Coming every Dominicus, Hodler'southward Digest will help you runway every unmarried important news story that happened this calendar week. The all-time (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more than — a calendar week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Meridian Stories This Calendar week

SEC tells Telegram its crypto is worth less than donuts

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has gotten its claws out every bit it takes Telegram to job over its offering for Gram tokens. In a feisty memo to the Southern Commune Courtroom of New York, the regulator rejected the messaging platform's claims that its tokens are a commodity. Information technology wrote: "Unlike gilded, comic books, and Krispy Kreme donuts —  commodities Telegram compares to Grams — Grams have no intrinsic value." Ouch. Telegram raised a cool $one.7 billion through an ICO in 2022, just the company is defendant of declining to register with the SEC in advance. The committee's latest memo went on to accuse Telegram of doing "a ii-step effectually registration provisions."

$12 to $12,000: The $100,000 Bitcoin halving is fewer than 100 days away

Go your calendars out! At that place are at present fewer than 100 days until Bitcoin's mining reward is cutting in one-half — and some crypto commentators believe this could trigger some serious price activity. Weiss Ratings has released an analysis exploring the bear on that previous halving events had on BTC. Prices stood at $12 when the mining advantage was outset cutting in Nov 2022, and stood at $652 at the time of the second halving in July 2022. Of course, you'll call back that an extraordinary bull run began the following year — with BTC reaching an all-time loftier of $20,000 in December 2022. Weiss added: "So, does the Bitcoin halving help drive prices higher? Admittedly. The only question now is how high will #BTC go this time around?"

Bitcoin ain't what it used to be, pioneer investor says

Although excitement surrounding the halving is beginning to chimera up, some believe that BTC has left the good sometime days behind. I of them is Erik Finman — an early adopter of Bitcoin who became a millionaire by the tender age of 18. Speaking to Cointelegraph, he reminisced about how the cryptocurrency was "incredible" and "haemorrhage edge" when information technology came out — boasting a community that was united behind its cause. These days, Finman says the community is fragmented and hostile — and he believes that a price of $1 million volition never exist achieved unless in that location's evolution. "Bitcoin is the next MySpace if the community can't make drastic changes," he warned.

Sheila Warren, head of blockchain at the World Economic Forum

Coinbase and Ripple execs unveil masterplan to drive U.Southward. crypto adoption

Coinbase and Ripple are teaming up to push for smart regulations and transparency in the crypto globe — all with a view to driving mainstream adoption and taking blockchain technology mainstream. Each visitor is sending an executive to serve together as co-chairs of the Market Integrity Working Group. They contend: "To improve market place integrity and provide consumers the conviction they deserve, Congress may demand to enact legislation to support the orderly and secure performance of crypto markets." I proposal is to expand the Commodity Future Trading Commission's authority to include the regulation and oversight of digital commodity exchange markets.

Cybercriminals hide crypto mining script behind Kobe Bryant wallpaper

Opportunistic cybercriminals have been accused of taking advantage of the deaths of Kobe Bryant, his teenage girl and seven others. Co-ordinate to Microsoft Security Intelligence, hackers have been hiding malicious HTML code containing a cryptojacking script in a desktop wallpaper of the NBA legend, who was killed in a helicopter crash. Cryptojacking is a exercise whereby cybercriminals hijack processing ability from other computers to mine cryptocurrencies remotely. Bryant was an gorging supporter of crypto — and discussed the future of blockchain on stage during a crypto conference in 2022.

Winners and Losers

At the cease of the calendar week, Bitcoin is at $9,406.52, Ether at $190.53 and XRP at $0.25. The total market cap is at $261,290,191,175.

Amongst the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top iii altcoin gainers of the week are KickToken, BitShares and BlockStamp. The pinnacle iii altcoin losers of the week are Seele, Molecular Future and DxChain Token.

Winners and Losers

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph'due south market place section.

Almost Memorable Quotations

"In that location's a whole environs out in that location of vivid, genius, young people who are coming up with new means to transfer value every single day. I worry that we're going to crush that entrepreneurial spirit and that advancement."

Tom Emmer, U.S. Representative

"I call back XRP is a scam."

Ben Askren, former UFC fighter and Bitcoin bull

"I am a Bitcoin maximalist — if you want to put information technology that style — but I accept a much longer time horizon. It's going to take quite a bit of time and I actually have no trouble with that."

Sheila Warren, caput of blockchain at the World Economic Forum

"Right at present we're stuck with this hodgepodge of state-by-country treatments and it's bad for everybody: it's bad for innovators who want to invest in this space."

Andrew Yang, U.South. Democratic presidential candidate

Andrew Yang, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate

"I actually care about Bitcoin - merely the community tin can't seem to become it together in my opinion. I've tried to get involved inside the community to ready information technology – but it was very hostile."

Erik Finman, early on Bitcoin investor

"Bitcoin Greenbacks is not Bitcoin."

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder

"The only question now is how loftier will #BTC go this time around?"

Weiss Ratings

Prediction of the Week

Bitcoin $100,000 bull run is here, say crypto YouTubers

Equally BTC edges ever closer to $ten,000, some popular social media personalities believe that the world's biggest cryptocurrency has already started its bull run — and prices could airship to $100,000. Over the course of Jan, BTC/USD has gained over 30% — narrowly backside Tesla stock as the all-time major investment opportunity available in 2022. Nicholas Merten, also known as DataDash, told Cointelegraph that the market won't encounter a parabolic run until BTC reaches $20,000. He added: "That'due south really what I define equally a key bull market for cryptocurrencies, but we're trading college. [...] We're going for higher highs and higher lows, those are all positive signs." DataDash's target for the next bull wheel? Betwixt $80,000 and $100,000.

FUD of the Week

Trezor wallets tin can be hacked, Kraken reveals

Trezor wallets tin can be hacked to excerpt private keys with only xv minutes of concrete access to the device, co-ordinate to Kraken Security Labs. The assail involves either extracting its chip and placing information technology on a special device or soldering a couple of disquisitional connectors. From hither, the flake is connected to a "glitcher" device that breaks the built-in protection that prevents the scrap's memory from existence read by external devices. From here, the assaulter can read critical wallet parameters including the private fundamental seed. This vulnerability is non going to be an easy fix for Trezor, which would demand to completely redesign the wallet and recall all existing models. Although the company is minimizing the touch of the security flaw, Kraken is urging users not to let anyone to physically admission their device.

Erstwhile UFC star and BTC bull Ben Askren: "I think XRP is a scam"

We saw some fighting talk from former UFC star Ben Askren this week, who tweeted that he believes XRP is a scam. The ex-Olympic wrestler is notoriously bullish on Bitcoin, and has also previously appeared on Instagram wearing a Litecoin-branded t-shirt. His tweet has been liked by more than than 2,100 people at the time of writing. All of this comes subsequently XRP marked a two-yr low in December when it slumped to simply $0.183. The coin'due south issuing visitor, Ripple, is too facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that it held an unregistered sale of securities.

Ben Askren, former UFC fighter and Bitcoin bull

LocalBitcoins quietly suspends accounts in multiple regions without discover

1 of the globe'due south major peer-to-peer crypto exchanges has been reportedly suspending user accounts in Africa, the Middle East and Asia without alarm. LocalBitcoins said an "enhanced due diligence process" was to arraign — and reports suggest that some of those affected accept been unable to withdraw their Bitcoin equally a effect. I disgruntled user said that they've had to ask for their account to be deleted in order to access their coins, a procedure that could take 2 weeks. Another shared a screenshot of a reply they received from LocalBitcoins when they asked what was going on, which said: "Unfortunately, we cannot provide detailed information most the reasons behind the suspension of your business relationship. Our decision is final and cannot be revoked. You are no longer allowed to merchandise on LocalBitcoins. Whatsoever new business relationship volition be blocked."

All-time Cointelegraph Features

Davos 2022: Awaited regulations, unexpected enthusiasm, new challenges

Shiraz Jagati gives united states of america this roundup of what went down at last week's World Economic Forum in Davos.

As the WEF warms to crypto, its head of blockchain talks empowerment

Cointelegraph's head of features Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr spoke to Sheila Warren, the World Economic Forum'due south head of blockchain and decentralized ledgers, to reflect on the role of crypto in the discussions at Davos.

Five of the most expensive NFTs sold in 2022

The nonfungible token market is one of the most exciting spaces in crypto right now. John Robery takes a look at 5 of the most expensive NFTs that were sold in 2022.