Bitcoin May Double This Year Despite Energy Concerns - Pantera CEO
US-based major crypto investment firm Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead claims that the price of bitcoin (BTC) still might double this year despite the energy concerns.
BTC has been stuck in a trading range for a while now, and Morehead told Bloomberg TV that he thinks it will break out. In their earlier letter to investors, the company had forecasted that BTC would hit 115,000 this August, and "it's essentially on pace to do that," said the CEO, "it hit all the monthly milestones up through April."
"I do think it could double over the next five or six months. And I know that sounds crazy from your normal market standpoint ... but bitcoin has averaged more than tripping every year for ten years," he added.
Per Morehead, BTC has had "a very consistent" ten-year compound annual growth rate of 233% a year. And while there have been some bubbles and bear markets, "if you zoom out and look at it from any multi-year perspective ... the log growth has been very consistent," he said, adding that "over the next several months, definitely over the next years, it will resume its trend."
BTC is still well below its ten-year compound annual growth, so we're not in a bubble or an over-priced territory, therefore it may be a good chance to buy, he suggested.
The ESG (environmental, social and governance) concerns "have come up more in the past three or four months,” Morehead noted.
Bitcoin now-famously plunged on Thursday after Tesla chief's Elon Musk’s comments about Bitcoin’s energy use. Musk is "a mercurial person," changing corporate strategy pretty quickly in this case, but what's important to note, said Morehead, is that Tesla is staying long, not selling their BTC.
While it's important to think about the renewability of the resources used to secure the Bitcoin network, it's one of the many blockchains, and about 40% of the overall market capitalization, argued the CEO, while there are others that currently use no electricity or will switch to proof-of-stake (PoS) and use none. Therefore, the energy consumption discussions surrounding bitcoin shouldn't influence the industry as a whole.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg TV, major crypto exchange Coinbase President and Chief Operating Officer Emilie Choi also noted that the space is increasingly driving sustainable innovation, but added that she "wouldn't be surprised" if there was something bigger behind Musk's move.
This week, Reuters reported that Tesla is seeking to enter the multi-billion dollar US renewable credit market, hoping to profit from the Biden administration’s march toward new zero-emission goals.
Meanwhile, on-chain analysis firm Glassnode claims that "HODLing demand from both miners and long term holders as overall spending patterns remain bullish," but that there are indications that a portion of BTC capital is rotating, mostly into ethereum (ETH).
The rate of miner accumulation is "historically significant," with the current net position change comparing to only three instances in the last five years. Additionally, the demand by larger buyers exceeds available supply at the over-the-counter desks. Both trends align with the strong growth in institutional interest in the asset as a macro scale investment, the report said.
US-based major crypto investment firm Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead claims that the price of bitcoin (BTC) still might double this year despite the energy concerns.
BTC has been stuck in a trading range for a while now, and Morehead told Bloomberg TV that he thinks it will break out. In their earlier letter to investors, the company had forecasted that BTC would hit 115,000 this August, and "it's essentially on pace to do that," said the CEO, "it hit all the monthly milestones up through April."
"I do think it could double over the next five or six months. And I know that sounds crazy from your normal market standpoint ... but bitcoin has averaged more than tripping every year for ten years," he added.
Per Morehead, BTC has had "a very consistent" ten-year compound annual growth rate of 233% a year. And while there have been some bubbles and bear markets, "if you zoom out and look at it from any multi-year perspective ... the log growth has been very consistent," he said, adding that "over the next several months, definitely over the next years, it will resume its trend."
BTC is still well below its ten-year compound annual growth, so we're not in a bubble or an over-priced territory, therefore it may be a good chance to buy, he suggested.
The ESG (environmental, social and governance) concerns "have come up more in the past three or four months,” Morehead noted.
Bitcoin now-famously plunged on Thursday after Tesla chief's Elon Musk’s comments about Bitcoin’s energy use. Musk is "a mercurial person," changing corporate strategy pretty quickly in this case, but what's important to note, said Morehead, is that Tesla is staying long, not selling their BTC.
While it's important to think about the renewability of the resources used to secure the Bitcoin network, it's one of the many blockchains, and about 40% of the overall market capitalization, argued the CEO, while there are others that currently use no electricity or will switch to proof-of-stake (PoS) and use none. Therefore, the energy consumption discussions surrounding bitcoin shouldn't influence the industry as a whole.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg TV, major crypto exchange Coinbase President and Chief Operating Officer Emilie Choi also noted that the space is increasingly driving sustainable innovation, but added that she "wouldn't be surprised" if there was something bigger behind Musk's move.
This week, Reuters reported that Tesla is seeking to enter the multi-billion dollar US renewable credit market, hoping to profit from the Biden administration’s march toward new zero-emission goals.
Meanwhile, on-chain analysis firm Glassnode claims that "HODLing demand from both miners and long term holders as overall spending patterns remain bullish," but that there are indications that a portion of BTC capital is rotating, mostly into ethereum (ETH).
The rate of miner accumulation is "historically significant," with the current net position change comparing to only three instances in the last five years. Additionally, the demand by larger buyers exceeds available supply at the over-the-counter desks. Both trends align with the strong growth in institutional interest in the asset as a macro scale investment, the report said.
Maximalists at the movies: Bitcoiners crowdfunding anti-FUD documentary film
A crowdfunded effort aims to set Elon Musk and the mainstream media straight.
As the headlines pile up about Bitcoin’s calamitous environmental impact, one group of investors and supporters have stepped up to the plate to defend the world’s largest digital asset with the help of a crowdfunded, FUD-fighting documentary film.
First announced by investor, podcast host, and Bitcoin fanatic Brad Mills on Twitter, the goal of the film is to act as a “definitive” argument for “why Bitcoin will transition the world to renewable energy faster than governments.”
Mills’ choice of director is Jamie King, best known for STEAL THIS FILM — a documentary series about BitTorrent and one of the earliest examples of a crowdfunded, free-to-share effort. In an interview with Cointelegraph, King said that the narrative about Bitcoin’s energy consumption pushed him into action.
“The idea for this new project, which we're raising funds for right now, came about as a result of the increasing amount of attention being paid to Bitcoin's energy usage,” King said. “Obviously this came to a head with Elon's announcement about not accepting BTC for his cars for the time being -- but it's also a piece of 'FUD' we're seeing repeated with greater and greater intensity.”
Earlier in the week, billionaire Elon Musk Tweeted that his company Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin for payments — a comment that set off accusations of hypocrisy, but whose contents were echoed loudly in the mainstream media.
Despite Elon’s gripes, specifics about how much “dirty” energy Bitcoin consumes is difficult to calculate, however, and even estimates based off of Chinese consumption may only paint a rough picture.
Regardless, King and crew aren’t trying to argue that Bitcoin is clean, green tech.
“I think it's important to acknowledge Bitcoin uses energy. A lot of it. That's part of its design,” says King. “The question we need to ask is: is it worth it.”
King said that those who instinctively answer “no” to that question likely haven’t done their research, and that “in a broader social, political and economic context” the case for Bitcoin’s energy consumption is self-evident.
So far the community has responded warmly, raising .5 BTC in just 48 hours. King also notes that while Bitcoin’s Lightning Network hasn’t seen the adoption some hoped for, after the project opened up to Lightning donations small backers began pouring in.
“I guess what we can see is that Lightning is very real for small Bitcoin donations, I’m glad to say,” he joked.
In the end, King’s goal isn’t to fling mud back at the FUD-sters, but instead to educate and elevate.
“I don't just want to counter the idea that this is a 'waste of energy', but make something that inspires people about just what an amazing thing Bitcoin is. FUD-busting with a higher purpose!”
A crowdfunded effort aims to set Elon Musk and the mainstream media straight.
As the headlines pile up about Bitcoin’s calamitous environmental impact, one group of investors and supporters have stepped up to the plate to defend the world’s largest digital asset with the help of a crowdfunded, FUD-fighting documentary film.
First announced by investor, podcast host, and Bitcoin fanatic Brad Mills on Twitter, the goal of the film is to act as a “definitive” argument for “why Bitcoin will transition the world to renewable energy faster than governments.”
Mills’ choice of director is Jamie King, best known for STEAL THIS FILM — a documentary series about BitTorrent and one of the earliest examples of a crowdfunded, free-to-share effort. In an interview with Cointelegraph, King said that the narrative about Bitcoin’s energy consumption pushed him into action.
“The idea for this new project, which we're raising funds for right now, came about as a result of the increasing amount of attention being paid to Bitcoin's energy usage,” King said. “Obviously this came to a head with Elon's announcement about not accepting BTC for his cars for the time being -- but it's also a piece of 'FUD' we're seeing repeated with greater and greater intensity.”
Earlier in the week, billionaire Elon Musk Tweeted that his company Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin for payments — a comment that set off accusations of hypocrisy, but whose contents were echoed loudly in the mainstream media.
Despite Elon’s gripes, specifics about how much “dirty” energy Bitcoin consumes is difficult to calculate, however, and even estimates based off of Chinese consumption may only paint a rough picture.
Regardless, King and crew aren’t trying to argue that Bitcoin is clean, green tech.
“I think it's important to acknowledge Bitcoin uses energy. A lot of it. That's part of its design,” says King. “The question we need to ask is: is it worth it.”
King said that those who instinctively answer “no” to that question likely haven’t done their research, and that “in a broader social, political and economic context” the case for Bitcoin’s energy consumption is self-evident.
So far the community has responded warmly, raising .5 BTC in just 48 hours. King also notes that while Bitcoin’s Lightning Network hasn’t seen the adoption some hoped for, after the project opened up to Lightning donations small backers began pouring in.
“I guess what we can see is that Lightning is very real for small Bitcoin donations, I’m glad to say,” he joked.
In the end, King’s goal isn’t to fling mud back at the FUD-sters, but instead to educate and elevate.
“I don't just want to counter the idea that this is a 'waste of energy', but make something that inspires people about just what an amazing thing Bitcoin is. FUD-busting with a higher purpose!”
Disclosed: Ethereum 'Lived' With a Major Threat for 18 Months
Here's what we knew: Ethereum (ETH) executed the Berlin hardfork last month. Here's what we didn't know: it came with a solution that lowered the risk of a major DoS attack, looming over the network for more than a year and a half.
According to the May 18 post written by Ethereum developer Péter Szilágyi and the Security Lead at the Ethereum Foundation Martin Holst Swende, the Foundation "officially disclosed a severe threat against the Ethereum platform, which was a clear and present danger up until the Berlin hardfork."
This vulnerability has been an "open secret" for a long time, they said, publicly disclosed by mistake at least once. As the Berlin upgrade is done, and Geth nodes are using snapshots by default, "we estimate that the threat is low enough that transparency trumps, and it’s time to make a full disclosure about the works behind the scenes," said the report.
They added that it's "important that the community is given a chance to understand the reasoning behind changes that negatively affect the user experience, such as raising gas costs and limiting refunds."
Furthermore, as the network grew, new Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) were introduced to increase the gas prices for operations that access the trie, and to protect against DoS attacks. One of these was EIP-1884, activated in December 2019, during the Istanbul upgrade.
But in October 2019, an exploit was 'weaponized' by Ethereum security researchers Hubert Ritzdorf, Matthias Egli, and Daniel Perez, and submitted to the Ethereum bug bounty program. It was then discovered that "the changes in EIP 1884 were definitely making an impact at reducing the effects of the attack, but it was nowhere near sufficient."
Developers from Geth, Parity, and Aleth were informed about the submission that same day on a channel dedicated to cross-client security, said the report, adding that Ethereum Classic (ETC) developers also received the report. But Parity Ethereum soon left, and a new client coordination channel was created with Geth, Nethermind, OpenEthereum, and Besu.
There were two approaches to a solution:
trying to solve the problem at the protocol layer, preferably without breaking contracts and without penalizing 'good' behavior, but managing to prevent attacks;
solving it through software engineering, by changing the data models and structures within the clients.
On April 15 this year, after several rejected proposals, EIP-2929 and its companion EIP-2930 went live with the Berlin upgrade - which do not break any contract flows and which raised gas prices "only for things not already accessed" to prevent the attack.
It's relevant to note that this isn't the first time we're seeing a threat disclosed a couple of years after it had been discovered, and developers argue it's for a very good reason.
As reported, in September 2020, a research paper revealed that Bitcoin (BTC) had harbored a severe denial-of-service vulnerability - which was discovered and patched back in June 2018, without the public knowing for two years.
Per developers speaking at the time, keeping software bugs a closely guarded secret - swiftly notifying only a few essential developers/code owners or maintainers via encrypted messages - at least until a fix is rolled out, is in the best interests of the network and its users.
Here's what we knew: Ethereum (ETH) executed the Berlin hardfork last month. Here's what we didn't know: it came with a solution that lowered the risk of a major DoS attack, looming over the network for more than a year and a half.
According to the May 18 post written by Ethereum developer Péter Szilágyi and the Security Lead at the Ethereum Foundation Martin Holst Swende, the Foundation "officially disclosed a severe threat against the Ethereum platform, which was a clear and present danger up until the Berlin hardfork."
This vulnerability has been an "open secret" for a long time, they said, publicly disclosed by mistake at least once. As the Berlin upgrade is done, and Geth nodes are using snapshots by default, "we estimate that the threat is low enough that transparency trumps, and it’s time to make a full disclosure about the works behind the scenes," said the report.
They added that it's "important that the community is given a chance to understand the reasoning behind changes that negatively affect the user experience, such as raising gas costs and limiting refunds."
Furthermore, as the network grew, new Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) were introduced to increase the gas prices for operations that access the trie, and to protect against DoS attacks. One of these was EIP-1884, activated in December 2019, during the Istanbul upgrade.
But in October 2019, an exploit was 'weaponized' by Ethereum security researchers Hubert Ritzdorf, Matthias Egli, and Daniel Perez, and submitted to the Ethereum bug bounty program. It was then discovered that "the changes in EIP 1884 were definitely making an impact at reducing the effects of the attack, but it was nowhere near sufficient."
Developers from Geth, Parity, and Aleth were informed about the submission that same day on a channel dedicated to cross-client security, said the report, adding that Ethereum Classic (ETC) developers also received the report. But Parity Ethereum soon left, and a new client coordination channel was created with Geth, Nethermind, OpenEthereum, and Besu.
There were two approaches to a solution:
trying to solve the problem at the protocol layer, preferably without breaking contracts and without penalizing 'good' behavior, but managing to prevent attacks;
solving it through software engineering, by changing the data models and structures within the clients.
On April 15 this year, after several rejected proposals, EIP-2929 and its companion EIP-2930 went live with the Berlin upgrade - which do not break any contract flows and which raised gas prices "only for things not already accessed" to prevent the attack.
It's relevant to note that this isn't the first time we're seeing a threat disclosed a couple of years after it had been discovered, and developers argue it's for a very good reason.
As reported, in September 2020, a research paper revealed that Bitcoin (BTC) had harbored a severe denial-of-service vulnerability - which was discovered and patched back in June 2018, without the public knowing for two years.
Per developers speaking at the time, keeping software bugs a closely guarded secret - swiftly notifying only a few essential developers/code owners or maintainers via encrypted messages - at least until a fix is rolled out, is in the best interests of the network and its users.
Moving to Green Bitcoin May be Moving To a Two-Tier Bitcoin
Given the recent and increasing developments over the so-called 'green' bitcoin (BTC), it seems that the industry might be moving to a two-tier BTC.
As Tesla chief Elon Musk and quite a few others criticized Bitcoin over its energy consumption and the potential impact on the environment, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, along with active management firm Ark Investment, have argued quite the opposite - that bitcoin incentivizes renewable energy. (And Musk agreed with this before he started criticizing BTC mining.)
Meanwhile, Blockchain and crypto company DMG Blockchain Solution’s operations in British Columbia already rely on cheap hydropower from dams. In March 2021, DMG and crypto mining company Argo announced the establishment of a Bitcoin mining pool powered by hydropower - calling it the first one to be powered by green energy exclusively.
As reported, the Terra Pool will initially consist of both Argo's and DMG's hashrate, and it represents "the first-ever opportunity for the creation of 'green bitcoin'."
"We already have interest from financial institutions in those coins," DMG CEO Sheldon Bennett, said Nymag this week. Their pool is expected to be launched in a month or two.
This comes at the time when institutional interest in bitcoin rises, along with the pressure for the crypto they're interested in to be 'green' in accordance with many companies' environmental policies.
Additionally, Bennett is investing in a solar installation, expecting to begin reaping returns on that investment in a few years. Pushing into renewable is a logical way to go for them, he said. "It’s natural and logical for me to put a solar plant up because that would give me the lowest-cost power."
And Nymag concluded,
"In the future, you could imagine that bitcoin mined with coal or fossil fuels will be seen as the crypto equivalent of blood diamonds — with perhaps a premium market for those created in environmentally friendly ways. That there are cleaner and dirtier varieties of bitcoin mining might even help explain Elon Musk’s complicated views on the subject."
Curiously, this potentially reminds of the so-called virgin bitcoin - the freshly mined BTC that has not been used for any transaction, that is, that doesn't have a transaction history. As reported, some industry players claim that both reputable institutional investors and money launderers are competing to hold these "clean" bitcoins in order to be on the safe side, as there is no history to track.
The argument over the green BTC matter continues: some argue that as more miners join, the network will consume more energy, others say that each institution that buys BTC is actively increasing energy usage/CO2 emissions, while defenders claim that the critics who discuss Bitcoin's increasing footprint as the usage grows don't understand how Bitcoin works.
Now, Musk argues that audits of renewable energy used by the largest Bitcoin miners could help lessen these worries.
When Ark Investment director of research Brett Winton said that "bitcoin minting could allow solar + battery systems to economically scale to provide a larger share of grid energy," Musk agreed that it could be done over time, but that "recent extreme energy usage growth could not possibly have been done so fast with renewables."
He added that "this question is easily resolved if the top 10 hashing orgs just post audited numbers of renewable energy vs not."
Given the recent and increasing developments over the so-called 'green' bitcoin (BTC), it seems that the industry might be moving to a two-tier BTC.
As Tesla chief Elon Musk and quite a few others criticized Bitcoin over its energy consumption and the potential impact on the environment, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, along with active management firm Ark Investment, have argued quite the opposite - that bitcoin incentivizes renewable energy. (And Musk agreed with this before he started criticizing BTC mining.)
Meanwhile, Blockchain and crypto company DMG Blockchain Solution’s operations in British Columbia already rely on cheap hydropower from dams. In March 2021, DMG and crypto mining company Argo announced the establishment of a Bitcoin mining pool powered by hydropower - calling it the first one to be powered by green energy exclusively.
As reported, the Terra Pool will initially consist of both Argo's and DMG's hashrate, and it represents "the first-ever opportunity for the creation of 'green bitcoin'."
"We already have interest from financial institutions in those coins," DMG CEO Sheldon Bennett, said Nymag this week. Their pool is expected to be launched in a month or two.
This comes at the time when institutional interest in bitcoin rises, along with the pressure for the crypto they're interested in to be 'green' in accordance with many companies' environmental policies.
Additionally, Bennett is investing in a solar installation, expecting to begin reaping returns on that investment in a few years. Pushing into renewable is a logical way to go for them, he said. "It’s natural and logical for me to put a solar plant up because that would give me the lowest-cost power."
And Nymag concluded,
"In the future, you could imagine that bitcoin mined with coal or fossil fuels will be seen as the crypto equivalent of blood diamonds — with perhaps a premium market for those created in environmentally friendly ways. That there are cleaner and dirtier varieties of bitcoin mining might even help explain Elon Musk’s complicated views on the subject."
Curiously, this potentially reminds of the so-called virgin bitcoin - the freshly mined BTC that has not been used for any transaction, that is, that doesn't have a transaction history. As reported, some industry players claim that both reputable institutional investors and money launderers are competing to hold these "clean" bitcoins in order to be on the safe side, as there is no history to track.
The argument over the green BTC matter continues: some argue that as more miners join, the network will consume more energy, others say that each institution that buys BTC is actively increasing energy usage/CO2 emissions, while defenders claim that the critics who discuss Bitcoin's increasing footprint as the usage grows don't understand how Bitcoin works.
Now, Musk argues that audits of renewable energy used by the largest Bitcoin miners could help lessen these worries.
When Ark Investment director of research Brett Winton said that "bitcoin minting could allow solar + battery systems to economically scale to provide a larger share of grid energy," Musk agreed that it could be done over time, but that "recent extreme energy usage growth could not possibly have been done so fast with renewables."
He added that "this question is easily resolved if the top 10 hashing orgs just post audited numbers of renewable energy vs not."
Bitcoin and Ethereum Gain Traction, Altcoins Surge
Bitcoin price started a strong recovery wave from USD 31,150. BTC broke the USD 35,500 and USD 36,500 resistance levels. It is currently (12:20 PM UTC) showing positive signs, but it must clear USD 38,000 for a sustained upward move in the near term.
Besides, most major altcoins are gaining bullish momentum. ETH recovered above the USD 2,000 and USD 2,250 resistance levels. XRP/USD is gaining momentum and it might attempt a break above the USD 0.900 level.
After setting a new monthly low, bitcoin price started recovering above USD 35,000. BTC jumped above the USD 36,500 level and it even surpassed USD 37,000. If it settles above USD 38,000, there is a chance of a break above the USD 40,000 resistance level in the near term.
On the downside, the USD 36,500 level is an initial support. The first key support is now near the USD 35,000 level, below which the price might restart its decline.
Ethereum price recovered over 15% and it gained pace above the USD 2,200 level. ETH even surpassed USD 2,300 and it might test the USD 2,450 resistance level. The next major resistance is near USD 2,580, above which the price might rise towards the USD 2,800 level.
If the price fails above USD 2,500, it could start a fresh increase. The first key support is near USD 2,200 level, below which the price might revisit USD 2,000.
Binance Coin (BNB) gained over 20% and it broke the USD 285 resistance. BNB even cleared the USD 300 level and it is showing positive signs. To continue higher, the price must clear the USD 320 and USD 325 resistance levels.
Litecoin (LTC) reclaimed the USD 150 pivot level. LTC even broke the USD 160 level and it is now eyeing an upside break above USD 175. The next key resistance is near USD 180, above which the bulls could aim for a test of the USD 200 level. On the downside, the bulls might remain active near USD 150.
Dogecoin (DOGE) is back above the USD 0.300 and USD 0.312 levels. The bulls even pushed the price above the USD 0.330 level, but the main hurdle is still active near the USD 0.350 level. Any more gains could open the doors for a move towards the USD 0.400 level.
XRP price started a strong increase from the USD 0.650 support. It broke the USD 0.70 and USD 0.80 resistance levels. The bulls are now aiming for a break above the USD 0.90 level and a test of the key USD 1.0 resistance.
Many altcoins climbed over 20%, including MATIC, MKR, FTM, ONE, RUNE, HNT, BAKE, CAKE, ATOM, XLM, REV, TEL, VET, LUNA, LINK, YFI, and OMG. Out of these, MATIC surged over 55% and it broke the USD 1.40 level.
To sum up, bitcoin price is showing positive signs above USD 36,500. If BTC settles above USD 38,000, it could increase the chances of a push above USD 40,000.
Bitcoin price started a strong recovery wave from USD 31,150. BTC broke the USD 35,500 and USD 36,500 resistance levels. It is currently (12:20 PM UTC) showing positive signs, but it must clear USD 38,000 for a sustained upward move in the near term.
Besides, most major altcoins are gaining bullish momentum. ETH recovered above the USD 2,000 and USD 2,250 resistance levels. XRP/USD is gaining momentum and it might attempt a break above the USD 0.900 level.
After setting a new monthly low, bitcoin price started recovering above USD 35,000. BTC jumped above the USD 36,500 level and it even surpassed USD 37,000. If it settles above USD 38,000, there is a chance of a break above the USD 40,000 resistance level in the near term.
On the downside, the USD 36,500 level is an initial support. The first key support is now near the USD 35,000 level, below which the price might restart its decline.
Ethereum price recovered over 15% and it gained pace above the USD 2,200 level. ETH even surpassed USD 2,300 and it might test the USD 2,450 resistance level. The next major resistance is near USD 2,580, above which the price might rise towards the USD 2,800 level.
If the price fails above USD 2,500, it could start a fresh increase. The first key support is near USD 2,200 level, below which the price might revisit USD 2,000.
Binance Coin (BNB) gained over 20% and it broke the USD 285 resistance. BNB even cleared the USD 300 level and it is showing positive signs. To continue higher, the price must clear the USD 320 and USD 325 resistance levels.
Litecoin (LTC) reclaimed the USD 150 pivot level. LTC even broke the USD 160 level and it is now eyeing an upside break above USD 175. The next key resistance is near USD 180, above which the bulls could aim for a test of the USD 200 level. On the downside, the bulls might remain active near USD 150.
Dogecoin (DOGE) is back above the USD 0.300 and USD 0.312 levels. The bulls even pushed the price above the USD 0.330 level, but the main hurdle is still active near the USD 0.350 level. Any more gains could open the doors for a move towards the USD 0.400 level.
XRP price started a strong increase from the USD 0.650 support. It broke the USD 0.70 and USD 0.80 resistance levels. The bulls are now aiming for a break above the USD 0.90 level and a test of the key USD 1.0 resistance.
Many altcoins climbed over 20%, including MATIC, MKR, FTM, ONE, RUNE, HNT, BAKE, CAKE, ATOM, XLM, REV, TEL, VET, LUNA, LINK, YFI, and OMG. Out of these, MATIC surged over 55% and it broke the USD 1.40 level.
To sum up, bitcoin price is showing positive signs above USD 36,500. If BTC settles above USD 38,000, it could increase the chances of a push above USD 40,000.
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Official Discord: https://discord.gg/hacken
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DeFi news.
Dispersion Holdings, a publicly-traded decentralized finance (DeFi) fund established by the co-founders of listed crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain, made its debut on London’s Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market (AQSE). The shares are traded under the ticker symbol DEFI, said the press release. The company was admitted to the access segment of the AQSE following a placing and subnoscription that raised a combined GBP 9m (USD 12.5m), and a pre-IPO fundraising that raised GBP 2.2m (USD 3M), before expenses. On admission, the company received 612.5m ordinary shares in issue, valuing Dispersion Holdings at a market capitalization of approximately GBP 18m (USD 25m).
Inverse Finance’s governance has approved a proposal to acquire Tonic Finance in a USD 1.6m deal. The members of the Inverse Finance DAO voted on a proposal to acquire Tonic and hire its founder and lead developer Tony Snark, quickly surpassing the 4,000 token approval mark. It seems that no votes were cast against the proposal. Inverse described the event as "the first on-chain DAO acquisition vote in the history of crypto."
Automated market makers (AMMs) have catalyzed the explosion of DeFi over the past year, but they are burdened with problems, wrote Haseeb Qureshi, an investor at Dragonfly Capital. What market makers needed was a platform to let them efficiently serve DeFi order flow, said Qureshi, introducing Hashflow - a protocol that connects users on-chain to the top crypto market makers. He describes it as a decentralized shadow brokerage — it connects users with the "world’s most elite market makers," thus creating a portal to all of the liquidity in centralized finance, and doing so cheaper as well, he claimed. Dragonfly co-led Hashflow’s seed round.
Dispersion Holdings, a publicly-traded decentralized finance (DeFi) fund established by the co-founders of listed crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain, made its debut on London’s Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market (AQSE). The shares are traded under the ticker symbol DEFI, said the press release. The company was admitted to the access segment of the AQSE following a placing and subnoscription that raised a combined GBP 9m (USD 12.5m), and a pre-IPO fundraising that raised GBP 2.2m (USD 3M), before expenses. On admission, the company received 612.5m ordinary shares in issue, valuing Dispersion Holdings at a market capitalization of approximately GBP 18m (USD 25m).
Inverse Finance’s governance has approved a proposal to acquire Tonic Finance in a USD 1.6m deal. The members of the Inverse Finance DAO voted on a proposal to acquire Tonic and hire its founder and lead developer Tony Snark, quickly surpassing the 4,000 token approval mark. It seems that no votes were cast against the proposal. Inverse described the event as "the first on-chain DAO acquisition vote in the history of crypto."
Automated market makers (AMMs) have catalyzed the explosion of DeFi over the past year, but they are burdened with problems, wrote Haseeb Qureshi, an investor at Dragonfly Capital. What market makers needed was a platform to let them efficiently serve DeFi order flow, said Qureshi, introducing Hashflow - a protocol that connects users on-chain to the top crypto market makers. He describes it as a decentralized shadow brokerage — it connects users with the "world’s most elite market makers," thus creating a portal to all of the liquidity in centralized finance, and doing so cheaper as well, he claimed. Dragonfly co-led Hashflow’s seed round.
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Set For Sharp Drop This Weekend
Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty may be knocked out of its just recently gained all-time high this weekend, back to a March level.
If this adjustment goes as currently (16:00 UTC) estimated by mining pool BTC, mining difficulty - which is the measure of how hard it is to compete for mining rewards - will drop 13.58%. This will land it to 21.64 T, the lowest it's been since mid-March.
This would be only the third drop in the mining difficulty this year, and the largest one.
Additionally, it comes after the latest all-time high (ATH) of 25.05 T, hit during the last adjustment two weeks ago. This was the strongest move upwards since October 2017.
All of this is happening amidst the latest selloff seen in the crypto markets, which pulled BTC down by 43% from its April 14 ATH of USD 64,804 (per CoinGecko) to USD 36,813 at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, according to BitInfoCharts, hashrate, or the computational power of the network, had dropped around 21% between the previous adjustment and May 24. In the three days after that, the 7-day simple moving average hashrate went up 3% to nearly 130 Eh/s.
The mining difficulty of Bitcoin is adjusted around every two weeks (that is, every 2016 blocks) to maintain the normal 10-minute block time. The 7-day simple moving average block time on May 27 was just above 12 minutes.
Looking at the data provided by ByteTree, miners have spent more coins than they held in the past several weeks. In the past day, however, they held BTC 38.
Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty may be knocked out of its just recently gained all-time high this weekend, back to a March level.
If this adjustment goes as currently (16:00 UTC) estimated by mining pool BTC, mining difficulty - which is the measure of how hard it is to compete for mining rewards - will drop 13.58%. This will land it to 21.64 T, the lowest it's been since mid-March.
This would be only the third drop in the mining difficulty this year, and the largest one.
Additionally, it comes after the latest all-time high (ATH) of 25.05 T, hit during the last adjustment two weeks ago. This was the strongest move upwards since October 2017.
All of this is happening amidst the latest selloff seen in the crypto markets, which pulled BTC down by 43% from its April 14 ATH of USD 64,804 (per CoinGecko) to USD 36,813 at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, according to BitInfoCharts, hashrate, or the computational power of the network, had dropped around 21% between the previous adjustment and May 24. In the three days after that, the 7-day simple moving average hashrate went up 3% to nearly 130 Eh/s.
The mining difficulty of Bitcoin is adjusted around every two weeks (that is, every 2016 blocks) to maintain the normal 10-minute block time. The 7-day simple moving average block time on May 27 was just above 12 minutes.
Looking at the data provided by ByteTree, miners have spent more coins than they held in the past several weeks. In the past day, however, they held BTC 38.
Jamie Dimon Says Stay Away From Cryptocurrencies – Is He Worried About The Transparency That Crypto And Blockchain Bring?
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, the largest bank in the US, said in a congressional hearing last Thursday that people should “stay away” from cryptocurrencies, even whilst admitting that his bank is exploring ways to enable clients to buy and sell them. However, he did not touch on the subject of how his bank has been repeatedly fined for manipulating markets.
It was reported last Thursday that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon had warned investors to stay away from cryptocurrencies, and had urged regulatory authorities to scrutinise them more closely.
Dimon admits that his bank is preparing to provide a Bitcoin fund for the benefit of its private wealth clients. This seems quite a turn-around for a man who stated that he would fire any of his traders in a second for trading it. He also called it a “fraud” back in 2017.
He does say though that his views on Bitcoin and crypto “do not weigh” on the services that JP Morgan offers to clients – an odd statement to make, considering that he is the CEO of the bank.
He stated that in his view cryptocurrency could benefit from a more rigid regulatory framework. Therefore, it might also be wondered whether he would think the same of his own bank in relation to manipulating markets?
As recently as last September JP Morgan was fined a record amount of nearly a billion dollars for manipulating gold, silver and treasuries markets. This involved “spoofing” which was explained in a Bloomberg article released at the time:
“Spoofing typically involves flooding derivatives markets with orders that traders don’t intend to execute to trick others into moving prices in a desired direction.”
In 2019 JP Morgan and three other banks were fined a total of 1.07 billion euros for rigging foreign exchange markets. The group were dubbed the “Banana Split” Cartel.
EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, said at the time:
“Today we have fined Barclays, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and MUFG Bank and these cartel decisions send a clear message that the Commission will not tolerate collusive behavior in any sector of the financial markets. The behavior of these banks undermined the integrity of the sector at the expense of the European economy and consumers,”
The Los Angeles Times reported back in 2015 on how JP Morgan and four other banks pleaded guilty on U.S. felony charges for rigging foreign currency exchange rates. The fines in this case amounted to $5.7 billion.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said after the case:
“The penalty all these banks will now pay is fitting considering the long-running and egregious nature of their anti-competitive conduct,” she said at a Washington news conference.
“It is commensurate with the pervasive harm done. And it should deter competitors in the future from chasing profits without regard to fairness, to the law or to the public welfare,”
A quick search on the internet can find many unethical or criminal cases involving Jamie Dimon’s JP Morgan. His bank has managed to get away with so much wrong-doing due to the obscure nature of banking. It might be supposed that the advent of blockchain and the cryptocurrencies that run on top of it will bring a massive degree of transparency to proceedings. Might this worry Mr Dimon?
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, the largest bank in the US, said in a congressional hearing last Thursday that people should “stay away” from cryptocurrencies, even whilst admitting that his bank is exploring ways to enable clients to buy and sell them. However, he did not touch on the subject of how his bank has been repeatedly fined for manipulating markets.
It was reported last Thursday that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon had warned investors to stay away from cryptocurrencies, and had urged regulatory authorities to scrutinise them more closely.
Dimon admits that his bank is preparing to provide a Bitcoin fund for the benefit of its private wealth clients. This seems quite a turn-around for a man who stated that he would fire any of his traders in a second for trading it. He also called it a “fraud” back in 2017.
He does say though that his views on Bitcoin and crypto “do not weigh” on the services that JP Morgan offers to clients – an odd statement to make, considering that he is the CEO of the bank.
He stated that in his view cryptocurrency could benefit from a more rigid regulatory framework. Therefore, it might also be wondered whether he would think the same of his own bank in relation to manipulating markets?
As recently as last September JP Morgan was fined a record amount of nearly a billion dollars for manipulating gold, silver and treasuries markets. This involved “spoofing” which was explained in a Bloomberg article released at the time:
“Spoofing typically involves flooding derivatives markets with orders that traders don’t intend to execute to trick others into moving prices in a desired direction.”
In 2019 JP Morgan and three other banks were fined a total of 1.07 billion euros for rigging foreign exchange markets. The group were dubbed the “Banana Split” Cartel.
EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, said at the time:
“Today we have fined Barclays, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and MUFG Bank and these cartel decisions send a clear message that the Commission will not tolerate collusive behavior in any sector of the financial markets. The behavior of these banks undermined the integrity of the sector at the expense of the European economy and consumers,”
The Los Angeles Times reported back in 2015 on how JP Morgan and four other banks pleaded guilty on U.S. felony charges for rigging foreign currency exchange rates. The fines in this case amounted to $5.7 billion.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said after the case:
“The penalty all these banks will now pay is fitting considering the long-running and egregious nature of their anti-competitive conduct,” she said at a Washington news conference.
“It is commensurate with the pervasive harm done. And it should deter competitors in the future from chasing profits without regard to fairness, to the law or to the public welfare,”
A quick search on the internet can find many unethical or criminal cases involving Jamie Dimon’s JP Morgan. His bank has managed to get away with so much wrong-doing due to the obscure nature of banking. It might be supposed that the advent of blockchain and the cryptocurrencies that run on top of it will bring a massive degree of transparency to proceedings. Might this worry Mr Dimon?
US Financial Advisers Up Crypto Recommendations as Interest Rises
US-based financial advisers are increasingly recommending investments in cryptocurrencies to their clients, and less exposure to legacy finance investment products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and individual stocks, according to a recent survey.
This approach is in line with the rising interest demonstrated by their customer base, the report by the US-based Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Journal of Financial Planning said.
The report comprises a survey that was fielded in March 2021 (or before the strong market correction in April and May), and prepared based on the 529 online responses collected from financial advisers who offer clients investment advice and/or implement investment recommendations.
The survey indicated that, while US financial advisers remain cautious on digital assets, "it seems they may be shifting to embracing them due to a rising client demand."
Cryptocurrencies were first added to the survey in 2018, said the report, when 1.4% of the then surveyed 223 advisers said they were currently using or recommending crypto with clients,” according to the association.
While in 2019 and 2020 that percentage dropped to below 1%, it then increased to 14% of the 529 surveyed advisers indicating that they are using or recommending cryptocurrencies in 2021.
And the number may increase.
“More than a quarter (26%) of advisers indicated in the 2021 survey that they plan to increase their use/recommendation of cryptocurrencies over the next 12 months," said the report. This is up from 0% indicated in 2020.
It further found that 49% of advisers indicated that, in the last six months, clients have asked them about investing in cryptocurrencies. This is up from 17% in 2020.
In contrast with cryptocurrencies, legacy finance investment products, such as ETFs, saw a lower rate of recommendations this year. Some 64% of financial advisors said they suggest investing in ETFs to their clients this year, down from 85% in 2020.
Cash and equivalents, as well as individual stocks, are also less popular in 2021, down from 75% to 57%, and 51% to 44%, respectively.
Among the vehicles currently used/recommended to clients, only three saw a rise in the percentages since last year: cryptocurrencies are leading by far, followed by precious metals (5% to 9%) and private equity funds (9% to 12%).
Further findings include that:
1.8% in the 2018 survey said cryptocurrencies were a viable investment option that has a place in a portfolio, compared to 28% of respondents in 2021;
18% in 2018 said it was a fad that is best avoided, compared to 6% this year 2021;
24% in 2018 said it was "a gamble," while 28% said the same this year;
48% read the occasional news stories on cryptocurrencies and are somewhat comfortable conversing about it, 33% actively educate themselves on the topic and are comfortable conversing about it, and 4% said they don’t know anything about cryptos and don’t talk about them with their clients.
US-based financial advisers are increasingly recommending investments in cryptocurrencies to their clients, and less exposure to legacy finance investment products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and individual stocks, according to a recent survey.
This approach is in line with the rising interest demonstrated by their customer base, the report by the US-based Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Journal of Financial Planning said.
The report comprises a survey that was fielded in March 2021 (or before the strong market correction in April and May), and prepared based on the 529 online responses collected from financial advisers who offer clients investment advice and/or implement investment recommendations.
The survey indicated that, while US financial advisers remain cautious on digital assets, "it seems they may be shifting to embracing them due to a rising client demand."
Cryptocurrencies were first added to the survey in 2018, said the report, when 1.4% of the then surveyed 223 advisers said they were currently using or recommending crypto with clients,” according to the association.
While in 2019 and 2020 that percentage dropped to below 1%, it then increased to 14% of the 529 surveyed advisers indicating that they are using or recommending cryptocurrencies in 2021.
And the number may increase.
“More than a quarter (26%) of advisers indicated in the 2021 survey that they plan to increase their use/recommendation of cryptocurrencies over the next 12 months," said the report. This is up from 0% indicated in 2020.
It further found that 49% of advisers indicated that, in the last six months, clients have asked them about investing in cryptocurrencies. This is up from 17% in 2020.
In contrast with cryptocurrencies, legacy finance investment products, such as ETFs, saw a lower rate of recommendations this year. Some 64% of financial advisors said they suggest investing in ETFs to their clients this year, down from 85% in 2020.
Cash and equivalents, as well as individual stocks, are also less popular in 2021, down from 75% to 57%, and 51% to 44%, respectively.
Among the vehicles currently used/recommended to clients, only three saw a rise in the percentages since last year: cryptocurrencies are leading by far, followed by precious metals (5% to 9%) and private equity funds (9% to 12%).
Further findings include that:
1.8% in the 2018 survey said cryptocurrencies were a viable investment option that has a place in a portfolio, compared to 28% of respondents in 2021;
18% in 2018 said it was a fad that is best avoided, compared to 6% this year 2021;
24% in 2018 said it was "a gamble," while 28% said the same this year;
48% read the occasional news stories on cryptocurrencies and are somewhat comfortable conversing about it, 33% actively educate themselves on the topic and are comfortable conversing about it, and 4% said they don’t know anything about cryptos and don’t talk about them with their clients.
El Salvador Hitches Economic Wagon To Crypto: President Announces Support To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender
Earlier today, President Bukele announced his support for legislation that is set to make Bitcoin legal tender during the Miami Bitcoin conference. He also took to Twitter to further elaborate on his decision.
He stated,
“#Bitcoin has a market cap of $680 billion dollars. If 1% of it is invested in El Salvador, that would increase our GDP by 25%.”
This means that the citizens of El Salvador will be able to use Bitcoin as valid payment in exchange for goods and services. This landmark decision could put El Salvador on the global crypto map by shifting a largely cash-based economy to an inclusive and transparent digital economy, where the people’s bank account would be on their phones. This would be a turning point for the country’s economy, considering the fact that over 70% of the population do not have bank accounts.
Further, President Bukele also stated that by using BTC as legal tender the amount received by more than a million low-income families will increase in the equivalent of billions of dollars every year, thus improving lives across the country.
President Bukele also explained that with the entire population of El Salvador using BTC for their transactions, Bitcoin would have a potential of 10 million new users.
According to Blockstream CEO Adam Back,
“It was an inevitability, but here already: the first country on track to make bitcoin legal tender. Another milestone for Bitcoin and El Salvador. We're pleased to help El Salvador on its journey towards adoption of the Bitcoin Standard,”
This could be the next big milestone for BTC, as banking systems around the world would likely treat it as any other foreign currency.
If the legislation is passed by El Salvador Congress, then BTC would legally become money under US law.
According to Founder & CEO of Avanti Financial Group, Caitlin Long,
“IF #ElSalvador does pass legislation to recognize #bitcoin as legal tender, #BTC would v likely become MONEY under US commercial law.”
She also stated that this could be a work-around the fact that it is not possible to make BTC a legal tender anywhere in the United States without amending the constitution. According to Long, if BTC becomes legal tender in El Salvador, then the US would be able to consider the crypto as ‘money’ under commercial law and as ‘cash’ under accounting rules.
American venture capital investor, and founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, tweeted that “Entrepreneurs and investors will be on the next flights to El Salvador. Brilliant government move.”
Investor and Entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano believes that this is just the start for countries to start legalizing Bitcoin. He tweeted,
“This is the first country to take such a courageous step, but it won’t be the last…Bitcoin is inevitable.”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
Earlier today, President Bukele announced his support for legislation that is set to make Bitcoin legal tender during the Miami Bitcoin conference. He also took to Twitter to further elaborate on his decision.
He stated,
“#Bitcoin has a market cap of $680 billion dollars. If 1% of it is invested in El Salvador, that would increase our GDP by 25%.”
This means that the citizens of El Salvador will be able to use Bitcoin as valid payment in exchange for goods and services. This landmark decision could put El Salvador on the global crypto map by shifting a largely cash-based economy to an inclusive and transparent digital economy, where the people’s bank account would be on their phones. This would be a turning point for the country’s economy, considering the fact that over 70% of the population do not have bank accounts.
Further, President Bukele also stated that by using BTC as legal tender the amount received by more than a million low-income families will increase in the equivalent of billions of dollars every year, thus improving lives across the country.
President Bukele also explained that with the entire population of El Salvador using BTC for their transactions, Bitcoin would have a potential of 10 million new users.
According to Blockstream CEO Adam Back,
“It was an inevitability, but here already: the first country on track to make bitcoin legal tender. Another milestone for Bitcoin and El Salvador. We're pleased to help El Salvador on its journey towards adoption of the Bitcoin Standard,”
This could be the next big milestone for BTC, as banking systems around the world would likely treat it as any other foreign currency.
If the legislation is passed by El Salvador Congress, then BTC would legally become money under US law.
According to Founder & CEO of Avanti Financial Group, Caitlin Long,
“IF #ElSalvador does pass legislation to recognize #bitcoin as legal tender, #BTC would v likely become MONEY under US commercial law.”
She also stated that this could be a work-around the fact that it is not possible to make BTC a legal tender anywhere in the United States without amending the constitution. According to Long, if BTC becomes legal tender in El Salvador, then the US would be able to consider the crypto as ‘money’ under commercial law and as ‘cash’ under accounting rules.
American venture capital investor, and founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, tweeted that “Entrepreneurs and investors will be on the next flights to El Salvador. Brilliant government move.”
Investor and Entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano believes that this is just the start for countries to start legalizing Bitcoin. He tweeted,
“This is the first country to take such a courageous step, but it won’t be the last…Bitcoin is inevitable.”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
'Locked-Out' Users Sue Coinbase For North of USD 5M
Six Coinbase users are taking the crypto exchange giant to court to seek more than USD 5m in compensation for themselves and other users who were allegedly locked out of their accounts for several months or longer at a time.
According to a complaint filed on Friday in San Francisco, USA, federal court, and first reported by Decrypt, the plaintiffs - Michael Leone, Joseph Treseder, Travis Reece, David Beavers, Fazal Us Saboor Ali, and Keisha Pinkney - accuse the exchange of preventing them from accessing their accounts for arbitrary reasons and prolonged amounts of time, as they have been unable to “invest, spend, save, earn, and use or even withdraw their funds” from the platform.
The exchange violated its “duty to provide access to the Coinbase platform to conduct authorized transactions,” they claim.
Therefore, they seek "any and all available relief, including equitable relief and recovery of damages caused by Defendants’ actions," said the document, adding that "the amount placed in controversy by the Complaint exceeds, in the aggregate, USD 5 million, exclusive of interests and costs."
The case highlights ongoing reported Coinbase's customer support issues. All plaintiffs claim that they, after they were barred from using the service, they contacted customer support, which, in most cases, responded with an automated response which said that their issues were “under review.”
In some cases, customers were forced to go through the identity verification process once more, while other claims revolve around login issue, as some of the plaintiffs claim to have received error messages when trying to log in to the platform - even though the support staff claimed that the account issues had been solved, they said.
In some cases, the plaintiffs claim, they had regained access to their accounts but found that they had no crypto funds, or their accounts were erased without explanation.
As a result of such "negligence," the plaintiffs and class members were locked from trading and in some cases, regained access only when the value of their cryptoassets has dropped significantly.
“Defendant’s conduct amounted to gross negligence where they breached the duties as alleged herein and by failing to create and enforce an adequate plan to prevent security breaches and lock outs that prevent Plaintiffs and the Putative Class from accessing their Coinbase accounts and/or funds where they know that, “as a newer asset class, crypto is widely considered to be volatile –with the potential for significant upward and downward movements over shorter time periods,” and knew or should have known that their breaches would likely inflict substantial damages upon its consumers,” the complaint reads.
In late March, Alesia Haas, the company’s chief financial officer (CFO), said that the exchange is hiring new customer support agents, as well as making investments on the product side "to reduce the friction that we see a lot of customers call in and offer complaints about."
Six Coinbase users are taking the crypto exchange giant to court to seek more than USD 5m in compensation for themselves and other users who were allegedly locked out of their accounts for several months or longer at a time.
According to a complaint filed on Friday in San Francisco, USA, federal court, and first reported by Decrypt, the plaintiffs - Michael Leone, Joseph Treseder, Travis Reece, David Beavers, Fazal Us Saboor Ali, and Keisha Pinkney - accuse the exchange of preventing them from accessing their accounts for arbitrary reasons and prolonged amounts of time, as they have been unable to “invest, spend, save, earn, and use or even withdraw their funds” from the platform.
The exchange violated its “duty to provide access to the Coinbase platform to conduct authorized transactions,” they claim.
Therefore, they seek "any and all available relief, including equitable relief and recovery of damages caused by Defendants’ actions," said the document, adding that "the amount placed in controversy by the Complaint exceeds, in the aggregate, USD 5 million, exclusive of interests and costs."
The case highlights ongoing reported Coinbase's customer support issues. All plaintiffs claim that they, after they were barred from using the service, they contacted customer support, which, in most cases, responded with an automated response which said that their issues were “under review.”
In some cases, customers were forced to go through the identity verification process once more, while other claims revolve around login issue, as some of the plaintiffs claim to have received error messages when trying to log in to the platform - even though the support staff claimed that the account issues had been solved, they said.
In some cases, the plaintiffs claim, they had regained access to their accounts but found that they had no crypto funds, or their accounts were erased without explanation.
As a result of such "negligence," the plaintiffs and class members were locked from trading and in some cases, regained access only when the value of their cryptoassets has dropped significantly.
“Defendant’s conduct amounted to gross negligence where they breached the duties as alleged herein and by failing to create and enforce an adequate plan to prevent security breaches and lock outs that prevent Plaintiffs and the Putative Class from accessing their Coinbase accounts and/or funds where they know that, “as a newer asset class, crypto is widely considered to be volatile –with the potential for significant upward and downward movements over shorter time periods,” and knew or should have known that their breaches would likely inflict substantial damages upon its consumers,” the complaint reads.
In late March, Alesia Haas, the company’s chief financial officer (CFO), said that the exchange is hiring new customer support agents, as well as making investments on the product side "to reduce the friction that we see a lot of customers call in and offer complaints about."
This Is When MicroStrategy Might Sell Bitcoin According to Arthur Hayes
Former CEO of major crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX, Arthur Hayes, discussed the only time the US-based software developer MicroStrategy (MSTR) could be forced to sell their bitcoin (BTC), now worth billions of USD.
In his recent blog piece, Hayes noted how MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor "had the gall" in 2020 to issue USD 1.6bn worth of bonds and use the proceeds to buy BTC.
Hayes went on to explain that 0.75% coupon convertible bond is due in December 2025, and zero-coupon bond in February 2027, stating that:
"If MSTR doesn’t have the cash flow to pay back the principle, or cannot access the corporate bond market, then and only then would MSTR be forced to sell assets."
The question of what yield would it be uneconomical to refinance the bond is driven by the performance of BTC versus the growth in the US money supply - which is dictated by the Federal Reserve.
If one observes the historical returns of the past five years, the refinancing rate for a five-year bond would need to be greater than 5,808% or 1,162% per year. "At that rate, a company is effectively shut out of the corporate bond market." However, this situation is "highly unlikely" for MicroStrategy as it has a viable cash-generating business.
"That is because many institutional bond investors lack common sense," argued Hayes. "They follow a set of investment mandates blindly." So, they could hate BTC "to its core," but if MicroStrategy's corporate paper shows an attractive yield compared to their benchmark, these investors will "buy the issue up to their concentration limits."
Given that MicroStrategy is a major, listed, audited company, its issues must be owned regardless of what its CEO does with the proceeds, writes Hayes, describing this as "the reflexive power of passive index investing," and adding:
"It’s quite smart to use the sloth of the professional investing community to invest in a concept that aims to disintermediate them."
Per Hayes, Saylor will not desert the investors, will continue leading the portfolios "through the rough seas," and will continue "gorging on cheap corporate debt as long as institutional investors invest."
As for the question if Saylor is irresponsible or a genius, Hayes said that the answer typically depends on the price of BTC, because the CEO has transformed his company into "a pseudo-Bitcoin ETF" (exchange-traded fund).
Former CEO of major crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX, Arthur Hayes, discussed the only time the US-based software developer MicroStrategy (MSTR) could be forced to sell their bitcoin (BTC), now worth billions of USD.
In his recent blog piece, Hayes noted how MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor "had the gall" in 2020 to issue USD 1.6bn worth of bonds and use the proceeds to buy BTC.
Hayes went on to explain that 0.75% coupon convertible bond is due in December 2025, and zero-coupon bond in February 2027, stating that:
"If MSTR doesn’t have the cash flow to pay back the principle, or cannot access the corporate bond market, then and only then would MSTR be forced to sell assets."
The question of what yield would it be uneconomical to refinance the bond is driven by the performance of BTC versus the growth in the US money supply - which is dictated by the Federal Reserve.
If one observes the historical returns of the past five years, the refinancing rate for a five-year bond would need to be greater than 5,808% or 1,162% per year. "At that rate, a company is effectively shut out of the corporate bond market." However, this situation is "highly unlikely" for MicroStrategy as it has a viable cash-generating business.
"That is because many institutional bond investors lack common sense," argued Hayes. "They follow a set of investment mandates blindly." So, they could hate BTC "to its core," but if MicroStrategy's corporate paper shows an attractive yield compared to their benchmark, these investors will "buy the issue up to their concentration limits."
Given that MicroStrategy is a major, listed, audited company, its issues must be owned regardless of what its CEO does with the proceeds, writes Hayes, describing this as "the reflexive power of passive index investing," and adding:
"It’s quite smart to use the sloth of the professional investing community to invest in a concept that aims to disintermediate them."
Per Hayes, Saylor will not desert the investors, will continue leading the portfolios "through the rough seas," and will continue "gorging on cheap corporate debt as long as institutional investors invest."
As for the question if Saylor is irresponsible or a genius, Hayes said that the answer typically depends on the price of BTC, because the CEO has transformed his company into "a pseudo-Bitcoin ETF" (exchange-traded fund).
🥁Hello Crypto enthusiasts🥁
Be among the first Swene liquidity providers to get the liquidity pool tokens at the best price and lock your liquidity forever to get the best yield!💎
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The Step 1 ends on the 16/06/2021 or until the marketcap reaches $100K.
🚨What is a Liquidity Generation Event & how it works:
The Liquidity Generation Event (LGE) is designed to provide liquidity to our tokens: Swene (SWN) and Stable (STABLE) on the 2 largest AMMs: PancakeSwap V3 & Uniswap V3.
🔖Read the full Medium article
with the explanation of the Liquidity Generation Event.
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Be among the first Swene liquidity providers to get the liquidity pool tokens at the best price and lock your liquidity forever to get the best yield!💎
🚀 PARTICIPATE NOW 🚀
The Step 1 ends on the 16/06/2021 or until the marketcap reaches $100K.
🚨What is a Liquidity Generation Event & how it works:
The Liquidity Generation Event (LGE) is designed to provide liquidity to our tokens: Swene (SWN) and Stable (STABLE) on the 2 largest AMMs: PancakeSwap V3 & Uniswap V3.
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Ledger Hack Saga Continues: Scammers 'Gifting' Fake Hardware Wallets
With scammers reaching for increasingly creative measures to steal cryptoassets, customers of hardware wallet maker Ledger are being sent fake 'replacements' for their devices.
A fake Ledger Nano X was allegedly sent to a Reddit user who disclosed the accompanying letter written by scammers posing as the company’s CEO Pascal Gauthier.
“As a victim of the latest Data Breach I have signed up reddit only to post this,” the user, who goes by the name of jjrand, said. “So beware guys, this is really some next level of scam attempt.”
Ledger indeed came back with a reply to the user.
“It's a fake device, do not use it. We've been investigating this scheme already,” Nicolas Bacca, Co-Founder of Ledger, said. Bacca attached a link for a phishing attack warning posted May 10 this year - meaning that this scam has been making rounds for a while now.
The letter makes reference to the massive data dump Ledger had suffered last year, which it self had followed the June data breach. At the time, a database containing some 1 million email addresses of Ledger users and more than 270,000 physical addresses and phone numbers was dumped on Raidforums, a website for sharing hacked databases. This created targets out of these users for various scam attempts.
“For this reason for security purposes, we have sent you a new device you must switch to a new device to stay safe," the letter reads. "There is a manual inside your new box you can read that to learn how to set up your new device. For this reason, we have changed our device structure. We now guarantee that this kinda breach will never happen again,” the scammers wrote.
The detailed-oriented Cryptoverse hasn't failed to notice the awkward and repetitious syntax, as well as poor grammar, neither of which are staples of a professional company within their communications - but one does need to keep in mind that many users are also not native English speakers.
“Why would a CEO use the word 'kinda'? The horrible grammar alone gives it away,” commented one Redditor who goes by the name of RFV1985.
Ledger’s user received the hardware in packaging that was at least somewhat more convincing than the letter’s contents, as indicated by the posted pictures.
The manual that came with the device encourages users to plug in the fake device to their PC, open a folder, run the featured app, and then launch the recovery phrase to import their existing wallet to the new device. Once they do this, it is most likely the scammers take over control of the real wallet and are enabled to steal the cryptocurrency it contains.
With scammers reaching for increasingly creative measures to steal cryptoassets, customers of hardware wallet maker Ledger are being sent fake 'replacements' for their devices.
A fake Ledger Nano X was allegedly sent to a Reddit user who disclosed the accompanying letter written by scammers posing as the company’s CEO Pascal Gauthier.
“As a victim of the latest Data Breach I have signed up reddit only to post this,” the user, who goes by the name of jjrand, said. “So beware guys, this is really some next level of scam attempt.”
Ledger indeed came back with a reply to the user.
“It's a fake device, do not use it. We've been investigating this scheme already,” Nicolas Bacca, Co-Founder of Ledger, said. Bacca attached a link for a phishing attack warning posted May 10 this year - meaning that this scam has been making rounds for a while now.
The letter makes reference to the massive data dump Ledger had suffered last year, which it self had followed the June data breach. At the time, a database containing some 1 million email addresses of Ledger users and more than 270,000 physical addresses and phone numbers was dumped on Raidforums, a website for sharing hacked databases. This created targets out of these users for various scam attempts.
“For this reason for security purposes, we have sent you a new device you must switch to a new device to stay safe," the letter reads. "There is a manual inside your new box you can read that to learn how to set up your new device. For this reason, we have changed our device structure. We now guarantee that this kinda breach will never happen again,” the scammers wrote.
The detailed-oriented Cryptoverse hasn't failed to notice the awkward and repetitious syntax, as well as poor grammar, neither of which are staples of a professional company within their communications - but one does need to keep in mind that many users are also not native English speakers.
“Why would a CEO use the word 'kinda'? The horrible grammar alone gives it away,” commented one Redditor who goes by the name of RFV1985.
Ledger’s user received the hardware in packaging that was at least somewhat more convincing than the letter’s contents, as indicated by the posted pictures.
The manual that came with the device encourages users to plug in the fake device to their PC, open a folder, run the featured app, and then launch the recovery phrase to import their existing wallet to the new device. Once they do this, it is most likely the scammers take over control of the real wallet and are enabled to steal the cryptocurrency it contains.
MPs’ Bid to Amend El Salvador’s BTC Bill Raises Questions About State & Freedom
An audacious bid from two opposition lawmakers to amend key clauses in El Salvador’s forthcoming bitcoin (BTC) adoption law is accompanied by furious debate among the international crypto community.
Two MPs from the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMNL) party – Anabel Belloso and Dina Argueta – yesterday announced they were seeking to launch a private member’s bill in the National Assembly that, if accepted, would repeal sections of the Bitcoin law, which is now more than two months from promulgating. One controversial section, number 7, obliges merchants to accept BTC at the request of a customer – in effect forcing businesses to accept BTC, provided they have access to a PC or a smartphone.
But Belloso and Argueta told reporters that the proposed amendment would, in the former’s words, ensure that BTC “is not mandatory to use” – and go even further.
“The amendment stipulates that salaries, bonuses, and pensions continue to be paid in dollars and not with this cryptocurrency and that it is not recognized as legal currency,” she said.
Belloso added,
“We are not against technological modernization, but you should not play with people's finances.”
Her posts divided opinion in ensuing threads, with some expressing their “thanks,” but others pointing out the futility of salary-related insistences – particularly as the government this week has already ruled out the notion of companies paying their employees in BTC. Others still accused the FMNL of “hypocrisy,” and said other – larger – opposition parties had put forward “more credible” arguments.
The FMNL was once the driving force in Salvadorian politics, and produced presidents who ruled from 2009 to 2014. However, the party suffered a crushing defeat in 2019, when the incumbent Nayib Bukele came to power. And in legislative elections held earlier this year, it took another battering, with its representation in the lower house reduced to just four seats.
Bukele’s ruling coalition has 64 out of 84 seats, 56 of which are held by his own Nuevas Ideas Party – meaning that barring a major backbench rebellion or an (equally unlikely) concerted opposition effort, the Belloso-Argueta bill may not even make it past the committee stage and onto the floor of the lower chamber.
Regardless, the bill has already succeeded in stirring debate among international crypto thinkers.
Jake Chervinsky, General Counsel at Compound Labs, opined that it “would be great if this could go forward, or at least if we advocated in favor of it.”
But Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter claimed:
“If you’re steadfastly opposed to state monetary coercion, and your best way to instrumentalize that view is to demean bitcoiners, I’m going to question the sincerity of your opposition to coercion.”
Chervinsky, however, questioned the wisdom of this assertion.
The Coin Center Executive Director Jerry Brito, meanwhile, went on the offensive, claiming that “El Salvador’s Bitcoin law is a disgrace.”
He wrote:
“It forces citizens to accept bitcoin whether they want to or not. This is intuitively wrong to any liberal. I’m surprised that so many smart and principled people have nevertheless applauded and defended this law. They are confusing the ends of liberty with the means of bitcoin and I hope they’re doing so merely in error.”
An audacious bid from two opposition lawmakers to amend key clauses in El Salvador’s forthcoming bitcoin (BTC) adoption law is accompanied by furious debate among the international crypto community.
Two MPs from the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMNL) party – Anabel Belloso and Dina Argueta – yesterday announced they were seeking to launch a private member’s bill in the National Assembly that, if accepted, would repeal sections of the Bitcoin law, which is now more than two months from promulgating. One controversial section, number 7, obliges merchants to accept BTC at the request of a customer – in effect forcing businesses to accept BTC, provided they have access to a PC or a smartphone.
But Belloso and Argueta told reporters that the proposed amendment would, in the former’s words, ensure that BTC “is not mandatory to use” – and go even further.
“The amendment stipulates that salaries, bonuses, and pensions continue to be paid in dollars and not with this cryptocurrency and that it is not recognized as legal currency,” she said.
Belloso added,
“We are not against technological modernization, but you should not play with people's finances.”
Her posts divided opinion in ensuing threads, with some expressing their “thanks,” but others pointing out the futility of salary-related insistences – particularly as the government this week has already ruled out the notion of companies paying their employees in BTC. Others still accused the FMNL of “hypocrisy,” and said other – larger – opposition parties had put forward “more credible” arguments.
The FMNL was once the driving force in Salvadorian politics, and produced presidents who ruled from 2009 to 2014. However, the party suffered a crushing defeat in 2019, when the incumbent Nayib Bukele came to power. And in legislative elections held earlier this year, it took another battering, with its representation in the lower house reduced to just four seats.
Bukele’s ruling coalition has 64 out of 84 seats, 56 of which are held by his own Nuevas Ideas Party – meaning that barring a major backbench rebellion or an (equally unlikely) concerted opposition effort, the Belloso-Argueta bill may not even make it past the committee stage and onto the floor of the lower chamber.
Regardless, the bill has already succeeded in stirring debate among international crypto thinkers.
Jake Chervinsky, General Counsel at Compound Labs, opined that it “would be great if this could go forward, or at least if we advocated in favor of it.”
But Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter claimed:
“If you’re steadfastly opposed to state monetary coercion, and your best way to instrumentalize that view is to demean bitcoiners, I’m going to question the sincerity of your opposition to coercion.”
Chervinsky, however, questioned the wisdom of this assertion.
The Coin Center Executive Director Jerry Brito, meanwhile, went on the offensive, claiming that “El Salvador’s Bitcoin law is a disgrace.”
He wrote:
“It forces citizens to accept bitcoin whether they want to or not. This is intuitively wrong to any liberal. I’m surprised that so many smart and principled people have nevertheless applauded and defended this law. They are confusing the ends of liberty with the means of bitcoin and I hope they’re doing so merely in error.”
🎙AMA Announcement
BTC Trunk will host an AMA Session with Pruf in BTC Trunk + Pruf chat.
⏱START 3PM UTC 23.06.2021
Prepare your best questions and be ready to participate in time, see you soon.
Please make sure to follow Telegram group @pruftalk.
🌐Website - https://pruf.io
BTC Trunk will host an AMA Session with Pruf in BTC Trunk + Pruf chat.
⏱START 3PM UTC 23.06.2021
Prepare your best questions and be ready to participate in time, see you soon.
Please make sure to follow Telegram group @pruftalk.
🌐Website - https://pruf.io
Canaan Diversifies Business by Becoming a Bitcoin Miner In Kazakhstan
Major producer of Bitcoin (BTC) mining equipment Canaan announced it has moved beyond its existing business model and into becoming miners themselves, as "the logical next step" towards optimizing their revenues, strengthening the inventory management and supply chain capabilities, as well as accumulating BTC.
Canaan is "driving their own crypto-mining business in Kazakhstan with their latest Avalon Miner units already in operation," the company said in the emailed press release today. This way, they are "delivering on their 2021 strategic plans announced earlier this year."
As for the reasons behind this move, one is that it will enable Canaan to directly accumulate BTC which is "now widely accepted as an investable asset class, and thus has the potential for considerable upside for Canaan."
Furthermore, Nangeng Zhang, Canaan's Chairman and CEO, said that the team believes their self-operated Bitcoin mining business would help improve the company's financial performance, but also expand the business scope and their customer base.
As reported early this month, Canaan reached a total net revenue of USD 61.5m in the first quarter (Q1) of this year, lower than the USD 68.3m of Q1 2020, but higher than the USD 38.2m of Q4 2020. Their net income was USD 200,000, whereas the company had registered losses both in Q1 and Q4 of 2020.
Zhang further stated that, "as we integrate more industry resources into our operations, we believe this business segment will enable us to revitalize our mining machine inventory, shield us from Bitcoin volatility, and ensure our inventory sufficiency during market upturns”.
Per the company, typically, the production and sales of mining machines have been closely connected to the prices of the underlying crypto, such as BTC, and excessive fluctuations in that price can result in excessive volatility in the revenue streams of mining hardware providers.
Now, to this is added "the longer-term nature of manufacturing and production processes," so it's common for there to be a time lag between supply-side responses and changes in demand, which tend to lead to one of the two extremes: idling resources or overly strained capacity.
"The diversification into mining then, not only mitigates such operational risks, but also significantly improves Canaan’s nimbleness and ability to navigate the rapidly evolving market conditions," the company said.
When there's a "lull" in the market, the mining business will benefit from the availability of their in-stock mining machines to be actively deployed in their mining operations at low electricity rates, maximising their computing power at that time, they said. And when the market activity is elevated, it'll benefit from putting in use the processing capacity of their older machines.
"The net result will be a considerable improvement in inventory planning and supply chain optimization throughout the year and unaffected by the price of Bitcoin," they said.
Additionally, Canaan recently opened their first overseas Service Center in Kazakhstan.
As reported, crypto miners fleeing China’s latest round of crackdown may turn to a nearby country in a bid to continue doing business – with Kazakhstan increasingly looking set to provide a new home for those looking to set up shop outside Mainland China.
Major producer of Bitcoin (BTC) mining equipment Canaan announced it has moved beyond its existing business model and into becoming miners themselves, as "the logical next step" towards optimizing their revenues, strengthening the inventory management and supply chain capabilities, as well as accumulating BTC.
Canaan is "driving their own crypto-mining business in Kazakhstan with their latest Avalon Miner units already in operation," the company said in the emailed press release today. This way, they are "delivering on their 2021 strategic plans announced earlier this year."
As for the reasons behind this move, one is that it will enable Canaan to directly accumulate BTC which is "now widely accepted as an investable asset class, and thus has the potential for considerable upside for Canaan."
Furthermore, Nangeng Zhang, Canaan's Chairman and CEO, said that the team believes their self-operated Bitcoin mining business would help improve the company's financial performance, but also expand the business scope and their customer base.
As reported early this month, Canaan reached a total net revenue of USD 61.5m in the first quarter (Q1) of this year, lower than the USD 68.3m of Q1 2020, but higher than the USD 38.2m of Q4 2020. Their net income was USD 200,000, whereas the company had registered losses both in Q1 and Q4 of 2020.
Zhang further stated that, "as we integrate more industry resources into our operations, we believe this business segment will enable us to revitalize our mining machine inventory, shield us from Bitcoin volatility, and ensure our inventory sufficiency during market upturns”.
Per the company, typically, the production and sales of mining machines have been closely connected to the prices of the underlying crypto, such as BTC, and excessive fluctuations in that price can result in excessive volatility in the revenue streams of mining hardware providers.
Now, to this is added "the longer-term nature of manufacturing and production processes," so it's common for there to be a time lag between supply-side responses and changes in demand, which tend to lead to one of the two extremes: idling resources or overly strained capacity.
"The diversification into mining then, not only mitigates such operational risks, but also significantly improves Canaan’s nimbleness and ability to navigate the rapidly evolving market conditions," the company said.
When there's a "lull" in the market, the mining business will benefit from the availability of their in-stock mining machines to be actively deployed in their mining operations at low electricity rates, maximising their computing power at that time, they said. And when the market activity is elevated, it'll benefit from putting in use the processing capacity of their older machines.
"The net result will be a considerable improvement in inventory planning and supply chain optimization throughout the year and unaffected by the price of Bitcoin," they said.
Additionally, Canaan recently opened their first overseas Service Center in Kazakhstan.
As reported, crypto miners fleeing China’s latest round of crackdown may turn to a nearby country in a bid to continue doing business – with Kazakhstan increasingly looking set to provide a new home for those looking to set up shop outside Mainland China.
FTX's Valuation Jumps 20X, Citi Crypto, Non-Fungible Jay-Z
Crypto derivatives exchange FTX will be valued at USD 20bn with the completion of the upcoming funding round, expected in the coming weeks, Nikkei Asia reported, citing Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of the company. A year ago, it was valued at USD 1bn. In the upcoming round, FTX will raise "mid-hundreds of millions" primarily from institutions, the report said, adding that with the fresh capital, the exchange is also looking to make acquisitions to target retail investors and obtain licenses in other jurisdictions.
Wall Street giant Citigroup is adding a digital asset group to their offerings for their wealthiest clients, Bloomberg reported, citing a memo. Under Citigroup’s crypto plan, the new group will help clients invest in cryptoassets, stablecoins, non-fungible tokens as well as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), it added.
Robinhood, which had sought to go public this month, has seen its listing plans slowed in recent weeks as the US Securities and Exchange Commission has been asking the company about its growing crypto-trading related business, Bloomberg reported, citing undisclosed people familiar with the matter. While a listing might come this summer, the popular trading app’s plans could also slip into the fall, it added.
In the US, the May core personal consumption expenditures price index, an important inflation gauge for policymakers, rose 3.4% from a year ago, in line with Wall Street estimates, CNBC reported, adding that that was the biggest increase since 1992 and reflective of ongoing price pressures. Meanwhile, consumer spending was flat for the month, missing expectations, while personal income declined 2%, less than the expected 2.7% drop.
Sotheby's is auctioning and non-fungible token (NFT), based on the album cover of Reasonable Doubt, the debut album of American music megastar Jay-Z, released 25 years ago. The auction ends on July 2. Also, Jay-Z changed his Twitter profile picture to a CryptoPunk NFT, purchased for ETH 55 (USD 100,300) two months ago.
Digital designer and artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, is launching a new NFT venture next month that will seek to transform historic moments into collectible NFTs, with tennis star Andy Murray’s 2013 Wimbledon win as his first project, according to the Wall Street Journal.
New Zealand-based NFT producer Orbis Blockchain Technologies has announced a new partnership with comic book juggernaut Marvel, which will allow the Orbis app VeVe to use Marvel’s characters in creating future NFTs, Stuff reported. The NFTs will allow customers to buy limited edition digital comics, and the company has also announced a soon-to-come partnership with toy manufacturer Mattel.
Tanzania's central bank has said it is working on President Samia Suluhu Hassan's directive to prepare for cryptocurrencies, according to Reuters. This directive could be pointing towards a possible reversal of the country’s crypto ban from 2019.
Web browser Opera has announced a partnership with blockchain ecosystem Celo (CELO) in order to integrate CELO, Celo Dollar (cUSD), and Celo Euro (cEUR) stablecoins in its crypto wallet. Opera has also joined the Celo Alliance for Prosperity, a network of 140+ organizations fostering social impact and financial inclusion through the use of blockchain technology.
Crypto derivatives exchange FTX will be valued at USD 20bn with the completion of the upcoming funding round, expected in the coming weeks, Nikkei Asia reported, citing Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of the company. A year ago, it was valued at USD 1bn. In the upcoming round, FTX will raise "mid-hundreds of millions" primarily from institutions, the report said, adding that with the fresh capital, the exchange is also looking to make acquisitions to target retail investors and obtain licenses in other jurisdictions.
Wall Street giant Citigroup is adding a digital asset group to their offerings for their wealthiest clients, Bloomberg reported, citing a memo. Under Citigroup’s crypto plan, the new group will help clients invest in cryptoassets, stablecoins, non-fungible tokens as well as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), it added.
Robinhood, which had sought to go public this month, has seen its listing plans slowed in recent weeks as the US Securities and Exchange Commission has been asking the company about its growing crypto-trading related business, Bloomberg reported, citing undisclosed people familiar with the matter. While a listing might come this summer, the popular trading app’s plans could also slip into the fall, it added.
In the US, the May core personal consumption expenditures price index, an important inflation gauge for policymakers, rose 3.4% from a year ago, in line with Wall Street estimates, CNBC reported, adding that that was the biggest increase since 1992 and reflective of ongoing price pressures. Meanwhile, consumer spending was flat for the month, missing expectations, while personal income declined 2%, less than the expected 2.7% drop.
Sotheby's is auctioning and non-fungible token (NFT), based on the album cover of Reasonable Doubt, the debut album of American music megastar Jay-Z, released 25 years ago. The auction ends on July 2. Also, Jay-Z changed his Twitter profile picture to a CryptoPunk NFT, purchased for ETH 55 (USD 100,300) two months ago.
Digital designer and artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, is launching a new NFT venture next month that will seek to transform historic moments into collectible NFTs, with tennis star Andy Murray’s 2013 Wimbledon win as his first project, according to the Wall Street Journal.
New Zealand-based NFT producer Orbis Blockchain Technologies has announced a new partnership with comic book juggernaut Marvel, which will allow the Orbis app VeVe to use Marvel’s characters in creating future NFTs, Stuff reported. The NFTs will allow customers to buy limited edition digital comics, and the company has also announced a soon-to-come partnership with toy manufacturer Mattel.
Tanzania's central bank has said it is working on President Samia Suluhu Hassan's directive to prepare for cryptocurrencies, according to Reuters. This directive could be pointing towards a possible reversal of the country’s crypto ban from 2019.
Web browser Opera has announced a partnership with blockchain ecosystem Celo (CELO) in order to integrate CELO, Celo Dollar (cUSD), and Celo Euro (cEUR) stablecoins in its crypto wallet. Opera has also joined the Celo Alliance for Prosperity, a network of 140+ organizations fostering social impact and financial inclusion through the use of blockchain technology.
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TP ICAP World’s Largest Interdealer Broker Launches Cryptocurrency Trading Platform
TP ICAP, the world’s biggest interdealer broker is launching a cryptocurrency trading platform in partnership with Fidelity Investments. The brokerage will also use Standard Chartered’s digital assets custody unit. The platform will launch later this year, and will initially offer Bitcoin trading, with Ethereum to be added in due course.
As published in an article on Reuters this morning, TP ICAP and its partners are looking to take advantage of the wave of interest in cryptocurrencies by helping to make them as accessible for trading as typical traditional stocks, bonds and forex.
According to Reuters:
“The platform will offer post-trade infrastructure with a network of digital asset custodians, the consortium said in a statement, and separate execution and settlement, something widely seen as key to greater involvement of larger risk-averse investors in the emerging crypto market.”
However, all is not plain sailing in the cryptocurrency sector, and although “crypto funds have seen record flows this year”, those banks wishing to get involved must navigate the increasingly stringent regulations that are being applied to the industry.
Standard Chartered is however bullish on the crypto sector and its venture capital unit has said that it will establish its own crypto brokerage and exchange platform in Europe in partnership with the Hong Kong based BC Technology Group.
According to Duncan Trenholme, co-head of digital assets at TP ICAP:
“Investor interest in this new asset class has exploded dramatically in the last six to eight months. In most of our conversations with clients, they want a separation of custodial roles from execution capabilities which is opposite to the models that exist currently.”
TP ICAP already has bitcoin options and futures trading, which it launched on the CME in 2019. To add to this it has plans to add various other derivatives products such as total return swaps and non-deliverable forwards.
TP ICAP, the world’s biggest interdealer broker is launching a cryptocurrency trading platform in partnership with Fidelity Investments. The brokerage will also use Standard Chartered’s digital assets custody unit. The platform will launch later this year, and will initially offer Bitcoin trading, with Ethereum to be added in due course.
As published in an article on Reuters this morning, TP ICAP and its partners are looking to take advantage of the wave of interest in cryptocurrencies by helping to make them as accessible for trading as typical traditional stocks, bonds and forex.
According to Reuters:
“The platform will offer post-trade infrastructure with a network of digital asset custodians, the consortium said in a statement, and separate execution and settlement, something widely seen as key to greater involvement of larger risk-averse investors in the emerging crypto market.”
However, all is not plain sailing in the cryptocurrency sector, and although “crypto funds have seen record flows this year”, those banks wishing to get involved must navigate the increasingly stringent regulations that are being applied to the industry.
Standard Chartered is however bullish on the crypto sector and its venture capital unit has said that it will establish its own crypto brokerage and exchange platform in Europe in partnership with the Hong Kong based BC Technology Group.
According to Duncan Trenholme, co-head of digital assets at TP ICAP:
“Investor interest in this new asset class has exploded dramatically in the last six to eight months. In most of our conversations with clients, they want a separation of custodial roles from execution capabilities which is opposite to the models that exist currently.”
TP ICAP already has bitcoin options and futures trading, which it launched on the CME in 2019. To add to this it has plans to add various other derivatives products such as total return swaps and non-deliverable forwards.