3Commas Weekly Crypto Industry Updates July 26th, 2024

Let's discuss on what has been going-on in crypto during the week for the last week of July, 2024

Most of the Mt. Gox Bitcoin has been sent to Creditors.

On June 24, the Arkham Intelligence data recorded two transfers of 5,106 Bitcoin which were sent out at 6:16 am UTC. One outward transfer of 2,237 BTC worth $147M was sent to Bitstamp and another 2,869 BTC was sent to an unknown address.

The unknown address, beginning with “1MzhW,” promptly shifted the funds to another wallet, beginning with “12azL,” followed by one last move to addresses linked to Bitstamp.

According to CryptoQuant data, over 66% of the BTC owed to creditors of Mt. Gox has been distributed. Arkham Intelligence Mt.Gox Bitcoin outflow data suggests that only $10M worth of Bitcoin is remaining. 

Why does it matter? The long awaited sell pressure on Bitcoin price due to the various news from different entities might die down sooner.

Cardano ready for Chang hard fork after latest validator node release

Cardano intends to transition to decentralized governance with the Chang hard fork, a Voltaire era of governance for Cardano chain validators.

The latest version of the validator node, Node 9.1.0, is an upgrade of Node 9.0 released on July 8. This latest upgrade will enable the transition to the Chang hard fork. 11% of the necessary 70% of validators have upgraded to the latest version so far.

Voltaire is the final era planned for the network and is marked by the transition of governance to the community. 

Why does it matter? Crypto traders should be cautious and make the right steps and decisions with trading Cardano at this point as the new upgrade may have unpredictable influences on the price movement. 

World’s largest Bitcoin miner Marathon buys $100M BTC for its reserve.

The world’s largest Bitcoin miner has been buying Bitcoin (BTC) as a strategic treasury reserve asset. The firm is bullish on the price of BTC in the long-term, as it sold none of the Bitcoin it mined in June.

“Today Marathon is proud to announce that to strengthen our strategy of holding #Bitcoin as our strategic treasury reserve asset, we have over the past month purchased $100 million in BTC, and will now go full HODL”, — Fred Thiel, CEO and chairman of Marathon Digital.

Why does it matter? The interest of companies in making Bitcoin a part of their treasury reserve indicates a positive interest towards Bitcoin as a store of value.  

Thailand distributing digital money to 45 million citizens to boost economy

Thailand’s finance minister, Pichai Chunhavajira, has confirmed that a plan to pay a social benefit in digital money will happen in August.

Around 45 million Thais will be eligible to receive 10,000 baht (about $280) in digital money on Aug. 1. The Digital Wallet plan was a campaign promise by the Pheu Thai party, prior to winning last year’s general election. 

According to AP, the plan will distribute cash in digital form to Thais aged 16 or older with incomes under $23,000 and savings under $13,700 with KYC (Know-Your-Customer) verification excluding prisoners, persons, and businesses with records of economic abuse.

Why does it matter? It’s one of the first examples of a government using the trackability of digital currencies to try and prevent theft and fraud of benefits awards that have historically been prone to waste and abuse. 

Conclusion: 

There is currently an increased buying interest in Bitcoin from companies who are looking to keep Bitcoin as a part of their treasury reserve. Thailand's experiment with distributing social benefits via digital currency is worth keeping an eye on. It may herald a future where such benefits systems can be streamlined using blockchain technology and principles.