Category: Blockchain

  • Bitcoin Hodlers Remain Steadfast, Coins Aged over 3 months Hit ATH of 86.3%

    Bitcoin Hodlers Remain Steadfast, Coins Aged over 3 months Hit ATH of 86.3%

    Bitcoin lacked a significant upward momentum, but this has not dampened the spirits of hodlers because coins aged at least 3 months hit an ATH of 86.3%, according to Glassnode.

    Based on BTC Realized Cap HODL Wave, the market insight provider pointed out:

    “Coins aged 3m+ now account for an ATH of 86.3% of all USD wealth held by the BTC supply. Bitcoin hodlers appear to be steadfast and unwavering in their conviction.”

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    Source: Glassnode

    Glassnode added:

    “The total volume of Bitcoin coin-days destroyed in the last 90-days has, effectively, reached an all-time-low. This indicates that coins which have been hodled for several months to years are the most dormant they have ever been.”

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    Source: Glassnode

    Hodling is among the favoured strategies in the crypto scene because coins are held for future purposes other than speculation. Glassnode stated:

    “Number of BTC addresses holding 0.1+ Coins just reached an ATH of 3,824,449. Previous ATH of 3,824,379 was observed on 25 September 2022.”

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    Source: Glassnode

    Therefore, BTC hodlers are not relenting in their conviction despite the top cryptocurrency trading on shaky grounds based on factors like tightened macroeconomic conditions. 

    Bitcoin was hovering around $18,895 during intraday trading, according to CoinMarketCap. 

    Meanwhile, Michael Saylor, the co-founder of MicroStrategy, recently opined that Bitcoin was 100x better than gold despite the market drawdown. He, therefore, expected BTC to emerge as the next big store of value. 

    “I think that the next logical step for Bitcoin is to replace gold as a non-sovereign store of value asset, and gold is a $10 trillion asset as we speak. Bitcoin is digital gold; it’s 100x better than gold,” Saylor said.

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  • Crypto Prices Remain in Red, Shina Inu Falls Over 15%

    Crypto Prices Remain in Red, Shina Inu Falls Over 15%

    With the new week today, cryptocurrency prices have remained in the red.

    Among tokens, Dogecoin’s price was trading about 7.80% lower at $0.05685, whereas Shiba Inu plunged more than 10% to $0.0000107. Multiple tokens have also declined, including XRP, Uniswap, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, Binance USD, Polkadot, Litecoin, Apecoin, Cardano, Stellar, Chainlink, Tron, among others.

    Coins like XRP, Polkadot and other smaller tokens posted heavier losses and were deeper in the red.

    XRP token has also suffered a heavy decline. The token affiliated with Ripple Labs Inc. shed as much as 13.5% amid an ongoing court case. According to Bloomberg, the decline came along as the firm and the SEC preferred an immediate ruling in a court case over whether Ripple was “reckless” in claiming XRP is not regulated security.

    Over the past 24 hours, the market value of digital tokens has gone down more than &70 billion to $941 billion. In 2021, the market value was at $3 trillion, according to data from CoinGecko.

    The declines of the major crypto values are still subject to overall economic metrics—ranging from the disappointing Consumer Price Index, the benchmark S&P 500 falls, to the prospect of a global wave of monetary tightening this week.

    Investors are bracing for volatility as the Federal Reserve this week is expected to announce interest-rate hikes to fight price pressures.

    The recent rise and fall of the Bitcoin price in the last few days is in line with market participants’ expectations. Cryptocurrency markets are likely to be volatile until the macroeconomic situation settles down to a more predictable pace.

    – with assistance with Aaron Limbu- 

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  • Crypto Advocate Pierre Poilievre Elected as Leader of Canada’s Conservative Party

    Crypto Advocate Pierre Poilievre Elected as Leader of Canada’s Conservative Party

    Bitcoin-friendly Pierre Poilievre was elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada on September 11.

    Pierre Marcel Poilievre is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the leader of the Official Opposition since 2022. Poilievre has served as a member of Parliament (MP) since 2004.

    The House of Representatives of Canada’s parliament is scheduled to resume on September 20, when Poliyev will lead the Conservative Party in his new capacity to challenge the Trudeau government on a number of issues.

    He is a staunch cryptocurrency advocate and has publicly supported allowing Canadians to use bitcoin as legal currency in the country.

    He touted cryptocurrencies as a solution to putting people back in control of their currencies and saw them as a way to escape inflation in the country.

    Pierre Poilievre has previously promised that if he becomes Prime Minister of Canada, he will “unlock” the potential of cryptocurrencies by consulting with provincial authorities, helping to unravel the regulatory web that currently governs cryptocurrencies, and making Canada “the world’s blockchain leader.” 

    Along with the growth in the crypto sector, Canada has also been keeping an eye on security-related issues.

    According to September 24, 2021, a report by Blockchain.News, Canadian market regulators have issued warnings to cryptocurrency service providers who mislead investors through their gambling-style advertisements.

    The report added that the market regulators said a detailed guideline has been released to help all concerned stakeholders market to sell their products and services under the Canadian securities allowance.

    Alberta, Canada’s most oil-rich province is actively looking to build the region’s tech industry, including mining digital tokens, building data centers, and attracting high-tech workforces.

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  • Nigeria Negioates with Binance for Developing Blockchain Hub for Digital Economic Growth

    Nigeria Negioates with Binance for Developing Blockchain Hub for Digital Economic Growth

    Nigeria and crypto exchange Binance are in talks to establish a digital hub like the Dubai virtual free zone to propel blockchain growth in the country, according to the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority. 

    Nigeria sees the transformation of a digital hub as a stepping stone toward diversifying its economic scope beyond crude oil.

    The Nigerian administration has been rolling out crypto-friendly initiatives. The partnership will trigger the creation of a digital economic zone that will offer entrepreneurs more blockchain opportunities.

    Earlier this year, the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) established “rules on issuance, offering platforms, and custody of digital assets” for virtual firms meant to boost crypto trading, Blockchain.News reported. 

    Various fintech startups like Flutterwave and Interswitch have made notable moves in the crypto space, attaining more than a billion-dollar status. 

    Based on an increasingly youthful and connected population, the digital economic zone will come in handy in availing more opportunities. 

    Nigeria has been topping the charts in various crypto areas. For instance, a survey conducted by Block, Inc. disclosed that Nigeria took the highest Bitcoin optimism levels at 60%.

    Furthermore, a study by crypto exchange KuCoin revealed that 35% of Nigerians had set foot in the crypto space in 6 months, driven by factors like high inflation rates and the lack of affordable financial services. 

    The survey also pointed out that peer-to-peer (P2P) was a favoured strategy among Nigerians, given that 65% of crypto investors in the nation made fiat deposits to cryptocurrencies through P2P platforms.

    Therefore, the digital economic zone intends to enhance Nigerian soil’s blockchain/crypto sector. 

    Image source: Shutterstock

  • Mysten Labs of Sui Blockchain Hacked on Discord

    Mysten Labs of Sui Blockchain Hacked on Discord

    Sui blockchain designers Mysten Labs is the latest blockchain firm to face a crypto hack. The firm has announced that its Discord server has been hacked.

    The blockchain company has warned people not to click any links posted on the server in the eight hours prior to its Twitter announcement and said that the team is working to fix the mess.

    An unverified screenshot shared on Twitter stated that hackers had put a link of a rumoured crypto airdrop on the announcement channel in the server. Mysten Labs made such an announcement on Saturday, and so far, no other further updates have been published.

    Sui blockchain, a permissionless proof-stake blockchain, is the first product offered by Mysten Labs, launched in March this year. 

    Mysten Labs, a web3 infrastructure firm, was established by Evan Cheng, Sam Blackshear, Adeniyi Abiodun, and George Danezis, four former developers from Meta’s once-ambitious cryptocurrency project Novi. In the past, the four specialists were involved in the development of the Diem blockchain and its Move programming language.

    Last December, Mysten Labs raised a $36 million funding round participated by high-profile investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures. Last month, Mysten Labs announced that it was targeting a $2 billion valuation.

     $1.4 Billion Stolen This Year Through Breaches

    This year, hacks and scams have hit crypto investors hard. Cybercriminals have so far found a particularly useful avenue – blockchain bridges – to siphon customers’ funds.

    Blockchain bridges, which normally connect networks to enable the fast swaps of tokens, are getting increasing popularity as a way for crypto users to do transactions. Thanks to blockchain bridge technology, crypto users are bypassing centralized exchanges.

    However, since the beginning of this year, a total of about $1.4 billion has been lost through breaches on such cross-chain bridges. According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the bridge exploits are happening at a striking rate as they are a new phenomenon.

    In February, Wormhole, one of the most popular bridges linking the Ethereum and Solana blockchains, was hit by a hack that stole around $320 million.

    In June, hackers stole $100 million in cryptocurrency from Horizon, a so-called blockchain bridge developed by crypto start-up Harmony.

    Early this month, hackers stole almost $200 million from Nomad, a bridge protocol for transferring crypto tokens across different blockchains.

    Image source: Shutterstock

  • NFT Transactions Projected to Hit m by 2027 amid Metaverse Trend

    NFT Transactions Projected to Hit $40m by 2027 amid Metaverse Trend

    Non-fungible token (NFT) transactions are expected to reach $40 million by 2027 as the metaverse trend continues to gain steam, according to a report by Juniper Research.

    The study noted that a 66.6% growth would be recorded during the forecast period. Per the report:

    “NFT transactions will rise from 24 million in 2022 to 40 million by 2027. This is based on our medium scenario for adoption, with brands leveraging the metaverse to boost digital growth.”

    For consumer-centred businesses, the research pointed out that creating NFT-based content would give them a competitive advantage based on the changing needs of the younger and tech-savvy demographic.

    Younger generation consumers are inclined to purchase novel digital and online content forms. Per the announcement:

    “The report predicts metaverse-linked NFTs will be the fastest-growing NFT segment over the next 5 years, increasing from 600,000 transactions in 2022 to 9.8 million by 2027. It highlights the rising demand for immersive experiences as a driver of metaverse adoption.”

    Despite NFTs offering a new growth channel, the research stated that vendors ought to be cautious not to operate in unregulated environments, which are home to scams and fraudulent activities. The report added:

    “Vendors who partake in the NFT space may risk brand damage by association, due to the role NFTs have had in illegal activities, such as money laundering, scams, and fraud.”

    For a conducive NFT operating environment, Juniper Research highlighted the need for regulators to collaborate with industry bodies to standardize processes with built-in consumer protections and reduced environmental impact. 

    Since NFTs are digital assets whose ownership is blockchain-based, their worth is pegged on their uniqueness. Furthermore, their intrinsic value is founded on their limited supply because they must be bought as an entire token.

    Meanwhile, crypto exchange KuCoin announced a $100 million “Creators Fund” to boost the Web3 ecosystem and propel early-stage NFT projects, Blockchain.News reported. 

    Image source: Shutterstock

  • Public Pension Funds Eroded by Headwinds from Crypto Winter

    Public Pension Funds Eroded by Headwinds from Crypto Winter

    Pension funds that have bet on the cryptocurrency market over recent years face difficulties navigating the ongoing crash associated with digital assets.

    Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec, Canada’s second-largest pension fund, invested $150 million in Celsius Network LLC last October. In July, the crypto lending platform, Celsius, filed for bankruptcy protection because of “extreme market conditions” that prompted a wider selloff.

    The Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund bought $25 million worth of Bitcoin and Ether in October last year. Since the announcement, both cryptocurrencies have dropped by more than 50%.

    “Of course, we would have preferred otherwise. But volatility and large swings are expected, “said Ajit Singh, the investment chief at Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund investment.

    Over the previous two decades, public pension funds have increasingly invested in less-traditional assets in response to low fixed income.

    The recent capital market crash has been painful for investors, especially those who have recently retired or are planning to do so in the next year or two.

    The Market Meltdown

    Several pension funds and sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have already invested indirectly in crypto assets through stocks such as Tesla, MicroStrategy, and Coinbase.

    California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), California’s $441 billion public pension fund, increased the number of its shares in Riot Blockchain, a publicly traded Bitcoin mining firm, in February last year.

    In April, a major U.S. asset manager Fidelity Investments in April allowed firms to include Bitcoin investments in their employee 401(k) defined-contribution benefit plans.

    Over the two months, important events happened. The global crypto market cap dropped below USD 1 trillion (USD 3 trillion at its peak in October 2021), and the values of cryptocurrencies plunged around 70%.

    The plunged values of crypto coins have taken a steep toll on many lending firms and investment funds that deal with those volatile assets. The dreadful incident heightened the risk of losing trust in the industry, creating ease a downward spiral.

    Since the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks moved to tighten monetary policy, money has flowed back from digital assets. Bitcoin has lost more than 60% of its value since the end of last year.

    Such losses have driven many crypto lenders into bankruptcy or forced them to take drastic steps like freezing withdrawals.

    Decentralized finance platforms promising big returns have also suffered heavy losses on some investments, with some hurt by the terra crash.

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  • Ethereum Address Activity Continues Scaling the Heights

    Ethereum Address Activity Continues Scaling the Heights

    Ethereum (ETH) has been experiencing an uptick in address activity, which has been instrumental in propelling notable momentum.

    “The number of ETH addresses holding 32+ coins just reached a 17-month high of 117,257. A previous 17-month high of 117,244 was observed on July 27 2022,” Crypto analytic firm Glassnode explained.

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    Source: Glassnode

    Glassnode also pointed out:

    “The number of Ethereum addresses holding 1+ coins just reached an ATH of 1,566,309 Previous ATH of 1,566,270 was observed on 27 July 2022.”

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    Source: Glassnode

    ETH addresses holding more than ten coins also hit historic highs. This uptrend in address activity has played an instrumental role in instigating the bullish momentum witnessed in the Ethereum network. 

    For instance, the second-largest cryptocurrency was up by 11.09% in the last seven days to hit $1,691 during intraday trading, according to CoinMarketCap.

    The recent revelation that the most probable date for the merge would be September 19 has also been pivotal in giving Ethereum an uptick. 

    The merge is expected to transform the Ethereum network into a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism from the current proof-of-work (PoW) framework, which has been elusive for a few years.

    The PoS algorithm will enable the confirmation of blocks in a more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly way because validators will stake Ether instead of solving a cryptographic puzzle. 

    Therefore, the merge is anticipated to be the largest software upgrade on the Ethereum network. 

    Image source: Shuttertstock

  • Metaverse Giants Collaborate to Form DAO Metaverse Alliance

    Metaverse Giants Collaborate to Form DAO Metaverse Alliance

    The blockchain metaverse giants have collaborated to form the DAO Metaverse called “Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3” (OMA3), which aims to bring together multiple virtual worlds to solve the key challenges of the metaverse and maintain users’ freedom of information.

    Game developers joining the consortium of the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3 include Animoca Brands, a developer of games and other applications for smartphones; blockchain-based game Alien Worlds; a consumer-focused flow blockchain product made for fun and games Dapper Labs; Decentraland; Star Atlas, and The Sandbox, etc.

    OMA3 is established on a competitive Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) structure, incentivizing the entire industry to share data ownership and attract user interaction from a more transparent and objective perspective.

    The DAO, a form of investor-oriented venture capital fund, aims to provide enterprises with new decentralized business models. Community members come together and have the power to vote on governance decisions, create flexible workflows and allocate resources, enabling new decentralized business models for the entire team.

    The official statement states: “We believe in a metaverse without restraining walls, where individual platforms are interconnected and fully interoperable. To realize this goal of an open metaverse, we are announcing the creation of OMA3 and inviting all blockchain-based metaverse companies to join.”

    Image source: Shutterstock

  • Heather Morgan of Bitfinex Crypto Heist Cleared to Seek Proper Employment

    Heather Morgan of Bitfinex Crypto Heist Cleared to Seek Proper Employment

    American rapper and entrepreneur Heather Morgan, indicted for contriving with her husband Ilya Lichtenstein to launder money, has been permitted by a judge to seek proper employment.

    Her case will still be on trial, but she is authorized to get a job that can earn her more than $10,000 in a month.

    The digital currencies stolen from the Bitfinex 2016 heist are presently worth $4.5 billion in Bitcoin (BTC). So far, the United States authorities have successfully recovered over $3.6 billion in crypto connected to the hack.

    Recalling, the United States Department of Justice attested that the Bitfinex heist was the biggest crypto robbery it had ever unravelled. The couple Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein were picked in Manhattan due to their suspected connections to the hack.

    How Did the Couple Achieve the Heist?

    The man and his wife conspired to launder about 119,754 Bitcoin that were redirected from Bitfinex through a breach of the exchange’s security system. With the loopholes created in the system, the hackers were able to perform 2000 unauthorized transactions. Upon investigation, the transactions were traced down to wallets linked to Lichtenstein.

    Several transfers worth about 25,000 BTC were noticed to have been authorized from Lichtenstein’s wallet. The transferred funds ended up in a financial account that belonged to both Lichtenstein and Morgan. The remaining crypto worth about 94,000 BTC is yet to leave the initial account to which it was sent during the heist.

    Further investigations led to the discovery of online files linking the ownership of the account to Lichtenstein. Private keys needed to access the wallets where the funds were deposited were discovered in those online files. Strapped with this information, the authorities were able to retrieve the 94,000 BTC left.

    However, the analysis showed the complex money laundering techniques that the couple used. Lichtenstein and Morgan utilized computer programs to automate the transactions and created false identities to set online accounts. They also involved anonymity-enhanced virtual currency (AEC) in converting the BTC to other cryptocurrencies.

    While the Bitfinex hack mimics those of MtGox, other less draining hacks have been recorded by other exchanges like KuCoin and Crypto.com.

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