Craig Wright, bitcoin’s self-declared creator, says the much anticipated “bonded courier” has arrived. According to a court filing to the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida dated Jan. 14, a third party has “provided the necessary information and key slice to unlock the encrypted file,” seemingly referencing the “mysterious,” unnamed intermediary with the private keys necessary to unlock the $9.6 billion bitcoin trove. This so-called bonded courier was originally due to arrive Jan. 1, though Wright did not confirm or deny whether this transpired. Wright requested an extension for the…
Day: January 14, 2020
US SEC Warns Investors That IEOs May Be Breaking Securities Law
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent out a warning today from its Investor Education and Advocacy wing, urging citizens to be wary of initial coin offerings (IEOs). In a Jan. 14 statement on its website, the SEC said: “Be cautious if considering an investment in an IEO. Claims of new technologies and financial products, such as those associated with digital asset offerings, and claims that IEOs are vetted by trading platforms, can be used improperly to entice investors with the false promise of high returns in a new…
Singer Akon Says World’s First ‘Crypto City’ Set for Senegal 2025
Singer Akon tweeted yesterday, “Just finalized the agreement for AKON CITY in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future.” The futuristic city Last year, Cointelegraph reported early plans for the futuristic city. The project portends a “100% crypto-based city with Akoin at the center of transactional life.” The metropolis would become Senegal’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified city. It is set on a 2,000-acre parcel gifted by the Senegalese president. Reports hint at Mbodience, a short drive from Senegal’s new international airport, as the land…
Traders Turn to DeFi to Capitalize on Tuesday’s Crypto Market Spike
Decentralized finance (DeFi) applications are popping off Tuesday, and the ETH price spike isn’t the whole story. As of this writing, ETH is up around $20 since Monday. “Cryptocurrencies are still pretty correlated so with some of the developments around Craig Wright and BSV, that ended up moving the entire market,” Paul Veradittakit, of Pantera Capital, told CoinDesk in an email. Bitcoin SV is the fourth-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap. It shot up 117 percent over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk’s BSV Price Index. Since ETH…
Traders Turn to DeFi to Capitalize on Tuesday’s Crypto Market Spike
Decentralized finance (DeFi) applications are popping off Tuesday, and the ETH price spike isn’t the whole story. As of this writing, ETH is up around $20 since Monday. “Cryptocurrencies are still pretty correlated so with some of the developments around Craig Wright and BSV, that ended up moving the entire market,” Paul Veradittakit, of Pantera Capital, told CoinDesk in an email. Bitcoin SV is the fourth-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap. It shot up 117 percent over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk’s BSV Price Index. Since ETH…
BSV Soars 95% Challenging Its Original Fork Bitcoin Cash for Top 5
On Tuesday Bitcoin price (BTC) pushed through $8,600 and rallied all the way to $8,859 before taking what appears to be a breather near $8,750. As reported earlier by Cointelegraph, crypto analyst Tone Vays predicted that if Bitcoin price gained above $8,600, $8,800 would serve as the next level of stiff resistance. At the time of writing Bitcoin is up 7.74% for the day and it appears that a strong trend reversal is in the making as the price has sustained above the descending channel trendline for the last 20-hours. …
Crypto Community Eyes US–Iran Crisis As Tensions Flare
For one week, the Iran–United States military crisis gripped the crypto community. It began on Jan. 3 with a U.S. drone strike on a convoy traveling near Baghdad International Airport, killing Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) soared. As reported by Cointelegraph at the time, there is strong evidence to suggest that BTC’s price surge from $7,000 to nearly $8,500 is strongly linked to the tensions between the two nations. For example, the push toward $8,500 took place at the…
CME Tells Cointelegraph They Consider $2.3M BTC Options Debut a Success
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is happy with the results of its Bitcoin options trading product launch on Jan. 13, according to CME Group’s managing director and global head of equity index alternative investment products Tim McCourt. First days of new options offering a success “We’re very pleased with how day one went,” McCourt told Cointelegraph in a Jan. 14 interview. “We’ve had positive feedback from customers on day one,” he pointed out, also noting success and progress on day two. “Yesterday, we did a total of 55 options contracts,…
Australia’s Oldest Crypto Exchange Joins Growing Roster of Kraken Acquisitions
U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken has acquired Australia’s oldest crypto exchange. In a recent development, Kraken announced its acquisition of Bit Trade, an Australia-based crypto exchange formed in 2013, in a Jan. 14 press release on Kraken’s blog. The Bit Trades website will, for the time being, still operate as it does presently, a representative from Kraken clarified to Cointelegraph, including maintaining the existing staff. A representative said: “In the short term, Bit Trade will continue under its current brand and operate business as usual. As part of the acquisition we…
CME Bitcoin Options Eclipses Bakkt With a Strong Start
CME Group’s Bitcoin options got off to a good start this week with US$2.3 million traded on the first day, eclipsing the slow start made by rival exchange Bakkt. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched its highly anticipated Bitcoin (BTC) options on Monday, with 55 contracts changing hands on the first day alone. An options contract represents a right, but not an obligation, to purchase one Bitcoin futures contract, which represents 5 BTC or approximately US$2.3 million at its current value. CME is a direct rival of Bakkt, a crypto…