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Coinbase providing customer geolocation data to ICE: Report

Coinbase providing customer geolocation data to ICE: Report

The U.S. government agency is reportedly using Coinbase Tracer to access customers' historical geo-tracking data and transactions on over a dozen cryptocurrencies.

A new report has indicated that crypto exchange Coinbase has provided Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with a “suite of features” intended for tracking the company’s customers. According to the report, ICE has been granted access to an intelligence-gathering application, called Coinbase Tracer, that provides a variety of forensic data tracking capabilities.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an government agency under the Department of Homeland Security. The primary purpose of ICE is to protect the country from cross-border crime and illegal immigration.

Coinbase Tracer’s intent is to assist ICE with tracing malicious and fraudulent transactions on blockchains. According to The Intercept, the tool will allow ICE agents to “connect addresses to real-world entities.”

An additional email released by the Freedom of Information Act has shown that ICE wasn’t required to agree to an End User License Agreement with Coinbase. An End User License Agreement is used to describe what users can and cannot do with a company's software products. Purportedly, this means ICE is free to use the data tracking tool as it wishes with minimal restrictions.

When Coinbase was questioned about these developments, spokesperson Natasha LaBranche merely supplied a link to the company's website with verbiage addressing the issue. The link on the Coinbase website states “Coinbase Tracer sources its information from public sources and does not make use of Coinbase user data.” The Coinbase spokesperson did not provide information regarding limitations on Coinbase Tracer’s use by ICE.

ICE's access to Coinbase Tracer stems from a $1.36-million contract it signed with the crypto exchange in September 2021. At the time, the nature of the contract was vague and primarily consisted of Coinbase delivering "application development software as a service" to the agency. 

Related: Coinbase to shut down Coinbase Pro to merge trading services

Coinbase has been in the news a lot lately and for various reasons. As Cointelegraph reported, the exchange is seeking aggressive European expansion to broaden its footprint. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs downgraded Coinbase stock to “sell” on Monday following a more than 80% correction.



via cointelgraph.com
'Cryptoqueen' Ruja Ignatova makes FBI's Ten Most Wanted list

'Cryptoqueen' Ruja Ignatova makes FBI's Ten Most Wanted list

The Bulgarian-German businesswoman was last spotted in Athens in 2017, and now worth up to $100,000 to provide U.S. law enforcement with information about her.

“Crypto” is often used as an honorific inside the community. United States Securities and Exchange Commission member Hester Peirce is called Crypto Mom for her steadfast support for digital assets, and Time magazine crowned Vitalik Buterin the Prince of Crypto. When Ruja Ignatova was given the title “Cryptoqueen” in a 2019 true-crime podcast, however, it was with far less endearment. 

Ignatova was the creator of OneCoin, a purported cryptocurrency that proved to be a Ponzi scheme. According to law enforcement, her OneCoin Ltd. has defrauded more than 3 million investors of more than $4 billion since 2014. Her company has also been accused of bribing the presidents of Serbia and Bulgaria, among other things.

Now Ignatova can add “most wanted” to her titular stylings, thanks to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which placed her on its top-ten list Thursday and will pay up to $100,000 for information leading to her arrest. According to the FBI, Ignatova was last known to be in Athens. That was in 2017.

Ignatova recently counted among Europol's most wanted as well, although she is no longer on that list.

Related: Is education the key to curbing the rise of scammy, high-APY projects?

Ignatova grew up in Germany and holds a Ph.D. in economics. In her heyday, the ethnic Bulgarian was known for her elegant attire and fancy parties. She attracted a crowd of over 3,000 to Wembley Arena in London to hear her speak in 2016, even though suspicions about her activities were already common knowledge by that time.

Since then, OneCoin has been the subject of a class-action suit, and her brother and associates have been brought to trial. The world has taken note of the drama inherent in the case. Kate Winslet is reportedly involved in a film based on the experiences of a OneCoin investor. Variety reports that a deal has been made on a three-part documentary about Ignatova as well.



via cointelgraph.com
FTX on the verge of purchasing BlockFi in $25M fire sale: Report

FTX on the verge of purchasing BlockFi in $25M fire sale: Report

The cryptocurrency derivatives exchange could potentially buy out the troubled lender for pennies on the dollar.

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX is close to purchasing digital asset lender BlockFi's remaining assets for $25 million, according to CNBC.

According to sources close to the matter, BlockFi's equity investors were wiped out and are now writing their positions off at a loss. In addition, the FTX deal could take multiple months to close, opening up the possibility that the price tag could shift over that period. In June 2021, BlockFi had a reported valuation of $5 billion.

Earlier this year, BlockFi had over 1 million clients, over $10 billion in assets and deposits, and had distributed more than $700 million in crypto rewards and interest. However, BlockFi's fortunes quickly soured after it reportedly became a major creditor of the now troubled hedge fund Three Arrow Capital, also known as 3AC. As a result, it was forced to liquidate 3AC's positions amounting to $1.33 billion, likely at a severe loss as the bear market intensified in June. 

The situation was exacerbated by 3AC posting collateral for the loan in $400 million worth of Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) shares, which often trade at a discount or premium to spot Bitcoin (BTC) prices. At the time of liquidation, GBTC shares were trading at a 34% discount to the net asset value of its Bitcoin holdings, which plunged further as BlockFi began closing the position.

Related: FTX may be planning to purchase a stake in BlockFi

Earlier this month, BlockFi said it would fire 20% of its 850-strong staff due to profitability woes in the short term. Just last week, FTX had extended a $250 million line of credit to BlockFi and denied rumors that it was acquiring the ill-fortuned firm. 



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Traders debate whether Solana (SOL) is a buy now that it’s down 87% from its all-time high

Traders debate whether Solana (SOL) is a buy now that it’s down 87% from its all-time high

SOL price is 87% down from its all-time high, but do improving fundamentals strengthen its investment thesis?

The crypto sector is caught in a deep correction and recent reporting shows that a majority of altcoins are more than 70% down from their 2021 highs. Solana is on that list and investors are on the fence about whether the token has strong enough fundamentals to warrant buying Solana (SOL) at its current value. 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows SOL is down 87.5% from its all-time high and given the current state of the market, most price breakouts fail to notch a daily higher high.

SOL/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

Despite, the dismal outlook, there are a few potential positives that could make Solana a project to watch once the wider market enters a consolidation phase.

Solana Mobile

SOL price received a quick boost late last week after a June 23 announcement that the project would release a Solana mobile stack, which enables native Android Web3 apps on Solana.

To go along with the new operating interface for smartphones, Solana also revealed that it will be releasing its own “Saga” Android phone through Solana Mobile in an effort to lead the way on Web3-enabled devices.

Web3 and the Metaverse are two of the topics that arose out of the 2021 bull market and point to the future of where blockchain technology is headed. This move by Solana shows that despite the short-term struggles, it continues to develop for the future and looks to play a part in the wider adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

The low fee nature of the Solana blockchain makes it an ideal candidate for nonfungible token (NFT) projects and gaming DApps, and the release of a tech stack for mobile phones is the next step in creating wider access to these technologies.

If the developers can manage to solve the issues that continue to cause Solana network outages, the token has a chance of being a top contender once the wider market turns bullish again.

Short-term pain is expected, but fundamentals improve

While it's nice to look ahead at what the distant future may hold, the reality is that the short-term outlook for Solana and the wider crypto ecosystem is rather unappealing.

Insight into the lower price points to keep an eye on was offered by crypto trader and pseudonymous Twitter user Crypto Tony, who posted the following chart warning traders to not fall for the first retest of a major support level.

SOL/USDT 1-week chart. Source: Twitter

Crypto Tony said,

“First demand zone tested hence this reaction, but you really want to call a bottom already after the first test…”

Based on the chart provided, the notable lower levels of support for Solana are located at $13.50 and $3.50.

Market analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user Crypto Patel also predicts further downside in the near term for SOL due to a strong amount of resistance found at the 200-day exponential moving average (EMA).

SOL/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Twtter

Crypto Patel said,

“After breakout and retest of $40 zone, Supports converts into Resistance [...] Facing resistance at 200EMA. Anytime can give downside movement. Sell: $38.5, SL: $43.2, TP: $27.”

Related: SOL price eyes 75% rally as Solana paints a bullish reversal pattern

Is SOL in the early stages of a recovery?

A more optimistic outlook for Solana was offered by pseudonymous Twitter user Trader McGavin, who posted the following chart highlighting the important levels of resistance at $60, $74 and $95.

SOL/USDT 1-day chart. Source: Twitter

The analyst said,

“Double bottomed after breaking down from the wedge and rebounding higher. One of the first to bounce off the bottom and may be headed to $48.”

The importance of maintaining the current price levels was also touched on by crypto trader and pseudonymous Twitter user Altcoin Sherpa, who posted the following chart noting the bullish signal provided by the medium-term EMAs.

SOL/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Twitter

Altcoin Sherpa said,

“$SOL: Still a do or die area in low time frames; this is the first time we've seen some of the medium EMAs flip bullish since March. Longing mid $30s is my current plan as a scalp since I missed the short higher.”

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.



via cointelgraph.com
CFTC brings $1.7B fraud case involving Bitcoin against South African national

CFTC brings $1.7B fraud case involving Bitcoin against South African national

“The defendants misappropriated, either directly or indirectly, all of the Bitcoin they accepted from the pool participants,” said the CFTC.

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has taken enforcement action against a South African national in what the regulatory body called its “largest fraudulent scheme involving Bitcoin.”

In a Thursday announcement, the CFTC said it had filed a civil enforcement action in federal court for fraud and registration violations against Cornelius Johannes Steynberg. The South African national allegedly created and operated a global foreign currency commodity pool totaling more than $1.7 billion, and only allowing participants to pay using Bitcoin (BTC).

The CFTC alleged that Steynberg used the South Africa-based firm Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited to solicit BTC from the public using social media and various websites. From May 2018 to March 2021, the regulatory body claimed that he accepted at least 29,421 BTC — valued at more than $1.7 billion at the time, but roughly $564 million at the time of publication — including from individuals in the United States.

“The defendants misappropriated, either directly or indirectly, all of the Bitcoin they accepted from the pool participants,” said the CFTC. “The CFTC seeks full restitution to defrauded investors, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations.”

Related: The CFTC’s action against Gemini is bad news for Bitcoin ETFs

The case against Steynberg is the latest in a series of enforcement actions the CFTC has taken against individuals allegedly using cryptocurrencies for illicit purposes or digital asset firms for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. In June, the CFTC filed a lawsuit against Gemini, claiming the crypto exchange made false or misleading statements to the regulatory body in 2017. A federal court also ordered the founders of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX to pay $30 million in penalties as part of the conclusion of a suit filed by the CFTC in October 2020.



via cointelgraph.com
Ronaldo partners with Binance: Nifty Newsletter, June 22–28

Ronaldo partners with Binance: Nifty Newsletter, June 22–28

Eminem and Snoop Dogg switched between themselves and their Bored Ape Yacht Club characters in their newest music video.

In this week’s newsletter, read about Meta’s plans to expand their nonfungible token (NFT) testing on Instagram and Facebook. Check out how soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo is planning to introduce his fans to Web3 through NFTs and how the rap legends Snoop Dogg and Eminem featured Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) characters in their latest music video.

Join Cointelegraph’s Tom Farren as he shares details from an event called The Digital Diaspora as part of last week’s NFT.NYC conference. And, don’t forget about this week’s Nifty News roundup featuring Yuga Labs and NFT platform X2Y2 surpassing OpenSea’s volume. 

Meta set to begin testing NFTs on Instagram Stories with Spark AR

Back in May, Meta started testing digital collectibles on Instagram. Last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his team is expanding its NFT testing so that creators can soon display their NFTs on the social platform.

Besides Instagram, Zuckerberg also said that NFTs will also be supported by Facebook in the near future, starting with a small group of creators based in the United States. Additionally, the Meta CEO mentioned that the NFT testing will eventually branch out to Instagram Stories soon, saying that it will also test NFTs with the augmented reality software SparkAR.

Continue reading…

Cristiano Ronaldo to get soccer fans into Web3 with Binance partnership

Soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo partnered with crypto platform Binance last week to introduce his fans to Web3 using NFT campaigns. The agreement involves an exclusive multi-year partnership, where Ronaldo will collaborate with Binance to create NFTs.

These digital collectibles will be sold exclusively on the Binance NFT platform and will let fans have exclusive engagement opportunities with the soccer star. Ronaldo explained that he values his relationship with his fans, and the idea of NFTs and giving new experiences is something he wanted. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao commented that their team is excited about the collaboration.

Continue reading…

Related: Metaverse can’t be built on the corporate business model, says EY innovation lead

Eminem and Snoop Dogg turn into BAYC chars in new music video

Legendary rappers Eminem and Snoop Dogg featured their Bored Ape Yacht Club characters in their newest music video titled From The D 2 The LBC. The video switched from reality to cartoons as both of the rappers dropped their bars on the microphone.

Eminem switched between himself and a character resembling BAYC #9055, which he previously bought for 123.45 Ether (ETH), around half a million dollars at the time of the purchase. Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg also switched between himself and a Bored Ape character, which he had purchased in December 2021.

Continue reading…

NFT​.NYC — How the Web3 space is validating the work of digital artists

Cointelegraph's Tom Farren attended an event called The Digital Diaspora during the NFT.NYC conference in New York City. At the event, artists shared their experiences and processes of creating art. NFT artist Diana Sinclair shared how a work of art called You Cant Smooth A Crumpled Paper Or A Wrinkled Heart came to life.

Apart from sharing experiences, the event’s panel members also talked about representation in the NFT space. During this, 3D animator Andre O’Shea spoke about the inclusivity of the Web3 space. According to O’Shea, Web3 provides opportunities and uplifts creators and voices.

Continue reading…

Nifty News: Yuga Labs breaks silence, X2Y2 outpaces OpenSea and more

NFT firm Yuga Labs answered allegations that alt-right memes were integrated into the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) imagery. Gordon Goner, the co-founder of Yuga Labs, tweeted that the allegations are “insanely far-fetched.” Meanwhile, sales volume on the X2Y2 NFT marketplace has surged past OpenSea's in the past week.

Continue reading…

Thanks for reading this digest of the week’s most notable developments in the NFT space. Come again next Wednesday for more reports and insights in this actively evolving space.



via cointelgraph.com
Price analysis 6/29: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, SOL, DOGE, DOT, SHIB, LEO

Price analysis 6/29: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, SOL, DOGE, DOT, SHIB, LEO

Bitcoin and altcoins gave up the gains of last week’s relief rally and June 29’s dip below $20,000 suggests bears are intent on pushing the market back to its yearly lows.

The United States equities markets have given back some of the gains made last week and that has pulled Bitcoin to the psychological support at $20,000. This suggests that investors are nervous to buy risky assets at higher levels.

Meanwhile, while speaking to the hosts of the Bankless podcast on June 23, Mark Cuban said that the crypto bear market could end after the price gets so cheap that investors go and start buying or an application with utility is launched that attracts users.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

Several analysts expect Bitcoin to continue falling and eventually bottom out between $10,000 and $12,000. However, John Bollinger, the creator of the popular Bollinger Bands trading indicator, said that the monthly charts suggest that Bitcoin’s price has reached “a logical place to put in a bottom.”

Could bears maintain the selling pressure and pull cryptocurrency prices lower? Let’s study the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

BTC/USDT

Bitcoin turned down from $22,000 on June 26 and has gradually slipped to the immediate support at $19,637. This suggests that the bears remain in command and every rally is being sold into.

BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

If the price breaks below $19,637, the BTC/USDT pair could be at risk of dropping to the crucial support at $17,622. This is an important level to watch out for because a break and close below it could start the next leg of the downtrend. The pair could then decline to $15,000.

On the other hand, if the price rebounds off $19,637, it will suggest demand at lower levels. The buyers will then try to push the price above the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) ($22,393). If they succeed, the pair could rally to the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) ($26,735).

ETH/USDT

Ether (ETH) turned down from the 20-day EMA ($1,268) on June 26, suggesting that the sentiment remains negative and traders are selling on rallies.

ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

The downsloping moving averages and the RSI in the negative zone indicate that bears are in control. The sellers will attempt to pull the price below the immediate support at $1,050. If they succeed, the ETH/USDT pair could plunge to the June 18 intraday low of $881.

A break below this support could signal the resumption of the downtrend. The next support on the downside is at $681.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price rebounds off $1,050, it will suggest demand at lower levels. The buyers will then make another attempt to push the price above the 20-day EMA and start the journey toward $1,500 and later $1,700.

BNB/USDT

The buyers failed to push and sustain BNB above the 20-day EMA ($238) between June 24 to 28. This resulted in profit-booking, which has pulled the price to the strong support of $211.

BNB/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

The 20-day EMA has started to turn down once again and the RSI has dipped into the negative territory. This suggests that bears have the upper hand. If the price slides below $211, the BNB/USDT pair could drop to the critical support of $183. If this support collapses, the pair could resume its downtrend and plummet toward $150.

Conversely, if the price rebounds off $211, it will suggest that bulls are attempting to form a higher low. A strong bounce could increase the prospects of a break above $250. The pair could then rally to the 50-day SMA ($273).

XRP/USDT

Ripple (XRP) slipped below the breakout level of $0.35 on June 28, which suggests that bears continue to sell aggressively at higher levels.

XRP/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

The 20-day EMA ($0.35) is flattish but the RSI has dropped below 40, suggesting that the bears have a slight edge. The sellers will attempt to pull the price to the vital support at $0.28. This is an important level to keep an eye on because if it gives way, the XRP/USDT pair could start the next leg of the downtrend.

On the contrary, if the price turns up from the current level or $0.28, it will suggest that bulls are buying at lower levels. That could keep the pair range-bound between $0.28 and the 50-day SMA ($0.38) for a few days.

ADA/USDT

The bears thwarted repeated attempts by the bulls to push Cardano (ADA) above the 20-day EMA ($0.50) in the past few days. This suggests that the bears are defending the level aggressively.

ADA/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

The price could drop to the strong support zone at $0.44 to $0.40. If the price rebounds off this zone with strength, it will suggest that bulls are accumulating on dips. The buyers will then again try to propel the price above the moving averages. If they can pull it off, the ADA/USDT pair could start an up-move toward $0.70.

This positive view could invalidate in the short term if bears sink the pair below the support zone. If that happens, the pair could indicate the resumption of the downtrend. The next support is at $0.33.

SOL/USDT

The tight range trading in Solana (SOL) resolved to the downside with a break below the 20-day EMA ($37). The bears are attempting to pull the price below the immediate support at $33.

SOL/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

If they succeed, the SOL/USDT pair could decline to $27 and then retest the June 14 intraday low of $25.86.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price rebounds off $33, it will suggest that the bulls are attempting to form a higher low. The buyers will then try to clear the overhead hurdle at $43. If that happens, the pair could signal a potential change in trend. The pair may then rise to $60 where the bears may again mount a strong defense.

DOGE/USDT

Dogecoin (DOGE) turned down from the 50-day SMA ($0.08) on June 27 and broke below the 20-day EMA ($0.07) on June 28. This suggests that bears have not given up and they continue to sell on rallies.

DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

The bears will try to sink the price to $0.06. If this level cracks, the next stop could be a retest of the critical level at $0.05.

Alternatively, if the price turns up from the current level or the support at $0.06 and rises back above the 20-day EMA, it will suggest that bulls are attempting to form a higher low. The bullish momentum could pick up on a break above $0.08. The DOGE/USDT pair could then attempt a rally to the psychological level of $0.10.

Related: Double bubble? Terra's defunct 'unstablecoin' suddenly climbs 800% in one week

DOT/USDT

Repeated failures to push and sustain the price above the 20-day EMA ($7.93) may have tempted short-term traders to book profits in Polkadot (DOT). The price turned down from the 20-day EMA and slipped to $7.30 on June 28.

DOT/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

Both the bulls and the bears are battling it out for supremacy near the $7.30 level. If the bears come out on top, the DOT/USDT pair could drop to the crucial level of $6.36. The bulls are expected to defend this level aggressively because a break below it could signal the resumption of the downtrend.

Conversely, if the price rebounds off the current level, the buyers will again try to achieve a close above the 20-day EMA. If they manage to do that, the pair could rise to the 50-day SMA ($8.97).

SHIB/USDT

Shiba Inu (SHIB) slipped back below the 50-day SMA ($0.000011) on June 28, suggesting that the bears are active at higher levels. Although the price dipped below $0.000010, the bears have not been able to build upon this advantage.

SHIB/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

This suggests that selling dries up at lower levels. The bulls will again try to push the price above the 50-day SMA and challenge the resistance at $0.000012. A break and close above this level could open the doors for a possible rally to $0.000014.

The 20-day EMA ($0.000010) has flattened out and the RSI is just below the midpoint, indicating a balance between supply and demand. If the price slips below $0.000009, the advantage could tilt in favor of the sellers. The pair may then drop to $0.000007.

LEO/USD

UNUS SED LEO (LEO) broke and closed above the resistance line of the descending channel on June 25 but the bulls could not push the price above $6. That may have attracted profit-booking from short-term traders, which pulled the price back into the channel on June 27.

LEO/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

The 20-day EMA ($5.57) is sloping up and the RSI is in the positive territory, suggesting that bulls have the upper hand. The buyers are again attempting to clear the overhead hurdle at $6. If they succeed, the LEO/USD pair could rally to $6.50 and then to the pattern target at $6.90.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price once again turns down from $6, it will suggest that bears are defending this level with vigor. The sellers will then attempt to sink the price below the 20-day EMA and challenge the 50-day SMA ($5.24).

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Market data is provided by HitBTC exchange.



via cointelgraph.com
High School Students In El Salvador Can Earn A Bitcoin Diploma

High School Students In El Salvador Can Earn A Bitcoin Diploma

Two public schools in El Salvador are offering a vocational course that teaches Bitcoin as a skills-based diploma and counts towards graduation.

  • NGO My First Bitcoin, in partnership with IBEX Mercado, just announced 38 high school students graduated with Bitcoin diplomas in El Salvador.
  • Bitcoin education is taught through a vocational program in public schools where it serves as a practical skills-based degree necessary for graduation.
  • Yesterday, the companies announced a second school had adopted the Bitcoin diploma.

On June 25, in partnership with bitcoin-only company IBEX Mercado, a non-governmental organization (NGO) by the name of My First Bitcoin announced 38 high school students had graduated with Bitcoin diplomas through a new vocational program in El Salvador. Bitcoin Magazine subsequently reached out for an interview to discuss the success and future of this program.

Complejo Educativo Ignacio Pacheco Castro, or La Pacheco, is a public school that has served its community for 75 years. Recently, the school decided it would best serve its students by offering vocational education and degrees in a program called Bachillerato Vocacional.

Rodrigo Ayala, who is a member of the El Salvador Legislative Assembly and staunch supporter of La Pacheco, introduced IBEX to the school this past February with the intention of bringing bitcoin education to this vocational program. Soon after, IBEX partnered with My First Bitcoin – who developed the curriculum – while IBEX provided financial support for the program. On April 23, My First Bitcoin began teaching the first class of students.

The new curriculum consists of 10 lessons which include: an introduction to monetary systems, the consequences of fiat, monetary history, understanding bitcoin, wallets and the Bitcoin network, the double-spend problem and nodes, security and mining, the value of bitcoin, the Lightning Network and Bitcoin’s future, and the final project.

Furthermore, passing the final exam requires students to: create a bitcoin wallet, make a backup for that wallet, perform a wallet recovery from another existing backup, and transfer the bitcoin from one wallet to another.

Bachillerato Vocacional allows students to earn eight skills-based diplomas as part of their requirements for graduation while also providing practical skills for life. For the students of La Pacheco, Bitcoin is now one of those skills-based diplomas. However, the Bitcoin diploma does not stop at one school.

Ataco, El Salvador begins Bitcoin classes.

My First Bitcoin

Yesterday, My First Bitcoin announced another public school would be adopting the Bitcoin Diploma in Ataco, El Salvador. Furthermore, teachers, parents, and the surrounding communities will also be offered free weekly courses on bitcoin in each community that offers the course.

"We're looking for companies, organizations or individuals that want to support our project to take this program to other schools in El Salvador and nearby countries,” a representative from My First Bitcoin told Bitcoin Magazine.

My First Bitcoin

“As the first nation in the world to adopt Bitcoin we believe that what happens in El Salvador will create powerful precedents,” IBEX and My First Bitcoin jointly said in a release. “Quality, impartial education will be paramount to ensuring those precedents are positive ones.”


via bitcoinmagazine.com
Uniswap analysis: UNI price can double based on a classic technical pattern

Uniswap analysis: UNI price can double based on a classic technical pattern

UNI needs to break above a key technical resistance level to trigger its 100% bull run scenario. Otherwise, a bear flag awaits a 45% price crash.

Uniswap (UNI) market valuation could grow by 100% in the second half of 2022 as it paints a classic bearish reversal pattern.

UNI price bullish setup

Dubbed "inverse head and shoulders (IH&S)," the technical setup takes shape when the price forms three troughs in a row below a common support level (neckline), with the middle one (head) deeper than the other two (shoulders).

Additionally, it resolves after the price breaks above the support level.

The UNI price trend since May 23 checks all the boxes for forming an IH&S pattern, except the right shoulder. A retest of its neckline near $5.71 would form the right shoulder, increasing the possibility of an iH&S breakout scenario, as shown below.

UNI/USD daily price chart featuring IH&S setup. Source: TradingView

As a rule of technical analysis, the price breaking out of an IH&S structure can rally by as much as the maximum distance between its head's lowest point and the neckline. So, UNI's IH&S's upside target comes to be around $9.78, up over 100% from June 2's price.

Conflicting Uniswap price signals

Uniswap's longer-timeframe charts bring attention to resistance levels that could keep UNI from touching their IH&S target.

That includes an interim resistance level of around $6 that has rejected UNI's price lower at least thrice since May. A successful break above the $6-level could have UNI face the February 2022 support of around $7.52 whose test preceded a 75% price rally to $12.48.23.

The $7.52-level also coincides with UNI's 20-week exponential moving average (20-week EMA; the green wave in the chart below), now near $7.90.

UNI/USD 1-week candle chart. Source: Tradingview

Conversely, a decisive pullback from the $6-resistance level could trigger a result in a bearish technical setup, dubbed as a "bear flag."

Related: Finance Redefined: Uniswap goes against the bearish trends, overtakes Ethereum

UNI has already been returning lower after testing levels around $6, which coincides with the flag's upper trendline. That leaves the UNI/USD pair two potential scenarios: decline toward the flag's lower trendline near $3.92, or rebound for a potential breakout above the upper trendline.

UNI/USD three-day price chart featuring 'bear flag' setup. Source: TradingView

UNI's move toward $3.92 would risk triggering the bear flag breakdown scenario, meaning a 45%-plus decline to $2.75 when measured from June 2's price. On the other hand, a break above the upper trendline would invalidate the flag setup altogether.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.



via cointelgraph.com
Taiwan central bank governor considers interest-free CBDC design to prevent fiat deposit flight

Taiwan central bank governor considers interest-free CBDC design to prevent fiat deposit flight

"Neither of the current CBDCs in circulation, such as the Sand Dollar and the Digitial Yuan, accrue interest on deposits," said Yang.

As reported by local news outlet bnext.com on Wednesday, Chin-long Yang, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan), recommended a no-interest design for the country's central bank digital currency, or CBDC, pilot. In explaining the decision, Yang said that a CBDC where interest is paid on digital asset deposits would likely become a replacement for fiat New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) deposits in banks. "Once the banks' available deposits decrease," Yang explained, "it would lead to a corresponding increase in the cost of financing and thereby increase the cost of borrowing for consumers." 

Yang further warned that even interest-free CBDCs could lead to "digital bank runs" during times of financial instability and quickly spiral into a liquidity crisis for financial institutions. But nevertheless, the country's central bank governor recognized a surge in demand for electronic payment solutions in recent years:

"The ratio of electronic payments as a % of all payments in Taiwan has risen from 40% in 2017 to 60% in Q1 2022. Therefore, there is the possibility of greater demand in the populace for a CBDC that provides a safe, trusted, no-commission, no credit risk and no liquidity risk form of digital payment solution."

Taiwan is currently in the second stage of its CBDC pilot program, where its central bank provides the CBDC to five selected Taiwanese banks for distribution among consumers. Based on the pilot program results, the central bank will proceed to the next steps. However, it has already been identified in trials that the distributed ledger technology within the CBDC could not handle high frequency, high volume consumer transactions. Another point of concern is the lost functionality of the payment solution in the event of power outages.



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Citi calls out potential risks of crypto-backed mortgages and benefits of metaverse property

Citi calls out potential risks of crypto-backed mortgages and benefits of metaverse property

"Ultimately, the cryptocurrency may be liquidated if the collateral value falls below a certain threshold, such as 35% of the property value,” said the report.

Investment banking giant Citigroup has released research on how property technology could affect the housing market, mentioning virtual estate in the metaverse and cryptocurrency-backed mortgages.

In a report released Wednesday titled, “Home of the Future: PropTech — Towards a Frictionless Housing Market?” Citi said crypto, blockchain and property in the metaverse had the “potential to transform the traditional real estate market.” While crypto-backed mortgages could streamline the process of purchasing a home, many individuals have seen investments in metaverse property grow in the last two years.

Citi reported that property loans linked to crypto assets could allow investors to “utilize their investment gains” without incurring capital gains taxes, but commented on the potential for risk in a volatile market. While many standard loans linked to fiat have regulatory procedures in place to assess the ability of a borrower to repay, crypto holders could be forced to pay significantly more should the price of tokens fall during a bear market.

“If the value of the cryptocurrency declines, the borrower may be subject to margin calls and ultimately the cryptocurrency may be liquidated if the collateral value falls below a certain threshold, such as 35% of the property value,” said the report. “Introducing cryptocurrency exposure into the credit profile arguably increases the overall risk of the loan.”

In addition to purchasing physical property, the Citi report commented on the potential benefits of owning and monetizing “digital real estate” in the metaverse. Specifically, researchers detailed how individual and corporate owners of the virtual property in The Sandbox (SAND) — called LAND — have treated the metaverse as an investment akin to property in the real world, with prices rising from roughly $100 per LAND in January 2021 to as high as $200,000 a year later:

“Given the nascent nature of the virtual real estate environment, many of the purchasers of LANDs lack concrete plans to cultivate the properties and are simply speculating on the platform’s future growth and thus LAND price appreciation.”

Related: Propy partners with Abra to provide crypto-backed real estate loans

The banking giant is not the first to consider the risks in crypto-backed mortgages. Prior to the recent bear market, Florida-based ratings and research firm Weiss Ratings warned investors that the falling price of Bitcoin (BTC) in addition to the performance of stocks, rising interest rates and the Federal Reserve’s policy changes could potentially make crypto mortgages a losing bet.



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Russian Duma passes bill to remove VAT, lower income tax rates on digital asset sales

Russian Duma passes bill to remove VAT, lower income tax rates on digital asset sales

Russia is turning to blockchain technology in an effort to counteract the economic isolation brought on by the sanctions imposed due to its invasion of Ukraine.

The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian legislature, has passed a bill on the taxation of digital assets that exempts their sale from value-added tax (VAT) in the Russian Federation. Some other services of digital asset exchanges will also be exempted, according to state-run news service RIA Novosti. 

In addition, the bill established income tax rates of 13% for Russian exchanges on the first 5 million rubles (currently about U$93,000) of the taxable base annually, 15% on amounts above that limit and 15% across the board for foreign exchange operators. The current tax rate for companies is 20%.

The taxation of digital assets under the bill is analogous to securities taxes, RIA Novosti reports. The government noted in the bill that a separate tax procedure for digital assets is key to the creation of an effective and competitive digital economy.

Related: Bank of Russia backs cross-border crypto payments vs. domestic trade

Russia has tempered its skeptical stance on cryptocurrency as the country has increasingly felt the pressure of Western economic sanctions stemming from its invasion of Ukraine. Major Russian banks have been blocked from the SWIFT system and G7 countries this week banned the purchase of newly mined or refined Russian gold. Those moves, along with a host of other sanctions, led to Russia’s reported default on foreign debt servicing Monday.

Russia's Sber bank is preparing to launch a stablecoin, and Russian Central Bank first deputy chair Olga Skorobogatova stated in an interview dated on Thursday that trials of a digital ruble will be moved up from 2024 to April 2023. A pilot project involving 12 Russian banks is underway.

“I think all self-respecting states will have a national digital currency within three years. […] We should be ready as soon as possible. Plus, this will settle the issue of being blocked from SWIFT, because this integration will make SWIFT unnecessary,” Skorobogatova said.



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Switzerland-based crypto mining firm expands operations to Texas

Switzerland-based crypto mining firm expands operations to Texas

The company reported its operations in the United States will have an initial capacity of 3 megawatts, aiming for the firm’s total hashrate to be more than 1.6 EH/s.

White Rock Management, a cryptocurrency mining company based in Switzerland, said it will be expanding its operations to the United States, starting with Texas.

In a Tuesday announcement, White Rock said it will be partnering with Natural Gas Onsite Neutralization, or NGON, a company that captures natural gas that would otherwise be burned and converts it to energy for use in the firm’s Bitcoin (BTC) mining operations. White Rock said it will be operating out of NGON’s facility in the Brazos Valley region, mining BTC using “environmentally responsible” methods.

According to White Rock CEO Andy Long, the move into Texas was just the first in the firm’s plans to expand its BTC mining operations to areas capable of providing energy from natural gas outside the scope of the state’s power grid. The company began mining crypto at data centers in Sweden in November 2021 and reported its operations in the United States will have an initial capacity of 3 megawatts, aiming for the firm’s total hashrate to be more than 1.6 EH/s.

Crypto mining firm White Rock Management's operations in Texas. Source: White Rock

The recent market downturn — the price of Bitcoin has fallen more than 28% in the last 30 days — may be impacting crypto miners’ profits. Cointelegraph reported on June 10 that the “raw” costs for miners in North America were roughly $22,000 per Bitcoin, with additional costs potentially bringing the total to more than $30,000. Many mining firms in the region including Bitfarms have reported selling some of their BTC holdings amid the bear market.

Related: Bitcoin miners sold their entire May harvest: Report

It’s unclear how the recent volatility may affect White Rock’s operations in the Lone Star State. Prior to the market downturn in May, Argo Blockchain said it was planning to launch mining operations in Texas’ Dickens County almost a year after first breaking ground on the 200-megawatt data center. In April, the City of Fort Worth also launched a pilot program to mine BTC using three rigs in its city hall building.



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Are custodied crypto funds at risk? Industry veterans explain

Are custodied crypto funds at risk? Industry veterans explain

Investments under custody are usually very safe, until the accountability of the custodian is called into question.

With rumors of insolvency flying high among crypto firms such as Celsius and Three Arrows Capital, investors couldn't help but ask a simple question: What happened to all the funds that were supposedly under "safe custody?" As it turns out, a small fraction of crypto firms began leveraged trading with customers' deposits to deliver promised high APY returns on supposedly fixed-income instruments. Things worked out well when the market was thought to have endless potential.

However, as token prices plunged, such firms simultaneously suffered heavy losses on their positions and an increase in withdrawal requests as investors rushed to protect their capital. The combination of selling pressures led to lower coin prices and the likely obliteration of investors' initial principal as firms allegedly became insolvent.

Not all asset custodians took enormous risks with clients' deposits during the bull market in an attempt to attract more capital. At the European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona, Cointelegraph news editor Aaron Wood spoke to Bit.com's business development lead, Leslie Hsu. Bit.com is a centralized crypto exchange launched in March 2020 in Seychelles. Here's what Hsu had to say:

"So at Bit.com, we actually use a third-party custody service. Once all assets are in custody, the exchange won't use your money or clients' assets for tasks like margin trading."

However, Hsu explained that due to a concept known as regulatory arbitrage, it would be difficult for administrative bodies to crack down on supposed bad actor custodians that take unreasonable risks with clients' capital. "Different countries all have different regulations. For example, like in the U.S., they only allow U.S. domiciled entities to trade over there. Right now, there's no single piece of international legislation covering all potential crypto-related issues." In some jurisdictions, gambling laws even take precedence over administrative rules when it comes to regulating digital assets.

At another panel, Cointelegraph's managing editor Alex Cohen spoke to Michael Lau, global head of sales at regulated crypto exchange Bullish. For Lau, the issue of trust not only comes in the ability to create services but also in how one executes them, explaining:

"From our perspective, we decided we would be regulated one day. So then there's an element of accountability, right? Someone is actually auditing our inner workings and making sure that we can actually fulfill the promises we are making."

Lau shared that when he first joined the industry in February 2020 after a career in traditional finance, he was surprised at the high level of retail involvement for digital assets. "I remember the New York Stock Exchange is only about 20% retail, and the Chinese Stock Exchanges were around 40% retail, but I really looked at crypto, and it was all retail with very few institutions in it."

But Lau said that he is rather satisfied with the continued demand for regulation in the industry. "There's a certain level of professionalism and accountability demanded of fund managers. As an investor, I want to know that I'm going to be protected. I want to know that the fund manager follows the rules. I want to make sure that there's proper segregation of assets. So we've noticed a lot more demand for regulation as of late."



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‘Unique phenomenon’: All 5B toncoins mined on PoS TON blockchain

‘Unique phenomenon’: All 5B toncoins mined on PoS TON blockchain

The TON blockchain has always been proof-of-stake, while the mining of toncoin began “spontaneously and randomly” in 2020, according to the TON Foundation.

The TON Foundation, an organization developing the Telegram-initiated blockchain project, the TON blockchain, on Tuesday officially announced that TON miners have mined the final toncoin.

"Tens of thousands of miners have mined the entire issuance of toncoins, which was about 5 billion tokens,” TON Foundation founding member and core developer Anatoly Makosov said in a statement to Cointelegraph. The last toncoin was mined on June 28, he noted.

The end of toncoin mining marks a major milestone in TON's distribution, starting its new era as an entirely PoS blockchain. From now on, new toncoins will only enter circulation via PoS validation, the TON Foundation said. That will result in a cut in the total influx of new toncoins into the network by around 75% to the existing limit of 200,000 tokens per day.

The TON price has immediately reacted to the news, surging 34% over the past 24 hours. The token is trading at $1.41, according to data from CoinGecko.

TON seven-day price chart. Source: CoinGecko

By definition, proof-of-stake, or PoS, is a consensus algorithm that operates depending on a validator’s stake in the network. The PoS algorithm is opposed to proof-of-work, or PoW, the original consensus algorithm of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), which is based on blocks validated through computing power provided by miners.

According to TON's whitepaper, its blockchain uses a PoS approach for generating new blocks. However, its unique infrastructure somehow allowed miners to generate toncoins using the PoW consensus as well, Makosov stated:

“The TON blockchain has always been proof-of-stake; the novelty is that even in a PoS blockchain it is possible to write a smart contract that can be mined according to PoW principles.”

“If you put the entire coin issuance of the blockchain on such a smart contract, you get a PoS blockchain, but with a distribution of coins in the form of mining. As far as we know no one has done this before,” the developer added.

According to Makosov, the current TON network was launched on Nov. 15, 2019, while the coin issuance was put on smart contracts that could be mined on July 7, 2020. The tokens were placed in special "giver" smart contracts, allowing anyone to participate in the mining. “Users mined around 200,000 TON daily,” an official post devoted to TON’s history of mining reads.

Related: New $250M TONcoin Fund targets DEX and NFT tools on TON blockchain

“Mining on the proof-of-stake TON blockchain was a unique phenomenon to behold,” the post notes, adding that mining on TON commenced “spontaneously and randomly” after the Telegram team agreed on a settlement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and was forced to terminate its involvement in TON.



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Bitcoin’s bottom might not be in, but miners say it ‘has always made gains over any 4-year period’

Bitcoin’s bottom might not be in, but miners say it ‘has always made gains over any 4-year period’

To mine, or not to mine, that is the question. Professional Bitcoin miners discuss the nuance of BTC mining and whether now is a good time to get started.

Your favorite trader is saying Bitcoin (BTC) bottomed. At the same time, the top on-chain indicators and analysts are citing the current price range as a “generational buy” opportunity. Meanwhile, various crypto and finance media recently reported that Bitcoin miners sending a mass of coins to exchanges are a sign that $17,600 was the capitulation move that pins the market bottom

There’s so much assurity from various anon and doxed analysts on Crypto Twitter, yet Bitcoin price is still in a clear downtrend, and the metrics don’t fully reflect that traders are buying every dip.

A critical component of BTC price that many investors often overlook is the condition and sentiment of Bitcoin miners, which is exactly why Cointelegraph had a chat with Rich Ferolo of Blockware Solutions and Will Szamosszegi of Sazmining Inc. to gain clarity on what’s happening in the mining industry and how this might impact market sentiment going forward.

Cointelegraph: Is the bottom in for Bitcoin? The price touched $17,600 nearly two weeks ago and it’s starting to feel like the fund-driven capitulation armageddon might be over. Thoughts?

Will Szamosszegi: It’s impossible to say whether or not Bitcoin has hit a bottom. In general, I recommend a dollar-cost-averaging strategy to people: Just buy however much Bitcoin you feel comfortable with on a consistent schedule. We’ve seen drawdowns even bigger than this before — such as 93.7% in its early days and 83.4% in 2018. Bitcoin has always made gains over any four-year period in its history.

CT: Currently, Bitcoin is trading below the realized price and below miners’ cost of production. The price also dipped below the previous all-time high and the hash rate is dropping. Typically on-chain analysts pinpoint these metrics hitting extreme lows as a generational purchasing opportunity, but is it?

Rich Ferolo: Blockware has done a lot of research on this and we’ve calculated the breakeven price from machines as far back as the s9 from 2016, at $.07 per kilowatt, the breakeven is $38,000 for a s9. You’re going to see older machines coming off the network eventually. For the s17s, at $.07 cents per kilowatt, BTC needs to be at around $18,000.

Newish machines are more efficient and while difficulty and the hash rate adjustment are trending down for current generation machines, anything above 90 terahashes (TH/s) can make it. Anything below 34 watts per Terahash is inefficient.

One factor to consider is that the value of machines is going down. Even if BTC price starts to go up and there’s a symbiotic relationship between price and the macro factors impacting Bitcoin price and prices throughout the wider-crypto market.

Machines are hard assets and the big aspect of mining is the machine. Bitmain and MicroBT adjust prices as BTC price goes up. This is a hard asset that, in a way, earns yield on a daily basis, the same way that BTC does.

If you’re in the long game, you don’t care about the current price of BTC. Just because the BTC price goes down doesn’t mean all the miners will go down also. It’s more about survival of the fittest. You need to be aware of the macros, but it’s not as bad as one might think. There are different perspectives and situations depending on what size outfit you’re running. Big public companies have a lot of operational factors to consider, but their operational costs (OPEX) inflate their overall cost even if they get $.05 per kilowatt. Their model is different from the analytics of the average miner outside of the public user.

CT: What is the state of the BTC mining industry right now? There are rumors that leveraged miners could go under, inefficient miners are turning off and equipment is being sold 50% to 65% lower than 2020 to 2021 prices.

What’s happening behind the scenes and how do you see this impacting the industry for the next six months to a year?

RF: I agree with all of your observations. We’re at a price consolidation point currently and the market is cleaning up the amount of mining debt that exists. If you can hang on and keep mining, it might keep the hash rate and difficulty at bay. Blockworks believes that there is a severe lack of infrastructure in the space. To have infrastructure, you have to have an incredible amount of CAPEX to get going. There’s been and still is a lack of infrastructure.

Regardless of the machines that are there, there’s not a lot of space for hosting. From the broader standpoint, you’re going to see a lot of capitulation, insolvency and excess machines. I know a lot of the big players are putting a pause on funding for miners. That’s a plus for people wanting to get in the space, but we predicted a 60% hash rate increase in 2022 when things were booming. And, as the s19XPs come into light, the hashrate will go up.

WS: Many veterans in this space have grown accustomed to these cycles in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Historically, you see the hashrate decline following the price doing the same. In drawdowns like this one, newer miners typically wash out, while the network fortifies. Over the next six months, mining will become more competitive, as bigger players may consolidate and buy miners at a discount.

CT: Exactly why is now a good or bad time to start mining? Are there particular on-chain metrics or profitability metrics that miners are looking at or is it just a no-brainer that Bitcoin’s current pricing makes mining attractive?

Let’s say I have $1 million cash, is it a good time to set up an operation and start mining? What about $300,000 to $100,000? At the $40,000 to $10,000 range, why might it not be a good time to set up at home or use a hosted mining service?

RF: Regardless of the size of the investment, I don’t think any of those values frankly would warrant you wanting to set up infrastructure at scale. A million bucks worth of machines at $5,000 per machine will get you 200 machines, almost a 0.6 megawatts worth. 1 megawatt of power is equal to 300 machines. Housing 200 machines is way different than housing 2 to 10 machines. To diversify $1 million to $300,000, or 60 machines, that’s where you want to start looking at hosting, assuming you’re all in on mining.

I treat mining as a hedge, so I’d take 60% of the capital and buy machines and 40% buy spot BTC, or 60% CAPEX for machines, 20% for OPEX and 20% for spot BTC. This is a broader place to think about hosting. $100,000 gets you 20 machines, so you could apply the same strategy. Most residential homes can’t handle that much power demand. There’s a threshold of at-home mining power capacity so you’d have to consider how much power you can get to your house without shutting down the neighborhood.

The $10,000 to $40,000 range is more amenable to at-home mining. If your power rate is fixed at $.10 or below you could pull it, depending on where the price is. $40,000 will get you about eight machines. That’s more doable, to be honest. It’s about 24.4 kilowatts per hour for eight machines if you start from four to five machines and test the waters. It’s almost like dollar-cost-averaging into machines and buying them if prices continue to drop.

Related: Buy Bitcoin or start mining? HashWorks CEO points to ‘attractive investment yield’ in BTC mining

CT: Does BTC price dropping below its all-time high for the first time ever have any significant future ramifications on the fundamentals of the asset and industry?

WS: The fundamentals of BTC are unchanged, which is why I still expect BTC to evolve into a global reserve asset. The industry, on the other hand, will learn from this crash: Do not be overleveraged and do not offer yields that leave you vulnerable.

RF: Great question, I think from where we’re at now, it was expected based on where people (retail) had bought in the previous cycle. Smart money expected a long bear market to happen, but what has shocked everyone is when and how fast it happened. The mysterious long-awaited blow-off top never happened.

Crypto has a lot more exposure and a lot more bad press due to recent implosions and we’ll see more because the news loves bad press and it’s easier to generate. For those who believe in BTC, they’ll ignore it and it's the opportune time to buy and invest in the space, especially once all the bad energy is cleared out.

Lots of people have probably sold the bottom and won’t be back, but this is just the basic market dynamics.

CT: The network’s next reward halving is approaching in 676 days. In your view, how will this alter the landscape of industrialized mining and the amount of equipment required to solve an algorithm which becomes more difficult to compute with each halving?

RF: Halving events tend to induce miner capitulation. I’m surprised that the current hash rate hasn’t fallen further. We’re not seeing the sharp decrease that was expected before like 20% to 25%. This happens because older-generation machines have to unplug and the rewards don’t match the cost but the expected hash rate increase that comes with each halving means older-gen machines benefit in the short term. Miners unplug when OPEX is unfavorable and then plug back in when the time is right.

WS: Miners will want to reduce their costs, as half the reward in Bitcoin may render many mining operations unprofitable (assuming a constant Bitcoin price in United States dollars). Mining equipment will continue to improve in efficiency and miners will continue to seek out the most cost-effective energy sources. Halving is one of the many genius features of the Bitcoin network because it washes out inefficiencies.

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content of product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.



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Does The Wisdom Of Bitcoin Come From An Ancient Civilization?

Does The Wisdom Of Bitcoin Come From An Ancient Civilization?

Bitcoin doesn't try to change our nature. It works with nature; it's part of nature. It is the combination of ancient wisdom and scientific knowledge.

This is an opinion editorial by Leon Wankum, one of the first financial economics students to write a thesis about Bitcoin in 2015.

As I walk through the ruins of Machu Picchu, an Incan citadel built in the heights of the Andes Mountains in Peru and dating back to sometime around 1450, I see the magnificent remains of buildings and structures erected by a civilization long gone. To this day, we cannot explain how the Inca built it or what its exact use was. Historians know the Inca used Machu Picchu as a sacred site to house around 700 high priests. A place full of magical mysteries, Machu Picchu is known for its intricate ashlar walls that fuse huge stones together without mortar and for buildings that incorporate astronomical alignments.

Machu Picchu is part of a series of humanity's greatest achievements, which we do not fully understand how they were built, such as the pyramids in Cairo; the pyramids in Teotihuacán, Mexico; and Coricancha in Cusco, Peru. How were the Inca able to carry and then align large stones up a 2,430-meter mountain, which would be difficult even with the most modern tools?

What we do know is that the Inca lived in harmony with nature. They participated in an agricultural society that used the forces of nature to build cities and sacred sites that still stand today. The philosophy of life in the Andes was based on benefiting from nature without destroying it. According to Juan Carlos Machicado Figueroa in “When the Stones Speak,” samples of this way of life are seen in different archeological sites, from the early cultures to the complexity of Incan society. Generally speaking, scholars are obsessed by the idea of resolving the question of how the Inca managed to construct their buildings and have forgotten to understand why and what thinking was behind these constructions.

We should ask ourselves, “What can we learn from these ancient cultures?” Technology needs to work in harmony with nature and so do we.

Just as the Inca worked in harmony with nature to create magnificent forts and sacred sites, Bitcoin exists in harmony with nature to create sound money from energy. Sound money is money that is not subject to sudden increases or decreases in value, assisted by self-correcting mechanisms inherent in a free market system.

Contrary to popular belief, money is not a product of the state; it is a natural product of our environment. On a metaphysical level, money is energy. We use our time and our energy to make money. So, money is a store of our energy, a store of value. Energy is plentiful and should be accessible to all. Any kind of centralized system — like a central bank trying to manipulate money — creates an imbalance that is not natural.

Traditional centralized banking systems like the Federal Reserve are subject to boards and government institutions controlling the supply and distribution of money. In contrast, bitcoin is entirely produced collectively by the network, at a rate which was defined when the system was created and known to the public, to paraphrase Andreas Antonopoulos in “Mastering Bitcoin.”

Bitcoin is an open monetary system, accessible to everyone.

For the Inca, gold was not valuable because of its purchasing power but because of its energy. It was representative of the sun, the life force of the Earth. Like the sun — which serves as the energy source for all life on Earth — Bitcoin serves as an inclusive financial system in which everyone can participate. Bitcoin is the first successful attempt to create digital property that can be sent securely to someone else without the risk of third-party obstruction. Again referencing Antonopoulos, as of today, no one has been able to disturb the mining process or figure out a way to mine bitcoin without using the required Bitcoin software with its internal security and self-reliant value system. It is money backed by mathematical proof.

Despite what the mainstream media tells us, bitcoin using energy for its production process is not bad for the environment; it is a natural process. The fact that mining uses energy makes bitcoin money because money is energy. The law of conservation of energy, also known as the first law of thermodynamics, states that the energy of a closed system must remain constant: It can neither increase nor decrease without external influence. The universe itself is a closed system, so the total amount of energy in existence has always been the same. However, the forms that energy takes are constantly changing. Energy is never wasted; it is used. Like a child eats food in order to grow, humanity uses energy to move forward. Miners use electrons and produce bitcoin. They are literally creating digital gold out of energy.

Credit: NASA/CXC/Wisconsin/D.Pooley/CfA/A.Zezas/ESA/JPL-Caltech/J.Huchra et al. (Source)

In fact, Bitcoin will enable humanity to use energy more efficiently, make progress, create wealth and foster a healthier relationship with our environment. There are estimates that up to 30% of the energy produced is wasted through losses in generation, transmission and distribution. Bitcoin miners are trying to capture this energy, because they need to find cheap energy in order to lower their cost structure. For example, companies like Great American Mining use excess gas released from oil production to mine bitcoin.

Oil drilling releases gas. Since the drilling takes place far from residential areas, the gas released has no other use than on-site. It is very difficult to store the gas and bring it to residential areas, so most of it gets burned. The burning of gas is called flaring. A gas combustion engine can be used in industrial facilities, such as petroleum refineries or chemical plants. Bitcoin mining is not dependent on residential areas; it can take place anywhere. Great American Mining takes advantage of this by capturing the released gas, which would otherwise be burned and polluted, to mine bitcoin. Showing how mining can solve the so-called energy crisis.

(Source)

Additionally, a study published by the Bitcoin Mining Council estimates that 58.5% of the global mining sector is powered by renewable energy, as renewable energy is among the cheapest energy sources. This makes their use very attractive for miners, who in turn help to make the use of renewable energy more efficient.

Technology is first adopted by the people who need it most. El Salvador became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender on September 7, 2021. The Central African Republic followed in 2022. Both countries are on continents that have been plundered for their natural resources. War-torn places caught in a vicious cycle of trauma, war and suffering.

The financial institutions created by the international community under U.S. leadership to provide aid to developing countries — such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — have failed. They have enslaved the developing world by putting them in debt, instead of giving them the opportunity to develop further. Creating debt obligations is a soft form of imperialism. It doesn't help; it makes everything worse.

Those benefiting from the current financial system are trying to fight Bitcoin. The establishment being resistant to change is a recurring phenomenon throughout history. In 1633, the Catholic Church imprisoned Galileo Galilei for fear of losing power for his correct argument that the planets revolve around the sun and that the sun is the center of the universe, not the Earth. The Catholic Church believed that the Bible said that all other planets revolve around the Earth and to defy this belief was considered an act of heresy. Back then, a person could be prosecuted (and even executed) for disobeying religious teachings. Similarly today, governments and central banks are trying to fight Bitcoin because it threatens their position of power. It is not in these institutions’ interest that an open monetary network exists outside of their control, so they demonize it and claim it's bad for the environment, although the opposite is true.

Since President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would end the convertibility of the U.S. dollar into gold on August 15, 1971, central banks began operating a fiat-money-based system with floating exchange rates and no currency standard. The term “fiat money” comes from Latin and means “let it be done.” Fiat is a type of money that is not backed by a commodity, such as gold, and derives its value entirely from government decrees. It is a debt-based system in which central banks create and lend out fiat money, solely for the promise of the recipient to repay in return.

Any central bank in the developing world that adopts bitcoin has a chance to compete with the world’s most powerful central banks by acquiring bitcoin, a debt-free asset. This challenges the global power dynamic. As a decentralized, open monetary network, Bitcoin enables everyone who uses it to become independent.

Mass adoption of bitcoin will take time. It could take centuries, but it will happen.
As Robert Breedlove points out, Bitcoin is software, software is code and code is information. Information wants to spread. The Bible has survived many empires, so Bitcoin has the potential to outlive any individuals, parties and groups that try to fight it. As long as there is one computer running the Bitcoin protocol, Bitcoin won’t die. We have effectively created this new life form that will outlast us all (and probably humanity).

Bitcoin is hope because it allows everyone in the world to store value, regardless of gender, race, location or age, and it allows people to save for the future. This results in positive second-order effects. The inflationary fiat system that we live in today incentivizes short-term thinking. Money that we earn today will lose value in the future, so we spend it on things we don’t need. We are incentivized to consume constantly, to waste the world's resources and to make bad decisions because we don't care about the future. Bitcoin is different. It's disinflationary. It encourages long-term thinking. As Bitcoiners, we are more aware of the value of our money because it increases in value. Why should I spend my bitcoin on a car today when I can use it to buy a house in the future?

People are taking on more responsibilities and they can see a better future on the horizon because there is a greater sense of freedom due to the qualities of Bitcoin and what it allows. Once you adopt bitcoin, you pursue work that you find meaningful. You establish more meaningful relationships and live a more meaningful life. These second-order effects apply to the individual and humanity as a whole because Bitcoin is an open network that anyone can use.

Can we even imagine a united humanity? Probably not, but Bitcoin makes us dream. Imagine if we could build on each other instead of taking from one another. If one eats, we all eat. When you work, when you make an effort, we all benefit. This is the power of an open network, controlled by no one but open to all. With Bitcoin there is no “us and them,” there is an “I” from which a universal “we” emerges.

Many cryptocurrency companies are trying to capitalize on the human need for harmony with false promises, but these efforts are only made to enrich certain individuals. Bitcoin is here to enrich humanity. It's about the intention. Alone we can go fast, but together we can go far.

Bitcoin doesn't try to change our nature. It works with nature; it's part of nature. It is the combination of ancient wisdom and scientific knowledge. A bridge between old and new — the future.

Machu Picchu (Source)

This is a guest post by Leon Wankum. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.


via bitcoinmagazine.com