Keith Asmussen, Joshua Ebedes, Preston Sledge, Max Bibeau
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Market Summary
Dotted lines represent non-trading days (weekends, holidays, etc.)
Top Stories
Joe Biden, Bill Gates And Elon Musk Twitter Accounts Hijacked In Mass Bitcoin Scam Hack
Wednesday evening multiple public figures and reputable cryptocurrency Twitter accounts were hacked and used to post Bitcoin scam giveaways. Twitter released a statement and then quickly disabled all suspected accounts. Although the scam was short-lived, many were fooled. One of the multiple Bitcoin addresses used, seen here, has amassed over $100,000. Despite the negative overtone that the high-profile scam may give Bitcoin, legislators are blaming twitter and its security measures rather than the cryptocurrency for the scam.
A Top Pentagon Investigative Unit Wants To Spy On Worldwide Bitcoin And Crypto Transactions
According to a statement published by the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division Command (USACIDC) is looking to license a major application from a crypto analytics service provider. With an application deadline of July 20th, the contractor must possess “the capability to assist law enforcement identify and stop actors who are using cryptocurrencies for illicit activity such as fraud, extortion, and money laundering.” With the recent Twitter hack and over $1.4 billion worth of cryptocurrency tainted by illicit use moved onto global exchanges from January to June 2020, the movement towards investigative oversight should come as no surprise.
PayPal Confirms ‘Crypto Capabilities’ Development Already In Motion
Due to a letter addressed to the European Commission of the EU, it is now confirmed that PayPal is actively working to bring cryptocurrencies to its 325 million users. This confirmation could confound many that speculated a trend of PayPal shying away from crypto with the withdrawal of association with Libra following its regulatory backlash in 2019. The letter states that PayPal has been working since last year to independently add digital currencies to their platform.
Chart of the Week
Bitcoins hashrate hit an all time high. This chart courtesy of @BobMcElrath on Twitter depicts the Bitcoin network's “proof of work equivalent days” which is a measure of the time required to rewrite the entire blockchain with 100% hashrate. An increase in new miners and more efficient equipment has been driving up hashrate, improving network security and stability.
Top Tweets
@jimmysong shames the rest of us who are just excited for alt-season.
Thanks @NeerajKA. The internet never forgets.
@alexbosworth brightens up our day with a pretty solid meme.
@mcuban. Come on, it’s funny. It also seems that this is the level of public discourse anyway.
Video of the Week
Joe Rogan Experience #1508 - Peter Schiff
Peter Schiff returned to JRE last week to discuss the state of the economy, how we got here, and what the future may look like. Even with the love-hate relationship the crypto community has with Peter (he realizes the underlying problem with fiat and the way the monetary system works but offers Gold as the solution currency and is strongly against bitcoin) it is worth the listen. Peter, though maybe a bit over passionate and dogmatic, knows what he is talking about and is an important defender of the free market. This podcast - somewhat sadly - is also very informative in how it shows how virtual interviews/discussions are much harder to have than face to face ones.
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Texas Blockchain’s ‘State of the Market’ is a student-led editorial. None of the views expressed by the authors should be taken as the view of the University of Texas at Austin or the Texas Blockchain organization. Furthermore, none of the views expressed should be taken as financial advice in any circumstance.