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Bitcoin surged past $15,000 and has its sights set on its all-time high.
CRYPTO MARKETS
Bitcoin’s bull run kicked into high gear and reached heights not seen since its December 2017 peak, as U.S. election anxiety and uncertainty lingered throughout the week. Bitcoin soared past $15,000 Thursday and neared $16,000, booking gains of about 20% for the week. Its price has quadrupled since its low point in mid-March.
Analysts say bitcoin is now aiming for its all-time high around $20,000, and no clear resistance level is blocking its path now. The buying spree extended to other major cryptocurrencies, with XRP, litecoin and ether all surging higher too.
“Regardless of the result of the election,” Bitfinex chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino says, “it could be said that we are witnessing a growing recognition of bitcoin’s unique qualities as we adjust to just the sort of challenging times that the world’s biggest cryptocurrency was invented for.”
Source: Messari. Prices as of 4:00 p.m. on November 6, 2020.
ELECTION TRACKING ON ETHEREUM
The Associated Press has been publishing verified election results this week on the public Ethereum and EOS blockchains, marking the largest scale use of blockchain in elections to date. Unlike bitcoin, these two blockchains have entire computer languages that can be used to write applications that run without centralized servers. Additionally, Associated Press voting data is getting posted to Everipedia, a blockchain-based competitor to Wikipedia that built its oracle using Chainlink.
SILK ROAD SEIZURE
The IRS tracked down an elusive, long-dormant wallet holding more than 69,000 bitcoins, an amount worth about $1 billion, that was linked to the Silk Road dark web criminal marketplace which the FBI shut down in 2013. It’s still unclear where the money will end up and whether it should belong to the federal government, but it seems to be a matter of time before the courts confirm that forfeiture.
CRYPTO PAYMENTS ARMS RACE
On the heels of PayPal’s
Forbes is still accepting nominations for its annual Blockchain 50 list from billion-dollar companies based anywhere in the world. Past selections include Facebook, Twitter, Alibaba
BLACKMAIL FOR THERAPY RECORDS
Multiple hackers have gained access to Vaastamo psychotherapy records in Finland, demanding a bitcoin ransom from the center’s 40,000 patients to keep their intimate therapy records, social security numbers, addresses and phone numbers private. The hackers exploited a security breach from 2018 and early 2019 that went unreported. The case remains unresolved, but Finnish crypto exchange Bittiraha is blocking payments to the addresses associated with the hack.
ELSEWHERE
Lightning Operators Are Bracing for a Bitcoin Bull Run [CoinDesk]
PBOC Governor Says 4 Million Transactions so Far in Digital Yuan [Bloomberg]
Here Are the 2020 US Election Races Crypto Should Watch [CoinDesk]