Hodler’s Digest, September 29 – October 4 – Cointelegraph Magazine

The main news of the week

The director who identified the authors of QAnon says the HBO doc will expose Satoshi.

Documentary filmmaker Cullen Hoback and HBO's recent premiere of the upcoming film My Money Is Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery hinted that the true identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto may finally be revealed.

Cullen Hoback is perhaps best known for his HBO miniseries Q: Into the Storm, in which he identifies several QAnon conspiracy theorists.

In a recent effort, Hoback examines the origins of Bitcoin, an engineer known as Satoshi Nakamoto who invented Bitcoin, and what appears to be an attempt to trace the underlying technology behind it.

“Some of you may have asked why I disappeared. Well, I was tracking down another missing person. Curious who is behind Bitcoin? MoneyElectric: Bitcoin's privacy will fall next Tuesday. It's going to be a rollercoaster,” Hoback said in a post announcing the documentary on X.

Banks will join Swift's digital asset trials in 2025

Banks in North America, Europe and Asia are preparing to participate in trials involving digital assets by the Society for International Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT).

SWIFT announced on October 3 that it will begin digital asset trials on its network in 2025. The tests include tests involving transactions involving multiple digital currencies and assets.

The trials aim to explore how the banking network can provide financial institutions with unified access to “multiple digital asset classes and currencies”.

“Initial use cases will focus on payments, foreign exchange, securities and trade to enable multi-ledger delivery of payment and counter-payment transactions,” the announcement said.

US jobs report shows smaller price cuts, still for BTC: gray scale

The strong U.S. September jobs report suggests that interest rate cuts may slow down, but it's still bearish for Bitcoin (BTC) as investors warm to riskier assets, Zack Pandle, head of research at Grayscale, told Cointelegraph.

“Debates and debates about Fed rate cuts and large government deficits continue alongside strong economic growth, which should build appetite for investor concern and could bring inflation back up in the medium term,” Pandl said.

“Grayscale Research expects Bitcoin to benefit in this risk-positive environment,” he explained.

The U.S. economy gained about 254,000 jobs in September, well ahead of economists' expectations of about 140,000 new jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Spot BTC prices moved to an intraday high above $62,300 on October 4 following stronger-than-expected labor data.

Ripple and Mercado Bitcoin to launch crypto-enabled payments in Brazil

Blockchain payment network Ripple is partnering with a major crypto exchange in Brazil to launch crypto-enabled cross-border payments.

Ripple has partnered with Brazil's Mercado bitcoin exchange to allow local businesses to process payments using Ripple's “managed end-to-end payment solution,” the firm announced on Oct. 3.

With the new payment tool, businesses in Brazil can settle payments in minutes with access to “fast, cheap, efficient cross-border payments” around the world 24/7, Ripple said.

According to the announcement, the new product is not available to customers yet. Ripple expects the first operation to involve institutional clients from Mercado Bitcoin to Mercado Bitcoin Portugal.

The merger will build on Ripple's new functionality, introduced in 2023, which allows the company to manage payments end-to-end on behalf of customers.

This week's FTX bankruptcy estate auction of Worldcoin tokens

The FTX estate is preparing to auction about 22 million Worldcoin (WLD) tokens — worth an estimated $38 million — on October 3, a source familiar with the matter told Cointelegraph.

Investor bids had to be submitted by October 3, with a minimum bid of $2.5 million to compete for the auction, and the tokens could be sold at a steep discount of up to 75%.

Cointelegraph also understands that the tokens will have a four-year unlock period ending in 2028.

Approximately 20,000 WLD tokens will be released daily starting December 1, 2024. The opening schedule will be reduced to 14,000 WLD tokens per day from July 2026 until the end of 2028.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) at $62,378, Ether (ETH) at $2,427 and XRP at $0.53. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap is $2.17 trillion.

Among the largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers for the week were FTX Token (FTT) at 63.96%, Popcat (SOL) (POPCAT) at 27.15% and MANTRA (OM) at 12.44%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week were Notecoin (NOT) at 26.22%, Lido DAO (LDO) at 21.67% and Arweave (AR) at 20.52%. Be sure to read Cointelegraph's market analysis for more information on crypto prices.

The most memorable quotes

Telegram was built to protect activists and ordinary people from corrupt governments and corporations – we don't allow criminals to abuse our platform or escape justice.

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram

“For digital assets and currencies to be successful on a global scale, it is essential that they can seamlessly coexist with traditional currencies.”

Tom Zschach, chief innovation officer at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association

“The end game of integrating offchain and onchain UX/UI using Base, CB Advanced, and coin base wallet makes me very good at mass adoption.”

Altcoin Psycho, an anonymous crypto analyst

“On-chain data evaluation metrics suggest that Bitcoin may target $85K-$100K in Q4 as demand and positive current conditions recover.”

CryptoQuant analysts

“Chasing narratives can distract you.”

Lattice co-founder Reagan Bozeman.

“We expect bitcoin to benefit from any equity recovery due to its risk-adjusted assets amid global financial volatility.”

QCP Capital, crypto asset trading firm

Forecast of the week

XRP Price Drops 15% in 3 Days – Is Ripple's Legitimate Downfall Marking the Bottom?

XRP is down 15% so far in October, with losses mainly due to renewed appeals against Ripple by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

However, for some analysts, XRP's decline may be a buying opportunity rather than a cause for concern. In particular, historical price patterns and recent whale stocks suggest that XRP price may be poised for a major rally in the coming months.

Anonymous analyst CryptoBull highlighted the similarities between XRP's current price behavior and the direction of the 2017 bull market.

During that time, XRP strengthened to a high of $3.31 in a congruent triangle pattern before breaking out and surging by 66,240%. As of October 2024, the asset is approaching the apex of a similar triangle structure as seen on the monthly chart.

Such patterns are often preceded by strong directional movements, and if XRP follows historical precedent, a breakout could lead to significant gains.

In a congruent triangle, especially on the upside, they tend to be flashier, with price gains corresponding to the height of the triangle over a wider area.

For XRP, the peak of the current symmetrical triangle is around $0.52. If the price breaks the trend above this level around June 2025, the pattern's potential upside target would be closer to $23.40, which would represent a staggering increase of over 4,200% in the coming years.

FUD of the week

Hackers won $440M in 28 exploits in Q3: report

In the third quarter, the industry suffered the lowest losses from hacking that it has seen in three years, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Hacken. About 460 million dollars were stolen in 28 cases.

However, the rate of recovery was the lowest in recent years at only 5%. Hacken breaks down this information along with the broader state of Web3 security in Q3. It also explains the main types of attacks, the most affected project categories and mitigation strategies.

Exploitation of access control methods accounted for $316 million, or nearly 70%, of the money stolen in crypt hacks in Q3. The perpetrators of such attacks control the keys that control the smart contracts. After controlling the keys, they can withdraw funds from the contract to their own wallet or modify the proxy contract application to activate the withdrawal function.

Vietnamese police found a crypto fraud ring linked to offshore actors

State Vietnamese police forces have arrested five individuals linked to a sophisticated crypto-fraud ring run by offshore bad actors, local media reported.

On October 4, police in Nghe An, a Vietnamese province bordering Laos and the Gulf of Tonkin, busted a Laos-based fraud ring involving fraudulent wire transfers. The fraudsters were directed by offshore individuals in “pig farming” – a long-standing investment scam in which the victim is forced to contribute to the perpetrator – and crypto investment scams.

Nghe An police arrested two Vietnamese suspects after investigating and confirming direct links to crypto scams.

According to the report, one of the fraudsters visited Laos in September 2023 to join a gang of fraudsters. In February, they started creating Facebook accounts to trick victims into investment scams.

Binance warns of crypto market risks of overvaluation, centralization

According to a recent Binance report, the cryptocurrency market has significant risks due to over-valuation and centralization of token ownership.

The report warns that if these challenges are not addressed, these risks could undermine the long-term stability and integrity of the crypto industry.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a Binance spokesperson explained that as more participants enter the market, there will be a “greater focus on evaluation and responsible financial management.” They continued.

“Our report highlights the critical role of decentralized control and transparency in the use of funds to foster long-term trust. Projects that embrace these principles are better placed to gain market confidence and achieve sustainable growth.”

The best magazine stories of the week

Anti-aging billionaire Brian Johnson is about to commit his life to crypto.

“There is a reality that my whole life is crypto,” says the multi-millionaire, who has instead devoted his life to pushing the boundaries of longevity.

Suspicious arrest of crypto scam reporter, Japan's pro-crypto PM: Asia Express

Cambodia has arrested a journalist who reported on a multibillion-dollar crypto scam, South Korea and the US teaming up to confront North Korean cybercrime, and more.

Did Pavel Durov of Telegram commit a crime? Crypto lawyers weigh in.

The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov throws the tech into uncharted waters. Our panel of crypto lawyers weigh the implications.

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Editorial staff

Cointelegraph magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.