Just over a month since open interest in Bitcoin options hit a record high of $1 billion, the latest figures show that it has increased 50% to break $1.5 billion.
According to the latest data from market analysis company Skew, total open interest in Bitcoin (BTC) options passed $1.5 billion on June 9. This comes barely a month after open interest crossed $1 billion for the first time, marking a 50% increase in just 33 days.

50% rise in a month led by two players
Total Bitcoin options open interest hit $1 billion for the first time ever on May 7. Just over a month later, Deribit alone has open interest of $1.1 billion, and the total open interest has broken through $1.5 billion.

Deribit’s 20% increase from $903 million over the course of the month has not been the biggest story though.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has increased its Bitcoin options open interest by over 850% in this time. On May 7 this stood at $38 million, but by June 9 CME recorded $368 million of open interest.

Readmore: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-options-open-interest-rises-50-in-a-month-to-hit-15-billion

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One Third of Institutions Have Invested in Crypto Says Fidelity A Fidelity survey of 774 institutional investors found that more than one-third of firms worldwide have invested in digital assets or derivatives.

While 36% of institutions own crypto globally, multinational financial services company  Fidelity found that only 27% of the 441 U.S. institutions surveyed are exposed to crypto — although that’s up from 22% last year. Close to half of European institutions are long on virtual assets.

Bitcoin (BTC) is the most popular cryptocurrency investment, with more than a quarter of respondents holding BTC, while 11% of firms own Ether (ETH).

Fidelity commissioned Greenwich Associates to conduct the survey from November until early March — with the data reflecting the crypto positions of firms as of before the violent ‘Black Thursday’ crash that saw crypto prices drop by 50% or more.

Readmore: https://cointelegraph.com/news/one-third-of-institutions-have-invested-in-crypto-says-fidelity

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A foreign resident of Abu Dhabi is facing jail time after his crypto investments from a $100K loan in 2017 tanked and he can no longer afford the payments.
A former Etihad Airlines flight attendant says he faces up to three years in jail in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for being unable to make installments on a $100,000 loan he took out to invest in crypto around the all time high.

Reddit user Crypthomie, identified only as a 34-year-old man who is not an UAE citizen, posted an image to the Bitcoin subreddit on June 9 of his repayment schedule for a 338,000 Dirham loan ⁠— approximately $109,000 ⁠at the time— with Emirates Islamic Bank.

According to Crypthomie, he has lost his job with Etihad due to the pandemic and can no longer afford to pay the required monthly installments of roughly $2230. However, he is required to repay the bank 393,296.80 Dirham — about $127,000 at the time — by the end of 2021.

Readmore: https://cointelegraph.com/news/uae-flight-attendant-faces-jail-over-100k-crypto-loan-default

Sinusuri ng mga mananaliksik kung ang isang mensahe na nilagdaan ng isang 2009 minero at pagtawag sa Craig Wright isang pandaraya ay maaaring nilagdaan ni Satoshi Nakamoto.
Kahapon, ang isang minero ng Bitcoin (BTC) (o maraming mga minero ng Bitcoin) ay pumirma ng isang mensahe na tumatawag sa Craig Wright na isang pandaraya.  Ang isa sa mga adres na ginamit noon ay naiugnay sa tagalikha ng Bitcoin na si Satoshi Nakamoto.

 Ang mensahe ay nilagdaan kasama ang 145 mga lagda na kabilang sa 145 kaukulang mga address, isa sa mga adres na iyon: 12CTHhyJtr49LgoUShbWgebLBviLAFj6nj, ay isang address ng Coinbase para sa Bitcoins na mined sa block 30169.

 Ang nakaraang pananaliksik na isinagawa ni Sergio Demian Lerner, kinilala ang bloke na ito bilang isang minahan ng Satoshi.

BitMEX Research has also weighed in, concluding that two of the addresses used in the statement have “weak allocation” to Satoshi:

Pinagkukunan: https://cointelegraph.com/news/satoshi-didnt-sign-craig-wright-message-says-crypto-researcher

Ano sa tingin ninyo ang mangyayari kung namina o naubos na ang last supply ng bitcoin ? At ano kaya ang mangyayari sa mga nagmimina ng bitcoin?

Chinese Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain’s co-founders Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan Ketuan will quit their posts as co-CEOs but still steer the company’s important decisions. Hong Kong-based English-language news outlet South China Morning Post reported the news Jan. 10.

Referencing anonymous “people familiar with the matter,” the publication said Bitmain’s director of product engineering Wang Haichao would likely take over as CEO at an unspecified future date. Haichao has allegedly already taken over some of the duo’s former duties.

The reshuffle, which Bitmain declined to formally confirm, follows several weeks of rumors about changes at senior executive level.

Without quoting the sources specifically, the Post added that Wu and Zhan would subsequently become co-chairs of the company.

“After Wang takes over, Wu and Zhan will move away from the company’s day-to-day business activities but will still make final calls on big decisions,” one of the sources reportedly confirmed.

As Cointelegraph reported, Chinese media first published rumors of Wu’s repositioning in late December. A month before, other rumors suggested Wu had lost his decision-making power altogether.

Bitmain is facing a major transition period at the start of 2019. Having shut down its operations in Israel last month, commentators expect the company to announce mass layoffs of staff in the near future.

Plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong have also faced doubts, possibly due to regulators’ apprehension at ongoing volatility in cryptocurrency markets.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitmain-co-ceos-to-keep-decision-making-power-in-executive-swap-report

MIT Technology Review has published an article today, Jan. 2, arguing that 2019 is the year in which blockchain will become mundane. The Review is a magazine that is independent but wholly-owned by the United States Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The article gives a laconic overview of its take on the recent history of blockchain, claiming that the technology was “a revolution that was supposed to disrupt the global financial system” in 2017, but that it was a disappointment in 2018 — in light of the significant decline in the valuations of virtually all blockchain-based crypto assets and currencies.

Nonetheless, the Review argues, on the cusp of the new year, many “innovative-sounding projects are still alive and even close to bearing fruit.” Together with several large corporations’ plans to launch major blockchain-based projects this year, 2019 is thus reportedly set to be “the year that blockchain technology finally becomes normal.”

As an example of the impending transformation of the sector, the Review cites the forthcoming entries of stalwart Wall Street players such as New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) owner Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and investment giant Fidelity into the cryptocurrency business.

Even as the hype surrounding blockchain reportedly subsides, it argues that their offerings of regulator-approved infrastructure for crypto are a major watershed in the sector becoming mainstream.

A further example, the Review continues, is the improvement in smart contract technology that will enable its use in multiple legal contexts — making the crypto adage “code is law” one step closer to becoming an accepted reality.

The article’s final argument is that this normalization of the technology and the sector will entail a significant reshaping of the ideology that gave cryptocurrencies and blockchain their first impetus. Crypto’s roots as an anti-government movement is being upended, the article claims, by the advent of national cryptocurrencies — whether they be Venezuela’s already-launched controversial oil-backed cryptocurrency the Petro, or other states’ plans for their own state-backed coins.

A further example given is the endorsement of exploring the case for central bank-backed cryptocurrencies (CBDCs) by International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Christine Lagarde this fall.

Almost one year ago, in mid-January 2018, Cointelegraph published an analysis of the heat surrounding the blockchain revolution — encapsulated by the lucrative possibilities of businesses using the tech as a buzzword in their name to cash in on the over-hyped market.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/saudi-arabia-completes-ibm-tradelens-pilot-for-cross-border-blockchain-trade

A Georgia state senator has reported to jail over allegedly lying about the theft of cryptocurrency mining equipment worth $300,000, The Guardian reported Dec. 27.

Republican Michael Williams, who originally reported the alleged theft in May, made a false police report and gave a false statement, court documents claim.

Williams had said servers with a value of $300,000, which had been used to mine unnamed cryptocurrencies, had disappeared from his office premises, local daily news outlet Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Dec. 20.

Prosecutors are considering the possibility that the theft never took place, and last month Williams was indicted by grand jury on three counts and subsequently handed himself in to custody.

A full verdict has yet to surface, however, with the accused and his attorney waiting on prosecutors’ evidence.

“Right now, our position is Mr. Williams did not do this,” the attorney, A.J. Richman, said Dec. 26 quoted by another local outlet Gainesville Times. Richman added:

Readmore: https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-senator-reports-to-jail-pending-verdict-in-cryptocurrency-fraud-case