- The number of cryptocurrency whales has started to increase amid the recent rally in bitcoin. This is evidenced by the CoinMetrics data service. According to the company's specialists, the number of wallets containing more than 1000 coins reached 2.2 thousand on October 25. There were less than 2 thousand of them at the beginning of the year, and their number began to decline at a rapid pace before the May halving. Based on the current rate, each of the cryptocurrency “whales” is the owner of a fortune of at least 13 million dollars. It is noteworthy that many of them invested in bitcoin during periods when it was very cheap, which speaks of the record profitability of the main coin for its "early" owners.
- One of the leading bitcoin ATM operators LibertyX has added the option to sell bitcoin for cash to 5000 devices located in the United States. This function avoids delays associated with bank transfers. Anyone who wants to sell bitcoins just needs to use an application or a website to enter the number of coins they want to sell and choose a convenient ATM that will give them cash in dollars after specifying the order number. The commission for such an operation is quite large: 8%.
- Bitcoin outperforms gold as an alternative currency and has a significantly better chance of continued growth, according to a new report by the US investment bank JPMorgan. At the same time, the bank's analysts draw attention to the low capitalization of bitcoin, which, in their opinion, is explained by the fact that mainly millennials choose the cryptocurrency. The older generation prefers to keep assets in tangible form, in particular, in gold. Despite this, however, bitcoin has significant potential for long-term growth as millennials will become "an increasingly important component of the investment space" over time. JPMorgan estimates that the physical gold market, including ETF backed by it, is $2.6 trillion. Bitcoin needs to raise its current value of around $13,000 10 times to equal the precious metal in this respect.
- Hackers broke into the database of the Vastaamo Psychotherapy Centre in Finland. After gaining access to information on thousands of patients at the centre, they demanded a ransom in the amount of 450 thousand euros in bitcoins. The cybercriminals threatened to publish the stolen data and have already begun to implement the threat by uploading the personal data of at least 300 people to the web. The information included the patient's name, telephone number, email address, residential address, diagnosis, and the content of the therapy sessions. The hackers also offered individual patients to delete their data for a ransom of up to 540 euros in bitcoins.
- After the payment giant PayPal announced the start of support for bitcoin and a number of other cryptocurrencies, Visa, Mastercard and American Express will follow its example. This opinion was expressed in an interview with Bloomberg by the CEO of the Galaxy Investment cryptocurrency fund Mike Novogratz. However, speaking of bitcoin, Novogratz sees in it only a way to preserve capital and doubts that the first cryptocurrency will become widespread as a means of payment. “I don't think this will happen within the next five years. Bitcoin is used as a means of accumulation. Therefore, as digital gold, it will simply continue to rise in value, and more and more people will include it in their portfolios,” explained Novogratz. As a reminder, PayPal announced the launch of the function of buying, selling and storing bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin on Wednesday, October 21. The company expects that the new feature will stimulate the global use of cryptocurrencies and prepare the web for digital currencies of central banks.
- According to analysts at Glassnode, the rate of bitcoin has not increased much so far. They conclude from this that the asset will have every chance to take on new barriers in the future. Investors are still only trying to figure out the new policy of bitcoin, since it is more focused on the internal environment now. Stock markets and other external factors have practically ceased to influence it.
- American programmer, US presidential candidate, "crypto baron" John McAfee, arrested in Spain at the request of the US and accused of tax evasion, gave an interview to Cointelegraph right from his prison cell. The eccentric millionaire shared his thoughts on the latest developments in the cryptocurrency industry, praised the news of the addition of cryptocurrencies to PayPal's arsenal, and could not resist advertising his own cryptocurrency. “Very soon, we will be faced with a new direction in using cryptocurrencies to execute transactions, rather than as a quick get-rich scheme. That's why I developed the privacy-focused stablecoin Ghost,” McAfee said.
- The founders of the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, the Winklevoss brothers, confirmed their previous prediction, saying that bitcoin will be worth $500,000 sooner or later. 'The question isn't whether bitcoin will cost $500,000 or not, the question is how quickly it will happen. In fact, even this assessment seems to me very conservative - the game has not really even started, "- said Cameron Winklevoss. Tyler Winklevoss added that he and his brother started buying cryptocurrency back in 2012 and expressed confidence that bitcoin outperforms gold, oil and the US dollar as a store of value and is the only long-term inflation hedge.
- The CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, who was prophesying the imminent decline of cryptocurrency in the past, claims that he is ready to hold bitcoin for 100 years and does not plan to sell it. Led by Saylor, the company has invested $425 million in bitcoin over the past months. “And this is not speculation or hedge. This is a targeted corporate strategy for the adoption of the bitcoin standard,” Saylor explained. According to him, having considered the available options for preserving capital amid the economic uncertainty in the world, MicroStrategy has come to the conclusion that bitcoin is the best long-term store of value. Taxes and commissions make investments in other assets meaningless, and if not, then they are flawed, because they are controlled by a company management or the state. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is evolving and only gets harder and stronger over time. Sailor believes that gold cannot be compared to bitcoin. In his opinion, people who hold $100 million in fiat will lose 99% of the value of their assets in 100 years, and investments in gold will, at best, bring 85% of the loss.
- On Wednesday October 28, Donald Trump's campaign website was hacked. As a result, the content of the "About Us" page was changed to accommodate the addresses of the Monero cryptocurrency and the accompanying text. Cybercriminals claim in it to have hacked many devices and gained full access to information about Trump and his relatives. They also claim that they had information at their disposal, allegedly indicating the involvement of the Trump administration in the emergence of the coronavirus, as well as his personal involvement in criminal activity and cooperation with foreigners to manipulate the upcoming election.
