cryptocurrencies
Hot CPI report puts a dent in Bitcoin and Ethereum rally, stocks also lose ground
Crypto and stock markets are feeling the pain after the Sept. 13 inflation report printed an unexpectedly hot figure that showed headline inflation rising by 0.1% month-over-month. Even with gas prices falling to multi-month lows and a cooling housing market, core inflation saw a 0.6% month-over-month bump and year-to-year inflation sits at 8.3%. This chart from @TheTerminal shows why this #CPI number is so disappointing. The contribution of energy has declined, as expected; but services inflation is now rising sharply. Not what the #FOMC will have wanted to see. pic.twitter.com/BsfwFsuyD5 — John Authers (@johnauthers) September 13, 2022 While market participants and investors had estimated the next Federal Reserve interest hike to be a hefty 0.75 basis points, many also subscribed to a lo...
NFT creator Doodles raises $54M in funding at $704M valuation
On Tuesday, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) collection Doodles announced that it had raised $54 million at a $704 million valuation in a funding round led by Seven Seven Six, with participation from 10T Holdings, Acrew Capital and FTX Ventures. As told by Doodles, the investment will allow it to scale its growth strategy and monetize its intellectual property globally through ventures in the music, culture and entertainment industries. Doodles is a collection of 10,000 NFTs co-founded by digital artist Burnt Toast and Web3 pioneers Evan Keast and Jordan Castro. Artistically, it is known for its colorful world and joyful cartoon character portraits of skeletons, cats, aliens, apes and mascots minted on the Ethereum blockchain. NFTs in the collection are generated from hundreds of traits and hand-...
Time for a breakout? Bitcoin price pushes at key resistance near $23K
On Sept. 12, Bitcoin is doing Bitcoin things as usual. Since Sept. 9 the price has broken out nicely, booking a near 16% gain and rallying into the long-term descending trendline which appears to have resistance at $23,000. BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView Perhaps BTC and the wider market are turning bullish ahead of the Ethereum Merge which is scheduled for Sept. 14, or maybe the elusive bottom is finally in. Weekly chart data from TradingView shows that on June 27 and Aug. 15, Bitcoin’s relative strength index had dropped to lows not seen since 2019. BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView Currently, the metric has rebounded from a near oversold 31 to its current 38.5 reading. Some traders might also note a bullish divergence on the metric, where the RSI follows an ascen...
Abra announces plans for US bank supporting digital assets
Cryptocurrency trading platform Abra said it was “in the process of” establishing a United States-based state-chartered bank allowing clients to deposit digital assets. In a Monday announcement, Abra said the bank, named Abra Bank, would be regulated to operate within the U.S. and give customers the ability to use digital assets in seemingly the same way as fiat at traditional banks. The company also planned to launch Abra International, a digital asset-focused business based outside the U.S. “The best way to become the default Web3 wallet and crypto bank for everyone is by embracing a global regulatory framework that provides for transparency, oversight, security, and agency,” said Abra. We have some BIG news. Today we’re announcing the formation of Abra Bank and the launch of Abra Boost,...
Why quantum computing isn’t a threat to crypto… yet
Quantum computing has raised concerns about the future of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in recent years. For example, it is commonly assumed that very sophisticated quantum computers will one day be able to crack present-day encryption, making security a serious concern for users in the blockchain space. The SHA-256 cryptographic protocol used for Bitcoin network security is currently unbreakable by today’s computers. However, experts anticipate that within a decade, quantum computing will be able to break existing encryption protocols. In regard to whether holders should be worried about quantum computers being a threat to cryptocurrency, Johann Polecsak, chief technology officer of QAN Platform, a layer-1 blockchain platform, told Cointelegraph: “Definitely. Elliptic curve sig...
SEC to address growing crypto issuer filings with specialized offices
In light of the influx of filings from cryptocurrency issuers in the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to set up two new offices this fall to provide specialized support to the seven offices currently responsible for reviewing issuer filings. Under the Division of Corporation Finance’s Disclosure Review Program (DRP), the SEC announced plans to add two offices — an Office of Crypto Assets and an Office of Industrial Applications and Services — purely focused on dealing with crypto assets and industrial applications and services, respectively. Sharing insights into the move, Renee Jones, director of the Division of Corporation Finance, stated: “The creation of these new offices will enable the DRP to enhance its focus in the areas of crypto asse...
‘We’re not giving crypto a pass’ on enforcement action, says SEC’s Gurbir Grewal
Gurbir Grewal, the enforcement director for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, said the financial regulator will continue to investigate and bring enforcement actions against crypto firms, despite the narrative of “picking winners and losers” and “stifling innovation.” In written remarks for a Friday program hosted by the Practising Law Institute, Grewal pushed back against criticism that the SEC “somehow unfairly targeted crypto” in its enforcement actions when compared with those against financial products or traditional markets. He also hinted that the SEC had a responsibility to many “non-White and lower-income investors” drawn to crypto projects, who may feel as though the financial system and its regulators “failed, or simply ignored, them.” “It often seems c...
DApp activity rises 3.7% in August for the first time since May: Finance Redefined
Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. Decentralized applications, or DApps, finally showed a glimmer of recovery in August as the daily average of unique active wallets rose by 3.7% compared to May. With just under a week left for the Merge, SEBA Bank has opened Ethereum staking services for institutions. On the other side, layer-2 scalability solutions are hopeful of seeing a significant cut in their carbon emissions post Merge. This past week, two DeFi protocols became victims of coordinated flash loan attacks. On Wednesday, Avalanche-based lending protocol Nereus Finance became the victim of a crafty hack that saw a user net $371,000 worth of USD C...
3 reasons why Bitcoin traders should be bullish on BTC
Bitcoin (BTC) has been in a rut, and BTC’s price is likely to stay in its current downtrend. But like I mentioned last week, when nobody is talking about Bitcoin, that’s usually the best time to be buying Bitcoin. In the last week, the price took another tumble, dropping below $19,000 on Sept. 6 and currently, BTC bulls are struggling to flip $19,000–$20,000 back to support. Just this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated the Fed’s dedication to doing literally whatever it takes to combat inflation “until the job is done,” and market analysts have increased their interest rate hike predictions from 0.50 basis points to 0.75. Basically, interest rate hikes and quantitative tightening are meant to crush consumer demand, which in turn, eventually leads to a decrease in...
Huobi wins license in the British Virgin Islands, no timeline for the UK yet
Major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi continues to expand its global footprint by entering the British Virgin Islands, a British Overseas Territory. Huobi officially announced on Friday that it secured an investment business license from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of the British Virgin Islands. The approval allows Huobi to operate a virtual asset exchange under the subsidiary Brtuomi Worldwide Limited (BWL). According to the announcement, BWL plans to offer a range of crypto trading services, including spot trading of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as well as derivatives trading. The company positions itself as the first digital asset trading platform operator in the British Virgin Islands licensed to run an institutional-grade crypto trading platform for bo...
DeFi DApps activity rises 3.7% in August for first time since May — Report
DeFi dapps showed a slight recovery for the first time since May, with the daily average of unique active wallets (UAWs) increasing 3.7% on a month-over-month basis, according to a report from DappRadar. The rise was partially driven by the Flow protocol, which rose 577% UAW due to Instagram’s support of its NFTs and the game Solitaire Blitz. On the other hand, Solana UAW shrank by 53% in August from the previous month, while transactions dropped by 68%, the findings showed. There were 1.67 million unique wallets connected to blockchain DApps in August, down 3.52% from last month, and down 14.73% compared to August 2021. Source: DappRadar Among industries, gaming accounted for over 50% of the activity usage, with 847,230 daily UAW, although it is down 11% and the numb...
UK advertising watchdog cites 2 former reality stars for crypto ads on Instagram stories
The United Kingdom’s independent advertising regulator has upheld a complaint involving former reality show Love Island contestants Eve and Jessica Gale for “triviali[zing] investment in cryptocurrency.” In a Wednesday notice, the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority, or ASA, said the reality stars promoted crypto in an Instagram story in June at the request of an influencer named Elizabeth O’Donell and upheld claims the ad was “misleading” and “irresponsible.” According to the regulator, O’Donell was not only providing trading crypto advice — as the Gales’ stories claimed — but promoting investing in cryptocurrencies without illustrating the possible risks. “We therefore considered the ads were addressed to a general audience who were unlikely to have any specialist knowledge ...
