US Central Bank’s Fednow Payment Service to Launch in July, Economist Calls Timing ‘Suspicious’

According to the U.S. Federal Reserve, the central bank’s Fednow payment service will start operating in July, and participants will be certified in April to leverage the Fednow Pilot Program. Ken Montgomery, the Fednow program executive, is urging American financial institutions to make preparations to join the central bank’s new payment service. Economist Richard Werner, … Read more

Report: US Government Auctions Off Failed Banks SVB and SNBY, Crypto Restrictions Apply

The U.S. government and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are auctioning off two failed American financial institutions, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank (SNBY), this week, with bids due by March 17. However, sources familiar with the matter said the qualifications to purchase the banks are stringent, and reportedly, the purchasers cannot deal … Read more

Galaxy Digital Report Predicts Bitcoin NFT Market Could Reach $4.5 Billion by 2025

As the number of Bitcoin-based Ordinal inscriptions nears the 300,000 mark, Galaxy Digital’s research team published a report on the subject that says the market size of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) built on Bitcoin could reach $4.5 billion over the next two years. The researchers at Galaxy think that new use cases stemming from the inscription … Read more

FTX Warns Community of Phony ‘Debt Tokens’ and Scams Claiming to Be Affiliated With the Bankrupt Exchange

On Friday, debtors who control the official FTX Twitter account warned the community to “be on alert for scams from entities claiming to be affiliated with FTX.” They also noted that neither FTX debtors nor any entity related to the company has issued any IOU crypto assets or “debt tokens.” The alert comes as a … Read more

Reddit User Discovers 7zip File Possibly Linked to Julian Assange Hidden in Bitcoin Blockchain

According to a post on the Reddit community r/bitcoin, an old file was discovered that may be linked to Julian Assange, the whistleblower and founder of Wikileaks. The encrypted 7zip file is in the output script from a transaction that took place on Jan. 5, 2017, and was mined at block height 446,713. Speculation Surrounds … Read more

Bitcoin Records Largest Mined Block to Date, 4 MB Block Containing NFT Causes Unease Among Small-Block Supporters 

Amid the controversy surrounding the Ordinals project and the debate over what types of data should be stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, the network mined its largest block, nearly 4 MB in size, containing just 63 transactions. One of the transactions was a 3.94 MB Ordinal inscription featuring an image of a wizard, and the … Read more

Meet Ordinals, the New Bitcoin NFT Engine, and the Drama Surrounding Them

Ordinals, a new way of using and getting content using Bitcoin, are enabling creators to harness the utility of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) directly from the blockchain, essentially creating native Bitcoin NFTs. This has stirred the pot in some circles, which are now discussing if this is the way in which Bitcoin’s blockchain should be used, … Read more

FTX Debtors’ List of Assets Omits Mention of Large Stash of NFTs and ENS Names Owned by Alameda 

This week, FTX debtors issued a press release and a 20-page document noting that bankruptcy administrators had located $5.5 billion in liquid assets. The document details that investigators discovered fiat currencies, crypto assets, and securities as part of FTX’s and Alameda Research’s cache. However, the disclosure to unsecured creditors does not mention the extremely large … Read more

Three Arrows Capital Founders Served Subpoenas via Twitter in Bankruptcy Process

The founders of the now-defunct cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) have been served subpoenas by the fund’s liquidators via Twitter. While serving subpoenas on Twitter is rare, it has happened on various occasions in the past, including when Wikileaks was served on Twitter in 2018. Founders of Defunct Crypto Hedge Fund Contacted Electronically … Read more

Bitcoin Core’s Version 24.0 Full-RBF Proposal Sparks Controversy, Synonym CEO Calls ‘Pet Agenda’ an ‘Attack’

During the last few weeks, a number of individuals have been discussing the upcoming release of Bitcoin Core version 24.0 and how the codebase will include full-replace-by-fee (RBF) logic. The discussion has become controversial as a few Lightning Network and zero confirmation advocates have expressed a distaste for the full-RBF idea. The CEO of Synonym, … Read more