Crypto Portal

2023-04-15 18:00:05 ​Crypto exchange Bitrue falls victim to another hack, loses millions

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitrue was hit by a hot wallet flaw, allowing attackers to withdraw about $23 million in crypto assets.

Bitrue shared an announcement on 14 April, stating that the exchange temporarily suspended all withdrawals owing to a “brief exploit” of its hot wallet. The exchange was attacked previously in 2019, losing over $5 million in Cardano owing to another hot wallet hack.

Following additional security measures, the company aims to reopen withdrawals on 18 April.

Bitrue added that it was able to address the issue immediately, allowing the platform to avoid additional draining of funds. The exchange stressed that the affected hot wallet accounted for less than 5% of the total cash on the exchange.

The exchange officials also announced reimbursement for all identifiable users who were affected by the incident.

The currencies impacted on the attacked hot wallet included Ether, Shiba Inu, Quant, Gala, Holo, and Polygon, according to the statement.

Bitrue, which was founded in Singapore in 2018, is a significant centralized cryptocurrency exchange that trades about $2 billion in crypto each day on average.

Hackers move from centralized to DeFi exchanges
Over the last few years, hackers have shifted away from traditional centralized exchanges towards decentralized finance (DeFi) exchanges.

According to Chainalysis data, crypto exchange hacks accounted for just 3% of all crypto stolen in Q1 2022. At the same time, DeFi protocols were responsible for 97% of the stolen assets.

Almost 97% of all cryptocurrency stolen in Q1 2022 was taken from DeFi protocols, up from 72% in 2021 and just 30% in 2020. Centralized exchanges, formerly a top destination for stolen funds, fell out of favor, receiving less than 15% of the total.

This is likely due to exchanges’ embrace of AML and KYC processes, which threaten the anonymity of cyber criminals. Open / Comment

2023-04-12 17:00:04 ​Montenegro to develop CBDC pilot in association with Ripple

Montenegro central bank has chosen Ripple to build a pilot program for CBDC.
Notably, over 100 countries are investigating the feasibility of issuing a CBDC.
The Montenegro central bank has inked a deal with Ripple, the blockchain firm based in San Francisco, to build a pilot program for the national central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The central bank will find practical applications for a CBDC and create a design to simulate its circulation.

In a statement, Central Bank of Montenegro Governor Radoje Zugic stated that the project will examine the benefits and risks that CBDCs or national stablecoins may pose in terms of electronic payment availability, security, efficiency, regulatory compliance, and, most importantly, the protection of end users’ rights and privacy.

Despite not being a member of the Eurozone, the country has used the Euro as its currency since its introduction in 2002.

Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic announced the forthcoming cooperation between Ripple and the central bank in January this year at the World Economic Forum Davos.

Over 100 countries are investigating the feasibility of issuing a CBDC. The European Central Bank and the European Union will decide whether to launch a digital euro later this year.

Ripple traversing the CBDC space across countries
Ripple has been discussing CBDCs with approximately 20 central banks over the last few years. Ripple is a technical and research partner in a number of important CBDC programs throughout the world. It has recently begun partnering with several digital Euro, digital Pound, and other initiatives.

Ripple is also supposed to reveal private distributed ledger systems for CBDCs that are based on the XRP Ledger blockchain design.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Ripple became the first platinum partner of the Digital Monetary Institute Symposium 2023.

However, Ripple’s future is uncertain as the crypto firm is still locked in a legal dispute with the SEC over the issuing of XRP currencies.

Following the announcement, the price of XRP, Ripple’s native cryptocurrency, on 11 April, rose sharply by 5% to $0.526. However, it quickly descended again. The coin was trading at $0.507 at press time. Open / Comment

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Telegram | Twitter Open / Comment

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Telegram | Twitter Open / Comment

2023-04-10 17:00:05 ChangeHero $250 Easter Giveaway

Let’s celebrate Easter with the ChangeHero crypto exchange! Guess the #Bitcoin price on April 17 and win $250 in USDT!

To join: https://t.me/CHCryptoNews/2450

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1. Follow @CHCryptoNews
2. Find the pinned post in the channel with giveaway rules.
3. Write in the comments the price prediction for BTC on April 17.

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Join until April 16 (9 PM UTC).
Check @ChangeHeroBot to buy #BTC and 150+ cryptos without leaving Telegram. Open / Comment

2023-04-09 18:30:00 ​I asked ChatGPT Ethereum’s price prediction, the answer it gave me was…

The first quarter of the new year brought a stop to the heartbreak investors repeatedly experienced in 2022. However, the balance of the crypto-market has been nothing close to the AI hype of the same period. What has been the sole reason though? ChatGPT!

In fact, the natural language processing tool has accustomed itself to providing human-like conversations.

As luck would have it, ChatGPT has proven to be worthwhile for traders and analysts too. Here, it’s worth noting that these days, almost every sector and individual seems to use it to their advantage.

The good thing is— The broader crypto ecosystem has not been left out of the trend. So, with the Ethereum [ETH] Shanghai upgrade already set for activation, I decided to speak to ChatGPT about the development while touching a bit on ETH’s price.

Understanding what’s Shanghai
So, for this article, I decided to test the AI’s intelligence regarding one of the major upgrades of the crypto space this year – Ethereum’s [ETH] Shanghai Upgrade. Proposed in 2022, the upgrade is the most significant development of the second-largest blockchain after the Merge.

For a while, assets had been allocated to the Ethereum Beacon Chain. The Beacon Chain is the consensus mechanism for the 2022 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) transition. Thereby, making sure that newly created blocks and validators are duly rewarded.

But, in this case, each validator needs 32 ETH deposited into the Ethereum Mainnet to qualify. The idea of the Shanghai upgrade was scheduled for March 2023, but it has already been pushed forward to 12 April. This, to allow these validators to begin withdrawal of their rewards.

ChatGPT, on the other hand, has been existing for some years. However, its recent push by OpenAI has shown that its ability is one that no other AI product may be able to match up with.

Here’s where it gets interesting. I openly admit that ChatGPT could be one of the best innovations of this decade. However, my views on this incredible development won’t allow me to keep my hands to myself. So, I decided to test its knowledge about the Shanghai upgrade. Trust me, you will be amazed at its response.

Looking at its response above, it’s evident it started by correcting me. Some would say it has a point too. However, a further evaluation showed that it acted like it was not yet in 2023. Notably, it made some errors with the definition.

Apologizing for the Merge?
A notable observation is its mention of the PoS switch, popularly called the Merge. This is an event that took place in September 2022. Even so, it still responded like it is a future event. But no, I’m not blaming its capability as it is a learning tool. So, to further assess its knowledge, I educated it or shall I say “jailbreak-ed” it by having a heart-to-heart conversation.

Something I find interesting about ChatGPT is not only its smartness, but its human feel too. As shown below, I tried to educate it on what the upgrade was. And to be honest, I never expected an apology from a bot. But yes, I got it.

However, it again failed to give the correct answer to my inquiry. Although I must applaud it for giving bits and pieces of related information.

While it did not get to the Testnet stages that the blockchain had reached and passed, it is worth noting that the Sepolia and Goerlii Testnets have been forked. However, Ethereum developer Tim Beiko had on 14 March said that several validators have failed to upgrade on the Beacon Chain.

And, this has caused some issues with the nodes on Georli, with Beiko noting that the development team is working on it so it does not affect the Mainnet upgrade.

Now, let’s get back to ChatGPT. As you probably know, developments in the crypto-ecosystem sometime lead to a hike in tokens related to projects. Unfortunately, that was not the case for ETH during the Merge. In fact, the altcoin’s price was shredded after many looked forward to an uptick. Open / Comment

2023-04-06 21:00:02 ​Bitcoin presents a ‘generational investment opportunity,’ but do the whales disagree

Bitcoin’s [BTC] recent rally has brought with it a lot of optimism and speculation about its future. In fact, an analyst has suggested that the electrical costs of Bitcoin could provide some backing to the unbridled optimism surrounding the king coin.

Analyst Charles Edwards, Founder of the Capriole Fund, claimed in a 5 April tweet that historically, whenever the price of Bitcoin matched its energy expenses, it has presented a rare chance for generational investments in Bitcoin.

According to him, this is a very trusted indicator of BTC’s prosperity in the long term.

Many BTC holders’ behavior suggested that they believe in the long-term prospects of Bitcoin as well. In fact, holders from most cohorts were observed to be accumulating Bitcoin, according to Glassnode’s data.

However, it’s worth noting that whale addresses do not share the same optimism towards the cryptocurrency as other holders.

Additionally, according to Glassnode’s data, the number of addresses holding more than 10o BTC have started to decline. Figures for the same hit a 3-month low at press time, further indicating skepticism from the market’s whales.

Traders become bearish
Also, trader sentiments have started to echo whales’ bearish behavior. In fact, Coinglass’s data suggests that the percentage of short positions taken against BTC rose from 49% to 51.2% over the last few days.

Another metric that indicated potential higher selling pressure for BTC is the declining miner revenue. If miner revenue continues to decline in the same fashion as it has over the past few days, many miners will be forced to sell their BTC holdings for a profit in the future.

The increasing MVRV ratio for BTC isn’t of much help either to long-term BTC holders.

The growing MVRV ratio implies that most BTC holders are relatively more profitable. This would make it much more tempting for short-term holders to sell their positions for a profit going forward.

Hence, it appears that the presence of both bullish and bearish factors will make it difficult to predict the future of Bitcoin.

A surprise Easter Egg
Despite the prevailing bearish sentiments towards BTC from traders, it seems that the number of supporters for BTC may continue to rise. This is evident from the recent discovery of a PDF file containing the Bitcoin whitepaper, found concealed on all Mac devices.

It suggests that some Bitcoin advocates may have made their way onto Apple’s team. Open / Comment

2023-04-03 19:00:04 ​Bitcoin Ordinals set new record with BRC-20 token standard, details inside

The Bitcoin Ordinals have recently achieved a new record high, and this achievement has become the focal point of NFT-like inscriptions. Interestingly, this buzz was sparked by an experimental token standard, the BRC-20 token standard.

A new high for daily and total Inscriptions
As of 2 April, there was a significant surge in the number of daily and total inscriptions for Bitcoin Ordinals, breaking previous records.

Dune Analytics reported over 72,000 daily inscriptions and over 730,000 total inscriptions. Interestingly, the data showed that text inscriptions were the most prevalent type. The spike also resulted in total fees surpassing $4.3 million.

Before the new record, the previous daily high for Bitcoin Ordinals was recorded on 9 March at 31,692, with total inscriptions just exceeding 300,000.

At the time of writing, daily inscriptions had already exceeded 17,000. The surge in interest in Bitcoin Ordinals could be attributed to the recent BRC-20 standard.

The BRC-20 token standard for Bitcoin Ordinals
The BRC-20 token standard is a novel type of fungible token that uses Ordinals and Inscriptions to create and store token contracts on the Bitcoin base chain.

By leveraging JSON data in the form of Ordinal inscriptions, this experimental token can be used to create, mint, and transfer tokens.

Reportedly, the surge in Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions on 2 April was likely due to the introduction of new tools for interacting with BRC-20 tokens.

Also, these tools were reportedly launched in the days leading up to the spike. It indicated a potential correlation between the renewed interest in Bitcoin Ordinals and the availability of these new tools.

Ordinals on BRC-20 standard see growth
Despite being an experimental token standard, the activity and volume on the BRC-20 website suggested otherwise. The website displayed thousands of listed and minted tokens, indicating a robust ecosystem of users and developers.

Furthermore, as of this writing, three tokens – Ordi, Punk, and Pepe – were leading the pack with market caps of $2.1 million, $900,000, and over $2.5 million, respectively.

The data from the site also revealed that more than 38,000 tokens had been minted within the last 24 hours, further underscoring the growing popularity of this experimental token standard.

The recent surge in interest in Bitcoin Ordinals and the BRC-20 token standard is fascinating, given its impact.

However, it is essential to remember that the BRC-20 token standard is still an experimental project. Therefore, its long-term viability is yet to be fully established. While it is generating significant hype and attention, the sustainability of this trend remains to be seen. Open / Comment

2023-03-31 17:30:00 ​Bitcoin [BTC]: Profits made from sale are taxable, rules Denmark court

On 30 March, The Supreme Court of Denmark ruled that profits from the sale of Bitcoin [BTC] assets are taxable. This ruling was reached by the court after two cases on the matter.

The court ruled that a party who profited from selling Bitcoin obtained through multiple purchases and donations was required to report the sale as a taxable event, adding that the purchase was “made for the purpose of speculation.” In a separate case, the court ruled that a user who mined their own BTC and later sold the coins would be taxed as per the same rules.

Both cases heard by the Supreme Court involved the purchase of BTC between 2011 and 2013, with sales occurring between 2017 and 2018, implying a price difference worth thousands of dollars in the crypto market.

The court cited sections of the country’s National Tax Act, noting that it had taken into account the first seller’s intention to eventually sell the coins based on a post published in a Bitcoin forum in 2011.

The court did not rule on how much tax would be levied on Bitcoin sales.

Bitcoin surges in value
At press time, Bitcoin was at a resistance level of $28,733, with a support level of $28,060. It briefly surpassed the $29,000 mark before falling back. Despite this, BTC was at its highest since June 2022. At press time, it was trading at $28,137.08.

Although BTC has grown by 73.33% since the beginning of the year, it is still a long way from its all-time high (ATH). At the time of writing, Bitcoin was 58.47% lower than its all-time high of $69,044 (November 2021).

We must note that Denmark is not the only country introducing the crypto gain tax in its jurisdiction. The Italian government passed a law approving a 26% tax on capital gains on crypto trading of over 2,000 euros. Similarly, the Indian government proposed in its 2022 union budget that the transfer of any virtual/cryptocurrency asset will be taxed at 30%. Open / Comment

2023-03-28 15:00:06 ​dYdX V4 blockchain prepares for public testnet, native token loses edge

Leading perpetual contracts trading platform dYdX [DYDX] announced the completion of the third of five milestones toward the eventual launch of its dYdX V4 blockchain.

First announced in June 2022, the dYdX V4 blockchain is a standalone blockchain currently being developed based on the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint Proof-of-stake consensus protocol. dYdX V4 is being designed to feature a fully decentralized, off-chain orderbook and a matching engine capable of scaling orders of magnitude more than any existing blockchain can support.

On what comes next, the perpetuals trading platform noted further that Milestones 4 and 5 would involve the launch of a public testnet by the end of July, an increased number of validators testing the product, and an eventual launch on the mainnet by the end of September.

DYDX has a mind of its own
While the general cryptocurrency market witnessed consolidation in the last week, DYDX traded downwards. As a result, the token’s value fell by 6% during that period. At press time, the alt traded at $2.34 per DYDX token, data from CoinMarketCap revealed.

An assessment of the token’s price movement on a daily chart revealed the commencement of a new bear cycle on 26 March. This was when the Moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) line intersected with the trend line in a downtrend. The indicator has since been marked by red histogram bars.

The commencement of a new bear cycle coincided with the sellers regaining control of the DYDX market and overpowering the buyers. The asset’s Directional Movement Index showed the Negative Directional Indicator (red) at 18.85. It rested above the Positive Directional Indicator (green) at 15.10. This showed that selling pressure outweighed buying momentum in the DYDX market at press time.

Further, positioned below their respective neutral points, the alt’s key momentum indicators pointed at dwindling buying pressure. As of this writing, DYDX’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) was 46.61. Inching closer to the oversold territory, the alt’s Money Flow Index (MFI) sat at 31.95.

The month so far has witnessed a decline in DYDX’s Open Interests. When the open interest in a cryptocurrency asset falls, it generally indicates a decline in market participation or trading activity. Open / Comment