Schlagwort: blockchain markets

• A lot is going around about Binance payout problems, dwindling reserves, sanctions violations, and investigation by the US Attorney’s office.
• As a result withdrawals from the exchange have surged in the past 24 hours.
• Binance had earlier today temporarily halted withdrawals of USDC on ETH and BNB chains.

BNB price has taken a hit amid the ongoing online discussions about a number of issues with the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance. At press time the BNB coin was trading at $268.55, down 5.30% over the past 24 hours.

Last week, Binance released a report by an auditing firm called Mazars that showed that its bitcoin (BTC) reserves were overcollateralized. The report received sharp criticism from industry experts who argued that the document lacked clarity.

Then on Monday as reported in our earlier news, Reuters reported that the US prosecutors were mulling criminal charges for possible money laundering against Binance and its executives including Changpeng Zhao.

Although the events seem to be negatively affecting the crypto exchange and its native token, BNB, the CEO, Changpeng Zhao, in a tweet has urged his followers to “ignore the FUD.”

Increased Binance withdrawals

Binance saw a wave of withdrawals on Monday and it seems the trend has carried on to today. According to blockchain intelligence platform Nansen, the net worth of the difference between the crypto assets arriving and leaving the exchange has hit $902 million over the past 24 hours. This is far more than the withdrawals of all the other centralized exchanges in the same time span. To put it into context, Binance withdrawals are almost nine times greater than those from the second-largest exchange outflow.

According to data from blockchain data platform Arkham Intelligence, the current crypto outflow from Binance is the highest that the exchange has seen since November 13, which was days after FTX filed for bankruptcy protection.

An analyst from Arkham however noted that the outflows from Binance do not seem notably anomalous since Binance supposedly has about $64 billion worth of crypto assets in its reserves.

Out of the cryptocurrencies that users seem to be massively withdrawing from Binance is the USDC, which caused Binance to temporarily halt USDC withdrawals earlier today. In a tweet, Binance said that it had paused the withdrawals since it was “conducting a token swap involving $USDC. As a result, $USDC withdrawals are temporarily paused.”

The exchange also went ahead to assure its customers:

“$USDT & #BUSD withdrawals are available and unaffected. $USDC withdrawals will reopen once the token swap is completed.”

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao also tweeted saying:

“On USDC, we have seen an increase in withdrawals. However, the channel to swap from PAX/BUSD to USDC requires going through a bank in NY in USD. The banks are not open for another few hours. We expect the situation will be restored when the banks open.”

The post BNB price dips as Binance withdrawals take centre stage amid FUD appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Singapore is Affyn’s first city in the NEXUS World metaverse.
• Affyn is offering 2,000 plots of Freehold Land NFTs corresponding to real places in Singapore.
• The NEXUS World Land NFTs launch officially on 17 December, 2022 at 12:00 UTC.

Affyn, a Singapore-based developer of mobile blockchain-powered games, has announced Singapore as the first city in the company’s metaverse NEXUS World.

As growth across the metaverse gathers speed, investors are increasingly getting into exotic projects, with Affyn’s land sale a hot entry into the market. For users, this is where the NEXUS World metaverse offers a chance to scoop up part of the tantalizing 2,000 plots featuring real-life Singapore.

Get Freehold land NFTs in NEXUS World

According to Affyn, buyers will get Freehold Land NFTs corresponding to an actual location within the city. Similar features will also be available to other cities the platform is set to add to the NEXUS World metaverse in coming months.

Lucaz Lee, the founder and CEO of Affyn noted that inaugurating Singapore as the metaverse’s first city is a key milestone for the company. The move demonstrates the platform’s ongoing commitment to bringing the best of the world to the metaverse. It’s also a major part of its broader product development roadmap, he added in a press release.

“We are beyond excited for NEXUS World Landowners to experience the metaverse coming to life and take part in co-creating and powering the economy. These encouraging developments and more cities arriving in the coming months will prove invaluable catalysts for ongoing Web3 gaming adoption.”

The plots within the NEXUS World are categorised depending on their “rarity”, and features available to the landowners will depend on the rarity level. Users will have access to Common, Rare, Epic, and Mythical levels. 

The land NFTs will launch officially on 17 December 2022 at 12:00 UTC.

The post Affyn reveals Singapore as first NEXUS World metaverse city appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Gnosis blockchain completes The Merge and migrates to a proof of stake protocol.

• Coinbase expects 2022’s revenue to decline by 50% or more from 2021.

• PayPal begins crypto operations in Luxembourg.

Gnosis blockchain completes The Merge

First Ethereum, now Gnosis. Gnosis announced earlier this week that it has migrated to a Proof of Stake (PoS) protocol from its previous Proof of Authority (PoA), completing The Merge. 

The migration had seen the number of validators on the Gnosis blockchain increase to over 100k from the previous 20 it had when it maintained its PoA protocol. The migration is expected to boost decentralisation and security of the Gnosis blockchain.

Coinbase expects 2022 revenue to decline by 50% or more

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, revealed earlier this week that the cryptocurrency exchange is expecting its 2022 revenue to decline by 50% or more from what it generated last year.

According to the CEO, the bear market has affected its operations, with most coins down by 70% from their all-time highs. The recent events, including the FTX collapse, have also affected the confidence in the market. However, Armstrong said he would continue to advocate for the crypto industry in Washington DC.

Coinbase also asked its users to switch USDT stablecoins for the more ‘reputable’ USDC. USDC is issued by Circle, the company co-founded by Coinbase. The crypto exchange said USDC is more truCelsius ordered to return crypto worth $44M to customerssted and reliable, and its users should start using the stablecoin ahead of the USDT issued by Tether.

Earlier this week, Circle, the issuer of USDC, officially announced that it had cancelled plans to go public. The company was expected to go public with a $9 billion valuation, but recent market events forced it to cancel its plans.

Celsius ordered to return crypto worth $44M to customers

Cryptocurrency lending firm Celsius has been ordered to return $44 million worth of cryptocurrencies to its customers. United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said he wants creditors to recover as much as they possibly can as soon as they possibly can.

Celsius owes billions to its creditors, and the $44 million approved applies to pure custody assets. These are assets that haven’t been used in the Celsius Earn accounts but were present in the custody program.

PayPal begins crypto operations in Luxembourg

Payment platform PayPal revealed earlier this week that it is expanding its cryptocurrency operations to capture Luxembourg. The company said its crypto services would soon be available in the European country, allowing citizens to buy, sell, and hold various crypto assets. 

PayPal added that it is currently working with Luxembourg’s regulators and policymakers to create a policy that is excellent for the investors, PayPal, and the country.

Ethereum’s Shanghai hard fork to take place in March 2023

Éthereum core developers have set March 2023 as the date for the network’s Shanghai hard fork. The hard fork is a crucial one for the Ethereum community as it would allow users to withdraw their staked Ether tokens on the network.

The post This week in crypto: Gnosis becomes the second blockchain to complete The Merge appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Cryptocurrency prices have declined significantly in 2022, with crypto assets tracking the performance of stocks such the Nasdaq 100.
• An overview of three top cryptocurrencies  in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple highlights the opportunities and risks that abound.
• Investors seeking to trade on contracts for differences, CFDs, for crypto need to do due diligence and understand how the contracts work.

Crypto has tracked high-risk assets like the Nasdaq 100 for much of 2022, crumbling as a result of the high inflation and high interest rates prevalent in the financial markets. 

Bitcoin, the world’s largest digital coin, failed to get past $20,000 for most of September and October. However, amid multiple price predictions BTC managed to rise late that month after some modest indications that the US Federal Reserve was ready to ease policy. 

Bitcoin price shot up 6.5% to $20,700 on October 29, and Ether followed by 19%. In context, the two largest crypto powers had suffered losses five of the last six months. Perhaps it wasn’t one single factor driving it, but rather “a more favorable backdrop for risky assets and short liquidations,” suggested NYDIG’s Greg Cipolaro.

One of the drivers for the rally may have been Dogecoin’s massive 40% surge that month, as crypto traders expected Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter to give him a platform to promote the dog-themed coin. 

One notable aspect of the crypto upswing was the fact that it happened at the same time as major tech stocks like Meta Platforms and Amazon.com were in the red. “Digital asset markets have shown early signs of tech decoupling,” Fundstrat’s Walter Teng announced.

Below are 3 top cryptocurrencies that we have used to outline and distinguish the above-mentioned “signs”, and crypto performance in November. Read on to find what else you can learn about trading cryptocurrency CFDs.

Bitcoin

In the second week of November, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said his company was on track to acquire FTX.com – the well-known crypto exchange co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried – after the exchange lost liquidity following Zhao’s own sale of 530 million dollars from its FTX holdings. 

Crypto trust was hit by the demise of FTX, whose native FTX token FTT, lost 75% of its value in a single day on November 9. SOL (the token of the Solana blockchain) reacted dramatically (because Solana is connected to FTX), dropping 36% on that day and bringing the total loss for the year to 90%. Bitcoin was 7.7% in the red, after an 11% loss the day before, which kept Bitcoin from breaking above $17,430. 

The sentiment was memorable for Modular Asset Management’s Dan Liebau, who said that since 2016, “few periods have tested [the crypto industry’s] market infrastructure and participants as much as the past 24 hours.”

Ether

Has ETH been able to maintain momentum after its monumental September merge? Not according to some analysts such as BeQuant’s Martha Reyes who said in mid-September, “Now that the Merge excitement is over, we don’t have a catalyst for Ethereum any time soon“. 

Ether lost 3.8% that day to hit $1,475 after dropping 6% the day before. Excitement over the upcoming Merge into a proof-of-stake system of validation, which would reduce the blockchain’s environmental impact and make it more efficient, had kept Ether afloat since mid-June. 

The Merge itself was “certainly a success,” in the words of Ethereum developer Preston Van Loon. “What we’ll see over time is whether the stats hold up.”

A month later, Ether rallied 10.25% in just 24 hours. Internet lawyer Andrew Rossow thought it was due to a “combination of traders capitalizing” and “the success we’re seeing with some of the NFT projects thriving in the current bear market.” 

According to Brett Sifling of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, it was an overflow from the stock market rally. It will certainly be interesting to see how ETH prices will perform in the coming months for those trading cryptocurrencies in the form of CFDs.

Ripple

On September 19, traders braced themselves for higher interest rates on both sides of the Atlantic. This would mean that the cost of borrowing goes up, draining the liquidity needed in the crypto market. Bitcoin and Ether continued their losing streak, dropping 7.4% and 6.6% respectively, but XRP – the token created by Ripple Labs Inc. – fell as much as 13.5%. 

A trigger may have been the news that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wanted an immediate ruling in the lawsuit they were pursuing against Ripple for its “reckless” conduct in failing to register XRP as a security. Also in September, Ripple filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, based on their position that XRP is ineligible as a security.

In the second week of October, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the case would be resolved by the first half of 2023. The issue, he said, was “about the whole industry,” not just the world’s sixth-largest crypto.

In summary

When trading cryptocurrencies in the form of CFDs, it is always a good idea to understand the prevailing macro environment. For instance, what was Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s tone the last time he spoke? What did the latest inflation data tell us? And what recent events are shaping crypto sentiment? 

Answering these questions and listening to the popular opinion of reputable analysts can help those trading cryptocurrency CFDs make more informed decisions.

The post Crypto overview November 2022 appeared first on CoinJournal.

Today, the EOS price has been rallying after the EOS ecosystem achieved a major milestone with the listing of EOS/USDT on Binance.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The new listing allows users to seamlessly transfer USDT in and out of the EOS network.
• It also exposes the EOS ecosystem to a huge economic activity.
• At press time, EOS was trading at $0.9908, up 5.60% in the past 24 hours.

Binance is currently the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and the listing of EOS/USDT offers a great opportunity for the greater EOS ecosystem. EOS users will be able to seamlessly transfer USDT in and out of the network without having to convert their USDT to EOS or use a third-party bridge.

EOS/USDT on Binance

Besides seamless transfers, the listing of EOS/USDT on Binance will also boost other EOS initiatives such as Yield+, which is a platform that offers yield incentives to EOS DeFi applications based on the value of EOS and USDT locked into their protocols. It will also make it easier for project teams building on EOS to compensate workers using the USDT stablecoin.

In general, the listing is a testament to the progress the EOS network has made in the competitive landscape of Web3 and is likely to promote EOS to become a go-to network for USDT transactions.

EOS price

The EOS price has been on a steady rise since the news broke out amid a wider crypto market recovery.

According to data from Coingecko, the price of EOS had dropped by about 12.3% in the past 30 days and the current recovery is a major boost to the EOS ecosystem.

The post EOS price surges after listing of EOS/USDT on Binance appeared first on CoinJournal.