Bitcoin hits a new local high amid the Fed’s rate hike; Bitzlato co-founder announced plans to relaunch the platform; Cardano launches the Djed stablecoin, and other events from the week.
Bitcoin tests $24,000 as Fed rate hike takes effect
On Wednesday, February 1, the US Federal Reserve raised the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, to 4.50-4.75% per year. This marks the eighth consecutive increase, with the rate now at its highest since 2007.
Bitcoin reacted by rising to a new local high above $24,000. Glassnode noted that the asset has recovered from the fallout of the FTX collapse.
According to Morgan Creek founder Mark Yusko, the next bull market could begin as early as the second quarter of 2023 amid favorable macro conditions and the anticipated halving of Bitcoin.
He explained that the Fed is unlikely to cut the key rate in the near term. However, even a slowdown or pause in this process would be viewed as a positive signal for the crypto market.
As of writing, Bitcoin was trading near $23,100.
Nearly all top-10 digital assets by market capitalization closed the week in the green. XRP was the exception, with the price of the token down 2.2%. The best performer was Polygon (MATIC), up 6.2%.
The aggregate cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $1.11 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance index fell to 40.2%.
Media report Twitter preparations to integrate crypto payments
The social network has filed for a license and is developing software to integrate payments. The initiative is part of Elon Musk’s plan to turn Twitter into a «super app». Initially the payments option will target fiat currencies, but it will include the possibility of integrating digital assets, media outlets say.
In Cardano network the algorithmic stablecoin Djed launched
Developers of the blockchain platform COTI Network in cooperation with Input Output released the algorithmic stablecoin Djed on the Cardano network. Work on the project lasted more than a year.
The stablecoin is over-collateralized — by 400-800% in the native asset ADA, as well as SHEN as a reserve coin.
Bitzlato co-founder named seized funds volume and announced relaunch
The Bitzlato crypto-exchange plans to restore operation and immediately partially enable withdrawals of Bitcoin, said Bitzlato co-founder Anton Shkurenko.
At the same time the executive refuted the €1 billion figure cited in one media piece, saying the platform never had money in that amount. He also named four of the detained Bitzlato employees, including Pavel Lerner.
US authorities barred SBF from contacting witnesses, and media obtained the names of his guarantors
The US Department of Justice filed a request to modify the bail agreement of former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). Prosecutors suspected he used the Signal messenger to send encrypted messages to a witness in the bankruptcy case of the exchange.
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York granted the DOJ’s request, prohibiting SBF from contacting former or current FTX or Alameda Research staff, and from using encrypted messaging apps such as Signal.
This week the court also granted the media group’s petition to disclose the identities of two unnamed bail guarantors, who collectively posted $250 million.
Alameda Research filed a suit against Voyager Digital for $445 million
Alameda Research, undergoing restructuring, filed a suit against the bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital seeking $445.8 million. The amount comprised repayments on loans that Alameda repaid after Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July 2022.
What to talk about with friends?
- Bitcoin price in Nigerian naira approached $50,000 as the central bank imposed withdrawal limits.
- NFT platform Sorare announced a partnership with the English Premier League.
- Uzbekistan received more than $310,000 in taxes from five licensed companies in 2022.
- Immutable announced a Web3 gamer-focused digital passport identifier.
Waves team renamed the ticker of the \”devalued\” stablecoin USDN to XTN
The ticker of the algorithmic stablecoin USDN, which had already lost parity with the US dollar back in August 2022, was changed to Neutrino Index (XTN).
Founder Waves Sasha Ivanov stated that USDN is gradually winding down as a stablecoin.
Justin Sun: In cryptocurrency adoption you can’t rely on the US alone
Tron founder Justin Sun presented a plan for 2023, which includes legalising the TRX token in at least five countries. TRX already has such a status in Dominica and Sint Maarten.
In Sun’s view, the industry should not rely on the US in regulatory questions, he said that if 7.7 billion people adopt cryptocurrencies as legal tender, then 300 million Americans will follow.
The founder of Tron also announced a decentralized payment system aimed at various AI services such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Some Celsius users will be allowed to withdraw 94% of assets
A limited number of Celsius custodial-service users will be able to withdraw 94% of assets from the platform. The two conditions must be observed:
- Funds deposited with the custodial service or transferred from interest-bearing or margin accounts 90 days before filing the petition;
- Their aggregate value did not exceed $7,575.
Corresponding to the requirements, clients will receive notices \”roughly February 15.\”
January 31 court documents revealed Celsius provided $2 billion to the USDT issuer Tether in 2021, exceeding its own credit limit. Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino called the information a \”typo\” or \”inaccurate characterization.\”
Such overages were the norm for Alameda and Three Arrows Capital. They were done to ensure the yield on client deposit accounts on the platform.
An airdrop began on the Sudoswap NFT marketplace
NFT marketplace Sudoswap presented tokens SUDO and XMON and began distributing them to holders of the 0xmon collection and early liquidity providers. SUDO is initially non-transferable. However, the community can vote to enable such an option.
ConsenSys announced educational program and new features in MetaMask
ConsenSys announced a new educational initiative — MetaMask Learn. The free platform is designed for users who want to get acquainted with Web3.
The resource is available in 10 languages, including Ukrainian, Russian and English. The platform offers an interactive user interface — in simulation mode you can learn to work with MetaMask, learn about NFT and DeFi.
This week MetaMask announced new features. The developers added privacy settings to the browser extension to ease the process of changing RPC providers and sending requests to third-party services (for phishing detection and identifying incoming transactions).
In collaboration with the HAPI project, the team implemented in the test environment a wallet feature to check smart contracts, tokens and addresses for risk.
BNB Chain team presented the decentralized data storage infrastructure
The published white paper describes the parameters of the BNB Greenfield data storage system, which will become the Web3 analogue of existing cloud solutions, but on the blockchain. The team is working with AWS Cloud, NodeReal and Blockdaemon to launch a test network for the solution in the coming months.
Ethereum launched a testnet to verify ETH withdrawal from the Beacon Chain
On February 1, the Zhejiang testnet launched to simulate the withdrawal of ETH from the Beacon Chain staking contract. The functionality is provided in EIP-4895, planned for the Shanghai hard fork of the Ethereum network in March.
Chainalysis to lay off almost 5% of staff, and Bittrex to cut about 30%
Analytical company Chainalysis decided to lay off 44 of its 900 employees, accounting for 4.8% of staff. Management explained the move by falling demand for Chainalysis’s services amid the difficult market conditions in crypto.
Among other reasons — refocusing on developing new products with a focus on the financial sector, and greater emphasis on clients from government agencies.
The layoff decision was also announced by the cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex. The platform filed a notice with the US Department of Labor to reduce staff amid unfavorable market conditions. The decision will affect 83 of its 284 employees (~30% of the workforce).
Meta’s Reality Labs losses rose to $4.3bn
In Q4 2022, the metaverse-focused Reality Labs unit within Meta posted a loss of $4.28 billion, and the full-year total was $13.7 billion (2021 — $10.2 billion).
The founder and top executive stressed that he saw no reason to change Reality Labs’ strategy in the long term. Meta will continue to invest \”significant funds\” as it sees the direction as a driver of operating profit growth.
Charlie Munger urged banning cryptocurrencies in the US
Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger believes the US should follow China’s example and ban cryptocurrencies. Munger compared digital assets to a gambling contract with near-100% house edge for the house.
The remark came as a former member of the People’s Bank of China’s Monetary Policy Committee, Huang Yipin urged authorities to consider the long-term consequences of a crypto ban and revisit the ban.
Also on ForkLog:
- South Korea will implement a cryptocurrency-tracking system in 2023.
- Hong Kong regulator will introduce licensing for stablecoin issuers.
- Ripple will help Montenegro develop a CBDC.
- TON developers presented a roadmap for 2023.
What else to read?
The traditional analytical report, which outlines the main events in the crypto industry in January.
In traditional digests, the main weekly events were compiled in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
The crypto industry is drawing more institutional players. This is reflected in new investments in infrastructure and growing attention to Bitcoin as an asset class. The most important events of recent weeks are in ForkLog overview.