Week in review: Musk sets condition for selling Tesla for Bitcoin; miners back Taproot activation

Elon Musk set the condition for resuming Tesla sales for Bitcoin, miners approved the Taproot activation procedure, and the Bank of Russia reaffirmed its skeptical stance toward digital gold, among other events of the week.

Bitcoin did not hold its local high

On June 14, the price of Bitcoin surpassed the psychological level of $40,000 and established a local high at $41,341 (Bitstamp) on the back of Elon Musk’s tweet.

However, by the end of the week quotes for the digital gold turned south. On Sunday, June 20, the rate at one point fell below $34,000.

Over the past seven days the leading cryptocurrency fell 2.8%, according to CoinGecko. Bitcoin’s dominance index rose to 43.5%.

Popular blogger and trader PlanB believes that the weakness in June is driven by more fundamental factors than just Elon Musk’s concerns about the environmental friendliness of mining or Chinese authorities’ restrictions on the bitcoin industry. The creator of the Stock-to-Flow model for bitcoin’s price is confident that even in the worst-case scenario the price could reach $47,000 by September and $135,000 by year-end.

Bitcoin is below $34K, triggered by Elon Musk’s energy FUD and China’s mining crack down.

There is also a more fundamental reason that we see weakness in June, and possibly July. My worst case scenario for 2021 (price/on-chain based): Aug>47K, Sep>43K, Oct>63K, Nov>98K, Dec>135K pic.twitter.com/hDONOVgxH1

— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) June 20, 2021

Bitcoin Morehead believes that now is a good time to buy Bitcoin when the price is far below the trend; Dan Morehead believes that now is a good time to buy Bitcoin, when the price is well below the trend.

According to Messari, over the last seven days the best-performing digital asset was Flexacoin (FXC) — up 459%. In the past week the coin price rose by almost 90%. Its market capitalization reached $1.16 billion.

The biggest drop among the week’s losers was the token E-Dinar Coin (EDC) — down 49.4%. The fourteenth place in the loser ranking this week was Kusama’s native token KSM, down 32.3%.

Bank of Russia spoke against using the “unclear” Bitcoin

The head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, once again pointed to the regulator’s skeptical attitude toward digital currencies.

She argued against using cryptocurrencies for payments between citizens.

«We treat so-called cryptocurrencies rather cautiously. They are a monetary surrogate, and we are against using cryptocurrencies—as even calling them money is not desirable—for payments inside the country», — Nabiullina said.

The Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska criticised the Central Bank’s stance toward Bitcoin.

Deripaska said that “even a poor El Salvador has realized the need for digital currencies and accepted Bitcoin as a means of payment.”

«When will the development of financial technologies pierce the wall of superstition of our central bank? When we, besides denials and press releases about the “digital ruble,” obtain a real financial instrument ensuring independence in external trade calculations?».

Bitcoin miners met Taproot activation conditions

Bitcoin miners have met the conditions for activating Taproot. The soft fork is expected to occur around mid-November 2021 at block #709,632, according to developer Peter Wuille.

As of block 687284, Taproot signalling has reached 1815 blocks this period, guaranteeing that absent very deep reorgs, it is guaranteed to lock in. Following that, it will activate at block 709632, probably around mid-November 2021. 🥕

— Pieter Wuille (@pwuille) June 12, 2021

The update will be one of the most important in the history of the first cryptocurrency, but some experts believe that it presents a potential threat to privacy.

More about Taproot you can learn in ForkLog’s educational cards:

Elon Musk named the condition for resuming Tesla’s Bitcoin operations

Tesla will resume sales of electric vehicles for Bitcoin when it confirms that at least half of the miners have transitioned to renewable energy, stated Elon Musk.

The head of BTC.TOP, Jiang Zhuoer, replied to the entrepreneur that as a result of China’s latest mining restrictions, the criterion has already been met.

Now all the mining facilities in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Qinghai provinces have been shut down, only hydropower mining farms in Sichuan are left. Currently the clean energy usage by #Bitcoin miners ⛏️already exceeds 50%. 😁 https://t.co/3jeFSXxy0R

— Jiang Zhuoer BTC.TOP (@JiangZhuoer) June 16, 2021

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell advised Musk to study the mining sector more thoroughly of the first cryptocurrency, which is more environmentally friendly than commonly assumed.

Coin Swap founder Erik Nurm stated, that Elon Musk’s ability to swing cryptocurrency markets with his tweets poses a risk to retail investors. Yet in the long term, Musk’s impulsiveness plays to the industry’s advantage by drawing a large audience.

Ukraine reports Clop operators identified; sources say they are not hackers

Ukrainian law enforcement said they identified six individuals linked to the hacker group behind Clop, the ransomware that attacked organizations in South Korea and the United States.

According to the cyberpolice, in 2019 Clop operators hacked four South Korean companies, compromising internal servers and employees’ devices. The hackers distributed malware via emails with malicious attachments.

According to the agency, law enforcement conducted 21 searches in Kiev and the surrounding region, seized computers, cars and about 5 million hryvnias in cash (more than $184,000).

ForkLog’s source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the searches targeted OTC traders through whom the ransomware operators handled bitcoins. They themselves are not hackers, according to our source.

Crooks distributed hacked Ledger devices to steal cryptocurrency

Users of Ledger hardware wallets received new devices by mail that purportedly should protect them from the 2020 leak. In reality, the wallets were modified by hackers and intended to steal cryptocurrencies.

The device is packaged in an authentic-looking box and resembles a Ledger Nano X externally.

Miners in Sichuan Province ordered to stop work by June 20

Authorities in Sichuan Province ordered a halt to operations for “key” miners and barred local energy firms from supplying them with electricity.

Local media reported that on June 18 the Sichuan Development and Reform Commission and the provincial Energy Bureau issued notices naming 26 cryptocurrency mining enterprises whose operations must be stopped by June 20.

Industry journalist Colin Wu drew attention to a sharp drop in Bitcoin network hash rate and a widening interval between mined blocks.

At the same time, mining difficulty after the latest re-adjustment at the beginning of the week fell 5.3% — to 19.93 T.

Hut 8 goes on Nasdaq and announces Ethereum mining launch

Canadian mining company Hut 8 Mining Corp went public on Nasdaq. Its shares now trade on the platform under the ticker HUT.

Meanwhile, common shares of mining company HIVE Blockchain Technologies are now traded on Nasdaq. Since 2017 they have been listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

Public mining stocks outperformed Bitcoin on returns

The market capitalization of the three largest publicly traded mining companies over the last three weeks rose by an average of 46%, rebounding from a mid-May low.

Over the past year, mining stocks have outperformed Bitcoin. In that period Bitcoin rose 334%, while the shares of four miners jumped even higher:

• Marathon Patent Group — up 3119%;
• Riot Blockchain — up 1445%;
• HIVE Blockchain Technologies — up 917%;
• Canaan Creative — up 400%.

MicroStrategy completes $500 million bond issue and tees up another $1 billion

MicroStrategy Inc., a supplier of analytics software, placed convertible senior notes worth $500 million, due 2028. Proceeds will be used to buy Bitcoin.

Later, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said the company will conduct a further issuance of common stock up to $1 billion.

On CNBC, Michael Saylor outlined the role of cryptocurrencies in the future of the digital world and explained the company’s business strategy.

Market participants welcomed the approach — while shares of crypto-linked firms fell, MicroStrategy’s stock rose.

John McAfee called US charges politically motivated and said he lost all his savings in crypto

Entrepreneur John McAfee, testifying in a Spanish court, called the charges against him politically motivated.

McAfee said he was certain that in the event of extradition to the United States he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

«He is a tax rebel and nothing more. A millionaire who does not want to pay taxes. He will receive all the guarantees of proper due process», — said Spanish prosecutor Carlos Bautista.

Days later McAfee said that nothing of his cryptocurrency holdings remained , all other assets had been confiscated, and friends disappeared out of fear of talking.

• The IRON Finance token devalued. Survivors include Mark Cuban.
• The CEO of General Motors did not rule out selling cars for Bitcoin.
• The source code of the World Wide Web will be sold as an NFT.
• Mail.ru will acquire a company that failed to meet obligations to ICO investors.
• The World Bank refused to help El Salvador implement Bitcoin.
• China protested the digital yuan for salary payments in Sichuan.
• Coinbase Pro added SHIB to its listing. The token’s price jumped 22%.
• Peter Parker? — Bryce?— Pierce spoke about a visit to El Salvador on behalf of the industry. The community responded with criticism.
• Robert Kiyosaki: the biggest crash in history is approaching, wait for Bitcoin at $24,000.

What else to read and watch

tighten regulation of mining in China has prompted local firms to consider relocation. ForkLog learned from experts how likely it is to move from China to Russia and what attracts miners.

On the site of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the updated text of the bill “On Virtual Assets” has been published. It differs significantly from the first draft — ForkLog broke down the situation in a piece.

In educational cards the magazine talked about the Solana project.

The most notable events of the week in the fields of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence technology are compiled in the traditional digests.

The overview of significant blockchain technology news covers a longer period.

On Monday, June 14, ForkLog hosted a livestream discussing cloud solutions in the crypto ecosystem, as well as cyber security in the DeFi sector, with Akash Network’s Russia/ CIS development manager Andrey Gnatyuk and Evgeny Pshenichkin, who represents HAPI.

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