“Should Have Bought” is a news podcast featuring the ForkLog editorial team and friends, discussing the week’s major industry events and the hottest tokens.
Topics of the episode: lack of growth post-halving, arrest of Samourai Wallet founders, Renzo’s issues, and the slim chances of launching Ethereum-based spot ETFs.
Special guest: Artem Shtanov, founder and CEO of the pool headframe.io.
Participants: ForkLog authors Lena Jess, Alex K., Vasily Smirnov.
No Growth, But Hang In There
On April 20, the fourth halving occurred, reducing the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
Experts consulted by ForkLog concluded that this significant industry event was largely anticipated and already factored in by market participants, explaining the lack of price growth for the leading cryptocurrency.
Experts from QCP Capital advised investors to be patient — in previous years, BTC’s spot price only grew exponentially 50-100 days after each of the three halvings. Similar observations were shared by ETC Group.
Analysts at Glassnode emphasized that Bitcoin has strengthened its position as the asset with the greatest supply scarcity, surpassing gold in this context.
The former CEO of BitMEX urged market participants not to ignore the “left curve,” meaning to buy and hold digital assets, especially Bitcoin, until the peaks of the bull cycle.
The Difficult Path of Samourai Wallet Founders
The founders of the privacy-focused crypto wallet Samourai Wallet have been arrested and charged with money laundering.
The U.S. federal prosecutor claims that the developers facilitated the laundering of criminal proceeds exceeding $100 million.
According to authorities, since 2015, Samourai Wallet processed anonymous transactions worth $2 billion. Funds from sanctioned individuals, various cybercriminals, and darknet marketplaces, including Silk Road and Hydra, were allegedly funneled through it, U.S. prosecutors claim.
In response to the arrest of Samourai Wallet’s founders, CryptoQuant head Ki Young Ju stated the legality of digital asset mixing services. Former NSA and CIA employee Edward Snowden called the arrests an infringement on personal freedoms.
Renzo’s Detachment from Ethereum
Renzo’s ezETH token lost its peg to Ethereum after the tokenomics of REZ were revealed.
On the Uniswap v3 exchange, the crypto asset’s rate fell by nearly 80% against ETH. This occurred following the announcement of the REZ governance token distribution plan by Binance Labs, which supports the project.
Factors that may have contributed to the decline in ezETH’s market value include:
- traders exiting positions in the protocol;
- BNB stakers being able to sell their tokens on Binance Launchpool two days earlier than ezETH holders;
- community concerns about potential insider trading.
Following the community’s negative reaction, the Renzo team made some changes to the token distribution terms.
Ethereum itself has recently shown unconvincing dynamics amid skepticism among experts regarding the prospects of spot ETF approval.
Runes — A “Lifeline” for Bitcoin Miners
On April 24, the share of tokens on the Runes protocol in the total number of daily transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain was 51.5%. The day before, the figures reached 81% and 18.8%, respectively.
The excitement around the launch of Runes on halving day, April 20, pushed the average fee size to a record $128.45. In the following days, fee sizes adjusted to equilibrium levels.
Record fee revenues on halving day led some market participants to speculate that the network is shifting towards compensating miners primarily through transactional activity.
Specifically, TeraWulf head Nazar Khan called Runes a “lifeline” for Bitcoin miners.
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