How to play BTC miners after the recent SEC crackdown?

  • Bitcoin miners are having a rather challenging February.
  • SEC has recently taken an aggressive stance against crypto.
  • H.C. Wainwright analyst still rates four BTC miners at “buy”.

Bitcoin miners had a fantastic January, but February is proving to be a bit more challenging for them.

BTC miners lost big last week

The 11 miners that H.C. Wainwright covers together produced 5,279 bitcoin in total last month and sold 4,278. For the month, the collective gain in their operating hash rate sat at 7.7%.

In February, though, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission turned more aggressive against the crypto companies. Last week, it ordered Kraken to terminate its crypto staking services in the United States.

Consequently, bitcoin prices slipped 5.2% in the week that ended on February 12th. But miners lost a significantly bigger 17.1% (median) even though the network hash rate climbed to 292 EH/s – a 9.5% week-over-week increase.

Miners that’re still worth buying

About a day after Kraken, the U.S. regulator also demanded that Paxos quits minting new BUSD (Binance USD).

Nonetheless, Mike Colonnese – an H.C. Wainwright analyst is convinced that such news don’t have a meaningful effect on miners other than the short-term price pressure. But he also said in a recent research note:

The concern is that recent enforcement by U.S. regulators and uncertainty around crypto legislation in the U.S. could push innovation and retail investors for the sector outside the U.S.

Ones that Colonnese still rates a “buy” include Riot Blockchain, Cleanspark, Cipher Mining, and Hive Blockchain Technologies.

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Nomura’s Laser Digital invests in DeFi protocol Infinity

  • Laser Digital’s investment follows Infinity’s seed funding raised in September, backed by top VCs in the space.
  • Infinity is an Ethereum-based protocol designed to advance institutional DeFi or what’s called “Hybrid Finance”
  • Price discovery and risk innovation are critical to institutional adoption of DeFi.

Laser Digital, the crypto subsidiary of Japanese banking giant Nomura, has announced a strategic investment in decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol Infinity.

Infinity is an institutional-focused lending and borrowing platform founded by Kevin Lepsoe, a former head of structuring at Morgan Stanley. 

While the companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, Laser Digital’s investment follows Infinity’s $4.2 million seed round in September 2022. Major crypto market makers and venture capital investors that backed the round included Susquehanna International Group, Block0, GSR, OWC, Flow Traders,  and CSquared. 

Infinity looks to accelerate “Institutional DeFi”

Per details in a press release, Infinity will use the investment to accelerate the development of critical infrastructure targeted for “Institutional DeFi.” This is also known as hybrid finance.

Hybrid finance brings the benefit of blockchain technology to the space with an interoperable protocol for benchmark rates, credit and counterparty management. 

Olivier Dang, the Head of Ventures at Laser Digital, said the protocol is paving the way for institutional flows to come on-chain.

Infinity is building critical infrastructure for DeFi, and its protocol enabling price discovery and management of risk within DeFi is transformative for institutions,” Dang noted. According to him, Infinity’s groundwork is key to the institutional-grade lending new levels of benchmark rates and risk management or innovation.

With a $300 trillion market of credit securities across loans, derivatives, and equity available, Ethereum-powered Infinity’s upcoming launch is bound to enable broader participation of institutional players in DeFi.  

Infinity founder Kevin Lepsoe commented:

Laser Digital Ventures is an active investor in hybrid finance and a superb partner as we look to advance a rates protocol that meets the needs of the global investor community.”

Lepsoe pointed to investment being critical given the expectation of increased institutional flows to DeFi by 2025, particularly boosted by the new BIS guidelines. Hybrid finance is also set to be huge as crypto centralised finance (CeFi) dwindles, he added.

According to the protocol, part of the “wave of tokenization” and adoption will be down to blockchain efficiency, on-chain security and TradFi – DeFi fungibility.

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Metacade (MCADE)’s Price Explodes As Ripple (XRP) Price Predictions Falter

It’s no secret that Ripple has been under pressure over recent years. While some have made bold predictions for XRP to soar in the coming months, more realistic assessments suggest that its performance may not meet those expectations. In this article, you’ll find out why Ripple XRP price predictions have taken a hit recently and why demand has exploded for the Metacade token in its ongoing presale.

Ripple (XRP) – High Centralization and SEC Case Could Be XRP’s Downfall

Ripple is a cryptocurrency created in 2012 with the goal of providing a faster and cheaper alternative to traditional cross-border payment systems like SWIFT. Despite being the fourth most valuable project on the market (excluding stablecoins), Ripple has failed to meet investors’ expectations in recent years.

Besides the huge SEC-shaped elephant in the room, Ripple is one of the most centralized cryptocurrencies. Significant portions of XRP are owned and controlled by its parent company, Ripple Labs. Even Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin seems to think so, stating in late 2022 that XRP is “still completely centralized.” This runs contrary to the principles of decentralization that underpin the entire idea of cryptocurrency. 

Additionally, the ongoing lawsuit with the SEC has suppressed XRP’s price for some time, and the outcome of the case is still anyone’s guess. The SEC alleges that XRP is an unregistered security, creating uncertainty and legal risks for XRP holders. With regulators seeking more control of crypto following FTX’s collapse, XRP could be the first domino to fall. As a result, many investors have been hesitant to buy XRP, which has caused many analysts to downgrade their Ripple XRP price predictions. 

Ripple (XRP) Price Prediction

While Ripple has arguably been one of the more stable coins in the recent bear market, Ripple XRP price predictions for 2023 aren’t looking too fresh. Many have set maximum targets for $1.18 by the end of the year, just shy of tripling its current price of $0.41. However, more realistic Ripple XRP price predictions are between $0.59 and $0.81. As a consequence, many investors have started turning their attention to projects with much more profit potential in 2023, such as Metacade.  

Metacade (MCADE) Storms Ahead in Presale 

In stark contrast to Ripple, Metacade has been gaining traction at a record pace in 2023. Its presale, now in stage 4, has reached over $6.2m, with $5 million alone raised in the first 10 weeks. Subsequently, the price of its native MCADE token has rocketed from $0.008 to $0.014 since the launch. 

So what exactly is Metacade? It’s a community-based platform for playing, learning about, and earning more from the latest play-to-earn (P2E) games. Gamers and crypto fanatics can come together in Metacade to connect and collaborate, take advantage of multiple earning opportunities, and even have the chance to directly influence the trajectory of the GameFi industry. 

The platform itself is an all-in-one solution for P2E gaming. With reviews, forums, leaderboards, live chats, and the hottest GameFi alpha shared by P2E veterans, players have everything they need to get ahead of the competition. These invaluable features offer a wealth of information on games and strategies, as well as a community of play-to-earn enthusiasts to connect with.

Moreover, Metacade is launching multiple initiatives to help players maximize their income in the P2E revolution through its initiatives: Create2Earn, Compete2Earn, and Work2Earn. Create2Earn rewards players for their contributions to the platform. It pays them MCADE for sharing reviews, offering game-beating alpha, and interacting with other members. Meanwhile, users can enter competitive gaming tournaments and win big prizes under the Compete2Earn program.

The Work2Earn initiative will see players using Metacade’s job and gig board to find roles in the Web3 and gaming industries. Launching in 2024, this board will host jobs ranging from casual testing positions to full-time salaried positions working with some of the biggest names in Web3.

Finally, the Metagrants program has been a massive hit with investors. Metagrants allow the community to leverage the platform’s funds to finance game developers. Developers simply submit their game proposals to the Metagrants competitions for MCADE holders to vote on. 

The winning proposals receive funding to bring their ideas to life, with the finished game being added to Metacade’s virtual arcade. This poses an incredible opportunity for the Metacade community to play a role in producing some of the very best P2E games and solidify the platform’s position as a leader in the GameFi industry. 

Metacade (MCADE) Price Prediction

Given the potential for Metacade to quickly become the de-facto home for P2E gamers, the MCADE token has seen some unbelievable price predictions. It launches to the public at $0.02, but many expect it to reach as high as $0.50 by the end of 2023 – 25x returns in under a year. Some of the more conservative estimates place it at a minimum of $0.22, which is still an outstanding 1,000% return on investment. 

Metacade (MCADE) Is the Better Investment

Overall, it seems like XRP holders are playing a risky game. The Ripple XRP price predictions given don’t bode well for Ripple investors, despite it being one of the more stable coins in the current bear market. Ultimately, XRP’s fate is in the hands of the US courts, which should be enough to deter anyone from investing in it. 

Instead, Metacade seems like a much wiser investment. After its remarkable presale success, it’s clear that Metacade is on the right track. With GameFi set to dominate the crypto space in 2023, the investors that have already gotten involved could see tremendous profits. If you think they’re on to something, check out the MCADE presale to grab tokens at $0.014 before its price increases further!

You can buy Ripple (XRP) at eToro here.

You can participate in the Metacade presale here.

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