Bitcoin Daily: Square Is Bitcoin’s ‘Ride Or Die,’ Hackers Mined Crypto With Tesla’s Cloud

It was a good Tuesday (Feb. 20) for bitcoin, Bloomberg reported. The popular cryptocurrency climbed by almost 4 percent to $11,502 at 7:15 a.m. – and could reach a one-month high. This increase comes as South Korean regulators have suggested that they would be in favor of “normal” crypto trading.

And the Finnish government is grappling with how to store 2,000 bitcoins, according to another Bloomberg report. Authorities there have confiscated the bitcoins, but they can’t store them on virtual exchanges due to government guidelines. The coins are now valued at approximately $22.8 million.

Tesla might be best known for its electric cars, but hackers have reportedly been using its cloud to manufacture something else – cryptocurrencies, Venture Beat reported. According to the RedLock Cloud Security Intelligence team, the hackers stole computing time to mine crypto. The team said it told Tesla, whose own security team has reportedly already made a fix.

The man behind a crypto exchange desk has made an unusual tweet: He’s asked his followers if his exchange should file for bankruptcy or relaunch, The Next Web reported. Francesco Firano, who is loosely known as the BitGrail’s developer, made the post days after reportedly losing $195 million of cryptocurrency.

And crypto exchanges have to bank somewhere. ING confirmed on Tuesday (Feb. 20) that Bitfinex has an account with the bank in the Netherlands, Reuters reported. The exchange previously banked with Wells Fargo before it ended that relationship last April.

In international news, jihadists are turning to bitcoin as a funding source, The Wall Street Journal reported. One group received about $1,000 in funding from bitcoin, according to the paper.

And Square has a unique relationship with bitcoin: Its price movements have been similar to the cryptocurrency’s in recent months, MarketWatch reported. But bitcoin has been rising, as has Square’s share price. That “live-with-it, die-with-it relationship” does not justify a “lofty multiple,” BTIG analyst Mark Palmer told the wire. In fact, he is among two analysts with a “sell” rating on the stock, according to FactSet.

In Japan, a group of crypto exchanges may be forming a new organization to self-regulate following the Coincheck theft, Coindesk reported. According to anonymous sources who talked with Reuters, 16 exchanges are seeking to self-regulate – and reports suggest that the group could become public as early as next week.