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Altcoins Bitcoin Ethereum Price Analysis

BTC ADA XRP ETH Price Analysis 07/25

As traders adopted a risk-off attitude before the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision this week, BTC fell to as low as $21,400 on Monday during the Asian Market session after just staying over $22,800 on Sunday.

The price reached a one-month high of $24,300 in the middle of last week, but that positive momentum was drained by the weekend. A 2.81 percent loss in market capitalization in 24 hours has brought the value of the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency, BTC, to $21,831 as of this writing.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, has also fallen over five percent to trade at $1,513. As of the start of this week’s trading, XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE) all had their value fall by more than 5% on CoinMarketCap, according to their respective values.

A 3.60 percent drop in the last day has brought the crypto market size to $1.01 trillion. There is still a fear and greed index that shows investor views about issues that might possibly influence cryptocurrencies, even if the index has improved in the last 30 days.

This week, the US central bank is anticipated to raise interest rates by at least 75 basis points in response to the soaring inflationary pressures in the Eurozone.

Expect to hear a statement and a news conference from Fed Chair Jeremy Powell on Wednesday from the US central bank’s Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC). The Fed’s rate rise and other forward-looking initiatives will allow investors to judge whether the rate hike will further depress financial markets or if it will be a major cause of a worldwide recession.

Since June’s meeting, the markets haven’t recovered, and investors are still concerned about this week’s FOMC statement.

Inflation has continued to rise, and the US labor market has remained robust, according to recent data.” No matter how hard the fed pushes, something will eventually break.” Tedtalksmacro published an article for the site.

BTC’s fundamentals have improved in recent weeks, but analysts warn that the price might be rocked in the near term, with its most significant support of $22,000 at danger of being wiped out. As of this writing, “Price Predictions” has predicted that Bitcoin would decline to a minimum price of $21,420 in July, with an average price of $23,628.

Crypto analytics site Santiment reports that Ethereum’s mood has once again dropped into Super negative area, suggesting that prices may continue to tumble before the FOMC meeting.

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Blockchain News

Ex Meta workers secure $150M for quicker blockchain

Acquired $150 million in investment to create cutting-edge solutions to enhance blockchain and web3 experience for developers, Aptos Labs said Monday.

An exodus of former Meta workers formed the San Francisco-based business last year after the company’s crypto project was shut down owing to increased regulatory scrutiny.

Jump Crypto and FTX Ventures, the investment arm of Sam Bankman-derivatives Fried’s crypto exchange FTX, spearheaded the fresh fundraising, according to the official statement.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Multicoin Capital, and Circle Ventures also participated in the round of financing.

An opportunity to construct dependable blockchain and web3 innovations that boost web3 ecosystem usability and socializing have been presented by Aptos with the additional investment.

To meet customer demands for more efficient and upgradable blockchain technology, the company is working with its key partners to identify those requirements.

As a result, this is the company’s second seed fundraising round of 2017. At the end of March, Aptos secured $200 million in funding from investors in the IT sector and elevated the company’s value to more than $1 billion.

Diem, a now-defunct Meta crypto startup, used the same programming language, termed “Move,” to power their speedier and cheaper blockchain technology.

For some time now, we’ve been aware of the fact that existing blockchains are not suitable for widespread web3 adoption because of concerns like as outages and downtime. According to Aptos Labs co-founder Mohammed Shaikh, “we’re constructing a blockchain to be the trustworthy basis for web3 that invites in people from all over the globe to enjoy the advantages of decentralization.

And in the midst of the bear market, Aptos isn’t the only corporation looking to raise capital; Series B fundraising of $17 million from both current and new investors was announced by South Korean crypto disclosure startup Xangle back in May, according to Coinposters. The firm said that it will be utilized to boost its position in the industry by improving goods and services.

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Blockchain News

Thailand’s regulator will probe Zipmex users’ losses

A cryptocurrency exchange called Zipmex, which mostly serves Southeast Asian countries, suddenly stopped accepting withdrawals, which affected many investors. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand has opened a probe into this issue.

Reuters reported that Thailand’s regulator and law enforcement have started their investigation to determine any possible damages incurred by the general population. The SEC is reportedly soliciting input from affected Zipmex consumers through an online forum, it was said. Additionally, traders are questioned about how the exchange’s problem has impacted them.

The primary countries where Zipmex offers services are Thailand, Singapore, Australia, and Indonesia. On July 20, the site ceased allowing withdrawals. It was said that the exchange took this measure to preserve its integrity because of the unstable market circumstances and the financial challenges of its business partners.

According to the article, representatives of Zipmex said that they would be prepared to comply with the regulator’s request. It further said that it communicates often with government organizations. This information is released concurrently with the Thai lender SCB X Pcl’s declaration that it would extend the term for doing due diligence on its $537 million investment in the cryptocurrency exchange Butkub.

The withdrawal service did, however, start up again in Thailand the same evening. While it took longer in other nations. In a letter dated July 21, Zipmex said that it was extending its maintenance window and that trading would be suspended until further notice.

The platforms then revealed that they have exposure to Babel Finance and celsius of $53 million. It said that it was working to settle its $48 million liability with the cryptocurrency loan company and was in continuous touch with Babel Finance. Babel’s representative said that they were proactively addressing the problem to prevent any user losses.

Due to the severe fall of the cryptocurrency market, Zipmex is not the only cryptocurrency company to have difficulties of this kind.

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Ethereum Price Analysis

Ethereum (ETH) Market Update 07/24

With the crypto market looking upbeat as we begin a new week, Ethereum technical indicators are mainly in neutral positions. This follows a week of positive performance by the digital asset.

Ethereum’s Relative Strength Index (RSI), which measures whether the cryptocurrency is overbought or oversold, has the latest value of 51, according to data given by community-driven crypto analytics site CryptoQuant. There were times recently when RSI levels hovered around 38 for Ethereum.

When the Relative Strength Index (RSI) rises over 70, an asset is considered overbought, and it is considered oversold when the RSI falls below 30. The range of values between -30 and -70 is regarded as a middle ground.

Ethereum’s stochastic oscillator shows a value of 67.4, suggesting a neutral outlook for the cryptocurrency. The price movement momentum of a financial asset is often assessed using the Stochastic oscillator. It is primarily used to spot any asset price reversals that may be on the horizon.

Since the beginning of July, Ethereum has been hovering around the $1.2k level. In spite of its recent rise, the asset’s highest value this month stands at $1,630.7. Despite this, the majority of technical indicators point to Ethereum’s value increasing in the near future.

One of the most eagerly awaited events in the crypto industry is the Merge, which will see Ethereum’s blockchain switch from a Proof-of-Work consensus process to a Proof-of-Stake one. Preparatory modifications are currently underway for the Merge, which will be fully operational in August.

A prominent Ethereum testnet known as Sepolia has switched from proof of stake to proof of work. The Sepolia upgrade was the Ethereum blockchain’s second-to-last upgrade before The Merge’s impending arrival.

On June 30th, the Ethereum team announced the “Gray Glacier” network update, which took effect at block 15,050,000. To prepare the chain for proof of stake, the devs moved the difficulty bomb back 700,000 blocks or 100 days using Gray Glacier.

At the time of this writing, the price of Ethereum (ETH) is $1,601. During the previous seven days, it has risen by 19 percent and by 6.09 percent in the last 24 hours. In comparison to its all-time high of $4,891 in November of last year, this may seem like a letdown, but the asset has held up well through these trying times and is poised for a rise this quarter.

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Bitcoin Price Analysis

Bitcoin (BTC) Market Update 07/24

Bitcoin (BTC) managed to find support around $22,000 heading into the 24th of July, with bulls continuing to shoot for a strong green weekly close.

The Bitcoin to US Dollar exchange rate stopped falling around $21,900, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView and is now moving closer to $23,000 than it was earlier in the day.

The pair maintained a trading range that was intently focused on crucial long-term trendlines. These trendlines had been characterized by experts as being vital to recapture in the past.

These included the 50-day and the 200-week moving averages (MAs), with the latter being especially significant as support during bear markets despite having behaved as resistance since May.

A prominent trading account on Twitter called CryptoMellany stated in part of her most recent post on the day that it was bullish because the market had “fully maintained the 13d ema + horizontal 21.9k.”

“I anticipate we’ll remain around 22,500 for today’s weekly close, with activity down to 21-21.6k to start the new week, and then up for the rest of the week, creating a bull flag,”
At the time of this writing, the 50-day and 200-week moving averages (MAs) were at $22,370 and $22,690, respectively, with the spot price at $22,670.

In continuation, another trader and analyst by the name of Jibon referred to the forthcoming weekly close as “very very crucial.” An accompanying graphic highlighted the prices $21,944 and $22,401 as the dividing lines between a “poor” close and a “good” close, respectively.

Jibon had warned earlier in the week that such a “poor” outcome may be the start of a pullback to new macro lows for Bitcoin, which might go as low as $12,000. However, ongoing strength could spark a relief rally that goes as high as $40,000.

BTC/USD would reach its highest levels since the middle of June if it were to close at the levels it is at right now.

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Blockchain News

Four Convicted Of $25.2M Crypto Fraud

Four men have been convicted of stealing and laundering $25.2 million in cryptocurrency from an Australian crypto exchange.

Criminals Stephen Boys, Kelly Caton, Jordan Kane Robinson, and James Austin-Beddoes colluded to carry out their plan from October 2017 to January 2018, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Friday. They also collaborated with James Parker, who has since died, according to an inquiry.

After discovering and exploiting a weakness in the crypto exchange trading platform used by the scheme’s mastermind, Parker and the other four men gained access to the exchange and took $25.2 million out of it.

Financial advisor Mr. Boys sought out Kambi, a UK citizen who lives in Dubai, to assist them to convert the stolen crypto assets into cash before laundering them via numerous foreign-based internet accounts, and then splitting the earnings with the rest of the criminal organization.

While Caton and Robinson both took a total of 2.7 million and 1.7 million pounds from their trading accounts, Parker withdrew a total of $18.1 million from his account.

Crypto assets stolen by crooks have been recovered, according to the CPS.

After Parker’s death in January 2021, the court did not have time to bring him to trial. Working with police from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, CPS has identified and secured a Civil Recovery Order with an estimated value of approximately $1,000,000 from his illegal actions,” according to a statement from CPS.

In the wake of crypto’s ascent, fraudsters have taken advantage of the asset class in order to carry out a wide range of illegal activities.

More than 500 Chinese and Taiwanese citizens were defrauded out of their money by six Bangkok police suspects in a bogus cryptocurrency operation in May.

South African police recently detained two individuals on suspicion of $2 million in cryptocurrency fraud.

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Blockchain

Chain acquires MDT token ecosystem for $100 million

Chain, a company that provides cloud services to developers so that they can create blockchain-based applications, will gain access to a variety of assets with the completion of the $100 million acquisition. These assets include MDT, the cash-back app RewardMe, and the financial data protocol MeFi. MDT is a decentralized distributed ledger technology.

This particular deal will stand out from others since it will entail a token conversion. Specifically, MDT will be exchanged for XCN, which is Chain’s native token. This serves as an example of how transactions involving digital assets may sometimes take strange and unexpected turns.

The firm’s very own mergers and acquisitions division coordinated the deal, along with the assistance of consultants from Tanner De Witt and Rooney Nimmo.

According to a statement on the company’s blog, “With this purchase, there will be a sunset of the Measurable Data Token (MDT),” which means that all MDTs would be burnt and replaced with XCN tokens. “Holders of MDT tokens will be eligible to reap the benefits of the swap, and it is anticipated that they will get a value of $0.08 per MDT token for the exchange.”

It is true that there is a precedent for this kind of merger; for example, the now-struggling company Voyager Digital acquired LGO Markets, which resulted in a merging between the tokens of the two companies.

Deepak Thapliyal, CEO of Chain, commented on the procedure, stating that it was “complex and involves a lot of cooperation from counter-parties.”

He added:

“In order to facilitate the swap for tokens that are held off-chain, we will need the aid of exchanges. Since we are both predominantly ERC20 tokens, the procedure for tokens that are stored on the chain will be a lot less difficult and will be accessible via a simple smart contract.

Already, Nexo, a bitcoin lender, and Vault, a competitor located in Singapore, have reached an agreement to be purchased. the company that Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX owns and operates.

The United States has also made public its desire to buy BlockFi. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, recently gave an interview to Yahoo Finance in which he indicated that the cryptocurrency exchange was contemplating between 50 and 100 investment and acquisition possibilities.

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Blockchain News

FTX will pay Voyager users who open an exchange account

If users of the Voyager cryptocurrency wallet sign up for an account on the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, the FTX exchange will implement a strategy to save the users of the Voyager wallet.

Voyager is one of the cryptocurrency firms that had significant hardships as a result of the most recent liquidity crisis, as was mentioned in earlier articles written by Coinposters.

The announcement that Voyager would be filing for bankruptcy caused the firm’s customers to suffer along with the company.

Specifically, customers who hold cryptocurrency assets in the company account will be eligible to receive a portion of the remaining cryptocurrency assets, debt recovery from 3AC, shares in the new Voyager company that will be formed as a result of debt restructuring, and tokens of the Voyager platform.

In the most recent turn of events, on the evening of July 22, FTX revealed a plan to “partially rescue” Voyager users, which was developed in partnership with the Alameda Research foundation. As a consequence of this, consumers will have access to a portion of the funds that were previously stored in their Voyager account via the account that they first established on FTX.

In order for the idea to become law, it would first need to be sanctioned by the court. Despite this, FTX aims to finish the transaction with Voyager as quickly as possible around the end of July so that they can begin the deployment in August.

The purpose of our collaborative proposal is to contribute to the establishment of a more effective method for the resolution of insolvent crypto businesses.

This method should be one that enables customers to obtain early liquidity and reclaim a portion of their assets without requiring them to speculate on the outcomes of the bankruptcy or take risks that are lopsided. Sam Bankman-Fried stated

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Altcoins Price Analysis

Shiba Inu (SHIB) Market Update

Shiba Inu has shown that the future of your idea and the foundation that ensures a growing business is more important than what you start as. By market cap, Shiba Inu has become one of the top 15 crypto assets. Amidst recent optimistic tendencies, the asset has risen in tandem with other cryptocurrencies.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has surpassed Tron (TRX) to become the 15th biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to statistics from CoinMarketCap. Now, Shiba Inu is worth $6.48B, only a few million dollars more than TRX, which was valued at $6.19B at press time.

With enormous increases since its birth in August 2020 as an alternative to Dogecoin, the meme currency has grown steadily throughout the years. Dogecoin’s connection to the project has also helped it acquire traction in the crypto community, particularly on Twitter. Because of this, investors are more interested in the asset, and word of mouth about it has spread.

Cryptocurrency prices have plummeted recently, but Shiba Inu’s market worth looks to have shot through the roof in the last week, too. Shiba’s market value was $5.2 billion a month ago, in June, at the worst of the Crypto Winter. It has already surpassed TRX thanks to a further $1 billion in funding announced recently.

To explain SHIB’s recent climb in market value, it is necessary to look back at previous positive occurrences that have attracted investors. William David Volk, a mobile game developer in the United States, tweeted on July 20 that Shiba Inu will be getting something new. As seen by the comments area, the Shiba community was intrigued, with some questioning what the gaming veteran was on about.

Shiba Inu also announced a cooperation with The Third Floor (TTF) on July 20th to see TTF construct a virtual environment for the Shiba Inu Metaverse project. Some of the TTF’s work may be found in the Marvel and Star Wars cinematic universes.

Additionally, JeriPay, a Singapore-based payments platform, announced the following day that it will begin accepting payments in Shiba Inu thanks to a partnership with payment processing service FCFPay.

Shiba is now trading at $0.00001179, down 4.5% in the last 24 hours. As a result of the asset’s 11.47 percent rise this week,

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Blockchain News

Three Arrows assets worth $40m were liquidated

According to a story published by Bloomberg News on July 21, the liquidator of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Teneo, has taken custody of assets worth $40 million that belonged to the hedge fund.

The fund’s assets were claimed to consist of bank accounts, various cryptocurrencies, non-traditional financial instruments, and interests in other firms by the liquidators.

On July 20, a spokesman for Teneo named Russell Crumpler made the announcement that the founders of Three Arrows Capital, Kyle Davies, and Su Zhu, still have ownership of some digital assets and bank accounts. Crumpler claimed that Teneo had contacted around 40 businesses in which 3AC may have invested, in addition to approximately 30 cryptocurrency exchanges and banks.

In a second document that was submitted on July 8, the liquidators said that Zhu and Davies had been unhelpful and that they had been unable to find them. On the list of 3AC’s creditors are companies like Genesis, as well as defunct crypto lending platforms such as Voyager Digital and Celsius Network, as well as Algorand and CoinList. The hedge firm owes a total of $2.8 billion to its various creditors.

In the meanwhile, Su Zhu and the wife of Kyle Davies have both initiated legal action against the misappropriated hedge fund. According to a recently published article, the founders of Three Arrows Capital are now on route to Dubai and have refuted allegations that they are unwilling to cooperate with authorities.

According to the sources, they were driven into hiding as a result of the “death threats” they received; yet, they continued to communicate with the liquidator.

The collapse of the fund was partially attributed, according to the co-founders, to the death of Terra, which was also recognized. Zhu suggests that the possibility exists that they let their close friendship with Do Kwon cloud their judgment about the token.

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Ethereum

ETH Whales Take Interest in Polygon (MATIC)

An impressive 30-day rebound has been recorded by Polygon (MATIC), one of the major cryptocurrencies. This uptick is attributed to an increase in whale interest.

According to Whale Stats, the 100 largest Ethereum whales traded the most MATIC tokens in the previous 24 hours. In order to win, the token swapped SNX tokens for the top slot on the board.

More than 82,6 million dollars worth of Polygon tokens is held by the top 100 Ethereum whales, according to data. Only 2.83 percent of their overall wealth is invested in this. There is roughly $144.4 million worth of MATIC tokens in the top 5000 ETH wallets.

According to the whale tracker, the ETH whales purchased $3 million of MATIC tokens in the previous 48 hours. Polygon tokens were contributed to the “Bonobo” wallet in a single transaction, totaling $1.81 million.

Whales Stats also noted that MATIC tokens were among the top 10 tokens acquired by the largest 100 BSC whales. The value of their assets has increased to $31.87 million.

At the time of this writing, the Polygon was trading at an average price of $0.852. Over the previous seven days, MATIC’s prices have risen by more than 21%. In the last 24 hours, Matic’s trading volume was over $882.5 million. However, there has been a little decline in the overall number of holders.

ETH whales have sold huge amounts of MATIC tokens in the previous 24 hours, according to our analysis. The token sits above the tally at the top. The price of Polygon, on the other hand, has declined by around 9% in the same time frame. Among Ethereum Whales’ top ten most often used smart contracts, you’ll find the MATIC token as well.

Chainlink and Shiba Inu, on the other hand, remain the most generally held tokens and the most valuable token in terms of dollars. SHIB coins are valued at $554.3 million to the top 100 ETH whales. It accounts for 19% of their entire investments.

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Blockchain News

Former Coinbase manager accused of insider trading

Ex-Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi, his brother Nikhil Wahi and a friend Sameer Ramani have been indicted by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). On the basis of an alleged plot to engage in crypto asset insider trading using secret information obtained from Coinbase, the three men were charged with wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud.

New York’s Southern District and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been investigating the brothers since Thursday when they were both detained (SEC). Ramani, on the other hand, is still at large.

The authorities revealed that Ishan Wahi began working at Coinbase in October 2020 and was actively involved in product listings, among other activities attributed to his role.

From August 2021 until May 2022, he was also a member of the company’s private message channel, which was reserved for senior executives. The channel provided crucial information on the asset-listing process, including launch dates and other important data.

There has been a DOJ investigation into how a former Coinbase product manager allegedly obtained nonpublic information about the exchange’s planned cryptocurrency offerings, including public disclosures.

It was only after he violated a nondisclosure agreement that Nikhil Wahi and Sameer Ramani were able to acquire the cryptocurrencies ahead of their official listing date and benefit from their early purchases.

At least 14 insider tradings on 25 different cryptocurrencies resulted in nearly $1.5 million in gains for the three using this strategy.

As soon as he rejected Coinbase’s request for an interview, this former employee attempted to leave for India before being detained by law enforcement.

According to Attorney Williams, fraud is a fraud, and the court will continue to prosecute defaulters regardless of where it takes place.

It’s good to be reminded that Web3 is not a lawless haven. His announcement of the first insider trading case using cryptocurrency marketplaces comes only a few months after he revealed the first ever NFT insider trading investigation.

According to the counselor, the message they are sending with these accusations is quite clear: fraud is a fraud, regardless of where it takes place.

In the article, it was revealed that the three had been charged with different crimes. With a possible penalty of 20 years each, the former Coinbase employee was charged with two charges of conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud.

Both Nikhil Wahi and Ramani Wahi have been formally charged with one count of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of fire fraud.

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Ethereum

Ethereum on exchanges plummets as we prepare for merge

As a result of record staking statistics on Ethereum 2.0 (the network’s upcoming upgrade, which was recently renamed to “Consensus Layer”), Ethereum (ETH) held on exchanges reached a four-year low yesterday. This comes after record staking figures on Ethereum 1.0.

According to the statistics provided by the analytics platform Glassnode, centralized exchanges presently have 19.09 million Ethereum. This number was slightly less than 20 million in July of 2018, suggesting that Glassnode’s data is accurate.

In addition, the amount of ETH that is now held on exchanges has decreased from 21.191 million by ten percent over the course of the last five days.

These data points were also solidified as a result of the huge outflows that exchanges recently experienced.

According to a research published by Glassnode, the volume of funds leaving centralized exchanges reached its highest level in thirteen months, which may suggest that investors have less interest in trading or holding the asset.

Similar findings were reported by the blockchain tracking and reporting platform Chainalysis, which stated, “The change in ETH held on exchanges experienced the largest one-day decrease in the past 202 days.” This decrease brought the total amount of ETH held on exchanges down to 249.58k from 432.84k.

As the network gets ready for its most significant upgrade to yet, the rapid decrease in the total quantity of Ethereum owned across exchanges is probably due to the increased amount of Ethereum that is being staked.

Ethereum 2.0 is a proof-of-stake (PoS) network, which differs from the Ethereum network that is currently in use. On this network, validators must stake 32 Ethereum in order to certify the network’s integrity.

Additionally, the amount of ETH that is being staked on the Beacon Chain, which is a Proof-of-Stake version of Ethereum that was released in December 2020, has been consistently growing over the last several days.

The Merge is scheduled to take place on September 19, and it is anticipated that this event would see the current mainnet merge with the PoS version. As of right now, the total amount staked is 13.14 million, and there are more than 410,000 distinct validators participating in the process.

During the previous twenty-four hours, the price of ETH increased by 8.6 percent, reaching a high of almost $1,638 before dropping back down.

Over the last week, the value of the second-largest cryptocurrency, which now has a market capitalization of close to $199 billion, has increased by more than 34.5 percent.

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News NFT

Doodles NFT sales down by 80% from May’s levels

Doodles is one of the top 15 digital collector collections of all time, with a cumulative sales volume of over $511.85 million over the course of its existence. Doodles made a total of around $15.39 million in sales for the month of June 2022.

The value of the digital collectible seems to be somewhat low despite the fact that it has completed a number of important milestones. Doodles, on the other hand, outsold Axie Infinity, Bored Ape Kernel Club, the Sandbox, and Meebits over the same time period in terms of monthly sales.

However, as compared to those of Otherside, CryptoPunks, and Bored Ape Yacht Club, the NFT’s sales were much lower. Despite this, Doodles’ most recent sales volume was much lower than May’s. The decline was almost 80 percent. During the month of May, Doodles’ sales came to around $77.63 million.

On October 17, 2021, Jordan Castro, Scott Martin, and Evan Keast were the ones who first presented the concept of Doodles. Burnt Toast was responsible for the creation of the digital attributes that were used to make 10,000 non-fungible tokens for the collection. The hand-drawn Doodles include a variety of characters, including mascots, apes, aliens, cats, and skeletons.

The collection also includes a wide variety of clothing options, one-of-a-kind heads, and a wide range of color swatches from the artist’s palette. When you become an owner of a Doodle, you have the sole right to vote on community-driven events, commodities, and features.

You can see how the decrease in sales volume from June resulted in a decline in Doodle’s transaction counts, which decreased to 677 unique buyers and 998 transactions. This may be attributed to the fact that there were fewer people making purchases.

When compared to January, which was the month in which the NFT’s monthly sales reached their highest point, there were 1,928 different buyers, which resulted in 3,127 transactions. The first month of the year brought in more than $122.11 million for Doodles in terms of revenue.

The sale of the collection hit a new all-time low in June when it brought in less than $30 million for the first time. This is a drop of $106.72 million from January’s total.

In addition to a decrease in sales volume, the typical selling price took a significant dive, dropping from $39,049 in January to $15,417 in June, a reduction of 60 percent.

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Bitcoin Regulation

California approves a significant Bitcoin regulation

Cryptocurrency donations to state and municipal political campaigns are now permitted in California. The Fair Political Practices Commission has adopted new regulations that enable candidates to accept cryptocurrency payments such as Bitcoin. Candidates must, however, promptly convert them to US currency.

The move comes as California strives to become the country’s “crypto capital.” California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order in May to promote innovation via cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies.

According to the Los Angeles Times, California Fair Political Practices Commission passed new regulations on July 22 that enable political candidates to accept crypto payments such as Bitcoin. The new regulations will go into force after 60 days.

However, crypto payments must be converted to US dollars promptly via a registered cryptocurrency processor that records each contributor’s identity, address, profession, and employer.

California, interestingly, was one of the nine states that barred crypto contributions to political politicians. With the adoption of new regulations, California joins Washington, D.C. as the 13th state to permit crypto and bitcoin contributions to political campaigns.

Candidates for federal seats, on the other hand, may already take cryptocurrency contributions. Several crypto-focused political action committees are aiming to spend heavily in the upcoming Presidential Elections in 2024 in order to elect a crypto-friendly U.S. president.

As crypto use grows in the nation, the United States seeks to enhance crypto rules. It will enable businesses to operate under the proposed bipartisan cryptocurrency law.

This week has been a fantastic surge for Bitcoin. The BTC price seems to be approaching the 200 WMA, with a break over $23.8k expected.

According to crypto specialists such as Michael van de Poppe and Rekt Capital, if Bitcoin (BTC) breaks over $23.8k, it might reach $28k. BTC is now trading over the $23.5k mark, up 4% in the previous 24 hours.

Categories
Blockchain News

Germany and the US are the top crypto-friendly countries

Germany and the US are top crypto-friendly economies. Coincub’s Q2 2022 Global Crypto Ranking Report found this. Germany remained first from Q1 2022, while the US jumped from third.

The US fared well because of new bitcoin laws, according to the survey. Fidelity Investments’ decision to include Bitcoin in American pension fund holdings boosted the US’s rating. State-by-state crypto regulation in the US scored poorly.

Germany has a favorable tax environment, a large number of crypto holders, and Bitcoin nodes. Switzerland, Singapore, and Australia complete the top 5 crypto-friendly economies (5th). Singapore has several ICOs and cryptocurrency holders. Switzerland has strict AML and KYC rules and several VASPs.

Portugal and the UAE were the fastest-rising crypto-friendly economies. The UAE was praised for licensing exchanges and crypto firms and providing clear criteria for ICOs and crypto agencies. UAE is tax-free. Portugal has a significant tax incentive and minimal crypto taxes, and the government is receptive to mining and trade.

Russia, the US, and France completed the top 5 risers (5th). Russia allowed crypto trade and mining. The US has numerous crypto investors, ATMs, Bitcoin nodes, and miners. France has a large blockchain ecosystem, multiple Bitcoin nodes, and a good bank and government stance on the blockchain.

South Korea (1st) and Pakistan (2nd) fell the most. Pakistan’s crypto regulation was graded poorly. South Korea licensed cryptocurrency exchanges, reducing their number from 60 to 4.

Philippines, Mexico, Belgium, Brazil, China, and Cyprus also declined in crypto-friendliness. They tied for third. These economies lacked a crypto strategy and regulation.

Most crypto-friendly economies have progressive crypto policies, an advantageous tax system, a large crypto community, and a favorable government attitude toward blockchain technology. Low-ranking economies lacked a crypto strategy and crypto regulation. Economies are trying to become crypto innovation centers.

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Blockchain News Regulation

SEC: Coinbase Is Listing Assets That Are Securities

At least nine of the digital assets that are listed on the cryptocurrency exchange known as Coinbase are allegedly unregistered securities, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). AMP (AMP), Rally (RLY), DerivaDEX (DDX), XYO (XYO), Rari Governance Token (RGT), LCX (LCX), Powerledger (POWR), DFX Finance (DFX), and Kromatika (KROM) are the nine assets in concern. 

If a digital token or crypto asset is able to fulfill the requirements of the Securities Act’s definition of a security, then it is considered to be a crypto asset security. The Securities Act defines security as an investment contract.

The firm that is responsible for the KROM token, Kromatika Finance, has provided a response to the claims of insider trading made by the SEC about the cryptocurrency exchange. Concerning the business’s listing, it is not apparent whether or not the SEC intends to pursue charges against the corporation.

They are also certain that Coinbase would assist the authorities in clarifying the circumstances of the mistake made by this one person acting alone.

Although previous officials of the SEC have said publicly that the agency does not consider cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to be securities, the current Chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler, has been less transparent than his predecessors. A month ago, he said to CNBC that the only thing he would definitively state on the nature of cryptocurrencies is that Bitcoin is not a security while dodging queries regarding Ethereum (ETH).

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken the position that almost every Ethereum-based token sold in an initial coin offering (ICO) is unregistered security, and the Commission is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against the cryptocurrency payments company Ripple (XRP) over Ripple’s own sale of XRP. The lawsuit has a potential value of $1.3 billion.

Categories
Blockchain News Regulation

South Korea delays 20% crypto tax until 2025

There will be no 20% tax on crypto profits under the amount of 2.5 million won ($1,942.20) until January 20, 2025, the South Korea government stated Thursday, citing “the absence of an investor safety framework” as the reason for delaying taxes. Taxes are levied on revenue from the transfer or lending of cryptocurrency assets.

An article in a local media outlet said that the 20% tax was scheduled to go into force beginning in January 2023. As a result of the May Terra (LUNA) blockchain drama, the government has postponed its decision for two more years.

Additionally, the administration cited unpredictable market circumstances as a major factor in the delay. By 2025, according to a study, the Korean government plans to put in place a comprehensive regulatory framework to defend consumers’ rights.

The 2022 tax change, which was scheduled to take effect next year, would allow Korean investors to claim a 20% income tax on digital asset gains of up to $1,942.

In addition, South Korea imposed an additional 20% tax on earnings that exceeded the stipulated maximum for the year. The implementation of this extra tax will proceed as planned.

Withholding taxes of 11 percent and 22 percent of net capital gains on earnings produced from the sale of cryptocurrencies by a foreign person or corporation are also included in the new law.

A new tax law empowers authorities to look into the validity of tax exemptions claimed under the terms of a tax treaty for income derived from non-residents in part by investigating taxpayers based on tax treaty exclusions.

It was intimated by the South Korean government that it would enforce the “Digital Asset Framework Act,” which was put in place to supervise the virtual asset rights company in 2025 when the tax was introduced. A regulatory strategy for virtual currencies is expected to be in place by the end of the month, according to officials.

The government is going to build up a framework for crypto exchanges operating inside its jurisdiction, as previously reported in June, to avoid what occurred with Terraform from happening again.

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Bitcoin News Price Analysis

Bitcoin (BTC) Market Update After Tesla Sell-Off

Tesla has been forced to sell almost 75% of its Bitcoin holdings only 18 months after spending over $1 billion on the digital currency, in what looks to be a last-minute scramble to keep its finances in order.

On Wednesday, Tesla said that it has sold 75% of its bitcoin stash, according to an earnings report. In the second quarter of this year, the business sold $936 million worth of Bitcoin.

As of June 30, Tesla has just 42,000 BTC on hand. If the corporation sold 75% of its BTC for $936 million, then each BTC was sold for an average of $29,000. It seems Tesla sold the assets before the crypto winter, which saw Bitcoin fall to a low of $18,000, according to these numbers.

On June 30, Tesla’s operational income was $2.5 billion, and CEO Elon Musk said that “Bitcoin’s impairment” had harmed the company’s profitability. We had to sell assets to get our books in order, which resulted in a cash infusion of $936 million.

Despite the allegations, BTC has remained over the $20k level and is now trading at $22,867.

Following the results call, a positive surge of enthusiasm swept over Tesla’s shares, which completed the day in the green.

An outcry broke out in the ecosystem when the decision was made to sell for reasons unrelated to bitcoin. Thus, according to DonAlt, “Elon Musk is okay hawking DOGE to the people, but is not comfortable retaining BTC and sells for a (rumored) 10% loss after a complete round trip.”

After buying $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in February 2021 to add to its balance sheet, Tesla generated quite a commotion. As a result, the price of Bitcoin surged and a revolutionary announcement was made that consumers could now pay for automobiles using the cryptocurrency.

Tesla reversed course and stopped accepting Bitcoin payments for car purchases, so the honeymoon was short-lived. As Musk put it, “the exponential increase in fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions” prompted the decision.

He stated that the firm would not sell any of its bitcoins and will continue to accept the currency as a form of payment when mining operations employ renewable energy.

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Blockchain News Regulation

Stablecoin Laws In The U.S. Might Come Sooner Than Expected

Stablecoin regulations in the United States may soon be the result of an agreement between two House members. In the event that a compromise is reached in the next few days, authorities will have a framework in place to manage the stablecoin problem. The deal might be passed by House within the next several months if all goes according to plan in the next weeks.

WSJ reports that two high-profile members of the House of Representatives are likely to agree to impose more stringent control on stablecoins. Democratic Representative Maxine Waters and Republican Representative Patrick McHenry are likely to reach an agreement shortly. An agreement might be made in the coming days, and the House Financial Services Committee could vote on it as early as next week, according to the report.

As soon as next week, Ms. Waters’ panel may vote on a compromise, and the House might approve it within the next few months if an agreement is achieved.

In addition, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has supported crypto regulation in the past. Yellen urged last month that Congress limit the inclusion of crypto assets in retirement accounts.

In the meanwhile, things aren’t going so well for the senators trying to get a deal done. As of right now, it’s unclear how they’ll respond to proposals for the regulation of stablecoins from current regulatory agencies. For example, Sherrod Brown, a Democrat Senator from Ohio, said that stablecoins should be regulated in accordance with current laws. Senator Brown heads the banking committee in the United States.

Senator Brown was reportedly absent from meetings around the new agreement reached between Waters and McHenry. In the meanwhile, the Fed will likely follow the new legislation when it comes to regulating stablecoin issuers. Non-financial firms will not be able to issue the goods under the bill’s limits, according to the article.

The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced new stablecoin regulatory advice earlier this month. As stated at the time, the advice establishes fundamental conditions for U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins that fall within its scope.

Categories
News NFT

LG Electronics Ventures Into Metaverse

The most recent company to enter the metaverse is LG, which on July 19 submitted a trademark application for its LG ART LAB brand to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The company intends, as stated in the application, to offer TV software for the issuance and trading of NFTs, as well as trading software, brokerage services, and digital asset management. In addition, payment services and software for cryptocurrency wallets can be found in the metaverse.

Before making this announcement, LG had already released a number of products related to NFT. This collaboration between the company and media artist Refik Anadol began in May and will result in the display of NFT artwork on OLED TVs.

Metaverse and NFT have created a new way for businesses to interact with customers, which has persuaded many established technology companies to enter the space. Samsung and HTC are among the more recent businesses that have expressed interest in expanding into NFT or smartphones.

In addition to LG, another electronic giant based in South Korea, Samsung, also unveiled a variety of products under the NFTs umbrella. Samsung has begun incorporating an NFT platform into its televisions, enabling customers to purchase NFTs directly from their respective devices.

In general, prominent global brands hailing from a variety of industries have been working toward the goal of entering the metaverse by filing trademark applications. According to a report by Finbold, the total number of trademarks associated with NFTs surpassed 4,000 in the United States alone between January 1 and May 31 of 2022.

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Blockchain News

Zipmex Halts Withdrawals Due To Market Conditions

The Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex has suspended withdrawals of user funds until further notice.

In its announcement, the company explained that the decision was influenced by the current state of the cryptocurrency market and the financial constraints of its partner institutions.

Coinbase reportedly intended to acquire Zipmex but ultimately decided to invest in the company. The partnership, which was disclosed last month, was to contribute an undisclosed amount to a $40 million SeriesB+ fund round for the Thailand exchange. There are rumors that crypto lender Babel Finance participated in the funding round, but there have been no official confirmations.

According to a report from mid-June, Coinbase laid off 18 percent of its workforce, or 1,100 employees, as a result of market declines. Babel Finance, on the other hand, has been forced to halt the withdrawal of user funds, just as Zipmex did recently.

The most recent development adds Zipmex to the list of companies that have suspended withdrawals during the crypto winter.

A prime example is the cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, which has suspended user withdrawals for over a month and has yet to release funds. Last week, the business filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

However, Celsius Network’s insolvency may have been the result of poor risk management, as former employee Timothy Cradle acknowledged that the company had made some risky investments.

Other companies, including CoinFLEX, Vauld, Three Arrows Capital (3AC), and others, have either suspended user withdrawals or declared bankruptcy.

Despite the extreme volatility of the cryptocurrency market, some businesses have increased their acquisition and investment activity. This is exemplified by the cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and FTX. In June, Binance announced it would increase hiring, mergers, and acquisitions (M&A). FTX invested in the cryptocurrency lender BlockFi.

Categories
Bitcoin News

Bitcoin (BTC) Dump Triggers Bull Trap Warning

Price rises of Bitcoin have exceeded 7% in the past day and close to 20% in the previous seven days. The current price of Bitcoin (BTC) is $23.4K. The surge in Bitcoin’s price is seen as a bull trap rather than a breakout by many analysts.

An influential and well-known crypto investor, CryptoWhales, has pointed out that one of the largest whales is selling their BTC. There is a lot of exit liquidity, he claims, because of the recent rise in BTC prices.

BTC’s upward trend is in sync with the overall recovery in the cryptocurrency market. On the heels of the announcement of the merge date, the price of Ethereum has skyrocketed. Its current price is $1,537.65, a gain of more than 40% in the previous seven days.

There was a record $361,686,300 BTC selloff by whales, according to CryptoWhales. The BTC price is expected to drop to $10K, according to him, and he predicts additional dumps.

il Capo Of Crypto, another well-known crypto investor, and influencer highlighted that although the short-term trend for Bitcoin is optimistic, the long-term tendency is gloomy. Regardless of what he says, he cautions that $15,8K to 16,2K is still the primary goal. The negative divergences in the market have been repeatedly recited by him.

As a BTC holder since 2014, Profit Blue is confident in his pessimistic outlook. He sees the market as a well-executed bull trap.

BTC has demonstrated strength despite the experts’ bull trap warnings. Significantly, Bitcoin (BTC) just passed the 200-weekly moving average.

A well-known Bitcoin expert, Willy Woo, has disclosed that the current BTC price is quite close to the Realized Price. As a symbol of resistance, it’s traditionally been a positive one.

FEAR rather than EXTREME FEAR has suddenly climbed to the top of Bitcoin’s index of “Fear and Greed.”

Categories
Bitcoin Price Analysis

Bitcoin (BTC) Market Update

The market’s first significant relief bounce in at least a month has Bitcoin enthusiasts jubilant on July 19, as the months of “down, only” price activity has finally come to an end.

Cointelegraph Markets Pro and Trading View data reveal that most of the increased enthusiasm comes from Bitcoin (BTC) breaching over the $23,000 barrier, which is the first substantial rise above the 200-week moving average.

But a few experts have expressed skepticism, saying that this may be just another fakeout pump. The price of Bitcoin is now hovering around $33,000.

“BTC is putting in a solid effort to attempt to recapture the 200-week MA as support,” said cryptocurrency analyst Rekt Capital on the accompanying chart, which shows a climb back above the 200-week MA.

As a dependable bear market signal that has traditionally offered insight into when a bottom has been struck, the 200-week MA has been closely scrutinized in recent weeks.

Rekt Capital has said,

BTC has to close above $22800 on a weekly basis in order to effectively confirm the reclaimation of the 200-week MA as support.

Phoenix ICF supplied the following chart to highlight the next important level of resistance to keep a watch on in order to reinforce a bullish outlook on the gains witnessed on July 19.

Bitcoin’s current supply zone between $21,700 and $22,800 has been further examined by technical analyst Crypto Patel, who provided a graphic depicting the potential pathways that BTC may take in the case of a dramatic directional movement from that supply zone.

The following chart shows that the current Bitcoin price suggests a likely run-up to the resistance region at $28,400, followed by consolidation or pullback before BTC tries to overcome the resistance found at $32,300.

Coin market capitalization currently stands at $1.062 trillion, with Bitcoin holding 42.1 percent of that total.

Categories
Blockchain News

3AC Su Zhu and Kyle Davies’ Silence Outrages Liquidators

According to court records, liquidators are worried that Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founders may be relocating assets out of reach of creditors.

3AC doesn’t seem to be complying with its liquidators, at least not yet. Liquidator Russel Crumpler, Su Zhu, and Kyle Davies wrote a 1,157-page document detailing how crypto hedge company 3AC’s co-founders and management refused to comply with creditors and liquidators.

Evidence that Zhu is making moves to liquidate assets has concerned Crumpler.

Although 3AC had filed for bankruptcy on its own, neither Davies nor Zhu had contacted the liquidators since their appointment on June 27. According to Crumpler, Zhu and Davies filed 3AC for bankruptcy without informing the other director, Mark James Dubois, or their creditors.

When the liquidators arrived on June 30, they discovered the 3AC Singapore office had been left empty and locked. It was only on July 6 that 3AC’s previous attorneys, as well as Davies and Zhu, had a Zoom call from lawyers in which persons who identified themselves as Su Zhu and Kyle were present, although muted and off cameras.

The Cayman Islands-based Tai Ping Shan Limited received $31.6 million in bitcoin, while an unnamed wallet received $10.9 million, according to Crumpler. He said that he had no idea where the money was going at the moment.

The CEO was particularly critical of Zhu and Davies, fearing that business funds were being diverted to opulent personal expenses.

For example, Crumpler thinks Zhu and Davies may have paid for a $50 million boat with borrowed money and cites indicators that Zhu may be planning to sell one of his multimillion-dollar homes. Singapore is where he lives. Three additional people have access to Crumpler’s different portfolios, according to the business.

After the 3AC founders were detained, their attorneys claimed that threats had been made against the Davies and Zhu families and that they had cooperated in their investigation with Singapore’s central bank. get a written reprimand for making misleading statements.

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News Regulation

US legislator slams SEC chief for not attacking big crypto exchanges

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approach to regulation of large crypto exchanges has been challenged by Brad Sherman, the congressman who previously advocated for a ban on cryptocurrencies in the United States.

A House panel on financial services held a hearing on Tuesday in which Rep. Sherman urged SEC chief Gurbir Grewal to demonstrate more fortitude and bravery in pursuing securities lawsuits against cryptocurrency exchanges in the US.

XRP was targeted as a security by the SEC’s enforcement division, but not the crypto exchanges that handled the token’s hundreds of thousands of transactions, according to the legislator.

To say that these crypto exchanges aren’t in breach of the law because they’ve committed thousands of infractions doesn’t answer the question: if XRP is a security, why aren’t these crypto exchanges breaking the law? Sherman inquired. No, you’re still on the hook for any fines or penalties.

Grewal said that he couldn’t say if the SEC enforcement division was looking into any crypto exchanges, but he pointed to a complaint launched against Poloniex in August 2021 for dealing with cryptocurrencies considered securities to US clients on its platform between July 2017 and November 2019. It’s possible Sherman was talking to Kraken, Coinbase, or Binance US when he said the crypto trading site was “a little fish” in comparison to the other large exchanges.

XRP was used in tens of thousands of transactions by the big fish at the main exchanges. Because it’s a security, they were running an unlawful stock exchange. Even though it was lucrative, they stopped doing it since they knew it was unlawful. Let me know how it goes.

The SEC’s budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year included worries about cryptocurrency enforcement from both SEC chair Gary Gensler and New Jersey Gov. Chris Grewal.

A written statement Grewal prepared for the court said that the crypto market was growing more sophisticated, making it more difficult to identify any wrongdoing.

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Blockchain News

Reddit users raise concerns about Coinbase

In light of growing reports that Coinbase may go bankrupt, the crypto exchange has come under assault by Reddit users.

Withdrawals and transfers not functioning, Coinbase being guaranteed by the FDIC, and a Celsius-like policy where customers’ digital assets become the company’s property in the event of bankruptcy have all been raised by Reddit users.

As of this afternoon, some Coinbase customers had issues withdrawing and moving money, while others had issues sending money from Coinbase wallet to the platform.

The subreddit “r/CoinBase” has been deleted by CryptoWhale, who tweeted on Tuesday that Coinbase was censoring users’ comments about customers experiencing withdrawal troubles.

Users highlighted concerns about Coinbase’s Celsius-like terms and conditions, which render consumers’ digital assets the property of the firm if it goes bankrupt, during the withdrawals and transfers problem debate. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, said in May that the SEC had mandated the inclusion of disclosures. He stated:

In the case of a bankruptcy, the crypto assets we have in custody for our customers might be subject to proceedings and such clients could be classed as our general unsecured creditors since they are deemed to be the property of a bankruptcy estate.”

Coinbase’s CEO reassured consumers that their assets were secure and apologized for not disclosing the danger to clients during the installation of this feature.

Cryptocurrency’s lack of official backing was a topic of discussion on Reddit. As a result, Coinbase does not have FDIC coverage. FDIC protection on crypto assets may not apply if Coinbase fails or goes bankrupt.

The FDIC’s pass-through insurance only covers fiat currency, according to Coinbase’s cash insurance regulations. In several of the world’s largest banks, Coinbase deposits customers’ money.

Despite the claims, the crypto exchange is pressing forward with its plans to establish a foothold in Europe. Coinbase was approved as a crypto asset service provider by the Italian government on July 18, 2018.

Coinbase’s stock price soared 9% to $58.67 on Monday, after a strong rebound in Bitcoin and Ethereum values.

Categories
Blockchain News Price Analysis

The Crypto Market Is Back Above $1 Trillion!

An impressive week in the crypto market culminated in a solid start to the day Monday. The digital currency is now worth $21,558 following a recent increase of nearly 3%. For comparison’s sake, Ethereum’s price has risen to $1,480 after gaining 8.63% and over 30% in the previous day and week.

Several other cryptocurrencies, including Cardano, Solana, Polkadot, and Avalanche have all gained more than 7% as a result of the boost. MATIC has been the top gainer in the top 15 category coins following an 18% surge in the last 24 hours. Additionally, according to CoinGecko, the total market worth of all cryptocurrencies has now surpassed the $1 trillion milestone, up 3.92 percent from the previous day.

Bitcoin’s first-half sell-off was compounded by miners selling their coins, as previously reported, in addition to the continued geopolitical tensions and the struggle against inflation. During the first three months of the year, public Bitcoin miners sold 20% to 40% of their mining rewards, before selling almost 400% of their output in June due to deteriorating market circumstances.

The total number of BTC owned by public miners has dropped from 46,026 at the beginning of May to 35,054 at the end of the month. Experts now feel that aggressive selling may be on the wane since that most obligations have been settled.

Glassnode, a crypto analytics startup, has also shown that hodlers are becoming more reluctant to spend at the lower levels. At least eighty percent of Bitcoin’s USD worth has been hoarded for at least three months, the company tweeted over the weekend. Because of the two greatest BTC capitulation events by volume since 2011, known as “LUNA” and “DeFi,” analysts feel that the worst danger has been removed from the system, setting the stage for an upsurge in the price of Bitcoin.

Since mid-June, the price has been forming a symmetrical triangular pattern, which traders are keeping an eye on to see whether the price will break out of the triangle.

After breaking out of this tight range, the price might rise to as high as $28,000.

Categories
Blockchain News

Coinbase has been granted a license to operate in Italy

In a statement released Monday, Coinbase said it has gained a regulatory license to operate as a crypto service provider in Italy. In a statement, the US-based crypto trading platform said the license will enable it to continue to serve consumers in Italy with continuous digital asset service offerings.

Under Italy’s OAM criteria developed as a baseline criterion for enterprises providing crypto-related services in Italy, the permission was signed by the country’s regulatory authorities, according to the official release. The OAM is in charge of keeping track of all of the country’s Financial Agents and Credit Mediators.

According to Coinbase, it was one of the first businesses to achieve the standards and is now selling crypto services for Italian consumers alongside Binance, CryptoCom, and Huobi Global.

A Coinbase official commented on the news, stating that the license reflects the company’s continuous compliance with local regulatory authorities in its registered territory. Nana Murugesan, Vice President of International and Business Development, agreed.

Our goal of advancing economic freedom throughout the globe requires that we cultivate strong working relationships with authorities in every country where we operate. According to him, “getting regulatory permission is a tribute to our tight cooperation and excellent working relationship with the Italian financial authorities.”

Coinbase said in June that it intends to extend its product and service offerings across Europe in order to increase its market share and propel its expansion.

The U.S. crypto exchange already operates in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ireland, and it is actively looking to expand into Spain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The corporation has said that it is working with several European authorities in order to better serve its European consumers.

An agreement was struck earlier this month between the European Union (EU) and MiCA, the planned crypto regulatory framework. An EU-wide regulation with a unified set of rules throughout 27 member states

Before delivering their services in any EU country, crypto firms are required by MiCA regulation to get an operating license and proper consumer protection rights.

Murugesan said that the company is trying to appoint a regional manager for Europe. Coinbase, on the other hand, cut off 18 percent of its workforce in June owing to the recent crypto market crisis that wiped off $2 trillion.

Categories
Blockchain News

Celsius Reveals Restructuring Plan

Exactly one month after suspending withdrawals and transfers from accounts, Celsius Network filed for bankruptcy. Judge Martin Glenn of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York heard Celsius’ financial review and restructuring plan today as part of the court hearing.

For example, reorganization plans include efforts to support Bitcoin mining activities by minting minted bitcoins by its subsidiary and selling assets, and seeking third-party investment options.

Additionally, the organization provides clients with the choice to either get their money back at a discount or keep their cryptocurrency investments.

Customer recovery alternatives and intentions for restructuring have been provided by the insolvent crypto lender during the bankruptcy procedure. Celsius reported $5.5 billion in liabilities and $4.3 billion in assets last week, with $600 million worth of CEL tokens currently worth $170 million.

Thermal energy company Celsius aims to enter into an extensive restructuring agreement with its shareholders. It will also continue to maintain its Bitcoin mining activities while also retaining Bitcoins to assist the business pay off its debts as they are mined and created.

In order to satisfy its financial responsibilities, the corporation will also look into “asset sales and third-party investment alternatives.”

Customers will be able to get their money back shortly, according to a new initiative by Celsius. However, a monetary settlement may be possible. It’s also possible to hold on to your shares in the company as it goes through its reorganization. Distributing CEL tokens is another possibility. Maximizing investor returns and restructuring the company are two of the primary objectives.

Celsius has more than 1.7 million registered users in more than 100 countries as of July 13. It doesn’t depend on a middleman to retain the “keys” to its crypto assets, which are stored on Fireblocks. In addition, 77% of all deposits are in the Earn Program.

Celsius’s consumers were the ones who suffered the most since the terms and conditions revealed the company’s jurisdiction over deposits. Celsius consumers are unlikely to get their money back if the firm goes bankrupt, according to the terms and conditions.

As a result of the community-led “CEL Short Squeeze,” several consumers have regained their losses. Users were able to manipulate the price of CEL tokens from $1 to $0.43 in only one day.

Categories
Blockchain News Regulation

RBI India Determined to Ban Crypto

Over the last several years, India has changed its mind many times about whether to permit the usage of cryptocurrencies there. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is eager to prohibit the usage of cryptocurrencies in the nation.

Her recent remarks to parliamentarians demonstrate the rising ambiguity surrounding digital assets. The RBI has voiced worries about the disruptive impact of cryptocurrencies on a nation’s monetary and fiscal stability, according to the Indian finance minister.

In addition, Sitharaman said that “RBI is of the opinion that cryptocurrencies should be forbidden” while discussing the need for regulation in this area. Sitharam said that any regulatory legislation or a decision to outlaw them would need substantial international collaboration. The Indian Finance Minister said what was in the draft:

Since cryptocurrencies are by nature borderless, international cooperation is necessary to avoid regulatory arbitrage. Therefore, any legislation intended to regulate or outlaw anything may only become effective after extensive international cooperation on the assessment of the risks and benefits as well as the development of a common taxonomy and criteria.

India enacted a strict 30 percent tax on the proceeds from cryptocurrency trading earlier this year. The purpose of enacting such a high tax was to deter investment. As trade volumes decreased at cryptocurrency exchanges over the last several months, the tax regulations did have an effect.

Banks, on the other hand, have severed links with significant cryptocurrency exchanges. The Indian liquidity entering the crypto market has been significantly impacted by this. Due to unofficial pressure from the RBI, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was forced to discontinue its services in India.

Indian cryptocurrency investors are now in a state of complete uncertainty due to the current turn of events. It would be fascinating to observe how the RBI and the government work together to adopt a balanced stance.

Categories
Bitcoin News

How Could Miners Affect Bitcoin Price

A July 9 tweet by @PricedinBTC about the cost to mine Bitcoin in the US caught the crypto community’s attention, particularly given BTC miners recent headlines.

The crypto bear market and rising energy prices have generated a perfect storm for the mining business, causing some firms to lay off personnel and delay major investments. Some warned of a death spiral for Bitcoin miners.

Raymond Nasser, CEO of US-based Arthur Mining, told Cointelegraph that his company’s margins don’t match @PricedinBTC’s.

Arthur Mining has a 25-MW capacity and utilizes green energy. One may first discount their statistics since listed businesses like Marathon Digital Holdings have 300 MW plants, but they depend on conventional grid electricity – even if some come from hydroelectric facilities.

Smaller mining operations use a flare and stranded oil and gas to attain the best ESG standards. Mobile Bitcoin miners use greener, more efficient, and more lucrative energy sources than conventional methods.

Nasser on miners’ $16,000 output cost:

“Subjective diagrams. The largest new projects in the business are seeking off-grid alternatives, and this graphic shows urban on-grid energy expenses. In two U.S. states, our all-in energy prices are below $0.02 kWh.”

According to QuickElectricity, commercial power prices per kWh in Idaho, Utah, Virginia, Texas, Nevada, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma varied from $0.08 to $0.09 in March 2022.

The Bitcoin network values efficiency, thus the labor-intensive manufacturing process constantly seeks the lowest operating costs. Mobile ASIC mining equipment may use alternative energy sources. These devices may be carried to offshore oil and gas platforms in containers and use oscillating electricity.

Upstream Data, a Canadian producer of Bitcoin mining data centers, produces portable equipment without pipes or midstream infrastructures. After establishing 180 data centers, this practice is becoming widespread.

Not every mining firm has long-term bank finance. By pledging miners and infrastructure as collateral, these corporations developed a riskier loan structure. As Bitcoin price fell, so did mining equipment costs, exacerbating their finance when they needed it most.

The industry has a problem, but it may just be young. Still, miners selling more Bitcoin than they’ve mined may be pressuring the price of BTC.

This never-ending loop promotes the “death spiral” hypothesis, but it ignores the fact that miners shut down their equipment below a specific price level and many relocate to locations with reduced power rates or seek out renewable solutions.

Reduced mining activity makes the network less safe, although this danger is overblown since Bitcoin’s difficulty adjustment boosts miners’ revenue. Bitcoin mining poses no systemic danger to BTC prices.

Categories
Blockchain News

Voyager urges court to honor MCB withdrawals

The embattled crypto brokerage Voyager Digital has urged the New York bankruptcy court to respect client withdrawals of more than $350 million held by Metropolitan Commercial Bank, according to a court filing on July 14.

Following Voyager’s bankruptcy filing, the company has filed for Chapter 11 protection. According to court documents, the corporation has $350 million in cash in the Metropolitan Commercial Banks For Benefit of Customers (FBO) account and $1.3 billion in crypto assets on its platform. To top it all off, the business has $650 million in claims against now-bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC).

There is a risk to client satisfaction if the debtors refuse to satisfy withdrawal requests for an extended period of time during these Chapter 11 proceedings. Customer worries about the integrity of the platform and access to their money would be alleviated by allowing withdrawals, according to a filing by the bank.

Additionally, Voyager requested permission from the bankruptcy court to conduct additional procedures including selling clients’ crypto assets who have negative U.S. dollar balances in order to satisfy consumer withdrawals from the bank. At 11:00 a.m. EDT on August 4th, a court date has been set for the case.

It was a week before Voyager filed for bankruptcy protection that it had frozen users’ assets on its site. Unfavorable market circumstances and 3AC’s inability to repay their loan from the crypto hedge fund have pushed the crypto broker to the brink of bankruptcy.

Clients will get a mix of crypto assets, revenues from monies seized from 3AC, shares in the newly reformed business, and Voyager tokens, according to the brokerage firm if the petition is allowed by the court.

In the meanwhile, Voyager isn’t the first cryptocurrency company to declare bankruptcy. It has also been reported that crypto lender Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of New York lately.

Categories
Blockchain News

Celsius Network users are facing extended repayment waits

According to a recent report, Celsius customers may have to wait a long time to get their frozen assets on the struggling crypto lending site.

Remember that earlier this week, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court. Reorganization plans may be put in place while the company remains operational. Although it showed a $1.2 billion imbalance in the accounts of its clients, it left consumers concerned about the safety of their money.

A group of legal specialists specialized in restructuring plans has cautioned investors to expect a lengthy wait while they wait for further information about the destiny of their money, according to a Reuters Friday story.

Lawyers who spoke with Reuters said the Chapter 11 procedure is likely to be protracted since there is no precedence for bankruptcy for major crypto firms, many lawsuits against Celsius are conceivable, and reorganization is very difficult.

Lawyer Daniel Gwen from Ropes & Gray in New York reiterated the likelihood of a lengthy settlement, saying that the process might take years to conclude and that there is a significant chance of several lawsuits being involved.

There is presently no clear roadmap for the treatment of clients against crypto lenders, according to the legal counsel, and as a result, the court’s decision to handle the situation is uncertain.

The bankruptcy legislation and bankruptcy courts’ treatment of bitcoin enterprises is, at best, a mystery. James Van Horn, a partner of Barnes & Thornburg’s Washington, D.C., office.

This is a restructuring plan that will likely be shaped by credit committees established as part of the procedures, which may also assert claims against the company.

According to the court declaration, the corporation has assets of up to $4.3 billion and liabilities of up to $5.5 billion.

In the wake of a recent market drop, the business was one of the many crypto enterprises that had a serious liquidity issue, leading to the platform’s suspension.

According to Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, the business has made several bad asset deployment choices in the past.

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Blockchain News

Coinbase Prominence Soars Amidst Everything

For centralized exchanges (CEXs), Coinbase looks to be suffering most from Crypto Winter. Cryptocurrency investors and traders may no longer be using the biggest American cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. Many people in the industry believe it should be lower on the priority list.

By volume, Coinbase has slipped to 14th place on Mizuho Securities USA’s ranking of the top 10 biggest cryptocurrency exchanges. Considering the exchange was ranked 4th at the end of last year, this is troubling.

Coinbase’s contribution to the average market share of the top 30 centralized exchanges this month was only 2.9 percent, according to the data. As a comparison, in Q1 2022, this figure was 5.3% and in the second quarter of this year, it was 3.6%.

It’s easy to see how the Crypto Winter has impacted most exchanges’ trading volumes, but the situation at Coinbase is particularly troubling. Because of the industry’s fierce competition, Mizuho’s analysts are concerned that sales and marketing expenditures will have to rise in the future.

Coinbase stock, which trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol “COIN,” might be adversely affected by the current market conditions, according to the experts. With a share price of $53.42 at press time, the stock has dropped 75.94% in the last six months.

As early as April, news suggested that Coinbase, the leading American exchange, was fast losing market share. Coinbase accounted for 10% and 8% of worldwide crypto trading volume in March and April, respectively, among the leading crypto exchanges. This is a decrease from February’s figure of 11%.

After only entering the US market recently, Singapore-based centralized crypto exchange Crypto.com was competing with Coinbase. Dan Dolev, a leading analyst at Mizuho, believes that the “business strategy” of Coinbase may be to blame for its recent troubles.

According to an email sent to staff on June 14, Coinbase was contemplating cutting its employment by 18 percent in the middle of the Crypto Winter. It seems that the economic boom that has lasted for more than a decade is about to come to an end. According to CEO Brian Armstrong, a recession might lead to another crypto winter that could endure for a lengthy duration.

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Blockchain News

What’s Going On With Coinbase

Coinbase, the biggest crypto exchange located in the United States, seems to be having issues, although it is not yet apparent whether this implies the firm is bankrupt, as reports have been circulating.

According to a report by Business Insider, Coinbase, which CEO Brian Armstrong heads, is ending its affiliate marketing program in the United States.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex plans to temporarily suspend the scheme on July 19, according to emails from three of the program’s developers.

As a result of the present crypto market circumstances, Coinbase has reportedly decided to suspend trading in cryptocurrencies. As of this writing, the corporation hasn’t given a precise date for a relaunch of the affiliate program.

BitBoyCrypto creator and crypto YouTuber Ben Armstrong warned investors that Coinbase might be in jeopardy based on recent events.

The company’s decision to shut down its professional trading platform, Coinbase Pro, is also a huge warning signal, according to several crypto analysts. The exchange might be on the verge of a liquidity crisis at this point.

After starting five years before Binance and seven years before its fast-moving competitor FTX, Coinbase has lost market share and importance in the sector.

A big milestone for the crypto industry was reached when the exchange went public in 2021, but its shares have fallen by roughly 83 percent since they peaked at about $355. As a result of the crypto crash and the resulting drop in income, Goldman Sachs reduced its recommendation for Coinbase from neutral to sell at the end of June.

In order to stay afloat, Coinbase had to let off 18% of its employees in June. The exchange’s non-fungible tokens (NFT) marketplace has been a complete fiasco since its introduction three months ago.

That stated, Ben Armstrong decided that the collapse of the exchange would do unprecedented damage to the cryptocurrency industry.

Categories
Bitcoin News

Miners Liquidate 400% More Bitcoin Than in June

According to the most recent findings published by Arcane, a company that specializes in blockchain analytics, public miners sold close to 400 percent of their Bitcoin (BTC) output in June 2022.

Despite this, from January through April of this year, they only sold between 20 and 40 percent of their output, sticking to their hoard-at-any-cost policy. However, the landscape shifted when the price of bitcoin dropped from $40,000 to $30,000. in May.

In the month of June, miners sold 14,600 bitcoin for almost $300 million, which is over four times the entire amount of BTC that they produced, which was 3,900 BTC.

Based on the findings of the survey, Core Scientific and Bitfarms were identified as the mining companies that had the biggest liquidation share. After selling approximately 10,000 bitcoins, Core Scientific had just 1,959 BTC remaining in their wallet. Bitfarms made 3,353 Bitcoin sales. On the other side, Northern Data successfully liquidated all of its Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) assets in the months of May and June.

According to Arcane Research, these enormous revenues will provide the funding necessary to pay for the forthcoming infrastructure improvements and equipment delivery. In 2021, miners have the option of raising capital via either stock or debt in order to cover the costs of mining. Now, access to external funds has significantly decreased as a result of rising interest rates and a decrease in investor interest in Bitcoin. This is a consequence of both of these factors.

As a result of not selling any bitcoin in May and June, Marathon and Hut 8 currently own the most bitcoin. First place on the balance sheet goes to Marathon with 10,055 BTC, followed by Hut 8 with 7,405 BTC. Riot finishes in third place with 6,654 BTC after selling a little more than the usual amount but nothing near as much as Core Scientific and Bitfarms did.

The bar chart illustrates how public miners increased the amount of bitcoin they had over the first several months of 2022. Their combined holdings have finally caught up to the level they were at at the beginning of the year.

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Blockchain News

Trading volume of XRP surges as court rejects SEC’s allegations

XRP, Ripple’s native token, has been hampered in its price growth by the ongoing lawsuit with U.S. SEC. Recent favorable court decisions in favor of the blockchain company have caused the token’s price to increase.

According to Santiments, the XRP network was incredibly active on Friday. In the final hour of the day, the token’s trading volume rose sharply to $18.7 billion. This increase shows significant price movement over the weekend.

According to the data, XRP’s trading volume at the start of the day was approximately $2 billion. In contrast, by the end of the day, it had risen to $18.7 billion. Currently, the 24-hour trading volume for tokens is $1.26 billion.

The Whale Alert indicated that at the moment, some enormous transactions were conducted. A whale amassed XRP tokens worth $14.8 million for the Bitstamp cryptocurrency exchange platform. Approximately $30 million worth of XRP tokens were transferred from unknown wallets to cryptocurrency exchanges.

In the last 30 days, the price of XRP has increased by nearly 7 percent. At the time of publication, its average trading price is $0.3405. Despite the lengthy litigation, the token’s market capitalization exceeds $16.46 billion.

According to Santiments, the XRP network was incredibly active on Friday. In the final hour of the day, the token’s trading volume rose sharply to $18.7 billion. This increase shows significant price movement over the weekend.

According to the data, XRP’s trading volume at the start of the day was approximately $2 billion. In contrast, by the end of the day, it had risen to $18.7 billion. Currently, the 24-hour trading volume for tokens is $1.26 billion.

The Whale Alert indicated that at the moment, some enormous transactions were conducted. A whale amassed XRP tokens worth $14.8 million for the Bitstamp cryptocurrency exchange platform. Approximately $30 million worth of XRP tokens were transferred from unknown wallets to cryptocurrency exchanges.

In the last 30 days, the price of XRP has increased by nearly 7 percent. At the time of publication, its average trading price is $0.3405. Despite the lengthy litigation, the token’s market capitalization exceeds $16.46 billion.

Categories
Blockchain News

Twitter and Elon Musk Get Into Court

The lawyers for Elon Musk filed a motion with the Delaware Chancery Court on Friday, calling Twitter attempt to expedite the proceedings a unjustifiable request.

A quick trial is not possible, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, because of the case’s technological complexity, which he claims will take at least two months to resolve.

On the sake of both the parties and the court, Musk wants to schedule a trial for February 13, 2023.

On July 15, Elon Musk filed a response to Twitter’s request to speed up the legal processes in September, claiming the $44 billion merger case should be denied if it goes to trial in less than two months, as stated in the most recent filing.

As a result of Twitter’s failure to determine the actual number of bots and spam accounts on the platform, the company launched a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Tuesday. To expedite the trial, Twitter requested that the court force Musk to finalize the transaction at the agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share, as requested by Twitter in its move.

Elon Musk’s recent move signals the beginning of a protracted legal struggle between the two industry titans. In fact, Musk has requested that the trial be postponed until February of next year because of the case’s intricacy and technological components. Twitter’s actual value is determined by the battle over fake and spam accounts.

As a result, he claims that Twitter’s plea to speed up the trial is predicated on the merger agreement’s termination date of October 24. However, if either party files a lawsuit, the date will remain in place.

The acquisition’s financial financing is set to expire in April 2023, which is interesting. If the trial isn’t finished by the due date, the transaction could be over.

After rising by 4% on Friday to $37.74, Twitter’s stock is still under its purchase price of $54.20. Wall Street analysts predict the deal will not go through at the agreed price and will be renegotiated.

This merger is in everyone’s best interest, and Twitter’s board of directors has recommended that shareholders vote to accept it. The final step in the transaction is still the approval of the deal by the company’s shareholders.

Shareholders’ reactions appear to be divided, with some restricting the sale to Elon Musk. The purchase can’t be completed without the support of the company’s shareholders.

Categories
Blockchain News

Crypto businesses owe investors and creditors $50B

A number of companies that are active in the crypto business, including Celsius Network, Terra, Voyager Capital, and Three Arrows Capital, have experienced a decline in their prospects over the course of the last few months. This is especially true for Celsius Network. The cumulative amount of debt that the four firms owe to their investors and other creditors is far more than $50 billion.

The leader of the pack, Terra, is to blame for the loss of $40 billion in investor money that was triggered by the catastrophic collapse of its tokens in May. These losses occurred as a result of the catastrophic fall of its tokens. Because of this occurrence, authorities from all around the world have been calling for more regulation of cryptocurrencies, particularly stablecoins.

The cryptocurrency lending platform known as Celsius, which suspended all withdrawals one month ago and filed for bankruptcy the day before yesterday, has a hole in its financial sheet amounting to $1.2 billion, and it has said that it owes its customers a total of $4.7 billion in bitcoin.

Another cryptocurrency company, Voyager Digital, which had just filed for bankruptcy, owes a total of $1.3 billion to its more than 100,000 creditors. Voyager Digital had only recently filed for bankruptcy. As a result of the unknown nature of the measures that are being conducted by both companies, they will be subjected to close examination by politicians, representatives of the industry, and, most significantly, creditors who want to get their money back.

Finally, the co-founders of Three Arrows Capital, Zhu Su and Kyle Davies, are on the run from the angry creditors of the firm, to whom Three Arrows Capital owes several billions of dollars. A court has given his blessing to an emergency motion to place a hold on the crypto hedge fund’s assets. Teneo, who was hired to supervise the liquidation of the company, was granted the ability to also subpoena Su and Davies of Three Arrows.

Categories
Ethereum

The Ethereum Merge Finally Has A Fixed Date!

The main event that supporters of Ethereum have been anticipating for a number of years may soon be just around the corner. During a conference call on Thursday, several of the most prominent developers working on Ethereum presented a new possible date for the Ethereum Merge, which is the name given to the transfer of the blockchain to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus architecture.

The Merge may be approximately two months away, as stated by developers affiliated with the Ethereum Foundation.

Tim Beiko, a core developer for Ethereum, announced on a conference call on Thursday that the transition to PoS for the network was now tentatively set for September 19. The updated estimate was met with little resistance from the other key developers.

Later, an Ethereum Beacon Chain community health consultant named superphiz.eth tweeted, “This merging timeline isn’t final, but it’s really exciting to see it coming together.” Please consider the following as a planning schedule, and keep an eye out for any formal announcements!

The Ethereum Merge is a much-anticipated upgrade that will combine the existing consensus layer with the brand-new proof-of-stake Beacon Chain, which went live in December 2020. This upgrade has been highly anticipated by the Ethereum community. The Merge is anticipated to free Ethereum from the energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus process, replace it with the less resource-intensive proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, and reduce the amount of ETH issued by around 90 percent. This will result in a 99 percent improvement in the ecologically friendliness of the network.

In order to ensure that it is ready for the Merge, the network has been putting itself through a series of test forks. Only a week ago, the merge process for Ethereum’s Sepolia testnet was finished. The date of August 11 has been scheduled for the concluding test of Superphiz.eth on the Goerli public testnet.

The ninth shadow fork was successfully deployed without any major issues yesterday, and as a result, the forecast for a mainnet Merge in September is looking more likely than it was before.

It is important to note that the transition of the Ethereum network from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake has been plagued by a number of setbacks over the course of the past few years. As the amount of demand increases, the engineers working on Ethereum will be more focused than ever on ensuring that the network’s biggest major update to date is deployed faultlessly.

Over the course of the last day and a half, there has been a 13.38 percent increase in the price of ETH.

Categories
Blockchain News NFT

OpenSea Lays Off 20% Of Its Workforce

Leading non-fungible token (NFT) market OpenSea has cut 20% of its workforce due to the ongoing economic slump, joining a long list of companies that have laid off employees in order to stay afloat.

This was due to “an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability,” according to OpenSea CEO and co-founder Devin Finzer, in an internal memo.

To prepare for a prolonged bear market, Finzer stated that the layoff was part of the company’s strategy. At least five years of unstable market conditions are expected, according to the CEO of OpenSea, and the workforce reduction will help the company maintain its position and grow.

For those impacted, Finzer says the firm will provide “generous severance, which includes healthcare coverage into 2023, and accelerated equity vesting for those who haven’t hit their cliff.”

OpenSea has 769 employees listed on its LinkedIn profile, though he declined to say how many of those are in the company’s 20% workforce.

Finzer also emphasized the fact that the NFT trading platform was launched during a crypto winter and has since built a strong balance sheet through fundraising and proven product fit records.

Digital art and collectibles are expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the popular marketplace in 2021, helping it reach a $13.3 billion valuation in January.

The collapse of TerraUST and its sister token LUNA, followed by a rise in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate, both had a negative impact on the global financial market, and this has brought down the entire NFT market.

OpenSea’s sales volume dropped dramatically in June due to the market crash, from $2.6 billion in May to a record $700 million in June, far below the $5 billion it recorded in January.

As soon as the crypto winter is over, we can expect to see more technological advancements in NFT. This puts them in a better position to capture what will soon be the largest market on Earth,” he said.

Categories
Bitcoin Price Analysis

Bitcoin Price Prediction 07/15

According to the results of a recent study, Bitcoin (BTC) investors in China intend to buy the dip despite an ongoing market drop and a statewide ban on cryptocurrencies.

According to the findings of a study of 2,200 individuals that was carried out on the social media platform Weibo in China, it was discovered that 8 percent of respondents would purchase Bitcoin when its price exceeds $18,000. While 26% of respondents would rather wait until Bitcoin hits $15,000 before making a purchase,

However, the vast majority of respondents projected that the price will drop much more, with forty percent stating that they would purchase Bitcoin at that price.

It is interesting to note that a different study that was carried out by Bloomberg MLIV Pulse earlier in the month of July resulted in a similar finding, with sixty percent of the net nine hundred respondents on Wall Street advocating for a Bitcoin price of ten thousand dollars.

The pessimistic opinions of cryptocurrency speculators in the United States and China are strikingly similar, according to the results of two separate surveys. Despite this, on-chain activity demonstrates that investors in the United States have been more positive about Bitcoin than their counterparts in Asia since June 2022.

For example, the month-to-month price change of Bitcoin, which records the 30-day change in the regional BTC price, has only been positive during U.S. sessions.

This indicates that the only time Bitcoin’s price has been increasing is during U.S. sessions. According to the data provided by Glassnode, the indicator has only been seen to have a negative value during Asian trading hours.

Concurrently, declining technicals are also beginning to suggest additional falls, especially during the long period of three days.

As can be seen in the illustration on the right, Bitcoin has been developing a pattern known as a “bear flag,” which indicates that the cryptocurrency’s price may fall below $13,000 before September.

Negative arguments continue to be fueled by continuing macroeconomic headwinds for BTC/USD, as was previously reported. These headwinds continue to feed bearish arguments against mounting indications of a potential price bottom.

Categories
Blockchain News

CoinPayment will cease operations in the United States

BleepingComputer reported Thursday that CoinPayment and its parent firm UAB Ventures are on the brink of abandoning the US market owing to increased security demands and industry developments.

Reports claim the crypto payment gateway’s shutdown of operations in the United States was due to heightened Anti-Money Laundering legislation and unpredictable market circumstances.

Our services to the United States are no longer available owing to new AML rules and modifications. This is why US-based accounts have been marked and will be closed on the date specified in the email they received lately,” said a business spokeswoman to BleepingComputer. “

Earlier this month, the Cayman Islands-based company told its American customers through private email of its plan to suspend operations in the United States.

U.S. consumers will no longer be able to utilize CoinPayment Inc. or UAB Star Ventures’ platform as a result of the rapidly changing market conditions. US accounts will no longer be available as of July 19, 2022, according to an email sent by Facebook.

As the crypto gateway prepares to shut down on July 19th, consumers in the United States were asked to move their monies from the site to a new wallet before the company’s shutdown.

Several investors have expressed worry about the timing of CoinPayment’s decision to halt commercial activities in the United States, with some asking whether this was another “crypto grab or an exit fraud.”

The company’s customer care is unhelpful to some customers who have been able to move their assets from CoinPayment, while others have been able to do so effectively. The company has already sent out a boilerplate statement to the concerned clients, urging them to contact their support system directly.

The corporation has failed to comment on social media that it would be canceling people’s accounts from the United States on July 19th, according to another Twitter user.

Categories
Blockchain News

UK Treasury seeks public opinion on crypto

Crypto usage is developing quickly, and the UK doesn’t want to fall behind global regulatory trends. The UK Treasury’s recent crypto asset sector inquiry shows this. The government agency wants public input on crypto asset use cases, dangers, and potential.

The Committee’s deadline for submissions is Monday, September 12. The Treasury wants to know how crypto assets affect social inclusion and whether a regulatory change is needed.

In addition to determining the risks and opportunities crypto brings to consumers, businesses, and the government, the Inquiry seeks to cover the importance of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to the country’s financial infrastructure and get the public’s views on how regulatory measures can be balanced to protect users while creating a favorable environment that encourages innovation.

The Treasury notes that submissions are needed on emerging issues such as the potential role of a UK CBDC, the approach to taxation in the crypto space if the industry is widely accepted in the country, the lessons the UK government can pick up from the measures other countries have taken to regulate crypto, and the public’s opinion on the efforts the UK government has put so far into promoting innovation in the crypto space.

This recent Inquiry is part of the UK Government’s efforts to study blockchain and cryptocurrencies. BoE has shown interest in implementing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the country’s financial system.

In April 2021, the Bank of England and HM Treasury launched a Task Force to study how CBDCs may enhance the country’s financial system.

Despite its interest in a CBDC, the BoE isn’t sure how to regulate the crypto business. In its Financial Stability Report of July 2022, the BoE highlighted that digital assets do not presently threaten financial stability, but this might change if there is no regulatory framework to curb their usage.

Categories
Blockchain News

OKX Gets License To Operate In Dubai

Popular cryptocurrency exchange OKX, formerly known as OKEx, has added its name to a growing list of cryptocurrency trading platforms that have been granted permission to function in Dubai as a digital asset service provider (DASP).

The Seychelles-based business announced on Thursday that it has obtained a provisional license that enables it to provide a limited range of goods and services to qualified UAE investors as well as those in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Africa.

According to OKX, “education and protecting users’ assets remain the foremost priorities to us, and we trust our most recent license will help us drive the industry forward towards a safer and more user-friendly environment.”

According to the release, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), an organization founded earlier this year to monitor cryptocurrency operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to protect investors, was used by the Dubai World Trade Center Authority to sign the permit.

Along with the provisional license, the exchange also announced that it would establish a regional office at the Dubai World Trade Center to assist the development of the region and the cryptocurrency business.

The Middle East and North Africa are among the regions with the fastest expanding virtual asset markets, and OKX is pleased to support their open intellectual exchange and upcoming legislative reforms.

In addition to providing digital asset services in Dubai, the company declared that it will engage in constructive discussion to advance debates about legislation and support local cryptocurrency research.

Dubai is a pioneer in the virtual asset sector as well, and OKX is pleased to contribute to its development and good compliance framework.

Just a few days after agreeing to sponsor the training uniform of Premier League football team Manchester City, OKX signed a provisional license. Although the partnership’s financial parameters were kept under wraps, it is estimated to be worth $20 million.

Categories
Blockchain News

Celsius Files For Bankruptcy

Celsius Network, the embattled crypto lender, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday, July 13, after making numerous attempts to pay back its loans. After hearing the news, Celsius Networks’ native cryptocurrency, CEL, plummeted from 95 cents to 45 cents.

In terms of value, the CEL token stands at roughly 55 cents. Celsius just revealed that it had $167 million in cash on hand. According to Celsius, this will offer enough liquidity to keep things running smoothly while the company undergoes its restructure.

Negotiations with creditors are a requirement in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and this is how it works. The advantage of this chapter over Chapter 7 is that the debtor does not have to sell off any of its assets.

Celsius has announced that it will go through a significant reorganization in order to optimize value for all of its constituents. New York’s Southern District of the United States Bankruptcy Court was the location where the corporation filed for bankruptcy. Alex Mashinsky, Celsius’ co-founder and CEO, addressed the issue:

My colleagues and I believe that this is the appropriate move for both our company and our community. This process will be handled by a well-trained and experienced personnel. When we look back on this time in Celsius’s history, I’m convinced that we’ll remember it as a pivotal period in which we showed commitment and faith in the community while also strengthening Celsius’s future.”

The number of cryptocurrency-related bankruptcies has increased significantly in the recent month. With the bankruptcy of Celsius, hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital join the list of notable crypto companies that have declared bankruptcy.

While crypto withdrawals have risen sharply in the wake of the recent market downturn, the crypto ecosystem is now suffering from a severe liquidity shortage. Thus, lenders struggle to pay their consumers when they withdraw money.

Earlier this month, in June, Celsius ceased all withdrawals. As a result, Aave, Compound, and Maker platforms have received almost $800 million in loan repayments as of this writing.

Categories
Bitcoin Blockchain Business

What Is the Best Place to Sell Bitcoin Instantly?

The Bitcoin craze doesn’t seem likely to go away any time soon. In fact, over 180 million people have invested in Bitcoin globally and the number is growing by the day. If you have already bought Bitcoin, you might now be wondering how you can convert it back into cash. The good news is that there are lots of ways to sell Bitcoin instantly. If you choose the right method to sell, you will not have to wait long to receive your fiat currency. For this reason, Bitcoin is even more convenient than you thought!

In this post, we will explore the best ways to sell Bitcoin instantly;

Crypto Exchanges

Crypto exchanges are the number one choice for you to sell Bitcoin instantly. They are online platforms that facilitate the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies along with crypto-to-fiat or fiat-to-crypto trades.

These exchanges have been around for many years and built a solid reputation. They are also very user-friendly, which makes them ideal for those who are not very tech-savvy. NakitCoins is an excellent example of a top crypto exchange. So how can you sell your bitcoins instantly via an exchange?

The process is quite simple. First, you need to create an account with the exchange of your choice. Once you have done that, you will usually need to verify your identity. You will usually do this by uploading a photo ID and proof of address.

After your account has been verified, you will need to deposit your bitcoins into your account. Once the Bitcoin has been deposited, you can create a sell order. The exchange will instantly match you with a buyer, and the trade will be executed in real-time. The proceeds will then be credited to your account, minus the exchange fees.

Peer-to-Peer Markets Places through Direct Trade

Another great way to sell Bitcoin instantly is through direct or person-to-person trades. This is where you find a buyer willing to trade with you directly. There are many ways to find such buyers. You can use online platforms such as LocalBitcoins or Paxful. These are peer-to-peer marketplaces that allow you to find buyers who are willing to trade with you directly. You can also use social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. There are many groups on these platforms that are dedicated to Bitcoin trading. Alternatively, you can go to your local Bitcoin meetup group and find buyers there.

Selling Bitcoin through a direct trade is similar to an exchange. The only difference is that you are dealing with an individual directly rather than a platform. Once you have found a buyer, you agree on a price and payment method. After that, you can then execute the trade instantly.

Sell Your Bitcoin Whenever You Want

As we have illustrated, there are plenty of places where you can instantly sell your Bitcoin. All that matters is your preference. If you would like to do it online from the comfort of your home, the best choice would be a crypto exchange or reputable peer-to-peer markets. Regardless of which method you choose, ensure is both safe and convenient.