Crypto Portal

2023-03-15 18:00:22 ​Ethereum: Shapella upgrade forked with Goerli testnet, this is what went down

The much-awaited Shanghai upgrade was executed on Ethereum’s [ETH] Goerli testnet on 15 March. The Goerli network is a decentralized network designed to be a testing and development environment for Ethereum-based decentralized applications.

Through the Shanghai upgrade, which is also called Shapella upgrade by developers, validators can withdraw their staked ETH from the beacon chain. At press time, 17583 withdrawals have been successfully processed on the test network.

Even though a lot of transactions were processed, there are some issues that are being faced by the network. One such problem was that many validators on the testnet did not upgrade due to a significant number of changes to withdrawal credentials.

Until press time, developers were unsure whether these issues would exist when they were launched on the mainnet. This is because the testnet nodes used fewer resources compared to the mainnet.

While the developers were busy troubleshooting these issues, the number of validators on the Ethereum network increased by 6.35% over the last month.

Beware the hype
The excitement surrounding Ethereum is growing as the Shanghai Upgrade draws near.

One indicator of the increasing hype around Ethereum was the spike in the number of non-zero addresses on Ethereum, which reached an all-time high of 95,474,490 addresses on 14 March.

Despite the increasing buzz around the Ethereum network, ETH holders could be tempted to sell their holdings. One reason for the same would be the increasing MVRV ratio of Ethereum. A high MVRV ratio suggests that most addresses holding Ethereum are profitable.

If the MVRV ratio continued to rise, the selling pressure on all these addresses would increase materially.

Although the selling pressure on Ethereum continued to rise, the traders’ press time sentiment remained relatively neutral. A roughly equal number of long and short positions have been taken against Ethereum over the last month, implying that there was no large consensus amongst traders regarding where ETH’s prices would land. Open / Comment

2023-03-12 21:30:00 ​Can the UK save its startups as SVB fallout spreads around the world

The UK is racing ahead of the clock to salvage the British arm of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank after it sent jitters through the startup scene of the country.

Investors are calling on the government to pull them out of distress as they have significant exposure to the troubled bank.

It should be noted here that SVB restructured its UK branch into a separate bank subsidiary in August last year following the branch reaching £100 million of insured small business deposits, SVB’s 2022 annual report showed. This put the bank directly under the jurisdiction of UK regulators.

The BOE makes its move
Well, in the wake of recent developments, The Bank of England (BOE) said it would place the UK subsidiary into insolvency. “SVBUK has a limited presence in the UK and no critical functions supporting the financial system,” the central bank said in a statement.

Following the insolvency procedure, SVB UK will stop making payments or accepting deposits.

Meanwhile, the UK finance ministry and BOE are working together to contain the chaos following SVB’s collapse. Interestingly, the government is coordinating an emergency meeting with tech firms.

City minister Andrew Griffith was also set to meet with industry representatives on Saturday afternoon, according to UK media outlet The Guardian. UK Treasury said in a statement cited by Guardian:

“The government recognises that tech sector companies are often not cash flow positive as they grow, and that they rely on cash on deposits to cover their day to day costs.”

CEOs condemn the BOE assessment
On the other hand, the heads of 130 technology companies wrote a letter to UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt asking for government intervention.

The CEOs criticized BOE’s assessment of the limited impact of SVB on the UK economy and added that it displays a dangerous lack of understanding of the sector and the role it plays in the wider economy.

“The recent news about SVB going into insolvency represents an existential threat to the UK tech sector,” they wrote.

This view was upheld by The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), a nonprofit that campaigns for policies to support digital startups in the UK. Coadec stated that there are a large number of startups and investors in the ecosystem who have significant exposure to SVB UK.

In another interesting development, Sky News reported that The Bank of London is considering a bid for SVB UK. However, the report also added that it was unclear of the credibility of the offer.

What needs to be seen now is whether the government would be able to buffer the ramifications of SVB and stop the involuntary liquidation of affected companies.

The response from Britain could be mirrored across the globe as SVB has branches in various countries including China, India, Denmark, Canada, and Sweden.

Finally, how the UK handles the fallout will be watched by the world as the repercussions spread to other countries. Open / Comment

2023-03-09 19:00:19 ​Assessing if Uniswap can fight off the Lido heat in DEX supremacy tussle

Uniswap’s [UNI] status as the top Automated Market Maker (AMM) could be at risk after a certain Maverick protocol announced a partnership with Lido Finance [LDO]. Like Uniswap. Maverick operates as a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) by bringing greater capital control to the liquidity market.

Putting the Lido stealth to work against UNI
Maverick’s announcement on 8 March revealed Lido’s position as having the most deposits of staked Ether [stETH] would play a vital role in its charge. So, instead of using Ethereum [ETH] for rewards, users would get stETH.

Up until now, Uniswap has occupied the top position as the most used DEX. While others like PancakeSwap [CAKE] and Curve Finance [CRV] have also registered incredible volumes, it has remained difficult to boot the Hayden Adams-led project off its peak.

In fact, the protocol was the go-to AMM for most investors during the FTX contagion as users scrambled for asset safety on DEXs. Nonetheless, Maverick’s collaboration with Lido Finance still poses a threat.

A notable part that could foster competition for Uniswap is Lido’s dominance of DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL). At press time, Lido’s five chains were helping it maintain the top spot. Here, the TVL generally indicates the aggregate amount of assets in a liquidity pool.

However, Uniswap is nowhere near Lido in this regard. While Lido’s 30-day TVL saw a 6.20% hike, Uniswap fell by 3.78%. And, with over $5 billion in difference, it could be difficult for the latter to catch up.

A difficult race to play catch-up
Additionally, information from DeFi Llama showed that the yields of the collaboration may already be here. This, because Maverick protocol had jumped into the top-10 DEXs under the Ethereum blockchain. However, with a weekly change of -13.58%, it could still be a hassle to catch Uniswap with a $ 6.58 billion seven-day volume.

Furthermore, Uniswap does not seem to be resting on its oars based on its development activity trend. The metric measures the public GitHub repositories of a project, aimed at determining the commitment to upgrade the network.

At the time of writing, Unsiwap’s development activity was 33.14— One of the highest points since the new year began. However, active addresses on the network have not been exactly impressive.

The metric indicates the level of investor speculation and synergy concerning a token. Despite the stalemate with the metric, Maverick’s aim to directly compete with Uniswap could be a wild goose chase in the interim bar any unusual development. Open / Comment

2023-03-06 19:00:16 ​Blur’s token plummets by 98% in 20 days; will OpenSea make a comeback?

Blur’s governance token BLUR has suffered a massive 98% drop in its value within just 20 days of its launch, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Following a few months of anticipation, the zero-fee non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace released its governance token on Valentine’s day.

As community members began claiming their airdropped tokens and trading the same, BLUR’s price shot up to almost $50 on the same day.

However, almost instantaneously, it soon began its descent. At press time, the alt traded at $0.6915.

Profit lines are blurred
A look at the alt’s performance on a daily chart revealed that many BLUR holders have since begun distributing their holdings.

Analysis of key momentum indicators has shown no signs of accumulation activity since 14 February, indicating that many of the airdropped users were only interested in profiting from the tokens and selling them off.

With significant distribution still ongoing at press time, Blur’s Money Flow Index (MFI) rested deeply in the oversold region. It was 16.23.

Also, in a downtrend, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) lay below the 50-neutral position at 49.99

Further, the Directional Movement Indicator (DMI) confirmed that selling pressure exceeded buying pressure as the BLUR sellers had control of the market as of this writing.

The positive directional indicator (green), at 17.85, was positioned below the negative directional indicator (red) at 17.92. A further decline in buying momentum is expected to push the negative directional indicator upward, solidifying the sellers’ hold on the market.

As mentioned above, BLUR clinched its highest price level of $45 on the day it launched. The Aroon Up Line (orange) at 7.14% confirmed this and hinted at a further price drawdown.

It is trite that when the Aroon Up line is close to zero, the uptrend is weak, and the most recent high was reached a long time ago.

Blur’s grip on the market remains unrivaled, while OpenSea falters
Despite the steady fall in the value of its governance token, Blur continues to record increased user activity.

In fact, the NFT marketplace was responsible for 79.6% of the entire market sales volume in the last week.

OpenSea, on the other hand, contributed only 15% during the same period. Also, more NFT trades were completed on Blur than were completed on OpenSea in the last week, per data from Dune Analytics.

Glassnode, in a recent report, noted that the surge in Blur’s market share came after its token AirDrop on 14 February.

Prior to the AirDrop, the NFT marketplace, and aggregator held 48% of the total NFT transfer volume in the market.

However, after the AirDrop, its NFT transfer volume soared to 78%, greatly impacting OpenSea. As a result, OpenSea’s NFT transfer volume fell by 21% in the aftermath of the BLUR AirDrop.

According to data from Dune Analytics, 360 million BLUR tokens were airdropped on 14 February. With a 60-day window period to claim these tokens, 342.92 million BLUR tokens have been claimed so far by eligible users of the NFT marketplace.

Once the 60-day window to claim the airdropped tokens elapses, it remains to be seen whether this will culminate in a decline in NFT’s marketplace usage, which could potentially restore OpenSea to its previous level of prominence. Open / Comment

2023-03-03 19:00:15 ​DeFi and NFTs plagued by hacks worth millions in this time frame: Analyzing…

Decentralized finance (DeFi) remains a major target for bad actors in the crypto market throughout February 2023, with total losses exceeding $20 million. Data from DeFiLlama demonstrated the scope of the damage, which showed that most attacks were carried out using compromised private keys.

Recent high-value hack attacks included those on the dForce network, Platypus Finance, and Orion. These attacks are related to protocol logic flaws, though at least one rug pull has occurred.

Flash loan attacks continue to pervade the list of recent hacks, showing that it remained a weak point for the DeFi market. Though the attacks have lower individual values compared to last year, the number and cumulative value of these attacks hardly painted a pleasant picture.

DeFi attacks are unlikely to dissipate and may even rise. This is due to hacking groups adopting new tactics and targeting more popular sectors, such as NFTs. Hackers frequently target NFT marketplaces or create phishing attacks.

According to the Beosin Global Web3 Security Report 2022, hackers stole over $47 million off NFTs.

Due to their exposure and popularity, popular collections, such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club [BAYC], are frequently targeted.

2022 plagued by crypto hacks
2022 was a difficult year for the cryptocurrency industry; the year was plagued not only by the demise of several exchanges but also a large number of crypto hacks. Chainalysis reported that over $4 billion was stolen off DeFi platforms last year. This was the highest yearly value yet, indicating that more action is needed in this area.

The crypto industry also needs to be cautious of bridge attacks which became popular last year. North Korea-based Lazarus Group carried out crypto hacks worth approximately $1.7 billion last year. The exploit of Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge was one of its major attacks, which resulted in the loss of nearly $650 million. Open / Comment

2023-02-28 18:00:16 ​Binance responds to allegations of moving billions in customer funds

The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, has refuted a Forbes article alleging that the company shifted $1.8 billion related to its users’ assets.

According to Forbes, Binance “quietly” shifted $1.8 billion deposited “as collateral intended to secure its customers’ stablecoins” between August 17 and early December 2022, leaving many of its users with unbacked cash.

According to Patrick Hillman, chief strategy officer of Binance, moving money across wallets is normal and not an issue. Because “there are wallets and a ledger,” Hillman claimed, “there was no mixing.”

The allegations against Binance
Forbes stated that USD Coin [USDC] tokens, the stablecoin created by Circle, were used to steal $1.1 billion from clients and send it to Cumberland/DWR, a high-frequency trading firm based in Chicago. To convert the collateral into its own Binance Dollar [BUSD] stablecoin, the corporation “may have supported Binance in its efforts.”

According to Forbes, Binance provided hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to other significant players in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This included Justin Sun’s TRON [TRX], Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research, and the Amber Group. They stated:

“According to blockchain data examined by Forbes, from August 17 to early December–about the same time FTX was imploding–holders of more than $1 billion of crypto known as B-peg USDC tokens were left with no collateral for instruments that Binance claimed would be 100% backed by whichever token they were pegged to.”

Forbes claimed that Binance imitated FTX’s pre-bankruptcy moves by similarly manipulating its clients’ money. According to US authorities, FTX allegedly paid money to Alameda Research despite it being against the law.

The exchange’s response
In response to Forbes’ charges of improper handling of user funds, Binance said there had been no misconduct. The company’s spokesman confirmed that the in-question transactions were a part of their internal billing procedures. Moreover, they had no bearing on the collaterization of user assets. The firm stated:

“While Binance has previously acknowledged that wallet management processes for Binance-pegged token collateral have not always been flawless, at no time was the collateralization of user assets affected. Processes for managing our collateral wallets have been fixed on a longer-term basis and this is verifiable on-chain.”

The actions taken by Binance to mitigate the effects of the negative press are not insignificant. The exchange has been involved in several circumstances that have damaged its reputation. Notably, the CEO of FTX accused the CEO of Binance of planning the demise of his exchange, and there was controversy when Binance failed to collateralize its BUSD stablecoin by up to $1 billion.

After years in which reserves were combined with customer funds and at least one significant stablecoin, Binance-peg BUSD was not always completely supported. Binance recently announced it was switching to a semi-automated procedure for managing the reserves of its tokens. Open / Comment

2023-02-28 17:00:10 Alium Finance DEX is an all-in-one multi-chain DEX with cross-chain, hybrid liquidity feature, on/off ramp services and the latest solutions for investors, traders, businesses. With its unique DeFi solutions, Alium Finance steps into the new era of decentralized exchanges (DEX)

Alium recently held a Trading Challenge in which more than 2800 users participated. Due to many requests, it was decided to hold the trading challenge on a weekly basis and reward the most active participants. The trading competition will start from March

Cashback system - the integration of this system will allow users to receive cashback in the form of $ALM tokens from swaps in AliumSwap Multichain DEX. The more trades the more $ALM Airdrop users receive.

Visit Alium Finance at: Website | Telegram Open / Comment

2023-02-25 19:30:00 ​Exchanges using USDT to trade in Russia despite sanctions: Report

Popular crypto exchanges KuCoin and Huobi have come under fire for failing to comply with the sanctions imposed on Russia in light of its conflict with Ukraine. The Seychelles-based firms have a considerable presence in the crypto space and are counted among the world’s largest crypto exchanges.

Huobi and KuCoin using USDT to allow transactions
According to a report by Bloomberg, Huobi and KuCoin continued to allow customers of sanctioned Russian banks to trade on their platforms. A report by crypto data analytics firm Inca Digital corroborated this report. Allegedly, debit cards issued by Russian banks were being used to make transactions on the crypto exchanges.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Inca Digital CEO Adam Zarazinski stated that the exchanges violated the sanctions imposed by Europe and the United States. He further revealed that Russians often use Tether [USDT] to move funds out of the country. Additionally, the exchanges used USDT to provide crypto banking services to the sanctioned banks.

The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, was also named as one platform that catered to Russian nationals looking to convert local currency into cryptocurrency. This reportedly includes using Binance’s OTC trading desk and a peer-to-peer marketplace. Russians can use these methods to convert up to $10,000 without completing know-your-customer (KYC) checks.

However, Binance’s head of global sanctions, Chagri Poyraz, claimed that the firm was a full KYC platform. Additionally, it was the first major crypto exchange to comply with sanctions imposed by the European Union. He said in a statement to Bloomberg:

“Our P2P team takes the extraordinary added step of filtering any forms of communication between users to ensure there is absolutely no potential nexus with Russian entities through any sort of workaround.” Open / Comment

2023-02-22 18:00:20 ​Floki [FLOKI] rolls out four-phased roadmap for 2023

MemeFi protocol Floki [FLOKI] has released its roadmap for 2023, providing users with an insight into the exciting plans for its native currency in the next few months. Floki remains committed to becoming the most widely used cryptocurrency project in the world.

The roadmap for 2023 will be implemented in four stages. The protocol has completed some innovations during the first phase, including:

At press time, Floki was working on deploying the FLOKI token, known as the OKX Chain, on OKC. Following the Ethereum [ETH] and BNB Chain, the FLOKI token will be available on a third blockchain. DeFi lending, borrowing and staking are also included in the Phase 1 plan.

The FlokiFi Project TL is possibly the most significant integration on the 2023 roadmap. The product will be released in Phase 3 and will initially be available on four chains. In addition, Phase 4 will include a mystery project, which will play a significant role in the ecosystem.

As users anticipate unique innovations in the coming months, the 2023 roadmap will also send large waves of expectations from the Floki ecosystem.

FLOKI soars with these announcements
The Floki team emphasized that the phases of the roadmap are not necessarily constrained by specific timelines. The project claimed that its emphasis on transparency and innovation distinguishes it in the cryptocurrency market and demonstrates its determination to become a major player in the field, competing with Shiba Inu.

After being listed on the KuCoin exchange, the popular memecoin recently experienced a significant price increase. The price has also risen as a result of Twitter CEO Elon Musk teasing his Twitter followers with a photo of his Shiba Inu dog, Floki.

The price of the token increased by over 50% in late January after the Floki DAO rallied around a proposal to permanently remove 4.97 trillion FLOKI tokens from circulation. Open / Comment

2023-02-19 19:00:12 ​Chainlink breaks through key level- Opportunities ahead for short sellers?

Another week of 2023 is in the rearview mirror and the bulls have emerged victorious once again. LINK holders are ecstatic after the rally that the coin has delivered since mid-February. Here’s a look at how LINK has kicked off the second half of February.

The first half of February looked like the start of a bearish retracement after the bullish performance that LINK delivered in January.

It did, in fact, pulled back below the 200-day moving average and briefly below the 50-day MA. The bulls just made a strong mid-month comeback that culminated in a 27.86% rally from its 4-week lows to its press time high of $8.25.

LINK’s rally in the last two days was so strong that it managed to break through the $7.79 resistance level.

Also, the rally kicked off from the RSI mid-range, confirming that the relative strength was still in favor of the bulls. In other words, LINK, at press time, was still carrying on with the bullish momentum previously witnessed in January.

LINK may be subject to another selloff
The bears might just be around the corner despite this impressive performance. The latest Glassnode data reveals that exchange outflows are slowing down. The last 24 hours demonstrated a return of higher exchange inflows, suggesting that sell pressure was building up.

The slowdown in exchange volumes was preceded by a large spike in social volume to the highest monthly levels on 17 February.

This was followed by a surge in on-chain volume back to the previous monthly high.

A bearish retracement ensued the last time that the volume peaked at the same level. A retest of this same level carries a higher probability of yielding similar results.

Another metric that currently highlights a potential retracement is the realized cap metric which was approaching the lower 4-week range, at press time.

A sell signal was observed the last time that the metric dropped to the lower range, coupled with a strong uptick in mean coin age.

This time the mean coin age achieved a new monthly high. But the key determinant of sell pressure was whales. The latest supply distribution data revealed that there was still some buying pressure in the market.

However, the largest whales contributed to selling pressure in the last 24 hours, at the time of writing.

The latest whale data reveals that addresses holding between 100,000 to 1 million LINK and those holding over 10 million LINK started selling.

These two categories collectively control over 60% of the circulating supply. Hence their activities are likely to have a major impact on the market. It means there might be a solid opportunity for short sellers to benefit based on this assessment. Open / Comment