New York Hacker Pleads Guilty to $4.5 Billion Bitcoin Heist

New York Hacker Pleads Guilty to $4.5 Billion Bitcoin Heist

Time Stamp: August 4, 2023 1:21 PM
Source Node: 2198332

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has clarified the exchange’s intent to potentially integrate the Lightning Network, Bitcoin’s prominent Layer-2 scaling solution. 

In response to Jack Dorsey’s criticism, co-founder of financial services company Block Inc., Armstrong allayed concerns over Bitcoin and its Lighting Network being overlooked by Coinbase.

“Our task ahead is deciphering the optimal method to integrate Lightning. The challenge is considerable, yet the payoff justifies the effort. I fully back the idea of Bitcoin serving as a prominent payment vehicle,” Armstrong elucidated.

The Lightning Network is a critical instrument, innovatively addressing Bitcoin’s scalability issues. Its central mechanism enables users to establish payment channels amongst themselves, promoting off-chain transactions. Significantly, these off-chain transactions are expedited and more cost-effective than conventional on-chain Bitcoin transactions.

Coinbase stands its ground on Bitcoin support

Armstrong retaliated against Dorsey’s assertions that Coinbase shuns the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency. The Coinbase CEO emphasized,

“It’s puzzling why you believe we’re disregarding Bitcoin—we’ve successfully onboarded an unprecedented number of people to Bitcoin, likely more than any other organization globally. Let’s build upon this together.”

Dorsey, a renowned Bitcoin advocate, expressed enthusiasm towards Armstrong’s collaboration offer, highlighting that “it would be extraordinary if you allocated more resources towards your initial focus on Bitcoin and Layer-2 technologies. We’d be more than willing to join forces.”

A step towards Bitcoin’s layer-2 integration

This isn’t Armstrong’s first insinuation towards Lightning Network integration following criticism of ‘actively ignoring’ the protocol. Earlier this year, he acknowledged, “Lightning possesses significant merit and is something we’ll likely incorporate.”

Should Coinbase support the Lightning Network, it would join the likes of Bitstamp, Kraken, OKX, Bitfinex, and most recently, Binance – all dominant crypto trading platforms that have integrated this solution.

Armstrong has shown a vision for global crypto payments, stating on Twitter,

“Integrating layer 2 technologies, improving on-ramps, and streamlining the UX/onboarding process require a collective effort from all of us, including Coinbase.”

His vision was, however, questioned by prominent Bitcoin supporters for not explicitly mentioning Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Lightning Network: a boon to Bitcoin transactions

The Lightning Network is designed to augment Bitcoin transactions by enabling users to create off-chain transaction channels. While some advocated for integrating Bitcoin Lightning on Coinbase, Dorsey further probed, “What ‘crypto‘ makes a better money transmission protocol than Bitcoin and why?”

After a brief silence, Armstrong confirmed that Coinbase was considering supporting Bitcoin Lightning and reiterated its backing for Bitcoin payments. Armstrong and Dorsey agreed to collaborate on Bitcoin and layer-2 technologies, ultimately aiming for an open protocol for money transmission on the Internet.

The discourse between the two industry leaders concluded on a promising note, with both committed to progressing in the same direction.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

In the past 24 hours up to the time of writing, the Bitcoin (BTC) market has seen a bullish reign, with above-average investor demand pushing the price to an intraday high of $29,988, where resistance was met. As a result, bears took control of the market, plunging prices sharply downward to test the $28,946.51 support level.

BTC/USD 24-hour price chart (source: CoinMarketCap)

As investors weigh the efficacy of the support level and the likelihood of further bearish movement, the market is currently experiencing a period of volatility. Even though Bitcoin’s market cap fell by 0.20% to approximately $565 billion, its 24-hour trading volume surged by 25.84% to around $21 billion.

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