Faculty Group, Ferrum Network as well as the TrustPad and Prostarter launchpads. About Triall Triall brings Web 3.0 to medical research by creating a digital ecosystem of blockchain-integrated software solutions that secure and streamline the development of new vaccines and therapeutics during clinical trials. Triall’s solutions make clinical trials tamper-resistant, and enable secure and efficient integrations between the many isolated systems and parties involved in clinical trial processes. Triall’s software is created by clinical trial professionals to ensure optimal user experience, solving actual industry pain points. For more information on how Triall is using blockchain to revolutionize medical research, visit their website here. Follow Triall on Twitter Join the Triall community on Telegram Media Contact Details Contact email: press@triall.io TRIALL is the source of this content. This Press Release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

The year 2020 may well go down as the year when blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, in particular, gained mainstream recognition. The restrictions on movement, as well as the widespread fear of catching a virus, forced many to look for alternative ways of making payments or sending remittances. This search for an alternative inevitably led many to crypto. Although the use of such alternatives to fiat cash continues to grow, many of the intended beneficiaries in places like Africa are still unable to use such digital currencies. Kenya’s Kotani Pay Addresses Lack of Crypto Access The lack of smartphones, misinformation about cryptocurrencies, and poor net connectivity are some of the main reasons why the number of digital currency users is not growing as some crypto proponents would have wanted. As a consequence, some players in this space are now working hard to find solutions to help those that presently cannot use digital currencies. One such player is Kotani Pay, a Kenya-based fintech start-up that is focused on providing a reliable blockchain on-ramp and off-ramp service for users in Africa. Bitcoin.com News recently reached to the start-up’s CMO, Brian Kimotho, to learn more about Kotani’s offering. Below are Kimotho’s written responses to questions sent via WhatsApp. Bitcoin.com News (BCN): When was Kotani Pay established and why? Brain Kimotho (BK): Kotani Pay was established in 2020. We built Kotani Pay after realizing for a very long time that the people who were set out to benefit the most from the promise of Blockchain and Web3 technologies had no way of interacting with the services offered. Most of these users don’t have smartphones or an internet connection. They only have feature phones. The most they can do is communicate via texting or making phone calls. Kotani Pay is built with this in mind. To access the service one simply needs to dial the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code. Once dialed, the user is presented with a simple menu where they can make their preferred selection — send money, withdraw… BCN: You are currently involved in efforts to provide the so-called universal basic income (UBI) to refugees. Can you tell our readers what motivated your company to become involved in this? BK: Serving the refugees in collaboration with Impact Market, Refugee Integration Organisation and Mission Possible 2030 was in line with our goal of making Web3 technologies accessible to the last mile. In Africa for example, the total number of mobile phone users stands at 700M. Out of these 700 million users, only 260 million have internet-enabled smartphones. Kotani Pay, through projects such as the UBI for refugees, is able to realize its goals for empowering the remaining 440 million people who are using feature phones. BCN: How many refugees are now benefiting from this UBI initiative? BK: 2000 with an additional 4000 in the pipeline. BCN: On your website, you tout Kotani Pay as “Africa’s most reliable blockchain on-ramp and off-ramp service.” In exactly how many countries do you provide this service? BK: The Kotani Pay USSD service is powered by the Kotani Application Programming Interface (API). With this API, businesses can integrate their processes to our off-ramp service to serve mobile phone (smartphone and feature phone) users in Africa. BCN: From your perspective, what would you say is the most important use case for digital currencies in Africa? BK: Banking the unbanked. BCN: You provide an on-ramp and off-ramp service on a continent where most countries have either banned or imposed some form of restrictions on digital currencies. How are you managing to provide this service and still not violate regulations in countries where you operate? BK: We are fully compliant with the Payments Services Act and banking regulations in Kenya. We work via banking APIs regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya for user AML/KYC due diligence. Beyond that, we provide the service leveraging stablecoins on the Celo network pegged to the value of the dollar and euro. The stablecoins are backed by other verifiable assets making them less volatile to price fluctuations. BCN: Countries like Ghana and Nigeria are proceeding with plans to launch central bank digital currencies (CBDC) while many other countries plan to do the same in the near future. In your opinion, are CBDCs something that the crypto industry should be afraid of? BK: No, CBDCs are not something we should be afraid of. The CBDC use case goes to show the possibilities of what Web3 and Blockchain have to offer. CBDCs present several benefits including low barriers to entry for users, lower cost of minting money as well as low cost of cross-border and interbank transactions. What are your thoughts on this interview? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Anthony Scaramucci, CEO of Skybridge Capital, a multi-asset class investment firm, says he thinks the institutional investment boom in cryptocurrencies has been greatly exaggerated. In an interview given to Bloomberg last week, Scaramucci stated that most institutions are still not interested in cryptocurrency as an investment and that only 10% are actively investing in crypto. Anthony Scaramucci Thinks Institutions Are Still Not Big on Crypto Anthony Scaramucci, CEO of Skybridge Capital, thinks there is still a long way until bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are embraced by institutional investors. In an interview offered to Bloomberg, Scaramucci stated that, according to his experience, only 10% of the institutional world is actively investing in cryptocurrency. While this may be a minority, according to Scaramucci, it’s a minority that has some impact. The Skybridge Capital founder says the situation feels like a “feeding frenzy.” The investor stated: The institutions are not there. Anybody who’s telling you there’s institutional adoption into this space is not being totally honest – or they’re seeing something that I’m not seeing. This line of thinking holds that the whole cryptocurrency bull market has been pushed mostly by retail investors and that when institutions really do enter the crypto space, they will give it a massive boost. However, instruments like ETFs will play a major role in achieving this goal. Defi and the Future of Institutional Investment Decentralized finance has been one of the big topics that have driven the cryptocurrency market this year. The ability to transact and access financial services without a middleman is a key feature of the sector. Scaramucci thinks this might attract more institutions into the space in the long run. But this being as it may, institutions still have reasons to be wary of investing in cryptocurrencies. Some maintain there is no clear regulation in the sector, something that has been criticized by many actors that are currently facing lawsuits in crypto-related cases, like Ripple. This month, Coinbase, one of the leading U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges, was stopped in its tracks by the SEC when it intended to launch a crypto-based lending product. The latest Chinese crypto ban also affects the perception that investors have of these instruments. In any case, there has been an increase in attention to cryptocurrency from big institutional firms like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Fidelity, among others, that have started offering crypto services to their customers. What do you think about Anthony Scaramucci’s opinion of institutional investment in cryptocurrency? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of one of the biggest financial institutions of the world, JPMorgan, has once again let the world know about his stance on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Dimon stated that whoever borrowed money to purchase bitcoin was, in his opinion, a “fool.” However, his personal opinion has not clashed with the fact that JPMorgan is now offering access to six cryptocurrency funds for its customers and even created its own digital ledger token for payments, called JPM Coin. Jamie Dimon Blasts Cryptocurrencies JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon blasted crypto and bitcoin yet again. The JPMorgan executive argued about the real value of cryptocurrencies and his take on the cryptocurrency world in an interview with the Times of India last week. Dimon stated that the latest bull market in cryptocurrencies was created by a lot of liquidity in the system, which then leads to speculation. Dimon declared: I am not a buyer of bitcoin. I think if you borrow money to buy bitcoin, you’re a fool. However, Dimon also acknowledged there is the possibility that the cryptocurrency sector could increase its value tenfold in the next years. Regulation and JPMorgan Offerings Dimon was also asked about how he believes regulations will affect cryptocurrencies in the future. While he stressed bitcoin was not its main interest, Dimon did state that he believes governments will regulate bitcoin at some point in time. He explained: It is going to be regulated. Governments regulate just about everything. I don’t know if it’s an asset. I don’t know if it’s foreign exchange. I don’t know if it’s a currency. I don’t know if it’s the securities law. But they’re going to do it. However, the personal opinions of Dimon about the validity of cryptocurrency and the coming regulation of the cryptocurrency market have not affected JPMorgan’s business moves into crypto. In fact, the company is now more open to cryptocurrencies than it was two or three years ago. In August, the firm informed they would allow its customers to access six cryptocurrency-based investment funds (Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Trust, and Ethereum Classic Trust, and the Osprey Bitcoin Trust). Also, the company has dipped its toes when it comes to digital currencies. In October 2020, JPMorgan announced the creation of “JPM Coin,” a network that would allow its customers to make instantaneous payments using blockchain technology. What do you think about Jamie Dimon’s remarks about bitcoin? tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. AscendEX, a global digital asset trading platform, is thrilled to announce the listing of the Refinable token (FINE) under the pair USDT/FINE on Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. UTC. Refinable is an interactive, multi-chain capable NFT marketplace with a one-stop solution to create, discover, trade, and leverage NFTs for brands and creators. Refinable is the first NFT marketplace built on the Binance Smart Chain enabling users and established brands to interact with each other by leveraging NFTs. Beyond standard marketplace features, Refinable’s strategy is quite different from other NFT marketplaces. They are actively talking to non-crypto companies to develop unique NFT engagements. Its community’s strength will differentiate the NFT marketplace on Refinable, and they believe the most engaged, long-lasting communities are those of existing and beloved brands. Refinable believes in the idea that each brand would bring with it a whole community of users. The main goal and long-term value proposition for Refinable is to onboard brands and their dedicated communities. As gas prices continue to rise on the Ethereum chain, it is becoming prohibitively expensive for creators and traders alike. These high costs stymy artists’ creativity and willingness to engage with the technology. Beyond the general inaccessibility, brands also lack an easy onramp to work with NFTs. Refinable is building on BSC to solve these issues, providing users and brands with cheaper and more efficient scalability options. Additionally, BSC offers smart contracts that Refinable will leverage for engagements between its users and brand partners. Building on BSC represents an untapped opportunity to drive customer engagement and reach new demographics. Overall, the decision to run Refinable on BSC creates an accessible environment for brands and users to start engaging with NFTs and like-minded communities. FINE is the platform’s native token. Token holders can access membership tiers with more platform benefits such as discounted service fees. Users can spend FINE tokens to access certain platform features without membership requirements, such as priority listing. Furthermore, token holders can obtain governance privileges to suggest proposals and even moderate content on the platform. AscendEX’s listing of the FINE token highlights its commitment to supporting the growth of the NFT ecosystem. FINE joins a long list of high-quality NFT based projects listed on AscendEX. You can find a list of NFT related listings HERE. About AscendEX AscendEX is a global cryptocurrency financial platform with a comprehensive product suite including spot, margin, and futures trading, wallet services, and staking support for over 150 blockchain projects such as bitcoin, ether, and ripple. Launched in 2018, AscendEX services over 1 million retail and institutional clients globally with a highly liquid trading platform and secure custody solutions. AscendEX has emerged as a leading platform by ROI on its “initial exchange offerings” by supporting some of the industry’s most innovative projects from the DeFi ecosystem such as Thorchain, xDai Stake, and Serum. AscendEX users receive exclusive access to token airdrops and the ability to purchase tokens at the earliest possible stage. To learn more about how AscendEX is leveraging best practices from both Wall Street and the cryptocurrency ecosystem to bring the best altcoins to its users, please visit www.AscendEX.com. For more information and updates, please visit: Website: https://ascendex.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/AscendEX_Global Telegram: https://t.me/AscendEXEnglish Medium: https://medium.com/ascendex About Refinable Refinable is an interactive, multi-chain capable NFT marketplace that provides a one-stop solution to create, discover, trade, and leverage NFTs for brands and creators. Refinable is the first NFT marketplace built on Binance Smart Chain that enables individual users and established brands to interact by leveraging NFTs. For more information and updates, please visit: Website: www.refinable.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/refinableapp Telegram: https://t.me/refinablenft Medium: https://refinable.medium.com/ This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

The beauty behind cryptocurrency networks like Bitcoin is the fact that anyone can participate in the field of crypto mining. In fact, two siblings explained in a recent interview that they rake in more than $30K per month mining digital assets. Kid Duo Captures $30K a Month Mining Digital Currencies A 14- and 9-year-old brother and sister pair have made headlines in recent times for explaining how they make over $30,000 a month mining crypto assets. The 9-year-old Aanya Thakur and her brother 14-year-old Ishaan mined three types of digital currencies this summer because they “wanted to learn something new about technology – and also make some money along the way.” The two appeared in a CNBC report published by the reporter Taylor Locke and the CNBC broadcast “Make It.” According to the Thakur siblings, the duo mines bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH) and ravencoin (RVN). Youtube videos taught Ishaan how to convert his Alienware computer into a mining rig and at first, the siblings mined ethereum to start. “Crypto mining is just like mining for gold or diamonds,” Ishaan explained in his interview. “Instead of using shovels, you mine with computers. Instead of finding a piece of gold or a diamond in the mine, you find a cryptocurrency,” he added. Ishaan and Aanya liked mining so much with the help of their dad they started a mining firm called Flifer Technologies. “We liked it so much that we started to add more processors [or chips], and made $1,000 in our first month,” Ishaan remarked. At the end of July, the duo was able to purchase other equipment like SHA256 capable ASIC Antminers, alongside Nvidia RTX 3080-Ti GPUs. Ishaan stressed: We can process a little over 10 billion Ethereum algorithms per second. Siblings Operation Leverages 100% Renewable Energy The duo’s father Raj did help get the team going and took out a loan for the brother and sister team to expand. The report by Taylor Locke details that Raj would not disclose the size of the loan. The story about the Thakur siblings follows the tale about the 12-year-old “Weird Whales” NFT creator that made a few hundred thousand dollars in ether selling his NFT collection. There’s been a number of young people that have stepped into the world of cryptocurrencies at a young age. In 2018, a 15-year-old security researcher shared a Ledger hardware wallet exploit he found. The same year, a 14-year-old developer built an uncensorable voting platform. The brother and sister from Texas who started Flifer Technologies explained during their interview that when they mine crypto they use “100% renewable energy.” “We moved from my desk to the garage, since the house was getting too much heat and noise,” the Thakur siblings said. “[W]e outgrew the garage, since heat and noise [were] too much for the garage too. We now use the garage only for building and testing mining rigs. When they are ready, we move them to a professional, air-conditioned data center in downtown Dallas.” What do you think about the 14- and 9-year-old brother and sister duo who decided to start their own mining business? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The deadline for crypto exchanges and service providers in South Korea to meet requirements to stay open under the new regulation has passed. Twenty-nine cryptocurrency exchanges met the deadline to continue operations but only four of them can offer trading in Korean won. New South Korean Crypto Regulation in Effect The Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information requires crypto exchanges to obtain Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification and submit a report to the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) by midnight on Sept. 24. Exchanges that want to offer trading in Korea won must also form a partnership with a local bank to offer real-name accounts to users. The Financial Services Commission (FSC), South Korea’s top financial regulator, said Saturday that 29 crypto exchanges are ISMS-certified and submitted a report to the FIU before the deadline. Their submissions will be processed within three months. Only four out of 29 exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit — have successfully partnered with banks to offer real-name accounts to their users. A bank partnership is required for exchanges to offer traders the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in exchange for Korean won. The remaining 25 exchanges are only allowed to operate as crypto-only exchanges. The 29 crypto exchanges are now obligated to set up a system to adopt global anti-money laundering standards called the “travel rule,” as recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental anti-money laundering watchdog. Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit are developing a joint system to comply with the travel rule while Upbit, the largest exchange in South Korea, is working on its own system. After the Friday deadline, 37 small crypto exchanges failed to meet the regulatory requirements and must close their businesses. Exchanges that fail to do so face a fine of up to 50 million won ($42,365) or up to five years in prison. What do you think about 29 crypto exchanges meeting the regulatory requirements in South Korea but only four being able to trade in Korean won? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

On Monday, the high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure provider and bitcoin mining firm Northern Data AG announced the acquisition of the bitcoin mining operation Bitfield N.V. in a stock-for-stock deal. Northern Data says the company will obtain 33,000 of the latest generation ASIC bitcoin miners from the arrangement. Northern Data AG Acquires Bitfield N.V. — Firm gains Immediate Access to Deployable ASIC Mining Rigs The Bitcoin network hashrate is hovering just above the 140 exahash per second (EH/s) handle at the time of writing. Bitcoin mining has become incredibly competitive and operations are attempting to be more energy efficient. In 2021, there’s been a number of orders and acquisitions of thousands of ASIC bitcoin miners. On September 27, the HPC infrastructure provider and bitcoin mining company Northern Data AG announced the acquisition of the operation Bitfield. The acquisition will allow Northern Data to obtain 33,000 ASIC bitcoin miners via the deal. “Northern Data will acquire an equity interest of up to 100% (but not less than 86%) in Bitfield N.V. for a total enterprise value of up to approximately EUR 400 million and has signed binding purchase agreements with the major shareholders today,” the company announced. Northern Data will gain immediate access to Bitfield’s deployable ASIC mining rigs and current hardware including “over 6,600 high-performance ASIC miners already in operation.” “Commissioning schedule for deployment of another already available 26,000 brand-new miners, primarily at sites in North America, is expected to be completed by end of Q1 2022,” Northern Data details. Stock-for-Stock Transaction: The Issuance of up to 5.1 Million Shares in Northern Data AG The transaction between both parties will be a “stock-for-stock transaction involving the issuance of up to 5.1 million shares in Northern Data AG.” All of the bitcoin mining sites are “primarily” located “in Canada and the U.S.A.,” the announcement on Monday details. The company plans to “increase in the number of ASIC miners and GPU server systems” in the future. “The takeover of Bitfield is an important pillar of our scalable growth strategy,” Aroosh Thillainathan, the founder and CEO of Northern Data AG said in a statement sent to Bitcoin.com News. “With this acquisition, we add bitcoin mining to our three existing businesses – bitcoin hosting and services, altcoin mining and cloud computing – and achieve an even greater increase in value, not least of all because of the trend in mining profitability.” What do you think about Northern Data AG acquiring the bitcoin mining firm Bitfield? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Malta, 27 Sep 2021 – Master Ventures have announced that they have added Polker into their highly regarded investment portfolio. The decision from Master Ventures to invest in the Polker comes as the platform prepares to launch its beta play-to-earn game to the public after a hugely successful September. Master Ventures’ portfolio includes the likes of Coinbase, Ripple, and Kraken – and now Polker (PKR). Master Venture’s have added Polker to their portfolio as the team behind the project hit milestone after milestone throughout September. Polker launched onto a centralized exchange, received a grant and partnered with Polygon; they also recently announced they are integrating Chainlink’s on-chain price oracles into their systems. On top of this, Polker recently launched a massive $100,000 staking pool, have announced they are in the final stages of pen testing with Quinel, and also received a shout out from R&B superstar Akon. Basically, they have gone all out for September – and this has gotten them noticed. Mentioning the addition of Polker into Master Ventures’ portfolio, founder and CEO Kyle Chasse had the following to say: “Polker is just one of those projects that once you start to learn about them, you can’t help but want to learn more. The potential here is massive and I’m more than happy to have Polker in our portfolio” – Kyle Chasse, Founder and CEO of Master Ventures Polker.Game & PKR.io Polker.Game is the first use-case of pkr.io, the powerhouse behind the platform. The patented protocols offered by pkr.io are all being implemented into Polker’s soon to be released play-to-earn poker platform. Polker will be the first blockchain-based gaming platform that utilizes Unreal Engine 4 within a play-to-earn NFT ecosystem. The upcoming beta release will demonstrate the power of pkr.io’s patented True Random number Generator and Provably Fair Auditable Gameplay protocols. Both of these use SHA-256 alongside smart contract interaction to allow for a truly trustless gaming environment for players. PKR Token Staking Live Master Ventures’ announcement comes just a few days after Polker initiated the offering of a generous $100,000 staking pool. The pool is on the Ethereum blockchain and rewards are accrued and can be collected at any given time with each block propagated. The pool’s duration is for three months and the current APY on the pool is over 130%. Details of the Staking Pool: Allocation: $100,000 PKR (Market value number of $PKR 25th of Sept. 2021) Duration: Three Months Rewards: Rewards will be determined in real-time and increase with each block propagated on the Ethereum blockchain (average block time: 15s). Rewards will be proportional to the percentage of the pool that your ‘stake’ consists of for the duration that you are in the pool. About Polker.Game Polker.game is the first Play-to-Earn poker game powered by $PKR which uses Unreal Engine 4 for immersive and powerful gameplay. They utilize a provably fair system for truly transparent gameplay. Earn NFT’s by playing poker and gain the ability to play In tournaments, unlock awesome new animations and backgrounds, and expand upon the Polker Metaverse. Media Contacts: Website- Polker Twitter – Polker Telegram – Polker Telegram Announcements- Polker Facebook – Polker Medium – Polker This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

A web portal that displays a list of alleged owners of all the bitcoin in the world has been shared a great deal since China cracked down on crypto trading last week. The web portal claims that the Chinese government owns 194,775 bitcoin that reportedly stem from the Plustoken crypto scam. The problem with the list’s sources is that the ownership verification is highly inconclusive and doesn’t offer much of anything aside from speculation. Does China or Bulgaria Really Hold Billions in Bitcoin? Ever since China made a few statements concerning citizens dealing with cryptocurrency via offshore exchanges and explaining that the process is illegal, a web page with a list called “Who Holds All The Bitcoin?” has been shared all over social media and cryptocurrency forums. The reason people share it is because they speculate that China is banning bitcoin, while at the same time hoarding 194,775 bitcoins from the Plustoken crypto scam. The list of who owns all the bitcoin also provides a link to sources, and the China source stems from an article published by theblockcrypto.com on November 27, 2020. The source the website uses is an article written by Wolfie Zhao and the editorial is called “Chinese police have seized $4.2 billion cryptos from Plustoken Ponzi crackdown.” The article also contains a court judgment order which explains the case details and lists the conspirators involved. While the article and the judgment order note that the Chinese government did seize various quantities of bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, and other tokens, it does not necessarily mean that the Chinese government still holds these crypto assets. There is no hard evidence that the Chinese government holds approximately 194,775 BTC today. The Chinese government would have to prove ownership, and it won’t, and there’s no way of telling whether or not the nation-state sold the assets. It may be possible for blockchain surveillance trackers (blockchain parsers) to at least get a glimpse at whether or not it is even worth pondering. The Chinese government would have to either make a public display and move the coins so the world can see or prove ownership of the funds by using the private key and signature verification. If the Chinese government source is considered legitimate, then people could also assume that Bulgaria owns 213,519 bitcoin. There are plenty of articles regarding the mystery behind the Bulgarian government seizing these coins, but to this day, it is still debatable as to whether or not they are still owned by Bulgaria. Evidence shows it is very likely that Bulgaria auctioned the 200K BTC stash, yet some still believe it is owned by the Bulgarian government. It is also assumed that the government in Ukraine owns 46,351 bitcoin but that figure only comes from public disclosure forms that derive from Ukrainian civil servants. Cryptographic Verification and Proof of Reserves There is no way of verifying whether or not the Chinese government or Bulgarian government still owns any of these bitcoins that were seized from criminal actions. Again, China or Bulgaria would have to prove ownership in a public manner or prove they could move these funds. The countries could sign a message tied to a specific address that held the said quantity of bitcoin, but no government would do this. Some of the sources on the list of who owns all the bitcoin derive from tweets and other articles tied to the likes of Tim Draper and Michael Saylor. Unless these individuals prove ownership by moving the said quantities of bitcoin or they sign a message tied to the crypto asset’s private key, a list of these people with approximate bitcoin holdings is meaningless. Ownership and proving true proof of reserves is quite easy in the world of bitcoin with a private key and signature. Someday, proof of reserves in bitcoin, by signature, will likely be relied on more heavily as the years transpire, because you can’t take a government’s word for it or some individual on social media saying they own thousands of bitcoin. Bitcoin proponent Nic Carter discusses the importance of proof of reserves in an editorial that highlights: Proof of Reserves + Proof of Liability = Proof of Solvency In the introduction to the proof of reserves subject, Carter notes that “if there’s a single thing I could do to better this industry, it would be to convince every custodial service provider in the cryptocurrency space to adopt a routine Proof of Reserve program.” Proof of reserves can be done with bitcoin (and other crypto assets) by pretty much any individual or organization that exists today. Without proof of reserves, everything else is mere speculation, hearsay, and unverified evidence. This would include every crypto custodian that doesn’t deploy a proof of reserve method or a claimant that simply says they own a quantity of bitcoin. Just as we would not accept an individual that claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto without verified cryptographic proof, the same can be said about these lists of so-called bitcoin owners. Fact is, without cryptographic proof, every ‘who owns bitcoin’ list can be called into question, and dismissed as mere speculation. What do you think about lists of bitcoin owners claiming to show specific ownership and approximate quantities of bitcoin owned by individuals or organizations? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Major cryptocurrency exchanges are cutting ties with users in China following the latest crypto crackdown announcement by the Chinese government. Huobi has stopped letting new users in China sign up for its services while Binance has blocked account registrations using Chinese mobile phone numbers. Major Crypto Exchanges Stop Signing Up Chinese Users Following China’s latest crackdown announcement, several cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers said they have begun cutting ties with users in China. Crypto exchange Huobi announced Sunday that it will “gradually retire existing mainland China users.” The exchange wrote: To comply with local laws and regulations, Huobi Global has ceased account registration for new users in mainland China, effective September 24, 2021 (UTC+8). Huobi Global will gradually retire existing mainland China user accounts by 24:00 (UTC+8) on Dec 31, 2021. Huobi Group co-founder Du Jun told Reuters, “On the very day we saw the notice, we started to take corrective measures.” Meanwhile, Binance said it has blocked account registrations using Chinese mobile phone numbers and its app is also no longer available for download in China. A spokesperson for the exchange said: Binance takes its compliance obligations very seriously and is committed to following local regulator requirements wherever we operate. Binance has been under scrutiny from a long list of regulators worldwide, including those in the U.S., U.K., Netherlands, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Lithuania, Italy, and Canada. On Monday, the exchange ended some services in Singapore. Tokenpocket, a crypto wallet provider, also said in a notice to clients that it would terminate services to users in mainland China in order to comply with Chinese regulations. Some people see the crypto crackdown by the Chinese government as positive news that has little effect on the crypto industry. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz recently explained that China has “less and less” influence over the crypto market. Meanwhile, several U.S. lawmakers see the Chinese crackdown as a big opportunity for the U.S. to lead in the area of cryptocurrency. What do you think about crypto exchanges cutting ties with users in China? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

On September 22, 2021, a U.S. district judge from San Antonio, Texas, granted a summary judgment on the civil forfeiture of 147 bitcoin worth $6.3 million held on a Trezor hardware wallet. According to the court filing, the crypto assets stemmed from a Target gift card fraud incident that started in 2016. Gift Card Fraud Money Turned Into Bitcoin The Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division Court has been dealing with a case that involved gift card fraud and bitcoins. According to the court filing, an American named Jaymes Allen Clark worked at the retail chain Target as an Executive Team Leader of Assets Protection in San Antonio, Texas. Allegedly, Clark utilized his Target credentials to access Target’s gift card database and he reportedly obtained recently activated gift cards. After Clark detected newly activated cards, he took screenshots of the gift card account information. The filing then claims Clark shared the gift card info with co-conspirators who then leveraged the accounts to purchase iTunes cards and “clean” Target cards. The U.S. prosecutors then claim that Clark was paid in bitcoin and at first he leveraged a Mycelium wallet. The bitcoins were then transferred to a Trezor hardware wallet which is referred to in the summary judgment as a “key fob one.” “Clark had a Trezor wallet (key fob one) with him when he was arrested,” the filing notes. “Following his arrest, Clark was detained at the GEO detention facility in San Antonio, Texas. On September 21, 2017, Clark called his wife from GEO. At the beginning of each call originating from GEO, a recorded message advises that phone calls are recorded. During the call, Clark asked his wife if she had received a key fob from the Secret Service Agents and told her that she could keep it or send the fob to his friend Matt Baker (‘Baker’) in Portland.” The judgment adds: Clark then told his wife the passcode to key fob one and said she could tell Baker the passcode too. Clark’s wife then sent the fob to Baker. The recordings of Clark’s calls from GEO were turned over to the agents involved in the case. Court Denies Clark’s Fourth Amendment Rights Were Violated, Revealing Whatsapp Messages In the court judgment, Clark contends his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when he accessed the Trezor via the phone call arrangement with his wife from GEO. “Because claimants concede that key fob one was not illegally seized and because neither claimant has a reasonable expectation of privacy in Clark’s personal calls from GEO, the court denies the motion insofar as it seeks to suppress the search of key fob one,” the Texas district judge details. Additionally, other “key fobs” are mentioned as the government confiscated 187.5 ethereum (ETH) and 76 bitcoin cash (BCH) from “key fob three,” and a $120,000 cashier’s check was forfeited. “Upon the evidence presented, the Court finds the Government has met its burden, by the presentation of circumstantial evidence, that 147.18 Bitcoin constitutes proceeds traceable to Clark’s conspiracy,” the order notes. The court filing also mentions that Clark and his co-conspirators did most of their business communications via Whatsapp’s instant messenger. In an October 19, 2016 Whatsapp conversation with a co-conspirator, Clark allegedly stated: “I’m really excited we’re going to make a nice fat bitcoin wallet,” and “we found an amazing scheme.” Twelve days later on Halloween, Clark reportedly wrote: “We’re going to work our asses off but man we will mint some [bitcoin].” What do you think about the government seizing 147 bitcoin? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have been around for some time now, with what is recognized as the first-ever NFT “Quantum” created back in 2014. Since then, the industry has evolved and grown into what you see today; a flourishing and wholly absorbing market built on the Ethereum blockchain, offering a mixture of scarcity and provability, which equates to real value through digital ownership. Mainstream media coverage of NFTs focuses on CryptoArt, which is a unique look at art media, based on a decentralized blockchain. The relationship between the NFT world and the art world is one that has formed quickly and naturally, adding credence to the concept of CryptoArt and another reason why this industry should receive the recognition it deserves. It has frequently been labelled as a bubble because the advent of the industry is portrayed to have occurred at the start of 2021. However, a quick glance at the timeline of NFTs and it’s clear that the community has been around for a while. Though, the market really began to swell between 2018-2020, before exploding at the start of 2021—coinciding with the soaring popularity of NFT exchanges. At the turn of the year, NFT marketplace lists were bustling with buyers from across the globe, as people were learning how to buy NFTs. There has been a rise in the number of NFT art marketplaces, offering a platform for artists and collectors to interact and purchase collectibles at an allocated NFT crypto price. This bubbling marketplace is paving the way for artists to gain exposure and reach their audience. Within the art space alone, NFTs can take the form of digital moving art, high-quality digital files of art pieces created offline, creative sounds and music. While NFTs have been around for years, the industry is still in its infancy and will continue to push the envelope of what’s possible in space. You are already seeing the evolution of digital media into Playable NFTs with the launch of collections like ArcadeNFTs, allowing owners to access a unique interactive retro game. Each ArcadeNFT drop has sold out, not just because of its interactive NFTs, but also a growing fanbase communicating on its Discord server and building a lasting community of NFT devotees. The birth of Gamable NFTs is just the beginning of the creative and innovative expression of the community. As funding and investment increase, you’ll start to realize the vision of NFT developers and enthusiasts. NFTs: Then and Now The story of NFTs stretches back to the first years of crypto, back to 2012. From colourful coins to trading cards, NFTs have always been present. But, when this exciting medium really began to find its identity was around 2016 when the already established Counterparty platform posted the collection of rare “Pepes.” A seminal collection built on the Bitcoin blockchain, before being released on the Ethereum blockchain the following year under the name “Peperium.” In the same year, 2017, the release of 10,000 unique “Cryptopunks”, which were originally given away for free to anyone who held an Ethereum wallet. Fast-forward four years and those pixelated heads are reaching over $5 million. Over the course of the next 2 years, there were many notably NFT collections released; the likes of CryptoArte, EtherRocks, and interactive virtual game collections like CryptoKitties. Throughout this period, it still wasn’t clear how to buy an NFT and this meant that the market remained underground—only for those crypto evangelists out there. Until 2018-19, when the NFT ecosystem experienced significant growth, led by trading platforms like OpenSea and SuperRare, which remain some of the best NFT marketplaces in operation today. The fast-moving NFT ecosystem was supported by the development of Web3 wallets, Eidoo and MetaMask, allowing users to quickly and easily gain access to the marketplace. With a focus on collaboration and community, we’re seeing the rise of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) which offer social platforms with no central leadership, instead, they’re governed by the community from the ground up. Within the NFT sphere, you have the likes of Friends with Benefits, which requires members to have 75 $FWB in order to join, offering a space to discuss and collaborate on NFT projects. Token-based communities with a focus on NFT collection and driving design projects. The NFT ecosystem has benefitted from the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency industry to the point that now there are various websites offering NFT reviews and comparisons between crypto wallets, NFT marketplaces, games, and collectibles. The pioneering NFT collections will be remembered as significant moments for the industry that will live on forever, but it’s the future of NFTs that is rousing. The rawness of the marketplace, knowing that every project is an experiment, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Designers work to create new opportunities and test them to see how NFTs could transition into the mainstream. The possibilities are endless. NFT Authenticity Given that an NFT is held digitally, what stops people from screenshotting an NFT and making it into a JPG? Well, you cannot sell an NFT unless it’s registered on the blockchain and is the original version. The movement and financial implication of each transaction are recorded on the blockchain, thereby providing a timeline for each NFT and making it easy to prove its validity through a digital archive. Once a transaction has taken place it cannot be erased or altered, which is what gives NFTs their authenticity. The distinction between ownership of art and ownership of code that manifests as images, or interactive media, of art, is quite pertinent. NFTs are not art per se, they are designed to be used as tools for authentication, providing artists with independence to create and sell their artwork without an intermediary. With the market thriving and now that NFT collectors know exactly where to buy NFTs, the innovators are exploring other functionality these tokens offer. Real World Use Cases for NFTs The foundations of NFTs—authentic, tokenized, royalties, scalable—may lend to the development of technologies that could improve everyday life. There is much speculation about how the industry can influence other sectors, with many casting a sizable net in terms of possibilities for NFTs. However, a more conservative vision still offers a very exciting future. Without delving too deep into each individual sector, these look to be the main areas for utilizing NFTs in the near future: Art NFTs Collectible NFTs Interactive Gaming NFTs Logistics NFTs Property Ownership NFTs For Art, Collectible, and Gaming NFTs, you have mostly covered how these work. CryptoWisser expects the development of the industry to provide a platform for the ecosystem to grow and serve these various use cases. In terms of logistics, supply chains would benefit greatly from NFTs transparency, serving as a source of validity and reliability for goods. This is especially useful when it comes to perishable goods, where data regarding stages of the supply chain and the number of units is of great value. Moreover, as is the nature of the blockchain, each record is unique and allows distributors to track a single product from its origin to the final destination. This kind of technology is something that logistics organizations have been battling for decades, employing archaic methods of recording data. The same concept is applicable to recording ownership of real-world assets. NFTs make proof of ownership seamless, which could flip the script for the real estate and music industry, to name a few. Both of these industries have an overabundance of intermediaries involved in the process of what should be a transaction made between buyer and seller. The goal would be to simplify and streamline the process, putting the power back in the hands of individuals and relieving them of reliance on unnecessary bureaucracy. This same concept could be applied to almost any asset, making the transfer of ownership a simple process controlled entirely by the owner. Closing Thoughts The soaring popularity of NFTs will likely lead to more mainstream adoption, not just from the public but also businesses looking to utilize the technology. As such, the use cases mentioned are likely to be just a drop in the ocean of what you’ll see in the future. Yet, for now, many of the projects are still small and lack the funding to realize their full potential. The sheer volume of non-bankable properties would mean that NFTs for digital ownership and verification are here to stay. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Chipper Cash, an African fintech start-up, has extended its peer-to-peer instant money service to South Africa. In addition to being able to use the remittance service, South African users will be able to buy, sell, and transfer cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and the USDC stablecoin. South Africa Ripe for Disruption and Innovation According to a report that quotes the start-up’s VP for strategy and partnerships in Africa, Pardon Mujakachi, Chipper Cash has made the foray into South Africa because it believes the country “is ripe for disruption and innovation in the financial services market.” The report also quotes the VP revealing the fact that it takes “three days for a person in the U.S. to send money to South Africa” while on the other hand, it takes up to 48 hours to move funds from one bank to another. It is such inefficiencies that often drive users to informal channels, argued Mujakachi. The VP also shared figures of the estimated number of users that are forced to use such informal channels. He said: People end up using informal channels to send money. If you look at the outbound remittances from South Africa, 68% is going through informal channels. Even with the domestic remittances, a sizeable amount goes through the informal channel. According to the Chipper Cash VP, it is such domestic remittances that will be the fintech firm’s starting point in South Africa. However, only verified users will be allowed to use this app. Dominance of Legacy Money Transfer Organizations Chipper Cash, just like other fintech start-ups before it, is attempting to claim a sizeable portion of the cross-border remittance market share from established money transfer organizations (MTO). By offering lower transaction costs, Chipper Cash potentially stands a chance of eating into existing MTOs’ market share. However, it remains to be seen if this mobile app is going to win over South Africa’s financially excluded groups. This is because in addition to lacking the required verification documents, some in these financially excluded groups have no access to devices that are needed to use the mobile app. What are your thoughts on this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Netflix, the world’s largest video streaming company, has announced it is working on a documentary that deals with the aftermath of the Quadrigacx saga. According to brief descriptions, the documentary titled; “Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King,” deals with how the users affected by the death of Quadrigacx’s CEO Gerry Cotten try to uncover the mystery behind his strange death and the private keys that supposedly only he held at his death. Netflix To Release Quadrigacx Documentary Next Year Netflix, one of the leading video streaming sites, announced the production of a documentary that would explain the saga of Quadrigacx, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in Canada, which was affected by the death of its CEO in strange circumstances. According to its synopsis in IMDB, the documentary would tell the story of Quadrigacx’s users that were not able to recover the funds lost when Gerry Cotten died. These users have now turned into sleuths to try and find out the true story about Gerry Cotten and its role in the events that its own death unfolded. The documentary is slated to be released next year, and it is being produced by London-based production company Minnow Films, which has won 12 Bafta Awards. It will be directed by Luke Sewell, known for No Place to Call Home (2016), The Undateables (2012), and Generation Gifted (2018), and it is expected to arrive into Netflix’s subscriptions next year. Quadrigacx Revisited Quadrigacx story is a convoluted one, but it starts with the death of its CEO while on a travel to India due to Crohn’s disease complications. According to his wife, Gerard Cotten had the private keys to the funds of the exchange, and this caused its customers to lose their funds. However, due to the circumstances in which the dead of Cotten happened, many of these customers still believe that it was a hoax and that Cotten is still out there somewhere. In fact, some of the affected have called for an exhumation of the body of Cotten, which is buried in Canada. The customers of the exchange made the request to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in December 2019. According to local reports, the RCMP has remained silent on this request. The exchange declared bankruptcy back in April 2019, and more than 115,000 customers are still waiting for reimbursement from what was once the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in Canada. What do your think about Netflix’s documentary about the QuadrigaCX saga? Tell us in the comment section below. View the full article

A hamster that trades cryptocurrencies has been outperforming Bitcoin and the S&P 500 since June. The rodent, called Mr. Goxx, uses a device called the “goxx box,” to give signals and make purchases in front of the live streaming audience that follows him. Mr. Goxx has achieved an impressive current score of +24% and even got to +50% before the latest crypto selloff. Crypto-Trading Hamster Performs Better Than S&P 500, Bitcoin A cryptocurrency-trading hamster that streams trading signals through Twitch has been on a roll since June, outperforming fellow human traders and Bitcoin, with impressive gains of 24% over its starting portfolio. The rodent, called Mr. Goxx, uses a simple system built on top of an infrastructure called the goxx box, that allows him to pick a cryptocurrency and send a signal to the traders. The system (devised by Mr. Goxx’s human caretaker) uses a hamster wheel to pick a cryptocurrency, and two tubes which the cute trader crawls through then indicate if the selected cryptocurrency must then be bought or sold. The cryptocurrency portfolio of Mr. Goxx includes tron, xrp, cardano, and ether, among 30 other cryptocurrencies. Its portfolio started with $390 back in June and has increased to $498. Also, Mr. Goxx uses Twitter to report his portfolio movements, informing fans about the sales and performance of every trading session that Mr. Goxx engages in via his “office.” Impressive Following & Holding Tron The trading hamster has an audience of more than 3K followers on Twitch, being one of the cryptocurrency-related channels that stands out in a gaming-dominated platform. Mr. Goxx reached peak earnings before the recent cryptocurrency selloff when he attained more than 50% of his initial portfolio. However, even with all its positive returns, Mr. Goxx’s anonymous caretaker has still not gained the funds to pay for the initial investment that built the goxx box. The caretaker told Protos in an interview that: Mr. Goxx is happy to see that some of his investments finally pay off. Mr. Goxx has also shown an interesting preference for Justin Sun’s tron. It is currently the biggest bag held in the hamster’s portfolio. Mr. Goxx has never sold tron. Mr. Goxx’s current portfolio also includes stellar, ether, bitcoin, and xrp. What do you think about the impressive trading performance of Mr. Goxx compared to other popular financial indexes? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article