Crypto Currency

A surge of validators awaiting Eth2 staking has pushed Ethereum’s node count to 11,259 — surpassing Bitcoin by more than 100. Ethereum 2.0 genesis stakers have pushed the total number of Ethereum nodes past the number of Bitcoin nodes for the second time this year. According to Ethernodes.org, 11,259 Ethereum nodes are currently active, giving it a roughly 1% lead over Bitcoin’s 11,136 . Ethereum’s node count last surpassed Bitcoin’s in early September. The number of Ethereum nodes has increased by more than 50% in the past two weeks or so, spiking from 8,086 on Nov. 15 — 11 days after the Eth2 deposit contract went live. Ethereum’s node count overtook Bitcoin’s on Nov. 30. Ethereum historic node count: Ethernodes.org According to Blockchain Center’s “Flippening” index — which seeks to track the strength of Ethereum’s network relative to Bitcoin — the surge in node counts has seen the index gain from 50.5% to 62.4% over the course of November. The Flippening Index: Blockchai...

Amid ongoing legal action from U.S. authorities, the company behind Bitmex — 100x — has announced a new CEO. 100x — the holding group for Bitmex’s parent company — has announced the appointment of a permanent new CEO in the wake of charges filed in Octob against the exchange’s co-founders, including former CEO of both 100x and Bitmex, Arthur Hayes. On Dec. 1, 100x announced that the former chief executive officer of German stock exchange Borse Stuttgart GmbH, Alexander Hoptner, will take over as CEO during January 2021. Hoptner will also join 100x’s board of directors, and will report directly to the group’s chairman, David Wong. 100x’s new CEO stated: “I am proud to join 100x Group because I share the global ambition and audacity of its founders and employees to create an ecosystem of cryptocurrency technology that will improve lives. The future of this industry will increasingly belong to those who provide a regulated trading environment that is innovative, liquid, and fair for ...

Local media reports indicate electricity producers in Yunnan, China’s fourth-largest province by Bitcoin hash rate, have been ordered not to provide power to crypto mines. Local sources report that authorities from the city of Baoshan in the Chinese province of Yunnan are escalating efforts to crack down on Bitcoin miners, ordering electricity producers to cease supplying power to the city’s miners. On Nov. 30, Chinese crypto reporter Colin Wu tweeted that several miners had informed him of the ban, sharing what appear to be scanned copies of official documents issued to power producers: Several miners told Wu that Baoshan, Yunnan, where China’s crypto mines are located, received a ban on November 30, requiring the power station to stop supplying power to the miners. Yunnan is the third largest mining place in China after Sichuan and Xinjiang. pic.twitter.com/1zAhcTLmXi — Wu Blockchain（Chinese Crypto Reporter） (@WuBlockchain) November 30, 2020 However, Wu added that the ban was...

Key derivatives indicators show pro traders remain strongly bullish even as Bitcoin price continues to reject at $19,800. Most investors that follow Bitcoin will have recently heard about the growing impact Bitcoin (BTC) futures and options markets have on Bitcoin price. The same can be said for the price swings caused by liquidations at OKEx and Huobi exchanges. Considering that derivatives markets are now playing a much bigger role in Bitcoin price fluctuations, it is becoming increasingly necessary to review some of the key metrics professional traders use to gauge activity in the markets. While reviewing futures and options contracts can be quite complicated, the average retail trader can still benefit from knowing how to properly interpret the futures premium, funding rate, options skew and put-call ratio. Futures remium The futures premium measures how expensive longer-term futures contracts are to the current spot at traditional markets. It can be thought of as a relative...

The exchange's pilfered funds are on the move once again. Back in 2016, 119,756 Bitcoin were stolen from the Bitfinex crypto exchange . Some of these coins have continued to move between wallets over the years, including as recently as Monday. Blockchain data shows that an unknown crypto user has moved 270.97974 Bitcoin ( BTC ) from a wallet associated with the hack. The sum is worth roughly $5.2 million at time of publication. The address 1GytseWXyzGpmHkcv9uDzkU9D8pLaGyR5x , which is believed to be associated with the hack,  shows less than 0.001 BTC remaining. The BTC were sent to a previously unknown bitcoin address — 3MyXrfSg7JFXLa7bD6YF1GnomEr8EXYRnx , which holds only the transacted amount. The hackers responsible for the breach have moved only 1-2% of the stolen funds during the four-year interim since the theft took place. Their HODLing strategy appears to be paying off — the haul was worth a mere $72 million at the time, but  is now valued at around $2.3 bill...

Bitcoin price has rallied to new highs on multiple exchanges but it’s yet to break its December 2017 all-time high at Coinbase. The price of Bitcoin ( BTC ) reached $19,873 on Coinbase on Nov. 30, breaking above $19,000 in a surprising recovery rally. Although many in the cryptocurrency sector a celebrating BTC achieving an all-time high, it has not just yet. On Coinbase, the price of Bitcoin hit its peak at $19,891 in December 2017. The all-time high price on Coinbase is particularly important because it has consistently remained as the top U.S. exchange for the past several years. BTC/USD monthly chart at Coinbase. Source: TradingView Also, some top global exchanges like Binance launched in mid-2017. An argument could be made that an exchange that has been around since 2012 carries more significance in terms of historical price data and to date, Coinbase remains one of the primary exchanges used by retail investors. Bitcoin's all-time highs vary across exchanges 2017 was...

Despite some “unanticipated consequences,” the testnets were instrumental in stress-testing Eth2. After years of delays and changes in plans, Ethereum 2.0 is finally approaching release on Dec. 1. Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 is introducing the long-awaited mechanism of staking to the smart contract platform, in addition to launching the skeleton of a future Eth2 blockchain, the Beacon Chain. Progress in 2020 steadily picked up pace as more and more testnets were introduced and iterated on. While they were successful in aggregate, they were not exempt from problems related to synchronization and block production . Part of those issues came from the challenge of keeping the same pace between seven different clients, or Ethereum 2.0 node software, working with different programming languages and technology stacks. Cointelegraph spoke with Zahary Karadjov, research developer at Nimbus — one of those clients — to learn more about both the road Ethereum 2.0 has traveled so far and the next ...

The Venezuelan army turns to crypto mining as the country's economy collapses. The regime of Nicolás Maduro continues to lean on crypto to keep economically solvent. Via Instagram, an engineering brigade of the Venezuelan army inaugurated the new "Digital Assets Production Center of the Bolivarian Army of Venezuela." As the video shows, the center houses various ASIC mining equipment used to crack proof-of-work algorithms. General Lenin Herrera presented the new mining operation. The stated goal of the mining operation is "strengthening and self-sustainability of our units of the Bolivarian Army," adding later that these mining centers would be generating "unblockable sources of income" and an alternative to the "trust system blocked and controlled by colonialist interests," referring to the United States, a country that has leveled sanctions against many associates of the Maduro regime. With oil prices crashing and political turmoil ta...

The U.S. exchange plans to roll out support in early 2021. U.S. digital currency exchange Coinbase has outlined plans for supporting Ethereum ( ETH ) 2.0 staking rewards — possibly setting the stage for even wider adoption of the smart contract platform.  In an official blog post, Coinbase said it plans to roll out Eth2 staking, trading, and conversion services starting in early 2021. Once Eth2 is supported, existing Coinbase customers will be able to convert their ETH tokens to ETH2 and earn staking rewards. The company said: While staked ETH2 tokens remain locked on the beacon chain, Coinbase will also enable trading between ETH2, ETH, and all other supported currencies providing liquidity for our customers. The news comes on the eve of the highly-anticipated Ethereum Beacon Chain launch, which kicks off a multi-year upgrade of the blockchain network. The upgrade will transition Ethereum away from existing proof-of-work consensus to a proof-of-stake network. Ethereum’s dev...

The economic historian said that President-elect Biden’s administration should consider Bitcoin as an alternative to a “Chinese-style digital dollar.” British economic and financial historian Niall Ferguson said the United States needs to find its own path in adopting cryptocurrencies, rather than “building [its] own versions of China’s electronic payments systems.” In a Bloomberg opinion piece, Ferguson said  Sunday that the current pandemic has generally been good for cryptocurrency adoption, accelerating a “monetary revolution” around the world. However, the historian noted that China has been “advancing rapidly” in the rollout of its digital yuan and increasing use of mobile payments. Apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay reportedly handle roughly $40 trillion in transactions annually. The historian believes that these measures by China are serving as a template for other countries developing cross-border payment systems and remittance payments. However, he advised against the U....

With new legislation on digital assets coming into effect in a month, Russian financial institutions are looking to act. With a new law coming into effect in Russian, the country's largest bank is planning a new blockchain platform for trading, as well as a native token. According to a Monday report from Russian business news outlet RBC, Sberbank is planning to jump into crypto come 2021 when a new law " On Digital Financial Assets ," or DFA, is set to come into effect.  The news came from Herman Gref, the CEO and chairman of Sberbank. With over 96 million clients , the state-owned bank is the largest bank in Russia. There was speculation several months ago that Sberbank was looking into issuing its own stablecoin . The DFA law bans a number of crypto activities, but notably, it does not seem to take issue with stablecoins backed by the ruble — which may have something to do with the nation's central bank looking to digitize its currency as well.  source htt...

The third quarter was tough for mining rig manufacturers as the impact of COVID-19 continued to weigh heavily on the space. The stock of one of China’s "Big Three" mining firms is in free fall Monday after reporting another quarterly loss, underscoring the operating challenges imposed by COVID-19. Canaan Creative, which manufactures mining rigs, released its third-quarter financial results Monday. The company posted a net loss of $12.7 million, or 54 cents per share, on revenues of $24 million. Although quarterly revenues grew 5%, the company’s net losses more than quadrupled. Quanfu Hong, Canaan’s chief financial officer, poured cold water on the negative earnings release by claiming that demand for mining equipment rebounded during the quarter — a trend expected to continue in the final stretch of 2020. He said: “We have received a large number of pre-sale orders which are scheduled for delivery starting in the fourth quarter of 2020.” Canaan’s share price, a consist...

Taking U.S. dollar devaluation into account, Gold has still not reached the all-time price high it set in 1980. Gold bug and Bitcoin ( BTC ) skeptic Peter Schiff was just 17 years old when the yellow metal set its true all-time price high. Meanwhile, Bitcoin, a much younger asset, sits close to its inflation-adjusted all-time high, or ATH, after just three years of downward pressure. Adjusted for inflation, gold reached a price of $678 U.S. dollars in 1980, according to a breakdown from Visual Capitalist. Accounting for inflation, based on calculations from Officialdata .org, $678 in 1980 held the same buying power as approximately $2,142 in 2020. The precious metal technically broke its U.S. dollar all-time high this year, hitting $2,075 according to TradingView data . Its 1980 record purchasing power level remains unbroken, however. Since its push to $2,075 in August, gold has retraced in price, sitting near $1,778 per ounce at time of publication.  Bitcoin hit its last all...

He believes that investors will eventually send Bitcoin’s price over $500,000. Not one to mince words, Tyler Winklevoss reportedly  told the business network CNBC that “Cash is trash.” In his view, it’s only a matter of time before investors dump the dollar and other fiat currencies for BTC: “At some point, it is hard to look at those data points and say that Bitcoin isn’t an incredible store of value.” His twin brother Cameron Winklevoss also said that Bitcoin ( BTC ) “just needs to be better than gold” to see its value rise to remarkable levels. The twins, who run the United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, believe BTC will eventually hit $500,000 — mirroring a recent forecast from Catherine Wood, CEO of ARK Investment Management. Crypto enthusiasts believe Bitcoin’s recent run-up is different from previous market cycles because of the influx of institutional investors into the space. Bitcoin’s maturation leap also suggests that the digital currency is c...

A likely "stop-loss run" triggers a one-minute candle to more than $3,000 lower than Bitcoin spot price before a rebound in extreme volatility. Bitcoin ( BTC ) reached a new all-time high on various exchanges on Nov. 30, but one record, in particular, hit the headlines for a different reason. Data from cryptocurrency exchange Kraken shows BTC/USD hit its highest ever price on its order book — then diving to $16,600 in seconds. Kraken BTC price dumps $3,000 The reason for the crash, which will have liquidated a large number of positions and caused considerable pain for many a speculator, was likely what is known as a "stop-loss run." Stop-loss runs involve large-volume traders who intentionally place large sell orders at a specific price point, then target where they think a large number of stop-loss positions reside. In this case, the target was around $16,600, near the location of last week's local bottom. The result is a cascade of selling pressure tha...

AirBit Club's leadership has been gathered in New York City and will face charges for stealing "membership dues" to finance massive marketing events and lavish personal lifestyles. Per a Monday announcement, the United States Department of Justice and the Southern District of New York have extradited from Panama a leader of alleged Ponzi scheme AirBit Club.  Gutemberg Dos Santos is one of six operators of AirBit Club indicted, and the last to come into the U.S. to face trial before the SDNY. Dos Santos is a dual citizen of Brazil and the United States. Authorities initially apprehended five of the six back in August , with a sixth avoiding authorities until October.  The DoJ alleges that AirBit Club sold "memberships" that promised guaranteed returns. The six operators marketed their returns as being the product of the club's mining operations and trading strategies. Per the DoJ, those operations didn't exist. Instead, membership dues went to fundin...

The concept of a DeFi ETF sounds promising, but it’s not without pitfalls. Index investing in the stock market has become extremely popular thanks to the proliferation of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, which often track popular market indices like the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq-100. Investing in the entire market can be a simple but effective strategy. Instead of spending energy and time in trying to beat it — often unsuccessfully — investors are guaranteed average returns, which in the past 10 years have been more than respectable both in stocks and in crypto. The rise of decentralized finance in the summer of 2020 seems to have reinvigorated the concept of passive investment in crypto. In addition to creating a new well-defined category of crypto assets, it has boosted the infrastructure required to create something analogous to a crypto-native ETF. Several projects and platforms launched their own DeFi indices in 2020. Some, such as the FTX DeFi perpetual contract or Synthetix...

Cybercriminals may favor a different cryptocurrency in the coming months, however. Cryptocurrency-related fraud and theft are likely to grow in the post-COVID-19 world, according to a new report by cybersecurity and anti-virus provider, Kaspersky Lab. Securelist, Kaspersky’s cyberthreat research arm, published a report on cyberthreats to financial organizations, forecasting some specific types of financial attacks that are likely to surge in 2021. Securelist has predicted that a wave of poverty fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic will inevitably lead to “more people resorting to crime including cybercrime.” That could also mean a rise in crimes related to Bitcoin ( BTC ). According to Kaspersky’s research arm, Bitcoin is likely to be the most attractive asset for cybercrime because it is the most popular digital asset. The report reads: “We might see certain economies crashing and local currencies plummeting, which would make Bitcoin theft a lot more attractive. We should expect mor...

XRP price must break a key resistance level before $1.00 becomes a real possibility. While Bitcoin ( BTC ) is facing a potential new all-time high, other coins are showing strength as well. One of those coins is XRP , which has been going vertical in the previous weeks.  XRP’s price surged from $0.22 to a high of $0.78 during the month of November, which immediately ended up in a massive correction towards $0.45. Let's take a look at the XRP price charts to determine whether this was an entry opportunity before the next leg up. The crucial zone around $0.45 holds as support XRP/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView The daily chart of XRP is showing clear support and resistance zones. Within such a heavy pump, the levels to watch can be derived from the daily timeframe. In this case, the first massive support zone is around the $0.45 barrier. XRP corrected toward this zone as the price of Bitcoin dropped to $16,200 on Thanksgiving day .  The chart shows a clear supp...

Nobody seems to be in a rush to digitize the euro, but that could change given increasing global competition. Several experts from various European banks agreed that even a proof of concept for a digital euro is four or five years away. In a panel on Monday called "Upgrading Money to the Digital Age: Introducing Digital Euro," participants agreed that the current task was primarily one of getting everyone onboard with the specifics of a digital euro, putting any real implementation well into the future.  Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, have been an extremely popular topic of debate in recent years, but especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Austėja Šostakaitė of the European Central Bank said that the ECB wouldn't even be making a decision on whether to pursue a digital euro in earnest until the middle of 2021, which contradicts an estimate of January that the ECB's president made earlier this month. For now, Šostakaitė said, the ...

Akropolis says calling it a merger “is a bit of a misnomer.” Yearn.finance announced on Monday yet another merger, this time with Akropolis, a multiproduct decentralized finance protocol featuring yield optimization and undercollateralized loans. Like the Cream Finance merger announced last week , the two ecosystems will remain largely independent in terms of their tokens and overall product lines, a shared announcement clarifies . However, like with Pickle Finance , Akropolis will now integrate Yearn vault technology and will publish its yield farming strategies on its Vault V2 platform. The two development teams will combine and benefit from each others’ expertise. Akropolis developers will be able to build their strategies using tools from the expanding Yearn ecosystem, including Cream’s lending platform. For the Yearn protocol, Akropolis will offer its business development expertise and institutional contacts, the announcement says. Akropolis will also deprecate AkropolisO...

Despite 15% gains coming during a weekend, Monday simply delivers more of the same upside for Bitcoin prior to the Wall Street opening. Bitcoin ( BTC ) returned to $19,000 on Nov. 30 as a weekend surge continued to produce fresh gains for investors and hodlers. BTC price up 18% against weekly lows Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView showed BTC/USD retaking another key psychological level during Monday trading. The weekend had already produced major upside for the pair, which late last week dived to $16,300 . By the start of Monday, $18,600 had appeared, with Bitcoin going on to deliver returns of at least 17% versus those lows. As Cointelegraph reported , a giant $1,300 CME futures gap threatens to take the market lower, but buyers so far remain unfazed. At press time, highs above $19,200 were in progress with around half an hour to go before the start of trading on Wall Street. BTC/USD 1-day hourly chart. Source: TradingView "Leveling up. The crucial area ...

Ian Rogers, newly appointed as a chief experience officer at Ledger, says digital assets are moving from “science fiction” to the mainstream. The revolving door between traditional finance and the crypto space is well established. Now, executives from the luxury goods sector appear to be following in their steps. Ian Rogers, formerly the chief digital officer at LMVH, is taking on a new role as “chief experience officer” at Ledger, the well-known French crypto hardware and software maker. LMVH was formed in 1987 from the merger of high fashion house Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy, which itself formed from a merger of champagne maker Moët & Chandon and cognac producer Hennessey, back in 1971. The newly-created role of chief experience officer involves taking charge of business-to-consumer operations and “reinventing the user experience” of Ledger's products. In an official statement Rogers gave an insight into how he plans to approach this new role: “I remember when you...

Gold outflows are rising as Bitcoin rallies due to heightened buyer demand from institutional investors. The ongoing Bitcoin ( BTC ) rally has primarily been driven by institutions, analysts say, with metrics such as CME’s open interest and Grayscale’s assets under management (AUM), supporting this narrative.  At the same time, the gold market has seen large outflows in recent weeks. On Nov. 24, independent financial researcher Jan Nieuwenhuijs reported that gold saw its largest weekly outflow in history. Largest outflow from gold ever. pic.twitter.com/Re4o3PHrel — Jan Nieuwenhuijs (@JanGold_) November 23, 2020 The timing of the heightened level of outflows from the gold market is noteworthy because it comes after the entrance of major institutional investors into the Bitcoin market. Cointelegraph reported that Guggenheim Partners, which manages $275 billion in assets, is the latest institution to show interest in Bitcoin. What does this mean for Bitcoin? In the medium ...