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Bitcoin Runes loses all momentum by 2024 end

The Bitcoin Runes protocol, which had a daily transaction count of over 750,000 on April 23, now struggles to reach 100,000 in December.

Transactions on the Runes protocol on the Bitcoin network experienced a significant drop in December, falling well below the highs reached during its more dominant months earlier in 2024.

After the Runes launch, the protocol consistently had the highest bandwidth on the Bitcoin network. On April 23, Runes had over 753,000 transactions, eclipsing the Ordinals protocol, BRC-20s and Bitcoin (BTC). The record accounted for more than 81% of all transactions in the Bitcoin blockchain. 

Number of transactions in the Bitcoin Runes protocol. Source: Dune

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Been scammed? ‘Crypto crimestoppers’ claim to help get crypto back

Private investigation firm Lionsgate claims it can help recover stolen crypto when going straight to the police fails.

If you’ve been scammed, it might seem like your crypto is lost forever. Decentralized blockchain wallets can’t be frozen in the way bank accounts can. And even if the scammer tries to cash out at a regulated exchange, the authorities may move too slowly to nab the funds before they are withdrawn.

But various private investigation firms do claim to have notched up success in recovering funds. Self-proclaimed “crypto crimestoppers” Lionsgate Network, claims it has recovered at least $4 million in stolen and lost crypto funds. 

Lionsgate said it uses connections with law enforcement in various US states and countries around the world to freeze and return stolen crypto to its owners.

Founder and CEO Bezalel Eithan Raviv told Cointelegraph that while it’s difficult to track and freeze funds, it’s not impossible. “Everything begins with analysis, as that’s what we do,” he stated. “That’s our core service, and we do it with the most advantageous tech there is in [the] crypto space or blockchain analysis.”

Locating the funds is one thing, but recovering them is another. 

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Bitcoin miner wallets awaken after over 15 years — Is this Satoshi?

Five miner wallets that received block rewards weeks after Bitcoin launched have started moving their coins. 

Wallets belonging to early Bitcoin miners who received coins as rewards shortly after the blockchain’s launch by its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, have recently been observed moving their BTC.

On Sept. 20, five miner wallets that received 50 Bitcoin (BTC) each as block rewards in 2009 started to move their funds. Blockchain data shows that one wallet received the mining reward on Jan. 29, 2009, while three received block rewards on Jan. 31, 2009. The last wallet received a block reward on Feb. 2, 2009.

One of the Bitcoin wallets seen moving mined BTC. Source: Blockchain.com

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Vitalik wallet sends 400 ETH worth $600K to Coinbase

A wallet associated with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been flagged sending 400 ETH worth $600,000 to Coinbase.

Blockchain sleuths have flagged a number of ETH transactions from a wallet associated to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in September 2023 totalling over $3.9 million.

Seperate blockchain monitoring profiles shared details of a 400 ETH transaction worth an estimated $632,000 from Vitalik’s wallet to Coinbase on Sept. 25.

According to Spot On Chain, Buterin’s most recent transaction is the latest in a spate of ETH deposits to centralized exchanges over the past 10 days. The blockchain analytics platform estimates that Buterin has deposited an estimated 2,421 ETH valued at $3.94 million from Sept. 15 onwards.

The platform outlined deposits amounting to 321 ETH worth $527,000 deposited to Kraken between Sept. 15 and Sept. 19. Buterin also reportedly deposited a total of 1,700 ETH ($1.95 million) to Bitstamp in a number of transactions on Sept. 17 and Sept. 20, while 500 ETH was deposited to Paxos on Sept. 19.

Cointelegraph has independently verified a number of these transactions using exclusive access to Nansen 2 beta’s wallet profiler. Blockchain data also highlights a transfer of 2,000 ETH worth $4.9 million to the address that has been carrying out these transactions from another wallet long associated with the Ethereum co-founder.

Nansen 2 wallet profiler highlighting a 3000 ETH transaction between wallets associated with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

According to Spot On Chain, the source of the 2,000 ETH transaction is a “better-known address” (0xD04daa65144b97F147fbc9a9B45E741dF0A28fd7) belonging to Buterin than the middle address (0x5567A4bE2D5b77F5Fd870f99Ed9167Feab8831B1) that has been transferring funds to exchanges.

Cointelegraph previously reported a $1 million, 600 ETH transaction from the vitalik.eth address on Aug. 21 that was also identified by on-chain monitoring platforms. 

Magazine: Recursive inscriptions: Bitcoin ‘supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi coming soon

US, Japan, South Korea Unite to Target North Korea’s Crypto Crime Empire

Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino says Bitcoin mining needs better analytical tools

Stablecoin operator Tether is building specialized Bitcoin mining software aimed at using data analytics to optimize mining operations and boost production, CTO Paolo Ardoino says.

Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) is building specialized software to optimize Bitcoin mining and renewable energy operating using data analytics, following recent investment endeavors into both categories.

In conversation with Cointelegraph, Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino expanded upon details of its in-development mining software which aims to deliver improved analytics and performance of mining sites.

Related: Tether’s game plan in El Salvador: Why invest in Volcano Energy?

Moria, named after the dwarven mining kingdom from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is being built by Ardoino and a team of developers. Tether's CTO had previously shared details of the software in a recent social media post.

Ardoino says that while the ecosystem has a number of cloud-based Bitcoin mining trackers, these lack a high degree of customizability and “deep-level orchestration capabilities”  which has left a gap in the market for a solution that analyzes real-time data to optimize mining and energy outputs.

“So far most software that mining companies use are basic cloud solutions that have a simplified interface that provides an overview of the current status of the bitcoin mining site.”

Ardoino said that having access to deep data sources of an energy production site or a mining site requires complex and efficient analytical tools in order to understand the performance of a site and its surrounding environment.

“If energy used by the mining site is wind or solar, there are optimization parameters, like predicted speed of wind for a specific day or a specific hour of the day, that could be used to overclock some of the miners and boost the production.”

Tether has been actively investing in energy production and Bitcoin mining using a portion of excess reserves of USDT. Ardoino said that ensuring data produced by a variety of devices including miners, containers and electric transformers is recorded, monitored and analyzed in real time is imperative to streamlining operations.

His recent X post extrapolated the value to be derived from a Bitcoin mining site made up of thousands of physical mining units stored in multiple containers connected to thousands more devices. The Tether CTO likened a mining site to an IoT project that produces millions of data points.

Ardoino added that the development focus of Moria is currently on its Bitcoin analytical tools, before the software is extended to cover energy production.

“There as well you have solar panels, wind mills etc that provide an incredible amount of information.”

Ardoino describes Moria’s software as a Holepunch-based scalable and modular architecture that is able to collect, aggregate and analyze data from a variety of devices to optimize Bitcoin mining.

Tether recently announced that it would invest $1 billion into El Salvador's Volcano Energy project, directing shareholder profits into energy infrastructure and Bitcoin mining operations. In another extensive interview with Cointelegraph, Ardoino outlined Tether’s reasoning behind the move.

Magazine: ‘Elegant and ass-backward’: Jameson Lopp’s first impression of Bitcoin

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Digital marketing will become Web3’s next major use case, says report

More than 70 startups have raised over $600 million in the embryonic Web3 digital marketing sector.

The Web3 ecosystem could become the next golden opportunity for digital marketers, with almost 200 companies already thinking deeply about how to utilize the Web3 tech stack.

On July 25, Web3 marketing analytics firm Safary released a comprehensive report titled “The Web3 Growth Landscape 2023."

It noted that the 2010s were the “golden age of digital marketing” with Web2 growth seeing 150 marketing companies in 2011 increase to 11,000 in 2023.

However, over the last three years, the digital marketing landscape has moved to a more privacy-centric environment. Therefore, marketers may also need to change tack and embrace the Web3 tech stack, it said.

Their findings reveal that there are currently almost 200 companies already “thinking deeply” about the new digital media landscape, and 71 of them have collectively raised $600 million in funding.

Market map showing 180+ teams building Web3 growth tools and experiences: Source: Safary

Messaging, Questing and Loyalty platforms are the most well-funded categories, it reported, with each attracting more than $100 million in funding.

Quest platforms like Yield Guide Games create engagement marketplaces, directing users to complete incentive offers. This facilitates a more direct brand-user relationship than ads.

Additionally, loyalty companies help brands increase customer value and retention through rewards programs powered by NFTs and tokens.

There are also analytics tools for marketers like Nansen and Dune that aggregate on-chain, platform and social data to uncover growth insights on Web3 communities.

Discovery platforms such as DappRadar “have the potential to be some of the biggest ad real estate proprietaries in Web3,” it added, provided they invest in long-term strategies like SEO. It also cited CoinMarketCap as an example of one of “the highest trafficked websites on the internet.”

There are also 18 Web3 growth agencies that advise and deploy growth strategies on behalf of blockchain projects.

Related: Web3 has permanently changed how marketing works

Marketing industry analytics outlet Chiefmartec has logged 11,038 marketing solutions and services this year overall, an 11% increase from the 9,932 it charted in 2022.

As Web3 evolves and grows, marketers will need to keep up and it appears that hundreds of startups have already got a head start.

Web3 Gamer: Earn Bitcoin in Minecraft, BGA’s 50/50 gender split, Oath of Peak hot take

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US Government Plans to Sell Over 41,000 Bitcoins Confiscated from Silk Road Hacker

US Government Plans to Sell Over 41,000 Bitcoins Confiscated from Silk Road HackerAccording to a court document filed on March 31, 2023, regarding the sentencing of James Zhong, who stole over 50,000 bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace, the U.S. government plans to liquidate 41,490 bitcoin “over the course of this calendar year.” U.S. Government Discloses Strategy for Selling Confiscated Bitcoin The U.S. government, one of the […]

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Arbitrum’s Governance Token ARB Ranks Within Top 40 Market Capitalizations Following Airdrop

Arbitrum’s Governance Token ARB Ranks Within Top 40 Market Capitalizations Following AirdropFollowing the Arbitrum token airdrop, ARB has become a top 40 cryptocurrency as it currently holds the 37th largest market valuation out of more than 23,000 listed digital currencies. Currently, there is a circulating supply of 1,275,000,000 ARB, and the Arbitrum Foundation’s DAO Treasury holds 3.52 million or 35.27% of the airdropped supply. Over the […]

US, Japan, South Korea Unite to Target North Korea’s Crypto Crime Empire

Crystal Blockchain Study Reveals $16.7 Billion in Crypto Assets Stolen Since 2011

Crystal Blockchain Study Reveals .7 Billion in Crypto Assets Stolen Since 2011Crystal Blockchain, a company that provides blockchain data and analytics, published a study covering security breaches, fraud, and scams related to cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (defi). According to the study, approximately $16.7 billion in crypto assets have been stolen since 2011. Last year, Crystal’s intelligence team documented 199 incidents resulting in the theft of $4.17 […]

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Elementus Raises $10 Million to Bring Clear Blockchain Analytics to Institutional Customers

Elementus Raises  Million to Bring Clear Blockchain Analytics to Institutional CustomersElementus, a New York-based blockchain firm, has raised $10 million as part of its Series A-2 funding round, led by Web3 VC company Parafi Capital. The raise, which values the company at $160 million, aims to allow Elementus to keep improving its processes for providing effective and sound blockchain analytics to Web3 companies and government […]

US, Japan, South Korea Unite to Target North Korea’s Crypto Crime Empire