Crypto Portal

2023-05-18 18:20:02 Will Lido benefit from the surge in ETH withdrawals? This data indicates…

Lido has been dominating the DeFi space in terms of the TVL on its protocol since the beginning of 2023. After the launch of the Shanghai upgrade on the network, the interest in Lido increased. This could help the protocol retain its dominance in the sector going forward.

According to Delphi Digital’s data, over $10 billion ETH was enabled to be withdrawn from the Lido protocol this week. This has occurred due to the recent launch of Lido v2 which allowed in-protocol withdrawals at a 1:1 ratio for all ETH stakers.

Heat rises as Lido meets Celsius’ demands
The reason for a large amount of ETH being withdrawn from the Lido protocol could be due to the behavior of whale addresses.

For instance, on 16 May, Celsius sent a request for withdrawing 428,000 stETH from its protocol. During that period, Celsius contributed 96.8% of the total withdrawal requests on the network.

Despite the large request made by the Celsius network, Lido was able to successfully process a large number of withdrawals on the protocol with the help of node operators.

At press time, Lido had a group of 30 node operators. They were vetted by the team and approved via a governance vote by LDO holders. The nodes are entrusted with the responsibility of acting as validators.

LDO starts seeing green
The faith in the liquid staking sector’s solvency rose after Lido processed a large number of withdrawals. Due to this, there was a spike in the price of the LDO token. The token saw a surge of 35% in its price due to these developments.

Large addresses contributed immensely to the spike in LDO’s price. Santiment’s data indicated that the number of top addresses holding LDO has increased in tandem with its price.

Coupled with that, the network growth for the LDO token has also been on the rise. The rising network growth suggested that new addresses were starting to show interest in the LDO token as well. Open / Comment

2023-05-15 19:30:00 ​Fetch AI Price Prediction: What’s the Q2 outlook after an impressive Q1?

Fetch AI [FET] enjoyed smooth tidings in Q1 of 2023. Running on a double boost, AI hype, and a bullish Bitcoin [BTC], the AI-focused token hit a new high of $0.61 in February, up from its $0.09 January low. Ergo, it’s worth looking at a Fetch AI Price Prediction.

The impressive start in 2023 didn’t stop on the price charts. On the development front, FET has covered over 40% of its roadmap objectives within early Q2 of 2023.

Read Fetch ai’s [FET] Price Prediction 2023-24

Recently, the network partnered with Bosch and formed Fetch.ai Foundation, whose core mandate is to unlock Web3 technology potential across various domains, including industrial and consumer sections.

From a price-performance angle, FET’s Q1 shine has been dulled in early Q2, unless Bitcoin [BTC] reclaims upper price ranges.

Cognisant of recent remarkable developments and partnerships, how have FET HODLers faired in Q1? What should they expect in Q2? Let’s explore the daily price chart for some answers.

Extended contraction in Q2, clears Q1 gains
The surge from $0.09 on 1 January to a new high on 8 February marked an over 500% rally to investors. Extrapolated to its Q1 performance, the overall rally comes down to over 300%, given the correction that followed from mid-February.

The correction followed BTC’s sharp drop to $20k mid-March before rebounding. BTC surged and made new monthly highs of $29k and 31K in March and April, respectively.

However, during BTC’s swing highs in March and April, FET faced price rejections just below $0.5 and $0.45. And, the value didn’t exceed February’s high of $0.06.

The AI hype could not cushion FET from BTC’s fluctuations from mid-April.

The market contraction has since extended to May, with the bearish crossover of 20-EMA ($0.2842) going below the 100-EMA ($0.3224), exposing FET to more downward pressure after 5 May.

At press time, FET had shed over 30% of its value between April and Mid-May, dropping from $0.3664 (session close on March 31) to $0.2414 (daily session close on 14 May).

How much are 1,10,100 FETs worth today?

However, the drop steadied slightly above the $0.2263-support level – A swing low in February 2022.

Notably, BTC reclaimed $27k at press time after dropping below the level on 12 May. The mild bullish sentiment propped up FET, giving bulls little hope of recovery.

Unfortunately, bulls will only gain the upper hand if FET close above the March swing low ($0.2978) and moving averages ($0.2842 & $0.3224).

At press time, FET bears still have leverage with the RSI in the oversold zone. Similarly, the CMF (Chaikin Money Flow) hovered near zero, showing limited capital inflows.

As such, bears could attempt to crack the $0.2263-support and retest the May/June 2021 low of $0.1732, especially if BTC drops below $27k.

Put differently, FET could retest its May/June 2021 lows if BTC sees more corrections in the coming days/weeks. Let’s look at buying and selling pressure across the two quarters to gauge the likelihood of such an occurrence.

Buy vs. sell pressure in Q1 and Q2
The number of FET’s supply on exchanges declined significantly after FET hit the new high of $0.06 in February. The metric dropped below its March lows at press time, showing limited short-term selling pressure.

However, weighted sentiment remained negative and trading volumes muted, apart from positive price swings in mid-February, March, and April. Open / Comment

2023-05-12 19:00:05 ​Polygon (MATIC) Price Prediction 2025-2030: Assessing what MATIC’s roadmap looks like

Polygon is a Layer-2 scaling solution aimed at bringing mass adoption to the Ethereum platform. It provides developers with the tools they need to create scalable decentralized applications (dApps) that are both secure and user-friendly. The Matic token (MATIC) is Polygon’s native token, and has several key uses within the ecosystem.

One of its primary functions is to power the protocol through a gas-based mechanism used to pay network fees. In addition to this, the MATIC token is also used for network governance, where users can vote on Polygon Improvement Proposals (PIPs), and for security through staking. The use of MATIC is essential to the Polygon network and provides users with a range of benefits.

Unlike other cryptocurrencies, the supply of MATIC is limited, adding to its scarcity and value. The Polygon team is working towards bringing more users and developers onto the network, and with its focus on performance, user experience, and security, it is well-positioned to play a major role in the growth of the Ethereum ecosystem.

The increase in MATIC’s price can be attributed to the growing popularity of the Ethereum network and the enthusiasm that companies have shown in implementing their Ethereum-based dApps using Polygon. This has made Polygon an attractive investment opportunity for those looking to invest in blockchain technology.

The unique features of Polygon have made it a go-to solution for dApp developers looking to scale their projects, and its growing popularity and adoption are likely to drive the value of MATIC higher in the coming years.

MATIC has seen a price appreciation of more than 42% since the beginning of 2023. However, on the back of the Silvergate crisis and the Biden administration taking many steps to regulate the crypto-sector, MATIC, like the rest of the market, fell down the charts.

A report published by Blockchain analytics firm Messari showed that the third quarter of 2022 saw a 180% increase in the number of MATIC’s active addresses Q0Q, with total transactions for the quarter coming in at 2 billion.

Additionally, Polygon’s partnership with Warren Buffet-backed Nubank, which was announced last week, is being seen as a positive development for the network.

Popular TV Network SHOWTIME recently announced a collaboration with Polygon and Spotify.

In other news, Polygon informed users that Ethereum’s Merge had dramatically reduced its carbon dioxide emissions.

Polygon Network reached a new milestone on 15 November after the number of unique addresses reached 191.2 million. Data from polygonscan shows that the daily transactions on the Polygon chain took a significant hit following the news of FTX’s bankruptcy. As of 15 November, the total transactions stood at 3.26 million.

Polygon announced a partnership with Nike earlier this week. This joint venture will see the sportswear apparel brand bild it’s web3 experiences exclusively on Polygon.

MATIC’s YTD chart may suggest a buy signal, given that the crypto is currently well above $1, compared to $2.58 towards the beginning of the year. While this may look like a ripe opportunity to beef up MATIC holdings at a discounted price, it is important to look at other factors while making an investment decision.

One possible reason for the decline in the daily volume of MATIC is the Ethereum Merge, which took place on 15 September. The crypto has taken a hit following the Merge event, with both market cap and daily volume on a downtrend.

Polygon recently published an analytical insight into its bridge flow between January and August 2022. A closer look at the numbers revealed that in these eight months, more than $11 billion entered the Polygon ecosystem from multiple chains. Ethereum and Fantom Opera contributed the most with an inflow of $8.2 billion and $1.06 billion, respectively, which also puts it at the top in terms of net volume. Open / Comment

2023-05-09 19:00:04 ​SEC’s lawsuit cut down the number of XRP exchanges, but will things change?

XRP has had arguably the hardest time among top cryptos due to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs a few years ago. In fact, since the lawsuit was filed, there has been a fall in the number of XRP exchanges around the world too.

XRP Exchanges’ decline affected XRP’s reach
Soon after the lawsuit was filed in 2020, the number of XRP exchanges saw a significant decline. Several exchanges, including big shots like Coinbase, Crypto com, and OKCoin, announced that they would suspend trading XRP on their platforms. The delisting definitely had a negative impact on the token’s global reach as these exchanges are very popular worldwide.

In its official announcement, Coinbase mentioned, “In light of the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Inc, we have made the decision to suspend the XRP trading pairs on our platform. Trading will move into limit only starting December 28, 2020 at 2:30 PM PST, and will be fully suspended on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.”

However, trading suspension did not affect customers’ access to XRP wallets, which remained available for deposit and withdrawal functionality after the trading suspension.

However, it is interesting to note that as the years passed, a few of the exchanges such as Crypto com re-listed XRP, giving their users access to trade the token. The year 2023 can turn out to be instrumental for XRP, especially since many believe the lawsuit is reaching its endgame soon. If XRP manages to win the case, the probability of exchanges re-listing XRP are high. This can, in turn, shower blessings on the token’s price action.

A look into history
The SEC’s litigation against Ripple Labs, which has been affecting XRP since 2020, has been a significant setback for the company and its native token. To begin with, the SEC charged Ripple and its employees, Christian Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, with public sales of unregulated securities worth more than $1.3 billion.

The lawsuit undoubtedly hurt XRP since it may have caused investors to lose faith in the token. The lawsuit caused XRP’s price to decline sharply, as is evident from the chart. However, the token was quick to recover as it registered gains in the following days. Nonetheless, the fact that negative sentiment around XRP spiked during that period can’t be overruled.

The road ahead looks like…
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, in a recent interview with CNBC, cited that the company will have spent $200 million defending itself against a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by the time it is over in 2023.

This can be a game changer for Ripple, as speculations have emerged of late that the lawsuit can end soon. If the judgment is passed in Ripple’s favor, several exchanges might re-list XRP once again. This might be enough to create hype and pump the token’s price over the subsequent months.

XRP’s current state
XRP’s performance has not been on par for quite some time now. Its development activity plummeted, which in general is a negative sign. XRP’s performance on the social front is also not up to the mark, as evident from a decline in its social volume.

At press time, according to CoinMarketCap, XRP was down by more than 7% in the last seven days. In fact, it was trading at $0.4245 with a market capitalization of over 22 billion, making it the 6th largest crypto by market cap.

Though XRP’s demand in the derivatives market remained pretty stable, it tumbled during the concluding weeks of April. The same can be evidenced by its red Binance funding rate. XRP’s network growth and velocity also declined over the last 3 months.

The decline indicated that fewer new wallets were created and the token was not transferred among wallets at a higher rate. Nonetheless, investors’ confidence in XRP remained unaffected as the total amount of holders increased. Open / Comment

2023-05-06 17:30:00 ​UK FCA cracks down on unregistered crypto ATMs yet again

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the United Kingdom’s financial regulator, has announced the inspection of sites across the country suspected of hosting illegally operating crypto ATMs.

The FCA announced on 5 May that it has worked with local authorities in Exeter, Nottingham, and Sheffield to raid locations suspected of operating unlicensed crypto ATMs.

The enforcement action followed similar operations in East London in March and near Leeds in February, in which the FCA claimed it issued warnings or cease-and-desist letters to suspected crypto ATM operators.

“The action we’ve taken over the past few months and wider work shows that we will act to stop illegal activity,” said Therese Chambers, executive director of enforcement and market oversight of FCA.

She added,

“Crypto ATMs operating without FCA registration are illegal. We will act to stop illegal activity… Besides disrupting unregistered crypto businesses, the joint efforts have helped raise awareness of illegally operated crypto ATMs in the UK among the public. This is especially important as crypto products are high risk and not currently regulated.”

Peter Highway, the Economic Crime Unit Manager at the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, emphasized the dangers of unlawful crypto ATM activities. He said,

“Criminals will use crypto ATMs to launder illegally obtained cash, so we were pleased to assist our colleagues at the FCA in targeting businesses in the region displaying these machines without authorization.”

UK crypto ATMs starts falling
In conducting the inspections, FCA officials highlighted their authority under the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations from 2017. The financial watchdog stated that it intended to analyze the material acquired and consider taking further action if necessary.

According to CoinATMRadar data, there were 17 crypto ATMS in the United Kingdom, operated by entities such as Big Sea Coins, BD ATMs, Cryptobitecoin, and Computer House. It is unknown if any were registered under the FCA.

As the FCA has begun taking measures against unlawful crypto ATM operators, the number of ATMs has fallen. Open / Comment

2023-05-03 19:30:00 ​Assessing Bitcoin’s [BTC] state as Ordinals hit a new record

Bitcoin [BTC] Ordinals again made it to the limelight by registering massive growth in terms of the number of inscriptions. Daily inscriptions reached an all-time high of more than 300,000 on 1 May, pushing the total number of inscriptions to over 3 million.

key stats look encouraging
A look at the share of different types of Ordinals inscribed suggested that the majority of them were text type, which accounted for 79%. As per Dune’s data, text type Ordinals were followed by image type and others.

Additionally, the increase in number of inscriptions was also accompanied by a massive surge in Ordinals fees paid, which also reached a new ATH on 2 May 2023.

Tom Wan, a research analyst, pointed out an interesting development. Despite the massive increase in the number of inscriptions, the average block size decreased.

The reason behind this decline was the dominance of text type Ordinals. As text type Ordinals’ size is less than that of image-type Ordinals, the average block size declined from its ATH of 2.5 MB to 1.57 MB.

Miners enjoyed the episode
Ordinals’ latest achievement also brought good news for miners. While Ordinals hit a new ATH, a hike in BTC’s hashrate was also seen, suggesting an influx of new miners in the network.

Moreover, thanks to the increase in fees of Ordinals, miners also generated more revenue. As evident from Glassnode’s chart, miners’ total revenue in BTC registered a spike on 1 May, 2023.

Bitcoin investors should consider this
Though things looked good for the miners, the same can’t be said for investors. A look at BTC’s hash ribbon displayed the possibility of the 60-day moving average (MA) flipping the 30-day MA.

Such a flip suggests that the market is not appropriate for more accumulation. Therefore, if the flip happens, BTC might be subjected to a price correction.

The trouble is for real
CryptoQuant’s data revealed that at the time of writing, Bitcoin’s exchange reserve was increasing, suggesting higher selling pressure. The increased sell pressure was also proven by BTC’s red aSORP, which indicated that more investors were selling at a profit.

In addition to that, BTC’s taker buy/sell ratio pointed out that selling sentiment was dominant in the derivatives market, which was also a negative signal. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin’s price increased by nearly 2% in the last 24 hours and at press time, it was trading at $28,481.10 with a market capitalization of over $551 billion. Open / Comment

2023-04-30 20:00:03 ​Bitcoin [BTC] whales are on the move again, will this kickstart a new rally?

Whales are known to influence Bitcoin [BTC] prices and again. It was observed that over the last few months, while BTC prices were rallying, both whales and retail investors shared a bullish sentiment around the

Whales swallow more BTC
As BTC prices reached $30,000, whales started exiting their positions, leaving retail investors in the dust. However, it was recently observed that whales have started to show interest in accumulating BTC yet again.

As per the data provided by Santiment, during the slight dip and wavering of prices, the addresses that held 100 to 10,000 BTC added a total of 64,094 coins to their pile since 11 April.

Due to the high interest in BTC from whales, the BTC supply per whale value reached a stable number of 5300 BTC / Whales

When there is a high accumulation of Bitcoin by whales, it suggests that these large holders have a bullish sentiment toward the cryptocurrency. This can have a positive impact on Bitcoin’s prices as it indicates that investors with significant capital are confident in its potential for growth.

Though whales dominating the BTC supply may impact BTC prices positively in the short term, it could make retail investors more vulnerable.

According to glasssnode’s data, the number of addresses holding 0.01 coins has reached an all-time high. This suggested that retail investors continued to show faith in BTC.

Bears lurk in the shadows
The interest from whales and retail investors in BTC could cause a spike in prices temporarily. However, the selling pressure on miners could hinder its growth.

It is to be noted that mining difficulty has now reached an all-time high of 209 zettahashes. Mining difficulty refers to the computational effort needed to mine a block. It increases over time, making it harder for miners to validate transactions and earn rewards.

This can lead to higher energy and equipment costs, lower profitability, and fewer miners on the network. In the event that miners are compelled to sell their assets to make profits, it may have a detrimental effect on the market value of Bitcoin. Open / Comment

2023-04-27 18:30:00 ​Franklin Templeton in a pioneering move uses Polygon to support its OnChain fund

Franklin Templeton, a New York-based investment firm with $1.4 trillion in assets under management, expanded its OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund by integrating it into Polygon, a popular Ethereum scaling solution.

This move is part of the company’s efforts to improve operational efficiency by leveraging blockchain-integrated systems.

Franklin Templeton Taps Into Ethereum’s $260 billion Ecosystem
Polygon will enable the company to extend the distribution of its OnChain money market fund while also enhancing security, reducing costs, and facilitating faster transaction processing.

By integrating with Ethereum’s ecosystem, the investment giant hopes to tap into its $260 billion market and bring greater value to its shareholders.

Moreover, this is not the first time the OnChain fund has made a blockchain debut. In 2021, it was launched on the Stellar network.

Templeton is the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to utilize a public blockchain for processing transactions and recording share ownership.

Each share of the fund is represented by a BENJI token. The token holders can access the money market fund in digital wallets using the Benji investments application.

Colin Butler, Global Head of Institutional Capital at Polygon Labs, said:

“It’s amazing to have a legacy institution like Franklin Templeton bringing transparency, interoperability, and secure, democratized access to their financial instruments, all things afforded with Polygon. Tokenized assets are going to positively rewire the global financial system, and Franklin Templeton is at the forefront of this movement.”

While speaking at the recently held Consensus Festival, Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson stated that crypto industry players should stop complaining about the regulatory climate in the United States.

She said companies need to accept that more regulations will be imposed, even if they don’t agree with them. She believes that the future of the crypto industry will be regulated. Open / Comment

2023-04-25 15:00:04 UTBAI's Price Rises from $0.02 to $0.2005, Reflecting UnitedTeleBot's Success

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With a total supply of 710,000,000 (BSC Network) (Utb.ai, UTBAI-BSC) UTBAI, around 8,805,260.64 tokens in circulation

UTBAI Market Cap of approximately $1,092,244.23, UTB's AI-powered

technology continues to thrive.

More than 94,000 @UnitedTeleBot Users inside the UTB bot

UTB's AI predicts a price of around $0,203 to ~$0,2125 tomorrow

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24 hours: UTBAI +4.43%
7 days: UTBAI +18.21%
30 days: UTBAI +131.53%

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Stay Tuned Open / Comment

2023-04-24 20:30:00 ​Russia is reportedly the second-largest Bitcoin mining hub behind U.S.

A shift in the market share of Bitcoin mining hubs around the world seems to have worked out well in favor of Russia.

The Russian Federation has reportedly become the world’s second-largest Bitcoin mining hub.

Russia’s expanding market share has been attributed to a shortage of electricity last year in China, which is a major rival in this space.

Kazakhstan’s crackdown on mining activities has also paved the way for Russia to claim second place.

Regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. may redistribute BTC mining market
According to a report by Russia’s Kommersant, local Bitcoin mining giant BitRiver brought attention to the country’s latest achievement in the BTC mining industry.

BitRiver, which offers hosting services for mining operations, stated that Russia’s Bitcoin mining capacity has reached 1 gigawatt (GW).

The statistics are reportedly based on data gathered between January and March 2023. The capacity puts the country in second place behind the United States, which boasts a capacity of 3-4 GW.

Other heavyweights in this space include Canada (400 MW), Malaysia (300 MW), Gulf nations (700 MW), and Kazakhstan (100 MW).

Kommersant’s report also attributed Russia’s recent achievement to the United States’ shrinking market share in light of the recent crackdown on miners.

The report highlighted the lack of regulatory clarity in the United States and indicated that the current landscape may trigger a new redistribution of the Bitcoin mining market.

However, without a legal framework for miners and the growing risk of sanctions, Russian miners may face difficulty in maintaining their market share.

Data from The Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance shows that in December 2021, Russia was ahead of the United States and Kazakhstan in terms of Bitcoin mining capacity.

The year before that saw China take the lead in terms of Bitcoin hash rate, boasting a whopping 65% market share. Open / Comment