Kategorie: Crypto Markets

• Celsius has moved over $59 million of altcoins to FalconX ahead of possible liquidation.
• The crypto lender plans to convert the tokens to BTC or ETH.
• Celsius’s largest altcoin holding is its native CEL token, currently worth over $106 million.

Celsius Network moved millions of dollars’ worth of altcoins on Monday, among them Polygon (MATIC), Chainlink (LINK) and Aave (AAVE).

As CoinJournal reported in June, the US bankruptcy court recently allowed Celsius to proceed with plans to liquidate multiple coins and tokens beginning July 1, 2023. 

The crypto lender had indicated it would be converting these into Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as part of the preparation towards reimbursing customers impacted by the crypto company’s bankruptcy filing in July 2022.

Celsius moves Polygon, Chainlink and Aave tokens to FalconX

According to on-data from crypto security platform Arkham Intelligence, Celsius deposited $59.4 million worth of various tokens to institutional crypto trading platform FalconX. Per Arkham data, Celsius transferred $13.6 million worth of MATIC, $10.7 million in LINK, and $7.3 million in AAVE to an address controlled by FalconX.

The Data Nerd shared details of the transfers:

45 minutes ago, @CelsiusNetwork began to sell altcoin by depositing to exchange.

So far they have sent:
• 1.2M $LINK ($8.5M)
• 2.8M $SNX ($7.8M)
• 12.5K $BNB ($3M)
and more

They still have $65M in alt left (excluding $BTC, $ETH, $CEL and stablecoin) per @ArkhamIntel. pic.twitter.com/cy5lEr123Z

— The Data Nerd (@OnchainDataNerd) July 17, 2023

The transactions followed earlier transfers involving $8.5 million worth of LINK, $7.8 million of SNX (a Synthetix native token) and $3 million in BNB token. Other tokens sent to the FalconX wallet address include 0x Protocol (ZRX), 1inch (1INCH) FTX Token (FTT) and Tether Gold (XAUT).

Blockchain sleuth Lookonchain also highlighted that FalconX had started depositing the received tokens onto Binance – suggesting the sale was on.

After these transfers, Dune Analytics data shows the Celsius portfolio still holds over $106 million worth of its native token CEL, $47 million in other altcoins (including $16.5 million in MATIC and $12.7 million in AAVE) and over $29 million in stablecoins ($24 million in USDC and $2 million in USDT).

While Celsius moves ahead with plans to convert the altcoins into BTC or ETH, blockchain firm Kaiko recently noted that the Celsius team might find it difficult to liquidate a number of tokens due to their illiquidity. One of these is CEL, which has next to zero liquidity.

Elsewhere, analysts at Kaiko say the potential sell-off pressure from the liquidations could impact downward pressure on some of the tokens.

The post MATIC, LINK, AAVE among $59M worth of altcoins moved by Celsius appeared first on CoinJournal.

• At press time, Shiba Memu had sold 30,951,646 tokens raising $902,439.72.
• The Shiba Memu presale has continued gathering steam as popular meme tokens stall.
• Popular meme tokens including Pepe have seen their value decline in the past 24 hours.

A majority of popular meme tokens on Monday saw significant price declines as the Shiba Memu presale continued to gather steam. Dogecoin (DOGE) has dropped by 3.6%, Shiba Inu (SHIB) by 3.4%, PEPE by 4.1%, and FLOKI by 4.5%.

Going by the hype that the Shiba Memu (SHMU) is receiving, the new Shiba-themed meme token is slowly putting up a spirited fight to become a major meme token player.

Shiba Memu could be the next PEPE

PEPE, a new meme token, has outperformed Shiba Inu and Dogecoin this year although there is a rider as covered in a previous article here. Pepe’s value has increased by more than 300% in the last three months while Shiba Inu’s value has decreased by more than 25%.

Pepe gained support as investors began concentrating on more recent meme coins as more established ones lost favour. In fact, this year has seen pressure on Floki Inu, Dogecoin, and Dogelon Mars. As news of new millionaires spread, Pepe, on the other hand, benefited from the fear of missing out (FOMO).

Overall, Pepe has grown from nothing to one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world in a matter of months. The token’s daily volume has increased, and its market capitalization has increased to over $605 million. In addition, Pepe is frequently one of the most popular tokens on CoinMarketCap and in social media.

However, the last few weeks have also seen Pepe’s popularity dwindle and a new entrant by the name of Shiba Memu could become the next big thing in cryptocurrency. Shiba Memu is currently conducting a presale of its SHMU token and has raised $902,439 in less than three weeks.

The sudden surge in SHMU’s popularity is partly because of the fact that its price is rising every few hours thanks to its innovative token sale strategy. At the time of writing, one SHMU was going for 0.013825 USDT and was scheduled to appreciate to 0.014050 USDT in the next four hours. Shiba Memu can be purchased here.

It is important to note that investors are flocking to the Shiba Memu project even as one of its main rivals, Shiba Inu, developers work on the layer-2 network called Shibarium to be released in August.

What is Shiba Memu?

Shiba Memu is a brand-new and ground-breaking meme token. It is a distinctive and alluring investment because of its self-sufficient marketing abilities, which are supported by AI technology.

Shiba Memu will develop its own marketing strategies, write its own PR, and advertise itself in pertinent forums and social networks, unlike other meme tokens that depend heavily on human teams’ marketing efforts to gain traction.

Shiba Memu developers want to build a marketing powerhouse that is unstoppable and self-sufficient. They want to create a platform that can consistently produce more content than a tabloid by utilising AI. A variety of media will publish this content.

The team aims at launching the Shiba Memu token on the Ethereum blockchain and Binance Smart Chain (BSC), conclude its native token presale, provide the initial liquidity for trading on a decentralized exchange, and launch a staking program to encourage community participation and engagement by the end of Q3, 2023. This will be followed by the development of its AI Marketing Dashboard in Q4, 2023 before launch in Q1, 2024.

The post Shiba Memu presale hits $902k as popular meme tokens stalls appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Binance is reported to have dismissed about 1,000 of its employees recently.
• The report cites sources close to the exchange and comes at a time Binance is battling regulatory pressure.
• The leading crypto exchange celebrated its 6th birthday on July 14.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has reportedly cut its employee number by 1,000 in recent weeks.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Binance’s layoffs on Friday, citing a source as saying the crypto exchange could still dismiss more of its workforce in coming months amid staff reorganization. According to the report, the crypto company could lay off up to a third of its workforce.

Binance celebrated its sixth year since it launched today, July 14, 2023. 

6 years ago today, a little exchange called @Binance launched. Everyone was telling me there is no chance for another exchange. Here are some reflections over the last few years. Thank you for your unwavering support! 🙏
https://t.co/9O4UnE3G36

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) July 14, 2023

Binance’s employee layoffs

Multiple crypto and mainstream companies have in the past year or so aggressively cut on their headcount, with crypto’s situation exacerbated by the debilitating crypto winter. Binance was among those to eye staff reduction as Wu Blockchain revealed in a May 31 tweet.

Prior to the expected employee cut, the Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao led company had an estimated 8,000 employees globally. Reports highlighted plans to send 20% of the workforce home.

Binance remains the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume. However, the past month has been tough for the company in terms of the myriad of regulatory challenges it has faced. 

The early June lawsuit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), came as the exchange exited a number of countries due to regulatory reasons. It included Belgium and the Netherlands, and it ended its pursuit of a license in Austria. Menwhile, it also faced scrutiny in France and recently Australia.

There have also been exits by top executives, including exchange’s former Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann.

The post Binance recently laid off 1,000 employees: report appeared first on CoinJournal.

• BlackRock CEO Larry Fink believes crypto is an international asset that can transcend any global currency.
• Fink did not talk about Bitcoin specifically, noting he’s prohibited by virtue of BlackRock’s spot ETF filing.
• In his interview with CNBC on Friday, Fink mentioned how gold ETF changed the gold investing market.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has yet again shared bullish remarks about cryptocurrencies, noting in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk on the Street on Friday that crypto has the capacity to transcend any international currency.

According to the BlackRock CEO, who recently commented on the potential of Bitcoin as digital gold and an international investment asset, repeated the viewpoint in his latest remarks. In particular, he pointed to the global demand for crypto as something that signifies its potential.

Crypto is an international asset and will transcend any one currency valuation, $BLK CEO Larry Fink tells @jimcramer, @carlquintanilla & @davidfaber pic.twitter.com/o1G3D6pfqF

— Squawk on the Street (@SquawkStreet) July 14, 2023

Fink on ETFs and crypto’s international appeal

BlackRock filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF last month and together with Fidelity Investments, Ark Invest and others, are convinced they have done everything required to have the SEC approve the first such ETF for the US market.

The $9 trillion asset manager’s recent outlook of crypto investing, and what its entry into the spot ETF market could mean for the broader industry continues to trigger positive vibes a month since its initial SEC filing.

Fink said:

“I can’t talk about Bitcoin because we have a SEC filing and I’m prohibited, but I can talk about crypto in general and what we have done. We believe we have a responsibility to democratise investing. And we have done a great job and the role of ETFs in the world is transforming investing. I think we’re only at the beginning of that.”

The BlackRock chief then noted that ETFs industry is set to grow into a multiple trillion dollar market as the fixed income market expands. He also highlighted what has been achieved since the gold ETF debut 20 years ago, especially in democratising gold investing and bringing down the cost of transactions for physical gold.

An ETF will democratise the crypto investing space in the same way, Fink opined, adding that BlackRock’s clients have over the last five years continually asked about crypto’s role. He says he believes crypto is an “international asset.”

“It has differentiating value versus other assets. But more importantly, because it is so international, it’s going to transcend any one currency and currency valuation.”

The post BlackRock CEO says crypto will transcend international currencies appeared first on CoinJournal.