Bitcoin Fundamentals

Crypto Long & Short: No, Bitcoin Is Not in a Bubble

Noelle Acheson Damanick DantesJan 17, 2021

Commentators and analysts who say bitcoin is in a “bubble” show they don’t understand what the term means.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin Struggles to Recover After Biggest Weekly Price Loss Since September

Omkar GodboleJan 18, 2021

Prices fell by 6% in the seven days to Jan. 17, a weekly fall not seen since the first week of September.

Canada

Former Canadian Prime Minister Lists Bitcoin as Possible Future Reserve Currency

Tanzeel AkhtarJan 18, 2021

Stephen Harper said "the number of things that people use as reserves will expand," but the U.S. dollar will still retain its dominant role.

Scalability

Blockchain Bites: Goldman Sachs Investigates Crypto Custody, Solving the Blockchain ‘Trilemma’

Daniel KuhnJan 18, 2021

Also: Coinbase plans infrastructure updates to prevent outages during periods of volatility.

Bitcoin Mining

Iran Reportedly Seizes 45K Bitcoin Mining Machines After Closure of Illegal Operations

Sebastian SinclairJan 18, 2021

The mostly ASIC devices used to mine bitcoin are said to have been consuming 95 megawatts per hour of electricity at a reduced rate.

Bitcoin Traders

Australian Bitcoin Trader Takes Banks to Tribunal After Sudden Account Closures

Tanzeel AkhtarJan 18, 2021

The trader operating a registered digital currency exchange, says he is unable to continue operating without banking services.

Coinbase

Coinbase Redoing Infrastructure to Prevent Outages During Peak Times

William FoxleyJan 17, 2021

The exchange also said it's working to improve its customer service response time, another source of complaints.

Securities and Exchange Commission

Gary Gensler Named as Joe Biden’s SEC Chair Pick

Tanzeel AkhtarJan 18, 2021

Gary Gensler has taught courses about blockchain at MIT.

Podcasts

Lyn Alden on Why the Dollar System No Longer Serves the US or the World

Nathaniel WhittemoreJan 18, 2021

At the end of an 80-year global debt supercycle, who benefits from having the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency?

Podcasts

Bitcoin News Roundup for Jan. 18, 2021

Jan 18, 2021

With BTC hovering around $36,000 and Iran's government blaming miners for recent blackouts, CoinDesk’s Market’s Daily is back with the latest news roundup.

Podcasts
Podcasts

‘You’re Starting to Democratize Access.’ Arca’s Jeff Dorman on Crypto’s Impact on Organizational Structure and Other Big Trends to Look for in 2021

Ben SchillerJeff DormanJan 17, 2021

A leading crypto investor on the year-ahead for bitcoin, NFTs, India and DeFi community tokens. Your host is Ben Schiller.

Grayscale Investments
Grayscale Investments

Grayscale Raises $700M+ in a Day, Its Largest Daily Asset Raise Ever

Tanzeel AkhtarJan 17, 2021

In Q4 2020, the company raised $3.3 billion across its cryptocurrency investment vehicles.

ETPs
ETPs

CoinShares to Launch a Bitcoin ETP on SIX Swiss Exchange

Nathan DiCamilloJan 18, 2021

It joins several other ETP providers on the exchange, including ETC Group, with its own physically backed bitcoin product.

Bloomberg
Bloomberg

Bitcoin’s Massive Swings Give Pause to CFOs Mulling Reserve Investment: Bloomberg

William FoxleyJan 17, 2021

Bitcoin’s 30% price correction was enough to give some CFOs second thoughts.

Mining
Mining

Nvidia May Restart Production of Crypto Mining GPUs if Demand Sufficient

Tanzeel AkhtarJan 18, 2021

Selling dedicated crypto cards would alleviate pressure on Nvidia's consumer models.

Recent

Huobi

Huobi Global Connects to European Banking System via UK’s BCB Group

Ian Allison

The crypto exchange is partnering with BCB Group to get instant GBP and euro settlement for its customers.

Altcoins

Chainlink Hits Record High, Altcoins Rally Amid Bitcoin Consolidation

Omkar Godbole

Chainlink's LINK token set a new record price early on Monday, and other altcoins are seeing solid gains.

Exchanges

Livecoin Exchange Announces Closure After December Hack

Tanzeel Akhtar

Following an alleged December breach, the trading platform now says it will close and repay users any remaining funds.

Gaming

Publisher of ‘Infinite Fleet’ Game Kicks Off Token Offering With $1M Tether Investment

Sebastian Sinclair

The security token offering enables investors in select EU countries to share in future profits, Exordium says.

Coinbase

Coinbase Joins $6M Funding Round for Licensed Middle-East Exchange Rain Financial

Tanzeel Akhtar

The $6 million Series A round was led by Middle-Eastern VC firm MEVP Capital.

Travel

Offline Travel App Maps.Me Raises $50M in Funding Round Led by Alameda Research

Sebastian Sinclair

The funding will go toward the launch of a multi-currency wallet on Maps.me, enabling decentralized finance (DeFi) features for 140 million users.

China

China’s Blockchain-Based Service Network to Integrate Central Bank Digital Currency

William Foxley

The BSN expects to complete integrations with a total of 30 public blockchains this year.

Ripple

Ripple Is Hiring Director of Engineering for RippleX Platform

Tanzeel Akhtar

The planned new hire along with a recent expansion show Ripple does not seem deterred by legal troubles in the U.S.

Podcasts

‘America and Sound Money,’ the Most Important Bitcoin Essay of the Last Year

Nathaniel Whittemore

A reading of the “Stone Ridge 2020 Shareholder Letter” by Ross Stevens.

Learn

Recent

MetLife

Central Bank Digital Currencies Not a ‘Fad,’ MetLife Investment Says

William Foxley

The investment giant predicts CBDCs will continue gaining steam, although a "launch among Western countries seems unlikely to occur anytime soon."

Norilsk Nickel

Russian Metals Firm Norilsk Nickel Backs IBM’s Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Pact

Tanzeel Akhtar

The technology is aimed at tracing commodity flows in near real-time.

Podcasts

Crashes, Rallies and Stimulus: A Normal Week for 2021 Bitcoin

Nathaniel Whittemore

The second full business week of January has demonstrated many trends that NLW argues will shape bitcoin and crypto throughout the year.

Bitcoin Funds

3iQ’s Canadian Bitcoin Fund Hits C$1B in Market Cap

Tanzeel Akhtar

The digital asset manager passed a key milestone this week.

Non-Fungible Tokens

K-Pop Stars to Mint Digital Collectibles on Polkadot

Muyao Shen

RBW's Japanese subsidiary will be selling its singers' digital products on the blockchain.

XRP

Kraken to Halt XRP Trading for US Residents

Kevin Reynolds

Clients residing outside the U.S. will be unaffected.

Ethereum

Optimism ‘Soft Launches’ Ethereum Throughput Solution With DeFi’s Synthetix

William Foxley

A potential fix for Ethereum's costly congestion problems.

Market Wrap

Market Wrap: Bitcoin Dips to $34.4K as Big-Name DeFi Tokens Trounce ETH

Daniel Cawrey

Bitcoin may be down now but there is still growing demand for crypto assets, one analyst said.

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs to Enter Crypto Market ‘Soon’ With Custody Play: Source

Ian Allison

Goldman, JPMorgan and Citi are all said to be looking at crypto custody.