Crypto news
Options data shows Bitcoin’s short-term uptrend is at risk if BTC falls below $23K
Bitcoin (BTC) briefly broke above $25,000 on Aug. 15, but the excitement lasted less than an hour and was followed by a 5% retrace in the next five hours. The resistance level proved to be tougher than expected but may have given bulls false hope for the upcoming $335 million weekly options expiry. Investors’ fleeting optimism reverted to a sellers’ market on Aug. 17 after BTC dumped and tested the $23,300 support. The negative move took place hours before the release of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) minutes from its July meeting. Investors expect some insights on whether the Federal Reserve will continue raising interest rates. The negative newsflow accelerated on Aug. 16 after a federal court in the United States authorized the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to for...
Nigeria aims for millions of new eNaira users as it increases features, targets unbanked
The eNaira, Nigeria’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), will enter the second phase of its expansion with new technology to beef up its user base, Nigerian Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele said Thursday, speaking at the 2022 eNaira Hackathon in Abuja. The eNaira, Africa’s first CBDC, was launched in October 2021. “The eNaira is a journey, not a one-time event,” Emefiele said, adding: “We don’t have a choice but to live with the fact that we are now in a digital economy, in a digital space, where the user[s] of cash will dissipate almost to zero.” “The second phase of the project has begun and is intended to drive financial inclusion by onboarding the unbanked and underserved users […] with a target of about 8 million active users,” Emefiele continued. The CBDC has had about 840,00...
A sharp drop in TVL and DApp use preceded Avalanche’s (AVAX) 16% correction
After an impressive 73% rally between July 13 and Aug. 13, Avalanche (AVAX) has faced a 16% rejection from the $30.30 resistance level. Some analysts will try to pin the correction as a “technical adjustment,” but the network’s deposits and decentralized applications reflect worsening conditions. Avalanche (AVAX) index, USD. Source: TradingView To date, Avalanche remains 83% below its November 2021 all-time high at $148. More data than technical analysis can be analyzed to explain the 16% price drop, so let’s take a look at the network’s use in terms of deposits and users. The decentralized application (DApp) platform is still a top-15 contender with a $7.2 billion market capitalization. Meanwhile, Solana (SOL), another proof-of-work (PoW) layer-1 platform, holds a $14.2 billio...
US lawmakers appeal directly to 4 mining firms, requesting info on energy consumption
Four members of the United States House of Representatives from the Energy and Commerce Committee have demanded answers from four major crypto mining firms in regards to the potential effects of their energy consumption on the environment. In letters dated Wednesday to Core Scientific, Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain, and Stronghold Digital Mining, U.S. lawmakers Frank Pallone, Bobby Rush, Diana DeGette, and Paul Tonko requested the companies provide information from 2021 including the energy consumption of their mining facilities, the source of that energy, what percentage came from renewable energy sources, and how often the firms curtailed operations. The four members of the House committee also inquired as to the average cost per megawatt hour the companies spent mining...
Chinese mining giant Canaan doubles profits despite the blanket crypto ban
Major Chinese cryptocurrency miner manufacturer Canaan appears to have no issues with the local ban on crypto, as the company’s overall performance has continued to grow in 2022. Canaan officially announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2022 on Thursday, reporting a 117% increase in gross profit from the same period of 2021. According to the firm, the Q2 profits amounted to 930 million renminbi (RMB), or nearly $139 million. The company’s Q2 net income was 608 million RMB, or $91 million, or a 149% increase from 425 million RMB in the same period last year. Canaan noted that foreign currency translation adjustment in Q2 was an income compared to previous losses due to the U.S. dollar appreciation against RMB during Q2. Despite posting significant profits, Canaan has ...
Coinbase would rather shut down staking than enable on-chain censorship — Brian Armstrong
In light of the recent ban on crypto mixing tool Tornado Cash and the subsequent arrest of the Tornado Cash developer, there has been a growing debate over whether crypto services providers would choose decentralization or censorship as form of compliance. The question has become more prominent as Ethereum is moving from its current proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain to a proof-of-stake (PoS) mining consensus. With the transition less than a month away, a user pointed out that more than 66% of validators on the Beacon Chain (Ethereum PoS chain) will adhere to the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations. Start with the big, current one. Currently it looks like over 66% of the beacon chain validators will adhere to OFAC regulatio...
Korean financial watchdog to block tens of unregistered exchange websites
Unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges operating in South Korea could see their services grind to a halt as the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) takes action against 16 foreign-based firms. The FIU has notified its investigative authority that 16 virtual asset service providers have been carrying out business without the necessary registrations. Major exchanges, including the likes of KuCoin, Poloniex and Phemex, were listed alongside 13 other exchanges that are set to be hamstrung by the FIU. All 16 exchanges have purportedly engaged in business activities targeting domestic consumers by offering Korean-language websites, running promotional events targeting Korean consumers and providing credit card payment options for cryptocurrency purchases. These activities all fall under the F...
South African Reserve Bank encourages friendly behavior with crypto
The Prudential Authority of the Reserve Bank of South Africa sent out guidelines to its subsidiaries in an effort to prevent illicit activities, encouraging banks not to cut all ties with cryptocurrency. It suggested that such an act could cause greater risk in the long run. The official notice was signed by Prudential Authority CEO Fundi Tshazibana. In the past, certain South African banks had cut ties with crypto asset service providers (CASPs) — as they are called in the document — due to unclear regulations or a high-risk factor. However, the notice highlights that risk assessment doesn’t mean dropping crypto entirely: “Risk assessment does not necessarily imply that institutions should seek to avoid risk entirely (also referred to as de-risking), for example, through wholesale t...
Aid for Ukraine’s $54M crypto fund buys vests, scopes and UAVs
The crypto community has poured in an impressive $54 million worth of crypto funds through Aid For Ukraine, aimed at supporting the country’s military efforts against Russia, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister has revealed. The $54 million has been funneled in through the Ukrainian government-run initiative Aid For Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov’s Twitter post on Thursday, who thanked the crypto community for their support: “Every helmet, bulletproof vest, and night vision device save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. Thus, we must continue to support our defenders. Thanks so much to everyone from the crypto community for supporting Ukraine!” According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Aid For Ukraine’s $54 million has mostl...
Aussies buy fuel and chips with crypto across 175 fuel outlets
Convenience store and petrol station brand On The Run (OTR) has launched crypto payment support across all 175 of its petrol stations and convenience stores across Victoria, South Australia (SA), and Western Australia (WA) as of Thursday. As previously reported, the move is part of a collaboration between OTR, Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com and DataMesh, a Sydney-based payment systems provider. The exchange has provided its Pay Merchant service as a payment settlement layer, while Datamesh has provided the point of sale terminals. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Crypto.com’s Asia & Pacific general manager Karl Mohan noted that it only took “eight weeks to from the time of proof of concept to the point of actually getting a full scalable production-ready environment.” Mohan noted that...
Crypto ad spending may be down, but awareness remains critical: Experts
Crypto television advertising spending has reportedly fallen off a cliff in the United States, reflecting the current state of the markets. However, that’s no excuse to take a break, two crypto firms tell Cointelegraph. A Wednesday report from Bloomberg highlighted that television ad spending among the largest crypto trading firms hit the lowest mark in over a year, with only $36,000 spent in July according to ISpot, down 99.9% from $84.5 million in February. The $84.5 million ad spend was achieved during the U.S. Superbowl period when Crypto.com, FTX US, and Coinbase splurged on high-profile ads to raise awareness of their services. Despite the reported decline in TV ad spending, some crypto firms such as Singapore-based digital asset management firm IDEG Limited say they conti...
Aussie asset manager to offer crypto ETF using unique license variation
Australian asset manager Monochrome Asset Management has landed the country’s first Australian financial services license (AFSL) for a spot crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF). Speaking to Cointelegraph, Jeff Yew, CEO of Monochrome Asset Management, said the AFSL approval is significant, as until this point, approved crypto ETFs in Australia only operate under general financial asset authorization and only indirectly hold crypto-assets. Yew noted that Monochrome’s crypto ETFs, on the other hand, will directly hold the underlying crypto-assets and is specifically authorized by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) to do so. The Monochrome executive said the approval represents a significant step forward for both the advice industry and retail investors: “We see c...
