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A Reddit user says he (or she) recently regained access to the keys of 127 bitcoins eight years after last accessing the coins. Immediately after regaining access, the user sold all the bitcoins and pocketed over $4 million in the process. According to the user, they received the bitcoins as payment for participating in surveys and some random online tasks. Bitcoin Keys in Old Computer The user initally intended to purchase a valuable in-game currency called Uridium using the bitcoins as payment. Writing about their experience, the user who goes by the name Bitcoinholderthanku, explains how a visit to his grandparents’ home reunited him (or her) with the 127 bitcoins. In the post, the Reddit user begins his account saying: I used to play Dark Orbit at my grandpa’s house, and I was there for around a week during the holidays. While I was there I was through his old Dell computer that I used to play the game and came across a .txt folder that was labelled ‘keys.’ Although the user claims they do not remember why they ultimately failed to buy the gaming currency, they are nonetheless grateful for the way things have turned out. After holding the coins for eight years, the Reddit user sold these on January 3 for a price of just under $34,000 each. Liquidating the 127 BTC Meanwhile, the Reddit user’s initial post generated interest with some users expressing doubts about the story. Others questioned how the user managed to liquidate all the 127 BTC when “even the largest exchanges have limits well under $100K/day of how much BTC you can trade on their platform.” In the follow-up post, the user explains that after weighing the various liquidating options, they settled for selling “the assets through an OTC Principal Desk.” Next, the user explains this process unfolded: I went back and forth between different companies and ultimately ended up selling all 127 bitcoins for a price of $33,439.02 per coin minus a 0.15% fee. The net was roughly $4.24 million. Meanwhile, to prove that the story is real as demanded by some Redditors, the user has shared a screenshot that appears to show their checking account with a balance of $4.2 million on January 7. The user, however, says they “had to scribble out the title of the transaction” because they did want to reveal the identity of the company they dealt with. The user ends by saying that after “hodl(ing) for 8-9 years which is more than the vast majority of crypto users”, he thinks he would “not have sold all the 127 bitcoins if given a second chance.” Between the period of receiving the $4.2 million payment and the second Reddit post, the price of bitcoin went up by more than $7,000 to $41,000. Still, at the time of writing, the crypto had dropped and was trading at just above $35,000. What are your thoughts about this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a motion with the New York Southern District Court that seeks heavy penalties against Michael Ackerman, the mastermind of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. According to the motion, the U.S. agency wants the court to order Ackerman to pay $27 million in restitution plus a civil penalty of $81 million. Additionally, the CFTC wants a default judgment issued against Ackerman after he failed to turn up for the initial motion hearing. The initial motion filing, which the agency filed together with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), followed allegations that Ackerman had disappeared after raising funds from investors. According to a report that summarises the case, Ackerman, a former stockbroker, allegedly raised around $33 million from over 150 investors. Ackerman successfully convinced the investors that he would invest a significant part of their funds in the crypto market. The report adds that Ackerman also claimed he would use a “special algorithm that would maximize returns.” However, in its latest motion, the CFTC says Ackerman did not make good on these promises. The new motion says: In truth, Ackerman invested no more than $10 million of the $33 million raised from investors in cryptocurrencies and the profits generated by the algorithm were minimal, at best. Instead of investing the funds as promised, Ackerman is alleged to have used the funds to “purchase and renovate a new home, pay more than $600,000 for personal security services, purchase more than $100,000 worth of jewelry at Tiffany & Co., and purchase three cars.” Meanwhile, to make his fraudulent scheme appear legitimate, Ackerman allegedly used two entities, Q3 Trading Club, and Q3 I, LP. The CFTC’s new motion also reveals that Ackerman had also resorted to using “doctored screenshots of balances” and falsified information in an effort to conceal the fraud. What are your thoughts on the CFTC’s latest motion against Ackerman? You can share your views in the comments section below. View the full article

According to various reports, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is planning to create another $3 trillion for Covid-19 relief and infrastructure. The massive stimulus plan and the backers behind the Biden administration have made crypto proponents believe that bitcoin will prosper greatly. Biden Proposes to Finance Covid-19 Relief and Infrastructure With $3 Trillion Ever since the coronavirus outbreak took hold across America, politicians and members of the U.S. Federal Reserve has distributed massive amounts of dollars to special interests and Wall Street trading houses. Americans did get a stimulus check for $1,200 during the last program, and then $600 per person during the most recent stimulus plan. Reports say U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is planning to create another $3 trillion for Covid-19 relief. Trillions of U.S. dollars have already been issued for Covid-19, and it is estimated that a quarter of all the USD in existence was minted in 2020. Now reports indicate that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is planning to distribute another $3 trillion when his administration takes office. Axios.com contributor Hans Nichols reports that “Joe Biden is considering asking Congress to help suffering Americans in two steps.” Nichols notes that Americans may get a $2,000 coronavirus payment, alongside a tax and infrastructure package worth $3 trillion. Nichols also adds that Biden’s “Build Back Better” program will increase capital gains and the marginal tax rate for Americans who represent the country’s top earners. Crypto Proponents Believe Stimulus Will Bolster Bitcoin Ever since the news came out that Biden may create another $3 trillion to kickstart his administration’s “Build Back Better” program, cryptocurrency supporters said that the stimulus will likely bolster bitcoin. On January 10, 2021, the Twitter account dubbed “Bitcoin Archive” wrote “bitcoin jumped +35% when the 3 trillion in stimulus was announced in July 2020. That could take BTC to $55K if it happened again. Joe Biden will announce another big stimulus Bill on Thursday.” The crypto Youtuber, “Ivan on Tech,” also tweeted about the $3 trillion stimulus proposal stemming from the Biden administration. “Biden [is] preparing a $3 trillion stimulus,” Ivan wrote. “It will take the stock market and especially bitcoin to insane levels already in February,” he added. Youtuber Lark Davis tweeted a similar statement and said: Massive new U.S. stimulus package coming with the new Biden administration. 3 trillion on the table. Bitcoin [is] going to Jupiter. In fact, during the weekend, while lots of crypto enthusiasts discussed the recent Big Tech censorship, the Biden stimulus conversation was also a trending Twitter topic among bitcoiners. One individual noticed the number of long calls increase on the derivatives exchange Deribit. “After Biden’s confirmation that he will push out a $3 Trillion economic rescue package (can’t really call it a stimulus), options activity on Deribit shows [a] big increase in long-dated calls in the area north of $100k. Market says, bitcoin number go up to six figures by September,” the individual said. #Biden preparing $3 Trillion Stimulus. Pennys for you, billions for other countries.. More Monopoly money.. Printer go Brrrr. #Bitcoin will blow minds this year… NUMBER GO UP. pic.twitter.com/KIQHJS7JI9 — Pat Leach (@Patlovespi) January 9, 2021 Biden Backers Show Administration Will be Big Spenders ‘Expecting Something in Return’ Meanwhile, other reports that show all the backers behind the new Biden administration, indicate that the next four years may see a whole lot of careless spending. The Screechingkettle author Jon Reynolds explained on Sunday how the “bankers, defense companies, venture capitalists, private equity firms, telecom industries, intelligence community goons, and economic hitmen gain from donating to the Biden administration.” Reynolds believes that donors will “expect something in return” and they will be getting “more handouts” as well. After hearing about Biden adding another $3 trillion, one bitcoin proponent said people would be crazy to sell BTC right now. “Why would anyone sell when Biden will print 3 trillion USD in the first month of 2021?” the individual tweeted. “Do you really think that will be the last stimulus of his 4-8 year presidency?” What do you think about the possibility of Biden’s $3 trillion stimulus bill bolstering bitcoin and the crypto economy? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Mad Money host Jim Cramer has some advice on how to invest in bitcoin and when is a good time to sell. He said, “I’m a bitcoin believer,” outlining the reasons why he is sold on the cryptocurrency and why people are buying bitcoin instead of gold. Jim Cramer’s Advice on Investing in Bitcoin Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money on CNBC, gave some advice on investing in bitcoin on Wednesday. The former hedge fund manager is also the co-founder of Thestreet.com, a financial news and literacy website. “People don’t believe in fiat currency anymore,” Cramer began. “People believe that the United States is printing money … But bitcoin is not printing bitcoin. So that’s more valuable in the same way that gold is hard to find. And gold is growing, we find, about 1% more than we had the year before, that’s all … so it has to do with scarcity.” Emphasizing that “There’s no scarcity of dollars” while “There’s some scarcity of gold,” he contrasted: There’s total scarcity of bitcoin. When you have something that’s totally scarce in an era where people fear inflation and don’t believe in government bonds and they don’t believe in governments in general, then this bitcoin suddenly has allure. The Mad Money host further opined: “the more people who give it [bitcoin] a higher price … the more likely it is that there will be more people come in.” Treating Bitcoin Like Stock, When to Take Profits Cramer additionally shared: “I sold enough bitcoin yesterday to pay for my initial stake, which is what I would do if it’s a stock. I take out my basis and then I let it run.” He added: “I am not going to look at bitcoin again. I’m fine with bitcoin until it comes all the way back to where I bought it and then I will refigure, maybe buy it again.” Cramer elaborated: “As I tell people … if you have a double, take a lot out. And I doubled, so I took a lot out. It’s just no different from a stock that I had a double on, with the exception of the fact that this thing [bitcoin] doubled while I was away and that’s too fast for me.” He affirmed, “So now I don’t have to worry. Play with the house’s money. See what happens,” elaborating: I am regarding bitcoin as a precious stock. Buying Bitcoin as Insurance, Comparing Bitcoin to Gold Cramer views bitcoin and gold as insurance, such as against inflation, as he previously explained. “I think that you have to have that kind of insurance,” he said of the two assets. However, the Mad Money host pointed out: “I did not expect that insurance to make me so much money. Typically insurance is not something that makes a lot of money.” A Twitter user asked him last week, “Are you surprised gold isn’t rallying after this week? Seems like everything that is going on should have been bullish for gold.” Cramer replied, “Either it is not as chaotic out there so gold doesn’t jump or it’s all going to crypto. But remember there has been no flight to quality (treasurys).” Besides saying, “I’m a gold believer,” Cramer said on Thestreet: I’m a bitcoin believer … I do feel that bitcoin for the moment is doing what gold used to do. What’s interesting is there’s big scarcity of gold but it’s just not acting as it should because I think people are buying bitcoin. What do you think of Jim Cramer’s bitcoin investment strategy? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Bank of America’s chief investment strategist sees “the mother of all bubbles” in bitcoin. He compared the cryptocurrency’s recent rally to other bubbles, emphasizing the “increasingly speculative” investing behavior of bitcoin. Bank of America Warns of Huge Bitcoin Bubble Bitcoin’s recent rally has worried a number of prominent financial analysts who warned of a huge bubble. Among them is Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Securities. He explained on Friday that the recent surge in bitcoin’s price may be another case of a speculative mania, emphasizing that bitcoin looks like “the mother of all bubbles.” The strategist believes that “violent” inflationary price action in markets helped bitcoin’s rally in the last two months. Hartnett noted that bitcoin has outperformed other assets in the past few decades with its price surging about 1,000% since the beginning of 2019. Bitcoin “blows the doors off prior bubbles,” he said, holding its performance up to other past bubbles. They include a surge in gold prices of more than 400% in the late 1970s, Japanese stocks in the late 1980s, and Thailand’s stock market in the mid-1990s. He also compared bitcoin’s rally to dot-coms in the late 1990s and housing prices in the mid-2000s. The strategist pointed out that those sectors saw triple-digit percentage gains before crashing down. Bitcoin’s price chart showing BTC’s price from 2019 to the present. Source: markets.Bitcoin.com. The Bank of America strategist did not say that the price of bitcoin will plunge like other bubbles in the past. However, he noted that the surge in prices of cryptocurrencies is another example of “increasingly speculative” investing behavior. Others who have recently warned about a bitcoin bubble include David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Rosenberg Research. He started warning about a bitcoin bubble back in December, describing BTC as “just a classic, follow-the-herd, extremely crowded trade.” Another warning comes from NYU professor of economics, Nouriel Roubini, aka Dr. Doom. “The price of bitcoin is totally manipulated by a bunch of people, by a bunch of whales,” he claimed at the end of December. “It doesn’t have any fundamental value. We’re close to the point where the hyperbolic bubble is going to go bust.” Do you agree with Bank of America about bitcoin’s bubble? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The price of bitcoin has dropped on Sunday losing more than 6% during the last 24 hours, but a myriad of other coins have seen significant gains in contrast. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash, ethereum, and monero have all jumped in value while bitcoin has seen a decent drop. ** This post has been updated to reflect the recent bitcoin (BTC) price change at 3:33 p.m. (EST) on Sunday, January 10, 2021. Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to a low of $37,194 on Sunday, January 10, 2021, after hitting its all time high a day and half prior. Currently, BTC is down over 6.4% and is trading for $38,239 per unit during Sunday’s afternoon trading sessions (EST). On Saturday and Sunday, while BTC consolidated, ethereum (ETH) jumped to a 2021 price high of $1,340 per coin. ETH is still up today over 4% and is swapping for $1,285 per token on Sunday. Another cryptocurrency that has seen significant gains this weekend is bitcoin cash (BCH) which is up 14% today. However, yesterday BCH was up over 30% and traded at a 2021 high of $625 per unit. Bitcoin cash (BCH) is currently trading for $612 per coin and has a market cap of around $11.2 billion. Litecoin (LTC) did very well on Saturday as well, spiking to $185 per unit and today the coin is swapping for 170 per LTC. The crypto asset LTC is only down 1% during the last 24 hours and commands a market cap of around $11.3 billion on Sunday. Another strong runner this weekend in terms of gains is monero’s (XMR) market valuation. XMR jumped to $174 per coin and the crypto asset is still up over 18% on Sunday. Data from markets.Bitcoin.com shows monero’s overall market valuation is only $3 billion today. The top five gainers on Sunday have seen gains between 40% to 91% and include coins such as stakenet, bitcoin diamond, ethereum classic, ultrain, and horizen. The top losers on Sunday include appcoins, nexus, navcoin, everex and golem as the assets have lost between -19% to -30% in value today. After the BTC all-time price high pushed the Bitcoin Dominance Index (BDI) to 70% recently, the recent value spikes from other coins have pushed the BDI down to 68%. At the time of publication, the entire crypto market economy is still valued at over 1.03 trillion U.S. dollars. The overall market cap is still up over 7% despite the losses BTC has taken during the last 24 hours. **Update: Since this post published at 2:46 p.m. (EST), the price of bitcoin (BTC) had plunged to a low of $34,322 per unit. At 3:33 p.m., the price is hovering around $36,660 per coin. The rest of the crypto economy had also seen some decent percentage losses after BTC slid below the $35k range on Sunday. Check out all the latest cryptocurrency price action in real-time at markets.Bitcoin.com. What do you think about the coins that have seen significant gains while bitcoin prices have slumped? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

On January 10, another strange string of 20 bitcoin block rewards from 2010 was spent after sitting idle for over ten years. The spending of 1,000 decade-old bitcoins worth over $39 million today, follows the recent string of 1,000 units transferred on the 12th anniversary of Bitcoin’s genesis block launch. Seven days ago an old-school miner spent 20 block rewards from 2010 that held approximately 1,000 decade-old bitcoins. The interesting spending took place on January 3, 2021, on the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin network’s start. Following that string of 2010 block rewards moved, on Friday, January 8, a block created on June 21, 2010, was spent at block height 665,055 and was likely a different entity than the mysterious miner news.Bitcoin.com has been following since March 2020. However, two days later after the single block spend, it seems the mystery miner has appeared once again spending a massive 1,000 decade-old bitcoins that sat idle for ten years. Today’s 1,000 bitcoin spend was caught by Btcparser.com and Russian researchers from @gfoundinshit team. On Sunday, precisely one week later at 1:08 a.m. (EST), 20 block rewards were transferred to this shortened address “3Fwhd.” News.Bitcoin.com leveraged the onchain blockchain parser Btcparser.com, which once again caught the ‘sleeping bitcoin’s’ movements on Sunday morning. The consolidation address that once held 999.999 BTC or over $39 million using today’s exchange rates, shows the coins were then sent to multiple addresses. Just like the previous string of 2010 block rewards transferred on Bitcoin’s 12th anniversary, the coins were split into fractions of 10 BTC per address. At press time, the bitcoin addresses that hold 10 BTC worth roughly $395k each remain unmoved and sit idle. It is likely that during the course of today, similar to the prior strings of 2010 spends, the 10 BTC addresses will also be drained as well. Today’s $39 million spending of decade-old coins was also caught on theholyroger.com web portal as well, which shows a visual perspective. As usual, the mystery miner also spent the corresponding bitcoin cash (BCH) block rewards too. ust like the last few string movements of 2010 block rewards, the bitcoinsv (BSV) remains unspent. Similar to the previous ten-year-old 20-block string spends, today’s 1,000 bitcoin move stemmed from blocks mined in August, September, and October 2010. Issak Shvarts, a Russian blockchain researcher from @gfoundinshit team, said he thinks “these bitcoins are now owned by the crypto exchange Coinbase.” “The assumption is based on totally analogous mechanism of consolidation of 1,000 BTC (for all seven cases discovered so far) and clusterization details from the blockchain explorer oxt.me. This picture stems from the January 3, 2021, 1,000 bitcoin move and the bitcoins were owned by Coinbase but now they might be partially or totally sold to new owners. Alongside the parsed data caught by Btcparser.com, the web portal that hosts the “Satoshi Bags Tracker” shows a visual perspective of the string of 2010 spends. This particular 1,000 coin spend was similar to the string of coins moved on November 7 and 8, 2020, as the two 1,000 bitcoin movements happened back to back over a two-day span. There have been a number of coincidences and circumstantial evidence that leads this reporter to believe that all the 20-21 block reward spends from 2010 stem from the same entity. The miner or group of miner’s block rewards all derive from the same months ten years ago and usually, the transfers happen very early in the morning (EST). Following the split of the previous 1,000 BTC spend, the 10 BTC addresses saw the coins spent hours later. The same pattern happened with all the other prior strings of 2010 block reward spends. Further, the corresponding bitcoinsv (BSV) from the previous string spends remain untouched. Whoever the old school miner is the entity has amassed a great number of block rewards from the time when Satoshi Nakamoto still spent time with the community. So far in 2021, there’ve been around 43 block reward spend from 2010 all spent during the first week of the new year. Further since March 12, 2020, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday,’ there’s been a total of seven string spends from 2010 spent by this entity. What do you think about today’s 1,000 bitcoin spend from the 2010 block rewards? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. As the most trusted platform to buy, sell and exchange Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more than 230 other cryptocurrency tokens for Australian investors, CoinSpot encourages people who have not yet explored the investment opportunities surrounding crypto to make this new year the time they get involved. Of the four largest crypto tokens, which include Ethereum and Bitcoin, three saw enormous gains during 2020, and at the start of January 2021, the market is worth over a trillion USD. CoinSpot encourages Australian investors to start expanding their portfolios into this exciting market as continued growth is expected this year. CoinSpot offers a simple and user-friendly way to purchase cryptocurrency wallets, as well as to sell and exchange them, making it easy to get started with investing in crypto. The solution is designed to streamline exchanges between different tokens by allowing traders to directly swap between over 230 tokens and use instant prices to lock in the price at the start of the trade. For those new to investing in crypto in 2021, CoinSpot also offers bundles that will provide a pre-diversified wallet with coins chosen for a specific focus. This includes the top 10 bundle, which offers 10 coins with the best tokens by market capitalization; the social bundle, which includes social media-focused coins; or the AI bundle, which focuses on AI on the blockchain. This can help people wanting to enter the crypto market to get started with a package of tokens that have been specially chosen by CoinSpot’s experts. CoinSpot can also offer the latest prices in AUD and market information about all of the tokens it supports all on its user-friendly platform. This makes CoinSpot the ideal starting point for Australia based investors and traders to drive their crypto investments and exchanges in 2021. Media Contact: support@coinspot.com.au 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

In another twist to the Mirror Trading International (MTI) bitcoin Ponzi scam, the blockchain intelligence firm Whitestream says bitcoins from wallets associated with the company are being sent to Wasabi privacy mixers. According to Whitestream’s update, this pivot to mixers suggests that operators of the Ponzi are trying to obfuscate the movement of the bitcoins. Conspiracy to Hide Funds The reports of MTI bitcoins going to mixers follow the recent disappearance of the company’s CEO, Johann Steynberg late last year. This also comes after a South African court granted a liquidated order against MTI. In an update on January 2, Whitestream explains that in the weeks preceding its report, about 75 BTC (or over $3 million) was sent to this address. Following that transaction, the blockchain intelligence firm claims it then observed the transfer of about 10 BTC from this address to a Wasabi Mixer. Meanwhile, Whitestream Co-Founder and CEO, Itsik Levy tells News.bitcoin.com that these transfers to mixers should concern MTI investors who are trying to recover their funds. Levy says: This can maybe indicate a pattern that shows us that the operators of Mirror Trading International are trying to hide some of their funds on the Blockchain. The CEO adds that this strategy has been a common tactic used by “other popular Ponzi schemes we already saw this year.” Bitcoin mixers are designed to allow users to mix their coins with other users in order to preserve their privacy. When coins are mixed, they become much harder to trace, and this makes mixers appealing laundering tools for cybercriminals elements. Another Data Breach Meanwhile, adding more woes to the MTI executives, are reports in the South African media of another hacking of the online trading company’s servers. According to one report, this latest breach has exposed the obscene earnings of some of the MTI Ponzi scheme’s founders and executives. The breach, which was perpetrated by a group calling itself Anonymous, has resulted in the publishing of “names, addresses, contact information, and account information of each of the top 200 members.” According to this data dump, sitting at the top of this list is Clynton Marks who apparently has two accounts on MTI’s top ten earners’ list. Marks’ first account shows that he has earned bonuses totalling 532.39 BTC to date and while the other one has total bonuses of 148.48 BTC. Other names that feature in the top ten of the high earners include Ignatious Bell who similarly has more than one account. Cheri Marks, wife to Clynton Marks and the missing CEO Steynberg also make the list. Lastly, as the report explains, the timestamps in the transaction histories suggest that this breach occurred on December 24, 2020. Do you think MTI will succeed in recovering investments? Share your views in the comments section below. View the full article

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) have green lighted a physical card-wallet pilot to test its digital yuan. Coffee shop staff in a Shanghai-based university hospital was chosen as participants in the pilot. Wallet Card Can Pay or Accept e-CNY Without Wi-Fi or a Mobile Connection According to Tencent News, staff members at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine’s Tongren Hospital used the digital yuan token to pay for food. They used a point-of-sale device and a physical card with a small screen in the top right corner. The card reveals how much digital yuan remains in the wallet. Local media reports claim that the Postal Savings Bank of China is in charge of providing technical support. The “hard wallet” allows staff to buy products such as a cup of coffee or snacks. One of the photos featured in Tencent’s article also shows a hospital staff member holding a card with 144.75 yuan on it and three offline payments available. The latter feature allows people to pay or accept e-CNY transfers without Wi-Fi or a mobile network connection. Digital Yuan Tests Still Taking Place in Several Chinese Cities So far, the digital yuan pilot programs have been underway internally in Chinese cities such as Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu, preparing for the Winter Olympics — an event which is still scheduled to take place in 2022. Although local experts have warned that there is still “a long way to go” before the token can be fully launched, PBoC officials believe that the digital yuan could be launched before the Olympic event. The central bank aims to attract as many domestic and foreign spectators as possible to use the digital yuan. The Chinese government’s plans points towards reducing dependence on the USD. What do you think about the ongoing digital yuan tests? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

After the ether token surged past the $1,000 mark on January 3, the average transaction fee on the network similarly soared to a new all-time high (ATH) of $17.41, some 24 hours later. Although the average fee has since retreated, data on January 8 shows that the latest average fee at $9.79. This figure still well above the $3.56 seen on the first day of the new year. Resurgent ETH fees Before the new ATH, the Ethereum network’s previous highest average fee of $12.54 was recorded on September 1, 2020. At that time, some crypto enthusiasts attributed this surge to the decentralized finance (defi) hype. However, as the defi mania began to dissipate, ETH transaction fees gradually dropped. However, as recent data shows, the network’s transaction fees, which averaged less than $5 for much of Q4 of 2020, have now stayed above $9 for all but two days of January 2021. This return of high fees on the network comes more than a month after ETH’s migration to a proof of stake (POS) consensus mechanism. Meanwhile, the latest data shows that at the current fee levels, it now costs the same or even less to transact on the BTC network than on the ETH network. To illustrate, in the period during which ETH fees surged to the new ATH, transaction fees on the BTC have remained within the same range. For instance, during the entire Q4 period, fees on the BTC network have only peaked at $13.41 on October 31. For much of Q4 of 2020, the fees on the Bitcoin network have fluctuated between the October 31 high of $13.41 and $1.44 the lowest average in that period. Similarly, on the BCH network, whose crypto is up by more than 100% since October 1, fees remain less than $0.01 per transaction. Upgrade to Fix Problem of High Fees Meanwhile, Kamil Brejcha, Founder at Dexfin offers the possible reason why ETH fees have spiked and how ongoing updates will fix this. Brejcha explains: “We face high ETH fees because the Ethereum network still relies on miners to be block producers. The current update is called the Beacon chain, which allows depositing Ethereum for staking nodes. These nodes run on their own blockchain, which is not yet part of the mainnet.” The Dexfin founder also details the upgrading process which starts with the Beacon chain. In 2021, the next Shard chain will follow before the merging of the two in the year 2022 or later. After that, the “transaction speed should improve more, also cutting the gas fee.” What do you think is causing the fees on the ETH network to go up? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. View the full article

The firm Gazpromneft, an oil subsidiary of the Russian natural gas and global energy company Gazprom, is giving bitcoin mining operations the chance to power operations by using excess gas for electricity. The Russian firm has allowed a small mining operation to benefit from the excess gas by mining bitcoin on-site at the oil field. According to multiple reports, the Russian oil drilling subsidiary Gazpromneft is giving bitcoin miners the ability to utilize excess gas from oil drilling to mine the leading cryptocurrency. A small mining operation called Vekus was the first to leverage Gazpromneft’s excess gas just like mining operations in North America such as Greenidge Generation, Crusoe Energy Systems, EZ Blockchain, and Upstream Data. The regional publication Forklog said that Vekus installed a container filled with 150 Antminers and during the test pilot the group used “49,500 cubic meters of associated gas and produced 1.8 BTC.” The CFO of Vekus, Yuri Kudryashov, commented on the project and said: The lion’s share of the cost of mining is electricity costs. For this reason, Vekus is constantly looking for reliable sources of cheap electricity. We gladly responded to the proposal of Gazpromneft to organize a pilot project at one of the fields. Gazpromneft supplied the electricity processed from the excess natural gas and the electricity prices Vekus received were far cheaper than purchasing it directly from the grid. Reports also note that Vekus has handled all the equipment maintenance and collection of statistics as well. The Russian energy giant plans to invite more bitcoin miners to the facility so they can benefit from the excess natural gas. Kudryashov detailed that the biggest hurdle the small mining operation faced was the coordination with the oil field’s employees and getting the necessary permits for the operation. “Delivery of the equipment does not take too long. The main part of the work is the preparation of permits, coordination of actions with oilmen, installation of equipment, and connection to the field’s power grid,” Kudryashov stressed. The Vekus executive further added: At the same time, you have to solve problems that do not arise in the city: set up the Internet, build a hangar to protect equipment from dust, and organize the life of people who are involved in servicing the container. The signs of bitcoin miners using excess gas and renewable energy sources to mine the cryptocurrency, cements the fact that the bitcoin mining industry is going industrial. Just like Gazpromneft offering miners a chance to leverage the excess gas to mine bitcoin, the New York-based company Greenidge Generation offered the same type of services last year. The Greenidge operation is different, however, because it hosts its own 7,000 bitcoin miners, but in April 2020 the ‘behind-the-meter’ bitcoin mining operation sold 106 petahash of hashpower to an undisclosed buyer. What do you think about Gazpromneft allowing bitcoin miners to benefit from the excess gas from the Russian oil field? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

A new report by two cybersecurity firms has revealed that one ransomware family is particularly successful, raking in over $150 million in bitcoin. The ransom payments “sometimes amount to millions of dollars and typically run in the hundreds of thousands range.” Ransomware Makes $150 Million in Bitcoin The Ryuk ransomware family has raked in $150 million in bitcoin, according to a joint report by cybersecurity firms Advanced Intel and Hyas. “The Ryuk family of ransomware has been particularly successful in economic terms as well as having a disruptive impact on many industries around the world,” the report authors described, adding: Our research involved tracing payments involving 61 deposit addresses attributed to Ryuk ransomware. The Ryuk criminals send a majority of their bitcoin to exchanges through an intermediary to cash out. The ransomware family Ryuk was first discovered in the wild in August 2018. Its targets tend to be high-profile organizations, including hospitals and newspapers. The report authors explained that “Significant volumes of bitcoin move from the laundering service to Binance, Huobi, and crime markets that we have identified through traced payments.” Besides the two crypto exchanges, “there are significant flows of cryptocurrency to a collection of addresses that are too small to be an established exchange and probably represent a crime service that exchanges the cryptocurrency for local currency or another digital currency.” Furthermore, the report notes that “Ryuk receives a significant amount of their ransom payments from a well-known broker that makes payments on behalf of the ransomware victims. These payments sometimes amount to millions of dollars and typically run in the hundreds of thousands range,” adding: After tracing bitcoin transactions for the known addresses attributable to Ryuk, the authors estimate that the criminal enterprise may be worth more than $150,000,000. What do you think about this ransomware raking in $150 million in bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

American economist Brian Wesbury has shared his thoughts on what would happen if the masses were to ditch fiat currencies and adopt bitcoin instead. He discussed whether the government would allow it to happen and how bitcoin can become a true currency. Economist Brian Wesbury Answers Question About the Masses Ditching Fiat Currencies for Bitcoin Brian Wesbury is an economist with a focus on macroeconomics and economic forecasting. He is currently the chief economist at First Trust Advisors, a financial services firm headquartered in Wheaton, Illinois. He was asked on Fox Business News last week about what would happen “if the masses were to ditch fiat currency,” whether it will “trigger a financial collapse,” and “could bitcoin ever replace the dollar?” Wesbury began by acknowledging: A lot of people who are buying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies believe that they are going to replace the dollar. He explained: “if they were to replace the dollar, if you take all the of the M1 — its all of the checking accounts and cash — in the system, you divide it by all the bitcoin that can exist — 21 million of them — you end up with over $300,000 worth of worth if it replaced the dollar.” However, he raised a number of questions: “Will the government allow that to happen? Can you pay your taxes in bitcoin? Can you buy anything you want with bitcoin?” The economist opined: That’s what has to happen for you to have a true currency … so it’s a long way away from that. The chief economist did not mention that a growing number of jurisdictions are already embracing bitcoin for tax payments. For example, the canton of Zug in Switzerland announced that it will start accepting bitcoin for tax payments this year. Several other local governments in Switzerland have made a similar announcement, such as Zermatt. Recently, the mayor of Miami said that he is working on allowing payments for city services in bitcoin. Furthermore, a growing number of stores are accepting bitcoin payments. Payments giant Paypal, for example, is planning to allow people to use cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services at 2.8 million merchants in its network this year. Wesbury also claimed that the volatility of bitcoin is one of the problems. As an example, he said he hopped into his car with two bitcoins in his pocket. “When I got to the car dealer, I didn’t know if I could buy two cars or half a car and that’s one of the problems with bitcoin.” He concluded: It’s so volatile that we don’t know really what it’s worth. However, many experts have argued that the volatility of bitcoin decreases with rising adoption. Alliance Bernstein’s Inigo Fraser-Jenkins said in December that bitcoin’s volatility has significantly declined over the past three years, making it a more attractive store of value, and its relative volatility to both gold and stocks has fallen to historically low levels. In July, BTC’s volatility hit a three-year low. In addition, billionaire investor Bill Miller said Friday that bitcoin becomes less risky the higher the price goes. Do you agree with Wesbury? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

There’s an online-sleuthing contest starting on January 21st called “Bitcoin Quest,” where individuals can leverage their crypto-analytical skills to hunt for mnemonic bitcoin seed phrases hidden in artwork. Winners who drain the artwork’s crypto holdings will be able to win a Bitcoin Quest analyst certificate, 13 prizes worth $150 each, and three Satochip hardware wallets. The teams behind the crypto industry organizations Hotmine, Its Business Baby, School Bitcoin, Satochip, and the Ed Khan Crypto Gallery have started a contest called Bitcoin Quest. The interesting event allows people to find bitcoin seeds hidden in unique artwork. People looking to join the online treasure hunt can check out the rules and guidelines here. So far, there are two Telegram groups people can join the Bitcoin Quest hunt for mnemonic bitcoin seeds in both Russian and English languages. One of the organizers behind the Bitcoin Quest art contest told news.Bitcoin.com, the event will officially begin on January 21, 2021, and Telegram users should leverage the @helpmyquestbot to get a bunch of info regarding the quest. “The crypto analyst contest where bitcoin is hidden in the art is an adventure journey,” the Bitcoin Quest announcement details. “Participants show their analytical skills by burning through the details of a large picture. The target for participants is to find the words and compile a bitcoin seed. It is 14 words in length and grants access to bitcoins kept on the winning addresses (13 of them + 3 Satochip ones) within Electrum Bitcoin Wallet (PC version),” the organizers add. Bitcoin Quest is a project developed by Jeff Fawkes aka ‘Bitpainter, an artist who has been hiding seeds in pictures since 2017. Contest winners will be able to attempt to win 13 bitcoin prizes in the artwork worth $150 each and three Satochip hardware wallets. The Satochip wallets will also feature a unique print from the 2021 Bitcoin Quest contest. Participants will also get a “Bitcoin Quest Analyst Certificate,” and with such a document, “nobody will dare to doubt your skills,” the contest creators emphasized. Additionally, winners will be recorded in an immutable fashion and etched into a blockchain. “We will write a list of all winners into the Ethereum blockchain,” the Bitcoin Quest announcement notes. “It will be available via Eternal Note service msgeth.com, or via Etherscan.io. A transaction ID will be added to the individual certificate.” The contest was created to get people to refine their knowledge about bitcoin and mnemonic seed phrases. Crypto skills are important and they will be needed, alongside hardware and software to participate in the latest quest. Users will need a Telegram account, knowledge about Electrum wallets, a computer, a large monitor, and more. Then in order to begin the quest hunting process, the user needs to obtain the picture from the Bitcoin Quest Telegram channels on January 21 and thereafter. Simply find the seeds following the official quest rules and hints, and drain one or two of the winning seeds in the artwork. “You need to do all of the above faster than all the other crypto analysts,” the Bitcoin Quest creators told news.Bitcoin.com. Bitcoin Quest is a pet project from Jeff Fawkes aka ‘Bitpainter,’ an artist who has been creating art with bitcoin mnemonic seeds inside large drawings since 2017. “I want to unite two of my great passions: art and crypto,” Fawkes said. “That’s where the idea of ‘Bitcoin Quest’ appeared. It’s a competition where I draw pictures with hidden bitcoin wallet seeds in them, and you keep whatever BTC you find,” the artist concluded. What do you think about the Bitcoin Quest contest? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

A major commercial bank in South Korea is entering the crypto business by allocating an equity investment in the Korea Digital Asset Trust (KDAC). Shinhan Bank is looking to offer digital asset custody services. Bank Expects to Offer Tech Capabilities to Face Defi-Related Hacking Risks According to inews24, the bank announced the investment in the KDAC, a joint-venture custody company founded by a local crypto exchange, Korbit, blockchain firm Blocko and crypto researcher Fair Square Lab. The Shinhan Bank spokesperson stated that their upcoming crypto-related services are suitable for an area that “can make good use of banks’ compliance capabilities and custody experience.” But the bank claims to be one step ahead in terms of security for customers’ funds. In fact, they stressed that such a move would allow deploying technological capabilities to protect “from external and embezzlement risks.” Shinhan Bank also wants the tech resources used in the project to be applied in the decentralized finance (Defi) sectors, which were actively targeted over 2020 by hacking incidents. Cho Yong-byeong, chairman of the Shinhan Financial Group, commented on the investment: In a situation where all companies, regardless of business, are digitally active, the fate of Shinhan will also depend on digital transformation. Based on the driving system, all Shinhan people should accelerate digital innovation with one heart. Other Major South Korean Banks Making Crypto-Related Business Maneuvers One of the bank’s rivals, Kookmin, announced in November 2020 that they’d create a “digital asset management company” jointly with local blockchain players. The bank aims to offer crypto custody services for corporate customers, such as exchanges. Per the announcement, Kookmin invested in the KDAC, blockchain accelerator Hashed, and blockchain developer Haechi Labs for an undisclosed amount. However, Kookmin and Shinhan Bank are not the only ones making a move into the crypto custody business. 2020 was a year characterized by significant investments by traditional South Korean banks in the cryptocurrency industry. In July 2020, NH Bank unveiled its plans to build a crypto custodial services platform for institutional investors. The bank also hinted at the possibility of offering custodial services to the Bank of Korea (BOK) for its forthcoming central bank digital currency (CBDC). What are your thoughts on the latest moves seen in the crypto industry by the South Korean banks? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Bitcoin prices have gone parabolic and the value is seemingly following along with the controversial stock-to-flow (S2F) model, according to the price model’s creator. This week, the Twitter handle dubbed “Plan B” said the “bitcoin stock-to-flow model [is] on track… like clockwork.” Stock-to-Flow Author Is Confident in the S2F Price Model Back in November 2020, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the popular but also contentious stock-to-flow price model created by Plan B. At the time, Plan B said that he has “no doubt whatsoever that bitcoin S2F is correct.” He also added that “bitcoin will tap $100K-288K before [December] 2021. In fact, I have new data that confirms the supply shortage is real. IMO 2021 will be spectacular,” Plan B stressed two months ago. On January 8, 2021, bitcoin (BTC) tapped the $42k per unit zone. During the last few weeks of bitcoin’s value rising massively, Plan B reiterated his belief that the S2F model was still very much on point. On Thursday, the popular Twitter account tweeted: “Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow model on track .. like clockwork.” Plan B also shared a chart that shows the current price action seemingly following along with the S2F model. Moreover, Plan B also said that bitcoin’s “200WMA (weekly moving average) [is] increasing 10% per month.” The most recent S2F model chart Plan B shared on Twitter on Thursday. Furthermore, the Twitter account called “ecoinometrics” also tweeted about BTC’s price values after the halvings. “I know it is still months away but who else is curious to see how close we’ll get to $286,000 in October?” ecoinometrics tweeted. Following the tweet, Plan B responded to ecoinometrics’ statement and said: “Make it $288,000.” Another individual spoke about the controversy about the S2F model and tweeted: S2F denialism on Twitter is all fun and games, but what if some people acted based on this advice and didn’t buy bitcoin? Who will be held responsible for this? Peter Schiff Admits He Missed Out on Bitcoin’s Gains A person responded to the S2F denialism tweet and said: “That would be their own fault for not doing their own research and relying on someone else’s work. They will learn to take responsibility for their actions and hopefully grow from the experience.” After explaining that his model was on track like “clockwork,” Plan B also stated: Yup, [the] S2F and S2FX models are both on track. Big question is where does bitcoin find its new equilibrium, $100K or $288K? We will know better by Dec 2021. Meanwhile, as bitcoin (BTC) tapped the $42k zone on Friday, the cryptocurrency naysayer and gold bug, Peter Schiff, explained that he missed out on BTC’s big gains. “While I missed out on Bitcoin’s big run off the 2020 lows, I didn’t miss out on big gains in other speculative investments,” Schiff tweeted on Friday. “For example, I’ve owned Delta Electronics in Thailand for years. It’s up 27% today and 27x from its 2020 low. Compare bitcoin’s gains to that, not gold’s,” Schiff added. What do you think about Plan B’s stock-to-flow (S2F) model being on track like “clockwork”? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The surge in bitcoin’s price on Friday has propelled the cryptocurrency past Facebook’s market cap. Next, bitcoin stands to flip Tesla, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and then Apple. Bitcoin Surpasses Facebook in Market Cap Bitcoin’s frequent rise past all-time highs this week has made the size of the cryptocurrency larger than Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. The price of bitcoin broke another all-time high early Friday morning, reaching $41,970. At the time of writing, BTC stands at $41,147; its market cap is about $770 billion while Facebook’s market cap is approximately $752 billion. Gemini cryptocurrency exchange’s founder Cameron Winklevoss commented: Bitcoin has surpassed Facebook in market cap. Makes sense that a money network would be more valuable than a social network. List of the largest public companies by market cap compared to bitcoin. Source: Assetdash.com The Winklevoss twins have been major holders of bitcoin since April 2013 when they bought $11 million worth of BTC, an equivalent of a full 1% of all bitcoins at the time. This came less than a decade after the twins sued Zuckerberg in 2004, claiming that the Facebook founder stole their idea for the social network platform while attending Harvard together. The twins won a $65 million settlement from that lawsuit and went on to found the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange. Bitcoin developer and educator Jimmy song wrote, “Bitcoin just flippened Facebook. You still think Zuckerberg is the smart one and not Tyler or Cameron?” Instead of embracing bitcoin, Facebook is helping develop the diem cryptocurrency, formerly known as libra. The social media giant first proposed the Libra project in June 2019. It was subsequently redesigned and a new whitepaper was published by the Libra Association, which is now called the Diem Association. The new design augments the Libra network by including single-currency stablecoins. In November, reports suggested that the new cryptocurrency could launch early this year, pending regulatory approval. The Facebook-backed cryptocurrency has attracted the attention of many regulators worldwide. They are worried that since Facebook has about 2.7 billion users, the proposed “global stablecoin” will achieve scale without an appropriate regulatory framework, which could undermine their monetary systems. Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), recently downplayed bitcoin as a risk to financial stability but warned of the risks posed by global stablecoins, such as the diem cryptocurrency. After flipping Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway last week, bitcoin has risen in market capitalization above Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), Tencent, and now Facebook. The next company to flip is Elon Musk’s Tesla, which itself overtook Facebook on Thursday. Bitcoin actually surpassed Tesla’s market cap briefly on the same day before Tesla’s stock price took a leap in response to a prominent analyst lifting a bear call on the stock. The rise in Tesla’s stock price also helped CEO Elon Musk become the world’s richest man, overtaking Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. After Tesla, bitcoin stands to overtake Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and then Apple. In terms of asset classes, bitcoin is near overtaking silver but still has a way to go before overtaking gold. Abra CEO Bill Barhydt opined: Bitcoin’s market cap has just passed Facebook. There is a good chance it’ll pass Apple this year and become more valuable than any company in the world. What do you think about bitcoin overtaking Facebook’s market cap? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Bitcoin’s price continues to move northbound, as the crypto asset’s value has touched another all-time high (ATH) this week reaching $41,970 per coin on Friday morning (EST). The digital asset bitcoin is now the 7th most valuable asset worldwide with an overall market valuation of around $778 billion today. Cryptocurrencies across the world have seen enormous gains during the last week and this week bitcoin (BTC) has touched multiple all-time highs. BTC has touched another ATH on Friday morning (EST) reaching a whopping $41,970 per coin at 10:00 a.m (EST). At the time of writing, bitcoin is swapping for $41,900 per unit after dropping a hair lower. The crypto asset saw a massive drop yesterday after quickly touching the $40k handle dropping well over 10% to the $36,388 range at 1:48 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. BTC/USD prices at 10:00 a.m. EST touched $41,970 per unit. Bitcoin’s market cap today is hovering above the $778 billion range and has $34 billion in global trade volume on Friday. Hashrate has dropped some after riding above 165 exahash per second (EH/s), BTC’s hashrate is now only 135 EH/s. There are still roughly 18 mining pools on Friday, with F2pool leading the pack with 24.5 EH/s. The top trading pair with BTC today is still tether (USDT) as it captures 49% of daily trades today. This is followed by pairs like the USD (20.12%), JPY (7.95%), EUR (5.92%), BUSD (4.69%), and KRW (3.16%). BTC is up over 8% today, 41% for the week, 123% during the last 30 days, 267% for the 90-day span, and 431% against the dollar all year long. The second-largest crypto asset in terms of market cap is ethereum (ETH) which is swapping for $1,253 per unit. ETH has done extremely well this year and is up 72% for the week, 119% during the last 30 days, 238% for the 90-day span and a whopping 812% against the USD for 12 months. Ether only has 13.35% more to go to reach the ATH from three years ago at $1,431 per coin. #Bitcoin is now worth more than Facebook. Carpe diem. — Documenting Bitcoin 📄 (@DocumentBitcoin) January 8, 2021 Of course, the crypto community has been excited about the bullish prices and many have been saying we still have a ways to go price-wise. Morgan Creek cofounder, Anthony Pompliano, discussed the subject on CNBC’s Fast Money broadcast yesterday and said bitcoin would be far superior to gold someday. Pompliano told CNBC’s Melissa Lee that “Bitcoin is a 10x improvement on gold” and “we will one day see a $1M Bitcoin price, which is only 2x the gold market cap.” Bitcoin’s $778B market cap is now half the size of silver’s market cap of roughly 1,700,000 metric tons of .999 Ag. In a response to Pompliano’s guest appearance on Fast Money, Microstrategy’s Michael Saylor said: “Gradually, then suddenly, investors are coming to the horrifying realization that Gold is a zombie store of value.” Similarly, the bitcoin bull, Chamath Palihapitiya, also spoke on CNBC and told the broadcasters that BTC will be going to $200k someday. Palihapitiya spoke about the mistrust in governments and central banks worldwide and said first it will be $100k and then $200k at some point down the road. The analyst Willy Woo tweeted some opinions that he had as he believes we may never see the $20k price zone again. “Update,” Woo tweeted. Never going to see $20k again, $25k will take a black swan to pierce, rising $500 per day. $30k is formidable support. 30% is the maximum projected pull back once BTC tops at current structure (changing fast),” he added. Following the statements about BTC, an individual asked Woo his thoughts on ETH’s rally. “ATH is a beautiful thing. Nothing like seeing an asset go into outer space with free flowing price discovery. ETH is about to do that,” Woo responded. What do you think about bitcoin smashing through the $40k handle and capturing over $41k on Friday? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Even at this point in Bitcoin’s evolution, it’s still relatively rare for cryptocurrencies to hit mainstream news headlines unless volatility reaches dramatic extremes. It’s even more extraordinary for blockchain apps to get picked up by the global media. Cryptokitties is one of those rare exceptions. When it launched in December 2017, at the peak of crypto price mania, it was an immediate hit. In the first few days post-launch, people spent over $1 million worth of ETH on digital feline artwork. It was so popular that it became the first app to generate congestion on the Ethereum blockchain, drawing the attention of mainstream outlets, including Bloomberg and the BBC. Cryptokitties was among the first applications to make use of the ERC721 token standard, which allows developers to create non-fungible tokens (NFTs.) The game’s popularity led to speculation that there would be a boom in NFT-based applications. However, the craze cooled off as the 2018 crypto winter set in. Now, NFTs are most definitely making a comeback. In fact, the trends that we’re seeing are comparable to the inexorable rise in total value locked in DeFi applications. By September, weekly volumes of NFT transactions had hit the $1 million mark. By December, that number had risen to $2 million. Furthermore, unlike in 2017, when trading volumes were driven out of a single application, transactions are now distributed across a diverse swath of apps and use cases. The Rising Popularity of NFTs Even at a time when Bitcoin is flying high, Ethereum 2.0 has just launched its genesis block, and DeFi continues to dominate, NFTs are also now featuring more frequently in the crypto news. In some cases, they’re even gaining celebrity backing. Over the summer, Hollywood stalwart and blockchain investor Ashton Kutcher auctioned a piece of digital art via Cryptograph. More recently, renowned gamer and YouTube star Pewdiepie confirmed a collaboration with a blockchain-based game called Wallem, which uses NFTs for skins and other in-game assets. Elsewhere, decidedly analogue-flavored auction house Christie’s announced it had sold a digital portrait of the Bitcoin code for the princely sum of $130,250 – over seven times the highest estimate for the work. And the Sorare platform, running a global fantasy football league, has signed up over 100 clubs, including Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, and FC Bayern München. Sorare allows users to collect and trade digital cards representing their favorite players, to build their own fantasy football teams. Sorare has grown to become one of the most popular NFT games, having accrued over $5 million in traded volume since launching, according to the aggregator website NonFungible. A Match Made in Heaven? Although the global gaming market is huge and offers vast potential for NFTs, there could be another killer use case for NFTs on the horizon: DeFi. 2020 has undeniably belonged to decentralized finance, with the market having grown by over twenty times since last January, according to DeFi Pulse. Despite the growth in popularity of NFTs, they remain relatively illiquid compared to the rest of the cryptocurrency markets, limiting their value. Now, a growing number of projects are starting to see the potential in merging the DeFi and NFT segments to power up the value in both. Although this is still a very nascent field, a core feature that’s emerging is allowing NFT holders to stake their tokens in DeFi applications. So someone owning a rare Cryptokitty, or a piece of land in Decentraland, could use their NFT as collateral to obtain a loan in the same way they’d put down ETH. This is the premise behind NFTfi, which bills itself as a “simple marketplace for NFT collateralized loans.” The borrower agrees to stake their NFT into a smart contract, which will unlock to the lender if the borrower fails to make their repayment. Aavegotchi takes this a step further. Aavegotchis are ERC721 tokens represented as pixelated collectible artworks. Each has specific attributes that determine its overall value and rarity within the Aavegotchi universe. Each Aavegotchi ERC721 token manages an escrow contract address that holds an Aave-backed aToken, generating a yield on Aave lending pools. It effectively means those holding Aavegotchis can use them for liquidity farming. Connecting DeFi to Other Assets If this seems gimmicky, then remember that the entire NFT concept kicked off with digital cat artwork, but now globally recognized legacy brands such as Christie’s are getting involved. Taking the idea further, the fusion of DeFi and NFTs offers the intriguing potential to connect DeFi to other assets, including those in the real world. Currently, the only way to get involved in DeFi is to stake cryptocurrencies. Now, imagine that whoever bought the Christie’s artwork could stake that piece, worth $130,000, to obtain a loan. Furthermore, imagine if a real-world piece of art, or a car, or real estate, was represented as an NFT on the blockchain and could be staked as collateral. While these developments may be some way off, there are other reasons to believe that the NFT trend will gain further traction in 2021. When Cryptokitties first launched, there was little infrastructure in place to support an NFT economy. Stablecoins were in their infancy, meaning users had to transact in volatile cryptocurrencies like ETH. Crypto derivatives hadn’t yet taken off, and the concept of DeFi was unheard of. Today, all of these developments provide a solid basis on which an NFT economy can flourish. Although it’s hard to make any concrete predictions, it doesn’t seem outlandish to suggest that at this point, NFTs have the potential to become the next biggest trend in crypto as we head into the new year. Combined with DeFi, it seems highly likely that they could see even further meteoric growth. Written by Reuben Jackson. Reuben Jackson is a blockchain security specialist and freelance writer living in New York. He writes about all things cryptocurrency and technology related. You can learn more about Reuben’s work and contact him here: https://about.me/reuben.jackson Do you agree that the future for NFT’s is bright? Share your views in the comment section below! This is an OP-ed. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. 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 information in this Op-ed article. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Crypto payments startup Eligma has announced it recently completed a new funding round of €4 million at a €50 million valuation. The latest investment was funded by Roger Ver through Bitcoin.com, and was mainly initiated due to Eligma’s ongoing efforts to comply with any and all regulations. This approach to regulations has made it possible for Eligma to connect with the largest processors in the world and, through such partnerships, offer a unique combined solution of processing any payments (card payments, other digital payments and of course crypto payments). Eligma is now at the brink of revolutionizing the payment experience in offline retail, where any additional hardware will no longer be required. Bitcoin.com and Eligma share the common goal of bringing cryptocurrencies into the mainstream and revolutionizing the world of payments with the advantages of the digital age. The Eligma company has been recognized as one of the world’s most promising startups in this field. With the ability to process any kind of payment, it can now also start setting up a tokenomics model that is not only connected to crypto payments, but also to various traditional payments (except cash). In this way, Eligma could convert a part of the card and digital payment fees into the GoC token and thus achieve a transition of traditional money into crypto. More on this topic will be revealed in the upcoming weeks. “The new holistic technology will bring the world of payments to a whole new level, where shoppers will be able to use diverse fast (and often contactless) payment methods, and where merchants will benefit from a smooth and effortless sales process regardless of how the customer selects to pay – by using an all-in-one solution. We will be posting more on our progress on a weekly basis for the next 6 weeks,” the Eligma team said. 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 South Korean government has issued an amendment to introduce tax on cryptocurrency trading profits. The plan is now a reality after several attempts to delay it by lawmakers. New Rules Impose 20% Tax on Crypto Profits Per Asia Today, the legislative notice details that the amendment will be enacted in February, and profits from buying and selling cryptos in South Korea will be taxed at 20%. However, the rule is applicable only to crypto holders with annual income of over 2.5 million won ($2,300). The Ministry of Economy and Finance said the enforcement decree is scheduled to be promulgated after meetings with the central government’s cabinet. The amendment is being applied to the country’s existing 2020 revised tax rules. Although it will be enacted in the next month, the legislative notice clarifies that the new rule will start applying in 2022, according to government documents. The amendment also covers new tax rules for stock transactions. In fact, transactions of listed shares will also be part of the 20% taxation rules for profits of over 50 million won annually, which is substantially lower than the one imposed on crypto gains. Stocks transactions will be taxed at 25% for annual profits of over 300 million won. Korean Government Kept Delaying Crypto Taxation Plan Reports of the South Korean government delaying the launch of a new tax framework for crypto profits made headlines several times in 2020. In November, the National Assembly asked to delay the process, which was originally set to take place in October 2021. In December, the planning and finance committee of the National Assembly announced that it will postpone the new tax rule until 2022. Moreover, the Korea Blockchain Association requested on Oct. 14, 2020, that the regulators postpone the 20% crypto tax plan until 2023. The group argued that local crypto firms need “a reasonable period” of time to comply with the new rules. What do you think about South Korea’s new crypto tax plan? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Finland’s customs officials have revealed plans to sell 1,981 bitcoins that were seized mainly in connection with drug trafficking-related criminal investigations. The majority of the confiscated bitcoins (1,666) are from the Douppikauppa case, the darknet operator who was arrested in 2016. To Sell or to Destroy the Coins According to a report by one Finnish broadcaster, the confiscated bitcoins had an estimated value of $800,000 at the time of the seizure. However, with bitcoin now trading above $38,000, Finnish Customs may well get over $75 million if the coins are sold at current prices. Meanwhile, the same report quotes an official with Finnish Customs explaining the process that preceded the decision to sell. The official, Pekka Pylkkänen, reveals the other options that were examined by Finnish Customs before the final decision was made. Pylkkänen explains: On behalf of the Customs Act, we had the option of handing them over to another government agency or some other party and destroying them. (However) we came to the conclusion that alternatives other than sales are not realistic. Prior to the latest decision to offload the seized BTC, Finnish Customs officials had similarly planned to auction the digital assets in 2018. However, this plan was ultimately abandoned. Seized Bitcoins to Be Sold as Soon as Possible In the meantime, Pylkkänen, who admits that the “risk of diversion of funds to the criminal market still exists,” explains that the decision to proceed with the sale had to be made because “under customs legislation, it (Finnish Customs) has no choice but to sell the assets.” The official adds that Finnish Customs plans to sell the digital assets on its own or via an intermediary. He emphasizes that the “bitcoins will be sold as soon as possible.” The report also reveals that when the sale is finally executed, Finnish Customs “will transfer the money from the sale of bitcoin to the Ministry of Finance.” What are your thoughts on Finnish Customs’ decision to sell the confiscated BTC? You can share your thoughts in the comments section below. View the full article

From Asia to Europe, major central banks all around the world are expected to announce their own digital currencies soon. This is vindication that stablecoins like EURST are on the right path forward, and they can serve to show how national economies should reinvent themselves following the current crisis. Why Everyone Wants a CBDC Now There is a lot of discussions in economic forums and reports in the financial press these days about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and how they can help with building a new post-Covid economy. Many countries in various regions are said to be developing some version of a CBDC, as far apart as Thailand and Ukraine. In fact, major central banks have been working on CBDCs for a few of years already, and the European Central Bank’s upcoming digital euro and China’s digital yuan are expected to be among the first. Even usually closed minded anti cryptocurrency detractors are now forced to admit that digital currencies are an unavoidable reality. For example, no other than “Dr. Doom,” economist Nouriel Roubini, now predicts a “big revolution” coming in the next few years due to many central banks launching their own digital currencies. This is mainly happening because central bankers are seeing the success of stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to national currencies, and they fear being left behind as people are choosing to use the new innovation. Stablecoins also serve as a clear example for the central bankers of the world of how the technology of digital currencies work, and the positive impact they can have on their regional economies. A leading example of a digital currency for the European economy is EURST, a USD asset-backed and live-audited stablecoin created by Mr Simone Mazzuca. This digital currency from Wallex Trust represents 1€ worth of USD, secured by the accounts of the federal reserve and Wallex Trust. “Digital currency that represent countries or states is now a very trending topic. This is happening because stablecoins work. They are effective. EURST is an example for the European economy, but for us EURST is also just the beginning, it’s a taste of what can be done. Our aspiration is to ‘beat’ the system and to build the system.” – Simone Mazzuca The Path Forward With EURST One of the major technological challenges for digital currencies that will have official state backing is that will have to comply with a whole host of complex financial regulations. Anyone can just issue a token using a blockchain like ethereum, but to integrate with the legal framework on a national level you need to prove it is backed by an asset as claimed, you need to prove it follows regulations and compliance laws, and you need ways to prevent bad actors from taking advantage of it. The Wallex Group, which secures EURST and includes Wallex Trust and Wallex Custody, is a regulated entity, with an insurance account, and it follows strict compliance procedures for AML (5th Directive Anti-Money Laundry) and know-your-customer (KYC) procedures. In this way EURST can be complaint with with European regulations and get integrated with the traditional financial system. This enables businesses and individuals to interact with the system they are used to while also benefiting from the many advantages of digital assets. Frankfurt, Germany – European Central Bank (ECB) “This is where the new economy is heading and for companies like us, The Wallex Group and EURST, that is just the beginning. We are giving people the ability to have financial power again. We let people create startups and use this technology to the best of its ability.” – Simone Mazzuca This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Mt. Gox’s trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, has asked creditors of the defunct crypto exchange to register on a new online system so that they might receive their refunds and be able to vote on the civil rehabilitation plan. ● In a statement released Jan. 7, Kobayashi said the registration targets those creditors who have already filed claims but have been unable to log in to the old Mt.Gox online system. ● Users can register on the new system using the creditor numbers they received in the past, he said. Registration must be completed by March 31, 2021. The trustee is also planning to expand the registration function to enable creditors with what he called “self-approved” claims to register such claims. ● “The trustee is considering using the system to facilitate the smooth carrying out of future processes, such as voting on the rehabilitation plan and making payments,” said Kobayashi, a Japanese bankruptcy lawyer appointed to oversee the repayment of investors. ● In December, Kobayashi finally submitted a draft rehabilitation plan to the Tokyo District Court, ending months of waiting. The court and an examiner are currently reviewing the plan, and creditors might be called to vote on it once it is approved. ● The trustee is reportedly holding a 150,000 bitcoin (BTC) war chest, ready for repayments. The stash is worth about $5.9 billion at current market prices. More than 20,000 victims are believed to have filed claims for a refund. ● Mt. Gox collapsed in 2014 after hackers supposedly spirited away more than 850,000 BTC from the exchange, then, the world’s largest. What do you think about the Mt. Gox rehabilitation effort? Let us know in the comments section below. The post New Online System at Mt. Gox May Be Used to Facilitate Bitcoin Refunds to Creditors, Says Trustee appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article