Bitcoin round-up
Cryptocurrency markets drop slightly but remain relatively stable, while plans for bitcoin satellites are made. IBTimes UK

Bitcoin has continued to gradually drop in value, following a trend that began at the beginning of this week. A fall of just over 1% over the last 24 hours has been mirrored by most other major digital currencies.

Only dogecoin has seen its value rise, rebounding slightly by 2% from a recent steady decline that has seen its market capitalisation fall by 20% over the last seven days.


Last-gasp effort to save MtGox


A group of investors led by Jon Holmquist, the founder of Bitcoin Black Friday, is making one final attempt to prevent the planned liquidation of Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange MtGox.

The exchange filed for liquidation earlier this month after plans to rebuild under bankruptcy protection fell through.

Sunlot Holdings, the firm representing the investor group, claims that it is possible to revive the exchange. A decision by court-appointed administrators will be made by 9 May.

Holmquist has said that the bid is being made primarily to restore customer confidence.

"This isn't about Gox," Holmquist said."This is about helping the community get their coins back while also kickstarting a new exchange. We're hoping to make the customers whole. And as part of that, reinstill confidence in the Bitcoin ecosystem."


Bitcoin Satellites


While "To the moon" may be dogecoin's slogan, it looks as though bitcoin may be the first cryptocurrency to get a foothold in space.

bitcoin satellite

Plans to launch satellites that broadcast the bitcoin block chain have been announced by bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik.

"We want to keep bitcoin healthy and free by finding alternative ways to distribute block chain data," Garzik said in a statement. "I believe space holds the promise of our future, and also offers a lot of utility right now."

The joint project between Deep Space Industries and Garzik's Dunvegan Space Systems aims to raise $2 million in funds to launch the satellites - referred to as BitSats - through its donation page.


$500k in unclaimed bitcoin


Almost half a million dollars worth of unclaimed bitcoin is sitting in wallets of Silk Road 2.0 users who were affected by a security breach in February.

The online black market lost around 5,000 bitcoin in a transaction malleability attack but has since managed to repay over half of the victims through the implementation of commissions on purchases.

According to a Silk Road 2.0 moderator, however, 1,000 bitcoin still remains unclaimed by users.

"Most simply did not think that such a large repayment was possible given its amount," Silk Road representative DoctorClu told Vice. "Like so many other hacks/seizures/scams, many could not believe that we would ever be able to give back what was stolen, or that we would even promise such a thing."