The Block
Quick Take Horst Jicha, a German national serving home detention after being charged with overseeing a $150 million cryptocurrency fraud, has become a fugitive. Jicha is suspected of tampering with his ankle bracelet, according to a U.S. attorney’s office.
Quick Take Mt. Gox had previously moved its repayment deadline from Oct. 31, 2023, to Oct. 31, 2024. The postponement temporarily alleviates concerns of Bitcoin selling pressure driving down the token’s price.
QCP Capital analysts remain optimistic about a potential “Uptober” rally for bitcoin, provided it maintains support above the $60,000 level.The upcoming Chinese fiscal policy announcement on Saturday is likely influencing market dynamics, Coinbase analysts said.
Quick Take A Nigerian court again denied bail to Binance exec Tigran Gambaryan on Friday, despite clear evidence of his declining health, according to a family statement. Gambaryan has been detained in the country since February on money laundering charges related to the crypto exchange giant.
Quick Take Arkham’s new derivatives exchange will attempt to compete with giants such as Binance for retail investors. However, it will not be available for customers in the United States.
Quick Take Paradigm announced it has invested $20 million in Ithaca, a spinoff from the venture capital firm building a Layer 2 blockchain called Odyssey. Georgios Konstantopoulos, Paradigm’s CTO and a general partner, will also act as Ithaca’s CEO.
Quick Take The Worldcoin project has partnered with Dune Analytics in an effort to boost transparency and accessibility to World Chain, the Layer-2 blockchain announced earlier this year.
China is set to announce fresh fiscal stimulus measures on Saturday that could inject fresh liquidity into risk assets, including cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, analysts said.Polymarket U.S. presidential election odds now favor Trump’s win at 55.5% over Harris at 43.7%, suggesting a Trump win could lead to a significant bitcoin price increase.
Quick Take An FTX customer who sold his $1.59 million claim to a hedge fund is suing the firm, alleging it reneged on a deal for additional recovery. Following a judge’s recent approval of the FTX estate’s reorganization plan, plaintiff Alexander Nikolas Gierczyk said Olympus Peak would make more than $1 million in profit from his bankruptcy claim.
Quick Take Michael Saylor told analysts at Bernstein that MicroStrategy’s endgame is to be the leading bitcoin bank — ultimately growing to become a trillion-dollar company. Rather than lending out funds like traditional banks, MicroStrategy seeks to borrow money at low rates, offer slightly higher rates to lenders, and invest those funds into bitcoin — with a “base case” estimated average annual return of 29%.
