Bitcoin’s upcoming halving event is already drawing investors’ attention, as Google search queries for the term have been growing since December 2019. The event will cut block rewards in half, and some believe that a reminder of BTC’s scarcity will trigger a bull run.

Bitcoin Gold, a fork of BTC that uses a different mining algorithm, has been hit with a 51% attack that saw a malicious mining entity conduct two deep blockchain reorganizations to double-spend over $70,000 worth of BTG.

Ukraine’s financial watchdog is planning to start tracking cryptocurrency transactions above $1,200 and is said to have to jave “an analytical product that allows investigations into the origins of crypto-assets and their uses.”

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Google Searches for ‘Bitcoin Halving’ Surge Since Beginning of Year
• Bitcoin Gold Suffers 51% Attack Where $70,000 Worth of BTG Were Double-Spent
• Ukraine Wants to Track Crypto Transactions Above $1,200

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $8,983.68 (4.20%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.46 billion. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $171.01 (2.88%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $572.19 million. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 3,157.57 (0.26%).

Google Searches for ‘Bitcoin Halving’ Surge Since Beginning of Year

Data from Google Trends, compiled by analytics firm Arcane Research, shows that Bitcoin’s halving event is drawing attention, with search queries for it skyrocketing since the end of last year.

Searches for the block reward decrease, according to the data, have already doubled since December and are now getting close to their highest level since the last halving event, seen in 2016. Arcane’s report cites the growing search interest as a positive indicator of public interest. The report reads:

“The bitcoin halving is gaining more traction. There is now a clear indication that awareness of the concept is spreading to new people.”

The firm also pointed out there’s growing demand from institutional investors as both Bakkt and the CME have seen “evidence of growing demand for bitcoin.” Its report also shows market sentiment towards cryptocurrencies is now returning to a point seen as “neutral.”

Using Bitcoin’s Fear & Greed Index, it’s possible to see sentiment has been around neutral levels for the past few days as investors wait for BTC’s next move.

Bitcoin Gold Suffers 51% Attack Where $70,000 Worth of BTG Were Double-Spent

Bitcoin Gold (BTG), a hard fork of Bitcoin that uses the Equihash mining algorithm instead of BTC’s SHA265, has suffered a 51% attack that saw malicious miners double-spend BTG worth over $70,000 after conducting two deep blockchain reorganizations.

In the first blockchain reorganization the malicious mining entity double-spent $19,000 worth of BTC, and in a second one it double-spent $53,000. Bitcoin Gold suffered a 51% attack in the past, at the time seeing the attackers double-spend $18 million worth of BTG. In response, crypto exchange Bittrex asked it to repay for its losses, or face being delisted.

Some believe hashrate marketplace Nicehash could have been used to conduct the attack, as according to tracking websites it’s possible to rent enough hashrate to control 67% of the BTG network via the marketplace, with a 51% attack costing only about $804 per hour.

In comparison, it would cost over $675,000 per hour to attack the BTC network, and it’s possible to rent less than 1% of its total hashrate on marketplaces like Nicehash.

Ukraine Wants to Track Crypto Transactions Above $1,200

Ukraine’s head the Ministry of Finance, Oksana Makarova, has revealed in an interview with a local news outlet that the country’s new strengthened anti-money laundering practices are in accordance with the latest Financial Action Task Force recommendations regarding cryptocurrency transactions.

Ukraine’s anti-money laundering laws now include crypto as an asset to be monitored, with the threshold required to trigger scrutiny being of 30,000 Ukrainian hryvnya (UAH), or around $1,200.

During the interview Makarova said:

“If exchanges, exchangers, banks or other companies make payments in cryptocurrencies worth more than UAH 30,000 in equivalent, they must verify such transaction and collect detailed customer information.”

Customers transacting large amounts will also have to “provide comprehensive information about the origin and destination of their virtual assets.” If transactions seem suspicious, they’ll have to report them to the country’s financial watchdog, the State Financial Monitoring Service (SCFM).

The SCFM is said to have access to “an analytical product that allows investigations into the origins of crypto-assets and their uses.” If the cryptocurrencies are found to have originated from illicit transactions they may be confiscated.

Zcash (ZEC) is the Daily Mover

This week’s Daily Mover featured asset is the privacy-oriented cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC), which is based on the Zerocoin Protocol and brings privacy to the blockchain via zero-knowledge proofs, known as zk-SNARKs.

Just like Bitcoin, Zcash has a fixed 21 million ZEC supply that is to be mined through a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm- Developer Behavior has increased by 2.87% in the past 10 days, causing its FCAS to climb 19 points to 800. User Activity has also moved up 1.86%.

The development spike was likely caused by Zcash making its private transactions accessible on mobile wallets last week. By releasing Software Developer Kits (SDK) for both Android and iOS, Zcash is also encouraging developer to build decentralized applications on its platform. Prior to the release, only transparent transactions were available on Zcash’s mobile wallets.

While competition in the privacy coin niche is rough, Zcash is finding ways to stand out. Since SEZ offers both private and transparent transactions on the blockchain, it may be more attractive to regulators than alternatives like Monero, which masks all transactions.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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