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Whale Alert tracked two large XRP transactions 💸
According to a large transaction tracking bot called Whale Alert, a couple of hours ago there was unusual activity from XRP kits that moved $30 million worth of tokens.
Both transactions were linked to the Bitstamp cryptocurrency exchange, one of which involved an unknown wallet transferring 20 million XRP tokens worth $14.2 million.
The first transaction was from the Bitstamp exchange to another anonymous wallet, which currently contains 111 million XRP and is owned by either the exchange or a large anonymous crypto-kit that trades on the Bithumb exchange.
The unknown wallet, which has transferred a large number of coins to Bitstamp, currently contains only 45 XRP. It is most likely tied to this exchange because it has consistently received a large number of incoming transactions from the exchange and has no contact with other XRP wallets.
If we talk about the price of XRP, the token has lost about 10% of its value in 24 hours.
Avalanche (AVAX) beat Solana (SOL) and Tron (TRX) in TVL 🤍
Avalanche's (AVAX) growing popularity has helped it surpass Solana (SOL) and Tron (TRX) in January 2022 in terms of total value of blocked assets in the protocol (TVL).
In January the total value of assets blocked in the Avalanche (AVAX) protocol exceeded that of its main competitors. According to BeInCrypto's research, the January TVL for the AVAX blockchain was $8.53 billion.
It's worth noting that this result represents a dramatic 27% drop from the TVL for December 2021 ($11.83 billion). However, this did not prevent Avalanche from maintaining its leadership position against SOL and TRX.
Arcane Research pointed to an increase in bitcoin's correlation with the S&P 500 〽️
Heightened geopolitical tensions have led to increased correlation between the first cryptocurrency and the U.S. stock index S & P 500. This is stated in an analytical report by Arcane Research.
According to the researchers' observations, the 90-day correlation between BTC and the "barometer of the U.S. economy" reached its highest level since October 2020. By contrast, bitcoin's statistical correlation with gold has turned negative.
"Gold acts as a low-risk asset during this period of significant geopolitical uncertainty," the experts shared.
Arcane Research also noted the return of the cryptocurrency "fear and greed index" to around the 20 mark, which indicates the prevalence of panic sentiment among market participants.
Meta registers cryptocurrency products in Brazil 🔮
Meta has applied for trademark registration in Brazil and the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) for crypto products and services related to trading, wallets and exchange platforms.
IPNI is the National Institute of Intellectual Property and is a French administrative public institution. Its responsibilities include accepting applications and granting industrial property rights (licenses/patents). Meta applied earlier this year and is on hold; once this is done, Brazilians will know more about cryptocurrencies.
Meta published its application for registration relatively recently and is now waiting for INPI approval. As you can see from the application itself, it was first posted on October 5 last year.
Bitcoin continues to fall amid depleted demand ❌
Over the past 24 hours, bitcoin has lost another 2% and once again fell below $40,000, reaching its lowest point in two weeks. The key factor analysts believe the technical indicators, which reflect the current bearish trends. During the recent surges, the first cryptocurrency failed to consolidate above key exponential moving averages, indicating a lack of sufficient investor support.
The cryptocurrency market may also have reacted reflexively to geopolitical tensions and fluctuating macroeconomic indicators.
As there is now a heightened correlation between bitcoin and the stock market, traders expect further rate declines with temporary spikes and increased volatility. At the same time, the decline should be limited, as the weakening of the downward trend points to a return to the $30-40k range.
ICB Fund believes that BTC could close February in a slight surplus, but continue to fall in March.
Freedom Convoy cryptocurrencies frozen by court order 🥶
An Ontario Supreme Court judge has ordered the freezing of millions of dollars in donations, including in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, transferred to stock wallets by protesting truckers in Ottawa.
The court's decision to block the funds, also known as the "Mareva injunction," was announced as part of a lawsuit filed against the convoy by Ottawa residents.
I can confirm that this is the first success. The Canadian court injunction targets bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges," said an attorney for the Ottawa residents who spoke for the plaintiffs.
The Canadian government is continuing its efforts to seize funds from the protesters. The freeze is a separate process aimed at potentially redistributing about $20 million to Ottawa citizens. The redistribution will only occur if the lawsuit against the Freedom Convoy is successful.
Kraken admits the possibility of pre-trial asset freezes 👀
Users worried about the possibility of the authorities to freeze digital assets without a court decision, should store funds in non-custodial wallets. That's the opinion of Kraken CEO Jess Powell, commenting on the situation in Canada.
"Procedural rules are for plebs. In Canada, the strong is always right. If someone disagrees, you just confiscate their wealth, revoke their license and exclude them from the financial system [...]. There is no need to discuss law, policy or even rights when you have a monopoly on violence," Powell wrote.
Earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergency Law of 1988, which gives the government broad powers to impose order and allows banks to freeze the personal accounts of anyone connected to or supporting demonstrations without a court order.
Ethereum commission fell to lowest level in four months 💎
According to statistics as of Feb. 13, 2022, the average transaction fee on the Ethereum network has fallen to its lowest level in four months. $15.13 per transfer.
Transactions in Ethereum are cheaper today than they were in mid-January 2022, when the average transaction fee in Ethereum was about $52.46 per transfer. As of today, statistics show that it would take 0.0052 ETH, or $15.13 per transaction, to move Ethereum (ETH). The average transfer fee on Ethereum is even cheaper, as metrics on bitinfocharts.com show that the average gas fee today is 0.0023 ETH or $6.67 per transfer.
The average gas commission on Ethereum today is 0.0052 ETH or $15.13 per transfer. Ethereum commissions have not been this low since mid-September 2021.
The Central Bank of Jamaica will launch its own cryptocurrency this year 🇯🇲
Last year, the Central Bank of Jamaica tested the digital Jamaican dollar. According to Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the state-owned cryptocurrency performed well in the pilot project and the digital Jamaican dollar will be fully launched in 2022. The regulator issued more than $230 million worth of coins during the test.
"The CBDC will serve as the foundation for Jamaica's digital payments architecture, will facilitate greater access to financial services and increase the speed of transactions. At the same time, the cost of banking services for Jamaican citizens will be reduced through the use of the state's digital currency. This is a big step toward building a nation of peace and opportunity," Holness wrote.
The Central Bank of Jamaica will not be able to track transactions with the state's Stablecoin because of consumer data protection measures. The Bank of Jamaica will only collect general data.
Giant black truffle sold at NFT auction 😆
Inspired by the success of other NFT creators, French truffle maker Bernard Planche decided to hold an NFT auction to sell one of the largest truffles.
The auction was held on OpenSea, and the winner could pay for the truffle in both cryptocurrency and fiat money. Along with NFT, the buyer also received a copy of the physical certificate of authenticity.
The winner of the auction will be invited to a private day of truffle hunting demonstrations (searching for truffles with dogs or pigs) at Saint-Sirk-Madelon in Perigord at the Bernard Planche estate. The day will end with dinner on site with the Surprise du Chef! - was how the auction advertisement sounded.
According to Planch, the NFT is the perfect way to demonstrate how new technology can be used to support and even strengthen long-standing cultural traditions.
Investor Kevin O'Leary thinks meta universe tokens are promising 🧿
Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary said he invests in meta universe tokens because this nascent crypto sector has great promise.
In a new interview with Kitco News, the celebrity investor added that he considers Ethereum (ETH), Polugon (MATIC), Hedera (HBAR) and Helium (HNT) to be the software on which the meta universe will be built.
If you're willing to buy [shares in] Facebook or Google or Microsoft, it's all software. And the meta-universe is software, so I'm opening positions on some of the big platforms where the meta-universes are going to be located, like Polugon, HBAR and Ethereum.
...I keep telling people that if you're willing to invest in traditional software as a service company like Microsoft, why aren't you investing in Ethereum? Why aren't you investing in Polugon, HBAR, Helium and all those platforms?
Bitmain will help create a 500 MW mining center in the U.S. 🔌
Chinese mining equipment maker Bitmain has partnered with U.S. company Merkle Standard to build a 500MW mining infrastructure.
Bitmain will supply 150,000 miners in the US. The mining center will be powered by hydroelectric power plants in Washington state.
According to Merkle Standard CEO Ruslan Zinurov, it will be "the largest 'green' mining platform in the U.S." The company also hopes to become a major employer in eastern Washington and support local businesses.
"With its flexible grid load characteristics, our data center (DPC) will be an ideal customer for local power providers. We look forward to providing additional support to the local community," Josh Zappala, director of strategy for Merkle Standard, told
AToken wallet users report funds theft ⚠️
Blockchain security company SlowMist has confirmed a hacking attack on the AToken multicurrency wallet.
Wallet users are reporting stolen funds, SlowMist wrote on its Twitter account.
Notably, the AToken team sent out a message last December 20 asking customers to stop using the service until December 24, and not to use wallets that import AToken. Otherwise, the team warned, all possible risks and losses would be borne by the users themselves.
Reuters recently reported that one of the main sources of funding for North Korea's nuclear development is the hacking of cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets.
Hacker group LockBit gained access to data of PayBito exchange users 🩸
LockBit gained access to confidential information of the PayBito exchange. The hackers managed to steal the data of more than 100,000 users of the exchange.
The attackers were able to steal personal data, as well as password hashes, reports Security Affairs. In addition, the hackers got access to personal data and email addresses of site administrators.
LockBit is now demanding a ransom payment in cryptocurrency from PayBito. Otherwise, the data of users and administrators promise to put it in the public domain. The attackers gave the site's management until February 21 to think about it. The ransom amount is not specified at the site of the group, most likely, the hackers will voice the amount in bitcoins directly in communication with the representatives of PayBito.
The LockBit ransomware is able to detect language settings on an infected computer and does not encrypt files for users in Eastern Europe.
XUMM Version 2.2.8 Available for Apple iOS and Google Play 📱
The XUMM project team has announced that wallet version 2.2.8 is now available on the Apple iOS and Google Play Store. While version 2.2.8 contains mostly minor improvements, it contains one of the most anticipated innovations - the token filtering feature is available for the first time. More features will be added in update 2.3.0.
It was also reported that the previously announced integration with FIO Send was launched. :
We are pleased to announce that XUMM users can now easily send XRP and any XRP Ledger tokens to FIO's readable crypto descriptor, without having to copy and paste long addresses again!
Thus, more than half a million XUMM users will be able to send and receive money with the brand new XUMM feature. With FIO Send users can replace their cumbersome automatically generated addresses with human-readable cacheshtags (descriptors).
Terra launches $1 billion bitcoin "stabilization fund" ⚙️
Luna Foundation Guard, a nonprofit organization, announced the successful completion of a $1 billion private sale of LUNA tokens. The funds will be used as a reserve for the UST steblecoin.
Venture capital firms such as Jump Crypto, Three Arrows Capital, GSR, Tribe Capital and others participated in the token sale. According to the announcement, the money received will be converted into bitcoins and used as a reserve fund for the UST algorithmic stackablecoin, which is used in the Terra ecosystem. The choice of bitcoin as an asset to hold reserves is dictated by the fact that the first cryptocurrency "loosely correlates with the Terra ecosystem."
"Algorithmic Stablecoins are often criticized because of the possibility of "default" when the amount of sell orders exceeds reserves. A decentralized reserve can provide additional opportunities during UST drawdown cycles," the developers note.
Coinbase added support for Ledger hardware wallets 🔐
Coinbase, the largest U.S. bitcoin exchange, has added support for Ledger hardware cryptocurrency wallets to its Coinbase Wallet browser extension.
To celebrate the integration, Ledger released a limited edition Nano X Coinbase Edition. The devices are available for purchase at the manufacturer's online store.
"The Coinbase Wallet is your pass to collecting NFTs, participating in DeFi, joining DAO and more. As you begin to spend more of your life on blockchain, it's more important than ever to keep your assets safe," the statement said.
The company expects the integration of Ledger wallets will provide additional layers of protection.
"The hardware wallet ensures that only the user who physically owns the device can complete it," Coinbase explained.
OpenSea initiated an investigation into NFT user theft 🧨
NFT marketplace OpenSea has initiated an investigation over a "rumored exploit" related to its smart contracts. The company said it was a phishing attack - no problems were found on the platform side.
"We are actively investigating a rumored exploit related to OpenSea smart contracts. It appears to be a phishing attack coming from a third-party resource. Do not click on links outside of opensea.io," the statement said.
On February 19, reports of thefts of non-exchangeable user tokens from the platform surfaced online. There were rumors of a $200 million hack, but OpenSea co-founder Devin Finzer denied the information. According to him, the attacker has $1.7 million in ETH at his address, which he received from the sale of some of the stolen NFTs.
Who found a "nuclear bomb" on Coinbase will receive a $250,000 reward ♨️
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will pay $250,000 to a Twitter user named Tree of Alpha who discovered a "market nuclear bomb."
Tree of Alpha found a bug in the Coinbase trading platform that allowed him to cheat the system and sell Ethereum (ETH) as bitcoins. He transferred 0.024Z ETH from his account to exchange 0.024Z BTC to dollars and made about $1000 instead of $70.
On February 11, the trader asked for help in contacting Coinbase management to submit a report on the platform vulnerability. Exchange representatives confirmed the error and promptly fixed it.
The company will award Tree of Alpha $250000 for finding the bug. Interestingly, decentralized financial services pay much more for bug finding. For example, the Wormhole protocol set a $10 million bonus for identifying vulnerabilities.
NFT artist PunkMeTender helps fight for women's rights 💟
Punk Angels is a new digital project created by a Los Angeles-based artist under the pseudonym PunkMeTender. It is an NFT collection, aWebZ incubator, and also marks the launch of a movement advocating for social change.
The creator of the collection, Romain, also known as PunkMeTender, was introduced to graffiti by a respected street artist named Thierry Guetta. They worked together for over 15 years creating outstanding works of art, some of which ended up in the collection of celebrities such as Khloe Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Mariah Carey. In 2016, Romain launched his own venture, PunkMeTender.
The NFT Punk Angels collection includes over 8,888 unique "punk angels," which, according to the artist, represent freedom, inclusivity, empowerment, bringing art, fashion and social change to the meta universe.
SEC: Spot Bitcoin-ETF doesn't meet legal standards 🚫
SEC head Gary Gensler responded to a petition from Congressman Tom Emmer explaining why the agency has yet to approve the launch of a bitcoin-based spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to the regulator's head, applications for such funds do not meet the Securities Act's standards for cracking down on fraudulent or manipulative practices.
Co-founder and CEO of CoinRoutes David Weisberg criticized the SEC chief's response and called his arguments "nonsense."
Weisberg recalled that the regulator approved a futures-based bitcoin-ETF in late 2021, even though the spot and futures markets are 99% correlated. Weisberg also added that the spot market is much more transparent than the futures market because trading platforms allow you to view an aggregated exchange stack.
Finder: Cardano cryptocurrency will reach $58 💰
Despite the fact that Cardano cryptocurrency has not traded above $1.6 since the beginning of the year, and recently its rate fell to $1.008, a group of Finder analysts believe that ADA will start a rapid rally in the coming years. They estimate that the coin will rise 168% to $2.79 by the end of the year.
More than 10% of fintech analysts predict that ADA could overtake its nearest competitor XRP this year, pushing it to a lower market capitalization position. Analysts believe ADA will trade at $8.18 per coin by 2025 and reach $58.04 by 2030.
Researchers explained that the Cardano Alonzo upgrade allowed the network to implement smart contract functionality, so we can expect more from ADA in the next eight years. On the other hand, after the activation of Alonzo, the value of the coin began to decline.
Digital yuan defeated Visa at the Olympics 💳
The first serious test for China's national steblecoin, the digital yuan, was the Olympic Games that opened a week ago in Beijing. Testing the digital yuan amid an influx of foreigners and noisy confusion with a large number of guests is a good fit for the coin's developers. And so far, the digital yuan is doing well.
The People's Bank of China has made no secret of the fact that it sees the Winter Olympics, which officially opened on Feb. 4, as an opportunity to raise awareness of the digital yuan amid steady progress in trials in about a dozen regions across the country since 2020.
Even before the Games began, foreigners could download an app or get a physical card with digital yuan or convert foreign currency into electronic yuan (e-CNY) at self-service machines, which are abundant in the Olympic venues.
Coinbase and FTX commit to giving away cryptocurrency 🤔
Two cryptocurrency firms that typically compete for customer order flow competed for attention with their own ads during the Super Bowl.
A minute-long Coinbase ad with a QR code bouncing across the screen invited viewers to participate in a major giveaway, with more than $100 million in rewards expected for the cryptocurrency community this year.
Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX also bought ad space during a sporting event featuring comedian Larry David. In a two-minute commercial that introduces viewers to some of the greatest inventions in history, from the wheel to the fork to the toilet bowl, David dismisses these ideas as innovative. Then he is introduced to FTX and says, "I don't think so. And I'm never wrong about that."
As part of its own raffle, FTX gives away 7.54 BTC to those who enter before midnight.
In 10 years the crypto market has stolen more money than Moldova's GDP 😵
Cryptocurrency fraudsters have stolen a total of $12.1 billion since 2011, Crystal Blockchain analysts concluded.
According to the published report, there have been 120 security hacks and 73 attacks on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols in the market over the past 11 years. In addition, attackers have implemented 33 fraud schemes. By comparison, the volume of stolen cryptocurrency surpassed Moldova's gross domestic product for 2020, analysts said.
One of the most lucrative strategies for cybercriminals since 2019 remains fraud. The most telling is the Chinese PlusToken scheme, which has collected more than $3 billion in BTC, ETH and EOS cryptocurrency from victims.
Security breaches also account for a significant share. Here, Crystal analysts cite as an example the hacking of the Coincheck cryptocurrency exchange, which lost more than $535 million in NEM tokens.
Ripple v. SEC: Court Satisfies Latest Commission Motion ⚔️
The latest development in the process was another deadline delay from the SEC. In its February 11 motion, the SEC asks the court to extend the deadline for responding to Ripple's latest request until February 24, 2022.
The court has already granted the motion and also ordered that the disputed documents be made available via email for closed-door review.
The dispute concerns the "Estrabook memos" that the company is trying to obtain. These are recordings of conversations between Brad Garlinghouse and SEC Commissioner Elad Roizman in 2018, recorded by Matthew Estrabuk, an assistant to Roizman at the time.
The SEC believes these documents are also protected by the deliberative process privilege (DPP), i.e., they are confidential. The SEC believes that a two-week response time is deemed appropriate due to the overcrowded schedule, does not prejudice Garlinghouse, and will not affect the timeline.
Uber is ready to integrate cryptopayments ⚙️
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that the firm will definitely accept cryptocurrency in the future, but noted that such a move will only happen under certain conditions. The statements were made on Friday during his conversation with Bloomberg. Asked if Uber could ever integrate cryptocurrency, Khosrowshahi said:
"We definitely can, we talk about it all the time. I think that right now bitcoin and a number of other cryptocurrencies are a very valuable means of savings.
Their exchange mechanism is costly, which is not good for the environment. I think once the exchange mechanism becomes cheaper and more environmentally friendly, we will be more interested in cryptocurrency.
So we're certainly keeping an eye on that. And if you ask the question if Uber is going to accept cryptocurrency in the future, we'll say definitely. At some point. It's not the time yet, but we will. "
The Gala Games ecosystem token added 75% in a week 📣
The GALA token is used in various types of blockchain games that allow players to actually own their in-game characters, skins and items, some of which are in the form of NFTs.
GALA has a market capitalization of $2.7 billion with 24-hour trading volume above $1.5 billion. This is huge money, allowing GALA to occupy the 5Z position in CoinGecko's cryptocurrency ranking.
GALA was able to raise its price from $0.18 to $0.Z5 due to growth in the last few days. If the cryptocurrency can maintain this momentum, the token will be able to overcome the resistance level at $0.44 and move further. In this case, the next resistance level will be $0.54.
SHIB price up 75% in two weeks 💣
On Monday, the meme token rose to $0.00002961, its best level since January 18, amid renewed buying interest in the cryptocurrency market. Before the pullback, SHIB's price fell nearly 80% from a record high of $0.00008870.
Nevertheless, the sharp price recovery also came close to triggering two classic sell signals. First, the daily SHIB Relative Strength Index (RSI), a technical indicator that ranges from 0 to 100, signaling whether an asset is overbought (RSI>70) or oversold (RSI<30), showed a near overbought condition after rising to 60.
Finally, the daily SHIB Relative Volatility Index (RVI), which measures the standard deviation of low and high prices, fell below 50, which is a sell signal. In an "ideal" scenario, traders close their long positions after the RVI falls below 40. At the time of publication, it was hovering around 48.
Kraken audit shows $19 billion in BTC and ETH reserves 💰
U.S.-based analyst firm Armanino reports that the Kraken exchange has $19 billion worth of BTC and ETH, including $3.5 billion worth of ETH frozen in an Etherium 2.0 stack.
Technology consulting firm Armanino's audit was limited to checking the availability of BTC and ETH. Basically, we are not talking about the exchange's own reserves, but the deposits of its customers. Kraken product director Jeremy Welch said the exchange plans to conduct an annual public verification of cryptocurrency deposits.
"Security and transparency for our customers has always been at the core of our corporate culture and at the core of our practices and operations. Regular Proof of Reserves audits prove that customer safety is a top priority for Kraken."