Bitcoin News Summary – May 4, 2020
The Brave browser, known for its Basic Attention Token crypto rewards for viewing ads, announced integration with the Binance exchange. The latest desktop version of Brave features a widget that allows users to buy and trade crypto through Binance, as well as view and manage their crypto portfolio. The widget should launch on Brave’s mobile version later this year.
Major crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX has banned all Japanese users from trading. Existing Japanese residents will not be able to place new orders and new users are not able to sign up. The ban is a result of necessary compliance with new financial regulations passed in Japan.
American venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, known for its 300 million dollar fund which invested in promising crypto companies. Has announced a second such fund which has $515 million for investment into blockchain projects.
A city in China’s Sichuan region published a guidance as to how to seize the “strategic opportunity of the blockchain sector” through the use of the area’s overabundance of hydropower electricity. By employing the advantages of its hydropower resources, the city could become a key player in terms of Bitcoin mining.
In an unusual deviation from the norm, Bitcoin miners just produced an extra 10 blocks on Saturday. While 6 Bitcoin blocks are usually mined per hour, 4 of the extra blocks were found in less than a minute. This unusual occurrence was most likely a product of random chance.
Before we conclude, this week’s “Bitcoin quick question” is what is a Bitcoin whale?
The term Bitcoin whale refers to players that hold large amounts of Bitcoin under their control. Whales can have a major effect on the market if they decide to dump their coins, also known as a “bear whale”.
Whales are often considered the source behind market volatility and they are sometimes criticized for manipulating the price of a certain coin in order to, later on, sell it higher or buy it cheap.
Known Bitcoin whales include Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, The Winkelvoss twins, Tim Draper, Barry Silbert, the US government since it seizes large amounts of Bitcoin from illegal activity and several Bitcoin related investment firms such as Pantera Capital.
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That’s what’s happened this week in Bitcoin. See you next week.
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