Atlas Angle

The following is a guest post by Kadan Stadelmann, CTO of Komodo Blockchain. Bitcoin miner centralization threatens Bitcoin, but former President Donald Trump’s pledge to slash energy prices can ensure its decentralization. Bitcoin mining pools, the majority of Bitcoin mining being done, appear to be centralized in China around a handful of entities—with Chinese mining pools making up approximately 54% of the Bitcoin hashrate, according to blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant. News reports about China banning the mining of crypto assets exaggerated the situation on the ground. The country still dominates the hash rate, largely thanks to its cheap electricity and infrastructure. A bitcoin mining pool is a network of miners who work together to mine Bitcoin blocks and share mini...

Roman Sterlingov, the man behind the crypto mixer Bitcoin Fog, is contesting a potential 30-year prison sentence following his conviction on several money laundering charges. In a 37-page sentencing memorandum submitted to the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Sterlingov’s defense team contends that the recommended sentences of 30 and 20 years by the prosecution and Probation Office, respectively, “vastly exceed” the penalties imposed in similar cases. The defense argued that these recommendations are disproportionately high due to the “cumulative effect” of various enhancements that punish different aspects of the same conduct — specifically, running a large-scale money laundering operation. Laundering conviction Sterlingov was convicted earlier this year on multiple counts ...

Franklin Templeton has filed an S-1 application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a crypto index exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to the Aug. 16 filing, the proposed fund — dubbed “Franklin Crypto Index ETF” — aims to offer investors exposure to the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum through a regulated financial product. The proposed ETF will track the CF Institutional Digital Asset Index, which currently includes only BTC and ETH. However, the filing states that the fund may incorporate additional cryptocurrencies in the future, depending on regulatory developments and market conditions. Coinbase Custody Trust Company has been selected to serve as the custodian for the fund’s digital assets, while Bank of New York Mellon will manage cash holdings and pe...

Onchain Highlights DEFINITION: Implied Volatility is the market’s expectation of volatility. Given the price of an option, we can solve for the expected volatility of the underlying asset. Formally, implied volatility (IV) is the one standard deviation range of the expected movement of an asset’s price over the course of a year. Viewing At-The-Money (ATM) IV over time gives a normalized view of volatility expectations, which will often rise and fall with realized volatility and market sentiment. This metric shows the ATM implied volatility for options contracts that expire 1 week from today. BTC’s 1-week implied volatility has seen notable fluctuations throughout 2024. The metric, a key indicator of market sentiment, remained relatively stable at around 50% in the early part of the year af...

Onchain Highlights DEFINITION: The total amount of coins transferred from miners to exchange wallets. Bitcoin miners have reduced their transfer activity to exchanges significantly in 2024, as illustrated by the decline in the orange line on the chart. This trend continues a broader pattern observed over the past decade. Miners to exchanges: (Source: Glassnode) Historically, periods of high miner-to-exchange transfers often coincided with significant price corrections as miners sought to liquidate their holdings during price surges. The chart spanning from 2015 to 2024 shows that despite Bitcoin’s dramatic price increases, miner transfers to exchanges have generally trended downward since 2018. Miners to exchanges: (Source: Glassnode) This decline suggests a strategic shift among miners, p...

The Dubai Court of First Instance has affirmed the legality of crypto payments for salaries under employment contracts in a landmark ruling on Aug. 15. The ruling, issued in case number 1739 of 2024 (Labour), marks a significant shift in the UAE’s judicial approach to digital currencies, reflecting the growing acceptance of crypto in the region. Crypto salary dispute The case involved a dispute where the plaintiff, an employee, claimed unpaid wages, wrongful termination, and other employment-related benefits. The plaintiff’s contract specified a monthly salary in fiat currency alongside 5,250 EcoWatt tokens, a form of crypto. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, ordering the employer to pay the owed salary in EcoWatt tokens, citing the employer’s failure to provide evidence of paymen...

The Dubai Court of First Instance has affirmed the legality of crypto payments for salaries under employment contracts in a landmark ruling on Aug. 15. The ruling, issued in case number 1739 of 2024 (Labour), marks a significant shift in the UAE’s judicial approach to digital currencies, reflecting the growing acceptance of crypto in the region. Crypto salary dispute The case involved a dispute where the plaintiff, an employee, claimed unpaid wages, wrongful termination, and other employment-related benefits. The plaintiff’s contract specified a monthly salary in fiat currency alongside 5,250 EcoWatt tokens, a form of crypto. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, ordering the employer to pay the owed salary in EcoWatt tokens, citing the employer’s failure to provide evidence of paymen...

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino predicted that brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) could become mainstream consumer products within the next 20 years. Ardoino’s remarks followed a breakthrough by Blackrock Neurotech, a portfolio company of Tether. The firm successfully restored speech in a patient who had nearly lost the ability to communicate via its brain implant BCI On Aug. 14, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report detailing how Blackrock Neurotech’s innovative text-to-speech brain implant enabled an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patient to speak again. Ardoino noted that this breakthrough might be just the beginning, with BCIs potentially offering solutions for millions worldwide suffering from paralysis, lost functions, and neurological disorders that hinder basic abiliti...

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino predicted that brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) could become mainstream consumer products within the next 20 years. Ardoino’s remarks followed a breakthrough by Blackrock Neurotech, a portfolio company of Tether. The firm successfully restored speech in a patient who had nearly lost the ability to communicate via its brain implant BCI On Aug. 14, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report detailing how Blackrock Neurotech’s innovative text-to-speech brain implant enabled an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patient to speak again. Ardoino noted that this breakthrough might be just the beginning, with BCIs potentially offering solutions for millions worldwide suffering from paralysis, lost functions, and neurological disorders that hinder basic abiliti...