Alameda Research to help ‘stem contagion’ in crypto, FTX CEO says

The last few weeks have spelled nothing but bad news for cryptocurrencies. Amid the brutal price crash, made worse by macro headwinds, has been a spate of negative headlines about crypto. 

Simply, crypto winter has some projects facing collapse or on the verge of biting the dust.

Commenting on the developments, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said the crypto sector needs to step in to stop any further contagion.

“I do feel like we have a responsibility to seriously consider stepping in – even if it is at a loss to ourselves – to stem contagion.”

He noted that this was the responsible thing to do, even if they have no involvement in it. “I think that’s what’s healthy for the ecosystem, and I want to do what can help it grow and thrive,” he added in the comments NPR first published on Sunday.

Rescue plans 

UST’s collapse in May heralded a string of liquidity issues for several crypto companies, top among them crypto lender Celsius Network, which froze customer withdrawals amid a liquidity problem.

Then Three Arrows Capital, a Singapore based crypto hedge fund missed margin calls, and late last week, crypto lender Babel Finance also froze withdrawals citing, again, liquidity issues.

Bankman-Fried did not provide specific details on what he or Alameda has in the pipeline. However, his comments come at a time there are various rescue plans underway for these projects, including one for  Celsius announced on Sunday.

Last week, crypto broker Voyager Digital secured a revolving line of credit – $200 million in cash/USDC and 15,000 BTC – from Alameda Research saying the funds will help safeguard its customers’ assets.

In 2021,  FTX came to the aid of Japanese crypto exchange Liquid after it was hacked for $100 million. At the time, Bankman-Fried’s platform extended a $120 million financing deal to Liquid before going on to acquire the exchange.

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BNT is up by 2% today despite Bancor pausing IL protection

The cryptocurrency market performed excellently over the past 24 hours as major coins and tokens recovered from their recent losses. 

The cryptocurrency market recorded huge losses last week, with billions of dollars wiped out from the major coins and tokens. The total market cap dropped below the $1 trillion mark for the first time this year a week ago.

Despite the recent bearish performance, the crypto market performed well over the weekend. The cryptocurrency market is up by more than 8% in the last 24 hours, with the total market cap now around $900 billion.

Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency, is trading above $20k again after dropping towards the $17k support level a few days ago. Meanwhile, Ether maintains its price above $1,100 after adding more than 9% to its value in the last 24 hours.

BNT, the native token of the Bancor ecosystem, is underperforming the broader market at the moment. BNT is up by 2% in the last 24 hours, which is below the total market average at the moment. 

The poor performance can be attributed to the Bancor team announcing earlier on Monday that it has temporarily paused Impermanent Loss (IL) Protection due to the current market conditions. As a result, withdrawals performed during this unstable period will not be eligible for IL protection, the team added. 

Key levels to watch 

The BNT/USD 4-hour chart is still bearish despite BNT currently trading in the green zone. 

The MACD line is below the neutral zone, indicating a bearish trend. The 14-day RSI of 41 shows that BNT is no longer in the oversold region. 

At press time, BNT is trading at $0.530. If the positive performance continues, BNT could surge past the $0.61 resistance level over the coming hours. However, it would need the support of the broader market to rally past the $0.82 resistance level. 

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Highlights June 20: Bitcoin drops below $20k, Solana up 14%

The crypto market was in the green this morning, with the majority of top 10 cryptos registering gains. 

Top cryptos

The flagship cryptocurrency slumped to below $20,000 this weekend, reaching its lowest level since December 2020. Still, it was up around 9% at time of writing, trading above $20,000.

Ethereum jumped by around 13%, Cardano was up around 8%, and Solana was approx. 14% higher at the time of writing. 

Crypto lender Solend’s new governance vote reversed a controversial DAO decision to take control of a dormant whale account in the ecosystem.

Among cryptos outside the top 10, Avalanche was the strongest with an increase of almost 18%. 

FTX Token (FTT) is now in the top 20. FTT gained 11% in the last 24 hours. It has been gaining for several days, ever since reports that FTX concluded an agreement to acquire trading platform Bitvo, with which the firm will access the Canadian market. 

Polygon rounds out the top 20 with gains of 14%. 

Top movers

Outside the top 20, the tendency was similar, with most coins adding 6-12% to their value. Notable standouts include Maker with 16%, Quant 17%, BAT 21%, Stepn 23%, and Elrond with 22%. 

Elrond has been gaining on news that ICI Bucharest is developing an institutional NFT marketplace and a decentralized DNS on top of its blockchain. Elrond is also gaining exposure via Kraken and Okcoin listings. 

Synthetix is the big winner in the top 100 today, up a full 69%. It reached 200 million in daily volume partly due to atomic swaps on 1inch and CurveFinance, which register an average of 100 million in daily volume. 

Curve-associated Convex Finance is up 24%. The only loser in the top 100 is Tron, down just below 2%. 

Trending

The biggest winner today is Marble Heroes, a gaming ecosystem and a pioneer in combining classic strategy games and blockchain technology. It aims to create a truly immersive world. 

Players will enjoy the exciting gameplay and unique characters and earn money at the same time. Its token MBH added 366% to its value today.

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