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An American retiree says more than $3 million in XRP vanished after he checked Ellipal’s mobile app on Oct. 15 and saw his balance gone, a discovery that spurred an on-chain tracing effort by pseudonymous analyst ZackXBT.CoinDesk has not independently verified the investor’s identity, balances, or the complete on-chain path. The account comes from several YouTube videos posted since Oct. 15, Ellipal’s public statement on Oct. 18, and ZackXBT’s Oct. 19 X thread.What the victim says happenedThe investor, who identified himself as Brandon, said he lives in North Carolina, is 54, and that his wife, 60, is also retired. He…

The Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty fell to 146.7 trillion on Friday as the network hashrate, the average of the total computing power dedicated to securing the decentralized protocol, hit an all-time high of over 1.2 trillion hashes per second.BTC mining difficulty is down by about 2.7% from the all-time high difficulty level of over 150.8 trillion reached during the previous adjustment period, according to CoinWarz.Bitcoin mining difficulty drops. Source: CryptoQuantHowever, network hashrate hit an all-time high on Tuesday, and remains elevated above 1.2 trillion, despite a small dip from Tuesday’s all-time high, data from CryptoQuant shows. CoinWarz also forecast:“The next…

U.S. government seizes record $14B Bitcoin connected to Chen Zhi’s massive human-trafficking and cryptocurrency fraud network. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to take control of about 127,000 BTC, worth around $14.2 billion. The Bitcoin fortune is tied to LuBian and Cambodia-based businessman Chen Zhi, who is the chairman of Prince Group. Record $14B Bitcoin Seizure Arkham shared via X that Zhi ran large-scale human-trafficking and pig-butchering schemes across Asia. This type of exploit involves victims being tricked into fake online relationships and then convinced to invest in phony cryptocurrency platforms. Once they…

A well-known crypto analyst is urging investors to rethink the old trade of gold for Bitcoin, calling current market signals a rare buying window. Related Reading According to CryptoQuant author Joao Wedson, a set of bottom signals in the BTC/Gold ratio are flashing, and that could mark a turning point in how the two assets move against each other. Rare Signals Point Toward Bitcoin Wedson’s chart shows two tags — one blue and one green — that line up with a normalized oscillator he says is at a low. According to him, the blue tag marks a bottom in the…

In brief Stablecoin behemoth Tether donated $250,000 to OpenSats this week, prompting Jack Dorsey to criticize the amount of the gift. Dorsey highlighted his own $21 million donation and drew mixed reactions from the Bitcoin community. Udi Wertheimer later called out Dorsey over his investment in Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool that has attracted controversy. Sometimes it can be easier to say nothing at all. This week, stablecoin giant Tether announced a $250,000 donation to OpenSats to support Bitcoin developers—only for one of the world’s best-known programmers (and Bitcoin maximalists) to publicly chastise the size of the gift. Twitter co-founder and Square…

Key takeaways:Gold’s ongoing pullback could trigger Bitcoin’s rebound, according to multiple analysts.Rallying to $150,000–$165,000 by year’s end is still possible, based on technical analysis.Bitcoin (BTC) is showing signs of bottoming out as the rally by its analog rival, gold (XAU), is starting to look increasingly overextended. Bitcoin hints at “generational bottom” as gold dipsGold’s rally appears to have stalled after hitting an all-time high of around $4,380 per ounce on Friday, given it has dropped 2.90% ever since. Still, the precious metal was up by over 62.25% year-to-date.XAU/USD daily chart. Source: TradingViewIts daily relative strength index (RSI) readings have been…

A recent 10X Research report has estimated that retail investors lost about $17 billion due to their exposure to Bitcoin treasury companies.The losses reflect a broader decline in investor enthusiasm for Digital Asset Treasury Companies (DATCOs). Firms such as MicroStrategy and Metaplanet have seen their stocks tumble in tandem with Bitcoin’s recent price slump.Sponsored Bitcoin Treasury Firms Wiped Out $17 Billion in Retail WealthAccording to the report, many investors turned to these DATCOs to gain indirect exposure to Bitcoin. These firms typically issue shares at a premium to their underlying Bitcoin holdings, using the raised capital to buy more BTC.…

Investors should exercise “discernment” when considering privately-issued stablecoins, which carry all the risks of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) plus their own unique risks, according to Jeremy Kranz, founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Sentinel Global.Kranz called privately-issued stablecoins “central business digital currency,” which feature all of the surveillance, backdoors, programmability, and controls as CBDCs. He told Cointelegraph:“Central business digital currency is really not necessarily that different. So, if JP Morgan issued a dollar stablecoin and controlled it through the Patriot Act, or whatever else comes out in the future, they can freeze your money and unbank…

BTC and ETH fell again on Friday amid global tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty.The cryptocurrency market fell again on Friday, extending a four-day losing streak as investors grappled with rising geopolitical tensions, trade uncertainties, and the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $106,400, down 2% on the day, while Ethereum (ETH) is hovering around $3,830, down 3.2% in the same timeframe.BTC ChartJohn Glover, Chief Investment Officer at Ledn and former MD at Barclays, said he believes the current bull run in Bitcoin has ended. “I firmly believe that we have finished the five-wave move higher, and we will now…

In brief Circuit breakers prevent panic selling on Wall Street, but some experts feel they are impractical, and potentially dangerous, in decentralized finance. DeFi protocols will always be open, even if “front ends” implement restrictions, Amanda Tuminelli of the DeFi Education Fund said. They could cause price dislocations to become worse, Gregory Xethalis of Multicoin Capital said. Cryptocurrency prices plummeted last Friday as cascading liquidations fueled historic volatility, yet some experts are saying that Wall Street’s old-school safety net wouldn’t have helped.In the U.S., venues like the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange have used circuit breakers to promote orderly…