Blockchain research firm Chainalysis has announced the launch of a 24/7 hotline accessible to victims of crypto crime. The Crypto Incident Response hotline will work to support organisations under attack from ransomware demands or targeted by crypto cyber-attacks:
With crypto hackers responsible for US$3 billion of lost crypto value via theft and ransom demands from just 251 attacks in 2021, Chainalysis’ announcement is a welcome one:
We’re investing in this service not just to assist organisations in their times of need, but also to help bring bad actors to justice and demonstrate that crypto is not the asset class of anonymity and crime.
Chainalysis blog post
The hotline will be independent of the analytics service and will not require victims to be existing Chainalysis customers. This rapid-response strategy aspires to turn up the heat on hackers, making it more difficult for them to cash out. The Chainalysis team has also indicated its willingness to liaise with law enforcement on victims’ behalf.
Despite many organisations having called for the implementation of the hotline, just as many voices on Twitter seem to be on edge about what this could mean for their money and their privacy:
💥JUST IN: On-chain snitches Chainalysis have launched a telephone hotline for other snitches to give them information about you and your #Bitcoin
Regardless, with time of the essence in these cases, Chainalysis is hoping that its strategy will decrease the quantity and severity of crypto crime in the industry.
Chainalysis Monitors Crypto Crime
Earlier this month, Chainalysis published a report stating that DeFi projects were most often the target of crypto attacks. As many as 97 percent of all crypto attacks have been directed at DeFi projects since the beginning of 2020, with the biggest DeFi hack on record – in which Axie Infinity lost over US$600 million – happening on March 30 this year.
Chainalysis also announced in February that ‘criminal whales’ were holding US$25 billion in digital assets. Defined as private wallets holding over US$1 million of crypto, where a minimum of 10 percent of these funds are obtained from illicit addresses, criminal whales are commonly associated with fraud, malware, and scams.
1/7 The mission was simple: could we build a new platform that would empower creators and give digital artists a chance to earn a living doing what they love. pic.twitter.com/X5zCkJHj1B
KnownOrigin enables artists and collectors to create, purchase and resell NFTs via blockchain-enabled transactions. Co-founder David Moore said in a statement that the company was built to “empower creators and collectors by giving them the ability to showcase, sell and collect unique, authenticated digital items”.
Moore added:
As interest in NFTs continues to grow, we believe now is the perfect time for us to partner with a company that has the reach and experience of eBay.
David Moore, co-founder, KnownOrigin
eBay Continues Digital Exploration
It was just over a year ago that eBay began allowing its users to buy and sell NFTs, at a time when the market exploded. Its foray into collectibles shows continued interest in leveraging cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to improve its operations, and eBay has even begun looking into integrating crypto payment options.
Jamie Iannone, eBay’s chief executive, said in a statement:
KnownOrigin has built up an impressive, passionate and loyal group of artists and collectors, making them a perfect addition to our community of sellers and buyers. We look forward to welcoming these innovators as they join the eBay community.
Stablecoin issuer Tether is set to launch a stablecoin pegged to the British Pound Sterling in early July, using Ethereum as the first support blockchain.
According to a June 22 blog post from Tether, the GBPT will have a 1:1 ratio to the Pound Sterling and will provide a faster and less costly way of transferring assets:
#Tether To Launch GBP₮ Tether Tokens Pegged to the British Pound Sterling 🇬🇧
Tether executives are reportedly working with UK regulators to prepare the next steps for rolling out the GBPT. Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, cites the UK as the “next frontier” for blockchain innovation.
We believe that the UK is the next frontier for blockchain innovation and the wider implementation of cryptocurrency for financial markets. We hope to help lead this innovation by providing cryptocurrency users worldwide with access to a GBP-denominated stablecoin issued by the largest stablecoin issuer,
Paolo Ardoino, CTO, Tether
Welcome to the Family
The GBPT joins the family of fiat currency-pegged stablecoins from the company, which also includes the recently launched MXNT, the Mexican Peso-pegged stablecoin.
On May 31, Tether announced that USDT had been integrated into Polygon, one of the largest Ethereum sidechains, providing more than 19,000 applications on the Polygon ecosystem with the ability to use USDT.
Tether is expanding its family of stablecoins at the same time that the company is denying claims that its commercial paper portfolio is mostly backed by Chinese commercial paper, the reason why a US$4 billion hedge fund has placed a short bet against Tether.
Even though El Salvador and the Central African Republic have made bitcoin legal tender, newly-elected Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said that crypto will continue to be excluded from foreign currency tax arrangements under the Albanese Labor Government.
In a prepared statement, Chalmers noted that the decision by the Government of El Salvador to allow bitcoin as legal tender “has the potential to create uncertainty about the status of crypto assets such as Bitcoin for tax purposes in Australia”.
Crypto Remains Subject to Capital Gains Tax
Therefore, in an effort to ensure absolute clarity in the current legislative arrangements, Chalmers added:
Crypto assets will not be regarded as a foreign currency for tax purposes. Capital gains tax will continue to apply to crypto assets that are held as investments.
Jim Chalmers, Australian Treasurer
Finally, he clarified that this latest proclamation was backdated to July 1, 2021, and that the government would “continue to take a pragmatic and timely approach to its role in the rapidly-evolving digital currency landscape”.
Pragmatism Needed in Australia
No further details were offered as to what was meant in that regard, however, pragmatism presumably would entail a reconsideration of the position should further evidence come to light.
As an example of pragmatism at work, consider the US Lummis Gillibrand crypto bill currently under consideration, which proposes that crypto transactions less than US$200 do not create a taxable event.
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (left) and Cynthia Lummis advanced the US Crypto Bill. Source: Bloomberg
Even though Australia’s Bitcoin Industry Body specifically campaigns for bitcoin to be treated as a foreign currency, this latest government announcement has put a stop on that, at least for the time being.
While cryptocurrencies remain highly volatile with potential for exponential gains, it’s unlikely that the Australian government will forego the opportunity to extract revenue in the form of capital gains.
On the bright side, shrewd investors are likely to use this latest downturn as an opportunity to harvest losses to maximise tax efficiency.
One of six Ethereum-based altcoins just listed on US crypto exchange Coinbase’s roster of digital assets, DeFi Yield Protocol (DYP), is up a significantly bullish 107 percent in a week and as a result is currently trading at US$0.43:
📣 DYPians, get ready for the next step!
Starting from today, 22 June 2022, 09:00 AM PT, $DYP will be available for trading on @Coinbase & @CoinbaseExch. You can choose from #DYP-USD & #DYP-USDT pairs.
Coinbase says DYP will be phased in along with five other Ethereum-based altcoins – HOPR, MATH, PARSIQ, Elastos (ELA) and ALEPH – in trading pairs with Tether (USDT) after appropriate liquidity conditions are met. All six altcoins are grouped under the exchange’s ‘Experimental’ label, introduced in March this year:
Coinbase will add support for DYP, ALEPH, HOPR, MATH, PRQ, and ELA with the Experimental label. Learn more about the Experimental label here: https://t.co/MBMBbYyZ7S
DYP aims to offer users the ability to stake Ethereum, Binance Coin and Avalanche to earn a fixed 25 percent APR (annual percentage rate). It is also said to be working on an array of products for the decentralised ecosystem and seeks to be “accessible for both beginner and advanced users” through a combination of DeFi, NFTs and metaverse gaming.
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. Oasis Network (ROSE)
The Oasis Network ROSE is the first privacy-enabled blockchain platform for open finance and a responsible data economy. Combined with its high throughput and secure architecture, the Oasis Network is able to power private, scalable DeFi, revolutionising Open Finance and expanding it beyond traders and early adopters to a mass market. Its unique privacy features can not only redefine DeFi but also create a new type of digital asset called Tokenised Data that can enable users to take control of the data they generate and earn rewards for staking it with applications – creating the first-ever responsible data economy.
ROSE Price Analysis
At the time of writing, ROSE is ranked the 107th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.05164. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
ROSE climbed 42% from its Q1 low, then dropped nearly 75% into support last week.
The price is currently testing this support again, near $0.04690. It may provide support again and has confluence with the 61.8% and 78.6% retracements.
Resistance begins just above, at $0.05837. This inefficiently traded area, which reaches slightly beyond $0.06462, contains the monthly open, a bearish market structure break on the daily chart, and the 9, 18 and 40 EMAs.
These confluences often provide strong resistance. Since this resistance is close to the $0.07190 support, the price may enter consolidation before breaking out to the next move.
If the price breaks this resistance, bulls could eye an area of old rejection, near $0.07562, as their next target. Continuation through this level may target another area of bearish rejection on the weekly chart, near the 27% extension from $0.07895 to $0.08065.
A more significant bearish turn in the market may reach for bulls’ stops under the Q2 lows, down to an area of old support in an inefficiently traded area between $0.04341 and $0.03917.
2. Filecoin (FIL)
Filecoin FIL is a decentralised storage system that aims to “store humanity’s most important information”. The project was first described back in 2014 as an incentive layer for the Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer storage network. Filecoin is an open protocol backed by a blockchain that records commitments made by the network’s participants, with transactions using FIL, the blockchain’s native currency. The blockchain is based on both proof-of-replication and proof-of-spacetime.
FIL Price Analysis
At the time of writing, FIL is ranked the 38th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$5.68. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
FIL has dropped 77% from its early Q2 highs. It’s now 95% down from its March 2021 all-time high.
The price is currently in a small consolidation range. This range’s lower lows suggest bearishness.
A rally near $6.50 could set the stage for another move lower. This level would provide a run on bears’ stops above the last daily swing high and is above the June monthly open.
A break through this level could reach between $7.60 and $8.35. This zone shows inefficient trading on the weekly and daily charts. It also contains the 40 EMA. Relatively equal highs at the bottom of this zone mark bears’ stops. These stops provide bulls with an attractive target.
Bulls should be careful, however. The price is trending lower, and the current market conditions are bearish. Yet a consolidation near $5.63 could provide at least short-term support. This consolidation followed the last drop lower.
Chaotic price action below this level makes precise levels impossible to determine. Still, bulls could look for support near old swing highs formed in late 2019 near $5.14.
Slightly lower, an area near $4.63 could also cause the formation of a bullish setup. This area is around the midpoint of significant consolidation. It’s also near the origin of 2020’s rally.
3. Siacoin (SC)
Siacoin SC is the native utility token of Sia, a blockchain-based distributed, decentralised cloud storage platform. Sia acts as a secure, trustless marketplace for cloud storage in which users can lease access to their unused storage space. Agreements and transactions are enforced with smart contracts, and Siacoin is the medium of exchange for paying for storage on the network. The main goal of the project is to become the “backbone storage layer of the internet”.
SC Price Analysis
At the time of writing, SC is ranked the 122nd cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.003962. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
After a 72% decline from April, SC has ranged between $0.003723 and $0.005165.
The recent rally is approaching probable resistance near $0.004930 but could be aiming for stops above the relatively equal highs near $0.005430. Continuation of the bullish move could target the daily gap near $0.006124.
Aggressive bulls might add to positions near $0.003640 and $0.003492. Price action near $0.003272 may be more likely to provide support – if the price reaches it – during any retracements.
Relatively equal lows clustered around $0.003043 seem likely to be swept if the bearish trend resumes. If this move occurs, the price might find support at the significant higher-timeframe level near $0.002675.
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.
Input Output Global (IOG, formerly IOHK), the development lab of Cardano (ADA), has postponed for one month the Vasil upgrade for the Cardano blockchain, citing multiple bugs that need to be eliminated and giving it more time for testing.
As per a blog post from Nigel Hemsley, head of delivery and projects at IOG, the Vasil hardfork was “very close” to being complete and deployed on June 20, but it was decided to halt it as there are still at least seven non-severe bugs to be fixed:
#VASIL UPDATE: Progress continues positively with only minor bugs remaining. Today, however, we have agreed to ensure the core dev team and #Cardano ecosystem collaborators have more time for testing before commencing the mainnet countdown.
Vasil is one of the most important upgrades for the Cardano blockchain since the Alonzo hardfork, as it will introduce several improvements on the network that will scale throughput and reduce transaction fees.
The IOG engineering team is extremely close to finalising the core work, with just seven bugs still outstanding to complete the hard fork work, with none currently ranked as ‘severe’. After some consideration, we have agreed NOT to send the hard fork update proposal to the testnet today to allow more time for testing.
IOHK blog post
Once the testnet undergoes the hardfork, developers must meet with Cardano’s decentralised application development community to “carry out any required integration and testing work” before the launch date in late July.
Institutional demand for Cardano has doubled in 2022, according to intelligence firm IntoTheBlock, and the number of on-chain transactions has increased remarkably.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has renewed his attack on the stock-to-flow (S2F) price model for Bitcoin, dismissing it as “false”, “harmful” and “deserving of mockery”.
He went even further in echoing EthHub co-founder Anthony Sassano who, in a same-day tweet, damned S2F as an “epic failure”:
Stock-to-flow is really not looking good now.
I know it's impolite to gloat and all that, but I think financial models that give people a false sense of certainty and predestination that number-will-go-up are harmful and deserve all the mockery they get. https://t.co/hOzHjVb1oqpic.twitter.com/glMKQDfSbU
The S2F price model, authored by crypto analyst PlanB, predicts the future price of bitcoin based on its supply in circulation (stock) relative to the number of coins mined each year (flow), which decreases by half every four years. According to S2F predictions, 2022 would see bitcoin trading within the US$100,000-110,000 range, though the most recent market crash marked an 18-month low for BTC under US$20,000 last week, calling the model’s accuracy into question.
At that time, Buterin railed against “the ‘halvings cause BTC price rises’ theory”, implying that any price can be cited as evidence that the S2F model is correct.
S2F author PlanB countered Buterin in saying that the market’s slump made some people look for “scapegoats for their failed projects or wrong investment decisions”:
After a crash aome people are looking for scapegoats for their failed projects or wrong investment decisions. Not only newbies but als "leaders" fall victim to blaming others and playing the victim. Remember those who blame others and those who stand strong after a crash. https://t.co/4nJdHq84pm
In an earlier tweet, PlanB admitted that the model had enjoyed a “good run” for three years (until March 2022) but had since wobbled from its trajectory. As for the current market, PlanB considers that “either BTC is extremely undervalued and will bounce back soon, or S2F will be less useful in the future”.
Just last month, Buterin voiced his admiration for Bitcoin, saying he’d like to see Ethereum attain a similar level of stability. To do so, however, would require significant short-term change and instability – an apparent contradiction that has since come to pass.
As bitcoin cratered below its 2017 high, retail investors – arguably most prone to speculative trading – turned to Google ask whether this time, in fact, bitcoin was well and truly dead.
Google searches “bitcoin dead”. Source: Google Trends
Bitcoin Sentiment Bottoming?
At present, market sentiment is shaky, and with “Bitcoin is Dead” searches hitting an all-time high, investors are demonstrating a distinct lack of confidence in the asset class’s short- to medium-term prospects.
BTC fear and greed index. Source: Alternative.me
As bear markets come around, Bitcoin’s critics tend to become increasingly vocal. And one of the more prominent detractors is gold bug and perennial Bitcoin adversary Peter Schiff, who recently called for a US$3,000 price target:
If #Bitcoin can collapse by 70% from $69,000 to under $21,000, it can just as easily fall another 70% down to $6,000. Given the excessive leverage in #crypto, imagine the forced sales that would take place during a sell-off of this magnitude. $3,000 is a more likely price target.
Bitcoiners responded in turn, arguing that he “has a poor track record” when it comes to bitcoin predictions:
Peter Schiff meme. Source: Dan Held
Bitcoin Obituaries – 455 and Climbing
Information site 99 Bitcoins keeps track of so-called “Bitcoin Obituaries”, a rough approximation for “Bitcoin is Dead”.
A Bitcoin obituary is categorised as such if “the content itself (not just the headline) is explicit about the fact that Bitcoin is or will be worthless (not ‘maybe’ or ‘could’)”. Furthermore, it additionally requires that the “content was produced by a person with a notable following or a site with substantial traffic”.
Thus far in this year, Bitcoin has died 18 times, all the way down from around US$50,000:
Bitcoin obituaries since January 22. Source: 99 Bitcoins
For patient investors, with a long-term horizon, calls that “Bitcoin is Dead” may be a sign to start entering the market. As the world’s most famous investor has repeatedly said:
Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.
Crypto lender BlockFi has secured a deal with crypto exchange FTX for US$250 million in revolving credit, as tweeted by BlockFi CEO Zac Prince this week:
Today @BlockFi signed a term sheet with @FTX_Official to secure a $250M revolving credit facility providing us with access to capital that further bolsters our balance sheet and platform strength.
Under the terms of the agreement, BlockFi will have access to capital amid the current massive downturn in the crypto market. FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said in a return tweet that the facility would enable BlockFi to “navigate the market from a position of strength”.
1) Today we’re injecting $250m into BlockFi and partnering with them so they can navigate the market from a position of strength.https://t.co/nocsdi0GLF
Prince has indicated that the proceeds from the loan are contractually subordinated to all client balances, meaning that BlockFi will satisfy its obligations on client accounts before paying FTX.
The news comes amid a difficult time for BlockFi, which recently had to cut its staff by 20 percent. Last week, Celsius, one of BlockFi’s crypto lending competitors, froze account withdrawals, swaps, and transfers to help it through the crypto winter, reportedly transferring US$320 million in cryptocurrencies to FTX before doing so.
Deal May Lead to Future Partnership
Along with the announcement of the line of credit, Prince hinted that the deal could open the door to a full-fledged partnership between FTX and BlockFi. He said on Twitter:
This agreement also unlocks future collaboration and innovation between BlockFi and FTX as we work to accelerate prosperity worldwide through crypto financial services.
