Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

XRP ETF: Hype Or Hope? Experts Weigh In After BlackRock's Cautionary Move

The developer of Bitcoin-focused defi platform ALEX Lab says North Korean hackers are likely behind the latest $4 million attack.

North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group is very likely responsible for the attack that left Bitcoin-focused defi platform ALEX Lab without $4 million worth of tokens earlier in May. In an X post on Jun. 25, ALEX Lab’s official account said there’s “substantial transaction evidence” showing that the attack is linked to the Lazarus Group.

https://twitter.com/ALEXLabBTC/status/1805415489717551402

In mid-May, ALEX Lab was drained of more than $4.3 million in multiple tokens following the attack on its bridging service. Shortly after the attack, ALEX Lab developers revealed in a now-deleted X post they “identified the individual responsible for the recent security breach.” At the same time, the team offered a 10% bounty for the return of 90% of the stolen funds. Later on, the post was quietly removed without further explanation.

The ALEX Lab team assures its customers that it is “actively collaborating with international law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to address the implications of this attack and to recover lost assets,” adding that “enhanced security protocols are being implemented.”

Launched in 2021 by former bankers Chiente Hsu and Rachel Yu, ALEX Lab was developed to simplify the use of decentralized finance (defi) services on Bitcoin via Stacks, a platform for smart contracts. According to data from CoinCarp, the startup raised a total of $18.3 million, though its valuation hasn’t been disclosed.

ALEX, the native token of Bitcoin layer-2 (L2) bridge ALEX Lab, emerges as the top gainer among the largest 500 crypto assets over the past 24 hours.

This remarkable uptrend comes on the back of the broader recovery campaign engineered by Bitcoin (BTC) and the altcoin market. Despite the sustained selloffs from the German government, BTC rebounded on July 9, coinciding with a similar increase in ALEX’s price.

ALEX price – July 11 | Source: CoinMarketCap However, while the flagship crypto asset witnessed a correction on July 10, ALEX maintained its bullish trajectory. The token spiked 21.72% yesterday, further building on the momentum to register a 57% increase this morning.

Remarkably, ALEX has increased 108% since Monday, leveraging the renewed market-wide strength to breach key resistance levels. Amid the bullish run, the asset has now breached the 50% Fibonacci retracement zone at $0.1379, flipping it into support. ALEX now eyes the Fib. 61.8% level at $0.1566.

ALEX emerged as the top gainer among the leading 500 cryptocurrencies with a 70% rally in the past 24 hours. the asset is trading at $0.14 at the time of writing. Its daily trading volume spiked 1,245%, reaching $49.91 million, indicating increased interest among market participants.

This bullish momentum comes two months after ALEX Lab suffered a $4.3 million hack, an attack it attributed to the Lazarus Group. The ALEX token tumbled 28% following the incident. While the event impacted investor sentiment, confidence in the protocol has since returned, recently evidenced by the latest demand around its native token.

Launched in 2021, ALEX Lab is a layer-2 Bitcoin defi protocol running on Stacks smart contracts. The protocol provides a launchpad, a decentralized exchange (DEX) and a lending and borrowing market.

In the past two days, Bitcoin triumphantly hit the critical level of $20K. This sudden push from the primary crypto asset was after hovering between $18K and $24K regions for some months. But following the effects of some macroeconomic factors, the price of BTC was rounding the $19K region.

This year has been the toughest for crypto assets and other financial instruments. But the struggle to remain valuable is seemingly paying off as most coins are currently regaining loss values. Even though the Feds are still hawkish, the market is gradually moving towards a bullish sentiment.

However, the bullish trend in the broader crypto market is spreading gradually. The leading crypto kept its position strongly despite the bears struggling to take over.

The appearance of the bulls has deterred further decline for BTC. Other cryptocurrencies are taking to the north, with Ethereum Name Service (ENS) emerging as the top performer.

With the new movement of prices, the cumulative market cap has hit $964.91 billion, indicating a surge of 0.70% over the past 24 hours. The overall implication of events shows a slight improvement in the trend compared to yesterday and last week. However, the broader crypto market sentiment still has elements of fear.

Bitcoin Consolidates The $20K Level After hitting the critical level of $20,000 a few days ago, Bitcoin is currently displaying its sustainability. The asset has defended its stance on the level and also made an impressive consolidation. This was noted in the early trading hours of September 6, as the price of BTC reached $20,200.

It’s worth noting that the bears tried to pull down the price of Bitcoin yesterday as the token recorded $19,730 on Binance. Remaining at the critical level is the only chance for the leading crypto to make further uptrend.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is hovering around $19,862 depicting a loss. Its market cap has reached over $386.2 billion, while its dominance over altcoins is at 40.04%.

Bitcoin depicts a loss on the chart l BTCUSDT on Tradingview.com Altcoins Are Calm, While ENS Surged The price movement for the altcoins show calmness, with a minimal drop for a few tokens. Most of the assets have consolidated their reclaims in the past day.

But the Ethereum Name Service’s coin, ENS is taking the lead with an almost 11% increase in today’s early hours trading. At the press time, ENS is trading at $16.91. EVMOS is closely following. Recall that EVMOS was the worst crypto asset in price performance as of yesterday. For Ripple (XRP), it seems to be a time of strength with progressive performance.

Featured image from Forbes, chart from TradingView.com

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PANews reported on April 7th that, according to SoSoValue data, the cryptocurrency market generally declined, with only the RWA sector showing a slight increase of 0.42% in the last 24 hours. Within the RWA sector, Sky (SKY) rose 2.32%, Centrifuge (CFG) rose 5.29%, and Creditcoin (CTC) rose 5.82%. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) fell 0.34%, fluctuating narrowly around $68,000; Ethereum (ETH) fell 0.43%, remaining above $2,100.

In other sectors, the CeFi sector fell 0.41% in the last 24 hours, with Mantle (MNT) down 2.74%; the DeFi sector fell 0.47%, with River (RIVER) bucking the trend and rising 21.43%; the AI ​​sector fell 0.85%, but Siren (SIREN) rose 9.88%; the PayFi sector fell 1.02%, with Ultima (ULTIMA) surging 14.93% intraday; the Layer 1 sector fell 1.08%, with Canton Network (CC) relatively strong, rising 5.56%; the Meme sector fell 1.30%, with MemeCore (M) rising 1.17%; and the Layer 2 sector fell 1.86%, with Starknet (STRK) falling 2.99%.

Router Protocol, a Coinbase Ventures-backed decentralized blockchain network, has announced the mainnet launch of its Layer-1 solution Router Chain.

The launch, set for Tuesday, aims to bridge Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) security to chains in the Cosmos (ATOM) ecosystem, enabling fully interoperable decentralized applications. 

Router Protocol’s mainnet launch introduces chain abstraction technology, allowing developers to create dApps for cross-chain money markets and omnichain tokens and other use cases.

Router Chain eyes a chain abstracted ecosystem Chain abstraction relates to the defragmentation of the blockchain ecosystem to allow users to interact with dApps from any chain without having to exit their current application. Abstraction also allows for interaction with the applications on disparate chains via any token, with blockchains benefitting from aggregated liquidity.

Router Protool wrote in an update that its mainnet launch is another step towards addressing challenges facing developers and the community in relation to chain abstraction within the Web3 ecosystem. Per details shared in the press release, the protocol offers a product suite that includes Router Chain, Nitro and CCIF for this goal.

Router Chain is a proof of stake layer-1 chain leveraging Tendermint’s BFT consensus mechanism and offers compatibility with EVM and non EVM chains. Meanwhile, the Cross-Chain Intent Framework is a plug-and-play infrastructure for cross-chain dApps and Nitro supports cross-chain swaps.

“By abstracting blockchain complexities, Router Protocol not only advances chain abstraction technology but enables the next generation of decentralized applications to seamlessly interact across multiple chains, boosting efficiency and reducing costs. This is the development Web3 has been waiting for,” Router Protocol founder and CEO Ramani Ramachandran said.

ROUTE as gas token Router Protocol’s mainnet launch also allows developers and users to benefit from features such as optimistic reverse verification and fast finality for fast cross-chain transfers. Meanwhile, middleware interceptors provide for customizable interactions and composability.

According to Router Protocol, the ROUTE token will serve as the platform’s gas token as well as offer staking rewards for holders.

Bridging Bitcoin, Ethereum to Cosmos Features that come with Router Chain’s mainnet launch includes canonical bridges, omnichain tokens and alloyed assets, and cross-chain money markets. Developers can leverage Router Chain for decentralized applications for cross-chain lending, borrowing and trading.

Router Chain’s multi-chain dApps feature means developers can tap into Bitcoin or Ethereum’s security, while at the same time leverage Solana for low transaction costs and speed. Router plans to launch a bridging solution for Cosmos to help mitigate the chain’s security limitations.

Also backed by QCP Capital and Wintermute among other investors, Router Protocol will look to mainnet launch to expand beyond the over 30 EVM and non-EVM chains that it currently supports.

Router Protocol has partnerships with Circle, Osmosis and Electron Labs, while its CCIF integrations include Lido, Benqi, Stakestone and Aerodrome.

Elrond (ERD) Token Added to Samsung Blockchain Wallet

The cryptocurrency market is showing signs of resilience, with Bitcoin $60,983 maintaining a relatively stable position. While it’s premature to celebrate, the halt in the continuous decline over the past week is encouraging. Cryptocurrency exchanges are actively participating in the dynamics of the market through both delisting and listing activities. Among them, Coinbase is notably adopting an aggressive stance towards new listings.

Altcoin Listing AnnouncementAt the time this article was prepared, Coinbase announced new listings for Fluid (FLUID) and World Mobile Token (WMTX). The listings are set to go live tomorrow, contingent upon meeting the necessary liquidity requirements and will include USD trading pairs. Following this announcement, FLUID Coin experienced a 5% increase in its value, while WMTX is displaying a smaller yet ongoing rise.

Exploring Fluid and World Mobile TokenFluid (FLUID) represents a new generation of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms that allow users to access credit, vault, and decentralized exchange (DEX) strategies from a single interface. Its liquidity layer features automatic limits and protocols for credit and vaults, enhancing user experience with diverse functionalities. Meanwhile, World Mobile Token (WMTX) aims to establish a decentralized mobile network, specifically targeting regions that are disconnected from the internet. This initiative seeks to provide global connectivity solutions.

Coinbase’s proactive approach towards altcoin listing reflects a broader trend of crypto exchanges embracing market opportunities. Such moves not only invigorate the market but also introduce new investment possibilities for crypto enthusiasts. As the crypto landscape evolves, the listing of promising altcoins can play a crucial role in shaping the future of decentralized financial systems.

With each listing announcement, the market anticipates significant shifts in trader behavior and market dynamics. For investors, timing their moves according to these changes is key to maximizing potential returns.

The evolving strategies of exchanges like Coinbase highlight their commitment to fostering a diverse and robust crypto ecosystem. By continuously updating their platforms with new tokens, exchanges enable a wider reach and adaptability within the expanding digital currency space.

In conclusion, as altcoins like FLUID and WMTX make their debut on major exchanges, the spotlight remains on their market performance and long-term impact on the global crypto landscape. Observing these developments can offer valuable insights into the direction of cryptocurrency trends and consumer interest.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

The cryptocurrency market is continuing its sideways trading dynamic. After falling just above the $10,000 mark, Bitcoin has staged a small recovery, rolling back its weekend losses, currently staying at $10,300. See below for our full Bitcoin price analysis.

Cryptocurrency market dynamics since August 24. Source: Coin360 Altcoins are seeing a more depressing outlook, with few of the coins in the top-50 posting any gains.

Ontology rises on MovieBloc release The weekend brought good news to the Ontology community, as the release of a public beta for MovieBloc was announced. MovieBloc is an Ontology-based movie and content distribution platform – a kind of decentralized Netflix.

The price had a strong response to the event, peaking at $0.88, a 17% increase. It has since fallen to about $0.79, placing the total gain at little over 5%.

Ontology price dynamics. Source: CoinMarketCap The other notable outlier is BAT, which after the impressive run on Wednesday corrected by more than 7% over the weekend.

Nathan on Bitcoin Bitcoin has had a lively start to the new trading week as large moves across global financial markets appear to have made an impact on the price of the number one cryptocurrency. It remains to be seen if Bitcoin can hold onto today’s gains, given the heavy rejection from just above the $10,600 level earlier today.

After testing back towards its 100-day moving average over the weekend and finding no real selling interest, Bitcoin has traded as high as $10,650 this morning, before dropping back to the $10,200 level. At present, Bitcoin is managing to outpace most of the top altcoins in terms of intraday gains, while its overall market dominance has recovered back towards 69 percent. 

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I would like to point out an interesting observation from a short-term technical standpoint for Bitcoin. The four-hour time frame is currently showing a bearish head and shoulders pattern, with a nine-hundred point downside projection.

The breakout point or the neckline of the pattern is currently found just below the $10,000 level, with the pattern remaining valid while price trades below the $10,985 level. This suggests an upcoming test of the $9,100 level, which would be a potential trend defining momentum for the BTC/USD pair if the pattern plays out to the downside.

*Technical analysis suggests that a sustained break below the $10,000 level is increasingly likely to lead to a test of the $9,100 support level.*

Bitcoin Sentiment Analysis Intraday bullish sentiment for Bitcoin has increased to 56.20%, according to data from TheTIE.io – while the long-term sentiment indicator has increased to 70.46% positive.

It is worth noting that intraday bullish sentiment has gradually been picking up through the day, despite the pullback in price from the $10,650 level.

UPSIDE POTENTIAL

Short-term bulls need to move price above the $10,700 to inspire confidence for another attempt at the $11,000 technical barrier. Key near-term resistance for the BT/USD pair is currently located at the $10,550 and $10,650 levels. 

The daily time frame is showing that the 50-day moving average capped the latest rally, while the Ichimoku indicator on the mentioned time frame highlights that the $10,870 level is the strongest form of intraday technical resistance.

DOWNSIDE POTENTIAL

The Ichimoku indicator on the four-hour time frame suggests that sellers need to push price below the $10,280 level to regain short-term control. The previously mentioned head and shoulders pattern is also dominating the technical landscape across the lower time frames.

The $10,000 level is once again absolutely key this week, particularly daily price closes under the $10,000 to $9,900 technical confluence area. The downside can easily extend towards the $9,100 level if we start to see sellers gaining control under the $9,900 level.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Andrey Shevchenko. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Meme Coin Snipers’ Secrets to Making Millions Revealed

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Over the weekend, South Korean Karaoke service SOMESING suffered a hack that stole hundreds of millions of SSX tokens. This hack has made crypto exchanges in South Korea alert users and take provisionary actions to minimize investors’ risks.

Upbit Alerts Over Security Risks On January 29, a press release from the largest South Korean crypto exchange Upbit alerted its users of the SSX tokens hack and the following measures to be taken. The exchange warned the community about the potential security risks and the price volatility the token has faced since the attack.

This announcement came after several crypto exchanges, including Bithumb and Coinone, followed SOMESING’s request to suspend SSX token deposits and withdrawals from crypto exchanges.

The press release stated that Upbit has also suspended deposits and withdrawals of the SSX token following the Foundation’s request and explained that the decision is based on the digital asset becoming a ‘cautionary asset’ according to the Digital Asset Exchange Association (DAXA) designation to protect investors.

As the report details, the ‘cautionary asset’ designation is founded on the security issue that the suspicious movements from SOMESING Foundation wallets represent, as well as the change in distribution volume compared to the distribution plan previously submitted by the foundation.

Consequently, Upbit also labeled the SSX token as a ‘cautionary asset’ and has designated a review period from January 19, 2024, until February 14, 2024, to examine the SSX token. Upbit will conduct a detailed review of the digital asset during this period to determine whether to extend or lift the ‘cautionary asset’ designation or terminate the transaction support.

730 Million Tokens Withdrawn To An Unknown Crypto Wallet On January 27, the decentralized blockchain music platform SOMESING notified its community and holders and revealed the details of the hack that occurred in the early hours of that day.

The hack saw 730 million SSX tokens, worth approximately $11 million at the time, withdrawn to unknown wallets. The foundation detailed on its Medium post that 504 million of the stolen SSX tokens were undistributed tokens originally planned to be circulated by the end of 2025.

The Foundation held the other 226 million withdrawn tokens for their circulation supply plans, and as a result, 489 million SSX tokens are over-circulating.

SOMESING’s investigation determined that no member of its team seemed to be involved in the attack, as the methods used suggest that it was most likely conducted by a professional hacker or group of hackers specialized in targeting digital assets.

As part of the emergency measures taken, the Foundation informed that the case was immediately reported to the Cyber Investigation Unit of the National Police Agency, and the incident would also be reported to Interpol.

Additionally, SOMESING urgently requested that domestic and foreign exchanges temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals of the SSX token where it was listed to prevent further damage to users.

Lastly, the Foundation detailed its plan to track the transaction history of the stolen SSX tokens in collaboration with the Klaytn Foundation and Official Interpol-partner cyber security company Uppsala Security. The goal is to identify the final destination of the stolen funds and identify the hacker’s wallet to potentially freeze the seized assets and unveil the hacker’s identity to take further legal action.

According to CoinGecko data, the SSX token traded around the $0,017-$0,018 range before the hack, falling to $0,015 in the following hours. At writing time, the SSX token trades at $0.01413, a 12.4% price drop in the last 24 hours.

BTC is trading at $ on the hourly chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com Featured image from Unsplash.com, Chart from Tradingview.com

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Synthetix scuttles $27M Derive deal after community concerns

ThunderCore is one of the latest projects that is trying to solve the blockchain trilemma. That constant struggle between Decentralization, Scalability and Security.

The project is the culmination of years of scientific research. It was only launched recently and has already started achieving interesting results. Trading volumes in the Native Thunder Token has also picked up at a rapid pace.

However, can the project really achieve these ends?

In this ThunderCore review I will attempt to answer that. I will also analyse the long term use cases and adoption potential of the Thunder Tokens.

ThunderCore SolutionAs mentioned, the blockchain Trilemma is a pertinent one. Quite simply, it is the notion that any blockchain technology is only able to achieve two of the three following traits at the same time:

DecentralizationScalabilitySecurityThe most famous proponent of this idea is Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin. However, the ThunderCore protocol offers an elegant solution to the problem and believes it has found a way to deliver all three traits at the same time.

It will solve the problem by combining a standard blockchain, which they are calling the “slow chain” and such as you would find on Bitcoin, Ethereum or any other Proof-of-Work chain, with another chain they are calling the “fast path.”

How the Accelerator Network will work

The fast path is a Proof-of-Stake chain that is secured by a committee of 300 stakeholders and is coordinated by the central authority called the “Accelerator.” The Accelerator exists to linearize transactions and data on the fast chain and was created as a simple way to accomplish this task, which is quite difficult to do in a decentralized fashion.

By combining the slow chain and fast path in this manner ThunderCore achieves the following blockchain behavior:

When the network is working properly i.e. not under attack or compromised, it supports instant confirmations and high throughput.If the network does come under attack the blockchain security is maintained as long as the slow chain remains secure and as long as a majority of the stakeholders remain honest. This is true even if the Accelerator is corrupted and acting maliciously.ThunderCore was built and developed with the application developer community in mind. Not only was it built around developer needs, but it also collects data, feedback, and insights on how the platform is being used by developers to create decentralized applications.

Daily Active Users of top 3 dApp platforms. Image via Official Blog

This data is then used to ensure the platform best supports the developer community. One of these supports is that Ethereum dApps can be ported to ThunderCore in under five minutes.

ThunderCore Roadmap and GrowthThe ThunderCore development team spent six months analyzing the data from their testnet and cleaning up bugs in the code before launching a Pre-Release mainnet on February 28, 2019. The Pre-Release Mainnet was only different from a Public Mainnet in that TT tokens could not be staked on the Pre-Release Mainnet.

The number of addresses and transactions seen on the Pre-Release Mainnet was significant, with the total number of addresses growing to more than 40,000 by the end of April 2019, and the number of transactions climbing to nearly 200,000.

On May 14, 2019, the ThunderCore team announced the launch of the official mainnet, which came following the ICO on May 9. Because of the full compatibility ThunderCore has with the Ethereum Virtual Machine dApps can be quickly and easily migrated to the mainnet.

ThunderCore's Extended Roadmap. Image via Official Blog

Now that the mainnet has officially launched the ThunderCore development team will focus on three key areas of the protocol:

Research and Design of the ProtocolBlockchain ImplementationDeveloper and User EnhancementsThe first area of focus has mostly been completed at this time, with the mainnet launch and the implementation of the Proof-of-Stake incentives. This is bringing about large-scale consensus and committee elections.

The third area of focus is also nearly complete for the time being, with the team looking to add portal enhancements for developers. This is expected to be completed sometime in the third quarter of 2019.

The largest changes in the second half of 2019 will be made in the area of Blockchain Implementation. This will see the next release of ThunderCore called Haikili released sometime in the fourth quarter of 2019, and will bring developer funded gas and cross chain assets to ThunderCore.

The final scheduled upgrades on the roadmap are increased privacy support and the ThunderCore Raijin release, which will add additional blockchains to the protocol as fallback measures. These changes aren’t expected until the second quarter of 2021.

The ThunderCore TeamThe ThunderCore team is global, but the majority of the more than 60 team members are located in San Francisco, CA. The core team of ThunderCore consists of highly dedicated blockchain professionals, all of whom have solid experience in blockchain, networking, security, software development and other areas of computer science.

The primary leaders of the team are CEO Chris Wang, co-founder Elaine Shi and co-founder Rafael Pass.

Chris Wang, the CEO of ThunderCore, received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon when he was just 22 years old. He went on to become a co-founder of the gaming company Playdom, which was acquired by Disney in 2010 for $532 million, although it was later shut down.

Elaine Shi is the Chief Scientist at ThunderCore and is one of the co-founders of the project. She also received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon, and in addition to co-founding ThunderCore, she is also a co-founder of the Initiative for Cryptocurrency and Contracts (IC3).

ThunderCore "Core" Team members

She is extremely experienced in the blockchain space and can be considered a pioneer as she was the first person to write an academic paper concerning Bitcoin and decentralized smart contracts. She has received numerous awards for her work and was the author of the Thunderella protocol, which became the basis for the ThunderCore protocol.

The other co-founder of ThunderCore is Rafael Pass, who received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology. He also received an additional Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT, and he currently works as a professor at Cornell University.

Pass is considered to be an expert on cryptographic protocols, consensus, and game theory. He was also a co-founder of IC3 alongside Professor Shi, and he helped create the highly scalable ANONIZE computation protocol implemented in the Brave browser with Abhi Shelat.

ThunderCore PartnershipsI normally don’t mention partnerships because in many cases in the blockchain space partnerships are not very meaningful, often created between two blockchain companies neither of which have a viable product. This is not true in the case of ThunderCore and its partners, all of which are already leaders in the blockchain space with solid products.

The first of these partnerships is with TrustWallet, the official cryptocurrency wallet of the Binance Exchange, which now supports the TT token as well. The wallet will also give users access to all the dApps built on the ThunderCore platform.

TrustWallet & Thunder Token. Image via ThunderCore

A second critical partnership has been formed with BlockVigil, who will give ThunderCore advanced integration capability by delivering a transparent API layer to users.

In order to ensure dApp vulnerabilities and protect developers and users, a partnership with Silicon Valley-based blockchain security firm AnChain.ai was formed. The technology developed by AnChain.ai will help determine if the dApps on the ThunderCore platform are safe to interact with.

Last, but not least, is the partnership formed with Liquidity Network, who will be launching their NOCUST payment hub on ThunderCore’s blockchain.

When it comes to increasing adoption and awareness of a cryptocurrency, the community behind said project can be powerful. Hence, I decided to get a better look at the size and engagement of community behind the ThunderCore project.

Firstly, it is important to point out that this project really is global in scope. They have three Telegram channels to support three of their most popular languages.

In the English Telegram channel, they have over 4,900 members. Their Korean channel is on the lighter side with 445 members but they have over 21,000 members in their Chinese channel!

I decided to jump into their English channel to get a better sense of the discussion that was taking place there.

Some of the Discussions in English Telegram

As you can see, the Admins are being quite helpful with those new to the channel and community. There was a bit of price banter and memes that were shared amoung the community but this is normal for most crypto telegram channels.

Taking a look at some other social channels, ThunderCore has a pretty active Twitter account that has just below 10k followers. This is less than we have seen on other official project accounts.

Finally, they also have a Reddit, Discord and official blog. The latter is perhaps one of the best ways to get important updates from the ThunderCore team.

The TT TokenThe TT Token is an ERC-20 token for the ThunderCore blockchain. It acts as a store of value and provides the gas for transaction fees on the blockchain and to underwrite the smart contracts that are created on the ThunderCore blockchain.

It will also be used to build and monetize dApps on ThunderCore. Finally, it can be staked in order to become one of the committee stakeholders or to become the Accelerator and receive incentives for securing the network and processing transactions.

ThunderCore first raised $50 million in private equity during three rounds of private investment. On May 9, 2019, they held an IEO on Huobi Prime Lite, raising $500,000 and selling tokens at $0.015 each.

Thunder Token Price History since IEO. Image via CMC

Given the very short time the token has been in existence its notable that it is currently in the 122 position on CoinMarketCap with a market capitalization of just over $46.5 million.

After its release on May 10, 2019, the TT token immediately jumped higher, hitting its all-time high of $0.02818 on its first day of trading. It dropped quickly and spent the next several weeks trading between the $0.02 and $0.025 level.

By the end of June, it dipped below the $0.02 level however and hit its all-time low of $0.013012 on June 27, 2019. At the time of writing (July 1, 2019) the token is trading at $0.016044.

Buying & Storing Thunder TokensGiven that the Thunder Token was issued in an IEO that took place on the Huobi Exchange, (now HTX), it only makes sense that this would have the most trading volume. However, there is reasonable amounts of volume on exchanges such as Hotbit and Upbit.

What was surprising to me was that the token is not yet listed on Binance. TrustWallet is owned by Binance and they have already started offering support Thunder Token so it looks like a natural fit.

Irrespective of this though, there appears to be decent trading turnover for the Thunder Tokens on the exchanges where they are listed. This means that liquidity should not be an issue when executing large block orders.

Register at HTX and Buy TT Tokens

When you have bought your Thunder Token then you will want to take them off of the exchanges. This is no doubt one of the most prudent things to do given the numerous examples of large exchange hacks.

Given that ThunderCore was built on top of the Ethereum Blockchain, you can store the tokens in any ERC20 compatible wallet. However, you are perhaps best suited to use a secure offline alternative like a hardware wallet.

Having said this, the ThunderCore team is working with other wallet developers to add support for Thunder Token.

ConclusionThe ThunderCore project is an interesting take on smart contracts and dApp creation with a goal of improving blockchain technology across the board. The team behind the project is an impressive one, and the adherence to their own timeline is notable. Now that the public mainnet has launched we can see how well ThunderCore stacks up against its competitors.

The first 10 weeks saw ThunderCore attract 10,000 active users to its platform. The speed of user acquisition was far faster than similar platforms, although that might be due to the maturing dApp communities. We will have to wait and see if growth continues at that pace.

One concern for the project comes in connection with their recent IEO. The price of that IEO was far below the price at the private funding rounds, which were $0.01 in the first round, $0.02 in the second round, and $0.10 in the final round of private funding.

It’s an unwritten rule that the large investors who buy in these private funding rounds are supposed to get the best price for tokens, but ThunderCore has undercut private investors by 85% in their public sale. That could create problems long term, especially if the project intends on securing additional funding.

Business concerns aside, the technical team is a strong one, and they seem to have a good grasp on what they need to do to accomplish their goal of scalability, security, and decentralization in a blockchain.

Bitcoin no longer in ‘easy mode’ — expect a leverage wipeout, observers warn

Posted: November 18, 2019

Despite being closely associated with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies by extension, blockchain’s landscape has been evolving rapidly. As the Fintech industry continues to be the blockchain leader, other industries have taken cautious steps towards researching various use cases of the technology.

Dan Weinberger, Co-founder and CEO of Morpheus Network, was quoted as saying that distributed ledger technology [DLT] or blockchain has the same transformative power as the Internet in the early 1990s. Different sectors have indeed diversified their blockchain initiatives, but the question that still lingers is whether industry players understand the technology. According to Brendan Blumer, CEO of Block.one, the parent company of EOS, a lot of big companies do.

In conversation with CNBC’s Brian Sullivan, Blumer said,

“A growing number of big companies do. One of the initial approaches or interpretations large organizations had on blockchain is ‘well, we can do that faster and cheaper’. They failed to recognize the social movement that blockchain was creating… It’s fundamentally a new building block that we can use to create alternative systems.”

While everyone is eager to know when adoption of the tech will hit a peak, Blumer opined that transition will be slow. According to Blumer, “big companies” have different risk profiles and some of them “don’t even have the mandate to take big risks.” He also asserted that more private organizations will embrace technology and subsequently, change the trust in the relationship they have with their consumers.

Eyes everywhere

“We live in a world where right now we can see what Facebook shows us. We can see our newsfeed, and we know there’s algorithms back there. We know they’re taking our data and they’re using it to serve us ads. We have a general premise of what’s going on, but we can’t see anything below the surface.”

In the information age, the threat to privacy has been a controversial subject. In recent years, online networking giants such as Facebook have suffered major data breaches. The Block.one CEO is positive that decentralized ledger technology can help fix it. He said,

“I believe that over time, blockchain is going to change that and they’re gonna change that through a consumer-led demand that people show us what’s below the surface. We now want to see what they’re doing with our data, how they’re serving us ads and who’s paying for it.”

Table of contents

Persistence One, a leading provider of blockchain interoperability solutions, has entered into a partnership with Merlin Chain to further improve Bitcoin’s capacity by utilizing state-of-the-art ZK-Rollups. From this deal, an opportunity arises to revolutionize how Bitcoin works through the integration of Merlin’s mBTC token into Persistence’s cross-chain solutions in the BTCfi environment for better efficiency, scalability, and compatibility.

https://twitter.com/persistenceone/status/1850863629048127772?s=46

Tackling Bitcoin’s Scalability with ZK-Rollups Mainnet Bitcoin (mBTC) has had issues with throughput and scalability, challenges that create hurdles to cross-chain transfer and increased transaction fees. The ZK-Rollup technology, which works on Ethereum, is another solution that could solve Bitcoin’s scaling problems by combining multiple transactions into one to minimize clogging and expenses. By integrating Merlin Chain’s ZK-Rollup functionalities into its system, Persistence one will hope to enhance cross-chain transactions to be seamless and efficient for those who would wish to use Bitcoin Net.

The Role of mBTC in Streamlining Cross-Chain Transactions In this integration, mBTC, which is Merlin Chain’s Layer 2 Bitcoin representation, will significantly facilitate cross-chain asset exchanges. It also means that the mBTC token can move from one chain to another without having to go through the standard exchanges, hence reducing the number of fragmented marketplaces and giving a more unified place for liquidity. 

Persistence’s intent-based architecture allows users to swap tokens with low slippage and without encountering any issues. Such a strategic fit of mBTC with its system will enhance its liquidity and help users seamlessly and safely transfer their assets across various blockchain ecosystems.

Merlin Chain: An Emerging Force in Bitcoin Layer-2 Solutions Merlin Chain, which started in early 2024, has quickly attracted a lot of adopters as an efficient Bitcoin Layer-2 solution with zkEVM compatibility. Merlin Chain also has decentralized Oracle services and data availability layers that provide additional features and enable staking, farming and DeFi solutions for mBTC users.

Merlin Chain has gained credibility through association with big industry players, and the architecture of the platform is well-aligned with the vision of Persistence One. Persistence’s cross-chain solutions combined with Merlin’s technology developed specifically for Bitcoin will bring better prospects to the BTCfi sector by allowing users to interact with decentralized finance applications easily.

Persistence One’s Mission for a Unified BTCfi Landscape Persistence One has been dedicated to working towards enhancing the liquidity profile and usage of Bitcoin assets across Layer-2 solutions. Their goal is not to have isolated solutions but to imagine a fully interconnected BTCfi ecosystem in which assets such as mBTC can be easily and safely transferred between different participants. 

This collaboration is a significant step toward advancing Persistence One’s goal of providing Bitcoin with genuine cross-chain versatility, thus launching a robust and easily accessible BTCfi ecosystem while integrating various Layer-2 technologies with Bitcoin’s security.

AUTHOR

With over five years of experience in crypto, blockchain, and tech content, Ishtiyaq makes complex topics easy to understand. He simplifies blockchain and digital currency concepts for a wide audience, ensuring that beginners and experts alike can grasp key ideas. His clear and engaging writing helps readers stay informed about the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the crypto space. Whether explaining blockchain technology, digital assets, or DeFi, Ishtiyaq breaks down complicated ideas into simple, digestible content. His goal is to help people navigate the fast-changing world of cryptocurrency with confidence, clarity, and a deeper understanding.

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Jiang Zhuoer: This round of Bitcoin bear market may bottom out in Q4 2026, with a target range of $42,000 to $44,000.

BTC.TOP founder Jiang Zhuoer wrote in a post that Strategy’s modified net asset value (mNAV) has fallen to 0.72, near the 0.7 low hit in May 2022 during the last bear market. Citing recent market sentiment events including STRC’s depegging, he noted that mNAV is now in the bottom zone of this cycle. mNAV usually bottoms roughly six months before Bitcoin’s price. Using the "four-year cycle" and volatility decay model, Jiang projected that this Bitcoin bear market will likely bottom between October and December 2026, with a target price range of $42,000 to $44,000. He added that his recent medium-short term strategy remains focused on selling spot assets and holding short positions, and will switch to buying spot and going long once the expected bottom arrives.

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Japan’s Bond Shock Slams Crypto: $640 Million Liquidated as 10-Year JGB Hits 17-Year High

Yen Carry Trade Collision: Bank of Japan’s Rate Shock Aims at Bitcoin | US Crypto News

Updated Dec 7, 2025, 1:50 p.m. Published Dec 7, 2025, 5:36 a.m.

3 min read

Summary

Impending BOJ rate hike largely priced in; Japanese bond yields near multi-decade highs.Speculators maintain net bullish positions in the yen, limiting scope for sudden yen strength.BOJ tightening may contribute to sustained upward pressure on global yields, impacting risk sentiment.With the Bank of Japan (BOJ) expected to hike rates next week, some observers are worried that the Japanese yen could surge, triggering an unwinding of "carry trades," crushing bitcoin.

Their analysis, however, overlooks actual positioning in the FX and bond markets, missing the nuance and far more likely risk that Japanese yields, by anchoring and potentially lifting global bond yields, could eventually weigh over risk assets rather than the yen itself.

Popular yen carry tradesBefore diving deeper, let's break down the yen carry trade and its influence on global markets over the past few decades.

The yen (JPY) carry trade involves investors borrowing yen at low rates in Japan and investing in high-yielding assets. For decades, Japan kept interest rates pinned near zero, prompting traders to borrow in yen and invest in U.S. tech stocks and U.S. Treasury notes.

As Charles Schwab noted, "Going long on tech and short on the yen were two very popular trades, because for many years, the yen had been the cheapest major funding currency and tech was consistently profitable."

With the BOJ expected to raise rates, concerns are rising that the yen will lose its cheap-funding status, making carry trades less attractive. Higher Japanese interest rates and JGB yields, along with a strengthening yen, could trigger carry trade unwinds – Japanese capital repatriating from overseas assets and sparking broad risk aversion, including in BTC, as witnessed in August 2025.

Debunking the scareThis analysis, however, lacks nuance on several levels.

First and foremost, Japanese rates – even after the expected hike – would sit at just 0.75%, versus 3.75% in the U.S. The yield differential would still remain wide enough to favor U.S. assets and discourage mass unwinding of carry trades. In other words, BOJ will remain the most dovish major central bank.

Secondly, the impending BOJ rate hike is hardly unexpected and is already priced in, as evidenced by Japanese government bond (JGB) yields hovering near multi-decade highs. The benchmark 10-year JGB yield currently stands at 1.95%, which is more than 100 basis points above the official Japanese benchmark interest rate of 0.75% projected after the hike. The same can said about the two-year Japanese yield, which is hovering above 1%.

This disconnect between bond yields and policy rates suggests market expectations for tighter monetary conditions are likely already priced in, reducing the shock value of the rate adjustment itself.

"Japan’s 1.7% JGB yield isn’t a surprise. It has been in forward markets for more than a year, and investors have already repositioned for BOJ normalization since 2023," InvestingLive's Chief Asia-Pacific Currency Analyst Eamonn Sheridan said in a recent explainer.

Bullish yen positioningLastly, speculators' net long yen positions leave little room for panic buying post-rate hike, and even less reason for carry trade unwinds.

Data tracked by Investing.com shows that speculators' net positioning has been consistently bullish on the yen since February this year.

This starkly contrasts with mid-2024, when speculators were bearish on the yen. That likely triggered panic buying of the yen when the BOJ raised rates from 0.25% to 0.5% on July 31, 2024, leading to the unwinding of carry trades and losses in stocks and cryptocurrencies.

Another notable difference back then was that the 10-year yield was on the verge of breaking above 1% for the first time in decades, which likely triggered a shock adjustment. That's no longer the case, as yields have been above 1% and rising for months, as discussed earlier.

The yen's role as a risk-on/risk-off barometer has come under question recently, with the Swiss franc emerging as a rival offering relatively lower rates and reduced volatility.

To conclude, the expected BOJ rate hike could bring volatility, but it is unlikely to be anything like what was seen in August 2025. Investors have already positioned for tightening, as Schwab noted, and adjustments to BOJ tightening are likely to happen gradually and are already partially underway.

What could go wrong?Other things being equal, the real risk lies in Japanese tightening sustaining elevated U.S. Treasury yields, countering the impact of expected Fed rate cuts.

This dynamic could dampen global risk appetite, as persistently high yields raise borrowing costs and weigh on asset valuations, including those of cryptocurrencies and equities.

Rather than a sudden yen surge unwinding carry trades, watch BOJ's broader global market impact.

Another macro risk: President Trump's push for global fiscal expansion, which could stoke debt fears, lift bond yields, and trigger risk aversion.

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The VIX Fear Index for the US stock market stands at 18.63 today, with fear sentiment intensifying in the crypto market.

According to Cboe data, the U.S. stock market's VIX Fear Index stands at 18.63 as of today, down 0.86 points from the prior reading of 19.49, marking a decline of approximately 4.41%. Separately, per Alternative data, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index is at 12 today (compared to 17 yesterday), indicating intensifying extreme fear sentiment.

5 minutes ago

Bank of Japan Board Member: Should Accelerate Pace of Interest Rate Hikes If Upside Inflation Risks Intensify

Bank of Japan (BOJ) Policy Board member Naoki Tamura stated that if upside risks to price growth intensify further, the BOJ should not hesitate to accelerate the pace of interest rate hikes or raise rates by a larger margin. He projected that the BOJ will implement interest rate hikes every few months until its policy rate reaches the neutral level of around 2%. (Golden Ten)

5 minutes ago

Crypto token M plunged over 80% in a short period, hitting a low near $0.5.

According to HTX market data, the token M saw a sharp short-term price plunge, with its decline once exceeding 80% and hitting a low of around $0.5, and is now trading at $0.54.

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Whale 0xbilly pulled off another "buy high, sell low" move, exiting with a $220,000 loss in a single day.

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Two whales opened a short position worth approximately $90 million on the S&P 500.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, two whale addresses are building short positions on the S&P 500, with a combined position of approximately $90 million. Details are as follows: Whale address "0x469" has opened 6,500 S&P 500 short positions, using 20x leverage, valued at around $48 million, with a liquidation price of $8,413.66. Whale address "0x4ff" has opened 5,686.66 S&P 500 short positions, using 7x leverage, valued at around $42 million, with a liquidation price of $8,358.13.

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