XRP Spike / $1.7 Billion Stolen / Wrapped Bitcoin / Fujitsu

Subscribe | View in browser $BTC (12:38 p.m. EST): $3,460.11 (-0.88%) // 90-day high: $6,860.85 // 90-day low: $3,286.14 / / More… $BCH ABC (12:38 p.m. EST): $114.88 (-2.86%) // 90-day high: $632.22// 90-day low: $80.95 // More… $ETH (12:38 p.m. EST): $108.12 (-1.84%) // 90-day high: $229.12 // 90-day low: $85.11 // More… $LTC (12:39 p.m. EST): $31.58 (-1.14%) // 90-day high: $54.64 // 90-day low: $22.09 // More… $XRP (12:39 p.m. EST): $0.30 (-3.19%) // 90-day high: $0.53 // 90-day low: $0.28 // More… Here are the 10 most important stories about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies today       1. The price of XRP jumped 13 percent in a 24-hour period. This increase comes as the price of other major cryptocurrencies struggled to hold their price with some hitting monthly lows. The increase coincides with a report from Business Insider, which broke down a company update from Genesis Trading. That firm revealed it has issued more than a billion worth of XRP, bitcoin, and ethereum loans last year. The fact that the demand for XRP may have led some traders to express bullishness toward the asset. –ETHEREUM WORLD NEWS       2. Hackers stole $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency last year as the number of hackers more than tripled in 2018 over the year before. CipherTrace, a blockchain intelligence company, said about $950 million was stolen from exchanges and wallet providers. Another $725 million was taken through "inside jobs," including fraudulent ICOs, exit scams, staged exchange hacks, and Ponzi schemes. The reasoning behind these thefts is actually fairly simple: A large number of exchanges and wallets popped up during the 2017 crypto boom but did not have the proper security protocols in place to protect users. –BITCOINIST       Ad Intelligence is creating stronger connections. Today's world generates 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day. Sifting through that much available information is hard. Micron is helping analyze that data to create stronger connections between AI, organizations, and most importantly, people.​​ Learn More. 3. Wrapped Bitcoin has officially launched. WBTC is an ethereum-based token backed by bitcoin and is a joint initiative from BitGo and the Kyber Network. It aims to provide users with collateral for stablecoins or lending. The developers also hope that these tokens provide a template for where other developers can build new tokens, sparing them from coding new cryptocurrencies from the ground up. –COIN TELEGRAPH       4. Fujitsu has developed a blockchain-based system for electricity exchange between enterprise consumers. The company said the system has been able to reduce energy costs more than 40 percent. Called Demand Response, the system helps consumers balance the demand supply of power by reducing or shifting electricity use during peak periods and receiving incentives in return. Despite these early results, Fujitsu said, the system can be improved by further removing power aggregators, energy middlemen, who work with electricity consumers to achieve power-saving targets. –COINDESK       Throwback Thursday The month of February has historically been good for bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market for reasons no one has yet been able to explain. The price of bitcoin in February has outperformed its price in the January preceding it each of the last for years. This comes even during last year's historic downturn. Bitcoin lost 26 percent of its value last January, but was able to gain 1.6 percent in February. Despite this trend, analysts do not believe bitcoin will keep its streak this year.  Throwback Thursday is Inside Bitcoin's weekly look at an important event in the history of cryptocurrency market. If you have an idea for a future issue let us know by hitting reply to this email. –David       Ad How is AI changing the way professionals work across industries? Find out from WIRED and Watson experts at the AI & Future Of Work Virtual Summit Join this digital event to hear how AI is increasing productivity and allowing workers to focus on higher value tasks. Learn how you can harness AI to help your teams recognize opportunities you may not even know to look for! Register for the AI & Future of Work Virtual Summit today! 5. Cryptocurrency researcher Nic Carter looks at the altcoin market in an attempt to predict which coins are dead and which ones soon will be. –MEDIUM 6. Hamas has called on supporters to donate them bitcoin to help fund operations. A spokesperson for the militant Palestinian group that rules the Gaza Strip, said bitcoin donations would help the group get around international restrictions to receive funding. –BLOOMBERG 7. The Next Web takes time to explain "the halvening," the time every few years where the rewards for mining bitcoin are cut in half. The next one will take place probably in mid-2020. –THE NEXT WEB 8. A court ruling in Florida would make it easier for police officers to target people who buy and sell digital currencies in unregulated deals. A 35-year-old man had been arrested in 2016 for illegally transmitting and laundering $1,500 worth of bitcoins. His defense team argued that bitcoin was not considered money under federal law. A court of appeals disagreed with that argument, overthrowing a lower court's ruling. –MIAMI HERALD 9. EasyDNS announced it will no longer accept bitcoin cash for payments, but will accept litecoin. –THE MERKLE 10. Murad Mahmudov, a prominent crypto analyst, believes bitcoin cold hit $1,700 per coin in June based on the coin's 200-week moving average. –NEWS BTC       Written and curated by David Stegon. He has been a reporter for 15 years, the past 10 focused on technology. Follow him @davidstegon. Editing team: Lon Harris (editor-in-chief at Inside.com, game-master at Screen Junkies) and Susmita Baral (editor at Inside, recent bylines in NatGeo, Teen Vogue, and Quartz. Runs the biggest mac and cheese account on Instagram).       Ad Owl Labs is the creator of the Meeting Owl, the first 360-degree smart conference camera. Learn more.

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