Category: Solana

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Crypto News GMT Token iExec RLC Market Analysis Solana Trading

Top 3 Coins to Watch Today: GMT, SOL, RLC – August 29 Trading Analysis

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. STEPN (GMT)

Stepn GMT is a self-styled “Web3 lifestyle app” with GameFi elements on the Solana blockchain. It combines aspects of a play-to-earn game with a fitness app to create a new category called “move-to-earn”. Users buy NFT sneakers, which they can use to earn in-game currency while walking, running, or jogging. STEPN aims to revolutionise the market of fitness applications by incentivising millions of users to follow a healthier lifestyle. The app solves several problems like “proof of movement” – proving that users really exercised – and a functioning GPS system. Moreover, STEPN incentivises users financially and plans to introduce social rewards elements and successfully contribute to carbon neutrality. 

GMT Price Analysis

At the time of writing, GMT is ranked the 82nd cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.6884. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:

Source: TradingView

GMT has retraced much of 2022’s parabolic run. It dropped 85% from its April high before rallying in mid-June.

Bulls are testing $0.6718 to see if it can hold as support. This area shows inefficient trading on the daily chart. It’s also near the top of early July’s accumulation before the most recent rally.

Even if the price eventually moves higher, it may first drop under the July monthly open to an area near $0.6029. Bulls rejected bears in early July at this level. It also overlaps with an area of accumulation in late June.

If the market sees it as bearish, a retest of $0.7614 could prove this level as resistance. Bears already rejected bulls once here. This level also contains the 40 EMA and is inefficiently traded on the daily chart.

A break through this resistance could retest an old area of inefficient trading, near $0.8432. The target would likely be bulls’ stops above highs at $0.8830 and $0.9517. 

If the price reaches this level, it may go one step further and retest the June monthly open near $1.10. This level is at the low end of inefficient trading on the monthly chart. It’s also the origin of early June’s sudden breakdown.

Yet, while the market remains bearish, traders may want to focus on bearish scenarios. Rejection from any resistance might reach near $0.5813. This area shows inefficient trading on the daily chart. Bulls also rejected bears here on the weekly chart before starting June’s rally.

Below this level, $0.5146 may be the next target if the bearish trend continues. This area shows inefficient trading on the daily and weekly charts. It’s also just below relative equal lows, formed in mid-June. Bulls’ stops under these lows offer attractive targets to bears.

2. Solana (SOL)

Solana SOL is a highly functional open-source project that banks on blockchain technology’s permissionless nature to provide decentralised finance (DeFi) solutions. The Solana protocol is designed to facilitate decentralised app (DApp) creation. It aims to improve scalability by introducing a proof-of-history (PoH) consensus combined with the underlying proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus of the blockchain.

SOL Price Analysis

At the time of writing, SOL is ranked the 9th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$31.79. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:

Source: TradingView

SOL has retraced 87% from its Q2 highs and reached possible support near $28.34. Resistance might begin near $37.64, which has confluence with the 9 and 18 EMAs.

A more substantial rally might reach near the swing high at $44.23 and the 40 EMA. This high is less likely to break if bears plan to continue the downtrend without a lengthier consolidation.

While not highly probable in the current market conditions, a more animated move upward could reach a wide resistance area between $48.12 and $52.94. This zone is where the last movement down accumulated positions before breaking down. 

Possible support rests near $30.54, which showed sensitivity on the last test. While it could provide support again, the higher-timeframe bearish trend is more likely to propel the price into an inefficient area between $26.10 and $23.54. If the price reaches this zone, the Q1 2021 swing high near $20.87 may mark a more sensitive level.

3. iExec Rlc (RLC)

iExec RLC claims to have developed the first decentralised marketplace for cloud computing resources. Blockchain technology is used to organise a market network where users can monetise their computing power, applications and datasets. By providing on-demand access to cloud computing resources, iExec is reportedly able to support compute-intensive applications in fields such as AI, big data, healthcare, rendering, or FinTech.

RLC Price Analysis

At the time of writing, RLC is ranked 183rd cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$1.27. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:

Source: TradingView

RLC printed nearly 50% gains during Q1. After this move, the price has been consolidating for the past few weeks around a monthly level near $1.12.

Overlapping support zones should provide bullish strength, with the current region beginning at $1.25 providing a reasonable entry accompanied by a wide stop. Relatively equal daily lows near $1.15 could prompt a stop run that provides a better entry, maybe as low as the next overlapping support area near $1.03.

Last month’s high near $1.38 provides the highest probability target, with the next swing high inside resistance at $1.45 giving another target and potential short-term reversal area.

A strong move through this level into resistance beginning at $1.52 is likely to target the monthly high at $1.60, potentially reaching the next monthly high near $1.85.

Learn How to Trade Live!

Join Dave and The Crypto Den Crew and they’ll show you live on a webinar how to take your crypto trading to the next level.

Where to Buy or Trade Altcoins?

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.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets Hackers Solana Trust Wallet

Solana Mobile Wallet Exploited, Millions Drained from Over 8,000 Users

Solana users this week reported that their funds had been drained from more than 8,000 internet-connected “hot” wallets, including Phantom, Slope, and TrustWallet, amassing losses exceeding US$5 million according to blockchain auditing firm OtterSec:

Hardware Wallets Not Compromised

No evidence was found that the Solana protocol or its cryptography were compromised, nor were its hardware wallets. According to a Solana Status Tweet, engineers from across several ecosystems, in conjunction with audit and security firms, were continuing to investigate the “root cause” of the attack:

Blockchain investigation firm PeckShield posted on August 2 that the hack was most likely due to a “supply chain issue”, which was exploited to steal user private keys behind the affected wallets. The exact cause of the attack remains unclear, although it appears that mobile wallet users were impacted most. The attackers were able to sign transactions on behalf of users, suggesting that a trusted third-party service might have been compromised.

The Solana Status Twitter account shared its preliminary findings via developers and security auditors, saying that “it appears affected addresses were at one point created, imported, or used in Slope mobile wallet applications”:

The thread continued: “This exploit was isolated to one wallet on Solana, and hardware wallets used by Slope remain secure … While the details of exactly how this occurred are still under investigation, private key information was inadvertently transmitted to an application monitoring service.”

Yet Another Setback for Solana

Over the past nine months, Solana has suffered some severe downtime on its network caused by “excessive duplicate transactions” and “high levels of congestion”. It also suffered a distributed denial-of-service attack in December last year that jammed the network and led to huge delays, leading many to question the security of the network.

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Crypto News NFTs Solana

Solana in Pole Position to Challenge Ethereum NFT Dominance, Report

Data from crypto platform Messari reveals that Solana (SOL) could become the biggest challenger to Ethereum’s NFT market dominance.

In a recent report by James Trautman from Messari, Solana’s network activity declined heavily in the second quarter of this year. However, daily activity has accelerated with over 7 million newly minted NFTs, a growth rate of 46.4 percent:

Solana new NFTs per month. Source: Messari

Solana Defies Market Downturn

The NFT market has been hammered by the crypto winter, with sales plunging over 90 percent since their January highs. But while Ethereum still commands over 80 percent of the market, Solana continues to gain traction in the industry, overthrowing other alternative layer-1 platforms:

Ultimately, Solana’s position in the NFT sector remains a strong component of its ecosystem despite a down market. It continues to be the second-largest protocol by secondary NFT sales volume, trailing only behind Ethereum.

Messari report

A boost for the Solana NFT ecosystem came with the announcement of OpenSea introducing its Solana launchpad to allow SOL-based NFT projects. The plan is to provide OpenSea users with a “multi-chain future” for NFTs.

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Crypto News NFTs OpenSea Solana

OpenSea Launches Sol-Based NFT Product for Creators to Mint New Projects from Scratch

Three months after OpenSea enabled support for Solana, the non-fungible token marketplace is kicking off its Solana launchpad to allow users to mint new projects from scratch.

According to an official blog post, OpenSea is looking forward to a “multi-chain future” with the introduction of the Solana launchpad. The platform will reportedly guide users throughout the process of pre-mint activity, allowlist minting for early supporters, and post-mint and secondary sales:

Multi-Chain Future for OpenSea Users

Most members of the OpenSea community were excited to see the integration of Solana into the marketplace, considering NFTs on the Solana ecosystem are popular and have generated considerable sales volumes in the past few months.

We believe in a multi-chain future where people on OpenSea have access to NFTs across a vast number of blockchains. In the last year, Solana has emerged among the top blockchains for NFTs, and we share their vision of a scalable and inclusive NFT ecosystem.

OpenSea blog post

On April 29, Solana-based NFT collection Okay Bears generated over US$18 million in trading volume, flipping Any Rivals volume on its first day.

There are already a handful of Sol-based NFT projects on OpenSea’s launchpad available for minting, including Zoonies and Monkai NFTs:

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Cardano Crypto News Market Analysis PancakeSwap Solana Trading

Top 3 Coins to Watch Today: ADA, CAKE, SOL – July 20 Trading Analysis

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. Cardano (ADA)

Cardano ADA is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform whose stated goal is to allow “changemakers, innovators, and visionaries” to bring about positive global change. The open-source project also aims to “redistribute power from unaccountable structures to the margins to individuals”, helping to create a society that is more secure, transparent, and fair. Cardano is used by agricultural companies to track fresh produce from field to fork, while other products built on the platform allow educational credentials to be stored in a tamper-proof way, and retailers to clamp down on counterfeit goods.

ADA Price Analysis

At the time of writing, ADA is ranked the 8th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.5085. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:

Source: TradingView

From its Q2 high, ADA dropped nearly 75% before finding support near $0.4269. The price has been consolidating since it set this low and is currently testing support near $0.4629. This level has held as support despite the larger market’s sharp downturn since mid-June.

It’s reasonable to expect the price to briefly drop through this level to run bulls’ stops below the swing lows at $0.4006 and $0.3950 before any potential rally. If so, an old accumulation and inefficiently traded area on the weekly chart near $0.3772 could provide support.

If this region holds as support, bulls might find the first resistance near $0.5710. Here, the 40 EMA and an inefficiently traded area converge in the upper half of the local range. 

A break of this resistance may retest resistance just above the June monthly open, near $0.6590. This level holds many bears’ stops, is near old broken support, and is inefficiently traded on the monthly and daily charts.

However, bulls should be cautious of the bearish market conditions and a potential hardfork delay. A break of the two closest support levels could lead to a much more significant drop near $0.3588. This level, near the 2021 yearly open, is inefficiently traded on the monthly and weekly charts.

2. PancakeSwap (CAKE)

PancakeSwap CAKE is an automated market maker (AMM) – a decentralised finance (DeFi) application that allows users to exchange tokens, providing liquidity via farming and earning fees in return. PancakeSwap uses an automated market maker model where users trade against a liquidity pool. These pools are filled by users who deposit their funds into the pool and receive liquidity provider (LP) tokens in return. PancakeSwap allows users to trade BEP20 tokens, provide liquidity to the exchange and earn fees, stake LP tokens to earn CAKE, stake CAKE to earn more CAKE, and stake CAKE to earn tokens of other projects.

CAKE Price Analysis

At the time of writing, CAKE is ranked the 78th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$3.54. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:

Source: TradingView

CAKE‘s 79% decline after Q1 created relatively equal lows near $2.96 before bouncing over the local range’s midpoint near $3.60. A bullish altcoin market could help CAKE bulls regain a stronger bullish trend.

Aggressive bulls could look for entries in the daily gap starting near $3.36. The monthly open aligns with more probable support near $3.28. 

A stop run below the monthly open near $3.10 might provide a more favourable entry. A more substantial bearish move – perhaps from a sharp drop in Bitcoin’s price – could challenge support near $2.90, just above the equal lows.

Resistance rests just above, with the zone from $3.95 to $4.27 likely to provide a short-term ceiling. A break through this level might target resistance just under the cluster of relatively equal highs near $4.77. 

Beyond these highs, resistance near $4.98 provides a final challenge before attacking an old daily swing high near $5.42.

3. Solana (SOL)

Solana SOL is a highly functional open-source project that banks on blockchain technology’s permissionless nature to provide decentralised finance (DeFi) solutions. The Solana protocol is designed to facilitate decentralised app (DApp) creation. It aims to improve scalability by introducing a proof-of-history (PoH) consensus combined with the underlying proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus of the blockchain.

SOL Price Analysis

At the time of writing, SOL is ranked the 9th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$46.57. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:

Source: TradingView

SOL has retraced 89% from its Q2 highs and reached possible support last month near $27.34. Resistance might begin near $49.64, which has confluence with the 9 and 18 EMAs.

A more substantial rally might reach near the swing high at $58.23 and the 40 EMA. This high is less likely to break if bears plan to continue the downtrend without a lengthier consolidation.

While not highly probable in the current market conditions, a more animated move upward could reach a wide resistance area between $63.42 and $66.94. This zone is where the last movement down accumulated positions before breaking down. 

Possible support rests near $41.34, which showed sensitivity on the last test. While it could provide support again, the higher-timeframe bearish trend is more likely to propel the price into an inefficient area between $37.10 and $33.54. If the price reaches this zone, the Q1 2021 swing high near $29.12 may mark a more sensitive level.

Learn How to Trade Live!

Join Dave and The Crypto Den Crew and they’ll show you live on a webinar how to take your crypto trading to the next level.

Where to Buy or Trade Altcoins?

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.

Categories
Australia GMT Token Markets Solana

Adelaide-Based STEPN Announces $122 Million in Q2 Profits, Plans Buyback and Burn

On July 12, Adelaide-based move-to-earn platform STEPN announced a Q2 profit of US$122.5 million, which it says was generated through its platform fees.

In keeping with the economic plan outlined in the project’s whitepaper, STEPN plans to allocate 5 percent of this profit to its Q2 buyback-and-burn program. The Solana-based move-to-earn leader also revealed that a portion of the profit would be spent addressing security and cheating issues that have plagued the platform recently.

Details of Token Burn

According to STEPN, its buyback-and-burn program is designed to ensure its users are “best supported”. Generally, token burning is seen as a way to increase the scarcity of a token and therefore increase its price – STEPN uses this mechanism to increase its token’s value over time and make its platform more attractive to users. 

Based on the 5 percent figure cited in the announcement, the Q2 buyback-and-burn program should see just over US$6 million worth of tokens burnt. STEPN explained that the program may “take a few weeks to complete in order to avoid causing sudden price volatility”.

Security, Integrity Top Spending Priorities

After a string of DDoS attacks targeting the platform in the first half of 2022, the STEPN team says it has decided to spend more resources increasing server capacity and enhancing the security of the platform.

We are committed to delivering the best possible service to our users and have been working to amplify the platform’s security and server capacity to prevent future DDoS attacks. With the profits realised during Q2, we will be able to double down in our commitment to this and devote more resources to our efforts.

STEPN team

While the platform has always had an anti-cheat system, the team said part of the Q2 profit would be used to enhance this system:

We have heavily invested in this mechanism since day one and we will continue to do so [to] ensure the fairness of the STEPN game landscape. We are set to improve upon our AI’s ability to detect anomalies, prevent accounts from using bots for mining, accounts faking movement to gain additional rewards, and more.

STEPN team

Other areas of the business that will receive spending boosts heading into Q3 include team expansion, partnerships, and marketing.

STEPN Leads Emerging Move-To-Earn Sector

STEPN is one of the leaders in the emerging sector of move-to-earn platform: crypto-based apps that allow users to earn rewards by exercising. The platform has seen significant growth since launching in December 2021. By April of 2022, STEPN had soared in value 217x. 

Like most crypto projects, though, it has recently seen its value drop dramatically, partly due to factors affecting the whole market and partly due to a spate of DDoS attacks and cheating scandals that have rocked confidence in the project.

Currently, STEPN’s governance token GMT is changing hands at US$0.85, down around 78 percent from its all-time high of US$3.83, which it hit in April.

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Crypto News Cryptocurrency Law Solana

Solana Labs Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit Alleging SOL is an Unregistered Security

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Solana Labs by an investor who claims the layer-1 blockchain is an unregistered centralised security.

According to the July 1 filing in a California district court, Solana investor Mark Young alleges that Solana cannot fit the definition of “decentralised” when nearly half of its supply is retained by people close to the project.

As of May 2021, insiders held 48 percent of the total SOL supply, supporting the argument that the network is highly centralised:

The suit represents Young and all investors who bought SOL tokens from March 24, 2020, forward. It accuses Solana Labs, Solana Foundation co-founder and CEO Anatoly Yakovenko, Multicoin Capital Management, Kyle Samani, and FalconX of selling the unregistered tokens.

Defendants made enormous profits through the sale of SOL securities to retail investors in the US in violation of the registration provisions of federal and state securities laws, and the investors have suffered enormous losses.

Class-action lawsuit filed against Solana Labs

Suit Invokes Howey Test

The lawsuit mentions that Solana is in violation of US law pertaining to the sale of unregistered securities and invokes the Howey Test – a four-part metric established to determine whether a transaction qualifies as an investment contract.

The suit outlines: “The sale of SOL securities constituted the sale of unregistered securities under controlling federal law. SOL securities exhibit the following particular hallmarks of a security under the Howey Test:

  • in order to receive any SOL securities, an investment of money was required;
  • the investment of money was made into the common enterprise that is Solana; and
  • the success of the investment and any potential returns were entirely reliant on Solana and [Anatoly] Yakovenko’s ability to create the promised network.”

Crypto Market Plagued by Class Actions

As regulations remain deficient, many digital platforms are finding themselves in hot water. Earlier this year, one of the world’s leading digital exchanges, Coinbase, was named in a class-action lawsuit that claimed the platform sold 79 different digital assets that constituted “unregistered securities”. US-based decentralised exchange Uniswap was also hit by a lawsuit claiming it too was selling “unregistered securities”.

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DeFi Hackers Markets Solana

‘Crema Finance’ Hacker Returns Funds, Receives $1.7 Million in SOL as Bounty

Solana-based liquidity protocol Crema Finance claims it has recovered most of the roughly US$9 million worth of assets stolen by a hacker on July 3:

Crema Finance negotiated an agreement with the hacker, whose identity remains unknown, which allowed the hacker to keep a portion of the stolen assets as a bug bounty in exchange for returning the remaining assets.

No Criminal Charges Likely

The hack on Crema Finance resulted in the theft of 69,422.9 SOL and 6,497,738 USDC – a combined total value of just over US$8.78 million.

Following what Crema Finance described as a “long negotiation”, the hacker agreed to return most funds but retained 45,455 SOL, currently valued at approximately US$1.7 million. The hacker was also referred to as “white-hat” and “ethical” in tweets by Crema Finance, suggesting the DeFi platform won’t be pursuing criminal charges.

Following the hack, the total value locked on Crema Finance fell dramatically, dropping as low as US$3 million on July 4, having sat at over US$12 million on the Saturday prior to the hack.

Crema Finance shared the transaction details proving the hacker had indeed returned 6,064 ETH and 23,967 SOL to its accounts:

Smart Contract Suspended Pending Audit

Since the hack, Crema Finance’s smart contract has been suspended while its new smart contract code is being audited by blockchain security firm SlowMist. Crema Finance says the protocol will go live again once that audit is complete and its security can be assured:

It’s becoming increasingly common for hackers in the crypto space to agree to return most of the stolen assets in return for a bounty. In June, a high-profile case saw the the Ethereum rollup-solution Optimism hacked to the tune of US$17 million, with the hacker agreeing to return US$15 million worth of the stolen assets in return for a US$2 million bug bounty.

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DeFi Hackers Solana

Solana-Based Protocol ‘Crema Finance’ Exploited for $8.7 Million, Services Suspended

Solana-based liquidity protocol Crema Finance has announced via Twitter that it suffered a US$8.7 million hack and has suspended its services to investigate the incident.

On July 2, Crema Finance announced the temporary halting of services and that it would update its users as soon as it had more information:

Flashloans Used to Drain Liquidity Pool

Crema is said to be working with blockchain audits platform OtterSec to investigate the hack. According to OtterSec, the hacker used Solend (a Solana-based lending platform) flashloans to drain the protocol’s pool.

Apparently, the hacker was able to circumvent Crema’s security procedures by implementing an “on-chain program” and subsequently deploying the flashloans.

The attacker stole over US$400,000 in USDH and US$5 million in USDT, later swapping the tokens for SOL and sending it to an address that currently holds around 69,442 SOL:

Crema Finance is not related to Cream Finance, another DeFi protocol that has suffered multiple exploits in the past.

A day after the incident, Crema claimed to have found the hacker’s Discord account and is now working with third parties to help detect the hacker’s identity:

The hacker allegedly used six flashloans to exploit the protocol. Flashloans are a common instrument in the DeFi ecosystem. Another recent victim of a flashloan exploit was Inverse Finance, an Ethereum-based protocol that lost US$1.2 million.

And about 10 weeks ago, Beanstalk, a credit-based stablecoin also on Ethereum, lost more than US$180 million in a flashloan exploit.

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Blockchain Crypto News Solana

Solana Launches Web3-Focused Smartphone, Crypto Twitter Not Convinced

Solana Labs this week announced the launch of the Solana Mobile Stack software ecosystem for Android, alongside ‘Saga’ – an Android smartphone. Unfortunately, the news has been greeted with outright contempt by some sections of crypto Twitter:

Network Outages Still a Concern

Mobile phones are finally set to accommodate Web3, and the reaction has been mixed, to say the least. Solana’s announcement of the ‘Saga’ Android and the most recent Solana mobile stack (SMS) software for developers has been accompanied by comparisons to Apple and Ethereum; however, many voices have also raised concerns regarding Solana’s frequent network outages:

Regardless of the negative public feedback, some of the features users can expect to see in the Saga include a software custodian solution called Seed Vault, a mobile wallet adapter, and Solana Pay for Android. Solana also has plans to release a DApp store for its mobile devices so users can access Web3 with ease. The SMS development kit is available for download now, though the phone itself is unlikely to hit the market before early 2023.

But Why a Smartphone?

The idea for the Saga smartphone followed the release of SMS and was conceived by Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder and CEO of Solana Labs. Yakovenko wondered what it would look like if one billion people were using crypto and realised that the best method for supporting the take-up would be to create a hardware wallet out of a phone:

The Android will feature a 6.67” OLED display, 12GB RAM, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, and 512GB of internal storage. Solana is hoping that Saga will become the “gold standard” for Web3 smartphones and plans to display the full capabilities of SMS.

Solana Has Been Suffering

The Saga announcement follows a relatively negative past few months for Solana. January saw the company slide by 42 percent in seven days, with $SOL (Solana’s native token) hit hard thanks to the new year crypto sell-off. This and the addition of several duplicate transactions and downtimes led to rising tensions among users.

And in May, Solana experienced a seven-hour down period after bots targeted the NFT minting tool ‘Candy Machine’. The bots caused four million transaction requests, which the platform could not cope with, and users were once again left questioning the competence of the blockchain.