Bitcoin (BTC) hit new lifetime highs of more than $51,200 on Feb. 17 as it tackled what trader Peter Brandt confirms is a “parabolic advance.” Bitcoin enters uncharted $50,000 zone Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView showed BTC/USD passing the $50,000 resistance level again on Wednesday, this time continuing into uncharted territory. Tuesday had seen Bitcoin hit $50,000 for the first time ever, that level nonetheless failing to hold for more than a matter of minutes. With its return, the largest cryptocurrency is in a "parabolic advance" — the fourth in its twelve-year history, analysts say. "Big picture $BTC Bitcoin …

Powers On... is a new monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now an Adjunct Professor at Florida International University School of Law, where he teaches a course on 'Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations.' Dear Readers: Here is my first opinion piece for Cointelegraph since my retirement a month ago from law firm practice (and prior to that, the SEC) after a 40 year career. It is an exciting opportunity for me, and hopefully an interesting …

In a short statement today, Bitfinex — the sister company to centralized stablecoin Tether — announced that it has repaid Tether an outstanding loan balance of $550 million. This action fully closes out a larger $750 million loan from a $900 million credit line first issued in 2018 — a credit line which has been at the center of a market manipulation lawsuit in New York and a broader lawsuit from the New York Attorney General, among other legal proceedings. “Bitfinex is happy to announce that in January it repaid the remaining balance of $550,000,000 of the outstanding revolving loan …

Retail investors in the U.S. will now be able to trade a SEC-qualified token offering for the first time. Following the launch of the Stacks 2.0 mainnet, OKCoin has announced that it has listed the Stacks token (STX.) Stacks, formerly known as Blockstack, shares a native connection with the Bitcoin network. As reported by Cointelegraph, the layer-one blockchain has an ambitious vision to bring smart contracts and decentralized finance to BTC — enabling developers to build cutting-edge applications and explore new use cases. America is not the only market where STX can be purchased and traded on OKCoin, as this …

The Naval Air Warfare Center, a California-based research group of the U.S. Navy, has given blockchain software startup Simba Chain nearly $10 million to put a secure messaging platform in play. “The platform will be up this year, with on going updates over the next 4 years,” Simba Chain CEO Joel Neidig told Cointelegraph in a Feb. 6 email. The Naval research group recently called on Simba Chain to install a safe avenue for communication and transaction, built on the blockchain for the Department of Defense, or DoD, a Feb. 6 press release detailed. A sizable endeavor, the Naval Air …

Tech giant IBM cemented its patent leadership in the United States, with over 9,000 received patents, including in artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, in 2019. With the 9,626 patents secured, IBM became the company that received the most patents in the U.S.ever and the leader on the list for the 27th consecutive year, tech-focused media outlet Database Trends and Applications reported on Feb. 4. Of the 9,626 patents, IBM secured over 1,800 patents in AI, more than 2,500 patents in cloud technology and led in blockchain patents received. IBM’s patent dominance Back in July 2019, Cointelegraph reported that IBM had …

Major United States-based cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service Coinbase is allegedly not letting some users withdraw more than $10 per day. On Feb. 2, a Redditor and self-described Coinbase user reported that Coinbase had put a $10 daily withdrawal limit for some users. The Reddit user, with handle Unholy_Crab1, claims that his subsequent application for higher withdrawal limits was denied by Coinbase. The Redditor has also shared a purported screenshot which shows that the maximum amount of daily withdrawal from Coinbase in Bitcoin (BTC) was $10 for his account. Source: Reddit As of press time, the complaint thread has amassed …

A senior adviser to the operator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace has pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics in a Manhattan federal court. According to a United States Department of Justice press release dated Jan. 30, Roger Thomas Clark was a key figure in the development of Silk Road, advising on all aspects of the enterprise, and even attempting to arrange a murder-for-hire to protect its interests. Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht described Clark, who used a number of online aliases such as “Variety Jones,” and “Plural of Mongoose,” as a “real mentor,” who …

The deputy governor of the Bank of Japan has said the institution must be ready to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC) should public demand surge in response to technical developments. In a strong statement of a future-oriented vision for the bank, Masayoshi Amamiya told attendees at a seminar — as per a Reuters report on Jan. 30 — that: “The speed of technical innovation is very fast. Depending on how things unfold in the world of settlement systems, public demand for CBDCs could soar in Japan. We must be prepared to respond if that happens.” BOJ: no imminent …

The average budget deficit of the United States will “never” be less than $1 trillion per year in the future — or 4.5% of GDP, worrying data on the fiat economy shows. Compiled by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and shared by crypto hedge fund manager Travis Kling on Jan. 21, statistics reveal that the annual deficit is set to hit $12.2 trillion for the entire 2020s. Deficit as GDP share up 55% in 50 years “Such deficits would be significantly larger than the 2.9 percent of GDP that deficits averaged over the past 50 years,” the CBO itself …

Major global economists credit Facebook’s Libra with pushing the world to start reconsidering the United States dollar as anchor currency. At a Jan. 23 panel at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, officials and financial experts discussed one of the most important mechanisms in the global financing system — the U.S. dollar, which has become the world’s reserve currency. Libra evoked a future digital currency Called “Challenging the Dominance of the Dollar,” the panel focused on factors that make the U.S. dollar the world’s dominant payment system and reserve currency, as well as the fact that countries over …

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of major encrypted messenger Telegram, argues that Apple’s cloud service iCloud is “now officially a surveillance tool.” Citing a Jan. 21 Reuters report, Durov claimed that applications like WhatsApp — which rely on iCloud to store private messages — are “part of the problem.” Telegram CEO delivered his verdict in a post on his official Telegram channel on Jan. 21: “iCloud is now officially a surveillance tool. Apps that are relying on it to store your private messages (such as WhatsApp) are part of the problem.” Apple dropped its end-to-end encryption plans for iCloud two …