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Adam Back

Cryptographer who invented hashcash and co-founded Blockstream, the Bitcoin infrastructure firm he leads as CEO.

Current stories

investConfirmed3 publishers

Capital B's 69.5 million euro loss is 97% an accounting charge on Bitcoin it kept buying

Capital B's 69.5 million euro first-half loss is 97% a non-cash Bitcoin impairment of 67.5 million euros. The Paris-listed company raised $30 million in the half and holds 3,538 BTC, up 25% since January. The loss line says little about cash.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 8%
Operator
Operator 32%
Investor
Investor 60%

Reality

Evidence74
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+12
Incentives55
Confidence72
investConfirmed7 publishers

Blockstream bets forensic tracing beats paying a $32m bounty for the last 598.5 BTC

The attackers who drained 4,000 BTC from Liquid handed back 3,400 after the patch and kept 598.5. Blockstream puts about $47 million on that hold and says it will trace the coins instead of paying.

Perspective Coverage

7 publishers
Builder
Builder 24%
Operator
Operator 43%
Investor
Investor 33%

Reality

Evidence72
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+10
Incentives62
Confidence68
investConfirmed6 publishers

SEC clears Cboe listing rules for 3x Bitcoin and Ether funds still awaiting registration

SEC approval of Cboe BZX rules on Oct. 2 opens a listing path for Volatility Shares funds that aim to triple daily Bitcoin and Ether futures returns. Shares cannot trade until a separate S-1 registration takes effect, and that step decides when brokers can offer them.

Perspective Coverage

6 publishers
Builder
Builder 7%
Operator
Operator 35%
Investor
Investor 58%

Reality

Evidence78
Adoption5
Hype gap+25
Incentives50
Confidence74
productOne report1 publisher

Coldcard owners who held their own keys lost over $100 million to a firmware bug

Coinkite's Coldcard firmware skipped its hardware random number generator, letting attackers brute-force seeds and drain over $100 million in bitcoin. Liquid's later $320 million drain adds node software to the code a bitcoin holder has to trust.

Publishers:gizmodo.com

Reality

Evidence38
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+30
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence42
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Blockstream pauses Liquid after $320 million exploit, tries to reach hackers onchain

The withdrawal cleared every control the Liquid Federation actually operates, which is why an 11-of-15 quorum released the bitcoin in 23 minutes. Recovery now depends on whoever holds the coins answering an email address.

Publishers:news.bitcoin.com

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+20
Incentives55
Confidence55
buildOne report1 publisher

A $300 solver bill leaves CAPTCHA at 5% of a credential run's cost of goods

The 5% comes from one dev.to post's worked example, and it holds only if an attacker's hit rate against your login is near 0.3% and a stolen account resells near $20. At a 0.03% hit rate the same bill is half of revenue.

Publishers:dev.to

Reality

Evidence22
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+52
Incentives58
Confidence30
investOne report1 publisher

Capital B bought its latest 376 bitcoin at 23 per cent below its own cost basis

A Paris-listed company holding 3,521 coins says it wants one per cent of all Bitcoin, and the distance between those two numbers is the story the Euronext turnover ranking is being asked to carry.

Reality

Evidence30
Adoption36
Hype gap+55
Incentives70
Confidence38
investOne report1 publisher

Remixpoint sells four altcoins worth 4.5% of its crypto book to become bitcoin-only

Buyers in Japan, France, the UK and Dallas all added bitcoin in the same week; the Singapore name in the group sold its whole stack this year to repay $8.5m of debt, which is what a forced seller looks like.

Reality

Evidence48
Adoption63
Hype gap+37
Incentives72
Confidence52
investOne report1 publisher

Bitcoin's cross-layer plumbing had one supplier, and the stand-in is still invite-only

Blockstream opened a beta of its atomic swap service a week after Boltz went dark. General availability has no date, and wallet teams are the ones carrying that gap.

Reality

Evidence44
Adoption19
Hype gap+27
Incentives68
Confidence52