Cryptocurrency News TheBitTimes.com

After acquiring the crypto tax platform Accointing in October 2022, Glassnode is selling the business to focus on DeFi and institutional offerings. Cryptocurrency intelligence firm Glassnode has said it’s dropping crypto tax-related projects to focus on new solutions targeting institutional investors and decentralized finance (DeFi). Glassnode, on Nov. 6 announced the sale of its crypto-focused tax platform known as Accointing to the European crypto compliance provider Blockpit. The firms declined to disclose the size of the deal to Cointelegraph, only revealing that the transaction was a “multimillion-dollar deal.” “Glassnode will exit the crypto tax space with the sale of Accointing to Blockpit,” a spokesperson said, adding that the deal enables the firm to deepen its focus on delivering new Digital Asset Intelligence Solutions to its institutional clients. “We have used the last months to reshape our infrastructure, enabling our move into DeFi data solutions and expansions into ot...

AAVE price may have been impacted by this week’s Curve Finance scandal, but a robust insurance fund and steady fee revenue could protect against further downside. AAVE, the governance token of the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Aave, experienced a 17% decline between July 30 and August 1, reaching the $62 level.  While the $62 support has demonstrated its resilience, the current price of $64.40 is still 12% below the daily close on July 30. Investors are now questioning whether this movement signifies a more cautious approach to the sector or if other factors are exerting pressure on the AAVE token price . AAVE price index, 12-hour chart. Source: TradingView Part of the recent movement in the AAVE token can be attributed to the risks of cascading liquidations on DeFi protocols, resulting from the Curve Finance pool exploit that commenced on July 30. However, Aave's decentralized liquidity protocol has successfully survived previous identical scenarios and the protocol has ...

The Ordinals Protocol is generating a circular digital economy where assets are priced, bought and sold via Bitcoin. In an email dated Jan. 17, 1993, Hal Finney — a developer and early contributor to Bitcoin — shared the concept of “encrypted digital cards,” which are now known as nonfungible tokens (NFTs). “Giving a little more thought to the idea of buying and selling digital cash, I thought of a way to present it,” Finney wrote at the time. “We’re buying and selling ‘cryptographic trading cards.’” The most fascinating detail of his email lies in the fact that, by sharing this idea, Finney intended to facilitate the understanding of the concept of digital money. His vision foreshadowed what we saw in 2021 with the NFT boom. Overnight, the crypto space shifted from being solely about financial decentralization to also encompassing the decentralization of art, gaming, entertainment and more. Hal Finney's email about "encrypted digital cards." The narrative that was once ...

ETH price still struggles to conquer the $2,000 level, but growth in LSDFi could prevent a sharper sell-off. Ethereum (ETH) has been on a downward trend with the $2,000 level forming a crucial resistance level in recent months. While Bitcoin (BTC) recorded 11.94% gains moving past $30,000 in June after BlackRock filed an ETF application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the upside in ETH stayed around 3.16%. In the first week of July, buyers attempted to move the price past crucial resistance at around $1,900, however, a failed breakout exposed the price to further correction. The Ethereum network also witnessed a decline in activity, evident in the one-year low levels in total transaction fees. The price of leading NFT collections on Ethereum plummeted, while DeFi activity stalled due to low yields. The 7-day moving average of total transaction fees paid on Ethereum. Source: Glassnode However, the downside may be restricted as the demand for liquid staking derivati...

Michael Kanovitz, a lawyer threatening to file a class action against Ben.eth, says the PSYOP scheme bear similarities to cases that have seen SEC enforcement. Ben.eth, the pseudo-anonymous memecoin creator behind at least three controversial token launches in recent weeks could fall under the crosshair of United States regulators, crypto lawyers suggest. A previously little-known personality in the crypto community, Ben.eth has seen his Twitter following blow up nearly five-fold in May. The influencer has launched at least three memecoins in recent weeks — Ben Coin (BEN), PSYOP, and LOYAL. Pre-sales of these memecoins — which require Ether (ETH) to be sent directly to the creator himself — have allowed Ben.eth to gather thousands of ETH. Currently, his wallet holds 10,946 ETH, equivalent to $20.8 million. The ETH balance of the ben.eth wallet is nearing $21 million worth. Source: Etherscan While Ben.eth’s supporters have defended the legitimacy of the token sales, others warn that ...

Decentralized finance protocol CurveDAO has successfully launched its algorithmic stablecoin crvUSD on the Ethereum network. Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Curve Finance has launch ed its native algorithmic U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin , dubbed “crvUSD” on the Ethereum mainnet — minting more than $22 million worth of the crvUSD so far. According to data from blockchain explorer Etherscan, the contract has minted more than $22 million worth of crvUSD in the past 8 hours, with $20 million of that amount minted within the first 5 minutes. Screenshot of crvUSD transaction data. Source: Etherscan The deployment of crvUSD on the Ethereum network is a significant step towards the public release of the algorithmic stablecoin. Notably, the stablecoin remains inaccessible to general users, pending integration with Curve’s front-end user interface on its official website. Responding to a query about when users could expect to see the stablecoin released to the public in the official Cur...

Along with Google, 11 blockchain firms are now part of the Google Web3 startup program to help accelerate startups. Technology conglomerate Alphabet has expanded the Google for Startups Cloud Program.  As of Apr. 25, the program now includes Web3 firms such as Alchemy, Aptos, Base, Celo, Flow, Hedera, Nansen, Near, Polygon, Solana, and thirdweb. The same day, Blockchain analytics firm Nansen announced that it has partnered with Google Cloud to provide real-time Blockchain data for startup s. Its database currently contains over 250 million wallet labels.  We are very excited to team up with @googlecloud in their Web3 startup program to provide real-time blockchain data Web3 startups in the program get a free month of #NansenQuery & other benefits Learn how it can help YOUR project succeed https://t.co/xU3bZlkOiy — Nansen | Consensus2023 (@nansen_ai) April 25, 2023 Currently, Google Cloud has two product suites for Web3 startups, distinguished by whether the firms have raised ...

CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero has urged crypto companies to verify the digital identity of users, saying that Congress is considering new laws addressing anonymity and digital identity. A commissioner of the United States  Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Christy Goldsmith Romero, has proposed reducing the anonymity of Cryptocurrencies as a means of managing the risks associated with digital assets. The statement was made during the keynote speech on Illicit Finance and Other Key Risks of Digital Finance at City Week 2023 in London on April 25. Romero stresses the need for governments and the industry to tackle the primary feature that makes cryptocurrencies appealing to illicit finance — anonymity. In her speech, Romero said that the risks associated with digital assets must be managed, as market integrity, national security and financial stability are crucial and cannot be compromised.  Reducing illicit finance risks in the cryptocurrency market requires ...

A U.S. Representative has declared he will introduce legislation to have SEC boss Gary Gensler removed from his role. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler could be facing unemployment after United States Representative Warren Davidson declared he would introduce legislation to fire the SEC boss. In an April 15 tweet responding to Coinbase’s legal chief, Paul Grewal, the crypto-friendly Representative announced his intention to have Gensler removed from his role after the SEC's latest announcement about revisiting the proposed redefinition of an "exchange." "To correct a long series of abuses, I am introducing legislation that removes the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and replaces the role with an Executive Director that reports to the Board (where authority resides)," Davidson tweeted. Yep. To correct a long series of abuses, I am introducing legislation that removes the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commiss...

The American billionaire is being sued for $258 billion in a racketeering lawsuit alleging Musk ran a pyramid scheme to support Dogecoin. On Apr. 3, social media giant Twitter change d its icon to that of the symbol on the popular meme token Dogecoin (Doge). Just two days prior, Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter and Tesla, asked a U.S. judge to dismiss a $258 billion lawsuit filed by investors alleging the operation of a pyramid scheme to promote Dogecoin. The Twitter icon as it appears at the time of publication (Twitter) Dogecoin is up sharply in light of the news, with its price surging by more than 22% in the past hour to $0.09784 apiece. The icon change took place platform-wide and is directly visible by the social media giant's estimated 360 million monthly active users, and visitors to the platform alike. Musk's lawyers reportedly argued that "funny pictures" and "tweeting words of support" do not amount to a fraud claim. This is a developing story and w...

The vulnerability has since been patched, although it affected a number of leading transaction simulation vendors. According to a blog post published by developers of crypto wallet ZenGo, the firm said it had uncovered security vulnerabilities in, transaction simulation solutions used by popular decentralized applications, or dApps. Dubbed the "red pill attack ," this vulnerability allowed malicious dApps to steal user assets based on opaque transaction approvals offered to and approved by users. The vulnerability derives its name from the iconic "red pill" scene from The Matrix movie series.  "If malware is able to detect its actually being executed in a simulated environment or living in the matrix, it can behave in a benign manner, thus deceiving the anti-malware solution, and reveal its true malicious nature only when actually executed in a real environment." ZenGo claimed its research revealed that many leading vendors, including Coinbase Wallet,...

Only 11,440 NFT traders were active on March 11 which was the lowest figure recorded since November 2021. Nonfungible token (NFT) trading volumes took a massive beating following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week as traders fled the markets fearing the repercussions of a major United States bank going under. According to a March 16 report from data aggregation platform DappRadar, NFT trading volumes were hovering between $68 million to $74 million in the lead-up to SVB’s collapse on March 10, then fell to $36 million on March 12. The dip was accompanied by a 27.9% drop in daily NFT sales count between March 9 to March 11. NFT trading volume and sales count on all networks between March 1-13. Source: DappRadar 11,440 NFT traders were “active” on March 11 also, the lowest figure recorded since November 2021 according to DappRadar. The report explained the depeg of USD Coin (USDC) which hit as low as $0.88 moved trader attention away from the NFT market: As a result “NF...

The algo-stablecoin Djed from DeFi service provider COTI deployed on the Cardano mainnet after its successful security audit. Since the fall of the Terra (LUNA) algorithmic-stablecoin in mid-2022, many users in the crypto space have developed a weariness towards that particular asset class. The market for algorithmic stablecoins has dropped 10 times what it was at its all-time high prior to the Terra incident. However, this has not stopped developers on the Cardano network pushed forward with the launch of the ecosystem’s overcollateralized stablecoin. Djed (DJED) launched on the Cardano mainnet on Jan 31. and is pegged to USD and backed by Cardano’s native coin ADA (ADA). It uses the SHEN token as its reserve coin. According to the announcement the new token recently completed a successful security audit and was under development for over a year. DJED is a product of Coti, a decentralized financial (DeFi) solutions developer on the Cardano blockchain, as a means for new DeFi and pa...

BTC volatility is at a record low, inflows to spot markets remain muted and this week’s economic calendar suggests that volatility is set to rock the crypto market. Continuing with 2022’s trend, there is a lack of positive excitement in the crypto market. While Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins have remained stagnant to start 2023, there are a few reasons why volatility could spike in January.  Market caps during the 2022 holiday period. Source: Arcane Research Winklevoss Letter to DCG stirs up bankruptcy FUD On Jan. 2, Cameron Winklevoss, the co-founder of Gemini, penned an open letter to Digital Currency Group (DCG) founder, Barry Silbert demanding answers on the $900 million in locked customer funds. Gemini launched the “Earn” program in coordination with Barry Silbert and the $900 million in customer funds have been locked since Nov. 16 due to DCG liquidity issues. After the letter, crypto Twitter began generating FUD toward DCG, believing there to be liquidity issues akin to 3 Arrows...

The current whereabouts of the funds remain unknown. According to a Bloomberg report published on Dec. 27, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the whereabouts of approximately $372 million in missing digital assets from now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX and FTX US. On Nov. 12, amidst bankruptcy and internal collapse, FTX warned customers of abnormal wallet activity regarding at least 228,523 Ether (ETH) transferred out of the exchange from an unknown perpetrator.  On Nov. 11, or the night of the company's bankruptcy filing, FTX US' general counsel Ryne Miller confirmed that the transactions were unauthorized and that the subsidiary exchange had moved all crypto to cold wallets as a precaution. On Nov. 20, Blockchain forensics firm Elliptic wrote that the unauthorized transfers amounted to $477 million, and the unknown perpetrator swapped the stolen Ether for RenBTC, before being bridged to Bitcoin through the RenBridge service. Ren was acqu...

The news comes after Amber Group reportedly pulled back expansion plans due to financial exposure in the FTX collapse. Cryptocurrency trading firm Amber Group, which had roughly 10% of its trading capital stuck on FTX at the time of the exchange’s collapse, has report edly acquired crypto currency platform , Sparrow Holdings according to an announcement on Dec. 14. The Singaporean crypto platform Sparrow Holdings, which offers digital assets products and solutions, acquired its payments license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in August, to provide Digital Payment Token (DPT) services in Singapore, under the Payment Services Act (PSA). Founded in 2018, Sparrow works with financial institutions and family offices in designing bespoke digital asset solutions to achieve customer-centric growth objectives, while maintaining compliance requirements.  Related: Amber Group uses simple hardware to show just how fast, easy the Wintermute hack was The news of Amber Group's acqui...

BTC bears are positioned to profit from this week’s Bitcoin options expiry, especially if price stays below $18,000. On Dec. 14, Bitcoin (BTC) broke above $18,000 for the first time in 34 days, marking a 16.5% gain from the $15,500 low on Nov. 21. The move followed a 3% gain in the S&P 500 futures in 3 days, which reclaimed the critical 4,000 points support.  Bitcoin/USD index (orange, left) vs. S&P 500 futures (right). Source: TradingView While BTC price started the day in favor of bulls, investors anxiously awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve Committee's decision on interest rates, along with Fed chair Jerome Powell's remarks. The subsequent 0.50% hike and Powell’s explanation of why the Fed would stay the course of its current policy gave investors good reason to doubt that BTC price will hold its current gains leading into the $370 million options expiry on Dec. 16. Analysts and traders expect some form of softening in the macroeconomic tightening movement. For tho...