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El Salvador has clinched a $1.6bn deal to revamp its port infrastructure. The investment backs President Nayib Bukele's vision for a Bitcoin City. Turkish-owned Yilport Holdings is footing the bill. They'll modernize two ports: Acajutla and La Unión. It's a record-breaking private investment for the country. Bukele broke the news on social media. He said Yilport would pump over $1.615bn into upgrading the Pacific Port of La Unión and modernizing Acajutla. La Unión's current facilities are a ghost town. Ships rarely dock there due to dated infrastructure. The deal gives Yilport and CEPA, the local port commission, a 50-year lease. It's a long-term play to breathe life into the ports and boost regional logistics. CEPA's president, Federico Anliker, is pumped. "El Salvador is becoming a very important logistics hub in Latin America," he said. He reckons it'll beef up the country's global trade game. The project kicks off late 2024. They're taking it step by step to avoid disrupting operations. This port overhaul ties into a bigger dream: Bitcoin City. Bukele pitched this futuristic metropolis back in 2021. The plan? Zero taxes and Bitcoin mining powered by geothermal energy. The upgraded ports will serve as Bitcoin City's lifeline. They'll handle the logistics and trade needs, aiming to lure more investment. Bitcoin City isn't just about crypto. It's set to be a full-blown urban center with homes, businesses, and leisure spots. Originally, crypto bonds were supposed to fund it. It's a bold move that shows El Salvador's commitment to embracing digital currencies. Crypto buffs are watching closely. They're curious to see if El Salvador can pull off this economic gambit. The $1.6bn project is a big deal for El Salvador. It could turn the country into a regional powerhouse for transit and trade. Plus, teaming up with a Turkish big shot might create jobs and more opportunities. It's a risky bet, no doubt. But if it pays off, El Salvador could be sitting pretty. Only time will tell if Bukele's vision will pan out or if it's just a pipe dream.

The FBI has given a standard "Glomar response" to a journalist's request for info on Satoshi Nakamoto. They won't confirm or deny having records on Bitcoin's creator. Investigative journalist Dave Troy shared this development on X on August 13. The FBI's response hinted that Satoshi might be a "third party individual". Troy plans to appeal the decision. He's not after Satoshi's identity. He just wants to know what the FBI has on the subject. Satoshi's true identity has been a hot topic since 2008. That's when the Bitcoin whitepaper dropped. No one's cracked the code yet. Some reckon it might be Hal Finney, an early Bitcoin contributor. Finney passed away in 2014. Troy thinks if the FBI thought Finney was Satoshi, they'd have no issue releasing his file. This isn't the first time the FBI's played hard to get. A similar request in 2018 got the same non-answer. Craig Wright, the Aussie computer scientist, has long claimed to be Satoshi. But he might be in hot water now. He could face perjury charges in a UK court for his statements. In a plot twist, Wright recently slapped a legal disclaimer on his website. It says he's not Satoshi. This comes after eight years of saying he was. We know next to nothing about the real Satoshi. Their P2P Foundation profile suggests an April 5, 1975 birthday. Go figure. The last we heard from Satoshi was in 2011. They told developers they'd "moved on to other things". Talk about ghosting an entire community. So, the Satoshi mystery continues. The FBI's tight-lipped response has only added fuel to the fire. It's got the crypto world buzzing again as we will probably never calm down about the fact we don't know the identity of the man who is responsible for all that crypto hysteria.

An early Ethereum investor is making waves in the crypto market. They've deposited 48,500 ETH to an exchange over the past month. This comes as Ether's market cap took an $80 billion hit. The whale bought 1 million ETH at $0.31 during the ICO. That was 3,300 days ago. Now, they're cashing out at an average of $3,176 per ETH. Talk about a windfall. The ROI? A mind-boggling 1,024,416%. Not too shabby for a nine-year wait. The whale's been busy. They've made 17 transactions to OKX in the past month. The deposits started small but ramped up. The last three were 5,000 ETH each. There's still 15,600 ETH left in the whale's wallet. If they keep selling, we could see another $41 million hit the market soon. But it's not just this whale making moves. Block Tower Capital sold 9,232 ETH worth about $25 million. They used FalconX, Cumberland, Wintermute, and B2C2Group to do it. Interestingly, despite these big sales, ETH is actually leaving exchanges overall. CryptoQuant data shows exchange reserves dropped from 17.1 million to 16.8 million in August. The launch of the spot Ethereum ETF hasn't helped prices either. Net inflows are still negative, thanks to outflows from Grayscale's ETHE. Ether's price is having a rough Q3. It's currently sitting at $2,649. So what's next for ETH? With whales cashing out and ETFs not providing the expected boost, it's anyone's guess. But one thing's for sure - the crypto world is never dull.

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, is set to convert Monero balances to USDC. The process starts September 2. It's part of their plan to delist the privacy coin. The exchange dropped this bombshell in a blog post on August 12. They'll be converting 15 tokens in total, including XMR. The conversion will wrap up by March 1, 2025. Binance isn't rushing this. They're taking their sweet time. The conversion rate? It'll be based on the average exchange rate over six months. XMR isn't the only casualty. Other tokens getting the chop include Bitcoin Gold and MobileCoin. Users can still withdraw these assets until September 1, 2024. Surprisingly, Monero seems unfazed. It's trading at $149.38, down a mere 0.2% since yesterday. Talk about resilience. But not everyone's happy. Mykola Siusko, a Web3Privacy Now contributor, isn't mincing words. He told Decrypt, "Binance is widening the gap between original decentralization ethos and regulated surveillance capitalism." Siusko didn't stop there. He added, "Basically, they are proving to be a part of surveillance apparatus." Ouch. Privacy coins like Monero are a hot potato. They're designed to keep transactions under wraps. Advocates love 'em. Critics? Not so much. These coins use fancy tech to hide transaction details. It's like digital cash on steroids. Popular ones include Zcash and Dash. But they're not without issues. Regulators are giving them the side-eye. Some exchanges are showing them the door. Yet, they're still gaining traction among privacy buffs.

Amir Taaki, a veteran Bitcoin developer, has created what he claims is the world's first fully anonymous onchain decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The project aims to "defend freedom" in the digital realm. Taaki announced the launch on X on August 12. "More than ever, we need anonymous DAOs to defend freedom," he stated. The DAO's design ensures complete anonymity. It's invisible on the blockchain. So is its treasury and transactions. Member identities and token ownership? Hidden. Proposals and voting? You guessed it – also anonymous. "Everything about this DAO is designed to be completely anonymous and invisible on the blockchain," Taaki explained. The system allows for calling any smart contract. This includes treasury fund transfers. DAO actions remain concealed. Payments don't reveal treasury info. Receivers stay anonymous. Taaki argues that DAOs should be "anonymous and subversive". His main goal? Protection against oppressive regimes. "DAOs were envisioned as the post-corporate online future for mobilization and wealth creation of communities," he said. "This vision got stuck and eventually fizzled out." The British-Iranian hacktivist slammed the current state of the internet. He claims it's too reliant on surveillance and data harvesting. Anonymous DAOs, in his view, could create free, uncensored, and sovereign online organizations. Taaki is working with DarkFi. The team claims to be developing anonymous tools for online organizations. Their aim? To harness "the true power of cryptocurrency." The project has turned heads in the crypto community. Nick Almond, CEO of Factory Labs, called it "cypherpunk AF". He added, "It's a primitive. A privacy building block. My mind is bending with how this changes DAO game theory. Gonna be interesting." DAO governance has been a tricky business for crypto and DeFi projects. Management challenges stem from the lack of traditional hierarchies. This can lead to unclear leadership roles. Another issue? Unequal token distribution. It can centralize control into the hands of a few whales. This goes against decentralization principles. Several DeFi protocols, like Uniswap and Compound Finance, have faced such governance issues in recent years. Will Taaki's invisible DAO solve these problems? Or will it create new ones? Only time will tell. But one thing's for sure – the crypto world is watching.

Cardano leapfrogs Ethereum in developer activity. It's now third among top cryptocurrencies. Santiment, an on-chain intel platform, spilled the beans on August 6. The rankings are based on GitHub activity. Cardano scored 452.85. Its market cap is $12.05 billion. Ethereum took a nosedive, landing in ninth place. Internet Computer (ICP) topped the list. It scored 570.1. Hedera (HBAR) came second with 468.03. Cardano's been busy. It's rolling out multiple projects. The Chang hard fork is on the horizon. It'll shake up Cardano's governance structure. Dave, a Cardano enthusiast, tweeted some juicy details. About 66.47% of blocks are now Chang-ready. The upgrade's meant to beef up security and stability. This leap over Ethereum is a big deal. It shows Cardano's got grit, even when the market's in a funk. But Ethereum's not out of the game yet. Other big names made the top 10 too. Chainlink, Optimism, Cosmos, Starknet, Ethstatus, and Polkadot all showed up to the party. Cardano's price is perking up a bit. It's up 14.41% over the week. Trading volume's jumped 49.66% in 24 hours. As of writing, Cardano's trading at $0.33. It's had a rough month, but things are looking up. At least that's what the numbers are saying. Javon Marks, a crypto analyst, is pretty bullish on Cardano. He reckons it could hit $5 in this cycle. That's some serious optimism right there. So, what's the takeaway? Cardano's making waves in the dev world. It's giving the big boys a run for their money. But in crypto, things change fast. Keep your eyes peeled.

Marathon Digital Holdings is making waves. The US-based Bitcoin mining firm has a new trick up its sleeve. They're stamping "Made in USA" on all Bitcoin blocks they mine stateside. The company announced this move on X. "MARA is Team USA, proudly declared in each American-made bitcoin block we mine," they wrote. CEO Fred Thiel is all in on this patriotic push. He's committed to labeling US-mined blocks with the stamp. Every block from their MARA Pool in the States will get the "Made in USA" tag. Thiel's pretty chuffed about it. He reckons Marathon's the only big player who can pull this off. "The only large scale miner who can do this because we run our own pool," he boasted. This stunt follows Donald Trump's recent Bitcoin comments. The presidential hopeful wants all remaining Bitcoin to be "Made in the USA." He made this claim on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump sees Bitcoin as a potential shield. He thinks it could be "our last line of defense" against a central bank digital currency (CBDC). But not everyone's on the same page. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in March that the US is "nowhere near" any form of CBDC. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference, Thiel shared his two cents. He reckons Bitcoin mining could "flourish" under Trump. The exec thinks Republicans have "seized the day" on this topic. Marathon Digital isn't just stamping Bitcoin. They're also buying it up like there's no tomorrow. On July 25, they snapped up $100 million worth of BTC as a treasury reserve asset. The company's going "full hodl" on Bitcoin. That's crypto-speak for holding onto their coins for dear life. They're not stopping there, either. On August 12, Marathon announced a $250 million offering of senior convertible notes. The plan? Use the cash to buy even more Bitcoin. Looks like they're betting big on the red, white, and blue of Bitcoin mining.

Optimism, a key player in the Ethereum scaling space, is shaking things up. They've just dropped a bombshell roadmap for native interoperability across Layer 2 chains in their ecosystem. This move could be a game-changer for the so-called "Superchain". Currently, Layer 2 chains in the Optimism ecosystem rely on Ethereum mainnet for secure communication and asset transfer. This setup has led to fragmented assets and users. The new plan aims to fix this headache. The goal? Make the Superchain feel like one chain. Optimism's devs are gunning for a unified system where users, assets, and developers can move around without breaking a sweat. "The Superchain needs to feel like one chain," the developers stated. "To achieve this, we're setting out to build a unified Superchain where users, assets, and developers move seamlessly across the network and beyond." OP Mainnet is the ecosystem's flagship network. Other chains include Base, Mode, Zora, Lyra, and Aevo. Worldcoin, Sam Altman's digital identity network, is also jumping on the bandwagon with its own Layer 2 network using the OP Stack. The implementation is no small feat. It includes a protocol for cross-chain messages and a universal token standard called SuperchainERC20. These aim to boost cross-chain portability. Security isn't being left out. The devs plan to deploy an interoperable fault-proof system to ensure safe asset transfers. It's a crucial step in building trust in the new system. The roadmap lays out a clear path forward. First up is a developer network to test the message-passing protocol and token standard. Next comes a test network, followed by the mainnet rollout. But Optimism isn't stopping there. They're looking beyond their own ecosystem to the wider Ethereum landscape. The plan is to standardize user experiences across different ecosystems using universal cross-chain interfaces like ERC-7683 for asset transfers. It's worth noting that OP Mainnet and other chains in the Optimism ecosystem use optimistic rollups. This scaling solution aggregates Ethereum transactions off-chain, allowing for cheaper processing and addressing Ethereum's scalability issues.

MicroStrategy's Bitcoin gamble has paid off big time. The company's stock has skyrocketed 1,000% since its first Bitcoin purchase. Warren Buffett told us Michael Saylor with his MicroStrategy would fail, because Bitcoin is 'a fraud', you know, and he couldn't have been more wrong. It's been four years since MicroStrategy took the plunge. On August 10, 2020, they became the first public company to use Bitcoin as their main reserve asset. Basically, Saylor just started buying Bitcoin like there was no tomorrow. And he is still doing this today. MicroStrategy now holds 226,500 BTC. That's worth a cool $13.771 billion. They snagged these coins at an average price of $37,000 each. Bitcoin's currently trading around $59,500. Do the math, and you'll see they're sitting on unrealized profits of about $5.3 billion. That would be a big deal even for Buffett. Ho is probably just envious, right? And MicroStrategy is not selling. Nope, not a single coin. In fact, they're doubling down. Their most recent purchase was on August 1st. So they keep buying as the price goes up, which might again seem a very questionable strategy. Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy's main man, is giving Buffett a run for his money again and again, pushing for Bitcoin Maximalism strategy and HODL philosophy which is still considered as 'crap' by many respected financial leaders. And yet, MSTR stock has surged 1,000% since August 2020. That's 1.5 times better than Bitcoin itself and 16.25 times better than the S&P 500. How is that even possible? And how is Buffett doing? Oh, he is doing fine. By all means. Except for Bitcoin standard. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock (BRK.A) is lagging behind. It's only gained 104.75% in the same period. Buffett's been a bit of a grump about crypto, and it's cost him. Remember when Buffett called Bitcoin "rat poison squared" back in 2018? His buddy Charlie Munger went even further. In 2021, he predicted Bitcoin would crash to zero, calling it a "disgusting product". Ouch. But here's the real kicker: Bitcoin and MSTR have outperformed Buffett's top stock picks. We're talking Apple, American Express, and Bank of America. Not too shabby for a "rat poison", eh? Not everyone's on board the MicroStrategy train, though. Some traders are looking to short MSTR stock. Kerrisdale Capital reckons it's trading at an "unjustifiable premium" to Bitcoin. Sahm Adrangi, the big cheese at Kerrisdale Capital, told Cointelegraph: "The software business is worth a billion, maybe a billion [point] five, somewhere in between — it's not worth very much." He added, "Bitcoin prices have to go up for the value of the company to increase. If they go down the value of the company goes down. The company should be trading at the value of Bitcoin. Our argument is 'go short MicroStrategy, go long Bitcoin.'" So there you have it. MicroStrategy's Bitcoin bet is still a hot topic. Whether it's genius or madness, only time will tell. But for now, Saylor's laughing all the way to the bank.

The SEC has slapped NovaTech and its top brass with charges. The allegation? A whopping $650 million crypto fraud. NovaTech's scheme was a doozy. It promised safe investments in crypto and forex markets. Over 200,000 investors worldwide fell for it. The company's leaders, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, are in deep trouble. They allegedly siphoned off millions for themselves. But the Petions weren't alone. The SEC also charged six promoters. These included Martin Zizi and Dapilinu Dunbar. NovaTech operated from 2019 to 2023. It was structured as a multi-level marketing scheme. Investors were told their money would be used in crypto and forex trading. Cynthia Petion made big promises. She guaranteed profits from day one. The reality was far less rosy. Most funds went to pay earlier investors and promoters. Only a small amount was actually traded. The scheme hit the Haitian-American community hard. Many investors couldn't withdraw their funds when NovaTech collapsed. Eric Werner, Director of the SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office, didn't mince words. He said NovaTech "caused untold losses to tens of thousands of victims around the world." Werner emphasized the SEC's commitment. They're going after both the masterminds and the promoters. No one's getting off easy in this case. The SEC's action sends a clear message. Crypto frauds, no matter how sophisticated, won't fly under the radar. The watchdog is keeping its eyes peeled. Not everyone thinks it is really for good, as some old-school cryptofans still see regulations as evil force on the market, yet wide crypto adoption is impossible without entities like SEC involved.