In recent times, Bitcoin’s hashrate has been consistently above 300 exahash per second (EH/s) as multiple mining pools dedicate significant hashpower to the Bitcoin blockchain today. Interestingly, some of the world’s top bitcoin mining pools are also using their hashrate to merge-mine other coins, and these networks have benefited from bitcoin’s increased hashrate.

How Bitcoin’s Hashrate Benefits Other Crypto Networks

Bitcoin’s hashrate secures the network and provides rewards for miners participating in the system, but mining pools also dedicate computational power to networks like Namecoin, Elastos, Emercoin, and Vcash. For example, Namecoin has a hashrate of around 187 EH/s today, and some of the top bitcoin mining pools merge-mine the network to acquire namecoin (NMC) rewards.

Merge mining is a process in which miners can mine various cryptocurrencies at the same time without any additional cost. Merged mining is similar to a person playing Pac-Man and Asteroids at the same time, using the same joystick and earning rewards for both games. Namecoin was the first cryptocurrency project to be merge-mined, as it shares the same SHA256 algorithm as Bitcoin, and the first merge-mined block on the network was mined on Sept. 19, 2011.

Bitcoin pools that dedicate hashrate to the Namecoin chain include F2pool, Viabtc, Poolin, and Mining Dutch. While F2pool is the fourth largest bitcoin mining pool over the last three days, it’s the largest namecoin miner as it dedicates its entire 44 EH/s to the Namecoin network. Viabtc dedicates 26.25 EH/s to the Namecoin chain, and Poolin points 5.10 EH/s toward Namecoin as well. At the time of writing, a single namecoin (NMC) is worth $1.24 per unit and 12.5 NMC plus fees are distributed in each block reward.

Namecoin has the second-largest hashrate among SHA256 blockchains, but the Emercoin (EMC) network is the third-largest under BTC and NMC. EMC has…

It has been 21 days since Paxos revealed that it would no longer mint the stablecoin BUSD. Since then, over 7 billion BUSD stablecoins have been redeemed. Prior to the announcement, BUSD was once a top-ten crypto asset. However, the top ten cryptocurrencies by market valuation have changed since the redemptions. Presently, there are only two stablecoins in the top ten standings, and the Okx exchange token, OKB, has joined the pack.

2023 Records Changes in the Top 10 Cryptocurrencies by Market Capitalization

Every year, the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization change significantly, such as last year when three stablecoins entered the top ten for the first time. Additionally, the number of proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrencies in the top ten fell to two tokens last year (BTC, DOGE), and that remains the case today.

In the 21 days since BUSD was removed from the top ten standings, the top ten cryptocurrency competitors have changed. For example, there are now only two stablecoins in the group, including tether (USDT), the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and usd coin (USDC), the fifth-largest crypto in terms of market valuation.

A relatively new entrant into the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization is polygon (MATIC), currently the tenth largest digital token by valuation. The day before Paxos announced it would no longer mint BUSD, MATIC was the tenth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with an $11.55 billion market cap.

On Feb. 12, 2023, Okx’s exchange token OKB was not among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, according to an archive.org snapshot. However, the utility token OKB has since moved up a few spots and is now the seventh largest by market valuation.

OKB has risen more than 25% against the U.S. dollar over the past month. Year-to-date, the exchange/utility token is up 176.3%. However, two-week statistics show a 4% loss against the greenback. With OKB, there are now two exchange/utility tokens in the top ten cryptocurrencies, and the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, BNB, is the second.

There are now two stablecoins, two exchange/utility tokens, four smart contract tokens, and two proof-of-work payment crypto assets in the top ten. Two cryptocurrencies that are close to the top ten by market capitalization include solana (SOL) and Lido’s staked ether (STETH).

The Nigerian fintech Flutterwave has rejected reports suggesting that hackers have stolen as much as $6.3 million from user accounts. The fintech firm said a routine check of its transaction monitoring system helped to uncover “an unusual trend of transactions on some users’ profiles.”

Motion to Freeze

The Nigerian fintech unicorn, Flutterwave, has said reports suggesting that hackers stole approximately $6.3 million from client accounts are not true. In a statement issued on March 5, the fintech insisted that no user lost any funds and that corrective action taken had in fact enabled it to “address the issue before any harm could be done to our users.”

Flutterwave’s statement denying the hacking claims followed a Techpoint report which suggested that as much as $6.3 million (2.9 billion naira) had been siphoned from users’ accounts. According to the report, the hacking incident is thought to have occurred in early February and Flutterwave is believed to have reacted to this by filing a motion to freeze accounts in as many as 27 financial institutions.

While the statement suggested that Flutterwave is working with “other financial institutions and law enforcement agencies to keep our ecosystem safe and secure,” the fintech firm however insisted it only took action after detecting anomalies on some users’ accounts.

“During a routine check of our transaction monitoring system, we identified an unusual trend of transactions on some users’ profiles. Our team immediately launched a review (in line with our standard operating procedure), which revealed that some users who had not activated some of our recommended security settings might have been susceptible,” the fintech firm explained.

Flutterwave added that the preemptive steps it took helped it to address the issue before “any harm could be done to our users.”

You are popular I will post evidence here, A hack confirmed by a flutterwave staff, my bank confirming flutterwave contacted them, flutterwave submitting a petition with a lawyer whose seal has expired since 2017. Their statement and Affidavit swearing this true, as oath. pic.twitter.com/zEHVMCgQOn

— Ufedo (@UfedoDavid) March 5, 2023

Meanwhile, on Twitter, some users rejected Flutterwave’s version of what transpired and have insisted that the hacking incident is true. One user, known as Alex Onyia, tweeted that Flutterwave had been hacked by Omar Edewor Trades and that millions of naira had been stolen…

Meta, the social network company, is getting some pushback on its plan to market and bring Horizon Worlds, its flagship metaverse app, to teens. Democratic senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal directed a letter to the company to halt these actions, citing concerns about the interactions that teens could have in Meta’s virtual worlds.

Meta Sees Opposition to Metaverse Adoption Plans for Teens

Two Democratic senators have written a letter asking Meta to stop its recently reported plan of opening its metaverse world to teens. Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal, Democrat senators from Massachusetts and Connecticut, criticize the idea of opening Horizon Worlds, Meta’s flagship metaverse app, to teens 13 years and up, citing diverse factors that might endanger them through the interactions available in this virtual world.

The letter differentiates between standard virtual reality experiences and Horizon Worlds, explaining that “the cumulative set of immersive virtual reality experiences a teenager would confront on the socially-driven Horizon Worlds are distinct from their use of a virtual reality headset to, for example, play a specific single-player game. Inviting young teens into this environment, therefore, poses serious risks.”

Markey and Blumenthal call for halting the plan to protect the health of these young users and their privacy in the metaverse, calling out the company for its previous mistakes involving this demographic.

Meta’s Teen Adoption Push

The Wall Street Journal reported on Meta’s plan of including teens in its metaverse on Feb. 7. According to an internal memo obtained by the news outlet, the company’s new strategy included opening the Horizon Worlds experience to teens aged 13 years old and up. This would constitute a change from the current policies of the app, which only allows users from 18 years old to roam the virtual world.

According to WSJ, Meta’s memo reinforces the need of pushing these services to young users in order to keep growing. Horizon Worlds VP Gabriel Aul reportedly stated:

Today our competitors are doing a much better job meeting the unique needs of these cohorts. For Horizon to succeed we need to ensure that we serve this cohort first and foremost.

While Horizon Worlds experienced rapid growth in its initial stages, growing its user base tenfold soon after release in Decemeber 2021, the app has been criticized for its buggy state even by Meta’s own employees. In October, VP of Metaverse…

PRESS RELEASE. In traditional financial markets, the term trading strategy describes a comprehensive plan covering all trading activities, guiding investors to execute their target trades. In the world of crypto, a trading strategy refers to a predetermined plan or trading behavior designed to help investors profit from buying or selling cryptos in both long and short markets.

Although not necessary for all types of crypto trading, a sound trading strategy can help investors mitigate potential risks. During extreme market conditions, an effective trading strategy enables crypto users to take prompt countermeasures and minimize their losses. In other words, by setting out a trading strategy, investors prepare for all sorts of scenarios and design the corresponding measures.

Overall, a mature and well-designed trading strategy is crucial for investors, as it helps them take advantage of market swings, make easy investments, and maximize profits or minimize losses.

Generally speaking, a comprehensive trading strategy may cover the following elements:

1. Choosing the target cryptocurrency or project;
2. Using professional platforms such as crypto exchanges and market monitoring platforms;
3. Mastering crypto tools and indexes;
4. Setting up trading time and stop-loss conditions;
5. Minimizing the influence of emotional decisions.

Most investors understand the importance of a sound trading strategy, but they are more concerned about how to set out such a strategy on crypto platforms. For beginner investors or retail users, the following requirements should be met:

First, the trading strategy should be easily accessible, preferably with “lazy” or “foolproof” operations. In addition, users don’t need to set up complex parameters or study programming/ trading scripts to run such trading strategies. Ideally, the system should be able to help users invest in crypto with ease.

Second, the platform should offer versatile trading strategies, meeting different trading demands. For example, some investors prefer conservative investments and hope to stock up on more coins while minimizing risks and costs. Meanwhile, others want to seize volatile market trends and engage in quant trading. As such, investors demand a wide range of different trading strategies.

In February 2023, CoinEx, a global crypto exchange, rolled out Strategic Trading, a new segment featuring Auto-Invest Plan which aims to help users plan and manage their investments more…

Numbers from the Brazilian tax authority indicate that the cryptocurrency market experienced a resurgence in January, with trading increasing more than 10% compared to December. Tether’s usdt is still the currency that moves the most volume, a reality related to OTC (over-the-counter) trades, according to market analysts.

Crypto Market Moves Again in January, According to Brazilian Tax Authority

The Brazilian tax authority, which receives reports of the movements of cryptocurrency by law for tax collecting purposes, released its crypto volume reports corresponding to January. The institution revealed a growth in the volume of the cryptocurrency market, with $2.85 billion dollars being transacted during the period.

When compared to December, the market experienced growth of more than 10%, recovering after events that have been affecting the cryptocurrency sector worldwide, like the bankruptcy of several exchanges and crypto lenders such as FTX, Celsius, and Blockfi.

The numbers of companies and individuals purchasing crypto was average, stronger than December’s records, but falling compared to what was reported during 2022 when the country broke several records for cryptocurrency purchases. However, volume grew more, with only the numbers corresponding to May being higher than the ones reported for January.

Brazilian Preference for USDT Continues

Tether’s USDT, the biggest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market, continues to be the preferred choice of Brazilians for storing and moving money. The report registered $2.3 billion in transactions using the stablecoin in January, a number that confirms the lead of USDT over other cryptocurrencies.

The significant usage of USDT in the country, growing more than 50% in 2022, has analysts investigating the reason Brazilians are using this dollar-pegged asset. January reports suggested that Brazilians were turning to stablecoins to shield themselves from inflation pains, and also to avoid paying fees for using actual dollars in a bank account.

However, analysts think that USDT might be used in more ways, given the high transaction volumes reported. Fabricio Tota, business director at Mercado Bitcoin, a local cryptocurrency exchange, believes that USDT might be being used by institutions and individuals to send money abroad. In statements given to Portal do Bitcoin, he explained:

We have been able to see in the volumes reported to the revenue service a very large, very significant volume of USDT…

Banks in Pakistan plan to launch an electronic platform for know-your-customer procedures that will be operating on a national level. The blockchain-based system will allow them to exchange the personal information of customers through what they describe as a decentralized and self-regulated network.

Banks of Pakistan Looking to Employ Blockchain for KYC Checks

Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA) has signed a contract for the implementation of a blockchain-based know-your-customer (KYC) platform which will be developed by Avanza Group. The latter unites companies specializing in advanced banking applications, customer experience management solutions, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.

The signing ceremony was held at the industry organization’s office in Karachi on Thursday and was attended by a number of officials, including its Chairman, Muhammad Aurangzeb and the CEO of Avanza Innovations, Waqas Mirza, the PBA announced.

The project to create the electronic KYC system is part of ongoing efforts of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to strengthen the country’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) control infrastructure, a press release elaborated.

“In addition to strengthening AML controls, the deployment of this platform will bring about efficiencies at participating banks and will result in improvement in customer experience,” detailed the PBA, which has been overseeing the project on behalf of its members.

Consonance, the e-KYC platform designed by Avanza, uses blockchain technology to enable banks to standardize and exchange personal details via a “decentralized and self-regulated network.” That should happen with customers’ consent, according to the association.

Banks will be able to make assessments of their existing and new customers using the data from KYC checks performed by other participating institutions. This should minimize onboarding costs and improve customer experience when opening an account, thus “facilitating financial inclusion,” the PBA insisted.

In March, last year, SBP Governor Reza Baqir was quoted as stating that he sees few good use cases for crypto. At the same time, he acknowledged that blockchain technology can be useful with its potential to solve many problems.

A U.S. district judge has sentenced a man to three years in prison in a fraudulent cryptocurrency mining scheme. The defendant “misappropriated his victims’ money and failed to provide them with the miners and miner-hosting services they had purchased from him,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Man Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding Investors in Crypto Mining Scheme

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that Chester (Chet) Stojanovich has been sentenced to three years in prison “for defrauding purchasers of cryptocurrency miners and miner-hosting services.” He pled guilty in November last year to one count of wire fraud.

The DOJ explained that from at least 2019 until his arrest in April 2022, Stojanovich “allegedly defrauded more than a dozen victims of more than $2 million through fraudulent misrepresentations that he would provide his customers with specialized cryptocurrency-mining computers (‘miners’) and miner-hosting services that would provide the victims with a lucrative stream of ‘hash power’ convertible into cryptocurrency.” The Justice Department added:

Instead, Stojanovich misappropriated his victims’ money and failed to provide them with the miners and miner-hosting services they had purchased from him.

Besides failing to provide the buyers with the cryptocurrency mining equipment and the hosting services they had bought, the DOJ said Stojanovich “employed deceptive practices to create the illusion that such miners had been acquired and were being used to provide hash power to those customers.”

Moreover, Stojanovich allegedly “misappropriated his customers’ funds and spent the funds on unrelated and personal expenditures, including chartered air flights, hotel rooms, limousines, and private parties,” the Department of Justice detailed. Noting that Stojanovich was sentenced on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, the DOJ concluded:

In addition to his prison sentence, Stojanovich … was sentenced today to three years of supervised release, forfeiture of $2,158,927, and restitution to his victims in the amount of $2,108,927.

Do you think Stojanovich should go to prison for more than three years for defrauding investors in this crypto mining scheme? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security,…

The CEO of Ripple Labs has warned of the harm to the crypto industry if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is able to prevail in its lawsuit against Ripple over xrp. He cautioned that the SEC’s enforcement-centric approach to regulating crypto “is not a healthy way to regulate an industry.”

Ripple’s CEO on SEC Lawsuit, U.S. Crypto Regulation

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse warned about harmful consequences to the crypto industry if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wins its lawsuit against him and his company over the sale of XRP in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday.

“The SEC bringing the case against Ripple was not really just a case about Ripple or about XRP — It’s really about the industry,” Garlinghouse began. Asserting that the SEC is “playing offense and attacking” the entire crypto industry, the Ripple CEO stressed:

This is going to be pivotal for the whole industry.

He further warned that “if the SEC is able to prevail” in its lawsuit over XRP, more enforcement will be carried out against crypto firms. The securities watchdog recently took action against Kraken over the cryptocurrency exchange’s staking program, and Paxos over its issuance of stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD). Furthermore, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler believes that all crypto tokens other than bitcoin (BTC) are securities.

Citing the SEC’s enforcement-centric approach to regulating the crypto industry, Garlinghouse opined:

The macro headline for me is this is not a healthy way to regulate an industry.

The Ripple executive proceeded to explain that the SEC’s focus on enforcement differs from the regulatory approaches of other nations with regard to cryptocurrencies.

“We’re seeing in other countries where they’re doing the work right. They’re codifying. They’re creating a framework that allows an industry to grow while protecting consumers,” Garlinghouse detailed, adding:

I think that’s really what the U.S. is lagging.

Noting that a lot of crypto businesses are already moving offshore, Garlinghouse emphasized: “The sad reality is the U.S. really is already behind … This is not behind countries that we haven’t necessarily heard of. This is behind Australia, and behind the U.K., Japan, Singapore, Switzerland. There’s a lot of countries that have taken the time and thoughtfulness to create that clear rules of the road.”

Garlinghouse explained that when he first got involved in the tech industry…

Central banks show continued demand for gold in 2023, as per a recent report from the World Gold Council (WGC), which noted that the world’s central banks accumulated 31 tons of the precious metal in January. Turkey was the largest gold buyer, adding 23 tons to its central bank’s stash, while the People’s Bank of China also purchased 15 tons of gold.

Central Bank Gold Purchases Remain Steady Despite Potential Challenges in 2023

At the time of writing, a troy ounce of fine .999 gold is $1,857.50 per unit, up 1.12% over the past day. Gold prices have been down since Jan. 31, 2023, when the price per ounce reached $1,950 per unit against the U.S. dollar. On March 2, the World Gold Council (WGC) published a report titled “No Dry January for Central Bank Gold Buying,” which discusses how Jan. 2023 records show that the world’s central banks have maintained the demand registered at the end of 2022.

According to Krishan Gopaul, the author of the report, many purchases came from Turkey, China, and Kazakhstan. “In January, central banks collectively added a net 31 tonnes (t) to global gold reserves (+16% m-o-m),” Gopaul wrote. “This was also comfortably within the 20-60t range of reported purchases which has been in place over the last 10 consecutive months of net buying.”

Central bank purchases and sales accounted for 44 tons in Jan. 2023, with one central bank offsetting its stash by selling 12 tons. The largest gold buyer was the Central Bank of Türkiye (Turkey), which acquired approximately 23 tons during the month. According to the country’s records, Turkey now holds 565 tons of gold.

China came in second, with the People’s Bank of China acquiring 15 tons during the same time frame, as Gopaul detailed. “The National Bank of Kazakhstan increased its gold reserves by a modest 4 tons in January, taking its gold reserves to 356 tons,” the WGC author explains. The report notes that the data is based on International Monetary Fund (IMF) records, and some of the data may be revised during the next WGC monthly report.

In addition to Turkey, China, and Kazakhstan, the WGC author details that the European Central Bank (ECB) acquired two tons because Croatia joined the eurozone, and the country was required to transfer its reserve assets to the ECB. The seller of the 12-ton sale of gold in January 2023 was the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, and the country now holds approximately 384 tons.

The WGC report concludes that the…