🐫 Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht to Launch NFT Collection on Ethereum
Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the defunct Silk Road marketplace, announced via a Medium post that he is auctioning a line of NFTs detailing various points in his life, from childhood to his time in prison.
Minted on Ethereum, the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection will launch Thursday at the 2021 Art Basel event in Miami. The auction will run from December 2-8 on the SuperRare NFT platform, curated by Entoptic. The collection will include ten items from Ulbricht, including artwork, writings, and original animation by digital artist Levitate, including a voice-over by Ulbricht.
"I was 29 years old when I was arrested. Suddenly, sitting in prison, I had time for drawing again, I reconnected with my artistic side, producing illustrations that told the story I was going through."
Having been incarcerated since 2013, Ulbricht hasn't fully participated in the NFT explosion taking over crypto. The Silk Road creator wrote that when someone suggested selling his art as NFTs, which are digital tokens of ownership, he had no idea what they were talking about. But with the help of others, he learned and began developing them.
The FreeRoss.org website, run by Ulbrich's mother Lyn, says the NFT launch will act as a fundraiser for both prisoner support and Ulbricht's freedom efforts.
Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the defunct Silk Road marketplace, announced via a Medium post that he is auctioning a line of NFTs detailing various points in his life, from childhood to his time in prison.
Minted on Ethereum, the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection will launch Thursday at the 2021 Art Basel event in Miami. The auction will run from December 2-8 on the SuperRare NFT platform, curated by Entoptic. The collection will include ten items from Ulbricht, including artwork, writings, and original animation by digital artist Levitate, including a voice-over by Ulbricht.
"I was 29 years old when I was arrested. Suddenly, sitting in prison, I had time for drawing again, I reconnected with my artistic side, producing illustrations that told the story I was going through."
Having been incarcerated since 2013, Ulbricht hasn't fully participated in the NFT explosion taking over crypto. The Silk Road creator wrote that when someone suggested selling his art as NFTs, which are digital tokens of ownership, he had no idea what they were talking about. But with the help of others, he learned and began developing them.
The FreeRoss.org website, run by Ulbrich's mother Lyn, says the NFT launch will act as a fundraiser for both prisoner support and Ulbricht's freedom efforts.
🔥 Bitcoin dropped more than 7% in 24 hours, Ethereum deflated by over 8% of its surging price tag today. In all, the global cryptocurrency market cap fell by nearly 7%.
It's not just crypto. After a solid start to the morning, U.S. stock indexes are all trending downward for the day and week. The Nasdaq is off pace by 2.8% today, while the Dow Jones is trending 0.9% lighter.
What's to blame?
Well, there is the threat posed by the Omicron COVID variant, which has made landfall in California. Remember that economic uncertainty greeted COVID's first foray into America back in March 2020, cutting the stock market off at the knees while dunking Bitcoin to just above $4,000.
Each intervention has required a new cure. Lockdowns led to stimulus checks, which led to labor shortages and supply chain issues. As a result, prices for goods and labor are on the rise. Now, there's the growing expectation that the Federal Reserve must raise interest rates to combat inflation. While that doesn't easily explain why inflation hedges like BTC are dropping today, Bitcoin is showing high levels of correlation with the S&P 500 stocks as the investment has become increasingly mainstream.
It's not just crypto. After a solid start to the morning, U.S. stock indexes are all trending downward for the day and week. The Nasdaq is off pace by 2.8% today, while the Dow Jones is trending 0.9% lighter.
What's to blame?
Well, there is the threat posed by the Omicron COVID variant, which has made landfall in California. Remember that economic uncertainty greeted COVID's first foray into America back in March 2020, cutting the stock market off at the knees while dunking Bitcoin to just above $4,000.
Each intervention has required a new cure. Lockdowns led to stimulus checks, which led to labor shortages and supply chain issues. As a result, prices for goods and labor are on the rise. Now, there's the growing expectation that the Federal Reserve must raise interest rates to combat inflation. While that doesn't easily explain why inflation hedges like BTC are dropping today, Bitcoin is showing high levels of correlation with the S&P 500 stocks as the investment has become increasingly mainstream.
🔥 Bitcoin tumbles below $47K wiping out October gains — Bear market begins?
Bitcoin (BTC) has suddenly fallen below $47,000 on Dec. 4, losing nearly 20% in the past 24 hours. This makes this the biggest one-day drop since May 15 when Bitcoin price momentarily came down to nearly $33,000.
The market price of BTC fell down 26.4% from week-long support of $57,206 to go down to $42,268 before recovering back to the $45k mark. According to Coinglass data, the Bitcoin market experienced $1.3 billion in total liquidations in the past hour, with $735 million liquidated in BTC longs on this drop.
As a result, Bitcoin’s bear market cancels out the two-month long bull market since Sept. 29, where BTC soared over 63% to attain an all-time high of $67,602 by Nov. 8. However, numerous Bitcoin analysts including TechDev point out a similar trend with Bitcoin’s price action for every year.
Another reason for Bitcoin’s two-month low bearish streak can also be attributed to mainstream resistance from United States regulators that have invited the CEOs of prominent crypto exchanges including FTX and Binance US for a hearing on crypto-assets.
Despite concerns surrounding volatility and non-compliance with traditional financial practices, Bitcoin continues to rise as a viable asset for jurisdictions with unstable economies.
Bitcoin (BTC) has suddenly fallen below $47,000 on Dec. 4, losing nearly 20% in the past 24 hours. This makes this the biggest one-day drop since May 15 when Bitcoin price momentarily came down to nearly $33,000.
The market price of BTC fell down 26.4% from week-long support of $57,206 to go down to $42,268 before recovering back to the $45k mark. According to Coinglass data, the Bitcoin market experienced $1.3 billion in total liquidations in the past hour, with $735 million liquidated in BTC longs on this drop.
As a result, Bitcoin’s bear market cancels out the two-month long bull market since Sept. 29, where BTC soared over 63% to attain an all-time high of $67,602 by Nov. 8. However, numerous Bitcoin analysts including TechDev point out a similar trend with Bitcoin’s price action for every year.
Another reason for Bitcoin’s two-month low bearish streak can also be attributed to mainstream resistance from United States regulators that have invited the CEOs of prominent crypto exchanges including FTX and Binance US for a hearing on crypto-assets.
Despite concerns surrounding volatility and non-compliance with traditional financial practices, Bitcoin continues to rise as a viable asset for jurisdictions with unstable economies.
🏦 Russia’s largest bank struggles to register its digital asset platform
State-owned bank Sber is trying to launch digital asset tools, but regulators remain skeptical about the industry.
Sber, Russia’s largest bank, is apparently struggling to obtain regulatory approval for its digital asset issuance platform as the company continues delaying registration plans.
Sber CEO Herman Gref announced Tuesday that the bank now expects its digital asset issuance platform to have been registered with the Bank of Russia by the end of 2021, local news agency Prime reported.
“We are in constant contact with the central bank, and we are discussing various issues. We really want to believe that the platform will be registered by the end of this year,” Gref said.
The new comments come almost a year after Sber initially filed an application with the Bank of Russia to launch a blockchain platform for its Sbercoin stablecoin in January 2021. At the time, Sber director of transactions Sergey Popov said that the registration procedure usually takes no longer than 45 days. As such, the bank had b expecting to launch its platform and the stablecoin by spring 2021.
While unable to move forward with the plans by the fall, Sber then said that it was planning to register its digital asset issuance platform in September.
Sber did not respond to Cointelegraph’s requests for comment on the matter.
Sber’s delayed plans hardly come as a surprise, as Russia’s central bank has taken a hard stance on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and has even barred some major banks from offering crypto investment services. The bank has said that such services do not “meet the interests of investors and bear great risks.”
In the meantime, Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina believes that tools such as central bank digital currencies should serve as a good option for governments to replace decentralized cryptocurrencies.
State-owned bank Sber is trying to launch digital asset tools, but regulators remain skeptical about the industry.
Sber, Russia’s largest bank, is apparently struggling to obtain regulatory approval for its digital asset issuance platform as the company continues delaying registration plans.
Sber CEO Herman Gref announced Tuesday that the bank now expects its digital asset issuance platform to have been registered with the Bank of Russia by the end of 2021, local news agency Prime reported.
“We are in constant contact with the central bank, and we are discussing various issues. We really want to believe that the platform will be registered by the end of this year,” Gref said.
The new comments come almost a year after Sber initially filed an application with the Bank of Russia to launch a blockchain platform for its Sbercoin stablecoin in January 2021. At the time, Sber director of transactions Sergey Popov said that the registration procedure usually takes no longer than 45 days. As such, the bank had b expecting to launch its platform and the stablecoin by spring 2021.
While unable to move forward with the plans by the fall, Sber then said that it was planning to register its digital asset issuance platform in September.
Sber did not respond to Cointelegraph’s requests for comment on the matter.
Sber’s delayed plans hardly come as a surprise, as Russia’s central bank has taken a hard stance on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and has even barred some major banks from offering crypto investment services. The bank has said that such services do not “meet the interests of investors and bear great risks.”
In the meantime, Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina believes that tools such as central bank digital currencies should serve as a good option for governments to replace decentralized cryptocurrencies.
👨💻 Bitmart hacked for $200M following Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain exploit
The hackers made away with a mix of over 20 tokens that includes altcoins such as BNB, Safemoon, BSC-USD and BPay.
Crypto exchange Bitmart lost nearly $200 million in a hot wallet compromise hosted over the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain blockchains.
The $200 million Bitmart hack was first revealed by Peckshield, a blockchain security and data analytics company that initially identified a transfer of roughly $100 million over the Ethereum blockchain.
The hackers made away with a mix of over 20 tokens that includes altcoins such as Binance Coin (BNB), Safemoon, BSC-USD and BNBBPay (BPay). Sizable amounts of meme coins such as BabyDoge, Floki and Moonshot were also compromised in the hack.
The hackers made away with a mix of over 20 tokens that includes altcoins such as BNB, Safemoon, BSC-USD and BPay.
Crypto exchange Bitmart lost nearly $200 million in a hot wallet compromise hosted over the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain blockchains.
The $200 million Bitmart hack was first revealed by Peckshield, a blockchain security and data analytics company that initially identified a transfer of roughly $100 million over the Ethereum blockchain.
The hackers made away with a mix of over 20 tokens that includes altcoins such as Binance Coin (BNB), Safemoon, BSC-USD and BNBBPay (BPay). Sizable amounts of meme coins such as BabyDoge, Floki and Moonshot were also compromised in the hack.
💎 Vitalik Buterin outlines «Еndgame» roadmap for ETH 2.0
The Eth2 launch process began in November 2020. The network’s switch to proof-of-stake is expected to make ETH a deflationary asset.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined his vision for a “plausible roadmap” for Eth2, presenting a future where the largest smart-contract platform can increase its scalability while meeting high standards for trustlessness and censorship resistance.
In a Monday post noscriptd «Endgame», Buterin presented a thought experiment for how the average big blockchain — defined by very high block frequency, high block size and thousands of transactions per second — can still be considered sufficiently trustless and censorship-resistant. The obvious trade-off for this level of scalability is the centralization of block production. Buterin’s solutions, as presented in the blog post, do not address the centralization issue, but still provide a roadmap for implementation.
With respect to the solutions, Buterin suggested “a second tier of staking, with low resource requirements,” to carry out distributed block validation; “introduce either fraud-proof or ZK-SNARKS to let users directly (and cheaply) check block validity” directly; and “introduce data availability sampling to let users check block availability [and] add secondary transaction channels to prevent censorship.”
With these updates, “We get a chain where block production is still centralized, but block validation is trustless and highly decentralized, and specialized anti-censorship magic prevents the block producers from censoring,” Buterin explained.
Buterin said block production would remain centralized even with the implementation of so-called “rollups,” which are layer-two solutions that execute transactions outside of the main Ethereum chain. (Interestingly, Buterin presented a rollup-centric roadmap for Ethereum in October 2020).
“No single rollup succeeds at holding anywhere close to the majority of Ethereum activity. Instead, they all top out at a few hundred transactions per second,” he said. While it may appear that rollups could contribute to distributed block production, decentralization may not last because of the possibility of cross-domain maximal extractable revenue, or MEV. As the name implies MEV refers to the maximum amount of value that can be earned from block production in excess of standard block rewards and gas fees.
The Ethereum co-founder concluded that there’s a high probability that block production will end up centralized regardless of the path to scalability that the network takes. The benefit of Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap is that it’s open to all futures, he said.
@DeCenterOrg
The Eth2 launch process began in November 2020. The network’s switch to proof-of-stake is expected to make ETH a deflationary asset.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined his vision for a “plausible roadmap” for Eth2, presenting a future where the largest smart-contract platform can increase its scalability while meeting high standards for trustlessness and censorship resistance.
In a Monday post noscriptd «Endgame», Buterin presented a thought experiment for how the average big blockchain — defined by very high block frequency, high block size and thousands of transactions per second — can still be considered sufficiently trustless and censorship-resistant. The obvious trade-off for this level of scalability is the centralization of block production. Buterin’s solutions, as presented in the blog post, do not address the centralization issue, but still provide a roadmap for implementation.
With respect to the solutions, Buterin suggested “a second tier of staking, with low resource requirements,” to carry out distributed block validation; “introduce either fraud-proof or ZK-SNARKS to let users directly (and cheaply) check block validity” directly; and “introduce data availability sampling to let users check block availability [and] add secondary transaction channels to prevent censorship.”
With these updates, “We get a chain where block production is still centralized, but block validation is trustless and highly decentralized, and specialized anti-censorship magic prevents the block producers from censoring,” Buterin explained.
Buterin said block production would remain centralized even with the implementation of so-called “rollups,” which are layer-two solutions that execute transactions outside of the main Ethereum chain. (Interestingly, Buterin presented a rollup-centric roadmap for Ethereum in October 2020).
“No single rollup succeeds at holding anywhere close to the majority of Ethereum activity. Instead, they all top out at a few hundred transactions per second,” he said. While it may appear that rollups could contribute to distributed block production, decentralization may not last because of the possibility of cross-domain maximal extractable revenue, or MEV. As the name implies MEV refers to the maximum amount of value that can be earned from block production in excess of standard block rewards and gas fees.
The Ethereum co-founder concluded that there’s a high probability that block production will end up centralized regardless of the path to scalability that the network takes. The benefit of Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap is that it’s open to all futures, he said.
@DeCenterOrg
🏦 Germany's trillion-euro savings banks mull crypto wallet
Germany's savings banks, a conservative bastion that holds more than 1 trillion euros for thrifty Germans, is looking into offering a wallet to trade cryptocurrency, a group of the banks said on Monday.
The project marks a potentially radical departure for the banks, whose customers still use cash and eschew risky investing or heavy borrowing.
Entrusted with the savings and investments of roughly 50 million customers, they make up Germany's biggest financial group.
"The interest in crypto assets is huge," a spokesman for the German Savings Banks Association said, with reference to the pilot project. He said no decision had been taken and that the savings banks group was currently sceptical.
The move comes against a backdrop of high inflation and penalty charges on banks and savers from negative interest rates, fuelling a heated debate in Germany about central bank money printing.
It has prompted Germans to invest more in property and elsewhere to avoid what some have dubbed the "expropriation" of their wealth.
Last month, Helmut Schleweis, the president of the German Savings Bank Association, called the combination of low interest rates and rising prices a "toxic mix," saying it had become harder to stop the erosion of wealth.
Bitcoin , the world's largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of roughly $1.2 trillion, has risen strongly, fuelled in part by fears of inflation, with its limited supply seen as offering protection.
Bitcoin also has dozens of smaller rivals, all vying for a share of the wider $2 trillion digital currency market.
Among the major "altcoins" - as all cryptocurrencies aside from bitcoin are known - some, such as ethereum, aspire to be the backbone of a future financial system. Others, like Dogecoin, are barely used in payments.
Retail punters are pouring money into them, despite their volatile track record, in hopes of a quick profit.
Germany's savings banks, a conservative bastion that holds more than 1 trillion euros for thrifty Germans, is looking into offering a wallet to trade cryptocurrency, a group of the banks said on Monday.
The project marks a potentially radical departure for the banks, whose customers still use cash and eschew risky investing or heavy borrowing.
Entrusted with the savings and investments of roughly 50 million customers, they make up Germany's biggest financial group.
"The interest in crypto assets is huge," a spokesman for the German Savings Banks Association said, with reference to the pilot project. He said no decision had been taken and that the savings banks group was currently sceptical.
The move comes against a backdrop of high inflation and penalty charges on banks and savers from negative interest rates, fuelling a heated debate in Germany about central bank money printing.
It has prompted Germans to invest more in property and elsewhere to avoid what some have dubbed the "expropriation" of their wealth.
Last month, Helmut Schleweis, the president of the German Savings Bank Association, called the combination of low interest rates and rising prices a "toxic mix," saying it had become harder to stop the erosion of wealth.
Bitcoin , the world's largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of roughly $1.2 trillion, has risen strongly, fuelled in part by fears of inflation, with its limited supply seen as offering protection.
Bitcoin also has dozens of smaller rivals, all vying for a share of the wider $2 trillion digital currency market.
Among the major "altcoins" - as all cryptocurrencies aside from bitcoin are known - some, such as ethereum, aspire to be the backbone of a future financial system. Others, like Dogecoin, are barely used in payments.
Retail punters are pouring money into them, despite their volatile track record, in hopes of a quick profit.
🇨🇭Swissquote To Launch Crypto Exchange
Switzerland's largest online bank is riding the crypto wave. Swissquote's ambitions include setting up its own trading platform for digital currencies.
Other ambitions in the crypto space include becoming «the leading Swiss provider of digital assets.» To achieve this the broker aims to add more cryptocurrencies to its offering, in addition to stablecoins and staking services, which are currently in high demand.
Platform Surge
Swissquote's crypto exchange starts its operations as planned, there will be a sudden surge in trading platforms for digital assets in Switzerland.
In recent weeks, Swiss Stock Exchange SIX launched a fully licensed digital exchange, SDX. Just days later, Berner Kantonalbank launched SMEIX, a platform that lists tokenized small caps.
In September 2020, crypto bank Sygnum got the green light from regulators to launch its new trading system, which also acts as an exchange for crypto assets.
Last June, Deutsche Boerse bought Swiss fintech Crypto Finance; the acquisition gives Germany’s exchange a direct entry point for digital asset investments, including post-trade services.
«Almost overrun»
Swissquote has already bulked up its workforce in response to the surging demand for digital tokens and coins last spring and will continue hiring to fuel further expansion. «Our compliance and customer service teams were almost overrun by the crypto rush,» recalls De Schepper.
The hiring spree has paid off in reducing waiting times for clients calling in. «Now, we regularly manage to open a trading account on the same day,» De Schepper says. In exceptional cases when special clarification is needed, account opening can take up to a week, he says.
Net income from crypto investments increased by over 1000 percent to 63.2 million Swiss francs in the first half of 2021. At the end of 2021, Swissquote expects to double its pre-tax profit. However, expenses will also rise: Swissquote is investing heavily in infrastructure.
@DeCenterOrg
Switzerland's largest online bank is riding the crypto wave. Swissquote's ambitions include setting up its own trading platform for digital currencies.
Other ambitions in the crypto space include becoming «the leading Swiss provider of digital assets.» To achieve this the broker aims to add more cryptocurrencies to its offering, in addition to stablecoins and staking services, which are currently in high demand.
Platform Surge
Swissquote's crypto exchange starts its operations as planned, there will be a sudden surge in trading platforms for digital assets in Switzerland.
In recent weeks, Swiss Stock Exchange SIX launched a fully licensed digital exchange, SDX. Just days later, Berner Kantonalbank launched SMEIX, a platform that lists tokenized small caps.
In September 2020, crypto bank Sygnum got the green light from regulators to launch its new trading system, which also acts as an exchange for crypto assets.
Last June, Deutsche Boerse bought Swiss fintech Crypto Finance; the acquisition gives Germany’s exchange a direct entry point for digital asset investments, including post-trade services.
«Almost overrun»
Swissquote has already bulked up its workforce in response to the surging demand for digital tokens and coins last spring and will continue hiring to fuel further expansion. «Our compliance and customer service teams were almost overrun by the crypto rush,» recalls De Schepper.
The hiring spree has paid off in reducing waiting times for clients calling in. «Now, we regularly manage to open a trading account on the same day,» De Schepper says. In exceptional cases when special clarification is needed, account opening can take up to a week, he says.
Net income from crypto investments increased by over 1000 percent to 63.2 million Swiss francs in the first half of 2021. At the end of 2021, Swissquote expects to double its pre-tax profit. However, expenses will also rise: Swissquote is investing heavily in infrastructure.
@DeCenterOrg
🌎 Metaverse Company InfiniteWorld to Go Public in $700M SPAC Merger
Metaverse infrastructure platform Infinite Assets, also known as InfiniteWorld, will go public in a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Aries I Acquisition Corp.
The combined company will have a pro-forma equity value of $700 million and will trade on the Nasdaq under the “JPG” ticker, the companies said in a statement Monday. The deal is scheduled to close in the first half of next year.
InfiniteWorld helps brands create and monetize digital assets and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and engage with consumers and fans. The company says it has partnered with over 75 creators and brands. InfiniteWorld recently combined with strategic partner DreamView, which was founded by the team that pioneered computer-generated imagery (CGI) technologies at Lucasfilm and Disney.
“With up to $15 trillion of wealth expected to flow into digital assets over the next 10 years, we are witnessing the birth of a new global asset class and economic system,” Aries Chairman Thane Ritchie said in the statement. “InfiniteWorld’s unparalleled technology infrastructure underscores the transition of commerce to the digital world.”
The transaction will provide up to $171 million in funds, including the cash held by both companies and InfiniteWorld-owned cryptocurrencies valued at $93 million. InfiniteWorld stockholders will own approximately 75% of the combined company, and up to a maximum of 81% if certain share price milestones are achieved.
InfiniteWorld expects the deal to accelerate its platform development and expand brand partnerships.
The company will be led by CEO Yonathan Lapchik, a Deloitte Blockchain Lab veteran and co-creator of blockchain ecosystem SUKU. Nathaniel Hunter, the former CEO of DreamView, will become chief operating officer.
Previous investors in InfiniteWorld include investment firm Morgan Creek Digital, trading firm GSR and liquidity provider Wintermute.
@DeCenterOrg
Metaverse infrastructure platform Infinite Assets, also known as InfiniteWorld, will go public in a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Aries I Acquisition Corp.
The combined company will have a pro-forma equity value of $700 million and will trade on the Nasdaq under the “JPG” ticker, the companies said in a statement Monday. The deal is scheduled to close in the first half of next year.
InfiniteWorld helps brands create and monetize digital assets and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and engage with consumers and fans. The company says it has partnered with over 75 creators and brands. InfiniteWorld recently combined with strategic partner DreamView, which was founded by the team that pioneered computer-generated imagery (CGI) technologies at Lucasfilm and Disney.
“With up to $15 trillion of wealth expected to flow into digital assets over the next 10 years, we are witnessing the birth of a new global asset class and economic system,” Aries Chairman Thane Ritchie said in the statement. “InfiniteWorld’s unparalleled technology infrastructure underscores the transition of commerce to the digital world.”
The transaction will provide up to $171 million in funds, including the cash held by both companies and InfiniteWorld-owned cryptocurrencies valued at $93 million. InfiniteWorld stockholders will own approximately 75% of the combined company, and up to a maximum of 81% if certain share price milestones are achieved.
InfiniteWorld expects the deal to accelerate its platform development and expand brand partnerships.
The company will be led by CEO Yonathan Lapchik, a Deloitte Blockchain Lab veteran and co-creator of blockchain ecosystem SUKU. Nathaniel Hunter, the former CEO of DreamView, will become chief operating officer.
Previous investors in InfiniteWorld include investment firm Morgan Creek Digital, trading firm GSR and liquidity provider Wintermute.
@DeCenterOrg
💡 Bitcoin Core developer Samuel Dobson decides it is ‘time to go’
Developer Samuel Dobson announced via a series of tweets on Thursday night that he is stepping down as a Bitcoin Core maintainer after three years as he “can no longer dedicate the time required, as I approach the end of my Ph.D.”
As a Bitcoin Core wallet maintainer, Dobson had direct access to the cryptocurrency's code on GitHub, with permissions to approve changes and make improvements to the Bitcoin software. He was also responsible for ensuring the security of the protocol.
When asked if there’s a chance that he will come back to BTC Core development one day, Dobson answered Cointelegraph that his Ph.D. is his primary focus at the moment. And even though he hasn’t decided what he will do upon graduation, he is not interested in the development of other cryptocurrencies.
Dobson stated that he is particularly grateful for the support of his “incredibly generous sponsor” John Pfeffer, without which he would not have been able to prioritize working on Bitcoin part-time.
Bitcoin has already lost two maintainers since October. With Dobson's departure, the number of developers with direct access to Bitcoin code has dropped to five, according to an updated list on the Bitcoin Forum.
@DeCenterOrg
Developer Samuel Dobson announced via a series of tweets on Thursday night that he is stepping down as a Bitcoin Core maintainer after three years as he “can no longer dedicate the time required, as I approach the end of my Ph.D.”
As a Bitcoin Core wallet maintainer, Dobson had direct access to the cryptocurrency's code on GitHub, with permissions to approve changes and make improvements to the Bitcoin software. He was also responsible for ensuring the security of the protocol.
When asked if there’s a chance that he will come back to BTC Core development one day, Dobson answered Cointelegraph that his Ph.D. is his primary focus at the moment. And even though he hasn’t decided what he will do upon graduation, he is not interested in the development of other cryptocurrencies.
Dobson stated that he is particularly grateful for the support of his “incredibly generous sponsor” John Pfeffer, without which he would not have been able to prioritize working on Bitcoin part-time.
Bitcoin has already lost two maintainers since October. With Dobson's departure, the number of developers with direct access to Bitcoin code has dropped to five, according to an updated list on the Bitcoin Forum.
@DeCenterOrg
🇬🇧 UK Watchdog Bans Coinbase, Papa John’s, eToro Crypto Ads
The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned seven cryptocurrency-related promotions as part of a wider focus on potentially harmful crypto ads, per the BBC.
The ASA has targeted crypto promotions from Coinbase Europe, eToro, Papa John’s, Luno Money, Exmo Exchange, Payward, and Coinburp.
All seven ads were “banned for irresponsibly taking advantage of consumers’ inexperience and for failing to illustrate the risk of the investment,” the ASA said.
Papa John’s, a popular pizza chain, offered “free Bitcoin worth £10,” as well as telling customers that they would save £15 (~$19) if they spent £30 (~$39) or more on pizza.
The pizza chain also linked their Bitcoin promotion to “Bitcoin pizza day,” which marks the first time Bitcoin was ever used in a transaction—to buy a pizza in May 2010.
The ASA said this promotion “trivialized what was a serious and potentially costly financial decision, especially in the context of the intended audience who were likely to have limited knowledge of cryptocurrency.”
Though the Payward ad had a disclaimer, its cautions were unclear. Thus, the ASA said “consumers would ot have had the time to comprehend the relevant information in the disclaimer, if seen at all.”
This is not the first time the ASA has targeted the crypto industry.
The ASA targeted a Luno ad in May this year, which said “if you’re seeing Bitcoin on the Underground, it’s time to buy.” The ASA considered that ban to be irresponsible.
The watchdog has also taken aim at Floki Inu ads on the London Underground. In November, the advertising watchdog began investigating these ads. A spokesperson for the ASA said “I don’t think cryptocurrency ads should be on the transportation network. They’re unethical.”
Miles Lockwood, director of complaints and investigations at the ASA, is equally critical of misleading crypto ads.
“Consumers need to know about the risks of investing in crypto assets and companies should make sure that their ads aren’t misleading or socially irresponsible by taking advantage of consumers’ lack of awareness around these complex and volatile products,” said Lockwood.
@DeCenterOrg
The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned seven cryptocurrency-related promotions as part of a wider focus on potentially harmful crypto ads, per the BBC.
The ASA has targeted crypto promotions from Coinbase Europe, eToro, Papa John’s, Luno Money, Exmo Exchange, Payward, and Coinburp.
All seven ads were “banned for irresponsibly taking advantage of consumers’ inexperience and for failing to illustrate the risk of the investment,” the ASA said.
Papa John’s, a popular pizza chain, offered “free Bitcoin worth £10,” as well as telling customers that they would save £15 (~$19) if they spent £30 (~$39) or more on pizza.
The pizza chain also linked their Bitcoin promotion to “Bitcoin pizza day,” which marks the first time Bitcoin was ever used in a transaction—to buy a pizza in May 2010.
The ASA said this promotion “trivialized what was a serious and potentially costly financial decision, especially in the context of the intended audience who were likely to have limited knowledge of cryptocurrency.”
Though the Payward ad had a disclaimer, its cautions were unclear. Thus, the ASA said “consumers would ot have had the time to comprehend the relevant information in the disclaimer, if seen at all.”
This is not the first time the ASA has targeted the crypto industry.
The ASA targeted a Luno ad in May this year, which said “if you’re seeing Bitcoin on the Underground, it’s time to buy.” The ASA considered that ban to be irresponsible.
The watchdog has also taken aim at Floki Inu ads on the London Underground. In November, the advertising watchdog began investigating these ads. A spokesperson for the ASA said “I don’t think cryptocurrency ads should be on the transportation network. They’re unethical.”
Miles Lockwood, director of complaints and investigations at the ASA, is equally critical of misleading crypto ads.
“Consumers need to know about the risks of investing in crypto assets and companies should make sure that their ads aren’t misleading or socially irresponsible by taking advantage of consumers’ lack of awareness around these complex and volatile products,” said Lockwood.
@DeCenterOrg
🔥 Analysts say Bitcoin’s behavior at $47.5K mirrors the pre-breakout 2017 market
Crypto markets tanked again after Bitcoin (BTC) price slipped to $47,500 on Dec. 9, but most analysts agree that the price is destined to remain in the $40,000 to $55,000 range until the holiday season has passed.
Insight into the weekly price action was provided by analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user Rekt Capital, who posted the following chart, which outlines the levels of support and resistance that are currently relevant to the price action for BTC.
Further analysis of the weekly price action for BTC was provided by analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user TechDev, who posted the following tweet outlining the formation of pennants, which have proven to be followed by bullish breakouts in the past, on the Bitcoin chart.
As expressed by TechDev at the end of his tweet, nobody ever said that making money and holding firm on the long-term outlook for BTC was easy, and the biggest rewards are reserved for those that can persevere during times of struggle like that which the market is currently facing.
A final bit of insight was offered by the crypto trader and pseudonymous Twitter user Nunya Bizniz, who posted the following chart comparing the price action for BTC during the 2017 bull market cycle to the current chart and hinted at a possible breakout approaching for Bitcoin in the near future.
While what happens with Bitcoin price in the near future remains to be seen, it’s looking as if the handful of $100,000 predictions by the end of 2021 will fall short and possibly not occur until sometime in 2022, if at all.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.25 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 40.1%.
@DeCenterOrg
Crypto markets tanked again after Bitcoin (BTC) price slipped to $47,500 on Dec. 9, but most analysts agree that the price is destined to remain in the $40,000 to $55,000 range until the holiday season has passed.
Insight into the weekly price action was provided by analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user Rekt Capital, who posted the following chart, which outlines the levels of support and resistance that are currently relevant to the price action for BTC.
Further analysis of the weekly price action for BTC was provided by analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user TechDev, who posted the following tweet outlining the formation of pennants, which have proven to be followed by bullish breakouts in the past, on the Bitcoin chart.
As expressed by TechDev at the end of his tweet, nobody ever said that making money and holding firm on the long-term outlook for BTC was easy, and the biggest rewards are reserved for those that can persevere during times of struggle like that which the market is currently facing.
A final bit of insight was offered by the crypto trader and pseudonymous Twitter user Nunya Bizniz, who posted the following chart comparing the price action for BTC during the 2017 bull market cycle to the current chart and hinted at a possible breakout approaching for Bitcoin in the near future.
While what happens with Bitcoin price in the near future remains to be seen, it’s looking as if the handful of $100,000 predictions by the end of 2021 will fall short and possibly not occur until sometime in 2022, if at all.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.25 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 40.1%.
@DeCenterOrg
🌎 Coinbase Plans 'Identity Tools' to Access the Metaverse, Store Your NFTs
Coinbase is working on tools to let people access the metaverse—a loosely-defined term that describes an emerging digital world where we work, live, play, and shop.
On Thursday, Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong and an executive in charge of identity tools, Alex Reeve, published a blog post that set out the company's vision of the metaverse and its plans to operate there.
The most notable part of the blog post comes where they describe plans to provide users with NFT-based identity tools to enter the different realms that will make up the metaverse.
"At Coinbase, we want to help pull all the pieces of identity together—essentially creating an identity on-ramp into the Metaverse," reads the post. "That’s the idea behind our work with ENS, which makes it possible to create a unique username NFT that resolves to a wallet. Eventually, this will allow users to carry a unique ID across different worlds in the Metaverse."
Armstrong and Reeve added: "We’re also working on technology that will allow you to purchase your avatar, define and maintain your public profile, and establish trust. And we’re working on features like Sign in with [ETH/Coinbase], which could allow users to sign into every app in the Metaverse."
Coinbase's mention of "ENS" is a reference to the Ethereum Name Service, a fast-growing service that renders the complicated jumble of characters that make up a wallet address into a plain English term like "GeorgeWashington.eth" (or whatever name you want to register).
Coinbase has been heavily involved in a DAO (a community-run organization) associated with the ENS project, which is regarded as a key step to making the metaverse more accessible and user friendly.
Coinbase is working on tools to let people access the metaverse—a loosely-defined term that describes an emerging digital world where we work, live, play, and shop.
On Thursday, Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong and an executive in charge of identity tools, Alex Reeve, published a blog post that set out the company's vision of the metaverse and its plans to operate there.
The most notable part of the blog post comes where they describe plans to provide users with NFT-based identity tools to enter the different realms that will make up the metaverse.
"At Coinbase, we want to help pull all the pieces of identity together—essentially creating an identity on-ramp into the Metaverse," reads the post. "That’s the idea behind our work with ENS, which makes it possible to create a unique username NFT that resolves to a wallet. Eventually, this will allow users to carry a unique ID across different worlds in the Metaverse."
Armstrong and Reeve added: "We’re also working on technology that will allow you to purchase your avatar, define and maintain your public profile, and establish trust. And we’re working on features like Sign in with [ETH/Coinbase], which could allow users to sign into every app in the Metaverse."
Coinbase's mention of "ENS" is a reference to the Ethereum Name Service, a fast-growing service that renders the complicated jumble of characters that make up a wallet address into a plain English term like "GeorgeWashington.eth" (or whatever name you want to register).
Coinbase has been heavily involved in a DAO (a community-run organization) associated with the ENS project, which is regarded as a key step to making the metaverse more accessible and user friendly.
🐹 Reddit reveals plans to go public
Late Wednesday night, the popular social platform Reddit announced that it had started the process of making the company public. The company filed a confidential S-1 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to go public.
Per SEC regulations, it cannot provide any details about shares or prices until after a quiet period is over to protect trade secrets from being leaked before an initial public offering (IPO) date is set. The SEC filing confirmed long-running rumors about Reddit’s plans for a public offering.
Back in August, Reddit raised $700 million in fresh funding, making it worth more than $10 billion. In a recent update, Reddit stated that it had made $100 million in ad revenue for the second quarter of 2021, which represents a nearly 200% increase over the previous year.
“The initial public offering is expected to occur after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions,” Reddit stated in a filing with the SEC.
Reddit competes with ad-supported social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. According to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, the firm has grown up in the shadow of Facebook, now called Meta, and Google, and every dollar the company makes is a struggle. On the other hand, Reddit has already established its cryptocurrency in the form of Reddit Community Points, or RCPs.
As of August, Reddit boasted about 52 million daily users and more than 100,000 active subreddits. Reddit is a forum where seasoned traders congregate to share their expertise, as well as a popular gathering spot for notorious meme stock r/Wallstreetbets, which has had a big influence on stock and crypto markets this year with its retail trading and pumping tactics. The group’s popularity prompted the creation of crypto counterpart r/SatoshiStreetB, which now has 509,000 members.
Late Wednesday night, the popular social platform Reddit announced that it had started the process of making the company public. The company filed a confidential S-1 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to go public.
Per SEC regulations, it cannot provide any details about shares or prices until after a quiet period is over to protect trade secrets from being leaked before an initial public offering (IPO) date is set. The SEC filing confirmed long-running rumors about Reddit’s plans for a public offering.
Back in August, Reddit raised $700 million in fresh funding, making it worth more than $10 billion. In a recent update, Reddit stated that it had made $100 million in ad revenue for the second quarter of 2021, which represents a nearly 200% increase over the previous year.
“The initial public offering is expected to occur after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions,” Reddit stated in a filing with the SEC.
Reddit competes with ad-supported social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. According to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, the firm has grown up in the shadow of Facebook, now called Meta, and Google, and every dollar the company makes is a struggle. On the other hand, Reddit has already established its cryptocurrency in the form of Reddit Community Points, or RCPs.
As of August, Reddit boasted about 52 million daily users and more than 100,000 active subreddits. Reddit is a forum where seasoned traders congregate to share their expertise, as well as a popular gathering spot for notorious meme stock r/Wallstreetbets, which has had a big influence on stock and crypto markets this year with its retail trading and pumping tactics. The group’s popularity prompted the creation of crypto counterpart r/SatoshiStreetB, which now has 509,000 members.
🐻 Market Wrap: Bitcoin Options Lean Bearish as Some Altcoins Outperform
Bitcoin traded lower on Friday along with equities as demand from buyers faded.
The brief price bounce over the past two days was limited as bitcoin (BTC) eventually dipped below $48,000, although charts suggest pullbacks could stabilize around the $46,000 support level, or the level at which buyers tend to purchase or enter into a stock.
BTC is roughly flat over the past week, compared with a 1% drop in ether (ETH), a 5% rise in Solana’s SOL token, and a 38% rise in Avalanche’s AVAX token over the same period. The wide dispersion in crypto returns this week suggests that investor appetite for risk remains strong. Typically, the overall crypto market begins to trend higher when alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins) start to outperform bitcoin.
For example, the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council published a report on Friday warning Congress about stablecoin and decentralized finance (DeFi) risks. Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed its decision on Grayscale and Bitwise spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), which also contributed to the sour mood in crypto markets on Friday.
@DeCenterOrg
Bitcoin traded lower on Friday along with equities as demand from buyers faded.
The brief price bounce over the past two days was limited as bitcoin (BTC) eventually dipped below $48,000, although charts suggest pullbacks could stabilize around the $46,000 support level, or the level at which buyers tend to purchase or enter into a stock.
BTC is roughly flat over the past week, compared with a 1% drop in ether (ETH), a 5% rise in Solana’s SOL token, and a 38% rise in Avalanche’s AVAX token over the same period. The wide dispersion in crypto returns this week suggests that investor appetite for risk remains strong. Typically, the overall crypto market begins to trend higher when alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins) start to outperform bitcoin.
For example, the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council published a report on Friday warning Congress about stablecoin and decentralized finance (DeFi) risks. Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed its decision on Grayscale and Bitwise spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), which also contributed to the sour mood in crypto markets on Friday.
@DeCenterOrg
🐂 ‘Monster bull move’ means whales could secure the next Bitcoin price surge
Bitcoin (BTC) whales are the center of attention this week as buying and selling habits split the BTC price narrative.
The second half of November produced a marked uptick in the buy/sell ratio on major derivatives trading platform Deribit, and for contributing analyst Cole Garner, this is a sure sign that price action will react positively in the near term.
“I recently discovered the ratio of market buys & sells of perpetuals on Deribit Exchange is a sick leading indicator,” he commented.
Exchange reserves more broadly are now at four-year lows, meaning exchanges have less BTC on their books than at any time since the old all-time highs of $20,000 in 2017.
Bitcoin (BTC) whales are the center of attention this week as buying and selling habits split the BTC price narrative.
The second half of November produced a marked uptick in the buy/sell ratio on major derivatives trading platform Deribit, and for contributing analyst Cole Garner, this is a sure sign that price action will react positively in the near term.
“I recently discovered the ratio of market buys & sells of perpetuals on Deribit Exchange is a sick leading indicator,” he commented.
Exchange reserves more broadly are now at four-year lows, meaning exchanges have less BTC on their books than at any time since the old all-time highs of $20,000 in 2017.
🏛 US Goes to Court to Recover $154M Stolen From Sony, Converted to Bitcoin
The United States Department of Justice has announced the filing of a civil forfeiture complaint to retrieve over $150 million of embezzled funds in Bitcoin. The FBI tracked down the funds during a robbery investigation involving Sony.
“The United States took action in a federal court today to protect and ultimately return more than $154 million in funds that were allegedly stolen from a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation and then seized by law enforcement during the FBI’s investigation of the theft,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
An employee of Sony allegedly embezzled these funds in May 2021, converting them to over 3,800 Bitcoin (now worth over $180 million).
That Sony employee has been named by the Justice Department as Rei Ishii. Ishii was an employee of Sony Life Insurance Company Ltd, a Sony Group subsidiary. According to the Justice Department, Ishii allegedly diverted the $154 million when the company attempted to transfer these funds between their own financial accounts.
@DeCenterOrg
The United States Department of Justice has announced the filing of a civil forfeiture complaint to retrieve over $150 million of embezzled funds in Bitcoin. The FBI tracked down the funds during a robbery investigation involving Sony.
“The United States took action in a federal court today to protect and ultimately return more than $154 million in funds that were allegedly stolen from a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation and then seized by law enforcement during the FBI’s investigation of the theft,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
An employee of Sony allegedly embezzled these funds in May 2021, converting them to over 3,800 Bitcoin (now worth over $180 million).
That Sony employee has been named by the Justice Department as Rei Ishii. Ishii was an employee of Sony Life Insurance Company Ltd, a Sony Group subsidiary. According to the Justice Department, Ishii allegedly diverted the $154 million when the company attempted to transfer these funds between their own financial accounts.
@DeCenterOrg
💸 $33.5 billion worth of ETH in largest Ethereum contract
The single largest Ethereum contract containing 8,641,954 ETH worth $33.5 billion is sitting idle because it cannot be spent or sent. Beacon chain contract, claiming it to be the largest Ethereum contract with billions of dollars worth of ETH “trapped” inside it.
The contract in question is an Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain staking contract launched in November 2020, and it cannot be spent without a hard fork.
@DeCenterOrg
The single largest Ethereum contract containing 8,641,954 ETH worth $33.5 billion is sitting idle because it cannot be spent or sent. Beacon chain contract, claiming it to be the largest Ethereum contract with billions of dollars worth of ETH “trapped” inside it.
The contract in question is an Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain staking contract launched in November 2020, and it cannot be spent without a hard fork.
@DeCenterOrg