Category: Bitcoin

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Bitcoin Crypto News

Miami Bitcoin Conference Hosts 20K Attendees Plus Billionaires and Celebrities

It’s a Bitcoin party in Miami Florida, baby! This year’s Bitcoin 2021 Conference continues this weekend at the Mana Wynwood Convention Center in Miami. 

General admission tickets went for a lazy US$1,500 and are completely sold out. Those with extra cash could fork out $20,000 for a “whale pass” and get themselves an extra day to mingle among the rich and famous and some geeky crypto nerds. That also entitled attendees to VIP tickets for Floyd Mayweather’s fight against YouTuber Logan Paul on June 6. 

Guests Include Entrepreneurs, Athletes, Actors and Politicians

Among the high-profile guests at the conference are Bitcoin billionaire Brock Pierce, the Winklevoss twins (Cameron and Tyler, themselves worth a cool US$6 billion), MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and skateboard entrepreneur Tony Hawk.

In preparing for the event, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez advocated for the city to pay its workers in Bitcoin.

“The Mayor has certainly said he is bold and supports innovation. Innovators are looking for a combination of quality of life and also feeling supported by the government … Miami caught the wave. They capitalised on the situation and, as a result, the future of Miami is probably forever changed.”

Brock Pierce

Unlike those ducks that fly south just for the winter, it seems venture capital and tech/crypto-loving New Yorkers have migrated to Miami on a more permanent basis, not merely for a summer vacation. Florida in general is proving to be a forward-thinking and welcoming state for cryptocurrency.

Watch The LiveStream Replay

Below is the video replay of Day 1 of the Event. We will update this article with the Day 2 video once it’s available.

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Bitcoin Bitstamp Crypto News Sports

Gamers Can Now Wager Bitcoin When Playing Counter-Strike

Now you can wager on your Counter-Strike games using ZEBEDEE Bitcoin gaming wallet and Infuse technology that lets you scan a QR code, join a lobby, and play Bitcoin-infused games.

Earlier this year, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) got an unofficial Bitcoin integration through Bitcoin start-up ZEBEDEE, where players pay a few Satoshis (1 Satoshi = 1/100,000,000 BTC) as an entry fee and if they perform well, they can walk away with a few extra.

Improved User Experience With Bitstamp

Using ZEBEDEE’s Infuse, servers players will be able to scan a QR code to pay a small amount of BTC – as little as 100 Satoshis – as an entrance fee. Different servers have different rules, fees and rewards. Your potential winnings will fluctuate based on your percentage of the total game score. And after the game you can withdraw your winnings.

ZEBEDEE admitted that previously it was a bit tedious to transfer funds or swap cryptos with their native wallet. However, now with Bitstamp integration “users can log into the ZEBEDEE wallet using their Bitstamp account info, making it easier for players to move and convert the Bitcoin they win while playing games”. By bridging the gap between the world of Bitcoin gaming and the global economy, gamers will be able to move Bitcoin between games and the real world with ease.

Bitcoin gaming wallet [ZEBEDEE]

ZEBEDEE’s integration uses Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to handle the transactions. In the late game, ZEBEDEE plans to launch servers that won’t require an entry fee, thanks to sponsors and advertising.

Allowing Normal Players To Monetise Their Fun-time

“The biggest revolution will be for ordinary players,” says ZEBEDEE CEO Simon Cowell, adding that “at the moment, esports tournaments are only open to a small elite of pros who win all the money”. ZEBEDEE’s service will allow no-pro gamers and crypto enthusiasts alike to leverage their skills and earn/lose some crypto playing games they enjoy. Simon also says that more infused games will be added later.

Bitcoin really does change the game, in more ways than one. Suddenly your score inside the game has real-world economic value. This massively increases the level of engagement you have with the game, but it also points to previously impossible economic models. I thoroughly believe that gaming is how we bring the next billion users into crypto and that, in the future, young people will earn their first paycheque simply by playing games.

Simon Cowell, CEO of ZEBEDEE
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Australia Bitcoin Crime Crypto News

IT Student Busted Buying Meth Parcel Off the Dark Web With Bitcoin

The Dark Web is a place where you can purchase drugs and have them delivered to your parents’ house, because it’s where you still live. And you can use Bitcoin to pay for them … unless, of course, you get caught.

Bag containing crystal meth, similar to that seized by Rockhampton Police

Joshua Ashton appeared in Rockhampton Magistrates Court this week after being charged with possession of methamphetamine. Ashton was alleged to have ordered the drug online in March 2021 and paid for it with A$300 worth of Bitcoin. He pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing a dangerous drug after Australia Post had intercepted a parcel bound for his parents’ address.

Parcel Intercepted After Police Tipoff by Australia Post

Ashton, a first-year IT student at Central Queensland University, claimed to have purchased the drug for his personal use. On March 25, his express post shipment containing 1.5 grams of methamphetamine was seized by police after the Australia Post tipoff.

Magistrate Jason Schubert recorded a conviction and fined Ashton $600, effectively tripling his investment.

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Bitcoin Crypto News

Holdouts Are Not Stopping Bitcoin Taproot Activation

Taproot activation for Bitcoin (BTC) is likely to happen this year as over 90% of the 2,016 mined blocks have already signalled for it.

Yesterday was the fourth day of the two-week period for the Taproot activation, which follows the rules of the Speedy Trial — a deployment method merged into Bitcoin Core. The mechanism will allow miners and mining pools to coordinate the softfork deployment by signalling support in their mined blocks.

At press time, 97.63% of blocks had signalled for Taproot between May and August.

Source: Taproot.watch

One Holdout Remains

Mara Pool, a BTC mining pool operated by Marathon Digital Holdings, signalled for Taproot on May 31 after adopting the latest codebases offered by Bitcoin Core developers.

While not all of Mara Pool’s mined blocks have signalled, as the company upgrades its miners it may start signalling support in the coming week.

A Vital Upgrade for Bitcoin

Taproot is likely to mark 2021 as a historic year for Bitcoin. It would improve BTC’s network privacy by only revealing relevant parts of smart contracts when spending, besides providing scalability to the network, lower fees and faster transactions.

A week ago, 95% of major BTC mining pools briefly signalled for Taproot, but declined to almost 60% in a short period. The upgrade lock-in was unlikely at that stage, but if the current signalling ratio remains above 90%, then Taproot will be implemented in November.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Markets Trading

Crypto Exchange Volumes Rise 37% In May 2021 To US$2.2 Trillion

Binance Adds Apple (AAPL) as Fourth Stock Token

Last month, major cryptocurrency exchanges recorded a massive volume of over $2.2 trillion USD, despite the recent drops in the price of cryptocurrencies.

The volume in May represents over a 37 percent increase compared to the previous month (April – $1.66 trillion USD), according to the data from TheBlock shown below.

Crypto Exchange Volume is up 132% YTD

Following the data, crypto exchange volume has increased by 132 percent compared to the January record of $977.79 billion USD, and over 2,000 percent compared to the record of $107 billion in May last year. In February, crypto exchanges made their first +$1.2 trillion volume, which has been on the rise for four consecutive months.

The leading crypto-to-crypto exchange, Binance, recorded over $1.5 trillion volume, which is about 66 percent of the total volume in May. Coinbase recorded the largest volume amongst fiat-to-crypto exchanges. Coinbase gained about $201 billion USD, which is approximately nine percent of the entire volume last month.

Judging by the growing trend, exchange volume is likely to increase further this month.

Bitcoin Futures Volumes Also On The Rise

Likewise, derivative exchanges also recorded an increase in Bitcoin Futures trading volume for the past month. The volume precisely increased by 48 percent in May, led by OKEx, which gained over 48 percent in BTC Futures volume, followed by Binance (+42%), FTX (+38%).

Huobi and Deribit gained about 36 percent in volume, while BitMEX lost four percent.  

At the time of writing, open interest in Bitcoin Futures totaled $11.25 billion USD, with the price of the underlying asset at $35,962 USD.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Sports

Top 10 Finish For The Bitcoin Car At Indy 500

On Sunday May 30, the world’s first Bitcoin car finished 8th in the 105th annual Indianapolis 500, after leading the race for 32 laps.

The car was entered by Ed Carpenter Racing who forfeited all sponsors for this year’s race (run over 500 miles) in favour of promoting Bitcoin.

Below is a video of the car being prepared for the event.

Bank Sponsored Car Runs Out Of Gas

In a humorous highlight, the Bitcoin car overtook the rival PNC Bank sponsored car when it ran out of fuel.

Bitcoin QR Code Added On The Car

Bitcoin QR Code Shown on The Bitcoin Car

There was a Bitcoin address in QR code added on the car itself, which was the primary address used for donations for the race.

It was Bitcoin Pizza Day last week, baking to support Bitcoin developers; now a car, racing for Bitcoin awareness! Exciting things are happening as Bitcoin keeps on coming; slowly but surely, creeping into our everyday lives, hidden in plain sight for those that are awake enough to see.

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Betting Bitcoin Crypto News Sports

Magnus Carlsen Wins The FTX Chess Cup Worth A$28,000 Of Bitcoin, Plus Cash

Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen has won the FTX Chess Cup, the world’s first Bitcoin chess championship, taking home the prize of 0.6 BTC and US$60,000 in cash.

In the live stream, Magnus (ranked #1) celebrated wildly after winning against Filipino-American Grandmaster Wesley So (ranked #9). See live chess ratings.

Winning this tournament provides Carlsen with a seat at the Meltwater Champions Chess Final in San Francisco.

This isn’t the first time chess and Bitcoin has been in the news, as former world champion Garry Kasparov declared his support for Bitcoin and blockchain technologies last year.

FTX is Expanding into “Crypto Sports Betting”

FTX has created a new specialised futures contract platform, which allows crypto traders to place “bets” on sporting events from the Olympics to events such as the 2024 American presidential elections.

How Australians Can Trade On The Olympics

Trading on the 2021 Olympics (OLY2021) is available to Australians, but not in several other countries as stated on the FTW website: “Trading OLY2021 is not permitted by residents of the United States, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the UAE, Cambodia, Turkey, mainland China and Hong Kong SAR, and other FTX prohibited jurisdictions.”.

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Bitcoin Bitcoin Mining Crypto News Regulation

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Drops By 16% Amid China’s Crackdown

The Bitcoin protocol has experienced a reduction in mining difficulty due to China’s crackdown on bitcoin mining and the cascade that followed.

On-chain data shows the network’s mining difficulty adjusted to 21.64 trillion, the lowest it’s been since mid-March, which represents a 16% drop. The latest all-time high (ATH) was 25.04 trillion in May, which was the strongest move upwards since October 2017.

May recorded an ATH in BTC mining difficulty

On May 21, China’s State Council published a document wherein it stipulates it will be “cracking down on bitcoin mining and trading activities” in order to “prevent possible financial risks”.

In the hours following the announcement, the exchange tokens of Huobi, OKEx and Binance, which are mainly China-based crypto trading exchanges, fell by 17%, 19% and 10%, respectively. During this time the Huobi Mining Pool hashrate also took a steep 29% slide.

What Affects The Hashrate

In the same week as the State Council’s announcement, bitcoin miners in Sichuan faced a cap due to increased public power usage. In order to free up electricity for the public, the Sichuan government allows businesses to use the excess hydro-power generated, making it appealing to miners.

At a meeting scheduled this week in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan, regulators will discuss the effects of bitcoin mining on the province’s hydro-electricity excess.

Due to regulatory uncertainty, Chinese miners are looking to pack up and ship out or at the very least sell their mining rigs. The silver lining is that if China were to ban crypto, it would no longer hold the majority of nodes securing the network.

Impact of the Hashrate

Hash power represents the combined computational power required to mine and process transactions on the blockchain. Higher hashrate means more resources are being devoted to process transactions, making a network more resilient to attacks.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is designed to adjust itself every 2,016 blocks based on average block production intervals throughout the period. There are also scheduled difficulty changes in order to keep block creation at around one block every 10 minutes. The more difficult it is to mine, the more hashes will need to be generated to find the block rewards, pushing the total hashrate higher. 

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Bitcoin Bitcoin Mining Crime Crypto News

British Police Discover Illegal Bitcoin Mining Farm in Search for Cannabis

English police stumbled upon a Bitcoin mining operation when their drone detected a considerable amount of heat emanating from a warehouse in the West Midlands on May 18.

Suspecting a cannabis farm, the police were able to seize around 100 Bitcoin mining devices which were running on stolen electricity.

Mining operation found by the Police in Sandwell, UK

Detectives said they were tipped off about lots of people visiting the unit throughout the day and a police drone picked up a lot of heat coming from the building.

It’s certainly not what we were expecting. It had all the hallmarks of a cannabis cultivation set-up.

Sandwell Police Sergeant Jennifer Griffin

The computer equipment has been seized but no arrests have been made.

Bitcoin mining equipment in question

Bitcoin Mining Is Not Illegal But Stealing Electricity Is

The police said although it wasn’t illegal to mine Bitcoin, the issue was that the electricity was syphoned from the power grid, hence illegal.

Mining for cryptocurrency is not itself illegal but clearly abstracting electricity from the mains supply to power it is. […]  It is just the second illegal mining operation the local force have discovered in the region.

Sandwell Police Sergeant Jennifer Griffin

We may see an increase in Bitcoin mining “operations” as it becomes easier to make it profitable with China clamping down on their mining farms.

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrencies

Best 10 Popular TV Shows Mentioning Bitcoin

Bitcoin has made some unexpected TV appearances over the years, appearing in some of our favourite mainstream shows and sitcoms.

Let’s take a look at our top 10 TV shows featuring Bitcoin.

1. The Big Bang Theory – The Bitcoin Entanglement (2017)

Sheldon and the gang talk about how the price of Bitcoin has increased significantly and suddenly remember they mined a bunch of it back in 2010. Then follows the old story – they realise they lost track of the flash drive and their dreams of being rich disappear, as usual.

2. Silicon Valley (2018) – Gilfoyle Crypto Powerpoint

The show features a PowerPoint presentation by Gilfoyle about cryptocurrencies. Outlining that Bitcoin was the first to crypto, it paved the way for more to come (just as Myspace did for Facebook and Twitter). “Crypto is out there and it’s not going away”. The plot leads to an ICO, thus welcoming PiedPiperCoin into the world of fictional digital assets.

3. The Good Wife – Bitcoin Commercial (2012)

The Good Wife watches an explainer video on the introduction of Bitcoin as digital money. Explained Bitcoin as “You can buy it from currency traders online or you can mine it like gold. One Bitcoin’s worth $3, it used to be $33”.

4. The Simpsons (2013) – Crusty The Clown on Bitcoin

Crusty the Clown breaks it down to Lisa, that he’s broke due to some “bad luck at the ponies” and the worst luck in the Bitcoin market. I wonder what crusty was trading back in 2013.

5. Crypto (2019) – The Movie

Kurt Russell stars in the movie Crypto as a father to AML (anti-money laundering) officer, played by Beau Knapp. Throw in some Russian Mafia and tens of millions in anonymous Bitcoin transactions and you’ve got yourself a blockbuster worth watching.

6. Billions (2018) – Crypto Profits

Axe from the popular show HBO Billions, hides his secret Wall Street trading profits in crypto on a Ledger USB stick. He was “Paid in crypto, of course”.

7. Family Guy (2017) – Bitcoin Mention

After a family prayer to God, asking to help save them from being poor, Peter has a brainwave: “Bitcoin!”.

8. House of Cards (2014) – Bitcoin Mention

The hidden internet – where you can go to find anything and everything including “Bitcoin laundering”.

9. Mr. Robot (2016) – Bitcoin Mention

The Ecorp villians from the Mr Robot series discuss making their own digital currency called Ecoin. They explain: “The problem here is hard cash is fading… rapidly. That’s just the way of the world right now and Bitcoin is spreading and if Bitcoin takes over we are all in a world of hell”.

10. Jeopardy (2013) – Definition of Bitcoin

Question: “A digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank?” Answer: “What is a Bitcoin!“

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFnCkxc8tCo

That’s our round up of the best TV shows mentioning so far!? What’s your favourite? leave a comment in the Twitter thread.