Bitcoin traders worry as price remains pinned below $50,000
One week in review: Feb. 28–March 6 We've selected the hottest materials of the past week for you to stay up to date with the latest crypto news: | | #1. Bitcoin traders worry as price remains pinned below $50,000 | | After reaching lows of $43,500 last Sunday, Bitcoin staged a comeback, managing to hit $52,000 on Wednesday. There was optimism that the correction was over and that BTC would now have the chance to return to all-time highs. | | Alas, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Fast forward to this weekend, and Bitcoin is once again struggling to break above $50,000 — a psychologically important milestone. Now, the nerves are starting to set in. | | Traders are now beginning to speculate that Bitcoin may continue to trade sideways for now. A gloomy macroeconomic picture dominated by rising bond yields and a pullback in tech stocks certainly isn't helping matters. | | #2. Analyst tells Tesla to dump Bitcoin for buybacks as shares plunge | | Tesla is now coming under pressure to sell off the $1.5 billion it holds in Bitcoin. Since the electric vehicle maker announced its crypto buy-in, TSLA shares have fallen by a stomach-churning 30.8%. | | Gary Black, the former CEO of Aegon Asset Management, tweeted that Tesla would generate "positive momentum" if it bows out of crypto, adding: "Highly unlikely, but shareholders would be very supportive." | | #3. Tether hit with 500 BTC ransom demand, but says it won't pay | | This week, hackers threatened to release sensitive company documents that supposedly belonged to Tether… unless they were paid a 500-BTC ransom — a staggering sum worth $23.8 million at the time. | | Tether announced what was happening on Twitter and declared: "We are not paying." | | The deadline has now passed, but what remains unclear is whether the extortionists are attempting a simple cash grab, or whether it's all part of a greater effort to undermine Tether and the rest of the Bitcoin ecosystem. | | "Either way, those seeking to harm Tether are getting increasingly desperate," the company added. | | #4. Prediction of the week: Bitcoin price is going to "infinity" — Kraken CEO | | Hodler's Digest has been home to some pretty sky-high Bitcoin price predictions over the years — $500,000 here, $1 million there. Determined not to be outdone, Kraken's CEO has gone nuclear… predicting that BTC will be worth "infinity." | | Jesse Powell believes that, one day, humanity will simply give up pricing Bitcoin in U.S. dollars — telling Bloomberg that a $1-million price tag in 10 years' time is reasonable. | | Research from the company he runs is perhaps a little more realistic. Kraken's latest analysis suggests Bitcoin could next top out somewhere between $75,000 and $306,000. | | #5. FUD of the week: BitMEX's Arthur Hayes and Ben Delo negotiate surrender to U.S. authorities | | The former CEO of the crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX is in negotiations to surrender to U.S. authorities next month. | | Arthur Hayes and fellow executives are accused of violating the Bank Secrecy Act by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. | | Transcripts from a virtual court hearing suggest he's going to surrender to the U.S. in Hawaii on April 6 — six months after he went on the run. | | #6. FUD of the week: Dev says $31 million Meerkat Finance exploit was a "test" and funds will be returned | | Alarm bells rang this week when Meerkat Finance, a decentralized finance protocol based on Binance Smart Chain, lost BNB worth $31 million — hours after it had launched. | | The team initially claimed it had been the victim of an exploit but then deleted all its social media channels. Due to the nature of the breach, some believe that a "rugpull" scam had taken place. | | But there might be some good news on the horizon for the victims of the exploit, which is one of the largest in DeFi's short history. A Meerkat Finance developer posted in a newly created Telegram channel and revealed the exploit was a "trial" testing users' greed and "subjectivity" — adding that the team was preparing to refund all victims. | | Feel free to explore the most important news with Hodler's Digest: | | | |