roadrunner

On June 30, a jury trial was scheduled for the notorious Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit on October 13. Now a recent filing from the plaintiffs notes that when Craig Wright’s ex-wife Lynn Wright recently testified, she revealed a number of interesting findings. Lawyers representing the Kleiman estate say her testimony brings the “infamous “Tulip Trust” into question and that it wasn’t a “‘blind trust’ as previously alleged.” In mid-July, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the deposition of Craig Wright’s current wife Ramona Watts and her understanding of how bitcoin private keys work. In addition to the testimony from Watts, the court also heard from Craig Wright’s ex-wife who asserted that she owned a fraction of the company W&K Info Defense Research. The firm W&K Info Defense Research is the questionable company that Wright and Dave Kleiman allegedly started years ago. Wright’s ex-wife claims that six years ago, her interest in W&K was forwarded to Craig Wright R&D. The company Craig Wright R&D rebranded into the “Tulip Trust” and Lynn Wright ostensibly gathered a very small amount of stake in this company last month. According to a filing submitted by Andrew Brenner from Boies Schiller Flexner LLP and Velvel (Devin) Freedman from Roche Cyrulnik Freedman LLP, the testimony argues against the Tulip Trust. “As it turns out, and not surprisingly given the history of this case, Ms. Wright’s state court action reveals that everything Dr. Wright’s motion for summary judgment said about Ms. Wright’s alleged ownership of W&K was a lie,” the plaintiff’s lawyers wrote. “If her sworn allegations in that state court action are to be believed, Ms.Wright, by her own admission, had no ownership interest in W&K at the time this lawsuit was filed (or at the time of her deposition in this case, or at the time Wright’s Motion for Summary Judgment was filed),” the attorney’s added. The Kleiman attorneys also said that Ms. Wright swore she “transferred 100% of her transferrable interest in W&K to Craig Wright R&D” in December 2012. In her testimony, the plaintiff’s lawyers allege that Ms. Wright also said that Craig Wright R&D changed its name to the “Tulip Trust.” On July 10, 2020, Ms. Wright asserted that some of the alleged ownership interest was transferred back to her with “one percent interest.” The Kleiman estate says there is no documentation that indicates a transfer and “[no] explanation by Ms. Wright why the Tulip Trust suddenly decided to transfer its claimed interest in W&K to her in the last few weeks and after Wright had moved for summary judgment.” The attorney Andrew Brenner further stated: [The] plaintiffs have much more to say on this issue including, but not limited to, how the recent filing by Ms. Wright appears to be yet another scheme by Dr. Wright to defraud plaintiffs and this court. The filing submitted on Tuesday is a response to Wright’s move for a summary judgment his attorney’s filed on May 8. The lawsuit concerns the rightful ownership of the bitcoins that are allegedly held in the “Tulip Trust.” Although a great number of blockchain experts believe the trust is non-existent, it is alleged there is roughly 1 million BTC in the trust. The Kleiman estate seeks assets that far exceed $5.1 billion according to the original lawsuit filing submitted in 2018. What do you think about the filing from the Kleiman estate on Tuesday? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Testimony From Craig Wright’s Ex-Wife Throws a Twist in the Billion Dollar Bitcoin Lawsuit appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

“Japanese licensed exchange Xtheta officially announced that it has a strategic partnership with Bluehelix, the leading blockchain financial infrastructure technology service provider, which to provide Xtheta with the underlying blockchain financial technology services to accelerate Xtheta’s global market advancement.” — Not long ago, an industry news story raised concerns in the Japanese digital currency community. Back in April 2017, Japan‘s Financial Services Agency (FSA) enacted an amendment to the Asset Settlement Act to provide strong regulation of digital asset exchanges, which sets out the operating standards for exchanges, introduces the concept of “virtual currency” exchange operators, and clarifies the legal rules for virtual currency trading. As a global economic powerhouse, Japan’s bill will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the global digital asset market. Against the backdrop of increasing compliance in Japan’s virtual currency industry, Xtheta Exchange was founded in the same year and was approved as one of the 16 exchanges in Japan that can operate digital asset trading in December, and later received an investment of 180 million yen from listed company Ceres in December 2018, and has an excellent reputation and market share in Japan (Japanese licensed exchange Xtheta officially announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Bluehelix） Xtheta officially announced the news of its cooperation with Bluehelix, which shows Xtheta’s confidence in operating a digital asset exchange. For Bluehelix, it is also equivalent to the recognition of the Japanese digital currency industry authority. Since its establishment in 2018, Bluehelix takes Building Blockchain Financial Infrastructure as its vision, continuously delve technology and polish products, providing professional SaaS and white label technology and solutions to more than 270 clients around the world. since 2020, even more well-known global institutions have chosen to cooperate with Bluehelix. According to the official news, in February 2020, Bluehelix announced a strategic cooperation with Hanbitco, a licensed exchange in South Korea. Hanbitco exchange was established in 2018 and has been working hard on standardization since its inception, and Hanbitco is ranked among all authoritative certifications related to “Security”. On the list of cybersecurity exchanges published by the authoritative security agency CER, Hanbitco is ranked No. 1 in South Korea and No. 20 in the world. In May, Bluehelix established a partnership with Chiliz.net, a first-of-its-kind mobile and desktop crypto exchange for sports and entertainment assets. Chiliz ($CHZ) is a digital currency for sports and entertainment platforms. It fuels the world’s first scalable, tokenized voting platform, Socios.com where fans can buy, trade, and execute voting rights in their favorite sports teams. The Chiliz project has raised $66 million from some of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and leading crypto funds in Asia, including Binance, OK Blockchain Capital, and Ceyuan Ventures. Chiliz is owned by Malta-based Mediarex Group, a global sports, and entertainment organization, which was founded in 2012. “Due to the Non-Disclosure Agreement, we can’t reveal the specific names of many clients, but many influential clients or world-leading exchanges have cooperated with Bluehelix in SaaS, white-label solution, liquidity, Public Chain and others. Bluehelix Cloud is the culmination of the Bluehelix team’s many years of accumulation in the blockchain finance industry, leading the industry standard in multiple technical dimensions. Bluehelix Cloud considered as the best crypto exchange SaaS and white label solution provider in the market, which can save significant cost and time on infrastructure, matching engine, clearing, custody, liquidity, and so on. Clients can easily focus on business expansion with our marketing tools and marketing-related development with our customizable API and SDKs,” Elsa Qiu, Bluehelix Vice President of Global Business said. The underlying technical architecture is directly related to the safety and market reputation of the crypto exchange and is of great importance to the trading platform. Many reputational global clients have chosen Bluehelix, which shows great trust in ability and reputation. Bluehelix ‘s core founding team consists of top talents from first-tier tech and financial companies including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Barclays Capital, Societe Generale, etc. Founder James Ju is a senior technology expert and a successful serial entrepreneur. He used to be the CTO of well-known Internet companies such as Damai.cn and built the SaaS ticketing system of Damai.cn, which is the largest ticketing website in China; served as CTO of Huobi Global in 2014-2017, led the team to built Huobi Pro’s core trading platform, and then served as Vice President of Technology in X Financial, which was successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Bluehelix R&D team has rich experience in the development of traditional financial and blockchain systems. The team has successfully developed the first-generation high-performance trading system and successfully operated the largest securities investment management SaaS platform in China. The advisory team includes veterans who have participated in the Shanghai Stock Exchange stock trading system. They have in-depth research and understanding of the architecture design, implementation difficulties and solutions of high-performance and high-availability systems. Such experiences are unique and precious in the field of blockchain financial systems. Based on its deep industry experience and technical strength, Bluehelix has been favored by many high-reputational capital such as Huobi Global and OK Group since its establishment in 2018. From the product side, Bluehelix Cloud Exchange SaaS System is the only financial level architecture and performance system in the industry with system availability reaching 99.99%. A few months ago, Bluehelix start its next-generation trading system project named “Cone”, which will lead a low-latency, high-performance, high-volume technology and achieve a low latency of less than 1ms for the whole network. The launch of “Cone” will greatly improve the current competition in the cryptocurrency derivatives market. In addition, since inception in 2018, Bluehelix has set local offices in Singapore, Japan, South Korea, China, and other countries to expand and deliver high-quality products and technologies to the global market. Bluehelix always pays great attention to the regulatory situation and market environment in different regions and strives to provide the best solution and services to clients in different regions. The deep understanding of the global market of cryptocurrencies and continuous technological advancement is the irreplaceable competitiveness of Bluehelix. In 2020, cryptocurrency will celebrate its 12th year of existence and has become a force to be reckoned with in the global financial industry, which is becoming increasingly standardized and compliant. Asset security has always been the most important link in the chain of the financial industry, and the underlying technology of the exchange has gained more and more importance. About Bluehelix Bluehelix is a blockchain financial infrastructure provider and its Bluehelix Cloud provides technical solutions of Spot, Futures, Options, Margin, OTC trading system, and liquidity services with full-stack solutions and industrial SaaS CSM service standards. Bluehelix Cloud SaaS and white label solution have served more than 270 crypto exchange clients worldwide, covering over 14 million end-users, and its assets custody valuation exceeds 6 billion USDT. Business Cooperation: Elsa@bluehelix.com Supporting Link https://www.bluehelix.cloud/en-us/ 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 Bluehelix Global Expansion – Strategically Cooperates with Japanese Licensed Exchange Xtheta appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain network lost $5.6 million to one miner following a 51% attack initially thought to be a chain split. During the attack, the offending miner managed to double-spend 807,260 ETC ($5.6 million) after spending 17.5 BTC or $200,000 (at time of writing) to acquire the hash power for the attack. The ETC team initially issued a statement advising its clients to halt interactions with the network while corrective steps were taken. At the time, one of the developers at ETC, James Wo insisted the event “was not a 51% attack” while stressing that the “offending miner went offline and was using old client software.” The investigation by Bitquery now debunks ETC team’s initial theory. According to Bitquery, the attacker “mined 4280 blocks for four days.” It adds that “he did only a little mining before and stopped mining after the attack.” In result, the miner “sent all the mining reward money (13K ETC ) to address 0x401810b54720faad2394fbe817dcdeae014066a1, where it resides at the time of writing.” Bitquery’s report provides a timeline of how the sophisticated attack unfolded as well as the identity of the crypto exchange used by the miner to facilitate the attack. Meanwhile, the ETC team now acknowledges the event is in fact an attack. In a statement issued late on 5 August the team said: Today another large 51% attack occurred on ETC which caused a reorganization of over 4000 blocks. Until further notice ETC pool payouts are disabled and we encourage all our miners to switch to our ETH pool in the meantime. Members of the ETC team also said, “in light of recent network attacks, it is recommended that all exchanges, mining pools, and other ETC service providers significantly raise confirmation times on all deposits and incoming transactions.” Meanwhile, ETC Cooperatives says its director of developer relations, Yaz Khoury will be working Bitquery to learn out “more about the recent attack, including the attacker’s addresses, origin of hashpower, the flow of funds, and more important details.” In 2019, ETC suffered a similar attack prompting some exchanges like Coinbase to immediately cease interactions with the blockchain. What do you think about the latest attack on ETC? Share your thoughts in the comments section below The post $5.6 Million Double Spent: ETC Team Finally Acknowledges the 51% Attack on Network appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Square Inc. has reported a significant bitcoin revenue increase in the second quarter. Its Cash App generated $875 million in revenue, a 600% increase from the previous year. In addition, Square’s bitcoin gross profit jumped 711%. Square Cash App’s Bitcoin Revenue Square released its performance report for Q2 2020 on Tuesday. The company’s net revenue, including bitcoin revenue, was $1.92 billion, an increase of 64% year over year. Its gross profit, including from its bitcoin business, rose 28% year over year to $597 million. Cash App, Square’s popular payment service, achieved gross profit of $281 million, up 167% from last year. “Customers increasingly used Cash App as a way to send and spend money,” Square wrote. “In June, Cash App had more than 30 million monthly transacting active customers, with more than 7 million spending on Cash Card.” Noting that “Bitcoin revenue and gross profit benefited from an increase in bitcoin actives and growth in customer demand,” Square’s report details: Cash App generated $875 million of bitcoin revenue and $17 million of bitcoin gross profit during the second quarter of 2020, up 600% and 711% year over year, respectively. The high bitcoin revenue is partly due to the accounting method Square uses. The report explains: “Bitcoin revenue is the total sale amount of bitcoin to customers. Bitcoin costs are the total amount of bitcoin that we purchase. We purchase bitcoin to facilitate the buying of bitcoin conducted by Cash App customers.” Excluding bitcoin, Cash App’s revenue for Q2 2020 was $325 million, up 140% year over year. In the second quarter last year, the app generated bitcoin revenue of $125 million. Analyst Kevin Rooke pointed out in a tweet that Square’s second-quarter bitcoin revenue was “almost 3x the volume of Q1 2020, and 25x more than Q1 2018 when bitcoin buying went live on the Cash App.” Square further explained that Cash App benefited from disbursements of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) stimulus payments and unemployment benefits. President Donald Trump signed this stimulus package into law in March. Square revealed that a portion of its customers “direct deposited these payments into their Cash App accounts.” “In the second quarter of 2020, we saw year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter increases in volume per active customer across our Cash App ecosystem, including peer-to-peer payments, Instant Deposit, Cash Card, bitcoin investing, and stock brokerage,” Square wrote, adding: We believe this uplift was partly driven by government stimulus programs. Headquartered in San-Francisco, Square Inc. is listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol SQ. The company has offices in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, the U.K., and Ireland. Square CEO Jack Dorsey is also the CEO of Twitter. Recently, the social network platform suffered a major breach that enabled the hacker to tweet from many high-profile accounts about a bitcoin giveaway scam. What do you think about Square’s bitcoin revenue? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Square’s Cash App Bitcoin Revenue Surges 600% to $875 Million in Q2, Profit Up 711% appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin P2P trading volume in India has been growing rapidly, hitting record highs over the past weeks. Meanwhile, a new P2P trading platform has launched in India as the crypto industry awaits the government’s decision on a cryptocurrency law. P2P Trading Volume Soars in India Peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin trading in India has been hitting all-time highs over the past weeks. The growth accelerated after the country’s supreme court quashed the circular by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in March that banned banks from providing services to crypto exchanges. According to Usefultulips, which combines data from two prominent P2P bitcoin marketplaces, Paxful and Localbitcoins, P2P bitcoin trading volume in India has consistently hit all-time highs since early June. For the week ending on Aug. 1, the trading volume was $4.40 million, an increase from $3.78 million. The site calculates the USD equivalent using bitcoin’s price derived from Cryptocompare’s Crypto Coin Aggregated Index. P2P trading volume in INR (USD equivalent) by Usefultulips. P2P bitcoin marketplace Paxful has been growing its operation in India where it has seen a significant increase in trading volume. For the week ending Aug. 1, a total of 226 BTC were traded on Paxful, which amounted to about 193 million rupees ($2.57 million), according to Coin.dance. The P2P trading volume in INR has been hitting record highs multiple weeks in a row on the platform. Paxful CEO Ray Youssef commented on the growth of P2P trading in India: “The Indian market holds great potential and importance for the future of the crypto-economy. People in India are betting big on bitcoin presenting an opportunity for greater financial returns.” On competing P2P bitcoin trading marketplace Localbitcoins, 161 BTC were traded in the same week, amounting to about 136 million rupees. While the trading volume on Paxful has been rising, it has been declining on Localbitcoins. A new P2P exchange has just launched in India. Global cryptocurrency exchange Okex launched a new P2P platform in the country on Wednesday, “allowing Indian users to buy cryptocurrencies with Indian rupees (INR) with zero transaction fees,” the company announced. “The Okex P2P trading platform now offers bitcoin and USDT pairs for INR, with more coins becoming available soon.” To celebrate the launch, the platform is giving away 30,000 USDT from Aug. 5 to Aug. 14. Other than INR, the Okex P2P trading platform also supports VND and CNY. Recently, the company jointly published a report with Coinpaprika stating that the global market share of crypto transactions in the Indian market is expected to “increase significantly in 2020-2022.” Other global cryptocurrency exchanges have also been expanding their presence in India. Binance, which acquired local crypto exchange Wazirx last year, launched INR support on its P2P platform in April. Users can directly buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, BNB, USDT, and BUSD with zero transaction fees, the exchange’s website details. Kucoin also has a P2P trading desk with zero fiat trading fees. The company says its P2P Fiat Trade platform supports 11 fiat currencies, including INR, and seven cryptocurrencies. The crypto sector in India has been growing significantly amid the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis. The Indian government has been deliberating on a cryptocurrency bill submitted by an inter-ministerial committee headed by former Finance and Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. While there has not been a formal announcement from the government, there have been reports that the government may be going ahead with the proposal to ban cryptocurrency. However, crypto exchange CEOs have told news.Bitcoin.com that they believe a full ban is unlikely since much has transpired since the bill was submitted to the government early last year. Without commenting on the ban rumor, a Paxful spokesperson told news.Bitcoin.com: “We are open to an opportunity to talk to the regulators and help showcase the various benefits that we’ve learned through the years that cryptocurrencies provide.” What do you think about P2P bitcoin trading volumes hitting record highs in India? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin P2P Trading Soars in India as New Exchange Launches appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking for a blockchain forensics tool to help it analyze smart contracts. In a call for bids to software companies on July 30, the regulator said that the tool must be able to “analyze and detail code within blockchains and other distributed ledgers.” It is also looking to identify contract changes performed with administrator passwords, in addition to issues like whitelisted and blacklisted addresses. It also wants to know how token sales funds are disbursed. The SEC noted that the tool would support its efforts “to monitor risk, improve compliance, and inform Commission policy with regard to digital assets.” Firms have until August 13 to submit their proposals. Only companies classified as “small businesses” – those with a value of $30 million or under – are being considered for the tender, it said. SEC’s desired analysis tool gives it ability to track the movement of crypto transactions more closely, particularly those contracts in the multi-billion-dollar decentralized finance (Defi) industry. The Commission, which recently awarded a contract to blockchain analytics firm Ciphertrace for its crypto-tracking capabilities, is obviously aiming at becoming a better player in a digital asset industry where it has always been on the backfoot. According to a notice published in July, the Ciphertrace deal is limited to blockchain forensics and intelligence targeting Binance’s native coin BNB and all the tokens on the Binance network. The SEC has had running battles with several crypto companies that include Telegram. Initial coin offerings (ICOs) have also proved to be a sore point for the regulator. What do you think about the SEC’s plans to tightly monitor crypto transactions? Let us know in the comments section below. The post SEC Looking to Buy a Blockchain Forensics Tool That Analyzes Smart Contracts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A bipartisan quartet of US congressmen wants the IRS taxation policy not to dissuade taxpayers from participating in blockchain token staking. These politicians believe America’s ingenuity can help drive this promising staking technology. The four congressmen are Bill Foster (D) of Illinois, Darren Soto (D) of Florida, Tom Emmer (R) of Minnesota, and David Schweikert (R) of Arizona. In their letter addressed to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, the quartet expressed concern that the “taxation of staking rewards as income may overstate taxpayers’ actual gains from participating in this new technology.” They add this could result “in a reporting and compliance nightmare, for taxpayers and the Service alike.” The letter, in which the U.S. politicians explain their understanding of proof-of-stake (POS), also gives reasons why they favor POS ahead of bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus. The politicians say in addition to needing “massive amounts of energy,” the Bitcoin network is “secured by a relatively small number of miners.” On the other hand, in POS, “all tokenholders can contribute to network security.” By staking tokens, participating third-party tokenholders can also receive newly created tokens as rewards for helping to maintain the network. The quartet says it agrees with the principle “that taxpayers’ true gains from these tokens should indeed be taxed.” However, the politicians suggest a different solution: Similar to all other forms of taxpayer-created (taxpayer-discovered) property — such as crops, minerals, livestock, artwork, and even widgets off the assembly line — these tokens could be taxed when they are sold. Eager to keep the U.S. abreast with this technology, the congressmen end their letter by urging the IRS to continue pursuing its mandate “but also (to) ensure innovation won’t be driven elsewhere.” This letter by the four members of Congress is the latest signal that the U.S. is moving to embrace blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. In July, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) clarified that national banks and federal savings associations can provide cryptocurrency custody services for customers. Also in the same month, a U.S. federal court ruled that bitcoin is a form of money. Meanwhile, reacting to the letter by the U.S. congressmen, Tim Ismilyaev, CEO and founder at Mana Security, says the growth of POS has finally forced some people in the U.S. government to see the importance of embracing cryptocurrencies. “The US government recognizes the immense growth of assets locked in POS and defi [decentralized finance] markets (over $15B is already locked in such products) although these markets did not exist a few years ago. The value of locked assets is likely to surpass $100B mark in upcoming years, and this will happen with or without US approval. So this move by Congress toward crypto is rational.” The bipartisan letter was written on July 29. What do you think of this letter? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. The post US Congressmen Want IRS to Balance Taxation and Innovation in the Cryptocurrency Space appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Weekly peer-to-peer bitcoin trading volumes topped $95 million globally with several countries recording new all-time highs for the year. The record trading volumes coincided with the most bullish week for cryptocurrencies with bitcoin (BTC) briefly trading above $12,000. As data from Usefultulips shows, peer to peer bitcoin trading volumes for the week topped an equivalent of $95 million. The figure surpasses $92.4 million, the highest weekly volume value in 2019. The data combines trading volumes at two peer-to-peer trading platforms, Localbitcoins and Paxful. According to the same data, the month of December 2017 had the highest ever recorded weekly traded volume. Trades totaling $131 million were recorded. Meanwhile, a break down of the $95 million by region shows that North America is leading with $28.7 million. The United States takes the lion’s share of that figure. The Sub-Saharan Africa region comes second with $18.3 million worth of bitcoin have being traded between peers in the period under review. A further breakdown of the $18.3 million reveals that Nigeria leads the Sub-Saharan Africa region. According to the data, Nigerian peer to peer bitcoin trading volumes topped an equivalent of $9.8 million. The figure is slightly below the $10.3 million recorded in the week earlier. Kenya is a distant second with $3.2 million worth of trades while South African peer-to-peer trading volumes topped $2.8 million. The Sub-Saharan Africa data also shows that the region’s $18.3 million is the highest ever recorded. A noticeable spike in trading volumes which began in April suggests that Covid-19 and lockdown measures might have made peer to peer bitcoin trading more appealing. Meanwhile, Latin America and the Asia Pacific are two regions with the next highest volumes. Both regions had about $13 million worth of bitcoins being traded. As expected, Venezuela, which is grappling with record inflation levels, leads in Latin America with nearly $5 million worth of bitcoin traded. Colombia is second with $3.4 million while crisis-hit Argentina is a distant third with just under $1 million worth of trades. In the Asia Pacific, China and India are neck and neck with $4.5 million and $4.4 million respectively. For India, the figure represents a new all-time high. What do you think about the growing peer-to-peer trading volumes? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Trading Tops $95 Million as Sub-Saharan Africa Records All Time High appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The author of the controversial bitcoin stock-to-flow (S2F) price model said that at current prices the S2F model is “perfectly on track.” S2F shows the price could hit around $30,000 by the year’s end and by August 2021 prices could be $100,000 per bitcoin. The crypto asset bitcoin (BTC) is up over 24% over the last 30 days and up more than 16% during the last 90 days. BTC touched a 2020 high of just above $12,000 per coin before tumbling 10.9% last Sunday. With the price giving traders optimism many speculators wonder if crypto assets are about to witness another massive bull run. On August 1, the author of the contested S2F price model told his 121,000 Twitter followers that the model is on track. “I can’t make a chart for you now (at sea), but [the] S2F model [is] perfectly on track,” Plan B wrote on Saturday. “We’re going parabolic,” an individual tweeted in response to Plan B’s tweet. 🔴 fixed at $9132 🔴🔴 fixed at $11356 🔴🔴🔴 currently $11700 I can't make a chart for you now (at sea), but S2F model perfectly on track. pic.twitter.com/rJGuKyxPKG — PlanB 🔴🔴🔴 (@100trillionUSD) August 1, 2020 Plan B’s popular editorial called “Modeling Bitcoin’s Value with Scarcity” has caught the attention of the community for quite some time. However, not everyone is a believer in the S2F price model and the model has received a bunch of criticism. News.Bitcoin.com reported on Francis Tapon’s critique of the S2F model and the digital currency proponent Eric Wall has criticized Plan B’s S2F model as well. Steve Barbour the owner of Upstream Data tweeted: The S2F model is the used car salesman approach to memeing bitcoin to the moon. “S2F is just a flawed measure for scarcity,” Barbour continued. “Bitcoin is not scarce because it has a high S2F ratio, it has a high S2F ratio because it is scarce. I believe Bitcoin reaches the moon because it is incredibly useful to society. If it was just the S2F ratio then someone would fork a better one.” Despite the criticism, the S2F subject is extremely popular on Twitter and was trending the day Plan B tweeted about the model being perfectly on track. “The current annual new supply flow of bitcoin is ~328,725.00 units,” tweeted Robert Breedlove. “By the year 2100, the annual new supply flow of Bitcoin will contract by 6 orders of magnitude to ~0.31 units. During this time, Bitcoin’s S2F ratio will increase over 1,118,659X. Buy bitcoin, because math,” Breedlove added. “Bitcoin is almost back at the line that’s supposed to bring us to 100K ~1 year from now,” Tweeted Bit Harrington on August 1. “Remember, the idea/model states we will move around this line. Both below and above the line. What if Plan B is right? What if stock-to-flow is real?” Harrington asked. “Raise your kids right. Learn them S2F,” the bitcoiner Hodlberry said on Tuesday. On Monday Conner Brown wrote: “I don’t pretend to understand any of the math behind S2F, but an anonymous quant coming up with a model that completely blows the crypto brainiacs out of the water just feels right for bitcoin.” “Quants support it and that’s good enough for me,” an individual responded to Brown’s tweet. “If it fails, it’s just a model anyway.” Plan B also recently changed his model as he measured “phase transitions” of assets like the U.S. dollar removing its gold backing. The new price model is dubbed “S2FX” and it suggests BTC could hit $288,000 by the end of 2023. The S2F model is and has always been controversial as people believe the technical analysis is no better than models like Elliott Waves and Hyperwaves. All three models have been compared to the like of tarot cards for a number of reasons. With Elliot Waves, for instance, people complain that there is no way to gauge the beginning and end of every wave cycle correctly. What do you think about Plan B saying his S2F price model is “perfectly on track?” Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post S2F Price Model Suggests Bitcoin Price Hits $100K – Author Claims Model Is Perfectly on Track appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is offering rewards of up to $400 million to the hackers who stole almost 120,000 bitcoins from its platform in 2016 as well as anyone putting it in touch with the hackers. Up to $400 Million Reward for the Recovery of Stolen Bitcoins Bitfinex announced on Tuesday that it is offering up to $400 million in rewards for the recovery of almost 120,000 bitcoins that were stolen from its platform in August 2016. Not only is the exchange offering a reward to any persons connecting it with the hackers responsible for that unauthorized transfer, but it is also offering a reward to the hackers themselves for the return of the stolen coins. “Today’s announcement of a reward is our latest effort to recover these stolen funds,” Bitfinex wrote, elaborating: Those who put Bitfinex in contact with the hacker will receive 5% of the total property recovered (or equivalent funds or assets at current market values), and the hackers will receive 25% of the total property recovered (or equivalent funds or assets at current market values). The exchange added, “Any payments made to those connecting Bitfinex with the hackers and the hackers themselves will be classified as costs of recovery of the stolen property.” The security breach happened on Aug. 2, 2016. “As a result, 2072 unauthorised transactions were broadcast on the Bitcoin network, involving 119,755 bitcoins in aggregate,” the exchange explained. “We have learned valuable lessons from this painful episode, addressing the security issues and vulnerabilities associated with the theft.” U.S. authorities recovered 27.66270285 bitcoins in February last year from the hack which were converted to U.S. dollars and paid to Recovery Right Token (RTT) holders. The $400 million reward estimate is based on the current price of bitcoin if all stolen coins are fully recovered. “The bitcoins stolen minus recoveries in 2019 are worth $1.344 billion today, with 30 percent of that amount equal to $403,288,427,” Bitfinex detailed. The exchange further noted: In order to confirm the identity of the hackers, we will request that 1 satoshi is sent from the wallet address responsible for the hack to a wallet address specified by Bitfinex. After the breach, Bitfinex repaid all affected users in its native BFX token, with each token representing $1 of the loss. Moreover, the exchange began offering monthly redemption on Sept. 1, 2016. The last BFX token was redeemed at the beginning of April 2017, Bitfinex said, claiming that “More than 52 million BFX tokens were converted to shares of Ifinex Inc. at 1:1 tokens to shares.” Recently, some BTC from the 2016 Bitfinex hack began to move. In May, news.Bitcoin.com reported that 28.4 bitcoins from the hack were transferred to an unknown address. In June, the hackers further transferred almost 500 BTC, and last month around 2,500 stolen bitcoins were transferred. Do you think Bitfinex will ever get its stolen bitcoins back? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitfinex Offers $400 Million in Rewards to Get Back 120,000 Stolen Bitcoins appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Genesis Capital said Tuesday that its total number of loans outstanding more than doubled to $1.4 billion for the second quarter to June, up from $649 million three months earlier. The crypto lender, which targets institutional investors and wealthy individuals, added over $2.2 billion in new originations, an increase of 324% year-on-year. Since the launch of the business in March 2018, Genesis has originated nearly $8.4 billion in loans, the bulk of which are denominated in bitcoin (BTC) and cash. For the review quarter, BTC loans increased, accounting for 51% of the loan book total and fiat 32%. Cash-based loans have actually been in decline, falling from 36.6% the previous quarter. The decline may be the result of low volatility seen in the spot price of bitcoin during the April to June period, which made borrowing cash to buy crypto less profitable. According to the lender’s earnings report, ethereum (ETH] and bitcoin cash (BCH) are the second and third largest crypto-based loan issuances, making up 7.4% and 4.8% of the portfolio, respectively. Genesis’ second quarter performance represents a major rebound from the coronavirus-induced crash in the price of bitcoin in March, which badly hit the business. The growth is a feat that may not be repeated. “To think that our loans outstanding would grow by over 100% in just three months going forward is probably unrealistic,” Michael Moro, chief executive officer of Genesis, was quoted as saying by industry media. Most of the funds that Genesis provides as loans are borrowed from elsewhere – such as from wealthy individuals and asset managers – at interest rates of between 6% to 12%. The company then goes on to charge a certain premium when it lends to corporate borrowers such as hedge funds and trading firms, looking for arbitrage, mainly to short crypto. Lately though, a new hype is driving borrowings. Moro, the CEO, observed: There was an unprecedented desire for digital currency yield generation in the form of spot lending, call option overwriting and liquidity mining on DeFi protocols. This all signals that market participants are seeking varying, rigorous methods to generate yield that correspond with their risk appetites. On the spot side, Genesis traded $5.3 billion in second quarter volume, up from $4 billion in the preceding three-month period. The majority of the flow was traded over-the-counter, with the rest reaching exchanges. The firm’s derivatives trading desk, which was launched in May, traded $400 million forwards and options, with nearly 50 active counterparties across 10 different assets. About 67% of the trading volume was executed bilaterally and the remaining 33% was executed on exchanges. What do you think about Genesis’ crypto lending business growth in the second quarter? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Genesis Reports Q2 Crypto Loans Spiked 118% to $1.4 Billion Amid Rising Yield Farming Interest appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Ripple has reported that over-the-counter sales of its XRP digital currency soared 1,760% to $32.55 million during the second quarter of this year. That figure compares with sales of $1.75 million posted the previous quarter, according to an earnings release published August 3. Ripple said programmatic sales – third party trading which was stopped late 2019 following a string of declining XRP sales – remain on hold. But XRP volumes took a severe knock. For the April to June quarter, Ripple reported average daily volume plunged 40% to 196.3 million from 322 million during the first quarter. In dollar terms, total volume for the three months in review came in at $17.8 billion, down almost by half from $29.6 billion previously. According to the earnings report, the focus on over-the-counter sales has helped to provide increased XRP liquidity to Ripplenet’s on-demand liquidity (ODL) customers. ODL, a payment gateway that leverages XRP, now accounts for 20% of the Ripplenet volume, it stated. Ripple noted that its on-demand liquidity transaction volume grew 11-fold during the first half of 2020 from a year ago. Additional liquidity has come from new product offerings in the derivatives market targeting XRP, such as Binance introducing XRP options contracts and Huobi unveiling perpetual swaps for the cryptocurrency. However, Ripple said it has been buying XRP on the secondary market, and “may continue to undertake purchases in the future at market prices.” It detailed: “A healthy, orderly XRP market is required to minimize cost and risk for customers, and Ripple plays a responsible role in the liquidity process. As more financial institutions leverage Ripplenet’s ODL service, more liquidity is added into the XRP market.” During the review period, XRP’s volatility fell to 3.0%, down 6.2% compared to the first quarter. It was less volatile than both bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH), the two most valuable digital assets. What do you think about Ripple’s second quarter earnings? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Ripple Says Over-The-Counter XRP Sales Soared 1,700% to $33 Million in Q2 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Digital currency derivatives have been on fire during the last two weeks as ethereum futures volumes touched an all-time high on Sunday. The popular derivatives trading platform Deribit saw 1.9 million ETH contracts traded and CME Group is now the third-largest exchange in terms of bitcoin futures open interest. Data shows that cryptocurrency futures and options are seeing significant demand in 2020. Statistics from Skew.com, CME Group, The Tie, and Deribit indicate a lot of action has been happening in the land of crypto derivatives. Deribit’s recent newsletter shows that the exchange saw a new record in July as the firm saw $4.3 billion in options turnovers. Another achievement the Deribit’s exchange saw was the platform’s overall open interest touched a whopping $2.3 million. A large portion of the crypto derivatives trade volume stems from ethereum markets as Deribit recorded 1.9 million ETH contracts traded in July. On August 4, Skew.com wrote that “options-based probability of ETH > $960 at year-end = 5%” The data and analytics firm Skew.com recently tweeted that ETH futures touched an all-time high on Sunday. Additionally, the researchers noted that the regulated Bitcoin futures exchange CME Group “is now #3 in terms of largest open interest for bitcoin futures, only Okex and Bitmex are ahead.” Last Wednesday CME Group tweeted: Institutional interest in bitcoin futures is growing, setting a new open interest record of 13,104 contracts. “As the next wave of more sophisticated participants enters the crypto space, volume will inevitably shift towards safer, more trustworthy venues,” Tim McCourt of CME Group said last week addressing the interest during an interview. Moreover, bitcoin traders were concerned about a gap on the CME Group futures chart between $11,450 and $11,600. However, after Sunday’s 10.9% slide in BTC value, the bitcoin futures gap on CME had filled. Skew also revealed on Saturday that “cash and carry with bitcoin futures, now yields 25%.” “September futures trade at a significant premium to spot, including on CME,” Skew tweeted. “The industry is historically crypto rich and fiat poor, it seems USD is still challenging to source and will likely drive borrowing rates higher.” With a lot of demand stemming from crypto futures and options markets, a great number ETH and BTC traders seem bullish. Data stemming from the researchers at The Tie shows BTC and ETH long-term sentiment scores have set new highs. What do you think about the bitcoin futures open interest and ethereum futures demand? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Crypto Derivatives Set New Records, ETH Futures Set All-Time Highs, CME Open Interest Spikes appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This week cryptocurrency enthusiasts are still focused on the severe flooding in China during the 2020 monsoon season. The flooding has already displaced millions of Chinese citizens and skeptics are concerned about the vast number of bitcoin miners located in the Sichuan province. The landlocked province in Southwest China, Sichuan is located upstream of the Three Gorges Dam. During the last two months, the 2020 monsoon season ravaged the region. Reports note that by the end of June, flooding from the rainy season has displaced 744,000 Chinese residents stemming from 26 provinces. The latest reports highlight that 54 million citizens from China have been affected by the floods and 41,000 homes have collapsed to-date. Estimates show that roughly 50% of the world’s bitcoin miners are located in China and a deep concentration of miners are located in the Sichuan province. Last year, Coinshares reported the concentration in China was around 64%. Bitcoin mining map via Coinshares Research shows China and Sichuan’s density is quite large compared to the rest of the world. The Beijing-based data firm Bitooda published recent findings that said China only accounts for 50% of the world’s hashrate this year. New estimates from Bitooda stress that China only accounts for 50% of the world’s hashrate in 2020. Every year, reports also explain how Chinese miners migrate in order to obtain cheap hydropower resources during the rainy season. Moreover, every 12-months during the last few years, reports have shown the rain season in China wreaked havoc on mining facilities. On July 27, 2020, the mining operation F2pool, a pool that commands the second-largest share of BTC hashrate, described how bitcoin miners completed the “‘Great Migration’ to prepare for the Sichuan hydro season.” F2pool’s report stresses that halfway through 2020 “the mining industry has already faced several enormous challenges.” Despite the dangers of flooding, the rainy season gives Chinese miners “an average [power supply] price of less than 0.23 RMB (approx. $0.033).” The Great Migration, F2pool said took two weeks to accomplish, and the “annual hydro Season” started right after the third block reward halving. “The extremely competitive hydro season prices have led the Bitcoin network hashrate to push to an all-time high again,” F2pool’s research highlights. China’s Three Gorges Dam has been controversial even well before it was completed. Xinhuanet.com reports that 30 billion cubic meters of floodwater have been held back by the large dam since the first week of July. One of the fears Sichuan miners face today is how mining facilities are situated next to the infamous Three Gorges Dam. News outlets in Asia have been reporting on the massive flooding caused by the 2020 monsoon season, and a great number of people are concerned about the dam’s structural soundness. Three Gorges Dam is by far the largest dam in the world and it was completed in 2003. According to the Changjiang Ministry of Water Resources, both the Gezhou Dam and the Three Gorges Dam stopped 30 billion cubic meters of floodwater during the last 30-days. The 2020 monsoon season has also made people think that the Three Gorges Dam is being put to extreme tests. Last month the mysterious, exiled Chinese billionaire and whistleblower Miles Guo said that the Three Gorges Dam could collapse soon. People have even created simulations of the dam collapsing and one recent video went viral on social media. Miles Guo also said on August 2 that “the collapse of the Three Gorges Dam was almost imminent.” Simulation of the collapse of the Three Gorges Dam in China & it’s potential downstream damage during flood season. Video went viral on Chinese social media. On Aug 2, Chinese dissident Miles Guo said that the collapse of the Three Gorges Dam was almost imminent. pic.twitter.com/M1qm19uRJq — Louie [BTC] (@LouPalumbo) August 3, 2020 However, experts and a few other studies disagree with Miles Guo and the collapse theories. Some speculators have said the Three Gorges Dam “is a highly unlikely issue.” Another issue is the fact that the Chinese government has deemed the Three Gorges Dam a “no-flight zone,” since the start of the flooding. The mandate was enforced immediately after discussions about structural issues started on social media. Xinhuanet.com managed to get aerial snapshots of the dam on Sunday, but the dam is also monitored by the army. Aerial photography of Three Gorges Dam is strictly prohibited. Financial columnist Wolfie Zhao also discussed the subject with Tokeninsight’s chief analyst, Johnson Xu, who explained that Chinese mining farms have prepared ahead of time for the flood risks. New.Bitcoin.com reported last month how digital currency proponents have been keenly watching the Three Gorges Dam and the flooding in China. Meanwhile, BTC’s hashrate has climbed higher and the global hashpower today is around 120-125 exahash per second (EH/s). What do you think about the rainy season in China and the Three Gorges Dam troubles? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Flooding Threatens China’s Bitcoin Miners, Chinese Billionaire Says ‘Three Gorges Dam Collapse Imminent’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

FX Choice, a forex and crypto trading company, is making new allegations that South African bitcoin investment company, Mirror Trading International (MTI) is a multi-level marketing scam. The company says it uncovered this after researching into MTI, a firm that claims to have “118,027 members in 192 countries” and ostensibly sees “12,879.70 Bitcoin in trade daily.” The recent findings prompted FX Choice to take action one month before the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) issued a cease and desist order. TSSB issued its cease and desist order in July. In a statement, the Belize-registered investing platform says it also uncovered evidence that MTI is presenting itself as FX Choice’s broker. Based on this new information, FX Choice says it made the decision to “block MTI’s account on 10th June.” The company subsequently requested “ additional documents from MTI to confirm the source of their funds.” However, before MTI could provide the required documentation, FX Choice says its “concerns were later confirmed by a statement from the Texas Securities Commission on 7th July and the AMF of Canada a week later.” Meanwhile, the statement by FX Choice follows a request for clarification on MTI by discussants on Forex Peace Army forum, a scam reporting site. In the discussion thread, two members question MTI –a broker for FX Choice—claims of making “profits every day.” In response, an individual claiming to be FX Choice representative, put out a statement on the organization’s behalf. The statement “sets the record straight,” while also summarizing FX Choice’s research findings. The research findings also state the following: We would like everybody involved in MTI to understand the risks. Paying out such a consistent stream of profits, which is nearly a 100% return on investment in one year, to investors by trading Forex is hard to believe. Forex is not the same as owning a bond where you receive a percentage. It is about risk-reward where the larger the reward you received, the larger the risk you took. We note that there is no single proof of the efficiency of MTI’s operations. In the same statement, FX Choice explains that MTI opened an account under the name of its current CEO, Johann Steynberg back in 2017. Before May 2020, FX Choice says it had not seen any suspicious activity with MTI’s trading volume while the deposits were still small. This changed, however, when the account got converted from personal to corporate status. MTI also began to handle large deposits, which raised red flags. FX Choice also disputes MTI’s claim that it uses artificial intelligence software for trading. According to the statement, “MTI executed just a few trading operations, which were performed manually, large and incurred substantial losses.” Despite the persistent scam allegations, MTI insists it is running a legitimate investment business. Reports in July quote Steynberg claiming that none of his organization’s 75,000 plus members worldwide has ever complained or failed to withdraw their bitcoins. Steynberg adds that MTI is now placing greater emphasis on engaging regulators. What do you think of this latest revelation? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. The post South African Bitcoin Investment Company Faces Fresh Scam Allegations appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The number of bitcoin ATM locations has been rising steadily. Almost 9,000 bitcoin ATMs have been installed worldwide. The U.S. leads as the country with the largest number of bitcoin ATMs, followed by Canada and the United Kingdom. Nearly 9,000 Bitcoin ATMs There are currently 8,947 cryptocurrency ATMs and 211,239 non-ATM locations you can buy or sell cryptocurrencies at across 71 countries, according to cryptocurrency ATM tracking website Coinatmradar. In July, the number of crypto ATMs rose from 8,490 to 8,919, the site revealed Monday. While there were 544 new bitcoin ATMs, 115 machines were shut down during the month, leaving a net growth of 429 machines. The U.S. continues to lead in the number of bitcoin ATMs (BTMs). At the time of this writing, there are 6,879 machines in the U.S., most of which are located in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta. Canada comes second with 816 bitcoin ATM locations, most of which are located in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. According to Coinatmradar, other countries with more than 50 bitcoin ATM locations include the U.K., Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Italy. Coinatmradar’s map of bitcoin ATM locations worldwide which you can use to locate a crypto ATM near you that supports your chosen cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, dash, and litecoin. Source: Coinatmradar.com There are currently 43 producers and 554 operators. The company which has manufactured the most bitcoin ATMs is Genesis Coin with 3,101 machines at the end of July, an increase of 157 machines during the month. The second-largest manufacturer is General Bytes with 2,661 machines, 103 of which were added in July. Coinsource also added 56 bitcoin ATM machines last month. The bitcoin ATM operator with the most machines is Bitcoin Depot, which has 791 machines, 46 of which were added in July. The second-largest operator is Rockitcoin with 436 machines, followed by ATM Coiners, Coincloud, Coinflip, and Coinsource. Bitcoin ATMs were the focus of a recent crackdown by the U.S. government when a $25 million operation was taken down and 17 machines seized in California. The owner was running the operation without complying with proper AML requirements, the Department of Justice said. In June, news.Bitcoin.com reported that U.S. regulators had been targeting bitcoin ATMs. According to blockchain analytics firm Ciphertrace, 88% of funds that U.S.-based BTMs sent to exchanges in 2019 were sent offshore and users on average sent more funds to high-risk exchanges than low-risk exchanges. What do you think about the growing number of bitcoin ATMs? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin ATM Locations Reaching 9,000 Worldwide appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A government official has reportedly confirmed that a “note” regarding the legal framework for cryptocurrency in India has been forwarded to related ministries for inter-ministerial discussions. It would then be presented to the cabinet for approval. Status of Indian Crypto Bill India’s cryptocurrency bill is back in the limelight on Tuesday after Moneycontrol reported on a “note” that seeks to “ban trade in cryptocurrency,” citing an unnamed government official. On the condition of anonymity, the official explained that the Indian government has been holding consultations with the law ministry, the ministry of information and technology, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on a framework for a law that will “formally end trading in cryptocurrency in India,” the publication conveyed. “We have forwarded a note to related ministries for inter-ministerial discussions … We are working on it,” he added, elaborating: After inter-ministerial consultations, it (the note) would be presented to the cabinet for approval. Once Parliament resumes for the session, we are hoping to get it ratified. “There was a view in the government that banning it through a law would be more binding. It will clearly define the illegality of the trade,” the government official was quoted as saying. This is not the first time the media has reported that the Indian government is planning to ban cryptocurrency, and it is also not the first time such a note has been discussed. In June, the Economic Times reported that “India is looking to introduce a law to ban cryptocurrencies” based on a note that “has been moved (by the finance ministry) for inter-ministerial consultation.” However, crypto exchange executives told news.Bitcoin.com that a blanket ban is unlikely considering much has developed since the crypto bill was submitted to the finance ministry early last year. The bill was drafted by the inter-ministerial committee headed by former Finance and Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, who has now retired from government. He recently said that cryptocurrencies can be regulated as commodities. The executives said Indians are generally undeterred by crypto ban news as they are waiting for the government to make a formal announcement. In addition, a recent DEA’s reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application suggested that the government is not entirely happy with the existing bill. Lawyer Mohammed Danish of Crypto Kanoon explained that “If the govt. decides to pass a law banning crypto, this law can be challenged by crypto business, traders, or enthusiasts based on various rights available to them under the Constitution.” Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency industry in India has been growing substantially ever since the supreme court quashed the circular by the central bank that banned banks from providing services to crypto businesses. Local crypto exchanges have reported as much as 10x trading volume growth and a significant increase in the number of signups. Do you think India will ban crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Government Official Updates Progress of India’s Cryptocurrency Law appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

More than 90% of ETH’s circulating supply is now in profit. The last time this level was observed was in early 2018 when the price of the cryptocurrency was $925. Research and analytics firm Glassnode reported Monday that the percentage of ETH’s supply in profit has reached a level not seen since early 2018. The firm tweeted: Over 90% of the circulating ETH supply is now in a state of profit, i.e. the current price is higher compared to the price at the time the coins last moved. “Last time this we saw this level was in Feb 2018 when the ETH price was at $925,” the firm continued. The price of ETH has been surging significantly over the past weeks, rising about 47% since July 23. At the time of this writing, the price of ETH stands at $390.63, having breached the $400 mark. Chart showing ETH’s supply percentage in profit. Source: Glassnode Anthony Sassano, co-founder of Ethhub.io, believes that “At this stage of the cycle I’d say that it’s very bullish,” he tweeted, emphasizing that “Over 90% of the current supply of ETH is now considered ‘in the money’ aka in profit.” Chart showing addresses holding ETH in and out of the money at the price of $390.81. Source: Intotheblock.com The Spartan Group’s co-founder, Kelvin Koh, commented: “The strong move in ethereum has to do with the upcoming ETH 2.0 launch which is a major catalyst. Every phase of ETH 2.0 over the next 2-3 years brings Ethereum closer to its final state and will be catalysts for ETH.” Furthermore, news.Bitcoin.com recently reported that the total value locked within the decentralized finance (defi) ecosystem had surpassed $4.22 billion. The value is currently at $4.32 billion. A very large portion of defi applications, tokens, and platforms are hosted on the Ethereum network; defi’s massive growth has contributed to the significant rise in the price of ETH. What do you think about 90% of ETH’s supply being in profit? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Over 90% of ETH’s Supply Now in Profit appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Basler Kantonalbank (BKB), Switzerland’s eighth-largest bank, is getting into crypto through its subsidiary, Bank Cler. Owned by the Swiss Canton of Basel-City, BKB has total assets of approximately $49 billion. Swiss Canton Bank Launching Crypto Services Local Swiss government-owned commercial bank BKB will be offering cryptocurrency services through Bank Cler, the bank told Citywire Switzerland Monday. Founded in 1899, Basler Kantonalbank, also called Basel Cantonal Bank, offers retail, corporate and private banking services. It has total assets of approximately $49 billion. Bank Cler said that its crypto push is in response to demand among its younger clientele, who wish to invest in crypto assets. Bank Cler’s spokesperson, Natalie Waltmann, told the news outlet: We will launch an offering for the trading and custody of digital assets next year. The bank has hired Alain Kunz to lead its digital asset business. His Linkedin page shows that he is the CEO of fintech company Polarlab and founder of Tokensuisse. S&P Global Ratings gave BKB a “stable” outlook in December last year, which reflected on the bank’s owner and grantor, the Swiss Canton of Basel-City. “We expect BKB to remain the eighth-largest bank in Switzerland, with total assets of CHF45 billion [$49 billion] as of June 30, 2019 … consolidating its subsidiary Bank Cler, which had total assets of CHF18 billion at the same date,” S&P Global’s analysts wrote. BKB and Bank Cler hold separate banking licenses in Switzerland. Waltmann further told the news outlet that BKB is also interested in cryptocurrencies. Other banks in Switzerland that have announced their cryptocurrency services include Seba, which launched a range of crypto services in November last year, Sygnum, Julius Baer, and Falcon. Maerki Baumann announced in June the launch of its trading and custody services, supporting bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, litecoin, and XRP initially. What do you think about Bank Cler launching crypto services? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Government-Owned Swiss Bank Launching Crypto Trading and Custody Services appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

2gether, a Spanish cryptocurrency trading platform, has been hacked for about $1.4 million and company executives claim that they do not have the money to repay customers. Chief executive officer Ramon Ferraz Estrada said over the course of several tweets on Monday that the breach of July 31 affected crypto investment accounts and exposed user private keys. A separate announcement later expressed the exchange’s doubts over reimbursing the stolen funds, citing a lack of financial capacity. Instead, company officials offered customers the bourse’s native 2GT token as full compensation. “In the two days following the attack, we’ve been working on finding the funds needed to cover all positions,” said 2gether in the statement. “More specifically, and until a few minutes ago, we’ve been working with an investment group with which we sadly haven’t been able to reach an agreement,” it added. On July 31, hackers allegedly spirited away €1.18 million ($1.4 million) from the trading platform’s cryptocurrency investment coffers – the equivalent of 27% of 2gether’s overall funds. No further detail has been revealed about how exactly the attack happened. “We want to compensate the amount of stolen cryptocurrency (26.79% of your position before the attack) with a volume in 2GT equivalent to the issuance price of 5 cents,” the exchange pleaded. “On top of that, we commit to keep looking, at top capacity and as soon as possible, for additional funds to make up for every single one of your cryptocurrencies,” it said. 2gether’s token allows for in-house exchange transactions only. The exchange is planning an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) session on Reddit to attend to customer queries while additional updates, perhaps particularly on the unclear reimbursement timeline, will be shared on social media. This is the second European platform to lose money to cybercriminals in a matter of weeks following the theft of 336 BTC, or $3 million, at UK-based Cashaa early July. Cashaa said that the hacker attacked one of its Blockchain.com wallets, which is used to store BTC and make transfers from the exchange. The attacker is believed to have implanted malware into one of the exchange’s computers. What do you think about the 2gether security breach? Let us know in the comments section below. The post European Bitcoin Exchange Hacked for $1.4 Million, Claims It Cannot Afford to Repay Users appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

While there are many crypto exchanges, fear of hacking and theft has slowly crept into crypto traders due to many such past incidents. It makes sense to always be in control of one’s fund and cryptocurrencies, and that’s why P2P or peer to peer services like Bitpatt are trusted by both new and experienced traders. Located in Canada and owned by Finest Link Communications, Inc, Bitpatt provides a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency escrow service, an easy and secure platform where users can buy and sell cryptocurrency from all around the world. By providing an escrowed service, they resolve the trust issue by ensuring that exchange is effectively concluded, with all parties receiving due benefits. Buying and selling cryptocurrency has never been easier!! With simplified platform, BITPATT provide trouble-free services backed by System and user account security, safe cold cryptocurrency storage, Financial viability, and profound legal compliance. To enjoy the service, users are required to register and open an account with BITPATT. Digital assets are also expected to be deposited before the commencement of trading. Withdrawals by traders of their digital assets is as easy as stated. BITPATT users are allowed to create offers to buy or sell cryptocurrency with fiat currency of their choice. Offer’s creator can write their own terms which a requesting user must adhere to. BITPATT offers the lowest fees within this space, with a trading fee of 0.5% of the total trading value, payed by the offer’s creator. A 20% trade commission is also offered for referrals which significantly reduces cost for traders. What a great offer this is. As an exchange, BITPATT’s service includes an exceptional dispute resolution package. BITPATT support mediates and resolves disputes within 24hrs when either of the party involved in the trade clicks the dispute button. BITPATT comes with an easy to use platform, providing superlative services to traders. Trading has never been easier. A user-friendly interface where buying and selling is a delightful experience. Are you tired of high cost of trading? Do you need an exchange that is concerned with your growth while still providing great services, BITPATT is the exchange to be. Their very reliable site and easy to trade interface ensures you reap huge returns. Press Contact Email Address press@bitpatt.com Supporting Link https://bitpatt.com/account/register 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 Bitpatt.com, a Safe, Fast and Reliable P2P Crypto Exchange, Launches Operations appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Regional reports from Tampa show that the alleged “Mastermind” behind the July 15, Twitter hack owns more than $3.3 million dollars worth of bitcoin. While appearing on a video screen at the Hillsborough County Courthouse, the judge set 17-year old Graham Clark’s bail at $25,000 per 29 counts or $725,000. The teenager, Graham Clark, made headlines on Friday when he was charged with 30 counts of organized fraud, fraudulent use of personal information and communications fraud. U.S. law enforcement accused Clark of being the “mastermind” behind the July 15 Twitter hack, which saw a large number of high profile Twitter accounts breached. Estimates note that Clark had access to roughly 130 Twitter accounts belonging to people like Floyd Mayweather, Elon Musk, Kanye West, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Mike Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, and companies like Apple and Uber as well. The 17-year old Graham Clark appeared before County Judge Joelle Ann Ober on a video monitor due to the recent Covid-19 restrictions. Two other accomplices were arrested in California where they await federal charges. Hillsborough County Judge Joelle Ann Ober said that if the 17-year old Graham Clark posts bail, he must turn in his U.S. passport and he will be subject to house arrest using an electronic anklet tracking device. Clark ostensibly will be charged with state charges, as opposed to federal due to the fact that he is underage. During the hearing, the prosecutors and defense attorneys quarreled over the proper amount of bail to set for Clark. The teenager owns more than 300 BTC according to the prosecutors, which is worth $3.3 million at today’s exchange rates. According to Clark’s defense attorney, Clark was under a criminal investigation in 2019, which led to law enforcement taking 400 BTC from him. However, defense attorney David Weisbrod told the court that the police had returned 300 BTC back to Clark. Weisbrod notes that this proves the funds did not stem from illegal activities. Prosecutors disagreed and the state asked Judge Ober to set the teenagers bail at $1 million for being a flight risk. Court reporters said that Weisbrod asked Judge Ober to set bail at $20,000. Judge Ober seemed to side with the prosecution and set the bail much higher than $20k. At the end of the hearing, Judge Ober set Clark’s bail at $25,000 per 29 counts or a total of $725,000. The Twitter hack only netted $117,000 worth of BTC on July 15, and prosecutors believe because of this act the 300 BTC he still owns was probably illegally obtained. For the 30th count, Judge Ober mandated that Clark wear an electronic tracking device if he posted bail. Alongside this, Clark is required to surrender his passport and he is barred from leveraging the internet during his trial. What do you think about the arrest of the alleged Twitter hack mastermind? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Alleged Twitter Hack ‘Mastermind’ Owns $3 Million in Bitcoin, Bail Set at $725K appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Two of the top mining manufacturers from China that recently had initial public offerings (IPO) released two new mining rigs. Canaan Inc. and Ebang Communications both have shares listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, and the two firms just launched two ASIC mining devices with hashrates up to 63 terahash per second (TH/s). The two Chinese ASIC mining rig manufacturers Ebang and Canaan have recently released some new bitcoin mining devices. Canaan has launched the Avalonminer 1146 Pro (63TH/s), while Ebang has released the E12+ (50TH/s). Interestingly, both firms are listed on the American stock exchange Nasdaq, while the other two powerful ASIC manufacturing competitors, Bitmain and Microbt, are not public companies yet. On the flipside, Ebang and Canaan’s new machines do not produce as much hashrate as Microbt and Bitmain’s latest units. The Canaan Avalonminer 1146 Pro “comes with a hashrate of 63TH/s and power consumption of [around] 3276W,” according to the specifications. The new Avalonminer was announced in June and the price is only available by inquiry. Additionally, it’s unknown what size ASIC chips are used in the new Canaan 1146 Pro model. The new Ebang E12+ does have a price tag displayed on site, as the machine is selling for $1,500 per unit. The E12+ boasts a hashrate of around 50 terahash per second and an efficiency rating of around 2500W off the wall. Now the E12+ has much lower power consumption than the Avalonminer 1146 Pro, but it is 13 terahash less, as far as hashrate output is concerned. Canaan’s machine has power consumption rating that is a hair less than the Microbt Whatsminer M30S++, which is a whopping 3472W off the wall according to stats. All four of the top SHA256 mining rigs have over 3000W per unit off the wall, but they all claim to produce 95 TH/s or higher. Bitmain’s Antminers and Microbt’s Whatsminers pretty much offer double the hashrate compared to Ebang and Canaan’s new devices. The top four SHA256 ASIC mining rigs on August 2, 2020. The Microbt Whatsminer M30S++ and the first iteration of the model M30S offer hashrates between 100-112TH/s, but these devices won’t ship until October. Miners can purchase Bitmain models, which are readily available especially on secondary markets. Bitmain’s Antminer two S19s produce 100-110 terahash per second. The Antminer S19 Pro (110TH/s) is the most profitable ASIC device on the market today. Because Canaan’s pricing isn’t available yet, there are no profitability metrics provided by data analytics websites. However, Ebang’s E12+ does show that at current bitcoin (BTC) prices, the new machine is profitable by $0.80 to $2.00 per day. However, the four top machines produced by Bitmain and Microbt are taking in $5-10 per day in revenue, depending on the model. Canaan (CAN) and Ebang (EBON) shares listed on Nasdaq. As mentioned above, both Microbt and Bitmain have not gone public by selling shares on any principle stock markets. Although last year it was rumored that Bitmain had confidentially applied for an initial public offering (IPO), which never came to fruition. Despite the lack of IPO status, these two firms (Microbt & Bitmain) still have a much larger market share as far as ASIC mining rig sales are concerned compared to Ebang and Canaan. Moreover, Microbt has been nipping at the heels of Bitmain, the firm that commands the largest portion of the world’s market share for ASIC sales. Canaan and Ebang have been listed on Nasdaq, but the machines they are releasing are far less powerful than the competitors’ offerings. Canaan’s stock isn’t doing well and each share is selling for $2.50 today, as the stock is down 7% on Saturday afternoon. Canaan shares are sold under the ticker “CAN” (NASDAQ: CAN) which went on sale on November 21, 2019, and the firm sold $90 million worth of U.S. shares. The CAN shares came out of the gate at $8.99 per share, which is a massive loss of approximately -72.19%. Ebang’s shares are doing much better, but they haven’t been sold on the market for very long. Ebang’s “EBON” (NASDAQ: EBON) came out of the gate at $5 a share on June 26, 2020. The shares touched an all-time high of $5.50 on July 15, but EBON is down -8.59% after Friday’s market closing at $4.57 per unit. What do you think about Canaan and Ebang’s latest mining rigs? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Publicly Traded Firms Launch New Mining Rigs, Less Hashrate Than Competitors appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto essentially solved the infamous computational issue called the “Byzantine generals’ problem” or the “Byzantine Fault.” Throughout the history of man, people used ledgers to record economic transactions and property ownership. A ledger is often referred to as the “principal book,” and entries can be recorded in stone, parchment, wood, metal, and with software as well. Ledgers were used for centuries, but the shared ledger system became really popular in 1538 when the church kept records. In Mesopotamia, which was about 5,000 years ago, scientists discovered Mesopotamians used single-entry accounting ledgers. Much of it was complex and these ledgers accounted for things like property and money. But with a single-entry ledger, all anyone has to do is remove one line of entry or a few lines, and the funds would be gone or disappear from the records. An old church ledger. During the Renaissance period, intelligent people discovered double-entry bookkeeping, which literally changed everything in the world of accounting. Our modern financial system is based on the double-entry system created more than six hundred years ago. Double-entry systems grew because trade swelled beyond borders, so people needed a way to maintain records that were far more trustworthy than the single-entry accounting ledgers. Leveraging single-entry accounting would not work well when dealing with people who are thousands of miles away. The double-entry system was first documented centuries ago by Luca Pacioli (1446–1517), a mathematician and Franciscan friar. Towards the latter part of the 15th century, this system became extremely popular, as it was leveraged by merchants and traders everywhere. Now double-entry bookkeeping isn’t necessarily transparent and these types of books can be private or open. The system does a much better job than single-entry accounting when it comes to errors, fraud detection, and financial reality. But most mathematicians and economists understand that the double-entry system can be manipulated. So the double-entry system allows an entity to record a total of what is owed and what is owned (Assets = Liabilities + Equity). Alongside this, double-entry accounting keeps a record of what the entity spent and earned. Traditionally this system has two corresponding and equal sides that people call “debit” and “credit.” Historically, people often use the left side for debit entries and the right for credit. One of the biggest issues with the double-entry system is trusting the human and fallible bookkeeper, messenger, or accountant. Moreover, in today’s world of monetary finance, double-entry systems are used regularly, but the world’s central banks are far from transparent or based on financial reality. **The “Byzantine generals’ problem” or the “Byzantine Fault.” In essence, the Byzantine generals’ problem is an allegory in the field of computer science, which tells a story of two generals (there can be more than two generals) planning to attack an enemy city. The generals tell both armies to attack from each side of the enemy’s castle, the east side and the west side. The issue at hand is a timing or synchronization problem coupled with trust, because both armies need to attack simultaneously. Now the two generals split a group of messengers but the only way the messengers can communicate is by entering via the enemy castle. The Byzantine generals’ problem is not being able to trust the message from the messenger, as it may not be valid or truthful. When computers came around, ledger systems became far more advanced and people tried to push the double-entry system to the next level. Triple-entry accounting was first conceived in the early eighties and the inventor of the Ricardian contract, Ian Grigg discussed the method well before it was solved. The problem with creating something more advanced than the double-entry accounting system was the notorious “Byzantine generals problem.” Basically, when a distributed ledger is being shared among computing systems people cannot trust which system or server (node) is trustworthy, compromised, or functioning with a failure to detect. However, on October 31, 2008, an anonymous person(s) released a paper that solved the Byzantine Fault dilemma. That Halloween, Nakamoto wrote an email to the Cryptography Mailing List which said: I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party — The main properties: Double-spending is prevented with a peer-to-peer network. No mint or other trusted parties. Participants can be anonymous. New coins are made from Hashcash style proof-of-work. The proof-of-work for new coin generation also powers the network to prevent double-spending. The Bitcoin white paper published on October 31, 2008. Basically Nakamoto invented the triple-entry accounting system or essentially gave the theory life. Triple-entry bookkeeping is far, far more advanced than the traditional double-entry systems we know of today. Essentially all the accounting entries are cryptographically validated by a third entry by hashing and a nonce. “Digital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending,” Nakamoto’s infamous white paper says. With the triple-entry bookkeeping system, the entries (transactions) are both congruent, but the infrastructure also adds a third entry into the ledger’s validation process, which again is cryptographically sealed. Fundamentally, hashing or cryptographic hash function (CHF) is a mathematical function of arbitrary size we call a “message.” A nonce is an arbitrary number that is used one time when the message is concealed in plain text. In the **Byzantine general tale, one army sends a message (CHF) over to the other general with a nonce. The other general then must decipher the CHF, with some partial knowledge cryptographers call a “hash target.” All the general has to do is hash the CHF and the nonce, as well as make sure everything corresponds with the hash target (partial knowledge). If everything is valid, the two generals have easily synchronized the timing of an attack, without having to doubt the message system or messengers. Satoshi’s white paper also said: Proof-of-work also solves the problem of determining representation in majority decision making. If the majority were based on one-IP-address-one-vote, it could be subverted by anyone able to allocate many IPs. Proof-of-work is essentially one-CPU-one-vote. The majority decision is represented by the longest chain, which has the greatest proof-of-work effort invested in it. If a majority of CPU power is controlled by honest nodes, the honest chain will grow the fastest and outpace any competing chains. Bitcoin mining facility. Nakamoto’s software leverages the Hashcash system, which bolsters the security of the underlying infrastructure by utilizing cryptographic hashes. Hashcash is used for Nakamoto’s proof-of-work (PoW) which is basically a blob of data that is difficult, expensive, and painstaking to produce. However, PoW is also undemanding when it comes to verifying and satisfying the agreement, as long as everyone follows the rules. There are a number of PoW schemes available like Quark, Scrypt, Blake-256, Cryptonight, and HEFTY1, but Nakamoto’s Bitcoin leverages SHA256. It is “near” impossible or extremely hard to falsify, destroy or edit one or a few lines in the constant SHA256 ledger system. As the proof-of-work continues to build, it becomes extremely expensive and very time consuming to attack. There are other ways that networks can use to come to consensus, like the popular proof-of-stake consensus (PoS) systems. However, PoS has not proven itself as the most reliable system (security-wise) yet in order to come to consensus. The advantages of triple-entry bookkeeping are huge, and the sky’s the limit when it comes to this relatively new technology. Triple-entry accounting offers a concept that is “near” trustless, if we remove trusting the autonomous system. Auditing, reconciliation, and transparency are all reconsidered notions when it comes to “trusting the books.” Satoshi told people on numerous occasions that he solved the Byzantine generals’ problem. “The proof-of-work chain is a solution to the Byzantine generals’ problem,” Nakamoto told James A. Donald on November 13, 2008. Bitcoin’s inventor also stressed to Donald a few days earlier that the “proof-of-work chain is the solution to the synchronisation problem, and to knowing what the globally shared view is without having to trust anyone.” Furthermore, the decentralized currency is pseudo-anonymous, meaning that a person can leverage as much anonymity or transparency as desired. Nakamoto explained the transparency and privacy foundations in the white paper quite well. “The traditional banking model achieves a level of privacy by limiting access to information to the parties involved and the trusted third party,” the Bitcoin white paper details. “The necessity to announce all transactions publicly precludes this method, but privacy can still be maintained by breaking the flow of information in another place: by keeping public keys anonymous.” Nakamoto concluded by saying: The public can see that someone is sending an amount to someone else, but without information linking the transaction to anyone. This is similar to the level of information released by stock exchanges, where the time and size of individual trades, the “tape”, is made public, but without telling who the parties were. The well known cryptocurrency expert, Andreas M. Antonopoulos does an excellent job explaining the tale of the Byzantine generals’ problem and how it applies to Bitcoin in the video below. What do you think about Satoshi Nakamoto solving the Byzantine generals’ problem? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Triple-Entry Bookkeeping: How Satoshi Nakamoto Solved the Byzantine Generals’ Problem appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Beijing Arbitration Commission has published an article clarifying that bitcoin’s use as a commodity has never been banned in China. It explains that the Chinese authorities’ attitude toward controlling bitcoin revolves around three areas. China Recognizes Bitcoin as Commodity The Beijing Arbitration Commission published an article on the legal nature of bitcoin in China on Thursday. The Beijing-based independent, non-profit organization offers services in arbitration, mediation, and other dispute resolution mechanisms. The article was authored by economist Wang Jin, an arbitrator for the commission. “There are still differences in the understanding of the legal nature of bitcoin under the current regulatory system” in China, as evidenced by a wide range of legal disputes involving bitcoin, he began. Wang described that China’s current “bitcoin control policies” are mainly based on two announcements. The first was the “Notice on Preventing Bitcoin Risks,” issued by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and several other ministries on Dec. 3, 2013. The second was the “Announcement on Preventing Financing Risks of Token Issuance,” issued on Sept. 4, 2017, by seven ministries, including the PBOC. He explained that they reflect China’s “current attitude towards bitcoin control,” which revolves around three aspects. The first is that bitcoin is not legal tender. The second is that “Bitcoin is a virtual commodity.” Wang emphasized that China does not recognize bitcoin as “virtual currency,” but it does “as a virtual commodity.” The third aspect is that some bitcoin-related activities are prohibited by the state, such as “Token financing trading platforms shall not engage in the exchange business between legal currency, tokens, and virtual currencies.” Another example is that financial and non-bank payment institutions “shall not directly or indirectly provide products or services such as account opening, registration, trading, clearing, and settlement for token issuance financing.” However, insurance businesses “may include tokens and ‘virtual currency’ into the scope of insurance liability,” Wang noted. The economist concluded: In summary, the state does not prohibit bitcoin’s activities as virtual commodities. He clarified that the prohibition was for bitcoin’s use as legal tender and some specific activities, such as those mentioned above. What do you think about China’s attitude toward bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post China Never Banned Bitcoin as Commodity, Beijing Arbitration Commission Explains appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article