Donald Trump’s Twitter account suffered a ban recently and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained in a thread on social media that he made the right decision. This decision would lead to a set of dangerous precedents.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey made recently a long thread explaining his crescent passion for Bitcoin and decentralization, in this thread of 13-tweet thread, the businessman explained in its entirety the reasons of his company to ban US President Donald Trump from getting access to the platform.

Dorsey claimed that this was the “right choice” for Twitter,” but also admits that a choice like this can set a dangerous precedent in the way that the internet deals with freedom of expression.

Trump’s accounts were removed from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media platforms on January 7th after the blames that came on the President of the United States of America for inciting his followers to storm the Capitol building.

These riots ended as a result of the deaths of four people. Social media awoke concern about Trump’s behavior and described his words as an invitation to violence.

In this Twitter thread, Dorsey gives a more in-depth explanation, admitting that the decision hard to make and that it will have “real and significant ramifications.” Dorsey explains that while this event was a move to simplify and apply twitter’s moderation policies it can feel very like a government’s move to regulate access to freedom of expression on the internet.

Twitter’s Unilateral Action to “Dissolve a Free and Open Global Internet” is Not in Dorsey’s Goals

Dorsey also explains that Twitter’s unilateral action to “erode a free and open global internet” is the last of his desires and suggested that Bitcoin’s decentralization model is a better and safer system to focus on internet control and moderation shortly.

“The reason I am so passionate about Bitcoin is because of the model it demonstrates: A fundamental Internet technology without control or influence of any individual or entity”.

The CEO also reminded readers that Twitter is focusing its efforts on moving towards a decentralized future, “funding an initiative around an open decentralized standard for social media.” Dorsey published the explanation when news came to light about Trump’s removal, an event that happened twice and is a decision of the House of Representatives. The thread already has more than 41,000 likes.

Some Fragments of the Thread Explain in Detail What Dorsey Argues about Trump’s Removal:

“I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter, or how we got here. After a clear warning, we’d take this action, we decided with the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter. Was this correct?”. “I believe this was the right decision for Twitter. We faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public safety. Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all”.

By: Jenson Nuñez

This is a “test” to certify the operation of the system. The 10 BTC involved in the operation would be worth around USD 340,000 today.

On January 12^th, the international Bitcoin ecosystem commemorated the birth of Bitcoin (BTC) 12 years ago. In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto made the first transaction of value as a “test” of the operation of his system without intermediaries.

The creator of the pioneering cryptocurrency sent 10 BTC to crypto engineer and activist Hal Finney. In doing so, he would demonstrate that his innovation would allow transferring funds directly from person to person. This initiated the consolidation of a protocol that resists censorship and does not depend on the current financial system.

Finney had already been running Satoshi’s client two days earlier to interact with the network from his node. The developer posted the message “Running Bitcoin” on January 10^th to record that he was interacting with the system.

“When Satoshi announced the release of the software, I took it right away. Besides Satoshi, I think I was the first person to run Bitcoin. I mined block 70-something and received the first Bitcoin transaction when Satoshi sent me ten coins as a test. I chatted with Satoshi via e-mail for the next few days. While I reported bugs, he fixed them,” Finney said twelve years ago.

The price of Bitcoin was zero then, but the 10 cryptocurrencies that Finney received then are now worth USD 340,000. Taking into account the current price of BTC, each unit is worth USD 34,000 per unit.

The transaction identifier allows seeing that the operation occurred at 3:30 in the morning and was 275 bytes in size. Currently, the operation already has more than 665,700 confirmations from the network. The activation of the original Satoshi client occurred on January 9^th. Since that date, there have been at least 67 other versions that allow configuring the equipment to put it at the service of the network. The tasks that they allow performing include validating transactions and recording them on the blockchain. The participants then receive rewards in BTC in return.

Satoshi and Finney in the Beginnings of Bitcoin

Satoshi Nakamoto kept the emergence of the pioneering cryptocurrency under a veil of mystery since he did not reveal its progress. A short time later, no one heard from him again. Concerning Finney, the “first bitcoiner” received in 2009 a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Subsequently, he died in 2009 at the age of 58.

No one knows the reasons why Nakamoto chose Finney as the first person to receive Bitcoin in history. However, the reasons could be related to the American engineer’s interest in the project.

Before the 10 BTC that Satoshi sent him, Finney had had access to other coins. After mining block 78 of the network, the programmer received 50 BTC as a reward. Finney had reportedly promised Satoshi to return the funds, but he forgot to do so, and then Nakamoto “disappeared”. Finney may have sold his bitcoins in mid-2013 to pay off the debts that his medical treatment generated. After Finney died, his wife Fran has campaigned to raise awareness of ALS and find a cure.

By Willmen Blanco

According to analysts at CoinMetrics, there will be a rapid recovery in BTC and ETH prices. In the Bitcoin ecosystem, on-chain data shows higher institutional adoption.

There was a recent price drop that impacted the cryptocurrency market. According to analysts at CoinMetrics, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and other crypto assets will maintain a good growth rate in 2021.

In their most recent report, the analysts point to the high volatility that the market for Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies has faced in the last week. During that time, prices decreased dramatically but then rose to even reach new all-time highs.

The study indicates that Bitcoin is increasingly sensitive to external events. The pioneering cryptocurrency reacted negatively to the events of January 6^th, when there was civil unrest in the United States.

The price of Bitcoin fell shortly after news about tear gas to contain the demonstrators at the US Capitol. In about 45 minutes, the cryptocurrency reached the bottom but then began its recovery, according to the analysts.

“Bitcoin did not necessarily have a quick reaction to world events in its early days. However, that situation has changed over the last twelve months. Bitcoin has increasingly shown more immediate reactions to external events. Wednesday, January 6^th, was no different,” the report adds.

The analysts show that the price of Bitcoin rose to new all-time highs as it exceeded USD 36,000. That occurred when Washington DC’s curfew took effect, and most of the rioters dispersed. On January 7^th, the price of the main cryptocurrency on the market rose again, above USD 40,000. The price of BTC and ETH at new all-time highs triggered another event: the massive sale of assets. For example, CoinMetrics shows that there was a liquidation of Ethereum futures contracts between January 9^th and 11^th. It reflects that there were liquidations of long and short positions due to large losses.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Show their Strengths

The cryptocurrency market recorded price variations in recent days. In addition to that, the analysts find solid fundamentals that can sustain the recovery and growth of the ecosystem throughout the year. Those bases include the hash rates of Bitcoin and Ethereum, which have all-time highs. This indicates that miners’ activity on both networks is increasing, according to the report.

The active addresses metrics of BTC and ETH are another solid support since they are also close to all-time highs. A higher average number of active addresses does not necessarily equate to a growth in user volume. However, the study interprets the index as a sign of increased activity in the chain, which is positive for both networks.

There has also been a significant increase in addresses that have at least 1,000 BTC. The analysts consider this to indicate a growth in adoption by institutions in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Ethereum transaction fees have reached all-time highs. Even the total rates increased by more than 88% in the last days, recording a daily average of USD 12.7 million. Bitcoin in particular has averaged around USD 4 million, according to data from blockchain.com. In its recent report, CoinMetrics found that ETH can benefit from the growing institutional interest that cryptocurrencies are arousing. The data provider believes that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) plans to introduce ETH futures for next February is positive.

By AlexanderSalazar

Regulators have forced exchanges to withdraw XMR from their trades. The WXMR token would satisfy the concerns of regulators and would bring liquidity to the Monero market.

The launch of the WXMR token on Ethereum (ETH) seeks to create transparency in operations involving Monero (XMR) on exchanges. The objective is to create a market with a cryptocurrency that has parity with XMR so that regulators can keep track of these operations. Additionally, traders will be able to trade a token that has the same value as Monero on DeFi markets.

Exchange BTSE recently released that information through its blog, explaining that they will be safeguarding “wrapped” token WXMR.

They also reported that they will use a “proof of reserves” for the process of issuing and distributing the WXMR token. This allows the exchange to create each token in correspondence with the funds that it holds. The reason for this is that each token issued is equivalent to one Monero deposited on the exchange.

The text explains that it is like depositing XMR and using the conversion function to exchange it for the “wrapped” token or vice versa. BTSE said that they will “publish periodic cryptographic reserve tests.”

BTSE launched the token to address the dilemma that arises between the interests of exchanges and those of regulators and government agencies. The latter seek to know the origin of the funds that users move on privacy-focused networks. In the particular case of Monero, this crypto asset allows hiding the sender, the recipient and the funds involved.

Bittrex recently told its customers to withdraw their XMR, ZEC, and DASH funds before January 15^th. The ecosystem did not take this willingly, and there was even confusion. Regulatory requirements seem to have led to that decision. These agencies allegedly seek greater transparency in operations by implementing identity control (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) measures.

BTSE believes that regulators could monitor transactions recorded on public blockchains such as Ethereum and Bitcoin. They claim that this will happen via the wrapped token WXMR. Discussions about privacy control have given rise to the idea that cryptocurrencies such as Monero, Zcash (ZEC), and even DASH allowed illegal operations. However, existing regulations could limit criminal behavior, even with privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.

Use of Monero on Ethereum DeFi Markets

One argument for creating the WXMR token is to increase its liquidity through the DeFi Ethereum markets. XMR currently exceeds USD 2.9 billion in market capitalization, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Some Reddit users raised last year that XMR could reach the DeFi markets, such as had already happened with Bitcoin (BTC). “Many people have a hard time accessing a way to get XMR. This is because many exchanges do not include this due to its privacy nature,” commented user MasterTheGame.

Last November, the WBTC tokens locked on Ethereum amounted to US 3 billion, causing this expectation to grow. At the time of writing this article, the trading volume of the WXMR token against ETH is around USD 52,877, according to data from Uniswap.

By Alexander Salazar