Ripple’s XRP has had a roller coaster ride in crypto markets. At the beginning of 2018, it was the crypto world’s third most valuable digital asset. Growing adoption of Ripple’s cross border payments platform, in which XRP is used as a bridge currency between two fiat currencies, was cited as a reason for investor enthusiasm for the token. But the tides quickly turned for the … Continue reading Note 3/30: XRP Spike
Bitcoin price continued its gravity-defying trajectory today, rising by 5.2% in the last 24 hours, to $28,457.20, as of this writing. According to CoinDesk data, the cryptocurrency is up by 72% so far this year. This past quarter marked its biggest quarterly gain in the last two years, the publication noted. Bitcoin’s latest price trajectory indicates that it has shrugged off the latest attack on … Continue reading Notes 3/29: Bitcoin Price and TUSD
What does the CFTC’s case against Binance mean for crypto’s future? Binance is the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. It is also home to the biggest trading volumes for bitcoin and ether, the world’s two biggest cryptocurrencies. But the CFTC’s lawsuit announcement hardly dented bitcoin price. It fell by 4.5%, to $26,716.35, yesterday in roughly four hours but that’s par for the course … Continue reading Notes 3/28: CFTC Lawsuit Against Binance, Staking Withdrawals, and Tron and Tether
There is no rest for the wicked. Or, for businesses operating in cryptocurrencies. An onslaught of the fledgling sector by regulators, which began earlier this year, reached a sort of apogee this morning with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charging Binance, the world’s biggest trading platform by volume for cryptocurrencies. The agency stated that Binance solicited and served U.S. customers without registering with … Continue reading Notes 3/27: CFTC Sues Binance
Bitcoin price is holding steady after another tumultuous week. The cryptocurrency is changing hands at $27,862.57, relatively unchanged from its price a day earlier. On a weekly basis, bitcoin price is up by 1.5%, according to data from CoinGecko. The price rise is impressive in a week that witnessed another quarter percentage point hike in interest rates by the Federal Reserve. An increase in interest … Continue reading Notes 3/25: Bitcoin Price, Circle Redemptions
Coinbase has major beef with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). After the company was served with a Wells Notice by the agency for selling unregistered securities, its chief legal officer Paul Grewal took to social media and wrote posts to air grievances. On his company’s website, Grewal wrote that his exchange – the biggest venue by trading volume in North America – was served … Continue reading Notes 3/24: Coinbase
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulatory wrecking ball is swinging again. This time it is aimed at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the Tron platform and its companies. The agency took aim at Justin Sun, the colorful founder of Tron, and charged three of his companies – Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc., with unregistered offerings of securities. In its complaint, the SEC … Continue reading Notes 3/23: Staking As A Security Offering, Bitcoin Price
If there was any doubt about the Biden administration’s thinking on cryptocurrencies, then yesterday’s economic report should clear all confusion. The report is damning in its assessment of the crypto ecosystem. “Cryptoassets to date do not appear to offer investments with any fundamental value nor do they act as an effective alternative to fiat money, improve financial inclusion, or make payments more efficient,” the report’s … Continue reading Notes 3/22: Biden’s Economic Report, ETHW, and Lost Ethereum
In a volatile and unpredictable cryptocurrency ecosystem, hacks at decentralized finance (DeFi) are one of the few constants. The latest one occurred at lending platform Euler Finance last week. Crypto tokens worth $197 million were stolen during the hack. According to reports, the hacker stole four coins: DAI stablecoin worth $8.7 million, $18.5 million worth of WBTC, $135.8 million worth of stETH, and $33.8 million … Continue reading Tornado Cash Becomes a Conduit for Hackers Again
Bitcoin price continued to rally this morning and is changing hands at $28,229, up roughly 1% from its price a day earlier. In a week, its price has jumped by 17%. Trading volumes at cryptocurrency exchanges have skyrocketed to $51 billion, their highest level in four months, according to data from Kaiko Research. The increase is unevenly distributed across trading pairs and mainly concentrated on … Continue reading Notes 3/21: Bitcoin Price
Bitcoin price continues to make news. According to data from CoinGecko, it hit a high of $28,500.16 this morning. As of this writing, it is trading at $28,161.81, up 2.5% from its price a day earlier. In the last one week, amid a series of banking crises, bitcoin’s market capitalization has swollen from $457 billion to $543.4 billion. An Uncorrelated Asset Analysts and commenters … Continue reading Notes 3/20: Bitcoin Price
Bitcoin price trajectory continues to defy explanation by posting gains in an economy that, to economists and bankers, is beset by problems. The cryptocurrency reached as high as $27,500 this morning before sliding. As of this writing, it is changing hands at $27,352, up by 3% from a day earlier, based on data from CoinGecko. On a weekly basis, it is up by almost 36%. … Continue reading Notes 3/18: Bitcoin Price
St. Patrick’s day is a day of celebration and revelry. And so it is for the premiere cryptocurrency. Bitcoin price is pumping again. The cryptocurrency went past the $27,000 mark earlier this morning before retracing some of those gains. As of this writing, it is at $26,407.09, up by more than 6.5% from its price a day ago. A Mysterious Price Rise Bitcoin’s current … Continue reading Notes 3/17: Bitcoin Price
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) chief Gary Gensler upped the regulation ante against staking yesterday by, once again, claiming that Proof of Stake (PoS) tokens are securities. “Whatever they’re promoting and putting into a protocol, and locking up their tokens in a protocol, a protocol that’s often a small group of entrepreneurs and developers are developing, I would just suggest that each of these token … Continue reading Notes 3/16: Ethereum Withdrawals, Circle Woes
In July last year, I wrote about investor enthusiasm for Ethereum’s move to a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus system. Traders piled into ether, the blockchain’s native token, in hopes of a big payoff close to the actual event. [There were profits, but they were taken much before the actual event]. Amidst the chilly crypto winter, investors are repeating the trade. The catalyst for ether’s … Continue reading What Happens to Ether Prices After The Merge?
Bitcoin price continues to course a path upwards for the second day, briefly moving past $26,000 before reversing its trajectory. As of this writing, it is changing hands for $25,989.38, up roughly 7.5% from yesterday. Analysts and news reports have pointed out that the jump in its price coincides with the release of favorable inflation data, signaling a correlation with macroeconomic factors. Not Much to … Continue reading Notes 3/14: Bitcoin Price, USDC Depegging Winners
Circle’s USDC may have survived a crisis over the weekend after regulators stepped in to bail out Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) depositors, but it is not out of the woods yet. The stablecoin, which is extensively used in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, faces a fresh existential threat this week. A hacker made off with 34 million USDC in a flash loan attack at lending … Continue reading Notes 3/13: USDC’s Peg Is Still Wobbly, Bitcoin Price
The price of Circle’s stablecoin USDC, which had lost its peg over the weekend amidst fears over its reserves, is inching its way back to $1. As of this writing, it is changing hands for $0.98, according to data from CoinGecko. On Friday, amidst drama surrounding the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), it had crashed to a low of $0.87. Decentralized finance (DeFi) stablecoin … Continue reading Notes 3/12: USDC Peg
USDC, the crypto world’s second biggest stablecoin, has lost its peg due to exposure to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the bank that liquidated yesterday. The stablecoin’s peg with Tether’s USDT, another dollar-backed stablecoin, fell to as low as 0.86 at cryptocurrency exchange Kraken before recovering. As of this writing, it is still askew at $0.92. USDC’s peg crashed because investors rushed to redeem their holdings … Continue reading Notes 3/11: Circle’s USDC Loses Peg
Much of the bad news in crypto this past month has been about regulatory action. And so, a Senate hearing was held yesterday to discuss the “coordinated” attack on cryptocurrencies by government agencies. While it provided a forum for the community to air their grievances, the hearing did not offer solutions or a way forward. Events in crypto in the last year are more than … Continue reading Notes 3/10: Regulation Arbitrage, Silvergate Failure, and Bitcoin Price
In their crackdown on cryptocurrencies, regulators may have found their biggest target yet. The New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) office today filed a case against cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin for an unregistered offering of securities. In its filing, the agency alleged that Ethereum’s ether, the world’s second biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is a security. Just yesterday, when asked about the cryptocurrency’s regulatory status, the head … Continue reading Notes 3/9: Ethereum As A Security
