HBO will reveal who is behind Satoshi Nakamoto. Ethereum's threshold for staking may be lowered. Cryptocurrency exchanges impose restrictions on stablecoins. SWIFT will test digital transactions
HBO’s Documentary Will Reveal Satoshi Nakamoto’s Identity
A new documentary “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery” promises to declassify the real name of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the first cryptocurrency.
The film will be released on Wednesday, October 9, with the support of the American TV company HBO, and its director is Cullen Hoback, previously known for the movie “Q: Into the Storm,” which deals with the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Creating a movie about Satoshi Nakamoto took three years. According to the director, the conclusions in it are based on a solid evidence base, while not all arguments were included in the filming. Hoback also noted that Satoshi currently has about 1.1 million BTC (≈$67 billion) remaining. He could destroy his coins for the network’s safety, but that hasn’t happened so far.
One of the possible personalities behind Satoshi Nakamoto’s alias could be Len Sassaman, a famous cypherpunk who died in 2011. According to Alex Thorne, an expert at Galaxy Digital, if this version is confirmed, it is likely to have a neutral or positive impact on the price of Bitcoin.
Forecasting platform Polymarket has already launched a poll with participants trying to guess whom HBO will name Satoshi Nakamoto. According to preliminary results, Len Sassaman is in the lead, followed by programmer Craig Wright and computer scientist Nick Szabo from the US. Some respondents admit that the Bitcoin creator could be American businessman Elon Musk.
16 ETH Instead of 32 ETH: Buterin Proposed Lowering the Minimum Threshold for Staking
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin supported the idea of reducing the minimum deposit to participate in solo staking. Instead of the current 32 ETH (≈$75,170), he suggested lowering the minimum threshold to 16 ETH or 24 ETH, which could facilitate participation for more users, but such a change would increase hardware demands.
Buterin pointed out that the high deposit amount is one of the main obstacles for individual stakers. To solve the problem, he suggested a temporary reduction in the amount with the condition of increasing the node bandwidth requirements.
Buterin also added that once the PeerDAS protocol (responsible for improving the efficiency of the Ethereum network) is updated, the data rate requirements for node operators will be reduced. In the future, this could lead to lowering the minimum deposit to 1 ETH, thanks to the Orbit SSF tools (a system to improve the security and decentralization of the Ethereum network).
The proposal to lower the threshold for staking will still be discussed with the community, as the change may require additional technical solutions and compromises.
Stablecoins May Become Unavailable in the EU Due to MiCA
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase plans to impose restrictions on access to stablecoins for customers from the European Economic Area. We are talking about those stablecoins whose issuing companies have not met the requirements of the MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets) legislation. Let’s recall that the new norms of regulation of the crypto market in the EU should come into force at the end of December 2024.
According to MiCA, issuers of stablecoins are required to obtain a license from financial regulators and hold a minimum of 60% of reserves in the accounts of local banks. However, Tether, the issuer of the popular USDT coin, has not yet met these conditions, unlike its rival Circle, the creator of USDC.
As of Monday, October 7, the total capitalization of stablecoins is $172.7 billion, where USDT leads with a capitalization of $119.7 billion, followed by USDC ($35.3 billion) and DAI ($5 billion).
As of Monday, October 7, the Uphold exchange has already excluded several stablecoins from the list of assets available to European users. OKX, Kraken, and Binance are also considering similar measures.
Banks Will Start Testing Crypto Transactions via SWIFT in 2025
Financial institutions in Europe, Asia, and North America will start testing digital money through the SWIFT system. The project will aim to investigate the possibility of conducting transactions with cryptocurrencies, tokenized assets, and CBDC on various blockchains connected to the platform.
Previous tests have shown that the SWIFT system can solve one of the main problems of digital assets — fragmentation. This refers to a situation where different blockchains and digital assets cannot effectively interact due to the lack of a single system to process transactions. According to the company, 134 countries are already exploring the implementation of CBDC, and the market for tokenized assets could reach $30 trillion by 2034.
Surveys have shown that 91% of institutional investors are interested in the digital asset market. However, SWIFT says that they should be able to coexist with traditional currencies to be used effectively.
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