New data suggests that “wholecoiners” — Bitcoin wallets holding 1 BTC or more — now account for 95% of the cryptocurrency’s entire capitalization. That leaves just 5% of the market cap divided among tens of millions of users with a balance below 1BTC. The total number of wholecoiner addresses has steadily increased year-over-year since 2009, despite BTC's astronomic price rallies. On Nov. 27, Glassnode CTO Rafael Shultze-Kraft tweeted a chart revealing that more than 800,000 addresses currently hold at least 1 BTC. The number of #Bitcoin "wholecoiner" addresses (holding ≥ 1 BTC) on this day every year Data: https://t.co/VJm4nRFKp8 pic.twitter.com/6VJff2vB3r …

The Bitcoin (BTC) bull run may be dominating headlines, but the stalwart cryptocurrency isn’t the only coin to be showing strong positive indicators. According to data from Glassnode alerts, the number of Ether (ETH) wallet addresses holding a minimum of 1 ETH hit an all-time high on Nov. 19: #Ethereum $ETH Number of Addresses Holding 1+ coins just reached an ATH of 1,170,598 Previous ATH of 1,170,508 was observed earlier today View metric:https://t.co/IuKpD48IXd pic.twitter.com/jOvadjvSgK — glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) November 19, 2020 As of press time, Ether is trading at over $500, continuing a strong upward trend that kicked off at …

Major players in U.S. crypto lobbying are coming out in defense of noncustodial wallets. On Tuesday, the Blockchain Association released a new report presenting policy options for self-hosted wallets to regulators. On Wednesday, Coin Center published an expert view by Jai Ramaswamy, also defending such wallets. The Blockchain Association is a trade organization for the crypto industry, while Coin Center is a nonprofit focused on defending decentralization before policymakers. Both are based in Washington, D.C. Ramaswamy currently works on compliance for Celo's parent company, C Labs, and was formerly the head of the Department of Justice’s Anti-Money Laundering division. His …

As the cryptocurrency market is in the midst of a major bull run with Bitcoin (BTC) approaching its all-time highs, the security concerns of cryptocurrency self-storage are becoming more relevant than ever. On Nov. 12, Bitcoin — the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap — surpassed a $16,000 threshold for the first time since the 2017 rally landing BTC price at an ATH of $20,000. After hitting $16,300, Bitcoin has only ever been above this price for 12 days in its entire history. As Bitcoin is now sitting at its highest historical levels and the crypto community is anticipating more …

As the global crypto economy continues to prosper, with Bitcoin (BTC) currently occupying the $15,500 region, questions regarding the overall safety and security of digital assets continue to persist, especially in the wake of a new scam whereby hackers made use of a phishing email to direct users to a fake Ledger website. According to various reports, victims were scammed to the tune of 1,150,000 XRP, worth approximately $290,000. Dave Jevans, CEO of blockchain intelligence firm CipherTrace and chairman of Anti-Phishing Working Group, told Cointelegraph, “Ledger should clearly have a more aggressive defensive domain acquisition strategy, as look-alike domains were …

Global digital payment giant PayPal might be moving into issuing its own cryptocurrency after officially entering the crypto industry, according to a major industry exec. Meltem Demirors, CSO at digital asset management firm CoinShares, says that she will not be surprised if PayPal issues its own token after the company broke the news of its soon-to-come support for crypto.. In an Oct. 21 interview with CNBC’s Fast Money, Demirors claimed that PayPal’s supporting crypto could eventually become a basis for launching its own, stating: “I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the next six to 12 months, we see PayPal launching …

According to analytics data provider Glassnode, 16,159 Bitcoin wallets now hold 100+ BTC. A report Monday from the company stated that this figure tests the previous six-month high of 16,158, last seen on June 8. Glassnode additionally shared that the number of non-zero Bitcoin addresses reached an all-time high of 31,913,3555 on Monday; approximately 5,000 of these were recorded within the past 24 hours. On Oct. 5, Cointelegraph reported that analyst and market cyclist Cole Garner had highlighted a two-year record increase in new BTC addresses within the first week of October. Using data from Glassnode, Garner determined that around …

The Central Bank of The Bahamas, or CBOB, is planning to make its central bank digital currency project interoperable on an international level. Bobby Chen, the CBOB’s assistant manager of electronic solutions, claimed that The Bahamas’ digital currency — dubbed the “Sand Dollar” — should eventually be interoperable with other global currencies, local news agency the Nassau Guardian reported on Oct. 15. Chen said, “At the moment, it is currently only used in a domestic setting, but eventually we are working on a solution that will make it interoperable with other global currencies.” Cleopatra Davis, head of banking at the …

Blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace has published comprehensive guidance to assist law enforcement officials in identifying signs of cryptocurrency use when carrying out criminal investigations. The report notes that the U.S. Department of Treasury has identified a “consistent decrease in reported bulk cash seizures by agencies throughout the United States” since 2013, suggesting the trend may indicate increased cryptocurrency adoption among criminals. “The signs of cryptocurrency usage, however, can easily be overlooked by investigators unfamiliar with what to look for.” The report encourages law enforcement to scour confiscated phones and computers for cryptocurrency-related applications, bookmarks and authenticator apps, supplying a list …

The concept of a blockchain "dark forest" has been popularized recently by Ethereum and the existence of front-running bots that will copy any profitable transaction pending for submission. The bots are able to assess if any given transaction that just entered the mempool can be replicated, and they will immediately publish their own copy with a much higher gas fee, which virtually guarantees that they will be the first to claim it. The term "dark forest" is inspired from a sci-fi novel and indicates a place where detection means instant death — or in this case loss of funds. In …

Ledger, a crypto company providing a number of hardware wallet solutions, has obtained a successful System and Organization Controls, or SOC, Type 1 test. Friedman LLP, a New York-based accounting firm, ran the SOC 2 Type 1 test on Ledger, according to a statement provided to Cointelegraph: "By obtaining the SOC 2 Type 1 report, we are now able to provide an additional layer of verified security to our clients, assuring that the Vault solution is secured at all times and that we have the processes in place to ensure availability." A crypto storage solution for larger players and companies, …

Bitcoins (BTC) stolen from major cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex back in 2016 are on the move again, as hackers shift another massive batch of funds to unknown wallets. According to data from crypto transaction tracking service Whale Alert, Bitfinex hackers moved more than $4.6 million in stolen BTC on Oct. 8. These funds were sent to unknown wallets in two separate transactions of 435 BTC and 8 BTC. But the hackers have moved far more than this amount earlier this week. According to Whale Alert, Bitfinex hackers completed seven more similar transactions on Oct. 7, totaling at 2,900 Bitcoin, or $26.4 …