News Updates November 28, 2022
1. Indian Hospital Hit with Bitcoin Ransomware Attack. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), a major medical and research university, has been hit with a severe ransomware attack, according to a recent report.
The bad actors behind the attack are demanding ₹200 crore ($24.5 million) in crypto from the largest referral hospital in Delhi. Per the report, the authorities are currently investigating the ransomware incident, with the Delhi Police registering a new case of cyber terrorism and extortion. AIIMS, which ranks among the top hospitals in the world, has been struggling to fix its servers for six days in a row. Its patient care services in emergency, laboratory, outpatient and inpatient wings are currently being operated in manual mode
Last week, the hospital said that it was taking measures to restore its digital services after what appeared to be a suspected cyberattack. The data of up to 40 million patients, including prime ministers and judges, might have been affected by the ransomware incident. Ransomware is a malicious piece of software that paralyzes victims' computers and demands payment to be able to regain access to one's files. Hackers typically target major corporations, hospitals and universities. In September 2020, a $4 million ransom was demanded from Argentina's official immigration agency.
2. One Final Capitulation Crash Before Bitcoin Reversal? Analyst Benjamin Cowen Analyzes Potential BTC Bottom.
Crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen is examining the historical patterns of Bitcoin bear markets to estimate when BTC could bottom out.
In a new strategy session, Cowen says it would be reasonable to expect a bottoming scenario similar to that of 2018, where BTC’s price made a series of slightly higher lows before sharply capitulating to new lows to reach its floor.
“So far in 2022 making the case for the bottom has not really served anyone well, and that’s why at the beginning of the year we said, ‘Look, don’t spend too much mental energy trying to call a bottom in 2022…’
When you’re in the bear market, you just give it a little more time and we tend to go lower.
If you were to follow a similar type of pattern here – we could sort of extrapolate out the 200-day simple moving average if it were to continue on down on its current trajectory, where might it cross?”
Based on the historical comparison, Cowen says that a potential capitulation event could occur around December 25th of this year, where Bitcoin reaches its lowest point before preparing for another bull market.
“You could see that it would cross somewhere in late December, right around Christmas, December 25th, December 26th, December 27th, around the holidays is where it would cross.
I can’t really say for sure, obviously, if it’s going to play out in the exact same fashion but I will say this. This bear market has been going on for over a year now, and historically, bear markets for Bitcoin last about a year. The one in 2014 lasted 14 months, and the one in 2018 lasted about 12 months, so in that context you could argue that we’re well within the window as to when bottoms typically occur in terms of time.”
3. Bitcoin ‘Shrimp’ Investors Add $1.5 Billion in $BTC As Supply on Exchanges Hits Record Low.
Cryptocurrency investors with a relatively low supply of Bitcoin ($BTC), the so-called “Shrimp” investors, have added over $1.5 billion worth of the flagship cryptocurrency to their wallets over the last few weeks.
According to on-chain cryptocurrency analytics firm Glassnode, ever since FTX collapsed, shrimp wallets – those who have less than 1 BTC in their balance – have seen an all-time high balance increase to now control over 1.21 million coins, equivalent to 6.3% of the flagship cryptocurrency’s circulating supply.
FTX’s collapse has seen cryptocurrency users rally to take custody of their own funds, as FTX’s management seemingly used customer funds to invest in various illiquid ventures, to the point that when there was a bank run on the platform it failed to fulfill withdrawals.
Per Glassnode, Bitcoin “crabs,” or those with up to 10 BTC on their balances, have also been aggressively accumulating the cryptocurrency, adding 191,600 BTC ($3.1 billion) over the last 30 days to hit a new all-time high.
Meanwhile, data from on-chain analytics firm Santiment has shown that just 6.95% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply is now sitting on exchanges, marking the first time since November 2018 in which less than 7% of Bitcoin’s supply was sitting on exchanges. In December 2018, Bitcoin’s price hit a bottom for that bear market.
Glassnode’s data further shows that smaller BTC investors are accumulating coins being sold by whales, or wallets with over 1,000 BTC on their balances. These investors have sold approximately 6,500 BTC worth over $105 million.
As reported, a popular cryptocurrency analyst has predicted a “massive bull run” is set to be seen in the near future after the flagship cryptocurrency formed a bottom pattern that was last seen back in 2015.
According to pseudonymous cryptocurrency analyst Trader Tardigrade, Bitcoin is currently in the same situation it was in during the 2015 bottom, as its inverted and logarithmic Moving Average Convergence divergence (MACD) indicator has moved above its zero line while its price fell onto a support zone which was created by the upper wick of a monthly candle seen in the previous cycle’s top.
4. Israel’s Ministry of Finance Proposes New Guidelines for Regulating Digital Assets
The proposal follows the country’s recent efforts to integrate cryptocurrencies into its economy.
Israel's Ministry of Finance published a set of recommendations Monday for the regulation of digital assets, advancing the country’s foray into the world of cryptocurrencies.
The recommendations call for the creation of a new regulatory infrastructure, legislating licensing powers and supervision over the issuance of backed digital assets, including stablecoins, and the provision of financial services through them. The recommendations also call for legislation to be passed that would transfer supervision over digital assets “that have a significant stability or monetary effect” to the Bank of Israel.
The guidelines also include a proposal for allowing the payment of taxes on crypto held abroad through the Bank of Israel. In addition, the proposal would establisy an inter-ministerial committee to oversee the regulation of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO).
The taxation of cryptocurrencies comprises a major part of the proposal. According to Israel’s tax authority, uncollected crypto taxes from 2019 to 2022 could amount to several billion shekels (one shekel is worth about US29 cents).
Israeli officials have been dipping their toes into the digital asset industry in recent months. In October, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) revealed it was looking into establishing a blockchain-based digital asset trading platform. A month earlier, Israel's markets regulator granted the first permanent license to a private company to “engage in crypto activities.”
5. FTX Resumes Post-Bankruptcy Payments To Employees
The company will pay employees and vendors, but not former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried or Caroline Ellison.
Defunct cryptocurrency company FTX announced today that it would resume "ordinary course payments" of salary and benefits to employees worldwide and certain non-U.S. contractors.
The announcement comes a week after FTX's legal counsel filed a motion to pay compensation, benefits, and relief to its employees and vendors. In the motion, FTX said that the company would not pay anything to Sam Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, Caroline Ellison, or "any who have a familial relationship."
"With the Court's approval of our First Day motions and the work being done on global cash management, I am pleased that the FTX group is resuming ordinary course cash payments of salaries and benefits to our remaining employees around the world," FTX CEO John J. Ray III said in a statement.
