crypto blog
Bitcoin price falls below $20K for first time since 2020, Ethereum dips under $1K
Bitcoin (BTC) achieved a bear market first on June 18 as BTC price action gave up $20,000 support. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView BTC price crosses under 2017 all-time high Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed BTC/USD sliding under $20,000 for the first time since December 2020, reaching press-time lows of $19,066. As nerves heightened after the United States Federal Reserve’s comments on the inflation outlook, crypto markets bore the brunt of a sell-off, which began after shock Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures last week. Losing the psychologically significant $20,000 mark, Bitcoin also achieved a lifetime first — dropping below its previous halving cycle’s high for the first time in its history. There’s a first...
Third non-EU country, Ukraine, joins the European Blockchain Partnership
After Norway and Liechtenstein, Ukraine became the third country outside the European Union (EU) to join the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP), an initiative derived by 27 member states to deliver cross-border public services. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine announced the country’s move to join the EBP as an observer on June 17. With the ultimate goal of integrating its digital economic space with the EU, Ukraine plans to expand its interstate blockchain network partnership with other countries. Ukraine’s intent to join the EBP dates back to July 2021, when Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi, the head of the Parliamentary group, Blockchain4Ukraine, and Konstantin Yarmolenko, the founder and CEO of Virtual Assets of Ukraine, wrote a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of ...
The BTC origin story: Who designed the Bitcoin logo?
The bright orange Bitcoin (BTC) logo, for over a decade, has become synonymous with financial freedom amid modern-day recession and stringent governmental oversight. However, unlike the mysteries tied to Bitcoin’s origin, the development of the Bitcoin ‘₿’ logo is fairly documented in the depths of the internet. When Bitcoin was introduced 13 years ago by creator Satoshi Nakamoto, the first iteration of the Bitcoin logo represented a gold coin with a “BC” text embedded in the center, as shown below. However, on February 24, 2010, Nakamoto came up with a new Bitcoin logo, which saw the replacement of the “BC” text with “₿” embedded within the gold coin. Satoshi Nakamoto’s second attempt on Bitcoin logo. Source: bitcointalk.org Based on community feedback, Satoshi then incor...
Sweeping layoffs, hiring and firing as crypto prices take a massive downturn
Many in the crypto world have been glued to their screens with eyes dead set on financial conditions this week. That isn’t the case for everyone though, as thousands are suddenly experiencing thewoes of sudden unemployment. Words of encouragement and sympathy also poured out across Twitter and LinkedIn consoling individuals released from their responsibilities. Some expressed frustration, confusion and anger while others expressed gratitude, renewed vision and reflections. My heart is with those recently laid off. I too have been one of the lucky ones to be spared by massive layoffs on days where friends have been let go. This privileged situation has its own anxiety, displacement and upheaval. Sorry you’re going through this moment. — Matt Murray (@vintageneon) June 16, 2022 As...
Senators join chorus of disapproval of ‘backdoor regulation’ in SEC staff accounting bulletin
United States Senator Bill Hagerty has sent a letter, cosigned by four other Republican senators, to Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commission chair Gary Gensler urging the withdrawal of a staff accounting bulletin, referred to as SAB 121, issued by the agency March 31. According to the senators, the bulletin amounts to “regulation disguised as staff guidance” and does not adhere to the Administrative Procedure Act. SAB 121 provides guidance on accounting and disclosure for companies that safeguard clients’ crypto assets and allow them to perform transactions with them. The bulletin said those companies, which include platforms such as Coinbase and Robinhood, should list digital assets as liabilities on their balance sheets at fair value. The need for the new accounting procedure was chalke...
Market selling might ease, but traders are on the sidelines until BTC confirms $20K as support
The total crypto market capitalization fell off a cliff between June 10 and 13 as it broke below $1 trillion for the first time since January 2021. Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 28% within a week and Ether (ETH) faced an agonizing 34.5% correction. Total crypto market cap, USD billion. Source: TradingView Presently, the total crypto capitalization is at $890 million, a 24.5% negative performance since June 10. That certainly raises the question of how the two leading crypto assets managed to underperform the remaining coins. The answer lies in the $154 billion worth of stablecoins distorting the broader market performance. Even though the chart shows support at the $878 billion level, it will take some time until traders take in every recent event that has impacted the market. For example, the U.S...
Coinbase is facing class action suits over unstable stablecoins GYEN, TerraUSD
A class-action suit was filed against Coinbase on Thursday claiming the trading platform was negligent in its listing of the TerraUSD stablecoin and alleging that it failed to disclose its financial relationship with Terraform Labs. This is the second class-action suit outstanding against Coinbase. A suit was filed last month in connection with the depegging of GYEN in November. Thursday’s suit alleges Coinbase was negligent for failing to conduct due diligence of Terraform Labs before it listed TerraUSD and misrepresenting TerraUSD’s risk as an algorithmic stablecoin. The suit compares the information on stablecoins provided by trading platforms Robinhood, Gemini and Kraken to that of Coinbase and concluded that “Rather than disclose the nature of TerraUSD as uncollateralized, contr...
Finance Redefined: Three Arrow Capital and Celsius fall brings a tsunami of sell-off in DeFi
This past week, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem faced the brunt of the bears fueled by liquidation rumors of Three Arrow Capital (3AC) and Celsius liquidations. MakerDAO decided to cut off Aave (AAVE) from its direct deposit module as a safeguard in light of the possibility that Celsius folds and crashes the price of staked Ether (stETH). Trading firm 8 Blocks Capital called out to platforms holding funds owned by 3AC to freeze the assets as rumors of 3AC’s insolvency stay afloat. Micheal Saylor believes Bitcoin (BTC) and the Lightning Network can solve many of the DeFi ecosystem problems. The top 100 DeFi tokens were hit hard by bears, with the majority of tokens registering multi-month low along with double-digit losses over the past week. Crypto crash wreaking havoc on DeFi p...
Crypto Biz: Crypto carnage pushes Celsius, Three Arrows Capital closer to insolvency, June 9-16
The 2022 version of crypto winter has been unlike anything we’ve seen before. As I warned last month, the meltdown of the Terra ecosystem didn’t end with Luna Classic (LUNC) hitting zero. The biggest threat was contagion. As the dust began to settle, we finally got a glimpse of who was left holding the bag. Crypto lender Celsius and Singapore-based venture firm Three Arrows Capital suffered heavy losses during the debacle. These firms, once a staple of the budding crypto industry, now risk demise following weeks of massive selloffs in the market. Celsius reportedly seeks advice from lawyers on restructuring Alex Mashinsky’s Celsius dominated headlines this week after the popular crypto lender paused withdrawals due to “extreme market conditions.” During the freeze, the firm unstaked ...
5 indicators traders can use to know when a crypto bear market is ending
The bull market is gone and the reality of a long crypto winter is surely giving traders a bad case of the shivers. Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has fallen to lows not even the bears expected, and some investors are likely scratching their heads and wondering how BTC will come back from this epic decline. Prices are dropping daily, and the current question on everyone’s mind is: “when will the market bottom and how long will the bear market last?” While it’s impossible to predict when the bear market will end, studying previous downtrends provides some insight into when the phase is coming to a close. Here’s a look at five indicators that traders use to help know when a crypto winter is coming to a close. The crypto industry begins to recover One of the classic signs that a crypto winter ha...
Stablecoins highlight ‘structural fragilities’ of crypto — Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve’s board of governors pointed to stablecoins as a potential risk to financial stability amid a volatile crypto market. In its Monetary Policy Report released on Friday, the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System said “the collapse in the value of certain stablecoins” — likely referring to TerraUSD (UST) becoming unpegged from the United States dollar in May — in addition to “recent strains” in the digital asset market suggested “structural fragilities.” The government department pointed to the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets report from November 2021, in which officials said legislation was “urgently needed” to address financial risks. “Stablecoins that are not backed by safe and sufficiently liquid assets and are not subject to appro...
Crypto casinos: What are they, and should you try them?
Cryptocurrencies are flourishing like never before, and every day, more and more governments and other authorities are starting to take them seriously. The currencies are slowly, but surely spreading to all corners of society – and recently, they’ve caused a shift in the gambling industry as well. With the rise of the so-called crypto casinos, gamblers can now make bets and game the night away using only crypto as payment. While this presents a host of new opportunities, it also raises many questions about safety, regulations and rules. Below, we’ll go through some of these and explain the new casino concept to you. What are crypto casinos? First and foremost, let’s start by defining what exactly it is that sets crypto casinos apart from the ones you might be familiar with. It’s...
