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Shiba Inu Team Drops Major Update, Project Advancements Revealed

Lele Jima
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Shiba Inu Team Drops Major Update, Project Advancements Revealed

Shiba Inu marketing lead Lucie shares a sneak peek into SHIB: The Metaverse, highlighting ongoing progress and future updates of the project.

Lucie has provided an update regarding SHIB: The Metaverse, Shiba Inu’s metaverse project.

In a recent tweet, Lucie shared a short clip showing the progress made by the vibrant team of developers working on the project. She expressed excitement for the next preview into SIB: The Metaverse while hinting at major plans that could be unveiled in subsequent updates.

 

Although Lucie did not elaborate on the so-called big plans, she hinted that TREAT, an upcoming Shiba Inu ecosystem token, could be a major part of the plan for SHIB: The Metaverse.

As expected, the development stirred reactions among Shiba Inu enthusiasts, with some users predicting that the project could be the best metaverse in the world.

Lucie Highlights TREAT Functions

Notably, the TREAT token is being developed to perform multiple functions. Last month, Lucie highlighted some functions of the multi-purpose token.

According to Lucie, TREAT will provide liquidity to the upcoming SHI stablecoin and replace BONE as the official reward token for ShibaSwap, Shiba Inu decentralized exchange.

Additionally, users of SHIB: The Metaverse and players of the blockchain version of Shiba Eternity, a Shiba Inu-themed collectible card game, will also earn rewards in TREAT.

The team has yet to disclose an official launch date for TREAT and has consistently warned the community to be cautious and avoid falling prey to scammers who claim that the token is available for trading.

Ongoing Developments for SHIB: The Metaverse

In the meantime, SHIB: The Metaverse is one of the projects expected to launch within the Shiba Inu ecosystem. The project’s upcoming launch would play a pivotal role in helping Shiba Inu shed its meme coin title.

Since its introduction in 2021, SHIB: The Metaverse has recorded a series of developments. In 2022, the team launched the sale of 100,595 plots of land featured on the metaverse project. It also appointed top entertainment expert Marcie Jastrow as the project’s advisor.

The development team has revealed different concepts for the metaverse hubs, including Rocket Pond, Tech Trench, and WAGMI Temple. Although part of the project was expected to open by the end of 2023, it is unclear whether users were granted partial access to SHIB: The Metaverse as promised.

MicroStrategy Buys Bitcoin Dip with $623M Amid BTC Crashing to $62K

Abdulkarim Abdulwahab
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MicroStrategy Buys Bitcoin Dip with $623M Amid BTC Crashing to $62K

Renowned Bitcoin whale MicroStrategy has injected an additional $623 million in BTC at a time when the cryptocurrency is undergoing severe price correction.

MicroStrategy Chairman Michael Saylor disclosed the firm’s new Bitcoin acquisition in a post on X a few hours ago. Per the disclosure, MicroStrategy has taken store of an additional 9,245 Bitcoin.

The firm orchestrated the purchase at an average price of $67,382 per BTC, bringing the monetary value of the new investment to approximately $623 million.

MicroStrategy Buys Bitcoin Dip with $623M

Saylor noted that the $623 million fund invested in Bitcoin came from earnings from convertible notes and excess cash. Notably, this new massive Bitcoin acquisition comes amid BTC witnessing successive days of price declines. 

Five days ago, Bitcoin set a new all-time high of $73,750. However, 24 hours later, the asset tanked to a low of $65,630. Meanwhile, within the last 24 hours, Bitcoin flashed a false sign of recovery, briefly rallying to $68,897, only to collapse 10.25% to its current daily low of $62,490. 

Interstingly, MicroStrategy has disregarded the negative sentiment following Bitcoin’s price correction and invested over half a billion dollars more to its already staggering Bitcoin portfolio. 

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Portfolio

Following the new acquisition, MicroStrategy now commands 214,246 BTC, which it acquired for approximately $7.53 billion at an average price of $35,160 per BTC.

In parallel, the prominent firm’s Bitcoin portfolio is now worth about $13.5 billion at press time. This figure translates to an outstanding 78% unrealized profit of approximately $5.92 billion.

For the uninitiated, MicroStrategy Incorporated is a U.S.-based company focused on cloud-based services and mobile software.

The firm has been accumulating BTC nearly every month since September 2020. Interestingly, all of its Bitcoin investments have been profitable, except its two most recent purchases.

MicroStrategy’s Tuesday announcement comes just a week after the firm disclosed buying 12,000 BTC with $821.7 million. Ultimately, these unyielding purchases illustrate the firm’s long-term view of the asset class, disregarding temporary price fluctuations.

Besides, Kris Marszalek, the CEO of Crypto.Com, has recently stressed the view of prominent investors like MicroStrategy about Bitcoin:

“This is an asset that you want to hold for decades, not for days or weeks.”

Bitcoin Price Drops Below $64,000 In Search of Suitable Support

Mark Brennan
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Bitcoin Price Drops Below $64,000 In Search of Suitable Support

The Bitcoin price has dropped below the $64,000 range for the first time since March 6, as the crypto asset searches for viable support.

Since Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed the All-Time High (ATH) price above $73,000 earlier this month, it has suffered a steep correction.

Against the general expectation, the price slump did not find suitable support at the $68,000 level where it traded for days. Over the past 24 hours, the coin has dropped below the $64,000 level and traded as low as $62,478.

Where Will Bitcoin Price Find Support?

Crypto analytics service provider IntoTheBlock (ITB) shared the “In and Out of Money Around Price” indicator showing Bitcoin is at the midpoint of an accumulation trend from addresses that bought the coin between $53,215 and $72,065.

ITB BITCOIN
Bitcoin In/Out of Money Around Price. Source: IntoTheBlock

Drawing on this metric, the platform’s data pegs the addresses in the money (or profit) at 2.8 million or 51.95% of the total addresses on the network.

Addresses out of the money (or in losses) come in at 2.59 million or 48.03% of the total addresses hosted on the network. The addresses at the money or break-even point come in at 0.03% or 1,550.

The close range of addresses in the money and out of money shows it is hard to find balanced resistance and support levels. On the way down, the $60,755 to $62,568 range, where approximately 746,070 addresses acquired 259,310 BTC, remains a crucial zone that might act as support.

Meanwhile, on the topside, the $66,410 to $68,295 level is the key resistance point to watch with almost 1 million addresses gobbling up 572,310 BTC.

Expert Thesis On Likely Bitcoin Support Zone

While on-chain shows a lower likelihood of steeper drops, per the ITB Bitcoin accumulation insights, legendary market trader Peter Brandt is not ruling out a 15% to 20% slump in the price of the coin. 

However, Ki Young Ju, the Co-Founder of analytics platform CryptoQuant, believes the Bitcoin price may not fall below its ETF listing value of $46,376. His reasons for this projection hinge on related Gold precedent as the precious metal never retested its 2004 spot ETF price of $444.

With investors fixated on the support and resistance levels, MicroStrategy has announced the acquisition of $623 million worth of Bitcoin, an epic example of taking advantage of the dip.

Here are Three Main Reasons Why Bitcoin Is Falling

Mark Brennan
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Here are Three Main Reasons Why Bitcoin Is Falling

The Bitcoin slump to the $63,000 region may be largely fueled by macroeconomic uncertainties and increased outflows from Grayscale’s GBTC.

The price of Bitcoin has dropped by 7% in the past 24 hours, raising concerns among participants that the market has reached its short-term top. While that thesis remains up for speculation, some factors contributing to the downtrend have come to limelight.

Three Reasons Why Bitcoin Is Falling

The downturn in Bitcoin’s price is largely attributable to an overdue market correction, given that the leading cryptocurrency has almost gone from $39,000 to $73,000 without any widely significant retracement. 

Beyond that reason, however, the main factor possibly driving Bitcoin’s decline is a change in macroeconomic conditions.

When considered in relation to traditional financial markets, Bitcoin surged significantly on investors’ belief that the U.S. Federal Reserve has tamed the high inflation that has plagued the economy in the past two years. 

The general consensus was that the Federal Reserve would begin cutting interest rates in June 2024 to signal that it has gained control over inflation and pave the way for the economy to begin growing again.

However, the chances of a rate cut in June appear to be slimmer now, with the popular Producer Price Index (PPI) released last week coming in at 0.6%, 50% higher than analysts had projected.

The figure suggests that the Federal Reserve has not completely gotten inflation under check, leading to a sell-off in the U.S. stock market, a trend that spilled over to the risk-prone cryptocurrency sector. 

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) is set to meet between today and tomorrow, presenting another opportunity for the body to cut interest rates, raise them, or at least keep them at the current levels.

Most experts are in favor of rates staying stable, but the market remains unsure, hence the broad decline. Any decision by the body could potentially have a strong impact on the market, with most investors now preferring to protect their capital and re-enter the market once the Fed’s path becomes clearer.

A recent decision by the Bank of Japan to increase interest rates for the first time in 17 years has added fuel to the possibility of a negative Fed move.

The move suggests that other central banks around the world may still be far behind in the fight against inflation, hence curbing the possibility of a bullish run in the financial markets.

Outflows from Grayscale’s Spot Bitcoin ETF

Meanwhile, the latest Bitcoin decline could also be attributable to a substantial outflow from Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF product. In the past trading day, the fund posted $643 million in outflows on Monday, giving the newly launched Bitcoin ETFs its first day of net negative outflow ($154 million) since March 1.

Coupled with profit-taking across the board, investors are gradually flipping bearish on Bitcoin and the crypto market, especially in the short term. Overall, the total crypto market cap has lost $180 billion in the past 24 hours.

Bullish investors hope that a trend reversal will follow in the next few days, as a continued decline will only further dampen overall investor appetite and send prices crashing even lower.

Bitcoin is trading at $63,300 at the time of writing, with the global market cap currently hovering around $2.4 trillion.

New XRP Spot Trading Pair Lands on Leading Crypto Derivatives Exchange

Lele Jima
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0
New XRP Spot Trading Pair Lands on Leading Crypto Derivatives Exchange

Despite the prices of various crypto assets plummeting heavily, leading crypto exchange BitMEX has listed XRP for spot trading.

Leading crypto derivative exchange, BitMEX, has announced the listing of XRP for spot trading.

BitMEX Adds Spot Trading Pair For XRP and ATOM

Starting tomorrow at 04:00 (UTC), BitMEX customers can trade XRP against Tether (USDT) on the spot section of the exchange.

In addition, users can also convert the coin to over 30 crypto assets supported on BitMEX spot, including Circle (USDC) and Bitcoin (BTC). Notably, the exchange will not impose any fee during the conversion process.

Furthermore, BitMEX announced that customers will get an opportunity to deposit and withdraw XRP within the same timeframe. In addition to XRP, BitMEX will list Cosmos (ATOM) in the spot section of the exchange. According to the announcement, users can also trade, convert, deposit, and withdraw ATOM starting tomorrow.

“Tomorrow at 04:00 UTC, XRP (Ripple) and Cosmos (ATOM) are coming to BitMEX spot, allowing users to deposit, convert, and trade the tokens on BitMEX,” the announcement notes.  

The development comes less than 48 hours after XRP trading went live on Atlantis Exchange, a crypto trading platform registered with the United States Department of the Treasury.

Prior Support for XRP

Launched in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Samuel Reeds, and Ben Delo, BitMEX is a crypto derivatives platform allowing users to trade various crypto-based financial products. The exchange is known mainly for options and futures trading.

Before today’s announcement, BitMEX had previously added support for XRP. In particular, XRP was introduced on BitMEX for perpetual swaps as far back as February 2020. At the time, Hayes took a swipe at XRP, asking whether the coin is called Ripple or dogsh*t.

Unlike the perpetual swap option, BitMEX spot users can buy and sell XRP at the current market rate while immediately taking delivery of the underlying asset.

XRP Plunges 1.71% in 24 Hours

The news of XRP listing for spot trading on BitMEX did not positively impact the coin’s price. At press time, XRP was trading at $0.597, down 1.71% over the past 24 hours.

XRP, which spiked to $0.73 on March 11, has lost most of its gains, thanks to the widespread onslaught across the broader market.

Data from CoinGecko shows that XRP is down 15.5% in one week and 8.2% over the past 14 days. Conversely, the coin has staged a 6.42% gain on the monthly timeframe.

Terra Classic Validator TerraCVita Finalizes Package to Compensate Victims of 2023 Terraport Hack

Sam Wisdom Raphael
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Terra Classic Validator TerraCVita Finalizes Package to Compensate Victims of 2023 Terraport Hack

Terra Classic (LUNC) validator TerraCVita recently disclosed that they had finalized the package for the compensation of the victims of the 2023 Terraport hack.

TerraCVita disclosed this in a recent post on X after months of discussions surrounding the compensation idea. According to the post, the TerraCVita team has finalized the compensation package to repay the victims of the April 2023 hack, which resulted in the loss of $4 million worth of assets.

Last week, the team revealed that it was looking to release a proposal geared toward compensating the victims. TerraCVita has carefully chosen to call the campaign a compensation and not a refund, arguing that the funds were not particularly stolen by Terraport in the first place.

Speaking on the latest development, Rexyz, the TerraCVita lead, emphasized that the compensation package would mark a pivotal achievement for the Terraport team, and could help bolster its reach.

Before the remarks on X, the Terraport team had already spotlighted the compensation idea in a documentation, prompting discussions within the Terraport Telegram channel. One of the avenues through which they wish to generate funds is raising fees on the Terra Classic-based Terraport DEX.

Rexyz stressed in the Telegram channel that this approach would have a negative impact on the price of TERRA, the native token of the Terraport ecosystem, as the higher fees would make Terraport less competitive when compared to other decentralized exchanges with less fees.

Terra Classic Rexyz Comments on Terraport Compensation Plan
Rexyz Comments on Terraport Compensation Plan | Telegram

However, he confirmed that the team would still go through with this approach, but the compensation plan could be bolstered by a rise in TERRA’s price. As of press time, TERRA changes hands at $0.0259 amid a 33% decline over the past 30 days, per data from CoinGecko.

The Terraport Hack

Recall that the Terraport hack, which occurred last April, affected the project’s liquidity providers (LPs), with separate reports pegging the total loss at $4 million. The perpetrators laundered the funds through multiple centralized exchanges, including MEXC, KuCoin and Binance. 

Some of these exchanges froze the assets with the help of investigative efforts from community members. In addition, the team engaged law enforcement. The TerraCVita team launched a proposal to lock up $2 million of the stolen funds traced on-chain. However, the community voted against this move.

Nonetheless, some liquidity providers have already reported the case to the authorities and are collaborating in fund recovery. Shortly after the hack incident, Terraport relaunched on Terra Classic and secured a Certik audit.

Nearly a year after the hack, the Terraport team is now looking to compensate the victims to the best of their ability. Nonetheless, details remain scant, and there is no guarantee that the compensation would be a full one.

In one of his recent statements, Rexyz noted that the team would prioritize individuals that have reported to the authorities and are assisting with recovery efforts. Some community figures have proposed plans for the compensation, but there are no details on the agreed plan as of press time.

Terraport Compensation Plan
Terraport Compensation Plan | Telegram

Fidelity Investments Adds Staking Component To Spot Ethereum ETF Filing

Mark Brennan
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Fidelity Investments Adds Staking Component To Spot Ethereum ETF Filing

American asset management giant Fidelity Investments has filed a new amendment to its spot Ethereum ETF with a staking component added.

As the race for the spot Ethereum ETF continues, Fidelity has joined the cohort of applicants looking to divest the funds’ assets into staking. The company filed the amendment in a Form 19b-4 with the SEC, joining other prospective issuers like Grayscale Investments that have made related filing.

Dubbed the Fidelity Ethereum Fund, the spot ETF will trade under the “BZX Rule Commodity-Based Trust Shares” if the SEC grants approval.

The Need for Ethereum Staking

Since Ethereum transitioned to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) through The Merge, Staking now marks a standard means for investors to get passive income while acting as validators. The push for spot Ethereum ETF by Fidelity Investments will invest primarily in the cryptocurrency.

The latest filing seeks permission to extend the investment into Staking pools of “one or more trusted staking providers, which may include an affiliate of the Sponsor (‘Staking Providers’)” 

Ethereum Staking is currently a big venture with the leading protocol Lido boasting $32.24 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL), according to data from DeFiLlama. Through staking, Fidelity might earn an additional 3.4% APR if it pitches a tent with Lido for instance. This reward will come in the form of Ether tokens.

“In consideration for any staking activity in which the Fund may engage, the Fund would receive certain network rewards of ether tokens, which may be treated as income to the Fund as compensation for services provided,” the Fidelity filing reads.

Odds of Spot Ethereum ETF Approval

With the May 23 deadline for VanEck’s application fast approaching, there is a growing concern on whether or not the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will greenlight the product for trading as it did for Bitcoin in January.

Despite the differing opinions among market experts, many hinge their convictions on earlier promising comments from SEC Commission Hester Peirce. According to her, the markets regulator will not make similar mistakes as it did in the runup to the approval of Bitcoin ETFs.

Pundit Says XRP May Dump to $0.10 After AMM Goes Live

Abdulkarim Abdulwahab
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0
Pundit Says XRP May Dump to $0.10 After AMM Goes Live

While the XRP Army anticipates the automated market maker (AMM) functionality on XRP Ledger going live in a few days, a notable community figure has suggested XRP’s price could crash significantly.

XRP community investigator Mr. Huber has urged XRP holders to prepare for the asset’s potential reaction after the AMM finally launches. Mr. Huber drew inspiration from the occurrence with XRP’s prominent rival, Stellar (XLM).

XRP Crashing Like XLM After AMM

In particular, the investigator cited that XLM’s value collapsed by over 80% after its AMM functionality went live in late 2021. Notably, market data substantiate this claim.

As of November 2, 2021, XLM traded at $0.3661. While the Stellar AMM launched the following day, XLM saw a brief spike that sent its value to $0.3915 about a week later.

However, a continuous downtrend that XLM never recovered from followed. The asset continued sinking month after month, reaching as low as $0.098 a year after the Stellar AMM launched.

Mr. Huber sees a similar scenario playing out with XRP, especially given XRP and XLM’s history of identical market performance. He pinpointed that the asset could tank to the $0.1 and $0.11 range.

 

While XRP trades around $0.57 at press time, the outlook translates to a potential 82% price collapse for XRP.

Community Reacts

Meanwhile, notable figures in the XRP community, including analyst Dark Defender, have contested Mr. Huber’s outlook. Dark Defender claimed XRP has become immune to news events. He cited instances where XRP performed notably without news and other cases of fair performance amid new events.

At the same time, some others expressed indifference about XRP’s potential performance after the AMM goes live.

XLM Crashed After AMM Due to Broader Bear Market

Notably, it is worth mentioning that XLM’s AMM launched exactly at the peak of the 2021 bull market, where the overall market became bearish. Essentially, XLM’s downturn after the AMM did not result mainly from the automated market maker. 

Other commentators used this point to contest Mr. Huber’s view of XRP crashing 82% after the XRPL AMM became operational. In response, he highlighted that the current bullish phase has persisted for a while, implying the market is nearing the top.

Moreover, Mr. Huber countered the view of those who are bullish about the coming of the AMM by saying, “It doesn’t incentives holding; it incentives trading. And 50% of trading is selling.”

As The Crypto Basic previously reported, the expected XRPL AMM is currently live on the test net. Recently, an XRP validator demonstrated the functionality to the public by deploying 20 XRP and 12 USDC in an XRP/USDC liquidity pool. 

Ultimately, the XRP community expects the public availability of the XRP AMM in the next three days.

Ethereum Marks 495 Day Streak Since It Dropped Below 30%

Mark Brennan
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Ethereum Marks 495 Day Streak Since It Dropped Below 30%

Ethereum (ETH) price has hit a major milestone, as it has hedge against a 30% slump in more than 495 days.

Benjamin Cowen, a top market analyst and CEO of Into The Cryptoverse spotted this trend, underscoring the resilience of Ethereum even amid the past crypto winter. Like many other digital currencies, Ethereum is yet to reclaim its All-Time High (ATH) price of $4,891 set in November 2021.

What is obvious with Ethereum, however, is its ability to hedge against steeper declines. While current data pegs the coin below its ATH by 32.96%, other competing Layer-1 protocols like Cardano (ADA) and Avalanche (AVAX) are down 80.33% and 61.33% from theirs respectively.

Ethereum/Bitcoin Slips

The charts shared by Benjamin Cowen showed very closely packed reference points that show minimal slips from at least mid-2022.

Amid the ongoing market rout, current data pegs the price of Ethereum at $3,235.22 after suffering a 9.17% slump in 24 hours.

Cowen’s observation is verifiable as the price of ETH over the trailing 7-day period has only slipped by 19.28%. Over the past year, Ethereum has maintained an 11% jump in valuation.

In response to questions on the prospect of buying the asset, Benjamin Cowen said he is more bullish on Bitcoin as the value of ETH keeps tanking on the ETH/BTC chart. 

Benjamin Cowen is not alone in his choice of Bitcoin over Ethereum as other veteran traders like Peter Brandt believe the latter coin has lower prospects of surviving in the future.

The Ethereum Evolution

While Cowen’s observation takes account of price trends over several months, top Ethereum proponents are optimistic about the future of the network, riding on the prospects of the Dencun Upgrade.

This upgrade helped usher in a cheap fee regime on its Layer-2 scaling solutions. This is further complemented by the higher throughput it has triggered.

While L2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base are direct beneficiaries of this upgrade, the demand for Ethereum may grow with increased usage from these platforms.

Ultimately, the demand, coupled with other events like the potential approval of spot Ethereum ETFs is likely to extend the number of days for the 30% decline.

Exciting News for Shiba Inu As Partner Token Gets First Centralized Exchange Listing

Abdulkarim Abdulwahab
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0
Exciting News for Shiba Inu As Partner Token Gets First Centralized Exchange Listing

The SHIB Army has secured a significant milestone as MEXC, one of the top-ranking centralized crypto exchanges, is set to list partner token K9 Finance (KNINE).

In a recent post on X, Shiba Inu Shibarium partner K9 Finance disclosed the upcoming listing of its newly launched KNINE token on MEXC. Per the notification, KNINE will become tradable on the prominent exchange today, March 19, from 15:00 UTC.

Notably, this marked the first centralized exchange list of KNINE, as the asset is currently only tradable on the Uniswap DEX.

The trading pair for KNINE on MEXC would be the Tether USDT stablecoin (USDT). The deposit function for KNINE tokens is now live. Accordingly, Shiba Inu enthusiasts can transfer their assets to MEXC while trading commences in a few hours.

Considering that MEXC’s listing of KNINE opens the token to a broader pool of crypto market participants, potentially propelling its value, the K9 Finance team has moved to celebrate the milestone.

Shiba Inu Team Reacts

Meanwhile, the Shiba Inu development team has congratulated K9 Finance as their new token will start trading on the MEXC exchange.

“Woof! Congrats to our partner K9 Finance on their upcoming listing,” the Shiba Inu team remarked via its official X account.

Notably, K9 Finance is a liquid staking derivatives platform on Shibarium, Shiba Inu’s blockchain. It provides essential DeFi services while serving as an authorized validator on Shibarium. Also, K9 Finance rewards KNINE investors with the BONE token for validating blocks. 

Following KNINE’s launch last week, the token established a new all-time high at $0.0003543 amid a 700% surge.

MEXC Launches Airdrop for KNINE Listing

In its listing announcement, MEXC revealed the launch of a Kickstarter for KNINE’s pre-listing. This initiative allows users to pledge the exchange’s token MX to back their preferred project. 

Participants can pledge MX tokens to enter and potentially receive free project airdrops. The maximum pledge amount is determined by the MX balance in their spot wallet at the snapshot time.

Notably, the voting period commenced yesterday and will end a few hours before KNINE’s listing. Participants stand to share in a $50,000 USDT prize pool.

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