London:

An Australian computer scientist who claims he invented Bitcoin is not the pseudonymous inventor of the cryptocurrency, a judge at London’s High Court ruled on Thursday.

Craig Wright has long claimed to have been the author of a 2008 white paper, the foundational text of Bitcoin, published in the name “Satoshi Nakamoto”.

The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) took Wright to court to stop him from suing Bitcoin developers, asking for a ruling that Wright is not Satoshi.

Judge James Mellor said on Thursday that Wright is not Satoshi and that he would give his full reasons for his decision at a later date.

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Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration picture. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Bitcoin hit a record high on March 11 above $71,000, as the surge in the biggest cryptocurrency showed no signs of slowing down.

Britain’s financial watchdog on Monday became the latest regulator to pave the way for digital asset trading products after saying on Monday it will now permit recognised investment exchanges to launch crypto-backed exchange-traded notes.

Bitcoin rose by as much as 4.8% to a record $71,677 in European trading, bringing gains for the year so far to 70%.

The world’s most valuable cryptocurrency has been boosted by a flood of cash into new spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds as well as hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates.

Flows of capital into the 10 largest U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds slowed to a two-week low in the week to March 8, but still reached almost $2 billion, according to LSEG data.

“Bitcoin has started the week with a surge, dragging the rest of the cryptocurrency space higher with it,” DailyFX strategist Nick Cawley said.

Supply of bitcoin, which is limited to 21 million tokens, is going to get tighter in April, when the so-called halving event takes place.

Every four years, the rate at which new supply is released into circulation, as well as the reward for crypto miners, is halved, which tends to support the price.

“News also out earlier that the LSE plans to accept applications for bitcoin and ethereum ETNs in Q2 may have also helped today’s push higher,” Cawley said.

The UK regulator said these products would be only available for professional investors such as investment firms and credit institutions authorised to operate in financial markets, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said in a statement.

The FCA warned crypto exchange traded notes (ETNs) – bonds issued by financial institutions that track the performance of underlying assets – pose harm to retail investors.

Nonetheless, demand is picking up across the investment community.

Asset managers now hold the biggest bullish position in bitcoin futures on record, according to weekly data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In the week to March 5, the net long position held by asset managers – usually interpreted as covering holdings of institutional investors such as mutual funds and pension funds – rose to 15,531 lots, worth $5.5 billion based on the current bitcoin price.

This is more valuable than the long position asset managers hold in sterling, worth $2.78 billion or the bearish position they hold in the Japanese yen against the dollar, worth $1.49 billion, according to LSEG data.

Ether rose 2.1% to nudge $4,000, around its highest for two years. Speculation that U.S. regulators may approve the listing of spot ether ETFs this year has driven the price up 75% this year.

Cryptocurrency Bitcoin is witnessing a boom and the coin managed to gain 2.19 per cent and traded at $30,543.48 on Monday. The value of the largest cryptocurrency by circulation went up by over 9.5 per cent in the past seven days and is nearing the $31,000 mark now.

Bitcoin price witnessed sluggish growth and lost significant value in the crypto crashes in recent years. Bitcoin managed to attain an all-time high of $68,789.63 on November 10, 2021, before it started dropping in value. The tables have turned now owing to the recent surge rally in the crypto domain.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin held a market capitalization of $596.19 billion, up by 2.2 per cent, according to CoinMarketCap statistics. In addition, the 24-hour trade volume saw a substantial hike of 22.5 per cent and was recorded at $16.14 billion. In the past month, the cryptocurrency behemoth gained 14.91 per cent in value.

October has proven to be a lucky month for Bitcoin, aka BTC, and the entire crypto market. In October, Bitcoin price shot up by about 12.7 per cent.

The recent Bitcoin surge can be attributed to several key factors. At first, the market for crypto rallied on October 21 and led to the liquidation of about $64 million in short positions in the span of 24 hours. This liquidation, including a staggering figure of $2.53 million on the crypto trading app Binance forced short-sellers to cover their positions, thereby adding to the Bitcoin demand.

In addition, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s hints of possible suspension of interest rate hikes may have also had an immediate effect on Bitcoin price.

According to a report by Coinpedia, on October 19, Bitcoin surged by about 3.7 per cent after Powell’s remarks.

Apart from the above mentioned factors, the crypto market sentiment was further boosted by a drop in charges against Ripple executives in the XRP vs SEC lawsuit. The XRP price rose over 8 per cent on Thursday and likely affected Bitcoin’s price as well, considering that cryptocurrency is an integrated market.

Ferrari’s Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera said cryptocurrencies had made efforts to reduce their carbon footprint through the introduction of new software and a larger use of renewable sources.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Ferrari has started to accept payment in cryptocurrency for its luxury sports cars in the U.S. and will extend the scheme to Europe following requests from its wealthy customers, its marketing and commercial chief told Reuters.

The vast majority of blue-chip companies have steered clear of crypto as the volatility of bitcoin and other tokens renders them impractical for commerce. Patchy regulation and high energy usage have also prevented the spread of crypto as a means of payment.

These include electric carmaker Tesla, which in 2021 began to accept payment in bitcoin, the biggest crypto coin, before CEO Elon Musk halted it because of environmental concerns.

Ferrari’s Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera told that Reuters cryptocurrencies had made efforts to reduce their carbon footprint through the introduction of new software and a larger use of renewable sources.

“Our target to reach for carbon neutrality by 2030 along our whole value chain is absolutely confirmed,” he said in an interview. Ferrari said the decision came in response to requests from the market and dealers as many of its clients have invested in crypto.

“Some are young investors who have built their fortunes around cryptocurrencies,” he said. “Some others are more traditional investors, who want to diversify their portfolios.”

While some cryptocurrencies, such as the second-largest, ether, have improved their energy efficiency, bitcoin still attracts criticism for its energy-intensive mining. Ferrari shipped more than 1,800 cars to its Americas region, which includes the U.S., in the first half of this year.

Mr. Galliera did not say how many cars Ferrari expected to sell through crypto. He said the company’s order portfolio was strong and fully booked well into 2025, but the company wanted to test this expanding universe.

“This will help us connect to people who are not necessarily our clients but might afford a Ferrari,” he said.

The Italian company, which sold 13,200 cars in 2022, with prices starting at more than 2,00,000 euros ($2,11,000) and going up to two million euros, plans to extend the crypto scheme to Europe by the first quarter of next year and then to other regions where crypto is legally accepted. ($1 = 0.9495 euros)

Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is Ferrari’s largest region, accounting for 46% of its total car shipments in the first half of this year.

“Interest is the same in the U.S. and Europe, we don’t see huge differences,” Mr. Galliera said. Countries where cryptocurrencies are restricted include China.

Ferrari has turned to one of the biggest cryptocurrency payment processors, BitPay, for the initial phase in the U.S., and will allow transactions in bitcoin, ether and USDC, one of the largest so-called stable coins. Ferrari might use other payment processors in different regions.

“Prices will not change, no fees, no surcharges if you pay through cryptocurrencies,” Mr. Galliera said. Bitpay will immediately turn cryptocurrency payments into traditional currency on behalf of Ferrari’s dealers, so they are protected from price swings.

“This was one of our main goals: avoiding, both our dealers and us, to directly handle cryptocurrencies and being shielded from their wide fluctuations,” Mr. Galliera said.

As the payment processor, BitPay will ensure that the virtual currencies come from legitimate sources and not derived from criminal activity or to be used to launder the proceeds of crime or evade tax.

Ferrari’s marketing and commercial chief said that the majority of its U.S. dealers have already signed up, or are about to agree, to the scheme. “I am confident others will join soon,” Mr. Galliera said.

FILE PHOTO: Celsius Network logo and representations of cryptocurrencies are seen in this illustration
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network said Bitcoin mining is key to the company’s restructuring efforts at a U.S. bankruptcy court hearing on Monday in Manhattan.

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New Jersey-based Celsius received approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn to spend $3.7 million in construction costs at a new Bitcoin mining facility and $1.5 million on customs and duties on imported Bitcoin mining rigs. Patrick Nash, a lawyer for Celsius, told Glenn that Bitcoin mining could provide a way for the company, which halted other business operations like its cryptocurrency lending, to repay customers, whose assets its froze in the weeks leading up to its bankruptcy filing.

“In a world where the crypto market rebounds, the mining business has the potential to be quite valuable,” Nash said.

Celsius filed for Chapter 11 protection on July 13, listing a $1.19 billion deficit on its balance sheet. Crypto lenders’ business model came under scrutiny following a sharp crypto market sell-off spurred by the collapse of major tokens TerraUSD [UST] and LUNA in May.

Celsius’ assets shrank amid the extreme volatility, and its freezing of customer accounts was an attempt to stem losses and stabilise its business, Nash said.

Celsius hopes the mining effort will help it repair its relationship with customers, some of whom sent threats and hate mail to some company employees in the weeks before the Chapter 11 filing.

But a group of equity investors previewed a possible fight for control over the Bitcoin mining operations. Dennis Dunne, the investors’ lawyer, said they may argue that the newly mined coins should be considered property of the UK subsidiary that raised the funds for the mining operation, rather than being distributed for the benefit of all Celsius creditors.

Customers might also object to Celsius’ spending on Bitcoin mining vendors at a time when their own recovery is in doubt, the U.S. Department of Justice’s bankruptcy watchdog said.