Here’s what happened in crypto today
Today in crypto, Bitcoin fell to $112,174, with some commentators linking it to a $2 billion Bitcoin whale sell-off. Telegram founder Pavel Durov provides an update on the court case and criticizes the French government and Ethereum gaming network Xai claims Elon Musk’s AI firm xAI has caused market confusion and reputational harm.Bitcoin falls to $112K as community points to Bitcoin whale salesBitcoin saw a sharp fall to $112,174 on Sunday, and Bitcoiners like Willy Woo are blaming the drop and slower price action on Bitcoin’s oldest whales cashing out after holding the asset for years. “This differential in cost basis, the supply they hold and their rate of selling has profound impacts on how much new capital that needs to come in to lift price,” the Bitcoiner said, noting it now takes over $110,000 of new capital to absorb every Bitcoin.His comments were made after a seven-year Bitcoin whale rotated almost $2 billion worth of Bitcoin into Ether over the last week, triggering a 2.2% fall in Bitcoin’s price in a short 10-minute window on Sunday.Bitcoin fell as low as $112,174 before rebounding, while Ether dropped 4% before making a similar recovery.It also comes four days after another crypto whale made a similar move, selling 670 Bitcoin worth $76 million to open a long ETH position.Telegram founder Pavel Durov provides an update, criticizes the French governmentTelegram founder Pavel Durov said that the ongoing investigation by French law enforcement authorities has yielded no evidence of wrongdoing on behalf of Telegram or himself, yet continues.Durov was critical of the French government, saying that despite the lack of any basis for the investigation, the authorities continue to drag it on. In a Telegram post on Sunday, Durov wrote:“One year ago, the French police detained me for four days because some people I’d never heard of used Telegram to coordinate crimes. Arresting a CEO of a major platform over the actions of its users was not only unprecedented — it was legally and logically absurd.A year later, the ‘criminal investigation’ against me is still struggling to find anything that I or Telegram did wrong,” he continued.The case against Durov has attracted international attention and widespread condemnation of his arrest, which has been characterized as politically motivated and an attempt to force online censorship.Ethereum gaming network Xai sues Musk’s xAI for trademark infringementEthereum-based gaming network Xai has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, accusing it of trademark infringement and unfair competition.The complaint, lodged in the Northern District of California on Thursday, claims Musk’s xAI company has created widespread market confusion, damaging Xai’s brand.Ex Populus, the Delaware corporation behind Xai, said it has used the XAI trademark in US commerce since June 2023, including through its blockchain gaming ecosystem and the $XAI token. “This is a classic case of trademark infringement that requires the Court’s intervention to remedy,” the filing said.Ex Populus operates the Xai ecosystem, which includes a blockchain-powered network designed for video gaming and digital transactions, offering infrastructure to support game logic, AI-driven decisions, rewards and data management across multiple applications, per the filing.