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Bitcoin Businesses on the Mend: Report Shows 57% of Crypto Execs Expect the Industry to Accelerate, Companies Are Hiring

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Bitcoin Businesses on the Mend: Report Shows 57% of Crypto Execs Expect Industry to Accelerate, Companies Are Hiring

Digital Currency Group (DCG) recently published the firm’s “State of Crypto 2020” report which polls more than 150 portfolio crypto companies. According to the study, 75% of the respondents believe the value of their business has grown this year, while 50% of the startups have seen outperforming start-of-year projections.

The state of the cryptocurrency industry is growing according to Digital Currency Group’s (DCG) latest report. The study surveyed over 150 DCG portfolio companies’ executives in order to “quantify sentiment and provide qualitative analysis of operational trends in the crypto community.”

One of the biggest obstacles for these firms was the coronavirus outbreak but many firms have recouped from the Covid-19 crisis. Still, Covid-19 and remote work was the main business challenge in 2020 recorded by 23% of the respondents. Other issues considered included third party delays (21%), fundraising (19%), and technical obstacles (13%).

Bitcoin Businesses on the Mend: Report Shows 57% of Crypto Execs Expect the Industry to Accelerate, Companies Are Hiring

Unlike 2018 and 2019, jobs in the crypto world are rising as DCG notes that 66% of its portfolio companies reported growing in headcount this year. Despite the Covid-19 uncertainty, roughly 35% of the participants said they plan to hire more people this year.

Bitcoin Businesses on the Mend: Report Shows 57% of Crypto Execs Expect the Industry to Accelerate, Companies Are Hiring

One of the greatest challenges in the cryptocurrency industry right now, besides Covid-19, is regulatory compliance. The DCG study shows 51% of the survey respondents said compliance and regulation is the biggest concern. Roughly 22% of the executives point to security issues like theft, hacks, and scams.

When asked what the most bullish crypto industry development was in 2020, 39% said that it stemmed from decentralized finance (defi) growth. 21% said that bitcoin (BTC) resilience was a bonus and 15% looked to the stablecoin surge in 2020. 10% of the DCG survey participants look forward to ‘Big Tech’ joining the crypto fray.

Bitcoin Businesses on the Mend: Report Shows 57% of Crypto Execs Expect the Industry to Accelerate, Companies Are Hiring

The 150 portfolio company execs were also asked if they think Ethereum can scale before competing blockchains can catch up to its defi lead. 51% believe that Ethereum will scale first, 25% detailed that it won’t scale first, and 24% said that they were “unsure.”

DCG’s survey then asked the respondents whether or not they think the crypto industry will “accelerate,” “steady,” or “slow” from here. 57% wholeheartedly believe that the crypto industry will accelerate while 40% envision steady action.

Meanwhile, only 3% of the surveyed individuals thought that the industry would slow down from here. The respondents also envision sub-industry consolidation and the greatest expected consolidation would be exchange platforms.

From here, crypto execs think that the consolidation will stem from wallet and custody solutions, trading tools, and payments respectively.

One event that would propel the industry higher would be an initial public offering (IPO) of a major U.S. based crypto firm most of the respondents noted. “We look to 2020 with a renewed sense of opportunity,” the DCG report highlighted.

“2020 has been filled with the unexpected, sad, and norm-shattering—but it provided our space with that ‘supportive’ opportunity we believed it was primed for, and it has delivered,” DCG’s study concluded. “One event that would definitively mark the end of an industry in the shadows is getting people excited: 95% of our survey respondents said a major U.S. IPO would be a positive development.”

Furthermore, the execs surveyed were also asked what they thought the price of BTC would be in 6 to 12 months from now. 48% said $10k to $15k, 22% said $15k to $20k, 21% the price will cross $21k +, 8% think it will be between $5k to $10k, and only 1% assume the price will be below $5,000 per coin.

What do you think about the bitcoin businesses on the mend and the crypto execs’ positivity in 2020? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below.

The post Bitcoin Businesses on the Mend: Report Shows 57% of Crypto Execs Expect the Industry to Accelerate, Companies Are Hiring appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Monetary Stability: The IMF and Fed Chair Jerome Powell Discuss Digital Currency Implications

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Monetary Stability: The IMF and Fed Chair Jerome Powell Discuss Digital Currency Implications

On Monday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a report on crypto assets like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and global stablecoins (GSCs). Moreover, the IMF also hosted a virtual panel that discussed digital currencies and cross-border payments with the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The Fed Chair says as far as a U.S.-issued CBDC is concerned, it is “more important to get it right than to be first.”

The IMF held a virtual panel that discussed digital currencies and cross-border payments on Monday morning. The panel was hosted by the IMF managing director in Washington, DC, Kristalina Georgieva, and the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell participated. Reports note that Powell talked about the impact of a U.S.-issued CBDC and how it could affect financial stability.

“We do think it’s more important to get it right than to be first and getting it right means that we not only look at the potential benefits of a CBDC, but also the potential risks,” Powell said during the panel discussion on Monday. “Also recognize the important trade-offs that have to be thought through carefully.”

The report published by the IMF on the same day, also highlights that CBDC’s could be beneficial, but may not cast a net over every monetary issue. For instance, CBDCs may not help if a local currency is a poor unit of account, the IMF report stresses. Further, a currency substitution “depends on the degree of monetary stability and other country circumstances, including legal frameworks and regulation.”

The IMF’s report details that the emergence of CBDCs and GSCs will require further analysis. The researchers say that countries that invoke a CBDC should also consider whether or not nonresidents should use their CBDC.

Monetary Stability: The IMF and Fed Chair Jerome Powell Discuss Digital Currency Implications

“Authorities will also need to assess whether restrictions on payments in CBDCs are consistent with countries’ obligations under international and bilateral treaties, including the IMF’s Articles of Agreement,” the IMF report insists.

“For countries that adopt GSCs issued by Big Tech platforms, they will have a strong interest in ensuring that the GSC arrangement has robust governance and risk management,” the IMF report further states. Still, the IMF researchers claim that even though there are unknown risks associated with crypto assets like GSCs and CBDCs, the pace of digital acceleration is constantly innovating.

The researchers continue by adding:

As the pace of digitalization accelerates, the landscape of international finance will likely be in a state of flux. Payments and financial services provision will likely become increasingly integrated with the digital economy organized through the internet and mobile phones.

The IMF report called “Digital Money Across Borders: Macro-Financial Implications” shows the organization and policymakers like Powell are still leery about how to proceed with managing crypto assets. The study and virtual panel show government leaders are still very much in the dark when it comes to blockchain technology, and can’t figure out how to regulate the industry.

Prior to the panel of policy-makers featuring Kristalina Georgieva and Jerome Powell, another panel was held by the IMF that conversed about the private sector lending a hand with CBDC and GSC tokens. The private sector panel included Celo CEO Rene Reinsberg, Mastercard senior VP Rory Macfarquhar, Ecurrency CEO Jonathan Dharmapalan, and Stellar CEO Denelle Dixon.

What do you think about the IMF’s virtual panel and study concerning digital currencies? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The post Monetary Stability: The IMF and Fed Chair Jerome Powell Discuss Digital Currency Implications appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Another ‘Sleeping Bitcoin’ Block Reward from 2010 Was Caught Waking Up After Ten Years

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Another 'Sleeping Bitcoin' Block Reward from 2010 Was Caught Waking Up After Ten Years

Another 2010 block reward was spent on Wednesday morning (ET) adding to the great number of ‘Satoshi era’ or so-called ‘sleeping bitcoins’ waking up in 2020. The block reward with 50 bitcoins was created on November 11, 2010, and transferred in block 652,669 after ten years.

During the last few weeks, news.Bitcoin.com has been leveraging multiple tools to crawl the BTC blockchain, in order to research a great number of old coins that have moved this year. The term ‘Satoshi era’ refers to the period when Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s inventor, was still participating with the community, until he/she/ or they left in December 2010.

A great number of block rewards from this era have sat dormant for over a decade and blockchain researchers also refer to these coins as ‘zombie’ or ‘sleeping’ bitcoins. It is estimated that there are anywhere between 1.5 to 1.8 million BTC ($20B) that are considered ‘sleeping’ bitcoins from the Satoshi era. However, in 2020, a great number of these coins have been moving randomly and some of them in waves.

Our newsdesk discovered the first wave of 21 block rewards that were moved on March 11, the day before the infamous ‘Black Thursday.’ March 12, 2020, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday’ is referred to in this way because global markets; stocks, oil, bonds, including safe-haven assets like gold and digital currency markets lost considerable value. The 2010 block reward move in March saw 1,050 BTC transferred, alongside the corresponding BCH and BSV. Then precisely 151 days later, another 21 block rewards were moved on October 11 and the corresponding BCH was spent as well.

Another 'Sleeping Bitcoin' Block Reward from 2010 Was Caught Waking Up After Ten Years
Another ‘sleeping bitcoin’ reward from 2010 was caught waking up after ten years on October 14, 2020.

Three days later, another 2010 block reward that was created on November 11, 2010, was transferred on Wednesday morning. The action was caught by Btcparser.com just after a block from October 2016 was spent. Statistics from Blockchair show the owner only moved the bitcoin (BTC), and the BCH and BSV still remain.

The stash moved was an original 2010 coinbase reward of approximately 50 BTC or ($570k+ using today’s exchange rates) and it was spent in block 652,669. Blockchair’s Privacy-o-Meter shows that privacy was high and the website gives the transaction an 85 score out of 100. For instance, the hash ID shows no output of the same type as inputs and a rare fingerprint.

Another 'Sleeping Bitcoin' Block Reward from 2010 Was Caught Waking Up After Ten Years
The 50 BTC block reward ($570k+ using today’s exchange rates) was sent with a “moderate” amount of privacy, according to Blockchair’s Privacy-o-Meter. Transactions stemming from 2010 spent on October 11, 2020, were also privacy-centric and had more than the average privacy score.

The 2010 block reward of 50 BTC was split into three wallets and one wallet still shows 7.348 BTC unspent. The group of 21 block rewards from 2010 spent on October 11, also show that privacy was taken into consideration at that time. The person didn’t just simply transfer the 21 blocks worth of coins, as these transactions were all collected on a single P2SH address and later split within multiple BECH32 addresses. It was also discovered that 9.9999 BTC ($112,000+) was sent to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) based in Boston. Another 9.9999 BTC ($112,000+) from this 2010 spending wave was sent to the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) as well.

We don’t know why so-called ‘sleeping bitcoins’ from 2010 have been waking up this year in greater numbers, but there’s been more historical spends in 2019 and 2020 than in 2018. The price change may have something to do with it, as 2018 prices were far lower than in 2017 and the last two years as well. Before the March 11, 21-block spend there were only two other historical block rewards spent, besides the famous February 2009 reward moved at block height 627,404 on May 20, 2020.

Prior to the large move in March, the last consecutive number of 2010 blocks spent was on November 24, 2019. At this time, at block height 605,182, the miners spent a large group of 2010 block rewards that were all mined in the same exact time span. In fact, all three uninterrupted successions of 2010 spends were all mined in the same time frame.

Another 'Sleeping Bitcoin' Block Reward from 2010 Was Caught Waking Up After Ten Years
The web portal theholyroger.com’s The (Not) Satoshi’s Bags Tracker gives users a visual perspective of historical blocks (2011 & under) spent over time. The very small white box is the infamous May 20, 2020 block reward from 2009, a block created a month after Satoshi kickstarted the network. The larger white rectangle shows the three consecutive waves of 2010 blocks spent. In November 2019, a large group was spent at block height 605,182, in mid-March, roughly 21 block rewards from 2010 were spent, and on October 11, 2020, approximately 21 blocks from 2010 moved.

The span of time would be from July to November 2010, with zero blocks stemming from December 2010 the month Satoshi left. The last time coinbase rewards from the month of December 2010 were spent, was a month prior to November’s set of consecutive 2019 spends. All of the spends can be seen visually as well by leveraging The (Not) Satoshi’s Bags Tracker

The block reward spent on October 14, 2020, from November 11, 2010, alongside the consecutive lines of 2010 spends three days ago, the ones from mid-March, and the November 2019 spends could be considered the same miner. One could lazily assume the coins stem from Satoshi, but everyone knows there were quite a bit of bitcoin miners between July 2010 up until he left.

This period in time saw Jed McCaleb invoke Mt Gox and the first public OpenCL miner was introduced. Most of the 2010 coins spent in recent days were also born before the infamous block 74,638 bug. To add to the fact, that by that same time period in 2010 there were many miners mining bitcoins, was the original creation of the first mining pool dubbed “Slush Pool” in November.

What do you think about the recent 2010 block reward spends? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

The post Another ‘Sleeping Bitcoin’ Block Reward from 2010 Was Caught Waking Up After Ten Years appeared first on Bitcoin News.

$12M in ‘Satoshi Era’ Bitcoins Move: 21 Block Rewards from 2010 Spent After a Decade of Slumber

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$12M in 'Sleeping Bitcoins' Move: 21 Block Rewards from 2010 Spent After a Decade of Slumber

On early Sunday morning around 1:38:02 a.m. (New York time), approximately 20 blocks with coinbase rewards from 2010 were spent in one block. 1,000 BTC was then consolidated into a single address before moving again. The massive movement of the decade-old ‘sleeping’ bitcoins was caught by an onchain transaction parser and the coins were spent in block 652,204.

** Update, approximately 9.99999943 BTC or $114k worth of the 1,050 bitcoins from 2010 were sent to the Free Software Foundation.

Miner Spends 21 Blocks from 2010 Following the Same Pattern That Happened the Day Before Black Thursday

Similar to the big move the day before March 12, the miner also transferred one last 2010 block mined at block height 652,229, to finish off the group of transactions making it a total of 21 consecutive 2010 block rewards moved.

What we know so far is quite a bit of ‘Satoshi era’ or so-called ‘sleeping’ bitcoin rewards from 2010 moved during the early morning hours on Sunday morning. The action was caught by the application Btcparser.com, as a bitcoin miner or miners decided to spend approximately 21 blocks from 2010 around 1:38 a.m. (ET).

$12M in 'Satoshi Era' Bitcoins Move: 21 Block Rewards from 2010 Spent After a Decade of Slumber
The onchain parser Btcparser.com caught the action on Sunday morning on October 11, 2020. Btcparser’s application shows three types of parsed data obtained from the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain. The first parser combs the BTC blockchain for activity related to 64,529 addresses stemming from 2009 through 2017.

The 2010 blocks spent in total on Sunday held 1,050 BTC or $11.9 million at current BTC exchange rates. News.Bitcoin.com was also the first to catch the spending of 21 blocks from 2010, that a miner or group of miners, transferred the day before March 12, 2020, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday.’

The movement of ‘sleeping’ bitcoin rewards is not a regular occurrence, and especially coins that were mined ten years ago that have sat dormant ever since. The movement on October 11, 2020, is also quite odd because the person or people decided to move the exact same number of 2010 blocks as the March incident. In our report last week, it was noted that a 2010 block reward, coincidentally mined on March 11 of that year, was also transferred to end the session of movements.

$12M in 'Satoshi Era' Bitcoins Move: 21 Block Rewards from 2010 Spent After a Decade of Slumber
While leveraging the application Btcparcer.com, our newsdesk discovered the first 20 blocks from 2010 spent in block 652,204. Another 2010 block was spent in block 652,229 making it a total of 21 decade-old coinbase rewards moved on October 11, 2020.

The exact same thing happened on Sunday morning, approximately 21 blocks, a ten-year span, and 1,050 coins were spent. The final block mined at block height 652,229 was mined on November 10, 2010.

$250,000 Worth of Bitcoin Cash Also Spent

Data also shows that in addition to the BTC moved, the bitcoin cash (BCH) coinbase rewards were also transferred on Sunday morning. Approximately 1,000 BCH from the same decade-old coinbase rewards ($251k) moved on October 11, but blockchain explorers show the corresponding bitcoinsv (BSV) tokens did not move. However, the final BTC block spent on Sunday did not see the associated bitcoin cash (BCH) spent.

The weird transfer that saw 21 blocks from 2010 transferred back in March did see the corresponding bitcoinsv (BSV) spent alongside the corresponding BCH.

The transfer on Sunday is another record for the history books, and one can only speculate if it was a single person or a group of miners. It is also not known, whether or not, the entity plans to sell these coins on the open market.

It seems more likely that the entity was the same person and could very well be the same miner that spent 2010 coins the day before the infamous Black Thursday. At the time of publication, bitcoin (BTC) is doing well price-wise, hovering at $11,300 per coin. One thing that can be said for sure is that a lot of 2010 blocks have been spent in 2020 (54 total), including the rare 2009 block that was mined only one month after Satoshi kickstarted the network.

What do you think about the 21 blocks from 2010 being transferred on Sunday morning? Let us know what you think about this story in the comments section below.

The post $12M in ‘Satoshi Era’ Bitcoins Move: 21 Block Rewards from 2010 Spent After a Decade of Slumber appeared first on Bitcoin News.