Bitfinity Weekly: Market Lessons
Welcome to Issue #140 of Bitfinity Weekly for our #BITFINIANS community. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, sign up here.
What's in Today's Email?
- Bitcoin Bytes
- Global Crypto News
- In the IC
- This Week in our Blog
- Tweet of the Week
- Meme Time
- A Matter of Opinion
Bitcoin Bytes
Check the Chain: A U.S. court approved the sale of $6.5 billion in Bitcoin seized from the Silk Road marketplace, finalizing a four-year legal dispute. This decision allows the Department of Justice to liquidate the 69,370 Bitcoin assets despite an ongoing administrative process for asset forfeiture. Despite speculation that a government selloff is the reason for Bitcoin's recent downward price action, on-chain activity shows that the funds have not yet been moved.
Off the Grid: Thai authorities seized nearly 1,000 Bitcoin mining rigs after discovering a significant electricity theft operation in the Phanat Nikhom district of Chonburi. The operation is estimated to have stolen approximately $3 million worth of electricity by tampering with the power meter to divert power at night while using it legitimately during the day. Thailand has seen a number of large-scale Bitcoin-related electricity theft recently, with over 11 illegal mass mining operations dismantled by the Thai government in the past year.
Don't Send Nodes: Pseudonymous dev @lifofifo released a new metaprotocol called ASSIGN and has integrated it with The Wizards of Ord suite. ASSIGN's standout function is cold-to-hot wallet delegation, but its capabilities range from parent/child and batch inscriptions, self-custodying sats, and more. Notably, ASSIGN can be used without running a Bitcoin node.
Global Crypto News
Burn Rate: Southern California is facing historic and catastrophic wildfires, with flames threatening several crypto companies in the Santa Monica and Pasadena area. Companies like the Santa Monica Bitcoin Office, Swan Bitcoin, BlockDaemon, and SuperVerse are directly impacted, while others like the Crypto.com Arena remain safe for now. However, local firefighting efforts have struggled to contain the fire, putting thousands of people at risk. Midst the tragedy Polymarket has controversially started accepting bets on the outcomes of the fires.
Predictable Scrutiny: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has served Coinbase with a subpoena related to Polymarket (a popular prediction market that utilizes crypto), seeking general customer information. Coinbase informed its users that it may be required to share their account details with the CFTC via email. This action comes in the wake of Polymarket's ongoing regulatory scrutiny, including a raid on the Polymarket founder's home and barring U.S. residents from using the platform.
No More Arbitrage?: South Korea is planning to lift its de facto ban on institutional trading of cryptocurrencies, to the country's Financial Services Commission (FSC). The FCS intends to gradually allow institutional investors to open trading accounts on crypto exchanges, starting with non-profit organizations. This move could lead to an increase in global market liquidity and potentially reduce the "Kimchi Premium"–the higher price of crypto on South Korean exchanges compared to global markets due to current strict capital controls.
In the IC
New Year New Discord: The DFINITY Foundation is moving all official communication to a new Discord server. Following several high profile security breaches in other crypto community-owned channels, such as Polygon, Avalanche, and zkSync, the need for more robust security control became a priority. The new server will be fully controlled and maintained by DFINITY. It can be found here.
The Recap: Missed the ICP 2024 World Computer Show? You can find the recording here, which includes an important segment on the DFINITY Foundation's ongoing collaboration with the government of Cambodia.
By The Numbers: OpenChat, a secure and decentralized chat application running on the Internet 💻💻💻, has seen record user registration this week. Over 5,000 new users have signed up to use the service, which is the highest sign-up count in 365 days. OpenChat has seen explosive growth in the past year, with a 700% increase in user online time and 300% increase in revenue.
This Week in our Blog
Take an in-depth look with us into the ever-expanding Bitfinity ecosystem! In this issue we cover some of the partner projects utilizing Bitfinity and chain fusion technology to build on Bitcoin. From DeFi to NFTs... we've got a lot to cover:
Hans
Bitcoin’s game-changing multichain transformation is here—how will it reshape the future of crypto? Discover the untold opportunities (and hidden risks) behind this revolutionary shift!
Fred
Tweet of the Week
Thesis released the State of Bitcoin 2024 report and it has some thought-provoking insights.📰
— Bitfinity Network (@bitfinitynet) January 4, 2025
Here are the main points for you:🫳
✅Tokenized Bitcoin make up more than 25% of DeFi TVL
✅EVM ecosystems and their battle-tested apps still dominate Bitcoin DeFi adoption
✅Some…
Meme Time
A Matter of Opinion
It has not been a great week for many of us in crypto. Extreme market pullbacks, yes, but also due to the raging wildfires in Southern California. The crypto community was not immune to the catastrophe happening on the American Western coast, as several crypto institutions and many of our fellow crypto enthusiasts reside in the devastated areas. Frank (of NFT brand DeGods) was one of many who had to evacuate their homes. Some, like @lincolnxiii saw their home and all of their possessions go up in flames.
However sad these events are, it is crucial for us to maintain perspective, learn, and hopefully mitigate future disasters from affecting us. The situation regarding the California wildfires remind us to secure the essential practices of security, readiness, and gratitude.
In the crypto world, security is paramount. The fires illustrate this fact in a stark manner. Posts on CryptoTwitter have highlighted harrowing stories where individuals couldn't access their devices due to evacuation orders. For instance, one user lamented on X about how their aunt's crypto wallet and seed phrases were all incinerated. These real life examples underscore the need for secure, redundant backups of digital assets. Just as one must safeguard physical possessions, crypto investors must also protect their digital wealth with secure storage solutions with backups, like cold storage that is readily accessible.
The fires also put stark perspective on what truly matters. While crypto offers immense financial opportunities, it's crucial to appreciate what we have outside of our digital wallets. Countless stories from those affected by the wildfires speak of gratitude for life, loved ones, and community support, over material or digital wealth. This perspective is vital for crypto speculators who might get caught up in the highs and lows of market trends. We wish all those affected by the fires well and remind our reminds to always cherish the non-material assets in life.
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