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Three Arrows Capital CEO Says Bitcoin Could Hit $2,500,000 - [briefly]
05:42 PM EST - Feb,25 2021 - post a comment Su Zhu, the co-founder and CEO of fund management firm Three Arrows Capital, is revealing an astronomical price prediction for the largest cryptocurrency by market cap. In a new interview with UpOnly, Su Zhu compares Bitcoin to gold, asserting that gold is likely undervalued and that in the long run, Bitcoin is primed to take over a large portion of the precious metal's market share.
"I mean, I think there's an argument that gold itself is very undervalued. If it was the dominant store of value cause this thing was at like $1,700 years ago and let's say gold should have 5X'd if there wasn't Bitcoin, then really we're looking at a $50 trillion market cap.
So then you're already halfway there to $100 trillion and that will get you to $2.5 million per BTC and I think that that is definitely possible." |
Denuvo Cracker EMPRESS "Arrested" - [crime-law]
05:27 PM EST - Feb,24 2021 - post a comment Last year, games cracker EMPRESS told pirates that if they wanted Denuvo-protected games cracked and placed online, they would have to help fund that. While controversial, over the past few weeks this proposal has been overshadowed by a catastrophic social-media-fueled meltdown that has culminated - if reports are to be believed - in EMPRESS being targeted by the police.
Last year we reported how games cracker EMPRESS burst onto the scene with a plan to crowdfund the cracking of Denuvo titles. Straight off the bat, EMPRESS showed a remarkable lack of concern by confirming what appeared to be sensitive information, including that EMPRESS and another group, C000005, were actually one and the same. Links to another group, CODEX, were also revealed/claimed.
Since then, EMPRESS has delivered previously Denuvo-protected titles as promised but somewhat bizarrely, these achievements have been accompanied by masses of superfluous drama. Instead of maintaining a low profile, EMPRESS has become increasingly outspoken, restating connections to CODEX and even PARADOX (PDX), a group that has existed in some form or another for more than 30 years.
Labeling them all as "pathetic" probably wasn't a great start but things were only just getting started. Fellow Denuvo-crackers CPY (which have considerable standing in the Scene) were branded "selfish and ignorant" and then attention turned to repackers including the world-famous FitGirl, whose work appears to have irritated EMPRESS intensely.
In an interview with Wired published this week, EMPRESS responded to the repacking issue by noting that these entities, Fitgirl included, are somehow able to get the credit for releasing games to the public, rather than EMPRESS, who is doing "the REAL work".
So, in an effort to take the spotlight away from people like FitGirl, EMPRESS decided to cap the download speed of her' latest release, to prevent speedy repacks. This didn't go down well with fans. And it wasn't well-received by FitGirl either. In response, FitGirl announced a boycott of EMPRESS releases.
The problems mentioned by FitGirl are actually just the tip of a very large iceberg but surprisingly few issues relate directly to the cracking of games. Somehow, the personality and divisive opinions of EMPRESS (or simply those being presented online) appear to be fueling the dramas upon which social media often thrives. And as usual, nothing good has come of it. Threads discussing EMPRESS have descended into chaos, with supporters jostling with detractors over the perceived size of the EMPRESS ego.
In a post under her new Reddit handle of 'InfinityGoddess', a few hours ago EMPRESS told the masses on the CrackWatch subreddit that the worst-case scenario had unfolded. Pointing the finger at FitGirl, fellow repacker 'Masquerade' and "all the beautiful non toxic community here", EMPRESS said that some people on Reddit had reported both her and her real address to the authorities.(Quotes verbatim)
i am not quiet sure how it happened, but even with putting my philosophical side aside, i think i pissed off the entire internet just by trying to control 'MY' own crack for 24 hour is actually something i am still not able to believe.
In less than an hour, i will be dragged out of my home here with my lawyer, but considering i was caught red handed while preparing version 2 fix for my immortals crack, i don't think there will be much of hope against it at all.
i must repeat again, thank you a LOT fitgirl, and all her followers who enjoyed insulting and reporting me for the little stupid mistakes i did. there are no perfect person in this world, but i at least tried to do something 'right' out of all this. but no one saw it, and instead they only saw the negatives.
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eToro down as crypto, global equities turn volatile - [briefly]
02:26 AM EST - Feb,24 2021 - post a comment Multi-asset brokerage company eToro has been inaccessible since Tuesday, February 23, leaving users unable to trade as popular cryptocurrencies slipped and global equities trimmed losses.
The Israeli-backed trading platform has apologized to traders and investors, adding that it is still working to fix the issue.
"The root cause of the issue has been identified and our developers are working to fix it. Additional information will be provided as soon as possible," eToro said at 11 pm on Tuesday, Manila time.
As of Wednesday morning, February 24, eToro remains inaccessible. For traders who wish to open positions and close trades, eToro has an offline mode tool (Ed.note: which only allow close your positions nothing else).
The platform has gained popularity, as users are able to trade cryptocurrencies and global stocks on a mobile phone.
eToro also has a copy trading feature, which allows investors to view and copy the strategies of top traders.
The outage comes at a time when cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have tumbled after hitting record highs.
Meanwhile, global equities markets rebounded on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow in the green. The Nasdaq was the only major US stock index to lose ground.
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AMD Releases Radeon Software 21.2.3 Drivers - [briefly]
08:58 AM EST - Feb,23 2021 - post a comment AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin drivers. Version 21.2.3 beta adds optimization for "DIRT 5 Energy Content Pack." Among the handful of issued fixed with these drivers include HDMI audio device (such as home-theater receivers) failing to install on Radeon RX 400 series and RX 500 series "Polaris" graphics cards; hot-plugging TVs and displays in multi-monitor configurations causing a system hang; "Substance Painter" experiencing a crash with Radeon RX 6000 series; HP Reverb G2 VR HMD causing a system crash when plugging into RX 6900 XT, and the Radeon Software application sometimes failing to look up the latest version of the software.
Support For - DIRT 5 Energy Content Pack
Fixed Issues - HDMI Audio Devices may fail to install on Radeon RX 400 and Radeon RX 500 series graphics products.
- Hot plugging HDMI TV displays in multi monitor system configurations may sometimes cause a system crash or hang.
- An application crash or hang may occur in Substance Painter on Radeon RX 6000 series graphics products.
- A system crash or hang may occur on the HP Reverb G2 when connected to Radeon RX 6900 series graphics products.
- Radeon Software may sometimes fail to gather the latest available Radeon Software versions when performing or checking for updates.
Known Issues - A system hang or crash may be experienced when upgrading Radeon Software while an Oculus VR headset is connected to your system on Radeon GCN graphics products. A temporary workaround is to disconnect the headset before install.
- AMD is currently investigating end user reports that Radeon Software may sometimes have higher than expected CPU utilization, even when a system is at idle. Users who are experiencing this issue are encouraged to file a bug report in Radeon Software.
- Brightness flickering may intermittently occur in some games or applications when Radeon FreeSync is enabled, and the game is set to use borderless fullscreen.
- Enhanced Sync may cause a black screen to occur when enabled on some games and system configurations. Any users who may be experiencing issues with Enhanced Sync enabled should disable it as a temporary workaround.
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Massive Bitcoin Whale Transactions Move More Than $1,9T in Crypto - [briefly]
06:05 AM EST - Feb,23 2021 - post a comment Crypto whale activity has hit a fever pitch over the last 24 hours as deep-pocketed investors move nearly $2 billion worth of Bitcoin. One of the largest involved a whale relocating 7,731 BTC worth $414.75 million from an unknown wallet to a separate wallet of unknown origin.
Another transaction shows a high-rolling entity shifting 5,000 BTC worth $276.11 million from an unknown wallet to crypto exchange Bitstamp, where it could potentially be sold on the open market.
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Institutional Bitcoin Investors Briefly Lose $13 Billion in Market Dip - [briefly]
05:50 PM EST - Feb,22 2021 - post a comment Over $13.6 billion worth of Bitcoin holdings disappeared from companies' books today after a shocking market dip.
Bitcoin earlier dropped from its near-record high of $58,000 to $47,700 in just 24 hours-the largest single-day fall in value for the cryptocurrency. This means the cumulative value of the 1.3 million Bitcoin held by 41 companies and institutional investors per data tracked by Bitcoin Treasuries temporarily went from $76.7 billion to $63.1 billion-a $13.6 billion loss. But Bitcoin has done what it always does, it seems, and bounced back: At the time of writing, the currency is down just 6.9% in the past 24 hours, meaning that more than half of those losses have since been recovered.
That's still a sizable drop for some companies, though. Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, which holds the most Bitcoin of any public company, this month sold off $1 billion-worth of debt to buy Bitcoin. But the 71,079 Bitcoin it owns today is worth $3.8 billion. Yesterday it was worth $4.1 billion-a decline of over $336 million. |
MoneyGram Drops Ripple Citing SEC Lawsuit - [briefly]
05:48 PM EST - Feb,22 2021 - post a comment Wire transfer service MoneyGram has suspended its partnership with Ripple Labs in the wake of the SEC's lawsuit against the crypto
payments firm.
That suit, filed in December, alleged that Ripple's sales of cryptocurrency XRP, beginning in 2013, were unregistered securities offerings.
Major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance have since delisted XRP, and leading crypto asset manager Grayscale dissolved its XRP-focused trust. XRP was at one point the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, but has dropped in price considerably following the lawsuit.
MoneyGram made the announcement Monday in its Q4 earnings release.
MoneyGram's stock took a nosedive following its earnings statement, dropping close to 24%. The company reported earnings of $323.3 million in Q1, below the expected $325.7 million. |
Perseverance Rover's Descent and Touchdown on Mars - [briefly]
05:45 PM EST - Feb,22 2021 - post a comment NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance mission captured thrilling footage of its rover landing in Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021. The real footage in this video was captured by several cameras that are part of the rover's entry, descent, and landing suite. The views include a camera looking down from the spacecraft's descent stage (a kind of rocket-powered jet pack that helps fly the rover to its landing site), a camera on the rover looking up at the descent stage, a camera on the top of the aeroshell (a capsule protecting the rover) looking up at that parachute, and a camera on the bottom of the rover looking down at the Martian surface.
The audio embedded in the video comes from the mission control call-outs during entry, descent, and landing.
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Michael Burry Issues Warning on Future of Bitcoin and Gold - [briefly]
11:52 AM EST - Feb,22 2021 - post a comment Hedge fund manager Michael Burry, who is known for being one of the first investors to foresee and profit from the collapse of the housing market in 2007, is sharing a pessimistic prediction on the future of Bitcoin and gold.
The former Scion Asset Management owner and "Big Short" investor tells his 304,500 that governments may attempt to thwart Bitcoin and even the yellow metal in order to prevent alternative measures of value from gaining dominance in an unstable period for fiat currencies.
To further elucidate his followers on the gravity of the inflation he believes is set to hit the US, the investing legend compares the economic situation in the US today to that of Germany in the 1920s.
Burry notes that, as Dying of Money author Jens O. Parsons writes, when Germany relied on loans to pay off its WWI debts, the nation saw a period of hyperinflation, during which some suddenly became wealthy overnight and many others faced extreme poverty. |
Two Whales Just Withdrew a Billion Dollars From Coinbase - [briefly]
01:38 AM EST - Feb,22 2021 - post a comment Yesterday, 13,204 Bitcoins left Coinbase for unknown wallets. That's just over three-quarters of a billion dollars at the current price. According to Whale Alert, 36 separate transactions were made, each valued at between 351 and 391 Bitcoins, between the hours of 4 and 5 PM UTC. Last night, Whale Alert tweeted that 4,501 BTC had left Coinbase for an unknown wallet, meaning in the past 24 hours more than a billion dollars worth of Bitcoin has been transferred out of Coinbase, though it's not known whether the transactions are related. It could be an over-the-counter desk reshuffling its wallets, a Bitcoin not-quite-billionaire moving cash to cold storage, or a money-laundering scheme. It's difficult to tell: the transferrer protected their privacy well, generating a new address for each transaction.
This is not the first time a large Coinbase movement happened this month, either. |
AMD releases statement regarding USB problems on 500-series chipset - [hardware]
01:35 AM EST - Feb,22 2021 - post a comment About three months ago, some AMD 500-series chipset motherboard owners started reporting problems related to USB on the AMD subreddit, among other places. Although initially it was thought to be only an issue on Gigabyte boards, soon users of other brands also began echoing similar sentiments. Generally, among the problems faced by users, USB drives or peripherals attached would randomly unplug, and these are reported as frequent occurrences. Today, AMD's official Reddit account has released a statement regarding the matter.
AMD is aware of reports that a small number of users are experiencing intermittent USB connectivity issues reported on 500 Series chipsets. We have been analyzing the root cause and at this time, we would like to request the community's assistance with a small selection of additional hardware configurations. Over the next few days, some r/Amd users may be contacted directly by an AMD representative (u/AMDOfficial) via Reddit's PM system with a request for more information.
This request may include detailed hardware configurations, steps to reproduce the issue, specific logs, and other system information pertinent to verifying our development efforts. We will provide an update when we have more details to share. Customers facing issues are always encouraged to raise an Online Service Request with AMD customer support; this enables us to find correlations and compare notes across support claims.
Essentially, AMD says that it is looking into the matter but would like user feedback and assistance so that it can pinpoint the root cause of the problem and resolve it. Users facing the problems are encouraged to request technical assistance via this online form which could help AMD connect the dots across different hardware configurations. |
Ripple now registered as a Wyoming business - [briefly]
05:45 PM EST - Feb,21 2021 - post a comment Blockchain-based payments firm Ripple Labs has now registered a business in Wyoming.
According to records from the Wyoming Secretary of State, Ripple Markets WY LLC's status as a local business is listed as "active" after an initial filing in February 2020. As a limited liability company in Wyoming, Ripple's registered agent will be based in Cheyenne.
"More crypto companies are realizing Wyoming is a better domicile than Delaware due to our crypto-friendly laws," said Caitlin Long on Twitter.
Long is the CEO of digital bank Avanti Bank & Trust and associated with the state legislature's Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation. She said crypto firms like Ripple should consider relocating to Wyoming due to the state not having any corporate or franchise taxes, and cryptocurrencies being exempt from property and sales tax.
In addition, there is the presence of U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis. The Wyoming lawmaker is one of the first to say digital assets will be a key part of her legislative agenda. Responding to the Ripple news, Lummis' state policy director said many people were "maximalist on Wyoming."
It does not appear as if Ripple will move its headquarters to the crypto-friendly state as its principal office is still listed as San Francisco. However, both Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse have said that they are displeased with the seeming lack of regulatory clarity on crypto and blockchain in the United States.
Wyoming is becoming one of the most attractive U.S. states for crypto and blockchain firms. Last year, the Wyoming State Banking Board granted crypto exchange Kraken a charter to operate as a crypto-friendly bank and gave Avanti the green light to receive and custody crypto in a similar fashion. In the wake of Tesla's $1.5 billion Bitcoin (BTC) purchase earlier this month, Senator Lummis invited CEO Elon Musk to consider relocating to the state.
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Pfizer vaccine doesn't need ultra-cold storage after all, company say - [technology]
06:51 AM EST - Feb,21 2021 - post a comment In a bit of good news, Pfizer and BioNTech announced today that their highly effective COVID-19 vaccine does not require ultra-cold storage conditions after all and can be kept stable at standard freezer temperatures for two weeks. The companies have submitted data to the US Food and Drug Administration demonstrating the warmer stability in a bid for regulatory approval to relax storage requirements and labeling for the vaccine.
If the FDA greenlights the change, the warmer storage conditions could dramatically ease vaccine distribution, allowing doses to be sent to non-specialized vaccine administration sites. The change would also make it much easier to distribute the vaccine to low-income countries.
Currently, the vaccine is labeled as requiring storage between -80°C and -60°C (-112°F to ‑76°F) for up to six months. But it can also be refrigerated for up to five days at standard refrigerator temperature (2°C and 8°C (36°F and 46°F)). The ultra-cold requirement cooled enthusiasm for the vaccine when the FDA first granted it emergency authorization for use. Only specialized facilities, such as hospitals and research labs, tend to have freezers equipped to maintain such cold temperatures, raising concerns about how easily it would be to get the vaccine into people's arms.
Prior to the vaccine's rollout, Pfizer and BioNTech tried to ease those anxieties, emphasizing their expertise and existing cold-chain infrastructure. The two companies developed specially designed, temperature-controlled thermal shippers filled with dry ice to maintain a temperature of -70°C ± 10°C. The containers included GPS-enabled thermal sensor to track the location and temperature of each vaccine shipment as they made their way to distribution sites. Vaccine doses could be kept in the thermal containers for up to 30 days if the dry ice was refilled every five days.
If approved, the new storage conditions would allow the vaccine to be kept at a mere -25°C to -15°C (-13°F to 5°F)-a temperature range any standard freezer can handle-for up to two weeks. And the vaccine doses can then be kept at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2°C to 8°C for five days on top of that.
The companies report that as they continue testing the limits of the vaccine, they expect the expiration dates could be extended as well. |
Samsung Adds New Features to Older Galaxy Phones - [mobile]
05:58 AM EST - Feb,21 2021 - (1 comments) Samsung today announced the availability of its One UI 3.1 software update, which brings select software features of the new Galaxy S21 series to most higher-end Galaxy phones from 2020 and 2019. New features include an improved " Single Take" camera mode, which captures a variety of still and video formats simultaneously. It also brings Object Eraser (shown), an intelligent photo editing tool to cut out unwanted parts of photos. "If you want to edit out distracting objects, simply tap the area you wish to remove and it will be automatically selected and deleted." Other new features include Private Share, to control who is allowed access to the content you send and how long it is available, and Eye Comfort Shield, which automatically adjusts the display's blue light output based on the time of day. Finally, there's Multi Mic Recording, which, when in Pro Video mode, allows you to simultaneously record audio through both your phone and a connected Bluetooth. The One UI 3.1 update is available starting today for the following Galaxy phones: S20 series, Note20 series, Z Fold2, Z Flip, S10, Note10, Fold, A71, A51, A90, A80, A70, and A50. All of those phones will receive the new Single Take, Object Eraser, Private Share, and Eye Comfort Shield features. Multi-Mic Recording will only be available on 2020 flagship phones: Galaxy S20 series, S20 FE, Note20 series, Z Fold2, and Z Flip 5G. |
Another Weekend, Another All-Time High: Bitcoin Hits $57k - [briefly]
05:34 AM EST - Feb,21 2021 - post a comment Bitcoin busts through...again. Image: Shutterstock. Up and up Bitcoin's price goes, rising higher than even the tallest clouds, headed straight "to da moon." Today, Bitcoin peaked at $57,000, its highest ever price. Why the rise? The reasons are likely manifold and various; Bitcoin's bull run is now in full swing. One obvious candidate is US business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, which yesterday announced that it will sell off $1 billion of debt to buy more Bitcoin. MicroStrategy has done this before: it sold $400 million in convertible senior notes in December, which it added to a pool of money used to buy billions of the coin.
Just FYI, In 2001, Fortune Magazine published a list of the top losers of the Tech Bubble. Ranked #1 was none other than Michael Saylor, who had a whopping $13.53 Billion LOSS! MicroStrategy's shares went from $3300 to $4 (-99.99% decline), and SEC even accused him of fraud! |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Anti-Mining Feature - [hardware]
05:33 AM EST - Feb,21 2021 - post a comment NVIDIA announced (thanks Csimbi) the company's first Crypto Mining Processor (CPM) that serves the purpose of having a dedicated processor only for mining with no video outputs. Alongside the new processors, the company has also announced that in the next driver update the GeForce RTX 3060 GPU will get Etherium mining performance halved, limiting the use of this GPU SKU by miners. However, up until now, we have thought that NVIDIA is limiting the mining performance of this card by simply having a driver detect if crypto mining algorithms are in place and limit the performance. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. According to Bryan Del Rizzo, director of global PR for GeForce, more things are working behind the driver. According to Mr. Del Rizzo: "It's not just a driver thing. There is a secure handshake between the driver, the RTX 3060 silicon, and the BIOS (firmware) that prevents removal of the hash rate limiter." This means that essentially, NVIDIA can find any way to cripple the mining hash rate even if you didn't update your driver version. At the same time, according to Kopite7Kimi, we are possibly expecting to see NVIDIA relaunch its existing SKUs under a different ID, which would feature a built-in anti-crypto mining algorithm. What the company does remains to be seen.
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Ripple Is Working With Central Banks To Develop Digital Assets - [briefly]
05:43 PM EST - Feb,19 2021 - post a comment The vice president of RippleX James Wallis says Ripple is currently working with central banks on developing digital currencies. In a new interview on the Voice of FinTech podcast, Wallis outlines Ripple's role in the minting of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), emphasizing that the company is not trying to uproot existing financial structures, but is rather trying to improve upon systems that are already in place. "We are building and implementing technology, we're not trying to disintermediate the existing financial system. We're trying to make it better. What we're really trying to do is bring our technology and our expertise to the enterprise world."
The RippleX VP notes that there are three ways in which the digital payments company will help central banks develop these currencies, the first of which is leveraging its core ledger technology.
"Specifically around CBDCs there are really three things that we're trying to do. One is the core ledger... the technology that is used to mint or create the CBDCs and then distribute it and track the transactions on the systems of record, on the blockchain. And we have a clear view that a private instance of an existing decentralized ledger is a good way to go.
And what I mean by that is you take all the really robust experience of an open-source project that's built a ledger that's been running for multiple years, like the XRP Ledger, for example, and then you create a version that is a bit more centrally controlled that a central bank could be comfortable with running and they will still be able to control their monetary policy and so forth."
Wallis says Ripple is also working with central banks to help achieve interoperability between various assets like digital dollars, stablecoins and cryptocurrencies. |
SEC files amended complaint against Ripple - Hogan's legal take - [briefly]
06:02 AM EST - Feb,19 2021 - post a comment Just a few days ago, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs filed a joint letter with the court agreeing to common deadlines and each outlining their "legal bases for claims and defenses." As attorney Jeremy Hogan stated in a legal analysis, the letter was a "clear victory" for Ripple. The SEC's opinion lacked any factual basis, while Ripple convinced with facts. Possibly because the SEC now realized this, it followed up yesterday by filing an amended complaint with the court. And of course, Hogan has also published a new video on the subject to present his legal view of things.
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NASA successfully lands Perseverance rover on Mars - [technology]
03:35 AM EST - Feb,19 2021 - post a comment The American space agency, NASA, has confirmed that its Perseverance rover has successfully landed on the red planet, Mars. NASA announced the landing from its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California at 3:55 p.m. EST following a 203-day ride covering 472 million kilometres. The car-sized rover will do several tests over the next couple of weeks before it begins its mission to investigate rocks and sediment in the Jezero crater, an ancient lakebed and river delta. One of the objectives of the mission, and probably the most exciting, is to search for signs of microbial life that may have once swum in the lake that used to occupy the region - if life is found, it'll be the first time that we've conclusively found evidence of extraterrestrial life.
The samples that Perseverance collects will have to be transported back to Earth for examination with equipment that was too big for the rover to carry, these samples will return with a proposed Mars sample-return mission.
In addition to searching for signs of life, the mission will also carry out the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), a technology demonstration that will try to manufacture oxygen - this ability will be vital for any human missions to Mars.
The Perseverance rover is planned to operate on Mars for one Martian year or 687 Earth days.
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Android 12 release date - [mobile]
04:12 PM EST - Feb,18 2021 - (1 comments) We are now officially into the early days of Android 12. However, don't get too excited: we are still months away from the operating system being stable enough for consumers to adopt. In the meantime, we can expect at least three developer previews of Android 12. After that, we can expect at least four beta releases. The Android 12 release date should be easy enough to ascertain around the launch of that fourth beta. For the record, last year for the Android 11 launch, Google had the first beta out in June and the final launch in early September. It is highly likely we'll see a very similar schedule this year. Google plans to launch monthly updates for Android 12. According to the most recent official information, we can expect developer previews each month from now until April 2021. Starting in May, we'll see beta launches. Beta versions of the software will be good enough for consumer use (although still not something you'd want to use as a daily driver). After four beta launches, the Android 12 release date will be easy to narrow down. Depending on how development goes, it could be in the middle or end of August. It could also be early September. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on pretty much every industry, so it's important to temper your expectations. So far, this is what has officially launched: "Android 12 Developer Preview 1: Launched on February 18, 2021". |
Epic Cycling on Ice - [off-topic]
01:55 AM EST - Feb,18 2021 - (1 comments) A craftsman builds a bike that can be ridden on a completely frozen lake: the icecycle.
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New York Files Fraud Charges Against Crypto Firm Coinseed - [briefly]
01:48 AM EST - Feb,18 2021 - post a comment New York State Attorney General Letitia James has announced charges against Coinseed, a crypto investment platform, for allegedly defrauding investors out of more than $1 million. The filing centers around an ICO
for Coinseed's CSD token, held in December 2017. The company allegedly raised over $100,000 through the sale of 200,000 of these CSD tokens. The NYAG claims the tokens had "no functionality" in the company's mobile application, noting that these tokens were "not required to use the trading platform, or not manage one's account." The state has also said Coinsend traded crypto without registering as a broker-dealer.
"Attorney General James seeks to stop Coinseed and the two individual defendants from further operating as unregistered commodities broker-dealers through their mobile application, as well as return investments of Coinseed's worthless cryptocurrency, the CSD token," said a statement. The SEC has also filed a related lawsuit against the company. |
Coinbase, Readying for Public Listing, Gets $77B Valuation - [briefly]
11:59 AM EST - Feb,17 2021 - post a comment Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which is preparing to trade publicly in the next few months, is being valued at $77 billion, based on trading of the company's privately held shares on a secondary market.
Those shares in the largest crypto exchange in the U.S. are changing hands on the Nasdaq Private Market at $303 a piece, according to two people with knowledge of the auction. That implies a total company value of about $77 billion - greater than Intercontinental Exchange Inc., the owner of the New York Stock Exchange.
"The third weekly transaction closed on Friday and the clearing price was $303 a share," said a source. "The first week it was 200 bucks a share, the second week it was $301 a share, and the third week it was $303 a share. So you can kind of see price discovery happening."
Coinbase declined to comment. |
Bullish Coinbase Premium Returns as Bitcoin Reaches $51,400 - [briefly]
04:29 AM EST - Feb,17 2021 - post a comment Bitcoin set a new all-time high this morning after breaking the $50,000 barrier on Tuesday night, data from markets tool CoinGecko shows.
The asset saw a record price of $51,421 after a sudden surge from the $49,000 price level last night. It had earlier set a high price in the $50,450 region on Tuesday-a move that quickly retraced within minutes at the time.
But one key indicator is back on the right side for Bitcoin bulls, according to Cryptoquant CEO Ki Young Ju. Yesterday he noted that there was a negative premium on Coinbase, meaning prices were lower there than in the rest of the market. He argued that this would need to change for the cryptocurrency to rise further.
Today, Ju pointed out that the premium has returned, showing a strong desire for Bitcoin by Coinbase's institutional traders. "$BTC Coinbase Premium looks good after breaking 50k. We can go higher now," he tweeted.
The move comes a day after business analytics firm MicroStrategy announced it would sell $600 million worth of convertible notes in an upcoming offering and use the proceeds to buy Bitcoin. Such a purchase would add to its big warchest of 71,079 BTC (valued at $3.7 billion at press time).
Meanwhile, the euphoria runs high among crypto circles. Some industry participants say that institutions getting involved in the Bitcoin space mean a better long-term fundamentals for the volatile asset. |
Bitcoin Price Breaks $50,000 Barrier - [briefly]
08:57 AM EST - Feb,16 2021 - post a comment Bitcoin's price has broken the $50,000 barrier, reaching as high as $50,560, on the news that MicroStrategy will sell $600 million of convertible senior notes to buy more Bitcoin.
The business intelligence firm said today that it intends to sell these notes to institutional investors. The firm intends to use the net proceeds from the sale to acquire more Bitcoin. That would be in addition to the 71,079 BTC it already owns-at a current value of $3.5 billion.
The firm added that it will allow investors the option to purchase an additional $90 million of notes, which the firm will also use to buy more Bitcoin. |
Chinese GPU miners reportedly bulk buying Nvidia laptops to mine Ether - [briefly]
05:00 PM EST - Feb,15 2021 - post a comment Chinese cryptocurrency miners are reportedly buying Nvidia's new laptops to mine Ether ( ETH ) amid the altcoin hitting new all-time highs . Nvidia's latest GeForce RTX 30 laptops have become increasingly popular in China as a tool for mining cryptocurrency, according to several sources. On Feb. 6, a Weibo user known as BTCer posted a bunch of images showing off GeForce RTX 30 series gaming laptops making up a solid crypto mining farm. "A laptop mine is up," BTCer noted in the post depicting dozens of laptops stacked up on shelves. Several tech media outlets including VideoCardz and Wccftech subsequently suggested that the mining farm was set up specifically for mining Ether. The reports also cited a recent fun video by Bilibili user Fish Pond F2pool showing how easy it is to mine crypto on a laptop equipped with a new RTX 3060 graphics card. Using a laptop plugged into the wall socket at Starbucks, the user reportedly mined 0.00053 ETH (worth an estimated $0.89) in around two hours. According to some estimations , one GeForce RTX 3060 laptop can potentially generate up to around 2.3 ETH per year ( $3,900 ) at the current prices, apparently being able to cover up the cost of the laptop and energy costs in China. Having arrived in market on Jan. 26, different GeForce RTX 30 series laptops are priced between $1,000 and $2,000. Chinese GPU miners are apparently driving more demand to the already shortaged market, should the latest reports be true. In January 2021, Nvidia's chief financial officer Colette Kress said that the company's supply "will likely remain lean throughout Q1," stating that gaming demand was "off the charts," and the firm has not been able to keep up. Ether price spikes have historically been associated with higher miner rewards , particularly generated through abnormally high gas fees . On Feb. 5, average gas fees peaked at an all-time high of $25.2 amid Ethereum breaking above $1,700. As Ethereum is set to become a Proof-of-Stake blockchain one day, the Ethereum mining community will have to find other options to generate rewards. As reported, the first phase of Ethereum's PoS upgrade has been launched in late 2020 .
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NVIDIA Confirms Specs of the GeForce RTX 3060 "Ampere" - [hardware]
01:50 PM EST - Feb,15 2021 - post a comment NVIDIA made the product page of the GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card active on its website. The card is shown starting at USD $329, and NVIDIA confirmed some basic specs. The RTX 3060 is endowed with 3,584 CUDA cores, and comes with GPU frequency of 1.32 GHz, and maximum GPU Boost frequency of 1.78 GHz. It is confirmed to feature 12 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 192-bit wide memory interface. The card's typical board power is confirmed to be 170 W, with the reference card making do with a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. The RTX 3060 should be available from February 25.
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Bitcoin Miners Now Earn 1 BTC in Fees Per Block - [briefly]
01:19 PM EST - Feb,15 2021 - post a comment Bitcoin (BTC) miners earn 0.97 BTC (currently worth around $48,000) in transaction fees alone per block, according to metrics platform Clark Moody Bitcoin. This is an average taken over the last 2,000 blocks, meaning many of these blocks will have risen above the 1 Bitcoin mark.
When Bitcoin miners mine a block, they are rewarded with a fixed fee of 6.25 Bitcoin (although this halves every four years) and receive the transaction fees for all transactions included in that block.
But transaction fees have been on the rise recently (around $20), and are making up a greater percentage of the overall reward. Bitcoin miners are now making around $40 million per day in total. So, fees alone make up 13.47% of Bitcoin miners' total revenue.
This suggests that, as Bitcoin mining rewards decline over time, fees might continue to increase and replace them-providing ongoing, economic incentive for miners to keep the network running and secure.
As average fees on the Bitcoin blockchain rise, does that mean that BTC may become too expensive to use for "normal" people at some point? Well, kind of, but that's arguably a good thing, according to Quantum Economics analyst Pedro Febrero.
"In our opinion, this is an excellent sign. High fees mean adoption since fees usually grow once the competition to add a transaction into a block increases," Febrero told Decrypt. |
Google Photos Gains New Video Editor, Plus Extra Features - [internet]
09:55 AM EST - Feb,14 2021 - post a comment Google has announced a new video editor as part of Google Photos. The company also announced that some advanced, AI-powered features previously available only on Pixel phones will now be available on more phones, but only for Google One subscribers. The new video editor adds features to "crop, change perspective, add filters, apply granular edits (including brightness, contrast, saturation and warmth) and more." This is in addition to existing features to trim, stabilize and rotate videos. It's available now in Google Photos for iOS, and "will be rolling out to most Android users in the coming weeks". In the coming months, iOS users will also get the revamped photo editor that rolled out to Android users late last year. Google One subscribers on Android will also get several new features that were previously restricted to Pixel phones. In the coming days, those users will see an updated Google Photos app that includes Portrait Blur, Portrait Light, and new "Dynamic" and "sky" filters. All of these new feature use machine learning to apply advanced effects in a realistic way to any photo, including those captured without depth information. Google One memberships start at $2/month. |
Nvidia is About to Relaunch the GTX 1050 Ti & RTX 2060 ti - [hardware]
06:44 AM EST - Feb,13 2021 - post a comment When it launched back in 2016, the Nvidia 1050 Ti was undoubtedly a very popular graphics card when it came to more budget-focused consumers. Was it a world-beater? Absolutely not. However, it was more than good enough to give a lot of people a very affordable entry-point to the world of PC gaming.
With current modern GPU stock levels so poor though, largely thanks to a combination of consumer demand, scalpers, and cryptocurrency miners, (and the possibility that they're simply not being made in particularly high volumes), following a report via Videocardz, it is being suggested that in something of a response, Nvidia may be set to re-start the production of the 1050 Ti!
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Short overview of recent news articles |
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Three Arrows Capital CEO Says Bitcoin Could Hit $2,500,000 (Feb,25 2021 ) Motorcyclist Collides With Car (Feb,25 2021 ) Denuvo Cracker EMPRESS "Arrested" (Feb,24 2021 ) eToro down as crypto, global equities turn volatile (Feb,24 2021 ) AMD Releases Radeon Software 21.2.3 Drivers (Feb,23 2021 ) Massive Bitcoin Whale Transactions Move More Than $1,9T in Crypto (Feb,23 2021 ) Institutional Bitcoin Investors Briefly Lose $13 Billion in Market (Feb,22 2021 ) MoneyGram Drops Ripple Citing SEC Lawsuit (Feb,22 2021 ) Perseverance Rover's Descent and Touchdown on Mars (Feb,22 2021 ) Engineer Demonstrates How To Pull Off The 'Sitting In the Air (Feb,22 2021 ) Michael Burry Issues Warning on Future of Bitcoin and Gold (Feb,22 2021 ) Two Whales Just Withdrew a Billion Dollars From Coinbase (Feb,22 2021 ) AMD releases statement regarding USB problems on 500-series chipset (Feb,22 2021 ) Ripple now registered as a Wyoming business (Feb,21 2021 ) Pfizer vaccine doesn't need ultra-cold storage after all, company (Feb,21 2021 ) Samsung Adds New Features to Older Galaxy Phones (Feb,21 2021 ) Ripple XRP to +$1000 In 2021?? Warren Baffet predicts the future! (Feb,21 2021 ) Another Weekend, Another All-Time High: Bitcoin Hits $57k (Feb,21 2021 ) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Anti-Mining Feature (Feb,21 2021 ) Mortal Kombat 2021 - Official Trailer (Feb,20 2021 ) Dad Level: 9000 (Feb,20 2021 ) Ripple Is Working With Central Banks To Develop Digital Assets (Feb,19 2021 ) Bill Gates Says He's Neutral On Bitcoin (Feb,19 2021 ) SEC files amended complaint against Ripple - Hogan's legal take (Feb,19 2021 ) NASA successfully lands Perseverance rover on Mars (Feb,19 2021 ) Android 12 release date (Feb,18 2021 ) Some of these crypto projects aren't even trying to look legit (Feb,18 2021 ) Epic Cycling on Ice (Feb,18 2021 ) Debunking Can you make ICE in a microwave? (Feb,18 2021 ) New York Files Fraud Charges Against Crypto Firm Coinseed (Feb,18 2021 ) Disney's Cruella - Official Trailer (Feb,17 2021 ) Coinbase, Readying for Public Listing, Gets $77B Valuation (Feb,17 2021 ) Bullish Coinbase Premium Returns as Bitcoin Reaches $51,400 (Feb,17 2021 ) The Claudia Conway Audition From 'American Idol' (Feb,16 2021 ) Bitcoin Price Breaks $50,000 Barrier (Feb,16 2021 ) Chinese GPU miners reportedly bulk buying Nvidia laptops to mine (Feb,15 2021 ) NVIDIA Confirms Specs of the GeForce RTX 3060 "Ampere" (Feb,15 2021 ) Bitcoin Miners Now Earn 1 BTC in Fees Per Block (Feb,15 2021 ) Google Photos Gains New Video Editor, Plus Extra Features (Feb,14 2021 ) Nvidia is About to Relaunch the GTX 1050 Ti & RTX 2060 ti (Feb,13 2021 ) Indoor Air Expert Tests The Most Popular Air Purifiers (Feb,12 2021 ) Visualizing Herd Immunity (with 500 Mousetraps!) (Feb,12 2021 ) BitPay Now Supports Apple Pay (Feb,12 2021 ) Black Swan Author Nassim Taleb Dumps Bitcoin (Feb,12 2021 ) Samsung to Build $17 Billion Silicon Manufacturing Plant in the US (Feb,12 2021 ) AMD Radeon 21.2.2 Adrenalin driver (Feb,11 2021 ) Ripple: Jed McCaleb dumps 40 million XRP (Feb,11 2021 ) Bitcoin Miners Earn Record $4 million in 1 Hour (Feb,11 2021 ) PayPal's Crypto Payments Are Coming to the UK This Year (Feb,11 2021 ) Mastercard to Support Cryptocurrency Payments in 2021 (Feb,10 2021 )
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