🕯 FTX Estate to Proceed With the Sale of Locked Solana Tokens via Auction

🌐 The bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is auctioning off its remaining holdings of locked Solana (SOL) tokens, rather than selling at a fixed price. This follows two recent sales totaling $4.5 billion, with tokens sold at around $60 each to firms like Galaxy Digital—significantly below Solana’s current $150 price.

📊 Mike Cagney’s Figure Markets plans an investment vehicle to bid on the auction. While the locked tokens can’t be sold immediately, the potential discount has drawn interest from speculators betting Solana’s price will rise before the unlocking period.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💸 Bitcoin Miners May Shift Focus to AI After Halving, CoinShares Says

💻 Bitcoin miners may pivot toward AI in energy-rich areas after the recent halving, according to CoinShares. With Bitcoin’s reduced mining rewards, operational costs for miners will nearly double to around $53,000 per Bitcoin.

Some major mining firms like BitDigital and Hive are already generating revenue from AI workloads.

💡 CoinShares suggests mining could gravitate to stranded energy sites, while AI investments grow in more stable locations, as miners seek higher profitability post-halving. The hash rate is projected to drop 10% initially as unprofitable miners go offline.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💸 Opinion: Here’s How ETH Holders Could Push Price to a 12% Rally

📈 Ether’s (ETH) price has stabilized above $3,000 after recent losses, but a rally could be brewing thanks to holders refusing to sell. Data shows active deposits on the Ethereum network, which signal investors’ intention to sell, have dropped to a seven-month low.

🕯 Additionally, there has been a $2-billion shift from short-term to mid-term holders (one to three months), suggesting investors are opting to hold rather than take profits.

🖥 Technically, if Ether can break above the $3,376 level, representing a 50% Fibonacci retracement, it could continue rallying toward $3,582, a 12% gain from current prices. However, if it fails to clear $3,376, ETH risks dropping back below $3,000.

🛍 The resilience of Ether holders avoiding selling pressure is setting up a potential 12% price rally if the key $3,376 resistance can be overcome in the near-term.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💡 BlackRock Predicts How Much the Fed Will Cut Interest Rates This Year

👕 BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, predicts the U.S. Federal Reserve could cut interest rates twice in 2024 as inflation cools.

👕 Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, believes the Fed can achieve this despite recent stronger economic data. Market expectations currently price in around 40 basis points of rate cuts by the end of the year.

📎Rieder says BlackRock is reducing interest rate risk by favoring shorter-term investments for now but sees an opportunity to extend maturities once inflation reports show improvement and employment slows.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

👮‍♀️ Do Kwon, Terraform Labs Should Get $5.3B Fine, SEC Tells Court

🔵 The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a New York court to impose a massive $5.3-billion fine on Do Kwon and Terraform Labs over their roles in the $40-billion collapse of the Terra ecosystem last year.

🔵 The SEC states this “conservative” fine amount is a reasonable approximation of Kwon and Terraform’s “ill-gotten gains” from misleading investors about the stability of the TerraUSD stablecoin and Terra blockchain.

📎 The total includes $4.74 billion in disgorgement of profits and interest, as well as $520 million in civil penalties split between Terraform ($420 million) and Kwon ($100 million) personally.

Beyond the fines, the SEC is also seeking injunctions to permanently ban Kwon from serving as an officer of a public company and prohibit him and Terraform from selling any more crypto asset securities.

🔵 The SEC justified these measures by alleging Kwon has shown no remorse, with Terraform’s new CEO testifying they continue selling tokens, which the SEC called a “frank acknowledgment of likely recidivism.”

👕 Kwon’s lawyers argue he has no profits to disgorge, while Terraform says it should only face “appropriate” penalties provable in the U.S., given its bankruptcy status.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💻 BlackRock tokenizes Money Market Fund on Hedera; HBAR Soars

👕 BlackRock tokenized shares of its money market fund on the Hedera blockchain in a major milestone for real-world asset tokenization. Enabled by Archax exchange, Ownera and the HBAR Foundation, it allows trading tokenized fund shares with benefits like instant transfer.

👕 The news sent Hedera’s HBAR token soaring over 46% to a four-week high above $0.13 as trading volume spiked over 600%, signaling confidence in Hedera’s ability to tokenize traditional assets for institutions like BlackRock.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

🌐 Ripple Says $10M Penalty Enough, Rejects SEC’s Ask of $1.95B Fine in Final Judgment

❓ Ripple Labs has opposed the SEC’s proposed $1.95-billion penalty in their long-running case, calling it “administrative overreach.” While the court found Ripple violated securities laws through institutional XRP sales, it dismissed broader allegations. Ripple argues the SEC’s requested $876-million disgorgement and $876-million civil penalty are excessive, stating:

“The Court should impose a civil penalty of no more than $10 million.”

🔖 Ripple claims it had no gains to disgorge after accounting for factors such as taxes and losses. The pushback highlights the high stakes as the case approaches final judgement.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

🌐❓ What Are Airdrop Scams?

⚠️ Airdrop scams lure victims with promises of free crypto tokens, then steal their funds. Common tactics include phishing websites mimicking legitimate airdrops, impersonating exchanges or influencers, and sending unsolicited tokens to trick users into visiting malicious sites.

🔴 To avoid falling victim, be wary of unrealistic promises, requests to connect wallets, or share private keys/seed phrases, projects lacking transparency, and phishing attempts impersonating reputable entities.

‼️ Never interact with or try to sell unexpected tokens in your wallet. Verify airdrops through official channels before participating. If an airdrop seems too good to be true, it likely is a scam aiming to drain your crypto holdings.

#ScamDecoded

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

🛍⚠️What Is a 51% Attack?

❓A 51% attack occurs when an entity controls the majority (at least 51%) of a blockchain network’s mining hash rate or computing power. This allows the attacker to prevent new transactions from being confirmed, enable double-spending of coins, and potentially reverse their own transactions.

While extremely difficult on large networks like Bitcoin due to the massive amount of required hash power, 51% attacks are more feasible on smaller proof-of-work blockchains with lower hash rates. Notable examples include attacks on Monacoin, Bitcoin Gold, and ZenCash.

🛡 To defend against 51% attacks, cryptocurrencies rely on having a highly decentralized network of miners, making it improbable for any single entity to amass that much computing power. Larger networks with more miners are inherently securer against these attacks.

ℹ️ While concerning, 51% attacks can be prevented by networks quickly upgrading protocols and consensus rules if such an event occurs. Overall, they pose a potential risk that robust cryptocurrencies aim to make computationally infeasible.

#ScamDecoded

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

❗️ What Is Crypto Market Sentiment?

In this edition of #Basics we will discuss the concept of crypto market sentiment.

🔵 In simple terms, it refers to the overall attitudes and emotions investors have toward a cryptocurrency. It considers the hype, fear, and opinions around a coin or project, which can significantly influence price despite not necessarily reflecting fundamentals.

💡 Market sentiment analysis involves tracking social media, news, transaction activity, and other data points to gauge feelings and predict potential price movements. While sentiment doesn’t always align with reality, monitoring it can provide valuable insights when combined with technical and fundamental analysis.

🎥 Major drivers of crypto market sentiment include influencer comments, community engagement, whale transactions, and mainstream media coverage. Analyzing collective market sentiment allows traders to better understand market psychology and potential upcoming trends for trading or investment decisions.

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💸 ARK Sells Last of Its ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF Shares

🔵 ARK Invest has fully exited its position in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF. The investment firm sold its remaining 237,983 BITO shares worth $6.7 million from its ARKW fund on Thursday.

💻 ARK had originally purchased over 4 million BITO shares late last year as a short-term play, anticipating the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF that it could swap into.

💡 After steadily trimming its BITO holdings in January, ARK sold its final shares this week. The firm’s own Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) is now ARKW’s largest holding at 10.4% of the fund’s value.

The sale comes as ARK continues positioning its funds while awaiting the elusive approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF product in the United States market.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💸🕯 DTCC Cuts Bitcoin ETF Collateral by 100%

ℹ️ The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has announced it will provide zero collateral for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ETFs from April 30, 2024, cutting their collateral valuation by 100%.

📊 While not impacting lending by individual brokers, the move signals caution from the DTCC toward extending credit against crypto-backed products. The news modestly impacted crypto markets, with Bitcoin briefly dipping amid some negative sentiment, though analysts urged ignoring “baseless panic” over the DTCC’s internal decision.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💸 Peter Brandt Signals Potential End of Bull Run

🔵 Veteran trader Peter Brandt has issued a sobering analysis indicating Bitcoin’s bull run may have reached its peak around $72,723 in March. Examining diminishing exponential growth across previous cycles, Brandt argues the current run exhibits “exponential decay”—with each cycle seeing around 80% less momentum than the last.

💡 This data implies Bitcoin could retrace significantly, potentially revisiting the $30,000 range, before setting up for future long-term gains akin to historical patterns in gold markets after major corrections.

💡 While optimistic overall, Brandt cautions there is a 25% chance the current cycle has topped out, urging investors to consider the data objectively.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💬 Opinion: Bitcoin ETF Performance Tracks Underlying Asset

📊 Last week, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $83.6 million, mirroring Bitcoin’s muted price action amid inflation concerns. Geraci expects Bitcoin ETF trading volumes and flows to decouple as adoption grows.

According to Nate Geraci, Bitcoin ETF performance currently tracks the underlying Bitcoin asset closely due to their early adoption stage.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💸💸 Bitcoin, Ether Nurse Losses as U.S. Stagflation Fears Grip Market

📊 Bitcoin and Ether traded lower on Monday, down around 2.5% and 3%, respectively, as renewed fears of U.S. stagflation—high inflation combined with low economic growth—gripped crypto markets.

⚠️ The threat comes from last week’s data showing sluggish 1.6% Q1 GDP growth but persistent 3.4% inflation. This reduces odds of Fed rate cuts that could boost risk assets.

📈 However, potential liquidity injections from the Treasury General Account balance and the launch of Bitcoin ETFs in Hong Kong could provide bullish catalysts.

🔴 Overall, mixed economic signals have crypto markets weighing bearish stagflation risks against prospective tailwinds, contributing to choppy price action.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

ℹ️ XRP Price Opinion: Can This $40M Signal Kickstart a $0.60 Rebound?

💬Despite XRP’s 12.5% price dip over the past week to $0.51, a rare $40-million signal in derivatives markets offers hope for a bullish rebound. Open interest in XRP futures contracts declined at a slower 7% pace than prices, suggesting traders are holding positions in anticipation of an upswing.

🕯 This positive divergence between open interest and price could indicate sellers are exhausted and a recovery toward $0.60 is imminent. However, the $0.53 resistance level poses an initial hurdle.

⌛️ A clearance above $0.53 could catalyze a parabolic move to $0.60, while a failure to do so opens up downside risks toward $0.45 in the near-term. This could be a crucial signal for investors, since XRP attracted much attention in the Q1.

This content should not be considered as financial advice.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💸💸 Bitcoin Slips Under $62K As Hong Kong ETFs Disappoint

🕯 The highly anticipated launch of Asia’s first spot BTC and ETH ETFs in Hong Kong turned out to be quite discouraging for investors. The six new crypto ETFs managed to rake in a disappointing $11 million in trading volume on their debut day.

💬 Reacting to the demand, Bitcoin slid nearly 2% to under $61,000, while Ether dropped 2.8% to $3,066. In contrast, spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. had attracted a massive $655 million worth of trading on their opening day earlier this year.

The lackluster Hong Kong debut has dampened investors’ enthusiasm for now, but the crypto markets remain optimistic about wider adoption of digital assets globally.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

⚡️ Liquid Restaking Protocol Renzo Airdrops REZ Token, Debuts at $289M Market Cap

🌐 Renzo entered the market with the successful launch of its REZ token, which achieved an initial market capitalization of $289 million.

🛍 The distribution strategy for the 1.15 billion tokens in circulation involves various stakeholders, including the community, investors, and the Renzo team, with safety measures like lock-up periods implemented to prevent quick sell-offs.

🖥 Despite Renzo’s official announcements on Twitter denying the token’s availability on DEXs, transactions totaling around $75 million were reported on Uniswap shortly after its release.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

👮‍♀️💸 Bitcoin Developer’s Testnet Attack Sparks Controversy

⚠️ Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp generated over 165,000 blocks on Bitcoin’s testnet in a week, simulating three years of activity. Lopp claims this low-cost “attack” revealed a weakness, which was fixed, improving security. However, the move sparked controversy within the Bitcoin community.

©️ While Lopp argues it was an effective test, developer Francis Pouliot criticized it as disruptive “vandalism.” Some suggested banning actions that compromise Bitcoin’s test environments.

The incident highlighted differing perspectives on security testing processes versus coordinated developer efforts.

🛡 As the dust settles, discussions continue on finding the right balance between robust checks and collaborative cyber security practices.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures

💸 Bitcoin Could Drop Further to As Low As $50K, Standard Chartered Says

📉 Standard Chartered believes Bitcoin could drop to the $50,000–$52,000 range. The bank cites Bitcoin trading below the $58,000 average purchase price of spot ETFs, risking potential liquidations. As we noticed in previous posts, Lacklustre Hong Kong spot ETF debut volumes of $11 million also impacted sentiment negatively.

📊 However, Standard Chartered recommends buying if Bitcoin hits that $50,000–$52,000 level or if the upcoming May 15 U.S. CPI inflation data delivers a “friendly” reading. The bank warns risk assets like crypto face headwinds from deteriorating liquidity conditions. Upcoming economic data will likely guide Bitcoin’s direction.

💬 Source

📌Powered by V3V Ventures