“Tesla Inc said on Monday it had invested around $1.5 billion in bitcoin and expected to begin accepting payment for its cars and other products with it in the near future, prompting a more than 10% jump in the electronic currency. Analysts said the move by one of the world’s best-known companies was liable to prove a game changer for bitcoin.”

“Klarna AB Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Siemiatkowski took a swipe at executives and others who publicly encourage people to buy Bitcoin, warning it was a major risk for consumers around the world. “Whatever you think about Bitcoins, what cannot continue is advertising this as a financial investment product with no protection,” the CEO of the Swedish payment provider said on a virtual panel hosted by German news outlets Thursday.”

“The Reserve Bank of Australia has delivered somewhat dismissive comments on bitcoin at a meeting of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics. According to a report by the Australian Financial Review on Friday, the central bank’s assistant governor for financial systems, Michelle Bullock, said there’s “a lot of fuss over bitcoin.””

“Stephen Harper, who served as prime minister of Canada for nine years, says there may be a place for Bitcoin and central bank digital currencies as part of a basket of reserve currencies to replace the dollar. In an interview with investment service Cambridge House’s Jay Martin at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference today, Harper said the possibility of the U.S. dollar being replaced could only come from a large currency like the Euro or Chinese yuan.”

“Stefan Thomas, a German-born programmer living in San Francisco, has two guesses left to figure out a password that is worth, as of this week, about $220 million. The password will let him unlock a small hard drive, known as an IronKey, which contains the private keys to a digital wallet that holds 7,002 Bitcoin.”

“European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde called on Wednesday for global regulation of Bitcoin, saying the digital currency had been used for money laundering activities in some instances and that any loopholes needed to be closed.”

“Today FIS ® (NYSE: FIS) has announced it is partnering with Quontic Bank to deliver its new Bitcoin Rewards Checking account, launched today. With this announcement, the New York-based digital bank becomes the first FDIC insured financial institution in the U.S. to go live with a Bitcoin Rewards debit card, which allows holders to earn 1.5% Bitcoin back on eligible debit card purchases. Quontic is using the FIS Digital One solution to provide a mobile app with a leading-edge digital experience that will enable robust Bitcoin rewards tracking, reporting and functionality.”

“Bitcoin is surging to records, a rally driven in part by the emergence of new investors from passionate individuals to return-starved hedge funds looking to profit from the digital currency’s momentum. The cryptocurrency rose as high as $19,834.93 on Monday, according to CoinDesk , topping the previous intraday record of $19,783.21 set on Dec. 18, 2017. After trading as low as $3,867 in March, bitcoin has nearly tripled in 2020 and is up 90% since early September. It settled Friday at $18,832.76.”

“One of the United States’ top financial regulators said Thursday that new regulations on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were coming soon, but he downplayed concerns that the new rules would be disruptive. Brian Brooks, the acting comptroller of the currency, told CNBC’s Melissa Lee on “ Squawk Box ” to expect “clarity” on cryptocurrency in the next six-to-eight weeks but said “nobody’s going to ban bitcoin.””

“Bitcoin has grabbed headlines this week with its dizzying ascent to an all-time high. Yet, under the radar, a trend has been playing out that could change the face of the cryptocurrency market: a massive flow of coin to North America from East Asia. Bitcoin, the biggest and original cryptocurrency, soared to a record $19,918 on Tuesday, buoyed by demand from investors who variously view the virtual currency as a “risk-on” asset, a hedge against inflation and a payment method gaining mainstream acceptance.”

“The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday it had seized over $1 billion worth of bitcoin associated with the underground online marketplace Silk Road. The Justice Department said it was seeking the forfeiture of the cryptocurrency, which had been in the possession of an unnamed hacker who stole them from the “notorious” website. It is the largest cryptocurrency seizure ever made by the U.S. government, the department added.”

“Nearly $1 billion in bitcoin has been transferred out of a mysterious wallet that has been quiet since 2015. The haul of slightly more than 69,369 BTC— worth about $975 million at the time this post went live—was moved out in the past 24 hours, the bitcoin ledger shows . Alon Gal, co-founder and CTO of security firm Hudson Rock, was among the first—if not the first—to report the transaction .”

“Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) announced today that it has purchased approximately 4,709 bitcoins at an aggregate purchase price of $50 million. Square believes that cryptocurrency is an instrument of economic empowerment and provides a way for the world to participate in a global monetary system, which aligns with the company’s purpose. The investment represents approximately one percent of Square’s total assets as of the end of the second quarter of 2020.”

“The cryptocurrency slumped below $5,000 as the European trading day got underway, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index . After breaching the psychological milestone at just before 07:00 UTC, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap was coming close to falling past $4,500 at 08:00 at press time, down 16 percent over 24 hours. Other cryptocurrencies have experienced double-digit falls, too. At the time of writing, ether (ETH) was down by over 18 percent, with XRP (VRP) fell by 15 percent and Litecoin (LTC) by 16 percent. The total market cap for the digital asset class has plunged by more than $20 billion since Sunday morning, according to CoinMarketCap .”

“The top cryptocurrency by market value plunged to as low as $5,678 – the lowest level since May 2019 – soon before press time. That represents a 25 percent drop on a 24-hour basis, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index . However, just as quickly, prices rebounded to over $6,550. Meanwhile, major European equity market indices like Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC and U.K.’s FTSE 100 are down at least 6 percent at press time. Meanwhile, futures on the S&P 500 are shedding over 4.5 percent. Asian equities also took a beating with Japan’s Nikkei index losing 4.5 percent.”

“Twitter is considering a feature that would allow users to tip one another – in Bitcoins though. The Information reports that the micro-blogging platform is working on implementing a new payment feature to let people send money to each other. It is not yet clear whether the Twitter tipping feature would integrate with Jack Dorsey’s other company, Square, which is a financial services, merchant services aggregator, and mobile payment company based in San Francisco.”

“A single large player manipulated the price of bitcoin as it ran up to a peak of nearly $20,000 two years ago, a new study concludes. The study reviewed the period between March 2017 and March 2018, when the price of bitcoin soared and its total market value rose to $326 billion. About half of that increase was due to the influence of a manipulation scheme, according to the study’s authors.”

“Bitcoin is now trading at around $8,130, up a whopping 60.84 percent over the past month, with the price surging $3,086.14 over the period. The cryptocurrency’s meteoric rise is reminiscent of its rocketing growth in the latter half of 2017, when prices reached over $18,400 on the back of buoyant capital markets, rampant speculation, and a turbulent political climate in Northern Asia spurred by saber rattling between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un.”

“Nearly 95% of all reported trading in bitcoin is artificially created by unregulated exchanges, a new study concludes, raising fresh doubts about the nascent market following a steep decline in prices over the past year. Fraudulent trading volume has dogged cryptocurrency trading for years, but the extent of the market manipulation has been difficult to determine. Bitwise Asset Management said its analysis of trading activity at 81 exchanges over four days in March indicates that the actual market for bitcoin is far smaller than previously thought.”

“Now a controversial crypto celebrity named Brock Pierce  is trying to get the Mt. Gox flameout’s 24,000 victims their money back and build a new company from the ashes. Pierce spoke to TechCrunch for the first interview about Gox Rising — his plan to reboot the Mt. Gox brand and challenge Coinbase and Binance for the title of top cryptocurrency exchange. He claims there’s around $630 million and 150,000 Bitcoin are waiting in the Mt. Gox bankruptcy trust, and Pierce wants to solve the legal and technical barriers to getting those assets distributed back to their rightful owners.””

“TBILISI, Georgia — For three years, a windowless warehouse on the edge of town has been whirring with enough energy to power nearly 50,000 homes. Day and night, the warehouse, and dozens of cargo containers in a windswept valley, are generating Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has created a virtual gold rush in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.”

“Use of bitcoin as a form of payment doubled in 2018 on darknet market sites, where users can buy anything from illegal drugs to fake IDs, even though the price of the cryptocurrency crashed, according to a study by data firm Chainalysis.”

“Fit Pay, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Nxt-ID, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTD), today announced that it will begin shipping initial orders of Flip™, a new contactless payment device that enables Bitcoin holders to use the value of their currency to make contactless purchases at millions of retail locations. Confirmed pre-orders of Flip will begin shipping on February 13, 2019.”