$12 to $12,000: The $100,000 Bitcoin halving is fewer than 100 days away...
One week in review: Jan. 27–Feb. 2 We've selected the hottest materials of the past week for you to stay up to date with the latest crypto news: | | #1. $12 to $12,000: The $100,000 Bitcoin halving is fewer than 100 days away | | There are fewer than 100 days until Bitcoin's mining reward is cut in half — and some crypto commentators believe this could trigger some serious price action. Weiss Ratings has released an analysis exploring the impact that previous halving events had on BTC. Prices stood at $12 when the mining reward was first cut in November 2012 and stood at $652 at the time of the second halving in July 2016. | | #2. Coinbase and Ripple execs unveil masterplan to drive U.S. crypto adoption | | Coinbase and Ripple are teaming up to push for smart regulations and transparency in the crypto world — all with a view to driving mainstream adoption and taking blockchain technology mainstream. Each company is sending an executive to serve together as co-chairs of the Market Integrity Working Group. They argue: "To improve market integrity and provide consumers the confidence they deserve, Congress may need to enact legislation to support the orderly and secure functioning of crypto markets." | | #3. Bitcoin ain't what it used to be, pioneer investor says | | Although excitement surrounding the halving is beginning to bubble up, some believe that BTC has left the good old days behind. One of them is Erik Finman — an early adopter of Bitcoin who became a millionaire by the tender age of 18. Speaking to Cointelegraph, he reminisced about how the cryptocurrency was "incredible" and "bleeding edge" when it came out — boasting a community that was united behind its cause. These days, Finman says the community is fragmented and hostile — and he believes that a price of $1 million will never be achieved unless there's evolution. | | #4. Prediction of the Week Bitcoin $100,000 bull run is here, say crypto YouTubers | | As BTC edges ever closer to $10,000, some popular social media personalities believe that the world's biggest cryptocurrency has already started its bull run — and prices could balloon to $100,000. Over the course of January, BTC/USD has gained over 30% — narrowly behind the Tesla stock as the best major investment opportunity available in 2020. Nicholas Merten, also known as DataDash, told Cointelegraph that the market won't see a parabolic run until BTC reaches $20,000. He added: "That's really what I define as a key bull market for cryptocurrencies, but we're trading higher. [...] We're going for higher highs and higher lows, those are all positive signs." | | #5. FUD of the Week Trezor wallets can be hacked, Kraken reveals | | Trezor wallets can be hacked to extract private keys with just 15 minutes of physical access to the device, according to Kraken Security Labs. The attack involves either extracting its chip and placing it on a special device or soldering a couple of critical connectors. From there, the chip is connected to a "glitcher" device that breaks the built-in protection, which prevents the chip's memory from being read by external devices. Then, the attacker can read critical wallet parameters including the private key seed. This vulnerability is not going to be an easy fix for Trezor, which would need to completely redesign the wallet and recall all existing models. | | #6. FUD of the Week Former UFC star and BTC bull Ben Askren: "I think XRP is a scam" | | We saw some fighting talk from former UFC star Ben Askren this week, who tweeted that he believes XRP is a scam. The ex-Olympic wrestler is notoriously bullish on Bitcoin and has also previously appeared on Instagram wearing a Litecoin-branded t-shirt. His tweet has been liked by more than 2,100 people at the time of writing. All of this comes after XRP marked a two-year low in December when it slumped to just $0.183. | | Feel free to explore the most important news with Hodler's Digest by Thomas Simms: | | | |