Weekly Highlights: Fed Maintains Key Rate, FTX Abandons Relaunch

The leading cryptocurrency fell below $43,000, the U.S. Federal Reserve maintained its key rate, FTX abandoned plans to relaunch its exchange, the Dencun update was deployed on the Ethereum Sepolia testnet, among other events of the past week.

Bitcoin Price Drops Below $43,000

Throughout the week, the leading cryptocurrency traded between $42,000 and $44,000. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is valued at $42,900.

Most digital assets in the top 10 by market capitalization ended the week in the “green zone.” However, XRP lost 3.3%.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization is $1.72 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance index is 52.5%.

Fed Maintains Key Rate

On January 31, the Fed maintained the key rate range at 5.25–5.5% per annum. The decision aligned with market expectations.

According to the Fed, inflation has decreased over the past year but remains high. The agency also noted the low unemployment rate. In the long term, the Fed aims for 2% inflation and maximum employment.

FTX to Fully Reimburse Clients, No Relaunch Planned

The bankrupt exchange FTX plans to fully settle its obligations to clients, but a platform relaunch is not being considered. In February, lawyers intend to present a detailed reimbursement plan.

According to FTX attorney Andrew Dietderich from Sullivan & Cromwell, after “comprehensive efforts” in restructuring, the team abandoned the plan to relaunch the platform under the tentative name FTX 2.0.

“No investor is willing to invest the necessary capital in relaunching the offshore exchange, and no buyer has emerged for the existing business. The costs and risks of creating a viable structure from the mess left by Sam Bankman-Fried are simply too high,” he stated.

In this context, the lawyer added that FTX 2.0 was a disappointment for the team, as the company “still possesses valuable customer data and information that could be monetized.”

Topics to Discuss with Friends

• Vitalik Buterin accidentally pumped BITCOIN by 70%.
• Neuralink implanted the first brain chip in a human.
• Robert Kiyosaki called Bitcoin a “protection against wealth theft.”
• German authorities seized about 50,000 BTC from “pirates.”

Dencun Update Deployed on Ethereum Sepolia Testnet

Ethereum developers successfully implemented the Dencun (Deneb-Cancun) hard fork on the ecosystem’s second test network, Sepolia.

A key component of the update is EIP-4844. It includes the Proto-Danksharding option, designed to scale the network by creating a new type of transaction for large binary data arrays (BLOB). It is expected to reduce fees for L2 solutions based on Rollups technology by about tenfold.

The update is planned to be deployed on the third testnet, Holesky, on February 7. After this, developers will determine the date for the hard fork on the main network.

Expert Suspects $112 Million Theft from Ripple Due to Hack

The blockchain project Ripple likely suffered a hack involving 213 million XRP (around $112 million at the time). This was reported by on-chain researcher ZachXBT.

According to his data, the funds were directed to cryptocurrency exchanges Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, MEXC, Gate, and others.

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen reported that on January 30, unknown individuals gained unauthorized access to several of his personal accounts.

“We were able to quickly identify the issue and notify exchanges to freeze the affected addresses. Law enforcement agencies have been involved in the investigation,” he wrote.

The next day, Binance CEO Richard Teng reported that the cryptocurrency exchange froze $4.2 million in XRP linked to the hack of Larsen’s personal wallet.

Also on ForkLog:

• Visa enabled cryptocurrency withdrawals to fiat on its cards in 145 countries.
• Tether’s net profit in the fourth quarter reached $2.9 billion.
• 3AC founders’ exchange OPNX announced its closure.
• Reality Labs from Meta reported a $4.7 billion loss.

Vitalik Buterin Turns 30: Developer Shares Vision for Blockchain Industry’s Future

On January 31, Vitalik Buterin published an essay titled “The End of My Childhood,” marking his 30th birthday. The Ethereum co-founder reflected on his journey as a blockchain developer and shared thoughts on the future of digital assets. 

During the Ethereum presentation in January 2014 at the BTC Miami conference, which demonstrated people’s interest in the technology, he decided to drop out of university. 

For the next three years, Buterin dealt with project management issues, which included “responding to pressure and answering requests from others.” In 2017, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the developer met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, “briefly” discussing blockchain technology integration.

He noted that he did not seek the meeting, but it was offered to him. Buterin later regretted the event for various personal and political reasons. 

“I decided to be cautious about which plans of others I support and more thoughtful about the plans I create myself: fewer thoughtless meetings with random influential figures who were interested in me only as a source of legitimacy, and more things like Zuzalu,” added the Ethereum co-founder.

Buterin also recalled his viral photograph. According to him, a “coiled USB cable” was in his pocket.

In the Ethereum co-founder’s view, the crypto industry emerged in late 2008 following the global financial crisis. He reminded that Bitcoin’s genesis block contained a reference to an article from the British The Times about additional government assistance for banks amid a “credit crunch.”

This narrative influenced Bitcoin’s development and its perception as a “banking system killer,” Buterin emphasized. However, as the developer notes, such theses have almost disappeared after 15 years.

He believes that the blockchain industry has long surpassed the financial system, although it remains a part of it:

“Go beyond and use our technologies to create a more holistic vision of an alternative, freer, open, and democratic technological stack, as well as how developments can contribute to either significant societal improvement or tools helping those without access to digital infrastructure.”

Buterin added that cryptocurrency is one of the few technological sectors that is “truly highly decentralized, with developers scattered around the world.”

What Else to Read?

This week, ForkLog explained how EIP-4844 will affect regular Ethereum users and whether smart contracts will replace notaries in Ukraine.

In the traditional digest, we compiled the main events of the week in the field of cybersecurity.

The decentralized finance sector continues to attract increased attention from cryptocurrency investors. ForkLog compiled the most important events and news of recent weeks in a digest.