Although non-fungible token (NFT) markets showed improved performance over the past week, June’s sales figures were significantly worse compared to May. Over the last 30 days, NFT sales have decreased by 46.31%. June’s NFT Market Faces Steep Decline June proved to be challenging for digital collectible sales, experiencing a 46.31% drop compared to May, which […]
Bitcoin News
Chainalysis Report: Crypto Value Sent From Illicit Addresses Dropped by Nearly $10 Billion in 2023
According to Chainalysis’ report on money laundering trends, the value of crypto transferred by illicit addresses in 2023 fell by nearly billion from .5 billion to the latest billion. The report attributes the drop to the overall decline in both legitimate and illicit crypto transaction volumes in 2023. An analysis of services used […]
Bitcoin News
Bitcoin Supply On Exchanges Has Dropped To A 6-Year Low, What This Means For Price
Bitcoin broke over the ,000 level twice in the past 24 hours for the first time since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs by the SEC, signaling a bullish return into most cryptocurrencies spearheaded by BTC. In particular, Bitcoin investors seem to be gearing up for action as the next Bitcoin halving approaches with an interesting time of withdrawal from exchanges.
Serious money has been on the move from exchanges in the past 30 days, as shown by on-chain data. As a result, the Bitcoin balance across various exchanges has seen a drastic drop to the lowest level in six years.
Percentage Of Bitcoin Supply On Exchanges Drops To Lowest Level Since 2017
A large portion of Bitcoin holders have been holding onto their coins for the long haul. According to IntoTheBlock data, about 69% of Bitcoin holders have been holding their coins for longer than one year.
Data from the on-chain analytics platform Santiment also showed that the supply of Bitcoin on exchanges recently dropped to 5.3% of the total circulating supply for the first time since December 2017, indicating 94.7% of the supply is currently in private custody. This metric is particularly interesting, considering BTC’s total circulating supply has grown by 2.84 million since December 2017.
As shown in Santiment’s chart, the supply on exchanges has been on a free fall since January 10, around when the first spot Bitcoin ETFs went live in the US. This isn’t surprising, as the sentiment around Bitcoin turned fully bullish during this period despite a prolonged price struggle.
#Bitcoin‘s price dominance has continued to grow over #altcoins, as its market value surged as high as .5K today. Traders remain skeptical toward the asset for a 3rd straight week. This is the lowest ratio of $BTC on exchanges since December, 2017. https://t.co/XC3UK258lM pic.twitter.com/4MwvXE28RC
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) February 8, 2024
In a similar manner, whale transaction tracker Whale Alerts has disclosed large bouts of BTC exiting crypto exchanges to private wallets in the past month. Notably, Bitcoin’s dominance over altcoins has gained ground, with the institutional demand for Bitcoin post-ETF approval also surging.
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1,150 #BTC (51,452,847 USD) transferred from #Coinbase to unknown wallethttps://t.co/bQl4vCkifM
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) February 8, 2024
This mass BTC exodus from crypto exchanges signals that long-term holders feel more comfortable keeping their coins in self-custody rather than on exchanges.
The total Bitcoin withdrawals from exchanges in the past seven days were to the tune of .64 billion, outpacing a .42 billion inflow by 0 million. Wallets holding more than 1,000 BTC have also accumulated 1.03% of the total circulating supply in the past month.
Withdrawals from exchanges are generally a good phenomenon for crypto assets, as they reduce the amount of cryptocurrencies readily available for sale. Fewer BTC available means less selling pressure and the opportunity for the value to go up based on supply and demand.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at ,250, up by 4% in the past 24 hours and 7.15% in the past seven days. The cryptocurrency is currently aiming for the ,000 mark, which it can reach very soon if the accumulation strategy continues.
Elon Musk’s Biography Just Dropped: Here Are Important Excerpts About Dogecoin
The much-anticipated biography of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, recently dropped. As expected, it contains some interesting tales of Musk’s involvement with the meme coin Dogecoin and how he has contributed to its growth.
Musk’s Love For Dogecoin Runs Deep
Musk’s biography, authored by Walter Isaacson, contains certain important parts that highlight how much the world’s richest man is invested in the token. In one part, Isaacson writes that Musk’s brother discussed the possibility of creating a blockchain-based social media platform that would include a payment system using Dogecoin.
Musk thought it was a great idea and even sent his brother an idea for “a blockchain social system that does both payments and short messages like Twitter.” Considering that it will be decentralized, Musk stated that it will guarantee free speech (something which Musk has continuously advocated for). The other option that Musk mentioned instead of this idea was to buy Twitter, which he eventually did.
However, considering that the initial idea was to create a decentralized social system with Dogecoin being an integral part of the payment system, it won’t be surprising to see Musk incorporate the meme coin into the payment system he intends to build on the X (formerly Twitter) platform.
Musk is known to post cryptic memes about Dogecoin usually. Still, his wittiness towards the meme token doesn’t stop there, as he went as far as purchasing a Shiba Inu dog named Floki, which happens to be Dogecoin’s logo. In February, he posted a tweet of this pet dog with the caption, “The new CEO of Twitter..”
According to the book, FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was in support of Musk acquiring Twitter as he believed that Twitter could be rebuilt on the blockchain and was “eager” to be part of the deal. Last year, Musk confirmed that SBF wanted to finance his Twitter takeover, but he wasn’t so inclined to the idea as SBF had “set off his bullshit meter.”
The world’s richest man considered the idea of using blockchain technology as a support system for Twitter. However, it seems that Musk’s love for Dogecoin didn’t translate to him being a huge fan of blockchain technology. Isaacson stated that “despite the fun he had with Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies, he was not a blockchain acolyte and he felt it would be too sluggish to support fast-paced Twitter postings.”
DOGE Is An Investment
Beyond his fondness for the meme token, Musk is reportedly invested in Dogecoin’s development. A page in the book revealed that Musk had been funding the cryptocurrency, with Isaacson labeling Dogecoin “the semi-serious cryptocurrency whose development he [Musk] had been quietly funding.”
As such, it won’t be surprising to see Musk work towards ensuring that the meme token attains new heights, with a prominent member of the Dogecoin community positing that Elon Musk will make the token “the official currency of X and earth in the future.”
While this may seem farfetched to many, Musk is already taking steps that could place Dogecoin on the global stage. His X platform recently acquired licenses to offer payment services in multiple states in the US. This move could undoubtedly form part of Musk’s plans to create a payment system where users make payments in DOGE.
DOGE is currently trading at around .06145, up by 0.50% in the last twenty-four hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin Makes Progress in Clearing Backlog, but Lightning Network Capacity and Channels Dropped Amid Congestion
In the past week, the Bitcoin network has made progress in resolving its congestion issues. On May 7, 2023, the number of unconfirmed transactions reached an all-time high of over 500,000 transfers, causing a major backlog. However, as of today, that number has been reduced to 263,406. Currently, 184 blocks need to be cleared to process the majority of transactions that are still stuck in the network’s mempool.
Congestion Woes Ease on Bitcoin Network
The long queue of transactions is finally starting to subside as bitcoin miners have started catching up with some of the backlog. As we reported three days ago, Bitcoin.com News noted the beginning of the congestion-clearing process, with unconfirmed transactions dropping from over 500,000 on May 7 to just above 300,000 on Thursday, May 11.
According to mempool.io statistics, high-priority transactions were priced at per transfer, while low-priority transactions cost .23 per transfer at that time. Current statistics on May 14 show that onchain fees have significantly subsided on the Bitcoin blockchain over the past three days. Just a few days ago, a high-priority transaction would have cost , but today, that fee has dropped to .83.
A medium-priority transfer is now priced at .79, while a low-priority transaction can cost around .75. This is a significant improvement, with high-priority onchain fees sliding by 72.33% over the past 72 hours. Additionally, the number of unconfirmed transactions stuck in the queue has reduced to 263,406, which is just above half of what it held on May 7.
Lightning Network Capacity and Channels Drop
On May 9, the number of transactions was around 413,420, which means that 36.28% of the backlog has been cleared in the past five days. While fees skyrocketed to roughly per transaction on May 7 and have been quite volatile lately, the Lightning Network’s capacity did not improve. In fact, the number of BTC locked into the Lightning Network dropped from 5,463 BTC on May 5 to today’s capacity of 5,415 BTC on May 14.
The dip indicates that roughly .28 million in value left the Lightning Network amid the transaction backlog chaos. On May 8, the Lightning Network boasted 73,352 unique channels. However, that number has since decreased to the current 71,286 unique channels. According to mempool.space’s Lightning Network metrics, roughly 5,057 BTC in capacity is on clearnet, while 253 BTC of capacity is using Tor. The remaining Lightning Network capacity is identified as “other.”
What are your thoughts on the recent developments in the Bitcoin network and the Lightning Network’s capacity? Share your insights in the comments section below.
Nigerian Forex Inflows: ‘Ambiguous Foreign Exchange Regime’ Blamed After Inflows Dropped to $5.32 Billion in 2022
Between 2019 and 2022, the value of foreign capital that flowed into Nigeria dropped from .9 billion to .32 billion. The drop has been attributed to low investor confidence, the high cost of doing business, as well as the country’s high inflation rate. Nigeria will “struggle to keep the naira to the dollar exchange rate from depreciating further” until both crude oil and non-oil exports are boosted, an accounting firm has asserted.
Nigeria’s High Cost of Doing Business
In its latest report on the flow of foreign capital into Nigeria, the accounting firm KPMG said the value of capital brought into the West African country fell from .9 billion recorded in 2019, to .32 billion in 2022. According to the report, the persistent decline in the amount of capital flowing into Nigeria can be attributed to “low investor confidence due to the ambiguous foreign exchange regime.”
The challenges encountered when seeking to access foreign exchange as well as Nigeria’s high inflation rate and interest rates are listed as some of the factors that contributed to the “precipitous decline” in foreign capital flowing into the country. Besides the country’s ongoing foreign exchange woes, the report said Nigeria’s failure to lower the cost of doing business makes it a less-than-ideal foreign investment destination.
“Beyond the rigidity and lack of clarity in the FX [foreign exchange] management system, other factors have discouraged Foreign Direct Investment and capital inflow, in general, such as security challenges, ease of doing business issues particularly as it relates to the infrastructure deficit, overly stringent policies and bureaucratic bottlenecks for securing permits and a perceived weak legal framework, which make it expensive to do business in Nigeria are contributing to the reasons foreign investors are avoiding bringing their capital into the country,” the report explained.
Widening Forex Supply Gap
The report also suggested that the suspense created by the recently held national elections may have contributed to the drop in the value of foreign capital flowing into Nigeria. The slowdown in the value of capital flowing into Nigeria has contributed to the widening of the forex supply gap.
Meanwhile, the KPMG report ends by stating that Nigeria will likely “struggle to keep the naira to the dollar exchange rate from depreciating further” unless both crude oil and non-oil exports are boosted.
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What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Chainalysis: Crypto Scam Revenue Dropped 46% in 2022
Revenue from cryptocurrency scams dropped 46% in 2022, according to blockchain data analytics firm Chainalysis. “We attribute most of this decline to market conditions, as scam performance tends to worsen when cryptocurrency prices are in decline,” the firm explained.
‘Crypto Scam Revenue Fell Significantly in 2022’
Blockchain data analytics firm Chainalysis published its 2023 Crypto Crime Report last week with a section on crypto scams. “Crypto scam revenue dropped 46% in 2022,” the 109-page report reads, elaborating:
Crypto scam revenue fell significantly in 2022, from .9 billion the year prior to just .9 billion.
Chainalysis tracks several types of crypto scams, including giveaway scams, impersonation scams, investment scams, non-fungible token (NFT) scams, and romance scams.
Noting its numbers are “a lower-bound estimate,” the blockchain analytics firm explained that “estimates of the true amount lost to fraudsters will grow as we identify more addresses associated with scams.” The firm specifically mentioned “pig butchering” scams which have become alarmingly popular. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned about this type of crypto scam many times. Last November, U.S. authorities seized seven domains used by pig butchering scammers.
Regarding the decline in crypto scam revenue, Chainalysis detailed:
We attribute most of this decline to market conditions, as scam performance tends to worsen when cryptocurrency prices are in decline.
“Cryptocurrency scam revenue began the year trending upwards, but plummeted in early May — the same time the bear market set in following the collapse of Terra Luna — and then declined steadily throughout the rest of the year,” Chainalysis described.
While noting that “some types of scams see revenue changes increase as crypto asset prices decrease,” the blockchain analytics firm pointed out: “Scam revenue throughout the year tracks almost perfectly with bitcoin’s price, consistently maintaining a three-week lag between price moves and changes in revenue.”
What do you think about cryptocurrency scam revenue dropping 46% last year? Let us know in the comments section below.
XRP Has Dropped To $0.34, What To Expect In The 24 Hours?
XRP and other market movers have continued to face the wrath of the bears. The altcoin has fallen considerably over the last 24 hours. It had secured gains over the past week but since the bulls are back, the coin lost what it had gained.
Profit booking has taken over as the market movers witnessed a brief relief rally. Although price of the altcoin surged by 16% over a week, the daily losses have invalidated most of it. In the last 24 hours the coin fell by 3%, bringing its price down to .34.
The bulls have tired out and surrendered to the bears. Selling pressure has increased as XRP turned bearish. The next crucial resistance for the coin hovers at around the .30 mark. Technical outlook for XRP flashed mixed signals with a positive divergence on the daily chart.
XRP Price Analysis: One Day Chart
XRP was priced at .34 on the one day chart | Source: XRPUSD on TradingView
The altcoin was trading for .34 on the one day chart. Immediate resistance for the coin was at .48 Before XRP revisits the aforementioned price level of .48, the coin has to trade above the .40 mark for sometime. Going by the near term technical outlook, the altcoin could lose on its chart again.
The support region for the coin would be near .30 to .28 in a case of a further fall. The amount of XRP traded in the previous session has shot up signifying that sellers were active in the market, the bar was in red highlighting bearish strength.
Technical Analysis
XRP displayed fall in buying strength on the one day chart | Source: XRPUSD on TradingView
Indicators were bearish on the 24 hour chart. In accordance with profit booking, sellers had increased in number at the time of writing. The Relative Strength Index slipped below the half-line signifying bearishness as sellers took over the market.
On the 20-SMA line, price of XRP was parked below the 20-SMA line, this signalled that selling pressure mounted because sellers drove the price momentum in the market. The above chart however displayed a chance of price undergoing a correction. On the RSI, a positive divergence was formed. A positive divergence indicates that buying strength would return and help the price of the asset to move north on its chart.
XRP noted buy signal on the one day chart | Source: XRPUSD on TradingView
Sellers have re-entered the market, despite this observation, XRP has continued to flash buy signal in the market. This could mean that followed by the present sell-off, XRP might attempt to secure gains. The Awesome Oscillator depicts price momentum and also accounts for reversals, the indicator displayed green signal bars.
These green signal bars were buy signals for the coin. Parabolic SAR also reads the price trend and changes in the same. Dotted lines were spotted below the candlestick which meant that XRP might turn positive over the next trading sessions.
Featured image from UnSplash, chart from TradingView.com
NewsBTC
Dogecoin Has Dropped 90% Since “The Dogefather” Debuted On SNL
Dogecoin, the most popular meme cryptocurrency, has dropped 30% in the last 24 hours, but has already started to rebound.
Someone moved around 250 million Dogecoins during this enormous price drop, with little more than half of that amount going to Robinhood.
Whale Move Dogecoin To Robinhood
The @DogeWhaleAlert account, which monitors large Dogecoin transfers, has discovered two transactions totaling more than 100 million Dogecoins.
The two DOGE lumps had a total of 110,614,220 and 139,261,848 meme coins worth ,497,274 and ,625,997, respectively. The second Dogecoin payment was made via the renowned Robinhood trading program, which allows users to invest in equities as well as cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, DOGE, Shiba Inu, Bitcoin Cash, and other prominent coins.
139,261,848 $DOGE (,625,997 USD) was transferred from an unknown wallet to a #Robinhood wallet.
Fee: 0.756 (.063 USD)
Tx: https://t.co/ADkdxMqG32#DogecoinWhaleAlert #WhaleAlert #Dogecoin #CryptoNews
— Ðogecoin Whale Alert (@DogeWhaleAlert) May 11, 2022
Following Bitcoin’s slide to ,000 and Terra’s UST losing its dollar peg, Dogecoin has lost 30% of its value in the last 24 hours, plunging .160 to .0723.
However, the coin has started to recoup some of its losses, climbing 9.47 percent as of press time. DOGE is now trading at .0793 on the Binance market.
Suggested Reading | Shiba Inu: Biggest Dollar Holding Among Wealthiest Ethereum Whales
DOGE Plummets Since Musk’s Endorsement
DOGE has plummeted 90% since reaching a historic high on May 8 last year. Following Elon Musk’s declaration of himself as “The Dogefather” on Twitter and subsequent appearance on Saturday Night Live, the meme coin rocketed to .7376. (SNL).
DOGE/USD has plumetted 90% since Musk appeared on SNL. Source: TradingView
However, the presence of Tesla CEO Elon Musk on American television triggered a large selloff, and the token sank to .45 three days later.
Musk has long been a supporter of Dogecoin, frequently promoting it in his tweets and boosting its value. However, as time passed, these tweets began to have little or no effect on the Dogecoin price.
Tesla, the electric car company, began accepting the meme coin as payment for certain items in its online store in January 2022. Musk responded by saying it was an experiment and that he would see how it went.
Related Reading | Dogecoin Displays A Falling Wedge Pattern; Here’s What It Means
Featured image from UnSplash, chart from TradingView.com
Leverage Wipeout? Why Bitcoin Dropped 5% And Could Re-Test Low Levels
Bitcoin has chosen violence with a sudden move to the downside resulting in a 5% loss in the daily chart. As of press time, the first crypto by market cap seems to be recovering as it moves back to the mid-zone of its current levels.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Maximalism – Crypto Survivors and OG’s Could Make a Case to Differ
Bitcoin trades at ,442 still with a 3.6% profit in the daily chart. In the short term, BTC’s price has found support at these levels, but could see further downside if it dropps below ,000.
BTC trends downwards in the daily chart. Source: BTCUSD Tradingview
To the upside, much of the resistance has disappeared and BTC seems poised to, at least, attempt to take the high area near its next all-time high, ,000. Above those levels, data from Material Indicators still records million in potential ask orders around those levels.
Source: Material Indicators
In the derivatives sector, Bitcoin’s flash crash resulted in some leverage positions being wipe-out. As seen below, the leverage ratio across exchanges took a dive after seeing an explosion in mid-October.
These levels are still much higher than it May, 2021, when Bitcoin saw one of its most severe corrections crashing from its previous all-time high to the yearly open, near ,000.
Source: Glassnode
Thus, as more traders turn bullish on BTC’s price recording more gains, the leverage ratio could increase. This leaves the market open for sudden moves as liquidation cascades forces the price to trend to the levels where most operators would sell, willingly or not, their positions.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Extends Correction, Why The Bulls Might Take Back Step
Analyst David Puell explored Bitcoin’s crash and recorded an increase in Open Interest with positive premiums on exchange platform Binance, one of the largest in the world. Puell Said:
OI acts as fuel to to the fire to the above as predictor of a liquidation event. Liquidity can be grabbed on the downside by smarter players. Binance holding the OI makes the bearish signal more reliable. Liquidation event is likelier given that CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) can only go 2x.
Why 0K Per Bitcoin Could See Some Obstacles
However, as the event unfolded Puell recorded a shift in the premium for derivatives to a discount. This has made the analyst flipped for a completely bearish bias to believe the moved to the downside could have been healthy for Bitcoin.
Still, the price of BTC must remain consistent as it seems to enter another consolidation phase. There are other factors that could bring volatility into the market, such as the activation of Taproot, Bitcoin’s upgrade, which should be activated during the week or at some point next week.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Supply Looks Illiquid As Long-Term Holders Keep From Selling
As this data shows, the path towards more gains in Q4, 2021, could prove difficult. In addition, the macro-outlook turns complexes. Yesterday, Bitcoin appeared to have reacted to a potential default from the Chinese real state company Evergrande.
While it looks like #Evergrande didn't default as initially reported, these rumours have been affecting financial markets (S&P 500 shown here) and #Bitcoin negatively. Bitcoin's price is now down by roughly 4% to around .5k pic.twitter.com/NEIK9QP1wB
— Jan Wuestenfeld (@JanWues) November 10, 2021