Category: Bitcoin

The agency tracked down the payment through the Bitcoin public ledger.

By I. Bonifacic

The US Justice Department has recovered part of the ransom Colonial Pipeline paid last month to regain access to its computer systems after it was locked out of them by “apolitical” ransomware gang Darkside. The agency says it seized 63.7 Bitcoins, worth nearly $2.3 million when it carried out the action, by tracing the cryptocurrency through the public Bitcoin ledger. The amount represents more than half of the approximately 75 Bitcoins Colonial Pipeline paid out to the group (the value of the cryptocurrency has fallen since May).

The Justice Department says it obtained the private key to the wallet the hackers used to store the currency. To recover the money, the federal government took legal action against an exchange or custodial wallet that has servers in Northern California.    

Continue reading… “DOJ recovers 63.7 Bitcoins paid out in Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack”

In the past two months, the number of crypto projects with a $1 billion market cap doubled as increased adoption pushes token valuations higher.

In the last two months, the number of cryptocurrencies with a $1 billion market caphas doubled since the last time Cointelegraph reported on the milestone. As things currently stand, there are 100 projects that have reached a $1 billion market capitalization.

Unicorns are typically privately held startup companies valued at more than $1 billion, but traditional finance is increasingly applying the term to high-value cryptocurrencies that institutions are only now gaining exposure to. 

The entrance of institutional investors into the cryptocurrency sector over the course of 2021 has been one of the driving forces of growth for the ecosystem as a whole as multi-billion dollar companies like Tesla, Square and MicroStrategy have converted a portion of their cash reserves into Bitcoin (BTC) and other top altcoins. 

Continue reading… “New milestone reached as 100 cryptocurrencies reach a $1B market cap”

KEY POINTS

• Visa said on Monday it will allow the use of the cryptocurrency USD Coin to settle transactions on its payment network.
• It was the latest sign of growing acceptance of digital currencies by the mainstream financial industry.

Visa said on Monday it will allow the use of the cryptocurrency USD Coin to settle transactions on its payment network, the latest sign of growing acceptance of digital currencies by the mainstream financial industry.

Continue reading… “Visa moves to allow payment settlements using cryptocurrency”

Ross Andersen

TORONTO — As the price of bitcoin skyrocketed over the last year, so has the amount of energy used to mine the cryptocurrency, prompting concerns about its environmental impact.

Despite the currency’s value having seen a recent decline, the energy used to harvest it has soared to a point where its annual carbon footprint is equivalent to or more than several countries including Argentina and Norway, according to an analysis published by Cambridge University.

Mining the cryptocurrency requires a deep energy-intensive process that uses extensive electrical infrastructure and complicated math algorithms in order to verify transactions. Upon solving any given calculation the miner is subsequently rewarded with a bitcoin.

“Rising bitcoin prices make mining more attractive, as the potential reward increases in value. As a result, new mining hardware will get added to the network and lead to increasing electricity consumption overall,” according to the report.

Although it’s unclear how much energy bitcoin actually uses, the study says that it consumes about 129.09 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year. The more bitcoin that is mined, the more energy that is consumed.

Continue reading… “Bitcoin uses more electricity than Argentina, Norway, study finds”

By Yoni Heisler

• With the new BitPay app, users can now use Apple Pay to make payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
• BitPay is planning to include support for Google Pay and Samsung Pay in the near future.

Though Apple has historically had something of a love-hate relationship with Bitcoin, the company seems to be slowly but surely coming to the conclusion that the cryptocurrency isn’t something it can realistically avoid or ignore.

As a recent example, users can now use Apple Pay to make payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to a recent press release from BitPay.

BitPay itself is a digital wallet that can be used in conjunction with Apple Pay and the Apple Wallet app.

“We have thousands of BitPay Wallet app customers using the BitPay Card who are always looking for new places and ways to spend their crypto,” BitPay CEO Stephen Pair said. “Adding Apple Pay and soon Google and Samsung Pay makes it easy and convenient to use the BitPay Card in more places from day-to-day items to luxury purchases.”

Continue reading… “Apple Pay now supports Bitcoin payments for the first time”

By ANDREY SHEVCHENKO 

Tesla is now able to hold Bitcoin in reserves, thus accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars without necessarily converting it.

Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors is following in the footsteps of MicroStrategy and other companies by allocating part of its balance sheet to Bitcoin (BTC).

In Monday’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company announced it had purchased an aggregate of $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, to be held as an investment and store of value for its excess cash. It is currently unknown what is the average purchase price and number of BTC the company acquired. Tesla’s investment policy has been updated at an unspecified point in January 2021, which suggests that Tesla may be holding between 35,900 and about 45,500 BTC, corresponding to average prices of $42,000 and $33,000, respectively. Given Bitcoin’s price movement in the last few weeks, the 45,500 BTC estimate is likely closer to the true amount.

As part of the policy, Tesla expects to begin offering clients the ability to purchase its products in Bitcoin, the filing states. Unlike many other similar initiatives, the Bitcoin it receives will not necessarily be liquidated as soon as possible, thus possibly adding to its reserves.

Continue reading… “Tesla expects to begin accepting Bitcoin for payment”