Episode Details

23rd Oct: Crypto & Coffee at 8
💰 US Govt $5Billion #BTC stash 🚨SEC drops lawsuit against Ripple executives ⚡ Lightning Network faces criticism 😄 Peter Schiff’s 275th economic prediction

💰 The U.S. Government Has $5 Billion in Bitcoin. A stash of some 200,000 bitcoins was seized from cybercriminals and darknet markets. More info on this via The Wall Street Journal here https://lnkd.in/djFVkujH

📊 Based on a data analysis using publicly available filings, cryptocurrency company 21.co has estimated that the U.S. government currently possesses approximately 194,188 BTC, roughly valued at $5.3 billion. It’s important to note that these estimates represent the minimum holdings of the U.S. government, derived from publicly accessible data.

🎙️ Check out Blockchain DXB’s Crypto & Coffee at 8 podcasts, we give our commentary on this. Also, see slides 1 & 2 below for more info
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will no longer pursue claims against Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse or Executive Chairman Chris Larsen that they aided and abetted the company in violating federal securities laws canceling a trial scheduled for next year.

🟠 It’s important to note The SEC will continue pursuing its claims against Ripple Garlinghouse said, “Instead of looking for the criminals stealing customer funds on offshore exchanges that were courting political favour, the SEC went after the good guys,”

⚡ LN Vulnerabilities
❗ Security researcher and developer Antoine Riard has announced his departure from the Lightning Network development team. He cites concerns about security issues and fundamental challenges to the Bitcoin ecosystem as the reasons behind his decision.

🚨 Riard’s concerns were outlined in a thread on the The Linux Foundation Foundation’s public mailing list. He suggests that the Bitcoin community is grappling with a difficult decision as a novel form of replacement cycling attacks poses a serious threat to the stability and security of the Lightning Network. The screenshot here describes how a lightning replacement cycling attack works. https://lnkd.in/dwRtcQz2
 

🚨 Riard plans to focus now on Bitcoin core development but warned about upcoming challenges for the major cryptocurrency ecosystem.

😄 275th Prediction about the economy
❗ Peter Schiff CEO of Euro Pacific Precious Metals LLC warns of Deep Recession, Inflationary Depression, and Collapse of US Dollar Demand. He predicted that the rapidly increasing national debt and federal budget deficits should lead to a collapse