2024-01-24 13:33

Hut's shares slid more than 23% on Jan. 18 when short-selling firm JCapital Research said the USBTC merger had the makings of a pump and dump. Hut 8 Corp. (HUT) Wednesday morning called last week's report from JCapital Research "a deliberate attempt to spread misinformation about Hut 8, its operations, finances, management practices, and key executives." In a press release, Hut 8 sad the report was "filled with inaccuracies, misrepresented data, speculative claims, and unfounded character attacks." The mining firm's Nasdaq-listed stock fell from $9.17 on Jan.18 to $7 a little over 24 hours later after short-selling firm JCapital Research released a report claiming that Hut 8's merger with fellow miner US Bitcoin was a pump and dump waiting to happen. The report said that USBTC had a history of legal trouble, had defaulted on a loan and paid two government fines, one of which was for committing securities violations. "We will not be derailed by activists who stand to profit from spreading misinformation and making defamatory character attacks,” said Hut 8 CEO Jaime Leverton. "The short report is riddled with speculative accusations and misinformation." HUT shares thus far have failed to bounce since Jan. 18 tumble, closing lower by 5.3% yesterday to $6.33. Shares are higher by 5.7% premarket alongside a modest bounce in the price of bitcoin. Read More: Bernstein Says Buy the Dip in Bitcoin Mining Stocks Ahead of BTC Price 'Inflection' https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/01/24/bitcoin-miner-hut-8-hits-out-at-short-selling-report/

2024-01-24 11:32

Nexo has accused the country of making "wrongful and politically motivated actions...involving unjustified and oppressive criminal investigations." Cryptocurrency lender Nexo has filed an arbitration claim against the Republic of Bulgaria, seeking $3 billion in damages. Nexo has accused the country of making “wrongful and politically motivated actions...involving unjustified and oppressive criminal investigations,” according to an emailed statement on Wednesday. The Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office closed its investigation into Nexo for alleged money laundering offenses in December because there was no evidence of criminal activity. Last year saw widespread clamping down on crypto-related activities following FTX’s sudden collapse and the demise of other crypto firms during the latter half of 2022. Nexo claims that the investigations damaged its brand and reputation and led it to lose certain business opportunities, such as a potential initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S. The claim has been submitted to the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, DC. Read More: Crypto Lending Firm Ledn Offers Low-Risk Custodied Loans https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/01/24/crypto-lender-nexo-seeking-3b-in-damages-from-bulgaria/

2024-01-24 10:25

The Ordinals technology native to the Dogecoin blockchain is allowing developers to bring utility to the meme token's network. Doom, the popular and influential first-person shooter video game first released in 1993, is now available on the Dogecoin network, thanks to a relatively new protocol that lets developers stash large amounts of data on a blockchain. "Ð is for Doginals! Ð is for DOOM on Dogecoin," developer @minidogeart, who put the game on Dogecoin, posted at launch. "Now inscribed on Dogecoin blockchain forever!" That means the game's deployment on Doginals fetches all of its gaming data entirely from the data stored on the Dogecoin network. It does not rely on any other sources outside of the network. Doom was among the first computer games that went viral in the 1990s. It was deployed on Doginals on its 30th anniversary, as per @minidogeart. The version is so-called shareware, which contains nine levels of the game that can be published without the possibility of legal issues. Since May, developers have been able to put art collections and games on Dogecoin, helping its ecosystem extend beyond a dog-themed meme token using inscription technology. Inscriptions are digital entries that store images, videos, audio and text files that store data on the blockchain. Inscriptions are dubbed "Doginals" on Dogecoin – similar to Bitcoin Ordinals – and are a relatively new feature of the blockchain ecosystem. Transactional activity bumps Such features can open up flourishing ecosystems on a blockchain, adding to a token's fundamentals and contributing to an increase in prices on heightened demand. In May, hype for Dogecoin inscriptions bumped transactional volumes on the network to lifetime peaks, leading to a 10% gain in the cryptocurrency's price. Transaction activity has cooled in the past month but is seemingly ramping up again. Data shows activity has risen to 420,000 transactions as of Wednesday from 90,000 earlier this month. Developers such as @minidogeart see inscription and Ordinals usage to eventually bump interest in the broader Dogecoin ecosystem, which expands beyond DOGE to collections, games and tokens issued on the Dogecoin blockchain. "The advent of Doginals on the Dogecoin blockchain, akin to Ordinals on Bitcoin, has the potential to revolutionize the way we view blockchain transactions," @minidogeart said in an X message to CoinDesk. "Embedding digital assets directly into the proof of ownership, Doginals add significant intrinsic value to each transaction. This transformation elevates each exchange from a mere financial transaction to a permanent and secure record of digital asset ownership." "The inscription of DOOM on the Dogecoin blockchain demonstrates that even a compact game can be permanently preserved on the blockchain, highlighting the capability for a broad spectrum of digital content to be securely managed and stored," they added. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/01/24/someone-just-put-90s-darling-game-doom-on-dogecoin/

2024-01-24 09:33

The country's tax revenue in 2023 was substantially lower than 2022, when the tax regime was introduced. Indonesia’s Ministry of Finance said the total tax revenue from crypto in 2023 was $31.7 million (Indonesian Rupiah 467.27 billion). The country’s tax revenue last year fell 62% compared to the partial collection period in 2022, when the tax regime was introduced in May 2022. Crypto transactions in Indonesia are subject to dual taxation: a 0.1% income tax and a 0.11% value-added tax (VAT). Additionally, local crypto exchanges must contribute around 0.04% tax to the national crypto bourse. On the other hand, bitcoin (BTC) jumped 159% in 2023. Despite this significant market upturn, Indonesia’s crypto tax revenue experienced a downturn, paralleling a 51% decrease in the country’s crypto transaction volumes during 2023 compared to the previous year in 2022. It’s worth noting that local exchanges have protested the high tax rates and blamed them for thinner revenues as users seek alternatives. Indonesia’s local exchanges had proposed that crypto transactions should only be subject to income tax, not VAT. The exchanges’ suggestion comes as the country’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) prepares to regulate crypto from January 2025. They believe this adjustment would classify crypto more as a security than a commodity. Last month, prominent Indonesian exchange INDODAX highlighted that the total taxes on crypto transactions in the country often exceed the trading fees. This raises fears of users switching to overseas or illegal exchanges for cheaper transactions. In a related development, the Blockchain Association of Indonesia reported in May 2023 that 303 illegal exchanges are operational within the country, significantly undermining the formal tax system. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/01/24/indonesias-crypto-tax-revenue-falls-63-in-2023-despite-bitcoins-surge/

2024-01-24 07:35

Issuance of the TRUMP tokens has nothing to do with Trump directly, but some are using the tokens as a speculative bet on his ongoing presidential campaign. A few thousand dollars worth of a meme token TRUMP sent to a Donald Trump-labeled crypto wallet is now worth over $1 million, data tracked by Arkham shows. Issuance of the TRUMP token has nothing to do with the former U.S. President directly, but some are using the tokens as a speculative bet on his ongoing presidential campaign. The tokens were issued in August, and Trump’s wallet originally received $7,100 of TRUMP from the meme coin’s developers between August and October 2023. Sending tokens to a popular entity’s wallet is sometimes used as a marketing strategy by meme coin makers, as they can attract eyeballs – and buying interest. Prices remained largely unchanged until months after their issuance. However, Trump’s recent victories in the primaries have put him back on track as a Presidential contender in the 2024 elections, and sent these speculative tokens surging to over $2 on Wednesday from 19 cents in November. The tokens have a market capitalization of over $85 million on Wednesday, data shows. There are several other Trump-themed meme tokens on the market across different blockchains. However, only one set of these has garnered a sizeable community. Meanwhile, the value of Trump’s wallet has shot up to $2.5 million. It holds $750,000 each in ether (ETH) and wrapped ether WETH, and tiny amounts of several other tokens, most of which were likely sent to the wallet unsolicited. The wallet held over $4 million at its peak. In December, a tranche of $2.5 million in ether was moved to crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), all of which were generated from royalty payments from the official Trump NFT collection. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/01/24/donald-trump-labelled-wallet-has-over-1m-of-trump-meme-coin/

2024-01-24 07:08

Bitcoin traded at a fat premium on Bitfinex compared to the global average price over the weekend, hinting at bargain hunting by whales. Crypto whales, entities with ample token holdings, appear to be snapping up bitcoin (BTC) at cheaper prices as the leading cryptocurrency continues to slide in the aftermath of the recent U.S. spot ETFs debut. bitcoin has dropped nearly 19% to $39,770 since the spot ETFs began trading in the U.S. on Jan. 11, CoinDesk data show. That has some crypto whales bargain-hunting bitcoin on digital assets exchange Bitfinex, one of the top 10 exchanges by trading volumes. Bitfinex whales are notorious for making waves in the market. Data from TradingView shows that over the weekend, bitcoin traded at a premium of $100 on Bitfinex compared to the global average price. At the time of writing, the premium was near $70, notably higher than other exchanges, including Coinbase and Binance. “Someone on Bitfinex has been nonstop TWAP buying $BTC for 3 days straight now, which is why Bitfinex has been trading at a fat premium. About $50m spot accumulated so far is my estimate,” pseudonymous market analyst and trader Byzantine General said on X Sunday. TWAP, or trade-weighted average price, is an algorithmic strategy used for splitting up large orders over time, helping traders minimize slippage when buying or selling large orders. Slippage is the gap between the price at which a trading order is executed and the price at which it was requested. The so-called TWAP buying continued Tuesday, as sales from the FTX bankruptcy estate and outflows from Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) pushed prices below $39,000 for the first time since early December. The dip demand is also evident from the renewed interest in bullish leveraged bets on Bifinex. The chart shows the number of open BTC/USD longs, or bullish leveraged bets, has increased nearly 8% to over 73,000 contracts in one week. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/01/24/crypto-whales-hunt-for-bargains-as-bitcoin-prices-slide-data-shows/