US Stocks Closing on Bigger August Gain Than Bitcoin

While bitcoin is eyeing an August gain for the first time in three years, the cryptocurrency is still lagging U.S. stocks over the month.

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Someone Just Lost $16M in Bitcoin By Using a Malicious Install of the Electrum Wallet

An Electrum wallet user claims to have lost a fortune in bitcoin after installing an older version of the software from a malicious source.

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Craig Wright files another libel suit against Roger Ver after 2019 fail

Craig Wright and Roger Ver are finally in the same jurisdiction.

Craig Wright, a self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin (BTC), is reportedly continuing to file more defamation suits against perceived rivals, despite none of his previous attempts turning out to be successful.

On Aug. 25, Wright filed a libel suit against major industry figure, Roger Ver, with the High Court of Antigua and Barbuda, industry publication CoinGeek reports.

According to an official defamation claim obtained by CoinGeek, Wright is seeking legal action against Ver for publicly stating that Wright is not the true Satoshi Nakamoto -- the anonymous creator of Bitcoin. The court document specifically refers to Ver’s video message to Wright in May 2019, stating, “Craig Wright is a liar and a fraud, so sue me, again.”

The new defamation claim seeks an injunction restraining Ver from further stating similar "defamatory" allegations on platforms like YouTube and Twitter as well as payment as compensation for the defamation, the document reads.

As reported, Wright previously served Ver with a libel suit in the High Court of England and Wales for calling him a liar and fraud in a YouTube video in 2019. The video was subsequently stricken for violating YouTube community guidelines, which prompted Wright’s libel suit in May 2019. Despite the video being removed from YouTube, Ver’s message to Wright is still available on his official Twitter account as of press time.

The High Court of England subsequently dismissed Wright’s libel suit in July 2019 due to questions of jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal of England and Wales also dropped Wright’s appeal, claiming that the suit is not a U.K.-related issue in May 2020.

The new defamation suit will apparently have more chances in terms of jurisdiction as both Wright and Ver are citizens of Antigua and Barbuda, according to the court document.

As Cointelegraph reported, Wright is an Australian citizen allegedly residing in London. The Australian scientist reportedly claimed to be a citizen from Antigua and Barbuda and not from Australia in 2019.

A citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Ver apparently acquired his Antigua and Barbuda citizenship through the country's Citizenship Investment Program. 

Wright and Ver did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph's request for comment. 

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Huobi and OKEx Battle for Supremacy in China

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi is taking aim at competitor OKEx in the business of trading bitcoin futures and other derivatives contracts, opening up a new front in a longstanding rivalry that has historically focused on the lucrative Chinese market.

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Wyoming's 'Crypto Cowboy' unsaddled in primaries by alt-right candidate

The house Majority Whip fell as right wing factions sought to remove moderate Republicans from the party, but blockchain legislation is safe, says Tyler Lindholm.

Wyoming State Representative and long-time crypto champion Tyler Lindholm has been unseated in the Republican state primaries by a candidate representing the far-right of the party.

So far it is unclear how this may affect the state’s blockchain friendly legislation, although, following his defeat, Lindholm said he was “100% confident the [blockchain] laws are safe and secure,” according to a report by Forbes.

The upset came as part of a determined push by right-wing donors, conservative advocacy groups and factions within the Wyoming Republican Party, which netted a number of key victories over incumbents.

As many of the Republican candidates will be unopposed in the general election, local news outlet Star Tribune noted that it was likely to have significant implications on policy.

Lindholm’s role as Majority Whip helped him to push through a number of pieces of blockchain friendly legislation during his time in office, positioning Wyoming as one of the top U.S. states for blockchain-related businesses.

This has attracted the attention of big name companies within the industry such as Kraken and IOHK.

With his experience of U.S. legislation surrounding blockchain technology, Lindholm shouldn’t have too much difficulty finding himself a lucrative industry position should he so desire.

Certainly he appeared to have taken defeat on the chin in a Facebook live address the day after the primaries:

“This is a rough year. But we'll keep plugging away. We still live in Wyoming after all, it could be worse.”

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DeFi explosion: Uniswap surpasses Coinbase Pro in daily volume

The volume of Uniswap has surpassed the daily volume of Coinbase Pro after the demand for DeFi has exploded.

Uniswap, the most widely-used decentralized exchange (DEX) on Ethereum, surpassed Coinbase in daily volume on Aug 30. The explosive growth of the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) market has pushed many avid investors to DEXes over centralized exchanges.

The volume of Uniswap in the last 24 hours. Source: Uniswap

According to the data from Uniswap, the platform processed $426 million in 24-hour volume. In the same period, Coinbase Pro saw $349 million in volume, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Why is the popularity of Uniswap rising so rapidly?

Since June, the total value locked in DeFi protocols surged from $1 billion to $7.7 billion, Defipulse.com shows.

The total value locked in Ethereum DeFi. Source: Defipulse.com

Following the surge, many small DeFi-related tokens, especially governance tokens, emerged. Before they’re listed on centralized exchanges, they typically launch on Uniswap as it does not require the approval of central entities.

As an example, when yearn.finance (YFI) first released, it was trading on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. Then, Poloniex, FTX, and eventually Binance listed the token.

Many small to mid-cap DeFi-related tokens are actively traded on Uniswap, especially those that are not listed on major exchanges. 

The abundance of DeFi tokens on Uniswap supplemented by the fast expansion of the DeFi market has catalyzed Uniswap’s exponential growth. Hayden Adams, the creator of Uniswap, wrote:

“Wow, Uniswap 24hr trading volume is higher than Coinbase for the first time ever. Uniswap: $426M Bank Coinbase: $348M. Hard to express with how crazy this is.”

The surging user activity on Uniswap also coincides with a noticeable increase in the daily Ethereum transaction volume.

The Ethereum blockchain explorer Etherscan shows the number of Ethereum transactions have increased from around 435,000 in January to over 1.1 million in August.

The daily transaction chart on Ethereum. Source: Etherscan

The daily transaction activity on the Ethereum blockchain is nearing 2018 levels for the first time in two years. At the time, ETH surpassed $1,400 on Coinbase, its all-time high price.

Will the DeFi craze be sustained?

The pace of the DeFi market’s growth has increased to a point where it could be more lucrative to “harvest” DeFi coins than to mine. As Clearmatics head of markets Tim Swanson said:

“There are more than 150k txns in the Ethereum mempool and even a ‘slow’ tx fee is around $10. that may sound like a lot of $$$ for miners (it is relative to other time periods) but RoI of capital into harvesting DeFi coins is probably higher, even with impermanent loses.”

The sheer momentum of the DeFi market and the volume on Uniswap indicate that the DeFi market’s upward trend is not showing signs of slowing down.

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DeFi Is a ‘Complete Scam,’ Says Controversial Entrepreneur Craig Wright

nChain chief scientist Craig Wright has delivered an obscenity-laden interview discussing decentralized finance and stablecoins, calling such projects a "complete scam" and "illegal."

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