Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Arthur Hayes, the founder of BitMEX and a closely followed figure in the cryptocurrency market, has reportedly purchased Ethereum (ETH). According to information shared by the on-chain data platform Onchain Lens, a wallet address allegedly linked to Hayes purchased a total of 1,500 ETH through market maker and liquidity provider Cumberland.

The transaction, reportedly worth approximately $2.63 million, has attracted attention within the cryptocurrency community. Given the recent focus on Ethereum’s price performance and the interest from institutional investors, this transaction by a wallet allegedly linked to Hayes is seen as an indicator of positive expectations for the market’s future.

Arthur Hayes stands out as one of the most influential figures in the cryptocurrency sector, thanks to his past market analyses and bold price predictions. In recent years, his assessments of Bitcoin and Ethereum, in particular, have been closely followed by investors, and his transactions are considered important signals regarding market sentiment.

Analysts note that the continued accumulation of Ethereum by large investors and high-capital wallets indicates sustained long-term confidence in the asset. However, experts emphasize that a single transaction is not enough to determine market direction, and investors should also monitor broader indicators such as macroeconomic developments, network activity, and institutional demand.

Ethereum maintains its leading position in decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenization, and smart contract applications, and large-scale purchases indicate continued market interest. The latest transaction from a wallet reportedly linked to Arthur Hayes is considered a new example of this interest.

*This is not investment advice.

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Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and a notable figure in the cryptocurrency industry, has closed a recent Ethereum position with significant losses. According to on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain, Hayes sold 6,000 ETH at an average price of $1,690 each, despite acquiring around 5,900 ETH at an average of $1,793 just days earlier. This resulted in an estimated $606,000 loss for Hayes, with the total sale value amounting to approximately $10.14 million.

Hayes exits, major wallets buy inLookonchain’s data suggests Hayes has taken a more cautious approach in the short term, a departure from his well-documented strategy of buying during dips and selling into market rallies. Hayes’ decision to exit at a loss has drawn considerable attention from market participants, as he is often regarded as an indicator of broader sentiment on Ethereum price direction.

Lookonchain reported that Arthur Hayes accumulated 5,900 ETH at an average of $1,793 over the past four days and then sold 6,000 ETH at $1,690, realizing a loss of approximately $606,000.

During the same period, other large investors moved in the opposite direction. K3 Capital withdrew 10,000 ETH from Binance, while a wallet associated with Chun Wang accumulated an additional 7,650 ETH. Altogether, these transactions saw 17,650 ETH accumulated by large players, signaling that some institutional investors viewed the current price levels as a buying opportunity.

Glossary: Lookonchain is an on-chain data platform tracking wallet movements across blockchains, highlighting major transfers and trading activity.

PartyActionAmountPrice/ValueArthur HayesSell6,000 ETH$1,690, $10.14 millionK3 CapitalWithdrawal10,000 ETH$16.9 millionChun Wang linked walletBuy/withdrawal7,650 ETH$12.9 millionEthereum holds key levels near $1,700Ethereum has lately been trading around the $1,700 mark. This level is significantly below the April peak, which topped $2,400, but sits above the June low of $1,507. Technical charts indicate the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement zone near $1,703 has become a focal point for traders monitoring potential support.

Technical indicators continue to show downside pressure. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains below the neutral 50 level, while the MACD oscillator persists in negative territory. Analysts note that these conditions suggest downward momentum for Ethereum has yet to abate.

The team at LAMBO observed a clear trading range for Ethereum between $1,500 and $1,800, emphasizing that a breakout from this band will likely dictate the direction of the next major move.

Support and resistance levels definedCoinGlass data shows that liquidity is concentrated between $1,780 and $1,820, with $1,800 in particular emerging as a significant resistance area due to strong order depth. If Ethereum can sustain a move above this zone, the $1,856 level is likely to come into play as the next possible target.

Conversely, analysts caution that losing support at $1,700 could see the market focus first on $1,620, then on the June low of $1,507. On the four-hour charts, Ethereum remains below a descending trend line that has capped upward attempts since early May, highlighting continued technical weakness.

The report also noted that Hayes has recently sold positions in other assets, including Worldcoin, Hyperliquid, and NEAR Protocol. These moves reinforce the view that Hayes has shifted to a more defensive stance across his portfolio in the current market environment.

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.

BlackRock launches Bitcoin ETP in Europe

QANplatform, Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible, launched the world’s first quantum-resistant blockchain test network, enabling the development of quantum-resistant smart contracts. According to an announcement shared by QANplatform, the new test network will allow developers to write smart contracts using any programming language. Speaking about the process, QANplatform co-founder and CTO Johann Polecsak indicated that this points to the first EVM-compatible test network with quantum-resistant cybersecurity.

What to Expect in the Quantum Field?Since the release of IBM Condor, the second-largest quantum processor with 1,121 qubits in December 2023, post-quantum security has become an urgent concern. Polecsak explained that due to their inherently decentralized nature, most of the top blockchain networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana could not adopt quantum-resistant security measures without significant negative impact:

“Blockchain networks will backfire in the post-quantum transition because it will be impossible to say whether legitimate owners transferred funds and data or hackers stole it all. In such cases, billions of dollars worth of data could instantly devalue the affected blockchain networks as it begins to be transferred on behalf of the real owners by hackers.”

However, the new QANplatform test network will allow testing of transition processes to a quantum-resistant alternative for EVM-compatible protocols without risking user funds on the main network. The announcement of the test network came about two months after the first European country adopted QANplatform’s quantum-resistant technology in March. The technology solution provides protection against quantum computing attacks aimed at government cybersecurity infrastructure.

Quantum-Resistant TechnologiesGovernments worldwide are already preparing for the post-quantum era, and the European Commission launched the Quantum Flagship research initiative in 2018 with a budget of at least 1 billion euros over a 10-year period. According to Polecsak from QANplatform, considering that quantum computing already poses a significant security threat to everyday internet users, these efforts are justified:

“Quantum-resistant technology is already important today due to the ‘store now, decrypt later’ cybersecurity threat, which involves attackers collecting encrypted data to decrypt later using more powerful computing methods like quantum computers.”

Major companies are also preparing for the post-quantum future. Apple, announced a new update in February aimed at making iMessages quantum-resistant, positioning Apple as a leader among quantum messaging providers.

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.

QANplatform announced the launch of its quantum-resistant and Ethereum-compatible blockchain testnet. This launch gives developers room to code smart contracts in several programming languages.

Exploring New Features on Quantum-Resistant Blockchain The QAN Testnet is the latest version of QANplatform’s blockchain that allows users to test new features. This means that the team gets feedback from developers and users to improve these features. Before launching the testnet, the QANplatform had a few things going on. They implemented a quantum-resistant technology for a European Union member state.

The QAN testnet is a significant milestone in the QAN platform and Web3 technology. It displays QAN’s interest in helping developers in the blockchain industry. This means that developers can build smart contracts with any programming language. That’s pretty impressive, and that’s what QAN Testnet is about. 

We are proud to announce that QANplatform has rolled out the world’s first quantum-resistant and EVM-compatible blockchain testnet, where developers can code smart contracts in any programming language.https://t.co/2Q9hQDrLxv pic.twitter.com/91x42i7ZQl

— QANplatform (@QANplatform) May 7, 2024

QAN Testnet stands out from other web3 platforms like EOSIO. It has unique features. These features include:

Quantum-Resistant Security The QAN Testnet is secure against potential attacks because of its quantum-resistant security.

Compatibility with Ethereum Although EOSIO and its virtual machine, the QAN testnet is compatible with EVM blockchains. This would lead to smooth transactions with the Ethereum-compatible blockchains.

Approves any Programming Language Many blockchains support certain programming languages for coding smart contracts. But the QAN Testnet is different. QAN Testnet accepts any programming language. So, as a developer, you can use the programming language you know to code smart contracts.

No-Code Smart Contract Studio QAN has a no-code smart contract studio. This feature makes it an exceptional platform. With this feature, you can code smart contacts with zero coding experience. You can use the no-code smart contract studio feature to achieve this in a few minutes.

Following the completion of the primary tests on the QAN TestNet, the #QANplatform team is currently finalizing the most comprehensive developer documentation we have ever released. After years of dedicated effort, on May 7th, we will proudly introduce the world's first…

— QANplatform (@QANplatform) April 24, 2024

More About QANPlatform The QANPlatform is compatible with PoS and PoW consensus algorithms. But, here’s something new: CRYSTALS-Dilithium. QANplatform uses CRYSTALS-Dilithium for its activities. Also, CRYSTALS-Dilithium helps secure transactions even against quantum computers. This means that It ensures that your data is secure.

6/#QANplatform comment: The QAN private blockchain will be the first Ethereum EVM-compatible, quantum-resistant #blockchain where developers can code smart contracts in ANY programming language.

It will use NIST primary recommended #PostQuantum algorithm, CRYSTALS-Dilithium.

— QANplatform (@QANplatform) July 17, 2023

QANplatform’s co-founder and CTO, Johann Polecsak, expressed thoughts about the testnet. He said that the team aims to handle current and future problems in the blockchain industry.

Disclaimer The information discussed by Altcoin Buzz is not financial advice. This is for educational, entertainment, and informational purposes only. Any information or strategies are thoughts and opinions relevant to the accepted levels of risk tolerance of the writer/reviewers and their risk tolerance may be different than yours. We are not responsible for any losses that you may incur as a result of any investments directly or indirectly related to the information provided. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments so please do your due diligence. Copyright Altcoin Buzz Pte Ltd.

Decentralized finance protocol UwU Lend has suffered another exploit from the same attacker, costing it $3.7 million worth of stolen funds.

UwU Lend, an Ethereum-based lending and liquidity protocol, has apparently suffered another hack from the same attacker, who exploited the protocol two days ago for nearly $20 million.

https://twitter.com/CyversAlerts/status/1801163462816473466

According to data from Cyvers Alerts, the hacker drained $3.7 million in liquidity from pools including uDAI, uWETH, uLUSD, uFRAX, uCRVUSD, and uUSDT. All stolen assets have been converted to ETH and are currently held at the attacker’s address, the firm added.

As noted by an X user under the alias @CryptoEvgen, the hacker used funds “stolen during the first hack for this new attack.” The cause of the latest incident remains unclear, and UwU Lend has yet to make a public statement on the matter.

The latest incident comes just two days after UwU Lend lost $20 million worth of crypto, what the protocol described as a “sophisticated attack.” As crypto.news reported, the attacker seemingly utilized Curve LlamaLend as the “exit liquidity” for the attack.

UwU Lend was founded by Michael Patryn, also known as Omar Dhanani or “0xSifu,” who is a co-founder of the ill-fated QuadrigaCX exchange. Based on the open-source AAVE v2 code, UwU Lend offers lending, borrowing, and staking services, and shares platform revenues with users through its native token, UwU.

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DeFi lending protocol UwU Lend has suffered two attacks in the past three days. The second exploit occurred on Thursday during the protocol’s reimbursement process from the first hack. The ongoing saga has taken around $23 million from the protocol.

DeFi Protocol Hit With $20 Million Exploit On June 10, DeFi project UwU Lend was hit by a sophisticated attack that took $19.3 million. The attack seemingly involved the use of flash loans to exploit the protocol. The project quickly addressed the situation by pausing the protocol and assured users that most assets were safe.

UwU Lend acknowleges $20 million exploit. Source: UwU Lend on X Additionally, the team offered a $4 million white hat bounty for the return of the funds. The list of stolen assets included Wrapped Ethereum (wETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), Curve DAO (CRV), Tether (USDT), Staked USDe (sUSDE), and others.

Blockchain security firm Beosin revealed that the attacker manipulated the price of USDe (USDE) by swapping it for other tokens through flash loans. Seemingly, this move lowered USDe and sUSDE’s price.

Following the price manipulation, the hacker deposited part of the tokens to UwU Lend and “lent more $sUSDe than expected,” driving USDe’s price higher. Similarly, the attacker deposited the sUSDE to the DeFi protocol and borrowed CRV.

On Wednesday, UwU Lend informed users that its team had identified the vulnerability.  Per the post, it was a vulnerability unique to the sUSDE market oracle and had been resolved at the time of the report.

As a result, the protocol was unpaused, and the markets were slowly relaunched to return to their normal operations. The DeFi project also announced it would repay all its bad debt and that users’ funds had not been lost during the exploit, claiming that their funds “are safu at UwU Lend.”

Do You Get DéFì Vu? What seemed to be the end of the story turned out to be the first installment of a saga. On Thursday, reports of a second attack on UwU Lend appeared as the protocol carried out its reimbursement process.

According to the reports, the same attacker drained another $3.7 million from the DeFi protocol before converting the funds to ETH again. The affected pools included uDAI, uWETH, uLUSD, uFRAX, UCRVUSD, and uUSDT.

The crypto community expressed their concern about the second attack, with many questioning if their funds were indeed safe. Users started to joke that funds were not “safu” but were “with Sifu” instead.

Crypto community shares memes about the attack. Source: ZachXBT on X UwU Lend was founded by Michael Patryn, also known as Sifu. Patryn was the co-founder of the now-collapsed QuadrigaCX. As reported by Bitcoinist, Canadian authorities were pursuing an unexplained wealth order (UWO) against Sifu for his involvement in the exchange’s criminal activities.

The DeFi project has paused the protocol for the second time this week, and the situation is being investigated. However, online reports claim that the second exploit was caused by a vulnerability similar to the first attack.

MetaTrust Labs explained the hacker seemingly used 60 million uSUSDE obtained from Monday’s hack “as collateral to drain the pool.”

The news caused users to wonder whether the UwU Lend team was unaware of the tokens in the attacker’s wallet. Some also questioned why they didn’t stop supporting the sUSDE collateral.

At the time of writing, an official explanation for the second exploit has not been published.

ETH is trading at $3,447 on the three-day chart. Source: ETHUSDT on TradingView Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com

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Glamsterdam has reached its final devnet stage, locking in ten EIPs including ePBS and Block-Level Access Lists. The bundle clears the path for a 200 million gas-limit floor and mainnet activation in H2 2026.

Ethereum's Glamsterdam hard fork reached its final devnet stage Tuesday, locking in the EIP bundle that core developers expect to carry the network through public testnets and on to mainnet activation in the second half of 2026. The release is being framed as the largest protocol change since the Merge.

The upgrade ships ten Ethereum Improvement Proposals tracked under the Glamsterdam Meta EIP-7773, with two headliners doing the structural heavy lifting: EIP-7732, which enshrines Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS) directly in the protocol, and EIP-7928, which introduces Block-Level Access (BALs) Lists so validators can process unrelated transactions in parallel.

The combination clears the path for a 200 million gas-limit floor, roughly tripling current L1 capacity from the 60 million range and unlocking what proponents say is up to 10,000 TPS-equivalent throughput under realistic workloads.

The Full EIP BundleThe devnet-0 spec published by the EF's pandaops team lists the included proposals. Beyond ePBS and BALs, the package contains EIP-7708 (ETH transfers and burns emit a log), EIP-7778 (block gas accounting without refunds), EIP-7843 (a SLOTNUM opcode), EIP-7954 (raising the maximum contract size from roughly 24 KiB to 32 KiB), EIP-7975 (eth/70 partial block receipt lists), EIP-8024 (backward-compatible SWAPN, DUPN and EXCHANGE opcodes), EIP-8037 (state-creation gas-cost increase), and EIP-8159 (eth/71 Block Access List Exchange).

The bundle resolves a debate that ran through several All Core Devs calls this spring over whether ePBS and BALs were too ambitious to ship together. The May 2026 finalization of EIP-8037, which sets a fixed cost per state byte and dedicates a separate gas reservoir for state growth, was the final piece that gave client teams a sustainability ceiling under which a 200M gas limit could be raised without bloating the database past 120 GiB per year.

The Two HeadlinersePBS pulls block-building duties into the consensus layer, separating the validator that proposes a block from the builder that constructs the execution payload. The handoff is currently mediated by off-protocol relays like MEV-Boost, which the ethereum.org documentation notes will become optional rather than required once the protocol natively settles builder payments. The change also widens the data-propagation window from two seconds to roughly nine, which is what unlocks the higher gas limit without forcing validators to rush block validation.

Block-Level Access Lists give every block an upfront map of which accounts and storage slots its transactions will touch, plus the post-execution state values. That lets nodes prefetch data in parallel and process non-overlapping transactions concurrently, rather than replaying them serially. BALs also enable executionless sync, where new nodes can update their state from the access-list digest without replaying the full transaction history. The projected throughput gains were laid out in earlier coverage of the framework when the design first crystallized.

Changes for UsersFor end users, the most visible change is EIP-2780, which cuts the intrinsic transaction-gas floor and is projected to make standard ETH transfers between existing accounts up to 71% cheaper. EIP-7708 also makes ETH transfers emit a log, which exchanges and wallets have wanted for years because it removes the need for custom transaction tracing.

For validators, ePBS rewrites the builder-selection process and adds a Payload Timeliness Committee that attests separately to consensus blocks and execution-payload timeliness. Staking pools will need architectural updates to monitor the new flow trustlessly, but the user-facing exit process improves through EIP-8080, which lets standard exits borrow unused capacity in the consolidation queue at a three-for-two rate.

For Layer 2s, the wider propagation window means Ethereum can carry more blobs per block, expanding the data-availability budget that rollups draw from. That continues the Fusaka direction of decoupling rollup data costs from L1 execution congestion, alongside parallel research tracks like the post-quantum key registry laid out earlier this month.

No Mainnet DateA mainnet target slot is not on the table yet. Client teams use the public testnet phase, which follows successful devnet rotation, to set the activation date. Holesky and Hoodi will fork before mainnet, and only after multi-client stability holds for several epochs across those networks.

Past forks have run two to four months of public-testnet seasoning; on that cadence, mainnet would land between September and December 2026.

The 200 million gas limit is the design target for what Glamsterdam unblocks, not a value the fork itself enforces. Validators set the limit via standard gas-vote signaling, which they currently coordinate around the 60 million range, and would step the limit up only as nodes prove they can handle the larger blocks without degraded propagation.

Ethereum gas fees rank among the most discussed aspects of the network, yet users often misunderstand them. Network demand plays a major role, but several technical mechanisms work together to set the final cost of any transaction.

Gas fees exist because every action on Ethereum consumes computational resources. When a user sends ETH, swaps tokens on a decentralized exchange, mints an NFT, or interacts with a smart contract, validators must process and verify that activity. Gas fees compensate those validators for securing the network, and they deter spam and abuse.

Understanding what drives these costs means examining Ethereum’s fee structure, transaction complexity, block space demand, and the protocol upgrades of the past two years.

Ethereum’s Gas Model and the Base Fee Mechanism Gas measures the computational work required to execute an operation on Ethereum, and every transaction consumes a set amount depending on what it does. Since the EIP-1559 upgrade went live in August 2021, Ethereum has run a dual-fee system built on a base fee and a priority fee.

The protocol sets the base fee automatically, adjusting it according to network congestion, then burns it rather than paying it to validators. Burning the base fee removes ETH from circulation and makes fee estimation more predictable. The priority fee, or tip, goes directly to validators. Users raise this amount to encourage faster inclusion, especially when demand spikes.

The network calculates the total fee as gas used multiplied by the sum of the base fee and the priority fee. As blocks fill up, the protocol raises the base fee, and when demand falls, it lowers the base fee. This automatic adjustment lets Ethereum respond to changing conditions without forcing users to guess the right amount.

Competition for Block Space Drives Most Fee Spikes Competition for limited block space remains the single largest influence on Ethereum gas fees. Each block currently targets around 30 million gas and can expand toward a 60 million gas limit, a ceiling validators raised in late 2025 and one they can lift further through signaling. Because that capacity stays finite, users compete for inclusion whenever activity surges.

Demand tends to spike during major market rallies, large token launches, NFT mints, memecoin speculation, DeFi liquidation cascades, and heavy decentralized exchange trading. When thousands of users submit transactions at once, validators prioritize the ones offering higher fees. That bidding war pushes both priority fees and base fees upward.

A simple ETH transfer stays cheap during quiet periods, yet the same transfer can cost far more during intense activity as users raise their tips to jump the queue. Fees climb sharply even when the transaction type never changes.

Transaction Complexity Changes How Much Gas You Burn Ethereum transactions do not all consume the same amount of gas. A standard ETH transfer needs 21,000 gas units, one of the simplest operations on the network, while smart contract interactions demand far more computational work. Token swaps, lending and borrowing, yield farming, NFT minting, governance voting, and cross-chain bridge interactions all fall into the heavier category.

Every smart contract holds code that Ethereum Virtual Machine nodes must execute, and each instruction carries a predefined gas cost. A transaction that touches multiple contracts can trigger many calculations, storage updates, and state changes, and the more operations involved, the more gas it consumes. Two transactions sent at the same moment can therefore cost very different amounts. Even at an identical gas price, the transaction that burns more gas units carries the higher total fee, so application complexity often matters as much as congestion.

Layer 2 Activity, Blob Space, and Recent Scaling Upgrades Ethereum’s fee market has shifted as Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base have grown. These networks process transactions off-chain, then publish compressed data back to Ethereum, which turned them into major consumers of block space. The Dencun upgrade changed that dynamic in March 2024. It introduced proto-danksharding through EIP-4844 and created a new storage mechanism called blobs, a dedicated market for Layer 2 data that sits separate from execution gas. Blobs let rollups post data far more cheaply and pushed fees down across the scaling ecosystem.

Two further upgrades extended the trend. Pectra arrived in May 2025, doubling blob capacity and raising the gas limit. Fusaka followed in December 2025, introducing PeerDAS through EIP-7594 so validators verify blob data by sampling small portions rather than downloading every blob. Fusaka also lifted the gas limit toward 60 million and added blob-parameter-only forks that keep raising blob capacity without a full hard fork. These changes cut Layer 2 costs again, though blob demand still fluctuates, and competition for blob space may grow into a larger force in Ethereum’s fee economy as rollup activity climbs.

Conclusion A mix of factors sets Ethereum gas fees rather than any single variable. The base fee mechanism tracks congestion, priority fees let users accelerate inclusion, competition for block space drives the sharpest spikes, and transaction complexity decides how much gas each operation burns. EIP-1559, Dencun, Pectra, and Fusaka have made the fee market more efficient and predictable, while Layer 2 networks continue to lower costs for everyday users.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Why are Ethereum gas fees so high sometimes?

When many users compete for limited block space during rallies, token launches, or NFT mints, they bid up priority fees, and the protocol raises the base fee in response.

What is the difference between the base fee and the priority fee?

The base fee is a mandatory, protocol-set amount that Ethereum burns, while the priority fee is an optional tip paid directly to validators to speed up inclusion.

Why does an ETH transfer cost less than a token swap?

A transfer uses 21,000 gas, but a swap executes more smart contract code, consuming more gas and producing a higher total fee.

Did the Dencun and Fusaka upgrades lower gas fees?

They mainly reduced Layer 2 costs by creating and expanding blob space, while base-layer Ethereum fees still depend on execution demand.

Can I avoid high gas fees?

Transacting during quieter periods, moving activity onto Layer 2 networks, or setting a lower priority fee when speed is not urgent all reduce costs.

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.

1 minutes ago

Blockchain data infrastructure firm Cambrian has closed a $6 million funding round, jointly led by Franklin Templeton and Polychain Capital.

Blockchain data infrastructure project Cambrian has closed a $6 million seed round, co-led by Franklin Templeton and Polychain Capital, with participation from Flow Traders, Selini Capital, and other investors. The project previously raised a $5.9 million pre-seed round led by a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator, bringing its total funding to $11.9 million. Cambrian currently provides institutional investors and AI Agents with real-time and historical data APIs covering on-chain yields, risks, lending markets, and trading activities, and plans to further build a verifiable data oracle network. Official data shows it has indexed over $4.5 billion in lending TVL, tracks more than 320,000 DEX liquidity pools, and currently supports Base and Solana, with plans to expand to additional ecosystems including Ethereum. The funds will be used to expand on-chain data coverage, accelerate oracle network development, and team recruitment.

1 minutes ago

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

According to EmberCN’s monitoring, whale address 0xbilly liquidated 2,409 ETH in the early hours of today when ETH fell to around $1,569.5, worth approximately $3.78 million, with a total loss of roughly $220,000. Notably, this batch of ETH was purchased just one day ago for about 4 million USDC, at an average price of approximately $1,660.2. The address also previously bought 7,768.5 ETH at a high of $2,254 in March this year, valued at around $17.51 million, and exited via stop-loss four days later, incurring a loss of roughly $800,000.

1 minutes ago

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.

1 minutes ago

Binance's Shanghai leverage contract fee rate surges to 0.66%

Market data shows South Korea's SK Hynix rose over 10% intraday. The funding rate for Binance's SKHYNIX/USDT contract pair jumped to 0.668%, equivalent to an annualized rate of 723%, signaling the market is gripped by FOMO-driven long positions.

1 minutes ago

US-listed optical module stocks rallied broadly in after-hours trading, with MRVL surging over 5%.

According to Bitget market data, driven possibly by Micron’s better-than-expected financial results, U.S.-listed optical module stocks rose broadly in after-hours trading, with COHR up 4%, LITE up 3%, AAOI up 5%, NOK up 3.1%, and Marvell (MRVL) up 5.17%.

1 minutes ago

Bankless co-founder David Hoffman has disclosed how he redeployed capital after selling ETH, revealing a new portfolio tilted toward VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE and LIT. The move marks a notable shift for one of Ethereum’s most recognizable public advocates and has triggered debate over whether Hoffman is rotating into a new long-term thesis or chasing a different segment of the market.

In a post on X, Hoffman said he “immediately took ~50% of the capital to VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE” after selling ETH. The other half, he said, was held back for dollar-cost averaging into an asset that had not already moved sharply higher.

“I left the rest as capital to DCA into something not already up multiples,” Hoffman wrote, adding that NEAR was an exception because it was “~1.40 at the time.” He then said he had completed that second leg of the rotation: “I’ve finished buying LIT with that remaining 50%.”

Why Hoffman Chose LIT As Next Major Crypto Bet The disclosure quickly shifted into a broader discussion about Hoffman’s investment thesis around LIT and Lighter, particularly after Multicoin Capital’s Kyle Samani asked why a user would choose Lighter over Robinhood. Hoffman framed the answer around product specialization, market structure and auditability rather than simply token speculation.

“The easy answer is that Robinhood is an everything platform, and Lighter is highly optimized for perps specifically,” Hoffman wrote. “Lighter has more assets, including more pre-IPO markets. Lighter doesn’t require KYC sign up, and Robinhood Perps are for only a closed group of users in the EU.”

He acknowledged one important constraint: “By contrast, Lighter is VPN blocked in the US.” But Hoffman argued that the deeper distinction is transparency. He pointed to zkLighter, Lighter’s zero-knowledge system, which he said allows end users to verify the exchange’s rule enforcement without permission.

“zkLighter is fully auditable by end users, so anyone can permissionlessly verify the exchange is following its own rules,” he wrote. “Order matching, funding, risk checks, liquidations etc are defined in zk circuits, so Ethereum verifies that they followed Lighter’s rules before accepting state updates. Bullish crypto ethos!”

For Hoffman, the auditability claim is not merely technical branding. He argued that it goes directly to trader and market-maker trust, because participants can verify that “there is no privileged party trading against users,” invoking the FTX and Alameda collapse as the relevant failure mode.

Hoffman also emphasized latency and execution cost. He claimed Lighter has “the best latency of any perp exchange” and “the best fee structure,” while pointing to third-party comparisons against Hyperliquid. On Robinhood, however, he was more cautious, saying he could not judge Robinhood perps directly because he cannot access them and would not be able to audit them in the same way.

“Maybe Robinhood, when it eventually rolls out perps, also has a 0-fee structure too,” he wrote. “But that means a tie between RH and Lighter, not a RH win.”

The debate also exposed pushback from parts of the Ethereum community. One user accused Hoffman of going “from eth maxi to the other extreme,” while another suggested he had become more of a short-term trader. Hoffman rejected both characterizations.

“The technology under all of these assets is pretty interesting too,” he replied to one critic. To another who joked about him having an investment thesis and sticking to it, Hoffman responded: “My last investment thesis I had for eight years. God forbid I get a new one!”

Asked directly about LIT versus HYPE, Hoffman said he views the position as both “beta and alpha” to HYPE. His reasoning centered on relative buybacks, product quality and regulatory positioning, citing “LIT buybacks” as moving at “2x the relative speed of HYPE Buybacks,” alongside what he described as a technically superior product, better fees, stronger latency and US domicile.

At press time LIT traded at $1.50.

LIT bulls must break the 0.786 Fib, 1-week chart | Source: LITUSDT on TradingView.com Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

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.

1 seconds ago

Blockchain data infrastructure firm Cambrian has closed a $6 million funding round, jointly led by Franklin Templeton and Polychain Capital.

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1 seconds ago

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

According to EmberCN’s monitoring, whale address 0xbilly liquidated 2,409 ETH in the early hours of today when ETH fell to around $1,569.5, worth approximately $3.78 million, with a total loss of roughly $220,000. Notably, this batch of ETH was purchased just one day ago for about 4 million USDC, at an average price of approximately $1,660.2. The address also previously bought 7,768.5 ETH at a high of $2,254 in March this year, valued at around $17.51 million, and exited via stop-loss four days later, incurring a loss of roughly $800,000.

1 seconds ago

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.

1 seconds ago

Binance's Shanghai leverage contract fee rate surges to 0.66%

Market data shows South Korea's SK Hynix rose over 10% intraday. The funding rate for Binance's SKHYNIX/USDT contract pair jumped to 0.668%, equivalent to an annualized rate of 723%, signaling the market is gripped by FOMO-driven long positions.

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US-listed optical module stocks rallied broadly in after-hours trading, with MRVL surging over 5%.

According to Bitget market data, driven possibly by Micron’s better-than-expected financial results, U.S.-listed optical module stocks rose broadly in after-hours trading, with COHR up 4%, LITE up 3%, AAOI up 5%, NOK up 3.1%, and Marvell (MRVL) up 5.17%.

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Pundi X was one of the most highly anticipated ICOs of 2018. This meant that it was able to hit its $35 million hard cap within 90 minutes.

The project is trying to build a large decentralized crypto point of sale network. They are trying to acheive this through Merchant devices, cards and crypto wallets. If they succeed, they hope to make buying cryptocurrency as easy as "buying bottled water".

However, are these ambitions too grand?

In this Pundi X review I will attempt to answer that. I will also take an in-depth look at the use cases of the NPXS token as well as its long term adoption potential.

Pundi X Technology and Use CasesThe driving force behind the creation of Pundi X is the steep learning curve for those just entering the cryptocurrency ecosystem. With very few exceptions (Robinhood and Coinbase come to mind), current cryptocurrency exchanges are confusing and difficult to learn for new users.

And that doesn’t even touch on the difficulty and confusion associated with juggling multiple wallets, private keys, passphrases and authenticators.

Honestly, even experienced cryptocurrency users can become somewhat frustrated. Pundi X offers to change all this through three interlocking pieces of technology: The Pundi X platform, mobile wallets, and card payments.

One interesting and unique feature of the Pundi X network is that its devices are integrated into two blockchains – Ethereum and NEM. Nem (XEM) was chosen because it is popular with Asian financial institutions, and because it has the technology to enable nearly instantaneous payments.

The PlatformThe Pundi X POS device has begun production in February 2018 following the ICO and has been shipping to merchants since July 2018. The list of merchants has been expanding at an ever increasing pace. You can see a list of all of the global merchants here

It allows customers to pay for goods with cryptocurrencie stored in their mobile wallet, and can also be used to buy cryptocurrencies (BTC, ETH, XEM, QTUM, or ACT) to top up the wallet.

During the ICO Pundi has said that they will deliver 100,000-700,000 POS devices to at least 12 different countries over the next three years. In addition to the base model, Pundi is also designing a smaller unit and a desktop version that will be capable of accepting major credit cards, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Pundi X POS System Explained

The team is actually doing much better with XPOS devices shipped to more than 25 countries as of November 2019, and expectations for over 100,000 XPOS devices being deployed by 2021.

The POS system also serves merchants as it incorporates inventory, membership and identity management features. Pundi X says the POS system will be far better than Bitcoin ATMs thanks to the increased range of services available and the lower cost.

In addition, the devices are far smaller, enabling them to be installed in many places where a Bitcoin ATM wouldn’t be feasible. The Pundi X token (NPXS) will be used as gas for the network, powering transactions and advertisements, as well as identify customers for qualified discounts.

The initial 500 units were delivered to select locations in late June, and on July 10, 2018 the team announced the first of these, which are located in Hong Kong in four participating FAMA restaurants as part of the RISE 2018 convention. The team also distributed XPASS cards to RISE 2018 participants to demonstrate how easy it is to use cryptocurrencies to make purchases using their technology.

The current and planned Pundi X PoS devices. Image via Pundi X

The team has also said they will focus on Indonesia, which is the largest South-East Asian country, with a population of roughly 250 million. Obviously, Hong Kong has also become a target for early adoption, and the Pundi X team has also said that it has expanded into China.

It’s very exciting to see the team shipping and beta testing the actual hardware, and while it may seem unreal to be able to purchase goods with cryptocurrency, and to purchase cryptocurrency while waiting for your lunch or dinner to be served, this platform could not only make it a reality, but make it widely accepted over the next three years.

Pundi X WalletThe mobile wallet (Pundi XWallet) will simplify key management for users, storing the public and private keys and using a password system similar to any online system.

This feature alone is expected to massively increase adoption of cryptocurrencies by new users, however, there are worries that it could deter existing cryptocurrency users who worry about security and privacy issues.

The wallet is able to hold BTC, ETH, BNB and NSPX, as well as fiat currencies. There are plans to add support for additional currencies over time. The XWallet also includes a virtual XPASS card, or it can be synched with a physical XPASS card.

Screenshots of XWallet in the Google Play Store

The XWallet is available on both iOS and Android devices and are free to download. In terms of feedback on the apps, it has about a 4.3 star rating in the Google Play store. However, there appears to have recently been a number of complaints about the functionality of the app.

Some of these relate to the KYC requirement of Pundi X which is not something that they can really control. However, for those that are technical in nature, the team appears to be quite responsive and - most importantly - receptive.

The Pundi X Card Payment SystemThe company has released a card, which they are naming the XPASS card, which works together with the mobile app and wallet, enabling payments and deposits by card (a familiar medium for most) that are pulled from the mobile wallet.

In addition, users are able to see the current market price of each cryptocurrency before paying for goods and services, allowing them to pay with the cryptocurrency that brings the best value at the time. Currently, the XPASS card has support for BTC, BNB, ETH and NPXS.

This ability to pay for things easily with cryptocurrencies is what will finally give them real value in a widespread sense. The Pundi X whitepaper states that

most cryptocurrencies can only be used to buy other cryptocurrencies, reducing the relevance of them to almost zero for most people

Pundi X Card Payments

Indeed one of the primary arguments of non-crypto believers is that cryptocurrencies have no real value. It is hoped that enabling ease of payments will change that opinion.

It does seem as if the Pundi X team has created a technology system that has the potential to make cryptocurrencies widely accepted and used on a global scale. While the use cases are strong in theory, much of the adoption will depend on how quickly the POS devices can be rolled out, how well they actually work, and how successful the next several years of marketing for the technology is.

It is also notable that Pundi has partnered with iBank for the release and distribution of the XPASS cards. They offer both the standard XPASS card as well as a special edition Cao Jun designed card.

Pundi has also released a Manga themed XPASS card that also supports NEM and Qtum. Eventually, these special edition cards will be made into digital assets on the IOST blockchain.

Pundi Function X - f(x)Function X or f(x) is Pundi’s vision of the blockchain internet and includes not only a decentralized internet model, but also the hardware devices necessary to take advantage of this new blockchain based operating system.

The first device being launched is the Pundi X blockchain phone, being dubbed “BOB” for “Blok on Blok”. In addition to the blockchain based phone, the Pundi X team is also planning on redesigning the XPOS terminals to take advantage of f(x) technology. Finally, there is a Function X physical node in development.

FXTP Protocol With the BOB Smartphone

These are only three examples of hardware that can be created to take advantage of the f(x) operating system. Like everything else the Pundi X team takes on, the concept of the Function X operating system is ambitious, impressive, and far-reaching.

Pundi X TeamThe Pundi X team are a talented group of technologists and entrepreneurs, which seems to be exactly what this project will need for success. In general, the management team is comprised of computer engineers turned serial entrepreneur.

The glaring exception to this is CEO and founder Zac Cheah, who was formerly an HTML games developer, but perhaps this is why he surrounded himself with such a strong team.

The President of Pundi X, Constantin Papadimitrou, has a long history of founding successful fintech companies, and scaling them, which makes him an ideal fit for a project that will need rapid growth and adoption.

From Left: Zac Cheah (CEO), Pitt Huang (CTO), Constantin Papadimitriou (President), Danny Lim (CFO)

The CTO/COO and co-founder Pitt Huang created and sold his first business by the age of 25 and went on to create and sell several more business, including one that had over 200 employees.

The CFO and the third co-founder of the project is Danny Lim. Danny is an APAC financing expert who has product design experience with Baidu and Lenovo. Danny is a PhD Law scholar from Tsinghua University and hold ACMA and CGMA accounting qualifications.

The management team operates out of Jakarta, which the research team largely operates out of Shenzhen. Overall the team has physical offices in Jakarta, London, São Paulo, Seoul, Tokyo, Shenzhen and Singapore. As of August 2018 the team is comprised of more than 150 employees, with over half filling research and development roles.

PartnershipsThe Pundi X team has worked diligently, not only on the product and platform, but also on partnerships to help spread the platform and ensure both short-term growth and long-term stability.

The most significant partnership for Pundi X has been the one with NEM. It is this partnership that will allow Pundi X to confirm transactions instantly. Without this the team would almost certainly be able to gain traction with consumers, who are not going to be willing to use a transactional payment system that takes several minutes at the least to confirm transactions. The fast and inexpensive transactions provided by NEM make it possible for Pundi X to gain mainstream adoption.

Pundi X Partnerships

The Pundi team has also spent time positioning itself within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, establishing partnerships with the Indonesian Blockchain Association, the Singapore Fintech Association, the XPOS Consortium, ACCESS, the Fintech Association of Hong Kong, and the Swiss Finance and Fintech Association.

This last led to a further partnership with Swiss company UTRUST, who have committed to deploying 1,000 of the Pundi X POS devices.

Pundi X has been proactive in creating partnerships as a key business development tool. They have also used them to maximize their value proposition, increasing trust, engagement and adoption for both consumers and merchants. This should assist them tremendously in their marketing efforts as they roll out the Pundi X devices and systems throughout Asia and beyond.

Even though the NXPS coin has been languishing along with the rest of the cryptocurrency markets, the project continues to attract members to its various online communities. In fact, it has by far the largest following on Facebook I've ever seen for a blockchain project with over 110,000 followers of its page.

That dwarfs its other social media accounts, although it does have a strong Telegram channel, with over 40,000 followers there.

The project's following on Twitter is pretty solid, with 66,600 followers. The team is also active there, not only tweeting their own stuff but also retweeting useful information from other Twitter users and blockchain projects.

The sub-Reddit for Pundi X is somewhat disappointing, with only 5,534 followers. Posts here are infrequent too. In fact, you'd be better off following the project's YouTube channel, which has a large number of videos and some very good information about Pundi X and NXPS tokens.

It also has over 4,000 subscribers, which is pretty good on Youtube for a blockchain project.

The NPXS TokenAs mentioned earlier, Pundi X held an ICO back in January, raising their $35 million hard cap in just 90 minutes. As we all know, the first quarter of 2018 was a bad one for crypto in general and the NPXS token slowly sank from $0.001 to between $0.0007-0.0008 by April.

That’s where things got interesting after the Bancor Network listed the NPXS token. That took the price to $0.004 or so, but then in May price jumped again, reaching nearly $0.015 before dropping back. Price spiked to an all-time high of $0.015621 on June 17, 2018 when the shipment of the first 500 XPOS devices was announced.

NPXS Price Performance. Image via CMC

Of course, that pump didn’t last and price turned lower almost immediately following the June shipment announcement. There was a brief rally in May 2019, but by October 23, 2019 price was at an all-time low of $0.000159. Several weeks later on November 8, 2019 price has recovered slightly to $0.00018, making NPXS the 94th largest coin by market cap.

Trading & Storing NPXSIf you think now is a good time to buy NPXS, or if you just want to support the project, you’ll find the token listed on dozens of different exchanges.

The largest trade volume can be found at Binance, but Upbit and Hotbit also have good volumes. You could also consider Bithumb, Exrates, BKEX, or Vebitcoin. There are a handful of other exchanges with acceptable trade volumes although you could struggle with larger orders.

Taking a look at the liquidity on an exchange like Binance it appears average. For example, on the BTC / USDT order book the depth is reasonable with a minor bid ask spread however daily turnover is on the lower side. So, larger block orders could lead to some slippage.

Register at Binance and Buy NPXS Tokens

The recommend wallet is the mobile XWallet that is created and released by the Pundi X team. You can get it here and it is perfect for staking too. There are other options such as the Atomic Wallet, and of course, you can store NPXS in any ERC-20 compatible wallets too.

The NPXSXEM TokenIn addition to the NXPS ERC-20 token there is also an NXPSXEM token created from the NEM blockchain. It is a utility token that was created for utilization on NEMXPOS devices.

Pundi plans on manufacturing and deploying 20,000 NEM XPOS units around the world, all of which will run on the NEM blockchain. Of course, it is also openly traded on markets and as of this writing has a value of $0.000171.

NXPSXEM hit its all-time high of $0.004845 on August 8, 2018, just a day after being exchange listed. It’s all-time low was $0.000088 on October 16, 2019. Like NXPS it can also be staked by holding it in the XWallet until the end of 2020.

ConclusionPundi X has taken on an impressive and ambitious task in tackling what could amount to everyday adoption of cryptocurrencies by the masses, if their vision is realized. The technology seems appropriate for what they’re attempting, and the delivery of XPOS devices to more than 25 countries already shows the commitment of the team, and the success of the project to date.

The entire team has substantial experience in both technology and finance, which has been helpful to the start-up. With partnerships in place, and the hope for larger partnerships to be forged, Pundi X is like a sleeping giant.

All that’s left is to see if they can deliver on their promise of 100,000 units in the coming three years, and whether they are able to market those devices appropriately.

With those two pieces in place, you could be seeing a Pundi X device at a retailer near you in the near future. In fact, if you live in Brazil, Southeast Asia or some areas of Europe and Africa you might have already come across Pundi X devices.

And now with the development of Function X Pundi is looking to not only take over cryptocurrency merchant transactions, but they also want to take over the internet. Imagine if they’re successful. Pundi X in twenty years could be like a combination of Google, Apple, and Amazon with a global reach and commanding market presence.

Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.

SUI's 73% weekly price gains top crypto market — New price record in reach?

OKX and Immutable Partner to Unveil GameFi Launchpad, Paving the Way for the Next Billion Users in Web3 Gaming

Gods Unchained, a digital collectible card game, topped CryptoSlam’s non-fungible token (NFT) sales chart on Wednesday for the second consecutive day, though it recorded a drop from the previous day.

Gods Unchained had over US$612,000 in sales on Wednesday, down from US$930,000 on Tuesday.

The Immutable network, where Gods Unchained resides, recorded over US$806,000 in total sales on Wednesday, which was the fifth in the industry.

Ethereum led all chains in NFT sales with US$4.37 billion.

The second-ranking collection for the day was DMarket on the Mythos network. The collection, which represents in-game items, had US$539,193 in daily sales across 26,277 transactions.

Solana Monkey Business took the third spot with daily sales of US$567,134 across 117 transactions. The Solana-based collection has been climbing the all-time charts.

It currently has US$207.7 million in all-time trades and is eyeing the 30th spot, now occupied by SATS, a BRC-20 NFT set, with US$211.4 million.

The Solana blockchain, hosting the Solana Monkey Business collection, reported total sales of US$3.13 million for the day, the second-highest sales tally among blockchains.

DogeZuki Collection on Solana came in fifth for the day with US$414,755 in sales, while c_HyPC on Ethereum came in sixth with US$338,791.

Post Views: 23,082

Gods Unchained, a trading card game on Ethereum layer-2 network Immutable zkEVM, announced the launch of a battle pass ahead of its upcoming season and the new Fallen Age expansion coming on February 18.

The pass, which comes has one free tier and two paid tiers of premium rewards, will be available for pre-purchase from February 9 to February 17, offering users a 25% discount on the top two tracks, Premium and Shiny which are priced at $6.99 and $39.99 respectively. 

With each pass tier, users are granted perks like new exclusive cosmetics, as well core card packs and Fallen Age packs from the new expansion.

As users move up tracks, they are granted additional perks like the Gods Unchained token (GODS) on Ethereum. Purchases of Premium or Shiny tracks will offer users 28 and 47 GODS tokens respectively, approximately $3.35 and $5.63 worth at current prices, with additional GODS rewards available as they play through the season.

The Fallen Age expansion set that arrives with battle pass season one will feature 56 cards, with seven legendaries and seven mythic variants, including two new gameplay mechanic cards: “Wither” and “Raid.” 

Gods Unchained released its Tower of Dread expansion pack in October. The turn-based card game is available and free to play on iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

Robinhood Brings AI Market Insights to UK — A Prelude to Crypto Disruption?

Over the past few months, Bitcoin has dominated the investment scene. Year to date, the cryptocurrency has gained some 200%, which comes as traditional assets have bled out in anticipation of a recession and due to rising macroeconomic risk.

But one not-talked-about fact is that not only is Bitcoin outperforming traditional assets but altcoins too.

CoinMarketCap data shows that Bitcoin dominance — the percentage of the cryptocurrency market’s capitalization that is BTC — has risen to 70%, which is a level not seen in over two years. Even this 70% reading, however, may be understated.

Bitcoin Really is The Crypto King Blockchain analytics firm Arcane Crypto recently released a report, accentuating that the traditional Bitcoin dominance statistic is somewhat invalid. They wrote:

“Using the price and market valuation as signal of strength is of course a weak proxy. Price is far from everything and many projects might be hugely successful without the token capturing a large market capitalization.”

They thus argued that a better way to measure a cryptocurrency’s dominance is by weighting the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies against their trading volume, which they claimed is a measure of market liquidity.

In doing this, their research found that “Bitcoin’s market dominance is pushed well above 90%. This is true whether we use the volumes as recorded on CoinMarketCap, excluding stable coins, which are representations of other assets rather than “true” cryptocurrencies, [or Bitwise’s “Real Ten” exchanges].”

Their research has been indirectly corroborated by a comment from a prominent crypto fund manager.

Speaking on the “Citizen Bitcoin” podcast recently, Murad Mahmudov, a former Goldman Sachs banker, explained that Bitcoin, by many measures, is the only liquid cryptocurrency on the market. He even explained that if you were to place a $1 million sell order of any top 15 cryptocurrency save for Bitcoin, you could crash the market.

Why is Bitcoin Outperforming? As reported by Blockonomi previously, Binance’s research division believes that much of this underperformance stems from a “flight to quality” from low-quality altcoins to the market leader.

You see, the countless altcoins that were propped up in 2017 and early-2018 have failed to deliver. Even bigger names in the cryptocurrency space have underperformed investors’ expectations.

That’s not all. The investors that are foraying into this industry are focusing their sights on Bitcoin. Just look to the media coverage of the cryptocurrency space. Notice how they don’t mention Ethereum, Litecoin, or Bitcoin Cash, but just Bitcoin.

This tacit “maximalism” has been reflected in institutional investors making sorties into this space. There’s a reason why Bakkt, the New York Stock Exchange-backed crypto startup, is starting with Bitcoin futures, not Ethereum futures or an altcoin basket ETF.

And to top it all off, regulators have taken a heavy stance against altcoins, especially those issued via a token sale or generation event. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently begun to wage war against ICOs, bringing lawsuits against Veritaseum and Kik’s KIN, for instance.

These cases have resulted in massive sell-offs for these tokens and have likely only added to the anti-altcoin sentiment currently brewing in the market.

With Bitcoin and Ethereum being the only two digital assets really signed off on by the SEC, traders are likely focusing their investment in these areas to avoid potential regulatory risks.

Do Altcoins Have Any Hope? This may leave you wondering if Bitcoin will continue to dominate.

According to a number of cryptocurrency venture capitalists and investors, Bitcoin’s strength against altcoins — well at least Ethereum — may soon end. Placeholder’s Chris Burniske recently wrote that Ethereum is currently like Bitcoin in 2014 in 2015, which is when the cryptocurrency exhibited “the best risk/reward period for investors”.

His tweet implied that Ethereum’s fundamental momentum and price are bifurcating, but that should history repeat, ETH’s value could soon surge.

1/ $ETH is enduring its 1st mainstream bear market, just as $BTC did in 2014/15.

In retrospect, 2014/15 was the best risk/reward period for investors to get BTC exposure.

— Chris Burniske (@cburniske) August 20, 2019

Nick Chong

I am a writer who has been following the cryptocurrency space since 2013. My insights and interviews have been featured in leading publications in the industry such as LongHash, NewsBTC, and Decrypt. When I am not writing, I work as a team member of the EXODUS division of HTC, a Taiwanese electronics company. I own a small amount of Bitcoin. Contact [email protected]

On Monday evening, as many in the American crypto community were calling it a day, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made a jaw-dropping announcement.

Revealed in a press release published at around 7:00 pm EST, the American financial regulator revealed that it had “settled charges” against the creator of the EOS blockchain. Block.one, for “conducting an unregistered initial coin offering”.

This marks one of the biggest — if not the biggest — crypto-related enforcement actions from the SEC to date.

SEC Issues $24 Million Over EOS ICO According to the press release published on Monday evening, Block.one has settled charges with the SEC “by paying a $24 million civil penalty.”

The blockchain giant, which operates in Blacksburg, Virginia, and Hong Kong, “consented to the order without admitting or denying its findings”, the SEC wrote.

For those unaware, the tension between the SEC and Block.one stems from the latter entity’s year-long sale of EOS tokens that raised some $4.1 billion — a record by a long shot for an ICO.

The SEC remarked in the release that “Block.one did not register its ICO as a securities offering pursuant to the federal securities laws, nor did it qualify for or seek an exemption from the registration requirements”.

Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, argued that Block.One did not provide participants in the sale “the information they were entitled to as participants in a securities offering”.

He added that it is the SEC’s mission to clamp down on firms that deprived investors of material “they need to make investment decisions.”

While $24 million is obviously not a small sum of money, the sum of the settlement paid shocked crypto pundits. Nic Carter, a co-founder of Coinmetrics, noted that Block.one paid 60 basis points (0.6%) of the billions it raised in the sale — effectively nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Others echoed Carter’s concerns, drawing attention to what they claim is just a slap on the wrist, not an all-out enforcement event. Block.one, for instance, spent $30 million on a domain name earlier this year, making $24 million seem much like pocket change.

Despite these concerns over the severity (or lack thereof) of the settlement, it seems that with the $24 million fine, the case is done and dusted.

My mind is absolutely blown by this block one news.

The SEC looked into all the gory details and decided to settle for 60 bips of what b1 raised. WTF

— nic ???? carter (@nic__carter) September 30, 2019

Block.one “Excited” to Resolve Matters To the point and very blunt, the SEC release left much to be desired for, specifically in regards to a response from Block.one itself and the details of the settlement.

As such, the blockchain development firm came out with its own statements in a press release dated October 1st, 2019. In it, Block.one revealed that the settlement “relates specifically to the ERC-20 token sold on the Ethereum blockchain” during the ICO, not the new token that exists on EOS’s own chain.

It was also revealed that with this settlement, the SEC has granted Block.one “an important waiver” so that it will “not be subject to certain ongoing restrictions that would usually apply with settlements of this type”, cementing the idea that the settlement has resolved any current dispute between Block.one and the SEC.

Block.one concluded in the press statement:

“We are excited to resolve these discussions with the SEC and are committed to ongoing collaboration with regulators and policy makers as the world continues to develop more clarity around compliance frameworks for digital assets.”

More to Come… While Block.one’s case is “one and done”, it may be that the SEC isn’t done with big names in crypto just yet.

Over the past few months, the American agency has been on an absolute killing spree against the crypto space, charging firms left and right for seeming wrongdoing. Earlier this year, it went after another high-profile case, bashing Canadian social media company Kik’s $100 million dollar ICO; just a few months back, it aimed to prevent the company behind once-massive altcoin Veritaseum from spending ICO proceedings.

The fact that the SEC went after Block.one, which ran the largest ICO ever, and other top companies in the cryptocurrency sector may be a sign of impending enforcement.

Nick Chong

I am a writer who has been following the cryptocurrency space since 2013. My insights and interviews have been featured in leading publications in the industry such as LongHash, NewsBTC, and Decrypt. When I am not writing, I work as a team member of the EXODUS division of HTC, a Taiwanese electronics company. I own a small amount of Bitcoin. Contact [email protected]