I would like to start by congratulating you on your election as mayor of New York City. As you are a lifelong public servant to the city, I can imagine how this opportunity to serve the community feels. Eric Adams was just sworn in as the new mayor of New York City. If you are a fan of Bitcoin, you likely heard that he is an ally. Following Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who has taken a full paycheck in bitcoin, Mayor Adams pledged to take his first three paychecks in bitcoin. Great news for New York crypto enthusiasts, right? Well, New York’s red tape prevents him from accepting that salary directly in bitcoin. Sadly, more than anything, his good intention showcases the Empire State’s many regressive policies towards cryptocurrency. The most well-known payment platform for taking your salary in bitcoin is Strike. Strike, created by Jack Mallers, is used by some of the world’s most prominent figures, like the National Football League player Russell Okung, as their trusted way to accept their salary in bitcoin. Beyond this, Strike is powering payments for citizens in El Salvador, the first nation to legalize bitcoin as tender. So, I assumed that Mayor Adams would use Strike as his way to accept his bitcoin salary. Well, my assumption was incorrect as Strike is unavailable in New York! So, how will Mayor Eric Adams accept his salary in bitcoin? As Kevin Dugan reported for New York Magazine a spokesman for the mayor stated, “He will take his paycheck in dollars and then convert it to bitcoin through an exchange.” Big sigh. Not only is converting his salary to bitcoin rather than getting it paid directly more time consuming, but it also means that he is paying increased sets of transaction fees. If he uses Coinbase, the most prominent exchange in America, that could mean him taking a 2% hit on his salary just in commission fees. What citizen, let alone politician, would want to automatically take less of their money in than they earned? I experienced the ban on Strike first hand when I tried to set up my Bitcoin tip jar with Twitter. Through using the tip jar Twitter’s 200 million users would have a Bitcoin wallet. However, in order to utilize the feature you need to have access to Strike, which is banned in New York and Hawaii. Pretty startling that those are the two states where it is banned. With all due respect to Hawaii, it is not considered to be the financial capital of the world. But, if you live in New York you are being held back from partaking in the growing crypto economy. It isn’t just Strike — many of the biggest crypto companies are unavailable in New York. For example, Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, is banned in the state. This means that citizens of the Big Apple are falling behind in the digital economy. One explanation for the state falling behind in the growing bitcoin ecosystem is due to its negative perception of cryptocurrency. In 2015, bitcoin was considered a pariah after the fall of the online dark web black marketplace Silk Road. In the wake of that, New York State passed a set of restrictions against blockchain companies in New York.  Specifically it created the “BitLicense.” Alex Adelman and Aubrey Strobel of Coindesk describe the specific problems with the BitLicense, including that it forces companies to spend “… more than $100,000, surpassing the means of most early stage startups. It includes a 30-page application, $5,000 application fee, thousands of man-hours and the presentation of accounting and records from the last seven years. Of the 20 companies that have been issued BitLicenses, most are multi-billion dollar firms.” This means that entrepreneurs living in one of the world’s centers of capital are unable to build startups in arguably the fastest growing sector of investment. The situation in New York demonstrates the growing divide in the cryptourrency community. There are people aiming to build upon the mission of Bitcoin’s anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, to create an alternative financial ecosystem for people who don’t want their savings devalued 5% every year by inflation. On the other hand, is a community that wishes to build complex financial products around crypto. For example, some New York hedge funds are creating NFT credit derivatives akin to those mortgage collateralized debt obligations used by the banks that precipitated the 2008 financial/housing crisis. New York is the epicenter of this battle between building an ecosystem for the people, and building another way for the elites to enrich themselves. New York Attorney General Letitia James stated back in March of 2021 “[I’m] sending a clear message to the entire industry that you either play by the rules or we will shut you down.” However, the rules in New York are based on a false and outdated perception. Mayor Adams has shown enthusiasm towards bitcoin — but now is the time to turn words into action. The mayor has to fight to cut the red tape holding back blockchain so that this city, and state, can be a part of the future digital economy.

  Bitcoin initially dropped a bit on Tuesday but found buyers to turn things around and show signs of life again. By doing so, you could make a little bit of an argument for a “double bottom” trying to form, but at this point I think the most important thing to pay close attention to is the $40,000 level. The $40,000 level has been important more than once, so it does make sense that we could see stabilization here yet again. In fact, so far that is what we are seeing, and that is exactly what you need to turn things around given enough time. If we can break above the $44,000 level, then I think we have the opportunity to rally from here and go looking towards the 200 day EMA, currently sitting at the $46,600 level. The 50 day EMA is starting to curl lower, and perhaps getting ready to break down below the 200 day EMA in order to form the so-called “death cross.” At this point, I would also point out that the negative indicator is typically late, so I think it is probably something that you need to realize does not always work. At this point in time, I believe there is a significant amount of support extending all the way down to the $38,000 level, so it is really not until we break down below there that the support level will have given way. Sure, a breakdown below the $40,000 level would catch a lot of headlines, but there is a lot of noise underneath there. If we break down below there, then it is likely that we could go looking towards the $30,000 level. At this point, I would anticipate seeing more buyers as well. It does look like Bitcoin is trying to turn things around and pick things up, so I do like the idea of buying Bitcoin, I just would not jump in with both feet right away. I think at this point if you buy the market, then you could add as the market moves in your favor and keep your position size reasonable at first, and then only build up as you are rewarded for being correct.

  In a period of market downturns, rumors of crypto bans and decentralized finance, or DeFi scams, blockchain enthusiasts can be sensitive to the smallest abnormalities within projects they follow and sometimes erroneously fear for the worse. The day prior, CertiK, a leading cybersecurity ranking platform in the blockchain space, issued a warning via Twitter regarding CryptoCars, alleging that it was a “rug pull.” However, the staff quickly deleted the post as it was a false alarm. Via a series of Twitter screenshots obtained by Cointelegraph, CertiK first claimed that the website and Telegram for CrytoCars were down. However, users quickly pointed out that both the CryptoCars website and Telegram apps were still functional, resulting in CertiK rescinding the community alert. According to the developers of CryptoCars, the project’s Telegram chat will be temporarily closed “until the end of the Lunar New Year from 27th Jan to 7th Feb.” The CryptoCars development team is based in Vietnam, which celebrates the Lunar New Year holiday. “Incident reporting, although complex, is rapid in nature and is done in a manner to alert the community on up-to-date suspicious activity. In this situation, we noticed [their] Telegram went offline, funds dropping to zero, and the $CCARs website being unavailable. This created an alert of a possible rug pull.” Despite the error, CertiK has done much to benefit the blockchain community. As recently as the day prior, it issued a verified community alert for Qubit Finance as the protocol suffered an $80 million hack. CryptoCars launched in September 2021 as a nonfungible token, or NFT, car racing game. Structured under a play-to-earn model, CryptoCars requires players to purchase an NFT car minted on the Binance Smart Chain through a blind box created by its developers for 6,600 CCAR or from another user starting at 490 CCAR. According to its official site, the project claims to have 721,683 players, 582,666 NFT cars, and 248.8 million in-game transactions at the time of publication. It also has over 124,500 followers on Twitter.

  Bitcoin can be an important tool for learning about economics and computer science, especially as the broken education system struggles through the COVID-19 pandemic. As Mark Twain once said, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”  Back to school book shopping guide for learning all about bitcoin. Your back-to-school shopping guide should include books about Bitcoin.  Luckily, the Bitcoin Magazine store offers all of the books and devices you need for a self-sovereign education, starting with “Bitcoin Money: A Tale Of Bitville Discovering Good Money” for children as young as four. For teenagers, you can set up a Bitcoin node with them for a hands-on lesson about computer science. Once you have the basic tools and hardware devices, including a full node and a bitcoin wallet, there are plenty of free open-source Bitcoin projects that teens can use to learn about coding as well.   Open-source bitcoin projects offer many ways to learn about computer science.  And, of course, no teenager’s Bitcoin curriculum would be complete without “The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative To Central Banking.” If you’re already considering homeschooling, there’s a wide range of books in our store that you can assign for original book reports and other projects for English class. Meanwhile, university students can basically give themselves a PhD in Bitcoin just by reading our whole curriculum of top books about bitcoin. In terms of economic history textbooks, we recommend starting with “The Sovereign Individual: Mastering The Transition To The Information Age.” As for computer science, we recommend starting with “Programming Bitcoin: Learn How to Program Bitcoin From Scratch.” And, if coffee or tea helps you get in the zone while studying, don’t forget your Laserflip mug for good luck.  The Bitcoin Magazine store offers all the school supplies you need to learn about bitcoin. The Bitcoin Magazine store has all the school supplies you need to learn about digital money. Prioritize your own self-sovereignty by getting the educational resources you need to learn all about Bitcoin. For more tools along the way, everything from hardware wallets to Bitcoin swag, it’s all available in our store. Enjoy your year of self-sovereign education!

  As price action bewilders market makers and traders, experts in the crypto industry reached an agreement on several important points last week. Notably, centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) can coexist and a “blend” of financial products and services will be available to users in the future.  Last Wednesday, Cointelegraph moderated the panel discussion, “Can CeFi and DeFi coexist?” for the Global Blockchain Business Council. In the video, panelists hash out questions related to adoption, banking the unbanked and whether innovation means the disruption of traditional financial services. Salient points included the need for greater education and transparency in the cryptocurrency space, while financial inclusion could be reached thanks to smooth onboarding techniques and clear-cut regulation. Popular blockchains like Solana and the Bitcoin Lightning Network cropped up as well as DeFi protocols including Uniswap. In terms of education, Mary Beth Buchanan, president, Americas and chief legal officer at crypto risk and intellegence fMerkle Science, commented: “A lot of people are not being served in traditional finance. The winner in the disruption race will be the project that has the ability to reach those in the community who are not currently accessing DeFi, and there has to be education.” Ambre Soubiran, CEO of digital asset data provider Kaiko, agreed that the solution to broadening DeFi’s reach is through “education, onboarding, and knowing the risks. People want the easy ability to reset a password as opposed to remembering 24 words.” Daniel Peled, founder and president of public blockchain Orbs, is passionate about bringing financial inclusion to “the two billion people around the world,” but “the industry is early.” He echoed Soubiran’s point that “many people don’t have access to DeFi applications; the products are complicated and tech-heavy. People still don’t know how to secure their funds securely.” However, for Peled, it is more than just educating people, it’s about providing a level-playing field on which everyone follows the same rules: “There is huge quantitive easing and 70% of all the money in the world has been printed in the past two years. The young don’t hold existing scarce assets such as real estate, equity, or gold; and they are not accredited investors who can get in on opportunities at the early stage. They (the young) are the ones adopting DeFi because they see the opportunities compared to other alternatives.” Ultimately, the creation of Bitcoin (BTC) sought to remedy such issues. As the first successful separation of money from the state, it possesses a clear issuance rate that renders the monetary network more transparent and equal for participants.  Michael Moro, CEO of digital currency broker Genesis Global, shared Peled’s view on demographics:  “The folks in the west are the most engaged into various DeFi protocols. The user interface and experience isn’t great as you have to be fairly tech savvy to be able to engage directly with Defi today. It generally needs to become a lot easier for folks to engage.” Ultimately, the panel eventually agreed that a combination of education and onboarding will pave the way for greater financial inclusion. Regulation is high on the agenda in 2022. But it should ignite more growth in the space, because “as long as the on ramps and off ramps are regulated, then there will be a lot more freedom,” Moro continued.” Soubiran shared a similar view regarding onramps: “There is an opportunity for the existing institutions to leverage blockchain technology and the underlying infrastructure in order to provide the same services they are providing today.” As for the future of the DeFi and CeFi space, Nicolas Bertrand, former head of derivatives markets and commodities at Borsa Italiana had the last word. When asked whether the level of innovation could disrupt traditional cefi services, he replied, “Definitely.” He went on to say, “what happened to the telegraph after the advent of computers?”

  All cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin (BTC) were first described as altcoins for a single reason: There was a rise of projects that copied and pasted Bitcoin’s source code. The cryptocurrencies in the early stages weren’t unique enough to have a distinctive term, so “altcoin” (alternative coins) best fit their description. The community, at that point, didn’t put too much thought into other cryptocurrencies due to Bitcoin’s potential advancement — its future price growth, use cases, mainstream adoption, etc. It was the leading head in crypto. But things changed when people caught onto Ethereum’s smart contract platform, as it can produce “smart contract tokens” — cryptocurrencies with the ability to perform intelligent tasks autonomously. This led the community to distinguish altcoins from tokens. Altcoins were now coins that had their own blockchain, and tokens were defined as cryptocurrencies created on smart contract platforms. The other factor now at work is that there are many blockchain projects that are scaling rapidly and decreasing Bitcoin’s dominance. The community started noticing weaknesses in Bitcoin’s correlation to other coins as other interesting new projects popped up, which provoked the crypto world to rethink how it sees cryptocurrencies. Now, every altcoin distinguishes itself on the market by offering a unique set of features related to things such as transaction management, scripting language, mining mechanisms and consensus algorithms. Although altcoins’ superior features may outperform Bitcoin in one way or another, their value is still completely dependent on Bitcoin’s market capitalization. The community started to envision a world where various cryptocurrencies, not just Bitcoin, can disrupt the world. Now, with Ether’s (ETH) growing dominance in the market, it’s clear that Ethereum is the leader of crypto innovation. A large percentage of tokens today are Ethereum ERC-20 smart contracts, so the ways token minters classify their projects are easily normalized in the community. Ethereum’s role in crypto classifications Ethereum’s ecosystem is responsible for every crypto advancement and for mainstream interest, starting with initial coin offerings (ICOs) — which disrupted the initial public offering model by allowing anyone to buy a project’s coin at launch. The attention from ICOs led to many use cases for ERC-20 tokens, with developers making their next cryptocurrency an Ethereum-based token and crypto users having an incentive to learn more about the tech. With a wide variety of ERC-20 tokens, our human nature must intervene to categorize and associate things. The term “altcoin” is no longer an acceptable way to define a project, as it’s ambiguous — especially now with decentralized finance (DeFi). People want to know what type of coin it is, whether it be a staking coin, liquidity mining coin, crypto derivative, stablecoin, utility token, etc. They’re aware that cryptocurrencies do much more than send and receive payments. “Meme tokens” have entered into the crypto vocabulary, too “Meme token” is a term most crypto users are familiar with due to Elon Musk tweeting to the world about Dogecoin (DOGE). But the crypto community had to make the distinction between tokens and meme tokens, as cryptocurrencies are capable of highly intellectual activity. Tokens based on social media content could potentially affect how the crypto sector is perceived, so a further classification had to be established. The rise of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) proved that the crypto community is ready to onboard and learn about new definitions. Imagine if NFTs were described as altcoins? By definition, they technically are, but there’s so much that NFTs can do that demonstrates their difference. The community acknowledges that NFTs are ERC-721 tokens and recognizes the capabilities they possess. For starters, they’re structured to make cryptocurrencies unique, with no two tokens sharing the same value. “GameFi” (gaming DeFi) is another term that was added to the crypto dictionary. It deals with merging blockchain technology with NFTs, liquidity mining and other DeFi protocols. The result is games where people can earn real crypto and trade assets. GameFi is still new, so there’s a chance that something trendy will come into existence and result in further classifications within the space. The crypto community is getting smarter The crypto community’s collective understanding of the space is improving rapidly. Content creators, influencers and YouTubers are also good at converting complex jargon into easy-to-digest information. The community recognizes that correctly classifying cryptocurrencies increases the chances of finding good new projects early. For example, telling someone that a revolutionary NFT is just an altcoin will influence their first impression and possibly give the NFT less worth. Classifying cryptocurrencies helps with comparing them. To effectively compare cryptocurrencies, you must know what they are and whether others are doing the same thing. That’s why you can’t compare Dash to something like ADA — one is a payment cryptocurrency, while the other is the utility token of a proof-of-stake smart contract platform. Another argument for the collapse of the classification of Bitcoin vs. altcoins is the varying correlations between BTC and other coins. While the correlation is high within some pairs, others demonstrate weaker dependence on each other. For instance, ADA and XRP show a lower correlation with other digital assets, not to mention that stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) show negative correlations. Classifications also help with diversification. You can have your crypto distributed between several coins, but the phrase “don’t put all your eggs all in one basket” can apply to you if all your coins are under the same classification. Although a growing number of new crypto concepts are emerging, we can still put them all — DeFi, GameFi, NFTs and meme tokens — under the umbrella of altcoins. From the traders’ perspective, many believe that altcoins will have a larger return in the future, though maybe there is a weaker consensus than there is with Bitcoin, for now. As a Bitcoin maximalist and the CEO of a crypto exchange, I’m happy to see more classifications arising, as the industry can hardly achieve mass adoption with just Bitcoin. This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and

  Bitcoin (BTC) price continues to sell-off and the knock-on effect is an even sharper correction in altcoins and decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens. At the time of writing, BTC price sunk to its lowest level in six months and most analysts are not optimistic about an immediate turnaround.  Here’s a check-in with what analysts have to say about the current downturn and what may be in store for the coming weeks. Traders expect consolidation between $38,000 and $43,000 The sudden price drop in BTC has many crypto traders predicting various dire outcomes along the lines of an extended bear market. Others like independent market analyst ‘Rekt Capital’ are not so quick to jump the gun and declare that all is lost. As shown in the following chart posted by Rekt Capital, “the recent BTC rejection means that BTC is now residing at the lower region of its current $38,000-$43,100 range.” According to Rekt Capital, “Bitcoin is just consolidating inside the $38,000-$43,100 range,” but needs to hold this support level to avoid dropping down into a lower consolidation range. Rekt Capital said, “Technically, the $38,000 support area is what separates BTC from entering the $28,000-$38,000 consolidation range. Bitcoin last consolidated in said range in Q1 and Q2 of 2021.” Head and shoulders pattern confirmed Analysis of the BTC price action from a purely technical point of view was touched on by David Lifchitz, managing partner and chief investment officer at ExoAlpha, who pointed out that the “giant head and shoulders pattern for BTC is now completed with the neckline broken with BTC at $38,300.” From a theoretical standpoint, Lifchitz noted that this pattern predicts a possible drawdown as low as $20,000, but he stated that the “fall has generally been less than that” and suggested that “the $31,000 region could definitely be in sight.” From a fundamental point of view, Lifchitz noted multiple factors that have been creating headwinds for BTC, including tightening from the United States Federal Reserve, chatter from the European Union regulators looking to ban proof-of-work (PoW) mining, profit-taking from late 2021 and the continued uncertainty about the economic future as it relates to the Covid pandemic. Lifchitz said, “Therefore for Bitcoin, a move down to the low-mid $30,000 could be definitely in the cards soon before real dip-buyers show up.” Traders look to scoop up BTC at $30,000 A look at how traders have responded to this drawdown as compared to the pullback in June of 2021 was provided by analyst and Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, who posted the following chart highlighting the major support zones for each period of weakness. “Back in June → People are waiting for $23,000 to $25,000 to buy. Right now → People are waiting for $30,000 to buy. Similar fake breakout on the upside to nuke afterward into support.” A similar point of view was offered by trader and pseudonymous Twitter user ‘Fomocap’ who posted the following chart outlining how BTC could perform in the days ahead. Fomocap said, “Relief bounce to $44,000 – $42,000 retest, if rejection then $35,000 – $33,000. What do you think?” Bulls need a close above $39,600 A final bit of insight into was offered by crypto trader Scott Melker, who posted the following chart showing the price breakdown below a key level that must be recovered.

  How to sell Bitcoin: 5 ways to ‘cash out’ your BTC holdings “How do you sell Bitcoin?” is one of the first questions that arise when people become interested in buying cryptocurrencies, since getting your money out is just as important as investing. Selling Bitcoin (BTC) can be similar to buying Bitcoin, except in a somewhat reversed process. To sell BTC, you must first have BTC on hand in your wallet. Buying Bitcoin is possible via a number of routes. When you are ready to sell some or all of your Bitcoin, you can do so through a variety of avenues, including an online cryptocurrency exchange, direct peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions online or on-site, and through a Bitcoin ATM.  Cryptocurrency exchanges Despite having several disadvantages, exchanges are a one-stop solution when it comes to trading Bitcoin. In the case of selling the cryptocurrency, exchanges act as an intermediary, holding sellers’ and buyers’ funds. To use a crypto exchange, you must set up an account with the platform of your choice. Many reputable exchanges require identity verification. Connecting a bank account is necessary for withdrawing cash. Be mindful of exchange restrictions based on your country, however. Some exchanges ban participation from certain regions.   Once you have an account on an exchange and have transferred your Bitcoin to that exchange (or if you already have an account with Bitcoin held in it), simply place a sell order, stating the type of currency you wish to trade, its amount, and your asking price per unit. The exchange will automatically complete the transaction once someone matches your offer. Trading crypto, however, can be much more complicated than this brief description, with multiple order types and more. For more on trading, read: How to trade cryptocurrencies: The ultimate beginner’s guide After the funds are credited to your account, you will need to withdraw them to your connected bank account. This can sometimes take an excessive amount of time, especially if the exchange is experiencing issues with its banks or facing liquidity problems. Several months before its bankruptcy, the Mt. Gox exchange experienced this exact problem. Moreover, some banks just outright refuse to process transactions with funds obtained via cryptocurrency trading. It is also important to be mindful of any withdrawal fees that may come into play on your platform of choice. In addition, exchanges may have a limit on the amount of money you’re allowed to withdraw within a certain period. The limit may increase over time if you stay loyal to a particular platform or if you upload additional documentation to complete Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) verification requirements. Finally, it is important to remember that despite offering wallet services, exchanges are by no means a secure, reliable place to store your funds. They can be targeted by hackers, and there have also been instances where exchanges have shut down amid their owners either mismanaging users’ funds or running away with users’ money.  Another potential option for selling BTC involves selling into a stablecoin on an exchange and then withdrawing those holdings to a personal wallet off of the exchange. You can also simply keep those funds on the exchange, although doing so comes with its own pros and cons. It is advisable to take full responsibility for your own funds and store in a secure offline wallet any amount that is not immediately needed. Furthermore, withdrawing to a personal wallet off the platform gives you more control over your funds. A stablecoin is a digital asset pegged to the value of an underlying asset — typically a fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar. A number of stablecoins exist for which you can exchange your BTC.  Another roundabout method of selling your BTC using the services provided by a cryptocurrency exchange is by spending it via one of the many crypto-focused payment cards on the market.  There are several methods to how such cards operate. Generally speaking, users’ assets are exchanged into cash at the point of the sale, making the cards usable at locations that accept traditional payment cards. Alternatively, some cards allow users to load stablecoins onto a crypto-friendly card and not be subject to the volatility associated with cryptocurrencies.  Direct trades (person-to-person) Another way of selling your Bitcoin is via a direct trade with another entity, either online or in person. There are several ways to achieve this, either by setting up a direct meeting to sell Bitcoin in person or by performing the transaction online through a specialized platform. Online P2P selling With online P2P Bitcoin sales, several specialized platforms — and even products from reputable cryptocurrency exchanges — exist to facilitate such transactions. In one way or another, these platforms essentially make it possible to trade Bitcoin for cash, or vice versa, with another party online. In general, Bitcoin buyers post listings on these platforms, noting their desired price, their preferred payment option, etc. Interested parties then find listings they like and complete the sale by following the instructions provided by the platform. These platforms typically involve escrow functions to provide a level of security for both parties and to help ensure asset transfer. Depending on the payment option, the seller of the Bitcoin may receive a transfer directly to their bank account or card, a wire transfer, or an agreement to receive funds to some of the popular traditional payments platforms. Face-to-face transactions Selling Bitcoin P2P at an in-person location is also a possible method. Some online platforms facilitate selling BTC in person for cash, while parties may also simply choose to meet up with friends or family on their own and sell Bitcoin for cash. Selling Bitcoin in person requires you to understand how to send Bitcoin and work with a crypto wallet, or the platform on which you hold your funds (such as if you hold your funds on an exchange, for example).  Bitcoin’s value constantly fluctuates, so it’s important to know its price at the time of an in-person sale.

  Former Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager and cryptocurrency bull Raoul Pal claimed in a tweet that he now only owns a single Bitcoin (BTC). As the claim was made in the heat of a Twitter fight with self-proclaimed “Bitcoin strategist” Greg Foss, it’s not entirely clear whether it’s an exaggeration or an accurate statement about his holdings. Pal is the founder and CEO of Real Vision and Global Macro, while Foss is an executive director at Validus Power Corp. The revelation of his apparently small holding certainly caused uproar and angst among Bitcoin true believers, who’ve looked at Pal askance ever since he started calling Ethereum “the greatest trade” and predicted that Ether (ETH) and altcoins will eventually outperform BTC. Pal first purchased BTC in November 2013. He sold for a 10x profit in the so-called “fork-wars” of 2017 (missing out on an even bigger gain later that year) before adding to his collection in 2019 through 2020. In May 2021, he confirmed that he owned more ETH than BTC. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is worth $40,925. The barney was instigated by Foss, who tweeted “Raoul is soft” followed by another intellectual tweet “Raoul sucks and blows” shortly after. After some back and forth between Pal and the Bitcoin maxi, Pal posted that people like Foss and the Bitcoin community’s exclusionary ideology are why he only holds 1 BTC. Synaptic Ventures founder Marc van der Chijs complained that the fact Pal only owns 1 BTC based on the makeup of the community and not on the potential return “goes totally against the gospel he preaches on RealVision.” However, some defended Pal, pointing to his impressive track record and reminding followers that he is in fact a trader, not a holder. Crypto My Way founder and crypto analyst CoachT wrote that he appreciates Pal’s “diverse views and intelligent thinking.” It appears that the argument was in response to a disagreement on Pal’s stance on inflation and bonds as a trading vehicle. Foss explained that he didn’t support Pal promoting his trading strategy to others who don’t entirely understand how it works. Pal disagreed, explaining that his views on bonds are “a trade, not a philosophy.” Despite this, in a following comment on the thread, Pal claimed that he doesn’t own any bonds. Three hours after posting the original tweet attacking Pal, the argument eventually culminated in Foss tweeting an apology saying that he “regrets his actions,” adding that he “made a rookie error” and that he has “bigger battles to fight.” Just weeks ago, Pal said that he believes there is a “reasonable chance” that the crypto market capitalization will have increased 100 times by the end of this decade. Hoping he’s right about that is perhaps something on which we can all agree. Cointelegraph reached out to Raoul Pal via Real Vision and will update the story with any response.

  304 days or roughly nine months ago, 42 companies held bitcoin on their balance sheet with an aggregate total of 1,350,073 bitcoin on March 1, 2021. Today, metrics indicate there are 59 companies, a few countries, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with 1,499,493 bitcoin held in treasuries. Private and Public Companies, ETFs, and Countries — Treasuries List Highlights 59 Firms With Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets Over the last 12 months, a great number of companies have disclosed that they have added bitcoin (BTC) to the firm’s balance sheet and even countries like El Salvador are now storing BTC in their national treasury. On March 1, 2021, Bitcoin.com News reported that there were 42 firms that consisted of public and private companies, alongside bitcoin funds as well. At the time 1,350,073 BTC was held by the company’s and it represented 6.43% out of the 21 million maximum supply. Bitcoin Treasuries List Claims 59 Companies and a Handful of Countries Hold 1.49 Million BTC Data from buybitcoinworldwide.com’s Bitcoin Treasuries list on December 30, 2021. Now similar to Microstrategy announcing a BTC purchase every so often, the Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele has also been telling the public about El Salvador’s BTC acquisitions. For instance, El Salvador purchased 21 BTC to celebrate the 21st day, year, and century on December 21. The Bitcoin Treasuries list hosted on buybitcoinworldwide.com shows that there are 59 companies that hold BTC on their balance sheets and five different countries. At the time of writing, the web portal claims 1,499,493 BTC is held by these entities. This equates to $71.6 billion in USD value and 7.14% of the 21 million BTC supply cap. Now the Bitcoin Treasuries list notes that five countries own BTC and the first one on the list is Bulgaria, however, the stash of 213,519 BTC held by Bulgarian authorities is controversial and many people believe the coins were sold. In April 2018, the regional news publication Bivol explained that Bulgaria’s finance minister, Vladislav Goranov, explained that the BTC was sold. Goranov noted that the BTC was sold to “several sovereign wealth funds and Asian investors.” It also noted that Deloitte and the FBI helped facilitate the sales and the BTC was sold for €15,000 per unit. If that stash is taken off the Bitcoin Treasuries list’s aggregate, the current BTC held by companies and four countries would be 1,285,974 BTC worth $61.1 billion. The Bitcoin Treasuries list then says El Salvador holds 1,391 BTC, the UK government holds 46,351 BTC, Finland has 1,981 BTC, and Georgia has 66 BTC. Microstrategy, Tesla, Galaxy Digital Hold the Top 3 Public Company Positions — Block.one, Tezos Foundation, Stone Ridge Hold the Top 3 Private Company Positions That would leave the Bitcoin Treasuries list down to ETFs, private companies, and public firms. The publicly listed company with the most BTC at the time of writing according to the Bitcoin Treasuries list is Microstrategy, with 122,478 BTC or $5.8 billion worth of coins. However, the company’s CEO Michael Saylor told the public it purchased 1,914 BTC on Thursday. The Bitcoin Treasuries list shows that Tesla and Galaxy Digital hold the second and third largest amount of bitcoin in terms of public companies. Bitcoin Treasuries List Claims 59 Companies and a Handful of Countries Hold 1.49 Million BTC Top 13 publicly-listed companies with bitcoin on their balance sheets as of December 30, 2021, according to buybitcoinworldwide.com’s Bitcoin Treasuries list. Tesla holds 42,902 BTC according to the list and Galaxy Digital has a stash of 16,400 BTC. Those two public firms are followed by Voyager Digital LTD (12,260 BTC), Square Inc. (8,027 BTC), and Marathon Digital Holdings (7,649 BTC). That leaves 39 public companies holding BTC on their balance sheets with firms like MOGO Financing (18 BTC), Phunware, Inc. (127 BTC), Coinbase Global, Inc. (4,482 BTC), and Brooker Group’s BROOK (BKK) (1,150 BTC). Six private companies hold bitcoin as well including Block.one (140,000), The Tezos Foundation (17,500), Stone Ridge Holdings Group (10,000), Massachusetts Mutual (3,500), Lisk Foundation (1,898), and Seetee AS (1,170). Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust Dominates the Entire Bitcoin Treasuries List, ‘Who Owns All the Bitcoin’ Lists Are Not Entirely Accurate 14 funds hold 809,848 BTC according to the list and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) holds 648,069 BTC of that total. Following GBTC, there are funds like CoinShares / XBT with 48,466 BTC, Purpose Bitcoin ETF with 22,411 BTC, and 3iQ Coinshares Bitcoin ETF that holds 21,237 BTC. The Bitcoin Treasuries list gives a fairly good glimpse of a number of companies claiming to hold BTC on their balance sheet and it’s a great deal larger than it was last year. However, just like the discrepancy with the Bulgaria bitcoin stash mentioned above, none of the so-called “who owns all the bitcoin” lists are entirely accurate. In fact, without cryptographic proof, these types of lists don’t hold water when it comes to actual onchain verification and actual “proof-of-reserves.” Despite this issue, the lists are useful for a visual perspective, of what could be the case, if a majority of these entities are being truthful about their BTC reserves.