Pakinomist – See Pakinomist’s selection of the three best news stories over the past 24 hours.
69,000 BTC could be sold by the US government
The US government has been allowed to liquidate 69,370 Bitcoins seized from the Silk Road market. The plaintiffs (Battle Born Investments Company, First 100 and 1st One Hundred Holdings) sought to put this enforcement on hold while they pursued a separate lawsuit seeking to reveal the identity of “Individual X,” a hacker who helped forfeit the Bitcoins stolen from Silk Road to the US government. This hacker was allegedly threatened by Silk Road’s jailed founder, Ross Ulbricht. The plaintiffs wanted to rely on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to reveal the hacker’s identity, but the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of the government. This means that the government can proceed with the settlement of the confiscated assets. However, the liquidation could have a negative impact on Bitcoin prices, which are already struggling to gain momentum.
price defends large Bollinger Bands level: Bullish?
The price of XRP faced a significant test yesterday, January 9th. After a recent decline of 6.2% earlier in the week, the asset bottomed at the 20-day moving average, which serves as the median of the Bollinger Bands indicator. After briefly closing above this median, XRP experienced a 4.51% pullback, but this was interrupted by news of the US Department of Justice’s approval to sell seized Silk Road Bitcoin; the announcement led to a market-wide selloff, pulling XRP’s price down again. Despite this, XRP has managed to stay above the mean value of the Bollinger Band and maintain a bullish outlook; however, another retest of this level is possible, which would mean a further decline of 1.48%. If this retest proves successful, it would make it more likely to reach the upper Bollinger band at $2.51, allowing for significant gains.
Gensler slams crypto ahead of his exit
In the final days of his tenure as chairman of the US SEC, Gary Gensler reiterated his concerns about the crypto industry, arguing that it is “filled” with bad actors. During his recent appearance on Bloomberg Television, Gensler noted that the public is well informed about Bitcoin, which accounts for 80% of the market capitalization. However, he also pointed out that there are about 10,000 to 15,000 ventures that lack fundamental support, stating that they are largely driven by sentiment rather than fundamentals. The chairman expressed skepticism about the survival of many of these projects, comparing them to venture capital investments and adding that there are also quite a few “pump-and-dump schemes”. Speaking of his upcoming departure, Gensler said it was “a great privilege” to lead the SEC. Despite the attention he received for legal actions in the crypto space, Gensler emphasized that such efforts comprised only about 5% of the SEC’s total enforcement activities.
