The year 2022 was marked by the high-profile implosion of crypto exchange FTX…reports Asian Lite News
The value of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has more than tripled to $52,000 since November 2022.
The year 2022 was marked by the high-profile implosion of crypto exchange FTX, which triggered liquidity crises at several smaller crypto firms, CNN reported.
Following bitcoin’s gains in 2023, investors have returned in droves in recent weeks, pushing the asset’s market capitalisation above $1 trillion for the first time since its 2021 heyday, based on data from CoinMarketCap, the report said.
In contrast to traditional currencies, the supply of Bitcoin is limited and is expected to peak in 2140, according to the price-tracking website for cryptocurrencies.
Money flows into Bitcoin have been boosted by the recent launch of exchange-traded funds that invest directly in the cryptocurrency and which have made it easier for retail investors to put money into the asset. The value of bitcoin has risen nearly 13 per cent since January 10, when US regulators gave the green light to investment firms wishing to offer such funds, CNN reported.
Bitcoin remains far from its all-time high of $69,000, reached in November 2021, but industry players expect it to keep climbing this year and that peak may be surpassed, CNN reported.
Part of the bullishness is down to Bitcoin’s upcoming “halving” — a feature of its design that automatically halves the rate of new coins entering circulation, an event taking place roughly every four years.
Global regulator for banks red-flags crypto-assets such as Bitcoin
Bitcoin trading volume sank by almost $700 billion, historically seen as one of the strongest months for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, bringing the biggest average monthly returns…reports Asian Lite News
Bitcoin has witnessed an extraordinary surge in transaction volume in the past week, logging over 700,000 transactions in a single day, a new data has shown.
According to the data presented by the analytics firm IntoTheBlock, the number of reported Bitcoin transactions increased to nearly 703,000, representing not only the highest number recorded in 2023, but also the highest transaction volume seen in nearly two years.
“Historic Milestone: Bitcoin processed a record-breaking 703K transactions on Friday,” the firm posted on X. Moreover, the network also saw an increase in the number of daily active addresses.
According to the data from Bitinforcharts, the number of daily active addresses reached a multi-month high on September 15, rising from 754,000 two years ago to a whopping 1.08 million. A day earlier, Ethereum briefly crossed Bitcoin in terms of daily active addresses.
In April, Bitcoin trading volume sank by almost $700 billion, historically seen as one of the strongest months for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, bringing the biggest average monthly returns.
Although Bitcoin topped over $30,400 on April 18, reaching the highest level since early June, its monthly gain was only 3 per cent, way down from 21 per cent in March and much less than gains usually seen in the fourth month of the year, according to data by BitcoinCasinos.com.
According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin’s monthly trading volume amounted to $492.9 billion in April, a massive 58 per cent less than almost $1.2 trillion seen a month before.
Islamic Coin plans to conduct a Reg D public token offering facilitated by OpenDeal Broker on Republic’s retail investment platform in September 2023…reports Asian Lite News
Islamic Coin, a Shariah-compliant, ethics-first, digital money that has been featured globally, has announced it is working with Republic Crypto, the web3 advisory group within global digital finance leader, Republic. The collaboration includes white-glove support to promote Islamic Coin’s go-to-market strategy, along with advisory services focused on tokenomics, DAO governance, and long-term economic utility value. Republic Crypto will also help engage with potential strategic partners, exchanges, and market makers.
Fine-tuning the Islamic Coin value proposition, Republic Crypto advised on creating fair and Shariah-compliant allocation options, distribution, and other mechanisms aimed at adding to the sustainability features in the ecosystem.
Separately, Islamic Coin plans to conduct a Reg D public token offering facilitated by OpenDeal Broker on Republic’s retail investment platform in September 2023. Upon public launch, Islamic Coin’s international community will reap various advantages, including options to offer liquidity, stake their holdings, and gain tokens during the liquidity mining stage.
The Advisory Board of Islamic Coin is steered by members of ruling families of the UAE, including the grandson of UAE founder, Sheikh Dr. Hazza bin Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the country’s Navy Chief, Sheikh Saeed bin Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Nahyan (serving in a private advisory capacity), Sheikh Khalifa Bin Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Khalifa Bin Mohammad Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Juma bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, and Her Highness Sheikha Mariam Suhail Obaid Suhail Al Maktoum.
The Executive Board is also composed of experts from both traditional and Islamic finance. It humbly highlights Emaar’s Hussein Al Meeza (also a co-founder), an award-winning banker with over four and a half decades of experience across the Islamic banking, finance, and insurance industries. He was a key figure in the establishment of the Dubai Islamic Bank, one of the first fully operational Islamic Banks. The Executive Board is further strengthened by Khamis Buharoon AI Shamsi, the former Assistant Director of the Finance Division, and Assistant Director of the Internal Audit Division of the Central Bank of the UAE. Adding to the team’s robust profile, Greg Gigliotti, CEO, Chief Investment Officer, and Founding Partner of Xtellus Advisors. With a rich background at Goldman Sachs and other global institutions, Gigliotti has managed a portfolio exceeding $16 billion throughout his career.
As per the WSJ’s report, Binance could let go of up to one-third of its workforce, which was nearly 8,000 prior to the start of layoffs…reports Asian Lite News
Bitcoin prices nosedived on Saturday after leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance reportedly laid off roughly 1,000 workers, and the layoffs could continue.
Bitcoin slipped back nearly $30,000 per token after the news emerged late on Friday, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Bitcoin value suffered more than 2.7 per cent loss after the Binance layoff news.
As per the WSJ’s report, Binance could let go of up to one-third of its workforce, which was nearly 8,000 prior to the start of layoffs.
A Binance spokesperson told Forbes it has “become clear” to the company that it “needs to focus on talent density across the organisation to ensure we remain nimble and dynamic” as it prepares for the “next major bull cycle.”
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is separately suing Binance and Coinbase. Last month, the US regulator sued Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao and BAM Trading and BAM Management over allegedly mishandling funds and lying to regulators.
In a federal lawsuit, the regulator filed 13 charges against the defendants. Later, a US judge urged the SEC to reach a settlement with crypto exchange Binance to let it continue operating in the US.
Binance was also ordered by Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) to immediately cease all offers of virtual currency services in the country.
The FSMA noted that “Binance is offering and providing exchange services in Belgium between virtual currencies and legal currencies, as well as custody wallet services, from countries that are not members of the European Economic Area”.
The FSMA ordered Binance to cease, with immediate effect, offering or providing any and all such services in Belgium.
The prices of ethereum and other leading digital currencies have also rallied in the past two months, leading to hopes that this nascent market may have reached its bottom….reports Asian Lite News
After showing some stabilisation in the last few weeks, world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin has plunged once again below $20,000 after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s keynote address.
Bitcoin initially showed little reaction to Powell’s remarks, but then nosedived sharply and on Sunday, it was hovering around $19,975 per digital coin which is more that 60 per cent drop in its value since last year when it reached a record-high of $68,000 in November.
Bitcoin prices had stabilised around the $23,000 to $24,000 level after plunging below $20,000 in June.
The prices of ethereum and other leading digital currencies have also rallied in the past two months, leading to hopes that this nascent market may have reached its bottom.
But the optimism could be premature, and fleeting. Companies with direct ties to the crypto landscape continue to struggle, according to media reports.
Bitcoin, despite the hype about it being digital gold, has turned out not to be an asset that performs well when inflation pressures are mounting and interest rates are spiking.
Reports last month suggested that Bitcoin may tumble to $10,000 this year.
A latest Bloomberg ‘MLIV Pulse survey’ revealed that the Bitcoin price is heading back to $10,000.
Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary has also stated that Bitcoin price has not hit bottom yet.
According to experts, the Bitcoin price will hit $10,000 before recovering to the $30,000 level.
Bitcoin has seen its worst-ever days in recent months amid the economic meltdown, leaving several crypto exchanges and trading platforms winding up operations, laying off people, and freezing fresh hirings.
The global cryptocurrency market lost at least $670 million in the April-June quarter (Q2), and 97 per cent of the losses were due to hacks and scams.
Over half of Bitcoin’s daily trading volume fake globally
More than half of all Bitcoin daily trading volumes are reportedly fake, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency nosedives again amid global economic turmoil.
According to a Forbes analysis of 157 crypto exchanges and trading platforms, more than half (51 per cent) of all reported trading volume is likely to be fake or non-economic.
“We estimate the global daily bitcoin volume for the industry was $128 billion on June 14. That is 51 per cent less than the $262 billion one would get by taking the sum of self-reported volume from multiple sources,” the report mentioned.
Bitcoin represents 40 per cent of the $1 trillion global crypto market.
According to the report, there is no genuine method of calculating bitcoin daily volume, “even among the industry’s most reputable research firms”.
“For example, CoinMarketCap puts the latest 24-hour trading of bitcoin at $32 billion, CoinGecko at $27 billion, Nomics at $57 billion and Messari at $5 billion,” the report revealed.
In terms of how much Bitcoin activity takes place, 21 crypto exchanges generate $1 billion or more in daily trading activity, while the next 33 exchanges had volume between $200 million and $999 million.
Binance is the leader with a 27 per cent market share, followed by FTX. Chicago-based CME Group is the market leader in bitcoin futures trading.
After showing some stabilisation in the last few weeks, world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin has plunged once again below $20,000 after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s keynote address.
Bitcoin prices had stabilised around the $23,000 to $24,000 level after plunging below $20,000 in June.
In a new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Tesla said that in the first quarter of 2021, it invested an aggregate $1.50 billion in Bitcoin…reports Asian Lite News
Elon Musk-run Tesla on Monday revealed it incurred $170 million loss from its Bitcoin investments in the first six months of the year.
Tesla revealed last week that it has sold 75 per cent of its Bitcoins, adding $936 million in cash to its balance sheet in the second quarter (Q2) this year, as it deals with economic meltdown amid cryptocurrencies falling off the cliff.
In a new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Tesla said that in the first quarter of 2021, it invested an aggregate $1.50 billion in Bitcoin.
“In the six month period ended June 30, 2022, we recorded $170 million of impairment losses resulting from changes to the carrying value of our bitcoin and gains of $64 million on certain conversions of bitcoin into fiat currency by us,” the electric car-maker revealed.
“As with any investment and consistent with how we manage fiat-based cash and cash-equivalent accounts, we may increase or decrease our holdings of digital assets at any time based on the needs of the business and our view of market and environmental conditions,” it added.
The carmaker also said it received a new subpoena from the SEC, related to Musk’s tweets about taking the company private in 2018.
The SEC had issued subpoenas to Tesla in connection with Musk’s prior statement that he was considering taking Tesla private.
“On November 16, 2021, and June 13, 2022, the SEC issued subpoenas to us seeking information on our governance processes around compliance with the SEC settlement, as amended,” the company informed.
In the Q2 earnings call with analysts, Musk said that the reason the company sold a bunch of its Bitcoin holdings “was that we were uncertain as to when the COVID lockdowns in China would alleviate”.
“So it was important for us to maximise our cash position, given the uncertainty of the COVID lockdowns in China. We are certainly open to increasing our Bitcoin holdings in future. So this should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin,” he noted.
Musk said that the company was concerned about overall liquidity for the company given shutdowns in China.
“And we have not sold any of our Dogecoin,” he added.
More than $200 billion were wiped off the entire cryptocurrency market this week, a report by Nishant Arora
As foreign portfolio investors continue to pull out money from the Indian equity market, the sell-off in the crypto market and the digital asset space has also accelerated in the wake of global economic meltdown.
More than $200 billion were wiped off the entire cryptocurrency market this week and the globally crypto market capitalisation fell below $1 trillion for the first time since February 2021, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The already sinking cryptocurrency market in India is also witnessing a huge sell-off as the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies nosedive amid volatile market conditions triggered by factors like high inflation, rising interest rates, the Russia-Ukraine war, and China lockdowns.
According to experts, crypto investors and traders in India are currently exercising caution and a distinct dip in crypto buying has been noticed.
Nischal Shetty, co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, said: “Indian investors are cautious and are taking the ‘wait and watch’ approach.”
Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has plunged about 70 per cent since its record high of $69,000 in November last year.
It was hovering around Rs 20,000-Rs 21,000 per coin this week.
According to analysts, Bitcoin may hit a grim $14,000 this year at this rate.
Smaller cryptocurrencies, which tend to move in tandem with Bitcoin, also fell.
Ethererum, the second-largest digital token, fell as much as 12 per cent to $1,045, a new 15-month low.
The current decline means that Ethererum has shed 77 per cent of its value since November 2021.
According to Cointelegraph, Ethereum sell-off resumed this week, with its price risking another 25 per cent decline in June.
However, in such a gloomy scenario, India’s own Gari digital token by short-video making app Chingari has risen about 40 per cent.
Chingari, the fastest-growing Blockchain social app, this week announced the ‘GARI Mining’ programme to empower 4 crore monthly average users (MAU), becoming the first social app in the world to offer crypto to its creators and users on its platform.
“This programme will ensure a level playing field for big and humble creators. Now, creators and users on the app can earn GARI tokens which can be traded on exchanges for money and creators will not be at the mercy of brand collaborations as their only source of income,” said Sumit Ghosh, Co-founder and CEO, Chingari and GARI token.
Meanwhile, the fate of cryptocurrencies in India is still hanging in balance, and the much-awaited crypto bill is yet to see the light of the day.
In April, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated her doubts about the size of the cryptocurrency market worldwide and stressed the need for a regulatory mechanism acceptable to all countries to prevent its use to launder money and fund terrorism, which, she said, were big concerns for India.
India distinguishes between cryptocurrency and crypto assets as a result, and the minister had in February announced a 30 per cent tax on income from these transactions, which includes a 1 per cent deduction at source.
Indian Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman
The country is poised to have its own digital currency by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) next year that will be based on Blockchain technology.
According to Sathvik Vishwanath, Co-founder and CEO, Unocoin, “the cryptocurrencies industry is fast evolving and hence it would need regulations to be constantly updated”.
“It is unlikely to be successful if we just try to bring guidelines for cryptos,” he said.
Not only cryptocurrencies, investors of DeFi (decentralised finance) platforms also need to exercise “caution and scrutiny” amid growing concerns about the liquidity of this certain type of cryptocurrency service, experts have warned.
The warning came as Celsius Network, a DeFi platform and one of the largest crypto lenders, announced that it was “pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts” for its 1.7 million clients.
“The wider crypto ecosystem has been rocked again — not by ‘real’ cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but by DeFi,” said Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisories.
“There are legitimate and serious concerns about networks’ high yields, links to failed dollar-pegged stablecoin Terra, and reserves,” said Green, urging people to exercise caution and scrutiny on crypto lending firms which offer clients lucrative double-digit yields on assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Decentralised finance or DeFi offers financial instruments without relying on intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks by using smart contracts on a Blockchain.
Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency in the world, has also fallen in value, down by more than 10 per cent in the last week…reports Asian Lite News
The value of Bitcoin continued to fall over the weekend as it dropped below $34,000, according to the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange, BBC reported.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value has now fallen by 50 per cent since its peak in November last year.
The slide in the value of digital assets comes as stock markets around the world also dropped in recent days.
On Monday, some Asian markets headed lower again with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index down by around 2 per cent.
Bitcoin accounts for about a third of the cryptocurrency market with a total value of $650bn, BBC reported.
Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency in the world, has also fallen in value, down by more than 10 per cent in the last week.
Although much of 2022 had been relatively quiet for the cryptocurrency market, volatile trading in digital assets has not been that unusual in previous years.
Trading was dominated for years by individual investors, but more recently the market has seen an influx of professional investors, such as hedge funds and money managers.
With more traditional investors trading digital assets, cryptocurrencies have increasingly followed the movements of global stock markets.
Many of the institutional investors that buy cryptocurrencies treat them as risk assets, similar to technology stocks.
In times of market uncertainty traditional investors will often sell what they see as riskier assets and move their money into safer investments.
Last week, central banks around the world, including the US, the UK and Australia, raised interest rates as they attempted to tackle rising prices.
The US Federal Reserve raised its key lending rate by half a percentage point, marking its biggest rate hike in more than 20 years.
People also unintentionally (or occasionally intentionally) send crypto to a burn address, or to an address on a different network, and lose it…reports Asian Lite News
Bitcoin investors are likely to lose up to $545 million this year, owing to various reasons like forgetting passwords to their wallets or making a mistake in recording their “seed phrases”, according to a new report.
A seed phrase is a series of words generated by your cryptocurrency wallet that give you access to the crypto associated with that wallet.
Analysts have estimated that at least 20 per cent of all Bitcoin is lost and that the majority of those funds are irretrievably lost.
According to new research from CryptoAssetRecovery.com, between $272 million to $545 million of Bitcoin will be lost this year.
“Crypto gets lost for a host of reasons: People forget the passwords to their wallets; people make a mistake in recording their seed phrases and some die without giving adequate instructions for how to access their funds,” according to the report.
“However, this does not include Bitcoin lost to scams or theft.
“While such funds are lost to the original wallet holder, they are not lost to the total money supply of Bitcoin. Those funds will likely continue to circulate,” the report noted.
People also unintentionally (or occasionally intentionally) send crypto to a burn address, or to an address on a different network, and lose it.
A new Bitcoin block reward is issued every 10 minutes, and in 2022, the block reward is 6.25 Bitcoin. The block reward will halve again in 2024, to 3.125 BTC/ block reward.
“Since there are 525,600 minutes in a year, and a block reward is issued every 10 minutes, 52,560 block rewards or 328,500 BTC will be issued in 2022,” the report noted.
“It’s clear that the vast majority of the approximately 3.8 million lost Bitcoin were lost early in the blockchain’s history, before it had any economic value.
Given that between 2-4 per cent of the 328,500 Bitcoin mined in 2022 is likely to get lost, somewhere between 6,570-13,140 Bitcoin are likely to get lost.
“When Bitcoin’s price is approximately $41,500, this means that between $272 million and $545 million in Bitcoin alone is likely to be removed from the Bitcoin money supply in 2022,” the report claimed.
Bitcoin’s price on Wednesday fell below $40,000 as other major cryptocurrencies were trading in the red, according to Coindesk data.
After Prime Minister Modi’s account was compromised, #Hacked began trending in India…reports Asian Lite News.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal Twitter handle was restored after getting “very briefly compromised,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a tweet on Sunday, after it shared a link promising a bitcoin giveaway.
“The Twitter handle of PM @narendramodi was very briefly compromised. The matter was escalated to Twitter and the account has been immediately secured. In the brief period that the account was compromised, any tweet shared must be ignored,” PMO India said in a tweet.
The account of Modi, who has more than 73.4 million followers, has now been restored.
Before the account was restored, a tweet was shared with a URL on PM Modi’s timeline which read, “India has officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender. The government has officially bought 500 BTC and is distributing them to all residents of the country.”
Minutes later, another tweet was posted, saying, “Yes this account is hacked by John Wick (hckindia@tutanota.com), We have not hacked Paytm Mall.”
“We have 24X7 open lines of communication with the PM’s Office and our teams took necessary steps to secure the compromised account as soon as we became aware of this activity. Our investigation has revealed that there are no signs of any other impacted accounts at this time,” Twitter spokesperson told IANS.
After Prime Minister Modi’s account was compromised, #Hacked began trending in India.
“Good Morning Modi ji, Sab Changa Si?,” Srinivas BV, the national president of the Indian Youth Congress, tweeted.
“Was the Twitter account of the Hon’ble PM shri #NarendraModi ji hacked? And promise of #Bitcoin !!” tweeted political activist Tehseen Poonawalla.
Another user warned others about the link. “#PMmodi #modi account #hacked, please do not click on the link. It’s a scam. … Even PM’s account is not safe. How safe will be Indian social media from hackers, manipulators, scammers and foreign influence? #Twitter verified security compromised?”
Earlier, in September 2020, the Twitter account linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website and mobile app was hacked by an unknown group with a series of tweets asking followers to donate to a relief fund through cryptocurrency.
