Wherever you are in the world right now, as a Cointelegraph reader, you are almost certainly aware that Bitcoin’s third halving event is now less than 8 hours away. It is also highly possible that some level of lockdown, due to the ongoing threat of the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic, is seriously curtailing your plans to celebrate the most-anticipated crypto event of 2020. But never fear. Cointelegraph is here to get the party started, with a lockdown-friendly livestream event on our YouTube channel, featuring the biggest names in cryptocurrency today. Join Cointelegraph’s Bitcoin halving party from 10am ET The fun …

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Three reasons for the Bitcoin “halving dump” from $10,000 to $8,100 We’re less than 48 hours away from “the halvening” — and there’s been no end of drama over the past week. Initially, there was hype as Bitcoin soared, with the world’s biggest cryptocurrency testing $10,000. But over the weekend, a dramatic and sudden sell-off …

Amid its ongoing war with crypto, video giant YouTube has signed a new deal with one of the world’s biggest popular YouTubers. PewDiePie, the top-subscribed independent video maker on YouTube, now has to leave blockchain video platform Dlive to stream exclusively on YouTube. YouTube officially announced the news on May 4, with PewDiePie claiming that the agreement was a “natural fit.” In April 2019, PewDiePie had signed a partnership with blockchain-based content sharing platform Dlive. PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, said that he decided to stream via DLive because he was treated “like a real partner,” noting that …

While Google’s subsidiary, YouTube, is facing a lawsuit for promoting cryptocurrency scams, Google’s advertising platform continues to display fraudulent crypto ads through its advertising network. According to a report by Bitcoin (BTC) crypto exchange, CoinCorner, Google Ads was running an ad for CoinCorner’s phishing clone website, CoinCornerr.com. The issue was reported by CoinCorner’s marketing manager, Molly Spiers, on April 30. Google Ads promotes a crypto scam but doesn’t want to promote a real firm Spiers told Cointelegraph that CoinCorner’s team first noticed the fraudulent ad on Thursday morning after searching for “CoinCorner” on Google.com and Google.co.uk. According to the executive, …

While many other accounts have seen reinstatement shortly following their bans in recent days, YouTube has still not brought the CrytptosRus channel back to life. It has now been three weeks since the channel creator's original petition for reinstatement. "My channel is still banned," CryptosRus host, George, told Cointelegraph in an April 28 email, adding that YouTube has not updated him on the situation. "I appealed the decision three times now," he said. YouTube bans for days The social video platform banned and flagged a large number of high profile crypto YouTube accounts in December 2019. Many accounts saw restoration …

Ripple CTO, David Schwartz, reported that his YouTube channel was suspended on April 29. This news comes several days after his company filed a lawsuit against the social media platform, although the two events may not be related. "Weirdly, YouTube just decided to suspend my channel (SJoelKatz) for impersonation," Schwartz said in a Tweet. "I wonder who they think I was impersonating." The suspension comes after Ripple's lawsuit against YouTube The CTO's YouTube suspension occurred roughly eight days after his company, Ripple Labs, and company CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, filed a legal claim against the social video platform. The lawsuit stated …

On March 16, YouTube released a statement warning its creator community that video removals may increase during the coronavirus pandemic. The popular video-sharing platform said that its system currently relies on a combination of people and technology, noting that machine learning is being leveraged to detect potentially harmful content. Once these algorithms find “harmful content,” human reviewers are called upon for assessment. The company also stated that new measures are being taken during the COVID-19 crisis to rely more on technology to help with some of the work normally performed by human reviewers. The blog post states: “Automated systems will …

YouTube has banned a number of crypto channels recently, often restoring them shortly after. Adam Charles, senior communications manager for DeFi solution, Kava, said he has been working to help these channels get back online. Charles stated that he works with multiple Telegram influencer groups to get these YouTube accounts back up. "We have developed a series of motions to cycle through when one's channel comes under fire," Charles told Cointelegraph. Charles added: "The first of which is to enter one of the Influencer telegram groups and ask if the takedowns are happening to anybody else. If it is, then …

Ripple Labs filed a lawsuit against Youtube LLC in the Northern District of California on Tuesday April 21. The case seeks damages for Youtube’s failure to stop XRP (XRP) scammers and impersonators. The plaintiffs, named as Ripple Labs and its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, are taking action against Youtube to “prompt an industry wide-behavior change and set the expectation of accountability,” according to an official company blog post. Ripple and Garlinghouse say the scam - often referred to as “The XRP Giveaway” — has already defrauded victims of “millions of XRP valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars”. The lawsuit lodges …

Two new crypto-related channels were recently blocked by YouTube. Some creators are alleging that this is part of an ongoing campaign by the video platform against creators who publish cryptocurrency-related content. In less than 24 hours, however, the bans were lifted and both channels were fully restored. BTC Sessions, a blockchain-based YouTube channel which has been active since 2016, reported via Twitter on April 17 that their account was notified that it had committed “repeated or severe violations” of the platform’s community guidelines. However, after approximately eight hours, YouTube decided to lift the block. The platform stated in a brief …

YouTube's latest batch of crypto channel bans continues as trader, analyst, and channel host, Tone Vays, sees his channel removed from the platform. "The worst part about it is that my entire login is deleted, so, on my phone for example, I can't even use the YouTube app to watch other people's content," Vays told Cointelegraph on April 16 in a direct message. "Not to mention my playlists of other people's content are now gone too." Vays has faced individual video strikes before, but not a whole channel ban Many large-scale crypto YouTubers faced video strikes and channel removals from …

After YouTube terminated, and subsequently restored, his Crypto Crow channel, Jason Appleton explained the whirlwind of events for which Youtube has still provided no explanation. “This situation was crushing honestly,” Appleton told Cointelegraph in an April 10 email. “An emotional roller coaster.” A quick turn of events The past several months have yielded numerous high profile crypto YouTube account bans, strikes, and subsequent restorations. Appleton saw his YouTube channel closed on April 8, and then subsequently restored on April 9, he shared in tweets on those days. “No explanation has been given,” Appleton told Cointelegraph. "I will say though that …