roadrunner

Nexon, the South Korean multi-billion-dollar gaming conglomerate, is reportedly planning to buy a 65% stake in troubled crypto exchange Bithumb in a deal worth about 500 billion won ($460 million). ● According to local media reports, Nexon is to buy all the shares owned by Bithumb chairman Lee Jung Hoon, including several others totaling up to 65% of the exchange’s outstanding shares. ● The Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed video gaming giant has since signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the sellers to facilitate the transaction. The MoU was signed at the beginning of this month, said the reports. ● Nexon already owns two other crypto exchanges – Korbit, Korea’s third-largest exchange, and European exchange Bitstamp, which it acquired for around $80 million and $400 million, respectively, three years ago. ● Bithumb, Korea’s largest bitcoin exchange, has been rocked by issues of fraud involving top company staff. Authorities in the Asian country are currently investigating the platform for financial fraud involving $25 million. ● Lee Jung Hoon, the chairman, is accused of pocketing millions of dollars by selling Bithumb’s tokens to clients without listing them. As a result of the fraud case, the exchange was put up for sale last year. ● Founded in 1994, Nexon is a major player in the global gaming industry. Some of its most popular gaming titles include Dungeon & Fighter, Kart Rider, and Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds. ● Shares of Nexon were down 0.16% to 3,180 Japanese yen ($30.8) in Tokyo trading on Thursday. The company boasts a market capitalization of 2.82 trillion yen ($27.3 billion). What do you think about Nexon acquiring a stake in Bithumb? Let us know in the comments section below. The post South Korean Gaming Giant Planning to Buy Crypto Exchange Bithumb for $460 Million appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Calin Culianu is the #1 contributor to the Electron Cash project. Also, he contributes to BCHN, and has created the Fulcrum server. Definitely a Bitcoin Cash hero in my book. I picked his brain a bit about all things Bitcoin Cash, and got some juicy answers. Calin likes to talk, so let’s check it out. Jonald Fyookball (JF): So Calin, how did you get into crypto? Calin Culianu (CC): You got time? All right. I had a friend who was, I used to play games with him online. We were part of this crew online. This was like 10 years ago, or whatever, like in 2012. And he was telling me about Bitcoin and it piqued my curiosity. I didn’t know anything about it. And he was telling me how you could mine and you do transactions through your computer, and it sounded so weird. And I was like what is this stupid shit? And I didn’t pay attention to it, and then I heard that podcast with Joe Rogan and Andreas Antonopoulos. When Bitcoin hit $1,000, that’s when I decided to get into it, which was not the best time to get into it. And then, Satoshi. I think he was still, was he still around? I think he might have still been around when I first was reading about it. He was still in the forums. He hadn’t disappeared yet. Can I just say one more thing, the thing that drew me, I realized how this is outside of the whole system, outside the banks, the government can’t fuck with me. I was like I can put some of my money here just in case things go belly up. This is outside of that. Why not? Why don’t I just put some of my wealth in this, and then it’s just like covering your bases. It felt really free. It felt liberating. I felt free. I don’t know. There’s something about freedom in it that really appealed to me. JF: Where were you when the whole scaling debate started blowing up? CC: I mean it felt like a betrayal because the whole thing was like this is going to become global money. And Satoshi, on the Bitcointalk forum, I mean he was talking about how he was going to scale it. People were asking him: can this really scale? And he was like yeah, we’re just going to… hard drives are going to be cheap someday. Some day you can download a DVD movie in five minutes. It’s not a big deal. And the whole, everyone was on board with that. We’ll grow this thing until it can’t grow anymore. We’re going to become global money. It’s permissionless money. It was so weird. It’s like one day your wife comes home and she’s like I’m a man. Haha. I thought we were married. It’s like a betrayal. You don’t expect it. It’s like random. Like the whole thing about them not wanting to raise the blocksize, it felt ridiculous. I was like: what’s going on? I can’t even believe we’re arguing about this. It was obvious to me. And then, there were the guys talking about Lightning. So, they were like Lightning, Lightning, this and that. None of these smart guys know what they’re doing. But, it still felt shady. It felt like these guys are scamming us. JF: We’ve been through several forks, now, and it’s just like the same pattern, like some idiot wants to do something with the chain, and then people follow them. What’s up with that? CC: I don’t know. Is it tribalism? Is it finding a niche? Like you find your little tribe, you’re like, all right, this is my group now. Maybe we’re drawn to the social aspect, like this is a bunch of people I can hang out with. I mean we do the same thing, Bitcoin cash, we all hang out on Telegram and stuff. I think that’s an aspect of it like who you know. I feel like Blockstream, they poured money into this, man. They poured, and just spinning that narrative, it was professional, dude. And there’s people that have different levels of information about a topic and it’s all over the spectrum. Even us, like we have higher levels of information, but, we’re also influenced socially by the people we know. And if you have less information or less idealism, or all you want to do is buy a Lambo, or, and it’s all like this spectrum of different sorts of motivations and levels of knowledge, and levels of idealism. It’s like a huge gray area, right, so depending on where you lie on that and who you know, you can end up following fucking ridiculous shit like Bitcoin Core. JF: You were never really involved in developing… I know you’re involved in Bitcoin Cash development. But, were you ever involved in Bitcoin BTC development? CC: Not at all. Like just writing little tools and stuff. Like I wrote like a little tool to like encrypt your key with bit 38 that nobody paid any attention to. It seemed like the software side was handled, and there were already projects, and no one really asked me to work on it, and I didn’t know much about Bitcoin internals at all. JF: How did you get involved with software development in the first place? Did you go to school for that? CC: Yeah, I went to school. I mean I got a computer science degree. I was always into computers. I was seven years old when I got my first computer. It was a Commodore 64. JF: It seems like you’ve taken your programming skills to a pretty high level. How did you do that? CC: Well, what else am I going to do? I grew up to a single mom, immigrant family in Queens in a working-class neighborhood. I’m like I got to do something. There was also a need. I grew up kind of poor, and I always wanted to be more financially secure, so I sort of sacrificed a lot to get really good,, out of necessity, it was like paranoia. What else are you going to do with your life? You might as well be good at one thing or two things. I was like a really smart kid, so I’m competitive about my intelligence, I guess. And I got my first programming job, and like all the programmers were dicks, and they were rude to me because I didn’t know anything. And that really made me angry. I was going to show these guys, I’ll show them someday. I mean you can imagine that kind of scenario, you come out of school with. JF: But then, pretty soon after you were working for someone else, you started doing your own like app development and stuff like that, right? CC: Yeah. I couldn’t stand the whole corporate, I don’t know, it just felt pointless. And also, software people have a lot of capacity to generate new ideas and new solutions, especially when I started working, it was like in the early 2000s. JF: Well, I think you have to be a little bit entrepreneurial-minded. CC: Yeah. And you have to, like some people like having a comfortable life, just get a paycheck. People look at you funny, oh my god, you quit your job, what are you going to do. There’s like social pressure. First of all, I like risk a lot. I enjoy risk. I mean I don’t enjoy ridiculous risk, but I enjoy risk more than most people, I think. I don’t like to be super cozy and comfortable. I don’t like routine, so, yeah, I pretty much quit. JF: So how’d you get involved in Bitcoin Cash? CC: Yeah. It was random. So, you know FreeTrader, right? He had started this subReddit called BTCForks. I don’t know if he started it, but he was involved in it. And people were talking since the beginning of 2017 about forking. Let’s just freakin fork it. Let’s see what happens. Because there was Bitcoin. There was BU. And there was like XT, and they were also following the same chain, and they were trying to figure out ways to make that chain change. And then, some people were just like: screw it. Let’s just fork it. We’re never going to convince these people. So, I think he teamed up with Amaury in like June or something. They started working. They started forking Bitcoin Core. And then, FreeTrader posted on Reddit. He’s like, hey, does anybody know Windows programming because we’re stuck here with something. And I responded. I was like oh, yeah, I know Windows programming. I’ve done a lot of Windows programming. I just started helping them with stuff. JF: What’s been the experience like overall with the Electron Cash project? CC: It’s been excellent. It’s been amazing. It’s been mostly fun, I would say. And the only annoying parts are my own personality getting in the way when I sort of get worked up, and I get consumed. But, as far as the people involved, they’re all just excellent, excellent people involved. JF: What do you see as the future of the wallet in terms of features or development? CC: Electron Cash is like the Swiss Army. It really is. It’s got a lot of features. It’s kind of fun to just keep building it out, right? I mean just keep adding stuff, adding details. I don’t know. I like details. I’m a detail-oriented person. I like the fact that EC has all these features, and that it’s kind of hard of use. But once you start getting used to it, it’s actually really awesome. I remember some people were talking about it becoming more user friendly for newbies and stuff, but maybe there could be that, but I don’t know. There are other wallets that do that really well, like Bitcoin.com wallet. There should be at least one wallet that’s more technical. JF: What are some things that excite you about Bitcoin cash overall? CC: Man, I don’t know. That’s a hard question. I feel like I’ve been spending a lot of time in the forest, in the trees, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the trees. I can’t see the forest. Sometimes, like, recently, I was working with BCHN stuff, and I’m, what excites me? What I want to happen is I want people to wake up and realize BTC is just so strangled. It’s just so compromised. I don’t know. I feel like we can be the coin. I feel like that can happen. It keeps me sort of motivated a little bit even though it sounds like a pipe dream at this point. It sounds like, I don’t know. It feels like Dumb and Dumber, oh, so there’s a chance. But, I really feel like that’s true. I don’t know. JF: All we need is more demand for onchain transactions, I think. CC: Yeah. If there’s more demand for crypto transactions and people paying in crypto. JF: So, let’s talk about BCHN, though, I mean that whole thing started out of kind of a response to ABC’s move, their shenanigans, and stuff. CC: Yeah. It was like f**k, these guys are threatening to screw everything up. What are we going to do? JF: So, was that kind of like déjà vu? Like Core messed with us, BSV messed with us, and now ABC is going to… Yeah, totally. It’s like the same thing, again, but different. But, the same. It’s like what, I can’t believe this shit. I didn’t think Amaury would be that crazy. JF: Sometimes I find I overestimate people. CC: I think that everyone does that. We all do it. And the thing is, people can be really well-intentioned and really genuine, and then they may change for some reason later. People are like that. JF: A lot of people are probably wondering like, well, what’s the governance like going to be now going forward? How do we know we’re not going to repeat the same mistakes, or what’s your take on the current leadership with Bitcoin cash and BCHN? CC: That is a sensitive thing.. I’m not sure what the solution is to that. But, I see what you’re saying. And I see that right now, it’s just like a bunch of nice guys, sort of not being bad. You’re not being evil. It’s like me and FreeTrader. And that’s not necessarily stable, long-term, right? That is an issue. But, the thing is what I hope to happen is that I hope no one implementation has too much power. I just hope, but then that’s not guaranteed, right? The thing is it’s a mind game here. Everything is a mind game when it comes to people and open source. It’s MIT licensed. The blockchain doesn’t collapse if developers die. The blockchain would continue. You would just keep parsing transactions. So, it’s like an illusion that developers should have this much power. It’s a complete total illusion. Yes, it’s important to have good developers in case there’s an emergency. It’s important to have good developers in case you want new features because you don’t want them developing buggy software. But, they shouldn’t have enough power to be able to dictate economic policy. And I’m a developer, and I’m saying this. JF: Seems like we dodged a bullet with the ABC fork, because ABC was so over-the-top, they defeated themselves. We got lucky. But we weren’t so lucky in the BTC fork. CC: Well, with the BTC fork there were a couple of differences. One, they had financing. They had a whole lot of money. They were actually a company that actually employed people, that actually had money. And so, they had their shit way together more than Amaury, who doesn’t have any structure. It’s just him being a little dictator without any structure. Blockstream was much more dangerous because of that. But, yeah, I mean that can happen again. Let’s say BTC collapses and BHC becomes the number one coin in five years. You know all the evil people in the world that sabotage BTC. I’m convinced some finance people, or Blockstream type people. There’s people that are going to show up again and they’re going to try to corrupt BCH. And like what do we do? We don’t have any way to defend against that. JF: We just need more education, more awareness, I guess. CC: More awareness. Do we need governance? I don’t know. Some smart people are really into the idea of governance, something needs to be structured. I don’t know, either. I really don’t know. I’m not an expert on this topic, and I don’t know, and it seems like any governance can be corrupted. But, maybe it’s harder to corrupt a government. I have no idea, man. I do see that there’s a problem as far as that goes. We don’t want this to keep happening. JF: So, what do you see as the future of crypto in society in the far future or in the medium future? CC: I think it’s just inevitable. Like the fact that you can take money into your own hands. It’s out of the box. Pandora’s box has been opened. The genie is out of the bottle. It’s not going to be uninvented. People are going to find more reasons to use it in the future, especially as we get stuck home where we enter this new reality that they’re imposing upon us. Governments are printing more money. I feel like somehow it’ll just start to crop up more and more in people’s lives like they need to use crypto. What do you think about the interview with Calin Culianu? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post A Conversation with One of Bitcoin Cash’s Most Prolific Developers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Fund Manager and founder of Miller Value Partners, Bill Miller says holding bitcoin is better than holding cash because the digital asset is immune to the bad policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Writing in the 2020 Q4 Market Letter, Miller explains that some companies are already converting to bitcoin in order to avoid incurring the “guaranteed losses” of holding cash. Bitcoin Beats Berkshire Hathaway In his brief focus on the top crypto, the fund manager starts by noting how bitcoin “has outperformed all major asset classes” after the digital asset went “up more than 50% since the middle of December.” Miller then reminds his audience of the fact that the digital asset’s market capitalization now surpasses that of Jamie Dimon’s JP Morgan or Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. At the time of writing, data shows that the market capitalization for JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway stood at $400 billion and $540 billion respectively. On the other hand, bitcoin, which set a new all-time high for the third day in a row, now has a market capitalization of $716 billion. The surge in bitcoin’s market capitalization means the digital asset, which Warren Buffet previously compared to rat poison, is now more valuable than Berkshire Hathaway. It is this apparent new fact that Miller uses to attack Buffet’s infamous bitcoin remark. In his counter-argument, the fund manager says: Warren Buffett famously called bitcoin ‘rat poison.’He may well be right. Bitcoin could be rat poison, and the rat could be cash. Growing Demand for BTC In the meantime, to support his assertions about BTC, the fund manager points to the growing demand for bitcoin by large companies like Square Inc, Massmutual, and Microstrategy. According to Miller, these companies “have moved cash into bitcoin rather than have guaranteed losses on cash held on their balance sheet.” In addition to these companies, smaller investors have also joined the BTC acquisition craze. These investors are buying the digital asset via fintech firms like Square Inc and Paypal. According to the Miller: Paypal and Square alone are estimated to be buying on behalf of their customers all of the 900 new bitcoins mined each day. Miller then ends his letter by suggesting that when more “companies decide to diversify some small portion of their cash balances into bitcoin instead of cash, then the current relative trickle into bitcoin would become a torrent.” Do you agree with Miller’s assertion that holding bitcoin is better than holding cash? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Fund Manager Bill Miller Lauds BTC- Says ‘Bitcoin Could Be Rat Poison, and the Rat Could Be Cash’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

While bitcoin (BTC) prices are increasing, crypto-related scams appear on the scene to take advantage of the situation. In this case, a security firm spotted three malicious crypto apps targeting users to steal their funds. Three Bogus Crypto Trading and Poker Apps Are Infected With Dangerous Malware According to Intezer Labs, a year-long malware operation has been underway since January 2020, spreading faster with the help of a sophisticated marketing campaign. Per the research, the threat actors rely on three cryptocurrency-related apps to spread a Remote Access Tool (RAT) malware named ElectroRAT: Jamm and eTrade/Kintum (both fake crypto trading platforms), and DaoPoker (fake crypto poker app). Intezer Labs also found that these cybercriminals are developing versions of their software for Windows, Mac and Linux to increase confidence in their products, and to target a wider range of victims across the globe. The investigators say there are “thousands of victims” affected by ElectroRAT’s campaign, which includes domain registrations, websites, trojanized applications, and fake social media accounts. Some of these bogus apps were spotted in crypto-themed forums such as bitcointalk and Steemcoinpan, as fake profiles are used to promote the apps, asking people to download an application that is already infected by the malware. An ‘Uncommon’ Malware on the Radar After getting infected, the program drains victims’ crypto wallets. Intezer Labs provides more details about malicious apps that contain ElectroRAT: ElectroRAT is extremely intrusive. It has various capabilities such as keylogging, taking screenshots, uploading files from disk, downloading files and executing commands on the victim’s console. The malware has similar capabilities for its Windows, Linux and macOS variants. The research firm highlights that it’s “very uncommon” to see this kind of malware steal sensitive information from cryptocurrency users. Intezer Labs adds: It is even more rare to see such a wide-ranging and targeted campaign that includes various components such as fake apps and websites, and marketing/promotional efforts via relevant forums and social media. What are your thoughts about the findings from the security firm? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Hackers Are Using Three Fake Crypto-Related Apps to Drain Wallets appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The price of bitcoin has astonished the masses once again surpassing $40,000 per coin across crypto exchanges worldwide. With well over $28 billion in global trade volume, the leading crypto asset’s overall market valuation is now a whopping $728 billion in value. **This post has been updated at 1:50 p.m. (EST) to reflect the recent price drop. Bitcoin’s Value Soars On January 7, 2021, Bitcoin (BTC) has surpassed its previous all-time high (ATH) it reached earlier in the day, and has jumped over the $40k handle on Thursday afternoon. The crypto asset’s dominance index compared to the value of the rest of the crypto economy is 68.8% today. The price has spiked $20,000 higher than the prior ATH captured three years ago in 2017. On Thursday, bitcoin (BTC) touched a high of $40,382 at the time of publication. There’s currently 18.5 million BTC in existence (88.54%) and there’s only 13.51% left for bitcoin miners to mine. As news.Bitcoin.com reported during our last market update, BTC’s hashrate has been riding very high. The overall hashrate has been fluctuating between 150 to 160 exahash per second, as miners are dedicating a lot of processing power to the chain. Miners today only get 6.25 BTC per block reward and the bitcoin inflation rate per annum is only 1.78% with 900 BTC issued per day. The next Bitcoin (BTC) halving is expected in 1,215 days or on or around May 7, 2024. At that time the bitcoin inflation rate per annum at the next block halving event will be 0.84%. While the global economy is uncertain, Gavin Smith, the CEO of Panxora thinks that market players are protecting their wealth with the leading crypto asset. “It’s no surprise that the world is watching bitcoin right now. Its price is soaring as the after-effects of the COVID monetary stimulus continues to raise concerns about inflation,” Smith said as BTC was nearing the $40k handle. The Panxora executive added: As a result of quantitative easing, market players are adopting bitcoin to hedge against instability. But while further growth is inevitable, investors should not expect this to move in a straight line. The Perfect Storm The CTO of Bitfinex, Paolo Ardoino, says that “bitcoin is rising in the eye of a perfect storm” commenting on BTC’s meteoric rise on Thursday. “The backdrop is one of continuing global macroeconomic uncertainty that has the potential to devalue fiat currencies. High finance’s embrace of the digital gold narrative may potentially be followed by retail as the market cap of all cryptocurrencies reaches $1 trillion for the first time,” the Bitfinex CTO added. Meanwhile, over the last 90 days, BTC has been one of the best performing assets worldwide climbing more than 250% during the last three months. Paired against the U.S. dollar, bitcoin (BTC) has jumped well over 375% over the course of the year. At press time the price is riding well over the $40k zone and continues to ride upward. ** On Jan. 7, 2021, at approximately 1:30 p.m. EST, bitcoin (BTC) dropped to a low of $36,540 per unit plumetting -9.55% in a short period of time. What do you think about bitcoin hitting $40,000 per coin? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post BTC Reaches a Whopping $40,000, Industry Exec Says ‘Bitcoin Rises in the Eye of a Perfect Storm’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Billionaire Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban has shared his idea of what he will do when the price of bitcoin hits $1 million. Cuban says he will run for president but only if some bitcoins are donated to the Treasury so that every citizen receives some satoshis each year he is in office. He will require them to hold onto the coins for 10 years. Mark Cuban Envisions Running for President When Bitcoin Hits $1 Million Shark Tank star Mark Cuban tweeted about bitcoin and the U.S. presidential election Tuesday in reply to a thread started by the Virgin Galactic chairman Chamath Palihapitiya. The owner of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Dallas Mavericks wrote: I’ll run if BTC gets to $1m and we can get commitments to donate 350 BTC to the Treasury each of the 4 yrs so that we can give 1 satoshi to every citizen each yr, that they must hold for 10 years. The Shark Tank star initially tweeted “1 satoshi” but subsequently made a correction, stating, “that’s 100 satoshis per citizen per year.” One bitcoin is equivalent to 100 million satoshis. Palihapitiya started the thread on Twitter, stating: “There will be a viable third political party in the US by 2030. Centrist, pragmatic and cuts through the bullshit. The current system is so broken, you can only support it through a combination of willful blindness and stupidity.” Cuban replied: “Why do we need political parties at all?” Palihapitiya responded with “probably wouldn’t if you would run…” Comments flooded the thread with many people cheering for Cuban to really run for U.S. president in 2024. Some commenters suggested that either Palihapitiya or the pro-UBI Andrew Yang could be the vice president. The Virgin Galactic chairman has long been pro bitcoin. He repeatedly said that the price of bitcoin could go to a million dollars and everyone should own some BTC, advocating having at least 1% of portfolios in the cryptocurrency. Palihapitiya himself has a plan when the price of bitcoin reaches $150,000. He tweeted on Dec. 30: When BTC gets to $150k, I will buy The Hamptons and convert it to sleepaway camps for kids, working farms and low-cost housing. Cuban’s opinion of bitcoin was not always positive. He previously stated that he would “rather have bananas than bitcoin,” emphasizing that he could at least eat a banana. In December, Cuban started showing an incremental growth of appreciation for the cryptocurrency, arguing that bitcoin was “a store of value like gold” but added that it “is more religion than solution to any problem.” Then his Dallas Mavericks started offering merchandise discounts for customers paying with bitcoin. What do you think about Mark Cuban’s bitcoin plans? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Mark Cuban’s Bitcoin Plan: Run for President if BTC Hits $1 Million, Free Satoshis for Every Citizen appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. 7th January 2021, London, United Kingdom – Stratis was created for a simple purpose – to provide enterprises with blockchain as a service (BaaS) solutions, designed to implement complex blockchain architecture within mainstream coding languages, used by everyday companies away from the crypto niche. It does this through cloud solutions, support for C# and .NET application building, alongside tool customization via its open source protocol. The result of this? Stratis unlocks the power of blockchain technology for mainstream businesses, and unlocks the mainstream market for the blockchain industry – Two powerful combinations. Enterprises that find themselves relying on the Stratis tool set will access a less expensive and less complex blockchain building framework. Companies no longer need to purchase and manage their own full nodes, nor do they need to build a blockchain infrastructure from scratch – Something which is niche and represents a huge barrier to entry by setup cost to all but the largest of companies. Moreover, businesses in need of smart contract support will be pleased to find that Stratis supports virtual machines via Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Stratis – Tailored with Perfection Stratis holds several key values that make it an optimal choice for blockchain operations – decentralization, privacy, scalability, practicality, accessibility, reliability, security, and performance. To better understand this, Stratis blockchains run a number of cloud-based full nodes, so decentralization is assured. Privacy is guaranteed – through cryptographic encryption, all transactions and communications remain private. Stratis is also keen on providing an adaptable degree of scalability, achieved through the means of intuitive sidechain usage. Companies looking to leverage the power of smart contracts must know that Stratis is the only platform providing support for C# execution, so developers can efficiently code self-enforcing programs utilising their existing development tools and existing knowledge of a rich and versatile programming language. Stratis is also working on facilitating cross-chain communication between contracts running within Stratis’ ecosystem and those deployed on the Ethereum blockchain, hence increasing their suitability for today’s interconnected world. STRAX Swap on Binance In September 2020, the team introduced STRAX, a more powerful protocol designed to flawlessly integrate within the platform’s existing business model. Previously-minted STRAT tokens have been swapped to STRAX tokens on a 1:1 basis via Binance. Following the shift, Stratis will introduce a series of other advanced features, such as the STRAX SideChain, Stratis InterFlux, SegWit support, cold-staking, the DeFi app library, IoT development tools, and many others. Since STRAX is based on the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, network participants can receive token-based rewards in exchange for staking their STRAX tokens. Stratis is well-aware of the security risks posed by hot wallet storage, so the team has decided to use cold-staking for ideal token security. 2021 – The Year for Stratis & BaaS In Q1 2021, Stratis will launch the Unity Development Kit (allowing the integration of NFTs and decentralized identities within the gaming ecosystem), the DeFi Software Library (a catalogue of C# standardized smart contracts), the Stratis DAO (a means of funding next-gen developments via voting), the Stratis System Contracts (introducing on-chain logic and simplifying user-driven processes), and the mobile wallet featuring token support (supporting tokens issued on the Cirrus Sidechain). In Q2 2021, Stratis will launch the Python Development Kit (allowing Python coders to build on Stratis), the IoT Development Kit (meant to introduce Stratis solutions to IoT hardware), a new version of Proof-of-Stake (boasting improved security and additional features), Stratis Oracles (a distributed means of accessing off-chain data), and Dex Mobile Support (allowing mobile trading of SRC20 tokens). In Q4 2021, Stratis will launch Ethereum Interoperability (known as InterFlux, this will enable usage of wrapped STRAX tokens on the Ethereum chain), alongside the STO & Digital Asset Platform (providing the tools needed to manage token offerings). With so much happening last year ,and so much on the horizon, 2021 looks like a promising year for Stratis. Click here to Find out more about how Stratis is changing the world one blockchain at a time. Follow Stratis on Twitter – https://twitter.com/stratisplatform Join the Stratis Developer Academy – https://academy.stratisplatform.com/ Check out Stratis on GitHub – https://github.com/stratisproject Read the latest Stratis news – https://www.stratisplatform.com/news/ Media Contact Details Contact Name: Bitcoin PR Buzz Press Team Contact Email: press@bitcoinprbuzz.com Stratis Group LTD 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. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. About Bitcoin PR Buzz: Bitcoin PR Buzz has been proudly serving the crypto press release distribution needs of blockchain start-ups for over 8 years. Get your Bitcoin Press Release Distribution today. 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. The post Stratis Brings Blockchain as a Service to All Businesses via its C# Native Platform appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Digital currency markets continue to see strong gains, as the overall market valuation of the crypto economy has jumped $32 billion over the $1 trillion market cap after hitting the record number for the first time. Moreover, the price of bitcoin touched yet another all-time high on Thursday morning (EST) reaching $38,610 per coin. Bitcoin, the leading digital asset in terms of market valuation, is hovering above the $38k handle after smashing through its ATH the day prior. Bitcoin (BTC) jumped to another ATH on Thursday touching approximately $38,610 per unit during the morning trading sessions. Bitcoin is up over 10% during the last 24 hours, 31% during the last seven days, 107% for the month, and 243% for the 90-day span. BTC is also up more than 370% against the U.S. dollar for the last 12 months. Bitcoin (BTC) tapped an ATH of $38,610 on Thursday morning’s trading sessions (EST). The crypto asset’s top trading pair today is tether (USDT), which captures 52.19% of all BTC trades today. This is followed by the trading pairs USD (18.58%), JPY (7.14%), EUR (5.59%), BUSD (4.20%), KRW (3.58%), and USDC (1.53%). Bitcoin’s hashrate is still very high at 155 exahash per second (EH/s) on Thursday as 18 mining pools are mining BTC today. The top five mining pools on January 7, 2020, includes F2pool, Binance Pool, Huobi Pool, Antpool, and Poolin. The second-leading crypto asset, ethereum (ETH) is up 7.4% today and 65% for the last week. ETH is trading for $1,231 per unit and has a market cap of around $140 billion. After suffering for a couple of weeks on end, the third-largest blockchain in terms of market cap, XRP has jumped considerably on Thursday morning (EST). XRP has gained 60% during the last 24 hours of trading and is now swapping for $0.33 per token. While BTC has jumped to new highs, some analysts think the crypto asset’s value may be running hot. The CEO of Cryptoquant Ki-Young Ju tweeted about the funding rate heat three days ago. “I’ll patiently wait for the moment the funding rate cools down,” the Cryptoquant CEO tweeted. “BTC could go up more, but it’s too dangerous,” he added. On January 4, 2020, David Rosenberg, the chief economist of Rosenberg Research told CNBC that bitcoin is in a massive bubble and referred to the crypto asset as being oversold. “The parabolic move in bitcoin in such a short time period, I would say for any security, is highly abnormal,” Rosenberg said. Meanwhile, the aggregate market valuation of all 7,500+ crypto assets on Thursday, January 7, 2020, is approximately $1,038,719,526,309 at the time of publication. For more live crypto market action, check out the real-time exchange stats at markets.Bitcoin.com. What do you think about bitcoin’s latest all-time price high? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Price Leaps Over $38,600- Analyst Says BTC’s Parabolic Move ‘Highly Abnormal’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

JPMorgan’s analysts have made a case that bitcoin’s price could reach $146,000 as the cryptocurrency’s competition with gold heats up. Meanwhile, the firm’s global strategist sees the current bitcoin bull run as being similar to the bull run of 2017. He warns of three risks that could affect bitcoin’s outlook for 2021. JPMorgan Sets Bitcoin’s Price Target at $146K JPMorgan published a report Monday on bitcoin’s valuation and future outlook. “We cannot exclude the possibility that the current speculative mania will propagate further, pushing the bitcoin price up towards the consensus region of between $50k-$100k,” the analysts wrote. “We believe that such price levels would prove unsustainable.” They explained: “Bitcoin’s competition with gold has already started in our mind as evidenced by the more than $3bn of inflows into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and the more than $7bn of outflows from Gold ETFs since mid-October.” The report elaborates: The market cap of bitcoin at $575bn currently would have to rise by x4.6 from here, implying a theoretical bitcoin price of $146k, to match the total private sector investment in gold via ETFs or bars and coins. The analysts added: “A convergence in volatilities between bitcoin and gold is unlikely to happen quickly and is in our mind a multi-year process. This implies that the above $146k theoretical bitcoin price target should be considered as a long-term target.” JPMorgan Strategist Says Current Bitcoin Bull Run Similar to 2017 JPMorgan’s senior global markets strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, one of the report authors, also shared his 2021 outlook for bitcoin on CNBC’s Squawk Alley last week. “There are three risks in my mind,” he began. “The first one is the strong consensus that exists at the moment that the bitcoin price will reach in 2021 — $50,000 or $100,000. We know from other asset classes that when there is a crowded consensus, it rarely materializes as originally envisaged.” He continued, “The second risk has to do with the speculative money that exists among retail but also institutional investors,” adding: The speculative money among retail investors at the moment is not that dissimilar to what we saw at the end of 2017. “Institutional investors have also built speculative positions over the past couple of months and we see that in the CME bitcoin futures,” Panigirtzoglou asserted. “I think it’s wrong here to assume that all the bitcoin ascent this year has been driven by institutional buying and all that institutional buying is by long-term institutional investors. There are also speculative institutional investors.” The third factor he discussed was whether more people will be using bitcoin and more merchants will be accepting it in 2021. Despite payments giant Paypal promising to enable bitcoin payments at its 28 million merchants worldwide, the JPMorgan strategist is still not convinced. “I don’t think so,” Panigirtzoglou said. “The acceptance of bitcoin as a payment system, as a payments currency, is conditional on regulatory restrictions and approvals. As a result, it would be difficult here to imagine that next year we will see a massive change on that front.” The JPMorgan strategist concluded: “I think what changed this year is the perception of bitcoin’s digital gold. But as a payments currency, it’s far from seeing much of a change here, but again we don’t need the bitcoin here to become a payments currency for the price to go up.” Do you agree with JPMorgan’s analysts? Let us know in the comments section below. The post JPMorgan Predicts $146K Bitcoin Price as Competition With Gold Escalates appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has updated its instructions for disclosing crypto activities. The update provides clarification on who must answer “yes” to the IRS’ crypto question and when it is appropriate to select “no” as the answer. IRS Publishes New Crypto Tax Filing Instructions The IRS published updated instructions for Form 1040 on Dec. 31. They include additional information on how to answer the cryptocurrency question on the main tax form used by individuals to file U.S. tax returns. The first question on Form 1040 is about cryptocurrency. It reads: “At any time during 2020, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?” Taxpayers only need to answer “yes” or “no” to this question. According to Cryptotrader Tax, a crypto tax software company, the IRS now requires taxpayers who purchased cryptocurrency in 2020 to answer “yes” to the crypto question on Form 1040 — not just if they sold, traded, or exchanged cryptocurrency as outlinned the previous instructions. The company detailed: This language was not present in the prior instructional guidance that was released in October. The IRS will now know everyone who purchased cryptocurrency in 2020 as all taxpayers must answer this question under penalty of perjury. In summary, taxpayers must answer “yes” to the IRS’ cryptocurrency question in 2020 if they purchased or received (including from an airdrop or a fork) cryptocurrencies. They must also answer “yes” if they sold a cryptocurrency for a fiat currency or exchanged a cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency. In addition, they need to answer yes if they used cryptocurrency to pay for goods or services. Form 1040 for the tax year 2020 showing the cryptocurrency question. Source: IRS The new instructions also clarify when taxpayers do not need to answer “yes” to the crypto question. The IRS described: A transaction involving virtual currency does not include the holding of virtual currency in a wallet or account, or the transfer of virtual currency from one wallet or account you own or control to another that you own or control. “This is valuable clarification for long-term holders who were unsure if they needed to select yes or no to the question,” Cryptotrader Tax commented. The IRS also explained that if a taxpayer disposes of any cryptocurrencies that were held as capital assets through a sale, exchange, or transfer, they must use Form 8949 to figure out their capital gain or loss and report it on Schedule D of Form 1040. What do you think about the IRS’ tax filing requirements? Let us know in the comments section below. The post IRS Updates Tax Requirements for Cryptocurrency Owners appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A gambling tech giant received the green light from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to start offering cryptocurrency payment options to their users. The company is known for manufacturing slot gambling machines. Gamblers Could Also Transfer Crypto From Their Wallets to the Casino’s Ones Per records from the USPTO, International Game Technology (IGT) received the patent that allows gamblers to pay their pets via bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and bitcoin cash (BCH). As described in the patent’s filings, IGT’s system will consist of the following: A system that enables cryptocurrency funds to be transferred between a gaming establishment account associated with a player and an external cryptocurrency account. The document shows some graphics of phones with illustrations of what seems to be mobile applications and uses QR codes that transfer cryptos onto the slot machines. The app also seems to act as a wallet, as well. Moreover, the cryptocurrency would convert to fiat after the user pays a fee. Technically, the patent extends beyond the slot machines, as it covers services such as moving crypto into the users’ account, as the wallet’s function suggested. During an interview with Bloomberg Law, Phil O’Shaughnessy, IGT’s spokesperson, commented on the announcement, stressing the need of the company to prepare the ground for the future: IGT secured this patent to bolster its industry-leading patent portfolio in anticipation of any possible future direction in regulated gaming involving cryptocurrency. Trends in Crypto Gambling Industry The announcement comes in the midst of another one that involved IGT, who gained approval from Nevada’s regulatory authorities to establish a cashless wagering system through gamblers’ phones. On April 2, 2020, news.Bitcoin.com reported that Chainalysis researchers found that the downward trend in gambling activity appears unrelated to the bitcoin price drop during the decline witnessed during such a period of time. According to the analysis, it can be explained by the fact that such market has proven to be more resilient to the dips in the crypto sphere. What are your thoughts on the announcement? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Top Gambling Firm IGT Obtains US Patent for a System to Enable Customers to Fund Their Bets via Crypto appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The price of bitcoin has crossed a new all-time high on Saturday morning (EST), spiking over $31k per coin. At around 8:43 a.m., bitcoin’s value climbed to $31,417 per unit with roughly $12 billion in global trade volume. Bitcoin (BTC) has surpassed the $31k price zone, and has jumped very close to the $32k range. At around 8:43 a.m. (EST), the crypto asset spiked to $31,417 per bitcoin reaching another all-time price high. BTC is up 5% during the last 24 hours, 15% for the week, 58% during the last month, and 187% for the 90-day span. Over the course of the last 12 months against the U.S. dollar, bitcoin (BTC) has gained 315%. At 8:43 a.m. (EST) bitcoin (BTC) touched an ATH of $31,417 on Bitstamp. The crypto asset’s hashrate on Saturday morning is hovering around 135 exahash per second with 18 mining pools dedicating hash at the Bitcoin blockchain. The mining operation F2pool captures 18% of the hashrate or 26.31 exahash per second. Lots of crypto supporters celebrated bitcoin’s new price rise. After the $30k crossing, the market maniac Holger Zschaepitz said: “Bitcoin tops 30k for the first time ever only 17 days after cryptocurrency crossed 20k.” Another individual wrote: “Well, bitcoin breaking $30k is [definitely] a solid way to start the year.” A number of bitcoiners wholeheartedly believe the price of BTC will climb much higher than the $30k handle. “Don’t sell your sats to mega institutional investors at $30k,” tweeted Phil Geiger. “They have far more resources than you and they will happily pay you $200k for a bitcoin.” The onchain researcher, Willy Woo, has said people shouldn’t stress investing in bitcoin at this price when the price could very well reach $300k. “If you’re looking for an entry to HODL Bitcoin long term, don’t nickel and dime an entry,” Woo tweeted. “You’re not going to sweat a few thousand dollars of non-perfect entry when it’s $100k, $200k, $300k in a year.” Woo added: The main bull phase is here. Capital inflows [have] gone nuts. Since bitcoin (BTC) started its bullish rise crushing the 2017 all-time high, the crypto asset has not seen any major pullbacks yet. In 2017, BTC saw roughly four 25-38% losses during the ride up. One analyst says that the monthly momentum indicator shows we may see a big pullback soon. “Something interesting that I’ll be on guard for (interesting, but, not actionable by itself),” the trader Mr. Anderson told his 64,000 Twitter followers. “The last and only time that BTC saw a monthly momentum reading this high we saw a 38% retrace [and] a recovery intra-month and continued exponentially. At the time of publication, the entire market valuation of all 7,500+ digital assets is near $800 billion and steadily inching toward $1 trillion. Bitcoin’s market cap captures $573 billion worth of the entire crypto market economy. Currently, bitcoin (BTC) is trading for $31,200 per unit on Saturday, January 2, 2021. What do you think about bitcoin surpassing the $30,000 price zone on Saturday morning? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Value Leaps Over the $31K Handle, BTC Sees an All-Time Price High in 2021 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Onchain statistics show 78% of the circulating bitcoin supply is illiquid and barely accessible according to Glassnode research. Data indicates that the analysts have classified 14.5 million bitcoin as illiquid and only 4.2 million bitcoin in constant circulation. One of the most treasured parts of the Bitcoin (BTC) protocol is the fact that the system is mathematically provable, and bitcoins are scarce. When Satoshi Nakamoto created the crypto asset, the inventor set the supply cap to end at 21 million coins issued and today, there’s approximately 18.58 million BTC in circulation. This week, researchers from the onchain analysis firm Glassnode reported on the number of liquid and illiquid coins in existence these days. Despite the fact that exchanges have a massive quantity of bitcoin (BTC) on hand to sell and trade, Glassnode researchers say that 78% of the current supply is illiquid. On Twitter, Glassnode wrote: “78% of the circulating bitcoin supply is illiquid and therefore hardly accessible for buying. This points to a bullish investor sentiment as large amounts of BTC are being hoarded – which reduces sell pressure,” the researchers stressed. The analysts added: Bitcoin liquidity is defined as the average ratio of received and spent BTC across entities. We show that currently 14.5M BTC are classified as illiquid, leaving only 4.2M BTC in constant circulation that are available for buying and selling. The onchain data suggests that the current uptrend in crypto asset value has been fueled by liquidity issues. For instance, during the course of the year, large financial institutions and well known hedge fund managers have been purchasing bitcoin in massive quantities. The bitcoin treasuries list has grown rapidly this year with 29 well known companies capturing 1.1 million BTC to be held for treasury reserves. “Over the course of 2020, a total of 1 million additional BTC have become illiquid— investors are increasingly hodling,” the Glassnode analysts further noted. The rising illiquidity suggests “the current bull run has been (partly) driven by this emerging bitcoin liquidity crisis,” the researchers added. Glassnode concluded that the amount of liquid and illiquid bitcoin in circulation has a “clear relationship with the BTC market.” Data shows that since 2017, the illiquid supply of bitcoin has swelled more so than the issued bitcoin stemming from bitcoin miners. This pattern was observed during the crypto asset runup in 2017 as well, the onchain researchers detailed. According to the Bituniverse “Exchange Transparent Balance Rank” data stemming from Peckshield, Etherscan, and Chain.info, exchanges hold fewer bitcoins than they did last year. Coinbase is the leading exchange, in terms of BTC reserves held, with 870,000 BTC on hand. This is followed by Huobi (252k BTC), Binance (215k BTC), Bitfinex (142k BTC), and Kraken (137k BTC). What do you think about the number of liquid and illiquid bitcoins in existence? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Data Shows 78% of the Circulating Bitcoin Supply Is Illiquid, Only 4.2M BTC in Constant Circulation appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Carolina Panthers offensive lineman Russell Okung said he has been paid in bitcoin after asking to be paid in the cryptocurrency for almost two years. The Panthers is reportedly diverting half of his $13 million salary to the Strike wallet, which converts the payment into bitcoin for Okung. Russell Okung ‘Paid in Bitcoin’ Pro football player Russell Okung is now reportedly receiving half of his salary in bitcoin. Okung has been a staunch bitcoin advocate for years and he has been asking to be paid in bitcoin since May 2019. Then he tweeted on Tuesday that he was “Paid in bitcoin.” However, Okung is not receiving bitcoin directly from the Panthers but through a third-party payment service called Strike, an application developed by Zap Solutions Inc., which helps people convert any percentage of their paychecks into bitcoin. Under the agreement, the Panthers reportedly will pay part of Okung’s $13 million salary to Strike which will then pay Okung in bitcoin. Okung is the Panthers’ highest-paid player for the 2020 season. Okung’s salary agreement is handled internally by the Panthers, CNBC explained, adding that the National Football League (NFL) and its players’ union were both unaware of Okung’s agreement until Tuesday’s announcement. However, they did not attempt to void or officially sign off on the agreement. An NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told the publication: “There wasn’t anything to sign off on. The clubs pay the players in US dollars. What the players or his agents do with the money is up to them.” Okung said in a statement: Money is more than currency; it’s power. The way money is handled from creation to dissemination is part of that power. Getting paid in bitcoin is the first step of opting out of the corrupt, manipulated economy we all inhabit. The pro football star frequently tweets about bitcoin. “You can make ‘x’ a year and watch it slowly erode with inflation or you can protect your hard-earned money with bitcoin,” he wrote after announcing that he was paid in the cryptocurrency. “I’m freeing myself from fiat. You can too.” He elaborated: When we are all paid in bitcoin, no one can tell us what to do with the value we create … In a post fiat world, you won’t have to worry about your labor and time being stolen. Okung further tweeted Tuesday, “If you think elections are rigged wait until you learn about the US dollar.” In addition, he wrote, “If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that the world is rapidly changing” and “The next decade will be about bitcoin’s mass adoption.” In November, the pro athlete tweeted, “I’m irresponsibly long on bitcoin.” Do you think more pro athletes will want to be paid in bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Pro Football Star Receives Half of His $13 Million Salary in Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On December 31, billionaire investor Mike Novogratz asked his Twitter followers which blockchain coin has the best chance of winning the payments race and offered four choices. Novogratz said there are lots of “contenders” and listed off Facebook’s diem, tether, bitcoin cash, and Circle’s popular stablecoin. This week Mike Novogratz asked his Twitter followers out of diem, bitcoin cash, USDC, and tether (USDT), which coin “has best chance of winning payments?” Novogratz said that there were a lot of contenders and asked his followers to give him their thoughts on which coin would dominate. The tweet received a lot of replies and many crypto asset proponents discussed Novogratz’s question and had a number of interesting theories. “Diem has Facebook network effect,” one individual replied. “But will be very watched by regulators. Still should be #1 candidate if FB delivers. USDC should eventually take over tether as it is U.S. based and less shady. Paypal could be a surprise challenger. Decentralised stable such as empty set dollars too,” the person added. “LINK will be the ultimate winner,” another person responded. “Platform winners obviously ETH, possibly DIEM and lookout for AVAX. 2021 will be the year of stablecoin experiments, with multiple custodial stablecoins being born and plenty of money made and lost in algo stablecoins. USDT and USDC reign.” Of course, a great number of bitcoin cash (BCH) supporters took to the Novogratz tweet and discussed the benefits of BCH as a payments rail. “Bitcoin Cash hands down— Many BCH projects have been funded,” the bitcoin cash enthusiast Wizewizzz tweeted to Novogratz. “[Five] development teams are innovating on the scaling front [and the] community is laser-focused on adoption [and] utility in the real world. BCH aims to be sound peer to peer electronic cash— No other project comes even close.” General Protocols’ developer Jonathan Silverblood responded to Novogratz and said that for payments, “value has to be stable by default.” “This gives USDC and tether a clear advantage today, but it also has to be cost-efficient,” Silverblood added. “For this reason, I believe that the winner doesn’t exist yet. Out of the current contenders, I work on and believe in [bitcoin cash] BCH as the rails. In particular, I do so because they are focusing on the right use case, and are innovating in this field specifically.” There was also bitcoin (BTC) supporters who believe BTC is a store-of-value (SoV), but that also the Lightning Network (LN) can act as a payment rail. “Not a coin. A protocol. The SoV it routes will be agnostic. Lightning has a fair chance,” the well known data analyst Willy Woo tweeted to Novogratz in response to his payments coin tweet. However, a great number of crypto advocates responded to Woo’s speculation and said that the LN can “only work with good UX if crypto works like the gold standard, you need to trust custodians.” Another person added: “[The Lightning Network] is not even secure against Flood and Loot attack.” Some individuals also said layer 2 solutions will be hosted on the Ethereum (ETH) network first. Many crypto-asset supporters believe that while a store-of-value (SoV) like gold holds a $9 trillion market capitalization, the liquid payments market is much larger. Blockchain payment rails offering a reliable and inexpensive peer-to-peer electronic cash solution are effectively targeting the world’s cash market or the global M1. In comparison to the precious metal gold’s $9 trillion, the $100 trillion liquid payments market is 1011% larger than the SoV. What do you think about Mike Novogratz’s recent tweet about blockchain payment contenders? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post 9 Trillion vs. 100 Trillion: Billionaire Mike Novogratz Asks Which Cryptocurrency Will Win the Payments Race appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

For many years, the business tycoon Warren Buffet has condemned bitcoin as an investment telling people that the crypto asset is nothing but gambling. Two years ago, just before a Berkshire Hathaway 2018 annual shareholder meeting, Buffet said bitcoin is “probably rat poison squared.” Despite the investor’s criticism, the crypto asset’s market capitalization has surpassed Buffet’s multinational conglomerate holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, in net value. Bitcoin has a lot of haters, including people like Jamie Dimon, Peter Schiff, and Nouriel Roubini. In addition to these pundits, the American investor and chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet, doesn’t like bitcoin either. For many years now, the executive who developed an interest in business and investing in his youth has disliked bitcoin (BTC) with a fervent passion. Two years ago, Buffet explained that purchasing the crypto asset is not an investment. “You aren’t investing when you do that,” Buffett stressed in 2018 during an interview in reference to buying bitcoin. “You’re speculating. There’s nothing wrong with it. If you wanna gamble somebody else will come along and pay more money tomorrow, that’s one kind of game. That is not investing.” Then during a discussion with CNBC’s Becky Quick, Buffet further explained that bitcoin is “probably rat poison squared.” Moreover, on Valentine’s Day 2018, Buffet’s partner and Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman, Charlie Munger, said he detested bitcoin. During the company’s annual shareholder meeting Munger said the crypto asset was “noxious poison” and “disgusting.” “I never considered for one second, having anything to do with [bitcoin],” Munger insisted. “I detested it the minute it had been raised. The more popular it got, the more I hated it. It’s just disgusting that people have been taken in by this.” Despite the bigwigs at Berkshire Hathaway hating on the crypto asset bitcoin (BTC), the digital currency has surpassed the multinational holding company’s net value according to statistics. Bitcoin’s value anywhere above the $29,300 per unit range gives BTC’s market valuation a whopping $544 billion, which is $1 billion above Berkshire Hathaway’s capitalization. A graphic perspective of bitcoin’s (BTC) market capitalization after the crypto asset surpassed Visa’s valuation and started climbing toward Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. The next major company BTC needs to pass is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world. Bitcoin has already surpassed the valuation of the major payments network Visa, which is valued at roughly $482 billion. The conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway is basically a lot of companies as well, as the holdings firm wholly owns well known businesses like Dairy Queen, GEICO, Duracell, Pampered Chef, Fruit of the Loom, and more. Berkshire Hathaway also has significant minority holdings in Coca-Cola, Bank of America, Apple, and American Express. Since Bitcoin’s launch on January 3, 2009, 12 years ago, the currency has grown immensely in value and traditional investment tycoons have had a difficult time processing why it has grown so valuable. Still to this day, people like Peter Schiff and Warren Buffet believe that bitcoin is nothing but a pyramid scheme. “If you buy something like a farm, an apartment house, or an interest in a business,” Buffet once said. “You can do that on a private basis. And it’s a perfectly satisfactory investment. You look at the investment itself to deliver the return to you. Now, if you buy something like bitcoin or some cryptocurrency, you don’t really have anything that has produced anything. You’re just hoping the next guy pays more.” What do you think about bitcoin surpassing the value of Berkshire Hathaway’s market capitalization? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post ‘Noxious Poison’ – Bitcoin’s Market Cap Surpasses Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Valuation appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced that it will soon propose new regulation affecting cryptocurrency holdings at foreign exchanges. This proposal is separate from the one FinCEN recently proposed on cryptocurrency wallets. FinCEN’s New Crypto Rules FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, issued a notice on Thursday regarding a new filing requirement for cryptocurrencies. FinCEN detailed: Currently, the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) regulations do not define a foreign account holding virtual currency as a type of reportable account. The notice adds that the bureaus “intends to propose to amend the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regarding reports of foreign financial accounts (FBAR) to include virtual currency as a type of reportable account.” Shehan Chandrasekera, Head of Tax Strategy at Cointracker, explained that “FBAR is a form you file with your tax return if you have any foreign financial assets over 10K at any time of the year.” He clarified, “There are no taxes to be paid with this form, just additional disclosure.” Marc Boiron, attorney at Manatt, commented: “Goodbye non-US exchanges … FBARs will need to be filed for non-US virtual currency accounts.” He emphasized: Accidentally failing to file an FBAR can result in a civil penalty of $10,000 for each violation. “Another example of US regulatory overreach,” Adam Cochran, Duckduckgo’s strategist, opined. “Utterly insane – but this rule will be something FinCEN would use to go after international exchanges more broadly.” Lawyer Jake Chervinsky described that this proposal “seems targeted at users of non-US exchanges” and he believes that it “shouldn’t apply to assets in self-custody.” He suggested that the reason for the proposal might be either tax evasion or “bringing non-US crypto companies into compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act.” FinCEN is also currently trying to implement rules concerning crypto wallets before the end of the Trump term. What do you think about this new rule FinCEN will propose? Let us know in the comments section below. The post FinCEN to Impose New Regulation for Crypto Holdings at Foreign Exchanges appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control has fined Bitgo for failing to prevent users in sanctioned countries from using its crypto wallet service. The agency says Bitgo processed 183 cryptocurrency transactions that were “apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs.” US Treasury Alleges Bitgo Allows Users to Bypass Sanctions The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Wednesday that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has entered into a $98,830 settlement with Bitgo “for 183 apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs.” Bitgo offers cryptocurrency wallet services. According to the announcement: Bitgo failed to prevent persons apparently located in the Crimea region of Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria from using its non-custodial secure digital wallet management service. “Bitgo had reason to know that these users were located in sanctioned jurisdictions based on Internet Protocol (IP) address data associated with devices used to log in to the Bitgo platform,” the announcement describes. Alleging that Bitgo’s “sanctions compliance procedures” were deficient, the OFAC claims that at the time of the transactions, “Bitgo failed to implement controls designed to prevent such users from accessing its services.” In addition, “OFAC determined that Bitgo did not voluntarily self-disclose the apparent violations and that the apparent violations constitute a non-egregious case.” The 183 cryptocurrency transactions Bitgo processed totaled $9,127.79 and took place roughly between March 10, 2015, and Dec. 11, 2019. “Individuals located in Crimea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria signed up for ‘hot wallet’ accounts and accessed Bitgo’s online platform to conduct digital currency transactions,” the OFAC detailed. The agency further explained that Bitgo tracked the users’ IP addresses for security purposes but did not use the information for sanctions compliance purposes. Bitgo implemented an OFAC sanctions compliance policy after learning about its apparent violations in early 2020. The company “represented that it has invested in significant remedial measures in response to the apparent violations.” They include hiring a chief compliance officer and implementing a new OFAC policy, which now applies to all of Bitgo’s services. The OFAC noted that now: Bitgo screens all accounts, including ‘hot wallet’ accounts, against OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, including blocked cryptocurrency wallet addresses identified by OFAC. Bitgo has also conducted a retroactive batch screen of all users. What do you think about Bitgo violating the U.S. sanctions programs? Let us know in the comments section below. The post US Government Fines Bitgo for Allowing Users to Bypass Sanctions With Cryptocurrency appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A new milestone has been reached in the crypto sphere, as the number of addresses holding Ethereum hit an all-time high of over 51.4 million before the end of a turbulent 2020 year. Number of Addresses Holding ETH Hits a New All-Time High Per figures of data site Glassnode, there are now 51,491,730 addresses holding the aforementioned cryptocurrency, as it keeps climbing in the context of a rally seen in the prices of most cryptos in the last weeks of 2020. The number is significant, considering that there were only 34.7 million addresses with ethereum (ETH) at the start of the year, up by 48% as per the current figures. Previous ethereum’s ATH was set at 51,487,512 addresses holding the second biggest crypto by market capitalization. On the last day of the year, as of press time, markets.Bitcoin.com shows that ETH is exchanging hands at $739.63, up 0.63% on the day, with a market cap of $84,363,317,420.4. Also, ethereum’s prices rally over the year can be attributed to the decentralized finance (defi) frenzy witnessed during 2020 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. ETH is also used in most defi apps, boosting the number of addresses holding the cryptocurrency. In December 12, 2020, the number of addresses of non-zero ETH reached the 50,476,989 figure, showing a bullish trend that has been staying firmly over the year. The number of ethereum addresses is still higher than their counterparts. Latest Developments on the Ethereum’s Space The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) announced on December 16, 2020, that CME Group is expanding the company’s crypto derivatives and plans to launch Ethereum futures in the midst of a growing trend of the second most popular crypto across the board. Also, news.Bitcoin.com reported about a report published by Coin Metrics on September 30, 2020, about how defi is “fueling Ethereum’s growth,” stating that cumulative ETH fees in 2020 superseded bitcoin’s by a long shot, as high gas prices “are becoming the new norm.” What do you think about this rising number of addresses holding ETH? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Number of Addresses Holding ETH Reaches a New All-Time High at the End of 2020 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin miners are finding the Nordic lands a profitable opportunity to boost their revenues due to a plunge in electricity prices at the cheapest levels than any other well-known places for crypto mining. Bitcoin Miners Could Find ‘Lucrative’ Opportunities in Norway and Sweden According to a Bloomberg report, the Nordic region, specifically Norway and Sweden, has seen mild weather in the last 20 years, which helped boost production from hydroelectric plants. As the long-lasting weather trend has been alive in the region for several years, it’s helping in some way to leave the area awash in generation capacity, which keeps the prices close to zero “for extended periods,” Bloomberg details, which also adds that average prices saw so far this year “are about a third of those in Germany,” that is considered the biggest power market in Europe. Tor Reier Lilleholt, head of analysis at Norwegian consultant Wattsight AS, told Bloomberg: These prices are some of the lowest you can find in the world if you disregard fees and taxes. What we saw this summer was that the low levels registered over such a long time. Traditional crypto mining hotspots are based in China, Kazakhstan, and Canada, but the dynamics could have a turnaround, says Bloomberg, which also coincides with the current crypto bull-run. Norway is also a well-known country for its lower electricity prices for industrial users and non-households in the European Union (EU). Carbon-Free Electricity in the Nordic Region But lower prices in the Nordic region are not only an attractive bait for crypto miners, as the electricity in these countries is almost carbon-free (a combination of hydro, nuclear, and wind power), riding with the current environmental policies trends across the world. The article explains further the technical aspect that could favor crypto miners in the Nordic region due to the lower prices: The cost of power is poised to become even more significant for miners. The hash-rate, the amount of calculation needed to produce each coin, is steadily increasing. And in May, miners’ rewards were cut by a so-called halving, a reduction in the amount of tokens they receive as a way to maintain scarcity. Tyler Page, business development manager at Bitfury, commented on the spike in the interest of bitcoin mining in Norway: We have seen a notable up-tick in investor appetite for bitcoin mining opportunities in Norway. This year’s energy prices were particularly low as bitcoin prices have increased. What are your thoughts about the Nordic Region as an attractive hotspot for crypto miners? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Record-Low Electricity Prices in Sweden Make It ‘a Lucrative Place’ to Mine Bitcoin, Says Report appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

An analysis performed by the New York Times of internal pay data at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase unveiled disparities in salaries, showing their women and Black employees were underpaid. Coinbase Underpaid Women and Black Employees, Claims NYT Study According to the report, women employees were paid by Coinbase an average of $13,000, or 8%, which is less than men’s employees at comparable job roles within the crypto exchange. The data gathered by the NYT includes pay details of 830 employees at the end of 2018. As per an alleged unfair treatment of Black employees in terms of compensation, the figures showed that 16 salaried workers were paid $11,500, or 7%, less than all other employees in similar jobs, said the New York Times article. The analysis, performed by Alexandra Marr, an economist specialized in statistical analysis for court cases involving pay bias, revealed that the gap between white and Black employees grew to 11%. The NYT claimed they confirmed the accuracy of the study with nine employees included in the data collected, “and colleagues they knew.” As per the dimension of the salary disparities in Coinbase, NYT’s article said: The pay disparities at Coinbase appear to be much larger than those in the tech industry as a whole, and at the few other tech companies that have had to release data. Coinbase’s Reaction to the NYT Article Right after the New York Times published the study, U.S.-based crypto exchange issued a statement, signed by L.J. Brock, Coinbase’s chief people officer, pointing out that the company “is committed to fair and equitable compensation for every employee.” In fact, the statement is an internal email sent by Coinbase to their employees on December 29, 2020. One of the statement’s excerpts reads as follow: Coinbase is committed to ruthlessly eliminating bias in all our internal processes. We also recognize that it is best practice to regularly check our work, and while pay equity is critical at any stage of maturation, we believe that we have implemented the framework to ensure we are driving equitable outcomes. We recently retained a certified woman-owned law firm to partner with an expert software solution, Syndio, to audit our global pay data. We will examine our pay through the lens of ethnicity/race, in addition to gender. There are also supporters of Coinbase in the controversy, such as Balaji S. Srinivasan, an angel investor, entrepreneur, and former Coinbase’s CTO, who said that “no one” can trust in the data analysis published by the author of the article, NYT’s tech reporter Nathaniel Popper, alleging that most of the executives at the crypto exchange “are women and people of color.” However, this is not the first time that Coinbase is under a similar controversy. In fact, the NYT also published a report on November 27, 2020, that revealed Coinbase has been facing “many internal complaints about discriminatory treatment” with black employees. What are your thoughts on the Coinbase’s controversy about the alleged disparities in salaries? Let us know in the comments section below. The post NYT Study: Coinbase Underpaid Female and Black Employees at Much Larger Rates Than Those in the Technology Industry appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The first deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has been vocal in a recent online meeting, reported by Russia Today (RT), about the topic of digital currencies challenging the SWIFT international payments system and make it redundant. Digital Currencies Could Challenge SWIFT System, Even Replace It According to Olga Skorobogatova, the development of digital coins makes international banking payment systems a topic of discussion, in the way that such traditional logic could become obsolete. She backed her comments on the fact that over 30 financial regulators “are currently working on their national digital currencies.” Also, she believes several countries could launch their cryptos over the next 5-7 years. Skorobogatova said: Then, we can deal with direct integration issues. In this case, SWIFT may not be necessary because it will be a different kind of technological interaction. However, the global banking network may become one of the platforms for the new form of national currencies. However, to achieve full integration of digital currencies, the CBR deputy governor believes the security should be guaranteed fully in the technology behind cryptocurrencies before thinking about launching a new global transaction network. An Alternative Crypto-Based Global Payments Network to Bypass Sanctions? RT’s report also adds to Skorobogatova’s words that Russia is working to respond to the ongoing threats to ride off the country from the SWIFT system, as “some Western politicians have threatened to disconnect Russian banks from the network” as part of a series of sanctions. The SWIFT system is used in more than 200 countries between 11,000 financial institutions to arrange cross-border payments. Still, the major disadvantage of processing transactions through such networks is the slowness and the expensive costs it carries. The Central Bank of Russia is working on its own CBDC, digital ruble, as they are planning to launch a series of tests similar to those performed by China. Five Russian banks already expressed interest in participating in the CBDC pilot: Credit Bank of Moscow, Promsvyazbank, Bank Zenit, Dom.RF, and Russian National Commercial Bank. The State Duma, the Federal Assembly of Russia’s lower house, expects the digital ruble experiment to start in the first half of 2021. Do you agree with the CBR deputy governor’s words? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Digital Currencies Could Outshine SWIFT System, Says Central Bank of Russia’s Deputy Governor appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

More than 1.1 million bitcoin or over $30 billion worth of the crypto asset is held by a myriad of companies, according to the web portal bitcointreasuries.org. The massive stash of bitcoin reserves held by well known companies started swelling after the billion-dollar firm Microstrategy purchased $250 million worth of bitcoin in August. Now there are 29 firms that are holding the cryptocurrency in place of traditional reserves like stocks and cash. There’s been a new trend lately, as a great number of prominent companies have decided to leverage bitcoin (BTC) for reserves rather than hold traditionally held assets. The trend started gaining ground after Microstrategy purchased $250 million worth of BTC and shortly after, the firm continued to purchase even more bitcoin. After a few purchases, Microstrategy has upped its holdings to 70,470 BTC or .336% of the supply. Following Microstrategy’s purchase, businesses like Square Inc. and Ruffer Investment Company joined the bitcoin purchasing trend. To-date there’s an aggregate total of 29 firms listed on the website bitcointreasuries.org, a site that tallies up all the companies in three different sections; publicly traded, private, and ETF-like holders. There’s a total of 15 publicly traded firms including Microstrategy Inc., Galaxy Digital Holdings, Square Inc., Hut 8 Mining Corp, Voyager Digital LTD, Riot Blockchain, Inc., Bit Digital, Inc., Coin Citadel Inc., Advanced Bitcoin Technologies AG, Digitalx, Hive Blockchain, Cypherpunk Holdings Inc., Bigg Digital Assets Inc., Argo Blockchain, and Frmo Corp. All 15 of these publicly traded firms have approximately 100,003 BTC worth The section of private companies holding bitcoin treasuries includes four private companies including Mtgox k.k., Block.one, Tezos Foundation, and Stone Ridge Holdings Group. The private companies have more than the public firms by a longshot with 317,383 BTC worth — in all four firm’s reserves. There are nine ETF-like holders at the bottom of the bitcointreasuries.org list with funds like the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Coinshares, Ruffer Investment, 3iq The Bitcoin Fund, Grayscale Digital Large Cap, Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund, WisdomTree Bitcoin, 21shares AG, and ETC Group Bitcoin ETP. The bitcoin (BTC) stash held by the nine funds is approximately 734,232 BTC worth — using today’s exchange rates. Out of all 29 companies, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is by far the largest BTC holder with 572,644 BTC. Other notable holders include the Mtgox k.k. Holdings, Block.one’s stash, Microstrategy’s reserves, and the holdings held by Coinshares. The web page bitcointreasuries.org, does not include a few other firms that have replaced traditional assets in their treasuries for bitcoin. This includes the Canadian restaurant chain Tahini’s, and the Canadian graphics software company, Snappa. Tahini’s restaurant chain revealed the company swapped all of its cash reserves into BTC, while Snappa said the business traded 40% cash reserves for bitcoin. The publicly listed Canadian company Mogo also just announced investing 1.5% of the company’s reserves in bitcoin, and plans to buy more next year. When Tahini’s decided to tell its financial advisor it was purchasing bitcoin right afterward, he suggested gold. The restaurant owners said the precious metal gold’s years of being a reliable safe haven are numbered. “We looked our financial advisor in the eye and told him gold will turn into a scam because of bitcoin,” the company tweeted. “He laughed and condescendingly came back with the 6,000 years argument,” Tahini’s added. What do you think about all the companies that have purchased bitcoin for reserves? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post The Bitcoin Treasuries List Exceeds $30 Billion – 29 Companies Hold BTC Reserves appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The long-lasting legal battle between co-founders of China-based Bitmain seems to have seen the light at the end of the tunnel after both parties agreed to reach an agreement. Legal Tussle Between Bitmain Co-Founders Reportedly Ended With a $600 Million Compensation for Jihan Wu According to Chinese media outlets, citing local crypto journalist Colin Wu, Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan reportedly agreed to arrange a $600 million compensation in favor of Jihan Wu, while Zhan will retain the control of the mining hardware manufacturer company operations. However, as part of the settlement, Zhan will own the Antpool mining pool and Bitmain’s mining farms in China, while Wu will take control of Btc.com’s mining pool and overseas mining centers of Bitmain. The report details that Sequoia Capital is acting as the middle regulator in the deal that should be ratified once the shareholders discuss it, but terms can be changed at any stage without a fixed timetable, even without the need for a meeting. On the other hand, Zhan is now in charge of the artificial intelligence division and the entire mining hardware manufacturing enterprise operations as part of the deal. However, it implies that Zhan should temporarily mortgage his shares to raise enough capital to buy Wu’s stake in Bitmain. Chinese media outlets are also reporting that as part of the deal, Zhan agreed to complete a qualified initial public offering in the United States before the end of 2022, whose minimum valuation of the listing is expected to be set at $5.5 billion. Legal Battle Led to Delay in Product Shippings The crypto mining hardware manufacturer giant has been witnessing some troubles in delivering its products due to the tussle between co-founders over the year. As news.Bitcoin.com reported in August 2020, Bitmain delayed its Antminer bitcoin mining machines’ shipments by three months. At that time, Bitmain said that the delay resulted from “external interference over the company’s management.” Wu and Zhan have been engaged in a bitter struggle for Bitmain’s control. The two cofounders ran the company together for many years, but Zhan was allegedly booted out of Wu’s firm last October 2019 over controversial circumstances. In June 2020, a court in China ruled in favor of Zhan, allowing him to return to power. Zhan, who owns a 37% stake in the company, assumed control of Bitmain’s Shenzhen-based operations. What do you think about the settlement terms? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Legal Battle Between Bitmain Co-Founders Appears to End With Micree Zhan Taking Control of the Company appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Singapore-based crypto bank Vauld is working hard to elevate crypto to the status of a separate, viable asset class. It combines the functionality of an exchange with all the essential offerings of a bank, except it’s for cryptocurrencies. Vauld Raises $2 Million The Vauld team just raised USD 2 million from Pantera, Coinbase Ventures, and CMT digital among others, over the last four months. “The investors loved that we were building to solve for banking with cryptocurrencies,” says CEO, Darshan Bathija. As the crypto market dominates financial news and gears up for what could be its best year in 2021, the Vauld team plans to use the funds to expand its team from 7 to over 20, and initiate an active presence in new markets. The crypto bank currently offers fairly high yields – ranging from 3% to 11% on its customers’ crypto deposits, while simultaneously offering crypto loans and exchange functionality. Now, the Vauld team expects to double down on these offerings, with higher yields, an OTC desk, and more fiat pairings on its exchange. Vauld’s primary audience is high net worth individuals who, Darshan says, “want to earn yield but would rather not incur capital gains liability as well”. The team does state that it will continue to be beginner-friendly, inviting new investors to participate in the market. On a related note, Vauld is also quick to recognize that amongst the first concerns in early crypto adopters is the security and safety of their funds. Addressing that rather emphatically is Vauld’s partnership with BitGo, a fairly trusted, leading custodian brand in the crypto world. BitGo’s wallets are insured by Lloyd’s London for a sum of $100 Million. As for the often ambiguous legal perspective on cryptocurrencies across markets, Vauld says they will “work closely with the commodities and banking regulators to ensure that we and [their] partners are and remain fully compliant through the changing regulatory landscape.” Vauld is led by Darshan Bhatija and Sanju Sony Kurian, both bringing rich experience in building and scaling startups past their Series A rounds. Darshan has also worked as the head of business of TapChief. Sanju has served as the CTO of Kings Learning, a scaled product of 25 million users. Vauld’s Offerings Vauld is an evolved idea of a bank, combined with the potential of cryptocurrencies. Using Vauld, users can lend, borrow, and trade in crypto assets just like fiat currency or conventional assets. Vauld ticks off the four traditional objectives of a banking institution: Store of Value – Ensuring that crypto assets are preserved with adequate levels of security. Easy Spending – High liquidity, both on and off its exchange (more on that below). Capital Growth – Regular interest payouts on deposits (APY of upto 12% currently offered) Exchange – Trade a wide range of crypto assets with each other and the Indian Rupee. (with other fiat currencies coming soon!) With its products and partnerships, there’s strong potential for Vauld to be a leading player in this newly emerging crypto banking space. The crypto banking concept itself holds considerable potential, and almost heralds the coming of age of the crypto world. If you’re a crypto enthusiast wanting to participate in the industry, Vauld’s referral program probably deserves your attention. The platform promises 40% of the trading fees and 5% of all interest paid or earned, to all its users successfully referring friends. Coupled with its rather active and engaging Telegram community, it’s an enviable user base the brand is building for itself. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post Vauld Raises $2 Million to Establish Stronghold in India appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article