The ex-president and RFK Jr were among the stars of this year’s bitcoin conference, where there was no line for the women’s bathroom Last week, downtown Nashville transformed into a carnival as thousands of people descended on the Bitcoin 2024 conference. The most enthusiastic attendees wore bitcoin orange or “Make America great again” red – which, as the color wheel confirms, are not all that different. Bitcoin has been around since 2009, and the conference since 2019, but 2024 marked the first year that two US presidential candidates would give keynote addresses: Robert F Kennedy Jr, a longtime bitcoin fan, and Donald Trump, who announced that he was pro-bitcoin in May after years of calling it a “scam” and “disaster”. The excitement was palpable: the way bitcoiners saw it, they had transformed into a voting bloc. Continue reading...

Former president said he would end persecution of crypto industry if he wins US election in November * Business live – latest updates Bitcoin has hit its highest level in more than six weeks after Donald Trump said at the weekend he would end the “persecution” of the crypto industry if he wins the US presidential election. The cryptocurrency’s price rose by more than 3% on Monday to peak at about $69,745, the highest it has been since 12 June when the currency at one point changed hands at more than $69,800. Continue reading...

Craig Wright’s case referred for potential perjury and forgery prosecution after losing legal battle with crypto firms The case of Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to be the creator of bitcoin, has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service over a potential prosecution for perjury and forgery. In March, Wright lost a legal battle with a coalition of cryptocurrency businesses who had pre-emptively sued to prevent him from enforcing his claim in the courts. In a sign of the extent of his defeat, the presiding judge, Mr Justice Mellor, took the unusual step of issuing an oral verdict within seconds of the case concluding. Continue reading...