The Incrypted team has prepared a digest of the main events in the cryptocurrency industry this week. In it we will talk about Trump’s promises to ban CBDC, the depegment of the TUSD stablecoin, the UN accusations against Tether, the situation with cryptocurrency ETFs and much more.
Top News Cryptocurrency ETFs
- Spot Bitcoin ETF trading volume approaches $10 billion in three days
Trading in spot Bitcoin ETFs began in the United States on January 11. Over three days, trading volume amounted to about $10 billion. Most of the deals came from Grayscale, BlackRock and Fidelity.
- The influx of funds into the BlackRock ETF under the ticker IBIT amounted to about $500 million in two days
Total trading volume for BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF was more than $1.6 billion. Net inflow of funds into 11 funds amounted to $819 million. The second place in terms of this indicator was taken by the ETF from Fidelity under the ticker FBTC – $422 million, the third position in terms of liquidity inflow was taken by Bitwise with an indicator of $237 million.
Ivan Pavlovskyy- Since the approval of spot ETFs, 13,000 BTC have been withdrawn from GBTC
Since January 11, when Bitcoin ETF trading began, $561.1 million worth of cryptocurrencies have been sent from GBTC. Funds were withdrawn in two stages – January 12 (4000 BTC) and January 16, 2024 (9000 BTC).
- ProShares Applies to Register Five New Bitcoin ETFs
The company has filed an application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to register five new Bitcoin ETFs. Among them there are both leveraged and reverse funds.. None of these products invest directly in the first cryptocurrency.
- SEC delays consideration of Fidelity’s Ethereum spot ETF application
The agency postponed the decision date on Fidelity’s spot Ethereum ETF until March 5, 2024.
- CEO of Grayscale Investments predicted the collapse of most spot Bitcoin ETFs
Michael Sonnenschein expressed confidence that not all of the 11 approved spot Bitcoin ETFs will remain on the market. He believes that in the end there will be no more than three funds that will have a critical mass of bitcoins concentrated.. The rest will consolidate with larger products or leave the market.
Bitcoin news
- Kaiko: the fall in the Bitcoin rate was provoked by Binance, OKX and Upbit traders
Kaiko analysts published a report on the crypto market for the period after the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. According to him, traders on three exchanges – Binance, OKX and Upbit – adhered to speculative behavior, which could be one of the reasons for the decline in the asset price.
- Experts have announced a possible decline in Bitcoin to $38,000
10x Research predicted the further movement of the Bitcoin rate. Analysts believe that in the short term the price of the first cryptocurrency may fall to the level of $38,000, as indicated by the relative strength index.
On January 18, 2024, the Bitcoin rate immediately fell below $41,000. As a result, the daily volume of liquidations amounted to more than $248 million.
Bitcoin BTC- An unknown person paid $173,000 in commission for the transfer of the first cryptocurrency
On January 16, 2024, a Bitcoin owner sent 2.9 BTC to another address. The transaction fee was 4.03 BTC or $173,148 at the time of the transaction.
- Bitcoin whale transferred 49,866 BTC after 5-7 years of inactivity
On January 16, 2024, an unknown hodler of the first cryptocurrency moved 49,866 BTC, which at the time of the transfer was about $2.13 billion. Experts investigated that these assets were not sent to the exchange.
- A “golden cross” was recorded for the first time on the weekly Bitcoin price chart
The 50-week SMA exceeded the 200-week SMA for the first time on the weekly Bitcoin price chart. This is a golden cross pattern that can indicate a bullish trend.
- Tether acquired 8888 BTC at the end of 2023
The USDT stablecoin issuer purchased 8,888 BTC for a total of $380 million at the end of the last quarter of 2023. The company now holds 66,465 BTC on its balance sheet, worth about $2.8 billion.
Regulation of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine and in the world
- Poland will consider a bill on regulation of cryptocurrencies in the second quarter of 2024
The Polish Financial Supervisory Authority plans to introduce a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies. It provides for the creation of a clear legislative framework for the digital asset market.
- Officials and businesses will gather for a discussion on the legalization of virtual assets in Ukraine
On January 23, the Economic Truth publication will hold a discussion on the legalization of virtual assets in Ukraine with the participation of government officials, legislators and businesses.
During the event, there will be a discussion of two submitted bills on the regulation of digital assets – in particular, what are the chances of one of the documents being adopted, when can this even happen, and what is preventing this process.
- EU tentatively agrees on stricter inspection rules for crypto companies
The European Union has reached a preliminary agreement to introduce stricter checks for crypto companies. Digital asset firms may be required to review transactions starting at $1,090. The new rules must be approved by the European Parliament.
Hacks
- CTO Bitfinex reported an attempt to hack the exchange
On January 14, 2024, Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino announced a hacker attack on the exchange. An attacker tried to gain access to funds using the “partial payments” vulnerability. However, the hacking attempt was unsuccessful, and user funds are safe.
- The community announced the hacking of Hector Network
Network analyst announced possible hacking of Hector Network. On January 15, the project began the process of distributing assets from the Treasury as part of the liquidation. At the same time, $2.7 million of the funds that were received for the token redemption contract were transferred to new accounts.
- The Socket protocol lost $3.3 million as a result of a hacker attack
The Socket team announced a hacker attack. The Bungee bridge aggregator was used for hacking. According to the analytical platform PeckShield, the exploit was made possible due to incomplete verification of data entered by users. Attackers used this vulnerability to plot a hacking route and steal funds.
Media: Binance and OKX applications were removed from the Play Store in India
The Play Store team has blocked access to applications and websites of the Binance and OKX cryptocurrency exchanges in India. However, restrictions exist for new market participants; existing customers can use the services as usual. Earlier in the country, the applications of Binance and seven other crypto exchanges were removed from the App Store.
Later, reports emerged that Indian cryptocurrency exchanges were attracting users amid problems in foreign platforms.
The UN said that USDT is increasingly being used for money laundering in Southeast Asia
The UN published a report on the role of crypto assets in the criminal activities of syndicates in Southeast Asia. The document says that criminals are increasingly using USDT for money laundering, and one of the reasons for this is the lack of strict regulation of the industry.
Stablecoin is also actively used in fraudulent schemes, the report states, in particular, this is the so-called “pig slaughter”, when the victim is carefully processed over a long period of time.
Tether later stated that they were disappointed with the agency’s approach and the selectivity of its analysis.
The first lease agreement with payment in bitcoins was registered in Argentina
The agreement was registered in the city of Rosario. The settlement will be carried out with the participation of the local cryptocurrency exchange Fiwind, and the monthly payment amount is equivalent to $100. This became possible after the repeal of the law, which provided for strict regulation in the real estate sector.
Do Kwon will challenge the Montenegrin Supreme Court’s extradition decision
The co-founder of Terraform Labs filed an appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court of Montenegro to satisfy the extradition requests of the United States and South Korea. The SEC later agreed to postpone hearings in the Terraform Labs case until Do Kwon’s extradition.
Stablecoin TUSD fell below $1. Experts named the reason
On the night of January 15-16, the stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD) lost its peg to the US dollar. The asset price fell below $0.99 on several cryptocurrency exchanges. Subsequently, the price of the “stable coin” touched $0.97.
JPMorgan CEO calls to stop talking about Bitcoin
JPMorgan Chase CEO James Dimon told CNBC at the Davos forum that Bitcoin “does nothing”. The bank’s CEO added that he would no longer mention this asset on air, and also asked the presenters to “stop talking” about the first cryptocurrency.
Coinbase told court that tokens on the platform are not securities
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase went to court to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit. The company insists that the tokens are not securities or investment contracts.
Donald Trump promised to ban the creation of CBDC
US politician Donald Trump said he would ban the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) if he is re-elected US president. Previously, four US states – Utah, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee – have filed bills that do not recognize CBDC as a means of payment or exchange.
On January 18, Trump presented an NFT collection on the Bitcoin network, which includes 200 unique NFT Ordinals.
Solana Mobile received 30,000 orders for a new smartphone
On January 16, Solana Mobile announced the second version of the Saga Chapter 2 smartphone. Brief retelling
This week we have prepared material about the Solana project:
Airdrops and token sales
New instructions for airdrops:
- Ultiverse – Activity;
- Aleo – Testnet;
- QnA3 – Activity;
- Velvet – Activity;
- SynFutures – Testnet;
- Berachain – Artio Testnet;
- Bitfinity Network Activity;
- Satori – Activity;
- Reiki – Activity;
- Ondo Finance – Activity;
- CARV Protocol Activity;
- Ready To Fight Community Campaign.
Upcoming token sales:
- ZkLink Sale On Coinlist;
- AltLayer on Binance Launchpool.
Besides ..
- We have collected for you in one material key investments in the field of blockchain and crypto assets.
- We regularly update and highlight new events in the Incrypted crypto calendar.