Hodler’s Digest, November 10-16 – Cointelegraph Magazine

Top news from The WeeK

Bitcoin Won’t Drop to $60,000 Without a ‘Near-Term Threat’ — Michael Saylor

MicroStrategy founder and Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor ruled out the possibility of Bitcoin returning to $60,000, a critical price level for most of 2024.

“I don’t think it’s going to be $60,000, I don’t think it’s going to be $30,000,” Saylor said in a Nov. 14 interview with CNBC. Bitcoin is trading around $87,790, according to CoinMarketCap.

He said Donald Trump’s victory “very decisively” settled the future of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin in the U.S., adding, “I don’t see any threats in the near term.”

“I’m planning a $100,000 party,” Saylor said. “I’ll probably be celebrating New Year’s at my house, so I’ll be surprised if I don’t get over $100,000 in November or December.”

New York prosecutor suggests office will scale back on cryptocurrency cases

A prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) suggested that authorities are investing fewer resources in prosecuting cases involving cryptocurrency-related crimes.

“I don’t think there will be as much cryptocurrency material coming out in the future, at least not in SDNY,” said Scott Hartman at the Practicing Law Institute’s 56th Annual Securities Regulation Institute on November 15. Hartman, co-director of SDNY’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, hinted that many of the criminal cases targeting high-profile executives, such as former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, were filed in response to the 2022 cryptocurrency market downturn.

“We’ve had a lot of big events coming into crypto winter,” Hartman said. “There have been a number of significant fraud incidents, but we know our regulatory partners are very active in this area.”

Bitcoin Achieves ‘Repeated All-Time Highs’ Over Next 2 Quarters: VanEck

Bitcoin’s record-breaking rise following the US election is expected to continue, with investment manager and fund issuer VanEck targeting a price of $180,000 next year.

“This is just the beginning,” Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, told CNBC. creaky box 14 in November.

“We are now in blue sky territory with no technical resistance and I think there is a good chance we will continue to hit all-time highs over the next two quarters,” he added.

Bitcoin has risen about 30% since Nov. 5, leading a broader cryptocurrency rally after cryptocurrency advocate Donald Trump was elected president. It continues to reach new highs, with the current high set for November 13, reaching nearly $93,490 as of TradingView.

Bitcoin’s rally has cooled slightly, with the cryptocurrency trading at around $88,100 as of November 15.

Dogecoin investor lawsuit against Elon Musk dismissed

A 2022 class action lawsuit filed against Elon Musk and Tesla, alleging that the businessman manipulated the price of Dogecoin through media appearances and social media posts, was withdrawn by the plaintiffs on November 14, 2024.

According to legal documents, the plaintiffs agreed to withdraw their appeal from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and not seek post-judgment relief from Musk and the automaker.

The investors’ lawyers also waived their right to appeal the case in U.S. courts, and both sides agreed to withdraw the other’s application for sanctions in the case.

The motion to withdraw the class action must be approved by U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein before the two-year litigation officially concludes.

Bitcoin ETF Options Passes ‘Second Hurdle’ with CFTC Approval

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued a notice “opening the way” for spot Bitcoin ​​exchange-traded fund (ETF) options. Analysts are now speculating that the product could soon be listed.

“The ball is now in the OCC’s court and they are on board with it, so it will soon be on their list of issues,” ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote in a Nov. 15 X post.

“Here, let’s go.” ETF analyst James Seyffart added:

The CFTC’s November 16 statement announced the position of its Clearing and Risk Division: “The CFTC has no further role with respect to the clearing of these options.”

“These ETF options are cleared and settled by the Options Clearing Corporation, which is the sole issuer of all stock options,” it states.

Cryptocurrency executives are optimistic that this could have a major impact on the price of Bitcoin.

winners and losers

Bitcoin this weekend (BTC) It’s in $91,274; ether (ETH) to $3,097 and XRP to $0.90. The total market capitalization is $3.02 $1 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three rising altcoins of the week are Peanut the Squirrel. (PNUT) 1,826.99%, Pepe (Pepe) 106.64% and Bonk (bonk) 104.43%.

The top three altcoin losers this week are Monero. (XMR) 14.37%, Aave (ghost) 9.03%, Celestia (TIA) 7.56%. For more information on cryptocurrency prices, read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

most memorable quotes

“We’ve been living in a gas-lit world for a long time, where the SEC is generous with gas.”

joseph rubinConsensys CEO

“I look forward to Elon and Vivek transforming the federal bureaucracy with efficiency in mind while making life better for all Americans.”

donald trumpUS President-elect

“We are now in blue sky territory with no technical resistance and I think we have the potential to continue hitting all-time highs over the next two quarters.”

Matthew SiegelVanEck Head of Digital Asset Research

“I think it’s a very smart thing to say we want to take the Bitcoin that America has, maybe add some to it, and show the world that we’re going to be a technology-first country. Digital asset-first country. “I don’t think the dollar needs anything to back it up,” he said.

Mike NovogratzGalaxy Digital Founder

“After lagging for most of this cycle, Ethereum is starting to get bids.”

Rachel LucasCryptocurrency analyst at BTC Markets

“We look forward to continuing to advocate for ourselves and our communities and help ordinary people understand important world events.”

Polymarket Spokesperson

Predictions of the Week

If bulls hold key levels, Bitcoin price could reach $100,000 by Thanksgiving.

Keith Alan, co-founder of trading resource Material Indicators, said a return to the mid-$80,000s could ultimately be cathartic for BTC price strength.

“A retest of support at $86,000 would be healthy for $BTC and would provide insight into whether this “TrumpPump’s pace of $100,000 can be maintained soon or if momentum will cool. “More than 5 minutes,” he told X followers.

Allen later suggested that Bitcoin could hit its ultimate psychological target of $100,000 as soon as the Thanksgiving holiday ends on November 28.

But doing so required maintaining an upward short-term trend line.

“If support fails on the line, the price will look for support in the $75,000-$76,000 range,” he warned.

FUD of the week

Helix Mixer operator sentenced to three years in prison for money laundering

Larry Harmon, who was arrested in 2020 for helping criminals launder money through the Helix cryptocurrency mixer, was sentenced to three years in prison. District of Columbia District Court Judge Beryl Howell said the ruling showed leniency for his support of the Bitcoin fog mixer case.

Harmon faces up to 20 years in prison for the charges against him. The government sentenced him to 75 months on November 11. Harmon was fined $60 million in 2020 by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Harmon assisted prosecutors in the case against Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov, who was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison on November 8. Harmon expressed regret over his sentence. He also closed Helix two years before his arrest, the judge noted in sentencing him. “He turned himself in before he was arrested for this,” she said.

Harmon was also ordered to forfeit approximately $311 million in cash and “seize cryptocurrency, real estate, and monetary assets valued at more than $400 million.”

Korea investigates 600,000 cases of Upbit KYC violations

It has been reported that Upbit, a large domestic cryptocurrency exchange, is suspected of violating Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures on a large scale during the domestic license renewal process.

The Financial Intelligence Unit of the Financial Services Commission identified at least 500,000 to 600,000 cases of potential KYC violations at Upbit Exchange, domestic news agency Maeil Business Newspaper reported on November 14.

It is reported that authorities discovered suspicions of violation of customer authentication while reviewing the renewal of Upbit’s business license, which may affect exchange operations.

In Korea, cryptocurrency exchanges and virtual asset service providers are required to establish strict KYC procedures.

Bitfinex hacker sentenced to 5 years in prison

Ilya Lichtenstein, the hacker who stole billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin from cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016, has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Washington, D.C. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotely sentenced Lichtenstein at a Nov. 14 hearing after pleading guilty to money laundering conspiracy in August 2023. In addition to his prison sentence, Lichtenstein was ordered to serve three years of supervised release.

Lichtenstein faced up to 20 years in prison, but prosecutors asked for a five-year sentence because he had no criminal record, provided “substantial assistance” to other investigations, and was only able to launder 25,111 bitcoins out of the 119,754 BTC he stole from Bitfinex. , the current price of the cryptocurrency is around $87,500, making it worth over $10.4 billion.

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Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.