Bitcoin processed its billionth transaction 15 years after its launch.

However, Bitcoin is not the first blockchain to reach the 1 billion transaction milestone.

According to Blockchair, Ethereum achieved this milestone in early February 2021—about five and a half years after its mainnet launch in July 2015. Ethereum now has over 2.2 billion transactions.

Another record for Bitcoin was set on April 23, with 926,000 transactions processed in a single day, while Bitcoin typically handles fewer than 200,000 transactions daily.

This spike in activity is linked to the new protocol for creating Bitcoin tokens—Runes—which launched on April 20, alongside the BTC halving.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

Binance has offered up to $5 million for information on potential insider trading or corruption on its platform.

On March 16, the meme coin Book of Meme (BOME) was listed on Solana. Before the listing, a crypto whale bought 314 million BOME tokens for $2.3 million at a price of $0.0074 per token.

After the listing, the price of the tokens surged to $0.026.

This increased their value to $8 million, drawing attention to an ongoing investigation.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

As a marketing material for a Western and primarily US audience, the interview between Tucker Carlson and Pavel Durov might not be very interesting for those who have been following Durov and Telegram closely for a long time. It mostly reiterates familiar themes—neutrality, a small effective team, pressure from officials, and so on.

The real interest might lie in observing and analyzing not just what Durov says, but how he says it—his non-verbal cues, emotions, etc.

However, the effectiveness of such an analysis might be limited, as the interview is conducted in English, a language Durov is not a native speaker of. It's evident that he chooses his words more carefully, although his English proficiency is certainly higher than that of most non-native speakers.

In summary, it's a notable milestone for Telegram, but spending an hour watching it might not be necessary.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

Here's a nostalgic and envious take on it:

"Throwback to 2010 when this site was giving away 5 BTC to every visitor for free. Today, those 5 BTC are worth $352,000.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

A new tool called "Tovarishch Mayor" has been developed in Russia by T.Hunter to de-anonymize Telegram channel owners.

The neural network analyzes channel descriptions, posts, metadata, and data leaks like phone numbers and addresses to identify owners.

The full version, aimed at government and private cybersecurity entities, will be released in 2024–2025.

It will examine over 700 data sources, including social media, blogs, forums, messengers, cryptocurrency blockchains, the dark web, and automated government services.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

В фильме 2022 года «Жажда золота» с Заком Эфроном в главной роли герои слышат по радио в машине «Bitcoin в настоящее время торгуется по цене 1,25 миллиона долларов США»

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

An unknown user transferred cryptocurrency from the Tornado Cash mixer to a BlackRock address. The U.S. authorities have charged the founders of Tornado Cash with money laundering and sanctions violations.
Now, all $17 billion in BTC are tagged with metadata as "Recipient Tornado Cash."

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

The market capitalization of the meme project Jeo Boden (BODEN) on the Solana blockchain has reached $250 million.

Its rival, Doland Tremp (TREMP), has a market cap that's five times smaller.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

Recently, Vladimir Smerkis, the former Binance Director for the CIS, launched his new project: the Blum exchange on Telegram.

Users can farm and earn tokens for free, but the project operates on an invite-only basis.

This means you can’t invite unlimited users.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

Back in 2013, this guy on YouTube was begging everyone to buy Bitcoin for just $1.

Now it's worth $71,000 — a 71,000x increase.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

Before the elections, Donald Trump made significant statements about cryptocurrency:

- America as a Crypto Leader
Trump believes the future of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies will be shaped in the U.S.

- Support for Self-Custody
Trump promises to support the right to self-custody of digital assets, enhancing their security.

- Opposition to Elizabeth Warren
Trump will prevent Senator Elizabeth Warren from regulating the crypto industry.

- Against CBDCs
Trump opposes the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency, favoring decentralized finance.

- Freedom for Ross Ulbricht
Trump expressed a desire to free Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

What sectors to watch in 2024?

Here's a rundown of the key areas we’ll be closely monitoring this year:

Ethereum Ecosystem
This includes all L2 scaling solutions for Ethereum, such as Optimism, Arbitrum, ZkEVM, etc. Last year, this sector just started to gain traction. We’re expecting major announcements this year.

AI and Neural Networks
Artificial intelligence has been a buzzword for the last decade, but ChatGPT sparked a new wave of hype, leading major IT companies to invest heavily in this field again. There are also many crypto projects related to AI. We anticipate comments suggesting this is just marketing, not true AI.

Wallets and Related Technologies
This year, we expect significant developments in Account Abstraction, Soulbound tokens, and wallets with social recovery. Account Abstraction is not just a new wallet interface design but a new level of user interaction with cryptocurrencies and blockchain. It can be compared to the transition from command lines to user-friendly operating systems.

Decentralized Social Networks
The full release of Lens Protocol by the AAVE team may spark a renewed interest in decentralized social networks.

In our experimental portfolio, we're buying more ETH today.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

Top 15 Projects with Bullish Forecasts

Check out the latest data from Oriole Insights: among the top 15 projects with the most bullish forecasts, I’d highlight TON and BTC.

Bitcoin remains at the top with 93% bullish predictions. Considering it recently broke through $72k, new all-time highs are quite expected this year, despite a drop to $68k.

TON is also impressive with 84%. It has gained significant momentum in the industry, largely thanks to Telegram.

Such data is valuable for making strategic decisions and helps in determining future directions.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

Top 5 Countries with the Highest Cryptocurrency Ownership

Here are the figures for 2024:

▪️ 25.3% - UAE
▪️ 24.4% - Singapore
▪️ 19.3% - Turkey
▪️ 18.9% - Argentina
▪️ 17.6% - Thailand

Interestingly, the U.S. didn’t make it into the top five. And yet, people still wonder why Dubai is considered a crypto capital.

Cryptocurrency is strengthening, and that’s a good thing. It’s wise to start learning about it now, as the early movers always reap the rewards.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

@pavel said that NotCoin will do a 100x.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus

Warren Buffett recently updated his portfolio.

He holds $277 billion in cash and is selling stocks, including Apple shares, more than ever before.

🔤 Hackinator - Eng / Rus