Category: Cryptocurrency News

I heard someone on reddit say that only some of their code is actually open source. Personally I feel like software that pretends to be open source but actually isn't, is worse than proprietary. Other than that Rabby seems like my dream wallet. I did some research and apparently it's made by the people who…
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Can somebody block DAI? I know tether or us gov can block usdt, it has full control of it But what about dai? Dai is just a % of eth and bitcojn right? So eth and btc address could be blocked too? If you have private keys to smart contract this means you have full…
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Bitcoin price is up 30% versus Ethereum (ETH) in 2023, and bulls appear not to be slowing down, looking at the performance in the weekly chart. BTC is on the brink of pushing ETH lower at spot rates, registering new 2023 lows and extending gains from early this year. The Downtrend Remains: Will Bitcoin Extend Rally? Bitcoin bulls are in the driving seat. Candlestick arrangement in the weekly chart shows that BTC pushed on, extending its rally against the second most valuable coin despite attempts for higher highs in mid-August.  In the second week of August, ETH added roughly 7% versus BTC. Notably, this expansion was after a period of horizontal consolidation as momentum shifted in favor of ETH. However, bears reversed gains and continued the primary trend established since the beginning of the year. Related Reading: XRP Ledger Developer Xumm Reveals “Infrastructure Overhaul,” More Than An Upgrade? The medium trajectory seems to be guided by events in mid-March 2023. Then, ETH prices devalued drastically versus Bitcoin, forming a bearish engulfing bar marked by a spike in trading volume. The surging demand for BTC saw prices reverse progress in late October 2022.  Bitcoin bulls have since extended gains versus Ethereum. However, one notable formation is that BTC is rallying at the back of light trading volume. Since the rally of BTC in Q1 2023 versus ETH, trading volume has been contracting despite prices printing lower lows.  Regulatory Pressure, Hacks In Focus, Will Halving Spark Demand? It cannot be immediately ascertained whether the current draw-down will continue. The level of participation has significantly decreased in the last six months as sentiment dipped.  Over the past two quarters, the involvement of regulators, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), seems to have negatively impacted activity. In early June, the SEC sued Coinbase and Binance, two of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges. The regulator cited various claims, accusing Coinbase of listing unregistered securities and Binance of, among other charges, manipulation and violating different securities laws. Binance and Coinbase plan to defend themselves against the SEC.  Related Reading: Bitcoin Spot Trading Volume Hit Six-Year Low – Is Investor Confidence Rising? Besides regulations, the broader community remains cautious, considering the number of hacks targeting multiple exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Some of these exploits have been linked to the Lazarus Group, a notorious cell allegedly sponsored by North Korea. Despite the general market lull, traders look forward to the upcoming Bitcoin halving event in 2024. The event will create a supply shock, making BTC scarcer. Whether this will see BTC press ETH even lower back to June 2022 lows is yet to be seen. Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView

Based on a recent report by Bloomberg analyst Jamie Coutts, asset managers’ interest in Bitcoin stretches beyond exchange-traded funds (ETF) into the mining sector. In particular, Coutts speaks about BlackRock, describing the asset manager’s application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer a Bitcoin spot ETF as “unsurprising.”  The analyst stated that BlackRock and other prominent global asset managers, namely Vanguard and State Street, have been involved in the Bitcoin mining industry for over three years.  Related Reading: Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits New All-Time High As BTC Price Moves Sideways BlackRock And Other ESG-Driven Companies Investing In Bitcoin Mining, Analyst Says James Coutts stated that BlackRock began its venture into Bitcoin mining in 2020 by investing in Marathon Digital, the second-largest publicly traded mining company. Notably, this development occurred when the Bitcoin mining industry faced high criticism, likely due to the substantial reliance on fossil fuels. Over the last three years, Coutts reports that BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street have increased their respective investments in Bitcoin mining companies, regardless of the market cycle.  Interestingly, all three asset managers are known to promote Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment principles, part of which is limiting fossil fuel use. However, it appears that investing in Bitcoin mining may not damage the ESG credentials of these companies.  According to a report by Daniel Batten, co-founder of CH4 Capital, James Coutt notes that Bitcoin mining currently derives 50% of its energy from sustainable sources. And this percentage is likely to increase as Bitcoin mining has the unique ability to monetize stranded energy and stabilize energy grids.  Related Reading: Here’s Why Arthur Hayes Is Not In Support Of A BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF Potential Effect Of Bitcoin Mining Institutionalization Based on James Coutts’s report, BlackRock and the two other asset managers in the discussion are currently the top investors in the three largest publicly traded mining companies, namely Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, and Cleanspark.  Together, these mining companies collectively own 8.9% of the global hash rate, which is significant as public miners only account for 15% of the global hash power. Source: Bloomberg Intelligence For now, James Coutts believes that the involvement of these asset managers in Bitcoin mining poses little challenge to the network’s decentralization. However, the analyst notes that there may be a future clash of network and ESG values, especially given the activist tendencies of BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street. However, this would not prevent the Bitcoin network from operating as expected. But it may lead other miners whose operations still rely on fossil fuels to start processing “censored transactions.” At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $26,198.48, with a 0.57% gain in the last month, according to data from Tradingview.  BTC trading at $26,198.48 on the hourly chart | Source: BTCUSDT chart on Tradingview.com Featured image from The New Yorker, chart from Tradingview

The Ethereum open interest has been on an upward trajectory that has culminated in it crossing the $5.2 billion mark. This surge is important to Ethereum’s native token ETH in a number of ways as it could point to how investors are viewing the cryptocurrency at this point. Ethereum Open Interest Sees Rapid Rise Data from Coinglass shows that the Ethereum open interest has risen rapidly in recent times. Over the last week, the open interest has grown, eventually crossing $5.2 billion at a time when the crypto market continues to struggle to loosen the grip of bears. Related Reading: Cardano: Factors That Could Drive ADA Price As High As $12 One thing about open interest is that it can point to how investors are viewing the cryptocurrency and whether they are bearish or bullish. When open interest rises, it points to investors becoming more bullish. On the other hand, a drop in open interest suggests that investors are more bearish and expect prices to drop. ETH open interest jumps above $5.2 billion | Source: Coinglass This time around, with the open interest being on the rise, it suggests that crypto investors are turning bullish once more. This reflects the Crypto Fear & Greed Index showing that investor sentiment has been improving during the same time period. The chart above shows that the ETH price has often rallied when open interest has surged, which could happen in this case. If this holds true, then the ETH price could be looking at a rise toward the $1,700 level once more. ETH Could Rally With Crypto Market The turn to bullishness marked by the increase in Ethereum open interest is not limited to the cryptocurrency alone. Looking at the long/short ratio on Coinglass shows that long volumes have begun to recover while short volume has plummeted. Ethereum long volumes are currently sitting at $574 million compared to $548 million for short. This comes out to 51.28% for longs with 48.72% for shorts. And while these differences are not especially significant, it does show that crypto investors are betting more on a recovery for the cryptocurrency. Related Reading: Shiba Inu (SHIB) Burn Rate Sees Exponential 627% Jump Liquidations have also shown that short traders are losing more in the market. Ethereum currently has a 24-hour liquidation volume of $6.63 million. $1.57 million of this is long positions while $5.06 million is accounted for by short traders. The ETH price is sitting at $1,588 at the time of writing. It’s seeing small gains of 0.84% in the last day but nursing 3.59% losses on the weekly chart. ETH price remains volatile | Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview.com Follow Best Owie on X (formerly Twitter) for market insights, updates, and the occasional funny tweet… Featured image from Nasdaq, chart from TradingView.com

The approval is seen as a milestone moment for BlockFi’s over 100,000 creditors, who have been long awaiting repayment.

HTX (formerly known as Huobi), one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has been embroiled in a new controversy as Justin Sun, Tron’s founder and BitTorrent’s CEO, faces allegations of a staggering $2.4 billion shortfall in user funds.  Adam Cochran, Managing Partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, has shed light on the intricate details of the alleged malpractice, revealing a web of “financial manipulations.” Related Reading: Maker (MKR) Price Continues to Climb Higher Level, Will It Surpass $1500? Huobi Crisis Unveiled? Cochran’s analysis raises concerns over Huobi’s financial stability, questioning the integrity of the exchange’s claims regarding its holdings of Ethereum (ETH) and USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.  As seen in the chart above, while Huobi asserts assets worth $200 million in ETH, Cochran’s investigation, corroborated by defillama data, reveals a discrepancy, with the actual value amounting to under $113 million, even when considering wrapped ETH (WETH) and staked ETH (stETH). The situation further unravels when examining Huobi’s purported $624 million USDT holdings. However, Cochran’s findings indicate that only $119 million of USDT resides within the exchange, while the remaining balance is in staked USDT (stUSDT).  What raises suspicion is that Justin Sun has enabled staked USDT (stUSDT) a staking feature, which allows users to stake either USDT or TUSD (TrueUSD) to earn stUSDT, as reported by NewsBTC.  Allegations Mount Against Justin Sun  Instead of following the expected protocol of burning staked assets to claim the cash and take it offline, these funds are redirected to Justin Sun’s addresses or utilized to support JustLend, a lending platform associated with the Huobi ecosystem. Contrary to Huobi’s claim that it burns the stUSDT with Tether, Cochran’s investigation reveals that the counterparties for USDT on Huobi are the exchange’s deposit wallets or Binance.  This suggests that Justin Sun may utilize USDT from user balances on Huobi to generate stUSDT, subsequently leveraging the underlying USDT to support JustLend or repurchase TUSD on Binance. Cochran concludes that this complex financial arrangement, including TUSD deposits into stUSDT, effectively mints “fake assets” against an unknown equity.  As a result, Cochran estimates that Justin Sun’s alleged debt to users across the Huobi and Tron ecosystems amounts to approximately $2.4 billion, all while users remain unaware of the situation. Related Reading: BULLISH: Bloomberg Analyst Points Out Two Key Bitcoin Metrics Demonstrating Historic Strength Huobi has not yet formally responded to these allegations, leaving the situation’s outcome uncertain. However, the possibility of Huobi’s insolvency raises significant concerns regarding the security of user funds and the overall trustworthiness of the exchange. It remains to be seen how this situation will develop and what actions will be taken to address these concerns effectively. Related Reading: Bitcoin Mega Whales Return To Selling Mode, More Downside Soon? Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com