Bitcoin and most altcoins are currently under pressure over the uncertainty surrounding this year’s (virtual) Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. Specifically, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech is putting traders in limbo.

New York-based Ethereum venture studio ConsenSys has acquired Quorum, the enterprise blockchain platform developed by JPMorgan Chase.

Authorities in Austria are reportedly investigating a surge in bomb threat extortion attempts that saw various companies receive bitcoin-seeking emails blackmailing them.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin in Limbo Until Thursday’s Inflation-Focused Speech by Fed Chair Powell
• ConsenSys Acquires JPMorgan’s Quorum Blockchain Unit
• Austrian Police Investigate Surge in Bitcoin-Seeking Bomb Threats

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $11,360.66 (-1.91%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $4.07 bn. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $382.43 (-2.95%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.21 bn. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 4,4365.28 (0.22%).

Bitcoin in Limbo Until Thursday’s Inflation-Focused Speech by Fed Chair Powell

Bitcoin and most altcoins are currently under pressure over the uncertainty surrounding this year’s (virtual) Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. Specifically, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech is putting traders in limbo.

This annual symposium, which is sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, wil be a virtual conference because of the COVID-19 pandemic. CNBC reports Powell is likely “to detail a set of measures aimed at pushing inflation higher” to a “healthy level.”

The Federal Reserve may be looking to up inflation, as the news outlet details too little inflation may be a problem:

“It often reflects a slow-moving economy with a low standard of living. On top of that, the accompanying low interest rates give policymakers little wiggle room when crises happen and there’s a need to loosen policy.”

If Powell says the U.S. economy is recovering slower than the Fed would like, the likelihood of further quantitative easing (QE) increases. QE may weaken the U.S. dollar, which would lead to higher bitcoin and gold prices.

ConsenSys Acquires JPMorgan’s Quorum Blockchain Unit

New York-based Ethereum venture studio ConsenSys has acquired Quorum, the enterprise blockchain platform developed by JPMorgan Chase.

Additionally, the Wall Street megabank has made an undisclosed strategic investment in ConsenSys. From now on JPMorgan will be a customer of ConsenSys, which is offering software support and services to projects deployed on top of Quorum.

Enterprise work being done at the firm will move to the “ConsenSys Quorum” brand, and the firm plans to merge its existing protocol engineering roadmap with Quorum. According to Reuters them firms “declined to disclose financial terms of the relationship, which will remain ongoing.” TheBlock reports that sources previously said JPMorgan was looking to invest $20 million as part of a broader $50 million deal.

Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys, said in a statement:

"We are enormously excited to onboard Quorum into the ConsenSys Enterprise Ethereum stack, and look forward to unifying our Hyperledger Besu-based Enterprise Ethereum client with Quorum, and supporting all of the Quorum installations globally." 

One of the most popular projects on Quorum is JPMorgan’s “JPM Coin,” a tokenized form of cash the megabank created. Other initiatives including Dromaius, a debt issuance platform, and the Interbank Information Network, which has over 200 banks as members.

Austrian Police Investigate Surge in Bitcoin-Seeking Bomb Threats

Authorities in Austria are reportedly investigating a surge in bomb threat extortion attempts that saw various companies receive bitcoin-seeking emails blackmailing them.

The firms reportedly got an ultimatum via email, asking them to pay $20,000 in BTC in 80 hours or risk the detonation of a hidden plastic explosive. The email also included instructions on how to buy bitcoin.

Austria’s Federal Criminal Police has started patrolling Vienna and Tyrol with vehicles but so far found no evidence of any bombs in the regions, and assume the anonymous senders are international.

Bitcoin bomb threats are a “well-known ass phenomenon,” police said, even though there was an uptick in the number of threats.

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