Month: December 2020

Tether is the cryptocurrency industry’s biggest threat in 2021, says a report penned by Messari’s Founder Ryan Selkins. The 134-page thesis ventured into the stablecoin’s emergence as a proxy for the US dollar that helps crypto traders getting in and out of their positions quickly on exchanges. It also focused on the controversy that tails Tether following the New York State Attorney’s class-action lawsuit against its founders and a sister cryptocurrency exchange BitFinex. Boom Against Gloom Lawyers Vel Freedman and Read more …

It’s no secret that Bitcoin’s recent parabolic rally has done little in the way of providing tailwinds for altcoins, with many seeing devastating losses against BTC as their growth stagnates. This isn’t unprecedented, as past bull runs have followed a similar path, with BTC leading the way and rallying independent of the rest of the market, followed by a capital rotation event that sends altcoins flying as BTC drifts lower or consolidates. There’s a strong possibility that this will happen Read more …

It’s safe to say that 2020 has been a banner year for the digital-asset space. Bitcoin (BTC) soared past its previous high, and many other prominent cryptocurrencies reached their highest levels since the heyday of 2017 and early 2018. Across the financial services industry, institutional voices are expressing reinvigorated interest in digital assets. The growth and maturation of this space has been impossible to ignore, engendering plenty of optimism among those who build the platforms and systems on which it Read more …

Facebook-backed Libra Association’s rebrand to Diem looked to quash negative perceptions of the project, but its new name has not changed the regulatory pressures the project still faces. It has been 18 months since Facebook announced that it was looking to launch its very own payments system project that would plug into its social media platforms. Interest in the Libra project quickly turned to scrutiny, especially from regulators, financial institutions, central banks and major governments. Facebook faced intense pressure from Read more …

This is an intermediate to an expert level article on NFTs. If you only want to understand the first things about it, scroll to the end, or alternatively find a beginner level feature. Everybody wants big-league gains but ain’t willing to do what it takes to deserve it. We have a pandemic level cultural illiteracy and incentive model problem, threatening the promising start of the crypto and NFT art movements. The, mostly unconscious, skewed foundational motivation bends will soon bite Read more …

Binance.US, the American branch of the global crypto exchange, and crypto-friendly asset trading service eToro are the latest platforms to suspend XRP trading in the United States. Announcing the news on Thursday, eToro revealed that U.S. customers will not be able to trade XRP starting Jan. 3, 2021. Customers with existing trades at the time will have three weeks from that date to close all open positions, the platform added in its statement. For Binance.US, the effective date of its Read more …

The CTO at Bitfinex Paolo Ardoino has pushed back against rumours that the company’s Tether stablecoin may be the next target of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Bitfinex executive insists that the Tether stablecoin, whose market capitalization has now surpassed $20 billion, is a properly registered and regulated crypto. The Alleged Misinformation Campaign The CTO said while responding to rumours circulating on social media that the USDT stablecoin might fall into a predicament similar to that of Read more …

Bitcoin (BTC) HODLer volume has marked previous tops and the start of bull cycles. As the dominant cryptocurrency heads towards $30,000, HODLer activity could be a useful tool to potentially gauge BTC’s next peak. Since October, as Cointelegraph reported, the HODLing activity of Bitcoin has continuously increased. Fewer HODLers have been moving their holdings, which indicates an overall bullish market sentiment. Bitcoin HODLer volume. Source: Whalemap Why HODLer activity is important to assess Bitcoin market sentiment The term “HODLer” refers Read more …

Peer-to-peer coverage market Cover Protocol has published a compensation plan for token holders and liquidity providers affected by the recent hack. As part of the process, the Cover Protocol team took a snapshot at block height 11541218, the last transaction block before the exploit began. Eligible liquidity providers on Uniswap, SushiSwap, and Balancer will receive new COVER tokens based on their share of the liquidity pool on those platforms. Liquidity providers on the first two platforms will also receive a share Read more …

2020 was unforgettable, especially for Bitcoin. To help memorialize this year for our readers, we asked our network of contributors to reflect on Bitcoin’s price action, technological development, community growth and more in 2020, and to reflect on what all of this might mean for 2021. These writers responded with a collection of thoughtful and thought-provoking articles. Click here to read all of the stories from our End Of Year 2020 Series. What a year. Bitcoiners began 2020 in a Read more …

The COVID-19 pandemic dominated the news in 2020, affecting myriad sectors — health, economics, social justice, politics and trade, as well as the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. As country after country locked down to halt the virus’s spread, governments seized upon stimulus payments to preserve economic life.  While necessary, these measures raised the specter of global inflation. This, in turn, pushed many traditional investors and institutions to take a new look at cryptocurrencies as an alternate store of value, especially Read more …

Bitcoin faces the prospects of undergoing a massive downside correction as on-chain data shows a plunge in its over-the-counter deals. According to data fetched by CryptoQuant, the total amount of Bitcoin tokens flowing out of Coinbase Pro’s addresses to their newly-created custodial cold wallets has decreased ever since BTC/USD crossed above $23,000. Coinbase Pro Bitcoin Outflow chart. Source: CryptoQuant As CryptoQuant’s CEO Ki-Young Ju noted earlier, these wallets hold Bitcoin for major crypto-enabled firms like Genesis Trading (which buys Bitcoin Read more …