With recession concerns and dipping crypto prices reducing borrowing demand from the decentralised finance ecosystem, DeFi lender Porter Finance has announced the closure of its bond issuance platform:
Two things from Porter's BI shutdown announcement:
1. "not confident there will be large inflows of lending demand for fixed income DeFi products like the ones offered through Porter Finance." 2. "no longer willing to take on the legal risk associated with bond offerings."
The Ethereum-based lender allowed decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), such as Porter’s Ribbon DAO, to issue convertible bonds to raise funds in return for paying yields to users. However, the lack of demand for fixed-income DeFi products has meant that the Porter Finance bond issuance platform was in operation for only a month.
Porter Finance founder Jordan Meyer cited the competitive rates of traditional finance and the lack of institutional fixed-income DeFi adoption as the twin forces driving low demand for bond issuance. Meyer has also stated that his company is “no longer willing to take on the legal risk associated with bond offerings”:
Porter Finance, which announced in April that it had received $5 million in investment from ParaFi Dragonfly and others, announced the closure of its bond issuance platform because it was no longer willing to take legal risks associated with bond issuance. https://t.co/Kk8j3Uz0A7
Ribbon DAO, the protocol that helps users access crypto-structured products for DeFi, which was using Porter Finance to issue its bonds, is still bound by its promise to repay yields to users. The closure of Porter Finance’s first-of-its-kind service follows the implosion of other DeFi companies such as Celsius.
Other DeFi Movements
Last month’s hot topic was the DeFi sector with DeFi Yield Protocol (DYP) up by a notable 107 percent in a week. At the time, DYP was trading at US$0.43. According to Coinbase, DYP will phase in alongside five other Ethereum-based altcoins – PARSIQ, Elastos (ELA), HOPR, MATH and ALEPH – in trading pairs with Tether once liquidity conditions are met. The six altcoins will be grouped under the exchange’s new ‘Experimental’ title.
At the same time, the combined CeFi and DeFi crypto lending platform Alkemi Network announced a partnership with hardware wallet maker Ledger. The collaboration will mean that Ledger’s 1.5 million users can earn yields with their ETH, USDC or wBTC via their wallets’ interfaces. The combination of CeFi and DeFi allows users to maintain full control of their assets.
Let’s take a closer look at today’s altcoins showing breakout signals. We’ll explain what the coin is, then dive into the trading charts and provide some analysis to help you decide.
1. Decentraland (MANA)
Decentraland MANA defines itself as a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain that allows users to create, experience, and monetise content and applications. In this virtual world, users purchase plots of land that they can later navigate, build on and monetise. Decentraland uses two tokens: MANA and LAND. MANA is an ERC-20 token that must be burned to acquire non-fungible ERC-721 LAND tokens. MANA tokens can also be used to pay for a range of avatars, wearables, names and more on the Decentraland marketplace.
MANA Price Analysis
At the time of writing, MANA is ranked the 32nd cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.9282. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
Like many other altcoins, MANA set a high during Q1 and Q2 before retracing 70% to the low at $0.7330 last month.
The price broke through resistance near $0.9134, which may mark an area of possible support on a retracement. If this support fails, bulls might also step in near $0.8713. However, a drop this far increases the chances of a stop run to $0.8105 and possibly into support near $0.7825. For now, continuing recovery market conditions could help $0.7510 become support.
The swing high around $1.10 gives bulls a reasonable first target, with $1.18 also likely to draw the price upward. Higher-timeframe resistance beginning near $1.29 or $1.37 could cap the move or trigger consolidations. If bullish market conditions continue, bulls might test probable resistance near new monthly highs around $1.45.
2. Avalanche (AVAX)
Avalanche AVAX is the fastest smart contracts platform in the blockchain industry, as measured by time-to-finality, and has the most validators securing its activity of any proof-of-stake protocol. Avalanche is also low-cost, and green. Any smart contract-enabled application can outperform its competition on Avalanche. AVAX is the native token of Avalanche. It is a hard-capped, scarce asset that is used to pay for fees, secure the platform through staking, and provide a basic unit of account between the multiple subnets created on Avalanche.
AVAX Price Analysis
At the time of writing, AVAX is ranked the 15th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$20.16. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
AVAX‘s gains in Q2 ended with an almost 75% retracement as the rest of the altcoin market dropped from early last month. Bulls stepped in near the 62.8% retracement of Q2’s move, creating a consolidation that ended with the bullish impulse to resistance near $30.35.
With the 9, 18 and 40 EMAs stacked bullish and a bullish higher-timeframe trend, it’s reasonable to anticipate retracement to possible support before further bullish expansion.
Near the 40 EMA, a broad zone from $18.15 to $17.45 could see interest from bulls before further expansion. Bears might capitalise on any sharp moves down in Bitcoin, aiming for possible support near the 75% retracement, at $16.30, and potentially lower to a higher-timeframe support zone between $15.72 and $14.80.
If the higher-timeframe recovery trend resumes and the current resistance near $24.35 breaks, the wicks near $28.84 and the new monthly highs may see profit-taking.
3. Polygon (MATIC)
Polygon MATIC is the first well-structured, easy-to-use platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its core component is Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that supports building multiple types of applications. The MATIC token will continue to exist and will play an increasingly important role in securing the system and enabling governance.
MATIC Price Analysis
At the time of writing, MATIC is ranked the 18th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.5669. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
Since its Q1 highs, MATIC has been in a steady bearish trend, retracing nearly 75%. The price found support near $0.3820, at the 65.8% retracement level.
Last week’s sharp impulse up might have marked the start of a new trend. If so, higher timeframes suggest that $0.5139, near the 45.8% retracement and the 9, 18 and 40 EMAs, may see interest from bulls. The price could reach lower, near $0.4720, and still find support.
Currently, the price is contesting a region between $0.4539 and $0.4325. Closes over this level could confirm it as new support, leading to a move higher.
However, bulls are contending with probable resistance near $0.6931, while $0.7530 is also likely to be sensitive with the nearest support and resistance this close together.
These coins have high liquidity on Binance Exchange, so that could help with trading on AUD/USDT/BTC pairs. And if you’re looking at buying and HODLing cryptos, then Swyftx Exchange is an easy-to-use popular choice in Australia.
GT racing team Vincenzo Sospiri Racing (VSR) is partnering with NFT platform Go2NFT for a project that certifies racing car parts. The NFTs will aid in monitoring and ensuring car part quality, with the collaboration offering room to extend this technology to merchandising:
VSR SUPPORTED BY LAMBORGHINI SQUADRA CORSE TO IMPLEMENT CORPORATE NFT TECHNOLOGY WITH Go2NFT IN GLOBAL MOTORSPORTS FIRST
— Vincenzo Sospiri Racing (@VSRacing1) July 5, 2022
Sospiri Personally Endorses Pilot Scheme
Go2NFT’s pilot scheme will utilise NFT tech to authenticate factory parts, with racing champion Vincenzo Sospiri himself stating that VSR, Go2NFT, and the blockchain platform Skey Network will be building cars with verified provenance:
This also brings great responsibility to ensure that we can securely authenticate and audit every part of our racing fleet to monitor performance and ensure provenance.
Vincenzo Sospiri, VSR
Boris Ejsymont, chief business officer of Go2NFT, understands the challenges brands face in protecting their intellectual property, and says that NFTs offer a solution. For more information on the tech behind this project, check out Go2NFT’s video below:
NFTs Rev Up the Auto World
This isn’t Lamborghini’s first dip into NFTs. In August 2021, the company celebrated its founder, Ferruccio Lamborghini, with the launch of an NFT collection, a collaboration between the Ferruccio Lamborghini Museum and crypto art platform Elysium Bridge. Touted as a “one-time event”, the collection offered investors the chance to “own unique pieces of supercar history in an unprecedented NFT drop”.
But it’s not just performance cars that are experimenting with NFTs. Alfa Romeo’s latest SUV, the Tonale, enables customers to track and store its maintenance records. This, more practical, approach to documenting vehicle data will add much-needed transparency and efficiency to record-keeping.
Ethereum Name Service (ENS) registrations have surged over 200 percent in a week, according to ENS developer Nick Johnson (Nick.eth on Twitter).
The ENS had a bullish first weekend of the month, with over 64,000 accounts created on July 3 – a 216 percent spike that translates to US$684,000 in revenue, half a million more than on the previous day.
In June, ENS had more than 120,000 .eth registrations, registering over US$3 million in revenue:
Source: Data Studio
ENS is a domain name protocol that issues .eth domain registrations on the Ethereum blockchain. In other words, ENS turns a long crypto address into something similar to an URL, like Bob.eth or Alice.eth.
this will look like peanuts in a couple years when we see 10m, 100m, and 1b names
On May 6, the ENS achieved the milestone of a million domain names created. At time of writing the ENS token was up 16 percent in the previous 24 hours, and was priced at US$10.25 apiece as per data from CoinMarketCap.
Budweiser is one of the few brands to have purchased an .eth domain. Back in August 2021, the American beverage giant announced its dive into crypto by paying 38 ETH for Beer.eth.
Whether they love ’em or hate ’em, it’s clear Australians are highly curious about non-fungible tokens after ranking eighth globally for NFT interest according to an analysis conducted by online lender CashNetUSA.
Based on Google search volume and Twitter sentiment collected in March 2022, the analysis identified that Singaporeans were most likely to search for information about NFTs. The US, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand also made the top 10 on monthly search volume figures:
Top 10 countries by interest in NFTs. Source: CashNetUSA
A similar exploration of NFT search queries in 50 countries by the NFT Club website in May placed Australia second in terms of interest in NFTs, with Taiwan taking out the top spot.
Australians Positive Towards NFTs, Favouring Axie Infinity
In terms of positive and negative sentiment towards NFTs, CashNetUSA found Eastern European countries were the most passionate on both counts. People in Montenegro were most likely to post pro-NFT tweets, while Twitter users in Poland were most likely to be anti-NFTs.
A higher number of Australians expressed positive views of NFTs, according to the analysis: for every 1,000 tweets, 539 were found to show “love” for NFTs compared to just 79 expressing “hate”.
Among Australian NFT enthusiasts, the most popular NFT collectible community is Axie Infinity. The Vietnam-origin gaming platform dominates globally when it comes to most-Googled collectibles, ranking first in 112 countries. Decentraland, Sorare, and Bored Ape Yacht Club also featured on the list of popular NFT communities.
In a compelling display of how bitcoin is unsuitable for criminal activities, Netherlands-based Maastricht University has shared a positive tale of how the bitcoin it paid in ransom in 2019, since tracked and recovered, has appreciated significantly in the interim:
In 2019, Maastricht University (Netherlands) paid €200,000 to a ransomware gang, most likely the Clop gang.
After arrests of Clop money launderers last year in Ukraine, the university got its money back, except now, the Bitcoin was worth €500,000.https://t.co/Sietd8j7Dw
As outlined by the university, it suffered a ransomware attack in 2019 that prevented more than 25,000 staff and students from accessing critical research data, email, or library resources. The hackers encrypted hundreds of Windows servers and backup systems, denying access to business-critical services pending a ransom payment of €200,000 (US$208,000) in bitcoin.
As reported by Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, the university agreed to pay the attackers after a week, “partly because personal data was in danger of being lost and students were unable to take an exam or work on their theses”.
After launching an investigation, Dutch police traced a Ukrainian bank account belonging to a known money launderer. Investigators were able to establish that a relatively small amount of the ransom money, some €40,000 (US$41,000) worth of bitcoin, had been paid.
Chain analysis at work, used to identify the hacker. Source: Bitquery
Prosecutors were able to seize the offending account in 2020 and, through chain analysis techniques, were able to trace the remaining bitcoin. While information remains limited on why it took so long to return the funds, it appears as if the tedious wheels of bureaucracy might have worked in the university’s favour.
Commenting on the windfall, Maastricht University ICT director Michiel Borgers said it would be directed to students in need:
This money will not go to a general fund, but into a fund to help financially strapped students.
Michiel Borgers, director of ICT, Maastricht University
De Volkskrant has reported that the investigation remains ongoing as authorities search for those responsible for the exploit. As crypto crimes soared to new heights in 2021, efforts to combat ransomware attacks have been increasingly ramped up by authorities including the US Federal Bureau of Intelligence, which recently established its crypto crime unit.
Let’s take a closer look at today’s altcoins showing breakout signals. We’ll explain what the coin is, then dive into the trading charts and provide some analysis to help you decide.
1. Hedera (HBAR)
Hedera Hashgraph HBAR is a public network that allows individuals and businesses to create powerful decentralised applications (DApps). It is designed to be a fairer, more efficient system that eliminates some of the limitations older blockchain-based platforms face, such as slow performance and instability. The HBAR token has a dual role within the Hedera public network.
HBAR Price Analysis
At the time of writing, HBAR is ranked the 38th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.06191. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
HBAR‘s 55% Q1 run retraced almost to its origin, narrowly missing probable support near $0.6295 before bears swatted down the bounce near resistance around $0.07589.
With the daily gap between $0.05912 and $0.05750 almost filled in a single wick, the price may not need to revisit areas below this level. However, the safer entry is still in probable support between $0.05523 and $0.05100, which would also sweep the lows of last week’s bounce.
The relatively equal highs near $0.06954 provide a likely first target on lower timeframes. However, the resistance beginning at $0.07315 may initially suppress a further move up.
A clean break through this resistance will need to contend with the next resistance near $0.07692, under the last swing high. This swing high at $0.07950 gives a reasonable take-profit area before a possible move to the 1.0 extension near $0.08256.
2. Crypto Coin (CRO)
Crypto.com coin CRO is the native cryptocurrency token of Crypto.com Chain, a decentralised, open-source blockchain developed by the Crypto.com payment, trading and financial services company. Crypto.com Chain is one of the products in Crypto.com’s lineup of solutions designed to accelerate the global adoption of cryptocurrencies as a means of increasing personal control over money, safeguarding user data, and protecting users’ identities. The CRO blockchain serves primarily as a vehicle that powers the Crypto.com Pay mobile payments app.
CRO Price Analysis
At the time of writing, CRO is ranked the 22nd cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.1174. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
CRO has been trading sideways after Q1, reaching nearly 35% percent within a few weeks as it blasted through its old monthly highs.
This fast move left little compelling higher-timeframe support near the current price. A level near $0.1022, which has confluence with the 8 EMA and 127% extension of H2 2021’s swing, could provide support.
Further below, near $0.09231, 2021’s previous monthly high could also provide some support on a retest. The last consolidation before the breakout, near December’s open, might give the most substantial support. However, this would require significant retracement from the current price point.
While next targets are impossible to predict, extensions from Q1 2022’s move suggest that the 40% extension, near $0.1475, could provide some resistance. Above this level, the 48% extension near $0.1648 could also trigger bulls to take profits.
3. Enjin Coin (ENJ)
Enjin Coin ENJ is a project of Enjin, a company that provides an ecosystem of interconnected, blockchain-based gaming products. Enjin’s flagship offering is the Enjin Network, a social gaming platform through which users can create websites and clans, chat, and host virtual item stores. Enjin Coin is a digital store of value used to back the value of blockchain assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
ENJ Price Analysis
At the time of writing, ENJ is ranked the 75th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.5379. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
ENJ spent Q2 ranging between 30% over and 23% below. The price is currently consolidating between adjacent resistance and support at $0.6045 with no clear higher-timeframe trend. A strong move over the monthly open could signal a run to resistance beginning near $0.6495.
This move would likely target the swing high at $0.6912 and relatively equal highs near $0.7249. A sustained bullish trend could reach up to the monthly high near $0.7532.
Bulls may see a sweep of the relatively equal lows near $0.5142 as a chance to buy at a discount. If this level fails to hold, the next significant area for the price to find buyers is likely near the consolidation around $0.4835 and $0.4130.
These coins have high liquidity on Binance Exchange, so that could help with trading on AUD/USDT/BTC pairs. And if you’re looking at buying and HODLing cryptos, then Swyftx Exchange is an easy-to-use popular choice in Australia.
Numeraire (NMR), the native token for Numerai, a San Francisco-based hedge fund built by a network of data scientists, has outperformed the ailing crypto market by skyrocketing over 100 percent in just over a week.
At the time of writing, NMR was ranked the 173rd crypto according to data from CoinMarketCap and was trading at US$17.93, up from US$9.22 just seven days ago. The token remains down more than 77 percent from its all-time high of US$93.15, which it hit in May 2021.
NMR 7-day price action. Source: CoinMarketCap
The NMR token is built atop the Ethereum blockchain and can be staked to power the Numerai Tournament, in which entrants compete to build machine learning models based on abstract financial data to predict the stock market.
According to the project website, the models also determine the hedge fund’s bets: “The staked models of Numerai are combined to form the Meta Model which controls the capital of the Numerai hedge fund across the global stock market.”
Reasons for Surge Remain Unclear
Numeraire also powers the staking protocol Erasure, which aims to increase trust in online information by requiring information sources to stake their offerings, as inaccurate information causes the stakes to be destroyed. It remains unclear what caused the token to surge to such heights, but developers did announce last week that the project had almost one million NMR stakes across the tournaments:
Progress towards ONE million $nmr staked across the tournaments:
A couple of crypto projects have come out of nowhere to take the market by storm and have shown some serious growth. Earlier this week, Ethereum-based, decentralised blockchain platform Stratis witnessed its native token STRAX rocket 103 percent in a 24-hour period, cooling off from a rally that at one point had reached 160 percent. And last month it was reported that NuCypher (NU) token had soared 87 percent amid its merger with the Keep Network.
Meta Platforms has issued a notice to the users of its crypto project, Novi, recommending they withdraw their funds without delay. This follows the announcement that Meta will cease the Novi project after the introduction of a digital wallet for the metaverse.
Deposits Close July 21
Novi, a digital wallet that offers fee-free instant money transfers using crypto, will be ‘ending soon’ according to Meta. The current form of the Novi project has been available for barely 10 months. However, its first phase – Calibra, the wallet for Meta’s Libra stablecoin – became available in 2019.
September 1 will mark the end for the wallet, with users no longer able to add money to their Novi accounts from July 21. The project’s end will also mean that Novi for Whatsapp will no longer function.
Funds remaining in accounts after September 1 will be transferred to the debit cards/bank attached to users’ Novi accounts.
In place of the Novi project, Meta is introducing the Metaverse digital wallet. This wallet will allow metaverse players to securely manage their identity, possessions, and payments. Meta seems to be placing the emphasis, yet again, on the potential of the metaverse:
You can expect to see more from us in the Web3 space because we are very optimistic about the value these technologies can bring to people and businesses in the metaverse.
Meta statement
In October 2021, the Novi wallet began trials across a select group in the US. Meta touted the ease of sending and receiving money – a process that could take place instantly, securely, and with no fees. Meta’s head of crypto and fintech at Novi, Stephane Kasriel, announced the rollout on December 9.
The British Army is investigating a hack that occurred on its Twitter and YouTube accounts last week, the BBC has reported. It seems the hacker used the accounts to promote NFT collections.
After the attacker gained control of the British Army’s Twitter feed, he or she renamed it to “psssssd” and “Bapesclan”, changed the profile pic to an ape-like joker, and promoted several NFT collections to the Army’s 365,000 followers.
On the other hand, the Army’s YouTube channel was plagued with edited videos of billionaires such as Elon Musk, creating a false impression that they were promoting the scam.
Trolling the British Government
The organisation managed to regain full control of both accounts by July 3. While there was no real damage done by the hack, one could see the incident as simply a move to troll people, specifically a UK government organisation.
An Army spokesperson told the BBC: “Whilst we have now resolved the issue an investigation is ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Intercepting YouTube accounts to promote NFT and crypto scams has become a common practice for hackers, according to Google’s Threat Analysis Group. Most recently, Beeple – a popular digital artist and NFT creator – had his Twitter account hacked, resulting in a US$438,000 loss to a phishing scam.
