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Celsius Network is revamping into a Bitcoin mining company, promising customer repayments and an exit from bankruptcy .  Cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network has secured court approval to transition into a Bitcoin mining company owned by its creditors. This development is part of a comprehensive strategy to compensate account holders whose funds have been inaccessible for over a year. The confirmation of this strategy was announced by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York on Thursday. The approval signals a turning point for the company following its financial collapse last year. According to representatives for Celsius, the platform may commence asset distribution by early next year. BREAKING: THE PLAN HAS BEEN CONFIRMED. pic.twitter.com/SK1SwRDiUq — Celsius NewCo Community (@CelsiusNewCo) November 9, 2023 Celsius exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy The company’s restructuring strategy, which garnered significant backing from its creditors,...

The rally in the crypto market looks overvalued, say JPMorgan Chase analysts. According to The Block, the bank noted the high expectations of traders and investors dictated by several factors. Among them, experts identified two main ones: the prospect of approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of spot Bitcoin ETFs and the softening of the department’s supervisory policy, which stems from the previous paragraph. However, in both these cases, there are certain nuances, the report says. In the first, positive expectations are dictated by a likely jump in the exchange rate and an influx of capital, but the latter is unlikely, JPMorgan Chase notes: “First, instead of fresh capital entering the crypto industry to be invested in the newly-approved ETFs, we see as a more likely scenario existing capital shifting from existing bitcoin products such as the Grayscale bitcoin trust, bitcoin futures ETFs, and publicly listed bitcoin mining companies, into the...

Swedish cryptocurrency proponent Eric Wall has flagged targeted attacks on well-known BTC community members. Criminals in Sweden are specifically targeting prominent local Bitcoin figures, which appears to be the result of ease of access to personal information and residential addresses in the country. Reports from Swedish media outlets LT and Aftonbladet have linked separate robberies in Rönninge and Södertälje that appear to have occurred under the same modus operandi. Victims were tied up and physically abused to steal physical and virtual Bitcoin holdings. Prominent cryptocurrency proponent Eric Wall, who currently serves as a StarkNet Foundation board member, highlighted the incidents in an X post (formerly Twitter). Wall said the two assault cases indicate that Swedish criminals are actively looking to target Bitcoin users. there's now officially a situation in sweden this monday, a middle-aged swedish couple was tied up in their home and robbed by 4 masked men. they were p...

Elon Musk slams NFTs on the Joe Rogan podcast only to unintentionally make the case for Bitcoin Ordinals. In this week’s newsletter, we dive into the dynamic world of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and their impact on the digital landscape, as NFT sales have skyrocketed to an impressive $129 million in November, according to data from Nansen. Despite the surge in sales , OpenSea has laid off a substantial amount of staff as it prepares to launch version 2.0 of its platform, and Elon Musk unintentionally made a case for Bitcoin Ordinals. Meanwhile, an OpenSea investor has taken a 90% markdown on their stake in the platform, and don’t forget this week’s Nifty News featuring The Simpsons roasting NFTs. NFT sales volume jumps to $129 million in November — Nansen data NFTs have seen a large increase in weekly sales volume, with sales reaching 29,704 Ether (ETH), worth approximately $56 million, and later surging to 68,342 ETH (over $129 million) in a matter of weeks. NFT marketplace Blur had...

According to popular cryptocurrency Youtuber CryptosRUs, the approval for the first Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. could be coming within days. In a video posted on Oct. 31, CryptosRUs pointed to a closed SEC meeting scheduled for Nov. 2nd that will cover topics like “resolution of litigation claims” as a sign that a Bitcoin ETF decision is imminent. This comes after SEC Chairman Gary Gensler posted a cryptic Bitcoin-related tweet on Oct. 31st, the 15th anniversary of the release of Satoshi Nakamoto’s famous Bitcoin whitepaper. You might also like: Bitcoin ETFs could face rug-pull from Gensler, analysts say Many believe this closed meeting may involve a review of Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF application. Grayscale recently won a lawsuit against the SEC after the regulator stalled on approving their application. If the SEC can’t find a valid reason to deny Grayscale’s ETF, they may have no choice but to approve i...

A court-ordered liquidation process allows FTX to sell nearly $3.4 billion worth of crypto assets in weekly batches starting from $50 million a week. The crypto wallet s linked to now-defunct crypto exchange FTX and its sister trading firm Alameda Research have sent over $13 million in different altcoins to numerous crypto exchanges early on Nov. 1. According to data from on-chain analysis firm Spotonchain, the FTX wallet first transferred $8.12 million worth of altcoins to Coinbase. The assets include 46.5 million GRT ($4.85 million), 972,073 RNDR ($2.3 million), and 708.1 MKR ($967,000). FTX and Alameda linked crypto deposit on Coinbase. Source: SOC The wallet addresses of FTX and Alameda Research made another $5.49 million transfer after three hours to Binance and Coinbase. The top 3 assets with the highest value in this transaction include 1.14 million DYDX ($2.64 million), 192,888 AXS ($1.05 million), and 5,858 AAVE ($522,000). #FTX and #Alameda Research further deposited...

Launched in September by two former Andreessen Horowitz executives, Bastion has acquired its first two money transmitter licenses in New Hampshire and Arkansas. Bastion, a new cryptocurrency startup created by former Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) executives, has secured two money transmitter licenses (MTL) in the United States. Bastion has acquired MTLs in New Hampshire and Arkansas, the first two licenses obtained by the firm, Bastion announced on Oct. 31. The new licenses, granted by the New Hampshire Banking Department and Arkansas Securities Department, will enable Bastion to offer services for fungible digital assets in each state. It has additional applications pending for MTLs in other U.S. states, the firm said. The license acquisitions enable Bastion to participate in activities related to the selling or issuance of payment instruments, stored value, prepaid access, as well as the receipt of money and digital currency to facilitate transactions with others in the states. The...

Despite Bukele’s popularity, some critics argue he isn’t eligible to be re-elected under El Salvador’s constitution. El Salvador president Nayib Bukele has filed paperwork to be re-elected in the country’s upcoming 2024 presidential election in February. Bukele, a Bitcoin advocate, received strong support from the public on Oct. 26 after he was officially nominated by his party to run for re -election . “Five more [years], five more and not one step back,” Bukele said in a speech in front of thousands of El Salvadorans. “We need five years to continue improving our country,” he added. | ÚLTIMA HORA: Al grito de “cinco más, cinco más y ni un paso atrás” Nayib Bukele da su discurso delante de miles de Salvadoreños luego de inscribir su candidatura presidencial para la reelección. “Necesitamos 5 años para seguir mejorando nuestro país.” pic.twitter.com/ApaP8yyQBm — Eduardo Menoni (@eduardomenoni) October 27, 2023 Bukele rose to power in 2019 when his political party, Neuva (New) Ideas,...

Bitcoin has "plenty of fuel" to get it to $40,000, analysis argues, as BTC price stares down the weekly and monthly candle close. Bitcoin (BTC) surfed $34,000 at the Oct. 27 Wall Street open as attention turned to BTC price performance against macro assets. BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView Bitcoin range faces weekly, monthly close Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD holding steady, preserving its early-week gains. The largest cryptocurrency avoided significant volatility as the weekly and monthly closes — a key moment for the October uptrend — drew ever nearer. “I think Bitcoin will hang around this range for some time,” popular trader Daan Crypto Trades told X subscribers in one of several posts on the day. “Roughly $33-35K is what I'm looking at as a range. Eyes on potential sweeps of any of these levels for a quick trade.” BTC/USD annotated chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X Daan nonetheless noted that open interest (OI) had r...

Singapore-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Bitdeer Technologies wants to buy back its share s for up to $2 million. The Nasdaq-listed firm’s board of directors approved a new share repurchase program effective until April 17, 2024, the statement said. The program provides the opportunity to repurchase share s in a number of ways. Those include “open market transactions, privately negotiated transactions, any combination thereof or other legally permissible methods.” Representatives of the mining company explained that they were going to finance the ransom from the available balance of money. “By gradually executing the share repurchase program, Bitdeer seeks to minimize the impact on its share price and generate greater long-term returns for its share holders.” Bitdeer statement In August, Bitdeer announced the completion of construction of a large farm with 23,000 ASIC miners in the Bhutanese city of Gedu. According to founder and CEO Linghui Kong, there...

A new report delves deeper into the life of Jimmy Zhong, shedding light on his involvement in the theft of thousands of Bitcoins from Silk Road. In 2012, someone stole 50,000 Bitcoins from Silk Road, an illegal online marketplace on the darknet. Since then, the value of the stolen BTC has skyrocketed to over $3 billion. It has remained one of the biggest mysteries in the cryptocurrency world. However, light has recently been shed on this mystery. Journalists discovered previously unreleased footage that provides a glimpse into the investigating process. CNBC published the story of the life and arrest of Jimmy Zhong and released a new documentary called “Crypto 911: Exposing a Bitcoin Billionaire.” Who is Jimmy Zhong? Jimmy Zhong came to study in the United States from China and masqueraded as a wealthy student living near the University of Georgia in Athens, trying not to miss local parties. In 2012, James Zhong, “Jimmy,” is 22. He is a student at the University of Georgia, the...

Tesla held onto its sizeable Bitcoin bags in the third quarter and upped its spending on artificial intelligence and research and development. Electric vehicle maker Tesla  made no changes to its sizeable Bitcoin (BTC) holdings — the fifth quarter in a row — though it has directed more funds to double its computing capacity amid artificial intelligence efforts. Tesla’s Q3 2023 results released on Oct. 18 show as of Sept. 30, it held $184 million worth of digital assets — a portion of the $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin it first bought in March 2021. The latest quarterly results mean it hasn’t bought or sold any Bitcoin since its sell-off of around 75% of its holdings in Q2 2022 when it fetched $936 million for more than 30,000 BTC. Excerpt of Tesla’s Q3 2023 balance sheet with its digital asset holdings highlighted. Source: Tesla On the other hand, Tesla reported it had “more than doubled the size” of its computing power for its AI projects, citing a growing training data set and switch...

Bitcoin rallied to $30,000 on rumors that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the iShares Bitcoin spot ETF. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) skyrocketed in a flash on Oct. 16 following speculations that the SEC approved the first spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. Crypto news site CoinTelegraph was the first to report the news, however, ETF analysts like James Seyffart clarified that approval has yet to be confirmed. Seyffart also debunked the news that BlackRock’s filing was approved by the SEC. Okay. Have a few different sources including Bloomberg reporters with sources at BlackRock, SEC and other places. Can confidently say that this is not true. https://t.co/QIxhP2AfoO — James Seyffart (@JSeyff) October 16, 2023 While the SEC’s website did not show an approved spot Bitcoin ETF at press time, Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas cited two distinct headlines on the Reuters terminal pointing to possible confirmation. Whoa, Reuters is reporting SEC i...

In the latest turn of events in the SEC’s battle with crypto, the regulator will not appeal the court’s decision on Grayscale’s Spot Bitcoin ETF application, according to a source close to the regulator. Grayscale sought to convert its Bitcoin trust to a Spot Bitcoin ETF. The application came alongside many similar applications by digital asset companies and traditional finance entities. JUST IN: 🇺🇸 SEC will not appeal court's decision on Grayscale's #Bitcoin ETF. — Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) October 13, 2023 The SEC has persistently fought against widespread crypto adoption without strict regulation throughout 2023. Asset managers like Fidelity and BlackRock are also seeking approval for their ETF applications. There is no certainty as to which direction the SEC could go with approving or declining these Spot Bitcoin ETF applications after Grayscale, or with future appeals. A spot bitcoin ETF gives investors exposure to the wo...

Bitcoin sales by FTX come to light as part of the SBF trial, as one prediction suggests that they stopped the BTC price from hitting $100,000. Bitcoin (BTC) failed to hit $100,000 during the 2021 bull market because defunct exchange FTX kept selling BTC, Analysis claims. In an X post on Oct. 12, Joe Burnett, senior product marketing manager at Bitcoin financial services firm Unchained, joined voices arguing that FTX executives suppressed BTC price strength. FTX testimony reveals mass BTC selling As the trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, continues, new testimony paints a picture of market manipulation. This week, Caroline Ellison, former CEO of affiliated firm Alameda Research, reportedly told the court that Bankman-Fried asked her to sell BTC should spot price breach $20,000. This was done using FTX customer funds, which neither had the right to deploy. AUSA: What are these? Ellison: Notes from a conversation with Sam. I wrote, keep selling BTC if its over $20...

Before it was taken down, Ordswap users said the compromised website directed users to a phishing link. Ordswap, a marketplace that allows users to inscribe, auction, and trade Bitcoin Ordinals, has devised a method for users to retrieve their private keys as it scrambles to regain control of its website domain. In an Oct. 10 X (Twitter) post, the Ordswap X account shared an online tool that purports to help users who logged into the site through MetaMask to recover their Ordswap private keys, allowing them to move to other providers. Source for metamask users to obtain key is now available below. You are able to import(hex) to Unisat. https://t.co/oETb7h7sA0 https://t.co/NGaaLiNNwW — Ordswap (@ordswap) October 10, 2023 Hours earlier, on Oct. 9, Ordswap posted a stark warning to users not to connect to its domain as it was not in control of it. It pinned the issue on Netlify — a website development and hosting firm. We are working on publishing source for metamask users to o...

Last week, the government of Venezuela sent 11,000 police officers and soldiers into Tocorón prison , notoriously run by the Tren de Aragua gang, and seized buckets of bullets, piles of machine gun ammo belts, sniper rifles, explosives, rocket launchers, grenades, and a small army of bitcoin miners. Backed by tanks and armoured vehicles, the prison was successfully stormed on Wednesday. As police and troops discovered, Venezuela’s most powerful gang has been attempting to make extra cash with rows upon rows of old Bitmain Antminers. It’s unclear how profitable the bitcoin mining operation was; old equipment aside, Venezuela has temporarily banned crypto mining. And while the country enjoys cheap, subsidised electricity, energy blackouts are frequent. #21Sep | Así quedó la cárcel de Tocorón tras la primera fase de la Operación Liberación Cacique Guaicaipuro, en el lugar hallaron hasta máquinas para minar criptomonedas. Video: RRSS pic.twitter.com/Nv26bsKhUo — Car...

While Coinbase holds $25 billion in BTC, the exchange only owns around $200 million worth of Bitcoin found in its wallets. Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham recently identified that crypto exchange Coinbase holds almost 1 million Bitcoin (BTC) in its wallets. The coins are worth more than $25 billion at current market prices for BTC.  According to Arkham, the exchange’s holdings amount to almost 5% of all Bitcoin that currently exists. Arkham said that Coinbase currently holds a total of 947,755 BTC. At the moment, Bitcoin’s circulating supply is around 19,493,537, according to coin information website CoinGecko. Arkham has now identified $25B of Coinbase Bitcoin reserves (~1M BTC) on chain. This makes Coinbase the largest Bitcoin entity in the world on Arkham, with almost 5% of all BTC in existence - about as much as Satoshi Nakamoto. pic.twitter.com/7sDOczS7WT — Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) September 22, 2023 Furthermore, Arkham also noted that they tagged and identified 3...

This week’s episode of Market Talks discusses how Bitcoin cycles are changing and how it could impact the upcoming halving. In the latest episode of Cointelegraph’s Market Talks , host Ray Salmond speaks with Jamie Coutts, a chartered market technician and crypto market analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.  When asked whether Bitcoin’s (BTC) pre- and post-halving price action could differ from previous cycles due to a change in global monetary policy, Coutts said:  “I’ve been writing about this for most of the year. We do have some strong fundamentals in the space, but ultimately, what drives risk assets is liquidity. The longer that we have this tightening cycle, and if we start to see an uptick in unemployment and more stress in the banking sector, then there could be a bit more pain for risk assets like Bitcoin.”  Related: The future of BTC mining and the Bitcoin halving Despite the dim macroeconomic outlook, Coutts did suggest:  “We could be near the end. There is still a lot of u...

Although Bitcoin mining is a complex and expensive business, specialized services are emerging to lower the entry barriers for beginners. With Bitcoin mining difficulty at an all-time high, is it too late for beginners to start mining the largest cryptocurrency by market cap? The short answer is No — there are specialized services that make the whole mining process look easy. Bitcoin mining is a tricky business. It requires expensive hardware equipment, cheap and stable electricity and a lot of maintenance to keep the facility in shape, like cooling systems and hardware updates. These days, starting Bitcoin mining operations from scratch as an individual is not a good business plan. Many factors need to align perfectly, including geography, energy costs, regulation, weather and the Bitcoin (BTC) price itself. Still, the upfront costs are too high for regular people. Beginners can start mining by joining specialized mining pools. However, due diligence is needed because mining pools ch...