Author: José Oramas

José is a journalist and translator with a keen interest in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Ethereum Markets Trading

Crypto Market Exceeds $3 Trillion for the First Time

The cryptocurrency market has hit a new milestone in topping a record high of US$3 trillion market cap, according to analytics website CoinGecko.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Reach New ATHs

The crypto market hit an all-time high (ATH) of US$3 trillion on November 8, thanks to the combined efforts of two of the most traded cryptocurrencies, Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC). The two assets smashed records in both price and trading volumes. 

Bitcoin broke slightly above its previous ATH of US$67,000 by hitting $$68,641.57, as per data from CoinGecko. Ethereum saw substantial gains as well, seeing an ATH of US$4,857.25 the same day.

Main drivers for the ETH price surge include the burning mechanism, which is eliminating circulating coins, the transition to a PoS system with the advent of ETH 2.0, the NFT investing frenzy, along with speculations of its involvement in the metaverse.

The rumours started circulating when Vitalik Buterin predicted that Ethereum could be the network running the metaverse within 10 years.

Bitcoin Futures ETFs Drive Markets

With Bitcoin, we’ve seen a revived interest from institutional clients with the launch of Bitcoin futures ETFs. Two Bitcoin ETFs broke records on their first days. ProShares’ BITO recorded over US$550 million in trading volume from crypto-hungry investors, and Australia’s BetaShares crypto ETF smashed Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) trading records on its debut – over A$40 million on the first day, with A$5.2 million traded in five minutes.

The crypto market currently has a 24-hour trading volume of US$138 billion – this equates to the total market cap in March 2019.

Despite the new Bitcoin ATH, its dominance is still below 50 percent, now marked at 42.8 percent. Back on September 6, 2019, BTC was the undisputed leader of the market with 70.8 percent dominance.

Categories
Bitcoin Cash Crypto News Payments

Bitcoin Cash Spikes Amid Fake Press Release Claiming Kroger Will Accept It

Kroger, an American retail company and the largest US supermarket by revenue, has debunked a press release from PR Newswire (PRN) that claimed it will start accepting Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as payment this December. 

Shortly after the fraudulent press release was published, BCH saw a price boost of over 4.6 percent, taking the coin from US$602.63 at 11:30 UTC to US$630.70 in just 15 minutes. 

Kroger referred to the report as “fraudulent” and that it should be disregarded immediately. The release appeared on Kroger’s investor relations page, only later to be deleted, while simultaneously appearing on PRN – also deleted. PRN went on to say it was “urgently investigating the incident, including looking into any criminal activity associated with this matter”.

Unsurprisingly, BCH took a hit after Kroger debunked the report, even falling short of its previous price before the announcement to US$601.20. At the time of writing, BCH was trading at US$605.28.

Verify, Not Trust

This is analogous to a growing number of fake news reports in the crypto community. As Crypto News Australia reported in September, Litecoin surged amid a press release saying retail giant Walmart was partnering with the cryptocurrency to accept crypto payments.

Verifying the authenticity of news is important in order to make good decisions about your investments. If retail giants such as Walmart or Kroger started accepting crypto as payment, it’s highly unlikely they would begin with Bitcoin-forked currencies like BCH or BSV, or altcoins like Litecoin.

One recent example of practical cryptocurrency adoption is El Salvador, which recently used bitcoin profits to build 20 schools, besides funding numerous projects to help develop infrastructure in the country.

Categories
Crypto News DeFi Dogecoin Tokens

SHIB Recovers 50% in 24h after Massive Sell-off Last Week

SHIB, the Dogecoin-inspired Shiba Inu memecoin, experienced tumultuous price corrections last week, plunging more than -10 percent on Thursday, only to bounce back with a 50 percent rise over the weekend. 

SHIB Rallies 50% in 24 Hours

The price of SHIB went from its ATH last week of 0.00008616 to 0.0000583 at press time, a -30 percent price drop.

SHIB/USD chart. Source: Messari

SHIB currently has a market cap of US$32.02 billion, with a $2.88 billion 24hr trading volume, as per data from Messari.

The token dropped on November 4 amid a massive sell-off from one whale that triggered a price drop of 22 percent, its biggest since September 10 when it plunged over 85 percent.

The whale had around 40 trillion SHIB, worth roughly US$2.8 billion at the time. Many were wondering where the tokens would end up. At the time of writing, the token holder had relocated the funds to three wallets, where they remain.

SHIB Takes the Lead

The Shiba Inu memecoin is one of the riskiest tokens in the market due to its extreme volatility. It is also one with the biggest returns. During Q3, for example, SHIB had a three-month ROI of 704 percent.

The coin is famous for being the rival of Elon Musk’s beloved Dogecoin. Musk tweeted last month that he doesn’t hold any SHIB, which in itself caused the price to drop 20 percent. However, it seems the SHIB army doesn’t care one way or the other for Musk’s opinions and plans to move on despite his claims.

One of the biggest price boosts for SHIB came after the October auction of Shiboshis, a collection of NFTs inspired by the memecoin. They sold in just over 35 minutes, each piece snapped up for between US$350 and US$1050.

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Australia Crypto News Investing Trading

Australian Crypto ETF Passes $40 Million in First Day of Trading

BetaShares’ crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) debuted this week, smashing Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) trading records on its debut. Investors’ appetite was such that more than A$40 million was poured into the crypto ETF on its first day of trading. 

$5.2 Million Traded in Five Minutes

Thousands of local investors gathered on November 4 to participate in the highly anticipated launch of Australia’s first crypto ETF. Almost A$5.2 million was traded in the first five minutes. The fund soared to a total of A$42.5 million, signalling local institutional demand for cryptocurrencies.

As Crypto News Australia reported, ASIC this week gave the green light to fund managers to launch crypto ETFs after consulting with industry experts. BetaShares CRYP (Capital Appreciation Portfolio Diversification) was the first to debut on the ASX, and it comprises a range of companies whose revenues derive mainly from crypto-companies such as retail exchanges, blockchain firms, mining companies, etcetera. 

The fund is now full with investments in several high-profile companies including:

  • Galaxy Digital (12.3% in weight of assets)
  • Marathon Digital (11.3%)
  • Coinbase Global (10.7%)
  • Silvergate Capital (10.2%)
  • Microstrategy (9.4%)

Big Moment For Australian Finance

Alex Vynokur, CEO of BetaShares, tagged the event as a “big moment for Australian finance” – yet he’s not surprised by the fund’s success, acknowledging there has been real demand for crypto-assets in Australia over the past 12 months, from family offices to high net worth individuals.

There’s real appetite from Australian investors both from individual investors as well as financial advisers to obtain the exposure to the digital assets ecosystem and do it in a regulated structure. It surpassed our expectations.

Alex Vynokur, CEO, BetaShares

Crypto ETFs have long been expected by the crypto community, and institutions are now realising the potential of crypto-assets and blockchain technology. The success of BetaShares proves the local demand for crypto-assets in Australia is growing.

More countries are now joining the BTC ETF movement. At this point, the most traded crypto fund is ProShare’s ETF, which broke records of US$1 billion worth in trading volume in just one day, marking the second-largest volume for an ETF ever registered in the US.

Categories
Crypto News DeFi Solana Tokens

Solana Skyrockets to 4th-Largest Crypto Amid SOL-Based Web 3.0 Investment

Solana (SOL) has been thriving in the crypto market recently, reaching a new all-time high of US$248.45 on November 3, at around 9pm Eastern time.

SOL Overtakes ADA

SOL has risen in price by 23.56 percent in the past seven days, trading at US$246 at the time of writing. The token has had a surprising performance this year, up more than 17,000 percent since the first quarter of 2021. 

SOL/USD chart. Source: Messari.io

The token now holds a US$72.20 billion market cap, and 24hr trading volumes have skyrocketed to US$2.8 billion.

After the price surge, SOL flipped Cardano (ADA) to become the fourth-largest crypto by market cap. Meanwhile, Cardano has been struggling even after the release of its smart contracts, trading at US$1.98 at press time, down 11.17 percent in a month.

Solana Gaining Ground Amid Positive Newsflows

The price surge follows several promising DeFi projects and the integration with Crypto.com, which will allow users to deposit and withdraw USDC via Solana.

Another strong boost for Solana came after the announcement of a US$8 million seed round completed by Syndica, which is building the “next-generation blockchain infrastructure for the Solana ecosystem”.

Besides, two of Solana’s biggest DeFi projects are both decentralised exchanges with yield-generating features, and they hold around US$2 billion in total locked value (TLV) each.

The open interest for SOL has been high as well. On October 26, SOL’s derivatives market reached a record-high US$1.86 billion – spiking 123 percent in a month.

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News DeFi Tokens

Upcoming Parachain Auction Sends Polkadot Soaring

Polkadot (DOT) has been rising lately, reaching new all-time highs after news of the upcoming launch of parachain auctions on the Polkadot platform.

DOT Reaches New ATH

Polkadot announced the developing of parachain auctions in early 2021. As Crypto News Australia reported last month, the protocol has released dates for the first set of parachain auctions, prompting an overnight DOT token price surge of more than 18 percent.

This week, the Polkadot team announced that a motion had been passed to Polkadot’s council. If approved, developers will be able to register their parachains from November 5 and seek crowdfunding.

The excitement surrounding the launch of parachain auctions is the force behind DOT’s bullish rally, which surged 16 percent this week, reaching an ATH of US$53.18 at press time, beating its previous ATH of $49.35 in May.

Parachains are blockchains integrated within the Polkadot network that can be customised and optimised for a wide range of specific use cases. Unlike Ethereum, Polkadot allows its developers to create their own independent chains and set specific parameters, such as transaction fees, block times, mining rewards, etc.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Ethereum Institutions Regulation

ASIC Gives Green Light to BTC and ETH Spot ETFs, First Expected Next Week

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has finally given the green light to Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETF), allowing investment funds to launch their crypto ETFs by next week.

After a long period of industry consultation, ASIC released a set of guidelines for institutions keen to launch crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs). The paper also published guidelines that allow fund managers to launch ETFs under certain regulatory requirements.

Australian fund manager BetaShares will be the first to list an ETF on the Australian Securities Exchange on November 4. The fund will have the ticker “CRYP” and will allow investors to access a mixed set of crypto ventures, most of them focused on companies whose revenue is derived mainly from the cryptocurrency market.

We know there are millions of people around the world [invested in crypto], and close to 2 million Australians that have actually invested in cryptocurrency directly.

Alex Vynokur , CEO and co-founder, BetaShares

Among the regulatory requirements are that fund managers must appoint a custodian with expertise on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, and hold at least A$10 million in net tangible assets. They are also responsible and must compensate for any custodial assets lost.

As Crypto News Australia reported in August, one of the reasons crypto ETFs in Australia have been delayed so long is that ASIC was trying to solve how arrangements with custodians would work.

ASIC Recognises Institutional Interest in Australia But Leaves Altcoins Out

ASIC has signalled its intention to “recognise the interest in, and demand for, ETPs and other investment products that hold crypto-assets in Australia”. The new fund is expected to give the Australian crypto space a big boost as institutional adoption expands rapidly across the globe. The first US Bitcoin ETF debuted in mid-October, breaking record trading volumes of US$1 billion in just 24 hours, turning it into the country’s second-largest traded ETF fund.

However, altcoins were left out, with only Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs permitted. These funds will allow investors to purchase contracts that track the price of both currencies without having direct exposure to either asset.

Talking about the benefits and risks of cryptocurrencies, ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour said:

Crypto-assets have unique characteristics and risks that must be considered by product issuers and market operators in meeting their existing regulatory obligations. The good practices we published provide practical examples of how these obligations may be met, in a way that maintains investor protections and Australia’s fair, orderly and transparent markets.

Cathie Armour, commissioner, ASIC
Categories
Crypto News DeFi Tokens

CRV Token Up 63% in a Week Amid Curve Becoming Second-Largest TVL in DeFi

Curve DAO (CRV), Curve Finance’s native token, has become one of the three best performing assets of the crypto market, surpassed only by Decentraland (MANA) and Shiba Inu (SHIB).

At the time of writing, CRV was trading at a price of US$4.64 – a 42.10 percent increase in the past seven days. The token is now the third-most traded asset, only behind MANA, which is trading at US$1.34 – up 68.45 percent in the same period – and SHIB, at $0.00007399 (164.43 percent in 7d).

Top 5 gainers in seven days. Source: CoinmarketCap

What’s Driving CRV’s Rally?

Curve Finance is an exchange liquidity platform built atop the Ethereum network. We can name a few developments and partnerships that are driving CRV’s rally.

Curve Finance doubled its TLV shortly after the launch of Convex Finance, a platform that provides CRV token holders and Curve liquidity providers additional interest rewards. After just five months, Convex Finance is seeing massive amounts of CRV tokens being locked up for yield farming.

And if that were not enough, Curve now has its own automated market maker (AMM) – called EpsilonDeFi – on the Kusama Network and Polkadot.

Another boost for the CRV token came with the integration of the Harmony protocol, which will allow Curve to use Harmony’s bridges to connect Ethereum and the Binance Smart Chain, enabling cross-chain swaps between the two networks.

Categories
Blockchain DeFi Hackers Tokens

CREAM Finance Exploited Again, This Time for $130 Million

DeFi lending protocol Cream Finance has been attacked again, this time to the tune of US$130 million, in what is its third and biggest hack by far.

Flash Loan Attack on 68 Different Assets

As highlighted by blockchain security firm PeckShield, the attacker managed to exploit the platform through a flash loan attack that involved at least 68 different assets and cost around 9 ETH. Of the estimated US$130 million drained, at press time US$92 million was held in the attacker’s contract while US$22 million was held by the contract creator’s address. 

Cream Finance confirmed the event on October 27, revealing that the C.R.E.A.M. v1 marketplace on Ethereum had been attacked. The hacker took mostly Cream LP tokens and some other ERC-20 tokens: 

However, it appears that Yearn Finance, a group of DeFi protocols running on the Ethereum blockchain, had salvaged US$9.42 million from the hacker:

Third-Biggest Hack in DeFi History

A few months ago, Cream Finance suffered its second flash loan exploit in which it lost US$19 million. While the team promised to pay back its affected users, it’s unclear as to whether there’s going to be another compensation program.

This hack positions Cream Finance among the biggest DeFi hacks in history. And while Rekt’s leaderboard has not been updated, this attack relegates EasyFi’s US$59 million exploit to fourth spot, while Poly Network and Compound are at the top.

Compound has also been hit hard by malicious actors. As Crypto News Australia reported earlier this month, Compound Labs suffered its second major blow after another bug in the platform was found, putting US$162 million at risk.

DeFi hacks accounted for 76 percent of cyberattacks in 2021, causing users to lose more than US$470 million in DeFi platforms. This clearly suggests that while the space is an emerging ecosystem full of opportunities, there is cause for caution as it’s also a lucrative target for malicious actors.

Categories
Regulation Stablecoins Tether

Tether Introduces Controversial ‘Travel Rule’ to Combat Financial Crimes

Tether Holdings Limited – issuer of the stablecoin USDT – has announced the integration of Notabene’s end-to-end solution to comply with AML (anti-money laundering) laws and combat cross-border crime. 

Tether to Comply with AML and KYC Laws

As per an announcement on October 26, Tether will test Notabene’s platform to facilitate compliance with the Crypto Travel Rule, a mandate established by global financial watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on June 20, 2021.

The mandate stipulates that Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASPs) (such as crypto exchange and stablecoin issuers) should be regulated in the same way that regular financial institutions do. Thus, VASPs would have to comply with AML and KYC laws, providing descriptive information between counterparties when transferring digital assets.

It’s important that we work with other large VASPS to build this industry from the ground up. We see this as an opportune moment to foster cooperation across traditional and digital channels in order to create better services for customers globally. We are proud to lead the charge on behalf of all stablecoins in order to make a positive change towards protecting our clients.

Leonardo Real, CCO, Tether

‘Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?’

Tether has repeatedly claimed its USDT reserves are a conglomerate of several assets, including commercial paper and fiduciary deposits, with only 3.87 percent in cash. Yet Tether’s detractors are not convinced.

Two weeks ago, Bloomberg released a hit piece targeting Tether, titled “Anyone Seen Tether’s billions?” The author, Zeke Faux, calls the company a fraud, and claims that the firm has loaned billions of dollars to various crypto companies, and that it holds debt with various Chinese firms, including real-estate giant Evergrande.