Category Archives: Bitcoin

2021 was an unprecedented year for almost all of the financial sector. Investments in the traditional stock market saw above-average returns against the continuing backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Forbes, the S&P 500 gained 26.9% for the year. The Nasdaq returned 21.4%, and the Dow Jones was up 18.7%.

When it came to cryptocurrency, however, these returns seem small by comparison. Perhaps the most famous example of a gigantic ROI was seen by the meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB), which returned more than 74,000,000% from the beginning of 2021 to its all-time high later that year.

Although SHIB remains in the top 15 cryptocurrencies when ranked by market cap, most investors opted to put their money in what are considered to be more stable investments; Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). An alternative source of stability is investing in presale projects, such as the very promising Seesaw Protocol (SSW).

Bitcoin (BTC) is Still King of Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin (BTC) is the undisputed king of cryptocurrency. It is over 12 years old and has been established atop the tree for almost this entire time. Thanks in part to the popularity of Bitcoin, there are now more than 18,000 cryptocurrencies on leading listings platforms like CoinMarketCap. BTC has decreased in dominance as a result but still maintains more than 40% of the market share.

Over the past seven days, Bitcoin has been up more than 12% and is currently valued at around the $43600 mark. This is a far cry from its all-time high of $68,789, reached in November 2021. Despite this, $43k could be considered a decent recovery from the recent low point of under $35k.

Can Ethereum (ETH) Close the Gap on BTC?

Ethereum (ETH) has been around for almost seven years and is well established as the worlds second-biggest cryptocurrency. Some optimistic analysts believe Ethereum could soon bridge the gap between itself and Bitcoin, partly due to the ongoing boom of NFTs and the burgeoning popularity of DeFi (decentralized finance) projects.

Like its rival Bitcoin, ETH is considerably down on its ATH. 2022 promises big things for ETH though. The long-awaited release of ETH 2.0 could make the price explode and even potentially double. These upgrades should solve the criticism of the exorbitant gas fees and frequent congestion on the ETH network.

Will Seesaw Protocol (SSW) Continue to Make a Splash?

Taking money out of the big two and into smaller projects became a hugely profitable method in 2021. Almost every altcoin saw new peaks and increased exponentially. Going into 2022, this is still the case. A new release that has made headlines already is Seesaw Protocol (SSW). As SSW is still in its presale period, its price can only increase until its launch on April the 8th. After this time, it could continue to go up and up, as is often the case with new cryptocurrencies.

SSW began at $0.005 and has gone past the $0.114 mark at the time of writing. This constitutes a rise of over 2000% in 6 weeks, and with more than five weeks left, there is still ample time to invest in the presale should you wish to do so.

Enter Presale: https://presale.seesawprotocol.io/register

Website: https://seesawprotocol.io/

Telegram: https://t.me/SEESAWPROTOCOL

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SEESAWPROTOCOL

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seesaw.protocol

Disclaimer:

The above content is non-editorial, and BCCL hereby disclaims any and all warranties, expressed or implied, relating to it, and does not guarantee, vouch for or necessarily endorse any of the content. Crypto/NFTs are unregulated, highly risky, and there may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Readers to exercise caution/due diligence, and comply with all applicable laws, including but not limited to taxation laws. Above content does not constitute investment advice nor promotes, suggests or presents Crypto/NFTs to solve financial difficulties/achieve financial security/act as an alternative to employment/income opportunity.

Disclaimer: Content Produced by WP

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Should You Stick with the Giants of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) or Back the Successful Newcomer Seesa - Economic Times

The famous author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has made some gloomy predictions about the economy and the future of cryptocurrency. Besides warning that we are in the biggest bubble in world history, Kiyosaki has predicted that the government will seize all cryptocurrencies.

The author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has made several gloomy predictions and bleak warnings over the past couple of days.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries.

On Tuesday, he tweeted to his 1.8 million followers, Do you have a plan B?

The famous author proceeded to warn that we are in the biggest bubble in world history, citing bubbles in stocks, real estate, commodities, and oil. As far as the future outlook, he warned about hyperinflation and a depression. Kiyosaki tweeted:

We are in biggest bubble in world history. Bubbles in stocks, real estate, commodities & oil Future? possible depression with hyperinflation.

He then explained that his plan B is to be an entrepreneur. Specifically, stay out of [the] stock market, create own assets, [and] use debt as $, he wrote.

This is not the first time that the famous author warned about a depression. In December last year, he similarly predicted that a depression is coming.

Kiyosaki often tweeted blaming President Joe Biden, his administration, and the Federal Reserve for high inflation and destroying the U.S. dollar. Last week, the Rich Dad Poor Dad author advised investors how to profit from inflation and invest like a capitalist.

Until Tuesday, Kiyosaki had been bullish on bitcoin. He often recommended buying gold, silver, and bitcoin as a hedge against inflation

However, he tweeted Tuesday morning that he expects the U.S. government to seize all cryptocurrencies.

He explained that after President Biden signed an executive order regulating cryptocurrencies, the next step would be to launch a Fed crypto. After that, he believes that all cryptocurrencies will be seized and folded into the government crypto. Bye-bye bitcoin, he wrote.

Kiyosakis crypto prediction has been heavily criticized in the crypto community, with many people stressing that he should have waited to see whats actually in the executive order before speculating recklessly on it.

Many people think that President Bidens executive order is very positive for the crypto industry. Jerry Brito, executive director of D.C.-based think tank Coin Center, commented:

The message I take from this executive order is that the federal government sees cryptocurrency as a legitimate, serious, and important part of the economy and society.

In addition, decentralized cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin and ether, cannot be frozen or seized directly within the network. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz recently described: One of the reasons why Im so bullish on bitcoin is because it is decentralized and not controllable.

What do you think about Robert Kiyosakis warnings? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Robert Kiyosaki Says 'We Are in Biggest Bubble in World History' Warns Government Will Seize All Cryptocurrencies Economics Bitcoin News - Bitcoin...

Some of the largest hedge funds are reportedly increasing their holdings in cryptocurrencies.

The list includes names like Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP andTudor Investment Corp, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Tudor Investment declined to comment, while Brevan Howard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Institutional investors as a whole traded $1.14 trillion of cryptocurrencies in 2021, according to Coinbase, up from $120 billion the year before, and more than twice the $535 billion for individual investors.

There is opportunity for outsized returns for asset managers who want to be early investors in digital assets that are successful," saidMichael J. Torosian, a partner withBaker Botts L.L.P."Investors see cryptocurrencies as non-correlative to traditional asset classes and a good diversification tool and a hedge against certain risks such as inflation."

Torosian saidthe improvements in the regulatory landscape as well as the establishment of exchanges and more ways to store and protect digital assets "has given managers a better opportunity to evaluate adding crypto to their portfolios.

Brevan Howard launched a cryptocurrency hedge fund in January that will begin accepting outside investors.

The fund is making bets on the direction of bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrency prices, while also searching for arbitrage between currencies and investing in blockchain technology.

Roy Rochlin/Getty

Brevan Howard created acrypto division, BH Digital, in September, which manages over $250 million and has 12 portfolio managers.

The firm namedColleen Sullivan, a co-founder and former CEO of CMT Digital, to lead its investments in crypto.

Alan Howard, the firm's co-founder,has also invested in crypto, blockchain and digital-token businesses.

Paul Tudor Jones, who runs Tudor Investment,has been buying cryptocurrencies to try to protect against rising inflation.

Hudson Bay Capital Management LP, a $15 billion New York hedge fund, has seen growing profits from trading cryptocurrencies, the Journal reported, citinga person familiar with the situation, as are other large firms.

In February,Ray Dalio,who founded the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, repeated that he owns a little bit of bitcoin, calling it almost a younger generations alternative to gold."

Bitcoin is like gold, though gold is the well established blue-chip alternative to fiat money, he said.

Dalio has also said it would be reasonable for each investor to allocate 1% to 2% of one's portfolio to bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency.

Hedge funds and weren't always fund of cryptocurrencies.

Mark Mobius,founder of Mobius Capital Partners,told CNBC in November that cryptocurrencies are more like a religion than investments.

"People should not look at these cryptocurrencies as a means to invest," he said. "Its a means to speculate and have fun. But then you got to go back to stocks at the end of the day."

Citadel's Ken Griffin recently admitted that he was wrong to compare bitcoin to the tulip bubble back in 2017.

He noted that crypto has been one of the "greatest stories in finance" in the last 15 years.

Other financial services executives have also been critical of crypto.

Dimon has in the past described cryptocurrencies as worthless and refer to them as Crypto tokens rather than currencies

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) - Get JPMorgan Chase & Co. Report,has in the past described cryptocurrencies as worthless and refer to them as Crypto tokens rather than currencies.

Still , the financial giant staked a claim in the metaverse last month when it opened its Onxy lounge in Decentraland, a 3D virtual world browser-based platform.

Dimon's photo hangs on the virtual wall.

Crypto got more mainstream attention Wednesday after President Joe Biden signed an executive order on cryptocurrency.

Among other things, Biden's order directs Treasury and other departments to come up with policy recommendations "to address the implications of the growing digital asset sector and changes in financial markets for consumers, investors, businesses, and equitable economic growth."

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Hedge Funds Are Finally Finding Love for Bitcoin and Crypto - TheStreet

The road to a green bitcoin continues. This time, its with an idea so wild that it just may work. It arrives via a whitepaper titled Greening Bitcoin With Incentive Offsets by Troy Cross and Andrew M. Bailey. Did they find a way to align the protocols incentives with the green bitcoin future some people want? Or are they testing the waters, thinking about selling a product that not yet exists?

Related Reading | What Did Musk, Dorsey, And Wood Say About ESG, Green Energy, And Bitcoin Mining?

A solid truth serves as the basis for the core thesis, abandoning proof of work is a non-starter. The assurances provided by bitcoins security model are battle-hardened and a key element of bitcoins attraction. But the authors also make promises that are hard to keep, bitcoins own inner workings can be used to engineer a financial instrument that eliminates its negative environmental externalities.

Can they? How would that work? Cutting to the chase, the paper proposes making ongoing co-investments in green mining to match bitcoin holdings so long as those holdings last. Why do the authors think thats a solution to the green bitcoin problem? Thats what were here to find out.

From the very beginning, the paper makes clear who its ideal public is. We begin with two assumptions. First, bitcoin is an attractive investment, environmental impact aside; second, carbon-intensive bitcoin mining is to be minimized. If you dont believe in those two statements, the paper is not for you.

The first part of the thesis is that holding bitcoin incentivizes mining, which may or may not be green. To prove that, the authors begin with facts, All mining revenue comes in the form of block rewards and fees. Currently, 328,500 bitcoin in block rewards are claimed by miners annually, while roughly 18,000 bitcoin are collected in transaction fees.

According to the authors, just holding bitcoin is not as neutral as you might think. What can appear to be inert (merely holding) is in fact an active ingredient in bitcoin price discovery and mining profitability. Thus, minings externalities are the indirect result of bitcoin ownership. Keep reading even if youre not following, it will make sense soon.

The second part of the thesis is that green mining disincentivizes mining. How? New green mining means faster block discovery, which makes mining difficulty go up, which drives up the energy and hardware costs required to mine a given amount of bitcoin, lowering the incentive to mine, and thus lowering emissions from mining.

Lets mix those two parts and the core thesis emerges:

This is the point at which what we give to the carbon-intensive miner with one hand (increased value of block reward through holding bitcoin) we take away with the other (increased costs to win a block reward through green mining).

And this graphic puts everything in perspective:

Youll have to go to the white paper for the precise mathematics. The operation isnt complex, and it involves the total of coins that havent been lost and each persons holdings. It arrives at a rough percentage:

If green mining had an expected net return of zero, we would recommend a quarterly co-investment in green mining worth .575% of ones bitcoin allocation. If green mining were profitable, as it presently is, then the investment required in green mining may be substantially less, perhaps .5%.

Needless to say, the part about the whole enterprise being profitable is a key part of the proposition. The economic incentives have to be there for this to work. To count on people investing in green bitcoin out of the kindness of their hearts would be a mistake. So far, mining with renewables is very profitable. And theres no reason to think that this will change anytime soon.

This is where the paper gets controversial:

Whats needed here is a financial productcall it a Green Co-investment Instrument (GCI)that takes as inputs: effective market cap, hashrate, fees, block rewards, the profitability of green mining, and the size of an investors bitcoin holdings.

Are the authors trying to create a new financial product? In the paper, they explore several possibilities on how the newly minted GCI could work. They assume that therell be competition, not just one GCI, and that people will choose the one that suits them better. Still, it sounds like theyre testing the waters and planning to develop the first GCI themselves.

Related Reading | What Green Bitcoin May Mean for the Crypto Mining Industry

We could be wrong, though.

The most important thing is, what do you think? Did their reasoning convince you? Did they solve green bitcoin or is their logic faulty? Would you partake in something like this? Are they really using bitcoins inner workings to engineer a financial instrument that eliminates its negative environmental externalities? Or are they just trying to sell you a new financial product?

See the original post here:
Is This A Proposal To Incentivize Green Bitcoin Mining Or A Marketing Ploy? | Bitcoinist.com - Bitcoinist

Brookings,an institute described as one of Americas most prestigious think-tanks, believes that law enforcement has a misguided perception ofBitcoin(CRYPTO:BTC) andEthereum(CRYPTO:ETH) as a way to evade sanctions.

What Happened:In areportpublished on March 7, first noted on Protos, the think-tank said that a persistent misconception has taken root among policymakers since cryptocurrencies branched into the mainstream.

Citing Bitcoin as a way around sanctions proves an inaccurate understanding of how the technology works, as per Brookings.

Although Bitcoin and related cryptocurrencies offer some anonymizing features, they are in fact highly traceable. In a series of recent cases, investigators have demonstrated how to use the visible and immutable ledger of decentralized blockchains to trace illegal transactions and sometimes even recover stolen funds, the report read.

Instead, policymakers should be concerned about privacy-focused cryptocurrencies likeMonero(CRYPTO:XMR) andZcash(CRYPTO:ZEC).

Monero uses privacy-enhancing technologies to conceal the identities IP addresses and identities of those trading tokens. These features give criminals a way to evade law enforcement and convert coins to cash, Brookings said.

Incidentally, XMR and ZECsurgedby 28.3% and 20.9%, respectively, on Wednesday outperforming BTC and ETH by a considerable margin.

Researchers also pointed to the use of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) as an area of concern for officials. Exchanges likeUniswap(CRYPTO:UNI) dont require users to comply with KYC laws, unlike centralized ones such asCoinbase Global Inc(NASDAQ:COIN) that comply withgovernment agencies requestsfor customer information.

DEXs are also not controlled by a single entity, which makes it difficult to police sanctions enforcement across these platforms.

Price Action:At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $39,170 and Ethereum was trading at $2,607. Both assets gained less than 0.50% in the last 24-hours.

Monero was trading at $171.98, down 1.49% over the last day. Zcash was trading at $153.12, up 8.84% over the same period.

Photo byKristina Flouron Unsplash

2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Don't Worry About Bitcoin Or Ethereum But These Cryptos Could Be Used To Evade Sanctions, Top US Think Ta - Benzinga

Yuri Molchan

Seasoned trader advises Gen Z on Bitcoin, crypto, including ADA, NFTs and stocks, explains why he is bullish on BTC

Old-school commodity trader Peter L. Brandt, who has been in the business since the 70sfor roughly 50 yearshas taken to Twitter to share some investment pieces of advice with people from Generation Z.

In particular, he mentioned Bitcoin andADA.

In one of his recent tweets, Peter Brandt shared several recommendations to Gen Z college students regardinghow to build their careers and manage their savings/earnings.

In particular, Brandt advises them to picka degree in a field where one can easily secure a well-payingjob and avoid student debt, if that is possible.

He also touched on the topic of investment, and this is where he mentioned the biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization,Bitcoin. Brandt believes that Gen Zers should allocate most of their savings into BTC, as well as tostocks of solid companies and then just hodl them.

Keep buying and hope for cheap prices, he addedin the tweet.

A Twitter user asked Brandt how long he has been bullish on Bitcoin, and the seasoned trader answeredthat he has been bullish on BTC for years. However, he tries to be honest and sharenot only bullish signals when charts reveal them.

Curiously, in early March this year, Brandt tweeted that he was against "hodling" Bitcoin. He wrote that the asset has had four declines of roughly 80%,and hodlers had to wait for a 400%recovery to reach the previous all-time high.

In the thread, the trader received numerous questions from commentators. Answering one of them, Brandt wrote thataside from Bitcoin, he believes in stocks more than in cryptocurrencies, saying that "crypto is still unproven"and that he prefers quality stocks over it.

He recommends avoiding the majority of altcoins, as well as NFTs ("jpgs").

I am also very favorable toward rental income property. Between quality stocks and crypto I prefer quality stocks. Crypto is still unproven IMO. Avoid 8hitcoins and jpgs. Hope for a bear market so that stocks can be bought cheaply.

In particular, he slammed the native Cardano crypto token, ADA.

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Savvy Trader Peter Brandt Gives Bullish Bitcoin-Related Advice to Gen Zers, Here's What He Says - U.Today

The cryptocurrency market remains in a state of flux as investors are once again focused on what steps the U.S. Federal Reserve might take to combat rising inflation and markets wobble as the situation in Ukraine remains tense.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of Bitcoin (BTC) has hovered around the $44,000 support level and traders are hopeful that an inverse head and shoulders chart pattern will lead to a sustained bullish breakout.

Heres a survey of what several analysts in the market are keeping an eye on moving forward as global issues from inflation to war continue to make their presence felt in the cryptocurrency market.

Insight into what may lie ahead for Bitcoin based on its On-Balance Volume (OBV), which is a momentum indicator that uses volume flow to predict changes in the price of an asset, was provided by market analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user IncomeSharks who posed the following chart highlighting the bullish reversal in the indicator.

The analyst said,

A similar bullish take on the current price action for BTC was offered by analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user CredibleCrypto, who posted the following lower time frame chart that indicates Bitcoin has more room to run.

CredibleCrypto said,

Related: Fidelity International launches Bitcoin ETP on Deutsche Boerse

A final bit of analysis that also took BTC momentum into consideration was offered by market analyst and Twitter user Caleb Fransen, who posted the following chart that included the Williams%R oscillator, a momentum indicator that measures overbought and oversold levels.

According to Fransen, when there is a full oscillation from oversold to "overbought", it indicates a momentum thrust, an event that has occurred six times for Bitcoin since January 2020.

Fransen said,

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.999 trillion and Bitcoins dominance rate is 42%.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Bitcoin price is likely starting the next push up if $42K holds as support - Cointelegraph

If the latest slew of cryptocurrency commercials at the Superbowl is any indicator, crypto is officially mainstream. Advertisements featuring stars like LeBron James and comedians like Larry David show that everyone is getting in on crypto. Coinbase, one of thelargest cryptocurrency exchanges, even offered new users a promotion of $15 worth of bitcoin to sign on. But most of this excitement isn't focused on bitcoin. Last year, over $33 billion of venture capital flowed into crypto, but very little went toward bitcoin development.

While bitcoin was initially perceived by the mainstream as a mysterious and nefarious form of payment for drugs and contraband, those who evangelized the cryptocurrency spoke of it revolutionizing our financial systems and our concept of money. It was the beginning of a financial counterculture in response to a distrust of government and financial institutions in the wake of the Great Recession in 2008. Today, veteran investors like Ray Dalio and financial institutions like Fidelity and Goldman Sachs are embracing bitcoin.

While bitcoin remains the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, its representation of the overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies is in decline.

For one thing, as a usable consumer payment system, bitcoin hasn't succeeded. While bitcoin is a mainstream asset, its inherent flaws rarely allow it to be used as a common payment system. For example, it's slow. Let's face it: No one wants to wait 20 minutes at the coffee shop for their bitcoin payment to go through.

The first bitcoin traded in 2009 a year when the latest feature on the iPhone was 3G and 32 gigabytes of storage was considered luxurious. Thirteen years on, the technology behind bitcoin is dated. It isn't built to process the high volume of transactions we require from it today. Its narrative has also pivoted from a payment system to a storage of value, primarily because its supply is maxed out at 21 million. Its verification process is also heavily criticized for its vast electricity consumption.

While the technology behind bitcoin is a historic technological achievement, the use cases for the crypto are one-dimensional. New, exciting ways to use this technology have emerged. Nonfungible tokens are changing the way art and music are bought and sold. Decentralized finance is changing the way consumers manage their capital. And the metaverse is seeking to redefine social media, online gaming, advertising, and shopping.

Every form of consumer technology will be affected by these new crypto use cases, none of which are related to bitcoin.

Ethereum launched in 2015 and is now the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap . And just like bitcoin, it represents a pivotal change for blockchain technology. I dislike calling ethereum a cryptocurrency because it is much more.

Ethereum is a global computing-engine powerhouse capable of being programmed, akin to Apple's iOS or Google's Android operating system. Similar to how developers create apps for iOS or Android, developers can create decentralized apps with the ethereum blockchain. Today, the ethereum blockchain is the building block for consumer crypto products. It is used to create everything from NFTs to video games.

This new breed of cryptocurrency can simply do many things that bitcoin cannot. Ethereum also consumes far less electricity and is deemed more environmentally friendly.

I love bitcoin and what it represents. But crypto utility has leaped beyond the digital value it provides.

The future of crypto belongs to the creation of a wide variety of consumer applications with use cases far more significant than bitcoin's.

Andrew Kiguel is the CEO and cofounder of Tokens.com, a publicly traded company that invests in Web 3.0 assets.

Disclosure: The author has positions in Tokens.com, Metaverse Group, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.

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The Future of Crypto Isn't Bitcoin Here's Why - Business Insider

When anonymous hackers infiltrated the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016, it shook the nascent world of digital currency and prompted speculation about who might have stolen what was then $71 million in Bitcoin.

But unlike traditional financial transactions, Bitcoin trades are publicly visible moving the coins risked revealing who was behind the heist. And so for six years, as the value of Bitcoin soared, the loot sat in plain sight online as tiny fractions of the giant sum occasionally disappeared in a blizzard of complex transactions.

It was as if a robbers getaway car was permanently parked outside the bank, locked tight, money still inside.

And then, this month, the car sped off.

In the strange and sometimes shadowy world of cryptocurrency, it was as if the earth shook. In the years since the Bitfinex hacking, crypto had exploded into the mainstream, and the theft had become notorious: a bounty worth over $4 billion. At last, it seemed, the hackers had emerged from hiding.

But it was not the hackers who had moved the stolen Bitcoin it was the government, which had seized it as part of an investigation into two New York City entrepreneurs: one a little-known Russian migr and tech investor; the other, his wife, an American businesswoman and would-be social media influencer with an alter ego as a satirical rapper named Razzlekhan.

Charged with conspiring to launder billions of dollars in Bitcoin, the couple, Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and Heather Morgan, 31, were accused of siphoning off chunks of the purloined currency and trying to hide it in a complex network of digital wallets and internet personas. If convicted of that and a second conspiracy count, they could face up to 25 years in prison.

The arrests shocked some acquaintances of the couple, whose goofy online lives appeared at odds with prosecutors description of them as sophisticated criminals with stacks of foreign currency, multiple fake identities and dozens of encrypted devices stashed in their Manhattan apartment. As they awaited a Monday court hearing in Washington on whether they should be freed on bail, Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan remained the subject of a confounding question: Could they really be at the center of one of cryptocurrencys enduring mysteries?

The charges were a watershed in the evolving regulation of digital currency and, to some, a step forward in the governments ability to trace its illegal laundering.

The crypto space has always been seen as like a safe haven for criminals, said Christopher Tarbell, a former F.B.I. special agent who helped lead the investigation into the Silk Road online marketplace for illegal drugs and other illicit goods.

Were now seeing that law enforcement has the knowledge, tools and skills to provide some accountability in what was the new wild, wild west of cybercrime, Mr. Tarbell said.

Officials have not said whether they believe Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan were directly involved in the Bitfinex breach. But their arrests laid bare the murky fringes of crypto culture, where the line between sophisticated virtual finance ventures and infantile online gags is razor thin and constantly shifting.

Sandra Ro, who leads the Global Blockchain Business Council, an industry association that advocates for the adoption of cryptocurrency markets, said the arrests play into the narrative that the crypto community is populated by dubious and fringe characters, which is not the case.

There are adults in the room, Ms. Ro said, who are building real products and services to grow a multitrillion-dollar industry responsibly.

For many who follow the industry, Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan came off as familiar characters in a realm where fortune favored the boldest investors, the flashiest personalities got rich fast and a single, obtuse tweet could rattle entire markets.

Almost immediately after the arrests, the hyperactive community that discusses cryptocurrency on social media and message boards began to pore over Ms. Morgans bizarre digital trail. Her videos little-watched before she was charged were suddenly being shared widely.

In one, apparently recorded at brunch, Ms. Morgan marvels at the size of her plate of pancakes, sneers, sticks out her tongue and wags her fingers before announcing that she is offering a commentary about consumerism and social medias superficial nature.

The Bitfinex hacking was the stuff of legend, but Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan hardly appeared to be suave, or subtle, digital cat burglars or the tip of a grand conspiracy.

Sharing the pancake video, one typically irreverent Twitter account that comments on cutting-edge financial markets in an all-caps parody of the Incredible Hulk captured a widely expressed reaction to the revelation: OK. THE HACKERS ARE NOT CIA. THEY ARE IDIOTS.

Ms. Morgan was a regular contributor to Forbes and Inc., writing columns that advised her fellow entrepreneurs on how to protect their digital currency, and recommending rapping as a form of self-care, as she did through her alter-ego, Razzlekhan (Genghis Khan, but with more pizazz, her website says).

Those who know Ms. Morgan said her social media stunts were part of an elaborate act to confront social pressures.

She works to free herself from a lot of the scripts that are embedded in our society, said Morgan Brittni Sonnenfeld, who said she is Ms. Morgans cousin. I admire her for that, she has a lot of strength. Ms. Sonnenfeld acknowledged that news coverage of Ms. Morgan had made her sound a bit crazy, and she wondered whether Ms. Morgans persona may have drawn the authorities to her.

I wonder, why do they want people looking at her? Who are we not looking at? Why are they choosing this specific person? Ms. Sonnenfeld said.

The arrests also surprised Ms. Morgans friends, who described her as a disarmingly honest colleague in an industry defined by cutthroat competition.

It is very jarring to think someone so open and vulnerable with people would have secrets, one friend, Nora Poggi, said. She is someone I care a lot about.

In court records, the Justice Department describes the trail that it says led investigators to Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan.

In January 2017, five months after hackers hit Bitfinex, a portion of what they stole was moved in small complex transactions into accounts that the couple controlled, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Washington.

This shuffling, which created a voluminous number of transactions, appeared to be designed to conceal the path of the stolen Bitcoin, the complaint says.

Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan were budding tech entrepreneurs at the time. Mr. Lichtenstein specialized in cryptocurrency and coding, according to his LinkedIn profile, and Ms. Morgan had returned from the Middle East, where she focused on currency markets.

Anirudh Bansal, the couples lawyer, declined a request for comment. But in court papers, he has made it clear that he believes the governments case is weak and relies on unsupported, conclusory leaps.

Beyond Ms. Morgans highly public persona, little is known about the couple. They have been together for seven years and married for three, Mr. Bansal told a federal magistrate judge in Manhattan on Tuesday during arguments over whether the couple should be released on bail.

In saying that his clients were not a risk to flee, Mr. Bansal offered some personal details about them.

Mr. Lichtenstein, Mr. Bansal said, came to the United States from Russia when he was 6. His father works for the housing authority of Cook County, Ill., and his mother is a biochemist at Northwestern University.

A glossary. Cryptocurrencieshave gone from a curiosity to a viable investment, making them almost impossible to ignore. If you are struggling with the terminology, let us help:

Bitcoin. A Bitcoinis a digital token that can be sent electronically from one user to another, anywhere in the world. Bitcoin is also the name of the payment network on which this form of digital currency is stored and moved.

Blockchain. A blockchainis a database maintained communally, that reliably stores digital information. The original blockchain was the database on which all Bitcoin transactions were stored, but non-currency-based companies and governments are also trying to use blockchain technology to store their data.

Coinbase. The first major cryptocurrency company to list its shares on a U.S. stock exchange, Coinbase is a platform that allows people and companies to buy and sell various digital currencies, including Bitcoin, for a transaction fee.

Crypto finance. The development of cryptocurrencies spawned a parallel universe of alternative financial services,known as Decentralized Finance, or DeFi, allowing crypto businesses to move into traditional banking territory, including lending and borrowing.

Ms. Morgan, who was born in Oregon, runs a consulting firm that employs up to 30 freelance writers at a time, Mr. Bansal said. Her father served in the U.S. military and is a retired biologist. Her mother is a high school librarian.

Mr. Lichtensteins family had immigrated to the United States to flee religious persecution and there was no chance he would return to Russia, Mr. Bansal said.

In a later letter, another of the couples lawyers wrote that Ms. Morgan had frozen several of her embryos at a hospital in New York in anticipation of starting a family.

The couple would never flee from the country at the risk of losing access to their ability to have children, the lawyer wrote.

At the hearing, a prosecutor, Margaret Lynaugh, said in opposing bail for Mr. Lichtenstein, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Russia, that he had an active Russian passport and the means and intent to flee.

The judge ordered that the couple be freed on multi-million-dollar bonds, but at the governments request, a federal judge in Washington blocked their release and scheduled the hearing on Monday.

In court papers, the government has called Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan highly sophisticated criminals. Prosecutors said they believed the couple had significant additional assets, including hundreds of millions of dollars in virtual currency stolen from the Bitfinex exchange that had not been recovered, as well as access to numerous fraudulent identities bought on the so-called darknet, a hidden portion of the internet used for illicit transactions.

The government says the couple had also established financial accounts in Russia and Ukraine, and appeared to have been setting up a contingency plan for a life in one of those countries before the pandemic.

As evidence of what they depicted as a complicated money-laundering scheme, prosecutors say in a court filing that they had traced stolen cryptocurrency to more than a dozen accounts held in the true names of the couple or their businesses.

The government says in the court filing that when agents executed a search warrant at the couples Lower Manhattan apartment on Jan. 5, they recovered more than 50 electronic devices, including a bag labeled burner phone, and more than $40,000 in cash. Many of the devices were partially or fully encrypted or otherwise password protected, the court filing says.

In Mr. Lichtensteins office, agents found two hollowed-out books whose pages appeared to have been cut out by hand to create secret compartments, the filing says. (The compartments were empty.)

And then there was the couples cat.

As agents were about to begin the search, Ms. Morgan and Mr. Lichtenstein said they would leave their apartment, but wanted to take their cat, the filing says. The agents allowed Ms. Morgan to retrieve the cat, which was hiding under the bed.

But as Ms. Morgan crouched by the bed and called to the cat, she positioned herself next to a night stand that held one of her cellphones, the filing says. She then reached up and grabbed the phone, and repeatedly hit the lock button in what prosecutors say was an apparent effort to make it harder for investigators to search the phones contents.

The agents had to wrest the phone from Ms. Morgans hands. Court records provided no further information about the cat.

Reporting was contributed by Chelsia Rose Marcius, Kate Conger, Sheelagh McNeill and Ed Shanahan.

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Inside the Bitcoin Laundering Case That Confounded the Internet - The New York Times

A young woman walks past a Bitcoin symbol in the window of a company that offers blockchain application services.

Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Cryptocurrencies rose Tuesday with U.S. equities as tensions between Ukraine and Russia appeared to be easing.

Bitcoin climbed 4.6% to $44,177.34, while ether rose 7.6% to $3,114.09, according to data from Coin Metrics. Almost the entire crypto market was higher Tuesday.

The moves are likely a "natural market surge" after it had been "resolutely neutral" for much of the past week, said Clara Medalie, research lead at crypto market data provider Kaiko. She added that both bitcoin and ether have broken through previous resistance and are headed for one-month highs.

"The past month has been bearish for nearly all crypto assets following a prolonged bout of low liquidity and macro-induced volatility," she said. "It remains to be seen whether this upside break has conviction, with bitcoin still trading nearly $20,000 below previous all time highs."

Tuesday's upward moves follow an announcement from Moscow that the Russian Defense Ministry has begun returning some troops to deployment bases after training exercises near the Ukraine border.

Bitcoin traded choppily on Monday as the conflict had appeared to escalate, while stocks ended the day lower. The cryptocurrency has been trading like more traditional risk assets for several months as its investor base becomes increasingly institutionalized.

Although the bounce is welcome, it also shows the correlation between traditional and digital markets is "as strong as ever," Valkyrie Investments CEO Leah Wald said.

"Going forward, we believe the expected rate hikes are priced in and will not have much effect on prices," she added. "Additionally, fundamentals including active wallet addresses, total transactions, and multiple crypto asset apps ascending to the top of app store download charts after the Super Bowl shows there is still strong interest in and demand for bitcoin and altcoins. We remain firmly bullish and stand behind our belief that the second half of this year is likely to see a strong rally in digital assets including bitcoin."

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Bitcoin and ether rise as Ukraine-Russia tensions appear to ease - CNBC