Blockchain and ICO News

The founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group and Grayscale Investments, Barry Silbert, took advantage of yesterday's 30% depreciation of Bitcoin to replenish his reserves of the first cryptocurrency.

"I'm buying. This is why Bitcoin was invented," wrote Barry Silbert on the social network Twitter.

The Google Play mobile application store once again cleaned up applications related to cryptocurrencies and blockchain. This time, news apps were banned. 

In particular, the Cointelegraph and CoinDesk applications were removed from the store.

Well-known cryptocurrency enthusiast Michael Novogratz was surprised to find that over the past week, stock market and Bitcoin rates have fallen simultaneously.

Usually, analysts say that the rate of the first cryptocurrency does not correlate with any other asset, but last week showed the opposite. It became one of the worst for Wall Street, and indeed the global economy as a whole - the stock indices of developed countries fell together amicably, and Bitcoin along with them.

Asset Manager Charles Edwards, using a rare indicator called Bitcoin Energy Value, predicted a rise in the price of Bitcoin to $ 100,000 over five years.

The indicator monitors the price of Bitcoin using two metrics to determine the "value" - the hash of the network and the effectiveness of mining equipment.

US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, speaking to Congress, said that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is preparing to introduce new cryptocurrency regulations.

Mnuchin did not announce any details, he limited himself to the phrase: "We're about to roll out some significant new requirements at FinCEN". He added that the US authorities intend to seek a balanced approach in this area.

US SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has proposed a three-year regulatory "vacation" for cryptocurrency startups. Pierce at the International Blockchain Congress in Chicago announced this proposal.

Within three years after the first ICO, young companies will be able to develop their network and community without fears of compliance with the regulatory regime. However, during this period they must achieve a certain degree of decentralization in order to be ready to pass the Howie test and the SEC check on whether the tokens of these startups are securities.

According to the famous entrepreneur Elon Musk, despite the decrease in the general hype around a new class of digital assets, cryptocurrency fraud on Twitter has reached a new level.

One of the users of the social network talked about the "new" deception scheme, in which attackers hack verified accounts and use them to advertise extremely dubious offers.

The Bitcoin symbol ₿ is now available on Twitter. It is displayed when writing the hashtags #Bitcoin or #BTC.

Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Twitter, was the first who added the Bitcoin symbol to his Twitter message. The Dorsey entry demonstrates that now when a Twitter user writes the hashtag #Bitcoin or #BTC, a cryptocurrency symbol is displayed next to him.

Heath Tarbert, chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), again expressed confidence that there would be Ethereum futures on the market.

"We have seen bitcoin futures, both cash-settled as well as physically-delivered. My guess is we are going to see ether futures as well," said Tarbert in an interview with Bloomberg.

The shocking American businessman John McAfee, who was recently waiting for a $ 1 million Bitcoin exchange rate, changed his mind and now calls the first cryptocurrency "shitcoin".

More recently, McAfee said that he would cut off and eat his penis if, by the beginning of 2020, the Bitcoin exchange rate did not reach $ 1 million. It seems that McAfee quickly went over to the camp of "cryptosceptics" - or, rather, "altcoin worshipers".

One of the first Bitcoin developers, Gavin Andresen, believes that Satoshi Nakamoto could have misjudged the prospects for creating a cryptocurrency.

Andresen first heard about Bitcoin in 2010. He immediately became interested in the idea and soon became the leading curator of the development. In 2013, he "handed over authority" to Vladimir van der Laan, creator of Bitcoin-QT (Bitcoin Core).

Last year, transactions in total amount of $ 2.5 trillion made on the Bitcoin blockchain, and the average transaction size was about $ 23,000.

According to BitInfoCharts, the average transaction size on the Bitcoin blockchain was 2.75 BTC ($ 23,000), and the average transaction cost (made up of mining costs and commissions) was 0.029 BTC or $ 250.

51,511 BTC worth almost $ 450 million was sent on January 20, 2020 for a commission of less than $ 0.25.

The transaction was included in block 613 644. At the time of block mining, the price of Bitcoin was $ 8680.51, so the transfer amount was equivalent to $ 447 million.

Former Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Christopher Giancarlo announced the creation of the Digital Dollar Foundation.

Giancarlo said that a non-profit organization will study the possibilities and prospects of "converting" the US dollar into electronic currency on the blockchain, as well as explore the potential benefits of a "digitized" dollar.

Craig Wright said he had access to 1.1 million Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoins, which at the current rate is about $ 9.3 billion. After that, the Bitcoin SV altcoin rate has grown by almost 100%.

According to Blockstream CEO Adam Back, the Bitcoin exchange rate this year can easily reach $ 100,000.

Back stressed that the price of Bitcoin has repeatedly crossed the $ 10,000 mark, and just a few years ago it seemed impossible that the first cryptocurrency would reach $ 1,000. In addition, dollar inflation contributes to the growth of the Bitcoin exchange rate.

For the first time since 2013, the United States has lost leadership in the volume of transactions in Bitcoins. In 2019, transactions with the first cryptocurrency in the amount of $ 8.58 billion were made in Singapore, and only $ 7.46 billion in the United States.

At the same time, according to Crystal Blockchain, an analytical website, Singapore became the leader in accepting transfers in the first cryptocurrency, and in the withdrawal of Bitcoins, the island state of Seychelles, where the BitMEX cryptocurrency derivatives exchange is registered, took first place. Bitcoin worth $ 10.07 billion was sent from there.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes digital space needs to be regulated, but self-regulation is the best solution.

"One of the big questions for the next decade is: how should we govern the large new digital communities that the internet has enabled," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.