Category: Crypto News

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  • Legal Expert Less Confident on Ethereum ETF Approval, Here’s Why

    Legal Expert Less Confident on Ethereum ETF Approval, Here’s Why

    Jake Chervinsky, crypto lawyer serving as chief legal officer for blockchain venture capital firm Variant Fund, says he is a lot less confident about the potential approval of a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) because of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) against cryptocurrencies.

    Less Confidence in Ethereum ETF Approval

    According to Chervinsky’s tweet, the SEC received “a ton of political blowback” for approving spot Bitcoin ETFs in January, even though a court order had forced the agency to make the decision.

    The court order was the outcome of a lawsuit against the SEC brought by asset management firm Grayscale after the Commission denied its application to convert a Bitcoin fund into a spot ETF. After more than a year of litigation, a federal appeals court ordered the SEC to reevaluate Grayscale’s application. This decision drove the approval of ten spot Bitcoin ETFs, including Grayscale’s GBTC, in January.

    Following the spot ETF approvals and launch, the bulls have taken over the market, with bitcoin’s (BTC) price jumping more than 45%. There is strong BTC demand from U.S. investors, and the ETFs are breaking their trading volume records daily.

    Chervinsky believes approving a spot Ethereum ETF would only add to the frenzy and propel the market further.

    “Now animal spirits are in control of the market, and an ETH ETF would only add to that,” he said. 

    BlackRock’s Presence Unlikely to Spur Approval

    The legal expert explained that the SEC has a legal argument that may be wrong but “passes the laugh test” by a margin enough to justify a denial of several pending applications for spot Ethereum ETFs, “and we know the SEC is willing to take wrong legal positions in court to satisfy political priorities,” he added.

    The applicants include the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, Invesco/Galaxy Digital, VanEck, Fidelity, Hashdex, and Ark Invest/21Shares. The SEC has moved the deadline for deciding on the applications to May.

    Almost all the applicants for spot Ethereum ETFs are among the issuers of the spot Bitcoin ETFs; hence, the crypto community believes the presence of these firms, especially BlackRock, would spur the SEC to greenlight the new products.

    However, Chervinsky insists BlackRock’s remarkable ETF approval record is a result of a collaborative relationship with the SEC, and the firm will withdraw its Ethereum ETF application if the agency says so.

  • Nigerian Authorities Reveal Why Binance Must Pay $10B  Fine

    Nigerian Authorities Reveal Why Binance Must Pay $10B  Fine

    The Nigerian government has demanded that the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, pay $10 billion in damages for contributing to the country’s economic crisis.

    During an interview with local media BBC, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the Nigerian president on information and strategy, said the government is aware of the effects of Binance’s operations in the country.

    Binance Contributing to Nigeria’s Forex Crisis

    Onanuga explained that Binance fixed an illegal foreign exchange rate for Nigeria, resulting in massive losses and significant naira (NGN) depreciation. 

    While the naira crashed against the United States dollar at high speed in mid-February, Binance set a price limit of 1,802 NGN for each Tether (USDT) traded on its Nigerian peer-to-peer (P2P) platform to hedge against the heightened inflation. The exchange eventually disabled the sell option for the stablecoin temporarily, and at the time of writing, the P2P feature had gone offline for the NGN.

    The NGN/USDT price cap raised questions about Binance’s compliance with the Nigerian government to help save the free-falling NGN. However, Onanuga has stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the only entity with the authority to fix foreign exchange rates. Binance’s figures surpassed the CBN’s budget of 800 NGN per USD.

    According to the president’s special adviser, Binance harbors people fixing rates that drastically affect the NGN at a time when the government is trying to stabilize the economy. The exchange is causing an economic disruption; hence, it must pay for damages.

    Binance Nigeria Executives Arrested

    In addition, Onanuga revealed that Binance and other crypto exchanges are not registered according to the laws of Nigeria and are, therefore, not authorized to operate in the country. Although the CBN has lifted the crypto ban, the platforms still have to register with the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer their services freely.

    Earlier this week, CBN governor Olayemi Cardoso announced during a meeting that the Binance Nigeria P2P platform had facilitated more than $26 billion worth of crypto transactions in a year, and most of the traders were users without proper identity verification.

    Meanwhile, Nigerian law enforcement agencies have arrested two foreign Binance executives for questioning over allegations of money laundering and terrorist financing. Onanuga said they are cooperating with the government by providing requested information. It remains unclear how long the investigation will take.

  • AXL Price Jumps by 65%+ Following Binance Listing Announcement

    AXL Price Jumps by 65%+ Following Binance Listing Announcement

    The popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced Friday plans to list AXL the Axelar network native token. The digital currency will be available for trading across different pairs including USDT, BTC, TRY, and FDUSD.

    Following the listing announcement, Binance users can now deposit AXL before trading officially begins. However, the withdrawal functionality for the asset will be effective 24 hours after listing. AXL has been trading on other exchanges, including Bybit, Gate.io, and Coinbase.

    Before the Binance listing announcement, Axelar partnered with Ripple to promote interoperability on the XRP Ledger and facilitate the tokenization of real-world assets.  Speaking on the alliance, XRPL co-creator and Chief Technical Officer of Ripple David Schwartz said that “real-world asset tokenization will be the driving force of the blockchain economy.” 

    Effect of Announcement on Axelar Token (AXL)

    Shortly after the Binance listing announcement, AXL jumped from $1.54 to $2.64, representing a 55% increase. Additionally, the token’s market capitalization increased to above $1.4 billion making it rank among the top 80 crypto assets by market cap. 

    Listing on Binance is a big step toward rapid growth and development for Axelar. With Binance as a very popular exchange in the industry, the listing brings more popularity for the project amid the bull run. This will draw the attention of more traders and investors to the AXL token. 

    Brief Overview of the Axelar Project

    According to its website, Axelar is a project built to serve as a bridge between different blockchains. The protocol facilitates swift interaction between various blockchains. It also allows information, assets, and smart contracts to seamlessly move between different blockchains.

    Like most new-age blockchain protocols, Axelar also uses validators to help manage transactions and communications. The decentralized validators verify the different transactions and messages on the network. 

    Axelar claims to remove the barriers between different blockchain ecosystems and make it easier for users and even developers who know only a specific programming language to utilize the full features of decentralization by building with their preferred language. 

  • US Government Moves Nearly $1B in BTC From Bitfinex Hack

    US Government Moves Nearly $1B in BTC From Bitfinex Hack

    Following the recent surge in Bitcoin’s price, the U.S. government executed its biggest BTC transaction within the past year. The government transferred 15,000 bitcoins worth almost $1 billion on Wednesday, leaving Bitcoiners questioning where the fund is headed. 

    The source of the fund, however, is widely known. In August 2016, the popular cryptocurrency exchange Bifinex was the victim of a hack of 119,756 bitcoins worth around $72 million at the time and $7.4 billion currently. 

    Further in 2022, Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, a New York couple pleaded guilty to the hack and money laundering. Since the plea, the US government has seized and retained a fraction of the stolen bitcoins from the couple.

    What Will the Government Do With the Transferred Bitcoins?

    The US government never holds withheld bitcoins as investments, nor do they have the intention to instantly sell all seized bitcoins as this move may affect the market price of bitcoin. This makes it difficult to discern what will be the next move with the recently transferred 15,000 bitcoins. 

    Many think the government wants to sell or swap the transferred bitcoin. However, there is no certainty yet, so, everyone awaits an official announcement, or a significant market move to discern what the government will do or has done with the recently transacted amount. 

    In the meantime, the transferred amount has not impacted the current market price of bitcoin. The leading cryptocurrency still displays a bullish trend, staying above $60,000 within the past 24 hours. 

    Meanwhile, the U.S. government reportedly holds over 200,000 bitcoins that were acquired between 2020 and 2022. The funds came from three main seizures, namely the Silk Road seizure in 2020, and the Bitfinex and James Zhong seizure in 2022, with the Bitfinex seizure being the largest. 

  • MicroStrategy Now Holds 193,000 BTC After Latest $155M Shopping

    MicroStrategy Now Holds 193,000 BTC After Latest $155M Shopping

    MicroStrategy announced Monday that it has increased its Bitcoin holdings by acquiring an additional 3,000 bitcoins. The company’s executive chairman Michael Saylor announced the purchase in a post on X

    The company purchased 3,000 Bitcoins worth $155 million at an average price of $51,813 for each including expenses and transaction fees. MicroStrategy spread the purchase over a period of 10 days, from 15th February 2024 to 25th February 2024, to achieve the average price.

    Notably, the latest purchase has increased MicroStrategy’s bitcoin holdings to 193,000 coins acquired for $6.09 billion at an average price of $31,544 per BTC. At current market price, the company’s BTC stash is worth more than $10 billion having accumulated approximately $4 billion unrealized profits. The company now holds 0.919 percent of the total bitcoin supply.  

    Meanwhile, as further indicated by an SEC report, as of 25th February 2024, MicroStrategy has sold about 1,272,077 shares. This sale may have further increased the amount of bitcoin acquired. 

    By making this bitcoin purchase, Michael Saylor continues to show that he is confident and bullish on Bitcoin as a long-term store of value. This is also proof that the company is solidly standing on its adoption of bitcoin as its primary treasure reserve asset. MicroStrategy remains one of the largest corporate companies holding bitcoin. 

    Bitcoin Rises Above $54,000

    Following the bitcoin purchase announcement by MicroStrategy, bitcoin had a rapid price increase growing from $50,901.44 to $54,910.00 within thirteen hours. This is around a 5.2% increase from the last 24 hours before the post by Michael Saylor. The last time bitcoin got to that price was 26 months ago around December 2021.  

     

  • Introducing MicroStrategy – the World’s First Public Company to Own Bitcoin

    Introducing MicroStrategy – the World’s First Public Company to Own Bitcoin

    Since the invention of Bitcoin in 2009, many people have confidently invested in the cryptocurrency, while some doubt its genuity. On the other hand, Michael Saylor, founder of business intelligence software company MicroStrategy, has become one of Bitcoin’s biggest proponents.

    Michael Saylor exhibited his complete confidence in Bitcoin on 11th August 2020 when the company purchased 21,454 bitcoins worth $250 million at an average price of $11,653 per bitcoin. At the same time, MicroStrategy adopted Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. 

    In a press release from MicroStrategy on that day, Michael Saylor said: “Our investment in Bitcoin is part of our new capital allocation strategy, which seeks to maximize long-term value for our shareholders,” He further expressed much belief in Bitcoin as indicated in the report. With this purchase, MicroStrategy became the first publicly traded company to invest in cryptocurrency. 

    Furthermore, in September 2020, MicroStrategy spent $175 million to acquire 16,796 bitcoins at an average price of $10,419 per bitcoin. Three months later, in December 2020, MicroStrategy purchased 2,574 bitcoins for $50 million at the rate of $19,472 for each bitcoin. 

    MicroStrategy’s Continuous Bitcoin Optimism

    Since their first purchase, MicroStrategy continues to invest in Bitcoin, not minding the bull or bear market. This was evident in April 2021 when the company purchased 491 bitcoins for $59,289 per BTC, also in December 2022, they acquired 810 bitcoins for $16,790 for each BTC.

    Explaining why he is so bullish and confident in Bitcoin, Michael Saylor shared the below tweet on 12th September 2020.

    The post remained pinned on his personal Twitter account to this day. 

    Michael Saylor Makes Bitcoin Core for MicroStrategy’s Business

    In August 2022, Saylor stepped down as CEO of MicroStrategy to become the company’s Executive chairman to focus more on the company’s Bitcoin acquisition strategy. He said at the time, “As executive chairman, I will be able to focus more on our bitcoin acquisition strategy and related bitcoin advocacy initiatives.” 

    As of December 2023, MicroStrategy has a total of 189,150 bitcoins which was acquired for approximately $5.9 billion. Currently, amounting to approximately $8.1 billion. 

    MicroStrategy’s investment in Bitcoin surely has increased the general confidence of many other investors, leading many other companies to adopt Bitcoin as a treasure reserve asset.

    Judging by Michael Saylors’ optimism about Bitcoin, no doubt the company will continue to invest in Bitcoin.

  • XRP and Stellar Lumen Gained 43%. Will the Increase Continue?

    XRP and Stellar Lumen Gained 43%. Will the Increase Continue?

    XRP was at the center of the biggest fundamental this month. Following Ripple’s partial victory against the United States Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), the asset attained levels it hasn’t in more than two months. As a result, it is closing one of its most bullish months with huge increases.

    However, a closer look at the top 100 suggests that not all assets in the crypto market are closing positive changes in value. For example, FTM is currently down by 22%. It hit its lowest of the month five days ago when dipped to a low of $0.22. Nonetheless, it saw a high of $0.31.

    Another top loser over the last thirty days is Curve Dao. It kicked off the period under consideration at $o.76 and enjoyed notable increases. As a result, it surged to a high of $0.87. However, following its peak, the cryptocurrency started a downtrend that saw it dip to a low of $0.53. At the time of writing, It is trading at $0.55 which is 27% lower than it opening price.

    While many may fault the losses on other factors, it is important to bear in mind that the crypto market was not as lively the previous month. A look at the fear and greed index offers a brief insight into the general sentiment over the last 30 days. It’s worth noting that the metric picked at 64. During this period, the sector under consideration saw significant increases. However, readings were mostly below 60 which showed that the market wasn’t fully bullish or bearish.

    This also affected the global cryptocurrency market cap. It kicked off July at $1.19 trillion and surged to a high of $1.25 trillion. At the time of writing, it is worth 1.17 trillion which indicates that it’s lost a small amount of its value over the last 30 days. Nonetheless, XRP defied the general sentiment.

    XRP Sees Best Performance of 2023

    XRP kicked off July at $0.47. Like most assets in the crypto market, it was largely inactive throughout the first 5 days of the month. However, on the 6th day, it saw considerable decreases in price. As a result, it’s close to the second week of the month with more than 5% decrease.

    The third week was the most bullish as their assets registered the most games for the year. It kicked off trading at 0.46 and attained a new high as a result of a positive fundamental at this time. Due to this, the coin enjoyed a massive incline and buying volume. In response, prices climbed as high as 0.94. However, it retraced and ended the intra-week section at 0.74.

    XRP registered gains of more than 50%. Following this massive increase, the assets did not see any big push at resistance anymore. The last two weeks of July saw the assets dip to a low of 0.67 and lost more than 5%. Nonetheless, at the current price, it is up by more than 45% on the monthly scale.

    Many may wonder if the increase will continue. Indicators on the weekly chart, and explain mixed readings. For example, the moving average convergence-divergence maintained its uptrend during the last two weeks of the month. On the other hand, the relative strength index declined in response to the increase in selling volume. At the time of writing, it is at 66.

    While many may find it hard to come to a conclusion as to how prices will react in the coming days, it is important to note that the moving averages are bullish at this time. The 50-week moving average is arched upward and may intercept the 200-week leading to a Golden Cross. This may be perceived as an indication of a greater increase in price

    Stellar Lumen Broke Above $0.14

    Stellar Lumen was mostly bullish throughout July. Although like XRP, it had a bad start to the month. As a result, in its second week, it opened trading at 0.10 but dipped to a low of 0.094. It tried reclaiming the 0.10 support it failed as it ended the intraweek session at 0.099. This is just one indication that is lost more than 7%.

    However, this changed in the third week. Following its open, XLM day to a low of 0.095. It rebounded and made an attempt at the $0.20 resistance. It failed in its bid, as it saw a strong rejection at 0.19. As a result, it dropped to a close at 0.13. Nonetheless, this signifies a more than 32% increase.

    The bullish actions continued in the 4th week. This time the coin lost its momentum at 0.18 and dropped to a close at 0.15. In the end, it registered gains of more than 18%. Over the previous seven days, it made another attempt at resistance but failed and returned to its opening price as we notice doji representing trading action.

    It is worth noting that XLM is currently overbought. The relative strength index currently stands at 72 which is an indication of an impending downtrend. This may affect the coin’s performance next month. If this happens, it may lose its 0.14 support and dip as low as 0.10.

    On the other hand, the 50-week moving average is currently bullish. This may be an indication of more price increases ahead. This may open the way to another test of the 0.20 resistance. Will it break?

  • Multichain Halts Operations After CEO’s Sister Detention in China

    Multichain Halts Operations After CEO’s Sister Detention in China

    Multichain, one of the largest bridging protocols in the blockchain industry, announced it is halting operations due to a lack of funding. The news followed the arrest of the CEO’s sister by the Chinese police. 

    Since May, Multichain has been embroiled in lots of rumors and complaints. Users flooded its Telegram page, complaining about pending transactions. Following this, crypto exchange Binance announced it would temporarily suspend deposit and withdrawal support for some Multichain bridged tokens because of the uncertainties surrounding the protocol.

    Multichain said that on May 21, the Chinese police detained CEO Zhaojun and seized his computers, phones, hardware wallets, and mnemonic phrases. Zhaojun controlled the protocol’s funds, as well as investor assets. Therefore, his arrest and confiscation of his computers limited the team’s operational ability.

    On June 4, Multichain team engineers logged into Zhaojun’s computer to access the cloud server platform using the historical information provided by the CEO’s family. The team partially resumed operations, fixing technical issues with two routers. 

    However, user assets were abnormally transferred to an unknown address on July 7. According to Zhaojun’s sister, the cloud server platform showed a login from an IP address in Kunming, the project said. 

    Two days later, Zhaojun’s sister used the login information obtained on the cloud server from the IP address in Kunming to transfer customer assets worth about $220 million that were locked on multi-party computation (MPC) wallets into wallets under her control and subsequently informed the team. 

    Currently, Zhaojun’s sister is out of contact because she was detained by the Chinese police on July 13. As a result, Multichain said the status of the preserved assets is unclear. The team also said the lack of operational funds and the possible return date of its key personnel forced the protocol to wind down.

  • Norway Should Regulate Its Crypto Industry, the Central Bank Says

    Norway Should Regulate Its Crypto Industry, the Central Bank Says

    In a Thursday report, Norway’s central bank urged Norwegian authorities to consider establishing a national regulatory framework for crypto assets. In its annual “Financial Infrastructure Report”, the central bank of Norway, Norges Bank, questioned the need for the Norwegian government to depend on an international regulator to control its market.

    The report mentioned how vital an international regulatory framework is but urged the Norwegian authorities to assess whether to proceed more quickly rather than wait for international regulatory solutions.

    Norway May Go Beyond MiCA Regulation

    The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation will soon take effect in a year or two, and its regulations will probably apply to Norway as the country is a member of the European Economic Area but not the European Union.

    A lot of attention is on MiCA’s regulation as it strives to protect investors, place a comprehensive framework for issuers and service providers, and cover issues of utility tokens, asset-referenced tokens, and stablecoins.

    Norges Bank spoke about its concerns on MiCA’s crypto regulation when it said:

    “Such targeted regulation often fails to capture risk related to the newest technological developments and activities and can therefore be insufficiently resilient.”

    The Bank advises managing the risks associated with decentralized finance until a common European regulatory framework is set in place. Emphasis was made on the need for specific crypto laws, and lawmakers are urged to use existing regulations to cater to enforcement measures and systemic risk.

    The central bank believes there is also a need in Norway for more knowledge around exposure, attitudes, and applications of crypto and wants to help increase knowledge in these areas. The bank said it will continue its research about central bank digital currency and publish its findings later this year. International regulators also plan to recommend a set of global rules for crypto assets.

  • S. Korean Prosecutors Raid Bithumb and Upbit in Political Investigation

    S. Korean Prosecutors Raid Bithumb and Upbit in Political Investigation

    South Korean prosecutors have raided the offices of two local cryptocurrency exchanges – Bithumb and Upbit – as part of an ongoing investigation into lawyer and politician Kim Nam-kuk’s digital assets transaction records.

    Prosecutors Raid Bithumb and Upbit

    According to a report by Yonhap News Agency, the team of investigators from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office seized transaction records related to the case after they learned that Nam-kuk operated his e-wallets at the crypto exchanges.

    The politician has been under scrutiny over some 800,000 Wemix (WEMIX) coins in his possession. He purchased the assets in 2021 when they were worth roughly 6 billion won ($4.5 million), and suspicions have arisen that he used insider information in buying the tokens.

    Nam-kuk is also facing allegations of trading cryptocurrencies while attending meetings of the judiciary committee on digital asset legislation last year. The politician is said to have supported a bill that proposed that lawmakers postpone the 20% capital gains tax on crypto assets from 2023 to 2025.

    While the lawmaker is being accused of liquidating his assets before enforcing the “Travel Rule,” he insists that he merely transferred them to another exchange, hence the collection of transaction records from local firms. The Travel Rule requires local exchanges to report transactions that exceed 1 million won (about $748) as authorities combat money laundering.

    Kim Nam-kuk Quits His Political Party

    Amid the investigation into Nam-kuk, the lawmaker resigned from the Democratic Party (DP) – a political party he joined in February 2020. He said his departure would rid his party members of the burden brought by the crypto investment controversy.

    Before his resignation, the DP urged Nam-kuk to sell his 800,000 WEMIX tokens due to the allegations of insider information and failure to adhere to domestic rules while dealing with the tokens.

    The politician has affirmed he will fully cooperate with the investigation team, undergo inquiry, and sell the assets worth $700,000 at writing time while he works towards proving his innocence.

    Meanwhile, the DP has disclosed that it would thoroughly investigate other party members with experts on crypto assets to ensure irregularities like Nam-kuk’s do not exist.