CryptoETFs inspire optimism in investors

Prominent cryptocurrency industry analyst Colin Wu revealed that the trend of steady inflows into bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) ETFs on Sept. 27, 2024 has extended, indicating growing investor interest in these digital assets. The total net figure for BTC funds amounted to $494 million, while $58.6 million went into ETH products.

Bitcoin-ETFs have continued to record inflows over the past 7 days, underscoring the steady interest from institutional and retail investors. Among the market leaders yesterday were Ark Invest and 21Shares' ARKB, which raised $203 million, and Fidelity's FBTC, which raised $124 million.

Ether-ETFs also showed positive results. Fidelity's FETH fund was yesterday's top fundraiser, increasing its assets by $42.5 million, while BlackRock's ETHA recorded an inflow of $11.5 million. However, not all funds showed positive results: Grayscale's ETHE saw an outflow of $10.7 million.

This data highlights that despite Grayscale's negative performance, other players continue to raise capital. The influx of funds on the back of increasing regulatory clarity in the US and other jurisdictions could further boost the cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund market. Investors are becoming more confident in the long-term prospects of digital assets, as evidenced by significant inflows.

Bitcoin continues to act as “digital gold” and a key tool for hedging against economic uncertainty. Ether, on the other hand, benefits from its feature-rich platform for decentralized finance and applications, making it attractive to institutional investors.

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JPMorgan Launches Its First Bitcoin Fund for Wealthy Clients

JPMorgan Chase & Co․, one of the largest banks in the world, is preparing to offer its high net worth clients access to a bitcoin fund․ This marks a significant shift in the traditional bank's digital asset strategy․

According to CoinDesk, the fund will be actively managed and will be available to JPMorgan Private Bank clients as early as this summer․ The offering will be the first of its kind for JPMorgan, which was previously known for its skepticism towards cryptocurrencies․

Previously, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has repeatedly spoken out against bitcoin, calling it a fraud․ However, the bank seems to be changing its stance, recognizing its customers' growing interest in cryptocurrencies․

Offering a bitcoin fund for wealthy clients is part of a broader trend on Wall Street, where more financial institutions are beginning to offer their clients access to digital assets․ In April this year, Morgan Stanley became the first major bank to allow its clients to invest in bitcoin․

The new JPMorgan fund will be actively managed, which means that the fund managers will make decisions on how to invest clients' money․ This is different from passive funds that simply track a certain index.

JPMorgan's bitcoin fund offering is evidence that cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly integrated into the traditional financial system․ As more institutional investors show interest in bitcoin, we can expect other banks to follow JPMorgan's lead and offer their clients access to cryptocurrencies․

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Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is a free man

According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been released from prison.

Zhao's release came two days ahead of his scheduled release date this Sunday, September 29. The Police Bureau has the legal right to release prisoners early if their release date falls on a weekend or holiday.

In April, Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) for failing to implement an adequate know-your-customer (KYC) program at Binance. As part of the guilty plea, Zhao also agreed to pay a $50 million fine and step down as CEO of the crypto exchange. The exchange agreed to pay a $4.3 million fine to various U.S. regulators to settle related charges.

While prison sentences for BSA violations are unusual (former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes, who pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2022, was only sentenced to probation), Zhao's four-month sentence was lenient compared to the three years sought by federal prosecutors.

The judge who heard Zhao's case, U.S. District Judge Richard Jones of the Western District of Washington, seemed convinced by Zhao's impeccable reputation and sterling record, aided by 161 letters of support from his friends, family and colleagues.

Zhao - formerly known as inmate #88087-510 - served three months in the low-security Lompoc II prison on California's Central Coast. In August, he was transferred to a correctional center in San Pedro, Calif.

His fortune is estimated at $25.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is believed to be the richest person ever imprisoned in the United States.

Zhao's representative declined to comment when contacted by CoinDesk.

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Earn money from environmental agenda: top ReFi-coins

Regenerative finance (ReFi) is a blockchain-based project that helps regenerate resources that have already been used. Regeneration can concern a wide variety of goods and phenomena - from natural subsoil to social benefits.
What is ReFi

ReFi is quite close in meaning to another concept - environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). But if the latter is more aimed at minimizing the negative effect of human activity, then regenerative finance, according to the meaning invested in it, goes further - it tries to restore what has been lost.

Some ReFi's favor funding projects that reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Others contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage by tokenizing various artifacts in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

In ReFi, as in other fields, fraud is quite prevalent. And many projects also conduct their activities in a non-transparent manner. For example, there is often little information provided directly about the technical side of the issue: blockchain, tokenomics and consensus mechanism. That is, the developers are accidentally or deliberately trying to avoid some of the questions that potential investors often ask.

On the other hand, ReFi projects can be quite a lot of advertising, hype and other information noise about the team's efforts to make the world a better place. That said, developers often appeal to things like Web3, NFT, and DeFi simply to get more attention and fit in with the “mainstream,” not because their projects are incredibly innovative.

Not all ReFi projects are unscrupulous, however. Let's take a look at a few of the most popular ones.

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Hut 8 has leased out AI computing capacity

Mining company Hut 8 has started generating revenue from renting out GPUs to AI companies. This is reported by The Block.

The new service, called GPU-as-a-service, offers customers the processing power they need for high-performance tasks like running artificial intelligence.

Hut 8 has partnered with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and AdvizeX to develop and launch the new computing cluster, which is operated by subsidiary Highrise AI. The five-year partnership includes fixed infrastructure fees and revenue sharing with an unnamed cloud AI developer.

The GPU-as-a-service cluster is hosted in a Chicago data center and includes multiple HPE Cray supercomputers comprised of 1,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs.

“The launch of our GPU-as-a-service vertical further diversifies our computing segment, which now spans artificial intelligence, bitcoin mining and traditional cloud services. [...] The sophisticated AI computing structure will contribute to both financial and strategic growth, revenue diversification and long-term value creation,” commented Hut 8 CEO Asher Genuth.

Earlier, Bernstein experts noted that miners are attractive partners for AI companies and will be moving their capacity into the neural network sector.

Core Scientific's 12-year agreement with AI firm CoreWeave and Coatue Management's $150 million investment in Hut 8 were key catalysts for the sector's development.

As a reminder, artificial intelligence offers 17-25 times more revenue per kWh spent compared to bitcoin mining - $0.17-0.2 vs. $3-5.

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Lookonchain: Memcoin success stories may be a cover for insider trading

Experts at Lookonchain, a company specializing in analyzing trading activity and blockchain data, said that stories about phenomenal returns of traders who invested in little-known memcoins may be a cover for insider trading and designed to attract the attention of unsophisticated crypto investors.

On Sept. 25, Lookonchain analysts discovered a trader who invested 9.8 Solana coins ($1331) in 38.7 million MOODENG memtokens on Sept. 10 - and became a millionaire in just two weeks. This investor made an impressive 2,554 times profits, and his asset value nominally exceeded $3.4 million.

However, this fact has aroused suspicion among Lookonchain specialists. They believe that the staggering rise in the value of MOODENG had no objective market prerequisites and could be the result of insider activity on the part of the developers of the meme coin. Lookonchain's fears are indirectly confirmed by the fact that the liquidity of the MOODENG pool is only $1.8 million, which is half the current market value of the tokens owned by the trader. This will prevent the “successful investor” from cashing out the entire investment at the current market price.

On September 26, a Lookonchain columnist witnessed another enrichment of a trader who made a 1,000 percent profit. The trader invested $95 in the INCEPT token, on which he was able to earn about $97,000 in 12 hours. Lookonchain noted that according to the blockchain data, most of the cryptocurrency wallet addresses that made similar-sized profits from the INCEPT investment during this period were created just four days ago and only traded the asset in question - which could also be evidence of insider trading.

Earlier, Manhattan District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein dismissed a class action lawsuit against Tesla CEO Elon Musk, accusing the billionaire of defrauding investors by promoting the DOGE cryptocurrency, manipulating its rate and insider trading.

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The Middle East accounts for 7.5% of global cryptocurrency volume

According to a report by Chainalysis analysts, the Middle East and North Africa accounted for 7.5% of the total volume of cryptocurrency transactions in the world between July 2023 and June 2024. The amount of transfers totaled about $338.7 billion, with institutional and professional investors accounting for the vast majority of transactions.

According to analysts, almost 93% of transactions were for $10,000 or more.

Network traffic in the region is mainly through centralized exchanges. However, the report also noted a “high interest” of investors from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in decentralized platforms.

Chainalysis experts emphasized the UAE's growing influence as a global cryptocurrency hub, primarily due to transparent regulation of digital assets and the authorities' forward-thinking stance towards the industry. For example, in August 2024, Dubai's Court of First Instance ruled that employees can be paid in cryptocurrency.

In September 2024, UAE financial regulators took another step towards digital asset adoption by allowing virtual asset providers licensed in Dubai to offer their services to users across the country.

And more recently, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates approved insurance to protect financial institutions and their customers from losses arising from hacking, internal fraud and damage to storage infrastructure.

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Solana's (SOL) rise to $160 threatened by an aggressive whale

The recent actions of the Solana whale, which has pulled out of steaking and selling its assets on Binance, has raised concerns about the sustainability of the current SOL price rise

In the past, sales of the Solana whale have caused SOL to fall by double digits. We dissect whether history will repeat itself again, or whether retail investors will be able to protect the current price rise.

Whale Solana has decided to lock in profits

According to Solscan, the Solana whale recently took 100,000 SOL tokens out of steaking and transferred them to cryptocurrency exchange Binance. This comes just three days after the same investor withdrew 100,000 SOL tokens from steaking and transferred the assets to the same exchange.

Whale's decision to move his SOL assets to Binance is likely due to a desire to capitalize on the current price increase. The coin has risen in value by 9% over the past seven days.

However, this growth could face resistance if Whale continues to sell off. Historically, his sales have had a significant impact on the SOL price, as was the case between June 7 and July 7, when he dumped 1.2 million SOLs worth $178 million, causing the price to drop from $170 to $128.

Nevertheless, positive indicators still prevail. The Parabolic Stop and Reverse (SAR) indicator points below the SOL price, indicating a strong uptrend. In addition, the Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) indicator at 0.27 indicates high buyer interest and confirms the bullish bias on Solana.

SOL Outlook: Whale vs. the rest

Sustained buying pressure from other market participants may offset the impact of the whale's actions. If the bullish momentum continues, Solana could rise to the resistance level of $160.09. Successfully overcoming this critical level will open the way for SOL to reach $188.74.

However, if the whale continues to sell its assets for profit, history could repeat itself. In this case, the price may fall by 27%, to the neighborhood of $110.

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Americans are actively taking out loans secured by bitcoins and Ethereum

Employees of the financial company Ledn reported that commercial institutions in the United States have become active in issuing loans secured by cryptocurrencies.

US institutions are using Ledn's platform to approve loans secured by bitcoins and Ethereum (ETH). The loans are granted at a maximum of 13.4% per annum. This is quite low because the rate for loans taken out in the US with credit cards is as high as 28.4%.

In the first half of 2024, Ledn customers received $1.2 billion in loans secured by digital assets. The vast majority of loans were issued by financial institutions earning up to 10% APR.

To borrow money, Ledn users need to make a deposit in bitcoins or Ethereum worth 50% of the loan amount. In addition, customers of the service are offered to double their savings in BTC by using the B2X product, which allows them to borrow bitcoins against BTC collateral. Notably, transactions of $2,000 or more are automatically approved and digital assets are issued instantly.

According to the research company HFT Market Intelligence, the amount of outstanding loans issued against the pledge of bitcoins on all existing platforms reaches $8.5 billion. Analysts predict an increase in demand for this type of financial services and believe that by 2030 the value of loans received against the pledge of BTC will increase to $45 billion.

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Players can't sell their HMSTRs from Hamster Kombat

On September 26, trading of the token of the notorious game-clicker HMSTR from Hamster Kombat started. The tapalka coin appeared on several major exchanges at once

Against the backdrop of the coin's listing, reports from players who can't sell their HMSTR have appeared online. We tell you what's going on.

Participants of the tapalka game faced a problem. The fact is that the reward of many players in Hamster Kombat did not exceed a couple of dollars. Trading platforms have restrictions on the minimum order amount. For example, Binance, players complain, does not allow opening trades of less than $5. Therefore, players whose income does not meet the limits of exchanges, can not sell their rammed coins.

HMSTR rate, meanwhile, continues to fall. As a reminder, trading started at $0.01. As of the moment of writing the review, the coin has already fallen in price by almost 30%.

Many participants of the crypto community believe that the Hamster Kombat team unfairly distributed tokens. The fact is that some users bet on pumping the parameter accumulation of points per hour (PPH). However, before the snapshot, the project team introduced a new rule with the “anti-chit” system, because of which the key collectors were disqualified. Therefore, those who bet on PPH, without warning, found themselves out of airdrop.

According to users of the network, the developers took such a step in order to distribute as many coins as possible among the Influencers.

Those who were not disqualified were also unhappy with the result. Players complain about unreasonably low rewards.

“I played every day for 6 months to get $25. Now that's a gimmick. HMSTR, what the hell?”, writes one player.

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South Korean authorities fined Worldcoin $830,000

South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has fined crypto project Worldcoin and its developer Tools For Humanity 1.1 billion Korean won ($830,000) for alleged violations in the collection and transmission of personal data.

According to the PIPC, Worldcoin's management failed to properly notify its customers about the purpose of iris scans and the retention period of that data. The agency said Worldcoin Foundation never translated the consent form for biometric data collection into Korean until March 22.

Worldcoin Foundation was fined 725 million won ($545,000) for violations in handling sensitive information and transferring data overseas. Tools For Humanity (TFH) was also fined 379 million won ($285,133) for breaches of duty in transferring data overseas.

The regulator said Worldcoin Foundation and TFH did not inform South Korean users where their personal information was being transferred to, nor did they provide the name and contact information of the person receiving the data, and this violates local laws.

In addition, TFH did not conduct age verification for subscribers under the age of 14 until April 2024. PIPC added that it is not illegal to collect sensitive data in South Korea, but it must be done according to set rules. The regulator urged Worldcoin to rectify the deficiencies. TFH management said it has nothing against the fine imposed by the South Korean regulator.

“The PIPC investigation revealed weaknesses in disclosure during the initial launch of our crypto project in South Korea. The identified errors have now been addressed and TFH's operations, including the use of Orb verification to check for 'humanness', are in compliance with South Korea's Personal Information Protection Act,” TFH said.

Worldcoin resumed operations in Kenya in June, as local authorities found no regulatory violations in scanning users' facial images. However, Kenyan authorities urged Worldcoin to obtain a license to operate in the country.

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The market capitalization of the Popcat cryptocurrency has passed $1 billion

According to the latest data from the CoinMarketCap platform, the meme-based coin Popcat (POPCAT) on the Solana (SOL) blockchain has reached an important milestone - its market capitalization has exceeded $1 billion. This happened after the joke asset's exchange rate rose from a daily low of $0.8737 to the current price of $1.02.

Since January 2024, the popular POPCAT token has risen in value by more than 27,000%. Over the past seven days, the POPCAT exchange rate has increased by 50%, making it the third largest market capitalization of the meme-based coin on the Solana network.

According to data from aggregator site CoinGecko, the dogwifhat token (WIF) is in first place. Its market capitalization is $2 billion. The second in the ranking is BONK with a valuation of $1.3 billion.

Other coins based on memes on the Solana blockchain have also shown significant growth over the past 24 hours. Over the past 24 hours, the WIF joke asset has increased by 18%, BONK by more than 11%, MEW by 18.6%, and BOME by almost 11%.

The Solana cryptocurrency exchange rate is up more than 5% in the past 24 hours. At the same time, the price of the asset has increased by 16% over the past seven days. Now the SOL coin is trading above the $150 level.

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Inflows into crypto funds rose to $436 million

-- CoinShares experts have published a weekly report on capital flows in the crypto funds sector.
-- Between September 9 and September 13, an inflow of $436 million was recorded.
-- Bitcoin-based products attracted $436 million, Ethereum attracted $19 million in outflows.

In the period from September 9 to September 13, 2024, the inflow of capital in crypto funds rose to a mark of $436 million, the volume of trading amounted to $ 8 billion, according to the weekly report of CoinShares.

Experts noted that the sharp inflow of funds after a significant outflow in the past was caused by a significant change in market expectations regarding a possible reduction in interest rates by 50 basis points.

Among providers the most capital was withdrawn from the fund Grayscale Investments - $69 million. Fidelity has an inflow of $213 million.

As for the distribution of data by assets, bitcoin-based products were once again the leader in terms of inflows - $436 mln. Ethereum funds continued to experience an outflow of $19 mln. Bitcoin products that allow opening short positions also recorded an outflow of $8.5 mln.

At the regional level, most of the inflow came from the US market - $416 million. Countries such as Switzerland and Germany were also leaders - $27.1 million and $10.6 million respectively. In Canada and Sweden there was an insignificant outflow of funds.

Recall, from September 2 to September 8, 2024, the capital outflow from crypto funds amounted to $726 million, this withdrawal of funds was a record since March 2024.

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Vitalik Buterin names the benefits of Ethereum solo-stacking

Ethereum solo-staking is the key to security and decentralization of the network of the second most capitalized cryptocurrency. This was stated by its co-founder Vitalik Buterin, writes Cointelegraph.

According to the expert, single-stakers are an uncoordinated and diverse group that reduces the dependence on CEX. Even a small proportion of them can add an important decentralized layer of protection for Ethereum.

Buterin also addressed the role of solo-stakers in 51% attack scenarios. According to him, the key difference in them is the size of the attacker's control of the network: 50-56% or 57%+. In the second case, block finalization will become possible, which is fraught with the emergence of forks, he pointed out.

To make such attacks more difficult, the Ethereum co-founder suggested that the community raise the required block confirmation threshold from 2/3 to 3/4 or more of the blocked coins in the staking.

Earlier, Buterin announced a change in approach to mentioning L2 solutions. Starting next year, he will publicly talk only about projects at “stage 1+”.

Recall, in September, the co-founder of Ethereum said that he is not going to invest in Layer 2 networks or other projects.

For 11 years, solo miners have mined at least 329 blocks of bitcoin

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BNB may hit a high of $645.90

In recent days, Binance Coin has been moving sideways after a failed breakout attempt. Meanwhile, investors continue to open long positions on the cryptocurrency, expecting the price of BNB to rise soon

Let's see how the technical picture of BNB looks like now and whether we should wait for the cryptocurrency to rally in the near term.

Binance Coin in consolidation phase

Between September 6 and September 12, BNB actively tried to overcome the long-term support level at $560. However, the breakthrough failed, so by the time of writing the cryptocurrency continues to move sideways.

Meanwhile, the Chaykin indicator (CMF) reports that investor money is still flowing into BNB. The chart below shows that a bullish divergence has formed on the CMF chart. This means that the buying pressure on the asset is growing, but this growth is not reflected on the price yet.

In addition, the positive ratio of long and short positions on BNB, which currently stands at 1.04, reflects the community's bullish bias towards the asset. Such values indicate that now more and more traders are opening long positions, expecting to benefit from the growth of the asset's price.

Which five DePIN tokens are the best to invest in this September is told in a special feature.

BNB forecast: breakout above $598

At the time of writing this analysis, BNB is trading at $546, having lost a little over 2% in the last 24 hours. At the same time, the token has performed well over the past seven days and has added 8+% in value.

If BNB has enough strength to go from a sideways trend to an uptrend, the cryptocurrency will have a chance to rise above $560. Then the next important mark will be the resistance at $598, which was formed back in July. Since then, the token has tested this level three times, but all three times - unsuccessfully.

If the breakout attempt succeeds this time, BNB will have a chance to rise to a three-month high of $645.90.

However, if it fails, BNB risks a pullback to the support level at $468.90. This would cancel the bullish outlook.

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Cryptocurrency fear and greed index hits highest since July 2024

The Cryptocurrency Market Fear and Greed Index reached its highest level since July 2024, surpassing the 60 mark. The index reached 64 on Saturday after bitcoin rose to $66,000.

The Fear and Greed Index was created to track market sentiment in the crypto industry. It is calculated based on signals that influence the behavior of traders and investors, including surveys, Google Trends data, the level of volatility of the digital asset rate, social media, and bitcoin's market share. The highest index is 100 and the lowest is 0.

In August, the index was in the “fear” zone, and on August 6, it dropped to the lowest level of 17. On that day, the price of bitcoin collapsed to $53,000. Now the indicator is at 64, which indicates “greed”. Such a high indicator signals the growth of investor confidence in digital assets.

Experts also make an optimistic forecast regarding cryptocurrencies. Thus, the head of research at 0x Research, Markus Thielen, believes that the bull rally will begin in the cryptocurrency market in the fourth quarter. He estimates that bitcoin's yield is now above the $65,000 price level, which could cause market participants to experience FOMO (fear of missing out on gains).

According to CoinMarketCap, the value of bitcoin has risen by about 11.18% over the past month, the highest since March.

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Bitget Wallet launches OmniConnect: connecting Telegram Mini Apps to the Web3 world

Bitget Wallet, the leading non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet, announced the launch of OmniConnect, a developer kit (SDK) designed to connect Telegram Mini Apps to the broader Web3 ecosystem.

Expanding the capabilities of Telegram Mini Apps

The new toolkit will allow developers to integrate Telegram Mini Apps with multiple blockchains, including TON, Solana and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible networks. This gives Telegram Mini Apps developers access to a huge world of decentralized applications (dApps) and services.

Until now, Telegram Mini Apps have been mostly limited to the TON ecosystem. OmniConnect removes this barrier, allowing developers to harness the potential of other blockchains and create more functional and versatile applications.

The key benefits of OmniConnect are.

-- Multichain compatibility⁚ Support for over 500 blockchains, including TON, Solana, EVM-compliant networks and others.
-- Advanced functionality⁚ Ability to integrate with dApps, smart contracts and other Web3 services.
-- Improved user experience⁚ A more convenient and accessible way to interact with Web3 applications right in Telegram.

Bitget Wallet ⎯ A bridge between Web3 and Telegram

With the launch of OmniConnect, Bitget Wallet has positioned itself as a key player in bringing Web3 and Telegram technologies together. The company aims to make Web3 more accessible to the masses, and the integration with Telegram Mini Apps ⏤ an important step in that direction.

Telegram with its huge user base (over 700 million active users) is an attractive platform for Web3 development. OmniConnect can be a catalyst for mass adoption of decentralized technologies.

Future plans

Bitget Wallet also announced plans to launch additional initiatives aimed at empowering the Telegram Mini Apps ecosystem. The company believes in the potential of this platform and aims to make it an integral part of Web3.

The launch of OmniConnect ⎯ is a significant event that can significantly impact the development of both Telegram Mini Apps and Web3 as a whole. It opens up new opportunities for developers and makes decentralized technologies more accessible to a wider audience.

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Crypto market capitalization jumped by $75 billion in 5 days

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased by more than $75 billion this week, underscoring the increased interest in digital assets, especially bitcoin (BTC). The increase in market value coincided with the active accumulation of the world's premier digital coin by major institutional players, indicating strong confidence in the asset's long-term outlook.

The top five bitcoin holders are represented by financial giants such as iShares Bitcoin Trust (BlackRock), MicroStrategy, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund and Tether Holdings LTD. The leader among them was iShares Bitcoin Trust with 362,192.7 BTC, which confirms BlackRock's active participation in the crypto industry. Next is MicroStrategy with 252,220 BTC, continuing its aggressive policy of buying BTC under the leadership of its CEO Michael Saylor.

A significant amount of bitcoin is also held by Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which holds 220,957.9 BTC. Fidelity, one of the largest investment managers in the world, has accumulated 177,197.8 BTC through its Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund. Rounding out the top five is Tether Holdings LTD, which owns 75,354 BTC.

Analysts note that the presence of such major players reinforces the perception of cryptocurrency as “digital gold” and a protected asset. The growing participation of institutional investors also stabilizes the market, reducing its volatility and making it more predictable. At the same time, the concentration of a large amount of BTC in a small group of companies carries certain risks. In case of a sharp change in sentiment among these institutional investors, significant price fluctuations are possible.

Experts believe that further growth of quotations will depend on macroeconomic factors. These include the monetary policy of central banks and regulation of the cryptocurrency sector. However, in the short term, interest from institutional investors may become a catalyst for bitcoin price strengthening.

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How the $7.7 bln options expiration will affect BTC and ETH

A large number of options on bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) totaling about $7.7 billion expire today

Let's look at how the expiration will affect the price dynamics of the two largest cryptocurrencies by capitalization.

Analysts predict growth after the expiration of options

According to Deribit, 89,037 bitcoin contracts expire today. The maximum pain point of these contracts is $59,000. The put/call ratio is 0.85.

In addition, 719,130 Ethereum contracts expire today. The maximum pain point is $2,550; the put/call ratio is 0.47.

In options trading, traders analyze the put/call ratio to understand the overall sentiment of the market. In the case of bitcoin, the indicator shows a slight bias towards call options, indicating optimistic expectations for the cryptocurrency. The indicator for Ethereum indicates a strong bullish bias.

The maximum pain point refers to the price level at which holders of the asset incur the largest losses.

Analysts from Greeks.live shared additional data on the impact of expiring options as well as general market trends.

“Today is the end of the third quarter and cryptocurrencies have risen significantly over the past three weeks on the back of a 50 basis point Fed rate cut, which has significantly boosted market confidence. Given the end of the quarter and based on previous years, the fourth quarter is typically favorable, especially with the upcoming U.S. election and two additional rate cuts,” they wrote.

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) lowered its key rate at a meeting on September 18. Since then, the price of bitcoin has steadily risen from $57,000 to $65,075. Ethereum's value, meanwhile, increased from $2,278 to $2,625.

Experts predict further volatility in the market. Traders are now actively reviewing strategies for the fourth quarter, which is considered a traditionally strong period for cryptocurrencies.

However, market participants should be cautious. Historical data shows that option expiration often causes short-term fluctuations.

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BTC owners are not worried about the bitcoin to gold exchange rate drop

Renowned economist Peter Schiff found out that most bitcoin owners are not worried about the cryptocurrency lagging behind gold.

Are bitcoin hodlers worried about the fact that BTC's exchange rate against gold has fallen 35% since hitting an all-time high in November 2021? It's been almost three years since then. And this has happened despite the constant hype [around bitcoin] in the media, advertising, conferences, ETFs issued by Wall Street firms, NFT, the firm MicroStrategy and El Salvador,” Schiff wrote.

To get the opinions of members of the crypto community, Peter conducted a social survey with 4,750 participants. His results indicate that:

-- 77.4% of respondents are not worried about bitcoin's defeat;
-- 22.6% are worried about this fact.

One commentator attributed the calmness of digital asset holders to the fact that they simply don't care about gold. And Schiff, who advocates for the precious metal, constantly teases representatives of the crypto community. Peter said that in this way he is trying to educate “fooled people who bought bitcoins”.

But there is some truth in Schiff's words. El Salvador, which has invested in bitcoins since October 2021, earned an unrealized profit of 49% due to the coin's appreciation. If the government had invested in gold, the profit would have been 53% or more.

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Analysts saw an additional factor of bitcoin price growth

The other day the SEC approved the first in the history of the USA options on units of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for bitcoins.

CrypoQuant analysts believe that the launch of options on bitcoin-ETF units in the United States is a new factor for bitcoin price growth. At the same time, the expert community in the discussion of this issue has different interpretations of what is happening.

Recall that the other day the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States for the first time in American history approved the circulation of option contracts on bitcoin-ETF units. Bitcoin-ETFs themselves appeared on January 11 of this year, and now options are also allowed. BlackRock, the largest investment fund in the world, was the first to receive permission to work with such financial derivative instruments (derivatives).

Before that, in the United States, it was possible to trade options on ETF units based not on bitcoins themselves, but on bitcoin futures. In particular, such BITO instruments are traded on the Nasdaq exchange, and these are SEC-regulated instruments.

It is also worth noting that prior to the SEC's authorization to trade options on bitcoin-ETF units, contracts similar in functionality began trading and are still in circulation on various trading venues, including DeFi.

In discussing the impact of the SEC's decision on the bitcoin market, it is important to clarify the following point. Options on bitcoin-ETF units are not the same as options on bitcoins themselves. The latter contracts are not yet in a regulated field in the US. Thus, the launch of options trading on bitcoin-ETF units only indirectly affects the demand for bitcoins. Especially since the options themselves may or may not be exercised, depending on the market situation.

On the other hand, the very fact that the bitcoin market is “overgrown” with regulated derivatives, which are customary for classical players in the U.S. financial sector, will certainly encourage more investments in this area by institutional investors.

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The BTC exchange rate broke the $65,000 mark

Bitcoin recently broke the $65,000 mark, which was a significant event for the crypto market and its participants. However, the price of the digital coin immediately rebounded and dropped to $64,545 within 30 minutes. The important level was a long-awaited and symbolic boundary that caught the attention of both retail and institutional investors. In this regard, experts have different opinions on what awaits the main cryptocurrency in the coming weeks.

Many analysts believe that fixing the BTC rate above $65,000 is possible with the continuation of positive macroeconomic factors. One of the main drivers is the weakening of the US dollar amid interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. The easing of monetary policy may increase interest in cryptocurrencies as an alternative asset, which will contribute to price growth.

However, in order for the bitcoin price to hold at this level, there needs to be no sharp increase in volatility in traditional markets. In the event of a sharp drop in stock indices or unforeseen macroeconomic shocks, investors may begin to withdraw their funds from digital currencies into more stable assets such as gold or Treasuries, which would put pressure on the BTC exchange rate.

On the technical side, many traders are looking at the $70,000 level as the next important target. If this threshold is crossed, bitcoin could enter a new bull market phase and further growth will depend on new capital inflows, especially from institutional investors. However, in case of failure and a correction below $65,000, there is a risk of a more significant fall to support at $60,000.

At the same time, risks from global economic uncertainties remain. Any unexpected changes in central bank policies, geopolitical conflicts or changes in the regulatory environment of cryptocurrencies could put significant pressure on the market, causing short-term fluctuations.

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Tonkeeper will allow payment of commissions with the Hamster Kombat token

Starting October 1, non-custodial wallet Tonkeeper will add support for paying transaction fees on the TON network using Hamster Kombat (HMSTR).

This method is available through the built-in Battery feature. According to Tonkeeper chief strategy officer Daniel Kauri, it is a system “abstracted from the user interface that allows them to send transactions.”

“When a user is issued an HMSTR, they don't have Toncoin. Battery is a solution to that problem. You can top up Tonkeeper Battery with cryptocurrency on the TON network as well as through the App Store and Google Play,” Kauri told The Block in a comment.

The feature will be available once the network load is reduced due to the HMSTR airdrop. Users of Tonkeeper, Wallet and a number of exchanges have been facing problems due to an active influx of giveaway participants.

According to internal statistics, as of September 25, Tonkeeper has 34 million monthly active users, of which 8 million are active every day.

Recall, airdrop and listing of the Hamster Kombat token took place on September 26. The distribution involves 131 million users, among whom 75 billion coins will be distributed.

For three days, TON developers expect an increased load on the network.

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Justin Sun launches NFT Pump platform powered by Tron

Justin Sun's SunPump has unveiled a launchpad for digital collectibles in collaboration with token exchange trading platform APENFT.

The new platform expands the range of offerings for the viral token launch panel and fulfills a recent commitment made by Tron management.

SunPump teams up for NFT Launchpad

Justin Sun announced launchpad in a post on X (formerly Twitter). He mentioned the first-ever platform for the fair launch of NFT collections on the TRON network. The platform, dubbed NFT Pump, is live and available to NFT enthusiasts, hobbyists and professionals alike.

“This is the first time in the world that NFT + MemePump has been implemented on Tron,” the announcement reads.

Tron's CEO calls NFT Pump an honest, transparent and fun activity that goes beyond trading. He noted that all NFT trading commissions will go toward the buyback and burning of NFT.

“Tron needs its own, truly high quality NFT project. Honestly, if such a project materializes, I would trade my PFP for one of this project,” Sun shared at the time.

Read more: what is TRON (TRX) and how does it work?

The latest development reflects Sun's commitment to expanding the impact of Tron. It also allows SunPump, a Tron-based token generator, to regain popularity after weeks of fading. Other strategies already featured on flywheel include a special SUN airdrop exclusive to TRX owners.

Notably, the set of digital collectibles on NFT Pump includes images of famous celebrities. These include Ilon Musk, Donald Trump, Changpeng Zhao (Czech Republic) and Justin Sun, as well as animated characters and GIFs.

It is not yet known if the NFT pump will provide the same level of thrust or buzz as the SunPump. NFT's playing field continues to be marred by problems. As reported by BeInCrypto, 96% of NFTs are considered dead.

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Harris: US will dominate blockchain sector

-- Kamala Harris said the U.S. will “reaffirm its commitment” to global leadership in some sectors.
-- In particular, she mentioned blockchain.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said during a speech at the Economic Club that under her leadership, the United States will “reaffirm” its global leadership in sectors that will define the next century.

She said the country will dominate in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain and other emerging technologies.

Under a post by CEHV Foundation managing partner Adam Cochran on X (formerly Twitter), one panelist argued that incremental changes in campaign rhetoric are not worth mentioning, let alone calling them progress. Cochrane responded:

“Utter nonsense. She's smart enough to know she can run for eight years. [...] She's very interested in US financial dominance and US technological superiority, but she can't get much from cryptocurrencies.”

Recall, earlier the media reported that Kamala Harris for the first time publicly commented on her attitude to crypto-assets. She promised to support this industry, as well as the AI sector, but at the same time to promote the protection of investors and consumers.

Also, the media recently reported that Kamala Harris' staff has no plans to develop a detailed policy for the cryptosphere until November. However, her team maintains an ongoing dialog with cryptocurrency companies.

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Hamster Kombat developers unveiled a roadmap for 2025

According to the roadmap presented by the Hamster Kombat clicker game team, next year the developers intend to launch a separate app and integrate payment systems into the project infrastructure.

The team plans to use advertising revenue to buy back tokens for further distribution, as well as add non-replaceable tokens (NFTs) to the ecosystem as in-game assets.

“The second season, which we plan to launch in the coming weeks, will seamlessly connect the platform's content with third-party games,” the developers said in a statement.

Hamster Kombat officials added that they will launch the game in new regions next year and introduce a web app for both PC and Apple and Android devices.

Earlier in Hamster Kombat told about the method of identifying users engaged in manipulation. One of the main tools was an automatic system for analyzing player behavior.

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Traders lost $170 million due to bitcoin's fall

Amid a drop in the price of bitcoin (BTC) below $59 thousand, the amount of liquidations in the cryptocurrency market has exceeded $170 million over the past 24 hours

Currently, the first cryptocurrency in terms of capitalization is trading at $58,989, having fallen in price by 2% over the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH), meanwhile, has slipped 4% to $2,317.

How much traders lost

According to Coinglass, the total amount of liquidations in the crypto market over the past 24 hours amounted to $170.46 million, of which $145.56 million came from long positions and $24.88 million from short positions.

Ethereum traders were the hardest hit on the market, losing $51.27 million. Bitcoin traders lost $33.98 million.

Most of the liquidations were distributed between Binance, OKX, HTX (formerly Huobi) and Bybit. The largest order was executed by OKX - the cryptocurrency exchange closed on a

Why BTC is falling

Bitcoin's fall is largely due to the widely anticipated meeting of the US Federal Reserve (Fed). This week, on September 18, the regulator will make a decision on the key interest rate.

Investors expect the agency to lower the rate by 50 basis points (bps) - the probability of such an outcome is 59%. At the same time, the market estimates the decrease by 25 bps at 41%.

Due to the lack of clarity ahead of the meeting, cryptocurrencies continue to experience turbulence.

Bitcoin forecast

According to experts, provided that the Fed lowers the key rate, bitcoin will grow. The outlook for monetary policy has even become the dominant short-term driver of the cryptocurrency, overshadowing events surrounding the US presidential race.

“The rate cut is less important than the signals during the press conference and the publication of the updated dot plot. If the guidance and press conference are significantly softer, we expect bitcoin to move upward,” said Arbelos Markets trading director Sean McNulty.

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Bitcoin kit woke up after almost 11 years of hibernation and transferred 43 BTC

-- Bitcoin-kit sent 43 BTC to another address.
-- The transaction fee was $2.9.
-- He mined the assets ten years and eight months ago.

On September 16, 2024, an unknown bitcoin whale sent 43 BTC ($2.54 million at the time) to another address. The transaction fee was $2.9. This is reported by Whale Alert.

It is known that the hodler of the first cryptocurrency did not transfer bitcoins for ten years and eight months. Judging by onchain data, the user received assets in November and December 2013.

Between 2020 and 2021, bitcoins worth up to $0.32 were sent to Whale's address. Notably, the fees for some transactions were $336.99 and $226.30.

The Whale Alert portal notes that the transfer took place in the middle of the day on September 16, 2024. At that time, bitcoin was trading near the $58,800 mark. If the hodler moved his assets for sale, his profit amounted to about $2.52 million.

Note, at the time of writing the first cryptocurrency is trading near the $58,600 mark.

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Ripple growth stalled: XRP price falls below $0.60

In recent days, the market's interest in Ripple (XRP) has been steadily waning, causing the altcoin's price to decline. The cryptocurrency has already slipped below several important technical indicators, which may indicate that the growth has stopped

Let's find out what's going on with Ripple (XRP) and whether to expect the cryptocurrency to resume growth.

New problems of Ripple

Market demand for Ripple peaked last Friday, September 13, but has been declining ever since.

According to Santiment, the number of active and new addresses for the token has decreased. Over the past three days, the number of wallets that have made at least one transaction with the altcoin has decreased by 18%. Meanwhile, the number of new addresses has also decreased by 8% over the same period.

A drop in network activity usually signals that market players' interest in a cryptocurrency is waning. In the case of Ripple, this turned out to be true, as the cryptocurrency's price began to decline along with the decrease in the number of active and new addresses.

As of this writing, XRP has sagged below the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA), which represents the average value over the past 20 days. Traders often identify this mark as a short-term support level, so a drop below it is taken as a signal of a weakening uptrend.

Besides, a breakdown below the 20-day EMA usually serves as a signal to close long positions and open short ones. In this case, traders expect a further fall in the price of cryptocurrency.

Can Ripple overtake bitcoin? Why XRP has chances to become more profitable than the main cryptocurrency of the market - read in our article.

XRP forecast: everything depends on the cloud

At the time of writing this analysis, XRP is trading at $0.5707, having lost about 2% in the last 24 hours.

The bullish trend on the cryptocurrency is weakening: this thesis is confirmed by the fact that the price of Ripple has fallen below the green line of the Ishimoku cloud. If the demand for Ripple does not grow, then the token risks falling below the red line of the cloud - it serves as a critical resistance level.

In case of a fall below the red line, the pressure of sellers may increase - then XRP will go into a “bearish” mode. In such a scenario, we can expect the altcoin to fall to the lows of August 5 at $0.38.

Nevertheless, if the market demand for Ripple grows, the cryptocurrency will get a chance to build up bullish momentum again: then a breakout above the green line of the Ishimoku cloud and above the 20-day EMA is likely. In the event that XRP overcomes the resistance at $0.60, it could also grow to $0.74....

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Salvadoran President Naib Bukele will present a debt-free budget for 2025

-- President Salvador Bukele expects to present the 2025 state budget without the planned deficit.
-- The 2024 budget had a $338 million deficit, and when Bukele became president in 2019, the gap was $1.2 billion.
-- In August, the International Monetary Fund announced that it had held a series of discussions with the Salvadoran authorities and “progress has been made in negotiations on a Fund-supported program.”

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he would present a deficit-free budget for 2025 to the Legislative Assembly.

“I announce that on September 30 this year, for the first time in decades, we will present to the Legislative Assembly the first fully financed budget, without having to take on a cent of debt for current spending,” Bukele said Sunday during a celebration of El Salvador's 203rd anniversary of independence. “El Salvador will no longer spend more than it produces in a year,” he continued. “We will not even lend money to pay interest on the debts we inherited, we will even pay them out of our own production.”

“A stronger economy and a truly independent country will be seen, not only because it has more freedom and security, but because it will be financially independent, fiscally independent,” he added. “New generations will inherit an economically prosperous country.”

El Salvador's Finance Minister Jerson Posada detailed that “for the first time in decades, the country will have a budget that will not include a single cent of debt, local or foreign,” Diario El Salvador reported .

Buquelet has an overwhelming majority in the Legislative Assembly, with 57 of the 60 seats held by lawmakers from his New Ideas party (54) and its allies (3).

The 2024 budget deficit was $338 million, with total spending of $9.1 billion, according to an official document published by the Assembly. The budget deficit when Bukele took office in 2019 was $1.2 billion.

El Salvador cannot print money to finance spending since it introduced the U.S. dollar as legal tender in 2001. The country is known to have added Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.

While there is no official documentation of El Salvador's Bitcoin purchases, NayibTracker , a website that compiled a portfolio based on Bukele's statements, shows that the Central American country currently holds 5,874 Bitcoins with a total value of $331.4 million, representing an unrealized gain of 32.6 percent or $43 million.

Last month, Bukele acknowledged that “Bitcoin T has gotten the widespread adoption we had hoped for ... it could have performed better and there is still time to make some improvements, but this T has resulted in nothing negative.”

In August, the International Monetary Fund announced that it had held a series of discussions with the Salvadoran authorities and “progress has been made in negotiating a Fund-supported program focused on policies to strengthen public finances, increase banks' reserve buffers, improve governance and transparency, and reduce Bitcoin-related risks.”

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