Ethereum Hard Fork Live, Stolen ETH Moved, ‘Hodlers Are Insane’: Hodler’s Digest, Dec.2–8 December 8, 2019 11 Views Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week.The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.Top Stories This Week Ethereum completes Istanbul hard fork It’s happened! Ethereum’s much-anticipated shift to Istanbul has been completed, and the system-wide update came into force when the network passed block #9069000 late on Saturday night.Vitalik Buterin claims capacity now has the potential to reach 3,000 transactions per second.Istanbul is designed to deliver interoperability with the privacy token Zcash and make it cheaper to use zero-knowledge technologies that enhances privacy.
Although miners and node operators need to update their client, most people who hold ETH or use the network are unaffected — and ETH prices are unexpected to suffer turbulence.Maxwell Foley, software engineer at CertiK, told Cointelegraph Magazine: “Ethereum, in general, is an exciting project because they’re trying the hardest out of anyone in the crypto space to scale without sacrificing decentralization.” Upbit hack: Stolen ETH worth millions on the move to unknown wallets There’s been some new developments after 342,000 ETH was stolen from the hot wallet of major South Korean crypto exchange Upbit.
According to Whale Alert, a service monitoring large transactions, one of the addresses involved in the theft has been moving ETH worth millions of dollars to an unknown wallet.Dodgy transfers have been taking place throughout the week in chunks of 10,000 ETH and 1,001 ETH — worth about $1.5 million and $150,000 respectively.After news emerged that the funds, worth about $50 million, had been stolen, some analysts suggested that an “inside job” was more likely than an external breach.France to test its central bank digital currency in Q1 2020, official says The Bank of France is going to test a central bank digital currency for financial institutions in the first quarter of 2020.
Governor François Villeroy de Galhau said the “digital euro” pilot will not involve retail payments made by individuals — and stressed any such project would “be subject to special vigilance.” The central bank has been clear that France needs to assert sovereignty over private initiatives such as Facebook’s Libra, with the country leading efforts to ensure that the stablecoin is stopped from launching on European soil.The governor has also spoken of his enthusiasm for being the first country in the world to issue a CBDC, allowing France to become an example to other jurisdictions.“Hodlers are insane” — 64% of Bitcoin supply has not moved since 2018 Given we are, er, Hodler’s Digest, let’s give you some holding news.New research has suggested that a whopping 60% of BTC in circulation hasn’t left its wallet in more than a year.
This is particularly telling since BTC/USD ballooned from lows of $3,100 last December to $13,800 just six months later.Markets subsequently reversed downward — shaving 52% off their highs.Rhythm, the analyst who uploaded the statistics, didn’t mince his words by saying: “Hodlers of last resort are insane.” With the trend of dormant BTC as a percentage of total supply sharply increasing in recent years — and remaining intact during bull and bear markets alike — it seems many investors want to save it rather than spend it.Deutsche Bank research: Crypto to replace fiat currencies by 2030 New research by Deutsche Bank has revealed what the future might look like for crypto in just 10 short years.
Its report suggests that digital currencies could eventually replace cash one day, as demand for anonymity and a more decentralized means of payment grows.
Hurdles do lie in the way — and the authors say digital assets will need to gain legitimacy in the eyes of governments and regulators for wider acceptance to be achieved.The report also warns that the risk of cyberattacks and digital warfare could also pose huge risks to the stability of financial systems based on digital currencies in the future.Winners and Losers At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at $7,602.68, Ether at $150.47 and XRP at $0.23.The total market cap is at $205,799,442,442.
The top three altcoin gainers of the week are Energi, HedgeTrade and Enjin Coin.The top three altcoin losers of the week are ILCoin, Silverway and Thunder Token.For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis .Most Memorable Quotations “Free Ross, baby! Get him out.We need entrepreneurs like that guy! Get him out of jail! Why do we put these really extraordinary people in jail? We need their minds, their energy, their life force.
Get him free.Who knows what else he could’ve come up with?” .
