Hodler’s Digest, Feb. 25 – March 2 – Cointelegraph Journal

Prime Tales This Week

Bitcoin breaches $60K for the primary time in over 2 years

Bitcoin breached $60,000 for the primary time in over two years after rising over 6% on Feb. 28. The final time cryptocurrency traded above this mark was on Nov. 12, 2021, when Bitcoin began its reversal, falling over 67% to the macro low of $19,297 at first of April 2022. Bitcoin’s bullish momentum got here two days after the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) broke an all-time excessive of $2.4 billion in day by day buying and selling quantity on Feb. 26. The brand new 9 spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded mixed buying and selling volumes of over $2 billion for at the very least two days over the week.

US gov’t moved $922 million of seized Bitcoin after BTC value broke $60,000

The US authorities transferred $922 million value of Bitcoin from two cryptocurrency wallets that held funds seized from Bitfinex in 2016. The transfers occurred the identical day Bitcoin (BTC) breached $60,000 for the primary time in over two years on Feb. 28. The federal government seized the funds in 2016 after Bitfinex was hacked for roughly 119,754 BTC, value over $7.4 billion at its present value. The hacker, Ilya Lichtenstein, laundered over $4.5 billion value of Bitcoin from Bitfinex. Lichtenstein and his rapper spouse, Heather Morgan (often known as Razzlekhan), had been arrested in February 2022.

Gemini to return at the very least $1.1B to Earn prospects in settlement with NYDFS

Cryptocurrency alternate Gemini and the New York State Division of Monetary Providers have reached a settlement that can see Gemini return at the very least $1.1 billion to prospects of the Gemini Earn program by way of the Genesis chapter continuing. Gemini may even pay a $37 million penalty for a number of compliance failures “that threatened the protection and soundness of the corporate,” Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris of the NYDFS defined in a Feb. 28 assertion. If authorized by the chapter courtroom, Gemini stated it expects Earn customers to obtain 100% of their cryptocurrency property again plus appreciation on high of that.

Crypto alternate BitForex halts withdrawals, stops responding to customers

Hong Kong-based crypto alternate BitForex has halted withdrawals with out giving a purpose following the withdrawal of $56 million from its wallets on Feb. 23. The alternate’s X account hasn’t been up to date since Could 2023. On its official Telegram channel, BitForex customers reported issues with their accounts, various from the shortcoming to enter their accounts to the dashboard not exhibiting any property. A number of customers shared a pop-up display exhibiting they’re blocked from accessing the corporate’s web site. BitForex was as soon as thought-about to be one of many main crypto exchanges when it comes to market capitalization.

FTX founder SBF asks for a 6.5-year sentence, tells jail guards to spend money on Solana

The authorized counsel for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is requesting for lower than seven years in sentencing for a number of counts of fraud and cash laundering. A jury discovered Bankman-Fried responsible in November 2023. Whereas federal prosecutors are anticipated to submit their sentencing suggestions on March 15, the Pre-sentence Investigation Report has really useful a 100-year sentence for the previous FTX CEO. Choose Lewis Kaplan, who’s overseeing the Bankman-Fried case, is scheduled to announce sentencing on March 28. Together with the sentencing submission, a complete of 29 supportive letters had been hooked up for Choose Kaplan’s evaluate, revealing recent particulars on the times following the alternate’s collapse and preliminary efforts to get well funds.

Winners and Losers

On the finish of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $62,069, Ether (ETH) at $3,425 and XRP at $0.59. The whole market cap is at $2.31 trillion, in accordance to CoinMarketCap.

Among the many greatest 100 cryptocurrencies, the highest three altcoin gainers of the week are dogwifhat (WIF) at 254.13%, Pepe (PEPE) at 238.54% and Bonk (BONK) at 113.38%. 

The highest three altcoin losers of the week are Starknet (STRK) at -7.51%, Bitget Token (BGB) at -5.10% and Worldcoin (WLD) at – 5.00%.

For more information on crypto costs, be sure to learn Cointelegraph’s market evaluation.

Most Memorable Quotations

“The largest mistake I’ve ever made was not shopping for Bitcoin when it was nothing; that’s the most important mistake I’ve made. […] It price nothing sooner or later.”

Trevor Noah, comic and entertainer

“​​The Oracle of Delphi performed a fully pivotal function within the historical past of Greece. […] I might like to see blockchain oracles taking part in a constructive social function as nicely.”

Ari Juels, professor at Cornell Tech and chief scientist at Chainlink Labs

“It’s nice to construct a unicorn, nevertheless it’s even higher to have an exit.”

Kevin Holmes, CEO and founding father of Founders Community

“My view is that it’s the identical type of exercise, the identical type of threat, and will have the identical type of laws […] I’m not in search of fancier laws or something more durable; I simply need a degree taking part in discipline.”

Elizabeth Warren, United States Senator

“By the point all different members of FTX’s founding crew and senior management had given up on serving to prospects and switched to defending themselves, Sam stored attempting to assist.”

Daniel Chapsky, former head of knowledge science at FTX

“I believe by early 2025 we’d have a child AGI.”

Ben Goertzel, founding father of SingularityNET

Prediction of the week

Bitcoin analyst PlanB predicts 10 months of ‘face melting FOMO’

The Bitcoin bull market formally began on March 1, in keeping with pseudonymous quantitative analyst PlanB, who can also be the creator of the controversial stock-to-flow (S2F) mannequin for Bitcoin’s value.

The Bitcoin accumulation section has ended, together with the simple Bitcoin shopping for alternatives, in keeping with an X put up by PlanB, referencing the S2F chart: “Bull market has began. If historical past is any information, we are going to see ~10 months of face-melting [fear of missing out] FOMO: excessive value pumps mixed with a number of -30% drops.”

The analyst’s prediction got here two days after Bitcoin breached $60,000 for the primary time in over two years. 

PlanB’s predictions are according to different analyst’s expectations. In line with Vetle Lunde, a senior analyst at K33 Analysis, Bitcoin normally consolidates in the course of the interval instantly after the halving however rallies within the following months.

FUD of the Week

Binance drops Nigerian naira from P2P platform, gov’t calls for $10B compensation

Binance has eliminated the Nigerian forex, the naira, from its peer-to-peer service because the Nigerian authorities reportedly seeks $10 billion in compensation amid a crackdown on the crypto alternate. Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu’s particular adviser, stated the compensation is a part of efforts to stabilize the native forex. Onanuga argued that Binance’s arbitrarily mounted international alternate charges would destroy the Nigerian financial system if it was not stopped. Later, a authorities consultant denied stories of a $10 billion high-quality. Binance is beneath elevated scrutiny because the Central Financial institution of Nigeria expressed issues about $26 billion in “suspicious flows” that handed by way of the alternate in 2023. A number of stories point out that two Binance executives have been detained by the Nationwide Safety Adviser’s workplace.

Darknet market crypto crimes on the rise in 2023, $1.7B income — Chainalysis

The crypto business continues to undergo from cybercrimes, with darknet markets being one of many two classes exhibiting a rise in income in 2023, in keeping with the most recent report from blockchain evaluation agency Chainalysis. The Chainalysis “2024 Crypto Crime Report,” launched on Feb. 29, reveals that darknet marketplaces acquired income of at the very least $1.7 billion in 2023 — a rebound from its 2022 information when authorities shut down the world’s largest darknet market, Hydra. Mega Darknet Market is main the pack with over $500 billion in crypto inflows.

Seneca stablecoin hacker returns stolen funds after $6.4M exploit

Stablecoin protocol Seneca has provided a 20% bounty to the exploiter who gained entry to at the very least $6.4 million in digital property after exploiting an approval mechanism bug within the protocol’s sensible contract. The assault was flagged by a number of blockchain safety corporations on Feb. 28. Corporations like CertiK urged customers to revoke approvals from an tackle on the Ethereum and Arbitrum networks. The exploit occurred on account of a crucial “name” vulnerability within the protocol’s sensible contract, permitting the attacker to carry out exterior calls to any tackle.

Prime Journal Items of the Week

How the digital yuan might change the world… for higher or worse

The digital yuan is on the forefront of CBDC expertise, however its breakthrough second has but to come back.

Jameson Lopp: Skeptical of spot Ether ETFs, BTC value prediction dilemma: X Corridor of Flame

Ought to the SEC deny the spot Ether ETF, Jameson Lopp foresees a rise in money directed in the direction of spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Proprietor of seven-trait CryptoPunk Seedphrase companions with Sotheby’s: NFT Collector

Seedphrase stated he partnered with Sotheby’s as a result of they “deeply perceive the digital artwork house with their attentive eye on key developments and curatorial style.”

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Cointelegraph Journal writers and reporters contributed to this text.