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Bitcoin Could Plummet Below $15K If Expected U.S. Jobs Report Indicates ‘Elevated Employment Figures’: Bloomberg

Albert Brown
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Bitcoin Could Plummet Below $15K If Expected U.S. Jobs Report Indicates ‘Elevated Employment Figures’: Bloomberg

Hedge Fund Predicts a Dip Below $15k for Bitcoin In the Wake of a High U.S. Jobs Report.



Bitcoin Could Plummet Below $15K If Expected U.S. Jobs Report Indicates ‘Elevated Employment Figures,’ according to AlphaTrAI CIO.

Bitcoin (BTC) remains at the mercy of the bears as the extensive Crypto Winter continues in its dominance. While a few analysts believe the bottom is already priced in, the CIO of AlphaTraI thinks the community hasn’t seen the worst of the markets yet. 

Max Gokhman, Chief Investment Officer at asset management firm AlphaTraI, recently noted this in a Bloomberg interview. According to Gokhman, should the U.S. jobs report shows heightened values, it could create a domino effect in the markets, ultimately sending Bitcoin to a 2-year low. The Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report is due Friday at 12:30 PM (UTC).

AlphaTrAI succumbed to the bear market as August reached a conclusion. The San Diego-based asset manager dumped its crypto holdings in late August amidst the Winter.

Expatiating on his assertion, Gokhman highlighted the expected response from the Federal Reserve to elevated employment figures. The Fed will likely lean towards further interest rate hikes in response to higher employment rates. Additionally, this would not have the most favorable effects on both the traditional stock market and the crypto markets.

Max Gokhman tells Bloomberg:

“Elevated employment figures would raise the odds of more jumbo interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve, jeopardizing the $20,000 level at which Bitcoin has been holding firm since a mid-August selloff.”

There was a time when macroeconomic conditions had little effect on Bitcoin’s price actions, but that time is no more. Recently, the correlation between BTC and traditional finance has grown, which has subjected the asset to the damaging effects of the bad macro. Gokhman highlighted this reality in his forecast.

Furthermore, he noted that BTC’s $20k support level is a significant point for the asset’s price movement. Gokhman predicts that the dread from a likely interest rate hike announcement from the Fed could send BTC below $20k. 

Should BTC break below the $20k support, a price-free fall could ensue, pushing the asset further below. Gokhman believes the community could be seeing $15k at such a point.

“The true test for Bitcoin is if it can stay close to the $20,000 level after the NFP release … A hot labor market report and Fed rate hike bets might surge, and that could trigger downward pressure that eyes the summer lows,” said Edward Moya, Market Analyst at OANDA, in a note to Bloomberg. Despite not predicting a dip to  $15k, Moya’s sentiments appear to align with Gohkhman’s.

Bitcoin’s Price Actions 

It is important to note that the last time BTC touched $15k was in November of 2020. The crypto community has already seen BTC’s response to interest rate hikes reports, which is not pretty. Jerome Powell, Fed Chair, on August 26, noted that further interest rate hikes to combat rising inflation were necessary. 

This comment knocked BTC off its $21,700 high on that day. The bearishness spilled into the weekend, as BTC went below $20k for the first time in August. Since the asset has bounced back, consolidation at this zone highlights fragile support at $20k. BTC currently trades at $20,137 at the reporting time, gaining by 0.96% in the past 24 hours.

Vitalik Says His Role as the Founder and “Face” of Ethereum is Overemphasized

Mark Brennan
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Vitalik Says His Role as the Founder and “Face” of Ethereum is Overemphasized

 

Vitalik Buterin believes the crypto community overestimates his influence and contribution to the Ethereum ecosystem.


Canadian programmer and co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, is not particularly in agreement with the community’s opinion on his position at Ethereum. Buterin has remained the “face” of Ethereum for years now. This is largely due to his significant contribution to the project at its initial stages. Notwithstanding, the Canadian writer thinks the acclaim he receives has been overstated.

Buterin noted this in a recent exclusive interview with Noah Smith – a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. Smith highlighted Buterin’s opposition to Balaji Srinivasan’s idea of a central focus point in leadership for online startups. Vitalik Buterin disagreed with parts of Srinivasan’s concept of the perfect network stated in an article published on July 13.

Citing his opinion in the article, Smith asked Buterin if he thinks the press and community have overemphasized his role as the face of Ethereum. Buterin answered in the affirmative. He mentioned that in the last two years, Ethereum has grown to an extent where his influence has decreased drastically. He noted that this had been his wish. 

From 2015 to 2017, Buterin stated that his part in Ethereum research had reduced from 80% to 70%. In addition, his coding contribution to the project decreased within this timeframe, as others took up much of the work. 

Furthermore, he highlighted that, as of 2020, others handled about two-thirds of the research, as his contribution became less. The same happened with the coding exercise. Regardless, he was still doing most of the “high-level theorizing” then.

“But over the last two years, even the high-level theorizing is something that has been slowly but surely slipping away from me,” he added, pointing to Ethereum influencers like pseudonymous researcher Polynya has recently been handling much of that aspect.

According to Buterin, Ethereum’s MEV research remains under the control of the Flashbot team. He further remarked that Barry Whitehat and Brian Gu are among the engineers handling the zk-rollups sphere. Conclusively, Buterin noted that two individuals, Justin and Dankrad, have taken up some roles as thought leaders, despite being originally added to the team as researchers.

All this underlines the fact that Buterin’s influence and contribution to the Ethereum project have reduced over time. He highlighted his excitement about this growth. “I don’t think that the public perception has quite caught up to this yet, but I expect that over time it will,” Buterin concluded.

BONE Beats Top 300 Cryptos, Bitcoin, Doge, Shiba Inu Price-Wise In August

Albert Brown
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BONE Beats Top 300 Cryptos, Bitcoin, Doge, Shiba Inu Price-Wise In August

BONE’s massive rally last month saw it rank as the top performer in terms of price among the top 300 crypto assets. 



Bone ShibaSwap (BONE), the native governance token of Shiba Inu’s decentralized exchange, had a tremendous rally last month that helped it bag major recognition. 

Cryptocurrency data analytics provider LunarCrush ranked BONE as the best-performing token in terms of price among the top 300 crypto assets last month. 

BONE recorded the milestone after its price soared by 178.5% in August 2022 alone. The massive spike of BONE helped the token to rank above top coins and tokens like Bitcoin (BTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE), etc. 

“Out of the top 300 #cryptos, Bone ShibaSwap $BONE is the top performer price-wise in August: +178.5% [in August 2022],” LunarCrush tweeted. 

BONE’s Rally Last Month

BONE had a remarkable run last month after its price developed a major resistance against Bitcoin dominance. While the values of other cryptocurrencies were declining, BONE’s price recorded huge gains. 

It is noteworthy that BONE started trading at around 0.7084 on August 1, 2022, according to Coingecko data. The cryptocurrency struggled to break the $1.1 resistance for most of the month due to the massive decline in crypto prices last month. On August 23, 2022, TheCryptoBasic reported that Gate.io purchased $492,000 worth of BONE tokens. The news sparked rumors that the meme coin would soon be listed for trading on the Gate.io exchange. 

After Gate.io, Singapore-Based MEXC Global Accumulated 11.63 Million Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) to Becomes 3rd Largest Bone Holder.

BONE’s listing rumors on Gate.io and massive accumulation of MEXC fueled the massive adoption of the token among whale investors, resulting in a price increase. 

Furthermore, BONE was listed on several cryptocurrency exchanges, with many investors granted access also to adopt the token. These positive developments propelled the price of BONE to soar to a nine-month high of $2.15. Although the price of BONE has retraced below $2, its remarkable rally last month is commendable. 

Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Says He Is Worried About Bitcoin Security For These Two Reasons

Mark Brennan
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Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Says He Is Worried About Bitcoin Security For These Two Reasons

 

Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Is Worried About Bitcoin Security For These Two Reasons.



Ethereum Founder is Worried About Bitcoin Security For Two Reasons, Expresses his Concerns About BTC Security Sustainability.

In an interview with former Bloomberg columnist Noah Smith that was released today, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin outlines two reasons why he is concerned about the security of Bitcoin in the future.

Firstly, Buterin worries that fees alone will not be enough incentive for miners to secure the network, which he believes has the potential to become a multi-trillion dollar system. It is worth noting that miners who play the role of transaction or block validators will only receive fees as rewards when all the Bitcoin has been mined. According to Buterin, it is unlikely that Bitcoin will be able to generate the level of fee revenue to sustain the system.

“First, in the long term, Bitcoin security is going to come entirely from fees, and Bitcoin is just not succeeding at getting the level of fee revenue required to secure what could be a multi-trillion-dollar system. Bitcoin fees are about $300,000 per day and haven’t really grown that much over the last five years,” Buterin writes in the interview conducted over email.

Secondly, Buterin asserts that there is a security flaw in the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. According to Buterin, PoW provides much less security per dollar spent on fees than proof-of-stake (PoS). The Ethereum founder estimates that in a hypothetical future where there is about $5 trillion of Bitcoin, it could take only $5 billion of Bitcoin to carry out a successful attack on the system. According to Buterin, it is especially problematic as miners and maximalists are not willing to consider a switch to PoS.

“Second, proof of work provides much less security per dollar spent on transaction fees than proof of stake, and Bitcoin migrating away from proof of work seems to be politically infeasible. What would a future look like when there’s $5 trillion of Bitcoin, but it only takes $5 billion to attack the chain? Of course, if Bitcoin actually gets attacked, I do expect that the political will to switch to at least hybrid proof of stake will quickly appear, but I expect that to be a painful transition,” Buterin writes.

It is worth noting that the Ethereum network founded by Buterin is less than two weeks away from migrating from PoW to PoS. The upgrade known as The Merge is expected between September 10 and 20. It promises to cut down on the network’s energy consumption and Ethereum supply.

Notably, Buterin is set to release a book about a month from now titled “Proof of Stake,” containing a compilation of essays from the Ethereum founder in the last ten years.

It bears mentioning that not everyone is on board with the switch to PoS. For example, some miners have created groups to push for a PoW hard fork of the Ethereum chain. In contrast, some users have expressed concern over a perceived vulnerability of the network to censorship should it migrate.

While Buterin concedes that the future of crypto is uncertain, noting it can “disappear or take over the world completely,” he does see a future where it can replace gold as a store of value and become the “Linux of Finance.”

U.K.-based Exchange Pledges Support for Terra LUNA Classic (LUNC) Revival Through Weekly Burns

Albert Brown
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U.K.-based Exchange Pledges Support for Terra LUNA Classic (LUNC) Revival Through Weekly Burns

 

Y-5 Crypto Exchange Pledges Support for Terra LUNA Classic Revival By Implementing 1.2% Tax Burns on All LUNC Transactions.



The U.K.-based exchange has declared support for joining LUNC investors in reviving the crypto asset.

United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency exchange Y-5 has announced that it will implement a tax burn of 1.2% on all Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) transactions conducted on its platform. 

The move, according to the exchange, is to support the ongoing burn program of LUNC launched by investors of the crypto assets. According to a recent announcement, Y-5 will send all tokens obtained from the tax imposed on all LUNC transactions to an inferno wallet address created by the Terra community. 

“Y5 Crypto has recognized the opportunity to assist one of the most demoralized communities in the industry by implementing a burning tax on LUNC transactions on their platform. Specifically, all transactions will be taxed at 1.2%, which will be wholly sent to the LUNC burn wallet weekly,” the exchange said in a statement.  

Y-5 Crypto stated that the standard transaction fees will still apply alongside the 1.2% burns, adding that the exchange will not send the transaction fees to the LUNC burn wallet. 

Y-5 Comes Through For LUNC Despite Terra’s Negligence 

The cryptocurrency exchange noted that the initiative is imperative to bolster the value of LUNC, which has been on a massive rally lately. 

Y-5 acknowledged that without implementing the 1.2% tax, LUNC has a slim chance of being revived from its devastating plunge in May. 

Recall that after the collapse of Terra, the team behind the project abandoned the LUNC to relaunch the new token Terra (LUNA) as part of an effort to compensate investors. The community slammed the move, stating that they prefer the Terra team to burn part of the LUNC supply. 

With TerraForm Labs unwilling to heed these calls, LUNC investors created an inferno address. Investors were urged to send some amount of LUNC at intervals to reduce the token’s total supply and possibly get the price flying again. 

While over 3 billion LUNC have so far been incinerated, Terra investors still want more burns. A proposal was passed in June 2022 by investors to implement 1.2% burns on all LUNC transactions. However, the Terra team has yet to implement the burns, with investors left to carry on with the burn program. 

LUNC Price Surges Amid Community Burns

It is noteworthy that LUNC burns have contributed positively to the asset’s price in the past weeks. According to data from Coingecko, LUNC is up 102.9% in the past seven days and 188.4% in the past 14 days, respectively. 

LUNC is changing hands at around $0.00027039, which is nothing compared to its all-time high of $119.18. 

 

2.37B XRP On Move: Ripple Locks 900M XRP in Escrow, Ripple OTC Wallet Sent 300M XRP, 1.17B XRP Shuffled By Whales

Lele Jima
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0
2.37B XRP On Move: Ripple Locks 900M XRP in Escrow, Ripple OTC Wallet Sent 300M XRP, 1.17B XRP Shuffled By Whales

 

The blockchain company locked the funds to prevent the price of XRP from a further dip.  


Less than 24 hours after unlocking 1 billion XRP, Ripple has locked back a whopping 900 million units of the crypto asset. Leading cryptocurrency whale tracking service Whale Stats reported the development on Twitter. 

Roughly 10 hours ago, 200 million XRP worth $64.95 million at the time of the transaction were locked at Ripple escrow wallet. The transaction was made from an unknown wallet, Whale Stats reported. 

At the same time, another 100 million XRP valued at around $32.94 million were locked in Ripple escrow wallet. 

The Silicon Valley tech company also locked another 100 million XRP ($32.94 million) in its escrow wallet. 

Lastly, Ripple locked a whopping 500 million XRP coins in its escrow wallet, with the funds worth $163.05 million at the time of the transaction.  

This type of transaction usually occurs moments after Ripple releases its routine 1 billion XRP from escrow. The leading blockchain company locks back the coin to prevent the price of XRP from dropping further as Ripple continues to engage the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a legal battle over its 2013 ICO. 

Ripple OTC Sends 300M XRP

Aside from the 900 million XRP locked at Ripple escrow wallet. Ripple Over-the-Counter distribution wallet sent 300 million XRP, worth $98 million, to an unknown wallet. 

1.17B XRP Whale Transactions

Whale Alert also observed other large XRP transactions over the last 24 hours. The transactions saw the shuffling of XRP among Ripple, cryptocurrency exchanges, and unknown wallets.

Five hundred million XRP ($164 million) were transferred to an unknown wallet from another unknown wallet. 

Interestingly, Whale Alert observed the movement of 300 million XRP ($97.58 million) from an unknown wallet to Ripple. This transaction is in line with Ripple’s commitment to purchase XRP from secondary markets amid growing demand for the company’s On-Demand Liquidity offering. 

Additionally, an unknown wallet transferred the sum of 180 million XRP, valued at around $58.32 million, to another unknown wallet. 

Whale Alert also tracked the movement of 50 million XRP worth $16.38 million from an address on Crypto.com to an unknown wallet. 

Furthermore, an unknown wallet sent 30 million XRP ($9.97 million) to a Bitstamp address. 

In addition, an anonymous user sent 60 million XRP worth $20 million to a Bitso wallet, while another 54.3 million ($18.05 million) from Bitso to an unknown wallet. 

In summary, 900 Million were locked by Ripple in Escrow, Ripple OTC sent 300 Million, and Whales moved 1,174,300,000 (1.174 billion) tokens. In total 2,374,300,000 (2.37 billion) XRP moved in 24 hours.

Multi-Chain DEX KyberSwap Loses $265k In Latest DeFi Exploit

Mark Brennan
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Multi-Chain DEX KyberSwap Loses $265k In Latest DeFi Exploit

 

KyberSwap front-end compromised in $265k exploit.



Kyber Network, a decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity hub behind the multi-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) KyberSwap, in a Twitter thread on Thursday, disclosed that it has identified and neutralized an attack on the KyberSwap front-end. 

However, about $265k was stolen from two whale addresses before the team resolved the issue. While the platform assures that the problem has been resolved, it has urged customers to exercise caution and revoke any malicious approvals, leaving instructions in a medium blog post.

“We identified and neutralized an exploit on the KyberSwap frontend. Affected users will be compensated… USD$265K of user funds were lost, with 2 affected addresses, and users will be compensated. It appears the attacker was targeting whale wallets,” Kyber Network notes in the thread on Twitter.

Kyber Network reveals that its team resolved the exploit within two hours after it observed suspicious elements in KyberSwap’s front end. Additionally, the liquidity hub discloses that the source of the exploit was malicious code in its Google Tab Manager (GTM). Notably, Kyber Network reveals that it has been able to track down the addresses associated with the hacker, including an OpenSea account.

The liquidity hub warns other DeFi platforms to thoroughly investigate their GTM as the hacker may have targeted multiple platforms. 

In a message to the attacker, the platform notes that it is in contact with various exchanges, taking steps to ensure that the hacker will not be able to cash out on the stolen funds without revealing their identity. In addition, Kyber Network has offered the hacker 15% of the stolen funds as a bug bounty reward in return for returning the funds and speaking with the team.

It bears mentioning that this year has been rife with crypto hacks. For example, Chainalysis, in its mid-year crypto crime update, reveals that $1.9 billion has been lost in the first six months of 2022 compared to $1.2 billion within the same period in 2021. 

Most recently, The Crypto Basic reported that about $5 million in crypto assets were lost in a Solana wallet drain linked to a possible Slope wallet exploit.

MicroStrategy Stock Plunge 7.26% After Bitcoin Maxi CEO Michael Saylor Accused of Tax Evasion

Lele Jima
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0
MicroStrategy Stock Plunge 7.26% After Bitcoin Maxi CEO Michael Saylor Accused of Tax Evasion

The stock of MicroStrategy plummeted after its founder Michael Saylor was accused of tax evasion. 



According to data from Google Finance, MicroStrategy stock (MSTR) is down 7.26% today. The asset class has continued to wither the storm against the lawsuit slammed against Saylor by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine D. 

At the time of writing, MSTR is trading at around $214.62. While the lawsuit is considered a major cause of the MSTR price decline, it is also possible that the asset class is down following a slight dip in Bitcoin – an investment vehicle to which MicroStrategy is heavily linked. 

However, the major reason for MSTR’s recent bloodbath is the tax evasion lawsuit slammed against Saylor. 

D.C. Attorney General Announces Tax Evasion Suit Against Saylor.

 

According to the charges, Saylor has resided in D.C. for over a decade and has evaded income taxes to the tune of $25 million. D.C. authorities also alleged that MicroStrategy helped him evade paying tax by falsely reporting his address to relevant authorities.

Saylor, a Bitcoin proponent, had falsely claimed to be a resident of lower-tax jurisdiction despite residing in a 7,000-square-foot penthouse on the Georgetown waterfront. The property was allegedly acquired by Saylor in 2005, with the MicroStrategy CEO also alleged to have bought two other properties and merged them into a single unit.  

“Since at least 2012, Saylor has bragged to his confidants about his successful plan to create the illusion of residing in Florida to evade the District’s personal income taxes,” an excerpt from the complaint reads. 

Responding to the charges, Saylor denied the charges, saying: 

“Although MicroStrategy is based in Virginia, Florida is where I live, vote, and have reported for jury duty, and it is at the center of my personal and family life. I respectfully disagree with the position of the District of Columbia, and look forward to a fair resolution in the courts.” 

Seattle-Based Fintech Company to Launch A New Stablecoin on Ripple XRP Ledger (XRPL)

Albert Brown
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Seattle-Based Fintech Company to Launch A New Stablecoin on Ripple XRP Ledger (XRPL)

 

XRPL bags another adoption from a top fintech company.



Stably, a Seattle-based web-3 fintech company has partnered with Ripple to issue its stablecoin on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). 

According to an official announcement today, Ripple will provide the necessary support for integrating the stablecoin dubbed USDS on the XRP Ledger. 

Notably, USDS is a fiat-backed stablecoin launched by Stably. Stably noted that USDS is fully collateralized and pegged to the U.S. dollars on a 1-1 scale, with the fiats held in traditional financial institutions. 

The stablecoin will be deployed on XRPL under the ticker (USD). Per the announcement, the stablecoin is also tipped to open up a fiat ramp that will be directly connected to end users’ traditional bank accounts. 

With Stably planning to partner with numerous U.S.-based financial institutions, the company intends to onboard businesses from over 200 countries. 

“We are very excited to partner with Ripple to support our fiat-to-stablecoin gateway to the XPRL via USDS. Regulatory compliance, transparency, and security have always been Stably’s top priorities and we look forward to bringing more of these benefits to the XRPL community,” Kory Hoang, CEO of Stably said. 

U.S. Justice Department Investigating Binance CZ for Crypto Money Laundering

Mark Brennan
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U.S. Justice Department Investigating Binance CZ for Crypto Money Laundering

 

New request letter surfaces, suggesting Binance and CZ were under investigation for money laundering crimes.


The United States Justice Department reportedly investigated the world’s largest exchange Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), for possible money laundering crimes.

Citing a late-2020 written request letter, Reuters noted today that the federal prosecutors had requested internal documents related to Binance money laundering checks. 

Details of the Letter

The Justice Department also asked the exchange to submit internal communications between CZ and the trading platform’s 12 top executives and partners.  

The authorities were specific about discussions relating to the exchange’s detection of illegal transactions and the onboarding of U.S. customers. 

The authorities also requested for other records bearing instructions that “documents be destroyed, altered, or removed from Binance files.” 

According to four people familiar with the matter, the request was part of an investigation into Binance’s compliance with the United States financial crime laws. 

Anonymous Sources Confirm the Letter

Per the sources, the authorities are looking into whether Binance violated the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires all crypto trading platforms operating in the U.S. to comply with compulsory anti-money laundering laws and also register with the Treasury Department. 

The Bank Secrecy Act was established to protect the United States financial sector from fraudulent activities, with offenders looking at a jail term of 10 years max. Since the request was made nearly two years ago, Reuters could not ascertain how Binance responded at the time. 

Patrick Hillmann, Chief Communications Officer at Binance, told Reuters in response to questions about the letter: 

“Regulators across the globe are reaching out to every major crypto exchange to better understand our industry. This is a standard process for any regulated organization and we work with agencies regularly to address any questions they may have.” 

Authorities Investigate Binance Operations

Binance has been under widespread regulatory scrutiny across various parts of the world, including the United States. 

Last year, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) launched an investigation into Binance’s operations for possible insider trading.  

As reported by TheCryptoBasic, Pakistani authorities issued a notice to Binance following a 100 billion rupees fraud.

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