Qrafty heard that Bitcoin is $31,000, BlackRock's ETF got an official number and Elon Musk pokes Wikipedia

***Qrafty smiling the biggest smile*** Aloha, crypto curious! I am Qrafty - the crypto lovin’ honey badger 🦡 !

Welcome to Coinqraft – the daily crypto newsletter for busy but curious people who don’t have time for the crypto drama!🌟

🦡   Qrafty is back with juice and news crypto jungle, so let’s dive in 📰 🌟

1. Bitcoin @ $31,000. Is This Time Different?

2. BlackRock’s ETF Gets An ID

3. Lightning Network Isn’t Safe

Bonus: Elon Musk Trashes Wikipedia

Bitcoin @ $31,000. Different This Time?

Bitcoin pushed past $31,000 per coin. The reasons always get explained later, presented by crypto “publications“ and pushing the narrative that needs to be pushed.

They will say general stuff like “ETF optimism“, or “investors are more confident“ and when it crashes back down, it’s basically the same thing in reverse. Nobody really knows why Bitcoin’s price increased so much.

The real truth is that price is directed by big players who send funds to market makers to move the price in the desired direction. The price moved now to the top of the channel Bitcoin has been trading in for the past months. Whether it’s a deviation to return back to the channel, or it’s a continuation towards a new channel, remains to be seen.

What is clear is that stocks are down and Bitcoin is up. Also, Microstrategy is in the green with their Bitcoin holdings, which is not a small thing considering their acquisition price is $29,582.

Now, let’s look a bit at recent history, shall we? In the midst of the 2020 Covid crisis, did Bitcoin steal the spotlight? Not exactly; it didn't play the role of a safe haven, but rather went into overdrive, making it seem like a high-risk stock on steroids. It soared to new heights simultaneously with the likes of Dogecoin and digital monkey images.

Fast forward to the 2022 Russia-Ukraine invasion, and once again, Bitcoin didn't quite seize the moment. Interest rates shot up, and Bitcoin behaved more like a risky asset, shedding 65% of its value over the year.

However, in the midst of the 2023 Silicon Valley/Silvergate/Signature Bank collapse, a glimmer of something new emerged. Bitcoin skyrocketed past $30k, while traditional stocks and various assets took a nosedive. But the surge didn't hold, leaving us wondering if it was merely a stroke of luck.

Now, we're witnessing a similar divergence for the second time this year, despite growing geopolitical turbulence when only "risk-off" assets are expected to perform well. Bitcoin is surging while the S&P 500 is either in decline or stagnating, and gold is having a robust month, with a 7% increase. Is Bitcoin's surge linked to ETFs or geopolitics? It's likely a blend of both factors.

🙃 Qrafty hopes that today’s main story brought brave badgery value to you! Now it’s time for a break, you deserve a bit of fun! 😇 👇️

Lightning Network Isn’t Safe

Just to be clear, Lightning Network isn’t Bitcoin. A recent discovery of a vulnerability in the Bitcoin Lightning Network, a second layer solution for faster transactions, has raised red flags and triggered swift responses.

The flaw, called "replacement cycling attacks," was identified by Bitcoin developer Antoine Riard. This vulnerability has the potential to compromise the security of funds within the Lightning Network. It allows attackers to execute a "transaction-relay jamming attack," targeting a crucial component known as Hash Time Locked Contracts (HTLC). The aim is to disrupt the regular flow of transactions, potentially causing delays and posing a risk of fund loss.

Although concerns were high, no real-world attacks exploiting have been confirmed over the past ten months, based on available observational data.

The Bitcoin community has acted swiftly. Antoine Riard disclosed the flaw to Lightning developers, who deployed patches in major Lightning Network implementations, including Eclair, LND, and C-Lightning. However, concerns linger about the effectiveness of these measures against more advanced forms of the attack.

This vulnerability could extend beyond the Lightning Network, potentially affecting various other Bitcoin protocols and applications, such as coinjoins, peerswap, and batch payouts.

In a surprising move, the developer who uncovered the vulnerability, Antoine Riard, has announced his departure from Lightning Network development. This raises questions about the network's future and ongoing security efforts.

BlackRock’s ETF Gets Official

Just to start the week in a positive note, BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF, iShares, gets a CUSIP number. It’s like an official registration number for the ETF. The symbol for it is $IBTC.

This means that it’s pretty close to getting seeded, which means the fund needs to allocate capital to the ETF and that means buying Bitcoin! And, of course, the symbol for the ETF is also next to be approved.

Hayden Burned It All

Five years ago, before he launched Uniswap v1, Hayden Adams deployed a token called HayCoin for testing purposes when gas was inexpensive. After Uniswap v1's release, he created a small test liquidity pool, leaving most of the supply in his wallet. Over time, some people noticed and bought HayCoin as a joke or novelty.

Recently, there was surprising activity as people began trading significant amounts of HayCoin, treating it like a meme cryptocurrency. Uncomfortable with owning almost the entire supply (about 99.99%) of this token that was becoming a subject of speculation, Hayden decided to burn the entire amount held in their wallet, even though it was “valued” at approximately $650 billion.

The author emphasized that he will have no future involvement with HayCoin, has burned all the tokens in his possession and finds speculating on it unwise. After the burn, the coin jumped over 300%. So hooray for those who have it!

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Tomorrow's like a software update - you hope it fixes bugs, but you never quite know what new glitches it'll introduce!

Qrafty’s Thought Of The Day

Other Stories

Judge Orders SEC to re-review Grayscale’s ETF

A federal appeals court has ruled that the SEC must conduct a new review of Grayscale's Spot Bitcoin ETF. So the ball is back in the SEC’s court, which means that they can approve the ETF or find new reasons to not approve it.

At the same time, SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce mentioned “I've been thinking we should approve one for the last five years,” Peirce told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday. “The logic for why we haven’t has always mystified me.”

Goldman Sachs got a slap on the wrist

Goldman Sachs, faced charges from the SEC for inaccuracies in their securities trading data, with nearly half of their blue sheet responses containing errors, totaling a staggering 163 million transactions. As a result, they agreed to settle by paying a $6 million fine. That’s it, that’s all. Cool, huh?

Elon Musk would give $1 billion to Wikipedia…

If they change their name to "Dickipedia". Can’t make this stuff up.

China’s real estate sector is troubled

In the extensive $175 billion China property dollar bond sector, bonds with a total worth of $124.5 billion have currently defaulted, per Reuters.

Market Whispers

Well, well...Bitcoin really needed just a little push to go up. And it found it in a fake news ETF approval. Funny, right?

Now, it took an old high from June 2022, at $31,765. Next one, and the most important, is at $32,400 (depending on exchange). If it doesn't find acceptance above it, might be a good short, but considering all the hype about ETF approval... we might stay in this range for a while.

Meanwhile, ETH made it to $1,723, kinda of a resistence here. It had two attempts to pass it, one on 29th of August and one on 1st of October. Even though it looks like ETH didn't do much while BTC is almost $32k, don't be disappointed. If we really are in an uptrend, Bitcoin does its show first, then it consolidates and leaves room for ETH and alts to pump.

Qrafty ends channeling his inner trader.

Today is SLAP YOUR ANNOYING COWORKER DAY!

That’s all from Qrafty 🦡 for today! Qrafty thanks you and wishes you to live each moment as if you are listening to the music you love most!

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