Year: 2020

On today’s holiday episode of Markets Daily, we celebrate the new year with a classic song from the early days of bitcoin, written and performed by my good friend John Barrett. “Ode to Satoshi” may be purchased from CD-Baby or streamed on YouTube. Disclosure Read More The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which Read more …

In recent months, the race for the development of a central bank digital currency is gaining pace. The last signal was launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who publicly stated the need to invest public resources in blockchain, slated to be the core technology of the future. The euphoria of the Chinese market following the presidential declaration induced Mark Zuckerberg — who had been encountering considerable resistance from Western authorities since the beginning of the Libra project — to raise Read more …

Following Bitcoin’s meteoric rise into the public eye back in 2017, nearly every economist, analyst, and even regular Joe had a prediction for what the first-ever cryptocurrency would eventually be valued at. However, few predictions are as famous as that of cybersecurity expert John McAfee, who put a particularly valuable wager at risk if his prediction didn’t come true – a prediction that Bitcoin would reach $1 million per BTC by the end of 2020. With just 365 days left Read more …

China has formally implemented a law governing cryptographic password management as part of its pre-release plans for its central bank digital currency (CBDC). As English-language news media outlet China Money Network reported on Jan. 1, the latest regulations have become legally binding following their unveiling in October last year. Crypto security paves way for CBDC As Cointelegraph reported, the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress in China passed the crypto law on Oct. 26. It divides passwords at Read more …

The year 2019 has been good to the cryptocurrency gambling industry, thanks to an increasing number of savvy internet users choosing the crypto-based online gaming platforms over conventional fiat-based gaming counterparts. The shift in trend is further fueled by the rising awareness about cryptocurrencies and their advantages, combined with access to faster internet connectivity and smartphone penetration across the globe. In addition to the obvious reasons, a recent report indicates a changing trend among the online gambling platforms when it Read more …

Ripple, the blockchain payment network notionally tied to altcoin XRP, has begun 2020 by releasing funds from its escrow worth $192 million.  Data scanned from the XRP blockchain by monitoring resource Whale Alert caught the latest consignment of XRP tokens, which forms one installment of a pre-planned release schedule Ripple began in 2017.  Ripple continues 55-month escrow schedule In a blog post at the time, officials explained that they would lock up 55 billion XRP, releasing funds each month over Read more …

While bitcoin price may be going through a period of consolidation at the moment (and frankly, after the year that was 2019, who isn’t?), the network fundamentals are as strong as ever. In fact, the hash rate is currently almost seven times as large as it was during BTC’s all-time high price, back in December 2019. We’ve Come A Long Way Baby As pointed out in a tweet by the trader known only as Rhythm, and bringing the year to Read more …

The Bitcoin (BTC) record is showing one indicator of extreme growth this year – the count of Unspent Transaction Outputs, or UTXO. This growth points to several potential explanations. UTXO Growth May Signal Coin Mixing Activity Each bitcoin transaction has the potential to generate UTXO, or “change”, which is then redistributed to a change address. Jameson Lopp showed that UTXO transactions are now happening more often, with a clear growth trend in 2019. Bitcoin's UTXO set rose from 49.6M to Read more …

The US Coast Guard has issued a security warning following a ransomware attack on a federally regulated maritime facility. The intrusion at the unnamed facility, caused a 30+ hour shutdown of primary operations while a response was conducted. Coast Guard Caught Phishing The Ryuk ransomware is believed to have gained access to the facility’s IT network when an employee opened a malicious link in a phishing email. It encrypted a significant number of critical files, and disrupted camera and physical-access Read more …

CoinMarketCap, one of the central crypto price listing websites, has been used as a vehicle to present newly arrived exchanges. Usually, those new markets show up with immense volumes, rising to the top while aiming to become industry names. LAToken’s Crypto Volumes Once Again in Spotlight LAToken, one of those exchanges, has caught attention for its specific brand of shady activity. The market operator looks undercapitalized while reporting disproportionately high volumes. CryptoTwitter is currently lambasting LAToken, for reporting volumes on Read more …

Bitcoin (BTC) easily succeeds over other cryptocurrencies in multiple key areas, which all but guarantee its future as the standard, noted academic Konrad S. Graf has concluded. In the second installment of a two-part interview with Eurasia Review published Jan. 1, Graf highlighted a plethora of “competitive advantages” inherent to Bitcoin.  Graf has sought to gain exposure for Bitcoin through academic essays, which expand beyond its mechanism of action to situate it within the broader economic system. Scarcity  Bitcoin wins Read more …

Over the holiday season, Bitcoin (BTC) has stalled in the low-$7,000s, finding itself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Although some say that this is indicative of an impending return to the $6,000s, then the $5,000s, a growing sentiment suggests the leading cryptocurrency could trade in the $8,000s and $9,000s in the coming 30 days. Related Reading: Why Bitcoin Network’s Record 2019 Is Bullish For the Crypto Market Bitcoin to Top $9,000 By End of January? Without fail, the first Read more …