Cryptocurrency Market News: Bitfinex offers up to $400 million rewards to return stolen 2016 Bitcoin

Here is what you need to know on Wednesday, 5 August

BTC/USD remains flat at $11,203 while the daily 12-EMA is slowly catching up with the price. Bulls could use this support level for a bounce above $12,000.

ETH/USD is in a similar situation and got rejected after briefly climbing above $400. Bulls are still in control.

XRP/USD is down 4% and has slid below $0.30, however, buyers are still in control. The 12-EMA is far away at $0.26. 

Band Protocol is the biggest gainer today fighting with Ocean Protocol to see who remains on top. ChainLink is back creating all-time highs with a $3.3 billion market capitalization. Kava is also quite bullish with a 12% price surge hitting $2.75.

Chart of the day: OCEAN/USD daily chart

Market

According to an official announcement from Bitfinex, anyone that puts the exchange in contact with the hacker will receive 5% of the total property recovered. The hackers themselves could receive 25% of the total property recovered if the turn the Bitcoins in.

The aggregate rewards available under this programme could be worth up to approximately US$400 million at the current BTC price if all bitcoins are fully recovered. The bitcoins stolen minus recoveries in 2019 are worth $1.344 billion today, with 30 per cent of that amount equal to $403,288,427.

In order to confirm the identity of the hackers, we will request that 1 Satoshi is sent from the wallet address responsible for the hack to a wallet address specified by Bitfinex. We will work to ensure this can be done safely, thereby protecting the identities of all parties, and Bitfinex reserves the right to impose conditions on any transfers in order to verify claims and ensure a secure process.

Industry

A popular Asian fintech startup has decided to support cryptocurrencies by making them available for retailers and merchants. Finey, based in Singapore, will provide its users with cryptocurrency wallets that can be used to transfer, trade, or spend coins.

Cryptocurrencies are an important part of the future of contactless payments in Singapore. They complement existing systems really well and are gaining popularity as an efficient and trusted payment medium, Fincy CEO Vanessa Koh said

Quote of the day

I am very intrigued by Bitcoin. It has all the signs. Paradigm shift, hackers love it, yet it is described as a toy. Just like microcomputers.

– Paul Graham