Upheaval at the Ethereum Foundation has some of crypto’s biggest names feeling bullish
In this week's edition of The Protocol Newsletter, we're looking at Ethereum's eventful week that started off with the launch of EthLabs, plus the layoffs at the Ethereum Foundation, and what this all means for the network.
7:48 PM
Positive
Kalshi targets a massive $40 billion valuation, widening lead over rival Polymarket
The prediction market operator, which is eyeing a potential public debut in 2027, could close a new funding round in Q3, according to a Financial Times report.
5:18 PM
Binance withdraws Greek MiCA bid but vows to remain in Europe
The crypto giant must find a home base in the EU by July 1 or regulators will force the company to shut down operations for millions of regional users.
4:01 PM
Negative
BTC0.00%
Bitcoin falls below $60,000 as AI trade continues to draw investor interest and capital
South Korean memory chip giant on Wednesday filed to raise nearly $30 billion in a U.S. offering.
4:00 PM
BTC0.00%
Crypto Long & Short: Infrastructure is the prevailing currency in digital assets
In this week's Crypto Long & Short, Nonco’s Caue Teixeira makes the case that regardless of which coin ultimately wins, infrastructure is the prevailing currency in digital assets. Then, using CoinDesk's liquidation feed, Liquibit Capital's Alen Pavlović finds that June's forced selling peaked near $68,000, days before bitcoin actually bottomed.
3:45 PM
Negative
SecondFi loses $2.4 million in Cardano wallet exploit
SecondFi was hit by three separate attacks exploiting a flaw in its wallet generation software. A further 129 million ADA was secured by the team before attackers could reach it.
3:42 PM
Negative
Trump's refusal to sign housing bill could delay Congress and imperil Clarity Act
As Congress prepared to celebrate the president's signing of the bipartisan housing bill that contains a CBDC prohibition, Trump abruptly cancelled the event.
3:23 PM
Neutral
Ex-FCA policy insider explains the ‘great divide’ in the UK’s crypto ambition
Former FCA policymaker and Hedera Global Policy VP, Isadora Arredondo says there is a gap between the U.K.'s crypto ambitions and how policy is carried out in practice.
2:47 PM
Negative
Bitcoin just broke below the floor of its famous Rainbow Chart into the ‘BTC is dead’ zone
A 50% drop from recent highs has pushed the asset into a zone historically labeled as a dead end, sparking a debate among crypto analysts.
1:48 PM
Negative
Gold, silver and bitcoin tumble as 'debasement' trade unwinds
Precious metals have fallen sharply from their 2025 highs as markets price in Fed rate hikes.
1:42 PM
Negative
BTC0.00%
Bitcoin could fall to $55,000 before finding a bottom, 10x Research says
A strengthening U.S. dollar and the Fed's hawkish turn under new chair Kevin Warsh may keep pressure on crypto through the summer.
1:19 PM
Positive
CoinDesk 20 performance update: Aave (AAVE) gains 5.9% as index moves higher
Internet Computer (ICP), up 2% from Tuesday, joined Aave (AAVE) as a top performer.
1:00 PM
CZ, Binance founder, wants to clear up 'misunderstandings' about who he is
The former CEO of the world's largest crypto exchange is seeking to redefine himself to the world on his own terms.
12:48 PM
Positive
BTC0.00%
+2 Assets
Aave could soar to $3,500 by 2030 on DeFi revival, says StanChart
Geoff Kendrick said Aave has moved past April's cyberattack-related market disruption and is well positioned to benefit from growth in tokenized assets and DeFi.
11:36 AM
Positive
BTC0.00%
+1 Asset
This forgotten coin could surprise everyone before its next halving
Your day-ahead look for June 24, 2026
11:04 AM
Negative
BTC0.00%
+6 Assets
Bitcoin clings to $62,500 as bears tighten grip on crypto market
Bitcoin held above $62,500 and ether near $1,665, but sluggish price action and widening put skews signal bears remain firmly in control.
10:47 AM
Positive
YZi Labs ends proxy war with BNB treasury company CEA Industries
Partner Alex Odagiu will serve as an interim president, pending a search for a new chief executive, while head of YZi Labs Ella Zhang and Matthew Roszak also appointed directors of CEA.
10:38 AM
Positive
Cboe revives S&P 500 binary options, chasing a market popularized by Polymarket, Kalshi
One of the largest U.S. derivatives exchanges is bringing back yes/no bets on the S&P 500 after pulling them a decade ago, moving onto turf that Polymarket and Kalshi turned into one of the internet's fastest-growing corners.
9:47 AM
Positive
The Runes revival: Bitcoin traffic hits a two-year high as transactions blast past 820,000
A surge in Rune protocol activity is pushing Bitcoin transaction counts and fee generation to multi year highs.
Ethereum (ETH) down 4.8 percent and hanging Bosch, Samsung, and Amazon see potential in Ethereum Vitalik zeroed in on Augur and Kleros as two projects that would eliminate human verification, as Bosch said they are trialing projects in Ethereum. Prices are stable, down 4.8 percent. But bills still have control.
Ethereum Price Analysis Fundamentals On April 30th, Elon Musk tweeted, “Ethereum” and that was enough for Ether prices to move, jolting bulls and could have been the precursor to what we are currently witnessing. What we have seen is a near 50 percent jump in a coin that was even immune to Bitcoin gains of early April.
Well, of the many application brought by its smart contracting capability is moving identity to the immutable blockchain. That shift alone would cut off fraud, and it is something Vitalik, the “no-giver of ETH”, is pretty excited about.
During 2019’s Blockchain Week, the innovative co-founder highlighted two projects that are planning to revolutionize verification. The two, Augur and Kleros, Vitalik said will replace human verification. Through their decentralized protocols, the Ethereum co-founder expects for industries to benefit from their innovation.
While Vitalik heaped praise on these Ethereum based projects, Bosch, it is emerging, is running trials on the Ethereum platform:
“The Ethereum platform allows such projects, including for example, in the case of Bosch applications, autonomously charging and paying EV. There is no strategic favor for any existing technology. We have evaluated Ethereum, Hyperledger, and IOTA in small prototypes before.”
Candlestick Arrangement
Overly, big corporations are settling for Ethereum in a move that cements the platform’s position as a go-to smart contracting platform. Meanwhile, Ethereum Foundation is accelerating development towards Serenity that will, without a doubt, support ETH prices.
The coin, at the time of press, is down 4.8 percent and hanging. Even if prices drop, there is an opportunity for traders to find entries in lower time frames as long as prices are above the $170 as per our previous ETH/USD highlights. It’s easy to see why.
ETH is trading within a bullish breakout against the USD. Typical of these patterns, prices often retrace in a retest before prices snap back to trend. In any case, any dip below $230 could see ETH sink to $190 in a retest. On the other hand, any expansions above $270 with above-average volumes open up doors for $300 and $450 in a bull trend continuation phase.
Technical Indicator As a result, our reference bar is May 19th. It is wide-ranging with high participation. Any surge or drop below $230 canceling our outlook ought to be at the back of a volume spike exceeding 271k and preferably 822k of May 16th.
Chart courtesy of Trading View. Image Courtesy of Shutterstock
Brazil’s Largest Bank Expands Bitcoin and Ether Trading to All Customers
Sujha Sundararajan
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Sujha Sundararajan
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Jun 2023
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Sujha has been recognised as 🟣 Women In Crypto 2024 🟣 by BeInCrypto for her leadership in crypto journalism.
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June 12, 2024
Brazil-based Itaú Unibanco, one of the largest private banks in Latin America, has announced expanding its Bitcoin and Ether trading services to all customers.
The bank with over 60 million customers, started offering to buy and sell cryptos through its investment platform – ‘Ion’ – in December 2023. Initially, the bank offered the services to selected clients, slowly opening to wider customer base who download the platform’s app.
Guto Antunes, head of Itaú Digital Assets, confirmed the move during an interview with a local publication on Monday. He noted that the bank has been carrying out weekly surveys with customers for whom cryptocurrency operations were permitted.
The survey found high degree of acceptance and that clients had huge trust in Itaú’s custody. Notably, the financial institution did not hire third-party services to keep customers’ crypto wallets safe, but created a tool internally. However, the bank received support from tokenizer Liqi for the development of the solution.
“We have a stake and a partnership with Liqi, but nothing in terms of custody. The entire custody solution, since it was conceived, was created with architecture and fiduciary duty within Itaú.”
In Align With the Central Bank of Brazil Further, the bank created a separate digital wallet for each client, Antunes added. This would satisfy the asset segregation requirements, required by Brazil’s Central Bank (BC) in the infra legal regulation of cryptos.
Brazil’s central bank has planned to divide crypto regulation process into segments, with regulatory proposals expected by the end of this year.
The bank’s ‘Ion’ app saw over 3.5 million downloads both in Android and iOS, per Antunes’ statement. “Even in the staggered phase it was a relevant number for the crypto universe and a surprise,” he noted.
The bank currently supports Bitcoin and Ether trading, with plans to expand it to other cryptocurrencies as customer demand rises. This also depends on the process of regulatory risk analysis, he said.
Additionally, Itaú is anticipating the BC to present a set of rules that provide clarity on stablecoin operations in Brazil.
“We are aligned with the BC in the development of regulation, we want to grow in the right way.”
Antunes said that the real challenge during the testing was training managers on advising clients regarding the new asset type. “We created a network-first solution, an AI chatbot, that experts and managers have access to to understand key customer questions,” he added.
The bank’s 60 million customers can now buy BTC and ETH through the firm’s Ion app.
The largest banking institution in Latin America has opened the doors for all of its clients to get exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Itaú Unibanco, Brazil’s largest bank by assets under management, is now offering BTC and ETH trading to its more than 60 million clients. Users can access both tokens through the company’s Ion app.
In December 2023, Itaú launched the cryptocurrency trading platform for select clients. According to the firm’s Head of Digital Assets, Guto Antunes, the bank decided to expand its operations due to weekly surveys showing high demand for crypto services.
Although the company is only offering the two largest assets by market capitalization, the idea is to add support for other tokens in the future. "It starts with bitcoin, but our overarching strategic plan is to expand to other crypto assets in the future," Antunes said last year.
Institutions in Brazil have been relentlessly pushing the envelope when it comes to crypto services in the country. Alongside Itaú’s crypto trading platform unveiled last year, Brazilian neobank Nubank partnered with Circle to offer USDC access to the company’s 80 million customers.
Latin America is quietly becoming a regional powerhouse in terms of crypto adoption. Recently, a grassroots Argentinean organization called Crecimiento revealed plans to create a Crypto Silicon Valley in Buenos Aires. Across the Andes, Chile has been paving the way for friendlier regulation in terms of fintech companies, with the country approving a new financial technologies law in 2023.
And the region is one that desperately needs more financial inclusion. It is home to more than 650 million people, of which 122 million are unbanked, while citizens of several nations grapple with double and triple-digit inflation.
An official from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed that El Salvador is complying with an agreement to back away from using Bitcoin (BTC) as a reserve asset.
In a new press briefing, the IMF addresses a question from financial software company Ion Group asking how El Salvador is still accumulating BTC despite agreeing to stop making any more purchases as part of a loan agreement.
[adinserter block="1"]
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele pushed back against those conditions earlier this year, saying,
“’This all stops in April.’ ‘This all stops in June.’ ‘This all stops in December.’
No, it’s not stopping.
If it didn’t stop when the world ostracized us and most ‘Bitcoiners’ abandoned us, it won’t stop now, and it won’t stop in the future.
Proof of work > proof of whining.”
Data from the blockchain “de-anonymizer” Arkham shows that the El Salvador government has been acquiring one BTC every single day for some time.
But Rodrigo Valdes, the director of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department, says that despite these purchases, the country is still working within its “performance criteria” set forth by the IMF.
“In terms of El Salvador, let me say that I can confirm that they continue to comply with their commitment of non-accumulation of bitcoin by the overall fiscal sector, which is the performance criteria that we have. But on top of that, I think this is very important for the discussion in El Salvador.
The program of El Salvador is not about bitcoin. It’s much more, much deeper in structural reforms, in terms of governance, in terms of transparency. There is a lot of progress there. And also, on fiscal. And authorities have been making a lot of progress implementing the reform.”
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Bitcoins Kurs hat sich nach der jüngsten Marktkorrektur schnell wieder erholt und ist heute deutlich über die psychologisch wichtige 100.000-Dollar-Marke gestiegen. Auslöser für die Erholung war unter anderem die Marktberuhigung nach den jüngsten Turbulenzen rund um neue KI-Entwicklungen aus China. Viele Anleger spekulieren nun darauf, ob diese Erholung der Beginn einer größeren Rallye sein könnte, die Bitcoin schon wieder in Richtung eines neuen Allzeithochs katapultiert.
BTC erlebte heute einen deutlichen Aufschwung Der Krypto-Markt hat heute erfreulicherweise einen deutlichen Aufschwung erlebt, und die Gesamtmarktkapitalisierung aller Kryptowährungen ist innerhalb der letzten 24 Stunden um fast 5 % gestiegen. Auch Bitcoin, die Leitwährung des Krypto-Marktes, profitierte von diesem Aufschwung und konnte innerhalb eines Tages um über 3,7 % zulegen. Gestern hatte der Kurs jedoch einen heftigen Rücksetzer erfahren, der Bitcoin auf bis zu 98.000 $ fallen ließ.
Über Nacht gelang es Bitcoin jedoch, die psychologisch wichtige Marke von 100.000 $ im zweiten Anlauf zurückzuerobern. Bereits am gestrigen Nachmittag hatte es einen ersten Versuch gegeben, die Hürde zu überwinden, doch dieser scheiterte zunächst. Erst in der Nacht schaffte Bitcoin den Durchbruch und wird aktuell wieder bei 102.500 $ gehandelt. Dadurch liegt die Marktkapitalisierung nun wieder über der wichtigen Marke von 2 Billionen $.
Quelle: Coingecko.com Die gestrige Korrektur wurde maßgeblich durch einen technologischen Durchbruch eines chinesischen KI-Unternehmens ausgelöst, das eine KI namens DeepSeek-R1 entwickelte, die ähnlich leistungsfähig ist wie die US-amerikanischen Modelle wie GPT-4, jedoch zu einem Bruchteil der Kosten entwickelt werden konnte. Das führte zu massiven Kursverlusten bei US-Tech-Aktien wie NVIDIA und beeinflusste auch den Krypto-Markt negativ.
Heute hat sich diese negative Marktreaktion jedoch teilweise wieder relativiert. Der Überschwang der gestrigen Abwärtsbewegung wurde korrigiert, und da Kryptowährungen nicht direkt von der Entwicklung im KI-Sektor betroffen sind, konnte sich Bitcoin beinahe auf sein Kursniveau von vor einigen Tagen erholen.
Könnte sich Rallye jetzt in Richtung eines neuen Allzeithochs fortsetzen? Nach der schnellen Erholung der letzten 24 Stunden drängt sich die Frage auf, ob das möglicherweise der Beginn einer Rallye in Richtung eines neuen Allzeithochs sein könnte. Kurstechnisch wäre es für Bitcoin jetzt entscheidend, seinen Wert langfristig über der Marke von 102.000 $ zu stabilisieren und möglichst bald wieder in Richtung des wichtigen Point of Control zwischen 104.000 und 105.000 $ zu steigen. Sollte sich der Kurs über 105.000 $ festigen, könnte das den Startschuss für eine Rallye geben, die erstmals die 110.000 $-Marke überwindet und ein neues Allzeithoch erreicht.
Ein solcher Kursanstieg könnte durch positive Nachrichten aus den USA begünstigt werden, insbesondere durch neue Krypto-freundliche Verordnungen von Präsident Donald Trump. Im Raum steht weiterhin die mögliche Genehmigung einer Bitcoin- beziehungsweise Krypto-Reserve der USA. Ebenso könnten in den nächsten Tagen oder Wochen erste Genehmigungen für neue Krypto-ETFs erfolgen, was weiteres Potenzial für Kursanstiege schaffen würde.
Bitcoin US Reserve! Now it is happening! pic.twitter.com/oGHg4dEWer
— MMCrypto (@MMCrypto) January 23, 2025
Auf der anderen Seite gibt es jedoch auch pessimistische Stimmen unter den Anlegern, die die aktuelle Erholung als kurzfristige Verschnaufpause interpretieren, bevor eine größere Korrektur einsetzt. Sollte BTC innerhalb der nächsten 24 bis 48 Stunden erneut unter die 100.000 $-Marke fallen, könnte das ein Hinweis auf eine bevorstehende Abwärtsbewegung sein. In diesem Szenario wären weitere Rücksetzer in Richtung 95.000 $ oder sogar 90.000 $ nicht auszuschließen.
Da die aktuelle Kurslage von Bitcoin eher unsicher ist, suchen viele Anleger derzeit nach alternativen Investitionsmöglichkeiten in jüngere Coins. Ein besonders interessantes Beispiel für risikofreudige Investoren stellt dabei der neue Meme-Coin WEPE dar.
Meme Coin Investoren interessieren sich heute auch für WEPE Hierbei handelt es sich um einen wirklich brandneuen und jungen Meme-Coin, der in den letzten Wochen und Monaten maßgeblich von einem immer größer werdenden Hype um den Meme-Coin-Sektor profitieren konnte. Aktuell ist WEPE ausschließlich über die offizielle Website und das dort befindliche Presale-Widget erhältlich. Das bedeutet, dass der Coin noch nicht am offenen Markt gehandelt werden kann, sondern lediglich zu einem rabattierten Festpreis vorab verfügbar ist. Anlegern wird derzeit die Möglichkeit geboten, WEPE für nur 0,0003665 $ zu erwerben.
Quelle: Wallstreetpepe.com Bemerkenswert ist, dass innerhalb der letzten Wochen bereits über 62,4 Millionen $ an Initial-Funding in WEPE geflossen sind, was für einen so jungen Presale-Meme-Coin eine außergewöhnlich hohe Summe darstellt. Der Kauf der Coins ist dabei ganz einfach mit Bankkarte oder Kryptowährungen möglich.
Das Maskottchen des Coins wird durch einen finanzinteressierten Frosch verkörpert, der eine kreative Fusion aus dem Kultcharakter des Wolf of Wall Street und dem beliebten Frosch-Meme PEPE darstellt. Der Ansatz scheint bei Anlegern genau ins Schwarze getroffen zu haben. Die Community wächst rasant weiter und hat heute bereits über 40.900 Mitglieder auf X sowie fast 19.000 Mitglieder auf Telegram erreicht.
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Crypto markets slowly starting to correct; VeChain and BNB going strong, Stellar, ADA and NEO dropping fastest. Market Wrap Yesterday’s minor movement did not last and crypto markets have fallen back a little as we end the week. The week-long rally looks like it is about to run out of steam as resistance is hit for the big cap cryptos. Total market capitalization has held though and is still above $134 billion for the time being.
Total market cap, 24 hours. Yet again Bitcoin hit resistance at $4,000 and failed to break through. The longer this happens the less likely there will be a break to the upside. BTC is trading down marginally on yesterday’s levels but it still holding around $3,970 at the moment, volume is slowly shrinking however.
Ethereum is holding $147 for now but it too has failed to break resistance at $150 so further losses could be on the cards. XRP is falling back and has lost 2% on the day dropping it to $0.322. This has widened the gap between it and ETH to $2.1 billion.
The top ten is all red during Friday’s Asian trading session aside from Binance Coin which is back up again while others are falling. BNB has made over 3% on the day taking it to $10.90. The biggest drop in the top ten is Stellar losing 3% but remaining above Tron for now.
The top twenty is awash with red at the time of writing. Cardano and NEO are dropping the most with 4% losses each. The rest are dumping between 1 and 3 percent as markets correct from three days of buying pressure.
QASH has surged back into the top one hundred with a fomo pump of 33% but today’s surprise mover is VeChain which has made 12% over the past 24 hours. Daily volume has almost quadrupled from $5.7 million to almost $20 million, over half of it traded on Binance. The recent blockchain integration with Amazon Web Services appears to be driving momentum;
AWS services enable one-click VeChainThor Blockchain deployment for enterprises.
Original: https://t.co/qIWZVS9mbR
English: https://t.co/lBtB6T5vCZ
— VeChain (@vechainofficial) February 18, 2019
Total market capitalization has cooled off and settled at $134 billion, down 1.5% from yesterday’s levels. Daily volume continues to dwindle and is now $10 billion less that it was a couple of days ago at $25 billion. It has been a strong week for crypto markets which are still up 10% on the same time last week.
Market Wrap is a section that takes a daily look at the top 20 cryptocurrencies during the current trading session and analyses the best-performing ones, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.
Oraichain, an innovator in the integration of artificial intelligence with blockchain technology, has announced the highly anticipated Beta launch of its OraiBTC Subnet on March 19.
The development marks the first time Bitcoin (BTC) will be integrated into the Oraichain ecosystem, offering a decentralized bridge for seamless BTC deposits and withdrawals.
The Subnet is designed to facilitate the easy transfer of Bitcoin into and out of the Oraichain network, with users able to directly swap the asset for ORAI tokens and bridge BTC between the Oraichain and Bitcoin networks in both directions. In the future, it will also enable the transfer of BTC via IBC to many protocols throughout the Cosmos Ecosystem.
An emphasis has been placed on ease of use, with the aforementioned functionalities made accessible via the OraiDEX website and OWallet browser. The integration will empower developers to build faster and more powerful dApp experiences, particularly for holders of the world’s best-known and most valuable cryptocurrency.
The OraiBTC Subnet Beta launch provides an opportunity for users to actively participate in refining the platform’s features ahead of its full public release. In appreciation of their involvement, participants may also receive a special surprise, adding an extra element of excitement to the launch.
Built on the robust foundation of Nomic’s design, OraiBTC leverages advanced Bitcoin features such as Taproot and Schnorr signatures, as well as a dedicated validator set, all of which ensures the utmost safety and integrity of bridged assets.
The launch is a major step in Oraichain’s mission to become the go-to Layer-1 platform for AI-powered decentralized applications (dApps). By bringing Bitcoin into the Oraichain toolkit, the platform significantly expands the addressable market for AI dApp builders and offers greater versatility and potential for innovation.
The introduction of OraiBTC is a key component of Oraichain’s Mainnet 3.0 upgrade, which has implemented major changes to enhance speed and interoperability. Oraichain has recently reduced its block time to approximately 1 second, positioning it as one of the fastest networks in the Cosmos ecosystem and beyond.
The Oraichain team is currently focused on expanding its ecosystem, including through the development of GPU Staking. In addition to making significant investments in GPUs to support the AI applications running on the Oraichain mainnet, the Oraichain Foundation envisions GPU Staking as a novel approach to ensure that the value generated from increasing AI service demands directly benefits holders of ORAI tokens.
About Oraichain Oraichain is a permissionless Layer 1 for AI-powered dApps, developed to provide multidimensional Trustworthy Proofs of AI and data reliability. With its AI Oracle at the core, Oraichain is designed to provide a decentralized system for the delivery of AI-generated data to smart contracts, maximizing transparency for developers and consumers.
Website | X | Telegram | Discord | GitHub | Blog | Coinmarketcap | Coingecko
In a market where most major cryptocurrencies are struggling to find momentum, AI tokens are posting significant gains.
Even as blue-chip assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana remain stagnant, the likes of SingularityNET (AGIX), Fetch.ai (FET) and Oraichain (ORAI) are up 57%, 53%, and 11.5% over the week respectively.
Much of the recent buzz around AI tokens has been significantly fueled by the anticipation of Nvidia's Q2 earnings report.
The AI hardware titan has been at the forefront of the AI revolution, and its financial performance is closely watched by investors across various sectors, including cryptocurrency. Analysts are expecting sales of $28.7 billion, or a 112% increase, which would be 139% higher than the prior year's Q2.
The anticipation of strong earnings has driven a wave of optimism towards these tokens. Nvidia's influence on the AI token market is profound. As the company continues to dominate the AI hardware industry, it indirectly boosts the confidence of investors in AI-driven cryptocurrencies, which are seen as part of the broader AI ecosystem.
NVIDIA’s AI Winning Streak is Good News For Web3
NVIDIA’s net income surged 769% from last year due to AI chip sales but how can Web3 get a piece of this pie?
BlockheadBlockhead
This divergence between cryptocurrencies and AI-themed tokens can further be attributed to the growing interest in sector's innovation. Investors are increasingly looking at AI tokens as a new frontier, offering growth opportunities that blue-chip cryptocurrencies currently lack.
Additionally, as traditional cryptocurrencies face regulatory scrutiny and market saturation, investors are seeking new and innovative opportunities such as AI. The success of these tokens suggests that this rally is not just a short-term hype but could signal a more sustained interest in AI-driven cryptocurrencies.
Shiba Inu (SHIB) is threatened to note a decline due to the lack of recovery observed in the broader market cues.
SHIB investors are not keenly bullish either, which could translate into losses for the meme coin.
Shiba Inu Whales Are a ProblemShiba Inu’s price could experience a price correction due to the waning support from SHIB holders. These meme coin enthusiasts have been losing optimism toward a rally, which is visible in their increasing selling pressure.
In the last two months, the addresses holding more than $1 million and $10 million worth of SHIB have sold off a huge chunk of their supply. Nearly $10 billion worth of SHIB has left their wallets, creating a bearish impact on the meme coin.
Such major selling tends to counter any potential an asset has at rallying, which could be the case with Shiba Inu.
Shiba Inu Whale Holdings. Source: IntoTheBlockFurthermore, the correlation this meme coin shares with Bitcoin also threatens its gains. SHIB shares a high correlation of 0.81 with BTC. A high correlation indicates a strong statistical relationship between the two assets. This implies that changes in one of them are closely associated with changes in the other.
Given Bitcoin is the bigger asset and is also noting bearish cues, it is difficult to predict a bullish outcome for Shiba Inu. Thus, there is a good chance that the meme coin could have a bearish weekend.
Read More: How To Buy Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Everything You Need To Know
Shiba Inu Correlation with Bitcoin. Source: IntoTheBlockSHIB Price Prediction: Support Could FailShiba Inu’s price has been trading under a downward trendline for the most part since the beginning of March. Even though the meme coin attempted breakouts in the past, it failed to retain the rally.
Consequently, SHIB is now threatened to fail the breach of the downtrend line and fall back to $0.00002093. Losing this support would result in a significant correction to $0.00001491.
Shiba Inu Price Analysis. Source: TradingViewShina Inu must print a daily candlestick close above $0.00002584 to invalidate the bearish thesis. Such upward movement could break the descending trendline SHIB has maintained since March and push prices toward $0.00002835 or higher.
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Bitcoin’s (BTC) breakout above $65,000 could lead to ‘exceptionally high’ chances for a wider crypto rally in Q4 2024, according to Markus Thielen, head of research at 10x Research.
Sustained Bitcoin Rally Could Spark FOMO In Altcoins In a recent report, Thielen outlined several factors that could set the stage for a crypto rally in the last quarter of 2024. According to the report, further upside for the crypto markets could be on the cards due to two key factors.
First, the acceleration in stablecoin minting signals rising interest among investors and traders in re-entering the crypto market.
In the weeks following the July 31 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, nearly $10 billion worth of stablecoins were issued, boosting market liquidity and even eclipsing Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows.
The report states:
Circle, which typically caters to more regulated institutions, has accounted for a disproportionate 40% of recent stablecoin inflows, signaling increased allocation from larger market players. Unlike USDT minting on Tron, typically associated with capital preservation, USDC minting may indicate a rise in DeFi activity. Year-to-date, stablecoin inflows have reached $35 billion, pushing the total value of outstanding stablecoins to $160 billion.
Thielen emphasizes Bitcoin’s recent breakout above $65,000, stating that it could rapidly move toward the psychologically important $70,000 price level before it attempts to print a new all-time-high (ATH) value.
Another metric suggesting a potential altcoin rally later this year is the declining Bitcoin dominance (BTC.D) following the September FOMC meeting. BTC.D’s decline coincides with rising Ethereum (ETH) network gas fees, likely driven by increased altcoin activity on the smart contract blockchain.
The chart below shows the rise in Ethereum gas fees, surging from $1.89 million on August 13 to consistently hovering above $7 million since September 22.
Source: DefiLlama.com The report adds that assuming the US Federal Reserve (Fed) continues to cut interest rates, high-beta altcoins could become increasingly attractive to crypto traders.
Encouraging Cryptocurrency Trends In South Korea, China The report highlights South Korea’s crypto trading activity as a factor strengthening the altcoin trend. Daily trading volume in the country now floats around $2 billion, with altcoins dominating trading activities ahead of BTC.
Notably, Shiba Inu (SHIB) has reclaimed the first position in trading volume in South Korea, indicating enhanced speculation and paving the way for a potential altcoin-dominated market in Q4.
Finally, Thielen highlights that Chinese over-the-counter (OTC) brokers have reported regular quarterly inflows of roughly $20 billion over the last six quarters, totaling $120 billion.
As reported recently, the Chinese central bank reduced its reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points to inject liquidity into the market, which could fuel a parabolic rally in digital asset prices later this year.
The report concludes by forecasting that Bitcoin’s next target will be $70,000 within two weeks, with a potential new ATH by late October. BTC trades at $66,298 at press time, up 1.4% in the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin looks to reclaim $70,000 on the daily chart | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Charts from DefiLlama.com and TradingView.com
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When Bitcoin began gaining prominence, few bodies were as concerned as the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC]. A currency that is not tethered to a single person or entity, operating on something that cannot be shut down, and plied by a technology that is immutable, irreversible and transparent, it was the perfect problem for regulators.
From being touted as the currency of the Dark Web, to having derivatives contracts in its name being traded on the CBOE and CME, the regulatory journey of Bitcoin has been like no other. One would think regulators have eased their concerns with cryptocurrencies, but things were just getting started.
ICO: Initial Coin Onslaught Regulators were not immediately taken aback by the 2017-price surge. Instead, they remained on their toes and began a severe crackdown on the digital assets market.
In 2019, many crypto-entrepreneurs began registering their issuances as “tokens” and hence, escaped the regulatory hassle that would follow a security registration, which was when the SEC began to take a closer look. Stephanie Avakian, the SEC’s Co-director of Enforcement, said in a statement following one such case,
“We have made it clear that companies that issue securities through ICOs are required to comply with existing statutes and rules governing the registration of securities…we continue to be on the lookout for violations of the federal securities laws with respect to digital assets.”
Some were genuine cases, however, there were multiple cases of deliberate manipulation. Take the case of Maksim Zaslaviky, who raised money for two separate projects, “RECoin” and “Diamond,” tokens allegedly backed by real estate and diamonds. Zaslaviky pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and argued that laws surrounding digital currencies were “unconstitutionally vague.”
Jay Clayton, the SEC’s Chairman, made it clear that the SEC will not budge on the definition of a “security.” Months after clarifying that all ICOs are securities and “if it’s a security, we’re regulating it,” Clayton stated,
“If you have an ICO or a stock, and you want to sell it in a private placement, follow the private placement rules. If you want to do any IPO with a token, come see us.”
In fact, the ICO fervor got so tense that the SEC created a new role to oversee cryptocurrencies. Valerie Szczepanik, who previously served in the SEC’s cyber-unit, was given the brand new position of Associate Director of the Division of Corporation Finance and Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation. In the SEC’s press release, her role was defined as,
“Ms. Szczepanik will coordinate efforts across all SEC Divisions and Offices regarding the application of U.S. securities laws to emerging digital asset technologies and innovations, including Initial Coin Offerings and cryptocurrencies.”
SEC’s home turf Due to increased regulatory oversight of the SEC, projects began leaving the US in search of other markets. The main concern for entrepreneurs was the definition of their issuance and if that would lead to the SEC stepping in, especially if they confer a “security” tag. Robert Greene, a former member of the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Token Alliance, told Longhash,
“The SEC’s regulatory posture has certainly driven projects seeking to conduct an open digital token offering to locate outside of the United States.”
Some projects went a step further. BitTorrent, which saw its early-2019 token sale finish in 15 minutes and generated $7.1 billion, restricted US residents from taking part, owing to increased regulatory scrutiny.
The ICO craze didn’t continue to 2019, particularly in the US. As seen in the chart below, the number of projects from January 2018 to November 2019 almost dropped to 0.
Token Problem The setting in 2018 was vastly different from the one in 2019. ICOs were on a decline, moving to the premise of Initial Exchange Offerings [IEO] where internal governance of partnered exchanges come into play, rather than external regulation. The SEC’s focus hence waned from nabbing ICO criminals to defining a “token.”
Even though issuances present different regulatory cases, they’re unified by a common theme – the SEC is concerned not with the tag “security” or “token,” but the underlying means of fundraising and its purpose, said Chainalysis’ Chief Technical Counsel, Michael Moiser.
In a joint statement, the three most important financial regulatory bodies of the United States – the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network [FinCEN] reiterated this principle,
“As such, regardless of the label or terminology that market participants may use, or the level or type of technology employed, it isthe facts and circumstances underlying an asset, activity or service, including its economic reality and use (whether intended or organically developed or repurposed),that determines the general categorization of an asset.”
Four token issuances which caught the SEC’s attention and set the stage for regulation were – Block.one, Telegram, Kik, and Blockstack.
Block.one’s EOS
A previous piece covering Block.one’s regulatory issues can be found here.
Block.one was fined $24 million by the SEC for its EOS token sale in 2017-2018. The Brendan Blumer-led company clarified that the fine pertained to ERC-20 tokens issued on the Ethereum blockchain which are “no longer in circulation or traded.”
Stephen McKeon, Associate professor of finance at the University of Oregon and former Chief Strategy Officer at Security Token Academy, told AMBCrypto that this is an issue of “transitional securities,” based on when the token sale occurred and when the fine was imposed. He stated,
“The settlement could affirm the viewpoint that a network’s token should always be offered as a security during an initial raise, but a future sale of that asset might later be deemed to fall outside of securities laws once the asset’s network is “sufficiently decentralized.”
In relation to the Howey Test, once a network is “sufficiently decentralised,” it would not satisfy two of the determining factors and hence, “what was once a security is no longer treated that way by the SEC,” clarified McKeon.
Like the case of EOS, cryptocurrencies can essentially fall out of the “security” definition if it “evolves,” according to the SEC’s Director of Corporation Finance, Bill Hinman. Clayton seconded the ‘Hinman doctrine’ in a letter to cryptocurrency advocacy firm, Coincentre, stating,
“A digital asset may be offered and sold initially as a security because it meets the definition of an investment contract, but that designation may change over time if the digital asset later is offered and sold in such a way that it will no longer meet that definition.”
Telegram’s GRAM
The SEC halted Telegram’s GRAM token sale less than a month before its opening. Telegram told investors that discussions with the federal agency had been ongoing for eighteen months. Yet on 11 October, the SEC filed an emergency action against the platform for “conducting an alleged unregistered, ongoing digital token offering in the U.S.”
Steven Peikin, Co-director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, stated,
“Telegram seeks to obtain the benefits of a public offering without complying with the long-established disclosure responsibilities designed to protect the investing public.”
Moiser said that the case of Telegram directly ties to the SEC, CFTC and FinCEN’s joint statement [issued on the same day as the Telegram complaint], and is based on ‘function, not label.’ Next, the coming together of messaging and token sales is a case in its own regard, and hence, the SEC took the extra measure. Moiser added,
“The messaging app-to-crypto token space is an important one to watch, for fast adoption through existing networks, as well as natural synchronicity with privacy-oriented users.”
Telegram’s use as a covert-messaging device was also a concern. The Chainalysis CTO added that the messaging application came in for far more “scrutiny” owing to its alleged use by “nefarious actors.” The privacy messaging platform is the “number one source for terrorist organizations online,” according to Steven Stalinsky, Executive Director of the Middle Eastern Media Research Institute [MEMRI], a think-tank that released a 253-page report on how terror-outfits’ use of GRAM could be a “security threat.”
Moiser was surprised that Telegram, with its deep pockets and ability to put forth a strong legal team, could not, at the very least, avoid a “temporary restraining order.” He stated,
“Given their resources, knowledge of the publicly stated illicit finance concerns and ability to work through these issues in advance with regulators before market actions, the impact on investors from them not doing so makes this important in an unfortunate way.”
Kik’s KIN
In 2017, Kik, another lesser-known messaging platform, issued a token sale for their crypto Kin, raising $55 million from US investors in the process. Kin’s sale commenced during a period when the messaging service saw little use. The same was attested in the SEC’s June 2019 filing.
The crux of SEC’s complaint follows previous cases, stating that Kik “sold the tokens to U.S. investors without registering their offer.” The complaint was further divided into two parts – the value and the promotion. The value at the time of the complaint was “about half of the value that public investors paid in the offering.” Secondly, the SEC alleged that Kin was marketed as an “investment opportunity.”
Kik further told investors that a “profit” could be expected from their investment, which, according to the Chief of Enforcement in the Cyber Unit division of the SEC, Robert A. Cohen, satisfies the Howey Test. He stated,
“Future profits based on the efforts of others is a hallmark of a securities offering that must comply with the federal securities laws.”
Months after the complaint, Kik hit back, stating that the regulator has made a consistent effort to “twist the facts” by “misrepresenting the documents and testimony” gathered. Kik demanded a Jury trial and detailed 200 points of clarification against the SEC’s initial complaint.
The tussle got so heated that FT called it the “acid test for whether certain digital tokens count as securities.” It was hence, one of the most pivotal regulatory cases of 2019.
Blockstack’s STX
In July 2019, Blockstack saw its token offering – Stack [STX], approved by the SEC under Regulation-A. This was the first case of token issuances that was approved by the regulator. An alternative to an IPO, Regulation A is based on two tiers. Tier 1 pertains to offerings up to $20 million within a 12-month window, while Tier 2 has a ceiling of $50 million over the same period.
The case of Blockstack’s approval was hailed as being historical for token issuances under the purview of the SEC. The National Law board stated,
“The SEC’s decision to qualify Blockstack’s offering circular represents a milestone for Blockstack, as well as the blockchain industry as a whole. It is a key step down what may be a viable pathway for companies to raise capital to develop open, cryptographically secured networks powered by digital assets.”
Kraken’s Steven Ehrlich, in a piece for Forbes, stated that Blockstack’s approval was important for three reasons. The $28 million offering will be widespread between retail and institutional investors. Blockstack is ahead on development, having over 170 applications operating on its blockchain. Being over half a decade old, Blockstack belongs to the ‘old-guard’ of crypto-companies and serves as a “good barometer to assess the industry’s progress as a whole.”
With the cases of Kik and Telegram happening before and after Blockstack’s approval, the SEC took a more nuanced view with the blockchain company, compared to the messaging giants. Blockstack’s fundraising could be a “path to SEC-approved IPO-type fundraising with a crypto-token,” stated Moiser. He added,
“While many noted the $2mm that Blockstack spent to achieve this, it sets a precedent and blueprint that can be replicated on the shoulders of that capital investment.”
Lowering of the Iron-Fist
Token issuances were the most important regulatory decisions that the SEC had to make this year, and their approach from 2018 to 2019 has evolved. While in 2018, retail fever was pushing projects towards ICOs, the basket was spoiled by a few bad apples that used the method of raising funds for nefarious reasons, which rightly ushered scrutiny.
Moving on from the iron-fist decisions, the SEC immediately came out and stated that the ‘tag’ is secondary to ‘activity’ and ‘means.’ Four token security decisions dominated the sphere, with the messaging giants getting the short-end of the stick, more so due to other reasons surrounding their issuances, rather than the method itself.
For Kik, it was the financial situation and Kin’s drop in valuation, while for Telegram, it was the platform’s reported use by terror-elements. The regulatory decision for Block.one underlined the case for a more nuanced approach to token regulations, which looked at the lifetime of a token. Blockstack’s case also spelled out the alternative to IPO-means towards securing an SEC green light for crypto-fundraising.
All-in-all, it can be stated that the SEC is looking at the complete picture of token issuance, issuer, network, means, and amount before regulations are meted out.
It can be argued that the innovation spurred by Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market gave rise to Initial Coin Offerings [ICO]. Looked upon as a means to revolutionize the way capital was raised in the ecosystem, ICOs also pushed general people to participate in a particular project. In fact, ICOs’ popularity peaked in 2017, with the year coming to be known as the year of the ICOs.
With time, however, this popularity faded, as multiple fake ICOs emerged. Even though not all projects were fake, it emerged later that nearly 45% of the top 20 ICOs had failed.
However, the lessons of these ICOs remain instrumental, especially with respect to major companies of the cryptocurrency ecosystem that are hinting at conducting an Initial Public Offering [IPO].
Understanding IPO and ICO
ICOs and IPOs differ from each other significantly, like two different generational concepts. On one hand, while IPOs are conducted for well-established companies that are considered “safer” to invest in, on the other hand, ICOs are looked upon as an avenue for young companies, avenues that might come with a *risk warning.*
In fact, according to a report that analyzed 20 ICO projects, 9 out of 20 projects failed, which is 45%. However, 11 were successful, including EOS, a project that, at press time, was ranked eighth in the market with a market capitalization of $1.76 billion.
Since ICOs usually don’t involve parties with years of experience, investment by users will often be based on sentiment [or good faith], while on the other hand, IPOs provide a record of experience in the field, healthy bank accounts, and a business resume.
Alina Kiselevich of Enigma Securities explained this difference between ICOs and IPOs in an interview with AMBCrypto. She said,
“If put simply, Initial Public Offering is a process of distribution of shareholdings to the public though investment, usually only open to established private entities, Initial Coin Offering is, on the other hand, open to everyone who is willing to invest on blockchain, and is a process of crowdfunding for the startup companies, though the intent is the same in both cases.”
The earliest form of IPO can be traced back to publicani during the Roman Republic. IPOs have since evolved to become a more organized, legal, and compliant process. For a company to conduct an IPO, it has to fulfill several requirements like having a minimum earning threshold, a good record, the legal declaration of its intentions to issue public shares, and information about the company to assist potential investors.
Contrarily, ICOs do not fall under any regulatory framework and legal protocols, with many newly formed companies having just a whitepaper to support its project. Similarly, investing in ICOs also has its perks as the only requirement is to have an Internet connection, with investors open to investing in companies in any part of the world. This isn’t the case for IPOs as in its case, there are legal footsteps to be followed to invest in a country abroad.
The stocks acquired by investors during an IPO process resemble their ownership stake in the future revenues of the company. While investing in ICOs does not grant ownership to the investors, but it offers different ways to earn benefits. These benefits could stem from the project’s success and growth of the value of the token it offers.
Even though IPOs appeared to be safer compared to its ICO counterpart, the fate of the company cannot be pre-determined. For example, WeWork, a real estate company providing shared working spaces, had to roll back its idea of conducting an IPO after it ran into financial trouble. The company had filed its IPO paperwork in August but within a month’s time, its valuation was down from $47 billion to $10 billion. Thus, the fate of any company, big or small, new or old, cannot be pre-determined.
When a comparison between ICOs and IPOs was drawn, Alina was of the view that IPOs could be the chosen one.
She elaborated,
“When it comes to returns of the investments, IPOs offer a more secure dividends from the company’s profits, whilst ICOs offer tokens at a price that will get higher due to the trust and interest in the project.”
SEC’s views on ICOs and Ripple’s ICO
As the ICO wave crashed, the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] clamped down on various projects for selling unregistered securities. For example, Kik and Kin, both successful ICO projects, were among several companies to face the wrath of the SEC.
There has been a long-standing discourse surrounding the treatment of digital assets and Ripple Labs Inc. has been at the center of it – with the digital asset XRP. The company had an ongoing class-action lawsuit filed against it by Taylor-Copeland law firm in May 2018 for the sale of unregistered securities. According to a report,
“The lawsuit targets Ripple, its subsidiary XRP II, and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, alleging that Ripple’s sale of XRP tokens is a violation of U.S. securities laws.”
The plaintiff in the case stuck to Howey Test and its criteria that can categorize XRP as a security. However, the validity of the Howey Test has been argued as it did not fall true for digital assets as they remain a novel concept.
There has been a lot of back and forth in the court about the legitimacy of Howey’s test, but Ripple has not managed to quash the case. In a recent turn of events, a United States federal district court even decided to allow a lawsuit alleging that Ripple’s XRP is an unregistered security.
According to Adam Blumberg, the co-founder of Interaxis, Ripple’s tiff with the SEC could play out in multiple ways. Declaring XRP a cryptocurrency would be one easy way out, but what about if it is not? Blumberg posed some important questions,
“…the SEC is having a wrangle with that [Ripple’s ICO] and figure out, “okay, you raised a bunch of money in the public markets using this cryptocurrency that is not at all tied to ownership of ripple,” So does ripple off to give the money back? Do they have to convert every XRP to a share? They’re not, they’re not quite sure how to get over this because it’s been out there for years already.”
Ripple’s IPO
Davos becomes a prime spot once every year when the big shots of the world of finance and politics gather for the World Economic Forum. The summit has its own set of critics, but as January begins, all heads turn to the summit to hear from the horse’s mouth the measures for development taken in the field and the trends to follow.
One name among the guest list was Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. In a talk with WEF, Garlinghouse had opined that the upcoming trend in the industry could be of IPOs. He had also claimed that Ripple might not be the first to do it, but won’t be last either. He stated,
“In the next 12 months, you’ll see IPOs in the crypto/blockchain space. We’re not going to be the first and we’re not going to be the last, but I expect us to be on the leading side… it’s a natural evolution for our company.”
Thus began the speculation of Ripple’s IPO in the crypto-market. However, according to the co-founder of Interaxis, Adam Blumberg, Ripple has already, in a manner, conducted an IPO of its own.
In an exclusive interview with AMBCrypto, Blumberg noted,
“…XRP and Ripple are not the same things and they [Ripple] basically used XRP as an IPO, essentially. So they raised billions of dollars right, there were billions of dollars now without having to have an IPO.”
However, before Ripple jumps on the IPO train, it will have to settle this case with the SEC and prove that XRP is a crypto and not a security. If Ripple is able to play that out, the IPO of this crypto-giant will be interesting and according to Enigma Securities’ Alina Kiselevich, might impact XRP.
Kiselevich told AMBCrypto,
“Some crypto analysts say that IPO could have a great impact for Ripple. They are planning to be on the leading side and predict more IPOs in the crypto space. But Ripple going public has potential implications for the fate of altcoin XRP.”
Ripple’s IPO has been raising the same question in most people’s minds and even Blumberg’s mind, “What about XRP?” However, Blumberg believes that the only way a crypto-company could conduct an IPO is if they are profitable first, otherwise it could be conceived similarly to an ICO – where you raise money on the future prospects of a company.
Talking about successful companies in crypto, Blumberg gave the example of Coinbase, a multi-billion dollar company that can conduct an IPO in theory as they suffice the requirements laid down by SEC. Blumberg claimed,
“Coinbase is a multibillion-dollar company, right? They can go public, but they are not. They’re making money because they charge transaction fees in dollars, not because they mint anything, right? They’re not a crypto company. There is a bank. They’re a financial services company, so they can go public and they probably will go public because why wouldn’t it?”
A profitable crypto-company may benefit out of an IPO as a means to raise capital quickly and may open it to a large set of investors. However, according to Alina, the crypto-space is not the one to follow a trend that is getting older with time.
She noted,
“So if ICO is said to go sour, IPO is even more so.”
Crypto or Stock?
Any crypto-company conducting an IPO will be able to pave the basic understanding of crypto into the mainstream. However, at the end of the day, the investors holding a company’s coins or stocks perceive that the project reaching them must be vetted by the SEC. The moment technology and risks set in, investors become wary.
An IPO does provide the security offered by the company’s history, and legal barriers do make it easier for investors to be part of the project, but the same cannot be said for ICOs due to its decentralized nature.
However, the variety of products and services offered by the crypto-space could be a cumulative functioning of five to six different industries; thus, an IPO could drive adoption and attention from the mainstream, but at the same time, unpopular projects might have to either drop the plan or prove their worth.
Delegated proof-of-stake (DPOS) is a consensus mechanism in which coinholders stake their coins with large node operators (aka delegates, witnesses, or block producers). Instead of mining, coinholders elect delegates to create blocks and provide computing power. This is less energy-intensive than proof-of-work schemes, and allows much higher transaction throughput than other blockchains.
DPOS was created by Dan Larimer, who introduced the system via Bitshares, Steemit, and EOS. Many other platforms also use DPOS as well, including Lisk, TRON, Tezos, and ARK.
But although DPOS has become popular, it has also attracted plenty of controversy from critics who say it’s too centralized. Is that a real issue? Let’s take a deeper look.
How Many Node Operators Does DPOS Give Power To? The most basic concern comes from the fact that most DPOS-based blockchains put power into the hands of just a few delegates. EOS, for example, has just 21 active delegates (or “block producers”) at any time. However, other blockchains have more delegates. Here are the numbers at a glance:
Number of delegated block producers for various DPOS chains. Tezos stands out because it uses a variant of DPOS called liquid proof-of-stake. The number of delegates (or “bakers”) who are active on Tezos is always in flux. In practice, Tezos has had more than 400 bakers at times, and about 100-150 are active each day—but the protocol can support even more bakers if needed.
Additionally, some blockchains use a “hierarchical” variant of DPOS, in which different parts of its blockchain network serve different roles. Vite, for example, has just 25 snapshot block producers at the top of its hierarchy. However, it can also support an unlimited number of consensus groups, which provides greater decentralization.
How Widely Distributed Is Coinholder Voting? Now let’s look at how coinholders vote for delegates. In theory, some delegates might accumulate a lot of votes, but in practice, coinholders tend to vote more or less equally for each active block producer. For example, take EOS and TRON, where each delegate gets roughly equal support from coinholders:
Vote distribution for EOS and TRON, based on data from TronScan and EOSAuthority. These charts only show votes for active delegates. If we were to include votes for standby delegates (aka candidates), voting would be even more widely distributed. That doesn’t mean that power would be more widely distributed, though – just that other delegates might gain power at different times.
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Is Bitcoin More Centralized Than DPOS? Bitcoin doesn’t rely on DPOS. It relies on mining, which is usually considered far less centralized than DPOS because each miner competes individually to create blocks. Bitcoin does not have large delegates, but miners usually combine their hash power in mining pools, which do gather power.
In fact, mining pools have made Bitcoin mining very centralized at times. By some measures, Bitcoin is more centralized than EOS and other DPOS-based blockchains. Currently, about 12 pools dominate Bitcoin mining.
Compare the distribution of Bitcoin hashpower among mining pools, against how EOS users have distributed their votes among block producers:
Bitcoin mining hashrates by pool, based on data from Blockchain.com, vs votes for EOS block producers. Since 51% of hashing power can exert control over a network, it would only take four mining pools to collaborate in order to reverse a BTC transaction. Mining and DPOS work in different ways, so this is a very reductionist (but widely circulated) portrait of power consolidation.
However, delegates and mining pools do have one thing in common: both types of entities wield influence. Users can, in either case, express their approval or disapproval — either by moving between pools, or by voting for other delegates.
Is Proof-of-Stake More Decentralized Than DPOS? Proof-of-stake (POS) is an older consensus model that allows coinholders to stake their own holdings by locking up funds in a contract. Unlike DPOS, this is not done to support a delegate – instead, individual stakers are chosen to create new blocks. This selection process is usually weighted in favor of those with more at stake and/or the age of their stake.
Proof-of-stake and DPOS both rely on economic incentives and penalties to prevent power from centralizing around wealthy entities. However, this is hard to visualize, and there are two areas in which staked wealth could be concentrated: staking pools and exchange-based custodial staking.
That said, Emurgo has discussed the ways in which Cardano could prevent centralization among stake pools, and SFOX has speculated about the implications of exchange-based staking for Ethereum 2.0. In any case, proof-of-stake allows users to allocate their funds to large entities, but it still requires precautions against centralization.
Is the Lightning Network More Centralized Than DPOS? One of the main advantages of DPOS is the fact that it provides excellent scalability and high transaction throughput. DPOS can achieve this because it relies on just a few high-powered nodes rather than many small nodes. EOS can handle about 3000 transactions per second, whereas Bitcoin can handle only seven.
Bitcoin and other non-DPOS blockchains typically achieve greater transaction speeds through second-layer scaling solutions like the Lightning Network. Although Lightning is quite unlike DPOS, it does have a tendency toward centralization. One Lightning node operator, LNBig, provides about 2/3 of Lightning’s channel capacity:
Lightning Network channel capacities, based on data from 1ml.com At first glance, Lightning would seem to be far more centralized than anything we’ve looked at, and naturally, many people have observed this.
However, it’s not clear if LNBig’s dominance actually puts Lightning at risk of an attack, as Lightning nodes don’t work like DPOS nodes – instead, they simply provide payment channels.
Why Does It Matter? Decentralization matters for two reasons (and possibly more). If a blockchain or related system becomes centralized over time, it is possible for those who have gained power within that system to attack or undermine it. Second, if a system is centralized by design, the operators of that system can exert control over users.
However, it’s important to consider that resource centralization doesn’t translate directly to centralized power. Every system is designed to allocate power to node operators in a different way, which means that direct comparisons can be misleading. Simplified charts are popular, but they present an incomplete picture of reality.
So what’s the verdict? Well, on one hand, delegated proof-of-stake blockchains are somewhat more decentralized than their critics give them credit for. On the other hand, DPOS chains are still quite centralized in an absolute sense. Since DPOS is still quite young, it’s hard to say how it will be seen in the future — and the next few years could be critical.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Mike Dalton. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Venture capital firm Stratos announced a 109% net return for its liquid token fund in the first quarter, attributing the substantial gains to its investments in Solana, Nosana, and the meme coin Dogwifhat (WIF), which alone provided a 300-fold return. The total net value is over 25 times when compared to its second early-stage venture fund.
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“We’re very pleased to share such high returns with our LPs, who are aligned with our investment philosophy, which is based on investing early and with conviction in high-quality projects with exceptional teams,” said Rennick Palley, founding partner at Stratos. “One aspect of our approach that may be more unique among our peer group is that we incorporate memecoins into our liquid fund portfolio.”
Palley added that meme coins have consistently outperformed other digital assets, have limited correlation to other alts sectors, and function as pure monetary assets with theoretically uncapped upside. “As an example, we started buying WIF around $0.01 in December, delivering a 300X return since then for our liquid token fund.”
Moreover, Stratos continues to explore new trends and technologies within the crypto space, with a current focus on Layer-2 solutions for the Bitcoin ecosystem. Palley remarked on the importance of scaling Bitcoin transactions in a trustless manner and enhancing the overall utility of the Bitcoin network.
The Bitcoin decentralized finance (BTCfi) ecosystem is expanding rapidly this year, registering a year-to-date growth of 265% after surpassing $1 billion in total value locked, data aggregator DefiLlama shows.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Gino Matos. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
PolySwarm (NCT) has registered an over 90% price increase in the past 24 hours, as major crypto assets experience minor dips across the board. PolySwarn is a blockchain project focused on strengthening cybersecurity in the Web3 space.
The current PolySwarm(NCT) price of $ 0.0397 represents a rise of 91% in the last 24 hours and an impressive 56.53% increase in the past week. The current circulating supply of 1.7 billion NCT gives PolySwarm a market cap of over $65 million.
PolySwarm, which is based on the Ethereum (ETH) network, is a Decentralized Antivirus and Cyber Threat Intelligence Ecosystem that uses smart contracts and blockchain technology to reward a global community of cybersecurity professionals.
Instead of depending on one source for cybersecurity, PolySwarm provides a common place where enterprises, consumers, vendors and different experts come together to build a unified marketplace.
Through this collaborative process, anti-malware engines are built by various cybersecurity experts, which produces a fast-paced innovation to cope with emerging threats.
While this is in stark contrast to the predominant market dynamics, PolySwarm believes in interoperability and cooperative problem-solving, hence the participants can be sure of the collective protection provided by several anti-virus solutions.
Cybersecurity is a cornerstone discipline that protects digital systems, networks, and confidential data from cyber attacks or unauthorized access. In a world where almost everything is connected through advanced technologies, strengthening cybersecurity is paramount.
As PolySwarm (NCT) continues its bullish momentum, other cybersecurity tokens are experiencing varying fortunes. Hacken (HAI) and BLOCX (BLOCX) have seen positive gains of 20.32% and 34.16%, respectively. On the flip side, gotEM (GOTEM) faces a 37.44% decline, emphasizing the dynamic nature of the cybersecurity crypto market. Quantstamp (QSP) has seen a decline of 8.6% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
At the time of writing, the total market capitalization for cybersecurity coins stands at $463.7 million, with a trading volume of $119.2 million, per CoinMarketCap data.
The alt-coin market appears to be following Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent surge that is impacting the entire cryptocurrency market.
The rise appears motivated by positive sentiment around the new exchange-traded funds (ETF) and the upcoming halving, has pulled in more investors into the crypto market.
It is worth noting that since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January, these funds have attracted investment from leading institutional investors like BlackRock and Fidelity Investments amounting to $7.35 billion. This flood of money has pushed the value of Bitcoin to new heights.
According to Fundstrat co-founder Thomas J. Lee, further growth for Bitcoin appears to be gaining steam in the 2024. Lee predicts that Bitcoin (BTC)price could hit a high price of $150,000, supported by supply and demand dynamics as well as the effect of spot ETFs, increasing the suspense around the ever-growing cryptocurrency world.
Amidst the slumpy market conditions, StakeLayer has surged by over 250% alongside Thala, Dream Machine Token, which surged by double digits.
The crypto market cap has dropped by over 1.5% in the last 24 hours. As per CoinMarketCap data, it currently stands at $2.17 trillion.
Bitcoin (BTC) is bleeding alongside Ethereum (ETH) in single digits. However, the Stakelayer token is up by over 250% during the same period.
Stakelayer market cap eyes $50 million with the pump Data from CoinGecko reveals interesting price movement for the cross-chain staking and restaking platform’s token. The token has pumped from a 24 hour low of $0.00344 to a high of $0.001489.
Chart taken from CoinGecko The rally has however cooled down as the token is trading at $0.01299 at press time. StakeLayer also touched an all time high today and is down by over 27% from that high.
The token has also earned its spot as the largest gainer on CoinGecko in the last 24 hours. A look at their X account reveals that the team had announced a buyback and burn initiative, which could be one reason for its price surge.
Thala and Dream Machine Token surge double digits Interestingly, during the same timeframe, Thala (THL) and Dream Machine Token (DMT) surged by double digits. As per CoinGecko data, THL price is up by over 18.5%, while DMT has pumped by 20%.
Even though the exact reason for the surge in DMT’s price is unclear, THL’s price surge can be attributed to the price pump of Aptos (APT). Thala Labs is an ecosystem protocol that aids in borrowing, lending, trading, staking and validating APT.
Chart from CoinGecko The recent surge in APT’s price, which saw it touch as high as $10.27 from a weekly low of $7.87, is likely the primary catalyst for the surge in its price. THL is up by over 71% in the last 30 days.
The token has also shown a decent surge in the last week, with its price touching as high as $0.6354 from a low of $0.4228.
There are many great ideas in the blockchain space. While projects like Bitcoin worked to change the way we view money, other projects like the GET Protocol have their sights set on more focused issues, like the sale of event tickets.
While many startups have come and gone in the last few years, the team at GET Protocol has shown it has what it takes to survive, and expand an interesting business model.
We all love to see live events, but the ticketing system that most venues use is less than perfect. In some places, there are major companies that get in the middle, and make a huge markup on an event’s ticket sales.
As tickets are sold into the public sphere, things get even more complex. Not only are tickets marked up by unauthorized resellers, counterfeit tickets are also an issue for everyone in the events industry. When overpriced or fake tickets are sold, it is bad for everyone by the unscrupulous actors.
GET Protocol has a blockchain-based solution to mitigate all these risks, and it has been shown to work in the real world.
GET Protocol is Working Today The Guaranteed Entrance Token Protocol (GET Protocol) project was founded in the heady days of 2017 and has been able to expand its global reach, even as cryptos and blockchain struggled through a rough 2018, and volatile 2019. Unlike many start-up companies that have big dreams and no income, GET Protocol is the opposite.
One of the company’s most recent success stories involves the new Klaytn blockchain platform, which GET Protocol was invited to join as an initial service partner. Klaytn is backed by South Korea’s Kakao (via Kakao subsidiary GroundX), which is the nation’s largest mobile platform.
According to the Klaytn homepage:
Klaytn is a service-centric blockchain platform that provides easy development environment and friendly end-user experience. It is an advanced hybrid platform, combining an enterprise-grade performance based on solid reliability and significant stability with an open access in a decentralized trust system. The platform allows real world applications of large scale to be produced right away.
The move to work with the Klaytn platform is a natural progression for GET Protocol, which has sold more than a quarter-million tickets via the platform since it went live. That number is projected to expand by as much as 800% over the next calendar year, as more people use the service.
How it GETs Done As mentioned above, the existing ticketing chain has multiple flaws that affect entities at every level, from the performing artist to the venue, all the way down to the person who is buying the ticket.
GET Protocol addresses the entire ticketing chain by ensuring transparency at all levels. Unlike some systems that make tickets non-transferable, the GET Protocol platform allows tickets to be resold by end-users, but not at a profit.
Here is how GET Protocol works for everyone in the ticketing ecosystem (via GET Protocol whitepaper):
Users: GET ensures that event participants enjoy a secure and stress-free ticketing experience, and provides a simple and inexpensive way for ticket holders who cannot attend the event to securely sell their tickets to other consumers/users.
Content-creators: The GET Protocol prohibits commercial ticket resellers from disturbing the value chain; artists can be certain that their fans pay a fair price for a guaranteed, authentic ticket.
Event organizers: GET provides a scalable ticketing protocol to manage ticket sales for any size events in a secure and controlled manner. GET controls and accounts for the true value and cost of transactions, the ticket and possible margins/discounts. The blockchain ensures transparency in the true price and properties of the tickets sold. This transparency by design aims to eliminate middlemen from the value chain. The protocol increases market efficiency as a whole while increasing margins for the stakeholders delivering actual value.
Venues: GET provides users with an honest and fraud-free experience that promotes a higher occupancy rate of the venue. The token will also allow venues to offer dynamic pricing of their tickets and thereby maximizing for attendance. As tickets are only used by actual attendees it allows for accurate re-marketing (on opt-in basis) and giving discounts to their loyal and non-scalping customers of their venue.
It is easy to see that GET has created a system that works at every level of the ticketing ecosystem, and makes sure that anyone who is working within the rules is given a fair position to use, or sell their tickets. Additionally, GET ensures that any secondary ticket sales are free from corruption, as well as scalping for abusive profits.
Grassroots Success Story in Native Holland GET was founded and is based in the Netherlands, where it has found a home in the local economy. One of the most recent successes for the company was an agreement it signed with ITIX, a Dutch company that works with the entertainment industry.
ITIX was founded a decade before GET, and today the two companies will be working to use blockchain and the internet to deliver the best possible ticketing experience to the Dutch public. ITIX has sold more than 14 million tickets in its history, which bodes well for an expansion of GETs usage rates.
GET Protocol CEO Maarten Bloemers commented on the new partnership:
Our partnership with Dutch ticketing company ITIX is very exciting in various ways. Not only will we learn how to make the technical onboarding for ticketing companies as easy as possible with a committed local partner, also the opportunity costs for choosing not to service theaters directly but through an established brand are virtually non-existent. GET Protocol is extremely committed in helping ITIX grow in market share with our unique features, to both our benefit.
There is little doubt that GET will learn more about how to expand into the existing marketplace with this new partnership, which should help the company to continue its global growth trajectory. The world needs companies like GET, who are committed to creating fair systems that reward entities who play by the rules.
GET Tokenomics The GET platform doesn’t require that end-users interact with a blockchain interface of any kind, which makes it an easy sell for ticketing platforms that don’t want to make buying tickets a hassle. On the other hand, the GET Token has compelling tokenomics that could see its exchange value rise over the next few years.
While the end-users won’t use GET tokens directly, they are at the core of the GET platform and are designed to drop in quantity as the platform is used. This may lead to a virtuous price cycle for the tokens as the usage rate of the GET platform rises, and the amount of tokens in circulation drops.
GET Protocol has a Growing Niche Market Live performances aren’t going anywhere, and GET has created a platform that allows people to buy tickets, and ensures that they are the real deal. Not only is the legitimacy of a ticket ensured for every entity in the ticketing ecosystem, but end users are also able to sell their tickets to other end-users at fair prices.
The team at GET has demonstrated that it can launch a great idea, and develop it in adverse market conditions. Blockchain is a novel solution to numerous problems, and GET is demonstrating that blockchain has a home in the global ticketing ecosystem.
If you want to learn more about GET, GET tokenomics, or the recent, successful sale of GET tokens in Korea, have a look at the company’s website, or Medium account. GET is bringing honesty and transparency to a long-overlooked market, and the company likely has a bright future ahead of it!
Nicholas Say
Nicholas Say was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has traveled extensively, lived in Uruguay for many years, and currently resides in the Far East. His writing can be found all over the web, with special emphasis placed on realistic development, and the next generation of human technology.
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On-chain data suggests that whales are accumulating large amounts of Maker (MKR) and Aave (AAVE), two leading decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens. This accumulation trend coincides with a broader cooling-off period in the crypto scene days after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Whales Accumulate MKR And AAVE According to ScopeScan data, Anchorage Digital, a digital asset custody firm, purchased a significant amount of MKR on January 15. The firm acquired 12,103 MKR tokens, valued at approximately $24.7 million, from Coinbase, a leading crypto exchange in the United States.
Two whales, “0xbb5f” and “0x4a7,” also accumulated large quantities of MKR and AAVE. Specifically, “0xbb5f” bought 50,000 AAVE and 2,452 MKR worth around $5.03 million and $4.95 million from Binance, a leading cryptocurrency exchange. Meanwhile, 0x4a7 purchased 39,000 AAVE and 2,350 MKR, valued at approximately $3.95 million and $4.75 million, also from Binance.
Whales Accumulating Maker and Aave | Source: Scopescan These whale purchases signal a strong belief in the long-term potential of MKR and AAVE. Maker and Aave are two of the world’s leading decentralized lending and borrowing protocols across DeFi. MKR serves as the governance token for MakerDAO, which also manages the DAI decentralized stablecoin. On the other hand, AAVE is the governance token of Aave, a top decentralized lending platform.
According to the latest DeFiLlama data, Maker and Aave have total value locked (TVL) of over $8.4 billion and $7.3 billion, respectively.
Top DeFi protocols | Source: DeFiLlama Notably, whales are accumulating MKR and AAVE when the DeFi scene is recovering following the sharp contraction from 2022. The industry manages over $56 billion, with Ethereum hosting more liquid DeFi protocols, including Lido DAO when writing in mid-January 2024.
Will Maker and Aave Rally To New 2024 Highs On Recovering DeFi? Last year, MKR and AAVE were among the top-performing DeFi tokens, with MKR rising by over 200% and AAVE appreciating by more than 150%. Protocol-specific fundamentals, including the launch of Spark in Maker, partly drove this strong performance.
Aave launched the GHO stablecoin and the Lens protocol on the Ethereum sidechain, Polygon. Moreover, expectations of the spot Bitcoin ETF forced aggressive traders to consider top DeFi protocols, lifting altcoins.
Maker price trending upward on the daily chart | Source: MKRUSDT on Binance, TradingView As whales accumulate, there is more headroom for these tokens to grow. Presently, AAVE and MKR are lower, based on their respective performance in the daily chart. However, overly, the uptrend remains. To illustrate, MKR is within a bullish breakout formation with a critical support level of around $1,560. Any surge past $2,300 might ignite demand, lifting the token to new 2024 highs.
Institutional ownership of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds) changed only slightly despite BTC’s price decline of 23% in Q4 2025.
According to aggregated data from 13F filings with the SEC, institutional holdings dropped from 532K BTC (Q3 2025) to 513K BTC (as of Q4 2025)—a 19K BTC decline.
This translated to a 3.5% decline in the institutional holdings of BTC.
Source: X/Root Overall, institutions still held over half a million BTC.
With the asset entering a bear market phase in early 2026, it will be interesting to gauge whether institutions can be diamond hands in an extended crypto winter.
The U.S. spot BTC ETFs debuted in 2024, right at the onset of this cycle’s bull run. BTC price went parabolic afterward, surging from $40K to $72K, then to $100K, and finally topping out at $126K.
This marked a +220% run since they debuted.
However, BTC’s pullback worsened in 2026, halving its value. In fact, it broke below the average cost basis of BTC ETFs of $84.1K.
Now, the average ETF holder is about 20% underwater based on the press-time BTC price of $68K.
Since this is the products’ first crypto winter, it’s unclear whether the ETF investors will still hold during the capitulation. The 13F filings for Q1 2026, set to be released in Q2, will help shed light on their action.
Institutional vs. retail Bitcoin: ETF share From a dominance perspective, the retail still commanded the U.S. spot BTC ETF holdings. Of the 1.27 million BTC held by ETFs, over 700K BTC are held by retail investors.
Source: X/Root Although institutional holdings have been rising since 2024, climbing 10% to a high of 40% by Q3 2025, they stagnated in late 2025.
However, compared with Q3 2025, institutions’ dominance slipped only 1%. So, despite retail still commanding the market share, institutions were still holding the line.
But based on the number of firms holding BTC ETFs, there was a 14% fall. Firms that reported owning BTC ETFs decreased from 2173 to 1867, the highest drop since 2024.
Source: X/Root Even so, 17 out of the top 25 institutional BTC ETF holders increased their exposure in Q4, including major banks (JPMorgan Chase), sovereign wealth funds (Mubadala), and asset managers (BlackRock).
Overall, the institutional share of BTC ETFs was unchanged last year. But it remains to be seen whether they’ll remain diamond hands after crypto winter in Q1 2026, especially with current ETF outflows rivaling Q4 levels.
Source: Glassnode Final Summary Institutional share of BTC ETFs was unchanged in Q4 2025, dropping only 1%. More than half of the top 25 BTC ETF holders increased positions last quarter.
AIOZ Network has defied the overall market conditions with its 30% price pump over the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) prices both slumped at the last check Sunday.
However, AIOZ Network (AIOZ) was up from a low of $0.8657 to as high as $1.17 before retracing to its current price of $1.14. The token price is also up by over 40% in the last seven days.
AIOZ 24H price chart from CoinGecko The AIOZ project has recently unveiled its latest video-on-demand streaming model, which could have aided in the price surge.
Explore Video-on-demand (VoD) Streaming Models with @AIOZNetwork!
VoD streaming comes in different models, some of which you might be familiar with, and some other you might have not explored yet.
As we gear up for the launch of W3Stream, we want to dive into a few key models… pic.twitter.com/UHAUc0wfVN
— AIOZ Network (@AIOZNetwork) January 3, 2025 Second on the list is meme coin Would (WOULD) with a 15% price pump. The price has surged from a low of $0.2695 to as high as $0.3244.
WOULD 24H price chart from CoinGecko However, the exact reason for the surge of WOULD remains unclear. It could also be the general volatility of meme coins that could have helped the $310 million meme coin to pump.
The third coin on the top gainers list is Akuma Inu (AKUMA) with a 15% surge. The price of AKUM has surged over 1200% in the last 30 days and 260% in the last seven days.
AKUMA 24H price chart from CoinGecko AKUMA has been trending on X and touts itself to be the next Shiba Inu (SHIB).
Even though the meme coin project only has around 5700 X followers, the meme coin seems to have gained traction on X, which could explain its price pump.
