The cryptocurrency market never closes, and the industry itself is growing faster than ever. This means there’s more breaking news, and more vital information emerging than ever before. This Week in Crypto is Covesting’s weekly news recap aimed at providing the most complete coverage across the cryptosphere.

Bitcoin Helps Square Become Yahoo Finance’s Company of the Year

Square’s revenues have been growing quarter over quarter, and its stock shares saw a peak increase of 170% in September before the overall market began to decline. Its performance and potential have earned it Yahoo Finance’s Company of the Year.

In November, Square’s market cap surpassed that of Twitter, another company led by CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey hopes that one day Bitcoin will become the “global” internet currency.

Judge Denies Craig Wright’s Request to Dismiss Charges in $4B Lawsuit

A United States South Florida District Court judge denied requests made by Bitcoin SV frontman and nChain chief scientist Dr. Craig Wright to dismiss a $4 billion lawsuit against him. The estate of deceased developer David Kleiman is suing Wright over the alleged theft of 1.1 million BTC.

The latest court documents reveal that the lawsuit is focusing on “at least 300,000 bitcoins,” that Wright is accused of accessing and transferring without authorization. Wright has until January 10, 2019 to respond to the court.

Electrum Wallet Hacker Steals Nearly $1M in One Hour Phishing Scam

The cryptocurrency wallet Electrum was hacked as part of a phishing scheme that resulted in the hackers making off with 250 BTC, or over $900,000 worth of Bitcoin. The hackers created a fake version of the wallet that was used to fool users into providing password information.

The hackers then locked the users out of their accounts and emptied all accessed wallets. Electrum took to Twitter to warn users, but not before the hackers were able to make off with a large portion of crypto.

BitMex CEO Says Ethereum Will Hit $200 When ICO Market Returns

Outspoken BitMex CEO Arthur Hayes is never without a prediction for the crypto market. In his latest prediction, he claims that Ethereum will “rebound aggressively,” and bounce back hard once the ICO market “returns.”

Hayes says the “rebirth” of the ICO market is still 12 to 18 months away. Hayes famously called Ethereum a “double-digit shitcoin” earlier in 2018. Ethereum later fell below $100, bringing it to double-digits as Hayes predicted, after falling from an all-time high of over $1,400.

Bitmain and Huobi Feel the Bear Market, Layoff Staff

Both crypto mining giant Bitmain and crypto exchange Huobi have confirmed rumors that the company would lay off a portion of its staff following an extended cryptocurrency market decline.

Bitmain told the South China Morning Post that the company will be making “some adjustment to our staff this year,” while Huobi said they would “optimize” their workforce. Exact numbers or percentage of staff layoffs have not been revealed.

TRON Reaches 1M User Addresses in Six Months

The number ten cryptocurrency by market cap, TRON, has reportedly surpassed one million user accounts after just six months. Co-founder of the cryptocurrency’s spin-off project IAmDecentralized.org, Misha Lederman revealed the statistic via social media.

By comparison, Ethereum took 18 months after its mainnet launch to reach one million addresses. TRON was able to accomplish this in just one-third of the time, showing that cryptocurrency has come a long way in just a few short years.

Former CIA Agent Claims Blockchain Is Biggest Threat to National Security

Former CIA intelligence officer Andrew Bustamante says that blockchain is “super powerful stuff,” and could be the biggest threat facing the United States’ national security.

When asked on Reddit what represented the biggest threat to America in the coming years, Bustamante responded with “blockchain technology,” adding that it is “super powerful stuff, and the first one to figure out how to hack it, manipulate it or bring it down wins.”