CEO Hedgeye explained the sale of bitcoin by the entry of the economy into the "fourth quarter"
Hedgeye Risk Management CEO Keith McCulloch explained the reasons for his decision to liquidate his position in Bitcoin this week. According to McCulloch, the US economy is in the fourth quarter (English - Quad 4) - the only unfavorable for maintaining long positions in Bitcoin. The concept of quarters is an integral part of the Growth Inflation Policy (GIP) model, which defines the characteristics of various economic regimes.
The fourth quarter is characterized by a slowdown in growth and inflation. “The fourth quarter is the lowest point in the economic cycle. Our entire macroeconomic research business is based on the idea of reducing losses during the fourth quarter, ”explains McCulloch. Back in late September, he said that in those conditions, it was right to hold a long position on Bitcoin. Now, his company is aligning its strategy with deflationary expectations in the short term. According to the manager, the dollar is showing strength against the Japanese yen for the first time in recent months.
“You can take long and short positions, but there are important moments in time when you should not stay long, to which you are ideologically tied in a macroeconomic environment,” he wrote earlier. McCullough observed that bitcoin holders did not heed his advice: “I expected more from the bitcoin nation. I thought they did the calculations. Instead, they follow stories and emotions. "
Europol lists Wasabi and Samourai bitcoin wallets among the largest threats on the darknet
On October 5, the European Union Police Service published an annual report assessing the threats of organized crime on the Internet. He focused on the ecosystem of darknet Tumbler. The authors noted the growing popularity of mixed coin bitcoin wallets such as Wasabi and Samourai. They use Coinjoin technology, which aims to eliminate the link between the sender and receiver of a transaction on the blockchain.
“For cryptocurrencies on the darknet, privacy-enhanced wallet services based on the Coinjoin concept have become a leading threat in addition to centralized mixers,” Europol writes. Law enforcement officials point out that the capabilities of such wallets are not limited to simple integration with Coinjoin: “Samourai, for example, offers remote SMS commands that can be used to erase information. These wallets don't necessarily remove the link between the source of funds and their destination, but they definitely make it harder to track cryptocurrencies. "
It has also been discovered that administrators of some dark web services are trying to integrate Coinjoin-enabled wallets as their default payment method. Additionally, administrators and users of Tumbler on the darknet are increasingly turning to hardware wallets. Some platforms use multi-signature addresses or cryptocurrency payment systems without using wallets. Cryptocurrencies, which have been designed with increased anonymity from the very beginning, have become more popular, for example, Monero. The report also mentions Litecoin, Ethereum, Zcash, and Dash, which are supported by the darknet Tumbler. "Bitcoin is still the most popular payment option (due to its wider distribution, reputation and ease of use), but the use of privacy-enhanced cryptocurrencies has increased, although not as dramatically as their proponents expected," the document says. The authors also note a tendency towards decentralization of the darknet space. Increasingly, small Tumbler are emerging that specialize in meeting very specific user needs. Some Tumbler are intentionally created for short periods of time, making them difficult to study.
Bitcoin Tokenization Rate Doubled In September Despite Slowing DeFi Activity
More than $ 616 million in bitcoins were tokenized in September using the Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) tool, according to CoinDesk data. The emission increased by more than 160% compared to August, when $ 232 million was tokenized. The pace of WBTC issuance has increased in line with over-the-counter (OTC) demand, Grapefruit Trading reported. It became one of the first OTC platforms to launch WBTC through BitGo. Grapefruit Trading trader Getty Hill argues that customer interest in transferring bitcoins to WBTC stems from a desire to use the first cryptocurrency in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried acknowledged that demand for WBTC in the OTC market remains significant, though not as strong as in previous months during the meteoric rise of DeFi projects. At the same time, he is confident that even if the hype around DeFi subsides, the demand for WBTC will be higher than before this summer. The September growth was also driven by the activity of some major players, which increased the volume of WBTC compared to August. Overall, the volume of tokenized bitcoins in all available forms, including WBTC, increased 120% in September to over 121,000 BTC or $ 1.3 billion. In August, the cost was 55,000 BTC. Small projects like this continue to grow. Hill said customers are interested in renBTC, tBTC and other tokens, but in their case the volume is "100% concentrated in WBTC".
In France, 29 people arrested on suspicion of financing terrorism with cryptocurrencies
According to ABC News, the operation uncovered a complex terrorist financing scheme orchestrated by two French extremists living in northwestern Syria since 2013. 29 people between the ages of 22 and 66, arrested for interrogation throughout France, are suspected of financing terrorist activities by an elaborate scheme. Most of them are suspected of providing money to the terrorist financing network. Police speculated that two of them played key roles in the cyber-finance system. The scheme was uncovered by the Tracfin group of the French Ministry of Economy, which tracks financial fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing. According to the group, the network used cryptocurrencies. It is believed that hundreds of thousands of euros were donated through the network to members of Al Qaeda and the Russian-banned terrorist organization ISIS. According to the publication, members of the network in France bought coupons for cryptocurrency and transmitted their data through secure messages to terrorists in Syria. The French prosecutor's office clarified that many people in France regularly bought coupons in the amount of 10 to 150 euros, which were credited to accounts available to terrorists abroad, and then crypto assets were withdrawn through cryptocurrency exchanges. French authorities launched an investigation in January when Tracfin discovered the financial network.
