Bitcoin Feeling Unwell - Why

Hello everyone, BitDegree Insider here. Time to see what's on today's crypto radar.

Here's what we have:

• Bitcoin Feels Unwell
• Powell: "US CBDC Would Not Be Anonymous"
• Vitalik's Book Just Dropped
• Sam Bankman-Fried Has His Eyes on Celsius Assets
• SEC Fines Former Tether Auditor
• Chipotle's 'Proof of Steak'
• Selected Meme of The Day

BTC Giving Attitude

This morning we woke up to Bitcoin's price looking like a ski slope. What happened?

As the world reacts to the UK pound falling in value, stock markets and crypto follow. As the pound's value fell to $1.0570 (even lower than it was two days ago), the market sentiment is crystal clear - things are on fire. The pound situation caused rumours about emergency interest hikes, which, as we all know by now, always correlate negatively with crypto.

Here's another way to look at it. Yesterday, Fed's chair delivered a speech. Its content boosted BTC optimism. Yet it didn't withstand the reality check of the ongoing UK currency crisis.

Fed Chair Speaks

Yesterday, during an event hosted by the Bank of France, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dropped some insights about the future of the central bank digital currency - CBDC.

The most important key point is the fact that, if CBDC truly was to become a thing, it would be "identity verified". What does that mean?

That it would not be an 'anonymous cryptocurrency'. So, anonymity is off the table. Yet privacy protection is not. Powell elaborated that the hypothetical CBDC would have to sort the question of balance between privacy protection and identity verification. To put it in simpler terms - J. Powell is saying that CBDC would have to look, and function similarly to what we already have with today's banking system, since users can participate in transactions without the general public knowing about them, yet their actions are observable. Not anonymous.

On the other hand, crypto payments can be anonymous, yet they are not private. Public ledger is out there, waiting to be checked out by anyone who's interested.

What's more, Christine Lagarde, the Chief of ECB (European Central Bank) shared a telling comment about how the central banks should observe the potential of crypto:"If we are not involved in experimenting and innovating in terms of digital central bank money, we risk losing the role of 'anchor' that we have played for many many decades."

Simple words, complex possibilities.

Vitalik The Writer

If you like crypto AND books - today is a good day. Vitalik Buterin, the central figurehead behind Ethereum, has just announced that his book "Proof of Stake" is out.

This book is a compilation of 'writings, collected from his essays before and during the rise of Ethereum', as it is described on the book's website. And, for example, on Barnes & Noble site, you can read the following: "Here for the first time [Vitalik's essays] are collected from across the internet for new readers. They reveal Buterin as a lively, creative thinker, relentlessly curious and adventuresome in exploring the consequences of his invention."

Well, Vitalik was nineteen when he published the Ethereum white paper back in 2013. Not even a decade has passed since then, and Vitalik is one of the most influential faces in everything blockchain-related. You gotta give it to him, his brain operates on quantum levels. So it's sure that everyone can learn something from the book.

You can order it here, and if you want a paperback version, keep in mind that its price varies from $16.99 to $18.95, depending on where you choose to buy it from.

Sam Bankman-Fried's New Target

Yesterday we wrote about FTX's CEO winning the bid for bankrupt Voyager's assets. Only a day has passed, and Uncle Sam is back again. And he wants more assets. This time - he's eyeing Celsius Network, the bankrupt crypto lender.

Celsius Network, which filed for bankruptcy in July, is not a bite-sized company. They own the machinery that allows them to conduct large-scale Bitcoin mining operations and even a crypto custody business. Acquiring all of this is a huge deal. It hasn't yet been made public whether FTX is considering pocketing all of this in or only the selected parts.

This development follows yesterday's news about Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky's resignation. While the populus greeted the news by stating that he has to go to jail, Sam Bankman-Fried, it looks like, just observed it as yet another opportunity to expand his empire. More details about this potential deal will be released eventually, so be sure, we'll cover it.

SEC Fines Tether's Former Auditor $1M

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced filing and settling a $1M fine against Friedman LPP - Tether's former auditing firm. The reason for it being "serious violations of the federal securities laws."

Among the violations,"improper professional conduct" was mentioned. As example, "failure to respond to fraud risks" or "exercise due professional care and professional skepticism" were cited.

Important moment: SEC didn't mention Tether once in their investigation. Friedman LPP is a former Tether's auditing company, the relationship with Tether is no longer taken into account. But it's still a revealing moment about the weak points of the world's No. 1 stablecoin.

Tether has a reputation as something that's not too eager to evaporate the doubt cloud surrounding the claims about the state of their reserves that, supposedly, are used to back up their stablecoin.

Chipotle's 'Proof of Steak'

Now some light-hearted news. From today until October 4, customers will be able to use Flexa (the cryptocurrency payment network) to spend ETH at any Chipotle restaurant in the US, and by doing so, receive a 99.95% discount on their purchase. Why such a specific number? It's the estimated amount of how much less energy Ethereum is using after the Merge.

Good news for those who participate in good causes. And yes. They're calling it 'the proof of steak'. Finally, someone saw the opportunity and grabbed it.

Selected Meme of The Day