Market highlights February 3: Cryptos in the red, Alphabet tops SPX500 on strong earnings

The crypto markets were in the red this morning, with the majority of the top 10 cryptos registering losses over the past 24 hours.

Google owner Alphabet drove US markets up yesterday as the firm posted a surge in profits. The stock topped the SPX500 rising 7.33%.

Investors will be following several releases coming out of the Bank of England today, including the Monetary Policy Report and votes on Asset Purchase Facility and MPC official bank rate at 12:00 GMT.

These will be followed by a press conference held by BOE Governor Andrew Bailey at 12:30 GMT.

Top cryptos

Bitcoin was around 4% lower, trading below $37,000 at time of writing. Ethereum, Cardano and XRP were also down around 4%, while Solana was trading around 14% lower.

Top movers

Outside the top 20, Chainlink and Enjin Coin lost 10%, Fantom, Elrond, Aave, The Graph, and VeChain each lost 9%, The Sandbox shed 11% of its value, and Flow and Kadena were down by 12%. Convex Finance and Render Token shed 14% and Arweave was down 15%.

Quant was the biggest winner in the top 100 biggest coins by market cap yesterday. Today, its rally continues. It’s one of the few coins in the green. It has added 19% to its value and is currently trading for $128. 

Trending

Strike, the token of a DeFi lending protocol that allows users to earn interest on their cryptocurrencies by depositing them into one of several markets supported by the platform, is up 50% today.

Ooki is the token of a decentralized protocol for margin trading, borrowing, lending and staking. It gained 85% on news of a Binance listing.

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Solana price drops by 9%: all you need to know about the Wormhole Bridge hack

Solana’s price has taken a hit again after attempting to correct the recent drop. This time the price is dropping after a bridge between Solana and Ethereum, called Wormhole Bridge, was hacked resulting in a loss of 120000 wrapped ETH with an estimated worth of $320 million.

Solana is currently trading at $98.45 with a drop of 9.42% in the last 24 hours. It is now trading 62.15% down from its November 6, 2021, all-time high of $260.06.

SOL’s current market cap stands at $30.9 billion. It has a circulating supply of 314.8 million SOL coins and a 24 hours trading volume of $3.2 billion.

Wormhole Bridge hack

According to emerging reports, the Wormhole Bridge was hacked in the early hours of February 3

According to reports and Twitter posts made by Solana Team, the hack resulted in a loss of about 120,000 wrapped ETH coins worth a whopping $320 million. After the hack, the team said that Ethereum (ETH) will be added to the bridge to ensure that any wrapped ETH on the Bridge is fully backed.

On the other hand, Wormhole has already confirmed that the issue had been sorted out and the vulnerability has been patched. They are currently working on getting the entire network up again.

Wormhole developers went ahead to offer a bug bounty for the exploit details. They said:

“We noticed that you were able to exploit the Solana VAA verification and mint tokens. We would like to offer you a whitehat agreement, and present you a bug bounty of $10 million for exploit details, and returning the wETH you have minted.”

This hack, brings to light again the vulnerability of DeFi protocols, and the co-founder of blockchain analysis firm Elliptic Tom Robinson, said:

“This demonstrates once again that the security of DeFi services has not reached a level that is appropriate for the huge sums being stored within them. The transparency of the blockchain is allowing attackers to identify and exploit major bugs.”

Solana’s unending woes

The bridge hack is the latest in the growing list of Solana’s unending problems. First, it was four consecutive network outages on the Solana network in January and then this hack.

The hack came at a time when Solana was prepared to correct the market price fall of SOL that had resulted from the network congestions. It now complicates issues for the network taunted as an “Ethereum Killer.”

Samczsun, a paradigm security researcher, started by first determining if the hack started on Ethereum or Solana.

From Samczsun’s research, there were only two possible routes that the hacker(s) could have used. They either exploited the bridge or got the private keys. In addition, he said that there was a corresponding transaction on Solana where the hacker bridged out the ETH without depositing them by exploiting a vulnerability to mint wETH. The encoded VM that the attacker submitted showed that it contained valid signatures from the guardians

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No end to Quant’s rally in sight: top places to buy Quant now

Quant was the biggest winner in the top 100 biggest coins by market cap yesterday. Today, its rally continues. It has added a third to its value today and is currently trading for $138. 

If you want to learn all the details around Quant, including whether it’s a valuable asset and the best places to buy Quant now, you’ve come to the right place.     

Top places to buy Quant now

eToro

eToro is one of the world’s leading multi-asset trading platforms offering some of the lowest commission and fee rates in the industry. It’s social copy trading features make it a great choice for those getting started.

Buy QNT with eToro today

Binance

Binance has grown exponentially since it was founded in 2017 and is now one of, if not the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges on the market.

Buy QNT with Binance today

What is Quant?

Quant launched in June 2018 with the goal of connecting blockchains and networks on a global scale, without reducing the efficiency and interoperability of the network. It is the first project to solve the interoperability problem through the creation of the first blockchain operating system.

Quant’s operating system, Overledger, was designed to act as a gateway for any blockchain-based project to access all other blockchains. It also works in connecting an application to other applications in the same blockchain ecosystem, like Ethereum.

More than multiple blockchain interactions, Quant creates different layers for apps to interact at different levels. Quant has different layers for transactions, messaging, filtering and ordering, and an application for sharing and referencing identical messages related to other applications.

Should I buy Quant today?

Quant may be a unique and valuable asset, but it is also a volatile one. Any investment you make should be adjusted to your risk tolerance.   

Quant price prediction

According to Cryptonewsz, demand for Quant will skyrocket in December, resulting in a massive upswing in prices by the end of the year. 1 QNT will trade for $200 at this time.

In 2023, they predict a price of around $206. The following year, Quant will exceed the expectations of most cryptocurrency and forex investors, reaching $305.  

Quant on social media

 

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You can now buy OOKI, which gained 85% today: here’s where

OOKI is surging on news of a Binance listing among others. Look no farther than this article if you want to know what OOKI is, whether it’s a good investment, and the best places to buy it now.   

Top places to buy OOKI now

As OOKI is such a new asset, it’s yet to be listed on major exchanges. You can still purchase OOKI using a DEX (decentralised exchange) though, which just means there are a few extra steps. To buy OOKI right now, follow these steps:

1. Buy ETH on a regulated exchange or broker, like eToro ›

We suggest eToro because it’s one of the world’s leading multi-asset trading platforms, an exchange and wallet all-in-one with some of the lowest fees in the industry. It’s also beginner-friendly, and has more payment methods available to users than any other available service.

2. Send your ETH to a compatible wallet like Trust Wallet or MetaMask

You’ll need to create your wallet, grab your address, and send your coins there.

3. Connect your wallet to the Uniswap DEX

Head to Uniswap, and ‚connect‘ your wallet to it.

4. You can now swap your ETH for OOKI

Now that you’re connected, you’ll be able to swap for 100s of coins including OOKI.

What is OOKI?

Ooki is a decentralized protocol for margin trading, borrowing, lending and staking enabling the building of dApps for lenders, borrowers, and traders to interact with the most flexible decentralized finance protocol on multiple blockchains.

Ooki is a fully decentralized, community-run project, governed by the community vote for all major changes to the protocol. The token allows the Ooki community to govern the protocol through staking OOKI token and voting in the Ooki DAO.

OOKI token holders receive a portion of protocol revenue. 50% of fees generated by the protocol are distributed to OOKI stakers. The remaining 50% of fees are allocated to the insurance fund and Ooki treasury.

Should I buy OOKI today?

Study the market and read price predictions before you commit to an investment in OOKI. It can reverse gains just as easily.  

OOKI price prediction

Digital Coin Price is bullish on OOKI. It is currently trading for $0.024 and they predict it will rise to $0.03 by the end of the year. It will reach $0.04 in 2024 and $0.05 in 2025. In 2026, it will fall back down to $0.046, but it will go up to $0.06 the following year.

In 2028, 1 OOKI will trade for $0.087 and for $0.105 the next year.

OOKI on social media

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Best two undervalued crypto to buy in February

When many people hear about cryptocurrencies, the first ones they think of are bitcoin and ethereum. Though these two most popular tokens have given investors tremendous profit, there are some other cryptocurrencies that are undervalued but could turn out to be profitable investments this month. This article describes 2 of these cryptocurrencies and why you should consider them.

Cardano (ADA)

Cardano was built by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson. It was founded on peer-reviews and evidence-based methods. The fast-growing network uses the proof of stake algorithm to create blocks and validate its transactions on its platform, making it more efficient than Ethereum in terms of scalability, interoperability, and sustainability. It also seeks to improve upon Ethereum’s current infrastructure, making experts suggest that it might replace Ethereum in the future.

Many might be blinded by the present ADA low price of around $1.07, not considering that the token has a lot of potentials as the long-awaited Ethereum 2.0 upgrade is yet to happen. Many developers are looking for a way to bypass the high gas fees and high congestion in the Ethereum network. Since Cardano performs many functions better and faster than Ethereum, we expect it to keep gaining developers‘ and investors‘ attention this month and beyond. 

Polygon (MATIC)

Polygon combines Ethereum and sovereign blockchains into a complete multi-chain system. It also solves the problem of high gas fees and slow speed while maintaining high security. It is similar to Polkadot, Avalanche, Cosmos, etc., in its multi-chain system and also has some other advantages over many of them. It is inherently more secure, benefits from the Ethereum network’s effects, and is open and powerful.

Its transaction speed also makes it a good investment opportunity as it processes up to 65,000 transactions per second using a single side chain. These qualities also attract investors and developers, and this underrated token could be a good buy this month.

The price of MATIC is presently around $1.6 moving away from its January low of $1.3. We expect to see more bullish moves this month and beyond.

Conclusion 

The opportunities to invest in the crypto world are becoming bigger every day. You can make the best out of it by making calculated moves.

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