Kategorie: Bitcoin News

Bitcoin news about the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain and its crypto ecosystem.

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Tether and City of Lugano launch Plan Business Hub celebrating Plan’s anniversary

  • The Plan Initiative was launched on March 03, 2022.
  • The main objective of the Plan was to scale Lugano’s blockchain capabilities.
  • Tether and the City of Lugano have launched the Plan Business Hub to celebrate the first anniversary of the Plan.

It is now a year since the Plan Initiative was launched in the city of Lugano. So far The Plan has brought crypto to over 150 shops and businesses within the city. As a result, Tether Operations Limited (Tether), the company behind USDT stablecoin, has joined the city to celebrate this achievement.

When The Plan was launched, the city of Lugano announced that Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), and the city’s own LVGA token would be accepted as payment for taxes, parking tickets, tuition fees, and public services. So far, over 150 businesses and shops including Mcdonald’s have also started accepting USDT, BTC, and LVGA in addition to fiat currency as payment for goods and services.

To celebrate the culmination of a successful year for The Plan Inititiative, Tether and the City of Lugano on March 3, 2023, announced the launch of the Plan Business Hub.

The Plan Business Hub

The Plan Business Hub will help explore the potential adoption of blockchain technology in businesses and the long-term use of cryptocurrencies in the European region.

The Hub will house more than 300 blockchain experts and enthusiasts and serve as a global point of reference in Lugano. It will also host a recreational space for meetups and workshops fostering education and development. It is designed to attract talent, and encourage networking and knowledge sharing.

The Mayor of Lugano, Michele Foletti, commenting on the development said:

“The goal of this collaboration is to make Lugano a center of excellence for blockchain technologies. In the first 12 months we have seen growing interest and Lugano is now definitely on the world map, alongside a handful of other destinations. The strength of Lugano’s Plan ₿ is that it has been able to demonstrate real-world use of blockchain technologies by applying it practically to local communities in Lugano. Businesses of all sizes and scale have begun to leverage blockchain platforms to improve their processes and we are watching before our very eyes as Lugano becomes a model for the global adoption of cryptocurrency.”

Since The Plan was launched, Lugano has hosted numerous networking, outreach, and educational events that have attracted people from around the world to learn and discuss the opportunities presented by blockchain technology and cryptocurrency adoption. For instance 86 students from 26 countries visited the city over the past year for the first-ever Plan summer school, an intensive 2-week program by Tether taught by world-class experts on the business, regulatory, and technological implications of blockchain and Bitcoin.

There is a 500-student grant set aside for future Plan summer school program students. Tether and the City of Lugano are also working together to provide additional grants to university students in the coming months.

For the 2023 calendar, there is the 2023 Plan forum in Lugano that is scheduled to take place between October 20 and October 21. Tether will also continue its Plan summer school program with two sessions for 2023 in the spring and summer.

The post Tether and City of Lugano launch Plan Business Hub celebrating Plan’s anniversary appeared first on CoinJournal.

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After 8 years, Mt. Gox creditors may start receiving their BTC this month

  • Mt.Gox Bitcoin exploit took place in 2014.
  • The exploit remains the largest Bitcoin exploit in the history of cryptocurrencies.
  • Mt.Gox creators may however start receiving their bitcoins this month.

Mt.Gox creditors may have a reason to smile after the exchange’s January statement hinted that the creditors could start receiving their Bitcoin (BTC) this month.

It is about 8 years since The Mt. Gox hack occurred in early 2014 resulting in the loss of about 850,000 BTC which at today’s bitcoin value is worth more than $20.060 billion making it the worst Bitcoin hack ever as detailed in our Bitcoin statistics research.

Most Mt.Gox creditors lost hope of getting their bitcoins back since the issue has dragged on for years. One Mt. Gox creditor, Adam Back who is also the Blockstream CEO said via Telegram:

“Well, for myself, I had pretty much written off the Bitcoin I still had on Mt. Gox in 2014 as a loss, so philosophically anything I get back now is a bonus to cold store. It has stretched on for many more years than anyone expected, and so it will be welcome I am sure by any creditors to finally get paid.”

Early repayments to start from March 10

According to Mt.Gox’s January statement, creditors are expected to start seeing early bitcoin repayments from March 10. The early repayment process is planned to continue for a period of about seven months up to September 30, 2023.

The early repayments include early lump sum payments and intermediate payments. Further repayment amounts are to be made later.

Mt.Gox creditors were supposed to register with an exchange and nominate it to receive the repayments on their behalf. Exchanges have however given various timelines for processing payments. BitGo crypto exchange, for example, said that they will take about 20 days to process the repayments, while Kraken said that processing the payments could take up to 90 days.

Amount of bitcoin to be repaid

It is not clear how much bitcoin will be repaid to the Mt.Gox creditors during the repayment period. However, it is clear that it will be a portion of Mt.Gox’s balance sheet that according to a balance sheet in 2019 totals about 142,000 BTC, 143,000 BCH, and 69 billion Yen. The balance sheet is believed to have not changed much since then.

There are expectations that the claimants may receive about 21% of the civil rehabilitation claim value because the exchange rates have been revalued since the time of bankruptcy filing.

According to a moderator of the MtGoxInsolvency subreddit, the first 200,000 Yen worth of each creditor’s claim will be paid in Yen. If the claim is greater than 200,000 Yen, the creditors will choose crypto and cash, where they will receive 71% repayment in crypto and 29% in cash after the initial payment.

The post After 8 years, Mt. Gox creditors may start receiving their BTC this month appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Stacks price prediction: STX is primed for the upcoming Bitcoin halving

  • Stacks price has soared in the aftermath of interest in Bitcoin NFTs with the launch of Ordinals.
  • STX rose to an all-time high of $3.39 in December 2021.
  • Analysts say the upcoming Bitcoin halving could catalyse fresh rallies for the token.

Stacks, the Bitcoin layer that leverages smart contracts to enable decentralised finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) among other decentralized applications on the pioneer blockchain network, is currently one of the best performing assets in the market today.

The native STX is higher by more than 43% on the week even as most tokens struggle with downward pressure.

Stacks price: STX poised for BTC halving explosion?

The Stacks price has been rallying due to massive interest in Bitcoin-based NFTs and recently after the protocol released its whitepapers. The token’s price has in fact gained significant traction following the hype around the launch of the Ordinals project.

Ordinals is a novel NFTs protocol that allows for the minting and storage of digital artifacts on the Bitcoin blockchain. The huge interest that greeted the Ordinals’ launch helped push the price of STX as demand for the layer 2 blockchain Stacks’ native token skyrocketed.

Stacks Network’s leveraging of Bitcoin’s blockchain security and permanence, the idea of Bitcoin NFTs and DeFi are factors helping position STX for more upside action. But more than that, analysts predict that the STX price could see another explosive move as Bitcoin’s halving, which is about a year away, approaches.

Bitcoin price has rallied going into the halving and this looks to be the trajectory STX will take. As for now, market analysts say there’s a “cultural shift in Bitcoin”, and that sentiment might catalyse a huge move for STX.

STX price today

The native token STX is up more than 43% in the past week and tops the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap in weekly performance.

While the STX/USD pair has retreated nearly 3% in the past 24 hours, the token’s price as at 8.20 am ET on 28 February was $0.89, showing a 3.5% jump on the hourly time frame.

And with over 200% gains in the past 30 days, Stacks has quickly risen up the charts in terms of market cap (currently at over $1.2 billion and ranked 47th on CoinGecko.)

The post Stacks price prediction: STX is primed for the upcoming Bitcoin halving appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Bets against BTC saw $10M flow into short-bitcoin funds: CoinShares

  • CoinShares data shows crypto investment products recorded minor outflows of $2 million.
  • But Bitcoin saw a third straight week of outflows totaling $12 million.
  • Short-bitcoin funds saw inflows of $10 million amid negative sentiment driven by US economic data.

Digital asset investment products recorded yet another week outflows this past week as macro data continued to weigh on investor sentiment, according to asset manager CoinShares.

While weekly outflows across crypto-related products was a minor $2 million, the broader market sentiment was negative as indicated by the large inflows into short investment products.

Short-Bitcoin inflows hit $10 million

Investment products tied to the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin recorded a total of $12 million in outflows last week, a third consecutive week of such action. Investors also bet huge on the price of Bitcoin going down that week, with inflows into short bitcoin funds rising to $10 million.

According to CoinShares, the negative sentiment around BTC price last week largely came from the United States.

“Opinions remain polarised though, with the US seeing outflows totalling US$14m, where recent macro data has increased fears amongst investors that the US Federal Reserve (FED) will be more hawkish than expected,” CoinShares head of research James Butterfill wrote.

As we highlighted, the past week was punctuated by the hot economic data (the Producer Consumer Expenditure (CPE) index that suggested inflation was still a key headwind. 

Indeed, the market reacted negatively to the macro data, with Bitcoin price dropping to lows of $22,770 on the Bitstamp crypto exchange. However, BTC is back above $23,400.

The post Bets against BTC saw $10M flow into short-bitcoin funds: CoinShares appeared first on CoinJournal.

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BTC and ETH hold onto support as VC exec maintains bullish prediction

  • Chris Burniske says Ethereum could outperform Bitcoin in March due to the Shanghai upgrade.
  • Burniske is a partner at crypto-focused VC Placeholder and formerly of ARK Invest (crypto division).
  • According to the investor, pullbacks are likely to remain “within current uptrend.”

Chris Burniske, partner at venture capital firm Placeholder and former head of crypto ARK Invest, is bullish on crypto going into March.

The investor believes the recent flip in sentiment has not resulted in deeper rot for major cryptocurrencies, despite the weakness seen across stocks amid investor anxiety over interest rates.

In a tweet posted this weekend, Burniske said the outlook is mostly bullish as recent pullbacks have been largely mild.

“From where I sit, I’m surprised crypto hasn’t pulled back more given weakness in equities and upward repricing in rates — bullish,” he noted.

Ex-ARK Invest head of crypto shares Ethereum and Bitcoin price predictions

Bitcoin and Ethereum have both retreated from year-to-date highs, from above $25k and $1.7k respectively. 

As noted above, the leading digital assets by market capitalization have given up the recent gains amid continued jitters over US inflation data. Buy-side volume has also tanked on shifting sentiment around the regulatory environment in the United States returned sell-off pressure across the markets.  

But while Bitcoin has retraced to support around $23,000 and Ethereum continues to hover around $1,600, the crypto bull says any further losses in the short term are likely to be “within the current uptrend.”

“To those saying some version of “just wait,” sure we could pull back a bit more, but calls for new lows anytime soon are silly. Pullbacks are consolidation within the current uptrend, imo,” the investor added.

In terms of price prediction for the top two coins, Burniske thinks Ethereum will outperform Bitcoin in March. According to him, ETH is likely to gain fresh momentum from the highly anticipated Shanghai upgrade, which is expected to drive staking flows. 

The outlook is supported by on-chain data, which shows new value sent to the ETH 2.0 deposit contract continues to rise. 

Crypto analytics firm Santiment recently shared a chart showing that the number of newly staked coins rose a 5-month high count earlier this week.

The post BTC and ETH hold onto support as VC exec maintains bullish prediction appeared first on CoinJournal.