An Ecuadorian presidential candidate hinted at creating a cryptocurrency in the country as part of its government agenda. Giovanny Andrade said that the national crypto aims to “facilitate” transactions across the country. Crypto Could Be Backed by Gold During an interview with Primicias, Andrade, representing the Union Ecuatoriana party, believes its cryptocurrency idea is a crucial part of his country’s proposals. However, he doesn’t want to ride off from Ecuador’s dollarized economy: We are looking at ways to create an Ecuadorian cryptocurrency. This does not mean that we are going to escape from dollarization. We must support dollarization. The Ecuadorian-Chilean Mining Chamber also claimed that a series of investors want to allocate $320 million to finance a “Latin American gold refinery.” He also said that such cryptocurrency is backed by the yellow metal gold, like Venezuela’s petro with oil. Andrade continued to talk about the national crypto plans on his agenda in case he gets elected on February 7, 2021: “It is essential that we create the cryptocurrency for all the internal benefits within the country, such as internal transactions. This would work very well for Ecuador. Could the Hypothetical Ecuadorian Cryptocurrency Be Another Venezuelan Petro? Dollarization in Ecuador has been a sensitive topic in the public discussion. In 1999, the country adopted the dollar as its official currency. All of this happened within the context of a strong economic and inflationary crisis. Jamil Mahuad, the then-president of Ecuador, was dismissed from his duties in January 2000, since political parties blamed him for unleashing the economic crisis. However, no president has been able to remove dollarization’s policy. In terms of the crypto industry, the Latin American country is not a well-known player within the regional sphere. However, Ecuador has been showing some interest in blockchain adoption in the country’s banking and dairy sectors.

Police in Iran have reportedly seized 45,000 bitcoin mining rigs for illegally using subsidized electricity from the state-owned power utility Tavanir, the local Tasmin News Agency reported this week. According to Mohammad Hassan Motavalizadeh, head of Tavanir, the efficient application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bitcoin miners had been consuming 95 megawatts (MW) per hour of electricity at cheaper prices. Authorized miners are charged around 4,800 rials ($0.11) per kilowatt-hour in autumn, winter and spring, says the Iranian Energy Ministry. Subsidized rates may be half as much. Since 2019, when crypto mining became legal in Iran, the Islamic Republic has shut down 1,620 unauthorized mining farms, local media reported earlier this month. The farms consumed 250MW of electricity, it said. Now, the Middle East country is currently facing severe power shortages due to rising winter demand, with rolling blackouts across major cities. The government decided to blame bitcoin (BTC) mining for the dire situation. As a result, Iran’s Energy Ministry has temporarily cut the supply of 600MW of power to all authorized BTC miners in the country, redirecting the energy to household use. Per the Tasmin News Agency report, authorities also put a halt to production at a vast mining operation in the southwest of Iran. The facility is owned by a Chinese-Iranian investment company and is reportedly using “tens of thousands” of ASIC miners to extract bitcoin. Some cryptocurrency researchers have argued that although miners are being targeted, they were not responsible for the current blackouts. Ziya Sadr told the Washington Post that bitcoin mining accounts for a very small share of the national electricity consumption total in Iran, where demand peaks at 40,000MW in winter.

A Russian company is leveraging the Siberian city of Norilsk located above the Arctic Circle in order to mine bitcoins. Bitcluster, the owner of the crypto mining operation, plans to expand the firm’s activities after launching the facility in late 2020. According to the company’s website, the datacenter is getting electricity rates as low as $0.03 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Mining Precious Crypto Assets in the Arctic Circle This week the Russian mining operation Bitcluster was featured in a Bloomberg video-report that highlights the company’s Norilsk bitcoin mine. The city of Norilsk is considered one of the world’s most northerly settlements and it is known for hosting the metal mining company MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC. MMC Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest palladium producer and it also produces colossal amounts of nickel, copper, and platinum. Now Bitcluster is bringing the polar region a new type of precious-asset mining by setting up shop mining cryptocurrency in Norilsk. The Siberian city of Norilsk is home to a permanent population of 175,000 and during nickel and palladium mining season the Arctic Circle area can have around 220,000 people. Bitcluster’s cofounder Vitaly Borschenko detailed in an interview that the Norilsk bitcoin mine is being contracted by international interests located all around the world. Despite the fact that the arctic region of Norilsk is extremely cold, the temperatures benefit the bitcoin mining operations according to Bitcluster as it helps the cooling aspect of the process. Bitcluster’s webpage details that the company uses a special canopy in order to protect the facility from the cold corridor. “The warm air from the miners is mixed to prevent the snow from falling,” Bitcluster notes. Bitcluster says that it is housing mining rigs in various containers in the region often covered in permafrost. Polar Region Power Is 25% Cheaper Than Russia’s Grid, Norilsk Creates Its Own Electricity Via Natural Gas and Hydropower The Russian firm says it also leverages Antminer S19s and they constructed modular data centers in order to accommodate the ASIC devices. The Bloomberg video-report also shows that the company is getting very cheap electricity by mining in Norilsk. According to Bitcluster’s cofounder Vitaly Borschenko the company started mining in Norilsk late last year. According to the recent report, Electric is 25% cheaper than anywhere else in Russia, as Norilsk creates its own electricity. Natural gas and hydropower is the most dominant source of electricity in the Arctic Circle territory. Bitcluster’s site notes that the firm is obtaining electricity for as low as 2.75 rubles or $0.039 per kWh. The report also indicates that the bitcoin mining operation is using an abandoned Norilsk Nickel plant that was closed in 2016. “The place is perfect for crypto mining: it’s cold and the area has [a] power supply that’s not linked to any of Russia’s power grids,” Borschenko detailed. Bitcluster also claims, that next to the metal mining firm Norilsk Nickel, the bitcoin mining operation will be the Norilsk region’s second-largest power consumer. The company uses repurposed shipping containers to house the Antminers dedicating hashpower to the Bitcoin network. At current exchange rates, the network’s difficulty, and $0.039 per kWh, an Antminer S19 (110 Th/s) will produce $25 per day in bitcoin

Researchers at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have examined the central bank laws of 174 IMF members to answer the question of whether a digital currency is really money. They found that of all the central banks studied, only about 23%, or 40 central banks, “are legally allowed to issue digital currencies.” IMF Explores if Digital Currency Is Money The IMF published a blog post on Thursday exploring whether digital money is really money in the legal sense. The post is authored by Catalina Margulis, a consulting counsel in the IMF Legal Department’s Financial and Fiscal Law unit, and Arthur Rossi, a research officer in the same unit. Expressing their own views, the authors began by observing that “close to 80 percent 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.” They continued: To help countries make this assessment, we reviewed the central bank laws of 174 IMF members … and found out that only about 40 are legally allowed to issue digital currencies. Prior to the publication of this blog post, the IMF set up a poll on Twitter asking people to vote on whether they think digital currencies are really money. Out of 95,256 votes collected, 79.9% said yes. What Qualifies as Currency The IMF researchers noted that “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.” They detailed: 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. The authors noted that to “use digital currencies, digital infrastructure — laptops, smartphones, connectivity — must first be in place.” However, they pointed out that “governments cannot impose on their citizens to have it, so granting legal tender status to a central bank digital instrument might be challenging.” The IMF staff also mentioned some legal issues raised by the creation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Among the areas of concern are “tax, property, contracts, and insolvency laws; payments systems; privacy and data protection; most fundamentally, preventing money laundering and terrorism financing,” the IMF researchers described. In conclusion, while noting that “Without the legal tender designation, achieving full currency status could be equally challenging,” the researchers emphasized: Many means of payments widely used in advanced economies are neither legal tender nor currency.

Switzerland’s principal stock exchange has revealed that its crypto trading volume hit a record high of CHF 1.1 billion ($1.23 billion) in 2020. The exchange now offers 34 exchange-traded products, allowing investors “access to 100 different crypto products trading on our platform,” said the exchange’s head of markets. Crypto Trading Volume on Switzerland’s Stock Exchange Hit Record High SIX Swiss Exchange, Switzerland’s principal stock exchange, announced Wednesday that its crypto trading volume hit a record high last year. The announcement details: The Swiss Stock Exchange, the world’s leading marketplace for regulated crypto products, has registered a break of the billion barrier in trading turnover in crypto products for the first time with CHF 1.1 billion in 2020. It adds that this volume “surpassed the record CHF 525 million from 2017 by 112%.” In addition, “the number of trades reached a new record of 48,024.” New Crypto ETP Listing Concurrently, the Zurich-based stock exchange also welcomed ETC Group as its new crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) issuer. “ETC Group lists a bitcoin ETP, taking the number of ETP providers to six and the number of ETPs to 34,” the exchange confirmed. “With the listing of the Btcetc Bitcoin ETP (Primary Ticker: BTCE) by ETC Group, the Swiss Stock Exchange is strengthening its position as [a] world leading marketplace for regulated crypto products,” the announcement notes. The newly listed product tracks the price of bitcoin and is 100% physically backed; it is trading in USD, GBP, and CHF. Christian Reuss, Head of Markets at SIX Swiss Exchange, commented: With the new product, investors gain access to 100 different crypto products trading on our platform and with this have even more opportunities to diversify their portfolio.

Indian police have seized $1.2 million in bitcoin from a hacker who allegedly hacked a government website, online game portals, and cryptocurrency exchanges. He was previously arrested for stealing $1.5 million from an Indian state government. Indian Police Seize Bitcoins From Hacker The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) Police have revealed that bitcoins worth Rs 9 crore ($1.23 million) have been seized from a 25-year-old hacker, local media reported Friday. The hacker known as Shri Krishna is a software engineer and resident of Jayanagar in south Bengaluru. He was arrested on Nov. 18 for sourcing drugs through the darknet using bitcoins. Bengaluru Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Sandeep Patil explained that during the investigation: We have recovered 31 bitcoins from Krishna, which is worth Rs 9 crore. Besides buying drugs, Patil said that the hacker and his friends “were also using these bitcoins to lead lavish lives” and “stayed in star hotels and resorts.” Krishna also hacked the Karnataka government’s e-procurement portal in August 2019 and was booked for stealing Rs 11 crore from the site. In addition, a senior officer detailed that Krishna deployed ransomware to force the owners of the websites he hacked to pay ransoms. “He also used to create mirror sites and get information on credit or debit cards used by people who accessed sites to steal money,” the official said. The Indian Express described that according to the police: Further investigation has revealed that Krishna, along with five friends, hacked into three bitcoin exchanges and ten poker websites by pushing three types of malware into them. The police added that they “also hacked into YFI coin (Yearn Finance) Ethereum sites in various countries using a similar modus operandi.” Patil noted that the accused hacked into various international poker sites and stole data, adding that his team has shared all the relevant information on the case with the concerned companies through Interpol. After hacking websites and stealing data and money, the accused converted funds into bitcoin and cashed out through an alleged financing partner, Patil described. He added: “The bitcoins were traded for money through another accused, identified as Robin Khandelwal. He deposited the money in Krishna’s bank account after trading the bitcoins through hawala channels.”

Bitcoin prices and a number of other digital assets have grown significantly in value during the last decade. Some people have made millions and even billions throwing down everything they have during the cryptocurrency’s earliest days of price discovery. However, there’s another method of investing called dollar-cost averaging or DCA, a scheme that’s considered far less risky and can still bring a cryptocurrency investor decent profits over the long term. Ever since bitcoin jumped over the crypto asset’s all-time high (ATH) recorded in 2017, the digital currency has continued to gather a higher value after surpassing the $20k zone. Then bitcoin (BTC) tapped a new ATH ten days ago, after the crypto asset jumped over the $42k range. Additionally, a number of alternative digital assets are nearing their 2017 ATHs and some newer coins like Polkadot and Chainlink also touched price highs. Now there are many people who were able to invest in bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash, and many other coins early, and this has produced significant gains for these risk-takers. But there is another method of investment that people have been leveraging for a very long time called dollar-cost averaging or DCA. The most important #Bitcoin advice you'll ever get. pic.twitter.com/hFU7t3gYPJ — Documenting Bitcoin (@DocumentBitcoin) January 14, 2021 Essentially, the DCA method of purchasing involves buying a set sum of cryptocurrency at regularly scheduled intervals. This contrast is quite different than throwing all the funds down at once and waiting for profits. An example of DCA buying would be to purchase $10 in bitcoin per week, for a three year or longer period of time. Buying in this manner is considered less of a strain on emotions and far less risky as well. The scheduled intervals of buying take place no matter what the cost of bitcoin (BTC) or the other cryptocurrency costs at that moment in time. Then if you aggregate the number of purchases per week, and standard price from the purchases over the three-year period, the investment cost will be measured in a mean average. Moreover, depending on the crypto asset’s market performance a DCA investor can do extremely well for themselves in a much slower and less risky manner. There’s also a website that can help you estimate the interval of purchases over time and the mean average over the course of the time period. The web portal dcabtc.com offers a calculator in order to figure out your DCA metrics over time, and if you’ve already been leveraging the DCA scheme you can check the profits of your current BTC investment. Here’s a great example of DCA purchasing over time with an investment of $1 per week into BTC during the last nine years. Dcabtc.com explains that purchasing $1 of BTC since January 2012, every week for nine years starting nine years ago, would have turned $470 into $289,295 using today’s exchange rates. That’s a whopping 61,452% gain in value over the course of a nine-year span. This chart shows a DCA bitcoin investment for a period of three years with a purchase of $10 every week. Now if the person started three years ago, and invested $10 per week into BTC every week for the last three years would have seen a 361% increase. That method of DCA purchasing would have made $1,570 turn into $7,249 during the three-year timeframe. Of course, the period when you start investing does make a difference for both DCA and just throwing down all the funds at once. Timing is key and sometimes earlier doesn’t make a difference either, because of bitcoin’s price fluctuations. A good example of this is if someone invested one large sum into BTC on March 12, 2020, at a low of $3,800 per unit. Using today’s BTC exchange rate shows that investment would produce a whopping 821% over the course of time up until January 17, 2021. Dollar-cost averaging is still far less stressful, because a person can invest without putting much emotional energy into playing the lows and highs like the aforementioned lump-sum investment. DCA investors don’t have to put a lot of time and effort into studying market charts, keeping an eye on breaking crypto-related news stories, and keeping tabs with industry heavyweights. The funds are simply invested without many time-consuming activities, and the investment can be calculated over extended periods of time without much worry. The crypto investor who calculates with a DCA approach doesn’t care that the market is not predictable and the stress relieved from trying to time crypto markets is insurmountable. Throwing it all down at once and trading cryptocurrencies successfully takes time and research, things that some people just don’t have the time to apply. A DCA investor understands that the price of bitcoin changes very often, and catching highs and lows can be difficult. But long term perspectives, logarithmic growth curves, and overall rising interest shows holding digital assets for a long period of time has so far, been an extremely profitable means of investing.

The U.S. has sentenced a cryptocurrency exchange owner to 10 years in prison. He “knowingly and intentionally engaged in business practices designed to both assist fraudsters in laundering the proceeds of their fraud and to shield himself from criminal liability,” the Department of Justice alleges. Crypto Exchange Owner Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that a bitcoin exchange owner has been sentenced to 121 months in prison “for his role in a transnational and multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud American victims.” Following his conviction in September last year, Rossen G. Iossifov was sentenced “for conspiracy to commit a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) offense and conspiracy to commit money laundering.” The DOJ explained that the 53-year-old Bulgarian national owned and managed a cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, called RG Coins. Allegedly, he “knowingly and intentionally engaged in business practices designed to both assist fraudsters in laundering the proceeds of their fraud and to shield himself from criminal liability.” The Department of Justice claimed that at least five of his principal clients “were Romanian scammers, who belonged to a criminal enterprise known in court records as the Alexandria (Romania) Online Auction Fraud (AOAF) Network.” Iossifov and his co-conspirators “engaged in a large-scale scheme of online auction fraud that victimized at least 900 Americans,” the DOJ detailed, adding that once victims sent payment: The conspiracy engaged in a complicated money laundering scheme wherein domestic associates would accept victim funds, convert these funds to cryptocurrency, and transfer proceeds in the form of cryptocurrency to foreign-based money launderers. “Iossifov was one such foreign-based money launderer who facilitated this final step in the scheme,” the DOJ noted. The Department of Justice further alleged that “Iossifov designed his business to cater to criminal enterprises by, for instance, providing more favorable exchange rates to members of the AOAF Network,” elaborating: Iossifov also allowed his criminal clients to conduct cryptocurrency exchanges for cash without requiring any identification or documentation to show the source of funds, despite his representations to the contrary to the major bitcoin exchanges that supported his business. According to the DOJ, Iossifov laundered nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency for four scammers in less than three years. He also defrauded over $7 million from American victims and made over $184,000 in proceeds from these transactions.

Bahamas-based Deltec Bank & Trust said during a recent video review that it’s holding a “large position” in bitcoin. The information was given by their chief investment officer, Hugo Rogers. Deltec Executive Discusses Bitcoin Position According to the video uploaded to the bank’s Youtube channel, Deltec’s large position in bitcoin (BTC) has brought “a lot of attention recently.” Rogers further explained the move: We bought bitcoin for our clients at about $9,300, so that worked very well through 2020. And we expect it to work well in 2021 as the liquidity crisis continues to run hot. Earlier this year, Rogers told Bloomberg about what represents a bitcoin position from a strategical point of view: A small position in Bitcoin can go a long way. There’s a lack of an alternative in real assets that can show a comparable return. If you’re going to diversify your portfolio anyway, this is a good place to go. The stablecoin issuer Tether is a client of Deltec. In fact, the relationship between both parties dates back to atleast 2018, after Tether released a letter confirming a transaction with the bank. To clarify the separation between Tether and the bank’s holdings, Stuart Hoegner, general counsel of the crypto trading platform Bitfinex and Tether, commented on the matter: We are aware of recent statements by Deltec Bank & Trust Limited about the purchase of digital tokens for and on behalf of their customers. Tether does not outsource decisions about its reserves. Deltec does not purchase digital tokens for and on Tether’s behalf. Private Banks, Advisors Are Looking for Crypto-Related Investment Opportunities The recent crypto market’s bull-run has been fueled interest among private banks and investment advisors towards crypto. German private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser announced that they would launch a crypto investment fund this year. Such a move will allow institutional and semi-institutional investors to invest in digital assets including, bitcoin, ether, and stellar. Also, news.Bitcoin.com reported on a survey that revealed that the number of U.S. financial advisors allocating to crypto in their clients’ portfolios surged significantly in 2020.

Nigeria, one of the biggest cryptocurrency markets in the world, recently emerged as the country with the highest number of bitcoin searches globally, according to Google Trends data. The data shows that the West African country has a search score of 100, which is more than double that of its nearest rival. Youth-Driven Interest According to one local report, Nigeria’s rise to the top of bitcoin search rankings signals the growing utility of the crypto in that country. The report also explains that country’s youth have been the decisive force behind this surge in bitcoin searches. This assertion is supported by Senator Ihenyen, the new president of the Stakeholders in the Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SIBAN). In his reaction to Nigeria’s new status, Ihenyen insists this is hardly surprising for a country with a “median age of 18.4.” He contends that in such a scenario, “interest in bitcoin and its adoption should be expected.” As the Google Trends data confirms, the Nigerian interest in bitcoin is also decentralized with the Delta State ranked first in that country. Lagos, the “most populous city” in Africa is ranked a distant 17th. According to the SIBAN leader, this decentralization of interest suggests that BTC is seen by the youth as “represent(ing) the democratization of access to global wealth.” Decentralized Interest Meanwhile, Ihenyen points out that while institutional investor interest in bitcoin is taking hold in countries like the United States, interest for BTC “in Nigeria is as decentralized as the cryptocurrency itself.” The SIBAN president explains: Nigerians are experiencing the level of financial inclusion that many have expected for too long. The freedom of money is a powerful thing, especially in a borderless, digital economy. Whether for remittances, e-commerce, bitcoin trading, more and more Nigerians are taking interest in bitcoin daily. According to Ihenyen, this growing interest be cannot be stopped but “can it be maximized and managed.” He adds that policymakers and regulators should therefore be searching for ways to maximize and manage this interest instead of “looking for the red button.” In the meantime, the Google Trends data also shows that two more African countries, namely South Africa (2) and Ghana (5), make it into the top five of the rankings. The next highest-ranked African country to feature on the list is Kenya at number 14.

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted conditional approval to crypto custodian Anchorage to launch the first federally chartered digital asset bank in the country. In a statement on Jan. 13, 2021, the OCC said the company received the national trust banking charter, which allows it to create Anchorage Digital Bank, following a thorough review of its operations. With the approval, Anchorage will now be expected to comply with the capital and liquidity requirements of the OCC and certain risk management procedures. The firm signed an agreement with the banking regulator to this effect. “By bringing this applicant into the federal banking system, the bank and industry will benefit from the OCC’s extensive supervisory experience and expertise,” said the regulator, a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department. “At the same time, the Anchorage approval demonstrates that the national bank charters were provided under the National Bank Act are broad and flexible enough to accommodate evolving approaches to financial services in the 21st century,” it added. Founded in 2017 by Nathan McCauley and Diogo Mónica, Anchorage provides crypto custody and trading services to institutional investors. The firm reportedly manages around $100 billion in transactions per year. Anchorage filed for a national banking charter last year, hoping, among other things, to make it easier for conventional banks to offer crypto services via what it calls sub-custody with the company. In a blog post on Wednesday, McCauley and Mónica detailed: Having a national bank charter places Anchorage Digital Bank firmly on the same regulatory footing as other national banks in the country. Since our founding, we’ve been credited numerous times with blurring the lines between crypto and traditional finance. Today, we’re happy to see those lines begin to be erased. Anchorage becomes the first cryptocurrency entity to receive a federal charter. However, last year Kraken and Avanti were both licensed to operate as digital asset banks by Wyoming state. The state charter allows the duo to go national, but there are limits. The Anchorage banking charter is being hailed as an important development in the growth of the crypto industry in the U.S. Under Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks, the OCC has shown some progress in building the nascent sector. Last year, the regulator allowed banks to use stablecoins and public blockchains for settlement. The OCC also gave the green light for U.S. banks to hold stablecoin reserves for issuers.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase published a statement addressing their U.K. and E.U. customers, apologizing for system outages and account restrictions. The company also recognized their customer support “has not been at the levels” expected. High Flow of Incoming Customers According to the public apology, the U.S.-based crypto company said customers from both regions have been facing transaction restrictions. However, Coinbase didn’t make a direct mea culpa for its global issues, that occured precisely when volatility and velocity increased in the crypto markets. Coinbase blamed the recent “sustained market rally that has brought a significant number of new customers” onto the platform. Moreover, Coinbase claims that the regulatory environment is not helpful in this situation: Evolving regulatory requirements mean that we have to collect additional information from some of our customers, which has meant temporary restrictions being placed on their accounts as we request that information. But the firm admitted that they could do “a better job in communicating” regulatory obligations and requirements to their customers. However, they didn’t provide full details on the matter in the statement. As additional measures to deal with the issues, the crypto exchange detailed that they’ll prioritize pending customer information requests. Also, Coinbase will send push notifications and emails, asking for additional information to more quickly remove restrictions. Another of the changes rolled out by the firm is the re-enabling of a feature exclusive for their U.K. customers: We have re-enabled a feature that allows U.K. customers to directly convert crypto into fiat currency (GBP/EUR) and transfer it into their Paypal accounts. Coinbase’s Background on System Outages Coinbase’s system reliability is often on the radar when bitcoin (BTC) volatility heats up, especially when it reaches new all-time highs. Over the last weekend, the San Francisco trading platform had an issue with “delayed transfers.” The day prior, it suffered from “delayed transfers and elevated error rate.” In another instance on Monday, the analyst Willy Woo tweeted about the San Francisco exchange Coinbase and stated that “buys on Coinbase are not completing.” The issue this time happened amid a larger bitcoin price drop. As of press time, while the platform is working well, some customers have been experiencing a delay with ID verification, according to Coinbase’s status page.

One of the world’s biggest bitcoin mining machine manufacturers is preparing to go public in the United States. China-based Whatsminer is reportedly looking to obtain additional funds to buy Samsung chips with the initial public offering (IPO). Whatsminer’s Revenue Could Hit $1 to $2 Billion in 2021 According to Chinese media outlets and Asian journalist Collin Wu, the company’s market value can exceed “tens of billions.” Citing three sources familiar with the matter, Wu says that such a move could help the mining giant obtain more funds to increase its production capacity. The founder of Whatsminer, Yang Zuoxing, is a former employee of Bitmain, and he claims to be the pioneer of the S9 mining devices Bitmain produces. Back in 2019, Bitmain sued him for “infringement of trade secrets.” Whatsminer’s IPO plans include going public, on Nasdaq. The US public listing plans have been in the works since 2019. However, the aforementioned legal issues with Bitmain ahve delayed the listing. Per Weixin, due to the surge in mining machines’ price, Whatsminer’s revenue could hit $1 to $2 billion in 2021. That’s why the expectations around the company are high in anticipation of the IPO, said Wu. Although a timeline is not set yet, Weixin forecasts that both Whatsminer and Bitmain could be listed in the U.S. in the next two years. Latest Moves in the Crypto Mining Industry Overall, the crypto mining world has been quite lively in the last few months, especially in the manufacturing industry. 500.com Ltd reached an initial agreement to acquire mining machines from an unnamed non-U.S. seller. The transaction will allow the company to acquire mining machines, including such models as the M20s from Microbt S17, T17, and S9 from Bitmain. On December 16, 2020, news.Bitcoin.com reported that the latest generation mining rigs’ prices have gone up 35% since the beginning of November.

A South Korean court has sentenced the former CEO of the defunct crypto exchange Coinnest to 18 months in prison. The court also fined him over $61,000, who also was charged for fraud in 2020. Prosecutors Accused Coinnest Executives of Receiving 110 BTC in Bribes According to Fn News, the Supreme Court of Korea determined that Kim Ik-hwan should spend time in jail, as the authorities previously indicted him in 2018 for accepting bitcoin (BTC) bribes. The investigation unveiled that he and other executives received almost $771,270 worth of BTC (at the time) for arranging the listing of an unnamed altcoin — referred to by the court as “S” coin. However, the former Coinnest CEO and its former operating director, Jo Mo, claimed there was “no unfair solicitation.” The prosecutors commented in the first trial: The defendants acknowledged or promoted the situation that they were taking unreasonable gains by manipulating the market price on the exchange after listing the cryptocurrency. (…) This crime greatly undermined fairness and trust in cryptocurrency transactions. This is bad. Although the Supreme Court, chaired by judge Noh Jeong-hee, didn’t reveal details on the “S” coin, prosecutors said the altcoin was issued by K Group. The prosecution also accused Coinnest’s executives of receiving 110 BTC in bribes for the purpose. Jo Mo’s sentence is still pending confirmation by the Supreme Court. Former Coinnest’s CEO Court History The former CEO of the now-defunct crypto exchange has additional sentences on his CV. Alongside two unnamed executives, Kim was found guilty in February 2020 of fraud and embezzlement. A South Korean court gave him a three-year prison sentence, but it was suspended for four years. Moreover, the appeals court sentenced Kim to pay a $2.5 million won fine, and also to serve 100 hours of community service. The judge ruled that Kim and the other executives misappropriated “billions” of won, transferring client funds to employee accounts. At that time, the executives denied any wrongdoings.

The Bitcoin network’s hashrate has been operating at very high processing speeds during the last few weeks, as the overall hashrate touched a whopping 171.2 exahash per second (EH/s) on Monday. Moreover, the network’s mining difficulty has also touched an all-time high (ATH) at 20.61 trillion, the highest difficulty the network has ever experienced in the last 12 years. One aspect of the Bitcoin (BTC) network that people look at to measure the protocol’s overall health and growth is the hashrate. At the time of publication, the BTC hashrate is processing at speeds of around 165.38 EH/s and the miner’s collective hashpower has been nearing all-time highs again. For instance, on December 30, 2020, the network hashrate spiked to a colossal 178.6 EH/s and 12 days later the hashrate hit 171.2 EH/s. What has surpassed its ATH is BTC’s network mining difficulty or difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA). This week the mining difficulty is the highest the difficulty has ever been in Bitcoin’s lifetime to-date. After the significant price dip on Monday and the accelerated hashrate the same day, the protocol pushed the mining difficulty to 20.61T. Bitcoin (BTC) mining hashrate is operating at 165,376,566,182,178,200,000 H/s on Wednesday, January 13, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. (EST). Because the hashrate is so high entering the second week of January 2021, the Bitcoin network’s difficulty will increase +9.98% or 22.66T, another ATH in less than two weeks. This will take place in roughly nine days from now, give or take, depending on the average output of blocks per day. Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty is approximately 20,607,418,304,385 (20.61T) on Wednesday, January 13, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. (EST). The BTC hashrate has increased a great deal over the years, as the entire network’s hashrate was only one exahash per second back in January 2016. On May 8, 2017, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the BTC network hashrate touching 4,216,797,036 GH/s or over 4 EH/s. Since then and through the 2018 and 2019 bear market, the Bitcoin hashrate has grown over 3,700%. Before the May block reward halving, bitcoin miners got 12.5 BTC per block found but these days, a bitcoin mining pool only gets 6.25 BTC per block reward. Today’s 165 EH/s is the aggregate hashrate of all 18 bitcoin mining pools putting in “work” in the SHA256 “proof-of-work” consensus algorithm. With a block reward found every ten minutes or so, the Bitcoin block inflation rate per annum is only 1.78% during the first month of 2021. So far, even with this week’s BTC price drop miners are still profiting a great deal by dedicating hashrate to the chain. Statistics show at even $0.12 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more than 200 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices that process the SHA256 algorithm are profiting today. Bitcoin proponents are quite confident with the overall hashrate and security of the cryptocurrency network. In a thread about BTC confidence, the bitcoiner Pierre Rochard explained that if people are “confident about Bitcoin’s fundamentals, then the exchange rate volatility is just— a joyful melody.”

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the third largest of Pakistan’s four semi-autonomous provinces, is setting up two state-backed bitcoin mining farms, local media reported last week. Ziaullah Bangash, advisor to the chief minister of KP on Science and Information Technology, said the provincial parliament passed a bill allowing the KP government to use its own money to establish the mining facilities. The province, which has since legalized crypto mining, will be mining bitcoin (BTC) for profit, BOL News, a local media organization, reported. No details were given about the capacity of the mining farms nor the funds that the state intends to invest in the project. This particular province has previously advocated friendly crypto laws in Pakistan. According to Bangash, the KP Assembly also passed a separate no-objection certificate allowing individuals to mine cryptocurrency and issue their own digital assets. The development coincided with the launch of a private bitcoin mining farm by Waqar Zaka, a long-time crypto enthusiast who has worked to develop the Pakistani crypto industry. “After years of struggle, I am launching the biggest crypto mining farm in KPK where you all can invest & earn,” Zaka said in a tweet. He thanked Bangash for his legal backing. Replying, Bangash stated that “in future, the help of Waqar Zaka will be sought” in the KP administration’s crypto mining plans. Profits from bitcoin mining may help prop-up Pakistan’s ailing economy, but KP must first overcome the country’s long-running electricity crisis. Pakistan is facing severe electricity shortages, with power cuts a common occurrence. Last Saturday, the entire country was thrown into darkness, the Financial Times reports. Authorities blamed the blackouts on a “technical fault” at one of the country’s main power plants in the south. Pakistan only started to restore power in bits on Sunday. Now BTC mining — the process by which new bitcoins are created using sophisticated, super-computers — is not only an energy-intensive venture but also one that demands consistent power supply. Situated in north-western Pakistan, a mountainous, cool region along the border with Afghanistan, KP might have the best weather for bitcoin mining. But will it have enough energy to sustain a profitable operation?

As bitcoin and a number of digital assets saw deep losses on Monday, a few crypto-asset exchanges had difficulties. Traders have been complaining about issues with exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and other trading platforms during the volatile price swings. Bitcoin (BTC) and many other cryptocurrencies have suffered a dip in value during the course of the day on Monday. While all the action happened, members of the crypto community and traders started complaining about exchange issues. “Coinbase couldn’t really couldn’t be performing any worse during these high volatility situations,” The Block analyst Larry Cermak tweeted on Monday morning (EST). Digital currency exchanges also had issues keeping up with demand and traffic this past Sunday (Jan. 10) and on Friday (Jan. as well. In another instance on Monday, the analyst Willy Woo tweeted about the San Francisco exchange Coinbase and stated that “buys on Coinbase are not completing. In the midst of the bitcoin (BTC) price drop on Monday at around 11:37 a.m. (EST), Woo added: Coinbase is $350 lower than other exchanges right now, it’s throwing off derivative indexes and likely impacting trade algos. At the time of publication, Coinbase doesn’t seem to be suffering from any issues today, according to the company’s status page. However, during the last two days, the San Francisco trading platform had an issue with “delayed transfers,” and the day prior it suffered from “delayed transfers and elevated error rate.” The Twitter account representing Coinbase support also tweeted about the incident on Monday. “We’re investigating an issue impacting transactions on Coinbase.com and the mobile apps,” the company wrote. “The record of a recently initiated transaction may be delayed in showing up in your Coinbase account. There may also be some issues with some buys completing on the platform. Please do not re-submit your transaction – it will result in duplicate activity.” An hour later, Coinbase said that a fix was released and the issue was resolved. Coinbase was not the only exchange to have issues during Monday’s trading sessions. Cryptocurrency traders also complained about Kraken going offline for a temporary amount of time as well. As far as Woo’s opinion goes, when he said that the price discrepancies would throw off trading algorithms, a few crypto proponents said that the industry would do better with oracle-based price feeds and that exchanges like Coinbase should consider adding protocols like Chainlink.

Police from the UK executed a raid in an industrial unit in the West Midlands county expecting to find a cannabis farm, but instead found a big bitcoin mining facility, that was coincidentally bypassing the controls from the local power utility company to siphon energy from the main grid, stealing thousands of pounds in the process. UK Police Raid Alleged Cannabis Farm, Stumbles Upon Bitcoin Mining Facility The West Midlands Police Department got a real surprise last week when they raided an alleged cannabis farm in an industrial premise, just to find the facility was used to operate a Bitcoin mine. According to reports from intelligence, all of the signs suggested the site was used as a cannabis-growing farm. The West Midlands police department stated in its report that: We heard how lots of people were visiting the unit at different times of day, lots of wiring and ventilation ducts were visible, and a police drone picked up a considerable heat source from above. They are all classic cannabis factory signs The mining facility had 100 S9s (one of the most popular bitcoin mining ASICs) working all day, giving the site a heated print pretty similar to the one of a cannabis farm. However, upon further inspection and after making inquiries with the local power utility company, the police found the facility was bypassing the local power utility company controls, using power directly from the source and stealing thousands of pounds of electricity in the process. Sandwell Police Sergeant Jennifer Griffin stated: We’ve seized the equipment and will be looking into permanently seizing it under the Proceeds of Crime Act. No-one was at the unit at the time of the warrant and no arrests have been made – but we’ll be making enquiries with the unit’s owner. Bitcoin Related Power Theft Is Now Common As it is known, bitcoin mining is a very energy-intensive task, and machines used for this purpose spend big amounts of energy to secure the network. This fact has made cryptocurrency mining-related power theft a common occurrence. There have been several electricity theft cases in China and in Malaysia, where miners have stolen millions of dollars while operating their mining facilities. If miners bypass the local controls and connect their machines directly to the grids, the energy consumption might be too much for the power network to handle. Iran is now facing electricity problems, with its government banning Bitcoin mining due to the blackouts its network is facing with the high demand for electricity for these purposes.

Ever since government officials in China started talking about cracking down on bitcoin mining and reiterating crypto guidelines from 2017, digital currency proponents and the media have been focused on this region. Just recently, a Chinese state-backed online publication revealed that the Sichuan Energy Regulatory Office plans to hold a meeting on June 2, 2021, to discuss the implications of bitcoin mining. Sichuan Energy Regulatory Office to Meet on June 2 to Discuss Crypto Mining In recent times, the Chinese government has been discussing the crypto economy to a greater degree and much of the conversation has been directed at bitcoin mining. China’s officials hope to get the country carbon neutral by the year 2060 and capture a good percentage of carbon neutrality by 2030. Following a few meetings from the country’s Financial Stability Board and other Chinese politicians, a number of crypto firms stopped offering services to mainland citizens. Companies that started severing services from China included Huobi, Btc.top, Hashcow, and Okex. Three days ago, Bitcoin.com News reported on statements about the situation from a number of executives from China’s pool operators and mining rig manufacturers. A recently published report this weekend details that the Sichuan Energy Regulatory Office plans to hold a meeting next week in order to tend to the implications of bitcoin mining. The columnist from the nation-state backed publication the Global Times states: The Sichuan Energy Regulatory Office announced on Thursday that the office will hold a meeting on June 2 to fully understand the situation of crypto-currency mining activities in the southwestern province, which is required by the National Energy Administration. The regional reporter, Colin ‘Wu’ Blockchain, further noted on Twitter before the weekend that there were “rumors that China will introduce a crackdown policy on Friday night.” However, these rumors never came to fruition and instead, the Sichuan Energy Regulatory meeting was disclosed to the public. Estimates say that the Sichuan province and Xinjiang region in China is a deeply concentrated area of bitcoin miners. On Sunday, May 30, 2021, the Bitcoin network’s hashrate has been hovering just above 165 exahash per second (EH/s). Stats show that the top mining pools with the most hashrate stem from China. Today’s top mining pools dedicating hashrate to the BTC chain include F2pool, Antpool, Viabtc, Btc.com, and Poolin. The aforementioned mining operations that reside in China command roughly 66.32% of the global hashrate on Sunday.

Oaktree Capital co-founder Howard Marks is warming up to cryptocurrency. Once a crypto skeptic, he now says “thankfully” his son is “quite positive on bitcoin” and “owns a meaningful amount for our family.” Howard Marks Warming up to Crypto Howard Marks, co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, talked about bitcoin in a memo published this week. He has been discussing investment strategies with his son, Andrew, a professional investor who focuses on growth and technology companies. In one section of the memo, Marks admitted that he had “a high level of skepticism” towards cryptocurrencies. The Oaktree Capital Management co-founder noted: This view has been a source of much discussion for me and Andrew, who is quite positive on bitcoin and several others and thankfully owns a meaningful amount for our family. “In the case of cryptocurrencies, I probably allowed my pattern recognition around financial innovation and speculative market behavior – along with my natural conservatism – to produce my skeptical position,” he explained. “These things have kept Oaktree and me out of trouble many times, but they probably don’t help me think through innovation.” Marks continued: “I’ve concluded (with Andrew’s help) that I’m not yet informed enough to form a firm view on cryptocurrencies. In the spirit of open-mindedness, I’m striving to learn.” He proceeded to direct any questions and comments about cryptocurrency and bitcoin to his son. The Oaktree Capital executive is not the only one who recently softened his view on bitcoin. Earlier this month, economist David Rosenberg pleaded “ignorance on bitcoin,” admitting that the cryptocurrency exceeded his expectation. In November, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio admitted that he may be wrong about bitcoin and has since gained a better understanding of the cryptocurrency.

Etoro, a trading and investing platform, has warned its customers to brace for possible limitations on their buy orders this coming weekend. The company says it might be forced to take this and other steps if the anticipated and unprecedented surge in demand for cryptos occurs. Unprecedented Demand and Limited Liquidity The Israeli company’s warning follows its curb of European investors’ “ability to trade cryptocurrencies on margin” in the past week. The company had reportedly made this decision in “response to soaring risks in the market.” Etoro’s notice, which implies that customer demand for cryptos remains high, comes less than a week after the BTC price plunged by more than 20% in less than 48 hours. This plunge caused the value of the entire cryptocurrency market to drop from over $1.1 trillion to $854 billion. Meanwhile, this recent BTC plunge occurred shortly after the crypto set a new all-time high (ATH) of over $41,900. Still, in its notice, Etoro suggests that demand for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is outstripping the supply. In the email sent to customers on Jan. 13, Etoro says: The unprecedented demand for crypto, coupled with limited liquidity, presents challenges to our ability to support buy orders over the weekend. In light of this, it may be necessary for us to place limitations on crypto buy orders over the weekend. Therefore, as part of the steps to curb this unprecedented demand, Etoro says it may set a “maximum exposure per crypto-asset per client.” Additionally, the trading platform might consider “temporarily suspending the ability to place new crypto buy orders.” Incredible Volatility Furthermore, one report quotes an unnamed Etoro spokesperson saying “crypto markets are incredibly volatile at the moment and the weekends present the greatest challenges.” This market volatility is epitomized by bitcoin which on Jan. 13 had regained 10% of value in 24 hours of trading. At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading at about $39,341 and its market capitalization is about $733 billion.

The mastermind of what the U.S. Department of Justice calls a scam of “epic proportions” has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. His crypto scheme collected over $147 million, duping 72,000 investors. He is also ordered to pay the U.S. Internal Revenue Service more than $1.8 million for tax evasion. Scam Involving Fake Cryptocurrency The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that a California man, Steve Chen, has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his “leading role” in a major crypto fraud case. Judge John Walter called Chen’s scheme a scam of “epic proportions.” The DOJ explained that the 63-year-old conducted “a massive investment scam where a multinational company issued a phony digital currency purportedly backed by billions of dollars’ worth of amber and other gemstones.” Chen pleaded guilty in June last year to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of tax evasion. Chen was the owner and CEO of U.S. Fine Investment Arts Inc. (USFIA) and six other companies. The DOJ detailed that he fraudulently promoted and solicited investments from July 2013 until September 2015. He convinced investors that USFIA was a successful multi-level marketing company that extracted amber and other gemstones from the mines it “owned” in the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Mexico. However, in reality, the mines did not exist. The DOJ added: He ultimately obtained approximately $147 million from 72,000 victims, in one of the largest pyramid schemes ever prosecuted in this district. Investors were duped into buying USFIA “packages” purportedly comprised amber and other gemstones, as well as USFIA “points.” They were told that these points could be converted to USFIA shares when the company had its IPO, which never happened. The investments range from $1,000 to $30,000 each. USFIA also “offered other bonuses – including cash, travel, luxury cars, homes in the Los Angeles area, and EB-5 visas for immigrant investors – to investors who recruited other people to purchase these ‘packages,'” the Justice department detailed. From September 2014, Chen and others substituted points for “Gem Coins,” which “had no circulation in any industry, were not accepted by any merchants, and had no economic value,” the DOJ continued, adding: They falsely promoted these ‘coins’ as a legitimate digital currency backed by the company’s gemstone holdings. Chen also falsely represented that these ‘coins’ already were in wide circulation in the jewelry and finance industries. In addition, Chen committed tax evasion when he reported that his gross income for 2014 was $138,015 when it was approximately $4,816,193. He, therefore, owed the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) $1,885,094 – before interest and penalties. The DOJ notice concludes:

In an interview with Peter McCormack, the Bitfinex general counsel claims the misconception that USDT is not fully backed stem from a sworn affidavit which he says has been taken out of context. The contents of the affidavit, which Hoegner submitted on April 30, 2020, as part of the “New York litigation with Attorney General”, became public knowledge when the USDT’s market capitalization was only $2.1 billion. According to that affidavit, about 74% of tether backing was in the form of “cash and cash equivalents on hand.” On the other hand, the remaining 26% was in the form of a $550 million loan to the company which it “is fully servicing.” The general counsel explains that since the stablecoin’s total market capitalization has gone up from $2.1 billion to the current $22 billion, the loan’s share of the USDT reserves shrunk to 2.5%. In the meantime, both Hoegner and Ardoino have confirmed that bitcoins are part of the reserves assets that Bitfinex uses to back the stablecoin. Nevertheless, both men still refuse to divulge the exact makeup of assets in reserves. However, Ardoino does reveal the only time Bitfinex acquired the bitcoins which now form part of tether’s reserves: The CTO says: The bitcoins in reserves are a good amount remaining from the past acquisition that we likely did in 2015/16….The bitcoins, which we bought for a good price in 2015/16, will probably be enough for perpetuity. The CTO also dismisses the idea that Bitfinex is actually issuing tethers just to buy bitcoins. He says this narrative does not make sense especially when the company can simply buy the BTC using the fiat money which it has. The Lack of an Independent Audit Meanwhile, when asked why the company is not hiring outside auditors to conduct a full audit, an evasive Hoegner says some steps have been taken in this direction as a show of “good faith.” Such steps include consulting reports produced by one accounting firm, and a law firm as well as a report from Bitfinex bankers. Nevertheless, the general counsel reveals Bitfinex is continuously “looking for ways to share information with the community, to be more open and to be transparent.” With respect to the court injunction, which has since been “substantially narrowed”, Hoegner confirms that this is set to expire on January 15. However, even after the injunction’s expiration, the two companies and the AG will continue engaging in “constructive talks.” Hoegner then closes by clarifying that the AG has not filed a lawsuit against Bitfinex and Tether and that the action against the two entities does not amount to a “criminal investigation.”

There’s a new type of token gaining popularity in the crypto space with the launch of coins that are backed by a specific amount of proof-of-work (PoW) hashrate. On January 6, 2021, Binance launched a new project called the bitcoin standard hashrate token (BTCST), a coin that represents 0.1 terahash (TH/s). Furthermore, the mining operation Poolin has also revealed a hashrate token called pBTC35A and each token represents 1 TH/s hashrate with pre-determined SHA256 processing power. Tokens Backed by Proof-of-Work The Bitcoin (BTC) network has seen the protocol’s hashrate increase significantly during the last few weeks, despite the network mining difficulty being so high. There have also been substantial numbers of mining rigs added to the network in recent months and exchanges like Binance and Huobi have joined the mining fray. With bitcoin mining showing significant upside potential, a couple of crypto industry heavyweights have introduced tokens backed by PoW hashrate. Last week, Binance unveiled a new project called the bitcoin standard hashrate token (BTCST), a coin that’s claimed to be backed by 0.1 terahash (TH/s). “BTCST sets off to solve the problem of limited exit options by bringing exchange-grade liquidity to Bitcoin mining, and in secondary trading,” Binance announced last Wednesday. “BTCST will perform as a leveraged Bitcoin token free from liquidation risk. BTCST will create an efficient market for Bitcoin’s mining power in ways similar to how Grayscale Bitcoin Trust creates institutional liquidity for Bitcoin.” The crypto trading exchange added: BTCST is collateralized by 0.1 TH/s of real-world Bitcoin mining power, which is historically proven to be positively correlated to the performance of the digital gold, and hence the value of BTCST climbs along with the current skyrocketing Bitcoin market. Poolin Launches the Mars Project, Binance PoW Token Audited However, Binance is not the only business looking to offer a PoW mining token as the mining operation Poolin has also introduced the Mars Project. On January 11, 2021, Poolin tweeted “Join the first Ethereum-based standardized hashrate protocol, earn wBTC and LP reward. Infinite possibility when PoW mining steps into [an] Ethereum smart contract,” the mining pool further said. Currently, Poolin is the fifth largest bitcoin pool capturing around 9.4% or 14 exahash per second (EH/s) today. The Poolin minted ERC-20 token is called pBTC35A and the company says each coin is backed by the firm’s PoW hashrate. “The protocol consists of pBTC35A tokens and [the] MARS token,” Poolin’s announcement explains. “Each pBTC35A token represents 1TH/s hashrate with a pre-determined power ratio, mining rigs would be in Poolin Superhashrate’s custody during life cycle. While net profit on wBTC would be distributed per block.” Poolin says the first batch will be “50,000 pBTC35A (approximately 50PH/s) tokens for Bitcoin (output with wBTC) mining in this protocol and locks up more than 50PH/s machines physically.” Poolin notes that people can obtain the tokens using the inhouse shop (basic KYC needed) or via the token’s Uniswap contract. The company further detailed that Ethereum and other PoW mineable coins will be also created, but Poolin doesn’t have a confirmed schedule. According to Binance Launchpool, the PoW token (BTCST), the organization recently launched has also passed an audit from the blockchain security company Certik, and scored a “98 out of 100 in a security audit.” Users will be able to stake BNB, BUSD, and BTC in separate pools in order to farm BTCST tokens, Binance Launchpool also said. “Compared to conventional cloud mining, BTCST portrays the decentralized spirit of blockchain, with all mining rewards distribution done by smart contracts that are onchain with full transparency,” Alex Zhao, the cofounder, and CTO of BTCST said last week.

Bitcoin and a number of other cryptocurrencies have regained some of the percentage losses they suffered this past Monday, as various crypto assets are up today between 5-25% in value. On Monday, the crypto economy dipped under the $800 billion handle after the entire market cap fell from its trillion-dollar valuation. Today, the overall market valuation of all 7,500+ digital assets in existence is hovering just above the $900 billion mark. Digital currency markets saw some deep losses this past Monday, as the trading sessions on January 10 and into Monday saw crypto assets lose anywhere between 25% to 40% in value. For instance, the price of bitcoin (BTC) slid from a value of $41,056 per unit to $30,261 per BTC shedding over 25% in fiat value. Today, however, the crypto asset’s value has improved a great deal jumping over 6% during the last 24 hours. BTC has done considerably well over the long run as the crypto asset is still up 3.1% over the week, 82% for the month, 206% for the 90-day span, and 332% against the USD for the year. At the time of publication, BTC is trading hands for prices between $34,600 to a touch over $35,000 on Tuesday afternoon. The second-largest market valuation is held by ethereum (ETH), which is up 12% on Tuesday and trading for $1,115 per unit. XRP is up over 8% today and each token is swapping for $0.29. Cardano (ADA) is up 16% at the time of publication and trading for $0.29 per token on Tuesday. Litecoin (LTC) is trading hands for $139 per LTC and is up 10% during the course of the day. Bitcoin cash (BCH) has gained 8.5% as each BCH is swapping for $470 on Tuesday afternoon (EST). Overall cryptocurrency trading volume worldwide today is up 14% and there’s $93 billion in global swaps. Etoro’s market analyst, Simon Peters, detailed on Monday that “despite yesterday’s short-term market correction, bitcoin remains in a healthy place.” Peters further explained that many skeptics will call bitcoin a “bubble” but BTC’s long-term outlook remains very strong. “Many detractors were quick to believe the bitcoin bubble had popped, as the price seemed destined to fall below $30,000 but this failed to materialise,” Peters explained in a note to investors. “As a result, enthusiasts declared victory, arguing that $30,000 is a new bottom for the crypto asset. In my view, it is too early to say. Although we remain in a price range we haven’t seen before, some of the rises and falls we’re seeing in this current crypto bull market were also present in the 2017 bull market,” the Etoro analyst added. Furthermore, in the recent “Coin Metrics’ State of the Network: Issue 85,” the research company mentioned BTC’s reaction to the January 6, 2021, Capitol breach events in the U.S. “Bitcoin’s quick reaction to events on January 6th shows its continued maturation as an asset that responds to global events,” Nate Maddrey and the Coin Metrics Team wrote. “It also potentially adds evidence to the narrative that bitcoin is sometimes viewed as a hedge against global unrest. But the run-up to $40K also occurred on the tailwind of a strong run to start the year so it can be difficult to untangle the exact impact of January 6th’s events.” Meanwhile, the notorious gold bug and economist, Peter Schiff, scoffed at bitcoin’s big losses this past Sunday. “Bitcoin traded near $42K on Friday and near $30K on Monday,” Schiff tweeted. “An asset that drops 28% over a weekend is not a safe-haven, a store of value, or a viable hedge against inflation. If you want to gamble on bitcoin, buy Bitcoin. But if you want to hedge against inflation buy gold,” Schiff added. Following that statement Schiff also said: As long as people don’t realize or don’t care that bitcoin has no actual value, and continue to buy it anyway, its price can continue to rise. But eventually, those who don’t care will start caring, and those who don’t understand will figure it out. By then it’s too late to sell. Of course, a number of crypto assets said that Schiff was just talking about bitcoin to gain some attention, and they believe this is why the gold bug often discusses the cryptocurrency so regularly. “It sounds like bitcoin is helping you grow your following more than gold at this point,” one individual responded to Schiff’s tweet about bitcoin. “It seems like that’s where the real value to you is. Ironic. Appreciate the warnings, if you’re right, and forgive you if you’re wrong. Best of luck,” the person added. Schiff replied back and said that he’s been trying to get people to jump off the bitcoin bandwagon. “It’s hard to tell, but my guess is that I would have even more followers if I got onboard the bitcoin train, rather than trying to convince others to jump off,” Schiff said. Meanwhile, today’s top token gainers include coins like stakenet, district0x, genaro network, dmarket, and nano which are up between 40% to 91% today. Tuesday’s biggest losers are tokens such as golem, bitnautic, everex, acute angle cloud, and coinmeet. Those five tokens have seen percentage losses between 5% to 19.99% on Tuesday afternoon. Check out all the latest cryptocurrency price action in real-time at markets.Bitcoin.com.