After the stablecoin lost its peg to the US dollar last week amid the $UST drop, Tether Holdings Limited has stepped out to allay fears of a probable USD/USDT decline. The world’s largest stablecoin, Tether (USDT), lost its peg to the US dollar earlier this month, causing panic among investors and traders.
Tether (USDT) has tried to ease investor and trader concerns by publishing its quarterly assurance opinion on its website, reiterating that the stablecoin is fully backed.
Tether Holdings Limited released its most recent quarterly assurance opinion, proving the health of its reserves by indicating large decreases in commercial paper assets and an overall gain in US Treasury bills. It also shows that the company’s consolidated assets outnumber its consolidated liabilities.
Tether shows a further approximately 17 percent fall in its asset – backed commercial holdings over the previous quarter from $24.2B to $20.1B; a move Tether has pursued with a further 20 percent reduction since April 1 2022 and which will be shown in the Q2 2022 report, according to the statement.
Tether’s Paolo Ardoino took to Twitter to comment on Tether’s strength in the wake of UST’s large and possibly irreversible depeg. The world of stablecoins has taken a major hit in recent weeks, as one of the largest stablecoins, UST, has vanished. This appears to have impacted USDT as well, since the coin lost its peg and fell as low as $0.95.
Tether is designed to be backed by cash and short-term debt commitments equal to the amount of dollars deposited by its users. Those assets are kept in a reserve controlled by the same company. Since then, the stablecoin has restored its peg.
This article provides the latest update and a quick summary of all you need to know about the new and improved online platforms – the BTC betting sites. People hoping to start their journey on the BTC betting sites can use this guide to make the best selection decisions and discover why these platforms are vital for betting in 2022. Firstly, let’s discuss what you will get when you play on BTC betting sites.
What do BTC Betting Sites Offer you?
If you are new to the BTC betting platform but are conversant with gambling operations, you might wonder why these sites are the best options. After all, some bettors have made a lot of cash using the fiat currency betting platforms. However, this article will now explain why the BTC betting sites are way superior to the conventional ones.
Positive Prospects
We cannot deny that the fiat currency time has passed, and it is now an era of cryptocurrency. However, the fiat’s old-fashioned systems and outdated features make it unsuitable for online operations.
Moreover, the constant printing of these currencies for an extended period has reduced their purchasing power drastically. However, the situation means that what you can afford now with a certain amount of money may not be available for you in two years to come as the value of your fund will be way less.
Fortunately, BTC is here with a lot of positive prospects. Using BTC betting sites means that the amount of money in your account will always increase as Bitcoin itself always increases. Experts predict the complete takeover of fiat currencies by digital currencies. Therefore, they are the best for betting operations.
Privacy Protection
Bettors who play games with the fiat currency face a lot of stigma from their immediate community and financial institutions. These platforms discredit betting operations and view punters as irresponsible individuals.
In order to simplify operations, BTC betting sites keep you anonymous from that set of individuals. Therefore, the customers of BTC betting sites do not have to face the trauma of inferiority as their operations are not visible to the public.
Furthermore, most financial organizations completely restrict detected gamblers from loan applications. Therefore with the use of BTC, people can benefit from loans and still enjoy betting operations.
More Enjoyable UX
Outdated features of the fiat currency betting platforms often put people out of the mood. However, the Latest parts of BTC betting sites do otherwise; it sets them right in the air. In addition, the platform has many entertaining features that make winning look easier on their media. Here are some of the features that make the BTC betting site UX more enjoyable than the conventional betting platforms.
Quick processes, which means you can send and receive the money within a concise period
Low deposit/withdrawal fees
Special bitcoin use bonuses
Easy to navigate platforms
Excellent deposit/withdrawal limits for high stakers
Few restrictions and free operations
Better Safety
Hackers and internet fraudsters have continuously operated on traditional betting platforms. They feel these sites are their most accessible opportunity at scamming people as their operations are fluid and outdated. However, BTC betting sites have the latest security systems like end-to-end encryption to prevent scammers. This system offers solid protection against all dubious individuals.
Furthermore, reviews reveal the hacking and theft-related problems encountered on BTC betting sites are not the fault of the platforms. These issues are traced to the loopholes of the exchange websites and not the betting system. Additionally, BTC betting sites offer a private key with complex characters to prevent any form of hacking or theft.
What to Consider Before Selecting A Bitcoin Betting Sites In 2022
It is delightful to hear that there are now several betting platforms that accept BTC transactions. Nonetheless, some shady individuals are still persistent in extortion of funds through these digital platforms. Consequently, we will outline the top ways to differentiate an infamous BTC betting website from a reliable one.
Reputation
A good reputation should be your foremost factor when looking for a place to bet without hassles. Betting sites with good reputations offer people the best gambling experience. Moreover, these platforms payout your winnings whenever you need them and do not give excuses.
Crypto transactions are non-reversible; therefore, the probability of getting your funds back when you lose to a shady platform is low. However, verify from notable blogs or ask experienced gamblers about the operations of your desired casino before picking them.
Quality and Quantity of Options
If the BTC betting site does not offer several options, it’s not a suitable platform for gambling. Bettors who have a variety of games and markets at their disposal also have better winning chances than the ones with limited options.
Not only does a Bitcoin betting site provide a variety of options, but they also offer the best games on the internet. For example, supporters of a particular sport can get the best markets and long odds when they use these platforms. Additionally, Slot lovers can find the top slot games with a progressive jackpot on the BTC betting site.
Bonuses & Rewards
What kept many punters playing at a particular site was bonuses and rewards. Fortunately, these whooping bonuses are all some bettors need to make huge profits on the BTC sportsbook. Below are the top prizes of BTC betting sites:
Welcome bonus
Unique Bitcoin Bonuses
VIP special arrangement
No deposit bonuses
Reload bonuses
Some of these bonuses have a few specifications that help you qualify for them. All these specs are carefully written in the terms and conditions of the bookie. For example, some sportsbooks require customers to play a certain number of games before qualifying for VIP promotions.
Customer Helpline
There is no good BTC betting site without a dedicated customer helpline. This section is essential in every management as it helps cater to customers’ issues. Inquiries and gambling problems are quickly attended to by the qualified professionals of Bitcoin betting sites. Therefore, BTC betting sites guarantee you the best betting experience.
NOTE: Coinposters offers articles for purpose information, and does not have any intention of promoting casinos or suggesting users to bet. Bet at your own responsibility and this is purely for informational purposes.
Jack Dorsey Thinks Bitcoin Is the Currency of the Internet
According to CNBC, Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Block (previously known as Square), has reaffirmed Bitcoin’s potential as a native digital money.
Dorsey said today at the Block’s investor conference that the internet deserves a native digital currency, and that only Bitcoin is fit for the job.
According to him, the internet requires a local currency, and when looking at the full ecosystem of technology to serve this function, bitcoin is presently the only possibility.
Bitcoin, according to Dorsey, is an open standard for global money transfer, and it will allow Block’s entire operation to move faster around the world.
The former Twitter CEO has previously stated that Bitcoin has the potential to become the internet’s global currency. In truth, the Bitcoin maximalist has never changed his mind on the subject.
Dorsey stated in September 2019 that Twitter had no intentions to establish a cryptocurrency since he believes Bitcoin is the future of the Internet. He also declined to participate in Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project, which subsequently collapsed owing to legal issues.
Apart from publicly stating that Bitcoin is the only digital currency suitable for use as native internet money, Dorsey has made deliberate efforts through his enterprises to promote Bitcoin’s growth and adoption.
Dorsey proposed the “Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund” in January as a way to help the growth and development of the Bitcoin system. The fund will be used to defend Bitcoin developers against lawsuits that would prevent them from encouraging the development of Bitcoin, according to the Twitter co-founder.
Block said last year that it would construct a Bitcoin hardware wallet to make BTC custody more popular, and it is already working on a Bitcoin mining infrastructure.
In the United States, cryptocurrency exchange FTX has purportedly begun commission-free stock and ETF trading. However, the service will initially be limited to a small number of customers, with a complete launch of services including stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, futures, and other assets to follow in a few months.
FTX will also let users to deposit monies into their accounts using USDC. The transaction follows the recent acquisition of a 7.6% share in Robinhood by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The organization wants to be a one-stop shop for financial services.
According to the Wall Street Journal on May 19, one of the top crypto exchanges, FTX, has moved into a broader financial services sector by starting to provide stocks and ETFs trading for US users.
The FTX.US mobile app will allow users to trade stocks. Furthermore, the firm plans to provide trading in hundreds of US-listed firms as well as exchange-traded funds.
They eventually hope to provide an all-in-one financial services app. However, we will not route client orders to high-speed traders in return for cash, which is known as payment for order flow.
Following the trade in GameStop and other meme stocks last year, politicians and regulators have strengthened their scrutiny of the paying for order flow practice. Since then, the stock market has dropped over 50%.
As a result, FTX prioritizes establishing itself in the regulated financial services business in the United States, as shifting away from the payment for order flow approach would cost it money.
According to Harrison, the corporation has been working on it since January, and a wait list for the new service was established in February. Other firms, such as Robinhood, Block’s Cash App, and Public.com, have integrated stock and cryptocurrency trading. FTX, on the other hand, is the first cryptocurrency exchange to access regular financial markets.
Under the direction of Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX is exploding this year. In January, the crypto exchange located in the Bahamas upped its worth to $32 billion. Australia, the United Arab Emirates, and Europe were also added. Sam Bankman-Fried purchased a 7.6% interest in Robinhood for investment purposes last week.
In South Korea, Terraform workers investigated for the UST disaster
The TerraBuilderAlliance, Do Kwon, and other members of the community have agreed to fork Terra Luna in order to save the Terra environment. The voting is now open on Terra Station, and LUNA token holders can vote using their governance tokens.
There are 116,045,229 “yes” votes and 30,227,625 “no with veto” votes as of this writing. A quorum of 2 million votes is required to pass the proposition.
Yes votes presently account for 78 percent of the overall vote. The regulations, however, provide that if 33 percent of the voters veto the plan, it would be defeated. The current percentage of ‘no with veto’ votes is 20%, which means that if the next 48 million votes are ‘no with veto,’ the plan would fail.
In addition, if the ‘no with veto’ vote exceeds 33%, the deposit necessary to propose the motion is forfeited. The minimum deposit is now 50 LUNA, which is only a fraction of a penny at today’s exchange rate.
The revised and final plan, which contains revisions to the prior proposal, is accessible on the LUNA forum. The following distribution for token holders is included in the proposal up for vote:
Terra infrastructure provider Orbital Command, which has 1.39 percent of the voting power, is the biggest validator to come out in favour of the proposal at the time of writing. Major validators with more than 2% voting power, such as cross-chain stablecoin bank Orion, have yet to make a judgment. Money with a yield of 8.63 percent.
Users’ current Luna tokens will become “Luna Classic” tokens, allowing holders to receive an airdrop of fresh Luna tokens, according to the new plan. Holders of UST will be able to exchange their stablecoins for the new tokens.
The most noticeable difference in the new environment will be the lack of the algorithmic stablecoin, which was the network’s and business model’s backbone.
Despite the recent crypto market massacre, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, is not abandoning its attempts to stretch its tentacles to new jurisdictions and grow its worldwide reach.
Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of the top exchange, announced on Wednesday that the company is asking for formal licenses to operate its regulated trading platform in Germany.
Zhao disclosed that Binance is now negotiating with German regulators while speaking at the Online Marketing Rockstars Festival in Hamburg. In addition, the exchange is growing its compliance staff and seeking for German licenses.
Binance’s aspirations to operate in Germany coincide with the country being recognized as the world’s most crypto-friendly. Crypto investments are now accepted as part of the European nation’s domestic savings business. Furthermore, Germany’s federal finance ministry just published the country’s first-ever cryptocurrency tax handbook.
If authorized, Germany will become the second major European country and G-7 member to permit Binance to operate within its borders specifically. The company received regulatory permission in France earlier this month. Binance had just received provisional authorization in Abu Dhabi to operate as a virtual asset broker-dealer.
Binance was under regulatory scrutiny at this time last year. Financial regulators in the United States, Europe, China, the United Kingdom, and other countries have issued warnings to investors about the crypto exchange.
CZ subsequently claimed Binance would be more aggressive in complying with local rules in order to gain the approval of authorities.
Despite formerly operating on a decentralized model with no official business headquarters, the firm is presently in the process of creating corporate offices in several locations across the world. According to Zhao, Binance plans to establish a European headquarters in Paris and utilize it as a launching pad as it grows to other territories.
Cardano, a notable blockchain project, has published a new study paper on decentralized blockchain governance aspects.
Aggelos Kiayias and Philip Lazos, blockchain experts at IOHK, blockchain research and engineering firm best known for the Cardano project, did the research.
The document, which Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson initially posted, identified numerous basic qualities that decentralized protocols like Bitcoin and Ethereum may use to make decisions in order to improve their system evolution.
Although each blockchain is unique in functionality and performance, the research identified four key traits that blockchains might use to strengthen their governance.
The first class is concerned with decision-making voting systems. Users’ eligibility to vote on improvements and ideas, cryptographic cyber security, and incentives are all covered.
According to the report, in the decision-making process, blockchain platforms should constantly examine who is allowed suffrage. According to academics, blockchain engineers should always utilize a one-person voting method, allowing just one user to vote.
The paper also mentioned Pareto efficiency as a way that blockchain platforms might utilize to improve their voting mechanism. Pareto aids blockchain decision-making by breaking down each data into particular actions.
According to the paper, modifications in blockchain governance depend on two key industry participants: developers who create apps and propose changes and the community that determines whether or not to implement the changes. According to the experts, these prominent actors’ efforts help the platform flourish and deserve recognition.
The paper’s last category of blockchain governance systems was timeliness, which included the concept of liveness. In the event of assaults or other emergency situations requiring rapid decision-making, blockchain protocols should be able to conclude in the quickest time feasible, according to the research.
Terra has made many ideas in an attempt to resurrect the LUNA and TerraUSD following the recent historic crash. Terra’s UST prices spiked slightly during the continuing vote on the freshly modified plan. The token increased by 160 percent to $0.3 before rapidly solidifying its gains.
Do Kwon, Terra’s founder, proposed a new resurrection plan and allowed voting among the community to determine Terra’s fate. According to CoinMarketCap, the UST price spiked by more than 160 percent. The price of TerraUSD unexpectedly increased to $0.31. However, no such transaction was documented to support the spike.
According to the crypto data tracker, the price surged from $0.10 to $0.31 at about 4:10 PM (IST). The price remained at its peak until 5:40 PM (IST). On the other hand, UST prices fell to a new low of $0.098. At the time of writing, the TerraUSD was trading at an average price of $0.0908.
Meanwhile, Terra’s LUNA prices have risen by 7% in the previous 24 hours. At the time of writing, LUNA was trading at an average price of $0.00019.
The vote to revive the Terra and its token is now open and will be available for 7 days. Do Kwon advocated launching a new Terra chain sans the algorithmic stablecoin.
He proposes naming the old chain Terra Classic (LUNC), while the new chain Terra (LUNA). The new LUNA will be distributed through airdrop to existing LUNA stakeholders, holders, TerraUSD holders, and app developers.
Kwon’s latest idea aims to make Terra a completely community-owned chain. Over 64.7 million people (roughly 90 percent) have voted “Yes” on the proposition so far. While 7.2 million people (about 10%) voted “No with veto,” However, this is only an early result of the election because over 303 million citizens have still to vote.
Axie Infinity will compensate Ronin victims and reopen bridge
Axie Infinity revealed on Twitter that the MEE6 bot on its Discord channel had been compromised. The MEE6 team has denied that its bot was attacked.
The MEE6 bot is quite popular on Discord, and many servers use it to automate messages and other activities.
According to Axie Infinity, the attackers hacked the bot and used it to grant rights for a false Jiho account, which they then used to make a fraudulent mint announcement on May 18.
Fortunately, the coders caught on immediately. They erased the messages and uninstalled the hacked bot. According to the gaming platform, there will never be a surprising mint, and all such events will be announced on Twitter, Facebook, Discord, and Substack.
However, it was also stated that some users may still be able to access erased messages until they restart Discord. At least one user says that the attack resulted in losing an NFT and a domain.
Axie Infinity indicated that the hack is not unique to their server and that numerous servers using MEE6 Bot have experienced similar difficulties in the past. Cool Cats, RTFKT, PXN, PROOF/Moonbirds, and Memeland, have all stated that their admin accounts have been compromised due to the bot.
Those familiar with Discord security believe the hackers targeted admin accounts first. Then, using the MEE6 bot’s response role capability, they assigned the admin position to another account.
They may send webbook messages this way without exposing the hacked administrator account.
On its Discord channel, MEE6 has disputed the accusation of a breach. It claimed that its bot had caused no harm to any NFT community.
Any genuine community owners have not contacted them at the time of this communication, nor have they been contacted through Discord or any other Support Communication Channels. According to the statement, we reviewed the problem with their engineers and found no evidence of suspicious activity.
Blockchain technology is allowing for new and exciting innovations in the world of modern business. One example of this is the emerging concept of Polkadot, which is a platform that can truly bring about significant changes to how we transact online.
Before we look at the uses of Polkadot, let’s have a look at what it is in detail, how it works, and how you can buy it. Let’s get started!
What is Polkadot and How Does It Work?
Polkadot is a cryptocurrency that enables users to transact and communicate with each other without the need for a central authority. It is similar to Bitcoin in that it uses a public ledger to record transactions, but it differs in that it allows for more flexibility in how transactions are processed. It is designed to be scalable and efficient, and its developers hope that it will eventually be able to support thousands of different cryptocurrencies.
One of the main features of Polkadot is its unique governance model. Unlike traditional blockchain platforms, which rely on miners to confirm transactions and secure the network, Polkadot uses validators who are responsible for confirming transactions and maintaining the network’s security. Validators stake their DOTs (the native token of the Polkadot platform) as collateral in order to be selected as a validator, ensuring that there is no single point of failure or central authority within the network.
Polkadot also features a unique “Parachain” architecture, which allows multiple blockchains (called “Parachains”) to connect to and interact with each other on the Polkadot network. This enables a wide range of applications and uses cases that were not possible on previous blockchain platforms.
How Can One Buy Polkadot?
If you are thinking about buying Polkadot, there are a few things that you should be aware of. In this section, we will go over the steps needed to purchase your DOTs, as well as some of the risks and considerations that you should take into account before making your purchase.
Step 1: Choose a Polkadot Wallet: The first step is to choose a suitable wallet. You will need a place to store your DOTs after you purchase them, and a wallet is the best way to do this. There are many different wallets available for storing DOTs, and the best one for you will depend on your individual needs and preferences.
If you want the simplest and most user-friendly option, we recommend using the official Polkadot Wallet. This wallet is developed by the team behind Polkadot and is the easiest way to manage your DOTs. It is available for both desktop and mobile devices, so you can access your tokens from anywhere at any time.
Alternatively, you may want to consider a hardware wallet such as Ledger Nano S or Trezor One. These wallets offer greater security and reliability than software wallets, but they can be slightly more complex to use and may not be as convenient.
Step 2: Find an Exchange or Brokerage: Once you have chosen a Polkadot wallet, the next step is to find an exchange or brokerage where you can buy DOTs. There are many different exchanges and brokerages available, but it is important to choose an exchange or brokerage that is reputable and reliable. You can buy Polkadot on Moonpay as it is easier and safer. Other good options that you can buy are Poloniex, Bittrex, and Kraken.
Step 3: Complete the Purchase of DOTs: Once you have chosen a suitable wallet and found an exchange, you will be ready to purchase your DOTs. The exact process for doing this will vary depending on the exchange or brokerage that you use, but the general process is as follows:
1) Register for an account on the exchange or brokerage.
2) Deposit funds into your account using a supported payment method (usually bank transfer or credit/debit card).
3) Place an order to buy DOTs using the deposited funds.
4) Once your order is filled, you will have purchased your DOTs and they will be stored in your selected wallet.
Keep in mind that there are certain risks and considerations when buying cryptocurrencies, such as price volatility and security threats. Make sure to do thorough research before making any purchase
Polkadot is still in its early stages of development, but its potential has already led to it being listed on a number of major exchanges and there are many ways you can use it. Below are 5 ways to use Polkadot.
5 Brilliant Ways To Use Polkadot
1) Streamlining Online Payments
Polkadot is an innovative blockchain platform that has been designed to facilitate a variety of transactions and applications. One major use for Polkadot is streamlining online payments, making it easier and faster for customers to make purchases on e-commerce websites. Additionally, Polkadot can help to enhance data security by using encryption and decentralized technology, reducing the risk of customer information being compromised.
Another key feature of Polkadot is its ability to facilitate trustless transactions. By using smart contracts, this platform allows businesses to automate their transactions and ensure that both parties uphold their end of the deal. Furthermore, all items are tracked on the blockchain and provide greater transparency throughout the process.
With its decentralized nature and built-in encryption, Polkadot is an ideal platform for enhancing data security in businesses. By providing increased protection for customer data and other sensitive information, this platform helps to reduce the risk of a security breach that could lead to financial or reputational damage for companies.
Additionally, Polkadot uses smart contracts to facilitate trustless transactions, which further enhances the security of online payments and other business dealings.
Transactions made on the Polkadot platform also are facilitated in a trustless manner, which means that both parties involved can feel confident in the security and legitimacy of the transaction. This is thanks to the use of smart contracts, which help to automate the process and ensure that all parties uphold their end of the deal.
Overall, Polkadot represents a major step forward in the field of data security, making it a highly useful tool for businesses looking to safeguard their digital assets.
3) Improving Supply Chain Management
Polkadot is also used to improve supply chain management by tracking items on the blockchain and providing greater transparency throughout the process. This would allow businesses to more easily identify any issues that may arise and take action to resolve them in a timely manner.
Additionally, the increased transparency provided by Polkadot could help to build trust between businesses and their customers, as they would be able to see exactly where their products are at all times. Overall, this would lead to a more efficient and effective supply chain that is better able to meet the needs of businesses and consumers alike.
4) Building New Decentralized Applications
Polkadot is ideal for building new decentralized applications (dApps) that aim to transform the way we live and work. Some possible examples of dApps that could be developed using this platform include innovative financial services, social networking platforms, or data storage solutions.
Additionally, Polkadot allows different blockchains to work together. It is a consensus application where each blockchain is represented by an independent validator, while the guardians are in charge of maintaining and improving the entire network. This provides new layers of governance for web 3.0.
This provides new layers of governance for Web 3.0 which enable users to create and manage rules and incentives for different blockchains in order to maintain the integrity and security of each one. It also offers tools that allow developers to access information from several chains at once, as well as more advanced applications such as file sharing between multiple chains or decentralized exchanges.
Another main advantage of Polkadot in building decentralized applications is its ability to connect different blockchains so they can communicate with each other easily. This means that applications running on different blockchains can interact without having to worry about transferring funds or data between them; all parties involved in accessing information from several blockchains would only interact with a single Polkadot application.
5) Useful in Securely Storing and Tracking Information
Polkadot is a popular blockchain technology that enables secure and transparent storage and tracking of information such as financial transactions and medical records. It uses high-level encryption to protect user data while providing a decentralized, tamper-proof record of all transactions on the network.
Users can easily track information across multiple nodes in real-time. This makes it an ideal solution for businesses that rely on accurate and up-to-date information for things like supply chain management or inventory control.
Polkadot also works by creating a new kind of database. This database is distributed across the nodes in the Polkadot network and it allows fast access to stored data.
Having looked at the brilliant uses of Polkadot, it’s good to have a look at the challenges too so that you can be informed.
Conclusion
As Polkadot evolves and continues to gain traction in the world of blockchain technology, we are sure to see even more exciting uses over time. Whether it’s improving online payments, enhancing data security, or streamlining supply chain management, Polkadot offers a wealth of potential for businesses looking to take advantage of cutting-edge blockchain technology. So, keep an eye out for Polkadot and be prepared to embrace the change it could bring about.
Bitcoin surpasses $25k for the First Time in Nine Weeks
Investors feel the worst of the Terra (LUNA) crash is past, and there are early indications of the dust settling in the crypto market. While the repercussions was extensive and rather damaging for altcoins, Bitcoin’s chart shows that BTC has held up pretty well.
Despite the fact that the May 12 price drop to $26,697 was the lowest since 2020, numerous measures imply that the current levels might be a suitable entry point for BTC.
The retest of Bitcoin’s 200-week exponential moving average (EMA) at $26,990 was important in the decline to this level. This indicator has traditionally acted as a crucial region for past price bottoms, according to cryptocurrency analysis firm Delphi Digital.
On May 12, it wasn’t only Bitcoin that had a bad day. The stablecoin market also experienced its highest degree of volatility and divergence from the dollar peg since the beginning of the Terra saga, with Tether (USDT) showing the most variance among the major stablecoin projects, as demonstrated in the graphic below from blockchain data source Glassnode.
The top four stablecoins by market cap have all managed to return to within $0.001 of their dollar peg, but the events of the previous two weeks have shattered crypto investors’ faith in their capacity to hold. The price of Bitcoin is presently trading the closest it has ever been near its realized price as a result of the market retreat.
The realized price, according to Glassnode, has traditionally offered solid support during bad markets and warnings of market bottom formation when the market price trades below it.
During previous bear markets, the price of BTC traded below its realized price for lengthy periods of time, but the length of time has reduced with each cycle, with Bitcoin only trading below its realized price for 7 days during the 2019-2020 bear market.
In South Korea, Terraform workers investigated for the UST disaster
The legal team at Terraform Labs has resigned. Marc Goldich, Lawrence Florio, and Noah Axler, all members of the Counsel team, left the firm in May, according to their LinkedIn accounts. The Block announced their departure on Tuesday.
After the collapse of the stablecoin TerraUSD, the LUNA token, and the whole Terra ecosystem last week, employees have deserted Terraform Labs, the firm behind the Terra network.
Terraform Labs has had a difficult week, according to a spokesman, and a small number of team members have departed in recent days. The great majority of team members are still fully dedicated to completing the project’s objectives. Terra is more than $UST; it has a highly dedicated community and a clear plan for rebuilding.
The resignations come after a difficult week for Terraform Labs, located in Singapore, and the blockchain it manages.
The Terra blockchain is powered by Terraform Labs, which was created by Do Kwon and Daniel Shin in 2018. Early last week, Terra’s UST, the third largest stablecoin by issue, de-pegged substantially from its target price of $1. In a desperate attempt to reestablish the peg, billions of dollars in bitcoin were sold and enormous numbers of Terra’s native currency LUNA were created, but to no effect.
Both LUNA and UST saw their prices plummet. Terra’s blockchain has been shut down twice, resulting in significant losses for investors.
The whales appear to be progressively eyeing Litecoin ahead of the all-important MimbleWimble (MWEB) release. Transactions with the new MWEB privacy features will be possible after the upgrade.
On the Litecoin blockchain, the MWEB protocol allows for the addition of confidential transactions. Furthermore, the protocol removes unneeded data from transaction blocks.
MWEB will be launched on Thursday, according to Charlie Lee, the founder of Litecoin.
The MWEB is expected to go live on May 19. To commemorate the activation, they are considering hosting a webcast event. More information will be available soon.
Before MWEB activates, everyone interested in utilizing it, especially those who installed one of the previous release candidates, should update to the official v0.21.2. If you wait until after MWEB activation to update, you will have to resync the blockchain from the beginning.
Significant purchasing activity has recently occurred, which might be a strong evidence of positive mood among investors for Litecoin. Litecoin is one of the top ten tokens acquired by the top 100 whales in the previous 24 hours. WhaleStats, a site that analyzes the top 10 Ethereum wallets, gave the information.
Clearly, the new upgrade is something that the major investors are anticipating. This might indicate a bright future for the 18th most valuable cryptocurrency.
The altcoin hit a recent low of $55 following a global cryptocurrency price decrease last week. According to CoinGecko, the cryptocurrency was trading at $73 as of writing, up over 10% in 24 hours. The cryptocurrency touched an all-time high of $410 thanks to a bull run last year. It now has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion.
The activation of the MWEB update comes after a two-year wait since it was first announced in 2020. Traders expect Litecoin’s chances to improve as a result of MWEB, with the possibility of breaking beyond the $100 barrier.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair, Rostin Behnam, declared that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are commodities. On Monday, he mentioned this in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Behnam said this is an age-old conflict between the two agencies, referring to a Senate measure that wants to give the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) power over a big portion of the crypto market, leaving the CFTC with considerably less influence.
The CFTC and the SEC, according to Behnam, have had a fantastic relationship throughout the years and continue to interact and collaborate. He further mentioned that both companies have a large number of registrants. However, Behnam feels that the CFTC should govern commodities while the SEC should regulate securities.
He also mentioned that the world of digital assets, which includes hundreds of tokens, includes commodities and securities. To that end, the CFTC Chair stated that parsing through both asset categories to establish whether tokens qualify as securities or commodities makes sense.
Behnam recognized that separating securities from commodities in the crypto market will be difficult. According to him, the novelty of certain coins and the technology they employ necessitates a review of what qualifies as a security or commodity under standard securities and commodities rules.
Although Behnam acknowledged that security coins number in the hundreds if not thousands, he maintained that commodity coins make up a significant portion of the crypto market. Both authorities, he noted, are merely attempting to do the best they can.
Behnam agreed with SEC Chair Gary Gensler that the cryptocurrency sector lacks consumer protections. He noted that the incident last week demonstrated the necessity for such safeguards.
This comes after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced intentions to expand its crypto division in order to improve consumer safeguards. The authorities stated that they wanted to boost the number of employees in their Crypto Assets and Cyber team of the Enforcement Division from 30 to 50.
Whales Filling Up On Cardano (ADA) Sees Possible Huge Rally
Major cryptocurrencies failed to recover over the weekend after a brutal sell-off for the most of this week, adding around 8% to the entire market value. Cardano is moving different.
A multitude of reasons contributed to the relief rise, including strong emotions that the market was oversold, pushing traders to put purchase orders for the deeply reduced prices. Analysts have linked the surge to a situation known as a “short squeeze.”
When traders short an asset, it rises in value, causing a short squeeze. To cover the short positions, they must now purchase assets. Short sellers are being squeezed by the asset’s significant price increase.
Santiment, a crypto analytics business, observed more transactions on the Cardano Network on Friday, with ADA falling to a low of $0.4 on May 12.
“Cardano whales exhibited a rush of trades yesterday, between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. UTC, while prices were bottoming out at $0.40.” The company sent out a tweet. “These increases have frequently signaled ADA price direction shifts.”
ADA witnessed 1085 trades valued more over $100,000 on Thursday alone, the most since January.
After selling 1.7 million tokens in the previous seven months, it was revealed this week that ADA whales with a balance of 1 million to ten million coins had been buying more amid the sell-off, spending over $200 million in the last two weeks.
With the price hitting a multi-year low of $0.4, which also serves as solid support, and the forthcoming Vasil hard fork in June, which aims to significantly improve the Cardano network, it’s easy to see why whales have been so active recently.
At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $0.56, up 2.54% on the day. Cardano is the sixth most valuable cryptocurrency, having a market cap of $18.9 billion.
Australia to Prioritize Crypto Investors This Year
The Australia Taxation Office (ATO) said today that crypto capital gains will be prioritized this year, along with three other critical areas of attention, to guarantee proper tax reporting in Australia.
Because crypto assets, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), are treated as digital properties in the United States, they are susceptible to gains, according to the ATO.
Because many Australians are investing in cryptocurrencies, the tax authorities expects investors to calculate and declare capital gains or losses from the sales of crypto tokens and NFTs on their tax returns this year.
We know that many Australians are purchasing, selling, or trading digital currency and assets because of our data collecting methods, so it’s critical that individuals understand what this implies for their tax duties.” Tim Loh, Assistant Commissioner, stated.
The ATO also cautioned investors to retain records of their transactions for future reference and that losses from crypto investments cannot be offset with salary or pay.
Crypto investors, according to the regulator, are having difficulty completing their tax returns, which is why the tax office has opted to prioritize it this year.
“The ATO is focusing on issue areas where we observe people making errors,” says the spokesperson.
As the popularity of cryptocurrencies grows, governments around the world are considering levying taxes on digital asset earnings.
Germany just joined the increasing list of countries that tax crypto assets. Crypto investors do not have to pay taxes on bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) kept for at least a year, according to the country’s Federal Ministry of Finance. Trading, staking, lending, hardforks, airdrops, and mining are all covered under the new tax standards.
Uzbekistan approved a bill earlier this month exempting all bitcoin mining enterprises from paying taxes. The legislation also declared that mining companies can use the country’s power to mine cryptocurrency legally, however they would have to pay higher rates.
On Monday, Ethereum saw a significant pullback from its session highs. The second-largest cryptocurrency has just dropped below the desired $2,000 level, thanks to recent market activity. It temporarily dropped below the specified level before quickly recovering. However, ETH purchasers continue to struggle to maintain gains as they face upward pressure.
ETH/USD is now trading at $2,000, down 6.45 percent on the day. With advances of more than 48 percent, the 24-hour trading volume is approaching $20,771,000,352.
A surge in volume while the price falls is a negative indicator. As a result, we recommend that investors use suitable trading levels to take advantage of any sell-side opportunity.
The price of Ethereum struggled to recover from the previous week’s lows of $1,701.04. In just four sessions, ETH increased by 26%. However, investors should not be alarmed by the upward trend since, given the extreme oversold market position, a price rebound is expected.
The Ethereum gloomy clouds are predicted to last longer. If the price falls below the day’s low, the current trend will resume. On the downside, the psychological $1,700 level might be the first target.
A shift in positive attitude, on the other hand, might result in a price reversal. More increases would be seen if the price closed decisively over $2,100, followed by the horizontal resistance zone at $2,500.
In terms of technical indicators, the RSI (relative strength index) remains below the average line, giving a cautionary signal for buyers. With no evident directional bias, the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) stays down.
According to Bleeping Computers, a 24-year-old guy was sentenced to five years in jail for stealing crypto worth $41,900 after threatening to cut off the victim’s fingers if they failed to comply with his request.
The verdict was handed out on May 11 at London’s Crown Court in Southwark. Authorities said the defendant, Karim Hassan, used the instant messaging app Snapchat to target people who wanted to convert their cryptocurrency to cash through peer-to-peer exchanges rather than utilizing an authorized crypto exchange.
Hassan persuaded his victims to meet him in his black Audi A6 automobile, where he forced them to hand up their phones. According to officials, the 24-year-old felon used excessive force against anyone who refused to cooperate.
The criminal threatened to knife the victims in the neck if they didn’t comply, referring to himself as a killer. He also attacked victims and threatened to slice off their fingers “one by one” at other instances.
After being held at gunpoint in the automobile, one of the victims, Zain Hankin, stated he lost a total of £20,000 ($24,600) in cryptocurrency. After being threatened with a pocket knife, another victim, Abbas Mamuod, gave the inmate over £10,000 ($12,300).
Another victim, Abdullahi Goloid, said he was driven to an underground parking lot and manhandled by Hassen and his group, who threatened to rape, strip, and tie him up if he didn’t surrender his monies.
Goloid had previously remembered Hassen’s car number, which he reported to the police, and the crooks took nearly £2,500 ($3,000) from him. Police captured him driving the identical automobile Goloid described shortly after the crime.
In the United Kingdom, there has been a fresh wave of cryptocurrency mugging. Last week, UK police issued a public alert about the rising number of crypto thefts on London’s streets, claiming that numerous victims had already lost hundreds of pounds in cryptocurrency.
Crypto muggers take crypto investors’ phones from strategic locations across the city and transfer monies held in their digital wallets.
Despite crypto values plummeting in yet another bloodbath this year, Elon Musk has praised Dogecoin, energizing supporters of the canine-themed coin.
The reason he likes dogecoin is because it recognizes it is ridiculous, Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus tweeted on May 13th. Elon Musk replied almost instantly, suggesting that it had currency potential, driving the doge community into a flurry of optimism.
Billy Markus, also known on Twitter as “shibetoshi nakamoto,” co-founded DOGE with Jackson Palmer, a former Adobe software developer. Markus abandoned DOGE years ago, while pushing it on the sidelines, claiming terrible experiences such as frauds and a “sociopath” taking over the community.
Musk’s response, which has garnered over 50k likes as of writing, drew a lot of attention from Dogecoin supporters hoping for a price increase.
While it’s amusing that DOGE is down nearly 87 percent after Musk shilled the coin on Saturday Night Live last year, the Tesla co-founder has become a top influencer for the cryptocurrency owing to his pro-growth ideals.
Musk lauded DOGE as a superior form of digital payment compared to Bitcoin in an interview with TIME Magazine, in which he was named the 2021 person of the year. Later that year, he stated that Tesla will begin taking bitcoin payments for items, with intentions to do the same for Starlink.
The billionaire bought a large interest in Twitter last month. He revealed plans to acquire the firm for $44 billion and take it private on April 25th, pushing DOGE up 34% on speculation that he will include the token as a payment option on Twitter.
While these are merely rumors, Musk has previously expressed interest in developing a Dogecoin-centered digital wallet or a full-fledged DOGE-based payment network that would be free to Twitter users.
While it is difficult to anticipate the direction of price, it is safe to assume that Musk will contribute to a price recovery by continuing to promote the currency.
Do Kwon, the Terra blockchain project’s brains, has apologized to Terra ecosystem and crypto community members for the recent depegging tragedy.
Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin, UST, depegged from the US dollar last week, causing the price of LUNA, the project’s governance token, to plummet.
All attempts to preserve UST were fruitless, and LUNA plummeted from over $60 to $0.00002 in a matter of days, a 99.9% decline from its high. As they saw their money evaporate into thin air, investors were left scratching their heads.
Following the event, Kwon issued an apology to the Terra community on Friday, expressing his regret that his “creation” had caused users and investors anguish.
Because he did not sell his LUNA or UST stakes, the Terra chairman claimed that neither he nor the project’s linked institutions benefited from the crisis.
Kwon said he and his staff are presently documenting how the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) spent the Bitcoin reserve during the UST depegging situation as part of his apologies.
LFG reportedly drained $2.2 billion in bitcoin from its BTC reserve to rescue the stablecoin at the time.
While Kwon thinks that decentralized economies need decentralized money, he also feels that UST cannot be that money since community members and investors have lost faith in the stablecoin.
We won’t be able to rebuild Luna’s environment because it has been drastically liquidated and diluted. While a decentralized economy requires decentralized money, he believes UST has lost too much confidence among its users to fulfill that function. The aim now, according to Kwon, should be to protect the Terra community and its developers.
Nigeria has issued new crypto rules to increase adoption
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria has issued new laws for the issuing and usage of digital assets in the nation, including cryptocurrencies.
In April 2021, Coinfomania reported that the Commission was collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to have a better understanding of cryptocurrencies in order to provide a complete guideline for the asset class.
The necessity of the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) permission or license, the measures to take when creating a digital token, and the registration requirements for digital asset platforms, exchanges, and custodians are all covered in the new SEC paper.
According to the requirements, every firm that plans to provide crypto goods or services in Nigeria or to Nigerians must get a VASP license or permission, as well as other associated documentation.
Digital asset businesses who wish to offer token sales to Nigerians must submit an evaluation form as well as a full draft whitepaper of the project, according to the SEC document. The whitepaper must include details on the project, the target market, expected earnings and bonuses, and risk estimates.
The token issuer can then register the token as securities when the SEC Nigeria completes the required evaluation and certification. In addition, anybody interested in running a digital asset launchpad or an ICO/IEO platform must meet the VASPs’ standards and pay the costs.
The application must also include specific project details, a commitment to keep investors informed about the initiative, and a commitment to appropriately oversee the use of money.
Digital asset custodians are required to defend investors’ interests, establish a friendly connection with investors, safeguard their customers’ funds, and follow all applicable rules and regulations.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear if Nigeria’s new cryptocurrency legislation would overturn the central bank’s prohibition on digital assets. The Central Bank of Nigeria reportedly barred all banks and financial institutions in the country from serving crypto investors and businesses in February 2021.
Bitcoin exchange volumes have dropped to multi-year lows
Bitcoin (BTC) prices are continuing to rebound following a bullish breakout from a symmetrical triangle formation. With an estimated objective of 6.50 percent high at $32000, the predicted retest should provide a solid entry opportunity for interested traders. Can buyers, on the other hand, overcome the 200 EMA’s probable resistance?
The $45000 mark’s fallout on April 6th ensnared ambitious purchasers who had entered the breakout surge. As a result of the forced liquidation of these purchases, the market saw an influx of sell orders and Bitcoin saw a severe correction (BTC).
Furthermore, last week’s severe selling pressure accelerated the current decline, resulting in a new low of $26350 for 2022. In addition, the hourly chart’s slight rebound represented the construction of the symmetrical triangular pattern.
The buyers produce a bullish break from the pattern resistance trendline and the $30000 mark, implying a greater chance of price regaining the psychological level.
The coin’s price would rise 6.50 percent to $32000 if the buying continued. Traders can also expect the rebound rally to continue until the support trendline is reached.
As a result, the fallout from this dynamic trendline would suggest that the current trend in BTC will continue.
The current rebound rally has broken through the 20, 50, and 100 EMAs, signaling a continuous northward march. However, the $30,757 overhead resistance might put significant supply pressure on the market.
The daily RSI slope remains above the midline (50), suggesting that buyers have taken control from sellers. Furthermore, a rising suggesting line suggests an increase in bullish momentum.
Circle Inc.’s USD Coin (USDC), the second-largest stablecoin by market value and a main rival to USD Tether (USDT), has increased its supply on the Tron (TRX) network.
According to H.E. Justin Sun’s statement, the net supply of USD Coin (USDC) on the Tron (TRX) blockchain increased by more than 24 percent. The USDC supply on this network now stands at $1.24 billion in equivalent. Tether (USDT), USDC’s main competitor, released $38.7 billion in Tron (TRX) in exchange.
USD Coin (USDC) also surpasses $50 billion in market value across all platforms, becoming the second stablecoin to do so. It’s also available on Algorand (ALGO), Solana (SOL), Stellar (XLM), Avalance (AVAX), Flow (FLOW), and Hedera (HDERA) in addition to Ethereum (ETH) and Tron (TRX) (HBAR).
According to its operator, Circle Inc., USD Coin (USDC) is backed by cash USD (22.9%) and short-term US Treasury bonds (77.1%).
Tron(TRX) is the most resource-efficient platform for USDT transfers, charging $1 regardless of transaction size.
USDC is the only stablecoin that has not seen a severe de-pegging during the current market crash. On May 12, 2022, the USDC/USDT ratio on several markets reached 1:1.
Simultaneously, as the dust settles following the TerraUSD (UST) crash, H.E. Justin Sun announces that Tron’s (TRX) stablecoin, USDD, may be staked with twice as much APY as UST in Anchor Protocol (ANC).
Terra creator Do Kwon gambled about $11 million with two crypto traders on the price of LUNA in March, in a move that has likely aged like milk.
Kwon bet that LUNA would trade over $88 in March 2023, exactly one year after the bet was placed.
Terra’s creator put $10 million on @GiganticRebirth, a crypto trader, and $1 million on @AlgodTrading. GiganticRebirth has increased his stake by establishing a short position in LUNA.
The $22 million was parked in USDT with an escrow account controlled by prominent crypto trader @cobie, who also hosts a crypto podcast.
With Terra’s latest fall, it’s clear who took home the $22 million wager. As of press time, LUNA is selling at roughly $0.0006918.
Terra had enraged Kwon and other LUNA holders, and both GiganticRebirth and Algod were vociferous detractors. Their wager with Kwon was based on a similar premise.
While Terra’s demise has been terrible for the cryptocurrency market, it has also served as vindication for traders who forecast UST’s insufficiency.
In response to the catastrophe and the wager, Algod demanded that Kwon pay up the money early. GiganticRebirth also remarked on the crash, stating that they purchased 120,000 LUNA to offset “risk” associated with their short position.
Despite the fact that the token has lost nearly all of its value, it still looks to be witnessing massive trade volumes.
The token’s price has increased by over 1000 percent in the last 24 hours, despite considerable volatility. Terra looks to be continuing to promote blockchain technology.
Kwon said on Saturday that Terra will use the Luna Foundation Guard’s Bitcoin reserves to defend blockchain engineers. Any attempts to save the UST peg have mainly failed so far.
In a historic dump, the Terra (LUNA) token and its stablecoin UST both tumbled to the ground. Almost every major cryptocurrency trading exchange in the world has delisted both tokens. In just seven days, LUNA lost all of its value. However, the token’s most recent price update has some investors concerned.
In the previous 24 hours, the price of the LUNA token has increased by 1500%. It is now selling at $0.00049 on average. Terra has previously said that its blockchain had resumed production following the huge meltdown. The validators decided to make on-chain exchanges impossible.
Luna’s 24-hour trade volume has increased by 2000% to $6.8 billion. Meanwhile, UST, Terra’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, has increased by 23% in the previous 24 hours. UST is currently trading at $0.215 after a significant drop. It still has a market capitalization of approximately $2.4 billion.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has launched spot trading for LUNA/BUSD and UST/BUSD on its platform. It also permitted simultaneous deposits and withdrawals for both tokens. However, it cautioned investors to conduct their own study into the coins’ fundamentals.
In the last 24 hours, the LUNA has been quite volatile. This unexpected increase in the value of a dead coin presents some serious concerns. Is this just another rug pull or a ruse set up by experts to get more money?
Do Kwon, Terra’s founder, expressed his sympathy for the community and holders who lost money in the historic UST depegging. He stated that the organization is working on recording how its Luna Foundation Guard Bitcoin reserves were used during the depegging incident. According to sources, the LFG BTC reserve has 70,736 Bitcoin.
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, has had an extremely difficult week with the release of a poor first-quarter financial report that featured a contentious disclosure file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The American crypto exchange revealed its first quarter profits for 2022 after the conclusion of market hours on Tuesday, indicating a net loss of $430 million, compared to a net profit of $771 million the previous quarter.
According to the report, the corporation was down 44 percent, resulting in a 35 percent reduction in year-over-year profits to $1.16 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $1.5 billion.
The number of active monthly users on the exchange fell by 19 percent to 9.2 million from 11.4 million in Q4 2021.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong blamed the company’s dismal financial results on “weaker market conditions,” since transaction fees account for around 85% of the exchange’s income.
Coinbase issued a new disclosure with the SEC along with its first quarter earnings report, detailing how the business handles digital assets held on its platform.
Custodially held assets might be considered part of the company’s property in the event of bankruptcy, according to the document, and consumers would be classed as “general unsecured creditors.” Customers of Coinbase would be the last to make claims in the case of bankruptcy, therefore they would be the least considered.
Despite Armstrong’s rapid assurances that customers’ assets were safe and that the firm was not in danger of going bankrupt, Coinbase stock fell to an all-time low.
After the firm announced its Q1 results report on Tuesday, its stock dropped more than 20% in after-hours trading, hitting an all-time low of $52.88 the next day.
COIN was trading at $52.8 on Wednesday, down 84 percent from its 52-week all-time high (ATH) of $368.90, according to MarketWatch.
Meanwhile, due to market turmoil, the BTC premium on Coinbase fell to negative levels for the first time in three years as the crypto industry suffers.
The negative premium indicates that whales and other significant investors with vast bitcoin portfolios have sold their coins on the exchange, causing the price to fall.
Coinbase BTC Premium began going negative on May 2, according to blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant, signifying massive sell-offs by investors dumping their holdings on the site.
Bitcoin’s value has plummeted since the beginning of the month. On Thursday, the cryptocurrency reached a low of $25,000 per coin.
Bitcoin surpasses $25k for the First Time in Nine Weeks
Emirates, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) largest airline, has revealed plans to incorporate “bitcoin as a payment facility.”
The airline’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Adel Ahmed Al-Redha indicated at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai on May 13 that they will soon be launching a Metaverse and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
According to Mr. Ahmed, the idea was to put Emirates at the forefront of disruptive blockchain technology while also engaging with consumers faster and more flexibly. As a result, the airline will begin employing additional personnel for its metaverse and NFTs divisions to assist in the monitoring and enhancement of client services.
With the metaverse, you will be able to transform your entire process—whether it is in operation, training sales on the website, or the entire experience—into a metaverse type application, but more importantly, making it interactive, Ahmed explained, adding that they planned to use blockchain technology in tracking aircraft records.
Furthermore, Emirates planned to incorporate Bitcoin as a payment option, as well as to offer NFT collectibles to the company’s website for trading reasons.
Mr. Ahmed stated that the first initiatives are already in the works, and that the Emirates Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai would be repurposed as a hub for innovation, including the development of the airline’s metaverse and NFT projects.
Emirates, the UAE’s largest airline, has previously expressed interest in the digital assets ecosystem.
The airline said last month that it will soon introduce NFTs and innovative metaverse experiences for its passengers and workers as part of its aim to be a top airline in Web3.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates airline and Group, stated at the time: “Dubai and the UAE are blazing the way in the digital economy, with a clear vision supported by practical policies and regulatory frameworks in areas such as virtual assets, artificial intelligence, and data protection.”
What distinguishes this bear market from the last one
Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek described the devastating drop in the market as a “very terrible day.”
Total market value losses in the previous seven days total $570 billion, or -33 percent. With markets frightened, there’s always the risk of additional panic selling as investors try to limit their losses.
Despite this, Marszalek points out that “nobody is doubting crypto’s sustainability,” in contrast to the overarching narrative of the last down market.
However, the last weak market was defined by the sheer quantity of initiatives that failed. And the same will be true again this time.
The crypto sell-off this week has put an end to any concept of a bull cycle. Every top 100 token, barring stablecoins, has lost double digits in the previous week.
Surprisingly, TRON has fared the best over the previous seven days, with only a 12% drop. STEPN, Fantom, and Gala were the heaviest impacted, with losses of 69 percent, 69 percent, and 60 percent, respectively.
According to Marszalek, no one is doubting the industry’s viability at this time. However, this does not guarantee that every proposal will make it to the next bull phase.
The website coinopsy.com categorizes deceased projects as jokes, scams, and abandoned. Sorting by date reveals that 753 cryptocurrency projects died in 2018, demonstrating the magnitude of the destruction inflicted by the bear market.
Although it is still early days, advances since 2018 have accelerated the space significantly. For example, there were 10,397 distinct crypto projects in February 2022, compared to 1,658 in March 2018.
With that in mind, it’s realistic to predict that hundreds of crypto ventures will fail during this bad market.
Do Kwon, co-founder of Terra, believes that practically all cryptocurrency startups will fail. In a recent interview before the storm, he stated that 95 percent of ventures will fail, adding that it is also entertaining to see enterprises collapse.
Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, is the founder and CEO of Binance. Speaking from his own Twitter account, he explained why he decided to remove LUNA and UST from Binance.
TerraUSD (commonly known as UST) and LUNA are the two most popular stablecoins in the cryptocurrency community, with UST relying on LUNA.
Stablecoins are often used to avoid extreme volatility, which is a prevalent feature of the crypto market, by preserving relative price stability through the use of collaterals (fiat or cryptocurrency) or algorithms.
Following a massive drop in the crypto industry, which saw LUNA depegged, Binance suspended all kinds of LUNA and UST trading on its site.
Several issues have been raised over the abrupt drop in the value of LUNA and why Binance delisted it from its platform. Changpeng Zhao, or CZ as he is most often known, turned to Twitter to explain his choice. The decision was made in accordance with Binance’s policy of protecting users in the case of high volatility.
He said that there was a fault in Terra’s protocols, therefore the decision was made to prohibit Binance customers from purchasing newly minted LUNA, which would have most certainly resulted in an account crash.
He voiced his rage and displeasure when he deviated from Binance’s impartial stance and chastised the Terra team for their carelessness of duty and failing to respond to Binance. He referenced a recent situation and praised their quick response and collaboration with Binance before promising to keep a close watch on matters and keep users updated on any and all developments.
Following the failures of UST and LUNA, Terra blockchain declared its closure in the early hours of Friday, May 13, 2022. The downtime was also stated in the tweet to allow the validators to come up with a plan of reconstitution, and while the strategy is still unknown, there is a promise of updates.
Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics business, revealed Thursday that it has secured $170 million in a Series F fundraising round at a $8.6 billion value.
This indicates that the company’s valuation has more than quadrupled since its previous series E funding in June 2021. Chainalysis was valued $4.2 billion at the time. According to Crunchbase, the fresh financing increases the company’s overall fundraising to $536.6 million since its inception in 2014.
According to the statement, the most recent fundraising was sponsored by Singapore’s government wealth fund, GIC, and included previous partners such as Accel, Blackstone, Dragoneer, and FundersClub. Bank of New York Mellon and Emergence Capital were also present.
The firm stated that it will utilize the new money to support product innovation and strengthen its worldwide operations in order to meet the demands of its clients.
Chainalysis is a crypto analytics company that provides tools that assist crypto businesses, government agencies, regulators, and financial institutions in over 70 countries in identifying high-risk wallet addresses in order to avoid and combat fraud.
Chainalysis has quadrupled its private sector client base, tripled its financial services customer base, and now has over 100 financial institutions as customers, according to the company.
The analytics platform announced a new group of financial partners, including Bank of New York Mellon, Cross River Bank, and the Australian Commonwealth Bank (CBA).
Meanwhile, Chainalysis has played an important role in the crypto field since its inception eight years ago, incorporating its sophisticated technology into crypto platforms to assist increase security.
Cronos teamed with Chainalysis last month to leverage the latter’s platform to deliver security and data services to its native token.
Chainalysis has also worked with South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin marketplace Paxful, and others in the past.
Tether CTO, Paolo Ardoino, told us last month that the cryptocurrency was ready for a bank run. Ardoino and the Tether team have done simulations of a 2008-style financial catastrophe and think that the company will be able to fulfill all redemptions even if a comparable event unfolds.
Tether’s USD peg was shaken yesterday as it plummeted to $0.95 on key exchanges such as Binance.US and Coinbase. The cryptocurrency has been trading below $0.995 for the longest period since March 2020, with many four-hour candles closing below the 0.005 mark. It has already returned to $0.993, and it appears like the peg will be restored soon. If the peg returns, USDT may have a 5% maximum pain reduction and a 48-hour recovery.
However, the possibility of this amount of volatility has already been priced into the cryptocurrency market as a whole. When stablecoins have the ability to fluctuate by 5%, they will almost certainly be struck.
In response to current market circumstances, Ardoino tweeted, “Reminder that tether is honoring USD redemptions at $1.” Ardoino stated in our conversation that Tether has never denied atonement. However, it appears that investors must have at least $100,000 Tether and be located outside of the United States unless they qualify as an Eligible Contract Participant. Tether said that they have processed over $300 million in USDT redemptions in the last 24 hours.
He goes on to say that if we have hyperinflation and a “pizza costs $1 million,” it will also be “1 million USDT.” The discussion centered on growing global inflation and the potential death of fiat money. Today, however, it is stablecoins that are in the headlines, with fears that they could be wiped out due to fluctuating market circumstances.
Tether is glad to inform that it is operating as usual in the aftermath of this week’s market moves.
Tether continues to honor redemptions regularly, with verified consumers (in permitted areas) able to redeem USDT for USD$1 on Tether.to. Tether has honored over 300 million USDT redemptions in the last 24 hours alone and is now processing more than
USDT has remained stable despite several black swan occurrences and very unpredictable market circumstances, and even in its worst days, Tether has never failed to honor a redemption request from any of its verified consumers. USDT will continue to do so, as it has always done.
MicroStrategy CEO: Bitcoin will surpass gold as a store of value
Bitcoin’s difficulties are poised to worsen as the crypto asset’s price fell further Wednesday, trading at $27,194.41 at one point. Bitcoin’s price has recently dropped to its lowest level in 16 months. According to Michael Saylor, the enormous sell-off is the consequence of various factors, including imminent Fed rules and the much-discussed UST depegging.
Like previous times, Bitcoin dragged the majority of altcoins down with it. The present situation of Bitcoin has emerged as a popular issue in the financial arena, revealing a plethora of hypotheses, opinions, and disputes.
According to Michael Saylor, millionaire businessman and co-founder of MicroStrategy, the Bitcoin price is controlled by a small handful of people. “Those with more money and less expertise than you decide the price of #Bitcoin.” “They will receive the information and you will get the money in time,” he tweeted early yesterday.
Since the digital coin’s introduction into the realm of finance, there has been speculation that the price of Bitcoin is controlled by rich individuals. Its secrecy and underlying technology have fanned these doubts throughout Bitcoin’s journey, which has been compounded in the last two years by an inflow of institutional buyers.
In the early stages of 2021, multi-billion dollar national and private businesses jumped into the Bitcoin pool and began purchasing significant amounts of it. When it began acquiring BTC in August 2020, MicroStrategy was one of the companies that sparked the institutional wave.
According to BuyBitcoinWorldwide statistics, asset managers had a total of 1,476,568 BTC worth $70 billion as of August 30, 2021, which was comparable to 7.85 percent of the coin’s circulating supply at the time, which was 18,797,968 BTC. Grayscale Investments and MicroStrategy, of course, were the driving forces behind the spending.
Although Saylor’s statements came at the worst possible time, some investors have taken notice, using them to support an already widely held belief. While there is no proof that the price of Bitcoin is influenced by a few wealthy individuals, there have been times where the price of the cryptocurrency has been altered when there is increased whale activity in the markets.
Some acquisitions, like as Tesla’s, have also had an impact on Bitcoin prices. The price of Bitcoin increased by 20% after it was revealed that Tesla had acquired $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. Saylor’s tweet also implied that the price of bitcoin will recover and reward HODLers.
When the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency world lost its dollar pegged value, it frightened an already terrified market. It dropped to as low as $0.9455 cents. However, it has already rebounded to trade at $0.993 at the time of publication. During the recovery, the Tether organization published a statement.
The notification stated that they had offered stability during an anticipated market panic. Tether has continued to redeem regularly. Verified consumers have been able to redeem USDT for $1 on the site. Tether has permitted more over 300 million USDT redemptions in the previous 24 hours, according to the company. While it is still processing over 2 billion today with no problems.
USDT is still down 0.45 percent in the last 24 hours. However, its 24-hour trading volume has increased by 10% to $171.05 billion. Tether claimed to have maintained stability in a very turbulent market and to have proven to offer service to all of its clients.
Paolo Ardoino, Tether CTO, answered questions regarding the USDT’s ongoing troubles with de-pegging in a conversation with Scott Melker.
Ardoino stated that their portfolio is incredibly strong and that de-pegging will not occur. It is redeemable at any time. In the history of the Tether, we have never refused a single redemption.
He added that they do a stress test every week. It also incorporates data from the 2008 financial crisis, preparing them for any circumstance.
When questioned about the recovery after the LUNA crash, he stated that it is a difficult decision. I believe that if they can explain what happened and reestablish market trust, they should develop organically and slowly.
More Than $100 Million in NFTs Stolen In The Past Year
Texas, Wisconsin, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Alabama regulators have issued a cease-and-desist order against Flamingo Casino Club, a virtual platform where users may acquire non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and enter lotteries.
The Texas State Securities Board issued the order on Wednesday, alleging that the virtual casino is linked to Russia. Regulators stated in their reasons for seeking the order that the virtual casino utilized its website to entice investors with deceptive promises.
According to the decision, Flamingo agreed to provide consumers who purchased NFTs via the site 50% of its proceeds. The casino also encouraged customers to participate in its organized lotteries in order to win massive jackpots.
The inspectors further said that the casino claimed to be supported by large genuine firms such as the renowned Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino.
The order noted that all of these were incorrect and were essentially fabrications utilized to market the securitized NFTs supplied by the casino in order to recruit investors.
The decision also ruled that Flamingo failed to offer authentic vital information to the public. As a result, there was no way to confirm that the persons claiming to be behind the platform were real.
Overall, the judgment referred to the virtual casino as a “high tech swindle” that regulators are attempting to protect the public from in order to avert immediate and irreversible harm to individuals.
Following an inquiry, law enforcement officials determined that the claims of riches made by Flamingo to investors, as well as the backers portrayed to the public, were all part of a Russian conspiracy to deceive investors.
The detectives were able to link the mysterious person(s) behind the platform to Moscow, Russia’s capital city, using the IP addresses of the desktop and mobile devices connected to the casino, according to the ruling.
Do Kwon, CEO of Terraform Labs, proposed a possible “solution” to the enormous crash that LUNA and UST suffered over the previous few days. TerraUSD (UST), a stablecoin linked 1:1 to the US dollar, lost more than 50% of its value in an unprecedented incident in the cryptocurrency market.
Because they are backed by solid assets, stablecoins function as safe havens during times of high volatility. Unlike other stablecoins, TerraForm Labs used a unique technique to maintain UST stable. The stablecoin project, in particular, made use of complicated computational procedures tied to Terra (LUNA).
LUNA, on the other hand, fell as investors fled following the de-pegging of UST. As a result, the currency has lost 98.49% of its value in the last seven days. The price of LUNA is now 0.8755. Its trading volume has also dropped by more than half during the day.
At the time of writing, UST is trading at $0.3434, down 64.18 percent in the previous seven days. The stablecoin was trading as low as $0.2998 earlier today. Kwon explained that the price stabilization mechanism is absorbing UST supply (more than 10% of total supply), but the cost of absorbing so many stablecoins at the same time has stretched out the on-chain swap spread to 40%, and Luna price has decreased dramatically as a result of absorbing the arbs.
Kwon proposed a solution, noting that the only way ahead will be to absorb the stablecoin supply that want to depart before $UST can begin to repeg. There is no getting around that. They recommend a number of corrective steps to help the peg mechanism absorb supplies.
He proposed approving community proposal 1164, which would allow Terraform Labs to boost UST’s basic pool from $50 million to $100 million SDR.
Furthermore, the PoolRecoveryBlock would be reduced from 36 to 18 to assist increase minting capacity from $239 million to roughly $1.2 billion.
Kwon admitted that this method would be expensive for UST and LUNA HODLERS. He did, however, assure the Terra ecosystem that he and his team will continue to investigate ways to bring more external money into the ecosystem and reduce the supply overhang on UST. Terraform Labs will change its collateral method as they construct UST, according to Kwon.
Bitcoin has the potential to become a zero-emission network
This year has been a rollercoaster ride for Bitcoin. Bitcoin’s price has been fluctuating since its stunning all-time high in November 2021, after a solid start to the year. Following this week’s meltdown, BTC is now heading down a steep valley, with the largest cryptocurrency on the market down more than 50%.
Bitcoin fell below $30,000 Friday, trading at $29,900 in the late afternoon, its lowest level since July 2021. The cryptocurrency briefly recovered to $32,650 in an attempt to recoup, but then fell again, and it now trades at $30,269.
Traders are currently in a frenzy as many anticipate Bitcoin’s problems will worsen if the price does not break through a crucial barrier level in the coming days. Bitcoin’s recent price drop has been connected to a major sell-off caused by a variety of causes, including concerns about the activities of the United States Treasury Department and Federal Reserve.
Many important players in the crypto communities are expressing their views on where Bitcoin’s price is heading. While some consider the recent sudden price drop as a warning sign that the digital asset is headed for an unpleasant awakening, most believe in the coin’s durability and capacity to weather the present negative storm.
American businessman Robert Kiyosaki is among many who feel Bitcoin is here to stay. The rich author of the best-selling book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ resorted to Twitter to vent his contempt for the US government while urging Bitcoin to recover.
Kiyosaki’s tweet, on the other hand, describes US government initiatives and feels that President Biden has both Yellen and Powell playing the long game. Kiyosaki’s prediction that Bitcoin would prevail implies that he envisions a future in which Bitcoin has risen above geopolitical uncertainty and is prospering. If there is any crypto asset that deserves the support of someone like Kiyosaki, it is Bitcoin, which has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to overcome hardship and overcome any obstacle.
The secretary of the United States Treasury, Janet Yellen, stated on Tuesday that stablecoin legislation is needed, but that TerraUST (UST) is dangerous.
Secretary Yellen made the remarks during the Financial Stability Oversight Council Annual Report to Congress meeting on Tuesday. The hearing focused on the activities of the FSOC, a unit of the US Treasury tasked with protecting the nation’s economy.
Pat Toomey, a member of the United States Senate, inquired about stablecoin. Yellen responded to the issue by emphasizing the importance of Congress passing laws on such digital assets by the end of the year.
Yellen also discussed the impact of the current crypto market slump on the price of Terraform’s algorithmic stablecoin, UST, which has plunged 34% from its current price of $0.91. She stated that the stablecoin was not without risks.
According to her, the stablecoin TerraUSD saw a run and fell in value. She believes it merely demonstrates that this is a rapidly rising product with rapidly growing risks.
Do Kwon, Terraform Labs’ co-founder, was purportedly taken to court by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) depleted its $2.2 billion Bitcoin reserve to save the UST.
According to a February source, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer disclosed an initial draft of the Stablecoin Innovation and Protection Act, which contains regulatory guidelines governing stablecoin legislation.
Do Kwon, the founder of Terra, announced plans to support the floundering Terra cryptocurrency on Wednesday. However, his strategy is expected to put even more pressure on LUNA costs.
Terra (LUNA) has experienced a historic drop amid the ongoing crypto market mayhem. Its stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) has also dropped by 45 percent in the last 24 hours.
Kwon stated in a series of tweets that the blockchain will mint more LUNA to be sold on the open market in order to collect revenue to save the UST peg. LUNA can also be burned to produce UST, which is now trading at a significant discount.
UST is currently selling at 50 cents per dollar, significantly below its 1:1 fixed value. LUNA is also trading at a record low of just over $2.
However, minting additional LUNA is likely to cause the token to fall even further, as supply surpassing demand is deflationary for prices. This might cause LUNA prices to plummet well below $1.
According to Kwon, the only option to absorb the stablecoin supply is for those ready to quit before UST reverts to its value.
Naturally, this comes at a great cost to UST and LUNA holders, but they will continue to investigate other strategies to bring additional external capital into the ecosystem and minimize UST supply overhang.
Furthermore, Kwon stated that the blockchain is looking into external financial sources to assist boost UST pricing. However, indications indicate that these efforts have so far been futile.
As the UST peg began to deteriorate earlier this week, the Luna Foundation Guard sold out all of its Bitcoin assets in an effort to support the peg. While this temporarily brought prices closer to $1, it was only temporary because the Bicoin was offered at a substantial discount.
Critics of the network now claim that Terra lacks the liquidity required to support its tokens. Anchor Protocol, its main DeFi platform, has also witnessed a massive exodus of cash and has dropped out of the top-10 DeFi platforms.
Hoskinson On Date Of Cardano Vasil Hard Fork Upgrade
Cardano ADA’s price has been going downwards due to pessimistic emotions. Despite favorable improvements and strong fundamentals within the cryptocurrency’s ecosystem, ADA has suffered huge losses over the last month. Charles Hoskinson, the developer of Cardano and CEO of Input-Output Global (IOG), turned to Twitter to explain why the so-called “Ethereum killer” is falling in value.
Being a crypto trader these days is difficult. Fears about the global macroeconomic situation have grown, the bitcoin price has broken through a key support level, and Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST briefly lost its dollar peg, exacerbating already perilous market conditions.
In fact, the only thing more difficult than investing in bitcoin (BTC) these days is investing in altcoins. They are frequently vulnerable to the vagaries of a more volatile bigger cousin, which currently holds a 41.2 percent market share.
The ADA of Cardano is no exception. According to CoinMarketCap, the price of ADA fell 12.17 percent yesterday, trading at $0.68 at press time. The popular smart contract-based cryptocurrency has also dropped 16.4% in the last week. ADA is the tenth most valuable cryptocurrency on the market, with a market capitalization of slightly more than $23 billion.
Despite the protocol’s growing fundamentals and a growing community, the asset has recently experienced tumultuous price behavior.
The dramatic collapse in the wider cryptocurrency market has accelerated in the previous 24 hours. For the first time since January, bitcoin fell below the $35,000 key support level early Sunday. The leading cryptocurrency has lost another 5.40 percent today, and is now trading at a 10-month low of $32,020. In recent months, BTC has been trading between $35K and $47K. As a result, the most recent price retracement heralds the start of a new market trend.
Emin Gün Sirer, the creator of Ava Labs, has shared his thoughts on Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin, UST.
Due to the censorship risk of fiat-backed stablecoins, Gün Sirer believes there is a need for decentralized algorithmic stablecoins in the ecosystem.
Gün Sirer went on to say that a decentralized ecosystem requires a decentralized stablecoin that is resistant to censorship and seizure. He does not believe, however, that there is enough room for more than one decentralized stablecoin.
Only one algorithmic stablecoin, in his opinion, can succeed, and it will most likely be the one with the most experienced team and the most value for consumers. According to the founder of Avalanche, this is why copycat projects fail.
To him, successfully leading an algorithmic stablecoin project will require more than simply a technical team. It must be a team with the most successful open market operations.
Gün Sirer also made the surprise claim that a team based in the United States would be unable to succeed with an algorithmic project due to the country’s legislative environment. Singapore, Switzerland, and South Korea, he claims, are the only three countries with the necessary legislative framework for an algorithmic stablecoin team.
The crypto CEO also claimed that any algorithmic must have a huge capacity and be very resilient under high load in order to flourish. Only a few chains can claim this at the moment.
He believes that UST will rebound as a result of these factors, and that it will eventually become the dominant algorithmic stablecoin.
Sirer asserted that every stablecoin, even fiat-backed stables, had been de-pegged at some point due to UST’s failure to defend its peg.
However, his viewpoints are not shared by the entire crypto community, which feels that the ecosystem can support more than one algorithmic stablecoin.
After losing its peg to the dollar, UST was trading at $0.92 as of press time.
Justin Sun Transfers 100 Million USDT to Accumulate BTC and TRX
El Salvador’s president and crypto enthusiast, Nayib Bukele, recently revealed that his government upped its whole BTC holdings by 500 coins in an investment move targeted at taking advantage of the current downturn.
Bukele announced via his official Twitter account that the government has just invested $15.3 million in Bitcoin (BTC), purchasing 500 coins at an average price of $30,744 during the recent crypto market downturn, bringing the country’s total BTC held to at least 2,301.
About 12 hours after Bukele’s statement, Justin Sun, a Chinese-Grenadian business leader and founder of TRON, followed in El Salvador’s footsteps by purchasing 500 BTC coins for $15.5 million at an average price of $31031.35.
As indicated by his Twitter feed, El Salvador’s Bukele appears to be having a good time with the slump. He said 11 hours later that he could have sold the 500 coins for a million dollars profit, but that he would not.
El Salvador stands out as one of the most crypto-friendly countries in the world. In September of last year, it became the first country to recognize bitcoin as legal cash. Nayib Bukele, the country’s president, is a 40-year-old businessman who has consistently expressed support for Bitcoin.
Bukele has already taken advantage of price drops in the cryptocurrency market. This was one day before the government declared Bitcoin to be legal money.
After four days of unrelenting bloodletting, the recent fall in the crypto market appears to be far from over. BTC is currently valued at $31.5k per dollar, down 34% from its all-time high of $47.8k earlier this year. The asset recently fell to $29.9k, its lowest point since July 2021.
As is customary, Bitcoin has taken down most of the major cryptocurrencies, forcing some investors to give up, while others, such as the government of El Salvador and the Tron founder, are hoping to profit from the present slump in the hopes of a significant rebound.
El Salvador, a Central American country, has added another 500 bitcoins ($15.5 million) to its portfolio during the recent major market sell-off.
El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, revealed on Monday through Twitter that the digital asset was purchased for an average of $30,744 per unit.
Bitcoin was trading below $30,000 at the time of his statement, a 10-month low. Bitcoin is barely above $31,000 at the time of writing, down 5.37 percent in the last 24 hours.
The transaction is the country’s largest since Bitcoin became legal tender alongside US dollars last year. According to Bloomberg, the recent purchase boosts the Central American country’s total Bitcoin holdings to 2,301 bitcoins.
El Salvador has been losing money since it started buying the coin, according to CoinMarketCap data, but that hasn’t prevented Bukele from buying more.
Bukele has been highly bullish on Bitcoin, continuing to buy the dips in the hopes of seeing the price reach $100,000 this year. Remember when he predicted a $100,000 bitcoin price for 2022 in January?
Meanwhile, as part of El Salvador’s Bitcoin revolution, President Bukele announced in November that the country will build the world’s first Bitcoin-powered metropolis, financed by $1 billion in Bitcoin bonds.
Due to the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, the country’s Finance Minister, Alejandro Zelaya, indicated last month that the bond, which was intended to be issued between March 15 and 20, would be delayed.
Following the departure of Julian Sawyer, Bitstamp, one of the world’s oldest crypto exchanges, has named Jean-Baptiste (JB) Graftieaux as its new worldwide CEO.
Bitstamp announced on Monday that Sawyer, who joined the crypto exchange as CEO in October 2020, has decided to pursue other possibilities. Graftieaux assumed the role on May 7 after serving as the CEO of Bitstamp Europe from May 2021.
Graftieaux, who joined Bitstamp in November 2014 as chief compliance officer after five years at PayPal, has 20 years of experience in the crypto, payments, and banking industries, according to the exchange.
JB has been with Bitstamp since the beginning and has led our European business wonderfully over the last year, according to Bitstamp’s board of directors chair Nicolas Huss. We’re excited to welcome a CEO with such a strong track record to the company, and we look forward to his contributions and perspectives in his new role.
Following the departure of Sawyer, who took over from Bitstamp’s co-founder Nejc Kodri, Graftieaux would be the exchange’s third worldwide CEO. Sawyer’s LinkedIn profile at the time of publication listed him as an honorary senior visiting fellow at City, University of London, and a board adviser for neobank Volt, although it’s unclear if he’ll stay in the digital asset field.
Bitstamp provides you with financial independence and secure choice. We are one of the most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges in the world because we have been doing it for over a decade.
According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitstamp is ranked 11th among crypto exchanges, with a daily trading volume of more than $322 million. In April, the exchange demanded that its users update their profiles in order to identify the source of cryptocurrencies held on the site, as required by regulations.
Nigeria's Looty aims to digitally restore stolen African art
Looty, a Nigerian art-focused company, has devised a method for Africans to view all of the art that was lost during the colonial era.
Chidi, a 34-year-old Nigerian creative designer and creator of Looty, explained that the company first locates African art in museums around the world, then scans and converts the art into 3D formats using specific software and technology.
While this procedure appears simple, Chidi, who refused to reveal his surname so that attention could be focused on Looty’s work, contended that it is not.
Chidi, speaking to the BBC, said:
On May 13, the Looty website will go live. The project, however, commenced operations in November of last year. Chidi collaborates with two Nigerians and a Somali to find prospective art pieces and digitalize them. Each member of the team is an expert in 3D design, NFT technology, or editing.
To capture the artwork, each member has previously visited museums in the United Kingdom and France. The crew has digitally replicated roughly 25 African art items since the project began last year. The famous Benin Bronzes, which once adorned the royal palace of the kingdom of Benin, now Nigeria, are among them.
After debates about non-fungible tokens (NFTs) became popular, Chidi came up with the idea for Looty. At the same period, rumors of European colonizers plundering African art abounded. As a result, he resolved to act on both issues, resulting in the birth of the platform.
Looty’s current goal is to repatriate all African art in order to inspire African artists and raise funding to help them further their careers. The forthcoming website will solely accept cryptocurrencies as payment for NFT art.
A portion of every transaction will be donated to the Looty Fund, which aims to provide African artists with grants and gifts in the form of money and equipment to help them develop their work.
The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), a non-profit organization dedicated to all things Terra, just stated that it will lend $1.5 billion to safeguard the peg of their algorithmic stablecoin UST in the face of current market turbulence.
The group voted to lend $750 million in bitcoin from its reserves to over-the-counter (OTC) trading businesses to defend UST’s peg in a tweet thread on Monday.
The LFG also said that it will lend an additional $750 million in UST to help stabilize the market by accumulating more bitcoin.
Terraform Lab’s co-founder Do Kwon created a new tweet thread to clarify the organization’s latest step and address mounting speculation.
He clarified that the recent events should not be interpreted as the Luna Foundation Guard attempting to sell its bitcoin holdings. Instead, the monies will be loaned to an unnamed “professional market maker” in order to considerably increase liquidity around the UST peg.
As a result, if the stablecoin falls below its peg, the lent capital will be used to buy UST, and if it rises above or equals its peg, the money will be used to buy more bitcoin.
The native UST stablecoin of Terra had had an exciting weekend. During the weekend, the stablecoin fell below its $1 peg due to volatile market conditions.
UST is a one-of-a-kind stablecoin that works differently from typical stablecoins such as USDTand USDC. UST’s $1 peg is maintained using a mint and burn method using Terra’s governance token LUNA, rather than centralized assets.
However, the stablecoin has depegged in recent weeks as it has been slammed by a wave of multi-million dollar selloffs, with traders on Curve and Binance swapping UST for other stablecoins. According to Etherscan statistics, one account traded 85 million UST for USDC on Curve.
Bitcoin exchange volumes have dropped to multi-year lows
Bitcoin (BTC), the king of cryptocurrencies, has been on the decline since the beginning of the year. At the time of publication, BTC was trading at an average price of $32,897. Bitcoin has lost more than 22% in the last 30 days. In the midst of the crackdown, Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, has predicted that Bitcoin will go below $10,000.
Schiff is well-known for being a vocal opponent of Bitcoin. In a recent attack, he stated that the BTC price decline understates the digital asset’s fragility. He believes that if Bitcoin’s price falls below $30,000, it will have a terrible time.
Schiff polled his Twitter followers on what they would do if Bitcoin fell below $10,000. He stated that Bitcoiners must make a critical decision right now. Meanwhile, he left out the option to “purchase the dip.”
The poll, on the other hand, did not reflect his feelings. To date, over 36k accounts have voted in the poll. BTC will hold the fort, according to 74 percent of those who voted, and they will HODL BTC. On the other hand, roughly 26% of voters stated they’ll sell Bitcoin and possibly buy it again later.
Schiff believes that the recent decrease in Bitcoin’s price is a leading indicator of the risk assets’ weakness. The stock market’s futures were also down 1%.
Over $422 million was liquidated from the Crypto market in the last 24 hours, according to Coinglass. It’s worth noting that over $145 million was shifted out of Bitcoin alone.
Because it remains heavily correlated with present economic conditions, the cryptocurrency market is under tremendous pressure. In the previous 24 hours, the global crypto market has dropped by 4.8 percent. The overall market capitalization is $1.5 trillion.
Controversial behavior by new LUNA validators has been detected
Terra’s elastic monetary policy uses LUNA as a collateral asset to keep the currency peg at UST. The Terra protocol incentivizes users to burn LUNA and mint UST when the value of UST exceeds $1.00. When the price of UST falls below $1.00, the system compensates users who burn UST and mint LUNA.
When a result, LUNA’s value should fall as UST supply is reduced. Similarly, if UST’s supply grows, LUNA’s value rises, according to Will Comyns, a Messari researcher.
The data below illustrates an ongoing downward trend in daily UST supply, which corresponds to an increase in daily LUNA supply. For the first time in two months, the UST market contracted on May 8, falling by 28.1 million below zero. Simultaneously, LUNA’s supply increased by more than 50%.
LUNA retested a support combination comprised of its 50-day exponential moving (50-day EMA; the red wave) near $56 and a multi-month upwards rising linear trend in response to Terra’s continuing price fall.
The ascending trendline, in conjunction with some other upward trending line above, forms a rising wedge pattern. Because rising wedges are negative reversion setups, their presence on Terra’s weekly chart indicates that additional downside is likely.
A rising wedge breakdown, according to technical analysis, pushes the price lower by the maximum distance between the structure’s upper and lower trendlines.
As a result, if LUNA falls below its wedge from its current support confluence, accompanied by an increase in volumes, it risks falling to about $22.50, a drop of more than 60% from its current price.
A bounce from the support confluence, on the other hand, would put LUNA in position for a run up to the wedge’s upper trendline and a new high above $130.
While some traders remain positive on the asset, others are undecided about the next price action. There were numerous predictions as to how low prices would fall once Bitcoin $36k support was broken on Friday.
After the highlighted mark, one forecast claimed that the $34k support was the strongest. The figure, according to the study, is the midpoint between a plunge as low as $32k and future price hikes. When the level will be tested remains to be seen.
Most retracements below $34,000 have resulted in continued downtrends past that mark, indicating that $32k is a weak level. Last year, for example, one of the most remarkable adjustments occurred on May 19.
The apex coin dropped more than 14% on that day, but the biggest news was that the downturn had come to an end: at $30,000. Four days later, a similar scenario occurred, and the shaky support collapsed. $31k was the point at which the drop came to a standstill.
Other tweaks portrayed the aforementioned level as vulnerable. It’s critical to hold the $34,000 support because a flip might lead to a retest of $31,000. Will the aforementioned mark fall?
BTC has found support at $34,210 at the time of writing. It has recovered and is currently trading at $34,800. The way in which the aforementioned level breaks, however, remains a source of concern. There were two possibilities leading up to the flip.
We inferred that the top cryptocurrency broke $34k because to heavy selling pressure from one of the listed examples. One of the longest wicks in the history of the coin showed the retracement. If this happens again, the support under consideration will undoubtedly fail.
A persistent sellers’ congestion that could last days is the second scenario that could play out. Bitcoin could lose $34,000 in the following two days, depending on today’s closing price. If the bulls maintain their current rebound pace, we could witness more uptrends with a target of $38,000. In addition, if the first incidence occurs, BTC may test $31,00 again.
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