Bitcoin

Coinbase warns of more downtime

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Coinbase sends out email warning of more possible down times when market gets slammed, again…

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In an unprecedented move, Coinbase sends out email warning of future network outages and down times.

“We at Coinbase couldn’t be more excited by the explosion of interest in digital currencies. The last few weeks has seen an unprecedented increase in the price of digital currencies. More people are engaging with our platform than ever and that bodes well for the future of the digital currency. At the same time, it does create extreme volatility and stress on our systems. We take this very seriously and wanted to share some important thoughts.

We’re continuing to invest heavily to scale our platform

Over the course of this year we have invested significant resources to increase trading capacity on our platform and maintain availability of our service. We have increased the size of our support team by 640{9cc0bbfe480b2a393a1e1dce9114b5f9f09de3ed2cbbdc4d828b794f8bbbede4} and launched phone support in September. We have also invested heavily in our infrastructure and have increased the number of transactions we are processing during peak hours by over 40x.

There may be downtime which can impact your ability to trade

Despite the sizable and ongoing increases in our technical infrastructure and engineering staff, we wanted to remind customers that access to Coinbase services may become degraded or unavailable during times of significant volatility or volume. This could result in the inability to buy or sell for periods of time. Despite ongoing increases in our support capacity, our customer support response times may be delayed, especially for requests that do not involve immediate risks to customer account security. You can read more in our Coinbase User Agreement.

Be an educated investor

We also wanted to remind customers of some of the risks associated with trading digital currency. Digital currencies are volatile and the prices can go up and down. Due to the rapidly changing price of digital currencies, some customers may not have sell limits that are sufficient relative to the value of total digital currency they are storing on Coinbase. Sell limits are one of the many measures Coinbase takes to protect client accounts and assets.

As a proactive measure, we encourage customers to check the following items on their accounts:

Ensure your email address is properly receiving all communications and notifications from Coinbase. To learn more about ensuring email delivery, please refer to this support article.
Ensure your two-factor authentication is updated and functional. If you have recently switched mobile devices, your two-factor authentication needs to be properly migrated to the new device. In addition, please migrate from SMS two factor to Google Authenticator to enhance the security on your account, if you have not already done so. To learn more about two-factor authentication, please refer to this FAQ.
Familiarize yourself with your buy and sell limits. They can be found here.
Complete any pending identity verifications. During times of significant volatility, ID verification may become degraded or unavailable. To learn more about identity verification on Coinbase, please refer to this FAQ.
Expect payments to take the maximum number of days indicated when making a deposit or withdrawal.

Stay up to date

We will continue to update customers for our website, our status page, in our apps, via email, on our blog and on Twitter.

We will keep you informed

We are committed to safety, security and transparency. We are working tirelessly to provide the best service and support but we can’t promise perfection during the periods of extraordinary demand. We will continue to do our best to keep our customers informed.

Thank you,

The Coinbase Team”

[/fusion_text][fusion_button link=”http://bit.ly/coincryptobase” title=”” target=”_blank” link_attributes=”” alignment=”left” modal=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” color=”default” button_gradient_top_color=”” button_gradient_bottom_color=”” button_gradient_top_color_hover=”” button_gradient_bottom_color_hover=”” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” type=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”” size=”” stretch=”default” shape=”” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]$10 FREE BITCOIN[/fusion_button][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_6″ layout=”1_6″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” hover_type=”none” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Adoption

CryptoBase Report: January 25, 2025

1. SEC Opens Door for Banks to Hold Crypto Assets

In a significant policy shift, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has overturned previous guidance that treated digital tokens as liabilities on bank balance sheets. This change is expected to facilitate banks in offering cryptocurrency custody services without facing financial penalties, signaling a more welcoming approach to the digital asset sector under President Donald Trump’s administration.

Financial Times

2. Ledger Co-Founder Kidnapped in France

David Balland, co-founder of French cryptocurrency firm Ledger, was kidnapped by an armed gang demanding a €10 million ransom. During the 24-hour ordeal, Balland suffered severe injuries before being rescued by elite police forces. Ten suspects have been arrested, though the gang leaders remain at large. This incident highlights the increasing security risks faced by individuals in the cryptocurrency industry.

The Times & The Sunday Times

3. Trump’s Executive Order Boosts Crypto Market

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” aiming to regulate and promote the cryptocurrency sector. The order establishes a Presidential Task Force on Digital Asset Markets to develop a federal framework for digital asset trading and explore creating a national reserve of digital assets. This move is seen as a significant shift toward a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment.

Financial Times

4. Andreessen Horowitz Refocuses Crypto Investments to U.S.

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is closing its London office and pulling back from UK crypto investments, refocusing on the U.S. market following President Trump’s election. The firm cited the new administration’s supportive stance on crypto as a reason for the shift. Founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz are advising Trump on technology policy, aligning with his administration’s approach to light-touch crypto regulation.

Financial Times

5. Market Reaction to Trump’s Crypto Policies

The cryptocurrency market experienced a dip following President Trump’s initial policy decisions, which included the creation of a task force to propose new crypto regulations and consider a U.S. cryptocurrency reserve. Bitcoin steadied at around $105,000, reflecting a tempered response to potential regulatory changes. Additionally, Trump-related cryptocurrencies like the $TRUMP token saw a significant drop in value, raising ethical concerns and prompting inquiries from Democratic lawmakers.

reuters.com

Closing Summary

The past 48 hours have seen significant developments in the cryptocurrency landscape, driven largely by policy shifts under President Trump’s administration. While regulatory changes signal a more crypto-friendly environment, the market’s response has been mixed, with notable fluctuations in asset values. Security concerns have also come to the forefront, underscoring the need for vigilance in this evolving sector.

Bitcoin

Only 1.3 million Bitcoin are left in circulation on cryptocurrency exchanges!

Christmas is coming, and Bitcoin (BTC) scarcity is at historically low levels. CryptoRank announced in a recent tweet that just 6.3% of the overall Bitcoin supply, or 1.3 million BTC, are kept on cryptocurrency exchanges.

The decreasing amount is nothing new; it’s been steadily declining since the Bitcoin halving in 2020, when the BTC block reward was cut in half. The supply of BTC on exchanges has also decreased gradually over the past year, trending downward. On October 2020, exchange wallets made up 9.5% of the BTC supply, just before the all-time highs at Christmas time, and 7.3% in July 2019. In December 2021, the 6.3 percent figure is a record low.

However, the dominance of Coinbase’s BTC wallet is also falling. The American exchange used to store more bitcoin than all other exchanges combined. Over the past year, its domination has decreased from 50.52% to 40.65%.

Following a spate of good price statistics that tie into the rising price of Bitcoin, the announcement has sparked further excitement among investors. First and foremost, owing to the fact that BTC output is shifting from a “liquid” to an “illiquid” state, monthly BTC production has frozen at 100,000 BTC. In other words, more BTC is stored in cold storage than is being mined.

Additionally, it’s crucial to remember that many retail investors and several firms keep their BTC on exchanges, demonstrating that the “illiquid” BTC category may be even smaller. Instead of keeping their BTC in cold storage, some Bitcoin holders would entrust it to exchanges instead of leaving custody of their keys with them.

Surprisingly, Binance CEO and co-founder Changpeng Zhao has encouraged hot wallets, despite the best efforts of Bitcoiners like Andreas Antonopolous to the contrary: “Not your keys, not your bitcoin.” is part of everyday BTC mantra.

This may lead to the situation in which 1.3 million BTC is “stored” on exchanges, but they are not “circulating,” and they certainly do not contribute to the liquidity problem.

Despite calls for a “Santa Rally” on the back of strong analytics, the bears are not yet out of the woods. A tweet from BullRun Invest using Glassnode data showed that 24.6% of all BTC supply is sitting above $47,000.

According to the report, close to a fourth of the BTC purchased at those prices levels are now underwater. If BTC fails to make progress into the 50s, there may be fewer gifts under the tree tomorrow.

Banking

U.S. Takes Crypto Crime Seriously with Anti-Money Laundering Reforms

The United States passed into law its Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, which takes effect on January 1, 2021. This brings digital currency exchange companies and other digital-asset-related businesses under the scope of regulations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which requires financial institutions “to actively detect, monitor and report potential money laundering activity.”

“I’m pleased that our anti-money laundering legislation was included as a part of this year’s [National Defense Authorization Act]. This bipartisan legislation protects Americans by depriving criminals and terrorists of the tools they use to finance illicit activity. It is the first serious overhaul of our anti-money laundering system in decades, and it makes sense to include it in the biggest, most important national defense legislation Congress passes each year,” South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds said in a press release.

The massive anti-money laundering reforms are targeting businesses dealing with digital currencies and assets by clearly specifying the definition of a “financial institution” to “‘a business engaged in the exchange of currency, funds, or value that substitutes for currency or funds” and “a licensed sender of money or any other person who engages as a business in the transmission of funds or value that substitutes for currency.”

The reforms further define a “money transmitting business” to include those who deal with “currency, funds, or value that substitutes for currency.” Now, there are no longer loopholes that digital asset companies can use when dealing with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the agency that enforces the BSA.

Stricter Penalties Enforced

Aside from updating definitions to ensure that digital currency exchange firms and others dealing in digital assets are clearly within the scope of the AML Act of 2020 and the BSA, stricter penalties are now being enforced for crypto criminals.

Now, those who have been found guilty of violating the AML Act of 2020 and/or BSA are faced with fines amounting to profits earned while committing the violation and possible jail time. Those guilty of an “egregious” breach are also going to be banned from taking a board member position of any financial institution in the country for 10 years. Furthermore, employees of financial institutions who commit these crimes will be obligated to return to their employer all bonuses received during the time the act was committed.

FinCEN is being given additional resources, like increasing its manpower, to ensure the enforcement of these reforms. This will further safeguard investors against crypto crimes and nail down digital currency exchange firms and other digital-asset-related businesses that do not comply with BSA regulations.