Avalanche (AVAX) price is up, but do fundamentals support the rally?
Avalanche (AVAX) witnessed a meteoric start to 2023, gaining 98% in 30 days, and traders are now curious about whether the rally will extend throughout February. AVAX’s year-to-date gains for 2023 have outpaced those of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
Recent reasons for AVAX’s rally can be attributed to an Amazon partnership announcement on Jan. 11. The partnership is meant to easily deploy nodes on the Avalanche blockchain with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Ava Labs, which supports the Avalanche ecosystem, hopes the partnership increases blockchain usage for enterprises and governments.
While AVAX price has benefited from the news, some analysts predict that the move could have been a bull trap.
Let’s dig into the fundamentals to see if on-chain network activity supports the recent AVAX rally.
AVAX fees from DeFi are up
After the AWS news, AVAX price was not the only metric seeing a quick rise. On Jan. 14, Avalanche network hit a year-to-date high of $31,218 AVAX fees received. The increase in fees compared to the previous 30 days is 59%, signaling that positive price appreciation helped boost the fees that the network received.
While the Avalanche fee base is increasing, it still lags behind top EVM-compatible blockchains like Ethereum, Binance Chain (BNB), Optimism (OP) and Polygon (MATIC). Over the past 30 days, the fees Avalanche has generated rank 9th out of all blockchains.
Notably, layer-2 competitor Polygon earned close to four times the amount of fees compared to Avalanche. Even with the astounding growth thaAvalanche has experienced in 2023, the network will need to substantially increase fees to overtake more blockchains.
Active addresses and users are down
A sign of blockchain health is the number of active addresses, users and transactions. Despite reaching a year-to-date high on Jan. 18 of 1.84 million transactions, Avalanche’s transaction count is trending down.
A similar downtrend is witnessed when looking at active addresses in the Avalanche ecosystem. Active addresses denote transactions taking playing on unique wallets for a given day. After reaching a year-to-date peak of 54,978 active addresses on Jan. 31, only 34,624 active addresses were registered the following day.
The downtrend in Avalanche activity is creating further separation between other blockchains. According to TokenTerminal, Avalanche’s all-time high (ATH) number of daily active users is 131,000, which is dwarfed by Polygon’s ATH of 737,000. Avalanche is now far from its all-time high of daily users, registering only 44,000.
For blockchains to create sustainable fees, there needs to be daily active users participating on the network.
AAVE dominates Avalanche DApps
The active users on Avalanche seem to have a preference for using Aave (AAVE) on the AVAX blockchain. Over 36% of all Avalanche transactions flow through the Aave protocol. Investors have staked over $353 million on Aave’s Avalanche version, far surpassing the second-most popular protocol by verified total locked value (TVL), the Trader Joe decentralized exchange (DEX).
While Aave and Trader Joe are leading the Avalanche blockchain, when looking at DEX activity on other blockchains, they witness far less trading volume. DEX volume directly correlates to the fees that a protocol receives.
Ethereum DEX activity leads the way with over $1.6 billion in daily volume, whereas Avalance only sees around $104 million.
While Avalanche is currently witnessing immense growth from the AWS announcement, the blockchain is still small compared to competitors. The goal of the AWS partnership was to help increase network activity by reducing barriers to entry. Reaching the goal may increase Avalanche adoption but other ecosystems seem to be out to a large and early lead.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Jerome Powell Speech Today, Bitcoin Price Drops, Sell Off Ahead?
Today the crypto market has been leaning towards bearish sentiment ahead of Jerome Powell’s speech. This bearish pull was also affected on Crypto related stocks. The world’s first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has lost its crucial resistance of $23K and is now trading around $22.5K.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin is selling at $22,900 with a fall of 0.21% over the last 24hrs.
Jerome Powell’s comments have always played a significant role in the financial sector, especially cryptocurrencies. However, as per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics the labor market has witnessed a huge growth where January has recorded the lowest unemployment rate.
While the retailers await Powell’s speech, the Coinbase Global ($COIN) stock has plunged by 4.50% which suggests that Crypto market will have a bearish moment ahead. Even MicroStrategy Inc ($MSTR) stock has declined 1%.
Bitcoin Floats Between Bulls And Bears
Meanwhile, when looking at Bitcoin’s technical indicators, it suggests that the flagship currency will have a decreased price action as short-term traders enjoy profits. These short-term traders are currently under profit with Spent Output Profit Ratio, hence it is expected that these traders will soon sell their holdings.
However, analysts are expecting a hawkish approach from Jerome Powell as the unemployment rate has decreased. It’s just last week that the Federal Reserve increased the interest rate by 0.25% after the FOMC’s first meeting of 2023.
What are phygital NFTs, and how do they work?
On top of the community experience, phygital NFTs also help build traceability into a product that is being sold to a customer. The history of the product and its providence can add credibility and commercial value to a physical good.
Community experience is just one big use case of phygital NFTs. Considering nonfungible tokens are authentic and tamper-proof, any person buying phygital NFTs can trace the evolution of the goods they buy right from the person who purchased them first. This helps build authenticity and trust, one of the cornerstones of economic transactions.
Thanks to traceability, phygital NFTs can also help with countering counterfeit products in the market, leading to original goods being sold. Finally, phygital nonfungible tokens create more collaboration and are a means for artists to monetize their skills. For instance, artists can monetize their work on Felt Zine by collaborating with a brand, such as Givenchy, to create branded content for the brand’s advertising and marketing campaigns.
This may entail producing fresh photographs, artwork or other visual materials that highlight the Givenchy brand or products. The artist may be compensated for their work in the form of a fee, royalties or a cut of sales proceeds from any products that incorporate their work. The artist may also gain visibility and acknowledgement for their work, which can strengthen their personal brand and attract new business opportunities for them to profit from their art.
This new technology has unearthed a few ways of collaboration across creators, developers, brands and their consumers using Web3 design fundamentals.
Shiba Inu Holders Are Getting Ready For A Heavy Pump! SHIB Price To Explode Above This Level
Shiba Inu, the meme-inspired cryptocurrency that kicked off with an overwhelming bullish trend at the beginning of the new year, is still bringing bullish waves in the price graph as it makes headlines in the meme community. Despite the crypto market’s recent volatility with sudden price dips, SHIB’s price has managed to hold its momentum in a stable region.
SHIB Price Performs Bullish Despite Low Burn Rate
SHIB’s price is turning heads in the crypto world as it made a 20% surge in the last 24 hours, attracting the attention of retail investors in the market. However, while the recent price surge is building bullish hopes ahead of the Shibarium launch, SHIB’s burn rate needs to be promising enough to hold the upward momentum.
Despite a 20% price surge, Shiba Inu’s burn rate has remained unchanged, suggesting a reduced use-case as a payment tool.
Data aggregator, Shibburn noted that merchants who accept SHIB as payment mode and send it to a burning address are used to generate the burning volume, but this volume has recently formed a dip.
The website stated that the reason behind this drop is caused by decreased network activity or a decline in Shiba Inu’s popularity.
However, the weekly burn rate looks promising as 50 million SHIB tokens were removed from circulation, surging the burn rate by 150%.
Moreover, whale investors continue accumulating a massive amount of SHIB tokens as on-chain analytic firm Santiment noted a spike in SHIB transactions worth over $100K, hinting at an upcoming bullish shift.
Shiba Inu Is Testing The Market’s Patience
Despite concerns regarding Shiba Inu’s burn rate, the meme coin continues to print an impressive journey in the price chart. Moreover, technical indicators hint at a bullish trend continuation if bulls break through the next resistance levels without any hurdle.
As of writing, SHIB’s price trades at $0.00001446 and is currently heading toward its immediate resistance level. Crypto trading expert, MMBtrader, expects a long-term gain for Shiba Inu as it forms a solid ascending pattern.
The analyst predicts that SHIB holders may witness a heavy pump if the meme coin breaks above two major resistance levels at $0.000016 and $0.000021, respectively.
However, Shiba Inu may notice a minor downward correction to its 23.6% Fib level as it hovers near a crucial resistance level at $0.000015.
A bearish trend is expected as both Stoch RSI and RSI-14 trade near the overbought region, and a drop to their neutral territory may slump the meme coin to $0.000013.
Will Ripple’s Win Spark A 10x Surge For XRP? XRP Price May Turn Bullish If Breaks This Consolidation Level
XRP’s price is yet to witness an explosive surge like other dominating altcoins as investors are holding tight to their investment plans with the anticipation of Ripple’s win against the SEC in the lawsuit.
As the XRP investors eagerly await the outcome of the ongoing battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the heated debate over whether XRP will be treated as security continues to put the crypto world under pressure. Market experts believe Ripple’s win may strengthen long-term holders’ bullish goals and push XRP’s price by 10x.
“XRP Is Not A Security” Develops Bullish Hopes!
Controversies regarding whether XRP is a security have become headlines in the XRP community. Moreover, the recent settlement by the SEC against LBRY Inc marks a victory for Ripple Labs as the regulatory body admitted that the LBC token is not a security. Additionally, U.S. Attorney John Deaton relieved investors as he claimed that XRP could not be treated as securities despite selling it as an investment contract.
Moreover, Ripple’s projects on bringing tokenization will significantly benefit XRP’s price as Ripple’s XRP Ledger (XRPL) seeks to tokenize a wide range of digital assets, including stablecoins, NFT tokens, and leading assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Additionally, the adoption rate of tokenization is moving fast and is predicted to touch the $1 trillion mark by 2024, which will bring notable achievements for the XRP community. A recent report from Ripple hinted at the domination of XRPL as it continues to witness increased on-chain activity.
Timeline For XRP’s Bullish Journey
All the eyes of the crypto market are now on the judge’s ruling, whose date is yet to be finalized. The motions for summary judgment were already drafted last year, and XRP’s bullish pump now depends on the judge’s conclusion. It is expected that the lawsuit may come to an end by March 2023, after which XRP may witness some price action.
As of writing, XRP price trades at $0.397, with a decline of 1.72% in the last 24 hours. A prominent analyst, Exactus, predicts that XRP price may break its previous year’s consolidation level if it opens a weekly candle above its resistance zone of $0.415-$0.42, sending its price back to all-time high or above $4.
The analyst noted that the RSI-14 level hovers near a stable region and has more room to continue an upward rally for XRP with ease. Furthermore, the tokenization initiative (XRPL) and Ripple’s win will undoubtedly create a bullish scenario for an exponential uptrend in the XRP price chart.
Traders should be cautious as a bearish reversal is expected if XRP heads below the support zone of $0.38-$0.39, which may dump the token to the bottom level of $0.3. However, this momentum is only possible if Ripple loses the lawsuit, which is unlikely to happen.
‘Multichain future is very clear’ — MetaMask to support all tokens via Snaps
MetaMask Snaps aims to facilitate a “multichain future,” allowing the Ethereum-based wallet service to support non-native blockchains and tokens for the Web3 economy.
Details of the latest in-development addition to MetaMask’s growing ecosystem were unpacked at the StarkWare Sessions event in Tel Aviv, Israel, in Feb. 2023. Speaking to Cointelegraph Magazine editor Andrew Fenton, Alex Jupiter, the senior product manager at MetaMask Snaps, revealed details about potential blockchain synergies.
The last 18 months have seen the development of Snaps speed up after the success of MetaMask Swaps, which brought token swap functionality to the service’s native browser extension. As Jupiter explained, interoperability is becoming increasingly important in the blockchain space:
“MetaMask has historically been an Ethereum wallet. We need to start moving beyond that. The multichain future is very clear.”
Snaps aims to create a permissionless ecosystem where developers can extend MetaMask in any way they want. Jupiter says the team is trying to create an environment where developers can use various application programming interfaces (APIs) from different blockchains to bring additional options to a user’s core wallet experience.
Related: The blue fox: DeFi’s rise and the birth of MetaMask Institutional
MetaMask describes Snaps as a system that allows developers to extend the capabilities of the wallet extension. A snap is a program that runs in an isolated environment that can customize a user’s wallet experience.
The possibilities are extensive, with a snap allowing the addition of new APIs to MetaMask, multi-blockchain protocol support and the ability to modify existing MetaMask functionality using external APIs. According to Jupiter, Snaps should be able to integrate with most blockchain protocols:
“Technically it’s possible for us to incorporate all of them. I’m sure there’s going to be an edge case. We have managed to extend Bitcoin, managed to extend to StarkNet. So it should be possible with any of them.”
As Jupiter explains, MetaMask has already created a Bitcoin (BTC) Snap that allows users to interact with its protocol from the wallet extension. This is a more difficult proposition than integrating Ethereum virtual machine-compatible chains like Polygon, but the end result is a highly-interoperable wallet extension across the broad blockchain-based ecosystem:
“It basically means that you don’t need to go anywhere else and MetaMask can almost be the core of your Web3 experience.”
Improving Web3 functionality is another driving factor in the development of Snaps. Despite onboarding millions of users to Web3 through MetaMask’s tools, Jupiter says that simple actions like signing transactions can still be precarious:
“People have problems in terms of knowing if they’re signing a transaction whether it’s safe.”
Jupiter believes Snaps can address this area, allowing third parties to create transaction insights and potentially warn users of signing dubious transactions with unwanted consequences.
MetaMask Snaps is currently available in the developer version of MetaMask Flask. Jupiter says the aim is to have Snaps integrated with the main MetaMask by the end of 2023.
The $150,000 Undercity Airdrop is Now Live – Who is Eligible and How to Participate?
Undercity has launched an airdrop with $150,000 up for grabs to celebrate the much-awaited $UND presale and the rapidly growing community. Anyone interested can enter the giveaway via Gleam by completing the listed tasks that come with multiple entries. You need to hold at least $150 of $UND at the time of the draw to be eligible for the prize. Undercity is a hybrid gaming metaverse that brings alive the world’s first act-to-earn village.
How to enter the Undercity $150,000 giveaway?
The primary goal of Undercity’s $150,000 airdrop is to build awareness around the project, which is opening a first-of-its-kind village dedicated to gamers, role players, and cosplayers in France.
The 10,000 meter-squares village houses a virtual reality room, atmosphere bar, streaming room, and retro-gaming room, to name just a few. Undercity doesn’t plan on being confined by geographical boundaries, however. It takes the experience to global users by reproducing the village in the metaverse.
Undercity’s grand ambition has resonated with the audience, as revealed by its fast-growing online community. The project aims to reach more users in the coming days through a wide range of marketing initiatives, which include giveaways with compelling prizes.
It is now giving one lucky person $150k worth of UNDERCITY ($UND). You too can stand a chance to win the prize by completing the steps below for multiple entries.
- Enter your Crypto Wallet Address – + 1 Entry
- Join @undercity_chat on Telegram – + 1 Entry
- Tweet @Undercity_off on Twitter – + 5 Entries
- Follow @Undercity_off
- Retweet
- @Undercity_off on Twitter
- Visit @Undercity.officiel on Instagram
- Visit the website undercity
- Share with your friends for 10 extra entries
More entries will strengthen your odds of winning. Since the eligibility to the giveaway comes at no cost but a few seconds of your time and $150 worth of UND, it is not to be missed out on.
The world’s first act-to-earn village is underway
Undercity is building a first-of-its-kind decentralized community with real-world footing and entertainment. The craft site will be just two minutes away from the medieval site of The Bridiers, setting the right ambience for the project. Here is a glimpse of what you can expect on the physical side of the hybrid metaverse in Creuse, France.
- Virtual reality room: A state-of-the-art virtual world where you can lose yourself in your favorite gaming universe with friends, family, or colleagues. You can choose how you want to spend your time here from a long catalog of games and experiences.
- Retro-gaming hall: Love old games? This is the place to be – whether out of curiosity, to see them running, or just to play them and test them. You may also want to participate in the local tournaments and competitions hosted by Undercity based on retro games. Interestingly, the game hall has free access.
- Modern gaming hall: Get free access to cutting-edge consoles like PS5, XBOX SERIES X, and SWITCH.
- Streaming room: Four rooms with live-specific PCs, green screens, and stream decks. The perfect place to interact with your Twitch community.
If you thought Undercity village is just for gaming, you’re wrong. It is a hybrid metaverse dedicated to gamers. Here, you will find everything a gamer dreams of, and more.
- Snack bar: Drink pints and cocktails, meet friends, and sleep on the spot.
- Throw of axes: A perfect stress-breaker after a long week, the Throw of Axe features 6 targets, allowing up to 18 people in each one-hour session. It can be extended to up to 35 people in privatization.
- Massage: A well-being massage can relieve you of the body aches after spending hours in front of the screen.
- Cyberpunk spa and sauna: There are few worries that a Nordic bath doesn’t dissolve.
- Fantasy Manga library: Immerse yourself in the heroic fantasy Manga in the Undercity reading spaces.
In addition to these, Undercity will house a range of modern and spacious teepees that are warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
A passion project from industry pioneers
Undercity is powered by a team of pioneers in real-life entertainment. According to them, playing online is not enough for most gamers. Although gaming is largely based online, powerful communities are built from social interactions in the real world. Undercity taps into this wisdom to build a hybrid metaverse where physical and virtual realities merge.
In addition to a gaming village, it is building a VR role-play shooter metaverse that features modern multiplayer FPS games, weapons, characters, projectiles, shells, explosions, game modes, and more. The demo of the game is now live on the website.
It is also home to the Underverse, which is a unique “open world” in 3D, where the web3 community can meet to build relationships and have unlimited fun.
$UND presale is live!
The presale of $UND, the native token of the Undercity ecosystem, is now live. It will be held in 5 stages with a gradual price hike. $UND’s wide range of utilities in the metaverse and gaming village make it one of the most lucrative crypto investments of this year.
- Entrance fee to Undercity (only once)
- Payment for atypical accommodation rentals (long and short term)
- Payment for premium games and in-app purchases
- Payment in shops, restaurants, and bars in the Undercity village
- Privatization of the place
- Rental of 24-hour hosting servers, game servers, and gaming setups
- Organize events or host subscriber meetings
- Reward creators, actors, and developers of Undercity
Moreover, you get a 5% discount on the price if you pay for Undercity activities with $UND tokens.
Early presale participants can bag high returns on the $UND public launch if the project unfolds as envisioned by the team. The long-term returns of the presale investment also looks bright, as Undercity has multiple project development milestones scheduled throughout this year.
Jim Cramer’s Bearish Market Prediction Invites Skepticism and Mockery
Numerous analysts have predicted a recession. According to Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the U.S. and the rest of the world’s economies are most likely to experience a recession by the middle of next year. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the owner of Twitter, has issued a recession warning as well; he believes that if the US Federal Reserve raises interest rates again, the recession would worsen.
Moreover, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that 2023 will be “tougher” than last year as the US, EU, and Chinese economies struggle.
However, despite these ominous predictions, the beginning of 2023 appeared promising. Bitcoin began the year on a high note, rising 28% since the beginning of January. However, as February approaches, the scenario becomes grim yet again.
Jim Cramer’s prediction
Jim Cramer, the host of the financial TV show “Mad Money,” believes the market has entered a bull market and that investors should consider investing. In a recent tweet, Cramer has explained that the market is likely to turn negative and it seems like the Fed will tighten and create a recession no matter what.
Jim Crammer is renowned for consistently being bearish on the markets and has frequently spoken against cryptocurrency. The crypto business may experience another downturn in light of Cramer’s earlier remarks. Over the previous few years, he has made a lot of forecasts, many of which have turned out to be wrong.
In September 2021, he advised investors to sell their BTC holdings. Then, two months later, the asset reached its ATH of about $70,000. In January of last year, he said that because the market correction might be finished, people should join the ecosystem. 2022, on the other hand, was disastrous for the cryptocurrency industry and Bitcoin.
The Inverse Jim Cramer Strategy?
Jim Cramer frequently makes incorrect market predictions. There are several causes for this. His method of conducting market analysis has drawn criticism for relying more on anecdotal evidence than on in-depth economic and data analysis. There isn’t a systematic strategy taken, hence, forecasts may not be supported by data and are less reliable.
As he constantly makes erroneous predictions, the crypto community has made him out to be the laughing stock and interprets what he says as the reverse of what is actually true. Following his latest projection, the community interpreted his prediction as a signal to go long and bullish. Others have urged him to refrain from making any more inaccurate forecasts.
What do you think about Jim Cramer’s recent prediction? Should it be given any importance or should it be taken with a grain of salt like the rest of his predictions? The global crypto market cap is $1.07T and Bitcoin is currently trading at $22,980.38.
BabyDoge Is The Next Fav Coin To Buy For The Next Bull Run
The crypto market is currently hovering between bulls and bears. A few crypto like Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Solana have slightly gained while a few others like XRP, Cardano, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu have dropped in the last 24hrs. When looking at dog-themed altcoins, Baby Doge Coin created by Doge meme lovers has outperformed Shib Inu and Dogecoin.
Currently, Baby Doge Coin is trading at $0.000000003202 with a surge of 10.34% over the last 24hrs.
BabyDoge Outperforms SHIB And DOGE
As of Feb 5, the Baby Doge Coin was among the top gainers in terms of dog-themed cryptocurrencies after its price spiked nearly 60%. In the last seven days the Baby Doge Coin has gained 102% outcasting its competitors Shiba Inu and Dogecoin.
Meanwhile, a recent Twitter poll has claimed that Baby Doge Coin is the next dog coin to buy, leaving behind Shiba Inu and Floki. As per the poll that concluded on Feb 4, had nearly 35,000 votes, and BabyDoge was the winner with 44% votes. SHIB, FLOKI and Dogecoin gained 25%, 20% and 12% respectively.
The same result was also shared by the BabyDoge team showing gratitude to the crypto community and Cointelegraph.
However, these poll results are not the final one as the votes keep varying. For example, in the previous poll conducted by the same news portal, Floki Inu had ranked 1st with 34% of the votes.
On the other hand, the BabyDoge has already burnt 202 quadrillion tokens from a total supply of 420 quadrillion. Also recently, Baby Doge Coin’s decentralized exchange, Baby Doge Swap was successfully integrated into OKX exchange.
Nevertheless, it’s always important to do your own research before investing in any of the cryptocurrencies.
Lido plans to level up ahead of Ethereum Shanghai hard fork upgrade
Liquid staking protocol Lido is set to roll out staking reward withdrawals and improved staking architecture with the announcement of the upcoming Lido V2 upgrade.
Two major focal points of the planned upgrade include Lido’s introduction of its new Staking Router and the enabling of withdrawals for Ethereum (ETH) stakers.
The Staking Router introduces a modular architectural design allowing the development of on-ramps for new node operators, including solo stakers, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and distributed validator technology clusters. The latter is a protocol that allows validator duties to be shared across multiple nodes.
The Staking Router is envisaged to allow Lido to become an extensible protocol due to its modular design. Validator modules will be treated as sets of validator pools that can act as supply for the protocol. Modules will manage an internal operator registry, store validator keys and allocate stake and rewards between its operators.
The enabling of liquid staking rewards withdrawals allows stETH holders to withdraw funds from Lido at a 1:1 ratio in ETH. An overview of the upgrade shared with Cointelegraph notes that the withdrawals feature also mitigates risks in the secondary market, which is provisionally set for activation after Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade.
Related: Lido overtakes MakerDAO and now has the highest TVL in DeFi
Users looking to withdraw ETH will have to follow a proposed request and claim process. A request will require users to lock stETH to start the withdrawal. The protocol sources ETH to fulfill the request, locks the ETH and burns the locked stETH and then marks the request as claimable for the user to retrieve to their ETH.
A short timeline outlines development milestones through February to April 2023, where code will be tested on the Goerli Testnet before a withdrawal credential rotation ceremony and the upgrade itself are set take place.
The withdrawal credential rotation is necessary due to a discrepancy between Lido protocol validators using BLS-based 0x00 signatures and those using newer smart-contract based 0x01 signatures.
Lido intends to rotate the credentials to smart contract-based through a DAO ceremony, where participants will sign a rotation message that will then be broadcast to the consensus layer network.
As previously reported, Ethereum’s upcoming Shanghai upgrade has seen Lido Finance lead the charge as the largest Decentralized Finance protocol, with over $8 billion of value staked on its platform going into 2023.
The Crypto Bull Run May Not Prevail this Month as in January- Will the Bears Take Back the Control?
The post The Crypto Bull Run May Not Prevail this Month as in January- Will the Bears Take Back the Control? appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
It is pretty difficult to predict the short-term behaviour of the crypto prices within an uncertain environment. Just last month, the market was extremely bullish as the prices jumped steadily. However, the trend may not remain the same this month as the bears or the forces driving the prices lower may regain dominance and reverse the upward trend. However, the small and the mid-cap altcoins have displayed notable strength which suggests the flow of liquidity within the markets.
Data from Santiment suggests the trader’s sentiments have flipped slightly from being extremely bullish to slightly bearish. The flipped sentiments may have restricted the crypto markets to testing the next higher targets. Hence the price of the top cryptos is believed to remain consolidated while the small to mid-cap altcoins may swell their market capitalization in the coming days.
“February hasn’t seen a repeat of excitement for Bitcoin or Ethereum like we saw in January. But altcoins like HEX(+64%), TMG(+7-%), and GRT(+66%) have had other plans this past week. Be cautious, though, when money is cycling into mid-small caps without top cap rising,”
The crypto markets have become highly volatile being practically not possible to predict its upcoming trend. Some of the altcoins such as Litecoin, Aptos, Shiba INU, and XRP are receiving more attention at the moment. Therefore, a notable rally may kick in if the BTC price continues to maintain about $22,800 until the day close.
Ava Labs CEO shares key difference
Emin Gün Sirer, creator of the Avalanche Consensus protocol and Ava Labs CEO, believes that there is one very straightforward method to spot a long-standing cryptocurrency project.
On Feb. 7 Sirer discussed blockchain venture capital and crypto regulation in a fireside chat with MarketAcross chief operations officer Itai Elizur at the Web3 builder-focused event, Building Blocks 23.
During the discussion, the Avalanche founder pointed out the crucial role of “staying power” in the crypto industry, condemning players that run from one project to another or jump into “every single new coin offering” in the hopes that they will go up. According to Sirer, the desire to reap quick profits from crypto will only turn the space into a terrible thing, and VCs are not to blame.
“I will tell you who’s to blame; it’s us,” Sirer declared, urging the community to support solid crypto initiatives and avoid scammy projects with a short life span. He then shared his “very simple test” of how to spot long-standing projects in crypto and stay away from those who make grand promises and then disappear.
“So look at the team behind any project, look at their staying power,” Ava Labs CEO said, adding that the regulating jurisdiction of a cryptocurrency firm provides one of the most important hints about its long-term capabilities. He stated:
“If a project is headquartered outside the United States, you know that it’s some kind of a Cayman Bahamas et cetera, some kind of a tax haven, or Austin, Texas et cetera, they are there to sell points and disappear. They have no staying power.”
Crypto firms headquartered in the Silicon Valley are likely to do “pure tech play,” Sirer argued. “They will do the one tech trick pony then they will disappear,” he noted.
Ava Labs CEO went on to say that long-lasting crypto projects are more likely to be headquartered in New York, “where the assets are” and that are integrated with financial institutions. “That’s where we need to go,” Sirer stated, stressing that there are some people who devote their lives and careers to make things work in crypto. “VCs, of course, love the short lifespan projects,” he added.
Related: New York Assembly introduces crypto payments bill for fines, taxes
Additionally, Sirer emphasized the importance of always growing the space, even during a bear market. “In fact, I happen to like bear markets more. It’s much more fun to be building when everyone is more rational,” the executive stated.
The latest remarks by Sirer add some new ideas about the executive’s view of the cryptocurrency market. In 2020, Sirer argued that more than 95% of cryptocurrencies were nothing but scams. He also criticized use cases of new crypto initiatives, stating that Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to offer a peer-to-peer online payment method.
Alameda-Linked Address Withdraws $2 Million in FTT – What’s In Store Crypto Market?
After a whopping $13 million worth of assets was transferred to the consolidation wallet of Alameda Research, a new development suggests that there was a $2 million withdrawal by an Alameda-linked address labeled “brokenfish.eth”.
In one of the most recent updates from the crypto analytics platform, Arkham Intelligence, the money was taken out of BentoBox, a smart contract serving as the hub of the entire Sushi ecosystem, by the brokenfish.eth address. FTT, the FTX exchange’s native token, accounted for the majority of the withdrawal amounts.
Alameda and Sushiswap have a long relationship that began in 2020, when Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) assumed control of the decentralized exchange protocol after its chief developer, Chef Nomi, pulled the community under his sleeve.
Apart from the $12 million, Bitfinex sent cryptocurrency to Alameda Research valued roughly $8.5 million, according to PeckShield. It was also reported that the FTX’s sister company received 1.545 ETH (about $2.5 million), 6 million USDT (or $6 million), and 4.6 million USDC. 6 million USDT and 1,545 ETH were sent from Bitfinex out of these assets.
The transfer is currently unknown, however, it takes place barely one day after the founder of FTX and Alameda Research Sam Bankman-Fried was given a temporary communication ban by both companies.
On November 11, Alameda filed for bankruptcy. Since then, several deposits from numerous addresses have resulted in the accumulation of almost $183 million in other altcoins, including $54 million in BitDAO tokens, as well as more than $26 million in ETH in the consolidation wallet.
Nevertheless, the sum recovered might be higher given that liquidator are said to have lost over $11.5 million since gaining possession of Alameda’s trading accounts, some of which were avoidable, according to a study by crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.
Flasko (FLSK) Steady Rise Continues; ImmutableX (IMX) and Chain (XCN) Struggle To Keep Investors
Every cryptocurrency trader and investor would agree that 2022 was filled with many uncertainties. Many cryptocurrencies crashed, and some, like ImmutableX (IMX) and Chain (XCN) tokens, are still experiencing the effects. But, market analysts predict a market reversal in the short term.
A lesson learned from the 2022 crypto market is that weak tokens will surely fail, but a token with solid fundamentals will stand the test of time. One such token is Flasko which continues to rise steadily even as the greater crypto market experiences a downturn.
Chain (XCN): Steep Decline Recorded In Recent Months
Chain (XCN) token cryptocurrency allows a connected and smarter economy for crypto enthusiasts. Also, it creates a basis for businesses and organizations to participate in the Web3 economy. Currently, the Chain (XCN) token has a price of $0.013 and a circulating supply of 21.4 billion. It has a market cap of $284 million that allows it to rank as the #100 cryptocurrency.
Over the past day, the Chain (XCN) token lost 15.6% of its total value, a continuation of the 42.3% loss over the past week. Chain (XCN) token has been declining over the past 30 days, and analysts predict this might continue in the coming months. A look at alternatives like Flasko would provide huge gains for investors.
ImmutableX (IMX) Token Declines Even With Recent Nft Success
Over the recent months, ImmutableX (IMX) achieved some success with GameStop, a large gaming company that built its NFT marketplace with the IMX token. Crypto analysts and enthusiasts expected a turnaround of events with this development. But, ImmutableX (IMX) couldn’t bring about a price reversal as the price continued to decline.
At the time of writing, ImmutableX (IMX) has a price of $0.40 after a 2.3% price decrease over the past day. A further look at the seven and 30 days shows ImmutableX (IMX) lost 11.9% and 8.4%, respectively. Analysts predict that the price decline will continue and expect investors to search for alternatives like Flasko for profits.
Flasko (FLSK) Price Continues Rising Amidst Presales
Flasko will create a platform that will meet the need of cryptocurrency investors to invest in an industry that steadily appreciates over time. Investors would invest in NFTs tied to expensive and rare champagnes, wines, and whiskeys, either fractional or full. When investors invest in a complete NFT, they will have their assets delivered to the location of their choice.
Also, Flasko will partner with luxurious beverage brands to bring these products to the market, with offers to allow investors to get first access and discounts on products. As Flasko price keeps rising, investors in ImmutableX (IMX) and Chain (XCN) are currently in a rush to partake in its presale because of its unique value proposition. Flask is currently on stage two of its presale and has a price of only $0.185, and with its potential, analysts predict that Flasko value will likely increase by 3,000% before the presale ends.
For the security of investors, Flasko has passed its audit from Solid Proof and will lock its liquidity for 33 years, making the project safe for investors. Market analysts believe that Flasko might very well be a blue-chip cryptocurrency. In any case, Flasko has high growth potential.
As every experienced investor knows, an early investment in solid projects like Flasko is a good way to make huge gains. We highly recommend that you check out Flasko with the links below.
Website | Presale | Telegram | Twitter
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Bitcoin sees golden cross which last hit 2 months before all-time high
Bitcoin (BTC) lingered near $23,000 on Feb. 7 as a key chart phenomenon hit for the first time in 18 months.
Battle of the Bitcoin crosses begins
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD tracking sideways overnight, having shunned volatility at the week’s first Wall Street open.
While failing to flip $23,000 to support, the pair nonetheless saw a potentially significant event on Feb. 6 in the form of a “golden cross” on the daily chart.
This refers to the rising 50-period moving average crossing over the 200-period moving average. The last time that this occurred on daily timeframes was in September 2021 — two months before Bitcoin’s latest all-time high.
Some crypto analysts have keenly watched the cross, with Venturefounder, a contributor to on-chain data platform CryptoQuant, arguing that $25,000 could reappear as a result.
“Bitcoin goldencross just happened!” he summarized in a Twitter reaction.
“This potential correction could see BTC retest $20k (200DMA and key support), then in the bullish case, test $25k next. Make $25k support and it’s nail in the coffin for the bears.”
The picture remained complicated on the day thanks to an upcoming “countercross” on weekly timeframes, where the 50-period moving average remained on course to drop below the 200-period one — a phenomenon known as a “death cross” for its conversely detrimental impact on BTC price action.
For on-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators, it remained uncertain whether the golden cross alone could propel BTC/USD higher.
“Whether it’s enough to get a legit test of the $25k range remains to be seen,” it wrote in part of a commentary on the Binance order book.
An accompanying chart showed major resistance in the form of ask liquidity stacked at $23,500 — the first major hurdle for bulls to overcome in the event of a move higher.
Powell speech “only key factor” of macro week
Another factor on the radar for Feb. 7 came from comments from the United States Federal Reserve.
Related: Is BTC price about to retest $20K? 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week
Ahead of next week’s macroeconomic data prints, multiple Fed officials were set to speak, with Chair Jerome Powell’s words expected to be the most significant regarding market-moving potential.
“Nothing special this week, the only key factor to watch is Powell tomorrow afternoon. Perhaps one more sweep for correction and then the party should continue rallying upwards,“ part of a Twitter analysis by Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe stated on Feb. 6.
Van de Poppe added that “buy the dip” might be an appropriate option on altcoins in the meantime, as Material Indicators noted was already the case with Bitcoin whales.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Bitcoin takes ‘lion’s share’ as institutional inflows hit 7-month high
Bitcoin (BTC) rebounding 40% in January sparked the largest inflows of institutional cash since June 2022, data shows.
In its “Digital Asset Fund Flows” Weekly” report on Jan. 30, digital asset investment and trading group CoinShares confirmed $117 million headed into crypto in the last week of the month.
Institutions “not sold” on post-merge Ethereum
Bitcoin is still on the radar as an institutional investment opportunity.
As demonstrated by CoinShares’ latest data, it took a matter of weeks of BTC price action recouping prior losses to spark a major turnaround in investment habits — and not just in the United States.
“Last week’s US bears seem to have changed their mind with US$117m inflows, including US$26m from the United States,” CoinShares wrote in a Twitter thread accompanying the report.
“This is 3x the amount from last week. Total AuM had risen to US$28bn, up 43% from their November 2022 lows.”
Germany was the surprise leader, responsible for 40% of the week’s tally, followed by Canada.
Despite altcoins rallying in line with Bitcoin, however, institutions appear mainly interested in BTC when it comes to cash.
In the words of CoinShares, “the focus was almost entirely on Bitcoin,” a fact not lost on market participants eyeing a potential shift in preferences away from the Ethereum-centric DeFi arena.
“This is evidence that institutional money isn’t sold on the Ethereum thesis,” popular Twitter account Pillage Capital argued.
The numbers likewise belied testing times for certain altcoins, with CoinShares singling out Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Stellar (XLM) and Uniswap (UNI). Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Polygon (MATIC) nonetheless saw net inflows.
“Multi-asset investment products saw outflows for the 9th consecutive week totaling US$6.4m, suggesting investors are preferring select investments,” it commented.
GBTC sinks towards new record discount
After staging a marked comeback of it own, meanwhile, the largest Bitcoin institutional investment vehicle seems to be running out of steam once more.
Related: Bitcoin sees golden cross which last hit 2 months before all-time high
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) traded at a 43% discount to Bitcoin spot price on Feb. 7, having recovered to 36.2% in mid-January.
As Cointelegraph continues to report, Grayscale currently finds itself caught up in difficulties impacting parent company Digital Currency Group following the disintegration of FTX in November.
Even before that, however, GBTC was struggling, as Grayscale attempts to force U.S. regulators to allow it to convert it to the country’s first Bitcoin spot price exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Fetch.ai (FET) Price Massive Surge Attracts More Whales to the AI Crypto
Fetch.ai (FET), a blockchain AI crypto token based on Binance, has seen its value increase by 250% over the last thirty days. This increase is in accordance with the bubble that began in the cryptocurrency market the previous month, which has attracted whales to the cryptocurrency.
Whales Stacking Fetch.ai
At press time, FET is worth $0.56, having gone up by 31% in the past twenty-four hours and 107.5% in the past seven days. Currently, whales are in control, and they are buying and selling Fetch.ai (FET) like crazy, making it one of the most frequently traded smart contracts among the top 100 ETH whales.
One of the top five cryptocurrencies that big wallet holders are interested in buying and stockpiling for the long term is FET, according to data compiled by WhaleStats, a prominent whale activity tracker.
A large number of whales have been amassing over the last twenty-four hours, which sometimes precedes a price gain for the cryptocurrency due to a big event or the appearance of positive technical indicators.
The recent price increase in FET is not unexpected. This singular achievement has helped propel the present mood in the cryptocurrency market, and it compliments the fact that digital money is recognized to have significant volatility that is typically favorably biased.
The rising profile of Fetch.ai’s ecosystem is also a factor in the current bullish mood. The project recognizes the need to inform its user base about the protocol’s advantages; hence it has been allocating resources to that end. The protocol aims to increase familiarity with its technology and the goods it offers by hosting a series of Ask Me Anything (AMA) threads and Twitter Spaces chats with its key specialists.
Through the use of autonomous AI to carry out operations that make use of its global network of data, the platform aims to democratize access to AI technology by providing a permissionless network to which anyone may join and have access to protected datasets. So far, the protocol’s planned enhancements have allowed it to fulfill its promise. But will it continue to spike? Only time will tell.
Can Bitcoin’s Price Skyrocket with Increased On-Chain Activity? Here’s A Closer Look
Bitcoin price enjoyed a decent rally in January after posting a choppy 2022 following high-profile collapses including Terra Luna UST and FTX crypto exchange. Having rejected $24k for the past five days, the Bitcoin price exchanged around $23k on Tuesday. However, the largest gains have been recorded in the small caps altcoins like Baby Doge Coin, which mostly signifies the end of a cycle.
Furthermore, money circulation in the crypto market is observed to move from large caps to small caps later. As such, on-chain intelligence firm Santiment has warned crypto traders to take extra caution with bear traps in the coming weeks.
Bitcoin On-Chain Spike Amid Price Correction
Ever since the Bitcoin Taproot was upgraded, the overall network’s security has increased exponentially with each successfully mined block. Moreover, Bitcoin miners overwhelmingly backed the Taproot upgrade, which has in turn seen block utilization spike to 100 percent according to on-chain analysts.
As Bitcoin nodes and miners increase around the world, the Taproot upgrade was designed to be more useful in identity masking in a regulated manner over time.
“Since taproot script spends can only be made from existing taproot outputs, inscriptions are made using a two-phase commit/reveal procedure,” an ordinals inscription notes.
According to research by on-chain research firm Glassnode, the Taproot adoption metric has risen to an ATH 7.47 per cent and Taproot Utilization to 2.84 per cent.
With a notable spike in on-chain activity, analysts are arguing if the underlying Bitcoin value will rally to $30k in the near future.
Ex-Coinbase Exec Takes on SEC in Epic Battle Over Insider Trading Charges!
Ishan Wahi, a former Coinbase product manager, has filed to dismiss the insider trading accusations against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Ishan and his brother, Nikhil Wahi, have been accused of profiting $1,1 million by insider trading of tokens in forthcoming Coinbase listings. In a motion filed on February 6, 2023, in the Western District of Washington, Wahi’s lawyers argued that the cryptocurrencies traded by the brothers did not fit the definition of security.
The lawyers explained that the tokens were utility tokens with a primary use on a platform rather than as an investment product and that the developers of the tokens had no obligations to buyers on secondary markets.
SEC v. The Wahi Brothers
The SEC has charged the Wahi brothers and their associate, Sameer Ramani, with insider trading for allegedly purchasing at least 25 cryptocurrencies before their listing on Coinbase and selling them for a profit shortly after the listing.
However, the lawyers representing the Wahi brothers have criticized the SEC for attempting to regulate the cryptocurrency industry through enforcement action without clear congressional authorization.
In addition to the SEC charges, the Wahi brothers and Ramani also faced charges of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. While Nikhil Wahi pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 10 months in prison in January 2023, Ishan Wahi has pleaded not guilty and Ramani remains at large.
The motion to dismiss the charges was signed by ten attorneys from five different law firms. The outcome of the motion will determine the continuation of the case, which is being overseen by District Judge Tana Lin.
The Story Uncovered
In August 2022, Ishan and Nikhil Wahi were charged with insider trading, which included wire fraud conspiracy and making $1.1 million through illegal trades in 25 different cryptocurrencies. The brothers allegedly used confidential information from Coinbase to make illegal trades.
Ishan was part of the team responsible for listing assets on Coinbase’s exchanges and had access to advanced knowledge of which assets would be listed and when. They face a maximum sentence of 20 years each.
Their friend, Sameer Ramani, was also charged but remains at large. Coinbase publicly condemned the actions and stated that anyone who leaked confidential information would be terminated and referred to authorities.
Shiba Inu Bulls Awaken: TVL Reaches $36.72 Million In Two Years
The Shiba Inu (SHIB) movement has grown to become a full-blown ecosystem with the potential of disrupting the Dogecoin network as the top meme coin. The Shibaswap.com ecosystem continues to attract more on-chain activity with the total value locked rising exponentially with time.
However, the Shiba Inu bears are tenaciously hunting for unsuspecting bullish traders, having dropped 3.6 percent in the past 24 hours. Nonetheless, the mention of the Shibarium layer 2 network, expected to be launched soon, quickly rejuvenates the community’s bullish sentiment. Furthermore, the Shiba Inu layer 1 network could easily scale with layer 2 as observed with Ethereum and Polygon (MATIC).
According to market data provided by Defillama, the Total Value Locked (TVL) – a crucial measure of blockchains liquidity – of Shibaswap, an ecosystem that encompasses SHIB, LEASH, and BONE, has grown to $36.72 million in less than two years.
Shiba Inu: Price Outlook & Performance Evaluation
Shiba Inu price has been on a rising channel since the calendar flipped in January. However, as it is with most of the crypto assets, the bullish thesis has declined in the past few days. A continued price correction could see Shiba Inu drop below the 50 percent Fibonacci retracement level, and perhaps cause a panic sell pressure.
Furthermore, Shiba Inu is popularly known for its speculative aspect, after posting a rally of over 171,000 X from its ATL to ATH.
Notably, while most crypto tokens are down over 40 percent in the past year, Shiba Inu’s BONE has gained approximately 150 percent during the same period.
While the two have a high-level correlation, an increase in BONE value could rally the underlying Shiba Inu price.
These Altcoins Are Getting a Lot of Attention-Will They Outperform the Bitcoin Price Rally?
Altcoins are yet again displaying enough momentum, much required to stand strong during the times when Bitcoin prices are trembling down. While most of the assets experienced a notable pullback in the last few days, some of them maintained their strength and continued to consolidate within narrow regions. The altcoins like Aptos, Litecoin, and Shiba INU, along with XRP and BinanceCoin have swelled their volume massively.
Ripple(XRP)
The XRP price has been showing stability in its price, even when the market is fluctuating. It has not been significantly impacted by the recent price increase in Bitcoin. Currently, XRP’s price has dropped below a crucial $0.4 resistance level due to negative market sentiment, but the increase in trading volume by over 8% signals that the price may bounce back soon.
Aptos (APT)
The Aptos price has been bullish since the beginning of the 2023 trade but has fallen into a deep bearish trend in the past few days. However, the bulls have managed to hold the levels above the important levels at $15 which may further offer a base to light up. Woefully, the trading volume has dropped compared to the previous day’s trade but the price is surging which may attract liquidity.
Aptos has had a positive price trend since early 2023, but it has gone down in recent days.
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin rose out of the blues and marked yearly highs beyond $100 in the past few hours. While the bears are attempting to drag the prices lower, the accumulated bullish volume has offered a strong base for the bulls to prevent further loss.
In the meantime, the buying pressure continues to accumulate which may uplift the price beyond the bearish trap. Presently, the bulls are gaining dominance which may lead to a breach beyond $100 in the next few hours. Following the bullish pattern, the price may maintain a notable upswing ahead.
Shiba INU (SHIB)
Shiba Inu has gained immense attention in recent times by exploding by 25% during the past weekend. Presently, the bears appear to have extracted a large share of their profit due to which the SHIB prices have slid down heavily. Currently, they are holding around the crucial support zone that may compel the price to consolidate for a while, followed by a significant upswing in the future.
John Deaton To File A Motion For Amicus In Ripple vs Zakinov Cas
The Ripple vs SEC is not the only case that the payment company is fighting against. The lead complainant in Zakinov vs Ripple Labs lawsuit filed a class action lawsuit in the early days of February. Vladi Zakinov, the lead plaintiff in the case has demanded to release the documents that consist of communication details between Ripple and SEC from January 2015. These documents consist of all the previous settlement details in the form of texts, email, Slack or other instant messages. Vladi also claims that Ripple has sold XRP as an unregistered security.
However, Ripple has opposed the lawsuit, refusing to release the documents. Further claims that the complainant has also demanded redaction of preliminary and other unsuccessful settlement discussion with SEC.
John Deaton Stands Against Allegations In Ripple vs Zakinov Case
Now, John Deaton, who is an attorney and Amicus in the Ripple vs SEC case, is trying to push back the allegations made in the Zakinov vs Ripple case. Deaton has come up with a motion to file an amicus brief in Zakinov vs Ripple case.
The class includes all the XRP holders along with XRP sales consisting of secondary and international sales in the countries where XRP is referred as unregistered security.
As per Deaton arguments, the court should not validate all XRP holders as only a few of them believe that XRP is an unregistered security, but most of them still believe that XRP should be regulated. Hence, Deaton states that a small number of complainants cannot decide XRP as an unregistered security. The same is the stance by Ripple investor, Jeffrey Miller.
However, the final statement on whether XRP is a security or not will be decided once the court passes its final judgment.
Digital Currency Group Sells Grayscale Shares to Raise Funds Amid Financial Difficulties
Digital Currency Group (DCG), a crypto conglomerate backed by SoftBank, is selling shares in several of its investment vehicles run by subsidiary Grayscale. The move is a response to the financial difficulties the company is facing as it attempts to raise funds to pay back creditors of its bankrupt lending arm, Genesis. Connecticut-based DCG, which was founded in 2015, is one of the largest and oldest investors in cryptocurrencies and is backed by investors including SoftBank, CapitalG, and GIC.
Grayscale a Key Source of Income for DCG
Grayscale, which is DCG’s asset management business, is a crucial source of income for the company, earning hundreds of millions of dollars each year in fees for managing pools of cryptocurrencies in funds that can be purchased by investors.
Despite the shares in one of the largest trusts trading at a significant discount to the underlying value of cryptocurrencies, DCG is selling stakes to raise money after the lending units of Genesis filed for bankruptcy in January.
The company has been trying to repay over $3bn to its creditors and is also looking to sell CoinDesk, its trade news site, as well as some of its $500mn venture portfolio. In recent share sales, DCG has focused on its Ethereum Fund, selling around 25% of its stock to raise as much as $22mn since January 24. The shares are being sold at $8 each, despite each share representing $16 of ether.
Grayscale Management Fees a Significant Income Source
Grayscale’s 2.5% management fee on the 3 million ether in the trust equates to $209mn annually, while its flagship Bitcoin Trust, which holds 3% of all Bitcoin, worth $14.7bn, earned $303mn in fees in the first nine months of 2022. DCG has also started selling down smaller blocks of shares in its Litecoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Classic Trust, and Digital Large Cap Fund.
In a nutshell
In conclusion, Digital Currency Group (DCG) is experiencing financial difficulties and is selling shares in some of its investment vehicles managed by its subsidiary Grayscale. This is a response to these difficulties and a move to raise funds to repay creditors of its bankrupt lending arm, Genesis.
Grayscale has been a significant source of income for DCG, generating millions of dollars in management fees each year. The company is also considering the sale of CoinDesk and some of its venture portfolio. DCG has recently been selling shares in the Ethereum Fund and gradually reducing its stake in other trusts and funds.
Bitcoin to Rebound Soon-BTC Price May Rise By More than 150% in Q2 2023!
The crypto markets continue to trade under the bearish influence as the Bitcoin price remains consolidated below $23,000. The consolidation is expected to prevail for some more time which could spark a notable rally in the coming days. However, the current trade setup displays a higher probability of drowning in a deep bearish sea.
But the bulls who appear to be passive presently, are accumulating strength to jump hard in the coming days.
Bitcoin nowadays is following the pattern it followed in the past few years. Considering the previous behavior, it is quite evident that the BTC price may soon trigger a massive upswing and ironically appears to be due for a gigantic spike of more than 100% in the coming months. However, the BTC price may continue to consolidate throughout Q1 2023
Therefore, one of the well-known analysts hopes that Bitcoin price may undergo a similar upswing of more than 150% that it did in April 2019.
The analyst compares the consolidation and breakout to that of the 2019 rally and found that the BTC price is mirroring the previous rally. If everything is set in place, the price may rise by more than 150% in Q2 2022 to mark new highs above $50,000.
However, a Bitcoin (BTC) impulse bar has been located between $22942 to $22970 and a successful breach beyond these levels may ignite a notable bullish trend soon. Meanwhile, the bears are also waiting to extract their profits at a higher rate which may hinder the progress of the rally, compelling the price to witness a massive drop in the later days of 2023.
Ethereum, Binance And Orbeon Protocol
The best crypto investors are always on the lookout for the next big investment to balance their portfolios. This includes getting a bargain on classic investments like Ethereum (ETH) and Binance (BNB) while generating greater returns with presales like Orbeon Protocol (ORBN). As the crypto market starts to bounce back, these three investments are being considered the best to buy in February.
Ethereum Builds Investor Confidence After 30% Price Rise
Ethereum (ETH) is the second largest cryptocurrency in the world by market cap and is seen as a stable investment compared to many alternatives. Its native token, Ether (ETH), reached an all-time high of $4,878.26 in 2021. However, its value crashed in 2022, pushing its value below $1500.
The Ethereum blockchain has been used to build hundreds of DeFi projects, including NFT projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). In fact, as of January 2023 it’s predicted that 76% of all trading volume in the NFT market uses the Ethereum blockchain.
Despite its popularity, Ethereum (ETH) has been criticized for its high fees and long transaction times, which are sometimes used to create gas wars. This is the process in which a group of investors drive up the price of an NFT collection during its initial sale to price out everyday investors.
From the start of January, the value of Ethereum (ETH) increased by 31.24%, with one ETH currently selling for $1,571.98. Due to Ethereum’s importance throughout the DeFi industry, many investors are confident its value will increase both throughout 2023 and in the future.
Binance Coin Sees Late January Price Increase
Binance Coin (BNB) is the native token of Binance, the world’s number one cryptocurrency exchange. It’s used for trading fees and initially offered holders trading discounts, though these are no longer available.
Binance Coin (BNB) is currently the fourth largest cryptocurrency in the world, and one BNB token is priced at $309.30, a 26% increase from the month before. With Binance continually growing as an exchange, the value of Binance Coin (BNB) is likely to grow with it, making Binance Coin (BNB) a safe investment option for investors who want to balance their portfolios.
Orbeon Protocol Stage Five Presale Starts With A Big Win
Orbeon Protocol is a different investment option from both Ethereum (ETH) and Binance (BNB) in that it has the potential to offer significantly higher returns. Since October, the value of its native token ORBN has increased by over 1400%, rising in value from $0.004 to $0.06, and selling out during each presale stage.
Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) looks to disrupt the crowdfunding market with its DeFi launchpad. The Orbeon Launchpad will offer a funding alternative for startups, who can raise money from everyday investors by selling equity-backed NFTs.
Each NFT will represent shares in the startup and will be fractionalized to let investors get involved for as little as $1. Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) has addressed the issue of startups being risky investments by implementing a “Fill or Kill” into each NFT smart contract. This will automatically return investors money if their chosen startup doesn’t hit its funding targets.
With Orbeon Protocol entering stage five of its presale, it’s predicted to hit a new all-time high within the next few weeks. This has put ORBN tokens in high demand, with some investors predicting highs of $0.24 before the end of the presale.
| Disclaimer: This is a press release post. Coinpedia does not endorse or is responsible for any content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products, or other materials on this page. Readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company. |
North Korea stole more crypto in 2022 than any other year: UN report
A confidential United Nations report has revealed North Korean hackers stole more crypto assets in 2022 than in any other year so far.
The UN report, seen by Reuters, was reportedly submitted to a 15-member North Korea sanctions committee last week.
It found North Korean-linked hackers were responsible for between $630 million and more than $1 billion in stolen crypto assets last year and targeted networks of foreign aerospace and defense companies.
The UN report also noted that cyber attacks were more sophisticated than in previous years, making tracing stolen funds more difficult than ever.
“[North Korea] used increasingly sophisticated cyber techniques both to gain access to digital networks involved in cyber finance, and to steal information of potential value, including to its weapons programmes,” according to independent sanctions monitors in its report to the UN Security Council Committee.
Last week, a Feb. 1 report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis came to a similar conclusion, linking North Korean hackers to at least $1.7 billion worth of stolen crypto in 2022, the highest in history.
The firm named the cybercriminal syndicates as the most “prolific cryptocurrency hackers over the last few years.”
“For context, North Korea’s total exports in 2020 totalled $142 million worth of goods, so it isn’t a stretch to say that cryptocurrency hacking is a sizable chunk of the nation’s economy,” Chainalysis said.
According to Chainalysis, at least $1.1 billion of the stolen loot was taken from hacks of DeFi protocols, making North Korea one of the driving forces behind the DeFi hacking trend that intensified in 2022.
The firm also found that North Korea-linked hackers tend to send large sums to mixers such as Tornado Cash and Sinbad.
“In fact, funds from hacks carried out by North Korea-linked hackers move to mixers at a much higher rate than funds stolen by other individuals or groups,” Chainalysis said.
Related: North Korean hacking activity ceases after regulators implement KYC: Report
North Korea has frequently denied allegations of being responsible for cyber attacks, but the new UN report alleged North Korea’s primary intelligence bureau, the Reconnaissance General Bureau uses several groups such as Kimsuky, Lazarus Group and Andariel specifically for cyber attacks.
“These actors continued illicitly to target victims to generate revenue and solicit information of value to the DPRK, including its weapons programmes,” the UN report said.
Submitted before the 15-member council’s North Korea sanctions committee last week, the full report is reportedly due for public release later this month or early March.
Genesis Bankruptcy Restructuring Advances with DCG’s Plan to Sell Trading Division
Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its subsidiary Genesis have reached an agreement with a key group of creditors over the restructuring of its crypto trading business and lending arm, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Genesis Global Trading will be contributed to Genesis Global Holdco on the effective date, with both entities being marketed and sold as a package to maximize recoveries to the estate.
The debt owed by DCG to Genesis Holdco will also be restructured under the new terms, with DCG issuing a second lien-term loan facility due in June 2024. The loan will come in two tranches, with one being denominated in US dollars and paying 11.5% interest and the other in bitcoin, paying 5% interest.
DCG has also agreed to issue a class of convertible preferred stock, details of which are still being worked out. The company will exchange its existing $1.1 billion promissory note, which is currently due in 2032, for this convertible stock.
Meanwhile, Gemini Trust Co. co-founder Cameron Winklevoss announced that the company will contribute “up to $100 million more for Earn users as part of the plan.” Gemini had partnered with Genesis to offer the Earn yield product until November 16, when Genesis announced it was halting its lending business and affecting Gemini Earn customers’ access to their funds.
The agreement in principle was reached with two groups of ad hoc creditors, including Gemini Trust Co. and DCG. The restructuring and sale of the crypto trading business and lending arm of Genesis are expected to help the company maximize recoveries and provide stability to its customers and partners.
The finer details of the agreement are still being worked out, but the restructuring is expected to provide a much-needed boost to the crypto lending industry, which has been facing challenges due to the volatility of the crypto market.
‘Haunts me to this day’ — Crypto project hacked for $4M in a hotel lobby
The co-founder of Web3 metaverse game engine “Webaverse” has revealed they were victims of a $4 million crypto hack after meeting with scammers posing as investors in a hotel lobby in Rome.
The bizarre aspect of the story, according to co-founder Ahad Shams, is that the crypto was stolen from a newly set up Trust Wallet and that the hack took place during the meeting at some point.
He claims the thieves could not have possibly seen the private key, nor was he connected to a public WiFi network at the time.
The thieves were somehow able to gain access while taking a photo of the wallet’s balance, believes Shams.
The letter which was shared on Twitter on Feb. 7, contains statements from Webarverse and Shams, explaining that they met with a man named “Mr Safra” on Nov. 26 after several weeks of discussions about potential funding.
“We connected with “Mr Safra” over email and video calls and he explained that he wanted to invest in exciting Web3 companies,” explained Shams.
“He explained that he had been scammed by people in crypto before and so he collected our IDs for KYC, and stipulated as a requirement that we fly into Rome to meet him because it was important to meet IRL to ‘get comfortable’ with who we were each doing business with,” he added.
full story https://t.co/vdkAHyBaG9
— 0xngmi (aggregatoor arc) (@0xngmi) February 6, 2023
While initially “skeptical,” Sham agreed to meet “Mr Safra” and his “banker” in person in a hotel lobby in Rome, where he would later show the project’s “proof of funds” — who Mr. Safra claimed was his requirement to begin the “paperwork.”
“Though we grudgingly agreed to the Trust Wallet ‘proof’, we created a fresh Trust Wallet account at home using a device we didn’t primarily use to interact with them. Our thinking was that without our private keys or seed phrases, the funds would be safe anyway,” said Shams.
However, turns out Sham he was thoroughly mistaken:
“When we met, we sat across from these three men and transferred 4m USDC into the Trust Wallet. “Mr Safra” asked to see the balances on the Trust Wallet app and took out his phone to “take some pictures”.
Shams explained that he thought it was okay because no private keys or seed phrases were revealed to “Mr. Safra.”
But after “Mr. Safra” took a photo and stepped out of the meeting room to consult his banking colleagues, the crew vanished and Shams saw the funds siphoned out.
“We never saw him again. Minutes later the funds left the wallet.”
Almost immediately after, Shams reported the theft to a local police station in Rome and then filed an Internet Crime Complaint (IC3) form to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) a few days later.
Shams said he still has no idea how “Mr. Safra” and his scam crew committed the exploit:
“The interim update from the ongoing investigations is that we are still unable to confidently establish the attack vector. The investigators have reviewed available evidence and engaged in lengthy interviews with the relevant persons but further technical information is necessary for them to come to confidently establish conclusions.”
“Specifically, we need more information from Trust Wallet regarding activity on the wallet that was drained to reach a technical conclusion and we are actively pursuing them for their records. This will likely provide us with a better picture on how this has transpired,” he added.
Cointelegraph reached out to Shams and he confirmed he wasn’t connected to the hotel lobby’s WiFi when he revealed the funds on his Trust Wallet.
Related: Just get phishing scammers out of your way
The Webaverse co-founder believes the exploit was carried out in similar fashion to an NFT scam story shared by NFT entrepreneur Jacob Riglin on Jul. 21, 2021.
There, Riglin explained that he met with potential business partners in Barcelona, proved that he had sufficient funds on his laptop, and then within 30-40 minutes the funds were drained.
NFT Scam full story;
After the response to my previous tweets about the $90,000 scam I was involved in, I wanted to share more details on it to help warn any others of falling victim to it.
I was contacted by a Philippe Maloof from Canbury Properties Limited. He said he had a
— Jacob (@jacobriglin) July 21, 2021
Shams has since shared the Ethereum-based transaction where his Trust Wallet was exploited, noting that the funds were quickly “split into six transactions and sent to six new addresses, none of which had any prior activity.”
The $4 million worth of USDC was then almost entirely converted into Ether (ETH), wrapped-Bitcoin (wBTC) and Tether (USDT) via 1inch’s swap address feature.
Shams admitted that “the event haunts me to this day” and that the $4 million exploit is “undoubtedly a setback” for Webaverse.
However, he stressed that the $4 million exploit and pending investigation will have no impact on the firm’s short term commitments and plans:
“We have sufficient runway of 12-16 months based on our current forecasts and we are well underway to deliver on our plans.”
Cointelegraph has also reached out to Trust Wallet for commen
Bitcoin Prices Predicted to Plunge and Volatility to Soar in 2023 Recession
Fueled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and rising global inflation, most economists are convinced a recession is imminent in the coming quarters. The past recessions have been characterized by the stock market plunge and high liquidations. With the crypto market recording high volatility, a recession could send prices on a nosedive, perhaps similar to the 2020 Black Thursday or worse.
Should a recession fail to happen, top economists have indicated the global economy will slow down this year. According to Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, the United States – a country that controls about 25 percent of global economic activities – can engineer a soft landing through quantitative monetary policies to avoid a recession.
“The US economy is also going to slow down this year. But — at least, based on the data we have today — we think the US would be able to go through the year narrowly avoiding falling into recession,” Georgieva said in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes”.
Bitcoin and Crypto Under Recession in 2023
The Bitcoin market gained approximately 40 percent in January and saw heavy liquidations from short-term holders and miners. However, the economic slow growth and unresolved mega cases like FTX could push Bitcoin prices further down.
Senior macro strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, Mike McGlone, thinks the crypto market may be facing the first real recession.
“The last significant US economic contraction, the financial crisis, led to the birth of #Bitcoin, and the possible coming economic reset may mark similar milestones,” McGlone noted.
With a high correlation between cryptos and top indexes around the world including the Nasdaq, Dow, and S&P 500, analysts warn their demise will trickle down to the former. Moreover, crypto cash inflow to DeFi platforms is heavily controlled by institutional investors ranked under top equity indexes.
Crypto firms could face 2 years jail for breaching UK advertising laws
Newly proposed advertising rules in the United Kingdom could potentially see executives of crypto firms face up to two years of prison for failing to meet certain requirements around promotion, according to the U.K. financial watchdog.
In a Feb. 6 statement, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed that if the proposed “Financial promotions regime” is approved by Parliament, all crypto firms in the country and overseas would have to follow certain requirements when advertising their crypto services to U.K. customers.
“Cryptoasset businesses marketing to UK consumers, including firms based overseas, must get ready for this regime,” said the FCA.
“Acting now will help ensure they can continue to legally promote to U.K. consumers. We encourage firms to take all necessary advice as part of their preparations,” it added.
Under the FCA’s proposed regime, crypto firms would need to either have authorization from the FCA to advertise their services or have an exemption under the Financial Promotion Order.
According to the regulator, there are only four routes in which a “cryptoasset business” can promote its services to customers in the United Kingdom:
- The promotion is communicated by an FCA-authorised person.
- The promotion is made by an unauthorized person but approved by an FCA-authorized person. Legislation is currently making its way through Parliament which, if made, would introduce a regulatory gateway that authorized firms will need to pass through in order to approve financial promotions for unauthorized persons.
- The promotion is communicated by a cryptoasset business registered under the MLRs with the FCA.
- The promotion otherwise complies with the conditions of an exemption in the Financial Promotion Order.
The regulator said that any promotion made outside of these routes will be in breach of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), which carries a criminal punishment of up to two years of imprisonment.
“We will take robust action where we see firms promoting cryptoassets to UK consumers in breach of the requirements of the financial promotions regime,” the FCA said.
Related: British authorities split on banning sale of crypto investment products
Other than potential prison time for its execs, firms caught violating the new regime could face having their website taken down, public warnings, and other enforcement actions.
At this stage, the FCA has said they will await the “relevant legislation” to publish “our final rules for crypto asset promotions,” possibly indicating the financial promotions regime could see updates or changes.
“Subject to any changes in circumstances, we expect to take a consistent approach to crypto assets to that taken in our new rules, in place from Feb. 1 2023, for other high-risk investments,” the FCA said.