- There has been a wave of calls in Japan about the mining of educational institutions and rural administrations from scammers who demanded a ransom in cryptocurrencies. The corresponding incidents have been recorded in at least 18 prefectures of the country. “Bitcoin was the most popular choice for criminals,” said Japan Today. "But in none of the cases has the information about the explosives been confirmed." One of the incidents occurred in the town of Yamagata. Criminals demanded 40 bitcoins for clearing the building there. The authorities have already raised 450 thousand dollars and were going to transfer them into cryptocurrency for ransom. But when police and deminers went to the scene, no explosive devices were found. As a result, in none of the cases the demining ransom was transferred.
- Ethereum mining revenues have grown by about 40 percent over the past month. According to the analytical platform Glassnode, the main source of new earnings was the increased commissions. The popularization of the DeFi market was also reflected in the income of miners, which significantly increased the number of operations performed on the Ethereum blockchain. However, the situation could change dramatically if Joe Biden wins the presidential election. This will cause a new wave of inspections and tightening of control over the financial market, due to which some of the DeFi projects will be closed. In this case, the industry will sag again, although the fall will not be as noticeable. But Bitcoin, according to Bloomberg experts, will only win if Joe Biden wins. Under Donald Trump, the emphasis was on strengthening the dollar and all industries associated with it. Analysts are confident that the new American administration will think more progressively in financial matters, as a result of which the adoption of cryptocurrencies by regulators will accelerate significantly, while other assets will simply lose their relevance.
- Founded by Binance, the Blockchain Charity Foundation (BCF) continues to raise donations for the purchase of personal protective equipment against coronavirus infection. More than $4 million in cryptocurrency has been raised as of now. The organization has already provided aid to 20 countries around the world, purchasing more than 450 million masks and other protective equipment for their medical facilities.
- A sheep farmer from Lincolnshire has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for extorting ?1.4m worth of bitcoins from supermarket chain Tesco, the Daily Mail reports. For two years, 45-year-old Nigel Wright put cans of Heinz and Cow & Gate baby food brands on the shelves of the chain stores, which he stuffed with metal fragments, including shards of a stationery knife. After which he demanded ransom in exchange for a promise to reveal the location of the dangerous cans. The sheep breeder was detained after a detective posing as a Tesco employee transferred ?100,000 in cryptocurrency to him. Two women testified in court, who almost fed the children with food containing metal fragments. According to one of them, her husband found a piece of a knife blade at the bottom of the can. As a result of Wright's threats, Tesco had to recall from stores a total of 140 thousand cans of baby food, 42 thousand of them were destroyed. It cost the trading network ?2.7 million in losses.
- The manager of the investment company Cane Island Alternative Advisors, Timothy Peterson, is convinced that the price of bitcoin with a 90% probability will not fall below $11,000. The strength of support at this level is due to "long-term, fundamental trends." According to the expert, Metcalfe's Law Value Approach has already helped him to successfully forecast the BTC price in late 2018 and into 2019. Let us clarify that this law states that the utility of a network is proportional to the square of the number of its users. In this context, the value of bitcoin depends entirely on the number of people using it. According to Peterson's calculations, on November 30, 2020, the price of bitcoin will be above $12,000 with a 90% probability.
- CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said that since no Bitcoin inflow has been recorded, the coin will continue to rise. To assess the volume of BTC transfers to exchanges, CryptoQuant has created its own indicator All Exchanges Inflow Mean, and now it remains in the “safe” zone: the “whales” are in no hurry to get rid of their reserves. And it looks like bitcoin's rise above $11,500 won't lead to its massive sell-off.
- Swiss luxury watch maker Franck Muller has created an exclusive line of bitcoin-themed watches called The King, which is available in two versions, each with just 10 pieces. The name correlates with the status of bitcoin, which is considered the king of cryptocurrencies. You need to be a real bitcoin fan and a wealthy person to buy this watch. Although the price of these exclusive accessories is not yet known, there is still a benchmark: the Encrypto watches of this company cost from 10,000 to 54,000 euros. A feature of The King model, like the Encrypto lines, is a set of QR codes on the digital dial. By scanning it, the owner of the jewelry can verify their personal bitcoin accounts.
