Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto or the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper, U.K. Judge James Mellor said after closing arguments in the Crypto Open Patent Alliance trial on Thursday.After finding that the evidence was "overwhelming", the judge said he plans to write a ruling that Wright is not Nakamoto, is not the creator of Bitcoin, the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper nor the creator of Bitcoin's technology.
The software firm, founded by staunch bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor, now holds 205,000 BTC worth around $14.7 billion. MicroStrategy acquired its latest batch of BTC for ~$68,477 per coin, Saylor said in a post on X on Monday. In total, the company acquired the bitcoin for $821.7 million, using the proceeds from the debt raise and excess cash.
The London Stock Exchange is willing to soon consider proposals for certain crypto investment products given new guidance from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. But such applications will need to meet a range of criteria. The exchange giant said Monday in a “market notice” that it would start accepting applications for bitcoin and ether exchange traded notes (ETNs) in this year’s second quarter.
Investments into spot Bitcoin ETFs continue to soar as daily inflows breached $11.1 billion over the last 13 days. On March 12, Bitcoin ETFs saw their biggest-ever daily inflow of $1.045 billion, chiefly contributed to by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT). IBIT accounted for $849 million of inflow, while ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARK), VanEck Bitcoin Trust ETF (HOLD) and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) recorded a comparatively lower contribution of $93 million, $82.9 million and $51.6 million, respectively.
The European Union’s banking regulator published its last batch of draft requirements for stablecoins referencing multiple currencies under the bloc’s landmark Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation on Wednesday. The European Banking Authority (EBA) has been working with the EU's markets regulator ESMA, to establish rules under MiCA. Wednesday’s publication is one of several batches the regulators will issue.
Ethereum’s much-anticipated Dencun upgrade went live last Wednesday morning without a hitch, ushering in a new chapter for the blockchain that is poised to substantially lower transaction costs across Ethereum layer-2 networks and massively expand the blockchain ecosystem’s capabilities. It will now take a period of about a month or two for settlement contracts across all layer-2 networks to incorporate the update.
And that’s all for last week’s news! Wishing you a great week ahead!
With history in the making as El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender on September 7th, 2021, we examine the implications for the country’s financial system, its people, and the global remittance industry.