Category Archives: Bitcoin
Newton grandmother scammed out of $20,000, used Bitcoin ATMs to send money – CBS Boston
NEWTON - It's a phone call that a Newton grandmother would give anything to go back and not answer. It happened last week; the caller said he was a federal law enforcement official, and he feared she was the victim of identity theft.
"He said, 'Alright, are you ready to go to the bank?' I said yes," the woman who did not want to be identified said. "He spelled his name for me and he actually had me put his phone number into Google. It took me directly to the US Marshals Service website."
Elsewhere on the actual US Marshals Service website, there is a warning for this exact scam.
Distracted on the phone call, the Newton victim didn't go digging. And unlike other popular schemes, there was no urgency, and no threatening tone. The caller calmly offered options for moving her money temporarily until a new Social Security number could be issued.
She told WBZ she began to let her guard down, as the man pretended to help her. "Then you're going to go and use that money to buy Bitcoin. It'll go into a wallet that is strictly yours. Your name is on it; it's your money," she recalled him advising her, so that her savings wouldn't be inaccessible in a frozen account.
Over the next 24 hours, the woman visited four local Citizens Bank branches and withdrew $30,000 in cash. She said no one ever questioned her.
"The teller said, 'We don't carry that kind of money. The best we can do is give you $9000 and small bills. He called over and found out the branch in Needham could give me $10,000," the woman recalled.
She spent hours on the phone with the man, as she drove to banks in Newton Centre, Needham, Chestnut Hill, and Newtonville. She used Bitcoin ATMs in Waltham and Newton, and after sending the first $20,000 she drove to her attorney's office. "I wasn't two sentences into the story when he said that's a scam," she recalled.
Citizens Bank wrote in a statement: "We are sorry to hear that one of our customers may have been the victim of a scam...we do work closely with law enforcement when incidents occur and provide training for our colleagues in order to help detect such incidents."
Back in February WBZ reported on a thwarted scheme in Norwood; an alert teller at Rockland Trust called police, concerned for a senior customer trying to take out $9000. That victim kept their money, but personal finance experts say it's a slippery slope.
"Do we really want bank tellers screening us and asking, how much money? What are you going to use this money for? Is this a legitimate purpose? I think we're invading privacy at this point," said Professor Jay Zagorsky of Boston University's Questrom School of Business.
Newton Police are investigating, but this victim's $20,000 is long gone.
"I'm just pulling myself together now. It was just a terrible ordeal. This can happen to you. It doesn't matter how smart you are. It doesn't matter how skeptical you are. You can be had. They're very good at what they do," the victim said.
Juli McDonald is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV.
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Newton grandmother scammed out of $20,000, used Bitcoin ATMs to send money - CBS Boston
Bitcoin Tumbles. Crypto Traders Remain Bullish but That Might Only Dent Prices. – Barron’s
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were falling Friday as regulatory pressures weighed on sentiment. Crypto traders remain bullishbut big bets on a rebound may only hurt prices in the short-term.
The price of Bitcoin has fallen 3% over the past 24 hours to below $27,000, falling further from the psychologically important $30,000 level, which it passed last week for the first time in 10 months. The $30,000 zone is viewed as key because its where prices stood last June before a selloff across cryptos accelerated into a brutal bear market. Bitcoin though has struggled to consolidate above that level despite spikes to near $31,000.
It is worth bracing for a more typical pullback to the 50-day average, near $26,700, said Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at broker FxPro. Such a drop promises to fray the nerves of crypto enthusiasts. A break below that level could quickly take the price to $25,600the all-important 200-week moving average, the capture of which allowed the bull market to be declared resurgent in March.
While Bitcoin has fallen this week in line with some weakness in the stock market, it has underperformed against the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 amid concerns over the regulatory backdrop in the critical U.S. market. Broker Coinbase Global (ticker: COIN), for its part, has signaled that it is increasingly looking overseas amid a lack of clarity that could hurt the company.
Macroeconomic forcesprimarily inflation and the outlook for interest ratesas well as regulatory pressures remain the driving forces behind crypto prices. After a rally of some 75% so far this year, Bitcoin has been paring gains and looks vulnerable to a correction, though macro or regulatory catalysts could help halt the slide.
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The market is struggling to find a reason to buy and support the price as profit-taking selling pressure and long liquidation have pushed down the price this week,said Yuya Hasegawa, an analyst at crypto exchange Bitbank.
That second factor, so-called liquidation, is an important market dynamic pushing down prices at present. It has to do with the Bitcoin futures market, which is the most liquid venue for Bitcoin price discovery in all of crypto.
Most Bitcoin futures positions are taken with leverage, or money borrowed from a broker, and can be forcibly closed out if the market swings against traders in a process called liquidation. This typically triggers automatic sell orders, which can cause momentum to build in a downward spiraling effect when more traders get liquidated.
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More than $400 million in bullish futures positions have been liquidated since Wednesday, according to crypto data provider Coinglass, coinciding with the falling price of Bitcoin.
Despite the decline, bulls do not seem to have given up just yet as [the] Bitcoin futures markets funding rate still reads positive, which could limit upper potential for Bitcoin and worsen its short term drawdown, said Hasegawa.
The funding rate refers to a method of ensuring the price of spot Bitcointhe token itself, as traded on exchanges like Coinbasematches the price of the futures contract. When the price of futures are higher than the price of Bitcoin, indicating that most bets are for prices to rise, the funding rate is positive. Traders that take these long positions that prices will go up then have to pay money to traders with short positions, incentivizing some equilibrium in the futures market.
With the funding rate currently in positive territory, it indicates that bullish sentiment prevails despite declines. This could signal that many traders could still be vulnerable to liquidation, which could continue the spiral lower in prices.
Beyond Bitcoin, Ether the second-largest cryptodropped 2% to near $1,900. Smaller cryptos or altcoins were weaker, with Cardano down 3% and Polygon plunging 4%. Memecoins exhibited much of the same, with Dogecoin down 9% and
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Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com
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Bitcoin Tumbles. Crypto Traders Remain Bullish but That Might Only Dent Prices. - Barron's
Bitcoin Mining Pools Will Have Less Power With This Upgrade – Decrypt
Are Bitcoin mining pools too powerful? Do they make Bitcoin too centralized?Stratum v2, an overhaul to Bitcoin mining, aims to make these questions moot.
In the latest release of the open source version of the Stratum v2 (SV2) protocol, Stratum Reference Implementation (SRI), developers announced that they have completed "job negotiation," an important feature for the wider Bitcoin industry because it gives mining pools less power over transaction selection.
Mining is a key component that makes Bitcoin tick. Miners around the world reap Bitcoin rewards in exchange for the computing power they use to secure the network. But even if anyone with the correct hardware is free to mine, miners will probably lose money if they go it alone. Miners generally sign up with what are known as "mining pools" to combine their resources and increase their chances of nabbing Bitcoin rewards.
Since 2018, Bitcoin developers have been working on SV2, which connects miners with mining pools in a more seamless fashion, making mining more efficient and secure. But "job negotiation," which clicked into place with the most recent upgrade, is the most important part of it.
Stratum v1which SV2 is replacinghas its issues. "[In] pooled mining, [the] entire network is prone to censorship, since mining pools are a single point of failurea trusted third-party," pseudonymous Bitcoin program manager Pavlenex, who's been working with the SRI team, explained to Decrypt. "Regulators could force certain mining pools to not include certain transactions in a block for example"
This upgrade could stop that at least once it's finally adopted by mining pools.
Bitcoin's raison d'tre is to be a money that no one company or king can control. But centralization has a relentless tendency to sneak into the picture.
Many Bitcoiners worry about mining pools as a centralizing force. As this chart shows, just two mining pools make up roughly 60 percent of the network:
When mining pools use the Stratum v1 protocol, whoever controls the mining pool has the power to stop certain transactions. Governments could use mining pools as a chokepoint to stop transactions they dislike, for example.
This isn't an imaginative fear. Mining pools have been known to censor transactions over the years, even advertising this fact to make regulators happy.
But with SRI's most recent upgrade, the task of transaction selection is given to individual miners instead, making mining pools less of a target. What that means is, instead of simply going straight to Foundry USA and telling them to block certain transactions, a government (or other censoring entity) would need to individually go to all of the hundreds of miners that compose Foundry to make such a request.
"For the entire network, the ability for miners to select transactions means that power goes back from a handful of powerful entities back to thousands of individual miners," Pavlenex said.
But, to be clear, SV2 hasn't been adopted by mining pools just yet. SRI is still under development. Pavlenex noted that they're seeking "early adopters" to test the software as it stands today. "We'd like to invite miners, pools and firmware makers to help us test out our latest update, provide feedback and directly influence the direction of our development," he said.
Pavlenex thinks mining pools will be eager to adopt the new SV2 protocol, not only for the efficiency gains, but because many of them don't want the responsibility of blocking transactions.
"[Pools are] likely to adopt SV2 because they don't really want to be a central point of failure either. It's a big responsibility, and our latest update helps them get rid of that pressure and risk," he said.
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Bitcoin Mining Pools Will Have Less Power With This Upgrade - Decrypt
Bitcoin could reach $45,000 in a month in this scenario, analyst says. – MarketWatch
Welcome back to Distributed Ledger. This is Frances Yue, crypto reporter at MarketWatch.
Find me on Twitter at @FrancesYue_ to share any thoughts on crypto, this newsletter, or your personal stories with digital assets.
Bitcoin has rallied over 70% so far this year, but its still down almost 60% from its record high in November 2021. The cryptocurrency is trading at slightly below $28,500 on Thursday, according to CoinDesk data.
This week, I caught up with Vetle Lunde, senior analyst at K33 research, who said bitcoin could reach as high as $45,000 in a month, if it follows the patterns it saw after the 2018-2019 bear market.
There are a lot of similarities between bitcoins year-to-date rally and its recovery path after the 2018-2019 bear market, according to Lunde.
Find me on Twitter at @FrancesYue_ to share any thoughts on crypto, this newsletter, or your personal stories with digital assets.
For both the recent bear market and the one from 2018 to 2019, it took bitcoin about 370 days to reach bottom from the cyclical peaks, Lunde wrote in a recent note.
Meanwhile, 510 days into both cycles, bitcoin are down about 60% from the previous peaks, according to Lunde.
In June 2019, bitcoins bear market rally topped $13,852, 556 days after it reached the 2017 peak at $19,752. If the crypto follows a similar pattern this year, it could reach as high as $45,000 on around May 20, noted Lunde.
Meanwhile, there was intense fear in the market during both bear markets, Lunde said in a phone interview.
In late 2018, crypto investors were concerned about U.S. regulators crackdown of initial coin offerings, and worried that a split of Bitcoin Cash, a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain, would weigh on the largest cryptocurrencys price.
Similarly, FTXs collapse in November last year led many investors to sell their bitcoin or short the cryptocurrency, as they expected further losses in digital asset prices, Lunde noted.
Later, as markets slowly and gradually started to climb, people who were underexposed or maybe even have a short exposure in crypto started to rotate back in again, Lunde said.
To be sure, there are several key differences between the current market and the one in 2018 and 2019. The crypto market has matured a lot, with less concentration of coin holdings and more institution participation, Lunde noted. The crypto derivatives markets also became more developed, Lunde said.
In addition, cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin have gained prominence and investors now have more options, according to Lunde.
Whats more, the macro environment has changed significantly. The broader economic environment, which currently looks vulnerable to a recession, didnt matter as much to bitcoins price back in 2018 as it does now, as there was less institutional adoption of crypto in the past, Lunde noted.
The Federal Reserve also has indicated it plans to keep rates high, currently at 5% on the top end of its policy range, for a while, as it looks to tamp down inflation after an era of loose monetary policy that aided crypto and other risky assets.
With recent stress in the U.S. banking system calming down and investors looking to the next Federal Reserve rate-setting committee meeting in May, Bitcoins price is now primarily driven by technical factors, according to William Cai, co-founder and managing partner at Wilshire Phoenix.
He thinks a consolidation in the range of $25,000 and $30,000 would help bitcoin to break and hold above $30,000, a psychology level, for an extended period.
House Republicans on Tuesday criticized the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its oversight of the crypto industry, arguing that the agencys chairman Gary Gensler has been overly aggressive in bringing enforcement actions against the industry, while refusing to clearly state which tokens he sees as under its jurisdiction.
Youve refused to provide clarity on whether digital assetsare subject to securities laws and more important, how these firms should comply with these laws, said Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, during an oversight hearing.
McHenry pressed Gensler to state whether ether, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was a security, but he declined to go into specifics on any particular digital token. Gensler has repeatedly said most cryptocurrencies are securities.
Read more in this article by MarketWatchs Chris Matthews.
Bitcoin declined 4.9% in the past week and was trading above $28,000 on Thursday, according to CoinDesk data. Ether dipped 0.6%% in the same period to above $1,900.
Shares of Coinbase Global Inc. COIN tumbled 11.6% for the week to around $60.95. MicroStrategy Inc. MSTR lost14.2% thus far on the week, to $292.84.
Crypto mining company Riot Blockchain Inc. RIOT s shares declined 19.5% to $10.87 as of Thursday. Shares of rival Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. MARA lost 17.4% to $9.51 over the past week. Ebang International Holdings Inc. EBON edged up 2% over the past week to around $6.02.
Overstock.com Inc. shares OSTK added 2.7% to $18.90 over the week.
Shares of Block Inc. SQ , formerly known as Square, declined 3.6% to $62.24 for the week thus far. Tesla Inc. TSLA shares plunged 13% to $161.63.
PayPal Holdings Inc.s PYPL stock was down 2.3% over the week to trade at around $73.76. Nvidia Corp.s NVDA gained 2.5% to $271.18 for the past week.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD shares dropped 2.6% for the week at $89.73.
Among crypto funds, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy BITO lost 8.8% over the week to $16.67 Thursday, while counterpart Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF BITI rallied 9.3% to $21.09. Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF BTF plummeted 9% over the past week to $10.94, while VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF XBTF fell 7.7% to $28.39.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GBTC retreated 11.6% over the past five days to $15.88 on Thursday.
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Bitcoin could reach $45,000 in a month in this scenario, analyst says. - MarketWatch
Bitcoin mining produces energy gold. Lets use it to help save our planet – Yahoo Finance
Despite concerns over Bitcoin minings energy consumption, Bitcoin mining has the potential to be a net positive for humanitys relationship with energy and sustainability. This can be achieved by the mining industry using intermittent, stranded and waste power sources and subsidizing sustainable energy. A less-explored opportunity is to collect and redirect the excess heat generated by Bitcoin mining for other heating needs. This Earth Day, let us consider how Bitcoin mining can not only help our planet and improve humanitys relationship with energy by serving as a buyer of zero-carbon energy, but it can also serve as a producer of recyclable and reusable energy.
Many of Bitcoins critics are understandably worried about Bitcoins rising energy consumption.The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index indicates that Bitcoins electricity consumption has only ever gone up since the digital assets inception. Similarly, Bitcoins greenhouse gas emissions although there have been ups and downs have also grown over time.
But Bitcoins energy consumption is not the whole story.
Bitcoin mining produces a lot of heat, and harnessing and redirecting that excess heat is not just a theoretical possibility. In fact, there are already plans for a Canadian city to be heated by Bitcoin miners. An energy provider, Lonsdale Energy Corporation, and MintGreen, a Bitcoin mining company, are partnering up to provide at least some of the heat demanded by the residents of North Vancouver.
MintGreen will recycle about 20,000 tons of toxic gas per megawatt that would have otherwise entered the atmosphere and contributed to global warming. Instead, this liability of toxic emissions will be turned into an asset: Over 95% of the energy that the miners initially consume will be converted into thermal energy that will be used to heat several buildings. Since Bitcoin miners can run continuously, and because there will almost certainly always be a supply of Bitcoin miners available, the city will be able to rely on their excess heat during any month of any year.
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This endeavor is not a pie-in-the-sky dream. MintGreen had already made deals with the Vancouver Island Sea Salt facility and Shelter Point Distillery to sell them heat during frigid Canadian winters.
Bitcoin minings versatility also allows its excess heat to be used for recreational ends. For example, it costs between US$2,000 and US$5,000 to heat a typical swimming pool. Bitcoin mining can turn this money sink and associated energy consumption into a zero-cost endeavor. All you have to do is connect your Bitcoin mining machine to your pools water pump. You simultaneously earn the hardest asset ever created and heat your pool at no additional charge.
While heating a swimming pool is an amusing application, Bitcoin miners excess heat has more profound use cases for humanity. Companies are already collaborating with researchers to create greenhouses that are heated by Bitcoin mining.
In the Netherlands, the heat from Bitcoin mining is warming a greenhouse for tulips and cutting the flower farmers reliance on gas, which has become more expensive since Russias war on Ukraine. In Sweden, another mining companys 600-kilowatt ASIC machines heat is directed toward warming a 300-square-meter greenhouse in which fruit and vegetables are grown. The miners are embedded in a data center container, which is fitted with an air duct apparatus that draws heat from the ASICs and sends it to the greenhouse. In theory, this would keep the greenhouse at 77 degrees Fahrenheit continuously. Considering that the temperature of the area drops to minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit in wintertime, the potential savings on heat costs and use are significant.
Just as Bitcoin mining can make good use of intermittent, stranded and waste energy sources, recycling and reusing miners waste heat can potentially increase the profitability and sustainability of indoor farming and food production. As one researcher said, A 1 [megawatt] data center would have the ability to strengthen the local self-sufficiency up to 8% with products that are competitive on the market.
Not everyone is excited about Bitcoin miners heat, especially those who suffer from its unintended consequences. For example, residents near Seneca Lake in upstate New York have complained that a nearby power plants collaboration with over 8,000 miners has caused their lake to feel like youre in a hot tub.
The power plant takes in 139 million gallons of water from the lake and gives back 135 million gallons every day. The water that is recycled back into the lake gets up to 108 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. To be sure, solutions can in principle be found, but we must nevertheless admit that sometimes miners heat can affect a communitys environment in ways that people do not enjoy.
Aside from Bitcoin mining helping subsidize renewable energy, our ability to harness and direct its excess heat is yet another way that Bitcoin can help combat climate change. Less than a decade ago, Imperial College London estimated that heating residential and commercial buildings accounted for almost half of all energy consumption and 40% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. If all of this heat could be provided by carbon-neutral sources, it could be the most revolutionary impact on climate change in a generation.
On the face of it, replacing carbon-emitting heat sources with the excess heat of Bitcoin miners may not make enough of a difference. After all, if Bitcoin miners are themselves fueled by carbon-intensive fuel sources, then heating ones home with miners excess heat does not necessarily reduce enough emissions for us to meet our climate goals.
But Bitcoin miners are unique in their ability to render viable renewable energy sources that would have not been profitable in the miners absence. Heating commercial and residential buildings with miners excess heat really could help put a dent in humanitys carbon emissions provided that the miners themselves are powered by, say, solar energy.
We have already seen that heating buildings and powering indoor farms with Bitcoin miners excess heat is not a pipe dream but a reality. It may not be a big leap to imagine what a difference it could make on our planet if Bitcoin miners could themselves be fueled entirely by carbon-neutral sources.
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Bitcoin mining produces energy gold. Lets use it to help save our planet - Yahoo Finance
The New Financial Literacy: Jonathan Martin Shares an Introduction to Bitcoin – Yahoo Finance
PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / As the world becomes increasingly digitized, cryptocurrencies have emerged as a digital currency that continues to rapidly gain popularity. With new technology comes new opportunities, and, of course, new risks. Jonathan Martin, a former professional athlete, who has committed his off-field career to finance, believes that education in new currencies and technologies is necessary for modern financial literacy. Jonathan Martin draws on his own experiences with monetary policy, real estate, and emerging currencies, focusing on Bitcoin as a store of value outside the traditional system.
"As a professional athlete, financial literacy was essential and empowered me to pursue strategies that helped maintain and grow my financial stability, even after I retired from the league," noted Jonathan Martin. "Understanding the evolution of our financial markets and economy, I am increasingly excited about the opportunities that Bitcoin creates for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds to build wealth."
It is important to understand what Bitcoin is and how it works. Jonathan Martin explains that unlike traditional currencies, Bitcoin is decentralized, meaning it is not controlled by any government or financial institution. Instead, it operates on a peer-to-peer network and is secured using advanced encryption techniques. Peer-to-peer networks allow Bitcoin to be transferred worldwide, without the need of any middle-man or intermediaries or central server. Advanced encryption means anonymity and security, which works hand in hand with another fundamental principle of Bitcoin. Transactions are recorded on a public ledger, known as the blockchain, which makes them virtually impossible to hack or manipulate.
In addition to buying and selling Bitcoin, it's also possible to earn them through a process known as mining. Mining involves using powerful computers to solve complex mathematical problems, which helps to validate transactions on the blockchain. In exchange for this work, miners are rewarded with new Bitcoin, which is termed the block reward.
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Bitcoin is the first and most well-known cryptocurrency. Per the Blockworks market tracker, it currently holds the largest market cap of any cryptocurrency (approximately $550B as of April 2023). In recent statements and enforcement actions against other coin projects, the CFTC and the SEC have made it clear that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency they consider to be a commodity.
"Bitcoin is important to me as a way to reach beyond entrenched power structures and lift marginalized communities. Bitcoin is an especially powerful tool because it has proved to be robust even under all the recent market conditions, and its well-established community is helpful for those who maybe don't have as much experience with alternative digital assets," says Jonathan Martin.
Jonathan Martin goes on to explain that Bitcoin can enable individuals and communities to participate in the global economy, access financial services, and protect themselves against inflation and currency devaluation. He adds that the transparency and immutability of the blockchain can provide a means of combating corruption and promoting accountability in financial transactions, which can be particularly beneficial for marginalized communities that are disproportionately impacted by these issues.
"Traditional financial systems have often excluded individuals and communities who lack access to banking services or are subject to discrimination based on race, gender, or ethnicity. Bitcoin, as a decentralized digital currency, can be accessed and used by anyone with an internet connection, without the need for intermediaries, like banks," says Jonathan Martin.
Since Bitcoin's entrance, thousands of other cryptocurrencies have emerged, each with their own unique features and characteristics. Some cryptocurrencies, such as Ripple or Litecoin are designed for fast and inexpensive transactions, while others, such as Monero or Zcash are focused on privacy or other niche markets.
When buying cryptocurrencies, Jonathan Martin emphasizes patience and warns investors not to get caught up in the hype of alternative coins ("altcoins") that grow parabolically during bull markets. Many cryptocurrencies can be highly volatile, and their value can fluctuate widely in a short period of time - which is why Bitcoin's relative stability is important. It is also important for those buying Bitcoin to invest only what they can afford to lose and to diversify their portfolio to minimize risk.
Jonathan Martin believes the world of Bitcoin can be exciting and full of opportunities, but it is also complex and risky. To navigate it successfully, it is important to do research, choose a reputable exchange and invest wisely. Modern financial literacy means staying informed.
Contact Information:
Andrew MitchellEmail: media@cambridgeglobalmedia.comPhone: 404-955-7133
SOURCE: Cambridge Global
View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/750478/The-New-Financial-Literacy-Jonathan-Martin-Shares-an-Introduction-to-Bitcoin
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The New Financial Literacy: Jonathan Martin Shares an Introduction to Bitcoin - Yahoo Finance
Crypto Markets Brace for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) Options Expiry – U.Today
Alex Dovbnya
With substantial options expiries on the horizon for both Bitcoin and Ethereum, market participants will likely be watching these events closely
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The cryptocurrency market is preparing for a significant event as a considerable number of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) options are set to expire.
According to data shared by Greeks.live on Twitter, 25,000 BTC options will expire with a put-callratio of 0.7, a max pain point of $29,000, and a notional value of $0.72 billion.
Additionally, 217,000 ETH options will expire, featuring a put-callratio of 0.83, a max pain point of $1,950, and a notional value of $0.42 billion.
Crypto options, similar to traditional options, make it possible for investors to hedge their positions, speculate on price movements, or even generate income by selling options.
Option expiries refer to the end of an option contract's life, at which point the option either gets exercised or becomes worthless.
The put-callratio, meanwhile, is an indicator that measures the balance of put options (contracts that grant the right to sell) to call options (contracts that grant the right to buy) in the market.A high put-call ratio usually signals bearish sentiment, while a lower ratio implies bullish sentiment.
The max pain point, also known as the max pain level, is the point where option owners (buyers) feel the most financial pain, i.e., the price at which the greatest number of options will expire worthless.
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Crypto Markets Brace for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) Options Expiry - U.Today
Legislation or lawsuits? The spot bitcoin ETF debate forges ahead – CNBC
The ongoing court battle to bring a spot bitcoin ETF to market in the U.S. comes at a potential turning point for the token itself, which recently surpassed $30,000 and prompted speculation of a new crypto boom this year.
After Grayscale's proposal to bring its bitcoin-holding exchange-traded fund to market in the U.S. was rejected last June, the firm sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Oral arguments kicked off last month in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
"I think the chances are more than 50-50 that [Grayscale] will win in this lawsuit," Dave Nadig, financial futurist at VettaFi, told Bob Pisani on CNBC's "ETF Edge" on Monday.
"However, I don't think that means that we all of a sudden get a bitcoin ETF," he added. "I think there's actually a higher likelihood it means that they shut down some of the futures-based products."
SEC Chair Gary Gensler has argued that bitcoin futures are a regulated product while spot based is not, but Grayscale claims that the proposed fund is closely linked to the futures fund, which already meets anti-fraud standards.
"I suspect that even if Grayscale wins, Gensler is going to back even further away from crypto," Nadig said. "Put some constraints around the futures-based products while we wait for comprehensive crypto regulation and legislation someday."
Following the collapse of FTX, Gensler and the SEC have ramped up enforcement of crypto-related offerings and companies. Critics say the "regulation by enforcement" is overreaching.
After a turbulent 2022 for cryptocurrencies and their trading platforms, Bitcoin has rallied back more than 77% this year, and the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO)is up 67% as of Wednesday. But with no clear understanding of whether to classify the tokens as commodities or securities, crypto products remain at a crossroads.
"The point is, we need legislation," Nadig said. "This isn't going to get solved by the stroke of a pen at the SEC desk, we need Congress to work."
Nadig noted that Congress has drafted a bill to provide a regulatory framework for stablecoins, which are cryptocurrency tokens that aim to mirror the value of more traditional assets.
"Stablecoins are basically money market funds that you use for payment on crypto rails," he said. "A good set of legislation is on the table to basically bring them under the umbrella [and] have them regulated by the Fed."
Nadig is optimistic that congressional attention will help shift the regulation debate toward establishing a framework that more poignantly classifies cryptocurrencies and the ETFs that track them.
"Having two regulators argue about it is the wrong way to solve this problem," he said. "I think we have to have legislation that realizes digital assets are different and need different sets of rules."
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Legislation or lawsuits? The spot bitcoin ETF debate forges ahead - CNBC
Bloomberg Analyst Mike McGlone Very Bullish on Bitcoin Amid 90% BTC Rally This Year But Theres a Catch – The Daily Hodl
Senior Bloomberg commodities analyst Mike McGlone is saying Bitcoins (BTC) prospects over the long term look promising.
In a new Stansberry Research interview, McGlone says that he is very bullish on Bitcoin but warns that risk assets such as the flagship crypto asset face significant headwinds going forward.
Im very bullish on Bitcoin because of major reasons its definable diminishing supply very low and [its] early days of adoption, you have to be long over time.
But it also trades 24/7 and its a very significant leading indicator and it looks like it just might have rolled over from $30,000. I just cant see how were going to get what I view as a significant contraction in risk asset prices without Bitcoin, still a risk asset, going down.
According to the Bloomberg analyst, the recent price gains Bitcoin has enjoyed are absolutely attributable to a bear market rally. McGlone says that when other correlated assets start declining in value in case a recession hits, Bitcoin will follow suit.
Im afraid whats happening with Bitcoin is people are looking at it like the bank crisis has helped it will go that way and trade more like gold and long bonds. But I think its more about everythings up this year and Bitcoins the fastest horse in the race. It was the fastest on the way down, the fastest up this year
Bitcoins up almost 80% in the year and it might just start to roll over. It trades 24/7, its clearly a leading indicator.
I view Bitcoin as, if markets do decline, which I expect for instance, the S&P 500, I expect to drop for a normal recession probably another 25%, Bitcoin should probably be the first one to lead it because its still a risk asset.
Bitcoin is trading at $28,880 at time of writing. The flagship crypto asset opened the year at around $16,500 and rallied by nearly 90% to a 2023 high of $31,000 reached earlier this month.
McGlone says that over the long term, Bitcoin will trade like a safe haven.
Im thinking long term, its [Bitcoin] going to come out ahead and trade more like gold and long bonds as a risk-off asset. But its still a very risky asset.
I
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Bloomberg Analyst Mike McGlone Very Bullish on Bitcoin Amid 90% BTC Rally This Year But Theres a Catch - The Daily Hodl
Bitcoin Miners Trapped In Alleged $20 Billion Corruption Scheme In Venezuela – Forbes
President of Venezuela speaks to the media to give a balance of the recent Parliamentary elections during a press conference at Palacio de Miraflores on December 8, 2020 in Caracas, Venezuela. On sunday 6th Venezuelans voted for the Parliamentary Elections with a 31% turnout and 68.4% of the votes for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) according to the National Electoral Council. (Photo by Carolina Cabral/Getty Images)Getty Images
Large-scale bitcoin miners have been forced to turn off their operations in Venezuela as part of the countrys nationwide crackdown on corruption.
There is anywhere from $3 billion up to $20 billion missing from Petrleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil and gas company. Some of Maduro's political movement (also kwown as Chavismo) own key leaders, like former PDVSA President Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah, are under suspicion during this anti-corruption investigation. The Superintendencia Nacional de Criptoactivos, also known as SUNACRIP, is at the center of this process since it was used for liquidating PDVSAs sales after the U.S. sanctions against the company and was the primary national institution concerned with all things related to cryptocurrency, including bitcoin mining.
Other crypto businesses, like crypto exchanges and payment platforms that were licensed under SUNACRIPs guidance, have also paused their operations due to the "regularory context". Venezuelas crypto industry, considered one of the worlds most robust crypto ecosystems back in 2017, has crawled to a grinding halt.
It all started when President Nicols Maduro made the first Venezuelan national cryptocurrency in 2018, the petro token backed by Venezuelan oil and a basket of similar commodities.
The Venezuelan government created the SUNACRIP shortly after issuing the petro with the goal of evading U.S. sanctions. But the U.S. issued sanctions against the petro in 2019 too, so the oil-backed cryptocurrency only works within Venezuelas borders.
Despite the robust bitcoin mining industry scattered throughout Venezuela for the past years, and how popular cryptos are in the country, even today only Maduros supporters and public employees use the petro cryptocurrency. It has had little to no success, and per their investigation and Maduros speech broadcasted via Alberto News, when the petro failed to offer profits or utility, SUNACRIP officials turned into a mafia-style approach, keeping for them public money that was supposed to reach PDVSAs coffers after became the non-official Venezuelan oil dealers for the world.
Venezuelan jails are now full of men like Joselit Ramrez, chairman of SUNACRIP since 2018, and Rajiv Mosqueda, the head of digital mining operations at SUNACRIP, along with other relevant officials from PDVSA and from the crypto watchdog. These arrests are part of what Maduro supporters, also known as Chavistas themselves, are calling the PDVSA-crypto plot, the anti-corruption investigation. These alleged criminals are accused of being part of former Vice President Tareck El Aissamis mafia-like corruption squad. (Aissami departed his position at PDVSA after investigators arrested Ramirez and his associates). SUNACRIP was allegedly using cryptos like USDt, to complete oil sales around the world. So far, none of the accused officials have issued public statements related to any accusations.
The trouble is, the oil sales dont match the SUNACRIPs crypto treasury holdings or the PDVSA balance sheet. Ramrez and his associates have been investigated for their participation in these operations because there are at least $3 billion dollars worth of assets missing, potentially much more. But this isnt the end. BitcoinBTC miners across the country still stand dormant.
Meanwhile, social media accounts and Telegram group chats across Venezuela have been buzzing since March 2023 about government agents making unusual visits to civilian bitcoin mining facilities.
The National Anticorruption Police is trying to find links between the PDVSA-crypto plot and local bitcoin miners, while also checking that the government has thorough and up-to-date documentation and licensing arrangements with every Venezuelan bitcoin miner, as granted by SUNACRIP. Ramrez and Mosqueda were responsible for granting many of these licenses, so now many people in the bitcoin mining industry are under investigation, to see which miners are indeed compliant with the Maduro administrations crypto policies and to clear their potential links to the corruption scheme.
There is not much public information about any of these investigations, only widespread rumors of detentions and forfeitures, but so far, there have been no documented arrests of civilian bitcoin miners, and as Teodosio Peraza, head of the bitcoin mining private company Criptominero C.A., explained to the local newspaper Yaracuy al Da after being visited, all compliance checks are a part of normal processes.
In the other hand, at least 500 SUNACRIP workers have been forced to leave their jobs during the clandestine investigations, while the few remaining petro holders are complaining via social platforms like Twitter that the petro is even less useful now, when the whole country is whispering about cryptocurrency and corruption.
It remains to be seen when, or if, Venezuelan crypto companies will return to reliable operations, especially hundreds of bitcoin miners losing income every day their mining machines remain offline. There is no clarity on what comes next for miners and companies in the once-booming Venezuelan crypto industry. Perhaps the Maduro administration will restructure SUNACRIP, or create a new regulatory body entirely.
Whatever happens, the nations bitcoin sector is losing out on millions of dollars worth of bitcoin business opportunities, with Venezuelan miners forced offline until this investigation is resolved.
Im a Bitcoin researcher, writer and translator with experience in sites like CoinTelegraph and CriptoNoticias. Im also a Spanish content creator for Swan Bitcoin and host of theSatoshi en Venezuela Youtube channel. I hold and utilize modest amounts of BTC and USDT.
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Bitcoin Miners Trapped In Alleged $20 Billion Corruption Scheme In Venezuela - Forbes