Here’s what happened this week in Bitcoin in 99 seconds.
Crypto payments processor, Moon, announced a new Chrome browser extension which will allow Amazon purchases via Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Coinbase account holders will also be able to pay via Bitcoin’s base layer, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
A survey of South Koreans revealed that 7.4% of the country’s population owns some form of crypto. South Koreans own an average of over $6,000 worth of crypto, which is a 64% annual increase. People in their 50s hold the largest crypto balances.
South Korea’s Samsung conglomerate reported they have invested $2.9 million into French hardware wallet manufacturer, Ledger. This funding brings Ledger’s total valuation to $290 million. As we covered in previous reports, Samsung’s new S10 mobile includes support for crypto wallets.
More than 400,000 confirmed Bitcoin transactions were recorded this week, which is the highest level since the transaction volume spikes seen briefly in December of 2017. However, the average transaction fee is about 6 times lower than what it was then, indicating that Bitcoin’s transaction processing capacity has greatly improved.
And finally, New York’s Attorney General announced a court order against iFinex, owners of the Bitfinex crypto exchange and Tether stablecoin. The state’s attorney alleges that iFinex secretly used $850 million reserved for backing the Tether stablecoin to disguise customer and corporate losses on the Bitfinex exchange. Bitfinex denied the allegations, including the loss of any funds in a statement.
That’s what happened this week in Bitcoin. See you next week.
