Lawsuits fly like arrows in crypto media
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Lawsuits fly like arrows in crypto media
A rare apology in cryptocurrency media has come from the U.K. outlet Coin Rivet. It was to Calvin Ayre, the Lloydminster, Sask.-born billionaire who is a major force in the community of Bitcoin Cash, an offshoot cryptocurrency of Bitcoin.
That came after Coin Rivet had been threatened with legal action after it reported that Ayre been referred to the authorities for tweeting images of pre-teen girls. Its apology said that was false.
It’s not hard to stave off a libel suit even if your information is false or unverifiable. Caving to Ayre meant Coin Rivet’s reporting was shoddy to the point of indefensible.
This is a reflection of the fact that, while there are many established cryptocurrency media organizations, this realm is mostly filled with upstarts.
They attract legal threats either through bad reporting, or because people with money think their lack of resources make them easy targets. (For the latter, see the case of the independent journalist Amy Castor.)
Canada: Quadriga is finally going bankrupt
Less than three months after what was once Canada's biggest cryptocurrency exchange was shut down, a bid to restructure Vancouver’s QuadrigaCX has failed, and the company has officially entered bankruptcy proceedings. That means the court will have more authority to hollow out Quadriga to return the C$260 million it owes to users. Quadriga entered the current mess after its founder died mysteriously.
World: Telegram's coin; China's mining ban
The messaging app Telegram, favored by many in the cryptocurrency world, has quietly launched its own token for private testing, after famously raising around $1.7 billion in an initial coin offering (ICO) last year. Telegram’s GRAM will be used on its own decentralized application network, not unlike Ethereum.
China has signaled its intent to ban cryptocurrency mining. That followed proposals in 2018 to discourage the activity. A total ban could mean more outflows of miners to other jurisdiction. China once had 70 per cent of the world’s mining.
Price action: ahead, no news is good news
Bitcoin will likely remain at current levels, analysis shows, although any drop below $5,000 could open the floodgates to further declines. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is at $5,082 (C$6,777) as of 10 a.m. Sunday, Mountain Time, down about 2 per cent for the week. It had surged almost to $5,500 during the week, before falling to current levels, although it is unclear what caused the movement.
Last paragraph: no newsletter next week
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