2024-03-19 08:45

Japan's state pension fund, GPIF, is seeking information about bitcoin as part of a broader strategy initiated in response to significant economic and societal changes and technological advancements. Japan's state pension fund to explore bitcoin as a potential portfolio diversification tool. The plan, however, does not promise a foray into bitcoin. Japan's state pension fund, the world's largest, is seeking information on bitcoin (BTC) as it considers options for portfolio diversification in response to changes in society, the economy and technology. The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), which has $1.4 trillion in assets under management, requested data on potential investment diversification tools such as bitcoin and precious metals like gold, which the company considers illiquid and does not currently hold, it said Tuesday. For the time being, GPIF invests in domestic bonds, domestic stocks, foreign bonds, foreign stocks, private equity, real estate and infrastructure. While the pension fund is seeking information about bitcoin, there's no guarantee it will choose to invest in the world's largest cryptocurrency once the evaluation is completed. The fund is seeking basic information, including academic studies, analytical tools and indexes "including investment examples, investment philosophy, how to incorporate into the portfolio of pension funds," it said. Some pension funds, like the Houston Firefighters pension fund and South Korea's National Pension Service, already invest in bitcoin and crypto-related assets. Crypto proponents have long hailed bitcoin as an ideal investment for pension funds, citing a low correlation with traditional assets. The cryptocurrency, however, has tended to move in lockstep with technology stocks over the years. The announcement comes weeks after the Japanese cabinet signed a bill allowing venture capital firms and investment funds to hold crypto assets. The bill has yet to be passed by parliament. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/03/19/worlds-largest-pension-fund-seeks-information-on-bitcoin-under-the-portfolio-diversification-plan/

2024-03-19 06:07

“We've figured out a way to put AI on-chain,” lead developer punk3700 told CoinDesk in an X message. BVM, a Bitcoin layer 2 project, will release a platform called Truly Open AI, allowing users to deploy AI models on the blockchain for use in crypto applications. The AI’s storage model was built in collaboration with Filecoin, Near, Avail, Polygon, and Syscoin. Bitcoin Virtual Machine (BVM), a Bitcoin layer 2 project, will soon release a platform that allows users to spin up artificial intelligence (AI) models, developer punk3700 told CoinDesk in a message on Tuesday. The new feature, called Truly Open AI, will let users float AI models on the blockchain for use in crypto applications. An AI model is a tool or algorithm based on a specific data set to arrive at a decision. “We’ve figured out a way to put AI on-chain,” lead developer punk3700 said. “It’s the same but with a much bigger impact than putting jpegs on-chain like ordinals,” he said. “They are neural networks (technical terms for AI) where users can create their own AI models, make money from them (when people use their AI models) per call, or sell the entire models,” he added. The developer said that Filecoin, Near, Avail, Polygon, and Syscoin will provide the storage layers for the AI models. AI tokens remain a hot narrative for crypto traders because the technology is expected to drive key innovations in the global economy in the coming years. However, the relationship between AI and crypto is unclear: Some market experts say artificial intelligence cannot run on a blockchain, even though scores of projects claim otherwise. At the time of writing, Bitcoin Virtual Machine’s BVM token was trading at $2, down 20% in the past 24 hours, in line with a marketwide drop. https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/03/19/bitcoin-virtual-machine-will-soon-let-users-create-ai-models-on-bitcoin-network/

2024-03-19 05:35

The interim order comes after an earlier report that Nigeria wanted Binance to give information regarding its top 100 users in the nation and all transaction history spanning the past six months. Binance has to provide Nigeria’s anti-graft agency comprehensive data on all Nigerians using its platform, a Federal court has ordered. Nigeria’s detention of two senior executives from Binance after inviting them into the nation has entered a fourth week, with a hearing on the matter scheduled for Wednesday. A Nigerian court has ordered Binance to provide Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with comprehensive information on all persons from the nation trading on its platform, according to a report by the local news outlet Peoples Gazette. The interim order comes after an earlier report that Nigeria had asked the crypto exchange to hand over the information regarding its top 100 users in the country and all transaction history spanning the past six months. But Justice Emeka Nwite from the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court appears to have granted the motion of EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho which sought information on any Nigerian trading on Binance. The EFCC is Nigeria’s law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes. “The applicant’s application dated and filed February 29, 2024, is hereby granted as prayed. That an order of this honorable court is hereby made directing the operators of Binance to provide the commission with comprehensive data/information relating to all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform,” the judge ordered, the report said. Nigeria has taken action against the crypto industry for allegedly facilitating illegal capital outflows, which purportedly led to the Nigerian naira weakening to record lows against the dollar. The nation’s authorities have taken a particular interest in Binance’s operations, demanding $10 billion in penalties for enabling some $26 billion of untraceable funds. Nigerian authorities also detained two of Binance’s senior executives after inviting them into the country to discuss the matter. The court hearing of the two detained Binance executives is scheduled for Wednesday, Reuters reported. Nigerian authorities have also proposed a 400% increase in registration fees for crypto firms. Binance and the EFCC did not immediately respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment. Read More: Nigeria Invited, Then Detained Binance’s Compliance Head and Africa Manager for Two Weeks: Reports https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/03/19/nigerian-court-orders-binance-to-relinquish-data-of-all-nigerians-trading-on-its-platform-report/

2024-03-19 05:20

Bankman-Fried will be sentenced later this month. The Department of Justice filed dozens of victim impact statements from FTX creditors on Monday. The statements are intended to support the DOJ’s sentencing memo for Sam Bankman-Fried. FTX’s creditors say the exchange’s 2022 collapse “robbed [them] of [their] financial security,” exacted an “emotional toll,” and “created a sense of insecurity and mistrust toward the financial system,” they said in a series of victim statements filed in founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal case. The Department of Justice filed dozens of victim impact statements from FTX creditors Monday before Bankman-Fried’s sentencing next week. These victims hail from around the world, and the letters describe their FTX holdings and the effect FTX’s bankruptcy had on their lives. “I find myself in a financially precarious situation,” one letter said. “As a restitution claimant, my income has been nonexistent for over a year, and my circumstances are exacerbated by my current unemployment status and ongoing disability recognition process.” Read all of CoinDesk's coverage on the Sam Bankman-Fried trial here. Several other respondents said they were unemployed due to health issues and depended on the funds they stored in FTX. Some of the respondents said they trusted FTX based on Bankman-Fried’s comments about the exchange or because of the perception that U.S.-based crypto exchanges were regulated and otherwise safe (while FTX.US was based in the U.S., the main FTX global entity was headquartered in The Bahamas). Some of the comments took issue with the idea that they were being made whole from the FTX bankruptcy, noting that they were receiving 100% of the value of their assets from November 2022 and not the value those assets would have at present crypto prices. Bitcoin’s (BTC) price hovered around $16,500 shortly after FTX filed for bankruptcy. As of press time, it was trading around $65,000. Some victims’ names and email addresses were redacted in the publicly available versions of the documents. Corporate victim statements were not redacted, and a DOJ letter accompanying the letters said, Some of these victim impact statements also appear to follow a form letter format, with recipients substituting their account values at the time of bankruptcy, the value as of when the letters were filed and the loss amounts. Many of the letters, both the templated versions and others, emphasized the loss of value from waiting for their funds. “I respectfully urge the court to consider the full scope of the impact that Sam Bankman-Fried’s actions and the collapse of FTX have had on my family and me,” another letter said. “Justice, in this case, should not only involve penalizing the wrongdoer but also ensuring that the victims are genuinely compensated for their losses.” The victim impact statements come just after the DOJ filed its sentencing memorandum arguing Bankman-Fried should spend 40 to 50 years in prison for his conviction on seven different fraud and conspiracy charges last November. The recommendation from prosecutors is less than the 100 years proposed in a Presentence Investigation Report by a probation officer. His defense team filed its sentencing memo last month, urging District Judge Lewis Kaplan to impose a lighter sentence of no more than 6.5 years. The defense filed multiple character reference letters from Bankman-Fried’s parents and brother, fellow adherents of the Effective Altruism philosophy, former FTX employees and several others. Bankman-Fried’s sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET on March 28. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/03/19/ftx-users-describe-emotional-toll-from-bankruptcy-in-letters-to-judge-ahead-of-sam-bankman-frieds-sentencing/

2024-03-19 05:06

Large sell orders worth $55.49 million drove bitcoin’s price down to $8,900 on BitMEX. The overnight crash was short-lived. The price crash on BitMEX occurred on the XBT/USD spot market late Monday. BitMEX said on X that it is investigating the large sell orders that caused the flash crash. Yes, you read the title right. Late Monday, bitcoin (BTC) suffered a brief crash to as low as $8,900 on cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, while prices on other exchanges held well above $60,000. The slide began at 22:40 UTC, and within two minutes, prices fell to $8,900, the lowest since early 2020, according to data from the charting platform TradingView. The recovery was equally quick, with prices rebounding to $67,000 by 22:50 UTC. Throughout the boom-bust episode on the BitMEX's spot market, BTC’s global average price was around $67,400. Some observers on social media platform X allege that whale selling catalyzed the price crash. According to @syq, someone sold over 850 BTC ($55.49 million) on BitMEX, driving the XBT/USDT spot pair down to $8,900. The BitMEX XBT index tracks bitcoin’s price, while the XBT/USDT pair represents bitcoin’s tether-denominated price. Tether is the world’s leading dollar-pegged stablecoin. While the spot market crashed, BitMEX's billion-dollar derivatives markets held steady. Following the crash, BitMEX said on social media that it is looking into the large sell orders. “We launched an investigation as soon as we saw unusual activity on our BTC-USDT Spot Market. All of our systems were operating as normal, but we identified aggressive selling behavior involving a very small number of accounts widely beyond expected market ranges. We can’t comment on any specific behavior of a user or actions taken, and we continue to investigate,” BitMEX said in a statement. “The trading platform is operating as normal, and all funds are safe,” BitMEX added. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/03/19/bitcoin-flash-crashed-to-89k-on-bitmex/

2024-03-19 04:51

Outflows of GBTC tend to add pricing pressure to bitcoin because of increased selling Bitcoin remains above $65,000 despite highest-ever GBTC outflows. GBTC outflows are occurring due to high fees and ETF competition. Bitcoin (BTC) is down 4% and trading above $65,000 as the selling of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares hit its highest level ever. According to data compiled by BitMEX research, outflow from GBTC hit $643 million on March 18. Data from investment firm Farside shows that there's a net outflow from bitcoin ETFs in general to the tune of $154 million. The iShares bitcoin ETF (IBIT) saw the most inflow of $451.5 million, while the remaining products had inflow of approximately $36.7 million. Since the launch of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) earlier this year, there have been significant outflows from GBTC – which recently converted into an ETF – because of its higher fees. This selling puts pressure on the price of bitcoin. A recent note from CryptoQuant says that selling pressure is also coming from short term holders of bitcoin taking profit on recent gains. Over the last week bitcoin is down 8.5%, according to CoinDesk Indicies data, but remains up 27% over the past 30 days. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/03/19/btc-maintains-65k-as-gbtc-outflows-hit-highest-level-ever/