Schlagwort: crypto business

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FCA warns crypto businesses about mergers shortly after Bitpanda deal

  • The UK regulator says it has powers to cancel the registration of a crypto business if it’s found not to be compliant with set requirements.

  • Bitpanda announced the acquisition of DeFi custodian firm Trustology on Tuesday morning.

UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has warned crypto-asset businesses about mergers, citing the lack of a regulatory environment to assess the new owner’s compliance.

The FCA’s statement came shortly after crypto exchange Bitpand announced the acquisition of UK-registered DeFi custodian platform Trustology.

Regulated businesses to comply with requirements

According to the financial regulator, Trustology is a regulated business under the country’s Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs) provisions. 

The acquisition is thus beneficial to the acquiring company under the MLR rules. However, the said provisions do not provide for access to regulatory aspects touching on the new owners, it added in a statement.

The MLRs do not include any provisions that allow the FCA to assess the fitness and propriety of beneficial owners or changes in control before a transaction is completed,” the agency said.

In this case, the regulatory purview of the MLRs differs from other regulatory provisions, the statement added. With these in place, the watchdog has supervisory, authorisation, and enforcement powers on all businesses operating in the United Kingdom.

“The FCA can take steps to suspend or cancel the registration of a crypto asset business if it is not satisfied the firm or its beneficial owner is fit and proper,” the financial markets regulator warned. 

It added that it could suspend or cancel a crypto asset firm’s registration if it’s determined that the concerned firm has failed to comply with set requirements.

Bitpanda announced it had acquired Trustology on Tuesday, with this the first-ever such merger in the UK’s crypto regulated landscape.

Bitpanda is an Australia-based cryptocurrency exchange that’s regulated in the EU. According to the exchange, the move to acquire the custodian wallet works towards the transitioning of Bitpanda Pro into a fully-fledged prime brokerage platform.

The post FCA warns crypto businesses about mergers shortly after Bitpanda deal appeared first on Coin Journal.

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Bitcoin could fall to $30,000 with this ‘perfect storm’ of factors, analyst says

  • The Russia-Ukraine crisis, higher rates, and new crypto regulations in the US could be the “perfect storm” that sends Bitcoin to $30,000, said the analyst.
  • Bitcoin tested lows of $36,500 and is finding it hard to stay above $38k amid investor uncertainty.

Bitcoin is down 3% in the past 24 hours, with price movement on Tuesday including an intraday low of $36,500.

The bellwether crypto is down more than 11% this past week and fell heavily on Monday amid a confluence of macro factors analysts say could combine for a ‘perfect storm’ of negative price drivers.

As of writing, the cryptocurrency has bounced above $37k but remains weak. According to one analyst, the current market conditions might see BTC prices fall below the major support level at $30,000.

This could be the „perfect storm“

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent. He then followed it up with an order sending troops into the Ukrainian regions, prompting sanctions from the US, and the European Union. The UN Security Council also met and condemned Putin’s move.

Bitcoin price reacted alongside stocks to hit multi-week low, with further rot likely as US markets opened after Monday’s President Day holiday.

The fresh downside pressure comes amid continuing jitters among investors as the US Federal Reserve looks to implement the first of many rate hikes.

Meanwhile, the crypto market is anticipating a regulatory shift in the US with an impending executive order from the White House.

„The Ukraine crisis, compounded by rising interest rates and crypto regulations in the US, may create a perfect storm driving the bitcoin to test the $30,000 level,“ CloudTree Ventures’ Winston Ma told the Street.

According to him, Bitcoin continues to act “more like high growth tech assets,” and the risk-off sentiment may greatly influence crypto markets.

Crypto analyst KALEO says there is the possibility of a bullish bounce to $40,000 and above. However, with weakness still abounding, the next major support level could be found at $32,000.

“BTC found support at the base of the Feb 3rd lows where we saw the bullish leg up. Macro structure still looks weak, and I wouldn’t find any confidence in this bounce until a break above $40K. Still expecting this to slowly bleed out until a breakdown to ~$32K,” he said.

Bitcoin was trading around $37,785 at the time of writing.

The post Bitcoin could fall to $30,000 with this ‘perfect storm’ of factors, analyst says appeared first on Coin Journal.

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DeFi Watchlist: Top rated upcoming DeFi projects worth your consideration

DeFi projects are becoming central in the growth of the blockchain space over the last few years. There are also brand new DeFi projects that are coming out each day, each offering a promise of great financial autonomy from traditional finance. Here is why DeFi is heating up:

  • There is massive investor confidence around DeFi right now.

  • Billions of dollars are already locked in leading DeFi projects.

  • DeFi projects provide a lot of utility hence a lot of value for investors

If you have been thinking about getting some exposure to DeFi, we have some exciting projects here below that you can get into if you want.

Compound (COMP)

Compound (COMP) is a decentralised finance protocol that provides access to a series of staking opportunities for crypto holders. The purpose of this protocol is to make it easier for users to borrow and lend crypto assets on a peer-to-peer basis. 

Data Source: Tradingview 

The Compound protocol and its native token COMP are all based on the Ethereum network. This is one of the hottest DeFi projects on the chain, and at the time of writing, COMP was trading at $108 with a market cap of around $709 million.

Liquity (LQTY)

Liquity (LQTY) strives to offer interest-free borrowing on the Ethereum blockchain as well. As of now, the platform has seen immense growth with nearly $1.2 billion in total value locked or TVL. The token also appears to have significant upside potential. At press time, it had a market cap of around $35 million. Also, its native token LQTY was trading at $2.15.

Cream Finance (CREAM)

Cream Finance (CREAM) is also a micro-cap DeFi project that offers massive growth potential. It has a market cap of around $22 million, and its native token CREAM is right now selling for around $33.88. Cream Finance is basically a decentralised DeFi lending protocol that allows users to lend and borrow crypto at ease.

The post DeFi Watchlist: Top rated upcoming DeFi projects worth your consideration appeared first on Coin Journal.

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Basic Attention Token (BAT) price prediction & why it continues to decline

BAT Token with buy & sell dice behind it

It is safe to say that Basic Attention Token (BAT) has been nose-diving for the best part of three months now. In fact, the general trend on this coin which is associated with the Brave Browser has been downwards. Sadly, the signs show that this bearish move will remain for longer. Here are some highlights:

  • BAT is trading 60% lower from its all-time highs in November.
  • The coin was trading at $0.71 at press time, virtually the same compared to a day ago.
  • BAT also remains lower from its 50- and 200-day moving averages.

Data Source: Tradingview 

Basic Attention Token (BAT) – Why the bearish trend will remain?

There are both technical and fundamental factors that make BAT bearish at the moment. Starting with the fundamentals, it is clear that overall sentiment in the crypto market has slowed.

After a surge at the start of the month, most investors are holding back their capital as they watch events in Eastern Europe and tightening monetary policy in the United States. As for technical factors, the price action for BAT has generally moved downwards.

In fact, after hitting all-time highs in November 2021, the coin has lost nearly 60% of the market cap. It is also trading way lower compared to both its 200- and 50-day simple moving average. Also, a look at the Relative Strength Index suggests that BAT is yet to reach the “Oversold” threshold. As such, more weakness could still come.

Can investors buy Basic Attention Token (BAT) now?

The answer is yes. In general, the dip offers probably the most decent chance to enter into BAT. However, since it is projected that the token could in fact fall even further, you can still be patient. Watch for $0.5 in the coming days. That should be a good entry point for the long- and short-term investments.

The post Basic Attention Token (BAT) price prediction & why it continues to decline appeared first on Coin Journal.

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Feb 22 highlights: Cryptos plummet, prospect of war causes European market selloff

The major cryptos were affected by the developing news on the Russia-Ukrainian border. European shares dropped sharply yesterday as the prospect of war between Russia and Ukraine became more real.

Every single company on the EUSTX50 (-2.62%), an index of the 50 largest eurozone companies, finished in the red yesterday.

Top cryptos

Avalanche and Cardano plummeted more than 14%, XRP was down more than 13%, Solana fell 12%, BNB slid 9%, and Ethereum 8%. 

Bitcoin was trading below $37,000 at time of writing, down more than 6% over the past 24 hours. Cosmos fell out of the top 20.

Top movers

It was almost all gloom and doom in the top 100 as well. It has been a decidedly bad day for metaverse tokens. Decentraland lost almost 13%, Fantom, Stacks, Neo and Oasis Network dropped 14%, and Axie Infinity shed 12% of its value.

Tezos and Gala also declined by 14%. Harmony and Quant each lost 16%, reversing recent gains. The biggest loser in the top 100 was Theta Fuel with -19%, almost a fifth of its value.   

The only crypto in the green today was Anchor Protocol, up 5% at the time of writing.

Trending

OBROK is the native token of OBRok Project, a team working on space and aeronautical sciences. They aim to solve problems with rising costs of transportation of satellites and electronic devices in space. OBROK has gained 643% today.

ALPINE, the token of Alpine F1 Team Fan, is trading for around $7 with a 24-hour trading volume of $656.3 million. It added almost a third to its value after Alpine revealed the A522, its 2022 blue and pink challenger. 

Lido is a liquid staking solution for Ethereum and one of today’s biggest gainers, up 16% at the time of writing.  

The post Feb 22 highlights: Cryptos plummet, prospect of war causes European market selloff appeared first on Coin Journal.