Category: Cryptocurrency News

Microsoft bans play-to-earn Bitcoin Minecraft server Satlantis, iPhone 15 has big potential for crypto gaming, Formula E preview, and more.

Curve has observed gains of more than 20% in the past week, but this rally may not continue for long, as a whale has made a large move to exchanges. Curve Has Enjoyed A Sharp Rally Over The Past Week CRV has gone against the grain recently as it has registered some sharp bullish momentum during a period where the largest coins in the sector, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, have struggled. Following this latest uptrend, the Curve DAO token’s price has risen above the $0.52 mark. Here is a chart that shows how the cryptocurrency has performed over the past month: Looks like the value of the coin has significantly gone up in recent days | Source: CRVUSD on TradingView In the past week, CRV is up more than 20%, which makes it the best-performing coin among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap. The outperformance is by quite a distance, too, as many of the assets are in the red for the period. Now, the main question on the minds of the Curve DAO token holders is: can the asset keep up its rally? In the sharp surge a few days back, the asset had briefly managed to breach the $0.56 level, but the asset had quickly returned to the current level. Related Reading: Bitcoin Mining Now Most Sustainably-Powered Global Industry: Data Since then, CRV has been moving sideways, suggesting a slowdown in the buying pressure. While the asset has continued to hold at the current levels positive, some investors may be becoming restless, like a certain whale. CRV Whale Has Made A Sizeable Deposit To Binance Today According to data from the cryptocurrency transaction tracker service Whale Alert, a large CRV transfer has been spotted on the Ethereum blockchain during the past day. The transaction in question involved the movement of about 33.3 million CRVs, worth approximately $17.3 million at the time the transfer took place on the network. Given the large size of the move, it’s likely that a whale entity is behind it. As for what this humongous holder may have wanted to accomplish with the transfer, the full details may reveal some context. This massive transfer appears to have only needed a fee of $0.56 to go through | Source: Whale Alert It would seem like the sending address in the case of this transaction was an unknown wallet, meaning that it was unattached to any known centralized platform and was likely the whale’s personal, self-custodial wallet. Related Reading: Bitcoin Mega Whales Return To Selling Mode, More Downside Soon? The destination of the move was the Binance exchange. As one of the main reasons investors use these platforms is for selling-related purposes, there is a chance that the deposit has been made for dumping. If this is truly the whale losing patience and taking profits at the current price level, then the Curve DAO token may observe at least a temporary pullback in the coming days. Featured image from Todd Cravens on Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com

submitted by /u/TheRealRel [link] [comments]

The cryptocurrency sector, particularly Ripple Labs, has been embroiled in a scenario of concern and uncertainty following a contentious exchange between the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) chair, Gary Gensler, and the House Financial Services Committee in Congress which could affect the XRP price.  Despite Ripple’s partial legal victory against the SEC, Gensler’s stance remains unchanged, as he emphasized the regulatory body’s determination to pursue an interlocutory appeal in the ongoing case. This has raised further questions and apprehension within the industry. Congressman Highlights Ripple Case’s Far-From-Over Status During the hearing, Congressman Stephen F. Lynch expressed his concern about the potential pattern whereby court battles become the norm to determine the classification of individual tokens as securities.  While Gensler did not respond directly, he mentioned the SEC’s filing for an interlocutory appeal, highlighting the regulator’s intent to continue the legal battle. Lynch acknowledged that the case is far from over. Related Reading: Chainlink (LINK) Brushes Off Market Downtrend, Scores 11% In Last Week On August 17, Judge Torres granted the SEC’s request to file an interlocutory appeal, granting the regulatory body an opportunity to present a compelling case to the Second Circuit.  However, it’s important to note that this permission only allows the SEC to file the motion for an interlocutory appeal, presenting a significant opening for the regulator to challenge the previous ruling and seek a different outcome. These recent developments, as highlighted by Congressman Lynch, indicate that the ongoing Ripple case may take considerable time to resolve.  As a result, XRP is likely to remain stagnant, trapped in a consolidation phase, or potentially retracing beyond its current levels. This could potentially push the cryptocurrency to pursue another annual low, extending beyond the $0.4225 mark reached on August 17. XRP Price Analysis Points To Potential Macro Uptrend Despite the legal battles and the uncertainty surrounding the current state of the crypto market, some signs might point to a different scenario, where XRP could follow a macro uptrend.  Technical analysis highlights a pattern resembling the last market cycle, which consists of five phases: rise, crash, retrace, reaccumulation, and eventual breakout. Drawing parallels to previous cycles, many coins have experienced explosive growth beyond their previous all-time highs after the reaccumulation phase.  For instance, Bitcoin went through its reaccumulation phase during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, due to the ongoing lawsuit, XRP has entered a more prolonged reaccumulation phase in the form of an Elliott wave triangle, similar to the previous cycle.  Currently, the market is in phase E, which suggests a potential retracement upwards, followed by another dip to lower levels. Eventually, there is anticipation for a breakout from this massive triangle, leading to a new all-time high likely to occur next year or the year after. Related Reading: LINKing The Dots: Why Chainlink Could Be The Altcoin To Watch, Top Trader Says While some argue that the XRP price fate depends on Bitcoin’s performance, it is worth noting that when comparing XRP to BTC, it is also within an accumulation range and exhibits a bullish outlook. From this perspective, XRP is expected to outperform other alternative coins significantly. However, for the XRP price to sustain an extended uptrend in the near term, it must overcome significant resistance levels that pose potential challenges. In the immediate time frame, XRP faces a resistance at $0.5132, followed by two additional formidable barriers, which are expected to be particularly challenging in the coming weeks. XRP’s 50-day and 200-day Moving Averages (MAs) are currently positioned at $0.5194 and $0.5318, respectively. These MAs, once considered reliable support levels, have failed to hold, necessitating a significant catalyst for XRP to surpass them.  This is evident in the chart, depicting the partial victory on July 13, when XRP surged above both MAs. However, since August, XRP has been trading below them. Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com

The commission also designated a longer period to reach a decision on spot Bitcoin ETF applications from ARK 21Shares and GlobalX on Sept. 26.

The Winklevoss twins, cofounders of the Gemini exchange, withdrew $282 million in the months before the collapse of the exchange, which froze $900 million worth of customer deposits. “…the twins’ move to pull their money, months before Genesis suspended customer withdrawals, raises questions about what they knew in August 2022 and could undercut their claims…
Read more

Former IcomTech head Marco Ochoa is the latest crypto fraudster to face charges, while the CFTC charged another company and its head.

Michael Egorov, founder of Curve Finance, has settled his loan on the Aave Protocol and cut his total debt to $42.7 million.  Egorov’s DeFi debt profile was revealed on August 1 following a Curve Finance hack that extracted $73.5 million worth of assets across various liquidity pools.  As expected, the exploit caused a significant decline in the price of CRV, with the Curve governance token losing over 24% of its value in a single day, based on data from CoinMarketCap. This fall in CRV’s market price brought much attention to Egorov’s multiple debt positions.  According to a report by blockchain research firm Delphi Digital, it was revealed that the Curve Finance founder owed around $100 million across several DeFi protocols. Interestingly, these loans were collateralized by 427.5 million CRV tokens, representing 47% of the entire CRV circulating supply.  Therefore, the dwindling price of CRV presented a threat of liquidation, which could have been dangerous to the entire DeFi ecosystem.  Related Reading: Curve Finance Announces $1.85 Million Bounty For Stable Pool Exploiter Michael Egorov Closes Debt Profile On Aave Protocol According to a report on Wednesday by the on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain, Micheal Egorov has now cleared his debt on the Aave protocol.  The report stated that the Curve Founder deposited 68 million CRV, worth $35.5 million, on DeFi lending protocol Silo before proceeding to borrow $10.77 million worth of the stablecoin crvUSD. After that, Egorov swapped the crvUSD tokens for USDT and finalized the repayment of his debt on the Aave Protocol.  Related Reading: Curve Finance Exploiter Returns 61,000 ETH After Protocol’s Stern Warning Egorov’s Current Debt Profile  Based on more data from Lookonchain, Michael Egorov’s total debt now stands at $42.7 million spread across 4 lending protocols: Fraxlend, Silo, Inverse Finance, and Cream Finance. In detail, the Curve Finance founder has his largest debt on Silo, where he owes 17.14 million crvUSD backed by 105.8 million CRV, worth $55.3 million. On Fraxlend, Egorov owes 13.08 million FRAX, collateralized by 68.7 million CRV, valued at $35.94 million.  While on Inverse Finance, Michael Egorov has an outstanding debt of 10 million DOLA, backed by 66.18 million CRV, worth $34.5 million. The Curve Finance founder’s lowest debt can be found on Cream Finance, which comprises 2.02 million USDT and 506,000 USDC, secured by 13 million CRV, valued at $6.8 million.  Altogether, Egorov’s $42.7 million debt is backed by 253.67 million CRV, worth $132.53 million, representing 28.87% of the total CRV circulating supply.  CRV trades at $0.516 when writing, with a 2.99% gain on the last day. Meanwhile, the token’s daily trading volume is down by 0.73%, valued at $33.85 million. CRV ranks as the 70th largest cryptocurrency with a market cap value of $452.87 million. CRV trading at $0.5161 on the hourly chart | Source: CRVUSDT chart on Tradingview.com Featured image from Entrepreneur, chart from Tradingview

The browsing update is limited to Plus and Enterprise subscribers for now but will roll out to all users “soon,” says OpenAI.

Tellor (TRB), a decentralized oracle protocol and Chainlink alternative, has been a top performer in the past few months. Looking at price action, TRB is up 640% in 2023, surging 269% in the past month alone and reversing losses of 2022. A spike in trading volume is behind this resurgence, suggesting bull engagement. TRB Prices Rallying, Reverses 2022 Losses With TRB galloping past $44 and 2022 highs, the token has outpaced some of the top coins in the sphere, including XRP and Bitcoin (BTC). For context, Bitcoin is struggling to break above $30,000. On the other hand, XRP has reversed all gains registered following a court ruling declaring XRP as a commodity. TRB is more than 6X from 2023 lows and surging in a crypto winter.  Related Reading: Chainlink (LINK) Brushes Off Market Downtrend, Scores 11% In Last Week A look at onchain data shows that though there are hints of retailers taking profits at spot rates, the number of TRB on exchanges has been dropping in the past week. This contraction indicates that retailers and whales could accumulate, adding more TRB.  An analysis of the top TRB whales with over $1 million of tokens reveals interesting patterns. For instance, a fresh whale, “0x656”, holds 111.89K TRB ($6.06 million), a figure accumulated in the past three weeks. Buying at an average of $28.1, the whale has an unrealized profit of over $2.92 million at spot rates. Another new whale, “0x8f8”, accumulated 65.7K TRB ($3.6 million) in the past five days at an entry price of $34.5. With TRB edging higher, the associated address has an unrealized profit of $1.33 million.  Moreover, on-chain data shows that these whales mostly received their TRB from Binance and OKX. While prices have been rallying, on-chain trackers reveal that none of the above whales had moved their coins to exchanges. This points to confidence and expectations of more price gains going forward.  Tellor Rallying Because of Chainlink? TRB’s rally coincided with SWIFT’s announcement that it had completed its trials leveraging Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) in late August. Then, a SWIFT representative said the goal was to drive interoperability and ensure tokenization reaches its full potential. Days after this news, TRB broke above June highs, cementing its place above $13. Related Reading: Crypto Analyst Predicts Huge Double-Digit Breakout For Bitcoin Price Presently, parallel data suggests that the surge in TRB appears to be driven by fear of missing out, mostly from short-term traders and speculators. IntoTheBlock data on September 27 shows that short-term wallet holders have increased their TRB holdings, with over 72% of TRB holders in the money. Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView