Crypto can be moved with a level of secrecy that traditional wealth just can't match. If someone keeps their crypto on the exchange they bought it from, the process is no different than if it were a normal bank account.

But when one side of a divorcing couple believes the other is hiding crypto, full self-custody in a 'secret' wallet only they know the details of - This is where our new-age professionals, the crypto hunters, step in. 

Global Crypto Press was the first crypto news outlet to cover this story back in February when all we had was a single inside source. Three months later, our source's information seems to have been 100% accurate, as the 'rumors' from then are now part of official statements made by the government of Hong Kong.

For those just joining the story here, the important thing to know is that in 2021 China implemented a crypto trading and mining ban and ejected any company that existed for those purposes. China went from the country with the most mining power, to completely off of the top 10 list, with small countries like Malaysia and Iran now outperforming them.

You may wonder - why is that surprising? If they banned trading and mining, isn't it predictable that a sudden drop in mining hashpower coming out of China would follow? 

It's a fair question, and most people did predict the effect of a Chinese ban on crypto... at least once among the 6 times they 'banned' crypto before this, just to have its popularity continue to grow. 

But the 2021 ban was unlike any of their previous attempts, it was backed with enforcement as businesses that continued to leave their bitcoin miners running found themselves being raided, and their hardware seized. Now, with the choice to risk being next or relocate, companies either moved to other countries or simply sold their mining hardware to a company that was.

This is how the situation remained, until now.

Now, crypto appears to be on the verge of returning to China via Hong Kong...

Hong Kong is a unique situation, once fully independent of China, they are now officially 'part of China' - but unlike any other area of the country they maintain the ability to pass their own laws and remain economically independent from the federal government.  

It's with these additional freedoms that Hong Kong has just announced they will begin issuing permits to crypto based businesses beginning June 1st.

3 Things We Will Likely See Happen Almost Immediately...

- First, an increase in the overall demand for cryptocurrencies. China has one of the largest economies in the world, and if a significant portion of its population begins investing in or using cryptocurrencies, it could drive up the price of these digital assets. This could potentially lead to a new bull market in cryptocurrencies, benefiting investors and businesses in the sector.

This is why Binance CEO CZ tweeted that historically news like this is followed by a bull run. 

- Secondly, increased innovation in the crypto space. China is known for its technological prowess, and if Chinese companies are allowed to operate in the crypto space, it could lead to new technological advancements and applications for blockchain technology. 

Unfortunately, Chinese technological advances are often the result of stolen data as the nation infamously targets tech companies around the globe with the intent of recreating propritaty tech.

- Third likely impact we'll see is this decision influencing other countries' policies towards crypto. If China, once a staunch opponent of cryptocurrencies, reverses this to allow them  it could encourage other countries that have been hesitant about cryptocurrencies to reconsider as well.

I can't think of any examples of countries willingly staying out of a market both the US and China are in.

One Concern Remains..

While Hong Kong still maintains some independence from the rest of the Chinese Government, Laws they pass in Hong Kong can be vetoed by the ruling party.

We brought this up when speaking to our source there nearly 3 months ago, that portion of the article reads:

...we're hearing that Hong Kong leaders are NOT being met with disapproval from China's leadership in Beijing "there's nothing to indicate mainland officials don't want this to happen, and I believe we're well beyond the point where they would make their stance known" our source explained.

Beijing quietly allowing this to happen may be thanks to some of China's wealthiest business leaders, who have been complaining to officials about being restricted from a market with huge growth potential..."

At the time we published that article Hong Kong was still several steps away from this becoming a reality, now they're on the final step having announced their intention to issue permits for crypto companies to operate there starting June 1st.

It's a situation where approval from the ruling Communist Party will come in the form of silence. Hong Kong is providing a way for the ruling party to reverse their 2021 crypto ban without the President or other high ranking party leaders having to acknowledge it. 

Considering we're just 3 days away from Hong Kong officially open to issue permits for crypto companies to provide their services to citizens, we believe if Beijing disapproved they would have made that clear by now.

In our opinion, this is actually going to happen.

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Author: Adam Lee 
Asia News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News

Tether International Limited, the company behind the widely popular stablecoin USDT, dropped a (good) bombshell today by revealing its new bitcoin (BTC) investment game plan.

In a bold move, the company declared that it would allocate 15% of its profits to accumulate more bitcoin. They're not messing around when it comes to their reserve portfolio, which contains precious metals, fiat currencies, treasury bills, money market funds and crypto.

Their most recent independent audit report showed the company with a little over $79 Billion in liabilities, but owning almost $82 billion in assets.

These Bitcoin buys won't be used to back USDT, on that front they're overcollateralized...

This is Tether flexing its financial muscles and going beyond what anyone had demanded of them by beefing up their reserves.

By the end of Q1 2023, Tether already had a cool $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin stashed away. That's a modest 2% of their reserves, though. Gold clocked in at 4%, while a hefty 85% was chilling in cold hard cash and other assets. But Tether's not satisfied with those numbers, they're thirsty for more.

Tether also announced that unlike most institutional investors who let other companies store and safeguard their bitcoins, Tether takes the "not your keys, not your bitcoin" mantra to heart. They'll be be handling their own custody. 

One year ago today, all hell broke lose. 

"Cryptocurrencies Melt Down in a ‘Perfect Storm’ of Fear and Panic" wrote the NYTimes,

"$1 Trillion Crypto Meltdown—Huge Crash Wipes Out The Price Of Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Cardano, Solana, Terra’s Luna And Avalanche" was the headline at Forbes.

Bitcoin would lose a total of 12% of its value on this day, and that looked good compare to Ethereum, XRP, BNB, Cardano, Solana, all which lost between 20%-30% in the same time period. 

For us, people with a sizeable portion of their net worth inside the crashing market, the popular 'swap to a stablecoin until it's over' move was followed by praying the stable coin you chose actually was stable. 

Even if you managed to minimize your own losses, it was impossible to be part of any of the main online crypto communities, from the Bitcointalk message boards, to Crypto-Twitter, and several popular crypto subreddits were filled with despair.

3 Months Later FTX's Collapse Would Overshadow This Period Forever.  But on This Date, No One in Crypto Was Receiving More Praise than Sam Bankman-Fried...

Sam was about to save the entire industry. 

Over the days ahead companies that were heavily invested in Luna and UST were struggling, or flat out collapsing. This is where Sam would step in offering hundreds of millions to companies from his pile of spare spendable cash (which today appears to have been his user's cash, that he was spending without permission).

In one interview he talks about meeting inside FTX where they determined he could spend up to $1 billion basically bailing out crypto companies if they had long term potential, and of course he would now own piece of them all. 

If You Want a Truly Surreal Experience - Read This Article from NYTimes, Published This Week One Year Ago...

There's so many parts of this article that cringe-inducing to read today that it was hard to choose a couple examples, but I think these will give you an idea of just how far Sam took his fantasy of being a high-profile successful genius, and how good he was at convincing others to believe it as well.

A little over a week before this, Sam and FTX held their first of what was supposed to be an annual conference in the Bahamas, the reporter writes "Everywhere he went, crypto entrepreneurs offered handshakes and fist bumps, patting him on the back as they pitched projects or presented him with branded swag".

I did warn you this would be cringe-inducing. 

Another interesting part is where Sam's seemingly reveals that even his... unique style and sometimes awkward behavior was a calculated move, according to the article "Before one of his first TV appearances, Andy Croghan, a colleague at Alameda and FTX, urged him to clean up his look. “I was like, ‘Sam, you’ve got to cut your hair, dude — it looks ridiculous,’” Mr. Croghan said. “And he said, ‘I honestly think it’s negative for me to cut my hair. I think it’s important for people to think I look crazy."

But the gem of the article (well, if you're looking for the strangest parts) has to be this next story which begins in the FTX offices "A few colleagues were cracking crypto-themed sex jokes in the office" I'm not kidding, that was printed by the NYTimes, I really wish they included an example.  Anyway, these naughty jokesters got Sam's attention and threw his genius mind into overdrive  - then it came to him - FTX needs their own condoms. 

Now that may sound crazy at first but there's a good reason - marketing. The article says that "Sam whirled around in his chair. He wondered, was there expected value (EV) in distributing condoms with jokes on them at an upcoming conference?" Sam decided - obviously yes. 

So what would Sam print on them? Ironically, a statement that FTX would survive the exact situation that ended up destroying it.

The condom wrapper reads “Never breaks” in large letters and underneath  “even during large liquidations.” 

Today you find people selling them on EBay as collectors items.

Good times.

------- 
Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News

We're learning of this only because PayPal's required quarterly report has now been filed with the SEC, from there you'll have to go 16 pages in before it's even mentioned.

It's rare for a company spend over $300+ million on anything without letting the public/and press know about it - but when PayPal decided to load up on crypto they clearly also decided it would be smarter to stay quiet while doing it.

Why So Secretive?

My guess is; they didn't want prices to go higher... yet. 

They did their buying over a 3 month period, and if news got out that the worlds biggest online finance company was spending so much on crypto, other companies may follow. It doesn't help them if prices go up while they're still buying.

While the report does not give the number of Bitcoins PayPal holds, it does give their total USD value of $499 million. This is based on Bitcoin's total value at the end of March, so doing the math and assuming they were paying slightly under market value by doing large OTC trades, we're estimating PayPal holds somewhere around 17,500 BTC.

They also spent another $110 million on Ethereum, and another $19 million on all other cryptocurrencies.

So Far in 2023 PayPal's Added Another $339 Million In Crypto - Bringing Total Near $1B...

PayPal began 2023 already owning over $600 million worth of cryptocurrency, but after the last 3 months of aggressive buying, they're almost able to join the small group of companies and individuals holding over a billion worth of crypto.

However, breaking $1 billion total is now within reach, and can be done without PayPal having to buy more. 

We estimate Bitcoin trading around $35k and ETH holding over $2k would be enough to put PayPal's total into the 10-digits.

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Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO, says the United Arab Emirates deserves "a lot of credit" for its commitment to crypto regulation.

The Bitcoin Request for Comment Protocol (BRC-20) is dominating crypto transactions, with 65% of all mined transactions yesterday being tied to the protocol - a new record.

The sudden explosion in popularity has also sparked debate;  is BRC-20 now one of crypto's 'top protocols' and should be regarded similarly to Ethereum's ERC-20 protocol?  Or, as some claim, are we seeing a temporary trend built on memecoins that are unlikely to experience any long term success?

Not the First Time the Majority of BTC Transactions Were BRC-20 Related...

While yesterday's 65% set a new record, the majority (more than 50%) of Bitcoin transactions were related to a BRC-20 transaction for 5 of the last 9 days .

BRC-20 operates on the Ordinals protocol, which is relatively new and enables the storage of various forms of information, such as images, videos, and audios, on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Fees Bring Angry Users, Happy Miners...

Unfortunately, this has led to high congestion and exorbitant fees for processing transactions on the Bitcoin network, causing frustration for regular users.

Miners, on the other hand, are reaping the rewards -  some are claiming to have "never earned this much before".

Over 650 BTC (approximately $18,200,000) has already been spent on fees for the 3,755,000+ BRC-20 transactions to date.------- 
Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News

Coinbase, the well-known American cryptocurrency company, just dropped some major news: the launch of its newest exchange, "Coinbase International." 

Thanks to a recent regulatory license approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority, this new platform will allow Coinbase to operate globally and expand its reach beyond the US market.

Currently, Coinbase is ranked as the second-largest exchange globally, trailing behind its competitor Binance, which interestingly did the reverse - starting internationally and then launching a US exchange.

However, at the time of its launch, Coinbase International will exclusively cater to institutional investors outside of the United States, meaning that retail traders will have to wait a bit longer to gain access.

With this comes a first for Coinbase - leveraged trading. Coinbase International will offer leveraged trading, but they're starting small with a maximum 5X leverage option.

A Warning Shot...

Coinbase's move into the international market may also serve as a warning to the US government, particularly the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to provide more clarity and answers to unresolved questions regarding crypto regulations. 

If they continue to fail in their duties, they risk pushing companies like Coinbase out of the US market, which could have a significant economic impact, leading investors to seek out unregulated areas of the market.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was asked if Coinbase would relocate entirely if regulators continued to fail to provide clarity, he said "anything is on the table".

More info soon...

Unfortunately, Coinbase has not revealed which countries will have access to the new exchange, but you can sign up on their platform to see if you're eligible.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News

As Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year, an organization called Ukraine DAO instantly surfaced as a charity ready to help those wanting to donate to Ukraine using crypto, promising 100% of donations would go to the cause.

UkraineDAO started off doing what they promised to do…

The organization’s first move was the auction of an NFT of the Ukrainian flag. Many in the crypto community shared this on social media, along with some high profile exposure from people like Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and Nadia Tolokonnikova of Russian Anti-Putin band Pussy Riot.

The NFT raised a total of $6.8 million worth of ETH at the time - and on-chain records show this being transferred to non-profit Ukrainian Military Support organization ‘Come Back Alive’ which helps supply equipment and training for Ukrainian soldiers.

Their verifiable donations include:

- 1550.5 ETH to Come Back Alive.

- 387.63 ETH to Ukraine Government.

- 190.49 ETH to OutRight Action International

- 4.43 ETH to Psychology for Human Rights

This totals approximately 2130 ETH verifiably donated. But the wallet data shows a total of 2468 ETH received.

So there’s a remaining 338 ETH with a current value approximately $640,300. Some of this sits unspent, some is accounted for, and some is accounted for but the way it was used is where conflict begins to arise.

Things got real nasty, real fast...

The first issue came to light when Nadia Tolokonnikova of Russian Anti-Putin band Pussy Riot, who initially endorsed the project, quit after learning that the promise of “100% of funds” going to help those effected by the war untrue and project leader Alona Shevchenko had been taking a $5,000/month salary.

Alona responded showing how previously Nadia had given interviews where she was asked about when she ‘started the charity, Nadia told the interviewer the she "along with a number of friends’ felt they had to do something when they learned the invasion had begun.  Alona seems to think Nadia was positioning herself in interviews to be seen as the main person behind it.

[This portion of the article has been updated] There are 5 leaders who all need to sign off anytime a transaction is made from the official wallet (multi-sig). We initially reported that Nadia was not one of those five people, therefore it appeared she was not among the original founders.

That was incorrect -  she no longer is one of the five required signatures, which is why we did not see her there when we looked. But at the beginning, she was.

John Caldwell was another one of the five, he currently runs another charitable DAO he co-founded with Nadia called Unicorn DAO. John provided evidence of earlier transactions showing Nadia's signature on them, and explained that once UkraineDAO distributed the majority of the funds, both he and Nadia moved on, explaining "on that list of transactions, on #44 Pussyriot.eth was removed, then 45 I removed myself" trusting that the remaining funds would continue to be distributed appropriately.

It's the management of those remaining funds that have some people concerned...

You can still see the promise made on their official Twitter account that “100% proceeds go to support Ukrainians suffering for the war” - no room for confusion there .

While Alona is from Ukraine, she has been living in the UK for years before the war even started. When taking a look at her LinkedIn employment history, we see that she’s been employed in London-based companies since 2017 - clearly she does not qualify as one of the “Ukrainians suffering for the war” yet she took $5000 per month from the donated funds for things like rent and personal expenses.

Ukraine DAO also repeatedly stated they were “supported by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine” making them “the first DAO to have been endorsed at the state level”. That claim would later be called ‘weird’ when after catching the attention of Ukrainian news outlet Kiev Post, who asked the Ukrainian government about these claims, they were told “The Ministry of Digital Transformation has not endorsed Ukraine DAO” .

However, I should mention that the Ukrainian government was not saying ‘we have no idea who you’re talking about’ - because there is some kind of relationship between the two organizations.

A profile on Alona Shevchenko which highlights her co-founding Ukraine DAO appears on an official Ukrainian government website. But when asked, Oleksandr Bornyakov, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of the program downplayed its importance only as 1 of nearly 300 pages for volunteers for a program to educate the public on crypto.

Ukrainian News Outlets Claimed "around $700k" - We've Located Approximately $400K Of It...

At today's ETH value it's somewhere closer to $640,300 ‘unaccounted’ for funds, some of which more accurately should be called ‘unexplained’ funds. Because we know where some of that is, we just don’t know why it’s there.

There’s what was sent to individuals - Alona’s $5000 monthly payments to herself is somewhere around $70,000 total now. There was another $34,013 sent to another co-founder of the charity, Matthew Bundy; we can’t imagine why unless donors are now paying his rent too.

Then we don’t know who this was intended for, but another transaction for approximately $155,000 was sent to a wallet controlled by Sam Bankman-Fried’s former exchange FTX shortly before everyone lost access to their funds, as far as we can tell it was still there when that happened.

Lastly, $156,461 still sits in the official wallet of the charity.

The situation is much better thann $700,000 missing, but there's still a total around $200,000 gone from the charity's wallet but not listed as being spent anywhere - which is still too much to go unanswered for.

So, Now What?

Thankfully this isn’t a situation where donations are still flowing into the charity, so even if the worst outcome is true and a large amount of funds were misused, that number isn’t growing, at least from Ukraine DAO.

However, the same group appears to be on to the next cause - launching Iran DAO whose Twitter profile states their goal of “providing resources for Iran’s women-led revolution.”

It began with a Tweet from UkraineDAO stating they are “working to set up IranianDAO.”

In Closing…

It’s important to note that we could only label some Ukrainian funds ‘unaccounted’ for - which is very different than labeling them ‘stolen’. However, I’d like every dollar from their previous charity to be accounted for before even considering supporting a new one.

Or should the funds that ended up in Alona’s hands for personal expenses be considered ‘stolen’? This is a grey area legally. If 100% of the funds were to go to ‘Ukrainians suffering from the war’, she is Ukrainian, and while she only experiences the war via online news and TV from her home in England, perhaps she found the images emotionally distressful, technically making her a ‘Ukrainian suffering from the war’.

Unfortunately I’m struggling to come up with a scenario that ends with these payments to herself turning out to be completely ethical. 

I’m confident that no one donated thinking any of their money was going to a Ukrainian, who hasn't lived in Ukraine for years, is one of the people trusted with access to the donated funds, finding a way to put some in her own pocket - technically legal or not. 

While the Ukrainian government’s resources are focused elsewhere, there is a group of citizens along with journalists from the Kiev Post who continue to demand full accounting of every donated dollar, as well as question the legality of some of the DAO’s controversial decisions.

They vow that when the war is over they will be pressuring the government to review any potential exploitation by those using their crisis for personal profit. 

The story may be far from over, but this is where things stand now.

UkraineDAO was contacted (via Twitter DM)  and invited to share any additional information on the topics mentioned here. If they choose to, we will include it with our reporting.

-----------
Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

"The situation has stabilized, and the dumpster fire is out, announced FTX attorney Andy Dietderich during a hearing at a Delaware bankruptcy court.

According to our source (who has been 100% accurate with his information since we first spoke with them back in December of last year) FTX is in such a better position than anyone thought possible, re-starting the exchange is now on the table. 

"The overwhelming majority of people currently involved with FTX want to see it up and running again" my insider said last night on Telegram, and then elaborated on what a perfect outcome would be for them "This could end up simply being a story of a company with a bad CEO, a problem that was fixed, but still has a happy ending where no business is forced to shut down, all the employees don't lose their jobs, and investors and customers end up with all the money they're supposed to have."

At this point I was a bit stunned... how did this whole situation go from sounding like one of the biggest disasters in the history of business, to something that could actually end with a healthy company, and everyone getting what is owed to them?

Here's how it could happen:

In mid-November when FTX filed for bankruptcy they owed $3.1 billion to its 50 largest creditors and at least $5 billion more to its nine million customers and smaller creditors.

At that time the company was able to find $3.3bn of assets... so, about $5 billion short. Pretty bad. 

I think most people assumed there wouldn't be a dramatic change in those numbers, but those people would be wrong. Since then, Sam was booted out of the CEO position and a new team came in to clean up and go over everything. 

For much of FTX's business there was no traditional record keeping, and it was their job to review emails, notes, chat logs, anything that contained business details, and create the proper accounting to go with them.

They found more than anyone thought possible...

Frankly, after we discovered the new team billing the bankrupt company for over $30 million for a single month of work, I was wondering if they were really doing enough to justify their price tag. Now it's a bit less shocking to see them charge millions if they’re discovering billions in FTX's assets. 

Total funds available to FTX have more than doubled since they took over. In the 5 months they've been there they we're able to locate $800M in cash, along with $600M in “settlements and investments receivable”.

But the biggest surprise: FTX's huge crypto holdings, which then increased in value...

FTX held way more than most people were expecting - $3.3 billion in crypto is currently sitting in FTX controlled wallets.

...and that gained over $1 billion in value as it sits there.

With FTX in very different circumstances than before, new options seem possible...

With the much improved circumstances FTX finds the business in,  they have narrowed it down to two options.

Option 1: Pay back what they can, then close. Use the funds to pay off debts, then shut down FTX for good.  Keep in mind, they're still about $1 billion short, with around $7 billion of the approximately $8 billion owed - people would get most, but not all of what they are owed.

Option 2: Re-open FTX. Conduct marketing research to find out if people would return to trade on FTX, now that Sam was out of the picture.  If this shows it could be successful, and the largest debt holders are willing to wait, they could re-launch the exchange using some of the funds they currently have, and pay some of their debts with what is left.  Then over time the remaining money owed would be paid out of future profits from the business.

Much of it will come down to how the public views the FTX brand, with Sam now removed...

This was a unique situation where even though you could argue that if Sam was even capable of doing what he is accused of, would have required others at FTX to have failed at their job, or been corrupt themselves - it seems like somehow 100% of the blame is directed at Sam, both from the public and law enforcement. 

Sam Bankman-Fried Leaves an NY Court after a second batch of charges against him were added.

Again, I know that's not true, but I have to remind myself that others have even officially pled guilty to felony crimes over this.  FTX co-founder Gary Wang, and ex-Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison both plead guilty to federal fraud charges.

But then they did the opposite of Sam and avoided the spotlight, successfully too - we've heard nothing from or about them since late last year. 

Next time we hear those names it will probably be as they're being used as witnesses against Sam.

In conclusion…

Remember - if they re-open the exchange they would also return user funds by putting those funds back onto the exchange, a powerful trick to get people to log back in.

Between that and my opinion that most people will see Sam's removal as the problems being 'fixed' - I think a successful future is absolutely possible for FTX. 

 

Ethereum's Shapella upgrade went live earlier in the week, along with this came a large amount of previously locked tokens becoming available for trading - all these coins potentially hitting the open market had some predicting a sell-off. 

Those Sell-Off Predictions Appear to Have Been Wrong...

Concerns about a potential sell-off from those who locked up their ETH coins for staking now gaining access to their ETH again, making them tradable.

These locked coins total 15% of the total ETH supply - if just half wanted to sell, it wouldn't have been pretty.

Instead, the Opposite - Ethereum is up 9.58%...

The upgrade has been followed by two days of price gains for ETH - up nearly 10% since the upgrade went live.

Many who said a full blown 'sell-off' was unlikely were still ready to see at least a small dip in Ethereum's price, and thinking a small dip would happen does make sense based on standard supply and demand expectations - instead, Ethereum's been on the rise since the upgrade happened 2 days ago.

The reason even we were predicting a small price decrease was that many people would be taking a loss - these people purchased in the Aug 2021 - April 2022 timeframe when sales were highest and so was ETH's $3000+ price.  We assumed these people would continue holding on to their tokens for now, they see it slowly coming back up to those prices and would rather avoid taking a loss. 

A Maturing Market?

In previous years it feels like just the fear of a potential sell off would then actually trigger that sell off, this feels like the market is maturing. As more people get familiar with cryptocurrency and its uses, they'll become more comfortable holding onto their tokens, even during periods of potential volatility.

Overall, another strong week for crypto!

---
Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News 

Initially the discovery was credited to a blog post called earlier this week on Andy Baio’s Waxy.org Blog. The blogger says he accidently spotted the hidden file while fixing his printer. Then to make sure it was something inserted into every Mac OS copy, he confirmed his findings by having “over a dozen Mac-using friends.” also see if it was on their computer... it was!

This was the first time it was mentioned somewhere that good number of people would read it.

Turns out, this wasn't the first time it was discovered...

It turns out - he wasn't the first to find it. 

Another Mac user did back in April 2021, and posted it on the Apple support forums  however, his post focuses on a hidden image he found burried in the Mac OS code, but at the end mentions "Weirdly there is also a PDF with the original Bitcoin white paper from Satoshi Nakamoto in the VirtualScanner.app Package Content."

But wait... an even earlier post was discovered on Twitter!

A Tweet mentioning it dates back to November 2020, so unless an even earlier dated post is discovered, we're considering Josh D on Twitter the official 'discoverer' of the hidden Mac OS Satoshi Whitepaper. 

The earliest mention of it we've been able to find.

It's a new month, and the end of 2023's first quarter is in sight.

As someone who watches Bitcoin on an hourly/minute-by-minute basis, it's also important to occasionally take a look at the big picture as well. Taking a step back will often reveal things you didn't notice before. Remember, you can also miss things by looking too closely.

On that note, as I zoomed out from the hourly charts to look at the market from the beginning of the year, I could see just how strong of a start Bitcoin is having in 2023 — things look even better than I was expecting.

3 Positive Months...

This will be Bitcoin's best quarter in 2 years if it maintains its growth through April!

Bitcoin has grown every month of 2023 so far.  Exactly 3 months ago, BTC was trading at $16,585 - so we're up approximately $12,000... in just 90 days!

Have We Been Here Before?

Some analysts are saying they've seen these charts before - in the run-up to 2020's bull run that brought Bitcoin's price to over $60,000+.

Take a look at this tweet from analytics platform Barcharts: 

The banking crisis, inflation, and investors looking for alternative stores of value is considered the main driving factor behind the recent price increase - there's no end to these issues in sight, and many think things could potentially get worse before the situation improves. 

Why The Next Bull Run Will Be BIGGER Than the Last...

I'm not someone who makes predictions, I'll share interesting ones made by others if there's data to explain how they arrived at their opinion - but don't ask me when Bitcoin's next big bull run will be. 

But when does happen - it's going to break price records.

That's not a prediction - first off, it's tradition - as every crypto-crash has been followed by setting a new high.

However, this time something is very different than before, and there's really only one way this plays out - buyers will be in a bidding war over an INSANELY low supply of Bitcoin being sold.

The supply of Bitcoin being held off-market is at an all-time high...

This has been the case since early February, and we covered this then. Basically, to qualify as a coin that's being held 'off market' it must have have remained in a single wallet, untouched, for 2+ years or more.

We're seeing that Bitcoin believers took advantage of the low prices and spent the bear market accumulating. Now the owners of these Bitcoins are HODLing, and won't be selling anytime soon.

I know countless people in this group, it includes most of the people reading this, and the person writing it as well. I know that each person has a number in mind as their target selling price, and while it varies for everyone, I'm not hearing anyone say they've been holding for years just to sell for $30k, or $40k.  I occasionally hear $50k, I occasionally even hear $1 Million, but the majority of people seem to be eyeing somewhere around $60k-$100k.

So as the next bull run brings waves of amateur investors wanting a piece of the action, (it always does) they're going to discover very few people selling to them for anything under $50k, as this record number of people continue holding back a significant portion of the supply.

Once it begins, expect prices to rise at a speed we've never seen before...

This low supply of Bitcoin being sold is something most people seem unaware of, or at least not paying attention to yet. But I believe this will be the defining factor of the next bull run, the thing people will mention when talking about it years later.

One final thing to consider - The low supply will cause the price to rise fast, but the faster it rises the more news it makes, and the more people it attracts looking to buy as quickly as possible.

Things could get real interesting, real quick. You don't need to know exactly when it will come to make sure you're positioned to take advantage of things once it begins - position yourself wisely.

[ Trading Tip: If you don't want to risk buying now because you are concerned it could go lower before it goes higher, remember, you can place bids to catch it on the way up.  For example, Bitcoin is at $28,430 at the time of publishing, so setting buys at around $32,000 would let you get on the rocket ship before it really takes off. ]

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Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

Do Kwon, the founder of the now-defunct Terra USD (UST) and Luna (LUNA) cryptocurrencies, could face up to five years in a Montenegrin prison before being extradited to South Korea or the United States.

Kwon is currently under quarantine for COVID-19 and will soon be sharing a cell with other inmates in a Montenegrin prison, according to a report by a local lawyer.

Montenegro Prisons a 'Hell On Earth'...

However, the prisons in Montenegro are notoriously overcrowded, and inmates are often subjected to aggressive treatment by prison staff.

Amnesty International has raised concerns about the conditions and rights of detainees in Montenegrin prisons, including the lack of independent investigations into ill-treatment.

The cell Kwon will be occupying is only 8 square meters and is usually filled with between 10 and 11 people, leaving no room for a bed.

Inmates are only allowed a 30-minute walk in the prison yard each day and can only purchase limited items like cigarettes and coffee.

Montenegro now the first of 3 nations that will need to take turns locking up Kwon...

Kwon's initial arrest in Montenegro was due to presenting false documents, is a crime that carries a penalty of up to five years.

While both South Korea and the United States have requested Kwon's extradition, Montenegro has yet to make a decision.

If Montenegro decides to pursue it, this could be the first of three nations aiming for him to serve time in their prisons.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News 

Officials in Montenegro have arrested Luna founder Do Kwan. 

First detained when officials at the Podgorica airport noticed his false documents, the man in custody spent hours denying he was the South Korean fugitive, until South Korean officials provided fingerprint records that were used to confirm his identity. 

"The former 'cryptocurrency king' who is behind losses of more than 40 billion dollars, was detained at the Podgorica airport with falsified documents, and the same is claimed by South Korea, the USA and Singapore. We are waiting for official confirmation of identity" Tweeted Montenegro's Minister of Interior.

Then minutes before this story was published, Interpol confirmed to us that a positive ID has been made - the person in custody IS Do Kwon.

Along with him another man stating he was his 'assistant' going by the name 'Han' was also arrested, there is no word on the actual identity of this person. 

What's Next for the Luna Founder?

While charged with crimes in both the US and South Korea, US prosecutors have said that they will seek Kwon’s extradition to the United States where he is charged with 8 federal violations including securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud, conspiracy, and market manipulation.

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Author: Adam Lee 
Asia News Desk / Breaking Crypto News

The surge in Bitcoin's value over the last week is credited to a couple factors, the main driver seems to be the growing mistrust of traditional banks. As reports of bank failures and bailouts continue to make headlines, investors are turning to alternative forms of investment to safeguard their wealth. Bitcoin's decentralized nature has made it an attractive option for those looking to spread risk across different investment types.

The Federal Reserve's announcement of an emergency loan program to backstop depositors as three regional U.S. banks collapsed only added to Bitcoin's momentum.

The gains stopped today - for what may end up just a 'short pause'...

That momentum hit bump today as the Federal Reserve's decision to raise its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, as well as its indication that it is unlikely to cut its key interest rate this year, led to a pullback.

Despite the setback, in the big picture Bitcoin remains largely unaffected having surged from $22,000 to $28,000 over the past week, and today's losses have it settling around $27,000 (at the time of publishing) - the overwhelming majority of its recent gains remain intact.

The reasons that sparked the last bull run remain present, and may even intensify - unless there's some unexpected bad news, things could turn bullish again at any moment.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News

The battle for the future of money is heating up in the United States, with some states proposing to ban the "digital dollar" before it even exists, while others quietly pass laws to make it a reality. It's a conflict that has raised concerns about privacy, surveillance, and control.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is leading the charge against the digital dollar, announcing a proposed bill to ban it in his state. According to a statement from the governor's office, the legislation is intended to "protect Floridians from the Biden administration's use of financial sector weapons through a central bank digital currency (CBDC)."

DeSantis's bill seeks to prohibit the use of the digital dollar or CBDC as money in Florida and to create "protections" against digital currencies issued by central banks belonging to nations sanctioned by the United States. He hopes that other states will follow suit and establish similar prohibitions to "fight this concept throughout the country."

In the view of the Republican governor, a digital currency "has to do with surveillance and control" of citizens, and it "will stifle innovation." adding that "Florida will not side with the economic central planners. "We will not adopt policies that threaten economic freedom and personal security."

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is also pushing for a ban on the digital dollar, citing concerns about privacy implications. He argues that a digital dollar "could be used as a financial surveillance tool by the federal government."

As Other States Quietly Take Steps to Move the Digital Dollar Forward...

President Biden issued an executive order last year that instructs several government offices to research creating a central bank digital currency, since then things have appeared to be moving forward with no official updates from the federal government.

The silence seems to be deliberate when it comes to the most recent steps targeting the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), which are laws that every state has, and every state controls. 

Intended to make sure states can easily conduct business with each other, the digital dollar may be the first time there's been major disagreements between some states and could result in the 'Uniform' codes ending up far from uniform nation-wide. 

Just this week South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem vetoed House Bill 1193 which would have opened the doors for the digital dollar in her state by amending their UCC to allow for fully electronic payments backed only by electronic records "this is extremely troubling. If Congress were to someday create an official electronic currency that is programmable, it would pose significant threats to Americans’ liberty and privacy rights. Why, then, would so many lawmakers want to make it easier for such a currency to be used in their states?"

Both republicans and democrats have made more public statements implying they are against the digital dollar, yet both parties have been found slipping the verbiage needed to make it happen into bills in their states, now there are similar bills headed to vote soon in 20 more states including in Arkansas, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and California.

One Major Roadblock Could Still Stop the Digital Dollar from Happening...

Not because they share any of the same concerns citizens have voiced - but nonetheless, they hate the idea and they may have enough power over politicians to get their way - the banks.

Banks see the Digital Dollar as a way for the government to become their biggest competitor.  Imagine - your job pays you in digital dollars, they're stored in an app on your phone, and virtually every place you would spend money accepts it, what do you need a bank for? 

While banks would still have a role when it comes to investing, lending, and securing larger business and personal accounts, the average person could go months, or even years without needing to interact with a bank, and have no need for a personal account. 

A battle with significant consequences...

Both for the future of our economy and the role of the government in our financial lives. Will we become a cashless society dominated by a digital dollar, or will we maintain the status quo? 

Until recently, this all felt like something so far in the future it was hard to really concern yourself with - but as we begin seeing real laws designed to move plans for the digital dollar forward proposed in multiple states, the potential implications are beginning to feel very real.

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Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News