Category: Crypto News

At the time of writing, the trader had sold 111.65 million MOEW for 99 ETH worth $328,000, realizing a profit of more than $315,000.

Less than seven hours ago, a memecoin trader made roughly $2 million from a $13,000 investment in the just-launched donotfomoew (MOEW). The token’s value skyrocketed within an hour after it began trading on decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

Turning $13K to $2M

According to a tweet by market analytics platform Lookonchain, the trader spent four ether (ETH) to buy 499.9 million MOEW ten minutes after the token’s debut on DEXs. Within 60 minutes, their wallet recorded a gain of 158x. 

At the time of writing, the trader had sold 111.65 million MOEW for 99 ETH worth $328,000, realizing a profit of $315,000. The wallet still holds 388.24 million MOEW worth approximately $1.76 million.

Web3 wallet provider Bitget Wallet created MOEW on April 3 for fun. The token’s developers said they just wanted to experience the power of memes and that the project was nothing serious but an experiment. 

A total supply of ten billion tokens, MOEW was launched on Coinbase’s Ethereum-based layer-2 network Base, with 50% to be locked in the liquidity pool and the remaining half to be distributed to eligible Bitget Wallet users as airdrops. The wallet provider said it would not keep any tokens.

MOEW Skyrockets 29,000%

Over 8,000 addresses received MOEW airdrops today, and Bitget said the rest of the tokens would be distributed over the next five days. To be eligible for the token allocation, users had to earn BWB points by holding crypto balances in their Bitget Wallet or executing in-app cross-chain swaps. Notably, donotfomoew’s mantra is “Don’t buy, don’t FOMO.”

“Lost money on memes? So did we. $MOEW will be airdropped to all users who made losses in this meme market. We bet 80% of users got rekt before. Participating in the $BWB airdrop event and holding 500 BWB Points over the next 5 days will qualify you for $MOEW airdrops,” Bitget stated.

Within a few hours after the launch of MOEW, the cat-themed memecoin has surged by more than 29,000%. It has a market cap of roughly $19 million and a trading volume of over $50 million. At the time of writing, the token was worth $0.0019, per data from CoinScan.

While MOEW records massive gains, Bitget Wallet has warned its users of scammers and suspicious activities.

Cathie Wood, the founder and CEO of investment management firm ARK Invest, has raised concerns about a critical yet frequently overlooked matter – currency devaluations on the rise of bitcoin (BTC).

ARK Invest focuses solely on disruptive innovation and offers investment solutions to investors seeking long-term growth in the public markets.

Why Is Bitcoin Fluctuating?

During an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, the CEO was asked about her thoughts on Bitcoin’s recent price movements. Wood responded, noting that “there are currency devaluations that people are not talking about.”

In the past week, the crypto asset drastically declined from its all-time high record of $73,750 to below $65,000. The decline has caused a shift in the crypto market. Some investors are considering withdrawing their funds, while others are hopeful about the future of the digital asset.

According to CryptocurrenciesToWatch, BTC is currently at $66,377, with a market cap of $1.3T.

Fiat Currency Devaluation

Wood listed some examples of fiat currencies that are struggling. The Nigerian NGN has been down 50-60% in the last nine months, Egypt just devalued by 40%, and Argentina continues to devalue.

She said, “I think this is a flight to safety, believe it or not, taking place. It is a hedge against devaluation. It is a hedge against loss of purchasing power and wealth.”

Additionally, the ARK Invest CEO mentioned that regional banks imploded in the United States last year, and Bitcoin increased by 40%.

Interestingly, she argued that BTC does not have counterparty risk – the probability that the other party in an investment, credit, or trading transaction may not fulfill its part of the deal and may default on the contractual obligations.

Wood cautioned that significant long-term risks be carried out, particularly regarding currency stability.

“As countries increasingly resort to monetary easing measures to support their economies, the consequence can be currency devaluation. The outcome of weakened currency extends far beyond financial markets, which affects everything from trade balances to inflation rates,” she explained.

Grayscale has lost nearly 50% of GBTC within three months after bitcoin spot ETF approval. 

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) was approved earlier this year alongside other Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). GBTC is invested in bitcoin, making it easier for investors to acquire BTC without going through buying, selling, and protecting their investments on the blockchain. 

Grayscale Bitcoin Holdings and Outflow

After the SEC approved the Bitcoin spot ETF in January, GBTC started trading publicly, holding some 620,000 bitcoins. Grayscale charges 1.5% management fees for its Bitcoin Trust Fund, which is higher than the average price. This could lead to lower or no returns for investors, especially in a bearish market. Many investors have exited GBTC, shifting their investments to other Bitcoin ETFs like Fidelity’s FBTC and Blackrock’s IBIT.

While other publicly traded ETFs like BlackRock have recorded many inflows, Grayscale continues to record massive outflows. Two weeks ago, an outflow of about $643 million was recorded in a day. As of the end of March, GBTC holds only 335,154 bitcoins after selling about 284,846 before the first three months after launch. Grayscale now has only 54% of its initial amount of bitcoins. 

Grayscale CEO to Control Outflows

To control the outflow of GBTC, Michael Sonneshein, CEO of Grayscale, has announced a reduction of GBTC management fees anytime soon as the bitcoin spot ETF market continues to grow and gain popularity. However, he has not specified the date of the reduction or how many percent will be reduced.

In addition, Grayscale has applied to the SEC to approve a new ETF. When approved, the new Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ($BTC) will trade with lower management fees and be able to compete with other bitcoin ETFs in the market. Some percentage of the existing GBTC will back the Mini GBTC.

After trading for nearly three months, the bitcoin ETF market has recorded many inflows. According to Farside, over $12 billion has been inflowed into bitcoin ETFs. US spot bitcoin ETFs now hold more than four percent of the total bitcoin supply.  

Investors have pumped a staggering $862 million into crypto funds just last week, nearly erasing the previous week’s record outflow of $931 million despite market volatility. The influx of capital into crypto funds shows growing confidence among investors while trading activity slows. 

Data compiled by crypto fund tracking firm Coinshares revealed that Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) activity is slowing down, with daily trading turnover currently at $5.4 billion, which is currently down 36% relative to its peak three weeks ago. 

Crypto Volatility  

The surge in investment comes amid a backdrop of increased volatility in the crypto market. 

Bitcoin (BTC), the largest and most recognized crypto asset, with a current market cap of $1.3T, according to CryptocurreciesToWach, has experienced an unstable ride over the past week. Likewise, other major crypto assets like Ethereum and Solana witnessed a significant price swing. 

In the past week, BTC fluctuated within the $68,000 to $71,000 mark. However, recent developments have caused the leading digital asset to decline in value. At the time of writing, the leading crypto asset is trading at $66,500.  

According to CoinShares analysts, bitcoin recovered toward $70,000, and assets under management increased from $88.2 billion to $97.9 billion.  

After withdrawing $3.7 million a week earlier, clients pulled out $2 million from structures that allow opening shorts on the first crypto. For Ethereum (ETH) funds, the outflow decreased from $34.2 million to $18.9 million, a typical trend following network upgrades, which indicate investors’ apprehension about their success.    

Investor’s Allocation 

Investors allocated $6.1 million, $2.4 million, and $1 million into instruments based on Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), and Cardano (ADA), respectively.   

On a regional level, the divergence continues, with the United States witnessing an additional influx of $897 million, whereas Europe and Canada collectively saw outflows of $49 million.

Despite the market fluctuations, investors view price dips as favorable buying opportunities rather than reasons for concern. 

Meanwhile, investors are advised to exercise caution and conduct thorough research before allocating capital to crypto assets, recognizing the risk associated with the crypto market.  

The acquisition of 8,888 BTC has elevated Tether to the seventh-largest Bitcoin holder.

Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, has acquired a total of 8,888 bitcoin (BTC) worth $618 million.  

The latest acquisition is part of Tether’s efforts to boost its stablecoin reserve. According to on-chain data Tether’s wallet now holds 75,354 BTC, with a total value of $5.2 billion as of the time of writing. The assets were purchased as an average price of $30,305 per coin. 

Interestingly, data from CoinStats shows that the wallet has surged by more than 128%, currently yielding an unrealized profit of $2.94 billion.  

The lastest acquisition comes amid increased institutional attention towards Bitcoin. The interest was sparked by the approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, alongside the incoming Bitcoin Halving scheduled to occur in just 19 days.

According to Bitinfocharts data, Tether is currently the seventh Bitcoin holder globally, with Binance’s cold wallet being on the number one spot with 248,597 BTC, valued at $17.31 billion.  

On March 4, Tether’s USDT achieved a milestone, reaching a record market cap of $100 billion, reflecting a notable 9% year-to-date growth for the stablecoin.  

The firm announced its intention to allocate 15% of its net profit towards investments in BTC, aiming to diversify its stablecoin reserve. 

BTC’s Trading Position  

Meanwhile, since last month, bitcoin maintained its position above the $69,000 support line despite the market undergoing the largest quarterly options expiry event on March 29. 

In a video analysis released on March 26, pseudonymous crypto analyst Rekt Capital said that Bitcoin’s pre-halving correction might have concluded, pointing to the fact that BTC turned its previous all-time high of $69,000 into a support level. 

“Bitcoin is now peaking beyond this old all-time high, potentially positioning itself for this pre-halving retracement to be over,” he said.    

According to data, BTC has recently concluded seven monthly green candles in a row, marking a significant milestone in its performance.

Some community members think SBF’s 25-year jail term is okay and befitting for his crime, while others believe he deserves a more severe sentence.

The sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), ex-crypto king, founder, and former CEO of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has stirred multiple reactions from crypto community members.

SBF’s Sentencing

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York sentenced SBF to 25 years behind bars on Thursday at a federal court in Manhattan. Federal prosecutors sought a sentence of 40-50 years, the convict’s lawyers pushed for a 6.5-year term, but SBF faced up to 110 years after he was found guilty of seven criminal charges, including wire fraud and money laundering.

The prosecutors accused SBF of misappropriating over $8 billion in customer money to fund a luxury lifestyle, real estate purchases, political donations, and venture-capital investments, submitting dozens of victim statements that detailed the impact of the criminal’s actions on the lives of FTX users.

When SBF spoke in the courtroom, he said: “My useful life is probably over. It’s been over for a while now,” referring to his six-month stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He reiterated his claims that there are enough assets to repay FTX creditors in full, countering interim CEO John Ray’s reports that the exchange’s victims would never be made whole.

According to several tweets on crypto X, some community members think SBF’s 25-year jail term is okay and befitting for his crime, while others believe he deserves more years and possibly a life sentence.

“A Slap in The Face”

Jenny Horne, the host of the finance broadcast channel Schwab Network, said SBF’s sentence seems “pretty middle of the road” compared to those of his predecessors, including Bernie Madoff, Elizabeth Holmes, Chelsea Manning, and Jeffrey Keith, who landed 150, 11, 35, and 24-year jail terms, respectively. Interestingly, SBF is considered the Madoff of this generation.

American financial journalist Charles Payne said, “hell no,” SBF’s jail term is not enough. Crypto trader and internet personality Bob Loukas said the FTX founder’s wealth must have helped him land a lighter sentence. 

“He should have gotten life without the possibility of parole. Twenty five years is a slap in the face to all the people he ruined,” insisted another pseudonymous X user.

Meanwhile, SBF’s lawyers have indicated they will appeal Judge Kaplan’s decision. Speculations are making the rounds that their client may walk away from the appeal with a higher or lesser sentence. 

The Prisma Finance hacker has commenced swapping the stolen funds to ETH.

Popular decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, Prisma Finance, has been compromised in an exploit resulting in the loss of approximately $10 million worth of crypto assets. The incident has raised concerns about the security of DeFi protocols. 

Prisma Finance Exploited For $10 million 

On-chain security alert provider Cyvers was the first to detect the anomaly on March 28. 

“Our system has detected multiple suspicious transactions with @PrismaFi and are still ongoing. The total loss so far is around $9M. The attacker has been funded by @FixedFloat! Our system has detected the malicious contract 2 min earlier than hack transactions,” the security provider said. 

The exploit targeted Prisma Finance’s smart contracts, allowing the attackers to siphon funds from the platform. According to the investigation, the attackers exploited a vulnerability in the platform’s code that enabled them to transfer funds from various liquidity pools and other protocol functions.   

Cyvers Alert Notification 

Following the initial alert, Cyvers quickly identified and detected an additional $1 million in fraudulent transactions, totaling the exploited funds to nearly $10 million. 

“The attack is ongoing, with the total loss now increased to ~3,257.7 $ETH (worth ~$11.6 million). To vault owners, please follow up on notifications from the official source and be cautious about scams,” Cyvers added.   

Shortly after the exploit, Prisma Finance, a DeFi liquidity staking protocol with over $222 million in TVL, announced that its core engineers and contributors would suspend the protocol and initiate an investigation. 

The DeFi platform also urged all users to revoke all connections to prevent further loss of funds. 

Prisma Finance Assures Users

The DeFi platform has reassured its users that measures are being implemented to enhance the security of its smart contracts and prevent similar exploits in the future.  

Additionally, Prisma Finance has committed to regularly updating its community about the ongoing investigation progress and actions taken to rectify the breach. 

Meanwhile, due to the recent event, other scammers are attempting to capitalize on the exploit. According to the official Prisma Finance announcement, a fraudulent Prisma Finance account with a golden badge strives to redirect users to a suspicious and dubious link.   

Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Jupiter has announced the launch of its native Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), with a staggering initial capital of $137 million via USDC and JUP.

In the announcement on March 27, the developers revealed that the budget allocated to the DAO enables funding for ideas using USDC while also allocating JUP for long-term incentive alignment with JUP Contributors.

“To ensure that the DAO will be able to execute these crucial things over the long term, we will aim to top up the same budget on a yearly basis. If the DAO ends the year with 1.5M USDC and 50M JUP, the team will replenish 8.5M USDC from revenues, and an additional 50M JUP will be transferred from the community cold wallets,” the developers explained.

Users Control Access

The integration of a DAO in the Jupiter DEX promises to empower users with greater control over the platform’s governance and direction, which aligns with the core beliefs of decentralization.  

DAOs are governed by consensus mechanisms and smart contracts, which allow stakeholders to collectively make decisions without depending on traditional centralized structures.   

Upon its establishment, the ecosystem funds are stored in multisig wallets governed by a DAO, initially comprising three members. There are plans to expand access to additional custodians in the coming weeks.  

Jupiter’s Total Locked Value (TVL)

Jupiter stands out as one of the leading decentralized applications on the Solana blockchain, boasting a total value locked (TVL) of $381.49 million. Impressively, the figure reflects an 86% month-over-month growth, according to DeFiLlama.

At the time of writing, the DEX contributes approximately 8% to the total TVL of Solana ecosystems.  

Solana has firmly secured its position as one of the fastest growing blockchain in the industry, with the SOL currently ranking as the fifth largest crypto asset by market cap. A significant portion of that growth can be attributed to the recent memecoin frenzy on the network.