According to breaking news, the $456 million worth of assets that Justin Sun gave to TechTeryx to save the stablecoin called TrueUSD were frozen by the Dubai court.
The Dubai Digital Economic Court has ordered a global freeze on funds linked to a $456 million shortfall in TrueUSD stablecoin reserves. This decision has revived the crisis that forced TRON founder Justin Sun to bail out TrueUSD token holders.
The dispute revolves around whether funds from Techteryx's stablecoin reserves were allegedly transferred improperly to Dubai-based trade finance firm Aria Commodities DMCC. According to the plaintiff's lawyer, Aria received these funds through accounts managed by Hong Kong-based First Digital Trust in 2021 and 2022.
Aria is reportedly part of a group of companies controlled by financier Matthew William Brittain, with funds received being used for commodity transportation, mining projects and other illiquid ventures in emerging markets.
Techteryx claims that these transfers violated custody terms and that stablecoin holders' withdrawal requests were not met by converting cash reserves into long-term loans.
Judge Michael Black KC issued a global freezing order to prevent the funds being moved or concealed, stating that Techteryx had raised “serious issues that require trial.”
*This is not investment advice.
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A Dubai court has frozen $456 million in assets linked to TrueUSD’s reserve shortfall, which Justin Sun previously covered to bail out token holders, CoinDesk reported today.
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According to the ruling, the funds in question were allegedly transferred from TrueUSD’s reserves to Aria Commodities DMCC, a Dubai-based trade-finance company controlled by British financier Matthew William Brittain. The transactions took place between 2021 and 2022 through accounts managed by Hong Kong trustee First Digital Trust.
TrueUSD issuer Techteryx claimed that the funds were used for illiquid investments including commodity shipments and private lending deals, making them unavailable when redemptions surged. Justice Michael Black KC found that Techteryx presented a credible case and highlighted the risk of Brittain restructuring assets to evade future judgments.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Global Order Targets $456 Million in Frozen Funds Dubai’s Digital Economy Court has upheld a worldwide freezing order over $456 million linked to the reserve shortfall that forced crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun to cover losses for holders of the TrueUSD stablecoin. The order prevents funds connected to the token’s reserves from being moved or liquidated while ownership claims are settled in Hong Kong courts.
The case turns on whether money backing TrueUSD was diverted into Aria Commodities DMCC, a Dubai-based trade-finance firm that financed commodity shipments and mining ventures in emerging markets, according to lawyers for the claimant Techteryx, the stablecoin’s issuer.
The ruling, handed down on Oct. 17 by Justice Michael Black KC, said Techteryx had shown “serious issues to be tried” and a credible claim that the assets were held on constructive trust. Black noted that Aria had provided “no evidence” explaining how the funds were transferred or who controlled the resulting assets. He added that there was a “real risk” the firm’s controlling figure, Matthew William Brittain, could dissipate or restructure holdings to evade future enforcement.
Investor Takeaway The order is the first of its kind by Dubai’s Digital Economy Court and underscores growing cross-border legal scrutiny of stablecoin reserve management.
How the Funds Moved Aria Commodities, part of a group of companies controlled by Brittain, received the funds between 2021 and 2022 through accounts managed by First Digital Trust in Hong Kong, according to filings. The trustee was responsible for safeguarding reserves tied to TrueUSD’s circulation. First Digital Trust did not respond to a request for comment.
Techteryx alleges that the transfers breached its custody terms and turned liquid reserves into long-term loans and private investments that could not be redeemed when holders tried to withdraw. Those arrangements, the company says, led to the liquidity crisis that triggered the $456 million gap later covered by Sun.
Brittain previously said that liquidity problems were “a matter of term commitments,” not mismanagement. “ARIA CFF has never held [its] strategy out as highly liquid, or appropriate for the reserves of a stablecoin,” he said in earlier comments.
Wider Implications for Stablecoin Oversight The dispute is being closely watched by financial regulators and digital asset lawyers as a test case for how courts handle allegations of reserve misuse across jurisdictions. While stablecoins are typically marketed as fully backed, cases like TrueUSD’s raise questions over transparency in asset custody and the legal recourse available when funds are commingled or invested in illiquid ventures.
The Dubai ruling also highlights how the emirate’s new Digital Economy Court — established to handle blockchain and fintech-related cases — is beginning to assert cross-border jurisdiction in crypto disputes. Its decision to enforce a global freezing order marks a precedent for digital asset litigation in the region.
Investor Takeaway For stablecoin issuers, the case is a warning that opaque reserve structures can trigger global enforcement actions, not just reputational damage.
Next Steps in the Case With the freezing order now in place, the next phase will take place in Hong Kong, where courts will determine whether the disputed assets belong to Techteryx or to Aria’s trading businesses. If Techteryx’s claims succeed, the funds could eventually be returned to TrueUSD’s reserves to restore full backing.
The outcome could set a broader precedent for the treatment of token reserves held through intermediaries — especially when those assets are invested beyond the low-risk instruments typically expected for stablecoins.
About the Author: Abdelaziz Fathi
Abdelaziz Fathi covers the intersection of forex/CFD brokerage, regulation, liquidity, fintech, and digital assets. With a B.A. in Finance and hands-on industry exposure, Aziz blends analytical rigor with clear storytelling to make complex market structure understandable for traders, brokers, and fintech professionals.
For years, Justin Sun has been a controversial figure in the cryptocurrency markets, consistently making headlines with his complicated dealings. Many recall how Donald Trump’s presidency shielded Sun from potential legal issues in the U.S., thanks to his generous contributions to WLFI. However, it is not the United States putting Sun in a difficult position anymore, but rather Dubai.
Justin Sun CaseA recent court decision in Dubai has resulted in the freezing of $456 million in assets related to Sun’s plan to rescue TrueUSD (TUSD). It is crucial to understand Sun’s connection to TUSD, which is explored further in this section. Today, the Dubai Digital Economy Court approved the freezing of $456 million aimed at saving TrueUSD owners worldwide.
Despite Sun’s claims of having no official ties, the $456 million designated as TUSD reserves was directed towards a company named Aria Commodities DMCC. Funds were then allocated to various illiquid ventures, products, and diverse investments.
Under normal circumstances, TUSD reserves should have been maintained as liquid assets under Techteryx’s control. However, these reserves were transferred to Aria via First Digital Trust Limited and invested in ventures unsuitable for stablecoins. Matthew Brittain of Aria Group stated, “ARIA CFF was never presented as a high-liquidity or stablecoin reserve strategy.” This situation led to the Dubai Digital Economy Court’s historic decision to freeze global assets.
Justin Sun and His Intricate DealingsAt first glance, one might wonder what Sun’s role in this affair truly is. However, Justin Sun has always been at the heart of complex and potentially fraudulent endeavors. This case is no exception. Techteryx is a fully anonymous offshore entity. Although located in Hong Kong, the ownership of Techteryx, which was involved with TUSD since its early days, remains anonymous and is notably active on platforms linked to Sun.
Past evidence shows addresses associated with Sun were involved in minting and burning TUSD. Additionally, Sun’s initiated project, USDD, is financially tied to TUSD. Despite the difficulties in establishing direct connections, Sun’s significant influence is apparent, allowing for easy conclusions.
Moreover, the founder of Tron is no stranger to deception or such business activities. He denied association with Poloniex, although he was managing its employees. Similarly, he initially concealed his acquisition of HTX but later advertised the exchange after his ownership emerged. The USDD case followed a similar contentious path where he claimed no link to TUSD but was actively trying to save it.
Nonetheless, Justin Sun stands out as the most successful trickster in the crypto world, surpassing figures like SBF and Zhu Su. It’s likely that Sun will again escape unscathed, and the day he is finally caught will mark a significant event in the crypto ecosystem.
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.
PANews reported on November 13th that, according to CoinDesk, the Dubai Digital Economy Court issued a global asset freeze order regarding $456 million in funds related to Justin Sun's bailout of Techteryx, the issuer of the stablecoin TrueUSD. The crux of the dispute lies in whether TrueUSD reserve funds were improperly transferred to Dubai trade finance company Aria Commodities DMCC. Aria, an entity under financier Matthew William Brittain, received funds through a Hong Kong First Digital Trust account between 2021 and 2022. Techteryx claims this violated custody terms, turning reserves into irredeemable long-term loans and private transactions. Matthew William Brittain of Aria has stated that the liquidity issues are related to maturity commitments, and that the ARIA CFF strategy is not highly liquid or suitable as a stablecoin reserve. On October 17, 2025, Judge Michael Black KC stated that Techteryx presented “serious issues” pending review, warranting a freeze on the funds. He further stated that Aria had failed to provide evidence of fund transfers and asset ownership, and that Brittain risked “dissipating or restructuring assets to obstruct the judgment.”
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Updated Nov 18, 2025, 4:57 a.m. Published Nov 18, 2025, 12:49 a.m.
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FDT's Vincent Chok Speaks at Consensus 2025 in Hong Kong (CoinDesk)Summary
A Dubai court has frozen $456 million linked to TrueUSD's reserves, which became illiquid after being transferred to complex investment structures.First Digital Trust supports Techteryx's efforts to recover the funds, which were tied up in trade-finance positions with Aria Commodities DMCC.FDT is pursuing a defamation case against Justin Sun, who claimed the trustee was insolvent, affecting the stability of FDT's stablecoin.With a Dubai court freezing $456 million tied to TrueUSD’s reserves, First Digital Trust said it backs Techteryx’s effort to recover the funds after they became illiquid in 2023 following transfers into complex investment structures associated with the Aria Group, a shortfall that required an emergency bailout from Justin Sun to keep the stablecoin running.
"We welcome any steps that assist Techteryx in pursuing recovery of its funds from the Aria entities," First Digital's Vincent Chok said in an email to CoinDesk. "We understand the Court has ordered Aria to provide disclosure regarding the assets, and we look forward to seeing the results of that process."
FDT was not a party to the case in Dubai.
The connection between FDT and Aria stems from FDT’s former role as fiduciary custodian for TrueUSD’s reserves, which it held on behalf of Techteryx.
As CoinDesk reported earlier this year, Techteryx said it instructed FDT to place the funds into the Aria Commodity Finance Fund, a Cayman Islands vehicle. Court filings in Hong Kong later alleged that roughly $456 million was instead transferred to Aria Commodities DMCC, a separate Dubai-based Aria entity, where the assets became tied up in illiquid trade-finance positions.
The court order from Dubai's Digital Economy Court froze these funds.
FDT CEO Vincent Chok told CoinDesk the firm acted solely as a fiduciary intermediary and executed all transactions exactly as instructed by Techteryx and its representatives.
Separately, FDT continues to pursue a defamation case against Sun, who, in April, claimed that the trustee is "effectively insolvent," which caused FDT's stablecoin, FDUSD, to become briefly unpegged.
"There are no public updates to share at this stage," Chok told CoinDesk.
Оновлено 18 лист. 2025 р., 4:57 дп Опубліковано 18 лист. 2025 р., 12:49 дп Перекладено AI
2 min read
FDT's Vincent Chok Speaks at Consensus 2025 in Hong Kong (CoinDesk)Summary
Дубайський суд заморозив 456 мільйонів доларів, пов’язаних із резервами TrueUSD, які стали неліківідними після передачі до складних інвестиційних структур.First Digital Trust підтримує зусилля Techteryx щодо відновлення коштів, які були заблоковані в позиціях торгового фінансування з Aria Commodities DMCC.FDT порушує справу про наклеп проти Джастіна Сана, який стверджував, що довірена особа є неплатоспроможною, що впливає на стабільність стейблкоїна FDT.З судом у Дубаї замороження $456 мільйонів пов’язаний із резервами TrueUSD, First Digital Trust заявила, що підтримує зусилля Techteryx щодо відновлення коштів після того, як вони стали нелікідними у 2023 році внаслідок трансферів у складні інвестиційні структури, пов’язані з групою Aria, нестача яких потребував екстреної фінансової підтримки від Джастіна Сана для підтримки стабкоїна в роботі.
Ми вітаємо будь-які кроки, які сприяють компанії Techteryx у поверненні її коштів від суб’єктів Aria," – заявив Вінсент Чок із First Digital в електронному листі до CoinDesk. "Ми розуміємо, що суд зобов’язав Aria надати інформацію щодо активів, і з нетерпінням очікуємо результатів цього процесу.
FDT не брала участі у справі в Дубаї.
Зв’язок між FDT та Aria походить від колишньої ролі FDT як фідуціарного кастодіана резервів TrueUSD, які вона утримувала від імені Techteryx.
Як CoinDesk повідомив на початку цього року, Techteryx повідомила, що дала доручення FDT розмістити кошти у фонді Aria Commodity Finance Fund, зареєстрованому на Кайманових островах. Однак, згідно з судовими матеріалами в Гонконзі, приблизно $456 мільйонів було замість цього переведено до Aria Commodities DMCC, окремої структури Aria, що базується в Дубаї, де активи опинилися у заморожених неліквідних позиціях у сфері торгового фінансування.
Судовий наказ Цифрового економічного суду Дубая заморозив ці кошти.
Генеральний директор FDT Вінсент Чок повідомив CoinDesk, що компанія діяла виключно як фідуціарний посередник і виконувала всі операції точно відповідно до інструкцій Techteryx та її представників.
Окремо, FDT продовжує порушити справу про наклеп проти Sun, який у квітні заявив, що керуючий є "фактично неплатоспроможним", що призвело до тимчасового розриву прив’язки стейблкоїна FDT, FDUSD.
"На цьому етапі немає публічних оновлень для повідомлення," – сказав Чок виданню CoinDesk.
TrueUSD (TUSD), a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar at a 1:1 ratio designed to maintain a stable value in volatile cryptocurrencies, has released an announcement of freezing TUSD by the Dubai International Financial Centre Court (DIFC Court). The purpose of this announcement is to stop the misuse of TUSD all over the world illegally.
Basically, the DIFC Court has ordered to freeze $456 million TUSUD reserves misappropriated by Aria, First Digital Trust, and their Co-Conspirators. In history, for the first time, TUSD was moved inappropriately and against the law. TrueUSD has released this news through its official X account.
Digital Economy Court Protects Holders with Landmark Freezing Order The only purpose of this step is to safeguard the digital assets of holders by ensuring the safety and security of their assets. The Digital Economy Court clearly emphasized the continuation of both a proprietary injunction and a worldwide freezing order against Aria Commodities Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).
DMCC has accepted the proof of real risk of dissipation; moreover, it claimed that the world’s first freezing order has been issued by the DIFC Court’s Digital Economy Court. It is very disappointing for a country that makes its name by doing such illegal actions against the assets of users. This thing highlights the insecure system of the country as well.
DIFC’s Stand on Digital Asset Security This decision of Financial Centre Court (DIFC Court) is giving a clear message to the broader term that it is the first responsibility of every country to safeguard its people’s assets at any cost. In addition, this is also showing the seriousness of DIFC about the security of digital assets.
This will be a precedent for other countries to avoid any negligence in the matter of digital assets, which will not be tolerated at any cost. This will be the example of how digital funds would be frozen if any misuse were to happen in the future.
AUTHOR
Crypto journalist with years of experience providing in-depth analysis and news on blockchain and decentralized finance. With a keen eye for detail, Shahzaib delivers insightful articles that explore the latest trends, market movements, and innovations within the crypto and blockchain ecosystem. His work focuses on educating readers while offering expert commentary on the evolving landscape of digital assets, DeFi protocols, and the broader impact of blockchain technology.
The credit rating agency says information about the stablecoin's composition is scarce, and governance doesn’t have clear guidance.
Credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings assigned TrueUSD (TUSD) its lowest possible score, concluding that the stablecoin’s ability to maintain its dollar peg is unlikely. S&P Global Ratings gave TUSD's ability to remain at $1 a score of 5 on a 1-5 scale, where 1 is “very strong,” and 5 is “weak.”
In its assessment, published on Nov. 14, the credit rating agency noted that TUSD issuer Techteryx — which bought TUSD in December 2020 from ArchBlock, and has been publicly connected to TRON founder Justin Sun — had most of the stablecoin’s reserves held by a single custodian, First Digital Trust Ltd. (FDTL).
S&P Global Ratings’ assessment was published just a day after reports surfaced that a Dubai court had issued a global freeze on nearly half a billion dollars in TUSD reserves, as part of ongoing legal dispute.
Battle Over TUSD ReservesCourt filings by Techteryx in Dubai show that around $456 million of TUSD’s reserves, on Techteryx’s own instructions, were sent for investment purposes in multiple payments between June 2021 and March 2022 to Aria Commodities DMCC, a Dubai trade firm.
But the court found that Aria DMCC “has been unable to show precisely how the money was used, what assets were purchased or what became of them.” To recover the funds, Techteryx has launched legal action against Aria and several regional banks.
As a result, Dubai’s Financial Centre Court froze those assets in an amended judgement dated Oct. 17 — with media reporting on the freeze just last week — while the case is ongoing.
Although Techteryx and its backers are currently supplying liquidity so holders can still redeem TUSD at $1, S&P Global Ratings warned in its report that “in the absence of liquidity support from Techteryx, TUSD may lose its peg.”
A spokesperson for Sun told The Defiant that Sun is indeed “an advisor of Techteryx,” and confirmed reports that Sun had personally contributed the almost half a billion dollar sum to TUSD’s reserves.
The spokesperson told The Defiant that TUSD’s issuer “approached Justin for support when they found a substantial amount of TrueUSD reserves were misappropriated by Aria, First Digital Trust and their co-conspirators.” Sun’s spokesperson added:
“To protect the public token holders' interests, Justin made capital commitment and provided nearly $500m liquidity support.”Shady PastThe credit agency also criticized a lack of public information about Techteryx itself, saying “public information about Techteryx’s ownership or other activities is scarce.” S&P noted that TUSD remains unregulated and that it hasn’t seen legal opinions confirming the reserves are separated from Techteryx’s own assets.
S&P Global Ratings also highlighted past issues with TUSD’s previous operators. For instance, TrueCoin, a subsidiary of ArchBlock, and TrustToken, developer of the lending protocol TrueFi, were subject to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint.
The U.S. watchdog alleged that from November 2020 to April 2023, both firms “engaged in the unregistered offer and sale of investment contracts in the form of the crypto asset TUSD and profit-making opportunities with respect to TrueUSD on TrueFi.”
Both firms agreed to settle the charges, though the settlements haven’t yet been formally approved by the court, the credit rating agency noted.
Even though TUSD’s reserves are checked in real time by Moore, a Hong Kong accounting firm, S&P says transparency gaps still persist. The agency added that TUSD remains “confidence sensitive” because of weak governance and unclear asset quality, making improvements in its stability score unlikely.
TUSD price since December 2024. Source: CoinGeckoSince January this year, TUSD has mostly traded just at or just below $1, per data from CoinGecko.
“We see an improvement in the stablecoin stability assessment as a remote scenario,” the S&P Global Rating report concludes.
Justin Sun at a press conference in Hong Kong on Nov. 27 (Tron modified by CoinDesk)Summary
Justin Sun escalated his accusations against First Digital Trust, building on claims raised in April by alleging the Hong Kong trust company not only rerouted TUSD reserves offshore but also fabricated transaction documents to mask the transfers.Sun urged Hong Kong regulators to intervene, warning that gaps in the city’s Trust or Company Service Provider regime could undermine the upcoming stablecoin licensing framework.FDT sought an injunction to restrain Sun from holding a press conference, claiming that he is spreading defamatory remarks about the company.HONG KONG — Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain and an adviser to TrueUSD issuer Techteryx, returned to the podium in Hong Kong with a more forceful version of allegations he first aired in April, accusing First Digital Trust (FDT), a fiduciary company, and its CEO Vincent Chok of exploiting gaps in the city’s trust company framework to move hundreds of millions of dollars in TUSD reserves offshore.
At a Thursday press conference in the city, Sun alleged the Hong Kong trust company not only rerouted the stablecoin's reserves offshore but also fabricated transaction documents to mask the transfers.
Techteryx acquired TUSD in 2020 and appointed FDT to be the fiduciary responsible for holding and managing the reserves backing the token.
The follow-up press conference comes months after Sun disclosed a liquidity shortfall in TUSD’s reserves and alleged that Hong Kong’s trust regulations let FDT reroute nearly half a billion dollars into illiquid offshore vehicles without authorization, as CoinDesk reported earlier this year.
In court filings, Techteryx claimed the transfers went to Aria Commodities DMCC — not to a fund called Aria CFF, as it initially said it was directed — and were tied up in illiquid commodity and infrastructure deals that could not be redeemed, allegations Aria has denied.
Unauthorized money transfers?
Both Techteryx and Aria agree that the reserves ended up in Aria-linked entities. The dispute centers on whether FDT was authorized to send the funds there and whether it understood the assets would be committed to long-term, illiquid trade-finance projects, which are inappropriate for stablecoin reserves.
Techteryx says it instructed FDT to place reserves only in the Aria Commodity Finance Fund, a Cayman vehicle. FDT denies it diverted the money instead to Aria Commodities DMCC, saying it acted strictly on instructions from Techteryx or its representatives. Aria, for its part, says the assets were placed into term-based financing arrangements consistent with the agreements it believed were in place.
Since the first press conference, Dubai’s Digital Economy Court has issued a worldwide freeze on assets tied to the alleged misappropriation. The ruling does not determine liability and was granted on the basis that there were serious issues to be tried.
The order locks down the assets until Hong Kong courts resolve the dispute, adding external pressure on local regulators to address the custodial practices at the center of the case. The episode has become a test of how Hong Kong regulates trust companies at a time when the city is preparing a stablecoin licensing regime in which custodial controls will be central to investor protection.
All of this raises questions about how Hong Kong’s regulators and law enforcement will respond as the city prepares a stablecoin licensing regime that depends on strong custodial oversight.
Hong Kong lawmakers acknowledge flaws in Trust regime
Critics, like Sun, have called out Hong Kong’s Trust or Company Service Provider (TCSPs) regime, which licenses and oversees non-bank trust companies, for allowing client assets to be moved without the transaction-level safeguards that apply to banks. Under the framework, trust companies are not required to obtain prior regulatory approval for large transfers.
TCSPs are supervised by the Companies Registry rather than financial regulators, and do not face capital requirements or transaction monitoring comparable to banks or licensed securities intermediaries.
“Any owner of the trust can basically transfer their client's assets into any account he want. You can just have one single transaction … and only one person can do that,” Sun said in an interview. “The regulators need to close it immediately.”
Lawmakers in Hong Kong have acknowledged this issue. Legislative Council member Johnny Ng — an advocate for the territory's Web3 sector — said in April that multiple suspected fraud cases involving trust companies had already been reported to his office and that the city needs to strengthen its trust-company regulatory framework.
FDT says it was following directionsFDT maintains it followed Techteryx's directions, denies misappropriating funds and says it does not control Aria’s assets.
Instead, it argues that the money became difficult to retrieve because Aria raised anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) concerns about Techteryx’s ownership, not because FDT knowingly placed reserves into illiquid deals.
The Techteryx directions cited by FDT, Sun alleged, were fabricated.
"We have evidence they have been fabricating all the transaction documents,” Sun claimed in an interview with CoinDesk.
In response to a request for comment from CoinDesk, Chok said FDT sought an injunction to restrain the press event because the company is currently suing Sun for defamation.
"[This was to] prevent exactly what happened: unproven and baseless defamatory remarks about FDT," Chok told CoinDesk. "Sun presented no evidence to support his extraordinary claims other than sharing public information about normal proceedings in this saga."
On X, FDT said it welcomes any steps that assist Techteryx in recovering its assets from Aria.
"Our position remains grounded in documented facts and the judicial record. We want to see the funds released and justice done through proper legal process," Chok continued.
Sun said that he expects more developments before the end of the year.
TLDR: TrueUSD reserve losses traced to global fund diversion linked to fiduciaries managing TUSD assets. Techteryx pursues fraud cases after funds moved through Dubai, Hong Kong, and other financial hubs. Justin Sun pledged personal resources to cover a $500 million shortfall linked to the alleged scheme. Court filings describe misleading trade finance claims that masked large-scale asset siphoning. TrueUSD entered a tense chapter this year as new allegations surfaced about large-scale misappropriation of reserve assets. Justin Sun detailed how Techteryx uncovered evidence pointing to a coordinated fraud involving several fiduciaries tied to TUSD reserves.
He said the discovery followed his April pledge to cover a liquidity shortfall of roughly $500 million for public holders. The disclosures set the stage for a global pursuit of missing assets across multiple jurisdictions.
TrueUSD Asset Recovery Efforts Intensify Techteryx initiated lawsuits after evidence showed that reserve funds had not been used for the reported low-risk finance strategy.
According to Sun’s social update, the assets were instead diverted into Aria DMCC, a private Dubai entity linked to Matthew Brittain’s family. The allegations describe how fiduciaries promised secured trade finance structures that never existed. The filings claim the group siphoned funds through misleading representations.
Techteryx pursued the matter across several jurisdictions, including the Dubai International Financial Centre. The DIFC Courts found there was a serious issue to be tried based on the detailed claims presented by the company.
Sun said the fraud involved a network of fiduciaries tied to entities such as ARIA group, First Digital Trust, Legacy Trust, Finaport, and Truecoin. The accusations extend to individuals identified in Techteryx’s filings, including Brittain, Vincent Chok, Alex De Lorraine, and Yai Sukonthabhund.
Sun noted that funds were moved through channels spanning Dubai, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, the US, Australia, the UK, Singapore, Lichtenstein, Ukraine, and parts of Africa.
He said the money was later dispersed into non-redeemable loans and unprofitable ventures. Among these were projects in bitumen manufacturing, coal rights, commodity trades, port concepts, and renewable energy proposals.
Techteryx linked part of the outflow to historic transactions involving FTX.
As the founder of TRON and a passionate advocate for blockchain innovation, I've always believed in building a transparent, secure, and decentralized future.
Today, I want to update you on a critical chapter in the story of TrueUSD—a stablecoin that has faced significant…
— H.E. Justin Sun 👨🚀 🌞 (@justinsuntron) November 28, 2025
Techteryx Expands Legal Action in Fraud Case The company said that misleading representations of the Aria Commodity Finance Fund played a central role in the alleged scheme. The structure was presented as a liquid, low-risk vehicle with credit insurance.
Sun referenced regulatory filings, noting that similar concerns appeared in US SEC complaints involving Truecoin. Techteryx argued that De Lorraine enabled the diversion of assets by supporting the fraudulent representations.
Sun emphasized that the rescue plan he announced in April aimed to stabilize public TUSD holders promptly. He said the liquidity shortfall stemmed from the alleged misappropriation rather than operational failure at TrueUSD.
The company maintains that asset recovery is ongoing and tied to multiple parallel cases. Sun framed the effort as a push for accountability across regions linked to the missing funds.
Techteryx continues tracing assets that were moved into offshore shells and related entities. Sun’s update stated that the list of jurisdictions involved keeps expanding as the investigation deepens.
The company believes the misappropriated funds were spread through a web of complex transfers. It maintains that further disclosures will follow as court processes move forward.
Zilliqa is currently trading at range lows within a critical support region marked by the value area low and swing low. A bullish broadening wedge is forming, indicating a potential structural reversal if the resistance level is broken.
Zilliqa (ZIL) is forming a potential bottoming pattern at a historically significant price zone. The asset is currently consolidating near the value area low, which also aligns with a prior swing low, making this area structurally important for any upcoming bullish reversal.
The technical formation in play is a bullish broadening wedge. While the upper resistance of this pattern has not yet broken, a decisive breakout with strong volume would likely signal the start of a bullish expansion phase. Price action is coiling, and historical data suggests that breakouts from this region often result in aggressive upside moves.
Key technical points Bullish Broadening Wedge: Developing at value area low and swing low region Resistance Not Yet Broken: Pattern remains inactive until dynamic resistance is breached Volume Profile Below Average: Breakout needs strong volume influx to confirm activation ZILUSDT (1W) Chart, Source: TradingView ZIL is trading within a broadening wedge structure near the value area low, which historically has acted as a springboard for upward moves. This type of wedge is considered a bullish continuation pattern, especially when found at range lows. However, for it to be considered active, price must first break above the dynamic upper resistance that defines the wedge’s expanding shape.
Currently, the price remains inside the pattern, and volume is below average. This suggests that bulls have not yet stepped in with conviction. However, the setup remains constructive. A reclaim of the value area low, combined with a breakout above the wedge’s resistance, would be the key trigger for pattern activation.
Once confirmed, the price could rally quickly toward the value area high and the next point of control. This is supported by past price behavior, where similar setups led to explosive upside moves. Traders should closely watch for a rise in volume, as this will be the first indication that the pattern is transitioning from development to breakout.
What to expect in the coming price action Zilliqa remains in a consolidation phase, trading within a bullish broadening wedge at the value area low.
The pattern has not yet activated, but a breakout above resistance with strong volume could kickstart a powerful rotation toward higher levels.
Until then, ZIL remains on watch, with the potential for significant upside once the structure confirms.
PANews reported on September 12th that Binance announced that it will suspend deposits and withdrawals of Zilliqa (ZIL) tokens at 01:00 on September 25, 2025, to facilitate its network upgrade and hard fork. The upgrade is expected to take place at block height 10,153,271, at 02:00 on September 25, 2025 (Beijing Time).
Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced its support for the upcoming network update and hard fork of the altcoin Zilliqa (ZIL). The update, scheduled for September 24, 2025, will temporarily suspend ZIL coin deposits and withdrawals on the Zilliqa network. However, trading of the altcoin on Binance will continue without interruption during this period.
Zilliqa Network Update and Hard Fork DetailsAccording to Binance, the Zilliqa network update and hard fork are set to occur around 21:00 Turkish Standard Time on September 24, 2025, when the blockchain reaches a height of 10,153,271. Binance will manage all technical aspects of this process, ensuring that users do not need to take any action.
Once the network update and hard fork are complete and stability is restored, ZIL coin deposit and withdrawal services through the network will resume. Binance has indicated that there will not be an additional announcement to inform users of the resumption of these services.
Impact on User TransactionsBinance reassured that throughout the network update and hard fork, ZIL coin trading operations will remain unaffected. Only ZIL coin deposits and withdrawals through the network will experience a temporary halt. As a result, users will not be able to conduct deposit or withdrawal transactions during this period.
Binance noted that services will be restored after the network update is complete. Thus, while trading will continue uninterrupted, deposit and withdrawal functions will also become operational again.
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.
Analyst: Micron’s financial report indicates short-term fluctuations can be ignored as long as earnings prospects underpin its high valuation.
Senior Market Analyst Daniela Hathorn stated, "As Micron Technology's earnings report once again confirms that the AI investment cycle remains solid, the U.S. stock market has recouped some of its losses. This has boosted market sentiment across the entire semiconductor sector—after high-growth individual stocks underperformed earlier—indicating that as long as profit prospects continue to support high valuations, investors are still willing to overlook short-term fluctuations."
4 minutes ago
Circle partners with Nomura Securities to enter the Japanese yen foreign exchange settlement service market.
Stablecoin issuer Circle plans to collaborate with Nomura Securities to launch instant foreign currency settlement for Japanese corporate clients as early as 2027. The initiative will enable large cross-border transactions to be completed immediately, aiming to boost cross-border investment and trade. This will mark the first entry of a major stablecoin issuer into Japan’s corporate transaction market, allowing companies to convert yen into US dollar-denominated stablecoins for investment and instant transfers.
4 minutes ago
Institutions' Preview: Overview of US May Core PCE Price Index Monthly Rate
The US May core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index monthly rate will be released tonight at 20:30 (UTC+8). Below are the forecasts from multiple institutions: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation: 0.2%; Royal Bank of Canada: 0.2%; JPMorgan Chase: 0.3%; Goldman Sachs Group: 0.3%; Bank of Montreal: 0.3%; Moody's Corporation: 0.3%; Standard Chartered: 0.3%; UniCredit: 0.3%; ING Group: 0.3%; HSBC Holdings: 0.3%; BNP Paribas: 0.4%; Wells Fargo: 0.4%; Capital Economics: 0.4%; Citigroup: 0.4%; Deutsche Bank: 0.4%; Nomura Securities: 0.4%; Pantheon Macroeconomics: 0.4%; Société Générale: 0.4%; Scotiabank: 0.4%; Morgan Stanley: 0.4%
4 minutes ago
DA Davidson Raises Micron’s Price Target to $2,000, Retains Buy Rating
U.S. investment bank DA Davidson released a research note stating that Micron Technology has entered a new phase with one of the best performance visibility in the semiconductor industry, a stark contrast to its past standing in the sector. Driven by another quarter of results that handily exceeded expectations and positive forward guidance, Micron’s stock price surged sharply. These signals indicate that the current memory chip boom cycle is far from over. While the company is ramping up capacity investments (with capital expenditure (CAPEX) projected to hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which will bring additional supply), management expects the memory market to remain tight on supply and demand at least through 2027. Against this backdrop, DA Davidson reiterated its "Buy" rating on Micron and raised its price target from $1,500 to $2,000, equivalent to a 20x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio based on the company’s 2026 calendar year expected earnings per share (EPS).
4 minutes ago
Morgan Stanley raises Micron's price target to $1,200, maintains 'Overweight' rating.
Morgan Stanley released a report raising Micron Technology (MU.O)’s price target from $1,050 to $1,200, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. The investment bank lifted its fiscal 2027 earnings per share (EPS) forecast for the chipmaker by roughly 40% to $168, and upgraded its free cash flow (FCF) projection from $104 billion to $140 billion. Aligning with Micron’s management, the bank holds that AI will push DRAM demand to consistently outpace supply significantly after 2027. Micron’s last fiscal quarter results matched this trend, with both its quarterly performance and outlook showing notable upside potential.
Take-Two delivered FY2026 results above guidance, driven by growth in recurrent consumer spending, mobile gaming, and core franchises. The business is strengthening ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI, with EBITDA expanding and the balance sheet improving. Management expects FY2027 to establish a higher level of operating performance supported by a multi-year release pipeline.
Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, announced that it will support the planned network upgrade and hard fork process on the Zilliqa (ZIL) network.
Binance to Support Zilliqa (ZIL) Network Upgrade and Hard Fork According to the exchange's announcement, the network upgrade will occur at block height 13,514,400 and this process is expected to begin approximately at around 10:18 AM on 17-11-2025.
To protect the user experience during the upgrade and hard fork, Binance will temporarily suspend all token deposits and withdrawals on the Zilliqa (ZIL) network starting November 17, 2025, at 09:18. However, the exchange stated that this will not affect the trading of ZIL tokens.
The statement stated that Binance will manage all technical requirements on behalf of users, and once the upgrade is complete and the network is confirmed to be stable and secure, deposits and withdrawals will be reopened. The company also stated that no additional announcements will be made after this process is complete.
Zilliqa, a high-performance Layer-1 blockchain, stands out for its scalability and transaction efficiency. This update is expected to enhance network security and optimize transaction speed. Binance's technical support initiative is considered a significant step that will contribute to the development of the Zilliqa ecosystem.
*This is not investment advice.
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Zilliqa (ZIL) price trades above $0.0058 on Wednesday, up more than 13% over the last two days. Bullish sentiment strengthens as trading volume and Open Interest (OI) rise, alongside positive funding rates. On the technical side, indicators suggest a rally continuation, targeting the $0.0065 mark.
Zilliqa on-chain and derivatives data suggest bullish biasSantiment data indicate that the ZIL ecosystem’s trading volume (the aggregate trading volume generated by all exchange applications on the chain) reached $92.59 million on Monday, the highest level since July 4, and steadied at around $27.46 million on Wednesday. This volume rise indicates a surge in traders’ interest and liquidity in Zilliqa, boosting its bullish outlook.
Zilliqa trading volume chart. Source: SantimentDerivatives data further support the positive view for ZIL. CoinGlass’s data show that ZIL futures OI across exchanges reached $13.48 million on Tuesday, the highest level since October 11. An increasing OI represents new or additional money entering the market and new buying, which could fuel the current ZIL price rally.
ZIL open interest chart. Source: CoinglassCoinglass’s OI-Weighted Funding Rate data shows that the number of traders betting that the price of ZIL will slide further is lower than those anticipating a price increase.
The metric has flipped to a positive rate, standing at 0.0059% on Wednesday, indicating that longs are paying shorts. Historically, as shown in the chart below, when the funding rates have flipped from negative to positive, Zilliqa’s price has rallied sharply.
ZIL funding rate chart. Source: CoinglassZilliqa Price Forecast: ZIL bulls aiming for the $0.0065 markZilliqa price surged more than 9% on Monday and closed above the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $0.0055. ZIL continued its rally the next day, finding support around the 50-day EMA and closing above the daily resistance at $0.0058. As of Wednesday, ZIL is trading at around $0.0058.
If ZIL continues its upward trend, it could extend the rally toward the next resistance at $0.0065, its 100-day EMA.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart is 65, above the neutral level of 50, indicating bullish momentum is gaining traction. Moreover, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) shows a bullish crossover that remains intact, with rising green histogram bars above the neutral level, further supporting the positive outlook.
ZIL/USDT daily chartHowever, if ZIL faces a correction, it could extend the decline toward the 50-day EMA at $0.0055.
Zilliqa (ZIL) is nearing key resistance, trading at $0.0050 on Wednesday; a rejection could trigger a deeper correction. The weakening derivatives positioning among traders further supports the bearish price action in ZIL. In addition, the technical outlook suggests further correction as momentum indicators turn negative.
Zilliqa’s waning investor participationZilliqa derivatives show signs of weakness, with futures Open Interest (OI) on the Binance exchange dropping to $2.25 million on Wednesday, levels not seen since mid-December, reflecting waning investor participation.
Zilliqa open interest chart at Binance exchange. Source: CoinglassZilliqa Price Analysis: ZIL bears are in control of the momentumZilliqa price closed below the ascending trendline (drawn by connecting multiple lows since December 19) on Tuesday, indicating a shift in market structure. As of Wednesday, ZIL is nearly at this breakout zone, which roughly coincides with daily resistance at $0.0051 and the 50% price level (drawn from the December low of $0.0042 to the January 12 high at $0.0061) at $0.0052, making this a key reversal zone.
If ZIL faces rejection from these resistance levels, it could extend the decline toward the December 31 low of $0.0046.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart reads 45, below the neutral level of 50, indicating bearish momentum is gaining traction. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) also showed a bearish crossover on Tuesday, further supporting the negative outlook.
ZIL/USDT daily chartHowever, if ZIL recovers and closes above the daily resistance at $0.0051 on a daily basis, it could extend the advance toward the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $0.0054.
As Zilliqa 2.0 enters its next phase, the challenge is no longer about core technology. The network is live, EVM-compatible, and Production-ready. The real question now is simple: how do we help more builders get from zero to mainnet?
“More on-chain activity starts with better builder onboarding.”
Funded as part of gZIL Collective Season 1, Plunder Academy aims to solve this challenge. It is a free, hands-on learning platform designed to help anyone - from complete beginners to experienced developers - start building real applications on Zilliqa EVM.
A Practical Learning Path for Zilliqa EVMPlunder Academy is a structured, end-to-end learning journey built specifically for Zilliqa’s EVM environment, guiding learners from fundamentals to production-ready deployments.
Five Themed Learning ZonesThe curriculum is organised into 23 core modules across five themed areas:- Jungle Island (fundamentals), Arctic (advanced Solidity), Desert (token and NFT launchpads), Castle (on-chain systems), and Future (frontend integration).
Built to Solve a Real Ecosystem NeedPlunder Academy was created to lower the barrier to entry for Developers building on Zilliqa 2.0, enabling faster experimentation and real mainnet deployments.
“Education should lead to execution — not just theory.”
Free, Open, and AccessiblePlunder Academy is completely free and open to anyone at https://plunderacademy.com
AI-Powered Learning and SecurityThe platform includes AI-driven Solidity code review, Exploit detection, and a Chatbot trained on Zilliqa EVM resources, reinforcing security-first development.
Who Is It For?Plunder Academy supports beginners, founders, non-technical users, and experienced developers exploring Zilliqa EVM.
Standing Apart from Other PlatformsNFT-based achievements, real-world security training, and Zilliqa-specific tooling set Plunder Academy apart from generic Solidity courses.
Real Usage and TractionUsage metrics and milestone results are available at https://plunderacademy.com/presentation.
From Learning to On-Chain ImpactPlunder Academy shows how community-led funding can translate into real ecosystem impact. By lowering the barrier to building on Zilliqa EVM and reinforcing secure development practices, it helps turn learning into deployment — and builders into contributors.
As the ecosystem grows, initiatives like this will continue to play a key role in driving sustainable, on-chain innovation.
Zilliqa (ZIL) price is extending its gains, rallying over 20% to $0.006 on Tuesday after soaring nearly 34% the previous day. The upcoming Cancun upgrade this week is boosting investor sentiment, despite broader weakness in the crypto market. ZIL continues to attract strong buying interest, supported by rising trading activity and improving derivatives metrics.
Zilliqa’s Cancun EVM version support boosts sentimentZilliqa’s upcoming Cancun Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) version support, which will activate on the mainnet through a hard fork, is scheduled for this week on Thursday. This update aims to deliver faster communication and finer-grained control, as posted by Zilliqa’s X.
In addition, Zilliqa’s community updates blog on Monday announced that Liechtenstein Trust Integrity Network (LTIN) will join the Zilliqa network as the first government-backed institutional validator, reinforcing Zilliqa’s regulatory-readiness direction.
These developments and announcements have boosted bullish sentiment among investors, as ZIL has rallied more than 60% so far this week despite broader weakness in the crypto market.
ZIL’s on-chain and derivatives data show bullish biasSantiment data indicates that the Zilliqa ecosystem’s trading volume (the aggregate trading volume generated by all exchange applications on the chain) reached $278.07 million on Tuesday, the highest volume since December 2024. This volume rise indicates a surge in trader interest and liquidity in Zilliqa, boosting its bullish outlook.
ZIL trading volume chart. Source: SantimentCoinGlass data shows that futures OI in Zilliqa at exchanges reached $47.76 million on Tuesday, up from $5.72 million on Monday, the highest levels since December 9, 2024. An increasing OI represents new or additional money entering the market and new buying, which could fuel the current ZIL price rally.
ZIL open interest chart. Source: CoinglassZilliqa Price Forecast: ZIL bulls in control of the momentumZilliqa price started the week on a positive note, rallying more than 34% on Monday and closing above the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $0.005. As of writing on Tuesday, ZIL is extending its gains by more than 20%, trading above the 100-day EMA at $0.006.
If ZIL continues its upward trend, it could extend the rally toward the 200-day EMA at $0.007.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart reads 67, above the neutral level of 50, indicating bullish momentum gaining traction. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed a bullish crossover on Tuesday, further supporting the bullish view.
ZIL/USDT daily chartIf ZIL faces a correction, it could extend the decline toward the 50-day EMA at $0.005.
This is a general announcement. Products and services referred to here may not be available in your region. Fellow Binancians, Starting at approximately 2026-02-05 09:00 (UTC), Binance will suspend the deposits and withdrawals of token(s) on the Zilliqa (ZIL) network to support its network upgrade and hard fork to ensure the best user experience. The network upgrade and hard fork will take place at the block height of 19,486,411, or approximately at 2026-02-05 10:00 (UTC). Please note: The trading of token(s) on the aforementioned network will not be impacted.Binance will handle all technical requirements involved for all users.Deposits and withdrawals for token(s) on the aforementioned network will be reopened once the upgraded network is deemed to be stable. No further announcement will be posted.There may be discrepancies between this original content in English and any translated versions. Please refer to the original English version for the most accurate information, in case any discrepancies arise. For more information, please refer to the announcement from the project team. Thank you for your support! Binance Team 2026-02-04
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced it will support the planned network upgrade and hard fork process on the Zilliqa (ZIL) network.
According to the exchange’s statement, token deposits and withdrawals on the Zilliqa network will be temporarily suspended to protect user experience and ensure a smooth technical transition.
Binance will suspend deposits and withdrawals on the Zilliqa (ZIL) network on February 5, 2026, at approximately 12:00 PM. The network upgrade and hard fork are expected to take effect at block height 19,486,411. Binance stated that this block height will be reached around 1:00 PM.
The exchange stated that the technical work would only affect transaction processing on the network. Accordingly, trading of Zilliqa (ZIL) and related tokens on the Binance platform will continue uninterrupted. Users will be able to continue trading in spot and other markets during the upgrade period.
Binance also stated that all technical requirements that may arise during the upgrade process will be automatically handled by the exchange, and users will not need to take any extra action. In other words, users are not obligated to migrate their tokens to the new network or perform manual updates.
It has been announced that deposits and withdrawals will be reopened after the upgrade on the Zilliqa network is complete and its stable operation is confirmed. Binance also noted that there will be no further announcement regarding the resumption of transfers. Therefore, users are advised to take the temporary suspension hours into account when planning their transactions.
*This is not investment advice.
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Stablecoins play a foundational role in decentralized ecosystems, enabling liquidity, trading efficiency, and interoperability across markets.
As Zilliqa continues building Regulatory-ready and Institutionally aligned blockchain infrastructure, we are strengthening how stablecoin liquidity operates within the network.
Today, we are introducing zUSDC, a USDC representation powered by Zilliqa’s native XBridge infrastructure.
This transition strengthens Zilliqa’s control over critical financial infrastructure while ensuring stablecoin liquidity continues to operate seamlessly across the ecosystem.
What is zUSDC?zUSDC is a representation of USDC bridged to Zilliqa through the network’s native XBridge infrastructure.
Bridging existing USDC liquidity back to EthereumMinting zUSDC under Zilliqa-managed infrastructureRe-bridging funds to Zilliqa via XBridgeRedeploying liquidity into ecosystem trading pools For users, zUSDC continues to support the same core functionality, including:
Stablecoin trading liquidityDEX liquidity pool participationArbitrage opportunities across stable pairs such as kUSDC, zUSDT, and zUSDCWhy This Change Is Being Made?USDC liquidity has historically been available on Zilliqa through third-party bridging infrastructure. While this enabled early ecosystem access, current usage patterns show that most stablecoin liquidity is concentrated within DEX pools supporting trading and arbitrage activity.
Operating external infrastructure under these conditions introduces operational dependency without proportional ecosystem benefit.
To improve long-term reliability and infrastructure sovereignty, Zilliqa is transitioning stablecoin liquidity to native infrastructure through XBridge. This ensures sustainable operations while maintaining uninterrupted ecosystem functionality.
This transition also aligns with Zilliqa’s broader strategy of building Institutionally compatible blockchain infrastructure, where critical financial rails are operated directly by the network.
Migration TimelineThe transition occurs in phased stages designed to minimize ecosystem disruption.
Phase 1 - Preparation (Completed)
Deployment of zUSDC support via XBridgePhase 2 - Liquidity Migration (Completed)
Existing bridged USDC unwound via EthereumLiquidity re-bridged through XBridgeDeployment of zUSDC liquidityPhase 3 - Ecosystem Rollout (Completed)
Public introduction of zUSDCLaunch of zUSDC trading pair on PlunderswapPhase 4 - Legacy Infrastructure Sunset
Debridge support on Zilliqa will sunset on 31 March 2026Impact on UsersUsers holding USDC on Zilliqa should bridge their assets out via Debridge as soon as possible.
Available Debridge widget:
https://plunderswap.com/bridgehttps://stakezil.com/?tab=bridgeAfter 31 March 2026, Debridge will no longer operate on Zilliqa.
Any user holding USDC on Zilliqa after this date will need to email Zilliqa team for support, [email protected].
This transition does not remove stablecoin liquidity from Zilliqa. Instead, liquidity is being migrated to network-operated infrastructure to improve long-term stability and operational resilience.
Operational EnhancementsAlongside the launch of zUSDC, Zilliqa is improving XBridge operations to enhance reliability and processing efficiency.
Xbridge UI overhaul has already started. Check out Xbridge with brand new and clean UI https://xbridge.zilliqa.com.
While XBridge settlements are not instant, we currently work on progressive automation of bridge transaction processing that will bring back seamless token transfer across all supported chains.
Looking AheadThe launch of zUSDC marks another step in Zilliqa’s evolution toward Native financial infrastructure.
As the ecosystem expands across Institutional integrations, RWA platforms, and Cross-chain financial infrastructure, maintaining control over critical network components becomes increasingly important.
Long-term ecosystems are built on infrastructure they own and operate.
TLDR: Zilliqa launches zUSDC via XBridge, shifting USDC liquidity from third-party bridges to native network infrastructure. The zUSDC contract is live at 0xe59f97Fac09ee00AEEF320485ee45D5CcfbBC1E9, supporting DEX pools and stablecoin trading pairs. Debridge support on Zilliqa permanently ends March 31, 2026, requiring all legacy USDC holders to act immediately. XBridge receives a full UI overhaul as Zilliqa works toward automated, seamless cross-chain token transfer processing. zUSDC is now live on Zilliqa through the network’s native XBridge system. This change moves USDC liquidity away from third-party bridging toward Zilliqa-operated infrastructure.
The transition is designed to improve long-term reliability and give Zilliqa direct control over stablecoin operations.
Users currently holding USDC on Zilliqa must act before March 31, 2026. After that date, Debridge support on the network will permanently end, affecting all remaining legacy USDC holders.
Zilliqa Transitions USDC Liquidity to Its Own XBridge Infrastructure zUSDC is a USDC representation bridged to Zilliqa through the network’s own XBridge system. Its contract address is 0xe59f97Fac09ee00AEEF320485ee45D5CcfbBC1E9.
The token supports stablecoin trading, DEX liquidity pool participation, and arbitrage across pairs such as kUSDC and zUSDT. Zilliqa now holds direct operational control over this stablecoin liquidity within its ecosystem.
Previously, USDC liquidity on Zilliqa depended on external bridging infrastructure from third-party operators. Most of that liquidity was concentrated in DEX pools supporting trading and arbitrage activity.
Running external infrastructure under those conditions created an operational dependency. That dependency came without proportional benefit to the broader network, making this transition a practical move for the ecosystem.
The migration followed a phased process. Existing USDC was first bridged back to Ethereum as the starting point. It was then minted as zUSDC under Zilliqa-managed infrastructure and re-bridged through XBridge.
From there, funds were redeployed into ecosystem trading pools, with each phase structured to keep disruption low throughout.
Zilliqa shared the update on its official channel, stating it was “introducing zUSDC via XBridge on Zilliqa” and that the move improves reliability while keeping “stablecoin liquidity flowing across the ecosystem.”
We’re introducing zUSDC via XBridge on Zilliqa.
This moves USDC liquidity onto Zilliqa-operated infrastructure, improving reliability while keeping stablecoin liquidity flowing across the ecosystem.
Here’s what’s changing and what it means for USDC users:… pic.twitter.com/PnvXIACWOQ
— Zilliqa (@zilliqa) March 5, 2026
As part of the Phase 3 ecosystem rollout, a zUSDC trading pair also launched on Plunderswap. Additionally, XBridge received a full UI overhaul, with the refreshed interface now available at xbridge.zilliqa.com.
Users Face March 31 Deadline as Debridge Support on Zilliqa Ends Users holding USDC on Zilliqa must bridge their assets out through Debridge before March 31, 2026. Two options are currently available for doing so.
The Plunderswap bridge widget is accessible at plunderswap.com/bridge, while the StakeZIL bridge is available at stakezil.com. Both remain operational until the sunset date arrives.
After March 31, Debridge will no longer function on Zilliqa. Users who still hold legacy USDC beyond that point will need to reach out to Zilliqa directly for assistance. The team can be contacted at [email protected] for support with any remaining holdings.
This transition does not remove stablecoin liquidity from the Zilliqa ecosystem. Rather, that liquidity is being moved to infrastructure that Zilliqa directly owns and operates.
The network frames this as a long-term step toward institutional-grade financial rails that the network itself controls.
Alongside the zUSDC launch, Zilliqa is also improving XBridge’s processing efficiency. The team is actively developing automation for bridge transaction processing.
This effort is aimed at making token transfers faster and more seamless across all chains that XBridge supports.
You can’t really discuss the topic of cryptocurrency mining without getting into issues surrounding the concept of centralization. One of the greatest aspirations of cryptocurrency communities is to decentralize the monetary system and create “trustless” transactions.
While Bitcoin made a lot of headway towards a trustless currency, there are still concerns. The concentration of power among ASIC miners in a few locations make some people wonder if mining is becoming too centralized.
GPUs And Decentralization At present there are two leading forms of mining, as Crypto Briefing has previously explained. Bitcoin, Litecoin and other leading cryptocurrencies can be mined with ASICs, highly specialized devices which can only perform a specific algorithm. Monero, Zcoin and some other cryptocurrencies can only be mined by commercially-available GPUs and CPUs
GPUs are common and relatively inexpensive. A standard gaming PC has at least one GPU in it, sometimes two. These video cards, distributed all over the world, allow for a widespread and highly decentralized network.
ASICs on the other hand, are more specialized, very expensive, and much harder to find. Because they are expensive and harder to set up, ASIC networks tend to be centralized among the wealthier people who have the means to purchase them and set them up on a large scale.
Bitmain Versus Everybody Else It doesn’t just stop at individuals. Relatively few entities control the large mining pools which dominate the most popular Proof-of-Work coins, particularly Bitcoin. Bitmain, which manufactures the most popular ASICs (there are some competitors emerging on the scene) controls two of the largest Bitcoin mining pools, Antpool and BTC.com.
In fact, at one point in time, their pools controlled nearly 50% of Bitcoin hashrate, although their share has diminished over the past year.
But just because a pool is centralized, that does not necessarily mean that the miners within the pool are also centralized. If miners notice that their pool is acting maliciously, they can simply switch to another pool.
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Even a leading pool operator, like Bitmain, would still have to work in concert with a massive number of miners, which would cost much more than it would return. In an article examining Mining Centralization Scenarios, Jimmy Song points out the extreme costs of attempting to maintain such a large-scale attack.
But when a single manufacturer produces the most popular mining equipment, “back-doors” exploits become more likely. For example, Bitmain could surreptitiously install a “kill-switch” that would reduce block productivity on non-Bitmain pools. However, these back-door tricks would also run the risk of being discovered and decimating Bitmain’s balance sheet as miners switch to different equipment in the future.
So while large entities like Bitmain may be a centralizing force in Bitcoin and a number of other cryptocurrencies, free market dynamics tend toward decentralization, competition, and innovation. Due to competition and improving profitability, the distribution of ASIC mining pools is diversifying, trending away from the possibility of monopolization.
Electricity Costs Around The World There’s also a possibility of geographic centralization, as miners flourish in areas with the cheapest energy. This can be due to economic conditions or because of the availability of cheap sources such as hydro-electric dams.
In much of the United States, residential electricity rates range around the 13 cent per kilowatthour average, but can be as high as 20 cents in some regions and as low as nine cents in a few states. For larger mining operations, industrial rates are quite a bit cheaper, but it can still be pretty tough to compete against regions where electricity is much less expensive.
Because the cost of electricity is hugely important in figuring out the profitability of any PoW mining operation, high-capacity ASIC mining operations are drawn to locations where the electricity is cheap.
That’s why so much cryptocurrency mining is performed in China, where electricity is cheaper than almost anywhere else. Quebec is also attracting attention due to its surplus of hydro-electricity. This could be another weak point, as mining hashpower concentrates in certain regions.
Multi-million Dollar ASIC Farms Versus Multi-million Dollar GPU Farms But even if ASICs fell by the wayside, one could also set up a hugely expensive GPU farm. GPUs themselves do not negate the centralization problem, although they may reduce it due to their widespread availability and usage.
It would be considerably more difficult to gain control of a GPU network, simply because there are already so many GPUs distributed around the world. But if someone designed a new GPU that was highly powerful, efficient, and expensive, it could result in a similar problem.
Higher Hashrates Theoretically, the more decentralized a PoW network is, the more secure it should be, but it may sacrifice speed for safety. Miners are incentivized to increase their hashing power for more frequent block rewards, which also increases network security.
A high hashrate means that there is more competition among miners, making the network more expensive to mine. The higher the hashrate, the more expensive it is to to set up or rent the necessary hashing power to launch a 51% attack. At some point, it becomes so costly that it just isn’t worth attempting such an attack.
51% Attacks If any single entity or group of colluding entities manage to control 51% of a network, lots of bad things can happen. Most importantly, the 51% controlling entity can essentially double-spend the currency.
In a typical double-spend, attacker creates a public transaction that spends some currency, typically by moving it to an exchange. Meanwhile, they use their superior hashing power to create a secret, longer chain, which does not include that transaction, and broadcast it to the rest of the network. Since consensus defaults to the longer chain, they have effectively spent the same tokens twice.
Some lower hashrate PoW networks like Bitcoin Private and Bytecoin are susceptible to 51% attacks because it requires relatively little hashing power to take over these networks. Even bigger names like Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic have fallen victim to such attacks.
ASICs can contribute to centralization if a few wealthy and powerful parties manage to gain more than 51% of a network’s hashrate. Bitmain and some of its affiliates control somewhere around 40% of all of the Bitcoin network’s hashing power. Of course, it would not be in Bitmain’s best interests to diminish the value of the Bitcoin network since they have so much invested in it. Yet, there is a degree of trust that is necessary because of the extent of their influence in the present conditions.
Still, it looks like ASICs are here to stay, with their collectively massive computational power ensuring the security of Bitcoin and a number of other PoW-based networks. In the next and final installment in this series on mining, we will take a closer look at the numbers involved in profitable mining and will conclude with an examination of the ongoing battle for greater decentralization.
This is Part 2 of a series on cryptocurrency mining. For Part 1, click here.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Darren Kleine. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
This past Thursday, the crypto community started buzzing about a whale sighting. Rumors abounded. It was a big one, one of the biggest whales they’d ever seen.
What does that mean? Well, for those of you who haven’t gotten off the trad finance boat completely yet, whales are the big movers and shakers in the crypto industry. While most daily activity that occurs on crypto exchanges is comprised of small-fry daily traders, when whales move, they have the power of changing tides in the market.
When considering role whales play in the digital economy, it is important to note that the disparity of Bitcoin distribution is remarkable. One percent of Bitcoin wallets possess 55 percent of the Bitcoin in circulation. To put that in perspective, in the US, where wealth inequality is often the subject of political debate and considered a problem that needs to be addressed, the top one percent is in possession of 35 percent of the nation’s wealth.
Now, one could rightly object that comparing Bitcoin wealth distribution to US wealth distribution is apples to oranges. They are totally different things based on circumstances and factors of an entirely different scale. However, we are talking about a lot of money, whichever way you cut it. And for an economic system that is often portrayed as a remedy to the problems associated with the traditional financial system, Bitcoin wealth inequality is nothing to scoff at.
The Four Species of Crypto Whale Now, in terms of the whales themselves, typically, crypto analysts have identified four kinds of whales. There are traders, early adopters and miners, wallets with lost private keys, and criminals.
Concerning the traders, analysts have estimated that about 33% of the whales are active traders. These traders vary from individuals who have personally accumulated massive wealth to institutions that collectively work the market. In terms of their specific trading tendencies, trader whales buy the dips. These guys have bought in to Bitcoin for the long term. This is significant because whenever there is a significant downturn in the market, the first instinct of many in the industry is to blame the whales for selling out. However, research has shown otherwise, and as it turns out, big traders tend to operate against the grain, striking when the little fish are panicking. Their effect then is a stabilizing one more often than not.
The next group of whales are the early adopters and miners, These people tend to have gotten in on the ground floor years ago. The wallets associated with these accounts were created in the early years of Bitcoin. These whales believed in Bitcoin early and were able to acquire vast sums of the currency by spending a relatively small amount of money, or mining when it was much easier. Early adopter whales tend not to trade much of their holdings. Some of them cashed out in 2017 and 18 and made huge fortunes for themselves.
The third group of whales are a sad, sad lot. The wallets tied to this group are generally classified as belonging to people who have lost their private keys for good. There are a substantial number of these people. An estimated 212,000 bitcoins are stuck in wallets that have been completely inactive since 2011. At the time of writing, that comes to over $2 billion.
The last group of whales garners the most attention. These are the cyber criminals. These people have acquired their digital fortunes via hacking and other illicit methods. Just three of the 32 largest Bitcoin wallets have been positively linked with criminal activity, but even with just three, the collective sum at press time is more than a billion dollars.
The Big Time CrooksI have used this space before to talk about how the perception of Bitcoin (and by extension all cryptocurrency) as a tool for criminals is not really justified. Since its inception, Bitcoin has been mistakenly characterized as an anonymous digital currency, which has positioned it — in the minds of the press and others who don’t know better — as the ideal solution for criminals looking to hide their tracks.
Much has specifically been made of cryptocurrency being used by terrorist organizations. When you look at the facts however, this line of thinking just doesn’t hold up. As numerous stories in the press will attest to, Bitcoin is not an anonymous cryptocurrency. Two of the whale criminal wallets have been identified as being connected with the Silk Road dark web marketplace, and the third has been linked to money laundering activities.
The prevalence of crime connected with Bitcoin is not much different than that of crime connected with the US dollar or any other asset or item of value. Criminals tend to use whatever tools are available to them in order to achieve their ends.
It is convenient for lawmakers and others whose vested interest is in keeping the current economic system in power to paint cryptocurrency as something dangerous. If it is dangerous, it is only really dangerous to the old guard, who have no problem with chaos and tragedy just as long as it happens to their neighbor and not them. Economic rights are not something a state should have the power to give and take away, not in today’s world. That is why at Bytecoin we fight to push back against the institutional overreach that has defined that has come to define modern life.
Consider the act that we can identify the biggest whales in the crypto industry and keep tabs on when and where they move their money. Can we do that in traditional finance? Are we ever allowed behind the veil?
Thursday’s SurfacingGetting back to last Thursday’s whale sighting, the party responsible moved 94,505 bitcoins which comes to just under a billion dollars at press time. There were three possibilities that emerged as sources of the transaction. The first is that the wallet is connected to the Huobi Exchange, which is tied to many of the wallet’s previous transactions. Outside of that, commentators have suggested that the funds belong to the new Bakkt Warehouse project or represent a partial cashing out of the PlusToken ponzi scheme. As of now it is still unclear what exactly happened, and it should be interesting to see what new information comes to light.
In case you missed, catch up with this story in part 1 here.
Snowden first got involved with American intelligence agencies after visiting a job fair in 2006. The CIA offered him a position as a junior employee on a computer team where he distinguished himself with his elevated abilities and was selected to be sent to the CIA’s secret school for technology specialists. After spending six months at the secret school, living in a hotel and studying full-time, Snowden was sent to Geneva with diplomatic cover where he looked after CIA computer network security.
Later, Snowden recalled that it was in Geneva that his disillusionment with the work he was doing started. In an illustrative episode from his time there, Snowden said that CIA operatives deliberately got a Swiss banker drunk and encouraged him to drive home. Once the man was arrested for drunk driving, the operatives were able to get him to cooperate in return for making his legal troubles go away.
Snowden would resign from the CIA but find a job working for Dell doing contract work for the NSA, before working for consulting firm Booze Allen Hamilton, where he also did contract work for the NSA and was stationed in Hawaii.
Snowden has described the people working on these top secret programs as a bunch of kids “thrust into a position of extraordinary responsibility, where they now have access to all your private records. In the course of their daily work, they stumble across something that is completely unrelated in any sort of necessary sense—for example, an intimate nude photo of someone in a sexually compromising situation. But they're extremely attractive. So what do they do? They turn around in their chair and they show a co-worker ... and sooner or later this person's whole life has been seen by all of these other people."
In the modern world, data is power. Snowden’s action as a whistleblower drew the curtain back on the abuses of power that are occuring in the digital space. This is what comes with centralized solutions to security. It is too much power. Intelligence agencies should not have jurisdiction over the intimate.
In the aftermath of Snowden’s disclosures, the intelligence agencies have claimed that they have changed their policies and that they no longer engage is these kinds of activities, but they obviously cannot be trusted when it comes to these things.
Snowden is back in the news today because his memoir, Permanent Record, was published yesterday, which prompted the Justice Department to sue him and his publishers for disclosing material that was protected by the contracts he signed while working as a government contractor. While the lawsuit is troubling, it has brought more attention to the book which is now the number one bestseller on Amazon.
Hopefully, the publication of Permanent Record, will stoke the coals of indignation in America and abroad. We are in the midst of a privacy crisis. Our work at Bytecoin is centered on providing users with solutions that put their data back in their hands and keep it there. If we are going to turn the tide back in favor of the individual against the major financial institutions and the far reaching arms of the government, cryptography will be key.
If you’re tuned into the workings of the financial market you may have noticed that the Fed stepped in this past week to bailout the repo market. This is the first move of its kind — the government stepping in to bail someone out — since 2008.
The repo market is one of the key structures supporting trad finance. This market exists so that banks and lenders are able to have the liquidity necessary to perform their everyday trading activities.
The way the repo market works is that banking and Wall Street big guns offer up US Treasuries and other assured assets as collateral to raise capital so that they can lend money or trade on a day-to-day basis. The bonds are usually only laid down overnight and then repoed or purchased back the next day with minimal interest. There is about $1 trillion worth of business being conducted on the repo market everyday, and the interest rate is usually in the area of the Federal Reserve’s benchmark overnight rate, but when there is not enough liquidity in the system or when banks are wary of lending it makes the repo rate soar. This is what happened in the global financial crisis ten years ago.
A high repo rate can cause problems for the global economy. Without an easy means of lending and raising capital, institutional trading is liable to to get impeded in its functioning, and if the impediment is extended it can trigger a wholesale recession.
When the great recession happened ten years ago, the borrowing rate shot up exponentially. As part of the massive government bailout, the Fed cut rates to near zero and bought over $3.5 trillion in bonds. The low rates were maintained until 2015, when the Fed, sensing that the recovery was firm, decided to raise interest rates and slim its bond portfolio.
This produced a spike in borrowing rates and a drop in reserves which, despite the fed changing course and re-lowering its rate, reached a boiling point this past week. Borrowing rates on overnight repo loans rose to as high as 10%, more than four times the Fed’s recommendation, as trading funds dried up across the board.
With grim financial consequences for the global economic system in the balance — should the rate hike continue in its trajectory — the Fed stepped in and made emergency injections totalling $278 billion so that the big banks had enough cash on hand to continue with their daily lending and trading procedures. This is the first time the Fed has engaged in such active, preventative measures since the bailout that saw the interest rate sink so low.
The question most trad finance analysts have now is, is it enough? The injections are significant both due to their size and what they signify, namely that the market is in a precarious position. There are enough signs of a downturn that the Fed thought it was necessary to act, and to act swiftly.
Fed officials tried to downplay the injections as a response to a liquidity aberration that resulted from a concatenation of circumstances in the bond markets and corporate tax payments. But the problem with this line of reasoning is that the circumstances just keep on concatenating; there are other troubling economic signs that can’t simply be dismissed, among them the trade deadlock with China, Wall Street jumpiness over possible impeachment proceedings and $17 trillion in bonds showing returns in the red.
There have been chatterings of something big coming. Global recession big. But this is not really surprising to many in the crypto community. At least not to those of us who are in it for more than just making a quick buck.
The fact that the financial stability of the globe is propped up by an overnight, white-color pawn shop that can simply stop working due to circumstance is very telling. After losing the Battle of Rossbach in 1757, King Louis XV of France is said to have remarked “Après moi, le déluge,” which has become a proverbial expression meaning “after me, let the deluge come.” This is the attitude that fuels the wild speculation of Wall Street and global finance.
Everyone knows that someday all of these riches, all of this material abundance, the excess — someday it is all going to come crashing down. It wasn’t that long ago when fissures in the foundation of the system became visible, and yet it is still portrayed as being too big to fail. By now we should all have come to grips with the fact that the only people for whom the system is too big to fail are the people profiting off of it the most. As long as these people get theirs, the hell with all the rest of us.
Crypto was born out of disgust with that attitude and intended as a corrective measure to reground finance. Cryptocurrency was about responsibility, specifically reestablishing it as an alternative to reckless speculation. Ironically, it has been labelled a threat to financial security. At this point what isn’t a threat to global financial security? A gust of wind could topple this tight-rope act.
What we at Bytecoin and other like-minded people and projects have been doing is trying to reintroduce choice into finance. I think that most people, if given the option, would like to have more say in their personal finances and have more say in how their data is used. Judging by the political turmoil around the world, the system in place right now isn’t cutting it. It is my hope that cryptocurrency will be able to make good on the promise that so many of us see in it, before the waters start getting too high.
The leading crypto exchange Binance has removed 30 trading pairs from its platform.
Binance says it axed the pairs to “improve liquidity and user trading experience among our wide range of available assets.”
The sweep included the removal of BitTorrent Token’s (BTT) relatively recent pairing with Bitcoin. BTT remains paired with Binance Coin, Tether (USDT), Paxos Standard (PAX), TrueUSD (TUSD) and USD Coin (USDC).
Here’s a look at all of the pairs on the chopping block.
Back in April, Binance delisted Bitcoin SV (BSV) from its platform entirely.
At the time, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao denounced the rhetoric of BSV creator Craig Wright and called him a “fraud.”
The exchange also removed Bytecoin (BCN), ChatCoin (CHAT), Iconomi (ICN) and Triggers (TRIG) in October of last year, citing a broad list of criteria required for coins to remain on the platform.
Commitment of team to project Quality and level of development activity Network/smart contract stability Level of public communication and activity Responsiveness to our periodic due diligence Evidence of unethical/fraudulent conduct Contribution to a healthy and sustainable crypto ecosystem [adinserter block="1"] [the_ad id="42537"] [the_ad id="42536"]
By now, you probably know the story of CryptoKitties by heart. The trading game pioneered non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2017, and buyers were eager to get in on the craze. Early on, the average CryptoKitty cost $80—but then, the NFT’s trading volume and average price dropped like a rock. Today, the average CryptoKitty is worth just $1.50.
CryptoKitties market data via Nonfungible.com But although CryptoKitties are struggling, non-fungible tokens have gained traction elsewhere. Decentraland, for example, is using NFTs to represent parcels of virtual land, while companies like Enjin are using NFTs for in-game items. Even the Ethereum Name Service is using NFT tokens—in this case, tokens represent unique domain names.
However, there has been little investigation into the size of the NFT market. NFTs are not as obscure as they were two years ago, but they are still largely overlooked: most major exchanges and market aggregators have ignored the trend. To find out how big the NFT market is, we dug into the data—and the numbers may surprise you.
How Big Is the Biggest NFT Marketplace? OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace by trading volume. It first went live in January 2018, and it has handled over 25,000 ETH, or $4.5 million, since then. Typically, the site trades about 50-150 ETH ($9000-$27,000) of NFTs per day. These numbers are even more impressive in light of the fact that most of its trading took place this year:
OpenSea trading volume (in ETH) via DAppRadar Right now, OpenSea has a daily volume of 80 ETH, or $15,000. If OpenSea were a traditional exchange, it would rank at #180 on CoinMarketCap. This isn’t massive, but it is a good start. For scale, OpenSea’s daily volume is about 1/10th of Waves DEX’s daily volume, or 1/5th of Switcheo‘s daily volume—two minor but well-known exchanges.
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OpenSea fares even better when it is compared to other NFT markets. Auctionity has slightly more users at the moment, but OpenSea beats Auctionity’s daily trading volume fifteen times over (5 ETH vs 80 ETH). There are other NFT marketplaces, such as Rare Bits, which do not publish data—but in any case, OpenSea appears to dominate.
How Big Are the Biggest NFTs? There are currently two tokens vying for the title of “most valuable NFT.” Nonfungible.org suggests that Decentraland’s land parcel tokens, which have a weekly trading volume of $42,000, lead the market by this measure. OpenSea, however, suggests that MyCryptoHeroes, a series of battle tokens, have a weekly volume of 350 ETH ($60,000).
In any case, weekly trading volumes for the largest NFT token are currently somewhere in the ballpark of $50,000. Though subject to change, this is on par with the current weekly volume of a few middling cryptocurrencies. For example, Bytecoin experienced a $57,000 trading volume this week, while Aragon traded $68,000 this week.
Meanwhile, minor NFTs have somewhat lower trading volumes—typically, they move less than 100 ETH per week. But collectively, they are impressive: if OpenSea’s top twenty NFTs were combined, they would have a weekly trading volume of 1120 ETH ($200,000), which is roughly equal to the weekly volume of Factom ($250,000/week).
The Need For Better Statistics It’s unlikely that CoinMarketCap and other market aggregators will begin to rank NFTs and NFT marketplaces any time soon. Even dedicated sites like OpenSea and Nonfungible.com only collect data for a few dozen NFTs. Plus, there are no standard practices for dealing with artificial and unusual market activity when it comes to NFTs.
There are already irregularities: for example, OpenSea’s Ethereum Name Service tokens increased in value by more than 30,000% this week. This rapid change was due to the fact that initial auctions took place over several weeks and were finalized at once. (The auction was exploited as well, but this occurred on a small scale and had no effect on price.)
More broadly, market cap may be a poor measure of an NFT’s success, as it extrapolates average NFT prices to a supply of tokens that may never sell at their listed auction price. We chose to observe trading volume, as it only concerns tokens that have been sold. To account for price changes, long-term trading volumes may be an even better measure.
Are NFTs Big Enough to Go Mainstream? NFTs aren’t as big as they are often made out to be. Reports of a multi-billion dollar annual market for cryptocollectibles are likely overblown: this estimate seems to be based on data about physical collectibles ($200 billion per year) and the video game industry ($50 billion per year). Cryptocollectibles won’t take over these markets entirely.
Still, the fact that OpenSea can handle millions of dollars in NFTs per year is a good start. Plus, the market for NFTs may get bigger: OpenSea only handles NFTs based on Ethereum’s ERC-721 standard. Other blockchains, such as EOS and NEO, already have NFT standards—which means the market may be bigger than what we’ve estimated.
To be even more optimistic, it is possible that a single NFT will become too big to ignore. Many current NFTs, such as Decentraland property, have largely speculative value, but it may only be a matter of time until a non-fungible token becomes as sought-after as leading cryptocurrencies.
Then, everyone will want a piece of the action.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Mike Dalton. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The start of the new week came as a sad one for traders as the bears take over the cryptocurrency market, correcting Bitcoin price to below the $9600 region. At the time of writing, the coin is trading at $9,627.
The current volatility in the market could be tied to the ongoing selling pressure and transfer of 600 BTC ($5,753,286) to BitMEX, which took place at block 617782. If the bearish movement continues, Bitcoin could dip further to $9170 and even $9000. At the time of this writing, however, BTC managed to recover and is pushing up to $9,700 once again.
Our bot just picked this up. Volatility incoming 📈📉
💵 A $5,753,286 (600.0000 BTC) deposit into #BitMEX has been confirmed at block 617782.
— TokenAnalyst (@thetokenanalyst) February 17, 2020
Altcoins, on the other hand, are facing significant price crashes and recorded significant losses. Although the market has started recovering from the sudden slump, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ripple (XRP) are the biggest losers in the top 10. XRP retraced to $0.281 while BCH plunged to ($404). The crash in the altcoin markets briefly pushed Bitcoin dominance to over 63%. As the market started to recover, however, altcoins seem to reclaim grounds as the dominance is currently at 62.4%.
It’s interesting to see where the market goes from here. It appears that it may have been a healthy correction as over the past couple of weeks bulls were in complete control.
Total Market Cap: $276 B | Bitcoin Market Cap: $174 B | Bitcoin Dominance: 62.7%
Major Crypto Headlines Binance Applied For Operating License In Singapore, Confirms CEO Changpeng Zhao. Just a month after Singapore released its comprehensive regulation for crypto businesses, Binance has filed for operating license in the country, CZ revealed.
You may also like: Market Meltdown: MemeCore Crashes 76% as MIM Breaks Peg to $0.50 Brutal Bitcoin Liquidation Cascade Imminent Below $59K, Warns Analyst Bitcoin Price Crashes Below $60K as Strategy’s MSTR Plunges 10% Russia’s Central Bank Completes Blockchain Pilot To Issue Tokenized Assets. The central bank of Russia has reportedly completed a pilot project for the issuance and circulation of digital rights. The platform can be used to digitize goods, services, securities, and other assets.
IOTA Releases Safe Version of Trinity Desktop But Mainnet Remains Suspended. IOTA Foundation has launched a safe version of the Trinity wallet that will enable users to see their balances and transactions on Desktop. However, the Mainnet remains suspended until the project team finalizes their remedial plans.
Significant Daily Gainers and Losers Hedera Hashgraph (19.82%) HBAR, the native cryptocurrency of the Hedera Hashgraph, emerged as the most significant winner in the top 100 with 19.82% gains on the trading session. The coin’s performance today will definitely leave HBAR day traders basking in euphoria considering the current market situation. At the time of writing, the coin is trading at $0.051 with a market cap of $164,993,621. The Hedera Hashgraph network is growing rapidly, and research shows that the platform processed over 36 million transactions over the last six months.
Centrality (9.63%) With a 9.63% gain on the trading day, CENNZ wins the spot as a top performer over the last 24 hours. The increase in value today has pushed the coin’s price to $0.100654 and its market cap to $84,797,804. CENNZ is ranked as the 72nd largest cryptocurrency in the world according to market cap. The project has made a lot of progress since its launch. Centrality recently completed its Habanero stage on its roadmap and they are moving to the next phase known as Scotch Bonnet.
Bytecoin (-11.24%) On February 15, BCN made a significant price move and traded as high as $0.000690. However, following the bear market, the coin has slumped to a current price of $0.000456.
After last week’s plunge of over $1,500, Bitcoin rattled its 2020 positive run. The question remained if the $8,500 critical support level could hold the downfall, and, so far, it has.
The largest cryptocurrency dipped below it to $8,440, but it managed to recover quickly. At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at approximately $8,700.
If BTC continues to increase, the first significant resistance level lies at $8,800, followed by $9,000. The latter also serves as a major psychological line.
BTC/USD. Source: TradingView Most of the cryptocurrency market notes small upwards movements today. Ethereum, Litecoin, Tezos, and EOS are all up with around 1%.
Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV are the most significant gainers among the top 10 coins by market cap. The former is up with 2.66% to $322 and the latter with 4.6% $234.
Contrary, Huobi Token records the largest decline in the top 20. HT is down with over 4% and is currently trading at $4.66.
You may also like: Brutal Bitcoin Liquidation Cascade Imminent Below $59K, Warns Analyst Bitcoin Price Crashes Below $60K as Strategy’s MSTR Plunges 10% Bitcoin’s Network Is Booming Even as Prices Remain Below Record Highs Major Crypto Headlines Breaking: Bitfinex Exchange Goes Under Unscheduled Maintenance, Suspects DDoS Attack. The popular cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex, went through unscheduled maintenance on Friday. Even though the company suspected a DDoS attack on its network, later, Bitfinex said that all issues had been resolved.
Interestingly, OKEx went through an unscheduled system update on the same day, as well.
Beating the Odds? Insolvent FCoin To Resume Operations And Attempt To Refund Users. FCoin exchange became insolvent in February and was unable to pay its customers an estimated amount of $115m worth of Bitcoin. A few weeks later, however, the firm promised to refund the affected users and to start operating again.
Ripple Partners With European Remittance Company Azimo But Legal Troubles Continue. Ripple partnered up with a European online remittance service company Azimo to serve customers in the Philippines. At the same time, though, the company’s legal issues with Bradley Sostack continue.
Significant Daily Gainers and Losers Bytecoin (23%) BCN skyrockets today with 23% gains against the U.S. dollar to $0.0005. It rises with 21.6% against the largest cryptocurrency, and BCN/BTC currently trades at 6 SAT.
With the most recent price increase, the total market capitalization of Bytecoin is well above $92 million.
AELF (12.32%) Elf is in the green today, as well. It rises to $0.1, after a 12% price jump. Elf trades at 1163 SAT after an 11% increase against Bitcoin.
The company recently published a comprehensive guide on how to utilize its network mechanism securely.
Kyber Network (-12.45%) On the other side of the scale sits KNC’s price. After yesterday’s surge to $0.85, KNC drops to $0.7. It also goes down to 8074 SAT, following a 13.5% drop.
Despite the most recent decrease, Kyber Network still has a total market cap of above $125 million.
The last few days were quite turbulent for Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency market. BTC went to retest the support at $5,800, losing $800 of its dollar value in the process. However, it has since bounced, and it’s currently trading at another important support level at $6,300.
BTC/USD. Source: TradingView This weekend saw $5,850 as the current weekly low, and that’s far from being a coincidence. As Cryptopotato reported, the $5,900 area holds very strong support as it also represents the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level from the massive drop on March 12.
Looking at the bigger picture, Bitcoin would still have to close affirmatively above $7,168 to overcome the slump from the night of March 12. Until this happens, the cryptocurrency is likely to be considered in a bearish trend.
The rest of the market is following in Bitcoin’s footsteps. Throughout the past seven days, most of the large-cap cryptocurrencies are also in the red. ETH is down about 2.8%, EOS is down 2.19%, and so forth. Ripple (XRP) is the recent winner, as it increased by 6.7% throughout the week despite the declining market.
Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: Coin360 Major Crypto Headlines Russia’s Legislative Ban On Cryptocurrency Delayed Because Of The Coronavirus. The unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 has an impact on legislative procedures in Russia. According to a government official, the law which would ban cryptocurrencies from being used as a means of payment will be delayed.
Bitcoin HODLers: BTC Daily Transfer Volume Hits 15-Months Low. March has clearly been a devastating month for Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency lost almost $3,000 of its value. Moreover, on-chain transactions on the Bitcoin network have also declined to their 15-months low, according to data from Bitinfocharts.
Analysis: Gold Price Should Be $8,900 (5x Higher) And Here Is Why. The global financial markets were seriously affected by the spread of COIVD-19. This also had an impact on the price of gold, which was also unusually turbulent. According to one model, however, its fair value right now should be around $8,900.
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ICON (14%) ICON (ICX) is another altcoin that marked serious gains throughout the past day. It’s up 14% against the USD and 15% against BTC. At $0.23 per coin, the cryptocurrency has a total market capitalization of $125.6 million and a daily traded volume of about $52 million. It’s the 38th largest cryptocurrency on the market.
Bytecoin (-14.4%) The past day hasn’t been particularly lucrative for Bytecoin as it becomes the worst-performing cryptocurrency over the last 24 hours. It lost about 14.4% against the USD and 13% against Bitcoin. BCN changes hands at $0.000196 and sits on a market cap of $36 million. Its daily traded volume is about $9,000, which is quite insignificant. BCN is the 85th biggest cryptocurrency on the market.
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BUSD and USDP issuer Paxos have come under New York regulators’ radar. Although there is no specific reason for the investigation, reports revealed that the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) launched a probe into Paxos’ operations.
According to a recent report, someone familiar with this matter said the regulators are yet to clarify the reason behind the sudden investigation.
Why Is Paxos Under Investigation? While speaking to Bloomberg, a spokesperson for NYDFS refused to deliver a specific comment regarding the ongoing investigation. But they said the probing is part of the department’s initiative to protect consumers from the risks in cryptocurrency investments.
The spokesperson claims that NYDFS wants to understand the vulnerabilities and risks consumers and institutions might face from crypto market volatility.
Paxos became the issuer of BUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, after its partnership with Binance in September 2019. BUSD is the third-largest stablecoin by market capitalization. Paxos is also the issuer of USDP (Paxos Dollar), launched in 2018, and the developer of PAX Gold (PAXG), a gold-pegged Ethereum token. According to data from CoinGecko, USDP is currently the sixth-largest stablecoin by market cap.
Paxos has been in the cryptocurrency business since 2012. That was when the firm started and launched itBit, a crypto exchange. The firm obtained its BitLicense (a New York-issued license for crypto service providers) from NYDFS in 2015, granting it legal permission to carry out cryptocurrency-related operations in New York.
Earlier, rumors circulated that the US office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) might ask Paxos to withdraw its application for a full banking charter even though it obtained preliminary approval in April 2021.
However, on February 9, 2023, Paxos debunked these rumors, clarifying that it did not refuse any such order from the OCC. The firm also claimed its BUSD and USDP token reserves have 100% collateral in US dollars and Treasuries.
Paxos is seemingly a compliant firm since it has a BitLicense. So the news of its investigation by the NYDFS comes as a surprise in the crypto space.
The recent regulatory probing of the stablecoin issuer by the NYDFS may be linked with the regulator’s new regulatory guidance. However, it is still uncertain since the regulators, Binance, and Paxos have not commented on the matter.
NYDFS Previous Regulatory Activities In Cryptocurrency Space Paxos’ investigation isn’t the first move in the crypto industry by the New York regulator. Over the past year, the NYDFS has launched investigations on some crypto firms, including Coinbase.
Cryptocurrency market following bitcoin crash | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com On January 4, the regulator launched an enforcement action on Coinbase, alleging that the exchange had 100,000 alerts regarding suspicious user transactions. As such, the NYDFS mandated the crypto exchange to pay a $100 million fine for NY financial services and banking laws violations and compliance deficiencies.
Featured image from Pixabay and chart from Tradingview.com
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