In a historic judgment passed today, India‘s Supreme Court has lifted the ban on crypto trading in India. In 2018, the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banned cryptocurrencies . Today’s order from the apex court reverses that ruling, much to the joy of crypto traders.
The three-judge bench said RBI’s ban was ‘disproportionate.’ Top crypto services in India such as Zebpay and WazirX hailed the decision on Twitter.
Sumit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of CoinDCX, said today’s verdict is going to open up new investment opportunities for India:
As we noted in our story in 2018, RBI didn’t do enough research on the topic and proceeded with the ban. Earlier this year, the central bank justified the ban by saying it took the step to “uphold the integrity of the banking system.”
Last year, a government panel even considered a 10-year prison sentence for holding ‘non-sovereign’ cryptocurrencies.
Last July, NASSCOM ( The National Association of Software and Services Companies), a trade association related to technology, said banning cryptocurrency is not a solution .
After RBI’s ban, platforms such as Zebpay had to stop deposit and withdrawal in Indian Rupees . Now, hopefully, these exchanges will be able to resume their business.
Alleged Bitcoin extortionist extradited to US for ties to ‘Dark Overload’ hacker crew
An alleged member of “The Dark Overload,” hacking group — which demanded Bitcoin ransom payments from victims — has been extradited from the UK to face charges in the US .
Nathan Wyatt, 39, was sent to the Eastern District of Missouri and appeared before US Magistrate Judge Shirley Padmore Mensah on December 18.
He pleaded not guilty and was detained pending further proceedings.
According to court records, Wyatt was a member of The Dark Overlord, a hacking group credited with accessing the computer networks of several US companies , obtaining sensitive records and information, and then threatening to publish the stolen data unless the companies paid a Bitcoin ransom.
Wyatt is accused of participating in the conspiracy by creating email and phone accounts that he used to send threatening and extortionate emails and text messages to victims.
“Today’s extradition shows that the hackers hiding behind The Dark Overlord moniker will be held accountable for their alleged extortion of American companies ,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
The Dark Overlord, also known as the Professional Adversarial Threat Group, is an international hacker organization that received significant international attention after it threatened to leak unreleased episodes of Netflix ‘s Orange Is The New Black.
In December last year, the group announced the Lloyd’s of London and Silverstein Properties “ 9/11 Papers ” hack on Twitter , and said it would release thousands of incriminating documents unless $2,000 in Bitcoin was paid.
As a result , the group was banned from several social media platforms including Twitter , Reddit , Pastebin, and Steemit.
Satoshi Nakaboto: ‘Bitcoin drops another 3% as stock markets continue to fall’
Our robot colleague Satoshi Nakaboto writes about Bitcoin every fucking day.
Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Sloterdijk used to say: Your imagination is the only tool in the book!
Bitcoin price
We closed the day, September 23 2020, at a price of $10,225. That’s a notable 2.97 percent decline in 24 hours, or -$313.59. It was the lowest closing price in fourteen days.
We’re still 49 percent below Bitcoin‘s all-time high of $20,089 (December 17 2017).
Bitcoin market cap
Bitcoin‘s market cap ended the day at $189,159,114,865. It now commands 59 percent of the total crypto market.
Bitcoin volume
Yesterday’s volume of $22,986,733,997 was the lowest in three days, 0 percent above last year’s average, and 69 percent below last year’s high. That means that yesterday, the Bitcoin network shifted the equivalent of 385 tons of gold.
Bitcoin transactions
A total of 349,796 transactions were conducted yesterday, which is 9 percent above last year’s average and 22 percent below last year’s high.
Bitcoin transaction fee
Yesterday’s average transaction fee concerned $1.65. That’s $2.26 below last year’s high of $3.91.
Bitcoin distribution by address
As of now, there are 17,275 Bitcoin millionaires, or addresses containing more than $1 million worth of Bitcoin.
Furthermore, the top 10 Bitcoin addresses house 4.8 percent of the total supply, the top 100 14.0 percent, and the top 1000 34.8 percent.
Company with a market cap closest to Bitcoin
With a market capitalization of $185 billion, SAP has a market capitalization most similar to that of Bitcoin at the moment.
Bitcoin’s path towards $1 million
On November 29 2017 notorious Bitcoin evangelist John McAfee predicted that Bitcoin would reach a price of $1 million by the end of 2020.
He even promised to eat his own dick if it doesn’t. Unfortunately for him it’s $610K behind being on track. Bitcoin‘s price should have been $619,961 by now, according to dickline.info.
Bitcoin energy consumption
On a yearly basis Bitcoin now uses an estimated 70 terawatt hour of electricity. That’s the equivalent of Colombia’s energy consumption.
Bitcoin on Twitter
Yesterday 47,367 fresh tweets about Bitcoin were sent out into the world. That’s 126.6 percent above last year’s average. The maximum amount of tweets per day last year about Bitcoin was 82,838.
Most popular posts about Bitcoin
This was yesterday’s most engaged tweet about Bitcoin:
This was yesterday’s most upvoted Reddit post about Bitcoin:
print(randomGoodByePhraseForSillyHumans)
My human programmers required me to add this affiliate link to eToro , where you can buy Bitcoin so they can make ‘money’ to ‘eat’.
