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- 10/23/23: Hal Is Not The Dev You're Looking For 😶🌫️⛏️🇨🇳
10/23/23: Hal Is Not The Dev You're Looking For 😶🌫️⛏️🇨🇳
Top News
👻 New study argues Hal Finney can’t be Satoshi Nakamoto | @lopp
⛏️ Mining stocks have outperformed BTC by ~2x this year | Decrypt
🇨🇳 Hong Kong tightens crypto regs after JPEX meltdown | Blockworks
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⌐◪-◪ → Hal Finney (rest in peace) was an iconic cryptographer, game developer, and early contributor to bitcoin - running the 2nd ever Bitcoin node. While many beleive Hal Finney was Satoshi Nakamoto, Jameson Lopp debunks this in his blog post, citing writing styles, time zones, activity patterns, differences in their coding practices and philosophical views on privacy and anonymity. Both are still legends as far as I’m concerned.
⌐◪-◪ → I found this headline interesting, as Bitcoin mining stocks have a high beta vs. the index, Bitcoin. For the non finance-bros, a higher beta simply means an asset moves with a greater magnitude, in the same direction, as the benchmark - which in this case is Bitcoin. Essentially, current data suggests Bitcoin mining stocks are to Bitcoin as Tech stocks are to the S&P 500. Looks like the ol’ picks-and-shovels play still works.
⌐◪-◪ → I don’t like this news one bit. Hong Kong wants to restrict crypto investments to “professional investors”. This approach is similar to the US’s “accredited investor” rules, which appky to certain private investments but not crypto. Crypto was created to democratize finance, and Hong Kong just said “fuck that”. Fortunately, where there’s a will there’s a way - and while this may slow things down, nothing can stop crypto.

Peripheral Vision
⛓️ Crypto & DeFi
Worldcoin swapping out USDC rewards for its own coin | Blockworks
Spot Bitcoin ETF searches spike on Google | @Bitcoin_Magazine
Bitcoin core developer steps away from Lightning project | Coindesk
Developer exposes BTC Lightning vulnerability | The Block
Ethereum crosses 100M addresses with a balance | @AltcoinDailyio
Bitcoin dominance hits highest point in over 2 years | @AltcoinDailyio
Vitalik is worried about AI threats for Ethereum | Decrypt
🏦 Wallstreet & VC
Morgan Stanley says halvening will spark bull run | @BitcoinMagazine
Microstrategy’s BTC investment up $110M | Cryptoslate
Ex-Israeli intelligence raise $33M for web3 security | The Block
🏛️ Legal & Regulatory
SEC is still pursuing XRP over other charges | Coin Edition
SEC has a 3% chance of success in Ripple appeal | Cointelegraph
SBF trial in final stages; case should end Oct. 26th | Cointelegraph
FTX claims trading at 50 cents on the dollar | The Block
Nishad Singh had suicidal thoughts amid FTX’s downfall | @CoinDesk
California to limit BTC ATM transactions to $1,000/day | CryptoSlate
🌎 Rest of the World
Pro-crypto Argentinan candidate wins 30% vote | @BTC_Archive
Solana’s largest DeFi protocol blocks UK users | Coindesk
Binance to end European Visa card in December | Bloomberg
Hong Kong may reverse stance on spot ETFs | Coindesk
Deutsche Telekom is running a MultiverseX validator | @AltcoinDailyio
300+ stores accept BTC lightning in Lugano, CH | @BitcoinMagazine
China’s digital currency used to settle crude oil deal | The Block
🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse
Flooring Protocol reaches $22M TVL after 1st week | @flooringproto
Magic Eden halts BRC-20 trading to protect users | CoinGape
XCOPY drops new NFT piece, Algo Bro | @XCOPYART

Spectacular Shoutout
Awesome shoutout from @kafcrypto!
Thanks so much, man! I’ve been enjoying your writeups too!
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