#bitcoin

Ever since 2013, during the last week of summer (the 35th week of the year), BTC has ended in the green 8 out of 10 times. However, September is historically known for its bearish tendencies. How will Bitcoin mark the end of this summer?

Investment fund Pantera Capital has forecasted a boost in Bitcoin's price following the forthcoming halving in April 2024, a pattern observed in the past. With historical trends as a basis, they anticipate Bitcoin will hit $35,000 before the halving and surge to $148,000 by 2025. Decisive events, like a positive court verdict for XRP and the greenlight for BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, are expected to shape these potential outcomes.

European crypto-related exchange-traded products (ETPs) experienced a boost in net inflows during June and July, breaking a nearly three-month trend of global ETP outflows. Europe-based ETPs saw inflows of €150 million in June and €60 million in July. The trend change might be attributed to BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF application. However, recent data indicates a downturn in August, possibly due to the SEC's delay in deciding.

The Central African Republic (CAR) is expanding its Sango blockchain initiative to include the tokenization of land and natural resources. Recently, the CAR National Assembly passed a law, receiving unanimous approval, that facilitates online business visa applications and simplifies the process for both locals and foreigners to establish businesses in sectors like real estate, agriculture, and forestry. This move follows CAR's earlier efforts in the crypto space, including the launch of Project Sango in May 2022 and its brief adoption of Bitcoin as a national currency.

After the market crash on August 18, analyst Andrew Kang adopted a bullish stance. He opened long positions on Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Arbitrum (ARB). However, this decision resulted in a significant loss. Due to his use of extremely high leverage, which reached up to 100x, Kang's positions became vulnerable and were liquidated not once, but as many as fourteen times. These successive liquidations caused Kang to lose approximately $432,000 in a single day. This incident highlights the risks associated with trading and employing high leverage, especially during periods of intense market volatility.

DappRadar's recent report reveals a staggering 98% drop in Bitcoin Ordinals NFT trading volume since May, plummeting from $452 million to just $3 million. Transaction numbers also fell by approximately 97% to 20,571 during this period. While DappRadar acknowledges the decline, they emphasize the need for more time to discern if this is a short-term hiccup or a deeper issue with Bitcoin-based NFTs.

JPMorgan reports that Bitcoin miners are diversifying their operations in anticipation of the upcoming halving event, which will slash their rewards. Miners are now venturing into the booming artificial intelligence (AI) market, offering high-performance computing services. This shift is partly funded by selling newly minted or existing bitcoins. Companies like Applied Digital and Iris Energy are already making strides in AI cloud services. Additionally, post Ethereum's shift from proof-of-work, former Ethereum miners are leveraging GPUs for AI, finding it potentially more profitable than traditional mining.

The FBI has sounded the alarm bells: Lazarus Group and APT38, North Korean hacker collectives, could potentially sell off stolen cryptocurrency amassing $40 million, potentially affecting Bitcoin's valuation. Through their investigative work, the agency has identified nearly 1580 BTC across six distinct Bitcoin addresses. The stolen assets are reportedly from Alphapo, CoinsPaid, and Atomic Wallet. In aiding market monitoring, the FBI has disclosed the associated wallet addresses, urging vigilance on any transactions involving them.

The number 8, when tilted, represents infinity, and 21 signifies the maximum number of Bitcoins (21 million). Thus, August 21st is often referred to as Bitcoin Infinity Day. This concept was conceived by Knut Svanholm, a philosopher, educator, and author of the books “Bitcoin: Sovereignty through Mathematics” and “Bitcoin: Everything Divided by 21 Million.”

Coingecko has just unveiled a report that details the countries where mining 1 BTC could be either a lucrative venture or a costly mistake. For example, mining a Bitcoin in Lebanon would cost only $266 in electricity, while the same task in Italy would run a shocking $206,000, or 783 times more. Out of the top 10 nations with the highest electricity costs, 9 are European.