Crypto Tidbits: Bakkt’s Bitcoin Market Explodes, Huawei CEO Skeptical of Blockchain, FBI Wary of Cryptocurrency

Another week, another round of Crypto Tidbits. Again, Bitcoin (BTC) saw a relatively meek week in terms of price action, or lack thereof; the leading cryptocurrency fell by 5% over the course of the week, but still seems to be stuck in a tight range as a trend fails to be established.

Despite this, the industry continued to chug forward. Bakkt’s Bitcoin volumes have shot through the roof as institutional interest picks up, Huawei’s CEO expressed skepticism towards blockchain technologies, and the FBI revealed that it is wary of the threats posed by cryptocurrencies.

Related Reading: Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin Stuck In $9,000s, Starbucks Cryptocurrency Payments, Canada’s BTC Fund

Bitcoin & Crypto Tidbits

• Bakkt’s Bitcoin Volumes Explode to $15 Million: Bakkt Volume Bot, a Twitter account dedicated to publishing data about the exchange’s derivatives market, has reported that Bakkt has seen 1,741 BTC worth of contracts traded on Friday. This is equivalent to around $15.5 million, and importantly marks Bakkt’s largest trading day thus far. This statistic was later corroborated by the exchange itself, who excitedly tweeted near the end of Friday’s trading session:
  

  “Today we set a new daily record of 1,756 Bakkt Bitcoin Futures contracts traded.”

• Academics Accuse Bitcoin Whale of Pushing BTC to $20,000: Two skeptical researchers — John Griffin, professor at the University of Texas, and Amin Shams, assistant professor at the Ohio State University — recently revised their paper on Bitcoin from 2018, which stated that trades of the USD-backed stablecoin were responsible for sending BTC higher. The 119-page revised edition has made an additional assertion: that a single entity, a so-called whale (large cryptocurrency holder), was responsible for wresting Bitcoin from $1,000 to $20,000 in 12 months’ time through Tether.
• Huawei Warns of Quantum Threat to Bitcoin, Crypto, & Blockchain: Earlier this year, Google unveiled that it had achieved quantum supremacy, when a quantum computer accomplishes a task that a traditional supercomputer cannot finish. Many have taken this as a sign that Bitcoin’s SHA-256 algorithm and others like are under threat. In a video published on Wednesday, shared by Chinese crypto venture capitalist Dovey Wan, Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei said that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are unlikely to have a future, specifically due to the computing power that quantum devices have. According to Wan, Ren even stated that this technological class is “worthless” in the face of quantum computing.
• Canadian Exchange Millions in Crypto Debt Seized:  Revealed in a press release published on Monday morning, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has recently made a move to “protect customers” of Einstein Exchange, a crypto-asset exchange headquartered in Vancouver. The move: to gain an order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia allowing an interim receiver to “preserve and protect any assets of Einstein Exchange.” The Court granted the order to auditing company Grant Thornton Limited, as an official document from November 1st indicates. Grant Thornton Limited now has the authority to take control of Einstein’s assets and properties, along with the ability to enter any of the exchange’s premises if deemed necessary to protect customers.
• FBI Reveals It Is Worried About Crypto Threat: Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray recently said in a Committee in Washington, D.C. that cryptocurrencies are already a “significant issue” when it comes to law enforcement.
• Square Reveals Strong Retail Interest in Bitcoin: On Wednesday, Square revealed a statistic pertaining to the cryptocurrency industry: the company’s flagship product, the Cash App, sold $148 million worth of BTC in fiscal Q3 of 2019. Crypto analyst Kevin Rooke pointed out that this is the sixth straight quarter of growth for this facet of Square’s business. Rooke also noted that Bitcoin revenues at Square are now growing by a jaw-dropping 244% year-over-year, despite the fact that BTC remains over 50% below its previous all-time high of $20,000. Square’s report also indicated that first-time Bitcoin buyers are on the rise, which itself is a rather bullish signal. Delphi Digital co-founder Anil Lulla wrote on the significance of this statistic: “Always great to get a pulse on retail interest for BTC via Square’s earnings. My favorite takeaway this quarter: First-time bitcoin buyers have approximately doubled since September.”
• Stellar Lumens Burns Billions Worth of Crypto: Announced in a blog post published on Monday afternoon, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has made the decision to burn a majority of XLM it has control over. Prior to this move, there were around 105 billion Lumens in existence, approximately 20 billion of which are already out in circulation, being traded on exchanges and used by companies and individuals of the Stellar blockchain, and the rest being held by the SDF. Now, there is a relatively mere ~50 billion in existence, the other 55 billion having been burned by the SDF sending coins to “a Stellar account with no signers.”
• Libertarian Ron Paul Reveals Public Prefers Bitcoin Over Gold: Former Texan Congressman Ron Paul — one of the most outspoken libertarian politicians — recently conducted the bellow poll, finding that 59% of some 77,350 respondents would prefer HODLing $10,000 worth of Bitcoin over $10,000 worth of gold, Federal Reserve Notes, or 10-year Treasury bonds.

A wealthy person gifts you $10,000. You get to choose in which form you’ll accept the gift.

But there’s a catch: You must keep the gift in the form that you choose for 10 years without touching it.

In which form would you accept the gift?

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 4, 2019

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