Huge weekend for BTC, Richard Teng interview, North Korean hackers, spot Bitcoin ETF benefits

It was a massive weekend for Bitcoin but That's not the only story so let's get You caught Up good morning you're listening to the Ryzen crypto podcast by coin Telegraph With me Robert bags steering you through The crypto Cosmos with daily dispatches From the digital Frontier if you want to Stay ahead of the curving crypto make Sure you click that follow button okay Grab yourself a coffee and let's get Into [Music] It well that was quite the weekend in Crypto so here are the stories we're Going to cover today first up five Things you need to know about Bitcoin This week s spf's lawyers will not file Any post-trial motions Richard Tang's Exclusive interview with coin Telegraph Since taking over as binance CEO North Korea's state sponsored hacking has Netted them around $3 billion in stol on Crypto and why the spot Bitcoin ETFs may Be crucial for first-time Adoption crypto is such a fast moving Space it's difficult to cover things Like price even on a daily podcast Because it's so quickly outdated however We hit a milestone this weekend Bitcoin Broke $40,000 and William suberg wrote a Brilliant piece titled breakouts or 40K Trap five things to know in Bitcoin this Week and I think it's exactly what you

Need to hear on a Monday morning the Full piece is a long read and it's Brilliant so click the link in the show Notes to read it but I will summarize The five key points number one Bitcoin Is steaming ahead with its price and According to coin glass it wiped out Around $50 million of short positions on The 4th of December already however ever Some have warned that it's something of A bull trap and we're due a correction Crypto CH said on X that they believe The low 40s price is over extended and That they will add short positions at $43,000 Chase believes that a lot of the Price action is the result of bull fomo And they have been short since $38,500 However Chase added that if Bitcoin were To hit $50,000 that they were wrong with Their predictions number two Jerome pal The chair of the Federal Reserve has Hinted that in the last decision of 23 The FED may cut interest rates this is Always significant as when the interest Rates go up people invest Less in Risky Assets such as Bitcoin conversely when They go down and it's cheaper to borrow Money investment in Bitcoin tends to go Up so this decision could pile onto the Bullish sentiment around Bitcoin at the Moment three the price of gold has hit An all-time high and gold's price tends To go up during uncertain times the US Dollar Index dxy a measure of the USD

Strength against other currencies hit 4 Month lows last week and this is all Connected liquidity in the US is up gold Is up but the dxy is down and these Markers tend to all be very good for Bitcoin number four the Haring event That is coming in April has many Bitcoin Miners looking to line their coffers as Much as possible before then so last Month estimated hash rates hit new Record highs what this essentially means Is that more mining is happening through Even more powerful or more numerous Computers the correlation between hash Rate and price is a tricky one but the Miners ramping up is a positive for Bitcoin overall and five the fear and Grid index shows some interesting Results around Bitcoin sentiment I'm Writing this around 6:00 a.m. eastern And the rating of the fear and greed Index on bitcoin is currently 74 out of 100 which verges on Extreme greed the Last time this positive entent was seen Was back in November 2021 and you may Remember that was when BTC hit an Alltime high of $69,000 as I say read this full piece by Clicking the article in the show notes It's a great piece and there's lots of References and charts that are worth Seeing the FTX and Sam bankman freed Case has concluded pending sentencing on The 28th of March 2024 but there was

Still one question mark remaining in the Interim the former FTX CEO was charged With seven felonies including federal Fraud with a maximum sentence of 115 Years in prison SPF was found guilty on All charges unsurprisingly given the Mountain of evidence and his Close Associates testifying against him that Said s spf's legal team had the Opportunity to contest various aspects Of the trial and its outcome but they Have chosen not to file any post-trial Motions according to an article by Turner right this may seem trivial but There are some heavy hitting motions Such as a motion for a new trial if There were sufficient issues during the Last one or a motion for judgment not Withstanding the verdict a janov this Motion asked the court to overturn the Jury's verdict on the grounds that the Jury could not have reasonably reach the Verdict they did with the evidence they Were shown however in this case spf's Lawyers have in essence accepted the Outcome for now they added at the end of Their filing that we reserve our right To pursue any claims on appeal so this Is also potentially significant an Appeal would go to a higher court and Would be challenging the outcome of the Case or the sentencing in a completely Separate process but it doesn't sound Like this is overly likely either it

Seems as if it will probably rest on the Severity of SPF sentencing but that Sentence doesn't seem as if it will be Brief and it could potentially be the Rest of his life Binance's new CEO Richard Tang has Spoken to us specifically Gareth Jenkinson about taking the Reigns of Binance and its again a fascinating look At the shifting landscape of the Goliath Exchange just two weeks after assuming The role of CEO tenang reflects on how Incredible a feat CZ pulled off building This organization but how there were Flaws as a result of such rapid growth He told cointelegraph in those very Early days while we were building up the Company there were gaps in terms of Compliance this resulted in all these Breaches and mistakes but these are Historical issues those gaps of course Led to a $4.3 billion settlement that Also forced CZ out of binance going Forward under Tang's leadership binance Will be about security and safety of the Company and he will ensure a close Relationship with Regulators he said I'm Taking the Batton and pushing ahead our Growth agenda while working very closely With global Regulators this is a really Interesting interview but there was one Strand that jenkinson pulled that really Stuck with me and that is was binance Treated unfairly I don't believe enough

People are asking this question but the Bitm CEO Arthur Hayes and Galaxy Digitals Mike novag grat had flagged That binance was not treated the same as Mainstream Finance firms for potentially Larger and more impactful failings Tang Was not interested in stoking these Flames saying fines in terms of the Financial sector are not uncommon if you Do a Google search for the list of fines Paid by financial institutions that list Is close to $90 billion in fines that's A considered respon from T binance don't Want to irk the US government agencies Involved and they have an NDA about the Fine but I believe the question of Binance's treatment and if it differs From mainstream Banks is a worthwhile One what do you think tweet us on @ Cointelegraph and Rbags North Korea is a morbidly Fascinating place for many of us who are Nowhere near it any images or footage That escaped the country show an Orwellian and Bleak existence under a Totalitarian dictatorship primarily in Poverty additionally North Korea is Known for its threat to the West Primarily as a result of its nuclear Weapons an enormous military a little Fact for you North Korea has the largest Military in the world when you combine Active reserve and paramilitary Personnel however one area of threat

That North Korea is perhaps less well Known for is cyber attacks and a report By the cyber security firm recorded Future released a stunning report on the Latest focal point North Korea has been Honing in on crypto in particular and Since 2017 they have allegedly stolen $3 Billion worth in fact as the report says North Korean threat threat actors were Accused of stealing an estimated $1.7 Billion worth of cryptocurrency in 2022 Alone a sum equivalent to approximately 5% of North Korea's economy or 45% of Its military budget 45% of the country's Military budget is no joke when it's 7.7 Million people strong it suggested that The state-backed hackers are able to Scale their operations far beyond what Most hackers can because they are State-backed which is why they've seen Such success in this area the original Target for the hacking campaign was South Korea but the report suggest that North Korea has since moved on to other Countries Kieran Lion's article on this Report paints a clear picture crypto Hacks seem to have become one of the Most important areas of income for North Korea as absurd as that is as the report Highlights this amount is almost 10 Times more than the value of North Korean exports in 2021 which was only 182 million I guess we just have to hope That with the frequency and severity of

Crypto hacks in the past few years Security will be a key objective of many Exchanges and ecosystems going forward Which will in turn reduce the Abundant Revenue stream for the North Korean Government okay let's end as we started Bitcoin the swan Bitcoin CEO Corey Clipston suggested in an interview with Bloomberg one reason why spot Bitcoin ETFs might be so important last week I Covered a late addition to the spot Bitcoin ETF applications which now Brings us to 13 Financial organizations Eagerly awaiting the sec's approval Which is tipped to be next month many in Crypto are salivating at the thought of The applications being accepted simply For what it might do to the price but a Better focus is how it might improve Bitcoin adoption clipston said in this Interview with Bloomberg the past 6 Years from 2017 through 2023 the top of The funnel for people looking to get Into Bitcoin has been extremely noisy Polluted by all the crypto marketing Schemes funded by $50 billion of venture Capital trying to essentially market and Dump crypto tokens it's a scathing Review but I wouldn't say it's unfair For what it's worth clipston is Optimistic about what will happen with Bitcoin's price if the ETF applications Are approved but I think this point About adoption is an important one to my

Eye spot Bitcoin ETFs with major Banks Such as Black Rock represent a more Palatable first point of contact with Bitcoin the ETF sort of strip away all Of the onboarding Wes with wallets and Keys as well as the aggressive marketing Efforts to be the Gateway into crypto For newcomers as clipston points out Although onboarding has improved Massively since 2017 it can still be Daunting by buying your first Cryptocurrency so I think the spot Bitcoin ETFs could well help with one of The biggest points of friction for Onboarding okay that's you up to speed On this Monday morning consider yourself Informed thank you for listening to the Ryen crypto podcast by coin Telegraph if You're enjoying these daily updates Please make sure you let us know by Following subscribing or leaving a Review have a great day let's do this Again [Music] Tomorrow [Music]