Tuesday, August 27, 2019

$5 billion ruling?

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August 27, 2019
SANCTIONS RULING:  Craig Wright will likely be ordered to turn over half of his bitcoin holdings and intellectual property to the estate of Dave Kleiman, a magistrate judge recommended Monday. The ruling, if approved by the federal judge overseeing the case, would apply to holdings and IP from before 2014. Wright will also not be entitled to a jury trial and cannot oppose the order, though he can appeal, a CoinDesk source said. Full story

GAMING MALWARE: A new piece of ransomware called Syrk has been found encrypting files on the open source Hidden-Cry program, an encryptor that appeared online last December and has been the basis for many bits of malware over the past year, as well as some 250 million Fortnite players. Syrk targets Fortnite users by masquerading as a cheating app for the game. If a ransom isn’t paid in crypto the app starts deleting one important folder after another. “Combining game malware with ransomware was inevitable,” said Chris Morales, head of security analytics at Vectra. Full story

LENDING CRYPTO: Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, has launched a lending business in its bid to attract customer deposits. The company said in an announcement on Monday that Binance Lending will be available for customer subscription starting from 6:00 UTC on Aug. 28, on a first-come, first-served basis. Initially, users will be able to lend their U.S. dollar-pegged USDT, ethereum classic (ETC) and Binance’s BNB cryptocurrency in order to earn interest, payable from Aug. 29 to Sept. 11. Full story

ALGO FUND: Algo Capital, an investment firm exclusively focusing on the Algorand blockchain ecosystem founded by MIT professor Silvio Micali, has raised $200 million for a new fund dubbed the Algo VC Fund. The company said in an announcement on Tuesday that the fundraise includes investments from NGC Ventures, Arrington XRP Capital and tZERO investor 11-11 Ventures, among others. The firm said the fund will focus on projects that are building applications and infrastructure on Algorand to accelerate the adoption of the blockchain’s native cryptocurrency Algo as a means of payment. Full story
DEEPER DROP: Bitcoin’s price could fall below $9,000 if it closes below the 12-week exponential moving average ($9,940) on Sunday. The average (EMA) has served as a strong support over the last six weeks. However, the slide could also recharge engines for a subsequent move above June’s high of $13,880 should it occur. Full story
HEGEMONIC BITCOIN: Bank of England governor Mark Carney suggested a series of digital currencies supported by a network of central banks as a possible replacement to the dollar as global reserve, and a former JPMorgan Chase banker believes bitcoin might fit the bill. Richard Galvin, currently the CEO of Digital Asset Management, told Bloomberg that bitcoin “largely fits the description” of what Carney said would take the dollar’s place in global banking. Bitcoin would be “something ‘removed’ from country borders and independent of country-specific interest rate policies,” he said.

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Wright to hand over 50% of BTC / Facebook hires another lobbyist / $2m in Ethereum grants

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Market Watch: Bitcoin and the altcoin market are in the red today as the industry continues to adjust. Bitcoin has settled back toward $10,100 after rising to $10,300 following a tweet from President Donald Trump regarding the U.S.-China trade war yesterday.

  • Bitcoin: $10,141 (⬇️ 1.94%) // $181.5 billion market cap.
  • Ethereum: $187 (⬇️ 0.92%) // $20.1 billion market cap.
  • XRP: $0.268 (⬇️ 0.78%) // $11.5 billion market cap.
  • Bitcoin Cash: $307 (⬇️ 0.54%) // $5.5 billion market cap.
  • Top 100 Winner: MaidSafeCoin: $0.208 (⬆️ 25.16%) // $94 million market cap.
  • Top 100 Loser: Wanchain: $0.435 (⬇️ 17.86%) // $46 million market cap.

Prices are as of 12:40 p.m. EDT.

     

1. Self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright has been ordered to hand over 50 percent of his Bitcoin assets and intellectual property to the estate of the late computer scientist David Kleiman. According to a person familiar with the case, Florida magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart recommended the plaintiffs be given 50 percent of the more than one million Bitcoins - worth around $5 billion - and the intellectual property rights, both of which were held by Wright prior to December 31, 2013. The judge also dismissed Wright's testimony, finding that he had perjured himself with falisfied documents. Crypto podcaster Peter McCormack, who had a libel claim filed by Wright for accusing him of fraud, didn't hold back his delight on Twitter. However, Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd said the interesting part wasn't the judge's ruling, but that Wright wouldn't be able to pay the Bitcoins because he never had them. This latest announcement follows that of a denied request by Wright earlier this month to dismiss the ongoing lawsuit against him, which began in 2018. –COIN DESK

Craig Wright recommended to hand over 50% of Bitcoin assets to Kleiman estate
     

2. Calvin Ayre, a Canadian-Antiguan entrepreneur and founder of the Ayre Group and online gambling company Bodog, is continuing to argue in favor of so-called Bitcoin creator Craig Wright. Following the news that Wright will have to hand over 50 percent of his Bitcoins and intellectual property to the Kleiman estate, Arye took to Twitter to say the judge had ruled Wright and Kleiman as Satoshi Nakamoto. Many, however, dismissed his comments. Investor and entrepreneur Alistair Milne was one who tweeted that this didn't happen. "Anyone telling you otherwise is either insane or a liar," he added. –@CALVINAYRE

     
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3. Facebook is not giving up at trying to sway U.S. lawmakers over its proposed Libra stablecoin. So much so, that it has hired FS Vector, an advisory lobbying firm, to support the social media platform on "issues related to blockchain policy." John Collins, partner at FS Vector, will lead the Facebook account. The hiring of yet another lobbying firm aiding Facebook to sell Libra to Washington brings the number up to at least seven firms. Previous appointments include BakerHostetler, Cypress Group, Davis Polk, OB-C Group, and Sternhell Group. Ed Bowles, a U.K. Standard Chartered lobbyist, was also hired by Facebook as its London-based director of public policy. –O'DWYER'S

     

4. The Ethereum Foundation has granted over $2 million in grants to further the development of Ethereum 2.0. In a blog, the foundation announced that it has "granted substantial awards to leading client development teams." The distribution of the funds will go toward the advancement of the launch of Serenity, which will run on proof-of-stake blockchain as well as the Beacon Chain. There will be seven companies and researchers receiving the grants such as Harmony, which has been awarded $189,000, Prysmatic Labs for $725,000, and Sigma Prime, which received $485,000. –ETHEREUM BLOG

Ethereum Foundation hands out over $2 million in grants to further Eth2.0 development
     

5. Users of online game Fortnite are being subjected to crypto-stealing ransomware known as Syrk. The malware is, reportedly, targeting Fornite players by pretending to be a cheating app for the game. It appears as SydneyFortniteHacks.exe. Entire files on a user's hard drive and USB drives are encrypted. However, if the ransom demand isn't paid, a notice states that Syrk will delete batches of files every two hours. –THREAT POST

     

6. Facebook has launched a bug bounty program designed to help uncover security issues to its proposed Libra stablecoin. The Libra Bug Bounty program, launched in partnership with bug bounty platform HackerOne, is offering up to $10,000 to those who can detect critical flaws in the Libra blockchain code. The launch of the program falls two months of testing in beta mode with 50 security researchers and blockchain experts. –PC MAG

     

7. English football club Manchester City is partnering up with South Korean football gaming platform Superbloke to become the club's first blockchain-based partner. As per the deal, Superbloke will help to attract fans across Korea, Japan, and South-East Asia to bring their passion for the sport to that of its online game FC Superstars. According to Damian Willoughby, senior vice president of partnerships for City Football Group, this is the club's latest milestone in creating a unique environment for its fans. –MANCHESTER CITY

     

8. A report from software company Chainalysis has found that only 8.1 percent of crypto funds are sent to mixers indicating illicit behavior. According to a webinar, "Cryptocurrency Typologies: What You Should Know About Who's Who on the Blockchains," most cryptocurrency funds sent to exchanges or mixing services are used for personal means rather than illegal activities. –COINTELEGRAPH

     

9. Crypto lending platform Celsius Network has seen a more than 2,000 percent growth in deposits since opening its doors last year. Concern, however, remains as to how interest is generated from them. Over the past year, over 160,000 lending transactions have been processed amounting to $345 million assets under management. According to a report, as the company grows, issues regarding its interest generating role and its risk disclosure to users may rise. –THE BLOCK

     

10. ShortHop, known as an "exchange of exchanges" for crypto has launched in seven U.S. states. The platform is now live in Arizona, Indiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. It already had a presence in California, Illinois, and Washington. Next stop for the exchange is Pennsylvania and Utah. The exchange enables users to transact digital asset listing from several order books on one screen to get the best price. –COIN DESK

     

This newsletter was written and curated by Rebecca Campbell. She has been writing and reporting on various industries for the past 10 years, more specifically tech in the last three. Connect with her on Twitter.

Editor: David Stegon (senior editor at Inside, whose reporting experience includes cryptocurrency and technology).

     
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