​​What's in Store for Ethereum in 2021?

The second-largest crypto network by market capitalization, Ethereum (ETH), had an eventful 2020 as many other players in the Cryptoverse. But what awaits the network in 2021? The picture looks green price-wise and busy when it comes to new developments, according to industry insiders.

ETH went up more than 400% last year, surpassing the USD 700 level for the first time since 2018. Not only was it a beneficial year price-wise, but the network also saw several testnets – some of which were more successful than others - on its road to the much-promised Ethereum 2.0 (ETH 2.0), culminating in the launch of the deposit contract, followed by the first phase of ETH 2.0, Phase 0, in December.

As 2021 is already here, what will it bring?

2021 will definitely see a bull market, according to Matthew Gould, Unstoppable Domains founder and CEO. “We could see ETH prices over USD 3,000 … a lot sooner than people think.” Ethereum will lead in non-store of value use cases this year, he said, adding: “Expect Ethereum daily users to grow the fastest of any blockchain - including Bitcoin (BTC) - with all the new DeFi apps it brings to the table.”


At the same time, the network will keep moving towards its second version.

“ETH 2.0 will continue to advance its roadmap, with the introduction of shard chains, and eventually lead up to getting rid of the proof-of-work consensus algorithm altogether, and merging the Ethereum 1 chain with Ethereum 2.0,” said Monica Singer, the South African Lead for major Ethereum and blockchain company Consensys. This, she argued, will result in increased throughput and flexibility, as well as new network economics through staking, further leading to higher adoption.

Then “the virtuous cycle will apply,” continued Singer.

With more applications deployed on Ethereum, the more developers will join the community, and the price of ETH will increase and not necessarily correlate to the increase in bitcoin’s price, she said.

As reported, Ethereum already has more developers than Bitcoin.

Philippe Bekhazi, CEO of stablecoin platform Stablehouse, also noted that 2021 will likely see “a continuation of a bull market” for both ETH and BTC.

With the user experience gap in crypto “soon to be solved,” as well as with Ethereum scaling, institutional interest in bitcoin, and growing interest in DeFi, 2021 will see crypto start to go truly mainstream, argued Jack O'Holleran, CEO and Co-Founder of SKALE.

As a result, the number of developers building on Ethereum will grow 5 times “as they chase after these new consumers." The Ethereum ecosystem is "emerging as the backbone on which Web3 is built and will pave the path for new business models that will pave the way for the decentralized economy.”

​​Bitcoin On The Move Again, Touches USD 36K, Outperformed by XLM, ADA

The most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), just briefly touched the USD 36,000 level for the first time with a double-digit jump in a day before correcting lower. The majority of other top cryptoassets are rallying too. (Updated at 08:33 UTC: updates throughout the entire text).

At pixel time (08:28 UTC), BTC trades at USD 34,680 and is up by 10% in a day and 22% in a week, increasing its monthly gains to 85%. Bitcoin reached the USD 30,000 level on January 2.

And while the second-largest cryptoasset by market capitalization, ethereum (ETH), is also up (+7%, to USD 1,106), stellar (XLM) is back into the top 10 club as it rallied by 66% in a day, reaching USD 0.27. Cardano (ADA) is the second-best performing coin in the top 10 club (+27%, to USD 0.286).

Other top coins are up by 2%-5%, except XRP that is down by 2.5% in a day.

"Bitcoin has entered into a new phase of price discovery, largely driven by amplified institutional interest in the digital asset. We have not yet seen peak retail participation, as highlighted by the low search and social activity relative to 2017," Craig Russo, Director of Innovation at Polyient, an infrastructure underpinning decentralized virtual economies, said in an emailed comment.

According to him, retail participation, coupled with accelerated institutional participation, will likely continue to drive the bull market in Q1.

"Bitcoin successfully cemented itself as a legitimate asset in 2020 and will continue to be adopted across the financial industry, regardless of any positive shift in the traditional global economy," he added, warning that there will be high volatility during this bull season as the market is still very thin and there is potential for enormous volatility if BTC whales begin to dump.

Crypto intelligence platform Glassnode claims that widespread retail interest in bitcoin is increasing, with the number of address holding a non-zero amount of BTC reaching an all-time high of over 33 million. However, the number of daily new BTC addresses has still not reached 2017 levels.

"These metrics, therefore, paint a bullish picture of a market characterized by healthy, sustainable growth as opposed to hype," they added.

Also, according to popular BTC analyst Willy Woo, inventory depletion on spot exchanges has stopped, signifying the re-accumulation phase of the macro cycle is likely complete.

"Since we already know institutions are buying in large quantities, the flattening of spot inventory depletion is a sign that retail buyers are now entering in large volumes, attracted by recent price rises," Willy Woo was quoted as saying in a blog post by Glassnode.

Meanwhile, according to Konstantin Richter, CEO and Founder of Blockdaemon, the third Bitcoin halving means that BTC 300K will be minted this year, compared to BTC 600K in previous years.

"Since a significant portion of existing bitcoin is illiquid, 300K is far too little supply for the exponential demand coming from institutions and triggered by the global covid crisis (new financial assets are needed to hedge against inflation). This represents an example of the flywheel in motion--half the supply and a probable doubling in demand, which in turn drives further demand due to price increases," he said.

While BTC cycles are inherently unpredictable (regulatory changes in certain key countries could have a significant effect), according to Richter, the next big hurdle for bitcoin is USD 50,000.

​​Bitcoin at USD 50K 'in Sight' As There's 'Room to Run Higher' Before Correction

"Assuming history is destined to repeat, one could expect further upside appreciation until BTC trades at 10x - 15x its 200-week moving average; at a weekly close of USD 7,904, such would imply a price between USD 79,040 and USD 118,560," said Kraken Intelligence, the exchange's team of in-house researchers, in their December 2020 Market Recap & Outlook report.

Per the researchers, as BTC’s correlation with both risk-on and risk-off assets has seemingly strengthened and petered out, the months before us "could bring a shift in trend amid an inevitable mean reversion." They argue, however, that BTC’s rally is a sign of "market participants seeing incremental near-term upside despite historic price levels being realized." And that's not all the good news, as per the researchers' data,

"the case can be made that BTC has room to run higher."

But Kraken's researchers are not the only ones seeing more room for BTC to grow. Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of venture capital firm Social Capital and Chairman of commercial spaceline Virgin Galactic, stated in an interview with CNBC that BTC is "probably going to USD 100,000, then USD 150,000, then USD 200,000." He couldn't say in what period will the price reach this level, but gave five or ten years as possibilities.

Also, Anthony Pompliano, co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital, argued in an interview that BTC is "at least 10x better than gold in every way, "so if you just think of a bitcoin product that is 2x better and market cap kind of follows that, that would put bitcoin at a million dollars a coin." Bitcoin's market capitalization will eclipse that of gold by 2030, he finds.

Furthermore, "we believe bitcoin's meteoric rise will continue, as institutional investors continue to recognize its finite nature and attempt to hedge against global inflation and uncertainty," said in an email Joe DiPasquale, CEO at crypto fund manager BitBull Capital. "Remember, a 300% rise like in 2020 is not out of character for bitcoin. Its median rise in the last 10 years is 182%, and in 2019 it rose 92%."

Institutions like MassMutual and Guggenheim Investments, and company treasuries like Square and Microstrategy, investing in BTC, as well as rumors of others entering the space, are "just the beginning of a stampede into a finite asset," he said, adding,

"Bitcoin at [USD] 50K is in sight."

And as BTC is finite, with demand for it is "now at over 3x new supply," the US has printed 68% more USD in the last 12 months than were ever in existence, "leading to a largely expected devaluation of the dollar," he said.

Meanwhile Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz stated in his recent interview that young people were using the previous stimulus checks to invest in BTC, among other things, so we can't know where the money from the next one will go to. "Some of that, if not a lot of that, will find its way into the markets. One of the most unique things last time is seeing how many people bought bitcoin with the exact amount of stimulus. The market is sensing all of that."


However, both the Kraken researchers and DiPasquale had some warnings to share as well, and even Novogratz said that the markets don't go up every day forever, meaning a correction is bound to happen. DiPasquale noted that bitcoin is inherently volatile, and "while we expect the volatility to continue, we also expect higher highs and more support, leading to higher lows."

Meanwhile, Kraken Intelligence said that, historically, the first quarter of a year is typically a negative-yielding period for the first coin by market capitalization, arguing that "market participants ought to be considerate of BTC and the broader market potentially posting less favorable monthly returns in 1Q21."

Others seem to suggest there will be a downward correction relatively soon, possibly after the price hit USD 40,000 - but also that the price will continue on its upwards trajectory, or as economist and trader Alex Krüger said, "Upwards trend is unscathed."

​​Not Only Bitcoin Price Is Changing During This Bull Run

As the most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), keeps scoring its new all-time highs, industry observers see important changes on the BTC adoption front too.

According to Anthony Lauriola, Chief Operating Officer at blockchain portfolio company Dan Holdings, in 2020, we saw “a significant shift in the way people view cryptocurrency,” as people are starting to see it more as a method of payment and not just a store of value - a trend Lauriola said will continue into 2021. “As we see more global entities entering the crypto space, we will likely continue to see bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continue to increase in price, value, and popularity.” Additionally, crypto adoption in emerging markets will also play a part in overall market growth in the coming years.

Also, as governments are forced to print mass amounts of cash to offset negative effects on the economy, many people have turned to bitcoin to hedge against inflation. “We may start to see the effects of this in 2021 and I believe this could be the driving factor for a bitcoin bull market," Lauriola said, estimating that BTC will hit USD 100,000 this year.

Lauriola further argued that, last year, there was a large increase in the number of people who relied on cryptocurrencies and digital payments for remittances and bill payments in many regions of Africa.

“There is still a lot to be learned as far as individuals using cryptocurrency as a payment method, but we are beginning to see the barriers to entry being lowered as technology becomes more accessible for everyone.”

Similarly, Philippe Bekhazi, CEO of stablecoin platform Stablehouse, expects that "any further economic fallout from the pandemic will spur growth of payment networks predicated on bitcoin or ethereum in emerging economies."

Meanwhile, IBMR Managing Director Sinjin David Jung offered an historic perspective.

“While it might seem like a bubble there is a very big difference from other times in the past, like 2008 we had issues in terms of the financial markets and how opaque they were,” he said. The stock market was getting bigger at the time, as were tech stock valuations. And unlike the internet euphoria of 1995-1999, when the internet was “as a single network” … now you have layers of networks, networks upon networks.” He said that this is a very different time and expects this bull market to continue on for the next almost 2 years.

"After that all bets are off but we’re definitely entering into a new economic reality structurally because of the way technology now has changed the way production is globally to create this exponential network upon network framework," he added.

In either case, the general consensus seems to be that BTC will trade between USD 50,000 and USD 100,000 in 2021.

“Considering how well bitcoin has profiled itself thus far in the coronavirus aftermath and given the outlook from our current macroeconomic environment, we're expecting 2021 to be a phenomenal year for bitcoin. It's not entirely unlikely that we'll see bitcoin trade in the USD 50k - USD 100k range,” Eric Wall, the Chief Investment Officer of the crypto hedge fund outfit Arcane Assets.

According to CoreLedger CEO Johannes Schweifer, USD 100,00 is "only 5 times" from its historic all-time high of 2017: "Bitcoin has shown it can grow more than that in a shorter timespan than one year, so it is more than possible."

At the time of writing (09:14 UTC), BTC trades at USD 41,067 and is up by almost 128% in a month and 405% in a year.

Meanwhile, Sinjin David Jung argued that “as the vaccine kicks in and the stimulus comes out the economy is going to get a kick start but people are still going to be wary of traditional assets and while they probably will still sock something away in the current stock market it will also be in cryptocurrencies.”

​​This Is The Biggest Risk To Crypto Market According to Pantera Capital CIO

Leveraged trading is the biggest risk to the crypto market in terms of what could cause “something to pop down the line,” according to Joey Krug, Co-chief Investment Officer (CIO) at US-based major crypto investment company Pantera Capital. (Updated at 19:20 UTC with more comments by Joey Krug).

He was speaking during Pantera Capital’s conference call yesterday.

According to Krug, some people get complacent when they realize crypto is here to stay. As a result, they lever up on it, thinking it can’t go down that much because institutions will swoop in and buy, saving the day. But eventually, when the lid blows off and bids are not there, liquidations of levered longs will drive the price down.

During the market crash on January 10-11, more than USD 3bn worth of long positions were liquidated, according to bybt data. To compare, on January 12, over USD 200m worth of short and also more than USD 200m long positions were liquidated.

As reported, crypto researcher and analyst Willy Woo argued that "unlike previous crashes in the past 2 years, where over-leveraged markets lead by trader liquidation, this one started on spot markets, then was greatly amplified by a single exchange partially failing, yet did not turn itself off for the good of the ecosystem."

Leveraged trading refers to borrowing funds so that you can take a larger position than you would be able to with your existing funds so that you can potentially generate a higher profit. However, while margin trading enables traders to amplify their returns, it can also lead to increased losses and liquidations, which is why experienced traders tend to advise newcomers to stay away from leveraged trading.

As for Pantera Capital itself, the firm took some risk off the table when the Market Value to Realised Value (MVRV) ratio rose to its highest level since 2017 a few days ago. The indicator shows how much unrealized gains bitcoin (BTC) holders are sitting on. When this metric gets high, it means the market is overheated, and if it starts to decline, people sell in order to lock-in gains out of panic or fear, Krug explained on the call.

According to Krug, this recent crash was a healthy outcome for this space, noting that people realized some gains and the market pulled back a bit in a consolidation period.

Now, the CIO said, the market is in a good position for the next leg upward and it is his view that the rally is going to continue.

At the time of writing (19:18 UTC), BTC trades at USD 35,805 and is up by almost 3% in a day and less than 1% in a week. It rallied by 86% in a month.

Meanwhile, during the call yesterday, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead described the global macro environment as “off the charts,” pointing to the unprecedented pace at which the United States is printing money each month and “pushing it like crazy.”

As a result, the main two cryptoassets - BTC and ethereum (ETH) - have soared, which illustrates the next point, which is that “this rally has consolidated around bitcoin and ethereum,” according to Pantera slides.

Krug also noted that institutional investors are primarily honing in on bitcoin and ethereum and outside of these two assets there is not a great deal of institutional interest. He also waded into decentralized finance (DeFi), saying that these tokens are getting “pushed up” indirectly by BTC and ETH. The CIO also noted that it will not be this cycle when institutions buy DeFi protocols, adding that it will probably be the next cycle or the one after that.

Another huge development has been the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), a trend that has been led by China, which Morehead noted “has a very big headstart on the world.” And while they don’t directly impact the price of tokens that are not pegged to fiat money like stablecoins, they will still introduce “billions of people” to the market including those without bank accounts but with smartphones, Morehead said.

Legally Speaking, is Digital Money Really Money?

Countries are moving fast toward creating digital currencies. Or, so we hear from various surveys showing an increasing number of central banks making substantial progress towards having an official digital currency.

But, in fact, close to 80% of the world’s central banks are either not allowed to issue a digital currency under their existing laws, or the legal framework is not clear.

To help countries make this assessment, we reviewed the central bank laws of 174 IMF members in a new IMF staff paper, and found out that only about 40 are legally allowed to issue digital currencies.

Not just a legal technicality

Any money issuance is a form of debt for the central bank, so it must have a solid basis to avoid legal, financial and reputational risks for the institutions. Ultimately, it is about ensuring that a significant and potentially contentious innovation is in line with a central bank’s mandate. Otherwise, the door is opened to potential political and legal challenges.

Now, readers may be asking themselves: if issuing money is the most basic function for any central bank, why then is a digital form of money so different? The answer requires a detailed analysis of the functions and powers of each central bank, as well as the implications of different designs of digital instruments.

Building a case for digital currencies

To legally qualify as currency, a means of payment must be considered as such by the country’s laws and be denominated in its official monetary unit. A currency typically enjoys legal tender status, meaning debtors can pay their obligations by transferring it to creditors.

Therefore, legal tender status is usually only given to means of payment that can be easily received and used by the majority of the population. That is why banknotes and coins are the most common form of currency.

To use digital currencies, digital infrastructure—laptops, smartphones, connectivity—must first be in place. But governments cannot impose on their citizens to have it, so granting legal tender status to a central bank digital instrument might be challenging. Without the legal tender designation, achieving full currency status could be equally challenging. Still, many means of payments widely used in advanced economies are neither legal tender nor currency (e.g., commercial book money).

Uncharted waters?

Digital currencies can take different forms. Our analysis focuses on the legal implications of the main concepts being considered by various central banks. For instance, where it would be “account-based” or “token-based.” The first means digitalizing the balances currently held on accounts in a central banks’ books; while the second refers to designing a new digital token not connected to the existing accounts that commercial banks hold with a central bank.

From a legal perspective, the difference is between centuries-old traditions and uncharted waters. The first model is as old as central banking itself, having been developed in the early 17th century by the Exchange Bank of Amsterdam—considered the precursor of modern central banks. Its legal status under public and private law in most countries is well developed and understood. Digital tokens, in contrast, have a very short history and unclear legal status. Some central banks are allowed to issue any type of currency (which could include digital forms), while most (61 percent) are limited to only banknotes and coins.

Another important design feature is whether the digital currency is to be used only at the “wholesale” level, by financial institutions, or could be accessible to the general public (“retail”). Commercial banks hold accounts with their central bank, being therefore their traditional “clients.” Allowing private citizens’ accounts, as in retail banking, would be a tectonic shift to how central banks are organized and would require significant legal changes. Only 10 central banks in our sample would currently be allowed to do so.

​​Regulators Ponder Strategy As Bitcoin & Co Are Too Large to Ignore

The writing is on the wall: regulation is coming for crypto. While a small handful of nations have already introduced specific cryptoasset legislation over the past few years, it looks as though the world’s major powers are gearing up to introduce substantial new regulations and laws.

This point was brought home forcefully by remarks made in mid-January by European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde. Speaking to Reuters, she said “there has to be regulation” of crypto at a global level, mostly due to the fact that bitcoin and other coins are used for “totally reprehensible money laundering activity.”

However, according to Chainalysis, the criminal share of all cryptocurrency activity fell from 2.1% (USD 21.4bn) in 2019 to 0.34%, or USD 10bn in transaction volume in 2020.

In either case, together with recent actions from the US Treasury and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), such overtures suggest that crypto is due for a legislative reckoning sooner or later, with nations using the excuse of money laundering to bring it more fully within their oversight.

Aims and motives

“As crypto has gained mind and market share among institutional and individual investors over the past year, it’s natural that international regulatory bodies would increase their scrutiny and potential oversight,” said Blockchain Association executive director Kristin Smith.

For Smith, there’s no single motive as to why regulators are now beginning to push more strongly for regulation. Rather, “a confluence of factors” have come together to push them to bring crypto within the purview of the wider financial system.


“And the reaction to that legitimacy and growth may manifest itself in defensive moves to protect sovereign financial institutions, or a reach to augment international financial power by developing national blockchain systems, as in the case of China. The basic point is that crypto has become too large a force to be ignored,” she added.

Other figures are less sanguine. For Bambos Tsiattalou, a lawyer and founding partner at the London-based Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, the overarching intention of regulators isn’t to make crypto ‘respectable,’ but to suffocate it.

“The ECB is now looking into the possibility of creating its own digital euro … [m]any of the world’s major powers are making similar moves. Their overall intention appears to be to regulate the existing private cryptocurrencies out of existence as they make way for their own official digital currencies,” he told.

Tsiattalou acknowledges that the focus of the ECB in particular on money laundering is somewhat hypocritical, given that high-denomination banknotes such as the EUR 500 bill are notorious as money-laundering tools. However, he suspects regulators are determined to hamper crypto as far as possible.

“The proposed state-backed digital currencies will be supported and managed by major central banks and the resources of major states,” he said, suggesting that businesses and consumers will much prefer these to decentralized cryptocurrencies. “Further regulation will also undermine the speculative value which some have unwisely placed in cryptocurrencies.”

When regulation?

While regulators, banks and governments will no doubt aim to reduce the illegal use of cryptocurrencies (at the very least), it’s not entirely clear when we can expect new regulations to arrive.

“In the US, as in many other countries, any major legislation is likely to be focused on controlling the pandemic and the attendant financial crisis, so we don’t expect any major legislation dealing specifically with crypto in the next few months. However, if and when the pandemic begins to wane, we think there will be new bills introduced in the later months of the year,” said Kristin Smith.

In the case of the EU, Bambos Tsiattalou also expects movements to be slow, with the proposed regulatory regime for crypto-assets not likely to come into force until 2024.

​​World's Richest Person, Tesla's Elon Musk Sends Bitcoin Sign, BTC Rallies

Tesla mastermind Elon Musk has sent the crypto world into a fresh frenzy with his latest Twitter activity – adding bitcoin (BTC) to his profile, and making a comment that scores of dogecoin (DOGE) advocates have taken as a ringing approval of the token. But it seems it was about BTC. (Updated at 10:28 UTC with the latest price data, comments, Google trends data).

Following the news, BTC went up more than 11% in less than an hour, later surging even more and hitting USD 37,851, before it corrected lower.

At 10:25 UTC, BTC is still up by 16% in a day and trades USD 36,119. It advanced by 17% in a week, increasing its monthly gains to 32%.

At the same time, USD 694m BTC worth of short positions were liquidated, per bybt.com data. In the past 24 hours, 295,072 positions, worth USD 1.32bn were liquidated.

Also, the interest in "bitcoin" spiked following the news, per Google data.

At the time of writing, Musk’s profile on the social media platform reads simply “#bitcoin,” and features the bitcoin symbol emoji.

And a cryptic tweet that read, “In retrospect, it was inevitable” appears to have been interpreted by many as a reference to the phenomenal recent performance of DOGE.

DOGE has come out of relative obscurity to rocket into the top 10 tokens per market cap in what appears to be an unprecedented community-led pump for the meme-powered token.

Twitter-based DOGE users have flocked to Musk’s tweet in their droves, posting all-too-familiar meme images of the dogecoin pooch clad in astronaut gear, preparing for a journey “to the moon.”

But some Twitter commenters have claimed Musk’s tweet was actually a reference to his own bitcoin-related profile update – a factor that has quite probably helped the BTC price to skyrocket yet again.

Musk, a famous Twitter trickster, has dropped hints about his interest in bitcoin and other tokens in the past, suggesting via a meme that he may be open to the idea of bitcoin buying as an investment strategy. Late last year he sparked a Twitter storm by tweeting, “Bitcoin is my safe word” – later going on to say he was “just kidding.”

​​Crypto World Waits to See What Post-Bezos-era Amazon Will Bring

The world of crypto is watching developments at Amazon with great interest after the company’s founder Jeff Bezos announced that he would be stepping aside as the firm’s CEO.

In an official announcement, Bezos indicated that he was stepping down from the day-to-day operations of the e-commerce giant, but would still be involved at the company – taking up an executive chairman role at Amazon in the third quarter this year, while the former head of Amazon Web Services Andy Jassy takes over as CEO.

Bezos wrote that in his new role, he “intended to focus” his “energies and attention on new products and early initiatives.”

He also urged his employees to “keep inventing, and don’t despair when at first the idea looks crazy.”


Crypto-keen observers will be asking if these “initiatives” and “inventions” could well involve blockchain-powered cryptoassets.

And there is some evidence to suggest that Jassy could take Amazon a step closer to blockchain and/or crypto adoption.

As AWS boss, Jassy last year enthusiastically oversaw a deal with the Canadian payments firm Global Payments to co-build a cloud-based processing platform for card issuers and "to bring payment issuer solutions to new geographic regions & more customers throughout the world."

He also oversaw the launch of Amazon Managed Blockchain, a service that allows developers to work on Ethereum (ETH) in preview and the Hyperledger Fabric network without the need to arrange hosting or provide hardware. This service can be used to manage peer-to-peer payments, process loans and help businesses transact with distributors and suppliers.

But per Fortune, Jassy said back in 2018, when he was unveiling the details of the service that it was still “unclear what companies would actually use blockchain technology for.”

Back then, the media outlet also quoted Jassy as stating that when AWS had spoken to customers, “we just hadn’t seen that many blockchain examples in production or that couldn’t pretty easily be solved by a database.” The same argument is being made by many Bitcoin (BTC) proponents also.

As for Bezos, unsubstantiated rumors have linked him to BTC for years, but he has remained guarded on all things crypto-related – and Amazon has repeatedly shied away from the notion of enabling crypto pay on its platform. However, as reported, some independent projects were trying to bring crypto closer to Amazon.

In fact, others have suggested that Bezos is actually a crypto skeptic: He owns the Washington Post, which in 2016 published a scathing and now-infamous “obituary” for bitcoin, claiming that “pure greed” was “the clearest reason … for bitcoin’s failure,” adding it was time to issue an RIP on the token and “move on” from it.

Some optimists will perhaps hope that Bezos’ possible crypto skepticism will give way to Jassy’s seemingly more open-minded approach to the sector – and that the days of shopping on Amazon with crypto may not be too far off.

​​Bitcoin Returns Above USD 40,000 In Less Than A Month

The most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), rallied on Saturday, moving back above the USD 40,000 level for the first time in almost a month.

At the time of writing (14:38 UTC), BTC trades at USD 40,420 and is up by 6% in a day, increasing its weekly gains to 18%. BTC reached its all-time high of USD 41,940 on January 8th, per Coingecko.com data.

At the same time, other major cryptoassets are showing mixed results. After its recent rally to its new all-time high of USD 1,754 reached yesterday, ethereum (ETH) is down by 1% in a day, trading at USD 1,694. However it outperformed BTC in a week, increasing by 22%. Binance coin (BNB) is the best performer today as its price rallied by 25%, and jumped 73% in a week.

"Bitcoin and ethereum inflows to exchanges have declined slightly, with 7 day average inflows below the 30 day average, reducing sell pressure. Trade intensity has also declined slightly, which typically suggests buy pressure is reducing. However, for bitcoin at least, it is still high relative to the past," Philip Gradwell, Chief Economist at Chainalysis, wrote in his weekly report on Friday.

According to him, people cashing out after making a 25% or more USD gain has also declined since the large increase in the first week of January, suggesting people continue to hold despite their potential gains, now that some profit was taken following the price gains over the holiday period.

​​Jay-Z & Jack Dorsey Give BTC 500 for Bitcoin Development, New India Ban Rumors Emerge

Jack Dorsey. Source: a video screenshot, Youtube, WIRED
Bitcoin (BTC) bull, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that he and Jay-Z, an American music megastar, are giving BTC 500 (USD 23.5m) to fund BTC development.

The funds will go into a new endowment named ₿trust, Dorsey said, adding that it will initially focus on teams in Africa and India.

"It‘ll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us. We need 3 board members to start," Dorsey said.

Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao was nominated but he declined the offer.

"Thanks for the nomination, but I am not a good candidate as I am dragged in a lot of different directions, too little time. Happy to make a donation once this is up and running though," he said.

As reported, Dorsey has already established Square Crypto, the cryptocurrency-focused division of US-based major payments company Square, co-founded and led by the Twitter CEO. The division is focusing on improving the BTC experience for mainstream users.

Meanwhile, as the new endowment aims to focus on India and Africa, a report by Bloomberg Quint, an India based joint venture of Bloomberg News and Quintillion Media, claims that India will go ahead with a complete ban on investment in cryptocurrencies while providing existing investors a transition period of 3-6 months to exit their holdings. The report quotes "a senior Finance Ministry official."

The official reportedly said that cryptocurrency isn’t fiat currency backed by the Reserve Bank of India and its usage in all forms will be banned through the new law that will be introduced in Parliament. This would include a ban on transacting directly via foreign exchanges, it added.

​​Bitcoin Mining Becomes A Side Venture For Chinese Non-Crypto Firms

As bitcoin’s (BTC) skyrocketing prices continue to whet the appetites of companies from different backgrounds, tea and baked goods retailer Urban Tea is the latest example of a Chinese non-crypto business expanding into crypto mining and blockchain with the appointment of new leadership to pilot its efforts.

The surge in interest by Chinese players comes at a time when local crypto miners could lose their competitive advantage of low electricity costs, Wayne Zhao, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of crypto research company TokenInsight, told Reuters back in January. Chinese miners used to represent as much as 80% of global crypto mining operations, but they have since fallen to about 50%, Zhao said. Another report by Bloomberg suggested Chinese miners are pushed out of the country by rising electricity costs and regulatory concerns.

Despite this, Urban Tea said that, by naming Fengdan Zhou, who worked in blockchain data center companies in Hong Kong, as its new COO, and Yunfei Song, a scientist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as an independent director, it aims to jump on the crypto train in a “critical strategic expansion in blockchain and cryptocurrency mining,” according to a press release.

Yi Long, CEO of Urban Tea, said that to “generate greater value to shareholders, the company’s management team underwent a thoughtful process of exploring, researching, studying, and discussing, with the board's support, to enter into the blockchain and cryptocurrency business.”


“Going forward, we expect Urban Tea will start expanding into blockchain ecosystem, such as cryptocurrency mining, blockchain mine construction and maintenance, and cryptocurrency exchange operations,” according to the CEO.

Some of the recent examples of similar moves into crypto include shipping giant Sino Global which recently acquired a controlling stake in computing company Nine-Chain Intelligent in a deal worth about USD 8.5m. Also in February.

Urban Tea is likely to use the new crypto operations as an additional branch of business, not abandoning its prime activity. Last November, the Hunan-based company said its subsidiary entered into an acquisition agreement to buy a 51% stake in two local food businesses, adding a further 302 franchisees to its network.

At the time of writing (12:18 PM UTC), BTC trades at USD 51,122 and is unchanged in a day. It's up by 14% in a week and 40% in a month.

​​The Bitcoin Lightning Network Grows Even If You’ve Forgotten About It

You may be forgiven for forgetting about the Lightning Network (LN). The layer-two scaling solution that aims to help Bitcoin (BTC) manage a much higher workload, has been seemingly consigned to the sidelines by the ascent of bitcoin as a store of value and alternative asset.

Given its status on the peripheries, you may also be forgiven for thinking that the Lightning Network remains in a largely unfinished or undeveloped condition. However, experts and industry figures told that it has been enjoying increased usage over recent months, and that it’s technologically ready for wider deployment.

But with the dominant narrative still framing bitcoin as a store of value, and with some technical creases still in need of ironing out, it may be some time before Lightning helps the cryptocurrency become a widely used means of exchange.

It may not be used by all BTC holders, but the Lightning Network’s node count recently hit an all-time high. It now stands at just under 9,000 nodes, which is basically the same number as total Bitcoin Core nodes.

Having grown by 81% since January 1, 2020, this number is certainly impressive. That said, the total number of BTC locked into the LN is currently 1,080, which is precisely the same number as was locked into the network on April 7, 2019.

This represents only 0.025% of the 4.25m bitcoins estimated (by Glassnode) to be in regular circulation. Nonetheless, even though most observers acknowledge that the LN is a work-in-progress, they also argue that it’s ready right now to be used more widely.

“It has already reached a point where it is possible to integrate with wallets like OKEx in order to offer users greatly reduced transaction fees and times on smaller amounts of BTC. This is an incredible step forward as one of Lightning's biggest issues has been the accessibility of this technology to the average person – and the user experience,” said OKEx CEO Jay Hao.

OKEx has indeed integrated the Lightning Network into its exchange, and it’s not actually the only exchange to have done so in recent weeks. OKEx-affiliated exchange OKCoin also did so in January, as did Vietnam’s oldest exchange VBTC and also UK exchange CoinCorner. It is also supported by Bitfinex, while Kraken aims to integrate it this year.

As reported, Strike, a popular BTC banking service by US-based Bitcoin Lightning startup Zap, aims to have its Strike Cards rolled out in countries on two continents in the first half of 2021. Strike is an application that allows users to make Lightning payments with either their bank account or debit car, without needing anything else. In early July, Strike's public beta was announced, during which the product got "well into 5-figure registered users and currently process millions of dollars in volume per month."

As Bitcoin developer Chris Belcher told, the Lightning Network is “ready for greater deployment,” and this recent wave of integrations suggests this is the case.

And while the network has in the past had a reputation for being difficult to use, OKEx is hoping its integration will go some way to making it more accessible for the layperson.

“On OKEx, it will be very simple and efficient to take advantage of the Lightning Network and this will help encourage greater usage and support the development of the wider Bitcoin ecosystem,” according to Jay Hao.

​​Bitcoin Rally Might Be Back To 'Normal' by April or 'Sooner' - Pantera's CIO

The bitcoin (BTC) market is still healthy, despite its recent selloff, which is usual for the bull runs in this nascent industry, according to Joey Krug, Co-Chief Investment Officer at major crypto investment firm Pantera Capital.

"I think, in terms of price action, things will be kind of back to normal by April, if not sooner. I think the market does sometimes take a little bit of time to let off steam. It's not going to go up in a straight line," he said during a panel discussion at the Bloomberg Crypto Summit yesterday.

"You know, in traditional finance a 30% to 40% pullback would be a massive bear market," he added.

BTC has dropped by around 20% from its all-time high of USD 58,641 (per Coingecko.com), reached on February 21. At the time of writing (11:37 UTC), it trades at USD 46,349 and is down by 7% in a day, trimming its monthly gains to 42%.

Similarly, BTC dropped by around 30% in January after surpassing USD 40,000 for the first time. It then struggled for a month trying to get above this level again, before suddenly rallying to almost USD 60,000, which was followed by massive liquidations of trading positions as futures traders became too optimistic and overleveraged.

Meanwhile, as for corporate investments in BTC, Krug said that "appropriate" allocation numbers might be "somewhere between 1%-3%" of cash reserves.

"And if BTC goes to zero - I think it's incredibly unlikely at this point - but if it did, you only lose one to three percent," which is a manageable risk for your business, according to the CIO.

Meanwhile, asked about bitcoin’s high volatility, Krug replied that it was actually a benefit in bitcoin’s favor.

Bitcoin is “a call option, and volatility is good for options,” he said. In options terminology, a call option represents a bet that prices will rise in the underlying spot market.

In contrast with Krug’s remarks, a recent survey of 77 finance executives released by research and advisory company Gartner showed bitcoin’s volatility was their top concern by a large margin, at 84%, when it comes to investing in this booming asset class.

However, per analysts at Man Group, the world’s biggest publicly traded hedge fund firm, bitcoin's volatility is simply part of the price discovery in a new asset class, and these are not bubbles. This volatility is "part of a not-so-random walk that will eventually dwindle to give bitcoin more stability, and ultimately, legitimacy," they said in January.

As reported, America’s Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance (also known as MassMutual) purchased USD 100m worth of bitcoin to add to its general investment fund. MassMuttual’s holdings are now 0.04% held in BTC. Meanwhile, Jack Dorsey's Square now holds approximately 5% of their total cash in BTC.

At the same time, one of the most bullish non-crypto companies, US-based software developer MicroStrategy has now spent over USD 2bn (including borrowed funds) on buying BTC and they're planning to buy more.

"What MicroStrategy has done is really not that different than what the big insurer German industrialists did as they started to see the devaluation of the currency ahead of the hyperinflation. I'm not predicting that hyperinflation is going to hit. I'm just saying that that there is a historical analogy," Caitlin Long, CEO and Founder of forthcoming US-based digital asset-focused bank Avanti, who also participated in the discussion, said.

According to her, the tech companies have huge cash piles and they really do need to start thinking about that cash as "an asset that may be burning a hole in their pocket."

​​Grimes and Paris Hilton Go Full NFT – But Some Warn of Trouble Ahead

The non-fungible token (NFT) gravy train is building up a head of steam in the music and art industry.

Within just hours of dance producer 3Lau posting record-breaking sales of almost USD 12m for a batch of exclusive NFTs, the award-winning Canadian musician Grimes and the celebrity socialite and sometime singer Paris Hilton have clambered aboard. But some are warning that the NFT music and art bubble could be about to pop.

Grimes, who is also famously the partner of Tesla chief and bitcoin (BTC) fan Elon Musk, successfully sold some USD 6m worth of digital art in NFT form via the Nifty Gateway marketplace.

The move is another lurch toward crypto and blockchain technology for the Musk-Grimes family. Musk has taken the BTC plunge, calling it his “safe word” and then investing in USD 1.5bn worth of the token through his Tesla auto-making firm. He also joined the dogecoin (DOGE) hype train, buying tokens for his and Grimes’ son, X Æ A-12.

The news was followed by an announcement from the internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, who hinted that he and 1980s star MC Hammer would be working with Hilton on an NFT release that he claimed may fetch up to USD 30m. Hilton claimed that she was “excited” and “fascinated” by the world of NFTs, although her response was met with incredulity by many outspoken crypto advocates.

However, some are warning that the NFT craze could be fleeting.

Crypto trader Andrew Kong tweeted,

“Is it just me or does it seem like celebrities are gonna rug all their fans with NFTs?”

The EulerBeats music and art project recently raised some USD 458,000 in sales of 27 original NFT tracks, as part of a project from Treum, backed by ConsenSys, on the secondary market. But a Twitter user named Dark Pill observed that “any NFT issuer can devalue your holdings if someone pisses them off.”

Dark Pill was reacting to the news that a developer had “copycatted” EulerBeats’ work on the Binance Smart Chain blockchain protocol.

And this led Constantin Kostenko, the Senior Director of Blockchain Solution Architecture & Strategy at ConsenSys Mesh, and one of the architects of the EulerBeats project, to apparently concede that NFT projects could be undermined with relative ease.

In either case, former Coinbase Product Lead Reuben Bramanathan took a more positive tack, though, opining,

“Every single NFT that was minted in 2020 or earlier is going to be worth a lot of money, regardless of what content it is.”

The co-founder of BlockGeeks, Ameer Rosic, tweeted that NFTs were simultaneously evidence of “tulip mania” and would also “change the world.”

But the warning bells were sounding loud and clear for Ryan Selkis, the CEO of Messari, who stated that history could teach people a thing or two about NFT hype and how the picture may look once the current frenzy has subsided.

He wrote,

“In January 2018, I told our investors that ICOs initial coin offerings were going to correct 90-99%, but that many of them would be interesting as long-term investments post-correction. That's how I feel about NFTs today.”

His sentiments were echoed by the CEO of CivicKey, Vinny Lingham, who “100% agreed” with Selkis’ statement.

​​A Debt-Fuelled Economic Crisis & Bitcoin: What to Expect?

It’s hard to shake the fact that bitcoin (BTC)’s ascent from one fresh all-time high to another in recent months has taken place amid a backdrop of a struggling global economy. The United States’ GDP infamously tanked by a record 32.9% in Q2 2020 and fell by 3.5% across 2020 as a whole, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected in June that the global economy would shrink by nearly 5% across the same period.

These are somber figures, yet some economists are suggesting that things could get even worse. Economists at the IMF recently warned that public and private debt — which were already rising in 2019 — could reach tipping point as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, crippling the global economy to the point where it can’t properly recover.

Meanwhile, the US might approve their new USD 1.9trn coronavirus relief package in the coming days.

And while some suggest that commodities such as gold and silver may benefit from any acute crisis, others claim that the bitcoin and cryptoasset markets will suffer, as people and businesses rush for liquidity (i.e. cash), as we already saw during a major market crash in March 2020.

Most economic and financial experts appear to agree that some kind of debt-driven slump is approaching, although they tend to disagree on whether this is an inevitability or not.

“I think the crisis is inevitable and coming in the next few years,” said Michaël van de Poppe, a cryptocurrency trader and analyst.

“Overall private and public debt are going through the ceiling, while real estate and equity markets are accelerating fast and people are jumping around in euphoric emotions thinking that it will only go up even more. But, then the US Treasury yields are crawling upwards,” he added.

Yields on 10-year US Treasury bonds, which is considered to be a safe investment, revisited its one-year high of 1.6% this week, while Goldman Sachs estimates it might hit 1.9% this year as they “believe strong economic data will lead yields to resume their upward trajectory in the coming quarters.”

However, Société Genérale’s Albert Edwards wrote in a note, “the risk is growing that with so many bubbles blown by the Federal Reserve something will burst soon.”

However, for economist and author Peter Earle of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), a looming debt- and spending-fuelled crisis isn’t completely unavoidable.

“In every moment economic, financial market, and social circumstances change, and thus the likelihood of a downturn changes. Even if all the economic ‘stars’ were aligned in a way that made a crisis, recession, or depression likely within a few months – whatever that means – a single Treasury policy change, Federal Reserve program, or some other influence could and probably would radically change the predicted scenario,” he told.

That said, Earle acknowledges that the US and wider international economy is exhibiting many disconcerting signs.

“The huge expansion of the US money supply in March and April of 2020 has had a highly stimulative effect in financial and asset prices … There’s also an uncomfortable persistence in unemployment rates owing to the lockdowns. So clearly the economy is very hot in some ways and lukewarm in others,” he added.

Predicting when such factors will drag a struggling global economy into a full-blown crisis is hard, if not impossible, to predict. Though Michaël van de Poppe estimates it will happen sooner rather than later.

“I don’t assume we’ll be having the crisis this year, but I’m assuming it will start in 2022 and/or 2023 through which bitcoin will also top out in those years,” he said.

​​Taiwanese Prosecutors Swoop, Accusing Bitmain of IP Violations

Taiwan’s New Taipei District Prosecutors Office is investigating the possibility that the Mainland Chinese crypto mining giant Bitmain has, in the prosecutors’ own words, “poached” up to 100 AI engineers from Taiwanese companies in an operation that allegedly began back in 2018, per multiple media reports.

Per the Japanese media outlet Nikkei, as well as the Taiwanese outlets Apple Daily and the Liberty Times, prosecutors have swooped in at at least seven addresses in New Taipei City and Hsinchu, a hub of semiconductor and IT business, bringing in some 20 people for questioning.

The investigation is reportedly centering around two firms, namely IC Link and WiseCore.

Prosecutors reportedly raided offices for data including employees’ names and contracts and payroll data. Computers and mobile phones were also seized.

Nikkei claimed that it had spoken to the office, with the latter stating that a “preliminary investigation showed” that Bitmain had “allegedly first lured a senior engineer to work for a newly established Chinese company as a chairman in China, and asked the person to persuade former colleagues to follow.”

Prosecutors believe that Bitmain then went on to set up two companies “disguised as foreign investments in Taiwan to poach talent.”

The media outlet quoted a New Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesperson as stating,

“We discovered that Bitmain has been poaching Taiwanese research and development talent to speed up its efforts on artificial intelligence chip capability by illegally setting up companies in Taiwan. The newly established companies served a headhunting purpose and the timespan of what Bitmain did dates back to 2018.”

The prosecutors added that “at least 100” engineers had been recruited and added that “there could be more.”

However, no trace of intellectual property violations has yet been unearthed, with the office adding,

“So far, no evidence of trade secrets leakages has been found.”

Bitmain has previously indicated its keenness to break into the AI chipset market, but – like many other Chinese hardware firms – currently relies heavily on the business behemoth Taiwan Semiconductor for much of its production needs.

Taiwanese law strictly prohibits Chinese investors from intervening in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry.

Nikkei also claims it has spoken to lawyers who state that prosecutors may also seek to “charge Bitmain executives with forgery because they filed papers to set up a business in Taiwan without properly disclosing their origin.”

Apple Daily reports that Bitmain originally attempted to lure Taiwanese engineers to relocated to the Mainland with promises of salaries twice as high as their incomes. But when this alleged strategy failed to bear fruit, the mining giant instead reportedly decided to change tack, and instead set up “illegally established” Taiwan-based firms.

​​Justin Sun: Christie’s Tech Glitch Stopped Me Paying USD 70M for Beeple NFT

The Tron (TRX) chief Justin Sun has spoken out after it was confirmed he was thwarted in the finals seconds during his attempt to buy the first piece of digital-only art to go under the hammer at the auction house Christie’s.

Initially, it was reported that Sun had been successful with a USD 69m bid for the work, ennoscriptd “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days,” by the artist Beeple. But it later emerged that Sun had been gazumped with a last-gasp bid from an unknown buyer who is yet to come forward.

As previously reported, Christie’s Noah Davis explained that a “handful of really dogged, really serious clients” had been bidding for the non-fungible token (NFT) work, adding that “they are mostly people who are very steeped in crypto."

Sun, however, appears incensed by the development, and took to Twitter to post a 12-part explanation of how he believes he should have become the rightful owner of the work. He alleged that an error on the Christie’s system had stopped him from submitting an 11th-hour bid of his own – for a staggering USD 70 million.

Sun wrote that he was ”outbid by another buyer in the last 20 secs by USD 250k. The difference was less than 0.3% of the total price,” adding that after the late (and eventually winning bid was lodged),

“I tried to update my bid to USD 70m in the last 30 seconds, yet my offer was somehow not accepted by Christie’s system even though there was still 20 seconds left of the auction.”

He posted what he claimed was video proof of his bidding activity, and contacted Christie’s to ask for an explanation, with what appeared to be an email from the auction house confirming that “unfortunately” his “bid did not reach” the auction house’s “bidding system in time.”

The Tron chief said he was not prepared to bear a grudge about the matter, adding,

“I respect Christie’s rules, and it was just unfortunate that we were not familiar with these terms hence lost the bid. I believe when the leading bidder gets outbid during the last few secs, they should get at least 90 seconds to have the chance to place one more bid. … My commitment and investment to art and NFT and to the Tron community won’t stop here. And I’m dedicated to finding the next Beeple and the next visionary digital artist!”

He also claimed that Christie’s would benefit from making use of blockchain technology to avoid issues like these in the future – and naturally offered to “help” with “incorporating blockchain technology to” the auction house’s system.

​​'NFT' Surpasses 'Ethereum' on Google This Week as Trading Balloons

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) surpassed Ethereum (ETH) on Google this week for the first time ever, while NFT dapps (decentralized applications) saw a triple-digit rise in volume and users.

While the Cryptoverse has had a period of gradual introduction to the phenomenon before the current craze, the term 'NFT' hit the mainstream media and its consumers abruptly and with full force. It and the news related to it have been the topic of many recent conversations, discussions, and reports - particularly now that artist Beeple's piece sold in a Christie's auction for the record-breaking USD 69m on March 11.

Google data shows that searches for the term 'nft' have surpassed the searches for 'ethereum' this past week (however, on average, ethereum is still more popular). Searches for 'ethereum' worldwide are relatively constant in this period, save for the March 13 jump. As for 'nft' - these are more irregular. Several peaks can be noted when 'nft' bested 'ethereum' in this respect, specifically on March 11-13, and then again on March 15.

The first-in-history is better seen on the 30-day chart, showing 'nft' shooting up six days ago and surpassing 'ethereum' soon after, before the latter reclaimed its position (however, it represents data only until March 13.)

As reported, NFTs already surpassed other major cryptoassets, such as litecoin (LTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), and XRP. Except, bitcoin (BTC).

Meanwhile, per Dapp, there are currently 130 applications in the NFT market. In the past 24 hours, they recorded the volume of USD 11.29m, down 51%, as well as 11,210 unique users, down 20%.

However, in the past month, these numbers rise to USD 467.74m in volume, up 320%, as well as 110,030 users, which is up 133%.

The first app by DAU (daily active users) is AtomicMarket – WAX which, per the site, recorded 5,234 DAU in the last 24 hours, which is down 10.65%. In the last week, that number is USD 14,150, up by 7%. Its volume in that period is USD 1.03m, while it also had 1.08m transactions (down 11.5%). WAX is followed by OpenSea, NFTBox, Rarible, and Argon, respectively. The last one had 441 DAU in the past day, down 18.8% from the day before.

​​Bitcoin Suisse's Profit, Temptation Of Mt. Gox Creditors, Brazil's BTC ETF

Crypto financial services firm Bitcoin Suisse AG expects revenues for the full-year 2020 to be in excess of CHF 45m (USD 48.4m) and net profit in excess of CHF 15m (USD 16.13m), Marc Baumann, Head Marketing & Communication of the company. Per the website, in 2019, Bitcoin Suisse saw USD 22.5m in net revenue and USD 2.6m in net income. Their client activity for January and February 2021 was "very high" and it "indicates sustained strong momentum," according to Baumann. Audited results for the full-year 2020 should be published ahead of the Annual General Meeting in June 2021.

Vlad Tenev, CEO of brokerage platform Robinhood, said in a Q&A session that the company is planning to grow its crypto team "hugely" this year, that they've been hiring "a ton of people," and that they want to make "a huge investment." Answering a question from a customer who wants to see the platform "take a bite out of Coinbase," Tenev said: "we hear you on that," adding that the priority is ensuring the reliability and stability of the service when going through exponential growth. Another priority is enabling withdrawals "as soon as possible," and they might add some new coins along the way.

Fortress Investment Group is offering the creditors of defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox about 80% of their claim value, Bloomberg reported, citing a letter from the company. In comparison, the Civil Rehabilitation plan from Mt. Gox’s Japan-based trustee, the one set for an October vote, would refund creditors about 90% of their claim value. Per the report, Fortress said the Rehabilitation plan payments would likely occur in mid-2022, and its own proposal would offer liquidity now.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil approved Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund by local blockchain investment firm QR Capital. Per the company, the fund will be listed on the B3 exchange while more details should be announced "soon."

Bitcoin IRA, a digital asset IRA technology platform that allows users to buy, sell and swap cryptocurrencies for their retirement accounts, said that over USD 100m have been invested into IRA Earn program. The new interest-earning program offers interest rates up to 6% annually on cash and crypto holdings, they claimed.

Two of South Korea’s biggest tech giants, the web search engine operator Naver and the chat app operator Kakao, forked out over USD 10.6m worth of investment in the blockchain accelerator Hashed’s Hashed Fund late last year. Per News1, recently published Kakao and Naver business reports showed that the search engine firm gave the fund over USD 7m worth of funding in mid-December last year, with Kakao stumping up the remainder. The fund’s aim, per its founders, is to create a “protocol economy” for promising blockchain technology-related startups.

Woorton, the French crypto trading prop shop, said it participated in the first-ever BTC auction in France, in which the French State had auctioned BTC 611 (USD 35.98m), recovered by the Agency for the Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (AGRASC) during a judicial seizure, for a value of over EUR 28m (USD 33.3m). Per the emailed press release, Woorton bought several lots of bitcoins for a total amount of EUR 5m (USD 5.95m). Nearly 1,500 people and companies were registered, most of them participating online or by phone, while Woorton said it participated on the floor and bid on all the lots.

Thornton Place Condominium Corporation has announced that it has purchased BCT 0.4 for its reserve fund with CAD 25,000 (USD 20,000) in cash at an average price of approximately USD 50,000 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. Per the press release, this is the first in a series of planned purchases, with an additional USD 560 per month allocated to the purchase of bitcoin on an ongoing and indefinite basis.

​​Justin Sun Finally Snatches a Beeple, as Sophia the Robot Enters NFT

After failing recently to acquire a piece he aimed for, Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun has finally succeeded in buying a non-fungible token (NFT) art piece by the celebrated human artist Beeple. Meanwhile, robot artist Sophia is entering the NFT frenzy, too.

Sun bought 'Ocean Front,' an NFT work by the record-breaking artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, bidding USD 6m at a live auction. As a matter of fact, this is one of Beeple's 'Everydays' - a collection of 5,000 works, one created each day. Combined into 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days,' it was sold for more than USD 69m to buyer Metakovan.

Sun's successful bid to buy the artist’s work came shortly after the tech entrepreneur was outbid in a Christie’s auction earlier this month to buy Beeple's 'The First 5,000 Days.'

In the last minutes of this latest auction, only Sun and 'Farzin' were left in the marketplace Nifty Gateway battle, the latter one presumably being Farzin Fardin Fard, 3F Music Creative Director and Co-Founder. The two drove the price up from USD 4m to USD 6m.

The piece was a part of The Carbon Drop - a collection of eight "unique carbon negative nifties inspired by Earth and the climate crisis," presented by blockchain-focused, not-for-profit grant-making platform Social Alpha Foundation, with all proceeds going to the Open Earth Foundation, a US-based research and deployment 501c3 nonprofit, "raising funds to develop innovative open digital infrastructure for improved management of planet Earth."

Other participating artists were Refik Anadol, Sara Ludy, Mieke Marple, GMNUNK, Kyle Gordon, Andres Reisinger, and FVCKRENDER. The auction ended for all the pieces, with the prices raging USD 20,000 - USD 327,000, besides Beeple's piece. Overall, more than USD 6.66m should be going towards the Foundation.

Meanwhile, a humanoid is working to create NFTs as well.

“I hope the people like my work, and the humans and I can collaborate in new and exciting ways going forward,” said Sophia, a humanoid developed by the Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, as reported by Reuters.

Set in motion in 2016, Sophia creates her art in cooperation with Italian digital artist Andrea Bonceto who is known for his portraits depicting the world’s famous, such as Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk.

Roboticist Dr. David Hanson, the humanoid’s developer, describes Sophia’s creative process as “iterative loops of evolution” in which she combines Bonaceto’s art pieces, but also elements from art history and her own artwork on surfaces in multiple iterations.

Sophia’s first piece, created with the use of artificial intelligence (AI), is scheduled to be auctioned tomorrow during a drop.

“Through Computational Creativity, I collaborate with artists, AI developers, and engineers. Would you like to create an artwork with me?” Sophia tweeted ahead of the auction.

The art piece awaiting its auction on Wednesday, 'Sophia Instantiation', is a 12-second MP4 file demonstrating the evolution of one of Bonaceto’s portraits into Sophia’s digital artwork, and is accompanied by a physical piece painted by Sophia on a printed version of her self-portrait. Created with the use of Cinema 4D, Octane Render and Photoshop, the NFT artwork has a file size of more than 7.2m bytes.

Earlier this month, Hanson announced further robot art was underway, as there was “a lot more where these artworks are coming from." He added that "we actually are forming a whole new venture called Sophia Collective - a collaboration of Hanson Robotics and SingularityNET - oriented toward pulling together a global community to help move Sophia toward beneficial general intelligence through open source software and creative digital arts.”