Global identity startup Worldcoin’s token WLD is a natural at swimming in crypto’s murky waters. A week after launch, its price is already up by 4.6%. As of this writing, it is changing hands at $2.37, down 1.4% since yesterday. This is despite the fact that governments and regulators around the world have expressed reservations… Read More 8/2: Worldcoin Token, MicroStrategy, and An Imminent Crash
That crypto is a house of cards with worthless tokens is an open secret. It is, to quote Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine, a toy system. But it makes for a good academic study into how risk and volatility are transmitted across a system. In the latest instance of this study, decentralized lending platform Curve Finance… Read More Notes 8/1: Hack at Curve Finance, Bitcoin Price
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic this year and there have been many posts discussing its intersection with cryptocurrencies. Can the combination of AI, with its potential to reshape human existence, and cryptocurrencies, another supposedly world changing technology, produce a revolution? If Worldcoin, the latest project from OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, is any… Read More Notes 7/24: Worldcoin, Crypto Markets
Binance burned $484 million worth of its native token BNB yesterday. Burning is the equivalent of taking tokens out of circulation. For a valuable and useful asset, that action should translate into a price bump because there are fewer of its numbers in circulation. While BNB is mostly useless, previous burns of the token have… Read More Notes 7/19: BNB Danger at Binance, Tether’s Peg Still Off at Binance.US, and An Ether Sale
Bitcoin price has stalled this quarter but Coinbase has already won big. Shares for the cryptocurrency exchange, one of the biggest in North America, have jumped by 90 percent in the last month, lifting their price to $105.81 this morning. Coinbase investors pushed up its stock because they are supposed to be enthused about two… Read More Notes 7/18: Problems at Coinbase and Binance
Tokenization of securities and real world assets (RWA) is one of the promises of crypto. And tokenizing U.S. treasuries is a low-hanging fruit because the market for such securities is already liquid. According to rwa.xyz, the market value of blockchain-based investment products for treasury bills, bonds, and money market funds into tokens totals $614 million.… Read More Notes 7/17: Tokenized Treasuries, Lido and Binance Rewards
Decentralized finance (DeFi) was supposed to be the savior and next iteration of modern finance. Investors don’t seem to think as much. The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi systems has slumped from a peak of $178 billion in November 2021, when bitcoin price set a record, to $44.5 billion, as of this writing. It… Read More Notes 7/10: DeFi Total Value Locked Declines, Bitcoin Hash Rate Surges
Regulators around the world have begun taking tentative steps to regulate crypto and digital assets. Such assets are a new frontier in finance. And available evidence does not encourage much trust or confidence in their value or, for that matter, utility. How, then, should they be regulated? A panel discussion at the Bank of International… Read More How to Regulate Crypto
Crypto’s profit-making method has snuck into mainstream markets through the SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisitions Company) crack. The world’s biggest crypto ATM operator, Bitcoin Depot, debuted on NASDAQ Monday and the price of its holding company, GSRM II, jumped by 12% in pre-market trading. Trading markets have low liquidity before they open and small orders can… Read More Notes 7/5: Bitcoin Depot, Ether Prices, LSD Tokens
What is the future of the monetary system? It might be more of the present. For the time being, at least. A blueprint for the monetary system’s future sketched out by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) released last week places central and commercial banks at the center of an ecosystem dominated by tokenized deposits.… Read More Notes 6/27: BIS Future Monetary System, Bitcoin Price
Algorithmic stablecoin Tether has lost its peg at Binance.US as bitcoin price rallied past $31,000 this morning. According to data from crypto prices aggregation site CoinGecko, bitcoin price is trading at $31,152.69, up 3.5% from a day earlier, right now and Tether’s peg is intact at $1. There is a different story playing out at… Read More Notes 6/23: Tether Loses Peg At Binance.US As Bitcoin Price Blitzes Past $31,000, Crypto Derivatives Turn Bullish (Why?!), and TUSD’s News Cycle
Bitcoin price continues its logic-defying ascent amid a flurry of bitcoin ETF filings. It swept past the $30,000 mark this afternoon, touching a high of $30,585 before retreating slightly. As of this writing, it is changing hands at $30,206.95, up by a staggering 8% from yesterday and 16% from last week. During its surge, the… Read More Notes 6/21: Bitcoin Price Pops Past $30,000, Stablecoin Regulation
Algorithmic stablecoin Tether lost its peg briefly amid trader selloffs of USDT at Curve Finance, a liquidity pool that operates in decentralized finance (DeFi) markets, this morning. According to Coinmarketcap, a site owned by Binance – an exchange where Tether records its biggest volumes, the stablecoin was trading as low as $0.9968. While its peg… Read More Notes 6/15: Tether Loses Peg, Bitcoin and Tether Dominance
Do you think you can outlive Bitcoin – an asset whose precarious existence hinges on the machinations of an unregulated algorithmic stablecoin and regulators wrangling over its status? If yes, you should put your holdings of the cryptocurrency to work in a bitcoin life insurance from Meanwhile. The insurance startup is practically drenched in buzzwords:… Read More Notes 6/9: Meanwhile, Do You Have Bitcoin Insurance?
While the crypto world’s attention is transfixed by the decline in bitcoin price, Ethereum’s native token, ether, is quietly undergoing its own price spiral. According to analytics firm Glassnode, ether balances at exchanges are at their lowest level since 2016. The firm says that only 14.85% of all ether was held in wallets at… Read More Notes 5/26: Ether Supply Problems
Bitcoin price moved slightly higher on news that Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will begin accepting applications from exchanges to offer cryptocurrency trading to retail investors from June 1 onwards. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency is changing hands at $27,299.15, up 1.2% from its price yesterday. An Asian Bull Run? According to… Read More Notes 5/23: Bitcoin Price and Asian Bull Runs, Ether Deposits
Bitcoin price remained stagnant over the weekend and continues to trade sideways in the $26,000 range. As of this writing, it is at $26,904.77, roughly unchanged from its price a day earlier. A Tight Range The days of frothy trading in the cryptocurrency’s ecosystem, when its price regularly notched up double-digit gains and set records,… Read More Notes 5/22: Bitcoin Price, Tornado Cash’s TORN, and Proof of Reserves in Texas
Tether is Bitcoin’s new savior. The crypto world’s biggest stablecoin plans to increase bitcoin holdings in its reserves by investing 15% of its future profits into bitcoin. According to its latest attestation report, Tether had $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin on its books. The firm said it will use “realized profits”, or profits accruing to… Read More Notes 3/17: Bitcoin in Tether’s Reserves
Staking platform Lido’s pile of $12 billion worth of ether came online yesterday after the platform commenced staking withdrawals. Lido is Ethereum’s biggest staking platform, accounting for approximately 32% of all staked ether as of this writing. Mass withdrawals from the platform could have had a catastrophic effect on ether price from individuals selling their… Read More Notes 5/16: Lido Begins Withdrawals, Aragon DAO Drama
Controversial stablecoin Tether released its latest reserves report for the first quarter yesterday. As usual, there are many red flags. The stablecoin has released an attestation and not an audit, meaning the accounting firm responsible for verifying Tether’s reserves only checked the state of its finances at a particular moment in time. What’s more, their… Read More Tether Releases Attestation Report
Crypto exchange Bittrex has decided to “bury the baby” after being charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month for breaking securities rules even as it minted $1.3 billion in profit. The Seattle exchange filed for bankruptcy yesterday in Delaware. It listed 100,000 creditors and liabilities of between $500 million to $1 billion.… Read More Notes 5/9: Bittrex Buries the Baby, Bitcoin Price Falls