PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company, would be preparing to migrate more of its payments portfolio to USDT, a dollar stablecoin, to avoid being affected by the restitution of U.S. sanctions. Reuters reported that the company started receiving payments in USDT last year and will accelerate its adoption. Tether, nonetheless, stated it will uphold OFAC […]
Bitcoin News
Bitcoin Mining Company Phoenix Group Reports 50% Net Income Increase and 20% Sales Growth
After its oversubscribed initial public offering (IPO), Phoenix Group, a Dubai-based company specializing in bitcoin mining and blockchain infrastructure, has announced a significant 50% increase in net income. The firm further revealed a 20% increase in its annual sales compared to the previous year. Dubai Bitcoin Miner Phoenix Group Records Substantial Increase in Year-on-Year Sales […]
Bitcoin News
Microstrategy Raises Bitcoin Holdings to 190K BTC — Calls Itself ‘World’s First Bitcoin Development Company’
Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy has increased its cryptocurrency holdings to 190,000 bitcoins, having acquired 31,755 additional coins since the end of the third quarter. The company now considers itself “the world’s first Bitcoin development company,” with a unique value proposition, even when compared to spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). “We are a publicly-traded operating company committed to the continued development of the Bitcoin network through our activities in the financial markets, advocacy, and technology innovation,” Microstrategy detailed.
Microstrategy Now Holds 190,000 Bitcoins
Microstrategy Inc. (Nasdaq: MSTR) released its earnings report for Q4 2023 on Tuesday. The company revealed that it bought 31,755 more BTC since the end of the third quarter, including 850 BTC acquired in January. Microstrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor announced on social media platform X Tuesday:
In January, Microstrategy acquired an additional 850 BTC for .2 million and now holds 190,000 BTC.
As of Dec. 31, 2023, the carrying value of Microstrategy’s digital assets (comprised of approximately 189,150 bitcoins) was .626 billion, which reflects cumulative impairment losses of .269 billion, the company explained.
“We acquired 31,755 additional bitcoins since the end of the third quarter, marking the largest quarterly bitcoin holding increase in the last 3 years and the 13th consecutive quarter of adding more bitcoin on our balance sheet,” Andrew Kang, Microstrategy’s chief financial officer, commented. “We benefited from the significant increase in bitcoin prices in Q4 … We now hold 190,000 bitcoins at an aggregate purchase price of ,224.”
‘The World’s First Bitcoin Development Company’
In its Q4 earnings presentation, Microstrategy stated that it “considers itself the world’s first Bitcoin development company.” The company also highlighted its “unique value proposition” compared to spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
“We are a publicly-traded operating company committed to the continued development of the bitcoin network through our activities in the financial markets, advocacy and, technology innovation,” Microstrategy described. “As an operating business, we are able to use cashflows as well as proceeds from equity and debt financings to accumulate bitcoin, which serves as our primary treasury reserve asset.”
Moreover, Microstrategy detailed, “We also develop and provide industry-leading AI-powered enterprise analytics software that promotes our vision of Intelligence Everywhere and are using our software development capabilities to develop bitcoin applications,” emphasizing:
We believe that the combination of our operating structure, bitcoin strategy and focus on technology innovation provides a unique opportunity for value creation.
What do you think about Microstrategy accumulating 190K bitcoins and calling itself the world’s first Bitcoin development company? Let us know in the comments section below.
SEC Moves to Dismiss Lawsuit Against Crypto Company Debt Box, Citing Inaccuracies in Court
The SEC has decided to abandon its lawsuit against Debt Box, a crypto company previously accused of defrauding investors of millions. This decision follows the SEC’s acknowledgment of presenting misleading information in court, a revelation that undermines the agency’s case and credibility.
Inaccuracies in Court Lead SEC to Drop Fraud Case Against Crypto Firm Debt Box
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested to dismiss its lawsuit against crypto startup Debt Box. The decision comes after the SEC admitted to making inaccurate statements in court.
The lawsuit, initially filed against Digital Licensing Inc., which does business as Debt Box, accused the company of defrauding investors of at least million. The SEC claimed that Debt Box offered “node licenses” for mining cryptocurrencies that were never actually mined. This action was part of a broader crackdown by the SEC on cryptocurrency firms, under the leadership of Chair Gary Gensler who has repeatedly stated that most cryptocurrencies are securities.
However, the case took a turn when the SEC’s attorneys acknowledged that they had fallen short of the court’s expectations for accuracy and candor. This admission came after U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby in Utah criticized the SEC lawyers and demanded explanations for what he termed “false or misleading” statements.
The SEC had previously asserted that Debt Box was attempting to transfer assets overseas to evade U.S. jurisdiction, a claim that Judge Shelby found to be misrepresented. Judge Shelby gave the SEC a “show cause order,” which basically meant the SEC had to give a good reason or explanation for its actions.
In response to the court’s order to show cause, the SEC filed a statement on Jan. 30, stating,
While the Commission recognizes that its attorneys should have been more forthcoming with the Court, sanctions are not appropriate or necessary to address those issues.
The agency expressed its intent to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice, leaving room for the possibility of refiling the case in the future.
The SEC’s decision to seek dismissal without prejudice has raised questions in the legal and financial sectors, particularly given the agency’s aggressive stance on cryptocurrency regulation. The Debt Box legal team responded sharply to the SEC’s actions, stating, “The SEC got this case wrong. Badly wrong,” and argued that the agency should not be allowed to continue promoting a false narrative to avoid dismissal.
Despite the SEC’s admission of inaccuracies and the subsequent move to dismiss the case, the agency has declined to comment beyond its public filings.
What do you think explains the SEC’s inability to pursue this lawsuit? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Bain and Company: Tokenization Can Unlock a $400B Yearly Alternative Investment Opportunity
A report issued in December by Bain and Company and JPMorgan executives recognized the impact that tokenization can have in bringing alternative investments (such as private equity, private credit, real estate, and hedge funds) to individual investors. The document states that this can be a 0 billion opportunity for players in the ecosystem implementing these technologies.
Bain and Company Believes Tokenization of Alternative Investments Can Bring Revenue Opportunities of 0B
Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization technology is starting to be considered a useful tool in financial markets. A report issued in December by JPMorgan and Bain and Company analysts remarks on the significance of tokenization tech for reaching individual investors seeking alternative investments, like private equity, private credit, real estate, and hedge funds.
The report discusses that alternative investments are seldom offered to individual investors due to their sophisticated traits and cumbersome management, traditionally only used to target institutions. However, tokenizing these alternatives can help automate and simplify the management of these investments, benefiting individuals and institutions in a way that current solutions cannot.
According to Bain and Company:
Tokenization and blockchain offer a potential solution to the challenges of fragmented, nonstandardized processes across multiple participants in the alternative value chain.
This would allow the alternative investments ecosystem to grow by 0 billion, adding more value to each part of the chain in different ways. Fund managers would increase their income by increasing their user base, reaching more investors due to this simplification of processes. Wealth managers would also increase their revenue due to their arrangements with fund managers.
Finally, wholesale platforms would increase their assets under management by differentiating from the rest by adapting these technologies to their solutions.
However, these analysts do not believe that tokenization will lead to a retail revolution as it is promised by several actors in the Web3 field. Instead, they predict that the effect of tokenization will allow investment firms to simplify the management of these alternatives for high-net-worth individuals.
What do you think about tokenization and its 0 billion opportunity for alternative investments? Tell us in the comments section below.
Zooko Wilcox Ends Eight-Year Association With Company Behind Privacy Coin Zcash
Zooko Wilcox, the CEO of Electric Coin Co., revealed on Dec. 18 that he is ending his eight-year association with the entity which is behind the privacy coin zcash. Despite leaving his role as the company’s top executive, Wilcox said he remains committed to anything focused on human freedom.
Wilcox’s Continued Reign Not Good for Himself or Zcash
On Dec. 18, Zooko Wilcox, the CEO of the Electric Coin Co. — the entity behind the privacy-focused crypto asset zcash — announced his resignation and revealed that Josh Swihart is set to become the new public face of the privacy coin. While he admitted to butting heads with Swihart in the past, Wilcox nonetheless expressed confidence in his successor’s ability to steer the Electric Coin Co forward.
In a statement explaining his decision to leave Zcash after eight years, Wilcox suggested that his continued presence would not bode well for his or Zcash’s health.
“…I had the opportunity to live out one of my science fiction dreams in reality. However, in the long run, I don’t think this conflation of Zcash with me personally is healthy for me, and I don’t think it’s healthy for Zcash. Zcash’s role in human history is, and will be, much bigger than any individual,” said Wilcox.
Zcash and the Quest for Freedom
Despite leaving his role as Zcash’s top executive, Wilcox said he remains committed to anything focused on human freedom. He added that anything that he does now would have to include Zcash “because the Zcash community is freedom’s best hope.”
This was an ad hoc analysis of a ZCash conference call for investors. We were on a tight deadline, but imo it still gives an idea of some fundamental problems with the project. pic.twitter.com/wfVCFLL48b
— Tuur Demeester (@TuurDemeester) December 18, 2023
Meanwhile, Tuur Demeester, the founder of Adamant Research, reacted to Wilcox’s departure by sharing a chart on X which shows the privacy coin ZEC’s gradual decline since its 2018 peak.
Demeester also shared a 2018 ad hoc analysis of Zcash’s investor conference call which highlighted some of the project’s fundamental problems. In the analysis, which he helped to prepare, Demeester and his team expressed their concern at Wilcox’s inability to clearly articulate Zcash’s plans. The hastily prepared analysis also singled out Wilcox’s claim about the lack of hard forks and their impact on privacy.
A statement released by Electric Coin Co. confirmed Wilcox’s departure and the return of Swihart as the CEO. The statement said Wilcox “will continue as a director on the board of the Bootstrap Project, the parent company of ECC.”
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Adam Back Says ‘Suck That Truthoors’ as Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Reveals Company Holds Tether’s Treasuries
Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street private financial services company, has recently confirmed that they lent their services to Tether, the issuer of the biggest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market. On CNBC’s Money Movers, Lutnick stated that he was a fan of Tether and that they held their treasuries.
Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick Is a Tether Fan
Howard Lutnick, CEO of private financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, has confirmed the business relationship between his company and Tether, issuers of USDT. During an interview at Money Movers, a CNBC podcast, Lutnick talked about cryptocurrency and his opinion about the value of some of the tokens in the industry.
He revealed:
I’m a big fan of the stablecoin called Tether. I hold their treasuries, I keep their treasuries, and they have a lot of treasuries. They are over bn now.
Furthermore, Lutnick mentioned Tether and the situation of Argentina, where Milei promised to dollarize the country without having a solid dollar reserve base. Lutnick also praised bitcoin, saying that it was the only “uncontrollable” asset because there was “no one you could call” to stop it.
In contrast, he acknowledged Tether was different. “If you have Tether, and someone calls Tether, they freeze it because there is someone to call. There’s no one to call in Bitcoin,” he stressed.
Lutnick’s statements officially confirm the reports on the Tether-Cantor link, which was established by the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, according to people familiar with the matter. According to the company’s latest financial disclosure report, Tether held more than billion in U.S. Treasury bills in November, when its market cap was .80 billion.
Adam Back, Blockstream’s CEO and cryptographic innovator, celebrated the Cantor CEO’s affirmations by commending Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino’s alleged involvement in the subject.
He posted:
Can’t buy better media coverage than that, Paolo Ardoino … Suck that truthoors.
What do you think about Cantor Fitzgerald’s link with Tether? Tell us in the comments section below.
Ledger Connect Kit Breach: Hacker Siphons $484K, Company Rolls Out Version 1.1.8
The unknown attacker that compromised Ledger’s Connectkit Library has reportedly siphoned 4,000 from wallets, according to the onchain intelligence firm Lookonchain. Ledger disclosed a former employee fell victim to a phishing attack and the attacker gained access to the Ledger Connectkit Library and uploaded a malicious bug.
Ledger Responds to 4K Hack
The latest and secure version 1.1.8 of the Ledger Connect Kit is currently being disseminated automatically, according to the last update from Ledger. The company advised a waiting period of 24 hours before resuming use of the Ledger Connect Kit. This precaution follows a security breach detailed in the ensuing timeline: Initially, a phishing attack targeted a former Ledger Employee’s NPMJS account early today, Central European Time.
Ledger said the breach enabled the attacker to release a compromised version of the Ledger Connect Kit (versions 1.1.5 through 1.1.7), which manipulated a deceptive Walletconnect project to reroute funds to a hacker’s wallet. Alerted to the issue, Ledger’s technology and security teams rapidly deployed a solution within 40 minutes of becoming aware, though the malicious file was active for about five hours, the company disclosed.
The estimated time during which funds were siphoned was under two hours. In response to the incident, Ledger said it collaborated with Walletconnect to disable the rogue project and has now issued the verified Ledger Connect Kit version 1.1.8. Ledger further explained that development teams working with the Ledger Connect Kit on NPM have been restricted to read-only access to prevent direct package updates. Ledger noted that Tether had frozen the bad actor’s address and the wallet was now visible via Chainalysis software.
The onchain analysis platform Lookonchain reported that 4,000 was stolen from wallets. However, Ledger has not confirmed the figures but did disclose the wallet address which is: “0x658729879fca881d9526480b82ae00efc54b5c2d.” The wallet currently holds 4K at the time of writing.
The hardware wallet manufacturing company is actively engaging with affected customers and is working with law enforcement to track down the attacker. In addition, Ledger detailed it is analyzing the exploit to prevent future attacks. Ledger reiterated the importance of Clear Signing and suggested using an additional Ledger mint wallet or manual transaction parsing for blind signing.
What do you think about the Ledger exploit? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
World’s Largest Oil Company Saudi Aramco Partners With SBI Holdings to Potentially Invest in Digital Assets
Saudi Aramco, the largest oil and gas company by market cap, has partnered with SBI Holdings, a financial services group in Japan, to explore a potential collaboration for investing in digital assets. SBI also contemplates the launch of a subsidiary in the Middle East to expand its influence in the region.
Oil Colossus Saudi Aramco Mulls Investing in Digital Assets
Saudi Aramco, the largest oil and gas company, might be on the brink of investing in digital assets. The company, which has a market capitalization of over trillion, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SBI Holdings, a financial services company in Japan, to explore a collaboration in various fields of investment, including digital assets.
The MOU establishes that both companies will collaborate “in the field of digital assets and co-investments leveraging both parties’ investment portfolios related to digital assets.” SBI has an extensive investment in companies that use digital assets in their business models. The company has recently partnered with stablecoin company Circle and has a long-time collaboration with Ripple, a crypto-based payments company.
The memorandum details that Saudi Aramco will identify and support Japanese startups in the digital assets area that wish to expand their business to the Middle East, supporting their entry and growth in the region. The alliance also extends to the field of semiconductors, as the document states that the company might launch several undetermined projects in this industry, establishing factories in Saudi Arabia and Japan through Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, a Japanese organization.
SBI Holdings revealed plans to open a subsidiary called “SBI Middle East” to expand the company’s influence into the region and explore new business avenues.
Saudi Aramco has invested in blockchain-linked companies before. Its first deal in the arena happened in 2020 when the company invested million in VAKT, a global commodities blockchain digitization business. Also, the company signed an MOU with Droppgroup, a Web3 tech development platform, in February.
What do you think about Saudi Aramco’s potential crypto investments? Tell us in the comments section below.
Bitcoin Mining Company Hut 8 to Bid for Natural Gas Power Plants and Bitcoin Facility
Hut 8, a public Bitcoin mining company, announced it has been cleared to issue a “stalking horse” bid for several natural gas power plants and a Bitcoin mining site. The Canada-based miner hopes to integrate these services to expand its business to sell power to the market and develop artificial intelligence activities.
Hut 8 to Bid for Natural Gas Facilities and Bitcoin Mining Site
Hut 8, a Nasdaq-listed (HUT) Bitcoin mining company, announced it has received court approval to issue a “stalking horse” bid, a bid for a bankrupt firm or its assets that is arranged in advance of an auction to act as an effective reserve bid, for a series of natural gas power plants and a Bitcoin mining site located in North Bay, Ontario.
The acquisition, if completed, might end the legal battle between Hut 8 and Validus Power Corp., Hut 8’s power provider that was sued in January for failing to comply with a power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply 100MW (megawatts) to Hut 8 facilities.
According to reports, Validus suspended power delivery to the facility after the conflict started, having only delivered 20MW of the 100MW contracted in the jointly signed PPA.
Vertical Integration
If completed, the acquisition of a 40 MW facility in Kapuskasing, a 110 MW facility in Kingston, a 120 MW facility in Iroquois Falls, and a 40 MW facility and Bitcoin mine in North Bay, would greatly enhance Hut 8’s capacity for building self-sufficient Bitcoin facilities, without having to depend on other companies to provide the power needed to run them.
On the possible utilization of these power plants, Hut 8 CEO Jaime Leverton stated:
If our bid to acquire four natural gas facilities in Ontario totaling 310 MW from Validus is successful, we anticipate that the strategic addition of these assets would position Hut 8 as a vertically integrated mining operation, allow us to utilize idle infrastructure and machinery, and provide access to energy pricing certainty.
Leverton also elaborated on the expansion opportunities that the acquisition of these power plants would open to the company, explaining that having access to them would give Hut 8 “the optionality to pursue revenue generating activity including selling energy to the market, mining Bitcoin, and powering high-demand HPC applications like AI,” to diversify the company’s activities ahead of the upcoming bitcoin halving.
What do you think about Hut 8’s stalking horse bid on several natural gas plants and a Bitcoin mining facility? Tell us in the comments section below.