Kategorie: Ethereum News

The Ronin Network exploit happened in March and saw $600 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) and $25 million in USDC stolen.

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has sanctioned three more Ethereum wallets linked to the recent hack on Ronin Network.

The new addresses have been connected to the North Korea hacking group Lazarus, OFAC said on Friday.

The OFAC revealed the addition of the three virtual currency addresses via an update to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List published on 22 April. All three have ties to the activities of the North Korean state-sponsored hacker group Lazarus Group.

Notably, recent funds movement linked to the three wallets involves proceeds of the exploit on the Ronin blockchain.

“The DPRK has relied on illicit activities like cybercrime to generate revenue while trying to evade US and UN sanctions,” US Treasury tweeted.

The agency has warned that transacting with the designated wallet addresses “risks exposure to US sanctions.”

OFAC listed wallet addresses ‘blocked’

The addition of the three wallets comes just days after the department linked Lazarus Group to the $625 million heist. 

On Friday, the original address used in the attack moved funds to various addresses using Tornado Cash – a mixing service that helps make transactions difficult to trace. The decentralised protocol, which helps make Ethereum transactions private, announced on 15 April that it would block any crypto wallets added to OFAC’s list.

Tornado Cash has reiterated that financial privacy remains “essential to preserving” financial freedom. However, privacy should not be pursued at the “cost of non-compliance,” it added.

In related developments, Binance reportedly recovered $5.8 million worth of funds stolen during the hack. According to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the hackers had sent the funds to 86 accounts.

The post US Treasury links three more Ethereum wallets to the $625M Ronin hack appeared first on Coin Journal.

Ethereum (ETH) has started to consolidate after trading mostly sideways for the whole of the week. The coin however has a lot of potentials, and we may see a decisive break in the coming days. Here are some of the facts:

• ETH is struggling to maintain the price action above $3000.

• Ethereum however sits above a strong support zone.

• The coin will break out and could target $3800 in the near term.

Data Source: Tradingview 

Ethereum’s road to $3800

Despite increased selling pressure at the beginning of trading this week, ETH has managed to stay above the crucial $3000 mark. The coin is however consolidating, and after a period of sideways trading, it could break out in the near term. 

The key for bulls would be to smash past the $3125 resistance zone. When this happens, ETH is likely to maintain an upward trajectory that pushes it to $3800. But if the $3000 mark is lost, the coin will likely drop further towards $2700 before it tries to rise again. 

Momentum indicators are neutral for now but RSI is pushing more towards a bullish scenario. We expect RSI to become bullish in the days ahead as well. Despite this prediction, it is important to note that upward momentum for ETH is capped at $4000. Even though the coin could still test the $4000 price in the weeks ahead, we still expect a firm rejection.

How to trade ETH in this setup?

As noted above, the key to the watch would be $3000 and $3800. If ETH is able to keep the price above $3000 at the close of trading today, you can buy and wait for the bullish breakout. 

But if $3000 is breached, investors should wait until ETH bottoms at $2700 or thereabout before they buy. As for $3800, this is the cap on our prediction. We expect ETH to fall once again after testing $3800, so be sure to exit your position by then.

The post Ethereum could bounce back to $3800 even as it struggles to hold above $3000 appeared first on Coin Journal.

Bitcoin and Ether are down by more than 40% from the all-time highs they attained six months ago.

Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky is confident Bitcoin and Ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, will reach new all-time highs before the end of the year.

Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $69,044 in November 2021, while Ether’s all-time high of $4,878 was also achieved in the same month.

However, since then, BTC and ETH have lost more than 40% of their values. Bitcoin is trading around the $41k level, while Ether currently stands above $3,000 per coin.

Mashinksy, while speaking at the Paris Blockchain Week Summit, said Bitcoin and Ether would go on to set new all-time highs this year. He said Bitcoin received very strong support at around $30,000 to $33,000. Mashinsky said;

“It’s going to take us longer to hit new highs. But I still expect us to break that $60,000 this year on Bitcoin, break the $4,500 on Ethereum.”

The Celsius CEO also talked about the effect of the ongoing Ukraine war on the financial markets. According to Mashinsky, the public markets, including cryptocurrencies, would continue to be negatively affected if Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently commented that the cryptocurrency space needs semi-decentralised solutions. Mashinsky commented on this, stating that the crypto space doesn’t have to be completely decentralised. He said;

“He’s basically saying, look, we don’t have to be 100% DeFi. CeFi and DeFi are two sides of the same coin. And you sometimes you need to CeFi, sometimes you need to use DeFi, and that’s what Celsius does every day.”

The Celsius CEO finally shared his philosophy on Bitcoin investment. Mashinsky said;

“If you buy Bitcoin and can’t sleep, it means you have too much Bitcoin. However, if you buy Bitcoin and sleep like a baby, then it means you don’t have enough Bitcoin. Find that sweet, sweet spot and just stick with it.”

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The cryptocurrency market continues its fine start to the week, with the major cryptocurrencies currently in the green.

The broader crypto market continues its excellent start to the week, adding nearly 2% to its total market cap. At press time, the total cryptocurrency market cap stands above $1.9 trillion.

It could soon cross the $2 trillion mark if the current market momentum is maintained. Bitcoin remains the leading cryptocurrency by market cap and currently trades above $41k per coin.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has also performed well in the last 24 hours. ETH is currently trading above $3,100 per coin, up by more than 2% so far today.

In the last seven days, ETH has added nearly 3% to its value, making it one of the poor performers amongst the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

However, with the bullish trend currently in play, Ether could record further gains over the coming hours and days. The cryptocurrency could target the $3,500 resistance level in the short term.

Key levels to watch

The ETH/USD 4-hour chart is currently neutral as Ether’s ongoing positive performance cancels the losses recorded a few days ago. The technical indicators show that Ether’s price action is currently improving.

The MACD line is around the neutral zone, indicating that Ether is no longer in the bearish region. The 14-day RSI of 58 shows that ETH could enter the overbought territory if the existing market momentum persists.

At press time, ETH is trading at $3,100 per coin. If the bulls remain in control, it could surpass the first major resistance level at $3,227 before the end of the day. However, the second major resistance level at $3,350 should cap further upward movement in the short term. 

The post Is Ether heading for $3,500 after surpassing the $3,100 resistance point? appeared first on Coin Journal.

Ethereum and Solana are leading blockchain projects that are helping developers build decentralized applications (dApps) in all industries. ETH and SOL have a combined market cap of over $390 billion, with Ethereum being the bigger one. In this Ethereum vs Solana comparison, we will assess the better option between the two.

The case for Ethereum

Ethereum stats

• Market cap: $353 billion.

• Total value locked: $115 billion.

• Architecture: Proof-of-work (PoW)

• YTD performance: -22%.

• How to buy Ethereum.

There are several reasons why Ethereum investors believe in its platform. First, it has one of the best-known brands in the blockchain industry. In terms of brand awareness, only Bitcoin comes first. Therefore, investors believe that this quality will lead to more investments as the industry grows.

Second, Ethereum price has performed well over the years. Its price has moved from less than $10 to over $3,000, making it one of the best performers of all time. Third, the network has maintained a strong market share even as it faces substantial competition from the likes of Solana, Avalanche, and Cardano.

Third, Ethereum is a dynamic platform that is going through changes. After successfully running on the proof-of-work (PoW) model, the developers are transitioning to a proof-of-stake (PoS) framework. The merge of the Beacon Chain and the current platform is set to happen in July. 

Therefore, the network will be substantially faster and cost effective. Therefore, developers will not have the need for other blockchains.

The case for Solana

Solana stats

• Market cap: $32 billion.

• TVL: $6.8 billion.

• Architecture: Proof-of-history

• YTD performance: -45%

Solana is a blockchain project that uses an architecture framework known as a proof-of-history. This is a relatively new framework that deals with a high-frequency verifiable delay function (VDF) that takes a number of steps to evaluate blocks. 

As a result, Solana has a substantially high throughput of over 2,000 transactions per second (tps) and low costs of about $0.0001 per transaction. This strong performance is one of the main reasons why most developers believe that Solana is a better investment than Ethereum.

Second, Solana has been used to build some of the best-known applications in Web 3.0. Some of these applications are Audius, Brave Browser, and StepN among others. Therefore, there is a likelihood that more Web 3.0 developers will select Solana for their development.

Third, Solana has a longer runway for growth than the mature Ethereum. Besides, it is a young project that has gained a lot of traction from developers already.

Verdict: Ethereum vs Solana

In my opinion, I believe that Ethereum is still a better investment than Solana. I expect that the merger of the Beacon Chain and the main Ethereum will lead to faster speeds and lower costs. As a result, it will become a better alternative for developers.

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