Latest: Bitcoin Outperforms Gold as “Safe Haven Asset”, Says $670B Asset Manager AllianceBernstein

According to Bernstein Research, a subsidiary of the global asset management giant AllianceBernstein, Bitcoin has emerged as a “safe haven asset” that consistently surpasses gold in terms of returns. Despite the challenges faced during the 2022 crypto winter and notable crypto incidents, Bitcoin has witnessed a remarkable three-year surge of up to 150% in its prices. This performance has outshone gold’s stagnant market, making Bitcoin an increasingly appealing asset choice. If this trend continues and Bitcoin overtakes gold’s $13 trillion market cap, each Bitcoin in circulation could potentially reach a value of around $650,000, as per the research.

Arbitrum Orbit prepped for mainnet launch

Ethereum scaling solution Arbitrum Orbit is officially mainnet ready, developer Offchain Labs says.

This means that builders can create their own chains which will settle onto one of Arbitrum’s layer-2 chains, including Arbitrum One, Arbitrum Nova, and testnets Arbitrum Goerli or Arbitrum Sepolia.

Arbitrum is one of Ethereum’s largest scaling solutions with an estimated 470 deployed apps onto its network and a total value locked (TVL) of $2.73 billion, according to information on DeFiLlama.

Orbit enables developers to use the Arbitrum code base to build customized chains, Steven Goldfeder, co-founder and CEO of Offchain Labs, told Blockworks in an interview.

Developers will have…

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Chainlink leads the market with 61% weekly gain — What’s driving LINK price?

The Chainlink’s (LINK) token surged by a substantial 61.3% from Oct. 20 to Oct. 25, reaching a peak of $11.78 and marking its highest point since May 2022. LINK price then stabilized around $10.50, prompting investors to question the sustainability of this new price level.

Chainlink (LINK) token price, 12-hour, USD. Source: TradingView

It’s worth noting that this surge coincided with Bitcoin’s (BTC) 23% gain during the same period. However, LINK’s performance stands out in comparison to Ether’s (ETH) 14% increase and Solana’s (SOL) 28% rally, suggesting increased bullish sentiment toward Chainlink’s leading oracle and decentralized computing solutions.

Chainlink partnerships and… Read more on Cointelegraph

SBF strikes cautious tone as his testimony before a jury begins

The long-awaited moment finally arrived Friday morning: Sam Bankman-Fried faced the jury for the first time.

Bankman-Fried opted to speak decidedly slower, make irregular eye contact with the jury box and toe what has emerged as the party line: that there was a lot going on within the FTX empire that he knew nothing about. 

Bankman-Fried, who faces seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, appeared in federal court Friday in his usual trial ensemble: a mildly-wrinkled, slightly oversized gray suit with a purple tie. His demeanor appeared more cautious than it was on Thursday, where he gave senior judge Lewis Kaplan a preview of what he is now presenting to the jury. 

He sat hunched over…

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BREAKING: Spot gold surges to $2,000/oz, marking its first reach since May

Gold prices have soared past the $2,000 per ounce threshold for the first time since May. This significant climb was triggered by heightened geopolitical tensions, as U.S. military strikes targeted Iran-linked facilities in Syria. Amid escalating concerns over the broader Middle Eastern conflict and its potential to draw in additional Arab powers, investors flocked to the traditional safety of gold. The ongoing Israel-Hamas unrest had already been driving up gold’s value, and this recent surge underscores the metal’s role as a refuge during global uncertainties.

Financial Freedom And The Fight Against Censorship

The atmosphere at Bitcoin Amsterdam, organised by Bitcoin Magazine, starkly contrasted with the real guts and heart of the movement headlined by Edward Snowden and Stella Assange, both lives have been profoundly impacted by the struggle against censorship. This isn’t to diminish the buzzing hope and optimism of the conference with over 2,000 attendees, rather, it amplified the urgency and gravitas that these key figures bring to the broader conversation on financial and informational freedom.

Hosted in the culturally vibrant Westerpark, a historic gas factory turned into an artistic hub, the conference was a masterstroke of planning and technology.

The tone for the event was set by an…

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Blockchain congestion and transaction queues actually deter ‘nefarious actors’ — Study

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University and the University of Mississippi recently published research indicating that blockchains with “full” blocks — especially when there’s a transaction queue — appear to have an added layer of protection against nefarious actors, money launderers, and would-be fraudsters. 

Dubbed, “Bitcoin Blocksize, Custodial Security, and Price,” the team’s paper takes a deep dive into the Mt.Gox crash and other instances where cryptocurrency has been stolen from crypto exchanges.

The study’s premise lies in the notion that the perpetrators of illicit activity wish to complete laundering transactions as soon as possible.

Per the paper:

“This… Read more on Cointelegraph

Financial pros mull allocation boosts to ‘chaos-resilient’ BTC: Bitwise

Financial advisers are mulling a greater allocation to bitcoin in the face of an evolving macroeconomic environment and an expected shock to supply and demand of the asset, according to Bitwise executives.

Advisers interested in crypto have generally considered an allocation between 1% and 5% of a portfolio, Bitwise research analyst Ryan Rasmussen told Blockworks. It has historically been on the lower end of that range as equities and bonds offered appealing opportunities. 

But professional asset allocators are looking to hedge against risks of rising inflation, economic uncertainty and geopolitical conflict, he added — noting that more are viewing it as a “chaos-resilient”…

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Privacy Is A Group Effort

Privacy is a complicated subject. It’s not always a simple binary thing, private or not private, seen or unseen. Seen by whom? Private from whom? Private to what degree? If you are walking down the street with a mask on your face no one can see your face, so that means you are private, right? What if you are the only one wearing a mask? Are you private then? People might not be able to see your face, but they can see that you are the only one wearing a mask. If you travel around the same areas frequently, people might not know your face and name, but they can consistently recognize you in the same way people do a familiar face simply by noticing the only person who wears a mask is back…

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The Sam Bankman-Fried testimony that never was

After yesterday’s mock hearing, Judge Kaplan decided to only allow several parts of Bankman-Fried’s defense case to actually be heard by the jury.

This is great news for the jury’s ears. 

While Bankman-Fried sounded poised and professional under direct questioning by his own lawyer, cross-examination yielded a veritable word salad. And a very high-level word salad for someone who claims to never read books: 

For example, Bankman-Fried managed to use the word “contemporaneously” no less than six times. That would get him roughly 26 points in Scrabble.

Besides the fact that Bankman-Fried has clearly made use of a thesaurus in jail, the rest of his long-awaited first go at…

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