Virunga National Park, deep within the Congo, is home to 1,000 mountain gorillas whos population has been on a steady decline for decades, leading to the species officially labeled 'endangered' in 2018.

Now they've launched a two-part plan that implements wildlife conservation, and creates a way for the park to fund these efforts long term.  The economic solution comes in an unexpected form - cryptocurrency mining.

The park was recognized by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in a recently published video, praising those involved with finding creative solutions to the challenge of preserving wildlife within it. 

Clean Energy Mining...

Rivers within the Virunga National Park are used run hydroelectric generators, operated by technicians from nearby villages, providing clean renewable energy to Bitcoin mining operations inside the park. 

Another benefit of having this energy source is that they're able to attract miners currently running miners on electricity from coal-burning power plants. Not only highly polluting, coal has become a black market in the region, so the park aims to "reduce the incentive for illegal charcoal trafficking, an activity that has fueled violence led by militias in the region," says Foro from Economic World.

The Park's Hydroelectric Power Supplies the Miners with Clean Energy.

Surplus energy is channeled into cocoa production and nearby communities, while revenue generated from Bitcoin mining maintain the park's infrastructure, and pay their staff. 

Affordable energy is typically the largest expense of the cryptocurrency mining operation, so this is a rare situation where truly everyone wins! In the future we hope to see this new relationship between crypto and nature conservation mirrored in other places around the world!

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Author: Mark Pippen
London Newsroom
GlobalCryptoPress | Breaking Crypto News

As BTC ETF anticipation gripped the market last year, traders have been looking at ether as the next likely candidate to get spot ETF approval in the U.S.

Will the SEC Approve an ETH ETF? Let's look at the arguments both ways...

Why Some Believe the SEC will DENY The Applications...

JPMorgan's analysts are skeptical. “While we are sympathetic... we are skeptical that the SEC will classify ether as a commodity as soon as May” lead analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said in a note to clients on Jan. 18, adding that the chances of approval of a spot ether ETF by May this year is “not higher than 50%.”

The main reason - Ethereum’s transition from the proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in 2022 and the negative impact this has had on decentralization.  

Ether now looks similar to altcoins the SEC has classified as securities.

Why Some Think an ETH ETF Will Soon be APPROVED...

The SEC recently sued virtually every major US crypto exchange for selling unlicensed securities, providing all with a list of which coins they believe violate regulations - Ethereum was missing from all of them. 

Another potentially positive sign is the approval of ether futures-based ETFs in September last year, which implies the SEC has officially deemed Ethereum a commodity.

Note that the ETH Futures ETF's that were approved last year are generally used for speculative or hedging purposes - with a 'futures' ETF no party involved needs to actually purchase any crypto. Investors instead buy contracts where they attempt to guess what the price will be on preset dates the contract expires. A true ETF, like what was just approved for bitcoin, requires the company selling shares of the ETF it to truly own the coins the ETF represents, and the only price that matters is the actual price it is trading at.

What You Can Do Now...

Both sides have some very valid points/concerns, so what does that mean? In my opinion, the main takeaway is that there are legitimate reasons to speculate ETH ETF's may be approved.

Sure, same goes for it being denied, however, current ETH holders did not invest because they believed an ETF was eventually coming, so the potential of one being denied won't cause current investors to sell. However, the potential an ETF being approved brings in new buyers and causes existing investors to buy more.

This scenario where existing investors see no reason to sell if the ETF news is bad, while the potential for good news becomes a reason for people to buy, can only result in gains as anticipation builds. Of course, a non-ETF related story that overshadows everything could happen as well - but unless it does, there may be a great short-term opportunity regardless of the final outcome.

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Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Global Crypto Press Association / Breaking Crypto News

The announcement couldn't have happened any weirder, as the Bitcoin ETF's that were approved today were first announced by the SEC on X (Twitter) two days ago... but then they claimed their account was hacked, and stated that no ETFs had been approved.

Now that we know the supposed 'hack' simply posted accurate information before it was official, some are questioning if it was an error all along.

But how we found out doesn't really matter anymore, because it's now confirmed and re-confirmed that the Securities and Exchange Commission officially approved 11 applications for Bitcoin ETFs, the largest firms among them include BlackRock, Ark Investments/21Shares, Fidelity, Invesco, and VanEck.

Trading Begins...Now!

Because the SEC must respond to applications  ETF applicants were anticipating an answer from the SEC at any moment, they were ready to go before officially receiving approval - because of this, they went live the next day.

In their first day, the newly approved Bitcoin ETFs saw a combined $5 billion in volume, top performers so far are BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust which is trading under "IBIT.O", Grayscale Bitcoin Trust "GBTC.P", and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF with symbol "ARKB.Z".

They Say It's a "Game Changer" - But To Who?

Traders from both the stock and crypto world have repeated the words "game-changer" when describing the impact this could have on cryptocurrencies, citing the new investors who now have exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency. So who are these investors? If they're interested in Bitcoin, what were they waiting for?

The newly launched ETFs all fighting over what they believe is a large segment of both individuals and companies that are interested in investing in Bitcoin, but hesitated to pull the trigger and buy some. Many potential investors cite their main concern is simply how to securely hold worth of a digital assets, which can be intimidating on a technical level.

For a company, acquiring crypto comes with all new cyber-security concerns, where every employee is a potential security hole. Stocks can't really be 'hacked' and stolen, gold and silver can be stored in any bank vault - while storing crypto safely and securely is easy to do, people who aren't experienced with tech are often too intimidated by the risks.

Now, individuals, companies, and even smaller investment firms can pass the responsibility of storing Bitcoin securely on to the industry giants, who have the budget necessary for hiring cybersecurity experts and the tech needed to implement multi-level security systems.

A Tsunami of Money Headed Towards Crypto?

Many believe the floodgates are now open for massive amounts of institutional investment funds to enter the market, and their reasoning actually makes a lot of sense.

The companies that were just approved to offer Bitcoin ETFs represent $20+ trillion in assets under management - meaning if just 2% of that goes toward crypto we'll see $400,000,000,000 (400 billion) injected into the market. 

The crazy thing is, that estimate may be way too small, as we've talked with multiple financial advisors at multiple firms over the past few years when covering various stories about crypto being implemented into their business - one thing we repeatedly heard was that they recommend their client's portfolio to contain anywhere from 5% to 10% crypto.

A recent survey of financial advisors conducted by VettaFi and Bitwise found that 88% said they support investing client's funds in bitcoin, but were waiting for spot bitcoin ETF to be approved.

Then Why Did Bitcoin DROP Following ETF Approval?

With the overwhelming opinion being that the ETFs would be approved, along with the deadline of Jan 10th being public, by the time the ETFs were officially approved every investor who bought more bitcoin with this in mind bought days or weeks ahead. 

Which is why the quote "buy the rumor, sell the news" is something most in the crypto world are used to seeing.  Most buying relating to a news story happens as speculation grows, once that speculation becomes fact, people sell.

Massive Bull Run About to Begin... VERY Soon?

In closing, the only thing we've officially gained this week are new possibilities, a 'reasonable expectation' for Bitcoin's future price just went up.  But if there's one thing I've learned in my 6 years in the crypto world; prepare for what COULD come next, and never believe you know what that will.

With that said, prices have returned to where they were before ETF hype took over the headlines - so if the 'sell the news' process is complete, the market is probably about to turn positive. If it does, I believe it'll have some strength behind it - many people recently took some profits, and in the Bitcoin world a lot of selling is followed by lot of buyers looking to buy more at a lower price. 

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Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

The crypto industry in the United States is making sure their voice is heard before the 2024 elections.  Their primary method of accomplishing this - a Political Action Committee (Super PAC), which is an organization able to raise and spend an unlimited amount of money on political activism - such as funding ads for, or against specific candidates. 

Going by the name 'Fairshake PAC' they have only one goal - a reasonable and clear regulatory landscape for crypto. This means companies no longer having to guess if SEC believes a 50 year old law written before the internet existed will be applied to crypto.

The Super-PAC Already has an Impressive $78 Million Raised, With Elections Nearly a Year Away, the Final Number is Expected to be Much Higher...

The PAC's financial backing comes from a coalition of "20 leading companies and voices in the industry" which includes notable names such as Coinbase, Circle, Kraken, the Winklevoss brothers, Ripple, Messari, Andreessen Horowitz, and others.

Fairshake's mission is clear: "To champion leaders who actively support progressive innovation, encompassing blockchain technology and the broader crypto industry." More specifically, the leaders elected in 2024 will be the ones to sign crypto regulations into law, so making sure these regulations will be fair, reasonable, and well-defined is important. 

With 52 Million Americans Now Owning Digital Assets, We Now Have The Power To Sway Elections... 

If just 14% of crypto owners see crypto as their main factor in deciding who to vote for, it would be enough to flip the who won the popular vote in the last 2 elections.

They're also willing to extend support to candidates from both political parties, emphasizing the inclusive nature of their agenda.

It's Easy To Instantly React Negatively to Anything Involving Money and Politics... 

This isn't a matter of perception, members of the current US Congress are officially part of the oldest congress in entire US history - and nothing seems to highlight this generational gap more than tech related issues. Many lawmakers come from the 'senior citizen' demographic, they have held seats in Congress and the Senate for decades, and on multiple occasions where they were expected to announce their retirement, ended up announcing their run for re-election.

If there's any advice I'd give those who will be representing crypto in Washington DC, it would be that they take the time to figure out how to explain crypto to people who don't know how to send an e-mail. These politicians have proven themselves to be a 'high risk' when it comes to believing misinformation and alarmist headlines. In many cases you can find them discussing their struggles with technology in their own words - they called computers and smartphones 'confusing' and 'challenging', and joke about relying on their grandchildren for tech assistance.

We Need to Educate Lawmakers, Before They Make Any New Laws...

Candidates and their campaign managers will be aware of which industries have the largest budgets in the current election cycle, which is why a couple experts/VIPs from crypto industry can ask for, and successfully setup meetings in various lawmaker's offices. Here the pro-crypto case can be made, common anti-crypto misinformation can be corrected, and the politician can ask any questions they may have.

It is essential we the opportunity to present straightforward facts to lawmakers before they cast votes that can significantly impact the future of the crypto industry.

A perfect example of the kind of senseless challenges the industry faces is Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California.  He's been there 10 years, will be running for re-election in 2024, and holds the extreme opinion that crypto should be banned entirely. He is unable to mention 'Bitcoin' without immediately framing it as something only useful in 'illegal activities' -  his anti-crypto statements begun at the same time his largest campaign donor was a credit card processing company facing charges of illegally providing services to black market online gambling sites.

For Example, Here's How I would Lobby a Politician who Believes Crypto is Just used by the 'Bad Guys'...

In Closing...

The crypto industry is ready to make its voice heard in the 2024 elections, and there is power in numbers. But the number more important than the amount of money the industry can spend in Washington DC, will be the 52 million crypto owners in US who will decide what standards, and how much effort  we demand from our leaders. If united, this is who ultimately will determine winners and losers.

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Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

Do Kwon, founder of the failed Terra and Luna cryptocurrencies, will not be extradited to the United States for now. This is because a Montenegro appeals court ordered the suspension of the extradition ruling and a restart of the court case.

The Court of Appeals Gives Kwon a Small Win...

Following an appeal filed by Kwon's defense lawyer, the Podgorica High Court's decision to authorize Kwon's extradition has now been revoked. Kwon's case has been ordered returned to trial court to start a new case against him.

This overturns November's ruling that all legal requirements were met for Kwon's extradition. It also rules out forecasts he would be sent to the US to face fraud and other federal charges, which the Montenegro Justice Ministry had agreed to instead of extraditing him to South Korea.

Kwon's lawyer argued the extradition ruling violated criminal procedure provisions, meaning it was made without due process. The appeals court agreed the Podgorica High Court “acted in contravention of the law on international legal assistance in criminal matters.”

Kwon was Caught Fleeing South Korea, When Spotted in Montenegro in June 2022...

He was traveling on false documents and lying about his identity, while attempting to flee South Korea following the failure of his company's collapse.  

Before the collapse, Do Kwon had dozens of companies in the crypto industry to investing, attracting them with high-rate 'guaranteed' interest earnings. Between this, and their massive sell-off of Bitcoin held in reserves while attempting to rescue their stablecoin, the entire market turned red.

Do Kwon's failures are blamed for triggering the start of the 2022 bear market.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London Newsroom
GlobalCryptoPress | Breaking Crypto News

A widely used term within the Bitcoin community. "HODL" stands for "hold on for dear life" and represents a long-term investment strategy where individuals buy and retain their Bitcoin, unfazed by market volatility. This choice of ticker reflects VanEck's alignment with the core values of the Bitcoin community, emphasizing the long-term potential of the cryptocurrency.

Analysts have offered varied opinions on the "HODL" ticker. Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, believes it will resonate well with crypto-savvy investors but might be less intuitive for traditional ones. Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, views it as a bold and unconventional approach, contrasting it with the more conservative choices seen from other firms like BlackRock and Fidelity.

The Companies Racing To Launch their Bitcoin ETF's Are The Largest Financial Intuitions in the World..

One thing justifying Bitcoin's recent price gains is that the companies interested in launching crypto based ETF's are literally the largest and most powerful financial firms in the world.  Several prominent firnms included are BlackRock, Fidelity, Valkyrie, and Franklin Templeton.

While the SEC has yet to provide a clear indication of its stance on these filings, it remains actively engaged in discussions with the firms to address technical aspects of their proposals.

VanEck anticipates SEC approval for its spot Bitcoin ETF as early as January 2024...

They're projecting a potential inflow of $2.4 billion in the first quarter following approval.

This latest move by VanEck signifies a strategic effort to connect with the Bitcoin community and tap into the growing interest in this digital asset. As the regulatory landscape continues to evolve, the anticipation surrounding SEC approval highlights the potential impact such a product could have on the crypto market, potentially making it more accessible and appealing to a wider audience.

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Author: Adam Lee 
Asia News Desk / Breaking Crypto News

*Update* Jan 8th 2024 - The market has officially recovered and surpassed levels preceding the 2022 crash.

The cryptocurrency market has almost returned to levels before the damaging collapses of Terra/Luna and FTX in 2022. Bitcoin recently surpassed $39,000 for the first time since May 2022, fueled in part by growing expectations that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could finally approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the next few weeks, or even days.

At the time of publishing, Bitcoin is trading around $39,700 - a gain of just $800 to $40,500 would officially represent a full recovery.

2022: A Year So Bad, it Took 2 Years To Recover From...

In 2022, two big hits cut Bitcoin's price in half over just few months.

The first came from the Terra/Luna debacle, triggered by the collapse of TerraUSD, an algorithmic stablecoin that was supposed to maintain a $1 peg but ultimately lost all value. Prior to its failure, the high interest rates offered by Terra through its Anchor protocol had attracted billions of dollars in investments, including from major crypto lending firms like Celsius Network. As the 'stablecoin' hit a liquidity crisis Terraform Labs began rapidly selling its bitcoin reserves in a desperate attempt to maintain the peg. This massive dumping of bitcoin put significant downward pressure on prices, contributing to bitcoin falling from around $30,000 down to below $20,000.

The second big hit came just months later when crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy after questions arose over its financial health and potential commingling of customer funds. As one of the largest and seemingly most reputable exchanges, FTX's failure shook investor confidence and reignited worries of contagion across the crypto ecosystem. Bitcoin fell to under $16,000 amidst the fallout, its lowest level since late 2020.

Since then, the Market has Been Gradually Recovering...  

Some analysts believe bitcoin could soon surmount the key psychological barrier of $40,000 if momentum continues building ahead of a long-awaited bitcoin spot ETF approval.

Others caution bitcoin may retreat to around $35,000 if ETF approval doesn't happen soon, but still bounce past $40k when it eventually happens. 

But all are in agreement - the crypto winter is officially thawing.

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Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

There is one thing in crypto people can actually predict correctly - the next Bitcoin halving event. This changes the amount of Bitcoins miners receive as a reward for contributing computing power to keep the network running.

It effects the entire ecosystem because it decides the total amount of Bitcoin in circulation, halving instantly cuts the rate that number was growing in half. 

Initially, the reward for mining a block of transactions was 50 BTC. Then in 2012, this was 'halved' to 25 Bitcoins, again in 2016 it was halved to 12.5 BTC. Then most recently,  May 2020, halved again to 6.25.

Cutting their reward in half may sound drastic, but for some perspective, back when the reward was 50 Bitcoins per block mined, the most that was ever worth was $1000 when Bitcoin hit $20 in 2011. If Satoshi wasn't thinking long term, and these halving events were never programmed in, it would be like creating $300 million in new coins every day at today's price. 

Of course, prices would never have come close to what they are today if miners were constantly flooding the market with lots of easily earned coins.

Just like when a nation's government prints money, if they do too much, everyone's money becomes worth a bit less.  When politicians create more money because they want more money, not because the economy actually grew, we get inflation. Bigger, but only because it's been filled with worthless hot air. 

Some say Bitcoin has the solution to inflation built in to it...

These 2 rules make it different from any currency in human history:

First - no one has ability to create new Bitcoins.  Sure, it is a virtual item, and if your wallet isn't connected to the internet, you can mess with the code until the wallet believes it's holding 10 instead of 2 BTC.  Problem is, as soon as that wallet tries to use one of these counterfeit coins from nowhere, the transaction will fail.  A blockchain is literally a record of where every legitimate coin belongs, and no one is going to hack those records of the majority of miners (about 500,000 systems running thousands of different configurations). Yet even with this seemingly bulletproof security, there's still way too many people easily fooled in to opening the front door and letting thieves right in, but that's another story. 

So while no person can suddenly create a bunch of new Bitcoins, the code does this on its own at a rate for healthy growth, and since that rate isn't a secret, there's no surprises. Ironically, Bitcoin is constantly labeled volatile and unpredictable by the media, when it couldn't be more stable, and completely predictable. It's the humans trading it who seem to be constantly switching between buying as much as they can and selling it all off. 

New Bitcoin needs to be created to entice people to mine it, and just enough is created to accomplish that. Satoshi assumed as as time goes on, it would either be dead or growing in popularity, Satoshi set the rate of creating new comes to become LESS as and more people use it. This is a one of Bitcoin's major attractions to economists, bankers and investors, as it greatly raises the odds of Bitcoin having a positive long term outlook.

As time has gone on, the price tag on one of these halving events has a lot more people paying attention to them - the one set to happen next year will significantly reduce the annual amount of new Bitcoins by a whopping 164,250 coins - a dollar equivalent of dropping from $11.5 billion to $5.7 billion.

It's a delicate balance, and the next shake-up may throw some people off...

Mining experts from Blockware Solutions have crunched the numbers following the 2024 halving, examining the impact on different miners with a range of different hardware, and their report discovered a very a real risk for those running older, less efficient systems. 

The study even priced Bitcoin slightly higher than it is today, at $35,000, and used a network hashrate of 420 EH/s - the results show that a staggering 24% of Bitcoin's miners becoming unprofitable, spending more on electricity than they'd earn in Bitcoin - it's safe to assume they'll all just pull the plug. 

The survival of the fittest will be evident as only those miners equipped with the latest technology will thrive. Older rigs, with their diminishing efficiency, will need to be able to sell Bitcoin their Bitcoins at considerably higher prices, especially if electricity costs spike.

The Silver Lining For Bitcoin HODLers...

There's a popular belief that with fewer Bitcoins entering the market, demand might outstrip supply, potentially driving up prices. The low efficiency miners that would be eliminated are also typically the ones who immediately sell everything they earn, so removing their constant supply of new coins to the market could be good for anyone holding bitcoin.  

Blockware Solutions' comprehensive report also illustrates how cutting-edge equipment like the Antminer S19 and Antminer S19XP have a lower threshold for profitability and should continue to bring a profit for miners using them post 2024.

When you hear those estimates of "$1 million bitcoin" - this is what they're talking about, and why the dates they give are 15-30 years away.  Because with a steady, fairly reasonable growth rate, 20 years from now Bitcoin could be incredibly popular, and the supply of new coins so small, the only option buyers will have is to will continually raise the amount they're willing to pay.

The more difficult it becomes for someone to get Bitcoin, the tighter  HOLDers will grip on to what they have.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London Newsroom
GlobalCryptoPress | Breaking Crypto News

We're learning of this only because PayPal's required quarterly report has now been filed with the SEC, from there you'll have to go 16 pages in before it's even mentioned.

It's rare for a company spend over $300+ million on anything without letting the public/and press know about it - but when PayPal decided to load up on crypto they clearly also decided it would be smarter to stay quiet while doing it.

Why So Secretive?

My guess is; they didn't want prices to go higher... yet. 

They did their buying over a 3 month period, and if news got out that the worlds biggest online finance company was spending so much on crypto, other companies may follow. It doesn't help them if prices go up while they're still buying.

While the report does not give the number of Bitcoins PayPal holds, it does give their total USD value of $499 million. This is based on Bitcoin's total value at the end of March, so doing the math and assuming they were paying slightly under market value by doing large OTC trades, we're estimating PayPal holds somewhere around 17,500 BTC.

They also spent another $110 million on Ethereum, and another $19 million on all other cryptocurrencies.

So Far in 2023 PayPal's Added Another $339 Million In Crypto - Bringing Total Near $1B...

PayPal began 2023 already owning over $600 million worth of cryptocurrency, but after the last 3 months of aggressive buying, they're almost able to join the small group of companies and individuals holding over a billion worth of crypto.

However, breaking $1 billion total is now within reach, and can be done without PayPal having to buy more.  One crypto consultant remarked 'Paypal is serious about becoming a player in the crypto industry'.

We estimate Bitcoin trading around $35k and ETH holding over $2k would be enough to put PayPal's total into the 10-digits.

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Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

Ethereum's Shapella upgrade went live earlier in the week, along with this came a large amount of previously locked tokens becoming available for trading - all these coins potentially hitting the open market had some predicting a sell-off. 

Those Sell-Off Predictions Appear to Have Been Wrong...

Concerns about a potential sell-off from those who locked up their ETH coins for staking now gaining access to their ETH again, making them tradable.

These locked coins total 15% of the total ETH supply - if just half wanted to sell, it wouldn't have been pretty.

Instead, the Opposite - Ethereum is up 9.58%...

The upgrade has been followed by two days of price gains for ETH - up nearly 10% since the upgrade went live.

Many who said a full blown 'sell-off' was unlikely were still ready to see at least a small dip in Ethereum's price, and thinking a small dip would happen does make sense based on standard supply and demand expectations - instead, Ethereum's been on the rise since the upgrade happened 2 days ago.

The reason even we were predicting a small price decrease was that many people would be taking a loss - these people purchased in the Aug 2021 - April 2022 timeframe when sales were highest and so was ETH's $3000+ price.  We assumed these people would continue holding on to their tokens for now, they see it slowly coming back up to those prices and would rather avoid taking a loss. 

A Maturing Market?

In previous years it feels like just the fear of a potential sell off would then actually trigger that sell off, this feels like the market is maturing. As more people get familiar with cryptocurrency and its uses, they'll become more comfortable holding onto their tokens, even during periods of potential volatility.

Overall, another strong week for crypto!

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News 

According to court records that have just been made available to us, there has been nothing less than a  massive army of professionals working non-stop to clean up the mess at FTX. 

They've been tasked with examining every bit of FTX's business, due to the lack of record keeping during the reign of it's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. 

Of course, hiring a large amount people qualified to review complex financial data doesn't come cheap -but no one seems to have expected it would be this expensive either, as these firms have now billed FTX $38 million PLUS expenses...and that's just for January!

Breaking Down The Bill...

On the financial front, Alvarez & Marsal and Perella Weinberg Partners were tasked with sorting through FTX's accounting records and determining which assets it could sell. According to court filings, Sullivan & Cromwell billed $16.8 million for January, while Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan billed $1.4 million, and Landis Rath & Cobb billed $663,995. Collectively, the three firms have over 180 lawyers assigned to the case and over 50 non-lawyer staff, such as paralegals.

What's more, court filings show that Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers and staff billed a total of 14,569 hours for January. The largest project that Sullivan & Cromwell worked on was discovery, followed by asset disposition and asset analysis and recovery.

Interestingly, the U.S. Department of Justice initially objected to FTX hiring Sullivan & Cromwell, citing potential conflicts of interest. Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX's founder, also objected to the bankruptcy administrators hiring the firm, claiming that the law firm's staff had pressured him into filing for bankruptcy in November. However, in late January, a Delaware bankruptcy court judge approved the firm to continue representing FTX.

In early February, Sullivan & Cromwell submitted a bill for $7.5 million for the first 19 days of bankruptcy work after FTX filed in November. The majority of billed time for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan was spent on Asset Analysis and Recovery as well as Avoidance Action – legalese for attempts to undo certain transactions that the debtor engaged in before bankruptcy. As for Landis Rath & Cobb, a significant amount of time was billed for hearings, litigation, and asset disposition.

But that's not all. AlixPartners billed $2.1 million for 2,454 hours of work. Investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners billed $450,000 (its monthly fee), and court documents show that it spent a significant amount of time on developing a restructuring strategy, as well as correspondence with third parties.

According to its billing breakdown, the bank spent a large amount of time working on the sale of FTX assets LedgerX and FTX Japan. In January, a bankruptcy judge gave the sale the green light to create liquidity to pay back creditors.

Last but not least, Alvarez & Marsal billed $12.3 million, the second-largest charge for the month, behind Sullivan & Cromwell. Some of the largest items it billed for were Avoidance Actions, at 3,370 hours, financial analysis, at 1,168 hours, and accounting at 1,106 hours.

In November, shortly after FTX declared bankruptcy, interim CEO John J. Ray III said that the exchange had a "complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information." Ray, who also oversaw the liquidation of Enron and Nortel Networks when they collapsed, called the FTX situation "unprecedented".

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News

The amount of 'saved Bitcoin' (coins being kept at a single wallet address for at least two years) has reached a new all-time high.

According to data compiled by the analytics firm Glassnode, these coins total over 49% percent of the total Bitcoin supply, which comes to 9.45 million BTC. Nearly half of all Bitcoin's are in the hands of long term investors.

Soon the majority of all BTC will have not moved in over 2 years - an extremely bullish indicator...

The previous record amount of saved Bitcoin was set between the end of 2020 and the start of 2021. This coincides with the start of the bull market that year - with the rising price being driven by a lack of people willing to sell their BTC.

So far, we're seeing a similar path ahead now, as Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency market appear to be beginning a price recovery cycle.

Since the beginning of this year, bitcoin has increased by almost 40%. and is hanging around $23,000 -reclaiming a price not seen since August 2022.

Last week it became official that the majority of Bitcoin holders have made a profit at current prices. 

Predictions for the year...

So far, are bullish, according to a majority of analysts.

However, you may not be feeling it yet - the first few months of 2023 are anticipated to be slow,  followed by a large increase in the price of BTC in the second half of the year.

Will Bitcoin repeat its traditional cycle of crashes, followed by setting a new all time high?  That would mean Bitcoin breaking the $70,000 ceiling. 
------- 

Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News

Following Bitcoin's price gains over the past week, the crypto world can once again claim that the majority of Bitcoin investments have made a profit for the investor - as 68% of Bitcoin addresses are now considered 'profitable' to it's owner, according to the latest data from research firm Glassnode.

The last time this happened was in the middle of last year, as can be seen in the graph that accompanies the firm's publication. At that time, the price of the cryptocurrency exceeded $40,000 and was in sharp decline.

Basically, it Means the Majority of BTC Holders Paid an Average Price Less than $22,000...

There's more positive statistic pointing towards Bitcoin's resilience.

Looking at 'dormant' coins (coins that have not moved for an extended period) 'lost' coins (coins believed to be in wallets no one has the key to) and long-term 'saved' coins (coins deliberately untouched by their owner, aka HODLing) are now at a 5-year high. 

These coins contribute to stability and a higher floor price, because they are considered unlikely to be sold anytime soon . 

Also, there are more people with at least 1 full bitcoin now than ever before. 

End of the Bear Market in Sight?

While a good week doesn't mean we're out of a bear market, it does look like the sell-off is done. Those buying BTC say their current goal is accumulating more, and as they began dominating the market it became clear, buyers are greatly outnumbering sellers, which naturally led to the price increase. This behavior indicates that most BTC owners believe that there's another bull run coming.

Currently the market is a mixed bag of indicators pointing in both directions, we see sentiment among traders moving away from fear, which is part of a bear market coming to a close, but that's still premature to claim.

While traders feel more confident now than they have for months, another price dip before things go bullish is still something most traders see as possible. The main reason for skepticism is the larger economic situation, as the uncertainty resulting from national debit, layoffs, and inflation are shared by crypto investors regardless of where they're from. 

Officially, this is still a bear market, and many believe it will stay that way until the overall economic situation improves - people are unlikely to make significant investments in crypto or anything else if they're not sure they will still have a job next month.

I Reached Out to 2 Pro-Analysts, Hoping for Some Insight on What Bitcoin's Next Move Could Be...

I've occasionally reach out to these guys for their opinions ever since I met them at Blockchain Expo Global in 2018. 

One works for a US based investment firm some of you have most likely heard of, the other works at an international exchange I think nearly everyone is familiar with. Note that they are sharing their professional opinions, on a personal and unofficial basis. So while we cannot include their full credentials here - they're the real deal.
 
There was Consensus From Both That the Smart Thing to do Right Now: Probably Nothing...

The US based analyst explained "this is one of those occasional times where no one can predict what comes next... until we see what comes next" he asks to let him clarify, and adds "basically, there's nothing we would consider a strong indicator that BTC will move in either direction right now- actually, some of the typically reliable indicators are disagreeing with each other Ironically, what seems like a lack of data is actually an accurate look at the market's current state - it's legitimately undecided right now."

The analyst currently working for an exchange added "While I know I'll be wrong sometimes, I still think that if my level of confidence is below like 70% it's probably best not to say something that people will act upon, I wouldn't move any of my own funds around for a prediction from someone whos only 60% behind it."

What Should You Be Paying Attention To Over the Next Week?

If things take a turn and prices head back down, look for Bitcoin dropping below $20,000 -  if it does,  it may continue to drop to around $16,000, a proven strong support level.

On the other hand, if Bitcoin continues to make gains and manages to cross $24,500 we could see the rise continue to around $27,000.

A Reminder of The Market You're In:

Bitcoin tanked from $1,000 to below $200 in 2015.

Bitcoin dropped below $3,200 after hitting $20,000 in December 2017.

Bitcoin dipped from $63,000 to $29,000 in 2021.

Bitcoin went from $68,000 to below $20,000 in 2022, this is today's bear market.

After each of these events the media declared the "end of Bitcoin".  Elderly professionals from the traditional finance and banking world would make sure to be seen in print and on TV saying "told you so" while warning everyone not to ever buy more Bitcoin.

What they don't say is that their grandson helps them anytime they need to send an email, and they literally couldn't buy Bitcoin if they wanted to (people under estimate how often this is the true reason an older person is anti-crypto)

EVERY. SINGLE.TIME. Those who stood firm in their belief in crypto's future were rewarded with prices hitting a new all-time high, every major crash as been followed by breaking previous records. 

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Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and money laundering on Tuesday. From what you hear in the press, you would reasonably assume there is a mountain of evidence against him - so is Sam crazy? 

Well, he may not be as crazy as it sounds. 

Why Risk More Years in Prison Instead of Negotiating? To Get ZERO Years in Prison...

Approximately 97% of cases are resolved with a plea deal. Sam, like most defendants, had the option to negotiate how long he would stay in prison, in exchange for pleading guilty. 

We don't know what that deal would have been, but with the charges against him, it's reasonable to think he could have reduced his time behind bars by 10+ years. Turning this down is not a decision someone takes lightly. 

If you choose to be among the 3% of people to go to trial, you must be confident that you can win.

Why Sam Believes the Jury Will find Him INNOCENT...

What Sam and his legal team believe they can prove to a jury revolves around the fact that there is no FTX'- there's two of them, completely separate companies, functioning independently. 

No country in the world charges people with crimes committed in foreign nations with foreign victims.  Bankman-Fried can only be charged with crimes he committed while in the US or against US citizens.

This also reminds me of when after his arrest in the Bahamas, he said he planned on fighting being extradited to the United States, then suddenly reversed this and fully cooperated to insure his trial would take place in the US.

Bankman-Fried's Defense is NOT that He Did Not Break The Law, But Rather that Any Alleged Wrongdoing Occurred Outside the US and Involved Foreign Victims...

Meaning that the alleged crimes were committed by a separate, foreign entity and involved funds belonging to users of FTX International. 

Structurally, the companies remained separate, there were no (known) shared accounts, no fiat or crypto spilling from one to the other. The company/exchange for US citizens had its own website at www.FTX.us - then there was FTX International at www.FTX.com.

If someone from the US attempted to sign up on the FTX international site, they would simply get an error message redirecting them to the US site.

With everything separate, it would have been easy for Sam to simply leave all funds related to FTX US alone, and this is exactly what Sam claims happened. 

So Far, There's No Evidence Saying Otherwise...

In every interview, Sam said that 'all funds in FTX US  were "never touched" and they could give users access to it right now if they wanted to.  This statement is included in the testimony he was planning to give Congress, under oath, but he was arrested the day before that was set to happen. 

But let's forget what Sam has to say, he's a proven liar on other related matters. -  what's been found since he lost control of the company? 

John J. Ray is the acting CEO of FTX appointed to oversee the company being dismantled in the bankruptcy process, and he is no fan of Bankman-Fried.

When testifying to Congress a couple weeks ago, he shared in his opening statements his belief that FTX US funds were involved, but later, during the portion where he takes questions from lawmakers, he was asked what they had found so far - and so far, nothing. 

In a previous report, an insider at the company shared that the new CEO believes they just need to dig deeper to find proof that Bankman-Fried did misuse FTX US funds - he just did a better job at hiding it compared to FTX International. It's reasonable to assume that, and the investigation isn't over - but Sam, the one person who would know, just pleaded innocent in court. 

Sam May Have Viewed US Funds as 'Off Limits' From The Start...

Ryan Miller, a member of FTX US's legal team used to work for the person in charge of regulating FTX, the current head of the SEC, Chairman Gary Gensler.  By the time this all happened, he had been with FTX for nearly a year, tasked with being the contact between the company and regulators. 

Sam's mom was a lawyer at one of the top firms in the US with clients like Exxon, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Universal Pictures, Sony and more. His father is considered one of the leading experts in tax law, tax shelters, and tax compliance, and teaches law at Stanford.

Between Miller, someone from the world of financial regulation, and his parents, who would surely advise him of the additional rules and risks attached to US investor funds, it's believable that Sam may have just considered this portion of his businesses off-limits. 

Did Sam Plead Innocent Because he Knows They Won't Find Records of Him Misusing US Funds?

This is the big question. 

Keep in mind, however, that Sam's original lawyers dropped him shortly after FTX's collapse due to his "incessant and disruptive tweeting" when he kept ignoring their advice to stop publicly speaking about the matter. 

Sam clearly believes he has a talent for persuading people, and maybe he once did, but the more he spoke publicly to audiences already suspicious of him, the more hated he became. I'm not sure if Sam ever really accepted that this tactic was a failure and he should have listened to his lawyers. 

So is Sam continuing to be a nightmare client for any legal team to represent? He may be pleading innocent because he believes he's so smart, he can just confuse a jury into thinking he's innocent. 

Or, does he know prosecutors will fail to find the evidence they need to prove the charges against him?

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Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News