Mt. Gox to repay $9B in Bitcoin | Bitcoin News by CoinCorner

Transcript

This week, Julian Assange has been released from prison, we're seeing Bitcoin heat a town in Finland, and is Bitcoin becoming one of the key issues in the US presidential election? We have it all for you this week on Bitcoin News.

Following a 14-year legal battle with the authorities, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from Belmarsh Prison in the UK on a deal where he pleaded guilty to one charge under the US Espionage Act related to WikiLeaks' publication of classified documents. As a result, on the 26th of June, after entering the plea deal, he arrived home in Australia on a private charter flight arranged by the Australian government at a total cost of $520,000, which will be incurred by Assange.

In a post on X, Stella Assange, Julian's wife, issued an urgent appeal for donations to cover the cost of the flight and also provided a Bitcoin address for contributions. Remarkably, a single anonymous Bitcoin donor sent over eight Bitcoins, worth nearly $500,000, to cover the entire debt, which has allowed Assange to return home debt-free. Assange had been an advocate for Bitcoin in the early days and had even received WikiLeaks donations in the form of Bitcoin as early as 2010, when few knew of the asset. According to this article, the donation underscores Bitcoin's role in enabling uncensored free speech and financial freedom.

Our next story is coming from the global Bitcoin miner Marathon. In a post on X, they have revealed a new pilot project where they will be recycling heat from Bitcoin mining and redistributing it to warm a community of 11,000 residents in Finland. Traditional district heating entails heating up water in a central location to then distribute it through underground pipes to the local network of buildings. The heating process usually relies on burning fossil fuels or biomass, but this project is looking to reduce carbon emissions by repurposing heat generated from Bitcoin mining data centres. As heat is a byproduct of the immense computing power required to uphold the Bitcoin network through Bitcoin mining, this is just one of many exciting ways in which Bitcoin miners are experimenting to try and provide real-world benefits from Bitcoin mining.

Next up, we have Michael Dell causing huge speculation with a post on X, suggesting that Dell Technologies might be exploring the possibility of a Bitcoin allocation. The founder and CEO of Dell posted on X last week, "Scarcity creates value," which quickly drew the attention of Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor, who responded, "Bitcoin is digital scarcity," due to its limited supply of 21 million. Dell then opted to repost Saylor's response and further post a picture displaying a Bitcoin-eating Cookie Monster. Nothing official has been confirmed, but this has led many to speculate that Dell could be allocating to Bitcoin, as these posts follow Dell's recent financial decision to cash out $2.1 billion worth of Dell stock. This was after the share price surged, making his net worth around $120 billion and the 14th richest person in the world. According to this article from CoinTelegraph, Dell Technologies are currently sitting on $5.83 billion worth of cash. This speculation adds to the narrative that Bitcoin is becoming a more mainstream asset, and billionaires may be taking note.

Now, speaking of Michael Saylor, he also confirmed in a post on X last week that MicroStrategy has acquired an additional 11,931 Bitcoin for around $786 million using the proceeds from their recent debt issuance. They now hold a whopping 226,000 Bitcoin at an average cost of $36,719 per coin, owning over 1.07% of the total supply that will ever be in circulation.

Our next story is coming from former US President Donald Trump, where there are rumours circulating that he may be lined up to speak in July at the Bitcoin 2024 convention in Nashville. According to this article from Axios, this is coming from two sources familiar with the matter. Trump recently surprised the world with his public embrace of Bitcoin and crypto, where he publicly stated that he will ensure that the future of crypto and Bitcoin will be made in the USA, not driven overseas. He will also support the right to self-custody and will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. This is quite the contrast to Biden's coolness towards the digital currency. But we're now seeing multiple presidential candidates accepting Bitcoin donations for their campaigns, and it seems that it's fast becoming one of the key talking points in the presidential election.

Our final story is coming from the collapsed Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, where they have announced that they will finally begin distributing assets stolen from the 2014 hack to victims starting in July 2024. Mt. Gox was once the largest Bitcoin exchange, handling over 70% of all Bitcoin transactions in the early years. But in 2014, hackers stole around 740,000 Bitcoin, worth $15 billion today. Victims have waited over 10 years to recover funds since Mt. Gox collapsed. For many, this July start date finally offers hope that they could recoup some of their stolen savings. However, according to this article, some worry that these large payouts could momentarily weigh on Bitcoin's price if victims sell part of their returned funds. This month, we have already seen a drawdown in Bitcoin's price of around 18%.