BTC

Online Retail Giant Rakuten Allows People to Load Payment App With Cryptocurrencies

01/03/2021 by Idelto Editor

The firm Rakuten Inc., often referred to as “the Amazon of Japan,” announced customers can now load up Rakuten Pay accounts with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and bitcoin cash. In order to commemorate the latest crypto service, Rakuten is also offering bonus points to people leveraging “Rakuten Cash” via crypto assets.

Crypto Can Pay for Rakuten Goods and Services, Alongside Mister Donut, Familymart, and McDonald’s

The massive Japanese electronic commerce and online retail company based in Tokyo is now allowing crypto users to leverage the company’s Rakuten Pay service in order to load up on Rakuten Cash. The payment service with crypto asset support provides clients with access to a wide range of Rakuten’s services and products including the firm’s travel services, Kobo e-books, and mobile.

Moreover, users can load their Rakuten app with BCH, BTC, or ETH in order to purchase items at Familymart, McDonald’s, 7-11, and Mister Donut to name a few. Digital currency proponents, particularly from Japan, we’re extremely happy about Rakuten’s new crypto support.

“This news is huge for Japan,” explained one individual on Twitter. “You can now pay at McDonald’s and 711 and perhaps hundreds of thousands of other stores with Crypto.”

Rakuten’s announcement details that crypto users can also top up funds with digital assets via their Rakuten Cash-buying function. However, users need to also leverage Rakuten’s crypto wallet in order to access Rakuten Cash via digital currencies. Moreover, the company is offering a bonus point gift to customers using the Rakuten Cash-buying function with cryptocurrencies.

Rakuten Group Wants to Provide Convenient Crypto Asset Management

The press release also notes that there is a minimum charge amount of 1,000 yen ($10) and a one-time upper limit at around 100,000 yen ($1,000) per month. The loads can be done 24 hours a day and seven days a week via the Rakuten Pay app and the company’s crypto wallet. There is no fee for conversion, but “it is necessary to open a physical trading account using the Rakuten Wallet and install a smartphone app dedicated to trading,” Rakuten says.

The Tokyo-based firm further adds:

[The company] will utilize the synergies of the Rakuten Group to provide convenient and profitable cryptocurrency asset management and new usage methods to improve customer satisfaction.

Rakuten Group has been into crypto solutions and blockchain technology for quite some time, as it launched the Rakuten Blockchain Lab (RBL) in Belfast, UK, back in 2016. Then in 2018, the company acquired the crypto exchange project “Everybody’s Bitcoin Inc.” for 256 million yen (~US$2,305,484). On August 19, 2019, Rakuten continued to move forward and launched its crypto exchange.

“Through the smartphone app, customers can make transactions for crypto asset trading accounts, such as depositing/withdrawing Japanese yen and depositing/withdrawing crypto assets, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” the Japanese company said at the time.

The latest Rakuten crypto support that allows people to pay for goods and services with ETH, BTC, and BCH, is another forward move for Rakuten in the crypto industry since jumping in back in 2014.

What do you think about Rakuten’s latest announcement about crypto support for Rakuten Pay and Rakuten Cash? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Bearish Outlook as Bitcoin’s Seven-Day Average Sinks 25%, ADA Shines During the Storm

28/02/2021 by Idelto Editor

Digital currency markets have been bearish in recent days as prices have continued to sink lower. The entire market capitalization of all the crypto assets in existence is down over 8% on Sunday at $1.25 trillion. Bitcoin has plummeted from its all-time high (ATH) of $58,350 last Sunday to today’s low of $43,189 per unit.

Bitcoin (BTC) prices have dropped -25.98% since last Sunday and today the crypto asset has touched a new low. At 10:48 in the morning, New York time, BTC prices touched a low of $43,189 per coin. BTC is down over 7% today but is still up 28% during the last 30 days and 122% for the last three months.
BTC dominance or the market valuation in comparison to the rest of the crypto economy’s valuations is around 61.23% today.

The second-largest crypto asset by market valuation is ethereum (ETH) which is swapping for $1,318 per coin on Sunday. ETH prices have dipped over 10% today and lost 31% during the last week.
Cardano (ADA) currently commands the third-largest market cap, and each ADA is exchanging hands for $1.20 per unit. ADA has been a coin that has notably outperformed other crypto assets during the last two days while most markets have been down. ADA is down 12% today but seven-day stats show cardano is up over 10%.
Cardano (ADA) is expected to upgrade on March 1, 2021, which introduces native token functionality to the Cardano network.
Meanwhile, tether (USDT) now holds the fourth position and behind it is binance coin (BNB) trading for $197 per coin. The Binance-created token is down 11% on Sunday and 31% for the last week. Behind BNB is polkadot (DOT) trading for a touch over $30 per DOT.

XRP has been pushed down to the seventh position and is down 10% today. Each XRP is trading for $0.39 per unit. Litecoin (LTC) is swapping for $155 a coin and is down a touch over 9% this weekend.

The stablecoin USDC that’s managed by the crypto firm Circle has made it into the top ten crypto market cap positions. Currently, USDC is the eighth largest market valuation with $8.97 billion worth in circulation.
Lastly, stellar (XLM) holds the tenth top position amongst the 8,000+ crypto tokens in existence. A single XLM is currently trading for $0.39 per unit and interestingly, is roughly the same value as XRP, as the Stellar network blockchain was designed in a similar fashion.

Want to check out all the crypto asset prices and market movements in real-time? Check out markets.Bitcoin.com today!

What do you think about all the market action on Sunday, February 28? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

20 Bitcoin Block Rewards from 2010 Moved Today, Mystery Miner Spent $400 Million in BTC Since Black Thursday

28/02/2021 by Idelto Editor

On Saturday, February 27, 2021, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the great number of 2010 and 2011 block rewards being spent this year. In that report, it was said that the mysterious whale entity we’ve been hunting “did not move a major string of bitcoin’s” since January 25. Following the publishing of that study, on Sunday, the old-school whale miner moved another 20 block rewards from 2010, as 1,000 bitcoins that sat idle for well over a decade were spent.

9,000 Decade-Old Bitcoins Spent Since March 11, 2020

Since mid-March, news.Bitcoin.com has been on the trail for an old-school bitcoin (BTC) miner that has been spending large strings of 2010 block rewards. A block reward is an incentive a bitcoin miner gets for finding a block on the Bitcoin blockchain and before 2012, all rewards were 50 BTC per block. Further, the technical term “spend” or “spent,” simply means the owner moved the coins, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the bitcoins were “sold” to another owner.

Our report on Saturday, had shown that there were 80 block rewards from 2010 that were spent this year. Interestingly, 40 block rewards from the 2011 days also got spent in 2021 as well. On Sunday, February 28, 2021, following our last report, the whale miner once again spent another 20 block rewards from 2010 at block height 672,501. It’s assumed the mystery miner is seeking attention.

Our last study also mentioned the mega-whale or group of whales that have been spending these 2010 blocks in strings of 20 blocks per transfer since mid-March. Our team alongside researchers from Btcparser.com and the Russian blockchain researcher, Issak Shvarts, have discovered a total of 9 spending strings from 2010.

All of the strings use the same exact pattern of spending in concessions of 20 consecutive decade-old blocks. 20 block reward string spends from 2010 happened on March 11, 2020, October 11, November 7, November 8, December 27, January 3, 2021 (Bitcoin’s anniversary), January 10, January 25, and today (Sunday, February 28, 2021) as well.

That’s a total of 180 block rewards and each and every one of them contained 50 BTC per block. The person(s) always consolidates the bitcoins into a single BTC address and then the coins are dispersed thereafter in fractions. Usually, all the strings of spent blocks stem from July 2010 up until November 2010, and the coinbase dates are always the same months.

The block explorer oxt.me also shows the 2010 whale’s pattern of spending habits are always the same. One researcher discussing the subject with our newsdesk yesterday said: “Maybe they have some special application, a script, which is not really flexible and may get only 20 private keys at a time, but a list of receiving addresses.”

Either Spending Solutions Are Not Flexible or the Whale Is Flexing and Wants Attention

Blockchair’s privacy-o-meter shows the mystery miner’s first spends are always susceptible to heuristics and transaction tracing tools. The 2010 string spends always have a “rare fingerprint,” “co-spending,” “same address in inputs,” and “sweep” techniques.

After the first consolidation, the transactions ‘go dark’ from here, and privacy is increased from 0 to 100 points according to Blockchair stats. Issak Shvarts believes that numerous 2010 strings that have followed this exact same spending pattern have likely been sold to the San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase.

Moreover, except for the one specific mid-March 2020 decade-old string spend, the mysterious miner or miners always spend the corresponding bitcoin cash (BCH) as well. Furthermore, the mining entity never moves the corresponding bitcoinsv (BSV), except for the one time on March 11.

Whatever the case may be, the old-school whale or whales spending the strings of 2010 block rewards seem to want attention. Unless the whale is forced to use a non-flexible spending script or weird spending habit, our deduction so far is that the whale is a show-off and definitely wants the public’s attention.

It is quite a coincidence that after our newsdesk writes: “So far, this particular entity or entities have not moved a major string of bitcoins since then” yesterday, and then the whale spends another string of 20 block rewards from 2010 (1,000 BTC). We also know on October 11, the entity or entities did send 9.99999943 BTC ($114k worth at the time) to the Free Software Foundation and another 9.999 BTC to the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER).

The whale has spent roughly 180 decade-old block rewards to-date, adding up to approximately 9,000 BTC. That’s over $400 million worth of bitcoin using exchange rates on Sunday, February 28, 2021.

What do you think about the 9,000 bitcoins from 2010 spent since March 11, 2020? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The $282 Million Awakenings: 120 Bitcoin Block Rewards from 2010 and 2011 Woke Up This Year

27/02/2021 by Idelto Editor

On February 25, onchain analysts noticed two 2010 block rewards that were transferred after sitting dormant for over a decade. A lot of old blocks have been spent in 2021, and after the large strings of 2010 block rewards spent on January 3rd and 10th, another massive string of 20 block rewards from 2010 were moved on the 25th. In addition to these old bitcoin moves, block rewards from 2011 have started to wake in great numbers as well.

80 Block Rewards from 2010 Spent This Year, 4,000 Bitcoin Worth $188 Million

For a good portion of 2020 and into 2021, news.Bitcoin.com and a small group of onchain researchers have been combing the Bitcoin (BTC) network for old-school spends. The technical term “spend” or “spent” simply means the bitcoins moved from one address to another single address or group of addresses. It doesn’t necessarily mean the person has relinquished ownership of the bitcoins, but most of our 2020 and 2021 discoveries look as though they have been sold on exchanges.

Some old coins moved today (100 BTC from June 2010).

It’s very rare to see pre-GPU era bitcoins move, it only happened dozens of times in the past few years.

And no, it’s probably not Satoshi. pic.twitter.com/0jZXnmWUes

— Antoine Le Calvez (@khannib) February 24, 2021

At block height 671,986, a group of two 2010 block rewards with 100 BTC was spent on February 25, and a number of publications reported on the movement. What hasn’t been noticed formally, is the massive amount of 2010 spends this year, and the large amount of 2011 movements as well. Although members of news.Bitcoin.com, Btcparser.com, and Russian blockchain researcher Issak Shvarts have been investigating these old-school spends thoroughly.

Following the reports of the decade-old, 20 block reward spend on the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin network, news.Bitcoin.com also noticed a massive 20 block spend from 2010 spent on January 10. Fifteen days later, and possibly the same suspect, another 20 rewards from 2010 on January 25, 2021, was spent. So far, this particular entity or entities have not moved a major string of bitcoins since then. But there have been plenty of single 2010 block reward spends and an increasing number of 2011 rewards.

$94 Million Worth of 40 Block Rewards from 2011 Wake from Slumber in 2021

In 2021, there were 80 block rewards from 2010 moved to-date that held 4,000 BTC total. Currently, using today’s BTC exchange rates that’s more than $188 million worth of old-school coins. Leveraging Btcparser.com, news.Bitcoin.com has counted 40 block rewards from 2011 spent this year as well. That’s 2,000 BTC born in the year 2011 worth around $94 million today. The last massive spend from January 25, 2021, can be seen on the “Satoshi’s bags tracker” at theholyroger.com.

The two 2010 block rewards spent on February 25 at block height 671,986 saw the BTC spent, but the corresponding BCH and BSV remain intact. Similarly, a number of the 2011 blocks that were spent this year have also seen only the BTC move. Many of the 2011 addresses combed during our research still have the corresponding BCH and BSV unspent as well. The individual or group who has been spending the consecutive strings of 2010 block rewards has been spending the bitcoin cash (BCH).

Whatever the case may be, the sky-high BTC price jumping over the $58k handle last Sunday, and even where the price rests today, has caused old-school mining whales to wake bitcoins from slumber.

What do you think about all the old-school bitcoin block rewards spent in 2021? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Arca to Join the Bitcoin Trust Race Competing Against Numerous Crypto Fund Rivals

27/02/2021 by Idelto Editor

Another firm is joining the bitcoin trust sector, as the California fund manager Arca has filed a registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its Arca Accredited Investor Bitcoin Trust. The trust will compete with a number of competitors including Grayscale’s popular bitcoin investment vehicle GBTC.

Arca Files With the US SEC to List Its Accredited Investor Bitcoin Trust

The finance manager Arca has filed a Form D registration with the U.S. SEC in order to provide investors with a new bitcoin trust offering. The fund will be called the “Arca Accredited Investor Bitcoin Trust” and it will be taking investments of $25k or more, according to the Arca filing. This is half the value of Grayscale’s GBTC minimum investments set at $50k.

Arca has other crypto fund products and the Arca U.S. Treasury Fund. The fund is “a closed-end fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 issuing shares as digital securities that are transferable using blockchain technology,” according to the company. The Arca U.S. Treasury Fund dubbed “arcoin” was launched on July 6, 2020. The Arca Accredited Investor Bitcoin Trust will focus on bitcoin (BTC).

Arca Will Compete With Grayscale, Bitwise, Crosstower, Osprey Fund, and Blockfi

Arca will compete with the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, a popular investment vehicle that commands more than 3% of the entire BTC supply. Grayscale purchased $350 million worth of BTC this past week as the trust now has around 690,000 BTC held in custody. Arca’s Form D registration does not disclose the issuance size and will use the federal exemption Rule 506(c). The California-based firm will be competing with not just Grayscale but a number of other funds joining the bitcoin trust race.

News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on the Bitwise fund and the offering from the financial services firm Blockfi. But the Arca bitcoin trust will also compete with trusts stemming from Crosstower, and the Osprey Fund as well. All of the trusts have different frameworks for fees that are different from Grayscale’s fee structure.

What do you think about the Arca Accredited Investor Bitcoin Trust? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.