Peer-to-peer crypto exchange Paxful to suspend operations

  • Paxful will temporarily halt operations.
  • The exchange’s CEO however stated that they are not sure if it will resume operations.
  • This is the second peer-to-peer crypto exchange to shut down.

Paxful CEO Ray Youssef has published a post on the exchange’s website stating that the peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange will be suspending its marketplace. Ray went ahead to state that they are not sure if the exchange will resume operations.

This is the second popular P2P exchange to shut down in 2023 after LocalBitcoins announced shutting down in February.

Key staff departures and regulatory challenges

The CEO cited key staff departures and regulatory challenges in the post saying:

“This will probably come as a big shock to many. While I cannot share the full story now, I can say that we unfortunately have had some key staff departures. Also, regulatory challenges for the industry continue to grow, especially in the peer-to-peer market and most heavily in the U.S. While we work through these issues, we have taken the most secure option and ask you to explore self-custody and trade elsewhere.”

The CEO said that the biggest priority at the moment is safeguarding customer funds and advised customers to withdraw where possible. He has gone ahead to recommend withdrawing to self-custody wallets like Exodus and Muun.

Ray also stated that Paxful will be offering an easy migration to other P2P alternatives for non-US customers. He highlighted three P2P exchanges namely Noones, Bitnob and Yellow Card.

The Paxful Wallet will however remain operational for customers to retrieve their funds.

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Bitcoin price in “transition” even as non-zero balance addresses hit 45.4 million: Bitfinex report

  • The number of Bitcoin wallets with non-zero BTC balance recently hit a new all-time high of 45.388 million.
  • However, daily active addresses and daily confirmed transactions have fallen.
  • Bitcoin price remains bullish but analysts urge caution as on-chain metrics indicate weakness amid renewed correlation with S&P 500.

Bitcoin price currently trends above$28,300, about 0.7% higher in the past 24 hours. The slight uptick follows the crypto market moving beyond rumours around a Red Notice warrant for Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. 

Bitcoin’s resilience also comes after the market reacted upward on Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s move to replace the platform’s bird symbol with a Shiba Inu dog, a symbol for DOGE – the native token of the original meme crypto Dogecoin

DOGE price shot up more than 30% to above $0.1 for the first time since early December 2022.

Bitcoin growth outlook: non-zero balance wallets hit 45.4 million

Bitcoin continues to see huge demand as non-zero balance wallets grow to more than 45 million, according to details shared in the latest Bitfinex Alpha report.

But even as the benchmark cryptocurrency records a new high for small BTC holders , with this the fastest rate non-zero balance wallets have grown since early 2021, analysts commenting on Bitcoin price in the report suggest investors might have to be a bit cautious in the short term.

According to on-chain data, non-zero addresses count hit 45.388 million last week as Bitcoin price held above$27k to end the first quarter on a bullish note.

The jump in non-zero balance wallets marks a positive development for the network and for Bitcoin price, with this metric’s growth suggesting that more investors have recently entered the Bitcoin market. In any case, an increase in non-zero balance holders often points to new demand, particularly from small investors.

Yet, this positive outlook aside, other on-chain metrics suggest bulls may need to be cautious in the short term. As noted in the Bitfinex Alpha report, the market is in a transition and indecisive.

A transition state is characterised by choppy market conditions where the price consolidates in a tight range before trending in either direction. Despite an influx of new market entrants, the sustainability of this phenomena of both rapidly growing non-zero balances and tight range-trading for Bitcoin remains uncertain,” they noted.

BTC price – key on-chain metrics suggest weakness

Bitfinex analysts suggest that other metrics indicate Bitcoin price may continue to consolidate around $28 as both bulls and bears remain indecisive.

Among key on-chain metrics to watch are bitcoin network statistics related to daily active addresses and daily confirmed transactions. 

For instance, the 7-day moving average of daily active addresses recently dropped to levels last seen in late January. The number of confirmed daily transactions have also declined. 

In the past two weeks, the Bitcoin network recorded a 7-day average of 293,058 transactions with the figures on 30 March suggesting a 13% decline from data recorded on 8 March. The Bitfinex analysts commented on the two metrics:

While this is an inconclusive indicator in terms of bullish or bearish signals, daily activity and transactions decreasing for Bitcoin have always occurred at transitionary phases in the crypto market. They suggest indecision and an unsettling predicament for both bulls and bears.”

Bitcoin’s correlation with S&P 500 – is it rising again?

While bulls attempt to strengthen above $28k again, data shows BTC correlation with stocks is increasing after falling significantly in early March, with BTC price outperforming the major US indices over the month and year-to-date at the end of Q1, 2023.

However, per the Bitfinex report and as CoinJournal analyst Dan Ashmore highlighted last week, Bitcoin is on track to restore its correlation with the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ composite as its price continues to hover between $27k and resistance above $28k. 

Notably, the Pearson metric shows BTC/NASDAQ correlation is up to 0.61 while correlation with the S&P 500 reads 0.12. 

Any value above zero indicates a positive correlation and these figures suggest Bitcoin could trade more in lockstep with equity indices amid macroeconomic headwinds.

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Voyager wants Binance.US legal fight resolved by April 13

Key takeaways

  • Binance.US’s acquisition of Voyager Digital is on hold until the legal battle with the exchange has been resolved.

  • Voyager wants the legal fight to be resolved by April 13, as creditors stand to lose $100 million due to the delay.

  • Binance is facing a lawsuit in the United States after the CFTC accused it of improper compliance procedures and trading.

Voyager wants Binance.US’s legal fight resolved soon

Bankrupt cryptocurrency lending firm Voyager Digital wants the legal fight with Binance.US to be resolved by April 13th, or its creditors stand to lose $100 million. This is according to legal documents filed late Monday night. 

Binance.US and Voyager Digital had agreed to a $1 billion acquisition deal prior to Binance’s legal case in the United States. 

Last month, Michael E. Wiles, United States Bankruptcy Judge at the Southern District of New York court, denied the US government’s request to halt Binance.US’ acquisition of Voyager, citing the impact this is having on customers of the bankrupt crypto lender.

Voyager Digital now believes that the ongoing legal delays could see Binance.US pull out of the deal to acquire the firm. The embattled crypto lender’s creditors wrote;

“Consummation of the plan by April 13 is necessary to preserve massive creditor value. The evidence is uncontroverted that, if the deal is not completed, Voyager’s creditors will lose roughly $100 million in value.”

Voyager Digital stated in another filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that there would be a  price tag of $10 million per month if the delay continues. If that happens, over a million of its customers would not have access to their savings.

Binance.US could back out of the deal 

 According to the original terms of the agreement signed in December and approved by bankruptcy judge Michael Wiles in March, Binance.US can back out of the deal if it is not concluded within four months. 

However, the US government lawyers continue to argue that the detailed terms of the contract would effectively absolve the company from breaches of tax or securities law.

This resulted in District Judge Jennifer Rearden putting the deal on hold last week while the issue was settled. 

The legal battle also comes as Binance, the parent company of Binance.US and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), face another lawsuit in the United States.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance and CZ last week, accusing the exchange of offering crypto trading services of commodities (Bitcoin, Ether, Binance USD, Tether and Litecoin), without proper registration.

However, CZ rejected the allegations made against Binance and himself. He called 

CFTC’s claims incomplete recitation of facts.

On March 3, CZ tweeted that Binance.US could pull out of the deal to acquire Voyager Digital due to the legal delays.

The post Voyager wants Binance.US legal fight resolved by April 13 appeared first on CoinJournal.

Shiba Inu price prediction as Dogecoin goes vertical

  • Shiba Inu is hovering near the highest level since March 14.

  • It rose after the strong performance of Dogecoin after Twitter’s logo change.

Shiba Inu price made a strong comeback on Monday and Tuesday as investors reacted to the major Dogecoin comeback. It rose to a high of $0.000011, the highest point since March 14. The token has jumped by over 18% from the lowest point in March.

Dogecoin leads meme coin rally

The most important cryptocurrency news was the decision by Twitter to change its logo to a Shiba Inu logo. Shiba Inu is the logo of Dogecoin and is also the inspiration behind Shiba Inu’s token. 

The logo change brought more enthusiasm in the meme coin industry, with Dogecoin price surging by more than 30%. This was notable because most cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum have been moving sideways in the past few days.

Historically, meme coins tend to have a close correlation with each other. This explains why other popular meme coins like Dogelon Mars, Baby Doge, and Floki Inu jumped.

However, it is unclear whether Twitter’s logo change will have an impact on Dogecoin and other meme coins in the long term. It is also unclear why Elon Musk, Twitter’s CEO, decided to change the logo. At the time of writing, the logo has gone back to the original one.

The other main catalyst for the Shiba Inu price is the latest developments on Shibarium. Shibarium is the next-generation layer-2 network that will improve Shiba Inu’s ecosystem. The developers launched the beta version of Shibarium in March and is now going through testing.

Data compiled in the Block Explorer showed that there are now over 100k wallet addresses. It has also handled over 828k transactions. While this is a good number, it is substantially smaller than the hype. At the same time, the number of blocks produced has risen to over 209k.

Shiba Inu price prediction

The 4H chart shows that the SHIB crypto price has been in a bullish trend in the past few days. The coin has moved above the ascending trendline shown in blue. It also moved above the 25-period and 50-period moving averages. 

It has also jumped above the 23.6% Fibonacci Retracement level and the resistance point at $0.000011, the highest point on March 18. Therefore, there is a likelihood that Shiba Inu price will likely have a bullish breakout as buyers targeted the next key resistance point at $0.00013, the 50% retracement point.

How to buy Shiba Inu

eToro

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Bitstamp

Bitstamp is a leading cryptocurrency exchange which offers trading in fiat currencies or popular cryptocurrencies. Bitstamp is a fully regulated company which offers users an intuitive interface, a high degree of security for your digital assets, excellent customer support and multiple withdrawal methods.

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