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  In this episode of “Bitcoin, Explained,” hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost revisit the Taproot activation saga, this time to discuss the burying of soft forks. Taproot, the last soft fork to have been deployed on the Bitcoin network, activated in late 2021. Now, Bitcoin Core developers are considering “burying” the soft fork, which means that future Bitcoin Core releases will treat Taproot as if the rule change has been active since Bitcoin’s very beginning (with the exception of one block which was mined in 2021 and breached the Taproot rules, but it has since been added to the protocol). In the episode, Provoost explains the benefits of burying a soft fork, in particular how it helps developers when they review the Bitcoin Core codebase or when they perform tests. After explaining the benefits, van Wirdum and Provoost outline a potential edge case scenario where burying soft forks could, in a worst-case scenario, split the Bitcoin blockchain between upgraded and non-upgrade

  Order books, essentially the list of orders that a trading outlet implements to show the interest of buyers and sellers, show considerable buyer interest in the $30,000 region on large exchanges Coinbase and Binance. There is 5,000 Bitcoin (BTC) sat ready to purchase down to a $30,000 price, and another 7,000 BTC down to a $28,000 price on Binance. The sell-off may not be over, but Bitcoin buyers can take solace in the knowledge that order books in the $28,500–$30,000 region are dense. Consequently, the price plunge due to Russia’s military operations may take a breather.  Binance is one of the leading exchanges worldwide, consistently demonstrating the largest spot volume over a 24 hour period, according to Statista.  For Coinbase, it’s a similar story with more acute numbers. There is roughly 3,500 BTC ready to buy for prices approaching $30,000, and 4,500 BTC ready to gobble up Bitcoin down to $28,000. Glassnode reported that “futures open interest just reached a 6-month low of $1

  Japan Exchange Group (JPX), the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Exchange owner, warned the public against companies that are misleading Japanese investors by selling crypto assets under the JPX brand.  JPX issued the alert after receiving reports about an ongoing attempt to dupe unwary investors into trading Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies on platforms misrepresented as JPX or one of its subsidiaries. The company highlighted that the fraudulent companies in question are replicating JPX names, logos and URLs in various forms — including iterations of JPEX, jpex and Japan Exchange — on their platforms and marketing initiatives. JPX’s alert noted: “Be aware that the above companies and trades have no association whatsoever with Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) or any other companies affiliated with JPX Group.” While JPX has not yet opened up crypto trading for Japanese investors, the company is currently spearheading numerous initiatives to test blockchain and distributed ledger techn

  As an unlikely but welcomed source of hope during crypto market jitters, Deutsche Bank’s report, the “Future of Cryptocurrencies,” sheds light on potentially bullish cryptocurrency activity.  A survey critical to the report suggests that neither traders nor investors are likely to part with their crypto holdings in the event of a bear market. Marion Laboure, a director of macro strategy at Deutsche Bank, told Cointelegraph: “It is interesting to note the deep bullishness for cryptocurrencies. Even in an extremely bearish crypto market in which values were to drop 80%, less than half of investors say they would reduce their investments or exit the market.” DB surveyed 3,250 United States consumers in early December 2021, 680 of whom use cryptocurrency. The survey was intended to be representative of the U.S. census, covering different genders, ages, incomes, regions and races or ethnicities. The report splits the findings into three groups: traders, investors and transactors. The lion

  The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan announced that it had discovered and terminated 13 cryptocurrency mining operations. The government executed the shutdown as part of its efforts to regulate the Bitcoin (BTC) mining sector, which has grown increasingly popular in recent years. As per the official statement, the miners were using a lot of energy, with a total power consumption of 202 megawatts. According to the Kazakh government, efforts to identify and disconnect mining farms from the electrical networks will continue. Following the discovery of illicit mining operations, authorized bodies will take operational and investigatory actions. As the planet’s second-largest Bitcoin producer after China’s crypto crackdown, power consumption in Kazakhstan has skyrocketed. As reported by Cointelegraph, Kazakhstan was home to over 18% of the world’s Bitcoin hash rate as of August 2021, trailing only the United States. In April, before China’s mining crackdowns, the figure wa

  El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in September 2021 has triggered a notable surge not only for its gross domestic product (GDP) but also for the local tourism development. According to Salvadoran Tourism Minister Morena Valdez, the tourism industry in El Salvador has surged more than 30% since the adoption of the Bitcoin law in September 2021. “We did a poll to check the activity according to the before and after of Bitcoin. The tourism sector increased in November and December. This increased by more than 30%,” Valdez said in an interview with the local news agency El Salvador News English on Monday. Valdez noted that El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption has also impacted the flow of tourist visits, increasing the number of tourists coming from the United States. Prior to the Bitcoin law enactment, the majority of visitors was coming from neighboring countries in the Central American isthmus. Now, as many as 60% of tourists come from the United States, she said. The

  Bitcoin (BTC) has dipped enough for one of its best-known indicators to signal a rare long-term investment opportunity is here. As of Feb. 22, the Mayer Multiple is sitting at its lowest level since Bitcoin bounced at $29,000 in July last year. Mayer Multiple down 50% in 3 months The latest in a series of metrics to echo the pit of the 2021 retracement on BTC/USD, the Mayer Multiple currently measures 0.76, having halved since November's $69,000 all-time high. The Multiple measures Bitcoin's current price against its 200-day moving average. Its creator, Trace Mayer, believes that any reading below 2.4 offers an increasingly profitable trade for potential investors, and the lower the score, the more likely a long-term buy-in will turn out to be effective. For context, the Multiple spends most of its time above 0.8 and has been higher than its current level 87% of the time since 2011. The current dip in the metric did not go unnoticed, with various social media users drawing at

  Bitcoin (BTC) recovered to $38,000 as Wall Street opened on Feb. 22 amid a tense atmosphere over geopolitical instability.  Bitcoin tiptoes around macro cues Fears of a dramatic bout of volatility accompanying the open thanks to Feb. 21's announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would recognize two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine had been high. Sanctions, still being announced at the time of writing, were likewise assumed to be about to fuel the fire but on the day, there was little movement. The S&P 500 was all but flat thirty minutes after trading began, leaving Russian markets as the main losers and gold as the standout winner. "I think that we're going to open in the red and then, immediately bounce up on the risk-on assets and have a slight correction on gold," Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe previously forecast. Fellow trader and analyst Scott Melker meanwhile focused attention on the potential for the Russia-Ukraine d

  After the Taliban took full control of Afghanistan in August last year, many international non-governmental organizations and services stopped operating in the country. Among them were payment services like Western Union and Swift. Many Afghans subsequently began to learn about cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology to — at the very least — receive remittances from abroad. As electronic payment services like PayPal and Venmo have never been available in the 5,000-year-old country, Afghans have lost many opportunities in the online business world. “We lost many opportunities like blogging, affiliate marketing and online dropshipping because most of them pay with PayPal,” Heshmat Aswadi, a local crypto trader, told Cointelegraph in an interview. “I learned a lot about blogging but it was of no use since I could not get paid online.” Aswadi is studying business administration at Herat University and wanted to create a fintech blog but as he researched on how to get pa

  Coinbase Wallet, an in-house wallet service offered by prominent crypto exchange Coinbase, has rolled out browser extension support for Ledger hardware wallets. The Coinbase Wallet extension, available in the Chrome Web Store, is a noncustodial wallet that allows users to store and transact cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFT). By adding support for Ledger, Coinbase users can opt to use a physical Ledger device to store the private keys to their wallets offline. Coinbase senior product manager Adam Zadikoff highlighted the development as being a means to providing an additional layer of security and greater peace of mind for users. He said: “We want to empower everyone to use DApps and access Web3, and that requires building the easiest-to-use and most accessible self-custody wallet in the ecosystem. Today’s release solves [..] the ability to use a hardware wallet for enhanced security.” As a part of the launch, Coinbase has partnered with Ledger to release a limited-edition

  The ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to be the dominant news story on Feb. 22 as Bitcoin (BTC) and the wider global financial tremble under the pressure as the world awaits some form of resolution to the matter.  Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of BTC has traded in a range between $36,360 and $38,330 on Feb. 22 as a swirl of positive and negative developments sent mixed signals to traders who base their trading activity on news headlines. Here’s a look at what several analysts in the crypto market are saying about the latest price developments for BTC and what levels to keep an eye on moving forward. A retest of the $38,000 support/retest zone The cyclical nature of BTC price movements was touched upon by crypto analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user Rekt Capital, who posted the following chart showing that Bitcoin is currently retesting the major support/resistance level at $38,000. Rekt Capital said, “Whenever BTC would br

  The nonprofit organization focused on the open-source stablecoin network behind Terra USD, Luna Foundation Guard, has closed on a $1 billion raise through the sale of LUNA tokens. In a Tuesday tweet, Terra said Jump Crypto and Three Arrows Capital led the $1 billion round with participation from DeFiance Capital, Republic Capital, GSR, Tribe Capital and others. The platform said proceeds from the sale — $1 billion — would “go towards establishing a Bitcoin-denominated Forex Reserve for UST,” a stablecoin in the Terra ecosystem. “One common criticism of algorithmic stablecoins is their reflexive nature and the hypothetical risk of a "bank run" scenario where demand to sell the stable outstrips supply in a way that causes compounding price decreases in both native tokens,” said Terra. “Although the widespread adoption of UST as a consistently stable asset through market volatility should already refute this, a decentralized Reserve can provide an additional avenue to maintain

  Amid a marketwide downturn across major crypto assets over the past week, institutional traders tipped almost $89 million into Bitcoin (BTC) funds. However, the money men failed to back Ethereum (ETH) investment products, which saw outflows totaling $15.2 million. Despite Cointelegraph reporting earlier this week that activity on the Bitcoin network was down 30% since its ATH levels three months ago, digital gold appears to be the asset of choice for sophisticated investors of late. According to CoinShares’ Tuesday “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” report, BTC funds have now pulled in a total of $178.3 million this month following the latest $89 million influx between Feb. 14 and Friday. In comparison, Ether investment products have seen total outflows of $2.6 million in February so far, and have only generated inflows in one of the past 11 weeks. Over the past seven days, the price of BTC has dipped 14.6% to sit at roughly $38,000, while Ether has dropped 16.2% to $2,668 at the time

  Canada’s war on Bitcoin (BTC) appears to be backfiring as the country’s flagship exchange-traded fund (ETF) adds thousands of BTC. Data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass shows that over the two weeks to Feb. 23, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF has increased its holdings from 28,854 BTC to 32,257 BTC — 11.8%. Institutions shrug off Canada’s crypto crackdown After a two-month lull in which its holdings actually modestly decreased, Purpose is back in fashion among institutional investors. The about-turn comes against a backdrop of what many are calling an “advertisement” for Bitcoin — the Canadian government blacklisting private wallets and formally trying to silence exchanges advising users to take control of their private keys. The reason is the lawmakers’ goal to monitor and seize the financial assets of anyone contributing to — or associated with those contributing to — the trucker protest movement. “Canada warning everyone to get their coins off the exchanges because they will ta

Bitcoin (BTC) began to see much-welcomed volatility to the upside on Feb. 23 as European markets opened with modest upside. $39,600 set to spark “heavy resistance” Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD rapidly gaining Wednesday, hitting $39,000 before consolidating. The pair had staged a steady comeback overnight, with progress totalling 6.8% versus Tuesday’s lows. “Seems I’m not getting that little pull back but continuation higher already. Doesn’t change the structure really much. $40k is key level,” popular trader Crypto Ed reacted.  Previously, Crypto Ed had warned that any push toward the $40,000 level could well end up as a relief bounce followed by an even deeper correction than that seen this week.  Summarizing the short-term scenario, meanwhile, fellow trader and analyst Matthew Hyland presented $36,300 and $33,000 as the support levels in play. For him, $39,600 was once again the upside resistance zone to clear, as it had been earlier in February.

  Amid El Salvador reporting on cases of the positive impact of the country’s Bitcoin (BTC) adoption, a government official in Mexico has once again urged that the country should follow El Salvador’s example on Bitcoin. Indira Kempis, a senator representing Nuevo León state, is confident that Bitcoin should be legal tender in Mexico because its adoption can potentially drive global financial inclusion. The senator is now developing a cryptocurrency bill based on El Salvador’s “Bitcoin Law.” She expects to introduce the bill to the Mexican Congress this year, Kempis said in an interview with El Salvador In English publication after visiting El Salvador a few weeks ago. “It is clear to me that financial exclusion is one of the public problems that few of us have addressed with feasible alternatives, and that this type of technology is allowing us to generate an alternative so that millions of people can be included in the financial system,” Kempis said. The senator went on to say that Bi

  Blockchain company Bitfury announced the launch of a new crypto-mining data center in Ontario, Canada. The new mining center adds to the list of existing Canadian sites, which currently operate in Drumheller, Alberta and Medicine Hat. Bitfury's new crypto mining facility in Ontario is expected to operate at 16 megawatts by the end of this month. According to the announcement, Bitfury has plans to add 12 MW capacity in the coming months, which will bring up the total capacity of the mining facility to 28 MW by May end. However, the company highlighted that the facility could be potentially upgraded to operate at 200 MW, over seven times the current capacity. Located in the city of Sarnia, the site is equipped with Bitfury’s in-house ASIC mining chips and other proprietary hardware and software. All of Bitfury’s Canadian crypto mining facilities heavily rely on Canada’s cold climate for sustainable and efficient operations. Citing the commencement of operations, Oleg Blinkov, Bitfu

  Bitcoin (BTC) checked its latest advance on Feb. 23's Wall Street open as Russia repercussions continued to play out.  Stocks sour crypto recovery Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD falling back towards the $38,000 mark during Feb. 23, having earlier reached $39,200 highs. Pressure from the Russia-Ukraine conflict remained an ever-present threat to equities, with which both Bitcoin and altcoins are closely correlated. The S&P 500 traded down 0.25% in its first hour, while Russia's MOEX index furthered heavy losses from Feb. 23, down another 7.3% at the time of writing. The Russian ruble continued its decline in step, accelerating past 80 to the dollar on news that the United Kingdom would stop Russian businesses clearing in either dollars or British pound sterling. With much uncertainty in the air, market participants looking for low-timeframe shots were having to reassess their approach on a constant basis. "Am bullish BTC over next f

  Bitcoin (BTC) may yet reenter the $20,000 zone, but the coming weeks could provide a solid buying opportunity, a new report forecasts.  In its latest market update on Feb. 24, trading platform Decentrader laid out the final areas of support between the current Bitcoin spot price and $20,000. Analyst eyes BTC’s 20-week and 200-week MA for cues Military action by Russia in Ukraine has markets in a spin Thursday, with stocks and crypto following a firm downtrend as uncertainty grips Asia, Europe and the United States alike. Bitcoin has already lost 12% in under 24 hours, and expectations are that the worst is not yet over —reactions to the Russian offensive continue to flow in, along with potential financial sanctions. As such, Decentrader, like many other analysts, is notably cautious on any trading decisions. “During times of uncertainty such as this, it pays to be very clear on your strategy. For traders, having clear invalidation levels and strong risk management will allow you to s

  Lord Fusitu’a, a former member of the Tongan parliament, has shared a timeline for the country’s plan to adopt Bitcoin (BTC). A Tongan nobleman, Fusitu’a had previously disclosed the four-step plan, a copy of the Salvadoran Bitcoin playbook. Step one is remittance, two is legal tender, three is Bitcoin mining, and four is moving national treasuries into Bitcoin, effectively upgrading the nation onto a Bitcoin standard. Lord Fusitu’a told Cointelegraph: “Let’s say the [legal tender] bill is passed in beginning to mid-October. After this, the bill goes to the palace office for three to four weeks. HM [His Majesty] will either give or not give royal ascent by mid-November.” The bill is then passed back to the government to undergo the “gazette” process. The gazette serves to notify the public of changes. Now, given that prayer week takes place in Tonga in the first week of January, Lord Fusitu’a is confident that by the second week of January 2023, the gazette will have been announced.

  The ongoing Bitcoin (BTC) price correction could continue as per almost a century-old technical analysis principle called the "Elliott Wave Theory." The interim bearish outlook put forth by the Elliot Wave Theory appeared as Bitcoin tumbled below $35,000 amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Bitcoin wave fractal eyes repetition The theory, which divides a price cycle into two sets—one consisting of five upward-trending impulse waves and the other having three follow-up corrective waves—points to the possibility of BTC's price dropping toward $25,500 in 2022. At the core of its bearish outlook is its record of predicting cyclical tops and bottoms throughout the Bitcoin market's history, as shown in the chart below. The Bitcoin chart shows three primary impulse waves (1, 3, and 5 in red) and two corrective waves (2 and 4 in red). The fifth wave is still in development, underscoring BTC's potential to reach above $100,000 in the future. But together, these five waves r

As some industry executives have questioned Bitcoin (BTC) as being the digital gold amid a massive market crash on Thursday, other experts continued to support the digital gold narrative for now, or until whale investors like MicroStrategy cash out. Ki Young Ju, CEO of South Korean on-chain analytics resource CryptoQuant, took to Twitter on Thursday to report that his platform has not observed any “significant on-chain activities” as of 11:00 am UTC. Institutional investors who bought Bitcoin via on-chain transactions do not seem to have sold their holdings yet, Ju wrote, adding that “institutions running algorithmic trading bots think BTC is a tech stock.” “I’d rather stay until Michael Saylor sells Bitcoin,” the CryptoQuant CEO stated, adding that he still supports the digital gold narrative for now: “I believe we can detect whale selling activity through on-chain preemptively. My point was that the digital gold narrative is still valid as long as these institutions hold Bitcoins.” O