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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Ethereum

Ethereum Transaction Fee Surges as ETH Price Plummets

Ether new ATH Shoots up DeFi and Ethereum 2.0 Valuation

Many cryptocurrencies in the market, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), have been retracing from the recent rally over the past 24 hours. Precisely, the second-largest digital currency dropped by more than 10 percent since the past day. The declining price of the cryptocurrency suggests a strong selling pressure amongst traders and investors. Meanwhile, ETH transaction fees have also spiked, just when the price is collapsing.

ETH Price Decline by Over 15%

During the time of writing, Ether was trading at the price of US$504, losing about 15.13 percent of its value in a 24hr chart, according to Coinmarketcap. The dropping price of the cryptocurrency shouldn’t be considered as an unusual development, as there is generally a massive sell-off in the crypto market, especially for the cryptos that surged exponentially during the bull market.

The price of ETH soared to a yearly high above US$620 on November 24, before dropping to the current price. However, it’s worth noting that Ether is still up by 5.84 percent on a week-to-week basis. This is unlike Bitcoin, which is already seeing a 12.03 percent drop on a 24hrs chart and a 6.63 percent decrease on a weekly chart.

Ethereum Fee is Surging Rapidly

Ethereum's average transaction fees 

As the crypto market entered into the correction phase, many traders were seen rushing to take out their profits from the crypto. In addition to decreasing the price, the rush also caused congestion on the network, which resulted in a spike in the fee required to make transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. The growing number of unconfirmed ETH transactions had also caused the leading exchange, Binance, to temporarily halt ETH withdrawals. 

Is the bull market over?

Some crypto experts and industry analysts don’t think that the bull run is over, despite the current dips in the market. Michaël van de Poppe, a popular digital currency trader, showed in a chart on Twitter that the correction in the market will be short-lived and that Ether will return to making new growth when the bears are finally benched.

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Bitcoin

PayPal User Suspended Over Suspicious Bitcoin Trading

Quantum Computers Are Not a Threat To Bitcoin (Yet), Expert Explains

The leading digital payment platform, PayPal, has reportedly suspended a user over suspicious Bitcoin transactions. The company launched the cryptocurrency services a few days ago, and the development today probably marks the first time where a customer is suspended due to digital currency. Meanwhile, PayPal’s entry into the cryptocurrency market was considered a huge milestone owing to its prominence around the world. 

Already, it is recording massive volumes in Bitcoin transactions. 

PayPal Red-Flags Suspicious Bitcoin Trades

According to the affected user (TheCoolDoc on Reddit), the company suspended the account because he made too many Bitcoin transactions. Meanwhile, the user claimed that he only conducted about ten crypto transactions within a week. He usually bought at lower prices to sell only when the cryptocurrency price increases. 

However, things got suspicious as the user began processing about $10,000 worth of crypto transactions in a week, which wasn’t seen of him in the past six years. Due to this, the account got suspended by the company, which notified him that he wouldn’t be able to make use of the account going further. PayPal is known for maintaining strict measures in monitoring transactions, even for fiat currencies. A violation of their transaction rule can cause the suspension of users’ accounts.

However, the user still maintained he didn’t violate the company’s rule, adding that PayPal had raised the weekly crypto transaction limit from $10,000 to $20,000.

PayPal records high crypto transactions

PayPal’s move into the crypto market is seen as a huge step toward more adoption for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The company has been making massive Bitcoin purchases lately as user demand rose incredibly. The CEO of Aussie Nuggets News, Alex Saunders, tweeted on Thursday that PayPal recorded more than $56 million in daily Bitcoin transaction volume.

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Bitcoin

New Ransomware “Egregor” is Threatening Big Companies For Bitcoin

New Ransomware "Egregor" is Threatening Big Companies For Bitcoin

Cybersecurity researchers have learned about new ransomware dubbed “Egregor,” which is gradually rising to pester several organizations in the world, with the recent target being the industrial goods and services companies. Using the malware, the attackers break into the companies’ systems to encrypt their data, which will only be released after victims pay a certain amount of ransom in Bitcoin. 

The researchers also think that ransomware attacks are just getting started. 

Video Gaming Firms Ubisoft, Crytek Already Affected by Egregor

The ransomware was first discovered in September, but it’s spreading rapidly across the world. Popular video gaming companies, such as Ubisoft, Crytek, bookseller Barnes & Noble, and 71 other organizations have been affected by the Egregor malware in more than 19 countries. 

Due to the rate at which the ransomware is spreading, the researchers at Digital Shadows opined that the attackers could be warming up with the attacks after meticulously planning their activities. One of the cybersecurity analysts, Lauren Palace, commented:

“The level of sophistication of their attacks, adaptability to infect such a broad range of victims, and significant increase in their activity suggests that Egregor ransomware operators have been developing their malware for some time and are just now putting it to (malicious) use.”

Ransomware attacks for Bitcoin

They further explained that the main motive for the Egregor attacks is to generate money for the people behind it, just like other ransomware gangs do. As the malware encrypts vital information from the organization’s database, the attackers would threaten to expose the information (usually confidential data) to the public, except the victimized companies comply with paying a ransom in Bitcoin.

They prefer using digital currency as the payment method due to the anonymity it provides for the users. Recently, CipherTrace confirmed in a report that Bitcoin and Monero, a privacy coin, are the two most-used digital currencies by bad actors and the darknet marketplaces. 

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Australia

Australian Stock Market Pushes for New High as Bitcoin (BTC) Surges

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

As the year rounds up, both the Bitcoin and Australian stock market are seen recouping from the losses incurred during the severe times of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s clearly an exciting time for Bitcoin investors and traders as the leading digital currency is rallying to make another all-time high (ATH) at above US$20,000. Likewise, the S&P/ASX 200 has been making a big push towards the highest point recorded in February.

Aussie Stocks are Bouncing Back

On Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 garnered about 39.20 points from the previous level to close at the current point of 6683.3. This represents about 0.59 percent growth. During the trading hours, the index reportedly surged to about 6713 points, which was only 6.7 percent away from the highest level attained in February, before the market collapsed in March due to the pandemic.

The energy, material, and financial sectors are leading the market while other sectors like healthcare, information technology (IT), and communication were seen underperforming. Among other things, the upticks in the Australian stock market were related to the low-interest rates, the news on COVID-19 vaccines progress, including low inflation. While speaking on the development, the market analyst at Bell Direct, Jessica Amir, commented:

“Markets are really just giving us a forward look of what the future is going to look like from here on in. […] It is a pretty good day and another nine-month high, there is not much to complain about.”

Bitcoin on Pace to ATH

The leading cryptocurrency has jumped in price exponentially since the rally began in October. The cryptocurrency is pushing towards the highest level, which is slightly below the US$20,000. Presently, one Bitcoin is traded at the price of US$19,210 on Coinmarketcap, a digital currency price tracking platform. Since the year began, the digital currency has grown by over 100 percent from as low as US$9,500 in January.

Many analysts separately speculated that both the S&P/ASX 200 and Bitcoin are likely to finish at a new all-time high.However, only time would tell how true the speculations can be.

Categories
Crypto News

Lithuania Authorities Bag AU$10 Million After Selling Confiscated Cryptos

Lithuania Authorities Bag AU$10 Million After Selling Confiscated Cryptos

The government of Lithuania bagged millions of dollars on Tuesday after selling digital currencies confiscated by the law enforcement agencies in the country. The development today marks the first cryptocurrency sale by the government. The authorities failed to disclose further how the cryptos were sold – whether it was conducted under auction. However, they admitted that the process wasn’t easy, especially during conversion to fiat currency.

According to the report, Lithuania State Tax Inspectorate (STI) was in charge of the sale. The country’s tax authority reportedly gained about EUR 6.4 million (about AU$10.3 million) from the sales of the digital currencies, which includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and the privacy coin, Monero (XMR). The proceeds have been added to the state’s budget, as per DELFI, a local news outlet.

Lithuania Gained Over AU$10 Million

Speaking about the sale, the representative for the State Tax Inspectorate, Irina Gavrilova, said the process was quite challenging. The conversion of the digital currencies to Euros nearly took 24 hours before completion. This boils down to the fact that it was the first time the agency dealt with such a situation. Gavrilova added in the report:

“The whole process for the tax administrator was new, starting with the taking over of the confiscated cryptocurrency and ending with its implementation.”

According to DELFI, the digital currencies were seized by the law enforcement agencies in February this year. There weren’t any more details regarding how and why the cryptocurrencies were confiscated, however, it’s worth mentioning that the country is one of the jurisdictions in Europe with a clear regulation for the digital currency space. Recently, the central bank announced plans to launch a digital collector coin known as “LBCOINs.”

In a separate development, another European region, Belfast, revealed plans to auction about 47 Bitcoin, which is worth about AU$1.2 million in today’s price at AU$26,321.

Categories
Australia

Australian Aquaculture Firm Raises AU$5 million in IPO Using Cryptocurrency

OpenSea Closes $23 Million Series A to Scale its NFT Marketplace

West Coast Aquaculture (WCA), a company based in Australia, recently announced the completion of its initial public offering (IPO), which was mostly conducted using digital currency. The development today confirmed yet another use case for cryptocurrencies. In addition to serving as a means of payment and a store of value, digital currencies can be adopted to source funding from the public, especially from investors outside the country.

WCA Completes IPO Using Tether (USDT)

Per the announcement, the aquaculture company was assisted by STAX, a fintech company, to successfully conduct the funding. West Coast Aquaculture reportedly raised a total of AU$5 million (i.e., USD 3.65 million) through the IPO. The majority of the funding (about 89 percent) was conducted using the US dollar-backed stablecoin, Tether (USDT). So, the company basically raised about AU$4.4 million (USD 3.2 million) using cryptocurrency.

The remaining funds were conducted using Australian dollars, according to the report. To be precise, West Coast Aquaculture deals in fisheries, and it has already established a presence in the Asia Pacific. Through the funding, the company intends to expand its business operations as well as improving its supply chain. Interestingly, the development reportedly makes WCA the first Australian company to source funding using a digital currency.

“We are proud to be part of this historic moment in Australian investment history. […] We hope this bold initiative helps open the door to more global investment for local companies,” the CEO and founder of WCA, Neo Ching Hoe, commented.

Crypto Adoption in Australian Capital Market

In accordance with the words of Kenney Lee, the CEO of STAX, the successfully conducted crypto IPO can “pave the way for the future of capital markets in Australia.” STAX claimed it’s the first company that supports capital raising in both the Australian dollar and digital currencies. “We are allowing access to a market which has been hard for overseas investors to get into, and it will only benefit Australian businesses longer term,” the CEO added. 

Categories
Bitcoin

Institutional Call? Grayscale, 3iQ, ETC Group Stacked up Over 24,000 BTC Last Week

Bitcoin Outperformed Global Assets in February Despite Facing a 26% Drop

Bitcoin adoption among institutional investors has been rising tremendously since the current bullish tide began. This is evident as institutional-grade investment platforms have been posting substantial records and have also accumulated more Bitcoin so far. Just in the past week, Grayscale Investments, 3iQ, and ETC Group purchased over 24,000 BTC, according to new data. 

The record simply translates to more interest and demand for the leading digital currency amongst institutional investors.

Institutions are Increasingly Buying Bitcoin

A recent diagram from Crypto Crunch App summarized the Bitcoin purchases across the three platforms. 

Grayscale Investments is one of the largest Bitcoin fund managers. According to the information, it purchased about 20,336 BTC in just the past week. At the moment, its assets under management (AUM) are worth more than US$11 billion. The assets are dominated by its Bitcoin Trust fund, which is worth about US$9.65 billion. Other top-ranking Grayscale Trust funds cover Ethereum (US$1.2 billion) and the Digital Large Cap Fund (US$155 million).

From the recent Bitcoin purchase, Grayscale currently has about 526,764 BTC from its Trust Fund. Likewise, the total number of Bitcoin held by the Canadian investment fund manager, 3iQ, increased to about 13,765 BTC, after an additional purchase of 3,140 BTC last week. ETC Group made the third-largest Bitcoin purchase last week, raising its Bitcoin holdings by 895 BTC to a total of 8,312 BTC.

More purchase, more scarcity

Most recently, Crypto News Australia reported that Square’s Cash App and PayPal purchased more than 100 percent of newly-mined Bitcoin – signaling more adoption amongst retail investors. Together with the report today, it is evident that there is currently a strong demand for cryptocurrencies from both retail and institutions. This demand was even attributed as one of the factors behind the runs in the Bitcoin price.

Noteworthily, Bitcoin supply was recently reduced after the third halving. As the demand continues to grow – with less supply – the cryptocurrency gets more scarce, which is speculated to drive up prices even higher. However, it remains largely unknown how Bitcoin will react amidst the growing demand. 

Categories
Bitcoin

PayPal and Cash App are Buying Over 100% of Newly-mined Bitcoin

Bitcoin Whale Moves $165 Million Bitcoin with Just $1.20

According to the latest blockchain letter from Pantera Capital, Paypal’s entry into the cryptocurrency market is one other factor contributing to the current rally in the market – led by Bitcoin (BTC), the largest digital currency by market capitalization. For some reasons, which include PayPal’s user base, the blockchain investment company believes that the current bull run is more sustainable compared to the past record in 2017.

PayPal is Buying 70 percent of New Bitcoin

Notably, the rally in the crypto market kicked-off shortly after PayPal announced that it would support the buying and selling of digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Interestingly, the development exposes over 300 million users on PayPal to Bitcoin, which means more adoption for the cryptocurrency. Additionally, Pantera Capital noted that PayPal’s user-friendly platform is making it easier for people to buy Bitcoin and other cryptos.

“Previously the friction to buy bitcoin was pretty onerous: take a selfie with your passport, wait days to a week to get activated, daily limits. Three hundred million people just got instant access to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies,” the company said.

Due to the growing interest among PayPal users in the cryptocurrency, the digital payment platform has been acquiring a significant amount of newly-minted Bitcoin. Note that the crypto service on PayPal is powered by Paxos, which also operates itBit exchange. The volume of Bitcoin purchases on the exchange began increasing significantly after the service went live PayPal. 

Having analyzed the tremendous growth, Pantera Capital highlighted that PayPal was already buying about 70 percent of new Bitcoin.

Cash App, PayPal is Causing Bitcoin Scarcity

Aside from PayPal, Square’s crypto-friendly digital payment platform, Cash App is also acquiring a significant amount of Bitcoin. Pantera Capital estimated in the report that Cash App buys 40 percent of all newly-issued bitcoin. Together with PayPal, the two companies are purchasing more than 100 percent of newly-minted Bitcoin, which means demand is higher than the supply rate – i.e., scarcity.

“When other, larger financial institutions follow their lead, the supply scarcity will become even more imbalanced. The only way supply and demand equilibrate is at a higher price,” Pantera Capital added.

Categories
Scams

Aussie Nuggets News CEO Says Member Lost $20,000 in Fake Uniswap App

Transparency and Trust, among other things, are very important qualities that can accelerate the adoption and development of the digital currency industry. However, scammers are making this almost difficult to achieve with fraudulent crypto investments, projects, and applications. Many fake mobile applications were recently spotted on Google Play Store and were taken down after being reported.

Several crypto companies and experts have also been working to make the nascent industry safer for investors. Yet, scammers are still persisting with their malicious attacks. Earlier on Friday, unfortunately, a member of the Australian Nuggets News community reportedly lost thousands of dollars to a fake Uniswap mobile application hosted on the Google play store.

Users are Losing Thousands in Fake Uniswap App

The founder of the Aussie media platform, Alex Saunders, confirmed the development in a tweet. Going by his disclosure, the scammers used key phrases to victims’ crypto wallets to unauthorizedly move their cryptocurrencies to their wallets. For instance, the Nuggets News member entered his private key backup phrase to the alleged fake Uniswap application, after which he lost about AU$20,000 in cryptocurrency. 

Don’t Share Key Phrases Anyhow

Dubbed Uniswap DEX, the application was presented on the Google Play store as the Android app for the leading decentralized exchange (DEX), Uniswap. It’s still available in the store, with a 4.4-star rating. It has over one hundred positive reviews, all of which Saunders alleged was fake. Backing this up, the latest reviews are coming up with negative stories for the application. These comments claimed that the app was, in fact, a scam.

“Fraud/Scam alert! This app steals your money! Turkish fraudsters run this app!” one of the comments reads.

Key phrases are personal and should be kept confidential. One best safest measure to avoid being scammed is never to share key phrases to wallets on any online platform. Also, it is advisable for industry participants to conduct due research before parting their funds with any project, especially newly formed ones. 

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Bitcoin Market Analysis

Bitcoin Price Has Surged Over 100% After Halving in May

Binance Australia to List Polkadot, Cardano, and PancakeSwap

The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), has posted tremendous growth after the third-halving event that happened in the past six months. The Bitcoin market began booming notably a month, just when the network hashrate started declining. With a new yearly high above the US$18,000 level, Bitcoin miners are cashing out big-time from the rally, as their revenue soared to pre-halving levels.

Judging by the fact that the block reward was slashed by 50 percent, the increased miners’ revenue shows just how much the cryptocurrency has grown since the halving.

Bitcoin Price Growth Since Halving

The leading crypto underwent its third-halving on May 11, which decreased miners’ block reward by 50 percent, i.e., from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC. Just after the event, the cryptocurrency was seen trading at US$8,566. This reduced reward and BTC value then, forced many small-scale miners out of business, as the activity wasn’t profitable compared to the pre-halving days. 

As a result, the Bitcoin hashrate took a hit at that time, only to surge again in the next month as more ASIC machines were deployed.

Fast forward today, Bitcoin is looking more profitable for both the investors and miners, following its recent upticks in price. The cryptocurrency, which is presently trading at US$18,124, made another all-time yearly high of over US$18,300, according to Coinmarketcap. The current price is more than double the value seen after the third halving event.

Basically, the cryptocurrency is up by 111 percent from the post-halving value and over 150 percent since this year.

Chart by TradingView.com

Miners’ Revenue

Bitcoin miners’ revenue has grown past the levels they were after the halving. According to the Bitcoin network explorer, miners earned the highest revenue for the year on November 18 at over 21 million. The revenue accounts for both transaction fees they earned and the coinbase block reward. As of yesterday, however, the miners bagged about 19 million in revenue.