On Friday, the House of Representatives will hold a virtual hearing titled, Exploring the Feasibility and Security of Technology To Conduct Remote Voting In The House. Unlike the discussion for how Americans would vote anonymously in a primary or general election, this hearing narrowly discusses how our elected representatives can safely vote on legislative bills from a location other than our nations Capitol.

On May 15th, the House of Representatives broke with a tradition held for 231 years since 1789, when to cast a vote or fully participate in a hearing, lawmakers were required to be in person. The current notion of proxy voting, where if I lived in and represented Hawaii and you were representing Virginia, I could entrust you to vote for me so as not to make the long and less socially-distance choice of travel by plane.

However, the House now explores taking this concept one step further, and while for many corporations the idea of remote working, when possible, is considered a given based on the current state of affairs in our country, the fully remote option clashes against the long-standing traditions of what it means to represent our country.

Ron Rivest, Cryptographer and Institute Professor at MIT

Enter The Grandfather Of Crypto

Professor Ronald Rivest, who has been a crypto Professor at MIT possibly before Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin, was even born, will be testifying at the hearing tomorrow. Without any kind of spoiler alert, Rivest has already provided his verdict on the idea publicly in the press as well as in a draft of an academic paper titled, Going from Bad to Worse: From Internet Voting to Blockchain Voting.

Rivest, is a co-winner of the famous 2002 A.M. Turing Award with American computer scientist Leonard M. Adleman and Israeli cryptographer Adi Shamir. The award was based on his ingenious contribution for making public-key cryptography useful in practice by patenting a Cryptographic Communication System and Method, known commonly today as RSA encryption.

In his written testimony, Rivest indicates this accomplishment as well as how he has spent over two decades on voting security. Rivest reveals his background includes being, ... a member of the Technical Guidelines Development Committee from 20042009, advisory to the Election Assistance Commission; I chaired the subcommittee on Computer Security and Transparency...a founding member of the CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project. And I am on the Board of Verified Voting, a non-profit promoting voting system security, especially through the use of risk-limiting audits.

His testimony also states ... the House is in a good position: there are indeed suitable secure voting technologies available. The important reason why that is true is that House votes are NOT SECRET. Voting in the House is not based on secret ballots.

Rivests MIT homepage recently released a draft of a paper titled, Going From Bad to Worse: Internet Voting To Blockchain Voting. He has made no secret about his belief that blockchain voting should not be used in public elections. The paper explains that how blockchain may look attractive for electronic voting, ...e.g., using cryptographic signatures to make forging votes difficult, and using hashing and distributed consensus to maintain a ledger of votes that attackers cannot tamper with unless they co-opt much of the network. However, the paper goes on to note, ... it is extremely challenging to make these techniques work reliably in practice while looking attractive for the use case of voting in elections.

The paper goes on to stress that these are extremely hard concepts to put into practice and does not eliminate the concept of what it calls a serious failure. In particular, blockchain voting systems are still vulnerable to serious failures, and the cryptographic and consensus guarantees of blockchains do not prevent serious failures. Indeed, recently Russia started using blockchain technology offered by Kaspersky Labs, the security software company that the President kicked out of the United States due to its alleged ties and influence from the Kremlin. For policymakers, entrusting the vote in any kind of technology will need to be one that is all-American and air-tight in terms of avoiding meddling from Russia, particularly after 2016.

The Other End Of The Technological Spectrum

Newt Gingrich, former US Speaker of the House attends "Free Iran 2018 - the Alternative" event ... [+] organized by exiled Iranian opposition group on June 30, 2018 in Villepinte, north of Paris. (Photo by Zakaria ABDELKAFI / AFP) (Photo credit should read ZAKARIA ABDELKAFI/AFP via Getty Images)

While no match technologically for Rivest and other computer science luminaries, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich will seek to sway current Representatives to the threat of a virtual legislative dictatorship should remote voting be allowed. We have young men and women risking their lives all across the planet to protect freedom, but their elected leaders cant risk being in a room with immediate access to doctors and remarkably little risk of anything bad happening. I am embarrassed for this House that such a proposal could even get to a hearing.

The full hearing can be viewed tomorrow at 1pm ET as well as the testimony of what is a total of seven witnesses. Also testifying is William Crowell, Partner, Also Louie Partners; Jon Green, Vice President and Chief Security Technologist, Aruba Networks, Dr. Aviel Rubin, Professor and Technical Director, The Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute, Dr. David Wagner, Professor, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, and The Honorable Cheryl L. Johnson, Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Read this article:

Congress To Hold Hearing On Remote Voting Technology, Blockchain Not Invited - Forbes

KEY POINTS

A new research by analytics firm Whale Alert reveals that the miner known as "Patoshi",while mining during the early days of Bitcoin, is in possession of 1,125,150 BTC, worth $10.9 billion. Patoshi, who is believedto beBitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, has also made the effort to protect the network from attacks during Bitcoins early days.

Patoshi is the name given by analyst Sergio Demian Lerner to the early Bitcoin miner who has a distinct pattern in themining activity. Lerner believes Patoshi is Satoshi based on a pattern left by using a modified version of Bitcoin Core, which Satoshi allegedly used.

The particular pattern could be found at the beginning of the network and also in the blocks that mined the Bitcoins sent to Hal Finney, the first person to received Bitcoins through the network. By connecting the two pieces of information together, Whale Alert deduced the identity of Patoshi.

Whale Alert also found out that Patoshi adjusted his mining speed between blocks to maintain the average time of 10 minutes. The analytics firm thought this was done to protect the network from a 51%attack, a malicious takeover of the network by bad actors. Also, Patoshi made sure he maintained 60%of the processing power while leaving enough blocks for other miners. The more miners joined the network, the more secure it was and the lesser the chance for a 51% attack to be successful. When Patoshi decided the network was strong enough, he reduced his blocks per 10 minutes so others have more chance of mining a block.

At some point, however, it became difficult to track Patoshis blocks so it was impossible to know if Patoshi (or Satoshi) had continued or stopped mining. Whale Alert said the node or computer (miner) used to mine the Patoshi blocks was turned off around May 2010. In total, 907 BTC was spent from the Bitcoins mined on the Patoshi blocks and 1,122,693 BTC was unspent.

Around the same time, Satoshi was active in the BitcoinTalk forum until Dec.12, 2010. Satoshi's last verified communication was an email to then-Bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen. I wish you wouldnt keep talking about me as a mysterious shadowy figure, the press just turns that into a pirate currency angle, Satoshi said.

Gold-colored Bitcoin coin on ground Photo: Andr Franois McKenzie on Unsplash

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Bitcoin Founder Satoshi Nakamoto Believed To Have $10.9 Billion Worth Of BTC - International Business Times

Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto?

Satoshi Nakamoto is famously attributed to having created the cryptocurrency Bitcoin (the Bitcoin protocol that is), and the blockchain technology behind it, which has since exploded into an entire industry. The truth of the matter is that no one seems to really know who Satoshi Nakamoto is, as he has remained reclusively anonymous. The ideas that he is Japanese, or a single person, or even a male, are all assumptions. Many people believe that Satoshi Nakamoto is actually a pseudonym for a group of developers, and not any one person.

Bitcoin Begins:

According to legend, Satoshi began working on the Bitcoin concept back in 2007. In August 15th, of 2008, an application for an encryption patent application was filed by Vladimir Oksman, Charles Bry, and Neal Kin (all have denied any connections to Satoshi Nakamoto). The ball was rolling, and on August 18th, 2008, bitcoin.org was registered with a site called: anonymousspeech.com. The website claims to allow users to use their email addresses completely anonymously, that they completely ignore any requests by governments or agencies for any identity information of their clients, and that their servers are constantly moving, and all located outside of the US and Europe.

Then, just a short time later, on the infamous October 31st, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper, which described the cryptocurrency and solved the problem of double spending to prevent the currency from being copied. It was published through metzdowd.com a cryptography mailing list.

On November 9th, 2008, Bitcoin was registered as a project at SourceForge.net which is focused on the development and distribution of open source software using collaboration by the community. There, people can find, create, and publish open source software for free. The Genesis Block (Block 0) was mined on January 3rd, 2009, at 18:15:05 GMT. And Version 0.1 was released on January 9th, 2009. On January 12th, 2009, the first Bitcoin transaction took place between Satoshi and a man named Hal Finney. And finally (though there is much more to the story), on October 5th, 2009, an exchange rate was established by New Liberty Standards, at $1 USD to 1,309.03 BTC (Bitcoin). The exchange rate was based on an equation which took in the cost of electricity to run a computer that generated Bitcoins. Of course Bitcoin mining technology has come a long ways since then. Compare the above exchange rate to what it is today at around $1,246.63 USD to 1 BTC (Wednesday, March 15th, 2017, 05:35 05-39 UTC).

Thats pretty incredible. Now, as mentioned before, the creator(s) of this disruptive innovation, Satoshi Nakamoto, has decidedly remained anonymous, and it would seem that no one has produced any real solid evidence of his identity. But the search has been strong

People have put their best guesses out there as to who they believe Mr. Nakamoto is.

The Guessing Games:

Joshua Davis of the New Yorker, thought that Satoshi Nakamoto was a man named Michael Clear, who had graduated as a cryptography student at Dublins Trinity College. You can see his report here. His conclusion was based off of analyzing 80,000 words of Nakamotos online writings (this guys dedicated), and after he had searched for linguistic clues. Hardly a conclusion, as he also suspected Vili Lehdonvirta, an economic sociologist and a former games developer from Finland. Both of course have denied the claims.

Clear is noted as having told Davis:

Im not Satoshi, but even if I was I wouldnt tell you.

Clear also made his point that Nakamotos identity shouldnt matter, because the currency is both real and elusive, just like its founder (Satoshi) [summarized].

But people do care apparently

Adam Penenberg of FastCompany has surmised that Nakamoto may have been Vladimir Oksman, Charles Bry, and Neal King, all together. This was done by taking certain unique phrases from the Bitcoin paper and putting them into a Google search.

One of them, computationally impractical to reverse, turned up in a patent application made by these three for updating and distributing encryption keys. The bitcoin.org domain name originally used by Satoshi to publish the paper had been registered three days after the patent application was filed.

The patent in question was filed in Finland, however, Bitcoin.org was registered using a Japanese anonymous registration service and was hosted using a Japanese ISP. Could these three men really be Nakamoto? We may never know. All three of them however, have denied the claim.

Others think that Nakamoto may be the man who wrote this article (Martii Malmi). A bitcointalk.org member named The Fool started a thread, and after quoting from the above article:

It was 2009 when I was studying computer science at Helsinki University of Technology. Inspired by libertarian ideals, I came up with the idea of a decentralized Internet currency that cannot be controlled by any government or other single entity. I contacted some guy named Satoshi Nakamoto, who had drafted a technical proposal of such a system just a couple months earlier. He called it Bitcoin.

Had this to say:

He was removed from the list of project developers on bitcoin.org in June 2011. The same time Satoshi left. He still owns the bitcoin.org and bitcointalk.org domains.

Strong evidence or conjecture? You decide.

Well, it would appear theres no shortage of people to be claimed as the notorious Satoshi Nakamoto. Jed McCaleb, is among the growing group of persons honored with this usually (& largely) baseless allegation. McCaleb created the Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, which ended disastrously, and co-founded Ripple and Steller (decentralized payment systems), and has also been involved in a number of other innovative companies.

Michael Peirce and Donal OMahony (both computer scientists), as well as Hitesh Tewari are all suspected of possibly being Satoshi. The three of them co-authored a book entitled: Electronic Payment Systems, which has put them in the spotlight as potentially being the elusive Bitcoin creator. Tewari and OMahony went to the same college as the aforementioned Michael Clear (Trinity College), which raises even more suspicion.

Two Israeli mathematicians (Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir) had alleged that there was a link between Satoshi Nakamoto and the man arrested and charged with running the notorious Silk Road (a black market site for drugs, which used Bitcoin): Ross Ulbricht. However, the man they had believed was Nakamoto actually turned out to be Dustin Trammell, who has himself refuted being the founder of Bitcoin, and explained that he had no personal connections with the Silk Road or its founder. The two researchers have retracted their claim. You can read about that in this article.

Their retraction was recorded in businessinsider.com:

We no longer believe that the very early Founder account we identified in the full bitcoin transaction graph belongs to Satoshi Nakamoto, Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir of the Weizmann Institute said in a statement. We will revise our paper accordingly.

You can read their full retraction, as well as a fuller explanation of their research by reading the full article, again you can find that here.

And the list doesnt end there! Other people who have been alleged to be Bitcoins founder include:

-Professor Shinichi Mochizuki, a Japanese mathematician. Suggested by Ted Nelson, who says the evidence was circumstantial at best.-Nick Szabo, founder of BitGold, was proposed as a likely candidate by financial writer & comedian Dominic Frisby, as well as by some Aston University forensic linguistic experts. Szabo has denied the claim. -Michael Weber, Wei Dai, Hal Finney, and many other developers are also among those periodically named as suspects.

Others Seek The Glory:

As opposed to those already mentioned, many of whom have denied the claim of being Satoshi, another man has claimed that he is Mr. Nakamoto: Craig S Wright, an Australian. Wright is also seeking after Bitcoin and blockchain patents. See this article and this article.

Bitcoin developer, Gavin Andresen, says he regrets his involvement in trying to verify Wrights claims.

Some believe that Wrights claim hold weight, as a cache of transcripts, emails, and other documents (turned in by an anonymous person believed to be close to Wright), which point to his role in the creation of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Another person claimed to have hacked his business email account (producing a cache of revealing documents) and claimed to have tried to interview people who were close to him. While some believe this connection to Satoshi to be a hoax, the evidence provided will certainly keep speculation going well into the future.

Has Satoshi Nakamoto Been Found?

According to an article by Heavy.com, Satoshi Nakamoto has already been found and its his real name:

An article by Coindesk.com collaborates the story, but leaves some (though very little) room for doubt at first glance that is. Even more interesting is that Satoshi Nakamoto has worked on classified military projects.

His background is not entirely clear, but he apparently worked on classified projects for major corporations and the US military.

And that type of lifestyle normally comes with a cloak of secrecy.

However, Dorian S. Nakamoto, again, claims that he is not the right one, and that his words were misunderstood by the initial reporter (Leah McGrath Goodman from Newsweek). The initial Newsweek article even went as far as to post his location and pictures of his house many agree that this was a severe breach of privacy.

You can read about Nakamotos denial in any involvement in Bitcoin in an article written by cryptocoinsnews.com, which had this quote from Mr. Nakamoto:

I never was involved, he said to a Times reporter, saying there was only one reason he had agreed to even talk to a reporter. It was all for a free lunch.

In fact, another article by Bitcoinmagazine.com claims that the hunt for Satoshi has turned this mans life upside down, and not necessarily for the better.

In February 2014, Newsweeks Leah McGrath Goodman claimed to have tracked down the real Satoshi Nakamoto. Dorian S Nakamoto has since denied he knows anything about bitcoin, eventually hiring a lawyer and releasing an official statement to that effect.

As tempting as it may be to automatically stamp this man as Satoshi, its important not to jump the gun, and to look at all the facts and not bombard the mans house with a slew of reporters.

Satoshi Nakamoto In And Out:

IN: Published his paper on Bitcoin in November of 2008, through the Cryptography Mailing List.

OUT: In the Spring of 2011, after working with Bitcoins open source team, while remaining unidentified, Nakamoto said that he had moved on to other things.

In just roughly 3 years, Mr. Nakamoto created a legend and then retreated into the shadows of modern history.

So what do you think? Are any of the people above likely to be the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto? And does it really matter? Should the hunt continue? Let us know in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading, well see you next time.The DinarDirham team

References:

http://www.coindesk.com/information/who-is-satoshi-nakamoto/

http://www.observer.com/2011/10/did-the-new-yorkers-joshua-davis-nail-the-identity-of-bitcoin-creator-satoshi-nakamoto/ http://www.bitcoin.org/

https://sc5.io/posts/sc5er-intro-the-bitcoin-guy/

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=144445.0

http://www.Bitcointalk.org

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jed-mccaleb-4052a4

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/022614/bitcoin-mass-hysteria-disaster-brought-down-mt-gox.asp

http://www.businessinsider.com/silk-road-satoshi-paper-retraction-2013-11?IR=T

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-creator-craig-wright-patents/

http://www.coindesk.com/reuters-self-proclaimed-satoshi-craig-wright-still-seeking-bitcoin-patents/

http://www.coindesk.com/gavin-andresen-regrets-role-satoshi-nakamoto-saga/

Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin Creator, Found in CA: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

http://www.coindesk.com/bticoin-inventor-satoshi-nakamoto-found-california/http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-peer-to-peer-electronic-cash-system/

http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@metzdowd.com/msg09959.html

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/dorian-nakamoto-not-founder-bitcoin/

Home

http://gavinandresen.ninja/

http://www.coindesk.com/price/

http://historyofbitcoin.org/

http://www.bitcoin.org/

https://www.anonymousspeech.com/

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

http://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography

https://sourceforge.net/

https://dinardirham.com/blog/smart-pool-the-future-of-crypto-mining/

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The People Of Blockchain: Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto?

A new theory has been put forward which claims Blockstream CEO Adam Back is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin. The theory, laid out in a video entitled Bitcoin - Unmasking Satoshi Nakamoto, was posted on May 11 by YouTuber Barely Sociable.

The video draws comparisons between Adam Back and Satoshi based on the trail of breadcrumbs left by Satoshi before he disappeared from the internet altogether. The video points out similarities in Back and Satoshis writing style, coding ability, and constructs a timeline which seeks to connect the two men based on the timing of their appearance (and disappearance) on/from the internet.

When asked for comment, Back told Decrypt, "Just that people speculate, but I'm not Satoshi. To cut short Google searches and digging."

Adam Back had also taken to Twitter to refute the claims. Back admitted that the timeline may look suspicious, but attributed it to mere coincidence.

Some claim to be Satoshi, days google research blogging stories, and in court, to widespread non-belief. Seems I need the opposite: I am not Satoshi despite recent video / reddit claiming so. Some factors & timing may look suspicious in hindsight; coincidence & facts are untidy, Back tweeted.

Here, the CEO of Blockstreama private company which sells off-chain Bitcoin solutions like the Liquid networkis referencing self-professed Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright. Wright has sued multiple members of the crypto community, including Back, who claimed he is not Satoshi. The latest states of all five lawsuits can be seen here.

Back continued on Twitter, It goes deeper - some of what they google researched is true: I moved to Malta, an EU tax haven - in 2009. Pure coincidence, though ofc I did know about Bitcoin in 2008 via emails from Satoshi. I was born in London. I do use double-space and native spelling British. Can code C++, said Back, he said.

The video pointed out that all of Satoshis original emails with members of the cypherpunk community are still publicly available. All except oneBacks. The explanation offered by Back is that he purposely deleted all of his correspondence with Satoshi in order to protect the Bitcoin creators identity.

The video also references Backs deep involvement in the cypherpunk space, particularly his early focus on Ecash and b-moneyboth precursors to Bitcoin (created by David Chaum and Wei Dai respectively) which formed the cryptographic building blocks for Satoshi Nakamotos final invention.

Back again admitted the apparent similarities between his and Satoshis interests, but said it still doesnt amount to proof.

Back stated that he was interested in ecash, implementing Chaums ecash library and proposed cryptographic techniques similar to ecash.

Still not Satoshi [though], he added.

The video ends by pointing out that Blockstream is now involved in building centralized off-chain solutions for sending Bitcoinas a for-profit company. Products like Blockstreams Liquid take Bitcoin transactions off the main chain, and instead funnel them through the privately owned products named above.

But if Back was Satoshi, he wouldnt need the money.

Updated with comment from Adam Back.

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New theory claims Adam Back is Satoshi Nakamoto - Decrypt

So finally, Satoshi Nakamoto, the man behind the Bitcoin phenomenon has been identified. For long Bitcoin has been considered something built by a Japanese whiz kid who used the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto.(Learn more about Bitcoin)

Leah McGrath Goodman, a reporter for the Newsweek magazine after months of investigation uncovered the man behind Bitcoins.

What surprised most people is that Satoshi is 64 years old and is a Japanese American living in Los Angeles for years, has worked on classified stuff for the defense industry and something of a mathematical genius.

Apparently even his family didnt know.

So whats the learning for entrepreneurs from this amazing man called Satoshi Nakamoto:

Age is never a barrier to your passion

Learn when to let go and have other capable people drive decisions

I wish you wouldnt keep talking about me as a mysterious shadowy figure, Nakamoto wrote to Andresen.The press just turns that into a pirate currency angle. Maybe instead make it about the open source project and give more credit to your dev contributors; it helps motivate them.Source Newsweek Magazine

Today developers around the world have shared in the wealth that has been created by the Bitcoin phenomenon.

Sharing the rewards is as important in scaling your venture as making it successful

Keep yourself grounded; if you are passionate, it almost never is about the money.

There will be more lessons to learn as additional details trickle out about his life but Bitcoin will now probably never ever be the mysterious and rebellious online currency that promised to taken on the might of the banks and the governments worldwide.

See the original post:

5 Lessons from the Life of Satoshi Nakamoto - The man ...

One of the most enduring mysteries of modern times has produced another enthralling twist. Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoins pseudonymous and enigmatic creator, has not been seen online in more than eight years. Evidence has now surfaced that points to a new Satoshi candidate, whose known life has a number of parallels with that of Bitcoins inventor. His name is Paul Le Roux and, if proven to be Satoshi, there is a good reason why his 1 millionBTChasnt moved the Rhodesian has been in jail since 2012.

The Kleiman v. Wrightlawsuitunfolding in the Florida courts has been filled with misdirection, red herrings, mistruths, forgeries, and bizarre theories, often floated by the defendant Craig Wright.Document 187, Dr. Craig Wrights Motion For Protective Order, was recently filed with heavy redaction because Wright supposedly has a well-founded fear that these criminals and their associates would seek retribution if they learned of his involvement in their apprehension and incarceration.

Someone forgot to redact one of the corresponding footnotes, however, enabling a sharp-eyed sleuth to identify the master criminal in question: Paul Le Roux. The 46-year-old cartel boss is a character as flamboyant as Wright himself, but cut from a very different cloth. Readers may already be familiar with Le Rouxs life story, which surfaced in a seven-part series onAtavistand subsequent book titled The Mastermind. As the blurb summarizes:

He was a brilliant programmer and a vicious cartel boss, who became a prized U.S. government asset.

It has now been suggested that Paul Le Roux may be Satoshi Nakamoto and that Craig Wright is in possession of encrypted hard drives containing Le Rouxs multi-billion-dollar stash of bitcoins. Its a crazy theory, and yet, on closer inspection, there is a prima facie case for Bitcoins mastermind being criminal mastermind Le Roux.

As his Wikipedia page the very same page which escaped redaction in the Kleiman v. Wright case notes, Paul Calder Le Roux is a former programmer, former criminal cartel boss and informant to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He created E4M, an open-source free Windows disk encryption software program, in 1999, and is a suspected creator of the open-source TrueCrypt, which is based on E4Ms code.

Then it drops a bomb: Le Roux is currently in US custody for ordering the assassinations of six people.

If any screenwriters mulling a Satoshi Nakamoto movie are searching for inspiration, they just got a huge shot of it. With a career thats included logging, precious metals mining, gold smuggling, land deals, drug shipments, arms trafficking and money laundering, Le Roux is a one-man movie waiting to happen and thats before the Bitcoin connection is thrown into the mix. In one of the many passports Le Roux owned, he goes by the Satoshi-like name of Solotshi and thats just the beginning of the curious coincidences.

A Daily Mailarticlewhich also slipped through the redactors net, leaving a trace of the URL visible in document 187 cited at the outset, calls Le Roux a real-life Bond villain behind a cocaine and gun empire spanning four continents whos now turned super-snitch and quotes U.S. agents as calling him a very bad guy.

As the anon whopostedon 4chans /biz/ messageboard on May 12, after spotting Le Rouxs name in the Wright case postulated, Bitcoin was a project of a evil genius Paul Solotshi Calder Le Roux. He intended it simply for the purpose of money laundering Unfortunately, soon after he went quiet with the Satoshi identity, he was captured by law enforcement, and hes going to spend the rest of his life rotting in jail cell.

Even if Le Roux did create Bitcoin, it does not follow that money laundering was his goal: it would likelier have been an extension of his obsession with cryptography, which can be traced back to the 90s. Before Paul Le Roux broke bad, he was by all accounts a brilliant programmer and privacy ideologue. In 1997, he began work on E4M (Encryption for the Masses), software which is capable of encrypting entire disks, and optionally of plausible deniability (denying the existence of an encrypted volume), Wikipediaexplains. It continues:

In the Politics section of the E4M website [archive], Le Roux published a kind of manifesto stating that governments are increasingly relying on electronic data gathering. Citing projects such as Echelon, linked to the five nation states which would become known as the Five Eyes more than a decade later, he stated that encryption is the only way to preserve civil liberties.

The E4M manifesto finishes: Strong Encryption is the mechanism with which to combat these intrusions, preserve your rights, and guarantee your freedoms into the information age and beyond Paul Le Roux, Author, Encryption for the Masses.

For those intent on comparing Satoshi and Le Rouxs personas for similarities, there are several attributes and actions that align plus a few that dont. Given that both entities were adept at assuming false personas and concealing their natural language and idiosyncrasies, identification is no easy task. Heres whats known about the pair that points to them being the same person:

And then theresthispost from 2002, seven years before Bitcoin was released:

It doesnt read like Satoshis voice, but it does read an awfully lot like someones early idea of Bitcoin. The IP address of the author hassupposedlybeen traced to the Netherlands a country where Le Roux once lived.

For all of the surface evidence that suggests Le Roux could have been Satoshi, not all of the points align. In 2009, for example, when Satoshi was diligently refining Bitcoin, Le Roux was already dabbling in drug smuggling and gun running. Would it have been possible to maintain such a double life, one chaotic and the other scholarly?

In an IRC chat dating from around the time of the Bitcoin Cash ABC/SV split, user CSW (Craig Wright) connects Bitcointalk and r/Bitcoin moderator Theymos to Paul Le Roux, claiming that the pair used to be partners before Le Roux was arrested. He also asserts that Theymos is still in the pharma spam business, which dovetails with Le Rouxs illegal pharmaceutical business.

There is a caveat to all of this, of course: Craig Wright is a habitual liar, whose every utterance must be fact-checked. Given that Le Rouxs name has been linked with Satoshi sincelate 2018, it is possible that Wright latched onto it, and wove it into the fanfic hes been crafting for the Kleiman case. As such, any evidence from the mouth of the man known as Faketoshi should be treated with caution. Few, aside from Calvin Ayre, believe that Craig Wright created Bitcoin, but many believe that by luck or design he could have been lurking in the background from near the start.

Could this involvement have been due to Wright serving as an informant on Le Roux, himself now an informant following his arrest in September 2012? It sounds fanciful, but its certainly an intriguing notion. As one anontheorized, Craig Wright was an employee of Le Roux, who was vaguely aware of the bitcoin project. Craig was an informant who helped bring down Le Roux, and after his arrest, Craig managed (via long time friend and partner in crime, Dave Kleiman) to get his hands on the wallets that hold a million bitcoins, but unfortunately for Craig, all of Solotshis coins are locked away in secure TrueCrypt volumes (TrueCrypt being another software that Le Roux developed). He has been trying for years to crack them but with no success.

Another of Craigs long time friends, Calvin Ayre, has set up warehouses of computers to try to crack Solotshis password and unlock the vast fortunes; his mining activity is simply a front to make these massive datacenters look legitimate. Craig is being set up as the real satoshi so that when the coins are finally unlocked, they can legitimately sell them off.

If the Rhodesian crime boss is Satoshi Nakamoto, it means that the two biggest contributors to Bitcoins early success, Paul Le Roux and Ross Ulbricht, are both in the custody of U.S. authorities. There they will likely see out the rest of their lives, while the rest of the world profits from the innovations of these flawed geniuses. Interestingly, in little more than 24 hours,Gotsatoshi.compromises to reveal the identity of Bitcoins creator. While the cryptosphere will not be holding its breath in anticipation, the countdown adds further intrigue to the most enduring mystery of the digital age.

What are your thoughts on the Paul Le Roux and Satoshi connection? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Satoshi Nakamoto Could Be Rhodesia Born Criminal ...

Bitcoin Cash 4 Hour Price Update

Updated July 19, 2020 01:35 AM GMT (09:35 PM EST)

Bitcoin Cash entered the current 4 hour candle at $224.69, down 0% ($0.01) from the last 4 hour candle. Relative to other instruments in the Top Cryptos asset class, Bitcoin Cash ranked 3rd since the last 4 hour candle in terms of percentage price change.

Bitcoin Cashs 5 day negative streak has officially concluded, as the candle from yesterday closed up 0.81% ($1.8). This move happened on lower volume, as yesterdays volume was down 19.52% from the day before and down 23.51% from the same day the week before. Relative to other instruments in the Top Cryptos asset class, Bitcoin Cash ranked 4th since yesterday in terms of percentage price change. Below is a daily price chart of Bitcoin Cash.

Notably, Bitcoin Cash is now close to its 20 day averages, located at 229.72 respectively, and thus may be at a key juncture along those timeframes. Price action traders in particular will want to note that the 30 day period appears to show price forming a base; this could indicate that a support/resistance level is developing. For another vantage point, consider that Bitcoin Cashs price has gone down 7 of the previous 10 trading days.

Behold! Here are the top tweets related to Bitcoin Cash:

@newbie_6 @rogerkver If youre transaction fee was too low then your BTC transaction is probably stuck. Thats because BTC has been changed to not accommodate low fees causing huge problems. You should use Bitcoin Cash instead, where fees are typically under a penny and are fast!

@rogerkver Bitcoin = Satoshi Nakamoto White PaperSo as such, #Bitcoin is Bitcoin Cash (#BCH)While Bitcoin Core is a shitcoin that no longer follows the Original White Paper. Bitcoin Core should NEVER be called Bitcoin. Its simply Bitcoin Core, Bitcore or BTCPlain and Simple

can we get xrp, bitcoin cash, and litecoin out of the top 10 already? the ghost chains need to go

For a longer news piece related to BCH thats been generating discussion, check out:

Bitcoin Cash price analysis: only bullish above $245

Bitcoin Cash technical analysis shows that bulls need to keep the BCH/USD pair above the $205 level to avoid a $75 sell-off.Watch out for a powerful technical breakout if price moves above the neckline of the pattern, around the $245 level. Bitcoin Cash technical analysis shows that the cryptocurrency needs to move above the $245 level to activate a bullish reversal pattern.

See more here:

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Down $0.01 On 4 Hour Chart, 5 Day Down Streak Broken; Price Base in Formation Over Past 30 Days - CFDTrading

Bitcoin Cash 4 Hour Price Update

Updated July 18, 2020 07:18 PM GMT (03:18 PM EST)

Bitcoin Cash is up 0.14% ($0.32) since the previous 4 hours, marking the 5th candle in a row an increase has occurred. Out of the 5 instruments in the Top Cryptos asset class, Bitcoin Cash ended up ranking 4th for the four-hour candle in terms of price change relative to the previous 4 hours.

Bitcoin Cash closed the day prior down 0.66% ($1.48); this denotes the 5th day in a row it has gone down. This move happened on lower volume, as yesterdays volume was down 34.18% from the day before and down 27.85% from the same day the week before. Those trading within the Top Cryptos asset class should know that Bitcoin Cash was the worst performer in the class during the day prior. Here is a daily price chart of Bitcoin Cash.

Coming into today Bitcoin Cash is now close to its 20 day averages, located at 229.63 respectively, and thus may be at a key juncture along those timeframes. Also of note is that on a 30 day basis price appears to be forming a base which could the stage for it being a support/resistance level going forward. For another vantage point, consider that Bitcoin Cashs price has gone down 7 of the previous 10 trading days.

For laughs, fights, or genuinely useful information, lets see what the most popular tweets pertaining to Bitcoin Cash for the past day were:

@newbie_6 @rogerkver If youre transaction fee was too low then your BTC transaction is probably stuck. Thats because BTC has been changed to not accommodate low fees causing huge problems. You should use Bitcoin Cash instead, where fees are typically under a penny and are fast!

@rogerkver Bitcoin = Satoshi Nakamoto White PaperSo as such, #Bitcoin is Bitcoin Cash (#BCH)While Bitcoin Core is a shitcoin that no longer follows the Original White Paper. Bitcoin Core should NEVER be called Bitcoin. Its simply Bitcoin Core, Bitcore or BTCPlain and Simple

Top 10 Cryptocurrencies prices during the past weekStar of the week was Chainlink $LINK, reaching a price of $8.42; an increase of 41.92% in 7 days onlyBitcoin Cash $BCH was the biggest loser, it has dropped to $223.61, representing a loss of -5.70%

For a longer news piece related to BCH thats been generating discussion, check out:

Bitcoin Cash price analysis: only bullish above $245

Bitcoin Cash technical analysis shows that bulls need to keep the BCH/USD pair above the $205 level to avoid a $75 sell-off.Watch out for a powerful technical breakout if price moves above the neckline of the pattern, around the $245 level. Bitcoin Cash technical analysis shows that the cryptocurrency needs to move above the $245 level to activate a bullish reversal pattern.

Read more:

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Up $0.32 On 4 Hour Chart, Underperforms All Top Cryptos to Start the Day; Price Base in Formation Over Past 30 Days - CFDTrading

From being an ignored alternative form of digital money, the industry of cryptocurrency had gone a long way. Now, people invest in it, and some people even treat is as the new digital gold. Even in the world of online casino and online sports betting, more and more bookmakers are starting to accept Bitcoin as a mode of payment and withdrawal. However, some people, especially those who are not particularly indulged in the niche of crypto, assume that cryptocurrency is Bitcoin and vice-versa. While that is correct in a way, but Bitcoin is not the only form of cryptocurrency and is in fact not the only cryptocurrency you can use to bet on sports.

Payment method availability is important in sports betting, as not everyone has access to every method of payment there is. For bookmakers, it is always a good idea to support the most means of payment that you can, as this means your site or app will be accessible to more people. You can discover which bookies accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment in this Silentbet guide.

Here are some of the top cryptocurrencies that are also accepted in online sports betting aside from Bitcoin.

Russian-Canadian programmer Vitalik Buterin started Etehrium in 2013. The term etherium technically refers to the platform used for decentralized apps or Dapps, and ether is the token in ti used as a digital currency. However, it has become popularly known as Etherium, and became the second biggest crypto next to Bitcoin.

In its earliest days of conception, Etherium is used for dapps, or mobile applications that are not governed by third parties, such as Google or Apple. Right now, the Etherium project had split into two, giving birth to two different currencies: the ETH and the ETC (Etherium Classic). The ETH remains to be the more popular of the two.

When Bitcoin started to increase in popularity and also in value, the cryptocurrency saw a huge increase in the number of its users and the number of transactions made using it. One of the major problems of Bitcoin is that it has a slow processing capability, only able to process up to seven transactions per second.

This is where Bitcoin Cash (BCH) came in, a fork of the original BTC. Working on bigger blocks, BCH is able to handle and process more transactions per minute than the original Bitcoin. As originally intended by Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin was only meant to be used on a personal level, in a peer-to-peer setup. However, it became bigger than that. The purpose of BCH is to be faster na more efficient in terms of processing capabilities than Bitcoin.

Litecoin is another form of cryptocurrency that is only meant to be used on a smaller peer-to-peer level. It works highly similar to Bitcoin and is sometimes even referred to crypto enthusiasts as the silver to Bitcoins gold.

Litecoin was forked from Bitcoin by Charlie Lee in October 2011. Lew was a former Google and Coinbase employee. He wanted a coin that is still similar to Bitcoin but has a slight difference from it when it comes to features.

The Dogecoin is the form of cryptocurrency that only started out as a joke, but eventually became a serious currency. Its creator, Jackson Palmer, launched the Dogecoin in 2013. The name DogecoinDogecoiin came from the Japanese Shiba Inu dog that became a meme named Doge. Right now, Dogecoins consistently holds its place within the top 30 of all cryptos in use. It is mostly used to provide online tips, especially on Twitter.

Link:

Cryptocurrencies Other Than Bitcoin That You Can Use To Bet On Sports - NY Sports Day

Cryptocurrencies are no longer new when it comes to the online world. It has been around for over a decade now and it was just recently when people gave it the attention it deserves. There have been many attempts of establishing something similar to cryptocurrencies in the earlier days of the internet, but it was Bitcoin that mainly started everything.

Bitcoin was developed in 2008 by an identity called Satoshi Nakamoto. Until today, it remains unknown whether this is a name of a person or a group of people. Bitcoin was made for online transactions and it was in 2009 when it became available to the public. A few years later, more cryptocurrencies appeared in crypto arenas like Ethereum, Ripple, and DogeCoin.

It was in 2017 when Bitcoin made a lot of noise as it was when its value peaked. At some point in that year, a Bitcoin was valued at around 20,000 US dollars. This makes people see the potential of digital currencies and even businesses started to embrace it.

Many industries, including the gambling industry, are now allowing cryptocurrency transactions. There are now many online casinos and bookies that accept this mode of payment and some even only cater to Bitcoin users. You can check many cricket betting sites reviews on thetopbookies.com.

People still mainly see Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as digital assets rather than an actual currency. This is understandable as many countries are still in debates regarding the validity of this currency. However, in Malta, this is already recognized as a currency and is equal to currencies like USD and AUD.

Many countries are also looking into regulating their use. For now, only a few countries have laws that are particularly for the use of cryptocurrencies like South Korea and Japan. Many of the cryptocurrency users would invest with their cryptos or would play real money casino games.

One may wonder why people are now shifting to this even if digital wallets are around and even if its easy and safe to pay with credit and debit cards online nowadays. There are a few advantages that this way of making online transactions have and here are some of them:

Security and Anonymity

Its virtually impossible to hack into a Bitcoin or cryptocurrency wallet. These wallets wont be giving away your information every time you make a transaction. Youll only be known as a wallet address and thats it.

Because of this, many people are enjoying the anonymity of transacting online. This is a safer option for people whod like to gamble online. Especially to those who do not want their gambling activities to be exposed. Every time you make a payment, you just need a wallet address. Theres no need to disclose your personal and even banking information.

Faster Transactions

Another thing that you should know about cryptocurrencies is that it runs on a decentralized nature. This means that no one else is involved in making your transactions aside from you and the person you are trying to pay. This makes it a direct transaction and so it is faster than other payment methods.

When it comes to online casino betting and gaming, many punters or players are trying to avoid transacting with their bank accounts. This is because banks are generally strict when it comes to gambling activities and sometimes, it may take a few days before banks clear out gambling transactions.

Many online casinos and betting sites are also based offshore and this can also be a hassle if you will be using your bank account. Banks will also need approvals for such transactions to go through. Well, this can all be avoided if you use cryptocurrencies because you can be anywhere in the world and still be able to use this.

Generally Cheaper to Use

Since cryptos are decentralized and no one else is involved to process transactions with these, theres no one else that needs to be paid. If you will use this outside the country, theres no need for conversion because a Bitcoin is a Bitcoin wherever you are.

Using cryptocurrencies is a cheaper alternative for operators or sellers and buyers or players and when it comes to online casinos, the ones that are purely dedicated to crypto users typically have the best promos bonuses because they can afford it. Most of them dont hire third-party services anymore to process crypto payments.

Overall, cryptocurrencies remain to be seen as the future of online transactions. It has been a while since Bitcoin surpassed the value of 10,000 USD, but experts are predicting that before anytime now, the value of a Bitcoin may peak once again.

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The Rise of the Use of Cryptocurrencies in Online iGaming - Siliconindia.com

Listening to educator, inventor and scientist Scott Stornetta on May 30th during the presentation curated by the Government Blockchain Association Of UAE provided insight into one of the least understood problems in blockchains. Stornetta was part of the team that created what can be called a proto blockchain. With three out of nine references in the bitcoin paper by Satoshi Nakomoto, Stornetta and co-inventor Stuart Habers ideas have had an outsize influence on the design of bitcoin and of subsequent blockchains.

Stornetta answered a question about what message he will have if he were to ever meet Satoshi. Stornetta said that he would ask him to fully read the second paper. Here Stornetta is referring to a way to upgrade bitcoin or any time-stamping mechanism, if the signature algorithm is in danger of being compromised.

That paper deals with two topics, one of which is familiar to us from bitcoin and other blockchains. The use of Merkle trees as a way of aggregating the commitments and referring to just the root of the tree, which if timestamped and witnessed properly, ensures immutability of all the leaf documents or transactions. This is a way to refer to lots of transactions with just a single number. This is the basis of the concept of block in blockchain.

The papers second topic is how to renew the timestamps of documents if the cryptography behind timestamping using signatures is in danger of being broken. The simple prescription is to renew the timestamp, referring to the document (the hash) and the old signature in the new one.

Stornetta and Habers concerns were to preserving immutable and unrepudiatable references to digital documents with the time they are entered into a registry. That is not about value exchange and control of assets, like most other blockchains. They also make the observation that the timestamp, if fixed in a chain at a time known to be before the break, can be assumed to be correct.

Two baby elephants, symbols of renewal, walk among a herd at the Minneriya National Park in ... [+] Minneriya on July 8, 2020.

Many of the cryptographic structures behind any blockchain network are relatively safe from quantum computing as they are based on hash functions which are quantum resistant. For bitcoin and for other blockchains, this means that, Merkle trees and the structure of the chain itself are quite safe as most of this is based on hashes.

The vulnerability of digital signatures to Shors algorithm using quantum cryptanalysis is a Damocles sword that hangs over any blockchain that is meant to last for ever. Although, it is improbable that quantum computing will be able to break the signature algorithm in the short term there is a possibility that it will in the long run. For decentralized value exchanges whose longevity should be measured in hundreds of years, this consideration is crucial.

The more quantum vulnerable parts are signatures, as value transfer is based on signatures, the unspent transactions are vulnerable. If quantum computing progresses to a point where the signature algorithm is in imminent jeopardy, the signature algorithm needs to be updated to a quantum resistant one. Moreover, all owners of unspent transactions need to transfer values to the new scheme. This action also needs to be done before the signature scheme is broken. Further, it will need actions from all owners of value to safeguard their assets. This also applies to other forms of asset ownership assertion using asymmetric or public key cryptography. Some of these considerations can be seen in the plans for Ethereum Serenity upgrades.

Once quantum computing for factorization becomes a reality, all stranded assets; for which private keys are lost due to negligence or their owners death will start moving again, into the control of people with enough quantum resources.

Facilities for upgrading systems should be part of the initial architecture of any long-lived system. There are many throw-away systems that long outlive the initial horizon, so any system has to be created as if it is going to live a long time.

View post:

Satoshi Nakamoto Inspiration Gives Advice On Bitcoins Next Move - Forbes

There are over 13,000 Bitcoin (BTC) addresses that are worth at least $1 million, according to data from Glassnode.

At the current prices, it takes about 107 BTC for an address to become a dollar millionaire. Since this metric is tied to the dollar price of Bitcoin, it tends to fluctuate a lot. For comparison, the number of addresses that contain at least 100 BTC has a much lower volatility.

Bitcoin addresses that hold 100 BTC v. addresses that hold $1M worth of BTC. Source: Glassnode.

We can observe that the number of addresses with balances of over $1 million hit a record high during the 2017 bull run, while the other metric remained largely unaffected by it. This remains one of the few indicators in the Bitcoin world with a very low variance through the years.

Another possible reason is that some of these addresses are controlled by large entities like exchanges and custodians, who do not like to stray from a predetermined distribution of their Bitcoin. It should also be noted that there are over 1 million of Bitcoin which were likely mined by Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. These coins have not moved in over 10 years.

So how many Bitcoin millionaires are there? The reality is that we do not know. In order for us to answer this question, we would have to know how many individuals or entities control those 13,290 addresses. This number could theoretically lie anywhere between 1 and 13,290.

Although it is possible to apply data analysis heuristics to Bitcoin addresses and transactions to narrow down this number somewhat, no such complete data set is currently available.

View original post here:

There Are Over 13K Bitcoin Addresses Worth $1M - Cointelegraph

Despite the massive losses in the wake of the corona crisis, Bitcoin has had a good year until now in 2020. The year-to-date performance until Sunday, July 5th, was over 25%, which means that BTC even beats the US S&P 500 share index in the first half of the year. However, these price gains seem almost meager compared to the gains that some old coins have made this year to date. These include Ethereum with +72% and Tezos with +65%.

However, this appearance of dwindling Bitcoin dominance can be deceptive. While some see a new Altcoin rally like in 2017, others are not so sure about this point. A well-known top trader in the crypto sector is more likely to believe that there will be an extinction of Altcoins before the next long-awaited Bitcoin Rally. What is true about his thesis?

Find out more about Bitcoin and the faith of other cryptocurrencies and read the latest finance news with The Born2Invest mobile app.

The top trader from the crypto sector is Joe007, who has made a name for himself by positioning himself at the top of the Bitfinex Leaderboard. In a new Twitter post from July 3rd, Joe007 makes a bold thesis when he writes that in his opinion an Altcoin mass extinction will come before a possible next Bitcoin Rally. Specifically he wrote: I believe the mass extinction of Shitcoins will likely precede the next Bitcoin rally. Make it whatever you want.

The statement of Joe007 can be seen as very controversial, as there is always hope among some Crypto fans for an Altcoin season like 2017. But the trader seems to have a critical attitude towards everything that is not called Bitcoin. So he also shot against the DeFi area, which is based on the second largest and therefore most promising cryptocurrency besides BTC:

DeFi is nothing but another marketing ploy by a shadow gang of snake oil sellers behind Ethereum. It is obvious that they are trying to create another ICO-like mania. With the same 0 real benefits in the real world.

The top trader Joe007 is not the only one who has radical views on Altcoins. So Adam Back, the CEO of Blockstream, who was mentioned by name by Satoshi Nakamoto in the BTC White Paper, wrote on Twitter on June 30th: There is only one cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.

The programmer told Bloomberg in early June that Bitcoin is on track to reach $300,000 within the next five years. This would mean that BTC would increase by more than 3,000% from its current level.

Max Keiser, a BTC proponent who is also well-known in the crypto sector, is a so-called Bitcoin maximalist in addition to Back. In a recently published interview, Keiser explained his preference for digital gold as follows: There is no coin out there that can do something that Bitcoin is not already doing or will soon be able to do.

As it can be seen from the examples of Joe007, Adam Back and Max Keiser, many crypto experts agree that Bitcoin is the only true cryptocurrency and that Altcoins are doomed to failure in the long run. But will they be right?

Basically, it can be said that the 11-year supremacy of Bitcoin is no coincidence, despite almost 5,600 other cryptocurrencies according to Coinmarketcap. The cryptocurrency invented by Satoshi Nakamoto was the biggest innovation in the crypto sector, so it is no wonder that BTC has the most market capitalization.

However, only the future can show whether all other cryptocurrencies are automatically doomed to failure. One thing is certain, however, that the world does not need 5,600 cryptocurrencies and 99% of them will become worthless. In this scenario, there would still be room for some other special cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin.

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(Featured image by WorldSpectrum via Pixabay)

DISCLAIMER: This article was written by a third party contributor and does not reflect the opinion of Born2Invest, its management, staff or its associates. Please review our disclaimer for more information.

This article may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words believe, project, estimate, become, plan, will, and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks as well as uncertainties, including those discussed in the following cautionary statements and elsewhere in this article and on this site. Although the Company may believe that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, the actual results that the Company may achieve may differ materially from any forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of the management of the Company only as of the date hereof. Additionally, please make sure to read these important disclosures.

First published in CRYPTO MONDAY, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

Although we made reasonable efforts to provide accurate translations, some parts may be incorrect. Born2Invest assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions or ambiguities in the translations provided on this website. Any person or entity relying on translated content does so at their own risk. Born2Invest is not responsible for losses caused by such reliance on the accuracy or reliability of translated information. If you wish to report an error or inaccuracy in the translation, we encourage you to contact us.

View original post here:

Bitcoin Rally or Altcoin extinction? Top Trader sees gloomy future for ETH, XRP and Co. - Born2Invest

The data analysis firm Chainalysis has published a report on the whereabouts of the Bitcoin supply since the first block was mined by its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Specifically, the report provides an overview of the data that exists on the ownership and trade in Bitcoin.

According to the analysis firm, 18.6 million Bitcoins have been mined as of the publication date of the report. Of that amount, approximately 60% is held by institutions, individuals or businesses that have never sold more than 25%. In that sense, Chainalysis determines that these investors have maintained their BTCs for many years and consider Bitcoin a long-term investment.

Another 20% of BTCs supply has been sitting still in directions for more than 5 years, and therefore the data analysis firm considers them lost Bitcoins. The other 19% of all already mined Bitcoin moves frequently between the different exchanges and constitutes the Bitcoin trading market, as can be seen in the graph below.

Source: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/bitcoin-market-data-exchanges-trading

Chainalysis concludes the following:

The data shows that the majority of Bitcoin is held by those who treat it as digital gold: an asset to be held for the long term. But this digital gold is supported by an active trading market for those who prefer to buy and sell frequently. The 3.5 million Bitcoin used for trading supplies the market, and, in interaction with the level of demand, determines the price.

In addition, the firm predicts that there will be an increased need to inject more Bitcoin into the trading market. Especially after the Bitcoin halving that will make the asset even scarcer over time. Therefore, Chainalysis expects to move more Bitcoin from investors reserves to trading as a way to provide liquidity to the market. However, this will only happen if the price of Bitcoin reaches a level that long-term investors find attractive to encourage the sale of the cryptocurrency.

Chainalysis also determined that of the millions of Bitcoin holders, only 340,000 are active weekly BTC traders. The data allows Chainalysis to divide those traders into two groups: retailers and professionals, as shown in the graph below.

Source: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/bitcoin-market-data-exchanges-trading

According to this chart, retailers trade less than $10,000 of BTC on exchanges and constitute 96% of all transfers to these platforms on a weekly basis. At the same time, professional traders control the liquidity in the market and account for 85% of the total US dollar value in Bitcoin. Chainalysis further describes:tates:

() professional traders are the most significant contributors to large market movements, such as those seen duringBitcoins dramatic price declinein March as the Covid-19 crisis intensified in North America. However, professional traders are few in number, moving all that value in just 39,000 transfers per week on average in 2020.

At the of writing Bitcoin trades at $9,353 with a slight gain of 0.37% in the last 24 hours. Over the past week, BTC has remained relatively stable in the range of $9,300 to $9,500. Bitcoin is at a crossroads and analysts have not reached a consensus on whether its performance in the coming days will be bullish or bearish.

See original here:

60% of Bitcoin supply held as digital gold by investors - Crypto News Flash

Since Bitcoin kickstarted the cryptocurrency revolution in 2009, the crypto space has grown dramatically; Bitcoin alone has reached a market capitalization of over $170 billion, while more than a dozen other digital assets have achieved a market value of more than $1 billion.

As a result of this staggering growth, a number of early adopters, pioneers and builders have become billionaires, joining the ranks of the world's wealthiest individuals. However, due to the volatility of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, any wealth held in crypto assets can fluctuate wildlymaking it difficult to pin down exactly who is a billionaire at any one time.

Despite strong growth in the crypto market since the start of the year, Forbes recognizes just four cryptocurrency billionaires as of April 2020less than half that listed in its 2018 Richest People In Cryptocurrency list.

There are also likely a handful of anonymous Bitcoin billionaires out there, since there are three addresses that contain more than $800 million of Bitcoin each, while just a single addressmanaged by a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchangecontains more than $1 billion in BTC.

Of course, with recent reports that Bitcoin improves a portfolio's performance it's likely that there are other billionaires who own Bitcoin beyond the ones who got rich off itbut we're specifically looking at those who made their fortunes from the cryptocurrency.

Today, half of the four known cryptocurrency billionaires founded cryptocurrency exchange platforms, while the other two are figures behind two major crypto companies.

And no, despite the fact that they're about to be the subject of a movie titled Bitcoin Billionaires, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss aren't on the list; as of last year their combined net worth amounted to $1.45 billion. Despite Mark Zuckerberg referring to them as the Winklevii, the Winklevoss twins are two separate individuals, not a gestalt entityand individually, they're not billionaires, so they don't go on the list. Better luck next year, guys.

37-year-old Brian Armstrong is currently the youngest known cryptocurrency billionaire. He first made his entry into the world of cryptocurrency back in 2012, after co-founding the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

The exchange is currently valued at up to $10 billion, making it one of the most successful crypto companies to date. Armstrong currently occupies position #1990 on Forbes Billionaires 2020 list, with an estimated net worth of $1 billion.

As the founder and CEO of Binance, currently the world's most popular cryptocurrency spot trading platform, Changpeng Zhao has managed to amass an impressive fortune since the exchange launched in 2017.

Zhao now sits on a fortune worth an estimated $1.2 billion, the majority of which is likely formed from cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the native Binance utility coinBinance Coin (BNB).

The second wealthiest crypto pioneer is Chris Larsen, a renowned business executive credited with co-founding Ripplea blockchain-based remittance and payment settlement system that uses XRP for cross-border transactions.

Before creating Ripple, Larsen also co-founded several other multi-million dollar companies, but these only contributed to a tiny fraction of his current $2.6 billion fortune.

Despite being arguably the least-known name on this list, Micree Zhan is by far the wealthiest, having amassed a cool $3.2 billion net worth as of June 2020. Zhan is an electronics engineer and the co-founder of Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain.

The company has recently been the subject of a dispute between Zhan and fellow co-founder Jihan Wu, which saw Zhan hiring a squad of armed guards to forcefully seize control of the company after being ousted last October.

It should come as no surprise that the anonymous founder of Bitcoin is also one of its biggest holders. According to a 2013 analysis by RSK labs co-founder Sergio Demian Lerner, Satoshi Nakamoto could have as much as 1.1 million Bitcoin stashed away.

At the current Bitcoin price of around $9,400, that would make Satoshi worth $10.34 billionfar more than everyone else on this list combined. And so far, Satoshi hasn't moved a single cent, leading some to speculate that he (or she, or they) may have met an untimely end.

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How many Bitcoin billionaires are there? - Decrypt

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. The year was 1944 in the United States. The 44 allied countries met in Bretton Woods in order to confer on moving towards fixing and backing the US dollar, along with other currencies, with gold, thus starting an era when currencies were fixed or to gold.

For the next 26 years, this standard remained and the US dollar became the de facto reserve currency of the world. At the end of World War II, the US controlled about two thirds of the worlds gold reserve.

Countries that have the worlds reserve currencies are powerful and tended to get away with borrowing a lot. Thats because other countries were inclined to hold the debt/money as it can be used for spending around the world. All of that borrowing will have to be paid back one day.

By 1971, the US Federal Reserve had printed so much debt that they didnt have enough gold to back up the US dollar. As a result, the Bretton Woods monetary system broke down in 1971 when President Nixon, like President Roosevelt in 1933, defaulted on the USs promise of allowing holders of paper dollars to turn them in for gold.

Therefore, the dollar is no longer pegged to gold and it devalued against gold and other currencies. During this period, the US and all countries went into a free-floating currency era where the value of each currency was not backed by a particular asset but remained relative in value to other asset classes.

The move to a fiat monetary system gave the Federal Reserve and other central banks the ability to print dollar-denominated money and credit, which led to the inflationary during the 1970s. During this period, there was a flight from dollars and dollar-denominated debt to goods, services, and inflation-hedge assets such as gold which many considered to be a good store of wealth. During this period we moved from asset-backed money towards a floating fiat currency not backed by assets. And for the next 50 years, this worked fine.

In 2008, interest rates hit the lowest levels during the economic recession and the US government decided to initiate quantitative easing by printing more money and buying financial assets. Fast forward to today, their debt has ballooned to US$24 trillion dollars as of April 2020.

But something unexpected happened. The coronavirus triggered the economic and market downturns all over the world, which created holes in incomes and balance sheets, especially for indebted entities whose incomes have been affected by the downturn.

So, on April 9, 2020, the US central government and the US central bank or the Fed announced a massive money and credit creation program that included helicopter money (direct payments from the government to citizens) that eclipsed anything theyve done before. This was essentially the same move that Roosevelt made in 1933.

However skeptics point out that the hope for growth, created by the debt printed by the Fed, is not reflected by the productivity gains from businesses around the world. This scenario tends to lead to inflation. If we looked back historically, these periods tend to be characterized by people converting assets to those that are not inflationary in nature, such as gold or assets that have a fixed amount or a scarcity quality to it.

In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin with the idea of building an alternative currency as a response to the financial recession of 2008 and the burgeoning debt around the US dollar. The hope was to create an alternative financial system that is resilient against socio-economic changes and geopolitical fights.

The idea behind bitcoin is simple. At its core, bitcoin is an alternative currency that is among other things:

(1) Decentralized and not controlled by any person/entity being (built through a decentralized network).

(2) Scarce in nature (only 21 million bitcoins will ever be created) and therefore deflationary in nature- over time it becomes more and more difficult to produce bitcoins (thus, theoretically making its value go up).

Over the past 10 years, bitcoins growth in acceptance and value has kept rising and the currency has shown its resilience over many peaks and troughs throughout its short lifetime. In the backdrop of what is going on in the world today, many believe that bitcoin can be the next global reserve currency and become the safe have asset.

We have already seen Bitcoin being used more in countries where its national currency goes through massive inflation (such as Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Zimbabwe).

Bitcoin is set to go through its scheduled halving on May 11, 2020. This means that it will technically be two times as hard to mine new bitcoins, forcing miners to sell their bitcoins at a higher price in order to cover the operational cost. This will change the supply and demand dynamics with many predicting the price to continue going up.

The next few months will be an exciting time for bitcoin, as the macro-economic changes in the world set up the stage for a good testing ground for Bitcoin to prove itself. Now, its your turn to choose. May the force be with you. Always.

***

The writer is founder of Pintu, a government-registered platform to trade cryptocurrencies, and graduate of Harvard Business School, where he did research at the MIT Media Lab on cryptoasset valuations. The original article was published in Medium.com.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.

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Currency wars: The rise of bitcoin - Opinion - Jakarta Post

Many people are making a huge amount of money through cryptocurrencies nowadays. However, there has been extensive debate regarding the use of cryptocurrencies for money making. That debate is majorly based on two essential terms, bitcoin and blockchain. The surprising part is that despite the ongoing debates and the fact that a lot of people are making money out of it, theyre still confused between the two.

It is pertinent to mention here that Blockchain is the technology while bitcoin is the first successful application of that technology, which rose to popularity in 2009. This article would categorically differentiate between the two and explain their use in the world of cryptocurrencies.

To begin, we need to understand each term with a contextual background.

Blockchain is a computerized digital payment gateway that allows record transactions between two parties constantly and correctly. To further simplify, blockchain is a distributed ledger technology, which restricts to bitcoin; in fact, any digital asset. It enables multiple parties to transact, share valuable data, and pool in their resources in a secure yet tamperproof manner.

Many in and out of the industry assume that blockchain is the latest technology. However, that is not the case, blockchain can be traced back to 1991, but it only became popular after the advent of cryptocurrencies.

Here is why blockchain may be difficult to understand or perhaps regulate. Blockchain is decentralized, made up of three important concepts, blocks, miners, and nodes.

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Each chain comprises Blocks, which is central to blockchain technology. They contain all the relevant information about a transaction. Each block has a unique nonce and hash and is stored not only linearly; in fact, chronologically, always at the end of the blockchain. As the chain increases, it is tough to go back and manipulate or disrupt the chain.

Miners are the ones that create multiple blocks, which is an incredibly complex task considering the composition of a neighborhood.

Nodes are significant in understanding the decentralization system within the blockchain. Through nodes, no one organization can own the blockchain, which helps blockchain to maintain integrity and prevent a breach of privacy through any systematic or unsystematic exchange of information.

Bitcoin is one of the earliest cryptocurrency to use blockchain technology in facilitating peer to peer payments. Through a decentralized network, bitcoin offers a reasonably low transaction fee compared to popular payment gateways.

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The first and foremost thing is to get a bitcoin wallet, software to send, receive, and securely store funds. You can download it on your phone, PC, or any equivalent digital device for that matter. The second part is to earn bitcoins through trading, to play online games like Bitcoin blackjack, or requesting bitcoin payments from a client. Bitcoin is not like any other currency governed under a central banking system.

Bitcoins are not stored physically on any platform, and it uses a mathematical algorithm to protect a string of numbers stored in public and a private key. In layman terms, the public key is equivalent to a bank account number, while a private key is equivalent to an ATM pin. A bitcoin is divisible to 8 decimal places with the smallest unit known as satoshi named after the currency`s pseudo founder Satoshi Nakamoto.

As complex as it sounds, bitcoin is not a problematic currency to understand. It is far more convenient to pay or get paid. All one has to do is to create a bitcoin wallet and put the address into any digital currency platform.

If youve recently found the world of cryptocurrencies, it is perhaps understandable to mix up bitcoin and blockchain, but there are some significant differences between the two.

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If youre someone who uses online payment gateways to send, receive, or store currency, you need to understand the relation between bitcoin and blockchain. However, blockchain has several uses other than regulating bitcoins.

Blockchain can help execute smart contracts; blockchain can automatically release agreed-upon payments. It can help you maintain a transparent system of record, audit supply chains, or provide you with proof of insurance.

Now that you are pretty clear between blockchain and bitcoin, there is one industry that has lately adopted blockchain technology: the online gambling industry. Developers use blockchain technology to develop games on a decentralized ledger. No matter what, youre playing from lotteries to online poker, slots, or perhaps sports betting. Blockchain enables a data-driven yet the secure dispensable system for gamblers to pursue trustworthy transactions through bitcoin over traditional banking payment gateways.

Now here is the thing with crypto gambling, in regular online gambling, you register, enter your bank details, the merchant verifies, and the process goes on. With bitcoin, you can start betting, and the merchant knows that your payment is not going anywhere.

Blockchain continues to dominate our internet spaces. It is perhaps essential to exercise caution when dealing with cryptocurrencies. For example, if you are pursuing crypto gambling, make sure you use trustworthy service providers. Often online casino websites use third-party service providers to convert you bitcoin deposits into local digital currency.

Bitcoin and blockchain technology remains mostly under or unregulated throughout the world due to innate complex structures. Therefore be careful while using bitcoins in any online transaction.

On a positive note, despite the intricacies, both offline and online casinos worldwide are adopting blockchain technology and accepting bitcoin payments. Soon this technology will take over traditional payment gateways such as Visa and PayPal. More importantly, it can change the way we process payments for casinos; making them safer and easier.

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The Difference Between Blockchain and Bitcoin - UKTN

It looks like bitcoin SV (BSV) and cryptocurrency exchange Binance the largest and most popular cryptocurrency trading platform by daily volume are at each others throats.

The two companies are fighting with each other over Binances decision last year to delist the new cryptocurrency token made popular and consistently promoted by Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright. Jimmy Nguyen the president of bitcoin SV (Bitcoin Satoshi Vision) has said that Binance has not behaved fairly to the coin and that it has shown a biased attitude towards other assets.

Nguyens primary gripe is in the crypto exchanges decision to not list the cryptocurrency yet take part in a new mining pool that seeks to extract new units of BSV. Binance is one of the biggest members of the pool yet is refusing to present bitcoin SV to clients for the purpose of buying, trading, and selling the currency.

In a statement, Nguyen blasted the crypto exchanges decisions, claiming:

These actions speak far louder than words. Binance spoke in April of 2019 when it delisted BSV by saying that the coin did not meet its standards. The truth is that BSV does meet Binances standards for generating revenue from BSV when it so chooses.

Binance was not the only company to take heavy action against one of the crypto worlds latest coins. Others included Kraken and Shape Shift, two crypto exchanges that decided delisting BSV was in customers best interest. It appears these exchanges and others arent happy with Craig Wrights decision to consistently tout himself as Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin the world number one cryptocurrency by market cap which first emerged in a 2008 whitepaper.

BSV has a relatively controversial history behind it. Many believe it was the development of BSV that saw to the massive drops in the crypto space that occurred in late 2018. Bitcoin, for example, had spent most of the summer trading in the mid-$6,000 range. This, itself, was a major drop from the near-$20,000 figure it had reached in December of 2017.

Bitcoin SV emerged due to a hard fork of bitcoin cash, which itself was the result of a bitcoin hard fork that occurred in the late summer months of 2017. BSV has been around for only two years, making it a relatively new coin. However, following its inception, the crypto market began experiencing massive drops, with bitcoin falling into the mid-$3,000 range and losing close to 70 percent of its value over an 11-month period.

Approximately five months went by before the industry began showing signs of recuperation (bitcoin ultimately moved back up to $5,000 by the time April 2019 rolled in).

At press time, Binance accounts for approximately 20 percent of the BSV mining pools hash rate.

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BSV Dukes It Out with Binance - Live Bitcoin News

Binance, one of the worlds largest digital currency exchanges, recently started getting into mining. The exchange decided to expand its ecosystem further still by launching Binance Pool. Now, the new data is in, and it shows that the exchange became the leading miner of Bitcoin SV.

Binance currently leads in the Bitcoin SV (BSV) mining sector by mining around 26% of all BSV that is mined. Next in line is Huobi, with 13.19%, ViaBTC (12.5%), SVPool (12.5%), TAAL (7.64%), and others.

The exchanges choice to mine Bitcoin SV comes as a bit of a surprise, considering that the exchange delisted this particular coin only a year ago. The exchange seemingly did not have a problem with the coin itself, but rather with its controversial creator and proponent, Dr. Craig Wright.

Regardless, when the exchange delisted BSV, it announced that it took several factors into consideration. One thing that is important to Binance is that the project needs to contribute to a healthy and sustainable cryptocurrency ecosystem. Another thing that it will look into is whether or not there is evidence of fraudulent or unethical conduct.

The decision to delist BSV came due to Craig Wrights actions. Wright is known in the crypto industry for his claims of being Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoins mysterious creator.

However, Wright was never able to prove his claims, and so the crypto industry stopped taking such claims seriously a long time ago. These days, Wright is known as Faketoshi. and he managed to provoke Binances CEO, Changpeng Zhao, into removing BSV from the exchange.

Wrights claims of being Satoshi went as far as to him threatening to sue everyone who says otherwise, Zhao decided to put a stop to Wrights feud with the crypto community by threatening to delist BSV unless Wright withdraws. Since he did not do so, Zhao decided to deliver on his promise, and BSV lost Binances support. Meanwhile, Wright got involved into a legal battle with the Kleiman estate, further continuing his own troubles.

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Binance becomes the biggest miner of a coin it delisted last year - Invezz

The BTC block subsidy halving happened a month ago, and despite all the mainstream chatter predicting a price spike following the event, BTCs unit price is currently around the US$9,500 mark. Between May 11 and 15, it went from $8,600 to almost $9,800, and it has fluctuated since then. Other assets have had similar fortunes. In the absence of significant news, what makes those prices rise and fall? Its time to take another look at USDT, the USD-pegged stablecoin otherwise known as Tether.

Most long-term digital asset watchers (including us) never thought it was realistic to expect the BTC price to double immediately post-halving, because that has never happened before. Gains, where they came, were in the year following a halving and might have been more correlation than causation.

Longer-term, BTC transaction processors (aka miners) must rely on BTC value increases to continue making a profit. BTCs 1-4MB block size means a transaction maximum of ~4-7 per second, and theres no room for processing data other than payments and blockchain settlements. A single transaction might cost US$5 or more at times, but its still not enough to pay the miners.

This article is neither investment advice nor a prediction that BTCs price will necessarily do anything special post-halving. Its merely an observation and even a warning that BTC price moves do not represent real value.

We havent seen any news regarding new BTC features, sudden mass adoption or an increase in its utility lately. In recent years, there hasnt been a major business or other entity announcing it would use BTC. In fact, its quite the opposite as many merchants who once accepted BTC have decided it wasnt worthwhile. Yet BTC continues to rise or fall every day, based mainly on traders speculation.

Around halving time, high profile hedge fund investors like Paul Tudor Jones appeared in the mainstream media promoting BTC as an inflation hedge against the U.S. dollar. It was pertinent, given the U.S. Federal Reserves money-creation orgy since 2008 and especially following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This hedging role has, in the past, been largely golds domain. Yet there hasnt been a huge rush to hold BTC or any other digital asset.

Where does BTC-buying money come from?

The Whale Alert Twitter account tracks large transfers of various digital assets between wallets, which often signal price moves. Of particular interest, though, is when the Tether Treasury mints new USDT coins and they begin moving to large exchanges like Binance and Bitfinex. Market watchers have noted that whenever millions of new USDT appear in exchange wallets, BTC is about to rise.

On May 8, 2020, the Tether Treasury minted 120 million new USDT. Read the replies to this tweet to see what speculators expected to see next:

Thats a nice bonus for price speculators. But is this really the Bitcoin economy we wanted? For those who still remember, Bitcoin was supposed to be about freeing money and building a new kind of financial system that included everyone, from micro-transactors to large businesses. Would Bitcoin have ever won the following it has if the headline to its 2008 whitepaper had read Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic pump and dump scheme?

What is Tether and why is it controversial?

Tether is (in theory) USD and EUR-equivalent stablecoin managed by Tether Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tether Holdings Limited. Tether Limited and Bitfinex, one of the largest BTC exchanges by volume, both share a CEO: Jan van der Velde. Bitfinex was the first exchange to allow USDT trading and there have been several shifting personnel links between Bitfinex and Tether over the years.

The initial idea was to have a USD surrogate without needing to use (or transfer) actual USD, since the latter was proving problematic in the banking system. Tether was initially backed by equivalent reserves of U.S. dollars, and would have a stable value of approximately US$1. With a few notable exceptions where the price decoupled from USD by more than a few cents, this has mostly stayed true. This is despite Tether never verifying its USD reserves with an independent audit, and Tether Limiteds own lawyer stating in 2019 that each USDT was in reality backed by just US$0.74 real dollars.

Few businesses accept USDT as payment, and for the large part its an exchange-only asset. There are currently over 9 billion Tethers in existence demand goes up when BTC falls, and falls when BTC rises. In 2018, USDT trades reportedly made up 80% of BTC trading volume.

Both Bitfinex and Tether have been the subject of numerous lawsuits and regulatory investigations. In 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James alleged Bitfinex had used Tethers reserves to cover a US$850 million loss after transferring similar amounts without contract to a Panamanian firm called Crypto Capital. Though unproven, many critics have claimed Tether may not be backed by anything at all, and that it is a kind of digital fiat currency used to drive BTC price up or down.

Despite the seismic legal ground on which USDT exists, and the dubious explanations for its market value/price peg, exchange speculators appear willing to trust the coin enough to use it in trades with other digital assets.

Tether drives BTC, which influences all the others

Looking at the charts, its clear there is a relationship between price movements across the top market cap digital assets. BTC, XRP, ETH, BCH, BSVeven ADA, EOS, and Tezoshave all risen and fallen on similar trendlines over the past week. Though there are occasionally exceptions to this trend, non-ideological traders dont see enough difference between digital assets to make large bets on one over another. Digital asset prices seem to reflect general sentiment towards the blockchain space, rather than careful analysis of one assets long-term feasibility.

Bitfinex also supports BSV/USD trading. Newly-minted Tethers land at exchanges whether they support or eschew BSV. So Bitcoin (and other assets) also come under Tethers price influence.

The Bitcoin SV community, however, views this as neither feasible nor desirable. Sudden rises and falls are not good for Bitcoin and theyre not healthy for any other asset. Volatility like this only attracts speculators and gamblers, raise regulators eyebrows, and prevent blockchain from being taken seriously. Its the reason digital assets arent used much for anything other than trading, and the HODL mentality that deters users from actually spending Bitcoin. Why spend now when it could be worth 50 times as much a year from now? (if only briefly).

Mainstream media articles bring in new investors as the price rises. BTC speculators sell their coins to these new investors when the price is high, and the price then falls. Exchanges like Bitfinex and Binance add to the frenzy with ridiculously high leveraged trading. All the while, there may not even be any real money entering the market.

Thats not how you build a new digital economy. Bitcoin must be useful and usable if its to play a major role in the future. BSVs value proposition is micropayments, secure/immutable data processing for enterprise and government, and high transaction volumes. Its far better for the BSV price to rise gradually, or stay the same, if this is to happen. Look at the financial successes of multi-generational business empires versus lottery winners for an example.

What would happen to BTC (and in turn, most digital assets) if the USDT rug were suddenly pulled out from underneath them? Given Tethers history, economy and precarious legal situation, its very possible. Commentators have even discussed the possibility for years, but mostly within the interest community. The mainstream media rarely if ever discusses it.

Lets have a real Bitcoin economy instead

Satoshi Nakamoto never wanted Bitcoin to be a recurring speculative souffle, and any sensible investor would observe that such assets are poor long-term bets. The BTC community has done little to promote its actual use as money, and price talk dominates the conversation.

Bitcoin BSV didnt just restore Satoshis vision by restoring and locking the original Bitcoin protocol. It also restored Bitcoins original promise to create a new economy based on micropayments and data processing; a true digital and internet-native financial network.

BSVs economy is based on real economic incentives for its transaction processors. It removed the block size limits (which were never part of the original protocol) to create a Bitcoin economy driven by real utility and small fees in large volumes. The BSV community prefers real users to fake dollars and inflated prices to pay old bagholders with the new ones money. Theres another word for that kind of scheme, and its one no serious person should want associated with Bitcoin.

New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeksBitcoin for Beginnerssection, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoinas originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamotoand blockchain.

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BTC-Tether relationship: How long can it last? - CoinGeek