Image Of The Weekend, 24-25 of November: Hacked, Yahoo.Finance, Mashable and Others
We're presenting "image of the weekend". Bitnewstoday.com has chosen the most important news about the digital economy and virtual currencies. Only the most valuable stories from only the trusted sources. Each and every event from this list will change the world of the digital economy either way. The most important stories of this weekend in the most indicative quotes are below!
1. TAXES FIRST (The Daily Hodl)
Businesses in Ohio can now pay their taxes in Bitcoin
Ohio is now the first state in the US where businesses can make tax payments in cryptocurrency. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Ohio has launched an initiative called OhioCrypto.com that allows businesses to spend crypto on taxes. Monday will mark the first day when Ohio businesses can sign up and start making crypto payments through BitPay.
The announcement comes at a time when the world’s largest cryptocurrency is enduring a sustained bear market with Bitcoin falling as low as $3,622 from a high of $5,604 within the past seven days, according to data on WorldCoinIndex. While proponents say that Bitcoin will make a comeback, critics claim that the blockchain-based payment network has failed to catch on with merchants and major retailers. By allowing business owners to pay taxes in crypto, Ohio legislators are making a major push to support Bitcoin and other altcoins as viable forms of money.
2. BITCOIN’S DEATH SPIRAL (Hacked)
Selloff intensifies
Bitcoin, the world’s largest digital currency, hit a new 14-month low below $3,500. Bitcoin sunk below $4,000 for the first time in the same period, hitting $3,819 on the BTC/USDT market.
The market fluctuation did also affect Tether however, so the true U.S dollar figure might be slightly higher. Yet even the BitMEX BTC/USD price fell to a low of $3,686. BTC is down 32% for the week, and 41% over the last two and half weeks, matching the scale of the losses experienced by the altcoin market.
3. GONE IN 7 DAYS (Yahoo.Finance)
$63 billion deleted from crypto in 7 days
In the past seven days, the crypto market has experienced a drop of more than $63 billion, as major cryptocurrencies recorded double-digit drops. Bitcoin (BTC), the most dominant cryptocurrency in the market, fell by 12 percent from $4,300 to $3,800, achieving a new yearly low. At its lowest daily point, on fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken, the price of BTC fell to $3,456.
With Ethereum at $98 and Bitcoin at $3,456, technical indicators show oversold conditions for both major digital assets. Possibly due to oversold conditions, BTC has recovered relatively quickly from the $3,400 mark to $3,700 within hours. At $3,456, BTC is down 82.2 percent from its all-time high at $19,500. When the price of BTC initially declined to $4,000, many investors suggested the possibility of a further drop below the $4,000 mark given that at $4,000, BTC was only down 79 percent from its all-time high.
4. COMMUNITY BACKING (South China Morning Post)
Hong Kong bourse operator says blockchain inadequate, industry disagrees
Industry insiders have questioned a report highlighting the challenges of using blockchain for securities clearance and settlement, published by bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing last week.
According to them, the report — titled “Financial Technology Application and Related Regulatory Framework” — produced by the office of HKEX’s chief economist as well as its innovation lab, cites concerns based on the bitcoin blockchain network, which operates over the open internet and is well-recognised as ill suited for financial market transactions. Some industry players even said the report was comparing apples and oranges.
5. THE FUTURE CLUB (The Daily Hodl)
“Bitcoin is a new form of money — crypto and blockchain have no ‘let’s be evil’ button,” says infamous ex-national security agency specialist
In a new interview, National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden breaks down the benefits of Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Through loose transcripts and text exchanges with his lawyer Ben Wizner, which were published by McSweeney’s, Snowden explains Bitcoin’s underlying technology and says the core component is trust.
“Imagine an old database where any entry can be changed just by typing over it and clicking save. Now imagine that entry holds your bank balance. If somebody can just arbitrarily change your balance to zero, that kind of sucks, right? Unless you’ve got student loans.In its oldest and best-known conception, we’re talking about Bitcoin, a new form of money. But in the last few months, we’ve seen efforts to put together all kind of records in these histories. Anything that needs to be memorialized and immutable. Health-care records, for example, but also deeds and contracts,” said NSA whistleblower