Bitcoin News Roundup for Aug. 17, 2020

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ABOUT

With bitcoin’s hashrate reaching record highs and litecoin hoping to Mimblewimble its way into new users' wallets, CoinDesk's Markets Daily is back with your latest crypto news roundup!

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

Today's stories:

Litecoin Gets Bullish Speculation, at Last, as Upgrade Approaches

"The upcoming privacy upgrade would leave litecoin valuations around all time highs," one industry analyst said.

Bitcoin Price Holds Below $12K Even as Hash Rate Hits All-Time High

Bitcoin's hashrate has soared to record highs, some analysts say it might kick the price out of its rut.

Crypto Long & Short: The Surprisingly Sunny Outlook for Crypto Hedge Funds

Bitcoin returns are beating crypto hedge funds, but other recent developments point to more favorable tailwinds for those funds in the long term.

Ex-Prudential Securities CEO Calls Bitcoin a 'Safe Haven'

George Ball, who claimed himself as a Bitcoin and blockchain opponent, said bitcoin or another cryptocurrency is “very attractive” both in the long term and short term.

HOST

Adam B. Levine

Adam B. Levine joined CoinDesk in 2019 as the editor of its new audio and podcasts division. Previously, Adam founded the long-running Let's Talk Bitcoin! talk show with co-hosts Stephanie Murphy and Andreas M. Antonopoulos.

Finding early success with the show, Adam transformed the podcast's homepage into a full newsdesk and publishing platform, founding the LTB Network in January of 2014 to help broaden the conversation with new and different perspectives. In the Spring of that year, he would go on to launch the first and largest tokenized rewards program for creators and their audience. In what many have called an early influential version of "Steemit"; LTBCOIN, which was awarded to both content creators and members of the audience for participation was distributed until the LTBN was acquired by BTC, Inc. in January of 2017.

With the network launched and growing, in late 2014 Adam turned his attention to the practical challenges of administering the tokenized program and founded Tokenly, Inc. There, he led the development of early tokenized vending machines with Swapbot, tokenized identity solution Tokenpass, e-commerce with TokenMarkets.com and media with Token.fm. Adam owns some BTC, ETH and small positions in a number of other tokens.