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Bitcoin
hits $US40,000 for first time since May 2022 - December
4. 2023
Bitcoin
topped $US40,000 as the largest digital asset extended
a 2023 rebound on expectations of interest rate reductions
and greater demand from the exchange-traded funds
sector.
The
token added as much as 2.9 per cent to reach $US40,867,
taking its 2023 jump to 146 per cent. Bitcoin was
last at such levels in April last year before the
Terra USD stablecoin collapse that contributed to
a $US2 trillion rout in digital assets.
Investors
are increasingly convinced that the Federal Reserve
is done with rate increases as inflation cools, turning
the focus to the likely extent of cuts next year.
The changed backdrop has fuelled a rally across global
markets.
The
crypto industry is also awaiting the outcome of applications
from BlackRock to start the first US spot bitcoin
ETF with some of these products expected to win approval
by January.
Bitcoin
continues to be supported by optimism around SEC approval
for an ETF and Fed rate cuts in 2024, wrote
Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG. Technical chart
patterns point to $US42,330 as the next level to watch
for, he added.
Bitcoins
revival from the 2022 crypto crash has weathered a
US crackdown that put Sam Bankman-Fried behind bars
for fraud at FTX and handed top crypto exchange Binance
and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, rap sheets and big
fines.
Optimists
argue the drive to curb dubious practices and the
prospective ETFs signal a maturing crypto industry
and the potential for a wider investor base.
Recent
enforcement actions have instilled confidence
among investors, said Su Yen Chia, co-founder
of the Asia Crypto Alliance. Bitcoin is aping
momentum in traditional finance with Fed rate-hike
expectations fading.
A
reset in rate bets or unexpected snarls for the ETFs
could yet derail bitcoin, while some technical indicators
suggest the virtual currencys rally is stretched.
For
instance, bitcoins weekly relative-strength
index, a momentum gauge, closed above 75 for the past
two weeks. Readings above 70 are viewed as signalling
overbought conditions. At the same time,
bitcoin in the past decade rose an average 15 per
cent over the subsequent month after printing a weekly
RSI of more than 75, data shows.
In
the short term, long trader positioning
implies that further price appreciation may be harder
to come by, crypto fund provider Grayscale wrote
in a note. Still, the financial and economic backdrop
is set to stay positive for digital assets, it added.
Bitcoins
jump in 2023 has outstripped global stocks and gold.
In the derivatives market, open interest recently
advanced to landmark levels at the CME Group for bitcoin
futures and at the Deribit platform for options on
the most high-profile crypto coin.
One
prop for sentiment is the so-called bitcoin halving
due next year, which will cut in half the amount of
tokens that bitcoin miners receive as reward for their
work. The quadrennial event is part of the process
of capping bitcoin supply at 21 million tokens. The
coin hit records after each of the last three halvings.
(Bloomberg)
Casino
industry spurs $329 billion in U.S. economic activity
ATLANTIC
CITY, N.J.
The
casino gambling industry in the U.S. generates nearly
$329 billion a year in economic activity, according
to a new study by the industrys national trade
association.
The
American Gaming Association released a study Monday
showing the industrys economic impact in 2022
was up 26% from 2017, before the COVID-19 pandemic
hit.
Commercial
and tribal casinos support 1.8 million jobs, including
700,000 jobs at casinos themselves or related businesses,
about the same as in 2017. Those jobs generated $104
billion in wages across the country, up 40% from 2017,
according to the study.
The
industry paid $52.7 billion last year in taxes to
federal, state and local governments, up 29% since
2017, the report said.
The
report was the first such study released by the association
since 2018, which presented 2017 data.
Bill
Miller, president and CEO of the association, said
the numbers show the casino industrys resiliency
and continued strength since the pandemic first
hit.
Think back to where we were a few years ago
with nearly 1,000 casinos, almost all of them closed,
he said. Today, were seeing record revenue
in the industry.
Miller
said the association will use numbers from the survey
to press its case to lawmakers in favor of gambling
industry goals, including a government crackdown on
unlicensed gambling operations.
The
U.S. casino industry is having its best year ever
this year in terms of the amount of money won from
gamblers. It is on a pace to exceed the $60 billion
it won from gamblers last year.
I
think it speaks to the continuing popularity of casino
gambling in the United States, said David Schwartz,
a gambling historian at the University of Nevada Las
Vegas. Despite some economic headwinds, casinos
remain powerful drivers of economic activity.
Jane
Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute
at New Jerseys Stockton University, which studies
the Atlantic City gambling industry, said money won
by casinos is just part of their overall contribution
to the nations economy.
Casinos
are often the largest employers in a region, with
major commitments in terms of wages and benefits,
she said. People employed by casinos use those
wages and benefits to purchase additional goods and
services, generating secondary economic impact.
Bokunewicz
said casinos spend significant sums on operating costs,
including purchases of goods and services like food,
linen, hotel room amenities, laundry services, and
building maintenance. They also hire local builders
and vendors for construction and ongoing capital improvements.
The
survey examined money won from gamblers or spent at
non-gambling casino businesses like restaurants and
stores, including traditional casino games, sports
betting and online gambling. Also surveyed was capital
investment, including the building and opening of
new casinos or renovations to existing ones, and spending
by manufacturers of gambling devices including slot
machines.
It
included supply chain spending by casinos, and spending
by casino workers on non-gambling items. And it also
included $13.5 billion in so-called catalytic spending
by casino patrons outside casinos, on things like
transportation to and from a casino resort, and money
spent at restaurants that are not part of casinos.
Commercial
casinos employed almost 332,000 workers last year,
who earned $16.3 billion in wages and benefits, and
tribal casinos employed almost 265,000 workers, who
earned $8 billion in wages and benefits. There also
were almost 89,000 jobs at businesses serving casino
patrons during trips or in casino construction and
renovations, and more than 23,000 jobs at gambling
equipment manufacturers.
Non-gambling
revenue accounted for nearly 17% of casino revenue
last year, including money from food and beverage
sales, hotel rooms and other items.
Mr.
Bitcoin Is About to Go Down Big: Jim Cramer
Expects Lower Prices - October 12, 2023
Former
hedge fund manager and host of CNBCs Mad Money,
Jim Cramer Tuesday evening continued with his recent
bearish stance on crypto, a stark contrast to what
another hedge funder said earlier that day on CNBC.
I
cant go out with gold because gold is not good;
I cant go out with bitcoin [BTC] because I cant
be in something where Mr. Bitcoin is about to go down
big, said Cramer.
Its
unclear if Mr. Bitcoin was in reference
to the ongoing trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, or to bitcoin
in general, but Cramers bearishness was evident.
Although
bitcoin is far off its all-time high of $68,000 reached
in 2021s bull market, the cryptocurrency is
still trading up 68% since the start of the year.
Cramer
had previously stated in June 2021 that he had sold
most of his bitcoin holdings following Chinas
crackdown on crypto miners. He also said during the
same time period that bitcoin had structural issues
and its price would likely fall further.
Appearing
on CNBC earlier on Tuesday, billionaire hedge fund
giant Paul Tudor Jones said hes a fan of both
bitcoin and gold due to the combination of extensive
geopolitical risk and rising U.S. government debt
levels.
SBF's
ex-girlfriend: He 'directed me' to steal billions
from FTX - October 11, 2023
Caroline Ellison was one of Sam Bankman-Frieds
top deputies and his onetime romantic partner. On
Tuesday she testified that Bankman-Fried "directed
me" to steal billions from customers of his cryptocurrency
exchange.
Ellison
ran day-to-day operations for Alameda Research, a
crypto trading firm also controlled by Bankman-Fried.
She said Alameda took "around $14 billion"
from FTX customers to repay debts Alameda had accumulated.
She
said she also sent information to Alameda's lenders
"from Sam" that made Alameda's balance look
better than it was.
The
crimes she said she committed at Alameda weren't done
on her own. "They were committed with Sam. ...
He directed me to commit these crimes."
The testimony from the 29-year-old Ellison marked
her first public comments about what transpired as
the FTX cryptocurrency exchange imploded last November,
an unraveling that led to the arrest and indictment
of the 31-year-old Bankman-Fried.
Prosecutors
are arguing that Bankman-Fried embezzled billions
in FTX customer funds while also defrauding investors
and lenders.
Ellison,
their star witness, corroborated earlier testimony
from FTX and Alameda co-founder Gary Wang, who said
Alameda had essentially unlimited access to FTX customer
funds.
Bankman-Fried
"was the one who set up these systems,"
Ellison said of Alameda's ability to tap into FTX
customer deposits.
Ellison
is one of several members of Bankman Fried's inner
circle who pleaded guilty to criminal charges and
agreed to testify against Bankman-Fried, including
Wang and chief engineer Nishad Singh.
She
appeared in court Tuesday wearing glasses, a reddish-orange
dress with black tights, and a black blazer. When
asked to identify Bankman-Fried, she stood up and
struggled to find him in the sea of people filling
the courtroom.
Bankman-Frieds
team could try to pin some blame on Ellison too. His
defense attorney argued last week that when Bankman-Fried
became concerned about crypto prices going down, he
urged Ellison to put on a hedge. Yet she didnt
do it, according to the attorney.
Bankman-Fried
made a similar claim in a series of his unsent Twitter
posts and writings that Bankman-Fried shared with
crypto blogger Tiffany Fong while on house arrest.
"She
continually avoided talking about risk management
dodging my suggestions until it was
too late," Bankman-Fried wrote, according to
the New York Times.
The
US district court judge overseeing his case, Lewis
Kaplan, concluded Bankman-Fried engaged in witness
tampering by leaking those diary-like writings to
the New York Times. In August, he ordered Bankman-Fried
to await trial at a Brooklyn administrative prison
known for grueling conditions.
Bankman-Fried
has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his defense
attorney has said he didn't steal money from FTX because
he believed in "good faith" that Alameda
could use funds on deposit with his cryptocurrency
exchange.
'The
auditors arent going to look at that'
Ellison and Bankman-Fried first met at a New York
trading firm called Jane Street Capital, where she
worked as a quantitative trader.
After
Bankman-Fried co-founded Alameda, a hedge fund firm
that specialized in quantitative crypto trading, he
eventually hired Ellison in 2018. He named her as
co-CEO in 2021 and sole CEO in 2022. She was paid
$200,000 in salary per year and received two bonuses
of $20 million and $100,000.
She
said she didnt feel particularly equipped for
the CEO position but Bankman-Fried said it made sense
and there wasnt anyone better for the job.
Ellison
testified that she and Bankman-Fried would have regular
conversations about Alameda and FTX. It was a "big
priority" for Bankman-Fried to increase Alamedas
borrowing capabilities so that the company could make
more trades, investments, and acquisitions.
Sam
was directing us to borrow as much money as we could,
Ellison said.
Early on in her time at Alameda, Ellison said, the
company would take loans from third-party lenders,
and by 2021 the amount was $10 billion-15 billion.
Those loans, however, were open-term loans that if
recalled would need to be paid back immediately.
For
that reason, she said, she was asked by Bankman-Fried
to create spreadsheets showing various scenarios that
would impact Alamedas ability to continue taking
out loans, as well as repay them. Ellison said Bankman-Fried
told her at one point that FTX funds would be a "good
source of capital" for Alameda.
FTX
cryptocurrency assets were the first types of assets
Alameda used from the cryptocurrency exchange, she
said. Later on, she said, Alameda began to tap FTXs
fiat currency deposits. The reason to use the funds,
she said, was so that Alameda could make investments
and execute arbitrage trades in various cryptocurrencies.
Ellison
testified she first raised concerns about using FTX
customer funds during an audit of FTX.
"No
dont worry. The auditors arent going to
look at that, she said Bankman-Fried told her.
'I
didn't feel good about it'
Ellison said she also learned that FTX had made multimillion-dollar
loans to FTX executives, including Bankman-Fried,
some of which she signed on behalf of Alameda. The
purpose of the loans, she said, was so Alameda could
invest in a gambling startup and so political donations
could be made.
Ellison
said the illiquid nature of Alamedas long-term
investments and debt made her concerned about Alamedas
ability to pay the open-term loans if they were called.
I
didnt feel good about it, Ellison said.
In
the fall of 2021 Ellison began sharing analyses for
worst-case and bad-case scenarios in the event that
Alamedas loans needed to be repaid selling
cryptocurrencies, raising more capital, adding more
loans all of which showed significant risk
for Alameda.
She
was asked Tuesday while testifying how she would repay
the loans if they were called.
"I
assumed we would use customer funds."
Crypto FTX co-founder admits we did it
- October 6, 2023
New York | FTX co-founder Gary Wang took the stand
at Sam Bankman-Frieds trial on Thursday (Friday
AEDT) and admitted he and his former MIT roommate
committed a multibillion-dollar fraud by secretly
shifting customer funds to trading company Alameda
Research.
Mr
Wang, who was also FTXs chief technology officer,
told the federal court that Mr Bankman-Fried directed
him to alter the cryptocurrency exchanges code
so that Alameda was able to draw a $US65 billion ($102
billion) line of credit.
When customers deposited money on FTX, the money
went to Alameda instead, Mr Wang said, adding
that Alameda withdrew so much that FTX was not
able to pay customers who tried to withdraw.
Mr
Wang is testifying as a government witness against
his onetime friend. Prosecutors claim Mr Bankman-Fried
committed fraud and conspiracy after the FTX cryptocurrency
exchange he co-founded went bankrupt last year, owing
its 50 biggest creditors almost $US3.1 billion ($4.6
billion).
His
hotly anticipated trial started this week, with Mr
Wang one of the key witnesses after he pleaded guilty
to fraud and agreed to co-operate against his former
house-mate. Prosecutors promised, before the trial
started, to use testimony from Mr Bankman-Frieds
trusted inner circle to prove he intentionally
stole from customers and investors and then lied about
it.
In
contrast, defence lawyers told the court this week
that Mr Bankman-Fried had no criminal intent as he
took actions to try to save his businesses after the
cryptocurrency market collapsed.
Bankman-Fried
visibly shaking
Mr Wang, 30, said Mr Bankman-Fried instructed him
to sign documents allowing up to $US300 million in
funds from FTX customer accounts to be transferred
to Alameda to trade cryptocurrencies, sometimes at
an unfair advantage to other FTX customers.
Asked by the prosecution whether he and other FTX
executives committed fraud, Mr Wang immediately answered
yes and said the crimes were wire
fraud, securities fraud, and commodities fraud.
He then pointed out Mr Bankman-Fried who was sitting
in the courtroom visibly shaking.
He
said Caroline Ellison, Alamedas former chief
executive and Mr Bankman-Frieds former girlfriend,
and Nishad Singh, the former engineering director
at FTX, were also involved in the fraud.
Mr
Wangs testimony potentially undercuts Mr Bankman-Frieds
contention that he was not closely involved with the
running of Alameda and relied instead on ex-girlfriend
Ms Ellison.
Mr
Wang said FTX gave special privileges to Alameda,
allowing the withdrawal of unlimited funds for
the platform, and we hid that from the public.
He
said Alameda was allowed to take any position it wanted
without any limit and had the ability
to place orders on the platform slightly faster than
other customers.
Mr
Wang, who was once a billionaire with 10 per cent
ownership of Alameda Research and a 17 per cent equity
stake in FTX, was asked about the genesis of the name
of the affiliated hedge fund.
He
said the word research was important because it sounded
prestigious.
Its
also better if the name didnt include cryptocurrency
because that would make it easier to get office leases
and things like that, Mr Wang said.
A
video was played of Mr Bankman-Fried talking about
the evolution of the names and how calling the company
Shit Coin Day Trader would not have helped
it get loans from a bank.
Prosecutors
are expected to hear testimony from Ms Ellison on
how he orchestrated a conspiracy to use $US10 billion
of FTXs customers funds for uses that were kept
secret.
Also
giving evidence was Matt Huang, co-founder of crypto
investment firm Paradigm, who told of his companys
$US278 million in investments in FTX and FTX US. He
said he did not know FTX was using customer funds
to lend out to Alameda to trade cryptocurrencies and
that he would have wanted to know more.
Mr
Huang also said he did not know Alameda had been made
exempt from a special FTX feature known as the liquidation
engine which prevented FTX customers from not
being able to cover any losses. The exemption, which
was written into FTX code, allowed Alameda to continually
increase its line of credit until it grew to about
$US8 billion.
Earlier
in the day, Adam Yedidia, another Massachusetts Institute
of Technology classmate who went to work at FTX, testified
that Mr Bankman-Fried was aware and concerned about
a huge potential shortfall at FTX from loans to Alameda
five months before both companies collapsed. Mr Yedidia
told jurors he was testifying under a grant of immunity
from prosecution.
Fred
Schebestas Finder claims its crypto product
wasnt money - October 9, 2023
Lawyers
for Fred Schebestas Finder.com have laid out
why the comparison websites now-defunct crypto
savings product was not caught by existing laws, arguing
digital assets count as property rather than money.
The
corporate regulator sued a subsidiary of Finder.com
last year, alleging the comparison website provided
unlawful financial advice and put customers at risk
by offering its Finder Earn product without a proper
licence.
The
lawsuit is one of three the Australian Securities
and Investments Commission has brought against local
crypto businesses experimenting with new product types
built using blockchain technology.
Sydney-based
Block Earner and Gold Coast-based BPS Financial are
also defending the release of their crypto-based products
against similar litigation from ASIC.
The
trio of cases will test the regulators power
to oversee crypto products, mirroring a lawsuit from
the US Securities and Exchange Commission against
the listed token exchange Coinbase.
Finder,
which is currently seeking fresh funding, argues it
did not need a financial services licence to offer
its Finder Earn product, which paid out investors
a guaranteed 4 per cent interest rate
in return for deposits.
ASIC
argues the product was a debenture, which is a long-term
security that yields a fixed interest rate and is
often used by companies to borrow money.
But
Finder disagrees, noting that ASIC itself has maintained
its overarching position is that digital assets are
property rather than money. ASIC says the process
by which Finder Earn operates interacts with fiat
currency.
Although
cryptocurrencies share features in common with money
in that they can be stores of value and are fungible,
they are not money, they are property, Finders
lawyers told Justice Bridgette Markovic in the Federal
Court last Wednesday.
This
is important because a fundamental part of a debenture
is the depositing or lending of money.
Finder
Earn customers deposited Australian dollars into a
Finder Wallet, which was then converted to a stablecoin
called TrueAUD, which the company said was backed
by Australian dollars.
The
Finder Earn product was shuttered before the lawsuit
began, but it was marketed across morning television
shows and in slick digital campaigns targeting young
savers.
Its
launch was the result of an explosion of interest
in decentralised finance, or DeFi, where investors
were often paid high-interest rates to lock
up their capital in various systems that mimic
banking functions.
These
products contributed to the crypto market crash in
2022, when the companies took the customer deposits
and lost them in risky trades designed to generate
the guaranteed interests.
In
the absence of any new federal legislation, ASIC has
cracked down on crypto businesses using existing financial
markets regulation over the past 12 months.
Although
Finder is licensed to provide financial services as
a representative of Centra Wealth, a disclaimer on
the Finder website explained that its Earn product
was not offered under that or any other licence.
Regulators
brought a similar action against Block Earner, which
also offered a high-yield crypto-based product, for
allegedly offering unlicensed financial services.
ASIC
sued Gold Coast-based BPS Financial over a crypto
product known as Qoin in October, alleging unlicensed
conduct and the misleading promotion of crypto asset.
The
judgment for ASICs case against Finder Wallet
is expected in the coming months. Mr Schebesta stepped
down as Finder chief executive last December but remains
executive chair.
Bitcoin
Mining Industry Is at a Crucible Moment,
JPMorgan Says - October 2023
The bitcoin (BTC) mining industry is at a crucible
moment, as the approval of a spot BTC exchange-traded-fund
(ETF) could catalyze a rally against a backdrop of
record hashrates and the impending block reward halving
that threaten the industry's revenues and profitability,
JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report Wednesday.
The
bank favors mining operators that offer the best relative
value in light of their existing hashrate, operational
efficiency, power contracts, funded growth plans and
liquidity, analysts Reginald Smith and Charles
Pearce wrote.
JPMorgan
initiates coverage of CleanSpark (CLSK) with an overweight
rating and a price target of $5.50; Marathon Digital
(MARA) at underweight with a $5 target; Riot Platforms
(RIOT) at underweight with a $6.50 target, and Cipher
Mining (CIFR) at neutral. The bank also upgraded Iris
Energy (IREN) to overweight from neutral.
The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has
delayed its decision on whether or not to approve
a spot bitcoin ETF until this month. The crypto market
is hopeful that any approval will trigger a flood
of mainstream money into the sector.
CleanSpark
is the banks top pick, offering the best balance
of scale, growth potential, power costs and
relative value.
The
analysts said that Marathon is the largest mining
operator but has the highest energy costs and lowest
margins. Meanwhile, Riot has relatively low power
costs and liquidity but is the most expensive stock
in their coverage universe.
Among
the peers, Cipher Mining has the lowest power costs
but is growth constrained, the report
noted.
The
bank estimates the four-year block reward opportunity
at around $20 billion at current bitcoin prices. However,
the looming block reward halving, expected in the
second quarter of 2024, could impact profitability.
It estimates that as much as 20% of the network hashrate
is at risk from halving as less efficient mining computers
are decommissioned.
Calvin's Corner: 'Ya...Nothing to See Here' Calvin
Quips in Regard to Slew of Crypto Murders - September
2023
These are the latest tweets and news from Web influencer
and billionaire Calvin Ayre, a proponent of the BSV
blockchain, an environmentally friendly, fast, and
robust choice for enterprise-grade applications.
Billionaire investor and BSV influencer Calvin Ayre
is the latest to chime in on a series of high profile
murders that have recently taken place in the world
of cryptocurrencies.
And
the deaths have been nothing short of gruesome.
"Stuffed
down toilets, dismembered in suitcases crypto
has been the common denominator for several gruesome
murders and mysterious deaths this year," blares
the headline from Coin Telegraph Magazine.
Plumbers
in Bulgaria discovered the decomposing remains of
41-year-old United States crypto mogul Christian Peev
suspected to have been battered to death with
a dumbbell by a friend out of jealousy.
In
Buenos Aries, crypto millionaire Fernando Pérez
Algaba's body was discovered chopped up in a suitcase
near a river bank by a group of children.
It doesn't end there.
Others
involved in the world of cryptocurrencies have been
killed in a helicopter crash in France and a fatal
stabbing in the U.S. There was also a suspected suicide
in South Korea.
Since
November of 2022 we've seen ten suspicious deaths
of those in the cryptocurrency community, and these
are just the cases we know of.
Ken
Gamble, the co-founder and executive chairman of financial
crime intelligence firm IFW Global, tells the magazine
he believes most of these deaths are linked to organized
crime making its way into the world of digital currencies.
Whats
happening is that these organized crime groups, particularly
the Chinese, have suddenly come into masses of money.
They have had more money now than theyve ever
had traditionally, said Gamble.
Theyre
making so much money that its become extremely
dangerous now [
] they have to now reach out
to more groups and more people to try and move the
money broadening their money laundering capabilities,
he added.
May
be time to beef up the security and might want to
avoid pissing off the wrong person as to not end up
floating around inside the pipes of someone's toilet.
Calvin Announces New BSV Site and Encourages Consumers
to Become Better Educated (September 12, 2023)
"BSVBlockchain.org has a new site up that is
the best place in the world to go to learn about this
amazing tech now. Still more stuff coming but the
Association has done a great job on this already."
The
new site can be found here.
The
BSV Blockchain is billed as "Reliable open source
software, providing the fundamental requirements for
enterprise grade blockchain applications."
It
focuses on the following three pillars:
Unified
Compliance Approach
Explore our unified approach to regulatory compliance,
recognizing that existing laws apply to all tokens
on blockchain platforms. At BSV, we prioritize adherence
to the comprehensive legal framework.
Streamlined
Legal Compliance
Learn how BSV integrates legal compliance seamlessly
into its blockchain ecosystem. We ensure that all
transactions and interactions on our platform adhere
to existing property, security, and criminal laws.
Transparent
Regulatory Measures
Discover the transparency in our regulatory measures.
We provide clear visibility into how we enforce compliance
and uphold existing regulations to create a secure
and trusted environment for our users.
BSV
About to Change the World? (August 31, 2023)
Julian Goddard (the technical product lead at @nChainGlobal)
nChain has been working on CBDC solutions for several
months, with Goddard playing a part in the companys
projects since last year, he revealed.
One
of the companys guiding principles is flexibility,
aware that governments will only integrate blockchain
technology if it fits into their existing systems.
Were
always trying to meet our customers requirements
first, and where they dont know [about blockchain
nitty-gritty], we try to build our products as flexible
as possible.
As
the technical product lead, Goddard is at the forefront
of exploring new products that nChain develops. He
says the company is currently working on a new
product thats very exciting and is going to
help change the world. It will make a difference to
the way things work in the world.
CoinDesk
Compromised? (August 28, 2023)
Calvin on Monday retweeted a question concerning whether
the popular crypto news site CoinDesk may be compromised.
Bitfinex'ed
made the original tweet, noting the site appears to
be removing a number of negative articles of late.
Anti
Crypto Revolution offered this suggestion:
"Need
UK's new FCA rules on crypto media and marketing here
in the USA asap. Crypto shillers/media must pay for
billions of losses and Americans' savings being hacked
to fund NK's nukes. Egregious."
Binance
Seeks Protective Order....Against SEC? (August 15,
2023)
If you follow our good friend Calvin Ayre regularly
as we do here at Gambling911.com, you'll realize pretty
quickly there is no love lost between him and the
cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
"Binance
is bad newsis anyone still surprised?,"
he tweeted back in January.
At
the time Ayre's popular website CoinGeek reported
that a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), Daniel M. Sirmons, claimed under sworn deposition
that "according to his knowledge, training, and
experience, ransomware attackers frequently use digital
currency exchanges like Binance to launder or obfuscate
their ill-gotten gains."
Ayre's
site was the first to report on the skullduggery taking
place at the FTX Exchange a good year plus before
they went into free fall this past December.
The
billionaire investor was quick to tweet out how Binance
on Tuesday filed for a protective order against the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) saying
the regulator's requests for information were "over
broad" and "unduly burdensome".
Binance
is claiming that the SEC is demanding it produce all
communications dating back to November 2022 for dozens
of topics many of which have nothing to do
with customer assets.
Stay
tuned.
Calvin's
Corner: Billionaire Launches New Site to 'More Accurately
Explain What My Multinational Business Group Does'
(August 10, 2023)
On Thursday, online gambling and blockchain pioneer
Calvin Ayre announced his new website that he described
as more accurately demonstrating what his investment
firm encompasses.
Ayre
Group was launched just days after his global investment
group purchased nChain, the global leader in blockchain
and Web3 technology.
Ayre
Group invests in building ventures in real estate,
blockchain technology, media, publishing, health &
wellness and travel & leisure.
The
new site proclaims: "Led by entrepreneur and
philanthropist Calvin Ayre, Ayre Group is a multi-faceted
global operation funding real estate projects, businesses
and technologies that break down barriers to entry,
democratize opportunity and positively enhance peoples
lives."
Suits
Can (Will) Be Brought in Regard to Micropayment Technology
(August 2, 2023)
We've had an opportunity to speak with those closely
associated with the BSV Blockchain and one thing is
abundantly clear, Web3 and micropayments are the future.
Calvin
tweeted (or X'd) on Tuesday that he believed this
article to be fair.
And
it appears that Ayre's investment firm's announcement
it has taken a majority stake in nChain (announced
Tuesday) will make as a priority the aggressive legal
pursuit of those who violate nChain's patents pertaining
to micropayment technology. Of note is that this technology
will become the future of iGaming, in particular sports
wagering.
In
response, someone tweeted:
"He
(Calvin) is bullish that the BSV chain is the blockchain
to unite all blockchains. He points to the scaling
technology solutions offered by BSV to be its superpower
and the nano transactions possible putting the token
firmly in the utility section and not as a security.
The scaling and rate of transactions on BSV according
to Ayre are so substantial as to make the Proof of
Work (POW) blockchain green."
And
then there is this tweet:
There
isnt a single blockchain or Web3 project out
there that isnt standing on the shoulders of
nChains patent librarythe earliest, largest,
and highest quality collection in this space.
'Crypto
Scammers Running Around Asking for Clarity' (August
1, 2023)
Responding to an article featured on Fortune: "Coinbase
boss Brian Armstrong: SEC suggested change that would
have triggered the end of the crypto industry in America".
"These
crypto scammers are so funny...they run around asking
for Clarity...they were clarified and then they just
refuse to accept it. They don't want clarity in the
law, they want exception from existing law."
Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong told the
Financial Times that the SEC made recommendations
to halt trading in all cryptocurrencies other than
bitcoin before launching legal action against the
Nasdaq-listed company last month for failing to register
as a broker.
From
the Financial Times article:
The
SECs case identified 13 mostly lightly traded
cryptocurrencies on Coinbases platform as securities,
asserting that by offering them to customers the exchange
fell under the regulators remit.
SEC
charges HEX founder Richard Heart with fraud (August
1, 2023)
Hex founder Richard Hearts luck finally ran
out after Americas securities regulator slapped
fraud charges on the bling-loving conman.
CoinGeek's
Steven Stradbrooke reports on these developments.
On
Monday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) brought civil charges against Heart, aka Richard
Schueler, and his Hex, PulseChain and PulseX entities
for offering unregistered securities that raised over
$1 billion from customers.
The
SEC is also alleging Heart committed fraud by misappropriating
at least $12 million of the funds raised to
buy luxury goods, apparently to perpetuate the illusion
of wealth that his marks might one day enjoy. The
SEC wants Heart to forfeit all his ill-gotten gains
and to be permanently enjoined from ever taking part
in any future digital asset scams.
Stradbrooke
writes that customers were urged to buy HEX with ETH
and stake their HEXas a Blockchain Certificate
of Depositwith the expectation that theyd
receive even more HEX down the road, by which time
the value of each HEX would have soared. Allegedly.
Ayre:
'Everything But BSV is a Security Including BTC',
CoinBase Ordered to Only Trade Bitcoin (July 31, 2023)
One of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges
was told by the SEC to stop trading in everything
except for Bitcoin, according to Coinbase CEO Brian
Armstrong.
This
is viewed as a sign of the agency's intent to assert
regulatory authority over a broader slice of the market,
according to Scott Chipolina of the Financial Times,
which broke the story.
The
SEC sued Coinbase soon afterwards.
They
came back to us, and they said . . . we believe every
asset other than bitcoin is a security, Armstrong
revealed. And, we said, well how are you coming
to that conclusion, because thats not our interpretation
of the law. And they said, were not going to
explain it to you, you need to delist every asset
other than bitcoin.
Armstrong
claimed any such action would signal the end of the
cryptocurrency industry as we know it.
Calvin
Ayre, who is a proponent of the BSV Blockchain, offered
his assessment of the situation.
"Everything
but BSV is a security including BTC," he asserted.
Almost twice as many students using AI than employees:
report - September 2023
Experts warn AI will rapidly and significantly
disrupt more than $600 billion of economic activity.
More
than a quarter of the Australian economy will be significantly
disrupted by AI technologies, experts have warned,
as businesses and workers remain hesitant of new advancements.
The
report by consultancy firm Deloitte Australia found
about $600 billion in economic activity stands be
to be rapidly and significantly disrupted
by new generative AI technology.
More
than 2500 students and employees from 18 industries
were surveyed on their use of AI as part of the report,
including from the IT, media, education, and wholesale
trade sectors.
Deloitte
Australia CEO Adam Powick said business leaders needed
to accept their role in harnessing and guiding
the responsible application of generative AI,
rather than turning a blind eye.
We
need to rapidly educate ourselves on the potential
of AI in our settings, and actively encourage adoption,
innovation and the sharing of ideas and concepts across
our organisations, he said.
The
report also revealed the generational gap between
large business, of which less than 10 per cent have
officially adopted AI, and the 58 per cent of students
already using it.
Students
were almost twice as likely to use generative AI tools
such as ChatGPT than employees, with only 1.4 per
cent of all Australian businesses currently utilising
AI officially.
Deloitte
Australia Lead Strategy and Business Design Partner
and AI Institute Lead Dr Kellie Nuttall said individuals
naturally embrace advancements in tech faster than
businesses.
But,
generative AI has seen this happen faster than ever
before, broadening the gap between a business and
its workforce, Mr Nuttal said ahead of the reports
release on Sunday.
Yes,
this leads to a disruptive threat; but it leads to
an even bigger opportunity. Lets not forget
businesses are made up of lots of individuals, each
with the power to disrupt.
For
many, the rapid advancement of AI technologies has
presented concern about its place in the workforce,
sparking protests such as the current SAG-AFTRA strike
in the US.
The
actors and screen writers guilds in the United States
voted to strike earlier this year over pay issues
and fears that AI technology could subsume or reduce
workplace jobs.
The
Deloitte report titled Generation AI:
Ready or not, here we come! found about
75 per cent of employees were concerned about AIs
use, including with personal data.
Just
over 30 per cent said they already used some form
of generative AI for work purposes, of which about
two thirds stating they believed their managers did
not know about it.
Big
crackdown on gambling in video games - September 2023
Video
games which offer in-game gambling will be restricted
as part of big changes to the industry, the Albanese
government has announced.
Video
games which offer simulated gambling will be branded
adults-only under big changes to the industry announced
by the Albanese government.
After
a meeting of the Standing Council of Attorneys-General
on Friday, all states agreed to reforms which will
see new age restrictions placed on games which offer
gambling-like content.
The
states agreed to updated guidelines, which will come
into effect in September next year, giving the industry
time to adjust.
Under
the changes, computer games which simulate gambling,
such as virtual casinos, will receive an adults-only
R18+ classification.
Games
which offer in-game purchases which involve elements
of chance, such as paid loot boxes, will be classified
as M and not recommended for children under 15.
he
government said it was responding to potential harm
caused by children being exposed to gambling-like
content in video games.
It
pointed to research by the Australian Institute of
Family Studies, which found young people who were
exposed to simulated gambling in video games were
40 per cent more likely to gamble later in life.
The
Albanese Government is determined to protect vulnerable
Australians from gambling harms including children
who may be exposed to gambling through video games,
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said.
Research
shows that children exposed to gambling-like content
may be more vulnerable to gambling harm later in life
and we are determined to intervene early to
keep children safe.
Call of Duty rolls out AI-powered voice chat monitoring
to crack down on hate speech
One
of the worlds most popular video games has taken
a drastic step to crack down on hate speech and other
toxic behaviour.
Call
of Duty players will have their in-game voice chat
monitored by artificial intelligence in real-time
as part of a major crackdown on hate speech and other
harmful behaviour.
Activision
announced in a blog post on Wednesday that it had
partnered with tech firm Modulate to roll out its
AI-powered voice chat moderation tool ToxMod, to identify
in real-time and enforce against toxic speech
including hate speech, discriminatory language, harassment
and more.
An
initial beta rollout of the new system began on Wednesday
to North American players of the popular online shooter
series, which includes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
II and Call of Duty: Warzone.
The
AI tool will be released worldwide excluding
Asia on November 10, coinciding with the launch
of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III on November
10.
Support
will begin in English with additional languages to
follow at a later date.
This
new development will bolster the ongoing moderation
systems led by the Call of Duty anti-toxicity team,
which includes text-based filtering across 14 languages
for in-game text (chat and usernames) as well as a
robust in-game player reporting system, Activision
said.
Since
the launch of Modern Warfare II, Call of Dutys
existing anti-toxicity moderation has restricted voice
and/or text chat to over one million accounts detected
to have violated the Call of Duty Code of Conduct.
Consistently updated text and username filtering technology
has established better real-time rejection of harmful
language.
Activision
said data showed 20 per cent of players did
not reoffend after receiving a first warning.
Those
who did reoffend were met with account penalties,
which include but are not limited to feature restrictions
(such as voice and text chat bans) and temporary account
restrictions, it said.
This
positive impact aligns with our strategy to work with
players in providing clear feedback for their behaviour.
Teams across Call of Duty are dedicated to combating
toxicity within our games. Utilising new technology,
developing critical partnerships, and evolving our
methodologies is key in this ongoing commitment. As
always, we look forward to working with our community
to continue to make Call of Duty fair and fun for
all.
In
a question-and-answer section, Activision said in-game
voice chat was monitored and recorded for the
express purpose of moderation.
Call
of Dutys voice chat moderation system is focused
on detecting harm within voice chat versus specific
keywords, it said.
Players
that do not wish to have their voice moderated can
disable in-game voice chat in the settings menu.
While
the AI tool detects and flags toxic language in real-time
categorised by its type of behaviour and a rated
level of severity based on an evolving model,
Activision will still be responsible for enforcement
decisions.
Detected
violations of the Code of Conduct may require additional
reviews of associated recordings to identify context
before enforcement is determined, it said.
Therefore,
actions taken will not be instantaneous. As the system
grows, our processes and response times will evolve.
The
gaming giant clarified that trash talk
was not banned.
The
system helps enforce the existing Code of Conduct,
which allows for trash-talk and friendly
banter, it said. Hate speech, discrimination,
sexism, and other types of harmful language, as outlined
in the Code of Conduct, will not be tolerated.
Activision
chief technology officer Michael Vance said in a statement
that there was no place for disruptive behaviour
or harassment in games ever. Tackling
disruptive voice chat particularly has long been an
extraordinary challenge across gaming, he said.
With
this collaboration, we are now bringing Modulates
state of the art machine learning technology that
can scale in real-time for a global level of enforcement.
This is a critical step forward to creating and maintaining
a fun, fair and welcoming experience for all players.
Mike
Pappas, chief executive of Modulate, said the company
was enormously excited to team with Activision
to push forward the cutting edge of trust and safety.
This
is a big step forward in supporting a player community
the size and scale of Call of Duty, and further reinforces
Activisions ongoing commitment to lead in this
effort.
According
to Modulate, ToxMod does not just detect flagged words
but analyses the tone, context, and perceived
intention of those filtered conversations using its
advanced machine learning processes.
ToxMods
powerful toxicity analysis assesses the tone, timbre,
emotion, and context of a conversation to determine
the type and severity of toxic behaviour, it
says on its website.
ToxMod
is the only voice moderation tool built on advanced
machine learning models that go beyond keyword matching
to provide true understanding of each instance of
toxicity. ToxMods machine learning technology
can understand emotion and nuance cues to help differentiate
between friendly banter and genuine bad behaviour.
ToxMods
ethics policy states that it may also take into account
the race, gender identity, sexuality or other demographics
of the speaker to determine whether certain behaviour
is acceptable.
We
do occasionally consider an individuals demographics
when determining the severity of a harm, it
says.
We
recognise that certain behaviours may be fundamentally
different depending on the demographics of the participants.
For
example, while the n-word is typically considered
a vile slur, many players who identify as black or
brown have reclaimed it and use it positively within
their communities.
While
Modulate does not detect or identify the ethnicity
of individual speakers, it will listen to conversational
cues to determine how others in the conversation are
reacting to the use of such terms, it says.
If
someone says the n-word and clearly offends others
in the chat, that will be rated much more severely
than what appears to be reclaimed usage that is incorporated
naturally into a conversation.
Star
witness at US crypto trial says Bankman-Fried ordered
fraud - October 11, 2023
Disgraced
crypto wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried was the mastermind
behind a scheme to defraud FTX clients of billions
of dollars, the star witness in his US trial testified
on Tuesday.
Caroline
Ellison, Bankman-Fried's former business partner and
girlfriend, said that they had stolen "around
$14 billion" from clients of the cryptocurrency
trading platform before it collapsed into bankruptcy
late last year.
The
31-year-old Bankman-Fried, co-founder and former CEO
of FTX, has been charged with seven counts of fraud,
embezzlement and criminal conspiracy, and if convicted
could face a de facto life sentence of more than 100
years in prison.
In
November 2022, the platform imploded, unable to cope
with massive withdrawal requests from customers panicked
to learn that some of FTX's funds had been committed
to risky operations by Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried's
personal hedge fund.
Ellison,
a Stanford University mathematics graduate, was appointed
by Bankman-Fried in 2021 to head Alameda, whose activities
were largely financed by money from customers of FTX
-- without their knowledge.
She
has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to
cooperate with the prosecution as have two other close
associates of Bankman-Fried.
After
taking a good 10 seconds to identify her former romantic
partner in the courtroom, Ellison said he was "the
owner of Alameda and he directed me to commit those
crimes."
Bankman-Fried
"was the one who set up the system" that
saw Alameda take the client money from FTX and use
it "for investments and to pay back debts,"
she said.
"For
major decisions, I ran it by Sam. He was the person
I officially reported to. He was the owner of Alameda.
He could have fired me if he wanted to," she
said.
-
'Awkward situations' -
A
former analyst who developed mathematical models for
market finance, Ellison said she expressed her reservations
about the relationship between FTX and Alameda.
"I
was somewhat concerned because it was something that
customers weren't aware of and they wouldn't be happy
if they'd learned about it," she said.
Bankman-Fried's
lawyers are expected to argue against this depiction,
saying that their client had little handle on the
inner workings of Alameda's business and placing the
blame at Ellison for the alleged fraud.
In
the court on Tuesday, Ellison said that she and Bankman-Fried
"dated for a couple years."
"He
was also my boss, which created a lot of awkward situations,"
she said.
The
on and off again couple and other FTX executives lived
in a luxury apartment complex in the Bahamas until
Bankman-Fried was arrested and extradited to the United
States late last year.
Zixiao
"Gary" Wang, another associate of Bankman-Fried,
on Friday described the FTX co-founder as willing
to break the law and lie to enable the company and
Alameda to post strong growth.
Bitcoins
next big price catalyst is coming - August 23rd, 2023
The worlds largest cryptocurrency has tumbled
again but bitcoins fans argue the dip is a buying
opportunity ahead of the next halving
in 2024.
The
worlds largest cryptocurrency has experienced
another sudden tumble, but the price falls in August
will not shake the faith of bitcoins fans, who
argue the dip is a buying opportunity ahead of the
next halving in 2024.
A
bitcoin halving is when the reward for mining bitcoin
is cut in half, and it takes place every four years.
Acolytes insist the diminishing supply coded into
bitcoins existence will inflate its value against
paper currencies such as the Australian dollar over
the long term.
Bitcoin
is down 8 per cent over the past week to $US26,050
($40,634) on Tuesday, after reports of a sell-off
by Elon Musks SpaceX sparked broad selling at
a time when interest rates on cash as an alternative
and risk-free investment continue to soar.
Bitcoin
supporters argue the cryptocurrency can beat competition
from risk-free returns available today of between
4 per cent and 5.5 per cent when the next halving
arrives around April or May of next year.
Bitcoin
has a finite supply of 21 million coins. With 19.46
million already mined, the halving of its supply will
see its computer-powered miners rewarded with 3.125
bitcoins instead of 6.5 bitcoins for every block verified.
But
Nick Bishop, a professional bond trader turned founder
of crypto consultancy NotCentralised, says the halving
will not necessarily mean a surge in bitcoin price
in the second half of 2024.
The
former investment banking head at Gresham Partners
adds that evidence suggests some professional crypto
traders try to front-run hype around the halving by
selling to less sophisticated investors in the months
before the anticipated event.
Indeed,
historical bitcoin price charts around the time of
the last three supply halvings in November
2012, July 2016 and May 2020 suggest investors
tend to take profits by selling as excitement builds
ahead of halving events.
To
anyone who wants to act like a price sage, I would
respectfully point out weve only had three data
points from past halvings so far, Bishop says.
However,
what we can say from those three instances is bitcoin
prices peaked about 12 to 15 months before the halving
event. Then, between three and six months after a
halving event, the price has recovered to the prior
peak that occurred 12 to 15 months before the halving.
Risk
proxy
Bishop
says arguably a bigger driver of bitcoins price
is its increasing correlation to other risk assets
such as equities in traditional finance. That is,
as big institutions such as BlackRock get involved,
the bitcoin price is more likely to track traditional
assets such as shares.
Online
data shows a large proportion of the 19.5 million
bitcoins in circulation are locked in cold storage
or have not moved for more than six months, which
suggests theyre owned by long-term holders
hodlers in crypto slang with little
interest in selling.
As
a consequence, large institutional adopters in traditional
finance such as Cathie Woods Ark Investments
or the worlds largest asset manager BlackRock
may be left scrambling to buy a relatively small free
float of bitcoins estimated at between 2 million to
5 million.
The
more institutional interest we get, the more theyre
chasing a somewhat constrained supply, Bishop
says.
So,
in a simplistic sense, if bitcoin demand stays the
same then a halving means a higher price. But youve
got all these real-world market interactions, the
macro uncertainty, and the fact cryptocurrencies are
highly correlated to risk assets. And as more institutions
lean into bitcoin products like ETFs that will increase.
The
halving of the bitcoin awarded for verifying transactions
occurs each time 210,000 separate blocks in its blockchain
are mined, which is roughly every four years based
on the 10-minute average time it takes the networks
hash rate (total computer power) to mine a single
block.
According
to Caroline Bowler, the chief executive of Australian
crypto exchange BTC Markets, a smooth halving event
should support the bitcoin price over the long term.
I
run BTC Markets, so I have to be bullish bitcoin,
she says.
The
halving is indicative of the fact bitcoin is a young
technology and does what it says it will do, which
is the expectation in the market. But if we saw problems,
there would be immediate downward pressure on the
price.
The
appeal of get-rich-quick and the publics increasing
cynicism around central banks money printing
to support government spending has helped bitcoins
price to rise more than 200 times in value over the
past 10 years since August 2013.
Still,
its future as a decentralised, apolitical and slightly
crazy experiment in human psychology remains uncertain.
(AFR)
Bitcoin
hits highest in a year as crypto rebounds from scandals
- 26th June 2023
Bitcoin
hit its highest level in a year amid renewed fervour
for digital assets despite a slew of challenges for
the industry.
The
original digital currency crossed above $US31,013,
its 2023 peak, to reach its highest level since June
2022, Bloomberg data show. The surge brought bitcoin
to as high as $US31,410 before the gain was pared.
The
token is up by almost 90 per cent since the start
of the year, though still more than 50 per cent below
an all-time high of almost $US69,000. Other cryptocurrencies
followed suit, with Ether also rallying.
At
3.48am AEST, bitcoin was 3.4 per cent higher to $US31,158
on bitstamp.net.
Its
a remarkable development and show of resiliency
for a market that many had written off as being
on the verge of extinction following a number of high-profile
and high-impact scams and company fallouts that left
the industry besmirched among investors.
From
the ardent Bitcoiners perspective, the tokens
most fundamental investment thesis is playing out:
inflation, monetary mismanagement, banking crises,
sovereign debt anxiety, US-dollar-reserve-status questions
are all playing a role in giving Bitcoiners an I
told you so moment, said Strahinja Savic,
head of data and analytics at FRNT Financial. I
would not describe rallying to new all-time highs
despite the challenging environment, but rather because
of it.
BlackRocks
shock filing
Most
recently, its been news about BlackRocks
shock filing for a US spot bitcoin exchange-traded
fund thats reignited fervour for crypto, with
some in the market hoping that such a product
which currently doesnt exist gets approval
from regulators. An approval whatever its odds
would mark a win for fans who have for years
longed for such an investment product.
BlackRocks
filing is big news for bitcoin due to its close ties
with regulators and a very strong ETF-approval track
record, wrote K33s Bendik Schei and Vetle
Lunde. Its also worth noting that BlackRock
would not dedicate time and resources to this filing
if they did not view the probability of long-term
strength from BTC, and thus strong inflows, as substantially
high.
They
added: An approval would profoundly impact the
market structure of bitcoin, as it would reduce the
barriers for financial advisors to offer exposure
to BTC through an accessible investment vehicle with
daily creations and redemptions delivered by a trusted
issuer.
Other
recent news also reinforced crypto believers
faith in the rally. A new crypto exchange backed by
firms including Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital
Assets and Charles Schwab called EDX Markets
said its gone live.
And,
among other pieces of news, JPMorgan Chase & Co
expanded one of the most high-profile projects to
bring blockchain technology to traditional banking,
introducing euro-denominated payments for corporate
clients using its JPM Coin.
Crypto
winter fades
The
effects of the so-called crypto winter
seem less persistent today than a year ago, as various
jurisdictions and institutional players continue to
embrace crypto-related initiatives, David Duong,
head of research at Coinbase, said in a recent note.
On
Twitter, where a lot of crypto discourse takes place,
a number of users cited FOMO or the fear of
missing out as part of the recent price surge,
whereby some investors jump into the market because
they are watching others reap the benefits of the
rally and want to take part in it.
But
the fact that the industry is facing harsh regulatory
oversight has not dissipated, despite all the renewed
hype over prices surging.
The
SEC has set its sights on the crypto space following
last years numerous instances of scams and fallouts
of once-vaunted companies, including FTX and a number
of lenders. Its led to a mass exodus by retail
investors in particular, who have collectively lost
billions of dollars in the wake of the revelations
and implosions.
Trading
volumes have dried up as a result. In May, the combined
spot and derivatives trading volumes on centralised
exchanges fell more than 15 per cent to $US2.4 trillion
($3.6 trillion), according to CCData.
Spot
trading volumes alone dropped nearly 22 per cent to
$US495 billion, notching the lowest monthly reading
since March 2019, the researcher said in a report.
Given
the thin liquidity and the relatively scant amount
of BTC available to new entrants (no eager sellers
at these levels), even a tiny uptick in large investor
interest would be enough to move the price,
said Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto Is
Macro Now newsletter.
Others
point out that hype around a potential spot-Bitcoin
ETF has come and gone in the past, without regulators
ever approving such a product.
People
are speculating BlackRocks heft in the financial
markets will help them get approval. I am not quite
there yet, said Michael ORourke, chief
market strategist at JonesTrading. The SEC has
been aggressively cracking down on the crypto space,
it seems a bit early for such an about-face.
News
$2
billion worth of Bitcoin withdrawn from Coinbase over
weekend
November
29, 2022
Numbers
show that Binance increased its reserves by a total
of 78,000 BTC
Over
the weekend of November 26 and 27, Coinbase saw withdrawals
of about $2 billion worth of bitcoin, bringing the
total amount taken out since November 24 to $3.5 billion,
as reported by Cryptoslate.
Cryptoslate
further noted Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals from the exchange
between November 24 and November 25 totaled approximately
$1.5 billion. Since November 24, the exchanges
reserves have been losing about 50,000 BTC per day,
or about $3.5 billion, in total.
Numbers
show that Binance increased its reserves by a total
of 78,000 BTC, which at the time of this writing is
equivalent to about $1.2 billion.
The
vast majority of the major exchanges experience heavy
BTC withdrawals, according to data from Glassnode.
Numbers
show that Binance increased its reserves by a total
of 78,000 BTC, which at the time of this writing is
equivalent to about $1.2 billion.
News
Bankman-Frieds
Money Tied to Major Media Outlets, Bringing Journalistic
Integrity Into Question
FTX
founder Sam Bankman-Fried gave millions to various
media outlets throughout 2022 via his family-run nonprofit,
Building a Stronger Future. The major
companies who received funding include Vox, ProPublica,
Semafor, and The Intercept.
In
some cases, donations appear to be crucial to the
viability of the recipients.
In
a leaked letter to staff members, Roger Hodge, editor-in-chief
of The Intercept, admitted that there was now a significant
hole in the companys budget. According
to Hodge, the company received $500,000 a few months
ago. Another $250,000 was due in December, with
$3.25 million to follow over the next two years.
Downplaying
the potential conflict of interest, Hodge heaped praise
on his reporters in the letter: I also knew
our reporters would never pull their punches because
of a donationand they didnt. He
adds that The Intercept disclosed Bankman-Frieds
donation in its reporting on the FTX story.
A
co-founder of The Intercept took issue with these
statements.
Pulitzer
Prizewinning journalist Glenn Greenwald, who
co-founded the outlet in 2013, but resigned after
editors refused to publish his reporting on Hunter
Bidens laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential
election, criticized his former colleague for deliberately
obfuscating details about the funding and for failing
to disclose it in past articles.
A
representative for The Intercept told The Epoch Times
that Bankman-Frieds donations were received
in September of this year. In keeping with our
general practice, The Intercept disclosed the funding
in subsequent reporting on Bankman-Frieds political
activities, said Rodrigo Brandão, director
of communications at The Intercept, providing a link
to an October article in which the financial ties
are disclosed.
Greenwald
points to several articles by The Intercept, including
one published as recently as Nov. 11, in which the
outlet does not mention Bankman-Frieds donations.
Maybe there is some place that The Intercept
mentioned this extremely deep and intricate relationship
between it and Bankman-Fried and FTXI cant
find it, Greenwald taunted.
Industrialist
Elon Musk took aim at Bankman-Friedfunded media
as well, calling out Semafor, a journalistic outfit
founded by former Buzzfeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith,
for what Musk claims to be false reporting on FTX
founder Bankman-Frieds equity stake in Twitter.
Musk also highlighted the fact that Semafor received
investments from Bankman-Fried earlier this year in
a $25 million fundraising round.
Smith,
also a former New York Times columnist, founded the
outlet earlier this year aiming for a focus
on global news for college-educated readers.
Semafor published an article suggesting Bankman-Fried
owned a $100 million stake in Twitter, presumably
rolled over from his public equity holdings prior
to Musk taking the company private.
Musk
responded in a tweet reply to Smith last week: All
public holders of Twitter were allowed to roll their
stock into Twitter as a private company, but he [Bankman-Fried]
did not do so. The Tesla founder then asked
Smith how much of Semafor is owned by Bankman-Fried,
but did not receive an answer.
The
Semafor article noted that FTX listed Twitter shares
as an illiquid asset on its balance sheet,
according to a document reported to be circulating
among FTX investors.
Smith
did not respond to The Epoch Timess requests
for comment.
Is
it perhaps the case that Bankman-Fried thought he
was actually buying goodwill and favorable coverage?
asked Robby Soave in a recent article for Reason Magazine.
While
there are no reports of financial ties between FTX
and The New York Times, the Times was widely criticized
for its puff piece on the controversial
crypto exchange founder. Soave, who is also host of
The Hills Rising show, criticized
the outlet for using soft, passive language
in regards to alleged crimes and instead emphasizing
Bankman-Frieds altruistic ventures.
Soave
highlighted the disproportionate outrage the Times
seems to exhibit when covering companies like Twitter
versus what is potentially the largest financial fraud
in history.
One
hopes they wouldnt treat [Bankman-Fried] with
kid gloves out of admiration for his philanthropy.
The
ubiquity of the former billionaires influence
and financial ties has raised questions regarding
the vulnerability of our institutions.
The
lesson to me is just exposing how corrupt the system
really is, said Saagar Enjeti, a media personality,
on a recent episode of the news podcast Breaking Points.
If youre a billionaire with the right
ideology, the right amount of checks cut to the right
people, you can make a hell of a lot happen in a short
amount of time.
If
it was this easy for [Bankman-Fried], imagine what
the real titans of industry are doing behind the scenes.
Musk,
echoing this same sentiment with a more humorous tone,
tweeted last Wednesday, If [Bankman-Fried] was
as good at running a crypto exchange as he was at
bribing media, FTX would still be solvent!
Several
attempts to reach Bankman-Fried for a comment were
unsuccessful.
(The
Epoch Times)

The
Media Man group has learned that there is a considerable
change that many, in fact, most, of the world's premier
online casino and online poker websites and brands
will eventually accept the Bitcoin crpto-currently,
with some also tipped to accept other forms of crypto.
This
news comes as global press such as The
Australian Financial Review, The
Sydney Morning Herald, The
Wall Street Journal, Washington
Post and others continue to ramp up coverage (much
of it positive) on Bitcoin, other crypto-currencies
and Blockchain. Crypto news website Coin
Telegraph has enjoyed a strong spike in traffic
in the past few month, as this is another strong indicator
that the confidence is building in crpto-currency
and respective business models centered around the
new money currency.
It's also reported that governments are looking very
closely at even tightly regulating the use on Bitcoin
and other crypto-currencies in both the casino, financial
market and other business sectors.
A
Media Man analyst said it was likely and was to be
expected that governments would be looking to get
their slice of the action as a new widely accepted
currency emerges.
It's
also common knowledge that people are carrying around
less cash on them than in years past and that credit
and debit card and PayPal use has escalated, which
hasn't helped live entertainers ala buskers.
Internet
and e-commerce giants such as Google will be looking
to capitalize on the trend, with more changes tipped
to be in story for Google
Play, a favorite with games and music lovers.
A
Media Man
spokesperson said 'We will be aiming to enjoy a similar
success with Bitcoin and crypto-currency opportunities
in the media, publicity and advertising sector as
we have with gaming, poker, pop culture and sports
promotions. We are currently in negotiation with a
number of leading Bitcoin entities and are accepting
each business proposal on its own merits".
Social
media gaming websites such as Twitch
will also be looking to further moneytize crypro-current
opportunities.

Bitcoin Profile via Wikipedia
Bitcoin
(abbreviation: BTC; signis a decentralized digital
currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer
bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified
by network nodes through cryptography and recorded
in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.
The cryptocurrency was invented in 2008 by an unknown
person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto.
The currency began use in 2009, when its implementation
was released as open-source software.ch. 1
The
word bitcoin was defined in a white paper published
on 31 October 2008. It is a compound of the words
bit and coin.
The
legality of bitcoin varies by region. Nine countries
have fully banned bitcoin use, while a further fifteen
have implicitly banned it. A few governments have
used bitcoin in some capacity. El Salvador has adopted
Bitcoin as legal tender, although use by merchants
remains low. Ukraine has accepted cryptocurrency donations
to fund the resistance to the 2022 Russian invasion.
Iran has used bitcoin to bypass sanctions.
Bitcoin
has been described as an economic bubble by at least
eight recipients of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic
Sciences. The environmental impact of bitcoin is significant.Its
proof-of-work algorithm for bitcoin mining is designed
to be computationally difficult, which requires the
consumption of increasing quantities of electricity,
the generation of which has contributed to climate
change.According to the University of Cambridge, bitcoin
has emitted an estimated 200 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide since its launch. (Wikipedia)
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