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Crypto Exchange Liquid Hacked, Loses Millions in Various Currencies

Crypto Exchange Liquid Hacked, Loses Millions in Various CurrenciesJapanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid is suspending deposits and withdrawals after a security breach resulting in the loss of around an estimated $80 million in digital assets. The platform published the suspected hacker’s addresses and said it’s moving funds to cold storage. Hacker Hits Japanese Crypto Exchange Liquid Asian cryptocurrency exchange Liquid Global has confirmed it […]

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Young South African Engineer Rues Deleting Computer File Containing Keys to 20 BTC

Young South African Engineer Rues Deleting Computer File Containing Keys to 20 BTCA young South African electronics engineer has rued his decision to delete a text document containing the keys and password to a crypto wallet that held some 20 bitcoins. According to the engineer, the lost coins had been mined more than ten years ago using a modified personal computer that “boasted an AMD Phenom X3 […]

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Ukraine Shuts Down Crypto Exchangers Sending Money to Russian Wallets

Ukraine Shuts Down Crypto Exchangers Sending Money to Russian WalletsThe Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has closed down a number of “underground” crypto exchangers in Kyiv. Officials say the platforms have been making a million dollars in monthly turnover and allegedly sending money to digital wallets operated by Russian payment providers. Law Enforcement Busts Cryptocurrency Exchangers in Ukraine Officers from Ukraine’s main law enforcement […]

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Infrastructure bill passes US Senate — without clarification on crypto

"This legislation imposes a badly flawed, and in some cases unworkable, cryptocurrency tax reporting mandate that threatens future technological innovation,” said Senator Toomey.

The fight for lawmakers to clear up the language used to define brokers in the crypto space may be moving to the United States House of Representatives soon after a failed attempt in the Senate.

In a 69-30 vote, the Senate passed HR 3684 this morning, a bipartisan bill that proposes roughly $1 trillion in funding for roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects. However, the bill also suggests implementing tighter rules on businesses handling cryptocurrencies and expanding reporting requirements for brokers, mandating that digital asset transactions worth more than $10,000 are reported to the IRS.

Though initially split on the best course of action to amend the language in the bill, a group of six senators — Pat Toomey, Cynthia Lummis, Rob Portman, Mark Warner, Kyrsten Sinema and Ron Wyden — proposed a compromise amendment on Monday. The amendment would have exempted software developers, transaction validators and node operators as brokers, while suggesting that tax reporting requirements “only apply to the intermediaries.”

Despite the lack of an amendment clarifying the crypto language in the bill, Portman, Warner, Sinema and Wyden all voted in favor of the infrastructure deal, with only Lummis and Toomey voting nay. The Pennsylvania senator, Pat Toomey, said the legislation was “too expensive, too expansive, too unpaid for and too threatening to the innovative cryptocurrency economy” in his reasons for not voting in favor of the bill.

"This legislation imposes a badly flawed, and in some cases unworkable, cryptocurrency tax reporting mandate that threatens future technological innovation,” said Toomey, following the bill’s passage in the Senate.

After a single senator, Richard Shelby of Alabama, objected to the introduction of the compromise amendment to the infrastructure bill on Monday, it failed to be added to the legislation prior to a final vote. However, lawmakers in the House still have the opportunity to amend the language on crypto before a full vote in the chamber and the bill being signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Related: Rep Tom Emmer introduces bill to provide certainty for digital assets

The bill likely won’t be taken up in the House until later this year. Representatives and co-chairs of the Blockchain Caucus including Tom Emmer, Darren Soto, Bill Foster and David Schweikert have sent a letter to all House members urging them to amend the forthcoming bill to “clearly exempt noncustodial blockchain intermediaries and ensure that civil liberties are protected.”

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Russia to Track Crypto Transactions With Help From Sberbank-Owned Company

Russia to Track Crypto Transactions With Help From Sberbank-Owned CompanyThe Federal Financial Monitoring Service of Russia is going to start tracking cryptocurrency transactions. The agency has already selected a contractor to develop the platform. The entity is affiliated with one of Russia’s largest financial institutions, Sberbank. Rosfinmonitoring to Keep Record of Cryptocurrency Wallets Used for Illicit Purposes Russia’s financial watchdog, Rosfinmonitoring, has selected a […]

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Survey Shows 40% of US Crypto Owners Forget Their Password, 20% Write Passwords on Paper

Survey Shows 40% of US Crypto Owners Forget Their Password, 20% Write Passwords on PaperAccording to a recent study on crypto asset storage and passwords, a survey that polled over 1,000 digital currency owners shows 39.7% have forgotten their passwords. The study produced by cryptovantage.com indicates that users unable to recover their passwords lost an average of $2,134. Survey Polls 1,000 US Crypto Owners, Respondents Invest $7,245 on Average […]

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Israel Begins Seizure of Bitcoin Donations Collected by Hamas

Israel Begins Seizure of Bitcoin Donations Collected by HamasIsrael’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz has ordered the seizure of cryptocurrency funds raised by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. His department has reportedly started taking control over digital wallets used by the terrorist group to collect crypto donations from abroad. Defense Ministry of Israel Targets Crypto Addresses Used by Hamas Minister Gantz approved the seizure […]

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Jack Dorsey’s Square Building Bitcoin Hardware Wallet to Make Crypto Custody More Mainstream

Jack Dorsey’s Square Building Bitcoin Hardware Wallet to Make Crypto Custody More MainstreamJack Dorsey’s payments company, Square Inc., has confirmed that it is building a bitcoin hardware wallet and service with the aim to “make bitcoin custody more mainstream.” Square’s Bitcoin Hardware Wallet in the Works Square Inc. is building a hardware wallet, Jesse Dorogusker, the company’s hardware lead, announced Thursday on Twitter. He tweeted: We have […]

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New Bitcoin entities near all-time high as analyst heralds ‘positive whale activity’

Appetite for BTC is real at current levels, data shows, with bears needing to search hard for an on-chain metric that is not positive.

Bitcoin (BTC) on-chain activity is "dead" but on-chain indicators are overwhelmingly positive right now, says analyst William Clemente.

In the latest edition of Anthony Pompliano's weekly newsletters, Clemente highlighted multiple metrics showing no reason to be bearish about Bitcoin this month.

50,000 new Bitcoin entities every day

With BTC price action failing to impress, there is no shortage of bearish outlooks on Bitcoin, with even its best-known price models coming in for criticism.

If on-chain data is anything to go by, Clemente argues, the situation is far from bearish.

"The growth of new users is now reaching new all-time highs, over 50,000 new entities coming on-chain a day," he summarized.

Bitcoin entities net growth 14-day moving average chart. Source: William Clemente/ Glassnode

Those new entities could well be putting pressure on exchange reserves, which have resumed their downtrend — in the past week alone, almost 18,000 BTC has left exchange wallets.

"Retail has been buying heavily for weeks now, but we finally got the uptick in whales that we were waiting for," the newsletter continued.

"There were 17 new whales birthed on the blockchain this week, while at the same time the overall holdings of whales increase up by 65,429 BTC." 

As Cointelegraph reported, whales have already been in the news for other reasons this week, with one giant build-up of short positions on exchange Bitfinex instigating a price dip which lost BTC/USD important $33,000 support.

More broadly, by contrast, Clemente views current activity as an "uptick in positive whale activity."

Never mind slow block times

Elsewhere, cause for optimism comes from a diminishing premium on the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) despite the impending unlocking events.

Hash rate has likewise not returned to challenge recent lows of 83 exahashes per second (EH/s), leaving only transaction numbers to worry about.

Bitcoin 7-day average hash rate chart. Source: Blockchain

"Overall, on-chain activity is dead, shown by the number of Bitcoin transactions," Clemente acknowledged.

Even here, however, there is a caveat.

"If I had to build up a bear case and challenge my own opinion this is one of the charts I would use; however, a portion of this drawdown is likely from people using the Bitcoin network less due to slower block times," he reasoned.

Bitcoin transaction numbers 14-day moving average chart. Source: William Clemente/ Glassnode

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Basketball Players in Canada to Be Paid in Bitcoin

Basketball Players in Canada to Be Paid in BitcoinCEBL, the Canadian men’s basketball league, will offer its professional basketball players the option to receive a portion of their salary in cryptocurrency. The new payment option has been enabled through a partnership with the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Bitbuy. Bitbuy to Convert Canadian Dollar Salaries Into Bitcoin The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced the […]

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