Blockchain
Nearly 70,000 synthetic Bitcoins now exist on Ethereum
Synthetic Bitcoins have been growing significantly for use in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Recent data has shown that there are almost 70,000 synthetic Bitcoins existing in Ethereum. The number is expected to surge accordingly, as the DeFi industry continues to gain massive traction followed by the launching of new Bitcoin tokenization protocols. Bitcoin tokens […]


Synthetic Bitcoins have been growing significantly for use in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Recent data has shown that there are almost 70,000 synthetic Bitcoins existing in Ethereum. The number is expected to surge accordingly, as the DeFi industry continues to gain massive traction followed by the launching of new Bitcoin tokenization protocols.
Bitcoin tokens are growing
Following on-chain data provided from Dune Analytics, there are exactly 69,836 synthetic Bitcoins existing on the Ethereum blockchain. Noteworthily, this type of Bitcoin is different from the ones traded on regular cryptocurrency exchanges. They are more a Bitcoin wrapped or tokenized on Ethereum, mostly to be used in DeFi protocols just like Ether (ETH).
The growing number of tokenized Bitcoin probably signals more demand for it in the DeFi space. As of August 16, there were only 38,021 Bitcoins tokenized on Ethereum. However, this number has surged by about 83 percent following the report today. Synthetic Bitcoins are mostly used in protocols like Balancer, Compound, Uniswap, and more. Meanwhile, there are only seven protocols tokenizing the cryptocurrency for use in DeFi.
Synthetic Bitcoins platforms
Amongst these platforms is the Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) protocol, which currently has the largest tokenized Bitcoin. WBTC holds about 63 percent or 44,622 BTC out of the entire synthetic Bitcoins in existence. WBTC is followed by The Ren Protocol’s renBTC, which holds about 16,268 renBTC or 23 percent.
The platforms with the least number of tokenized Bitcoins are imBTC and pBTC, which hold 1,173 and 45 Bitcoin tokens respectively. For some technical reasons, one other tokenization platform dubbed tBTC has not minted any token yet.
Although this type of Bitcoin has been slowly gaining traction, many industry participants like the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin still have doubts on the tokens. In August, he noted that:
“I continue to be worried about the fact that these wrapped BTC bridges are trusted. […] I hope they can all *at least* move to a decently sized multi-sig.”
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/nearly-70000-synthetic-bitcoin-on-ethereum/
Blockchain
Craig Wright Sues Bitcoin Developers Over Stolen BTC Worth $5 Billion


The self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright, has filed yet another lawsuit within the cryptocurrency industry. This time, he has targeted the developers of BTC, BCH, BSV, and BCH ABC requesting that they retrieve access to BTC stolen from his personal computer worth about $5 billion.
CSW Sues BTC Developers Because he was Hacked
Wright has publicly claimed that he is the person behind the Bitcoin network for years – Satoshi Nakamoto. This narrative, which lacks any conclusive evidence, has been highlighted once more by the latest law firm that will represent him in his most recent lawsuit against representatives of the cryptocurrency space.
Ontier, a UK-based litigation law firm, has published a press release asserting that it has informed the developers of Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), and Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCH ABC) of the lawsuit.
With these “ground-breaking legal proceedings,” the firm acts on behalf of Tulip Trading Limited (TTL) – a Seychelles-based company with a primary beneficial owner – Craig Wright. The nature of the lawsuit is somewhat controversial, to say the least.
“In February 2020, Dr. Wright’s personal computer was hacked by persons unknown and encrypted private keys to two addresses, which hold substantial quantities of Bitcoin belonging to TTL, were stolen. These assets were, and continue to be, owned by TTL. The theft is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Cyber Crime division of the South East England Regional Organized Crime Unit.”
Consequently, the lawsuit has requested that the developers “enable TTL to regain access to and control of its Bitcoin on the grounds that they owe Bitcoin owners both tortious and fiduciary duties under English law as a result of the high level of power and control they hold over their respective blockchains.”
Per their estimation, the sizeable amount has a value of over £3.5 billion or about $5 billion.
More to Follow?
Paul Ferguson, a Partner at Ontier, commented that Wright, the supposed creator of BTC, has “always intended Bitcoin to operate within existing laws.” Moreover, he believes that the Bitcoin developers have the power and obligation to deploy code to “enable the rightful owner to regain control” of his assets.
Should Wright’s lawsuit succeed, others in a similar position could follow suit, added Ferguson.
Craig Wright is no stranger to initiating lawsuits against crypto industry representatives. In his previous one, his lawyers requested two Bitcoin-related websites to remove the BTC whitepaper, which received quite adverse reactions from the community.
Featured Image Courtesy of TheConversation
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Blockchain
All of the Federal Reserve’s wire and ACH systems are down


All of the services available through the Federal Reserve’s online portal have been down for more than an hour.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank Services’ website, the bank is experiencing a disruption in its account services, central bank, Check 21, check adjustments, FedACH, FedCash, FedLine Advantage, FedLine Command, FedLine Direct, FedLine Web, Fedwire Funds, Fedwire Securities, and National Settlement — all services typically available — which started at 6:18 PM UTC today. In addition, all the access solutions that the Fed offers, with the exception of FedMail, are also offline.
Washington Post reporter Rachel Leah Siegel reportedly received an alert from the Fed saying its staff were “currently investigating a disruption to multiple services” and would “continue to provide updates as soon as they are available.”
“A Federal Reserve operational error resulted in disruption of service in several business lines,” said Jim Strader from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. “We are restoring services and are communicating with all Federal Reserve Financial Services customers about the status of operations.”
This story is developing and will be updated.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/all-of-the-federal-reserve-s-wire-and-ach-systems-are-down
Blockchain
Why it’s critical to monitor Bitcoin miners’ position over the next 2 weeks

The narrative of a bear-led correction is always around, even during the headiest of bull runs. A similar situation is unraveling at the moment, with many still expecting Bitcoin’s performance to take a more calamitous turn.
At press time, while Bitcoin had recovered to climb north of $50,000, some key on-chain metrics seemed to suggest that selling pressure might not be done yet, especially on the miners’ side.
Bitcoin Miners’ Outflow Multiple, Volumes on the rise
According to Glassnode data, Bitcoin Miner Outflow Multiple climbed to touch a monthly high after BTC’s decline on the charts. The aforementioned metric relates to the period of time when the amount of Bitcoin flowing out of miners’ addresses is higher than the historical average.
Alongside the same, Outflow volumes of Bitcoin miners also climbed to a 1-month high with over $4.5 million on a 7-day average.
Now, while at first glance that may sound concerning over the short-term, the fact of the matter is that the long-term perspective is still in the green.
The Miners’ Position Index is a good example. When the market was correcting back in mid-January, the MPI had surged to a high of 12.65, underlining extremely high selling pressure from miners (An Index reading of over 2 suggests that a majority of miners are selling). On the contrary, the latest drop in Bitcoin’s price pushed the MPI only up to 3.50, with the same down to 2.56, at press time.
Further, additional data seemed to suggest that small miner outflows may have contributed to high outflow volumes since these entities need to balance out their cash reserves on a consistent basis.
Bitcoin hashrate and difficulty is still relatively high
The relative hashrate for Bitcoin has dropped over the course of February, but it is important to note that over the past 3 days, the relative change is very negligible. In fact, the current hashrate is still well above 2020’s highest rate, a finding that means that miners are still active and possibly profitable, despite corrections being the norm for most of the past 24-36 hours.
On the question of mining difficulty, the attached chart seemed to suggest that the difficulty was at an all-time high on 23 February with a hashrate of 21.724t. With a difficulty adjustment imminent on the charts, a minor correction would mean that bear-led corrections would not be dragged forward due to miners’ activity.
That being said, it remains critical to monitor miners’ position over the next couple of weeks.
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