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Tim Hakki

Tim Hakki

Tim is a freelance journalist and music industry copywriter from London whose work has appeared in Vice, among other places. He is currently finishing his first novel. Disclosure: No significant crypto holdings.

Stories by Tim Hakki

  • Crypto trading. Source: Shutterstock

    This Week in Coins: Bitcoin Rally Cools and Solana Explodes

    Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt. Bitcoin’s fortnight long rally cooled off this week, but several of the biggest altcoins continued posting double digit percentage gains, including Ripple’s XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA).  Entering the weekend, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 2.7% over the last seven days to hit its current price of $34,802. Much of its price appreciation over the last two weeks was down to hype that an exchange-traded fund (ETF) would soon be approved stateside.  Suff...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Three Arrows Capital co-founder Su Zhu. Image: Su Zhu/Twitter

    This Week on Crypto Twitter: ETF Preppers and Whistleblowers

    Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt Prices rallied for the second week in a row, driven by feverish speculation on whether or not asset management titan BlackRock will launch a Bitcoin spot ETF in the U.S. soon.  It’s looking increasingly likely that an ETF is coming. Several companies have filed recent applications with the SEC, and BlackRock is not necessarily winning the race. On Monday, The U.S. Court of Appeals issued its highly anticipated order for the SEC to review Grayscale’s a...

    NewsCoins
    4 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Image: Shutterstock

    This Week in Coins: Chainlink Moons 44%, Leads Marketwide ETF Speculation Rally

    Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt. The last seven days were an exhilarating ride for holders of many leading cryptocurrencies, with multiple coins posting double-digit percentage gains by the start of the weekend. The marketwide rally began last week, when rumors and speculation that a Bitcoin spot ETF was about to be approved in the United States drove Bitcoin (BTC) to reclaim $30k, a level not previously seen since summer.  The market leader enjoyed a wilder rally this week, rising...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Bitcoin ETFs. Image: Shutterstock

    This Week on Crypto Twitter: Fake ETF News Pumps Bitcoin

    Bitcoin holders profited this week amidst a flurry of industry announcements—both real and apocryphal—about the industry’s elusive hunt to get a spot Bitcoin ETF greenlit by the SEC.  Bitcoin’s price received an intraday boost of 10% on Monday, after crypto publication Cointelegraph falsely tweeted that TradFi asset management titan BlackRock had been approved to launch a U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF. Several journalists, including Fox’s Eleanor Terrett and Bloomberg’s James Seyffart dispelled the rumo...

    NewsCoins
    5 min read
    Tim Hakki

  • This Week in Coins: Solana Explodes 25%, Bitcoin Reclaims $30K on ETF Hopes and Ripple Wins

    It was a good week for holders of virtually all leading cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Solana, and XRP. After many weeks of inertia and slow movement, Bitcoin (BTC) finally rebounded with some bullish price action, adding 10% over the last seven days to change hands at $29,523 as of this writing. The rest of the market rebounded with it. Bitcoin’s rally began on Monday, following last Friday’s news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would not be appealing a court verdict that...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Image: Shutterstock

    This Week on Crypto Twitter: War, the FTX Trial, and a New Tether Chief

    Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt News of war and persistent inflation brought crypto prices down this week as some investors dumped their riskier assets to hedge themselves against political and economic uncertainty.  Last Saturday, the Palestinian militant group Hamas—widely recognized as a terrorist organation—infiltrated the Israeli border and began taking hostages and attacking military and civilian targets. Israel responded with heavy air strikes across Gaza—the locus of Hamas’s...

    NewsCoins
    6 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Image: TY Lim/Shutterstock

    This Week in Coins: War and Inflation Chill Crypto Investments

    Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt. Crypto is down this week, although Bitcoin and Ethereum proved more resilient than a few altcoins.  Prices fell—but not by much—driven downward by a globe-rattling Israel–Palestine war and persistent inflation readings in the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Broadly, investors tend to switch to lower-risk assets in times of political and economic uncertainty.  Narket leader Bitcoin (BTC), which capital...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Image: @notthreadguy on Twitter

    This Week on Crypto Twitter: Ethereum Futures ETFs and the FTX Saga

    A multitude of positive crypto headlines did little to rally the prices of leading cryptocurrencies this week. On Tuesday, JP Morgan’s crypto lead Tyrone Lobban remarked at a panel in London that Bitcoin is “maybe more like a stablecoin nowadays”—a statement that regular readers of this This Week in Coins likely concur with. This bodes well for crypto. After all, one of the most common criticisms of leading unbacked cryptocurrencies is that they’re pretty volatile. Despite the reputational damag...

    NewsCoins
    5 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • The Monetory Authority of Singapore (MAS) made notable crypto moves this week. Image: Richie Chan / Shutterstock.com

    This Week in Coins: Bitcoin and Ethereum Hold Stable Amid Frantic News Cycle

    It was a week full of headlines in crypto, but they weren't being made by market stalwarts Bitcoin and Ethereum.  Their stable values suggest cryptocurrencies are less reactive to the current news cycle than they were during its heady 2021 bull run and subsequent 2022 crash.  Market leader Bitcoin (BTC) grew a modest 2.7% over the seven days and now changes hands at $27,952. It briefly hit a two-month high on Sunday night when it crossed the $28,000 threshold.  The closest contender Ethereum (E...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Authorities around the world are making crypto regulations a top priority. Image: Shutterstock

    Hong Kong Police, SFC Launch Task Force to Monitor Crypto Exchanges

    Hong Kong's police force and the special administrative region's leading securities regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) have established a joint task force to monitor suspicious activity on crypto exchanges. A statement published by the SFC yesterday says the task force was established after a high-level meeting between the two authorities on September 28. Its main purpose is to enhance their collaboration in monitoring suspicious and illegal activities on Virtual Asset Tradin...

    NewsLaw and Order
    2 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • There are several competitors vying for ETF dominance. Image: Decrypt.

    Ex-BlackRock Director Says SEC Will Approve a Bitcoin ETF in '3 to 6 Months'

    Former BlackRock managing director Steven Schoenfield, who’s now the CEO of MarketVector Indexes, gives the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission “three to six months” before it approves a Bitcoin spot ETF.  Schoenfield gave his estimate during a panel discussion on ETFs at CCData’s Digital Asset Summit in London yesterday, where he was joined by another ex-BlackRock director Martin Bednall, now CEO of Jacobi Asset Management.  Jacobi Asset Management Launch Europe's First Bitcoin ETF Schoenfi...

    NewsBusiness
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • JP Morgan's blockchain lead speaking at CCData. Image: Decrypt.

    JP Morgan Crypto Lead: ‘99.9% of Conversations Are About Tokenized Assets, Not Crypto’

    The head of JP Morgan’s blockchain division Tyrone Lobban yesterday told attendees at CCData’s Digital Asset Summit in London that “99.9%” of his conversations with clients are about tokenized forms of traditional financial instruments, not crypto.  “There is a huge conversation around how to bring traditional assets on chain,” he said during yesterday’s panel. “When you look at the activity that has happened over the past year, almost every global bank, broker-dealer or asset manager is doing s...

    NewsBusiness
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • FCA Head of Capital Markets Helen Boyd speaking at CCData's Digital Asset Summit

    UK Financial Watchdog Hints at New Crypto Sandbox for Next Year

    The British Treasury is hoping to launch a Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS) by the end of Q1 next year, according to Helen Boyd, Head of Capital Markets at the independent regulatory watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A sandbox is a controlled test environment for those looking to bring innovative products to the market. The FCA already has a similar engagement via its Regulatory Sandbox where companies with viable products can begin pitching them to a closed circle of early custome...

    NewsBusiness
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • SEC Chair Gary Gensler speaking before a Senate committee hearing in 2022. Image: YouTube/ Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee

    This Week on Crypto Twitter: Binance’s CZ and the SEC’s Gary Gensler Face Stiff Criticism

    Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt Once again, U.S. regulators offered very little to the international crypto community to chew on this week. VanEck’s SEC-approved Ethereum futures ETF was confirmed on Thursday, however, adding modest gains to the bags of Ethereum (ETH) holders. Beyond that, lawmakers in Washington still appear to be dragging their feet compared to their European counterparts—distracted as they were with a very close call with a government shutdown. The denizens of Cr...

    NewsCoins
    5 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Image: Shutterstock

    This Week in Coins: ETF Hype Pumps Ethereum and Bitcoin as Chainlink and Bitcoin Cash Surge

    Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt. With each passing week, it’s getting easier to talk about crypto’s relative stability compared to its performance in recent history—even just a year ago. A cursory glance at some of the headlines of this column over the year reveals we’ve had more slow news weeks than otherwise in 2023. However, we’ve still come a long way since New Year’s Day, when market leader Bitcoin (BTC) sold for roughly $16.5K. The world’s favorite cryptocurrency begins the la...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Bitcoin on Venezuela money Bolivar banknotes. Image: Shutterstock

    This Week on Crypto Twitter: 11,000 Venezuelan Soldiers Bring Down Jailhouse Bitcoin Mining Operation

    Slow news made for good news as yet another static week for the market has reinforced the sense that the prices of leading cryptocurrencies have somewhat stabilized this year. It was also a quiet week over on Crypto Twitter. It began with a huge apology from crypto-friendly game engine developer Unity after the company substantially revised its controversial Unity Runtime Fee last week, much to the anger of developers over on social media.  We have heard you. We apologize for the confusion and...

    NewsCoins
    4 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Image: TY Lim/Shutterstock

    This Week in Coins: Slow News Is Good News for Bitcoin and Ethereum

    Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt. Prices of leading cryptocurrencies stayed stable over the last seven days. Market leader Bitcoin (BTC) held the fort at $26,569, more or less exactly the same price as last week, while Ethereum (ETH) dropped a slight 2.8% to trade for $1,592.  It was another of crypto’s relatively less volatile weeks, which seem to be occurring more frequently this year. There were no major price swings among any of the forty biggest cryptocurrencies by market capit...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Hal Finney explains zero-knowledge proofs in the rediscovered clip. Image: Twitter/X

    Bitcoin Pioneer Hal Finney Explains ZK Proofs in Rediscovered Footage

    A video of American software developer and early Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney talking about zero-knowledge proofs 25 years ago resurfaced on Twitter this week. The footage is taken from the 18th annual International Cryptology Conference at University of California, Santa Barbara in 1998, aka “Crypto '98”. “I want to prove to you that I know a message that hashes to a given hash value using the SHA-1 hash. I don't want to reveal anything about the message to you. It's a zero-knowledge proof, and I...

    NewsTechnology
    3 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Image: Shutterstock

    Ex-FCA Chair: UK Regulator Faced 'Political Pressure' to Welcome Crypto Firms

    One of the UK’s leading regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), allegedly came under “political pressure” to approve crypto firms that now face criminal investigations overseas, according to its former chair Charles Randell. Randell was speaking at a conference on Tuesday hosted by the Bank of England regulatory body, the Prudential Regulation Authority. “In the context of crypto, in my experience as FCA chair, there was a lot of political pressure to welcome firms, some of which are...

    NewsBusiness
    2 min read
    Tim Hakki
  • Image: Maquette.pro/Shutterstock

    This Week on Crypto Twitter: Idris Elba Falls Flat, and Are We Near the End of Binance?

    Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt For those who keep an eye on crypto prices, it was yet another fairly uneventful week as market leaders Bitcoin and Ethereum—and most other leading cryptocurrencies—barely budged. Among the top thirty cryptocurrencies, Stellar’s XLM was the only one to post notable losses. Last week, XLM rallied 10% off the back of a tweet promising “something cool” in ten days. Lo and behold, ten rotations of the earth later, on Tuesday, and Stellar delivered a high-...

    NewsCoins
    5 min read
    Tim Hakki
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