Iranian authorities seized numerous crypto mining equipment over the past two years, citing stress on energy grids during winter. Now, a court ordered the release of crypto-mining equipment that was previously seized as a measure to conserve energy. Since 2021, Iran’s Organization for Collection and Sale of State-Owned Property (OCSSOP) has seized mining equipment — both authorized and unauthorized — due to looming power shortage concerns. However, the authorities had a change of heart amid winter as they ordered the release of the seizure. As explained by Abdolmajid Eshtehadi, the head of Iran's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance: “Currently …

During a year plagued by crises such as the collapse of FTX and Celsius, data shows that crypto exchange Binance has emerged as the clear “winner” of 2022 according to Arcane Research. A Jan. 3 report from Arcane highlighted that Binance saw its market dominance soar throughout 2022. As of Dec. 28 last year it had captured 92% of the Bitcoin (BTC) spot market and 61% of the BTC derivatives market by volume: “There are no other evident ‘winners’ of 2022 other than Binance when it comes to the crypto market structure and market dominance. No matter how you look …

The Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) is trading at nearly a 60% discount to the underlying value of its assets, with shares falling 93% from its Jun. 2019 all-time high (ATH). There are many reasons behind the ongoing decline, but in recent weeks fears have grown that fallout from parent company Digital Currency Group’s debt of approximately $1.675 billion to troubled crypto lender Genesis could impact Grayscale assets. YCharts data shows a 59.39% discount at the time of writing, a level the trust has traded at since at least Dec. 28. Crypto Twitter influencer “db” tweeted an image on Jan. 4 …

Bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network agreed to let Bitcoin (BTC) miner Core Scientific shut off more than 37,000 mining rigs it had been hosting for Celsius during the miner’s bankruptcy proceedings. Core Scientific filed a revised proposed order on Jan. 3 which incorporated “revisions acceptable to Celsius” noting “all Celsius rigs will be powered down effective January 3, 2023 and will not be restarted during the transition period.” Previously, Core Scientific accused Celsius of failing to pay its power bills on Oct. 19 citing the non-payment as a major factor leading to its liquidity issues after the Bitcoin miner filed …

Continuing with 2022’s trend, there is a lack of positive excitement in the crypto market. While Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins have remained stagnant to start 2023, there are a few reasons why volatility could spike in January. Winklevoss Letter to DCG stirs up bankruptcy FUD On Jan. 2, Cameron Winklevoss, the co-founder of Gemini, penned an open letter to Digital Currency Group (DCG) founder, Barry Silbert demanding answers on the $900 million in locked customer funds. Gemini launched the “Earn” program in coordination with Barry Silbert and the $900 million in customer funds have been locked since Nov. 16 due …

As Bitcoin (BTC) had its 14th birthday, Bitcoiners from around the world are celebrating in various ways, with some opting to send BTC to the address containing the rewards for mining the Genesis block. On January 3, 2009, the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto mined the Genesis block, which led to the minting of the first 50 BTC. This instance paved the way for an entire industry to be developed, with millions of people working toward a similar vision for the future of money. This is why on this day, many showed their respect by posting various greetings to the …

Bitcoin (BTC) inched closer to $17,000 on Jan. 3 as the first Wall Street open of the year loomed. Consensus builds for fresh attack on $17,000 Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching highs of $16,766 on Bitstamp — its best performance since Dec. 27. Analysts and traders were keenly awaiting the start of Wall Street trading after European stocks posted gains the day prior and United States futures followed suit. As Cointelegraph reported, both equities and gold had looked considerably more appetizing than Bitcoin since the FTX meltdown in November. “If BTC is finally ready to …

Pharmacies in Ukraine are embracing digital payments amid the ongoing war, with a major local pharmacy chain enabling payments in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). ANC Pharmacy, one of the biggest pharmacy chains in Ukraine, has partnered with Binance Ukraine to debut cryptocurrency payments via contactless crypto payment service Binance Pay. Starting from Jan. 3, ANC Pharmacy enabled its customers to proceed with instant payments while purchasing pharmacy products online, the pharmacy chain officially announced on Tuesday. ANC Pharmacy operates more than 1,000 pharmacies across Ukraine, running its own online pharmacy service. According to an official announcement, Binance Pay payments will …

The Australian city of Coolangatta has got its first Bitcoin (BTC) ATM with integrated Lightning network capabilities. The new ATM has been installed at The Strand shopping center in Coolangatta and is now available for use by the public. A Bitcoin Lightning ATM works quite similarly to traditional Bitcoin ATMs but saves significant time because of the instant transaction capabilities of the layer-2 Lightning solution. It also allows for purchasing very small amounts of BTC, mostly in Satoshi (sats), the lowest denomination of Bitcoin, where one satoshi is equal to 0.00000001 BT. At the moment, cryptocurrency ATMs settle transactions on …

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy made headlines ahead of New Year's Eve as the sale of a portion of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings drew the attention of industry experts and critics. A regulatory filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Dec. 28 detailed the first time the firm sold some of its BTC since its high-profile adoption of the preeminent cryptocurrency as its primary treasury asset. MicroStrategy made waves in the industry in 2021 as it began amassing significant holdings of BTC, with founder Michael Saylor touting the asset as a superior store of value to fiat …

Bitcoin (BTC) volatility is declining on schedule but BTC price action could still “play catch up” with gold this year. The latest data and analysis shows that despite sideways moves in Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency is behaving as expected. BTC price volatility follows bear market pattern With traders frustrated by a lack of tangible moves on BTC/USD, volatility is under the microscope at the start of 2023. For analytics resource Ecoinometrics, however, there is nothing to worry about — Bitcoin is becoming more stable with time, and this is a feature, not a bug. In Twitter comments on Jan. 2, …

There is little agreement among Bitcoin’s commentators over the last few weeks, with crypto execs, research analysts and billionaire investors offering wildly different takes on what's in store for Bitcoin for the year ahead. One crypto exchange founder expects Bitcoin (BTC) to spike to $40,000 by the “summer” of 2023, while a Bitcoin billionaire has renewed his bullish $250,000 BTC price prediction for the year. Erik Voorhees — $40,000 by the “summer” Erik Voorhees, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift, was optimistic about a potential recovery of Bitcoin’s price during an interview with Bankless on Jan. 2, stating he …