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$3.6B in Bitcoin vanishes in ‘hack’ along with owners of South African crypto platform

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Around 69,000 Bitcoin has vanished from a South African investment platform along with two brothers who owned the crypto firm.

Although the facts are yet to be proven in court, if it turns to be an exit scam rather than a hack, it would be the biggest in history according to Bloomberg. There were warning signs for investors either way, with users reportedly promised returns of up to 10% a day.

AfriCrypt was founded in 2019 and operated by brothers Ameer and Raees Cajee. It had reportedly amassed around 54 billion rands worth of BTC, or $3.6 billion USD at the time, when it sent a message to investors on April 13 claiming the platform had been hacked.

The firm said it would halt operations while it began the process of “attempting to retrieve stolen funds and compromised information.”

South African law firm Hanekom Attorneys, which has taken the case on behalf of affected users, said suspicions were aroused as the message included the warning that: “clients may proceed the legal route, but we ask clients to please acknowledge that this will only delay the recovery process.”

“We were immediately suspicious as the announcement implored investors not to take legal action,” Hanekom Attorneys said. The law firm also claimed that “Africrypt employees lost access to the back-end platforms seven days before the alleged hack.”

Hanekom Attorneys alleges that the brothers transferred the 69,000 BTC — which is now worth $2.2 billion after the recent price tumble — from AfriCrypt’s accounts and client wallets, and subjected the funds “to various dark web tumblers and mixers, resulting in severe fragmentation” to make the funds untraceable.

The brothers have been unreachable, with calls going directly to voicemail, while the AfriCrypt website is also down. The law firm has reported the case to an elite unit of the national police dubbed the “Hawks.”

South Africa’s Gauteng South High Court has granted a provisional liquidation order against the Cajee brothers, and they have been given until July 19 2021 to respond to the order.

Related: Scams are driving South African authorities to regulate crypto trading

According to African online crypto news outlet BitcoinKe, AfriCrypt drew in clients by targeting high net worth investors and urging them to refer their friends, while also offering returns of up to 10% daily.

The eye watering daily return puts the 10% monthly return promised to users of South African crypto Ponzi scheme Mirror Trading International (MTI) into the shade.

MTI has been described as the biggest Ponzi-scheme the country had ever seen, pulling in 23,000 BTC from investors ($774 million at today’s prices) with MTI’s CEO, Johann Steynberg reportedly fleeing to Brazil to escape punishment when the firm was placed under provisional liquidation in 2020.

$3.6B in Bitcoin vanishes in \’hack\’ along with owners of South African crypto platform

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Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD Retests $34,800 High

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Bitcoin Price Prediction – June 23

The Bitcoin bulls are working hard to nurture a bullish trend from the support at $31,708.

BTC/USD Long-term Trend: Bearish (Daily Chart)

Key levels:

Resistance Levels: $40,000, $42,000, $44,000

Support Levels: $27,000, $25,000, $23,000

BTCUSD – Daily Chart

BTC/USD is currently trading 2.66% higher on the day after the coin opened the session at $32,538 and touches the daily high of $31,708. The first digital asset is moving within the short-term bullish trend amid low volatility. The current conditions imply that the price may stay range-bound during the next trading hours as the coin remains below the 9-day and 21-day moving averages. Meanwhile, the technical indicator Relative Strength Index (14) may start moving sideways.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: What to Expect from Bitcoin

At the opening of the market today, after testing the low of $31,708, the Bitcoin price is currently hovering at $33,402. Meanwhile, looking at the market movement, there is likely that the market may experience a quick retracement or sell-off just after touching the crucial $34,000, and traders may see $35,000 to $38,000 being tested again before pushing higher.

On the downside, if the market decides to fall, the Bitcoin price could fall towards the lower boundary of the channel at $28,000, and if that support fails to hold the sell-off, traders could see a further decline towards the support levels of $27,000, $25,000, and critically $23,000. All the same, any further bullish movement towards the upper boundary of the channel may hit the resistance levels at $40,000, $42,000, and $44,000.

BTC/USD Medium – Term Trend: Bearish (4H Chart)

When compares with the 4-hour chart, the Bitcoin price first touches the daily high of $34,881 but now dropping slightly. If the price continues to drop further and moves below the 9-day and 21-day moving averages, it could reach the nearest support levels at $30,500 and below.

BTCUSD – 4 Hour Chart

Moreover, if the bulls push the coin above the upper boundary of the channel, the Bitcoin price may likely reach the potential resistance levels of $36,000 and above. Presently, the market may be indecisive as the technical indicator Relative Strength Index (14) indicator moves above 40-level.

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Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD Retests $34,800 High

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A big raise of $105M by US miner to recycle waste coal into crypto

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The US miner company Stronghold announced a total raise of 105 million dollars to support techniques to recycle coal waste during bitcoin mining. 

The huge raise became possible as the Bitcoin community is becoming more and more environmentally conscious. 

The announcement of Tesla regarding resuming the bitcoin payments has compelled the Coal-powered mining industry to consider environmental aspects of the processes.

Stronghold, a digital mining firm based in Pennsylvania, has recently shared a statement to the news media that the company’s very first power generation infrastructure, “The Scrubgrass Power

Generation Plant” uses coal waste to produce energy in order to mine cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The

The company also mentioned that the scale of power generation by the Scrubgrass power plant situated at Venango County is equivalent to a big-scale hydropower generation plant.

The waste coal that the Stronghold company recycles is assumed to be the result of coal mining operations in the 19th and 20th centuries. The power generation methodologies of the company enable it to restore vast regions of land that were previously wrecked due to the coal acid drainage (AMD) caused by the accumulation of coal waste.

AMD can be described as a cycle in which snow or rain gets mixed with the sulfur elements of the coal waste. This poisonous mixture then runs into water passages, thereby affecting marine life. Stronghold company has shown a desire to donate rehabilitated lands back to regional communities.

Statements from the Co-chairman of Stronghold 

In his recent interaction with the news media, Bill Spence, co-chairman of stronghold company, has said that the poisonous gases from burnings of coal waste have always been a devastating issue for Pennsylvania, his home-state, since the past hundreds of years.

He continued by saying that they only utilize advanced crypto mining procedures with an aim to remediate the unpleasant effects of coal mining operations of the 19th and 20th-century in many of the environmentally overlooked areas of the United States.

Furthermore, the Stronghold has given out an estimated report regarding cryptocurrency mining done by the company; the report states that they eliminate around 200 tonnes of coal waste for every cryptocurrency it mines. 

Conclusion 

Till present, Stronghold has reportedly restored Pennsylvania land of around 1000 acres that were previously enlisted under the category of unusable lands by working in a coalition with some active regional environmental authorities. Not only has the company successfully removed more than 98% of NOx, mercury, and SO2 emissions, but also the company’s production procedure generates fly ash that can be employed as a fertilizer.

By 2022, Stronghold strives to get 28,000 plus cryptocurrency miners operational and is planning to have facilities with the potential to generate more than 200 megawatts of electricity.

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council. 

A big raise of $105M by US miner to recycle waste coal into crypto

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Supply Chain Optimization Is Crucial To Your Business. Learn Why!

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Codezeros

We are residing in a highly competitive world. And it is becoming difficult for the businesses out there to take a stand. And thus, they should look for continuous enhancement to meet consumer needs. To do it successfully, supply chain optimization can be undertaken.

It improves both performance and network efficiency to fulfill the needs of the customers. This article will describe to you why supply chain optimization is vital for your business.

What is supply chain optimization?

Like blockchain, supply chain optimization uses resources and technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) to enhance both performance and efficiency in a supply network. A supply chain of an organization offers an efficacious customer experience.

Business efficacy and responsiveness are enabled by a high-performing and powerful supply chain to give the customers what they want. And ultimately, it brings profit to the organization and also enhances the sustainability of the supply chain.

Supply Chain Optimization Is Crucial To Your Business. Learn Why!

Supply chain optimization process:

A successful supply chain optimization process undertakes three phases. The phases are:

Supply chain design:

This phase includes a description of network design processes such as the location of warehouse facilities and how the product flows between them. It also showcases strategic objectives like establishing supplies, demand forecasting, and the scheduling and planning of operations associated with manufacturing.

Supply chain planning:

It includes the making of a strategic supply chain development plan, planning for inventory, and assets coordination for optimizing goods delivery, information, and services from supplier to consumers, ultimately balancing supply and demand.

Supply chain execution:

This phase focuses on execution-oriented systems and applications, inventory and warehouse management, management of transportation, management of global trade, and other execution applications like supply chain visibility, real-time decision support, and order management systems.

Importance of supply chain optimization:

The complexity of supply chains cannot be ignored, but the complexity pays technological benefits, especially when AI and IoT are integrated with blockchain.

A successfully designed supply chain management and optimization processes describe the given below issues:

Silos:

As the data is siloed, supply chains are unable to get the needed insight, and they lack end-to-end visibility. All these together pull them from meeting the needs of their consumers. For informational silos, a supply chain optimized through connected technology is considered to be the best solution.

Client needs:

The expectations of the customers are rising. And this means that the supply chains must keep up with innovating and optimizing each step to meet the needs of their customers. The organizations must prioritize the supply chain not only to meet but exceed the customer expectations as well.

Competitive advantage:

Earlier, supply chains used to focus on the design of the network like distribution fleet and warehouse placement. But currently, optimization on real-time decision support and execution-oriented applications is the indispensable process for protecting the brand and building competitive advantage.

Agility:

The supply chain must respond fast to the changes like- customer demands, supply distributions, and competitions. To stay competitive, the modern supply chains must be active and quick.

Sustainability:

There are several social and environmental impacts caused by supply chains. Modern customers crave to know whether the goods are manufactured or produced in an ethical and sustainable method by using low-impact extraction or renewable methods.

Features of an effective supply chain optimization:

Blockchain development for supply chain itself is a powerful technology. And when it is further integrated with AI or IoT, the power rises dramatically. Firstly, blockchain migrates from a traditional business network and brings good quality data together across the partners.

When AI is added, it extracts a meaningful context and produces strong insights resulting in several potential benefits.

Some of the vital features of an effective supply chain are given below:

  • Inventory tracking:

It looks through the entire blockchain in supply chain and knows exactly where the inventory is.

  • Intelligence:

For real-time intelligence, it leverages composable data and AI services.

  • Reporting and analytics:

For forecasting future sales and demands, it evaluates patterns in processes.

  • Order management:

It tracks orders, manages returns, sends quotes, and contributes to customized pricing.

  • Visibility:

It offers up-to-date inventory tracking and available-to-promise data.

What is the future of supply chain optimization?

Automation will be delivering significant scaling advantages, contributing to blockchain for supply chain management. Some of the technologies that will continue to develop are:

IoT sensor data will offer insight into inventory status and location.

AI will make monitoring of inventory more accurate.

  • Blockchain:

It will improve traceability, visibility, transactional trust, and will verify the authenticity as well.

  • Intelligent order management:

Inventory visibility will be mastered with automation and improved demand forecasting.

Conclusion:

Indeed, it is advantageous to opt for supply chain optimization in businesses. Technology, along with globalization and empowered customers, is changing the way how a business manages its supply chains. In the future, the supply chains are expected to take more accurate actions.

Supply Chain Optimization Is Crucial To Your Business. Learn Why!

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Hedge fund that shorted GameStop closes as $1.13B GME stock offer completes

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One of the hedge funds badly burned in the infamous GME social media driven short squeeze is closing down, while GameStop itself has just completed its $1.13 billion equity offering.

According the Financial Times, London-based White Square Capital operated by Florian Kronawitter has closed its main fund and will return capital to investors.

White Square Capital reportedly had $440 million in assets under management (AUM) at its peak. The hedge fund was one of many that suffered double digit percentage losses from short positions in January, when the Wall Street Bets subreddit helped pump GME’s price from $21 on Jan. 12 to around $345 on Jan. 27.

However the FT reported a source as saying the fund’s closure was unrelated to its GameStop misadventure. In a letter to investors, co-founder Kronawitter cited the traditional equity long-short model was being “challenged” in the current financial climate, as there are “way too many fish in the pond” that operate with the same long-short strategy.

“The traditional edge is being arbed away [eroded by other investors], there’s an oversupply of capital,” Kronawitter said.

The co-founder also highlighted that the hedge fund’s opportunities for arbitrage have “diminished” due to the “onslaught of capital caused by central bank monetary interventions.”

These factors are also accompanied by the relative ease of access to information and cheaper investment alternatives, with Kronawitter asserting that it brings it to question how the management fees from hedge funds can be justified in the current market.

In a Reddit thread discussing the news on the r/wallstreetbets subreddit, members of the group shared their delight, with user “turtleduck77” likening hedge funds that shorted GME to dominoes falling, noting that its “Time to invest in dominoes! The game not the pizza.”

Related: New decentralized crypto exchange is inspired by r/Wallstreetbets

GameStop completes ATM offering

Yesterday GameStop announced the completion of an at-the-market (ATM) equity offering, with the company selling five million shares of common stock generating almost $1.3 billion before commissions and offering expenses.

“GameStop will use net proceeds from the ATM Offering for general corporate purposes as well as for investing in growth initiatives and maintaining a strong balance sheet,” the announcement read.

One of the growth initiatives likely to be funded is GameStop’s NFT marketplace set to be launched on Ethereum.

While details are sparse at this stage, the firm’s blockchain division is reportedly headed by the former business operations leader of Ethereum and Loopring DEX, Matt Finestone.

The smart contract platform is based on the ERC-721 NFT standard and was created by foobar, a developer who has worked on wrapper solutions for the classic version of Crypto Punks, HD Mooncats, and MooncatHelper NFT projects in the past.

While top crypto assets and memecoins have been in a major down trend since May 12, GME’s meme stock has increased 36.6% within that time frame, increasing from $161 on May 12, to $220 as of today, according to TradingView.

In comparison, data from CoinGecko shows that crypto’s nearest equivalent in meme coin Dogecoin has cooled down, has dropped 64% — declining from a price range of $0.50 on May 12, to $0.18 today.

Hedge fund that shorted GameStop closes as $1.13B GME stock offer completes

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Dogecoin Price Hits $0.176 after a 22% Dip – Where to Buy DOGE

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Altcoins are having a hard time recovering, with the majority of them deep in the red zone. One of the worst-hit tokens is dogecoin, which has lost 22% in the past 24 hours.

In the past month, DOGE has lost nearly half of its value. However, those who invested at the beginning of the year are still in profit since the token’s current price is almost 7,000% higher than what the coin was trading at the beginning of the year.

At the time of writing, DOGE had sunk below critical $0.20 support levels and traded at $0.176 on major exchanges.

Dogecoin Price Analysis

It seems that DOGE’s glorious days may be coming to an end. The meme coin gained popularity after Elon Musk affiliated himself with it and promoted it on his Twitter account. However, Musk is yet to come to the rescue of DOGE this time round. His silence comes weeks after a threatening video by the Anonymous hacker group was released, criticizing him for misusing his power over the crypto market.

DOGE Price Analysis 22 June 2021
Source: TradingView

The chart above shows how dogecoin has been performing this month. The highest downtrend for the token started this week, as can be seen above, which could be attributed to the lack of support from the broader crypto market. After BTC sunk to almost $31,000 at the beginning of the week, altcoins followed suit and dogecoin was not spared.

Dogecoin needs to push past $0.20 to prevent a further retreat. Currently, the meme coin is on the verge of losing its coveted position among the top ten cryptocurrencies. Losing its space could be devastating for the token.

Dogecoin holders are urging Elon Musk to step in and save the meme coin from any further turmoil. However, his silence on the matter could indicate that the billionaire is keeping his sentiments about the crypto market to himself ever since he was accused of manipulating the market and misusing his power in the sector. However, not all is lost, and we may see the CEO tweeting about his favourite coin soon.

The current price movement could be because of a market correction, given the coin’s massive gains. However, it is worth noting that DOGE’s price gains merely resulted from investor demand. If the token gains practical adoption for use in the real world, such as in global financial systems, its value will definitely shoot.

Dogecoin has a strong community of fans compared to other cryptocurrencies, which is one of DOGE’s strengths that will help it with its long-term value. Due to its growing fan base, dogecoin has been accepted as a payment method for Wag, a dog-walking app. An increase in use-cases for DOGE will boost demand and hence value.

How to Buy DOGE

To purchase dogecoin, you need to create an account on a crypto exchange. One of the exchanges that support DOGE is eToro. The exchange is highly secure and reliable. Besides, its trading fees are highly competitive, and it offers a wide array of outstanding features for new investors. In addition, the exchange is among the few that offer copy trading, and if you have never traded crypto before, the exchange will provide you with a demo account where you can learn.

Looking to buy or trade Dogecoin (DOGE) now? Invest at eToro!

75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Dogecoin Price Hits $0.176 after a 22% Dip – Where to Buy DOGE

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