Author: Ibiam Wayas

Ibiam is an optimistic crypto journalist. He loves to associate with like-minded individuals and collaborate with them on similar projects. He spends much of his time honing his writing and critical thinking skills.

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Crypto News

Ethereum 2.0 Staking Redistributes ETH Held by Top Whale Addresses

Bullish? All Centralized Exchange Ether (ETH) Reserve Have Dropped to New Low

There has been a notable level of shake-off for the ten largest whale addresses holding Ether (ETH) over the past 30 days. According to the information shared by Santiment, a crypto analytics platform, the number of Ethereum coins held in these addresses has dropped significantly, although this is not reflected in the cryptocurrency’s price. One plausible reason for the decline is the Ethereum 2.0 staking.

Per Santiment, the total number of Ether held in the ten largest addresses dropped from 16.4 percent to 4.5 percent within a period of one month. Despite this massive drop, the cryptocurrency is still up by over 61.4 percent, trading at US$590 at the time of writing. This is probably because new addresses were also being created at the time, thereby causing ETH redistribution from the top addresses to the new ones – not a sell-off.

Ethereum Whale Addresses are Staking ETH

The creation of these new addresses also led up to the speculation that Ethereum 2.0 staking is a major factor causing ETH supply redistribution from the top addresses. Alex Saunders, the founder of Nugget’s News, explained this on Twitter, saying that the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract required the network users to move the coins to a new address for the beacon chain & staking.

Backing this up is the fact that the deposit contract was actually launched last month, which is the same time the coins began leaving the whale addresses. So, more coins leaving the addresses to Eth2 staking is definitely not a thing to worry about as the crypto’s price is more likely to benefit more.

The Beacon Chain went live on December 1 with Phase 0, as Ethereum developers had estimated. This particular phase would act as the backbone for other functions to be released in the completion of the network.

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Crypto News

OCC’s Chief Assures the US Isn’t Going to Ban Bitcoin

Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index Clicks 94: Is Bitcoin due for Correction?

Brian Brooks, the acting Comptroller of the Currency at OCC, has brought clarity to the recent rumor that the present United States government is preparing to introduce regulation that will implement know-you-customer (KYC) measures for self-hosted digital currency wallets. According to him, the government won’t ban Bitcoin in the country. Instead, they are making an effort not to destroy the digital currency. 

US Will Champion Bitcoin

The founder of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, recently informed crypto Twitter that the Trump Administration was planning to introduce regulation for self-hosted crypto wallets, according to the rumor. The said regulation was viewed as a threat to the cryptocurrency industry, especially in the US, as users must have to validate their information before even making a transaction. However, Brooks cleared the rumor while speaking at the CNBC Squawk Box today, saying that such a thing isn’t going to happen.

The OCC chief operating officer added:

“We’re very focused on getting this right. We are very focused on not killing this, and it is equally important that we develop the networks behind bitcoin and other cryptos as it is we prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.”

Brooks further noted that there would be lots of good news for the cryptocurrency industry by the end of Trump’s administration. “There are gonna be very positive messages coming up,” he said. This is unarguably one good development to wrap the week. It sparked positivity among many Bitcoiners and popular industry participants.

Bitcoin Still on the Rise

The leading cryptocurrency has grown tremendously in price since September, making a new all-time high at over US$19,000. The current price of Bitcoin is slightly below the ATH at US$19,004 on Coinmarkecap. Many Bitcoiners are hoping for a US$20,000-priced Bitcoin as several activities on the crypto have been increasing, including the searches on Google. A glance at Google Trends shows that Bitcoin searches surged to a 32-month high globally. 

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Crypto News

Ether Capital, a Publicly-traded Firm is Running an Ethereum 2.0 Validator Node

Ether Capital, a Publicly-traded Firm is Running an Ethereum 2.0 Validator Node

Following the successful launch of the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain on Tuesday, a publicly-traded company, Ether Capital, announced today that it has become a validator for the new Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network. As usual, the development follows the company’s 32 ETH staking on the network. It further plans to stake more Ethereum coins as Eth2 stably develops with time.

Ether Capital is arguably the first-ever publicly-traded company to be running an Ethereum 2.0 validation node. 

Ethereum initiate first move to PoS 

The road to Ethereum 2.0 began with the deployment of the Eth2 Phase 0 on December 1, at exactly 7:00 am ET. The development numbers the days of Ethereum miners, as the PoS network would grant ETH holders the opportunity to validate transactions on the blockchain and also participate in consensus whenever they staked at least 32 ETH on the network. By doing so, ETH holders stand to gain inflationary block rewards.

The CEO of Ether Capital, Brian Mosoff, commented on the development, saying:

“The launch of Ethereum 2.0 is an exciting and historic milestone in the digital asset space, and we are thrilled to be part of it by running a validator. The transition to staking has been part of Ether Capital’s roadmap since inception and means that Ether holders are now able to generate an Ether-denominated return, or yield, by participating in-network validation.”

More to come for Eth2

Notably, Ethereum 2.0 looks so promising, and many individuals and companies are actively betting on the future progress of the network via their active participation in staking. As per Eth2 Launchpad, there is currently 971,618 ETH already staked on the network and still counting. In today’s ETH price of around US$588, the staked coins are worth US$571,311,384. 

Ether Capital further noted that it would stake more Ethereum coins on the network if it continues to function stably. Mosoff precisely said:

“Once we see the Ethereum 2.0 blockchain running in a stable fashion over a period of time and are able to fully understand and mitigate applicable risks, Ether Capital intends to make a more substantial commitment of its Ether balance to staking.”

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Crypto News

PayPal CEO Believes Digital Currencies are on Track for Mainstream Adoption

PayPal CEO Believes Digital Currencies are on Track for Mainstream Adoption

Dan Schulman, the CEO of PayPal Holdings Inc., is optimistic that digital currencies will gain more traction in the coming years, as more people are switching to digital payment methods for transactions. Probably, this could be one of the reasons behind the company’s move into the cryptocurrency space. Interestingly, PayPal users have been showing massive interest in cryptocurrency services, especially Bitcoin (BTC).

World’s Digital First Approach Will Favour Cryptos

Schulman made his thoughts known on Wednesday during a Web Summit conference. He explained that the “entire world is going to come into digital first.” Many shops and merchants are increasingly changing to using smartphones, QR codes, etc., to receive payments from buyers. Even customers are beginning to use digital wallet services, all of which naturally “complements to digital currencies,” Schulman said.

PayPal first announced plans to debut buying and selling services for popularly-traded digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. A few weeks later, the services were debuted for the United States customers, which was considered a milestone for the Bitcoin market. Many people had speculated that the development triggered the bullish runs in the market since September.

Already, the digital payment platform has been recording increased demand for Bitcoin since the service rolled out. Last week, Crypto New Australia reported that PayPal and Cash App bought more than 100 percent of newly-mined Bitcoin. As a confirmation of the growing demand for Bitcoin on PayPal, a recent survey conducted by Mizuho Securities found out that one-fifth of the company’s users have already traded Bitcoin.

For context, PayPal reportedly has about 350 million users on its platform.

Who is PayPal’s Biggest Competitor?

PayPal’s CEO said Ant Financial is their biggest competitor in the market. The company accounts for the highest mobile-payments in China. Schulman said that Ant Financial holds a strong reputation and success in the country. They also provide a comprehensive digital wallet to the Chinese users, which features “all elements of financial services, all elements of shopping.”

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Crypto News

Aussie BTC Markets to Self-report to OAIC Over Erroneously-exposed Users Info

DeFi Trader Just Lost $188,000 in $SUSHI Forever

Leading Australian digital currency exchange, BTC Markets had mistakenly exposed customers’ contact information today while trying to send out a message to them through email. Having explained how the incident occurred, the cryptocurrency exchange expressed their remorse for the data breach. To that extent, BTC Markets said it’s ready to self-report the development to the Office of Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

How Users’ Contact Information Got Exposed

As the Australian exchange explained, it sends out messages to customers through email, using an external system. BTC Markets first runs test emails with the system before proceeding with the actual message. This method has been practically working for the exchange for a number of years now, until the malfunction today. The exchange precisely explained:

“However, today, our testing didn’t pick up that the sample email addresses in the batch were added to the same email, rather than sent individually. In this case, the batch sizes were under 1,000 email addresses.”

BTC Markets said it was impossible to prevent the error when it was realized because the whole process was very quick. Consequently, the contact details, such as users’ names and email addresses, were exposed in the messages. “This is a deeply regrettable situation, and we apologize wholeheartedly for it,” the exchange wrote, adding that the security of its users is of paramount importance to them.

BTC Markets to Self-report to OAIC

Meanwhile, BTC Markets said it would self-report the incident to the Office of Australian Information Commissioner and comply with whatever be the requirements for the data breach reporting. To ensure the adequate safety of users, the exchange will also undergo an internal review to tighten up its data security. 

About users’ assets, BTC Markets assured that they are unaffected and secured. “Our external communication process has no interaction with our internal system, and no password data was exposed.”

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Crypto News

Facebook’s Libra Association Rebrands to ‘Diem’ as it Prepares for 2021 Launch

Facebook’s Libra Association Rebrands to Diem as it Prepares for 2021 Launch

The independent Libra association, which spearheads the development of the Facebook-linked LIbra digital currency, announced Tuesday it is rebranding to “Diem,” as it prepares to launch the US dollar-backed Libra stablecoin next year. The rebranding could be viewed as another move from the organization to gain regulatory clarity for the project which has faced intense scrutiny from global regulators. 

The Diem Project is Gaining Ground

When the social media platform introduced the Libra project, it described plans to launch the digital currency as a multi-currency stablecoin. This initiative was greatly challenged by different regulators of the world, who expressed that Libra might undermine the financial stability of several economies. The regulatory scrutiny of the project led to the departure of many prominent companies who joined the-now Diem Association during the time.

Due to the regulatory issues, the association recently decided to launch the long-planned Libra as a stablecoin backed by a single fiat currency, starting with the US dollar. The stablecoin is expected to launch as early as January, according to the previous report by Crypto News Australia. Separate support for other fiat currency is expected to be announced at a later date. 

A Push for Regulatory Acceptance 

The developments so far are all coming from the association to convince regulators that the Diem project is only aimed at “building a safe, secure and compliant payment system that empowers people and businesses around the world.” With the new name, the association said it’s reinforcing their organizational independence to ensure that the Diem project debuts in full compliance with regulatory expectations.

While commenting on the development today, the CEO at Diem Association, Stuart Levey, said:

“We are committed to doing so in a way that promotes financial inclusion – expanding access to those who need it most, and simultaneously protecting the integrity of the financial system by deterring and detecting illicit conduct. We are excited to introduce Diem – a new name that signals the project’s growing maturity and independence.”

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Bitcoin

Grayscale’s Exec Thinks Bitcoin Rally is Just Getting Started

Bitcoin Outperformed Oil, Gold With Over 100% Increase in Q1 2021

Grayscale Investment, an institutional-grade digital assets investment platform, has been on the upside with its assets under management (AUM). To be precise, the company has been purchasing a massive number of Bitcoin (BTC), more than miners could mine in one week. Following the increasing inflows in Grayscale, the managing director, Michael Sonnenshein, opined that such development indicates that Bitcoin is still going to do more, as the rally is just getting started.

Bitcoin Rally Isn’t Over

While speaking at CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday, the Grayscale executive admitted that the company has been recording a huge growth in its crypto investments products. The institutional investment company provides investors exposure to cryptocurrencies via its Trust Funds, which covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and five other crypto products. 

When asked about the records with these products, Sonnenshein said that all the ten crypto investment vehicles are gaining huge inflows. According to Sonnenshein, the rally with the leading cryptocurrency is just getting started, if the massive capital inflows in the company indicate the current investors accumulating Bitcoin.

Grayscale Bitcoin Purchase

One evidence for the increasing capital inflows in Grayscale stands to be the Bitcoin purchases in recent weeks. The company accumulates more than miners can sell in a single week. For instance, Grayscale reportedly purchased more than 7,300 Bitcoin in the past week alone. Following Bitcoin’s price (US$19,362) at the time of writing, the latest weekly purchase is worth over US$141 million. Bitcoin miners are no longer meeting the demand in the market.

For every new block, miners received 6.25 BTC. Bitcoin miners only produce about 144 blocks daily on average. This means that, for every new week, about 6,300 new Bitcoin are added to the current circulating supply. When comparing the supply rate for Bitcoin with the current trends, it clear that there is a high demand for the cryptocurrency. This is probably one factor behind the rising price of Bitcoin, as the value of an asset is more likely to surge when the demand is greater than it sells.

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Crypto News Ethereum

Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 has More Than Enough Staked ETH for Tomorrow’s Launch

Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 has More Than Enough Staked ETH for Tomorrow's Launch

Last week, the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract gained the required number of Ethereum coins, or ETH needed to kick-off the blockchain’s transition to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Although the threshold has already been met, the Ethereum community didn’t back out from locking more ETH on the network. This demonstrates a strong level of confidence the community has for the long-anticipated Ethereum 2.0 or Serenity upgrade.

Eth2 Deposit Contract has Over US$500 Million ETH

According to the information on Eth2 Launchpad, there are presently 857,728 ETH staked on the deposit contract. This is more than 60 percent the stated threshold of 524,288 ETH and currently worth over US$518 million, following the growing price of the crypto at $605 on Coinmarketcap. An Ethereum 2.0 researcher at Ethereum Foundation, Justin Drake, commented on the development, saying:

“It is a fantastic display of confidence by the Ethereum community. […] I’m proud thousands of Ethereans felt compelled to lock their funds for many months to secure Eth2.”

It’s worth noting that these cryptocurrencies can’t be withdrawn from the network for at least two years later when Phase 1.5 is deployed. Tomorrow’s Eth2 Phase 0 launch marks the first step towards the transition of the current Ethereum blockchain to the PoS era. Phase 0 is expected to launch by 12 UTC on December 1. It will enable the Beacon Chain on the network, which acts as a backbone for Ethereum 2.0.

The highly anticipated Serenity upgrade is expected to undergo about four development phases before its completion. It’s estimated that these phases might take about two years (i.e., 2022). However, there are speculations that the network might take more time to be completed, as many hurdles may possibly be encountered while being deployed.

Ethereum Nodes Surpass Bitcoin’s

Besides the upcoming Eth2 Phase 0, reports on Monday also confirmed a growing number of Ethereum nodes during these times. Currently, Ethereum has about 11,137 nodes, while the largest blockchain network, Bitcoin, has only 10,981.

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Australia Coinjar Crypto News

Yearn.Finance and Uniswap Token Now Available on Aussie exchange CoinJar

Binance Australia to List Polkadot, Cardano, and PancakeSwap

One of the leading Australian cryptocurrency exchanges, CoinJar, announced Friday it has added support for two popularly-traded decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens – Yearn.finance (YFI) and Uniswap (UNI). Going forward, the users will be able to purchase and trade these tokens in addition to other digital currencies already supported on the trading platform.

Such a development tends to bring the Australian crypto market closer to DeFi, which presently is sailing at a total assets value of US$12.7 billion.

According to the exchange, the new DeFi tokens will be automatically included in new purchases for its CoinJar ERC-20 Bundle, CoinJar DeFi Bundle, and CoinJar Universe Bundle. The inclusion of the tokens won’t affect the exchange’s bundle users. However, CoinJar noted in the announcement that they would need to unbundle and re-purchase the desired bundle to access the DeFi tokens.

Yearn.finance and Uniswap Explained

Both YFI and UNI are the governance tokens for Yearn.finance and Uniswap protocols, built on the Ethereum blockchain as ERC-20 standard tokens. Yearn.finance is among the top-ranking decentralized finance protocols developed by Andre Cronje. The protocol provides lending aggregation and yield generation while using other DeFi services, including Uniswap, Aave, and others. 

The YFI token is trading at the price of US$23,100 on CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency price tracking platform. 

Uniswap is the leading decentralized exchange (DEX), with about US$1.24 billion in assets locked. It allows the exchange of Ether (ETH) and other ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum in a decentralized manner. Unlike regular cryptocurrency exchanges, Uniswap uses Constant Function Market Makers other than order book. The governance token (UNI) was launched on September 17 and made a big run shortly after it was introduced. 

The UNI token is presently trading at US$3.21, with about -3 percent change in the 24 hours count.

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Bitcoin

Over 29,000 Bitcoin Left OKEx Exchange Since Withdrawal Resumed

South Korean BTC 'Kimchi Premium' Plummets After Soaring Over 23%

OKEx, a popular cryptocurrency exchange based on Malta, is seeing a massive number of Bitcoin outflow since it resumed full crypto assets withdrawal on Thursday. Mason Jang, the COO at CryptoQuant, shared on Twitter that some of the cryptocurrencies were moved to Binance mostly and other exchanges, while some took direct custody of them via hardware wallets. 

The increased outflow of Bitcoin from the exchange somewhat shows the users haven’t gotten over the sudden suspension of withdrawal, which locked them out of their cryptos for about five weeks.

OKEx Halted Crypto Withdrawals for Five Weeks

Precisely on October 16, the cryptocurrency exchange suddenly informed users that withdrawals would be temporarily halted, as one of their private key holders was out of reach. The absent staff happened to be the founder, Star Xu, who was reportedly cooperating with the Chinese authorities in an investigation. However, OKEx has resumed the withdrawal services on Thursday, as the founder was later released by the police.

Things looked somewhat awkward when the services were resumed. About 2,822 BTC flowed out of the exchange in block number 658,728 just a few hours after the resumption. This accounted for the largest single-block outflow last seen in May 2019. In total, about 24,631 BTC was transferred from the exchange on Thursday alone, accounting for the highest outflow record on OKEx not seen for the past eight months.

Outflows vs. Inflows

According to Glassnode, an on-chain crypto analytics platform, OKEx recorded a total of 29,300 BTC outflow in combination with today’s Bitcoin moves. Within the same period, however, about 21,600 BTC was deposited on the exchange, which reduced the Bitcoin balance to approximately 212k BTC. It remains unknown if the whole development with OKEx relates to the declining price of the cryptocurrency. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at US$16,737 on Coinmarketcap.