The 4th Bitcoin Halving Explained

Halvings and Miner Revenue

Sometime in April 2024, the reward that cryptocurrency miners receive for mining bitcoin (BTC) will go from ₿6.25 to ₿3.125, with significant consequences for the world’s most valuable digital currency. To help understand this quadrennial event, we’ve teamed up with HIVE Digital to take a deep dive on historical bitcoin data from Coinmetrics to see what the three previous halvings might tell us about the fourth. Bitcoin Explained But to understand halvings, we first need to take a step back to talk a bit about how the Bitcoin network works.…

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BlackRock and Fidelity’s spot bitcoin ETFs nab 69% of market share

Spot Bitcoin ETF Volume Market Share

Grayscale’s market share of cumulative spot bitcoin ETF trading volume dropped to its lowest point last Friday as rival products offered by BlackRock and Fidelity added to their assets under management. With about $30 billion already under management when its spot bitcoin ETF started trading in January, Grayscale’s fund had dominated total daily trading volume. That dominance, however, showed signs of weakening when Grayscale’s ETF closed out Friday, capturing less than 20% of the total trading volume for the first time since the new products launched. Meanwhile, BlackRock and Fidelity’s…

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MicroStrategy Buys 12,000 More Bitcoin, Now Holds 205,000 BTC

Bitcoin BTC MicroStrategy price

Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman at MicroStrategy, spotlighted this in a post on X today. This disclosure follows the company’s announcement on March 4 regarding their intention to invest $600 million, derived from the sale of convertible notes, into acquiring Bitcoin. For the uninitiated, convertible notes are financial instruments that companies use to raise funds. Essentially, they are loans that can be converted into company stock at a later date. MicroStrategy has now announced the purchase of more Bitcoin tokens a few days after the convertible notes disclosure. The…

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MicroStrategy’s X Account Compromised

hacker security crypto X

MicroStrategy’s X account has been hacked, with malicious links posted to a fake airdrop of a so-called “official” Ethereum-based MSTR token. Users who clicked on the links were directed to a copycat MicroStrategy webpage that prompted them to connect their wallets and claim the fake airdrop. Once users granted the necessary permissions, the attackers were able to automatically drain their wallets. According to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT and anti-scam platform Scam Sniffer, losses from the scam have already exceeded $440,000. One user alone lost over $420,000 worth of altcoins, including wBAI,…

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Shiba Inu leads innovation with DN404 token standard test

Sheboshis

The Shiba Inu project has recently announced its foray into a new phase of innovation and experimentation. This development comes as the project becomes one of the initial testers of the DN404 standard, a novel hybrid token standard designed to amalgamate the features of fungible tokens (like those following the ERC-20 standard) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs, as per the ERC-721 standard). The initiative marks a significant milestone for Shiba Inu, reflecting its continuous pursuit of pushing the boundaries within the decentralized ecosystem. The DN404 standard, abbreviated from “Divisible NFT-404,” aims…

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Bluesky, Decentralized Social Project Is Open to Public

Bluesky social app

Bluesky, a decentralized social application backed by Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, has officially launched for public use. This micro-blogging platform aims to establish itself as an alternative to X, previously known as Twitter and now owned by Elon Musk. Bluesky Faces Challenge in Social Media Landscape As the decentralized social media platform Bluesky opens its doors to the public, it grapples with the daunting task of carving out its niche in a crowded market dominated by giants like Twitter and Mastodon. Despite amassing approximately 3 million sign-ups during…

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Monero (XMR) To Be Delisted On Binance

Monero crypto Binance

In a surprising move, Binance, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced that it will remove four altcoins from its platform starting February 20th. The affected coins are Aragon (ANT), Multichain (MULTI), Vai (VAI), and the privacy-focused Monero (XMR), which has attracted the most attention. While the exact reasons for these removals remain unclear, it has sparked speculation and concerns about the changing rules for cryptocurrency exchanges. Privacy Worries and Regulatory Pressure Experts believe that Monero’s ability to keep transactions private might be a reason for its removal. Monero…

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A computer scientist says he is the mystery creator of bitcoin

Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto

One of the enduring mysteries of the cryptocurrency industry took centre stage Tuesday in a London court where a trial could finally settle the debate over the identity of bitcoin’s founder. Australian computer scientist Craig Wright entered the witness box at the High Court and testified he was the man behind “Satoshi Nakamoto”, the pseudonym that has masked the identity of the creator of bitcoin. Wright has long asserted that he is Nakamoto. A non-profit group of technology and crypto companies is trying to prove he is not. The trial…

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Moody’s unveils service that uses AI to predict stablecoin depeggings

Schematic of Moody’s Digital Assets Monitor

Moody’s Analytics is launching a new stablecoin service that will use AI to predict probable depeggings “in a 24-hour time horizon” while providing real-time insights about stablecoin issuers’ liquidity and stability. The stablecoin market is getting stabler, Moody’s observed in its Nov. 6 announcement for the launch of Digital Asset Monitor (DAM). So far in 2023, there have been 1,914 depeggings, 609 of which were fiat-backed large-cap stablecoins. This compares with 2,847 in all of 2022, 707 of which were large-cap. While some correlation to rising interest rates can be…

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Ferrari to accept crypto as payment for its cars in the US

Ferrari Monza SP1

Ferrari has started to accept payment in cryptocurrency for its luxury sports cars in the US and will extend the scheme to Europe following requests from its wealthy customers, its marketing and commercial chief told Reuters. The vast majority of blue-chip companies have steered clear of crypto as the volatility of bitcoin and other tokens renders them impractical for commerce. Patchy regulation and high energy usage have also prevented the spread of crypto as a means of payment. These include electric carmaker Tesla, which in 2021 began to accept payment…

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US Acquires 200,000 Bitcoins Through Three Seizures

Bitcoin USA

A recent report unveiled the bitcoin holdings of the Federal Government of the United States, accounting for around $5 billion worth of BTC. According to the Wall Street Journal, three recent seizures yielding over 200,000 bitcoins have made the United States one of the largest bitcoin holders in the world. Prominent Chinese reporter Colin Wu took to X (formerly Twitter) earlier today to reveal the United States’ acquisition of the largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The seized bitcoins were primarily traced to cyber criminals and darknet markets. They were stored…

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MetaMask Temporarily Removed from Apple’s App Store

MetaMask logo

On October 14, the leading Ethereum wallet, MetaMask, was temporarily removed from the Apple App Store, raising fears of a permanent ban. MetaMask, which has over 30 million users worldwide, informed the community that the problem was not caused by security concerns or malicious activity. Apple’s service regulations, which ban “unrelated background processes” such as cryptocurrency mining, are thought to be the cause of the brief removal. The company indicated that MetaMask would be available again via the App Store soon. This isn’t MetaMask’s first encounter with tech giants. In…

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$2.3 billion has been invested in blockchain gaming so far this year

blockchain gaming

DappRadar, the decentralized app tracking platform, has unveiled data indicating a remarkable influx of $600 million in investments into the blockchain gaming sphere during the third quarter of 2023. In the broader landscape of blockchain gaming ventures, the year 2023 has been nothing short of astonishing, witnessing an astounding $2.3 billion poured into this domain. Remarkably, even in the face of a seemingly bearish crypto market throughout the year, the third quarter alone contributed a substantial $600 million to this flourishing ecosystem. Diving deeper into the quarterly breakdown, DappRadar’s report…

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Ripple Launches Cutting-Edge CBDC Platform Empowering Central Banks and Financial Institutions

Ripple’s CBDC platform

Ripple, a leading blockchain technology company, has announced the launch of a state-of-the-art platform specifically designed to enable central banks, governments, and financial institutions to issue their own central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This groundbreaking development comes in response to the increasing interest and momentum behind CBDC adoption worldwide. Ripple’s CBDC platform grants government institutions full control over the entire life cycle of their digital currencies, encompassing essential aspects such as minting, distribution, redemption, and token burning. With this comprehensive solution, financial institutions can actively participate in inter-institutional settlement and…

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Bank of China tests SIM card NFC payments for digital yuan

Bank of China digital yuan e-CNY

Bank of China, one of China’s largest state-owned banks, is testing a new offline payment method linked to SIM cards for digital yuan, or the e-CNY, the country’s in trial central bank digital currency (CBDC). Bank of China has partnered with telecommunication operators China Telecom and China Unicom to start testing the new feature on Tuesday, the bank said Monday in a social media post. The bank intends to allow users to make payments with their phones by connecting its e-CNY app with what it calls “super SIM cards” that…

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