crypto blog
Community celebrates Bitcoin Genesis Day by sending BTC to the genesis block
As Bitcoin (BTC) has its 14th birthday, Bitcoiners from around the world are celebrating in various ways, with some opting to send BTC to the address containing the rewards for mining its genesis block. On Jan. 3, 2009, pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block, which led to the minting of the first 50 BTC. This instance paved the way for an entire industry to be developed, with millions of people working toward a similar vision for the future of money. 14 years later, many are showing their respect by posting various greetings to the cryptocurrency that started it all. Essen, Germany Celebrating #Bitcoin Genesis Day & sound money#gesundesgeld pic.twitter.com/3Ol5E2QdSZ — El Bitcoin ambassador (@elbitcoinamb) January 3, 2023 Some are tipping their ...
Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal team warns of ‘harassment and threats’ to parents in latest court filing
The legal team behind former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried has petitioned a court to redact certain information on individuals acting as sureties for his $250-million bond, citing threats made against his family. In a letter dated Jan. 3 filed to Judge Lewis Kaplan for the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, Bankman-Fried’s legal team requested the court order “names and other identifying information” of two bail sureties not be disclosed to the public and redacted from bonds once they were signed on Jan. 5. Mark Cohen of the law firm Cohen & Gresser said that if the individuals’ personal information were to be available, they could be subject to similar harassment as the former FTX CEO’s parents, Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman. “In...
Erik Voorhees tips $40K BTC by June, but little consensus among pundits
There is little agreement among Bitcoin’s commentators over the last few weeks, with crypto execs, research analysts and billionaire investors offering wildly different takes on what’s in store for Bitcoin for the year ahead. One crypto exchange founder expects Bitcoin (BTC) to spike to $40,000 by the summer, while a Bitcoin billionaire has renewed his bullish $250,000 BTC price prediction for the year. Erik Voorhees — $40,000 by the “summer” Erik Voorhees, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift, was optimistic about a potential recovery of Bitcoin’s price during an interview with Bankless on Jan. 2, stating he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Bitcoin (BTC) hit “like $40K” by the “summer.” Voorhees noted that if his prediction were to come true that would be “2.5X” fro...
Bahamas regulator denies asking crypto exchange FTX to mint new tokens
The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) has denied FTX debtors’ claims and expresses concern that the investigation has been ‘impeded.’ According to a statement released on Jan.3, The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) has had to correct material misstatements made by John J. Ray III, the representative of the United States-based FTX debtors, in press and court filings. The document stated that the Chapter 11 Debtors had “publicly challenged” the Commissions calculations of digital assets transferred to digital wallets under the Commission’s control in Nov. 2022. It argued that these statements were based on “incomplete” information and the debtors did not do due diligence by requesting information from the Joint Provisional Liquidators. The statement added that the FT...
Bithumb former chair Lee Jung-Hoon acquitted in the first instance
Lee Jung-hoon, the former chair of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, was found not guilty on Jan. 3 by the 34th Division of the Criminal Agreement of the Seoul Central District Court. Jung-Hoon was on trial under accusations of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment Of Specific Economic Crimes due to fraud. The case has been ongoing since October 2018, when the former chairman allegedly defrauded 100 billion won ($70 million) during negotiations for the acquisition of Bithumb from Kim Byung-gun, chairman of the cosmetic surgery company BK Group. Jung-hoon could’ve faced an 8-year sentence had he been found guilty. According to the local press, in its official response to the ruling, Bithumb said it respects the court’s decision. The exchange also clarified that it i...
Su Zhu gets called out by the community as he fires off accusations against DCG
As liquidity issues surround the Digital Currency Group (DCG), Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founder Su Zhu made a Twitter thread containing allegations against DCG and FTX. However, the founder immediately got called out by the crypto community for blaming others and not taking accountability. In the thread, Zhu alleged that DCG had a role in the collapse of LUNA, now called Terra Classic (LUNC). Zhu claimed that the venture capital firm conspired with the FTX exchange to attack LUNC and made a profit by doing so. The 3AC founder also said that instead of restructuring from losses due to the 3AC bankruptcy, DCG “magically filled the hole.” Despite Zhu’s efforts to demonize DCG and FTX, the community believes that he should focus on his own misdeeds. So it was everyone else’s fault and ...
New year, same old troubles — The FTX saga continues in 2023: Law Decoded, Dec. 26-Jan. 2
Although having been granted the opportunity to enjoy Christmas and the New Year with his family, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has very few reasons for optimism in 2023. The United States Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the whereabouts of approximately $372 million in missing digital assets from FTX and its U.S.-based subsidiary, FTX US. According to SBF, the incident was perpetrated by either a former FTX employee or someone who had unauthorized access to a former employee’s computer. It would be great to know which former employees started to transfer out funds from Alameda Research just days after Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bond. The Alameda wallet was found to be swapping bits of ERC-20s for Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT), and then those as...
‘Tracers in the Dark’ presents a fun crime story — and lesson in privacy
On its surface, Andy Greenburg’s new book, Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency, is a standard crime story. Fans of true crime podcasts will enjoy the crypto version and get a seat in the Federal Bureau of Investigation van as United States federal agents track down criminals through their crypto transactions. The first story recounted is that of a crooked Drug Enforcement Agency agent who stole funds from the online drug market Silk Road. It also addresses the hunt for Dread Pirate Roberts, aka Ross Ulbricht — Silk Road’s founder. Ross’ operational security was pretty good. He used Tor for everything. He used an encrypted laptop that locked itself when it was closed. He didn’t share personal details. But in privacy, all it takes is one mistake. He was...
Models and fundamentals: Where will Bitcoin price go in 2023?
Bitcoin (BTC) had a bumpy ride throughout 2022, along with the rest of the digital asset market. The cryptocurrency began the year exchanging hands around $46,700 and is currently trading over 64% down at $16,560 at the time of writing. Consequently, the coin’s market capitalization took a tumble from around $900 billion on Jan. 1, 2022 to end the year at around $320 billion. Bitcoin Price Trend in 2022 While Bitcoin’s drop in price could be attributed to the extraordinary circumstances that the entire cryptocurrency market has been through this year, it is important to reevaluate the 2022 price predictions made by various market entities. One of the most popular predictions was that of analyst PlanB’s Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model. The S2F model predicted BTC to be at nearly $11...
Final Fantasy creator reveals ‘aggressive investment’ in blockchain games
Final Fantasy creator Square Enix is set to double down on blockchain game development despite turbulence in the crypto market, according to a Jan. 1 letter from the Japanese company’s president, Yosuke Matsuda. The letter, titled “A New Year’s Letter from the President,” aimed to recap the company’s major accomplishments in 2022 and explain its plans for 2023. Out of 15 paragraphs, seven were about blockchain gaming, showing that blockchain gaming is a major focus of the company’s investing strategy going forward. ⚔An introduction to SYMBIOGENESIS ①⚔ Starting from today we’ll begin introducing Symbiogenesis, starting from the concept✨ Symbiogenesis is a new franchise by SQUARE ENIX, which brings real game utility ⚔ to 10000 collectible NFT artworks ...
Trouble brewing for the US: Two-thirds of TradFi expects a 2023 recession
The United States economy could be in for an upset. Data from a Wall Street Journal survey revealed financial experts expect the country to face an economic downturn this year. Over two-thirds of economists at 23 major financial institutions that do business with the Federal Reserve believe the U.S. will have a “shallow” or “mild” recession in 2023. Two of the surveyed institutions predict a recession for the following year. The research included big names in the financial services sector, such as Barclays, Bank of America, TD Securities and UBS. Collectively, the Federal Reserve was named as the primary reason for the recession due to it raising interest rates to fight inflation. At the time of writing, the inflation rate in the U.S. is 7%, compared with the Fed’s target desired rate...
Crypto exchange adoption boosts ENS registrations to over 2.2M
2022 proved to be a fruitful year for Ethereum Name Service, with the platform recording 2.2 million registered domains despite unfavorable market conditions for the cryptocurrency space. According to the service, over 80% of the total ENS domains created since the project’s inception were registered in 2022. Data from Dune Analytics shows that ENS has around 2.82 million names registered as of Jan. 2, with 630,340 owners of ENS domains. Happy New Year everyone! 2022 was an incredible year for ENS! Over 2.2m ENS names were registered in 2022 (that’s 80% of ALL names created) If you’re ready for 2023, drop your ENS below ✨ — ens.eth (@ensdomains) January 1, 2023 As Cointelegraph previously explored in an exclusive interview with founder Nick Johnson, ENS allows users to m...
