A recent study by onchain analysts at Glassnode reveals a significant increase in profit-taking activities as bitcoin surged to a new all-time high (ATH) of ,794, marking a notable phase in the cryptocurrency’s market dynamics. Glassnode Highlights Intensified Profit-Taking Amidst Bitcoin’s Rally to New Heights Glassnode’s 13th weekly 2024 onchain analysis indicates a strategic shift […]
Bitcoin News
Behind Ethereum’s Surge: Here’s How This Whale Is Taking Advantage Of The ETH Rally
In recent weeks, Ethereum has witnessed a noticeable uptick in its market price, reaching a one-month high and showcasing a growing demand for the asset. Amid this development, the on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain revealed an Ethereum whale’s noteworthy strategy, marking a bold stance on Ethereum’s future trajectory.
Strategic Accumulation Amid Rising Prices
According to Loookonchain, an unknown whale has been actively increasing their Ethereum holdings, utilizing the Spark platform’s revolving loan feature. Spark platform is a decentralized finance (DeFi) product that enables users to borrow stablecoins like USDC or DAI against their cryptocurrency holdings.
This investor has managed to withdraw 39,900 ETH worth roughly .5 million from major exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, OKEx, and Bitfinex, leveraging the flexibility of revolving loans to boost their position in Ethereum.
Further insights from Lookonchain reveal that these withdrawals by the whale represent a continuous strategy rather than an isolated event. Since the start of the month, the whale has consistently been pulling out ETH, averaging a withdrawal price of ,492, and has secured about 56.8 million DAI in loans from the Spark platform so far.
A whale is accumulating $ETH and going long $ETH by revolving loans on #Spark!
The whale has withdrawn 39.9K $ETH(.5M) from #Binance, #Bybit, #OKEx and #Bitfinex since Feb 1 at an average price of ,492, and borrowed 56.8M $DAI from #Spark.https://t.co/9EQSrwHnJD pic.twitter.com/6CydURt2pc
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 13, 2024
While bold, this strategy highlights the optimism surrounding Ethereum’s potential growth, especially in anticipation of the upcoming altcoin bull run and the expanding interest in Ethereum-based investment products like the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Spotlight On Ethereum Spot ETFs
While the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is yet to disclose any latest update on the already filed applications of the spot Ethereum ETFs, asset manager Franklin Templeton has recently jumped on the spot ETH ETF queue.
A recent post by James Seyffart, an experienced analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, highlights that Franklin Templeton has joined the ranks as the eighth firm in the cryptocurrency sector to apply for product authorization.
This follows submissions by other prominent asset managers for Ethereum ETFs, namely Hashdex, BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark and 21Shares, Grayscale, VanEck, Invesco, and Galaxy.
Here’s the most recent table of other filers that I have pic.twitter.com/xCRRMwK76r
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) February 12, 2024
These developments come when Ethereum has sustained a positive momentum, closely tracking Bitcoin’s performance. The asset has witnessed more than 10% surge in the past week, maintaining this upward trend with an additional nearly 1% increase in the past 24 hours.
This price performance has elevated Ethereum to a current trading value of ,614 as of this writing.
Featured image from Unsplash, Chart from Tradingview
SEC Denies Coinbase’s Petition for Clear Crypto Regulation — Exchange Responds by Taking the Regulator to Court
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s petition for regulatory clarity in the crypto industry. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler backs his agency’s decision to deny Coinbase’s petition. In response, Coinbase has pursued legal action against the securities regulator to challenge this decision.
Coinbase Challenging SEC’s Decision in Court
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied Coinbase Global’s Petition for Rulemaking. The crypto exchange filed the petition in July last year, seeking regulatory clarity, including “potential rules to identify which digital assets are securities.” With no response from the SEC for 18 months, the crypto exchange escalated the matter to court, prompting the agency to respond with the denial on Friday.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler issued a statement regarding the denial:
I was pleased to support the Commission’s decision for three reasons.
“First, existing laws and regulations apply to the crypto securities markets. Second, the SEC addresses the crypto securities markets through rulemaking as well. Third, it is important to maintain Commission discretion in setting its own rulemaking priorities,” Gensler detailed.
Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, commented on X: “Today the SEC denied Coinbase’s petition for rules for crypto. After 18 months of silence, we went to court to get the response the law requires. With appreciation for the Third Circuit, later today we’ll again seek its help by challenging the SEC’s abdication of its duty.”
In a follow-up post, Grewal revealed:
Promise made, promise kept: we are now on file with Third Circuit to challenge the SEC’s arbitrary and capricious denial of our petition for crypto rulemaking. We again appreciate the court’s consideration.
The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, wrote on X: “We went to court to challenge the SEC’s refusal to create clear rules for the industry — and it worked (a court compelled them to respond).” The executive added: “Now that they’ve formally responded (with a no!) we can challenge their response in court, which helps us get one step closer to regulatory clarity. The question is why doesn’t the SEC want to clarify outstanding regulatory questions for the crypto industry?”
What do you think about the SEC denying Coinbase’s petition seeking regulatory clarity for the crypto industry? Let us know in the comments section below.
SEC Chair Gensler Reveals Regulator Is ‘Taking a New Look’ at Spot Bitcoin ETF Filings
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has revealed that the regulator is taking a new look at spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications based on recent court rulings. “We had in the past denied a number of these applications, but the courts here in the District of Columbia weighed in on that,” Gensler explained.
Gensler: ‘We’re Taking a New Look’
The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, answered some questions regarding spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications in an interview with CNBC on Thursday.
“We have, I think, between eight and a dozen filings … that’s going through the process right now,” Gensler explained, emphasizing that as the chairman of the SEC, he’s not going to prejudge any particular filing. According to public records, there are currently 13 spot bitcoin ETF applications pending at the SEC.
“As you might know, we had in the past denied a number of these applications, but the courts here in the District of Columbia weighed in on that,” the SEC chairman noted, adding:
So we’re taking a new look at this based upon those court rulings.
Gensler’s comments stemmed from a legal dispute involving the SEC’s denial of Grayscale Investments’ application to convert its bitcoin trust (GBTC) into a spot bitcoin ETF. The court subsequently ordered the SEC to reevaluate the crypto asset manager’s application.
Commenting on whether the SEC has objection to the court ruling in the Grayscale case, Gensler said: “We do everything at the Securities and Exchange Commission within the laws Congress has passed and how the courts interpret them. We look keenly to the economics.” Gensler similarly told Bloomberg this week that the securities regulator does things according to its authorities and how the courts interpret them.
Regarding the crypto market, Chair Gensler stated: “I would say this about the crypto field … There’s a lot of noncompliance. Noncompliance with the securities laws that are there to help give you the disclosure so you can make the investment decision, but also to protect you against fraud and manipulation. And there’s been far too much fraud and bad actors in the crypto field. There’s a lot of noncompliance, not only with the securities laws but other laws around any money laundering and protecting the public against bad actors there.” He further stressed:
This is a field where you still don’t have the fundamental information on many of these projects. And the intermediaries of the so-called crypto exchanges are commingling and doing things that we do not allow anywhere else in our financial system.
What do you think about the statements by SEC Chairman Gensler? Let us know in the comments section below.
Bitcoin Whales Driving The Rally Are Now Taking Profits, Data Suggests
Data shows that the Bitcoin whales that may have been helping drive the latest rally have switched to profit-taking instead.
Bitcoin Whales On BitMEX Have Changed Their Tune Recently
An analyst in a CryptoQuant Quicktake post explained that the BitMEX whales were likely the ones helping fuel the latest rally. The relevant indicator here is the “Open Interest,” which keeps track of the total amount of Bitcoin derivative positions open on a centralized exchange.
When this metric’s value increases, investors are opening up new contracts on the platform. On the other hand, a decline suggests the holders are either getting liquidated or closing up their positions of their own volition.
Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Open Interest for two exchanges, BitMEX and Binance, over the past few weeks:
The graph shows that the Bitcoin Open Interest on BitMEX had observed a sharp rise at the start of the month when the cryptocurrency’s price was still trading around the ,000 level.
This open interest increase followed a sharp rally for BTC towards the ,000 mark. As is visible in the chart, the indicator’s value for Binance also registered an increase as the rally occurred, but BitMEX’s rise stands out as it was huge and pretty much happened in one go before the rally.
Since BTC has hit its local top above the ,000 level, though, the BitMEX Open Interest has plummeted, implying a large-scale closure of positions on the platform has taken place. On the other hand, the metric’s value for Binance has continued to stay high.
The quant has also attached charts of another metric for the two exchanges: the “Funding Rates.” The funding rates keep track of the periodic fee the derivative traders on an exchange currently pay each other.
When this indicator has a positive value, the longs are paying a premium to the shorts to hold onto their positions right now. This suggests that the traders on the platform share a majority of bullish sentiment.
The BitMEX Funding Rates had been favorable for the duration that the Open Interest had been at high levels, implying that most positions had been extended. However, with the plunge in the indicator, the Funding Rates have returned to neutral values.
Based on this pattern, the analyst thinks the BitMEX whales, potentially driving the rally earlier, have already taken their profits, as they closed up a large chunk of their positions near the top.
The Open Interest hasn’t completely retraced itself yet, but the fact that most of these whales have decided to pull out may be a troubling sign for the rally’s continuation.
BTC Price
Bitcoin has seen some retrace during the past day as the coin’s price is now floating around ,600.
Gary Gensler Explains Why SEC Is Taking Litigation-Heavy Strategy to Regulate Crypto
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has explained why the securities regulator is taking a litigation-heavy strategy to regulate the crypto industry. The SEC chair insisted that enforcement actions against crypto firms are not brought with a political agenda, emphasizing that he is protecting the American public. “This is a field where the American public is at risk and being harmed every day on these platforms that are commingling and often trading against their customers,” he cautioned.
Gensler Reveals Why SEC Focuses on Litigation in Regulating Crypto
The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. During the hearing, several members of Congress raised questions about cryptocurrency and the regulation of crypto tokens.
Congressman John Rose (R-TN) asked Gensler: “Regarding cryptocurrencies … I’m interested in why you have pursued a litigation-heavy strategy despite the fact that neither you nor any of your senior staff are litigators — neither your Chief of Staff nor your Policy Director or even your General Counsel. Why have you settled on such a litigation-heavy strategy to address the cryptocurrency market?” Gensler replied:
Frankly, it’s because the field is so rife with hucksters and fraudsters and non-compliant parties … This is a field where the American public is at risk and being harmed every day on these platforms that are commingling and often trading against their customers.
Nonetheless, the SEC chairman added: “We’ve also done rulemaking: one related to broker-dealers that was completed a number of years ago and then others related to the definition of exchange and the custody role.”
The congressman from Tennessee then told Gensler: “In my view, it seems that these cases are brought with an explicit political agenda, not a substantive legal one.” Gensler quickly refuted: “Nothing can be further from the truth. There’s nothing, the only thing political is protecting the American public.”
‘I’m Convinced You Are Not an Impartial Regulator’
Noting that Gensler used to work at a bank, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-NC) asked Gensler: “Can you assure this committee that your style of regulation by harassment towards digital asset innovation is for the benefit of every American and not driven by your desires to protect industry incumbents.” However, the SEC chair replied: “This is a field that’s rife with fraud and manipulation and I’m looking out for the American investors who’ve been hurt by crypto.”
Before Gensler could finish his response, he was interrupted by Congressman Emmer, who stressed:
Mr. Gensler, despite your years of rhetoric, today I’m convinced you are not an impartial regulator. Instead, it’s clear that you are working to consolidate your own power even though it means crushing opportunities for everyday Americans and frankly the financial future of this country.
Gensler Says Crypto Tokens Are Not Currency
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) raised concerns that many people believe that “crypto amounts to a giant Ponzi scheme.” Comparing crypto to the U.S. dollar, Gensler emphasized:
Crypto tokens are really quite something different. They’re not a currency.
“They don’t fulfill the three functions of a currency, of a store of value, a unit of account, a medium of exchange. They might, maybe, another day but not in 2023,” Gensler noted.
Lawmaker Wants Gensler Fired
During the hearing, Congressman Warren Davidson (R-OH) highlighted several problems at the SEC, noting that in April, he “proposed a solution called the SEC Stabilization Act.” He explained that the bill would “remove the role of chairman,” adding: “It would preserve the current commissioners but it would add a sixth commissioner so there would be no more than three from any one political party.” The lawmaker concluded:
I wish the Biden administration would say you’re fired.
Do you think SEC Chair Gary Gensler should be fired? Let us know in the comments section below.
Binance US CEO Is ‘Taking Deserved Break,’ CZ Seeks to Downplay Executive Exodus
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has commented on the latest executive departures from his company’s American branch. The changes in the U.S. crypto trading firm’s management, including the release of its chief executive, followed similar developments at the global exchange.
CZ Urges Followers to Ignore Binance US FUD, Says Regulatory Environment Requires New Head
Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) took to X, formerly Twitter, to address “some speculation regarding recent management changes” at Binance’s branch in the United States. His tweet follows news that the Miami-based entity’s chief executive is leaving.
“Brian Shroder is taking a deserved break after accomplishing what he set out to do when he joined two years ago. Under his leadership, Binance US raised capital, improved its product and service offerings, solidified internal processes, and gained significant market share, all of which helped to build a more resilient company for the benefit of customers,” CZ said in the post on Friday.
While expressing gratitude for Shroder’s contributions, Zhao explained that the crypto market is now in a different place than two years ago, when he joined Binance’s U.S. arm. He made a reference to the “rapidly evolving and increasingly hostile regulatory environment,” reiterated his call on followers to ignore FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), and insisted:
Norman Reed – former SEC, New York Fed, Ripple, and DTCC executive – is the right person to lead Binance US in this market.
Reed is an interim appointment, according to a company spokesperson who gave no specific reason for Shroder’s departure when announcing it this week. However, the shift comes amid increased regulatory pressure on Binance US which has resulted in shrinking market share and significant layoffs.
After Brian Shroder, two other executives also left – the exchange’s Head of Legal Krishna Juvvadi and its Chief Risk Officer Sidney Majalya. The crypto trading platform is also reducing its workforce by a third after already having cut jobs in 2023.
reportedly laid off 1,000 employees globally earlier this year. A number of other executives have also exited the world’s largest exchange for digital assets, including Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann, Senior Vice President for Compliance Steven Christie, Binance’s General Counsel Hon Ng, Leon Foong, head of Binance’s Asia-Pacific business, and Product Lead Mayur Kamat as well as its managers for Eastern Europe and Russia, Gleb Kostarev and Vladimir Smerkis.
Do you think there will be more executive departures and layoffs at Binance US or the global company? Tell us in the comments section below.
Stellar (XLM) Holds Past Week Gains As Bear Taking Control Of The Market
All eyes are on Stellar (XLM) as it breaches the .12 resistance despite the massive onslaught in the crypto market. The token managed to hold its past week’s gains while Bitcoin and other top coins maintained consistent bearish momentum.
Stellar’s current price reflects the growing demand and interest in its payment solution, which is a plausible reason behind its strength. Moreover, excitement is high among XLM investors as the Stellar network prepares for a game-chaining announcement on Tuesday.
XLM Soars Amid Heightened Speculation In The Stellar Ecosystem
XLM has been bullish since September 2 following Stellar.org’s announcement that “something cool is coming” to the network in 10 days. Following this announcement, XLM’s price increased by 10%, climbing from .1135 to .126.
Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Price Plunges On FTX Rumors, Buy Or Sell Now?
It maintained the momentum, though with a few dips, reaching .134 on September 10. This price move marked a nearly 20% increase from the month low of .1117 recorded on August 17.
Furthermore, Stellar Network continued to tease the community with the countdown to the mysterious announcement, as a September 7 tweet also teased that change is underway as the upcoming brand will introduce Stellar to the real world.
The Stellar community is abuzz with anticipation as enthusiasts await the unraveling of the mystery. Some community members speculate that the upcoming announcement could be related to a partnership with Apple.
In a recent report, Stellar dominated all layer-1 networks in tokenized treasuries by market cap, surpassing Ethereum and Polygon. The August 23 tweet shows that Stellar recorded a tokenized treasury market cap of 4 million. Ethereum, on the other hand, recorded a Treasury market cap of 1 million, while Polygon followed with million.
This report presents Stellar as a leading real-world asset tokenization network, a plausible reason behind XLM’s price increase.
Price Outlook: XLM Slips Off .13. Will It Rebound?
Over the past 30 days, Stellar’s XLM embodied the resilience lacking in the broader crypto market. While most coins surrendered all past gains, XLM held on, bucking negative market sentiments and soaring new highs.
However, the rally has stalled, and the token currently holds over 3% price decline in the last 24 hours. But it still retains 1.78% gains in the last seven days.
Stellar has slipped off the newfound support at .134 and now trades at .1272. This downslide suggests two things. Firstly, the hype around the mysterious announcement must have dwindled. Secondly, XLM could have succumbed to the bearish pressure present in the broader crypto market.
Nonetheless, XLM is in a critical conjecture, as the outcome of the next 24 hours will determine its price trajectory. If the announcement is bullish enough, XLM could witness a positive momentum shift with a massive upswing above the .3 price.
Bitcoin Trade Volumes Beat YTD Average As Inflows Resume: Are Bulls Taking Over?
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has had a few progress and setbacks in the past year. This has been reflected in digital asset investment products. However, new data shows that while outflows from digital investment products have dominated for another week, Bitcoin has shown some resilience to record a weekly inflow of .8 million.
Bitcoin Trading Volume 90% Above The YTD Average
In its latest report on digital asset investment products, Coinshares has shown Bitcoin investment products received net inflows despite the whole market seeing minor outflows. During the same time period, trading volumes spiked to more than 90% above the YTD average.
Regulatory issues have bombarded BTC in the past week, and the asset has shown uncertainty about what’s next to come. In particular, August concluded with a Bitcoin setback as the SEC announced a decision to delay its ruling on some Bitcoin spot Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) applications.
As a result, the price of BTC dropped from ,000 to ,400 in the space of 48 hours. But despite this decrease, digital asset investment products trading volume reached .8 billion.
Outflows in digital asset funds have been consistent for the past seven weeks, totaling 2 million. Last week, chains like Polygon and Ethereum saw outflows of .6 million and .2 million, respectively, contributing to a total net outflow of .2 million across all assets.
On the other hand, Bitcoin registered net inflows of .8 million. Solana also registered net inflows of .7 million, bringing its inflow streak to nine consecutive weeks. However, total assets under management (AuM) have fallen 48% from this year’s peak.
Is A Shift Toward Positive Sentiment Imminent?
The uptick in activity and investment is a good sign for the market and hints at growing mainstream interest in Bitcoin. However, this could end up being short-lived. Considering BTC is just like any other asset, sentiment is mostly based on news surrounding the crypto industry. So a consecutive weekly inflow to Bitcoin digital asset funds would suggest a change in sentiment.
The outlook for BTC and the broader crypto market for the rest of 2023 is still cautiously optimistic. Experts from JP Morgan have predicted that the SEC will be forced to greenlight several spot Bitcoin ETFs, and former US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Jay Clayton, has also called the approval inevitable.
Nevertheless, the past 24 hours have seen the trading volume of Bitcoin increase by more than 11% to reach .87 billion. Of course, higher trade volumes don’t necessarily mean prices will skyrocket. But they show more people are buying and selling BTC, indicating stronger sentiment and momentum.
Dogecoin Millionaire Explains Why He’s Still Bullish On DOGE Despite Taking Heavy Losses
Investing in cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin can be tricky, as the nascent market is known to be the most volatile in terms of price movement. One day, an investor triples his investment, and the next day, all of it is gone. So knowing when to sell and exit a position can sometimes be challenging.
This is the recent case of a once-DOGE millionaire who has seen the worth of his holdings fall from almost million to ,000. However, despite the ups and downs, this long-time HODLer believes Dogecoin has staying power.
Still Bullish On Dogecoin
Dogecoin has come a long way since its creation as a joke. The cryptocurrency saw its value spike dramatically in 2021, making early investors sudden millionaires in the process. At the peak of its rally, DOGE rose from a market cap of .2 billion to .26 billion in less than five months to reach a price all-time high of .74.
One of these investors who became millionaires overnight as a result of this rise was Las Vegas resident Glauber Contessoto, known as SlumDOGE Millionaire on social media platform X. During the rise of DOGE, this investor saw his holdings reach .9 million and was popularly known as one of the first Dogecoin millionaires.
The hype bubble has since popped, and the value of Dogecoin has toppled, with the cryptocurrency now trading at .06378. This would see Contessoto’s holdings now worth around ,000.
Despite his loss, Contessoto continues to have trust in Dogecoin. According to a social media post, he mentioned how dog theme meme coins have a better chance of spiking than other meme coins.
“I feel like they will rise again,” he said. He said this while noting the success of frog-themed crypto PEPE.
I honestly don’t think Dog themed meme coins are done.
I feel like they will rise again
$PEPE had it’s run, frog was cool
But dogs are where it’s at foreal
— SlumDOGE Millionaire (@ProTheDoge) August 23, 2023
Contessoto is not the only one that has witnessed the value of his DOGE holdings fall dramatically. Another investor, Keith Johnson, who suffered losses, made headlines for filing a 8 billion lawsuit against Elon Musk. Known as the Dogefather because of his support for Dogecoin, Musk’s tweets regarding the crypto have regularly led to price spikes.
What’s Next For DOGE?
Even though Dogecoin has continued to struggle, the meme coin has had its moments this year. In July, DOGE saw a brief spike in price, leading it to become the 8th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. But while the Dogecoin ecosystem has gathered a huge community, things seem to be calm at the moment.
At the time of writing, DOGE is trading at .06366, down by 6% in the past seven days. However, many DOGE investors hope to see a price spike if DOGE is finally accepted as a payment method on social media platform X.