BTC

Report Suggests Robinhood Owns Largest Dogecoin Address and Third-Largest BTC Wallet

30/07/2021 by Idelto Editor

Last February the crypto community was obsessed with a specific dogecoin address that happens to be the largest dogecoin holder today with over 36 billion DOGE. One armchair sleuth studied a number of onchain transactions and suspected the company Robinhood owned the wallet. Now the individual has researched the topic again and claims the latest findings help confirm the dogecoin wallet does belong to Robinhood. Alongside this, the person suspects Robinhood controls the third-largest bitcoin wallet as well.

Onchain Research Suggests Robinhood Not Only Owns the Mysterious Doge Whale Wallet, but Also the Third-Largest BTC Wallet

Two days ago, the Reddit account u/Andreifromalberta published research that claims the company Robinhood (Nasdaq: HOOD) holds more bitcoin (BTC) than the firm Microstrategy. The Redditor Andrei is the same sleuth that published research four months ago on the notorious dogecoin (DOGE) wallet dubbed “DH5,” which happens to be the largest DOGE wallet today.

The Reddit post the Redditor u/Andreifromalberta posted back in February 2021.

Back in February, Andrei posted about the subject as the “DH5” address became an extremely topical subject that month. Andrei said in the r/dogecoin Reddit post that findings suggest the company Robinhood is the owner of the “DH5” dogecoin address and explained how onchain research led to this conclusion.

The Reddit post on r/bitcoin from the Redditor u/Andreifromalberta posted two days ago shows a score of new findings.

This past week, the online brokerage firm Robinhood had an initial public offering (IPO) and the company’s CEO Vlad Tenev talked about the firm’s crypto positions in an interview on May 6. Tenev’s statements at the Robinhood fireside chat back in May explained that the exchange allegedly provided customers with access to their specific holdings only.

“We don’t have significant positions in any of the coins that we keep on a proprietary basis or anything like that,” Tenev stressed at the fireside chat. Despite Tenev’s statements, Andrei believes the company does have significant positions in a number of crypto assets.

Andrei’s research once again ties the “DH5” dogecoin address to Robinhood, but it also details how the exchange probably owns a number of large wallets from coins like BTC, ETH, and BCH. According to Andrei’s findings, rich-list wallets from six major crypto assets are allegedly controlled by the company Robinhood.

Report Notes Robinhood Likely Owns Some of the Richest Addresses from 5 Different Blockchains

On Reddit, Andrei gives a step-by-step analysis of why Robinhood is suspected of being the owner of not only the “DH5” dogecoin address, but the third-largest BTC address “1P5” as well.

The Redditor, Andrei, believes the third-largest bitcoin (BTC) address belongs to Robinhood. The wallet was established around the same time period the “DH5” dogecoin address was created.

Not only that, but Andrei’s asks if Robinhood follows the exact same pattern of cold storage for BTC and DOGE, “wouldn’t it also make sense for them to follow the same pattern for the other 5 Cryptos that they offer for trading (ETH, LTC, BCH, ETC, BSV)?.” The armchair sleuth believes this is the case for all of the aforementioned coins and “the top rich addresses belonging to Robinhood on those blockchains.”

The bitcoin (BTC) address starting with “1P5” holds 113,842 BTC and it started accumulating in February 2019. Coincidentally, the DH5 dogecoin address started accumulating at the same time as the “1P5” bitcoin address.

Andrei’s report suspects that Robinhood owns the second-largest litecoin (LTC) address “LQT” and the second-largest bitcoin cash (BCH) address “16N.” The fourth-biggest ethereum (ETH) address “0x7” is also suspected of being Robinhood’s exchange wallet.

“Holding over 2 million ETH, it was seeded in exactly the same manner,” Andrei’s report adds. The Redditor also shared an article explaining why the richest crypto addresses are still very important.

“Robinhood (RH) indeed owns more BTC (116K) than Microstrategy (105K), as a custodian for RH crypto clients,” the Redditor concludes. “In aggregate, 10+ million crypto Robinhooders are actually smart money, heavily buying the bitcoin and crypto dip since the crash in May. Wallets are urgently needed to give the freedom of self-custody to millions of RH investors,” the investigator added.

What do you think about the Redditor’s findings that suggest Robinhood owns all these wallet addresses? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Paypal Plans to Study Transactions That Fund Extremism, Anti-Government Groups

28/07/2021 by Idelto Editor

The payment processing giant Paypal has revealed it has partnered with the nonprofit organization the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). According to the announcement, Paypal is researching transactions settled on the payment network that allegedly fund hate groups and extremism.

Paypal to Study Transactions With the Anti-Defamation League

A report from Reuters notes that Paypal is studying transactions that involve “extremists” and that fund “hate movements.” The company will investigate and disrupt the financial flows that support specific hate groups and alleged “anti-government organizations.” The announcement notes that the initiative will be completed via ADL’s Center on Extremism.

According to Paypal’s chief risk officer and executive vice president of risk and platforms, Aaron Karczmer said the company has been working on “sophisticated systems” that help curb illegal activities.

Paypal Plans to Study Transactions That Fund Extremism, Anti-Government Groups — When the ADL announced its partnership with Paypal on Twitter, the thread got a massive number of responses criticizing the ADL’s practices.

Karczmer hopes this previous knowledge and the current systems can help create a “positive social impact.” The centralized payment processor has been known to censor transactions for quite some time. In 2010, Paypal froze the account tethered to the whistleblowing web portal Wikileaks and caused an uproar.

The combination of Mastercard, Visa, Paypal and others using a financial blockade against Wikileaks was controversial and the actions drove the website to accept bitcoin donations. In 2016, male escorts in the UK leveraged bitcoin to bypass Paypal censorship. In 2019, Paypal stopped servicing Pornhub models and by January 2020, Paypal suspended all Pornhub accounts. In September 2020, Paypal’s sophisticated infrastructure censored merchants selling tardigrade merchandise.

Extremism Considered a Slippery Slope and Debatable

The ADL’s definitions of extremism and hate are also quite debatable. For instance, five years ago the ADL classified the famous Internet frog meme “Rare Pepe” as a hate symbol. This caused the meme to get blockchained and turned into an immutable collection of non-fungible tokens.

Moreover, the ADL’s definitions of anti-government organizations being dubbed extremists are also considered extreme by those who believe in libertarianism and think that governments are currently corrupt. The latest move by Paypal and ADL has already been criticized by activists, libertarians, and even bitcoiners.

“Bitcoin derives its value from censorship resistance,” a Redditor on the subreddit r/bitcoin said on July 26. “Paypal, your days of forced-relevance are over,” the individual added.

The former American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) director, Ira Glasser, explains how banning hate speech is a never-ending slippery slope. “When people say they want to ban hate speech, what they mean is they want to ban speech that they hate,” Glasser stressed in an interview. “But if you allowed something called ‘hate speech’ to be banned, then the only important question would be ‘who decides?’”

The report concerning the ADL and Paypal partnership explains that the payment processor has already been taking action against “extremism” over the last several years. The announcement also notes that Paypal and the ADL will be working with select civil rights organizations. Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, sees the partnership as a window of opportunity.

“We have a unique opportunity to further understand how hate spreads and develop key insights that will inform the efforts of the financial industry, law enforcement, and our communities in mitigating extremist threats,” Greenblatt said in a statement.

What do you think about Paypal joining up with the Anti-Defamation League in order to research transactions that fund extremism? Do you think there’s a slippery slope when it comes to classifying extremists? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Bitcoin’s Value Dropped 8% This Week, Analyst Says Equities Correction Could Impact Crypto

19/07/2021 by Idelto Editor

Digital currency markets have slipped in value this week as bitcoin has shed more than 8% of its value over the last seven days. The entire market capitalization of all 10,000+ crypto assets has also dropped 3.4% in value to $1.25 trillion on Monday. Crypto markets are following the trend of large drops seen across stock markets on Monday morning, as equities have significantly decreased in value.

Crypto Markets Follow Monday’s Stock Market Rout, Entire Crypto Market Cap Sheds Over 3%

Bitcoin dropped to a low of $30,400 on July 19, losing approximately 8.64% during the last week as the leading crypto asset slid 3.3% in 24 hours. Bitcoin’s market valuation is $575 billion at the time of writing and there’s $19 billion worth of BTC trade volume on Monday.

The top five trading pairs with BTC include USDT, USD, BUSD, JPY, and EUR. The stablecoin tether (USDT) commands over 56% of today’s BTC trades. Out of the $1.25 trillion, BTC captures 46.4% of the overall valuation, while ethereum (ETH) commands 17% of the entire crypto economy.

The second-largest crypto asset, in terms of market capitalization, is ethereum (ETH) and ether has lost over 13% this week. ETH is also down over 6% during the last 24 hours and has around $14 billion in global trade volume.

The biggest seven-day losers on Monday include thorchain (RUNE) which is down over 40% and synthetix (SNX) down over 37%. The top three leading crypto assets on Monday include nem (XEM) up 6.8% this week, unus sed leo (LEO) up 1.9%, and hedera hashgraph (HBAR) which is up 1.4%.

In a note sent to Bitcoin.com News, Pankaj Balani, CEO of the crypto trading platform Delta Exchange, explains the risk of dropping below $30K is now higher.

“Bitcoin failed above $33,000 and is trading around $31,800 on the spot market,” Balani said. “Bitcoin has been in a consolidation phase and is trying to settle in the $30,000-$40,000 range. Having said that, BTC has found it challenging to move higher and the upper end of this range has been converging gradually.” The Delta Exchange executive further added:

Bitcoin failed above $36,000 last week and $33,000 this week. We have also continuously tested the bottom end of the above range which shows weakness in price and opens up the risk of a breakdown below $30,000. Overall, the risk of downside below 30,000 on Bitcoin is much higher now than what it was in the months of May and June.

Equities Correction Could Impact Crypto Markets Negatively Short Term, Long-Term Confidence Remains High

Alex Kuptsikevich, the Fxpro senior financial analyst, told Bitcoin.com News that an S&P 500 correction could negatively affect the overall crypto economy. At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 700 points, while Nasdaq, NYSE, and tech stocks have also shed significant value on Monday.

“The Bitcoin network’s hash rate has never recovered to its peak and is currently at levels of late October 2019,” Kuptsikevich said. “An automatic decline should soon follow this in complexity. It is accepted that Bitcoin’s price follows the hash rate/complexity of mining, so the investment outlook is deteriorating for now.” Kuptsikevich’s analysis continued:

A correction in the S&P 500 could negatively contribute to the short-term dynamics of the crypto market. In this case, a correlation of the benchmark equity index and Bitcoin may well show its full potential, as similar cautionary sentiment prevails in both markets.

Etoro’s senior analyst, Simon Peters, says that despite short-term corrections, long-term outlooks are still quite positive.

“Recent harsh conditions for bitcoin and ether continued last week as both crypto assets saw significant sell-offs continue,” Peters explained to Bitcoin.com News on Monday. “Bitcoin’s recent woes deepened as the crypto asset slumped across the week, starting trading above $34,000 before losing ground. Likewise, ether has come down heavily from recent highs. ETH began the week above $2,000 but saw a quick sell off to trade below $1,900 at times,” the Etoro analyst added.

“With yet another poor performing week,” Peters added, “speculation on the short-term price direction of major crypto assets is rife, with mixed opinions on price depending on what metric/indicators analysts are looking at.” Peters’ investors note to Bitcoin.com News concluded: “Long-term confidence remains high, however, with a recent survey of Fintech experts revealing more than half believe bitcoin is capable of becoming the global reserve currency by 2050.”

What do you think about the crypto economy’s recent downturn? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jackson, Tennessee Mayor Praises Bitcoin’s Benefits Against Inflation, Aims to Create a BTC Hub

18/07/2021 by Idelto Editor

Jackson, Tennessee’s mayor is a fan of bitcoin and he wants the city to become a bitcoin hub in order to entice technology companies and innovation. Jackson’s mayor Scott Conger is in the midst of discussing creating legislation that allows Jackson residents to pay property taxes with bitcoin.

Jackson, Tennessee’s Mayor Is a Fan of Bitcoin, He Wonders Why We Accept Inflation

Miami mayor Francis Suarez is not the only bitcoiner trying to get bitcoin companies and technological innovation to reside in his city. Jackson, Tennessee’s mayor is also a bitcoin fan and Scott Conger is the third member of his family to be Jackson’s mayor.

Conger has noticed inflation creeping higher after the federal government and central bank created massive quantities of stimulus during the last year and a half. In Conger’s opinion bitcoin is the only solution to this problem. Three days ago Conger tweeted:

Why do we accept inflation? Why don’t we demand more from our federal government 6.3% in 2 years? 172.8% in my lifetime. Every year our dollar is worth less. There is no rebound. There is only 1 fix for this… Bitcoin.

Scott Conger: ‘Let Us Not Accept Any Inflation’

In a recent interview, Conger said he’s been keeping an eye on Mayor Suarez of Miami and he believes bitcoin can benefit Jackson. Bitcoin is ideal for remote workers leveraging the city of Jackson and it could give the Tennessee city an edge. In another interview, Conger mentioned inflation again and started looking at things priced in satoshis (the smallest denomination of bitcoin).

“It really hit home once it was pointed out the price of lumber in dollars… massive inflation vs the price in [satoshis],” Conger detailed. Conger is also known for saying:

Let us not accept any inflation as well as the increasing carbon footprint.

Conger has also initiated a task force dedicated to studying blockchain benefits and how payments with bitcoin can help bolster Jackson. “Our blockchain task force is looking into how the city of Jackson TN can accept property tax payments in bitcoin and allow our employees to DCA in bitcoin,” Conger tweeted on Thursday.

Earlier this year, Eric Adams also joins Conger and Suarez as the New York City (NYC) mayoral candidate wants New York to be a bitcoin hub as well and “the center of all technology.” Prior to Eric Adams, another NYC mayoral candidate, Andrew Yang, also promoted bitcoin during his campaigning in February. As far as Jackson, Tennessee, and Conger, he’s following the footsteps of Suarez.

“I’m taking pointers from Francis Suarez,” Conger tweeted. “In the coming weeks I will be forming a Blockchain Task Force to explore how to best position the city of Jackson TN for the future,” the mayor of Jackson added.

What do you think about the mayor of Jackson, Tennessee promoting bitcoin for his city? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Analyst: ‘Bitcoin Correction Very Similar to 2013 — BTC May Remain Stuck at $30K for a While’

18/07/2021 by Idelto Editor

The analytics provider Ecoinometrics has published a tweetstorm that shows the current downward spiral from bitcoin’s all-time high is one of “the longest drawdowns bitcoin has had to deal with during a post-halving bull market.” Furthermore, the same day, analyst and economist, Julio Moreno, highlighted in a recent blog post that “in bitcoin, volatility is your friend.”

Analyst Discusses Bitcoin’s Second Longest Drawdown Before the Next Price Move

Most people in the industry understand that bitcoin (BTC) prices have seen better days and many spectators are wondering when the crypto asset will rebound. The fact of the matter is, we really don’t know, but people do leverage previous chart patterns from prior bull markets and have measured a number of timespans.

In recent times, Bitcoin.com News has published at least two market reports that show speculators believe this bull run resembles the action that took place in 2013. According to the analytics provider Ecoinometrics, the current downturn is the second-longest drop since 2013 and there could be a lot more time left on the clock.

“Bitcoin after the Halving [on] Jul. 17, 2021,” Ecoinometrics tweeted. “431 days after the 3rd halving [and] BTC at $31,678. One more week stuck in this drawdown, 95 days since the last ATH, bottom -55% below the ATH, and volatility continues to decline,” the analyst added. Ecoinometrics further stressed:

This is one of the longest drawdowns bitcoin has had to deal with during a post-halving bull market. But 95 days is still only half the duration of the big drawdown of 2013… In terms of price trajectory, this correction also looks very similar to 2013. If we continue like that, BTC will remain stuck around $30k for a while.

The analyst also added that bitcoin’s one-month volatility was also down but “historically speaking, it isn’t particularly low.”

“So from that perspective it is possible for the trading range to stay pretty tight for longer,” Ecoinometrics concluded.

‘In Bitcoin, Volatility Is Your Friend’

Analyst and economist Julio Moreno agreed with Ecoinometrics’ volatility assessment, and shared a recent blog post he wrote about bitcoin volatility. Moreno’s report explains how people try to discredit bitcoin over price volatility, and his study asks whether or not “volatility [is] a bad thing.”

The analyst notes in his report that he doesn’t believe volatility is necessarily a bad thing. “I would say it is not, as it increases within each cycle along with price gains. When is bitcoin’s price more volatile? Mostly at market tops, after significant price appreciation,” Moreno’s report emphasized. His bitcoin volatility report concludes:

What does changes in bitcoin’s price volatility imply about its future trend? Accumulation has been better at low levels of volatility and this is typically reached before a big price movement.

What do you think about the assessments from Ecoinometrics and Julio Moreno’s reports? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.