Blockchain technology is claimed to be according to blockchain proponents to be one of the most impactfull discoveries in the recent history. It is promised to have a massive potential to change how we handle online transactions. Despite some skeptics, the majority of experts agree that blockchain has the potential to disrupt the banking and financial industry, and many other ones! To put it simply, blockchain enables decentralized transactions across a P2P network. There are applications where those propertied can be very useful, but there are many cases where blockchain migh not be the best solution even though it is hyped to be solution for very many application (remember to ask Do you need a blockchain? often).
This 16 Blockchain Disruptions (Infographic) by bitfortune.net tries to help you understand how the blockchain technology can and will improve 16 different industries, from music to government.
Infographic by bitfortune.net
1,207 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin And Ethereum Crash: Charts Of The Final Capitulation
https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2021/06/24/bitcoin-and-ethereum-crash-charts-of-the-final-capitulation/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adults In El Salvador To Get $30 In Bitcoin As Nation Unveils Details To Make Crypto Legal Tender
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/25/adults-in-el-salvador-to-get-30-in-bitcoin-as-nation-unveils-details-to-make-crypto-legal-tender/
Every adult citizen in El Salvador will receive $30 worth of bitcoin when they download and register the government’s cryptocurrency app, President Nayib Bukele announced late Thursday as he unveiled details on how the nation would become the first to make bitcoin legal tender.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Financial Times:
UK’s Financial Conduct Authority orders Binance to stop all regulated activities in Britain by June 30, issues consumer alert against it — FCA also issues consumer alert against sprawling cryptocurrency group — The UK’s financial watchdog has ordered Binance to stop all regulated activities …
https://t.co/42lHSZajnf?amp=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reuters:
TP ICAP, the world’s largest interdealer broker, says it is launching a cryptocurrency trading platform with Fidelity Investments and Standard Chartered
EXCLUSIVE TP ICAP to launch crypto trading platform with Fidelity, Standard Chartered
https://www.reuters.com/business/exclusive-icap-launch-crypto-trading-platform-with-fidelity-standard-chartered-2021-06-29/
LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) – TP ICAP (TCAPI.L), the world’s biggest interdealer broker, is launching a cryptocurrency trading platform with Fidelity Investments and Standard Chartered’s digital assets custody unit, the consortium said on Tuesday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Matt Binder / Mashable:
A look at how influencers, including Kim Kardashian, FaZe Clan and Elon Musk, are increasingly using YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms to promote altcoins
Inside the shady world of influencers promoting cryptocurrency
From FaZe Clan to Tana Mongeau, why are so many influencers shilling altcoins?
https://mashable.com/article/influencers-altcoin-scams
YouTubers, streamers, and all kinds of social media influencers are jumping aboard the altcoin train. They’re urging their followers to look into new altcoins on a regular basis, if not flat out encouraging them to invest.
What’s going on here? Why are so many of them promoting it, and how invested are they personally?
A flood of altcoins
New cryptocurrencies have been popping up everyday in order to take advantage of the hype around well-known crypto, such as Bitcoin and the meme-inspired Dogecoin, as the more established cryptocurrencies’ value spiked to new heights.
If you look at forums on Discord, Reddit, and Telegram, you find dozens of new cryptocurrencies launching every week. But even if you mostly hang out on more mainstream social media channels like Twitter and YouTube, you very likely have seen some of your favorite internet celebrities promoting one of these newly launched altcoins over the past few months.
Altcoins — which are also often referred to as “memecoins” or even “shitcoins” – are cryptocurrencies based on some sort of online joke or tied to some sort of money-making scheme.
While Bitcoin and other established cryptocurrencies are already considered highly volatile investments, altcoins are even more risky. These coins are usually built on existing blockchains and buying them often requires a number of steps and hoops to jump through, and there are usually various transaction fees.
“Let’s be clear, these things are absolutely worthless bullshit,” David Gerard, author of Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Take Over the Money and Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, explained to me in a phone conversation.
“You only ever hear from the people who won and never from the people who lost.” he continued. “If you buy the coin, your money is gone, and maybe you can get it back if you sell the magic beans to someone else, which is basically the story of crypto in general.”
“As soon as you could exchange Bitcoin for money, every scammer came out of the woodwork,” he said. “A lot of people [involved in crypto] have a history of scams.”
Gerard brought up one of the earliest altcoin scams, IXcoin, which launched in August 2011.
“The developer put out this coin and he disappeared less than a month later,” he explained. “Once he did that, the floodgates were open and this is where we got thousands of cryptos from. It’s basically the same sort of scheme, to try to make the sucker feel like they’re a big player.”
“What you’ve described is called pump and dump,” Springer explained in a phone call where we walked through the various altcoins and their marketing schemes. “It could also be a ponzi scheme or a pyramid scheme or even both.”
Pump and dump schemes are basically when someone tries to boost the value of an investment, such as a stock or cryptocurrency, by generating fake news or buzz around it.
“I can’t tell you how many Ponzi schemes have done exactly what you’re describing, using exactly the mechanisms you’re referring to,” she explained. “The only difference is usually these schemes are done with fiat currency.”
How these scams get influencers on board
So how do certain altcoins go from one of the hundreds being pitched each month on a subreddit to being heralded by an influencer to their millions of followers?
Of course, it’s possible these influencers have found a crypto project they truly believe to be a good investment opportunity…. But for most influencers what’s more likely is, like FaZe Banks, they are being paid to push an altcoin by its developers.
And it hasn’t gone unnoticed. With the rash of online influencers pushing all sorts of different altcoins over the past few months, some influencers have started speaking out and shining a light on what’s going on.
YouTubers The Nelk Boys recently shared that they’ve been approached with multiple offers to promote various altcoins.
“By the way, that MILF Token shit I did a while back? I already told you guys don’t buy that shit,” Ross said to his fans between laughter. “I got paid a bag to do that shit. Like, I don’t give a fuck. I hope none of you guys actually bought it.”
“It’s unbelievable! He’s literally admitting that he promoted something shady to his audience,” Feitosa said to me about Ross.
Beyond being paid to simply market altcoins, some influencers have more vested interest in promoting certain cryptocurrency.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin billionaire suddenly dies at 41, leaving behind crypto fortune
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/bitcoin-billionaire-death-mircea-popescu-b1874777.html
‘Mircea will endure as one of bitcoin’s most vilifies figures and inarguably one of its greatest philosophers,’ says one industry figure
Tomi Engdahl says:
Isabelle Lee / Insider:
Visa is partnering with 50+ crypto firms, including Coinbase, to allow users to convert and spend crypto, says $1B+ was spent via crypto-linked Visa cards in H1 — – Visa is partnering with over 50 crypto companies to allow clients to spend digital currencies.
Visa is partnering with over 50 crypto companies to allow clients to spend and convert digital currencies
https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/cryptocurreny-payments-visa-partnership-clients-spend-convert-digital-currencies-2021-7
Visa is partnering with over 50 crypto companies to allow clients to spend digital currencies.
This means clients can buy from any merchant accepting Visa, even those who do not accept crypto.
More than $1 billion was spent on crypto-linked Visa cards in the first half of 2021.
Visa on Wednesday announced that it is partnering with over 50 cryptocurrency companies including FTX and Coinbase to allow clients to spend and convert digital currencies through its card program.
The partnership will make it easy for clients to convert and spend digital currencies at 70 million merchants worldwide, even those that do not accept digital assets.
“The merchants don’t have to change anything,” Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of cryptocurrency, told Insider. “It will be the same as any other Visa transaction to them. But on the backend, the crypto assets are instantly converted into fiat.”
“You have this growing number of consumers with assets on crypto platforms, trading crypto, holding crypto – and then you millions of merchants who don’t really understand crypto. They don’t want to have to update their point of sales and terminals and figure out what a blockchain is,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s Chia, And Why Is It Eating All The Hard Drives?
https://hackaday.com/2021/07/07/whats-chia-and-why-is-it-eating-all-the-hard-drives/
At this point the average Hackaday reader is likely familiar with so-called “Proof of Work” (PoW) cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. In the most basic of terms, these cryptocurrencies allow users to earn money by devoting computational power to the network. Unfortunately, it’s well past the point where your standard desktop CPU is moving enough bits to earn anything worthwhile. Individuals looking to turn a profit have therefore resorted to constructing arrays of high-end graphics cards for the express purpose of “mining” their cryptocurrency of choice.
These miners, combined with ongoing chip shortages, have ravaged the GPU market.
Now if you don’t use your computer for gaming, this probably seems like a distant problem. You could even be forgiven for thinking of this as little more than two largely frivolous pursuits at loggerheads with each other.
But there’s a new form of cryptocurrency on the rise which threatens more than just the hardcore gamers. With “Proof of Space” (PoS) cryptocurrencies, it’s not about having the fastest CPU or the highest number of GPUs; the commodity being traded is storage space, and the player with the most hard drives wins.
The Rise of Chia
Conceptually, PoS cryptocurrencies have been around for some time. The idea was first proposed in the 2013 paper “Proofs of Space” by Stefan Dziembowski, Sebastian Faust, Vladimir Kolmogorov, and Krzysztof Pietrzak, which was later presented at the 35th International Cryptology Conference in 2015. The core argument of the paper is that PoW currencies are inherently wasteful as they consume processing power to function, and notes that critics were already predicting Bitcoin would be an environmental disaster. By comparison, the difference in energy consumption between an idle computer and one running their hypothetical PoS software would be negligible. Further, they reasoned that computers already had a large amount of unused disk space that could be offered up to the network.
A few cryptocurrencies did emerge based on the concepts laid out in “Proofs of Space”, but none of them really caught on until the Chia Network was founded in 2017. Thanks at least in part to investors eager to get into anything involving blockchain technology, the startup sailed to a valuation of $500 million in May of this year. Created by BitTorrent developer Bram Cohen, the documentation for Chia leans heavily into the idea that it’s the “green” alternative to Bitcoin, requiring neither a high-performance computer nor any equipment that couldn’t be readily reused if you were no longer interested in Chia. As explained in their FAQ, nothing stops you from deleting the Chia data from your drives and using them for regular file storage.
At least on paper, Chia certainly seems like the more eco-friendly option.
if your only concern is how many watts your system is drawing, you could spin up 20 or 30 SSDs before they even got close to what a modern GPU consumes.
Life on the Farm
The term “mining” makes sense for Proof of Work cryptocurrencies, since you’re putting effort in to unlock something of value. But in the parlance of Chia, those looking to dedicate their storage space to the network are known as “farmers”; since after the initial setup, it essentially becomes a passive activity. The user simply tends their farm, which in this case means keeping an array of disk drives powered and properly maintained, and waits for something to sprout.
In a perfect world, you could simply point your Proof of Space software at an empty hard drive, and get credit for it. But in practice, such a simplistic system would be susceptible to fraud. So if you want to dedicate your drives to Chia, the software needs to periodically verify they aren’t being used for something else. When a drive is first brought online, the Chia software will “plot” it by filling the unused space with cryptographic data. Then, when the blockchain broadcasts a challenge, the farmer’s drives will be scanned and whoever has a hash that’s the closest match will be rewarded with Chia.
As it essentially operates like a lottery, the best way to increase your chances of getting a matching hash and receiving Chia in return is to add more storage to your farm. The good news it that operating a farm doesn’t require any great computational power. In fact, the Chia documentation recommends using a single-board computer such as the Raspberry Pi 4 or ROCK Pi with an array of USB drives to tend your digital crops.
So how big of a farm does one need to make money on Chia? There’s a lot of variables, many of which are changing day to day, but the short answer is that with just one plot taking up 100 GB, you’re going to need a lot of drives to see any notable return. As of this writing, the Chia Calculator indicates that a 100 TB array could bring in $240 USD a month at current prices. But as there’s a certain element of luck involved, your real world results will absolutely vary.
A surging Chia could even limit the availability of single-board computers, something that would impact the hacking and making community more than anyone. Shortages so far have been limited to high capacity enterprise-grade drives, but it’s not hard to imagine how that could expand into consumer hardware.
That’s because Chia has something of a dirty secret. While it’s true that farming is largely passive, the processing of creating the initial 100 GB “plot” is anything but. Creating the cryptographic hashes not only requires a decently powerful computer, but writing them out puts the target drive itself under enormous stress. To get around this farmers have taken to creating their plots on smaller SSDs, and then moving them over to higher capacity enterprise drives for long-term storage once they’re done. In such a configuration the SSDs are considered an expendable resource, with some reports claiming it takes as little as a few weeks to burn through a standard consumer drive.
The demand for drives is real. A representative from Seagate recently confirmed the manufacturer was exploring the idea of Chia-specific drives, but didn’t elaborate on what that would entail.
Looking at the data, it certainly seems like Chia is running out of stream. Unless its value rebounds soon, the return on investment for prospective farmers just isn’t there. Why spend thousands of dollars to earn hundreds? There’s even a chance, given the lottery-like nature of the reward system, that you’d earn nothing at all.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/07/07/hamster-trades-crypto-better-than-you/
The inner machinations of the mind of cryptocurrency markets are an enigma. Even traditional stock markets often seem to behave at random, to the point that several economists seriously suggest that various non-human animals might outperform one market or another just by random chance alone. The classic example is a monkey picking stocks at random, but in the modern world the hamster [Mr Goxx] actively trades crypto from inside his hamster cage.
https://www.twitch.tv/mr_goxx
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
After Binance froze for over an hour during a cryptocurrency crash on May 19, many users who lost money have had trouble petitioning Binance, which lacks a HQ — The world’s largest crypto exchange has no headquarters, making it difficult for disgruntled traders to complain about the May crash
Binance Froze When Bitcoin Crashed. Now Users Want Their Money Back.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/binance-froze-when-bitcoin-crashed-now-users-want-their-money-back-11626001202?mod=djemalertNEWS
The world’s largest crypto exchange has no headquarters, making it difficult for disgruntled traders to complain about the May crash
Anand Singhal built up $50,000 in savings from the time he was 13 doing freelance coding from his bedroom in New Delhi. It was meant to pay for a dream—a master’s degree in computer science in the U.S. The money disappeared in seven minutes on May 19.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, froze for over an hour just as the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plunged. Mr. Singhal and others, who had made leveraged bets on their rise, were locked out.
As losses steepened, the exchange seized their margin collateral and liquidated their holdings. Mr. Singhal said he lost his $50,000 plus $24,000 he had made in previous trades.
Binance traders around the world have been trying to get their money back. But unlike a more traditional investment platform, Binance is largely unregulated and has no headquarters, making it difficult, the traders say, to figure out whom to petition.
Mr. Singhal has joined a group of about 700 traders who are working with a lawyer in France to recoup their losses. In Italy, another group is petitioning Binance over the same issue.
A Binance spokesman said extreme market volatility, like on May 19, can create technical bottlenecks for it and other exchanges.
“We took immediate steps to engage with users affected by the outage,” and to provide compensation, the spokesman said.
The price of bitcoin and other digital assets soared earlier this year, sparking a world-wide frenzy in trading. A huge chunk of that business flowed through Binance, which handled nearly $2.5 trillion in derivatives trades in May, according to data provider CryptoCompare. The subsequent crash in prices exposed the exchange’s inability at times to handle massive trading volume and has led to a backlash from users.
Authorities in Japan and the Cayman Islands have said Binance doesn’t have licenses to operate in those jurisdictions. The U.K. said Binance’s local unit wasn’t permitted to conduct operations related to regulated financial activities. Several British banks have stopped customers from transferring money to Binance.
In the U.S., Binance doesn’t direct users to its main website. Instead, it has an affiliate, called Binance.US, which offers spot trading of cryptocurrencies. Because Binance.US doesn’t offer derivatives, it doesn’t need to be registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Mr. Zhao, 44, founded Binance in China. The Canadian-Chinese programmer got into bitcoin trading after hearing about it at a poker game, according to a 2020 interview posted online. Forbes has valued his fortune at $1.9 billion.
He set up Binance to help investors buy and sell cryptocurrencies and later offered more complex financial products, including futures
To make returns more attractive, traders on its main website can make oversize bets with little money. Investors can get leverage of 125 to 1 for some futures contracts, meaning they can deposit just 80 cents to amass the equivalent of $100 of bitcoin or another currency.
Mr. Singhal said a fellow trader told him Binance had released a compensation claim form. He filed one, but the reply wasn’t what he expected: an offer for a three-month upgrade to Binance’s VIP platform in exchange for Mr. Singhal agreeing “to release and forever discharge” the exchange from any action over his losses. It also threatened to withdraw the offer if Mr. Singhal made it public
‘If you’re trading crypto assets, there’s very little from a regulatory framework.’
— Simon Treacy, a senior lawyer at London-based law firm Linklaters
Regulators in most countries oversee exchanges that offer stocks and other securities, and can force brokers to make investors whole after system outages.
“If you’re trading crypto assets, there’s very little from a regulatory framework,” said Simon Treacy, a senior lawyer at London-based law firm Linklaters LLP.
Under Binance’s terms and conditions, users seeking compensation are required to file disputes with the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, a costly step for an individual.
A lawyer advising the group, Aija Lejniece, until recently an arbitration attorney at law firm Latham & Watkins in Paris, said, “Binance has made it difficult—not impossible, but difficult—for the average consumer to seek recourse.”
As regulators around the world move to restrict Binance, the exchange has been regrouping.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Warner Bros. to give away 91,000 limited-edition NFTs featuring characters from Space Jam: A New Legacy, the biggest drop of NFTs for a film to date — The loony-tunes world of digital collectibles known as NFTs is now getting actual Looney Tunes. — Warner Bros., in the biggest drop of NFTs …
‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’: Warner Bros. Is Tossing 91,000 NFTs Featuring Characters, LeBron James Up for Grabs (EXCLUSIVE)
https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/space-jam-new-legacy-nft-lebron-james-1235016220/
The loony-tunes world of digital collectibles known as NFTs is now getting actual Looney Tunes.
Warner Bros., in the biggest drop of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) for a film to date, is releasing a collection of 91,000 limited-edition NFTs featuring characters from “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” including Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Porky Pig — and the pic’s star, LeBron James.
NFTs certify the ownership of a unique digital content asset, based on blockchain technology, though they are mainly for bragging rights, since digital content can be copied an infinite number of times. (The “non-fungible” part means NFTs are not interchangeable in the way currency is.) Like physical artwork or baseball cards, NFTs can be bought and sold. They’ve become a craze in 2021, mainly released in auctions — and garnering some eye-popping sale prices.
Aiming to provide broad access to the digital collectibles, Warner Bros. will give away one limited-edition “Space Jam” NFT to each individual who registers on Nifty’s (niftys.com), the startup that is hosting the launch, while supplies last.
In addition, fans can earn a second free NFT by sharing a social media post about the “Space Jam” giveaway on Nifty’s. Collectors will be able to purchase additional NFTs for $2.99 apiece.
While the “Space Jam” NFTs are not being auctioned, there’s still an element of exclusivity. The series will feature eight characters from the Looney Tunes “Tune Squad” plus LeBron James. The digital collectibles will include 2D and 3D-animated versions with five levels of rarity for each one. For the rarest category, “Legendary,” there will be only 10 copies of each. Both free and purchased “Space Jam” NFTs will be randomized and include all levels of rarity — a surprise-egg approach
Tomi Engdahl says:
Busted Cryptominers Might Have Mined on 3,800 PS4 Consoles
By Zhiye Liu 4 days ago
Something smells fishy.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ukrainian-authorities-recover-500-gpus-3800-ps4-crypto-bust
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) on Thursday reported that Ukrainian law enforcement has pulled the plug on a clandestine cryptocurrency mining farm in the city of Vinnytsia. The perpetrators had set up camp in an old warehouse and stealthily tapped into the city’s power grid to mine cryptocurrency. Most interestingly, the miners were caught with a shocking number of Playstation 4′s. And pretty much everything else, too.
The Ukrainian authorities reportedly seized up to 5,000 pieces of hardware, including over 500 graphics cards, 50 processors and 3,800 PlayStation 4 (PS4) consoles, all of which are in short supply in the U.S. and beyond, as well as other tidbits.
It’s not surprising to see processors and graphics cards discovered, since they are required to power mining rigs. The PS4 consoles, however, seem to be out of place.
The PS4 features 8GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 5.5 Gbps. Across the 256-bit memory interface, the PS4 delivers a memory bandwidth up to 176 GBps. The Pro variant, on the other hand, has memory running at 6.8 Gbps, offering up to 217.6 GBps. For comparison, the Radeon RX 580, which is one of the best mining GPUs, has a memory throughput of 256 GBps. Hypothetically, the PS4 Pro could potentially come close to a Radeon RX 580 in Ethereum mining.
Even if it is possible to mine with a gaming console, using a graphics card or ASIC would still be more efficient. Then again, the Ukrainian miners had put up bogus electricity meters and were stealing electricity, so efficiency probably wasn’t on their agenda.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nuclear-Powered Crypto Plant Planned for PA Next Year. What Could Go Wrong?
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/talen-energy-plans-nuclear-powered-crypto-mine?utm_medium=social&utm_content=tomsguide&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=socialflow
Tomi Engdahl says:
Historic Power Plant Decides Mining Bitcoin Is More Profitable Than Selling Electricity
By Nathaniel Mott 7 days ago
Something old, something new
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/restored-hydroelectric-plant-will-mine-bitcoin
Tomi Engdahl says:
ASMR for Gamers: Watch Police Steamroll $1.6 Million in Bitcoin Equipment
By Nathaniel Mott 2 days ago
What’s the hash rate now?
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/malaysian-police-steamrolled-bitcoin-mining-equipment?utm_content=tomsguide&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=socialflow
Tomi Engdahl says:
PS4 “Crypto” Warehouse Was Actually Farming FIFA Crap
It’s believed the 3,800 consoles were juicing FIFA accounts to be resold on the open market
https://kotaku.com/ps4-crypto-warehouse-was-actually-farming-fifa-crap-1847316570
Tomi Engdahl says:
Backblaze has investigated whether it could make money mining Chia with its spare capacity. The company doesn’t think its own odds are very good.
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/324578-even-backup-storage-provider-backblaze-cant-make-money-farming-chia?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin Exchange Founders Missing After “Hack.” So Is $3.6 Billion
https://interestingengineering.com/bitcoin-exchange-founders-missing-after-hack-and-so-is-36-billion?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Article&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=Jul25
This is the biggest heist in the short history of cryptocurrencies.
Crypto enthusiasts are seeing some topsy-turvy times. After El Salvador approved bitcoin as a legal tender earlier this month, China came down heavily on mining operations on its mainland, crashing the value of cryptocurrencies globally. Now a $3.6 billion scam involved in cryptocurrency trade has come to light in South Africa, which is being termed as the biggest “heist” in the short history of cryptocurrencies.
Brothers Ameer and Raees Cajee started Africrypt in South Africa in 2019. The company provided its users with updates on cryptocurrency trading and allowed them to create portfolios of cryptocurrency investments. By April last year, Africrypt had purchased 69,000 bitcoins, which is roughly worth $4 billion, for its customers.
Ameer, the COO, then informed their clients that Africrypt had been hacked and their wallets and accounts had been compromised. He also asked the clients to not report this to authorities since it would delay the recovery process.
A few suspicious clients contracted attorneys to look into the matter but the Cajee brothers were untraceable and involved the federal crimes unit. Further investigations found that Africrypt employees had lost access to the back-end platforms, seven days before the alleged ‘hack’.
Bank for International Settlement said, “Cryptocurrencies are speculative assets rather than money, and used to facilitate money laundering, ransomware attacks, and other financial crimes.”
While the QuadrigaCX incident might be termed unfortunate, 400,000 users lost their money when Turkish cryptocurrency exchange, Thodex, ceased operations in April this year after the government banned cryptocurrencies for buying goods and services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shopify allows merchants to sell NFTs directly through their storefronts
https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/27/shopify-now-allowing-imerchants-to-sell-nfts-directly-through-their-storefronts/?tpcc=ECFB2021
Shopify has made it possible for eligible sellers to sell NFTs (non-fungible tokens) via its platform, which opens up a whole new world for e-commerce merchants.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/04/irs-has-seized-1point2-billion-worth-of-cryptocurrency-this-year-.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
You There, Satoshi? $21 Million Of Bitcoin Moved From Wallet Inactive For 9 years
https://www.iflscience.com/technology/you-there-satoshi-21-million-of-bitcoin-moved-from-wallet-inactive-for-9-years/
Tomi Engdahl says:
SCIENTIST INVENTS TOILET THAT TURNS HUMAN FECES INTO CRYPTOCURRENCY
https://futurism.com/the-byte/toilet-poop-green-energy
Tomi Engdahl says:
At least $611 million stolen in massive cross-chain hack
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/114045/at-least-611-million-stolen-in-massive-cross-chain-hack
Quick Take
Cross-chain protocol Poly Network has been hacked for $611 million.
The team behind the protocol is urging exchanges to block the funds that were taken.
Cross-chain protocol Poly Network has been hacked for $611 million in the largest DeFi hack to date.
“We are sorry to announce that #PolyNetwork was attacked on @BinanceChain @ethereum and @0xPolygon,” tweeted Poly Network today, adding, “We call on miners of affected blockchain and crypto exchanges to blacklist tokens coming from the above addresses.”
Poly Network is a protocol for swapping tokens across multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ontology. It was formed by an alliance between the teams behind multiple blockchain platforms, namely Neo, Ontology, and Switcheo.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacker Returns $600+ Million Haul in Poly Network Cryptocurrency Heist https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-breaches-and-attacks/hacker-returns-600-million-haul-in-poly-network-cryptocurrency-heist/
A hacker atypically has returned all of the more than $600 million in digital coins they stole on Tuesday August 11, 20p21 from Poly Network, a decentralized financial (DeFi) platform, in what’s said to be one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in history.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ennakkoluuloja kryptovaluutoista
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/tv/b814a9bf-4e3e-494c-8ac3-06cfe09d5e0d
Suomalaisten väitetään omaksuvan nopeasti uusia teknisiä asioita, mutta kryptovaluuttojen kohdalla tilanne on päinvastainen. Euroopan keskuspankin tuoreen tutkimuksen mukaan vain kahdella prosentilla suomalaisista oli varoja kryptovaluutoissa, kun euromaiden keskiarvo on 3, 6 prosenttia. Kärjessä ovat Saksa ja Kypros, joissa osuus on seitsemän prosenttia. Suomalaisten nihkeä asenne heijastuu uutisointiin, joka käsittelee kryptoja usein negatiivisessa sävyssä rikollisten rahana ja keinottelun välineenä. Bitcoinin tuhlaava sähkönkulutus on tehnyt siitä ympäristöpahiksen, johon nimekkäät kotimaiset sijoittajat eivät halua koskea.
Entä jos bitcoin romahtaa täysin?
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/tv/bad3a6a1-b2c8-4b70-9bbe-699d03f8a40b
Kryptovaluuttojen määrä kasvaa jatkuvasti ja yhä useammat sijoittajat seuraavat niiden liikkeitä.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The embrace of NFTs by Kings of Leon was a wake-up call for their record label—and the music industry, which is now racing to avoid the same mistake that almost killed it 20 years ago.
Are NFTs The New Napster? This Time The Music Industry Isn’t Taking Chances
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2021/08/13/are-nfts-the-new-napster-this-time-the-music-industry-isnt-taking-chances/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainFB&sh=9e5b5f15a906
Tomi Engdahl says:
OnlyFans’ porn ban is crypto’s opportunity of a lifetime
https://tcrn.ch/3D8oFdC
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/08/20/bitcoin-in-for-bumpy-ride-as-china-crackdown-shakes-things-up/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://tcrn.ch/3zdfaau
PayPal expands the ability to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency to the UK
https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/23/paypal-expands-the-ability-to-buy-hold-and-sell-cryptocurrency-to-the-u-k/?tpcc=ECFB2021
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
Cryptocurrency companies are moving mining hardware out of China post-crackdown, with US-based Bit Digital trying to send 20K+ mining rigs to Canada and the US — Miners face high costs, other hurdles in removing their machines after Chinese crackdown — When China vowed to crack …
Cryptocurrency Companies Are Leaving China in ‘Great Mining Migration’
Miners face high costs, other hurdles in removing their machines after Chinese crackdown
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cryptocurrency-companies-are-leaving-china-in-great-mining-migration-11629624602?mod=djemalertNEWS
When China vowed to crack down on cryptocurrency mining early this summer, Nasdaq-listed Bit Digital Inc. ramped up efforts to get its more than 20,000 computers out of the country.
The machines are the heart of the New York-based company, which makes money by plugging the high-powered computers into cheap electricity sources so they can work through mathematical problems to unlock new bitcoin. The process, called mining, has gone from something any individual with a PC could do a decade ago, to a massive industry that uses numerous computers and lots of electricity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Packy McCormick / Not Boring:
An in-depth look at Solana blockchain project: $0.0001/transaction and 65,000 transactions/second, well ahead of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and a $21.2B market cap
https://www.notboring.co/p/solana-summer
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inside Iceland’s Massive Bitcoin Mine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4JGgLfHNgg
Why has a chilly island in the north Atlantic become a crucial frontier in the occult, high-stakes world of crypto currency mining? An unremarkable looking cluster of sheds on the western cluster of the Nordic nation might just hold the answer. So join us today as we follow the money and take a peek inside Iceland’s insane bitcoin super mine.
About a decade ago the first proper ‘real world’ bitcoin transaction took place, when one Laszlo Hanyecz infamously purchased two hot and juicy Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins. Those 10,000 coins were only worth, at the time, around $40. Delicious as the pizzas no doubt were, if he’d only kept hold of those bitcoins they’d by now be worth somewhere north of 280 million dollars.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
A look at El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin as a national currency on Sept. 7, by giving citizens $30 to sign up for its Chivo wallet, and potential issues — Impoverished nation is defying warnings against using volatile crypto asset as official currency alongside U.S. dollar
El Salvador Gets Ready for a Risky Bitcoin Experiment
https://www.wsj.com/articles/el-salvador-gets-ready-for-a-risky-bitcoin-experiment-11629966845?mod=djemalertNEWS
Impoverished nation is defying warnings against using volatile crypto asset as official currency alongside U.S. dollar
In less than two weeks, El Salvador will become the first country to adopt bitcoin as a national currency. No one knows what comes next.
The government of the impoverished Central American nation aims to spend up to $75 million as part of a plan to hand out $30 to people who sign up to an e-wallet called Chivo, or “Cool.” That software-based system would allow an estimated 2.5 million Salvadorans to buy goods or pay for services in U.S. dollars or bitcoin, El Salvador’s two official currencies as of Sept 7.
The foray into bitcoin risks wrecking El Salvador’s $26 billion economy. The indebted nation’s central bank could be forced to spend hard-currency reserves to buy bitcoin if the value of the crypto asset craters and consumers rush to the safety of the dollar. The government can’t print its own money—El Salvador ditched the colón in favor of the greenback two decades ago—and is struggling to earn dollars.
“Adopting bitcoin as legal tender puts us on a roller coaster,” says Carlos Acevedo, an economist who served as governor of El Salvador’s central bank from 2009 to 2013.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
DJ 3LAU launches Royal, which lets users trade shares of song royalty rights as crypto tokens, with $16M in seed funding led by Founders Fund and Paradigm — Royal, a non-fungible token (NFT) investment platform focused on music, has announced a $16 million seed-stage fundraise.
Paradigm and Founders Fund lead $16 million investment in 3LAU’s NFT music platform Royal
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/115611/nft-music-platform-founded-3lau-16-million-seed-round-paradigm-founders-fund
Royal, a non-fungible token (NFT) investment platform focused on music, has announced a $16 million seed-stage fundraise.
Founded by electronic dance music artist and NFT proponent 3LAU (real name Justin Blau), Royal gives fans the chance to ‘co-own’ music in the form of a digital asset — and potentially a way to earn royalties alongside artists.
“Culture and investing are bleeding together, and crypto is where that’s happening fastest. Justin and JD [JD Ross, Royal’s other co-founder] both live in that intersection,” said Fred Ehrsam, co-founder and managing partner of Paradigm, in a statement. “Royal is the future we are headed to: creators go direct to fans and fans share in the success of creators.”
An early adopter of NFT technology, Blau sold a tokenized album in March of this year for a whopping $11.7 million. He is also a former co-founder of the real estate platform Opendoor and formerly a general partner at the investment firm Atomic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scott Chipolina / Decrypt:
El Salvador’s plan to make Bitcoin legal tender has been unpopular, with protests over concerns of money laundering, forcing trade in BTC, unconstitutionality — El Salvador will soon accept Bitcoin as legal tender, but not everybody shares the President’s enthusiasm as citizens took to the streets this week.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scott Chipolina / Decrypt:
El Salvador’s plan to make Bitcoin legal tender has been unpopular, with protests over concerns of money laundering, forcing trade in BTC, unconstitutionality — El Salvador will soon accept Bitcoin as legal tender, but not everybody shares the President’s enthusiasm as citizens took to the streets this week.
New Round of Protests Against President Bukele’s Bitcoin Law in El Salvador
https://decrypt.co/79832/new-round-of-protests-against-president-bukeles-bitcoin-law-in-el-salvador
El Salvador will soon accept Bitcoin as legal tender, but not everybody shares the President’s enthusiasm as citizens took to the streets this week.
Salvadorans have taken to the streets in protest against the country’s acceptance of Bitcoin as legal tender, which will take place on September 7, 2021.
“No al lavado de dinero corrupto,” signs read during a protest in San Salvador last Friday—which means “no to laundering corrupt money.”
This is not the first time El Salvador has seen protests inspired by President Bukele’s embrace of Bitcoin. In July, citizens gathered outside the country’s Legislative Assembly to protest the Bitcoin law. “It is a law that generates legal insecurity and that could be used to defraud users and also facilitate money and asset laundering,” said activist Idalia Zuñiga at the time.
El Salvador Flag on the mast. Image: Shutterstock
Salvadorans have taken to the streets in protest against the country’s acceptance of Bitcoin as legal tender, which will take place on September 7, 2021.
“No al lavado de dinero corrupto,” signs read during a protest in San Salvador last Friday—which means “no to laundering corrupt money.”
This is not the first time El Salvador has seen protests inspired by President Bukele’s embrace of Bitcoin. In July, citizens gathered outside the country’s Legislative Assembly to protest the Bitcoin law. “It is a law that generates legal insecurity and that could be used to defraud users and also facilitate money and asset laundering,” said activist Idalia Zuñiga at the time.
What’s more, these protests are the latest in a long line of attempts by the Salvadoran public to sidetrack President Bukele’s Bitcoin Law, which will see the flagship cryptocurrency become legal tender next week.
“What El Salvador is trying to do is unprecedented and the country has the eyes of the world on it,”
Recently, President Bukele insisted that Bitcoin acceptance won’t be compulsory. “If someone wants to continue loading cash, not receive entry bonus, not win over customers who have Bitcoin, not grow your business and pay commission on remittances, you can keep doing it,” the president said.
This contradicts the legislation, however.
Article 7 of President Bukele’s Bitcoin Law says “every economic agent must accept Bitcoin as payment when offered to him by whoever acquires a good or service.”
The same CEC study also found that 61% of merchants—almost two-thirds—said they would not be willing to accept payments in Bitcoin.
Based on that data, it comes as no surprise that Salvadorans are protesting this week.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
United Talent Agency signs NFT art projects CryptoPunks, Meebits, and Autoglyphs, all created by Larva Labs, for representation across film, TV, games, and more — The agency will represent the crypto-art projects from Larva Labs for film, TV, video games, and publishing projects …
UTA Signs NFT Art Projects CryptoPunks, Meebits and Autoglyphs (Exclusive)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/uta-cryptopunks-nft-film-tv-vieo-games-1235005392/
The agency will represent the crypto-art projects from Larva Labs for film, TV, video games, and publishing projects, becoming some of the first crypto-native IP to seek mainstream content deals.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vildana Hajric / Bloomberg:
How Ethereum’s increase in value, up 350% this year, and the rise of NFTs and DeFi have dampened enthusiasm for Bitcoin as the most essential crypto — – Ether has gained 350% this year versus Bitcoin’s 60% advance — August marked Ether’s second monthly rise and best since April
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-01/nfts-defi-boost-for-ethereum-dims-clamor-of-bitcoin-maximalists
Tomi Engdahl says:
Muyao Shen / CoinDesk:
A doge meme NFT that sold for $4M in June is now valued at $225M+ after it was fractionalized into nearly 17B tokens and sold in a one-day auction — Just three months after a non-fungible token (NFT) representing an image of the original Shiba Inu dogecoin meme sold for about $4 million …
Record Doge NFT Sale Highlights Growing Demand for Fractionalization
Group ownership of NFTs is rising, but critics question whether the trend will last
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/09/02/record-doge-nft-sale-highlights-growing-demand-for-fractionalization/
Tomi Engdahl says:
NFT-kupla puhkeaa, mutta ne ovat tulleet jäädäkseen
https://www.sijoitustieto.fi/sijoitusartikkelit/nft-kupla-puhkeaa-mutta-ne-ovat-tulleet-jaadakseen
“Mitä jos kuplan kuumimpana hetkenä näemme kaiken selkeimmin?”, kysyy toisinajattelijana tunnettu Peter Thiel. Hän viittaa kysymyksellään siihen, miten teknokuplan aikana mikä tahansa .com-päätteinen nettisivusto sai valtavat arvostukset pörssissä vain romahtaakseen myöhemmin. Teknohuuman taustalla häämötti kuitenkin visio internetin tulevaisuudesta.
Meneillään olevassa NFT-huumassa on viitteitä vastaavanlaisesta kajastuksesta.
NFT, eli Non-Fungible Token, on lohkoketjussa sijaitseva digitaalinen todistus omistusoikeudesta.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana ja muut kryptovaluutat ovat “Fungible Tokens”. Yksi bitcoin on samanlainen kuin kaikki muut bitcoinit ja niitä voidaan vaihtaa keskenään samalla arvolla.
Kukin NFT sen sijaan on ainutlaatuinen.
Siinä missä osakekirja oli paperimuotoinen arvopaperi, joka todisti omistuksen osakkeesta tai osakkeista, on lohkoketjuun tallennettu osake-NFT digitaalinen versio samasta asiasta.
NFT-markkina tällä hetkellä
Ihmiset ovat kautta aikojen pelanneet status-pelejä.
Tällä hetkellä NFT-markkinoilla pelataan pääasiassa status-pelejä, mutta tulevaisuudessa NFT-sopimusten käyttö tulee olemaan huomattavasti käytännöllisempää.
Yksi ensimmäisiä NFT-projekteja on LarvaLabsin CryptoPunks, joka koostuu 10 000 uniikista hahmosta, punkista. Halvimman punkin hinta on tällä hetkellä 91 ETH, eli noin 345 000 dollaria. Vaihtoa CryptoPunkseille on elinkaarensa aikana kertynyt 1,19 miljardia dollaria.
Suurin osa projekteista on tällä hetkellä Ethereumin verkossa, mutta kilpailevalla Solanan smart contracts-alustalla on tarjota omat NFT-kokoelmansa, kuten esimerkiksi Degenerate Apes.
Ehkä huvittavin projekti on EtherRock, joiden NFT:t koostuvat yksinkertaisista kivien kuvista. Halvimman hinta on tällä hetkellä 599 ETH eli 2,1 miljoonaa dollaria ja kallein kivi vaihtoi lompakkoa 888 ETH:n hinnalla muutama päivä sitten.
Suurin NFT-markkinapaikka on OpenSea, jossa taiteilijat voivat mintata taideteoksiaan NFT-muotoon ja myydä niitä markkinapaikalla.
NFT-huuma sai alkunsa maalikuussa, jolloin kryptopiireissäkin ihmeteltiin jpeg-kuvien suosiota. Tällä hetkellä maaliskuinen piikki näyttää lilliputtimaiselta.
Heinäkuussa vaihtoa eri NFT-pörsseissä kertyi 300 miljoonaa dollaria. Suurin osa vaihdosta tehtiin Opensea-markkinapaikalla.
Elokuussa vaihto nousi huimaan 2,3 miljardiin dollariin.
Vaihto ei koostu ainoastaan jpeg-kuvista, vaan videopeleihin liittyvät NFT-tokenit tekevät nekin nousuaan.
NFT-buumia dominoivat jpegit ja videopelit, mutta “oikean elämän” käyttöön tarkoitetut NFT:t tekevät vasta tuloaan.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What the NFT!?!? Don’t worry if you’re in the dark—Today, we’re shedding light on NFTs
https://omr.com/en/nft-crypto-blockchain-explainer/?fbclid=IwAR1Ze9MLaZd937O-4_DbpGT413akYhyUeUvNXtJ2G8RWn7frN_rJGmkb9NQ
A breakdown of important terms, practical examples and examples of how you can get in on the game
No question that in 2021, there have been two terms that have dominated the digital industry: “Metaverse” and “NFT.” As is nearly always the case with the latest in-vogue terms, there are a few people who know, really know, what they’re talking about and the overwhelming majority who either pretend to know what’s up or have no idea what’s going on—and only know they should know more than they do. Today, we’re helping all of you still in the dark on the latest tech mumbo-jumbo and giving you an NFT crash course to help you get in on the game while you still can.
Ok, got it. Virtual world with all the jazz and razz-a-matazz as the real world. But what are NFTs?
They are digital goods with programmable scarcity that can be traded within the digital space. Thus they enable ownership of unique digital goods. NFTs can be outfits for your avatar, trading cards of your favorite soccer players, video highlights of NBA games, digital albums or artefacts of random collectables like a screenshot of the first ever tweet. Furthermore, NFTs can be digital sneakers, works of art or an old internet meme.
The most important aspects of NFTs are, as the name non-fungible implies, they cannot be exchanged. If, for example, ten people each have a bitcoin, there is no practical difference between the coins. They are in form, function and value the same.
The other key aspect of NFTs is that each has a unique, verified owner. This is due to the fact that all NFTs are built using cryptocurrency and the blockchain, in the majority of cases the ethereum blockchain. To go into detail here would take too long and probably create more confusion than clarity, so, in short: blockchains are databases simultaneously operated by millions of people. Since blockchain data cannot be destroyed, the information saved on them can be retrieved forever.
What that means is that if you purchase an NFT (or any cryptocurrency) and then sell it tomorrow, that transaction is saved to the blockchain, thus ownership is easily verifiable by anyone on the planet. As I mentioned before, the majority of blockchains are ethereum-based.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin will rise for the first time among the official currencies of the states in El Salvador.
According to Aleksi Grym, the Bank of Finland’s digitalisation advisor, this is a situation in which El Salvador is becoming a test laboratory for the introduction of bitcoin, which will be used by the country’s inhabitants.
The idea of introducing bitcoin seems to be a personal project of the country’s president, Nayib Bukele, as the majority of the country’s people oppose the project. Nine out of ten respondents to the UCA survey did not have a clear idea of what Bitcoin is.
https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000008238738.html?share=f11e2e4109990266c2f5f0b2c234f479
Bitcoin on nousee El Salvadorin viralliseksi valuutaksi, vaikka suurin osa kansalaisista ei edes hahmota, mikä se on – asiantuntija pelkää, että ihmisten tietämättömyyttä käytetään hyväksi
Suomen Pankin Aleksi Grymin mukaan maan huonosti valmistellun hankkeen vaikutuksia on tässä vaiheessa mahdotonta arvioida.
Tomi Engdahl says:
El Salvador teki historiaa: bitcoin hyväksyttiin maassa lailliseksi maksuvälineeksi
El Salvador on pian maailman ensimmäinen valtio, jossa kryptovaluuttaa voi käyttää laillisena maksuvälineenä.
https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000008039435.html
Bukele uskoo, että kryptovaluutan laillistaminen maksuvälineenä hyödyttää suurta osaa maan vähävaraisista. Bitcoinin avulla he voisivat helpommin vastaanottaa rahalähetyksiä ulkomailta. El Salvadorin talous on vahvasti riippuvainen ulkomailla työskentelevien kansalaisten maahan lähettämistä varoista.
Siirtymä bitcoiniin voi kuitenkin vaikeuttaa El Salvadorin keskusteluja kansainvälisen valuuttarahaston (IMF) kanssa.
Myös Yhdysvaltain dollari on laillinen maksuväline El Salvadorissa. Bitcoinin vaihtokurssi onkin sidottu maassa dollariin.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York Times:
Analysis: mining bitcoin uses 91 TW/h of electricity annually, ~0.5% of all electricity consumed globally or 7x Google’s total usage, and grew 10x in five years — In 2009, you could mine one Bitcoin using a setup like this in your living room.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/03/climate/bitcoin-carbon-footprint-electricity.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://omr.com/en/nft-crypto-blockchain-explainer/?fbclid=IwAR0F8HzYxHUuqyk8TgMlWC4CuToIEuEnjuJ3Opi8lV75aBtOM097Mr5P6wo
Tomi Engdahl says:
Businesses in the country must accept bitcoin unless they lack the technology required.
https://www.iflscience.com/policy/bitcoin-is-legal-tender-in-el-salvador-from-today/
Tomi Engdahl says:
China’s ban on crypto mining has meant a boom for miners elsewhere—but only if they can get their hardware up and running
Crypto’s Slow Motion Gold Rush After China’s ban, crypto mining profits are up, but getting in on the action is proving tricky
https://spectrum.ieee.org/crypto-mining
Mining plays a crucial role in the functioning of many cryptocurrencies, including the two biggest—Bitcoin and Etherum. Miners compete with each to solve complex calculations that help secure transactions, and are rewarded with new coins in return. While anyone with a computer can try their hand at mining, today the bulk of it is done by professional outfits running thousands of specialized chips in dedicated datacenters.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Saikat Chatterjee / Reuters:
Bitcoin fell 17%+ to ~$43K before rising to $47K as El Salvador adopts it as legal tender, where high demand led to the Chivo wallet being temporarily unplugged — The price of cryptocurrencies plunged and crypto trading was delayed on Tuesday, a day in which El Salvador ran into snags …
Cryptocurrency prices tumble and exchange trading falters as snags crop up
https://www.reuters.com/technology/cryptocurrencies-selloff-widens-bitcoin-down-nearly-4-ether-6-2021-09-07/
NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) – The price of cryptocurrencies plunged and crypto trading was delayed on Tuesday, a day in which El Salvador ran into snags as the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.
Shares of blockchain-related firms also fell as crypto stocks were hit by trading platform outages. But the major focus was on El Salvador, where the government had to temporarily unplug a digital wallet to cope with demand.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Muyao Shen / CoinDesk:
President of El Salvador says the country bought 550+ bitcoins on Monday, as the law making bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador goes into effect
El Salvador Buys Its First 200 BTC a Day Before Its Bitcoin Law Becomes Effective
And it “will be buying a lot more.”
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/09/06/el-salvador-buys-its-first-200-btc-a-day-before-its-bitcoin-law-becomes-effective/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg:
Crypto exchange Bitso says it is the core service provider for El Salvador’s Chivo wallet and will work with Silvergate Bank to facilitate USD transactions
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-07/crypto-platform-bitso-to-service-el-salvador-s-bitcoin-wallet