Category: Bitcoin

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Australia Bitcoin Crime Crypto News Monero

Aussie Couple Charged for Operating DarkMarket Platform Accepting Bitcoin and Monero Payments

German prosecutors have charged the Australian couple allegedly behind DarkMarket, one of the world’s largest illegal marketplaces operating on the darknet.

DarkMarket was shut down on 11 January and the suspected operator of the marketplace, a 34-year-old Australian man, was arrested near the Germany-Denmark border soon after. It is alleged that his 32-year-old wife was responsible for the design of the website and mediation of customer disputes. The couple, who are living in Australia and cannot be named for legal reasons, have now been officially charged by German prosecutors.

German news breaks of DarkMarket seizure. Source: Europol

What Was DarkMarket?

DarkMarket was a virtual marketplace that sold all manner of illegal items. It operated on the darknet and users paid with crypto such as Bitcoin and Monero.

Illegal drugs of all kinds, counterfeit money, stolen or forged credit cards, malware and many other illegal goods were traded on ‘DarkMarket’.

Koblenz Prosecutor General’s Office

DarkMarket was a huge marketplace with almost 500,000 users and more than 2,400 sellers. Over 320,000 transactions were made during its operation: more than 4,650 Bitcoin and 12,800 Monero were traded (at the current rate, this represents more than €140 million, or A$220 million worth).

Humble Origins … in a Hackathon

DarkMarket’s origins are quite fascinating. In 2014, DarkMarket was one of the winners of the Bitcoin Expo hackathon in Toronto, Canada. The project was described as a decentralised marketplace that could not be shut down. The official Ethererum Twitter account even put up a post congratulating the team:

Crypto Crackdown Goes Global

Of late, there appears there to be an increased global crackdown on those using crypto for nefarious purposes.

At the start of the month, Chinese police arrested 1,100 people for crypto-related money laundering charges. And in April, a Swedish-Russian citizen was arrested for operating a darknet Bitcoin website, Bitcoin Fog, and was accused of laundering over US$366 million.

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Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies Investing

Top 10 Bitcoin Penny Stocks

As more and more different cryptocurrencies continue to emerge, the volatile nature of these new coins and tokens resembles many similarities to penny stocks.

Just like Jordan Belfort in the film The Wolf of Wall Street capitalized on the high risk, high reward traits that are associated with penny stocks, Bitcoin and other smaller cryptos represent similar lucrative opportunities for investors and traders.

With companies like Tesla, Paypal and Square joining the crypto world, let’s take a look at some smaller Bitcoin penny stocks currently on the blockchain.

Lets take a look at our Top 10 “Bitcoin Penny Stocks”.

1. BitTorrent (BTT)

Known as the leading torrent software site, BitTorrent launched their BitTorrent Token on the blockchain in 2019 and it has risen by a huge 37.5% in the last 24 hours. 

Price: $0.006835 AUD (March 2021)

2. Dent (DENT)

Launched in December 2019, Dent is an open source project under the umbrella of Linux Foundation that enables users to buy and sell mobile bandwidth. The Ethereum-based cryptocurrency has been a big hit with investors recently and has gone up by 4.56% in the last 24 hours.

Price: $0.02 AUD (March 2021)

3. Revain (REV)

Revain is an unbiased review platform built on blockchain technology that aims to prevent fake reviews and unfair feedback from causing problems to businesses. The token based currency is down 0.31% in the last 24 hours.

Price: $0.02 AUD (March 2021)

4. Pundi X (NPXS)

Born in 2017, the Pundi X project is an open source payment ecosystem that aims to ease crypto payments via Ethereum-based point-of-sale terminals. ‘Pundians’ have seen rapid growth over the last couple of years and the price of NPXS has gone up 2.2% in the past 24 hours.

Price: $0.01 AUD (March 2021)

5. Holo (HOT)

Holochain is a distributed computing network, rather than a decentralised one, that claims to have infinite scalability and therefore the potential to perform faster than blockchain technology. The ERC -20-based token is certainly HOT at the moment after rising 29.96% in the past 24 hours.

Price: $0.02 AUD (March 2021)

6. Siacoin (SC)

Sia was founded by developers David Vorick and Luke Champine back in 2013 when the then computer science students decided to develop a decentralized cloud storage platform similar to Dropbox. Currently down 2.75% in the past 24 hours.

Price: $0.03 AUD (March 2021)

7. Nervos Network (CKB)

Nervos Network is a layered crypto-economy made up of a collection of protocols that solve the biggest challenges facing the blockchain. The price of CKB has soared in the last 24 hours, rising by 27.54%.

Price: $0.05 AUD (March 2021)

8. Dogecoin (DOGE)

You may recognise the Dogecoin logo from the famous internet meme that went viral in 2013. Despite being introduced as a joke currency in December that year, the coin was a big hit and reached a market capitalisation of US$60 million within weeks. Dogecoin has gone down 0.7% in the past 24 hours.

Price: $0.07 AUD (March 2021)

9. IOST (IOST)

IOST is a decentralised blockchain network that aims to build an online structure that meets the security and scalability needs of a decentralised economy. Launched in January 2018, IOST rose by 2.55% in the last 24 hours.

Price: $0.07 AUD (March 2021)

10. TRON (TRX)

TRON’s mission is to build a free, global, digital content entertainment system with distributed storage technology. The Ethereum-based coin was founded in 2017 and has gone up by 4.06% in the last 24 hours.

Price: $0.09 AUD (March 2021)

Like all cryptocurrencies, these Bitcoin penny stocks are extremely volatile, and susceptible to immense market fluctuation at the drop of a hat, or a tweet for that matter. But the above coins and tokens are some of the cryptocurrencies that are currently offering the most potential in the fast-paced world of digital assets.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Markets

Important Price Indicator Provides the Fifth “Buy Signal” in Bitcoin’s History

For the fifth time, the “Puell Multiple” indicator has signalled another buying opportunity for Bitcoin, which raises traders’ hopes that the leading cryptocurrency may be set for another rally.

The Puell Multiple indicator calculates the ratio of daily coin issuance (in USD) and the 365 moving average of daily coin issuance. It examines the fundamentals of mining profitability on the view that the revenue miners generate can influence price over time.

Puell Multiple Flags a “Buy Signal”

Puell Multiple chart. Source: LookIntoBitcoin

As seen in the chart, this is the fifth time “the value of Bitcoins issued on a daily basis has historically been extremely low” . This indicates a buying opportunity for Bitcoin investors and traders. The indicator may be another bullish signal to hold on this week; however, the creator of the indicator, analyst David Puell, also warns investors to be wary due to the Bitcoin hashrate.

The last time the Puell Multiple signalled investors to buy Bitcoin was after the Covid 19-led market crash last year. 

More Factors Suggesting Bitcoin Recovery

Bitcoin has shed a lot of value since hitting an all-time high in April. This is bearish to the extent that this current quarter will be the worst ever recorded over the past eight years. However, there have been factors that suggest the leading crypto won’t be in this state for long.

Crypto News Australia recently reported that the number of stablecoins on all exchanges has been increasing, which suggests investors may be positioning themselves for another pump. These bullish indicators are becoming easier to believe, as Bitcoin has been holding on pretty well since the beginning of this week.

Bitcoin was trading at US$36,258 on CoinMarketCap, which accounts for a 5.87 percent hike over the past 24 hours leading up to time of publication. This is the highest level Bitcoin has reached in the past seven days.

Bitcoin Price Chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
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Bitcoin Crypto News

RIP: Bitcoin Billionaire Mircea Popescu Dies at 41

Mircea Popescu, Bitcoin billionaire and controversial Bitcoin blogger, has drowned at Playa Hermosa, a popular beach in the Central American country of Costa Rica.

Popescu claimed that he owned 1 million Bitcoin, but that number is heavily disputed. More realistic estimates put the number closer to 30,000, worth just over $US1 billion at the current price, or around $US1.9 billion at its all-time high in April. Some sources believe Popescu’s was one of the top 20 largest Bitcoin holdings in the world.

A young Mircea Popescu. Source: CoinFlex

Investor Anthony Pompliano, one of Bitcoin’s most prominent advocates, noted that Popescu’s death might have a positive effect on everyone else’s Bitcoin holdings due to scarcity. Several people in the crypto community criticised him for being heartless and Pompliano deleted the tweet after six minutes.

A Polarising Figure

Popescu, 41, was a deeply polarising figure. Some in the crypto community worshipped him as a god, describing him as “the greatest man who ever lived”. Others said he was “thoroughly unlikable” and “not a nice man”, but conceded he was also a Bitcoin visionary.

I like Bitcoin because I like freedom. Simple as that.

Mircea Popescu

There were also those who detested Popescu because of his deeply problematic behaviour and dangerous views, which he would publish regularly on his personal blog.

Another Bitcoin Celebrity Dead

Popescu is not the only Bitcoin celebrity to have died this month. John McAfee was found dead in a Spanish prison just hours after his extradition to the US had been approved.

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Australia Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrency Law

Australian “Bitcoin Inventor” Wins Lawsuit Over Bitcoin Whitepaper Copyright Claim

Australian businessman Dr Craig Wright is a much derided figure within the Bitcoin community who infamously claims he is the creator of Bitcoin. Following his lawsuit filed earlier this year, the London High Court has granted default judgment for copyright infringement against “Cøbra”, the pseudonymous operator and publisher of the bitcoin.org website.

Did “Cøbra” lose the case on the merits? Not quite; he didn’t even bother defending it.

Wright Sues for Copyright Infringement

Earlier this year, Wright obtained permission to sue “Cøbra” for copyright infringement for unlawfully publishing the Bitcoin Whitepaper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”.

Dr Craig Wright. Source: Coindesk

In his claim, the self-described student, researcher, lawyer, banker, economist, pastor, coder, investor and mathematician argued that he owned the copyright to the seminal document under the moniker “Satoshi Nakamoto”. Although he currently claims that Bitcoin is a ponzi, his legal team was quick to point out that:

Dr Wright does not wish to restrict access to his White Paper [which is freely accessible on his blog, https://craigwright.net/bitcoin-white-paper.pdf] but does not agree that it should be used by supporters and developers of alternative assets, such as Bitcoin Core, to promote or otherwise misrepresent those assets as being Bitcoin, given that they do not support or align with the vision for Bitcoin as he set out in his White Paper.

Ontier LLP, Source: https://www.ontier.net/ia/wright-v-cobra-ontier-press-release.pdf

Wright Claims a “Win” in His Lawsuit

In legal proceedings, there are two types of quick wins – summary judgment and default judgment. Summary judgment is awarded when the defendant has filed a defence but the court finds there is no prospect of success. Default judgment, however, is when the defendant doesn’t file a defence in the first place.

In the case against “Cøbra”, default judgment was awarded together with legal costs in the amount of £35,000 (US$48,400). In other words, the defendant didn’t even try to mount a defence, as it was considered “a waste of time”.

Aside from legal costs, the order also required that “Cøbra” remove the Whitepaper and put a notice on the website informing visitors of the default judgment for a period of six months.

In an underhand jibe directed at Wright, “Cøbra” issued the following statement on Twitter:

In a post, “Cøbra” noted that the Bitcoin Whitepaper located at https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf wouldn’t be accessible to UK-based visitors, but that ultimately, he hoped that the truth would prevail.

What Are the Odds That Wright Created Bitcoin?

Most Bitcoiners will tell you “no chance”, but if you were feeling charitable, you could argue the odds are marginally higher than zero.

Despite his credentials, Wright is largely discredited in crypto circles. Entire websites have been created to disprove his claim that he created Bitcoin, and even the otherwise reserved Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, has called Wright a “fraud“. Most recently, he commented:

I view Craig Wright as being kind of like a Donald Trump figure and that, like, he’s not very intellectual. I think he gets a big audience because he says things that like to play to the resentments that people have.

Vitalik Buterin on the Lex Friedman Podcast

It’s not often that proponents of Bitcoin and Ethereum agree. The fact that they agree on the topic of Dr Wright is in itself revealing.

Wright’s litigious nature suggests the saga is not likely over. At the time of writing, he was still embroiled in court proceedings demanding access to 111,000 bitcoins held in two addresses which he claims were “stolen”.

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Bitcoin Crime Crypto News United Kingdom

UK Police’s Biggest Ever Crypto Seizure: £114 Million

London’s Metropolitan Police have impounded the equivalent of US$160 million in cryptocurrency as part of a money-laundering investigation, to date the largest haul of its kind in Britain and one of the largest in the world.

Police would not specify which cryptocurrencies were intercepted, but revealed the operation was carried out by its Economic Crime Command team in connection with money-laundering offences.

The Met’s Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Graham McNulty spoke to Britain’s Sky News of the link between money and violence and how the latter is used to protect criminal profits and maintain control of territories.

Cash remains king, but as technology and online platforms [continue to] develop, some [criminals] are moving to more sophisticated methods of laundering their profits. But we have highly trained officers and specialist units working day and night to remain one step ahead.

Graham McNulty, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, London Metropolitan Police

Detective Constable Joe Ryan added: “Criminals need to legitimise their money, otherwise it risks being seized by law enforcement.”

The proceeds of crime are almost always laundered to hide the origin, but by disrupting the flow of funds before they are reinvested, we can make London an incredibly difficult place for criminals to operate.

Det. Const. Joe Ryan, London Metropolitan Police

New Record in Crypto Misappropriations

The global record in crypto seizures once belonged to dark web marketplace Silk Road and its founder Ross Ulbricht when in 2020 the US Department of Justice recovered US$1 billion in stolen Bitcoin. But that amount is dwarfed by the US$3.6 billion in Bitcoin that’s gone missing following the disappearance earlier this month of the Cajee brothers who founded a cryptocurrency investment platform in South Africa.

Closer to home, in February, NSW Police arrested the head of a multimillion-dollar money-laundering syndicate after stopping his car in Sydney’s inner west and finding AU$1 million cash on board.

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Banking Bitcoin Crypto News

Billionaire Salinas is “Working with his Bank in Mexico” to Accept Bitcoin

With an estimated fortune of US$15.2 billion, Ricardo Salinas recently dipped his toe into the world of Bitcoin in a big way – to the tune of 10% of his net worth. This has since been followed by an unexpected announcement via Twitter where he revealed he is working with his bank to be the first in Mexico to accept Bitcoin.

Salinas’ View of Bitcoin: ‘No Stinky Fiat in My Portfolio’

In a short video doing the rounds on Twitter, Salinas talked about Bitcoin and his view that all fiat currencies are “a fraud”. When asked how he would invest over the next 30 years, he named Bitcoin and, with a smile, indicated he would not have any “stinky fiat” in his portfolio.

Salinas further argued that Bitcoin’s liquidity and global value alone justified inclusion in every investor’s portfolio. To him, the most important aspect of Bitcoin was the 21 million hardcap that stood in direct contrast to the limitless abundance of fiat currency.

#Bitcoin @RicardoBSalinas on Twitter

Bitcoin Billionaires Banter on Twitter

Shortly after the Salinas video was published, Michael Saylor shared it and had this to say:

Soon after, the 65-year-old Mexican mogul responded:

Financial Institutions are Increasingly Changing Their Tune

Salinas’ sentiments reflect a growing recognition within financial institutions such as banks that the digital asset space is here to stay. This remarkable turnaround started with the establishment of trading desks, which has since progressed into retail banking.

To illustrate this dramatic shift, NYDIG recently reported that by the end of 2021, up to 300 million US citizens would be able to buy Bitcoin natively through their online banking.

It’s difficult to see this trend slowing down in the long run, particularly in light of El Salvador’s recent adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, with a host of Latin American countries looking to follow suit.

Notwithstanding these positive developments, at this stage it remains unclear whether Salinas will succeed in his quest to get his bank to accept Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin Crypto Wallets

El Salvador to Send $30 Worth of Bitcoin to Each of its 6.5 Million Citizens

Nayib Bukele, the President of El Salvador, has revealed that each of the Central American republic’s 6.5 million citizens will be entitled to US$30 worth of Bitcoin if they sign up to use the government’s Bitcoin wallet, Chivo.

According to Numbeo, which assesses the cost of living in countries around the world, the average person in El Salvador earns around US$13 per day. So the airdrop represents over two days’ worth of wages.

President Nayib Bukele reveals Chivo, the El Salvador government’s Bitcoin wallet. Source: Documenting BTC

The move aligns well with the president’s recent statement that his country is adopting Bitcoin for the benefit of the people. Although every citizen of El Salvador will be entitled to the airdrop, Bukele stressed that nobody will be forced to use Bitcoin if they don’t want to:

The use of Bitcoin will be optional. Nobody will receive Bitcoin if they don’t want it […] If someone receives a payment in Bitcoin, they can choose to automatically receive it in [US] dollars.

Nayib Bukele

The CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (also known as CZ), applauded the move, no doubt aware that a large portion of these new users will use Binance to trade crypto in the future.

An Expensive Ad Campaign

The Bitcoin airdrop is a costly attempt by the El Salvadorean government to convince citizens to use its preferred wallet, Chivo. The scheme could cost the government around US$100 million if at least half of the population decides to take up its offer.

So what’s in it for the government? Some argue it is merely an effort to kickstart an ambitious economic transition. Others are far more sceptical.

El Salvador is Wasting No Time

Things are moving quickly in El Salvador. It was only weeks ago that it became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Since then, Athena Bitcoin announced it will be installing 1,000 Bitcoin ATMs across El Salvador, while Chainbytes announced that it wants to make El Salvador the hub of its crypto ATM operations for all of the Americas.

Problems With the World Bank

On a practical level, El Salvador has been having some issues with the World Bank, which has refused to help with the implementation of the country’s new Bitcoin ecosystem.

This could be a major logistical problem for El Salvador, or perhaps just a temporary roadblock; we will have to wait and see. One thing is for certain – Bukele won’t be focusing on the negatives. The President will keep his laser eyes trained on his vision of progress and economic revolution.

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Bitcoin Bitcoin ATM

El Salvador to Launch 1,000 Bitcoin ATMs for Purchase and Sale of BTC

El Salvador is leading Bitcoin adoption in Central and South America, declaring it will launch 1,000 Bitcoin ATMs across the country for buying and selling BTC.

The 1,000 new Bitcoin ATMs will be installed by Athena Bitcoin, which has established a strong presence in the Bitcoin ATM market and currently operates across the US, Colombia, Argentina and El Salvador.

Ceremonial launch of Athena’s Bitcoin ATMs. Source: Athena Bitcoin

Earlier this month, El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognise Bitcoin as legal tender. President Nayib Bukele stating that his country is “adopting Bitcoin for the benefit of the people“. Bukele, who many see as a revolutionary, also announced plans for a volcano-powered Bitcoin mining facility.

The Rise of Crypto ATMs

Chainbytes, another crypto ATM company, is also keen to get in on the action. It recently announced that it wants to “make El Salvador the manufacturing hub of Bitcoin ATMs for all of the Americas”.

There are approximately 22,000 crypto ATMs operating in the world today. ATM installations have increased by over 10,000 in the past year alone. These numbers seem to be a reliable barometer for worldwide crypto adoption.

Source: Coin ATM Radar

In Australia, Bitcoin ATMs do exist but are very rare, and almost non-existent outside of the capital cities. But as worldwide crypto adoption surges forward, access to crypto ATMs in Australia should increase as well.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Market Analysis Stablecoins

Stablecoins Held on Exchanges Hit All-Time High – Are They Getting Ready?

Stablecoins Held on Exchanges Hit All-Time Highs, Are They Getting Ready?

The number of stablecoins on all crypto exchanges has reached a record peak, which signals a likelihood of incoming buying pressure on the market again.

Stablecoin Reserve on Exchanges. Source: CryptoQuant

All Exchange Stablecoin Reserve Exceeds $16 Billion

Following the on-chain data from CryptoQuant, there is currently more than US$16 billion worth of stablecoin held in all cryptocurrency exchanges. 

Although USDC supply has been growing faster than Tether (USDT) since the beginning of this year, there’s a much higher number of USDT in exchange reserves than USDC. Over US$7 billion worth of Tether (USDT) is held in crypto exchanges. 

USDT Reserve on Exchanges. Source: CryptoQuant

At the same time, over US$6 billion BUSD and US$2 billion USDC are held in exchanges’ reserves, according to CryptoQuant.

Stablecoin reserves often serve as an indication for some analysts and traders to position themselves for market pumps. Thus, this latest massive increase in stablecoin reserve suggests the bulls are prepping for a comeback if these coins are being stored for buys. 

Bitcoin Liquid Supply is Declining

Bitcoin has been trading below US$35,000 over the past few days due to the bearish state of the market. However, Bitcoin’s liquid supply has been dropping for quite some time, which serves as another indicator that BTC is likely to resume an upward curve, especially in the presence of demand. 

Bitcoin’s liquid supply simply refers to the availability of Bitcoin on exchanges for easy buying and selling. A decrease in Bitcoin liquidity indicates that people are starting to move their coins off exchanges. This can result in a scarcity of BTC, which is probably bullish provided the demand increases.